I, Item, would like to be able to view deleted Ask Metafilter threads. I don't see what the harm will be, as long as a minor hoop has to be jumped through to view them ala lofi.mefi. May 18, 2008 7:49 PM   Subscribe

I'm beguiled by deleted threads and have a hunch others are as well. Any chance of getting a version of lofi for Ask?
posted by item to Feature Requests at 7:49 PM (28 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- frimble



No. Maybe someone can make a deleted thread blog for it?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:51 PM on May 18, 2008


Is that a "it's not worth the trouble to do" no or is that a "I think it would actually be detrimental to the site" no?
posted by hattifattener at 7:54 PM on May 18, 2008


There is a greasemonkey script that will reveal all deleted threads, including on the green (and grey!). Um, I forget how to find it.
posted by prefpara at 7:55 PM on May 18, 2008


Wait, no I don't! DELETED
posted by prefpara at 7:56 PM on May 18, 2008


lofi as it is is a pain in the ass and we don't really support it anymore. So, we don't have any interest in having an official way of looking at deleted threads any more than people can do already. So I guess it's more of "not worth it, not interested, someone else can build something"
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:00 PM on May 18, 2008


Yeah, as I've stated in the past, lofi was a one-off hack for a friend that wanted a plain text version of the front page in 2000 and by 2001 people noticed it didn't drop the deleted threads. Personally I find it maddening to have to click every single link to find the delete one or to do a visual diff between the live page and the lofi one.

Anyway, I haven't touched it since 2002 or so and don't plan to. Use greasemonkey instead.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:02 PM on May 18, 2008


"But the deletion-detection scripts don't work right on AskMe", you reply.

True. Anonymous questions reserve their thread-id at submission time and so create gaps in the index that the current scripts (last I heard, at least) mistake for deleted threads, and which thus turn up either "Nothing to see here" messages for unapproved submissions or legit, undeleted threads for those that have been approved. And there are more anony questions submitted on your average day than posts actually deleted, so it makes it a bit of a minefield.

But it'll get you through with a little patience, anyway. And somebody might build a better mousetrap one of these days. If I remember right, it was only the lack of said mousetrap that kept puke & cry from bothering with including askme deletions in the blog, but don't quote me on that.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:24 PM on May 18, 2008


I used to have the Greasemonkey script installed but it didn't seem to work correctly, at least on the green. It messed up the order of things such that some of the posts marked as deleted were not actually deleted. I ended up once just poking around with post numbers and realised the vast majority of deleted posts are actually boring and a waste of time to look for.
posted by loiseau at 8:28 PM on May 18, 2008


the vast majority of deleted posts are actually boring and a waste of time to look for

Yeah, but there are some gems that make it totally worth it.
posted by amyms at 8:32 PM on May 18, 2008


There, there, item. You can cry if you want to.
posted by amyms at 8:44 PM on May 18, 2008




If I remember right, it was only the lack of said mousetrap that kept puke & cry from bothering with including askme deletions in the blog, but don't quote me on that.

No, that's pretty much right. I don't have that much patience. And I'm kinda worried about the ever-impending "new-user-in-a-post-queue" thing because I think it will have a similar kind of effect on the blue. And then I'll really be fucked.
posted by puke & cry at 9:07 PM on May 18, 2008


The problem with being King of the Shitpile is that the shitpile gets a bit gooey once summer rolls around. And once the hipwaders fill up, you're going down for good.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:32 PM on May 18, 2008 [2 favorites]


I am an archivist sir, and I resent such character assassination.
posted by puke & cry at 9:53 PM on May 18, 2008 [2 favorites]


Your efforts are much appreciated, puke & cry.
posted by amyms at 10:05 PM on May 18, 2008 [1 favorite]


I am an archivist sir, and I resent such character assassination.

No, no, I didn't mean you, p&c. I was just kinda referencing the argument in the past about not making deleted things visible -- that it encourages KoSP behaviour, and...

Hell, I don't know. I was just enamoured of the image of hipwaders full of warm liquid poo pulling someone under the bubbling surface, I guess.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:15 PM on May 18, 2008


Subscribe to AskMefi in rss, and all the questions are there, whether deleted or not. It's not difficult to figure out which ones have already been or are about to be deleted on a quick browse through.
posted by happyturtle at 11:14 PM on May 18, 2008


Subscribe to AskMefi in rss, and all the questions are there, whether deleted or not. It's not difficult to figure out which ones have already been or are about to be deleted on a quick browse through.

This is a game I play; Guess the deleted questions before I click through from RSS. I've gotten pretty good at it! But I still get surprised.

It's a feature, not a bug.
posted by SlyBevel at 6:00 AM on May 19, 2008


And then I'll really be fucked.

Ooh, hadn't thought of that. The GM script is kind of painful to use on Ask because of the approval queue issue, so much so that I don't really bother. I'm wondering how frequent the n00b queue posts on the front page are going to be.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:37 AM on May 19, 2008


I'm wondering how frequent the n00b queue posts on the front page are going to be.

You guys are borrowing trouble, I don't think we have real plans to do this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:53 AM on May 19, 2008


I don't believe in deleted posts. I only recognize posts that have been taken out to the farm, so that they can run and be free, it's not that they were sick and needed to go to the vet, or that they were unloved and unwanted, we just felt that they would be happier where they could spend all day bounding across the fields, and chasing cows. Really, it's better for them this way.
posted by quin at 7:47 AM on May 19, 2008


Man I sure do hate one-letter links.
posted by bonaldi at 9:13 AM on May 19, 2008


SNAP
posted by puke & cry at 10:16 AM on May 19, 2008 [2 favorites]


That's another problem with one-letter links. They're always fucking inviting themselves over for dinner.

All "oh, dinner, huh, well, I guess I'll come over too."
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:47 AM on May 19, 2008


"SNAP"? them's some low standards. Like I-was-doing-both-ur moms-while-you-was-trying-to- scoff-mince-and-tatties-with-some-foreshortened-hypertext-reference-anchors low

Also you can't click tiny links on touchscreens, which is fail.
posted by bonaldi at 10:55 AM on May 19, 2008


lolfi was a one-off hack ... I haven't touched it since 2002 or so and don't plan to.

This is what I hate about you fickle, fickle nerds. You make a whole LOL-FI site in cute cat language and now that the meme is a few years old you're all "too-cool-for-school". Well you're not fooling anyone, Mathowie - we all remember you when were posting "IM IN UR MEFI MODULATIN UR COMMENTS" and "I CAN HAS DOT?" to MetaTalk, and just because you charge people $5 a comment now doesn't mean you can pretend you never found it adorable.

Shame on you.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 2:00 PM on May 19, 2008


You guys are borrowing trouble, I don't think we have real plans to do this.

Oh, good. I read p&c's comment to mean that it was in the works. Not that it's a big deal in the grand scheme of things, just I like the script and would hate to see it get borked.

OMG PLUTOR
posted by middleclasstool at 2:43 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]


.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 3:40 PM on May 21, 2008


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