Could the check mark in AskMeFi link directly to comment? April 3, 2005 8:37 PM   Subscribe

Could the little check mark in AskMeFi be coded to link directly to the pertaining comment?
posted by erebora to Feature Requests at 8:37 PM (19 comments total)

Great idea. I'm always clicking the little bugger anyway.
posted by ontic at 8:51 PM on April 3, 2005


There can be more than one. Which one would it jump to?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:55 PM on April 3, 2005


The first one? Or there could be multiple checks. I don't think I've ever seen more than three highlighted answers...
posted by erebora at 8:58 PM on April 3, 2005


Or how about a parsing mechanism to show AskMeFi in its entirety but with only the highlighted answers visible.
posted by erebora at 8:59 PM on April 3, 2005


more.. than one... best answer??>>>!!?

*head explodes*
posted by greasy_skillet at 9:06 PM on April 3, 2005


I've seen threads with five or six best answers, and given that it's to the user's discretion, I don't think having the same number of checkmarks as best answers is a good idea. I'm usually fine scrolling through the thread, looking for the bright green patch.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:19 PM on April 3, 2005


Yeah, the best answers jump right out at you on a quick skim anyway. Follow the link, scroll down. If Matt made the checkmark jump to the first best answer, it could lead the unsavvy to believe that to be the ONLY best answer, in some cases missing the a better best answer on that and future threads.
posted by cortex at 9:26 PM on April 3, 2005


It would also skip over a lot of GREAT answers not deemed "the best". What's best for the person asking the question may not be the best for everyone else.

It's a good thought though.
posted by Witty at 9:29 PM on April 3, 2005


Clicking the check could spawn a parsed page with only the tagged answers.
posted by erebora at 9:31 PM on April 3, 2005


The unsavvy probably wouldn't go clicking on the checkmarks, though...
posted by ontic at 9:34 PM on April 3, 2005


Perhaps we could just stop asking for unnecessary code-based solutions to 'problems' that aren't really problems at all, pull the mental feeding tube out, and just use our brains instead! [/snark]

Seriously, this seems incredibly unnecessary, and unworkable given that many many questions have multiple 'best answers', as jacquilynne mentions, and the best ones are highlighted inthread already. The front page is getting weighed down with enough cruft as it is.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:39 PM on April 3, 2005


Stavros, you're right. Having that little tan checkmark go somewhere when clicked would probably tip AskMeFi over the edge into unusable cruft-osity. /rebound snark

I didn't feel I was asking for a solution to a 'problem', I was merely considering a functional extension to something that already existed.
posted by erebora at 9:49 PM on April 3, 2005


I don't think I've ever seen more than three highlighted answers...

I have. There are threads out there where the number of answers marked as best could be counted in the dozens.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:49 PM on April 3, 2005


It's not a bad idea to make the check mark do something, but this isn't the best-thought-out feature request I've ever seen.
posted by scarabic at 12:51 AM on April 4, 2005


If the check mark remains non-functional (which I think is probably the Right Thing, since "best answer(s)" is so nebulous), its color should be changed. Right now, it's the same color as links, which is probably the source of confusion. I know I try to click on it a couple times a day myself.
posted by Plutor at 4:27 AM on April 4, 2005


I agree with Plutor that I click the thing more often than you might imagine. It seems funny to me that report this post, which doesn't look like a link, is one, while best answer, which does, is not. I could see linking it to an answer page that just includes the best answers for that particular question.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:37 AM on April 4, 2005


I like this idea and the parser idea.
posted by xammerboy at 11:16 AM on April 4, 2005


Consider: The unsavvy probably wouldn't go clicking on the checkmarks, though...

Against: Right now, it's the same color as links, which is probably the source of confusion. I know I try to click on it a couple times a day myself.

Barring the possibility that Plutor is wildly unsavvy, I think he's dead right on all counts -- it looks like something that should be clicked on (or on a more basic level, people like shiny things), it really oughtn't (or at the least very much needn't) be imbued with powers, and it should probably have its color changed. The current mouseover text on the image does about all that needs to be done.

If you reeeeally had to link it to something, you could just have every checkmark link to the same page with a brief explanation of the whole Best Answers concept, but even that seems a bit much.
posted by cortex at 11:54 AM on April 4, 2005


a parsed page with only the tagged answers

would be fantastic. I've clicked the check too. And sometimes you just want to skim through, you know? AskMeFi is a busy place, busier than the grey or blue.
posted by NickDouglas at 7:32 PM on April 5, 2005


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