Scroll me closer, tiny pony.

August 26, 2010 1:44 PM

Teeny tiny pony: remove the #commentpreview anchor in the header redirect after posting a comment.

Right after posting a comment, the header redirect takes you back to the thread you were on, with a #commentpreview anchor added. I like to F5 for new comments periodically, but if the thread is fast moving, I can easily lose my place because my browser will always take me down to the bottom of the page instead of staying at the position I was last on. Right now I just edit the URL to get rid of the anchor in these cases, and it's not a huge deal, but I also don't see the value of having the anchor at all.

I could be missing something big with how other people read Metafilter, so I'm certainly cool with leaving things as is as well.

posted by kmz to Feature Requests at 1:44 PM (25 comments total)

Does this really do this? I haven't noticed it.
posted by koeselitz at 1:52 PM on August 26, 2010

We automatically jump you down so you can see your comment after you've posted it (so you don't have to hunt around). In "fast moving" threads with tons of comments coming in quickly, there are times that yes there might be two comments after yours that arrived since you hit post, but it's such a rarity it's not really something we should code around.

In the past we've had the comment posting form redirect to the thread itself, but that requires you to scroll down a bunch to see if you left any typos in, etc and I like the fact we jump you down to your comment automatically so you can be sure it was posted properly.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:52 PM on August 26, 2010

(ulp, guess I was wrong. heh.)
posted by koeselitz at 1:52 PM on August 26, 2010

Yeah, mathowie's explanation makes sense. I like to see my comment after I make it.
posted by koeselitz at 1:53 PM on August 26, 2010

Hey, I think that's my pony you're sending off to the glue factory!

If I do in fact understand what you're talking about.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:56 PM on August 26, 2010

But it's ok - I'll go quietly if my pony gets rolled back.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:57 PM on August 26, 2010

Honestly not trying to be snarky, but I recommend reading all of the previous comments before you post a comment. Otherwise, you run the risk of missing important responses in the conversation and potentially annoying your fellow commenters and the OP. Obviously, it's not always necessary, but certainly helpful. And it'd get rid of your problem.
posted by two lights above the sea at 2:02 PM on August 26, 2010

two lights, I think you're misreading the question. kmz is talking about the fact that the site positions the page at your comment after you post your comment, but the way that it does that means that if you just hit F5 to refresh the page, the site re-positions the page at the most recent comment, which, if more comments have been made since the last load, isn't what you were just looking at.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:06 PM on August 26, 2010

Huh? Reading all of the previous comments before posting would take away the problem of being moved to the bottom of the thread when you reload? I don't understand what you mean, two lights above the sea.
posted by koeselitz at 2:09 PM on August 26, 2010

Yes, thank you shakespeherian, that's exactly it. I'm not even sure I understand how two lights read my request.

Anyway, it does seem this pony is destined for the glue factory. Oh well, as I said, it's not a huge deal, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
posted by kmz at 2:11 PM on August 26, 2010

shakespeherian: I see. I'm not necessarily the type to hover in a thread, so I guess that's never occurred to me as a problem. My bad!
posted by two lights above the sea at 2:12 PM on August 26, 2010

my pony is a variation on your pony. i think. i'd like to go back to the thread after i post, instead of going back to my comment. (one back button takes me to the comment box, 2nd back button takes me to the post. i'm lazy; i'd like one back button to take me back to the post since, having posted, it is done.)
posted by msconduct at 2:15 PM on August 26, 2010

Sorry, folks. My brain missed the "F5 to refresh part in the OP", which got me confuzzled. I understand the question now. Shame on my for trying to be quick to answer. :p
posted by two lights above the sea at 2:19 PM on August 26, 2010

Er... typos. Blarg.
posted by two lights above the sea at 2:19 PM on August 26, 2010

mathowie - ... but that requires you to scroll down a bunch to see if you left any typos in, etc ...

But isn't that only helpful if we have an edit window?
posted by m@f at 2:30 PM on August 26, 2010

Btw, I love the short title of this post. Makes me sing, "Don't come closer, Tony Danza!"
posted by two lights above the sea at 2:32 PM on August 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Like one that would let me go back and italicize the quote in my last comment.

[runs away]
posted by m@f at 2:33 PM on August 26, 2010

Hey, I think that's my pony you're sending off to the glue factory!

No, this is different. MeFi has always redirected to the bottom of the page after posting, it's been that way for years. Yours has to do with previewing not posting.

i'd like to go back to the thread after i post, instead of going back to my comment.

Eh? You must be doing something really weird because 'my comment' and 'the thread' are the same page, just scroll to the top (ctrl-home) if you want to re-read the text of the post.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:35 PM on August 26, 2010

i am probably doing it wrong.
posted by msconduct at 3:27 PM on August 26, 2010

Is there any way that instead of adding the #commentpreview anchor, a poster's new comment-number anchor could be added to the URL instead? Just a thought...

I've also been annoyed by the current behavior, because once I've posted a comment, the #commentpreview anchor just takes me straight back to the empty comment box—so I have to scroll back up anyway to see my comment or anyone else's. It's frustrating to have to do that after every comment I make.
posted by limeonaire at 6:10 AM on August 27, 2010

the #commentpreview anchor just takes me straight back to the empty comment box

Get a taller screen?
posted by shakespeherian at 8:15 AM on August 27, 2010

If pony requests that aren't filled get sent off to the glue factory, then what would a glue factory request be? I want to make a glue factory request but I don't know how that works. Do I have to create something of value to MetaFilter and then have the mods tell me that it was an idea they hadn't yet had? Do they reject or accept this present?
posted by komara at 9:00 AM on August 27, 2010

hippybear, maybe you should invest in a browser that doesn't crash so often that you have created habits around it.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:02 AM on August 27, 2010

Huh. That's really weird. It seems like for whatever reason your browser isn't remembering the correct URLs of the windows. The #commentpreview anchor itself isn't causing the issue. It's trying to open the page that usually shows you a comment preview. But that doesn't work when you didn't POST (in the HTTP sense) a comment to be previewed.
posted by kmz at 11:17 AM on August 27, 2010

I have been thinking about requesting this same thing for months, but for a different reason. Every time I post a comment, and see that I got reloaded to #commentpreview, I think, "Wait, 'preview'? Did I hit preview instead of post?" It's a pretty confusing name for a thing that takes you not to a comment preview, but to your final, posted comment.
posted by vytae at 2:05 PM on August 27, 2010