Starry Eyed Surprise May 17, 2007 10:52 AM Subscribe
About those stars some people get... pointless tiny little request, but could those be given a transparent canvas so they show up nicey nice across themes? Currently when viewing with the white background they show up as a star-in-a-block. Or you could even render them as Unicode entities so they could be given the ol' CSS one-two punch and you wouldn't have to get clever with graphics.
Don't just two or three people have the stars? And only in MetaTalk comments? Yes, I agree, pointless tiny little request.
posted by amro at 11:03 AM on May 17, 2007
posted by amro at 11:03 AM on May 17, 2007
(That required cheating, for the record.)
What amro said, pretty much—it's a tiny silly feature, restricted to Metatalk and not likely to get a lot of further use, so Matt and pb might not care to go to the effort.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:05 AM on May 17, 2007
What amro said, pretty much—it's a tiny silly feature, restricted to Metatalk and not likely to get a lot of further use, so Matt and pb might not care to go to the effort.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:05 AM on May 17, 2007
I don't like the stars because they look too much like the stars from my contact contributions Greasemonkey script. And I refuse to change.
posted by Plutor at 11:06 AM on May 17, 2007
posted by Plutor at 11:06 AM on May 17, 2007
It's the marzipan pony on the icing on the cake. Just thought I'd toss it out there. If the background isn't going to change, can we get a little Mario punching it from below?
posted by sonofslim at 11:15 AM on May 17, 2007
posted by sonofslim at 11:15 AM on May 17, 2007
Yeah, changing a jpg to a transparent gif would probably ruin your day too. Think about that!
posted by prostyle at 11:48 AM on May 17, 2007
posted by prostyle at 11:48 AM on May 17, 2007
Why gets stars and why? I can't remember seeing them.
posted by voidcontext at 11:49 AM on May 17, 2007
posted by voidcontext at 11:49 AM on May 17, 2007
'Who', who gets stars, and why, why can't I type what I mean?
posted by voidcontext at 11:50 AM on May 17, 2007
posted by voidcontext at 11:50 AM on May 17, 2007
The stars count as "strikes" against you, sort of like stars in Grand Theft Auto.
... or am I bluffing?
posted by boo_radley at 12:07 PM on May 17, 2007
... or am I bluffing?
posted by boo_radley at 12:07 PM on May 17, 2007
Effigy2000 has created a mini-faq on his userpage explaining the star.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:13 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:13 PM on May 17, 2007
Yeah, this request is pointless.
posted by breaks the guidelines? at 12:20 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by breaks the guidelines? at 12:20 PM on May 17, 2007
I'm with you sonofslim - I've sort of slightly noticed the grey background more than once, and might even have got to the point of vaguely wishing it wasn't there.
posted by jack_mo at 12:25 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by jack_mo at 12:25 PM on May 17, 2007
Hey! What happened to Stan Chin's star?
posted by timeistight at 12:42 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by timeistight at 12:42 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
FWIW, the question mark in my nick is a star [Unicode 0x2605 ★] but it doesn’t display correctly…
It does appear correctly above the comment input area, however.
posted by breaks the guidelines? at 12:44 PM on May 17, 2007
It does appear correctly above the comment input area, however.
posted by breaks the guidelines? at 12:44 PM on May 17, 2007
Fixed it, the stars are gone now. I've been meaning to remove them, since they were sort of a short-term joke prize from last December. Now let us never speak of them again.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:52 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:52 PM on May 17, 2007
Sonofslim asks for a pony and you kill it!?
posted by pica at 12:54 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by pica at 12:54 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
Wow, that's pretty uncool. I thought moderators were supposed to be fun and human.
posted by smackfu at 12:58 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by smackfu at 12:58 PM on May 17, 2007
NOT YOURS
posted by soundofsuburbia at 12:59 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by soundofsuburbia at 12:59 PM on May 17, 2007
Wow, that's pretty uncool. I thought moderators were supposed to be fun and human.
You're not scoring a lot of points with the Mirthless Automaton Party, bucko.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:06 PM on May 17, 2007
You're not scoring a lot of points with the Mirthless Automaton Party, bucko.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:06 PM on May 17, 2007
*weeps* - ah, fleeting fame and glory. Back to obscurity.
No gold star for you sonofslim, you little brat.
posted by madamjujujive at 1:10 PM on May 17, 2007
No gold star for you sonofslim, you little brat.
posted by madamjujujive at 1:10 PM on May 17, 2007
... and no more blow jobs for you mathowie.
posted by madamjujujive at 1:10 PM on May 17, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by madamjujujive at 1:10 PM on May 17, 2007 [2 favorites]
madamjujujive gets a gold star from me. i know it doesn't show up on your screen, but it's there. it's there.
posted by shmegegge at 1:13 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by shmegegge at 1:13 PM on May 17, 2007
and no more blow jobs for you mathowie.
posted by madamjujujive
madamjujujive gets a gold star from me.
posted by shmegegge
Yeah, don't think that wasn't totally transparent, man.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:15 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by madamjujujive
madamjujujive gets a gold star from me.
posted by shmegegge
Yeah, don't think that wasn't totally transparent, man.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:15 PM on May 17, 2007
Quoth the craven,"Nevermore."
posted by loquacious at 1:17 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by loquacious at 1:17 PM on May 17, 2007
you're a filthy filthy man, cortex, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
posted by shmegegge at 1:17 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by shmegegge at 1:17 PM on May 17, 2007
take that, snowflakes.
posted by puke & cry at 1:18 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by puke & cry at 1:18 PM on May 17, 2007
Am I a filthy man? Or am I really an extremely clean mirror?
Think about it, hummer-boy.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:20 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
Think about it, hummer-boy.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:20 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
You're not scoring a lot of points with the Mirthless Automaton Party, bucko.
Sorry, it was a reference to Matt's awesome new blog TM.
posted by smackfu at 1:21 PM on May 17, 2007
Sorry, it was a reference to Matt's awesome new blog TM.
posted by smackfu at 1:21 PM on May 17, 2007
Fixed it, the stars are gone now.
Jesus Christ. I really don't understand this anti-fun attitude. But thanks for the improved user history interface.
posted by languagehat at 1:24 PM on May 17, 2007
Jesus Christ. I really don't understand this anti-fun attitude. But thanks for the improved user history interface.
posted by languagehat at 1:24 PM on May 17, 2007
I put a star after my name on the screen, but for some reason, it doesn't scroll with the text. In fact, it just stays there even when I turn the monitor off.
Mac-Mini running OSX, please advise!
posted by drezdn at 1:33 PM on May 17, 2007
Mac-Mini running OSX, please advise!
posted by drezdn at 1:33 PM on May 17, 2007
Jesus Christ. I really don't understand this anti-fun attitude.
I wasn't being dead serious when I said it. We're talking about goofy stars. They sort of crossed the point though, where they confuse more than they used to amuse since the contest was six months ago. I took the stan chin joke star away when the explanation for it had to take place in any thread he contributed to and we're pretty much at that point with the contest stars.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:43 PM on May 17, 2007
I wasn't being dead serious when I said it. We're talking about goofy stars. They sort of crossed the point though, where they confuse more than they used to amuse since the contest was six months ago. I took the stan chin joke star away when the explanation for it had to take place in any thread he contributed to and we're pretty much at that point with the contest stars.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:43 PM on May 17, 2007
drezdn: it's because of parallax shifting, your star moves slowly against the text because it's actually much farther away. Please convert to a non-persepctive based geometry and your problems will be solved.
posted by Arturus at 1:45 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by Arturus at 1:45 PM on May 17, 2007
That day all the Mefites forgot about stars,
And whether they had one or none upon thars.
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:52 PM on May 17, 2007 [3 favorites]
And whether they had one or none upon thars.
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:52 PM on May 17, 2007 [3 favorites]
Hey! What happened to madamjujujive star?
posted by Stan Chin at 1:55 PM on May 17, 2007 [3 favorites]
posted by Stan Chin at 1:55 PM on May 17, 2007 [3 favorites]
When I saw this request, I kind of figured that this would not new dell. I always assumed that the stars were supposed to only last a month, but it wasn't on mathowie's radar to remember to remove them. Way to send up the signal flare.
posted by team lowkey at 2:02 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by team lowkey at 2:02 PM on May 17, 2007
Is this some sort of Sneetches-on-beaches Dr. Seuss parable?
And I wish I could make my comment in anapestic tetrameter.
posted by GuyZero at 2:06 PM on May 17, 2007
And I wish I could make my comment in anapestic tetrameter.
posted by GuyZero at 2:06 PM on May 17, 2007
Couldn't you just make the stars link to an explanation?
posted by graventy at 2:08 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by graventy at 2:08 PM on May 17, 2007
Obviously we need a new contest for new stars. "Dancing for the Stars." I think Fox would pick it up.
posted by yeti at 2:09 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by yeti at 2:09 PM on May 17, 2007
Why not just have the stars link to a "star FAQ" with a short description of why the user has a star and a link to the thread where they earned it.
posted by jmd82 at 2:26 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by jmd82 at 2:26 PM on May 17, 2007
And now Effigy2000's mini-faq is a useless inter-relic.
posted by Mister_A at 2:26 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by Mister_A at 2:26 PM on May 17, 2007
yeah, that engagement announcement is just confusing, now.
posted by shmegegge at 2:39 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by shmegegge at 2:39 PM on May 17, 2007
"Dancing for the Stars." I think Fox would pick it up.
posted by yeti
Dancing yeti? Could replace hamsters.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:41 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by yeti
Dancing yeti? Could replace hamsters.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:41 PM on May 17, 2007
This is why we can't have nice things.
posted by Many bubbles at 2:44 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by Many bubbles at 2:44 PM on May 17, 2007
Wait, so is anyone actually upset over this? Because that seems kind of absurd.
posted by puke & cry at 3:15 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by puke & cry at 3:15 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
There are tons of star-like unicode entities. Some of them look like crap at small font sizes, but I can't exactly control that.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★★★★
✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩
✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪
✫✫✫✫✫✫✫✫
✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬
✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭
✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮
✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
✵✵✵✵✵✵✵✵
✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸
✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿
❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄
❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇
❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊
❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
posted by Rhomboid at 3:28 PM on May 17, 2007
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★★★★
✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩
✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪
✫✫✫✫✫✫✫✫
✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬
✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭
✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮
✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
✵✵✵✵✵✵✵✵
✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸
✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿
❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄
❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇
❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊
❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
posted by Rhomboid at 3:28 PM on May 17, 2007
This was so worth $5.
posted by ????? at 3:59 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by ????? at 3:59 PM on May 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
oops... no, it was not. where's my shiny new unicode username?
posted by ????? at 4:02 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by ????? at 4:02 PM on May 17, 2007
sonofslim, this is what you get for viewing the site in other inferior colors.
posted by paul_smatatoes at 4:30 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by paul_smatatoes at 4:30 PM on May 17, 2007
If only there were some way to reward sonofslim for his contribution to making MetaFilter a fun, unique place.
posted by grouse at 4:31 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by grouse at 4:31 PM on May 17, 2007
jonson lost his spinning star: This loss makes me unaccountably sad.
posted by cgc373 at 4:41 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by cgc373 at 4:41 PM on May 17, 2007
If only there were some way to reward sonofslim for his contribution to making MetaFilter a fun, unique place.
The next scene is you holding me down with a blanket while Effigy2000 and madamjujujive beat me with bars of soap in socks.
posted by sonofslim at 4:43 PM on May 17, 2007
The next scene is you holding me down with a blanket while Effigy2000 and madamjujujive beat me with bars of soap in socks.
posted by sonofslim at 4:43 PM on May 17, 2007
Well, I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of symbol of shame to appear by your name in MetaTalk. But I guess mathowie would never go for that.
posted by grouse at 4:45 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by grouse at 4:45 PM on May 17, 2007
WTF! I paid a lot of money on ebay for a metafilter account with a star on it. I demand a refund!
-matthewchen
Come see my new business venture at www.iwanttospamyou.com!
posted by hindmost at 4:53 PM on May 17, 2007
-matthewchen
Come see my new business venture at www.iwanttospamyou.com!
posted by hindmost at 4:53 PM on May 17, 2007
Or a silly but unflattering composition posted to Music. Maybe Elliott Smith's Son of Sam with lyrics replaced and performed on slidewhistle and jew's harp.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:53 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:53 PM on May 17, 2007
I'd do it, but I'm on drugs. And I don't care.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:59 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:59 PM on May 17, 2007
I don't think the jews had anything to do with this one, cortex.
posted by graventy at 5:00 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by graventy at 5:00 PM on May 17, 2007
The thing with entities showing up as ? in usernames was probably due to the fact that you could create copycat accounts that looked exactly like another person's account name by just sticking in some zero-width spaces. So it looks like mathowie converts any entities in the username outside of the usual ranges to a ? for display to prevent that form of malfeasance.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:05 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by Rhomboid at 5:05 PM on May 17, 2007
Which brings up the niche griefer possibility of same-char-count different-entity clone users. Hrm.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:06 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:06 PM on May 17, 2007
I was just going to ask, what if my name was five question marks?????
posted by graventy at 5:18 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by graventy at 5:18 PM on May 17, 2007
Which brings up the niche griefer possibility of same-char-count different-entity clone users. Hrm.
Oh! Hi Pandora.
posted by tellurian at 6:22 PM on May 17, 2007
Oh! Hi Pandora.
posted by tellurian at 6:22 PM on May 17, 2007
overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 6:38 PM on May 17, 2007 [3 favorites]
posted by bottlebrushtree at 6:38 PM on May 17, 2007 [3 favorites]
I don't know if this is significant, but this yuk-yuk username shows up correctly in the live preview and next to "Posting as:" above the comment box, but nowhere else.
posted by ????? at 6:50 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by ????? at 6:50 PM on May 17, 2007
where's my shiny new unicode username?
i think it was Ethereal Bligh who created a unicode quonsar account thus leading to the stripping of unicode from usernames
posted by quonsar at 7:17 PM on May 17, 2007
i think it was Ethereal Bligh who created a unicode quonsar account thus leading to the stripping of unicode from usernames
posted by quonsar at 7:17 PM on May 17, 2007
Cortex: Ah. I shouldn't have been so suspicio.us, then.
Damn. Someone already parked it.
posted by IronLizard at 7:22 PM on May 17, 2007
Damn. Someone already parked it.
posted by IronLizard at 7:22 PM on May 17, 2007
Nobody's got zoo.sporifero.us yet. And phytosporiferous and pseudosporiferous aren't even words. So there's hope.
posted by flabdablet at 7:51 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by flabdablet at 7:51 PM on May 17, 2007
There are tons of star-like unicode entities. Some of them look like crap at small font sizes, but I can't exactly control that.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★★★★
✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩
✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪
✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬
[snip]
❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊
❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
It's amazing how many ways you can make little bars!
posted by Many bubbles at 8:39 PM on May 17, 2007
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★★★★
✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩
✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪
✬✬✬✬✬✬✬✬
[snip]
❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊
❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
It's amazing how many ways you can make little bars!
posted by Many bubbles at 8:39 PM on May 17, 2007
What puke & cry stamped* on.
*Namely, some people's indignation at the star removal & related comment... when folks take umbrage to and get het up over a comment that ends with "Now let us never speak of them again," it's pretty obvious it ain't the commenter who's got to lighten up a bit.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:56 PM on May 17, 2007
*Namely, some people's indignation at the star removal & related comment... when folks take umbrage to and get het up over a comment that ends with "Now let us never speak of them again," it's pretty obvious it ain't the commenter who's got to lighten up a bit.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:56 PM on May 17, 2007
Some of them look like crap at small font sizes
I'm pretty sure this one is crap: ♨
Stink Lines or Steam: You be the judge!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:59 PM on May 17, 2007
I'm pretty sure this one is crap: ♨
Stink Lines or Steam: You be the judge!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:59 PM on May 17, 2007
I don't see any little bars. I guess it depends on the browser and fonts that are installed.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:11 PM on May 17, 2007
posted by Rhomboid at 10:11 PM on May 17, 2007
I don't know if this is significant, but this yuk-yuk username shows up correctly in the live preview and next to "Posting as:" above the comment box, but nowhere else.
You could have saved your five bucks if you had paid attention to this.
posted by puke & cry at 11:11 PM on May 17, 2007
You could have saved your five bucks if you had paid attention to this.
posted by puke & cry at 11:11 PM on May 17, 2007
I would just like to point out, in the tradition of Dave Barry, that "Unicode Quonsar Account" would be a great name for a rock band.
Rhomboid, you're seeing what you're supposed to see. The "many ways to create bars," I believe, referred to bars of stars.
Oh dear, I do believe I've gone Seusical.
posted by Alterscape at 3:14 AM on May 18, 2007
Rhomboid, you're seeing what you're supposed to see. The "many ways to create bars," I believe, referred to bars of stars.
Oh dear, I do believe I've gone Seusical.
posted by Alterscape at 3:14 AM on May 18, 2007
You could have saved your five bucks if you had paid attention to this.
* Pukes; cries. *
We'll call it a small atonement for in-thread buffoonery.
posted by ????? at 5:33 AM on May 18, 2007
* Pukes; cries. *
We'll call it a small atonement for in-thread buffoonery.
posted by ????? at 5:33 AM on May 18, 2007
The "many ways to create bars," I believe, referred to bars of stars.
No, bars of bars. Or of squares, perhaps.
Bars of squars.
My weak-ass browser setup at work has lousy unicode font support, and all but about three lines of that comment were basically [] [] [] [] [].
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:41 AM on May 18, 2007
No, bars of bars. Or of squares, perhaps.
Bars of squars.
My weak-ass browser setup at work has lousy unicode font support, and all but about three lines of that comment were basically [] [] [] [] [].
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:41 AM on May 18, 2007
Maybe Elliott Smith's Son of Sam with lyrics replaced and performed on slidewhistle and jew's harp.
Holy Jesus, that's a cover I want to record. It's too bad that I have neither of those instruments handy (though a quick trip to the toy store would fix that...)
posted by god hates math at 10:40 AM on May 18, 2007
Holy Jesus, that's a cover I want to record. It's too bad that I have neither of those instruments handy (though a quick trip to the toy store would fix that...)
posted by god hates math at 10:40 AM on May 18, 2007
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posted by Plutor at 11:02 AM on May 17, 2007