Strikeout? November 4, 2007 10:09 PM   Subscribe

Wow. I've never before posted to the Green and gotten a big fat goose egg in response.

A thought: Maybe posters whose AskMe questions don't get any responses at all should get another swing at the ball, without having to wait 30 days.

No one even stepped up to tell me my question was dumb or flawed in some way. It's not like it was totally vague or unanswerable. (If anything, maybe it was too specific.)

I'd be happy to rephrase -- especially the above-the-fold part -- if I could go back and do it over again. But since I doubt I'll get that wish, can anyone suggest why I got zero answers? Was my query just excessively arcane?
posted by Artifice_Eternity to Feature Requests at 10:09 PM (40 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

It's happened to me twice.
posted by puke & cry at 10:12 PM on November 4, 2007


Your query was just excessively arcane.

I'm not sure I've gotten a goose egg before, but I've gotten the equivilant—I have a habit of hedging my not-too-likelies with some sort of "tell me if this is nuts or I'm SOL or whatever" disclaimer, and people generally oblige.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:18 PM on November 4, 2007


Yeah, in my opinion it's your 'above the fold' part that did you wrong here.

The question most people would have seen on the AskMe front page was "Have any MeFites used Source Audio's cool-looking Hot Hands wireless adapter, especially with other manufacturers' gear?"

That is the question, as far as anyone who read the front page is concerned. It's a yes or a no proposition, and by the looks of it, most people here would be in the 'no' camp. No need to click inside and type no. So they move on and you get zero responses.

So unless you happen to bother to look inside and see that you also asked about "expression pedal compatibility issues" more generally, no-one who has knowledge in that area would know you asked that and thus, again, no responses.

A good rule of thumb for AskMe, that I read somewhere else here in MeTa once, is that you should try and fit your question, including all follow ups, on the frontpage and have explanatory info in the more inside. You do yourself a disservice otherwise.
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:21 PM on November 4, 2007


Well, you're hardly alone.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:21 PM on November 4, 2007


I saw a couple of problems with the question.

First of all, I can't get any of your links to sourceaudio.net to load.

Second, I'd never heard of the Hot Hand and half figured that this was just astroturfing for some boutique pedal. Now that I've looked at your profile I see that's not correct.

Third, having a Zoom instead of a Pod is probably just wrong. If the thing you want to use plugs into a Pod, you should probably have a Pod. Frankly if you play electric guitar and aren't philosophically opposed to modeling effects, you should probably have a Pod. "Buy the damn Pod and use this Hot Hands thing you're trying to use with it" would be my best advice. This kind of advice gets deleted from the green quickly because it's not really an answer to the question, so I didn't bother to post it there.

Fourth, is there a reason you can't just contact the pedal manufacturer with your totally legitimate question? I've never encountered an effects company that wouldn't talk to me on the phone.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:23 PM on November 4, 2007


Geez, it's only been 12 hours on a sunday. Give it a bit of time.

puke & cry writes "It's happened to me twice."

Me too.
posted by Mitheral at 10:26 PM on November 4, 2007


Well, it's never happened to me!
what are we talking about again?
posted by Chuckles at 10:30 PM on November 4, 2007 [2 favorites]


You'll get another question in 7 days, not 30. Click the "new question" link for a countdown. However, I'd ask a mod before reposting the same question.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:31 PM on November 4, 2007


your question is a study in esoteric inquiry, i failed to understand 90% of it, but i did like the "wah...phaser units" a pleasing conjunction between the japanese concept of harmony and star trek. if you have any phaser units left, can you shoot them at the lolcat people?
posted by bruce at 10:32 PM on November 4, 2007 [2 favorites]


Ambrosia Voyeur: Seems I'm not alone in being alone, or something like that. Appreciate your drawing my attention to the Unanswered tab, which I'd never noticed before.

ALongDecember: I don't know why I thought I had to wait a month. OK, I don't feel so bad.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:44 PM on November 4, 2007


Most of my questions go unanswered - but if it comes to the point that my metafantastical search skills fail me, my own brain fails me and I'm forced to turn to AskMe - well, I don't really expect too much of anything or anyone at that point.

Apologies if that sounds hubristic. It's just confidence in my search skills and my naturally analytical nature.

That being said, even as an electronic/experimental musician I had no idea what the fuck you were talking about until I went and looked at the links and videos.

I mean, I know what a Zoom box is, and I know what a MoogerFooger is - but once you combined that with "hot hands" and "expression pedal" it just all started to sound like a bad letter to Penthouse and found myself a mite confused - which, frankly, is about the exact emotional opposite of "aroused", before any of you reading along at home get any bright ideas.
posted by loquacious at 10:46 PM on November 4, 2007 [3 favorites]


Phew, I recently asked for information about a picture poster I saw 20 years ago where everyone (dozens and dozens of people) was shitting.

"Goose egg here we come" I thought at the time... but managed to scam 4 replies.

Shameless self link
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:05 PM on November 4, 2007


ikkyu2 and loquacious: I have some further responses to some of the issues you raise, but since they are not really MetaTalk material, I'm posting them in my original AskMe thread.

I guess I'm generally impressed with the overall quality of AskMe responses, so I was expecting better results this time. But I can see that my post could have been better-constructed.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:08 PM on November 4, 2007


which, frankly, is about the exact emotional opposite of "aroused"

I was aroused.

What with the talk of Moogerfoogers and Hot Hands, I thought we were discussing new breakthroughs in the field of Teledildonics.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:36 AM on November 5, 2007 [2 favorites]


I'm posting them in my original AskMe thread

And now you've removed it from the unanswered tab so people are less likely to see it.
posted by grouse at 2:36 AM on November 5, 2007


My recent question about books on Sikhism and an English translation of the Guru Granth Sahib got more favorites than responses.

And I still can't believe nobody here has that French Guy Maddin DVD set.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:41 AM on November 5, 2007


I felt a bit dumb after answering your Sikhism one Lentrohamsanin, as I obviously glossed over texts and offered you a website you'd no doubt already found yourself. I could always do some similar male-answer-syndrome uselessness in your question Artifice, if it would cheer you up.
posted by Abiezer at 5:09 AM on November 5, 2007


There are far too many electronics manufacturers operating and items circulating for anybody to keep tabs on them all, nevermind retain operating details on 'em. By comparison, the pool of information in academic fields is thoroughly tracked, and as long there's somebody skimming AskMe who has an education at least tangential to your question, there's somebody who can give you a hookup to an authoritative answer. Questions about electronics are probably harder to get good answers to than hair-splitty questions about, say, minor medieval Popes.

Esoterica about popular or top-grade equipment is going to be comparatively easy to track down, because there are dedicated techs who find working on them both interesting and professionally satisfying. Challenging problems with sufficiently rare, low or midgrade equipment are harder to solve because they doesn't have the same network of third-party interest.

This extends past musician's gear into home audio, computers, televisions, and so on. There's no piece of Apple hardware that hasn't been cataloged and documented, while there are hundreds of PC hardware companies born and passed on, their work unremarked on and unremembered.
posted by ardgedee at 5:25 AM on November 5, 2007


Given the 60k or so users here, you'd think that someone would know the answer, but that's not always the case. Questions requiring very specific domain knowledge often only garner a couple of responses, if any. Try looking for older questions that are from a similar domain as yours and see if you can identify someone who answers these types of questions. Since they may not have seen your question, you can use MeFi Mail and ask that they take a look.
posted by tommasz at 6:04 AM on November 5, 2007


You can try adding the "stumped" tag to your query, but that hasn't really taken off as a tool yet. But yeah you now only have six more days. I got as far as "has anyone used XYZ Product..." and once I figured out you weren't astroturfing, skipped it because the answer was "no"
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:00 AM on November 5, 2007


I don't know why I thought I had to wait a month. OK, I don't feel so bad.

You've asked nine questions in five years of membership. There is no reason for you to be concerned about your question asking ability even if you have to wait a month.
posted by OmieWise at 7:06 AM on November 5, 2007


I bet if you pimp your question on MeTa it will at least get some attention if it doesn't get answered outright.
posted by breezeway at 7:07 AM on November 5, 2007 [5 favorites]


Yeah! Breezeway has it! Start a metatalk thread!
posted by Kwine at 7:26 AM on November 5, 2007


not that my opinion matters on these things, but if I were a mod I'd take requests like this much more seriously if they were brought up by someone who hasn't recently had a zero answer askme. it feels too much, to my mind, like someone wanting immediate satisfaction for their problem and less like someone who just happens to have a good idea for policy change. that's just my immediate reaction, though.
posted by shmegegge at 8:17 AM on November 5, 2007


Getting zero responses in in the green is nothing. I link this constantly, but it never gets old:

The Legendary MetaTalk Post With Zero Comments.

(for the kids)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:42 AM on November 5, 2007 [2 favorites]


This happens to lots of guys.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 9:38 AM on November 5, 2007 [3 favorites]


It's 30 days now?
posted by delmoi at 10:35 AM on November 5, 2007


It's 30 days now?

Only if you don't read the thread before commenting.
posted by carsonb at 11:20 AM on November 5, 2007


Does Cortex's lightning reflexes in deleting Caddis' parking double count as a "goose egg"? Because if so we ought to update the wiki.
posted by roofus at 11:59 AM on November 5, 2007


Getting zero responses in in the green is nothing. I link this constantly, but it never gets old:

The Legendary MetaTalk Post With Zero Comments.


and don't forget Naxosaxur's legendary call out of the legendary Metatalk comment...
posted by jasper411 at 12:29 PM on November 5, 2007


A thought: Maybe posters whose AskMe questions don't get any responses at all should get another swing at the ball, without having to wait 30 days.

Oh, that's your thought? Well, you've got another thing coming.
posted by ibmcginty at 7:00 PM on November 5, 2007


GAH
please say you're being facetious, ibm.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 7:07 PM on November 5, 2007


Very much so.
posted by ibmcginty at 7:30 PM on November 5, 2007


your question is a study in esoteric inquiry

Maybe so, but when you've got specific shit that requires specific knowledge to answer, so what? I don't think every question needs to be phrased in such a way that every generalist within wifi range can pontificate from intuition and "common" sense what an answer might be, nor what is wrong with the question.

Face the ugly reality: sometimes AskMe fails. It's a general board. The population who use it have certain areas they're great it. It's not wonderful for everything. There's a specialist locale for everything on the internet that, in its area, puts AskMe to shame.

Perhaps the armchair answerers who guess at sort-of answers so very very often on AskMe would do better to put their Google-fu to use helping askers find those gem-int-the-rough forums that deal specifically with their area of "esoteric inquiry." That'd be a great use of time for someone who only barely understands the material.
posted by scarabic at 7:53 PM on November 5, 2007


At first I was reading that as "French Guy Madden", a la the recent "Madden en Espanol" release.

I pictured John Madden up in the announcer booth chainsmoking Gauloises and saying stuff like "Mon Dieu! Zee Tom Brady, he has thrown for another touchdown!" and etc.
posted by First Post at 9:35 PM on November 5, 2007


DtMFA.
posted by Eideteker at 9:42 PM on November 5, 2007


shmegegge writes "if I were a mod I'd take requests like this much more seriously if they were brought up by someone who hasn't recently had a zero answer askme."

You'd take requests to point out "why did my question get zero answers" more seriously if the person didn't have a question with zero answers? How, exactly, does that work?
posted by Bugbread at 7:51 AM on November 6, 2007


essentially, my thought process would be "okay, but you're only thinking this now because you really really want to be bumped to the top of the front page again. We'll see how you feel about this in a year." There are plenty of people who think "eh, I've had zero answer questions before and I got over it. Really, I don't think we need to adjust the posting time policy." But at the time of their zero answer question they may have thought "GOD I wish I could post my question again! I got zero answers! That has to be some kind of a redo!" The operative word in what I said was really recently, more than whether or not they've ever had a zero answer question.

It's just my gut reaction, though.
posted by shmegegge at 8:03 AM on November 6, 2007


Ah, ok, that makes more sense.
posted by Bugbread at 8:16 AM on November 6, 2007


No re-posties. You have your own tab, for cryin' out loud.

Of course, we could now discuss how unwieldy AskMe is progressively getting, or whether that is illusory, and then be placated with numbers from cortex showing a little of both.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:54 AM on November 6, 2007


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