looking for the lost middle class (thread)

October 20, 2010 12:07 PM

Looking for the ask me question that said, basically: "Where is the evidence that the middle class is shrinking?" I've been unable to google it up, and it appeared in the past week or so. Sorry, and thank you.
posted by mecran01 to MetaFilter-Related at 12:07 PM (17 comments total)

Here. Metafilter search works just fine, and in some ways better, than Google for stuff like this.
posted by Gator at 12:10 PM on October 20, 2010

Um, it wouldn't be the #1 entry in an AskMe search for "middle class," would it?
posted by Sys Rq at 12:12 PM on October 20, 2010

Thank you. For future reference, could you tell me the search terms you used?
posted by mecran01 at 12:17 PM on October 20, 2010

Just middle class in the MeFi search box, no quotes.
posted by Gator at 12:18 PM on October 20, 2010

Ah, sorry about that. I saw "Whither Goes Dad's Recliner?" and immediately went to the next entry. For what it's worth, I have something cognitive going on where I can't see stuff that's RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE. Like when I go to pick up library books on reserve, I often have to have the librarian show them to me. It's embarrassing and I don't want to think about what it might mean too much. Some sort of visual dyslexia.
posted by mecran01 at 12:19 PM on October 20, 2010

Halcon: thanks for that tip.
posted by mecran01 at 1:23 PM on October 20, 2010

And such a kind and useful tip it was -- I too have been using this website and others with my eyes closed, because I knew no better, and the simple act of opening them has shown me a whole new world of content! Sensational!

Thank you hal_c_on for your selfless dedication to improving the lives of others.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:22 PM on October 20, 2010 [5 favorites]

mecran01, if it's any consolation, the same thing happens to me all the time. I think it's part of the human condition or something. At least I hope that's what is going on.
posted by k8lin at 5:58 PM on October 20, 2010

Here's an even better tip:

Keep your witty titles to your damn selves.
I'm probably guilty of this too, sometimes, but I'm really annoyed by people who treat either the question section or the title section as extra fluff rather than something that needs useful info in it. So, you repeat yourself. So what?

Is it really so shameful to have something that looks like this:

What are some good washed rind cheeses?
I love washed rind cheeses. Can someone recommend some varieties, especially ones that are readily available in northeastern US?

No.

It is far, far better than this:

I like em stinky!
I love washed rind cheeses. Can someone recommend some varieties, especially ones that are readily available in northeastern US?

Of course, even worse are people who do this for some reason:

Where can I get a Rey Mysterio mask?
Can you get them in extra large?

Which shows up on the main AskMe page as

Can you get them in extra large?
barfed by idiotic asker to clothing & pro-wrestling at 1:23 PM +

posted by Deathalicious at 6:12 PM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

Also, allow me to blind you with science:

Web Users Don't Read, they scan.^*

That is normal web behavior. I'm sorry for you freaks out there who must laboriously and compulsively scan every pixel of the page.

But if you want to write for normal people, make titles that make sense.

* Yeah, yeah, I know. Jakob Nielson can be a jerk or a nincompoop. He's still right here, though, and has the eye-tracking to back it up.
posted by Deathalicious at 6:22 PM on October 20, 2010

Web Users Don't Read, they scan

...their cats.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:02 PM on October 20, 2010 [5 favorites]

(I think it would be far simpler, incidentally, if the titles were simply left off the search results page.)
posted by Sys Rq at 8:06 PM on October 20, 2010

I have a crush on Don Norman these days
posted by The Lady is a designer at 4:27 AM on October 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Shut up.
posted by Gator at 6:35 AM on October 23, 2010

Yes please. Why do think it's okay to soil threads with your pointless off-topic, unfunny, "I'm bored", not even tweet-worthy, random thoughts?
posted by gman at 6:59 AM on October 23, 2010

Chill out gman or give me a head's up on which threads you're on and I'll stay away from them. Are you and Gator roommates?
posted by The Lady is a designer at 7:41 AM on October 23, 2010

Hey, you know, I'm not totally down with the brusqueness but at the same time we've pretty much flat out told you you need to stop doing this. So, the short answer to "which threads to skip" if you're just flinging chatty ejecta at a random target is "basically all of them". Which I kind of hate to have to say because that's not generally something we need to tell someone, but you've displayed this sort of hyper-chattiness thing over the long haul in a way that suggests you really are either unwilling or unable to manage this sort of thing with any nuance.

So, nuance out the window: TLiad, if you're not substantially joining a conversation already in progress to contribute to that conversation, skip it. Please stop using the site as your no-barrier-to-entry idle thoughts chatroom. This is gonna stop one way or the other, we'd rather it stop because you check your own behavior.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:46 AM on October 23, 2010 [5 favorites]