Annoyed by "[more inside]" Jokes

November 10, 2006 1:04 PM

"There's a lot [more inside]". Does anyone else find this annoying? I've seen it on a lot of AskMe's lately and it kind of bugs me. A little too cute I think. And its distracting when I'm browsing the questions because I tend to filter out the [more inside]s. What do you think?
posted by PercussivePaul to etiquette/policy at 1:04 PM (91 comments total)

I completely agree with you; I nearly made a post on this very subject myself.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:07 PM on November 10, 2006 [2 favorites]

I agree. MeFites are perfectly capable of seeing whether or not there is a [more inside] tag on a question without any cutesy attempts to draw attention to it.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:08 PM on November 10, 2006

It's distracting, but really very minor. I subscribe to the anonymous AskMe's on Bloglines, and it automatically removes the [more inside] and just connects the inside and outside part, so it always looks like "There's a lot This sore on my penis is really bulbous" etc... Wierd, but mildly amusing even.
posted by arcticwoman at 1:11 PM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

My God, you people. Unclench.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 1:11 PM on November 10, 2006 [2 favorites]

Not to mention that it totally doesn't make it to the RSS feed, where as the more that is inside does. Since it's the kinda thing that newb's do, mostly, there really isn't any way to stop it.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 1:12 PM on November 10, 2006

Actually I see questions on RSS which shows the full question. You can see this too when you open up the question - the "more inside" disappears and leaves this odd hanging phrase.

The one you linked to just says "Is Vista for me? There's a lot" Huh?
posted by vacapinta at 1:12 PM on November 10, 2006

Unclench.

Imagine the shit we would spew if that happened....
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:13 PM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

My God, you people. Unclench.

Why dont you follow your own advice and go have some tea or something? I wasn't going to post to Metatalk about it but now that its here I thought I'd offer that many of us have certainly noticed it.
posted by vacapinta at 1:14 PM on November 10, 2006

This comment was
posted by sciurus at 1:15 PM on November 10, 2006 [4 favorites]

I like it.
posted by timeistight at 1:16 PM on November 10, 2006

I've noticed it a lot more in the past few days - the snowball effect. Someone thought it clever and so on and so on. It doesn't bother me one way or the other, but a few hours ago I bet a co-worker that someone would start a MetaTalk thread about it before the end of the day today. Thank you.

*pockets a crisp 20*
posted by iconomy at 1:16 PM on November 10, 2006

I like 'em. They're a lot better than the [more inside] [more inside]s we occasionally see, and I enjoy a well thought out clever segue into the continuation of the question.
And, really, how hard is it to ignore?
On preview: OH! It's an RSS issue! Why didn't you say so?
In that case, how do you propose to enforce this?
posted by Floydd at 1:18 PM on November 10, 2006

Well I certainly don't think it's a big deal but I was mainly curious how everyone else felt. If a lot of people find it mildly annoying like I do, a simple addition to the posting guidelines will fix it. Something like "Please resist the tempation to say 'there's a lot [more inside]".

And by the way, I want my cut.
posted by PercussivePaul at 1:19 PM on November 10, 2006

Defeat it with a simple hack: don't display the autogenerated [more inside] tag on question preview.
posted by cortex at 1:20 PM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

damnit sciurus... stealing my thoughts...
posted by twine42 at 1:20 PM on November 10, 2006

I think Matt should randomly generate variations: "more inside", "additional details follow" etc. which you cant see in preview. Then let the fun begin.
posted by vacapinta at 1:21 PM on November 10, 2006 [2 favorites]

vacapinta stole my idea. Matt could change the phrase or how it looks every once and awhile and mess everyone up.
posted by ODiV at 1:22 PM on November 10, 2006

The check is in the mail, PercussivePaul.
posted by iconomy at 1:23 PM on November 10, 2006

"Please resist the tempation to say 'there's a lot [more inside]"

Wait ... temptations are meant to be resisted? So that's what I've been doing wrong.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:25 PM on November 10, 2006

I can't stand it. It's never clever, it's always annoying, and I've had an assful of it. Stop it.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 1:25 PM on November 10, 2006

a simple addition to the posting guidelines will fix it.

Right....
posted by Floydd at 1:28 PM on November 10, 2006

As someone else said, I tend to filter out the [more inside] so I always read those kinds of things as a sudden lurching halt in the flow of a sentence. And I find it irritating, in that way that I find things irritating when people aren't as clever as they think they're being. But I have figured it's a fad that will pass. *shrugs*

Clearly there are lots of other people who like it and think it's clever, or they wouldn't be picking up the habit. So I try to manage my irritation as best I can.
posted by not that girl at 1:30 PM on November 10, 2006

Metafilter:I find things irritating when people aren't as clever as they think they're being.
posted by ernie at 1:32 PM on November 10, 2006

Yesterday a woman at the bakery fastened all my twist ties counterclockwise, and the waitress signed her name with a happy face. I will not go there again.
Of course, this comment was
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:33 PM on November 10, 2006

What I really want to know, is what happened to the
posted by blue_beetle at 1:35 PM on November 10, 2006

Perhaps you should all just [go outside]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:36 PM on November 10, 2006 [4 favorites]

I've been eating grilled sandwiches and using blue cheese dressing instead of mayo. It just adds so much zazz to a nice roast beef and edam.
posted by boo_radley at 1:37 PM on November 10, 2006

Yesterday a woman at the bakery fastened all my twist ties counterclockwise, and the waitress signed her name with a happy face. I will not go there again.

wgp: That is an excellent intro to a pretentious black & white film. I should steal it.
posted by ODiV at 1:37 PM on November 10, 2006

I find things irritating when people aren't as clever as they think they're being.

I just assume I'm really not being very clever in the first place.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:45 PM on November 10, 2006

Well I certainly don't think it's a big deal but I was mainly curious how everyone else felt.

I feel like taking out my nunchucks and going tiger style on all of your asses.

TIGER STYLE!
posted by ND¢ at 1:51 PM on November 10, 2006

On another topic, I am still amazed that people screw up the "title isn't shown on main page" thing. Matt basically redesigned the preview page to make this crystal clear, and people still do it wrong.
posted by smackfu at 1:51 PM on November 10, 2006

I've been eating grilled sandwiches and using blue cheese dressing instead of mayo. It just adds so much zazz to a nice roast beef and edam.

This annoys me, the community should investigate whether or not there are others who are as annoyed as I am. I mean, it's not the end of the world, but it should be addressed because I hate being slightly annoyed by anything.
posted by dflemingdotorg at 1:52 PM on November 10, 2006

OMG YES.

That is all.
posted by trevyn at 1:56 PM on November 10, 2006

Just to clarify my previous comment, I don't feel like that in regards to "Of course there is [more inside]". I feel infinite amounts of indifference to that particular attempt at a witticism. My indifference towards it threatens to swallow the entire known universe. I just generally feel like taking two sticks connected at their ends with a short chain or rope and swinging them about my shirtless body at lightning speed and then screaming "TIGER STYLE!" at the top of my lungs while I come at you with a fury the likes of which the world has rarely seen. This, however, is merely a general feeling, rather than a response to the topic at hand.
posted by ND¢ at 1:58 PM on November 10, 2006

It annoys me. Then I go on with my day. Which will annoy me in oh-so-many-other ways, too. This is why God invented alcoholism.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:59 PM on November 10, 2006

Unclench.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:14 PM on November 10, 2006

What do you think?

The Democrats have the Senate and House. This will surely be fixed.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:17 PM on November 10, 2006

I'll take the more inside out of preview. That's a great idea for how to stop it. I too thought it was overly cutesy and annoying (and I read RSS too so it's pointless there) and couldn't figure out a way to combat it, but the preview edit should do it.
posted by mathowie at 2:19 PM on November 10, 2006

*awards self social engineering merit badge*
posted by cortex at 2:21 PM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

Woo hoo!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:21 PM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

I love it when a plan comes together
posted by ernie at 2:25 PM on November 10, 2006

Thanks times 1000 mathowie. I can't stand this, and short of crapping in the thread of each person that does it (or making a metatalk thread) I couldn't think of anything to do about it so I just sat on my hands.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:32 PM on November 10, 2006

I'm guilty of this one at least once. I'm pretty sure I've stopped. If you see me do it, smack me with a pointy stick.

This is not
posted by loquacious at 2:34 PM on November 10, 2006

(Of course, some seasoned vets may remember, and some upstart clever-monkeys deduce, the method for producing this fell gimmick. 100% results not guaranteed.)
posted by cortex at 2:34 PM on November 10, 2006

It's always driven me nuts too, but I'm a bit confused. I've seen the "hanging titles" for weeks now on the actual AskMe pages. What does that actually signify? Does the person type [more inside] at the end of that, but AskMe strips it out when the final version is posted (if so, why)? Or does the person actually just type "of course there's," and leave it at that?
posted by Doofus Magoo at 2:38 PM on November 10, 2006

Unclench.

there is no room for cute here.

metafilter: it's serious business
posted by quonsar at 2:39 PM on November 10, 2006

The latter, Doofus. The AskMe front page automatically appends [more inside] to posts for which the author provided content in the "more inside" portion of the posting page.
posted by cortex at 2:46 PM on November 10, 2006

I could give a shit about it, but it does make the RSS look weird, so my staggering indifference tilts .00000001 degrees towards removing it.
posted by Falconetti at 2:49 PM on November 10, 2006

Ah, I love when Metatalk threads turn into Apathy Contests. Go ahead, everyone; please continue to take the time and energy to post about how much you don't care. All contestants must be entered by 6:30 p.m. PST; trophy ceremony promptly at 7:00 p.m. PST.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:58 PM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

Also, I finally added a counter for when you can ask a question again if you get blocked, whether that's because you asked one in the last seven days or you just joined.
posted by mathowie at 3:02 PM on November 10, 2006

Sweet! Only 5 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes, 4 seconds until I can find out what's going on on Hannity's show.
posted by cortex at 3:03 PM on November 10, 2006

*beholds Falconetti's indifference, staggers*
posted by cortex at 3:04 PM on November 10, 2006

It's morning in MetaFilter!
posted by languagehat at 3:07 PM on November 10, 2006

Wow! The counter is very cool, thanks Matt!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:08 PM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

Huh, I came to MeTa just to post this exact question. That was a little weird.

Also, I feel really bad for the woman in the linked jacuzzi video...

Also part II, I second the counter's coolness.
posted by spiderskull at 3:50 PM on November 10, 2006

Now if we could just rid ourselves of that VerySpecificTopicFilter: habit people have. It'd be like reclaiming the House and the Senate all over again.
posted by yeti at 3:54 PM on November 10, 2006

I'm sorry.
posted by TwelveTwo at 3:54 PM on November 10, 2006

While we're at it, let's get rid of the impression some people seem to have that you have to have a [more inside]. If your whole question is just two or three lines, just put the whole thing on the front page already!
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:07 PM on November 10, 2006

Didn't we just do this particular pet peeve?

Can we do grammar, spelling and punctuation next? Please?
posted by fixedgear at 4:24 PM on November 10, 2006

It annoys me. Then I go on with my day. Which will annoy me in oh-so-many-other ways, too. This is why God invented alcoholism.

I second this emotion.

This and refusal to use the shift key annoy me more than RelationshipFilter. Worse than that, have you noticed that these three things often combine forces for a Super Trifecta of Annoyance?
posted by Famous at 4:39 PM on November 10, 2006

Ah, I love when Metatalk threads turn into Apathy Contests.

Yeah I guess I came off as a bit snarky upthread, and I apologise. But then I was genuinely surprised that this annoys some people so much. As I indeed don't care much for it one way or the other, I'm going to shut up now.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:54 PM on November 10, 2006

monju_bosatsu beat me to it!
posted by knave at 5:05 PM on November 10, 2006

*Sees cortex stagger, runs to catch him, we are both crushed under the impressive level of indifference*
posted by quin at 5:07 PM on November 10, 2006

*Sees cortex and quin buried, starts to call for help, becomes overwhelmed with indifference, wanders off*
posted by Karmakaze at 5:32 PM on November 10, 2006

Of course, it goes without saying...
posted by ColdChef at 5:50 PM on November 10, 2006

Well excuuuuuuuse me!
posted by [more inside] at 5:53 PM on November 10, 2006

Did you fart again, [MI]?
posted by yeti at 6:25 PM on November 10, 2006

Previously

Here's the perfect AskMe post:

"Why does this happen? My Google-fu is failing me, so, hope me, hive mind! You betcha there is"
posted by AmbroseChapel at 6:46 PM on November 10, 2006 [2 favorites]

My indifference is not only staggering, it is towering, monumental, and all-consuming. It starts at the very core of the earth and extends to the vaults of heaven. My indifference is pre-verbal and pre-thought, yet at the same time it is ornately complicated and exists as a thicket of self-supporting and interrelated logical principles. It existed before time and will exist when God returns from outside time and ends the world.
posted by Falconetti at 6:51 PM on November 10, 2006

the preview edit should do it.

Also, Matt, it would probably help if you and jessamyn edited out the "more inside" cleverness when you post anonymous questions. Y'all have been letting those show up for a while now, which helps set the bad example.
posted by mediareport at 7:00 PM on November 10, 2006

I have found it to be a general rule that something is only clever the first (or just possibly the second) time you say it, and almost certainly not clever if other people are saying it too. Many people seem to believe the exact opposite, but most of them wouldn't recognize clever if it fell out of their noses.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:04 PM on November 10, 2006

So thats what that stuff is. Saves me a trip to the nosologist.
posted by MetaMonkey at 7:14 PM on November 10, 2006

While we're at this -- let's complain about long questions on AskMe. Keep it short and simple! 'nuff said.
posted by clevershark at 7:48 PM on November 10, 2006

On another topic, I am still amazed that people screw up the "title isn't shown on main page" thing. Matt basically redesigned the preview page to make this crystal clear, and people still do it wrong.
posted by smackfu at 4:51 PM EST on November 10

I agree. I wonder if changing the wording of the posting page would help. In the description of the title bar, the very last box on the page, it currently says "Give a short descriptive title. Please boil your question down to a sentence." This is good, but since questions on the front page are often boiled down to a single sentence, it might confuse a newbie about where this single sentence is going to appear.

I think it might help to also say something like "This title will not show up on the front page list of questions. Be sure your real question appears on the front page, by entering it in the top box on this page. The title you enter in this bottom box will only be shown once someone has already clicked on your question."
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:03 PM on November 10, 2006

Er, the top box of the page is the search box. So, maybe say "the question box above"?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:04 PM on November 10, 2006

Me too.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:05 PM on November 10, 2006

Or maybe just take the example given for the title box ("how do I get an iPod to work in my car?") and move it to the question box instead. That alone might fix the problem.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:06 PM on November 10, 2006

Unclench.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero Imagine the shit we would spew if that happened....

Indeed. When it comes to unclenching and spewing shit, there's always [more inside].
posted by fandango_matt at 8:16 PM on November 10, 2006

Yes, although it is anal-retentive, I suppose, of me, it really annoys me too.
posted by blacklite at 8:36 PM on November 10, 2006

Know what annoys me?

When people favorite comments that I've made a while ago, but I can't tell which ones because the list of contributions is organized by the date I made the comment rather than when it was favorited.

And how come I can't get no tang 'round here?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:05 PM on November 10, 2006

The night chill seeped through Darc Greene's sleeves, a penetrating stain on his London Fog that followed him upstairs and into the dark office. He stripped the damp coat off, slung it over the back of the chair, and turned to light a cigarette. The window was a moon, filled to the edge with sharp white light tainted orange with the glow of the glistening street below and casting a jagged jawline under the dark wet fedora. Drops of rain rolled off the brim bowed low in thought and spattered on thumbs meditatively perched atop hands clasped around his considerable belly. A coupla deep drags and then he faced about and walked around the desk. There was a brown heat there, down in the second drawer, a shot of that warming his insides. And another. The envelope sitting in the center of his desk was a pool of autumn reflecting frigid winter night, the peach cream of Mrs. Danderly's thighs, and he ignored it completely. He knew where it was from before even reading the return address. He needed another shot. The placement of the stamp gave it away at a glance, he practically saw it in the hallway, lined up nearer the center than you'd expect, and Darc knew. He also knew what would be on the stamp if he looked closer-- An incomplete frame around the top and bottom, glowing the window's strong white against an indeterminate dark background. Between this a slanted line over a mysterious sans-serif summation. Hell, even that it was here on his desk gave the sender away. Another shot smothered fear in blank whiskey heat. There was only one man in this town with stamps like that, and Darc knew that man's schedule like the fold in his own headgear. Not knowing was suicide, and Darc Greene had no intention of dying. Because that stamp was here, on a letter sitting alone in the center of his desk with Darc Greene boldly printed on the front, he knew it had to've been
posted by carsonb at 11:16 PM on November 10, 2006

When people favorite comments that I've made a while ago, but I can't tell which ones because the list of contributions is organized by the date I made the comment rather than when it was favorited.

That's just a thinly veiled attempt to get us to favorite some of your older comments, Alvy. Nice try, but I'm on to you!
posted by graventy at 11:23 PM on November 10, 2006

The [more inside] thing never occured to me as something to get annoyed by. It never struck me as clever, either. I've been guilty of it once, that I can remember, but it was an expedient way to end the FPP, not a play for laughs.

What concerns me is the upswing in Metapolicing lately. Seems you can't post a thing nowadays without folks jumping all over you for itty-bitty, incidental details.
posted by EatTheWeak at 3:07 PM on November 11, 2006

Curse you, graventy!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 3:13 PM on November 11, 2006

Seems you can't post a thing nowadays without folks jumping all over you for itty-bitty, incidental details.

Where "nowadays" = "since August 1999".
posted by gleuschk at 3:45 PM on November 11, 2006

On another topic, I am still amazed that people screw up the "title isn't shown on main page" thing. Matt basically redesigned the preview page to make this crystal clear, and people still do it wrong.
posted by smackfu at 4:51 PM EST on November 10

Couldn't you just call it a 'summary' instead of a title? That should remove the instinctive assumption that it will appear at the beginning of the question.

Since we're editing question pages at the moment anyway.
posted by jacalata at 4:06 PM on November 11, 2006

I'd never even noticed people were doing this.

*steps over cortex and quin with an indifferent stride, wondering why the pavements have got so damn bumpy in Metafilterland recently*
posted by penguin pie at 5:37 PM on November 11, 2006

And again
posted by smackfu at 4:58 PM on November 12, 2006

Seems you can't post a thing nowadays without folks jumping all over you for itty-bitty, incidental details.
posted by EatTheWeak at 3:07 PM PST on November 11

Is this anti-eponysterical?
posted by vacapinta at 5:15 PM on November 12, 2006

ODIV: My contribution to your pretentious black and white movie. All taken from this thread. I think it's a good opening monologue over the titles. Take it from here. See you at Sundance!
--------------
Yesterday a woman at the bakery fastened all my twist ties counterclockwise, and the waitress signed her name with a happy face. I will not go there again. I've noticed it a lot more in the past few days - the snowball effect. Someone thought it clever and so on and so on. I find things irritating when people aren't as clever as they think they're being. The Democrats have the Senate and House. This will surely be fixed...
(pause)

I've been eating grilled sandwiches and using blue cheese dressing instead of mayo. It just adds so much zazz to a nice roast beef and edam.
posted by The Deej at 7:09 PM on November 12, 2006

If you want to be really pretentious, that could be your whole script.
posted by dg at 8:48 PM on November 12, 2006