Watching Threads

August 11, 2004 5:21 PM

How much flak will I catch if I start using "." to mark threads that I want to track on my "My Comments" page? I ask because there are several interesting threads that I want to monitor but in which I don't necessarily wish to post a message.
posted by five fresh fish to Feature Requests at 5:21 PM (35 comments total)

This is, in fact, a round-about Pony request.

Also, we can't have a day go by without at least one MetaTalk post. Or so it seems.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:21 PM on August 11, 2004

I've seen people using this idea, and it seems unobtrusive because it is just one or two people. But if a slew of posters started doing it, then the threads would start looking pretty cluttered.
posted by FunkyHelix at 5:27 PM on August 11, 2004

What's wrong with using brower bookmarks? You can probably even set it up to tell you when there are new comments to be found*.


* I haven't tried this, and the way MeFi pages are served may prevent it.
posted by willnot at 5:33 PM on August 11, 2004

Watched threads would be a nice pony. Hopefully on the easy side, too. But considering the number of people who read and don't comment, it could get out of hand.

I second willnot's suggestion to use bookmarks for now.
posted by scarabic at 5:43 PM on August 11, 2004

I would find it really annoying and ask that you don't do this.

If you want the feature that badly, I'll do something about it. For now, why not use a free service like del.icio.us and tag them all under the term "metafilter"?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:43 PM on August 11, 2004

I've been doing this for years already. But, I usually write "Nice post! Thanks!" :)
posted by vacapinta at 5:45 PM on August 11, 2004

I usually just make a short, snarky comment that demonstrates little insight or even thought.

got it
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:15 PM on August 11, 2004

I would love this particular pony. I would feed it, and love it and . . .
posted by Quartermass at 6:34 PM on August 11, 2004

How about RSS feeds for each post. Massive server load?
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:45 PM on August 11, 2004

Ponyponyponyponypleaseponyponypony.

Truth is, matt, I do want the feature that badly. Even more than the lat/long coordinates!

Ponyponyponyponypleaseponyponypony!

I'm not going to start posting dots. It was just a way to grab your attention. :-)
posted by five fresh fish at 7:01 PM on August 11, 2004

Can we call this pony quonsar? (as in "quonsar this post")
posted by shoepal at 7:11 PM on August 11, 2004

.
posted by yhbc at 7:45 PM on August 11, 2004

what vacapinta said
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:33 PM on August 11, 2004

Also consider Furl.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:38 PM on August 11, 2004

or mylinky.
posted by Hackworth at 10:57 PM on August 11, 2004

MetaFilter: Truth is, matt, I do want the feature
posted by scarabic at 11:19 PM on August 11, 2004

Why don't you just post a snarky comment that will make me smile?
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 1:14 AM on August 12, 2004

This pony has been requested before, and Matt said

"This is something that has long been on the to-do list, and something that jayallen actually built, a mefi bookmarks mini-site that I think is gone.

Many other communities have a basic feature set, and I've long put it off for processing concerns. I would love to someday do it, especially considering all the cool things you could do with the bookmarks and custom descriptions (let people share them on their user page, let them categorize and sub-categorize them to create directories, etc).

It's another one of those things that uses database processing time and requires a lot of free time for me to program, so it's been neglected."
posted by biffa at 2:44 AM on August 12, 2004

A compelling feature for MeFi Pro, perhaps - which might also stop it from taxing the server too heavily. Some of us would obviously pay for it, and we could use the dot posts to spot the cheapskates.
posted by rory at 4:45 AM on August 12, 2004

Again, what's wrong with bookmarks? It's worked for me for years here.

Or are you looking for some sort of notification of new posts? (in which case, any implementation should be "new post since last visit", rather than with each post. Don't think anyone wants that pony ride.)
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:41 AM on August 12, 2004

I would find it really annoying and ask that you don't do this. —mathowie

Just repeating that so no one misses it.

I do think a "thread watch" feature would not only be very handy (and in keeping with the way people actually use the site, unlike some of the alternative suggestions made) but would also benefit the site by reducing the number of frivolous comments made simply to track threads.
posted by rushmc at 7:34 AM on August 12, 2004

I'd also like this pony. I actually had a feature request all written up to ask for something similiar to K5's hotlist.

I'd like this pony because it acts as a reminder. I use it on K5 to keep track posts that I found interesting but haven't had time to fully explore. My request here was triggered by this recent thread. The collective wisdom was great but I'll need a couple hours in a row to digest it which may not happen for weeks. If I just put it in a book mark I'm likely to forget about it because it's not something I need right this instant.
posted by Mitheral at 8:20 AM on August 12, 2004

I want it to work exactly as if I'd left a dot-post. Which also means it needs to show up on My Comments, and not some other page.

If My Comments isn't a strain on the server, I don't think a "TrackIt" checkbox should be any more strain.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:12 AM on August 12, 2004

Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. In other words, by doing that, you are saying that it would be all right with you if all of MeFi's ~1000 active users did the same thing.
posted by kindall at 11:34 AM on August 12, 2004

How could you tell the stupid speechless sympathy [.]s from the I'm just tracking this thread [.]s ?
posted by milovoo at 12:30 PM on August 12, 2004

Which also means it needs to show up on My Comments, and not some other page.

It's not a comment; it shouldn't be on the My Comments page. I would HATE this.
posted by rushmc at 1:17 PM on August 12, 2004

So we're not agreeing to disagree about people being able to not disagree?
posted by yerfatma at 3:17 PM on August 12, 2004

If Matt implements the free (gmail, de.licio.us style) keywording for AskMe that we've discussed, and (why the hell not?) propagates the feature throughout the site, this kind of thing would be a natural possible use of that, killing two birds with one lump of code.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:25 PM on August 12, 2004

Which brings up an entirely other question: why on earth, Matt, are MeFi, MeTa, and AskMe all being run on separate codebases? There is so much similarity between them that I should think they should be nigh identical.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:17 PM on August 12, 2004

It should be on MyComments, because if I do make a comment, I wouldn't want it showing up on both MyTracker and MyComments.

Also, I prefer to have everything in one place.

But, hell, if it would satisfy ruchmc, I'll take his version, just so long as I have a MyTracker of some sort.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:18 PM on August 12, 2004

because if I do make a comment, I wouldn't want it showing up on both MyTracker and MyComments

Why should it?
posted by rushmc at 10:16 PM on August 12, 2004

I expect the easiest thing for Matt is to tweak the existing code so that it pretends that I've made a comment. Implementing a tracker flag and then having it unset should I chance to make a comment requires more work.

But whatever, rush, whatever. I really don't give a fig whether it works the way you want it to or the way I want it to. I'll be happy with whatever we end up with, and I hope it's a quick and easy hack.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:04 AM on August 13, 2004

Easiest is not always best. There are many "easy" changes that could be made to the site that would have an appalling effect upon its usability, which I suspect is why mathowie doesn't make them.
posted by rushmc at 6:47 AM on August 13, 2004

Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick, what the hell are you on about? Your every message to me seems to be an attempt to argue about something that I'm not arguing about!
posted by five fresh fish at 11:11 AM on August 13, 2004

Your comments say otherwise. :::shrug:::
posted by rushmc at 2:02 PM on August 13, 2004