followup.metafilter.com would be a nice pony

June 8, 2004 3:39 PM

PrinceValium is right: followup.metafilter.com would be a nice pony. (more)
posted by mcwetboy to Feature Requests at 3:39 PM (21 comments total)

In practice there are three options for follow-ups:

1. Post it as a comment in the original thread. This is tidier, but will be missed if the readership has already moved on to another thread. And it's impossible after comments have been closed.

2. Post a new thread. High visibility, but may offend readers who get tired of the nth consecutive posting that day on $topic. Minor updates that might illuminate the original thread may not be deemed postworthy.

3. Post it in MetaTalk. This is quickly becoming the ad hoc solution for minor updates. Not really what MetaTalk is for. No category for it, so it ends up in MetaFilter-related or somesuch. Complaints that such posts don't belong here are valid.

Essentially, follow-ups are falling between the cracks: they may be too late for the original post, too minor for a new post in and of themselves, and too off-topic for MeTa.

I'm imagining a separate part of MeFi where you could post follow-ups to existing threads -- and only follow-ups. You'd have to provide the link to the thread you're following up on. You'd have to provide a link to some new material in the new post.

Follow-up posts would be listed in the body of the original post, like trackbacks used to be until Matt (understandably) disabled them. Comments could continue on the new follow-up threads even if they are closed on the original.

Follow-ups would add nesting and a bit of complexity to the original threads, but they might allow discussions to continue as new, related links are provided. And this might also clean up the front page a bit: click on the Reagan thread and get a couple dozen related sub-threads.

I've only half thought this through. Opinions?
posted by mcwetboy at 3:40 PM on June 8, 2004

an idea whose time has come--and i especially like the follow-up link appearing as a trackback-ish thing.
posted by amberglow at 3:52 PM on June 8, 2004

And it's impossible after comments have been closed.

not if Matt gives semi-admin privileges to the original poster of a FPP

I've just added a followup to my Edward Hopper thread. I add followups for 30 days, when needed, to most of my fpp's. for archival reasons -- I like to think people bookmark good threads or anyway search them in the future when they need info on that topic.
after 30 days tho I'm fucked. I wish I could add to my threads indefinitely, if something good comes up

I have no idea if my "semi-admin" proposal means 1,000 work hours for Matt, or 15 minutes. any ideas?
posted by matteo at 3:56 PM on June 8, 2004

well, having a separate area for follow-ups would make it easier to see what's new, rather than just giving the original poster the power to always be able to add stuff, but not other members (which is not fair, really). Plus, if they appear at the bottom of the original and are linked to them, then that is as if you're adding to it.
posted by amberglow at 4:03 PM on June 8, 2004

Could we just let the guy finish AskMe first?

Drive-by opinion : this is an ungood idea (if perhaps not double-plus ungood). More when I'm at work, probably, if I have anything to back that up...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:35 PM on June 8, 2004

ask.quonsar.metafilter.com
posted by quonsar at 5:00 PM on June 8, 2004

ask.quonsar.metafilter.com
ok : >

quonsar, it seems my cousin's bunions miraculously cleared up on hearing an old speech of Ronald Reagan on TV this week. Who do i notify, and how many years have to pass before declaring someone a saint?
posted by amberglow at 5:18 PM on June 8, 2004

Even more practical would be some mechanism to gauge the interest in such ponies. After all a benefit analysis could just as possibly indicate that the best procedure is to purge everything after 30 days.
posted by mischief at 5:21 PM on June 8, 2004

I agree followup is a good idea. I wanted to post a followup about how Metafilter has changed the life of post subject B.J. Cruiser, but didn't think it was worth a full frontal entry (so to speak)
posted by inksyndicate at 5:29 PM on June 8, 2004

"changed the life"? how? seems like he keeps happily fellating lots of strangers -- business as usual. only he got a lot of hits on his blog thanks to MeFi. good for him.
posted by matteo at 6:02 PM on June 8, 2004

amberglow:

a) the pope
b) movie stars and presidents are automatic saints.
posted by quonsar at 7:04 PM on June 8, 2004

even Clinton? even Nixon? even that president that only lived a month before dying?
posted by amberglow at 7:31 PM on June 8, 2004

Here's an update to troutfishing's Enron thread.
posted by homunculus at 7:38 PM on June 8, 2004

Living a month before dying? Now there's a radical thought.
posted by fvw at 7:57 PM on June 8, 2004

i know..i realized after i posted it--this president, i think
posted by amberglow at 8:00 PM on June 8, 2004

no, it was william henry harrison, who died of pneumonia a month after his inaugural speech - a speech longer than most, during which it was wet and cold, leading many to conclude that that is how he caught the pneumonia to which he later succumbed.

In fact, there was recently a post about a bunch of four graders who knew this.
posted by mdn at 8:31 PM on June 8, 2004

oh well...i should be mortified, but i'm not.
posted by amberglow at 9:04 PM on June 8, 2004

Heres a simple idea that anyone (not Matt) could impliment.

Create a website somewhere with a form that can be filled out .. it might include MeFi username, the thread number, and a text input for the follow up information.. then publish by RSS so anyone can subscribe and get an ongoing feed of new information. Limit the folllowup to one per user per day to keep it informational and not conversational.

No fancy user interface or database or anything.. very simple to code and maintain anyone could do it.
posted by stbalbach at 9:19 PM on June 8, 2004

I mentioned eons ago that this could be done as a side blog using trackback, a la Blogroots (actually what used to be a side blog on blogroots). Alas, the reputation of Trackback around here has been duly rodded.
posted by dhartung at 10:35 PM on June 8, 2004

oh well...i should be mortified, but...

...mort is busy tonight.
posted by quonsar at 12:29 AM on June 9, 2004

I mentioned eons ago that this could be done as a side blog using trackback...
How would that work for threads that have closed?

this mort--he vibrates?
posted by amberglow at 9:01 AM on June 9, 2004