Help me read all questions

January 22, 2009 1:07 AM

I want to browse all questions asked in AskMeFi. Is there a way to do that?

I discovered AskMeFi pretty much just recently and I want to view all the questions that have been asked here. I know there are tons already, but still...Is there any way to do that? Also, I'm having a hard time keeping up since questions are pushed back into other pages whenever new questions arrive. What should I do to be able to view the questions without disruption?

posted by slashee to MetaFilter-related at 1:07 AM (44 comments total)

The AskMe Archives are arranged in three very compact and useful fashions. I generally prefer by date, at the bottom.

For your second problem, there are a few solutions. You could use RSS, and I believe there's a Greasemonkey script that bookmarks your last-read post/comment but I can't find it right now.
posted by carsonb at 1:18 AM on January 22 [3 favorites]

Tags and Google. And patience.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:18 AM on January 22

I've found that the easiest way to do it is just *pretend* you know it all.
posted by Jofus at 1:48 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Are you familiar with Borges' "The Library of Babel"?
posted by ardgedee at 3:36 AM on January 22 [3 favorites]

There's a lot of questions...have you tried the Random button?
posted by jacalata at 3:57 AM on January 22

This is as far back as the archives go. Start from there and move forward. Take a signal flare in case you get lost.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:19 AM on January 22

Take a signal flare in case you get lost.

And a lunch. By my calculations, if you read one question per minute, you will catch up on or about April 15th.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:32 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Sure, but if you read one question every 5 seconds, it shouldn't take much more than a week.
posted by gman at 4:45 AM on January 22

I could write a short script to read all of them for you. It'd probably only take a couple of hours to run.
posted by Plutor at 5:06 AM on January 22 [5 favorites]

Hey mods, is there anyway to permalink to the beginning of AskMe?

Fun historical note: The day after AskMe was born (Dec. 8th, it seems), the seeds of MetaTalk were planted.

Is there a trivia game about Metafilter? It feels like there oughta be. I imagine groups of people sitting around at meetups arguing:

Player 1: "You fool, cortex's first use of the banhammer was in thread#6366"

Player 2: *Sneers* "Idiot, everyone knows he gave XXXX a warning in #6358, almost two days before that."

Player 1: *rolls eyes* "That's ridiculous, NEWB, he didn't use it!"

Player 2: *waves hand dismissively* "Au contraire, arch nemesis, the mere suggestion of its use constitutes a use"

Player 1: *arched eyebrow* "I'll see you in MetaTalk, in the dead hours between mods."
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:18 AM on January 22 [7 favorites]

the seeds of MetaTalk were planted.

MetaTalk was around long before AskMe.
posted by languagehat at 5:53 AM on January 22

Brandon, ask.metafilter.com and metatalk.metafilter.com shared the same numbering/database back-end for a time. Though I think that question would be deleted today :)
posted by onalark at 6:33 AM on January 22

But we want to pretend.
posted by Pants! at 6:34 AM on January 22

*makes notes on trivia sheet, keeps eyes on the prize*
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:40 AM on January 22

I tried going into the archives but mathowie kept eating pages and ranting about how jesus never laughed.
posted by cowbellemoo at 6:52 AM on January 22 [4 favorites]

MetaTalk was around long before AskMe.

The seeds merely traveled back in time by nearly four years. I actually had to document some of these epochs to make the Infodump code behave sanely, maybe I'll poke around and see if I can find a decent timeline for it.

Of course, there's a lot of info on the wiki timeline already, as far as that goes.

Player 1: "You fool, cortex's first use of the banhammer was in thread#6366"

As if. #14060.
posted by cortex at 6:55 AM on January 22 [3 favorites]

This is the first question. You can read them all by reading them. The archives are the best place to start, just open a few tabs with a month's worth in them and there's not much benefit to reading them sequentially from start to finish, in my opinion.
posted by jessamyn at 7:04 AM on January 22

You can read them all by reading them.

There's got to be a better way. Actually reading them smacks of effort, really.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:08 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

But on what date will MetaFilter become self-aware? That's what I want to know.
posted by chinston at 7:08 AM on January 22

This request smells fishy to me.
posted by terrapin at 7:10 AM on January 22

This request smells fishy to me.

al-Qa'ida?
posted by gman at 7:23 AM on January 22

there's not much benefit to reading them sequentially from start to finish, in my opinion.

Goooood.... Gooood.... she's not on to us yet.
posted by SpiffyRob at 7:31 AM on January 22

But on what date will MetaFilter become self-aware?

When will the soil bloom? When will the spermatozoa speak? You are asking the wrong question. MetaFilter is just the substratum from which the Singularity will spring forth, fully formed - on April 17th 2014, around 9:15pm GMT.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:39 AM on January 22

Goooood.... Gooood.... she's not on to us yet.

She isn't?! Hah! Make haste, all of you - release the cucumbers!
posted by Ryvar at 7:41 AM on January 22

will spring forth, fully formed - on April 17th 2014, around 9:15pm GMT.

Though there will be a public beta release on the 14th, if you want to help iron out some last-minute bugs before immortality kicks off properly.
posted by cortex at 7:42 AM on January 22

Damn you, cortex. That wiki timeline just hauled me back into the sansgras thread and my morning is rapidly disappearing, my work undone yet again.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:47 AM on January 22

jessamyn,

The first question is #3705? Good thing there is no cabal, or I'd worry that numbers 1-3704 are reserved for its members.
posted by lukemeister at 7:56 AM on January 22

In Arthur C. Clarke's universe of the future, you are all the questions and all the answers, an emerald hurtling through space. And Time.
posted by moonbird at 8:46 AM on January 22

Questions 1 - 3704 are pelbin.
posted by dersins at 8:49 AM on January 22 [10 favorites]

dersins, that thread has just become so exciting!
posted by ersatz at 9:13 AM on January 22

As read by Laurence Fishburne?
posted by buzzman at 9:29 AM on January 22

What should I do to be able to view the questions without disruption?

Set yourself up with a nice cuppa, turn down the lights, close the door, and just sit back and relax while AskMeta does its thang.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:42 AM on January 22

If there was a Metafilter 'You can read them all by reading them.' t-shirt, I'd buy it.
posted by box at 10:43 AM on January 22

But on what date will MetaFilter become self-aware?

Why do you ask?
posted by Meta Filter at 10:45 AM on January 22 [6 favorites]

Plutor,

If I pay you five bucks, will you implant the answers directly into my brain?
posted by lukemeister at 10:46 AM on January 22

If I pay you five bucks, will you implant the answers directly into my brain?

Do we have to go through this every week?

Ever since the accident...
posted by ODiV at 10:51 AM on January 22

If there was a Metafilter 'You can read them all by reading them.' t-shirt, I'd buy it.

You could make one.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:26 AM on January 22

I keep telling you, that brain stem shunt goes in to the back of your neck. There are only so many holes on your body, and it's not meant for any of the ones in your pants.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:34 AM on January 22

I want to browse all questions asked in AskMeFi. Is there a way to do that?

Sure. Here they are:

- Will it kill me if I eat it/drink it/take it as medication/don't see a doctor about it?
- DTMFA or not?
- Can you help me remember the name of this song/book/film/website?
- Can you name my dog/cat/child for me?
- Can you suggest songs/books/films for me to listen to/put on a mixtape/read/view?
- Mac or PC?
- Can you do my research for me to buy this product/write this report for school/get out of this traffic ticket/write this bit of code/write an article under tight deadline?
- Am I crazy?

Plus a few others, but I don't remember them right now.
posted by googly at 11:41 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]

If I pay you five bucks, will you implant the answers directly into my brain?

I've been paying $20 for that. Same as in town.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:58 AM on January 22

If you're trying to read everything starting right now, get an RSS reader, or just hook up with Google Reader. In fact, if you're working your way backwards, Google Reader would be good - it will track which ones you've read in the past month, & it has more questions going back I don't know how far.

I wrote a bit about increment/decrement bookmarklets, but I think you're looking for blurbs before you read the whole post, & you're not trying to read every single post, are you? That would be a slog.
posted by Pronoiac at 2:13 PM on January 22

you're not trying to read every single post, are you? That would be a slog.

I beg your pardon. Even SLOGs don't read every single post. SLOGs do have a life, you know.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:14 PM on January 22

There's more than one SLoG?
posted by lukemeister at 7:18 PM on January 22

Cryptoeponysterical!
posted by Pronoiac at 7:20 PM on January 22