Unfavorited?

June 30, 2009 2:09 PM

Just the curiosity of a self-obsessed "Favorited by others" watcher: I've noticed, on a couple occasions, my 'favorited by others' number will drop by a couple digits. Not a lot; I think the last time it was from 95 to 93 or something. I'm not favorited often, and I don't think I've had any posts deleted recently, so I find it odd. Can somebody "anti-favorite" you, or are things being deleted in older stuff than I've noticed?
posted by AzraelBrown to MetaFilter-related at 2:09 PM (47 comments total)

You can remove favorites. I'm pretty sure we talked about this once before. I sometimes favorite things I want to be sure to remember to talk about in the podcast and then un-favorite them, for no real reason other than that's how I use them. And yeah if you favorite things that are deleted (AskMe jokes are a pretty common one here) your fave count will go down.
posted by jessamyn at 2:11 PM on June 30

You can't be anti-favorited. An existing favorite can be un-favorited, however.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:11 PM on June 30

You can't be anti-favorited.

Hey! That's not what you told me yesterday!
posted by Navelgazer at 2:13 PM on June 30

I lose about 1-2 favorites a month. Thankfully, about once a month, someone links to this comment and I make up the lost favorites.
posted by mullacc at 2:14 PM on June 30

Some people use favorites as bookmarks. I'd assume that those folks would review their bookmarks, and remove them once they've made use of the information or it's no longer interesting.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:16 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

I sometimes go back through my favorites and un-favorite old stuff that I don't particularly want bookmarked anymore, lest I end up with 2,000 favorited things and 10 minutes to figure out how to get the tarnish of my silver bracelet or something else actually useful.

As I do it, though, I always feel a bit guilty, because I'm taking away someone's favorite that they earned. I comfort myself by saying "no one pays that much attention to their number anyway" but you've just ruined that illusion.

NO FAVORITE FOR YOU.
posted by iminurmefi at 2:16 PM on June 30

This sorta thing happens every bikini season.
posted by gman at 2:18 PM on June 30

And every once a while someone with many favourites will delete en masse, creating a crisis. Anyone able to find that meta thread?
posted by Mitheral at 2:18 PM on June 30

I'm going to favorite you now out of pity.
posted by Evangeline at 2:21 PM on June 30

Now take it away. See if he notices.
posted by gman at 2:22 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

There was a Great Unfavoriting earlier this year, if I recall...someone was shedding them left and right.
posted by Pax at 2:22 PM on June 30

Ah, I see: I, like a dummy, just spent a couple minutes trying to figure out how to "remove", before I realized I can't delete other people favoriting me. When I looked at my own favorites, now I understand. Thanks all!
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:28 PM on June 30

(The Great Unfavoriting, for those who missed it.)
posted by parudox at 2:36 PM on June 30

filthy light thief describes my favoriting behavior. I've never been comfortable with the whole favoriting system, so I use them only as portable bookmarks--I have a whole folder of metafilter bookmarks on my local machine that usually suffices, but sometimes I want to easily access something at home and at work. Often, I'll favorite something at work, wait until I get home, add a "real" bookmark, then delete the favorite. It's nothing personal, really.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:38 PM on June 30

I shed a hundred odd favorites in the last month or so.
Just to keep things manageable.
posted by juv3nal at 4:00 PM on June 30

I compete my favorites against each other. Every few weeks, I go through them an cut it down to 50, no more, no less. This means, necessarily, that some great comments and posts get unfavorited, because they simply can't make the Hall of Fame cut. Eventually, once this master race of comments matures, I will breed them with any comment I've made that's gotten at least 50 favorites on its own, and a new species of comment will form, kind of like the non-Kurt Russell characters in Solider who were genetically engineered. But, just like those future superhuman warriors were later brought low by Kurt Russell, a normal human, I will be open to allowing the best of the best "normal" comments to join their glorious ranks. Also I am a nerd shit moron please murder me
posted by Damn That Television at 4:04 PM on June 30 [4 favorites]

mullacc: "I lose about 1-2 favorites a month. Thankfully, about once a month, someone links to this comment and I make up the lost favorites."

usually, that person is you. but that's okay! because every time you do it, my comment from that same thread ALSO gets a regular favorite upgrade.
posted by shmegegge at 4:05 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

also, I'm kidding about that person being you.
posted by shmegegge at 4:05 PM on June 30

I compete my favorites against each other.

Oh, man. You know, with the Infodump (once it's up to date and back) and some simple code, you could create a script to do this pretty easily. Just like pull up two random favorites from you existing collection, and you can read both of 'em and which ever one you like better lives while the other one gets unfavorited.

Treat it like a big old ladder tourney, grant some bys on the first round to get into power-of-two territory. Eventually you'd get down to eight, then four, then two, then finally one favorite. And that would thereafter be The Best Favorite.

Comparing different people's ladder history would be pretty good stuff.
posted by cortex at 4:13 PM on June 30 [10 favorites]

I must admit, my sensitive internet self gets bummed out when I see my favorite count go down. It's like, "Heeeey, but I haven't even been here!"
posted by iamkimiam at 4:27 PM on June 30 [3 favorites]

You can't be anti-favorited.

That's not what your mother told me!

About you!

I've got nothing.
posted by found missing at 4:28 PM on June 30

Blazecock Pileon: An existing favorite can be un-favorited, however.

As was your way, when you performed the great de-favoriting.
posted by blasdelf at 5:00 PM on June 30

Ah, the craptacular sport of favorite watching. I wish I could un-favorite.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:04 PM on June 30

(without first favorite-ing, that is)
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:05 PM on June 30

The correct term for this is "favouremptying".
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:07 PM on June 30

Ever since I discovered Metatalk (ie ever since I became unemployed), aspects of Metafilter have begun to seep into my non-internet life. Like say I see a funny commercial on tv or a beautiful sunset... I want to favorite it.

Or like today, some jerk cut me off in traffic-- a few months ago I would have flipped them the bird and shouted JACKASS! But today I was all "Ugh! Flag! Breaks the guidlines! Moron."
posted by jschu at 6:07 PM on June 30

"I lose about 1-2 favorites a month. Thankfully, about once a month, someone links to this comment and I make up the lost favorites."
posted by mullacc at 8:14 AM on July 1

Man, I so need to get me one of those payday comments. I have a couple of highly favorited posts/comments, sure, but not one that pays me favorite shares consistently every month.

Maybe this one will be it? Let's see...
posted by Effigy2000 at 9:00 PM on June 30

Effo: what you want to do is contribute heavily to the green, and especially human relations threads. People seem to be constantly trawling through old threads for entertainment, or maybe even for advice that relates to their current situation, as the case may be.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:33 PM on June 30

That sounds hard. I prefer the easy route. Observe.

I WILL CREATE AND DELETE A SOCKPUPPET ACCOUNT IF 500 PEOPLE FAVORITE THIS COMMENT.

Watch those favorites just roll on in.
posted by Effigy2000 at 9:48 PM on June 30

This seems like a good place to ask for a pony for which I've been pining for ages.

I would like a button on my favorites page (my Favorited by ME page) which automatically clears all 5,992 favorites that I've handed out to people over the years.

There are two reasons why I want this: first of all, to speak practically, my having nearly six thousand favorites makes using favorites for anything besides a sign of assent or approval (organizing things I'd like to remember, for example) completely impossible.

Second of all, and most importantly, I relish the idea of knowing that hundreds or even thousands of users will instantaneously feel their hearts sink collectively as they watch their favorites-count drop. I imagine this feeling will be sort of like what Obi-Wan Kenobi felt when he uttered the words: I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

My psychiatrist keeps telling me I'm not a sociopath, but sometimes I wonder.
posted by koeselitz at 9:56 PM on June 30 [3 favorites]

NOOOOOO!!! you and burhanistan are the two people i can usually rely on for cheap faves, just by me quoting a song by the Fall at an opportune time, you...you...SPOILED VICTORIAN CHILD!!!
posted by UbuRoivas at 10:00 PM on June 30 [3 favorites]

hundreds or even thousands of users will instantaneously feel their hearts sink collectively as they watch their favorites-count drop

Do that many people watch their favourite count that carefully that they actually notice the decrease of one or two? I mean, I know some people do as this thread demonstrates, but is it really that common?
posted by orange swan at 10:09 PM on June 30

koeselitz, please reconsider your planned favorites armageddon. pb and mathowie are working on a great feature that will make favorites very useful, and its due to debut... soon? I hope? pb, any word?
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:26 PM on June 30

Metafilter: My psychiatrist keeps telling me I'm not a sociopath, but sometimes I wonder.

orange swan writes "Do that many people watch their favourite count that carefully that they actually notice the decrease of one or two? I mean, I know some people do as this thread demonstrates, but is it really that common?"

I don't get all that many favourites but I tend to visit my userpage everyday so I tend to notice when the number changes.
posted by Mitheral at 10:32 PM on June 30

Oh, man. You know, with the Infodump (once it's up to date and back) and some simple code, you could create a script to do this pretty easily. Just like pull up two random favorites from you existing collection, and you can read both of 'em and which ever one you like better lives while the other one gets unfavorited.

Treat it like a big old ladder tourney, grant some bys on the first round to get into power-of-two territory. Eventually you'd get down to eight, then four, then two, then finally one favorite. And that would thereafter be The Best Favorite.

And while you're getting obsessive about comparing users, the future of sabermetrics (favormetrics seems like the obvious term) shouldn't rest on antique and imprecise measurements like the plain old Favorites. Even a Favorites per Comment metric isn't very valuable. To compare it to baseball, someone who sits in MeTa and gets cheapo favorites is like a player with a high batting average who never seems to score or drive in a run.
posted by Damn That Television at 11:49 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

To compare it to baseball, someone who sits in MeTa and gets cheapo favorites is like a player with a high batting average who never seems to score or drive in a run.


Hey!
posted by The Whelk at 7:34 AM on July 1

Both favorite accretion and erosion are serious topics that deserve further study. Entropic theory tells us that most favorite counts will tend towards 0, or slightly there above. The only possible solution is a perpetual favoriting machine that generates more favorites than are consumed. I leave it to cortex for the implementation thereof.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:59 AM on July 1

Favormetrics FTW. Of course, there's a basic level of information we'll need to crunch those stats: posting ratios, time-on-site (broken down by color), deletions, flameouts vs. callouts, some more esoteric work on circles of contacts and THEIR numbers, etc.

And then I will invent Fantasy Favormetrics teams and retire rich. (Which, as I'm unemployed, won't take much.)
posted by catlet at 8:13 AM on July 1

Do that many people watch their favourite count that carefully that they actually notice the decrease of one or two?

Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but I use it as an arbitrary metric of how I'll be treating my co-workers that day. My favorite count goes up and everyone is treated to my sunny disposition, it goes down and out comes the chloroform and the Bullet ants.

My psychiatrist has been completely silent on the subject of sociopathy.

Though, in fairness, my psychiatrist is a red rubber devil duck, so it rarely says anything other that "squeek!"
posted by quin at 8:15 AM on July 1 [1 favorite]

Fact: Belief is the Food of the Gods as we all know

Fact: A favorite can be like a little jolt of "hey I liked this."

Fact: It can also be a little "Hey, I believe in you."

My collect and horde my favorites like an ancient dragon atop his treasure trove. With each favorite, I grow a little stronger, a little better, a little more real. When that unknown hour comes, when my counter tops over, I shall move on, graduate, advance, ascend.

And then I shall make my judgments.
posted by The Whelk at 8:28 AM on July 1

Sometimes tehloki just has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
posted by maudlin at 9:22 AM on July 1 [1 favorite]

i forgot: nasreddin is another Fallslut.

does not want to appear illiterate. crack! crack!
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:53 PM on July 1 [1 favorite]

Comparing different people's ladder history would be pretty good stuff.

Yeah, but no, but yeah but absofragginglutely not.
posted by Sparx at 3:41 PM on July 1

My goal is to accrue enough favorites that I become "Too Awesome To Fail". That way if I suddenly lose a lot of favorites mathowie will be forced to favorite me over and over or risk the collapse of the entire favoriting system.
posted by Riki tiki at 1:19 PM on July 2

the soap opera writer would follow him around!

and use his jewels: prime time!
posted by Philby at 11:05 PM on July 2 [1 favorite]

also, i keep reading that comment just above my last one as "Too Awesome The Fall".

(/is acolyte of the great M.E. Smith)
posted by Philby at 12:01 AM on July 3

have you seen Mark E Smith Reads the Football Results yet?
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:04 AM on July 3