the real helpful folks

January 9, 2004 1:27 PM

On our inividual profile pages, it says how many times we've posted to MetaFilter and MetaTalk, but it doesn't yet mention AskMeta. That way we know who the real helpful folks are.
posted by answergrape to Feature Requests at 1:27 PM (39 comments total)

Our gift pony is growing up so fast, it should have its own barn now.
posted by Keyser Soze at 2:13 PM on January 9, 2004

Or it'll let us know who the people who just can't resist blabbing out their useless opinion are. (Yes, I admit, I might fall in that category.)

I hope AskMe isn't a trojan pony.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:16 PM on January 9, 2004

Do we really need a know-it-all list?

*she said, semi-guiltily*
posted by konolia at 2:20 PM on January 9, 2004

Yes, k, we do! ;-P
posted by mischief at 2:32 PM on January 9, 2004

it's on the list of features I'm working on for ask metafilter. I'm rewriting it from the ground up, adding in a lot of cool features and one of them is definitely improving user profiles.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:38 PM on January 9, 2004

Fishes' Humble Pony Request: GPS Coordinates instead of postal codes!
posted by five fresh fish at 3:21 PM on January 9, 2004

I'm rewriting it from the ground up, adding in a lot of cool features and one of them is definitely improving user profiles.

Don't do it Matt, I'm warning you now. AskMetafilter has already become the Alexander of the MeFi domain, rightious, confident and arrogant. I truly believe that AskMe has become an important part of the web ... and its free ... and it will cause headaches like no admin has ever seen before.

If you want to talk about a MeFi pro, AskMe is it. What jock itch powder is best? What lawyer in Cinci can best prove that I was on that bus when the accident occured? If you think that people have been pounding on the door to entire the blue, than I say you haven't seen nothin' yet. If you're going to be doing all sorts of improvements, than charge for them.

The web is all about the knowin'. Good, bad or indifferent, AskMe is the pinnacle of the web's potential. Knowledge might want to be free, but the tools that facilitate it have cost, and you should at least recoup those, oh my captain.

All that having been said, quantifying one's contribution to AskMe rewards blowhards well above the knowledgable. Work in any business in America and you'll know what I mean. There will always be those who's confidence and ability to emote far outstrips their abilities to help or contribute. Having posted 15,000 comments to AskMe doesn't prove that any of those comments were worth shit; it just advertises that one person can type lotso-lots and wastes the time of those seeking answers.
posted by Wulfgar! at 3:38 PM on January 9, 2004

enter, not entire. And screw the rest of the typos. I don't care ... its the web, ya know.
posted by Wulfgar! at 3:40 PM on January 9, 2004

AskMe: rewarding blowhards well above the knowledgable
posted by poopy at 4:30 PM on January 9, 2004

I don't think AskMe is the pinnacle. The pinnacle would require some sort of AskMe/Wiki crossbreed, in which (in wiki-style) answers could be cross-referenced to previous tidbits -- perhaps with some amount of automation -- and continually updated as new information comes along; and in which (in AskMe style) questions are easy to ask and popularly answered.

That said, I agree: quantification is a bad idea.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:55 PM on January 9, 2004

Fishes' Humble Pony Request: GPS Coordinates instead of postal codes!


Naw. I don't want people knowing where to aim the missiles.
posted by weston at 5:03 PM on January 9, 2004

I second fff's request for GPS coordinates. I'd really like to see a map of MeFites worldwide.
posted by languagehat at 5:14 PM on January 9, 2004

Wulfgar, ask metafilter can be improved greatly by doing interesting stuff with the archives. Most of my work is focusing on floating old questions to the top so that we don't get the 15th question about ipods, and that eventually the archive alone will be a treasure trove of information worth going over even if there aren't any new questions for a day.

I'm not interested in charging people for anything, and it won't get mired in new cruft. It'll be simple and straightforward, allowing you to see related questions to the one you are currently viewing, etc.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:58 PM on January 9, 2004

Would you believe I thought about asking you for that very thing but thought better of it because I thought it would take too much of your time....thank you!
posted by konolia at 6:03 PM on January 9, 2004

AskMe is the pinnacle of the web's potential.

man, it's gonna hurt when you try to tear those lips off matt's ass...
posted by quonsar at 6:13 PM on January 9, 2004

It's the concept, quonsar. Info on demand. The implimentation is the very problem, 'cause Matt's not gonna be able to pry his lips off the ass of those who just wanna ask the world how impo'tant they are. I'm sure you get that ... deep back in your human brain ... when you're not trying to be a total dickhead.
posted by Wulfgar! at 7:11 PM on January 9, 2004

Wulfgarl!, go to your room. No back talk, either.
posted by konolia at 7:29 PM on January 9, 2004

it's on the list of features I'm working on for ask metafilter. I'm rewriting it from the ground up, adding in a lot of cool features and one of them is definitely improving user profiles.

...as Matt has said for at least the third time now.
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:44 PM on January 9, 2004

konolia, this is truly one of those divine moments when human misunderstanding demands the most eloquent and profound of responses:

Bite me.

I've no problem at all with improving AskMe. If Matt wants to do it, fine. But don't chide me for pointing out the obvious. Especially, don't accuse me of being sycophantic while doing that very thing. Facilitating ego by quantifying one's responses (good, bad or ridiculous) is just a bad idea. If you want to argue otherwise, please do so. If you want to piss me off by acting superior, then by all means, send me to my room (as if you had the where-with-all to do any such thing). I'll laugh at you, and prepare my "I-told-you-so speech" when y'all start bitchen' about how AskMe has become unusable due to scope without qualification. You can understand that, can't you?
posted by Wulfgar! at 8:05 PM on January 9, 2004

I'm hoping that AskMe threads currently in existence will be able to be retro-fitted to slot into whatever taxonomy that Matt creates (if indeed he is going to create one).
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:06 PM on January 9, 2004

I'm sure you get that ... deep back in your human brain ... when you're not trying to be a total dickhead.

i'm pretty much never serious. i'm sure you get that ... deep back in your human brain ... when you're not trying to be a total dickhead.
posted by quonsar at 8:09 PM on January 9, 2004

Meaningless (if joking) accusations of brown-nosery ... that's being a dickhead. Calling out dickheaded behavior ... that's being an asshole. With definitions, at least we can get our stories straight. ;-)
posted by Wulfgar! at 8:19 PM on January 9, 2004

when you're not trying to be a total dickhead.

That was why I said what I did. Frankly I couldn't follow what you were talking about otherwise.

Maybe tonite I was just a little tired of seeing rude discourse on a thread that was simply discussing some improvements Matt wants to implement on Askmeta. I don't even remember if you were the first one to be rude, crude and uncouth.
I might not even care.

You can take your teeth out of my arm now.
posted by konolia at 8:27 PM on January 9, 2004

It's the concept, quonsar. Info on demand.

Matt is coding a Google? Schweeeet!

kisses konolia's arm better
posted by five fresh fish at 8:50 PM on January 9, 2004

we're all bozos on this bus.
posted by quonsar at 9:10 PM on January 9, 2004

Wolfgar, I think this is the site you're looking for. AskMefi is more asking a someone at a cocktail party than a research library.
posted by bonehead at 9:20 PM on January 9, 2004

"Our gift pony is growing up so fast, it should have its own barn now."

That pony, it's grown enormous!....it's the radiation! Tanks can't bring it down.....the city is doomed unless we can kill it with this huge poisoned apple..........
posted by troutfishing at 9:22 PM on January 9, 2004

konolia, as I've indicated several times in the metaverse, I'm an asshole. I'm really sorry that you've taken it personally. But you must beware, for whosoever is bitten by the werewolf ... and all that jazz.

All I've really been trying to point out is that AskMe is a collaborative information project that allows ego to color answer as well as question. If one asks google "do I have the biggest dick" the responses will come back based on algorithmic searches of websites. If one asks Matt's project the same question, then ego colors every response given, including the actions of the administrator. This is a real chore, because computers don't do or control ego. An admin must.

If we quantify responses on AskMe, then we begin to participate in the fallacy of false authority by repetition. if we trust that a person's bogus responses to 1000 questions renders them incapable of the perfect response to question 1001, then we invite the fallacy of ad hominem. Either way, we reduce the effectiveness of what AskMe should be.

If Matt wants AskMe to be the collaborative informative effort that it appears to be becoming than I still strongly suggest that he charge for the service. If he chooses not to, than I can't and won't argue about it.

Either way, think of the power of what has begun here. Authority at will. Info on demand. this ain't your father's google. This is sumpin' else.

And konolia, I'd happily kiss your arm better, if you'd forgive my assholishness, and just realize that every once in a while, someone has to be the asshole to let others know what they are birthing in the world.
posted by Wulfgar! at 9:57 PM on January 9, 2004

Wulfgar, you know you are forgiven already (I was certainly in a testy mood at the time)...

I have read what you have written, and it appears you have given it a lot of thought.

But you know, we live on this planet swirling thru space, surrounded by tragedy and miracles, and I think that we all think too much and analyze too much and wring our hands too much and agonize and agitate too much......over what is after all......

Just a website.

Now back to plain prose: We really don't know yet how Matt plans to configure AskMeta, and won't till he unveils it. The metaworld is simply a gift Matt has given to the internet, and if one is dissatisfied with the gift it's still rude to criticize it in front of the giver.

Gaaaahhhh, I need to go to bed. Even I don't think I am making sense.

(BTW let me know if a series of rabies shots are in order. Just sayin'.)
posted by konolia at 10:22 PM on January 9, 2004

As much as I love all of you--a value probably situated close to "don't"--I wouldn't pay to keep any of your company, even if you do have new and interesting ways to dice cucumbers or intriguing ways of surfing the net when I'm too lazy to do it myself.
posted by The God Complex at 10:33 PM on January 9, 2004

Then again, there is a beautiful synergy that idea: making people pay to lend their own expertise to others. It's this sort of opportunistic talent wrangling that has helped the western world rise up and spread its wings like some dilettantish, mechanical phoenix hell-bent on devouring all that is beautiful from these lands, leaving in its wake emaciated corpses and the burnt shell of the metropolis.
posted by The God Complex at 10:41 PM on January 9, 2004

TGC, I've posted to the blue webpages that share expertise for free. That ain't the thingy. What we're talkin' is the creation of a tool whereby anybody can share their bling with anyone else, and how must it remain useful and valuable. My concern is the work of the admin, not the users. Sorry if that was unclear.
posted by Wulfgar! at 10:55 PM on January 9, 2004

Ok, but I'm almost positive Matt recoups the cost of this site and makes a small profit (as I've mentioned before I think he said it was around 1k a month) on the text ads. I'm sure if he put text ads on AskMe--once it inevitably reaches that stage of popularity--he would at least recoup the costs of implementing the original coding changes.
posted by The God Complex at 11:10 PM on January 9, 2004

Since Matt has already said "I'm not interested in charging people for anything," this would appear to be pure arguing for the sake of arguing.

Which is what MeTa is here for!
*hands konolia a Band-Aid and piece of candy*
posted by languagehat at 8:29 AM on January 10, 2004

I hope it's chocolate.
posted by konolia at 12:25 PM on January 10, 2004

Mathowie might not be interested in charging people for anything, but what about people who want to pay? That donations page is pretty hidden away now, but with AskMeFi becoming a very useful resource, wouldn't it be fun to allow those who feel they've been helped to throw some cash towards this site?
posted by skylar at 2:49 AM on January 11, 2004

DONT REQUIRE MONEY TO USE THIS SITE.
posted by Keyser Soze at 4:30 AM on January 11, 2004

what keyser said. Donations are good.
posted by amberglow at 8:04 AM on January 11, 2004

Donations are good.
But lat-long co-ordinates would be even better ;-)
posted by dg at 8:09 PM on January 11, 2004