Less small, please

April 1, 2009 4:14 AM

Is there some new convention developing, where comments that are direct responses to a previous commenter have the <small> tag applied? I think it's better if you don't do that. Example.

If you think your comment is some kind of an 'aside' that wouldn't interest the rest of us (I don't know if that's the motivation), I think in most cases you're wrong, and some of us have to strain to make out whether it does or not anyway. I already have the display font size bumped-up to where I can read it easily, while not needing too much scrolling. Applying small to the occasional one-line joke is fine, but whole paragraphs are a bit much.

posted by Kirth Gerson to Etiquette/Policy at 4:14 AM (65 comments total)

It's the *small* tag. Looked OK in preview, disappeared in the post.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:15 AM on April 1, 2009

Today's April Fools thing is apparently that all comments are appended with -Todd Lokken.

-Todd Lokken.
posted by Eideteker at 4:16 AM on April 1, 2009 [3 favorites]

Damn your self commenting, Kirth! Didn't your mother tell you you'd go blind if you kept that up?
posted by Eideteker at 4:16 AM on April 1, 2009

srsly, though... the lack of April Foolsness is making me antsy. Is this your plan, Haughey? To keep us in nailbiting suspense all day long, never knowing when you will strike?
posted by Eideteker at 4:18 AM on April 1, 2009

Maybe you're refreshing too quickly Eideteker?
posted by Elmore at 4:33 AM on April 1, 2009

my last comment about Todd Lokken got nuked...just sayin'. So as I believe you to be the very important self appointed mod maybe you could do us the favor?
posted by adamvasco at 4:42 AM on April 1, 2009

This is fish day, right?
posted by maudlin at 4:45 AM on April 1, 2009

I AGREE

-TODD LOKKEN
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:45 AM on April 1, 2009

I've been putting quoted text inside [small] tags, just so it doesn't take up as much space. Putting the whole thing in small seems a little silly.

-Todd Lokken
posted by dunkadunc at 4:52 AM on April 1, 2009

TODD LOKEN

-TODD LOKEN
posted by Dumsnill at 4:58 AM on April 1, 2009

Kirth Gerson: I think you have a valid point and I agree with you, but I don't know if you'll get much support from the rest of these savages. Don't worry, you can call them what you want when the text is small as they never read it.
posted by Elmore at 5:01 AM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

Please be nice to Todd, he hasn't done anything worthy of such mockery and doesn't really deserve to be an InJoke.

--Eideteker
posted by not_on_display at 5:01 AM on April 1, 2009

But he didn't end his comments

-Todd Lokken

but like this. Todd Lokken

HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY? AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE RULES? TODD LOKKEN.
posted by Kattullus at 5:02 AM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

You old people can't read this.
What do they say? Don't trust anybody over 30?
posted by clearly at 5:05 AM on April 1, 2009

Clearly, do you have problems remembering what they say? Sign of old age that.
posted by Elmore at 5:07 AM on April 1, 2009

I agree, I hate the little texties. say it loud & say it proud.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:07 AM on April 1, 2009

I wrote the second K in fantastically small, in case you were wondering
posted by Dumsnill at 5:08 AM on April 1, 2009

Kirth Gerson to etiquette/policy: If you think your comment is some kind of an 'aside' that wouldn't interest the rest of us (I don't know if that's the motivation), I think in most cases you're wrong, and some of us have to strain to make out whether it does or not anyway. I already have the display font size bumped-up to where I can read it easily, while not needing too much scrolling. Applying small to the occasional one-line joke is fine, but whole paragraphs are a bit much.

If you have to strain to make out a single order of magnitude smaller font, then you need to bump up the display font a little more. Get acquainted with your browser's zoom function.

We've had big arguments about this before, eons ago. I thought about it, but it just doesn't make sense for me to waste whole chunks of a page when I'm quoting. Moreover, <> comes in very handy sometimes; it's just useful for those of us who like to sort of typeset our comments.

I sincerely doubt that everyone will sit down and agree not to use <>. In lieu of Matt putting that tag on the blacklist alongside <>, I think the only recourse you have is to get used to it.
posted by koeselitz at 5:10 AM on April 1, 2009

You all seem rather dim to me.
posted by Elmore at 5:10 AM on April 1, 2009

SO IS CAPS LOCK DAY COME ROUND AGAIN ALREADY? IT SEEMS EARLY THIS YEAR?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:11 AM on April 1, 2009

No, Peter? You're doing it right, but for the wrong reasons? It's actually question mark day?
posted by koeselitz at 5:14 AM on April 1, 2009

I heard my dad mention it once in passing. The never trust anyone over thirty bit has never been part of my generation's culture as far as I know.
posted by clearly at 5:20 AM on April 1, 2009

Ignore it - it's just small talk
posted by googly at 5:37 AM on April 1, 2009 [4 favorites]

LOUD TALKIN
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:47 AM on April 1, 2009

I'M MELTING! MELTING! MELTING! Oh All my beautiful wickeness! ooh what a world what a world
posted by The Whelk at 5:53 AM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's for when there's an aside, that may not be 100% applicable to the official discussion at hand, but is still relevant enough to be posted.

I'm just glad there's no big tag.
posted by inigo2 at 5:55 AM on April 1, 2009

I would have thought in the future poor eyesight would have been completely cured.
posted by 6550 at 5:57 AM on April 1, 2009

srsly, though... the lack of April Foolsness is making me antsy. Is this your plan, Haughey? To keep us in nailbiting suspense all day long, never knowing when you will strike?

Mathowie said there's nothing this year.
posted by lunit at 6:32 AM on April 1, 2009

We need the <big> tag back! amirite?

[insert obvious demand for img tag here]

At least we still have <blink>
posted by double block and bleed at 6:34 AM on April 1, 2009

Mathowie said there's nothing this year.

*cries*
posted by rtha at 6:36 AM on April 1, 2009

I would have thought in the future poor eyesight would have been completely cured.

Exactly. And where is my flying car? WE WERE PROMISED FLYING CARS!!!

ok, I'll shut up for a while and let others have a turn
posted by double block and bleed at 6:37 AM on April 1, 2009

It's the *small* tag. Looked OK in preview, disappeared in the post.

Kirth Gerson, skorgu explained this to me once.

For <small> (or any other HTML command) to apear like that on Metafilter, rather than turning into a HTML command, you would need to type "ampersand, small l, small t, semicolon (no spaces)" small and "ampersand, small g, small t, semicolon (no spaces)" <small>.

More information here.
posted by mlis at 6:42 AM on April 1, 2009

µµµµµµµµµµµµµµµµµµ
posted by tehloki at 6:45 AM on April 1, 2009

Mathowie said there's nothing this year.

Man, I really hope that is a lie. Todd Lokken.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 6:50 AM on April 1, 2009

For <> (or any other HTML command) to apear like that on Metafilter, rather than turning into a HTML command, you would need to type "ampersand, small l, small t, semicolon (no spaces)" small and "ampersand, small g, small t, semicolon (no spaces)" .

Sure, like a guy who has trouble with small type is gonna remember that.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:53 AM on April 1, 2009

I use the small to reply to a comment if the comment i'm posting is off topic, or unrelated to the thread. So for example, I wanted to call tehloki a punk bitch, i'd be all:

tehloki, you're such a punk bitch.

And if I wanted to complain about MLIS being such a know it all, i'd be all:

MLIS, you're such a know it all.

Rinse and repeat.
posted by chunking express at 6:54 AM on April 1, 2009

I don't want to be like everyone else?

Odd Lokken
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:56 AM on April 1, 2009

Text nested inside multiple small tags is a bitch on Mobile Safari. All pinching and zooming and losing my place and crap.

For those on Firefox: you can set the minimum font size (Options -> Content -> Fonts & Colors -> Advanced -> Minimum Font Size on FF3) which can mitigate the teensy somewhat.
posted by subbes at 7:02 AM on April 1, 2009

- Todd Lokken
posted by subbes at 7:03 AM on April 1, 2009

Applying small to the occasional one-line joke is fine, but whole paragraphs are a bit much.
what?
posted by clavdivs at 7:04 AM on April 1, 2009

what?
posted by clavdivs at 7:23 AM on April 1, 2009

Todd Lokken,
Wad Coddlin'
Squad Hopin'
Cod Dodgin'
God, Moroccan?
Odd, maudlin,
Todd Lokken
posted by The Whelk at 7:28 AM on April 1, 2009

CTRL+SCROLL

If this van's a knockin' I'm doing coke to Dokken with Todd Lokken.

THAT IS A JOKE FROM THIS ACHEWOOD. MY LETTERS ARE SMALL BUT YOU CAN STILL READ THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE IN CAPS.
posted by SpiffyRob at 7:40 AM on April 1, 2009

Tood Lokken,
Gone but not forgokken.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 7:48 AM on April 1, 2009

This thread is already on Google's first page of results for "todd lokken".
posted by aheckler at 7:50 AM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

real link :-(
posted by aheckler at 7:51 AM on April 1, 2009

Fixed kirth's tag.

Yeah, the small tag used to be used sparingly, and so it wasn't too annoying. Now people are using it for their entire comment. They need to stop. It hurts my eyes.

I have this general gut feeling that small tag use hasn't increased significantly lately, but it might make for a decent research project for me. Count the number of comments per unit time that use the tag, and count the characters between each set of tags, to measure both the frequency and the volume of small-tagging.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:53 AM on April 1, 2009

Thanks to whatever mod fixed the OP so 'small' is there between the brackets.

And by "thanks," I mean Thanks for making me look stupid with my later comment."
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:55 AM on April 1, 2009

Thanks again, cortex.

And by "thanks," I mean ...
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:57 AM on April 1, 2009

I appreciate your input.

And will stop using the small tag for my pithy asides when hell freezes over.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:08 AM on April 1, 2009

Now people are using it for their entire comment. They need to stop. It hurts my eyes.

Or you could just come to terms with the fact that your eyes ain't what they used to be, bump up the font size another step, and quit whining about it.

Is there not a greasemonkey script to remove <small> tags?
posted by toomuchpete at 8:44 AM on April 1, 2009

I have this general gut feeling that small tag use hasn't increased significantly lately

I've been seeing it more. People seem to put asides in the small tag so that they're not seen as derails, mainly I think. However it just means that you have to WORK HARDER to read derails which is annonying (to me). My general feeling is that I read all the stuff in small tags in AskMe as a great blinking "I'm not talking about the topic at all!!!" alert and treat them accordingly. I'd prefer people didn't use the small tag to start small side discussions.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:47 AM on April 1, 2009 [2 favorites]

uǝʞʞol ppoʇ ¡ʞɔıɹʇ s,looɟ lıɹdɐ ǝɥʇ punoɟ ı ʞuıɥʇ ı
posted by not_on_display at 8:52 AM on April 1, 2009

Imagine the flood of derision that would have descended on me if I'd used the word 'annoying' in my post.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:54 AM on April 1, 2009

But I like the small tag!
posted by languagehat at 9:05 AM on April 1, 2009

Unless it's removed, I don't see myself stopping my use of the small tag.

Hell, even if it's removed, I'll probably just go ahead and keep on using it anyway.

It gives the voices in my head a place to play!
posted by quin at 9:48 AM on April 1, 2009 [3 favorites]

Kirth Gerson: Imagine the flood of derision that would have descended on me if I'd used the word 'annoying' in my post.

Yeah. I use the <annoying> attribute in just about every comment, so don't think you're going to get me to stop using that one.
posted by koeselitz at 10:32 AM on April 1, 2009

The fact that it annoys jessamyn is a shame, but not enough to make me stop. Please accept my on-going apology for adding to your pain, but some things are just to important to give up.
posted by dg at 1:36 PM on April 1, 2009

I thought the accepted convention with the small tag was that it was like talking under your breath, being the opposite of all caps shouting.

All caps small is, of course, whispering loudly ("WE THOUGHT YOU WAS A TOAD")
posted by Kattullus at 3:58 PM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

Todd Lokken -- lock'n'load -- loaded for bear -- bear naked -- naked truth -- truthiness -- Loch Ness -- Todd Lokken.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:17 PM on April 1, 2009

My very first ever metatalk post was about using small text for snarky side commentary.

That was seven years and two weeks ago.

I need to get out more.
posted by ook at 6:12 PM on April 1, 2009

Todd Lock 'n...
posted by Pollomacho at 6:26 PM on April 1, 2009

Making a mountain out of a molehill.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:45 PM on April 1, 2009

I'd prefer people didn't use the small tag to start small side discussions.

I do it from time to time, but it's usually to prevent or end those small discussions from snowballing, by simply highlighting the fact that, yes, it's a derail, I know it's a derail, maybe you hadn't realized it.

Sometimes, though, it's that seething, faux-calm, clenched-teeth non-yelling you do when someone does that thing where they break up with you in a hushed and fancy restaurant so you can't make a scene.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:50 PM on April 2, 2009

Yeah, I do the small text thing as a sort of "mumbled under my breath" kind of thing. Admittedly, I also probably do this too much.

WE. THOUGHT. YOU. WAS. A. TOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAD.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 12:23 PM on April 5, 2009