MeFi catch-up March 9, 2015 11:30 PM   Subscribe

I sort of forgot to read MetaTalk over the course of the past year or so, and I was shocked to hear of Mathowie's recent retirement. It got me thinking, what other major Metafilter news did I miss out on?
posted by Triumphant Muzak to MetaFilter-Related at 11:30 PM (64 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

The Money Troubles And Associated Fallout:

May 19, 2014: Matt announces that money is tight and there will be layoffs of mod staff (jessamyn, LobsterMitten and goodnewsfortheinsane) because ad revenue (the primary funding source) was down substantially, in part thanks to Google dropping AskMetafilter responses in their ineffable ranking systems. See also.
May 21, 2014: After two days of just straight up begging for a way to help and throwing money in the general direction of MetaFilter, the userbase finally gets access to a more formal way to donate to the site. And here's a link to that page.
May 29, 2014: Jessamyn's last day as a mod. She went over to OpenLibrary, because of course she'd go somewhere awesome. More on that from her.
June 2, 2014: Donations to the site are wildly beyond what Matt had ever expected; this is the part where the triumphant bugle starts breaking through the descending minor chords.
August 5, 2014: After $50K of one off donations and a couple of months of $10K/month regularly, the finances are back on an even keel, and LobsterMitten and goodnewsfortheinsane are back at least partially.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 12:04 AM on March 10, 2015 [17 favorites]


Also, apparently people didn't eat stuff.
posted by lollusc at 12:29 AM on March 10, 2015 [11 favorites]


sixcolors is gone.

- Todd Lokken
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:42 AM on March 10, 2015 [13 favorites]


There's a new feature that allows you to add a thread to Recent Activity even if you haven't commented in it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:42 AM on March 10, 2015 [5 favorites]


pb quit, so they had to hire this guy.

Not really!
posted by oceanjesse at 4:52 AM on March 10, 2015


Don't forget that one thing that happened that we're never to speak of again.
posted by marxchivist at 5:43 AM on March 10, 2015 [11 favorites]


Every Zodiac member was replaced with a Life Model Decoy. Other than that, not much to speak of.
posted by selfnoise at 5:48 AM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


Oh, and I don't know if you heard, but the mods are all fascists whose censorship will destroy the entire concept of an open and loving internet, unless we, the last few users who can see clearly band together and show our displeasure in the form of misogynist comments.
posted by Ned G at 5:48 AM on March 10, 2015 [46 favorites]


Womensmarch and Julybywomen are worthy of mention, simply because women are an active part of this website and our participation is not only valuable but necessary in giving voice to all kinds of perspectives that aren't always encouraged on this intertube thingy of which we are all a part but which is absolutely encouraged here.
posted by h00py at 5:52 AM on March 10, 2015 [12 favorites]


You can now choose a midi file to autoplay whenever someone visits your profile page.
posted by phunniemee at 5:57 AM on March 10, 2015 [12 favorites]


Ned G: "Oh, and I don't know if you heard, but the mods are all fascists whose censorship will destroy the entire concept of an open and loving internet, unless we, the last few users who can see clearly band together and show our displeasure in the form of misogynist comments."

That's not *news*.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:02 AM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


The wearing of pants remains frowned upon while reading or posting in MeTa. Some things never change, luckily enough.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:07 AM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also, we are never allowed to talk about ***** ever again. That's policy now.
posted by h00py at 6:16 AM on March 10, 2015


Also, we are never allowed to talk about ***** ever again. That's policy now.

Oh come on, he's only been gone 4 days.
posted by phunniemee at 6:22 AM on March 10, 2015 [8 favorites]


Paphnuty seems to have escaped.
posted by maxsparber at 6:26 AM on March 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


You can now choose a midi file to autoplay whenever someone visits your profile page.

I lost a bunch of these in a hard disk crash, but I still have some really impressive Zappa and King Crimson midi files that some fanatic made about 15 years ago. Wouldn't it be great if you had a soundcard tooting "Let's Make The Water Turn Black" or "Frame By Frame" at you RIGHT NOW?
posted by thelonius at 6:38 AM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


I heard The Sopranos ended, but I'm not sure how.
posted by Wolof at 7:02 AM on March 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


protip: mathowie was paphnuty all along
posted by rorgy at 7:30 AM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


mathowie's new job is actually selling muffins from the back of his bike.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:04 AM on March 10, 2015 [7 favorites]


the quidnunc kid was finally voted #1
posted by blurker at 8:07 AM on March 10, 2015 [34 favorites]


Everyone got a hug.
posted by argonauta at 8:11 AM on March 10, 2015 [5 favorites]


You can now choose a midi file to autoplay whenever someone visits your profile page.

You have to install the Crescendo plugin first though. Good thing I keep a copy of Netscape 2.0 around.
posted by ALongDecember at 8:32 AM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


There still is no cabal.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:36 AM on March 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


The front page is officially limited to links to Reddit and Toast.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 8:42 AM on March 10, 2015 [4 favorites]


Everyone I dislike was righteously smited.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:47 AM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


A cat joined MetaFilter and made a MetaTalk post explaining how it got wedged into a scanner -- and why.
posted by escabeche at 8:49 AM on March 10, 2015 [10 favorites]


You know about FanFare, right?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:59 AM on March 10, 2015 [6 favorites]


The wiki has a MetaFilter Timeline. That's a good spot to check every so often.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:08 AM on March 10, 2015 [5 favorites]


You know that thing you don't remember being like that? It changed.
posted by ardgedee at 9:16 AM on March 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


Some other stuff from the last year or so, aside from the big stuff mentioned above:

March 5, 2014: A worfy/wharfy day on the blue.
March 27: A bunch of discussion about talking about TV on mefi, which leads to, a couple weeks later, the announcement of FanFare.
April 1: Literary characters use Ask Metafilter.
May: Aforementioned big financial/staffing stuff is kind of all we're thinking about for a while.
June 18: Why be friends when we can play Diplomacy instead?
July: #JulyByWomen!
July 22: Let's kibitz about purses.
September 11: Smithsonian.com talks about our 9/11/2001 thread, and so do we.
September 15: Matt goes on a 350-mile bike ride.
September 24: We launch the new Modern theme for Metafilter.
October 31: Lots of people dress up.
Also that day: a love letter in Hazlitt to Metafilter from skwt.
November 20: hoder is released from prison!!!
December: we have another December post contest.
December 9: Anitanola passes away, and people remember how great she was.
January 1, 2015: Mefi stats update.
January 3: Underloved comments roundup, 2014 edition.
January 17: A bunch of mefites complete a collaborative tribute to They Might Be Giants' "Flood".
February 10: We decide that podcast threads should stay open forever. (Of which, also, about a dozen podcasts in the last year, great source for more stuff that's happened.)
March: #WomensMarch!
March 4: Matt marches forth.

Also, I get Tuesdays instead of Mondays off now.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:31 AM on March 10, 2015 [25 favorites]


> March 4: Matt marches forth.

ಠ_ಠ
posted by ardgedee at 9:35 AM on March 10, 2015 [6 favorites]


ಠ_ಠ
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:38 AM on March 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


HEY, HE STARTED IT
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:39 AM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


You're the man now dog, own it.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:54 AM on March 10, 2015 [11 favorites]


jessamyn and cortex became even more hysterically funny.
posted by blurker at 10:08 AM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


...and matt received the coveted "retired" badge.
posted by blurker at 10:09 AM on March 10, 2015


I still feel that should be "emeritus."
posted by Chrysostom at 10:58 AM on March 10, 2015


I still feel that should be "emeritus."

I dunno, based on my experience with emeritus professors, the title would require Matt to occasionally show up to moderate in an extremely confusing way, grumble that the reasoning behind it is best left as an exercise for the reader, and then fail to show up to his own office hours!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 12:05 PM on March 10, 2015 [13 favorites]


my enjoyment of uttering the phrase 'smock smock smock' persists.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 1:34 PM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


I only recently found out Decani was banned.
posted by MattMangels at 2:32 PM on March 10, 2015


March 10th: I learned that YTMND stands for "You're The Man Now Dog"
posted by TwoWordReview at 3:27 PM on March 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


MeTa took a couple of days to crucify me and be weirdly mad about my swearing; a bunch of mefites said this wasn't ok and the mods said they aren't going to allow threads that are clearly grudgewank anymore and I had a kebab
posted by NoraReed at 3:51 PM on March 10, 2015 [10 favorites]


I finally got a rude comment deleted and feel properly chastened. And I am basking in the joy that quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon still goes smock smock.

Decani was banned!!?? Gobsmacked. And I thought I was here all the time. What else have I missed? Thank goobness that Triumphant Muzak asked this question!!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 4:52 PM on March 10, 2015


I dunno, the retired badges look like a downgrade from shiny 14K gold to poorly maintained brass to me.
posted by maryr at 5:01 PM on March 10, 2015


BY COLOR. NOT A COMMENT ON THE CONTENTS OF THEIR CHARACTERS.

[/badge racist]
posted by maryr at 5:02 PM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


I only recently found out Decani was banned.

Wait, really? Huh.
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:14 PM on March 10, 2015


Decani, 0, crayz and ThatFuzzyBastard were all banned.

The rest of us are On Notice.
posted by zarq at 6:58 PM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was turned to steel in the Great Magnetic Field.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:36 PM on March 10, 2015


There was a circus! WITH MONKEYS!
posted by not_on_display at 8:06 PM on March 10, 2015 [4 favorites]


The rest of us are On Notice.

"Love is a bond of obligation which these miserable creatures break whenever it suits them to do so; but fear holds them fast by a dread of punishment that never passes"
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:40 PM on March 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


I changed my gender to Trystero after I read some Pynchon and thought it'd be good because in six months I wouldn't remember what my reasoning was and here I am now not being able to remember.
posted by solarion at 11:06 PM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


We have always been On Notice.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 5:57 AM on March 11, 2015 [3 favorites]



MeTa took a couple of days to crucify me and be weirdly mad about my swearing; a bunch of mefites said this wasn't ok and the mods said they aren't going to allow threads that are clearly grudgewank anymore and I had a kebab


and then this weird mormon thing happened.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:02 AM on March 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Mod note: Let's not dig into the mormon thing by proxy again in here, please.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:31 AM on March 11, 2015


you missed the metatalk Singularity post. Now...well, most of us just exist as a hive mind running in a massive computational substrate network on Mars. Matt "leaving" and some of the other admin changes are just cover, so you meatpuppets don't freak out.
posted by th3ph17 at 9:10 AM on March 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


THE GREATER GOOD.
posted by maryr at 10:26 AM on March 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


There still is no cabal.

heh, as far as you know
posted by madamjujujive at 11:16 AM on March 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


That's too bad, cortex, because I don't remember the Mormon by proxy thing. Memail me someone!
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 12:48 PM on March 11, 2015


Uh, you can't send parts over the internet. Send a physical address and what parts you prefer and I'll see what I can find.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:19 PM on March 11, 2015 [1 favorite]



Also, we are never allowed to talk about ***** ever again. That's policy now.


You left out a *, there.
posted by jgirl at 3:11 PM on March 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


[Let's not dig into the mormon thing by proxy again in here, please.]

seconding Ik ben afgesneden , I missed this one. Could someone memail a link to avoid a derail?
posted by leotrotsky at 7:01 PM on March 11, 2015


Wow... I missed a lot too.

The good news is, I can't talk about what I don't know. So ***** nor the weird Morman thing (whatever that is) will never be mentioned by me.
posted by patheral at 11:41 AM on March 12, 2015


Thanks gang, I got it. No more Mormons (though they are lovely people).
posted by leotrotsky at 12:30 PM on March 12, 2015


"Why can't more men send flowers?"
"I didn't know Mormons couldn't send flowers?"
"Not MORMONS. More MEN."
"...I know they can't dance...."
posted by Chrysostom at 1:15 PM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


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