MeTa Favorites Of All Time?

December 5, 2007 10:43 PM

Why doesn't MetaTalk have a "Popular Favorites Of All Time?" In MetaFilter and AskMe, when you click on the "Popular Favorites" tab, you can choose between 24 Hours, 7 Days, 30 days, and All Time. Why is the choice in the Grey only for 48 hours?
posted by amyms to MetaFilter-Related at 10:43 PM (26 comments total)

I know that this has been brought up recently, and I wish I had an answer for you.

Instead, I'm going to push an agenda I've pushed before that is fairly along the same lines as yours:

It would be really great to be able to see a list of the all time favorite comments on all sites. I'd love to know what constitutes the comments that the userbase finds most interesting. I can't see any harm this would cause - one-off snarks don't receive the level of attention of stuff like Woz's comment or the Mr Rodgers tear-fest, so I doubt it would end in a massive competition to outwit each other. I want to know what the best of the best commentators have to say. Am I forever going to be outcast from this society for my feeble desires?
posted by item at 10:59 PM on December 5, 2007

I left a comment regarding this on a similar thread.

As it stands now, there's only one avenue to get to "popular favorites of all time". I feel that we should close the loop so that there's more continuity between similar features/links.
posted by iamkimiam at 11:03 PM on December 5, 2007

item: You're not alone. But it's my understanding that Matt absolutely loathes the idea; because of that, I don't think we'll ever see it implemented.
posted by WCityMike at 11:11 PM on December 5, 2007

I like your idea about the comments, item, and thanks for your link, iamkimiam. I enjoy looking back through the Metafilter archives, and I wish that MetaTalk had a function for accessing "popular" posts like MeFi and AskMe have. Maybe it's voyeuristic, but I like to research the history of the site in terms of threads I might have missed.
posted by amyms at 11:12 PM on December 5, 2007

Why doesn't MetaTalk have a "Popular Favorites Of All Time?"

Because the most popular threads in MetaTalk tend to be the ugliest ones, perhaps? I enjoy a good flameout as much as anybody (except maybe languagehat), but I can understand why the administrators would want to avoid highlighting such threads any more than they already are.
posted by dersins at 11:14 PM on December 5, 2007

On another, totally unrelated note, can we make "quoting Ron Paul campaign talking points" a bannable offense, please? Please? I fear it's the only way to stem the slow but steady tide of Ron Paulization of the internet-- or, in particular, of Metafilter, which is really the only part of the internet I give much of a shit about.

And if that means we have to make "quoting [any candidate's] campaign talking points a bannable offense, I'm OK with that.


So OK with it.
posted by dersins at 11:19 PM on December 5, 2007

On another, totally unrelated note...

Make your own MetaTalk thread, dersins! :P
posted by amyms at 11:21 PM on December 5, 2007

"But it's my understanding that Matt absolutely loathes the idea; because of that, I don't think we'll ever see it implemented."

Huh? It's not part of the site because I never thought about doing it yet, not because I have any ill will towards the idea.

I bet the most favorited threads are probably clusterfucks, but I'll add it to the popular favorites page in the next week or so like the other sites.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:28 PM on December 5, 2007

mathowie said: I'll add it to the popular favorites page in the next week or so like the other sites.


Thanks!
posted by amyms at 11:31 PM on December 5, 2007

We have cameras.
posted by thomcatspike at 12:18 AM on December 6, 2007

Did you know that Ron Paul once jumped over the Grand Canyon carrying a boxcar full of lead? It's true. He also dug the Panama Canal, invented the Dewey Decimal System and makes the best sour appletinis in the history of mankind.

Ron Paul means stability and protection for this country. His plan for stemming the invasion of illegal immigration is simple and clearly logical - through a precisely controlled megadose of gamma radiation Ron Paul will gain mutant superpowers that we enable him to stretch himself into a fence 20 feet tall and hundreds of miles long.

However, this will require lifting the ban on human cloning, as Ron Paul will also need to be in office Getting R Done for America. A cloned President Paul just makes sense in todays busy, hectic world. Two Presidents are always better than one.

But what about three? Or four?

Ron Paul won't stop there. There are thousands of copies of Ron Paul planned for our glorious future. Imagine an entire Cabinet staff populated entirely of Ron Paul. Attorney General Paul has a nice ring, don't you think? Vice President Paul?

And that's just Phase 1. Phase 2? Millions of Ron Pauls. A Paul in every home - or two! A Paul to fold your laundry and walk the kids to school! Another Ron Paul to walk the dogs, and another simply to hold up that wobbly coffee table, or use one as a handy coat rack. Imagine all that you could do with your own Ron Pauls!

But that's where it'll stop. Honest. There's no plan for billions of Ron Pauls. You won't ever be the only one who isn't Ron Paul in the room at a party. You'll never have to shoo any Ron Pauls out of your bathtub or cupboards. There's no such thing at all as the "Ron Paul Event Horizon" or the "Ron Paul Radius", nor any such thing as a "Grey Paul" or "Ron Goo" scenario.

Offer available for a limited time only. Supplies limited by the finite mass of the globe and the dynamic limits of modern cloning equipment. Your Ron Paul may or may not be able to jump over the Grand Canyon, depending on chromsonal integrity. Not responsible for loss of life, limb, health or property due to acts of God or zombie attack. Extra-legal fine print published as required by our lawyers for the purposes of covering any and all asses: This will all end in tears, no doubt about it.
posted by loquacious at 12:35 AM on December 6, 2007 [7 favorites]

*crosses arms, taps foot and gives loquacious the evil eye*
posted by amyms at 1:01 AM on December 6, 2007

What? You already got what you wanted.
posted by dersins at 1:08 AM on December 6, 2007

You're right, dersins. (sorry, loquacious). I'm going to bed now, in happy anticipation of the new pony.
posted by amyms at 1:16 AM on December 6, 2007

What we should have is a single page for favorite lists. There should be radio buttons (or web 2.0-y sliders?) that allow you to choose any combination of:

• Time: today, this week, this month, this year, ever
• Content: posts, comments, anything
• Site (as checkboxes): MeFi, MeTa, AskMe, Music, Projects, Travel
• From my contacts: yes/no

From what I understand, the database structure and the layout of the code of the site would make this far from trivial. But still, it'd be ideal.
posted by Plutor at 3:59 AM on December 6, 2007

A favorite for Ron Paul is a favorite for America.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:02 AM on December 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I thought it was because MetaTalk itself only existed for forty-eight hours at a time and any memories of threads that existed before that were just hallucinations.

Or maybe it's all just one mass cluster-fuck hallucination... I'm just going back to the safety of my longboat to think about that one.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:24 AM on December 6, 2007

Ron Paul is the choice of Scientologists. Chew on that one and send me 5 bucks to start my own campaign.
posted by Mister_A at 7:24 AM on December 6, 2007

It's for the same reason MetaTalk doesn't have tags: If MetaTalk were a child, we would keep it locked in the basement, and feed it raw fish heads. There is no love, only pain in MetaTalk.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:24 AM on December 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

There are thousands of copies of Ron Paul planned for our glorious future.

In the Ron Paul, that sentence will read "There are thousands of copies of Ron Paul planned for our glorious Ron Paul."
posted by mullacc at 8:39 AM on December 6, 2007

ronpaulled as fantastic
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:41 AM on December 6, 2007

from now on "ronpaul" should always be said in a Scooby voice
posted by patricio at 8:48 AM on December 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

OMG you guys check out this video of mitt romney wearing his jesus jammies while rollerskating!
posted by Hat Maui at 10:50 AM on December 6, 2007

ooooh ronroll'd
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:37 AM on December 6, 2007

mathowieAdmin: Matt, I was responding to item's comment, "It would be really great to be able to see a list of the all time favorite comments on all sites. I'd love to know what constitutes the comments that the userbase finds most interesting." I had asked for that myself in a former MeTa thread, and I remember you being really rather sure you didn't want to implement that.
posted by WCityMike at 11:42 AM on December 6, 2007

OMG you guys check out this video of mitt romney wearing his jesus jammies while rollerskating!

After watching that I couldn't help but think Ron Paul sounds a bit like Frank Perdue.
posted by ericb at 12:42 PM on December 6, 2007