MetaTalk posts tagged with guidelines

Hypothetically speaking...

disillusioned — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:16:01 -0800

Why was this question nixed? It seems to me that this question is totally fair game in AskMe. It's asking a hypothetical that also touches on some interesting concepts with physics and I've asked plenty of great hypothetical questions (does it burn more, the less, or the same amount energy to cllimb stairs two at a time vs. one at a time, etc) that enforce my love of AskMe. I guess I'm asking for clarification on the specificity threshold swiffa apparently breached since it seems largely arbitrary.

I'm puzzled by an AskMe that I think is chatfilter.

fritley — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:38:33 -0800

I tag chatty questions and they almost always get deleted. Sometimes, though, I think a question is chatty but it doesn't. That's fine of course - I might just be wrong. But on this one I go read the guidelines again and aside from minor wording differences, it's exactly the first "thing to avoid". Now that's not what is puzzling. What puzzles me is that this is a wildly popular thread. The participation is huge, and of good quality (even though nobody mentioned "Thunder Road"). Other chatty questions get silly responses because everyone knows they will be deleted. Did the mods somehow know that it's an interesting question and lots of people would love to read it and opine? Is there something about the question I don't see? Is my reading of the guidelines wrong, or are they not as clear as I think? I hope it doesn't look like I'm demanding an explanation from anyone (this is my first MeTa and I have not read it as long as Ask) but I wonder if I am missing something. If I just deserve a "tag it and move on" that's fine - give it to me.

For sale is a problem?

chasing — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:38:03 -0800

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. The main issue, I suppose, is that it doesn't seem to violate any of the guidelines. Micha is an active user. She enjoyed the game and thought it Mefi-worthy. It's for sale, but certainly other "for sale" items get posted without removal. Also, I feel like it went through the sort of proposed channel for this kind of thing: I stuck it up on Projects (with mod approval) -- another member found it, liked it, and decided to promote it to the front page. That actually seems like a very healthy community-centric process. Obviously I'm bitching a bit because I'd love the link to have remained live. The traffic is nice -- although the game certainly isn't making anyone rich. It's just a fun project. And I love feedback and conversation (which can be quite hard to get). And feedback and conversation are definitely two things Metafilter excels at -- a reason I was so excited to see the link in the first place.

No, my post is not about the Imageshack frog

Rhaomi — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:40:22 -0800

What's the best way to link to a large image on Mefi? I'm planning a post which will have as one of its links a single large image (about 500 x 6500 pixels). I'm afraid that if I link straight to the image the server might tank or that the image will be simply removed. I could use an image hosting site like Imageshack or Photobucket, but those have their pitfalls, too. So is there any reliable site that could handle the load of serving a huge image to the Mefi crowd? Or should I maybe slice and dice the image into more manageable chunks and host those (which I can also do)?

We'll all need lobotomies to keep from shouting "Don't do it!"

amyms — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:53:21 -0800

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?

pathetic insensitive

survivorman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:45:58 -0800

This project is offensive beyond the pale for those who worship the Son of God, and who are grateful He gave His life and defeated death. While people are evidently allowed to broadcast their insensitive and tasteless hate and "humour" like this regarding someone elses faith, I should be allowed to express my view also. And I am. And you've heard it.

This is not what AskMe is for.

lonefrontranger — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:26:31 -0800

Can we simply answer the question, rather than snarking or preaching? Thanks!

More tips & hints on a good post

ObscureReferenceMan — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:55:07 -0800

Since I can't be an example to others, at least I can serve as a stark warning... I thought I'd call myself out on this post. So kids, in the future, make sure all the links you provide can be accessed by everyone. That is all.

How close is "close"?

aaronetc — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:29:46 -0800

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? Also, doesn't this sort of invalidate the idea behind Projects, which is that if it's good, somebody will FPP it? Many of us here are friends, after all. Given the fact that this was not an abjectly bad post and that people seemed to be enjoying it, this deletion strikes me as way overreaching on a vague policy point.

Please help me name my mix CD about kittens.

box — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:19:56 -0800

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.

Proposal for new MetaFilter guidelines

Kattullus — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:30:03 -0800

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. [more inside]

Big (Pepsi) Blue

xthlc — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:37:17 -0800

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?

ComicGeekChatfilter

Doohickie — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:42:11 -0800

ComicGeekChatfilter

It's not a question if your voice doesn't go up at the end

ludwig_van — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 13:53:34 -0800

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?

It's a really interesting question though. (but it's chat)

bigmusic — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:19:38 -0800

I would like to participate in a disscussion about dumb, funny, or peculiar advice found in a self-help books. Oh, and I'll go first.

Price fixing guidelines?

acoutu — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:29:07 -0800

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.

Diggfilter

tylermoody — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:38:25 -0800

I made this post, then found out that the link is all over digg/reddit. Is there a policy against diggfilter?

FPPs to Copyrighted Material

roofus — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 02:39:29 -0800

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.

Isn't this post of mine not really an "XYZ sucks, amirite" question?

conch soup — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:15:14 -0800

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.

Commercial Link in FPP?

GalaxieFiveHundred — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:23:26 -0800

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.

Bad Question for AskMe

vacapinta — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:27:29 -0800

"There's no way random strangers can help you with this." Strongly agreed. This type of question does not belong on ask metafilter. Too many variables and no detail whatsoever.

Music Guidelines

miss lynnster — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:49:59 -0800

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.

AskMe Etiquette

scalefree — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:14:51 -0800

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.

Wikipedia as FPP?

furtive — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:14:13 -0800

Has it become acceptable to copy paste a wikipedia article, shuffle the links around a bit and make an FPP out of it, or did this one just go under the radar?

Emergency Questions

fogster — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:19:29 -0800

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.