When an idea is deleted from your account for a MFD or other reason it can be difficult to know which idea you lost especially if you have more than a few of them.
I propose an indicator in your account page that would contain a list of ideas deleted since your last visit that way you know which it was.
An alternative or addition would be an auto-notice email with a copy of your idea and its Annos emailed out as part of the final destruction process on the bakery. That way you don't lose your inspirations and insights.
This would only apply to ideas deleted by someone other than the creator.-- jhomrighaus, Jan 23 2007 A list of MFD'd ideas. http://www.halfbakery.com/view/MFD_27d [nuclear hobo, Jun 20 2007] The Faceless Person http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anome [mouseposture, Aug 26 2010] one of mine died in the last hour and I don't know which one it was. Any Help?-- jhomrighaus, Jan 23 2007 It was anyone except this.-- xenzag, Jan 23 2007 Thanks Xen, 1 down 82 to go-- jhomrighaus, Jan 23 2007 You have had longer than a week to catch on. The deleted idea was a pun called "Lead Balloons". Its text, in full, is
"Manufactured by depositing a micro thin skin of lead onto a plastic balloon substrate that is later dissolved using solvent the lead balloon is sure to be a hit at your next party."
Outside the limited mfd process, I don't want to host stuff that I don't want to host; that includes an account of past deleted ideas, graveyards for people that I've kicked out, etc.
But it's true that there are many ideas with mfd's that are being ignored. It would be nice if there were "unfakable" mfds that represent a binding decision by the moderators, so that an author can look at his or her idea and truly know whether it's in danger of deletion or not, without having to guess which mfds are bogus and which ones aren't.-- jutta, Jan 23 2007 Thanks Jutta, I wasnt meaning to get all the details I was just surprised it went away. I dont remember it getting MFDed in fact I thought it got some votes, but oh well.
I was thinking this would be at most a temporary thing or a completely automated thing with no long term burden on the system, you just hit delete and its gone from the system for good.
It would be most beneficial when dealing with redundant ideas, as sometimes they are very well constructed and thought out but have the sad problem of not having been the first time something was considered, sometimes they can be reformulated into something new and original.-- jhomrighaus, Jan 23 2007 I liked the Lead Balloons.... so would it have been ok if it had been called something else like: "Pb Dirigibles", then there would have been no pun?-- xenzag, Jan 25 2007 "Pb Dirigibles" would have been a pun too. A rather good one too.-- Jinbish, Jan 25 2007 Yeah, that would have gone down well.-- Ling, Jan 26 2007 I am not willing to take the lead on this one.-- normzone, Jan 26 2007 It would have been a plumb assignment.-- jutta, Jan 27 2007 This is a weighty subject, and I'm getting mad as a hatter just thinking about it. True, when an idea goes down the tubes, you're left with a heavy feeling in your stomach...
Uhh, I think that's enough puns for now.
Frankly, I suspect that the biggest problem here is that you are worried about having multiple ideas deleted between visits. Anyone who has a tendency to loose more than one idea between visits, either needs to visit more often, or needs to post fewer ideas to begin with... I could be wrong here, after all, everyone halfbakes differently,and despite my newfound status as a "dedicated halfbaker," the fact is I've not been here even one year, nor have I ever actually been welcomed into the community.
All the same, I've noticed a few people have an interest in deleted ideas, deleted annos, etc. Let's be honest, it hurts to have our stuff vanish without notice. It hasn't happened to me yet... I think... but some of the best annos other people put on my ideas seem to be missing.
The moderators, whoever they be, and the owner do a pretty good job of keeping this site true to it's original intent and purpose(lessness) So I'll not complain about the loss of offending questions and silly jokes too much. But the simple fact is that anything which is worth deleting is probably worth deleting from the halfbakery entirely, be it for badnwidth, or storage space or intent, or whatever reason.
Automatically transferring the material to the email address of the person who originally posted the idea might be good, if it is actually possible. Of course, if the Email isn't working that day, it would be lost anyway, but since that's what happens now, I guess you get what you can, right?-- ye_river_xiv, Feb 15 2007 Its less about the content and more about knowing what changed. I also take exception to your comments;
//Anyone who has a tendency to loose more than one idea between visits, either needs to visit more often, or needs to post fewer ideas to begin with...//
I am regular contributor with over 80 ideas over the last year. From time to time I have projects at work which preclude me from making my daily visit to the bakery. From your statement I might interpret that you feel that I am a subpar baker and perhaps should not be posting here.(note i dont believe I have ever lost more than 1 idea in any stretch and the idea that triggered this idea disappeared while I was here, I just could not figure out which one it was!)
I have never felt that being a part of the bakery has anything to do with how often you visit or how many ideas you do or do not have. I generate Ideas in spurts, 2,3,4 ideas over 1 or 2 days then im shot for 2 or 3 weeks. sometimes it is difficult to remember every idea especially when its not there any more.-- jhomrighaus, Feb 15 2007 [Ye]!!! Will you never learn?! It's 'lose'!-- theleopard, Feb 15 2007 I don't know why [theleopard] tends to loose his temper like that.-- TheLightsAreOnBut, Feb 15 2007 I hope he doesn't let the dogs lose on [yrx]-- TheLightsAreOnBut, Feb 15 2007 One of my ideas was deleted recently, one that I rather liked and was quietly happy with.
If an idea is deemed unsuitable for the site by a moderator then fair enough, the moderators have every right to delete it, but I agree with [jhom]'s idea to have an // auto-notice email with a copy of your idea and its Annos emailed out as part of the final destruction process //. That would be just swell.-- theleopard, Jun 19 2007 I guess when you have an idea deleted, the best you can do is pick yourself up and solder on.-- shapu, Jun 19 2007 But I was never very good at that in my electronics class.-- theleopard, Jun 19 2007 That was actually a reference to the deleted idea in question.-- shapu, Jun 19 2007 This has proven to be a highly charged issue.-- jhomrighaus, Jun 19 2007 MFD'd ideas actually get deleted?-- nuclear hobo, Jun 20 2007 It happens rarely enough that you should be proud.-- normzone, Jun 20 2007 Although I've been here for a while I still find the MFD thing a bit puzzling. Especially when an idea is deleted well after it was originally marked. I mean if an idea is marked for deletion, then presumably a moderator has considered the MFD (and determined that the MFD is not appropriate) at that time. Why should the idea then be deleted by a different moderator, months or years later? Can the idea creator delete a comment containing a spurious MFD? Do moderators consult with each other about whether an idea should be deleted? Does the bakeperson review all deletions?
I also think one thing that should be taken into account when making a deletion is whether it is likely the same idea will be made again. If the answer is yes, then it might be more efficient to simply leave up the first idea and delete similar ideas on the basis of redundancy (which is hard to refute) rather than the other less certain MFD reasons.
Why should we care about the deletion of ideas of questionable HB merit? I think if HB is seen as fair and impartial, this will encourge users (and potential users) to add ideas of higher quality.-- xaviergisz, Aug 26 2010 I thought posters was supposed to delete the idea themselves. So far as i know, that's what i've always done.-- nineteenthly, Aug 26 2010 [jutta] //It would be nice if there were "unfakable" mfds that represent a binding decision by the moderators so that an author can ... know ... without having to guess which mfds are bogus//
All that's needed to implement this is to list the moderators on the Help page. mfds in annos by moderators will then be recognizably binding, and the others "bogus" (or, more politely, "nonbinding suggestions to the moderators"). If the moderator wants to distinguish mfds that are binding, but with a grace period, from those intended to solicit arguments pro- & contra- deletion, then the anno can say so.
It may be the moderators prefer to be like the Faceless Man <link>. In that case, one or more "moderator" accounts can be created just for mfd and similar administrative annos.-- mouseposture, Aug 26 2010 //I can’t see the correlation between a “fair and impartial” container, and any improvement of quality of the content.//
If a website is perceived as unfair and ruled arbitrarily then it will attract lower quality submissions, I just inferred the inverse.
I think HB is the undoubtedly the best site on the internet (and by a fair margin as well). But that's not to say it can't be improved further.
My current theory about community, not-for-profit and government organizations in general is that transparency is the most important element. More important than the type of governance (democratic, autocratic, crowd-sourced or other) or efficiency of delivering results (whether it is a lumbering bureaucratic mess or hyper-responsive). You might not be happy with the functioning of an organization, but as long as it operates transparently, you have some certainty about a) how its operation will affect you, and b) how it will be affected by your actions. Basically, this is a good thing.
In summary, I think HB could benefit from more transparency; this could be as simple as putting more information on the meta:help file. (Hope this didn't come across as a rant).-- xaviergisz, Aug 26 2010 [xaviergisz] One, perhaps the main reason for the HB's success is that it's the opposite of "written by committee." It embodies the distinctive, even idiosyncratic vision of one particular person. I believe that's a general principle.-- mouseposture, Aug 26 2010 Well said and I completely agree, mp. I am emphatically *not* suggesting that HB should be run by committee; a dictatorial cabal (or whatever HB is) is fine with me. I'd just like a bit more information/clarity on MFDs. If the mystery of MFDs is intentionally part of the unique appeal of HB, I can definitely live with that too. I'm just throwing up some ideas.-- xaviergisz, Aug 26 2010 Epicac?-- normzone, Aug 26 2010 yahbut if the HB gets Known For Being Strict But Fair, then it'll attract the other kind of half-assed posting: we'd go from (at the low end) "crap" to "subversive crap".
some mfd calls are so poorly thought out they deserve their own mfd.-- FlyingToaster, Aug 26 2010 random, halfbakery