Mouseover Text and Share This Link Feature Requests

July 21, 2009 4:23 PM

I respectfully request two ponies, please.

First pony; In the sidebar for contact activity, could we make it so that a mouseover of the text of the title of a newly posted FPP/Question reveals the full title? This would allow people to see the full text of the title, which sometimes is truncated by the sidebar, without actually needing to click the link and visit the thread to see what the full title is.

Second pony: What do we think of a 'Share This Link' feature? The way I envisage this working would be under the text of a new FPP or question, we would see something like;

posted by MeFite (18 comments total) [add to favorites] [!] [Share This Link]

Clicking on 'Share This Link' would automatically open up your default e-mail program and a new e-mail with text that says something like "Hi [name of your friend or relation], check out this great link about [title of post] by [name of MeFite] at [MeFi/AskMe/Projects/Music]", followed by an actual link to the thread. This would be a great way to share MeFi with friends and family!

What say you, mods?

posted by Effigy2000 to Feature Requests at 4:23 PM (37 comments total)

I can't personally implement either of these, but you asked my opinion. I think the second option will result in lots more words per page for very little benefit, but I like the first option, like adding the title of the post to the title tag of the link. Seems like it might be useful.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:29 PM on July 21, 2009

I would ride pony number one. Matter of fact, I often mouseover sidebar links and am confused when the full title doesn't pop up. This tends to occur during my groggier metafiltering, but still ...

Pony number two wouldn't do me, or any other user who relies exclusively on web-based e-mail, much good. It would be one more thing to click accidentally.
posted by EatTheWeek at 4:36 PM on July 21, 2009

I'd be more likely to use a "post this to Facebook" button than pony #2. Not that I'd use it often, just more often.
posted by Bookhouse at 4:51 PM on July 21, 2009

What do we think of a 'Share This Link' feature?

meh. I'd never use it, because I don't WANT my family and friends on MetaFilter.
posted by desjardins at 4:52 PM on July 21, 2009 [18 favorites]

Pony #1 is a beautiful, happy pony. Pony #2 is headed for the glue factory.
posted by Science! at 4:55 PM on July 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

Yeah, I don't see why we couldn't put the full title in the link's title attribute.

But on Share This Link, there are lots of existing ways to share a link via email. If you choose File -> Send Link in Firefox's top menu you can send a link to the page you're looking at. You can write your own personalized message about the link that way. And it works with Gmail if you have Google Notifier installed, pretty slick. All browsers have this feature, so I don't think we need to reinvent the wheel there.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:55 PM on July 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

Regarding Pony #2, I don't want to share MetaFilter with the internet. And I would prefer you didn't, either.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:00 PM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

an institutionalized share this link that links to the metafilter thread instead of the link(s) in the post would add an extra click for the visitor to get to the real information.

an institutionalized share this link only goes halfway since sometimes comments are awesome. putting in a share this comment would be a duplication of task since the timestamp already provides the reader with a copyable link to that comment that you can still email to your friends and family. all of which do not want you hanging out online with people like me.
posted by the aloha at 5:10 PM on July 21, 2009

ok, link titles are there now when the title on the page has been truncated.
posted by pb (staff) at 5:15 PM on July 21, 2009

IMHO: Yes for the first. Oh god no for the second.
posted by JaredSeth at 5:16 PM on July 21, 2009

Yes to 1st. No to 2nd. We're all adults. We all know how to share here. We need not a link to clutter and confuse the plebs.
posted by disillusioned at 5:19 PM on July 21, 2009

What pb said--there are a lot of ways to email a link already.

The first one sounds okay, though there might be a downside I'm not seeing.
posted by box at 5:22 PM on July 21, 2009

I have no opinion about the first request, but I really like the second one. Metafilter is a great place and we should share it with others, where possible.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:22 PM on July 21, 2009

If/when you implement #1, could you tack ", Homes!" on the end of each full title?
posted by davejay at 5:29 PM on July 21, 2009

Just to be clear: Pony #1 has left the stable.
posted by pb (staff) at 5:29 PM on July 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

ok, link titles are there now when the title on the page has been truncated.

Damn! I am 100% certain you would have implemented my suggestion, if only I'd asked before you finished.
posted by davejay at 5:29 PM on July 21, 2009

I hate getting Pony Number 2 emails from other sites. It causes me to actively like those sites, and trust the person forwarding me those emails, less.

I'm not fundamentally against the abstract notion of making it easier to share metafilter content with other people, but this is not a specific method I can get behind at all.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:34 PM on July 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

First one I don't care much about, because I've got that thingy hidden on the front page. The second one I very much do not want. Added interface cruft disadvantage to save typing a few words once in a blue moon advantage doesn't seem like a good tradeoff to me.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:45 PM on July 21, 2009

A pretty ribbon for pony #1; for pony #2, it's off to the glue factory.
posted by adipocere at 5:56 PM on July 21, 2009

would automatically open up your default e-mail program

Please don't do this, it's annoying.

This would be a great way to share MeFi with friends and family!

Only child, don't do the sharing thing so well.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:58 PM on July 21, 2009

It's fun watching how many people don't actually read any of the comments before responding, to the point of repeating something someone else has said almost verbatim. Meanwhile, PB has already finished the job, closed his laptop, and is on his way to getting a lapdance somewhere.
posted by davejay at 6:02 PM on July 21, 2009

I was scrolling rapidly through this thread, hit the end and started to scroll back up when it clicked in my mind that "lapdance" appeared somewhere, so I scrolled back down to find the comment, only to be dissapointed.
posted by Science! at 6:13 PM on July 21, 2009

I'm not fundamentally against the abstract notion of making it easier to share metafilter content with other people

I pretty much am against making it easier to share content, just because it's already so very easy to do. Copying and pasting is simple and already uses an interface everyone knows. Making it easy to reflexively send every little giggle doesn't sound like a good reflection on Metafilter and encourages superfluous linking, while making the user do more tasks (Click, wait for email program to load, shift focus, paste, type, click send, close program) and send generic messages that sound like marketing speak.

If a person can't be bothered to copy and paste, then dagnabit, that there link don't need to be sent!

Now get off my intertubes.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:15 PM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Mefites like information. Ergo pony #1 passes.
Mefites hate sharing. Ergo pony #2 dies a messy death.

QED.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:38 PM on July 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

So, more a dog and pony, then?
posted by pompomtom at 7:17 PM on July 21, 2009

That isn't how you are supposed to share.

1) Send excellent link from MetaFilter to friend, no via info.
2) Next time you meet ask friend about the excellent link.
3) Friend says "Wow, [yourname], you are always sending me such excellent stuff, where do you find it?"
4) "On the Internet," you say, with a wise and knowing look.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:18 PM on July 21, 2009 [7 favorites]

First they came to make me hug.
Then they came to make me share.

Sweet Christ, it's like some unholy gruesome smarmy lovechild of Niemoller and Robert James Waller.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:27 PM on July 21, 2009

A Share Icon vs A Secret Club

hmmmm ... i have paid my membership fee I suppose
posted by doogyrev at 7:31 PM on July 21, 2009

I like sharing metafilter links/posts, and often do. But I copy the link, paste it in an email, and add some text to the friend I'm sending it to: "Can you believe these dumbasses? Jesus fuck!"

If we could get a "share this link" pony like that, I would ride it and feed it and muck out the stall and keep the tack shiny and clean. Otherwise, no.

Thanks for the first pony, pb! Enjoy the lapdance!
posted by rtha at 8:08 PM on July 21, 2009

1) Send excellent link from MetaFilter to friend, no via info.
2) Next time you meet ask friend about the excellent link.
3) Friend says "Wow, [yourname], you are always sending me such excellent stuff, where do you find it?"
4) "On the Internet," you say, with a wise and knowing look.

This is exactly what I do. Seriously. My meatspace friends think I'm brilliant, which is why they must never, ever know about this place.
posted by dogmom at 8:10 PM on July 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

Science! is unimpressed by your lapdance and your pony.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:19 PM on July 21, 2009

PONY FOR PRESIDENT '12!
posted by not_on_display at 10:00 PM on July 21, 2009

Yeah, I had a feeling the second pony would be glue in the end. That said, I do feel that sharing MeFi with others is something we as MeFites should consider as something to be embraced, rather than trying to protect the sanctity of our corner of the web.
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:07 PM on July 21, 2009

NO!MINE!
posted by EatTheWeek at 10:34 PM on July 21, 2009 [2 favorites]

OMG pony #2 is "tweet this"! Well, okay, but in 2 years this will be will be over and done (interpret how you like).
posted by unknowncommand at 11:12 PM on July 21, 2009

Is it just me, or does Pony #2 sound like a Greasemonkey script (or more generally, some sort of bookmarklet script) waiting to happen? I know not everyone uses Firefox, or likes Greasemonkey, but if people want the specific behavior, it shouldn't be hard to whip up. Not that I'm volunteering or anything, but, you know..
posted by Alterscape at 3:40 AM on July 22, 2009

I do feel that sharing MeFi with others is something we as MeFites should consider as something to be embraced, rather than trying to protect the sanctity of our corner of the web.

Um... have you seen what the rest of the internet is like?

I rather like the sanctity of our corner. And I guard it jealously. Hell, it was only last month that I finally decided that my own sister was worthy of knowing the sacred URL.
posted by Netzapper at 4:20 AM on July 22, 2009 [1 favorite]