A poster wonders why his or her post was deleted

November 7, 2004 4:12 PM

How do I find out why my FPP from today got deleted?
posted by alumshubby to Etiquette/Policy at 4:12 PM (45 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: we've already had threads on this subject several times. Another boring AP article isn't going to help.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:19 PM on November 7, 2004

OK...thank you sir, may have another?...how did you find that?
posted by alumshubby at 4:26 PM on November 7, 2004

Look for gaps between the thread numbers.

ex. /36807 -> /36809
posted by dhoyt at 4:26 PM on November 7, 2004

Thanks.

Matthowie, what makes you find the article and subject boring? I was trying to get to the heart of the issue.
posted by alumshubby at 4:32 PM on November 7, 2004

We've already gone over it. It's on ask metafilter, it's in ever thread about purple maps. I'm sick of the subject of politics and of "why are we so different?" even more.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:41 PM on November 7, 2004

Sorry to bore you personally, Matt. I was thinking about the issue of polarization its own self, and if that's messing up your blog, I humbly apologize. It's unfortunate that since you decided that you didn't want to see it, no one else can, either. I thought I was coming into the subject from a relatively fresh angle, but evidently not fresh enough to suit you in particular even though others had already begun to respond.

Couldn't you have simply moved the thread if you thought it would be more appropriate on the green (or the gray) instead of being the Mother of Prevention? :o)
posted by alumshubby at 4:47 PM on November 7, 2004

Don't look now, more purple maps are invading the front page.
posted by Galvatron at 4:52 PM on November 7, 2004

I don't think it was more appropriate in other spaces. I know you put effort into your first big comment explaining your point, but it had little to do with the article, which I thought was saying the exact opposite of what you were trying to say.

It was also a standard syndicated AP wire story. Just about the least interesting writing found in news today.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:52 PM on November 7, 2004

www.blogger.com

Create a blog in 3 easy steps:

1. Create an account
2. Name your blog
3. Choose a template

Create your blog now


;)
posted by matteo at 4:53 PM on November 7, 2004

One of these days I hope to see "because you touch yourself at night" as a deletion reason.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:10 PM on November 7, 2004

I have no choice but to agree to disagree, since it's your playground and we don't want to abuse your standing invitation to play here.

Suggesting that I start my own blog is beside the point. It's sounds arrogant to imply "If you don't like the way I do things, start your own blog." That's not the way people should be treating each other around here, is it?

Now I'm going to be gunshy about posting on anything a country mile near this topic. Is there some mechanism to check in with you about whether you're going to delete one of my posts so I can at least find out whether to bother? I was unhappy about putting in all that work to watch it get shot down.

I see stuff all the time on MeFi that I consider redundant, silly, risque, or pointless, but I respect the way you give threads a chance to evolve before you euthanize them. (Usually you do, anyway.) Have you ever contemplated any mechanism to let members decide whether to kill posts? I mean, it wouldn't have bothered me as much if 23 people had said "naaaaah, this doesn't belong here" as if one guy did. You're necessarily first among equals here, but after al, more people responded to the thread than killed it.

Don't get me wrong: MeFi is a great community, you're a swell guy for making it available, and I don't want to abuse anybody's time or bandwidth. But to the extent that my opinion matters to anyone, I feel like I got a raw deal.
posted by alumshubby at 5:12 PM on November 7, 2004

Now I'm going to be gunshy about posting on anything a country mile near this topic.

Great! I hope that attitude spreads.
posted by timeistight at 5:22 PM on November 7, 2004

Is there some mechanism to check in with you about whether you're going to delete one of my posts so I can at least find out whether to bother?

A good post to MetaFilter is something that meets the following criteria: most people haven't seen it before, there is something interesting about the content on the page, and it might warrant discussion from others.
posted by PrinceValium at 5:22 PM on November 7, 2004

What timeistight said.
posted by dhoyt at 5:32 PM on November 7, 2004

Discussion about social and cultural polarization as contrasted with geographical balkanism? That's not really what I've been seeing in the post-election threads -- it's mostly been pissing and moaning about how stupid 51% of the electorate are, which I'm sick of too, although I'd be more lenient that Matt apparently is about letting people have their say. (And you have been pretty nice letting people rant, Matt -- thank you.) I think the thread was starting to explore that a little bit before it got whacked.

I wanted to engender discussion about how we got to the state we're in, where people are talking past each other without listening to each other as opposed to how we used to recognize that disagreements boiled down to differences in assigning relative importance to details and opinons: We've gone from "all ideas have equal merit" all the way over to "only my ideas and the ideas of people who agree with me have any merit."

Maybe I'm guilty not of boring Matt unduly but not stating my thesis clearly enough? I'm not trying to be snarky; I'm trying for some improvement here.
posted by alumshubby at 5:34 PM on November 7, 2004

alumshubby, I hate to delete stuff and I'm not doing it for fun here. I don't think a standard AP wire article was worth making a post for, and I'm at the end of my rope with regards to post-election analysis, so you definitely caught me at a bad time.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:37 PM on November 7, 2004

I hate to delete stuff and I'm not doing it for fun here

I never assumed otherwise. Again, forgive me if I gave any impression to the contrary. But since people were responding on my topic, why not let it ride?

By the way, I think I may have found the answer to my question of how to ask if a post's OK -- is this an acceptable venue?
posted by alumshubby at 5:42 PM on November 7, 2004

Mark me down as another "what timeistight said". alumshubby, I think you're overreacting, which seems to be common enough these days.
posted by Salmonberry at 5:47 PM on November 7, 2004

By the way, I think I may have found the answer to my question of how to ask if a post's OK -- is this an acceptable venue?

NO! God no! Please! No! God!
posted by Krrrlson at 5:52 PM on November 7, 2004

By the way, I think I may have found the answer to my question of how to ask if a post's OK -- is this an acceptable venue?

Only if it's STD-related.
posted by LimePi at 5:54 PM on November 7, 2004

Salmonberry, I overreacted at first and called Matt a slew of names, but I got it out of my system before I brought up the issue on MeTa. Like I said, it's his playground; we just visit here at his sufferance. One man's arrogance is another's expedience.

I think I've got a valid question here. To avoid this in the future, is there some way to let Matt test-drive a thread topic? Or is posting and possible deletion the only means? Have I overlooked Matt's email address on the site pages? I'd use it if I knew it.
posted by alumshubby at 5:55 PM on November 7, 2004

The best thing is not to take it personally. Matt doesn't intend it personally, I'm sure. There are standards he's trying to enforce, but he likes to normally use a light hand and, anyway, no one is perfectly consistent. Thus, many or most of us will misstep from time to time...or we'll just catch Matt on a bad day. You're clearly very well-intentioned: if you really read those posting guidelines on the posting page, think about them for awhile, and take them to heart, you'll likely mostly stay on the right side of the law, pilgrim. :) Maybe not always and perfectly, but that's why you shouldn't take a single deletion personally.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:59 PM on November 7, 2004

fish pants, or pantsfish?
posted by quonsar at 6:07 PM on November 7, 2004

the eternal quandry.
posted by quonsar at 6:08 PM on November 7, 2004

E.B., thanks for the stroking. Much the same occurred to me. Also, Matt points out it's as much timing as anything else. And after all, he did let my lame thread about the last F-14 WesPac deployment slide. :o)

I did belatedly realize I could find his email address on his member page, so unless he tells me not to, if I think a potential post is right on the cusp, I'll try asking next time.
posted by alumshubby at 6:08 PM on November 7, 2004

Fish pants, definitely. :o) Anchovy culottes, to be specific.
posted by alumshubby at 6:09 PM on November 7, 2004

Matt is matt at matt's last name dot com, but he won't necessarily preview a post for you. A good place to go if you'd like a second set of eyes is either #mefi [the mefi IRC channel] or just email or IM your favorite MeFier and ask "do you think this is okay for a front page post?" I'd happily give you my opinion, for example, if you wanted. I'm sure others would as well. I know it's hard getting your post deleted, but one of the things that in my opinion is good about having one person be "the buck stops here" guy is that you know it's not personal, and you know you can try again and be subject to pretty much the same set of rules.
posted by jessamyn at 6:28 PM on November 7, 2004

Fear not, alumshubby. I can slot you in for 150,000 words of passionate defense tomorrow and Tuesday. Note for the rest of you: thanks to some upcoming quonsar posts I am booked solid for the rest of the week.
posted by Ryvar at 6:33 PM on November 7, 2004

alumshubby, for the love of all that's holy, LET IT GO. Please. For the children.
posted by davidmsc at 6:51 PM on November 7, 2004

He did, davidmcs.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:53 PM on November 7, 2004

I did, davidmsc, I did. (Weren't you reading?)

Salmon chinos, even!
posted by alumshubby at 6:59 PM on November 7, 2004

Hey, thanks amberglow, that blogger shit seems pretty cool!
posted by eastlakestandard at 7:10 PM on November 7, 2004

Cripes, people. If your post got deleted, it sucks. Move along.

If your post got deleted, it probably sucked and nobody's going to miss it except for you. Get a beer, drown your sorrows and find a better AP article to post tomorrow.
posted by graventy at 7:34 PM on November 7, 2004

No one would notice your post was bitch-slapped if you hadn't pointed it out here. Plenty of posts get deleted without anyone but Matt (and a few voyeurs) noticing.
posted by smackfu at 8:27 PM on November 7, 2004

Everybody is happy now!
posted by davidmsc at 8:41 PM on November 7, 2004

Lofi.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:06 PM on November 7, 2004

How come "purple maps" doesn't come up in a Google search? WTF???!!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:14 AM on November 8, 2004

Salmon chinos?! How gauche. It's all about the marlin hip-hugging boot cuts with the barracuda and blue shark stripes these days. Throw in a man-o-war thong (or posing pouch) and you're ultrahot.
posted by loquacious at 11:29 AM on November 8, 2004

I'd just like to note that I've been doing my part and not posting political things and I have been working hard and not getting snarky. And no, that doesn't mean that some of my comments haven't had a political bend to them, some do but only when its funny or appropriate, I think.

Just trying to do my part to re-elevate MeFi back into the "cool zone".

And I do think its helpful to know why posts got deleted but it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what killed a political post.
posted by fenriq at 11:42 AM on November 8, 2004

P.S. I will find my FPP
posted by crunchburger at 5:57 PM on November 8, 2004

Was it named Hopkins, crunch? I think i saw it. : >
posted by amberglow at 7:20 PM on November 8, 2004

crunchburger wins.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:26 PM on November 8, 2004

Is there a handy place where all of Matt's deletion reasons are listed? Maybe in the wiki ... I'll go look.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:20 AM on November 9, 2004

A google search of lofi for "this post was deleted" will bring up a lot.
posted by Mitheral at 10:31 AM on November 9, 2004

there's also this handy bookmarklet. Although, I must admit that this feels like pulling the curtain back on the Wizard a little bit...
posted by 40 Watt at 12:45 PM on November 9, 2004