Cross-posting unchecked by default?

Cross-posting
1

Is it possible to add a cross-posting option to Micro.blog but have that option unchecked by default?

1 Like
2

Nope. Manton and I have gone back and forth about this. Hence I’ve to use hacks/services like Echofeed to ensure I don’t (accidentally) crosspost something to the wrong network.

3

My thinking on this is that if an option is unchecked by default, it will be easy to forget and then wonder why nothing was cross-posted. Having it always on by default but letting you opt-out per post is the most consistent, in my opinion.

4

Sounds fair but then why not present a screen like this before you hit Publish? Crossposting has been the defining feature of Micro.blog but it may not be for too long [one more example].

1 Like
5

An extra prompt like that would add friction to posting. I’d rather the design be about posting to your blog, with the cross-posting as a secondary thing, not the main purpose.

I get that it seems like a minor thing to refocus the UI around cross-posting but I think everything should start with the blog. It’s why Micro.blog exists.

It wasn’t very long ago that we didn’t even have the checkboxes, though, so things do change sometimes.

1 Like
6

I realize this will be different for different people, but the service that gives me the most angst where cross-posting is concerned (and the one that I feel builds a good use case for allowing unchecked by default) is LinkedIn: If I write an article, I likely want to cross-post it, but I don’t want status updates to show on my more professional LinkedIn timeline. Worse case, I write an awesome article and forget to enable the cross-posting option, I can always share the link out once I realize the mistake. IF I cross-post by default and forget to turn it off though, I might post a bunch of irrelevant content to LinkedIn and that’s much harder to undo since people in my professional network will have already seen it. I realize there’s probably no perfect answer, but wanted to put this use case out there as I do think there is value in allowing cross-posting to be off/unchecked by default, ideally on a service by service basis.

1 Like
7

Thanks. That’s a good point. LinkedIn does feel a little different. Now that we have editing of cross-posting for draft posts, maybe we need to loosen this setting a little. I’ll think about it.

1 Like
8

Exactly. The opposite is much worse.