Poll
Poll Question: Would you use a favourites system?
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Yes    
  3 (33.3%)
No    
  3 (33.3%)
Maybe    
  3 (33.3%)




Total votes: 9
« Created by: Quantum on: 16. Oct 2008 at 18:39 »
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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) Favorites (Read 7,421 times)
nicolas
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Favorites
05. Jun 2008 at 20:43
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We have the ability to list threads as 'favorites', but not films. 

Is it possible that we could have a way of listing our favorite films, that can be changed from time to time..... and even if it's just a list from our database, it would be ok. 

This was discussed before in previous threads, but nothing really came of it.  Maybe a top 20, or even 50.

Naturally it would have to based on a number of things, as there are often films that have terrible stories but are appealing in other ways.... and vice versa.

Having a 'favorite films' and possibly even a 'favorite actors' list would really be nice, especially if it could be changed easily when a new favorite film is viewed.
  
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Quantum
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Re: Favorites
Reply #1 - 08. Jun 2008 at 17:53
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Hmm. It's sort of there with the ratings for movies & TV shows, although admittedly trying to use that as a favourites list isn't the easiest things to do, and it assumes that the films you rate as 10 are your favourite films...

I can take a look at writing some code, but before I do that, is there anyone else who wants to chime in with suggestions of how it might work (from a user perspective)?
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #2 - 03. Oct 2008 at 21:04
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I am not sure how difficult it would be, but perhaps there could be an added data input on the rating page for an "absolute ranking."  Basically, that would be a number from 1 to ## (however many films were decided to be allowed), and it would be a UNIQUE number for that user... only ONE #1 film per person!  Of course, it would be nice to have a completely separate ranking system for TV and/or actors!

Thus, you could enter a rating (1 to 10), a comment, a Tag ("must see") and a RANKING.

Necessary code would include a check to ensure there were no duplicate rankings for that individual, and something to make re-ranking somewhat simpler than going to every movie and changing it.  For example, if I decided to make "You are not Alone" my #2 film rather than my #10, I would go to the movie and change the ranking to "2"... the code might then ask if I really wanted to replace my currently-ranked #2 film (and give the name) with this choice.  It would then renumber each of my selections as appropriate to accomodate the change.

I don't think it would be such a difficult thing to program, but then I don't really know much about coding THESE databases.

Just my 2 cents.  Any thoughts?
  
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Quantum
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Re: Favorites
Reply #3 - 04. Oct 2008 at 12:10
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I'm not sure how it would work from a user interface point of view. Adding your #1 and #2 movie would be straightforward, but remembering where you're up to and whether you've added a #7 or #9 for example movie might be more difficult. Again, whilst inserting a new #1 is pretty clear, to insert a new movie somewhere in the middle means you're probably going to be flicking back and forth to work out what position you actually want to insert it at.

Additionally, this function is already sort of available in the form of your movie (and TV show) ratings. If you go to a movie or TV show that you've rating and click on your name by your rating, you get a list of all your ratings - which you can then sort by rating. One would expect that the top 10 movies you've rated would also end up being the top 10 in your "ranks".

What I'm currently thinking of for favourites would be where you'd be able to maintain a list of favourites - in no particular order, and the list wouldn't be a fixed length (you could add every movie in the database to it, although this would be a bit pointless). This list could differ from your ratings as it's quite possible to have a favourite movie that isn't actually all that good Smiley
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #4 - 04. Oct 2008 at 15:00
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Quantum,

I would limit it to only ten because that is usually the standard and it fits one screen page nicely.  There are several ways on how you can add movies but I think you should force the entries to be only to your database.  The rationale is to make sure any other poster can read the data on the movie to see if he or she will like it.  It really doesn't do any good to name a movie that nobody has ever heard of because it was in limited release.  It also forces them to update your database information about the film so new films get added if they want to rave about them.

The way I see it is done is to either use a JAVA Applet to select or a simple page form.  You assign each row of the form the ranking number and that can't be changed.  You use a drop down menu from your database to select the title.  You should have the selections where you have year and title to eliminate confusion about remakes that suck.  I assume that this is for individuals and not an overall ranking because your ratings system should do that.  You would store this in a table of your database with rank, user id, and film id.  As for comments and tags, I'm not sure they would be of any real value because you should know the poster's views on the movie from their posts.  If you do add them then you should make tags a table so they are consistent and spelled the same.  The comments should be a memo field with a text box entry.

Making the tags consistent would allow you to query the table for all the must see tags or all the dog tags and rank best or worse based on the top tens of your users.  On the edit page, I would not make any assumptions and force the user to change and rank all of the drop downs.  It would reduce the work load on the server because they would just submit it once and not have the server updating for every change.  On the server side for the edit, you just check their existing film id for that rank and if it has changed then update all fields.  It would save the write time of updating a non-changing entry.

Stubborn Mule
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #5 - 16. Oct 2008 at 18:38
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Quantum wrote on 04. Oct 2008 at 12:10:
What I'm currently thinking of for favourites would be where you'd be able to maintain a list of favourites - in no particular order, and the list wouldn't be a fixed length (you could add every movie in the database to it, although this would be a bit pointless). This list could differ from your ratings as it's quite possible to have a favourite movie that isn't actually all that good Smiley


If I added a favourites system similar to the above to the main site, would anyone use it? I don't want to spend my time writing the code if it isn't going to get used...

I've added a poll so you can vote Smiley
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #6 - 16. Oct 2008 at 19:12
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I voted maybe.

Really, I wanted to vote no, but I guess if you went through the trouble of adding that feature, I might give it a try. But honestly, I don't think it's worth the effort.

For me, this database is primarily a research tool. I use it to find out about movies that I might be interested in seeing, and keep track of the ones that I do see. The rating/review system is great, because it create a list of all the films I've seen, allowing me to differentiate between the ones I really liked (8, 9, 10), the average ones (5, 6, 7) and the ones I really didn't care much about (1-5).

If I want to create a list of favourites that goes beyond that, I can do it on the forum. Just make a list and post it, then others can comment on it or post their own lists if they want to. I've done this before and it's fun.

Coding a feature just for that when the rating system does almost exactly the same thing, seems like a bit of a waste of time to me.

Some features that I would consider instead, maybe:

1. A "wishlist" button on the profiles that, when clicked, would throw the movie into a list. There are nearly 2500 movies on the database. I've seen a few hundreds and probably want to see a few hundred more. But not every one of those movies is a high-priority for me. A wishlist system would allow me to keep track of the films I most want to see.

2. A "favourite" button for actor profiles, which would allow users to keep track of the actors they particularly like and have easy access to their profiles. (In the past, others have suggested a ratings system for the actors, similar to that for movies. I'm not in favour of that, as I feel that giving a numbered rating on people is objectifying and disrespectful.)

3. Customizable user profiles. A page users could edit, with links to their various lists (ratings, wishlist and favourite actors) on the database, and a large blank text field where people can put whatever they want, such as their interests or whatever, etc. This could also be a place for people to post their list of favourite films (in text format), like people often do on IMDb.

I hate to shoot down someone else's request for the favourites feature, but to me it seems unnecessary. If you really want to put some work into the database and add new features, I think the ones I listed above would be more interesting.

Just my opinion. Thanks.
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #7 - 16. Oct 2008 at 21:40
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I said yes, but JK has some very good points to consider.  I really like the idea of a wish list because I keep losing track of the movies I would especially like to see but cannot get at the moment, for one reason or another.
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #8 - 29. Oct 2008 at 21:34
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I guess the fact that only two people bothered to reply to your question is a pretty indication that you shoudln't waste your time adding new features to the database.

Too bad. Undecided
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #9 - 31. Oct 2008 at 13:49
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Or maybe it's just that no one ever reads this forum? What if you posted the poll in the General Discussions board?
  
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Re: Favorites
Reply #10 - 07. Dec 2008 at 04:59
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I didn't reply to this thread initially because I wasn't sure what was being suggested or how it would differ from what already exists.

I've mentioned this in the past but it got ignored... I'd like to see the rating system change from a two digit score to a four digit score. When I want to view my list of rated films, I'd like to see them in order of preference. It would be much more useful.


For example if I want to view my list of rated films in ranked order I get a cumbersome list like this:

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

The problem is, it is hard to read. The movies ranked 10/10 are obviously on top but they are spread out over two pages and are not in order of preference. It's of very little practical use to me.

A far more useful list would allow me to sort each film in order of preference so I'd end up with something like this:


10.00   Au revoir les enfants (1987)
10.00   Les amitiés particulières (1964)
 9.99   Barnens ö (1980)
 9.98   Léolo (1992)
 9.97   For a lost soldier (1992)
 9.94   Abandoned (2001)
 9,97   Pelle erobreren (1987)
 9.96   Drømmen (2006)
 9.85   Fan chan (2003)
 9.80   Hope and glory (1987)  
 9.89   Empire of the sun (1987)
 9.70   The cure (1995)
 9.65   Eres mi héroe (2003)  
 9.60   Second best (1994)
 9.90   To kill a mockingbird (1962)
 9.53   Nobody knows (2004)
 9.50   The colour of paradise (1999)
 9.40   Stand by me (1986)
 9.60   Dear Frankie (2004)
 9.55   Jeux interdits (1952)
 9.54   Møv og funder (1991)
 9.52   Song for a raggy boy (2003)
 9.50   Billy Elliot (2000)
 9.10   Mickybo and me (2004)
 9.07   The return (2003)
 9.05   Turtles can fly (2004)

 etc, etc, etc

A pop up window would also be more useful and perhaps showing 100 titles in text of this size, without all the background jazz and comments, etc. Functionality and ease of use being the primary requsite.   Smiley


Oh and yes I'd like to have the option to list my favourite actors in a similiar way.











  
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nicolas
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Re: Favorites
Reply #11 - 15. Dec 2008 at 01:22
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Two votes for yes and three for no.

Nice to see it's up for vote, but not so happy with the results.

Even if it were just a top ten list, it might change occasionally.  Some films might become a favorite for awhile, but then lose some of their appeal as time goes on.

In reality, it depends on what the movie is being based on.  If it's listed as a favorite for the story-line, that's one thing.  For great acting, that's another.  And appeal..... well that is definitely another.

Maybe the most simple is if you were stranded on a desert isle, you had a solar-powered dvd player, and could only have ten dvds (regardless of whether the film is on dvd or not.... just assuming every favorite movie is)..... what ten dvds would you have?   That would be the true test of a favorite films list.

But then again, if it's a LOTF isle, who has time for dvds???   Cheesy
  
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