Was it that bad?

April 27, 2010 11:19 AM

I don't want to be the whiny "that guy," but I'm not sure what I did wrong with this question to warrant deletion.

I'm writing a science fiction story and I'm trying to figure out how a language-learning robot character might realistically handle a situation. I tried hard not to phrase it in a way that would be considered chatfilter. I'm looking for well-reasoned approaches to the problem and articulated the constraints of the scenario. I was baffled when I saw the post had been killed, even after reading jessamyn's explanation line.

What sin have I committed, exactly?

posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis to Etiquette/Policy at 11:19 AM (45 comments total)

"It's all hypothetical future sci-fi from this point on, so there are no wrong answers." I think it was that.
posted by amethysts at 11:23 AM on April 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

First off, there's no sin. There are, however, limits to what's okay on AskMe. Specifically we ask what the problem is you're trying to solve. Without the "hey I'm trying to write a story" angle, this is just "Hey I want to talk about my made up robot world" which is basically not really okay for AskMe. Hypotheticals with differing sets of premises where every answer is "right" are one of the definitions of chatty questions. If you want, I can re-open the question and add that you're writing a story, but it would have been great if you'd included that in the first place.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:23 AM on April 27, 2010

OK question is re-opened and edited. Hope this is okay with you.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:25 AM on April 27, 2010

Thanks, jessamyn, you're an ace. :-)

I guess I should've been more clear about what I was asking for. I appreciate you reopening it with the addendum!
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 11:36 AM on April 27, 2010

I love who the first answer came from, given the content of the question...
posted by slogger at 11:36 AM on April 27, 2010

Robots for everybody!
posted by The Whelk at 11:42 AM on April 27, 2010

We are the robots.
posted by FishBike at 11:47 AM on April 27, 2010

We, The Robots.
posted by The Whelk at 11:48 AM on April 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

We are the robots.

When I was 20 I broke up with a girl because she thought that song was cheesy.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:52 AM on April 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Robot parade
Robot parade
Wave the flags that the robots made
posted by owtytrof at 12:19 PM on April 27, 2010

Thank you very much.
posted by The Whelk at 12:21 PM on April 27, 2010

They used to call Chuck Berry a "guitar mechanic" (at least I heard a Moody Blues fan say that once). Why? Because any idiot could play his lines. Which, as we have all known since the prehistory of punk rock, is the very beauty of them. But think: if any idiot can play them, why not eliminate such genetic mistakes altogether, punch "Johnny B. Goode" into a computer printout and let the machines do it in total passive acquiescence to the Cybernetic Inevitable? A quantum leap towards this noble goal was accomplished with the advent of a crude sonic Model T called Alvin Lee, who could not only reproduce Berry licks by the bushel, but play them at 78 rpm as well. As is well known, it was the Germans who invented methamphetamine, which of all accessible tools has brought human beings within the closest twitch of machinehood, and without methamphetamine we would never have had such high plasma marks of the counterculture as Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," Blue Cheer, Cream, and CREEM, as well as all of the fine performances in Andy Warhol movies not inspired by heroin. So it can easily be seen that it was in reality the Germans who were responsible for Blonde on Blonde and On the Road; the Reich never died, it just reincarnated in American archetypes ground out by holloweyed jerkyfingered mannikins locked into their typewriters and guitars like rhinoceroses copulating.
posted by maudlin at 12:32 PM on April 27, 2010 [6 favorites]

Thanks to this thread, I have now figured out the proper wording for a question I've been dying to post to AskMeFi for quite some time:

What's the deal with airline food?
I'm currently composing a baroque violin concerto...
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:55 PM on April 27, 2010

Dude, excellent use of the "I am writing a story about..." canard.
posted by Mister_A at 1:03 PM on April 27, 2010

And for realz, I dig your question and do not doubt the "authenticity" of the "story" that "justifies" "it".
posted by Mister_A at 1:05 PM on April 27, 2010

Dude, I have proof. Remember this question? Same story, bro.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 1:12 PM on April 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

ok, I know that the reinstatement of this question is totally legit and I don't have a problem with that at all.

But come on. It's REALLY FUNNY that the difference maker was literally "but I'm writing a story." not funny in the sense that that's wrong, just funny that it fit the stereotype we have here so well. I actually l'ed o l.
posted by shmegegge at 1:13 PM on April 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

[wave] This isn't the chatfilter you're looking for.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:45 PM on April 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Two bros enter, one dude leaves.
posted by fleacircus at 1:55 PM on April 27, 2010

It's a manssiere!!
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:10 PM on April 27, 2010

Robot? Foreign language?

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!
posted by qvantamon at 2:48 PM on April 27, 2010

i think got your question reinstated because the moderators are robots.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 3:51 PM on April 27, 2010

You got it reinstated because we're not.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:01 PM on April 27, 2010

I'm writing a story about robot moderators.
posted by box at 4:11 PM on April 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

What's a good name for one, and what songs would you put on a robot-moderator mixtape?
posted by box at 4:14 PM on April 27, 2010

before anybody fucking suggests it, let me be clear about something:

Robots do not like Kraftwerk. This is a common misconception, and it needs to stop.
posted by shmegegge at 4:17 PM on April 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

The best thing is our lifestyle.
posted by hydrophonic at 4:20 PM on April 27, 2010

robotica!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:28 PM on April 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

We The Robots is fantastic, and should be read by all. It's a damn shame the writer seems to have stopped. It was great stuff. Robots and crises of despair.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:52 PM on April 27, 2010

what songs would you put on a robot-moderator mixtape?

Oh COME ON THIS IS OBVIOUS
posted by The Whelk at 5:20 PM on April 27, 2010

I'm writing a story about robot moderators.

Robomod is Deleting.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:24 PM on April 27, 2010

.....flameout
posted by The Whelk at 5:25 PM on April 27, 2010

I'm writing a story about robot moderators.

Isn't that what Deckard did in BladeRunner?
posted by Sparx at 5:54 PM on April 27, 2010

You mean the electric sheep that he was dreaming of? (pet peeve, silly name for movie when original was so evocatively titled)
posted by infini at 10:30 PM on April 27, 2010

I am not a robot
posted by jonnyploy at 2:07 AM on April 28, 2010

Full on Robot Chubby
posted by maxwelton at 2:25 AM on April 28, 2010

What's a good name for one, and what songs would you put on a robot-moderator mixtape?

You are not going to find a song more about robot moderators moderating things than Servotron's "Serve, Obey, Guard Men From Harm" until the day that all media is about robot moderators.
posted by Copronymus at 8:50 AM on April 28, 2010

shmegegge: I just wanted to thank you for your proper spelling of the past tense of lol. This is the first instance of that that I've seen in the wild.
posted by nushustu at 12:48 PM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Robot Astrozombie is watching you masturbate.
posted by y2karl at 12:55 PM on April 28, 2010

nushustu, I just wanted to thank you for your proper spelling of my name. This is the first instance of that that I've seen in the wild.
posted by shmegegge at 1:35 PM on April 28, 2010

I see 61 instances. But who am I to count?
posted by heyho at 1:47 PM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

I hate you so much.
posted by shmegegge at 1:50 PM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Christ, if it makes you feel any better, I did find 3 of these. THREE!!
posted by heyho at 2:02 PM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

McSmegge, now that's brilliant.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:29 PM on April 28, 2010

sounds like scottish boogers
posted by infini at 12:15 AM on April 29, 2010