Deletion Stats?

October 30, 2007 12:54 AM

I'm an avid reader of Puke & Cry's Deleted Thread blog, and it got me wondering: Do any of the admins have stats on the most posts deleted in one day? Or, the most doubles (i.e. the most posts on one topic that were deleted - I'm guessing it must be an obituary post, maybe James Brown)? Or, the longest time span without a deletion? Etc.
posted by amyms to MetaFilter-related at 12:54 AM (22 comments total)

The Washington Post story about the violin guy in the metro seemed to get posted about twice a day for a week.
posted by fire&wings at 1:15 AM on October 30, 2007

most posts on one topic that were deleted
Could it be Bush?
posted by thomcatspike at 3:06 AM on October 30, 2007

The busking post made it to eight.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:10 AM on October 30, 2007

I seem to recall one notable death where there were three or four FPPs about it, the deletion of two, a MeTa post (or two) about the deletions and then one or two further, ironic, FPPs.

And, as I'm given to exagerration, there was then an orgy. And the moon on a fucking stick.
posted by Jofus at 3:11 AM on October 30, 2007

I find I comment in a lot of threads that end up being deleted. This irks me.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 3:15 AM on October 30, 2007

Stop commenting! You're making it worse!
posted by dg at 4:42 AM on October 30, 2007

The Harry Potter broom must be near the top of the list.
posted by Tuwa at 5:16 AM on October 30, 2007

I believe that notable death was James Brown.
posted by OmieWise at 5:30 AM on October 30, 2007

James Brown died at least three times in 60 seconds. I think he died a fourth time a week later, but I can't seem to find it.
posted by Plutor at 5:45 AM on October 30, 2007

And in answer to your question: no. That is, we don't specifically keep stats on any of this stuff, though it's available I'm sure cortex could dig some of it up with his magical powers. Rigth now we don't have a specific double post mechanism where we can link a deleted post to the post it duplicated in a machine-readable way, it's just ad hoc. We do keep track of users that have the most stuff flagged (not deleted, though there is often correlation, though the flags include fantastic ones) by month and overall, but it's just for reference we don't generally do anything with it.
posted by jessamyn at 5:50 AM on October 30, 2007

No, four was only an hour later.
posted by Plutor at 5:50 AM on October 30, 2007

Previous wisdom has it that postroad is the reigning deleted post king, with jonson as a contender for most doubles. However four panels has managed 13 so far this year, so he must be catching up fast.
posted by roofus at 5:57 AM on October 30, 2007

I had to update MeFi deleted posts to show deleted threads in per-date pages to find those.
posted by Plutor at 5:59 AM on October 30, 2007

I did a brief roundup of Mr. Brown et al in the Joshua Bell post on a lark—I think the Godfather is winner and still champ on the obit front, and Bell for general reposts.

What jessamyn says is right on; I might put together some stats on deletion today just because, hey, I'm an insane person and it might be slow at work, but we really don't have any extant tools for tracking this stuff, and dealing with topicality in deleted threads is a much fuzzier and harder project than you might think given that we make no special effort to tag up deletions in an organized fashion.

One thing that I could look at, though, is which deletions have a link to a previous thread in their deletion reason. It's not a perfect metric—we don't always link previous posts in the reasons, and when we include a link it isn't always necessarily a double—but it's a strong indicator. I might also sort for certain key words (e.g. "double", "previously") and so on.

Could be fun. We'll see.
posted by cortex at 6:23 AM on October 30, 2007

Shortly after 9/11, there was a spate of Get Your War On posts. Like eight or so over the course of a week, maybe? In that case though people eventually started posting GYWO just to be annoying. So I don't know if it counts.
posted by veronica sawyer at 9:27 AM on October 30, 2007

Get Your War On makes me think of Missy Elliott.
Resultantly:

[cue phat beats]

Bushie be puttin' it down
I'm the hottest 'round
I told y'all mother-ooh
Y'all can't stop me now
Listen to me now
I'm lasting twenty rounds
And if you want me then come and get me now
Is you with me now?
Then biggie-biggie-bounce
I know you dig the way I sw-sw-switch my style
(Holla) People sing around
Now people gather 'round
Now people jump around

Chorus:
Go, get ur war on
Go, get ur war on
Go, get ur war on
Go, get ur war on
Go, get ur war on
Go, get ur war on
Go, get ur, get ur, get ur, get ur, get ur war on
posted by heeeraldo at 9:49 AM on October 30, 2007

I'd love it if somebody created a deleted metafilter thread site where people could comment on deleted threads with some sort of authentication of the mefi accounts.
posted by srboisvert at 11:53 AM on October 30, 2007

Thanks for the answers. I think odd statistics about the site are interesting and fun.

Does that make me a Mefi nerd?
posted by amyms at 1:07 PM on October 30, 2007

I have to admit I love to look at the deleted stuff every now and then, just to marvel at what jessamyn's day must be like. I usually only find my way to those through MeTa. I'm sure you folk are already busy enough...but yeah, I'd read the stats too.
Actually amyms - either MeFi nerd or stats nerd - but then I'm in that crowd too!
posted by batgrlHG at 2:21 PM on October 30, 2007

amyms: "Thanks for the answers. I think odd statistics about the site are interesting and fun.
Does that make me a Mefi nerd?"
It just makes you one of us. Take that as you will.
posted by dg at 3:11 PM on October 30, 2007

Well, it turns out it wasn't a particularly quiet day at the office. But I've made a little progress, and would like to take this opportunity to point out that snarky, pithy deletion reasons predate Jess and I by a good margin.

blah blah blah debka blah blah blah iraq
breaking news, as it happens! Thanks MetaFilter action news team!
take it back to the other thread, nerdlinger

So what I'm trying to say here is, basically, you, okay, Matt? We learned it from watching you!

Don't do drugs, kids.
posted by cortex at 4:02 PM on October 30, 2007

Don't forget Matt's famous “Fuck Zell Miller” deletion reason.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:05 PM on October 30, 2007