Fake statistics aren't valid answers.

December 29, 2006 8:01 PM

Posting a esolutionsdata.com link in response to an Ask Metafilter question is bad form. Go hone your stand-up routine somewhere else.
posted by Rhomboid to Etiquette/Policy at 8:01 PM (31 comments total)

You are right. I removed both of them.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:24 PM on December 29, 2006

Another "bad form" answer.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:25 PM on December 29, 2006

How can you even ever want to come back to the internet after reading that shit question?
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 5:38 AM on December 30, 2006

How can you even ever want to come back to the internet after reading that shit question?

That's the kind of thing that keeps me coming back.
posted by cortex at 8:54 AM on December 30, 2006

I don’t necessarily disagree with the deletion of the proliferating fake graphs, but I do think that the zero-tolerance policy toward axme humor is not necessary and is overly editorial. In the poo thread, I wrote something like, “It’s funny, but when I first read your post, I thought you had said that your girlfriend wanted you to POO on her.” jessamyn apparently didn’t see that as a valid commentary on the absurdity of the situation and bleached it out of the thread like an underU poopstain. It would be nice if we could discriminate between derailing snarks and harmless humorous commentary or asides.
posted by found missing at 11:26 AM on December 30, 2006

note: Ask MetaFilter is as useful as you make it. Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer. Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks.
posted by gleuschk at 11:42 AM on December 30, 2006

Gee, thanks for that thoughtful response. I'm questioning the strict interpretation of that premise, dumbkopf.
posted by found missing at 11:45 AM on December 30, 2006

After all, there are plenty of humorless comments that are not in the least bit helpful to the questioner, and yet they don't get perfunctorily deleted.
posted by found missing at 11:52 AM on December 30, 2006

dumbkopf

That's what you're going with? Interesting choice. I'm afraid I have no response.
posted by gleuschk at 12:17 PM on December 30, 2006

Sorry, didn't mean to pull out the big guns.
posted by found missing at 12:28 PM on December 30, 2006

I'm questioning the strict interpretation of that premise

Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks.

What alternative interpretation of that statement are you advancing exactly? Do you perhaps suggest that wisecracks can help people find answers?
posted by baphomet at 2:54 PM on December 30, 2006

Well, the term wisecrack itself implies otherwise, but I'm suggesting that sometimes a humorous or satirical view of things can add a helpful perspective or break the tension. This is probably less relevant when someone is asking how to add a cooling fan to their graphics card, but might be useful for example when someone brings up the subject of people erotically pooing on other people. I just don't see the need for Nurse Ratched-like oversight of the funnies.
posted by found missing at 3:10 PM on December 30, 2006

Found Missing, are the wisecracks we're talking about paired with answers or suggestions, or are you referring to posts where a wisecrack is the ony thing offered? I would think that friendly humor when genuinely trying to help someone out would be ok, or is that also 'bad form'?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 4:57 PM on December 30, 2006

jessamyn apparently didn’t see that as a valid commentary on the absurdity of the situation.

Uh, you're kind of being a jerk here. The poo question is no more absurd than any other sexual fetish question, so you barging with your precious snowflake about how absurd someone else's fetish is...is doing nothing but being a jerk. It's certainly not "the funnies." What possible use is that kind of asshole statement in response to a question that was already making the questioner uncomfortable? Answer: no possible use, other than you demonstrating how to be a jerk. Nicely done.

And bringing it up here? As an example of the kind of thing we should stop discouraging? Yeah, right. Your comic talents are being stomped on, my ass.
posted by mediareport at 5:02 PM on December 30, 2006

I'd imagine that it's really hard to get up the gumption to ask a non-anonymous question about your girlfriend wanting to take things in a scatological direction. In many cases tension is actually introduced by people making dumb jokes about someone's heartfelt question, not lessened. If you were tense, the best thing would have been to either answer the question "Wow, that's a really tough one, I get sort of squicked out even reading about it, here's how I'd handle it", or go someplace else. I'm sure there are many people who would enjoy a good "your favorite sex sucks" discussion. AskMe isn't the place for it.

Friendly humor when you're trying to help out is fine.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:19 PM on December 30, 2006

but might be useful for example when someone brings up the subject of people erotically pooing on other people.

Ah! I see the confusion! Allow me to clarify: No, it's not useful for when someone brings up the subject of people erotically pooing on other people. Hopefully this clears things up for you and we can all move on.
posted by shmegegge at 6:26 PM on December 30, 2006

mediareport: Why so hostile? I was just trying to express an opinion about the administration of the site, and this (MeTa) is the place to do it. If I'm wrong, so be it.
posted by found missing at 8:26 AM on December 31, 2006

You pooped in an AskMe thread, and whined about the deletion of your poop. You're being a jerk.
posted by mediareport at 9:00 AM on December 31, 2006

I'm sorry I came across that way to you. I was just trying to explain myself. I didn't see this instance as a "poop" and I wanted to explain why. However, I stand corrected and I'll try to not cross this line in the future. Still, I find humor in an askme thread less of a problem than your vitriol in meta.
posted by found missing at 9:22 AM on December 31, 2006

Here's the point: It's called AskMe, not PokeFunAtMe. If your jest is in the larger frame of a clear, helpful, and informative answer, you're probably enhancing the site. If your jest is the singular focus of your post, and is directed at somebody, then you're going to get deleted. Which was the one you posted in the poo thread?

Still, I find humor in an askme thread less of a problem than your vitriol in meta.

If you consider what you posted to be humor, then I think mediareport calling you out for it is a lot more helpful to the site overall than posting that kind of...poo.
posted by baphomet at 9:41 AM on December 31, 2006

Oh, please. You jump into an AskMe thread to make fun of someone's fetish question and then complain about "vitriol" when someone calls you on it? Whatever.
posted by mediareport at 9:41 AM on December 31, 2006

If you consider what you posted to be humor

He does, that's the thing. And he's going even further by attempting to equate deleting his comment to a ban on all humor in AskMe. That's about the only laughable thing in this mess.
posted by mediareport at 9:46 AM on December 31, 2006

I don't think the poster thought I was poking fun at him. He quoted my comment and responded with something like "yeah, but imagine if..." I can't remember exactly what he said, because his comment was also deleted.

My reaction to mediareport is not that I was called out by him, but that he seems unable to argue his point without insults.
posted by found missing at 9:48 AM on December 31, 2006

Or, recognize that I've conceded the point.
posted by found missing at 9:50 AM on December 31, 2006

but that he seems unable to argue his point without insults.

This from the guy who introduced "dumbkopf" into the conversation.

Hokay, my work is done here.
posted by mediareport at 9:58 AM on December 31, 2006

he seems unable to argue his point without insults.

I also don't like the Nurse Ratched analogy, if we're splitting hairs.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:02 AM on December 31, 2006

"Oh, please." dumbkopf? That was what dragged the conversation down to your level?

*saves "poo-poo-head" for when things get really ugly*
posted by found missing at 10:04 AM on December 31, 2006

I thought the Ratched thing was a descriptive image of your active patrolling to maintain solemnity. I can see how it was insulting, but I think it is on a different level than an epithet. Still, I wish I hadn't said it. Sorry.
posted by found missing at 10:11 AM on December 31, 2006

I thought the Ratched thing was a descriptive image of your active patrolling to maintain solemnity.

Apology accepted, but "you remind me of a crazed bitchy humorless nurse enemy" is really the main takeaway from that description, not "you have nice white outfits and a keen command of medication schedules" though that is also true.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:27 AM on December 31, 2006 [2 favorites]

Most people -- myself included -- are not nearly as funny as they think they are.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:45 PM on December 31, 2006

But we make up for it with our cheeky wit and intellectual sincerity.
posted by baphomet at 9:11 AM on January 1, 2007