Where's my FAVORITES bucket?

March 4, 2009 10:52 AM

CAN I HAZ MORE FAVORITES PLEEZE?

the best part of MeFi are the comments and, quite frankly, there's a lot of good comments to praise. instead of adding to the comment thread with a one word "awesome" to each that makes me laugh or think, i like giving favorites instead.

i'd love it if we could bank them or roll the unused favorites to the next month or something like that.

so anyway, just add this to the features requests. i ran out of favorites today and ... well ... am bummed :P

and that is all.

posted by liza to Feature Requests at 10:52 AM (121 comments total)

Recently.
posted by Jaltcoh at 10:55 AM on March 4, 2009

If I could, I would give you my favorites.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:55 AM on March 4, 2009 [3 favorites]

I would not consider it unfair if both liza and tehloki were given unlimited favouriting powers.
posted by gman at 10:57 AM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

People who write in all caps and make tired jokes about LOLcats cannot be trusted with favourites.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:59 AM on March 4, 2009 [17 favorites]

I'd like to be able to share mine as there's a u and an i my favourites.
posted by ob at 10:59 AM on March 4, 2009

Have we talked about having a slashdot/reddit-like up/down modding system for comments recently?
posted by CRM114 at 11:04 AM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

Where's that U tag when you need it?
posted by gingerbeer at 11:04 AM on March 4, 2009

Favoriting 100+ posts a day makes the concept of "favorite" meaningless. Favoriting 100+ posts a day means you may be spending too much time on MetaFilter. Try to do something else. Like visit Digg.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:06 AM on March 4, 2009 [4 favorites]

Rollover favorites!
posted by Hovercraft Eel at 11:06 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Have we talked about having a slashdot/reddit-like up/down modding system for comments recently?

I think we arranged to get threading in place, first.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:07 AM on March 4, 2009

And huge blinking icons, right?

Seriously, how is it possible to run out of favorites? You are doing it wrong.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:09 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Flagged as 'Oh Christ'.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:12 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

You get 100 favorites every 24 hours—so the count doesn't reset at midnight. If you get the message that you're at the limit, you can probably favorite again if you wait an hour or so unless you just went on a favoriting binge and racked them all up in an hour. So if your rate of favoriting is on par with the time it takes to read the site you probably won't run into problems. I think the limit works well to stop abuse.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:12 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I assume you're running out of favorites because you, like me, tend to use a lot of them in real life. I'm always going up to things I like and clicking the [+] button that it seems only a small number of people can actually see. I'm glad you can see them too, because I got into big trouble with my wife after I went up to a beautiful woman and clicked her [+]'s. My wife said that was really inappropriate and there was a lot of shouting and then the woman's boyfriend showed up and clicked my [!] repeatedly and then I woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:13 AM on March 4, 2009 [58 favorites]

'Abuse' has such a negative connotation. Why stifle ' enthusiasm'?
posted by gman at 11:15 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I limit my number of favorites to the number of favorites my comments currently have. If someone removes a favorite of a comment of mine, I remove one from my favorites. Budget balancing, golden mean, etc.
posted by Dr-Baa at 11:15 AM on March 4, 2009

I felt odd favoriting anything in this thread. Its like when you repeat a word over and over again and lose its meaning.
posted by cimbrog at 11:18 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

That way lies madness.
posted by dersins at 11:19 AM on March 4, 2009

If I could, I would give you my favorites.

dios is sitting on a motherlode of them.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:20 AM on March 4, 2009

You just 'like giving out favorites?' I thought we had something special...

*cries in bathtub with pint of ice cream*
posted by jonmc at 11:22 AM on March 4, 2009 [4 favorites]

Running out of favorites is a sign that you are threadjizzing.
posted by DU at 11:24 AM on March 4, 2009 [3 favorites]

dios is sitting on a motherlode of them.

As is this "inhuman monster" from the afterlife thread.
posted by gman at 11:26 AM on March 4, 2009

Out with favorites, in with hardcore tators.
posted by carsonb at 11:26 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Running out of favorites is a sign that you are threadjizzing.

I prefer that brand of jizz to the "LOL" or "I agree!" variety.
posted by gman at 11:27 AM on March 4, 2009

Running out of favorites is a sign that you are threadjizzing.

Not to get all ShameWow - because I ran out once too - but yeah, it's a signal to adjust your favoriting behavior.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:30 AM on March 4, 2009

Is it just me, or has the last year or so seen some serious favorites inflation? It used to be that a pithy one-liner would get you maybe 10 favorites. Now it's more like 30. If you were to look at a graph, it would almost seem like we're 10 times more amusing and loved than we were a year ago.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:30 AM on March 4, 2009

Your favourite behaviour sucks.
posted by gman at 11:32 AM on March 4, 2009 [4 favorites]

Yeah, you need to raise the bar for good comments. As opposed to asking for a government favourites bailout.

DATELINE PORTLAND - MATHOWIE INFUSES ANOTHER TRILLION FAVORITES INTO FALTERING METAECONOMY.
posted by GuyZero at 11:32 AM on March 4, 2009 [13 favorites]

GuyZero, you made me laugh.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:33 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you were to look at a graph, it would almost seem like we're 10 times more amusing and loved than we were a year ago.

In other words: Is it my ego you're stroking or are you just pleased to [+] me?
posted by ob at 11:36 AM on March 4, 2009

Actually, strike that threadjizzing remark. We need some of indicating which comments illiad should steal.
posted by DU at 11:37 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

It used to be that a pithy one-liner would get you maybe 10 favorites. Now it's more like 30.

Further proof that we're in a favourites bubble.
posted by GuyZero at 11:39 AM on March 4, 2009

Your favourite behaviour sucks.

what if your favorite behavior is sucking? Well, then a whole would open up in the space-time continuum that would, of course, suck us into uncharted territory.

Is it just me, or has the last year or so seen some serious favorites inflation?

No. I'm just really that fucking cool.
posted by jonmc at 11:40 AM on March 4, 2009

Is it just me, or has the last year or so seen some serious favorites inflation? It used to be that a pithy one-liner would get you maybe 10 favorites. Now it's more like 30.

[checks favourite list] Such has not been my experience. I think you're just using this claim as a way to brag about your high approval rating, Afroblanco.

I bet that when you were in high school you complained about being nominated to the "fucking prom list" too.
posted by orange swan at 11:41 AM on March 4, 2009

Why not make it a ratio of how many times you've been favorited. For example, you get to favorite two things for every time somebody favorites you.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 11:44 AM on March 4, 2009

"fucking prom list"

your high school had a prom just for fucking? Canada really is progressive!
posted by jonmc at 11:46 AM on March 4, 2009 [3 favorites]

Your free to have my unused favorites.
posted by ericb at 11:46 AM on March 4, 2009

I think you're just using this claim as a way to brag about your high approval rating, Afroblanco.

Actually, I was talking about all those other guys. Because all of MY favorites were incredibly well-deserved.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:49 AM on March 4, 2009

"fucking prom list"

I misread that as "fucking porn list" and thought at least you made it past the "handjob porn list."
posted by ob at 11:53 AM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Taters for thee, and aught else.
posted by Mister_A at 11:53 AM on March 4, 2009

Your free to have my unused favorites.

How about your unused apostrophes and e's?
posted by gman at 11:54 AM on March 4, 2009

I think that favorite-whoring makes favorites mean less and that's not just because I didn't get to favorite for the first time til I was 28.
posted by like_neon at 12:01 PM on March 4, 2009

No 20+ comments here. Moving on.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:10 PM on March 4, 2009

I think the thing (for me at least) is that, in the absence of being able to really sort or annotate one's Favorite's list, the feature is used more to say "Hey, awesome" or "Nice one!" to a commenter than it is to archive or bookmark. I will give a favorite to specific threads for future reading, but when it comes to comments, Favorites are the MeFi equivalent of those scratch-n-sniff stickers from elementary school. You know, the ones that say "GRAPE JOB!" or "YOU'RE THE TOP BANANA!"

In fact, I've gotten frustrated when reading other message boards when I come across a particularly nice comment, because there isn't a handy little button I can click to give the poster that sticker. MeFi is spoiling me in that way, among others.

If there was a way to keep the Instant Karma and separate it from the bookmarking aspect, I'd be all for it. Facebook recently added its own instant positive feedback system, but they use the word "Like" for it. While it's a perfectly cromulent verb, the usage there puts me off a bit. They're making the word more of an action verb than I'm comfortable with. I dunno. I guess it boils down to "I'm going to Favorite this" versus "I'm going to Like this".

Maybe all the feature needs is a fruit or vegetable pun for a name. "Berry Good!" indeed.
posted by Spatch at 12:12 PM on March 4, 2009 [8 favorites]

(Whoa, Tex! Round up that stray apostrophe in the first line thar and send 'er over to the punctuation corral.)
posted by Spatch at 12:13 PM on March 4, 2009

Orange you special!
posted by yhbc at 12:14 PM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

While it's a perfectly cromulent verb, the usage there puts me off a bit.

Even worse, if you want to remove your thumbs up, you have to click "unlike," which is deeply appalling.
posted by CunningLinguist at 12:15 PM on March 4, 2009

Sounds like a money making idea. $5 for every hundred favorites. YES WE CAN.

PayPal me $5 and a list of comments you want favorited. I'll take care of it for you.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:17 PM on March 4, 2009

I think the thing (for me at least) is that, in the absence of being able to really sort or annotate one's Favorite's list...

Yeah, I actually spent some time categorizing them on my user page this morning and then gave up.

News at 11.
posted by Science! at 12:20 PM on March 4, 2009

Maybe all the feature needs is a fruit or vegetable pun for a name. "Berry Good!" indeed.

Oh dear. We have a Strawberry Shortcake fan in our midst.
posted by orange swan at 12:30 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

LOL Awesome I Agree.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:39 PM on March 4, 2009

Have we talked about having a slashdot/reddit-like up/down modding system for comments recently?

Dude, TOTALLY. Also: animated avatars. And .sigs! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME
posted by ook at 12:41 PM on March 4, 2009

I think the thing (for me at least) is that, in the absence of being able to really sort or annotate one's Favorite's list..

Matt mentioned that they're working on being able to tag your favorites and other stuff.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:49 PM on March 4, 2009

I'm Mister No Favorites,
I'm Mister None!
I'm Mister Anti-Favorite, I'm Mister Plus Undone.
They call me [+] Miser, whatever thread I touch... starts to melt in my clutch...I'm too much!
posted by Bernt Pancreas at 12:52 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Over the last couple of days, it seems like my favorites count has been going down pretty much in direct proportion to the number of new comments I've made. This seems like a pretty good idea, as I should probably just shut up, already.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:01 PM on March 4, 2009

Let me explain.

If more favorites are issued, the value of favorites declines. Soon every post will have favorites, and a post with 10 favorites will be as good as a 2007 post that had five favorites. Eventually, posters who get less than 50 favorites will feel unworthy and rejected, and begin hoarding their posts. This will lead to massive FPP layoffs, and the mods will have to borrow from Reddit, Digg, and 4chan to stay in business.
posted by terranova at 1:02 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Actually, I was talking about all those other guys. Because all of MY favorites were incredibly well-deserved.

What an odd comment from someone so against other people favoriting comments they like.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:05 PM on March 4, 2009

um, I was joking.
posted by Afroblanco at 1:08 PM on March 4, 2009

Sorry, but it's hard to tell.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:10 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I love that moment where you're coding something, and you have to set a maximum for some value and you go, "uh, well let's just set it to more than anyone could ever need".

This is often a prelude to a new insight into the variety of life.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 1:14 PM on March 4, 2009 [4 favorites]

Favourites are a FAVOUR not a RITE.
posted by turgid dahlia at 1:17 PM on March 4, 2009 [5 favorites]

I just can't fathom using 100 favorites in 24 hours. I favorite posts that I'd actually want to read again. I can read any random post or thread in my "favorites" and it's awesome, guaranteed. Why? Because the posts I've favorited are my favorites, not just ones I agreed with.

I think what the OP wants is "hehe, pretty cools" which are not visibly implemented. Rather, you just kind of read the comment, agree or snicker, and move on.
posted by explosion at 1:18 PM on March 4, 2009

The "like" thing on Facebook always seems t me as if it should lead to a more granular detail. So, you click "like" and get a little box to explain what that comment is "like". A sort of instant summation.

This comment is like a runny loaf of velveeta, floating in a fetid pool of "it's snowing again"
This comment is like another god damn cutesy spam trap.
This comment is like 26 more things you shouldn't be doing instead of working, in this economy, you imaginationless dingdong who I barely knew in sixth grade, and am confused by now.
posted by dirtdirt at 1:23 PM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

I can't fathom why others obsess over favoriting. Don't you folks have something actually worthwhile to whine about, like, say, anything else going on in the world? There are kids starving in Lichtenstein and you're bitching about favorites. Get some perspective.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:25 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

the mods will have to borrow from Reddit, Digg, and 4chan ...

I'm all for dogging on the government, but there's some insults that cross a line, even metaphorically.

I didn't know there was a daily favorite limit until I read this post, and I think it'd weird and all that as others have said more amusingly, but what was most disturbing was that I almost went back and see if any of the THREE favorite happy folks who have already requested this feature had ever favorited me. And then I stopped myself, knowing there was no result that could satisfy me and terrified at what this impulse means.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:27 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

There are kids starving in Lichtenstein and you're bitching about favorites. Get some perspective.

Actually I'm right in the middle of putting together an awesome FPP on starving Lichtensteinian kids and if people don't favourite it how do we expect to raise awareness about these problems?
posted by turgid dahlia at 1:30 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Oh, man! When I was a wee lad, there were a couple of months when I got into stamp collecting, and I can remember nearly wetting myself with joy over a new stamp from Lichtenstein! Good times, good times.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:30 PM on March 4, 2009

It's not that I don't favorite you. I just don't favorite favorite you.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 1:30 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Actually I'm right in the middle of putting together an awesome FPP on starving Lichtensteinian kids and if people don't favourite it how do we expect to raise awareness about these problems?

I'm not certain, but that sounds like a good question for AskMe.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:33 PM on March 4, 2009

I think everyone should get 10 favorites a day. That's plenty.
posted by lunit at 1:34 PM on March 4, 2009

An it harm none, favorite what thou wilt.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:42 PM on March 4, 2009

Isn't Lichtenstein one of those tiny countries that doubles as a tax haven for the extremely wealthy? If there's any place where children are starving, Lichtenstein ain't it.
posted by Afroblanco at 1:45 PM on March 4, 2009

I like the "I like."
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:45 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I can't fathom why others obsess over favoriting.


You spend so much time mocking people who don't agree with you on the issue that I would have thought you'd have picked up a clue or two by now.
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:46 PM on March 4, 2009

I think we've got some favoriteflation going on here.
posted by dunkadunc at 1:52 PM on March 4, 2009

There are kids starving in Lichtenstein

Let them eat Danish.

I don't mean the pastry, I mean let the little bastards trek across Europe and eat the residents of Copenhagen. If it was good enough for my ancestors, it's good enough for them.
posted by jonmc at 1:59 PM on March 4, 2009

You spend so much time mocking people who don't agree with you on the issue that I would have thought you'd have picked up a clue or two by now.

I'm mocking the really obnoxious need that those people have to control other's mouse-clicking activities on Metafilter. That still doesn't mean what you're doing makes any sense, it just means you're being ridiculed for being ridiculous.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:01 PM on March 4, 2009

Let's introduce "fuckit" alongside "favorite", as a thumbs-down and thumbs-up indicator. Then we give every single FPP and comment a single number, negative if it's "fuckit" and positive if it's "favorite". Then set a lower and upper threshold on that number (say, -25 and +25.)

If the voting reaches the positive threshold, the post or comment is turned bright pink with a little graphic of a daisy in the background, and the ability to vote is replaced with a "mefi guanteed awesome" graphic that you cannot click.

If the voting reaches the negative threshold, the poster or commenter is banned immediately, and their post of comment is replaced with ascii art of picture of an elephant shitting peanuts.

what? it's a good plan!
posted by davejay at 2:04 PM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

post or comment
posted by davejay at 2:06 PM on March 4, 2009

Have we talked about having a slashdot/reddit-like up/down modding system for comments recently?

Yes. Generally speaking, anyone who suggests such a thing is quietly brought out docks, shot, and dumped in the river. Pour l'encourager les autres.
posted by Justinian at 2:08 PM on March 4, 2009

Yeah, put me down for the 'how on earth are you favoriting a hundred things in a day?' camp.
posted by box at 2:08 PM on March 4, 2009

Why stifle ' enthusiasm'?

Edith! STIFLE!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:12 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

this thread is so full of win am afraid to use up all the favorites that i have now available.

@Jaltcoh : DUH! I actually did a search and didn't find that thread. thanks!

@jonmc : Metafilter doesn't have a "jizz in my pants" buttons, so all i can give you is a [+]

@DU : so what's wrong with threadjizzing

as to why i have given away all my favorites? don't know. when am doing it site development work and have to wait in between updates or crashes, i come to MeFi to feel my soul. if it weren't for the snark i'd be probably with an Uzi blowing away every server or computer in my path.

so, yeah, giving people a [+] makes me happy when am down by the server. 'tis why it doesn't happen often. when am actually writing i can't make it here until the evenings.

besides, admit it, y'all get all engorged with delight whenever i [+] you :)
posted by liza at 2:14 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

THIS!
bring the "fuck it" clickety click :)
posted by liza at 2:21 PM on March 4, 2009

admit it, y'all get all engorged with delight

Enlarged prostate here. Decorum required.
posted by netbros at 2:22 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm mocking the really obnoxious need that those people have to control other's mouse-clicking activities on Metafilter.

Ah! I love the smell of irony in the morning.


Meanwhile, someone give liza an uzi and the address to my office.
posted by CunningLinguist at 2:24 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

liza: i come to MeFi to feel my soul.

Funny, so do I.

And I have to say: your soul feels might nice.
posted by koeselitz at 2:24 PM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

Also, when I continuously run out of my 1,000 favorites every day, I find it helps to STOP SNORTING COCAINE LACED WITH METHAMPHETAMINE.
posted by koeselitz at 2:27 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ah! I love the smell of irony in the morning.

Sure, but I don't come here to tell you not to click on the [+] button. I'm sure you have some other snarky agenda, though, with your meaningless throwaway comment. Whatever that is, I hope that works out for you.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:30 PM on March 4, 2009

You could just do what I do. Crete a sock puppet expressly for the purpose of making meaningless favorites. Mine is called "tehloki."


Is it just me, or has the last year or so seen some serious favorites inflation? It used to be that a pithy one-liner would get you maybe 10 favorites. Now it's more like 30.

No, I am that much wittier this year.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:31 PM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

Time was, a favourite meant something. Like when you first got hooked up with an email address. You would check it and recheck it obsessively every hour, praying for that one missive to trickle through, and when it finally came, it was a revelation. It really meant something, and you treasured it like a delicate flower. Reading and rereading, you found fresh layers of meaning, and it gave you purpose. You were now truly a child of the nineties.

Now, you've got about ten email addresses (one "proper" address and nine sockpuppets for furious emails from jilted girlfriends), and you can barely muster up the energy to check any of them, because you know that when you do there will be that dim flicker of encouragement, a shadow of what you once used to feel, because it says You have 186 new emails, and you think, hey, perhaps just one of these is legitimate, but it turns out, no. Bizarre machine-generated poetry. Enough pills to keep an army erect through a three year siege. Cheap Rolexes. And you realise, it doesn't matter any more. These favourites are spam.
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:02 PM on March 4, 2009

I have blackmarket favorites to sell. Plz keep this secret. I took them off sixcolors' coffee table during a heated family argument.
posted by terranova at 3:03 PM on March 4, 2009

.45s, .38s, .303s, nine mil? Roadside bombs? Uppers? Downers? Jazzers? Whippers? We got coke, smack, rock, chip, blunt, spaz, mint, choc, what about it? PCP, MDB, PPPoA? What about a Cadillac? Get you a brand new Cadillac, hot pink? Girls, boys, dogs, cats, mass hysteria? Favourites? Excess favourites?
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:06 PM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

besides, admit it, y'all get all engorged with delight whenever i [+] you :)

tehloki makes me wear a condom when he's [+]ing me.
posted by gman at 3:11 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Waitaminute -- there are kids in Liechtenstein??
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:20 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm confused. What does Roy Lichtenstein have to do with any of this?
posted by ericb at 3:56 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ah! I love the smell of irony in the morning.

Now I'm picturing CunningLinguist in fatigues and a Civil war campaign hat. and I'm kind of excited.
posted by jonmc at 4:24 PM on March 4, 2009

I love the smell of ironing at any time of day.
posted by blue_beetle at 4:33 PM on March 4, 2009

I smell the iron of love.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:33 PM on March 4, 2009

Is this the thread where I can pat myself on the back for breaking 5000 favorites this week?

Cause I just did.

I sat at 4999 for a few days and it was pretty frustating when multiple pithy comments went unrecognized :(
posted by empath at 4:56 PM on March 4, 2009

Heh. I broke 6000 this week, noob.
posted by jonmc at 5:04 PM on March 4, 2009

Suckahs I'm at 3400-something and I've only been here five minutes.
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:41 PM on March 4, 2009

'course, half of them are from liza so it's like...all those zeros are meaningless.

:P
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:42 PM on March 4, 2009

hey!
posted by liza at 6:19 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

If, due to excessive favoriting, you experience headache, facial flushing, or upset stomach lasting more than 4 hours, please seek immediate medical attention.
posted by lukemeister at 6:25 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Man, I sure wish I'd wasted my day not writing and fucking around in this thread instead of not writing and fucking around in that other thread.
posted by klangklangston at 6:36 PM on March 4, 2009

...or upset stomach lasting more than 4 hours

I like how you cleaned that up.
posted by gman at 6:37 PM on March 4, 2009

@jonmc : Metafilter doesn't have a "jizz in my pants" buttons, so all i can give you is a [+]

Oh, my

/Takei
posted by jonmc at 6:59 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I can't fathom why others obsess over favoriting. Don't you folks have something actually worthwhile to whine about, like, say, anything else going on in the world?

I actually did this today, obsessed over favorites while I was out and about on the town.

Well not obsessing so much-- more like thinking. I was thinking that I was a solid journeyman. I'm not your dazzling MetaFilter aristocrat being bedecked with piles of glittering favorites, nor a brilliant AskMe artiste receiving 30, 40 or even 100 and more favorites with one incredibly insightful comment. I am more like a shoe cobbler. I do my work, I post my comments. In a day's worth of posting, say 6 or 7 comments, I usually manage to earn one favorite. I'll never get rich. But I can take pride in my work and do the best job I can and be humbly grateful for the bounty that I receive.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:07 PM on March 4, 2009 [4 favorites]

We should have an up/down modding system in place, but only for MetaTalk.
posted by deborah at 7:50 PM on March 4, 2009

Favorites fucking suck.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 8:22 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Flagged as derail. This is a thread about how amazing favourites are. If you hate them that much, start your own thread!
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:40 PM on March 4, 2009

I think everyone should get 10 favorites a day. That's plenty.

I am with you, if by 'everyone should get' you mean 'there should be' and by 'favorites' you mean 'sign-up slots' and by '10' you mean 'an integer between -5 and 5, to be produced daily by a random number generator'.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:42 PM on March 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have to admit that I was having a pretty down day once, then saw that at least tehloki liked me. It's like Metafilter christianity.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 4:44 AM on March 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Hey, tater tots, all you zeros are meaningless!
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:52 AM on March 5, 2009

Is it just me, or has the last year or so seen some serious favorites inflation? It used to be that a pithy one-liner would get you maybe 10 favorites. Now it's more like 30.

Yeah, it's totally unfair; I expended most of my funny back before favorites were implemented. Now these young kids come in, with their wit and cleverness, and they just steal the show, making us old timers look out of touch and crotchety.

Little fuckers, you just wait till I get my shotgun filled with rock-salt. I'm gonna learn ya! With both barrels, I say, I'm gonna learn ya!
posted by quin at 8:24 AM on March 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

People who write in all caps and make tired jokes about LOLcats cannot be trusted with favourites.

Up until today, after I was just about to make some crack and first looked the picture up for the link, when I read Meatbomb, I saw the Soy Bomber, confabulating Soy to Meat in my mind's eye. Anybody else here do that ? It's like Excuse me, while I kiss this guy--know what I mean ?
posted by y2karl at 10:18 AM on March 5, 2009

People who write in all caps and make tired jokes about LOLcats cannot be trusted with favourites.

LOLcats are awesome. YOU JUST DON'T KNOW AWESOME WHEN YOU SEE IT.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:41 PM on March 5, 2009

New plan: every time someone asks about changing the favorite limit, it decreases by one.
posted by parudox at 1:45 PM on March 5, 2009

i [+] you

This needs to be a t-shirt.
posted by davejay at 4:50 PM on March 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

I'm probably one of the most irresponsible favoriters ("favoriteers?") on the site, and I didn't even know there was a limit.
posted by JHarris at 12:15 AM on March 8, 2009