Link to AskMe

December 21, 2003 6:43 AM

Ask MetaFilter is currently only available to those of us who come to MetaTalk. Since it's probably the best thing on MeFi since the sliced-bread thread, wouldn't it be an elementary courtesy to extend the service (and information) to the blue-only crowd? Is it really so marvellous that it deserves to be kept for us aficionados alone? Fwiw, I think we could use the extra minds and souls. Why not include a link (plus sidebar mention) on the main page? Or is it meant to be an insiders' secret? This, imho, is just wrong!
posted by MiguelCardoso to Feature Requests at 6:43 AM (34 comments total)

I love the way you could have said exactly the same thing with 'Why not put a link to Ask Metafilter in the blue so more people can see it'? Ahhh... but it's just so difficult to hate you Miguel.

Anywayyy, yes, put a link to it in the blue. I suspect that most people have heard of it by now because it's been mentioned on more than a few popular weblogs, but there are probably still some who haven't visited yet.
posted by adrianhon at 6:47 AM on December 21, 2003

It's better off this way for now. Maybe once Matt has re-coded it and made the changes he wants to. Then he might want to link it on MeFi. Right now it's a "test month" so there's no harm in "limited testing".
posted by riffola at 6:47 AM on December 21, 2003

Nooo, it's our lovely precioussss. Don't let the blue oneses see the preciousss. They'll want it. The blueses will take the preciousssss. If they want the preciousss AxMe, they have to find it themselveses.
posted by theora55 at 7:07 AM on December 21, 2003

Getting the feel for what works and what doesn't before we post it in the blue sounds best to me. And getting some code in place should take precedence over drawing a crowd.

Also, there is no "blue-only" crowd. If people have an interest in new MetaFilter stuff and the inner workings here nothing is stopping them.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:09 AM on December 21, 2003

So, there's a secret apartheid on MeFi, theora55, whereby the superior race is the grey-only; the middling race is blue-grey and the inferior one is blue through and through, poor bastards that they are?

I'm kidding, of course, but there just might be a kernel of truth here - which is really silly, I should add. ;)

How can you exclude your own companions? What does "We're all in this together" mean, if the words "all" and "together" don't really apply?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:13 AM on December 21, 2003

No one is stopping them from clicking that link that says MetaTalk on the front page. I remember a few years back I had requested that Matt put a new MeTa thread indicator on the front page so that people who don't visit MeTa often know that there is something new there. This was of course back when there were hardly three threads a week on MeTa. I was told by one and all that if I wanted to keep up with MeTa, I should visit it.

Similarly if people care about the site, then they'll visit MeTa and find Ask MeFi on their own. There's absolutely no one stopping them from doing that. They could also learn about it on the hundreds of blogs that have already linked to it.

Maybe one of the reason Ask MeFi has been a success is that the people participating there are more invested in this site than the people who only visit the bluer side of things.
posted by riffola at 7:30 AM on December 21, 2003

"but there just might be a kernel of truth here"

Or....... you know......... not.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:30 AM on December 21, 2003

Also how can the people you are defending, be in this together, if they don't bother keeping up with MeFi via MeTa?
posted by riffola at 7:31 AM on December 21, 2003

Points taken, Riffy - excellent as usual - but, for the life of me, I sometimes wish a blue-only drifter would chance upon one of our more vapid, do-angels-have-penises-or-vaginas MeTa threads and let rip an uncomprehending outburst along the lines of "WTF? What are you pathetic, OCD-ridden patients rattling on about?"

Be that as it may, I still dislike the idea that those who come to MeTa are somehow more committed or "invested", though - or that we're in some way more qualified to test stuff for the "masses". In short, it seems downright mean to keep AskMetaFilter (if only for a short period - beginnings are the most fun, after all) for the sickos like us. ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:57 AM on December 21, 2003

brilliant point, miguel, as ever. you're completely wrong, of course, but a very nice chap all the same.

(just wondering if it works for you too).
posted by andrew cooke at 8:08 AM on December 21, 2003

Its also linked from the etc page and has been for quite some time.
posted by anastasiav at 9:43 AM on December 21, 2003

Oh it does, Andrew - it's called education.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:45 AM on December 21, 2003

Wait ... there's a blue?
posted by bonaldi at 10:37 AM on December 21, 2003

Since it's probably the best thing on MeFi

this -- and I am being completely snarkless for once -- says more about user MiguelCardoso and his vision of this site than 100 "what's your favorite _____?" MeFi threads

because of course AskMeFi is quickly becoming our very own chatroom, discussing everything from farts to favorite cartoon characters


and by the way, today I have a bit of a headache.
and last night I had the most delicious grilled fish.
I seem to have misplaced a letter I received yesterday -- did you see it somewhere?
posted by matteo at 10:38 AM on December 21, 2003

I'd be in favor of putting a sidebar link to it temporarily, but not linking to it at the top menu yet. An infusion of new blood would be great, Miguel, but as others, most notably Matt, have pointed out, it's not done yet, but there are already probably more posts than it is scaled to accomodate.

Also, it seems like people who don't participate at all in Metafilter proper already come to AskMeta. So what more do we need, right now as opposed to in the near future?

Also, our property values will simply plummet if we allow the riffraff in. Why can't you see that?
posted by Hildago at 10:50 AM on December 21, 2003

what's the actual disparity? how many come here vs. come to the front page vs. come to askme?
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 11:06 AM on December 21, 2003

Can we all say "staged rollout?"

Makes sense on many different levels. Stress test the new code, give ettiquette a chance to develop, etc. Then let it loose on the entire world. People have raised a beef or two about the feature set not being complete. Perhaps Matt wants to do more work on it before raising the profile. Perhaps he just wanted to gague reaction.

It boggles my mind that elitism or insider conspiracy even entered anyone's mind. For shame!
posted by scarabic at 11:42 AM on December 21, 2003

I like it the way it is.

Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that more lurk on Meta than we suppose and therefore already know about it. I don't blame them for not immediately jumping into our little grey pool of piranhas.
posted by konolia at 12:37 PM on December 21, 2003

Didn't you already link it in the blue Miguel? You did. So, what are you on about? It has been linked on the front page, Matt is trying to test a few things out and get the sub-site up to speed before having to handle the entire peanut gallery, not just this one peanut gallery subset, and no one else really seems to mind but you.

No one is being excluded. No one is being mean. There's a difference between having a secret and not advertising the living crap out of something. If you want to tell people about it more than you already have, go ahead. Sadly, you already linked it once in the blue so it'd be a double post if you did it again.....
posted by jessamyn at 12:57 PM on December 21, 2003

> Wait ... there's a blue?

Yes indeedy. And a red. Though after it but few inquires.
posted by jfuller at 1:05 PM on December 21, 2003

Gee, and here I thought Matt would probably make links when the construction was finished and the new area tested. Now I realize that if not for Miguel it would never have occurred to Matt to add links elsewhere.

"but, for the life of me, I sometimes wish a blue-only drifter would chance upon one of our more vapid, do-angels-have-penises-or-vaginas MeTa threads and let rip an uncomprehending outburst along the lines of "WTF? What are you pathetic, OCD-ridden patients rattling on about?""

Miguel, what in the hell are you rattling on about? Is there really an exclusion going on - or are you just dying to have a chat with anyone in MeTa? Enough of this pretense! Tell us more about your life and thoughts!
posted by batgrlHG at 1:31 PM on December 21, 2003

I think I saw someone mention, in response to a question about whether we needed more new blood in AxMe, something to the effect that AxMe is better off with old blood -- people you know something about and can gauge a level of trust on when it comes to the response.

I'd think that I'd trust people who keep an eye on MetaTalk a little bit more.

By the way, when will we get an English translation of Pastilhas?
posted by weston at 1:43 PM on December 21, 2003

Is this blue something I'd have to read the grey to know about?
posted by nthdegx at 1:55 PM on December 21, 2003

By the way, when will we get an English translation of Pastilhas?

It's called MetaFilter.

(Kidding! Kidding!

(Sortof!)
posted by namespan at 1:59 PM on December 21, 2003

If people don't click on the MeTa link from the blue, why would clicking on the AskMeFi link be any different? My guess is that "blue-only" people will stick to the blue regardless, though I could be wrong...
posted by jmd82 at 2:40 PM on December 21, 2003

By the way, when we talk about blue-only people... how sure are we that they exist? How many there are?
posted by namespan at 3:22 PM on December 21, 2003

I would point out that I asked this question awhile back and Matt responded there.
posted by billsaysthis at 3:29 PM on December 21, 2003

Way to spoil the discussion, billsaysthis.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 4:11 PM on December 21, 2003

I sometimes wish a blue-only drifter would chance upon one of our more vapid, do-angels-have-penises-or-vaginas MeTa threads and let rip an uncomprehending outburst along the lines of "WTF? What are you pathetic, OCD-ridden patients rattling on about?"

This very thought--well, one akin to it--occurs to me on a daily basis, usually as I hit the "post" button.
posted by The God Complex at 6:02 PM on December 21, 2003

Way to spoil the discussion, billsaysthis.

Way to spoil my late Sunday afternoon, drjohnevans.
posted by billsaysthis at 6:30 PM on December 21, 2003

Cardoso, I'll link to it from the main site (I see you already took it upon yourself to do that though) when I think the site is ready.

Until I make further adjustments to it, I'll leave it unlinked while it is beta.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:49 PM on December 21, 2003

Way to spoil my late Sunday afternoon, drjohnevans.

Way to spoil my late Sunday eveni—actually, let's stop this before it gets ugly.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 8:18 PM on December 21, 2003

I had a peculiar dream last night...

The newspapers said that a great Portuguese writer named Miguel Cardoso had died in some mysterious and bloody manner. I was really worried, and immediately logged into the blue to see if it was true. But it turned out that it was some other Miguel who had been axed, and everyone was quite relieved.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:57 PM on December 21, 2003

Yes indeedy. And a red

I actually had a dream last night that there was a red.
posted by anathema at 4:58 AM on December 22, 2003