Pony Request: All-time favorites.

July 7, 2008 6:23 AM

I recently found the Weekly Favorites page. Is there a way to get the all-time best of the best?
posted by taumeson to Feature Requests at 6:23 AM (32 comments total)

Yep. Previously.
posted by cashman at 6:41 AM on July 7, 2008

cashman, except those are only the most favorited Posts of all time; no Comments. I too would like to browse more highly-favorited comments from the past. An "All Time Favorite Comments" would be great, especially if the first page had 1-20, a second page 21-40, and so on.
posted by yeti at 7:01 AM on July 7, 2008

Ah yes, true. Maybe now we can get all time best favs period, 'stead of by post or askme. ...or perhaps they can just add the "all time favorite comments".
posted by cashman at 7:21 AM on July 7, 2008

I'm reluctant to do it for comments because it turns them into one big game of favorites. With posts, you have to do the legwork to make a good post, and there are posting limits that control that, but with comments, you can post hundreds of comments a day if you want and creating an all-time leaderboard for comments seems like a recipe for disaster.

For the most part, it would be a static list of very good comments/stories posted, but I have a feeling half of the comments would be goofy things that said "favorite this comment or I'll X" and were posted to game the list.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:46 AM on July 7, 2008

matt makes an excellent point, so unless jessamyn or cortex have really compelling counterarguments I'm going to have to say no to this.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:56 AM on July 7, 2008

Yeah, I suppose you're right, Meatbomb. You should just go ahead and shut this thread down, then.
posted by yhbc at 8:09 AM on July 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

I approve your request to close the thread. But I'll delegate the task to Cortex.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:35 AM on July 7, 2008

There's always this.
posted by brain_drain at 8:38 AM on July 7, 2008

Here's the list I compiled back in January.
posted by tkolar at 8:51 AM on July 7, 2008

Yes, tkolar, that's exactly what my pony would be - and why I favorited it way back then.
posted by yeti at 9:00 AM on July 7, 2008

I'm not sure that knowing how many favorites my comments get is in any way good for me. I have been walking around this week singing "I'm At An All Time High" to myself, and I fucking hate that song.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:57 AM on July 7, 2008

I have no compelling counterargument to mathowie and Meatbomb.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:06 AM on July 7, 2008

I like the idea of a static comment favorites or something, though. I mean, seriously, one of my all time favorite comments is scarabics (you know the one I'm talking about, probably). But I never would have found that except via a random comment elsewhere.

mathowie has an obvious problem with an automated solution, but he's also got the solution -- make it static!
posted by taumeson at 10:48 AM on July 7, 2008

Right here.
posted by Dave Faris at 10:51 AM on July 7, 2008

close, Dave, but those are just YOURS. i was looking for EVERYBODY'S.

Anyway, tkolar's list is pretty good, it's the formatting that makes it less than perfect. mathowie and co. already chimed in, so that's about all i'm gonna get! :)
posted by taumeson at 10:58 AM on July 7, 2008

but I have a feeling half of the comments would be goofy things that said "favorite this comment or I'll X" and were posted to game the list.

Thanks, hermitosis. You are why we don't get nice toys. May you RIP.
posted by allkindsoftime at 11:28 AM on July 7, 2008

but I have a feeling half of the comments would be goofy things that said "favorite this comment or I'll X" and were posted to game the list.

On the other hand, it seems like most of the top-favourited posts have dead links.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:45 AM on July 7, 2008

Okay, not the most favorited of all time, but no question, this horrific tale by robocop is bleeding is the best of the web.

I know it's fiction, and it still makes me sick each time I read it.
posted by Deathalicious at 11:51 AM on July 7, 2008

Speaking of horrific tales, the wiki has a list of 'Comment Fables', those neat little stories that get favorited a lot.
posted by carsonb at 11:57 AM on July 7, 2008

I have no compelling counterargument to mathowie and Meatbomb.
Maybe we could give the Chewbacca defence a shot?
posted by Abiezer at 12:02 PM on July 7, 2008

Okay, there is not one of my comment fables on that list.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:03 PM on July 7, 2008

Zombies don't have fables. They have foibles.
posted by netbros at 12:41 PM on July 7, 2008

I believe that list was compiled from one of those 'what's your favorite contribution?' -type MeTas where comment fable authors listed their works. Point some out, AZ, and I'll be happy to add them to the list. Or, you know, do it yourself.
posted by carsonb at 12:44 PM on July 7, 2008

I rescue Soviet Jews from cookies.

My encounter with Stanley Kubrick.

I rage against anonymity.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:13 PM on July 7, 2008

Astro Zombie for Prom King!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:24 PM on July 7, 2008

Okay, this is going to end in pig's blood and the murderous awakening of my telekinetic powers, I just know it.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:43 PM on July 7, 2008

But at least your sexuality will no longer be cruelly repressed by an overbearing parent.
posted by maxwelton at 3:21 PM on July 7, 2008

But I need someone to tell me what's going on with my dirty pillows, and to tell me how many people are going to have what hysterical reaction to me!
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:41 PM on July 7, 2008

I was actually thinking about this the other day -- I would have loved to be able to browse the most favorite'd comments. But, apparently, it's a bad idea. So I don't want it anymore.
posted by waitangi at 6:15 PM on July 7, 2008

It's good to not want to see how many favorites comments have!

Don't cornfield me, bro!
posted by Rock Steady at 7:41 PM on July 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

It would be nice to have some sort of trackback/referrer for favorites, though. Every so often, the Wheel story gets a shout-out like above (Thanks, Deathalicious!) and a quick flurry of favorites ensues. I then blush and spend a few minutes trying to find out who's talk'n 'bout me on the internets. Now that everyone has had time to be suitably hilarious, poignant, and wise, it'd be cool to see where people are coming from to get to some of our older gems.

I have no idea how this would be implemented, of course. I assume that coding is pretty much pouring ritual unguents (Mountain Dew, Eye of Steve Jobs, etc) over a computer and shouting COMPILE! COMPILE! COMPILE!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:18 AM on July 8, 2008

that assumption is correct.
posted by garlic at 11:34 AM on July 8, 2008