I was in my local public library today and wanted to look up a thread about Paris that I'd seen in Ask Metafilter, so I got on one of the library's computers. I was surprised to find that the library blocks Ask MeFi. How common is this? How can I get the library to unblock it?
posted by lukemeister on Jul 19, 2008 - 30 comments

Please, for the love of all that is holy, can we please stop? [more inside]
posted by gjc on Jun 4, 2008 - 187 comments

How can I word my AskMe questions better to get more relevant answers? [more inside]
posted by cosmic osmo on Apr 23, 2008 - 36 comments

AskMe gets it badly wrong, as the original poster reveals here. [more inside]
posted by ikkyu2 on Dec 5, 2007 - 254 comments

There are about five googol plexes (googols plex?)* about dating and flirting on Metafilter. How do I flirt? Does she like me? How can you tell if a girl likes you? This girl is doing behaviors X, Y, and Z. Is she into me? This boy is doing behaviors A, B, and C. Does he like me? What is the most outstanding and/or insightful commentary you've seen a Mefite write about dating? The topic is such a huge morass of wordage (due to it being a common area of questioning and one that everyone likes to chime in on) that it's a bit daunting in its scope, and yet I know there are some incredible gems. What comments did you think were amazingly spot-on? * — please, don't everybody tell me what the plural of googol plex is and not answer the main one ;-)
posted by WCityMike on Aug 15, 2007 - 88 comments

We all know tax time is coming. Could we please have a moratorium on all tax-related AskMe's that are more complex than "I live in X, where do I mail my return to"?
posted by dirtynumbangelboy on Feb 1, 2007 - 37 comments

Well, askme got served with a doozy tonight and I think it's safe to say it didn't go well. It's not just the completely awful legal advice being dispensed, or the attempt to frame this question as a solely moral one that disturbed me, but the seeming justification of murder (and referencing religion to reason away that murder) that made me shudder.
posted by incessant on Oct 20, 2006 - 186 comments

Boo, my Askme question was deleted. I'm disappointed, because I did mean the question seriously-- I was actually hoping to get some scientific information/insight into radioactive half-lives, heavy-metal contamination, global warming, etc. Was the tone too flippant? Could I have phrased it better?
posted by jokeefe on Aug 9, 2006 - 62 comments

Weirdest mention of MeFi in the press: in a press release about advice for college students by a boardgame company. They googled, got Ask MetaFilter, and printed it. I have no idea why.
posted by mathowie on Aug 3, 2006 - 31 comments

Where should I, a physician, draw the line at commenting on health-related posts in AskMe?

I enjoy thinking about folks' medical puzzles and often learn something in the process of trying to solve them. However, I'm a neurologist, so most of what I comment on is well outside my scope of practice. I've tried to make it clear in my user info that I'm not commenting in my professional capacity as a medical advisor, but instead as "just another Metafilter user." But if you scroll down to roofus' thought-provoking post a few days ago, you can read about a number of harmful things that we docs could inadvertently be causing, including but not limited to the inflammation of hypochondria, acute bad-adviceFilter, and sudden dismemberment or death.

What do folks think? Should I just can it before I get sued?
posted by ikkyu2 on Jul 15, 2005 - 52 comments

Do other doctors get this horrible sinking feeling when they read a medical question in Ask Metafilter? Usually the questions are OK, but obviously would be better directed at a physician. It's the answers that cause me a headache. Lots of non-doctors seem to wade in with "This one time I had something similar, and...". No actual doctors declare themselves and give a sensible answer. I work in a fairly sub-specialized area (uro-gynae) so I'm not necessarily up to date on most of the questions. None the less, I just can't stand it to sit by and see terrible advice given Equally I feel there's something unethical about attempting to play web-doctor. Any tips on best practice?
posted by roofus on Jul 11, 2005 - 82 comments

as i wander through every bike-related askme query and see the same user names replying to each question i've started to wonder: would there be a benefit to allowing mefi users to organize themselves into caucus-like groups? would it serve the community better if, in much the same way individuals are grouped by region on their profile pages, we could somehow align ourselves by interest/expertise to make better use of our collective resources?
posted by RockyChrysler on Apr 20, 2005 - 39 comments

Once I ran to you, I ranNow I'll run from youThis tainted love you've given
75% of this "anonymous" guy's output is love-related. I keep reading that we suck at politics, we suck at religion, we suck at (insert your favorite pet peeve here). I dare to suggest that, no disrespect intended, we suck at giving love advice (assuming that giving useful love advice is actually possible, which I doubt). Is this just a coincidence, or we'll use the anonymous feature mainly to turn AskMeFi into Mr/Mrs LonelyheartsFilter/BrokenheartsFilter?
posted by matteo on Oct 13, 2004 - 30 comments

I apologize two-fold, one for my unwilling absence from the scintillating minds that are my MeFi sisters and brethren...and secondly, because this may very well be the wrong arena, but darned if I know where to post AskMe follow ups...so here it is. A month or more back, I asked for advice on taking a specific type of pictures. The advice that I was given, both online, and in one case, carried into email, was invaluable. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed. You not only made me a better photographer, but you taught me a new way to see.
posted by dejah420 on Oct 5, 2004 - 13 comments

I posted something on Mefi that was apparently inappropriate (OK, thinking back on it, it wasn't a good idea): a request for advice about a family member becoming part of an orthodox religious "cult" like organization. It was killed pretty quickly. Can anyone tell me a good place to ask questions like this, here on this site or somewhere similar? I was hoping for advice from the people here; after hanging around here for a few months, I'm continually impressed by the quality (and quantity) of comment posted here.
posted by luriete on Dec 13, 2001 - 21 comments