Mefimail all local users

January 28, 2008 10:12 PM

Feature request: Send MefiMail to all users within an n mile radius.

We're planning a meetup in Vancouver pretty soon and I was thinking about sending a note to all the locals in case they hadn't seen the thread. I don't suppose there is any way to do this aside from going to one's profile page, clicking on each name under 'nearby users', and mailing them individually. Is there even a way to send to more than one person at a time? I can understand that there some good reasons not to allow bulk MefiMail, but this would be a useful feature for planning meetups. What do you think?

posted by PercussivePaul to feature requests at 10:12 PM (33 comments total)

There is no way to send mefimail to more than one user, by design. The barrier-to-entry that having to click on each name under 'nearby users' presents should hopefully provide a pretty decent limiting factor to manual mass-mails, however well-intentioned they might be.

Meetups are pretty much an opt-in thing; while there's nothing explicitly wrong with sending someone you don't know a mefimail to say "hi, plannin' a meetup", it's also not exactly standard procedure. Automating it would be kind of weird on that front, too.
posted by cortex at 10:16 PM on January 28

hokay then. thanks.
posted by PercussivePaul at 10:27 PM on January 28

Yeah, we don't want to give people tools to spam others. We have meetups on the sidebar that anyone interested in can plainly see and check out. I think that's enough.
posted by mathowie at 10:51 PM on January 28

no
posted by 31d1 at 11:09 PM on January 28

OK, I could see a pony that goes out and sends an official non-user-initiated MeMail to nearby people about 'hey there's a meetup coming up near you', but historically neat rockstar coding stuff like that doesn't happen, and there is a sufficience of anecdotal evidence to suggest that part of the ineffable charm of metafilter is due to the fact that high tech stuff like that doesn't happen here and that having the latest and greatest web gewgaws is perhaps actively detrimental to having an awesome community. Trust me I'm a doctor.
posted by 31d1 at 11:16 PM on January 28

I'm in ur zip code, ruinin ur life!
posted by fleacircus at 11:39 PM on January 28 [5 favorites]

31d1: I could see a pony that goes out and sends an official non-user-initiated MeMail to nearby people about 'hey there's a meetup coming up near you'

I think that would be great, especially if it was opt-in.
posted by Kattullus at 11:46 PM on January 28 [1 favorite]

We have meetups on the sidebar that anyone interested in can plainly see and check out. I think that's enough.

I disagree. There are 2 problems that one encounters organising meetups in lower mefi populated areas:
- not many people read metatalk regularly. The meetup sidebar should be visible on the blue and green too.
- in some of these sparsely mefi populated areas like the Netherlands you really have to get the attention of everybody in the greater neighbourhood to get any sizeable number (meaning: more than 2) of attendees. Sending an email to them is a big hassle that involves combing through the kml file, combing through every individual profile for emails, keeping track which emails and handles go together. It's really too much work.

So an opt-in feature and/or meetup information on the green and blue would be very welcome for those not living in densely mefi populated areas.
posted by jouke at 12:57 AM on January 29

Matt, your faith in everyone's ability to pay attention to a small, dense, rarely changing sidebar in the corner of a subpage is quite remarkable.
posted by cillit bang at 2:08 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Attention, all users within an n-mile radius!

I am Vorthax, Herald of Juwawa the Cosmic Discombobulator.

His Supreme Depravity summons you all to assemble in the one location so that He may more easily feast upon your puny brain-pulp and suck the very marrow from your shattered bones. He will supply all necessary shattering and sucking equipment for this purpose.

Please clear your diaries from next Friday on and submit your carcasses to Denny's Bar on 3rd and Main, where your slaughter and processing will commence promptly at 8.

His Galactic Horrificness has asked me to convey his hatred and disgust for your utterly insignificant existence and he hopes to see you there.

Disclaimer: if you have received this MeMail in error, please note that it may contain confidential and\or legally privileged information. Please delete it immediately and submit your carcass to Denny's on 3rd and Main on Friday at 8 for slaughter and processing.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 2:27 AM on January 29 [3 favorites]

OK, I could see a pony that goes out and sends an official non-user-initiated MeMail to nearby people about 'hey there's a meetup coming up near you'

You mean, like the Pony Express? Or Paul Revere? I would love to have that. You awake in the dark, heart pounding, and to what? To hoofbeats (or Hoff beats?) at midnight! "Arise! Arise! Mefi Meetup at Ye Olde Piss-Smelling Tavern!"

Can we take turns being the rider?
posted by pracowity at 5:40 AM on January 29

This feature already exists for very small values of n.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:07 AM on January 29 [2 favorites]

It works in my current location perfectly, for example, even for values of n in the hundreds of kilometers.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:28 AM on January 29

As a compromise, perhaps the meetup organizer can specify a zip code in her/his post, and all the users within n miles of that zip code can have a link to the meetup thread next to their "welcome back [username]" message on the top line? Such as: "Welcome back desjardins - There's a Chicago meetup February XX" It would automagically go away after the meetup date. I don't know how much coding that requires, but it's less intrusive than spam and more visible than the MeTa sidebar.
posted by desjardins at 7:29 AM on January 29

HELLO tO CHICAGOERS. I need must rely on your DISCRETIONS and confidence in confidencial and lucrative manners.

The name of myself, which is iridic, and representative of great names in UNITED STATES OF THE AMERICAS, is recently in straits with regarding of ILLINOIS LOTTERY EARNINGS. The County of Cook is in attempting to confiscate these VERY LICIT MONEYS in tune of 30 Millions, which are needed desperationly to recoup family fortunes lost in conflict with NIGERIAN GOV'T HUCKSTERS. Our moneys can be saved yet if you, from appeal as christian gentilemen of CONTIGUOUS AREA CODES and siblings in life, will provide safety bank havens for the money until the Fiend TODD STROGER sates himself. In return, you will receive a fair and munificent 3/11ths of the funds in quesion.

To begin the process, all that is needful is for you to send certain checks, made out to a mere $10,000 cash, as would duplicate the purchase of standard ILLINOIS LOTTERy tickets, for in which I shall make the transferral of the specie. All this is safe and licit, though if you are uncertain of the process for makeing a check, i might have your bank account information and could do it very well myself with no personal effort?

Yours faithfully,
iridic
posted by Iridic at 7:40 AM on January 29 [4 favorites]

Vorthax,

I'd love to be there -- I haven't seen Juwawa since the Tunguska party -- but Shub-Niggurath's baby shower is Friday night! Can we move the bone-shattering slaughter to Saturday?

RS
posted by Rock Steady at 7:42 AM on January 29

Actually, that sounds quite workable, desjardins. If it can be done, all we'll need is a Chicago meetup!
posted by Iridic at 7:43 AM on January 29

Can I send a MeFiMail to all Mefites more than n miles away from me? "How's the weather in your location? Colder or hotter than Boston, I'd imagine!"
posted by Plutor at 7:46 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Sending an email to them is a big hassle that involves combing through the kml file, combing through every individual profile for emails, keeping track which emails and handles go together. It's really too much work.

But you don't need e-mail- we have MeMail. If you have the zip of your meetup in your profile, you could easily MeMail all local users to say, hey, meetup coming up soon! I MeMailed all the Tampa Bay locals before the Tampa Bay meetup in December.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:48 AM on January 29 [2 favorites]

No TPS, one can't. Since the radius used in showing local users is too small for sparsely populated mefi places.
posted by jouke at 7:56 AM on January 29

For the reasons listed above, this probably isn't a good idea, which is kind of a shame, because one could make a cool 'blast radius' analogy.

Of course, there is something wrong with my head, in that I frequently look at life from a 'blast radius' perspective.
posted by quin at 7:58 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]

No TPS, one can't. Since the radius used in showing local users is too small for sparsely populated mefi places

Clearly, this is a sign you should move. /tongue in cheek
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:01 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Whose tongue in whose cheek? Where do I sign up?
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 9:07 AM on January 29

I could see a pony that goes out and sends an official non-user-initiated MeMail to nearby people about 'hey there's a meetup coming up near you'

Only if these mails somehow disappeared as they expired. It would be sad to check MeFi after a long period of inactivity and discover that the mail you received clamoring for your return it is in fact automated and pertaining to fun stuff you missed.
posted by ODiV at 10:33 AM on January 29

I think it would be sad anytime to see the little MeMail icon, and think, yay mail! And it turns out it's just some sort of automated message about something or other :-(
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:22 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

the radius used in showing local users is too small for sparsely populated mefi places

that's something we should be fixing. I like the idea of a user-set radius where we can each make it bigger or smaller depending on how densely populated our area is and how many users we want to see. This has been brought up before I think but I don't remember any major reasons why it can't be done (besides the necessary coding).
posted by shelleycat at 1:23 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

please do not implement this feature matt
posted by caddis at 4:01 PM on January 29

So, wait--there's a Chicago area meet-up? Where? When?
posted by Squid Voltaire at 4:18 PM on January 29

Sorry to mislead, Squid Voltaire - I meant a hypothetical Chicago meetup to test the scenario that desjardins proposed.

Though it has been too long since the last get-together...
posted by Iridic at 6:04 PM on January 29

Hey Guys,

I know you're tired of getting facebook spam, and believe me I am too. That's why I'm writing this facebook message to each of you personally, and not as one giant group, to let you know that I'd very much like you to attend my band's gig this saturday at The Lunchbox. We're really a tight group and I think it's just the kind of music you'd like, if I know your taste in music at all. ;p

So really, it would mean a lot to me if you would come out. We'll get a beer or something afterward, and I think you'll have a good time. Remember that time we did that thing a few years ago, and we all thought it was the funniest thing ever? Yeah, just like that.

Sincerely,
PercussivePaul and the Black Fridays
posted by shmegegge at 9:16 AM on January 30

well, first of all my band is not called the Black Fridays. In fact we're so new we don't have a name yet. But my last band was called Speaking of Devils. Second, we played at Hoko's Sushi and Karaoke Bar, not the Lunchbox, though I can see how you get these mixed up. Third, I would never spam my friends with facebook messages. I just created a facebook event and invited them that way.

all true. sigh
posted by PercussivePaul at 12:28 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

funny story:

the facebook message I wrote above is pretty much to the best of my recollection an actual facebook spam message I got from a friend of mine. substitute in Arlene's Grocery (or something comparable) for The Lunchbox (which I made up, I hope.) and bam! that's his facebook message. I still didn't go, but it was a funny message.
posted by shmegegge at 1:47 PM on January 30

It's a delicate balance when you play in a mostly-for-fun kind of band. A lot of your friends are genuinely interested in hearing you play - maybe once or twice. After that point there is a hint of desperation, and your invites go from "you keep asking me when you can come hear us play, well here's your chance!" to "It would mean a lot to me if you would come".

I would now like to state for the record that if I were to message Vancouverites my interest would be only in letting them know how much fun they would be missing, not in validating my own pathetic existence.
posted by PercussivePaul at 2:07 PM on January 30