When a FPP doesn't start with a link I get confused.

March 19, 2004 10:33 AM

When a FPP doesn't start with a link I get confused. It looks like a continuation of the previous FPP, sometimes. And I can't tell what the featured post should be. Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed this with greater frequency lately.
posted by Slagman to Etiquette/Policy at 10:33 AM (32 comments total)

I thought it was a good thread, though.
posted by Slagman at 10:37 AM on March 19, 2004

Here's the the other one I was thinking of. Now I see it was by the same person, and I feel vaguely guilty. I'm not trying to pick on a specific individual.
posted by Slagman at 10:40 AM on March 19, 2004

I don't even know how to do that.
posted by trharlan at 10:57 AM on March 19, 2004

I don't get confused by those at all, Slagman, but maybe other people do. Maybe I'm just used to Y2K's style. Then again, not all posts start with a link, the link is often spaced midway in the first para or even in the second.
posted by Shane at 11:00 AM on March 19, 2004

Me neither. I've used the technique before, and nobody seemed to be confused by it.

trharlan, you do it be leaving the URL and Link Title fields empty on the Post a Link form.
posted by me3dia at 11:07 AM on March 19, 2004

I've done it before because I wanna be like karl.
posted by The God Complex at 11:14 AM on March 19, 2004

I think the small text things is annoying to lead with because it breaks the scanning of the front page hierarchy. Maybe it was because the small text sections were shorter and they could be more easily confused for additional links to the previous post. Minor quibble but looks messy. I've never understood why to use small text. If you don't want the write-up to take up all that much front page real-estate then edit it. Or do a briefer write up with a 'more inside'?
posted by ao4047 at 11:23 AM on March 19, 2004

trharlan, you do it be leaving the URL and Link Title fields empty on the Post a Link form.

I always leave those empty and go free-form, nobody yells at me for it...
...they just yell at me for other things. Then I put my thumb on my nose and twiddle my fingers.

I think the small text things is annoying to lead with because it breaks the scanning of the front page hierarchy.

Do we really want to get into Y2K's posting style here again (small fonts, which people pick on me for in my comments, and mouse-over tags)? This usually just goes in circles. Y2K is Y2K.
posted by Shane at 11:31 AM on March 19, 2004

Do we really want to get into Y2K's posting style here again

No no no! I don't want to re-hash what's already re-hashed, re-fried and twice-baked. I'm just saying it's frigging annoying.
posted by ao4047 at 11:37 AM on March 19, 2004

In the Y2K post slagman initially linked to, I think it would have been much more effective to start with the "Gay Marriage Brings Joy..." link, then followed by the quotes in small text.

I actually tend to really like y2k's posting style; it condenses more (uniformly excellent) content into the FPP without making the thing run on for twenty meters. It really enhances what he's giving to us, and lets you get a precise idea of the post without having to deal with the [more inside] wierdness. Saves a click. (and therefore bandwidth. Just like deleting old user accounts!)

oh god, I'm posting in MeTa again. didn't I make a new year's resolution about this? dammit.
posted by kaibutsu at 3:03 PM on March 19, 2004

If Quonsar's allowed to do Quonsar-type things, let y2karl do y2karl-type things. Maybe eventually I will be quirky and beloved enough to justify my own idiosyncracies!
posted by Hildago at 3:20 PM on March 19, 2004

By god, MetaFilter is heading towards despotism. There's fucking nothing too small to whinge on about, is there? First three words of the front page post aren't a link? KILL THE MOFO!

Sheesh.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:22 PM on March 19, 2004

We're running out of things to whinge about. That's why. Neener neener. *pulls five fresh fish's hair and runs away*
posted by dazed_one at 4:46 PM on March 19, 2004

Like I said, I didn't mean to pick on an individual. I think it was the font, or something, that made things run together. Also, I was secretly hoping someone would reveal how to do it. I generally prefer shorter FPP's, but that's just me.
posted by Slagman at 5:09 PM on March 19, 2004

< br> only with no space between the left corner and the B.
posted by y2karl at 6:03 PM on March 19, 2004

I just don't know.
posted by ashbury at 7:30 PM on March 19, 2004

Naw, come on, y2karl, you're perfectly free to do more creative posting formats and all, but you gotta admit, this particular one is - for various reasons that add up - one of the clumsiest-lookin' FPPs in recent memory. Dontcha think?
posted by soyjoy at 7:41 PM on March 19, 2004

Now is that what they call begging the question?

If one verklempt, upon reading those boys in their own words, wanted to lead with them in their own words, the problem then was how to do it without robbing the front page of space. There are only so many solutions, given the parameters.

Spaces between quotes and quoted made a more elegant and easy to understand format but were too long on the screen.

Running the quotes together without line breaks was too ugly and confusing.
So, compromise.

At any rate, given this and that since no children were killed, harmed, mutilated, crippled or emotionally scarred for life during the production of the post, even though they were the topic, the short answer is Nuh Uhh.
posted by y2karl at 8:47 PM on March 19, 2004

Proving... what? That once again, your apparent need to call attention to yourself instead of letting the quality of your material speak for you leads you to decide it's OK to spew non-standard crap all over MetaFilter's front page, instead of respecting that whether you like it or not there are community standards for how front page posts should be formatted? Oh, don't worry, I'm as capable of page-down-scrolling past your crap as the next person, but that makes it no less annoying so scan the front page. It's unfortunate that despite your Easily Aroused Vocal Minority of Supporters for the Infamous y2karl Text Mangling Style, you still feel compelled to disrupt the information flow there for no apparent reason or design other than self-aggrandizement.
posted by JollyWanker at 7:57 AM on March 20, 2004

Wow, JollyWanker, you sure spent a lot of time and energy insulting y2karl there. I guess your name is well deserved. Frankly, although I've seen some complaints about his posting style, hardly anybody but you thinks what he posts is "crap." Your most recent, on the other hand, was a double post about an incredibly stupid conspiracy theory that had been debunked about two seconds after it appeared, so I guess you're a qualified judge.
posted by languagehat at 9:17 AM on March 20, 2004

Oh my god! It was non-standard crap! Kill the non-conformer, kill him!
posted by five fresh fish at 9:45 AM on March 20, 2004

I'm as capable of page-down-scrolling past your crap as the next person, but that makes it no less annoying so scan the front page.

Well, insult boy, one can scroll past it faster than this post.
posted by y2karl at 12:41 PM on March 20, 2004

I repeat:
Do we really want to get into Y2K's posting style here again (small fonts . . . and mouse-over tags)? This usually just goes in circles. Y2K is Y2K.
IMO, bad jokes would be less of a waste of time.
posted by Shane at 2:20 PM on March 20, 2004

Man, you assholes should learn how to read before your turn your immature little attack engines on me... I'll just sit back and wait for someone to point out where I said y2karl's posts were "crap"... All I said was the willful disregard for the generally accepted design of MetaFilter is pretentious and off-putting and that there's a small minority of MetaFilter users who like it... Hit too close to the nerve, or what, karl? (Hey, languagegat, nice try; lucky for you your posting history is too boring to bother digging through...)
posted by JollyWanker at 9:30 PM on March 20, 2004

Them's nice diamonds you got there, kid.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:35 AM on March 21, 2004

Hit too close to the nerve, or what, karl?

Oh, god, I was so hurted by your mean remarks! O the sting! Wah! Wah!

Your sense of self-importance will have to stay over inflated on your own account, jollywanker, sorry.... Man, you're a regular mini-me Republican National Committee---accuse your critics of doing what you do schtick with your pot/kettling back pedaling. But, [Y]our immature little attack engine doesn't bother too much 'cause it's the little immature attack engine that can't.

But look on the bright side--you got to be unpleasant and call people naughty names, an activity which is very important to you--the teeny tiny community of one. Apart from the jolly, you live up to your cognomen.
posted by y2karl at 7:13 AM on March 21, 2004

hEy, jOlLywAnKeR! fUcK yOu In tHe fAcE wItH a jAcKhAmMeR.


posted by quonsar at 7:29 AM on March 21, 2004

yeah, now that's some formatting.
posted by quonsar at 7:29 AM on March 21, 2004

fuck you in the face with a jackhammer

You obviously missed your calling as a Hollywood screenwriter. Has that one ever been done before? I'm picturing maybe Joey Pesci in Goodfellas II.
posted by Shane at 10:45 AM on March 21, 2004

I'll just sit back and wait for someone to point out where I said y2karl's posts were "crap"

You can get up now:
... instead of letting the quality of your material speak for you leads you to decide it's OK to spew non-standard crap all over MetaFilter's front page ... I'm as capable of page-down-scrolling past your crap as the next person ...

there are community standards for how front page posts should be formatted
I must have missed that memo.
posted by dg at 1:53 PM on March 21, 2004

I'm drawing a line under the line that's been drawn under y2karl's posting style discussions.
posted by nthdegx at 9:44 AM on March 22, 2004

______________________________________________
posted by nthdegx at 9:45 AM on March 22, 2004