Playing time of video in superscript? Annoying!

December 4, 2006 3:17 PM

Is this the first time someone has linked to videos with the playing time in superscript? Am I the only one who finds it really annoying?
posted by chunking express to Etiquette/Policy at 3:17 PM (91 comments total)

no. ^0:30
posted by quonsar at 3:19 PM on December 4, 2006

Just Checking.^3:21
posted by chunking express at 3:21 PM on December 4, 2006

You're the first one to complain about it, so that's something.
posted by jonson at 3:22 PM on December 4, 2006

I wonder how much information can be safely squeezed into a superscript? And what about poor neglected subscript?
posted by muddgirl at 3:31 PM on December 4, 2006

Am I the only one who finds it really annoying?

Just. Fucking. Kill Yourself.
posted by atrazine at 3:36 PM on December 4, 2006 [2 favorites]

I think it adds useful information.^{Comment Serving Size: 2.25 Fluid Ounces; 0 Carbohydrates; 0 Grams Fat; 170 Calories}
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:37 PM on December 4, 2006

Subscript: _{the other white script}
posted by grouse at 3:39 PM on December 4, 2006

_What's so ^annoying about ^sub and _super scripting?
posted by eyeballkid at 3:40 PM on December 4, 2006

_is^this_annoying^to_you^cause_if^it_is^then_i^will_stop^doing_it^.
posted by daninnj at 3:40 PM on December 4, 2006

please _start ^a _metatalk ^thread _each ^and _every ^time _you ^find _anything ^at _all ^out _of ^the _ordinary ^because _{dammit, we} ^have _to ^talk _about ALL ^of _them.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:40 PM on December 4, 2006 [9 favorites]

Parentheses are much easier to use. But I heard econus is going to maintain this stylistic affectation until he gets tags on MetaTalk. So learn to live with it.
posted by Eideteker at 3:43 PM on December 4, 2006

It's a wind up. ^{Otherwise, why not just put the information in brackets?}
posted by jack_mo at 3:44 PM on December 4, 2006

_what'sso^annoyingabout_9774;♥^and_supsigning?
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:45 PM on December 4, 2006

^{hmmmmmm......}
posted by daninnj at 3:45 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

So, peace signs are out, huh? Well, figures. :)
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:46 PM on December 4, 2006

Amen _{amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen}
posted by wheelieman at 3:46 PM on December 4, 2006

_{this is fun!}
posted by daninnj at 3:47 PM on December 4, 2006

w_hhheeeeee!

^ok_I'm^done!
posted by daninnj at 3:50 PM on December 4, 2006

We all live in a yellow_marine
posted by cortex at 3:53 PM on December 4, 2006 [3 favorites]

God = God over Djinn ^{over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn over Djinn}
posted by loquacious at 3:57 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

Do you see what happens, Larry? Do you see what happens, when you take away the img tag?
posted by knave at 4:04 PM on December 4, 2006

"I wonder how much information can be safely squeezed into a superscript?"

Actually, it's a little-known fact that the whole of Metafilter has been running as enlarged superscript since 2003. The reason for this is because it's actually intended to be the annotation for a footnote to this brief list of pancake recipes.
posted by koeselitz at 4:05 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

I^{wonderhowlongIcouldkeepdoingthisbeforeIachievecriticalboredommass--probablyatleastthreehours.cutandpasteme,youtrollop!}


posted by The God Complex at 4:05 PM on December 4, 2006

I liked knowing at a glance that the links were all video files. Of course, there are other ways to note that, but I don't see any of them as less obtrusive than the one used. And actually, knowing the length of the video could also be useful; sometimes you don't have fifty something minutes to spend on a youtube clip.
posted by Clay201 at 4:20 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

Superscript^{^}
posted by ericb at 4:30 PM on December 4, 2006

cut and paste me, you trollop!

Okely-dokely.

"IwonderhowlongIcouldkeepdoingthisbeforeIachievecriticalboredommass-probablyatleastthreehours.cutandpasteme,youtrollop!"
posted by ericb at 4:32 PM on December 4, 2006

MetaFilter is no good as long as people do things any different than everyone else. WE MUST HAVE UNIFORMITY AT ANY COST!

Mathowie, please start banning anyone whose username is not "bugbread". They're too different from my own, and I'm sure I'm not the only one annoyed by that.
posted by Bugbread at 4:52 PM on December 4, 2006

But bugbear, he'd have to ban you too!
posted by cortex at 4:53 PM on December 4, 2006

It's worth noting that the original poster thought the formatting sucks too. Although I'm not sure if that reaction is a response to this thread. I mean, if he thought it sucked he could have changed it.
posted by bob sarabia at 5:14 PM on December 4, 2006

Burn the Witch! Burn the Witch!

Sheesh.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:15 PM on December 4, 2006

☮^☮
posted by found missing at 5:16 PM on December 4, 2006

Burn the Witch! Burn the Witch!
posted by five fresh fish at 5:17 PM on December 4, 2006

Don't burn the witch. Bathe her and bring her to me.
posted by loquacious at 5:22 PM on December 4, 2006

It never ceases to amaze me what people will find to bitch about.
posted by languagehat at 5:23 PM on December 4, 2006

found missing: Yeah, I looked at the source and realized I was the one who screwed up.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:41 PM on December 4, 2006

This is why we can't have nice things.
posted by jason's_planet at 5:42 PM on December 4, 2006

It's not keeping me up nights or anything, but superscript information looks shitty to me. I much prefer when people use the title attribute for this sort of thing.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 5:56 PM on December 4, 2006

Well, it looked pretty crappy in preview. But who lives their life like that? Always checking. Checking for keys, wallet & clothes every time they leave the house. Pah. This is the real world, if we want to play it safe we may as well start teaching our grandmothers to look before they suck kettles or calling them pots. Hmm..? You know I'm right.
posted by econous at 6:06 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

i thought "fuck you ^3:00" was perfectly hilarious as the first comment in the thread... mods thought otherwise.
posted by quonsar at 6:13 PM on December 4, 2006

"It's not keeping me up nights or anything, but superscript information looks shitty to me. I much prefer when people use the title attribute for this sort of thing."

The only script keeping me awake nights is for Thorazine^®. Well, "awake" may be the wrong word...
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:16 PM on December 4, 2006

That's it, the next time someone uses Metatalk to talk about Metafilter I'm gonna get ANGRY.
_stomp^stomp_stomp^stomp_stomp^stomp_stomp^stomp
posted by Saucy Intruder at 6:18 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

What next, the vote for woman? The boys at the club will get a chortle when I tell them this one!

Pip pip, cheerio, old chaps!
posted by oxford blue at 6:42 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

It looks annoying, yet it really is useful isn't it? Maybe parentheses would be less annoying. (Maybe.)
posted by The Deej at 6:55 PM on December 4, 2006

It never ceases to amaze me what people will find to bitch about.
Oh, I don't know - it ceased to amaze me a long time ago. Now I just nod sagely and shed a single silent tear for the days of yore when we actually had things important enough to care about and didn't have to spend every waking moment looking for another, even smaller, nit to pick.
posted by dg at 7:22 PM on December 4, 2006

I think it would be better in title, but it's information I appreciate. The length of a video has a pretty big impact on whether I'm interested in watching it.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:35 PM on December 4, 2006

What the fucking fuck. It's like MetaFilter is 2/3s Andy fucking Rooneys^W.

"Y'know what I hate? Three quarters of all stimuli. Lemme sketch out a list and some explanations..."
posted by ibmcginty at 9:15 PM on December 4, 2006 [4 favorites]

Superscripters go home. It's not subtle at all. Title tags are the appropriate snark vehicle.
posted by blasdelf at 9:34 PM on December 4, 2006

goddamn^{Superscripters go home. It's not subtle at all. Title tags are the appropriate snark vehicle.}
posted by carsonb at 9:49 PM on December 4, 2006

oh!^{by the way}
posted by carsonb at 9:51 PM on December 4, 2006

Stop that!
posted by blasdelf at 10:01 PM on December 4, 2006

Though the unstyled title tag gets clipped off in Firefox (and they won't fix it), leading to an impairment of snark delivery for the majority of Mefites so intent on using it (I prefer browsers that are native, and don't need Greasemonkey). Really, mathowie should make fancy titles the default for the whole sit, not just an option on the blue.
posted by blasdelf at 10:04 PM on December 4, 2006

the unstyled title tag gets clipped off in Firefox

fuckin' a, man. that's harsh.
posted by carsonb at 10:14 PM on December 4, 2006

Don't like ^super- or _sub- scripts? Use freaking Lynx.
posted by xiojason at 10:18 PM on December 4, 2006

Am I the only one who finds it really annoying?

You know what I find annoying? Drive-by assholery like this, and then fucking passive-agressive shitstains who favorite it.

Superscripts aren't killing Metafilter, but behaviour like that is. *takes deep breath, checks blood pressure*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:45 PM on December 4, 2006

Aren't you supposed to be drinking yourself to death right now?
posted by interrobang at 11:06 PM on December 4, 2006 [4 favorites]

Hell, I haven't had a drink in a month.

It is nice to see that you're at least consistent in your unpleasantness, though.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:20 PM on December 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

Shitstains, huh? Seems like the imaginary narrative you construct when you visit this site has taken a rather abrasive turn. You should yell at real kids to get off your lawn for a while, old man.
posted by luckypozzo at 11:39 PM on December 4, 2006 [2 favorites]

Thanks for reminding me to favorite that comment, stav.
posted by bob sarabia at 11:44 PM on December 4, 2006

Seems like the imaginary narrative you construct when you visit this site has taken a rather abrasive turn. You should yell at real kids to get off your lawn for a while, old man.

Wow, you got me there. Yes, that's a excellent idea. I will do that. First, of course, you fine rascally young man you, I will need to aquire a lawn. But I'll get right on that, and while you're waiting, you keep on raging against the answering machine, 'cause us old men need a damn good verbal thrashing when we get all watery-eyed and start sucking our dentures, mumbling all the while of the good old days when people of quality wore hats, damn it.

OK, shitstains was a little strong, chosen mostly for euphony. Maybe fuckswizzles or cheesehostesses might be better?

Thanks for reminding me to favorite that comment, stav.

No problem. I expected some people would, and that it would be instructive.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:57 PM on December 4, 2006

Also:

luckypozzo links to 9 MetaFilter user(s): [...] interrobang (crush date sweetheart) [...]
6 MetaFilter user(s) link to luckypozzo: [...] interrobang (friend sibling sweetheart) [...]

One suspects you are less than entirely disinterested in our little affray, here, my young friend. But old bastards like me often have a soft spot for antediluvian concepts like loyalty, so I'll forgive you.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:13 AM on December 5, 2006

lol
posted by econous at 12:16 AM on December 5, 2006

IT'S A CONSPIRACY
posted by bob sarabia at 12:18 AM on December 5, 2006

*shrieks, runs hobbles away*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:25 AM on December 5, 2006

It was one of those days when it's a minute away from pissing it down and there's like this cold breeze, you can nearly hear it. And this little kid was, like, dancing with me. Begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind bars for me. A like.. seriously malevolent force wanted me to do bad things. Forever. I know mpegs are a poor excuse but they help my member, and I need my member. Sometimes there is so much beauty in a kiddies pants or a plastic bag floating a fucking round in the fucking wind that turds drop out of my eyebrows.
posted by econous at 1:05 AM on December 5, 2006

I AM A PROUD SHITSTAIN

Oh, how I wish we had <img> tags!
posted by blasdelf at 1:12 AM on December 5, 2006

Well, once I my skull stopped ringing, I did suggest cheesehostess or fuckswizzle as less, er, evocative alternates, if that mollifies...

turds drop out of my eyebrows.

Right, this has taken a turn for the scary.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:28 AM on December 5, 2006

It comes full circle!

Steven C. Den Beste links to 30 MetaFilter user(s):
[…] interrobang (sweetheart) […] luckypozzo (sweetheart) […]

Holy shit! Who knew the conspiracy went so deep? Old bastards like you indeed!
posted by blasdelf at 1:35 AM on December 5, 2006

I knew running away was a good idea.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:37 AM on December 5, 2006

Seriously, though, since you're here. Why did you mark interrobang's nasty dig at SDB as a favorite? It wasn't funny, or clever, or memorable -- it was just kind of mean. Do you seethe with Den Beste hatred?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:40 AM on December 5, 2006

Ah, hell, never mind. None of my business, I guess.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:45 AM on December 5, 2006

Why did you mark interrobang's nasty dig at SDB as a favorite? It wasn't funny, or clever, or memorable -- it was just kind of mean.

I didn't mark it as a favorite, because it was needlessly mean. But it was funny, and clearly memorable, or you wouldn't still be discussing it.
posted by grouse at 2:13 AM on December 5, 2006

Right. Please to be explicating cheesehostess, you unexpurgated sack of malodorous buttock-falafel.

While shitstain and fuckswizzle both explain themselves nicely, this cheesehostess bit has me - as a staunch, loyal and ramrod-straight Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman - a wee mite bit concerned and worried that you might be dabbling in the Devil's own unpasteurized dairy products of woe.
posted by loquacious at 2:18 AM on December 5, 2006 [1 favorite]

Please to be explicating cheesehostess

Um, I think it was SCTV, way back when, that had a little song that went 'they're identical cheese hostesses, blah blah blah'. On the other hand, I may have dreamed it. I just dunno, more often than not.

But it was funny, and clearly memorable, or you wouldn't still be discussing it.

Arguable, but if it was meant to be funny and it just totally went over my head (which has been known to happen), then I apologize. Except for the cheesehostess bit.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:39 AM on December 5, 2006

blasdelf: "Though the unstyled title tag gets clipped off in Firefox (and they won't fix it)..."

Deets here, please. What's the "unstyled title tag"? Do you mean attribute? And what do you mean clipped off? Are you referring to the 'Long tooltips should allow wrap to multiple lines' bug? It's annoying and old and hasn't been addressed, but I wouldn't characterize the situation as "they won't fix it".
posted by Plutor at 5:19 AM on December 5, 2006

mumbling all the while of the good old days when people of quality wore hats, damn it.

Damn straight! mumble mumble
posted by languagehat at 5:38 AM on December 5, 2006

Seriously, though, since you're here.

Seriously, though, why are you here? Why did you ruin a ^super _subfest bitching about a comment in another thread?

Is it because chunking express used the word 'annoying' and you were annoyed? Or you just can't stand to see anyone having fun? What?
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 5:58 AM on December 5, 2006

Plutor: "Deets here, please. What's the "unstyled title tag"? Do you mean attribute? And what do you mean clipped off? Are you referring to the 'Long tooltips should allow wrap to multiple lines' bug? It's annoying and old and hasn't been addressed, but I wouldn't characterize the situation as "they won't fix it"."

In addition, there's an extension entitled "Popup ALT Attribute" which has a not very descriptive name, but fixes this issue.
posted by Xoder at 6:49 AM on December 5, 2006

Though the unstyled title tag gets clipped off in Firefox

There are a couple of extensions that fix this. We use long (multi-paragraph long) titles in some of the backend software on my site and it was frustrating the Firefox users to no end. We found Long Titles and are all much happier. There are some other ones out there, too.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:49 AM on December 5, 2006

Your favourite HTML tag sucks.
posted by flabdablet at 7:02 AM on December 5, 2006

Can't you people stay on topic? Please confine your comments to ad hominem attacks on chunking express.

PS I hate you all.
posted by Mister_A at 7:15 AM on December 5, 2006

chunking express is such a whiny bitch.
posted by chunking express at 7:38 AM on December 5, 2006

and self-absorbed!
posted by cortex at 7:39 AM on December 5, 2006

Also true.

I just don't get why the numbers couldn't be in brackets. I find the superscripts as glaring and annoying as the blink tag.

Blinking Superscripts. That'd be bad.
posted by chunking express at 9:01 AM on December 5, 2006

How about ^{[blinking superscripts in brackets]}?
posted by grouse at 9:09 AM on December 5, 2006 [1 favorite]

^{^}0^{^}
posted by cortex at 9:13 AM on December 5, 2006

haven't had a drink in a month.

and its beginning to show.
posted by quonsar at 10:16 AM on December 5, 2006

Hey yo nigga, was^?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:44 AM on December 5, 2006

mumbling all the while of the good old days when people of quality wore hats, damn it.

And gloves, and people knew their place in the world, what!
posted by oxford blue at 2:50 PM on December 5, 2006

and its beginning to show.

Ain't that the truth.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:55 PM on December 5, 2006

Cheesehostess: superfluous servant
Synonyms: rehetour, turnspit dog
posted by Opus Dark at 5:41 PM on December 5, 2006

It does smack of a poster doing their damndest to make the post unreadable. I agree with you Mr. Express.
posted by headlessness at 1:43 AM on December 8, 2006