MetaChat - Previous pony trotted out again:

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

25 April 2011

Previous pony trotted out again: I've mentioned this before to a good response but it was ages ago. Is their any way we could navigate metachat by days? I don't get to frequent metachat as often any more and it's hard to see what you missed or find a post previous to the listing on the front page. I don't know if our intrepid techie people have the time or inclination to add features, but I thought I'd ask.

post by: ethylene at: 08:31 | 9 comments

hi eth - I think we all have a big wishlist for things we'd like to see enabled here - better search is at the top of mine! - but my understanding is that the site is built on rejiggered version of some fairly old software and it's not that easy to customize. Chrismear and Gomichild are the techie folks who keep the gears running, and they might come by to fill in with more nuance, but I think we're just kind of maintaining for now.

I also think we wanted to see if the site community was still growing and thriving before we talked about moving platforms or anything. This kind of blog is feeling a little bit 2005, yeah, but I'm not at all sure how onerous it would be to, like, export everything to some new platform that was easier to work with,or if everyone would be up for going to the trouble.

posted by Miko 25 April | 10:17

I'm the same. I don't visit every day, and there doesn't seem to be any way to look back more than the three or so days that are shown.

When I wanted to comment on my own post of a fews days ago (about thinking up usernames) I had to resort to using search.

posted by philipy 25 April | 16:54

What would you like? A previous button?
Or something else? I think I could write a script, maybe . . .

posted by Obscure Reference 25 April | 17:27

"there doesn't seem to be any way to look back more than the three or so days"

Archives at the left.

posted by arse_hat 25 April | 17:35

I can bring up a day or a month or a year at a time.

posted by Obscure Reference 25 April | 18:53

Seems like it wouldn't be hard to add a link to this month's archives at the bottom. Sure, some pagination or something would be better, but this would be an easy fix.

posted by grouse 25 April | 19:57

I'd like something nicer too (an older posts link at the bottom of the page) but it's really only 2 clicks to the current month's archive page.

posted by DarkForest 25 April | 20:32

yeah, Archives, that screams recent posts to me but then I speak....., ah whatever.

You don't know what you don't know until someone tells you. I did not know archives led to recent posts.
thank you for starting this thread.

posted by Wilder 26 April | 08:50

Yup, a link at the bottom of the home page seems like a good quick-fix. Per-day pagination in the archives has been on the site to-do list for a while, it seems; I've bumped it up to the top.

When I wanted to comment on my own post of a fews days ago (about thinking up usernames) I had to resort to using search.

Your own profile page (the 'Profile' link in the menu bar when you're logged in) displays links that will show you all of your posts, and all of your comments. I use this when I want to find a post I started or participated in.

I agree, navigation around MetaChat is a bit, uh, quirky. It's something I'm thinking about.

posted by chrismear 26 April | 15:27

← HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIPSTICK THESPIAN!!! || Yoker →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN