Twitter question September 22, 2010 11:09 AM   Subscribe

What is the protocol for reposting MeFi postings on my twitter stream?

If I was reposting a tweet, I would just retweet, which would document the source. I'm just not sure what make sense for reposting a MeFi entry. Many of my followers probably are not aware of MeFi.
posted by pavi to Etiquette/Policy at 11:09 AM (43 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

I'm pretty sure you just use #ThisIsAMetafilterFrontPagePostThatI'mTweetingRightHereSoJustGoToWww.Metafilter.ComToSeeTheOriginalIfThat'sSomethingYouWantToDo. But I've never used Twitter, so I guess I don't know.
posted by koeselitz at 11:13 AM on September 22, 2010 [3 favorites]


I usually link to the thread whenever I repost something from MeFi, because there's a good chance that the discussion is better than whatever's going on behind the link anyway. But for a little one-off ha ha meme link that's making the rounds I pretend I found it myself and fuck via MetaFilter.
posted by carsonb at 11:15 AM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]


(PS don't tell the Internet Accounting Office or I'll owe several lifetimes worth of via karma!)
posted by carsonb at 11:16 AM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]


Do you mean what's the right way to tweet someone's comment? There's no real stylebook, but attribution is a good thing; either mention their username and mefi or include a (probably shortened) link to the comment, or both.

Is there a specific example you have in mind that might help make it clearer what you're asking about?
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:18 AM on September 22, 2010


Usually, I just post the link to the mefi thread, see if there's any space left over, and if there is put a pithy remark about the link in. A simple "Neat!" or "cool!" seems like enough of comment.
posted by nomadicink at 11:19 AM on September 22, 2010


The protocol? HTTP usually, although you could argue TCP/IP.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:19 AM on September 22, 2010 [8 favorites]


Twitter is peer-to-peer.
posted by crunchland at 11:22 AM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]


I just post the original link. Then I clear my cache, history, cookies, anything I can find that might connect me to my source. For particularly good links, I also close my MetaFilter account and wait a month before posting the link so no one makes the connection. I also have a throwaway Twitter account, but I can't tell you what it is for my personal safety.
posted by katillathehun at 11:26 AM on September 22, 2010 [2 favorites]


Then I eat a doughnut.
posted by nomadicink at 11:36 AM on September 22, 2010


The hashtag for Metafilter seems to be #MeFi. If you're including a link directly to a post, then it's probably unnecessary.
posted by zarq at 11:42 AM on September 22, 2010


Then I eat a doughnut.

Proper protocol: you must offer a donut to the OP of the link you're tweeting.

I like crullers. And jelly donuts. And Bavarian creme. And chocolate.
posted by zarq at 11:44 AM on September 22, 2010


What is the proto-call for a tweet?

Peep-to-peep.
posted by iamkimiam at 11:48 AM on September 22, 2010 [4 favorites]


Tweets should be posted by IPoAC.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:01 PM on September 22, 2010


If I want to point to the thread so people can read the comments, I just comment and link to the thread and possibly add #mefi if there's room. If I just want to link to the article, I usually add (via @mefi) even though I didn't technically get it from the @mefi account. If I don't have room I don't attribute at all, and figure that the bullshit I have to deal with on a regular basis at work is my karmic payback for not giving credit where credit is due.
posted by Kimberly at 12:02 PM on September 22, 2010


Proper protocol: you must offer a donut to the OP of the link you're tweeting.

THAT IS NOT IN THE MANUAL.

I checked.
posted by nomadicink at 12:07 PM on September 22, 2010


I flagrantly steal the link and in no way feel bad about it.

Where are the doughnuts?
posted by Artw at 12:08 PM on September 22, 2010


THAT IS NOT IN THE MANUAL.

I checked.


SHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

They don't know that!
posted by zarq at 12:08 PM on September 22, 2010


I usually add (via @mefi) even though I didn't technically get it from the @mefi account

Oooh, that's a good method. I have been using "via (shortened link to post)", especially if the post has other interesting links.
posted by Faust Gray at 12:19 PM on September 22, 2010


The hashtag for Metafilter seems to be #MeFi. If you're including a link directly to a post, then it's probably unnecessary.

How is it unnecessary? How else would someone find tweets that link to Metafilter? Especially since most of them will use obfuscatory shortened URLs.
posted by John Cohen at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]


If I just want to link to the article, I usually add (via @mefi) even though I didn't technically get it from the @mefi account.

Actually, this isn't a problem at all. @X doesn't mean you're attributing something to X; it just means you're talking to X.
posted by John Cohen at 12:45 PM on September 22, 2010


(or mentioning X)
posted by John Cohen at 12:46 PM on September 22, 2010


Thanks for all the advice - both the helpful and the deliciously snarky. I think I can take it from here.
posted by pavi at 12:47 PM on September 22, 2010


How is it unnecessary? How else would someone find tweets that link to Metafilter?

Is that necessary? Do people do that? (I'm really asking. It seems like a specialized and somewhat unlikely thing to search for to me.)
posted by zarq at 12:49 PM on September 22, 2010


I think I can take it from here.

If you need any more help, just remember this line:What would would a tater do?

Then do the opposite of that.
posted by nomadicink at 1:02 PM on September 22, 2010


I like that Twitter has rendered an entire swath of the population incapable of performing tasks that they were clearly equipped to handle before Twitter existed. I would broadcast this glee to the world, but since that concept does not have a Twitter account, I am unable to give voice to my idea. #navelgazingschadenfreude
posted by Mayor West at 1:04 PM on September 22, 2010


How is it unnecessary? How else would someone find tweets that link to Metafilter?

Is that necessary? Do people do that? (I'm really asking. It seems like a specialized and somewhat unlikely thing to search for to me.)


Yep people do that. In fact Cortex does a version of that to keep track of high visibility threads. It's a great, relatively low character way to consolidate tweats about metafilter in twitter search.
posted by Kimberly at 1:07 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]


Ah! Okay, I'll keep that in mind in the future. Thanks!
posted by zarq at 1:11 PM on September 22, 2010


wait, are you saying that cortex is low character?
posted by desjardins at 1:21 PM on September 22, 2010


How is it unnecessary? How else would someone find tweets that link to Metafilter? Especially since most of them will use obfuscatory shortened URLs.

Searching for strings like "mefi" and "metafilter" does nicely, at least with Tweetdeck. Shortened urls seem to get examined for raw string content for the purposes of matching, which nicely unfucks that problem; whether that's universal or only for certain url shorteners, I don't know, nor do I know if it's an app-specific service that Tweetdeck provides or if it's native Twitter functionality handled behind the API, but it's certainly workable and far, far more reliable than trying to get everyone everywhere to tag their tweets consistently.

Aside from which, #mefi is also the name of an unofficial and at this point only very tangentially mefi-related IRC channel on slashnet, and the pet markov bot there often tweets nonsense with the #mefi tag, so you'll get a lot of odd noise if you try to follow metafilter that way.

Here's my rundown on my mefi dragnet.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:23 PM on September 22, 2010


If you need any more help, just remember this line:What would would a tater do?

Then do the opposite of that.


OMG, taters is General Motors?
posted by davejay at 1:49 PM on September 22, 2010


wwtd
posted by found missing at 2:09 PM on September 22, 2010


Always include a link to the post. Without a link, anyone quoting whatever you're posting will attribute it to you, the only link they have. And this makes you look like a jerk, even if you didn't intend to steal credit. I've seen this happen.
posted by scottreynen at 4:13 PM on September 22, 2010


Thank you for posting this.

(via #mefi)
looks like the way forward.

For a while now I've been unsure what to do when wanting to post stuff found on MeFi but not necessarily wanting to post the MeFi thread itself for whatever reason, and then feeling bizarrely guilty when I know that the people following me on Twitter who are also MeFites will, if they see that tweet, know exactly where I got the thing from, probably.

#viamefi would be even shorter.
posted by motty at 4:39 PM on September 22, 2010


#Weltschmerz
posted by Rumple at 4:49 PM on September 22, 2010


i tweet a bunch of stuff i find here, including comments. like many others i use the #mefi hashtag. and i sometimes search on it because the more mefites i follow the better twitter gets (my other follows are 80% pro wrestlers or british comedy writers)
posted by jtron at 9:00 PM on September 22, 2010


Rather than metafilter links, I think I'm going to start tweeting random, unattributed user comments with absolutely no context whatsoever.

Mainly because I think it'll actually take the overall coherence of my tweets up a notch.
posted by quin at 7:21 AM on September 23, 2010


I've tweeted comments made by users before. I put the comment in quotes and attribute the username; by then I typically don't have characters left to mention Mefi however.
posted by yeti at 7:41 AM on September 23, 2010


and fuck via MetaFilter.

Wait, is that what this whole "Meetup" thing is about?
posted by nickmark at 11:17 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


and i sometimes search on it because the more mefites i follow the better twitter gets

That's a swell idea I hadn't thought of, but does it really work? I got pages and pages of @mefi_tweed results when I tried that.
posted by juv3nal at 11:33 AM on September 23, 2010


and fuck via MetaFilter.

Details, damn it!
posted by Splunge at 1:33 PM on September 23, 2010


That's a swell idea I hadn't thought of, but does it really work?

It helped me find enough that usually about half of my automated follow suggestions seem to be Metafilter users or their ilk...
posted by jtron at 2:50 PM on September 23, 2010


and fuck via MetaFilter.
Details, damn it!

To hell with details, we want photos!
posted by dg at 3:08 PM on September 23, 2010




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