Hello, someone has answered your question.

November 2, 2007 10:52 AM

So like reddit sends me an email when someone responds to my postings. Is it possible to engineer the system here in a similar fashion to email me when someone posts an answer to my Ask Metafilter question? I think it could make it a more valuable service. Literally a golden cow. Like Baal.
posted by four panels to Feature Requests at 10:52 AM (30 comments total)

You can DIY with rssfwd.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:59 AM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Why DIY when someone can DIFY?
posted by jmd82 at 11:00 AM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

You only get one question a week. Is it that hard to just... open it and read the answers posted?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:05 AM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Turning MeFi into a potential spam cannon when there are decent ways to do this yourself is something we're unlikely to implement.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:08 AM on November 2, 2007

ThePinkSuperhero: "You only get one question a week. Is it that hard to just... open it and read the answers posted?"

You have one question a week. I have twelve. I will leave figuring out which sockpuppets are mine as an exercise for the reader.
posted by Plutor at 11:14 AM on November 2, 2007

Spam cannon has now usurped beef bayonet and pork sword in my euphemo-lexicon.
posted by punilux at 11:17 AM on November 2, 2007 [4 favorites]

I would like a Spam cannon, please! That would be awesome! Think of the applications. There would, naturally, be a "sweet spot," a ratio of gunpowder to distance from target where the Spam would arrive with just the right amount of force to stick against the wall like a fist-sized, quivering booger. WANT!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:18 AM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

You only get one question a week. Is it that hard to just... open it and read the answers posted?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:05 PM on November 2

That's an incredibly useful comment, but questions remain open for months.

Turning MeFi into a potential spam cannon
posted by jessamyn at 2:08 PM on November 2

I am referring to the system mail (vis-à-vis reddit) which generally cannot be used for spam. Unless all the love notes you send me is spam.
posted by four panels at 11:19 AM on November 2, 2007

Yikes.
posted by bluishorange at 11:26 AM on November 2, 2007

I am referring to the system mail

We've said already that we don't plan to use it to do announcement-type things because we'd like it to be a useful tool and not have people have to hide from it/block it. I'm pretty sure most people use their Recent Comments feature to keep track of this, and we're looking into making sure that AskMe questions have updates showing up in Recent Comments while they're open. So, I agree that it's something that could use a slightly better system, but I don't think MeFiMail will be part of the solution.

Unless all the love notes you send me is spam.

I would never send love notes to someone with grammar like yours.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:51 AM on November 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

I will perform this valuable service for you for the flat rate of $5 per thread, or $.25 for each comment on the thread.

I also offer executive summaries of any thread you'd like for $10 in threads with less than 100 comments, and an additional $2.50 for every 100 comments thereafter.

Sign up now.
posted by drezdn at 11:52 AM on November 2, 2007

spam cannon

Perhaps asavage will modify and lend us the chicken cannon for a test run of the Spam Cannon^beta (pat. pend.)?
posted by sephira at 11:57 AM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Can't you just RSS your question?
posted by desuetude at 12:05 PM on November 2, 2007

I'm pretty sure most people use their Recent Comments feature to keep track of this, and we're looking into making sure that AskMe questions have updates showing up in Recent Comments while they're open. So, I agree that it's something that could use a slightly better system, but I don't think MeFiMail will be part of the solution.

Thanks.

Can't you just RSS your question?
posted by desuetude at 12:05 PM PST on November 2

Yeah, and the new Mac Mail has RSS built so, so it looks like the solution.
posted by four panels at 12:06 PM on November 2, 2007

Doesn't require Mac Mail to do this. Each question has an RSS feed for comments. Use any RSS reader to subscribe to your own AskMe thread and the reader will alert you when there is a new post.
posted by terrapin at 12:15 PM on November 2, 2007

and we're looking into making sure that AskMe questions have updates showing up in Recent Comments while they're open.

This is good!
posted by Chuckles at 12:22 PM on November 2, 2007

I am referring to the system mail (vis-à-vis reddit) which generally cannot be used for spam.

Any time that you run a site that automatically sends automated notifications to members, you have to contend with fucknozzles that sign up and then forget that they enabled such notifications and click the "report as spam" in their hotmail/gmail/yahoo interface -- even though they're receiving exactly what it said on the tin. If you are unlucky enough to have enough of these douchebags as users then it can trigger thresholds that can cause your mail server to be blocked. Yes, those large providers do support ways of dealing with this by getting into the feedback loop, but it's more administrative work to have to deal with. I think that's generally what jessamyn meant by "spam cannon" -- a higher administrative burden.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:32 PM on November 2, 2007

what it said on the tin

Twice in as many days I've noticed that expression, having never noticed it before. Go serendipity.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:30 PM on November 2, 2007

The My Posts tab on the Recent Activity page would take care of this, or does it not include AskMe Q's? (I haven't asked a question in the last month, so...) The 1 month limit maybe could be extended to 6 months to cover the lifespan of an AskMe Q.
posted by carsonb at 1:38 PM on November 2, 2007

cortex : context
posted by punilux at 2:13 PM on November 2, 2007

Thanks, punilux. I figured it was some sort of Britishism—the meaning seems clear enough as I've seen it used, but we didn't really keep things in tins where I grew up so much as cans or other containers, I think.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:34 PM on November 2, 2007

Twice in as many days I've noticed that expression, having never noticed it before. Go serendipity

YH "Go Baader-Meinhof phenomenon." HTH
posted by dersins at 2:58 PM on November 2, 2007

More mouse bites!
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:00 PM on November 2, 2007

Baader-Meinhof nothin'. I've just been lapsing lately in my otherwise successful campaign to avoid British culture.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:01 PM on November 2, 2007

Then whatever you do, don't go to the Fred Meyer on NE 28th and Broadway. They've recently added a British section to the "Ethnic Foods" aisle.

Heinz baked beans iwith the blue label, PG Tips, HP sauce, and, yes, Spotted Dick in a can.
posted by dersins at 3:15 PM on November 2, 2007

If this request gets traction, imagine this beside the coffee machine...
posted by acro at 3:21 PM on November 2, 2007

Ok, wait. The cold medicine must be kicking in because I only got a couple of the comments here,

Let me get this straight; we are going to be building some kind of cannon that fires mice, goes 'splork', and somehow delivers mail to British people?

That seems kind of cruel and pointless.
posted by quin at 3:45 PM on November 2, 2007

...Spotted Dick in a can.

That's tin. As in "Shall I bust out a tin of spotted dick for tea?"
posted by oneirodynia at 3:46 PM on November 2, 2007

I would never send love notes to someone with grammar like yours.

Oh, cruel, cruel librarian pwnage.
posted by kindall at 4:51 PM on November 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Your grammar wears army boots, polyester pants and smells of moth balls.
posted by R. Mutt at 5:19 PM on November 2, 2007