Disabling Favoriting of Anonymous AskMe Posts?

May 16, 2006 8:28 PM

Displaying users who have marked Anonymous questions in AskMe as a favorite is potentially revealing of who Anonymous was in that instance. It is also potentially harmful, both to users who mark such questions as a favorite, as well as to future discourse at Metafilter in general. So I suggest that we remove the list at the start of the thread of those who marked an Anonymous question as a favorite. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 to Feature Requests at 8:28 PM (54 comments total)

A user who asked an anon question may mark it as a favorite because he or she may want to go back to it and read it on later occasions. But consider that if they are the only person who has marked that question as a favorite, the fact that it says right at the very top of the thread that 'UserX' marked it as a favorite could signal to others who are reading the question that Anon may actually be UserX.

Sure, there's nothing conclusive to prove that claim. But I can foresee situations arising in the future where AskMe threads are derailed or answers are made potentially unhelpful because someone says "well, UserX is probably anonymous in this case, and UserX said this somewhere else, so this is my answer." UserX can deny that he or she is Anonymous until they're blue in the face, irregardless of whether or not they actually are the anonymous question asker. But to someone who is convinced that Anon really is UserX, denials would possibly make their belief all the stronger.

One obvious solution is that anyone who has ever asked an anonymous question should never mark them as their favorite if no one else has done so yet. But that seems to defeat one of the purposes of having a favorites system, does it not?

But there is another problem. Users who mark anonymous questions, which usually always deal with potentially embarrassing questions related to sex or health or money, might be inadvertently labelling themselves as someone who has the problems originally asked by anonymous. At the very least, they open themselves up to such accusations in the future from the more... shall we say, 'immature' members of the MeFi family.

Consider the following purely hypothetical scenario. An anonymous question asks "Is there a cure for genital warts. I have some and I want to get rid of them" and then ParisParasmus marks the thread as a favorite. He really isn't the anonymous question asker. He may or may not have genital warts; he might have just marked the question as a favorite because he liked the way people helped each other in thread, or because he liked the discourse. But given he is one of MeFi's most frequent victim of personal attacks, his enemies may later attack him in a political thread with accusations that he has genital warts. If he doesn't have them, it's childish and will surely result in a deletion (Possibly a MeTa thread) but if he does, it is possibly very hurtful.

Disclaimer; I am not saying PP has genital warts. If you have taken offence at my having done so, I humbly and unreservedly apologize to you for it.

Anyway, I humbly submit that we remove from any anonymous question the list of those who marked it as a favourite, while still allowing people to mark them as favourites. It could stop a whole can of worms from being opened up at some point in the future.
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:28 PM on May 16, 2006

While your argument is well-thought out, I have to disagree. Your favorite system is public. If you want to privately track a thread, you should bookmark it. This has been said before.
posted by onalark at 8:32 PM on May 16, 2006

onalark has it. There's no reason you'd have to use the favorite system to keep track of your anonymous thread. In fact, because of what you just described, it's probably a bad idea. The workaround seems like more trouble than it's worth.
posted by danb at 8:35 PM on May 16, 2006

You're nuts. Anyone can mark a favorite for any reason. I would never assume the first person to mark an anon question as a favorite was the person asking -- it could be someone in a similar situation.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:47 PM on May 16, 2006

Indeed, marking it a favorite would suggest you aren't the asker.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:47 PM on May 16, 2006

ParisParasmus has genital warts!
posted by soiled cowboy at 8:52 PM on May 16, 2006

"You're nuts. Anyone can mark a favorite for any reason. I would never assume the first person to mark an anon question as a favorite was the person asking..."

No, well, of course you wouldn't, Matt. But some might.

"... it could be someone in a similar situation.

Which relates to the second part of my post. Associating yourself with some of the more awkward situations Anonymous asks by marking a question as your favourite could leave you open to attack in later AskMe or MeFi threads.

But generally I agree with onalark. I think obviously the best solution is to privately track the thread with a bookmark. I had considered this. I suppose I was trying to protect those who did otherwise.
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:54 PM on May 16, 2006

From now on, I think we should operate on the assumption that Effigy2000 is posting most of the anonymous questions.
posted by bingo at 8:55 PM on May 16, 2006

Cool! It's been years since I've seen the word "irregardless" used outside of the context of jokes about bad grammar and the general decline of letiracy.

[ducks]
posted by intermod at 8:58 PM on May 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

Associating yourself with some of the more awkward situations Anonymous asks by marking a question as your favourite could leave you open to attack in later AskMe or MeFi threads.

One would hope that if people are smart enough to post their questions anonymously, they're smart enough to think about how public they make any further association with the thread. In other words, if they want to mark it as favourites, they've only got themselves to blame.

And the same goes for people who didn't ask the questions making them as favourites. Its up to them to be aware of any theoretical consequences. If I flag a question about genital warts then it serves me right if people think I'm suffering from them myself. Them's the breaks. With the exception of witty, users here aren't helpless little puppies.
posted by Jimbob at 9:12 PM on May 16, 2006

Genital warts taste nothing like pancakes. I'm just sayin'.
posted by loquacious at 9:21 PM on May 16, 2006

No, well, of course you wouldn't, Matt. But some might.

Dude, one of my first favorites was to watch a thread about ass sweat. I don't care if anyone can tell I might care about it and have a sweaty ass. Worrying about what "some might" think is asking for too much, asking me to remove features so that we can protect everyone from themselves.

Favorites are public. If you don't want everyone to know you are concerned about ass sweat, use a browser bookmark instead.


one last time: Ass sweat.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:28 PM on May 16, 2006

Here are all the people that asked anonymous questions.
posted by tellurian at 9:29 PM on May 16, 2006

omg ten people favorited the chicken sodomy thread they all have sex with chickens
posted by brain_drain at 9:37 PM on May 16, 2006

That's fair enough Matt, and I accept your point (and onalark's, too). No honestly, I do. I thought I'd just raise it as a possible matter of concern from the new feature, which rocks, by the way.

As you all were.
posted by Effigy2000 at 9:40 PM on May 16, 2006

METATALK: SWAMP ASS
posted by loquacious at 10:04 PM on May 16, 2006

Sometimes, joke's just write themselves.
posted by mischief at 10:12 PM on May 16, 2006

Wow, who would think that the ParisParamus has genital warts? Thanks for the tip!
posted by puke & cry at 10:27 PM on May 16, 2006

My vote is for nuts. Effigy2000 - Please see a doctor about your medication.
posted by y6y6y6 at 10:32 PM on May 16, 2006

From now on, I think we should operate on the assumption that Effigy2000 is posting most of the anonymous questions.

On behalf of me, of course. As part of my network of MeFi operatives.
posted by weston at 10:50 PM on May 16, 2006

Actually, I thought Effigy2000 asked the wrong question. I myself was quite suprised to see that "Favorites" was a public function. I was hoping it was a way for me to mark threads that I wanted to watch, or come back to later for source data, without everybody knowing that.

I realize now that this is not the case, but to be quite honest, I would prefer to have what I described over what has been built.
posted by Dunwitty at 12:07 AM on May 17, 2006

And yes, I'm familiar with my browser's "Bookmark" function.
posted by Dunwitty at 12:09 AM on May 17, 2006

I have ass sweat. In my pants.
posted by dodgygeezer at 1:02 AM on May 17, 2006

I realize now that this is not the case, but to be quite honest, I would prefer to have what I described over what has been built.

de.licio.us recently introduced a simple tickbox when you added a bookmark that allowed you to keep it private rather than public. A similar feature here would certainly be a way to keep everyone happy.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:07 AM on May 17, 2006

Somebody said something about Paris being a genital wart expert or something? Question for Paris: if you cunniling genital warts can you get warts on your tongue?
posted by dgaicun at 1:29 AM on May 17, 2006

Somebody said something about Matt being an ass sweat expert or something? Question for Matt: When you get ass sweat on the benches at the gym, do you just towel it off like with back sweat and stuff, or should it require extra cleansing, like with that gym ammonia spray-bottle thing?
posted by dgaicun at 1:34 AM on May 17, 2006

Is this the proper forum to post my question about ass sweat? Oh, shit, wait, I wanted to be anonymous. Can someone post it for me?
posted by fixedgear at 1:50 AM on May 17, 2006

Everything on metafilter is public; your comments can be read by anyone and everyone can see what answers you've left and questions you've asked and links you thought were worth discussing. Private favorites are just a little utility for people that doesn't offer a greater benefit.

Public favorites means I can a lot with the data, benefiting even those that never even use the feature. I can show how many people like something, what is popular for the last 24 hours, and what your friends like that you might also like and would have otherwise missed.

We already have private bookmarks in all our browsers. Instead of merely making a copy of that, I added the favorites feature so I could do something more with it and make something useful and meaningful with the aggregated data.

Should voting on MeFi Projects be private and hidden as well?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:00 AM on May 17, 2006 [1 favorite]

I, too, noted the use of "irregardless" and tuned out of the rest of Effigy's post.

*runs away*
posted by antifuse at 2:16 AM on May 17, 2006

around here we worry about what people might DO, not what people might THINK.
posted by quonsar at 4:25 AM on May 17, 2006

Oh, cheers mathowie - I was listening to Prince's most recent masterwork while reading this thread. And now it goes like this:

Workin', workin' up an ass sweat
I'm workin', workin' up an ass sweat
I'm workin'
Workin' up an ass sweat
Workin', workin' up an ass sweat
Workin' up an ass sweat
Workin'

That's a brand new dance I don't want to learn.
posted by jack_mo at 4:40 AM on May 17, 2006

I like how the most popular thread is a deleted one.
posted by atrazine at 6:31 AM on May 17, 2006

Looong post to say, "didn't realize that favorites would be public. Bummer. I guess I'll go back to bookmarking threads to watch."
posted by desuetude at 6:53 AM on May 17, 2006

(Myself, I'm liking this pony.)
posted by desuetude at 6:53 AM on May 17, 2006

around here we worry about what people might DO, not what people might THINK.

worth repeating.
posted by shmegegge at 7:12 AM on May 17, 2006

" I don't care if anyone can tell I might care about it and have a sweaty ass."

Of course you have a sweaty ass, mister recumbent bicycle.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:22 AM on May 17, 2006 [1 favorite]

I've favorited questions I didn't ask and not favorited ones I did. Therefore I am who I am not, and not who I am. QED.
posted by Tuwa at 7:47 AM on May 17, 2006

P.S. no sockpuppets involved.
posted by Tuwa at 7:48 AM on May 17, 2006

Mr Crash Davis owes me a new nose. It got coffee in it.
posted by theora55 at 7:48 AM on May 17, 2006

I was hoping it was a way for me to mark threads that I wanted to watch, or come back to later for source data, without everybody knowing that. I realize now that this is not the case, but to be quite honest, I would prefer to have what I described over what has been built.

Agreed.

With the exception of witty...

What?
posted by Witty at 7:48 AM on May 17, 2006

I can see the point of having it public on our profiles. It might be interesting to see what some folks mark as favote threads. I don't really see the point of listing the names at the top of the post thread. It's all well and good when there are only a few people marking something as a favorite, but what happens if 100 people mark something that way. Seems to me that long list of names at the top would look pretty messing and take up space.
posted by Orb at 7:56 AM on May 17, 2006

Agreed again.
posted by Witty at 7:57 AM on May 17, 2006

I don't care to be protected from people assuming things about me based on which threads I mark.

But someone really has to protect me from ass sweat [shudders].
posted by orange swan at 8:02 AM on May 17, 2006

Sometimes joke's write themselves.

Yes, mischief, sometimes they do.
posted by emelenjr at 8:31 AM on May 17, 2006

I think it would be best to list the number of people who marked a thread as a favorite, rather than all of the individuals, because as MeFi grows in popularity, this will just get ugly.

Furthermore, while I can understand both ends of the "should be public" v. "I prefer private" bookmarks debate, and mathowie is the VOA here and has already stated his side:

I can see how, at least in AskMe specifically, people would have valid reason to want to Favorite something but not make it public knowledge. Perhaps a compromise can be made just for AskMe and not the rest of MeFi? I mean, the names of people who read and found useful information in a Dear Abby column aren't published for the world to see.

I understand the public bookmarking awesomeness on the rest of MeFi, and frankly agree with you there, Matt. I just think that it's reasonable to ask for an exception on AskMe, which often amounts to a lot of life advice that is somewhat (or very) personal. Yes, using a browser bookmark is an option, but the beauty of MeFi bookmarks is that they compile all of my MeFi stuff in one place.

I think people would like the option of at least making their AskMe bookmark preferences private.
posted by twiggy at 8:58 AM on May 17, 2006

I'm going to remove the list of people that marked as a favorite below each thread, and move that to another page if people really want to know. So, ignore that for the next few hours as I implement a separate page.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:08 AM on May 17, 2006

twiggy, I'm a huge user of delicious and I use it to track thousands of links, but I also have about 50 browser bookmarks for personal things I don't want the world to know I'm tracking. I don't think it's too much to ask that people wanting that kind of public/private separation will do the separation themselves.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:10 AM on May 17, 2006

I think the concern about people favoriting AskMe questions doesn't take into account all the reasons people might favorite a question. Some of them might have the answer to a question you've had, or advice on a situation you expect to face at some point in the future, and some might just show some particular aspect of human conduct you find interesting (e.g. "what does it mean when you're shown an anal sex video on the first date?"). On a related note, some might answer a question you're glad not to have, but it's a question you want to revisit for one reason or another.

All I'd assume from a mark of "favorite" is that the person finds the post worth remembering for some reason. Any reason I derive from that is at my own peril.
posted by Tuwa at 10:04 AM on May 17, 2006

I don't think it's too much to ask that people wanting that kind of public/private separation will do the separation themselves.

Agreed.

All I'd assume from a mark of "favorite" is that the person finds the post worth remembering for some reason.

Yup.
posted by languagehat at 10:08 AM on May 17, 2006

Oooo, anyone have a link to that thread about being shown porn on a first date? That was a riot!
posted by CunningLinguist at 10:45 AM on May 17, 2006

It's here, CunningLinguist.
posted by Tuwa at 1:30 PM on May 17, 2006

I'm going to remove the list of people that marked as a favorite below each thread, and move that to another page if people really want to know.

awww. I liked that feature. I thought it added a nice element of public support for threads, even when people weren't commenting a whole lot. I mean, it's still there, but now you have to go and specifically look for it.
posted by shmegegge at 1:42 PM on May 17, 2006

and move that to another page if people really want to know.

Toggleable div.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:46 PM on May 17, 2006

I don't care if anyone can tell I might care about it and have a sweaty ass.
posted by quonsar at 4:22 AM on May 18, 2006