Request for a bantam horse November 21, 2013 1:19 PM   Subscribe

It might be handy if recent activity would say who is attending and maybe attending IRL events.

If it really is a pony and not a behemoth of a horse.
posted by aniola to Feature Requests at 1:19 PM (29 comments total)

Recent Activity is extremely resource-intensive so we're not anxious to add more data there unless there's a pretty big gain in efficiency. Maybe we could discuss the gains a bit more. Is it saving a click or is there more to it?

How do you envision this working? Do you want a new entry in Recent Activity anytime someone says they're attending an IRL event? Do you want to see a list of attendees next to the post anytime an IRL post is listed in Recent Activity?
posted by pb (staff) at 1:59 PM on November 21, 2013


It's just a saving a click thing, so if it's resource-intensive definitely don't worry about it.

The way I pictured it, whenever something from IRL showed up in recent activity anyway, there would be either a list of attendees or even just a number of attendees.
posted by aniola at 2:09 PM on November 21, 2013


I would like to second the request for a Batman Horse.

I'm sorry, what?
posted by Rock Steady at 2:20 PM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


Recent activity is resource intensive? That makes sense. I usually don't look at the recent activity past the top of the page. Is there an option somewhere that I should be clicking for me to limit how many posts show up in recent activity?

I thought ponies were baby horses. It turns out they're a dwarf kind of horse. A bantam is a dwarf kind of chicken. So I think of ponies as bantam horses.
posted by aniola at 2:46 PM on November 21, 2013


No, there's no way to limit the number of posts in Recent Activity. Even calculating one post to show in Recent Activity would be expensive.

We build that page from scratch every time you look at it—that way it's always up-to-the-second accurate and never out of synch with what you'd find browsing any of the threads individually. So it has to scan through dozens of tables to find where you were most recently active and then pull in the associated data. So locating one post with Recent Activity would mean less associated data to pull in, but it wouldn't eliminate that original scan through all of those tables to see where you commented or posted recently.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:53 PM on November 21, 2013


Wow, interesting! That makes sense. Gracias.
posted by aniola at 3:03 PM on November 21, 2013


Wait wait wait.

Batman Horses people.

Can we have that instead?
posted by The Whelk at 3:07 PM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


Finding out (or being reminded) that Recent Activity is resource-intensive is like being out on a date and accidentally ordering the thing on the menu that is twice as expensive as everything else -- except I continue to do it A LOT.

(For this imaginary simile to make sense, I have gone on dates where he insisted on paying and I let him and I cared about what he thought, so that I know what this feels like. It's what I imagine it feels like and I can't think of another similar social situation. Which is odd because when it comes to ways to feel awkward, I'm usually not at a loss.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:10 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Hitting Recent Activity is like doing shots - you know you're doing damage down the line but it feels so good right now.

( and like with shots I sometime end up naked on the floor at 4am with no memory of how I got there.)
posted by The Whelk at 3:21 PM on November 21, 2013


But Batman Horse! His parents are glue!
posted by The Whelk at 3:30 PM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


Now a crime fighting horse with bat wings, voiced by Christian Bale, I could get behind that.
posted by arcticseal at 3:30 PM on November 21, 2013


It would be a hoarse sounding horse.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 3:36 PM on November 21, 2013


"play" one? I was thinking more grafts and radical surgery.
posted by The Whelk at 3:51 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'm Batman Horse.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:01 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Batman horse: I am the neigh.
posted by The Whelk at 4:08 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Possibly related:

Ever since IRL became it's own page, I have not gone to a meetup, considered going to a meetup, or even thought about meetups. I fear that they are just under the radar screen now.

What if there was a link on the blue that said something like, "Upcoming meetups!" and linked to the threads about the 5(?) next upcoming meetups?
posted by latkes at 6:01 PM on November 21, 2013


In your preferences you can sign up to get alerts of nearby IRL events.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:13 PM on November 21, 2013


Also, there are upcoming meetups in the sidebar on the front page of Metatalk.
posted by taz (staff) at 9:45 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


You ever dressage with the Devil in the pale moonlight?
posted by XMLicious at 10:32 PM on November 21, 2013


Why so serious the long face?
posted by Rock Steady at 6:03 AM on November 22, 2013


Because he's the horse Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
posted by Ned G at 12:38 PM on November 22, 2013


Alfred to Batman Horse: Why do we fall sir? So we might learn to pick ourselves up. break our legs and be coldly euthanised in front of thousands of fans.
posted by Ned G at 12:42 PM on November 22, 2013


Batman pony.
posted by maryr at 2:21 PM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Bat-baby on an appropriate steed.
posted by maryr at 2:26 PM on November 22, 2013


Bat-cow.
posted by maryr at 2:27 PM on November 22, 2013


...basically I am saying that wonderful things happen if you GIS "batman horse".
posted by maryr at 2:27 PM on November 22, 2013


From a privacy standpoint, I don't want my meetup RSVPs on Recent Activity. Good Lord, no. Even if it's trivial to find out what city I'm in, etc.
posted by skbw at 11:00 AM on November 24, 2013




That will teach us to ever think we can out joke the DC Silver Age.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:04 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


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