 Anime/Manga list notes have been one of those lesser known features on MAL, used by only a few. Since they could only be viewed below the "More" button on Desktop, some members resorted to using tags to store their thoughts and impressions on a show. To make it easier to share your thoughts on anime and manga with your friends, we've added some new functionality to this lost feature:
In future updates, we plan to:
For members who have been using tags as notes, we will be adding a one-way conversion button to transfer your notes from the tags area. This is still being developed, so please give us a bit more time with this. We hope that this update will make it easier to talk with friends about anime/manga they just started or completed. Give it a try and let us know what you think! Note: If you want to hide the "Add Notes" text on your List, you can adjust this (and other visible columns too!) using the List Settings page. Update November 7 You can now filter your Recent Friend Updates by:
We hoped to include no PTW/PTR and no ep/chp updates options as well, but it was too difficult this time. Please look forward to them in a future update. |
KinetaNov 7, 2022 3:18 PM
| Seems pretty good from what I tried so far, I can finally stop using tags to make remarks Kineta said: we will be adding a one-way conversion button to transfer your notes from the tags area noice |
 |
| 👍 good update My thousands of tags have done well for all these months |
 |
| How can I disable comment button in the recent friends updates? It needlessly extends the length of the panel. I guess some site developers need a constant reminder that the less scrolling, the better. |
Ii tenki desu ne... |
| Yeah the overall look of a new friend activity panel feels fat compared to classic MAL layout and reeks of mobile design. But of all the recent MAL changes, i like this one the most. I wonder if updating an already existing note will make it appear on friends' panel again. EDIT: Ok, nevermind, upon testing this feature appears rather underwhelming. Instead of displaying a comment right there under an entry in friends' updates panel, it posts it as a comment on their profile and doesn't even link to the comment you've already sent from the panel. |
GenoardSep 26, 2022 11:47 PM
| AnimeThemes.moe <- the largest collection of anime Openings & Endings on the Web AnimeMusicQuiz.com <- guess an anime from your list by it's Opening/Ending music browser game |
| This is great. Have been waiting for this since their announcement of that huge site update. |
| finally a feature I can use, I will spam all of my friends' taste |
    |
| Nice. I've already been partially using the notes feature before but this looks so much better. |
 レムって、誰のこと？ |
| I can see how you would think this is a good idea, but all of the comments/notes I wrote so far were reminders for myself, is there a way to fully hide them from other users' "recent friend updates" panel? I'm aware that you could already read them by clicking on the "more" button in a list but this is way more public than that. |
| this one is useful i might start using it |
El-Melloi said: I can see how you would think this is a good idea, but all of the comments/notes I wrote so far were reminders for myself, is there a way to fully hide them from other users' "recent friend updates" panel? I'm aware that you could already read them by clicking on the "more" button in a list but this is way more public than that. This. I never write comments/notes for others, showing them in the updates is absolutely not something I want. Also showing them "quoted" in the list by default is not good too, I still prefer the way it was with "more" button - open them when you need. UPD: ok, I can turn off showing notes by default by ticking off them in the list settings of my account. I hope they'll look the same in export too. |
St0rmbladeSep 27, 2022 1:30 AM
| Great update, now I don't have to use tags with limited words as an option to express my thought about an Anime. |
| So individual mini reviews. Interesting |
 |
| This is a nice addition indeed; however I think this feature would look much better if it was a separate column (like the tags column is), perhaps hiding the rest unless the user clicks on More, instead of showing the notes under the anime's title. The current placement can especially pose a problem when one has written a lot (entire paragraphs, that is) under the "Notes" field, as it can make the list actually look worse than it was, and also if spoiler tags were used within the notes, the way they look is readically different from the surrouding text, which again makes the result ugly-looking. As an example, here's how the listing of an anime where I have extensive notes looks with "Notes" turned on:  And this without revealing the spoilers tags, 'cause if if I reveal them, the anime's listing is way elongated (so much so that I have to use a full page screenshot capture - btw obviously shows spoilers for the depicted anime): (full imgur album if anyone wants it btw) So yeah, I'll have to keep using the tags for my short comments and the hidden Notes for my longer ones unless this is somehow improved. (I know how the devs probably didn't account for someone as chatty as me, so I'm not expecting anything though - as long as it helps other people it's good I guess...) |
  |
Antanaru said: How can I disable comment button in the recent friends updates? It needlessly extends the length of the panel. I guess some site developers need a constant reminder that the less scrolling, the better. If you have Stylus installed on your browser, you can create a new style that applies to URLs starting with https://myanimelist.net body.index .widget-container .widget.friend_list_updates .notes, body.index .widget-container .widget.friend_list_updates.right .navi, .history_content_wrapper .history-updates .notes, .history_content_wrapper .history-updates .navi {
display: none;
}
body.index .widget-container .widget.friend_list_updates.right .image-and-work {
margin-bottom: 0px;
}body.index .widget-container .widget.friend_list_updates .notes, body.index .widget-container .widget.friend_list_updates.right .navi {
display: none;
}
body.index .widget-container .widget.friend_list_updates.right .image-and-work {
margin-bottom: 0px;
} |
| @ MAL: After the AWFUL change to reviews, which i still wish you'd undo, I am going to give praise where praise is do. When i refreshed my list and saw the notes, it added more space to the list and I didn't like seeing text in the same box as the anime's name, came here and saw it can be toggled off and THAT is where I am praising you for this MAL. OPTIONS, give us OPTIONS instead of dictating what we have to put up with. The reviews could SERIOUSLY benefit from this if you'd just design it so users without accounts see what ya'll have by default (Or whatever u want them to see) but us with accounts can change it to show what we would like to see with the reviews then everyone wins. Convenience in the form of quality options is what makes everyone happy AND draws them in, so please consider this idea for reviews and again, thank you for not forcing the notes to stay on the lists, I appreciate I can turn the notes in the list off :) |
Antanaru said: How can I disable comment button in the recent friends updates? It needlessly extends the length of the panel. I guess some site developers need a constant reminder that the less scrolling, the better. Replying so I'll be quoted in if this gets addressed. It was the very first thing I noticed when it updated, completely changes the size and makes everything a bit askew. Edit - Also, can we get them an option to make them less faded-out, keep them full-colour? For those of us with image backgrounds they're virtually impossible to see. |
O_T_TSep 27, 2022 3:57 AM
| Well I for one already loved Lain. |
| Wow, I love that. Been using the tags section to write down my thoughts on a series for years. This is a really welcome addition and it looks good! Kineta said: For members who have been using tags as notes, we will be adding a one-way conversion button to transfer your notes from the tags area. This is still being developed, so please give us a bit more time with this. Thank you so much for this, that would be a nightmare transferring them all over otherwise... |
| Great update! |
| Great another useless feature that we wouldn't need if you didn't ruin reviews. You know, you could just give us more options (comments, rating in categories, proper reactions, show review in the anime list) and privacy settings (draft, unlisted, friends only) for reviews but instead you implement a completely new review system along the one we already have. What's the point? |
| Nice update, i guess. |
 |
| Interesting feature, much appreciated. |
| its a good update but as usual its an incomplete feature again like still waiting for the promise countdown timer on the anime seasonal page |
| I was taking about the feature with some friends, and we noticed a privacy concern with this update. It seems that when you deselect the note toggle, this only changes the immediate visibility on your list (they still show up under "more"), but more importantly, they still show up in the recent friend updates section. Essentially this means that for people who wanted to keep these notes private (or at least not publicized to everyone on their list), is not able to unless they make their list entirely private. I suggest the following updates: 1) Allow users the option to toggle if their own notes will show up in their friends updates. 2) Allow notes to be completely hidden from a user's list. If there are two toggles that allow you to either keep notes hidden under "more" or the option for them to be completely invisible, that would be ideal. On another topic, are there any plans for our own anime/manga history pages to to receive a visual update to match the friends one? |
KwanthemasterSep 27, 2022 9:15 AM
 |
| It looks like a decent update. I guess I have to see how it works later on. I'm not sure how often people will comment on list updates however. |
 |
| The notes section has been long overdue, thanks for implementing it |
| Okay, now I'll start writing things in the notes section again. |
Kwanthemaster said: I was taking about the feature with some friends, and we noticed a privacy concern with this update. It seems that when you deselect the note toggle, this only changes the immediate visibility on your list (they still show up under "more"), but more importantly, they still show up in the recent friend updates section. Essentially this means that for people who wanted to keep these notes private (or at least not publicized to everyone on their list), is not able to unless they make their list entirely private. I suggest the following updates: 1) Allow users the option to toggle if their own notes will show up in their friends updates. 2) Allow notes to be completely hidden from a user's list. If there are two toggles that allow you to either keep notes hidden under "more" or the option for them to be completely invisible, that would be ideal. On another topic, are there any plays for our own anime/manga history pages to to receive a visual update to match the friends one? Essentially, this. I don't use notes as often, but usually I add there links to official sites and/or random blab. It would be very useful to completely hide the notes without having to make our entire list private. +1 to visual update to the rest of the history pages |
Barry_Allen_14 said: Is there a way to hide updates of some specific friend or view updates of a selected few in the main panel? This. Where is the mute button? |
 |
| How do i get rid of this? There's so much clutter now in my list, i'd rather use the tags section.. |
 |
| please, just add a way to disable this "Comment" option on the friends updates. |
| Good to see the friend list activity have more updates, look forward to removing PTW update option. Excluding the database aspect, this one of the most important features to encourage activity between friends/users and I hope there will be more updates to come. |
 |
| glad mal is finally getting better.. sad that it literally needed to take years for stuff to be put in motion. |
 |
| Idk wtf just happened but my list received no apparent changes so good work and keep up the good work /srs |
| Naisu |
 |
 Not a bad feature, it'll definitely be a pain to add notes to over 2500 anime though |
| Pretty cool feature, but I wish there was a way to put it where the "tags" option is on the list: off to the side. I hate that it's in the column with the name of the anime. That, and I also wish we can have it only appear in specific areas, like I generally only put notes in for anime I've dropped. Just gonna stick with the "tags" option until then, if it ever happens. But I'm super glad you gave an option to turn it off so it doesn't show up in the list if we don't like it. More updates need options like that. |
| Idk I have mixed feelings about this, I've been using the Tag section too and the best and worst part of it is that the character count is limited, preventing you from completely expressing yourself but also preventing overly long blocks of text. The system that you had to click on "more" to see the notes worked fine for me, as a couple other users mentioned above, I would've liked the notes section to be moved into a separate column as it now looks really unbalanced and cluttered on a lot of people's lists. |
| I really like the new features that are being added to MAL since I'm all for the social part of it (even though some people just use it to track their watchlist) so I've been noticing the social changes of MAL i.e the friends updates being easier to see. Probably still some stuff to improve but I'm loving it overall, so many good changes this year since years ago, keep at it <3 |
| hi i'm too lazy to have a signature rn hehe ! check my profile <3 |
Kwanthemaster said: Yup, same here. I would really appreciate a feature to make notes completely private. I don't use notes as often, but usually I add there links to official sites and/or random blab. It would be very useful to completely hide the notes without having to make our entire list private. |
one anime, two anime |
| I noticed a sort of oversight while playing around with this. In the anime lists, the rewatch value is presented as "This series has been re-watched x times". In the manga lists however, it just says "Times Read: x". So if you've re-read something twice, it'll say "Times Read: 2" instead of 3. I.e. it currently represents the information inaccurately. (The anime list also presents this info first when clicking "More", while the manga list puts this near the bottom). Anyways, this update is nice, though it seems to work better the shorter the text is. Maybe there could be a toggle button for people who are viewing another's list, in case they're not interested in the notes. Or an option to have long text shortened with a button to expand it. |
| Awesome update, I’ll definitely be taking full advantage of the new notes! |
  "Truth is always a cruel thing." |
| Is there any way to remove this, both for myself, and to not see others' notes? |
| As others have said, please make an option to make your own notes private. I'm fine having them viewable in my list itself, but this is like broadcasting them to everyone. Otherwise, I think this is a fun update :) |
 |
| Actually a good update that I would welcome for sure. Cheers! |
| Sorry, due to licensing limitations, this message is unavailable in your region. Please come drink tea, eat cake and procrastinate at the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things Club. We have simulwatches! \o/  |
cheerio38010 said: As others have said, please make an option to make your own notes private. I'm fine having them viewable in my list itself, but this is like broadcasting them to everyone. Otherwise, I think this is a fun update :) ^Agreed. |
"The coexistence of diverse political values is the essence of democracy." |
More topics from this board
» [Challenge] You Should Read This Manga 2024 ( 1 2 3 4 5 )Kineta - Feb 23 |
207 |
by mushfik002
»»
1 hour ago |
|
» Try MAL's New Mobile Site! ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Xinil - Feb 15, 2015 |
422 |
by Hayukoo
»»
Today, 8:30 AM |
|
» Planned 5hr Maintenance, Thursday April 25 @ 1am-6am PTKineta - Yesterday |
0 |
by Kineta
»»
Yesterday, 8:10 PM |
|
» New Site Update: Peak Anime 🗻 ( 1 2 3 4 5 )Kineta - Mar 31 |
213 |
by Lancelot73
»»
Apr 21, 4:28 AM |
|
» Heavenly Easter Delusion: Devil and Dolce ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Kineta - Mar 27 |
3332 |
by Terra_strong
»»
Apr 17, 8:26 PM |