Why are there two ways to "like" a question? Favorite and upvote. What's the difference? When should I do one and when the other?
4 Answers
Favorite is like bookmarking, usually for post which you find useful for future references. Could be something entertaining or something so bad that you want to remind yourself not to commit the same mistake. :P
Upvoting is a positive acknowledgement for a question.
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2+1; additionally, questions often get favorited for a particular answer to that question -- canonical example: stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/… Commented Feb 24, 2010 at 8:17
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The problem is that the text in the hoover to upvote arrow says "This question shows research effort; it is useful and clear". Now, take this same question: it is useful and clear, but doesn't show any research effort. Should I upvote or bookmark it? I normally do both to be sure. Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 10:23
You upvote a question/answer because it's a good question/answer. This usually gives the author reputation.
You favorite a question because you want to be able to find it again (maybe you have the same question). You can find your favorite questions by going to https://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/131235?tab=favorites#tab-top
answered Feb 24, 2010 at 5:30
For many users like me a favorite is mostly a private bookmark and badges based on favorites are a kind of nonsense.
That means my bookmarks are a mix of great links I really want to favor and some short time bookmarks I remove a few days later.
The true question is why are so many people using favorites as private bookmarks.
Lets take a look at Firefox which creates great bookmark entries with a lot information. But there are no simple sql like query tools who return a simple result like give me all bookmarks which are tagged with 'SO' and with 'MyQuestion'.
Search machines and Browsers just don't target at advanced users.
Favoriting a question makes it show up in your list of favorites on your user page.
Upvoting a question simply gives the author rep/chance to earn a badge.
answered Feb 24, 2010 at 5:29
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Technically, favoriting gives the author the chance to earn a badge too (see meta.stackoverflow.com/badges/33/favorite-question and meta.stackoverflow.com/badges/34/stellar-question). Commented Feb 24, 2010 at 6:24