This is NOT what AskMe is for.

January 1, 2005 8:17 AM

This is NOT what AskMe is for. The poster even acknowledges it in defiance.
posted by Civil_Disobedient to Etiquette/Policy at 8:17 AM (36 comments total)

It's one thing to inject opinion in an answer, another thing entirely for one's entire "answer" to be nothing more than proselytizing. I don't normally do MeTa callouts, but this asshat was openly begging for it ("then screw the admonishment about wisecracks").
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:20 AM on January 1, 2005

That was not proselytizing by any common definition of the word.

As for cribcage's answer, a whack up side of the head with a bit of reality is often called for is AskMe.
posted by mischief at 8:32 AM on January 1, 2005

Mischief: As for cribcage's answer, a whack up side of the head with a bit of reality is often called for is AskMe.

vs.

Mathowie: note: Ask MetaFilter is as useful as you make it. Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer. Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks.

Round 1, Fight!
posted by Bugbread at 8:46 AM on January 1, 2005

Mathowie wins! Go to next stage...!
posted by majick at 9:48 AM on January 1, 2005

fucking silly to call out an anon post when clearly the oracle howie approves, no?
posted by quonsar at 10:09 AM on January 1, 2005

he's not calling out the question, q, but an answer that has since been deleted.
posted by jpoulos at 10:12 AM on January 1, 2005

Thanks, jpoulos. I was afraid I really had killed all my brain cells.
posted by vetiver at 10:14 AM on January 1, 2005

Man, I hate it when comments being commented on in MeTa are deleted and I spend twenty minutes looking for what doesn't exist anymore.
posted by fenriq at 10:15 AM on January 1, 2005

Can we please get this implemented?
posted by fenriq at 10:17 AM on January 1, 2005

I'm getting a bit creeped out by the silent deletion of comments.
posted by Hildago at 10:24 AM on January 1, 2005

So what was the comment?
posted by Jim Jones at 10:29 AM on January 1, 2005

The comment referred to the non-repaying student loan person as a thief. A good point, but not appropriate for AskMe.
posted by marxchivist at 10:34 AM on January 1, 2005

The comment, in its entirety, was something along the lines of

"Your friend is a thief.

If anonymous accounts are just going to be used to ask about morally abhorrent things, then screw the admonishment about wisecracks."

Or something along those lines.
posted by Bugbread at 10:34 AM on January 1, 2005

fucking silly to call out an anon post when clearly the oracle howie approves, no?

Get a clue, newbie.
posted by lazy-ville at 10:44 AM on January 1, 2005

That was not proselytizing by any common definition of the word.

Sorry, mischief. The morally superior tone threw my vocab. I think chastise would have been a better choice. And normally I keep the responses in the thread, but given everyone's attitude about keeping the Green "nice," I thought I would bring it into MeTa. Less cleanup for matt.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:03 AM on January 1, 2005

A more appropriate response would have been "your friend is a thief and should own up to it," or something similar, which I believe was the essence of part of this post.
posted by Captaintripps at 11:10 AM on January 1, 2005

Seconded.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 1:26 PM on January 1, 2005

Can we delete this thread now? I agree with C_D about the now-deleted post, but the thread is now otiose and confusing.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:36 PM on January 1, 2005

Ooh, otiose! (*swoons*)
posted by Lynsey at 1:39 PM on January 1, 2005

Can we delete this thread now?

Oh fine! My one-and-only MeTa to be deleted. Grand. :)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:55 PM on January 1, 2005

Sidhedevil, I always thought otiose were part of that old Cheerios ad, thanks for properly using it in a sentence and clearing that up for me.
posted by fenriq at 2:23 PM on January 1, 2005

The deleted comment was right, and should have been said, and perhaps re-said.
posted by xmutex at 3:40 PM on January 1, 2005

Xmutex: The deleted comment answered the question?
posted by Bugbread at 3:52 PM on January 1, 2005

The same people crop up over and over in those sort of "moral question" threads, berating the questioner over not doing "the right thing", instead of answering the fucking question - and they should be deleted every time they do it until they understand.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:04 PM on January 1, 2005

Encouraging the poster (or the poster's friend, as the case may be) to do the right thing isn't a problem. Trying to berate them into it probably is.
posted by weston at 6:31 PM on January 1, 2005

This is a prime example of when the deleted comment notice would be useful.
posted by me3dia at 7:51 PM on January 1, 2005

The question should never have been approved.
posted by rushmc at 9:48 PM on January 1, 2005

:::runs off to submit his "How Can I Cheat On My Taxes" question:::
posted by rushmc at 9:48 PM on January 1, 2005

runs off to submit his "How Can I Cheat On My Taxes" question

Oh, come on. Someone has defaulted on their student loans, and the poster wanted to know if they're going to be arrested at the border. It's as simple as that. This is completely different than asking help in breaking the law. Believe it or not, it's not illegal to be unable to repay your debts. Debtors prisons were abolished a while back--did you get the memo?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:53 PM on January 1, 2005

C_D: The post did not say the friend was unable to repay their student loans, only that they defaulted. The post also said that the person visits the U.S. "fairly frequently," a reasonable indication that they are by no means impoverished.
posted by LarryC at 11:06 PM on January 1, 2005

So now we can use AskMe to help us plot crimes? Okay, got it.

Great use of community resources.
posted by xmutex at 11:11 PM on January 1, 2005

I think so.
posted by chicobangs at 11:33 PM on January 1, 2005

We've already had the "how to dispose of a body" question....
posted by weston at 12:09 AM on January 2, 2005

Is the answer, a chipper?
posted by fenriq at 12:22 AM on January 2, 2005

Xmutex:

If your problem is with the question having been posted, make a Metatalk thread about it. Don't hijack this thread, which is about a (now deleted and therefore no longer even relevant) answer to an AskMe question that broke the cardinal rule of AskMe, printed at the bottom of every page.
posted by Bugbread at 5:25 AM on January 2, 2005

Here are two different questions, and their answers:

"Is it okay for my friends not to pay back their student loans, ever?"

No.

"Will my friends who are in default on student loans be arrested upon re-entering the United States?"

No.

LarryC, maybe the friends travel from the UK to the US frequently to donate bone marrow for a dying relative, the support of whom has impoverished them to such an extent that they can't possibly pay back their student loans.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:42 PM on January 2, 2005