Ability to hover to see contents of thread?

[ladybagpuss]

Hello,
I don't know if this has been suggested before but some forums allow you to hover to see the first few lines of a thread, without clicking on it. Is there possibility for that here? Some titles are ambiguous or vague or you click and it's outside your area or even has triggering stuff. So this would be a real improvement. Perhaps this could be considered?
Thanks.

Hi there Ladybagpuss! That's certainly an interesting thought. On the downside we'd be denied the drama of a title like the one I just read saying something along lines of 'I can't believe it. DS has come home from the pub with...' and I'm thinking: 'an STD?', 'the landlady's daughter?', '500 packets of pork scratchings?'... Turned out to be a wedding invitation.
On the other hand, it would allow people not to be too drawn in to something not of interest.
Don't know if this is even possible for Mumsnet of course but in theory, what do other people reckon?

I like the idea of this. I've noticed people recently have started using very "click-baity" titles and it really bothers me .

The first few lines would give you an idea of the topic and whether it's something you can help with/are interested in.

Thanks for the reply MNHQ and the support AyeAmarok.

I think there's so much merit to it for many reasons but including the ability to minimize negative emotions. It's like if someone starts a thread saying "Had a miscarriage" and then you click and they say "but now I have 100 lovely children, I'm blessed!" (this isn't real obvs, just made up to illustrate). For someone who is clicking to offer support about the miscarriage, and who may never have had kids, that has the potential to upset or frustrate them. Then that wouldn't have been the OPs intention, so then the OP will be upset if something gets said in response.

So in conclusion: I'm a genius and you should do this RIGHT NOW
Thanking you

I think you make some very good points. I'm trying to think of possible downsides but struggling.

I'd like this. I usually scroll right past threads with non-descript titles and probably miss loads of interesting stuff. They have this facility on another forum I'm on and I haven't noticed any downsides to it.

Yes lots of click bait type sensationalist titles that are just shit boring threads.

I like it! A lot! I'm in!

Have the log in and browsing settings been changed? Is this new? Only this morning I've found that I can no longer access forums without logging in.

Halfway through hovering over any particular forum, I get a log-in / join box popping up and obliterating the option to view posts unless I'm logged in.

Yep, I'd like to see this, I use a couple of other forums where this happens, and it works well (for me, anyway!).

Creeping they're trialling making it impossible to view posts without logging in, as many people have asked, and are seeing how it goes. I'm not sure if it's for all users or just some.

You can do this on iPhones - using the gesture system, it brings up a preview before you click, so you can see the first "page" of replies. You can't scroll without actually opening the page, though.