Snoop in preview data? July 7, 2011 9:26 AM Subscribe
Has the moderation team ever thought about looking at preview data?
Just for fun, it might be cool to dip into the stream of words that people preview. Maybe not read the actual previews, but, for example, do word counts to see if there is a higher level of swearing in previews compared to what actually gets posted?
It might also be interesting to compare the number of previews people look at, or the time between previews (think time), to other stuff about those people. Favorites, contacts, age, sex, post length, location, time spent here daily, time since they joined, user number, etc.
Just for fun, it might be cool to dip into the stream of words that people preview. Maybe not read the actual previews, but, for example, do word counts to see if there is a higher level of swearing in previews compared to what actually gets posted?
It might also be interesting to compare the number of previews people look at, or the time between previews (think time), to other stuff about those people. Favorites, contacts, age, sex, post length, location, time spent here daily, time since they joined, user number, etc.
crap, I hit fuckin' wrong button.
posted by bz at 9:33 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by bz at 9:33 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Hitting preview puts what you previewed into some sort of archive? I did not know that. I'm going to start filling my previews with all sorts of craziness.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:34 AM on July 7, 2011
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:34 AM on July 7, 2011
I may be wrong, but I'd imagine preview is browser-side and not stored, surely?
posted by Happy Dave at 9:34 AM on July 7, 2011
posted by Happy Dave at 9:34 AM on July 7, 2011
PReview is a form of cowardace.
posted by Eideteker at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Eideteker at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2011 [3 favorites]
Yeah we do not keep preview information at all, it's just on your end, so changing this around would mean a not-insubstatial alternation in the way the site works which is usually not something we do for "just curious" reasons.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2011
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:36 AM on July 7, 2011
Yeah, what jessamyn said. I like the datawankery notion but since we'd have to start collecting preview info to do it it's pretty much a non-starter since there's not really any compelling reason to do that.
Anecdotally, I can report that there's more swearing in my previewed comments than what goes live, on average.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 AM on July 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
Anecdotally, I can report that there's more swearing in my previewed comments than what goes live, on average.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 AM on July 7, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh, the things I've previewed and not posted in this thread!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:55 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:55 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
For the last few months I've been collecting all the things I type into this box and never post. There's enough in there to make up a novel already. It's definitely an interesting thing to experiment with, but I'd actually be uncomfortable if there was a secret MetaFilter stash of everything users ever typed but didn't post. Because, dude. I have written some seriously wacky stuff, that I'm very glad is not out there for the world to see.
posted by brina at 9:59 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by brina at 9:59 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Capturing previews might possibly be a violation of an implicit trust. Yeah, anyone who knows anything about web technology realizes that a preview is transmitted to the host and obviously the host can keep a copy if it wants. But to a non-technical user "Preview" means "not Posted" and therefore there is an assumption -- however misguided -- of privacy.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:19 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:19 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
What the fuck, they want to track what I thought, but didn't commit to record?! Do they know? Have they seen? Goddamn ass jittering traitors are everywhere, have to be careful. Also, pick up some eggs and milk on your way home, shit for brains.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:21 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:21 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
WTF MATT?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:22 AM on July 7, 2011
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:22 AM on July 7, 2011
Mathowie: "I saw you using the preview button last week. We all saw you misspelling basic words. Using racial slurs. Making embarrassing confessions. Asking about that disgusting rash on AskMe. We were watching you from the monitors in the server room. And we all thought you were a troll."
posted by schmod at 10:38 AM on July 7, 2011
posted by schmod at 10:38 AM on July 7, 2011
Next April Fool's Day we should switch the functions of the 'Post' and 'Preview' buttons.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:47 AM on July 7, 2011 [15 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 10:47 AM on July 7, 2011 [15 favorites]
Capturing previews might possibly be a violation of an implicit trust.
That's sort of my gut feeling too, but as much as anything it's a "is there a sound reason for doing this" that probably drives any decision to do so: sites that want to provide some sort of OH SHIT WHERE'D MY COMMENT GO recovery buffer server-side have to hold on to drafts, and when there's some user expectation that those drafts will be there it's less of an issue.
Where a site falls on the spectrum of expected draft-permanence is going to inform that, of course; for most blog-comment type things, I think people rightly expect none at all, whereas for something like WordPress or gmail, people rightly expect that that draft is there until they decide it shouldn't be. In practice it may not even be a spectrum so much as a binary, even, but I've definitely seen moments of lost-comment regret that suggests people will at least sometimes assume (or at least hope, however unrealistically) that a no-permanence type system will still somehow have a recovery option for a comment lost to a server burp or browser crash or user error.
For the record, we are, as ever, not going to implement any kind of draft function for posts or comments, which is part of why your previews are just so much dream dust, lost forever to the bit-wise gloaming of the undernet.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:53 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
That's sort of my gut feeling too, but as much as anything it's a "is there a sound reason for doing this" that probably drives any decision to do so: sites that want to provide some sort of OH SHIT WHERE'D MY COMMENT GO recovery buffer server-side have to hold on to drafts, and when there's some user expectation that those drafts will be there it's less of an issue.
Where a site falls on the spectrum of expected draft-permanence is going to inform that, of course; for most blog-comment type things, I think people rightly expect none at all, whereas for something like WordPress or gmail, people rightly expect that that draft is there until they decide it shouldn't be. In practice it may not even be a spectrum so much as a binary, even, but I've definitely seen moments of lost-comment regret that suggests people will at least sometimes assume (or at least hope, however unrealistically) that a no-permanence type system will still somehow have a recovery option for a comment lost to a server burp or browser crash or user error.
For the record, we are, as ever, not going to implement any kind of draft function for posts or comments, which is part of why your previews are just so much dream dust, lost forever to the bit-wise gloaming of the undernet.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:53 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Yeah, most of my previews are filled with keysmashy sweary rage that I (almost always) reconsider. And sometimes ascii ponys, admittedly.
posted by elizardbits at 10:58 AM on July 7, 2011
posted by elizardbits at 10:58 AM on July 7, 2011
POST THE ASCII PONIES
posted by shakespeherian at 10:59 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by shakespeherian at 10:59 AM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
I posted ascii ponies upthread but thought better of it on preview.
posted by klarck at 11:07 AM on July 7, 2011
posted by klarck at 11:07 AM on July 7, 2011
I'd have as many posts as The Whelk if I actually posted all the stuff I type and preview, and then close the window. Most of my Preview is not ready for public, or even mod, consumption.
posted by crunchland at 12:07 PM on July 7, 2011
posted by crunchland at 12:07 PM on July 7, 2011
shakespeherian: "Next April Fool's Day we should switch the functions of the 'Post' and 'Preview' buttons."
Next April Foo's Day we should get rid of the 'Post' button and see what happens to site GRAR levels.
posted by Phire at 12:44 PM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Next April Foo's Day we should get rid of the 'Post' button and see what happens to site GRAR levels.
posted by Phire at 12:44 PM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
f only it had seen the mess I had typed in there last night before I saw the red box of doom.
posted by deezil at 1:06 PM on July 7, 2011
posted by deezil at 1:06 PM on July 7, 2011
Damnit, I felt like I finally knew what a tator was before Brandon had to go tell me there's ass-jittering ones...
posted by Apropos of Something at 1:23 PM on July 7, 2011
posted by Apropos of Something at 1:23 PM on July 7, 2011
I'd like an award for not posting in the most recent poop-fling. I wrote it up, then decided my .02 was not going to make a difference, and closed the tab.
I think it would be spiffy to have a textual analyser that would judge the graritude of a potential post/comment, and adjust the smallness of the fontsize accordingly. Multi-favorited comments could have their fontsize increased.
posted by theora55 at 1:32 PM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think it would be spiffy to have a textual analyser that would judge the graritude of a potential post/comment, and adjust the smallness of the fontsize accordingly. Multi-favorited comments could have their fontsize increased.
posted by theora55 at 1:32 PM on July 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Next April Fool's Day we should switch the functions of the 'Post' and 'Preview' buttons."
And I would suddenly become a highly prolific commenter.
posted by notquitemaryann at 2:13 PM on July 7, 2011
And I would suddenly become a highly prolific commenter.
posted by notquitemaryann at 2:13 PM on July 7, 2011
Phire wrote: Next April Foo's Day we should get rid of the 'Post' button and see what happens to site GRAR levels.
How does one GRAR if one cannot post?
posted by troll at 10:49 PM on July 7, 2011
How does one GRAR if one cannot post?
posted by troll at 10:49 PM on July 7, 2011
I have a terrible habit of writing long comments then after looking it over in preview, re-reading the thread, I change my mind and delete it.
Then I go see what is going on in MetaTalk
HI GUYS
posted by TwelveTwo at 12:30 AM on July 8, 2011
Then I go see what is going on in MetaTalk
HI GUYS
posted by TwelveTwo at 12:30 AM on July 8, 2011
If we started storing previews I'm pretty sure I would fill up the database all by myself. You people have no idea. I'm the delmoi of preview over here.
posted by ook at 5:21 AM on July 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ook at 5:21 AM on July 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
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jgs \___,' \.-"`/
`--'posted by flabdablet at 3:26 AM on July 9, 2011
oops
posted by flabdablet at 3:27 AM on July 9, 2011
posted by flabdablet at 3:27 AM on July 9, 2011
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posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:27 AM on July 7, 2011 [5 favorites]