Are there other sites on the web like ask.metafilter?

November 17, 2008 5:29 AM

Are there other sites on the web like ask.metafilter, where you can ask/answer questions on pretty much any topic?

I'm thinking there might be a way of doing this a little better, and well, maybe it's already been done.

posted by waxboy to computers & internet (17 comments total)

Oh, you want better? I was going to mention Yahoo! Answers, but it's not very good.
posted by bjrn at 5:37 AM on November 17, 2008

uclue has actual researchers and bona fide experts but naturally you have to pay. I think the site came out of the shuttered google answers.

yahoo sucks donkey balls.
posted by krautland at 5:42 AM on November 17, 2008

Big Big Question
posted by mkultra at 5:45 AM on November 17, 2008

(started by Cortex as a home for questions that are too abstract/philosophical for AskMe)
posted by mkultra at 5:46 AM on November 17, 2008

This previous question mentions all of the main ones.

I'm probably biased but I would say you'll have a hard time finding a better site than AskMe for general questions.
posted by burnmp3s at 6:08 AM on November 17, 2008

fluther: tap the collective
posted by blue_beetle at 6:08 AM on November 17, 2008

If you have suggestions for how to improve this site, you can email 'em to the moderators, or post them to MetaTalk.
posted by box at 7:21 AM on November 17, 2008

I'm thinking there might be a way of doing this a little better.

Impossible.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:26 AM on November 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Lifehacker has a weekly Q&A thread on Fridays. Example. Personally, I don't think it's better than AskMe.
posted by puritycontrol at 8:06 AM on November 17, 2008

My experience with Yahoo! Answers is that the questions are badly phrased, the answers lack punctuation, and the people answering have no qualms about being grossly misleading.

It's amazing what the trust that gets built up in a community of people with $5 to lose makes.

Oh. And the vocabulary is made up of LOLs, ROFLs, and nobody can spell.

Yahoo Answers is to Ask MeFi as Youtube comments are to Metafilter.
posted by dunkadunc at 8:24 AM on November 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

SomethingAwful has the only other worthwhile ask-a-question forum I've ever used.
posted by Jairus at 9:19 AM on November 17, 2008

Jairus beat me to it, SA has some decent ask/tell. It definitely has a fairly low signal-to-noise ratio, but the "Goons" are pretty committed to their community so you will get some helpful answers. My boyfriend is a dedicated Goon (what does that say about me?) and I know he gets help on there a lot for various questions.
posted by radioamy at 10:42 AM on November 17, 2008

AskMe has always been worth the $5 for me. My first point of call - knowledgeable and thoughtful responses.
posted by arcticseal at 12:16 PM on November 17, 2008

Don't forget Ask Slashdot -- which was not mentioned in the previous question.

"Better" probably boils down to a personal prejudice of some kind. Maybe you want less chatter? More domain experts? You'd have to build a community dedicated to those concepts and without the community it's a bit pointless (as Yahoo! demonstrates).
posted by dhartung at 2:42 PM on November 17, 2008

For programming questions, there is already Stack Overflow.
posted by qvtqht at 10:54 PM on November 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

I haven't been there in ages, but the Straight Dope General Questions Message Board used to be quite good. I prefer AskMe, though.
posted by tickingclock at 1:29 AM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wikipedia Reference Desk. They don't really do RelationshipFilter-type questions there, but good for most other stuff.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:08 AM on November 18, 2008