Deleted post or no?

May 21, 2009 10:38 AM

I posted an AskMefi question yesterday but now it's gone. So how do i know whether it's been officially deleted or not? I went to My Profile; under 'Contributions', I clicked on the 'questions' (number 40) and brought up the questions I've asked. The one i posted yesterday is not on the list. I also did the search: http://www.metafilter.com/activity/29435/posts/ask/ as suggested in the FAQ and also came up blank. However, when i go to the 'new question' page on AskMefi, it says i've posted in the last week. I know for sure that I haven't posted anything in the last week other than the question i posted yesterday. I'm ok with deletion, but it would be nice to know the reason for future reference.
posted by storybored to MetaFilter-Related at 10:38 AM (19 comments total)

Check your MeFi Mail, you should have gotten a message saying when it was posted, containing the link so you can locate the deleted thread. It's the little envelope in the upper right next to your username.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:40 AM on May 21, 2009

You can always ask us via the contact form or go to the link in the MeMail you got when your question was originally posted. You'll see the thread with the reason for deletion.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:42 AM on May 21, 2009

Do deleted questions still get the month reminder to go resolve them?
posted by smackfu at 10:43 AM on May 21, 2009

Is there a website like deleted thread for askme?
posted by orville sash at 10:43 AM on May 21, 2009

Matt, Jess, I didn't get the e-mail for the post. I think i may have deactivated the option in my profile :-(
posted by storybored at 10:46 AM on May 21, 2009

It was deleted.

The deletion message says this: "This post was deleted for the following reason: Good luck with the project, but askme isn't really for fishing for connections like this. -- cortex"
posted by Houstonian at 10:49 AM on May 21, 2009

FYI, you can also go to the main page of AskMe and run your mouse over each post where it says how many answers there are for that post. Look in the bottom left of your browser and you'll see the url of that post, which includes the post number. Mouse over link going backwards until you find a gap in the number sequence...that's a deleted post. Like yours, which is here: http://ask.metafilter.com/122632/. You can then view the post to see the deletion reason.
posted by iconomy at 10:50 AM on May 21, 2009

(that should say....Mouse over EACH link going backwards)
posted by iconomy at 10:51 AM on May 21, 2009

More to the point, your question sort of seemed like it wasn't really a question for AskMe. You're more than welcome to ask for ways to find people to help you with your thing, but your question was a little self-linky [HERE's my conference] and a little "hey does anyone know anyone?" which isn't really what the site is for. A question like "How do I get in touch with people from these magazines?" is a different question from "Hey can someone introduce me to someone there?" I hope that's helpful.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:54 AM on May 21, 2009

Thanks Jess! That helps a lot. I actually didn't want to do the self-linky thing. I would have felt more comfortable leaving it out for privacy reasons. What made me do it was the thought that people would be more likely to answer if they saw the home page, to know that it was substantial and not a vapor-conference.

Thanks iconomy, for that advanced meta-fu!
posted by storybored at 11:47 AM on May 21, 2009

And yes, now seeing it with new eyes, the fishing for contacts does seem somewhat graspy :)
posted by storybored at 11:50 AM on May 21, 2009

With regards to iconomy'ss tip, that can be easily automated: Firefox + Greasemonkey + MeFi Deleted Posts Userscript.
posted by WCityMike at 8:53 PM on May 21, 2009

I would like to congratulate storybored for making a "why was my post deleted?" MeTa so thoughtfully that there was not a single bit of snark in response. I don't think I've ever seen that before. You deserve a gold star, but Stan Chin ran off with it.
posted by languagehat at 6:31 AM on May 22, 2009

Thanks languagehat.

Who is this Stan Chin character and how can I track him down and retrieve what should by all rights BE MINE. :)
posted by storybored at 5:56 PM on May 22, 2009

I don't know who can help with the tracking him down, but ask scarabic what to do when you've found him.
posted by jacalata at 8:10 PM on May 22, 2009

Curiosity aroused now.

What percentage of "why has my xxxx been deleted" questions actually do end up being asked via the contact form?
posted by flabdablet at 11:05 PM on May 22, 2009

I highly recommend the greasemonkey script for Firefox called "Mefi deleted posts". It shows articles that have been removed from MeFi and AskMeFi, and shows the reason WHY they have been removed. Fascinating stuff!

Can be found HERE
posted by newfers at 12:17 AM on May 23, 2009

What percentage of "why has my xxxx been deleted" questions actually do end up being asked via the contact form?

Ballpark figure maybe 25-40%? And of those, most of them are spammers saying "I can't find my post and now I can't log in" with the occasional "what happened to my question?" question along with the "GRAR GRAR EVIL CENSORS" angrymail.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:28 AM on May 23, 2009

jessamynAdmin: "along with the "GRAR GRAR EVIL CENSORS" angrymail."

I'm now going to be picturing people saying "GRAR GRAR" prior to commencing their Internet argument. I imagine it will put me in a demonstrably better mood.

GRAR GRAR I WANT PONY!
GRAR GRAR METAFILTER IS A BOYS'/GIRLS' CLUB!
GRAR GRAR WCITYMIKE IS BEING TOO SURREAL!
posted by WCityMike at 11:41 AM on May 23, 2009