Deletion alert! March 28, 2011 4:49 PM Subscribe
The feature alerting us to new replies in AskMefi is awesome. Is it possible to have one that also alerts us to deletions?
It's a bummer to finish a long reply and then find the question was deleted.
It's a bummer to finish a long reply and then find the question was deleted.
Like the sound of a flushing toilet? Or some sort of aaAAAAArghhhh(echo[echo])? Hmmmm....
posted by Namlit at 5:03 PM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Namlit at 5:03 PM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Askme questions are so rarely deleted that I really don't think such a feature is necessary.
posted by special-k at 5:04 PM on March 28, 2011
posted by special-k at 5:04 PM on March 28, 2011
Yeah, we could probably add this. Deletions are fairly rare over on Ask, sometimes we go days without any. It probably averages out at about one/day, I'm guessing. MeFi is a little higher, so it might be more useful there. But the number of people who happen to be composing a comment right before something gets deleted is pretty small. I know it's annoying when it happens, though.
posted by pb (staff) at 5:05 PM on March 28, 2011
posted by pb (staff) at 5:05 PM on March 28, 2011
My feeling as the person who is over there way more is that this is so rare an occurrence as to maybe not be necessary.
If you preview your comment you'll know if a thread has been closed and in most cased I'd certainly hope that people would have a decent idea if a thread were going to be closed before they started answering it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:09 PM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
If you preview your comment you'll know if a thread has been closed and in most cased I'd certainly hope that people would have a decent idea if a thread were going to be closed before they started answering it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:09 PM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
... or do you mean before you've finished the comment?
On preview: thanks Verizon Wireless for forcing a three minute software update just because I had to plug in the device.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:09 PM on March 28, 2011
On preview: thanks Verizon Wireless for forcing a three minute software update just because I had to plug in the device.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:09 PM on March 28, 2011
I have no doubt in pb's ability to make this happen but I'm not really seeing it as something that actually needs building. Getting a thread deleted out from under you can be a little disorienting but it's really an edge case sort of thing and there's nothing to do for it. Building this to save the occasional someone a little bit of extra typing thanks to an AJAXy alert feels like a lot of effort for not much gain.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:10 PM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:10 PM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Sad trombone sound.
posted by fixedgear at 5:13 PM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by fixedgear at 5:13 PM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
You could send your comment to the poster as a memail.
Anyway, if history is any predictor, the OP will post a Metatalk about his deleted AskMe, and then you can say what you want there.
posted by amro at 5:14 PM on March 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Anyway, if history is any predictor, the OP will post a Metatalk about his deleted AskMe, and then you can say what you want there.
posted by amro at 5:14 PM on March 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Burhanistan: I hope that guy doesn't do that thing, though.
That's because you can't deal with complicated ambitions.
posted by gman at 5:15 PM on March 28, 2011
That's because you can't deal with complicated ambitions.
posted by gman at 5:15 PM on March 28, 2011
I'd give my opinion on this, but it doesn't count for anything, and this thread would probably be deleted before I could get it written.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:20 PM on March 28, 2011
posted by cjorgensen at 5:20 PM on March 28, 2011
Oh but I've definitely been there at least once. Wrestled with my non-native editing loops too long and bang. Thread gone.
There. That proves it.
(collapsing bike sound)
posted by Namlit at 5:29 PM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
There. That proves it.
(collapsing bike sound)
posted by Namlit at 5:29 PM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
The feature alerting us to new replies in AskMefi is awesome.
Um, what? Does want, doesn't see.
posted by cyndigo at 6:18 PM on March 28, 2011
Um, what? Does want, doesn't see.
posted by cyndigo at 6:18 PM on March 28, 2011
She's talking about the thing that tells you how many new comments have been posted to the thread between the time that you started typing your comment and whenever you were going to post it. If you leave any active thread open in MeFi or AskMe you'll see it in action.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:21 PM on March 28, 2011
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:21 PM on March 28, 2011
The people who would benefit most from this, it seems to me, are folks who craft meticulously-crafted responses to questions which they're pretty sure will be deleted.
posted by box at 6:32 AM on March 29, 2011
posted by box at 6:32 AM on March 29, 2011
Which, if memory serves, is behavior that the mods perceive as pretty close to stunt-commenting/noise/whatever in AskMe, and are therefore not exactly eager to encourage.
posted by box at 6:34 AM on March 29, 2011
posted by box at 6:34 AM on March 29, 2011
The people who would benefit most from this, it seems to me, are folks who craft meticulously-crafted responses to questions which they're pretty sure will be deleted ... Which, if memory serves, is behavior that the mods perceive as pretty close to stunt-commenting/noise/whatever in AskMe, and are therefore not exactly eager to encourage.
I can only speak for myself, but the questions I find myself responding to that have ended up deleted have been usually been asked by people who are not great at expressing themselves, not great at composing questions, and emotional, which makes both of those things worse. In other words, they seem to me to have a valid question, and be trying their best in good faith, but not great at putting what they have to say in a form that readers of this site expect.
In those cases, whether or not they get deleted sometimes seems to be a function of whether people understand what the question is, and try their best to answer it. It seems to me that if they do so, the question often stands, but if there are a lot of answers like "huh???," then the question goes. So of course, you can often get a sense that a question might be deleted. But if the answers to the question are a factor in its deletion, it makes sense to try to give the best answer you can. That's why I think it's a uncharitable to imply that the main reason people would answer these questions is to stunt-comment or make noise or have lulz. People who are after those things aren't going to make meticulously-crafted (non-jokey) responses anyway.
All that said, if what I suggested is too much work and not worth it, then it's too much work and not worth it. I don't have much of a sense of how easy these things are to do, so I thought I might as well ask.
posted by Ashley801 at 8:18 AM on March 29, 2011
I can only speak for myself, but the questions I find myself responding to that have ended up deleted have been usually been asked by people who are not great at expressing themselves, not great at composing questions, and emotional, which makes both of those things worse. In other words, they seem to me to have a valid question, and be trying their best in good faith, but not great at putting what they have to say in a form that readers of this site expect.
In those cases, whether or not they get deleted sometimes seems to be a function of whether people understand what the question is, and try their best to answer it. It seems to me that if they do so, the question often stands, but if there are a lot of answers like "huh???," then the question goes. So of course, you can often get a sense that a question might be deleted. But if the answers to the question are a factor in its deletion, it makes sense to try to give the best answer you can. That's why I think it's a uncharitable to imply that the main reason people would answer these questions is to stunt-comment or make noise or have lulz. People who are after those things aren't going to make meticulously-crafted (non-jokey) responses anyway.
All that said, if what I suggested is too much work and not worth it, then it's too much work and not worth it. I don't have much of a sense of how easy these things are to do, so I thought I might as well ask.
posted by Ashley801 at 8:18 AM on March 29, 2011
You might be right, Ash.
With the kinds of questions you refer to, the mods (and, usually, the people responding to the question) do a good job of shaping the discussion in a way that moves the question away from deletion. It seems like this is generally more effective when the asker is an active participant, but I don't think that's strictly required. And you're definitely right that it makes sense to try to give the best answer you can.
I think we're talking about two very different kinds of questions here--you're thinking more of 'My problems have problems, and I don't know what to do! Here's a long story that doesn't necessarily present a clear question, let alone a problem to be solved', while I'm thinking more of 'Those chats are the chattiest chats that ever chatted, amirite? Let's chat about it!'
(Does one of those appear more often than the other? No idea. Are there other kinds of likely-to-be-deleted AskMe posts? Almost certainly.)
posted by box at 8:34 AM on March 29, 2011
With the kinds of questions you refer to, the mods (and, usually, the people responding to the question) do a good job of shaping the discussion in a way that moves the question away from deletion. It seems like this is generally more effective when the asker is an active participant, but I don't think that's strictly required. And you're definitely right that it makes sense to try to give the best answer you can.
I think we're talking about two very different kinds of questions here--you're thinking more of 'My problems have problems, and I don't know what to do! Here's a long story that doesn't necessarily present a clear question, let alone a problem to be solved', while I'm thinking more of 'Those chats are the chattiest chats that ever chatted, amirite? Let's chat about it!'
(Does one of those appear more often than the other? No idea. Are there other kinds of likely-to-be-deleted AskMe posts? Almost certainly.)
posted by box at 8:34 AM on March 29, 2011
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posted by oneirodynia at 5:01 PM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]