Asking for the removal of a feature.

April 6, 2008 7:15 PM

What's the point of "[Your Contact] just added [other member] as a contact."? Why should I care about that? I can understand highlighting the posts/fpps/best answers of my contacts but this just seems overkill. I'm casting my vote for removing this option.

I know that most will just say "ignore it" but when a member gets really busy adding people (*cough* Jess every coupla days *cough*) all I get is a wall of "Such and such added such and such" and that's all that's on my highlight bar.

Does anyone actually care who their contacts favorite? And... if so, why?

posted by dobbs to feature requests at 7:15 PM (57 comments total)

1). Go to your all activity page

2). Deselect the "Added Others" option. Save the setting by hitting the "Filter" button.
posted by mathowie at 7:18 PM on April 6, 2008

That said, yes, I care who my contacts contact, because I can't always remember unprompted some of the cool people whose stuff has in the past delighted me; on the off chance that one of my contacts contacts them, bam, reminder. It's feature that is more useful the more contacts you've added in the first place, of course.
posted by cortex at 7:21 PM on April 6, 2008

Very timely question. I just sent jessamyn a jokey MeMail about all that contacting, glad to see I can switch it off :)
posted by pjern at 7:21 PM on April 6, 2008

Does anyone actually care who their contacts favorite? And... if so, why?

I think cortex is cool, ergo if cortex thingks someone is cool and ads them, I might be interested 'cause cortex is cool right? RIGHT?!

don't steer me wrong man.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:23 PM on April 6, 2008

Thanks, Matt. I had no idea I could do this. Sorry for the dumb question. Close away if you wish.
posted by dobbs at 7:25 PM on April 6, 2008

Jessamyn has a (good!) habit of adding anyone she meets at a meetup as a contact. This actually helps when you're like "oh hey strange person I know nothing about" at a meetup but then two months later you see them post a question on ask mefi and you're like "wow, I had no idea they are also into obscure sporting activity that I like to do! we'll have something to talk about at the next meetup!"
posted by mathowie at 7:32 PM on April 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I contact-add everyone I meet in real life. Last night I met/added like 10-15 new people. Sorry all!
posted by jessamyn at 7:38 PM on April 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, it's fun to add new contacts completely at random just to mess with Brandon Blatcher.
posted by cortex at 7:46 PM on April 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

Stop meeting new people, damnit.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:03 PM on April 6, 2008

I'm sorry I keep adding so many contacts, Dobbs. :(

Maybe you're just hatin' because all the Toronto mefites keep adding each other as "met" but not you?
posted by SassHat at 8:03 PM on April 6, 2008

I cast my vote for pure maple syrup.
posted by breezeway at 8:40 PM on April 6, 2008

Lemmie get this straight: you're on the internet, asking the admins of an online community to clear your contact list, 'cause you're too much of a loner for that sort of thing?
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:43 PM on April 6, 2008

I like this feature for the glum dispiriting reminder that your friends soon tire of you and move on to newer and more interesting relationships.
posted by Abiezer at 8:44 PM on April 6, 2008 [6 favorites]

Why don't you just ignore the feature?
posted by mattoxic at 9:04 PM on April 6, 2008

...your friends soon tire of you and move on to newer and more interesting relationships.

Abiezer, you were my first, and I'll never forget that.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:24 PM on April 6, 2008

This thread does not have enough wank.
posted by special-k at 9:41 PM on April 6, 2008

Stop meeting new people, damnit

What do you think this internet thing is for, anyway? Meeting people? I think not! People are icky!
posted by Miko at 9:51 PM on April 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Damn! I'm empathetic!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:58 PM on April 6, 2008

Jessamyn has a (good!) habit of adding anyone she meets at a meetup as a contact.

Ah, now I have a reason I can use other than general curmudgeonliness for why I only have one contact. He is, as far as I am aware, the only other MeFite I have met in the flesh.

I am a convert to the Jessamyn Method of Contact Aggregation™!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:15 PM on April 6, 2008

I remember the day that this was implemented cortex added pretty much everyone as a contact. Does anyone still have that screenshot of the page?
posted by flatluigi at 10:28 PM on April 6, 2008

Usually when i meet someone IRL that I've known online, they try and disavow me.

Maybe that's just me...
posted by pupdog at 10:54 PM on April 6, 2008

I contact-add everyone I've followed home in real life.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:39 PM on April 6, 2008

*Follows IRFH*, not stalkist
posted by Cranberry at 11:58 PM on April 6, 2008

It will be the staunch few such as yourself that carries us through this, dear flapjax!
posted by Abiezer at 3:43 AM on April 7, 2008

I was stoked when Jessamyn added me as a contact, right up until a couple days later when she added her own sockpuppet as a contact.
posted by popechunk at 5:32 AM on April 7, 2008

Lemmie get this straight: you're on the internet, asking the admins of an online community to clear your contact list, 'cause you're too much of a loner for that sort of thing?

quonsar has just added motorhead as a contact.
posted by quonsar at 5:41 AM on April 7, 2008

And now Lemmy not only looks like he smells like fish.
posted by not_on_display at 6:23 AM on April 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

This thread does not have enough wank.

You'll have to take my word that I've fixed that over here.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 6:30 AM on April 7, 2008

...right up until a couple days later when she added her own sockpuppet as a contact.

I think denying that you have met your own sock puppet is somewhat pathological, no?
posted by jessamyn at 6:34 AM on April 7, 2008

We have met the enemy and he is us!
posted by Abiezer at 6:54 AM on April 7, 2008

Everyone, madamjujujive just added dobbs as a contact. Thought you would all like to know.
posted by iconomy at 7:15 AM on April 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

blue_beetle has added 0 new contacts and has been added as a contact 0 times since your last visit.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:52 AM on April 7, 2008

Yeah, I contact-add everyone I meet in real life.

I'm glad to know about this filtering option, because up til now every time I'd see Jess add a contact I'd think, "yay! Maybe she'll add me this time, her old pal koko!" But she never has. Now that I'm no longer reminded daily that she doesn't love me, the healing can finally begin.
posted by Koko at 8:04 AM on April 7, 2008

stavros : I am a convert to the Jessamyn Method of Contact Aggregation™!

Which I, naturally, read as the Jessamyn Method of Contact Aggression™, to which I thought; She doesn't just add you as a contact; she adds you as a contact, and you will like it, damn it.
posted by quin at 8:07 AM on April 7, 2008

We have met the enemy and he is us!

MetaFilter is peeeeople!
posted by Miko at 8:09 AM on April 7, 2008

Well, come on, quin, why do you think they call them "contact sports"?
posted by cortex at 8:14 AM on April 7, 2008

yay! Maybe she'll add me this time, her old pal koko!

You know, that's a good point you make there....
posted by jessamyn at 8:15 AM on April 7, 2008

yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
posted by Koko at 8:33 AM on April 7, 2008

Contacts = love.
posted by iconomy at 8:35 AM on April 7, 2008

So, dobbs, as well as being a meetup refusenik, you are a contacts refusenik? Next you'll be asking for a way to post without being read.
posted by orange swan at 9:09 AM on April 7, 2008

Next you'll be asking for a way to post without being read.

Between you and me, mathowie was talking about implementing this feature just the other day, but said I couldn't tell anyo
posted by scrump at 9:34 AM on April 7, 2008

Yeah, I contact-add everyone I meet in real life.

I told you how to get to the Austin public library, man. "9th and Guadaloupe", I said. "It's kind of smallish", I said. I was like a half-second ahead of adamrice, but if neither of us had answered you would have wandered for minutes.
posted by ormondsacker at 10:03 AM on April 7, 2008

if neither of us had answered you would have wandered for minutes.

Which actually would have mattered considerably because it was a TORRENTIAL downpour the day I went and I was a drowned rat by the time I got there. Luckily in the public library this is never a problem.

Does anyone else I have met need to be added as a contact by me?
posted by jessamyn at 10:16 AM on April 7, 2008

Ah, now I have a reason I can use other than general curmudgeonliness for why I only have one contact. He is, as far as I am aware, the only other MeFite I have met in the flesh.

I am a convert to the Jessamyn Method of Contact Aggregation™!

Then why haven't you linked to me, stav, old buddy?
posted by timeistight at 10:30 AM on April 7, 2008

Jessamyn has a (good!) habit of adding anyone she meets at a meetup as a contact.

Yeah, when I saw her doing that after the meeting I thought "That's a good idea!" and did it myself.
posted by languagehat at 11:44 AM on April 7, 2008

Would asking for the removal of a feature be a SocksRequest? What other unwanted present would fit the bill?
posted by not_on_display at 12:11 PM on April 7, 2008

(I love socks, though. Not sockist.)
posted by not_on_display at 12:12 PM on April 7, 2008

Can I just say that I find that two links to the same page ("links to," "linked by") is really inelegant? A single link to that page, maybe as "contacts" would be preferable. I also wouldn't be sad to see the numbers go, but that's me.
posted by klangklangston at 12:12 PM on April 7, 2008

yaaaaaaaaaaay!
posted by ormondsacker at 12:41 PM on April 7, 2008

Jessamyn has a (good!) habit of adding anyone she meets at a meetup as a contact.

So that's what the kids are calling nowadays?
posted by blue_beetle at 12:42 PM on April 7, 2008

Would asking for the removal of a feature be a SocksRequest? What other unwanted present would fit the bill?

Except that socks don't cause ponies to disappear. Er, that I'm aware of.

We should call them Glue Factory Requests.
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:49 PM on April 7, 2008

Well, I'm guessing that not everything here was bred from a pony...

...And a big enough sock can hold a pony...

...But 'sock' is reminiscent of sock-puppets...

...And I'm overthinking this. Calgon, take me away.
posted by not_on_display at 2:06 PM on April 7, 2008

I think denying that you have met your own sock puppet is somewhat pathological, no?

Not as wacko as needing to see what your sockpuppet has been up to on the site, eh?

This would be crazy: have a normal account and a PWI sockpuppet. Then you would need to add the sock as a contact just to see what the hell you'd been up to.
posted by popechunk at 5:02 PM on April 7, 2008

Does anyone else I have met need to be added as a contact by me?
Well, I suppose that depends on how you define "met". If by met you mean, attended the same very large meetup and spoke for 30 seconds, then yes please! But if you mean someone that you'd actually remember if you met them again, then yeah, probably not.

Does it help if I say I'm interested in going to library school some day?
posted by mosessis at 8:13 PM on April 7, 2008

So, dobbs, as well as being a meetup refusenik, you are a contacts refusenik? Next you'll be asking for a way to post without being read.

Well, I'm not a meetup refusenik. Twice I was going--once you guys cancelled it and once you guys changed the date at the last minute. Also, I work late Saturday nights now for the past almost 2 years so can never meet that night and meetups are often on Saturdays.

Second, I think people are misunderstanding what I asked for in--I have nothing against contacts as a feature, I just don't care who else other people add as contacts and don't understand why it was appearing on the sidebar as it's pretty useless information which was occasionally bumping the actual useful info (what my contacts are up to) off the sidebar.

All fixed now though, thanks!
posted by dobbs at 8:21 PM on April 7, 2008

Does it help if I say I'm interested in going to library school some day?

Certainly! Which meetup were we at? Portland?
posted by jessamyn at 9:29 PM on April 7, 2008

Does anyone else I have met need to be added as a contact by me?

We've never met, but you laugh at my jokes.
posted by deborah at 12:45 PM on April 8, 2008