# Disable thread preview popups? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 17, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981 "2014-06-17T13:09:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/1 "2014-06-17T13:09:34Z")
I just did some general searching on VBulletin and the answer looks to be, “no,” but I’ll throw it out anyway… is there any way to disable the pop-up previews in the thread listings? I find them highly annoying when I am trying to scan a list of topics and of no use in any situation whatsoever, and with a multiple-monitor setup it’s not easy to just whip the pointer out of the way. 1. I am surprised that so many forum/news sites use this feature (it was one of the reasons I dropped AICN from my reading list… every goddamn thing on the page makes a popup appear). Do a majority of users really find it useful/worthwhile/benign? 2. I am surprised that with so many complaints about VBulletin in particular that an admin- or user-level option hasn’t been integrated. 3. I suppose the odds of a custom addition to SDMB are somewhat lower than a zombie thread flag… which we also desperately need; I was stung by about four zombies in a row this morning. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/2 "2014-06-17T13:27:05Z")
When I am perusing the list of threads, I often look at the popup to see if this is a thread I might want to open. I find the popups very useful on that account, and would be sorry to see them go. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/3 "2014-06-17T14:56:24Z")
I use it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/4 "2014-06-17T15:29:01Z")
I use it to decide which threads to open. It’s one of most valuable features in vBulletin to me. ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/5 "2014-06-17T15:33:04Z")
I used it on this one.😉 The thing I find annoying about it, is that it disappears too fast. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/6 "2014-06-17T15:53:20Z")
I love the preview feature, and mine stays for as long as the pointer is on the link (using the newest Firefox version, I think) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/7 "2014-06-17T15:56:04Z")
Okay. It’s just me, as usual. An option to disable it would be nice, though… ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/8 "2014-06-17T16:08:13Z")
The mouseover, you mean. It would be nice if that was an option, to turn it on or off, but it’s not currently offered that way. Sorry for your inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/9 "2014-06-17T16:17:57Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > 1. I am surprised that with so many complaints about VBulletin in particular that an admin- or user-level option hasn’t been integrated. An admin-level option does exist. The admins can set the number of characters in the preview string to any length they want, including zero. However, this is a board-wide setting and it’s not at all clear that the majority would favor disabling the preview. It would also be relatively straightforward to add a custom variable that users could set in their UserCP that would toggle whether or not the mouseover is displayed or not, but this would require editing the style template, which the admins here have indicated they would prefer not to do. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/10 "2014-06-17T16:20:52Z")
If you are using firefox, you can go to about:config and change browser.chrome.toolbar\_tips to FALSE. Warning - this disables this type of popup for all web pages, not just the SDMB (which actually sounds like what the OP wants anyway). You can also totally hose your browser if you poke around in about:config too much. Search for “tool” in the search bar on about:config and you can easily find the line with the above. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/11 "2014-06-17T17:19:04Z")
I haven’t tried this for the SDMB (I love the popups) but for Firefox (and I assume Chrome) you may be able to use the [Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/elemhidehelper/). You can use it to block individual elements on a webpage. I used it to block the annoying popups in ebay (“Somebody else is browsing this listing!”). ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/12 "2014-06-17T17:25:02Z")
The popups I want to disable are the ones that all the social networking services litter the pages of the various blogs and media sites I visit. They pop up when you mouse over, and do not have the decency to close when you mouse away. I have not found any easy way to kill that behavior. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/13 "2014-06-17T18:11:37Z")
I prefer to mouse over, which then informs my decision about whether to click. As long as they close when the mouse moves, or after x seconds, I find it helpful. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/14 "2014-06-17T19:23:57Z")
I use a tablet most of the time, so I miss out on the pop-ups. Which is kind io unfortunate. If I could tap the envelope icon for a preview, that would be darn handy. In fact, that icon is very nearly otherwise useless: if it could be pressed into service as a preview widget for everyone, seems to me that would solve the **Barbarian’s** issue, help the tablet users out, and not really inconvenience anyone. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/15 "2014-06-18T02:11:32Z")
Just to flog this horse a bit more, I’ll say that I find the preview pop-ups one of the best features of the Board. Without it, I (and everyone else) would wind up wasting time having to click and open a thread to see if we’re interested in it. IOW: Keep it. Please! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/16 "2014-06-18T02:54:12Z")
I like the preview feature too, but I would rather there be a preview icon that you could mouse over (something akin to “go to first unread post” icon) rather than using the thread title itself. Even though I do like the feature it can be annoying sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/17 "2014-06-18T06:54:48Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > An admin-level option does exist. The admins can set the number of characters in the preview string to any length they want, including zero. However, this is a board-wide setting and it’s not at all clear that the majority would favor disabling the preview. If anything, I’d like to see MORE text in the previews. So there! Some may recall a thread a year-or-so ago, in which it was [noted and discussed that some text in an OP does not appear in the previews](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=668030) – in particular, the text enclosed in certain (or all?) BBCodes is omitted. People were having fun, starting threads in which the preview said one thing but the actual OP said something else. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > If you are using firefox, you can go to about:config and change browser.chrome.toolbar\_tips to FALSE. > > Warning - this disables this type of popup for all web pages, not just the SDMB (which actually sounds like what the OP wants anyway). You can also totally hose your browser if you poke around in about:config too much. There are a million billion settings in about:config! Is there any more-or-less comprensive documentation anywhere of all that? Shame to have so many options and not publicize how to use them all. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/18 "2014-06-18T12:40:59Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > There are a million billion settings in about:config! Is there any more-or-less comprensive documentation anywhere of all that? Shame to have so many options and not publicize how to use them all. [http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config\_entries](http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries) ETA: This keeps getting messed up when I link to it, so just copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/19 "2014-06-18T16:54:53Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > If you are using firefox, you can go to about:config and change browser.chrome.toolbar\_tips to FALSE. This works perfectly, and yes, I do find it annoying and am willing to dispense with it on all sites. I grow weary of having to endlessly move and find a safe parking spot for my mouse pointer just so I can read the page without floaty shit in the way. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981/20 "2014-06-18T18:38:18Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > This works perfectly, and yes, I do find it annoying and am willing to dispense with it on all sites. I grow weary of having to endlessly move and find a safe parking spot for my mouse pointer just so I can read the page without floaty shit in the way. Randall Munroe is spinning in his grave. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disable-thread-preview-popups/690981.md?page=2)