How does one make the best of the blue?
November 29, 2008 12:47 PM Subscribe
What work goes into constructing a great post to the blue?
I realise I'm skating quite close to chatfilter, but I'd really like to know if others have a specific approach they use to decide (i) whether and (ii) what to post to the blue? This question does have a purpose - I'd like to learn how to make better, more interesting posts than I currently do.
I'm interested in knowing about what preparation went into making a particular post that went down particularly well as what features great posts have in common.
If this is better suited to MetaTalk, I apologise - I did pause to consider whether to post it there or here...
I realise I'm skating quite close to chatfilter, but I'd really like to know if others have a specific approach they use to decide (i) whether and (ii) what to post to the blue? This question does have a purpose - I'd like to learn how to make better, more interesting posts than I currently do.
I'm interested in knowing about what preparation went into making a particular post that went down particularly well as what features great posts have in common.
If this is better suited to MetaTalk, I apologise - I did pause to consider whether to post it there or here...
This post was deleted for the following reason: Yeah, definitely Metatalk with this, not AskMe. If it's about the site in any way, it almost definitely doesn't go here. -- cortex
Yeah, meTa, I think. Questions about MetaFilter go in MetaTalk.
posted by rtha at 1:08 PM on November 29, 2008
posted by rtha at 1:08 PM on November 29, 2008
One problem you might run into is that people's standards for what constitutes a great post vary significantly. Your single-link YouTube is my iPhone-only software, y'know?
posted by box at 1:31 PM on November 29, 2008
posted by box at 1:31 PM on November 29, 2008
1. Mystery meat posts suck.
Your goal in making a post is to provide enough information so that your reader can make a decision whether to follow the link, and have a pretty good idea what they'll find when they get there.
You are not trying to advertise the link, or to fool people into going to and seeing something they don't want.
2. More links doesn't necessarily mean a better post. Larding your post up with Wikipedia links and youtubes may mean that your most important link gets lost in the cruft.
posted by Class Goat at 3:30 PM on November 29, 2008
Your goal in making a post is to provide enough information so that your reader can make a decision whether to follow the link, and have a pretty good idea what they'll find when they get there.
You are not trying to advertise the link, or to fool people into going to and seeing something they don't want.
2. More links doesn't necessarily mean a better post. Larding your post up with Wikipedia links and youtubes may mean that your most important link gets lost in the cruft.
posted by Class Goat at 3:30 PM on November 29, 2008
I just wanted to nth the idea that having tooons of links to pad out the post is annoying unless those links are actually worth a crap and don't just say the same thing as the main link. I almost always prefer single-link posts (though YouTube ones are a toss-up for me).
No matter what or how you post, someone is going to be a dick about it, though. Everyone has different opinions on that. Sometime in the past year there was a post that was at least a page long, and while a lot of people thought it was the Holy Grail of posts, some of us thought it was exactly what people shouldn't do. You won't be able to please everyone, basically.
posted by Nattie at 3:59 PM on November 29, 2008
No matter what or how you post, someone is going to be a dick about it, though. Everyone has different opinions on that. Sometime in the past year there was a post that was at least a page long, and while a lot of people thought it was the Holy Grail of posts, some of us thought it was exactly what people shouldn't do. You won't be able to please everyone, basically.
posted by Nattie at 3:59 PM on November 29, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Airhen at 1:07 PM on November 29, 2008