The cursor's picked up something extra.

April 7, 2006 12:00 PM

Recently I've begun seeing a ltitle dot just to the right of the cursor in the comment submission form (screenshot). Is this just an artifact of live preview or something? Happens in Firefox on Win.
posted by scarabic to Bugs at 12:00 PM (83 comments total)

I see that in Firefox up in the search bar sometimes. I figured it was Firefox and/or Windows foreign character entry being a nut.
posted by rxrfrx at 12:02 PM on April 7, 2006

I have seen this too. I haven't noticed a pattern, if there is one, to when it appears.

I've noticed this in other forms on the web, too, here and there.
posted by cortex at 12:03 PM on April 7, 2006

yeah, it's not exclusive to metafilter. But I'm glad that you mentioned it because I had shrugged it off as a problem with my windows machine.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:08 PM on April 7, 2006

you really need to turn on cleartype. that text looks awful!

i see the little dot in firefox from time to time, too, though.
posted by wakko at 12:11 PM on April 7, 2006

you really need to turn on cleartype. that text looks awful!

Wakko, that's bicubic resizing, I'd bet, not an accurate sample of what scarabic sees.

I also get the dot here and other places and I hate it. >:(
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:14 PM on April 7, 2006

I get the dot from time to time...But no dot now. And it's been bugging me, too. I just figured it was something someone had changed on the 'puter (shared work PC).
posted by Bugbread at 12:16 PM on April 7, 2006

Do not adjust your browser. That's a floater.
posted by 327.ca at 12:19 PM on April 7, 2006

I sincerely hope you're joking, 327.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:23 PM on April 7, 2006

I see it in Opera sometimes.
posted by y6y6y6 at 12:24 PM on April 7, 2006

Ok. Weird: I have it on the comments box about the "breeders vs. non-breeders" MeTa, but not this MeTa.

Running Firefox on Win2K.
posted by Bugbread at 12:36 PM on April 7, 2006

I have it too. And I'm on Camino on OS X.

(Though Camino, I assume shares code with Firefox.)
posted by vacapinta at 12:45 PM on April 7, 2006

Also, like bugbread, I dont see it in this thread but I do reliably see it in the breeders thread.
posted by vacapinta at 12:47 PM on April 7, 2006

Confirmation that I am not insane is much appreciated. Thanks for this thread.
posted by dios at 12:49 PM on April 7, 2006

I don't get it here, but see it so regularly in the search box at Wikipedia that I thought it was some special cursor they whipped up (XP, Firefox 0.9.1)
posted by COBRA! at 12:51 PM on April 7, 2006

It's a bug alright, but it's a bug from homeland security.
When it's present, it means that your comment is being monitored for terrorism/dissident content.
Don't look directly at it, it's actually a camera port looking directly back at you. Just act natural.
posted by Balisong at 12:53 PM on April 7, 2006

You people are crazy. I don't see any "dot", not even in the screenshot. I bet you're all pot smokers.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:59 PM on April 7, 2006

I've got it sometimes (not in this thread) on both PC and Mac, both running Firefox.
posted by OmieWise at 1:02 PM on April 7, 2006

I just noticed it for the first time today while using gmail.
posted by Gamblor at 1:12 PM on April 7, 2006

Yeah I got that too. I was wondering what the hell it was. At least I know I'm not the only one.
posted by puke & cry at 1:12 PM on April 7, 2006

.
posted by languagehat at 1:18 PM on April 7, 2006

Damn, I always thought the dot and I were special. I see how it is!
posted by prostyle at 1:23 PM on April 7, 2006

I get in my Firefox search box, but not this comment box, so it's definitely not a MeFi-only thing.
posted by Godbert at 1:29 PM on April 7, 2006

I don't get it in the search box for Firefox, just the comment box.

So far, it's happening in Firefox, Opera, and Camino. Do we have any IE users who can indicate whether they see this or not?

For that matter, do we have any IE users period?
posted by Bugbread at 1:33 PM on April 7, 2006

A thread about the dot at mozillazine.org.
posted by knave at 1:37 PM on April 7, 2006

This thread seems to shed a little light on the subject.

It apparently happens when your web browser's bidirectional text support gets triggered. The little dot is indicating the direction your text is going (left to right vs. right to left).
posted by event at 1:39 PM on April 7, 2006

I consistently get the dot in Firefox when I click in the search field at news.google.com. I just tried it in IE and there is no dot. (IE 6.0, Win2k).
posted by knave at 1:39 PM on April 7, 2006

Only place I've been seeing it is in Wikipedia's search box.
posted by AwkwardPause at 1:41 PM on April 7, 2006

So, are we all seeing them on the same pages (indicating that the trigger is something on the page), or on different pages (indicating it's a more randomized problem)?

Right now, I've got no dot in MeTa threads:
11646
11645
I've got a dot in:
11640
11641
posted by Bugbread at 1:44 PM on April 7, 2006

bugbread: read the mozillazine thread. you should see it at the bottom of the search box on page 1 of that thread, but not page two.
posted by vacapinta at 1:46 PM on April 7, 2006

Vacapinta: Ah, I read the thread, but didn't notice the shift in the search bar.
posted by Bugbread at 1:48 PM on April 7, 2006

I also have the dot. It just started showing up in the last few days, but never before. Odd. Wanna try some SnowCrash?

(I've also had windows-specific cursor bugs in the past, but this recent one is decidedly all Firefox/Mozilla.)
posted by loquacious at 2:12 PM on April 7, 2006

It's triggered by some extensions, I think, as well.
posted by kindall at 2:17 PM on April 7, 2006

that's bicubic resizing, I'd bet

Just so - I blew up the screenshot a bit.
posted by scarabic at 2:21 PM on April 7, 2006

So with my doing this:

עברית

It should now appear in the comment submission box on this page.

Yup. That did it.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:22 PM on April 7, 2006

yeah, i see a dot now.

wonder if this is why that wikipedia thing is there. That always bugged me.

thanks for clearing that up, folks.
posted by fishfucker at 2:27 PM on April 7, 2006

.ti nmad ,epyt ot yaw hcihw em llet ot tod yna deen t'nod I
posted by cacophony at 2:29 PM on April 7, 2006

Hmmm, add some Hebrew and the dot shows up. Zionist conspiracy? You tell me. (if you prefer, substitute Arabic for Hebrew and Islamofascist for Zionist. Or just follow your favorite crackpot recipe.)
posted by TimeFactor at 2:34 PM on April 7, 2006

hm, glad that's settled. I originally thought something went balls up in my xp end user install.
posted by puke & cry at 2:39 PM on April 7, 2006

Islamozionist.

Makes at least as much sense as Islamofascist.
posted by sonofsamiam at 2:44 PM on April 7, 2006

Yeah, both here and wikipedia. Thanks for posting this, I was always wondering about it myself.
posted by purephase at 3:16 PM on April 7, 2006

I don't notice it in Opera.
posted by bigmusic at 4:17 PM on April 7, 2006

It apparently happens when your web browser's bidirectional text support gets triggered. The little dot is indicating the direction your text is going (left to right vs. right to left).

Yup, it occurs when bidi text is used in some way. A quick jaunt through the stylesheets and nothing sprung out at me, but I didn't look too closely.
posted by j.edwards at 4:33 PM on April 7, 2006

"Do we have any IE users...

...who can indicate whether they see this or not?

For that matter, do we have any IE users period?"

Yes, no, yes.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:34 PM on April 7, 2006

I see it a lot, all different sites.

But umm, it suddenly appeared on Metafilter, way worse than anywhere else, as I type this. It usually appears as a kinda apostrophe shaped anomaly to the right of the line. Right now it looks kinda pixellated.

Despite seeing this on Wikipedia and elsewhere, I have never seen this on Metafilter until this thread, seriously! Firefox user.
posted by fire&wings at 4:42 PM on April 7, 2006

I wonder if it isn't someone's user name triggering it?
posted by Mitheral at 4:47 PM on April 7, 2006

Camino 1.0 here. I see it.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 4:48 PM on April 7, 2006

It should now appear in the comment submission box on this page.

Confirmed. It wasn't appearing in this thread for me before this post.

I wonder whose username or what string is triggering it elsewhere?
posted by loquacious at 4:56 PM on April 7, 2006

And I wonder why it just started showing up for me? I seriously haven't seen this thing before about a few days ago, and I haven't update Firefox or anything in ages.
posted by loquacious at 4:57 PM on April 7, 2006

fire&wings : "I have never seen this on Metafilter until this thread"

Well, in this particular thread, it was intentionally triggered by this comment, by mr_roboto:

mr_roboto : "עברית"

But, yeah, I've noticed it WAY more in MeFi lately, starting, I dunno, a week or two ago?
posted by Bugbread at 5:01 PM on April 7, 2006

Yeah I didn't read the thread.

But woah.
posted by fire&wings at 5:04 PM on April 7, 2006

Interestingly, it did not appear on the MetaTalk thread posting form. Anyone see a difference between that and the one I'm typing into now?
posted by scarabic at 5:30 PM on April 7, 2006

scarabic : "Anyone see a difference between that and the one I'm typing into now?"

Scarabic: the one you're typing into now has a comment by mr_roboto that uses right-to-left language, which intentionally forces the change.

mr_roboto : "עברית"

The better question would be, does anyone see a difference between the MetaTalk posting form and, say, this thread? I don't see any RTL in there, but I may be overlooking it in the length of the thread.
posted by Bugbread at 5:39 PM on April 7, 2006

Might have something to do with this comment (the irony mark). Just a guess.
posted by purephase at 5:57 PM on April 7, 2006

I've been noticing it too, and it's very annoying.

Now that I know what it is, I'll never have to worry about what direction I might be typing in at the moment!
posted by delmoi at 6:06 PM on April 7, 2006

I want these motherfucking dots off my motherfucking screen!
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 6:22 PM on April 7, 2006

sorry. and yes, the dot is with me as i type this.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 6:23 PM on April 7, 2006

Ahh... I see now, bugbread. I wasn't quite understanding before.

However, this comment being the newest at this moment, I DO see a dot in the thread you reference.
posted by scarabic at 6:24 PM on April 7, 2006

It always shows up in the "Translate text" box on the Google Language Tools page.

Is there a way to make it stop?
posted by Wet Spot at 6:52 PM on April 7, 2006

Is there a way to make it stop?

Yes, finally we come to the point!
posted by scarabic at 7:20 PM on April 7, 2006

who was it... metallica...? who said,
connect the goddamn dots!
posted by hortense at 8:48 PM on April 7, 2006

yeah, I'd like to know how to disable this bug feature.
posted by puke & cry at 8:50 PM on April 7, 2006

who was it... metallica...? who said,
connect the goddamn dots!

Ministry
posted by Balisong at 9:43 PM on April 7, 2006

Weird, after I look at a page with hebrew in it, my firefox address bar shows the dot/direction thingy until I restart firefox.

ick.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:53 PM on April 7, 2006

wow, I installed Windows XP's chinese IME and now I see the dot in the search and URL bar in firefox. *sigh*.
posted by delmoi at 10:22 PM on April 7, 2006

One of the things I learned on the UN headquarters tour is that they are in the business of establishing international standards. Stamps go in the upper right hand corner of the envelope. That's that: a published standard.

Maybe they should establish a single text direction? I think I could honestly adapt to reading English right to left if it came to that. Some book I read recently demanded that in parts and it came surprisingly naturally. The top-to-bottom languages I know are 1-word-per-pictogram languages. Those seem like they could change direction even more easily.

/broad claims, little knowledge
posted by scarabic at 10:51 PM on April 7, 2006

I've never noticed this before, and now it's going to drive me bonkers.
posted by raedyn at 11:04 PM on April 7, 2006

I think I could honestly adapt to reading English right to left if it came to that.

Dude, we can't even handle metric.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 11:18 PM on April 7, 2006

To that point, we can even handle the English system. How many feet in a mile, anyone? I'm sure you know, but how about the person sitting next to you on the plane?

Still, I keep hearing British folk say "16 stone" and stuff like that. Haven't y'all gone metric over there?
posted by scarabic at 11:30 PM on April 7, 2006

Oh, all right then. 1600 centistone. Better?
posted by TimeFactor at 12:41 AM on April 8, 2006

delmoi writes "I installed Windows XP's chinese IME and now I see the dot in the search and URL bar in firefox. *sigh*."

I find the connection between those two highly specious. Chinese is a LTR language, and this is triggered by RTL languages.
posted by Bugbread at 1:52 AM on April 8, 2006

after I look at a page with hebrew in it, my firefox address bar shows the dot/direction thingy until I restart firefox

I totally blame the Jews

(and yeah, I see the dot too, FireFox/OSX 10.3.9)
posted by matteo at 2:08 AM on April 8, 2006

I never noticed it, and now it's going to bug me. Thanks ever so much. :)

It'd be more useful if it'd let me type right to left. :)
posted by Malor at 2:18 AM on April 8, 2006

omfg that dot is turning out to be more aggravating than watching Curb Your Enthusiasm on an infinite loop with the sound turned all the way up (speaking of the Jews).
posted by tweak at 3:07 AM on April 8, 2006

thanks for nothing scarabic.
(Firefox 1.5.0.1 WinXP Pro SP2)
posted by tweak at 3:08 AM on April 8, 2006

Finally, a "what does the dot mean" thread that covers new ground.
posted by Jimbob at 4:35 AM on April 8, 2006

I've never noticed this before, and now it's going to drive me bonkers.

I'm sure I would have noticed it here if it had appeared before; it's obvious and annoying. But I'd never seen it anywhere at the site until a few days ago.

Is there a way to make it stop?

Yes, please. There's nothing about turning off the feature in that mozillazine thread.
posted by mediareport at 4:41 AM on April 8, 2006

Thanks ever so much, scarabic. I see it all the time (XP, Firefox 1.5.0.1) and I'd finally learned to ignore it.

*sigh*
posted by cmyk at 5:04 AM on April 8, 2006

I always see that dot, but I just figured it was some kind of new default cursor.
posted by brownpau at 5:16 AM on April 8, 2006

I've grown fond of the dot. Can we keep him?
posted by horsewithnoname at 6:58 AM on April 8, 2006

I get the crazy cursor dot at Wikipedia too.
posted by dgaicun at 7:07 AM on April 8, 2006

Oh, I now see that has been recounted a bajillion times already. On the other hand, I've got a picture.
posted by dgaicun at 7:14 AM on April 8, 2006

The dot mourns constantly for the lack of intelligent discussion in most threads. Even when it finds a decent thread, it sticks around out of habit.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:47 AM on April 8, 2006

Actually, I think it's a very short dash rather than a dot. I had never noticed it before, but now it is going to drive me nucking futs.

Thanks, scarabic. Thanks a lot.
posted by dg at 10:28 PM on April 9, 2006