Pony Request: Popular Posts sorted by # of comments February 19, 2011 8:11 AM   Subscribe

At present the 'Popular' tag is sorted by number of faves, but wouldn't it be cool if we could see which threads are receiving the most input, too? Input = comments.
posted by artof.mulata to Feature Requests at 8:11 AM (19 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite

Number of what?!?
posted by BeerFilter at 8:57 AM on February 19, 2011


Earlier (sort of). I seem to recall a more recent MeTa-discussion about the subject but I've got trouble finding it.
posted by rjs at 9:02 AM on February 19, 2011


Yeah, I can see what the arguments are from the earlier posts that are similar to this, but I think it's not always about what the perceived 'quality' level of the threads are.

I'm always curious as to which posts are generating the most activity, too. Sometimes that's the 'quality' I'm interested in. And if it's a thread spiraling out of control before deletion, I'm definitely interested in those. Most recently see...
posted by artof.mulata at 9:20 AM on February 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


The Recent Comments tab sort of does that. You can see at a glance what the hottest threads are and which old threads still have life in them.
posted by Kattullus at 10:17 AM on February 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


That's true, but I'd rather not have to scroll through them to see which is popping.
I'd like for them to be displayed in order from most to least, top to bottom.
posted by artof.mulata at 10:22 AM on February 19, 2011


And if it's a thread spiraling out of control before deletion, I'm definitely interested in those.

How many words do I need to devote to why this is not something we're going to help folks out with? I feel like it's probably not very many.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:26 AM on February 19, 2011


Umm, Cortex, that's not the main reason for my request.
It's everything to do with a different way to see the site in action.
posted by artof.mulata at 10:30 AM on February 19, 2011


Came to say what Kattullus has already. Bit of light scrolling never did a body any harm.
posted by Abiezer at 10:46 AM on February 19, 2011


I second this request!

When I didn't have internet for five months last year, I would save big Metafilter threads to a flash drive at work and read them at home. This would have been fantastic to have then. And under more normal circumstances, it would be great to know what's been a big deal on Metafilter after a day or two away from the site, or in the case of just having overlooked something. Like, I missed out on that epic Penny Arcade discussion because the post looked so boring when I skimmed past. "Popular gamer web comic" makes offensive joke? Scrollscrollscroll. If I had only known...
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 11:23 AM on February 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


Cool idea.

Also, as a former math teacher, I vote that we force pb to figure out the calculus to compute an accurate instantaneous rate of growth for a thread based upon a whole bunch of different input metrics! But as a current coder, I am smart enough to not offer any help.
posted by XMLicious at 11:35 AM on February 19, 2011


Wasn't there a greasemonkey script that is equivalent to "MetaFilter multifavorited multiwidth", but for # of comments on the front pages? I thought I used to have it, but it seemed to disappear/stop working a short while ago. Anyways, it was/is genius and would provide you with the thing you seek.

(btw, multifave/multiwidth is the best greasemonkey script ever and I don't know how people read the site without it.)
posted by iamkimiam at 1:49 PM on February 19, 2011


Hmm, okay. I'll look for this greasemonkey script and see about getting it running in chrome.
Thanks! (but I still would love to see it as an optional view on the Blue).
posted by artof.mulata at 2:40 PM on February 19, 2011


Found the greasemonkey script and A, it doesn't work any longer, and B, it wouldn't have the proper functionality anyway. The script still deals with favorites and I'm hoping for something that displays comment totals.

I think this pony has been put to pasture though if I'm reading Cortex' earlier declaration properly.
Sad...
posted by artof.mulata at 2:53 PM on February 19, 2011


My earlier response was needlessly glib, I apologize for that. The sentiment behind it is genuine: about the worst sort of way to put a pony request on the map is to present it in terms of "help me do this not-great thing more easily", and regardless of what I have to guess is totally harmless intent on your part, artof.mulata, anything that encourages folks to swarm into threads is already starting out with negative points.

The Recent Comments tab that Kattullus mentioned is our current does-the-job-well solution to this general problem, and I pretty much think it's enough if what you're looking for is a quick and painless way to find out about threads with lots of comments stacking up. Having to spend all of thirty seconds scrolling through that list is a very manageable cost to incur for what would presumably be a now-and-then sort of thing.

If there's greasemonkey solutions that slicky-slick that process up, awesome. But it's not clear to me what the broad need for this specific re-engineering of thread views is, really, when we've got already a site view that seems to substantially solve the problem stated.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:53 PM on February 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


Okay. That's fine of course. :)

The desire for a different way to view active use or popularity is something I keep coming back to week after week as I use the site. Never dawned to pony it until earlier today. Kattullus' method was something I'd also not stumbled upon so that's welcome indeed.

Thank you everyone and good night.
posted by artof.mulata at 12:36 AM on February 20, 2011


This must be a stupid question but... What do you click on, from the front page, to get to Recent Comments? I had never heard of it before this thread, and I still don't know where to find it.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 7:16 AM on February 20, 2011


The Recent Comments tab is on the far right of the row of tabs, pretty much directly above the sidebar.
posted by donnagirl at 7:28 AM on February 20, 2011


OH, thanks! I asked for a link from the front page, but was stupidly looking for one on regular post pages.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 7:32 AM on February 20, 2011


And if it's a thread spiraling out of control before deletion, I'm definitely interested in those.

Wow, you pretty much just guaranteed this feature isn't going to happen. How to Demotivate Moderators, using just one sentence.
posted by Malor at 11:39 AM on February 20, 2011


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