mark your own comment as best answer

September 7, 2006 5:14 PM

I didn't know it was possible to mark your own comment as best answer. Am I correct in that you can't favorite your own comments either?
posted by IndigoRain to Bugs at 5:14 PM (37 comments total)

You can favorite your own comments, but why would you?
posted by owhydididoit at 5:28 PM on September 7, 2006

Why don't you give it a try?
posted by interrobang at 5:28 PM on September 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

Maybe he was just trying to highlight it so people could see the follow up? Of course that's not the brightest idea since people like me would scroll through, see that a comment had been marked best answer and not bother saying anything.
posted by echo0720 at 5:32 PM on September 7, 2006

I confess that I favorited one of my own comments. It was an accident, I swear!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:55 PM on September 7, 2006 [2 favorites]

I also favorited one of Blazecock's comments. This, too, was an accident.
posted by cortex at 5:57 PM on September 7, 2006 [2 favorites]

the idea of marking your own answers 'best' is so you can note if you figure out the question on your own, or otherwise resolve the situation. I belive people actually asked for this.

As for self favoriting...
posted by delmoi at 6:07 PM on September 7, 2006

This has come up a few times now (self besting), maybe it needs to go in the FAQ.
posted by tellurian at 6:21 PM on September 7, 2006

Actually on review, it's the third time chefscotticus has provided the best answer to their own question. That seems off to me.
posted by tellurian at 6:33 PM on September 7, 2006

He's probably gearing up for a self-link. Let's ban him now.
posted by Zozo at 6:57 PM on September 7, 2006

'Favorites' is a bad and misleading name, but it's too late now. The system can be used to mark anything you want to revisit later, for whatever reason, including your own comments. Why not?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:32 PM on September 7, 2006

I blame Microsoft.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:32 PM on September 7, 2006

It seems silly to favorite your own comment, but some of my comments are just so damn funny.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:48 PM on September 7, 2006 [2 favorites]

Sometimes I like to make a list of things to pick up at the grocery store at the end of my comments, and then favorite them for later. It's kind of like my little scratchpad.
posted by Rhomboid at 8:03 PM on September 7, 2006

More MeTa threads today makes Baby Mathowie cry...
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:23 PM on September 7, 2006

You can mark your own comments as favorites and your own answers as best only after a bunch of people demanded that I enable those features. Originally, I didn't think it was right, but people kept pushing and pushing that there were times it was appropriate and I caved.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:40 PM on September 7, 2006

Oh god, who cares? Are you bitter that you weren't marked best (even though you didn't answer as far as I can see)? It's his question, he can do whatever he wants. Here's a case where I posted my own best answer.
posted by Eideteker at 10:11 PM on September 7, 2006

I marked one of my answers as best once in a similar, computer hang-up related thread. Although several of the answers were helpful, I wanted to let everybody know precisely how things went.
posted by MrZero at 10:53 PM on September 7, 2006

"Although several of the answers were helpful, I wanted to let everybody know precisely how things went."

This pretty much explains why I did it in one of my questions, too. Sure you could just say how it went and not highlight your answer, but if someone comes along at some point in the future looking for an answer to a question similar to the one you posted, highlighting yourexperience not only makes it easier for them but all readers to know the outcome of your enquiry and the helpfulness of the advice given.

In the example IndigoRain points out, though, it just seems as though he's highlighted his response just to update people on some more information which might be helpful in answering his question. I'm not sure this is something we want to encourage, but what the hell. It's not like it's a self-link or anything.

Let it be.
posted by Effigy2000 at 11:05 PM on September 7, 2006

My own case where marking a comment I made as 'best answer' was the right thing to do: A lurker emailed me a perfect solution.
posted by Plutor at 4:43 AM on September 8, 2006

I marked one of my own comments as a favorite by accident in this music thread (I wanted to favorite the thread-- it was late, etc).

This comment doesn't show up on my favorites page so I can't unmark it. Matt, I sent you an email about this weeks ago but it must've gotten lost in the shuffle. I would very much like to unmark this comment. My favorites page says 'displaying one through three comments' but only two comments are showing. Please Hope Me!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:44 AM on September 8, 2006

Fuzzy, either Matt has already fixed it, or you did it right. The thread says you favorited it.
posted by Plutor at 5:53 AM on September 8, 2006

Plutor, you're right-- the thread is favorited, and there's no mark next to my comment in that thread. Unfortunately my favorites page still says "displaying one through three comments" with only two comments showing. A minor problem, no doubt, but if there's an easy solution I'd like to fix it.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:06 AM on September 8, 2006

A little more: my accidentally favorited comment does show up on my 'favorites saved by other members' page, but from there there's no way for me to delete it (at least, none that I know of).
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:11 AM on September 8, 2006

Matt: on the page that lists all contributions that were saved as favorites by other members, next page>> doesn't go there.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:44 AM on September 8, 2006

I have on one occasion marked my own comment as the best answer. I asked how I could check the charge on a watch battery without a multimeter. Nobody actually answered the question. Several people told me to just take the watch to a jeweller and have the battery changed -- a solution which I followed, against my better judgement, and which led to the ruining of the watch. Because, you know, there was a reason I asked the damn question in the first place.

I may not have had the answer to my question, but I had a better answer than any of the other halfwits who posted.
posted by Hogshead at 1:20 PM on September 8, 2006

Well, Hogshead, it's not like we didn't warn you.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 1:31 PM on September 8, 2006

Which should have been a link to here.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 1:33 PM on September 8, 2006

Cripes, I was just asking - I thought maybe it was a bug. Why the hell would I be bitter for not getting marked best answer - especially when I didn't even answer the question?
posted by IndigoRain at 2:32 PM on September 8, 2006

Ignore Eideteker, IndigoRain. I've noticed that he seems to take pleasure in peeing on people for no good reason.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:04 PM on September 8, 2006

I may not have had the answer to my question, but I had a better answer than any of the other halfwits who posted.
posted by Hogshead at 1:20 PM PST

Well, in fairness, Hogshead, you went to the wrong jeweller. Had you found a good one, the halfwits would have been geniuses, and received best answer.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 4:06 PM on September 8, 2006

Hogshead writes "I may not have had the answer to my question, but I had a better answer than any of the other halfwits who posted"

Note to self: refrain from answering Hogshead's askmes lest thee be branded a halfwit.
posted by Mitheral at 4:52 PM on September 8, 2006

"Cripes, I was just asking - I thought maybe it was a bug."

I took your post to mean "this is borken, please fix" rather than "this doesn't seem right". Sorry. *hugs*

"Ignore Eideteker, IndigoRain. I've noticed that he seems to take pleasure in peeing on people for no good reason."

Ignore stavros, IndigoRain. He seems to think two people can't reach an amicable understanding without him sticking his beak in. *hugs stav, too*
posted by Eideteker at 6:31 PM on September 8, 2006

Eideteker needs more hihat.
posted by quonsar at 7:17 PM on September 8, 2006

And a little cowbell never goes astray.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:58 PM on September 8, 2006

"I've noticed that he seems to take pleasure in peeing on people for no good reason."

You can't see me, but I'm smirking with self-satisfaction. You see, I pee on people for all the best reasons.
posted by koeselitz at 4:12 PM on September 9, 2006

What koeselitz is saying is that he frowns on poor watersportsmanship.
posted by cortex at 5:52 PM on September 9, 2006

Well, in fairness, Hogshead, you went to the wrong jeweller. Had you found a good one, the halfwits would have been geniuses, and received best answer.

I went to a brand-name jeweller on one of the most prestigious shopping streets in London. The point remains: I asked how I could check the charge on a watch battery and nobody actually answered my question. I still believe that my response, warning others that the advice given in the thread was useless, was the most useful. Kirth Gerson's post was good but was about watch repairs rather than battery checking.
posted by Hogshead at 6:17 PM on September 12, 2006