Shorten AskMe Wait

September 4, 2005 9:55 AM

Why is it that I can criticize Metafilter policy or features on a daily basis but I have to wait a week for help with things that are actually important? I say shorten the wait for Ask Metafilter to one or two days, because advice is a much-needed thing.
posted by Citizen Premier to Feature Requests at 9:55 AM (32 comments total)

Or you could just buy a second account for $5 and shorten your wait time accordingly, and no policy change would be required.
posted by Rothko at 9:58 AM on September 4, 2005

Why would anyone need advice from AskMetafilter more than once a week? If the question is not pressing, it can wait a week, and if the question is pressing, then there are probably better resources to get an answer than AskMetafilter. I like the one week waiting period.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:00 AM on September 4, 2005 [1 favorite]

Well, what if we had a once a month emergency post, that would allow us to post twice in one week? Some issues are more pressing and internet searches don't solve all problems.
posted by Citizen Premier at 10:08 AM on September 4, 2005

Some issues are more pressing and internet searches don't solve all problems.

Exactly. There have been some "emergency" questions on AskMetafilter that obviously need to be asked of a lawyer, a doctor, a therapist- a profesional that knows what they're talking about. I'm sorry, I just can't think of a good example of a question that is so desperate, and yet so solveable by the AskMeta population, that the wait time should be shortened.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:14 AM on September 4, 2005 [1 favorite]

Say, for example, someone had a dead rattlesnake they found, and wanted to preserve its skeleton and skin, but didn't know anyone who knew how, and therefore wanted to ask a large group in the hopes that someone did. This issue is pressing, because the snake would start stinking in a few days and have to be thrown away, most likely.
I'm sure there are plenty of other examples that are not life-threatening but that require quick help.
posted by Citizen Premier at 10:17 AM on September 4, 2005

Why can't you buy a second account? Or ask another MeFite to ask the question on your behalf?
posted by Rothko at 10:20 AM on September 4, 2005

I must say that the "dead rattlesnake" rationale is among the most batshit loonball excuses for "emergency" that I have ever heard.
Not that you don't potentially have a point, Citizen Premier, but, seriously, WTF? Do you often encounter stinking snakes?
posted by Dr. Wu at 10:24 AM on September 4, 2005

Use Google? The answer to your example can probably be found here.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:25 AM on September 4, 2005

Well, thank you, monju_bosatsu, I was going in entirely the wrong direction with my searches. But I still think the policy deserves a little revision, and I didn't just do this to ask my question on the grey.

And Dr. Wu, this may seem strange to you if you aren't a naturalist, but I like to go out to the desert and look for animals, and if I can find a dead specimen it's all the better.
posted by Citizen Premier at 10:34 AM on September 4, 2005

Maybe the question then shouldn't be whether the second question is pressingly important, but whether the first one was worthwhile and necessary...
posted by benzo8 at 10:36 AM on September 4, 2005

You're right: I'm not a naturalist. You have me there. I *still* think your example was really weird.

My larger point, however, was: use your questions wisely, then, and do better web searches for the stuff that can be answered without posting to AskMe, a forum whose strength does not particularly lie in its ability to respond to emergencies.
posted by Dr. Wu at 10:45 AM on September 4, 2005

Put the snake in the freezer.

Alternately, you can make friends with other MetaFilterians through all the usual channels and see if one of them would post your question for you. I, for example, rarely use my questions and would be happy to share in the event of some true emergency. MetaChat and MonkeyFilter both have question answering features that work as well.
posted by jessamyn at 10:55 AM on September 4, 2005

Why is it that I can criticize Metafilter policy or features on a daily basis but I have to wait a week for help with things that are actually important?

because otherwise we'd get 500 questions a day and AskMefi would become unusable?
posted by matteo at 11:18 AM on September 4, 2005

A dead rattlesnake? GET ME THE PRESIDENT!
posted by Krrrlson at 11:18 AM on September 4, 2005

Citizen Premier, you've seen the astonishing speed at which AskMe posts roll off the front page? And how many good questions get only a few prefunctory answers because so few folks ever see them? That is the reason why we can only post once a week. (And why using a second account to get around the rules is an act of bad faith.)
posted by LarryC at 11:21 AM on September 4, 2005

Why is it that I can criticize Metafilter policy or features on a daily basis but I have to wait a week for help with things that are actually important?

There are over 26,000 members now, about 6-8k of those are actively using the site daily. If everyone could post a question at their whim, the site would be nearly unusable due to the sheer volume of questions and fatigue on the part of people answering.

Also, not sure if you noticed this, but an account at MetaFilter (and one-week waiting period) lets you change the front page content of the site. There aren't a lot of sites or systems that allow that, even bulletin boards bury new content a page or two deep. So you get to change the page, and I have to trust that you know what you are doing, which is why I added the one-week waiting period, so that people would have time to watch others and see how they are expected to act and post. When the waiting period wasn't there, there were many mistakes made and people breaking the rules (posting links to their own site).

And to bring it back around: this is a large community, and getting answers from everyone is something to be cherished and not abused, so you can only ask a question once a week, max. Everyone has loads of questions they could ask if there were no limits, but I know they would tend much more towards the trivial, reducing the usefulness of both the questions and the answers on Ask MetaFilter.

Also, your original question asking why you can criticize MetaFilter is because I don't mind not having limits on using the ol' suggestion box. You're a new member, wanted to criticize how things are done, and you're welcome to it.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:45 AM on September 4, 2005

Alternately, although I only ask a question about every six weeks or so, why do I always seem to have another within 2 days after posting one?
posted by mischief at 11:47 AM on September 4, 2005

Well, I appreciate the lengthy response, Matt. I think now perhaps the problem is with the nature of humanity. I think I'm going to petition God.

I presume it wouldn't work to have questions deleted after a "best answer" is marked...would it?
posted by Citizen Premier at 11:53 AM on September 4, 2005

That's an interesting idea - giving the posters an option of deleting the question (or better yet, not deleting it but moving it off the main AskMe page to some auxiliary page) if they already received answers they were looking for. It won't work for all the questions but it may help clear things up a little bit.

How about it?
posted by Krrrlson at 12:00 PM on September 4, 2005

Part of AskMetafilter's charm is the ability to go back and reread old questions. I've searched and found answers to questions answered in the past, eliminating my need to ask it again. Deleting questions is definitely a bad idea, and as for "moving" questions to some sort of auxillary page, that sounds like an awful lot of work for Matt.

::crooning:: Don't change AskMeta to try and please allthesecrazypeople... I love you just the waaaaaay you aaaaaare...
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:31 PM on September 4, 2005 [1 favorite]

But what if you have this homeless guy in your basement that you hit with a car, and you're not sure if he's going to make it, but you can't take him to a doctor because, you know, you drove around with him in your trunk for two days, and your question is how long someone can live in a basement without food or water or medical attention now that the bleeding has stopped and he's all tied up?
Oh, and does asking anonymously use one from your quota? I'm just curious.
posted by klangklangston at 12:52 PM on September 4, 2005

klangklangston,
A sophisticated Michigander like you should be able to handle the quotidian circumstance you describe. Everybody knows how to deal with homeless etc. guys.
posted by Cranberry at 1:07 PM on September 4, 2005

I second ThePinkSuperHero - if it really is _that_ urgent MeFi is probably not the right place - call 911 (or equivalent) or the police or a good friend. And we definitely have enough questions as it is - I check twice or more a day and still have trouble keeping up. So please, with so many users as we have got, keep at least a week's break or more.
posted by keijo at 1:41 PM on September 4, 2005

I presume it wouldn't work to have questions deleted after a "best answer" is marked...would it?

This is the worst suggestion since that nested threading one that was posted, what, day before yesterday and has already fallen off the front page of MeTa. God, we're a talkative bunch.
posted by languagehat at 1:53 PM on September 4, 2005

Citizen Encore?
posted by Chuckles at 2:08 PM on September 4, 2005

Whatever did you do before AskMefi? Did you lie prostrate, thrashing about in a pool of your own waste? You poor, pitiful bastard.
posted by crunchland at 5:57 PM on September 4, 2005

Cranberry: Yeah, but I'm vegetarian. Usually they're just smoked and turned into jerky. I shoulda mentioned that in the my friend's question.
posted by klangklangston at 6:22 PM on September 4, 2005

"Whatever did you do before AskMefi?"

Dear Abby: My penis has developed a marked curve to the left. How do I explain to my bedpartners that I really don't spend hour after hour on the internets masturbating to tentacle pr0n?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:22 PM on September 4, 2005

Whatever did you do before AskMefi?

Had a lot of dead stinking rattlesnakes, obviously.

Also, I note that "Put him in the freezer" is a pretty viable answer to most questions on AskMe. Including klangklangston's.
posted by swell at 7:34 PM on September 4, 2005

I'm a bit late coming into the thread, but a "naturalist" wouldn't post to AskMe, but would refer to their conservatory group. Oh, and if there wasn't any vodka to put in a plastic bag, the freezer would preserve the snake's remains as jess stated.

Think about your "hypothetical" a bit longer, Citizen Premier. The delay between AskMe posts isn't a jail sentence, nor is the green the only venue for asking questions.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:22 AM on September 5, 2005

I love the dead snake rationale. I'm using it for everything from now on.
posted by OmieWise at 7:04 AM on September 5, 2005

I don't know that I've ever actually offered before, but I'm willing to post questions for people.
posted by deborah at 12:34 PM on September 5, 2005