Now we can sort, yay! October 22, 2010 7:14 PM Subscribe
I wrote a bookmarklet to help sort posts by 'Best Answer' and number of 'Favorites'--wanna test it out for me? See external directions here
For reference: Wikipedia: Bookmarklet
To test: First, go here to my external copy of this question and drag the link to your bookmarks toolbar. Next, visit a AskMetafilter page and click the bookmark. Finally, a little black box should show up at the top of the screen and let you sort the posts by 'best answer' or number of 'favorites'.
My question is--how can I improve this? Any other examples of great bookmarklets? Why doesn't AskMetafilter already have this capability? I used this as a resource to build this bookmarklet.
For reference: Wikipedia: Bookmarklet
To test: First, go here to my external copy of this question and drag the link to your bookmarks toolbar. Next, visit a AskMetafilter page and click the bookmark. Finally, a little black box should show up at the top of the screen and let you sort the posts by 'best answer' or number of 'favorites'.
My question is--how can I improve this? Any other examples of great bookmarklets? Why doesn't AskMetafilter already have this capability? I used this as a resource to build this bookmarklet.
jdlugo: "Why doesn't AskMetafilter already have this capability? "
I love me some favorites, but IMHO anything that rearranges the flow of a conversation like this is a bad idea. Not to disparage your work -- I'm sure there are cases where this would be useful to have, especially if it's AskMe-only. I just hope it's not something that a lot of people start using on a regular basis or expand to the rest of the site. There's already been plenty of debate regarding the perceived effect of favorites on discussion; I'm still on the pro-[+] side there, but can definitely see how people might be discouraged from participating if they knew their contributions were actively being pushed below "popular" content (especially if it were a built-in part of the site).
As for other bookmarklets, the Mefi wiki has a page for them, though it could use some clean-up.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:33 PM on October 22, 2010
I love me some favorites, but IMHO anything that rearranges the flow of a conversation like this is a bad idea. Not to disparage your work -- I'm sure there are cases where this would be useful to have, especially if it's AskMe-only. I just hope it's not something that a lot of people start using on a regular basis or expand to the rest of the site. There's already been plenty of debate regarding the perceived effect of favorites on discussion; I'm still on the pro-[+] side there, but can definitely see how people might be discouraged from participating if they knew their contributions were actively being pushed below "popular" content (especially if it were a built-in part of the site).
As for other bookmarklets, the Mefi wiki has a page for them, though it could use some clean-up.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:33 PM on October 22, 2010
"Why doesn't AskMetafilter already have this capability?"
Metafilter's flat, unpaged, chronological comment style is one of the things that makes it great at least in part by discouraging TL;DR commenting.
posted by Mitheral at 7:34 PM on October 22, 2010
Metafilter's flat, unpaged, chronological comment style is one of the things that makes it great at least in part by discouraging TL;DR commenting.
posted by Mitheral at 7:34 PM on October 22, 2010
Cool, seems to work for me (Mac OS 10.6, Safari), except I can't tell what it's doing in a thread with no best answers.
posted by John Cohen at 7:44 PM on October 22, 2010
posted by John Cohen at 7:44 PM on October 22, 2010
My question is--how can I improve this?
The real answer is that the best way for you to improve it is to uninstall it, delete it, and never speak of it again. This isn't digg or whatever.
posted by Justinian at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
The real answer is that the best way for you to improve it is to uninstall it, delete it, and never speak of it again. This isn't digg or whatever.
posted by Justinian at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
The real answer is that the best way for you to improve it is to uninstall it, delete it, and never speak of it again.
What bullshit. It may not be a feature for metafilter proper, but there's no reason to be a dick to some dude hacking around with a bookmarklet.
posted by ericost at 7:52 PM on October 22, 2010 [14 favorites]
What bullshit. It may not be a feature for metafilter proper, but there's no reason to be a dick to some dude hacking around with a bookmarklet.
posted by ericost at 7:52 PM on October 22, 2010 [14 favorites]
I like reading the worst answers.
posted by fuq at 8:01 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fuq at 8:01 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Who cares that mathowie thinks it's "very cool"? He only created this whole website. The only thing that matters is that Justinian doesn't like it.
posted by John Cohen at 8:07 PM on October 22, 2010
posted by John Cohen at 8:07 PM on October 22, 2010
That is the only thing that matters.
posted by Justinian at 8:31 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Justinian at 8:31 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
I like it. Especially for the super-long threads. I currently don't read those at all, because I don't know where to start. But this way I can just read the favourited answers.
And it's also good for the messed up derailed threads, because you can avoid all that crap.
Thanks!
posted by lollusc at 8:56 PM on October 22, 2010
And it's also good for the messed up derailed threads, because you can avoid all that crap.
Thanks!
posted by lollusc at 8:56 PM on October 22, 2010
Who cares that mathowie thinks it's "very cool"?
THIS IS THE SORT OF QUIPPY KOWTOWING APPEAL TO AUTHORITY THAT MAKES ME WANT TO POST RANTY SNARK IN ALL CAPS ON A WEBSITE LATE ON A FRIDAY EVENING.
What? East Coast homies say it ain't CASPLOCK day anymore? Fuck.
posted by carsonb at 9:00 PM on October 22, 2010
THIS IS THE SORT OF QUIPPY KOWTOWING APPEAL TO AUTHORITY THAT MAKES ME WANT TO POST RANTY SNARK IN ALL CAPS ON A WEBSITE LATE ON A FRIDAY EVENING.
What? East Coast homies say it ain't CASPLOCK day anymore? Fuck.
posted by carsonb at 9:00 PM on October 22, 2010
Actually, let me clarify: I like it in principle but I just tried it out and it's not working for me. It doesn't seem to sort anything at all.
I am using Firefox 3.6.8 on a Mac laptop. I have various greasemonkey scripts installed, including that the scroll tag one. Could they be conflicting?
posted by lollusc at 9:00 PM on October 22, 2010
I am using Firefox 3.6.8 on a Mac laptop. I have various greasemonkey scripts installed, including that the scroll tag one. Could they be conflicting?
posted by lollusc at 9:00 PM on October 22, 2010
Sorry to keep commenting, but I switched off greasemonkey and it still doesn't work. The box with "favourites" vs "best answers" appears, but nothing happens when you click them, except that the page centres on the first answer of the thread.
I tried it on the caps lock day thread and on the "big hugs" thread.
posted by lollusc at 9:03 PM on October 22, 2010
I tried it on the caps lock day thread and on the "big hugs" thread.
posted by lollusc at 9:03 PM on October 22, 2010
lollusc click AskMe in upper-right corner of website. Then apply bookmarklet in an even, circling motion to your irritation.
posted by carsonb at 9:04 PM on October 22, 2010
posted by carsonb at 9:04 PM on October 22, 2010
Oh dear god, I am such an idiot. It works on the askme threads, but not the metafilter or metatalk ones. Which is presumably a feature, not a bug.
I should be banned.
posted by lollusc at 9:05 PM on October 22, 2010
I should be banned.
posted by lollusc at 9:05 PM on October 22, 2010
Neat! I like it! Thanks!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:25 PM on October 22, 2010
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:25 PM on October 22, 2010
This is particularly helpful for massive list threads (the kind in the Popular Favorites of All Time tab).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:29 PM on October 22, 2010
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:29 PM on October 22, 2010
Hangs in firefox on the 2 biggest "favorites of all time" threads, works fine on all reasonably sized posts
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:35 PM on October 22, 2010
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:35 PM on October 22, 2010
I should be banned.
Sorry, you'll have to try much harder than that! winky face!
This is a neat tool. We don't do this regular-like in AskMe for the reasons people already mentioned.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:43 PM on October 22, 2010
Sorry, you'll have to try much harder than that! winky face!
This is a neat tool. We don't do this regular-like in AskMe for the reasons people already mentioned.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:43 PM on October 22, 2010
Thanks for all the constructive feedback!
I certainly understand why this isn't a standard AskMefi feature, but I really like it for the 150+ post threads that are anecdotes shared by other members. I'm not trying to weasel my way into the main site or anything like that. I primarily built this for myself.
FYI, organizing by 'Best Answer' is MUCH faster than sorting by number of 'Favorites' because of all the processing overheard (and my poor implementation).
posted by jdlugo at 9:51 PM on October 22, 2010
I certainly understand why this isn't a standard AskMefi feature, but I really like it for the 150+ post threads that are anecdotes shared by other members. I'm not trying to weasel my way into the main site or anything like that. I primarily built this for myself.
FYI, organizing by 'Best Answer' is MUCH faster than sorting by number of 'Favorites' because of all the processing overheard (and my poor implementation).
posted by jdlugo at 9:51 PM on October 22, 2010
I like this! This is definitely going to be one bookmarklet I actually use.
Two things:
1) I wish it worked on all threads, not just AskMe. I understand how it could be a negative (encourages people to not read the entire thread, would be detrimental to discussion). Maybe having it available just on closed threads would be a good workaround, if this was a concern. It would be fun to use when browsing ancient "Most Popular" Mefi threads.
2) I might be alone in this, but sorting by Best Answer doesn't have as much utility for me. It's already pretty easy to scroll through a thread looking for highlighted answers. Maybe I'm overlooking when it might come in handy, though.
posted by Ortho at 11:56 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Two things:
1) I wish it worked on all threads, not just AskMe. I understand how it could be a negative (encourages people to not read the entire thread, would be detrimental to discussion). Maybe having it available just on closed threads would be a good workaround, if this was a concern. It would be fun to use when browsing ancient "Most Popular" Mefi threads.
2) I might be alone in this, but sorting by Best Answer doesn't have as much utility for me. It's already pretty easy to scroll through a thread looking for highlighted answers. Maybe I'm overlooking when it might come in handy, though.
posted by Ortho at 11:56 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
I wish it worked on all threads, not just AskMe. I understand how it could be a negative (encourages people to not read the entire thread, would be detrimental to discussion).
You do realize that this feature has existed for a long long time as a greasemonkey script, right? Metafilter Thread Highlights adds two tabs right below the post (All Comments and Favorite Comments >5). You can change that threshold to any number you like by editing the script.
The only thing new here is sort by best answer and that wouldn't apply anywhere outside Ask anyway.
posted by special-k at 12:16 AM on October 23, 2010
You do realize that this feature has existed for a long long time as a greasemonkey script, right? Metafilter Thread Highlights adds two tabs right below the post (All Comments and Favorite Comments >5). You can change that threshold to any number you like by editing the script.
The only thing new here is sort by best answer and that wouldn't apply anywhere outside Ask anyway.
posted by special-k at 12:16 AM on October 23, 2010
I really do wish Metafilter Thread Highlights worked in Chrome. It doesn't seem to like jquery, even if you replace the include with the actual jquery code. Come on Plutor, $ is not defined and I will not stand for this.
posted by cj_ at 12:47 AM on October 23, 2010
posted by cj_ at 12:47 AM on October 23, 2010
You do realize that this feature has existed for a long long time as a greasemonkey script, right? Metafilter Thread Highlights adds two tabs right below the post (All Comments and Favorite Comments >5). You can change that threshold to any number you like by editing the script.
You do realize that Greasemonkey is only for Firefox and not everyone uses that browser, right?
posted by John Cohen at 7:41 AM on October 23, 2010
You do realize that Greasemonkey is only for Firefox and not everyone uses that browser, right?
posted by John Cohen at 7:41 AM on October 23, 2010
Great idea, but not working on the iPad.
posted by monkeymadness at 8:15 AM on October 23, 2010
posted by monkeymadness at 8:15 AM on October 23, 2010
I'm in Firefox 3.6.10, and it seems to work for most of the page, after the comment box at the end of the page, it seems to repeat some of the comments from up above. That, and it moves the Live Preview box off to the side.
I'm running Mefi Notepad and UserNotes on Greasemonkey, which may or may not be conflicting.
posted by SNWidget at 10:51 AM on October 23, 2010
I'm running Mefi Notepad and UserNotes on Greasemonkey, which may or may not be conflicting.
posted by SNWidget at 10:51 AM on October 23, 2010
I'm not going to do this because I don't understand computers well enough and it would be my luck that I would kill my pathetic laptop.
I have favorited this post though, so when I figure things out I can come back and try it.
posted by TooFewShoes at 1:17 PM on October 23, 2010
I have favorited this post though, so when I figure things out I can come back and try it.
posted by TooFewShoes at 1:17 PM on October 23, 2010
I have favourites turned off, how many more will it take before Justinian's sage advice pops to the top and saves MetaFilter?
Oh.. It only works in Ask you say? Hrumph..
None of the "this will destroy MetaFilter" from me then. On the other hand, I think you'll find that Best Answers are anything but. Favourite count probably isn't much better. At best, the count used to be a mixed bag. Thankfully I have no idea what it is like now.
posted by Chuckles at 1:48 PM on October 23, 2010
Oh.. It only works in Ask you say? Hrumph..
None of the "this will destroy MetaFilter" from me then. On the other hand, I think you'll find that Best Answers are anything but. Favourite count probably isn't much better. At best, the count used to be a mixed bag. Thankfully I have no idea what it is like now.
posted by Chuckles at 1:48 PM on October 23, 2010
Yes, Justinian is right. We need a button for douchiest answer so we can see what he has to say right at the top.
posted by special-k at 12:50 AM on October 24, 2010
posted by special-k at 12:50 AM on October 24, 2010
Yes, Justinian is right. We need a button for douchiest answer so we can see what he has to say right at the top.
Douchiest comment by a big margin.
posted by Dumsnill at 1:09 AM on October 24, 2010
Douchiest comment by a big margin.
posted by Dumsnill at 1:09 AM on October 24, 2010
I love this, and thank you jdlugo!
posted by leotrotsky at 12:06 PM on November 10, 2010
posted by leotrotsky at 12:06 PM on November 10, 2010
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posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:17 PM on October 22, 2010