Is it acceptable to post several questions at once to AskMe?

April 23, 2007 3:48 PM

Is it acceptable to fold three unrelated questions into one AskMe post on the pretence that they're vaguely connected (that is, they're all kinda sorta about Macs)?
posted by chrismear to etiquette/policy at 3:48 PM (48 comments total)

I kind of wondered about that too. It definitely seemed a little cheatful to me. The first two I can definitely see as somehow related since the question-asker could maintain that recent hard drive failure had gotten the gears turning about general backup storage type questions, but the printer question is a total non sequitur.
posted by crinklebat at 3:55 PM on April 23, 2007

It's pushing it. I don't feel that strongly about it in this case, and joeclark has a pretty relaxed AskMe posting history, so I'm not sold on the use of punitive action for this case. An identifiable trend of multiquestion posts, either from a single user or with high frequency on the front page? That'd be quash-worthy.
posted by cortex at 4:01 PM on April 23, 2007

Who cares?

I mean really, would you rather they post three separate questions in six weeks? It seems like question packing would actually be helpful in terms of lowering the total number of posts.
posted by delmoi at 4:05 PM on April 23, 2007 [3 favorites]

I'm always tempted to piggy-back questions, but I don't out of respect for other users.

This case doesn't seem bad at all.
posted by snsranch at 4:07 PM on April 23, 2007

It seems fine to me, since they are all somewhat related.
posted by mathowie at 4:17 PM on April 23, 2007

Previously. My gut feeling is that the first two questions are okay but the third one seems outta left field. However, perhaps it's just the blantant set-up here that is annoying. After all, there have been a brazillion relationship-filter questions that ended with a series of sub-questions, and no one bats an eye.
posted by Brittanie at 4:21 PM on April 23, 2007

I think its ok if in general if the questions can be answered by the same group of people. Its efficient all around.

Its only when the questions are completely unrelated (e.g. Whats wrong with my TV set? and Can anyone recommend a local dentist?) that its just an attempt to skirt around the guidelines.
posted by vacapinta at 4:29 PM on April 23, 2007

Hey, if you guys ban him, can I have his user number? Mmmm...sub 251. I would be instantly awesome. Even more so than I am now.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 4:41 PM on April 23, 2007

I see no reason to spend energy making sure this person has to wait 6 weeks for their answers.
posted by scarabic at 4:45 PM on April 23, 2007

sidenote to scarabic and others: it's one question per week again
posted by mathowie at 4:46 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sneaky Mac users!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:52 PM on April 23, 2007

Hey, if you guys ban him, can I have his user number?

Unfortunately banning Joe Clark would severely anger the web gods, and the MetaFilter servers would become immediately, unexplainably, and irreparably inaccessible, so you'd never get a chance to enjoy your new user number.
posted by scottreynen at 4:53 PM on April 23, 2007

Yeah, I flagged it for its 3-question-ness, but if #1 is shrugging it off, probably nothing will come of that. I kinda wonder if someone other than the big JC had posted this three-pack, if people would be similarly unconcerned about it.

To me, it dilutes the usefulness of the ensuing discussion, because the three threads interweave and make it a mess; plus it dilutes the focus of the question-answering.
posted by misterbrandt at 5:07 PM on April 23, 2007

I'm not opposed to the multiple questions, but I am VERY opposed to the non-question on the front page.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:07 PM on April 23, 2007

As a datapoint, misterbrandt, I don't actually know who joeclark is.
posted by cortex at 5:13 PM on April 23, 2007

I don't think it is that annoying because they are all somewhat related, as everyone else pointed out.

I am curious why anyone would object. I suppose it could be argued that if, in the future, someone wants to ask the same question(s), they'd have a better chance of finding the questions if they were asked separately. However, I am convinced that people don't look to see if their question has been asked in the past, even if they do search and find the same question, they'll ask theirs anyway because their question is a unique snowflake. So, other than that, the only person the three-in-one hurts is the asker because he probably isn't getting as many answers for each sub-question as he would if he had split them up.
posted by necessitas at 5:13 PM on April 23, 2007

cortex: I don't actually know who joeclark is.

This guy,
not this guy.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:32 PM on April 23, 2007

If I felt like he was trying to totally skirt the one question per week thing, it might matter to me but this seems okay. A mess of unrelated questions might result in the question being pulled.
posted by jessamyn at 6:39 PM on April 23, 2007

I don't see the problem. If you want to put off half your audience of potential answerers, that's your perogative.
posted by cillit bang at 7:22 PM on April 23, 2007

I don't see multiple questions in one being an issue. I mean, it used to bug me quite a bit but then I realize it's a problem that solves itself.

If you ask one question and provide plenty of detail, people will answer it. If you ask 2 or more wildly varying questions, chances are you will get very few answers. If they're all related, your chances are better, but you're not going to get as many or as specific of help if you ask 1 at a time.

So I'm not sure we need to do anything guideline-wise about this, since people that ask a bunch of questions don't get helped, which should discourage it automatically. It seems self-correcting that way.
posted by mathowie at 7:53 PM on April 23, 2007

Ah, that's so satisfying.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 7:55 PM on April 23, 2007

Hey, if you guys ban him, can I have his user number?

Is that a 14ker I see trying to jump ship? For shame.
posted by carsonb at 7:58 PM on April 23, 2007

I'm continually amazed at MetaTalk and the posts around here. Worrying about three related queries within the same post? Who cares?
posted by ORthey at 8:25 PM on April 23, 2007

14Kers are like high school juniors. They'll never be as cool as the seniors, even when by mere virtue of time's passing, they become seniors themselves. Meanwhile, we pre-$5 17Kers are like the freshmen delinquents forced to take a summer class in American History. We're usually high, our mothers are prostitutes, and we drive, underage, nicely restored 60s muscle cars (if we're boys) or early 70s Beetles (if we're girls) rebuilt using mostly stolen parts procured by our older siblings and occasionally by our mostly absent fathers. We get laid far more often than the popular kids and we really don't care what our user numbers are.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:25 PM on April 23, 2007

Ethereal Bligh is in analogy mode! I love analogy mode! I'm no good at it, but I love it anyway.
posted by cgc373 at 9:20 PM on April 23, 2007

It was a credible analogy too up until that last sentence which sort of broke the analogy. Freshmen dont get laid.
posted by vacapinta at 9:50 PM on April 23, 2007

I'm continually amazed at MetaTalk and the posts around here.

The way I see it, no issue or query or objection is too insignificant to be brought here and mercilessly torn asunder and dismissed, or, in odd cases, discussed on its merits. If nothing else, there's a wonderful opportunity for either a chorus or a few solitary voices to reply with a "who cares?", thereby re-registering the importance of the question to the community.
posted by cortex at 10:05 PM on April 23, 2007

Okay. I'm hardly rending my garments over this; I was just curious why this flew in a place where we've agonised for months over how often users are allowed to post questions. I guess I just don't really get that whole issue.
posted by chrismear at 10:21 PM on April 23, 2007

Man, my last comment read a bit more pissy and a lot less taking-the-pissy than intended. Please recalibrate to "oh, that cortex!" as necessary.

I like the variety of issues great and small that come up here; I have a sort of tiny, weird, strangling affection for the "why are we talking about this?!" responses that show up in these threads; and I feel pretty okay about it all in general regardless. Everybody is groovy. Etc.
posted by cortex at 10:27 PM on April 23, 2007

hippie.
posted by jessamyn at 10:30 PM on April 23, 2007

I was just curious why this flew in a place where we've agonised for months over how often users are allowed to post questions.

I think perhaps what matthowie and the other admins might not be clue-ing in on is that there are a ton of people who wish they could ask more questions, and so it upsets them when there is a limit on the number of questions they are allowed to ask, and they are good citizens and limit it to one question at a time, while other people skirt this rule by asking multiple questions at a time and THAT'S JUST NOT FAIR!

And as much as my all caps is meant to be mocking, it raises a question of whether unhappy mefites makes for a bed mefite experience for everyone and if the question should have been broken up, because there is really no reason that what's his name should have been able to ask three questions and everyone else can't.
posted by davidstandaford at 11:00 PM on April 23, 2007

My goodness but I do loves me some MetaTalk.
posted by cgc373 at 11:01 PM on April 23, 2007

I feel pretty okay about it all in general regardless.

It's good to know that you feel good about all this.

it raises a question of whether unhappy mefites makes for a bed mefite experience for everyone

Actually, knowing that, say, ZachsMind is unhappy about something makes me giddy with joy.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:15 PM on April 23, 2007

NO!
my torch is already burning -- please mob, first form, and second, point me in the direction of the heretic...
posted by wool sock at 11:35 PM on April 23, 2007

If chrismear had any fuckin' guts he would have included several unrelated metatalk commentary within this thread itself. Coward!
posted by The God Complex at 12:52 AM on April 24, 2007

(pluralize that!)
posted by The God Complex at 12:53 AM on April 24, 2007

I WOULD LIKE SOME OF THESE 'BED MEFITE EXPERIENCES', ADVICE PLEASE?
posted by chrismear at 1:21 AM on April 24, 2007

On that note:

“unhappy mefites makes for a bed mefite experience for everyone”

...if only. I think. Hmm. Yes, it's a bit chilly tonight. I think we can all fit in my bed. Here, I'll change the sheets.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:42 AM on April 24, 2007

I think we can all fit in my bed. Here, I'll change the sheets.

Okay, but can I sleep on the edge? In case I have to get up in the night.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:12 AM on April 24, 2007

What possible reason could you have for wanting to get up in the . . . oh, right. Username humor.
posted by cgc373 at 4:23 AM on April 24, 2007

because there is really no reason that what's his name should have been able to ask three questions and everyone else can't.

davidstandaford, where did you get the idea that it was fine for this one member and not fine for everyone else? It is hardly an effective use of ask.metafilter, but it isn't delete-worthy. I seriously doubt that a member who had asked a total of 6 questions prior to this asked a three-in-one to skirt the one question a week issue. Far worse than the 3-fer is creating a sock puppet account . . . which is something you would never do, right?
posted by necessitas at 5:52 AM on April 24, 2007

flapjax at midnite is a euphemism!? I feel very naive, or is that EB's thigh?

I would never create a sock puppet account right.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 5:58 AM on April 24, 2007

flapjax at midnite is a euphemism!?

Nah, I ain't no euphemism! Maybe euphemism, but I'm phem Alabama!

And I don't think that's EB's thigh. I think it's miss lynnster's. And Dizzy, will you get that cake outta the bed? There's crumbs everywhere!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:12 AM on April 24, 2007

[NOT PHLEMIST]
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 6:51 AM on April 24, 2007

there is really no reason that what's his name should have been able to ask three questions and everyone else can't.

Now arriving: the cabal-car to Mount A-List! All aboard! [joke, joke, please don't shun me any more, all-powerful ones!]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:12 PM on April 24, 2007

Back to chrismear's question - my immediate thought upon reading joeclark's post was, oh cool! These are all questions I have had or have been asked and they're all in one post! And they're getting some really helpful replies! I hope no one minds that jc asked 3 at once.... It's why I love our moderators- they are live human beings who can make rational decisions based on the issue at hand (thanks for weighing in, matt, jess and josh!).
posted by Lynsey at 10:58 AM on April 25, 2007

Indeed, who cares?
posted by joeclark at 3:55 PM on April 26, 2007

Indeed, who cares?

Yes, but this is Sparta Metatalk, after all. You could replace the entire Metatalk index page with "Indeed, who cares?" in pink blinking 40 point Helvetica Neue, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:23 PM on April 26, 2007