Can we keep deleted questions in AskMe?

March 23, 2006 9:12 AM

Can we keep deleted questions in AskMe? (Meaning still visible by number, as FPPs are)
posted by blue_beetle to Feature Requests at 9:12 AM (18 comments total)

We already do. Numbers that yield a "this post doesn't exist" are associated with anonymous questions that haven't shown up yet. Right?
posted by rxrfrx at 9:17 AM on March 23, 2006

Yeah, they already are held on to. I think the occasional one gets deleted outright for whatever reason, and it's only a relatively recent function addition too, so older ones will still be gone.
posted by antifuse at 9:22 AM on March 23, 2006

We already do, rxrfrx is right.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:34 AM on March 23, 2006

I think blue_beetle means he still wants to be able to read the AskMe deleted post and the ensuing thread, like we can do in the blue, via lofi or typing in the post number. In AskMe when a post is deleted, you just get the "Nothing to see here, move along" message. Unless something has changed?
posted by iconomy at 9:42 AM on March 23, 2006

iconomy, I assume you're using the Greasemonkey script that shows deleted posts. There's a known bug that makes that script show anonymous AskMe posts that Matt doesn't approve. They never existed, but are somehow getting assigned numbers.
posted by agropyron at 9:46 AM on March 23, 2006

Something has changed. The only AskMes that are totally deleted are ones that were submitted as anonymous and were rejected. Sadly, anonymous questions that are still in the queue have the same "Nothing to see here" message.
posted by Plutor at 9:46 AM on March 23, 2006

The script probably works by adding a link whenever there's a missing number between posts, so it makes sense that it would break if not-yet-approved AskMes actually increment the post count.
posted by agropyron at 9:47 AM on March 23, 2006

I think blue_beetle means he still wants to be able to read the AskMe deleted post and the ensuing thread, like we can do in the blue, via lofi or typing in the post number. In AskMe when a post is deleted, you just get the "Nothing to see here, move along" message. Unless something has changed?

You can do exactly what blue_beetle wants. Once again, deleted posts scripts are guessing that every missing ID from the front page are deleted posts, when many are unposted anon questions.

I don't know what the simple fix is for these scripts, but it doesn't make much sense for me to change how the backend is coded to make a couple outside developers' scripts work.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:53 AM on March 23, 2006

Man, I would love to see thoes anon askme questions that don't get aproved, just out of morbid curiosity.
posted by delmoi at 9:54 AM on March 23, 2006

delmoi writes "I would love to see thoes anon askme questions that don't get aproved, just out of morbid curiosity"

Many are questions matt doesn't think need to be anonymous.
posted by Mitheral at 10:36 AM on March 23, 2006

Ah. I don't have any GM scripts installed, I just didn't know that we could view deleted threads now.
posted by iconomy at 10:55 AM on March 23, 2006

How about the script writer changes the descriptor to say something other than "deleted thread". That would surely cut down on the number of meta threads asking this same question...
posted by Roger Dodger at 4:30 PM on March 23, 2006

This changed something like six months ago. Since then AskMe works just like the main metafilter page -- you can still visit deleted threads if you know their URL.

Let's take a little trip down memory lane of interesting deleted questions:

My girlfriend's sister is pregnant.
How many Black people are reading Metafilter?
Why is Captain Beefheart so good?
Stuck on an island
actors and actresses who were, in your opinion, just born to be cast in a certain role
please help roscoe
...and everyone's all time favorite, What in the NOW is happening!
posted by Rhomboid at 12:08 AM on March 24, 2006

How do you find old deleted AskMe posts? I still wonder about that "how do I tell my twin brother we cannot have gay sex anymore 'cause I'm getting married" thread that got deleted a few months back.
posted by pwb503 at 10:16 AM on March 24, 2006

Most of them can be found with a google search but for some I had to dig around in my RSS reader and/or metatalk archives.
posted by Rhomboid at 11:53 AM on March 24, 2006

Deleted threads now have noindex, nofollow, though, so Google won't be able to help out in that department in the future.
posted by Gator at 11:57 AM on March 24, 2006

Ah, well that makes it into more of a proper sport then.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:10 PM on March 24, 2006

Well I can't find that deleted post about incest. I suspect it might have been just outright deleted since it was so... I don't know.

Here are some other mildly interesting deleted threads:

i'd like to date the hive mind.
What makes one a slut, a ho, or a trick?
Making money IN the past.
Who's right and wrong in this lost camera matter?
¿Best Pop?
Give sharts a number!
No happiness, only moments?
Pool our resources and talk back to power?
Hindsight Is 20-to-Life: Getting Away With the Loomis-Fargo Heist
What is understanding?
What to pay sales people? Am I paying too much
The view from up where?
Personally, I'd like a vacation
WTF with the HSN Knife Shows?
posted by Rhomboid at 3:54 PM on March 24, 2006