Seeking Epic Comments

July 30, 2010 5:00 AM

How can I search/filter for comments of a certain length? Is there a way to filter comments via word count using infodump data?

Is there an infodumpy way of searching/sorting/filtering metafilter comments by length? After catching some of robocop is bleeding's fine short fiction posted here, I thought about all the other great long comments that are scattered across the site, and was wishing for a way to search them out. So, say "search comments with >300 words" or something to that effect? I'm not talking about adding a site pony, just wondering if someone could help via the infodump. Looked here, but didn't see anything specific to comment length.

posted by Devils Rancher to MetaFilter-Related at 5:00 AM (10 comments total)

The Infodumpster tool made by Combustible Edison Lighthouse can do this. Just plug in a username in the second question under "Comments" and it will return a list of contributions for that user sorted by length. Here are robocop is bleeding's longest, for instance.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:18 AM on July 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, and if you want to do a search for all users, just leave the username blank and click the question mark. I like how the all-time record for longest Mefi comment is so... exuberant.

Also, note that you have to specify the subsite in the dropdown box at the top.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:23 AM on July 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's crapfloods all the way down.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:45 AM on July 30, 2010

just leave the username blank and click the question mark.

Thanks, That'll keep me busy for a while. Cuts off at 200 entries, instead of a particular comment length, though.

Also, that infodumpster thingy doesn't seem to be in the wiki anywhere, yet.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:02 AM on July 30, 2010

Okay, now to filter a bit -- not sure if I'm just not figuring this thing out, but is there a sort by longest, and add the criteria has + x number of favorites? (may help weed out some noisy and argumentative stuff)
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:10 AM on July 30, 2010

Hm, my longest three mefi comments are about maps, demographics, and Buddhism.

Yeah, sounds about right.

However, my 3 most favorited mefi comments are snarky one-liners. Sigh.
posted by desjardins at 7:07 AM on July 30, 2010

Huh I wonder what my longest

-ah, reviews of every Futurama episode. And a big long structural analysis of why the Watchman movie sucked.
posted by The Whelk at 10:02 AM on July 30, 2010

Interesting, I hadn't previously encountered the Infodumpster tool. To my surprise, my first response to this question is by far the longest comment on Ask MetaFilter. Too bad the asker's subsequent clarification made it clear I was answering the wrong question! I did, however, manage redeem myself later in the thread.
posted by RichardP at 12:20 PM on July 30, 2010

Ha, RichardP, that long mefi-puking comment actually cut off more in the area of 32K characters, but a lot of that wouldn't show up in a count of the displayed content because it also includes interpolated <br> tags that are for historical reasons stored in metatalk comments in the db.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:38 PM on July 30, 2010

Of my 20 longest comments on the blue, 15 are about either working in theatre or gender issues.

I already know I can bloviate on those topics, but it's still interesting to see it quantified.
posted by the latin mouse at 11:58 PM on July 30, 2010