VOTE FOR DEV FEEDBACK: HOW DO YOU USE LIST NOTES?
| if you've cast a vote, share this poll with a friend ☝️ or add a comment to bump the topic! thank you very much Ohmena: I often write my personal thoughts on Notes. It is a place meant to me, where I can type what I want and remember why I liked or disliked something StewedBeefHaunch: I've been using Notes since I signed up on MAL to write my personal long form thoughts [...] written by me for me Kwanthemaster: [Make an] option for notes to be completely invisible (and your list still public) Beatnik: Notes were supposed to be private, not for the world to see. Just had to go through my lists and delete them all EstebanOD: WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT NOTES ARE PUBLIC????? LordeBatata: Wait, they aren't private? I've been using them for personal thoughts and I've been writing so much private and embarrassing stuff S_h_a_r_k_93: Are you kidding me? I thought notes were something private and personal! IheartAnime77: I have always used the notes section to hold my private thoughts and comments about a series, I hate that I now have to put my whole list on private just to avoid sharing those thoughts and comments with the world cheerio38010: Please make an option to make your own notes private Volkslied: I would really appreciate a feature to make notes completely private SheyCroix: It would be very useful to completely hide the notes without having to make our entire list private St0rmblade: I never write comments/notes for others [...] El-Melloi: 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 Genocyber: why would you even want to notify other peopole of your personal comments on an entry not everyone wants to see Me and a few other users from the November update topic consider notes (previously known as comments) to be pieces of information meant only for us. There's many of us that do not wish to share them publicly at all (we have no need for it, as we merely wish to write a reserved note/reminder for ourselves only, like a private remark or a personal comment), heck there's even a (big, I'm afraid) subset of users that thought notes were, of course, private! So if it would be possible to add a setting to make private notes restricted to everybody else - whilst still having the list itself be public - it would be much appreciated. As you can see there's plenty of us who think about notes that way, and a lot of silent users - who do not use the forums to tell us - probably still do not even know that notes are public to begin with (and instead assumed they were hidden, personal, private areas - I was one such user). Empty notes are already hidden when viewing other users' lists (no "Notes: " is shown - edit: I was mistaken, it's when the user has the Notes column checked, that the "Notes: " line disappears). Would you please allow us to hide our own personal user notes from our public lists? A more advanced user preference could be to limit user notes visibility to "just me", "friends only" or "everyone", you know like Facebook posts. And as it turns out, blog posts for example already have that option: you can make them with privacy set to "only me", "friends only" and "public"! |
Shark93Jun 4, 6:06 AM
| Did you know that Notes are public? How do you personally use them? Cast your vote and add a reply to this suggestion to let the devs know: ➥ Add list setting to make notes private (on public lists) |
| I think that notes should be private, but I think there should be another comment system that isn't. Some people might want to write their private thoughts, but also be able to show their public thoughts. Some people use the tags for that, but they are very limited, as there is a character cap. |
| Thank you for replying! Well, in Italy we say: you cannot have a drunk wife and a full barrel (meaning you can't have both things). I use notes for private remarks/reminders on the anime I've listed; if I wanted to write something public, I would write a review. p.s. I never wrote a review on MAL, I am not familiar with them so I do not know if visiblity restrictions can be set for those instead. Although I doubt a private review would make any sense? Perhaps, if you wrote a review, its incipit should be linked on your list |
Shark93Nov 12, 2022 5:00 PM
| Did you know that Notes are public? How do you personally use them? Cast your vote and add a reply to this suggestion to let the devs know: ➥ Add list setting to make notes private (on public lists) |
| I would not mind if there was an option to set it to private/friends only, but I also don't think it's a priority for me now, since they have given the option to not share your notes publicly in the friends updates history now. |
 Maloween 2024                x16 |
| Only reason I haven't migrated to AniList, besides my own preference on minimalist instead of modern design, is because your notes are public there. Which leads you to: make your list private or let only friends see it. Now, sadly, MAL seems to be going through the same path with this new feature that let your friends see notes from your recent updates. Still not a huge privacy issue like AniList, but already a problematic one. I do highly agree that people should set their notes private if they want to. Just as people who want to share their thoughts indeed exist, people who never wanted others to know what they write about also exist. As I said, it is still not a big issue because only few users will see them, but it surely can get worse. In the past, it was something almost "hidden" within your list, if the person wanted to seek for notes, they would have to look anime/manga one by one to find those who have any notes. Now it is basically a "hey, did you know that your friend said #### about that show?" shown in a huge display. They added a button to disable recent note updates but still you have to go one by one to disable them. Wouldn't mind waste my time disabling every show I have watched if friends still couldn't see my notes by clicking on "comment" in the main page. By the way, what is the point of let it public on the main page the way it is right now? What will users with thousands of friends do? Those thousands of friends also watch dozens of anime. Isn't it easier to just share your thoughts on episode discussion? Why use 'private' notes to do that? Why friends can mute other notes but you can't mute your own notes? Aah, almost forgot: For the 'edit - more' button inside your anime list, thankfully MyAnimeList allows you change your list CSS, so the only thing you need to do is find the <div> using the inspect element and set it as display: none. Account settings > List Style Design > Modern Design > Put this in custom css: .add-edit-more { display:none; } Hope I helped you with that. Not sure if this is the best way but I've been using it for ages and I'm fine asfajskdaf. I know some modern css layouts removed (or at least hide it very well) the 'more' button because it was useless for so long but idk if they do what I did above. If someone knows a better way, just @ me ;d This kind of thing should be more accessible to the public, to be honest. Not everyone knows about CSS, and an update to get rid of the 'notes' lack of privacy would be pleasurable. Frosteek said: I think that notes should be private, but I think there should be another comment system that isn't. Some people might want to write their private thoughts, but also be able to show their public thoughts. Perfect. |
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| Good suggestion, more variability in privacy options is welcome. Regarding public comments, episode discussions fulfill this role quite well. |
| What are notes? They're public? How do I see other people's notes? You mean tags? |
"The f**ker who goes round beating people to a pulp. He thinks it'll never happen to himself. But there's gonna be a day when the f**ker gets f**king beaten to a pulp too. But that day's f**king today and the guy doing the beating is a f**king c**t." - Sang-hoon, Breathless (2009)    |
| I don't use notes myself, but I didn't know they were not private by default. I'm not surprised that many people who actually use this functionality might assume that notes are private and no one, but only themselves, will be able to read them. I'd opt for making them private by default, however with an option to make them public if somebody wishes them to be like that. |
| I've added a fourth option in the Poll, for those who knew that Notes were public yet hard to see (before the recent update anyway), and therefore resorted to write (sometimes full) paragraphs in the Tags column, to easily show their personal remarks to the world. @wolffanghameha notes (previously known as comments) are public text spaces that you can fill out for each entry in your list (by clicking "Edit Details" on the anime page, or "Edit" in your anime list). Previously they were shown only by clicking on the "More" button in your anime list - therefore sort of tucked away - but recently they made it so that they can appear as sort of subheadings of the anime title in your list. If you didn't vote yet, I believe in your case option #3 is the one that describes your personal stance; thank you. For other readers: if you have friends that would like to vote or participate to the discussion, please share |
Shark93Nov 13, 2022 3:40 AM
| Did you know that Notes are public? How do you personally use them? Cast your vote and add a reply to this suggestion to let the devs know: ➥ Add list setting to make notes private (on public lists) |
| In my opinion, setting your lists or even whole profiles to private kind of defeats the point of this site. MAL is not just a simple database; it also has a great social aspect. Seeing your affinity with other users and being able to compare lists to give recommendations are elements I really enjoy. However, that's just how I like to use this site, and people should still be able to make certain things private, with emphasis on "certain." Making entire lists or even profiles private shouldn't be the only options. Personally, I use the notes section to put my private thoughts while I want my anime list to stay public. If I ever feel like sharing my opinions with other users, I write a review or a blog. Adnash said: Exactly.I'd opt for making them private by default, however with an option to make them public if somebody wishes them to be like that. Ohmena said: That's really smart, I would never have thought of that. Still, it's a bit annoying that this solution adds another step to edit or simply view your own comments. There wouldn't happen to be an option to hide the "view" text but leave the "edit" text, would there? Aah, almost forgot: For the 'edit - more' button inside your anime list, thankfully MyAnimeList allows you change your list CSS, so the only thing you need to do is find the <div> using the inspect element and set it as display: none. |
VolksliedJun 4, 6:27 AM
one anime, two anime |
| By now I don't have a particular way I feel regarding them. I have given up since those comments/note have always been private and dependent on your list privacy setting. What I don't like is that the update pushed for them to be publicly shared without regards or warning to the user. That's a big turn off. It's always a problem with this site that they do such things without any warning to us, their users. >_> S_h_a_r_k_93 said: heck there's even a (big, I'm afraid) subset of users that thought notes were, of course, private! This is quite sad indeed. I have seen many inexperienced users that, when I make a mention of their notes, freak out and such cause they were under the impression that they were private in the first place. I recall instances where the user simply made the whole thing private or just went and deleted them all =/ Ohmena said: Aah, almost forgot: For the 'edit - more' button inside your anime list, thankfully MyAnimeList allows you change your list CSS, so the only thing you need to do is find the <div> using the inspect element and set it as display: none. You do know that doesn't really hides them if the person has a script to disable css when visiting others lists, right? Not like there are that many people that use that. (for example, I can see your comments when checking your list) |
| It seemed obvious at first to me that notes should've been private and not public; after all if we want to make a public comment on an anime we can either leave a review, discuss about a specific episode, or create a new more specific discussion ; notes, as they imply, are not and should not be used as a placeholders for public reviews. I use them to write quick memos, or episodes I really enjoyed, or.. more privatey stuff, in no way would I want them to remain public! |
I don't know how signatures work   |
| I used tags for "reminder to self" but don't care if they're public. I like reading what others have to say about an episode or series as a whole and it's a quick and easy but most of all very casual way to ask someone "hey I saw you're watching this series, what do you think of it?" or "hey I watched that last week, funny that you are watching it now too!" Episode discussions tend to derail and create all sorts of nastiness, meanwhile reviews take a ton of time to write and have to stick to very specific guidelines which can change at any time. Often they also ain't very helpful. No one I have on my friends list made nasty comments on notes I put. Some might do so jokingly after reading my post here but if anyone directly and seriously attacked or harassed me like that, I would absolutely block. Perhaps a commenting block could be put? Then no one could at least attack directly. MAL already has protection for non-friends in the form of closed PMs and closed profile comments. |
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SheyCroix said: You do know that doesn't really hides them if the person has a script to disable css when visiting others lists, right? Not like there are that many people that use that. Wrote my comment late night, I could swear I have typed that display: none property only hides objects but they still can be seem in the DOM, srry ;v And yes, users still can see whatever the shit you wrote if they disable their CSS, but only few people would do that. I stated the sentence very badly, really thought I typed about this as well here: Ohmena said: In the past, it was something almost "hidden" within your list, if the person wanted to seek for notes, they would have to look anime/manga one by one to find those who have any notes. Jeez. |
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| For instance, I could just go to developer tool, find the ".add-edit-more" and change the display again. It is a bit hard working? Yes. People could do that? Sure. After all, this is just a temporary solution for hide things from the common user. There aren't many people who would pass that much trouble just for the sake of curiosity...I guess...?...right? |
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| Yes but the fact of the matter here is more in the realm of users' privacy concerns, rather than of customizing the list design to visually hide an element from the average user. The textual data about user notes shouldn't really be published to everyone browsing our (public) list at all, when many of us wish to use notes to write personal and reserved information (that we might not feel comfortable sharing with everyone else). It's a no-brainer for me, really - and the Poll results show it - I'm surprised it never came across to the Developers? (hence why I started this topic) SheyCroix said: What I don't like is that the update pushed for [notes] to be publicly [displayed] without regards or warning to the user. That's a big turn off. It's always a problem with this site that they do such things without any warning to us, their users. >_> I actually disagree with @SheyCroix here because, I guess they did it this way in order for active users to actually notice that there was a change. Otherwise I admit I would have probably never opened the Forum to inform myself about the notes visual update, and consequently learn that notes have always been public. :P I must've never clicked on the "More" button before... Like I said, I've always thought about them as my private notebook, where I write all sorts of personal remarks on the shows I list. At the same time, maybe a newsletter email would've worked too. :D I have given up since those comments/note have always been *private (?) and dependent on your list privacy setting. You might also want to update that to *public? Unless you meant to say something else, in which case I didn't understand why you gave up on them. |
Shark93Nov 13, 2022 5:19 PM
| Did you know that Notes are public? How do you personally use them? Cast your vote and add a reply to this suggestion to let the devs know: ➥ Add list setting to make notes private (on public lists) |
| sorry bro but mal doesn't care about us, they even have mods now that just remove ppl's comments like it's 1984 |
 "For the sake of humankind, I forsake my humanity." - Cherry |
Klavierstuq said: Then make sure to vote for option #3, in your case @Klavierstuq; and thank you for your kind words.Maybe that sounds silly, I don't know. I'm just discovering features that are personally new to me. Genocyber said: Doesn't hurt to try though: if nobody tries, then nobody will notice anything. Like Mikasa Ackerman once said: where there's a will, there's a way.sorry bro but mal doesn't care about us, they even have mods now that just remove ppl's comments like it's 1984 BADA BADA BOOM! 💥 |
| Did you know that Notes are public? How do you personally use them? Cast your vote and add a reply to this suggestion to let the devs know: ➥ Add list setting to make notes private (on public lists) |
| ... Wait. They aren't private? Holy fucken shit lol... I've been using them for personal thoughts... And i've wrote so much private and embarassing shit LOL... Good thing they were all in portuguese, tho. But there are portuguese-speaking users on MAL, too... (Even though they aren't the majority, and there are also some mobile-only users, but...) Yeah, i'm going to commit seppuku! I actually discovered they aren't private by using the web version on my anime list, when i was making changes to my profile and messing around with the themes. Btw, i don't use MAL on PC, but on a phone. Guess i will delete all of them here and keep them saved on my phone notes lulz. :S I thought they were private because i use MAL on my phone, there was already the option to "Send note to Recent Friend Updates." And on your account settings there's a "My Notes" too, right? But that one really is private. Damn. Damn wrong i was. Fortunately i discovered this not too late? XD (only 134 anime on my list so far, i think maybe most don't have notes, even though i was going to write a little on all of them or most). Well if this isn't a bruh moment lol. Hope they add the option to make them private someday... :/ Until then, guess i'll keep my embarassing as hell remarks on my phone notes or just to myself lol. I'll still use my MAL notes to enumerate my anime and manga. Thanks for making this poll and thread, by the way! It's a really awesome idea. |
| I've been using comments/notes since modern lists came out for mini-reviews and youtube videos, and have always used tags properly instead of writing reviews there like most and was never under the impression that they were private, so not sure why most people here thought they were private or think they should be private, don't really see a need for them to add that functionality when you can just create a private document or note on your pc/phone for that. @Ohmena you can also add data-owner to the CSS so that when logged in you are able to see it, but others can't (unless they disable CSS as mentioned)
.add-edit-more, .notes {
display:none;
}
body[data-owner="1"] .add-edit-more, body[data-owner="1"] .notes {
display:inline-block !important;
}
|
ShaggyZEFeb 12, 2023 9:18 PM
   My Userscripts - Themes - Userstyles - Extensions (Chrome/Firefox) [API CSS] MAL-Scraper-API Cover/CSS Generator |
| Well if it isn't THE ShaggyZe, holy moly! o.O I have your profile bookmarked for all that genres urls good stuff! Thank you both for adding your feedback (and hopefully casting a vote too). Share this topic with your friends to add more votes/voices Thank you |
| Did you know that Notes are public? How do you personally use them? Cast your vote and add a reply to this suggestion to let the devs know: ➥ Add list setting to make notes private (on public lists) |
| I clarify the primary purpose of the notes on my profile page, which is for personal use. To maintain a clean and organized layout, I also used the Spoiler Tag to initially hide my notes from visitors. I don't mind if someone chooses to click on the Spoiler to read my thoughts on a particular anime, provided that they cannot react with likes or dislikes or engage in arguments. By the way, I'm curious if there's a setting that allows me to change the default value of 'Send note to Recent Friend Updates' to 'No'. I often forget to manually adjust this setting. When I edit the note directly (by clicking on the note itself) and accidentally press the Enter button, it frequently results in unintentionally spamming my friends with notifications. :/ |
Reply to hideso
I clarify the primary purpose of the notes on my profile page, which is for personal use. To maintain a clean and organized layout, I also used the Spoiler Tag to initially hide my notes from visitors. I don't mind if someone chooses to click on the Spoiler to read my thoughts on a particular anime, provided that they cannot react with likes or dislikes or engage in arguments.
By the way, I'm curious if there's a setting that allows me to change the default value of 'Send note to Recent Friend Updates' to 'No'. I often forget to manually adjust this setting. When I edit the note directly (by clicking on the note itself) and accidentally press the Enter button, it frequently results in unintentionally spamming my friends with notifications. :/
By the way, I'm curious if there's a setting that allows me to change the default value of 'Send note to Recent Friend Updates' to 'No'. I often forget to manually adjust this setting. When I edit the note directly (by clicking on the note itself) and accidentally press the Enter button, it frequently results in unintentionally spamming my friends with notifications. :/
| @goodknight Ditto. Unfortunately, there's no option for that in the settings. We always have to manually uncheck the 'Send note to Recent Friend Updates.' on our 'Notes' when entering our initial notes. It's all "good" after unchecking the box the first time but I don't know why that's MAL's default. It should be the other way around. Oh, just a heads up! Refrain from or limit editing your 'Notes' today (for 'Completed' entries at least) as there's a bug: (BUG) Captcha error when editing notes 🤦 |
| Personally, I have only been using tags for public remarks/filtering, but I suspect if I did use notes, I would want them to be private (hence my vote). Either way, I think it is only proper like I said earlier for MAL to offer people the option to make them public or private - not just the obvious visibility, but actually inaccessible by anyone other than the person logged into the account. We have a "My Notes" section on our profile which is private, so why wouldn't people assume the same for list Notes? This has been a source of embarrassment for multiple users in the past, so I hope this can finally be resolved. |
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anonymate said: You are welcome anonymate, and thanks to you and all the others who have bumped this topic and cast their vote on the poll at the top. As of last month we have passed 150 votes, looking to reach 200 before the end of the year hopefully? I betcha when we get to 1.000 in a few decades, it will be looked at (mind you, looked at, not done).I was going to post this suggestion right now, glad someone already did. Shark93 said: I recently found out about blog posts and guess what, you can make them with privacy set to Only Me, Friends Only and Public; exactly what we need for anime list notes...A more advanced user preference could be to limit user notes visibility to "just me", "friends only" or "everyone", you know like Facebook posts. |
| Did you know that Notes are public? How do you personally use them? Cast your vote and add a reply to this suggestion to let the devs know: ➥ Add list setting to make notes private (on public lists) |
| hmm, i dont mind people seeing my dumb notes, but i am just writing them for me.. cant you make them private by just disabling the notes from displaying on your list? |
Reply to wormwormy
hmm, i dont mind people seeing my dumb notes, but i am just writing them for me.. cant you make them private by just disabling the notes from displaying on your list?
| @wormwormy Last time I checked you can still see it if you just click the "more" section on someone list. |
 |
Reply to Rinnne
@wormwormy
Last time I checked you can still see it if you just click the "more" section on someone list.
Last time I checked you can still see it if you just click the "more" section on someone list.
| @Potimas ah, i dont usually look at other peoples lists so I hadn't realised that was something you could do |
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