52 posts tagged with Askme and questions.
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Still wondering after all these years

What AskMe of yours are you still curious about? What was never resolved? [more inside]
posted by The corpse in the library on May 14, 2022 - 75 comments

Metatalktail Hour: Unrequited Ask

From Bklyn wants to know, "How about questions you have asked in ask-me, but never got an answer to? Either because no one knew or you didn't formulate your question right - and maybe later you found out the answer?" [more inside]
posted by taz on Apr 4, 2021 - 61 comments

AskMe mentioned in WaPo

Caitlyn Gibson's Washington Post article "Hereafter" discusses two couples who decided to have children despite a cancer diagnosis. The author mentions MeFi here:
Buried in the digital archives of MetaFilter, an online message board that predated Reddit, is a question posed by an anonymous husband in 2010; he explained that his wife had been treated for an aggressive brain tumor, but they desperately wanted to be parents, and he wondered whether having a child was a wise or ethical choice. Hundreds* of replies unspooled below his post, passionately voicing every imaginable viewpoint:

“You’re in for a world of trouble if you do it. But it may be the thing that you need to do.”

“Having lost a mother to cancer ... I do think it is selfish to knowingly bring a child into the world knowing full well that the child will have to watch one of its parents die, and then grow up without them.”

“As someone whose father died when I was eight, I think you should do it.”
*"Hundreds" being eighty-eight, but who's counting?
posted by Johnny Wallflower on Dec 20, 2019 - 19 comments

Trying out two Ask MetaFilter questions per week!

We had a discussion earlier this year about allowing two Ask MetaFilter questions per week, and I think it's worth a shot. Today we're rolling it out, and we'll see how it goes. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Jun 8, 2017 - 72 comments

Witness the power of a fully operational hivemind

Ask Metafilter, the internet's go-to source for sane, competent advice and information, reached its 300,000th question this week. (Previously, 200,000 and 100,000.)
posted by Horace Rumpole on Sep 5, 2016 - 21 comments

Job interview questions on AskMe

I'm curious. What motivates people to give advice on job interview questions? I saw a recent question where the asker was looking for specific ideas to help them deliver a killer presentation in order to land the job of their dreams. Surely, if your advice to the asker is helpful and causes the person to land the job, you're also crushing the dreams of the person who would otherwise have got it had you not helped the Mefite (someone who, perhaps, was going into the interview using all their own ideas, without help of the hive mind)? Is it just tribalism that we prefer the Mefite over the unseen non-Mefite?
posted by dontjumplarry on Jun 29, 2013 - 112 comments

How to delete your previous questions within AskMeFi

How to delete your previous questions within metafilter or AskMeFi? If you can't delete, why not and do they stay online forever?
posted by daveg02 on Dec 5, 2012 - 53 comments

The Cabal just lost Doc Marten

I've been noticing basically the same question posted repeatedly on AskMe, "Please recommend some comfy walking shoes for me." [more inside]
posted by misha on Sep 20, 2012 - 264 comments

N/A

Perhaps the AskMetafilter question form should point out that the title of the post does not appear on the front page? [more inside]
posted by oneirodynia on Aug 16, 2012 - 45 comments

You have many questions, Mr. Sparkle.

I'm a prolific AskMe user, but I think I'm doing it wrong. [more inside]
posted by Nomyte on Apr 13, 2012 - 71 comments

BTW: I am a cat

Geneva Uswazi's profile made me crack up.
posted by The Whelk on Mar 16, 2012 - 78 comments

What are some of AskMe's fastest, most amazing success stories?

The sidebar (see Apr 12) featured this post, in which someone's seemingly obscure question was answered in just six minutes. I think MY experience was even more amazing (as my question was more obscure), though it did take Gator an hour and ten minutes to cough up an answer. What are some other AskMe Astounding Stories of Snappy Answers to Obscure Questions?
posted by grumblebee on May 13, 2011 - 46 comments

A study in Q&A sites

A study in Q&A sites: Ask Metafilter's "Why do some people wear shoes indoors?" versus Quora's "Do real Americans wear shoes indoors as portrayed in sitcom TV shows?" and its follow-on "In which North American locales is it more common to take off one's shoes when entering a home? In which is it more prevalent to leave them on?" [more inside]
posted by GuyZero on Jan 21, 2011 - 52 comments

Mother, she not like the boom

In case you didn't know, a hilarious, amazing AskMe about a mysterious Christmas Letter has inspired a strange, oddly addictive song on MetaMusic. That is all.
posted by The Whelk on Dec 16, 2010 - 39 comments

Thousands of moderators

Facebook has an open position for a Questions Community Manager. The text itself is pretty fascinating with superlatives like"anything you can dream up", "thousands of moderators" and "the full resources of Facebook at your disposal". I obviously thought about AskMe and Jessamyn, and she agreed it was an interesting Meta post. Knowing that communities start from the ground up, I am especially interested in thoughts about how such a gigantic operation can be handled, if it can at all. [more inside]
posted by bru on Nov 1, 2010 - 24 comments

Please Hope Me Not Fail at Life

I've been really enjoying "lifehack"-type AskMe posts lately - questions about how to change one's own habits to be better at day-to-day life situations and challenges (How do I become one of those people who makes everyone they talk to feel great? from Chrysalis is a good new one). What are some of your favorites? [more inside]
posted by l33tpolicywonk on Aug 15, 2010 - 33 comments

Who asks the most interesting questions?

InfoDump Analysis Request. Who asks the most interesting questions in AskMe? [more inside]
posted by marsha56 on Jul 28, 2010 - 42 comments

Let's all use and follow the "identify" tag in AskMe

Suggestion for community adoption of a particular AskMe tag? [more inside]
posted by booksherpa on Jun 28, 2010 - 30 comments

I've got some questions...

FeatureRequest: AskMeFi question queue? [more inside]
posted by deacon_blues on Apr 15, 2010 - 58 comments

All's well that ends well?

Many ask.metafilter questions don't have an "end" to the story. Which questions are you most curious about how they ended?
posted by bigmusic on Dec 2, 2009 - 68 comments

People need to chill out on this AskMe Poster

People need to chill out on the poster of this AskMe Question [more inside]
posted by Ironmouth on Feb 26, 2009 - 181 comments

Question queue?

How about a question queue? [more inside]
posted by trinity8-director on Nov 10, 2008 - 45 comments

Queuing questions.

From time to time, after asking a question in AskMefi, I get a great question but forget about it because of the waiting period. I'm not questioning this rule, but it would be nice to have the possibility to create a certain number of questions in advance, and put them in some sort of queue, so one will not forgot to ask some good question.
posted by zouhair on Mar 16, 2008 - 53 comments

travel laziness

This might be a better suggestion for the upcoming Travel site, but is it appropriate to suggest to people before they post looking for things to do in a new city, that they: A) Tell us as much about themselves as possible, B) Have perused all the previous threads relating to that city? (more inside)
posted by vacapinta on Aug 1, 2007 - 25 comments

Bears, baby. All the way, bears.

This is a great freakin question. I'd just like to use it to once more point out that we really should be able to reopen this discussion for a more full, rounded finalization.
posted by allkindsoftime on Jul 2, 2007 - 33 comments

Rollover questions? $5 per question? Pony?

God help me, but I'm starting a thread on getting additional AskMe questions. There are weeks that go by with no need to ask anything ... but then there are times when a second question would be a life-saver. Whatabout either (a) "rollover questions," a la Cingular's rollover minutes, say, up to a maximum of 2-3 in the bank at any time; or (b) a fee to ask a second question in one week? I can think of several times when I would have ponied up an additional $5 to ask, say, a work-related question where I knew AskMe's community would have the best answer.
posted by jbickers on Jun 27, 2007 - 127 comments

When is the best time to ask?

Do we have any data about what the best time of day is to ask an AskMe? Maybe even sliced and diced by tag or geography of respondant? Like, say I had a question about American law, when would be the best time of day (perhaps through some proxy measure like more responses is better, but maybe it could be smarter and be based on favorites or checked answers) to post it? Posts made around 1am Central might not be ideal cause they may slide off the page by mid morning, right? And they may be less interesting to Euros or Asians who are reading. (Sorry, but I don't know how to do a more inside)
posted by rbs on Mar 30, 2007 - 13 comments

The two-week waiting period

In which I posit that the two-week waiting period has had no impact on the volume of questions.
posted by knave on Jan 2, 2007 - 112 comments

Are these an acceptable use of Ask.me or not?

I'd love to help you name your cat, and I'd love to help you name your baked goods. BUT - Please avoid "help me name my kitten/computer/website" and "help me make a mix CD" questions. Why do we want to avoid these kind of questions? Are these an acceptable use of Ask.me or not?
posted by bigmusic on Dec 19, 2006 - 77 comments

AskMe questions popping up on The Vine.

Looks like our answers to anonymous just don't hack it: The second question on "The Vine", seems remarkably similar to this question, on AskMe.

Though, I have to wonder: I understand the desire for a second opinion, or maybe a third, possibly even a fourth, but what makes you think "Yeah, sure, I got 75 answers the last time I asked this, but I think I need to get a 76th opinion."

Note: There's no permalink on The Vine, so I have no idea when the question will scroll off into the archive, replaced by a new second question that renders this post incomprehensible. Sorry.

Note: this is not a callout or complaint, just something I found interesting and MetaFilter related
posted by Bugbread on Dec 14, 2006 - 19 comments

Too many gift questions in askme

At the risk of being a scrooge, is there any way at all to curtail xmas gift askme? I know everyone needs special unique gifts for all the special unique snowflakes in their lives, none of whom resemble in any way the recipients other people need to buy gifts for, but it doesn't add a great deal of value to the site as a whole and we've got another month or so of questions like this ahead of us...
posted by judith on Nov 21, 2006 - 57 comments

Ways to improve the chances of getting good answers to AskMe questions.

Ways to improve the chances of getting good answers to your askMefi questions.
posted by orthogonality on Aug 11, 2006 - 53 comments

Request: a way to mark our questions as resolved.

I'd love to see a "conclusion" feature to many of the askme questions. For instance, even if it's months later, I could go into a question I asked and mark it "concluded" and give a quick summary of what happened when I followed the advice.

Once someone marks something "concluded" it would go to its own "conclusions" RSS feed, which we could subscribe to if we want to know "the rest of the story" on many of the questions asked.
posted by visual mechanic on May 13, 2006 - 41 comments

Joshua's quest continues.

Joshua's quest for money continues as he sells a Playstation on eBay, ships it to Nigeria, and doesn't get the money first. Click here for more of Joshuak's saga.
posted by k8t on May 9, 2006 - 123 comments

Dealing with illegal questions on AskMe

Do we need a note on the AskMe "post a question" page that says "Please don't ask for advice on how to do something illegal"?
posted by jjg on Apr 17, 2006 - 51 comments

Can we single out unanswered questions on AskMe?

As I watched my somewhat difficult and obscure question move unanswered onto the second page of AskMeFi today, I wondered aloud: "We have a filter for those marked best answer and one for fantastic topics, why not one for 'Stumped' that no one answers"? Or are there not enough unanswered questions?

I imagine the author of the question would have to mark whether an answer had been reached or not, and unanswerable questions like "Why does God allow suffering?" could be flagged and removed from the 'Stumped' category.

Is such a thing possible? Desireable?
posted by MasonDixon on Mar 13, 2006 - 25 comments

Is this questions creepy and/or offensive?

Is this ask.mefi question creepy and/or offensive?
posted by chunking express on Mar 7, 2006 - 119 comments

2 questions, 1 week

Hi, I'm working on a pro bono asylum case and I need a NYC-area translator for Fulani/Pular, a dialect of Guinea. We've tried the available services without much luck and I thought as a last ditch attempt, to try askmefi. However, I asked a question last week (before this translator thing had really become an issue). Would it be possible to post a second question? I can promise not to ask a question next week.
posted by kensanway on Mar 6, 2006 - 22 comments

How many questions is too many for posting on MeFi?

How many questions is too many for posting on MeFi?

Hi, my name is x, and I'm a MeFi Addict ('hi x!').

yes, it's come to the point in my life where I turn to this site because I know it'll have links/commentary on a variety of issues. I know if I post a question someone will inevitably have a good answer... the question is, what's the ratio of questions I should ask to questions I should answer? If I ask a question, is there some sort of karmic payback I should perform - i.e. try answering a few questions in return? I certainly don't want to seem like I'm a lazy person here. I honestly come after I've done a bit of research - honest!

Just curious - or is this too meta perhaps? I don't want to outstay my $5 welcome... although if a certain site owner had a donation button that might help me sort out my karm ;)
posted by rmm on Feb 23, 2006 - 35 comments

multiple questions in one post

AskMe etiquette: multiple questions in one post, if they're all related (more inside)?
posted by aberrant on Nov 20, 2005 - 18 comments

Should incomplete questions be deleted?

Regarding ask metafitler similar to this one, where people don't give a fuller picture to their question/problem/situation: maybe they should be deleted? If a person isn't willing to be open about the things, why should metatime be spent on it?
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Nov 12, 2005 - 41 comments

What questions work the best with Askme? Worst?

Ask.Meta Question askers/answerers.

What does Ask.metalk work really well with? What does it suck with?
posted by filmgeek on Aug 21, 2005 - 35 comments

Why Medical Questions?

Last week, SpecialK wondered aloud on MeTa, "Why do people keep asking medical questions on AskMe?". Here's a Pew Research report that talks about how and why people look for health information online. Also see Eszter Hargittai's Crooked Timber post on this study and another, along with her other posts and writings. (I posted here because it's too narrow-interest for MeFi and is in reponse to an AskMe etiquette question. Also, it's not bitching or a callout.)
posted by Ethereal Bligh on May 19, 2005 - 9 comments

Is it ever ok in askmefi to ask a related question in the comments of a question?

Is it ever ok in askmefi to ask a related question in the comments of a question?
posted by drezdn on May 12, 2005 - 25 comments

askme medical questions

Criminy! We need a way to flag askMe posts as: Go to a doctor, goofball!
posted by jpburns on Mar 11, 2005 - 16 comments

You don't have a 'right' to post anywhere

Sigh. . . [+]
posted by Quartermass on Dec 15, 2004 - 51 comments

It's not about the links

In AskMe, the button shouldn't say Preview the Link, it should say Preview the Question.
posted by Pretty_Generic on Oct 11, 2004 - 4 comments

will there ever be an anonymous way to ask questions?

Stet's question reminds me: will there ever be an anonymous way to ask questions? I'm sure there are lots of people out there with things to ask that they don't want brought up when they're running for office...
posted by bonaldi on Oct 10, 2004 - 2 comments

Ask Metafilter update from mathowie 6/14/06

Ask Mefi update: all the questions and answers are in a new database, meaning that new features will be coming soon. First up will be links to all questions and answers on your user page, probably done tonight. Then categories, keywords, and all sorts of cool shit. Let me know if you find any errors in the meantime.
posted by mathowie on Jun 14, 2004 - 37 comments

Askme posts disappearing rapidly off the front page

AskMe threads are disappearing off the front page at high speed as floods of new questions come in. It seems to me that a good many questions could have been answered had the question-asker put a bit more effort into googling. What are we to do?
posted by five fresh fish on Jan 15, 2004 - 105 comments

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