Better way of tracking threads that aren't favorites May 16, 2007 6:03 AM   Subscribe

Pony request: Can we have temporary favorites? There are often threads I want to follow, but not make favorites, but if I make them a favorite, then I have delete from my favorites later on. This gets to be a chore when there's a lot of interesting stuff. Yes, there's the My comments page, but I find it useless, as it only tracks the last ten comments made to the thread, as opposed to only new comments since I last read the thread and it tracks threads I've commented on. With temporary favorites, I could say "watch this thread for x amount of time". Then if there was a page of just these temp favorites, it make it easy to keep tabs on threads that interest me. Or basically, just a better way of keeping tabs on threads the user finds interesting without having to make them favorites, which seem like a more permanent marker.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) to Feature Requests at 6:03 AM (25 comments total)

You want a vanishing pony?
posted by srboisvert at 6:45 AM on May 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


bookmarks?
del.icio.us?

I am not sure why this sort of "feature" should be built into the site when there are soooo many ways to do this outside the site.
posted by terrapin at 6:59 AM on May 16, 2007


I don't think temporary favorites are the right solution. They require you to know the duration of your interest at the time of favoriting, which is not the way people work. And 99% of threads have a lifetime of a day.

Given that, I would find it useful to have:

1) A page to read favorited posts like the My Comments page
2) That page to work based on last visits, using the same logic as the front-page.
3) Each favorite on that page would have a button to remove it.

Every vBulletin board has this feature (subscribe to post) and I use it extensively. Bookmarks and del.icio.us are not useful at all, since they don't keep track of whether there were new comments. It's like checking blogs every day vs. using RSS.
posted by smackfu at 7:07 AM on May 16, 2007


http://www.cocomment.com/
"coComment keeps track of all the online conversations you're following in one convenient place, and informs you whenever something is added to a conversation."
posted by peacay at 7:19 AM on May 16, 2007


You know you can remove a favorite you have placed, right?
posted by Rock Steady at 7:23 AM on May 16, 2007


Oops, sorry, just reread the question. Nevermind.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:24 AM on May 16, 2007


'sonly a request I've been making for five years. Don't hold your breath on it being fulfilled.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:36 AM on May 16, 2007


Leave a "." in the thread like a little bunny poop and watch it from My Comments.
posted by yeti at 7:38 AM on May 16, 2007


You know I'm kidding right?
posted by yeti at 7:38 AM on May 16, 2007


This is a cocomment test
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:54 AM on May 16, 2007


This is the results of the cocoment test:

Error 500: Internal Server Error

There has been an internal error in the application.
This might result from heavy server load.

Please try again or try a bit later.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:55 AM on May 16, 2007


I haven't used it in a while. It was ok last time. I've just rejigged it and will see how this goes.
posted by peacay at 8:12 AM on May 16, 2007


Just post a '.' in the thread and follow it using the recent comments feature. Or post a one line throw away comment that isn't' inflammatory and likely to be erased.
posted by chunking express at 8:14 AM on May 16, 2007


Please don't do that.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:18 AM on May 16, 2007


Yea, you really shouldn't do that.

Hehehe.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:21 AM on May 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


The problem with posting to the thread is that you can't unpost when two people get all angried up and argue on for days and days.
posted by smackfu at 8:23 AM on May 16, 2007


Check out commentful. The RSS feed is a bit slow, but if you use Firefox the extension works great. It takes you to a private page that lists all the threads you're following with notice of whether there's been any new posts and a link to the thread.
posted by BigSky at 8:43 AM on May 16, 2007


You want temporary favorites? And who's supposed to flush the cache out when you forget to? It's naturally supposed to be Matt's fault whenever memory leaks related to the temporary favorites bring down the server! After all, it's not as if Internet Explorer, Firefox or Opera allow specialized folders for bookmarking, right? Sit up straight when I'm posting to you, young man!
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:09 AM on May 16, 2007


what about using "_" instead of "." ?
posted by chunking express at 10:54 AM on May 16, 2007


I have used my ninja skills to hack the application server and insert this functionality. Hit Control-D (or splat-D for you Macintosh types) to try it out.
posted by majick at 11:22 AM on May 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


Or post a one line throw away comment that isn't' inflammatory and likely to be erased.

So, thats what they're doing! And here I thought 90% of all mefi users were just braindead.
posted by vacapinta at 2:05 PM on May 16, 2007


1) A page to read favorited posts like the My Comments page
2) That page to work based on last visits, using the same logic as the front-page.


smackfu, we have that already. You "subscribe to a post" by marking a post as a favorite.

Then you click the tab on the front page of mefi or ask mefi or wherever that says "My Favorites" and it'll be a filtered front page view tracking new comments for the threads you want to follow.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:58 PM on May 16, 2007


 
posted by blue_beetle at 3:27 PM on May 16, 2007


what about using "_" instead of "." ?

You feel that fluttery, itchy feeling behind your eyelids? That's me adding salt and pepper before I EAT YOUR SOUL.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:10 PM on May 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


Firefox tabs + Session Saver plugin.

Start here.
posted by poweredbybeard at 7:25 AM on May 17, 2007


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