What is good deleted post etiquette?

March 19, 2012 10:50 AM

As a follow up question to this MeTa, isn't it kind of bad form for another user to re-post a deleted FPP before the original poster has a chance to revise and, uh, re-post?

It seems to me that giving a person whose post has been deleted the opportunity to correct and re-post their FPP would help make the site a little more diverse, and, arguably, better. Especially since the original post was made by someone with much, much fewer FPPs than the subsequent user. How are users supposed to learn "how the site works" if they aren't given the chance to do so? Reading successful FPPs is not the same as figuring out how to craft one yourself.

Maybe gman independently decided to make a FPP on the same story, but I didn't get that impression.

posted by apricot to Etiquette/Policy at 10:50 AM (28 comments total)

We're sort of discussing this in the other open MeTa thread on the original deleted thread. It's the general gestalt of the site that, with the exception of megalink posts that are clearly a labor of love and take a long time to put together it's fine for someone else to make a post that links to basically the same stuff if one has been deleted. gman's post is functionally different than the original one and this is the sort of thing that comes up so rarely that we don't have much of a mod-position on this one way or the other. It's possible that the community feels substantially differently about this but especially for stuff like thin-link obit posts and other times where timeliness seems to be part of it, just getting another better-for-MeFi post up there is the goal we aim for.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:54 AM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

isn't it kind of bad form for another user to re-post a deleted FPP before the original poster has a chance to revise and, uh, re-post?

Not generally, is my feeling. A post should be about the content of the post, not about who posted it. I'm all for infrequent posters getting their post on but it's not something where we have any cultural expectation of people specifically conspicuously staying out of the way to make do-over posts on a subject follow that arc.

It's not really a dibs thing so much as a "here is an interesting link" thing, basically. My feeling is we're all on the same team as far as making good posts goes, and sometimes you get the basket and other times you get the assist.

If it was a specific situation where someone had clearly put a lot of work into a post and it got removed for logistical reasons or something where them reposting the next day was a good solution, that'd be a little weirder for someone to swoop in and repost without discussing it with them, but that's pretty edge-casey and I can't think of a time it's been an issue.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:55 AM on March 19, 2012

I've had a deletion taken back in the past and the post reinstated right away (mostly) as-is, but I think what generally happens in cases like that one is your first try stays deleted and your chance to re-write and re-post comes after 24 hours have passed. If someone else steps up in the meantime well, shucks.
posted by carsonb at 10:55 AM on March 19, 2012

My feeling is we're all on the same team as far as making good posts goes

What, were you in Austin or on a plane or something when the favorites war started?
posted by carsonb at 10:56 AM on March 19, 2012

How are users supposed to learn "how the site works" if they aren't given the chance to do so?

Speaking of which, you should really have posted this in MetaMetatalk
posted by Hoopo at 11:05 AM on March 19, 2012

cortex: "My feeling is we're all on the same team as far as making good posts goes, and sometimes you get the basket and other times you get the assist."

Plus it's nice to have someone to point fingers at when a post goes horribly, horribly wrong.
posted by zarq at 11:17 AM on March 19, 2012

Honor is at stake! Only one way to settle this: Pistols at dawn in the park.
posted by Cranberry at 11:17 AM on March 19, 2012

Cranberry: "Honor is at stake! Only one way to settle this: Pistols at dawn in the park."

I'm guessing anyone named "Dragoon" is going to have an advantage over the G-Man.

For Aiur!
posted by zarq at 11:21 AM on March 19, 2012

How are users supposed to learn "how the site works" if they aren't given the chance to do so?

Speaking of which, you should really have posted this in MetaMetatalk

MetaMetaMeta
posted by burnmp3s at 11:26 AM on March 19, 2012

Thanks for the clarification, Jessamyn and Cortex! That makes sense. (I wasn't sure if I should ask about this in the same MeTa or post a new one.)
posted by apricot at 11:31 AM on March 19, 2012

There was that hilarious time that I made a FPP about the iPad, only hours before it was introduced, Matt deleted it while admonishing me to wait a few hours and then someone reposted it, with a few changes, once the iPad was officially introduced.

Also, I was right about the iPad, so nyah nyah. What were we talking about?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:36 AM on March 19, 2012

Pistols at dawn in the park.

I thought we always did broadswords in a pit?
posted by Meatbomb at 11:44 AM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I tried to flesh out somebody else's single-link deleted post once, but it got deleted too. But I'm used to being SILENCED ALL MY LIFE.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:54 AM on March 19, 2012

oneswellfoop: "I tried to flesh out somebody else's single-link deleted post once, but it got deleted too. But I'm used to being SILENCED ALL MY LIFE."

Could be worse. Could have spawned a MeTa. *cough*
posted by zarq at 12:18 PM on March 19, 2012

Wow, it's hard to believe it's only been two years since the iPad came out.
posted by nooneyouknow at 12:20 PM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Could have spawned a MeTa.

Or two!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:37 PM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

You have no idea how difficult it was not to make MeTa about this post.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:07 PM on March 19, 2012

I shall now post a series of doodles to Projects outlining Brandon's internal struggle to not make a MeTa about this post.
posted by elizardbits at 1:20 PM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm still relatively new to the site, and have never made an FPP, so for the purposes of understanding the distinction: What is the function difference between the original and the repost, jessmyn? The repost has one more link, which is from 2008, comes up on the first page of Google hits for "Mauritania slavery", and is significantly less in-depth; and the repost doesn't quote the CNN article. But both single-link posts and posts that primarily or solely quote the linked page are pretty common. I have to admit, I'm not seeing a huge distinction. Could you elucidate it for me?
posted by MadGastronomer at 1:21 PM on March 19, 2012

If your post is deleted don't you have to wait 24 hours to repost no matter the reason?
posted by desjardins at 1:22 PM on March 19, 2012

What is the function difference between the original and the repost, jessmyn?

"Her baby girl, barely old enough to crawl, had been left outdoors to die." sets a post off to basically be a HOW DARE THEY situation. I get that there are terrible things happening everyplace. We know from experience that taking quotes that point to some of the worst stuff happening [along with pointed titles] tends to predispose users to outfreakage more than the flatter presentation that gman presented. Same content, basically, slightly different framing, slightly different and improved outcome for the resulting thread.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:28 PM on March 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

jessamyn: " Or two!"

The day is young! Perhaps we'll see a third before nightfall. :)
posted by zarq at 1:30 PM on March 19, 2012

I see. Thank you, jessamyn.
posted by MadGastronomer at 1:48 PM on March 19, 2012

two posts enter! one post leaves!
posted by telstar at 3:15 PM on March 19, 2012

It happened once that someone made a FPP out of an answer I gave in AskMe, and that did put my nose out of joint, slightly. But my most-favorited FPP under my previous MeFi ID, by far, was a repost of a deleted post (at the original author's request). So I get the feeling of dibs, and I get the MOAR FAVORITES NOM NOM, too.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 3:35 PM on March 19, 2012

See, it's discussions like this that make me think that someday, when I finally work up the courage to write up a MetaFilter post, I will be emailing it to the mods to make sure I haven't screwed up before I dare post it.
posted by SMPA at 4:38 PM on March 19, 2012

See, it's discussions like this that make me think that someday, when I finally work up the courage to write up a MetaFilter post, I will be emailing it to the mods to make sure I haven't screwed up before I dare post it.

I seem to recall 1 that didn't save.
posted by jamjam at 6:04 PM on March 19, 2012

Meatbomb: "I thought we always did broadswords in a pit?"

The tiger, however, does not relish the peach! The peach assailant should be attacked with a crocodile!
posted by arcticseal at 1:18 AM on March 20, 2012