MetaTalk posts tagged with pony

3000+ Comment Megaponies

Artw — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:23:24 -0800

So, even outside of election years browser crushing 3000+ post megathreads are now a not uncommon thing - should we be looking at pagination at the 2000 comment mark? And if not pagination what else could be done to make them less of a browser crushing experience, especially on mobile?

Look, I know it's a crazy thing to ask, but....

anotherpanacea — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:23:23 -0800

Digg recently announced that it was building an RSS reader. That's fine, but I don't like Digg, I like Metafilter. So even though this is way too much to ask, I was wondering: might Metafilter consider creating an RSS reader subsite? I would pay an extra membership fee, or even an annual fee, and I don't think I'm alone.

Could we switch to "newest first" for comments in a user's activity?

OmieWise — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:02:42 -0800

The activity pages for each user put the last thread commented in first on the page, but within each thread the comments are in chronological order. I think it would make more sense, and be more intuitive, to have both the thread and the comments in reverse chronological order. This would mean reading down the page would take you deeper into history until you came to the next thread. I find myself using this page most closely when I am either trying to figure out what someone's last comment was on the site (e.g., if I just saw that their profile is disabled) or what their last contribution in an epic thread was. I am certain that everyone uses the page just as I do. At least on the comment pages it is strange to see the threads in "newest first" but the comments in "newest last." Version notes, medical charts, etc, all use newest first. I know Recent Activity works differently, but it is meant to show all comments, not simply one user's comments. (Although I only ever reread my own comments again and again.) (I tried to look through previous posts, but couldn't manipulate the search well enough to narrow this down. My apologies if it's already been discussed.)

Pony Request: Delete Notifications

corb — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:18:00 -0800

Sometimes, coming into a thread and seeing a comment a mod has made, there's confusion - it seems to have little relation to the comments immediately above it. Often, but not always, this means stuff has been deleted, but it's hard to tell. How hard would it be to implement delete notifications or a way to show that comments had been deleted in-thread? Is this a thing other people would find useful? This was mentioned a bit in some separate MeTas of late, so I thought I'd pull it from the surroundings and leave it as a clear thing to talk about. I'm not suggesting that we should be able to see what the deleted comments were, just that they existed. There was also I believe a suggestion that when you were about to post in a thread that had been updated by a delete, something would notify to that effect. I think this would be helpful for a lot of reasons, not least that people wouldn't be responding to deleted comments, which then in turn need to be deleted or seem really, really confusing. Another thing is that I think it dilutes mod "suggestions" when you're not sure if they're addressed to the people whose comments remain in the thread, or to other, more egregious violators, that are gone. Thoughts?

LIGHTEN UP ON THE INSTANT DELETIONS, PLEASE

y2karl — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:26:17 -0800

I made an ill considered remark in timsteil's folkstreams post and he made a polite response which made me feel ashamed after I saw his consternation. I wanted to clarify my harsh out and went to make a clarifying comment when my computer crashed and I had to reboot. And when I got back, I made my comment and then saw his was already deleted. I am getting so sick of the editing of our conversations.I really think sometime that there should be placeholders for all deletions you make. You are overdoing it, in my estimation. As it is now, my original harshout and tepid apology by way of clarification stands but timsteil's all too human response is gone. I look like a jerk who is talking to himself. And I am not talking to myself, I am responding to tim's innocent remark. I really wish the warp speed hall monitoring was curbed a bit. You treat us like children and rob us of the opportunity to have a real, unplanned for conversation where we make mistakes and make amends when you instantly delete innocuous remarks. It really is getting a little too Big Brother and Big Sister around here. You may have godlike powers but you most asssuredly do not have godlike judgment. Please back off and give us a chance to be human beings having real conversations and stop making textual bonsai out of our interactions.

Metafilter et al Rocks! and yet.. Pony request for short-story subsite

Faintdreams — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:54:44 -0800

So Metafilter right now consists of * Metafilter / MetaTalk- launched in 1999. Askmefi - launched in 2003. Projects - launched in 2005. Music - launched in 2006. Jobs - launched 2006. IRL - launched ?? Now I love, love, love, Meta and all associated sub-sites but I was wondering if perhaps a writing / short story sub-site (for original works) was also possible.?** [*all dates taken from wikipedia]
[**apologies if this has already been discussed, I searched and couldn't find reference to a writing sub-site on MetaTalk] This might be a massive Pony request or a teeny tiny one - I cannot fathom the amount of behind the scenes and Mod work is require to make Meta run as smoothly as it does currently - but in the same vein as the Music / Projects sub-sites I suspect that plenty of people would make posts on a Writing / Short Story sub-site. Similar to projects perhaps we could 'vote' on stories as well as comment on them?. Also a word limit (say max 10,000) would dissuade people from posting entire novels or dissertations. Any more than 10, 000 words and I personally feel the writer has jumped the short story fence and is dancing with the 'substantive works' category. Thoughts? Is this an impossible Pony? Is this a possible Pony, but impractical? Would such a sub-site fit /not fit Meta ethos? Is there a niche for such a sub-site or am I just imagining it?

When I was your age, this space was for jokes.

phunniemee — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:35:25 -0800

I like the sidebar on the front page, and how it shows nifty stuff and contact activity. When I'm on my phone, I don't have that, and it makes me feel sad inside. Would the powers that be consider adding a line to the menu on the mobile site that would link to the sidebar content? In my head, this looks exactly like what we have on the front page, except tinier and by itself.

Notification of Changes to IRL Meetups

youngergirl44 — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:27:37 -0800

Is it possible to get a memail if there have been date/time/location changes to an IRL event they've RSVP'd to? And as an extension, possibly a notification when a proposed event is confirmed? A meetup in Chicago that got moved from one weekend to another got me thinking about this. The poster of the event was nice enough to add text to the post indicating the date change so it was viewable when I saw the post in my recent activity or in the regular IRL pages. But, had I not visited the site between the time the change was made and the original meetup date, I would have missed the new info. It would be really nice to get a memail alert to any changes. The proposed-to-confirmed notification is probably a bit messier since there's no RSVP option on a proposed event. So maybe a notification based on who has commented in the thread? Or adding some sort of "I'm interested" RSVP function to the proposed event posts? That could help gauge interest in the event as well as provide a base for which users would get a notification if the event is confirmed. So what do you guys think? These are probably things that could be accomplished using IFFT or an RSS feed or something, but I (and probably other members) don't use these services as frequently as my memail - and the email I receive each time I get a memail. This is my first pony in almost seven years, so be gentle.

Curvy arrow pony

beagle — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 15:01:18 -0800

I would like to nominate for Meta-institutionalization the very nifty little arrows (like this ↩ ) that Martijn put at the end of the blockquotes (of other comments) in this comment. Problem being addressed: Right now, lots of comment quotes are posted without attribution, because anchorlinks are kind of a hassle. Without them, you need to scroll up and down the thread or Command-F to find out who said that and what the context was. And where attribution anchorlinks are used, there are multiple styles people employ. Those little arrows as built-in functionality would make anchorlinks to quoted comments happen consistently, uniformly, unobtrusively and elegantly. Two ways to do it: 1. (Basic) Add an "insert anchorlink" option at the bottom of the edit window, which would place that curvy arrow where your cursor is and lets you enter a link to any comment in the thread. (Problem: doesn't make it automatic and not everybody would use it.) 2. (Cooler and much preferred) Whenever you quote, in a comment, a portion of any other previous comment in the same thread, (a) those words are automatically italicized and (b) the curvy arrow anchorlink, to the first instance of their use, is automatically appended to the end of the quote. (Problem: Requires a non-trivial dynamic text search function, I guess, on every single comment posting. So perhaps a compromise between 1 and 2 is: an anchorlink function button that automatically finds the first instance of the text you're quoting from upthread, italicizes and creates the link. If you want to quote a second instance, you'd have to edit the thing yourself.)

Noprocrast

michaelh — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:22:35 -0800

What do people think about adding an anti-procrastination pony to MetaFilter? This feature comes straight from Hacker News. If a user likes, he or she can enable "noprocrast" in their profile settings, which lets them visit for X minutes before blocking that user for Y minutes. The default is something like 30 minutes with 180 minutes of no procrastination afterwards. It doesn't time out someone making a post. Unlike StayFocusd and other browser- or system- level browsers, that user account can't get around the temporary block because it is on the server. As someone who has disabled and re-enabled his account twice during especially busy times, I'd like to know if others would find this helpful here on MetaFilter and what the staff thinks about implementing it. I tried searching and I don't believe this is a duplicate request.

Quonser-Quonsee Relations

Fui Non Sum — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 10:18:52 -0800

A tiny Quonsmas pony for all! Could we get some sort of "Quonsed" option for the relationships list when we're adding contacts? Because I like to friend my Quonsees and Quonsers, but then I forget how I know them and feel like an old person. Which I am, but that's neither here nor there.

Popup Image Pony / Robot request

snuffleupagus — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:22:49 -0800

Feature or script: popup boxes to display single-image deeplinks in posts and comments? (like the youtube popups.) I feel like I must be doing something wrong in not being able to turn up any previous discussions about this in search, but: Is there any hope for popup boxes to display single-image deeplinks? Like the way YT vids are handled? Or, is there a user-script or plugin that does that already? (I know there are universal page preview rollover plugins but that's way too much.)

Secret Quonsar Recieved

infini — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 01:34:28 -0800

Yay for secretquonsar! Got my gift today! Hoping mine wings its way on time.

Ponies for everyone!

jsturgill — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:03:12 -0800

~~Pony~~ clydesdale request: a community-edited list of recommendations for AskMe questions that aggregate the answers in the discussoin thread and put them together in one place along with relevant links. Here is a question that would benefit from it as an example, but basically any AskMe question centered around recommendations would be appropriate, and there are a whole lot of them. I would love to see a list somewhere on these questions' pages that has the following structure, or something similar to it: [link to product page, wikipedia, whatever]title/name/label of the recommendation[/link] - recommended by [link to user page]user[/link] - [link to comment where it was recommended]short pull quote for context cut off after 20 words or so, similar to the best post list on the home page...[/link] The list would be curated by the membership, with everyone having full control over adding, editing, and removing items, and a flagging system to report abuse. This does a few good things:

Provides an overview of responses, allowing for posters too eager to read the whole thread to know what has already been covered. You may argue that everyone should read the whole thread regardless, but we all know that will never happen consistently, and this will make things better. Even for people who read everything consistently, I contend that this would be a godsend.
Ensures sure all recommendations have an appropriate link. It is, in fact, too much work to google something yourself. Hyperlinks make the web work. If there is a product that is being mentioned, a link should go to where you can purchase that product or view reviews (or both). If the responses are about historical figures, say, there should be a link to interviews, wikipedia, or some other resource about the figure, and so on.
Increases the potential for affiliate payments in an organic way that doesn't abuse the community's trust.
Makes AskMe much more useful for many kinds of extremely popular questions.
Extends the relevance of old posts, as link rot in the list could be fixed by site members whenever it is noticed.

This would be a major extension to the site functionality, and likely a pain to implement wisely. But I think it's worth it. The internet needs links, dammit, and far too often, responses to questions don't include any. Having access to the collected responses all in one place might also encourage a diversity of responses, as people can more easily notice what is missing or gaps in the recommendations. And it will probably lower taxes, too.

The Buddy System Works

griphus — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:53:37 -0800

How about an FPP mentoring/buddy system? I've noticed that when talk about posting FPPs comes up, there's a not-insignificant number of people who say "I have ideas sometimes but I am uncomfortable posting them as an FPP because I don't know enough on the topic/I'm not sure how to frame an FPP/people will threadshit/etc." I've also noticed that there are regular deletions of FPPs that, were they run by a knowledgeable third party first, would never have been deleted because someone would be able to say, for instance, "no that's way too axe-grindy." And I can totally understand the self-consciousness that would keep MeFites from running their ideas by the mods (as they often suggest.) So what about some sort of directory, whether on the Wiki, on the site itself, on profiles or wherever, of MeFites and their chosen mentoring topics. So, for example, if someone has an idea for a video gaming FPP and either doesn't know if it is worth fleshing out or maybe it is finished and the framing seems hinky, they can pull up the directory and see "oh, hey, griphus volunteered to look over videogame FPPs, I'll send this to him" and then I can look it over and give some feedback. We have experts of lots and lots of things here (including on how to make an FPP) and something like this would improve the overall quality of what is posted to the front page. There wouldn't be some sort of official seal-of-approval process, but just an easier way for users who want to make FPPs but don't necessarily pay attention to who posts about what and don't know where to turn (and, again, are reticent to ask the mods.)

H / L keyboard shortcuts?

swift — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:07:36 -0800

My world would be complete if, after navigating up and down through posts using j and k, I could then navigate left and right through the links in the selected post using h and l.

Ajax for all!

grouse — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:33:43 -0800

Ajax updates that allow us to see new comments without reloading an entire page have been a wonderful addition to this site. Any chance we could get Ajax posting as well? This would be really helpful in long threads which can crash my browser after I post a comment.

opt into notification for IRL meetups

gen — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:02:35 -0800

Feature request: opt-in email or MeMail when a meetup in your city is proposed. I visit MeFi daily but have recently missed a discussion on a meetup in my city. Can we have an opt-in feature where we list our city/town/state/country and can be emailed or memailed when a proposal for a meetup hits the IRL site?

A little iOS love in the user profile

drfu — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 14:28:22 -0800

Seeing the thread on letterpress, I thought to seek out other MeFites and also let them know how to find me in GameCenter. We have a thread here about this, but I would like to request a pony in the form of adding GameCenter to the Social Apps section of the user profile. Please?

HTML buttons on Edit Profile Page?

Brandon Blatcher — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:26:33 -0800

Small feature request: Can we have B, I and Link buttons in the Personal Info portion of the Edit Profile Page? It would make it slightly easier to edit that section.

Markup Markdown Mark It All Around

schmod — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:30:17 -0800

I know that similar topics have been brought up in the past, but how about supporting Markdown on Metafilter? Markdown's recently gotten pretty popular, and seems on track to becoming a standard for formatting short bits of web content (like comments and FPPs!). Obviously, we wouldn't be able to support the whole language, but wouldn't it be nicer to be able to, say create a numbered list by doing:

1. One 2. Two 3. Three

Instead of:

<ol> <li>One</li> <li>Two</li> <li>Three</li> </ol>

Make things **bold** and _italic_ instead of <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i>? Or make links that are pretty instead of ugly:

I'm a [good][1] link! [1]: http://www.cat-scan.com I'm an <a href="http://dilbert.com/">ugly</a> link!

Blockquotes and code/monospaced snippets are also a lot less verbose

> Markdown Blockquote! <blockquote>HTML Blockquote</blockquote> `Markdown Code Snippet!` <code>HTML Code Snippet</code>

I know that these things have been shot down in the past, but I really do think that it will make it easier for us to compose nicely-formatted comments. Also, Markdown's gained a lot of traction and ubiquity since this was last officially discussed in 2007.

Grammar InSpecter

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 13:04:01 -0800

How about a spelling/grammar reason to flag FPPs? For example, the current post on Arlen Specter misspells his name, and so the tag is also wrong. Subsequent comments correct the error, but the FPP remains incorrect. Not a big deal, but it does happen fairly often, and an additional flagging reason (spelling/grammar) would be a quick and unobtrusive way to get the mods to make a fix, instead of making a comment in the thread.

Pony: Can we get a keyboard shortcut for adding favorites?

tonycpsu — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:29:26 -0800

Can we get a keyboard shortcut for adding favorites? I use the j/k and m keyboard shortcuts all the time, but when I want to favorite a post or comment, I need to reach for the mouse. This will not do! I suggest "a" and/or "+" for adding favorites, avoiding "f" to avoid confusion with "flag" (Though I'm not sure a "flag" shortcut makes much sense since flagging is surely less common than favoriting for most people.) I know that adding favorites requires an HTTP request to the server, whereas scrolling is an entirely client-side operation, and I'm not sure how the current code would cope with a user who's manually scrolled the page after using j/k keyboard navigation, but I still want my pony.

spread the jam

ifjuly — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:10:34 -0800

Super minor pony request: the option to add a This Is My Jam updating widget to profiles? I know you can already have the TIMJ button on your profile, but there are additional widget options for showing recent updates for things like Last.fm, Flickr, LibraryThing, and Twitter. Was wondering if it'd be possible to add that for TIMJ. Asking 'cause I use TIMJ all the time and love it, and I figure there's probably some way to do this since you can crosspost TIMJ updates to Facebook and Twitter. But I don't know the ins and outs exactly, and the site's fairly new and small. Obviously this is not a pressing pony, but still. Thought it'd be cool and it doesn't hurt to ask.

Because I am lazy.

jon1270 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 04:02:15 -0800

PONY: (# New) links in Recent Activity I think the idea is fairly self-explanatory, but just in case: it would be nice to have a link to the oldest "new" comment in each thread incorporated into the Recent Activity page, as there are in Ask and on the front page. I often find that an active thread might have many (e.g, 40) comments since my last comment. If I have already read 20 of them, then there are 10 comments that I haven't read but which are not displayed on the Recent Activity page, and no easy way to jump to the right point in the thread. Seems like an easy improvement.