Pony Request: MyAskMefi to Track Anonymous Questions (or Track Users' Questions?) June 9, 2009 1:21 PM Subscribe
Pony request: can following all anonymous posts (or maybe, more widely, following a specific user) be integrated into MyAskMefi?
I find anonymous questions are usually interesting regardless of subject, so I keep an eye on that RSS feed.
But, since MyAskMefi's purpose is to aggregate, I wonder if that could be expanded to follow anonymous posts.
A "quick hack" to do this might be to autotag any anonymous post with "anonymous" -- then all you'd do is add 'anonymous' to your tags to follow.
A larger-scale method might be to allow MyAskMefi to let you follow certain users. It'd not be a new ability, as people already have AskMefi post RSS feeds.
I find anonymous questions are usually interesting regardless of subject, so I keep an eye on that RSS feed.
But, since MyAskMefi's purpose is to aggregate, I wonder if that could be expanded to follow anonymous posts.
A "quick hack" to do this might be to autotag any anonymous post with "anonymous" -- then all you'd do is add 'anonymous' to your tags to follow.
A larger-scale method might be to allow MyAskMefi to let you follow certain users. It'd not be a new ability, as people already have AskMefi post RSS feeds.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup
You can (as I have just now) add anonymous as a contact, and then their posts should show up in the contact activity sidebar.
posted by ocherdraco at 1:33 PM on June 9, 2009
posted by ocherdraco at 1:33 PM on June 9, 2009
Actually, nevermind what I said before. It doesn't seem to work.
Okay, I want this pony, too.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:12 PM on June 9, 2009
Okay, I want this pony, too.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:12 PM on June 9, 2009
You can subscribe to all anonymous questions with this feed like you can with any other user. I can see that it'd be nice to sort of splice them into your My Ask feed as well, but I picture that as a tool for following interests rather than people.
Anonymous isn't a person either, it's a special system account. That's one of the reasons we filter it from Recent Activity. Following Anonymous would quickly overwhelm the sidebar with posts from dozens of people each day, and that tool is for following people rather than interests.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:53 PM on June 9, 2009
Anonymous isn't a person either, it's a special system account. That's one of the reasons we filter it from Recent Activity. Following Anonymous would quickly overwhelm the sidebar with posts from dozens of people each day, and that tool is for following people rather than interests.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:53 PM on June 9, 2009
Very true, MeFi is a collaborative effort and I was just giving my take on things not laying down the law. People use the site in ways we don't anticipate, and that's very cool. And we're open to changing things as we go. Just wanted to note that we do put thought behind the features and we don't include/exclude things arbitrarily.
If you want to splice your My Ask feed with the Anonymous questions feed you could always turn to something like Yahoo Pipes to put it together yourself (if we don't add it here). That'd solve your repeating posts problem.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:38 PM on June 9, 2009
If you want to splice your My Ask feed with the Anonymous questions feed you could always turn to something like Yahoo Pipes to put it together yourself (if we don't add it here). That'd solve your repeating posts problem.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:38 PM on June 9, 2009
That'd solve your repeating posts problem.
That's a harsh way to refer to his pony requests.
posted by gman at 3:42 PM on June 9, 2009
That's a harsh way to refer to his pony requests.
posted by gman at 3:42 PM on June 9, 2009
I'm aware of the anonymous feed, and subscribe to it. But it's one more feed, and combined with my MyAskMefi RSS feed, I get a good share of dupes.
Also, there are not dozens of anonymous posts every day: today, 8; yesterday, 10; Sunday, 4; Saturday, 9; Friday, 1; Thursday, 8; etc. I really don't think they'd overwhelm anything.
Well, which is it? A good share of dupes or not an overwhelming number?
posted by desuetude at 4:10 PM on June 9, 2009
Also, there are not dozens of anonymous posts every day: today, 8; yesterday, 10; Sunday, 4; Saturday, 9; Friday, 1; Thursday, 8; etc. I really don't think they'd overwhelm anything.
Well, which is it? A good share of dupes or not an overwhelming number?
posted by desuetude at 4:10 PM on June 9, 2009
What do you think of the other part of what I said...
I definitely see your point. At the same time I also think we have to treat the anonymous questions feature very carefully. Even though they're anonymous, they are sensitive questions by their very nature. And something that gives extra publicity to those questions should be implemented carefully. It's one of the reasons we don't devote a separate tab to anonymous questions, for example. They're part of the normal flow of Ask MetaFilter now, but could look different in new contexts. It might be fine as an option in My Ask since that's not public, but it's something we have to consider.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:23 PM on June 9, 2009
I definitely see your point. At the same time I also think we have to treat the anonymous questions feature very carefully. Even though they're anonymous, they are sensitive questions by their very nature. And something that gives extra publicity to those questions should be implemented carefully. It's one of the reasons we don't devote a separate tab to anonymous questions, for example. They're part of the normal flow of Ask MetaFilter now, but could look different in new contexts. It might be fine as an option in My Ask since that's not public, but it's something we have to consider.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:23 PM on June 9, 2009
As we've seen with other "automatic" tags like resolved, anything that we set for people or encourage will jump up quickly in the list of popular tags. Adding the tag option would put "anonymous" as one of the top tags, giving those questions extra visibility.
And because the contact system here is transparent, I'm hesitant to add a feature that allows you to "follow" a particular user without that transparency. If you're interested in my posts and you want to follow me via Contact Activity, that's fine. I can see who is following me and so can everyone else. But a private "follow" feature in My Ask for specific users without that transparency is something new, and we'd need to weigh how that might affect the community.
Neither of these approaches are slam-dunk obvious without downsides to me personally.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:36 PM on June 9, 2009
And because the contact system here is transparent, I'm hesitant to add a feature that allows you to "follow" a particular user without that transparency. If you're interested in my posts and you want to follow me via Contact Activity, that's fine. I can see who is following me and so can everyone else. But a private "follow" feature in My Ask for specific users without that transparency is something new, and we'd need to weigh how that might affect the community.
Neither of these approaches are slam-dunk obvious without downsides to me personally.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:36 PM on June 9, 2009
There's no transparency there.
True, but feeds are used offsite with 3rd party tools. It might be a subtle distinction, but once we build a feature into the site it takes on a different significance, has a different convenience, and is available to a wider audience.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:47 PM on June 9, 2009
True, but feeds are used offsite with 3rd party tools. It might be a subtle distinction, but once we build a feature into the site it takes on a different significance, has a different convenience, and is available to a wider audience.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:47 PM on June 9, 2009
Do you see that sentiment as something that's worthy of your scorn, gman, Burhanistan, and if so, why?
I'm thinking you have no specific knowledge as to why Burhanistan favorited gman's comment, and thus it's rather of a dick move to call him out by name.
posted by desuetude at 5:42 PM on June 9, 2009
I'm thinking you have no specific knowledge as to why Burhanistan favorited gman's comment, and thus it's rather of a dick move to call him out by name.
posted by desuetude at 5:42 PM on June 9, 2009
I thought we were in MeTa, WCityMike. Did I stumble into private correspondence between you and pb?
posted by desuetude at 6:20 PM on June 9, 2009
posted by desuetude at 6:20 PM on June 9, 2009
Burhanistan was clearly happy I called pb out on his comment.
posted by gman at 6:27 PM on June 9, 2009
posted by gman at 6:27 PM on June 9, 2009
yay! I just figured out what a pony is.
now, on to 'pancakes'...
(*raises eyebrow, strokes chin)
posted by candyhammer at 10:19 AM on June 10, 2009
now, on to 'pancakes'...
(*raises eyebrow, strokes chin)
posted by candyhammer at 10:19 AM on June 10, 2009
are there any terms for a n00b attempting to refer to something like that (eg beans/pancakes/pony), but doing so incorrectly?
I was about to actually do it (and ironically-- which would have been especially painful if done wrong) .. but I then became more interested in what it might be called.
....if there is no such term, I suspect that my requesting the establishing of such a term* could actually be considered an act of 'pony pancakes' on my part-- because it would be a... well, there, I've gone and done it anyway, I guess.
aren't you glad this isn't an OP?
*...I hope they don't start saying "you totally candyhammered that."
I need to go lie down for a while.
posted by candyhammer at 1:01 PM on June 10, 2009
I was about to actually do it (and ironically-- which would have been especially painful if done wrong) .. but I then became more interested in what it might be called.
....if there is no such term, I suspect that my requesting the establishing of such a term* could actually be considered an act of 'pony pancakes' on my part-- because it would be a... well, there, I've gone and done it anyway, I guess.
aren't you glad this isn't an OP?
*...I hope they don't start saying "you totally candyhammered that."
I need to go lie down for a while.
posted by candyhammer at 1:01 PM on June 10, 2009
Well, you did kind of candyhammer "OP". It usually refers to the Original Poster who started the thread, or sometimes to the "Original Post" when talking about a post on the blue that has been called out in MeTa. It's never used to refer to just any regular old post. And mathowie doesn't like it, anyway, because it confuses the newbs. Like it did you.
posted by team lowkey at 2:01 PM on June 10, 2009
posted by team lowkey at 2:01 PM on June 10, 2009
I am totally using "candyhammer" every chance I get.
posted by desjardins at 2:26 PM on June 10, 2009
posted by desjardins at 2:26 PM on June 10, 2009
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by desjardins at 1:31 PM on June 9, 2009