StackStalker: Be Notified When Your Question Is Updated (Chrome Extension)

Question

StackStalker screen shot

StackStalker

Monitor any question from any Stack Exchange site and see when it is updated.

Latest version: 3.0.2 | Updated: May 5, 2017

Minor bug fix to work on https sites.

Rewritten from near-scratch to use v2.2 of the Stack Exchange API, StackStalker is a chrome extension that will monitor any question on any Stack Exchange site and let you know when something has updated. Don't sit there and mash your F5 key waiting for something to happen. Instead, while viewing a question, click the StackStalker icon next to the address bar, and click the "Add this question" button. Then go browse something else while StalkStalker does the work for you. No need for logging in or creating a Stack Exchange account.

When you've added one or more questions, the logo will turn from gray (inactive) to blue (active). When a question has been updated, meaning the answer count, comment count, upvote count, or answer acceptance status has been updated, the icon will display a number for how many questions have been updated.

Clicking on the StackStalker icon will bring up a popup window displaying the questions you've chosen to monitor. On the left of each question are at least two action buttons: toggle monitor (eye icon) and delete (X icon). If the question has been updated, its background will turn yellow and you'll have one more action button: mark as read (book icon).

If you click on the eye icon, it will open or close the eye, indicating whether or not StackStalker will actively check for updates to this question. It's recommended that you un-monitor older, less active questions to prevent unnecessary requests to the Stack Exchange API.

Clicking the X icon will remove the question from your list. You can always add it back by revisiting the question and adding it again.

Clicking the book icon will remove the "updated" status from the question you are monitoring without navigating to the question. If you click the title of the question, it will remove the "updated" status as well.

Please feel free to direct suggestions, bugs, or pull requests to the StackStalker repository.

License

Free! Get it here

Download

Get it here from the Google Chrome Web Store.

Platform

This extension is for Google Chrome only.

Contact

Created by me, Jason Edelman. If you want to contact me, my info is on the website listed in my profile, or you can just leave a comment here (I'll be monitoring this thread :)

Code

This was written entirely in HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript + jQuery. The code is open-source in this repo. Pull requests and bug reports/fixes welcome!

If you made me a version for Super User, you'd have an instant user — Ivo Flipse, Jun 03 '10 at 12:15
Please don't use URL shortening services. They are completely unnecessary. This is not Twitter. — Dennis Williamson, Jun 03 '10 at 15:25
@dennis - ha, sorry, i was posting it around and just had that on my clipboard — Jason, Jun 03 '10 at 15:27
@ivo i will try to make it cross-SE compatible. that's always been the idea, i just don't know how without hard-coding each site: http://stackapps.com/questions/499/what-is-the-best-way-to-provide-support-for-an-unknowable-number-of-stackexchange — Jason, Jun 03 '10 at 15:44
Jason, please follow the [app] announcement template. http://stackapps.com/questions/7/how-to-list-your-application-on-stack-apps — Kevin Montrose, Jun 03 '10 at 22:07
@ivo - (and everyone else) i have updated it now to run all stack exchange sites :) i haven't had time to update the documentation yet, but i'm getting there! — Jason, Jun 14 '10 at 17:05
@ivo let me know what you think! it's still in development so there may be some bugs, but i think in general it does the job :) — Jason, Jun 16 '10 at 20:47
@kevin thanks :) see how quickly i was able to respond? wonder why? :D — Jason, Jun 18 '10 at 18:25
@Jason: it does his job well, though I'd love to have it note me on moderator flags and stuff as well... But those aren't include in the API are they? — Ivo Flipse, Jun 22 '10 at 09:55
Oh and I'm using it now to keep track of this question too ;-) — Ivo Flipse, Jun 22 '10 at 09:55
@ivo - unfortunately i don't think the API has any moderator stuff built in, but if it did that would be pretty cool. I'm not a moderator of any site so i wouldn't even be able to test it! haha — Jason, Jun 22 '10 at 16:36
Is it possible to have this use Google Sync so that watched questions sync between computers? — Daniel Schaffer, Jul 06 '10 at 03:34
@daniel i'd like to be able to sync between comps, but i don't think google sync is how to do it: http://www.google.com/sync/index.html it looks like all that service does is sync contacts, calendars, and email — Jason, Jul 06 '10 at 17:11
@Jason: Thanks! I put it together last week after people started complaining that there was no 'app-store' for the apps / libraries here. Any suggestions for features, etc.? — Nathan Osman, Jul 07 '10 at 04:06
@george - yeah, make the "search" search the tags as well as the description. i didn't have "chrome extension" in my description but i had both in my tags and my app didn't come up. also, if you showed links to other apps that had the same tags, that would be cool. a tag autocomplete would be nice and reduce tag noise as well. those are just my first impressions. otherwise, very nice! i wish i could follow it using my app, hahaha — Jason, Jul 07 '10 at 04:12
@Jason: I am planning a tag search feature... good idea listing similar apps by tag. As for your last point, maybe I should expose an API :) — Nathan Osman, Jul 07 '10 at 04:14
@george ps, are you by chance using my app to follow this thread? or are you just hanging around the site — Jason, Jul 07 '10 at 04:17
@Jason - I was thinking of whatever service Google uses to sync bookmarks, but some quick searching didn't uncover much information. — Daniel Schaffer, Jul 10 '10 at 15:28
@Jason: Hey, I put together an API for StackList that closely resembles the SO API. You can find details here. — Nathan Osman, Jul 16 '10 at 17:29
@george ha! great! if you wanted, you could completely repurpose a lot of my code to make one that follows apps on your site :) — Jason, Jul 16 '10 at 17:33
@Jason: Are you going to add support for StackList to StackStalker? That would be great - then people would be notified when new apps are posted, etc. — Nathan Osman, Jul 16 '10 at 17:35
@george hm... dunno... the api is different... it would take a lot of finagling to make it work alongside the stackexchange stuff. plus there are no votes/answers or anything like that — Jason, Jul 16 '10 at 17:39
@Jason: I tried my hardest to make the API as similar as possible. The JSON, the arrays, etc. Any ideas for further changes are welcome. — Nathan Osman, Jul 16 '10 at 17:41
@george yeah there are a lot of similarities, but the format is still too different to easily incorporate it (QA site vs just an app listing). i suppose i can put it in as a future development, but i'm not sure when i'll be touching this project again (working for free makes less money than working for money :) — Jason, Jul 16 '10 at 17:46
this extension is AWESOME, could you please add the possibility to track also the question made in the beta stackexchange sites? — Marcx, Oct 31 '11 at 10:38
@Jason can you add shortcut keys? First: To add question instead of having to click the button. Second: Delete or stop following the current questions. Thanks. — Vladimir Oselsky, Jan 16 '14 at 19:34
There are a lot of things I need to do, but that's a pretty good suggestion! :) — Jason, Jan 16 '14 at 22:52
@Marcx fyi, just updated to use the new API! should work on ALL stack exchange sites! — Jason, Sep 14 '14 at 01:41