11/17/24
June 15, 2004
SportsFilter Customization: When we move to the new server we'll be making some changes to the Customize page (including adding the option to select your time zone). What customization features are you looking for (don't go too crazy; we only have so many fields in the database), and which ones don't you care about?
posted by kirkaracha to editorial policy at 02:07 PM - 30 comments
zipcode!
posted by corpse at 02:42 PM on June 15, 2004
Minor nit, but I think we should have one field for IM service type (AOL IM, MSN, ICQ, Jabber) and one field for the user's address on that service. Or just drop messaging.
posted by rcade at 03:03 PM on June 15, 2004
generally i think customization is over-rated. but maybe an area specifically for listing favorite teams (aka not the bio area)? more so i know who roots for the enemy than anything. we only have so many fields in the database --odd statement. zipcode is already there, corpse. (is that somewhat new?) i was gonna ask for a football versus soccer pony, but then i remembered i hate that topic. on preview...rcade is right! i have to specify mine is yahoo, which kinda screws the handle.
posted by danostuporstar at 03:17 PM on June 15, 2004
So it is! Actually, I really meant the "users close to this user" on the profile page. Would be handy.
posted by corpse at 03:22 PM on June 15, 2004
all this renovation is making me dizzy.
posted by garfield at 03:39 PM on June 15, 2004
Re-innovation! Actually, I'd be happy if we just got the times right. That would be enough. Thank you.
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:23 PM on June 15, 2004
truly, thanks...im just slow on the uptake. [bows, and slowly backs out of lockerroom]
posted by garfield at 05:16 PM on June 15, 2004
Yay!! Finally a clock. "users close to this user" would be good, but only if it worked for non-USA members. The MeFi one makes me feel worthless.
posted by squealy at 06:40 PM on June 15, 2004
Yes, something based on Lat/Long would be better instead of a zipcode based search.
posted by BigCalm at 02:45 AM on June 16, 2004
Can we lose the colon after the post title? I understand why it'd be in the RSS feed, but does it need to be in the posts?
posted by yerfatma at 11:54 AM on June 16, 2004
My general rule here is to keep things simple. Now that titles are required, it was a pain to figure out how to punctuate after the title, so I figured putting in the colon would be easier. But we'll play around with our colons for a while and see what happens.
posted by rcade at 12:59 PM on June 16, 2004
I took the colons out of the home page and comments page, but left them in the RSS.
posted by kirkaracha at 01:07 PM on June 16, 2004
What's an RSS without a colon?
posted by rcade at 01:11 PM on June 16, 2004
A list that's suffering from colon cancel?
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:17 PM on June 16, 2004
Playing with our colons is a little hard to digest.
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:18 PM on June 16, 2004
Egads! Unsubscribe!
posted by NoMich at 01:25 PM on June 16, 2004
Why punctuate after the title? Make the title the <title> tag and leave the description as it was before. No muss, no fuss, no colonoscopy.
posted by pivo at 02:09 PM on June 16, 2004
What might be better is to have a line or paragraph break after the title. You know, like those new-fangled things, whaddaya call them? Yeah, newspapers and magazines. No colostomy needed.
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:10 PM on June 16, 2004
Any formatting that can't be over-ridden forces a single posting style on everyone. I'm agin it.
posted by yerfatma at 05:00 PM on June 16, 2004
Agree with danostuporstar: customization is overrated. In fact, I'd go further and say that sites with a ton of customization features tend to attract/retain weenies who think content is so last millenium. The '90s are over, Pets Dot Com is dead and so's the notion that clever technotrickery trumps substance. Substance, please, encourage substance and discourage foofery.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 01:46 PM on June 17, 2004
SpoFi: Encouraging substance (abuse)
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:24 PM on June 17, 2004
I wouldn't mind the option to turn off the horizontal rules in between posts and comments, since everybody but me seems to like them. But that's getting picky.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:28 AM on June 18, 2004
horizontal rules: the dim lines in between post? yeah, if that's possible.
posted by garfield at 10:16 AM on June 18, 2004
A user css file would do that pretty simply.
posted by yerfatma at 02:56 PM on June 18, 2004
could you dumb that down for me?
posted by garfield at 02:59 PM on June 18, 2004
Hold your hand over the individual lines so you can't see them. Alternatively: what browser are you using (I have no idea if IE lets you use a customized CSS file)?
posted by yerfatma at 03:24 PM on June 18, 2004
I'm using IE...at work....if that matters. don't worry about it...its not that big of a deal. thanks anyhoo.
posted by garfield at 04:05 PM on June 18, 2004
I took the colons out of the home page and comments page, but left them in the RSS. The colon seems to still be there on the post preview page.
posted by danostuporstar at 01:07 PM on June 22, 2004
We need to stop playing with our colons.
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:08 PM on June 22, 2004
We'll have about the same number of options, so we might have to change how we handle some preferences. One thing I'm considering is using JavaScript and cookies to store the preferences for text fonts, font sizes, and opening new windows for links instead of storing that info in the database. Maybe something like ESPN Tools (at the bottom of the right column). The downside is you'd have to set those preferences once on each computer you use to visit SportsFilter, instead of them affecting multiple computers. I also want to make it more clear what profile information is public and what's only viewable to members. Here's the MetaFilter customization page. Do you know of other nice examples?