Did I get the wrong impression of Fluther?

Lol, I like you.

Yes, Fluther is supposed to be used for asking real questions – not polling, or making decisions for people. Well, originally.

We’ve found that the Fluther changes according to the types of people who are in the collective. We have a lot of “can you decide whether I should choose this one or that one?” and “what is your favorite color?” types at the moment.

Stick around, it gets better. [tongue in cheek.]

< < adds @Daethian to his Fluther.

Fluther saved my life when I posted a very serious question, for real. I also post questions like; where the heck did you all go? on occasion.
Life does not need to be all text books, wine and work.
If you come across a question that you feel you are above then leave it alone.
Sometimes silly can be a great way to make you laugh which can sometimes be better than anything else.
Get to know everyone, there are more than some that share your feelings and some that do not, it’s what makes a collective.

Fluther is a place to ask and answer. Beyond that you have to be the filter for what kinds of questions you want to ask and answer. If you only want to participate in the super serious stuff, then ignore the stuff like “What should I have for dinner tonight?” It’s that easy. But after you’ve been here a while and know us better, you might want to play with us as well. There’s nothing wrong with a little silly now and again.

They come in waves. We seem to be in a polling phase at the moment. I prefer when we actually have functional or technical questions.

Did you really get past the logo and not figure there would be some silliness?

Go have a look around Askville.com (among others). Fluther will feel like the Ivy League when you get back.

Hey! You be nice to my Askville! At least it isn’t Yahoo! Answers…

Well, you know, we did go to Brown.

@Daethian: One way to filter is to add the people whom you think ask good questions to your fluther, and then just hang out on the “My Fluther” page more.

We’re always trying to come up with new solutions on how best to filter content.

@Daethian Hang in there…there are some great people on here who are worth your time and effort….

welcome to Fluther

Take the good with the bad. And the real beauty is that if you don’t care for a question; you just don’t answer. I agree, some of the questions lately have been bizarre, but it’s also nice that we can laugh and scoff together!

Welcome!

Why not indulge in some of the “silly” questions? It’s fun to answer them and if you want to go really wild, you can ask a few yourself. We flutherers value all sorts of information and many of the questions you wouldn’t consider serious we consider to be quite serious. Stick around, you may find you’ll like the non-serious questions.

There are serious questions asked and answered all the time. There are also silly questions asked and answered all the time.

What’s so wrong about silly (not stupid) questions being asked?

Well if someone asks me a great place online to get some technical help and I tell him try Fluther and he logs on and sees “What is the ideal ratio of low jeans to sexy thong for work?” (I made that one up) That person may think I’m a dipshit for referring him to such a site when he is in search of legitimate help. LOL

I’ll figure out that whole My Fluther business and start filtering with no mercy :P

I know there are other sites out there but I don’t frequent those. I stick to places like Experts Exchange. I saw Fluther in a PC Magazine list of best sites of the year so I thought it would be worth a look. This is really my initial impression of the site which may or may not be helpful to those building the site and determining it’s direction.

I think if you want to attract professionals and such who will truly give quality answers and lend credence to the site as a valid resource you have to have some sort of boundaries and guidelines for content. Not everyone wants to engage in Myspace type social networking.

But again this is my impression of what the site was going to be like and the error may just be mine in making that assumption. shrug

I know this makes me sound like I’m zero fun but I promise that’s not even close to being true.

@Daethian stick around awhile, i sing in chorus with my fellow flutheren. i discovered fluther with a marital question and a certain flutherer named “marina” answered it perfectly. thought i was done with fluther after i got a little insight, but for some reason i just coming back to the site.

i saw the silly questions and the deep ones. even the questions that just make you go “hmmmmm, i can relate to that—i can’t believe somebody thinks the way i do about that”

it’s both fun and silly, but you have a lot of intellectuals on here that don’t eat meat or eat meat or are crazy about life and electronics and, well, human behavior.

it’s like, if you like “seinfield,” you like this site: FLUTHER.

Actually, If I had a specific technical question, like for work, I’d probably search the newsgroups or support forums for the relevant vendor (e.g. Microsoft for .Net, Sun for java, etc.) You’ll get better responses more rapidly. Some of those sites also have bottom-feeders and spammers, but they are usually moderated well and it doesn’t last long.

But, I think for a more interesting and diverse response, fluther.com is the place.

I been on Fluther for just over a month and since then it has been a great site (that I just randomly found)
I have noticed overall that the types of questions(serious/silly/wacky/really odd) vary from day to day, the majority of the questions that are asked are decent questions(currently alot of google questions are popping up)
Most of my questions have been serious (some have not) and most of the answers I get are great (some are not)
in the end I find this site better then other Q&A sites.
also you can’t ask serious questions all the time, a good chuckle is nice from time to time

@Daethian: There’s actually a great deal of technical knowledge here, but it’s not buttoned-up corporate knowledge wearing a necktie. Think of it as closer to a neighborhood bar in a well-educated town, where you can walk in and find someone who knows something about ancient Greek or early 20th century knitting or the origins of game shows, but where a conversation can also morph into a string of risqué puns.

We want to attract intelligent, interesting people. There is some overlap with “professionals and such,” but it’s as important to have street cred and geek cred as it is to have corporate cred. If you want primarily corporate cred, expert sex change is probably a better site for you.

Man. What cwilbur ^ said.

Daethian- stolid and boring we are not. If you logged on to the site expecting to read technical manuals and scientific reviews…I guess someone could provide you a link…such as this great one concerning the initial sequencing of the human genome.

Too bad no one asked for that one, as it was right at my fingertips. If you want a little light reading, though, there it is.

Of course, you could always raise a disdainful eyebrow and leave in a huff, but you will then forever bear the stigma of having abandoned the best goshdarn site on the entire internet(s).

Plus, you’ll miss the next good question.

i got here looking for homework answers, but i didn’t join it for the same reason. i joined it because when i looked at the questions it didn’t seem like everyone was just a robot waiting to help with factual questions that i could eventually find on google if i tried hard enough. i joined because i saw that there was a lot of personality.
i still consider myself new, but i don’t think fluther is (or should be) just a technical knowledge kind of site. how uninteresting would that be if that was the extent of the site?

We’re serious, intellectual folk that love a dash of whimsy. You’re in the right place. Just wait until you meet AstroChuck.

Friends?

I wish I could use fluther as a “lifeline” on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire!”

I certainly did, but I’m sure you can get out what you want. If you want to be silly go right ahead and if you want to go deep then put on your gear and dive.

@Judi You just have to pray we don’t go off on some tangent
and actually answer the question before time runs out.

I agree. We need whimsy at times. Not everything has to be serious all the time. I like the diversity here.

cwilbur…that is exactly what I was hoping to find. Less MS drones and more real people. So it sounds like the site I was expecting is here, I just need to spend some more time getting to know Fluther. :P

I wouldn’t use Fluther for work related stuff but I do a lot of computer work on my own too and my EE account is our shared corp account so I don’t really want to use it to post personal questions. I like to keep my life private.

@Daethian: Good to know we might have motivated you to give us another chance. You seem like you’ll be a wonderful addition. Welcome. :)

@asmonet Some Flutherers are serious, intellectual folk. Some are dweebs and some have an agenda.

@syz: Burn!!!!

Am I vindictive if I give lurve for such a spectacular burn?

Fluther is by far better than Askville, because Askville has turned into a site where Bonus Questions are asked, and those questions are as useless as tits on boar. Besides that, some of the people on Askville are more retarded than a barrel full of brain damaged monkeys. I have yet to find anyone on here that annoys me. As for who I annoy, I’m not sure, no one has spoken up. Now’s your chance, folks! :-)

The only criticism I have with Fluther is…wait, I don’t have one. Fluther is cool, fun, informative, and a real treat after a long day at work. The moderators are even human (well, most of them are), which is something I didn’t find at Askville.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Well, you can be a little harsh sometimes as evidenced by the above answer.

Perhaps a criticism of me could be that I criticize others…

Kat, I come across as harsh, but I think it might be my euphemisms are taken as being critical when I am usually trying to be humorous. But hey, that’s how it goes sometimes. A wacky sense of humor doesn’t come across well in text. I take your criticism in the context in which you intended. No harm, no foul.

As for my comment about the moderators on here, I don’t have a problem with any of them, and saying that some of them are human (which gives the impression that some are not) might seem as if I am criticizing them, which I am NOT. I love da moderators. They seem to be able to take a joke, which is always a plus in my book. Some of them I have dealt with have cracked me up, because they got the joke at the time and played along.

Life’s too short to drink cheap beer, to eat poorly prepared food, or to take things too seriously.

<—Likes cheap beer.

@KatawaGrey: I lurved it.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: I’m glad no hard feelings were felt. It is maddening to try and get humor across in text.

@asmonet: Oh good, that means I’m not vindictive, at least, not by myself. :)

As far as questions ago, sometimes only the low hanging apples are picked. A good question can go unanswered while a silly question becomes a chat room! Sometimes that annoys me and sometimes I just join the silly chat room. Why not, I originally joined the internet to have fun anyway : )