Why can I favorite via Recent Activity, but not Flag? April 23, 2009 12:31 PM   Subscribe

Why can I favorite via Recent Activity, but not Flag?
posted by anastasiav to Bugs at 12:31 PM (51 comments total)

Because we'd like people to have to read comments in context before they flag them because flags necessitate some sort of admin response.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:33 PM on April 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


And now I know.
posted by mrmojoflying at 12:38 PM on April 23, 2009


Knowing is half the battle.
posted by Pronoiac at 12:39 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


OK, here's another one: Why can't I favorite posts featured on the Popular Favorites tab?
posted by carsonb at 12:40 PM on April 23, 2009


For the same reason you can't favorite them (or comment) directly on the front page-- because it's best to actually read the post before reacting to it.
posted by dersins at 12:45 PM on April 23, 2009


You can favorite them directly on the front page.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:46 PM on April 23, 2009


Because we'd like people to have to read comments in context before they flag them because flags necessitate some sort of admin response.

But a lot of things that get flagged don't have to read in context to know they're (offensive/wonderful/broken). In an extra long thread, doesn't it just discourage people from flagging, since they'll need to reload the entire page?
posted by anastasiav at 12:55 PM on April 23, 2009


Er, Favorite posts, which is what carsonb is talking about.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:56 PM on April 23, 2009


This is laziness at its finest.
posted by gman at 12:57 PM on April 23, 2009


You can favorite them directly on the front page.

So you can. I stand corrected. Sit corrected. Hunch over corrected. Whatever. I'M FUCKING CORRECTED REGARDLESS OF BODY POSITION, OK?
posted by dersins at 12:58 PM on April 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


This is laziness at its finest.

Why I have to visit Metafilter to post to the front page? Can't you make a plugin for Word?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:00 PM on April 23, 2009


But a lot of things that get flagged don't have to read in context to know they're (offensive/wonderful/broken).

Still, this is the way we decided to make the system work, and that's why.

In an extra-long thread there's a really good chance we're already keeping an eye on it via recent activity anyhow. You can always copy the permalink and email it to us. The intent is to get people to think a little bit before flagging. Most people don't need this little roadblock, but having to wade through 15-20 flags in a row where someone just sort of went GRAAAAAAAAHHHH on the flagging buttons is something we'd like to do less often, not more.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:07 PM on April 23, 2009


Why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight?
posted by languagehat at 1:08 PM on April 23, 2009


GRAAAAAAAAHHHH

I'm going to say that every time I flag something from now on!
posted by anastasiav at 1:08 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight?

Thank you. I just thought that this kind of thing was designed especially to annoy me, but it seems now that it's part of a larger conspiracy.
posted by ob at 1:10 PM on April 23, 2009


I would like to be able to go GRAAAAAAAAHHHH on the flagging button from the front page.
posted by bondcliff at 1:10 PM on April 23, 2009


Still, this is the way we decided to make the system work, and that's why.

Fine, can I at least go over Michael's after my homework is finished?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:11 PM on April 23, 2009


Why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight?

Because.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:13 PM on April 23, 2009


is there a GRAAAAAAAAHHHH iphone app? its too much work to unhunch long enough to make this sound
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:14 PM on April 23, 2009


Hot dogs in this part of the world come in packs of eight, with buns in packs of eight. Y'all need to talk to your Congressman or something.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 1:14 PM on April 23, 2009


Hot dogs usually come in packages by the pound, because that's how butchers think. Rolls come in packages based on the dozen (6, 12) because that's how bakers think.

It seems recently they're catching on and I can now by a package of 8 dogs and a package of 8 rolls. Standards are good.
posted by bondcliff at 1:19 PM on April 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight?

They don't. Hot dogs mostly come 10 to the pack, not 6 to the pack. This is probably because what we think of as the standard hotdog (the ur-hotdog, if you will), wieghs in at about 10 to the pound. Selling them in 1-pound packs makes for nice, even, easy-math conversion from manufacturing, to wholesale, to retail. If Oscar Mayer's factory produces a million pounds of hotdoga, they know without even putting pen to paper that they've produced a hundred thousand cases of hotdogs, each of which contains 10 one-pound 10-packs of hotdogs.

The bun thing is probably just bakers preferring to think in dozens instead of round numbers.
posted by dersins at 1:23 PM on April 23, 2009


On failing to preview, what bondcliff said.
posted by dersins at 1:24 PM on April 23, 2009


Overthinking a tube of lips and assholes.
posted by gman at 1:32 PM on April 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


On failing to preview, what bondcliff said.

Indeed, but then again you did just invent the word hotdoga and for that I am grateful.
posted by ob at 1:34 PM on April 23, 2009


dersins: it's best to actually read the post before reacting to it.

Agreed, especially for flagging, but sometimes I use favorites as something other than a "that's rad" marker. Like to hold something I'd like to more closely look over later on. Anyway and aside from all that, the Popular Favorites tab doesn't pass the seems test. As in, seems odd you can't fave via the aggregate of popular faves.
posted by carsonb at 1:37 PM on April 23, 2009


Why can't I post my flags and tag them "popular favorites"?
posted by trip and a half at 2:08 PM on April 23, 2009


Overthinking a tube of lips and assholes.

Those are what the internet's made out of, right?
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:20 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'm just glad they started selling eggs in eight-packs. I have a gene that prevents me from getting through a full dozen by the expiration date.

At least hot dogs don't expire. Ever.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:24 PM on April 23, 2009


The first bakers were Sumerian, and thus counted base-12 (three segments to each finger). The tradition has endured.

Facts above may be imaginary.
posted by klangklangston at 2:27 PM on April 23, 2009 [3 favorites]


anastasiav : I'm going to say that every time I flag something from now on!

Still better than my system which is to scream "Exclamation point says you are going to burn for this! Burn you fucker! BUUURRRRRNNN!"

And that is when I flag something as "fantastic", you should see how upset I get for "noise" or "derail". Hell, "breaks the guidelines" once nearly got me arrested as, based on the noises, my neighbors figured I was killing something in my living room.
posted by quin at 2:43 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


the ur-hotdog, if you will

Some will, but I won't.
Some do, but I don't.

That's the difference between the ur-user and me.

[JAZZ SOLO]
posted by GuyZero at 3:00 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Overthinking a tube of lips and assholes.

Delicious!
posted by crossoverman at 4:01 PM on April 23, 2009


But a lot of things that get flagged don't have to read in context to know they're (offensive/wonderful/broken). In an extra long thread, doesn't it just discourage people from flagging, since they'll need to reload the entire page?

Jess hit on some of this already, but to expand a little on a couple things:

1. It's not necessarily clear outside of context that context isn't important. Whether or not something is sufficiently offensive/wonderful/broken may not appear to be a question of context but still, lo and behold, be more nuanced when taken in context after all. It's kind of a catch-22, as far as that goes.

Not a major point, but it's there. Insofar as we want people flagging with care, guiding them away from contexts where it's possible to take less care is a good thing.

2. Things that really, unambiguously need flagging tend to get a lot of flags; if nobody who sees it going by in Recent Activity can be arsed to click through and flag it, and nobody reading the thread itself cares to flag it either, chances is are it's not something that really needs attention.

The inversion of which is that the slight per-user, per-potential-flag disincentive of clicking through the thread is not likely to keep problematic stuff from being flagged in aggregate. Everybody has their own personal thresholds for taking action on flagging, but the system works as a summation of all that individual flagging behavior and can absorb the occasional bit of inefficiency on a per-user level.

We want people to flag stuff. It's very useful. But people do flag stuff, and do a pretty good job of it by most accounts, and the I don't think the flags we miss that are attributable to subset of people who

(a) know how to flag,
(b) choose to flag sometimes,
(c) flag in a helpful fashion,
(d) use Recent Activity for a significant portion of their reading of the site, and yet
(e) won't flag something if they have to click through to the thread that they would have flagged had the widget been on the RA page

is sufficiently large enough a set of potential flags that we're going to reverse this UI decision, basically.

And that's not even taking into account the likely additional not-necessarily-great flags we'd presumably be getting in the bargain by making flaggery yet more accessible to folks in the GRAAAAAAAAHHHH camp.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:28 PM on April 23, 2009


I want to go to GRAAAAAAHHH camp this summer.
posted by nowonmai at 4:44 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


why don't I get a text box when I flag to explain why I'm flagging?
posted by rakish_yet_centered at 5:08 PM on April 23, 2009


Languagehat: Why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight?

Because, dammit, a hot dog is not meant to be enjoyed in the happiness of your own home it's supposed to be eaten after you've rushed out into the streets, bought from a sad-faced, weary, slightly unhygienic man, wolfed down on a rainy, windy, cold day, washed down with the tears that are flowing from your eyes even though you know that deep down you've always known that that cold-hearted... cold motherfucking... *sob* never loved... why did I order relish I hate relish and why is happiness a closed door to me and... wait... happiness isn't a door... it's what through that door, right oh goddamn I've got ketchup all over my hands and why did I have to be dumped while watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off I love that film goddammit the ketchup's on my coat too and that stain's gonna be a monster to get off I'm going to die alone.

And now you know why hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight.
posted by Kattullus at 6:04 PM on April 23, 2009 [4 favorites]


Mein gott im himmel, did he just mention ketchup in the same context as hot dogs? Fetch the smelling salts! [reeling, clutching chest] You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm coming to join you, honey!
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:13 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I want to go to GRAAAAAAHHH camp this summer.

It can be arranged. Do you know how to sheetrock?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:14 PM on April 23, 2009


Mein gott im himmel, did he just mention ketchup in the same context as hot dogs?

Yeah, so, apparently opinions differ.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:17 PM on April 23, 2009


Why can I favorite comments that people make here, but I can't favorite comments they make in person? Why can't I flag things people say at meetups?
posted by little e at 6:29 PM on April 23, 2009


Actually, maybe I will bring tiny little flags on toothpicks to the next meetup and pass them out as conversation necessitates. You will all get "offensive/sexism/racism" flags in your drinks like umbrellas.
posted by little e at 6:31 PM on April 23, 2009 [3 favorites]


languagehat: "Why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight?"

Back atcha: Why did "hot dog" catch on (and at this point overwhelm "frankfurter" in usage -- based on my totally unscientific opinion), whereas "liberty cabbage" pretty much vanished at the end of WWII?
posted by Plutor at 6:58 PM on April 23, 2009


Why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in packages of eight?

And why does bologna come 16 slices in a pack, and Wonderbread comes 22 slices in a loaf? This is why I voted Ron Paul.
posted by sambosambo at 7:08 PM on April 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Yeah, so, apparently opinions differ.

Yes, there are those who understand that ketchup on a dog is a culinary abomination on par with seasoning your fries with cat shit, and then there are those who dress up in SS uniforms and sodomize puppies while singing "I'm Henry the Eighth, I am" just to be extra annoying.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:13 PM on April 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Why do flags come in packages of 1 but favorites come in packages of 100? Why? Why?!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:50 PM on April 23, 2009


Actually, maybe I will bring tiny little flags on toothpicks to the next meetup and pass them out as conversation necessitates. You will all get "offensive/sexism/racism" flags in your drinks like umbrellas.

This is the best idea I have ever heard. And at meetings with mods present, when someone gets too many flags, the mod pulls out a firehose and blasts the offender out the door with a warning not to come back for 24 hours. Make it so!
posted by languagehat at 7:21 AM on April 24, 2009


Yeah, so, apparently opinions differ.

Well, OK, I think BOPunk pretty much has it: ketchup is acceptable on gas-station or movieplex hot dogs since those are ersatz hot dogs anyhow, just not on real ones from a street vendor/truck or Joe's in Joliet. And people who put ketchup on dogs at the ballpark should be beaten with the severed forearms of unregenerate cell-phonies.

And ketchup on eggs? That's just nasty.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:28 AM on April 24, 2009


> It can be arranged. Do you know how to sheetrock?

I can learn, but I should warn you that I am expecting a Maurice Sendak wonderland and will weep bitterly if disappointed.
posted by nowonmai at 7:32 AM on April 24, 2009


Actually, maybe I will bring tiny little flags on toothpicks to the next meetup and pass them out as conversation necessitates. You will all get "offensive/sexism/racism" flags in your drinks like umbrellas.

I am actually going to do this for The Meetupening. Awesome. And maybe I'll make favorites stickers, too.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:38 AM on April 24, 2009


Pony request: I want a "Flagged for GRAAAAAAAAHHHH" option.
posted by ooga_booga at 1:50 PM on April 24, 2009


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