Popular posts period pony?

February 2, 2014 3:57 AM

Pretty sure in the last 7 days, 30 days, all time was a great breakdown 5 years ago, but now, maybe last quarter, biannual, 12 months, biennial, lustrum would give us a better range to surf through. (I'm sure the community would come up with better words than I did.) Currently the gap between 30 days & all time whisks a lot of quite recent but not in the last month very nice stuff under the cyber rug. I would also like to see it applied to the categories (in Ask me). For example, there are 7202 posts to Questions in the Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion category. But how to find the most loved?
posted by b33j to Feature Requests at 3:57 AM (25 comments total)

This is pb's bailiwick, and he'll be around in a few hours (when it's morning in pb-land) to comment.
posted by taz (staff) at 4:07 AM on February 2, 2014

>>in a few hours - when it's morning
He lives in Australia too? Awesome - he should drop in for a cuppa and a lamington some time.
posted by b33j at 4:13 AM on February 2, 2014

Other direction…he lives in the past, man. Whoa.
posted by iamkimiam at 6:07 AM on February 2, 2014

Yeah, sure, let's discuss this. This is the first time this idea has come to my attention. I feel like the existing breakdown is working pretty well so maybe we could find examples of posts that are slipping through the cracks.

Keep in mind that favorites and popularity based on number favorites are contentious topics here. So we don't sort everything by number of favorites every chance we get because we're trying to find a good balance between favorites as an indicator of quality and other factors.
posted by pb (staff) at 6:39 AM on February 2, 2014

This has bothered me a bit in the past as well. If we are looking for good things that have been posted in the last year, there are no options other than "All Time". That's good, but we probably haven't missed those. Good posts that have happened in the last year or 2010 – I've probably missed a bunch of those.
posted by Brent Parker at 7:58 AM on February 2, 2014

Would it make sense to use the Fantastic Post flag for this instead of favorites? It's not as widely used at the moment, I'm sure, but at least it's an unambiguous vote of approval.
posted by contraption at 8:22 AM on February 2, 2014

No, a flag is a private note to moderators. Once a year we have a post contest where fantastic flags come into play, but we don't list specific counts. We're going to limit the extracurricular use of fantastic flags to that event.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:07 AM on February 2, 2014

I think adding a "last year" category would be a great compromise. Currently you've got last 24 hours, then x7 that for the last week, then x4.5 or so for the last month, then all of a sudden x175 to get to all time view.

Adding a year option would split that into a more manageable two-step of x12 to get to one year, then x14 (currently) to reach all time.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:29 AM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Most Favorited Posts since:
24 hrs
7 days
30 days
the time you forgot why you went into the kitchen
when you believed you could make a difference in the world
that time you cut your knee open going down the slide backwards
when Thriller first topped the charts
the Middle Ages
all time
posted by 0 answers at 10:49 AM on February 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

0 answers - the time you forgot why you went into the kitchen should be before 24 hrs and when you believed you could make a difference in the world should occur right after that.
posted by Brent Parker at 11:05 AM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

For some of us, "that time you forgot why you went into the kitchen" isn't significantly different from "all time"; what's up with that, brain?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:10 PM on February 2, 2014

I've been hankering for this pony for a while, too.
posted by moira at 12:51 PM on February 2, 2014

I would support adding "last 12 months." I think that's a conservative enough step that the people with strong opinions re: favorites wouldn't be riled up. It's not a hill I'd die on though, just a thing I'd be fine with, and use sometimes.
posted by Wretch729 at 10:26 PM on February 2, 2014

I've often wished for the "last 12 months" option. I'd love to be able to sort by category too!
posted by lunasol at 4:58 AM on February 3, 2014

There should be a "since whenevs" option, for when the timespan is important but you can't decide on what it should be. So on one load it might be "since the last 90 seconds" and on another load "since the ratification of the Treaty of Westphalia".
posted by ardgedee at 6:06 AM on February 3, 2014

(I'm sure the community would come up with better words than I did.)

Ain't nobody coming up with a better word than 'lustrum'.
posted by dirtdirt at 7:14 AM on February 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

We just added a "last 12 months" option to the Ask and MetaFilter popular pages.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:20 PM on February 3, 2014 [7 favorites]

Thanks!
posted by moira at 5:29 PM on February 3, 2014

Yay!
posted by lunasol at 6:40 PM on February 3, 2014

Awesome! Thanks -my most productive day this year!
posted by b33j at 4:47 AM on February 4, 2014

And now you can filter popular questions in Ask to a specific category. Let me know if you run into problems with it.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:38 AM on February 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

pb, sometimes it disturbs me just how strongly I feel about you and Team Mod. Thank you - I should have thought to ask for that - can I filter my own favorites by category too?
posted by b33j at 1:26 PM on February 4, 2014

Yep, you can.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:29 PM on February 4, 2014

Just go to your Favorites page, choose Ask from the menu, and you'll have the option to select a category.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:30 PM on February 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

pb, thank you so much – I read this and agreed with b33j and then forgot about it, and now just noticed the amazing dropdown for filtering. This is the best.
posted by carbide at 6:10 AM on February 9, 2014