1942 posts tagged with AskMe.
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Zine based on a AskMe that I made
Both an idea (for outreach/promotion) and a confession. The day before I was set to table at the local zine symposium, I was scrambling for another mini-zine idea, and ended up excerpting some of the answers to an Ask Me I made earlier this year"What's your random (but regular) act of public service?" Here's a link to the one-page mini zine (mod note: link removed, see this note). [more inside]
A Bit of My Landlord’s Ear at last
Speaking of old AskMes, I finally found the answer to mintcake!’s question about an old MTV comedy bit that’s been taunting me for 12 years.
A bit of my landlord’s ear!
[RSS PSA] Reminder to update your MetaFilter RSS feeds
Last month, an apparent error in Feedburner caused several of MeFi's legacy RSS feeds to not update for up to a week (at least in my popular feed reader, Feedly). The problem has been fixed -- for now. But it's an important reminder that the Feedburner platform is increasingly unreliable -- if it were ever shut down by Google, the thousands of readers who rely on those feeds to keep up with the site may lose contact without even realizing it. The good news is that the site has a new set of self-hosted feeds that should remain active no matter what Google does. So, if you read the site using an RSS reader, please take a moment to update your reader to the new feeds -- and check the related posts on MetaFilter and Ask MetaFilter for a list of posts you might have missed during the outage.
"it does detract from what the site does normally..."
More Compassionate Advice
I've noticed in a couple of AskMes that the answers/advice being given can really be harsh sometimes. Especially when the person asking has maybe not been their best selves. Reading through a thread can seem like a pile on. I'm wondering if this is truly helpful. [more inside]
Fundraising Idea: AskMe Update Bounties
An idea for fundraising... What are the AskMe posts you most wanted to see updates on that did not get them? What would you be willing to donate to MetaFilter to get that update? Would you donate $5 to see if they ate the thing? $5 to find out if they went with a product rec from the Ask and whether it worked? $10 to see if they quit that job? $20 to see if they DTMF? Let's bribe our way into some answers. [more inside]
ChatGPT-filter
What's the policy/consensus on answering Ask Metafilter questions with ChatGPT-generated answers? We now have at least one user doing it. [more inside]
Wonderful meta comment riffing on Bradbury’s automated house?
It’s a wonderful take on Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains, in a post about automating AskMe question posting. It’s so good and I cannot find it on google site search or on the site itself. Thank you!
Recommendation for a sleep dress?
I seem to remember a comment in the last few months on AskMe for a sleep dress on Amazon that was long enough not to ride up and/or cool (temperature-wise) to sleep in. I'm not finding it on searches on AskMe or on Amazon. Help?
MeFiGiftGuide2022
Friends, our journey creating MeFiGiftGuide2022 has culminated in a fantastic FPP! Now the next stage of our strategy begins: sharing our content across other social networks to bring in more members and grow our community! [more inside]
AskMe Black Friday Fundraiser
The simple idea: Over the next two weeks, we post some interesting gift questions on AskMe, then on Black Friday, collect those in an FPP and promote the FPP heavily across the internet. I’ve created a project plan and framework, got approval from staff and the supreme council, and am looking for advice and volunteers to help tune this idea into a winner. [more inside]
Let's get rid of the Projects post limit as well
We got rid of the Ask post limit half a year ago. It's been great. Now let's do Projects. [more inside]
Still wondering after all these years
What AskMe of yours are you still curious about? What was never resolved? [more inside]
Best AskMe's of 2021
Phil Gyford (you remember Phil, don't you?) posts his 49 favourite Ask Metafilter questions of 2021. Did he miss any of your faves?
What purpose do AskMe categories serve today?
Every time I post an AskMe, as I am pondering which category I should post it in, I wonder... Does anyone use these categories? Are they helping discovery or search in some way? Am I missing something by not using them? [more inside]
Metatalktail Hour: Unrequited Ask
From Bklyn wants to know, "How about questions you have asked in ask-me, but never got an answer to? Either because no one knew or you didn't formulate your question right - and maybe later you found out the answer?" [more inside]
Looking for post
I remember either seeing a question on AskMe or a post on the blue about an animal tooth that had grooves dug into them, and it being discovered it was because the animal was trying to break out of a trap. In a comment or answer, someone shared an article or blog post from an archaeologist, I believe, who had come across the same discovery. Any ideas?
Should we redirect "but my case is special" COVID-19 questions on Ask?
The answer is always going to be "no." No, you can't visit your daughter for her birthday safely just because the number of cases in her town is declining. No, you shouldn't take a road trip so long as you're only going to stop "a few places" where you might be in close quarters with other people. No, it's not safe to have friends over if you have an immunocompromised roommate, even if the windows are open. No. No. The answer is "no." [more inside]
Can we continue to ensure high-quality COVID information?
The Mefi COVID FAQ requests that posters "Please link to pertinent information from high quality sources, and don't give top-of-the-head "it seems to me" sort of answers."
I am regularly seeing Askmefi responses that do not adhere to this guidance and I worry that Askmefi is contributing to misinformation. I'm hoping we can have a conversation about what can be done. [more inside]
Question about sewing ergonomics?
I thought I saw an AskMe about how to set up a sewing table to minimize back pain, but I can't find it now. Can anyone point me towards it? I've seen this AskMe about lino cutting, but that's not the same.
AskMe mentioned in WaPo
Caitlyn Gibson's Washington Post article "Hereafter" discusses two couples who decided to have children despite a cancer diagnosis. The author mentions MeFi here:
Buried in the digital archives of MetaFilter, an online message board that predated Reddit, is a question posed by an anonymous husband in 2010; he explained that his wife had been treated for an aggressive brain tumor, but they desperately wanted to be parents, and he wondered whether having a child was a wise or ethical choice. Hundreds* of replies unspooled below his post, passionately voicing every imaginable viewpoint:*"Hundreds" being eighty-eight, but who's counting?
“You’re in for a world of trouble if you do it. But it may be the thing that you need to do.”
“Having lost a mother to cancer ... I do think it is selfish to knowingly bring a child into the world knowing full well that the child will have to watch one of its parents die, and then grow up without them.”
“As someone whose father died when I was eight, I think you should do it.”
No "children" category
I just posted an AskMe in the Grab Bag category because I did not find a Parenting/Grandparenting or Children category. Librarians and others, should I have posted it to Human Relations instead? Just looking for a general consensus about where to post such things next time until/unless we add a Children category to Ask. (I think this has been raised in the past but couldn't find a thread when I did a quick search.)
AskMe answer on how what to say to the dying.
Looking for an incredibly empathetic answer to an AskMe with what to say to someone when they are dying. [more inside]
Optional location flag for AskMe?
I've seen this happen quite a bit, but for whatever reason the penny dropped reading this question posted today--has the idea ever been floated to add an optional location flag to AskMe questions? [more inside]
The Paint Roller AskMe's shared memory hits 2019 television
So you remember the askme from 5 years ago where we all tried to figure out what 80's tv show/intro had a character stepping through a door and getting slathered with paint as they did? Well, this recent 1980's themed Progressive insurance commercial has been airing during the current NCAA tournament, and at 18 seconds in, guess what happens. A character opens a door and gets a paint roller across their chest.
This doesn't resolve the question, but perhaps the answer is out there, somewhere. We can't all be making this up, right?
Definitive Answer to an AskMe - A Decade Later
10 years ago an AskMe user who had ordered a TV online ended up receiving the wrong order, instead being delivered a much nicer, higher end TV than the one she had purchased. This user came to AskMe inquiring if it would have been ok to have kept the nicer television, leading to a very lively discussion. A decade later, a definitive answer.
Searching for comment on two types of internal hires
Saw a comment earlier (ask, I think) about two types of internal job postings - one where every job was open and people had to apply for each promotion they got, and the other where job decisions were made by leaders behind closed doors and there wasn't much awareness about who was in line. Can you help me find it?
The Cat Came Back
Some heartwarming news from Ask Metafilter: justalisteningman's cat Fromage, who went missing on Wednesday, has been recovered safe and sound. All is well, you may breathe normally now. [more inside]
Still "Best of the Web": A typical but great AskMe this morning
[This is a general appreciation post and maybe those are not cool for MetaTalk anymore but I generally appreciate you so I am trying it.]
chesty_a_arthur wrote an AskMe question this morning about a commonly-repeated but factually-unclear legal point: do mothers get legal preference in U.S. child custody cases? Within 4 hours, there are 7 substantive answers, with links to 6 general articles and 4 scholarly papers that are on-point. [more inside]
Deleting meta-commentary without just silencing pile-on victims?
I discovered the metacommentary deletion policy under less than great circumstances. Can we talk about how to enforce that policy with a little less collateral damage? Maybe by better documentation, or user education? [more inside]
Best Ask advice on surviving a breakup
I just had a shitty breakup, and I don't survive post break-ups well. But the Hive is full of wise loving people who give good advice, so please share all the good Ask threads and comments you've seen and loved. I know ya'll have good things stashed away in your favorites.
Ask MeFi - follow up edition
I'm sure that I'm not alone in wondering how things work out in the case of particularly interesting Ask.MeFi posts. [more inside]
Everybody needs a hug
AskMe responses seem to be getting meaner over the years. It keeps me from posting anything but the most fact-based or unimportant questions, so I suspect it keeps other people from posting substantial questions, too. Is this the atmosphere we as a community want for AskMe? [more inside]
rolling in the deep
An Ask me post from 2011 was quoted in New York Magazine's The Cut this week as part of an article titled, "Are Toilet Bowls Truly Too Short for Some Men’s Junk?"
How about a Parenting & Kids Category on AskMeFi?
I've always felt that there is a category missing on AskMeFi. There are so many AskMe posts related to children, parenting, babies, etc - that I really think there should be some kind of all encompassing category for it. I've thought about this for a long time, but today is the day I finally speak up. What do you think? [more inside]
In Search of Ancient Thread: Undebatably Awesome Things
Many years ago, there was a thread that I'm 89% sure was on AskMe. The thrust of the question was: what cultural products enjoy a very broad consensus that they are good? Answers, for example, were things like The Beatles, Shakespeare, the jazz standards..things that have been respected from both popular and critical perspectives,. Things that a person might or might not like for themselves, but that few people would seriously dispute they were of great quality. Does anyone remember this thread? Did I make it up? Thanks for any help!
Maybe if I just give up looking, I'll find out what it's called
I was amused to see treetop89's AskMe, where they asked for the name of an author after 30 minutes of fruitless searching, and then returned with the answer four minutes later. Recently at work, after spending an hour trying to solve a problem that seemed to require a lot of tedious manual testing, I asked a user group how to solve it, and then five minutes later found a pre-existing tool that automated the whole process. When have you found the answer to a question right after you gave up and asked for help? Are there any other AskMes fitting this pattern? And finally, does this phenomenon have a name? I've been searching for half an hour, but I haven't had any luck... *winks at my subconscious*
Dear AskMe, My Husband's T-Shirt Has Llama Stains.
My husband and I are both MeFites - he introduced me! - and we often wonder about other couples or close friends who reference Metafilter in various 'inside joke'-type ways. Do you do this? And how? [more inside]
Things are getting better!
If you are a poster on the green please share some of your victories with me.
I'm looking to read sequential AskMe questions that show things getting better over time. [more inside]
AskMe comment on when the cold approach is not cool
Hi. I'm trying to find one specific AskMe comment about dating that I remember reading years ago. This could have been 5 or more years ago, and it certainly wasn't within the last year or two. [more inside]
So what happened with your Ask?
Did you eat the thing? Did you dump the MF? What did your doctor/lawyer say? Did you get fired? Where did you stay on that vacation and was it what you'd hoped? Did you find those shoes/pants and if so, how were they? Did you figure out what that song/book/movie was? How did your family member take it when you spoke your peace? Did you learn about the thing? Did you find a way to make more friends? Did you lose the weight? What did you do with that money? Which charity got your donation? Did you go into therapy? Was it infected? What did your landlord say? You stopped worrying about that ex, right? What happened with your question on AskMetafilter? [more inside]
Just how Random is Random?
When I click "Random" to generate a random AskMe question, I'm constantly taken to this question about DVD commentary tracks. Why would this be the case? I probably hit it once every few days? It seems statistically unlikely with a random generator? [more inside]
Late Resolved Ask Me
In 2009 (when I had the appendage to my account name), I asked for help identifying a soda we used to buy at the co-op in Austin, Texas in the late 80's/early 90's. This weekend, my spouse found it on the internet: Corrs Natural Soda Ginseng Rush, as discussed in this Chicago Reader article from 1993. Have you resolved any lingering Ask.Mes lately?
Trying out two Ask MetaFilter questions per week!
We had a discussion earlier this year about allowing two Ask MetaFilter questions per week, and I think it's worth a shot. Today we're rolling it out, and we'll see how it goes. [more inside]
Closing Your Community Right: Jessamyn interviewed
A podcast where Jessamyn is interviewed by Patrick O'Keefe about the experiences around an online community (mlkshk) closing down and what happens afterwards. There is much on moderating, membership, community issues and service shuttering procedures within, as well as discussion of death/the passing of people, how this impacts on online communities and how moderators and community members deal with it. The page contains many MetaFilter-related links and a link to the transcript.
Should we change our norms around what makes a good answer in AskMe?
Hello fellow MeFites! I'm wondering if we can discuss as a community the possibility of shifting the site norms and policies around what makes a good AskMe answer. Is this something others would be interested in and what would be a good norm/policy for you? [more inside]
Multiple AskMe Posts a Week: An Ideas Whose Time Has Come
Comrades, I think it's time to revisit the idea of allowing users to post multiple AskMe questions in a week. In the past I have gone on record as being against this, but upon further reflection I realize it was merely kneejerk, reactionary fear of change. Let us embark together down this unknown road. [more inside]
Witness the power of a fully operational hivemind
Ask Metafilter, the internet's go-to source for sane, competent advice and information, reached its 300,000th question this week. (Previously, 200,000 and 100,000.)
A ten year update... and an SF meet-up.
Nearly 10 years ago, I commented on the green about having fallen head-over-heels for a woman only once, back in college - but how, after 13 years of wondering if I'd ever have that feeling again, we ended up moving in together, had just gotten married, and all was right in the world.
weapons-grade pandemonium issued a challenge just three minutes later:
Update us in ten years, eschatfische.
And so we will! gucky and I are pleased to invite Bay Area MeFites to our 10 year anniversary party, featuring a 35mm matinee of When Harry Met Sally, September 10th at 1pm at the Roxie. RSVP information inside. [more inside]
The best of Metafilter compilation*
Back in 2009 someone posted this question asking members for the posts they'd include in a Best Of Metafilter book with all the best advice from the hive mind.
But that was 7 years ago. So I'd like to ask the question again, 7 years later: Can you give me the link to the best things you've ever read here, something that actually changed your view of the world or made you a better person? [more inside]
But that was 7 years ago. So I'd like to ask the question again, 7 years later: Can you give me the link to the best things you've ever read here, something that actually changed your view of the world or made you a better person? [more inside]