AskMe rocks. October 29, 2011 9:02 AM Subscribe
Every now and then I want to ask a question on AskMe and find that someone has already asked it in more or less exactly the way I needed it to be asked. (Obviously, the search function at the top of the new question window works). This is a thank you thread!
Thank you Alex Marshall for posting and WestCoaster for solving my digital thermometer problem!
I'm curious what other questions people here have not asked after all because they've already been posted, and whether this happens with some questions particularly often.
Thank you Alex Marshall for posting and WestCoaster for solving my digital thermometer problem!
I'm curious what other questions people here have not asked after all because they've already been posted, and whether this happens with some questions particularly often.
I often find answers to my Excel questions by mucking about in the archives.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:22 AM on October 29, 2011
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:22 AM on October 29, 2011
Askme planned my trip to Chicago last weekend. Pretty much any time I need product advice I search the archives first.
posted by Think_Long at 9:46 AM on October 29, 2011
posted by Think_Long at 9:46 AM on October 29, 2011
I shortlisted what computer to buy, various home audio questions, luggage questions, all by searching the archives.
posted by bardophile at 9:47 AM on October 29, 2011
posted by bardophile at 9:47 AM on October 29, 2011
Computer hardware, excel, home cleaning, ant deterrence and fitness questions have all been answered in AskMe before I even thought of them.
posted by arcticseal at 10:03 AM on October 29, 2011
posted by arcticseal at 10:03 AM on October 29, 2011
I've made a pact with myself that I cannot ask a cooking question until I have made every soup, stew and cookie in the archives.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 10:04 AM on October 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Snarl Furillo at 10:04 AM on October 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
Ooh, I thought of something. I often read the "mystery" questions because at least one out of every ten "what was this book/movie/show/blog/podcast/song/painting?" is some thing that I've enjoyed and long forgotten. And then forgotten to ask. But I'm glad somebody else did and didn't.
posted by iamkimiam at 10:07 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by iamkimiam at 10:07 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
One of my favorite things in the whole world is when I Google something and the first thing that comes up is an AskMe question. Even better when it's a thread I've commented in. At least once it was a thread where I had the best answer, so I basically Googled a question I already knew the answer to.
There have been way too many times when the archives gave me an answer to something. I really don't buy anything, tackle any project, or make any major life decisions without first consulting AskMe.
As a result, I've had food poisoning nineteen times and have dumped no fewer than eleven motherfuckers.
posted by bondcliff at 10:35 AM on October 29, 2011 [20 favorites]
There have been way too many times when the archives gave me an answer to something. I really don't buy anything, tackle any project, or make any major life decisions without first consulting AskMe.
As a result, I've had food poisoning nineteen times and have dumped no fewer than eleven motherfuckers.
posted by bondcliff at 10:35 AM on October 29, 2011 [20 favorites]
I've had food poisoning nineteen times
This number is meaningless unless we know how many times you've avoided food poisoning.
posted by madcaptenor at 10:56 AM on October 29, 2011
This number is meaningless unless we know how many times you've avoided food poisoning.
posted by madcaptenor at 10:56 AM on October 29, 2011
Shortly after I signed a lease for an apartment in northern Virginia, jlstitt posted an askme about nightlife in northern Virginia. Serendipity is awesome.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:12 AM on October 29, 2011
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:12 AM on October 29, 2011
youcancallmeal convinced me to get my first dog, an English Shepherd. I'm glad I took this advice. Most days.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:20 AM on October 29, 2011
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:20 AM on October 29, 2011
I have asked only 19 AskMes in 6 years (and one was posted for a friend). This is either because I am a smartypants know-it-all amazing supergenius, or because my problems are commonplace and have been asked before. Think I'ma go with Option A.
posted by Quietgal at 11:46 AM on October 29, 2011
posted by Quietgal at 11:46 AM on October 29, 2011
I bought a Bissell carpet cleaner from askme archives. And quelled some latent hyponchondria.
posted by bquarters at 12:22 PM on October 29, 2011
posted by bquarters at 12:22 PM on October 29, 2011
Almost invariably if I see a product I want to buy on a website that I am not familiar with, I do a site:ask.metafilter.com search to see if it has been mentioned or recommended.
posted by cashman at 12:34 PM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by cashman at 12:34 PM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Then why do people keep asking if they should break up with their boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife? The answer is yes.
posted by spitbull at 1:00 PM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by spitbull at 1:00 PM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
I took a last-minute roadtrip through Arizona recently, planned almost entirely by consulting the AskMe archives.
posted by eddydamascene at 2:17 PM on October 29, 2011
posted by eddydamascene at 2:17 PM on October 29, 2011
I'm curious what other questions people here have not asked after all because they've already been posted, and whether this happens with some questions particularly often.
I don't post most of the questions I think of asking. Sometimes this is because the question has already been answered, but more often it's because I don't even need to check the archives — I can just imagine how people would answer it.
posted by John Cohen at 2:21 PM on October 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
I don't post most of the questions I think of asking. Sometimes this is because the question has already been answered, but more often it's because I don't even need to check the archives — I can just imagine how people would answer it.
posted by John Cohen at 2:21 PM on October 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
I was going to ask a question about what to do in Dublin for a weekend and I didn't need to because I found enough stuff in the archives for at least three weekends. We went to the Chester Beattie Library and loved it, didn't have time to do a historic walking tour (but put in on the list for next time), then had a lovely dinner at The Pig's Ear as recommended by another random google website, then raved about the whole place to all our friends.
We also stayed in a very nice hotel in Tokyo from an ask.me posting which was both reasonable, clean, quiet and in a good location. All for much less than I was finding on my own. So cheers!
posted by shelleycat at 2:40 PM on October 29, 2011
We also stayed in a very nice hotel in Tokyo from an ask.me posting which was both reasonable, clean, quiet and in a good location. All for much less than I was finding on my own. So cheers!
posted by shelleycat at 2:40 PM on October 29, 2011
Whenever I have a question, I just wait a week and somebody else asks it better.
Except for the "new distro, window manager and terminal emulator needed. (special snowflake)" one.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:43 PM on October 29, 2011
Except for the "new distro, window manager and terminal emulator needed. (special snowflake)" one.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:43 PM on October 29, 2011
Just this morning askme helped plan a weekend trip to New Mexico. We settled on NM after finding a lack of similar questions for other cities within driving range. So thanks, askme, for helping us decide not only where to go but what to do when we get there.
posted by lilac girl at 2:46 PM on October 29, 2011
posted by lilac girl at 2:46 PM on October 29, 2011
We're coming up on 200,000 questions on AskMe. Obviously, every possible question has been asked, there is nothing left to ask. Everything that can be asked has been asked. It's time to just shut AskMe down and let everybody else find their answers via AskMe search. (With a nod to.)
posted by beagle at 3:23 PM on October 29, 2011
posted by beagle at 3:23 PM on October 29, 2011
I was about to submit a question last week about good scary (but not gory) movies. And before posting it came across I want to be scared, but not grossed out. Always nice to save a question.
posted by Sassyfras at 3:30 PM on October 29, 2011
posted by Sassyfras at 3:30 PM on October 29, 2011
I think someone should compile the answers to all the naming questions (for pets, babies, roller hockey personas, pub quiz teams, and what have you) and create a web applet to spit out answers randomly. That should stem the constant trickle of such questions, and amuse people in the mean time (ooh, was Beretta Lynn a name suggestion for someone's daughter, pet, or derby persona?)
Jofus: One day…One day soon…
It would help if you provided a link to the scene (terrible, shaky camera recording of a TV, but it's that scene with that song). But I still can't help you with your query.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:11 PM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Jofus: One day…One day soon…
It would help if you provided a link to the scene (terrible, shaky camera recording of a TV, but it's that scene with that song). But I still can't help you with your query.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:11 PM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
ooh! I had a question about handicapped stall public restroom etiquette. I was working in this weirdly-retrofitted building when I was pregnant, and once I was about seven months I literally could not use the non-handicapped stall ... I couldn't turn around in it, so I had to back in, but if I backed in, I could not close the door because it wouldn't go past my belly. This was not even "suck it in and do gymnastics to maneuver the belly around," this was "there is no physical way to do a 180 in here or to shut the door while facing forward." So I had to use the handicapped stall the 47 times per hour I had to pee.
Anyway, nobody was ever in the bathroom when I was, and I wasn't aware of anyone handicapped regularly in the building at that hour, so I wasn't super-worried about it, but I did have some guilt about whether I was ethically wrong in using the handicapped stall when I was not handicapped.
I thought about asking but a search turned up this question, where the consensus was "accessible but not reserved."
(Although I don't know what I thought I was going to do if the answer was "NO YOU PREGNANT LADY YOU MUST USE THE REGULAR STALL" because that was clearly a physical impossibility.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:30 PM on October 29, 2011
Anyway, nobody was ever in the bathroom when I was, and I wasn't aware of anyone handicapped regularly in the building at that hour, so I wasn't super-worried about it, but I did have some guilt about whether I was ethically wrong in using the handicapped stall when I was not handicapped.
I thought about asking but a search turned up this question, where the consensus was "accessible but not reserved."
(Although I don't know what I thought I was going to do if the answer was "NO YOU PREGNANT LADY YOU MUST USE THE REGULAR STALL" because that was clearly a physical impossibility.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:30 PM on October 29, 2011
Done nowt for me lately. Where's all the erudite discussion of the terminological niceties of Tang and Song aesthetic treatises? Serious lacuna*.
* Not the name of a Congolese paramilitary.
posted by Abiezer at 11:37 PM on October 29, 2011
* Not the name of a Congolese paramilitary.
posted by Abiezer at 11:37 PM on October 29, 2011
I browse the food & drink section of the archives quite a bit for recipe ideas. Even better, when you look at posts you've favorited in AskMe you can limit by category. Just yesterday I bought the ingredients for this wild rice and mushroom soup, which I plan on making today, as recommended by clavicle. So thanks to all the AskMe cooks and bakers!
But I don't always have a specific question in mind when I do that (besides a general "what can I make?") For an astoundingly specific question that I was thinking about asking at one point, until I searched the archives and found that exact thing had already been asked, What is the best English translation of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:44 AM on October 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
But I don't always have a specific question in mind when I do that (besides a general "what can I make?") For an astoundingly specific question that I was thinking about asking at one point, until I searched the archives and found that exact thing had already been asked, What is the best English translation of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:44 AM on October 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
Another benefit of AskMe is that the act of thinking and writing about a problem in order to give useful advice to someone else often helps the writer achieve some serious clarity.
posted by orange swan at 10:21 AM on October 30, 2011
posted by orange swan at 10:21 AM on October 30, 2011
I've made a pact with myself that I cannot ask a cooking question until I have made every soup, stew and cookie in the archives. posted by Snarl Furillo at 12:04 PM on October 29 [3 favorites −] [!]
I've made the same pact... except for thevegan and gluten free or other special diet dishes... I have a lot of cooking to do...
But, to answer the question, Askme comes to the rescue far too many times to recount. The archives are my go-to resource for question answering. The best five dollars i've ever spent.
posted by patheral at 10:49 AM on October 30, 2011
I've made the same pact... except for thevegan and gluten free or other special diet dishes... I have a lot of cooking to do...
But, to answer the question, Askme comes to the rescue far too many times to recount. The archives are my go-to resource for question answering. The best five dollars i've ever spent.
posted by patheral at 10:49 AM on October 30, 2011
Every now and then I want to ask a question on AskMe and find that someone has already asked it in more or less exactly the way I needed it to be asked.
Once one accepts the brutal truth that there is none such a thing as a unique individual, and that, for marketing purposes, we are all the same person, the wisdom of the hive emerges from the fog: if you have seen one snowflake, you have seen them all. Went there, did that -- it's no wonder we can answer our own questions with such force and clarity.
posted by y2karl at 4:11 PM on October 30, 2011
Once one accepts the brutal truth that there is none such a thing as a unique individual, and that, for marketing purposes, we are all the same person, the wisdom of the hive emerges from the fog: if you have seen one snowflake, you have seen them all. Went there, did that -- it's no wonder we can answer our own questions with such force and clarity.
posted by y2karl at 4:11 PM on October 30, 2011
I learned how to do laundry properly from reading all of the related AskMes.
posted by colfax at 9:08 PM on October 30, 2011
posted by colfax at 9:08 PM on October 30, 2011
I've gotten great guidance for going gluten-free because of recent and not-so-recent AskMes.
posted by sillymama at 9:23 PM on October 30, 2011
posted by sillymama at 9:23 PM on October 30, 2011
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posted by iamkimiam at 9:15 AM on October 29, 2011