I don't care what you like

January 30, 2007 10:41 PM

AskMe Guidelines: "If I like x, what will I also like?" Chatfilter or just supremely irritating? Or do I just have a pickle up my ass again?
posted by grapefruitmoon to Etiquette/Policy at 10:41 PM (38 comments total)

To my mind, this is ok for askme. People have been asking for music/books/tv show/movie recommendations from askme for years. It's a question that can be answered. If they'd said something like "I like [band x], what do you think of them?" that would be a call for discussion and therefore chatfilter. But this question is bascially just asking for a list of names. If we didn't allow this, that would be like saying we couldn't ask for recommendations of any kind, which is clearly ridiculous. I imagine it seems more like chatfilter because it's about music and that's an easy subject to engage in endless chatting about, but near as I can tell there's nothing wrong with this.
posted by shmegegge at 10:55 PM on January 30, 2007

I think they're irritating, but that's just because I'm irritable. They're an okay use of AskMe, but there do seem to have been a lot of them lately.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:57 PM on January 30, 2007

I think they're ok, generally. Did you lube the pickle?
posted by loquacious at 11:13 PM on January 30, 2007

If you like pickles up your ass, you might also like capers in your tuna taco.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:23 PM on January 30, 2007 [2 favorites]

The use of the imperative 'recommend similar artists' annoyed me for about 3 seconds. Otherwise, I find these kinds of questions useful when I also like 'x', not so much when I don't. Which is as it should be.

On the other hand, with music there are quite a few resources like Pandora out there now that can do this kind of thing (arguably) pretty well.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:25 PM on January 30, 2007

Since I don't get out much, musically speaking, I like these threads.

They give me an opportunity to try to figure out what's out there, what people are listening to, and where in the pantheon each group/performer resides. Like, maybe I'm aware that the band Coldplay exists, but I have no idea whether they're considered stupid teeny bopper shit or overly intellectual pretentious twats or completely commercial pop sellouts. Sure, I could actually listen to the band's music and read some Pitchfork articles on them or something but... well, I mean, that's the whole reason I come to Metafilter; so that I won't have to do those things.

And since I don't know anything at all about any performer who debuted after, say, 1995, I can keep reading these threads for a long, long time to come.
posted by Clay201 at 12:03 AM on January 31, 2007

They're an okay use of AskMe, but there do seem to have been a lot of them lately.

A lot of them concerning the same genres and artists...(too tired to find links right now). I like reading and contributing to music suggestion posts, but it's not like anything new comes out of people asking for Godspeed! soundalikes once every month or so. AskMe is a good resource for these things, but AskMe search is even better.
posted by thisjax at 12:33 AM on January 31, 2007

They're an okay use of AskMe, but there do seem to have been a lot of them lately.

A lot of them concerning the same genres and artists...(too tired to find links right now). I like reading and contributing to music suggestion posts, but it's not like anything new comes out of people asking for Godspeed! soundalikes once every month or so. AskMe is a good resource for these things, but AskMe search is even better.
posted by thisjax at 12:33 AM on January 31, 2007

I don't even read askme and I was just thinking about this. They're stupid and I hate them, and I'll continue not reading askme until they're gone forever.

Though I have been contemplating taking a month and in that month reading every.single.askme.post for the month in mind-destroying detail, just to see what all the fuss is about. I tried it, didn't like it, maybe it's time to try it again?
posted by Eideteker at 12:46 AM on January 31, 2007

I think we all have thresholds of annoyance for various repetetive wording/memes/in jokes. I can never see the word 'egregious' and not think some stray Mefite has been there before me.
posted by peacay at 1:32 AM on January 31, 2007

Did someone mention pickles?
posted by Brittanie at 1:34 AM on January 31, 2007

I tried, for a while, reading as much askme as I could manage. I put it in my bloglines feed and everything. You know what happened? I stopped reading bloglines.
posted by shmegegge at 1:41 AM on January 31, 2007

I cannot imagine pickles and grapefruit being a tasty combination. Especially not in that configuration.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:15 AM on January 31, 2007

I skip threads like that. I skip threads about stuff I have no interest in. I don't even come to Metatalk and complain about them when I do. It takes great willpower, but, what can I say? I'm a superhero.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:19 AM on January 31, 2007

Kirth Gerson: "I cannot imagine pickles and grapefruit being a tasty combination. Especially not in that configuration."

Now, maybe if you made it into some sort of spicy chutney..
posted by Plutor at 4:45 AM on January 31, 2007

It can't be any stranger than the tomato-based dessert.

Okay. Okay. It can be a lot stranger.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:35 AM on January 31, 2007

Though I have been contemplating taking a month and in that month reading every.single.askme.post for the month in mind-destroying detail, just to see what all the fuss is about. I tried it, didn't like it, maybe it's time to try it again?

Blog this, please.
posted by cortex at 5:36 AM on January 31, 2007

February would be a good month.
posted by OmieWise at 5:54 AM on January 31, 2007

I am so canceling our lunch date.
posted by LarryC at 6:52 AM on January 31, 2007

I like these so much better than name my x and mixtape posts. And I got a really good read from a sports books recommendation post: I sent the post to my boyfriend, who is erally bad with gifts, and he got one of them, and it was awesome. It also saved AskMe a what should I get my girlfriend post. Recommendations are okay. QED.
posted by dame at 7:18 AM on January 31, 2007

I find them kinda obnoxious, and the second one should probably be deleted as a double (I'd like to see more of that, frankly). But what annoys me isn't the search for recommendations, it's how goddamned vague they tend to be. That encourages more answers than will ever be helpful, or gives me a feeling that there's no real sense of what will solve the problem. I dunno, kinda like a "What would be the necessary conditions for a victory in Iraq" answered by the President— anything and nothing are equally correct...
posted by klangklangston at 7:40 AM on January 31, 2007

I hate them. It's asking a bunch of strangers to tell you what you like. Go to Borders and listen to stuff. Turn on the radio. Go to Pandora (as mentioned above) or one of the thousands of websites devoted to music discussion. Look for interviews by the artists where they tell their inspirations. I think it's a waste of space on AskMe.
posted by Roger Dodger at 7:43 AM on January 31, 2007

"I like these so much better than name my x and mixtape posts."

I really like the name Bob. What similar name should I use for my next mix tape?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:15 AM on January 31, 2007

If one more person recommends Aphex Twin or Boards of Canada, I'll eat that pickle when you're done with it.
posted by yeti at 8:31 AM on January 31, 2007

I asked one of these a while back, and I found the answers extremely helpful. I tried using Pandora and similar sites, but was only getting back bands I had already heard of. I discovered some great new music from asking that question.

It's asking a bunch of strangers to tell you what you like

No, it's not. I already knew what I liked. I was hoping to get help finding more of it, and I did.

I think the problem, again, is that as Ask grows older, we see more and more repeats of certain types of questions. That gets on people's nerves and the result is an increase in grouchy, pickle-related Meta call outs.
posted by Otis at 8:42 AM on January 31, 2007

I'd like to take a moment to recommend Aphex Twin or Boards of Canada, not because I'm a fan of their music. I just want to see yeti eat some grapefruit-pickle ass-chutney.
posted by breezeway at 8:57 AM on January 31, 2007

OK: I like X. What else would I like?
Better: I like X, Y, and Z because they have qualities A, B, and C. What else would I like?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:59 AM on January 31, 2007

If you like pickles-up-the-ass you may also like watermelons in the nostrils?
posted by jonmc at 9:40 AM on January 31, 2007

I know I'm a minority using Linux, but Amarok has this great functionality built in that lets me play last.fm streams. Not only that, I can have it add songs to my history that I chose to add so that it finds songs like what I am listening to. This has been the single best way of finding new stuff that I have never heard before. Pretty much, I think all of these "I like X band, what other bands would I like?" should just be answered with a last.fm account.

Now how bout those pickles?
posted by chrisroberts at 9:45 AM on January 31, 2007

Well, I guess if I have a pickle up my ass, so do a lot of the rest of you, so at least I'm not alone. We could have a whole buffet... or a 12 step support group... though hopefully not at the same time. (Unless someone brought the watermelon's up jonmc's nostrils.)

The main reason I felt like this wasn't a good use of AskMe is that, as mentioned upthread, there are specialized sites (e.g. Pandora, Last.fm) that do this much better than a collection of geeks who are probably all sitting around their computors listening to sad bastard music. Who knows, someone out there might actually like Coldplay. There are other websites that can help.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:20 AM on January 31, 2007

Recommend other brined vegetables for buttpluggery. [more inside]
posted by kosem at 10:27 AM on January 31, 2007

I like how MetaFilter revolves around dios. Recommend other things that revolve around dios.
posted by found missing at 11:51 AM on January 31, 2007

Hey, ass-pickle pancakes with honey, anyone?
posted by Mister_A at 12:09 PM on January 31, 2007

Chatfilter or just supremely irritating? Or do I just have a pickle up my ass again?

These three options are not mutually exclusive, you know.
posted by kindall at 2:00 PM on January 31, 2007

If one more person recommends Aphex Twin or Boards of Canada,

ASK ME: WORLD'S FIRST FUNCTIONAL TIME MACHINE.
posted by fishfucker at 3:42 PM on January 31, 2007

I'd say that they're not supremely irritating but rather annoying, the difference between having sand in one's crotch and sand in one's shoes, if you will. I believe though, that a sandy crotch can be cured with the careful application of a pickle in the posterior.
posted by ob at 4:40 PM on January 31, 2007

Point them to Frequently Asked of Metafilter, which lists sites dedicated to playlists and mixtapes... those will have similar music.
posted by IndigoRain at 4:51 PM on January 31, 2007

In a related vein, I get sick of "omg I just left [food] out for [20 minutes - 24 hours] without being refrigerated. Can I eat it!?!?!?!?!".

Oh, this isn't the place to air our grievances?

shit.
posted by rossination at 7:49 PM on January 31, 2007