Reading This Request Will Lower Your IQ

January 28, 2009 5:46 AM

Foolish consistency pony.

On My Profile, my Contributions are listed in this order:

MeFi
MetaTalk
Ask MeFi
Music
Projects
Jobs

On my comment Activity page, the dropdown shows this order:

All Sites
MetaFilter (default)
AskMetafilter
Projects
MetaTalk
Music

I am constantly clicking on the wrong item in one of these lists because I'm thinking "I need the second one down...no wait, the fourth" or whatever. Plus my small mind is lonely and would like a hobgoblin. Two hobgoblins are not required, but the second would not be rejected, so if also decided on whether or not to spell out "MetaFilter" I won't complain either way.

posted by DU to Feature Requests at 5:46 AM (24 comments total)

And the header bar lists them in a different order as well. I have the same problem, because my pattern-brain expects there to be either consistency or logic. Redundancy is good, so good.
posted by iamkimiam at 5:51 AM on January 28, 2009

I feel dumber already!!!
posted by Bango Skank at 6:12 AM on January 28, 2009

GrrrrnnnnjknGSgnjdfj;nsw
posted by Mister_A at 6:18 AM on January 28, 2009

Most strained cliche quotation allusion ever.
posted by Jaltcoh at 6:20 AM on January 28, 2009

Higher cliche strain indices have been reported in private communiques. Available on request, but you may have to sign an NDA.
posted by DU at 6:29 AM on January 28, 2009

See, the problem is you get used to one way of things then expect it to be that way everywhere. The answer is NOT to make it the SAME everywhere, because then what happens when they finally add slinky.metafilter.com? We get confused again.

Clearly, the only answer is to randomize the order that the sites appear in every instance that they appear.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:30 AM on January 28, 2009

MeFi
MetaTalk
Flameouts
Ask MeFi
Cabal
Music
Surprise Me
Projects
Longboat
Jobs
posted by popechunk at 6:40 AM on January 28, 2009 [2 favorites]

Clearly, the only answer is to randomize the order that the sites appear in every instance that they appear.

SHHH! Word is this year's AFJ is changing all the nav links to /random. You'll ruin the surprise.
posted by carsonb at 6:53 AM on January 28, 2009

And can you tell Costco to stop moving their stuff around?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:06 AM on January 28, 2009

I got this absolute gem of soylent dumb from /random.
posted by Mister_A at 8:08 AM on January 28, 2009

This is our conscious attempt to get you to break free from your click patterns and visit the parts of the site you've been avoiding.

But yeah, once we put out the barn fire we'll think about rearranging the hay.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:53 AM on January 28, 2009 [9 favorites]

Another pony request? Literally asking to rearrange the deck chairs? Am I the only one who thinks that now probably isn't the best time to ask for this stuff? Matt is on vacation, ferchrissakes.
posted by team lowkey at 10:01 AM on January 28, 2009

Wait, maybe I have the wrong model on how these ponies line up. I'm not stopping by your desk asking for a fix right now. I'm adding an item to the bug database to be worked on during a lull.
posted by DU at 10:11 AM on January 28, 2009

But yeah, once we put out the barn fire we'll think about rearranging the hay.

Would you object if I borrowed this line and used it in every client meeting for the rest of my career?
posted by ook at 10:24 AM on January 28, 2009 [4 favorites]

I guess my thinking is that they don't really line up. At least they haven't historically. If you don't get Matt's attention, the ponies die on the vine. No point in distracting pb from actual bugs. And I'm just lashing out at you because there were so many pony requests on Monday that had nothing to do with the attack.
posted by team lowkey at 10:30 AM on January 28, 2009

Don't worry about me--I've been lashed out at more than LeVar Burton. (Timely!)
posted by DU at 11:29 AM on January 28, 2009

I can't stop thinking about the idea of ponies that grow on vines.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:23 PM on January 28, 2009

I have the feeling that I might be useful over here. How may I be of service?
posted by Hobgoblin at 4:49 PM on January 28, 2009 [2 favorites]

...to be worked on during a lull.

During a lull, or for the lull?
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:51 PM on January 28, 2009

LULLZ
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:06 PM on January 28, 2009

Q: Why are you shaking the baby?
A: I am doing it for the lolls.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:27 PM on January 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

I can't stop thinking about the idea of ponies that die on vines.
posted by nat at 1:43 AM on January 29, 2009

Like some great stampede of ponies blundering onto a vineyard in McMinnville, streaming and trampling en mass through the grapes, this pony or that caught up by an unluckily robust twist of the canopy, diminishing the herd like some equine coulure, perishing alone in a perfume of tannins and anthocyans.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:57 AM on January 29, 2009

Ha ha, guys. Real funny. It was a metaphor, okay? I'm fully aware that ponies are tubers. And they never die.
posted by team lowkey at 9:46 AM on January 29, 2009 [1 favorite]