Re^3: Redirect after post for happy bookmarking and refreshing

I disagree that there should be a confirmation. I personally think that WAY too many user interfaces treat users like idiots and require confirmation on the most trivial of tasks.

Sure, confirm before something VALUABLE is irrevokable, but a vote on a single writeup on PerlMonks? Cripes. You get several per day, and if you think you clicked the wrong button, make it up to the author on their next writeup. You don't need to confirm every little worthless thing, even if it's a permanent worthless thing.

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Comment on Re^3: Redirect after post for happy bookmarking and refreshing

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Re^4: Redirect after post for happy bookmarking and refreshing by revdiablo (Prior) on May 27, 2005 at 01:43 UTC
Before I start, remember that I like your idea. I think it would be very nice compared to the current voting. I am still dubious about it actually being implemented here at the Monastery, but I like it nonetheless. I personally think that WAY too many user interfaces treat users like idiots and require confirmation on the most trivial of tasks. It's not about being treated like an idiot. It's about violating expectations. I don't know about you, but when I change a radio button selection on a web form, I expect it to be a temporary selection that requires a submission before taking effect. This expectation has been reinforced for many years. Certainly, I have encountered web forms where this is not true, but I think they are the exception. When I get an auto-submit form, I am surprised. Whether that surprise matters or not depends on a lot of factors, but it surprises me nonetheless. You don't need to confirm every little worthless thing, even if it's a permanent worthless thing. Maybe my choice of the word "confirmation" wasn't the best. I simply meant there should be some mechanism for mitigating the surprise. I didn't mean to say that mechanism should be a popup window, or anything else in particular. I just would want there to be some mechanism. Maybe it could be as simple as a timer. After selecting the vote, you have 5 seconds to change it, otherwise it is recorded permanently.	[reply]

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Re^4: Redirect after post for happy bookmarking and refreshing
by revdiablo (Prior) on May 27, 2005 at 01:43 UTC

Before I start, remember that I like your idea. I think it would be very nice compared to the current voting. I am still dubious about it actually being implemented here at the Monastery, but I like it nonetheless.

I personally think that WAY too many user interfaces treat users like idiots and require confirmation on the most trivial of tasks.

It's not about being treated like an idiot. It's about violating expectations. I don't know about you, but when I change a radio button selection on a web form, I expect it to be a temporary selection that requires a submission before taking effect. This expectation has been reinforced for many years. Certainly, I have encountered web forms where this is not true, but I think they are the exception. When I get an auto-submit form, I am surprised. Whether that surprise matters or not depends on a lot of factors, but it surprises me nonetheless.

You don't need to confirm every little worthless thing, even if it's a permanent worthless thing.

Maybe my choice of the word "confirmation" wasn't the best. I simply meant there should be some mechanism for mitigating the surprise. I didn't mean to say that mechanism should be a popup window, or anything else in particular. I just would want there to be some mechanism. Maybe it could be as simple as a timer. After selecting the vote, you have 5 seconds to change it, otherwise it is recorded permanently.

[reply]