Sing out, Louise! in Projects

April 16, 2009 10:03 AM

Is it okay to post event-like things to Projects?

I volunteer for an awesome theater group here in New York that puts on shows for charity. It's basically where all my free time goes (well, that and MeFi, obvs). I'd like to let mefites know about the show that I've just spent the past four months of my life pouring my soul into (since I happen to live in a place with lots of mefites who could come see it), but it seems like projects is more about websites and apps.

Is this kind of thing okay for projects, and if not, is there anywhere on the site other than my profile where it's okay for me to notify folks about things like this?

posted by ocherdraco to etiquette/policy at 10:03 AM (43 comments total)

We've been kicking around ideas for a gigsfilter for a while now, and that's where it'd be ok to post. I don't think it really qualifies as something for Projects.
posted by mathowie at 10:04 AM on April 16

What that guy said.
posted by cortex at 10:05 AM on April 16

What about presenting it as a meetup opportunity? Maybe invite people to come to the show and then get a drink afterward?

I was wondering the same thing, I have an event coming up in May that puts me in a similar situation.
posted by hermitosis at 10:09 AM on April 16

What about presenting it as a meetup opportunity?

That has had mixed results in the past. Sometimes people are all like "Cool, that sounds fun!" On the other hand, sometimes they're all like "FUCK YOU SELF-PROMOTING DICKWEED!" I think community reaction varies depending on some combination of user reputation and event awesomeness, but it might be because we're just a bunch of inconsistent jackholes.
posted by dersins at 10:13 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

Gigfilter would be the coolest.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:14 AM on April 16

GiggityFilter. Great idea, or greatest idea?
posted by owtytrof at 10:15 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

I think community reaction varies depending on some combination of user reputation and event awesomeness, but it might be because we're just a bunch of inconsistent jackholes.

I think the test is whether you could conceivably convince one other person to post it. If so, do.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:15 AM on April 16

I personally don't think it's offensive when people use the "meetup" category to refer to these sorts of events. While most meetups skew toward a semi-exclusive gathering of mefites, I would welcome the chance to show up with a gang of others to support someone in a project or performance they're part of. It would be obnoxious if someone was in a band and posted every one of their gigs to MeTa, but for occasional events I doubt it would raise many hackles. I posted something like this last fall, and no one seemed peeved -- a few mefites came, which was really fun.

I figure as long as you're direct about it, rather than trying to convince people that you're really just posting a meetup -- oh and hey, I happen to have this event that would be a perfect occasion -- then it would go over a little better. At least, until we get Gigfilter...
posted by hermitosis at 10:25 AM on April 16

I think the test is whether you could conceivably convince one other person to post it.

On the other hand, the whole point of the rule against self-linking is that it's difficult if not impossible to be sufficiently objective about ones own projects.
posted by dersins at 10:27 AM on April 16

Of course, by posting this to MeTa, I have made it impossible for myself to post the event in the meetups category until the run of the show is half over. Oh well.

But Gigfilter would be amazing. Perhaps a once a month time limit would be appropriate, rather than the once a week of AskMe and MeTa? As most of my projects are things like this, I'd really appreciate it.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:38 AM on April 16

Yes, GigFilter!
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 10:40 AM on April 16

what's the show, and where? and what's the cause? I've been intending to go to an NYC meetup lately and the best way to do that is to start your own meetup thread.
posted by onalark at 10:41 AM on April 16

http://events.metafilter.com/events/events.html

I will call it Tripoli.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:45 AM on April 16

It would be obnoxious if someone was in a band and posted every one of their gigs to MeTa

hello plz to come to every one of my gigs thx
posted by ludwig_van at 10:50 AM on April 16

MetaFilter: Sometimes people are all like "Cool, that sounds fun!" On the other hand, sometimes they're all like "FUCK YOU SELF-PROMOTING DICKWEED!"

I would love a GigFilterfilter.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:50 AM on April 16

On the other hand, the whole point of the rule against self-linking is that it's difficult if not impossible to be sufficiently objective about ones own projects.

Maybe I wasn't being direct enough. That's exactly my point. If you can't send this to some Mefites you know and have one of them say, "Hey, I should post this to Metafilter!" than it shouldn't be on Metafilter. Same with FPP links.

About Gigfilter: I think a once-a-month time limit would be fine, but I also think that maybe there should be a longer lead time and more prerequisites for new users. This is about wanting to know what active members of the community are up to, not just creating another box and some promoter's checklist.
posted by roll truck roll at 11:05 AM on April 16

Philly just had a little bit of a gigfilter thing go on, and it seemed to work out well via meetup thread. While trying to plan the April meetup, 31d1 mentioned that he was spinning at a bar out in the burbs called something ridiculously like The Homely Yak. By all accounts it was fun.

This would save several steps in the "old-fashioned" way of doing things - which is to find the user's facebook link, friend them, and then commence with the event invitation spamming. It may also introduce people to new and different events that they would otherwise not know about. And prevent event spam inspired homicides...
posted by greekphilosophy at 11:08 AM on April 16

The Real Question: What color will gigfilter be?
posted by boo_radley at 11:12 AM on April 16

Can we also have GigueFilter, for baroque dances?
posted by ludwig_van at 11:15 AM on April 16 [3 favorites]

Red, of course.
posted by ocherdraco at 11:15 AM on April 16

ludwig_van: eponytangential?
posted by ocherdraco at 11:16 AM on April 16

How about FugueFilter, where we all just repeat each other?

How about FugueFilter, where we all just repeat each other?

How about FugueFilter, where we all just repeat each other?
posted by greekphilosophy at 11:29 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

GiggityFilter. Great idea, or greatest idea?

Alllllright....
posted by inigo2 at 11:36 AM on April 16

i would like a light turquoise for gigfilter to compliment the dark turquoise of projects. red is way too warm when the rest of the filters are cool.
posted by the aloha at 11:58 AM on April 16

I don't think a once-a-month limit would be very good. Say a MeFite was touring, e.g. Brad Sucks a.k.a. frenetic, it would be optimal if he could include all of his shows on GigFilter.
posted by Kattullus at 12:04 PM on April 16

kattullus, why could he not include all of his gigs in one tour announcement?
posted by the aloha at 12:07 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm picturing some kind of taggable system that can be exported to Google Calendar or iCal. You subscribe to the tag for your own area(s). But for like a tour, people could create one event that goes longer than one day and is tagged for multiple metros. This would be best for discussion purposes too.

There wouldn't need to be hard and fast rules for every sort of abuse. Just resort to the usual system of flagging people for being obnoxious.

For the color, I'm picturing a dark, brick-red, because that makes people think of clubs.

I love how we're all acting like we're the ones designing this.
posted by roll truck roll at 12:10 PM on April 16

the aloha, we've got so many blues, etc. that it would be hard to refer to it in conversation. "You know, on the, um, lighter turquoise." "On the red" (or "on the gold," if you want a color more complementary to blues, etc.) would be easier.
posted by ocherdraco at 12:18 PM on April 16

onalark, I've put the information about my show in my profile. If someone wants to start a meetup thread for it, that would be lovely.
posted by ocherdraco at 12:19 PM on April 16

I still don't understand why this isn't a Project. Ocherdraco worked on a show, and now it's going up. Why isn't this something she can share? I didn't know Projects was just for websites, as that beard guy had his project up there (and everywhere else on the site), and that was also a charity event.
posted by bluefly at 12:23 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

I didn't know Projects was just for websites

The description of Projects states: "MeFi Projects is dedicated to helping MetaFilter members announce their new web projects to the world." Some real-life things have gotten though, yeah, but usually they're posted as "Here's this website I've put together, to give you info on this real-life thing".
posted by inigo2 at 12:29 PM on April 16

Yeah, the focus with Projects is "here is a thing on the web that I made". There's a degree of flexibility involved in what we let fly, but the there's-a-website-with-content thing is kind of the core notion. If there's not really any interesting/substantial web content there, it's generally not gonna get approved.

I'm a big fan of gigfilter and want to see it happen, and maybe it's time for us to knock our modly heads together on it again and see where we are. But it doesn't exist right now, and shoehorning stuff that would be a good fit for it into parts of the site that are not it isn't really what we want to see people doing.
posted by cortex at 12:36 PM on April 16

maybe it's time for us to knock our modly heads together on it again

Yes! Please do!
posted by ocherdraco at 1:10 PM on April 16

ocherdraco, i see your point, but i raise you a shade of purple.

purple is a different color, but is still a cool or neutral color. warm colors have never suited one person's interpretation of this site.
posted by the aloha at 1:12 PM on April 16

Then we could say "on the purp." Okay, I'm satisfied. (Perhaps we should say "on the Turq" for projects, huh?)
posted by ocherdraco at 1:16 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

exactly. we could even call the younger members with projects young turqs.
posted by the aloha at 1:28 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

And robots would be mechanical turqs!
posted by owtytrof at 1:45 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]

owtytrof, great thinking ahead! after all, in the future there will be robots.
posted by the aloha at 2:11 PM on April 16

Hot pink. It must be hot pink.
posted by flashboy at 5:06 PM on April 16

ueFilter, where we all just repeat each other? How about Fug
?rehto hcae taeper tsuj lla ew erehw ,retliFeuguF tuoba woH

ueFilter, where we all just repeat each other? How about Fug
?rehto hcae taeper tsuj lla ew erehw ,retliFeuguF tuoba woH

ueFilter, where we all just repeat each other? How about Fug
?rehto hcae taeper tsuj lla ew erehw ,retliFeuguF tuoba woH
posted by dirty lies at 5:14 AM on April 17 [4 favorites]

dirty lies, you are my new Hindemith.
posted by greekphilosophy at 10:46 AM on April 17

I am looking at dates of the show and my own calendar. I'm definitely interested, who doesn't like magic and musicals and supporting good causes?

Oh, and are any other NYC Mefites interested in going and have a date range they need to narrow to before the official thread? I am thinking if it's a small enough group, I could host snacks/drinks at my *tiny* apartment before heading to the show (I'm right next to Columbia University, so we could hop the M4 across the park)
posted by onalark at 12:06 PM on April 17

greekphilosophy: That short piece is called symphonic metamorphosis of greekphilosophy's comment.,
posted by dirty lies at 1:32 PM on April 17