He already thought of that...

September 13, 2012 12:01 PM

Deleting Ask.Me answers that duplicate things the original question has already mentioned, is this a new thing or have you always done this?

I'm not protesting, I think it's fine, I just didn't realize it was happening, and somehow had it in mind that it specifically wasn't happening based on past experience. But today I noticed a few instances of "fosbury flop" being removed from the athletes who zigged instead of zagged thread.

Is this something the mods would like us to flag?

posted by jacquilynne to Etiquette/Policy at 12:01 PM (34 comments total)

We've always done this, usually because they get flagged by others noticing the people didn't read the question all the way through. So yeah, in that instance, the Fosbury Flop shows up in the question, but was added as an answer 4-5 times, which is kind of a new record, but often it's just people being enthusiastic to help while reading the top part of a question and maybe missing that detail near the end.

It happens, not a big deal, and flagging is fine. We don't need redundant information in answers, so we delete them.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:03 PM on September 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, it's normal, it doesn't happen a ton but it certainly comes up and it's likely to be deleted especially when it's right on the nose like that.

We just discussed this in a little more detail the other day, oddly enough, in the exchange starting here.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:06 PM on September 13, 2012

Cool, thanks. In the future, I will flag the obvious ones instead of just rolling my eyes and thinking "Did you even read the question?" in the Chandler Bing voice that lives in my head.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:11 PM on September 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

I flag and roll my eyes, 'cause that's just how nice a guy I am.
posted by phunniemee at 12:32 PM on September 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

You really shouldn't share headspace with Matthew Perry. You'll drink yourself to death that way.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:40 PM on September 13, 2012

Burhanistan: "You really shouldn't share headspace with Matthew Perry. You'll drink yourself to death that way."

Probably get a nose job, too.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:47 PM on September 13, 2012

I flag them when I see them. Seems like Noise is appropriate, so I use it.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:53 PM on September 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I flag and roll my eyes, 'cause that's just how nice a guy I am.

So you admit to being Ryan Gosling.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:01 PM on September 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

You'd better be glad the Hey Girl meme generator is down right now is all I'm saying.
posted by phunniemee at 1:18 PM on September 13, 2012

It's WHAT

have you called the police
posted by shakespeherian at 1:26 PM on September 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I think people are taking this MeTa as a challenge.
posted by Etrigan at 1:31 PM on September 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I swear to god.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:38 PM on September 13, 2012

I'm kind of just giggling when I see them now.

How many has it been?
posted by jacquilynne at 1:41 PM on September 13, 2012

I totally noticed this same thing in the athletes who zigged instead of zagged thread.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 1:43 PM on September 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

It's back!
posted by phunniemee at 1:43 PM on September 13, 2012 [6 favorites]

Sometimes it can be helpful to leave a clarifying comment in rather than deleting any record that people didn't read the question carefully, because other people are bound to make the same mistake.

I posted a question recently where the first response did not answer the question as asked (I asked about 2012, not 2008). Someone deleted it and my clarifying reply. Then there were several other answers about 2008. Finally the mods left my second clarifying reply up (while deleting the other 2008 answers). I think there were 5–6 total answers deleted before what appears now as the first answer.
posted by grouse at 1:45 PM on September 13, 2012

Not that we necessarily need more in-jokes, but if we started saying that someone obviously didn't read/pay attention to the entire question on the Green had "Fosbury flopped the question", I wouldn't mind.

Unless someone can come up with a more appropriate, funnier alliterative phrase.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:02 PM on September 13, 2012 [9 favorites]

We've always done this, usually because they get flagged by others noticing the people didn't read the question all the way through. So yeah, in that instance, the Fosbury Flop shows up in the question, but was added as an answer 4-5 times, which is kind of a new record, but often it's just people being enthusiastic to help while reading the top part of a question and maybe missing that detail near the end.

Whooooooooooooooooops.

awwwwwwk-ward
posted by Snarl Furillo at 2:06 PM on September 13, 2012

How many has it been?

Seven. I left a note after number six.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:20 PM on September 13, 2012

In this case it might have helped a little if Fosbury Flop were capitalized correctly. But just a little; I'm sure some people would have said it anyway.
posted by grouse at 2:26 PM on September 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I nominate Fosbury Flopping as the new term for not reading the whole question and leaping to suggest the most obvious thing
posted by theodolite at 2:31 PM on September 13, 2012 [9 favorites]

I mentioned this in an unrelated MeTa, how we deal with what to leave out and what to keep in.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:34 PM on September 13, 2012

Aw jesus, MCMikeNamara said almost the exact thing right above me, the utter shame of it
posted by theodolite at 2:38 PM on September 13, 2012

"I really Fosbury Flopped that one!!" Slips on banana peel, lies motionless on floor as smoke begins to pour from underneath the stage
posted by theodolite at 2:43 PM on September 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I always flag these types of comments as noise.
posted by chiababe at 3:09 PM on September 13, 2012

Another Fosbury Flopper here. I think my eye slid off it because the OP didn't capitalize Fosbury, but still boo, me.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:17 PM on September 13, 2012

I mentioned this in an unrelated MeTa, how we deal with what to leave out and what to keep in.

Was that...on purpose?
posted by librarylis at 3:18 PM on September 13, 2012

Aw jesus, MCMikeNamara said almost the exact thing right above me, the utter shame of it

Dang it, I was hoping that was intentional!
posted by Jpfed at 3:25 PM on September 13, 2012

Was that...on purpose?

Nah, I lack that sort of sense of humor. Missed the link originally.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:26 PM on September 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I nominate Fosbury Flopping as the new term for not reading the whole question and leaping to suggest the most obvious thing

Whenever one of those deletions happens, could we have a variant of the Red Box of Death that does this?
posted by flabdablet at 2:12 AM on September 14, 2012

In all fairness to those who posted that, I had to read that question about eight times to see the words "fosbury flop" mid-paragraph and not capitalized.
posted by futureisunwritten at 3:53 AM on September 14, 2012

The history of high jumping techniques is actually pretty cool. The flop for instance was not a radical idea no on had ever thought of. It was just impossible because their was not a giant foam pad previous to when Fosbury was jumping, and to attempts a backwards head first blind jump would result in horrible injury or death because you were jumping into a sand pit at ground level.

Had his name not been part of an awesome alliteration we mat not remember him for say the "Doug Jump"
posted by French Fry at 12:56 PM on September 14, 2012

The Doug Jump, so named for a guy I went to college with, is when you forget you're on the second floor balcony of a frat house instead of the front porch and decide to do a handspring over the railing and end up twisting your ankle wicked bad.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:33 PM on September 14, 2012

I mentioned this in an unrelated MeTa, how we deal with what to leave out and what to keep in.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:28 PM on September 14, 2012