Followup etiquette on closed AskMe posts

April 23, 2006 9:07 AM

Don't get me wrong -- I want to know how stuff on AskMe turns out. I don't think MeTa is the ideal place for that, though. What about allowing askers to post a followup in their own threads, even if they'd been closed & archived, which would put that thread on a new page, like the "fantastic posts" page we have now, which could be called "resolutions" or "how'd it turn out" or some such.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders to Feature Requests at 9:07 AM (36 comments total)

Now that questions only close after 12 months, everyone has the ability to post updates in thread. So to me, letting other users know when a very old thread has been updated is the important issue. A MetaTalk thread for every updated question does seem excessive, but..
posted by Chuckles at 9:21 AM on April 23, 2006

Sometimes I think folks here need to go find a friend or something.
posted by y6y6y6 at 9:23 AM on April 23, 2006

I don't think MeTa is the ideal place for that, though.

Take it to MetaTalkTalk.
posted by matthewr at 9:36 AM on April 23, 2006

AskMetafilter: Sometimes I think folks here need to go find a friend or something.

my very first AxMe tagline!
posted by kcm at 9:50 AM on April 23, 2006

Wouldn't that be MetaMetaTalk?


Man: Well, what've you got?
Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and MeTa; egg bacon and MeTa; egg bacon sausage and MeTa; MeTa bacon sausage and MeTa; MeTa egg MeTa MeTa bacon and MeTa; MeTa sausage MeTa MeTa bacon MeTa tomato and MeTa;
Vikings (starting to chant): MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa...
Waitress: ...MeTa MeTa MeTa egg and MeTa; MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa baked beans MeTa MeTa MeTa...
Vikings (singing): MeTa! Lovely MeTa! Lovely MeTa!
Waitress: ...or Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay
sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines
garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and MeTa.
Wife: Have you got anything without MeTa?
Waitress: Well, there's MeTa egg sausage and MeTa, that's not got much MeTa in it.
Wife: I don't want ANY MeTa!
Man: Why can't she have egg bacon MeTa and sausage?
Wife: THAT'S got MeTa in it!
Man: Hasn't got as much MeTa in it as MeTa egg sausage and MeTa, has it?
Vikings: MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa (crescendo through next few lines)
Wife: Could you do the egg bacon MeTa and sausage without the MeTa then?
Waitress: Eewwww!
Wife: What do you mean 'Eewwww'? I don't like MeTa!
Vikings: Lovely MeTa! Wonderful MeTa!
Waitress: Shut up!
Vikings: Lovely MeTa! Wonderful MeTa!
Waitress: Shut up! (Vikings stop) Bloody Vikings! You can't
have egg bacon MeTa and sausage without the MeTa.
Wife (shrieks): I don't like MeTa!
Man: Sshh, dear, don't cause a fuss. I'll have your MeTa. I love it. I'm having MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa baked beans MeTa MeTa MeTa and MeTa!
Vikings (singing): MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa. Lovely MeTa! Wonderful MeTa!
Waitress: Shut up!! Baked beans are off.
Man: Well could I have her MeTa instead of the baked beans then?
Waitress: You mean MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa... (but it is too late and the Vikings drown her words)
Vikings (singing elaborately): MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa. Lovely MeTa! Wonderful MeTa! MeTa Meeeeeeeetttttttttaaaaaaa MeTa Meeeeeeeeeeetaaaaaaaaa MeTa. Lovely MeTa! Lovely MeTa! Lovely MeTa! Lovely MeTa! Lovely MeTa! MeTa MeTa MeTa MeTa!


posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:07 AM on April 23, 2006

I'd rather read through those threads than the majority of the idiotic callouts.
posted by purephase at 10:08 AM on April 23, 2006

I have no idea if the coding would be a problem, but it is a good idea. many people have expressed a desire to know how some questions have been resolved. A simple addendum to the thread and a list of such addendums would be appreciated.

Or change the rules to allow resolution threads that reference the original thread.
posted by ?! at 10:29 AM on April 23, 2006

I want to know how stuff on AskMe turns out. I don't think MeTa is the ideal place for that, though.

Yeah, we should only be using MeTa for bitchy callouts.
posted by grouse at 10:38 AM on April 23, 2006

I don't think MeTa is the ideal place for that, though.

Why?

I would agree that posting a new MeTa thread to announce, for example*, having bought a used car affords a disproportionately high profile to a relatively trivial thread that would hardly qualify for "Best of AskMe." But I think the announcement serves a greater purpose than simply updating that individual thread; it's a specific, tangible reminder that AskMe can offer real help to real people — and if those occasional reminders can serve as a constructive, non-confrontational way of keeping AskMe on track, then they absolutely belong on MeTa.

* Sorry, Kickstart70. No callout intended, but timing made yours the obvious example.
posted by cribcage at 11:19 AM on April 23, 2006

I like that idea. Although I don't really see a problem with posting 'resolutions' on MeTa, since MeTa doesn't get that much stuff anyway.
posted by delmoi at 11:19 AM on April 23, 2006

Perhaps in addition to

1) The question (post) itself
2) answers to the question.
There can be
3) a resolution post -- something to say that it's resolved and how it was resolved.

or we can tagged things and have a post stating how they were resolved.

Or we could have people come to metatalk and say things are resolved.

Or we could talk about it in metachat.


Or we could not worry about it all.

I vote for the one that is the best answer.
posted by bigmusic at 11:29 AM on April 23, 2006

I can see the theoretical problem if a lot of people started doing it, but frankly the ratio of "hey, thanks for the advice, here's how it worked out" to "OMG user X said something horrible and let's all stone him!!!" at MeTa is infinitesimal. Once we cut down on the pointless callouts and pony requests ("Matt, I'd like to have my posts show up mirror-reversed, can you do that?"), then it's time to start getting on the case of the AskMe ThankYous.
posted by languagehat at 11:37 AM on April 23, 2006

Why not start a custom of adding an update when possible and then adding the tag "resolved" or "updated" to the thread? That way, by searching on the tag, you can scan for the updates you might be interested in.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:47 AM on April 23, 2006

I like MonkeyFilter's recent comments sidebar. People there regularly resurrect months- or even years-old threads when there've been new developments. (I will admit that people there also regularly resurrect old threads just to fuck around). Something similar, like a page listing old threads that have new comments could work for AskMe. (Or maybe just list threads with new comments by the original poster, to discourage fucking around).
posted by TimeFactor at 11:58 AM on April 23, 2006

http://metatalk.metafilter.com/mefi/11573?
posted by apple scruff at 12:00 PM on April 23, 2006

*If* it was a simple enough process to capture those questions where the poster responds say more than 1 week after the original post.......they could perhaps be posted to the AskMe sidebar. I have no clue as to the mechanics/coding hassle however.
posted by peacay at 12:06 PM on April 23, 2006

AskMe followups: good.
Callouts that result in hundred-comment flamewars and "flag it and move on" posted another hundred times: not so good.
posted by danb at 12:18 PM on April 23, 2006

Resolved. Subscribe to the feed.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 12:19 PM on April 23, 2006

Now that's a clever idea.
posted by blag at 1:37 PM on April 23, 2006

You open the hood, you see what's wrong, you fix it. End of story. Next question.

Nice work monju_bosatsu.
posted by TimeFactor at 2:02 PM on April 23, 2006

monju_bosatsu has a great idea. (post your followup along with an added "resolved" tag.)

mathowie, how about a MeTa sidebar link explaining the concept, with a link to http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/resolved?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 2:48 PM on April 23, 2006

I appreciate the kudos, but CunningLinguist mentioned it first. I just added links. </credit where credit is due>
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:03 PM on April 23, 2006

Heh. I was about to post: "is this thing on?"
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:12 PM on April 23, 2006

Bah, who has time to read comments with all those like words and stuff. Me click links.

OK, I belatedly and sheeplishly congratulate CunningLinguist on a great idea. Well done.
posted by TimeFactor at 4:14 PM on April 23, 2006

We just have to get people to do it.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:16 PM on April 23, 2006

I marked all my old asks as 'resolved' however, looking just at the "resolved" tagged posts orders them by when they were asked, rather then they were resolved. So if a year-old thread was resolved, you'd never know it.
posted by delmoi at 4:23 PM on April 23, 2006

(well the ones with a definite 'resolution' "Why don't people in Texas have basements?" isn't really a question to be 'resolved')
posted by delmoi at 4:24 PM on April 23, 2006

resolved is a pretty useful idea. maybe things could get autotagged as such when best answers start appearing in a thread? that'd be neat.
posted by boo_radley at 4:28 PM on April 23, 2006

Yeah, I vote for using "updated" as well. Some of the most interesting updates (the guy who got the weird call after contacting the family of the man who died in his store, say) aren't technically "resolved."
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:40 PM on April 23, 2006

..."resolved" tagged posts orders them by when they were asked, rather then they were resolved...

That is a bit of a flaw in the scheme. And unless tags currently get timestamped in DB (which I doubt), there'll be no simple way to allow sorting by date resolved.

maybe things could get autotagged as such when best answers start appearing in a thread?

best-answered doesn't necessarily mean resolved, though. The original poster may discover that the best answer didn't work quite so well when implemented. Or the original poster may find an even better answer via some other source.
posted by TimeFactor at 4:55 PM on April 23, 2006

the announcement serves a greater purpose than simply updating that individual thread; it's a specific, tangible reminder that AskMe can offer real help to real people

True, just an out-of-place and poorly-optimized one. Fantastic posts is better. Some kind of "post the resolution you came to" would be good as well.
posted by scarabic at 6:38 PM on April 23, 2006

Something similar, like a page listing old threads that have new comments could work for AskMe.

Is there any reason AskMe couldn't have the same sort-by dropdown that the Blue has (recent comments, most comments, my comments, date)?
posted by Gator at 3:14 AM on April 24, 2006

as opposed to a tagging function, i think matt howie should create some sort of small icon for resolved threads that the user could add to the question as it appears on the front page of askme.

it would function exactly like the checkmark for 'best answered' threads, and be placed to the right of the 'best answer check mark'. like maybe an icon of something simple like a star...or even that figure-eight infinity icon to show that it has been resolved.

obviously, the user would just post the update in the origonal askme thread that they had started.

but i agree with ssF...i particularly dont like the 'hay guys thanks for the advice in finding a job/apartment/transvestite hooker' on metatalk. For me, it's too self-promoting and absorbed. When i used to post on Askme, often i would simply write individual emails to the people in the thread that gave me the best answer, and thank them for their help.
posted by naxosaxur at 6:47 AM on April 24, 2006

hey, naxo's back! hi naxo!
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:57 AM on April 24, 2006

But you would have to scroll through pages and pages to see if anything you were interested in had been updated. That seems unwieldy.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:59 AM on April 24, 2006

Hi CunningLinguist! :)

You are right...I didnt think of pointless and obtrusive 'scrolling through the pages'...It's just that I am a more visual person. But it's true: the icon option wouldnt really work.
posted by naxosaxur at 7:12 AM on April 24, 2006