Visual help in spotting popular threads

January 30, 2001 11:57 AM

A suggestion for the site: Visual help in spotting the most popular threads on MetaFilter.
posted by rcade to Feature Requests at 11:57 AM (7 comments total)

On most days, there are one or two links that strike a nerve and attract a lot of discussion. I sometimes jump into a thread because of the high number of comments, even if the link doesn't sound interesting.

I'd love to see some kind of stylesheet wizardry (different background color, etc) to identify either (a) the day's most popular thread, or (b) threads that exceed a certain number of comments (30, 40, etc.)

It's easy for me to suggest this since I wouldn't be involved in doing any of the work to make it happen, but I wanted to offer it for consideration.
posted by rcade at 12:02 PM on January 30, 2001

yep, I'm working on this right now, putting counters (invisible ones, sorry) on every thread, then allowing a sort by thread popularity (views/comments).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:13 PM on January 30, 2001

How about those animated gifs that say "HOT!" like Justin used to have on his site? :)
posted by rodii at 1:24 PM on January 30, 2001

Or a little folder on fire! Woo! Hot XXX Ultimate Bulletin Board-like action!
posted by waxpancake at 2:53 PM on January 30, 2001

I'm sure Matt has enough to do, and I suggested it once before so I'm hesitant to do it again, but especially with the busy threads it would be handy to have a horizontal rule or something to show where the new messages begin when you open a thread... ;)

Just for the record, Matt, I'm learning a good bit about building a site just from watching the way you grow MetaFilter.
posted by kindall at 6:04 PM on January 30, 2001

Ok, I'm now allowing a sort by most commented to, and it goes back as many days as you set in your preferences (or 7 days by default). This option is not cookied though, I didn't see the need, since it's more of a view than a permanent sort type. So if you go into a thread, then click the Metafilter graphic or home link, you'll go back to whatever default sort you were last cookied to. Is that confusing enough? Just use it, if you find errors or wish it did something more, say something here.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:48 AM on February 1, 2001

scratch that, use this other thread.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:33 AM on February 1, 2001