MetaTalk

Bloody Hell. Talk about threadjack.
posted by Blue Stone on Mar 6, 2004 - 50 comments

AskMe policy proposal: "Please answer the actual question, not what you think should have been the question".

For instance here, crunchland seems to think the question is "what's a good approach to picking colors", whereas namespan is saying "fireworks used to have a feature, now it doesn't, what can I do". This happens all the time. People ask how to fix something on a computer running System A, and the answer is switch to System B. People ask about Anti-virus apps, and are told not to use them and just practice safe-computing. It's a small peeve, but the added noise is not appreciated, especially when you actually care about the answers.
posted by signal on Jan 8, 2004 - 39 comments

The ongoing U.S. vs. rest-of-the-world grudge match is unnecessary and annoying, especially when it's off topic.
posted by PrinceValium on Sep 10, 2003 - 54 comments

In a thread about "unifying humanity", the poster drops this curiously divisive little gem: Ever...wondered why virtually no republicans practice African or indigenous drumming techniques? Are hand drums, to the US far right, a spooky talesman which evokes lurid fantasies of wild satanic or Santeria (Voodoo) rituals.

Supporting evidence? Congruity with the topic? It's perplexing. Are any of us supposed to have insight into this? It just seems like a lame (and lazy) tactic for inciting a flamewar, complete with dopey stereotypes about both Republicans and Africans.
posted by dhoyt on Aug 24, 2003 - 39 comments

What do we do when the post's author is derailing his/her own thread? [more inside]
posted by qbert72 on Jan 21, 2003 - 15 comments

This is not supposed to be a theology debate. Although I don't mind walking the line because I am interested in people's reactions and interpretations of a natural phenomenon. But I don't want my first FPP yanked because people couldn't at least flame on topic and the topic is HIV, how it works and what it looks like.
posted by wobh on Dec 1, 2002 - 19 comments

AnnoyanceFilter! [Much more inside...]
posted by Danelope on Oct 17, 2002 - 41 comments

I'm sorry, I'm new here. Did I do something wrong? I realize I derailed the thread from the start (for that I apologize), but somehow I became the poster boy for two warring sides in a flame war riddled with insults and heated emotions. I like to think I tried to maintain a civil discourse at the beginning, unfortunately I went to sleep when it got really nasty. Should I have not posted at all? What went wrong here, I would like to know for future reference.
posted by Stan Chin on Aug 26, 2002 - 99 comments

Enough with the pancakes and haiku, already.
posted by rcade on Mar 29, 2002 - 57 comments

I didn't want to derail the Kevin Smith obit thread from where ever it might be going so... [more inside]
posted by willnot on Feb 15, 2002 - 21 comments

I'm really intrigued here. A perfectly good thread (well maybe not great) about censorship of the Olympics, derailed by general revulsion towards a religion. Some tried to get back to the point, but the damage was done. Are all posts voicing concern over how the 2002 Winter games are run doomed to the same fate?
posted by Wulfgar! on Jan 17, 2002 - 35 comments

QuickTopic.com
posted by MattD on Mar 3, 2001 - 23 comments

Okay here goes nothing. This one's about topic drift, and what is the proper way of handling it, if there is such a thing.
posted by ZachsMind on Jul 8, 2000 - 8 comments

The death of MetaFilter - A rambling comment about off topic comments.
posted by y6y6y6 on Jun 14, 2000 - 73 comments