AskMe: deletion of post causes confusion, hurt feelings.

January 8, 2007 4:08 PM

My ask mefi question was just deleted because essentially nobody read it and assumed it was some sort of advertisement. This has left me feeling somewhat hurt. I know the rules. I respect mefi and I was pretty much just stomped on for no good reason. The question was long, and it required more thought than usual, but in the end it was a question; nothing less and nothing more. I'd like it to be reinstated or at least evaluated by people who don't mind using their brains. This was the question: http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/54626
posted by pwally to Etiquette/Policy at 4:08 PM (17 comments total)

Well, there is no problem to be solved in your first question. I could post a "What Harry Potter character are you?" quiz and ask for responses, but that doesn't make it a good Ask MeFi question.

I think you'd need to elaborate on "what would it take for people to think in more complex terms and paradigms" means before we can tackle that one.
posted by danb at 4:11 PM on January 8, 2007

Dude, just smoke another bowl. Everything will be fine.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:11 PM on January 8, 2007 [3 favorites]

Try the FAQ:
Ask Metafilter questions need to have some possible answer or should be asking for information that will be put to some practical use.
posted by meech at 4:11 PM on January 8, 2007

I was pretty much just stomped on for no good reason


"this is not the place for "poll the audience" questions."

... what part of that didn't you get?

The question was long, and it required more thought than usual
That doesn't make it a good question.

If you had read the guidelines, you might have seen this:

What makes a bad question on Ask MetaFilter?

- If your question is regarding MetaFilter, MetaTalk, or Ask MetaFilter, please post it to MetaTalk.
- Open-ended chatty questions that don't offer a problem to be solved.
- Hypothetical or jokey "What would happen if" questions with no goal.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 4:12 PM on January 8, 2007

Using my brain, let me tell you that your question was long and confusing. You'd probably have better luck at a forum for people who are already interested in "Spiral Dynamics."
posted by hydrophonic at 4:12 PM on January 8, 2007

Wow. More Inside indeed.

And it was not a question.
posted by Diskeater at 4:13 PM on January 8, 2007

"I'd like it to be reinstated or at least evaluated by people who don't mind using their brains"

I'd like it to start raining hundred-dollar bills.

TIA
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:13 PM on January 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

The concrete part of your question was surveyfilter or chatfilter, and the remainder was excessively vague. Also, accusing the audience of being dumb doesn't help your cause here.
posted by brain_drain at 4:14 PM on January 8, 2007

"what would it take for people to think in more complex terms and paradigms"?? Give me a break. This is not the sort of question that Ask Mefi is for. If you read the guidelines and read Metatalk, over and over again it is emphasized that questions should be answerable and not open-ended. There is no answer that anyone could provide that could definitively solve your problem.

(it has nothing to do with us stupid users being unwilling to use our brains. by being condescending you've given people a very good reason to stomp on you now.)
posted by PercussivePaul at 4:14 PM on January 8, 2007

A deleted "question" is not the same as being "stomped on".
posted by R. Mutt at 4:14 PM on January 8, 2007

Also:
"I'd like it to be reinstated or at least evaluated by people who don't mind using their brains."

Wow.
Insult Jessamyn/Mathowie.

That'll get you far.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 4:14 PM on January 8, 2007

Also, "spiral dynamics" seems like a mediocre rip-off of Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson's 8 circuit model of consciousness, which was mostly a drug-induced flight of fancy anyway.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:16 PM on January 8, 2007

CitrusFreak12 you still haven't read it yet huh? Why not just read it? That's all I posted it for and so far there has been 0/15 comments responding to what I posted. Questions like this used to be tolerated.
posted by pwally at 4:17 PM on January 8, 2007

monju bosatsu thanks for your fleeting assumption.
posted by pwally at 4:17 PM on January 8, 2007

Hi Peter -- I'm sorry for the abruptness of the deletion. MetaTalk has been a hotbed of activity lately, usually I would have dropped you a note. AskMe questions that just seem to be asking "What X are you?" are not really what the site is for.

I realize that your question went further than that, but wat we got was sort of a wordy text dump (from a website that could have been linked to) which seemed to have as its main question "Where do you fall on this continuum?" and as a follow-up "What would it take for people to think in more complex terms and paradigms" which is in and of itself chatty in the "I want to talk about X" not "I want to learn about X" direction. The first three or four comments were all variants of "what the fuck is this?" which implied to me, along with the number of flags, that whatever your point was, that question was not doing a good job of getting it across.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:18 PM on January 8, 2007

Pwally:
Because I don't want to.
It got deleted.

Learn from your mistake.
Educate yourself so as not to do it again int he future.
Move on.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 4:19 PM on January 8, 2007

There are eight types of people: People who can recognize themselves in vague collections of common traits under random labels, and cons/magicians. Cons/Magicians fucking love you.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:19 PM on January 8, 2007 [1 favorite]