Preflag: frivolous November 19, 2005 1:02 PM   Subscribe

FeatureReqeustFilter: I think it would be cool if we gave users a way to 'pre-flag' their own comments as being frivolous. Other users would then be able to automatically filter out frivolous comments. So users (like me) who find comments like this totally hilarious would be able to see them, and users who wanted substantive discussion could also get that.
posted by delmoi to Feature Requests at 1:02 PM (27 comments total)

Monkeys! I sing the Jello! Magic Wombats!
posted by blue_beetle at 1:03 PM on November 19, 2005


I think most metafilter members have the best interests of the site at heart, and this would give us a way to be goofy without the potential to make the site annoying to people with no sense of humor.

Other features that flow from this would be small notifications in the thread, like [frivolous comment by [so and so]] which you could click to expand and the ability to show frivolous comments from users you find particularly hilarious.
posted by delmoi at 1:04 PM on November 19, 2005


Hmm, I managed to screw up the link in my post, here is the corrected link.
posted by delmoi at 1:05 PM on November 19, 2005


Do I see a Clown of the Week award?
posted by Krrrlson at 1:06 PM on November 19, 2005


Drama queen.
posted by Rothko at 1:11 PM on November 19, 2005


I missed you too.
posted by Krrrlson at 1:15 PM on November 19, 2005


delmoi: I guess you missed my many instances of ;-P
posted by mischief at 1:35 PM on November 19, 2005


Frivolous comments can be annoying at times, but they are by far in the minority and usually marginal in both content and number. Furthermore, I fear a killfile for such comments would go the way of deleted comments; i.e. if you can't see them you have no idea what responses to that comment are referring to.

Also, jokey one-liners and the like are often a spur-of-the-moment type affair (which is half the fun, of course), so I doubt users would actively use it. Lastly, I would appeal to the "all in this together" argument: even if comprehensively used, this system might cause jokey comments to move into the background, where they could form a narrative/thread of their own, thus isolating themselves from the main discussion, and perhaps encouraging this type of contribution by collateral.

So yeah, I would have to vote against.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 1:39 PM on November 19, 2005


Also: why cater to people with no sense of humour?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 1:39 PM on November 19, 2005


I wasn't making a frivolous comment. I really think that.
posted by interrobang at 1:44 PM on November 19, 2005


Boy, is this a terrible idea.
posted by languagehat at 2:07 PM on November 19, 2005


I pre-flag this thread as being frivolous.
posted by furtive at 3:05 PM on November 19, 2005


I'd prefer to see a system whereby people with no SOH can be identified and their comments removed from the thread, thus making the whole thing more elevating and life-affirming.
posted by Joeforking at 3:07 PM on November 19, 2005


That's Hot.
posted by Paris Hilton at 3:14 PM on November 19, 2005


delmoi:
please don't devalue your own rep with frivolous comments.

Seriously, are you asking for a pony for other people that you yourself don't need? That's what "So users (like me) who find comments like this totally hilarious" seems to be asking for.
posted by dash_slot- at 3:18 PM on November 19, 2005


I vote nay, for the same reason I'm against threaded comments- it would disrupt the generally unified flow. Plus it would encourage people to act insane, and this place already has enough of that.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:34 PM on November 19, 2005 [1 favorite]


Frivolous comments can be annoying at times, but they are by far in the minority and usually marginal in both content and number.

Not any more they're not.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:50 PM on November 19, 2005


Stav, could you elaborate?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:56 PM on November 19, 2005


I vote nay, for the same reason I'm against threaded comments- it would disrupt the generally unified flow. Plus it would encourage people to act insane, and this place already has enough of that.

Yes, but you'd be able to hide all that insanity. If you don't like it, you don't see it.

I wasn't making a frivolous comment. I really think that

Well that logo isn't any more phalic then the current one..
posted by delmoi at 5:22 PM on November 19, 2005


oops, wrong thread.
posted by delmoi at 5:25 PM on November 19, 2005


er, nevermind, this was the correct thread *sigh*.
posted by delmoi at 5:26 PM on November 19, 2005


Now you'd have people making injokes that reference things that half the readers never even see.

Also, what would be the setting for the non-logged-in readers, who I believe are the majority.
posted by smackfu at 5:53 PM on November 19, 2005


I have gout.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 7:51 PM on November 19, 2005


One gout, no anus.
posted by mischief at 3:37 AM on November 20, 2005


I think it's a great idea. People take things far too seriously around here most of the time.

Mischief: emoticons aren't common around here. People don't get into an emoticon mindset, I think, so they don't use them and (I think) make a double-take when they see them, if they don't just gloss over them. Anyway, they're kind of ambiguous. ";-P" can be read as "winking and sticking out my tounge." That's kind of a funny image -- I could and in the heat of an argument well might read it as "I'm mocking you and winking to pass it off as irony." Now, that doesn't have *anything* to do with what you'd really mean by it -- even if it is exactly what you really mean by it, it still has nothing inherently to do with it, because of the hard-disconnect that exists between us because of the medium.
posted by lodurr at 6:47 AM on November 20, 2005


lodurr: ;-P
posted by mischief at 10:33 AM on November 20, 2005


What the fuck is going on here? What kind of drugs are you all taking?

Just some mushrooms.
posted by Paris Hilton at 6:59 PM on November 20, 2005


« Older RSS feature request   |   Welcome to new users Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments