Comments on: Post deletion reason?

Post deletion reason?

bshort — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 11:54:25 -0800

Why was the AxMe post "If you were going to relocate permanently from the present day to Rome circa 100 BC, and you could bring only one piece of luggage (standard carry-on dimensions) what would you pack?" deleted?

By: dios

dios — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 11:56:22 -0800

If you were going to have dinner with any people from any point in time, which three would you pick?

And, how are you today?

By: bshort

bshort — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 11:57:43 -0800

See, if you had read the thread, rather than just snarking, you would realize that what people were coming up with was actually quite interesting.

By: dios

dios — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:02:28 -0800

It was deleted. How was I supposed read the thread?

My comment was, a little snarky, but intended to answer your question. It was most likely deleted because it was too chatty of a question that doesn't have an answer. You are just asking other people what they would do.

By: SweetJesus

SweetJesus — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:02:36 -0800

Uhhh, do you really need to be told why that was deleted?

By: dios

dios — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:03:10 -0800

I should post an AskMefi question:
"What is a comma splice and how do I avoid them?"

By: bshort

bshort — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:03:42 -0800

Note: I didn't post the question.

I'm only defending it. Hypothetical questions are posted all the time. Why was this one singled out?

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:05:48 -0800

Why were the comments about "Pepsi Blue" deleted from this thread?

It's Matt's sekrit-klubhous, and if Matt wants to be the Top Hat when we play Monopoly, Matt gets to be the Top Hat!

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:06:53 -0800

Hypothetical questions with real world applicability are usually left up. Hypothetical questions in support of real world projects (I'm writing a novel and...) are usually left up. Hypothetical questions with no possibility of being realized and no justification for the need for an answer are usually taken down.

By: selfnoise

selfnoise — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:07:03 -0800

I always liked that little dog.

By: cribcage

cribcage — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:09:53 -0800

I assume it was deleted because it was determined to be "ChatFilter." I'd like to think it wouldn't have been deleted if, for example, the poster had addended the same question with something along the lines of, "This question is aimed to help me brainstorm for a science fiction novel I'm writing." If that seems an arbitrary and semantic distinction...well, I kinda agree.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:10:07 -0800

You mean the Rome 100B.C. meetup is canceled?

Excuse me, I've gotta go cancel that toga order.

By: selfnoise

selfnoise — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:10:27 -0800

BTW: metachat reincarnated the post.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:12:37 -0800

dios's point is valid. Chatty threads are often interesting, that doesn't mean they are appropriate for AskMe. The posting guidelines say "Open-ended chatty questions that don't offer a problem to be solved are detrimental to the long term usefulness of the site." and the wiki is pretty clear that hypothetical "what if" type questions aren't what AskMetafilter is for.

A general rule of thumb is to avoid questions where all answers are equally valid, i.e. what jacquilynne said. This includes "What is your favorite X?" and "what if Hitler had never been born?" types of questions.

There are many MeFi spin-off sites where chatty questions are encouraged and celebrated and this ~~would have~~ will be great on one of them.

By: The Jesse Helms

The Jesse Helms — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:14:43 -0800

Am I the only one who thinks 'AxMe' is racist?

By: kjh

kjh — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:15:33 -0800

What would constitute a "best answer" for such a question?

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:23:41 -0800

The Jesse Helms: "Am I the only one who thinks 'AxMe' is racist?"

If you assume that only [insert minority] uses "Ax", you're the racist one.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:25:08 -0800

Am I the only one who thinks 'AxMe' is racist?

No but let me summarize the conversation for you.

1. "AskMe is racist"
2. "Why's that?"
3. "Because black people say "Axe" instead of "Ask.""
4. "So?"
5. "So, that's racist. You're making fun of them."
6. "How's that?"
7. "If you don't see why, you are just like Hitler."
[godwin, etc]
8. "Actually, if you look it up, the pronunciation "ax" predates "ask." Some populations still use it. It's not like black people altered the word or made it their own in any way. If you hear it as a black pronunciation, that's your own association. And if you assocaite black with pejorative, then you, in fact, are the racist."
[no one listens, see godwin, above]

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:25:31 -0800

woops, that should be:

1. "AxMe is racist"

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:04:41 -0800

Shut up darky.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:06:52 -0800

A chatty thread was deleted on Ask.Mefi? :O :O :O

By: gigawhat?

gigawhat? — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:16:21 -0800

If you assume that only [insert minority] uses "Ax", you're the racist one.

Maybe The Jesse Helms really is The Jesse Helms!

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:23:50 -0800

Am I the only one who thinks 'AxMe' is racist?

Well, I think Kubrick's intent was to use the sudden and unceremonious death of Hallorann as a sort of subversion of the typical hollywoodish rescue tactic -- so the fact that Scatman Crothers is black is wholly incidental to the event of his murder by Jack and the question of racism is moot.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:42:27 -0800

If you drew a pie chart of the percentages of people who say "Axe" instead of Ask, you would find that the slice of the pie that corresponded to black people was perfectly analogous to the percentage of black people living in poverty, and that the slice of the pie which represented POOR people was, in fact, the whole pie.

seriously, it's said on long island by white folk, the midwest, by any one whose education wasn't all that hot.

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:48:18 -0800

So can I eat pie or is that racist too? I need to know - I haven't eaten all day.

By: kcm

kcm — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:49:10 -0800

Not eating all day is soooooo middle-class white suburbanite.

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:52:16 -0800

I wish.

By: PenguinBukkake

PenguinBukkake — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:01:41 -0800

even if sometimes those who mention the "AxMe/racism" situation do seem to have an ax to grind, I don't really like "AxMe" either.

By: PenguinBukkake

PenguinBukkake — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:05:36 -0800

AxMe

By: fishfucker

fishfucker — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:53:18 -0800

seriously, it's said on long island by white folk, the midwest, by any one whose education wasn't all that hot.

ten to one that the people up in hizzere usin' it got some of that book-learnin'.

By: fishfucker

fishfucker — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:53:52 -0800

STOP ALL THE APPROPRIATION* PEOPLE

*ALSO THE DOWNLOADING

By: Kickstart70

Kickstart70 — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 15:53:23 -0800

Actually, if you look it up, the pronunciation "ax" predates "ask."

That's really interesting...do you have a cite I could share with some others on another board?

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 17:57:17 -0800

No, because he totally made it up.

By: majick

majick — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 21:04:05 -0800

"Why was the AxMe post... deleted?"

Because it sucked, and was abusing Ask Metafilter as a chat room.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:55:47 -0800

No, because he totally made it up.

Um, no, he didn't.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:12:50 -0800

detrimental to the long term usefulness of the site

Yeh, that thinking is just rubbish, though. A question like the Rome one can pop up on a google search when the searcher is also pondering that common what-would-you-take-to-the-past question, and they will love the thread (which was quite well answered), or it will be stumbled over and the quality will draw people into the site.

What's most crap is that rewording the question would let it stay. Can't we just have a button on the posting form that automatically adds one of "I'm discussing this with my son, to teach him history/this is for a novel/whatever spurious justification will stay the axe"?

That how-would-you-kill-a-dinosaur question was equally chat, but stayed because it had a little rider. Bad deletion.

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:01:42 -0800

That's how fucken sneaky I am. I put little riders on T.Rex. Oh yeah. Dino-cowboys, yee-ha! etc.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:02:25 -0800

Actually, if you look it up, the pronunciation "ax" predates "ask."

True.

And the correct answer is: ingots of aluminum.

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:09:12 -0800

Or a solar powered calculator or squeeze-powered torch or science textbook or an inflatable sheep for Caligula...

By: drezdn

drezdn — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:53:52 -0800

What if the question was posted by time travelling philip k dick?

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:15:01 -0800

Then the answer would be - a typewriter and several handfuls of amphetamines.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 10:01:37 -0800

Because it sucked, and was abusing Ask Metafilter as a chat room.

Yes, but of course "Why do people dislike Paul McCartney so much?" is valid fare for the day.

Meh. Puritans just another reason to avoid AxMe. News at 11.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 10:46:48 -0800

Sometimes people aren't consistent, life isn't fair, and the world doesn't end. News at 11.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 11:52:20 -0800

If I could have a time machine and go back to ancient Rome, the one thing I would take would be a suitcase sized time machine, for quick hops back to the present to pick up groceries and magic boom sticks.

By: kindall

kindall — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 12:39:36 -0800

What I'd want is a suitcase-sized time machine so I could get the fuck out of ancient Rome before I got killed or died of something stupid.

By: majick

majick — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 14:36:00 -0800

"Yes, but of course "Why do people dislike Paul McCartney so much?" is valid fare for the day."

No, it's not. I flagged that shit, too.

Ask Metafilter is special because it's one place, out of most of them on the web, that is not awash in crap. Why bitch about keeping it that way?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:02:47 -0800

You know, you used to be able to buy a whole ship for just 30-40 british pounds.

I'm just saying.