Does the EFF count as a user's project? November 18, 2005 8:20 AM   Subscribe

Does this really count as a user's project? (And why doesn't MeFi Projects have flagging?)
posted by cillit bang to Etiquette/Policy at 8:20 AM (34 comments total)

I think it is. Danny worked on the bloggers rights papers and fund drive. I would have posted the Creative Commons fund drive when I was done with it, since I worked on that for a month before launching it.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:28 AM on November 18, 2005


so confused
posted by selfnoise at 8:30 AM on November 18, 2005


The "charter", such as it is, looks like a work in progress to me.

One could make the argument that EFF isn't "ntk's creation"; but a lot of us work for large entities, or with teams of other people; we devote a lot of our energy and devotion to that big thing that's not our creation, strictly speaking. [Not me. I work on something that's so arcane and pointless that I shudder at the very thought of explaining it to people.]

EFF strikes me as one of those labor-o'-love type jobs. My opinion doesn't matter much, but I think it's cool.

What's to stop someone from posting a link about the new CocaCola.com website or something? Well, what should stop them? If you've got the chutzpah or simply the pride to call out what you've done, so be it. But I'm guessing something like that might get a harsh retribution.
posted by lodurr at 8:31 AM on November 18, 2005


If he works for the EFF, he can't post a link about it to the blue, so projects would be the place to put it.
posted by delmoi at 8:35 AM on November 18, 2005


If the blogger badges are a project of a member, that's cool and appropriate and good for them. However this project announcement also has a lot of extra links to the EFF world that -- correct me if I'm wrong -- are NOT that member's project. This seems to me to be pushing the envelope on what I understood the space to be for. Hype for the good guys is still hype and I'm sure it would seem more jarring if the project were "I work for the NRA and my project is [this] and also here is a link to Charleton heston's recent speech on [that] and our new [campaign to arm invalids] is at full swing. Please [contribute] today!" (so chosen because we have many members on both sides of this particular issue)

I know Projects is the one place where MeFi members can toot their own horn in a really loud way, but I do worry that this space is going to become a total snakepit come US election time with people using all the available word space to hype hype hype their pet issues at the same time as providing a link to their project. Maybe make Projects a one URL only space? Or shorten up the word count maximum somewhat? Or have a +/-/x vote option like other sites just to be the flag queue equivalent?
posted by jessamyn at 8:46 AM on November 18, 2005


It would be more in the spirit if the link was to the particular part of the project the submitter worked on. For instance, the things that mathow mentioned.
posted by smackfu at 8:58 AM on November 18, 2005


blogger badges

i remember how proud i was of my crossing guards safety belt.
posted by quonsar at 9:20 AM on November 18, 2005


I wrote the press release
posted by cillit bang at 9:43 AM on November 18, 2005


i really wish I could leave comments in project, like "dude! Awesome project" or "hey, maybe you should add this feature" but I guess it would inevitably lead to more arguments and poop to deal with, so I'll just say here: that smokers brokers project is friggin' cool, and if I spent more money on cigarettes (pack a week = ~ $20 a month) then I'd probably do it. I could probably do an alcohol brokers program though.

Maybe i can just hire someone to punch me in the face every time i light up a cigarette.
posted by fishfucker at 10:57 AM on November 18, 2005


Yeah, I'm rethinking the whole comments thing. I wanted projects to be a funnel for posts to the main site, but it hasn't worked out quite that way, and I want to be able to tell people what slight thing is missing to make a good post to mefi.

I love that one blog about the story of the professor that became a whistle blower, though the story is more interesting than the blog about it. I wanted to tell the person posting it that once something happens in the court battle, to totally post it to mefi with some supporting news and info links.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:08 AM on November 18, 2005


holy shit, smokers brokers should totally be a post to mefi. fishfucker, post it, yo!
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:14 AM on November 18, 2005


I like the thought of comments on the project posts and I imagine it could be regulated in a similar way to AskMefi answers. The whole voting thing took me a minute to understand, and I think the comments would let people share a little perspective along with their vote rather than just adding a drop to the bucket.
posted by prostyle at 11:21 AM on November 18, 2005


I'm for comments; getting votes and seeing a traffic surge was very cool, but it would have been cooler yet to hear some feedback, even if it was all "hey, jackass, fix this."
posted by COBRA! at 11:25 AM on November 18, 2005


I think one of the reasons that people don't post things on mefi projects to metafilter is that, duh, it's already on metafilter, so why repost it?

I said before that I thought you should allow comments so that people could workshop ideas, and people said "duh, then it would be an idea workshop", not... whatever it is thing is supposed to be. I still think an 'idea workshop' has more value.
posted by delmoi at 11:42 AM on November 18, 2005


I've enjoyed Projects so far, but I don't post around these parts so often these days and I totally missed the notion that Projects was supposed to be a sort of MetaFilterFilter. So I was wondering why there was no commenting, until I read Matt's 'funnel' comment, above. For what my opinion's worth, extending its scope to be more of an "ideas workshop" would both be more worthwhile for the posters and make it more interesting for the visitor. What keeps many folks coming back to all the MetaFilter sites is the reputation for intelligence and insight in the MetaFilter userbase, but Projects, as it is right now, doesn't seem to exploit that.
posted by normy at 12:01 PM on November 18, 2005


My press release link should have gone here.

The reason I complained is because reading people talk about the things they've worked hard on is interesting; reading people shill for the company they work for or whatever is not. If Projects is just going to be a repository for FPPs that didn't make it then I can't see many people wanting to read it.
posted by cillit bang at 12:15 PM on November 18, 2005


A project to attach comments to projects in Metafilter: Projects is a project that I would vote for. Now I just have to decide which part of my life to abandon in order to provide the necessary amount of free time to read Metafilter, Ask Metafilter, MetaTalk and Projects every day.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:16 PM on November 18, 2005


I was against comments because I didn't want people to think they shouldn't repost stuff to metafilter. The whole point is that it's a springboard, an on deck circle, a space to show your stuff to the world, and if it's good, it'll end up on mefi. I thought comments there would take the need to repost to mefi away, or make people think twice if good comments came out of project threads, etc.

But yeah, adding comments would let people say stuff and perhaps help people along with unfinished or almost done projects.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:16 PM on November 18, 2005


i dunno. without comments there's no jerkiness. It's kinda nice and clean. Just projects and votes.

private feedback would be cool, but that's a whole different functionality set.

with comments I see people being all "WELL I SHIT ON YOUR PROJECT BECAUSE I AM JUST TOO AWESOME". I know largely we're a helpful lot, but even ask.mefi has lead to flame-wars.

i guess the usefulness would outshine the jerkiness though.
posted by fishfucker at 1:14 PM on November 18, 2005


I assumed there were comments; I see now that there aren't, and I kind of think that's good.

If there were comments, it could end up being a great big excuse for peple to dump on other people's projects.
posted by lodurr at 1:39 PM on November 18, 2005


fishfucker, why not private comments? I think that would work fine. That's helpful enough.
posted by lodurr at 1:48 PM on November 18, 2005


i just imagine the private comments would require functionality that is not already in place on metafilter, meaning more coding work.
posted by fishfucker at 2:36 PM on November 18, 2005


private comments wouldn't be too hard, and kind of cool.

Just have a box next to the vote button, saying "leave comment for the creator?" and only they can see them when they load up their project listing.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:26 PM on November 18, 2005


Somker's Brokers is the best project by far.
posted by fixedgear at 3:44 PM on November 18, 2005


The whole point is that it's a springboard, an on deck circle, a space to show your stuff to the world, and if it's good, it'll end up on mefi.

Wow, I totally no longer understand the point of Projects, based on that comment. If you post it there, it's already on Meftafilter, isn't it?

*shrugs*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:43 PM on November 18, 2005


I thought it was kind of obvious with the mailing list. You let other members on the list know you launched a thing, and for the best ones, someone would make a post to mefi about it.

Now it's on the projects site instead of an email list.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:08 PM on November 18, 2005


for the best ones, someone would make a post to mefi about it.

Hmph. Never got that vibe from the mailing list, actually. I figured it was just to let people know, without ulterior motives. But then, I've never been the most perceptive.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:17 PM on November 18, 2005


Oh, shit. I just stopped choking. Is that a catcht-22 reference, fishfucker?

I can't believe I just refered to someone as fishfucker.

I'm going to stop now.
posted by IronLizard at 10:00 PM on November 18, 2005


private comments wouldn't be too hard, and kind of cool.

If it's really not too much trouble to implement, I'd love to see you do this.
posted by melissa may at 10:05 PM on November 18, 2005


I actually went into this post to ask for a comments feature, so I am glad it came up. It's not just that I want to comment on someone's project, it's that they may have questions for the community. Also, there may be ideas that come together, etc. I really like the idea for this area of the site, but was very disappointed to see one couldn't comment. I don't post to Metafilter, I just comment. There are probably lots of folks like me.
posted by xammerboy at 10:06 PM on November 18, 2005


I'd be all for comments... The voting thing, it's kinda weird. I mean, do the total number of votes count for something? (If so, damn you, test post!)
posted by ph00dz at 12:10 PM on November 19, 2005


not sure it's important, but i agree with stavros - the list was just somewhere to show people stuff you'd been doing. one attraction (for me at least) was that the standard wasn't as high as mefi. i thought that's what projects was too - a bunch of people here make stuff and it's fun showing your friends what you do, and seeing what others have done.
posted by andrew cooke at 1:53 PM on November 19, 2005


ph00dz - for this month i'm assuming the number of votes decides who gets the ipod.
posted by andrew cooke at 1:54 PM on November 19, 2005


If it's really not too much trouble to implement, I'd love to see [private comments].

Even if it is really difficult, I'd love to see it. Code it, mathowie, y0!

With private comments the site gets closer to a mailing list vibe. Without negative (-) votes MetaProjects is a one way street and seems more like an AdSense placement without the cash benefit to the community (in the sense that Matt gets paid).

Oh, and what jessamyn said of the EFF post this MetaTalk thread was originally about.
posted by terrapin at 11:12 AM on November 21, 2005


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