Am still a relative newbie here, and finding MetaFilter a fascinating source of high quality / low noise information and interesting stuff. But am struggling a bit with writing FPPs. So far, have had 7 go up, but 4 pulled. Stressing that am not complaining; every time there's been a reason politely given why, and I've retrospectively thought "Yeah, that's a fair point."
But it would be nice to consistently put up interesting and
always legitimate FPPs. I feel a bit that am learning the ropes of doing proper FPPs by trial and (often) error - perhaps have gotten practice on other forums, that are slightly or very different to Metafilter, hardwired into me and it's difficult to spot other than retrospectively when it's pointed out.
Is there a sandbox area, or some other mechanism for getting other people to look at one's FPP before it goes 'live', to see that it's legitimate (beyond the clear warnings not to self-promote) in terms of content and style and any other criteria? I have no problem with constructive criticism, peer review et al.
posted by Wordshore
on Sep 14, 2012 -
97 comments
"This" considered harmful? I've noticed that it's fairly common when linking to something, that the link is given a non-description. This seems prone to cause problems with link rot. I know Matt has a
long bet in place that link rot isn't a major issue, but I know I've stumbled onto dead links when looking at old AskMe answers. Should we consider links without description bad form?
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posted by borkencode
on May 2, 2012 -
45 comments
Mefite[1]
Anil Dash[2]
writes[3]:
"Simply learning from disciplines like urban planning, zoning regulations, crowd control, effective and humane policing, and the simple practices it takes to stage an effective public event, we can come up with a set of principles to prevent the overwhelming majority of the worst behaviors on the Internet." Examples? Why
Metafilter, of course, (as well as Stack Exchange sites, of which he is a board member).
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posted by Tuesday After Lunch
on Dec 29, 2011 -
89 comments
Irritable-old-man-pony request: could AskMe guidelines go directly on the new-question page, at least the list of things that don't make a great question? Or maybe...
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posted by supercres
on Nov 10, 2011 -
22 comments
I noticed that the
posting guidelines suggest looking at posts with 10 - 20 comments as examples of posts that spark a decent amount of discussion. These numbers seem out of date to me. Maybe they should be changed to 40 - 50 comments?
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posted by yellowbinder
on Jun 13, 2011 -
40 comments
I think that there ought to be a caveat somewhere about AskMe questions, pseudonymity, privacy, and social network scraping tools.
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posted by XMLicious
on Feb 17, 2011 -
62 comments
For sale is a problem? Someone
posted a link to something I had posted to Projects. (I had nothing to do with the post, though I did work on the game posted.) That it was removed so bluntly seems weird to me.
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posted by chasing
on Aug 6, 2009 -
60 comments
Assuming the
lobotomy question is for real (and I guess it gets the benefit of the doubt because the
poster's previous questions seem innocuous enough), how can it be ethically answered within the guidelines of AskMe:
Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer? It's good to see that people linked to Howard Dully's story in the answers, but is there room for saying "You must be insane! How on earth would a lobotomy make meditation easier? Don't even *think* about doing such a thing to yourself!" to the poster while staying within the guidelines? Don't we have an obligation to dissuade askers from doing dangerous things?
posted by amyms
on Apr 8, 2008 -
54 comments
This thread was deleted for being a link to the poster's friend's site. The FAQ includes material produced by "close friends" in the self-link category. Does this mean we can't post anything made by people we know?
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posted by aaronetc
on Sep 24, 2007 -
79 comments
The AskMe
guidelines make a simple-sounding request: 'Please avoid "help me name my kitten/computer/website" and "help me make a mix CD" questions.' But these kinds of questions are posted
fairly frequently, and seldom seem to be deleted. How many of these kinds of questions are posted, and what proportion of those are removed? If the guideline isn't being enforced because people love the name-my-whatever questions, maybe it would be better to just get rid of the guideline. Alternately, if the guideline is to remain, maybe it would be better to make it more prominent, and/or to delete a larger proportion of the questions which break it.
posted by box
on Sep 2, 2007 -
76 comments
The subject of rewriting the
guidelines is something that
comes up from time to time. As MetaFilter evolves as a community, it is good to rewrite the guidelines to reflect evolving standards. I have been thinking about how to write new guidelines on and off for the last week and here's my proposal.
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posted by Kattullus
on Jul 26, 2007 -
113 comments
Self-link policy question:
I'm one of the creators of a site that features a lot of user-generated content (and has been
discussed on MeFi before). One of our users recently made something that I thought was pretty cool, and I'd like to share. The problem is that I have a conflict of interest here -- of course I want to drive more traffic to my site in general, but then I genuinely think this particular thing that a complete stranger made is pretty neat and people would find it enjoyable. Any opinions?
posted by xthlc
on Jul 24, 2007 -
25 comments
Do AskMe posts that don't contain a question on the front page annoy everyone else? Should the relevant text on the "Ask a new question page" be more prominent?
posted by ludwig_van
on Apr 8, 2007 -
40 comments
Are there price fixing guidelines for AskMefi? After
this question came up, I realized I am not very certain of price fixing laws. Is it okay to tell someone that there's a typical entry-level rate for freelancing or that a certain range is typical? If they come up with a fee, can we say yea or nay? I'm in Canada, so I assume rules may be different in the US. But perhaps we can establish some sort of guideline.
posted by acoutu
on Apr 3, 2007 -
42 comments
I made
this post, then found out that the link is all over digg/reddit. Is there a policy against diggfilter?
posted by tylermoody
on Feb 11, 2007 -
38 comments
Is there a definite rule about not FPPing links to possibly copyrighted material? As Viacom noticed there's a lot of videos on YouTube that probably shouldn't be there, and I'm unsure if we're allowed to include such things in posts.
posted by roofus
on Feb 9, 2007 -
60 comments
Isn't
this post of mine not really an "XYZ sucks, amirite" question? Looking at the answers I think it's more asking about the lack of cultural awareness of him while he has such success in Britain. Could understand it being deleted for being open-ended, but not the 'amirite' part.
posted by conch soup
on Jan 26, 2007 -
48 comments
I'm putting together a FPP about a certain inimitable cartoonist. I've found a place that has a lot of said cartoonist's strips available to view online. Great! But I'm concerned about linking to it because it's a commercial site. Pros: It's the most extensive collection of this artist's work online as far as I can tell. Cons: They're selling something. I'd like to include the page in my FPP but I'm not sure if it would be appropriate.
posted by GalaxieFiveHundred
on Jan 24, 2007 -
55 comments
It says in bold that Mefi Music is a place for users to upload
their own songs. I'm guessing that means original songs written by the user are being encouraged in order to avoid copyright infringement...? What about songs that aren't copywritten or are in the public domain, though? Are musicians welcome to post cover versions of old songs if royalty issues aren't a concern? Curious.
posted by miss lynnster
on Jan 13, 2007 -
36 comments
AskMe etiquette: is it OK to use AskMe answers as a lead-in for business? Someone close to me is a professional career counsellor/resume writer & I've thought of recommending they join MeFi specifically so they can join in answering job-related questions, with a thought to promoting their own services if people want more in-depth assistance. I'm absolutely NOT talking about a cookie-cutter spamish approach that purely takes advantage of the community while giving nothing in return, but real answers that help people out with an understated offer to provide something more substantial at a price. I see a lot of job- & career-related posts to AskMe & I see it as a good fit, but I'll only suggest it to them if I get a thumbs up from the hive.
posted by scalefree
on Jan 12, 2007 -
43 comments
AskMeFi Idea: Allow users to pay a nominal fee (e.g., $1) to post an 'emergency' question before their two weeks are up. The extra money could go towards maintenance/upgrades or whatnot, and the fact that it's not free would prevent it from being used often.
posted by fogster
on Dec 20, 2006 -
60 comments
Since when is it okay for a user
to ask Mefi to do his research for him? (or her) This person wants studies and research as opposed to personal stories... so isn't that just asking us to google it for him/her?
posted by IndigoRain
on Nov 26, 2006 -
39 comments
Tags: I hate how they have to be crunched into one word. What's the policy/ettiquette about using underscores? Does it break the database? Or should I avoid them just because they're not convention, therefore no one will know to search for them?
posted by Eideteker
on Nov 13, 2006 -
53 comments
Can you please list the city a job is in on the front page? It seems kind of silly to have to click every job to see if it's even in your state. Thank you.
posted by Manhasset
on Oct 20, 2006 -
4 comments
i don't like it when people post pictures in metafilter. I like animated gifs even less. It makes metafilter like every other message board on the web. Probably also you're flirting with the NSFW. What do other people think? Outlaw them, or let them stay?
posted by Miles Long
on Oct 19, 2006 -
144 comments
Is it really that hard for people to thoroughly read an AskMe question before answering? It seems increasingly more common to have mutliple answers to a question that duplicate material already mentioned in the question or answers that express concern for an aspect of the question the original poster already explicitly addressed. To get a sense of what I am talking about, see the first 6 or so answers
here.
posted by Falconetti
on Oct 5, 2006 -
30 comments
why? I was looking forward to reading this one and had marked it as a favorite (as had others). Do we have to explain why we ask each and every question now?
posted by lemonfridge
on Oct 3, 2006 -
112 comments
Does the self linking ban apply if you move a clip from someone's page onto your youtube to save their bandwidth?
The video in question isn't theirs, it's simply someone hosting a clip from a tv show.
posted by Lord_Pall
on Sep 28, 2006 -
19 comments
Am I stupid? Re: My very first deleted post. Yes, I've read the
FAQ and some of the
related discussions, and yes, I realize that hypotheticals are generally a no-no, but I thought this particular question could not be framed in any manner that was
not hypothetical, if you catch my drift. Please berate me appropriately.
posted by brina
on Sep 19, 2006 -
58 comments
After seeing posts like little Miss Professor's object de amour, I don't think AskMeFi should be closed to scorn. Many people that ask questions are only looking for approval, not answers.
posted by matty
on Sep 17, 2006 -
55 comments
Why the need to type (YouTube) next to the link in a post that goes to YouTube? I don't care if your post links to YouTube, and since you posted it, neither should you. Following that logic, wouldn't we need to put (Txt File) next to links that go to pages of text, for example? YouTube seems to be a fully accepted internet format and as such does it need special deliniation? (say, unlike 'Flash")
posted by BrodieShadeTree
on Aug 5, 2006 -
70 comments
I'm somewhat new to Ask MetaFilter, is it ok (scratch that), is it proper to re-post or a make a new post now that pictures are supplied? A few weeks ago I posted a question about the value of a Coke bottle with pork rib bones inside. At the time I had no pictures to go along with the original post, but a few days later I was able to post some, by that time the post was history - no response.
Thank you for your consideration.
posted by ok
on Jul 16, 2006 -
30 comments
Question regarding the new Music section: Current guidelines run along the lines of "Music you have written and/or recorded". I have an album which I helped produce, but did not write/record. I was very much involved in the creation of this album and would like to post an example or two. [MI]
posted by edgeways
on Jul 5, 2006 -
10 comments
Seems to me that
this question on AskMe is asking for advice on how to break the law, specifically how to break immigration law restricting the scope of the poster's employment. In order to get around the immigration laws, the income couldn't be reported to IRS, so he's asking how to break tax laws too.
I don't really care, but it seems to me that if "How can I break this law," violates the askme guidelines, then this post needs to be yanked.
posted by ikkyu2
on Jul 5, 2006 -
63 comments
This thread was deleted, but I have to admit, I don't understand why. "Ask MeFi isn't for silly hypotheticals," sez Matt, but hasn't it been before? And if not, exactly how practical must Ask MeFi questions be? I've seen plenty of hypotheticals on Ask MeFi before, and this struck me as an interesting thought exercise.
posted by WCityMike
on Apr 26, 2006 -
59 comments
