AnonyMe Guidelines

October 12, 2004 10:44 PM

AnonyMe is up. Posts ensue! Yay! A pony! I personally think the Paxil query is exactly what AnonyMe should be for, and the good-lookin' cheaters question would have been better asked in the light of disclosure. What do you think? What's a good reason for anoymous posting, and what's a bad one? Let the guidelines scrimmage begin!

(Thanks Matt and thanks Seanyboy!)
posted by mwhybark to Etiquette/Policy at 10:44 PM (35 comments total)

Yes, thanks to both!

Side note: at first glance I read the "AnonyMe" in this post as "AnnoyMe ." But I knew that couldn't be right, as AnnoyMe is obviously the blue.</snark>
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:56 PM on October 12, 2004

Just minutes in and we've alreaedy had our first deletion of a lame joke post? Impressive. I think there should be a special hall of shame where we reveal who posts these jokes.
posted by The God Complex at 11:02 PM on October 12, 2004

Already (curses!).
posted by The God Complex at 11:03 PM on October 12, 2004

Unless you're a Gates, Jobs, or Torvalds, asking computer advice under the guise of anonymity (and thus admitting incompetence) is unnecessary. Same goes for sick cats, carpentry, and gift ideas.

The metric for anonymous questions should be whether they would be embarassing or potentially-compromising to broach in person. Difficult medical issues, interpersonal conflict at work (where a firm googling and a positive ID might get you fired), et cetera. Until there's a means to respond anonymously, the question should not require further elaboration from the person who posted it.

And, of course, metaphysical unanswerable bullshit questions are as inappropriate as they've ever been, though I doubt they'd survive their trip through the MattFilter regardless.
posted by Danelope at 11:04 PM on October 12, 2004

I hope approving the anonymous questions doesn't become a major chore for Matt in the form of a continuous barrage of "why didn't you approve my cat feces ingestion question" emails. I almost wonder whether having individual members volunteer to post questions would have been a better choice, as it places the burden of filtering (and some degree of responsibility) on willing users.

I suppose if there are major problems the feature can always be, uh, Axed.
posted by Krrrlson at 12:17 AM on October 13, 2004

I don't think there's any way that this won't eventually become onerous for Matt; maybe he should assign revolving appointees who can prescreen, or someone could program a device whereby a certain number of "delete" votes would automatically delete an anonymous post.
posted by taz at 2:04 AM on October 13, 2004

I tend to agree with taz on this one. Unlike The Blue posts (whoa, I think I got the Pepsi Blue joke for the first time. I am such a loser), AskMeFi posts tend not to be a heavily weighted and thus draw the ire of residents leading to a lower likelyhood of deletion just because someone doesn't like that topic. I think "deletion" clicks are a horrible idea on the blue, but could work wonders on the green, especially for anon posts- but what about regular posts?
posted by jmd82 at 2:16 AM on October 13, 2004

What I'm wondering is, does Matt know who posted the question? I'd want 100% anonymity before I'd ask some things.
posted by orange swan at 4:23 AM on October 13, 2004

One thing I noticed is that the anonymous poster can't followup to their own posts (say... if a clarification is asked...).

Or can they?

I also read "AnnoyMe" by the way...
posted by jpburns at 5:07 AM on October 13, 2004

The only bad use of anonymous posting I can see is that people can avoid a backlash when asking dumb questions. Otherwise, people should feel able to ask anonymously about whatever they like.
posted by nthdegx at 5:40 AM on October 13, 2004

I don't mind Matt knowing my question, provided he deletes all electronic residue of its origin.
posted by mischief at 6:36 AM on October 13, 2004

Why is this anonymous? I think think of only one reason: someone without a mefi account is abusing the anonymous system to get their questions posted.
posted by reverendX at 6:39 AM on October 13, 2004

What's a good reason for anoymous posting ..?

I'd have to go with the embarrassing rash as the time-honored classic of an anonymous question. As to anoymous posting, I've seen some big posts, some even huge, but nothing so large as to be anoymous.
posted by Shane at 6:39 AM on October 13, 2004

someone without a mefi account is abusing the anonymous system to get their questions posted.

My feeling as well. Can we ease off on the Anonymizer since we have a better & more-useful option?
posted by jessamyn at 6:48 AM on October 13, 2004

ooof! Invisible spelling error and link fumble in the same thread starter! (I meant to link to the questions, not the user page).

I think that the list of all anonymous questions is, like, all shiny.
posted by mwhybark at 6:49 AM on October 13, 2004

Oh, shoot.

I didn't look closely enough - last night when I checked the page there was an obvious asshat question. I had misinterpreted the functionality to believe that disallowed questions were sticky there.
posted by mwhybark at 7:05 AM on October 13, 2004

AnonyMe: I'd have to go with the embarrassing rash.
posted by me3dia at 8:35 AM on October 13, 2004

Settle down, mwhybark, you're doing fine. Anwyay, I ♥ typo's.
posted by Shane at 8:38 AM on October 13, 2004

For the proverbial saddle on top of the new pony, can we think of anything other than AnonyMe, which is impossible to pronounce, and really looks rather like "AnnoyMe"...

GhostMe or PhantoME or Speak4Me or NaMeless or SecretMe or ObligeMe or Inquire4Me...or Imtoomuchofapussytoaskthisquestionwithmyusername?

(just kidding about that last one!)
posted by naxosaxur at 9:31 AM on October 13, 2004

Tenh I ffel heartened, for my typo ratio RULEZ.
posted by mwhybark at 9:32 AM on October 13, 2004

reverendX, just because someone doesn't have a MeFi account doesn't mean they have nothing non-abusive to post to AxMe.

Since it seemed a reasonable non-offensive question, I threw it up on there. Sure, it didn't need to be anonymous, but until MeFi opens up account signups again, this is the way things will be, I suppose.

If I'm told not to do that, I'll cease.
posted by shepd at 9:45 AM on October 13, 2004

I had programmed this orginally so that I had no record of who asked a question, but then I thought I better have an indication of something, somewhere, in order to track abuse (if someone confesses a murder as a joke every day for a week, I'd like to know who was doing it).

There is no digital record of who asked in the database at all, but I do know who submitted the questions before I approve them. If you have something really, really embarrasing, know that I see who asked for a split second, then I forget, and I promise not to ever reveal who said what to anyone. It's probably better I know a tiny bit, in order to stem the tide of truly illegal questions.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:54 AM on October 13, 2004

For the proverbial saddle on top of the new pony, can we think of anything other than AnonyMe, which is impossible to pronounce, and really looks rather like "AnnoyMe"...

I'm not entirely sure we need one—it's not a forum all to itself like MeFi or MeTa or AskMe; it's just a feature within one. We don't use "ComMe" for the comment submission page, do we? Insert your own joke about the appropriateness of ComMe given the general political leanings here.

But if we must have one, I propose AnyMe. Takes some of the letters of "Anonymous" (even if non-consecutive), and also alludes to the fact that any MeFite may be the one asking.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:57 AM on October 13, 2004

If you have something really, really embarrasing, know that I see who asked for a split second, then I forget, and I promise not to ever reveal who said what to anyone. It's probably better I know a tiny bit, in order to stem the tide of truly illegal questions.

I think Matt has just earned yet another nickname.... Father Matt.

So remember to start all of your anonymous questions with "Bless me Father Matt for I have sinned..."
posted by terrapin at 12:00 PM on October 13, 2004

But if we must have one, I propose AnyMe.

*sounds* too much like "enemy" for my tastes.
posted by terrapin at 12:01 PM on October 13, 2004

I bet this poor guy wishes AnonyMe was created months ago. MyCrotchReeksFilter doesn't have much of a ring to it.
posted by dhoyt at 12:47 PM on October 13, 2004

"AnonyMe" is better than "AnyMe", since it sounds like "anonymy". What's that you say? "Anonymy" isn't a word? Well, it ought to be. The practice of being anonymous.

It'll never work, anyway; style will out.
posted by kenko at 12:53 PM on October 13, 2004

I for one really appreciate this new feature. I think it will come in handy in the green. Thank you.
posted by Juicylicious at 2:02 PM on October 13, 2004

Does this mean that non-MeFi members can ask anonymous questions? Or do you need to be logged in to get to that page?
posted by rhapsodie at 2:38 PM on October 13, 2004

Hey Matt, while you're in the mood to mess with AskMe, the "no new questions" bug still exists.
posted by PrinceValium at 2:55 PM on October 13, 2004

AnonyMe rhymes with astronomy. ;-P
posted by mischief at 9:35 PM on October 13, 2004

Posts are staying up long enough to get decent answers. There's got to be a way to separate the anonymous section from the account'd questions, otherwise the usefulness of the service rapidly deteriorates. Questions just don't stay up long enough.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:04 AM on October 14, 2004

Posts aren't staying up long enough. Dammit!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:04 AM on October 14, 2004

I, for one, don't mind Matt knowing that it's me behind next week's tiny tiny penis question.
posted by nthdegx at 8:40 AM on October 15, 2004

Shit. Shit.
posted by nthdegx at 8:40 AM on October 15, 2004