MetaFilter Letters February 26, 2002 7:31 PM Subscribe
Perhaps I'm seen as a soft touch or something but people keep emailing me with requests for posting links, comments or just general attitudes. Mostly they're honest reactions to discussions here. Or interesting suggestions.
There certainly seems to be a lot of occasional readers who feel strongly about the issues discussed here. Could there be the equivalent of a Letters category on MetaTalk, for readers who aren't members to react to the threads that exercise them? At least until registrations are open again? As a fan of letters sections in newspapers and magazines, my opinion is that it would make MetaFilter even livelier.
There certainly seems to be a lot of occasional readers who feel strongly about the issues discussed here. Could there be the equivalent of a Letters category on MetaTalk, for readers who aren't members to react to the threads that exercise them? At least until registrations are open again? As a fan of letters sections in newspapers and magazines, my opinion is that it would make MetaFilter even livelier.
They're emailing you because they think you'll do it. Feel free to post their thoughts on a MeFi thread to your own weblog.
posted by anildash at 7:55 PM on February 26, 2002
posted by anildash at 7:55 PM on February 26, 2002
"How could no one have responded..?"
*shrug* I just saw it.
...And I can't think of anything to add. I'm still unclear as to why Mathowie closed registration. Not that I question it. That's not my place. I just don't properly understand it.
People should feel free to post whatever they want about MeFi to their own weblog, but this doesn't insure anyone in MeFi will see it, so it doesn't resolve the issue Anildash.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:59 PM on February 26, 2002
*shrug* I just saw it.
...And I can't think of anything to add. I'm still unclear as to why Mathowie closed registration. Not that I question it. That's not my place. I just don't properly understand it.
People should feel free to post whatever they want about MeFi to their own weblog, but this doesn't insure anyone in MeFi will see it, so it doesn't resolve the issue Anildash.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:59 PM on February 26, 2002
Well, at least they might read this, know I(or anyone else receiving similar requests - I'm sure I'm not alone) won't even consider posting by proxy and stop pestering me. It's been discussed before and decided it shouldn't be done. My question was actually wider - shouldn't we have a small section for outsiders' letters? In Lisbon alone I know of at least twenty people who regularly read MetaFilter.
Hey, even The New Yorker has a letters section now!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:02 PM on February 26, 2002
Hey, even The New Yorker has a letters section now!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:02 PM on February 26, 2002
I'm not sure that something like this could be easily implemented and if it was, how would it be controlled? Wouldn't it just turn into a different area of MetaFilter or be a duplicate of metafilter? They would be members of MeFi without being members? I don't get it.
Why don't these people simply email matt with their reasons for wanting to join and let him decide?
posted by ashbury at 8:12 PM on February 26, 2002
Why don't these people simply email matt with their reasons for wanting to join and let him decide?
posted by ashbury at 8:12 PM on February 26, 2002
Hmm...this suspiciously sounds like Matt having to moderate more comments, carefully sift through them all, and then post them here. I have a thought; why don't we pay Matt to implement all of these neat feature requests we get every week. Or even better, hehe, allow the current system to continue since we already have a community of 13,000 that can submit their own editorials to a community to which they are contributing through MetaTalk. Wait, the latter suggestion would require none of Matt's time, while the former would require a man who is already trying to find employment to put more time into a non-profit hobby. Tough call.
posted by BlueTrain at 8:24 PM on February 26, 2002
posted by BlueTrain at 8:24 PM on February 26, 2002
Ashbury - I mean letters from people who don't necessarily want to join and become active members. They've read something on MetaFilter, generally after the thread in question has died, and just want to comment or add a relevant fact.
Rodii may laugh about the paltry number of Lisbon readers but they exist. None of them wants to be a user(mainly because they feel insecure about their English)but they have opinions about particular threads(Su's Elephant thread elicited three interesting, professional opinions) and would like the community to know about them.
Lisbon is tiny and Portugal is tiny - so I imagine a lot of friends of MetaFilter all over the world, without the time or the wish to join, might like to write us a note about something, now and then.
It may well be a "coming from a print background" tic; but it makes sense to me. I guess the real question is probably "Can someone write a letter to MetaFilter?". Not to Matt; not to join; just to express an opinion. Hell, even I felt like doing this, way back when. ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:26 PM on February 26, 2002
Rodii may laugh about the paltry number of Lisbon readers but they exist. None of them wants to be a user(mainly because they feel insecure about their English)but they have opinions about particular threads(Su's Elephant thread elicited three interesting, professional opinions) and would like the community to know about them.
Lisbon is tiny and Portugal is tiny - so I imagine a lot of friends of MetaFilter all over the world, without the time or the wish to join, might like to write us a note about something, now and then.
It may well be a "coming from a print background" tic; but it makes sense to me. I guess the real question is probably "Can someone write a letter to MetaFilter?". Not to Matt; not to join; just to express an opinion. Hell, even I felt like doing this, way back when. ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:26 PM on February 26, 2002
rodii- aren't you Michiganders related to the Portugese?
[/rimshot] Tip your waitress!
posted by jonmc at 8:31 PM on February 26, 2002
[/rimshot] Tip your waitress!
posted by jonmc at 8:31 PM on February 26, 2002
Miguel: I thought you asked this and it was answered a while ago: just don't do it. Anil is right, open a weblog and post them there. Such is the burden of being a popular, softtouch guy (not that I would know anything about that state of being) that you have to say no.
I don't want to speak for Matt but I thought he closed registration because the servers couldn't handle the load of more people scribbling comments.
posted by victors at 8:34 PM on February 26, 2002
I don't want to speak for Matt but I thought he closed registration because the servers couldn't handle the load of more people scribbling comments.
posted by victors at 8:34 PM on February 26, 2002
Is anyone else picturing people writing ridiculously unbelievable stories of their sexual encounters to Miguel?
"At first I didn't believe any of the letters in MetaFilter Forum, but then these six foot tall blond triplets got on the elevator..."
posted by machaus at 8:38 PM on February 26, 2002
"At first I didn't believe any of the letters in MetaFilter Forum, but then these six foot tall blond triplets got on the elevator..."
posted by machaus at 8:38 PM on February 26, 2002
Miguel, I wasn't laughing, I was taking the opportunity to say hi to a bunch of people who I just learned about. No snarkiness intended, I just thought it sounded neat.
Jon: sorry, I'm a Michiganian. Michiganders make me puke.
"Neat," he says.
posted by rodii at 8:41 PM on February 26, 2002
Jon: sorry, I'm a Michiganian. Michiganders make me puke.
"Neat," he says.
posted by rodii at 8:41 PM on February 26, 2002
why doesn't someone start a yahoo group for this? (my same answer to the social-place thing)
all you people in lisbon: start a yahoo group for commenting on metafilter threads, and email miguel that it's there, and then he can post it in metatalk.
you can call it meta-metafilter or metacomment.
posted by rebeccablood at 8:56 PM on February 26, 2002
all you people in lisbon: start a yahoo group for commenting on metafilter threads, and email miguel that it's there, and then he can post it in metatalk.
you can call it meta-metafilter or metacomment.
posted by rebeccablood at 8:56 PM on February 26, 2002
Or just send your e-mails to me.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:13 PM on February 26, 2002
posted by ParisParamus at 9:13 PM on February 26, 2002
This is getting complicated. They want to be half-members? They don't want to comment, they want to... write letters? Letters to MetaFilter, wouldn't that mean "emailing Matt"?
But hey, if I can write in to complain about how much sex they show on TV these days, I'm in.
posted by D at 10:06 PM on February 26, 2002
But hey, if I can write in to complain about how much sex they show on TV these days, I'm in.
posted by D at 10:06 PM on February 26, 2002
"Perhaps I'm seen as a soft touch or something...." Miguel, you *are* a soft touch. Mind you, that could be ok in a certain context, but not here, perhaps....;)
posted by Lynsey at 10:25 PM on February 26, 2002
posted by Lynsey at 10:25 PM on February 26, 2002
There ya go, Miguel, I set you up a pitas site, you should be getting the login & password (direct to email, randomized, not available to anyone else) momentarily.
& wow, using this extensively in IE for the first time, & that link function is masterful. Matt, may you be hired within the month!
posted by EngineBeak at 12:38 AM on February 27, 2002
& wow, using this extensively in IE for the first time, & that link function is masterful. Matt, may you be hired within the month!
posted by EngineBeak at 12:38 AM on February 27, 2002
Wow, thanks a million, EngineBeak! That's so cool. It certainly beats merely helpful comments, setting me up like that. ;) I'm going to use it to receive local MetaFilter fans' letters - in Portuguese, if they insist - and, if it's OK with Matt, I'll add the URL to my user profile. In very difficult Latin, probably, to dissuade the casual punter from hitting on me too much. Ah, MetaFilter. Instant gratification. Gotta love it!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:48 AM on February 27, 2002
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:48 AM on February 27, 2002
"Can someone write a letter to MetaFilter?". Not to Matt; not to join; just to express an opinion.
Yeah, every member can. Using the forms at the bottom of the threads.
posted by anildash at 10:28 PM on February 27, 2002
Yeah, every member can. Using the forms at the bottom of the threads.
posted by anildash at 10:28 PM on February 27, 2002
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posted by ParisParamus at 7:46 PM on February 26, 2002