I have never used the friend feature on Reddit even once in over 17 years. Surprising to me that anyone could characterize this as “Reddit’s best feature”.
I have never used the friend feature on Reddit even once in over 17 years. Surprising to me that anyone could characterize this as “Reddit’s best feature”.
It's really useful for recognizing people that post valuable stuff. Sometimes I'll be looking into something that's really niche and see the user name of someone that I added as a friend and then...
It's really useful for recognizing people that post valuable stuff. Sometimes I'll be looking into something that's really niche and see the user name of someone that I added as a friend and then be reminded of who they were. It's always fun to come across them randomly. It's a good way to recognize the people that know their stuff.
Maybe "most unique" would be a better descriptor. But, it also makes reddit feel more "homey" for me than basically any other site, which seems pretty good!
Maybe "most unique" would be a better descriptor. But, it also makes reddit feel more "homey" for me than basically any other site, which seems pretty good!
For me, names online kind of all run together without that stuff. Using the Reddit Enhancement Suite browser addon gives you the a slightly more powerful version, adding custom tags on users. It...
For me, names online kind of all run together without that stuff.
Using the Reddit Enhancement Suite browser addon gives you the a slightly more powerful version, adding custom tags on users. It also shows how many times you've up/downvoted a person. You can go back to the post where you tagged them when you forget why, and even if they've deleted their comment, it's obvious from context.
Those features may be considered good or bad depending on the site and community goals. I'm sure there are pros and cons. I always try and keep an open mind, so it wasn't shocking that occasionally I pegged some people wrong on the first interaction or two.
But, it was always really nice to see somebody that I tagged for contributing to an open source project, or because they're a member of the local transit authority, or whatever. It also helped me recognize the regulars or most constructive members in a given community. Misinformation also became more obvious and I think it allowed for building a little bit of actual trust.
Because I did a lot of tagging, it was also genuinely insightful. Even after the site allowed people to "hide" their history, I still had my local tags. It was also interesting to...
Come across a spammer with some new trick.
See people who post literal Nazi takes pop back up farming 10k karma on /aww, /funny, or whatever the current shitposting was.
Watch several names from /conservative show up on a local city board at once.
Look at the subreddits that suddenly show up out of nowhere on /popular and see the same names associated with several.
It's such a simple tool that becomes really powerful when you play it out to it's ends. I've run (non-Reddit) communities myself and it's scary to imagine what Reddit or other social media sites must see and know, especially with even more sophisticated means to track the individuals, groups, and bots interacting with their networks. I imagine even the simple version could be really revealing. (Edit: maybe it's not as necessary if your aren't as nameblind, though.)
(Edit edit: I did notice even though the header says "best", the first line "most underrated.")
I used those back in the day and it was kind of fun to run into some of the same people, (I remember tagging someone who had a WoW horde tattoo and would drop a "for the horde" bit when I came...
I used those back in the day and it was kind of fun to run into some of the same people, (I remember tagging someone who had a WoW horde tattoo and would drop a "for the horde" bit when I came across their comment in the wild), but at some point there were just too many people and I stopped.
Goes to show you how if a user can put those things together with 3rd party tools, they have to know about it right? If anything, the hiding posts feature kind of makes it seem like they don't want anyone else to know.
I used it a ton!! Though it was more that I used RES's "user tagging" options so I could tag with like "someone who is actually a friend" or "i trust their book reviews" or "this is the bot that...
I used it a ton!! Though it was more that I used RES's "user tagging" options so I could tag with like "someone who is actually a friend" or "i trust their book reviews" or "this is the bot that posts the daily faq threads that i'm supposed to help upvote for visibility"
RES also would just count my votes for someone and show that next to names so often it's like "oh there's a +35 here I probably have similar taste to them in books" even without me going through and tagging
After the "maintenance mode" announcement, I got to work seeing if I could add my personal favorite feature to the site: "following" users. Anywhere they comment or post, their name will light up....
After the "maintenance mode" announcement, I got to work seeing if I could add my personal favorite feature to the site: "following" users. Anywhere they comment or post, their name will light up. Read enough threads with friends in them and the site will feel much more like a conversation than an anonymous wall of text.
I've also made a small template repo that you can fork privately to maintain your own list.
I understand that because it's a CLI, not everyone will be able to use using this feature. But, if you've got any familiarity with the terminal, it should be very easy to run. I intentionally made it pretty self-contained. Happy to give pointers to anyone who isn't familiar though!
Small suggestion to make this more accessible: host an html form on GitHub pages that takes a list of usernames and spits out css. Or make it a dedicated browser extension (which can have its own...
Small suggestion to make this more accessible: host an html form on GitHub pages that takes a list of usernames and spits out css. Or make it a dedicated browser extension (which can have its own configuration storage, plus the ability to add more interactive features). Your python could be compiled to wasm to run in the browser, or just port it to JavaScript.
I went back and forth on doing this! A JS port wouldn't be too hard- it's python mostly because tat's what I started with before I thought about sharing it. I liked @LewsTherinTelescope's comment...
I went back and forth on doing this! A JS port wouldn't be too hard- it's python mostly because tat's what I started with before I thought about sharing it. I liked @LewsTherinTelescope's comment below so i'll probably play with something more accessible here.
I didnt know about this feature. Never really interacted with friend lists on Reddit because the only people who added me on OG Digg were blog spammers.
I didnt know about this feature. Never really interacted with friend lists on Reddit because the only people who added me on OG Digg were blog spammers.
Cool to see extensions to Tildes like this! I know people were a bit gloom and doom with the maintenance mode announcement but I think its cool to see the community step up and continue...
Cool to see extensions to Tildes like this! I know people were a bit gloom and doom with the maintenance mode announcement but I think its cool to see the community step up and continue development in their own way that doesn't rely on Tildes to implement new functionality. I think it speaks to the modular/straightforward architecture/nature of the Tildes codebase that such functionality can be added.
I, on the other hand, would much rather move away from personality based posts and recommendations which every single social media site has switched to. I find that it is better to focus on the...
I, on the other hand, would much rather move away from personality based posts and recommendations which every single social media site has switched to. I find that it is better to focus on the contents of what's being said rather than who's saying it.
Pretty sure you can achieve something similar with Tildes ReExtended
Pretty sure you can achieve something similar with Tildes ReExtended
Assign custom colors to usernames.
You can enter multiple usernames separated by a comma if you want them to use the same color.
If randomize is enabled then all usernames will be given a random background color based on a hash of the username. Manually assigned colors will be applied normally.
Neat! I wonder if, rather than using a CLI to generate the CSS, it could be done directly in the userstyle with Stylus's preprocessor support and variables? Seems LESS and stylus-lang (name as far...
Neat!
I wonder if, rather than using a CLI to generate the CSS, it could be done directly in the userstyle with Stylus's preprocessor support and variables? Seems LESS and stylus-lang (name as far as I know coincidence) support iteration.
Ah, TIL that stylus had preprocessor support! That maybe simplifies things. I like the idea of keeping (and maintaining) the per-site styles in a single place, but I bet I could rig up something...
Ah, TIL that stylus had preprocessor support! That maybe simplifies things. I like the idea of keeping (and maintaining) the per-site styles in a single place, but I bet I could rig up something in the repo to generate a simple example you can drop into stylus. I'll play with it!
Toyed around with it and this seems to work: original attempt, see below /* ==UserStyle== @name Tildes - Highlight Users @namespace I don't have one (oh it lets me enter this, cool) @version 1.0.0...
Toyed around with it and this seems to work:
original attempt, see below
/* ==UserStyle==@name Tildes - Highlight Users@namespace I don't have one (oh it lets me enter this, cool)@version 1.0.0@description Imitates Reddit's "friends" feature on Tildes by highlighting the usernames of the given users.@preprocessor less@var text users "Comma-separated list of users (enter a single - for none)" "-"==/UserStyle== */@-moz-documentdomain("tildes.net"){each(@users,.(@user){.comment-header>a.link-user[href$="/@{user}"],.topic-info-source>a.link-user[href$="/@{user}"],.topic-full-byline>a.link-user[href$="/@{user}"]{color:#ff4500;}})}
Main paint point was that the parser really doesn't like values ever being blank—it throws a compile error if @users is empty, and when I tried the backup plan of adding a when not check to the loop body to skip emitting CSS if the dummy value is set it complained that the style would be empty (that's the point!), so I settled for just telling a white lie to avoid confusion. In practice there should never be anyone with the username -, so if it's set to that the generated styles won't do anything. (Same issues when I tried stylus-lang.)
Seems you do need to reload the page for settings changes to take effect, but easier than recompiling each time lol.
Edit: Oh, actually, adding a comment is enough to prevent the empty style error from the guard. With this version it shouldn't produce any real styles at all if the list is set to _.
new version
/* ==UserStyle==@name Tildes - Highlight Users@namespace I don't have one (oh it lets me enter this, cool)@version 1.0.0@description Imitates Reddit's "friends" feature on Tildes by highlighting the usernames of the given users.@preprocessor less@var text users "Comma-separated list of users (enter a single _ for none)" "_"==/UserStyle== */@-moz-documentdomain("tildes.net"){&whennot(@users=_){each(@users,.(@user){.comment-header>a.link-user[href$="/@{user}"],.topic-info-source>a.link-user[href$="/@{user}"],.topic-full-byline>a.link-user[href$="/@{user}"]{color:#ff4500;}})}/* dummy comment so style isn't empty if condition fails */}
Oh wow, this is slick! It wouldn't support user notes well, but for simple coloring, this is a great low-code option. I'll add a way to generate/update these. Thank you!
Oh wow, this is slick! It wouldn't support user notes well, but for simple coloring, this is a great low-code option. I'll add a way to generate/update these. Thank you!
Yeah the custom colors and notes wouldn't be so smooth. It looks like Less has regex replacement and Stylus has string splitting, so you could come up with some bespoke syntax like...
Yeah the custom colors and notes wouldn't be so smooth. It looks like Less has regex replacement and Stylus has string splitting, so you could come up with some bespoke syntax like username:color:note, have the user enter a list of those entries into the option instead, and plug it into a function to extract those parts at compile time, but... feels mildly cursed and definitely not the best editing UX.
Though if I'm being honest the fact it feels mildly cursed makes me tempted to try, it probably wouldn't be that complicated... But it wouldn't be what you'd want to recommend people use lol.
Don't hate me but I use the modern Reddit cuz I log in and comment on subs and I'm pretty sure this isn't a feature anymore. If we just want to tag users whose posts we like, shouldn't be too hard...
Don't hate me but I use the modern Reddit cuz I log in and comment on subs and I'm pretty sure this isn't a feature anymore.
If we just want to tag users whose posts we like, shouldn't be too hard to do with a script especially given Tildes's code isn't gonna change much so a script should work for a long time.
Slightly off topic but [F] or special colors just doesn't do it for me, so on my forum the entire word shows up cuz you know friends are important: https://postimg.cc/bZP2DkXL
You could make use of the :is selector to shrink the CSS size/complexity. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors/:is :is(.comment-header, .topic-info-source,...
I have never used the friend feature on Reddit even once in over 17 years. Surprising to me that anyone could characterize this as “Reddit’s best feature”.
It's really useful for recognizing people that post valuable stuff. Sometimes I'll be looking into something that's really niche and see the user name of someone that I added as a friend and then be reminded of who they were. It's always fun to come across them randomly. It's a good way to recognize the people that know their stuff.
Maybe "most unique" would be a better descriptor. But, it also makes reddit feel more "homey" for me than basically any other site, which seems pretty good!
For me, names online kind of all run together without that stuff.
Using the Reddit Enhancement Suite browser addon gives you the a slightly more powerful version, adding custom tags on users. It also shows how many times you've up/downvoted a person. You can go back to the post where you tagged them when you forget why, and even if they've deleted their comment, it's obvious from context.
Those features may be considered good or bad depending on the site and community goals. I'm sure there are pros and cons. I always try and keep an open mind, so it wasn't shocking that occasionally I pegged some people wrong on the first interaction or two.
But, it was always really nice to see somebody that I tagged for contributing to an open source project, or because they're a member of the local transit authority, or whatever. It also helped me recognize the regulars or most constructive members in a given community. Misinformation also became more obvious and I think it allowed for building a little bit of actual trust.
Because I did a lot of tagging, it was also genuinely insightful. Even after the site allowed people to "hide" their history, I still had my local tags. It was also interesting to...
/aww,/funny, or whatever the current shitposting was./conservativeshow up on a local city board at once./popularand see the same names associated with several.It's such a simple tool that becomes really powerful when you play it out to it's ends. I've run (non-Reddit) communities myself and it's scary to imagine what Reddit or other social media sites must see and know, especially with even more sophisticated means to track the individuals, groups, and bots interacting with their networks. I imagine even the simple version could be really revealing. (Edit: maybe it's not as necessary if your aren't as nameblind, though.)
(Edit edit: I did notice even though the header says "best", the first line "most underrated.")
I used those back in the day and it was kind of fun to run into some of the same people, (I remember tagging someone who had a WoW horde tattoo and would drop a "for the horde" bit when I came across their comment in the wild), but at some point there were just too many people and I stopped.
Goes to show you how if a user can put those things together with 3rd party tools, they have to know about it right? If anything, the hiding posts feature kind of makes it seem like they don't want anyone else to know.
I used it a ton!! Though it was more that I used RES's "user tagging" options so I could tag with like "someone who is actually a friend" or "i trust their book reviews" or "this is the bot that posts the daily faq threads that i'm supposed to help upvote for visibility"
RES also would just count my votes for someone and show that next to names so often it's like "oh there's a +35 here I probably have similar taste to them in books" even without me going through and tagging
That's basically what I've been using it for! Just like, tagging my favorite people so their comments jump out a bit more at me, visually.
After the "maintenance mode" announcement, I got to work seeing if I could add my personal favorite feature to the site: "following" users. Anywhere they comment or post, their name will light up. Read enough threads with friends in them and the site will feel much more like a conversation than an anonymous wall of text.
I've also made a small template repo that you can fork privately to maintain your own list.
I understand that because it's a CLI, not everyone will be able to use using this feature. But, if you've got any familiarity with the terminal, it should be very easy to run. I intentionally made it pretty self-contained. Happy to give pointers to anyone who isn't familiar though!
Small suggestion to make this more accessible: host an html form on GitHub pages that takes a list of usernames and spits out css. Or make it a dedicated browser extension (which can have its own configuration storage, plus the ability to add more interactive features). Your python could be compiled to wasm to run in the browser, or just port it to JavaScript.
I went back and forth on doing this! A JS port wouldn't be too hard- it's python mostly because tat's what I started with before I thought about sharing it. I liked @LewsTherinTelescope's comment below so i'll probably play with something more accessible here.
Appreciate the suggestion though!
I didnt know about this feature. Never really interacted with friend lists on Reddit because the only people who added me on OG Digg were blog spammers.
Cool to see extensions to Tildes like this! I know people were a bit gloom and doom with the maintenance mode announcement but I think its cool to see the community step up and continue development in their own way that doesn't rely on Tildes to implement new functionality. I think it speaks to the modular/straightforward architecture/nature of the Tildes codebase that such functionality can be added.
I, on the other hand, would much rather move away from personality based posts and recommendations which every single social media site has switched to. I find that it is better to focus on the contents of what's being said rather than who's saying it.
Pretty sure you can achieve something similar with Tildes ReExtended
Neat!
I wonder if, rather than using a CLI to generate the CSS, it could be done directly in the userstyle with Stylus's preprocessor support and variables? Seems LESS and stylus-lang (name as far as I know coincidence) support iteration.
Ah, TIL that stylus had preprocessor support! That maybe simplifies things. I like the idea of keeping (and maintaining) the per-site styles in a single place, but I bet I could rig up something in the repo to generate a simple example you can drop into stylus. I'll play with it!
Toyed around with it and this seems to work:
original attempt, see below
Main paint point was that the parser really doesn't like values ever being blank—it throws a compile error if@usersis empty, and when I tried the backup plan of adding awhen notcheck to the loop body to skip emitting CSS if the dummy value is set it complained that the style would be empty (that's the point!), so I settled for just telling a white lie to avoid confusion. In practice there should never be anyone with the username-, so if it's set to that the generated styles won't do anything. (Same issues when I tried stylus-lang.)Seems you do need to reload the page for settings changes to take effect, but easier than recompiling each time lol.
Edit: Oh, actually, adding a comment is enough to prevent the empty style error from the guard. With this version it shouldn't produce any real styles at all if the list is set to
_.new version
Oh wow, this is slick! It wouldn't support user notes well, but for simple coloring, this is a great low-code option. I'll add a way to generate/update these. Thank you!
Yeah the custom colors and notes wouldn't be so smooth. It looks like Less has regex replacement and Stylus has string splitting, so you could come up with some bespoke syntax like
username:color:note, have the user enter a list of those entries into the option instead, and plug it into a function to extract those parts at compile time, but... feels mildly cursed and definitely not the best editing UX.Though if I'm being honest the fact it feels mildly cursed makes me tempted to try, it probably wouldn't be that complicated... But it wouldn't be what you'd want to recommend people use lol.
Don't hate me but I use the modern Reddit cuz I log in and comment on subs and I'm pretty sure this isn't a feature anymore.
If we just want to tag users whose posts we like, shouldn't be too hard to do with a script especially given Tildes's code isn't gonna change much so a script should work for a long time.
Slightly off topic but [F] or special colors just doesn't do it for me, so on my forum the entire word shows up cuz you know friends are important: https://postimg.cc/bZP2DkXL
You could make use of the
:isselector to shrink the CSS size/complexity.https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors/:is
(The nesting selector (&) is also cool: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors/Nesting_selector)
I'd probably just make this a userscript, or web extension though, if you often update who you follow.