They can stay in kindergarten until they grow up. June 14, 2011 6:29 AM   Subscribe

Pony request: saving a post until it's ready

Putting together my first serious post yesterday, I thought it would be really cool to have the possibility to start building a post, and have the ability to save it for later, until it's ready to see the world. It could potencially make for better, more elaborate posts...what do you think?

This may appeal to procrastinators like me, since it took me a couple of weeks to finally come up with the will and time to post something better than a lonely link.
posted by Tarumba to Feature Requests at 6:29 AM (30 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite

This has been asked before and the answer is not gonna happen.

Otherwise, Text Edit on the Mac or Notepad++ on Windows does this really well. Put the document in Dropbox, which is free for up to 2gigs, and you can work on it anywhere you have an internet connection.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:35 AM on June 14, 2011


I use notepad for this purpose. Seriously, no snark intended here.

For the site to support this, they'd have to add in quite a bit of functionality, for not a lot of gain over putting together a draft in some external tool instead.
posted by FishBike at 6:36 AM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


OK. thanks!
posted by Tarumba at 6:40 AM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


If you must write online, Google Docs is your friend.
posted by COD at 6:41 AM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]


If you must write online, ssh is your friend.
posted by DU at 6:53 AM on June 14, 2011 [4 favorites]


Personally, I already think a great many posts are way too elaborate, and would not want to see new features added that make more people think that every thread has to start with 112 links. It's called a Filter for a reason.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:54 AM on June 14, 2011 [12 favorites]


Yep, this is a "manage it yourself" thing form our perspective. Stuff like Google Docs is great if you regularly move from one computer to another; text editors work well if you mostly metafilter from one box. I use gmail drafts for most of my notekeeping, actually, since I don't do a lot of elaborate drafting and so don't need much in the way of a feature set.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:00 AM on June 14, 2011


I've just started using Evernote. It would be great for this kind of thing.
posted by seanyboy at 7:16 AM on June 14, 2011


I use a chalkboard, an iPhone camera, and OCR software to prepare my posts.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:20 AM on June 14, 2011 [6 favorites]


I use my mind. As you can tell from my posts on the blue, that's worked out well for me over the years.
posted by empyrean at 7:24 AM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


Or you could just not post. Works well for me. Just snipe at other people's efforts.
posted by Eideteker at 7:29 AM on June 14, 2011


My posts coalesce out of the aether instantaneously and fully formed.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:35 AM on June 14, 2011


I store them on my slide rule, using a method of my own invention involving Gödel numbers and the addition of a second cursor, tilted at an angle that must remain undisclosed.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 7:53 AM on June 14, 2011 [3 favorites]


But my advice would be to use Emacs.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 7:54 AM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]


Because my advice is always to use Emacs.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 7:55 AM on June 14, 2011 [5 favorites]


Between Evernote, Dropbox, and Google Docs I have the ability to write from any machine or device I use, at any location, at any time.

Unfortunately, because I am a lazy, lazy person, this really hasn't improved my posts at all.
posted by quin at 7:59 AM on June 14, 2011 [3 favorites]


It seems to me a feature like this would wind up encouraging double posting, because posters would do their preliminary check for doubles before they started writing. How many would check again for gazumping doubles after their masterpiece was complete and loaded into the site but before hitting the all important post button?
posted by talitha_kumi at 8:23 AM on June 14, 2011


I'd like to save a couple of my comments until they're ready to be appreciated. Here are some that - trust me! - will be totally great comments at some time in the future:

--"Well I can totally believe that Obama nuked Italy. That place was just getting worse and worse, and when Berlusconi hit on Michelle it was like, 'OMG Ciao, motherfucker' ".

--"I'll really miss jessamyn too, but if Matt wants to sell her off to Google for £4 billion it makes sense to me. I just hope we'll realize some return on cortex, 'cos seeing the profit forecast on THAT asset made me wanna shit my pancreas out my ass."

--"I dunnyo, eva sinse langyage hatt invented hiz time mashin and went bak in time to kil the furst prescriptavist Iv felt that sumthing has chanjed in owr sosiety. Butt I dunnyo wot."
posted by the quidnunc kid at 8:42 AM on June 14, 2011 [9 favorites]


Add "Post edit storage" to the bucket.
posted by Mitheral at 9:14 AM on June 14, 2011


I have compiled a version of Emacs for the slide rule. So now you can have it both ways, Crabby.

Just don't drop the slide rule. Kernel panic!
posted by Eideteker at 10:01 AM on June 14, 2011 [2 favorites]


IRC there's a greasemonkey script for doing this with Ask questions.
posted by Artw at 11:13 AM on June 14, 2011


IIRC even.

Edit window!
posted by Artw at 11:13 AM on June 14, 2011


saving a post until it's ready - Something my sister would call prairie-dogging.
posted by Ardiril at 1:16 PM on June 14, 2011


You can actually outsource this to Alabama
posted by KokuRyu at 1:36 PM on June 14, 2011


I use a chalkboard, an iPhone camera, and OCR software to prepare my posts.

I can't believe you did not manage to squeeze a moleskin in there somewhere.
posted by Deathalicious at 6:31 PM on June 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


Eideteker: you should fit your slide rule with an accelerometer to prevent drop damage.
posted by flabdablet at 6:31 AM on June 15, 2011


Yeah... well... you should fit YOUR MOM with an accelerometer, so there! NYAH.
posted by Eideteker at 8:45 AM on June 15, 2011


I busted the one you fitted to yours.
posted by flabdablet at 10:34 PM on June 15, 2011


Guys, c'mon.

"Accelermometer".
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:41 PM on June 15, 2011


Foot to the floor, baby.
posted by flabdablet at 1:09 AM on June 16, 2011


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