We are using Josh Martin’s acts_as_favorite plugin (also here).

I have made a few acts_as_favorite bug fixes (contextual diff file). These properly set the user_id in your favorites table and update the favorites associations as you add/delete favorites.

Here is how we tell the user class that it will have favorites:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_favorite_user
end

Here is how we tell a different model that it can be marked as a favorite:

class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_favorite
end

In our controller, we allow a user to mark a favorite thing. There is code elsewhere which makes sure that the user is logged in.

class ThingController < ApplicationController
  def add_favorite
    @thing = Thing.find(params[:id])
    @user = User.find(session[:user_id])
    @user.has_favorite(@thing)
    redirect_to :action => 'show', :id => @thing
  end

  def remove_favorite
    @thing = Thing.find(params[:id])
    @user = User.find(session[:user_id])
    @user.has_no_favorite(@thing)
    redirect_to :action => 'show', :id => @thing
  end
end

That's all there is to it. You now have users who can mark objects as favorites.

Update: It appears that the official repository for acts_as_favorite is not reliable. I have archived my snapshot of acts_as_favorite. This version includes the patch listed above.

Today’s story is about a simple map born with so much promise. As our hero entered adolescence, his face became pockmarked with too many trips to the database and not enough love from his family dermatologist.

Take care of your spots, people.

Over at 2-Speed Will longs for the good old days of the AAA Experience. He recounts travelling with his family:

We’d walk into the AAA office where a nice older person (well, old compared to me) would ask us about our route and preferences and then would pull out half dozen maps with various details that he/she thought were worth pointing out. They then highlighted the route, their recommendations for places to eat and stay, and all of the noteworthy stops that we should make along the way. We’d walk out of the agency feeling that we had just gotten expert advice and with an armful of documentation, most of it folded in the classic map style origami that we would never be able to reproduce.

The enjoyment of following the trip along with the map was half the fun. The level of detail, the indication of small roads, towns and villages and the feeling that it was really about the journey, not the destination, was what made it terrific.

I understand this sentiment. For a long time, I would optimize my commute not by time, but by uniqueness. The goal was to get to/from work everyday by a unique route and to see what there was to see. Also, I’ve already pointed out my fascination with maps.

I suppose that the AAA still offers the same service, although I assume they just print out online maps like we do ourselves from Mapquest or similar. My guess is that the expertise that pointed out the unique roadside attractions, though, is all gone. It, of course, came from experience.

The expertise may be gone from AAA, but even if it has I’m certain the expertise is not lost. The type of folks AAA hired are still out in the world, and I’m sure they’re still as eager to share this info.

In fact, I would bet almost everyone has come across a few places (in the country, in the city, abroad) they’d like to share with others. So, maybe each individual has less expertise, but the good news is that there are lots of those people out there and they’re all over the world.

All you would need is some way to bring these people with their experience together. You could give them a place to share their knowledge of “unique roadside attractions” with the people who want to find them. And you could give the travellers (who may just be interested in attractions outside their door) a way to explore these “spots” based on their location and interests.

That shouldn’t be too hard.

Another milestone! Today our 100th bug revealed itself, was met, and dispatched. I must admit, I’m not sure how proud we should be about a product defect.

Still, anytime we manage to accumulate a hundred of anything it causes me to remember where we’ve come from and where we are now. A few months ago we were in Aron’s living room tossing around an idea. Now we’ve got a lot of software, a growing body of content, a nascent community of users, and a 100 bugs.

So, so long bug 100!

(It was my fault.)

Matthew has been posting about his eight passions. Here is one of mine: cheese, melted on sandwiches.

A grilled cheese sandwich is the most pure of the cheese-and-bread combinations, yet is is not often surpassed. As much as I love tuna melts, turkey melts and quesadillas, they do not surpass the grilled cheese.

Butter (real butter, applied generously), hearty bread, a good combination of cheeses, and good, ripe tomato slices combine in just a few minutes into my favorite sandwich.

Time awards their Person of the Year honors to … you! Read all about it here.

But they’re not lauding everyone, only the citizens of the new-fangled, two-point-oh-style collaborative web. Here’s their take:

[The story of 2006 is] a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

That quote might a little breathless (I’m not sure that I’ve done any power-wresting recently, I’ll have to check with Aron and see if he has) but as a entrepreneur and blogger (look at me putting on airs) I obviously agree. spotstory would not be possible without the Internet, open source, and shared knowledge.

As you’ll see, we’re hoping to become a bigger part of that story in the coming year. Here’s hoping it’s a good one!

We (well, Aron) pushed out our first update to the site tonight. It adds a couple of slick features and begins to remedy a major usability problem that our very brave alpha testers pointed out. We’ve still got a pile of bugs to fix (look for an upcoming bog entry on that.)

We’re going to begin letting a few more people into the site soon. If you would like to be one of them at some point go to www.spotstory.com and sign up already!

Over the next couple of days we’ll start to talk a little bit more about what the site actually does, but right now I think I am going to go look for a beer.

Thanks again to all of the pioneering spotstorians!

As mentioned below, yesterday evening we did a very-alpha, wicked soft launch to a couple friends and family. That’s why the blog has been pretty quiet the past week or so.

We’re dribbling the site out to just a couple of people at a time. We intend on providing a smooth initial site visit for users. Since we only know a few people, and those folks can only have one first impression, we’re rationing ourselves.

It’s been tremendously informative. We’ve got a substantial list of things to change, but cumulatively they make the site 50% better already. That isn’t too shabby for a couple hours of feedback.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out so far.

Exciting times!

Aron and I got together with a couple of friends who have taken a look at a pre-pre-pre-pre-pre alpha version of the site. I forgot my notebook in my other coat so ended up having to take notes on the back of a business card.

You can see the results. I decided it would be a good idea to immediately smudge most of it. Yuck.

Don’t let this happen to you. As Notee the Notebook always says: “Don’t forget your notebook!”

Look at our way-cool custom markers! Drop shadows and everything!

We are more than just a little excited.