Region filter?

July 28, 2008 10:41 AM

How about some kind of regional filter for AskMe questions that relate only to a specific country/area? Like this one. If the question appeared on the front page as [AU] What should I do ..., it would be more easily brought to the attention of people who could answer it and allow people who can't answer it to easily skip over it.

The site is US-centric and I'm sure it annoys people when they get answers like "Well, I don't know about Canada, but here in the US we do blahblahblah." The country could be a dropdown box when people ask the question. The poster did tag his/her question with "Australia" but you don't know that until you read the question, and it's obvious from the text anyway.

posted by desjardins to Feature Requests at 10:41 AM (48 comments total)

Have you seen the Travel section?
posted by carsonb at 10:46 AM on July 28, 2008

Dang, the Travel section?
posted by carsonb at 10:47 AM on July 28, 2008

Wow Matt, thats great updating there. Whoooooeeeeeee. Metafilter : I'll get around to it soon
posted by wheelieman at 10:49 AM on July 28, 2008

"Well, I don't know about Canada, but here in the US we do blahblahblah."

Unfortunately, I think people are going to do this anyhow. As soon as I saw "super" I was pretty sure I wasn't looking at a US-ian question.

MeFi is not only a worldwide site, but people who have information about one set of places often live in another set of places I personally think this would not solve many problems.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:52 AM on July 28, 2008

Good idea.
And the option to filter out location specific questions by unchecking localities please.

carsonb, have you yourself seen the travel section? I go there when I'm stressed and need the chirping of crickets to sooth me.
posted by jouke at 10:53 AM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Man, I thought this said "religion" for a second and I was panicking.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:56 AM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

and allow people who can't answer it to easily skip over it.

Everyone is still being forced to read every question?! Goddamnit Matt, YOU PROMISED to set us free!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:04 AM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, well, it turns out that the pyramids aren't going to just build themselves.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:06 AM on July 28, 2008

Yeah, well, it turns out that the pyramids aren't going to just build themselves.

Obvious conclusion: The mods will shortly be enslaving the Jews.
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:30 AM on July 28, 2008

Daylight come and I wanna go home...
posted by Artw at 11:50 AM on July 28, 2008

Artw, could you hand me one of those bananas?
posted by Cranberry at 11:54 AM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Obvious conclusion: The mods will shortly be enslaving the Jews.

Now does that include recently converted "culture-only" Jews who maintain their atheism?
posted by Who_Am_I at 11:58 AM on July 28, 2008

Well, I sort of already filter regionally by having Providence, RhodeIsland and Iceland, three regions I have quite a bit of first-hand knowledge of, in my MyAsk settings. I never go to the AskMe frontpage.
posted by Kattullus at 12:00 PM on July 28, 2008

Are there any good Icelandic restaurants in the Providence area?
posted by yhbc at 12:03 PM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Now does that include recently converted "culture-only" Jews who maintain their atheism?

Everything includes Meatbomb.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:06 PM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

I try to take a philosophy on AskMe of, if I don't get it, then I don't have any business trying to answer the question. If I have to Google or Dictionary to understand the question, it's best I leave it to others. But then that limits this feeble, senior mind to questions like ... should I wear socks today? ... and my favorite ... do you know the way to San Jose?
posted by netbros at 12:16 PM on July 28, 2008

Usually it's the other way around and the asker assumes US readership. It's especially laughable when the asker has no details in their profile and asks tax questions.
posted by Mitheral at 12:19 PM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

As soon as I saw "super" I was pretty sure I wasn't looking at a US-ian question.

Many people do state where they are. And if I have any doubts, I'll click the profiles.

And I never answer "maths" questions. Or math questions, come to think of it.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 12:47 PM on July 28, 2008

Funny anecdote about being "culturally" Jewish (scroll down to indented text).
posted by grobstein at 12:54 PM on July 28, 2008

To be honest kinda it's the norm for US posters and commenters to assume everyone online is American, so it's kind of a nice change for an Australian to take for granted Australian readership.

Unless there's something I don't understand about superannuation Vanoakenfold's response in that thread is a perfect example of Americans assuming we're all American. (It's also a fairly good example of snark.) It's not even a chauvinistic "Well here in the USA we do this..." reponse -- it actually seems to have no relation to the question being asked, other than that it's about money.

That's an unfortunate phenomenon that has nothing to do with the site's responsibility to users and everything to do with users' responsibility to actually read the question being asked and only answer it if they have relevant and useful knowledge. Taking a second to read below the more inside fold, and looking at a person's profile to check location are two essential steps. Pointing out presumptuousness in the hope of changing it became an exercise in futility for me some time ago.
posted by loiseau at 1:07 PM on July 28, 2008

New settings:

I am from
[_] America
[x] Greater America
posted by Artw at 1:21 PM on July 28, 2008 [6 favorites]

Everything includes Meatbomb.

It's true! And that screenshot's months old.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 1:26 PM on July 28, 2008

I'm sure it annoys people when they get answers like "Well, I don't know about Canada, but here in the US we do blahblahblah."

I often see (and get) US-specific answers to questions that are explicitly about some non-usian locale.
So, for the morons fellow mefites who can't be bothered too read (or understand) the questions, maybe animated flags waving over the comment box? Or would that assume too much prior knowledge?
posted by signal at 2:01 PM on July 28, 2008

I am from
[_] London
[_] You didn't just call the UK a country did you?
[_] sgt.serenety is my co-pilot
[_] The Colonies
[_] Across the non-specific pond
[_] The Penal Colonies
[_] The Fifth Column
[X] my house
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:43 PM on July 28, 2008 [2 favorites]

Don't we have a lot of Vikings here?

[_] the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 3:01 PM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

"Truely, were you wafted here from paradise? Nah, Luton Airport."
posted by Abiezer at 3:04 PM on July 28, 2008

I often see (and get) US-specific answers to questions that are explicitly about some non-usian locale. So, for the morons fellow mefites who can't be bothered too read (or understand) the questions, people who are just trying to help in any way they can, and think there may be something worthwhile in their own experience that might be useful, maybe animated flags waving over the comment box? Or would that assume too much prior knowledge? the Asker could still be thankful that someone is trying to help and just ignore the answers that are not useful.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 3:15 PM on July 28, 2008

Don't do that.
posted by signal at 3:24 PM on July 28, 2008

Are there any good Icelandic restaurants in the Providence area?

I can give you a definitive no on that. Whale, puffin, and desiccated shark are all hard to come by in Rhode Island.

Nor are there any good quahogs in Iceland.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:25 PM on July 28, 2008

Martin Luther, as portrayed by Eddie Izzard.

From:
[_] Germany
[_] Italy
[_] Spain
[_] France
[X] Everywhere
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:26 PM on July 28, 2008

Ascii checkists should be delimited by:
{_} Curly brackets
/_/ Slash marks
(_) Parentheses
[X] Square brackets
&_& Ampersands
<(^_^<) Kirby
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:38 PM on July 28, 2008 [2 favorites]

[ ] Tropical Wet
[ ] Tropical Dry
[ ] Semiarid
[ ] Arid
[ ] Mediterranean
[ ] Humid Subtropical
[ ] Cool Summer
[ ] Warm Summer
[ ] Subartic
[ ] Ice
posted by desjardins at 3:42 PM on July 28, 2008

I was going to suggest MyAsk, but honestly I never use it. I still use the front page and I imagine most people do too.

So, I wish there was a hybrid version that marked the questions that would show up in MyAsk, but on the normal front page. Like a different background or that sidebar or something. That way your attention would be called to them but you'd still be able to see all the posts. I don't really want a filter, but I wouldn't mind highlights.
posted by smackfu at 3:50 PM on July 28, 2008

-Shrugs-

I use it a lot.
posted by Artw at 3:52 PM on July 28, 2008

wingless_angel just cited the SMH. If you look at previous comments she is currently living in Europe, the Netherlands to be exact. In that last comment she also states that she's a European citizen. It may be tagged Australia just for the SMH cite. RegionalFilter may mislead.
posted by tellurian at 4:29 PM on July 28, 2008

I wish there was a hybrid version that marked the questions that would show up in MyAsk, but on the normal front page.

Ooh, man, this would be good. For me, at least.
posted by Ms. Saint at 4:46 PM on July 28, 2008

No, we need a BLT with a side of 'slaw filter.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:52 PM on July 28, 2008

tellurian, my thought is that the asker could choose which region to which the question pertains, not necessarily where he or she living at the time. If I wanted to emigrate to France and I needed specific details from people living there or who have lived there, I would mark my question with [EU], not [US].
posted by desjardins at 5:03 PM on July 28, 2008

I guess I'm out of the loop...when did this TravelFilter show up?

*sits quietly in the dunce's corner awaiting an answer*
posted by radioamy at 8:27 PM on July 28, 2008

I guess I'm out of the loop...when did this TravelFilter show up?

Well, that's the point: it's been around for a looooong time, but it still hasn't shown up!
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 9:38 PM on July 28, 2008

It has been mysteriously delayed, and even bumped once or twice.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:10 AM on July 29, 2008

Yeah, the number of times I've seen a question on AskMe which can't be meaningfully answered by someone who doesn't know the asker's location is stupefying. I am literally slipping into a stupor thinking about it. It is a nice stupor.

How about: there is a little extra field next to the field where you enter the question. It says 'if where you are is relevant to your question (for example, you are asking a legal question or one which is otherwise specific to a particular country, province, arrondissement, prefecture, state or territory), you should enter your location here'. The location is then displayed with the question.

This would be better than choosing from a list, because often which part of a country the asker is in is essential and you couldn't do a list big enough to encompass every sub-national geographical entry in the world.

The small amount of extra server load would have to be balanced out by the plunge in 'we can't answer this question because we don't know where you are' answers and associated stupidity.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 6:51 AM on July 29, 2008

...sub-national geographical entity. Damned stupor.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 6:52 AM on July 29, 2008

I'm from the UK, have lived in The Netherlands and now live in the US. One half of my family is Spanish and my parents live in Spain, so a regional filter wouldn't work so well for me, unless I could chose some parts of Europe and the US...
posted by ob at 8:52 AM on July 29, 2008

How about: there is a little extra field next to the field where you enter the question.

It's worth remembering that AskMe questioners are remarkably bad at filling out the fields on the question page, and certainly don't read any instructions.
posted by smackfu at 8:55 AM on July 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's worth remembering that AskMe questioners are remarkably bad at filling out the fields on the question page, and certainly don't read any instructions.

Boyzone!
posted by grobstein at 9:20 AM on July 29, 2008

If this goes ahead we need a field for specifying which operating system you are using too.
[_] CP/M
[_] Xenix
[_] Other
posted by tellurian at 4:55 PM on July 29, 2008

IMO many things will be relevant to any given question, and there's a chance that any given one or more of those will be left out. If you can't get the info by looking at the questioner's profile, ask them. If they don't reply, or if they're anonymous, generalize your answer as much as possible and give as many location (or OS, or gender, or age, or pet species, or whatever) specific answers as you have reasonable answers to give.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 8:48 PM on July 30, 2008