Link to preferred discussion thread in deletion? July 21, 2014 10:41 AM Subscribe
In this recently deleted post we're told to go to the most recent I/P thread. Couldn't there be a link to the thread in the deletion? I'm not sure where exactly to go, particularly if it doesn't appear in the first page of the popular posts tab.
Also, couldn't we have some kinds of sidebar for those discussion topics for which there is an existing active thread and for which new posts are discouraged? e.g. I/P, Ukraine, etc...
Also, couldn't we have some kinds of sidebar for those discussion topics for which there is an existing active thread and for which new posts are discouraged? e.g. I/P, Ukraine, etc...
This is basically what I've never understood about the "doubles" policy as it concerns topics rather than specific links. I don't really get how members are supposed to find out about / be aware of a potentially weeks-old thread that happens to be about a similar subject. I don't think I've ever thought "I would like to discuss the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, so I'll go find a thread where I can do that"...but maybe other people use the site differently.
posted by threeants at 10:44 AM on July 21, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by threeants at 10:44 AM on July 21, 2014 [3 favorites]
I was surprised not to see a link to the older thread cited in the deletion reason as well but as it was super easy to find it via site search for "gaza" it didn't seem like a huge big deal.
posted by elizardbits at 10:51 AM on July 21, 2014
posted by elizardbits at 10:51 AM on July 21, 2014
I just use the search function for threads I haven't participated in, and Recent Activity for those that I have. Are there problems with their functionality that you're experiencing?
posted by zombieflanders at 10:52 AM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by zombieflanders at 10:52 AM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
I don't really get how members are supposed to find out about / be aware of a potentially weeks-old thread that happens to be about a similar subject.
I generally do a search on the topics related to my post before I post to see if I missed something.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:53 AM on July 21, 2014 [5 favorites]
I generally do a search on the topics related to my post before I post to see if I missed something.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:53 AM on July 21, 2014 [5 favorites]
Also, couldn't we have some kinds of sidebar for those discussion topics for which there is an existing active thread and for which new posts are discouraged? e.g. I/P, Ukraine, etc...
A possible side effect: this would draw consistent attention to posts where heavy moderation is needed. Not just on I/P, but other topics as well.
posted by zarq at 10:54 AM on July 21, 2014 [7 favorites]
A possible side effect: this would draw consistent attention to posts where heavy moderation is needed. Not just on I/P, but other topics as well.
posted by zarq at 10:54 AM on July 21, 2014 [7 favorites]
I generally do a search on the topics related to my post before I post to see if I missed something.
Sorry, I mean members who would have been discussing that topic if they had seen the FPP; not the poster.
posted by threeants at 10:54 AM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sorry, I mean members who would have been discussing that topic if they had seen the FPP; not the poster.
posted by threeants at 10:54 AM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Ahh, that's different. I have ended up missing some good stuff that way over the years.
posted by Drinky Die at 11:08 AM on July 21, 2014
posted by Drinky Die at 11:08 AM on July 21, 2014
Which I guess is veering into, like, Schrödinger's FPP territory.
posted by threeants at 11:09 AM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by threeants at 11:09 AM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
Does this post have cats? CLCK TO FIND OUT
posted by elizardbits at 11:20 AM on July 21, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by elizardbits at 11:20 AM on July 21, 2014 [8 favorites]
All MetaFilter posts both contain and don't contain cats.
posted by threeants at 11:33 AM on July 21, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by threeants at 11:33 AM on July 21, 2014 [4 favorites]
I just created the Major current events threads MeFi wiki page, which currently has a link to the MH17 thread and the current I/P thread. This can either be a running tally of major event threads, or can track such threads for a given amount of time, or can get forgotten and we'll figure something else out.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:37 AM on July 21, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:37 AM on July 21, 2014 [7 favorites]
Thanks filthy light thief, that's a resource I've wanted for a while. I completely understand the admins not wanting to maintain a bunch of current events threads, but once they go off the front page it can be a bit of a pain to find/figure out what threads are active or not or even know there's a current events thread in the first place.
posted by sonmi at 11:54 AM on July 21, 2014
posted by sonmi at 11:54 AM on July 21, 2014
I generally do a search on the topics related to my post before I post to see if I missed something.
I do something like this except it's more along the lines of: Compose and link up an entire post, come up with an awesome title, go do something else for an hour, come back and edit the post text, choose a bunch of tags, then oh yeah—use the site search or manual URL manipulation to search on the tags. I should probably do that last part first, but other than that it's been a good process for me.
posted by carsonb at 12:10 PM on July 21, 2014
I do something like this except it's more along the lines of: Compose and link up an entire post, come up with an awesome title, go do something else for an hour, come back and edit the post text, choose a bunch of tags, then oh yeah—use the site search or manual URL manipulation to search on the tags. I should probably do that last part first, but other than that it's been a good process for me.
posted by carsonb at 12:10 PM on July 21, 2014
filthy light thief: "I just created the Major current events threads MeFi wiki page, which currently has a link to the MH17 thread and the current I/P thread. This can either be a running tally of major event threads, or can track such threads for a given amount of time, or can get forgotten and we'll figure something else out."
This is pretty awesome.
posted by boo_radley at 12:40 PM on July 21, 2014
This is pretty awesome.
posted by boo_radley at 12:40 PM on July 21, 2014
I guess, in some magical unicorn universe, I'd like to see a little sidebar module that highlights particularly active threads that have fallen off the homepage, with the threshold set pretty high so things like the MH17 thread and the current I/P thread trigger it, but not a comment or two followup on a month old discussion.
As zarq points out, this would draw more attention to these threads, which probably means extra mod work, but maybe it's better to have the discussion more fully centralized.
posted by zachlipton at 1:07 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
As zarq points out, this would draw more attention to these threads, which probably means extra mod work, but maybe it's better to have the discussion more fully centralized.
posted by zachlipton at 1:07 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
When a post is deleted, does the deletion reason get auto memailed to the OP?
posted by elizardbits at 1:09 PM on July 21, 2014
posted by elizardbits at 1:09 PM on July 21, 2014
I'd like to see a little sidebar module that highlights particularly active threads that have fallen off the homepage,
This may be of interest: Secret Metafilter highlights discussions that are still active on older posts. Not exactly what you're looking for, though.
posted by zarq at 1:14 PM on July 21, 2014 [3 favorites]
This may be of interest: Secret Metafilter highlights discussions that are still active on older posts. Not exactly what you're looking for, though.
posted by zarq at 1:14 PM on July 21, 2014 [3 favorites]
When a post is deleted, does the deletion reason get auto memailed to the OP?
The OP isn't even told of the fact that the deletion happened at all.
posted by Etrigan at 1:16 PM on July 21, 2014
The OP isn't even told of the fact that the deletion happened at all.
posted by Etrigan at 1:16 PM on July 21, 2014
I often use the "Recent comments" tab to find active but no longer on the front page threads.
posted by gingerbeer at 1:55 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 1:55 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
The OP isn't even told of the fact that the deletion happened at all.
So if you don't have the deleted post thing installed you wouldn't know why it was deleted or even that it was deleted at all? Huh.
posted by elizardbits at 1:58 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
you wouldn't know why it was deleted or even that it was deleted at all?
It's like a tree falling in the woods- if you never look at your post, do you care if it's deleted?
posted by zamboni at 2:01 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's like a tree falling in the woods- if you never look at your post, do you care if it's deleted?
posted by zamboni at 2:01 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
So if you don't have the deleted post thing installed you wouldn't know why it was deleted or even that it was deleted at all? Huh.
I think the author is memailed a link when a post goes live, and this link still works to get to the deletion reason.
posted by advil at 2:01 PM on July 21, 2014
I think the author is memailed a link when a post goes live, and this link still works to get to the deletion reason.
posted by advil at 2:01 PM on July 21, 2014
I think the author is memailed a link when a post goes live, and this link still works to get to the deletion reason.
Yes they are, and yes, it does.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 2:09 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yes they are, and yes, it does.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 2:09 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yup, the link you get when your post goes live still works, or you can find it through the MetaFilter Deleted Posts blog, or by looking for gaps in the post numbers around the time you posted, if you don't recall what was on the front page before your post.
But it's a bit of a trip if you made a post before you went to bed and wake up to find it's not there. Even moreso if there were comments in the thread.
You can also find a deleted thread if you made a comment in it, and if that comment was favorited, because your comment will show up in your comment history, and in the list of things that other people have favorited. I guess you could also favorite your own comment, but that's weird.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:13 PM on July 21, 2014
But it's a bit of a trip if you made a post before you went to bed and wake up to find it's not there. Even moreso if there were comments in the thread.
You can also find a deleted thread if you made a comment in it, and if that comment was favorited, because your comment will show up in your comment history, and in the list of things that other people have favorited. I guess you could also favorite your own comment, but that's weird.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:13 PM on July 21, 2014
I had a post deleted earlier this month as a quasi-double (drat!) and found that the post was still in my Recent Activity until I clicked the "remove from activity" link. So that appears to be another way to re-find one's own deleted posts.
posted by Lexica at 2:22 PM on July 21, 2014
posted by Lexica at 2:22 PM on July 21, 2014
Posters aren't notified when posts are deleted. There it was, gone.
Having just had a post deleted (Yesterday) I can tell you that you can find it in your recent activity and then you can click on it to find out why your snowflake was melted. But as some people are very active that might be a bit time consuming.
posted by adamvasco at 3:35 PM on July 21, 2014
Having just had a post deleted (Yesterday) I can tell you that you can find it in your recent activity and then you can click on it to find out why your snowflake was melted. But as some people are very active that might be a bit time consuming.
posted by adamvasco at 3:35 PM on July 21, 2014
I had a post deleted earlier this month as a quasi-double (drat!) and found that the post was still in my Recent Activity until I clicked the "remove from activity" link. So that appears to be another way to re-find one's own deleted posts.
posted by Lexica at 10:22 PM on July 21 [+] [!]
I had a post deleted recently too, and saw the same thing, but weirdly all the evidence in Recent Activity (like the favourites I got for it) seemed to disappear in bits and pieces, Back-To-The-Future-photo style.
posted by rollick at 4:34 PM on July 21, 2014
posted by Lexica at 10:22 PM on July 21 [+] [!]
I had a post deleted recently too, and saw the same thing, but weirdly all the evidence in Recent Activity (like the favourites I got for it) seemed to disappear in bits and pieces, Back-To-The-Future-photo style.
posted by rollick at 4:34 PM on July 21, 2014
Yeah, pb's been doing a pair programming thing lately with Robert Zemeckis.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:52 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:52 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sorry, late to the party. In response to restless-nomad's question about how to display this:
I'm thinking either:
1) a small headline at the top of the page a la reddit world news, or better
2) put something titled 'Active Current Events Threads' at the top of the sideblog.
or
3) Just link to filthylightthief's page, so long as it stays maintained.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:23 PM on July 21, 2014
I'm thinking either:
1) a small headline at the top of the page a la reddit world news, or better
2) put something titled 'Active Current Events Threads' at the top of the sideblog.
or
3) Just link to filthylightthief's page, so long as it stays maintained.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:23 PM on July 21, 2014
I don't really get how members are supposed to find out about / be aware of a potentially weeks-old thread that happens to be about a similar subject...I mean members who would have been discussing that topic if they had seen the FPP; not the poster.
This is true of any topic that gets made into an FPP: if you don't think to search for something in particular, you get whatever was posted in the last few days. The constant variety is a feature, and I don't think it would be good for the community to keep cycling through the same top stories in the news cycle for the sake of discussion, especially given the heated nature of some of the commentary.
posted by anifinder at 7:05 PM on July 21, 2014
This is true of any topic that gets made into an FPP: if you don't think to search for something in particular, you get whatever was posted in the last few days. The constant variety is a feature, and I don't think it would be good for the community to keep cycling through the same top stories in the news cycle for the sake of discussion, especially given the heated nature of some of the commentary.
posted by anifinder at 7:05 PM on July 21, 2014
I don't really get how members are supposed to find out about / be aware of a potentially weeks-old thread that happens to be about a similar subject
Use good tags. Trust others to use good tags. Assume you're not the first person who has considered posting about this. Search tags, Google and skim the front page? The link you are MeMailed will go to the deleted thread, if your thread has been deleted. As mods have said a lot in the past: most people never have a post deleted. People posting on current event topics should probably either be searching at least somewhat, or presume that there's a non-zero chance of deletion.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:25 PM on July 21, 2014
Use good tags. Trust others to use good tags. Assume you're not the first person who has considered posting about this. Search tags, Google and skim the front page? The link you are MeMailed will go to the deleted thread, if your thread has been deleted. As mods have said a lot in the past: most people never have a post deleted. People posting on current event topics should probably either be searching at least somewhat, or presume that there's a non-zero chance of deletion.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:25 PM on July 21, 2014
Use good tags. Trust others to use good tags. Assume you're not the first person who has considered posting about this. Search tags, Google and skim the front page? The link you are MeMailed will go to the deleted thread, if your thread has been deleted. As mods have said a lot in the past: most people never have a post deleted. People posting on current event topics should probably either be searching at least somewhat, or presume that there's a non-zero chance of deletion.
Sorry if it wasn't clear, I was talking not about OPs but about the people who would have been in a thread to discuss it if it hadn't been deleted.
posted by threeants at 7:31 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sorry if it wasn't clear, I was talking not about OPs but about the people who would have been in a thread to discuss it if it hadn't been deleted.
posted by threeants at 7:31 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
I don't think I've ever thought "I would like to discuss the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, so I'll go find a thread where I can do that"...but maybe other people use the site differently.
That's what I do. Not with Israel, but with any topic that's been in the news lately.
posted by John Cohen at 10:38 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
That's what I do. Not with Israel, but with any topic that's been in the news lately.
posted by John Cohen at 10:38 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
I've never dared raised my head above the parapet on this one, but I've often thought that it would be nice to have a 'trending' tab on the front page which lists a few of the really active threads. I can see all sorts of problems with it, but it would make those moments easier when I wonder what's appearing on Metafilter about the latest global disaster or whatever.
posted by tavegyl at 12:25 AM on July 22, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by tavegyl at 12:25 AM on July 22, 2014 [3 favorites]
The recent comments tab on the front page is a pretty good approximation.
posted by psoas at 6:40 AM on July 22, 2014
posted by psoas at 6:40 AM on July 22, 2014
cortex: "Yeah, pb's been doing a pair programming thing lately with Robert Zemeckis."
"When I refactored your code, I peer reviewed just like this!"
posted by boo_radley at 8:07 AM on July 22, 2014
"When I refactored your code, I peer reviewed just like this!"
posted by boo_radley at 8:07 AM on July 22, 2014
...seemed to disappear in bits and pieces...
When a post is deleted we leave the favorites in place for a while in case it's reinstated. After a certain amount of time the favorites are removed. That's probably why it looked like they were vanishing.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:20 AM on July 22, 2014
When a post is deleted we leave the favorites in place for a while in case it's reinstated. After a certain amount of time the favorites are removed. That's probably why it looked like they were vanishing.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:20 AM on July 22, 2014
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To the latter - we're not really set up for that. I'm not sure what the UI would look like. What are you envisioning?
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 10:42 AM on July 21, 2014