Why was this post deleted?

August 7, 2006 2:54 PM

Why was this post deleted? The asker seemed like he had a legitimate question, and some interesting answers were surfacing.
posted by casconed to Etiquette/Policy at 2:54 PM (34 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: hypothetical chatfilter
posted by boo_radley at 3:03 PM on August 7, 2006

Interesting answers were surfacing, yes. Can you elaborate on the "seemed like he had a legitimate question" part?
posted by cortex at 3:04 PM on August 7, 2006

He was asking what kind of food supplies to store in case of disaster. Purely hypothetical. Disasters requiring forethought and preparation never happen anymore.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:10 PM on August 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

zing
posted by boo_radley at 3:11 PM on August 7, 2006

i took this to mean he was expecting some personal downfall, without wanting to reveal details of his personal situation.
posted by casconed at 3:11 PM on August 7, 2006

The poster seems to (admittedly, it's a little unclear) suspect that he will be undergoing a personal financial crisis sometime in the near future, and was asking how to prepare. Seems like a legitimate question to me. And as far as the apocalypse stuff, a question about preparation for apocalyptic-type disasters is not inherently chatty; in fact, a lot of us should probably be more prepared than we are for an emergency/disaster situation.
posted by amro at 3:12 PM on August 7, 2006

Can you elaborate on the "seemed like he had a legitimate question" part?
posted by cortex

There aren't many questions that are more important to those of us who live in earthquake country and I would think that also applies to areas of the world subject to other types of disaster.

Even before Katrina, our local agencies have hammered us to be prepared to be on our own for at least 7 days before we can expect any government help. My wife and I live way out in the sticks, so we have everything we need to go 30 days minimum.
posted by buggzzee23 at 3:17 PM on August 7, 2006

The question wasn't posed as clearly as it might have been, but it was in no way chatfilter such as many posts that seem to live happily on AskMeFi are. jon_kill is trying to plan for something.
posted by persona non grata at 3:17 PM on August 7, 2006

Hypothetical phrasing encourages other hypothetical questions, most of which won't have a clearly-defined tangible core. It should be rephrased as a practical question about survival supplies. Please bring it back in an altered form!
posted by Eideteker at 3:19 PM on August 7, 2006

What would you... Imagine you had... Imagine you had...

If he was soliciting specific advice for his impending financial downturn, he phrased his question poorly. And this thread is stupid because the answer to your question — "Why was this post deleted" — is exactly the same as the answer to the previous hundred MeTa threads about nearly identical AskMe deletions. Honestly, at this point, I think it's fair to say the linked thread qualifies as a textbook example of ChatFilter; and once a question has been answered a hundred times, it's reasonable to consider #101 a stupid question.
posted by cribcage at 3:24 PM on August 7, 2006

...and who's to say the shelving would survive a cataclysmic event?
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:28 PM on August 7, 2006

So it would have been ok if he said: I expect to be broke soon, what kinds of foods should I buy in advance to be able to eat till the situation picks up?
posted by necessitas at 3:32 PM on August 7, 2006

Yes.
posted by cribcage at 3:36 PM on August 7, 2006

So it would have been ok if he said: I expect to be broke soon, what kinds of foods should I buy in advance to be able to eat till the situation picks up?

Yeah, pretty much. I have to acknowledge that my own comment came after glancing at but not really thoroughly considering the question—the citations cribcage provides (What would you... Imagine you had... Imagine you had..) give a really, really lousy impression that belies the actual utility lurking in the question.

jon_kill may have been asking for very practical reasons, the question is a reasonable one, but he would be hardpressed to find a worse way to ask it on AskMe short of mentioning cat declawing.
posted by cortex at 3:37 PM on August 7, 2006

He should post again next week with a more clearly-worded, specific question.
posted by amro at 3:37 PM on August 7, 2006

Dear AskMe:

What would should you jon_kill[ed] [have] put on your his "apocalypse" shelf?


It's too late for poor jon_kill[ed], but I have a few cupboards in the kitchen that I want to put non-perishable items in, in case money is tight or disaster strikes and I need to ride it out. I've read that we should be prepared to fend for ourselves for up to three weeks (or even three months)!

I want to start stocking up at a rate of about 20 items a week for a few months to fill it up, using items from a few local cheap grocery stores.

What items should I start buying for it?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:40 PM on August 7, 2006

fap fap fap.

fap.
posted by quonsar at 3:41 PM on August 7, 2006

quonsar votes for a case of moist towelettes.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:42 PM on August 7, 2006

and lotion, natch
posted by cortex at 3:46 PM on August 7, 2006

IT PUTS THE LOTION IN THE BASKET CUPBOARD.
posted by keswick at 4:06 PM on August 7, 2006

Seems like whoever deleted it did so without reading anything other then the title. He clearly mean "apocalypse" as in something that would be very common: running out of money.
posted by delmoi at 4:10 PM on August 7, 2006

it sounded like desert island type of stuff. The "What would you... Imagine you had... Imagine you had..." stuff seemed like the kind of hypothetical questions that people love to offer opinions for, but dont' result in much useful info.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:17 PM on August 7, 2006

The problem with the phrasing of it was that it was drawing a lot of apocalypse type responses from people who also didn't read the more inside. Lots of guns and money sorts of things. It is an answerable question about food storage, but so badly expressed that it comes across as chatfilter, which has been grounds for deleting things before.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:17 PM on August 7, 2006

This is ridiculous, put the money spent on groceries in a jar. It was a hypothetical question, if it was not then he should qualify as to why he believes the best way of storing wealth is in non-perishable food form. Unfortunately if there was a non-hypothetical question in there the poor wording of the question did not help.
posted by geoff. at 4:19 PM on August 7, 2006

Clearly the questioner is neither a Mormon nor a Utahn.

Yes, they can occasionally be two different things.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:25 PM on August 7, 2006

But I was serious about the Beenie Weenies and Skyflakes. As I always am.
posted by evil holiday magic at 4:34 PM on August 7, 2006

Utahn

Damn, do I ever love that word. What the hell is wrong with me?
posted by dersins at 4:52 PM on August 7, 2006

1. phrasing was bad
2. Seems like the legitimate question found within the phrasing could be independently answered with a minimal amount of effort.
posted by edgeways at 4:53 PM on August 7, 2006

quonsar votes for a case of moist towelettes.

I thought he was suggesting live flounders. You know where.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:05 PM on August 7, 2006

jon_kill: I'm likely not to use my question this week. If you'd like to try and repost a better version of this, send me an email (profile) and I'll put it up.
posted by onalark at 5:49 PM on August 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

Any question regarding preparedness against possible future events is, by definition, hypothetical. That doesn't meant they're all bad questions.
posted by scarabic at 10:05 PM on August 7, 2006

Mormons eat what they can, and they can what they can't.
posted by hermitosis at 6:09 AM on August 8, 2006

And what they can't can, they will.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:15 AM on August 8, 2006

fandango_matt, you're going to need more gun than that, at least in most of the places I've lived. Though now that I'm in Berkeley, it might work.
posted by small_ruminant at 9:40 AM on August 8, 2006