Anonymous Questions December 28, 2004 6:51 PM   Subscribe

WTF, Matt? Why are fingernail clipping, hypnosis, and theft worthy of being posted anonymously?
posted by five fresh fish to Etiquette/Policy at 6:51 PM (58 comments total)

Give us a break, Matt. Two of those appear to have no reasonable need for anonymity, and the third was answered in the asking itself.

AskMe is busy enough without filling it with needless anonymous crap.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:53 PM on December 28, 2004


Simmer down.
posted by The God Complex at 6:54 PM on December 28, 2004


Simmer down? If I were any cooler, I'd be ice, baby. In the long run I don't really give a shit what Matt chooses to do with his site. I'm here as long as it remains entertaining to me (though I'd miss a bunch of you if I were to leave.)

I am, however, deeply curious as to where he figures he's taking AskMe. The decisions he makes aren't anywhere near those I'd make.

If it helps any, read what I asked in the tone of someone who is bored but curious.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:01 PM on December 28, 2004


I've also noticed the low threshold for anonymity. It's pretty weak.
posted by puke & cry at 7:03 PM on December 28, 2004


I can't. The "WTF, Matt", "give us a break, matt" and "is busy enough without filling it with needless crap" ruined that tone for me. Be nice!
posted by The God Complex at 7:05 PM on December 28, 2004


"In the long run I don't really give a shit what Matt chooses to do with his site."

And yet, here we are.

Fancy that.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:12 PM on December 28, 2004


Fingernails: Because some people's signons are their real names, and this co-worker may be verrrry sensitive and paranoid and regularly google everyone she knows.

Hypnotism: Because some people's parents are freaky fundamentalists who would go mental if they found out about their child getting into hypnotism, and would try and get God to convict them of it, etc.

Theft: Because putting your name into google's database admitting you're a thief is a bad plan.

Not everyone's life is like yours, fff, and if people ask for anonymity, providing there's a halfway plausible reason (perhaps they even put it on for Matt?) I don't see why they shouldn't get it.
posted by bonaldi at 7:12 PM on December 28, 2004


Here are some reasons why it could be appropriate to ask these questions anonymously [or on preview, what bonaldi did]:

Fingernail clipping person posts from metafilter at work, and people at work know who s/he is on MeFi.

Hypnosis person feels that both the afterlife and suicide anecdotes are helpful to understanding the seriousness and breadth of their hypnosis question, but does not want these details associated for now and everafter with their MeFi name.

BestBuy person wants to ask their question about whether what they want to do is right, but expects a piling on in the same way that cat-giver-away person was given, and doesn't want the taint of it associated with their MeFi name from here on in.

Why is it so hard to imagine wanting to post questions anonymously so that you won't get snarked at, now that snarking is almost as de rigeur in AskMe as it is on the rest of the site? I don't see anything questionable about these decisions.

FFF, you have also gone on record as "hat[ing] the AskAnon," so I can understand why you keep picking at it, but I wish you would stop.
posted by onlyconnect at 7:18 PM on December 28, 2004


Maybe the nail-clipper is a MeFi member and the asker is simply trying to avoid an on-site conflict.

Maybe the person behind the hypnosis question would rather not have people know about his/her emotionally troubled past (the undealt with emotions over the suicidal friend).

On preview, it appears these are not original thoughts.

Either way, why does it matter that these were posted anonymously? We don't have quality control on regular questions; why should we expect any more from anonymous?
posted by punishinglemur at 7:19 PM on December 28, 2004


Considering all the shit the nail-clipping poster is taking, I don't blame them for posting anonymously.

I thought the green was supposed to be limited to helpful responses that actually answered the question, not for berating the poster.

Please don't turn the green blue.
posted by frykitty at 7:25 PM on December 28, 2004


I'm with fff. These are weak for anonymous questions. The Best Buy one reminds me of this about the double paycheck.
posted by BradNelson at 7:35 PM on December 28, 2004


Why does it matter if you know who's asking a question or not? A dumb question is still dumb. Or must you have a specific target for lashing out?
posted by c13 at 7:45 PM on December 28, 2004


Anonymous Ask MetaFilter's Profile
member since: October 12, 2004
Anonymous Ask MetaFilter has posted no links to MetaFilter
and no threads and no comments to MetaTalk
and 124 questions and no answers to Ask MetaFilter

Self-absorbed, miserly bastard! Time to give something back to your audience, asshole!
posted by naxosaxur at 7:46 PM on December 28, 2004


If you piss on the green, it will turn blue. RGB, bitches.
posted by The God Complex at 7:52 PM on December 28, 2004


Cash is anonymous, but it's the standard. Business is built on trust. Strange.
posted by sled at 7:56 PM on December 28, 2004


if you eat green asparagus your piss will smell. worse.
posted by dabitch at 7:59 PM on December 28, 2004


It's nothing to do with wanting to know who the question-asker is, in these cases, and wanting to know what on earth is going on in Matt's head as he selects these particular questions from all the others.

They were weak and, IMO, stupid questions. I can't imagine what possessed Matt to post them.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:00 PM on December 28, 2004


To you, dabitch. Everyone's piss smells after eating asparagus, but it's only the genetically-inclined that can actually smell that godawful smell. IOW, it's all in the nose, not the urine.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:01 PM on December 28, 2004


Seems to me that these posters lack basic common sense. I mean, how do you tell someone that clipping their nails around you is gross? WTF. Or "gee, I don't know if I should return this giftcard or not." Are you so without basic human perception that you need an online community to answer that for you? And I'm not sure why someone would post the hypnosis question anonymously, unless it was too personal for anyone to know about.
posted by puke & cry at 8:06 PM on December 28, 2004


I don't know, I figured the fingernail thing was more broadly about office etiquitte and how to deal with someone who does something that is irrirtating/gross/inappropriate when it's not, say, harassment. Your cube mate isn't the person you want pissed at you, you know? Sometimes people want reinforcement or ideas from people whom they respect . . . .like maybe some other MeFi peeps.
posted by Medieval Maven at 8:12 PM on December 28, 2004


These questions are not much worse than the ones about what speakers to buy or how to fix daddy's computer or what to spend christmas money on. Apparently, these questions bothered someone enough to ask. And, while you can find an answer to them just by searching the web or whatever, there is a reason why it's called ASK Metafilter, and why it's separated from the blue or the gray. Sometimes people say that if you don't like a post, just skip it, and I tend to agree, although I can see some of the reasons not to. However, it most definitely applies to the green, IMO.
posted by c13 at 8:20 PM on December 28, 2004


dontdoit,mono

I said

Don't.
Do.
It.

aw heck......

Metafilter: It's all in the nose, not the urine.
posted by mono blanco at 8:27 PM on December 28, 2004


There doesn't seem to be a threshhold for anonymity at all, which means that there is little motivation to rethink how to ask a question, or whether it needs to be asked to begin with. This then creates more bad questions, which makes 'skipping it' more time consuming, especially when questions are scrolling off the page as fast as they are. When it's a pain to scroll through a bunch of dumb questions, there's less incentive to look for questions you might have answers to, and there's less incentive for people to read/use it in general, whether they're on the asking end or answering end.

'Just skip it' might have worked for some of you when you were in school and you came upon a difficult chapter, but here in the grown-up world that isn't always the best option. And, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it probably wasn't back then, either.
posted by bingo at 8:51 PM on December 28, 2004


I asked this same question a few weeks ago, and the general consensus was that most people are OK with anonymous questions, regardless of how poor the justification for anonymity is. I'm of the opposite mind, but am willing to live with it.
posted by Hildago at 9:06 PM on December 28, 2004


No shit, bingo! Really? I guess I've had that whole school thing figured wrong all those years. It's a wonder how I ended up in grad school without having you and all you wisdom around.
It looks like last 3 days average about 14 answers/question, guess the scrolling is not THAT painful afterall.
posted by c13 at 9:13 PM on December 28, 2004


I agree with five fresh fish. Anonymous Ask MetaFilter's threshhold is way too low.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 9:22 PM on December 28, 2004


There you have it. Steve says the bar is too low.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:26 PM on December 28, 2004


c13, if you think that ending up in grad school proves anything either way, you really did skip too many chapters. Or maybe you just read the wrong ones.
posted by bingo at 9:29 PM on December 28, 2004


...what on earth is going on in Matt's head as he selects these particular questions from all the others.

I think he just posts them all.
posted by smackfu at 9:32 PM on December 28, 2004


The God Complex made me laugh, If you piss on the green, it will turn blue. RGB, bitches.

Except in the Best Buy question someone with a Best Buy contact offered great insight, BradNelson.

I'd love to see the anonymous questions Number One declines to post. I suspect it would look like this.
posted by geekyguy at 9:37 PM on December 28, 2004


Honestly people. Who give a crap. Most of the questions on AskMe are silly anyway and at least half can be answered by some good googling. If it's a slow day and Matt thinks it passes muster, then fine. It can't all be Savage Love on AskMe. Anyways, I'm still googling and can't figure out why it burns, you know, 'down there'.
posted by Arch Stanton at 9:45 PM on December 28, 2004


*trips over low bar*
posted by quonsar at 9:47 PM on December 28, 2004


Maybe so, dude. But I don't have to make up a term that describes what I do.
Anyway, I can see where this is going, and it's not what the thread is about. Ta-ta..

On preview:
I'm still googling and can't figure out why it burns, you know, 'down there'.

LUBRICATE!

Sorry, couldn't help it.. ;-)
posted by c13 at 9:48 PM on December 28, 2004


*limbos under low bar*
posted by amberglow at 9:49 PM on December 28, 2004


I thought the questions were crap but presumably Matt was given explanations as to why they had to be asked anonymously and found the reasons good enough. Or he's busy.

it's all in the nose, not the urine

See I learn something new here everyday.
posted by Tarrama at 10:24 PM on December 28, 2004


*goes to the low bar, orders a glass of glögg*
posted by soundofsuburbia at 2:02 AM on December 29, 2004


This may be stating the obvious, but Matt's pretty much on vacation. I assume all the questions came flooding in at once because they were in his queue and he got some access and decided to push them through in case they were super important to anyone. I'm not sure if it's better to have "Why are these shite questions getting through?" or "Why didn't my very important question get through?" threads in MeTa or email in your inbox. I think when Matt's around minding the store, there's more oversight in which AnonyMe's get through.
posted by jessamyn at 6:54 AM on December 29, 2004


Who cares? Why do you need to know who these people are? They have their reasons - that's good enough for me.
posted by xammerboy at 9:50 AM on December 29, 2004


Maybe this is a good time for Matt to delegate some of his more routine duties, given the increased number of MeFi members?

Approving anonymous questions seems like something that could be entrusted to a few people who have been members for a while. Of course, that assumes that writing and maintaining the code to do this is less work than just continuing to screen - or not - the questions.
posted by WestCoaster at 10:15 AM on December 29, 2004


I think the answer to WTF, Matt, is IOV (I'm on vacation), FFF. Given than many of us probably haven't been dressed in more than underwear or been drinking anything non-alchoholic since getting home from office holiday parties last week, I think we should forgive the site management for low bars. Thank god I'm not in charge of anything this week, is all I can say.
posted by dness2 at 1:00 PM on December 29, 2004


I disagree with allowing anyone but Matt to handle the anonymous questions. Spreading that sort of load around just guarantees that they won't all remain anonymous. Sad, but true.

This isn't to say that we're all gossip queens-- but people are people, and secrets leak out.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:21 PM on December 29, 2004


I'd just like to point out that no amount of yellow is gonna turn green into blue. Best check that color wheel thrice.
posted by GeekAnimator at 2:23 PM on December 29, 2004


This isn't to say that we're all gossip queens

Uh-oh...
posted by languagehat at 3:42 PM on December 29, 2004


I posted the fingernail question, so what's the big deal five fresh fish? I just wanted to see if anyone could help me in an otherwise potentially embarrassing situation. I respect the clipper as a co-worker and friend; and wanted to dissolve the situation before someone else said something to this person.

Maybe before jumping down the throat of Matt, myself and the anonymous poster, you should take a pill and just try to enjoy life a bit. You might not know or understand the reason why the poster is asking anonymously, so why bring it here?

Now that I outed myself as the anonymous poster, you will not have to worry about me calling you to task whenever I think you post something questionable. Life's too short to hold grudges against someone like yourself.
posted by jasonspaceman at 4:26 PM on December 29, 2004


Uh-oh...

Where's the outrage, Senator Hat?
posted by Danelope at 4:34 PM on December 29, 2004


jasonspaceman, it's nice of you to out yourself, but you didn't in any way explain why you posted anonymously.
posted by bingo at 4:47 PM on December 29, 2004


It's ok for dirtynumbangelboy to say it, he's one of those homer-sexuals or something.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:50 PM on December 29, 2004


Uh,

I respect the clipper as a co-worker and friend; and wanted to dissolve the situation before someone else said something to this person.

means that the someone else in the office is a reader who might pre-empt jasonspaceman's question and start an office tizzy.

Geez.
posted by calwatch at 7:02 PM on December 29, 2004


Since this argument is against the posts being anonymous, and not against the quality of the posts, then basically we're arguing about whether the rest of us should know who is asking these questions.

Can anyone provide any reasons for why it is better for us to know whose questions these are?
posted by Bugbread at 1:58 AM on December 30, 2004


No, I think the fundamental question is whether the anonymous posting feature is being abused by members of the community simply for the sake of using it. Matt has to approve or deny every anonymous question; the more anonymous questions he receives, the more work he has to do; the more work he has to do, the more likely it is to become overwhelming. Therefore, people should be encouraged to only post anonymously when they have a valid reason, and it's difficult to find a valid reason for anonymously asking about buying perfume, Christmas being called "merry", et cetera.
posted by Danelope at 7:19 AM on December 30, 2004


Make all FPPs anonymous. What's the point in signing them except to prove that you found more cool links than anyone. It's all ego. But keep comments signed; that stops shout-outs from the mob.

And with AskMe does it really help to know the identity of the poster to answer the question? I haven't read one where it did. Make them all anonymous. Then there is no extra work for Matt to approve.

Keep it where Matt can see who posts and he can just ban anyone who asks stupid questions. (Yes, he gets to decide what is stupid.) It'll cost them $5 to return. They'll lose all their whuffle or karma or whatever they're calling it today and have to return to 'GO."
posted by ?! at 7:40 AM on December 30, 2004


I think the fundamental question is whether the anonymous posting feature is being abused by members of the community simply for the sake of using it. Matt has to approve or deny every anonymous question; the more anonymous questions he receives, the more work he has to do; the more work he has to do, the more likely it is to become overwhelming.

Once upon a time when we were having a similar discussion here I tried really hard to get Matt to define what was actually at stake with "overuse" of the anon feature. I figured, as you do, that it was a matter of his time limits. One can only review so many submissions, etc. But despite several invitations to say that this was the case, he didn't, and simply claimed that he wanted to 'keep it from being overused and save it for stuff that really needs it,' (paraphrase). Which I honestly don't understand, because it provides no definition for what really needs it, or what level constitutes overuse. But whatever. This whole salon is one man's playground. He does as he likes. In this case I don't see much point in complaining on his behalf. Matt's opinion is the only one that matters, and he's already spoken on all these by passing them through.
posted by scarabic at 9:15 AM on December 30, 2004


I think ?! has pretty much nailed it for me. Make them all anonymous to everyone except matt. Nobody needs to know who the poster is for any question, and if the poster wants to provide additional information (thereby ceasing to be anonymous), they can do so. Since it's all transparent to matt, anybody caught abusing it can get trounced by Number 1, which is the same thing that happens now.
posted by Bugbread at 10:18 AM on December 30, 2004


Since this argument is against the posts being anonymous, and not against the quality of the posts, then basically we're arguing about whether the rest of us should know who is asking these questions.

For what is at least the third time around:
  • This is not an argument.
  • This is not about "against anonymity."
  • This is a bit about the quality of the posts.

    It IS about Matt's decision to post them. I assume he is flooded with anonymous questions. I am very curious as to why those three questions in particular were selected. I am curious because I, personally, IMO, YMMV, feel they were atrociously stupid.

    I'm not looking for an argument. I'm not arguing against anonymity. And the quality judgement is, I am very aware, entirely my opinion.

    If there are goals to the question, they are:
  • To send feedback to Matt re: his selection of anon questions.
  • To understand what Matt wants from AskMe. If abysmally stupid questions are A-OK, then I'm going to be a lot less reticent in asking dumb questions.

  • posted by five fresh fish at 11:10 AM on December 30, 2004


    Make all FPPs anonymous. What's the point in signing them except to prove that you found more cool links than anyone.

    Cure is worst than the ailment, I don't read posts by some members because I find them universally scroll pastable.
    posted by Mitheral at 11:15 AM on December 30, 2004


    Ach, FFF - why bother to insist on the reason for your post? As you well know, there's never been a (non-bug/technical) MetaTalk in the history of the world that ever stayed on point.

    To answer one general thread question, though:

    Why aren't all AskMe questions anonymous?

    Because no poster could really then step in on their own question thread and answer the points that were raised or respond to requests for more information.

    It's always incredibly irritating with the anonymous threads.
    posted by taz at 12:11 PM on December 30, 2004


    FFF:

    First, sorry, when I said "argument", I meant it in the sense of "point of contention/discussion", like how in a debate each side puts forth their arguments.

    Second, from your first posts, it does look like your issue was, to some degree, with the anonymity of the posts (roughly but fairly paraphrased, "why were these posts worthy of being posted anonymously?")

    I'm going to guess the question wasn't so much "why are these posts worthy of anonymity" as "why are these anonymous posts worthy of posting?" Would that be a fair interpretation?

    If that's your position (correct me if it's not), I don't agree, in that we are making a different initial assumption. I assume that Matt is posting pretty much every anonymous question that he gets, so he isn't being flooded with them, and the editorial process is minimal. It's not so much that he's getting tons of anonymous questions and allowing only these crappy ones through, but that he's getting a trickle of anonymous mails, and letting pretty much everything through, including these stinkers.

    If I were so inclined, I'd ask the corollary question, "Is anonymous being used for stinkers of questions, because people don't want to be associated with the question?" Of course, since the posters are anonymous, few would out themselves, so any discussion would be speculative.

    Cure is worst than the ailment, I don't read posts by some members because I find them universally scroll pastable.

    I find that true on the blue, and, sometimes, the grey, but on the green, most questions themselves have less editorializing or snarking than blue or grey comments, so poster history doesn't cause immediate eye-aversion.

    The answers are a different matter entirely.
    posted by Bugbread at 12:27 PM on December 30, 2004


    "why are these anonymous posts worthy of posting?" Would that be a fair interpretation?

    That's it exactly. My apologies for having fuxxored-up my snarking!
    posted by five fresh fish at 1:24 PM on December 30, 2004


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