Mark askee answers June 4, 2008 8:38 AM   Subscribe

Mark askee answers. (Meaning, highlight answers posted by the user who asked the question in askmefi).

Probably visually similar to Best Answers, or indented in some way.

Especially useful in computers or human relations category questions where the OP might be required to provide additional information to assist people answering, and also if they came to the solution on their own, or want to leave a follow up [if this is not discouraged?].

Be gentle. This is my first pony request...
posted by chrisbucks to Feature Requests at 8:38 AM (99 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

The words Grease and Monkey loom large in your future.
posted by Jofus at 8:40 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


Well, that's a new idea.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:40 AM on June 4, 2008


See here.
posted by inigo2 at 8:42 AM on June 4, 2008


(This is the user script that you are seeking. It highlights comments by the poster in a rather nifty manner.)
posted by Jofus at 8:43 AM on June 4, 2008


In the thread inigo2 linked, matt says he likes the idea but that we may find it confusing. I don't agree. In fact, I'm more confused that this hasn't been implemented yet. What up, Matt?
posted by dobbs at 9:05 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


I think we need some sort of search bar -- maybe several, even -- so posters can check and see if they're posting something that's been posted before.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:10 AM on June 4, 2008 [2 favorites]


(Although, yeah, I agree that this should be implemented server-side.)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:11 AM on June 4, 2008


the person who asks the question is the asker. the person being asked would be the askee if it weren't too ugly a word to ever actually be used in earnest.
posted by shmegegge at 9:22 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


Maybe if we removed some of the accounts made by people who signed up, but never paid, we would have room for this great feature.
posted by ODiV at 9:31 AM on June 4, 2008


oh, i get it: ass key.
posted by stubby phillips at 9:35 AM on June 4, 2008


or askii?
posted by zamboni at 9:42 AM on June 4, 2008


This idea struck me a few weeks ago when I posted my first AskMe question, and people were simply ignoring my additional responses and giving repetitive answers. It was such a good idea, I knew someone had to have already thought of it- and indeed, they had.

But I don't see why the server-side idea of this hasn't been implemented. Just a light border around an OP's post would be simple and easy, right?

You can stomp and shout Grease Monkey all you want (I in fact have that very script installed*), but not everyone is savvy enough or even cares to install all that.

Then there's the argument of "one should read the whole thread before responding". Threads can become so long that to read them would require more than a couple of quarters off the clock to get even the gist of it. I feel if the OP's responses were highlighted (and said responses are assumed to include relevant information such as quotes of answerers that the OP is addressing), then the thread would be a hundred times more easy to parse, and could lead to additional insight that may have been squashed by the seemingly chaotic back-and-forth that runs down five or six page-downs.

*and it messes with my damned text weight too much!
posted by self at 9:43 AM on June 4, 2008


not everyone is savvy enough or even cares to install all that

Or not be running FF.
posted by dobbs at 9:51 AM on June 4, 2008


I think all my comments should be surrounded by stars, and lasers, no matter where I post.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:54 AM on June 4, 2008


I came to this thread wondering who Mark Askee was and what we had asked him.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:57 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


What a ridiculous suggestion. It'd instantly ruin the site. And the technology to make it happen surely doesn't exist outside a handful of little known 1960s science fiction novels.

Why do you hate mathowie?
posted by cillit bang at 9:59 AM on June 4, 2008


I came to this thread wondering who Mark Askee was and what we had asked him.

"Are you the guy with gingivitis?"
posted by Skot at 10:00 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


^ dobbs: " not everyone is savvy enough or even cares to install all that

Or not be running FF.
"

Precisely. MeFi is a community, and I think this feature would be a valuable tool to it. The only way to ensure that everyone's in the same boat is to make it server-side.
posted by self at 10:00 AM on June 4, 2008


You can stomp and shout Grease Monkey all you want (I in fact have that very script installed*), but not everyone is savvy enough or even cares to install all that.

For reals. I'm not completely dumb, and I'm sure installing greasemonkey scripts is totally easy, but even so, I skew pretty computer-dumb compared to most of the readers here and haven't quite figured it out yet.

From where I stand, "there's a greasemonkey script for that" kind of sounds like "duh, go get a saw and make your own blocks!"
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:06 AM on June 4, 2008 [8 favorites]


Wouldn't it be easier to just ban everyone who doesn't use GreaseMonkey?
posted by burnmp3s at 10:09 AM on June 4, 2008


I am fairly computer dumb, or maybe I'm selling myself short. But I find I can figure stuff out while stumbling around, even though I would fail miserably at explaining to someone else how to do the same thing. All that said, I use FF at home and am a total dork for greasemonkey and all its goodness. I use it, love it, rely on it.

But then I come to work and have to use IE. Reading metafilter without Mefi Navigator feels kind of like typing with one hand. I would love a server-side solution.
posted by peep at 10:24 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


We're testing out some possibilities right now, so likely, we'll finally add this later today.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:37 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


Don't listen to him! He's just toying with your emotions!
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:44 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


Woo!
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:45 AM on June 4, 2008


Boo! :(
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:45 AM on June 4, 2008


Sorry, my previous comment was ambiguous. I was talking about cortex.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:50 AM on June 4, 2008


MEH!!!11!!1!

I mean, I can remember who asked the question for minutes at a time, so this doesn't really affect me. Plus I can figure out context, like when someone says, "Well what I was asking for in this AskMe that I asked was to ask you about asking... But this is good news for those without my kind of mental horsepower.
posted by Mister_A at 11:04 AM on June 4, 2008


Ok, I just made a subtle change live. The original question asker's followup answers will all have a small bar on the left side of their comment. It's not an indent, but out in the margin, so you can scroll down the page pretty fast to spot them. It's not over the top like a full background color change and I think it hits the mark for a subtle reminder.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:17 AM on June 4, 2008 [2 favorites]


Awesome!
posted by Skot at 11:19 AM on June 4, 2008


No, wait, I hate it. Change it back.
posted by Skot at 11:20 AM on June 4, 2008


Woohoo!

Subtle indeed, Matt, that was really freaking me out for a second. I had to look through a couple of threads to make sure that it was indeed the feature and not that the OP had some how broken the margins.
posted by malthas at 11:20 AM on June 4, 2008


Wow, I came back to this thread because I noticed that a followup was subtly further into the margin than the answers. Very nice.
posted by OmieWise at 11:27 AM on June 4, 2008


I came to this thread wondering who Mark Askee was and what we had asked him.

Did you hear Mark Askee got engaged the other day?
posted by inigo2 at 11:33 AM on June 4, 2008


No, wait, I hate it. Change it back.

Let's let it run a few days, see if it makes things clearer.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:37 AM on June 4, 2008


It's a bit I AM ASKER, HEAR ME ROAR!!! in the plain theme, maybe?
posted by jack_mo at 11:39 AM on June 4, 2008


I'm really upset by this. Does anyone have one of those hand-chopping axes I could borrow?
posted by Mister_A at 11:43 AM on June 4, 2008


Sweet, thanks.
posted by self at 11:44 AM on June 4, 2008


Aw, Matt, I was just joshin'.
posted by Skot at 11:45 AM on June 4, 2008


I didn't even know this discussion was taking place. I only wandered over when I noticed the change. I've been wanting something just like this for along time, so thanks!
posted by geeky at 11:45 AM on June 4, 2008


I'm hoping a little extra light shone on them will deter Askers from being peevish, bloggy and unhelpful in comments.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:52 AM on June 4, 2008


Yay!
posted by cashman at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2008


Subtle. I like it.
posted by box at 12:01 PM on June 4, 2008


"Ok, I just made a subtle change"

Wow, not in the plain theme! (I know, I know.)
posted by Eideteker at 12:15 PM on June 4, 2008


Looks great, thanks!
posted by danb at 12:24 PM on June 4, 2008


Oh, well hello there little pony.

You rule guys. Very nice. Thanks.
posted by cowbellemoo at 12:24 PM on June 4, 2008


I mean, "you rule, guys." Heehee.
posted by cowbellemoo at 12:26 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


It's too subtle Matt. Can't you just highlight the OP's user name in a subtle off-green for their own thread instead? That way as you're scrolling down, any off-green user name will automatically visually flag you.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 12:34 PM on June 4, 2008


I noticed it by accident after reading through several threads with asker-replies...

I agree that it's definitely too subtle.
posted by sunshinesky at 12:46 PM on June 4, 2008


It's lovely.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:55 PM on June 4, 2008


I like it, and noticed it right away (but in a good way).
posted by Gary at 1:28 PM on June 4, 2008


I noticed it by accident after reading through several threads with asker-replies...

But now that you know it's there, I bet you'll never miss seeing it. It's like the cigarette burns during a movie.
posted by inigo2 at 1:33 PM on June 4, 2008


I was against it before I was for it.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:48 PM on June 4, 2008


ugly. but i understand people kept haranguing matt about it.
posted by loiseau at 3:05 PM on June 4, 2008


I think it's pretty.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:10 PM on June 4, 2008


How are the Related Questions selected? Tags?
posted by Memo at 3:33 PM on June 4, 2008


Oh, wow. Just noticed this. Not a huge fan of the vertical line because it looks like someone is being quoted.

The related thingy at the bottom is a great idea, butdoes seem to include some pretty damn unrelated stuff.
posted by dersins at 3:41 PM on June 4, 2008


(And almost all of the related questions appear to be from 2005 or 2004...)
posted by dersins at 3:43 PM on June 4, 2008


We originally tried vertical-line-with-indent. And that really looked like someone being quoted. The hanging bar outside with still-flush margins is not really a common quoting convention, though, so hopefully it won't cause near as much confusion.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:44 PM on June 4, 2008


Also, Related Questions thread. Take it intra metatalk!
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:47 PM on June 4, 2008


OMG MATHOWIE THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU! ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
posted by numinous at 4:08 PM on June 4, 2008


if i wasn't clear enough: whoooooooooo!
posted by numinous at 4:09 PM on June 4, 2008


Until now, I've been against marking, but I now see that complaints about this issue will never end until marking occurs.

Having seen the little bar, I like it. However, if you could just reduce the width of the bar by about 5 pixels, it would be even better!
posted by Chuckles at 4:58 PM on June 4, 2008


It's not an indent, but out in the margin, so you can scroll down the page pretty fast to spot them.

So now it's an outdent?
posted by smackfu at 5:05 PM on June 4, 2008


So now it's an outdent?

Yes. Harv would have been the first openly homosexual DA in Gotham City if he hadn't been derailed by that whole physical-and-emotional-scarring thing.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:39 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


I liked the line better than the outdent. Especially in a case where the OP also posts the first comment, since that comment is indented from the question, but there are no other comments, so it's not outdented from anything. The vertical line consistently shows the OP comments without needing anything to compare it to.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:24 PM on June 4, 2008


I LOVE IT! and although I had to wait two years, I don't think we were ready in 2006.
posted by pwally at 7:24 PM on June 4, 2008


Thank you! It's perfect.
posted by jayCampbell at 8:27 PM on June 4, 2008


Just stopping by to say thank you! I saw it in an Ask thread and my heart nearly bubbled over with joy.
posted by vytae at 8:48 PM on June 4, 2008


just noticed it too; it's great.
posted by yeoz at 9:10 PM on June 4, 2008


I love this! Very subtle, but just noticeable enough.
posted by Locative at 9:18 PM on June 4, 2008


I like it (and the related questions, too).
posted by pmurray63 at 9:58 PM on June 4, 2008


By the way, you forgot to update the plain theme stylesheet with something appropriate color-wise AS USUAL IS THIS WHAT I PAY YOU GUYS FOR I'M UPDATING YOUR EMPLOYMENT RECORD.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:41 PM on June 4, 2008


OH! I actually got my pony! (although I'm now aware that others have been betting on the same horse...but we can share righ?). Perfectly subtle yet identifiable. I'd renew my subscription to metafilter, but I think my lifetime one hasn't run out yet.
posted by chrisbucks at 12:14 AM on June 5, 2008


I would like to complain that this pony has made my first comment in this thread appear to be incorrect. We all know that I cannot logically be incorrect, and so I suggest we remove the pony to prevent a glitch in the matrix.

Thanks in advance.
posted by Jofus at 2:39 AM on June 5, 2008


Is it just me? I can't see it. I have firefox.....
posted by taff at 2:45 AM on June 5, 2008


Oh wow amazing yay hurrah! Seriously, that's one of those small but immense improvements. It's subtle and looks decent. Nice pony!
posted by Magnakai at 6:01 AM on June 5, 2008


Is it just me? I can't see it. I have firefox.....

I'm in FF (portable) as well. I don't see a bar, but I see asker's comments pulled out into the margin a bit. (I'm also running like three or four GM scripts for this site, which may affect that.

Check this thread, taff -- I've got three comments in there, starting about 2/3 of the way down. Do they stick out to the left at all?
posted by middleclasstool at 6:04 AM on June 5, 2008


Huh. Yeah, the way it looks in IE is much better than the indenting in FF. What's up with that? FF can't do the bar?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 6:19 AM on June 5, 2008


This warms the cockles of my heart. Or the heart of my cockles.

It might also tickle my pickle, but the jury's still out on that one.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:40 AM on June 5, 2008


Thus do I hereby move to refer to this new formatting as a "Montoya".

Wait, what?
posted by inigo2 at 7:49 AM on June 5, 2008


We killed your father, ok, we get it already. Get some therapy.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:11 AM on June 5, 2008



We killed your father, ok, we get it already. Get some therapy.


...Sez the guy who just made a dick joke in-thread. Hello, pot? Yes, kettle speaking.
posted by SlyBevel at 8:27 AM on June 5, 2008


I am having trouble navigating the snark/sarcasm continuum of the thread at this point. Consider this comment a stalwart bouy to which other sea-tossed travelers likewise disoriented can cling.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:35 AM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]


* clings to stalwart buoy *

Is the mark changing? Up-thread it's mentioned as an indent, an outdent (which I saw earlier), and a bar (which I see now).

My preference is with the outdent. It gives the same visual stlye to all the things that are posted by the OP, rather than some weird green bar. I can't comment on the indent, because I haven't seen that.
posted by philomathoholic at 10:12 AM on June 5, 2008


As a six fingered man I hear that Inigo Montoya shit a lot. Gets old. On the other hand my fencing skills have drastically improved, by necessity.
posted by waraw at 10:21 AM on June 5, 2008


the way it looks in IE is much better than the indenting in FF.

Hit shift-refresh, and you'll get the latest CSS file and it'll look the same in both.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:42 AM on June 5, 2008


THANK YOU.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 11:07 AM on June 5, 2008


...Sez the guy who just made a dick joke in-thread. Hello, pot? Yes, kettle speaking.


Umm... have you never seen the Princess Bride? I was making what is known as a joke, by referencing the movie.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:20 AM on June 5, 2008


I like it a lot!. If a lot of people hate it, can you just add an option on the preferences page to turn it off?
posted by spiderskull at 11:29 AM on June 5, 2008


Ooooh. Very nice. Thank you.
posted by jeanmari at 11:31 AM on June 5, 2008


That looks so much better Matt. Thanks.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 11:34 AM on June 5, 2008


Did you ever get your car, middleclasstool?
posted by Mister_A at 12:34 PM on June 5, 2008


I'm on vicodin and valium today and I thought this new feature was a side effect.
posted by desjardins at 2:59 PM on June 5, 2008


Did you ever get your car, middleclasstool?

I hope to update that thread tomorrow with a "yes." We had to sacrifice a few mpg -- buying a hybrid is a costly and months-long process in which most dealers try to sell you over MSRP, but even at MSRP the price difference with higher financing charges was getting to be way more than we were able to pay, so we've backed away from hybrids and found a small crossover we like that has just enough room to fit our convertible baby seat facing backwards. Plus it's red, so you know, that cancels out the receding hairline and love handles.

We almost signed the papers today, but financing through the car company required we sign away our right to sue if the car blows our baby up, so we're reworking the financing through a third party and will try again tomorrow. The dealer is really working with us on this, so I'm guardedly optimistic.
posted by middleclasstool at 3:30 PM on June 5, 2008


I like it!

/gives a thumbs up
posted by Zephyrial at 5:54 AM on June 6, 2008


Classy, helpful, understated...Love it!
posted by betafilter at 6:51 PM on June 6, 2008


Just stumbled across this new feature in an AskMefi thread. Perfect! Thank you!
posted by intermod at 8:59 PM on June 6, 2008


oooh, that askme OP highlight side-stripe thingie is BADASS.
thanks!

related thank-yous:
thank you india
thank you courage
thank you disillusionment.

posted by twistofrhyme at 1:19 AM on June 7, 2008


small bug: it doesn't appear in comment previews.

This might be one of those "Oh that would be a large db hit" things, but it seems like this is what the feature was implemented for: You're about to post a big long spiel asking for more information, right after the OP has already posted an update, and you miss it because there's no bar.
posted by philomathoholic at 9:41 AM on June 7, 2008


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