When I go to my About Me text and delete its contents, this following placeholder shows:
Is this intentional or a bug (as suggested by Doorknob)?
1 Answer
It isn't filled in.
It is a placeholder - the moment you put anything in the box, the placeholder is gone.
The grey color is a hint of this.
And the wording is intentional - the idea is to give people an example of what they can and should be putting there.
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9If it's by design, then it's quite a confusing placeholder. Why not just something like "Your About me description"?– DoorknobJul 27, 2015 at 16:36
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4That isn't at all clear to me. For example, the placeholder for the "search" box says "search"—it's a description of what you use it for, not an example. Or, as another example, you wouldn't leave a comment that says "Use comments to ask for clarification or add more information."– DoorknobJul 27, 2015 at 16:38
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3@Oded I sincerely get the idea behind that, however, if people cannot think what to put in their own "about me" then I don't think any amount of suggestion will fix that. It doesn't bother me personally, but I can see why it would be confusing to more users than it would be helpful to other users.– JamesJul 27, 2015 at 16:39
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4This has confused me in the past, it's especially easy for mods as we can see that text on the "edit profile" tab of other users, it's a bit easer to recognize on your own profile when you know you haven't written anything there. To me the text looks more like semi-random gibberish at times, and not as an obvious tongue-in-cheek example profile. Jul 27, 2015 at 17:45
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Seasoned Advice still has the original: your about me is currently blank. Click here to edit. A blank box opens. We write what we want. The end. I wonder why it was even changed. I agree that it doesn't look like any other placeholder, and the text is a poor choice. Who's to say what people "should be putting there?" There are no instructions how to use or avoid it, and it's insulting, though I'm sure it wasn't meant that way. @James, thanks at least for understanding. Jul 28, 2015 at 1:02
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@Sue - Seasoned Advice is still to have its CSS converted and get the new user pages. These are the pages where this was changed. Once the conversion occurs, the placeholder will also show up there.– OdedJul 28, 2015 at 8:12
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@MadScientist, one issue seems to be that it looks worse (and, as a result, less like a product-placeholder in some browsers). In Chrome, there are hard returns, so it's laid out nicely, and less wall-o-text. Looking into whether that can be improved, but it looks like there are browser constraints. :(– JaydlesJul 28, 2015 at 13:32
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The reason we want a placeholder is that it's much simpler for the average user to see an example and replace the parts they want to share with their own than it is to answer the question, "What do you want the world to know about you?"– JaydlesJul 28, 2015 at 13:34
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3@Jaydles I think users online are pretty familiar with "about me" sections now - Twitter, Youtube, Google+, Facebook, forums, Stack, etc. I get your reasoning, I just don't think it's necessary. However, necessity aside, it wouldn't hurt to have some hints, but if this is to assist people who are not familiar with such online "about me" options and could be baffled by seeing it, then the current one is a bit whacky to be a helpful to such people. I find it amusing (etc) and not wanting to sound like an old stickler, but I think for this particular thing it should be simple and informative.– JamesJul 29, 2015 at 10:53
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@Oded, Sadly I found that out about Seasoned Advice when I asked about it on their meta on April 19, shortly after the new profile page was rolled out. This was one of the many new features that trouble me, and I was hoping it wouldn't happen to every site. Jul 29, 2015 at 21:49
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@Jaydles I appreciate you asking what seems insulting to me. Insult implies malicious intent, of which there was none, so that's too strong a word-sorry! I do have an answer written out that I planned to put here, but I see that James has jumped back in with a concise message, and his sentiment expresses it well. I'll check mine and see what's useful. BTW, I think "What do you want the world to know about you?" is perfect! Jul 29, 2015 at 22:08
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2@Jaydies I'm disturbed by the text, as it appears to represent who a typical SE user should be. If I don't know what a Ninja Cowgirl is; write code; or have a sarcastic attitude, am I welcome here? That's the gist, but I won't continue to rant, as it appears things may be changing. Since my goal is to make people comfortable, I'd rather be part of a solution. I'm a non-techy newbie, which makes me less valuable in some areas, but every once in a while, eyes like mine can be helpful. I hope this is one of those times :)) Jul 30, 2015 at 1:15
""would suffice.