What's up with all the blink tags all of a sudden?

June 13, 2013 4:29 PM

It seems like the blink tag post has spurred a resurgence of their use here. What's up with that?

From searching, the last discussion on them was back in 2007.

As far as I can tell, the blink doesn't seem essential to the comments in question. It is further irritating because I know several browsers no longer support it, so I'm not even sure the mods are seeing them. It is very distracting (and annoying) to try to read around those posts while stuff is blinking at me.

Any chance we could either eliminate the tag or be more clear/strict about when it's appropriate to use?

posted by zug to Etiquette/Policy at 4:29 PM (55 comments total)

As you mention, many modern browsers disable the blink tag. You might see if your browser has the option to disable it.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:32 PM on June 13, 2013

That's interesting, I haven't seen any blink tag usage increase, but then I realized I use Google Chrome, which apparently disables it entirely.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:32 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

I realize that using <blink> is the opposite of discretion, but all of your examples are as discreet about using it as possible (including, hopefully, mine). In each case, the tag is an exaggerrated way of drawing attention to a crucial item. In the case of my comment, I thought the thread had reached some kind of apoplectic apogee and the blinking hamburger was as good a way to express the idea as any other. I apologize if a single blinking character is distracting: I can see why it would be. But not in a "more heat than light" thread like that one.
posted by Nomyte at 4:37 PM on June 13, 2013

When MetaFilter has an obituary thread for Schrödinger's cat, you'll be glad of that ol' blink tag.
posted by Wordshore at 4:45 PM on June 13, 2013 [15 favorites]

I'm using Opera 12.15, it doesn't show up in opera:config and google doesn't give me any clear way to hide the tag, so that option seems to be out.
posted by zug at 4:46 PM on June 13, 2013

Blink is necessary for a happy extended childhood. :-) just like emoticons.
posted by Cranberry at 4:47 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

When MetaFilter has an obituary thread for Schrödinger's cat, you'll be glad of that ol' blink tag.

Half my kingdom for an asynchronously blinking blink tag!
posted by Nomyte at 4:48 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

Here you go.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:53 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

I am somewhat disappointed that Chrome doesn't render the blink tag, but not so disappointed that I am going to install an extension to re-enable it.
posted by pombe at 4:53 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I would like to congratulate metafilter for your restraint - 20 minutes into this thread, and no blink tags.

I would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate my request for an HTML standard that supports phase and frequency attributes for the blink tag.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 4:54 PM on June 13, 2013 [6 favorites]

/Forms separatist resistance group dedicated to resisting forcible inclusion into modern HTML standards, called The Marquee.
posted by Artw at 4:58 PM on June 13, 2013 [8 favorites]

Nomyte: I've been trying to ignore it, but when it showed up in a serious discussion about the supreme court rulings I decided to say something. Bold and italics work just fine for making a point, without being distracting. The blink tag is cute in the same way memes are cute. Every once in a while, they are mildly amusing, but when they start to become more frequent they are very annoying.

On preview: Cranberry's comment is blinking.
posted by zug at 4:59 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Circle 6. That's where the blink tag lives now. Inferno, circle 6.
posted by Toekneesan at 5:01 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

If we're voting, which we're probably not, I vote eliminate it. There's no good use for it on the blue or the green. But I use Chrome, so I don't see it anyway.
posted by donnagirl at 5:14 PM on June 13, 2013

My favorite old-school trick (which used to work especially well on Livejournal) was to stack "/html" between letters, which would cause them to load one at a time. You could even nest that with blink and marquee, to truly draw out the snark.
posted by klangklangston at 5:15 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

/Forms fascist empire dedicated to eradicating the Marquee and establishing the blink tag as the primary HTML formatting mechanism called the Kerndassian Union.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:17 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

There's not a web page out there that couldn't be improved through liberal use of the blink tag.
posted by Mister_A at 5:20 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Why are you people making all these MeTa posts on Moderator's Day? And for the love of god, why do people who can't even see the blink tag want to eliminate it?? That's it, I'm pushing the button.
posted by languagehat at 5:21 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

I pushed the button and posted the comment. Why, what button did you think I meant?
posted by languagehat at 5:22 PM on June 13, 2013 [12 favorites]

Please re-enable the marquee tag. Thanks.
posted by Justinian at 5:22 PM on June 13, 2013 [5 favorites]

Poom!
posted by homunculus at 5:28 PM on June 13, 2013 [6 favorites]

Nothing makes a Moderator's Day a real Moderator's Day like a good "Poom!" That's what my Grandpa always said.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:41 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I didn't even realise blink was allowed. This may be why my eyes are watering.
posted by arcticseal at 6:04 PM on June 13, 2013

Bold and italics work just fine for making a point, without being distracting. The blink tag is cute in the same way animated GIF's are cute. Which is never under any circumstances, the person making them just thinks they are.
posted by bongo_x at 6:13 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Noooo! Marquee has been disabled?
posted by limeonaire at 6:40 PM on June 13, 2013

"The blink tag is cute in the same way animated GIF's are cute. Which is never under any circumstances, the person making them just thinks they are."

WHATS A TUMBLER SONNY
posted by klangklangston at 6:50 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Noooo! Marquee has been disabled?

We ran into trouble in a plasma storm - we'll be back in action as soon as we get back from the Delta Quadrant.
posted by Artw at 7:41 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

I love the blink tag. It's sad that all of you Debbie Downers want to chase a fun and harmless thing off of the internet. It looks like you've won. Even Firefox is going to drop it soon.

I hope you are all happy now. What's on the agenda at the next Internet Anti-Fun Temperance League meeting?
posted by double block and bleed at 7:42 PM on June 13, 2013 [16 favorites]

I have the Firefox extension that syncs all blink tags on a page with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tune of my choice.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:32 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Ironically the Borg are being really unhelpful, given our browser of origin.
posted by Artw at 8:34 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

This blinky comment is one of my favorite comments ever.

At some point in the show's opening there's an almost-subliminal card that flashes 1980. The show is set in the future -- 1980; I'd come back to the thread to see if anyone else noticed it and there it was.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:41 PM on June 13, 2013

I got called out for making part of an answer blink. (If I recall correctly, it was the You should call her portion of this but it might have been an html error causing the whole answer to blink? I can't remember.)

Before that, I hadn't noticed any blinking in metafilter in a loooooooong time.

So I'm going to take credit for the resurgence, because I don't feel like actually investigated any factual evidence of what really happened.
posted by bilabial at 9:26 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

I wanted to put the blink tag in this comment, but did not because I thought it got stripped out as a matter of course.

Now I feel gypped.

Mods, feel free to do the right thing and make that thing blink.
posted by mazola at 9:36 PM on June 13, 2013

I want a Blink 182 tag. DEFEND TRUE POP PUNK
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:58 PM on June 13, 2013

A good friend of mine was the sole tester for IE 1.0. He filed a bug on the BLINK tag, and Microsoft obliged and removed support for it.

That act alone is a legacy he could be proud of (he has since passed away).
posted by el io at 10:22 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

I vote languagehat for the new Roger Ebert.
posted by Nomyte at 10:47 PM on June 13, 2013

I have a Firefox extension that automatically encloses all my spaces in blink tags.
posted by Bugbread at 11:19 PM on June 13, 2013

Everyone needs a hug
posted by Cranberry at 11:53 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

Especially the mods.
posted by Cranberry at 11:54 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

What's up with that?

This place maintains more of its former awesomeness than I sometimes claim?

Oh wait, I'm being called out!? Well... Suck it, hater.
Man, do I see a shit storm brewing over that... Is it all in my head? I guess we'll see.
posted by Chuckles at 12:39 AM on June 14, 2013

In my world all text blinks, and you have to use the unblink tag to stop it.
posted by pipeski at 2:22 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

I am for the abolishment of the blink tag. It's part of my platform. I will also outlaw any locally produced commercials.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:04 AM on June 14, 2013

TRANSWARP CONDUIT
posted by Artw at 6:11 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

And the beast shall come forth surrounded by a roiling cloud of vengeance. The house of the unbelievers shall be razed and they shall be scorched to the earth. Their tags shall blink until the end of days.

from The Book of Mozilla, 12:10

Looks like the release date for Firefox 23 is August 6th. It's been nice knowing you all.
posted by steveminutillo at 7:51 AM on June 14, 2013

I'm using Opera 12.15, it doesn't show up in opera:config and google doesn't give me any clear way to hide the tag, so that option seems to be out.

It looks like you can add a user style to disable the blink tag. You might see if that works.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:56 AM on June 14, 2013

H8rz gotta h8.
posted by Lynsey at 10:44 AM on June 14, 2013

You can enable the blink tag in Chrome with this handy extension.

I'm sure someone will create something similar to fix Firefox after release 23 breaks it.
posted by double block and bleed at 11:39 AM on June 14, 2013

pb: That advice was for Opera7 (circa 2003), but I was able to create a user style sheet for Opera 12 (user.css in the opera\styles directory) with that code, which worked after restart.

Thank you. It was getting obnoxious.
posted by zug at 12:07 PM on June 14, 2013

Sure, glad that worked!
posted by pb (staff) at 12:14 PM on June 14, 2013

Oooo someone make a firefox extension to enable the MARQUEE tag please! I will be your friend forever.
posted by Justinian at 1:55 PM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'm a little proud of this comment, a blinking that is immune to all these browser vendors disabling <blink>. And it's even more annoying than usual blinking too. Sadly, it required the brief window of a site vulnerability to pull off.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:59 PM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]

I'm a little proud of this comment,

There's probably something wrong with me, because this is the most delightful thing I've seen all day.
posted by SMPA at 3:08 PM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

Rhomboid: "I'm a little proud of this comment, a blinking that is immune to all these browser vendors disabling <blink>. And it's even more annoying than usual blinking too. Sadly, it required the brief window of a site vulnerability to pull off."

That is my favorite MeTa post. Were you the one that put the smiley face in top left corner of that page? That was awesome!
posted by double block and bleed at 4:31 PM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

I still miss the <burn> tag. Remember all those 1990s web site buttons that had pixelated fire on them?
posted by davejay at 5:00 PM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

The smiley face at the top was this comment which appears totally innocuous, but which uses absolute positioning to move an <em> element containing the face out of the normal flow and position it at the top.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:27 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]