Your favorite feature is out of sorts

April 4, 2007 12:04 PM

Can we please have a way to sort savedfavorites by "Most recently favorited?" Either as a default, or an option? As time passes, more and more active users have multiple pages of comments that have been favorited and it can be difficult to track down what's going on when old threads are suddenly rediscovered.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson to Feature Requests at 12:04 PM (24 comments total)

I basically stopped using favorites to track things to which I want to return. After building up a considerable number of favorites, it's simply too difficult to go back and find things. Instead, I add things to del.icio.us, where I can tag them.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 12:22 PM on April 4, 2007

Yeah - there's that element to the favorites, too. But what I'm on about is actually the list of our own comments that have been favorited by others. When the savedcomments counter suddenly goes up (sometimes significantly) but none of the recent thread counts go up, it usually means an old thread is suddenly getting some new attention. But with multiple pages of comments to sort through, it can be almost impossible to track down.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:35 PM on April 4, 2007

Good idea.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:47 PM on April 4, 2007

What IRHF said. It can be sort of a head-scratcher at times.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:50 PM on April 4, 2007

I admit to keeping an eye on my favorited comments also, just like IRFH. I like knowing that I've amused people. So, yes, consider this another vote for this particular feature.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:51 PM on April 4, 2007

[+] from me too.
posted by grouse at 12:58 PM on April 4, 2007

I'm rewriting the savedfavorites page to be exactly like you describe, just in reverse order of what got favorited by others. Gimmie another week or so.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:15 PM on April 4, 2007

Cool. Thanks.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:21 PM on April 4, 2007

Is there any way we can get an array of sorting options? Last favorited? First? Most? Least? Maybe a little "x new favorites" blurb that shows the most recent ones since you last visited your saved and saved by others pages?

I know there's many more pressing issues in the world to bitch about, but trying to navigate my favorites pages is nigh useless. I'd really like to be able to mine through it without clicking 'next page' twenty gazillion times.

While the features and work are vastly appreciated and well used - the interface, as they say, is crufty.
posted by loquacious at 2:06 PM on April 4, 2007

loquacious, we're talking about the saved favorites page, not your favorites one. Work on your own favorites page to improve sorting will come, yeah.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:14 PM on April 4, 2007

*double takes, blinks, sighs*

It's Raining Horence Flenderson, indeed.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:16 PM on April 4, 2007

It's spelled "Whorence."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:20 PM on April 4, 2007

I agree with Whorence's suggestion and other suggestions about more options for sorting favorites of all flavors. It's a nice feature, but a bit unwieldy over time. Good to hear you have that on the docket Matt, thanks.
posted by madamjujujive at 2:42 PM on April 4, 2007

loquacious, we're talking about the saved favorites page, not your favorites one. Work on your own favorites page to improve sorting will come, yeah.

I'm talking about my totally unweildy favorited by others page, mainly. But I'm not sure why can't the features be applied to both? They are functionally identical. Some basic sorting parameters would be real nice.

Also, no disrespect nor thanklessness intended at all, but:

Please consider hiring a real coder. While you've built a fine community, you probably aren't that coder.

Consider that while it's your baby, there's now 50,000 people here that actually use this place for stuff. People who now pay your bills. Meanwhile, they wait for changes - they demand changes. Do 'em right. Don't make them wait for good, useful features.

In that waiting lies death and stagnation and who knows how many side projects or inspirations waiting to be born.

Hire a coder. Wash hands. Go back to focusing on community stuff full time.
posted by loquacious at 2:57 PM on April 4, 2007

I did hire a coder! pb starts full time on May 1st. Today we're fixing a cross-site script flaw, but I did add some sorting options to the popular favorites tab today.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:07 PM on April 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

exactly like you describe, just in reverse order of what got favorited by others

i'm still trying to parse that sentence. i understand "exactly like", does "just in reverse" modify it? because if it does, it's not exactly anymore. the whole thing makes me suspect its not exactly like described at all!
posted by quonsar at 3:07 PM on April 4, 2007

I meant exactly as described, and then I went ahead and described what it would be. So the second half of that sentence doesn't refer to the first half exactly.

To be perfectly clear:

Here's what the page listing things you've written that got saved as a favorite by others will roughly look like:

user x added "Another YouTube Post" as a favorite 2 hours ago

user y added "So I says to her, I says..." as a favorite a day ago

user z added "1142!!!" as a favorite 4 days ago

etc...
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:22 PM on April 4, 2007

Here's what the page listing things you've written that got saved as a favorite by others will roughly look like:

Sweet. It's Raining Fav Whorences, indeed!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:26 PM on April 4, 2007

You're everyones favorite, Whorence!

Matt: Good show. I really shouldn't harp on the obvious.
posted by loquacious at 3:31 PM on April 4, 2007

Oooo, that "Most popular favorites of all time" is inspiring. It makes me want to post more. I want all three top spots! Mine! Muhahaha! *eyes jonson warily, flicks open a switchblade*
posted by loquacious at 3:35 PM on April 4, 2007

Dude, no one is catching jonson. He's the Secretariat of most popular favorites.
posted by Kwine at 4:39 PM on April 4, 2007

Matt you might want to remove deleted posts from the all time favorites page. I know that they won't influence search engines because of rel=nofollow,noindex, but it still seems bad to give them eye-time on a "top of all time" page.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:59 PM on April 4, 2007

Rhombold, which deleted one is showing up on that page?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:30 PM on April 4, 2007

The Pretty Flowers thread is on the list. (I also saw the Sketchzilla one on the list and I thought it was deleted but it wasn't.)
posted by Rhomboid at 6:54 PM on April 4, 2007