+ --> - ? September 30, 2010 8:46 AM Subscribe
Pony request: On the front pages of each site (MeFi, AskMe, etc.), would it be possible to change the little plus-es to little minus-es when you add a post as a favorite? Or is there a reason this won't work/is a bad idea?
Huh. If you add a favorite right from the front page, it does this immediately... but if you refresh the page it goes right back to being a + sign. That's a bit odd.
posted by FishBike at 8:54 AM on September 30, 2010
posted by FishBike at 8:54 AM on September 30, 2010
Having it a plus at all times saves us a little processing because we don't have to look up what you've already marked as a favorite before we display the page. I agree that we're cutting a corner there for speed.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:55 AM on September 30, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 8:55 AM on September 30, 2010
And the main reason we're cutting any corners at all is because the Contact Activity sidebar is also on that page, which slows down the page quite a bit already.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:57 AM on September 30, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 8:57 AM on September 30, 2010
Having it a plus at all times...
...is not what happens.
posted by John Cohen at 10:15 AM on September 30, 2010
...is not what happens.
posted by John Cohen at 10:15 AM on September 30, 2010
...is not what happens.
Did you just tell pb how the site works?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:39 AM on September 30, 2010 [13 favorites]
Did you just tell pb how the site works?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:39 AM on September 30, 2010 [13 favorites]
pb: the site works great!
posted by Rumple at 10:44 AM on September 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Rumple at 10:44 AM on September 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
...is not what happens.
When mathowie et al. decide that the site needs yet another barrier to entry (200,000?) I suggest that they consider a reading comprehension battery.
posted by carsonb at 11:03 AM on September 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
When mathowie et al. decide that the site needs yet another barrier to entry (200,000?) I suggest that they consider a reading comprehension battery.
posted by carsonb at 11:03 AM on September 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
Wait... there's a battery for that? No wonder at the end of the day I can't read for shit.
posted by qvantamon at 11:22 AM on September 30, 2010
posted by qvantamon at 11:22 AM on September 30, 2010
I can't figure out how to SuperPoke pb.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:00 PM on September 30, 2010
posted by shakespeherian at 1:00 PM on September 30, 2010
Perhaps favouriting a thread could be a function only possible within the thread, and not from the front page?
posted by coriolisdave at 1:37 PM on September 30, 2010
posted by coriolisdave at 1:37 PM on September 30, 2010
Perhaps favouriting a thread could be a function only possible within the thread, and not from the front page?
Sometimes I use favourites to mark something as "To Read" when skimming the front page. So yeah, it's a little lazy, but changing it would make me have to work harder. And no one wants that.
posted by djgh at 2:00 PM on September 30, 2010 [3 favorites]
Sometimes I use favourites to mark something as "To Read" when skimming the front page. So yeah, it's a little lazy, but changing it would make me have to work harder. And no one wants that.
posted by djgh at 2:00 PM on September 30, 2010 [3 favorites]
pb: “Having it a plus at all times...”
John Cohen: “...is not what happens.”
I don't know if you already know this (you probably do) but to be perfectly clear, owtytrof's explanation, terse as it is, is correct; pb just wasn't fleshing this out, but he's describing real behavior. When you click the favorite + next to a post, it's changed to a minus via Javascript in-page and that change is shown; however, that little Javascript change isn't something that sticks. Try it: favorite something on the front page, and then reload by pressing F5. Now there won't be a minus next to the post; it'll be a plus, just like before, and like jessamyn says, you'll get a message about it if you try to favorite the post. The upshot is that you can't tell which posts you've favorited from the front page.
Probably an unnecessary explanation for many, but I've had a ridiculously obfuscatory day here at work, and I'm in an explainy mood. Sorry.
posted by koeselitz at 2:45 PM on October 1, 2010
John Cohen: “...is not what happens.”
I don't know if you already know this (you probably do) but to be perfectly clear, owtytrof's explanation, terse as it is, is correct; pb just wasn't fleshing this out, but he's describing real behavior. When you click the favorite + next to a post, it's changed to a minus via Javascript in-page and that change is shown; however, that little Javascript change isn't something that sticks. Try it: favorite something on the front page, and then reload by pressing F5. Now there won't be a minus next to the post; it'll be a plus, just like before, and like jessamyn says, you'll get a message about it if you try to favorite the post. The upshot is that you can't tell which posts you've favorited from the front page.
Probably an unnecessary explanation for many, but I've had a ridiculously obfuscatory day here at work, and I'm in an explainy mood. Sorry.
posted by koeselitz at 2:45 PM on October 1, 2010
I had understood John Cohen's point to be that because it temporarily changes to a minus sign when you favorite something, then it isn't a plus "at all times".
posted by FishBike at 2:59 PM on October 1, 2010
posted by FishBike at 2:59 PM on October 1, 2010
Ah. Well, it's been that kind of day, too. Sorry, John.
posted by koeselitz at 3:03 PM on October 1, 2010
posted by koeselitz at 3:03 PM on October 1, 2010
Yep FishBike is right—sorry I wasn't more clear in my explanation. It's a plus consistently on page load. There are times when it isn't a plus.
We haven't found it to be too much of a hassle because there's quite a bit of churn on the front pages. So if you favorite something and reload, on average you will be seeing a very different front page from the last time you loaded it. The thing you favorited has probably moved on anyway. Of course there will be people who reload the page frequently, and I completely understand the confusion/frustration of the - not staying the same state. I do think we should fix this up if it doesn't add too much processing time to the page.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:23 PM on October 1, 2010
We haven't found it to be too much of a hassle because there's quite a bit of churn on the front pages. So if you favorite something and reload, on average you will be seeing a very different front page from the last time you loaded it. The thing you favorited has probably moved on anyway. Of course there will be people who reload the page frequently, and I completely understand the confusion/frustration of the - not staying the same state. I do think we should fix this up if it doesn't add too much processing time to the page.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:23 PM on October 1, 2010
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Oh funny, I never noticed that before.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:50 AM on September 30, 2010