Check on this one. January 17, 2008 10:18 AM   Subscribe

I see a check mark by this question on the AskMe front page, but no best answer marked inside.

And I'm using firefox 2.0.0.11.
posted by googly to Bugs at 10:18 AM (36 comments total)

You're not crazy. That's what happens, apparently, when a comment marked as "best answer" gets deleted. (Note: random jokey derail anecdotes are still noise even if the OP chuckles.)

We could probably fix that.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:24 AM on January 17, 2008


Yep, not a browser-related bug. This is on the server side. It's on the to-do list!
posted by pb (staff) at 10:25 AM on January 17, 2008


We could probably fix that

Yes but what of the romance of imperfection? What of the thrill of the incomplete? What of the poetry of error?

Come, there are wider skies than this, and we shall explore them you and I.

Or not. Whatever.
posted by Jofus at 10:33 AM on January 17, 2008 [11 favorites]


Problem identified: check.
Solution in the works: check.
Sanity reconfirmed: check.
posted by googly at 10:34 AM on January 17, 2008


What of the poetry of error?

I get like ten haikus a day via MefiMail telling me that I'm wrong, so we're solid there.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:37 AM on January 17, 2008 [2 favorites]


Cortex noticed me!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:38 AM on January 17, 2008


Ah, denormalisation.
posted by Burger-Eating Invasion Monkey at 10:40 AM on January 17, 2008


Poesy is hose-y, but verse is worse.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:00 AM on January 17, 2008


cortex: "...even if the OP chuckles."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When admins start saying OP, it's time for us all to weep a little.
/me pours tomato juice on the curb for his contacts.
posted by Plutor at 11:08 AM on January 17, 2008


The effect of constant exposure. I kinda hate "OP" too, and when I wrote that I hitched up and almost changed it—I usually go with "asker"—and then just didn't.

I've also found myself typing "hella" as an intensifier without thinking about it, lately. Dammit.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:14 AM on January 17, 2008


I'm down with OPP.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 11:19 AM on January 17, 2008


I've also found myself typing "hella" as an intensifier without thinking about it, lately.

A sign of incipient madness, by the way. Trust me. Down that road lies psychosis, and not the fun chemical kind.
posted by aramaic at 11:21 AM on January 17, 2008


My position is consistent! Beets are great!

Even in this aberrant case, I was miming Jessamyn's own use of the phrasing earlier in the thread. And here, well, I think I was just exhausted at five paragraphs in. It was a lapse in judgment. I hadn't been sleeping. Mistakes were made.

Matt's kinda against it too, though he's slipped as well.

Jessamyn is just hopeless on this. OP as far as the eye can see. She's cuckoo for it. By a rough, really really unverified count, she may be responsible for something like 3-5% of all OP comments on the site. I feel so betrayed.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:33 AM on January 17, 2008


The effect of constant exposure.

But have you changed your business card to say "Mod" or "Admin"? Now that would be hella telling.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 11:34 AM on January 17, 2008


She's cuckoo for it.

Cuckoo for OP-puffs, that's me. I type too much here to eschew shorthand indiscriminantly.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:57 AM on January 17, 2008


The earliest Jessamyn-used [and, hence, I think, admin-used] OP that I can source is here, from Feb. 2006. That post-dates Matt's Dec. 2005 wish, linked above; but where was the first-ever instance? Was it the text of that post? Earlier? Much earlier? Let's see.

Well, the earliest use of (mostly) bare "op" I can find is in this March 2000 this big-nosed plbbbbt emoticon, but that hardly counts.

Find here an early (the earliest?) use, in Feb. 2002, of "OP" in a genuinely related context: "original post".

Red herring? October 2005 reference to OP as 'original pronunciation', amidst a suggestion that we add a "Best Answer" field. Progress.

But two days earlier, a positive match, and there are more near that. So definitely in play by Oct. 2005.

And I think I may have to abort this hunt for now; I'm worried that my thorough method may have just melted the db's face off.

posted by cortex (staff) at 12:16 PM on January 17, 2008 [1 favorite]


But have you changed your business card to say "Mod" or "Admin"?

Someone from the WPI Alumni Association called to update my directory information (and, oh, by the way, there's offering a tremendous deal where I can get the deluxe Alumni Directory Package for the heavily discounted price of $159.99), I hemmed and hawed and decided to tell them my current occupation was "Website Administrator". Because as vague job descriptions go, I like that better than anything I can come up with for my dayjob.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:21 PM on January 17, 2008


We could just refer to all OPs as "Bob."
posted by JanetLand at 12:23 PM on January 17, 2008


Yes but what of the romance of imperfection?

Maybe we could change it from a check to a question mark in these cases.
posted by smackfu at 12:29 PM on January 17, 2008


I always liked OP, but Aunt Bee was a bitch.
posted by post punk at 12:32 PM on January 17, 2008


I'm worried that my thorough method may have just melted the db's face off.

Is that why the site was hanging half an hour ago? I was forced to go finish watching Jodi Foster force a romantic lead opposite Mel Gibson.
posted by carsonb at 12:33 PM on January 17, 2008


The force of my displeasure is a force to be reckoned with. This comment seems forced.
posted by carsonb at 12:34 PM on January 17, 2008


"OP" is better than "TC" (thread creator?) which I've seen in some other corners of the interwebs. "TC" makes me feel like I'm trapped in an episode of Magnum.
posted by juv3nal at 12:38 PM on January 17, 2008


note: Everyone needs a Higgins.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:48 PM on January 17, 2008


Maybe not.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:56 PM on January 17, 2008


We could probably fix that.

Stop deleting best answers.

There you go: fixed.
posted by timeistight at 12:59 PM on January 17, 2008


We should call them "OPP"s. For "Original Posting Party"
posted by delmoi at 1:07 PM on January 17, 2008


"OP" is better than "TC" (thread creator?) which I've seen in some other corners of the interwebs. "TC" makes me feel like I'm trapped in an episode of Magnum.

I would think everyone was referring to Top Cat.

An improved version of OP would be TG/GWWTSTWARTRN, which of course stands for "That Guy/Girl Who Wrote The Stuff That We Are Responding To Right Now". That way nobody would get confused.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:21 PM on January 17, 2008


Stop deleting best answers.

Then we get into the problem of "why was this wisecrack allowed to stay when mine was deleted?" and the answer is "because it was a best answer" and that sets up a bad precedent.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:22 PM on January 17, 2008


Delete all best answers. Problem solved!
posted by ardgedee at 1:42 PM on January 17, 2008


OP seeks to RP an MP and DP the VP of HP with a GP, earning XP and GP, while playing AP IP on an LP at a BP. Must have own WP, TP.
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 1:57 PM on January 17, 2008


WTP.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:02 PM on January 17, 2008


For the sake of correctness, urbandictionary tells me tc is actually topic creator.

*has 'nam flashback*
posted by juv3nal at 2:39 PM on January 17, 2008


We could just refer to all OPs as "Bob."

And Bob's your uncle!
posted by ersatz at 4:46 PM on January 17, 2008


I think this site needs more lawyers. How about plaintiffs (the asker) and respondents?
posted by oxford blue at 6:12 PM on January 17, 2008


I say we go with 'Beggars' and 'Choosers', that way you have an easy answer the next time a Givewell fracas starts up.
posted by pupdog at 7:08 PM on January 17, 2008


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