Multiple Accounts for AskMe

I'm with yhbc. Or, in my less nice version:

No part of MetaFilter, not even AskMetaFilter, is about you getting to ask your petty questions, son. You, and the billions more like you that there seem to be, are the equivalent of a guy who goes around to everyone who'll listen complaining that his car can drive real fast, but won't hover yet. AskMe is a priviledge. Whining about the dearth of priviledges does not yield more priviledges, it merely creates more people like me that hate people like you.

Also, you don't need to ask more than one question every two weeks. I know, people as intelligent as you come up with lots of interesting stumpers, but people as intelligent as you can probably type well enough, if you try really hard, to be able to use things like Google. When it gets really tough, when the pain that the unanswered questions are causing is so searing as to be impossible to bear, just brew some tea, sit down in a comfy chair, lean back, and remember that AskMe wasn't here five years ago, and yet you still survived from day to day.

Fucking christ, man.
posted by koeselitz at 10:57 PM on January 5, 2007 [2 favorites]

And, really, if I have a recommendation for the admins, it's that they should discontinue AskMe, or at least threaten to. It's probably the only way these ungrateful fucks will ever let up.
posted by koeselitz at 10:58 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Not to pile on, but jasmeet, you should try answering others' questions in addition to just asking your own. It looks like you've made precisely one comment that wasn't in one of your own questions. That's tacky.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 11:01 PM on January 5, 2007

Also, on a more practical note, we should probably mention to jasmeet here, since he doesn't come around the rest of the site often enough to have heard, that the mathowie and jessamyn can almost always tell when you're using a sockpuppet, so this little 'threat' is silly. Especially since he's pretty much announced that he's going to.
posted by koeselitz at 11:02 PM on January 5, 2007

Some of us (ahem!) already have all the answers we can handle to the questions which plague us. If people are going to buy a cheese sandwich with the Virgin Mary on it, I'll bet that they'll pay for someone to ask their questions.

Any bids?

(Sad, isn't it--that people may pay for a question but not an answer?)
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:02 PM on January 5, 2007

Let me get this straight. You're so worried about using up your question that you don't post at all? Can't be a very important question then.

Instead just suck it up, pick the most pressing question in your list and post it. Repeat in a fortnight. If the next question is unimportant enough that you won't bother/remember/whatever to come post it yourself (i.e. need it queued somewhere) then it's probably not important enough to post anyway.

If you ever come up with an urgent must-answer-now question and are in a waiting period you can generally find someone else to post the question. Email someone who seems approachable or post a request in metatalk (I rarely post questions, for example, and would happy to use the extra capacity for someone else occasionally). Ask.meta shouldn't be a last resort life saver anyway in a perfect world.
posted by shelleycat at 11:03 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

By the way, a practical guide to all those (legion, apparently) who have trouble using their questions because they're afraid of using their questions:

1. Write down your wonderful questions in the order you'd like to ask them.

2. Ask them in that order.

3. Update your list when you think of new questions.

It's not that hard, people.
posted by koeselitz at 11:08 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

It seems like you linked to something in the FAQ that was written in April and asked if it was still the case? Yes, it is. If we see you using a sock puppet to get around the posting limits we will remove you question and possibly ban your account. Sometimes people do have sock puppet accounts that they use for asking questions that they don't want linked to their primary account and that's okay for once or twice, but we still expect you to make a good faith effort to respect the posting time limits.

We try to make the FAQ pretty accurate and timely and even change it when policies change, like the recent increase from one question per week to one question every two weeks. Ask MetaFilter won't do what you want it to, at least not at the speed you want it to.
posted by jessamyn at 11:08 PM on January 5, 2007

Ohhh shelleycat has a good idea: Email someone who seems approachable or post a request in metatalk (I rarely post questions, for example, and would happy to use the extra capacity for someone else occasionally)...

I hereby offer my services to anyone who needs to ask an "extra" question (for a small fee)... And I may even be able to answer you question pre-posting (for a less-small fee).
posted by amyms at 11:09 PM on January 5, 2007

Write down all the questions you have and prioritize them. Post them in order of priority. While you are between questions, maybe do some research on the lower priority ones on your own.

Ask MeFi is good right now, no changes needed.
posted by Diskeater at 11:09 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

your*
posted by amyms at 11:10 PM on January 5, 2007

Ohhh shelleycat has a good idea:

Nah, it's not my idea. I've seen it proposed in here many times (and seen it in action in ask).

you should try answering others' questions in addition to just asking your own.

I don't generally agree with this sentiment and don't think there is one optimal posting profile. Asking good questions is still a valid contribution to the site. But showing yourself as useful and willing to help others (i.e. answering questions where you can) is going to make people look more favourably apon a request for help such as posting a question for you. You get out what you put in and all that crap.
posted by shelleycat at 11:13 PM on January 5, 2007

Waiter this soup is terrible and the portions are too small.
posted by Divine_Wino at 11:13 PM on January 5, 2007

Whatever amyms is charging you to post your question, I'll do it faster, better, and cheaper.
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:13 PM on January 5, 2007

I was going to offer to ask on their behalf until I saw the q:a.
Monju's observation is just the cherry on the selfish sundae, jesus.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:14 PM on January 5, 2007

Whatever amyms is charging you to post your question, I'll do it faster, better, and cheaper.

I undercut leftcoastbob's offer by 10 percent!
posted by amyms at 11:16 PM on January 5, 2007

Ignore that amyms behind the curtain! HE IS MY SOCK PUPPET!
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:18 PM on January 5, 2007

Or she, as the case may be.
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:19 PM on January 5, 2007

LOLOL... psst, leftcoastbob... amyms is a SHE
posted by amyms at 11:19 PM on January 5, 2007

Okay, your lightbulb went off before I posted (thumbs up)
posted by amyms at 11:19 PM on January 5, 2007

Good point. A suggestion to those willing to sell questions:

Make the going rate directly proportional to the q/a ratio of the person asking. Like, maybe $50 x q/a. (And those a's should be on questions that weren't asked by the user.) That would make our friend jasmeet's rate $500, and mine (just for comparison) something like $1.75.
posted by koeselitz at 11:20 PM on January 5, 2007

the cherry on the selfish sundae

At first I read that as the shellfish sundae and ... ew.
posted by shelleycat at 11:21 PM on January 5, 2007

Ohh, that' too complicated, koeselitz... I'll just promise to undercut anyone else's offer by 10 percent.
posted by amyms at 11:21 PM on January 5, 2007

My questions are so good, I charge people to ask them for me.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 11:23 PM on January 5, 2007

arrogance will get you nowhere, monju_bosatsu!...

*offers to ask monju_bosatsu's question's for a mere 5 percent*
posted by amyms at 11:27 PM on January 5, 2007

In that case, monju, amyms will pay 10% more than anyone else, I'll bet.
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:27 PM on January 5, 2007

questions*... geez, I can't type tonight... must be the dollar signs clouding my vision
posted by amyms at 11:27 PM on January 5, 2007

Aha! You're too late, leftcoastbob!
posted by amyms at 11:28 PM on January 5, 2007

Story of my life.
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:29 PM on January 5, 2007

*offers leftcoastbob a consolation prize*
posted by amyms at 11:31 PM on January 5, 2007

*undercuts it by 10%*
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:32 PM on January 5, 2007

*wonders how someone can undercut Turtle Wax by 10 percent*
posted by amyms at 11:33 PM on January 5, 2007

Email someone who seems approachable or post a request in metatalk (I rarely post questions, for example, and would happy to use the extra capacity for someone else occasionally)...

Do not email me with requests of this nature.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:37 PM on January 5, 2007

So, my boyfriend has spent all my money on his car, and I was wondering....
posted by maxwelton at 11:39 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

This perpetually baffles me: You haven't come anywhere near to the posting limits in your posting history, jasmeet. You have posted more than one question in a month on exactly one occasion. You went three and a half months between your second to last and most recent questions. You're so afraid of asking the wrong question that you don't ask any questions for over three months? Fuck, the anxiety must be killing you. I see that your blanket depilling needs finally pushed you over the edge.

And may I heartily second the sentiment that you don't seem to get the principle of this - the idea being we, as a community, answer each other's questions, rather than simply using it as a resource to which we make next to no contributions. Jesus Christ.
posted by nanojath at 11:39 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

To nanojath: AMEN!
posted by amyms at 11:42 PM on January 5, 2007

Add me to the chorus of wtf.

MetaFilter: A resource to which we make next to no contributions.
posted by Duncan at 11:44 PM on January 5, 2007

I'm frustrated by the current two week limit on ask metafilter because I'm the kind of person who normally asks one or fewer questions per month (12 questions in almost 2 years of membership), but a little while ago I just happened to have two questions in as many weeks (one of which was time sensitive). I hadn't asked a question since July.
posted by jb at 11:46 PM on January 5, 2007

I'll ask your question for a nominal fee, jb.
posted by amyms at 11:52 PM on January 5, 2007

MINE!
I don't want it and you cheated me out of it!
posted by edgeways at 11:54 PM on January 5, 2007

I guess I must've worded my question in such a way that it was offensive to a lot of people.

I'll admit, I am guilty of not posting to * metafilter often enough. No excuses, bad llama. I'll work on this, as I appreciate the beauty behind metafilter.

To the people that took the trouble of answering my question, thanks.

To the people I've troubled enough to get metaphorically spat at, I'm sorry.

P.S.: amyms: I'm not a 'she' or a 'her'
posted by jasmeet at 12:13 AM on January 6, 2007

P.S.: amyms: I'm not a 'she' or a 'her'

Sorry, jasmeet, my apologies for assuming your gender...

And, you haven't "troubled" anyone... AskMe is there for anyone who wants to ask and answer... And some of us ENJOY finding answers... I was merely trying to point out that if you feel you have a question capacity that exceeds two per fortnight there might be some questions that you could answer on your own with a little research. :)
posted by amyms at 12:17 AM on January 6, 2007

When you're polite like that it makes it a lot harder to be mean to you, jasmeet.

But honestly I'm still curious: if you feel a strong need to post twice a week, why is it you almost never post more than once a month? I mean, doesn't that seem weird?
posted by nanojath at 12:21 AM on January 6, 2007

I like to answer more than I do ask (if I know something, that is.)
I like to read without doing either, more than answering or asking.
AskMe is awesome. I mean, I like the blue just fine, and all, but the green is the coolest. I learn something every day, usually about something I didn't know I didn't know.

I'd be disappointed if it were discontinued.
posted by ctmf at 12:46 AM on January 6, 2007

I just went to AskMe for the first time in a very long time. How long? you might ask.

There have been 5850 new questions and 81655 answers posted since your last visit
posted by leftcoastbob at 12:49 AM on January 6, 2007

There have been 5850 new questions and 81655 answers posted since your last visit

So, like, six, seven days then. Wow.

Just kidding. According to tkolar's estimate of 44 average per day, about 4-5 months... We do gots some serious churn here.
posted by nanojath at 12:56 AM on January 6, 2007

This is why I haven't posted a question to AskMe yet. It looks addictive. And what if, once I've started, I can't stop? My once-every-two-months fix will becomes a once-a-month fix, then a once-a-fortnight fix, and then suddenly I'll need to know the name of my future kitten/puppy/pet rattlesnake right away, and I'll have to wait!
posted by kisch mokusch at 1:12 AM on January 6, 2007

amyms: In regard to the blanket pilling, I've tried google, and maybe I was not using the right keywords but it seemed like my results gave me nothing but places to buy microfleece blankets that don't 'pill'. Question was also posted on Yahoo! Answers (to avoid using up my one question here) and I couldn't find any good result. I asked friends and family members, tried everything they suggested with no luck.

nanojath: I'm not even sure why you were mean to me. I reread my question, and it doesn't come off to me as complaining or whining, but asking sincerely.

For consistency, blanket pilling; I did all the steps I mentioned above, and I held off, cause you never know when someone might ask that very question. Case in point, I was gonna ask how to replace a missing DVD from Futurama season 4 and behold:Is there a way to replace a single DVD from a television series?

Anyway, Somewhere up there, I admitted to being a bad community member. I used too have the feed, but got pretty overhwelmed.

By the way, I thought it was 'weird' that I got attacked here, but maybe I think that's 'weird' because I'm not close-knit. Yet.
posted by jasmeet at 1:48 AM on January 6, 2007

Put your list of questions on your user page, or somewhere in the wiki. When the mood strikes, pick the most important or most interesting question from your list, and post it formally. Users are sure to happen by your list once in a while, and they may help you with answers to simple questions, ways to improve questions, and places to stick terrible questions.

Advantage - requires no administration effort whatsoever.

Disadvantage - nobody looks at user pages or the wiki (but leastly the wiki).
posted by Chuckles at 3:12 AM on January 6, 2007

This would all have gone a lot easier if jessamyn had just stepped in and lied "jasmeet, I've changed your account so you can post two questions a week", to which jasmeet would respond with a lowering of his anxiety levels and the increasing of his posting rate to approximately two questions per month.
posted by chrismear at 3:25 AM on January 6, 2007

Personally, I think that instead of posting this to Metatalk, Jasmeet should have posted this question to AskMeFi.

Seems to me that he got a free shot here.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:17 AM on January 6, 2007

*Resists urge to e-mail stav with inane askme question request.*
posted by slimepuppy at 4:35 AM on January 6, 2007

I'm feeling assy today; can we count this thread as jasmeet's question for the fortnight?
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 5:51 AM on January 6, 2007

You guys are missing the point. This kind of mindset is exactly why the two-week limit is good, even if the hard data show that not very many people post within two weeks of their last question. Just the existence of the limit discourages heavy posting, forcing people to think about their questions a little.
posted by Partial Law at 7:20 AM on January 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

You didn't expect to get attacked when you posted your whiney waaah-I'm-getting-this-for-free-and-don't-give-anything-in-return-but-still-want-more MetaTalk question? You really don't come round here much.

Also, what Partial Law said.
posted by blag at 7:27 AM on January 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

<butthole pedantry>
I can't believe I carried this all the way to the bottom of the thread (even read the whole damn thing) and here into the text entry field, but amyms you're on a roll, baby, and I just can't let this one go:

You got it right the first time; being discreet is like being prudent or having good discernment, and to be discrete is to be noncontinuous or individually distinct. I suppose, if one does end up getting a sockpuppet, being both discreet and discrete (from one's other account) would be a swell idea.
</butthole pedantry>

All that aside, don't nobody go getting sockpuppets to ask more questions now, ya hear?
posted by carsonb at 7:45 AM on January 6, 2007

Whoa, amyms's chatroom looks exactly like MetaTalk.

And there is no D in privilege.
posted by iconomy at 7:52 AM on January 6, 2007

At least two questions a week? You don't need AskMe; you need a damned therapist.

or at least more friends.
posted by aberrant at 9:48 AM on January 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Whoa, amyms's chatroom looks exactly like MetaTalk.

If you're refering to the link in my profile, it goes to an MSN Group that looks nothing like MetaTalk.

I've discovered since I've been here that a lot of people seem to be confusing me with some other amyms... I Googled my name and, wow, there are a lot of "me" out there.
posted by amyms at 10:14 AM on January 6, 2007

In regard to the blanket pilling, I've tried google, and maybe I was not using the right keywords but it seemed like my results gave me nothing but places to buy microfleece blankets that don't 'pill'...

By the way, I thought it was 'weird' that I got attacked here...

Oh for heaven's sake, jasmeet, I never criticized your question... You are the one who came to MetaTalk looking for a solution to, or a way around, the question-limits, and I suggested that you could help yourself by finding answers to some off them through other means (namely Google and/or other research)...

If you consider that (and the jokey silliness that followed) an "attack," then you've got bigger problems than question-limits.
posted by amyms at 10:22 AM on January 6, 2007

and to be discrete is to be noncontinuous or individually distinct.

And, of course, one remembers that because the 't' makes the 'e's discrete.

-----

And, as people have been saying, this is why the two week limit has been nice. I thought it would be annoying at first, but I place a much higher "price" on that privilege, and probably spend even more time than I need to researching. This has gotten to the point where some of my (5) questions aren't really answered.
posted by niles at 11:06 AM on January 6, 2007

A few things:

jasmeet, you're not the only one who does this. There are many questions I would've posted to AskMe and probably could've benefitted from if only I wasn't afraid that something HUGELY important that I had to know RIGHT NOW was going to come up immediately after. So I held off on asking, to my detriment. Welcome to Paranoiacs & Anxiety Anonymous, I'm Ryvar, and I have been free of AskMeFear for three weeks.

If so, I guess you could buy a sock-puppet account and try to be discreet.

Won't work, obviously, because Matt and Jess can see IPs. The only way to do this safely would be to purchase the account with a credit card other than your own through a proxy server set to ignore the RFCs and not pass on any requesting client data (this is not really a good idea if the payer likes having sole access to their CC#), and then post the question through the same proxy server. If it's REALLY that important to you that you'd go through that, then you have issues significantly greater than asking anxiety, and you've probably earned your extra question at any rate.
posted by Ryvar at 11:20 AM on January 6, 2007

ask.yahoo.com
askeet.com
answerbag.com
qna.live.com

jasmeet, these sound like the sort of sites you're after, friend.

go nuts, dude. ask a question every day. ask two questions a day! Ask what time it is in Korea every hour! NO ONE WILL STOP YOU! NO RULES DUDE, NO RULES! ANAAAARRRRCHHYYY WOOOOO WATCH ME I'M JUST GONNA PEE ON THIS BENCH YOU KNOW WHY? NO RULES YEAH! NO FUCKING RULES! ! WOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOO BUDWEISER
posted by fishfucker at 11:44 AM on January 6, 2007 [3 favorites]

"Email someone who seems approachable or post a request in metatalk (I rarely post questions, for example, and would happy to use the extra capacity for someone else occasionally)..."

"Do not email me with requests of this nature."

Well, duh. Who the hell would think you were approachable, Mister Curmudgeon?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:25 PM on January 6, 2007

Chuckles writes "nobody looks at user pages or the wiki (but leastly the wiki)."

I do. In fact I just added a new page to the wiki yesterday.
posted by Mitheral at 12:42 PM on January 6, 2007

I hope it was about how people who ask for more questions are lame.
posted by koeselitz at 12:50 PM on January 6, 2007

I just feel like there were a few users posting a lot of questions, but that the two week limit is hurting a lot of people who don't post very often.

Is it a problem to code something like a 2 question/month limit, where you could only put up 2 questions per month, but those questions could be on the same day if need be?
posted by jb at 1:02 PM on January 6, 2007

jasmeet,
Not trying to sound unkind, but the problem is not MetaFilter. If you are so afraid of wasting one question that you waste them all, this is a symptom of maybe some perfectionistic tendancy that causes you to procrastinate. Does this affect other areas of your life as well? Maybe that could be your AskMe question: how can I be more impulsive and less overly caustious?

End of unsolicited therapy.

(I too, rarely use AskMe, so I'd be happy to ask on your behalf if something is that important to you.)
posted by The Deej at 1:55 PM on January 6, 2007

(And how can I spell better?)
posted by The Deej at 2:05 PM on January 6, 2007

b-e-t-t-e-r
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:30 PM on January 6, 2007

"Oh for heaven's sake, jasmeet, I never criticized your question... You are the one who came to MetaTalk looking for a solution to, or a way around, the question-limits, and I suggested that you could help yourself by finding answers to some off them through other means (namely Google and/or other research)..."

Did I actually say you criticized me?

"If you consider that (and the jokey silliness that followed) an "attack," then you've got bigger problems than question-limits."

Jokey siliness isn't what I was refferring too. But I will admit, I shouldn't have posted the last line, cause it was pointless in the long run.

Again, I appreciate all that took the time to answer my question. Apologies to those who thought my question should've had me bludgeoned.
posted by jasmeet at 3:04 PM on January 6, 2007

Thanks, crash!

And jasmeet, anyone who has been mean will eventually apologize. It's contagious around here right now.
posted by The Deej at 3:40 PM on January 6, 2007

Well, duh. Who the hell would think you were approachable, Mister Curmudgeon?

You clearly haven't been paying attention, mcd. I've consciously been a much kinder, gentler wonderchicken, for the most part, for quite a long time now.

So go fuck a lemur, you cheese-eating rockpounder! [/obligatory ironic joke]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:40 PM on January 6, 2007

He is, genuinely, the kindest user in the Metafilter aviary. [NOT RACIST]
posted by blasdelf at 6:05 PM on January 6, 2007

amyms: I'll ask your question for a nominal fee, jb.

The market for queue-beating question-askers-for-profit seems saturated now, but I plan to offer a related service: for a small fee I will post complaints, call-outs, dumb feature requests, random drunken abuse etc to Metatalk for you and then take all of the snark-flak myself. The fee will be on a sliding scale depending on how much humiliation you want me to absorb, with Askme posting limit etiquette/policy questions attracting a modest premium.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 6:22 PM on January 6, 2007

I'm not even sure why you were mean to me.

I'm kind of a dick. I give it to the internet and thus spare my wife and child.

I think there are a few things to note. First, there has been a bunch of MetaTalk, sometimes acrimonious, about whether AskMetafilter is becoming less useful because of the high rate of question posting (things get pushed off the front page faster, less people see questions). What if anything should be done about this has been much debated. The increase of the waiting period between questions has been a source of controversy. Your question read to many as basically expressing a sense of entitlement, particularly galling in this context. "I deserve the rules not to apply to me." I know, I know, that's not what you meant.

Finally, the reaction may seem more extreme that it was. In AskMetafilter, where it looks like you have mostly spent your time, the rule is stick to answering the question and don't be an asshole, and even good-natured wisecracks usually get deleted. MetaTalk basically has no rules of behavior, so it is the site of worst, most unpleasant behavior around these parts. This thread was really quite mild. By comparison.
posted by nanojath at 6:48 PM on January 6, 2007

Whoa, amyms's chatroom looks exactly like MetaTalk.

If you're refering to the link in my profile, it goes to an MSN Group that looks nothing like MetaTalk.

I believe iconomy may have been taking note of the fact that the first three letters of your handle are a common first name in the English-speaking world, while the fourth is the letter 'm' and the fifth can be used to make the same sound the letter 'c' makes in the word 'ceiling' (where cats have been spotted on occasion).
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 6:48 PM on January 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

MetaTalk basically has no rules of behavior, so it is the site of worst, most unpleasant behavior around these parts. posted by nanojath

You say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by leftcoastbob at 7:13 PM on January 6, 2007

"So go fuck a lemur, you cheese-eating rockpounder!"

Now there's the stavrosthewonderchicken I know and love.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:26 PM on January 6, 2007

*doffs cap, bows, farts elegantly*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:31 PM on January 6, 2007

maybe I think that's 'weird' because I'm not close-knit. Yet.

or tightly-wrapped. yet.
posted by quonsar at 9:26 PM on January 6, 2007

AskMetafilter is becoming less useful because of the high rate of question posting (things get pushed off the front page faster, less people see questions

the pink elephant in the room is: the site is basically useless without a capable piece of indexing and searching software, like say, oh, swish-e. i can't believe i haven't mentioned this before.
posted by quonsar at 9:35 PM on January 6, 2007

Guys & Gals,

Thanks for explaining this to me. It just caught me by surprise, and I didn't know what to expect.

So just out of curiosity, is the one question every fortnight a new rule so that everyone gets a chance? I attribute the from one week to fortnight because of the growth of Metafilter?
posted by jasmeet at 12:37 AM on January 7, 2007

There have been discussions in the multiple hundreds of comments each arguing about this in the last week or two, right here. I'd suggest the answers to all your questions lie there.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:46 AM on January 7, 2007

basically: yes
posted by philomathoholic at 12:56 AM on January 7, 2007

jasmeet,

just to be clear: you seem like a swell chap who hasn't quite understood the differences between metatalk, metafilter and askmetafilter yet. I don't mean their functional differences, but more the social ones. You see, metafilter and metatalk have been their own entities since before the days of askmetafilter. The arrival of the asking functionality of the site brought, quite understandably, a veritable ton of new users to the site who had no interest in the other portions of the site, and who simply wanted to participate in the community oriented question and answer portion. Now, there's no problem with this because there's nothing wrong with asking a question and there's nothing wrong with answering one. But askmetafilter is not, in itself, a community, really. There are metafilter community members who see each other on there, and who recognize one another and all that, but that's because the community part of metafilter is here on the blue and grey and they know each other from here. We all kind of hang out here, and our interactions here range from fun and fancy free to bitter and shit slinging. So metatalk, I hope you can see, is where we can work out a lot of our social issues, and hammer out the fine points of posting and throw rocks at the admins for no good reason. There's stuff wrong with it and us, I suppose, but still, this is our house. It most certainly is not where an askme customer can come to complain about the service. I would like to say that again, and so I will:

Metatalk is not where an askme customer can come to complain about the service.

We are not your maitre d's, and mathowie and jessamyn are not some amiable mom and pop operation with a button on the lapel that says "the customer is always right." This is where community members come to discuss the community. Ideally, we do this in a constructive fashion. Practically, we also do this in a destructive fashion, unfortunately. But even then, you'll find that anyone whose motivations are primarily selfish and/or destructive is roundly criticised by the general population, and for good reason.

Is this my way of saying you were being a dick? Not at all. I'm just trying to explain why posts of this sort so generally end up with a torch wielding pile on. No one thinks you deserve to be bludgeoned, per se, but on the other hand you walked into our pool hall and started complaining about the lack of valets out front. You didn't realize that's what you were doing, and so you're clearly not a big jerk and it's all forgivable. Just understand that the initial harsh reactions weren't some angry mob out to lynch someone as it was very simply that you walked into someone's clubhouse and started complaining about the decorations.
posted by shmegegge at 9:29 AM on January 7, 2007 [3 favorites]

This perpetually baffles me: You haven't come anywhere near to the posting limits in your posting history, jasmeet

Simple. You fear that something MORE important might come up so you hold off. The 2 week period begins at the time you ask, so you need to be certain that nothing critical is going to happen to you for 2 weeks FOLLOWING your question. This is difficult to predict, obviously. If posting frequency were slightly more subtle in its calculation, like 2 per month, this would much more rarely be an issue.

If you think this is all petty and dramatic and people need to get lives and move on, just keep in mind I'm only answering the "bafflement" over AskMe posting psychology.

I think of questions all the time that I'd like to ask, and most of them never see the light of day, because of the starvation-ration system imposed on posting. "Good!" some will say, but when you wind up going months without asking anything, it becomes clear that AskMe isn't the great and grand utility it could be in your life. It's crushed under its own success and the main solution seems to be just throttling it.
posted by scarabic at 9:46 AM on January 7, 2007

Wow, shmegegge, that was very well put. I vote for a link in the FAQ to your comment. Or something.
posted by The Deej at 10:54 AM on January 7, 2007

I've reread my inital question, focusing on how it might sound like I'm complaining, and this part stuck out to me:

"I'm not out to break any of metafilter's rules, but it would be really nice if I could ask at least two questions a week"

I can understand how someone can see that as me complaining, but believe me when I say I wasn't complaining. I admit I probably could've worded that better, but at the time of posting, I honestly didn't think it would be taken as complaining (due to what I feel like, the lack of a harsh tone)

Setting the record straight once and for all. I wasn't complaining. I just wanted to know if there was a method, without breaking Metafilter's rules. I've met mathowie before, and he's just a nice guy who I don't feel like annoying or pissing off. I was just curious. That's all.
posted by jasmeet at 7:45 PM on January 7, 2007

Jasmeet, I don't think you came across as any different than what you intended. But with all things MetaFilter, there is some history of something else that gets some people riled up. Don't worry about it. Just glean your answer from whatever is valuable here. :)
posted by The Deej at 8:03 PM on January 7, 2007

I have to note here that I'm mildly annoyed that I've posted 2800 answers to AskMe, attempting to be helpful probably 98% of the time; I have a couple hundred best answers; and I find I can now only ask 26 questions a year. I have a lot more questions that I'd like to ask, but I don't want to get stuck with a 13 day wait if something urgent comes up.

The annoyance is only mild, though. I like AskMe.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:37 PM on January 7, 2007

jasmeet, don't worry too much about it. tone is often everything on metatalk and metafilter, but there wasn't anything really wrong with yours. what the deej said is pretty much spot on. The point is more that there's an expectation from the users here that you couldn't have known about unless you'd spent time with us on the blue and gray. Does that mean you have to spend more time here than at askme? not at all. I'm just trying to hip you to how people react to things here, and why. If I continued the pool hall metaphor, it'd go something like this:

you: huh. there's no valet service in the parking lot. it's no biggie, and I'm not trying to piss anyone off, but it'd be nice if there were valet parking.

some regular pool players: fuck off! we're here to play pool. get a cue stick or get bent!

other regular pool players: listen, man. this is a pool hall. we're not here to park your cars. feel free to play pool, but you're gonna have to park yourself.

me (hopefully): just to let you know, nobody hates you or anything, but that's just not the kind of thing that the regulars here want to hear. makes them feel like you don't like their favorite hangout, donchaknow.

so, really. don't worry about it too much. in a week, no one will remember. it's just a sore spot you didn't know about.
posted by shmegegge at 8:49 PM on January 7, 2007

Multiple Accounts for AskMe January 5, 2007 10:18 PM Subscribe

Multiple Accounts for AskMe
January 5, 2007 10:18 PM Subscribe