what's the best way to avoid a double?

November 16, 2005 5:06 PM

I want to make an FPP (my first), but I want to make absolutely sure it isn't a double post. What is the best/most thorough way to check this? I have tried googling key terms but I get so many results that it would be impossible to search through.
posted by arcticwoman to Etiquette/Policy at 5:06 PM (29 comments total)

First go to the POST A LINK page, and enter in the url of the site. Leave off everything but the domain name -- no "http," no "www" and no directory or html file information. Press "Preview." If the site has been posted before, it'll show up.
posted by crunchland at 5:11 PM on November 16, 2005

Yeah, that's the ticket. Actually, I think that's on someone's user page.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:25 PM on November 16, 2005

This has been the major fear I've had about posting here as well. My search skills suck, and I seem to have never gotten the hang of it here. After Matt linked to your excellent profile yesterday, crunchland, I tried the technique you outlined, but that didn't work. I experimented with two or three posts, including a recent double, but with no success.

So I decided that I'm just too stupid to be on metafilter, and went back to filling in Live Journal personality quizzes.

But those instructions differ from the ones in your profile; which otherwise was quite stellar, and very useful for a newbie like me. Thanks for that.

Anywaze... So what gives?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 5:26 PM on November 16, 2005

First go to the POST A LINK page, and enter in the url of the site. Leave off everything but the domain name -- no "http," no "www" and no directory or html file information. Press "Preview." If the site has been posted before, it'll show up.

I do that, then search the site with the full and truncated URL's, then search the site using google doing the same. If you can think up any spelling errors try those too. Then various keywords. When you can't believe that it has shown up anywhere, quickly post it with heart pumping.
posted by fire&wings at 5:29 PM on November 16, 2005

Look again, PareidoliaticBoy... my user page was out of date ever since Matt changed the Search functions over to google exclusively. After we chatted a bit on that other thread, I changed the instructions on my page to reflect this new technique.
posted by crunchland at 5:33 PM on November 16, 2005

What is the best/most thorough way to check this?

Post it (the idea for your post) here and let people tell you. At least just this once though (considering it's your first FPP).
posted by sjvilla79 at 5:35 PM on November 16, 2005

AHA!!!!!!

I just revisited that thread, crunchland, and NOW I get it. The instructions for checking for double posts were frikken wrong , all this time. No wonder I couldn't figure it out.

*Goes into a posting frenzy*
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 5:40 PM on November 16, 2005

I've used Google's link: option on their advance page and then scroll through the pages to see if there is a metafilter reference, but it doesn't always work if someone has linked to something other than the main link to the site.
posted by obedo at 5:42 PM on November 16, 2005

Just post it. If it's a double, someone will bitch and moan and it will get deleted.

That's why we pay Matt the big bucks. ;)
posted by mrgrimm at 5:55 PM on November 16, 2005

Yeah there is rarely anything wrong with making a double post if you made a good faith effort to check to see that it wasn't a double. The only time people really seem to get all goofy on them is when the post is a double of something that is still on the front page. Otherwise all that happens is your post gets removed with some reason for removal, you get a note saying "I removed your post" if I removed it, and you can't post again for a day or something. If you think your post is worthwhile, it's probably worth it to give it a shot. Now that Matt is working on MeFi more regularly, double-posts get caught and removed before they can turn into total wankfests.
posted by jessamyn at 5:56 PM on November 16, 2005

By the way PareidoliaticBoy, when making a first post, if you say "It's my first post, please be nice," it will have the same effect as throwing a bucket of puppy dog guts into a shark tank.

At least that seemed to be the experience of a lot of folks that came in during the great influx of Nov. '04 (myself among that bunch).
posted by marxchivist at 5:57 PM on November 16, 2005

If you have interesting content (which I never have), and don't just post blindly (which I would possibly do), and aren't all apologetic on the front page (which would be monumentally stupid), then don't worry about what other Mefi's think about you. 95% of us won't remember you tomorrow, and the other 5% need to get out more.
posted by muddgirl at 6:13 PM on November 16, 2005

post the URL here and let the metafilter detective squad figure things out.
posted by delmoi at 6:54 PM on November 16, 2005

Post it (the idea for your post) here and let people tell you. At least just this once though (considering it's your first FPP).
posted by sjvilla79

Argh! Didn't we have this conversation about preflighting posts in the Grey, sjvilla? This is a fine thread: how do I search and make sure my post isn't a dupe? "Is the following a dupe?" threads in the Grey: not at all fine.

To reiterate: if you have ANY questions about anything you want to post: email a random member and ask for help. People here are very approachable and I'm sure that anyone who seems to be "in the know" would be happy to help you out over email. Not everyone's emails are listed on their user pages, but keep clicking user names until you find one.
posted by scarabic at 7:34 PM on November 16, 2005

Argh! Didn't we have this conversation about preflighting posts in the Grey, sjvilla?

That was in a different context. You've also take my comment here out of context and said nothing of delmoi's comment right above your own. Yeah, my point exactly.
posted by sjvilla79 at 7:50 PM on November 16, 2005

It's been six months, so it's time once again for me to trot this out: please don't use the abbreviation "FPP". It's unnecessary, obfuscatory, and exclusionary. Plus dumb. Thanks.
posted by gleuschk at 7:53 PM on November 16, 2005

and I'm sure that anyone who seems to be "in the know" would be happy to help you out over email.

I'm sure this is a state of mind rather than any physical characteristic (checked and it's not on the MeFi Wiki). Oh dear yes it would have to be. After all, this is MetaFilter!
posted by sjvilla79 at 7:56 PM on November 16, 2005

It's been six months, so it's time once again for me to trot this out: please don't use the abbreviation "FPP". It's unnecessary, obfuscatory, and exclusionary. Plus dumb. Thanks.

Are you serious?
posted by tristeza at 8:03 PM on November 16, 2005

holy shit the fourth biannual gleuschk grouchtacular!

KEEP IT REAL DOGG
posted by fishfucker at 8:15 PM on November 16, 2005

Forget delmoi. delmoi obviously has the opposite opinion from mine, but I thought you and I just went over the subject of preflighting the other day. And whether it's post quality or double-posting, the context doesn't matter. Preflighting is preflighting. The Grey is not a pre-Blue sandbox.
posted by scarabic at 8:22 PM on November 16, 2005

...hehe..i like it when it's termed 'FPP post' even better!

...and don't forget before you post to seach on Flashdot and Slark and Bong Bong and every other blog that people here read, because somebody's going to jump your ass if they see the same story in both places...
posted by troybob at 8:36 PM on November 16, 2005

Damn, I did the search like crunchland suggested and found that while there is no front page post (otherwise known as FPP), there was a whole askmefi thread. Meh, I guess I'll keep looking.
posted by arcticwoman at 8:45 PM on November 16, 2005

...but I thought you and I just went over the subject of preflighting the other day.

Yeah, we're cool. Nothing has changed from my perspecitve.

Preflighting is preflighting.

I still think you were taking my comment out of context. Perhaps we can agree to disagree.
posted by sjvilla79 at 9:04 PM on November 16, 2005

Perhaps so. But I'm not even sure which of your comments I've abused. I quoted one of your comments from this thread, is that the one I've taken out of context? I quoted it in its entirety and in the same thread. Or are you referring to something from an earlier thread? If so, can you clarify?
posted by scarabic at 9:26 PM on November 16, 2005

It was this thread's comments. Bridge. Over it. Really, it's fine.
posted by sjvilla79 at 10:01 PM on November 16, 2005

quotation marks. if you can bet on certain specific strings of words appearing in the post, then putting quotation marks around that string should limit the number of hits you get. and do it for as many different phrases as you can think of first.
posted by shmegegge at 10:25 PM on November 16, 2005

I have tried googling key terms but I get so many results that it would be impossible to search through.

There's your problem right there. Try Googling for the terms on Yahoo. Or Yahooing, as we call it. They update their MeFi links more often-like.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:22 AM on November 17, 2005

It's been six months, so it's time once again for me to trot this out: please don't use the abbreviation "FPP". It's unnecessary, obfuscatory, and exclusionary. Plus dumb. Thanks.

Couldn't agree more. Posts are posts, comments are comments. People also seem to be using the abbreviation for OP for Original Poster of late, which makes no sense at all, what with there being only one poster per thread. (The most annoying thing about all this is that I find it annoying.)

...and don't forget before you post to seach on Flashdot and Slark and Bong Bong and every other blog that people here read

You have a list? Shit, careful everyone, troybob is Echelon!
posted by jack_mo at 3:54 AM on November 17, 2005

What CD said: Yahoo seems to do a better job than Google. Example: searching for "earthworks" in www.metafilter.com.

Google: two hits, comprising two different threads.
Yahoo: four hits, comprising three different threads.
Google fails to find 19128, for whatever reason.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:40 AM on November 17, 2005