And there it is, gone ! September 8, 2010 6:03 AM   Subscribe

A comment in this thread disappeared. What's up with that ?

It was there, the OP and I both responded to it, and then it was gone.

Mr Yuck made the comment, and he doesn't know what happened to it either. I'm just curious as to how that can happen.
posted by lobstah to Bugs at 6:03 AM (38 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

Nah, I don't think that's right. You're really jumping to conclusions, there.
posted by flatluigi at 6:12 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


What conclusion are you referring to, flatluigi, or has that disappeared, too?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:20 AM on September 8, 2010


read the faq.
posted by carsonb at 6:29 AM on September 8, 2010


I don't think this was a deletion, there was no reason to.
posted by lobstah at 6:36 AM on September 8, 2010


I think Cortex is right on the money. Nothing about your $5 membership ensures hallucination-free browsing.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:37 AM on September 8, 2010 [16 favorites]


I don't think this was a deletion, there was no reason to.

The standards for AskMe are much higher than for MetaFilter and certainly than for MetaTalk, so it's more likely that it was deleted even if it wasn't offensive although a) not having seen it and b) not being a mod I don't really know.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 6:38 AM on September 8, 2010


Mr Yuck has a great name.
posted by box at 6:39 AM on September 8, 2010


If it doesn't attempt to answer the question, a comment may be deleted in AskMe.
posted by zarq at 6:39 AM on September 8, 2010


It was there, the OP and I both responded to it, and then it was gone.

It's important to remember that askme is not a discussion board.
posted by pwally at 6:41 AM on September 8, 2010


The delete hand is heavy on AskMe.
posted by smackfu at 6:43 AM on September 8, 2010


lobstah, read my previous comment in this thread if you're still not getting it.
posted by Mister_A at 6:43 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


Well whatever happened, it was definitely not superdeleted by the cabal, which does not exist.

(Your comment is currently being deleted, hit post to commit it if you want. *shrug*.)
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 6:44 AM on September 8, 2010


Hey!
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 6:44 AM on September 8, 2010


But the comment was relevant—it was an attempt to help the Asker with their question.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:44 AM on September 8, 2010


I have to say that I totally agree with five fresh fish on this one. They should all be lined up against the wall when the revolution comes.
posted by charred husk at 6:45 AM on September 8, 2010


It's important to remember that askme is not a discussion board.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:48 AM on September 8, 2010


*opens up a can of Brand New Day Comment Food (Seafood Platter)*

Heeeeeeeeeere my little comment, come out come out, it's time for a little din din!
posted by nomadicink at 6:48 AM on September 8, 2010


I guess ikt sounded chatty , but it was more a puzzle solving AskMe, and we were just discussing the clues. It's not a big deal, if it was deleted, then that's what happened. We thought it just went poof, and I wondered if that has happened before.
posted by lobstah at 6:49 AM on September 8, 2010


Ack. It's also important to remember that "preview" differs from "post comment".

It's bad form to muck up a thread with "hey! where did that [comment] go!?" If a comment is deleted, it's because it doesn't belong there. It could be unreasonably inflammatory or it could be unreasonably noisy. Whatever. It's gone because it was in anger of rendering a thread unreadable. The standard for "unreadable" is much higher in ask.me than elsewhere, so it is particularly bad form to derail the answers with stuff like that.

I flagged the hell out of that thread because there is, actually, a very simple question to be answered that is going to have most probably one lone correct answer and a couple good suggestions where to find that one correct answer. Everything else is not answering the question and not supposed to be there.

We have this really awesome unanswered tab, but it requires we users to refrain from posting discussion that doesn't answer the question in the questions. I know I'm guilty of doing this, but if you don't know the answer, don't chatter in the question.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:54 AM on September 8, 2010


I deleted it since it seemed more fragmented and chatty and like "I too am interested" than an actual constructive attempt to answer the question, and had picked up a couple flags which is how I saw it in the first place.

I'm sorry if that came off as heavy-handed; it's nothing personal against Mr. Yuck and not a big deal from our end, we just try to keep askme from descending into sort of loosey-goosey Let's Chat About This territory or tone and pulling comments that seem more like idle chatter than clear answers is part of that. Maybe if Mr. Yuck wants to take another stab at it that more clearly puts that stuff out there in terms of "you may want to take a careful look at this, this and this" rather than seeming like thinking out loud to no one in particular it would work better.

That said, the thread itself is very much not ever the place to discuss deletions, mod policy, or to engage in metacommentary in general. If you're curious about a potential deletion or whatever, send us a note via the contact form or come to metatalk here pretty much ASAP is the better plan, so that the thread doesn't become a weird tangle of answers and discussion-about-the-thread. I've removed a few other stray comments in that askme now to try and minimize the resulting cruft, and will go leave a note to that affect as well.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:55 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


it's nothing personal against Mr. Yuck
When you took this job, did you ever anticipate having to write that?
posted by Wolfdog at 7:00 AM on September 8, 2010 [7 favorites]


Sorry cortex, I didn't see your comment in the thread...it never occurred to me that it was deleted, I thought it was a bug! I was in no way making commentary about how things are moderated. I guess I was too involved in the mystery to see what was happening.
posted by lobstah at 7:04 AM on September 8, 2010


I was in no way making commentary about how things are moderated.

Phew! Nice save.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:08 AM on September 8, 2010


Sorry cortex, I didn't see your comment in the thread.

Not your fault, I only just left it now. If I'd known it'd be an issue at the time I would have left one last night, but we don't generally leave notes if we're just removing a single one-off sort of thing. As folks have said, askme is fairly tightly moderated, esp. as compared with the blue or the grey; a comment disappearing is, barring some extraordinary reason to think otherwise, going to be a comment that got deleted.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:22 AM on September 8, 2010


The delete hand is heavy on AskMe.

Yeah. I like it.
posted by iconomy at 7:43 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


iconomy, that was a little more information than I really needed this early in the morning...
posted by OneMonkeysUncle at 7:57 AM on September 8, 2010


A comment disappeared? That's nothing. Watch me disappear from this thread in swirl of orange feathers and never come back.
posted by orange swan at 8:08 AM on September 8, 2010


I guess I was too involved in the mystery to see what was happening.

Can't you see that this mystery is tearing us apart!?

We're not doing soap opera dialogue?
posted by ODiV at 8:19 AM on September 8, 2010


I was hoping we were doing The Room dialogue.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:29 AM on September 8, 2010 [2 favorites]


Hi doggy!
posted by Mister_A at 9:39 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


He hopped up and said "there's a mystery going on and I'm going to solve it" / And I'm like "God, please don't let this mod open his flag queue-it"
posted by Copronymus at 9:43 AM on September 8, 2010


and I can't wait for a chance to ban all of you

God, cortex, that's really awful of you to say. At least now you've come out with it and there's no way to redact your sentiments.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:29 AM on September 8, 2010 [2 favorites]


You're my favorite customer.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:55 AM on September 8, 2010


I treat you like a princess... you stab me in the back.
posted by Mister_A at 1:22 PM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


If you don't click "Post Comment", it's like you're deleting your own comment FROM THE PAST.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:14 PM on September 8, 2010


Admiral Haddock: "What conclusion are you referring to, flatluigi, or has that disappeared, too?"

I'm too clever for my own good. :(
posted by flatluigi at 5:11 PM on September 8, 2010


Jessamyn: "Cortex is taking drugs!"
Matt: "what kind of drugs?"
Jessamyn: "it doesn't matter!"
posted by Infinite Jest at 1:34 AM on September 9, 2010


That was the first time I've ever been moderated.

Where are the tissues in this place?
posted by Mr. Yuck at 9:38 PM on September 9, 2010


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