Do sub-par AskMe posts get a second chance?

December 21, 2005 4:42 PM

AskMeTa: Do sub-par AskMe posts get a second chance? Is it worth it? [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) to Etiquette/Policy at 4:42 PM (9 comments total)

I posted a question in the Green the other day which I soon afterward felt was vague and poorly phrased. I didn't have time to post a clarification until the thread had all but scrolled off the front page, and since only three comments were posted after that, I think we can conclude that by then the thread had more or less run its course.

However, I feel that the discussion would have benefited from a more specific phrasing of the question, and I suspect that more people would have weighed in with their thoughts. So my AskMeTa is as follows:

a) Is it okay to post a better-put version of this question again when the weekly limit is over?

and

b) If you think it is ok, do you think it will be worth it?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:44 PM on December 21, 2005

From the thread: "I think it's a good question, but unanswerable."

It looks like you got a ton of responses to what is pretty much an unanswerable question. I think it turned out better than I would have expected, and don't see a need for a repost of the same question.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:55 PM on December 21, 2005

No, you fucked up. Marking your own question as best sealed your coffin. RIP.


Seriously, seeing as your clarification clarified nothing, apart from "Tell me some great bands from Holland" how do you plan to rephrase this? There was a lot of good info in that thread.
posted by fire&wings at 5:14 PM on December 21, 2005

A good feature might be to let users bump a question back up to the front page in lieu of posting a question for the week. For example, a while back I asked about places to develop film in Toronto. Maybe something new has opened up since then that all the mefites are going to. If I could bump my old question back up to the front page, you'd have the old answers, plus new ones, all in the same place.

Though I do see how such a feature could be used to keep annoying threads alive.
posted by chunking express at 8:16 PM on December 21, 2005

chunking express - it _would_ be used to keep ONLY annoying threads alive, by a handful of malicious individuals. Or one malicious individual with a handful of sock puppets.
posted by swell at 8:47 PM on December 21, 2005

I think chunking express means that you could only bump your own threads back up, and you could only do it instead of asking a new question for the week.

That said, it's an interesting thought, but I don't think it would work out. Unless there was some sort of imposed bumping limit.
posted by ArsncHeart at 8:57 PM on December 21, 2005

Holy shit, you expected an actual answer to that question?
posted by cillit bang at 9:12 PM on December 21, 2005

Alright, fair enough. Thanks for your input, guys.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:26 AM on December 22, 2005

Yeah, I meant only you could bump your question instead of posting a new one. Perhaps you could only bump it once a year or something? I'm sure you can find a solution that would work well, and wouldn't be easy to abuse.
posted by chunking express at 7:39 AM on December 22, 2005