This post has too many links!

December 17, 2002 10:19 PM

I think it has been mentioned before, and maybe I'm just grumpy tonight, but there are TEN FREAKIN' LINKS in this post.
posted by centrs to Etiquette/Policy at 10:19 PM (23 comments total)

it happens more and more often lately and i just don't want to be taken offsite ten times while deciding whether or not to take part in the discussion. it's exasperating.
posted by centrs at 10:22 PM on December 17, 2002

You know, you don't have to click on every link. I didn't click on a single one and I think I could deduce the post was about Blue Holes or something like that.

While you don't like all the links, I'm really too lazy to find more info with google.
posted by Stan Chin at 10:27 PM on December 17, 2002

There was a post several months back which had at least a hundred links in it, and it was celebrated.

This site is not specifically for discussing the latest news or human rights issues (people seem to forget this), but about finding cool stuff on the Web and linking to it.

Links are good, that's what this site is all about.
posted by wackybrit at 10:52 PM on December 17, 2002

centrs, it's probably just you. That post was fine, it's not the usual format everyone uses, it's a one off.
posted by riffola at 10:54 PM on December 17, 2002

well, try commenting without reading all the linked pages thoroughly and miss one detail, and see what happens.
posted by centrs at 11:03 PM on December 17, 2002

I think putzface_dickman's post is outstanding. It's fresh; well-researched; with a sense of humour; and informative in a non-trivial way.

I symphatize deeply with centrs because I used to feel guilty about not reading all the links. Now, I think the rule is: read the main link and you're ready to comment.

On MetaFilter the obligation is to provide one interesting link. Everything else is surplus. I happen to like multi-linkers (depending on the theme) but I don't think anyone is expected to read more than the main link.

When you post with more than one link, make sure your main link is self-sufficient. For commenting purposes, any one link can provide enough justification for commenting.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:14 PM on December 17, 2002

i just don't want to be taken offsite ten times while deciding whether or not to take part in the discussion.

What I do is... click on comments so I can start reading the discussion. Depending on the subject matter, I may be more inclined to read something that I would normally pass over, if the discussion is a good one.

Then I right-click (IE user... ehem) on each link provided and open in a new window. This way, I'm NOT taken away from the site at all and I have all the references for the post on hand.

I think it's a fine post... thorough. Saved me from having to do the extra "research". One Blue Hole link would have been insufficient. The whole idea of the post was to demonstrate that there are Blue Holes all over the place.
posted by Witty at 1:18 AM on December 18, 2002

I think it takes a cold, cold heart to criticize a poster with a name as self-effacing as "putzface_dickman".
posted by taz at 2:26 AM on December 18, 2002

Ten quirky links: good.
One tedious news link that's going to appear everywhere: bad.
posted by malevolent at 3:07 AM on December 18, 2002

For everything else, there's Mastercard.
posted by rory at 4:25 AM on December 18, 2002

Although, this post is darned confusing.
posted by Witty at 4:39 AM on December 18, 2002

goddamn links. fouling every corner of the intarweb. everywhere ya look, its blue underlined text. and since css, links actually disguise themselves. personally, i blame bush.
posted by quonsar at 4:41 AM on December 18, 2002

Two words... tabbed browsing.

Using Moz (or Phoenix, the .5 release is schweet!) you can open links in new tabs to your hearts content, leaving hours of linky goodness contained in a nice little compact window.
posted by cedar at 5:58 AM on December 18, 2002

well, try commenting without reading all the linked pages thoroughly and miss one detail, and see what happens.

Who says you have to comment?

And I second the tabbed browsing praise.
posted by adampsyche at 6:02 AM on December 18, 2002

another way to open new windows, in IE but most other browsers as well, i think, is to press the SHIFT key while clicking on the link. Simple yet effective.
posted by ashbury at 6:09 AM on December 18, 2002

I just skip them entirely. Even easier.
posted by machaus at 6:13 AM on December 18, 2002

... but ash, that requires using the other hand, a hand that may be otherwise engaged! Oops, was that too much information? heheh ;-P
posted by mischief at 6:34 AM on December 18, 2002

i guess everyone has their opinion. i'm not saying that i'd prefer a link to a generic news story, i'm saying that i would have preferred one link to a comprehensive page on blue holes instead of ten links to a bunch of fragments. was the mapquest link necessary? the links to the postcards were non-helpful. one looked like a regular pond and the other was a picture of the entrance to the park. the buildup was great, i wanted to read more about the blue holes, but it was tedious and frustrating to go through the links. i think i was on the 6th or 7th one before i actually found a good photo and description of what a blue hole was.

i'm just sayin'.
posted by centrs at 6:41 AM on December 18, 2002

centrs, I agree that that for me, at least, the post wasn't formatted in a way I would have done. I would have had my first link go to something with a little more info than a postcard. No big deal--it's just an alternative style to my own.

FWIW, and I know this comes up on a regular basis, but I prefer posts with fewer links. I know other people prefer lotsa links. I don't get bent out of shape when I see a post with 10 links in it, but neither do I often click on them. It's my loss.

mischief, you've got a problem if your other hand is engaged while reading metafilter. You must go crazy when mefi is down! :)
posted by ashbury at 6:54 AM on December 18, 2002

Ten quirky links: Bad.

I'm with centrs on this one, but I gave up stressing about it long ago. It's part of the Miguel-ization of Metafilter, which has proved, either by design or subversion, to be unstoppable.

To me this sort of thing is an attempt to generate noise rather than filter the web. If I wanted a long discussion of blue holes I suppose this would have been wonderful. It just seems like opening a topic for discussion rather than finding novel and interesting things on the web. It's forced. It's a pain. It's not what I come to Metafilter for. It's a gimmick. It's a waste of my time.

I saw the post, noticed the link overload, and passed on both the links and the discussion.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:01 AM on December 18, 2002

ash: shift-click can be inconvenient when the itch on your back is precisely located between the range of the over-the-shoulder scratch and the up-the-spine thumb-stretch. ;-P
posted by mischief at 7:17 AM on December 18, 2002

I think putzface_dickman's post is outstanding

This, like so many sentences, can be vastly improved with addition of one simple word:

I think Senator putzface_dickman's post is outstanding.
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:39 AM on December 18, 2002

Oustsanding, Senator Kafkaesque. Outstanding.
posted by jazon at 9:44 AM on December 18, 2002