Could we have a [more inside] feature to encourage people to keep their posts short?

August 21, 2002 2:54 PM

An attempt at a solution to this [more inside]
posted by ZachsMind to MetaFilter-Related at 2:54 PM (20 comments total)

There never is a reason to double linebreak on the MeFi front page. It takes up space. Three paragraphs for a Front Page Post is excessive. More than three or four links on the FPP is excessive by the way. The rest could just be put in the body of the thread.

I'm not saying it should be outlawed. Far be it for me to ever wanna see more rules added to this place, but there's a way to encourage people to keep the FPP small and include a 'more' comment inside. If this was done in such a way as to allow people to post both simultaneously, they might get the idea to keep the FPP short and then they can waft eloquently all they want in the body of the thread.

Whedonesque does something similar to this. Perhaps MeFi could adopt a similar thing, or is there a reason why MeFi isn't coded this way? Just wondering.
posted by ZachsMind at 3:04 PM on August 21, 2002

Why is everyone getting their panties in a knot all of the sudden about formatting? Keep it simple. Keep it like it is. Exercise ignoring posts that bother your fragile sensibilities.
posted by machaus at 3:15 PM on August 21, 2002

I don't have my panties in a wad, Machaus. If I thought I could get away with it, I'd post FPPs to MeFi which scrolled for ever and ever. I'm a bit nihilistic and anarchistic when it comes to MeFi, but I'm also trying to put myself in other people's shoes. Preferably after the shoes have been fumigated and attacked with Lysol.

I mean to be honest I could care less. Just thought it might make MeFi a more pleasurable experience overall. Just enough of a FPP to see whether or not the topic is of interest to someone, then put the rest of it inside. FPPs that are three paragraphs or more just remind me of the sheriff in Blazing Saddles: "Excuse me while ah whip dis out!" It's like showing off and it's mildly annoying. I'm just trying to be helpful.

Besides, it's easier to ignore a post on the front page if it's not three paragraphs long. =)
posted by ZachsMind at 3:22 PM on August 21, 2002

It's like showing off and it's mildly annoying.

I think it's just the way people are accustomed to writing. Sorry if I seemed pissy before, quonsar hadn't yet relieved my inner ennui.
posted by machaus at 3:25 PM on August 21, 2002

yah, but the post disappeared and i don't hear matt laughing...
posted by quonsar at 3:29 PM on August 21, 2002

If I have to put up with people insisting on using the execrable acronym FPP, everyone else can suck it up and read three paragraphs a couple times a day.
posted by gleuschk at 3:39 PM on August 21, 2002

C'mon, gleuschk, it's a perfectly harmless Bill the Cat reference. Ack! Thpppt! FPP!

Oh no. I've broken my six-week Vow of MeTa Silence. Curse you, One-Liner Temptation!
posted by rory at 4:36 PM on August 21, 2002

I thought the general consensus was that mayhaps one should use something like notepad to have the [more inside] part of the post 'at the ready' so that it can simply be copied and pasted right after the first part of the post is made.

I mean seriously, if someone drops a comment within three seconds of the first part of the post then they obviously haven't even bothered to read it. And if by chance that did happen, I'd hope Mefites would understand to wait for the rest of the post.
posted by gummi at 4:45 PM on August 21, 2002

erm..."read it thoroughly" is what that should say up there. Yeah.
posted by gummi at 4:49 PM on August 21, 2002

I loved FPP so much, I bought the company. It's funny how some stuff that annoys some people to the point of automatic weapons fire doesn't bother others in the least. Inevitable, I suppose, in a community of this size. And yes, I know Matt hates 'FPP' too, which has disinclined me from using it of late, as I have incurred enough of the Wrath Of Mathowie in times past. Still, one man's soy-based meat substitute is another man's....how does that go again?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:10 PM on August 21, 2002

Quorn.
posted by gleuschk at 8:53 PM on August 21, 2002

left arm.
posted by machaus at 8:58 PM on August 21, 2002

Ya'll owe me a monitor. Damn coffee.
posted by gummi at 9:05 PM on August 21, 2002

Uhh.. waz wrong with using FPP?

posted by slipperywhenwet at 9:59 PM on August 21, 2002

AFAIK, it's an inscrutable acronym that discourages newcomers and encourages cliqueishness, IM(athowie's)HO. OTOH, some find it A-OK, it makes them LOL, or even end up ROTFL, and it's hardly TEOTWAWKI - just irritating. YMMV. CUL8R!
posted by rory at 2:15 AM on August 22, 2002

One word: jingoism.

rory: I don't really know what this means, but I have an irresistible urge to type it, so here goes: LOLOLOLOLOL.
posted by gleuschk at 5:47 AM on August 22, 2002

I know Matt hates 'FPP' too.

Pfft! And here I thought I was a hip newbie, spouting the local lingo like "FPP"...
posted by Shane at 7:40 AM on August 22, 2002

Uh, can we get back on the topic, guys?
posted by ZachsMind at 11:40 AM on August 22, 2002

The problem with automatically removing the code is that someone, once in a blue moon, might have a really good reason for the double line break. And never seeing any line breaks gets kind of boring as well. I don't know what the solution is except gentle persuasion in the warnings listed on the post page (like this link has been found the following times) and severe browbeating in MetaTalk.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:58 AM on August 22, 2002

Um, if this is a code removal debate, shouldn't it really go to Matt? Maybe I don't have as much against these posts as most people, but if I did, I couldn't do much except admonish the post-ers (which I won't do, 'cause I'm a newbie.)
posted by Shane at 5:47 AM on August 23, 2002