Take it offline, or at least off the front page October 25, 2006 9:04 PM   Subscribe


Can we all agree that "here are forty-five more details of this painful, personal situation" does not follow the rule "Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer"? Sure, avoiding just such a response is part of what an OP should do, but is it really what we want for AskMe?

Then again, I don't personally soap operas either.
posted by salvia at 9:05 PM on October 25, 2006


personally *enjoy*, I mean.
posted by salvia at 9:05 PM on October 25, 2006


I know what they both need!

And yeah, AskMe isn't a school cafeteria; that shit should be deleted.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:10 PM on October 25, 2006


Also: This ain't a livejournal.
Deserves a ban for making me have to point that out.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:14 PM on October 25, 2006


(G + V) - V + C = ?
posted by smackfu at 9:17 PM on October 25, 2006


Good lord, that's a nightmare. I deleted the question, which should keep it out of Google.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:24 PM on October 25, 2006


smackfu, is that actually the formula? I can't be arsed to actually decipher that viper's pit of banality.
posted by loquacious at 9:29 PM on October 25, 2006


"This post was deleted for the following reason: this is a nightmare."

I have never agreed more with a deletion reason. Wow. That is absolutely terrible.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 9:31 PM on October 25, 2006


({[(G + V) - G] + (G + C)} / A)J = totally motherfucked up, with kids.
posted by carsonb at 9:34 PM on October 25, 2006


Three comments on the juicy account, all in that thread.

Why is it I feel like, more and more, people are gaming AskMe for drama points. Reminds me of another thread.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:36 PM on October 25, 2006


((Gv)-v)+CG-vcH
posted by loquacious at 9:36 PM on October 25, 2006


What carsonb said. I forgot about A, the scarlet letter.
posted by loquacious at 9:37 PM on October 25, 2006


*covers ears to block wailing of frustrated net voyeurs*

Nice catch. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere regarding room for doubt about any original poster's version of events in relationship AskMe's, but you'd have to dig through too much garbage to find it so never mind.
posted by mediareport at 9:41 PM on October 25, 2006


GV2 + AV + C = 0

(the only thing I got from high school Algebra)
posted by Kickstart70 at 9:49 PM on October 25, 2006


*sigh* I wish I could fix it when I comment in the wrong thread.
posted by carsonb at 9:56 PM on October 25, 2006


heh
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:58 PM on October 25, 2006


There should be a special home for these wonderful AskMe trainwrecks. Like on the sidebar.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 10:01 PM on October 25, 2006


Kraftmatic, that's maybe the first Mefi comment that literally got me to chuckle out loud. LOL, like, for real. :-)
posted by salvia at 10:06 PM on October 25, 2006


By the usual criteria, this is a real question that poses a legitimate problem to be solved. But yeah, "this is a nightmare" pretty much captures the issue with this question.
posted by brain_drain at 10:23 PM on October 25, 2006


There should be a special home for these wonderful AskMe trainwrecks. Like on the sidebar.

Encourages people to try for bad posts yadda yadda. It's been suggested at least ninety-six times.
posted by The God Complex at 10:52 PM on October 25, 2006


*sigh* Man, I KNEW this would get dragged into MeTa. Or rather, I knew as soon as I found out that word had 'hit the street'.
The friend who asked me to pose the question was, of course, G. So yeah - it apparently made it's way across the tubes into V's box too. Finally, from there, it made it's way to a DIFFERENT A, better known as Juicy Newt.
For what it's worth, I really apologize for what happened with that thread. I wasn't trying to be dramatic or whatever - I was just honestly curious about the blackmail situation. There is obviously alot more to the story, but I didn't feel it was really pertinent to my actual question. I was trying to keep it as to the point as possible because I didn't want it to hurt anyone's feelings - like I said, I really care about both G, my friend of about 13 years, and V, whom I've known for nearly the same.
So yeah - color me embarrassed. Sorry ya'll.
posted by Bageena at 11:23 PM on October 25, 2006


I hope you're a troll, Bageena.
posted by blacklite at 11:48 PM on October 25, 2006


I'm not.
posted by Bageena at 11:48 PM on October 25, 2006


"A lot" is two words.
posted by timeistight at 11:59 PM on October 25, 2006


wow. that thread [the deleted one] reads like Joyce's Ulysses.
posted by exlotuseater at 11:59 PM on October 25, 2006


wow. that thread [the deleted one] reads like Joyce's Ulysses.

Yes, because it had overarching structuration minutely applied, polyphonic orchestral voicings that sing the length of the language, and took seven years to write. It was later banned for indecency, just as happens in AskMe!
posted by Wolof at 12:22 AM on October 26, 2006 [3 favorites]


I actually enjoyed the thread, DramaFilter is way funnier than IdonthaveinsurancesopleasegivemebadmedicaladviceFilter.

anyway, we got a new tagline -- MetaTalk: keep it out of Google
posted by matteo at 2:31 AM on October 26, 2006


What a clusterfuck.
posted by fixedgear at 3:23 AM on October 26, 2006


"A lot" is two words.

Also, it's y'all.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:39 AM on October 26, 2006


It's the alphabet i feel sorry for most.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:45 AM on October 26, 2006 [3 favorites]


like sand through the hourglass of time, these are the days of our lives.

*swells hammond*
posted by quonsar at 4:19 AM on October 26, 2006


It's the MeFites who publically get off on the misfortunes of others that I respect the least.
posted by onalark at 4:34 AM on October 26, 2006


What, onalark, you mean all of us?
posted by ikkyu2 at 4:42 AM on October 26, 2006 [1 favorite]


.
posted by OmieWise at 5:21 AM on October 26, 2006


Oh dear. This makes me question the honesty of all relationship AskMes. We usually take people's questions and their presentation of the facts in good faith, and there's no knowing how often we're being taken for a ride, or even just relying on the word of someone who doesn't have the judgment to present the case accurately.
posted by orange swan at 5:55 AM on October 26, 2006


IdonthaveinsurancesopleasegivemebadmedicaladviceFilter

matteo, that's even better than a new tagline
posted by TedW at 5:56 AM on October 26, 2006


there's nothing worse than people pubically getting off on others misfortunes - well said.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:57 AM on October 26, 2006


Hammonds are swell.
posted by cortex at 6:16 AM on October 26, 2006


I pretty much always make that assumption, Orange Swan. But in most cases, the person asking is directly involved, and asking for advice on their own behaviour. They have to be aware as they self-edit to the most flattering view of things that they're going to get advice based only on what they present. And if they're not aware of that risk, or they're not aware that they're self-editing what they write, well, our advice is probably not making that much difference - they're going to do whatever they wanted to do anyway.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:24 AM on October 26, 2006


I could never follow the plots of those Victorian novels that only use initials.

(As for the misrepresentation— yeah, my girlfriend and I saw a question from a friend of hers that was basically like 'People think I'm annoying, but it's only because I'm awesome— tell me how awesome I am!' which people gladly complied with, while those that know her got a fair smirk out of knowing that she really can be pretty obnoxious and the warped, flattering picture she painted of herself was directly related to that obnoxiousness.)
posted by klangklangston at 6:35 AM on October 26, 2006


Please least wipe off misfortune when you're done. There are others waiting.
posted by lovejones at 6:50 AM on October 26, 2006


Yeah, I think it's pretty a obvious assumption that when we only hear one side of a relationship story, it's pretty much always going to be skewed in favor of the story teller. That's just human nature. I always presume there's more to the story than what we're hearing in the main post.
posted by boomchicka at 6:57 AM on October 26, 2006


There should be a special home for these wonderful AskMe trainwrecks.

Cough.
posted by mendel at 8:02 AM on October 26, 2006


It's the MeFites who publically get off on the misfortunes of others that I respect the least.

So it's OK if they enjoy the schadenfreude privately, right?

Sorry. Had to.
posted by twiggy at 8:11 AM on October 26, 2006


Wow, a Jerry Springer show broke out in that thread. So who was the father again?
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:11 AM on October 26, 2006


Oh dear. This makes me question the honesty of all relationship AskMes. We usually take people's questions and their presentation of the facts in good faith, and there's no knowing how often we're being taken for a ride, or even just relying on the word of someone who doesn't have the judgment to present the case accurately.
posted by orange swan


I rarely take the presentation of facts in good faith because rarely are they presented in good faith. A big red flag pops up and starts waving frantically as soon as someone says, "I'm asking for a friend..."

Truthiness is in the eye of the beholder.
posted by leftcoastbob at 8:11 AM on October 26, 2006


We usually take people's questions and their presentation of the facts in good faith,

who's "we"? a nice chunk of the craziest questions are quite clearly the product of some bored user's imagination. there are people here who take the trouble of purchasing several accounts in order to start flamewars, it's not that making crazy shit up just to see how it looks on askmefi is somehow beneath them. I take most crazy questions with the proverbial pound of salt
posted by matteo at 8:23 AM on October 26, 2006


Sand through the hourglass??

More like meatloaf through a straw.
posted by flabdablet at 8:31 AM on October 26, 2006


Wait, I get it, that was a story problem wasn't it? No wonder I glazed over so quickly.
In all seriousness though, the OP may have had honerable intentions, but that question was like throwing red meat to a pit bull, that hasn't eaten in a week, and has tape worms...
Interesting how quickly someone connected to the story showed up.
posted by edgeways at 8:46 AM on October 26, 2006


Like breasts through an hourglass, these are the lays of our lives.

Whatever happened to Wally Bile?
posted by owhydididoit at 8:52 AM on October 26, 2006


Oh my. Touch all the bases.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:12 AM on October 26, 2006


Oh dear. This makes me question the honesty of all relationship AskMes. We usually take people's questions and their presentation of the facts in good faith, and there's no knowing how often we're being taken for a ride, or even just relying on the word of someone who doesn't have the judgment to present the case accurately.
posted by orange swan


I did though. Or I was trying to, anyways. I didn't see how G and V having children affected whether or not what she was doing was blackmail. That's really all G wanted to know, and presenting every facet of their awful relationship and all the stupid drama that orbits around it shouldn't have produced any different answers. I was really trying to keep it from sounding as ridiculous as it truly is. It failed.
Anyways, I've learned my lesson - I'm only asking questions for myself from now on. Everyone else can get their own account. This wasn't the way I would have chosen to win some notoriety 'round here.
posted by Bageena at 9:18 AM on October 26, 2006


Stupid and horrible.
posted by prostyle at 9:21 AM on October 26, 2006


I would like to suggest that future such trainwrecks be properly labelled for easier comprehension and subsequent derision. Eg, W = Wife; H= Husband; G = Girlfriend; GH = Girlfriend's Husband. Also, I still can't figure out who A is in this scenario.
posted by footnote at 9:43 AM on October 26, 2006


Oh, and maybe this is a more useful comment, Bageena. I've been harping on this in AskMe lately, so I'll say it here again: You're not going to get good answers to legal questions having to do with a specific set of facts, like "is this blackmail," on Askme. Issues of timeliness and attorney-client privilege mean that you need to go to a real-life lawyer to protect yourself if you think you're suffering a legal wrong.
posted by footnote at 9:46 AM on October 26, 2006


Pity these people are not famous celbrities so we could get the lowdown on the cover of the tabloids while standing in line at the grocery store with our bacon and beer.
posted by bukvich at 9:49 AM on October 26, 2006 [1 favorite]


Meh, I prefer my bacon in the beer.
posted by jmd82 at 9:51 AM on October 26, 2006


A GOOD HORSE-WHIPPING WILL CHEER UP THIS WHOLE UNHAPPY ALPHABET
posted by Mister_A at 10:02 AM on October 26, 2006


[Strikes jmd82 and his bacon from guest list]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:02 AM on October 26, 2006


Just to be clear, I wasn't saying "I hope you're a troll" because I'm taking please in misfortune. I just can't make sense out of A and B and V and Z and Q and all the whatever that's going on. It just doesn't work for me.

And, line breaks! They're good for you!
posted by blacklite at 2:20 PM on October 26, 2006


If G was driving his train due west at 35 miles/hr and simultaneously getting a blowjob from A, and V was driving her train due east at 55 miles an hour and simultaneously obsessively emailing A, what colour is the brakeman's hat?
posted by orange swan at 3:28 PM on October 26, 2006


I cannot tell why, but I must refer us all to Ctrl+Alt+Del's Chef Brian.
posted by cgc373 at 3:43 PM on October 26, 2006


Oh my. Touch all the bases.

But only if you have gloves and some of that disinfectant hand gel.
posted by FunkyHelix at 3:45 PM on October 26, 2006


Pity these people are not famous celbrities so we could get the lowdown on the cover of the tabloids while standing in line at the grocery store with our bacon and beer.

Totally. Right after the rumble in the soda aisle.
posted by salvia at 10:33 PM on October 26, 2006


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