My favorite favorited favorites April 1, 2010 4:49 AM Subscribe
Yet another in the infinite series of favorites threads.
I would love to see a Top 25 Most Popular Comments. I'm thinking the top 25 from each side (blue & green) would be a great introduction to the best of the site, and the number of favorites required to make those lists are high enough (about 300 and 160, respectively) that you really aren't going to be able to manipulate your way to those kinds of totals. I prototyped it here.
Maintaining the lists would be no more difficult than sidebarring -- once you code something to remind you that "comment X has now got enough favorites to make it one of the top 25, go put it in there and dump the lowest one". Then the mod writes a little sidebar-type extract text, and that’s it.
Anyway, I had fun reading these, even though I'd seen most of them already. If Matt doesn't think it's worth making a part of the site (and maintaining it) I'll probably still just leave those pages up and link them from the wiki, but I don’t know that I’d be super vigilant about making sure it was accurate, given I can’t automate it.
Fishbike helped a lot with this, pulling the actual links & favorite counts out of the infodump for me, neither of us having any idea why, other than, "let's see". I actually asked him for the top 300 favorited comments from each site, but that was way too many. At 25 or 50 the quality seemed pretty objectively good (IMO of course) so I prototyped with 25.
I would love to see a Top 25 Most Popular Comments. I'm thinking the top 25 from each side (blue & green) would be a great introduction to the best of the site, and the number of favorites required to make those lists are high enough (about 300 and 160, respectively) that you really aren't going to be able to manipulate your way to those kinds of totals. I prototyped it here.
Maintaining the lists would be no more difficult than sidebarring -- once you code something to remind you that "comment X has now got enough favorites to make it one of the top 25, go put it in there and dump the lowest one". Then the mod writes a little sidebar-type extract text, and that’s it.
Anyway, I had fun reading these, even though I'd seen most of them already. If Matt doesn't think it's worth making a part of the site (and maintaining it) I'll probably still just leave those pages up and link them from the wiki, but I don’t know that I’d be super vigilant about making sure it was accurate, given I can’t automate it.
Fishbike helped a lot with this, pulling the actual links & favorite counts out of the infodump for me, neither of us having any idea why, other than, "let's see". I actually asked him for the top 300 favorited comments from each site, but that was way too many. At 25 or 50 the quality seemed pretty objectively good (IMO of course) so I prototyped with 25.
Don't be a square.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:54 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:54 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
Can we also get a bottom 25? The most flagged threadshitting posts of all time!
posted by Pollomacho at 5:59 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Pollomacho at 5:59 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
Pollomacho, here is a link to that list and more!
posted by Mister_A at 6:31 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister_A at 6:31 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
I would prefer to see a ranking of the middle 25 comments.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 6:53 AM on April 1, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 6:53 AM on April 1, 2010 [3 favorites]
This something that could be done pretty easily with the Infodump if someone really wanted to set up a list to update regularly.
I personally find "Top X Of All Time! Of All Time!" lists not super useful because they tend to be fairly static.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:25 AM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I personally find "Top X Of All Time! Of All Time!" lists not super useful because they tend to be fairly static.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:25 AM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Those are good comments, of course, but I would think you'd just get a feedback loop. Once a comment makes that list it's just going to pick up more and more favorites.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 7:27 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 7:27 AM on April 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
In line with what cortex said above, maybe this is more something for the MeFi Wiki.
And by something I mean a task that could be taken on by someone who actually cares and has the slightest bit of initiative.
Which obviously isn't me.
I'm only here for the snark.
posted by slogger at 7:30 AM on April 1, 2010
And by something I mean a task that could be taken on by someone who actually cares and has the slightest bit of initiative.
Which obviously isn't me.
I'm only here for the snark.
posted by slogger at 7:30 AM on April 1, 2010
I would like to see a list of 25 comments posted with no regard for favorite-garnering.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:37 AM on April 1, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 7:37 AM on April 1, 2010 [3 favorites]
I'd be more interested in a dynamic list of the most favorited comments in the past week or something (and I know people would object to that too).
Something about the idea of a list of just 25 (!) mind-blowing comments from the past 10 years that almost never changes ... doesn't sit well with me. It's too reverential of those very few super-commenters. I do like the existing list of the best posts of all time, but this is less reverential since those threads all have lots of comments -- you can pick and choose which viewpoints stand out to you as special. The best comments of all time is implicitly telling you that the points of view in those particular comments are special.
If there's going to be a list of the most favorited comments, I'd rather see the top 100 or even 1,000 so that it gives less privilege to those few at the very top.
posted by Jaltcoh at 7:55 AM on April 1, 2010
Something about the idea of a list of just 25 (!) mind-blowing comments from the past 10 years that almost never changes ... doesn't sit well with me. It's too reverential of those very few super-commenters. I do like the existing list of the best posts of all time, but this is less reverential since those threads all have lots of comments -- you can pick and choose which viewpoints stand out to you as special. The best comments of all time is implicitly telling you that the points of view in those particular comments are special.
If there's going to be a list of the most favorited comments, I'd rather see the top 100 or even 1,000 so that it gives less privilege to those few at the very top.
posted by Jaltcoh at 7:55 AM on April 1, 2010
I'd be more interested in a dynamic list of the most favorited comments in the past week or something (and I know people would object to that too).
Isn't that what the right hand column of the Popular Favorites page already does?
posted by FishBike at 8:04 AM on April 1, 2010
Isn't that what the right hand column of the Popular Favorites page already does?
posted by FishBike at 8:04 AM on April 1, 2010
I note the prototype cherry-picks excerpts from the comments, rather than just reproducing the beginning of the comment. Are you proposing that someone do this manually whenever a new comment makes the top 25?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:13 AM on April 1, 2010
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:13 AM on April 1, 2010
I'm pretty sure this would go against the philosophy regarding how favorites are used across the board. They aren't meant to always be an indication of what people really find to be good reading, but can also be used as bookmarks for future references, etc. By making a top 25 it would probably encourage a perception and use of favorites that isn't universally endorsed.
However, I think they almost always make for great reading, and I'd love a centralized way of finding them all, and ranking them in order. Not because we're making a corporate value judgment about them, but because when you filter out other uses for favorites, it still leaves some really, really good stuff, and I'd simply like quick access to it.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:54 AM on April 1, 2010
However, I think they almost always make for great reading, and I'd love a centralized way of finding them all, and ranking them in order. Not because we're making a corporate value judgment about them, but because when you filter out other uses for favorites, it still leaves some really, really good stuff, and I'd simply like quick access to it.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:54 AM on April 1, 2010
I like to think of the whole site as my list of favorites. Organized on separate pages, loosely by topic. But some favorites are more favorite.
posted by iamkimiam at 9:00 AM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by iamkimiam at 9:00 AM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Then the mod writes a little sidebar-type extract text, and that’s it.
I do the sidebar. I'm not doing this.
A lot of the things that get heavily favorited are weird inside baseball stuff, so as much as I like the idea of sharing out great stuff, the "what's been most favorited" isn't a great way to do that. Your prototype looks nice, but it will look nicer once it's no longer April 1, since I see April 1 on top of a page and immediately disregard the rest of it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:07 AM on April 1, 2010
I do the sidebar. I'm not doing this.
A lot of the things that get heavily favorited are weird inside baseball stuff, so as much as I like the idea of sharing out great stuff, the "what's been most favorited" isn't a great way to do that. Your prototype looks nice, but it will look nicer once it's no longer April 1, since I see April 1 on top of a page and immediately disregard the rest of it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:07 AM on April 1, 2010
Once a comment makes that list it's just going to pick up more and more favorites.
Then we should make getting one of my comments onto that list a top priority.
I nominate this one.
posted by quin at 9:11 AM on April 1, 2010
Then we should make getting one of my comments onto that list a top priority.
I nominate this one.
posted by quin at 9:11 AM on April 1, 2010
Isn't that what the right hand column of the Popular Favorites page already does?
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Thanks. In that case, I definitely don't see the need for a top 25 greatest comments of all time list.
posted by Jaltcoh at 9:12 AM on April 1, 2010
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Thanks. In that case, I definitely don't see the need for a top 25 greatest comments of all time list.
posted by Jaltcoh at 9:12 AM on April 1, 2010
I put this together a few weeks ago as a learning exercise for some Ruby web stuff (Sinatra/Haml/DataMapper). It's probably buggy and may well fall over if it gets more traffic than just me. But have at it anyway.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 10:19 AM on April 1, 2010 [21 favorites]
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 10:19 AM on April 1, 2010 [21 favorites]
that's awesome, combustible edison lighthouse.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:57 AM on April 1, 2010
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:57 AM on April 1, 2010
It's an odd feeling to note how many of those comments in the prototype are super-recent. Sort of a visual marker of how quickly the site is growing, I guess.
posted by librarylis at 11:16 AM on April 1, 2010
posted by librarylis at 11:16 AM on April 1, 2010
25 filthiest comments is where it's at!
While I'd like to think I'm a font of wit and insight, I'm really not that interesting, and the only other filthy user is really quiet. (Really, there are only 2 users with "filth" in their nicknames, I just checked).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:27 AM on April 1, 2010
While I'd like to think I'm a font of wit and insight, I'm really not that interesting, and the only other filthy user is really quiet. (Really, there are only 2 users with "filth" in their nicknames, I just checked).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:27 AM on April 1, 2010
Ha! I noticed that the other day too filthy light thief! I was looking up words and usernames that started with 'filt' on MetaFilter.
posted by iamkimiam at 11:31 AM on April 1, 2010
posted by iamkimiam at 11:31 AM on April 1, 2010
Awesome, CEL - your search lead me to a comment I wrote that I had completely forgotten about. Weirdly, it was #1 on my Longest Comment list.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:36 AM on April 1, 2010
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:36 AM on April 1, 2010
And I get to be the dictator who chooses!
Are you saying that you are the decider?
posted by Pollomacho at 11:39 AM on April 1, 2010
Are you saying that you are the decider?
posted by Pollomacho at 11:39 AM on April 1, 2010
It's an odd feeling to note how many of those comments in the prototype are super-recent. Sort of a visual marker of how quickly the site is growing, I guess.
Partly this is because favorites are a relatively recent addition to the site, so we are unlikely to see highly-favorited comments going back 10 years, even though it's technically possible.
Favorite counts are increasing steadily overall, and average favorites/comment are increasing as well. So, a possible refinement to this list could be to adjust the counts for this "favorites inflation" and find the top 25 by "2010-equivalent favorites".
It's true that this list would be fairly static, but the users of the site are not. As a fairly new user myself, I hadn't read most of these comments before, and they seem like genuinely excellent comments to me.
As I understand it, that was the reason to stop at the top 25, because if you go farther down the list, you do start to see some not-so-fantastic-actually stuff. And also that was a good argument for not fully automating the process, so that a bit of editorial discretion could be exercised if necessary.
I totally get why statements along the lines of "and then a mod does X" are not well received here. They have enough to do! This might fit better on the MeFi Wiki, and if so, I'll be happy to re-run the queries from time to time. Although it's probably not going to be that hard to notice multi-hundred-favorite comments that come up from now on.
Oh, and stupidsexyFlanders is being generous by saying I helped a lot with this. I just ran a couple of queries to generate a list of comment URLs. I am impressed by the amount of formatting he has done with the mockup. I had imagined something with some HTML list tags and that's about it.
posted by FishBike at 11:46 AM on April 1, 2010
Partly this is because favorites are a relatively recent addition to the site, so we are unlikely to see highly-favorited comments going back 10 years, even though it's technically possible.
Favorite counts are increasing steadily overall, and average favorites/comment are increasing as well. So, a possible refinement to this list could be to adjust the counts for this "favorites inflation" and find the top 25 by "2010-equivalent favorites".
It's true that this list would be fairly static, but the users of the site are not. As a fairly new user myself, I hadn't read most of these comments before, and they seem like genuinely excellent comments to me.
As I understand it, that was the reason to stop at the top 25, because if you go farther down the list, you do start to see some not-so-fantastic-actually stuff. And also that was a good argument for not fully automating the process, so that a bit of editorial discretion could be exercised if necessary.
I totally get why statements along the lines of "and then a mod does X" are not well received here. They have enough to do! This might fit better on the MeFi Wiki, and if so, I'll be happy to re-run the queries from time to time. Although it's probably not going to be that hard to notice multi-hundred-favorite comments that come up from now on.
Oh, and stupidsexyFlanders is being generous by saying I helped a lot with this. I just ran a couple of queries to generate a list of comment URLs. I am impressed by the amount of formatting he has done with the mockup. I had imagined something with some HTML list tags and that's about it.
posted by FishBike at 11:46 AM on April 1, 2010
Dammit, say on the tin what you are going to do.
"Yet another favorites thread" is an empty description. The above-the-fold text of a post should contain more information about what's inside. You should be ashamed.
posted by grobstein at 12:01 PM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
"Yet another favorites thread" is an empty description. The above-the-fold text of a post should contain more information about what's inside. You should be ashamed.
posted by grobstein at 12:01 PM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I put this together a few weeks ago as a learning exercise for some Ruby web stuff.
That's awesome.
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:13 PM on April 1, 2010
That's awesome.
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:13 PM on April 1, 2010
Apropos of very little, I had a late thought about the big survey on favorites from a while back. We were asked our attitudes toward favorites, and I said I thought they both made it easier to find the best comments in a thread and they lowered the overall quality of comments made by encouraging grandstanding and snark in order to improve ones "favorites" score.
I still think that's true, but now I also think there's a way to save the good and mitigate the bad: display favorite counts on the post or comment, but do not aggregate them to the user the made them, meaning that I would remove favorite totals from user pages but leave them in the other areas of MetaFilter. I think this would diminish the snarky grandstanding by diminishing the personal "value" of engaging in snarky grandstanding.
If it were up to me.
posted by NortonDC at 2:48 PM on April 1, 2010
I still think that's true, but now I also think there's a way to save the good and mitigate the bad: display favorite counts on the post or comment, but do not aggregate them to the user the made them, meaning that I would remove favorite totals from user pages but leave them in the other areas of MetaFilter. I think this would diminish the snarky grandstanding by diminishing the personal "value" of engaging in snarky grandstanding.
If it were up to me.
posted by NortonDC at 2:48 PM on April 1, 2010
that's awesome, combustible edison lighthouse.
Seconded, and now I know that no single person has favorited only one of my comments; all have favorited my comments not at all, or twice or more.
hint hint
posted by davejay at 3:44 PM on April 1, 2010
Seconded, and now I know that no single person has favorited only one of my comments; all have favorited my comments not at all, or twice or more.
hint hint
posted by davejay at 3:44 PM on April 1, 2010
I would like a link to the 25 most delicious tart fillings.
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:52 PM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:52 PM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'd post one here for you, but linking to porn is generally frowned upon on this site.
posted by gman at 7:00 PM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by gman at 7:00 PM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oh. Oh God. These are so good. Love it!
In particular, the one where EatTheWeek heaps praise upon the wonders of the modern world, and the number of favorites it received, made me wonder if I was still on the right website, then made me wonder if I've had MeFi's population figured all wrong, then made me wonder if I do too much figuring of populations.
posted by Xezlec at 9:19 PM on April 3, 2010
In particular, the one where EatTheWeek heaps praise upon the wonders of the modern world, and the number of favorites it received, made me wonder if I was still on the right website, then made me wonder if I've had MeFi's population figured all wrong, then made me wonder if I do too much figuring of populations.
posted by Xezlec at 9:19 PM on April 3, 2010
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by Rhomboid at 5:32 AM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]