Default reading filters and me

[azurelunatic]

Hi! If I've added you to my reading list in the past, um, since reading filters were introduced, and I haven't commented and you thought I would have by now, this is likely because I have not been seeing your entries on my reading page.

This is due to the actually really dumb way the default reading filter is handled.

Ordinarily I don't think Dreamwidth development decisions are dumb, but since I just had a complete crying meltdown over what I'm hoping is an oversight and not a development decision, and had to turn off the contextual hover menu (I love the contexual hover menu kind of a lot) because otherwise I will use it to add people and since I have clearly forgotten this in the past I will forget it again, yeah, I'm calling it dumb. (Not the people involved, but the feature.) Mostly I use the filter to keep the "hi I have codes here" from dw_codesharing off my page, which means that when someone posts one untagged, I will see it and tag it straight away.

If you're adding someone and you didn't mean for them to be in there, and they show up on your reading page, you can see that and alter your filters. If you add someone and expect that they will be in there, and they are not, you don't see this until something makes you realize it. So while I recognize it would be obnoxious for people who don't use the default reading filter the way I do, I think the impact is worse like this.

I didn't realize until now that this was such a dealbreaker for me.

So, yeah, hi. I ordinarily read stuff but sometimes the machines get in the way.

Comments

[lacey]

... I have no idea how much I've missed since... well, ever.

Oh, shit.

[charmian]

Wow, yeah, that shouldn't happen. 0_o New subscribers should be added to the default filter by default, IMHO.

[senmut]

I'm sort of glad I never set up a reading filter now...

But your post helps me understand that suggestion a little more than I had. I was blaming sleep dep.

[triadruid]

I *have* to assume it's an oversight/bug, and that the people in Suggestions either didn't understand what I was saying or are a vast minority. Otherwise, 'Default' just doesn't mean anything...

[baggyeyes]

I get it. I've never used the hover menu - dialup sucks for javascript that way. I've been subscribing/accessing via the bio pages, so I've not been bitten by this. But I do understand what you mean.

I think it's a design flaw. Something not thought through. Or, rather you only find the flaws through the practice.


Still sucks, though. :(

[janinedog]

Well, it does mean something. "Default View" simply means it's the view you see when you go to your default reading page (/read). I don't think it was ever really meant to imply that people would end up in the filter by default, either on LJ or on DW (I'm pretty sure LJ had the same behavior DW does at some point, assuming it's different now--I didn't check).

That said, I do think it makes the most sense to add people to it by default, just because it's a better user experience.

[azurelunatic]

On LJ, it's been by default when adding for a very, very long time, though I can't say when the change was made. I believe it was from before the time of the contextual hover menu, however.

[janinedog]

Hm, maybe. I seem to remember needing to check my filters when I added people via contextual hover back when it first came out, though. Maybe I'm misremembering. I actually wasn't sure that's what it does now, but I just tested and it does indeed add to Default View automatically.

[azurelunatic]

I seem to recall a bit of a flurry after the contextual hover menu came out, and default-view-is-default-when-adding-anywhere getting implemented in short order.