Best Comment?

June 21, 2006 2:13 AM

How about a 'Best Comment' option on MeFi, similar to the 'Best Answer' option on AskMe? [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 to Feature Requests at 2:13 AM (28 comments total)

One of the many reasons that people contribute to AskMe is to try and get that coveted 'Best Answer' highlight. By and large, it leads to a lot of good contributions. There's still some snark here and there, but I would argue it's a lot less than it is on MeFi.

I know that you can flag comments on MeFi as "fantastic" and you can check the most Favorited page to see comments that have been marked as many peoples favorite, but both of these are things that largely go unnoticed by the majority of MeFites. So I argue that a similar system in MeFi to the Best Answer system, where the creator of the thread can chose one or more excellent comments to flag as being excellent, would lead to many more positive contributions from the user base.
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:14 AM on June 21, 2006

Bah. That stupid "X wins the thread" meme already bugs the shit out of me, this would just set it over the top. The whole point of AskMe is that each post asks a single, discrete, answerable question, so it is logical that you could select one or more "best" answers. On the blue though, there is no such structure, and so having a "best" answer is meaningless. It would just devolve into a "look who can be the first to make a funny snark." Sorry, but that's fucking lame. The flagging and favorites already have this covered.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:00 AM on June 21, 2006

I can't read this thread until there are sufficient positive feedback loopings. Filter-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r
posted by peacay at 3:42 AM on June 21, 2006

One of the many reasons that people contribute to AskMe is to try and get that coveted 'Best Answer' highlight.

How do you know that?

I agree with Rhomboid, flagging and favourites covers this.
posted by gsb at 3:42 AM on June 21, 2006

This kinda suggests that someone's viewpoint of a topic can be better than anothers. Which, y'know, ain't cool.

Or is this more a 'best joke' feature? If you need a light coloured blue box around your words so you know you are funny, chances are, you're not.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 4:18 AM on June 21, 2006

sounds like fun. and it would annoy the fuck out of Rhombosis.
posted by quonsar at 4:19 AM on June 21, 2006

We parallelograms are easily angered.
posted by Rhomboid at 4:42 AM on June 21, 2006

Having it marked by the creator of the thread is a very bad idea.

Why not just mark the most flagged-fantastic/favourited posts in a thread with a light blue box? I mean, I'm not sure how good an idea that is, but it's certainly an easier and more sane implementation.
posted by reklaw at 5:07 AM on June 21, 2006

There has to be a formula to pinpoint the exact amount of traffic/membership that forces a community site to implement community moderation to avoid a cataclysmic meltdown.

I don't think we're there yet, but maybe in another year or so, it might be unavoidable.
posted by empath at 5:31 AM on June 21, 2006

So who's winning Metafilter so far?
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 5:57 AM on June 21, 2006

This kinda suggests that someone's viewpoint of a topic can be better than anothers. Which, y'know, ain't cool.

MetaFilter: Apples to Apples

(I love that game, and someone mentioned it in an AskMe post the other day. cool)
posted by bleary at 6:08 AM on June 21, 2006

If Metafiler is Apples to Apples we need to pick a trump card, like "George W. Bush" or "Celine Dion".
posted by Mr. Six at 6:32 AM on June 21, 2006

Whip 'em out, boys. Biggest schlong gets a sweet blue box enveloping his comment.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:38 AM on June 21, 2006

This is about the worst possible idea for Metafilter and shows an amazing lack of understanding regarding the differences in both moderation and objective between AskMe and MeFi.

Do you really want a "best snark" competition formalized?
posted by klangklangston at 6:41 AM on June 21, 2006

I thought FPPs were supposed to promote discussion, not a competition to see who can most eloquently reflect the original poster's views on a topic.

The reason "Best Answer" works in AskMe is because the questioner presumably doesn't know what kind of answer he or she wants, so the "Best Answer" reflects what they found most truly helpful to their situation.
posted by Anonymous at 6:42 AM on June 21, 2006

« Older Curious - what happened approx...

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posted by monju_bosatsu at 7:05 AM on June 21, 2006

This thread has been reopened to new comments.
posted by Bugbread at 7:19 AM on June 21, 2006

This thread is feeling kind of conflicted about new comments.
posted by cortex at 7:45 AM on June 21, 2006 [1 favorite]

And no. God no. The green and the blue are very different creatures—reading the blue should be an adventure through the offerings of the userbase, a survey in natural sequence of the things that people say. If you need a digest of Only The Best, then use the favorites and the fantastics. If you need validation that You Are The Best, find some place that's actually designed for that.
posted by cortex at 7:48 AM on June 21, 2006

AskMe did just fine before the best answers feature. Also, suggesting such a feature for the Blue indicates a serious misunderstanding of what "comments" actually are (not to mention discussion), and such an attitude probably contributes as much to harming discussion on Metafilter than anything else does.

Dammit monju, you completely got me. I refreshed to MeTa main page to try and figure out what was wrong.
posted by OmieWise at 8:35 AM on June 21, 2006

This thread is having trouble breathing after taking a savage beating in the back alley by a gang of pancake-wielding-bunnies hellbent on world domination.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:43 AM on June 21, 2006

it took six years of hard work, but finally, in 2006, Metafilter became Plastic.com.
posted by fishfucker at 9:02 AM on June 21, 2006

and it's the same old Plastic that it wasn't okay to like, too.
posted by shmegegge at 10:53 AM on June 21, 2006

trump card:


posted by loquacious at 11:10 AM on June 21, 2006

cortex writes "And no. God no."

Seconded. Much too reminiscent of Mojo and Karma. Why must everything be a competition? Why does there always have to be a "Winner"?
posted by Mitheral at 1:04 PM on June 21, 2006

There should be an "exactly average, middle of the road comment".
posted by signal at 5:34 AM on June 22, 2006

'Fuck that noise,' he bellowed to the nighttime sky.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:53 AM on June 22, 2006

Hmm yes, popularity contests. Did all of you forget high school or something?
posted by longbaugh at 8:14 AM on June 22, 2006