AutoReviewComments - Pro-forma comments for SE

Question

No more re-typing the same comments over and over!

This script adds a little 'auto' link next to all comments boxes. When you click the link, you see a popup with 6 configurable auto-comments (canned responses), which you can easily click to insert.

This script was inspired by answers to this question on meta.

Features

1. Read your comment before you post it!

   Note that the dialog only inserts the text, it doesn't send the comment, nor does it flag anything; this is so that you can check the text before posting!

2. Customize the texts

   Simply double click on a comment text or description in order to customize it. Hit the 'reset' button if you screw up. This customization is currently per-site. Note that the "Welcome to $SITENAME$" text is automagically inserted if the user is 'new' (member for less than a week), so you don't need to add that to your custom text (but you can if you want to, see '9' below).

   If you need more/less than the default 6 comments, just carry on reading...

3. Quick user info

   The dialog also includes a mini-summary of the user's activity (because if they haven't been back in months, there's no point writing them a comment).

4. Automatic notification of new versions

   The script will also notify you if a newer version is created.

5. Import/export of custom comments

   This helps with transferring custom comments between sites. The export/import 'format' is also conveniently presented as markdown, so you can post it in an answer below, and let others benefit from your words of wisdom.

   Note that you can also use the Import to create an arbitrary number of comments (the default is 6). If there are too many, you can use the show/hide desc link to gain a bit of space.

6. Remote source for comments

   If you get bored with copy/pasting your comments between sites and/or computers, you can use the 'remote' button to define a remote source for your comment texts. See here for more details.

7. Differentiated comments for questions/answers

   If you prefix your comment title with [Q], it will be only displayed for questions ([A] for answers). Non-prefixed comments are displayed for both.

8. [type here], [username] & [OP] (& $MYUSERID$)

   If the text [type here] is included in a comment, it will be automatically selected for completion when inserted. [username] will be replaced with the user's name (or just 'user' if nothing was found), and [OP] with the original poster's name (if found, else 'OP'). Also, $MYUSERID$ will be replaced with your user id for the current site.

9. Customise welcome message

   The default message is "Welcome to $SITENAME$" - which is shown for any 1-week-old users. By clicking on the 'welcome' link at the bottom of the popup, you can opt to change this message, or leave it empty to show no messages at all. You can also 'force' the message for older users on a one-off basis. This is per-site.

   

Installation, other info

Development of this app is being coordinated over on GitHub.
Please see the relevant sections over there to:

• install the app for different browsers (Including which browsers are supported)
• review the source code
• view the release notes
• report bugs or add feature requests
• or read the full documentation.

You may also download the code and run the build process yourself to generate the userscript version as well as Chrome, Firefox and Opera extensions that you can install locally if you'd rather not use the store versions.

Note: Can be used in tandem with my other user script.

Please report new issues or feature requests on our issue tracker!

Answer 1

Please report new issues or feature requests on our issue tracker!

The work on making this a full-blown GitHub based project originally outlined in this answer is now complete. All further feature requests and bug reports should be directed at the GitHub issue tracker.

And if you had raised an issue in the comments or answers below, and it's still unresolved, please open an issue on the GitHub project page.

---

status-completed

I have taken the liberty of doing some organization.

1. I have created a full blown Github repo here. The master branch is the latest from benjol's gist and all commit history is included. The master branch can be installed from this alternate location as a userscript using this url. This should make it easier for others to fork and send pull requests with changes back upstream.

2. I have created branches that include all the gists that had been forked off of this and merged in those commits. Most of these are behind master and would need rebasing, but at least no work will be lost in the shuffle and this should make it easier to review and integrate their work.

3. I have created a fork of my own and selectively merged in changes from the branch that came from Izzy's work in gist. His work includes changes so that custom comments are stored and retrieved per-site, but it also included his default comments hard coded in. I cherry-picked just the functional stuff and made a few tweaks. I have tentatively called this 1.4.0-beta1 and can be installed as a userscript from this link. There are some known bugs still but when it's ready I'll submit a pull request and maybe these can be merged into master.

This was just leg work to get everything cleaned up and manageable using a full repo instead of gists which were gitting out of hand.

Answer 2

Future ideas: use HTML5 storage to allow users to create/modify their own messages.

status-completed

• double click on a title or description to modify
• save/cancel
• 'reset' link at bottom of popup (not shown above) resets all custom messages to default

Important

• The 'Welcome to SiteName!' text is prepended automatically if the user has been member for less than a week.
• This uses HTML5 Storage, so custom texts only work on the site where they were entered.

NOTE

With this modification, there is no longer any reason that this userscript should be strictly limited to 'review'.

Answer 3

status-completed (used this fix in V1.2.9)

Some people are experiencing a problem where the auto link does not appear. This has to do with the fact that the DOM elements on which the selector is based are dynamically loaded into the DOM.

The workaround for this is to change line 683 to:

setTimeout(function() {
    $('#' + divid).find('.comment-help-link').parent().append(newspan);
}, 10);

Basically this is just a minor time out before trying to add the link, which should not be noticeable.

I'm not 100% sure about the 10 milliseconds, but it works for me (Chrome Canary). If it still doesn't appear for you try 100 milliseconds or something like that.

Answer 4

feature-request status-completed (GitHub issue)

Can we have the auto link appear when completing a custom "off-topic" closure reason?

Bonus points if we can declare certain auto-comments to apply in this scenario (e.g. mirroring the "A" and "Q" prefix for answers and questions). Perhaps "C" for closure reasons?

Answer 5

status-completed

There are two 'major' changes to V1.2.2

'Remote' comment source

You can now define an external source for your comments, and 'import' them. This means that you don't have to manually copy comments from site to site and PC to PC.

To do this, you click on the 'remote' link; enter the url for your data source; then click on 'get now'.

The data source must be formatted as jsonp. There is a new 'jsonp' link in the import/export dialog which will create the appropriate jsonp from your existing comments.

It is also possible to automatically invoke it every time you open the dialog, by selecting the auto-get checkbox. I'm interested in feedback on this.

'Broadcasts'

I've added a function to be able to 'broadcast' messages without changing the code. The intended use for this will be to ask for feedback on proposed future changes. Taken this off-line again, it was not completely thought-through and you had to dismiss on every site... (sigh, no global storage)

Answer 6

I'll drop my setup here.

###Comment as answer
__This is not a forum. Please only use the 'Post Your Answer' button if you can answer the asker's question; <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/privileges/comment">post a comment</a> otherwise.__ We require some <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/faq#reputation">reputation</a> before you can comment others' posts to prevent abuse; why don't you try and get some by <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/unanswered">answering a question?</a>

###Question as answer
__This is not a forum. If you have a different question from the asker's, please use the <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/ask">Ask Question</a> button__ instead. You don't even have to login!

###Upvote as Answer
__This is not a forum. If you wish to thank somebody, you should <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/privileges/vote-up">vote him up</a>.__ We require a little bit of <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/faq#reputation">reputation</a> before you can do that to prevent abuse; why don't you get some by <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/unanswered">answering a question?</a>

###Not a Real Question
This is not a forum; __this is a questions and answer site, and I'm afraid your post isn't really a question, because <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/01/real-questions-have-answers/">real questions have answers, not items or ideas or opinions</a>.__ <a href="http://gaming.stackexchange.com/faq">Please read the FAQ for more information.</a>

Answer 7

status-completed

Can comment text please be collapsed/hidden by default and only expanded for the currently chosen option? This would work kind of like the 'more info' link in the faq which pops out when you click it. (My dialog is getting pretty big now and this would really help!)

As already said by many others - thank you so much for this script!!

Answer 8

feature-request status-completed

I felt limited by only six comments, so I made some small improvements.

Implemented the following features:

_{Head list items are intended for users, sub list items are intended for developers.}

• Allow the user to enter an unlimited amount of comments. (Add them in import/export)

  • Based the script on the local storage, while using comments only for initial data or to reset.
  • Refactored duplicate code & checks as comments behavior is replaced by localStorage.
     

• Scrollbar for when the amount of comments exceeds the standard height.

• Added a link to allow the user to toggle the visibility of descriptions.

  • This is remembered by using the local storage.
     

• Improved see-through behavior by hiding title and buttons and making it more transparent.

• Fixed invalid info: "User info detection doesn't work on CW answers, nor with deleted users."

  The box now either shows "This user is not registered." or hides.

• Fixed greeting consistency, it's now added again after editing comments.

Old version:

Please make sure that both versions do not conflict.

Download Old Version | Source

Answer 9

status-completed

Doesn't work on superuser.com (only www.superuser.com) because it includes only domains with a period like so:

http://*.superuser.com

and should be

http://*superuser.com

Answer 10

status-completed

Feedback:

The definitions of the sites are not all-inclusive. For instance, the link doesn't show up on stackapps ;)

Answer 11

Another future idea: expandable groups of comments similar to the way Close>Off-Topic opens a list of sites.

status-completed

Answer 12

status-completed (something equivalent, anyway)

I see a couple of comments here suggesting that Benjol is thinking of making the Welcome message configurable.

This is a formal request for that feature.

On Skeptics.SE, we have a meta-post which is a Welcome to New Users FAQ, and explains some of the ways Skeptics.SE differs from other Stack Exchanges. I have experimentally forked this code, just to make the Welcome message include a link to this meta-post.

Unfortunately, my JavaScript skills are too dodgy to make it customisable and offer it back to you as a patch. (The customisation strikes me as particularly tricky for the troublesome few that moderate multiple Stack Exchanges.)

---

Suggested presentation:

This is only a suggestion - incorporate it into the existing options file. It is a bit ugly, but I think better than having a whole separate config system.

~~~ This is comment text. This line represents the default.
Welcome, my dearest new friend, to $SITENAME.

~~~[skeptics] Using the same 'restriction' notations as [Q] and [A], this overrides the default for one site.
[Welcome to Skeptics](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users)!

An alternative would be to put it all on one line, but then the [qualifier] notation would conflict with the [link]() notation.

Answer 13

I forked the script to create some quick-insert buttons.

Given how often I make use of this, I wanted to save the extra click.

Answer 14

status-completed

Can you also add the auto link on the flag review page of 10k+ users? Especially when going through the "not an answer" flags there are tons of "thanks" and "question instead of answer" posts.

Update: To get it working, there are only minor changes needed:

• Enable the script for /tools* on the various sites

• Add .mod-post-header to the delegate list for the click event:

  $(".question, .answer, #questions, .flag-container, .mod-post-header").delegate(".comments-link", "click", function () {
  

Answer 15

status-completed

Small bug: I haven't figured out at which point this happens exactly, but the script seems to be over-enthusiastic adding the "Welcome" prefix:

Welcome to $SITENAME$! Welcome to $SITENAME$! Welcome to $SITENAME$! The code you show is vulnerable to SQL injection. Use the proper sanitation method of your library (like mysql_real_escape_string() for the classic mysql library), or switch to PDO and prepared statements.

Unless you already know what causes this, I'll keep an eye on it and report back.

Answer 16

Future idea: include an 'auto-update' function which polls for new versions and notifies user (with anti-nagging functionality).

status-completed

Answer 17

status-completed

In GreaseMonkey the Name of the Script is AutoReviewComments but the name of the StackApp is Pro-Forma comments.

This makes it very hard to find the app (once you forgot its name :D).

Maybe those could be named equally?

Answer 18

status-completed

Request: I see a lot of newbies post a comment saying "Thanks this worked perfect for me. It's exactly what I need" on an answer to their question, yet they do not mark the answer as accepted. [username] plugs in the username of the answerer when posting on an answer, but it would be helpful to also include an [OPusername] (or something to that effect) to be able to @ the original question asker on a specific answer.

i.e.

"If this answer is helpful to you, [OPusername], then please consider marking it as the accepted answer so others may more easily find it in the future. This is also a polite way to thank the person answering your question for helping you out."

Answer 19

status-completed

Can $SITENAME$ be changed for Christianity? Here's what a comment to a new user reads:

Welcome to Christianity! ...

Which sounds pretty creepy. For one thing, most folks who stumble into the site are already affiliated with some faith, which might or might not be Christianity. For another, it sounds like we are a cult or a church. We aren't.

Could $SITENAME$ be changed to "Christianity—Stack Exchange" or "Christianity.SE"?

(I haven't tried to adjust the messages myself, but besides being a bit tedious, it probably would be best to not have new users of the script sending the wrong signals.)

It's less of a concern, but I think it would be odd to see messages like:

Welcome to English! ...

or

Welcome to Parenting! ...

---

I forked a version and made the following changes at line 67:

if(sitename == "Stack Exchange"){
  sitename = arr[arr.length - 2]; //workaround for SE sites..
  greeting = 'Welcome to ' + sitename + '—Stack Exchange! ';
  sitename = sitename + '.SE';
}

That way, the "Answers just to say Thanks!" comment reads:

Welcome to Christianity—Stack Exchange! Please don't add "thanks" as answers. Invest some time in the site and you will gain sufficient privileges to upvote answers you like, which is the Christianity.SE way of saying thank you.

The same comment on SO reads:

Welcome to Stack Overflow! Please don't add "thanks" as answers. Invest some time in the site and you will gain sufficient privileges to upvote answers you like, which is the Stack Overflow way of saying thank you.

Answer 20

status-completed

Bug: if my comment contains &, when I insert it it will insert & instead.

Preview

Result

Import/Export

Answer 21

status-declined

Can you add multiple pages of comments? Currently if you have a lot of auto comments, you have to scroll to see them, but it would be nice to be able to click next and previous to see lists of about 5 comments.

Also, the "see through" feature is cool, but it should be activated by a click, instead of on mouse over.

One more problem: Importing the comments seems not to save them.

Answer 22

status-declined

@Benjol You could add the extra set of comments that I use in-tandem with Phrase Express:

---

@<username> Please don’t use signatures or taglines in your posts. Every post you make is already "signed" with your standard user card, which links directly back to your user page

---

Shopping questions are off-topic as per the FAQ: it is not about a shopping or buying recommendation

---

Answer 23

As posting setups was mentioned being useful, here is mine:

###[Q]App recommendation
Please note that recommendations like *Is there an app for X* are off-topic here (see [What topics can I ask about here?](http://$SITEURL$/help/on-topic) for details). For where your question might fit better, you might want to look into [Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions?](http://meta.android.stackexchange.com/q/371/16575)

###[Q]Development question
This site is for users of Android, which means that questions about development/programming are off-topic here (see [What topics can I ask about here?](http://$SITEURL$/help/on-topic)). Development questions are on-topic on our sister site [Stack Overflow](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/android).

###[Q]More than one question asked
The question-and-answer format of this site works best if you put each question in a separate question post. Please edit your post down to one question, and create new posts to ask any further questions. You'll get better answers that way.

###[Q]OP providing facts in a comment
The best way to add additional information to your question is by editing it, with the **edit** button. It is better visible that way, and comments are mainly for secondary, temporary purposes. Comments are removed under a variety of circumstances. Anything important to your question should be in the question itself.

###[A]OP adding a new question as an answer
Remember this is a Q&A site - so keep on editing your question with new information - this section is for actual answers. If you have another question, please ask it by clicking the [Ask Question](http://$SITEURL$/questions/ask) button.

###[A]OP using an answer for further information
This is a question-and-answer site, not a forum. Please use the **Post answer** button only if you have a solution to the problem, so that other users can see your question is not yet answered. You can click **edit** on the question to add more information to it.

###[A]Answers just to say Thanks!
Please don't add "thanks" as answers. Invest some time in the site and you will gain sufficient [privileges](http://$SITEURL$/privileges) to upvote answers you like, which is the $SITENAME$ way of saying thank you.

###[A]Nothing but a URL (and isn't spam)
Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, [it would be preferable](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/8259) to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.

###[A]Comments as an answer (new users)
Please don't add comments as answers. Invest some time in the site and you will gain sufficient [privileges](http://$SITEURL$/privileges) to upvote answers you like, or to add actual comments when seeking clarification of any issues.

###[A]Comments as an answer (experienced users)
Please don't add comments as answers. Use actual comments when seeking clarification of any issues.

###[A]Answer that is a question
If you have another question, please ask it by clicking the [Ask Question](http://$SITEURL$/questions/ask) button. Include a link to this question if it helps provide context.

###[A]Requests to OP for further information
This is really a comment, not an answer. With a bit more rep, [you will be able to post comments](http://$SITEURL$/privileges/comment). For the moment I've added the comment for you, and I'm flagging this post for deletion.

###[A]Another user adding a 'Me too!'
If you have a NEW question, please ask it by clicking the [Ask Question](http://$SITEURL$/questions/ask) button. If you have sufficient reputation, [you may upvote](http://$SITEURL$/privileges/vote-up) the question. Alternatively, "star" it as a favorite and you will be notified of any new answers.

Entries #1 & #2 are specific to Android Enthusiasts, but similar cases might exist on other stacks, too.

Answer 24

It would be nice to have a place other than in these answers for us to share setups. Could you provide one and link it to the main post?

I thought about posting another question to deal with this, but wasn't sure if it belonged in stackapps or meta.stackapps.

Answer 25

I cleared my cookies yesterday, and lost all my saved comments. Is there any way to get them back?

I just tried restoring my cookies from a backup, it didn't help. Then I tried restoring my entire ~/Library/Application Defaults/Chrome/Default folder, it seemed to cause other problems (Chrome warned that it didn't shut down cleanly), and also didn't restore my auto-comments.

Where are the auto comments stored, maybe I can find that and manually copy them.

Answer 26

bug status-completed

Here's a bug report.

I've attempted to add the following comment:

[**Please, don't use `mysql_*` functions in new code**](http://bit.ly/phpmsql). They are no longer maintained and the [deprecation process](http://j.mp/Rj2iVR) has begun on it. See the [**red box**](http://j.mp/Te9zIL)? Learn about [*prepared statements*](http://j.mp/T9hLWi) instead, and use [PDO](http://php.net/pdo) or [MySQLi](http://php.net/mysqli) - [this article](http://j.mp/QEx8IB) will help you decide which. If you choose PDO, [here is a good tutorial](http://j.mp/PoWehJ).

Which should render like so:

Please, don't use mysql_* functions in new code. They are no longer maintained and the deprecation process has begun on it. See the red box? Learn about prepared statements instead, and use PDO or MySQLi - this article will help you decide which. If you choose PDO, here is a good tutorial.

Instead, right after saving, it renders to

[**Please, don't use `mysql_*` functions in new code***](http://bit.ly/phpmsql)*. They are no longer maintained and the [deprecation process](http://j.mp/Rj2iVR) has begun on it. See the [**red box**](http://j.mp/Te9zIL)? Learn about [</a>*<a href="http://j.mp/T9hLWi">prepared statements*](http://j.mp/T9hLWi) instead, and use [PDO](http://php.net/pdo) or [MySQLi](http://php.net/mysqli) - [this article](http://j.mp/QEx8IB) will help you decide which. If you choose PDO, [here is a good tutorial](http://j.mp/PoWehJ).

Which renders as

Please, don't use mysql_* functions in new code*. They are no longer maintained and the deprecation process has begun on it. See the red box? Learn about prepared statements* instead, and use PDO or MySQLi - this article will help you decide which. If you choose PDO, here is a good tutorial.

I suspect the asterisks are derailing it, but why should it care about it anyway? Does it attempt to also fix the comment before saving?

---

Edit

Seems like the Comment's markdown is parsed into HTML and then remapped to Markdown (why?!). Using's Chrome's console and editing the localStorage directly with

<a href="http://bit.ly/phpmsql"><strong>Please, don't use <code>mysql_*</code> functions in new code</strong></a>. They are no longer maintained and the <a href="http://j.mp/Rj2iVR">deprecation process</a> has begun on it. See the <a href="http://j.mp/Te9zIL"><strong>red box</strong></a>? Learn about <a href="http://j.mp/T9hLWi"><em>prepared statements</em></a> instead, and use <a href="http://php.net/pdo">PDO</a> or <a href="http://php.net/mysqli">MySQLi</a> - <a href="http://j.mp/QEx8IB">this article</a> will help you decide which. If you choose PDO, <a href="http://j.mp/PoWehJ">here is a good tutorial</a>.

Appears to fix the problem.

Answer 27

status-completed

Since you're fetching user info from the userpage, could you add in something to show whether the user is registered or not?

Answer 28

status-completed

The same way we press Esc to close the list can we have Enter to add the comment directly instead of the button bellow the list?

My list is getting a bit big and every time I need to select a comment (in a small laptop screen mind you) I need to scroll to the comment, click, scroll down to the end, click to add the comment and the scroll back up on the page to where I was before.

Can this be fixed so Enter adds the comment directly without needing to scroll all the way down?

Answer 29

status-completed

The following message breaks the script, apparently due to the $ in backticks:

###jQuery-$
Did you know that you only have to write `jQuery` in its long form once? By wrapping your code in `(function($) { .... })(jQuery);`, you can use `$` no matter if `noConflict` has been used or not.

Answer 30

status-completed

Is it possible that you could save the comments in a file so that when the script is updated I don't lose my custom comments?