Is it OK to ask questions that are just intended to be humorous?

waiting for an answer, I’d like to know too!

I think the major rule here is that your question needs inspire thought, and can’t promote one word answers…I’m not sure myself, but I think humorous content is allowed, as long it’s taken seriously?

XD

Pull my finger.

It’s kind of annoying. More than kind of.

@delirium Yeahm it’s kind of disappointing. That was half the fun of the old AB. But on a positive note, I’ve gotten more work done in the week since AB ruined the user experience than I had in the previous two months. And being slef employed, getting work done means getting a paycheck to me. :-)

Thanks, AB!

What the bloody hell is answer bag? Lol! That’s all I hear of these days.. even though I’d never previously heard of it…. gah… i’m behind the times…

[mod says] The answer to your question is that in general, non-sensical questions purely for the sake of humor are not allowed. Some occasionally slip through owing to the absence of a moderator, but in general, we value more serious content. That isn’t to say that humor is dissuaded, but rather that outright silly and/or joke questions are not allowed. There are plenty of opportunity for jokes (even on serious threads), but we request that people refrain from making jokes early on as it tends to derail the thread. Also, most users hate it when their serious Q devolves into wit competitions despite not getting even one serious answer.

You can ask a funny question that provokes a funny discussion. You probably shouldn’t ask a question that is just a standalone joke.

@NaturalMineralWater Don’t feel bad. I just heard of Blurtit.com today, and Its Alexa rating is up there with Answerbag’s. Both are substantially higher than Fluther.com but maybe the stream of refugees will change that. :-)

@ETpro Blurtit.com? Is that the site that stops you from seeing nudes in detail?

@ETpro Nope.. never heard of Blurtit.com either… guess I get everything I need right here so I never looked for anything else.. XD

I agree with you, ETpro. I also loved those “outside the bag” type of Q’s that AB had. I loved being able to be silly and get silly responses or be able to answer a silly question with a smart assed comment. I like fluther but its not the same as the old bag.

@filmfann Ha! You must be thinking of Blurit. :-)

@ETpro Strangely though, if you type in a specific question into Google, you’ll find that the indexing at Google points to answers much more frequently at Fluther than at other Q&A sites. Just saying….

@Shatzee wrote, “I like fluther but its not the same as the old bag.” How true. Unfortunately, neither is the new bag.

I just looked at www.blurtit.com. It looks suspiciously like where homework questions go to die, such as: “What Is The Diameter Ofa Circle That Is 24ft?”

GQing simplistic humor based questions when it is not april fools or the ilk is even more annoying.

@PandoraBoxx God…I won’t miss those. I hate those types of questions. And the, “Do you think I’m pregnant?” ones also

@PandoraBoxx I didn’t find much to make me stay there either, Pandora.

There are plenty of funny questions on Fluther, and there are plenty of stupid questions with hilarious answers. Life is a funny thing in itself.

I WOULD LOVE IT!!

@PandoraBoxx To be specific, the thought came to me today, “Besides Gung Ho, what are some other great Hos?”

On Answerbag that would have been a perfectly acceptable question, but looking around here, I didn’t see that sort of banter. So I asked this instead.

@Corporate_Avenger: We have our fair share of “Am I pregnant?” and “Do you think my mole is cancer?” questions here too, unfortunately.

@ETpro You are correct. That wouldn’t fly. Plus, it’s too much of a poll. We don’t tend to allow the “What is your favorite X?” “Who is the best Y?” type questions either.

@LaChica…my standard response to the question, “Do you think my mole is cancer?” is either, “I hope so” or “What month was it born, it may be a Gemini.”

@shilolo Thanks. I don’t want to act like an ugly tourist here.

I wish it was. Sometimes you just want to have a little fun.

@shilolo, sometimes poll questions do get by, if the question comes with enough detail to make it interesting.

@PandoraBoxx Indeed. We depend for the most part on user flags of questions, which we then review for appropriateness. If the Q isn’t flagged, or if we don’t see it, or if it is generating a good discussion, we leave it stand. Sometimes it is just a matter of phrasing. Changing “Who is your favorite punk band?” (not good) to “Can someone suggest a new punk band to complement my listening tastes?” and then list some bands you like converts the Q from a poll to one seeking some useful advice. If I can summarize this approach in one word, it would be effort. Questions that appear to have required some thought and effort are given much more leeway than those that were blurted out in 10 seconds.

I’D LOVE IT TOO

@shilolo Thanks for the guidance.

BTW, I really like the ability to add detail to a question. That is a feature many of us on Answerbag had asked for. So naturally, that wasn’t in the redesign. Just things to make the site more confusing to use and less fun.

I’m just going to quit asking questions and just answer them instead. They keep getting kicked back by the moderators.

Humorous YES; stupid NO.

hummmm… no fun ?.... i may be in the wrong place after all .. ;-/

@The_Anonymous_Witch Let’s not see you leave. :/

not as happy as i was at first

@The_Anonymous_Witch
Yeah, let’s not do that just yet. Please?

starting to feel like a young rock star in an old age home ;-) lol and im 40
whoops .... sorry for the humor .

@The_Anonymous_Witch; don’t listen to these guys. It’s the party line that poll and social questions aren’t allowed, but they show up all of the time, and people, mods included, goof off with abandon. We just want to make sure that the jokey stuff doesn’t eclipse the useful and thought-provoking stuff; we want to keep the site worthwhile as well as fun.

Yup. 250 and going strong versus about 10 semi-serious. ABers and newbs – I am also Zen.

@Jayne thanx,, but i have seen it and felt it myself .

@The_Anonymous_Witch, you’ve also been here for five days, during which time the site has been flooded with new members and the mods have no doubt been in overdrive. Not exactly a representative sample.

not the mods ,, the flutherites

@The_Anonymous_Witch Maybe-but this ain’t AB. XD

i love questions that make me laugh :) and enjoy answering them too. though i don’t see many of those on this site, probably because they aint too thought provoking ;)

AB also attracted a lot of trolls, because it was so lax with the questions that were permitted. If you think about it, the humorus questions were great but it also allowed for the trolls to ask not so humorus questions and it also ended up being a soap box for many, with loaded questions that were asked just to start trouble.

I am quite comfortable here and love the fact we have mods and admin that actually speak with you and listen. I am sure there is plenty of humor here, as I have spit my coke several times since I have been here. If you are constantly comparing this place to AB and what is missing, you will not see what this place has to offer.

The old AB is gone. Nothing will be just like it. I suggest trying to see the positives here and focus on that. You can even chat with friends here in private!! All around, for me at least, this is a better site. There is humor to be found, lot’s of it. You just have to be open to it.

Try to stop calling yourself an ABer here in any form. Unless you plan on going back. It helps.

Deep, articulate answer, buttkisses.

—-sorry , buttkiss i thought you were talking to me , not the question asker

@The_Anonymous_Witch I was just speaking in general. I am sorry you are having a hard time. I always enjoyed your posts and you my dear have made me spit many times. Maybe it is just a matter of them getting to know you? There are so many of us it is hard to keep up? I wouldn’t give up yet. I would hate to see you leave..=Z You know this is the first post I have seen you in??

It is good to see you! =)

;-)

@The_anonymous_witch
I know how you are feeling. I’m starting to feel the same way as well. I like to have fun and be goofy sometimes. I go onto sites like this to take a break from reality so to speak and its really hard to do that on here. Like yesterday, I posted a “discussion” post: Have you ever been in your car and looked over and said “what the hell?” Then I gave an example of something I had seen. Quite a few people responded with some great answers and there was a lot of back and forth going on, it was really fun. Then about 2 hours later, the moderator pulled my question and told me to take it to the chat room. I couldn’t believe it. I posted it under “discussion” not “question”, but I guess that doesn’t matter. I think there is more than enough room for both types of questions—serious and fun—but that is just my opinion. A number of other ex-AB members are rethinking coming over here too because of the same big brother experiences they are having too. I really like the people on here. They are great, but its the censorship that is really taking away from the experience. I don’t know. I’ll give it a little more time, but I’m not sure if I’ll be staying here or not.

i feel like i’m farting in church here .... sorry that wasent meant to be funny
i have been advised by some other X ABs to go to blurit.com i have checked it out .

@Shemarq I get what you mean. I saw your question, and while I didn’t answer, it was good and fun. However, I wouldn’t exactly word it as “censorship”, it’s just that they have very specific standards here. :/ I guess lol.

@Shemarq: I enjoyed that question too! I didn’t realize it had been removed. That’s really annoying.

@Symbeline and @La_chica_gomela—Thanks. I’ll try to slip another question in when they aren’t looking. LOL!!!

@Shemarq: Yeah, I kind of don’t understand why they added the choice between “Start a Discussion” and “Solve a Problem” (it’s a fairly new thing) when it seems like discussion for the sake of itself is so often frowned upon.

Perhaps slight more leniency is allowable.

@Shemarq That actually doesn’t sound too bad to me, and I am a bit of a stickler. Maybe I’ll pipe up.

@delirium Thank you. I can understand why Fluther doesn’t want to become a free for all, but having a place where people can discuss their experiences, even the funny ones, can be bonding for the members.

Anytime my question is not allowed for one reason or another I get a sinking feeling. I’m not an ex-AnswerBagger, but I have used other question sites before. Overall I prefer fluther for how much more mature it is. But sometimes the moderators seem a little harsh. I’m not one to write funny or silly questions to be honest but I do get caught in the filters and feel put down sometimes.

@LeotCol Thanks. I know the feeling well, now. But then, I used to get questions deleted from AB for being nonsense, although in every case I was successful in getting them reinstated by requesting a review.

For instance, I once asked “Can there be nothing?” and that got flagged by some as nonsense. But I protested that it was quite a sensible philosophical question, and won. It ended up being a VERY active thread and produced some deep and fascinating thought.