Fanfare Tagging idea

May 17, 2015 2:32 PM

I had an idea for recognizing reviewers' favorite episodes, and making it slightly easier for mefites to find episodes to dip their toes in with...

The idea is for reviewers to use the tag "bestof" or something like that on episodes that the reviewer sees as among the best in the series.

posted by drezdn (10 comments total)

Ooh I like that. I never know what to write in the tags anyway.
posted by bleep at 4:40 PM on May 17, 2015

I don't really think of people who post on FF as reviewers.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:06 PM on May 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yeah, poster ≠ reviewer. But this is a good idea and I'll keep it in mind when posting shows.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:51 AM on May 18, 2015

It's a good idea, but entirely reliant on the posting member's taste. It would be very cool if somehow a naturally generated list of episodes appeared somewhere based on members' participation, be it number of comments or the number of unique posters in the thread or something. Then MeFi would have its own continually evolving list of site recommended episodes/shows to watch.
posted by Atreides at 6:54 AM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

As someone who uses Fanfare to find stuff to watch I really don't mind that it's just one person's opinion. The stakes aren't really that high, I just want somewhere to start.
posted by bleep at 10:16 AM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Number of comments or participation don't necessarily map to quality.
posted by bleep at 10:17 AM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

True, but it does probably more accurately map to the site consensus. I think so long as someone doesn't tag every episode of their favorite show with it, it would probably provide at least a guide to an episode on Fanfare that is considered representative of the best of that show.
posted by Atreides at 10:54 AM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Well the Mad Men finale has like 400-500 comments right now, but whether or not it's the best episode is hugely up for debate in that very thread. The more people debate that, the more comments it gets, the more popular it seems. But that doesn't make it a good "best of" candidate for new viewers. I would bet those arguing the episode wasn't satisfying would be dismayed to think their comment is counting towards a measure of the episode's goodness.
posted by bleep at 2:49 PM on May 19, 2015

Yah, the point of a comment weight element (which I figure is either beyond or too much to bother with in the world of coding) is that it at least signifies interest in the show by members, where a person could post to Fanfare one episode they absolutely love, tag it, but the reality being it's the worse show in the world with only one person who loves it, the person who posted it. I appreciate it, though, as someone who in his work place is constantly given condescending, "Sure, I'll check it out..." responses to the shows and movies I tell people they absolutely must see cause otherwise they're crazy for not! (Okay, so I have a bit of a reputation...)
posted by Atreides at 7:19 AM on May 20, 2015

Instead of looking at the number of comments, a better solution might be to repurpose the existing "Popular posts" tab on the blue, which I think looks at the number of favorites on a post. That might be a better indication that the community enjoyed something, I think. And it already exists.
posted by bleep at 11:16 AM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]