Did you mean to favorite that?

January 13, 2012 4:05 PM

Tell me about the comment you made or answer you gave that got a lot of favorites that you didn't think was all that great.

So last night I made a throw away comment in the Mit Romney's Penis FPP about having a great setup for a joke, but no punchline. Then I crawled off to bed. Today I come back and it has A LOT more favorites than I expected it to get (which was pretty much zero).

Tell me about the comment or answer you made that everyone just loved for reasons you can't quite understand. Or, tell me about why you favorited something despite the reasons the author thought it was kind of meh.

posted by Kid Charlemagne to MetaFilter-Related at 4:05 PM (173 comments total)

this is a crappy comment - it'll never get any favorites
posted by pyramid termite at 4:08 PM on January 13, 2012 [10 favorites]

I made the most obvious possible joke and got rather a lot of favorites for it. I guess I just got in first with it, but I'm a little embarrassed that it's my third-most-favorited comment ever. (Second if you don't count the posting-for-an-anonymous-user one, which I really don't.)
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 4:10 PM on January 13, 2012

Non, je ne regrette rien!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:10 PM on January 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

This goofy masturbation joke still makes me cringe a little bit.
posted by Ufez Jones at 4:16 PM on January 13, 2012

Pluto has more fans than I realized.
posted by Trurl at 4:23 PM on January 13, 2012

This recent one was pretty bad, especially since the poor guy probably gets that joke all the time.

Here's another brutally obvious joke that was basically just favorites trolling.

Speaking of favorites trolling, every comment I've ever made bashing republicans. If you feel your favorites count stagnating, a quick "Rupubs suck AMIRITE" is always good for at least a dozen -- no substance needed!

That "grab bag" joke was gold, Jerry, gold!
posted by no regrets, coyote at 4:24 PM on January 13, 2012

Pray I don't alter it any further...

Context: in the thread about Lucas' addition of a scream to Vader. It's just an easy throwaway that is now my most favorited comment.
posted by 2bucksplus at 4:26 PM on January 13, 2012

A man needs a good blade, I always carry a razor in my right sock incase I have to cut a motherfucker. In my left sock I carry an extra sock, it is full of ball bearings.

Probably the strangest. I think I was probably drunk
posted by Ad hominem at 4:26 PM on January 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I got kind of a lot of favorites for being an asshole here.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:28 PM on January 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Good idea for a thread. Next we need the "pearls before swine" thread of awesome comments we made that you people didn't appreciate enough the first go 'round.
posted by 2bucksplus at 4:29 PM on January 13, 2012

I think my most-favorited comment was this one, which was nothing but a pissed-off little throwaway comment. I think this is because I don't often comment on the blue unless it's a topic where I have specific knowledge, or I'm really mad... and even with the 'really mad' caveat, I'm conflict-averse enough that I really try not to get roped into yelling about feminism.
posted by Jeanne at 4:29 PM on January 13, 2012

I had a little freakout when AutoCompleteMe was posted. I appreciated the sympathy favourites but really ideas are a dime a dozen. I think they did get bought by Cheezburger though. Dammit.
posted by yellowbinder at 4:34 PM on January 13, 2012

This happens to me a lot. The volume surprises me every time. Obvious joke is obvious, and still they click!

And I love them all just the same!
posted by phunniemee at 4:37 PM on January 13, 2012

I think I was probably drunk.

My intoxicated comments probably have a higher average number of favorites than my sober ones.
posted by Trurl at 4:37 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: I got kind of a lot of favorites for being an asshole here
posted by Trurl at 4:39 PM on January 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

This was a crappy comment for me to have made, and I was rightly rebuked for it.
posted by ColdChef at 4:40 PM on January 13, 2012

It didn't get crazy favorites, but I kinda regret this one. I usually try to maintain some decorum in eulogy threads but the joke was too tempting.
posted by workerant at 4:42 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

My intoxicated comments probably have a higher average number of favorites than my sober ones.

Could we get blood alcohol content of the poster added to the infodump? I think we could do some really hilarious fascinating queries with that data.
posted by FishBike at 4:45 PM on January 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I meant this in exactly the way it sounded, but I should be less snarky when I'm at work. And this one is just pandering.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:46 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I feel slightly embarrassed that my most favorited comment was a silly Simpsons joke.

I will never write a silly Simpsons joke again
I will never write a silly Simpsons joke again
I will never write a silly Simpsons joke again
I will never write a silly Simpsons joke again
I will never write a silly Simpsons joke again
I will never write a silly Simpsons joke again
...
posted by Dumsnill at 4:50 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Pretty much any snide, bitter, sneering remark I've made on Metatalk. I feel like I've been sort of snippy to people lately on this site as a whole, but Metatalk really seems to bring out the sarcastic asshole in me. FWIW, I'm trying to be better about this.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:51 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Almost all of them, really.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:52 PM on January 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

The advantage of getting older is my brain glosses over the times I was an ass. Also, BP beat me to it.
posted by arcticseal at 4:52 PM on January 13, 2012

I thought the story about a script I once read was funny, but no way in HELL did I think it was "triple-digit favorites" funny.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:54 PM on January 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

GenjiandProust and I have talked about this a bit and coined the term favorites-hangover. Nothing makes an ill-considered angry comment feel worse the next day than waking up with a bunch of favorites attached to it.
posted by Kattullus at 4:55 PM on January 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

Lentrohamsanin that was totally warranted.

Personally, my most favorited comment is a succinct and straightforward explanation of the practical effects of banking law.

I don't know why people favorited it so.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:02 PM on January 13, 2012

Oh, good lord. Any number of the kneejerk spittle reactions I had that I instantly regretted and then had my guilt compounded by them getting dozens of favorites. Here's one of the standouts.
posted by Burhanistan at 5:04 PM on January 13, 2012

Next we need the "pearls before swine" thread of awesome comments we made that you people didn't appreciate enough the first go 'round.

I'll see your "pearls before swine" thread and raise you a "great comment, terrible FPP (or question)" thread for sincere comments and answers that are well thought out and well worded, but were for posts that the mods later decided weren't.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:06 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I made a very snarky put down early in an ask me thread that ended up getting about 100 favorites. In some ways the person asking deserved it, and there was an element of truth to my response of course. But it's still embarrassing to think about it. Ugh.
posted by alms at 5:06 PM on January 13, 2012

Someone was really loudly upset about something minor and I made a comment about how we now knew why there were so many deletions involved in the issue.

It got a whole bunch of favorites, but I kind of felt dirty and un-community-spirited every time I looked at it.
posted by winna at 5:07 PM on January 13, 2012

My most-favorited comment of all time is a lame throwaway joke about pedophilia. I am not proud of this.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:08 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

#HumbleBrag
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:13 PM on January 13, 2012 [6 favorites]

The only comment I can remember having made of which I feel completely ashamed is one that I'm confident was favorited by nobody before the mods removed it with some kind of "stop being an asshole" editorial note. So that's a consolation.
posted by Trurl at 5:15 PM on January 13, 2012

But when drjimmy wakes up tomorrow he will deeply regret that sarcastic hash tag.
posted by Dumsnill at 5:19 PM on January 13, 2012

My intoxicated comments probably have a higher average number of favorites than my sober ones.

Good, I'm not the only one. It gets especially weird when you have no recollection of even going online the night before, only to realize your favorite count has risen drastically. This is my best example (appropriately enough, a comment about going out drinking). Tied for second most.
posted by mannequito at 5:22 PM on January 13, 2012

¡Horsechata! got about 50 more favorites than I thought it would. *cringe*
posted by carsonb at 5:29 PM on January 13, 2012

All I did was say that a good movie was good.

Most of my favorites are in threads about abuse in Askme which kinda makes me feel...pretty weird.
posted by the young rope-rider at 5:31 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Even worse than making cheap obvious jokes early, some of my most favorited comments are cheap early jokes with typos.
posted by exogenous at 5:32 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Honestly I'm more embarrassed by the comments I made trying to get favourites that didn't get any. It was only when I stopped trying so hard that I started getting them (been here 6 years and half of my faves are from the last year.)
posted by yellowbinder at 5:33 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I was kind of a little disappointed when my most favorited comment overtook my second most favorited comment. And it wound up doing so almost by a 2-to-1 margin.
posted by Flunkie at 5:39 PM on January 13, 2012

My banjo response was definitely chatfiltery, not helpful and did not answer the question. However, I still don't have a banjo.
posted by b33j at 5:39 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

TIMING!
posted by box at 5:40 PM on January 13, 2012

I felt bad about this one. And my subsequent aggressive behaviour in that thread towards unpoppy.

I mean, I stand by the content of the comment and would post that part again -- the quote itself -- but if I had the opportunity for a do-over I'd like to be a lot less arrogant, haughty and obnoxious about it.
posted by zarq at 5:42 PM on January 13, 2012

And he's fat got 27 favorites.

Made worse by the fact that it was my own FPP and it was maybe the fifth comment in. I do like the title I gave it though.
posted by philip-random at 5:49 PM on January 13, 2012

Almost all of my most-favortied comments are either just stories I was telling or throw-away one-liners I gave absolutely no thought to when I made them. There's a few there that I'm proud of, but mostly I'm surprised when I get a lot of favorites on something. I just comment the way I talk in real life.
posted by bondcliff at 5:51 PM on January 13, 2012

Gah. Munged up that second link. Oh well, I can pretty much link to 99% of my comments and it'll be a throw-away one liner.
posted by bondcliff at 5:53 PM on January 13, 2012

Next we need the "pearls before swine" thread of awesome comments we made that you people didn't appreciate enough the first go 'round.

I can give you roughly five thousand of those.
posted by philip-random at 5:54 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

"I got kind of a lot of favorites for being an asshole here."

I thought that was a callback to this hilarious comment by herrdoktor. More sly than it seemed on the surface.
posted by Kevin Street at 5:58 PM on January 13, 2012

Favorites are crap. Counting favorites is crap. Quit attributing any value to them.
posted by crunchland at 5:58 PM on January 13, 2012 [7 favorites]

Favorites are crap. Counting favorites is crap. Quit attributing any value to them.
posted by crunchland at 7:58 PM on January 13 [1 favorite +] [!]

I just spent a good minute staring at that [1 favorite +].
posted by cmoj at 6:09 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm glad the irony wasn't lost on you. ;-)
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 6:10 PM on January 13, 2012

When I comment on AskMeFi I'm sometimes glib. These comments are then deleted — which I quickly realized is appropriate. But there was one I wish had stayed.

In the post the original question was "How do you internalize compliments and praise?". I started composing an answer saying I had some of the same issues, but it got too damn convoluted so I just posted a glib, one-word answer:

Poorly.

Checking back later I saw that my comment had gotten 2 favorites. At first I thought "oh, some sympathy, that's nice". Then my mind made that 'needle scratching record' sound when it considered that these two mefites may be among the most subtle, devious bastards in the world. I'm still not sure which.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:14 PM on January 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Maybe this comment? I guess we'll see.
posted by planet at 6:15 PM on January 13, 2012

Was pleasantly surprised for the love around here of Noel Paul Stookey.
posted by Melismata at 6:16 PM on January 13, 2012

Remember that April Fool's thing where the site background changed color? Someone who didn't get the joke made a MetaTalk thread about it, and I made a dumb response. (I know, it's all I've got.)
posted by danb at 6:22 PM on January 13, 2012

On the pearls-before-swine tip I am still astounded that nobody favorited my astrological sign awesomeness.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 6:28 PM on January 13, 2012

I was kind of a little disappointed when my most favorited comment overtook my second most favorited comment.

However, I'll admit that ever since I hit "Post Comment" on my second most favorited comment, I have regretted not doing a little more with the donkey. Specifically:

> say donkey, untie me

You say, "Turkey, intark mig!" The donkey looks at you. It does not untie you.

> say good donkey

"Goof turkey."
posted by Flunkie at 6:32 PM on January 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I remember fondly karma whoring on Slashdot to get that +1 that was so helpful when trolling. Metafilter should +1 something or other to make favorite whoring more worthwhile.
posted by planet at 6:36 PM on January 13, 2012

I mean I have fond memories of doing this. The karma whoring itself was kinda dirty and impersonal, in the way whoring can be.
posted by planet at 6:37 PM on January 13, 2012

I was a little confused about the number of favorites my most-favorited comment got; I didn't think it was all that special, but maybe in the context of that thread (about a women whose mental illness gradually destroyed her without anyone noticing [shudder]) I guess it resonated with people.

I actually think a lot of my best and/or funniest stuff was back in the days before favoriting existed anyway.
posted by Gator at 6:52 PM on January 13, 2012

Oh wait, that was my second-most-favorited comment. Never mind.
posted by Gator at 6:53 PM on January 13, 2012

Sometimes I say something I think is super-clever and it gets totally overlooked; then I tell a story about a goose attacking a naked criminal and it gets 300+ favorites and sidebarred.

I do still giggle when I think of the goose going after the guy, but I was surprised it was so popular.

I also saw a goose attack a nun (same campus, same reason: she got too close to the nest), but she was in plainclothes, not a habit, so it's not that funny a story. I feel like her being in a habit would make it funnier.

The moral of both of these stories is I AVOID THE SHIT OUT OF GEESE.

I have a much, much funnier story about a jogger and a chipmunk (also from college!), but the ending is sort-of horrifying and although I can't tell it in person without laughing so hard I'm crying and can't finish the story and have to gasp for air, and then people don't think it's nearly as funny as I do because of the horrifying ending, I feel like it wouldn't translate well to text. (Also I can't think of a thread where the possibility of telling it has come up!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:12 PM on January 13, 2012

[[Witty first comment about post that garners too many favorites]]
shat by troll at 5:44 on January 13 [23 favorites +] [!]
posted by troll at 7:22 PM on January 13, 2012

i just have to say there are a lot of conpirency theorists on here
posted by wheelieman at 7:35 PM on January 13, 2012

This is my fourth most favorited comment, and it did surprise me how many favorites it got.
posted by 4ster at 7:46 PM on January 13, 2012

I made this outstandingly obscene off the cuff joke and two years later it's still my most favorited comment.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:50 PM on January 13, 2012

Hamburger.
posted by prefpara at 7:54 PM on January 13, 2012

I'm not sure whether this comment got way too many favorites, or way too few.
posted by Forktine at 8:08 PM on January 13, 2012

I get why name checks, geeky comedy bits, quotes, and shameless pandering to the userbase get faved. I freely admit to being a favorites whore.

But I had a fairly technical best answer about possible faults in a broadcast video feature that 15% of the US population at most use regularly. I have no idea why it got so many favorites.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:12 PM on January 13, 2012

In the "pearls before swine" category, I offer up this song parody, written late at night about a user who was being obtuse here on the grey. I was so bummed to wake up in the morning and see that it had only gotten 1 favorite.

My most favorited comments tend to be (mostly) polite but firm responses to users in threads where the tide of popular opinion is against them. I don't count those, because I've been on the side of popular opinion, and the choir has favorited my preaching.
posted by booksherpa at 8:13 PM on January 13, 2012

infinitewindow, that answered a question I'd had for a while ... I didn't realize it was always two characters, but I had noticed it was always multiple characters. I use closed captioning because I have a baby; when I'm up late with him I watch the TV with the sound very very low and the CC on so it doesn't distract him or wake anybody else in the house. I've found out there are an awful lot of people like me who use the CC intermittently when they want the TV quiet.

Anyway, it was a question that I bet a lot of people wondered about!

Also, you learn interesting things from CC ... I think it was Bones, just before Xmas, where a character lapsed into a bad British accent to make a joke, and the CC noted "Scouse accent:" and I was like really? A US broadcast network thinks we know what that is? I was much more interested in that detail than in the show!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:21 PM on January 13, 2012

Oh, and another thing. As for the wasted pearls that I've cast before the swine of this mud pit: you lot seem to be quite adept at ignoring magnificent AskMe brainstorms. I am aggrieved that three of my most thunderous have gone unheard, and worse—snubbed for Best Answers. They are as follows in decreasing profundity:

1. 318 original names for your kick-ass metal band / paintball team / videogame clan / workout group. Gaping in awe would be appropriate upon viewing. You may not be able to operate your favorite-clicker. I understand.

2. 35 answers to "help me find a big, scary, exciting and rewarding project or challenge to take on" in one comment. That's efficiency, people. But the laurels were awarded to the plebs, naturally.

3. 15 ideas for... my gods, what is this—it's been honored as the Best Answer! Thank you! Oh, thank you! It's all been worth it. I've been validated by the light-green aura that now adorns my words. I will bask in the monitor's lime glow and absorb it like a lizard beaneath the sun.


Oh, by the by... my theme song has annoyed far too few of you. Tape your headphones to your ears and your hands to the table and set the track on repeat. Thank you.


^This is the kind of stupid shit I say when I've been awake for 36 hours. I find it to be approximately as affecting as four ounces of spirits, except with an inverted energy profile. I made it past the hump and now I can go for another 36. But no excuses; I know I'm awesome.
posted by troll at 8:33 PM on January 13, 2012

Huh, it turns out my most favourited comment is an anecdote about people on the internet mistaking me for a woman and instantly hurling abuse in my direction.

A wee bit further down the list is a comment in which I reassure MetaTalk that I am not, in fact, dead.

MetaFilter is really weird.

That 'not dead' thread was really quite disturbing, to be honest. Being a bit mental at the time, I wasn't at all sure if it was real or not until cortex mailed me about it (that's how you know whether things are real, everyone: mail from cortex!). Of course, I now see how lovely and funny and kind it is - thank you sgt.serenity and everyone who posted in it.
posted by jack_mo at 8:33 PM on January 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Beaneath is a proprietary bean-based skin cream. It's for lizards only. Go away.
posted by troll at 8:35 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

For the life of me I could not understand why a barely literate list about how to roast a duck was my most favorited comment. Duck isn't a hard food to make.
posted by The Whelk at 8:41 PM on January 13, 2012

An older comment of mine is getting a lot of fav traffic lately. I assume it's been linked recently. Any way I can find out where?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:08 PM on January 13, 2012

I've had like 30 or 40 posts deleted from the Blue, and some of the deletion reasons were gems. That's kind of pearls before swine.
posted by planet at 9:08 PM on January 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh put a sock in it, we've never deleted a post of yours. You've never made one.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:10 PM on January 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

But I'm sure some of the deletion reasons really would've been fantastic if that had happened.
posted by planet at 9:12 PM on January 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

My defense of this post got more favorites than the actual post did. I'm still not quite sure I understand that.
posted by themanwho at 9:35 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I find it bizarre yet delightful that my most favourited comment is a terrifying recipe invented by me and my crazy maniac ex when we were the highest that humans have ever possibly been.

disclaimer: in this scenario keith richards does not count as human.
posted by elizardbits at 9:46 PM on January 13, 2012

Now I'm intrigued. Link to recipe, please.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:46 PM on January 13, 2012

This is why I use favorites--to counterbalance all of the jerks using favorites on whatever obvious kneejerk response comes early in a thread on stuff that is subtle and great and thoughtful.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:56 PM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm kind of appalled that three people and a dog died in my most favorited comment.
posted by trip and a half at 10:08 PM on January 13, 2012

Mine used to be me hating on the disabled, which is a weird thing to be most liked for.
posted by Artw at 10:41 PM on January 13, 2012

I have 2 comments that eventually gathered triple-digit favorites: One on health care and one about my grandfather. There's no telling what's going to be popular at any given moment. I got a handful of favorites for a throwaway joke.
posted by pjern at 10:56 PM on January 13, 2012

I did not expect this to get almost 400 favorites. At all.
posted by griphus at 11:04 PM on January 13, 2012

Let me be the first: There are punchlines in Peanuts? felt like a throwaway. It's my most popular comment. Either y'all have no taste or I don't know what depths of humor lie within me.
posted by knile at 11:19 PM on January 13, 2012

Yeah, back when I came up with my cranky little guide to what the amount of favorites you get means, it was because I had managed to write a couple of comments that had gotten over a hundred favorites, and I was all "what the fuck, really" because both of those comments were kind of obvious and not the most beautifully expressed. But they were quick. I guess people run out of clicks as they read the thread? Anyway y'all can favorite whatever you want I guess, I have you all talking at me in Comic Sans so none of it means anything anymore.
posted by furiousthought at 11:57 PM on January 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

My most favorited comment. Was pretty hard to see all these favorites from the top of my high horse.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:59 PM on January 13, 2012

You know that cabal that doesn't exist? This is actually their sole intrigue: organizing to favorite random comments for no other reason than to befuddle the original poster and other viewers. Other chapters of the brotherhood conspire to inflict this sort of trickery on the real world.
posted by taz (staff) at 12:06 AM on January 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

MStPT, behold elizardbits' GREASY HONKY PIE recipe.
posted by cgc373 at 12:40 AM on January 14, 2012

My most favorited comment has only gotten 16, which is not much, and so I feel sorry for myself, but I also try to be as truthful as I can, so I valiantly maintain self-esteem even so.
posted by jiawen at 1:40 AM on January 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

#1. Snarky response in Metachat that I felt bad about making, even at the time (in tone, if not content). Also note the highly-favourited comment a few comments down, and that my first post in the thread, which I thought was far more useful, got far fewer favourites.

#2. A vaguely reasonable but fairly throwaway comment comparing the US unfavourably to Communist East Germany.

#3. "Also, I have been kicked out of my bedroom and told to sleep on the couch because I came home drunk and singing 'Punch 'em in the dick', but it was worth it." [Well, Team MeFi had just beat Team Reddit in the Great London Pub Quiz of 2011]

#4. Stupid obvious joke about mods [MeFi] and mods [vs Rockers]

The posts I'm really proud of? Not so much. *Sigh*
posted by Infinite Jest at 2:04 AM on January 14, 2012

I was thinking the Star Trek Porn parody thread comment: "Fire protein torpedoes!", but then I realized the one I'm surprised got favorited so much was this.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:19 AM on January 14, 2012

obiwanwasabi, do you mean your "women are sort of like laptops" comment?

Because someone linked to it in this thread. I'm not being stalkery, I promise. I was just one of those people who read that comment for the first time because of that thread.
posted by colfax at 3:26 AM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I always wondered whether people were favouriting the comment or the typo.
posted by Chairboy at 3:34 AM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was really quite pleased when this poorly-worded rubbish was replaced as my most-favourited comment by this inexplicably popular Human Centipede joke.

god, too many of my highly-favourited comments are fuck yous of some form or other
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 4:15 AM on January 14, 2012

An older comment of mine is getting a lot of fav traffic lately. I assume it's been linked recently. Any way I can find out where?

I think there have been a post or two asking about this before. You can search (both using the search tool on this site and via google) for either the post id number (at the end of the url when you click on the post timestamp) or the thread id number (the number after metafilter.com in the url for the thread). This usually works, but a couple of times I've had a big surge of favorites for some forgotten old post and not been able to find where it was being linked.
posted by Forktine at 4:52 AM on January 14, 2012

I'm a little sad that my second-most-highly-favorited comment was just a riff on a pre-existing character from Futurama; it strikes me as kind of an easy joke based on shared cultural referencing. Which I guess is fine, but it's baffling to me that it has more favorites than this parody of Charlie Sheen's insane imagined interview with Obama about 9/11, in which the antepenultimate line is maybe the funniest thing I've ever written in my life.
posted by Greg Nog at 5:56 AM on January 14, 2012

Favorites often confuse me. I'm constantly surprised when a comment or post of mine gets more than 15 favorites.

For that reason, I don't put a lot of stock in favorites.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:00 AM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

My first 2 most favorited comments are a predictable feel-good empowerment bit of advice from the same thread, and my third is an Aristocrats punchline that I really figured I'd get drubbed for, but it just felt so right at the time. I think it was because ennui.bz gave me that sweet, sweet setup (see a comment or two above mine in that thread), but then I got more favorites than he or she did, which makes me feel kinda guilty, but not really.
posted by randomkeystrike at 6:14 AM on January 14, 2012

I also want to say that I'm really digging this thread, and that I'm sad that Trurl's newer metatalk thread, which is the requested converse of this one, got closed. Both this thread and that one provide great opportunities to share our neuroses and foibles, which I think is a hell of a good time.
posted by Greg Nog at 6:18 AM on January 14, 2012 [4 favorites]

One of my most favourited comments was a smutty offhand quip about anal sex.

I honestly didn't expect it to be so popular. Mefites are just kinky, I guess.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:43 AM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't feel bad about this quip, but I do feel kind of bad that three other people made the same point in the same minute, and I got all the favorites because I was first (or maybe I am really that much of a comic genius).

This got Favorited a lot, but seemed kind of snippy and obvious in retrospect. On the other hand, I do not regret making fun of Ayn Rand.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:50 AM on January 14, 2012

Not so much a regret, but I wonder how my dad would feel if he knew about the legacy I've created for him in MeFi threads...
posted by pxe2000 at 6:52 AM on January 14, 2012

My most-favorited comment was a throwaway Spiderman pun. I regret nothing, but it's definitely weird. Timing and traffic were right, apparently.
posted by Drastic at 6:58 AM on January 14, 2012

I sort of can't believe I racked up 144 super valuable favorites for this.

Pretty soon I'll have enough for a free iPod.
posted by spitbull at 7:16 AM on January 14, 2012

This was obnoxious generalizing and given a second chance I wouldn't post it.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:17 AM on January 14, 2012

I'm sad that Trurl's newer metatalk thread, which is the requested converse of this one, got closed.

We talked about it and really felt like two favorites-related "show us your comments" threads in one day, in a few hours really, seemed like it was pushing it. It might be a good topic to save til later, possibly, and if that's what's the thread is going to be about, an explicit "This is what this thread is about" explanation instead of a link to a comment in a few-hours-old thread and a cryptic explanation would be better.

We're not explicitly saying that you can't have a MeTa thread about that idea, just that MeTa threads are for the whole community and not just the people already participating in another thread and need to stand on their own and not just say "see other thread"
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:33 AM on January 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

Where cortex said...

If you are starting a new metatalk thread just to point out that a comment you made several months ago did not get as many favorites as you wanted, you should probably recalibrate your "should I be posting?" meter.

... the key word is "just".

I toyed with the idea of a post on that subject before. But I didn't make one on those occasions because it felt too much like "just".

But after 2bucksplus' comment and the interest other people showed in it, it no longer seemed like a "just" situation, so I went for it.

I figured, you get a little boost, you turn a streak around, am I right? Good. Eh? Eh? Good?
posted by Trurl at 7:44 AM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

All my comments are great.
posted by jonmc at 7:48 AM on January 14, 2012

Well, there was that one comment that was merely OK.
posted by Dumsnill at 7:51 AM on January 14, 2012

People like it when you pay attention to tags, I guess. Not that it racked up a bunch of favorites, but I'm surprised it got any, considering it wasn't even my joke.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:56 AM on January 14, 2012

I would have never expected by story about sticking my junk in hard liquor to have struck a chord with metafilter, but there you go.
posted by Blasdelb at 7:59 AM on January 14, 2012

Next we need the "pearls before swine" thread

On the whole, I like Balaklava better than One Nation Underground, but "Playmate," off the latter, remains a favorite. What could be better than a song where the phrase "cellar door" is sung in a faux-Dylanesque manner?
posted by octobersurprise at 9:32 AM on January 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

But after 2bucksplus' comment and the interest other people showed in it, it no longer seemed like a "just" situation, so I went for it.

I retract the "just" as a technicality; maybe throw in an "apparently" instead. A post framed such that the only non-"here is me talking about me" content is a small-text two word parenthetical linking to another thread without any explicit context is not a post that's framed in a particularly great way.

I am, ironically, now embarrassed that my comment closing that thread which was intended more as a gentle nudge than an Oh Snap has now gotten a bunch of favorites, so full circle as far as that goes. A little more snark on a Friday night than was really necessary, my bad.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:00 AM on January 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

I think we need a subsite just for retractions. I'd have a few.
posted by spitbull at 10:05 AM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption.
posted by Dumsnill at 10:14 AM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

But after 2bucksplus' comment and the interest other people showed in it, it no longer seemed like a "just" situation, so I went for it.

Yeah. I am of two minds on this. I have a short list of comments I thought were pretty good but never got any traction, but, hey, I am me; maybe they weren't that great, and I feel a little weird about putting up a comment of mine and saying "Why didn't you love this!?! Look at its adorable eyes and darling face!!! Faaaaaavorite!"* We do occasionally have threads where people ask for under-appreciated comments by other people, but it's not quite the same....

*Note: I am not accusing trurl of this; it's how I feel.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:25 AM on January 14, 2012

My Stephen Baldwin story is my most highly favorited, and I get that, but my second-most-favorited is purely because it was first in the thread. It wasn't particularly witty or anything. Just first.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:48 AM on January 14, 2012

I'm a little sad that my second-most-highly-favorited comment was just a riff on a pre-existing character from Futurama

I'm more surprised that your most favorited isn't the letter to your 16-year-old self. That's loaded with great advice on dressing up dogs.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:11 AM on January 14, 2012

I'm still happy enough with my most-favourited comment, even though the fruit was somewhat low-hanging.

My second-most-favourited was a really unnecessary dig(g) in response to an honest question, and afterwards I felt like a complete twit(ter). I'm sure someone else would have made the same snark, although that doesn't excuse it. If anyone wants to retract their favourite for that one, I'll feel better.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:45 AM on January 14, 2012

I think people would favorite my contributions more frequently if I revealed myself to be Crispin Glover.
posted by Houyhnhnm at 11:51 AM on January 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

It'd be easier to say your name, at least.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:53 AM on January 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

Why didn't you love this!?! Look at its adorable eyes and darling face!!! Faaaaaavorite!

I was surprised no one commented on this post.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:58 AM on January 14, 2012

I reckon people who can't pronounce it must not be too swift.
posted by Houyhnhnm at 11:59 AM on January 14, 2012 [5 favorites]

WIN HIM!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:10 PM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Totally beside the point, but: Has anybody here seen the 1991 adaptation of Ferdydurke starring Crispin Glover (and others)? Gombrowicz is one of my favorite writers, and Ferdydurke is an awesome novel. But I can't quite imagine a film version of it.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:11 PM on January 14, 2012

My throwaway comments don't get more than a handful of favourites, which isn't all that unexpected. I was surprised when my comment about how I'd been knitting a pair of socks while watching the 2008 election coverage got as many favourites as it did.
posted by orange swan at 12:16 PM on January 14, 2012

I didn't really expect this comment to get any, particularly since it's a painfully obvious joke that several others have kind of already made in the thread.
posted by resiny at 12:35 PM on January 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's sad that resiny didn't get any. Here, have some.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:40 PM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I once got 12 favorites for posting a link to an article that the OP had specifically said was NOT the article they were looking for.
posted by yaymukund at 1:15 PM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

42 favorites for pointing out someone else's clever FPP title.
posted by Ian A.T. at 1:30 PM on January 14, 2012

This comment was awesome, and, had it been heavily favorited, we might have a public option today. What is wrong with you people?

My best comments are in other people's deleted posts though. Like natural selection, they were culled from the herd, for being posted, unaware that a post was a double. Like when President Obama implemented my (overly) suggested tactic (of using the reality of "Federal-State Transfer Payments", and the economic/regulatory strings that they imply) for increasing hospital visitation rights of transgendered folks.

My most heavily favorited comments are basically just reading linked articles, or sharing links to more information, and, for some reason, stuff involving CPR and First Aid; "you can't explain that". Can't regret it.

Nope, I regret nothing, and the order is right (if only those were the only comments I had ever made ["Would'st that this were a time Hoody/Desk"]). Each comment is a special comment, almost for a specific special person or at mostly five. Mostly. Except the iceberg of unposted comments, relegated to a folder titled "too little, too late". Except "Debbie Does Daleks". That was just insensitive robo-phobic fear mongering, and Anthrocentric, anti-cruton-petter pandering.

Bullets do so much damage, require so little thought to fire them, and we humans have such fragile forms. This is not a weakness, but our strength, we must value each life. It is so easy to destroy us. So easy to forget our fragility, yet we can do so much, so much that I must say we are not fragile -- not when we come together -- and work peacefully towards a goal.

I regret nothing. Take back all the hearts, and strings attached; I want no more, but I loved it all and meant every squandered minute of it. Maybe my story about Michael Bubble music and being a substitute aqua fitness instructor, and Nick Cage is Everyone/Dracula jokes. I got to favorite this joke myself so it would even makes sense... luckily my inanity isn't memetic, or memorable (luckily people get hostile when jokes are made about favorites, so it probably got me some "secret nemisi", but no 'run-away' favorites)!

For given favorites, I love the feature to "download your favorites" (it would allow folks such as Crunchland, or others who feel or express disquiet at such a thing being "transparent", yet seem to express interest in such a 'concept', were it 'private' or secret, to "use favorites", then "download them, thus 'privatizing' them", launder them, and then to "unfavorite everything"... thus making them secret.
posted by infinite intimation at 1:43 PM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

41 favorites for whining about a stupid thing Twitter was doing?

20 favorites for saying it's ok to play with your puppy. Like. Man it's a puppy.
posted by kavasa at 3:18 PM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

This answer just kept racking up favorites, despite the fact that I still think it's the most obvious answer anyone could have given.
posted by enlarged to show texture at 3:20 PM on January 14, 2012

20 favorites for saying it's ok to play with your puppy.

It was about playing. And puppies.
posted by sweetkid at 4:15 PM on January 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I once quoted Orwell and got a bunch of favorites that I freely admitted I didn't deserve. And of course my humblebragging got me even more favorites.
posted by madcaptenor at 4:24 PM on January 14, 2012

...and I don't even like MLP:FiM for Pete's sake.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 4:45 PM on January 14, 2012

Too late?
posted by DaddyNewt at 6:32 PM on January 14, 2012

I toyed with the idea of a post on that subject before. But I didn't make one on those occasions because it felt too much like "just".

This is why I specifically didn't link to my comment in question when I posted this. I didn't want it to be "look and me - I got favorites I don't understand - now give me more!"
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:56 PM on January 14, 2012

This one was a quickee and got a couple of faves, but I actually was a little confused.
posted by lampshade at 7:03 PM on January 14, 2012

I have a similar experience Madcaptenor with a quote from Sam Clemens. So while, yeah, it doesn't feel like those favorites are mine, I did introduce people to a fine work by an American man of letters and that deserves a little something.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 7:10 PM on January 14, 2012

I don't know that people favorited madcaptenor because they'd never heard of The Road to Wigan Pier. It's because the quote was well placed in that discussion.

Also, it's a nice use of favorites as bookmarks because it's a good one to come back to, and as a reference for similar conversations with friends/family/elsewhere on the internet.
posted by sweetkid at 7:30 PM on January 14, 2012

You guys getting tired of getting too many favorites for posting dumb things should go make a Music post. That'll right-size your Favorites Ego.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:56 PM on January 14, 2012 [8 favorites]

This is my most favorited comment. I was fairly drunk when I posted it, but I am oddly proud of it. Effective gratuitous swearing is an art of sorts, and I (humbly) feel like I nailed it here.
posted by jeoc at 8:02 PM on January 14, 2012

Thanks colfax!
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:13 PM on January 14, 2012

It's the quick quip that seems to be doing it (I was totally prepared for this to actually vanish...).
posted by Namlit at 2:05 AM on January 15, 2012

Well, the first three words of my most-favourited comment are "I", "like", and "porn", so I simply gave up on the whole thing a long time ago.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 5:17 AM on January 15, 2012

mine is me being really disappointed in some members of this community. I got several me-mails after from people saying, essentially that they weren't ready to reveal this about themselves publicly and were glad someone could and would do it.

There were parts of that comment where I was just sputtering in grief and frustration at why this pain is so small and opaque to people that it can be funny. And also huge fear of having my name attached to it. It's the first time I put something so raw and true onto the Internet and not had even a single violent message in my inbox. But it pains me that so many other people resonate with .... Oh fuck it. I'm rambling again.
posted by bilabial at 6:37 AM on January 15, 2012 [10 favorites]

This one was mine, and apparently struck some sort of cow-related zeitgeist at the time. I think it even beat out my real life tornado story. What that says about tornadoes (or cows) is left as an exercise to the reader.
posted by jquinby at 6:55 AM on January 15, 2012

A recipe for Thai Iced Tea got the most favorites. I always thought my answers applied to necromancy would be more popular.
posted by jadepearl at 4:42 PM on January 15, 2012

This one didn't get crazy comments, but it got a few, and I only regret it because apparently Hunger Games people are sore about being reminded of Battle Royale having a vaguely similar premise, and I didn't know that.
posted by cmoj at 6:18 PM on January 15, 2012

My second most popular answer was a surprise to me. "Just do what you love" is such a cliche that I really thought I was the only person on earth who thought it was a much better idea to major in what's going to get you a job.

Job and Life are separate things. Making money in the former can make you much happier in the latter (but I respect that a truly shit job, even a lucrative one, can greatly lessen your will to live).
posted by coolguymichael at 6:38 PM on January 15, 2012

This comment was the very definition of "DTMFA" without anything but my anger at the poster's significant other, but maybe everyone got just as mad? I didn't think it was particularly insightful.
posted by xingcat at 6:49 PM on January 15, 2012

xingcat -- I think it was because people read all that text about that crappy situation and had the same thoughts as your comment, saw it right away and added a favorite.
posted by sweetkid at 6:52 PM on January 15, 2012

I really was trying to understand the situation. I figured if I had it wrong, somebody would correct things for me.

The one with the regurgitating parrot named Cujo is one of my favorite Crazy Animals And Their Crazy People stories to tell though and I am happy that Mefi liked it.
posted by cmyk at 7:22 PM on January 15, 2012

Not worth its own Meta, but I think Americans should be able to spend early morning MLK day flaming each other about buttsex, if they want.

If you can't figure out what this has to do with pearls and swine, ask your mother.
posted by planet at 11:13 PM on January 15, 2012

My most favorited comment is just the word Yet.

btw, due to my wife's misunderstanding of the right context to use the word "gross", I now have an extra 142 shirt with my picture on it, if anyone wants to buy one.
posted by BurnChao at 12:33 AM on January 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's low on the popularity range, but not everyone can be awesome as the rest of you. Like a lot of the others, it was off the cuff and I was surprised.

(I kept thinking of that scene in Ratatouille when the critic asks "How can it be POPular?" Weird shit, I know.)
posted by doyouknowwhoIam? at 6:07 AM on January 16, 2012

I'm still baffled why this comment got 1 favorite, much less 70 some.
posted by slogger at 7:00 AM on January 16, 2012

20 favorites for saying it's ok to play with your puppy.

It was about playing. And puppies.

You could have doubled that by including cats, and tripled it with an anti-declawing statement.
posted by coolguymichael at 9:32 AM on January 16, 2012

I usually take the time to put some serious thought into comments I post, which makes it feel strange that this throwaway one-liner is my second-most favorited comment.
posted by tdismukes at 11:38 AM on January 16, 2012

Penis Jokes?!? OKAY!

I really didn't think MeFi would like penis jokes so much.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:16 PM on January 16, 2012

I typed something in a fit of snark that I wasn't particularly proud of in terms of content or even style, and it got far more favorites than it deserved.

Also, my treatise on breasts got enough favorites that it has become the most praise I've ever gotten for job-related knowledge. Unfortunately, I can't put it on my resume.

The comments I actually put some effort into, however, are rarely rewarded with favorites. Which reinforces my theory that hard work doesn't pay, but being in the right time and place with some token effort can take you far.
posted by MexicanYenta at 5:25 PM on January 16, 2012 [3 favorites]

Devil's Rancher: You guys getting tired of getting too many favorites for posting dumb things should go make a Music post. That'll right-size your Favorites Ego.

Got favorites burning a hole in your pocket? Come and spend them down at MeFi music! Just go nuts on the plus and feel the elation of making the day of some fine artists.
posted by frecklefaerie at 7:00 AM on January 17, 2012

In the Kim Jong-Il obit thread, ook expressed the hope that Kim might be the last of his kind, to which I cynically pointed out that pretty much all of human history suggested he wouldn't be.

It's my third-most favorited comment, and I regret it, and would delete it if I could. I was in a crappy mood about that time (not MetaFilter-related, just in general) and I'm not usually that cynical. While I doubt that Kim will be the very last despotic dictator the world will ever see, I like to think that they're becoming fewer and fewer over time, and that the world may indeed be rid of them someday.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:13 AM on January 17, 2012

Apparently asking the question that's on everyone's mind warrants a favoriting. I mean it's better than a slew of ME TOOs but ...
posted by komara at 8:41 AM on January 17, 2012

Promising to make sandwiches for everyone will get you lots of favorites.
posted by perhapses at 11:47 AM on January 17, 2012

I stole this from Reverend Chumleigh.
posted by Danf at 8:21 PM on January 17, 2012

I just had one happen. Lots of other people actually articulated what I was saying, but I guess it's easy to skim a one-liner?
posted by cmoj at 10:24 AM on January 27, 2012

A quote from "The Wire" on a thread about tracking spammers netted me 40 comments...

Goes to show, whenever you want accolades from pop-culture-literate nerds, The Wire is your barrel full of fish.
posted by softlord at 11:14 AM on January 27, 2012