Neural Networks and AskMe/MeFi

December 21, 2017 9:13 AM

Has anyone trained a neural network to generate AskMe or Metafilter posts? ...If not, can we do that?
posted by Omnomnom to MetaFilter-Related at 9:13 AM (29 comments total)

Not full posts, but earlier this year danhon did train a nueral network to generate Ask MetaFilter titles, which was pretty fun.

The short answer to "can we do that" is yes; I have no problem with folks playing around with such things. The tricky part is grabbing a corpus to work with; Dan worked around that issue by just using title text data, which is available in the Infodump; doing full posts would require gathering some full post text to work with, which would require a bit more effort.

Traditionally that effort is some polite scraping of the site: set a bot to grab a post every 15-30 seconds, say, something that will have zero impact on server performance, and let that run for a couple hours or over night or over the course of a week depending how much of a scrape you need, and parse out the bits you're interested in from there.

For more specific and credible proposals we have sometimes put together one-off data dumps directly for folks, though usually more for an "I'm doing legit academic research" level of commitment to the bit than "I dunno, I might do something some time" stuff, so if you're gonna bring a special request definitely put on some clean pants first before you email me about it.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:20 AM on December 21, 2017 [9 favorites]

I bet limiting the corpus to relationship questions would produce some great material.
posted by Space Coyote at 11:08 AM on December 21, 2017 [14 favorites]

I just used the predictive keyboard over at Botnik Studios to generate a few AskMe titles:

Help me identify another fancy cat
How to create my friend machine
I need reality reports
What's happening to keep my mind without limerence
Should there be more done before cutting liquid photos into springy noodles
Why can't my life for someone new ever actually exist
" looking up your fav " but you've already bought speed
Where does cupping cigarettes for me help
I love your boss actually
What's wrong with therapy poker joints
Should I ask my house for kids & pigs
How long did this kind of gigantic quality analysis on modern biographies
Breathing with her boyfriend is wrong
Culinary neighborhood chemistry tools
Payout for the perfect tortilla
posted by Diskeater at 11:33 AM on December 21, 2017 [75 favorites]

I need reality reports

PLEASE DEAR GOD NO MORE REALITY REPORTS

Or I suppose I could just quit hitting "add to activity" on the US politics megathreads.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:49 AM on December 21, 2017 [11 favorites]

I just used the predictive keyboard over at Botnik Studios to generate a few AskMe titles

If you told me those were twice-translated (English to another language back to English) titles of existing AskMe posts, I wouldn't bat an eye.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:20 PM on December 21, 2017 [6 favorites]

MOAR SPRINGY NOODLES
posted by poffin boffin at 12:57 PM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

> " looking up your fav " but you've already bought speed

I don't see the problem, here.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:05 PM on December 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

There are at least 5 of these I now need the answers to.
posted by paduasoy at 1:09 PM on December 21, 2017 [17 favorites]

Should I ask my house for kids & pigs

Do so, if you must, but try to keep your expectations realistic.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 1:10 PM on December 21, 2017 [14 favorites]

I just used the predictive keyboard over at Botnik Studios to generate a few AskMe titles:

Those results are delightful.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:33 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Why can't my life for someone new ever actually exist

I would think with 80% certainty I had actually seen this question before.
posted by slipthought at 2:34 PM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]

Loaded all the "Human Relations" titles into Botnik:

Help my sister get over pizza
Why are boys always starting familial communication into their death
Where art wants babies
Should parents expect me to resent using telephones
I'm just mean no emoticon
My young f*cking life is dead
Zero weeks of love: let's avoid screwing
Devastation with my boyfriend's undiagnosed psychological roommate
Sleeping with someone else's chronic actions
Physical distance dilemma... Why does america have any cute flutterpants
Limit what's probably coming over a past betrayal
Nerdy birthday ideas / activities for someone else's ms. Wackadoodle
Spermfilter: any reason not to give away the world

This is way too much fun. I'd love to upload the source file somewhere if anyone else wants a go.
posted by Diskeater at 3:42 PM on December 21, 2017 [40 favorites]

I made a little sentiment analysis node script thing that scraped the front page and scored the sentiment in the text on scale from -1 to 1. Not the same thing, but fun. MetaFilter tends to skew positive.

github
posted by bendy at 3:58 PM on December 21, 2017

Should I ask my house for kids & pigs

In Skyrim, no, the pigs and kids show up in the bookcases.
posted by clavdivs at 4:20 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Moar moar moar
posted by fairlynearlyready at 8:33 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sadly, we get the flutterpants we deserve, not the flutterpants we need.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:13 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

My young f*cking life is dead

...would be an amazing Conor Oberst album title.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:22 AM on December 22, 2017

Should there be more done before cutting liquid photos into springy noodles?

Yes.
posted by latkes at 10:37 AM on December 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Have some more:

Society & Culture
The best resources really changed your wedding
Beaten by their boomboxes
Justify my wife marrying your secret Canadian stereotypes
Traveling with someone who believes aqueducts should be tipped
Bearskin without irony
Yawn: only they're yelling
Destination without being too big... Oh yeah and no ghost hormones
Rejection of people we should totally discourage

Pets & Animals
Dog training disaster... Oh wow yippie yo
Cat + cat + dog ( pardon my old grandmother )
Please name a mini poodle breeder for this spider
Monkey help needed with your shoes
Is changing himself raw for my pug unnecessary
Administering multiple pee filters with no clever little pussies
Should dogs sleep around Nashville bird pockets
The feline personality shift & how soon we stop licking your face
Personal recommendations deserve better than hysteria
Frisbee about this mysterious chirping
Symptoms of life concerns under the right family members
Playing favorites during termite thoracotomy

Grab Bag
How many raptors does one knife to rule them all
What does anyone want outta animated recollections
What's that song from another car
Is physical damnation required in Chicago
Help make fake ghostly expensive potatoes
Please dress this tattooed financier from France
Underground pesonal development magazines
Sending baby werewolves for New Years

Food & Drink
Do Chinese restaurants near Seattle brew American whiskey
Help us feed our sucky friends
Looking for sushi chefs with no babies
Best brownie war delivery... I need chicken
I'm my own delicious inspiration
What's good for teeney toasters
How much fibre means bad coffee beans
Freshen all these lederhosen
Pour some stinky bulk garlic mustard
Woodland food poisoning: 2% bottles and I need your recipes
Character water bottle or liquor advice question


I tried to generate Technology / Computers & Internet titles but they were hilariously too real.
posted by Diskeater at 12:17 PM on December 22, 2017 [25 favorites]

Is physical damnation required in Chicago

In my experience, yes.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:30 PM on December 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Bearskin without irony

Isn’t that sonascope’s LJ?
posted by wenestvedt at 10:20 AM on December 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Help us feed our sucky friends

There are like 100 dinner party questions on Ask that are literally exactly this.
posted by escabeche at 6:53 PM on December 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

Looking for sushi chefs with no babies

Meaning they don't have children, or that they are unlikely to cry if provoked? Both?
posted by Literaryhero at 7:38 PM on December 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Bonus content! I found this list of MetaFilter taglines and loaded them into the keyboard:

MetaFilter: You can't want zinn with that many liberals
MetaFilter: It's just because bitching at school with your fucking business is wrong
MetaFilter: Hidden talents against mawkish archetypical polarities
MetaFilter: Volumes and then whine
MetaFilter: Cognitive dissonance sucks
MetaFilter: Compared to say 12 gorillas she hates me
MetaFilter: Uninformed debate crossed with sincerity pants
MetaFilter: Hippies " scared sex fear overlords " ( tm )
MetaFilter: Misplaced narcissistic faces killing their dick research
MetaFilter: Knife away
MetaFilter: Trained to get righteously addicted to psychodrama
MetaFilter: Cracks in his testicals
MetaFilter: Rantings of a giant space democrat
MetaFilter: Jeezy small birds whose opinions approach assholes
MetaFilter: Members of this particular dimension that was always complaining about something shiny
MetaFilter: Desperate not interesting
MetaFilter: Your source is a piratical quark
MetaFilter: Axe murdering is wrong without having watched for those crotchwaffles
MetaFilter: Hugging but it's actually nugatory

Happy holidays everyone!
posted by Diskeater at 6:46 AM on December 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Sleeping with someone else's chronic actions

A.k.a. omg why won't they stop snoring
posted by limeonaire at 10:03 AM on December 24, 2017

Diskeater, you're doing the $ORGANIZING_PRINCIPLE's work here.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:45 AM on December 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Should parents expect me to resent using telephones: I can 100% imagine this Ask, possibly coming from a childcare provider!

Rejection of people we should totally discourage: SYMPATHY.

Personal recommendations deserve better than hysteria: part of the anti-anti-machine learning backlash.

Underground pesonal development magazines: right, the zine renaissance!

I'm my own delicious inspiration: that's charming and I want to know more. But not in a vore way.
posted by brainwane at 10:55 AM on December 26, 2017

KNIFE AWAY

finally the subsite that caters to MY needs
posted by poffin boffin at 11:04 AM on December 26, 2017

Help me identify another fancy cat - pictures please they are very important

Why can't my life for someone new ever actually exist - oof, this is heartbreaking

I love your boss actually - I could totally see this being an actual AskMefi question

Breathing with her boyfriend is wrong - some of the ways people talk about possessive relationships sound like this

Culinary neighborhood chemistry tools - DIY MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY

Help my sister get over pizza - neverrrrrrr

Where art wants babies - my parent-artist friends ask this a lot

Should parents expect me to resent using telephones - I ARGUE THIS WITH MY PARENTS ALL THE TIME ("why do you not call?!?! do you not LOVE ME?!?!" "mum I called like 3 days ago")

Zero weeks of love: let's avoid screwing - post breakup troubles

Devastation with my boyfriend's undiagnosed psychological roommate - another actually viable AskMefi question

Limit what's probably coming over a past betrayal - too real right now

Nerdy birthday ideas / activities for someone else's ms. Wackadoodle - hahahahahaha I could totally ask this about my niece

Bearskin without irony - 2018 fashion trend

Rejection of people we should totally discourage - how very current affairs of this question

Please dress this tattooed financier from France - this is a novel waiting to happen

Underground pesonal development magazines - OMG YES PLEASE THIS IS AN AMAZING IDEA CAN I STEAL

I'm my own delicious inspiration - I did have a performance art piece that involved sweet toppings painted on and then eaten off me so this is relevant to my interests

MetaFilter: It's just because bitching at school with your fucking business is wrong - my favourite of the lot

MetaFilter: Cognitive dissonance sucks - tru

MetaFilter: Misplaced narcissistic faces killing their dick research - the perils of dating apps
posted by divabat at 12:42 AM on December 28, 2017 [1 favorite]