Stop me before I do something stupid March 2, 2010 1:00 PM Subscribe
MyLittlePonyFilter: How about an alert to confirm removing a post from favorites?
An accidental slip of the mouse, and a post I was wanting to revisit gets deleted from my favorites. No takebacks, it's gone, lightning-fast. I'm heartbroken.
Yes I'm dumb, it's happened more than a few times to me. I click on remove by accident. I also end up forgetting exactly what was in the post (I favorited it so i could go back to it when I had time) and frequently have an impossible time finding it again via search.
It would be my favorite little pony ever if there was something to ask if we want to confirm removing a post from our favorites...
An accidental slip of the mouse, and a post I was wanting to revisit gets deleted from my favorites. No takebacks, it's gone, lightning-fast. I'm heartbroken.
Yes I'm dumb, it's happened more than a few times to me. I click on remove by accident. I also end up forgetting exactly what was in the post (I favorited it so i could go back to it when I had time) and frequently have an impossible time finding it again via search.
It would be my favorite little pony ever if there was something to ask if we want to confirm removing a post from our favorites...
I find that when I'm commanding my mouse (heh), it's helpful to not always have my finger on the button. (Perhaps you are a bit trigger happy?)
Also, slow down. Life's not that short. :)
posted by iamkimiam at 1:07 PM on March 2, 2010
Also, slow down. Life's not that short. :)
posted by iamkimiam at 1:07 PM on March 2, 2010
You've requested a pony. Are you sure you want this pony? [y/n]
posted by prefpara at 1:08 PM on March 2, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by prefpara at 1:08 PM on March 2, 2010 [4 favorites]
I HATE HATE HATE confirmation popups!
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:08 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:08 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
Please, no.
posted by fixedgear at 1:11 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fixedgear at 1:11 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
>You've requested a pony. Are you sure you want this pony? [y/n]
>Y
>
>You've confirmed that you want this pony. Will you confirm that you have confirmed? [y/n]
>
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:11 PM on March 2, 2010 [14 favorites]
>Y
>
>You've confirmed that you want this pony. Will you confirm that you have confirmed? [y/n]
>
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:11 PM on March 2, 2010 [14 favorites]
Prepare to prepare to remove favorite!
Preparing to prepare, sir!
Prepare to remove favorite!
Preparing to remove favorite, sir!
Remove favorite!
Removing favorite, sir!
Prepare to confirm removal of favorite!
...and so on.
posted by Mister_A at 1:11 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
Preparing to prepare, sir!
Prepare to remove favorite!
Preparing to remove favorite, sir!
Remove favorite!
Removing favorite, sir!
Prepare to confirm removal of favorite!
...and so on.
posted by Mister_A at 1:11 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
Bunsen Honeydew is a total fucker, IMHO.
posted by Mister_A at 1:12 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister_A at 1:12 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
I like to like recursivity. Recursively, of course.
ly.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:13 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
ly.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:13 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
My preference, interface-wise, is an undo button, if we're going to go down this path. That way everyone doesn't have to confirm, but the shakey-fingered can get their favorites back.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:13 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 1:13 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
The way the un-favoriting of comments works seems to be better for avoiding this problem. Those don't disappear until you refresh the page, so you can re-favorite them again if you do this.
posted by FishBike at 1:14 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by FishBike at 1:14 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
A better system would be to never, ever allow someone to unfavorite anything. Because once I have them they're MINE! ALL MINE! BWAHAHA YOU CAN'T TAKE THEM BACK!!!
*ahem*
Sorry about that. What were we talking about again?
posted by quin at 1:18 PM on March 2, 2010
*ahem*
Sorry about that. What were we talking about again?
posted by quin at 1:18 PM on March 2, 2010
Side Tangent 2 Second Hate for Confirmation Popups
I feel like I've spent a whole number percentage of my career trying to convince business SMEs that having a confirmation button on something that the data entry people will do a thousand times a day will only result in the data entry people wanting to kill me and the SME.
But I don't care one way or another about this pony so... yeah. Thanks and have a nice day.
posted by Babblesort at 1:19 PM on March 2, 2010
I feel like I've spent a whole number percentage of my career trying to convince business SMEs that having a confirmation button on something that the data entry people will do a thousand times a day will only result in the data entry people wanting to kill me and the SME.
But I don't care one way or another about this pony so... yeah. Thanks and have a nice day.
posted by Babblesort at 1:19 PM on March 2, 2010
I HATE HATE HATE confirmation popups!
Normally the alternative to this is to have some sort of undo feature, but I'm not sure how that would work in this case. Maybe a "Recently Removed Favorites" tab, but that seems like overkill.
I find that when I'm commanding my mouse (heh), it's helpful to not always have my finger on the button. (Perhaps you are a bit trigger happy?)
Also, slow down. Life's not that short. :)
Accidental mouse clicks are actually a pretty common thing that user interfaces need to take into account. One of the most annoying features for this kind of thing are the drag-and-drop customizable UI widgets that Microsoft puts into some of their apps to let users re-arrange the UI. Most people never use them, and when they accidentally move their taskbar to the left side of the screen or resize something so small that it is no longer visible, they have no idea what happened or how to change it back.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:22 PM on March 2, 2010
Normally the alternative to this is to have some sort of undo feature, but I'm not sure how that would work in this case. Maybe a "Recently Removed Favorites" tab, but that seems like overkill.
I find that when I'm commanding my mouse (heh), it's helpful to not always have my finger on the button. (Perhaps you are a bit trigger happy?)
Also, slow down. Life's not that short. :)
Accidental mouse clicks are actually a pretty common thing that user interfaces need to take into account. One of the most annoying features for this kind of thing are the drag-and-drop customizable UI widgets that Microsoft puts into some of their apps to let users re-arrange the UI. Most people never use them, and when they accidentally move their taskbar to the left side of the screen or resize something so small that it is no longer visible, they have no idea what happened or how to change it back.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:22 PM on March 2, 2010
The way the un-favoriting of comments works seems to be better for avoiding this problem. Those don't disappear until you refresh the page, so you can re-favorite them again if you do this.
Agreed. It's all slick and Web 2.0 to have the favorite fade away and then the others slide up to take the space but an accidental click is pretty killer.
I'm also kind of surprised that people delete so many favorites from the Favorites page that a confirmation box would be annoying. Recent Activity has a confirmation box to remove things and I've never seen anyone complain about that.
posted by smackfu at 1:34 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
Agreed. It's all slick and Web 2.0 to have the favorite fade away and then the others slide up to take the space but an accidental click is pretty killer.
I'm also kind of surprised that people delete so many favorites from the Favorites page that a confirmation box would be annoying. Recent Activity has a confirmation box to remove things and I've never seen anyone complain about that.
posted by smackfu at 1:34 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
What if when you removed a post, it was replaced by a link that said 'Undo'? This would only display until you navigated away from the page; refresh and it's gone for good.
posted by echo target at 1:36 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by echo target at 1:36 PM on March 2, 2010
If I favorite something, and then unfavorite, "favorite removed" shows up next to the timestamp. Maybe search the page for "removed" to find your lost favorite?
posted by desjardins at 1:37 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by desjardins at 1:37 PM on March 2, 2010
desjardins, if you use your own Favorites page linked in the header, remove just makes it go away.
posted by smackfu at 1:40 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by smackfu at 1:40 PM on March 2, 2010
Sounds like there a little confirmation bias going on around here.
posted by yhbc at 1:46 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by yhbc at 1:46 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
Try a setting with a check box: "MeMail when favorite removed?" That way, nobody has to deal with it who doesn't. If it is a mistake, the recipient goes to the link to the favorite and refavorites.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:53 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by Ironmouth at 1:53 PM on March 2, 2010
Man that would be a lot of MeMail.
How about a check box "Please ask me if I want to remove or add a favorite"
posted by graventy at 1:59 PM on March 2, 2010
How about a check box "Please ask me if I want to remove or add a favorite"
posted by graventy at 1:59 PM on March 2, 2010
How many people are furiously un-favoriting things they've previously bookmarked that they'd be so opposed to an alert? Get some anger management therapy.
I also am up for the pony-mod of a simple "undo"...
posted by lizbunny at 2:00 PM on March 2, 2010
I also am up for the pony-mod of a simple "undo"...
posted by lizbunny at 2:00 PM on March 2, 2010
How many people are furiously un-favoriting things they've previously bookmarked that they'd be so opposed to an alert? Get some anger management therapy.
I also am up for the pony-mod of a simple "undo"...
I don't understand what you want. When I remove a favorite, it says: "Favorite removed!" If I want to undo my removal of the favorite, I'm free to re-favorite it. What's missing?
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:15 PM on March 2, 2010
I also am up for the pony-mod of a simple "undo"...
I don't understand what you want. When I remove a favorite, it says: "Favorite removed!" If I want to undo my removal of the favorite, I'm free to re-favorite it. What's missing?
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:15 PM on March 2, 2010
I feel like I've spent a whole number percentage of my career trying to convince business SMEs that having a confirmation button on something that the data entry people will do a thousand times a day will only result in the data entry people wanting to kill me and the SME.
I am a SME (a smeeeeeeeeeeeeee!) and I would love to work with someone like you. Together we could convince my big boss of this.
posted by fixedgear at 2:25 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
I am a SME (a smeeeeeeeeeeeeee!) and I would love to work with someone like you. Together we could convince my big boss of this.
posted by fixedgear at 2:25 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
Bunsen Honeydew is a total fucker, IMHO.
posted by Mister_A at 4:12 PM on March 2 [1 favorite -]
ME, THE FUCKER?
YOU, SIR, ARE THE FUCKER!
I DEMAND SATISFACTION.
A DUEL!
BROADSWORDS!
AT MIDNIGHT!
IN A PIT THAT IS 10 FEET DEEP!
AND 10 FEET ACROSS!
WITH SNAKES IN THE BOTTOM!
THE KIND OF SNAKES THAT HAVE VENOM!
VENOMOUS VENOM!
>You have been challenged to a duel. Do you accept that you are challenged? [y/n]
>y
>You have accepted that you have been challenged to a duel. Do you accept this challenge? [y/n]
>y
>You have accepted the challenge to the duel. Do you accept that you have accepted the challenge?
>oh, fuck off
>▋
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 2:27 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Mister_A at 4:12 PM on March 2 [1 favorite -]
ME, THE FUCKER?
YOU, SIR, ARE THE FUCKER!
I DEMAND SATISFACTION.
A DUEL!
BROADSWORDS!
AT MIDNIGHT!
IN A PIT THAT IS 10 FEET DEEP!
AND 10 FEET ACROSS!
WITH SNAKES IN THE BOTTOM!
THE KIND OF SNAKES THAT HAVE VENOM!
VENOMOUS VENOM!
>You have been challenged to a duel. Do you accept that you are challenged? [y/n]
>y
>You have accepted that you have been challenged to a duel. Do you accept this challenge? [y/n]
>y
>You have accepted the challenge to the duel. Do you accept that you have accepted the challenge?
>oh, fuck off
>▋
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 2:27 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
[ + ]
I just wanted to make something blink. I've never made something blink before.
Also, am I the only one who wished the blink tag had "frequency" and "phase" attributes? It would really bring ASCII art to the next level. Might be dangerous for people with epilepsy though...
posted by Salvor Hardin at 2:32 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
I just wanted to make something blink. I've never made something blink before.
Also, am I the only one who wished the blink tag had "frequency" and "phase" attributes? It would really bring ASCII art to the next level. Might be dangerous for people with epilepsy though...
posted by Salvor Hardin at 2:32 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
I would become obsessed with interpreting the changing frequency as coded messages sent from God knows where.
posted by Think_Long at 2:37 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by Think_Long at 2:37 PM on March 2, 2010
I don't understand what you want. When I remove a favorite, it says: "Favorite removed!" If I want to undo my removal of the favorite, I'm free to re-favorite it. What's missing?
Go to this page and hit remove.
posted by smackfu at 2:38 PM on March 2, 2010
Go to this page and hit remove.
posted by smackfu at 2:38 PM on March 2, 2010
On the My Favorites page the entire post disappears when removed from favorites. My pony wasn't intended to be any more specific than just wanting to be able to reverse that when I'm half awake and trigger-happy.
posted by lizbunny at 2:40 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by lizbunny at 2:40 PM on March 2, 2010
Oh, I see that now that you've pointed it out. It wasn't clear to me from the original post that that's what you were referring to.
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:41 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:41 PM on March 2, 2010
And, in that case, I agree with lizbunny. It's problematic to be able to remove with one click and not be able to see what you removed if you realize you didn't intend to do it. How about if it worked like this:
1. You click "remove favorite."
2. The removed favorite changes to indicate it's going away -- maybe similar to the grey "best answer" box in AskMe, or the text could get closer to the background shade. "Remove favorite" changes to "add favorite."
3. If you want to undo the removal, you can click "add favorite."
4. Once you leave the page, the favorite is gone for good.
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:48 PM on March 2, 2010
1. You click "remove favorite."
2. The removed favorite changes to indicate it's going away -- maybe similar to the grey "best answer" box in AskMe, or the text could get closer to the background shade. "Remove favorite" changes to "add favorite."
3. If you want to undo the removal, you can click "add favorite."
4. Once you leave the page, the favorite is gone for good.
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:48 PM on March 2, 2010
Just make a "save your changes" button at the bottom, like the profile customizing page. Those people who want to go lightning fast unfavoriting a bunch of stuff can still do that. Those people who think they oopsied can just close the page without saving the changes.
posted by cashman at 2:51 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by cashman at 2:51 PM on March 2, 2010
ok, just took away the fancy Ajax fade. Now when you remove a favorite from your favorites page it works just as it does across most of the site: a message says "Removing Favorites..." then "Favorite Removed!" You have the option at that point to re-add the post as a favorite if you need to.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:53 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by pb (staff) at 2:53 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
hmmm. pb is feeling generous. Let's take advantage of this.
posted by Think_Long at 2:57 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by Think_Long at 2:57 PM on March 2, 2010
I'm also kind of surprised that people delete so many favorites from the Favorites page that a confirmation box would be annoying.
Maybe not for favorited posts, but for favorited comments...
I've heard that people sometimes change their mind about how they want to use favorites. For example, a person might decide they really should just be bookmarks to comments with interesting information or links they want to go back and refer to again one day.
This leads to going through the favorites list and unfavoriting anything not meeting that standard. A confirmation prompt for each would be rather annoying.
And then a person might get partway through doing that and notice that a lot of really good (but not necessarily reference-quality) comments are being unfavorited, and upon leaving the page would remain so, and would be virtually impossible to go back and find again.
A person might therefore decide this mass unfavoriting is not such a fantastic idea after all, and is glad that it is easy to go back through the list and re-favorited everything.
This is what I've heard, anyway. Personally I would never do anything like that. No sir, not me. Especially not twice so far.
posted by FishBike at 3:12 PM on March 2, 2010
Maybe not for favorited posts, but for favorited comments...
I've heard that people sometimes change their mind about how they want to use favorites. For example, a person might decide they really should just be bookmarks to comments with interesting information or links they want to go back and refer to again one day.
This leads to going through the favorites list and unfavoriting anything not meeting that standard. A confirmation prompt for each would be rather annoying.
And then a person might get partway through doing that and notice that a lot of really good (but not necessarily reference-quality) comments are being unfavorited, and upon leaving the page would remain so, and would be virtually impossible to go back and find again.
A person might therefore decide this mass unfavoriting is not such a fantastic idea after all, and is glad that it is easy to go back through the list and re-favorited everything.
This is what I've heard, anyway. Personally I would never do anything like that. No sir, not me. Especially not twice so far.
posted by FishBike at 3:12 PM on March 2, 2010
Babblesort: “Side Tangent 2 Second Hate for Confirmation Popups ¶ I feel like I've spent a whole number percentage of my career trying to convince business SMEs that having a confirmation button on something that the data entry people will do a thousand times a day will only result in the data entry people wanting to kill me and the SME.”
No. You are wrong.
By which I mean: you're wrong that this is a side tangent. It's exactly the issue at hand. I don't want to speak for pb here, but it seems to me that streamlining "something the data entry people will do a thousand times a day" is precisely what designing the metafilter interface is all about.
Yes, this would've been a tagline joke if they weren't so damned played out
posted by koeselitz at 3:32 PM on March 2, 2010
No. You are wrong.
By which I mean: you're wrong that this is a side tangent. It's exactly the issue at hand. I don't want to speak for pb here, but it seems to me that streamlining "something the data entry people will do a thousand times a day" is precisely what designing the metafilter interface is all about.
Yes, this would've been a tagline joke if they weren't so damned played out
posted by koeselitz at 3:32 PM on March 2, 2010
Jesus, I'm a tendentious prick, even when I don't mean to be. Babblesort: that was supposed to be a joke. It only came out like I was trying to say you're wrong. Sorry.
posted by koeselitz at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by koeselitz at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2010
ok, just took away the fancy Ajax fade. Now when you remove a favorite from your favorites page it works just as it does across most of the site: a message says "Removing Favorites..." then "Favorite Removed!"
Can we have a little scream sound effect, as if someone has just taken a tumble off a high cliff?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:53 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
Can we have a little scream sound effect, as if someone has just taken a tumble off a high cliff?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:53 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
I don't want to speak for pb here, but it seems to me that streamlining "something the data entry people will do a thousand times a day" is precisely what designing the metafilter interface is all about.
The difference is 1,000 people each doing it once or one person doing it 1,000 times.
posted by fixedgear at 3:54 PM on March 2, 2010
The difference is 1,000 people each doing it once or one person doing it 1,000 times.
posted by fixedgear at 3:54 PM on March 2, 2010
fixedgear has it exactly right, koeselitz. I see it as a side issue because I don't think most people unfavorite a post (on purpose or accident) thousands of times a day. I got that it was joking about two words after No you are wrong but I appreciate the extra concern. :-]
posted by Babblesort at 4:18 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by Babblesort at 4:18 PM on March 2, 2010
Huh? When did MetaFilter start offering a "favorite" feature?
posted by KokuRyu at 4:58 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by KokuRyu at 4:58 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
>You have accepted the challenge to the duel. Do you accept that you have accepted the challenge?
>oh, fuck off
This made me think of this, and that made me laugh!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:12 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
>oh, fuck off
This made me think of this, and that made me laugh!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:12 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew made me laugh twice in this thread. Best duel ever! Would duel again!!!!1!
posted by Mister_A at 6:04 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Mister_A at 6:04 PM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well played, pb; from now on, when people claim you're not helpful and efficient, you'll have this thread to point to.
This will not help you when people claim you're not attractive and charming, but I don't think anyone's ever claimed that.
I feel like I've spent a whole number percentage of my career trying to convince business SMEs that having a confirmation button on something that the data entry people will do a thousand times a day will only result in the data entry people wanting to kill me and the SME.
And the compromise we recommend is to display the confirmation with a little checkbox that says "Don't show this again", along with forcing focus to the "OK" button. It works pretty well, once you've gotten the confirmation dialog up and working properly along with a method of saving the user preference.
posted by davejay at 6:11 PM on March 2, 2010
This will not help you when people claim you're not attractive and charming, but I don't think anyone's ever claimed that.
I feel like I've spent a whole number percentage of my career trying to convince business SMEs that having a confirmation button on something that the data entry people will do a thousand times a day will only result in the data entry people wanting to kill me and the SME.
And the compromise we recommend is to display the confirmation with a little checkbox that says "Don't show this again", along with forcing focus to the "OK" button. It works pretty well, once you've gotten the confirmation dialog up and working properly along with a method of saving the user preference.
posted by davejay at 6:11 PM on March 2, 2010
and thank god for that feature :) saves me hassles with oodles of M$ downloads I can't afford right now in the field in jakarta without megabandwidth hello people the rest of the world pays for your shit
posted by infini at 6:34 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by infini at 6:34 PM on March 2, 2010
Also, am I the only one who wished the blink tag had "frequency" and "phase" attributes?you are not
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 9:45 PM on March 2, 2010
Wait... people remove favorites?
IS NOTHING SACRED?!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:27 AM on March 3, 2010
IS NOTHING SACRED?!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:27 AM on March 3, 2010
IS NOTHING SACRED?!
No shit! Just yesterday I checked my profile and Yay! 910 favorites! How lovely that someone favorited me while I was in the midst of a crappy day at work. I did a little happy dance and noticed that it was the [nice, big, round#] favorite on an old AskMe post, which kicked off a whole new happy dance. A little while later I looked at my profile again and my favorite count was back down to 909. I have no idea which comment fell out of someone's favor, but through my tears and the funk of my deep dejection I was able to muster up a moment of thankfulness for the fact that I did happen to stumble across those numbers and could feel a little more awesome for a couple of minutes at least. Now I can't get this Beatles song out of my head, and I have a new appreciation for the lyrics.
I want a pony that does a real-life, fancy Ajax fade on anybody who unfavorites me, ever.
posted by Balonious Assault at 7:01 AM on March 3, 2010
No shit! Just yesterday I checked my profile and Yay! 910 favorites! How lovely that someone favorited me while I was in the midst of a crappy day at work. I did a little happy dance and noticed that it was the [nice, big, round#] favorite on an old AskMe post, which kicked off a whole new happy dance. A little while later I looked at my profile again and my favorite count was back down to 909. I have no idea which comment fell out of someone's favor, but through my tears and the funk of my deep dejection I was able to muster up a moment of thankfulness for the fact that I did happen to stumble across those numbers and could feel a little more awesome for a couple of minutes at least. Now I can't get this Beatles song out of my head, and I have a new appreciation for the lyrics.
I want a pony that does a real-life, fancy Ajax fade on anybody who unfavorites me, ever.
posted by Balonious Assault at 7:01 AM on March 3, 2010
I don't want that.
Also, I feel upset and misled that this really isn't about My Little Pony.
posted by anniecat at 7:48 AM on March 5, 2010
Also, I feel upset and misled that this really isn't about My Little Pony.
posted by anniecat at 7:48 AM on March 5, 2010
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posted by desjardins at 1:05 PM on March 2, 2010 [3 favorites]