Chatfilter?

August 1, 2006 9:43 AM

I really like this thread (and, in fact, participated in it, but isn't it pretty much the definition of chatfilter?
posted by dersins to Etiquette/Policy at 9:43 AM (27 comments total)

Not calling it out, as such, or advocating deletion-- I'm just hoping to get some clarification, is all...
posted by dersins at 9:43 AM on August 1, 2006

oh shi i forgot a )
posted by dersins at 9:46 AM on August 1, 2006

My take was that even though the question had the dreaded "what's your favorite..." lead in, the more inside part clarified that the poster was looking for ways to spice up and assist him/her in the memorization task that they had recently picked up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:52 AM on August 1, 2006

There are lots of interesting passages in that thread.
posted by caddis at 9:55 AM on August 1, 2006

Here, dersins, you can borrow one of mine. )
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 10:07 AM on August 1, 2006

Thanks, FuzzyMonster.
posted by dersins at 10:18 AM on August 1, 2006

And here's the "t" you forgot" t
posted by timeistight at 11:57 AM on August 1, 2006

"
posted by mbrubeck at 12:06 PM on August 1, 2006

Next you're going to tell me i mispelled something, too
posted by dersins at 12:10 PM on August 1, 2006

the poster was looking for ways to spice up and assist him/her in the memorization task that they had recently picked up

Umm, they were? That's not what I got from the more inside at all.
posted by antifuse at 12:11 PM on August 1, 2006

It's a great thread and proves the exception.
posted by xod at 12:19 PM on August 1, 2006

Thank you, mbrubek, but that quote mark is actually an incognito colon.

And here's the "t" you forgot: t

posted by timeistight at 12:23 PM on August 1, 2006

I'm with antifuse on this one. The MI doesn't read to me like they're looking for tips on how to memorize things, but they were just asking for other people to mention things they had memorized. Short version: not "tips for memorization", but "what do you have memorized?"
posted by Godbert at 12:23 PM on August 1, 2006

Questions that nominally meet the definition of chatfilter but get lots of people marking it as "favorite" won't be deleted. That's not an official policy, AFAIK, but it does seem to be the actual practice. There was an Ask within the past month or so (which I can't find now; perhaps someone else can), which had something like 70 users who marked it as a favorite, even though I thought it was pretty chatfilterish.

There will be some people who will decry this as "not consistently applying standards" and/or "mob rule." Some of those people are those who want even that small number of chatfilter questions deleted. Some of the people who protest are those who want all chatfilter questions allowed. Some of the people who protest are simply those whose minds have a well-known hobgoblin. As for me, I'm generally OK with it--deleting 98% of chatfilter but keeping maybe the popular 2%.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:58 PM on August 1, 2006

I'm just hoping to get some clarification...

The thread is a contradiction to the rule. Pretty simple. And well said, DevilsAdvocate.
posted by sjvilla79 at 2:13 PM on August 1, 2006

Someone really needs to do some research on how much time is spent debating the validity of posts. It's just mind-boggling.
posted by ORthey at 3:10 PM on August 1, 2006

are there really 98 chatfilter threads deleted for every 2 that get kept?
posted by shmegegge at 3:52 PM on August 1, 2006

shmegegge, I think it's probably more like 29 to 1 or something, maybe 19 to 1.

However, I bet there's also one "you kept this chatfilter" Meta post for every one "you deleted this post and called it chatfilter" MeTa post.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:56 PM on August 1, 2006

Which probably should lead you to the conclusion that having a consistent policy might keep the masses better informed and less likely to start a MeTa thread, right?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 3:57 PM on August 1, 2006

SeizeTheDay, I'd say a guideline that works 95 to 97 percent of the time IS being pretty consistent. My point is that people will bitch if you err in either direction. I've said in the past that I try to err on the side of inclusiveness (or trying to rewrite posts with the OP) if the post seems to be on the fence.

DevilsAdvocate, I've never noticed how many favorites any AskMe post has, though people thinking it's a great post may affect how many people flag it as noise which is something I do notice.

The whole point isn't to avoid MeTa threads it's to try to keep the noise level down on AskMe and the chatfilter guideline mostly works for that and it's applied relatively consistently.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:10 PM on August 1, 2006

I think the most important thing is that it wasn't

"I like x and y, what are your favorites?"

it was "what are your favorites?"

the difference is vast in the green
posted by Megafly at 5:36 PM on August 1, 2006

Maybe if you guys carp enough about chatfilter all your childhood pets will return from the dead and you can frolic with Mr. Wiggles in the park!
Because this amount of petty bullshit only comes from childhood trauma, right?
posted by klangklangston at 8:06 PM on August 1, 2006

OP here.

I hope nobody read the question as, "Hey guys, I memorized Chaucer. What did you do? Isn't that neat?", because I was going more for, "So, I memorized Chaucer, point me towards the next one."

And, voilà, people gave me some great answers. In retrospect, I guess the phrasing is pretty chatty. Your objections are noted for future questions, but I'm glad this question wasn't deleted.
posted by sixacross at 8:47 PM on August 1, 2006

DevilsAdvocate, I've never noticed how many favorites any AskMe post has

I'm not saying that you actually use the number of favorites to decide whether or not to delete a chatfilter post, just that there's a correlation. Oh, and here's exhibit B I was looking for earlier.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:28 AM on August 2, 2006

I'm not saying that you actually use the number of favorites to decide whether or not to delete a chatfilter post, just that there's a correlation.

Soo.... every now and then, a chatfilterish thread winds up being of great interest to many people. The admins are good at identifying those threads.

Because MeFi is a fun internet site, not a government, 100% consistency is strange goal for people to hold in their minds. Stop asking for 100% consistency. It won't happen, and it shouldn't.
posted by ibmcginty at 8:46 AM on August 2, 2006

Thanks, ibmcginty, that was exactly my point.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:55 AM on August 2, 2006

Right, right, Mr./Ms. Advocate, my "soooooo" made it unclear, but I meant to be agreeing with you, and educating those on this thread who are consistency-uber-alles types.
posted by ibmcginty at 9:14 AM on August 2, 2006