# Does this drive anyone else batshit? (popup thread preview) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 21, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261 "2005-02-21T23:54:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/1 "2005-02-21T23:54:19Z")
So here I am on any given day, browsing among “New Posts,” deciding what to read. I really like the handy new thread popups that give us a little peek into what the thread’s about so we can decide if we want to read it. But every so often I’ll come across a thread with a somewhat vague title, and when I bring up the popup, it contains something like this: > [@](#): > > Hello, I hope I’m posting this in the right place, I’m a newbie here and I just started reading these boards about a month ago and this place is really neat!!! Anyway, I have a question that I’m hoping you all can . . . Or: > [@](#): > > I have a question that I hope someone can help me find the answer to, it’s been driving me nuts! I’ve asked all of my friends, looked on Google, went to the library and I still haven’t had any luck. . . . Or: > [@](#): > > So the other day my friend and I are sitting around watching TV and eating Cheesy Poofs with his girlfriend and our other friend Bob, and it was really late at night and there wasn’t much going on, yada yada yada blah blah blah . . . You get the idea. In that short paragraph allotted for the popup, I still have no idea what the thread is actually about!! This isn’t really a rant or anything like that, just an observation. I’ve probably done it too. And who is going to compose a post with “Gee, I’d better make sure that my thesis statement for this post fits in the popup!” in mind. I guess I’m just curious to find out if anyone else has experienced this and just gone “Gah!!” (And then, quite frankly, unless I’m really bored or have time to kill, I just skip the darned thing and go on to the next one that catches my eye.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/2 "2005-02-22T00:35:22Z")
The ironic thing is that the popup preview for THIS thread ends with: > [@](#): > > … But every so often I’ll come across a thread with a somewhat vague title, and . . . ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/3 "2005-02-22T00:37:34Z")
My gripe is I expect the mouseover preview to work outside SDMB. I caught myself hovering over a headline on Drudge the other day. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/4 "2005-02-22T00:39:45Z")
It’s mildy annoying at best, and worst. What’s driving me batshit is that I just switched to Firefox, and am only getting 1/4 of the preview I would in IE–few threads get to the point that quickly. Combine that with the fact that I’m at home for spring break (no high speed access, only dial-up) and it’s getting a wee bit aggravating. I’ll live though. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/5 "2005-02-22T00:53:01Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The ironic thing is that the popup preview for THIS thread ends with: Yeah, I just KNEW that would happen. Seewhaddimean? :smack: :rolleyes: > [@ivylass](#): > > My gripe is I expect the mouseover preview to work outside SDMB. I caught myself hovering over a headline on Drudge the other day. I do the same thing on other boards. D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/6 "2005-02-22T01:40:03Z")
Yeah, it’s annoying but it doesn’t quite make me batshit crazy. I also try the mouseover preview in other places and get irritated when it doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/7 "2005-02-22T02:30:31Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > It’s mildy annoying at best, and worst. What’s driving me batshit is that I just switched to Firefox, and am only getting 1/4 of the preview I would in IE–few threads get to the point that quickly. Combine that with the fact that I’m at home for spring break (no high speed access, only dial-up) and it’s getting a wee bit aggravating. I’ll live though. [XUL Apps \> Popup ALT Attributes - outsider reflex](http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/_popupalt.html.en) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/8 "2005-02-22T04:14:12Z")
I’m addicted to it, too. I’ve been known to sit there with my mouse on a link for 30 seconds or so, waiting for the popup to, well, pop up on other boards. As for the OP, I figure if your popup isn’t informative, you just missed out on the tremendous gift of my presence in your thread. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/9 "2005-02-22T05:07:17Z")
Or the very first thing they put in their post is a long, long link address that takes up the whole popup. Very informative. I posted a while back that Netscape will only give me the whole preview text by right clicking the post title and clicking Properties. ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/10 "2005-02-22T07:59:04Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > [http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/\_popupalt.html.en](http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/_popupalt.html.en) Wow, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/11 "2005-02-22T10:33:13Z")
it doesn’t annoy me much, i’m still getting used to using it. It’s just a matter of how people write, their style. What i find more annoying is when I’m scrolling down the page, and my mouse is hovering above a thead absentmindedly, and the popup covers up the thread above it or below it so that I can’t read the title of the thread. It’s not so bad with Mozilla because they display less, but with IE the box is bigger. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/12 "2005-02-22T12:47:05Z")
I hear your pain brother - I’m busy test driving Firefox and Opera at the moment as alternatives to IE, and one of the things that really annoys me is that the popup preview is even shorter on Firefox and doesn’t exist at all on Opera (unless I’ve not set them up properly, which is always a possibility). It would be sad if this is the thing that prevents me moving to what appear to be superior products 🙂 Grim ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/13 "2005-02-22T12:48:44Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > [http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/\_popupalt.html.en](http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/_popupalt.html.en) Well, that’ll learn me… ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/14 "2005-02-22T13:45:39Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > [http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/\_popupalt.html.en](http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/_popupalt.html.en) You are my new favorite person. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/15 "2005-02-22T14:43:49Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > My gripe is I expect the mouseover preview to work outside SDMB. I caught myself hovering over a headline on Drudge the other day. :smack: Me too. :o ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-drive-anyone-else-batshit-popup-thread-preview/291261/16 "2005-02-22T19:26:21Z")
Indeed, **Aesiron** , you rock. Switched to Mozilla some time ago and mourned that while superior to Explorer in every way, it didn’t have the long preview feature. Thank you, thank you, thank you.