Is it okay to use a dot as a bookmark?

May 14, 2005 1:51 PM

Is it no longer acceptable to leave a comment with simply a period - "." - in a thread so you can keep track of it via your profile page? I still see it happen in the blue but don't see it often in the green, and it now seems one of my comments like that was just deleted in the green... I don't want to piss on anyone here about that, just trying to figure out if it is cool to do it or not.
posted by pwb503 to etiquette/policy at 1:51 PM (45 comments total)

it denotes a moment of silence. using it as a bookmark is a bad idea.
posted by quonsar at 1:58 PM on May 14, 2005

In general I don't think that's ever a good way to track a thread you're interested in. With thousands of users, we all need to find local bookmarking solutions that don't impact each other.

And there are other meanings to the "." which you might be overlooking, like "I agree and have nothing more to say" or "RIP you old bugger." Not everyone who leaves one does it for bookmarking purposes. This is why you don't see it in the Green as much. It has no meaning there.

It's nothing to get pissed off about, but no, I personally don't think it's a good use of space on the site. USe your bookmarks.
posted by scarabic at 1:59 PM on May 14, 2005

I saw that. I was wondering who had died.
posted by cedar at 2:06 PM on May 14, 2005

When I suggested that people use a '.' to mark interesting threads, it was a joke. heheh
posted by mischief at 2:15 PM on May 14, 2005

We all know the proper way to mark a thread is "I, for one, PROFIT!!! from our new vibrating pancakes.'
posted by scarabic at 2:26 PM on May 14, 2005

We get vibrating pancakes now? Nobody tells me anything.
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:36 PM on May 14, 2005

They were getting flagged a lot in AskMe, and I think Matt deleted them. In general while it certainly works as a bookmarking device it doesn't scale, so that if even ten or twenty people started using it to keep track like this, threads would get pesky fast.
posted by jessamyn at 2:47 PM on May 14, 2005

aaaah.... I had seen random periods in threads that weren't about people dying and was confused by it. So. At least I now know what was going on. But yeah, it seems like a bad system if everyone were to use it.
posted by mdn at 3:08 PM on May 14, 2005

.
posted by cytherea at 3:33 PM on May 14, 2005

On a Dutch forum I sometimes frequent, people will mark threads of particular interest to them "TVP", short for "terugvindpost" or "post I'd like to find back". Therefore, I would propose using "PILF" for such threads on MeFi, but the resulting added noise to threads would IMO outweigh the benefit of findability. I second just using your bookmarks.

(PILF)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:49 PM on May 14, 2005

Too MILF-y.

("poster I'd like to ..."?)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 4:01 PM on May 14, 2005

Dude, that was the joke. Was I too opaque?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:04 PM on May 14, 2005

It just seemed like such a long way around the block for a MILF joke...with the dutch, and the findability, and the added noise...yes. Too opaque.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 4:12 PM on May 14, 2005

Yeah, I get that a lot. (Note to self: make more transparent MILF jokes.)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:17 PM on May 14, 2005

I don't know about transparent, maybe translucent would be best.
posted by spaghetti at 4:23 PM on May 14, 2005

Surely there are easier ways to keep track of threads than by your profile page... browser bookmarks, and now del.icio.us, have worked perfectly fine and are more feature rich.
posted by Jimbob at 4:24 PM on May 14, 2005

.
posted by odinsdream at 4:46 PM on May 14, 2005

{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}
posted by Armitage Shanks at 5:02 PM on May 14, 2005

In general I don't think that's ever a good way to track a thread you're interested in.

Haha, who cares if you think its ok or not? I do it all the time, there is no other way to track great questions.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 5:21 PM on May 14, 2005

Internally, I mean.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 5:24 PM on May 14, 2005

I second just using your bookmarks.

Maybe I'll give it a try.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 5:27 PM on May 14, 2005

I add mine to del.icio.us, and then I can see who also marked them, and what else that person is interested in.
posted by sugarfish at 5:50 PM on May 14, 2005

How about RSS feeds for individual threads, available only to registered users?
posted by eustacescrubb at 5:59 PM on May 14, 2005

(Note to self: make more transparent MILF jokes.)

A priest, a rabbi, and a transparent MILF walk into a bar...
posted by ChrisTN at 6:01 PM on May 14, 2005

Let us not forget that a transparent MILF can now be built like a concrete shithouse.
posted by stet at 6:26 PM on May 14, 2005

Haha, who cares if you think its ok or not? I do it all the time, there is no other way to track great questions.

Haha, and I'll keep flagging them as noise in hopes mathowie or jessamyn delete them. Haha.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:31 PM on May 14, 2005

Subscribe with Bloglines and check "keep as new" for threads you want to follow. Or use del.icio.us.
posted by matildaben at 6:38 PM on May 14, 2005

"{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

Great. Now I have to change my password. Thanks a lot.
posted by I EAT TAPES at 7:35 PM on May 14, 2005

Haha, who cares if you think its ok or not? I do it all the time, there is no other way to track great questions.

Or... you could, you know... actually think and use the ol' computer brain.
posted by cedar at 7:39 PM on May 14, 2005

Doesn't seem out of control enough to warrant cracking down. Then again, I suppose all you have to do is put "Great question, I was wondering the same thing" before the . and you should be good to go.

Though it is AskMe, and "." is taken. So why not "?"
posted by ontic at 7:55 PM on May 14, 2005

It's really this hard to create a bookmark? Somebody please explain this to me like I'm stupid.

(and SEXXXY!)

Seriously, this is like you're telling me it's easier to grow pigs and slaughter them and butcher them and grind up their lips and genitals than it is to just go buy a hotdog. I'm missing something.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:57 PM on May 14, 2005

pilf
posted by soyjoy at 10:43 PM on May 14, 2005

um
posted by peacay at 11:05 PM on May 14, 2005

A priest, a rabbi, and a transparent MILF walk into a bar...

[insert long drawn out story]
And the rabbi says "who cares as long as he loves his mother".
posted by dodgygeezer at 2:14 AM on May 15, 2005

Nonono, the rabbi says, "and God will take what he wants!"

Hey, why are all my "." bookmarks so morbid?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:19 AM on May 15, 2005

I thought the standard norm for putting something in a thread you want to track is to just leave a snarky comment before even clicking on the link. You know, something like "yawn", or "huh?".
posted by taz at 3:20 AM on May 15, 2005

Just do what the penis enlargers do and say "Great thread! I am looking for site like this long time!!"
posted by languagehat at 6:19 AM on May 15, 2005

All my trolls are really just bookmarks in disguise. Don't tell anyone.
posted by AlexReynolds at 6:48 AM on May 15, 2005

Best. AlexReynolds. bookmark. ever. I try, I really try to let it go but it still makes me laugh.
posted by geekyguy at 9:15 AM on May 15, 2005

That was dhoyt's bookmark, not mine.
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:20 AM on May 15, 2005

" it now seems one of my comments like that was just deleted in the green..."

Good. Comments in Ask ought to contribute to answering or clarifying the question, or not be made at all.
posted by majick at 9:23 AM on May 15, 2005

Haha, who cares if you think its ok or not? I do it all the time, there is no other way to track great questions.
Haha, and I'll keep flagging them as noise in hopes mathowie or jessamyn delete them. Haha.
Now that I know what these are about, I will jon you in this valiant crusade.
posted by dg at 3:28 PM on May 15, 2005

dg writes "I will jon you in this valiant crusade."

jonmc is now a verb?
posted by asok at 4:17 AM on May 16, 2005

Ewwwww.
posted by grateful at 6:34 AM on May 16, 2005

Haha, and I'll keep flagging them as noise in hopes mathowie or jessamyn delete them. Haha.

Does that go for bereavement dots too? Hope so. Folk using the most unweildy method possible to keep up with posts, adding noise in the process, is one thing, folk marking the death of someone they presumably care about with something so weedy and insipid as a tiny wee pixelblob gravely insults the recently dead - I mean, if you care enough to click the 'Comment' button, make a sodding comment.

Sorry to go on, but this is far and away the most annoying MeFi tic.
posted by jack_mo at 8:29 AM on May 16, 2005