There's a Fanfare Talk? January 28, 2018 2:21 PM   Subscribe

Alright. So I saw FanFare Talk for the first time today. There seems to be a good reason for FanFare Talk, but seriously - it was a hunt to accidentally stumble upon a post from it, and then another hunt to go back and find that there were other FanFare Talk posts...

Of all the things we could consider hiding, is it possible to hide them on this site better than this? Or... to phrase it another way - is it possible to make FanFare Talk just a little clearer than FanFare -> Notice slightly different shaded bar that has FanFare Talk listed on it and say WTF is this - and why is this so hard to find?

Am I wrong? Have I seriously been just living under a rock? I don't know if this is a site thing, a navigation thing, a taxonomy thing, a UI thing, a new things need to be done in weird ways to address old thing limitations things... Anything? Is there a way to make this better? Are there other semi-hidden sites within MetaFilter? Where on Maslow's Hierarchy of Maintaining a Web Community does this fit?
posted by Nanukthedog to MetaFilter-Related at 2:21 PM (47 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

It does indeed exist! We do have it both on the sidebar and in the subsite navigation up top; that's basically the same approach we took with Music Talk years back as well.

The more general question of navigability and discovery on FanFare is a long-brewing work in progress, though, and thinking about the visibility of FanFare Talk discussions is definitely part of that.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:23 PM on January 28, 2018


Ok... Next Revelation... There's a Music Talk? Is that where all the Jingle Rock Bell insanity came from?
posted by Nanukthedog at 2:26 PM on January 28, 2018 [7 favorites]


As someone who primarily Metafilters (sorry for verbing it!) via RSS, this was a surprise for me, as the Fanfare Talk threads aren't in the standard Fanfare RSS. Is there a separate RSS for them that I've missed somewhere?
posted by A Robot Ninja at 2:48 PM on January 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yup! There's an RSS subscribe link down at the bottom of the FanFare Talk front page.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:51 PM on January 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


There's also a subsite where we just talk about you.
posted by AFABulous at 4:47 PM on January 28, 2018 [38 favorites]


That's Twitter, isn't it?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:51 PM on January 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


No, that's in a series of Kuro5hin diary entries.
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:19 PM on January 28, 2018 [5 favorites]


There's also a subsite where we just talk about you.

Fantastic Talk?
posted by Fizz at 5:54 PM on January 28, 2018 [8 favorites]


Every time I scroll through the different subsections that I usually never go to I always forget how much the IRL color OH GOD MY EYES MAKE IT STOP IT BURNS PRECIOUS IT BURNS
posted by yhbc at 7:01 PM on January 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


oh god it is extremely bad, when did that happen, who did the thing
posted by poffin boffin at 7:39 PM on January 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


Do not look at IRL with remaining eye.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:18 PM on January 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


I love the IRL color. Huh.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:45 AM on January 29, 2018


On topic, maybe this is why no one comments in my Friday the 13th movie club threads, even though I diligently announce them a week beforehand in Fanfare Talk.

(It certainly isn't because the movies are terrible and Friday the 13th only occurs like twice a year, of course)
posted by Literaryhero at 4:52 AM on January 29, 2018


Is there a MetaTalk Talk? And is there a MetaTalkTalk Talk? How far does the nesting conspiracy go?
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:01 AM on January 29, 2018


The different locations and labeling of "Talk" on different branches of the information architecture hurts both my head and my heart.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:20 AM on January 29, 2018 [4 favorites]


FanFare Talk is something I had no idea about...and when I go there now, on mobile it looks indistinguishable from FanFare itself.
posted by agregoli at 8:17 AM on January 29, 2018


I give up. Where is the link to Fanfare Talk in the mobile view?
posted by DanSachs at 8:46 AM on January 29, 2018


I give up. Where is the link to Fanfare Talk in the mobile view?

Okay, first you go to Fanfare. You see the "recent posts" box? That's clickable. Once you've clicked it, there's a drop-down menu, and Fanfare Talk is the second option. Also, the watercooler is a list of shows, etc, that have had the most activity recently; it's not where you stand around talking about what you've watched lately. (Yes, that always confuses me.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:38 AM on January 29, 2018


OMG THAT'S how I get to FanFare Clubs!!!!
posted by muddgirl at 10:09 AM on January 29, 2018


It's Talks all the way down.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:33 AM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]


on mobile it looks indistinguishable from FanFare itself.

And when you hit the new post link in the right-side drop down, it seems to make a new FanFare post, not a FanFare Talk one.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:03 AM on January 29, 2018


OH i think i used to have a script that changed the bg color of irl but i maybe didn't install it on chrome when i gave up on firefox forever. hmm.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:08 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]


you can change the background color of any subsite by going to your profile settings and
developing color blindness
posted by sylvanshine at 2:52 PM on January 29, 2018 [7 favorites]


There's also a subsite where we just talk about you.

shhhhhhhhhhh
posted by numaner at 7:31 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]


If you think Fanfare Talk is hard to find, good luck finding Fanfare Club Talk. That's right; there's two different layers of commenting, and one is visible only once you dig all the way into a specific Fanfare Club. I have no idea how anyone is expected to find actual content in all this obfuscation.
posted by naju at 1:57 AM on January 30, 2018


Ok so if I just want to see a list of all the movies on fanfare how do I do that?
posted by Meatbomb at 4:00 AM on January 30, 2018


On desktop, there is a section on the right named Categories. On mobile, it's almost at the very bottom. In Categories, click 'Movies,' then on the next page, there should be a link at the top that says 'See All Movies.'
posted by heatvision at 4:29 AM on January 30, 2018


Maybe it's like Netflix, impossible to find what you're looking for.
posted by AFABulous at 8:03 AM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


Srsly though, one of my ponies is "popular movies and shows" because I tend to share tastes with most mefites.
posted by AFABulous at 8:05 AM on January 30, 2018


Here's a direct link to all movies, listed alphabetically.

If anyone has stuff/views/etc they'd like to have be easier to find on Fanfare, this is a good place to let us know, since hopefully we'll be making progress on some of these over the next few months.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:29 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


In the ‘etc.’ category, I think it might be nice if people could see each other’s ‘My Fanfare’ listings. As it is now, you can scroll through people’s Fanfare posts & comments from the ‘View Activity’ link, but that way lies spoilers, and older shows & movie posts will be buried pages back. It could be nice to see just a list of title links, to see which shows you have in common or not, for finding new things or for judging a recommendation from someone. Maybe as an opt-in feature though.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:16 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


ooo yeah I'd love to see a list of other members that have a certain show in their My Fanfare (or at least how many have it). It's a great way to figure out if you should bother making individual episode posts for a show or just a full-season discussion.
posted by numaner at 9:36 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


If anyone has stuff/views/etc they'd like to have be easier to find on Fanfare, this is a good place to let us know,

Ok, this one might be on me, since there's the "Hide Post Descriptions" option, but I think episodes should be listed on a show page in ascending order by episode number. Currently, episodes are listed on show pages in descending order (of post time, maybe?), like it's the front page of MeFi where new stuff goes on top. But I'd suggest it should instead be episodes : show pages :: comments:FPP, that is, new stuff goes on the bottom of the page.

This would be nice when I'm watching a show and want to discuss the episode I just watched - I leave descriptions on, so I don't have to remember episode numbers/titles, but I don't want to scroll past all the stuff I haven't seen yet.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:19 PM on January 30, 2018


I do this by using CTRL + END to get to the bottom of the page, then scrolling upward.
posted by AFABulous at 1:53 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


everyone knows you're supposed to guard the "End" key closely and watch the little loading symbol in the page tab of your browser, and as soon as it's done loading you hit "End" to jump to the bottom of the page and immediately shift your eye down there and start reading so you won't see anything that could be a spoiler. i mean, everyone does that. right?... right?
posted by numaner at 1:53 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Clubs? watercooler? waaaa?
posted by zenon at 2:27 PM on January 30, 2018


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
posted by zenon at 2:27 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


aaaaaaaaamazing. where have i been?
posted by zenon at 2:33 PM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


I would love it if there was a view in which old posts in My Fanfare would float up to the top if there are any new comments. Sort of like Recent Activity but applicable to My Fanfare and occurring even if I haven't commented in the post.
posted by tavegyl at 4:37 PM on January 30, 2018


Maybe Fanfare Talk, Clubs, and Club Talk could go up in the visible menu, possibly instead of tags, popular, or random. (How many people use any of these in Fanfare?)
posted by Margalo Epps at 5:47 PM on January 30, 2018


How many people use any of these in Fanfare?

Have you read my posts on Jean Claude Van Johnson? I'm trying to raise the tags for that show to an art form.
posted by Nanukthedog at 11:51 AM on January 31, 2018


What color is IRL?
posted by zarq at 5:25 PM on January 31, 2018


it's a very specific color that burns your eyeballs in both a good way and a bad way. it's the Metafilter version of The Dress.
posted by numaner at 9:32 PM on January 31, 2018


I'm trying to raise the tags for that show to an art form.

haha Fanfare tagging is indeed super inconsistent. i'm guilty too though of sometimes being super lazy about it. but some people are chronically negligent about tagging. which reminds me:

pony: at least in FanFare, we can request for tags to be added and mods and TC can add them. or like a team of trusted taggers can approve them.
posted by numaner at 9:35 PM on January 31, 2018


What color is IRL?

A somewhat-desaturated orangey brown. I quite like it in Light Mode, but in Dark Mode the background color becomes quite overwhelming.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:48 PM on January 31, 2018


Ah. Thanks! :)
posted by zarq at 4:33 AM on February 1, 2018


I’ve noticed that Fanfare Books doesn’t have a “See All Books” option. I have to go to the archive and then jump to books.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:31 PM on February 1, 2018


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