Reply link inline w/ comments?

March 7, 2008 2:03 PM

Requesting to add a link to reply directly to another comment.

FeatureRequestFilter: I've searched through MetaTalk and the FAQ for this, and the keywords make the results either very broad or very limited. Either way, I haven't found anything relevant. That said, if it turns out this has been asked before and turned down, I apologize in advance.

Anyway, I've noticed there's no real way outside of HTMLing it up yourself to reply directly to a comment in a clean way (some people do this, which is hella convenient, but without much consistency). Blockquoting works I suppose, but I'd personally like to get an idea as to who's saying what. Gawker blogs have this feature which could probably be ripped off very easily: an option to reply directly to a comment, which throws you down to the reply textbox with

@<a href="#4596239">booticon</a>:

at the beginning. I think it'd come in real handy for long debates, although I do acknowledge add more noise to comment footers than what's already there.

THANK YOU MUCH.

posted by booticon to feature requests at 2:03 PM (47 comments total)

Er, totally flaked out on posting the raw HTML for the replycode.
posted by booticon at 2:04 PM on March 7, 2008

here's a bookmarklet for your browser and there are many similar options.

Please don't use the @username convention, it's kind of annoying looking and in general we quote stuff here said by others in italics (and optionally with the username in front and linked to the original).
posted by mathowie at 2:05 PM on March 7, 2008 [11 favorites]

So, what's everyone doing this weekend? I'm going to a barbecue.
posted by roll truck roll at 2:06 PM on March 7, 2008

Me? Workin'. Mockin' the folks going to South By Southwest and don't even know about the comet that's going to destroy Austin next week. Maybe I'll have a beer tonight if I successfully unbreak this current problem.
posted by ardgedee at 2:09 PM on March 7, 2008

Going to the coast, myself.
posted by mumkin at 2:09 PM on March 7, 2008

And to answer your question more directly, we've never done a "reply" button for fear that people would hit it and write what they want without regard for quoting length.

Going the DIY route, you have to copy/paste and hit the I button below, which people typically use to quote sparingly (like just a sentence or so) which is great.
posted by mathowie at 2:10 PM on March 7, 2008

There's really two options to keep track of the flow of a thread:

1. Hit F5 repeatedly so you can see every new comment as it's posted.
2. Wait a couple of days until the thread slows down enough to read in its entirety at one or two sittings.

Also, liberal use of CTRL + F.
posted by desjardins at 2:36 PM on March 7, 2008

Direct replies to comments can be handled via MeFi Mail. Responses to posts about things on the web can be left in the thread.

See also: threaded comments on MeFi and the non-existence thereof.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:42 PM on March 7, 2008

mathowie: Please don't use the @username convention, it's kind of annoying looking and in general we quote stuff here said by others in italics (and optionally with the username in front and linked to the original).

Thanks for the link to the bookmarklet. It does uh, some of the work. If I muster up the time, I'll have to see if I can play around with it/break it. We'll see.

(On preview) Durrr, it says right on there that it omits the username/link for shorter threads. Not much of a programmer, but maybe a better approach would be to take the link to the comment and parse it w/ the comment body and username (and URL obvs.).

In other words, I got nothin'.
posted by booticon at 3:03 PM on March 7, 2008

I have to say, one of the things that makes metafilter special is how much gets enforced by simply assuming the users are lazy, and so shortcuts for less than desireable behaviors are simply not provided. It's a surprisingly effective system.
posted by davejay at 3:08 PM on March 7, 2008 [5 favorites]

I don't care for your tone.
posted by Divine_Wino at 3:11 PM on March 7, 2008

Sorry davejay, that was meant to arrive under booticon's comment.
posted by Divine_Wino at 3:11 PM on March 7, 2008

Divine_Wino: Sorry davejay, that was meant to arrive under booticon's comment.

That easily would have been prevented had you quoted me. *ducks*

Hey, this bookmarklet comes in handy!
posted by booticon at 3:15 PM on March 7, 2008

I normally do quote people, but I didn't feel the need to exert myself and I still don't care for your tone, but I am amused by your sprightly nature.
posted by Divine_Wino at 3:20 PM on March 7, 2008

Here's the funniest thing I've ever said in Metafilter.
posted by roll truck roll at 3:21 PM on March 7, 2008

Mefiquote Greasemonkey script
posted by loiseau at 3:28 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

loiseau: "Mefiquote Greasemonkey script"

Ooooh. This is pretty fucking hardcore.
posted by booticon at 3:37 PM on March 7, 2008

roll truck roll, I wish I had the patience to wait five or six days before responding to that.
posted by cortex at 3:39 PM on March 7, 2008

I know you do, cortex.
posted by grouse at 3:58 PM on March 7, 2008

I have a bad cold, so I'll be spending the weekend suffering. And as God is my witness, I'm going to make you all suffer with me.
posted by languagehat at 5:07 PM on March 7, 2008

languagehat: "I'm going to make you all suffer with me."

I have nothing to add to the conversation -- I just wanted to try out the script. (Imagine this is crossposted to alt.test.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:16 PM on March 7, 2008

Sorry davejay, that was meant to arrive under booticon's comment.

That easily would have been prevented had you quoted me. *ducks*

Given how funny the result was, I see that as a feature of the current system rather than a bug.
posted by davejay at 5:33 PM on March 7, 2008

Sorry davejay, that was meant to arrive under booticon's comment.

That easily would have been prevented had you quoted me. *ducks*

Given how funny the result was, I see that as a feature of the current system rather than a bug.

I dunno, I can see hours of fun resulting from the system as it is.
posted by yhbc at 5:53 PM on March 7, 2008

Whenever I think of sparrows, I always imagine that they have really sad lives. But then I realize that it's only because the word "sparrow" sounds like "sorrow." I suppose that these small, plain birds could be as happy as anyone else.
posted by Afroblanco at 6:35 PM on March 7, 2008 [3 favorites]

I have to grade midterm exams, so I'll be spending part of the weekend suffering. And as God is my witness, I'm going to make you all suffer with me, unless you'll accept a shiny new dime to grade the exams for me instead.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:45 PM on March 7, 2008

This show Chowder on Cartoon Network is seven kinds of fucked up.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:22 PM on March 7, 2008

there's no real way ... to reply directly to a comment in a clean way

Generally, I use only italics when the user being quoted isn't ambiguous. I do this because sticking a user name in front of quoted text feels a little confrontational. If I want to make a comment personal, I will occasionally address a user by name, but not in a 'throw your words back at you' way. If I'm quoting more than one user in a single comment, I precede each quote with a user name, because it is important to avoid confusion.

This style has evolved a lot over time. Originally I would put the user name in bold in front of quoted text.. Tacky!
posted by Chuckles at 8:22 PM on March 7, 2008

Not sure why pb (or someone else) couldn't add an additional link on the comment you want to quote that drops the contents of the comment into the text box with a pre-formatted URL to the specific quote.

Throw a div around each comment with a unique id:
<div id="comment_519155">comment stuff here</div>

Add an id to the anchor link in the "posted by" line:
<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/user/1" target="_self" id="user_519155">mathowie</a>

Add this javascript:

function quote_comment(id) {
var comment = document.getElementById('comment_' + id).innerText;
var user = document.getElementById('user_' + id).innerText;

document.comment.value = '<a href="#' + id + '">' + user + '</a>: <em>' + comment + '</em>';
}


Then just add a link to each comment (where the favourite, flag options are):
<a href="#" onclick="quote_comment(519155)">quote</a>

I haven't tested any of the above but something like it should work. Without the lack of threaded comments something like this would be incredibly useful and would go a long way in encouraging a standard way of quoting.
posted by purephase at 9:17 PM on March 7, 2008

The "text box" I'm referring too in my first sentence is the comment textarea.
posted by purephase at 9:18 PM on March 7, 2008

robocop is bleeding: "This show Chowder on Cartoon Network is seven kinds of fucked up."

I emphatically agree with this. Then again, I really wish SpongeBob SquarePants had been around when me and Maryjane used to hang out together.
posted by SteveTheRed at 9:40 PM on March 7, 2008

Not sure why pb (or someone else) couldn't add an additional link on the comment you want to quote that drops the contents of the comment into the text box with a pre-formatted URL to the specific quote.

Throw a div around each comment with a unique id:
comment stuff here

Add an id to the anchor link in the "posted by" line:
mathowie

Add this javascript:

function quote_comment(id) {
var comment = document.getElementById('comment_' + id).innerText;
var user = document.getElementById('user_' + id).innerText;

document.comment.value = '' + user + ': ' + comment + '';
}


Then just add a link to each comment (where the favourite, flag options are):
quote

I haven't tested any of the above but something like it should work. Without the lack of threaded comments something like this would be incredibly useful and would go a long way in encouraging a standard way of quoting.

because people would do shit like this.
posted by quonsar at 9:47 PM on March 7, 2008 [2 favorites]

You assume. The user still has to add their own comments and contextualize the quote. Some people might do it, but I doubt it would be the majority. I don't see how it would be any different then any number of the other poor formatting possibilities.
posted by purephase at 10:02 PM on March 7, 2008

tkolar writes...
So am I the only one who quotes in this particular fashion?

Yes. I think you are.
posted by tkolar at 11:39 PM on March 7, 2008

People would also top-reply.


--- Original Message ---
Not sure why pb (or someone else) couldn't add an additional link on the comment you want to quote that drops the contents of the comment into the text box with a pre-formatted URL to the specific quote.

Throw a div around each comment with a unique id:
<div id="comment_519155">comment stuff here</div>

Add an id to the anchor link in the "posted by" line:
<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/user/1" target="_self" id="user_519155">mathowie</a>

Add this javascript:

function quote_comment(id) {
var comment = document.getElementById('comment_' + id).innerText;
var user = document.getElementById('user_' + id).innerText;

document.comment.value = '<a href="#' + id + '">' + user + '</a>: <em>' + comment + '</em>';
}


Then just add a link to each comment (where the favourite, flag options are):
<a href="#" onclick="quote_comment(519155)">quote</a>

I haven't tested any of the above but something like it should work. Without the lack of threaded comments something like this would be incredibly useful and would go a long way in encouraging a standard way of quoting.

posted by loiseau at 12:27 AM on March 8, 2008

I still don't like his tone.
posted by Divine_Wino at 4:25 AM on March 8, 2008

I think it's a philosophical thing. In principle, not having an auto-reply feature means you're more likely to comment on the post rather than on the other comments. It's less of a bug or technical problem and more of a feature.
posted by graymouser at 4:49 AM on March 8, 2008

Divine_Wino: "I still don't like his tone."

<3
posted by booticon at 5:04 AM on March 8, 2008

You're a jerk. YES YOU!
posted by Mister_A at 5:27 AM on March 8, 2008

Don't you think I know that?
posted by solipsophistocracy at 9:00 AM on March 8, 2008

Nothing stops them from doing it now.

loiseau: People would also top-reply.
posted by purephase at 9:19 AM on March 8, 2008

I just want to throw out that there is a marked difference between the Plutor-Greasemonkey script, and the Jeff-bookmarklet thingie that Matt linked: the former creates relative links (which look like "/blah/blah/15920/Reply-link") and the latter creates absolute links (which look like "http://metatalk.metafilter.com/15920/Reply-link")... and according to the mods, absolute links are preferable as relative links can sometimes break in other parts of the site (Recent Activity, for example).

So.
posted by pineapple at 9:44 AM on March 8, 2008

booticon writes "This is pretty fucking hardcore."

I've had it installed for a couple of years now, but I only use it very sparingly. Otherwise, you look like a cunt. There's nothing worse than seeing a couple of hundred comments in which people just do the cut and paste italic thing, only to find that you're the attention whore that has to be different with your fancy-schmancy quoting system.

I do use it though, where I think it would be particularly helpful to direct someone to the full content of the comment I'm referring to, because in that context, I'm not being a cunt, I'm doing them a favour.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:04 PM on March 8, 2008

Yeah, I think in this thread, I'm well, being a cunt, because the thread is so short. It also can get confusing with not only the sheer amount of replies, but the length as well. That's where this comes in handy.
posted by booticon at 5:26 PM on March 8, 2008

loiseau: People would also top-reply.

purephase: Nothing stops them from doing it now.

Yes but the people who could be arsed to install a script or manually mark it up know better.
posted by loiseau at 6:58 PM on March 8, 2008

Sometimes, especially in really extensive, heated discussion or on Meta threads about commenting practices, I find myself wanting to quote things spontaneously, just to see what the reaction is.

You are such a fucking asshole.
posted by spiderwire at 7:42 PM on March 8, 2008

What happens if you quote yourself? Do you get caught in a loop?
posted by not_on_display at 11:57 PM on March 8, 2008

not_on_display: ...caught in a loop? not_on_display: ... in a loop? not_on_display: ...loop? not_on_display: ...oop? not_on_display: ...op? not_on_display: ...p? not_on_display: ...? not_on_display: ?

...whew, that was freaky!!
posted by not_on_display at 6:01 PM on March 9, 2008