9 ms·

I haven't looked at their script. I'm curious whether they transmit selected text, as Daring Fireball seems to suggest, or only copied text. If the former, they

I haven't looked at their script. I'm curious whether they transmit selected text, as Daring Fireball seems to suggest, or only copied text. If the former, they're going to get a lot of false positives from those of us who neurotically select blocks of text on pages for no reason while reading.

eli 16y ago
It's selected text. And they're trying to spin that as a feature (i.e. they can show you the section of text has the highest "user engagement" based on relative number of selections)
- robryan 16y ago
  That sounds like a better feature than the inserting of text into the copy. I would say that over a large same of people selecting text you could see engagement patterns.
  - eli 16y ago
    I wonder how representative the "selects text while reading" crowd is.
  - sesqu 16y ago
    It sounds more reliable. I'm not sure about better, though - I can only see it helping to identify unclear writing and witty editorialism, and I only want more attention on one of those.
what 16y ago
It seems to only report back when you actually copy the selection (either ctrl/cmd+c or right click+copy). Just looking at the headers, the JS is obfuscated and I'm too lazy to look at it.
masterj 16y ago
Indeed, I highlighted your comment at least a few times while reading it.
smokinn 16y ago
I guess at least now I know I'm not alone. I'm very OCD about clicking on random words, triple clicking on paragraphs to highlight them entirely while I'm reading or just dragging my mouse over random amounts of text on the page. I don't know why I do it but it drives pretty much everyone reading the same thing as me on the same computer insane.
- harry 16y ago
  I do this as well, more of a "track where I am when I'm reading" when I get distracted by something else, I quickly return to the spot. I dislike it when something like WSJ puts those 'learn more' links after you highlight something right under the cursor.
- yesbabyyes 16y ago
  I do all of this, too. Especially selecting paragraphs. Actually, now that I think about it (which I do fairly often, tbh), this is one of the reasons I've stayed with Firefox. It only highlights the text of the paragraph. WebKit highlights to the end of the line, and some more, I think. It isn't as visually appealing, at all. We had an intern at our company for a week, a smart guy who is graduating from high school, and he pointed out all of these things about me. I also manically tap caps lock with my left pinkie. I'd rather not think about this part of me too much, especially when it comes to picking browser based on how it renders (manically) selected paragraphs.
  - ComputerGuru 16y ago
    No it doesn't, at least, not any more :) Chrome 6 on OS X, triple-clicking on the word "WebKit": http://grab.by/4DKh http://grab.by/4DKh
- Periodic 16y ago
  My cousin does this as well. When she reads something online she highlights the half-line she's reading at the time. You can always tell when she's gotten distracted and started reading something because there's a constant clicking coming from her mouse.
- 16y ago
phreeza 16y ago
I also do this, but I think it is at least slightly correlated with what I am reading. So the false positives aren't really false, they might represent, to a degree, what people are spending time reading. Also, this would be really to filter out, the amount of highlighted areas would just be ridiculously large.
jbarciauskas 16y ago
Just joining the chorus of "me toos"... Didn't think it was that prevalent, I wonder where the instinct comes from? Anyone have any fun pseudo-scientific theories?
- hernan7 16y ago
  Maybe it's the equivalent of sliding your finger under the line of text you are reading? Like they teach small kids in school.
  - aero142 16y ago
    That is a nice theory, but I don't do that when reading. Why would I highlight on screen, but not use a ruler edge when reading?
    - alaithea 16y ago
      What if it's not to help follow the line for reading, but to "feel" the page as you read it? A proxy for dealing with immaterial bits on a screen instead of holding and feeling the paper of a book or magazine? Showing you have some sort of control over it.
- alaithea 16y ago
  I think it's just that highlighting is neat. Some portion of my brain is pleased by the flashing/changing colors (different than a flashing ad, etc., since I'm controlling the action).
alanh 16y ago
It’s not neurosis; it’s not OCD. It helps establish a line for your eyes to follow when flicking back to the left side of text. It’s just like the ruler or piece of paper that speed-reading and sight-reading teachers instruct students to use. Notice that you will hardly or never do this on narrow columns of text.
- alaithea 16y ago
  Not everybody highlights text in a functional way. In fact, what I'm highlighting usually has nothing to do with what I'm reading at the moment, and is more of a nervous habit/tic than anything else.
  - bpm140 16y ago
    You're making the assumption that the two things are mutually exclusive. Not all functional behaviors require overt mental processing.
Volt 16y ago
The only name that I've seen for this is "impulsive highlighting". There used to be a Wikipedia article about it, but it was unfortunately deleted since it cited no sources. http://awurl.com/C8uVAsoJN http://awurl.com/C8uVAsoJN (Yes, I know it looks like a questionable URL, but it's all I could find since, as I said, it was deleted).

eli 16y ago

It's selected text. And they're trying to spin that as a feature (i.e. they can show you the section of text has the highest "user engagement" based on relative number of selections)

robryan 16y ago
That sounds like a better feature than the inserting of text into the copy. I would say that over a large same of people selecting text you could see engagement patterns.
- eli 16y ago
  I wonder how representative the "selects text while reading" crowd is.
- sesqu 16y ago
  It sounds more reliable. I'm not sure about better, though - I can only see it helping to identify unclear writing and witty editorialism, and I only want more attention on one of those.

what 16y ago

It seems to only report back when you actually copy the selection (either ctrl/cmd+c or right click+copy). Just looking at the headers, the JS is obfuscated and I'm too lazy to look at it.

masterj 16y ago

Indeed, I highlighted your comment at least a few times while reading it.

smokinn 16y ago

I guess at least now I know I'm not alone. I'm very OCD about clicking on random words, triple clicking on paragraphs to highlight them entirely while I'm reading or just dragging my mouse over random amounts of text on the page. I don't know why I do it but it drives pretty much everyone reading the same thing as me on the same computer insane.

harry 16y ago
I do this as well, more of a "track where I am when I'm reading" when I get distracted by something else, I quickly return to the spot. I dislike it when something like WSJ puts those 'learn more' links after you highlight something right under the cursor.
yesbabyyes 16y ago
I do all of this, too. Especially selecting paragraphs. Actually, now that I think about it (which I do fairly often, tbh), this is one of the reasons I've stayed with Firefox. It only highlights the text of the paragraph. WebKit highlights to the end of the line, and some more, I think. It isn't as visually appealing, at all. We had an intern at our company for a week, a smart guy who is graduating from high school, and he pointed out all of these things about me. I also manically tap caps lock with my left pinkie. I'd rather not think about this part of me too much, especially when it comes to picking browser based on how it renders (manically) selected paragraphs.
- ComputerGuru 16y ago
  No it doesn't, at least, not any more :) Chrome 6 on OS X, triple-clicking on the word "WebKit": http://grab.by/4DKh http://grab.by/4DKh
Periodic 16y ago
My cousin does this as well. When she reads something online she highlights the half-line she's reading at the time. You can always tell when she's gotten distracted and started reading something because there's a constant clicking coming from her mouse.
16y ago

phreeza 16y ago

I also do this, but I think it is at least slightly correlated with what I am reading. So the false positives aren't really false, they might represent, to a degree, what people are spending time reading. Also, this would be really to filter out, the amount of highlighted areas would just be ridiculously large.

jbarciauskas 16y ago

Just joining the chorus of "me toos"... Didn't think it was that prevalent, I wonder where the instinct comes from? Anyone have any fun pseudo-scientific theories?

hernan7 16y ago
Maybe it's the equivalent of sliding your finger under the line of text you are reading? Like they teach small kids in school.
- aero142 16y ago
  That is a nice theory, but I don't do that when reading. Why would I highlight on screen, but not use a ruler edge when reading?
  - alaithea 16y ago
    What if it's not to help follow the line for reading, but to "feel" the page as you read it? A proxy for dealing with immaterial bits on a screen instead of holding and feeling the paper of a book or magazine? Showing you have some sort of control over it.
alaithea 16y ago
I think it's just that highlighting is neat. Some portion of my brain is pleased by the flashing/changing colors (different than a flashing ad, etc., since I'm controlling the action).

alanh 16y ago

It’s not neurosis; it’s not OCD. It helps establish a line for your eyes to follow when flicking back to the left side of text. It’s just like the ruler or piece of paper that speed-reading and sight-reading teachers instruct students to use. Notice that you will hardly or never do this on narrow columns of text.

alaithea 16y ago
Not everybody highlights text in a functional way. In fact, what I'm highlighting usually has nothing to do with what I'm reading at the moment, and is more of a nervous habit/tic than anything else.
- bpm140 16y ago
  You're making the assumption that the two things are mutually exclusive. Not all functional behaviors require overt mental processing.

Volt 16y ago

The only name that I've seen for this is "impulsive highlighting". There used to be a Wikipedia article about it, but it was unfortunately deleted since it cited no sources. http://awurl.com/C8uVAsoJN http://awurl.com/C8uVAsoJN (Yes, I know it looks like a questionable URL, but it's all I could find since, as I said, it was deleted).