But how are there so many double posts even WITH this feature?

February 3, 2010 8:13 AM

This is a thank-you note to whoever coded the FPP submission system.

Yesterday I put together my first FPP! I found a cool site I wanted to share and wrote up a bit of commentary with related links to fill it out. I searched the archives fairly thoroughly and couldn't find any previous posts about the site. So I clicked the preview button to proofread the post for typos and broken tags.

Apparently there's a process that runs at FPP preview to compare the URLs of all links against all previous FPP links on MetaFilter. I wasn't aware of this feature but indeed, it turned up a post from as recently as last June about exactly the same site I was linking to. I was sad that I had unnecessarily written up a whole post, but relieved that the double was caught before I embarrassed myself on the blue.

So, thanks to whoever built that little feature. I want my first FPP to be a success, and you saved this attempt from blowing up in my face. I think it's established that the archive search tool is somewhat... lacking at the moment, but this failsafe was a welcome surprise that compensated for it.

posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis to MetaFilter-Related at 8:13 AM (37 comments total)

But how are there so many double posts even WITH this feature?

URLs change, people don't do the work to check other tags/search terms, mystery meat posts with terrible tags, simultaneous postings to similar topics with different links. I'd say about half the doubles we remove are nearly simultaneous postings [i.e. obit stuff] and the other half are either doubles of posts with no tags/terms that would make it findable, or someone not doing the lookup work. Also sometimes people post updates that should probably go in the original thread and those are sometimes removed as doubles though technically they're not.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:16 AM on February 3, 2010

In before crunchland method.
posted by Rhomboid at 8:20 AM on February 3, 2010

Hey, Winsome Parker Lewis, to avoid writing a whole post before finding out your link's a double, just put all your links in the post box and hit preview. It'll tell you straightaway, and then you can go about building your post knowing your links are clean, or you can move on to a new topic before you write an epic.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:24 AM on February 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

You're welcome
posted by Damn That Television at 8:26 AM on February 3, 2010

...relieved that the double was caught before I embarrassed myself on the blue.

I'm not sure I've ever had one killed for being a double, but I wouldn't feel bad if it happened (unless it was one of those "See post three down!" doubles). It's happened to most people who post. Nothing to be ashamed of. Also nothing to get upset about.

I always dump my links in the form and check them prior to doing any post writing. It's pretty helpful that way.

Oh, and it's a safe bet that PB has done most of the coding on that form. I could be wrong.

Or what ocherdraco said.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:28 AM on February 3, 2010

just put all your links in the post box and hit preview

I also do this to avoid wasted keystrokes.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:29 AM on February 3, 2010

That's a great idea about dumping in the links and previewing first. I'll keep that in mind next time I attempt my first FPP!

I was also suspecting pb was the coder but I wasn't sure in this case.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 8:31 AM on February 3, 2010

FWIW, I've found googling "site:metafilter.com MyBrilliantFPPidea" to be a more reliable prophylactic against doubles than the site's search box.
posted by Joe Beese at 8:34 AM on February 3, 2010 [4 favorites]

I too use that feature of the posting form to check my URLs before making the post. Especially for more popular topics it's more reliable than the search box.
posted by OmieWise at 8:42 AM on February 3, 2010

This is now a Metafilter Thanks thread.

Thanks, Metafilter, for both facilitating a meet-up with the awesome tractorfeed and for keeping me entertained while I was pole-axed for a few days with Mystery Flu. (also, I got onto the Homosexual Agenda. It's a Google wave!)
posted by The Whelk at 8:48 AM on February 3, 2010

to avoid writing a whole post before finding out your link's a double, just put all your links in the post box and hit preview.

Pfff. I like the thrill. You've gotta wager big if you really wanna care about the outcome. Use your tip and be safe, but you'll never know the sick joy I get from seeing all my prose teeter on the edge of self-deletion. I do the whole write up: links, tags and mouseover text, and then I hold one finger over the preview button and the other over the delete key. Any hits on a prospective double, it all goes away, never to be seen again. Vanished. No hesitation. I call it MeFi Roulette.

(Actually that's a good hint. Seriously. Thanks!)
posted by 1f2frfbf at 8:53 AM on February 3, 2010

mystery meat posts with terrible tags

I always feel sorry for doubles of those, as the double is often the only reason I find the first post.
posted by Artw at 9:04 AM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Congratulations, Metafilter, on preserving your National Igloo!
posted by Behemoth at 9:10 AM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

But how are there so many double posts even WITH this feature?

One problem is that the duplicate-link-checker only makes exact matches. So if you're posting a URL that is different in any way from the one posted before, this feature won't catch it. This happens all the time with general news stories because so many sites cover the same stories. It even happens with single-link YouTube videos because they can be embedded at various sites, or people upload copies of the same video to YouTube giving the same video different URLs. So the double-link checker is sort of a last-ditch attempt to catch a double and in a perfect world you might take a look through the site search, tag pages, and/or google before posting.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:19 AM on February 3, 2010

It does appear to give matches on partial URLs at times, or did I just imagine that?
posted by Artw at 9:20 AM on February 3, 2010

to avoid writing a whole post before finding out your link's a double, just put all your links in the post box and hit preview

Wow, you just blew my mind. I always forget that double-link-preview thing, and always end up having a little shit fit when previous FPPs show up. "I spent an hour on these three effing senteces! This is bull! What a waste - oh, that was posted 5 years ago."
[Clicks post, notices several typos]
"SONUVA-"
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:30 AM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Have you been drinking Guinness?
posted by fire&wings at 9:34 AM on February 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

It does appear to give matches on partial URLs at times, or did I just imagine that?

Yeah, it does sort of give matches on partials, but those are fairly rare. For example, if you're linking to a top-level domain like apple.com, this: http://www.apple.com/ will match anything with apple.com in the URL. That might match dozens of movie trailers that are on Apple's site like this: http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/macgruber/.

But if you're starting with the longer trailer link you won't match other links at apple.com.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:35 AM on February 3, 2010

URLs change

I got doubled on posting to this F***ing Awesome "thing" because of a URL change, and am still feeling shame, frustration, despair as a result.

The Cannibal Corpse permutation is also worth exploring.
posted by philip-random at 9:44 AM on February 3, 2010

FWIW, I've found googling "site:metafilter.com MyBrilliantFPPidea" to be a more reliable prophylactic against doubles than the site's search box.

Excellent advice.

Of course, nothing is foolproof. I accidentally posted a double earlier this week after using both the in-site search and Google. Multiple searches turned up nothing. In hindsight, I really should have just looked for "sex robot."
posted by zarq at 10:37 AM on February 3, 2010

In hindsight, I really should have just looked for "sex robot."
posted by zarq

Always safe advice.
posted by Babblesort at 10:44 AM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

The only post I've had deleted as a double was actually deleted as vacapinta's first official mod move, so not only was I not embarrassed but I now feel very paternal towards vacapinta. So: gain.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:45 AM on February 3, 2010

But if you're starting with the longer trailer link you won't match other links at apple.com.

That's helpful, thank you. I'll have to keep it in mind. I made the mistake of linking to allrecipes.com on this post, which had 35+ links. Apparently Metafilter loves allrecipes.com and the "doubles detector" gave me a whole bunch of FPP's to check which turned out to be recipes of everything from chili to pumpkin pie. :P
posted by zarq at 10:46 AM on February 3, 2010

I really should have just looked for "sex robot."

Truer words were never spoken. We should all take a lesson from this; always consider a sex robot first.
posted by quin at 10:47 AM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

In Soviet Russia, robot looks for sex you!
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:12 AM on February 3, 2010 [5 favorites]

Have you been drinking Guinness?

Or, even worse, Guiness!
posted by aught at 11:32 AM on February 3, 2010

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.
posted by shiu mai baby at 11:47 AM on February 3, 2010

Thanks, MetaFilter, for MetaFiltering better than any MotherFucker ever MetaFiltered.

~*~*BFF*~*~
posted by Mikey-San at 2:10 PM on February 3, 2010

James Cameron is a fucking Guinness.
posted by Elmore at 2:51 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is so very winsome of you, Mr. Parker Lewis.
posted by Juicy Avenger at 3:31 PM on February 3, 2010

In before crunchland method.
posted by Rhomboid

somewhere crunchland is scrawling screeds of password guesses on his basement wall............. and one day he will be successful and it'll be like superman 2 or something.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:00 PM on February 3, 2010

As to who created that feature, it was Sgt. Haughey who taught the band to play.
posted by longsleeves at 4:04 PM on February 3, 2010

Can someone give PB a timeout for pasting the http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/macgruber/ URL into metafilter?

Also, was I the only one who thought it was going to be a movie about Apple apologist @gruber?
posted by cjorgensen at 6:42 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow, that guy makes our resident cultists look sane.
posted by Artw at 7:00 PM on February 3, 2010

Thetafilter.
posted by setanor at 7:10 PM on February 3, 2010

I would like to thank MetaFilter for consuming nearly 10 years of my life, effectively preventing me from attaining my PhD in applied high energy physics thus thwarting all attempts at building an orbital, fusion powered particle beam cannon and handing the control box to eyeballkid, who as you know hates you all.

*fidgets with the molly-guard on a bright, red, candylike button*
posted by loquacious at 7:45 PM on February 3, 2010

> Wow, that guy makes our resident cultists look sane.

"There’s an unbecoming tendency for some Mac users to contort their worldview in such a way so as to construe that Mac OS X is better than every other OS in every single way, or that its overall superiority ought to be obvious to everyone. This actually was true, or very nearly so, in the System 6 era of the late ’80s, but it certainly hasn’t been true since then; sticking to this notion just makes you look like a small-minded jackass. " - John Gruber

posted by churl at 10:04 PM on February 3, 2010