Mention in "Cool Tools"

February 14, 2005 1:47 PM

Kevin Kelly does a great newsletter called Cool Tools where he normally reviews hard-to-find stuff and geek gadgets. Today he offered up a nice review of Ask MetaFilter. It's not on the site yet, so here's a screenshot from email. I thought it got to the heart of Ask MeFi pretty well, especially the part about reading it for questions you didn't know you wanted to know, but were dying to find out the answers to.
posted by mathowie (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 1:47 PM (25 comments total)

Kevin Kelly is the Wired guy right? That's a very nice write up. I love that Ask MeFi adds to the "reading MetaFilter makes me smarter" feeling that I used to have back in 2000 when I was new here and I still feel that way every now and then. MetaFilter Network is educational and fun, a win - win!
posted by riffola at 2:04 PM on February 14, 2005

Kevin Kelly is the Wired guy right? Just the other day he (kk) asked: "What is the proper netiquette for editing a Wikipedia entry about yourself?" [AskMe | February 10, 2005]
posted by ericb at 2:12 PM on February 14, 2005

Kevin Kelly is the Wired guy right? Yes, he is.
posted by ericb at 2:15 PM on February 14, 2005

I definitely concur, riffola, that reading Metafilter makes me feel smarter- I'm aware of so many more things going on in culture than I would be otherwise. And I constantly reference AskMeta in conversations with friends ("You know, a guy on AskMetafilter just hired a hooker, and he said...") I'm glad it's getting some good press!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:16 PM on February 14, 2005 [1 favorite]

Golly, I always thought of him as the CoEvolution Quarterly guy.
I guess I'm dating myself.

But then, who else would go out with me?
posted by Floydd at 2:28 PM on February 14, 2005

Metafilter: I am teh smart
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 2:41 PM on February 14, 2005

A community of 20,000 of the smartest people you know will answer your question

A slight exaggeration...but only slight, mind you ;)
posted by filmgoerjuan at 2:43 PM on February 14, 2005

Neat. I like.
posted by The God Complex at 2:45 PM on February 14, 2005

I think of him as the CQ guy too Floydd. That's a cool review.
posted by jessamyn at 3:13 PM on February 14, 2005

Nice write-up, indeed. I love Cool Tools, and for the record, I also think of CQ/Whole Earth Review. For that matter, I still think of Cool Tools as "Recommendo."
posted by redfoxtail at 3:19 PM on February 14, 2005

Where would we be without Matt? Stumbling along the streets mumbling "I am one of the 20,000+ smartest people you'll ever know. Ask me something, please! Ask me anything".
Thanks Matt, for creating a forum for us - individually we may not be much, but as a group we are what kk said.
P.S. How come no one pointed out that kk is a n00b?
posted by Cranberry at 3:42 PM on February 14, 2005

That's great. I've gotta admit to being uninterested in the idea at first, but a few weeks of reading showed me a simplicity and variety that make for a surprisingly elegant and readable tool. Nice to see it getting props.
posted by mediareport at 9:28 PM on February 14, 2005

I just think it rocks I didn't have to pay $5.

SUCKERS!
posted by delmoi at 12:01 AM on February 15, 2005

This worries me. If I get this right, the review basically says... "Got a question nobody else can answer. Join Metafilter, and someone will answer it. It'll cost you 5 bucks. Theres no need to join in or do anything else."

I like to answer Ask Questions because I know that someone will answer my questions, and I get a feeling of contribution. If every question is from a new user who doesn't mind shelling out 5 bucks for some quality responses, then that community dynamic will have changed.
posted by seanyboy at 4:00 AM on February 15, 2005

If every question is from a new user who doesn't mind shelling out 5 bucks for some quality responses, then that community dynamic will have changed.

Unfortunately, Matt's fancy new "community dynamic bux" have gotten rejected by every hosting provider and hardware vendor he's approached. They insist on regular green money.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:49 AM on February 15, 2005

I don't mind people paying for accounts. I'm just wary of the implication that people can get an account, ask a question, and then never add anything else. I don't want to see Ask as a place full of questions from people who have no desire to answer them. If Ask turns into this, then the desire for people to help out will probably wane, and the usefulness of ask will wane with it.
posted by seanyboy at 7:41 AM on February 15, 2005

I'm busting on you seanyboy. I agree with you, actually. I've always thought that Matt's aversion to karma on AskMe was particularly unfortunate, as publicly ascribing good answers to people could be a great tool to encourage more good answers. The carrot at the end of the stick could be something as simple as the ability to ask more than 1 question per week. Matt, if you're still here, why is karma so bad? Seems to be it can encourage some very valuable behavior in the case of AskMe.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:10 AM on February 15, 2005

I'm more concerned that people will drop in, do a half-hearted glance at the archives, or none at all, and post the same questions that have been asked and answered before. Once tags get implemented into AskMe it may be easier for people to find the past questions about cell phone plans, or things to do in [insert vacation destination here], exercise, sleep, or cats, but I worry a bit that we'll start to see "double post, you five-dollar n00b, read the freaking archives!" Once there's a useful AskMe search and/or AskMe tags, I'm sure this will go more smoothly.
posted by jessamyn at 8:15 AM on February 15, 2005

I cannot speak for matt, but it's been my experience that karma systems can rapidly become more about the karma system itself than what the system is there to monitor.
posted by Karmakaze at 9:46 AM on February 15, 2005

What about implementing a sort of "Mefi answers" where for something like $1 (or more or less) the public can ask a question without joining MeFi? Could keep the community feel without diluting things around here.
posted by shoepal at 9:57 AM on February 15, 2005

A community of 20,000 of the smartest people you know will answer your question

A slight exaggeration...but only slight, mind you ;)

What is the exaggeration; Intelligence or community of 20,000?

What about implementing a sort of "Mefi answers" where for something like $1 (or more or less) the public can ask a question without joining MeFi?
Thought the posting by “anonyms” featured worked like this, minus the charge.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:56 AM on February 15, 2005

P.S. How come no one pointed out that kk is a n00b?
iirc, Matt announced in MetaTalk he was giving him an account for his praising/backing the site in his articles.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:00 AM on February 15, 2005

Also, so he would have the commenting ability for threads kk or his site was referenced in.
Hope I have that right.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:05 AM on February 15, 2005

iirc, Matt announced in MetaTalk he was giving him an account for his praising/backing the site in his articles.

You are remembering incorrectly, as I've never said anything remotely similar to this and never would.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:16 PM on February 15, 2005

Oh, must have confused him with another member you gave a membership to so they could comment.
posted by thomcatspike at 3:26 PM on February 15, 2005