# Poll: The thread hint. Useful or annoying. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929 "2004-03-28T17:09:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/21 "2004-03-28T20:08:23Z")
::must learn to type faster:: šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/22 "2004-03-28T20:14:36Z")
Another vote for love it. ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/23 "2004-03-28T20:22:21Z")
> [@PeterT](#): > > I like it a lot. The short delay does bother me a bit, but Iā€™m a bit of a slow reader. I havenā€™t managed to figure out the pattern yet for when it doesnā€™t work either. I usually donā€™t open thread if I donā€™t get the thread hint (especially during high traffic times). I think Iā€™ve discovered the patternā€¦ If the thread is old (started before the software upgrade), no hint. If the thread has been moved, no hint. If I donā€™t have the page selected because Iā€™m clicking between several windows, I need to click somewhere on the page to get the hint. I like it - for the same reasons **screech-owl** mentioned. Iā€™ve also been bothered by the short delay, and will use **Lobsangā€™s** method from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/24 "2004-03-28T20:34:24Z")
I like it. Mostly because it helps me to tell the difference between threads with similar contents, and some with ambiguous titles. Once in a while it disappears too fast, but most of the time I can read enough to decide whether to click on the thread or not. ---
**Author:** ![Servo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Servo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Servo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/25 "2004-03-28T20:37:49Z")
I like it. But it annoys me that the activation area is the whole subject cell. I wish it was smaller, like maybe just the envelope icon. Hereā€™s another hint: you wonā€™t get the tooltips if the browser window doesnā€™t have the focus. That may be whatā€™s happening to some of the people in this thread who say they donā€™t get them sometimes. You can click anywhere in the window to give it the focus, although you probably want to click somewhere that isnā€™t going to actually do something. Obviously if youā€™re getting the tooltips for some threads and not others this isnā€™t the issue. ---
**Author:** ![cichlidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/26 "2004-03-28T20:42:33Z")
I really like it most of the time. Iā€™ve already become dependent upon it, and like **Idlewild** , find myself frustrated when all the other message boards donā€™t have this feature, too. I feel itā€™s about the same as having a mouse with a wheel, until I had one, I didnā€™t realize what I was missing. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/27 "2004-03-28T20:46:06Z")
Itā€™s great. Best new feature ever. I really wish theyā€™d put it on the sims boards, since so many of the (usually, but not always, younger) posters there donā€™t grasp the fact that a descriptive title is more likely to catch peopleā€™s eye then " Question" or ā€œpollā€ do. If there are 10 threads called ā€œquestionā€ itā€™s hard to remember which youā€™ve opened and which you havenā€™t, so a preview would be terribly handy. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/28 "2004-03-28T20:47:13Z")
I definitly like it. Thanks you guys for the tip of moving the cursor slowly to make the hint stay up longer. As for it getting in the way and being distracting, I generally donā€™t have that problem because I automatically tend to move my cursor to the side of the page when Iā€™m not using it. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/29 "2004-03-28T21:04:09Z")
I generally like it, but Iā€™d prefer if it only popped up when your mouse is actually over the link itself, rather than anywhere in the thread title box. My impression was that you only get the pop-up for threads that were created since the last big VB conversion, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![jastu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/30 "2004-03-28T21:27:03Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Hereā€™s a tip incase you donā€™t know. If you slowly move your mouse along the thread title the hint will stay indefinately. I like the feature and yes I usually donā€™t finish reading before it disappears, thanks for the tip **Lobsang**. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/31 "2004-03-28T22:19:26Z")
Wait just one cotton-pickinā€™ minute! How come everyone elseā€™s goes away too fast, but mine often stays up (ahem) even after Iā€™ve opened the thread? :mad: Iā€™m using Mozilla. ---
**Author:** ![AZCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/97f17d/32.png) [@AZCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZCowboy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/32 "2004-03-28T22:29:11Z")
I like it, but also think it doesnā€™t stay up long enough. Iā€™ll try the tip, but I wish I wouldnā€™t have to do anything special. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/33 "2004-03-29T17:43:26Z")
I find it very useful, as it allows me to chose which threads to read far quicker than if I opened everything with an inexplicit title. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/34 "2004-03-29T20:00:31Z")
I like the mouse-over preview feature. As others have stated, it saves me time in deciding whether or not a thread is worth opening and reading. If the OP doesnā€™t appeal to me then I feel better about not having wasted my time. Itā€™s also saved me from getting duped into opening a thread with a double-entendre title, only to find out that the OP has nothing to do with what the thread title implied. I use the mouse movement trick to keep it up longer, so the short time doesnā€™t bother me. The only bad thing I can say about this new feature is that itā€™s gotten me into the habit of expecting previews to come up on other web sites when I mouse over the links. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/35 "2004-03-29T20:40:58Z")
Great feature. The title is too short to always give an accurate idea of what the thread is about. Well worth the minor inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/36 "2004-03-29T20:42:22Z")
Never really used it. But from now on my first line in every thread will be "Youā€™ll just have to open me up to know the truth about this thread. " ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/37 "2004-03-29T21:01:21Z")
Hi **Lobsang**! Havenā€™t seen you in ages. Hope all is well with you. As for the thread hint (Thanks! I now know what it is called), I absolutely HATE it. :mad: I made a thread about it [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=247814) I really wish I could turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/38 "2004-03-29T21:05:05Z")
Put me in the ā€œlove itā€ columnā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/39 "2004-03-29T21:11:36Z")
Nuther vote for ā€œLove itā€. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929/40 "2004-03-29T21:19:36Z")
Itā€™s great especially when the board crawls to a stop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-thread-hint-useful-or-annoying/236929.md?page=3)