Recent Activity: Collapsible thread pony redux July 27, 2010 11:41 AM   Subscribe

Those Recent Activity threads need to collapse. But how?

In the last MeTa thread about this, pb wrote the following:
We've been talking about this and I think we like the idea in general. But we still have questions about how it should work. Maybe we could talk more about implementation.

Should collapsible threads replace the existing "remove" feature? Instead of removing a thread completely from view, would it be better to show the title and number of comments? This would remove the whole "mange removed threads" feature, and might be easier to use. Should the collapsed threads maintain state across browsers? Or do you want to collapse a thread on one machine and have them expanded on another?
There were only three comments after he asked this... I think it's time to resurrect the discussion and brainstorm some answers.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis to Feature Requests at 11:41 AM (34 comments total)

My opinion, FWIW: The collapsed state should be persistent across browsers. Collapsing shouldn't replace the "remove" feature, but a "remove" link should appear in every collapsed item, after the comment count. I think collapsing threads would alleviate a lot of the need for the "manage removed threads" function, but there's no need to eliminate that. It's harmless enough. I agree with nevercalm's comment that showing the timestamp of the last comment in each thread would be really helpful.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 11:42 AM on July 27, 2010


I would love to have the collapsed state persistent across browsers. The only reason I remove threads from my activity is because I can't collapse them.
posted by komara at 11:49 AM on July 27, 2010


I just realized I'm going to end up removing this thread from my recent activity, because now that I've voiced my opinion I'm going to ignore everyone else's opinions.
posted by komara at 11:50 AM on July 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


What would collapsing provide that removing doesn't? I'm not sure I see the distinction.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:51 AM on July 27, 2010


In a perfect world (ie one where my opinion is the only one that matters here) there would be:

- a remove button and collapsed threads. The remove button would be visible without expanding.

- would say "12 total comments. 4 since your most recent comment, 4 since the last comment you read" where I can read it without expanding.

- would maybe give a date out there too of the last comment.

- an option for me to have threads automatically expanded if there's something new in them for me to read. Maybe that's a bad idea, but it's at least good enough to throw out there.

I think that's it. Of course, the the uber perfect world recent activity would be able to tell me lots of things about my real life that I did. But that might be a bit creepy.

As to pb's question, collapsing would make it easier for me to see which threads have new stuff. This would be especially helpful where there are really long replies. I know it only shows the last 10. But when one of those is the complete works of Shakespeare it really forces everything else down.

Of course, it's entirely possible that we're plate of beansing this and are just addicted to new-stuff-porn.
posted by theichibun at 11:58 AM on July 27, 2010


What would collapsing provide that removing doesn't? I'm not sure I see the distinction.

If I understand rightly, it'd provide the ability to see what's going on in less-active (but still somewhat active) threads below more active ones, with a lot less scrolling, and without removing the more active thread(s) entirely. It'd be a nice pony.
posted by Drastic at 11:59 AM on July 27, 2010


Collapsing doesn't remove, it would only display the post that has recent activity, not the actual recent activity. Also, collapsing implies the ability to expand again. Don't you have to comment again to get a thread that's been removed from RA back on it?
posted by carsonb at 11:59 AM on July 27, 2010


What would collapsing provide ...

For me? Saving scrolling time. I have removed threads from RA just because the last 10 comments were superhuge and ... um, I didn't know until this thread that there was a "manage posts removed ..." area, and so I removed those old posts with a twinge of sorrow, thinking they were lost to me.

If I could have collapsed them then I could save having to look at those paragraphs every time I open RA, and then if it popped back up at the top (collapsed) I could choose to open it if I wished. It's kind of a baby version of deleting it? Except everything stays on one page?

Hell I don't know. I just really get off on collapsing things, honestly.
posted by komara at 12:00 PM on July 27, 2010


Is this a good place to point out my Recent Activity Summary greasemonkey script? It does something kind of like this by putting a collapsed version of each thread on the top of the Recent Activity page -- just the thread titles and bylines of the most recent comment per thread.
posted by FishBike at 12:01 PM on July 27, 2010 [2 favorites]


Don't you have to comment again to get a thread that's been removed from RA back on it?

No, you can add threads back in by clicking "manage posts removed from recent activity" at the bottom of the page.

I wonder if removing should just morph into collapsing. Maybe we could call it "mute", and then anything you have "removed" would just show up as a single line item inline with the ability to "unmute" to show all comments.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:03 PM on July 27, 2010 [6 favorites]


I'd be cool with that as well. Especially if I had the option to have things on mute automatically and would have to actively unmute them.
posted by theichibun at 12:05 PM on July 27, 2010


I like morphing these ideas into one thing because I think having parallel systems of remove and collapse could be confusing to use. And confusing to explain on our end.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:05 PM on July 27, 2010 [2 favorites]


Learn something new every day. Thanks, pb!
posted by carsonb at 12:09 PM on July 27, 2010


Since I've been using that script I linked to above, it has totally transformed the use of the Recent Activity page for me. Specifically, it's much easier to keep track of which threads have new activity since the last time I read them.

In part it's just the shorter, less scrolly format. With the regular format I would get to a thread that has lots of old comments in it and go "oh, I've been seeing this one for ages, nothing below here is new" and just stop. I missed a lot of late comments that way.

Having the timestamp of just the last comment show up is great because I can click on it to go read the comment, and my browser then displays it different because it's a visited link. So I can tell just from the timestamp colour whether or not there are new comments since the last time I looked at a thread via the timestamp link.

I thought this was worth mentioning if the powers that be are discussing implementation ideas for changes to RA.
posted by FishBike at 12:12 PM on July 27, 2010


> I wonder if removing should just morph into collapsing. Maybe we could call it "mute", and then anything you have "removed" would just show up as a single line item inline with the ability to "unmute" to show all comments.

This would be great.
posted by languagehat at 12:19 PM on July 27, 2010


What would collapsing provide that removing doesn't? I'm not sure I see the distinction.

Think of something like disclosure triangles in OS X's Finder list view? Collapsed, the thread title would appear in the time-based hierarchy, (floating as new comments were made) but you wouldn't have to scroll down through x comments. you could collapse/expand one thread at a time. Is that what everyone is thinking?
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:26 PM on July 27, 2010


> My opinion, FWIW: The collapsed state should be persistent across browsers

Ooh, yes, please. I jump around between two computers and two portable dealies throughout the day, so Greasemonkey scripts don't do me much good.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:29 PM on July 27, 2010


What would collapsing provide that removing doesn't? I'm not sure I see the distinction.

I don't want to see every every thread at all times, though I still may be interested in them.

Collapsing means I'm not interested right now. Removing means I'm no longer interested.
posted by new brand day at 1:04 PM on July 27, 2010 [2 favorites]


I'd like to see collapsing for the reason komara pointed out: saving scrolling time. If I'm following several highly active threads, it's not immediately apparent which have updated unless I scroll down and check each one for new comments. With a collapsed view, it would be immediately apparent, on one screen, which threads had updated since the last time I checked.

I'd even like it if there was an option to collapse all new threads by default, since I only really need to see the comments if there are new ones to read. If they're expanded by default I'll just end up collapsing them immediately to get to my one-page, no-scroll summary view. Not everybody would like this though, so it should probably be optional (even opt-in).

The distinction between collapsing threads and removing them is, for me, that I don't want to keep following removed threads anymore. I'm done with them. Any further updates in them is just noise to me. On the other hand, I'm still following collapsed threads and only collapsed them so I could see as many as possible at once. On preview: what new brand day said.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 1:07 PM on July 27, 2010


You can use "j" to skip down on Recent Activity.

Tangentially: You know how Recent Activity shows updates from the past month or so? I'd like to be able to hit a button & then have Recent Activity show a month's worth or since the last button press, whichever is less.
posted by Pronoiac at 1:10 PM on July 27, 2010


Oh hey, while we're on the topic of the Recent Activity page, how about automatically adding any IRL thread you RSVP to? I mean, I know I could comment in it/favorite it, but I'd like this feature.

Oh, and however you guys decide it would work best, I'm all for being able to collapse threads.
posted by phunniemee at 1:28 PM on July 27, 2010


I wonder if removing should just morph into collapsing. Maybe we could call it "mute", and then anything you have "removed" would just show up as a single line item inline with the ability to "unmute" to show all comments.

Yeah, I'd prefer this, pb. I often "remove" threads from my Recent Activity, but if I could "collapse" into just a few lines, I don't think I'd mind that they kept popping up inconspicuously at the top.

I would more often use a "collapse" feature than the current "remove" feature. The problem with "remove" is that you start doubting your own judgment about whether you'd really want to see the thread again. I generally know if I'm tired of a highly active, new thread; what's harder to predict is if I'd be interested in a surprise update days, weeks, or months later. For example, there was that guy who asked AskMetafilter about the woman who was "out of his league" and updated the thread months later to say they're engaged. I might not have wanted to see every new answer on the day it was posted, but I would have noticed the update showing up "collapsed" in my Recent Activity months later.
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:52 PM on July 27, 2010


"Is this a good place to point out my Recent Activity Summary greasemonkey script?"

Yes Fishbike it is. My scroll wheel thanks you. In combo with Plutor's Scroll Tag (which I don't understand why more people don't use) it does exactly what I need. Thanks.
posted by vapidave at 2:10 PM on July 27, 2010


...how about automatically adding any IRL thread you RSVP to?

Yep, added that a while ago.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:15 PM on July 27, 2010


Band name: The Disclosure Triangles.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:28 PM on July 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


...how about automatically adding any IRL thread you RSVP to?

Yep, added that a while ago.



Holy cow, you're right! I totally missed that, since it immediately got buried under ten thousand other things. Hey, I have an idea! What if the Recent Activity threads were collapsible? Eh? Eh?
posted by phunniemee at 2:33 PM on July 27, 2010


What if Recent Activity threads gave me a million dollars, pb. What if that? Why haven't you made it do that?
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:44 PM on July 27, 2010


Why haven't you made it do that?

That requires a new profile preference.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:53 PM on July 27, 2010


That requires a new profile preference.

So we'll have like a "Going rate in your town: ___________" field that defaults to $20? Sweet.
posted by FishBike at 3:05 PM on July 27, 2010


Hey, I received MY million dollars from that thingie i clicked on the page thingie? and that's why I'm wearing a top hat an a monacle and i carry sacks with $-signs on them...{and this is where I lapse into nREM sleepzzzzzzzzz
posted by not_on_display at 9:48 PM on July 27, 2010


Like new brand day, I'd prefer not to see remove removed. I use Recent Activity a lot, and I remove threads I don't want to see any more; if I've commented in them, I can always find them again through my profile page, but I use Recent Activity for current conversations in which I'm involved.

I don't have a major opinion on collapsing because I usually only have one major thread going at a time, and I can tell before scrolling if CurrentLastComment -10 is the same as it was the last time I looked. Now that I think about it, though, collapsing would make the MeFi netbook experience a lot easier.
posted by catlet at 6:09 AM on July 28, 2010


+1 for
adding collapse feature, which would leave thread title and header (x comments, y comments since your last comment) and a button to expand again
removing remove feature
removing manage feature
cilantro
posted by Night_owl at 7:56 AM on July 28, 2010 [2 favorites]


FishBike: "Is this a good place to point out my Recent Activity Summary greasemonkey script? It does something kind of like this by putting a collapsed version of each thread on the top of the Recent Activity page -- just the thread titles and bylines of the most recent comment per thread."

It looks like MetaFilter Hide Threads in "My Comments" still works for me, although it doesn't remember the state of the collapsed threads for some reason. Also, since the name of the tabs in recent activity have changed, the name of the script could probably make more sense.

These are things I would do if I had the inclination. Or someone yelling at me.
posted by Plutor at 9:36 AM on July 28, 2010


I would press the cilantro button every day.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:02 AM on July 28, 2010


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