Putting the "Meta" in "MetaFilter"

February 26, 2013 1:10 PM

Based on the front page, I can tell that other posters use some of the same resources to find potential FPPs that I do. I'll lay my cards on the table, and hope you do the same...

The Browser
Arts & Letters Daily
Longform
Big Think
3 Quarks Daily
Longreads
Damn Interesting
Farnam Street
Brain Pickings

What other aggregators, filters, sifting sites do you like? How do you find things to post?

Happy hunting.

posted by the man of twists and turns to MetaFilter-Related at 1:10 PM (88 comments total)

Most of my posts come from some feed or other in my Google Reader, most of which are arts- or film-related and thus get like three comments at most.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:19 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]

Judging by the timing of posts, it seems like broadcast NPR is a starting point for a lot of posters.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:31 PM on February 26 [13 favorites]

I missed:
The Feature
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:39 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

I don't make many FPPs, but a number of them were things I saw on facebook first. I think more than half of them have been games, which mostly came from back when I was un(der)employed and had ample time to fritter away playing flash games, and I'd just post whatever new cool one I found.
posted by phunniemee at 1:39 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Reading books is another great resource.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:44 PM on February 26 [7 favorites]

i think the only aggregator i've used more than once is ONTD. otherwise it's twitter or stumble or a wiki/google/youtube hole.
posted by nadawi at 1:49 PM on February 26

I read most of those. Kottke seems to be a regular post-generator, or he's reading the same sites.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:52 PM on February 26

I don't make a lot of posts in general, but I think my three main repeat sources for post material (besides Projects) are Rock Paper Shotgun for gaming stuff, Comics Alliance for comics stuff, and some random jackass on twitter for stuff I found after some random jackass on twitter tweeted about it.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:53 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]

A lot of times I'll be reading a cool article or something and think "This would make a great MetaFilter post" and then I'll remember I found it through MetaFilter. That actually happens a lot.
posted by Bookhouse at 1:55 PM on February 26 [12 favorites]

MetaFilter: stuff I found after some random jackass on twitter tweeted about it

/low hanging fruit
posted by Burhanistan at 1:56 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]

Hacker News and bathroom stalls. But mostly Hacker News.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:04 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Book forum's Omnivore - it's like AL Daily, without the prissy conservatism and climate skepticism. The themed entries generally canvas a more eclectic variety.
posted by smoke at 2:05 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]

Lazenby.
Emily Short.
Adam Cadre.
Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
posted by Iridic at 2:10 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

I read most of those regularly.

Also sourced from:

Facebook.
Twitter.
Mefi Comments. :)
Reddit
Boing Boing
CIR
CJR
Dart Center
Hacker News
Lady Journos
Laughing Squid
Neatorama
ONTD
Popurls
Slashdot

I have to read a few hundred magazines and newspapers for work every week. And I do a lot of research online, so many of my posts originated from something read that way. That's why I've made multiple posts from articles that appeared in PopSci, Nature, New Scientist, GQ and National Geographic, to name a few examples.
posted by zarq at 2:11 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]

I get a lot of stuff from my Facebook feed, which long ago ceased to include my insufferable "friends". Bad Astronomy (now found on the godawful Slate), NASA emails. If I do a more in depth post (rare of late) I usually do quite a bit of research on the web in general and cull what I can or what I consider the best links on the topic.
posted by IvoShandor at 2:13 PM on February 26

oh and PBS. I like to watch shit on PBS and then post about the next day or that night.
posted by IvoShandor at 2:14 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Reading books is another great resource.

I honor that comment with this eye roll masterpiece.
posted by mediated self at 2:17 PM on February 26 [12 favorites]

Most of my posts come from links shared in a private mailing list. But they seem to be sourced from all these websites linked above.
posted by vidur at 2:18 PM on February 26

I like all the new Atlantic posts once a month.
posted by 2bucksplus at 2:19 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Burhanistan: "Judging by the timing of posts, it seems like broadcast NPR is a starting point for a lot of posters."

Hah. I don't listen to NPR to pick up on the timing aspect, but I've definitely had that feeling from post framing.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:20 PM on February 26

I mostly just copy stuff from Plastic.
posted by no regrets, coyote at 2:21 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]

I usually start with a topic and then research it. My posts generally have quite a lot of links. I hardly ever seem to just come across something cool the way you people do. Lately my posts have been reworked posts from my blog — I'll finish writing a post on a given topic, decide it deserves a larger audience than what my blog gets, and just do some tweaking to adapt it to an all text format.
posted by orange swan at 2:21 PM on February 26

I'm basically an unpaid shill for Rock Paper Shotgun.
posted by griphus at 2:26 PM on February 26

I found a copy of this book in a trash can. That's pretty much it!

Oh, and Projects.
posted by carsonb at 2:28 PM on February 26

It's only ever served as the topic for one post, but I find TVTropes works a lot better than Wikipedia for pop culture topics where you need some useful filler to quickly introduce the subject to newcomers.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:41 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

I pretty much pick things up from Facebook or Ravelry. I don't really actively look for things to post, but occasionally I see something that someone has linked and think 'oh, that would be interesting for Metafilter'. About 75% of the time, it has already been posted here.

About 50% of the remaining 25% of the time, it turns out not to be that interesting for Metafilter, but oh well.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:52 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Mostly I just browse my subs page (that list is about 2x longer than what the screenshot shows) on Pinboard, and then start spelunking through other users' tags until I find something interesting.
posted by Doleful Creature at 3:12 PM on February 26

Speaking of which, I think I'm about to post something...quickly Mortimer! To the research hovel!
posted by Doleful Creature at 3:24 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]

I have in Google Reader under Linky Goodness:
Amazing Data
Andre's Notes
d i a p s a l m a t a
Good Morning Silicon Valley
Ikkaro
Interesting Thing of the Day
jimcofer
LINKMACHINEGO
the New Shelton wet/dry
Popperfont
ODISEA2008
poppupot
Rhondda's Reflections
Savage Minds
SKB
Sore Eyes
taxonomica
Tecnologia Obsoleta
the chawed rosin
The Edge of the American West
Viajes con mi tia
TYWKIWDBI
Twisted Sifter
posted by unliteral at 3:28 PM on February 26 [9 favorites]

I honor that comment with this eye roll masterpiece.

I don't get it. Almost all of my posts come from books I've read. The ones that don't come from other MeFi posts I think. Or pub trivia. Or occasionally from mailing lists that I am on.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:42 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

My source is posts zarq has already made so all my posts get deleted as doubles.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 4:03 PM on February 26 [6 favorites]

You've covered almost all of my RSS Reader feeds for potential MetaPosting with a few GLARING exceptions:
The Presurfer, since 2000, one of the original link blogs and, while more often scooped than he used to be, still a source of at least one AHA! a day.
Blort, come ON people, how have you missed the fabulous curations of MeFi's Own madamjujujive (and formerly quonsar)
Waxy.org/Links, from another of MeFi's Own, Hi Andy!

And WFMU's Beware of the Blog and Onion's AV Club and Mark "M.E." Evanier

Most of my animation-themed posts have passed through Cartoon Brew (or likely in the future from Cartoon Research by a former Brew co-blogger)

Seriously, io9 has become the OMNI of the New Century (yes it's a Gawker site)

And as far as video is considered, most everything highlighted by Vimeo Staff Picks deserves to be on ALL the Front Pages.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:47 PM on February 26 [4 favorites]

I heard Jessamyn say on a podcast I think, that some of her own favorite posts came out of her being curious about something. That's what I've done recently. I wanted to learn more about a thing so I started reading, collecting and curating about that thing. Generally those don't get deleted.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:50 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

I follow Make magazine on google reader and post stuff from there sometimes. But I am a little unhappy with them since they have twice now lost/misplaced/failed to acknowledge my submission offering to write up details of our trolley track parade float. Neat stuff crops up on their blog, though.
posted by exogenous at 4:50 PM on February 26

We have an eclectic selection of about 100 mostly offbeat or arty blogs in the blogroll at blort that I regularly mine for posts here and for blort. There are certainly some familiars - The Presurfer, Dangerous Minds, Neatorama - but many sites that fall below the radar. There's at least a half dozen mefites in the mix. If you're looking for something fresh or some new sources, have a them. They're listed listed about midway down the right column under the name "smorgasblort." I like supporting smaller blogs over the big aggregators.

Plus, I mine many of you for blort ;-)
posted by madamjujujive at 4:56 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]

Ha - thanks for your kind shout-out, oneswellfoop.
posted by madamjujujive at 4:57 PM on February 26

Yeah, I follow my bliss, but I also just noticed that more than half of the sites linked on this page are colored "Visited".
posted by Toekneesan at 5:13 PM on February 26

I never post, usually because I always think "well I'm sure someone else on metafilter is on the same mailing list, also saw that BBC documentary about the same topic, saw the link and can do a much better post about it than I can".

And I'm right! Keep up the great work!
posted by Admira at 5:16 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]

Facebook
Something Awful forums
AV Club
Kotaku
Rock Paper Shotgun for gaming stuff, Comics Alliance for comics stuff - This.


I feel like there should be some rules or something to keep us from just linking things that the same few sites have already linked.
I used to use the Financial Review's Sunday Review section.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 5:22 PM on February 26

This is a great thread. Thanks for sharing.
posted by odinsdream at 5:45 PM on February 26

So the only FPP I've made so far actually came about because of mippy's post on the Voices of East Anglia blog. I wandered over there, found a cool article on Adam Diment (that's gone now? the web is so ephemeral), and thought 'who is this guy? I want to know more!' and eventually I found other sources as well.

I see a lot of articles from Slate posted here so I know lots of people must be using that as a source. Slate itself seems to be using Yahoo! News as a source (I read both pretty closely for various reasons).
posted by librarylis at 5:47 PM on February 26

I don't get it. Almost all of my posts come from books I've read. The ones that don't come from other MeFi posts I think. Or pub trivia. Or occasionally from mailing lists that I am on.

Yeah, I don't get it either as I do the same. If it's on any (or worse, all) the newsfeeds, I know people who are interested will see it. Stuff I find myself (collected works on YouTube, trivia I read about in a musty tome, etc) I post.
posted by DU at 5:55 PM on February 26

All of my posts come from the set dressing of pornography I peruse.
posted by klangklangston at 6:12 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]

I don't get my posts from aggregators. I find them as I hunt around for information on some of my projects. I frequently have to dump the notes I started as I often can't find enough ''meat'' to make a decent post in the English language or , frequently, any other. Some FPP posts start out as a bunch of links about A and get transformed into B as something catches my fancy that I think others would enjoy.
If it' s a political post it's undoubtedly started off by something I read in the Guardian and sought out more information about because I am an unrepentant and unreformed pinko, liberal, communist hippie.
posted by adamvasco at 6:18 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Typically I'm reading or have heard about something that piques my interest and then I do some research.
posted by arcticseal at 6:28 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

gopher://cathouse.org/pub/humor
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:28 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Charlemagne In Sweatpants: "I feel like there should be some rules or something to keep us from just linking things that the same few sites have already linked."

Mildly disagree? Posts serve the function of "look at this cool thing online" but can also be "let's talk about this cool thing online." You can still have an interesting discussion about something people that people had already seen at BoingBoing or what have you.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:49 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

I feel like there should be some rules or something to keep us from just linking things that the same few sites have already linked.

We'd have to all read all of those sites to know what they've already linked. It's hard enough to not double post stuff that's already been posted *here* never mind worrying about whether BoingBoing or Reddit has covered it.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:52 PM on February 26

oneswellfoop covered my top two: io9 and Presurfer. #3 is NPR, and #4 is MetaChat. Then it's music discussion sites, books, misheard quotes, tangents followed from other discussions, and odd topics overhead in random conversations.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:57 PM on February 26

I feel like there should be some rules or something to keep us from just linking things that the same few sites have already linked.

Doesn't that negate the whole point of MetaFilter, the site where people cherry pick the good stuff from other places and sources and share it here? Front page posts cannot be your original research or personal writings, so it's always from somewhere else, even if the material is in a multi-link post.

There have been some times when a site gets over-represented here, and I wanted to point to Cracked and Grantland, but the only MetaTalk threads I could find were where posts from those sites were generally supported by the mods, so maybe I'm making those examples up.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:04 PM on February 26 [2 favorites]

I don't fpp often. When I do, it's usually because I've had something obscure oddity in the back of my head for a while that I need to exorcise.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:07 PM on February 26

I only post things my right wing dad emails to me when the subject line starts "FWD:FWD:FWD..."

Also every feature article from GQ seems to make it to the front page eventually over each month.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:41 PM on February 26

All of my posts come from the set dressing of pornography I peruse.

So you've posted about the Get Out Frog?
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:43 PM on February 26

I get most of my post ideas from an awesome site called Metafilter. Annoyingly, whenever I post that stuff here, it seems to get deleted.
posted by koeselitz at 8:07 PM on February 26

Reddit, Andrew Sullivan's blog, some private email lists that I'm on, rock paper shotgun..
posted by empath at 8:11 PM on February 26

I often start from a short news item on CBC.ca and build out from there (i.e., the news story sparks my interest and then I do some research to make a better post).
posted by asnider at 8:35 PM on February 26

The Awl, The Browser, The Millions, The New Yorker, 3 Quarks Daily. The usual suspects. My most recent post, though, was just a lot of Googling and memories of what I'd seen on the web, kicked into gear by having seen the movie last weekend.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:36 PM on February 26

Judging by the timing of posts, it seems like broadcast NPR is a starting point for a lot of posters.

Also, the dead wood New York Times.
posted by y2karl at 8:46 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

And really very obviously, the NYTMag every Sunday.
posted by carsonb at 8:56 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Most of my posts come from private list serves or just flailing around on the net. Though it's quite the thrill when I realize that a site I visit often hasn't been linked yet and I get to make that post.
posted by Mitheral at 9:23 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]

Most of my posts come from the music I love. They come from the world of music, and not especially from the internet.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:50 AM on February 27 [3 favorites]

Oh my gosh this is the most dangerous thread, ever.

It'd be like Quicksand through the Procrastinator's Hourglass.

I must step away from the machine now. I'm going to go pretend I never saw ANY of those links.
posted by empatterson at 8:57 AM on February 27

Oh my gosh this is the most dangerous thread, ever.

Not really. The number of people who said that they've already seen the sites I pointed out is a welcome reminder.
Of course, I can't give away ALL my secrets...
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:49 AM on February 27

the man of twists and turns: " Of course, I can't give away ALL my secrets..."

Heh. People are welcome to take all of mine and have fun with them. The more transparency the better. I even add "Via" credit links whenever possible on my posts. Makes for a better MeFi, I think.
posted by zarq at 10:01 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]

Take my secrets! Go read a book!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:15 AM on February 27 [1 favorite]

Just not the one I suggested. I really only ever got one post from it, and that one went over like chunky, sour milk.
posted by carsonb at 11:49 AM on February 27

Most of my posts come from private list serves or just flailing around on the net.

Me too. My last one was an exception. I heard about it on Facebook.
posted by marxchivist at 3:02 PM on February 27

Most of my posts come from private list serves or just flailing around on the net.

Me too. My last one was an exception. I heard about it on Facebook.

Wait a minute. Facebook doesn't count as "flailing around on the net"?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:52 AM on February 28

The secret of my success?

Radio 4.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:51 AM on February 28

I usually become one with the Zeitgeist and feel the palpitations of a billion souls. Then I click "Post".
posted by ersatz at 3:47 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]

Facebook doesn't count as "flailing around on the net"?

Facebook is more like flailing around inside a large kiddie pool with a barbed wire fence perimeter, and no matter how hard you try to make sure that that one kid who pees in the pool isn't allowed in, there's always another one, and the supervising lifeguard is a guy from an FM radio station telling everybody excitedly that he bets they can't think of a movie that doesn't have the letter "s" in the title.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:44 AM on February 28 [4 favorites]

It it Ghostbusters 2?
posted by griphus at 7:45 AM on February 28

I think they meant that things just showed up in their Facebook feed or whatever rather than them going out and looking for stuff.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:01 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]

"and the supervising lifeguard is a guy from an FM radio station telling everybody excitedly that he bets they can't think of a movie that doesn't have the letter "s" in the title."

I want to take that bet. Where is this lifeguard. I will blow his mind.
posted by klangklangston at 8:34 AM on February 28

i'm gonna blow the lifeguard's mind
i got a movie he'd never find
i got an answer that he won't get
i got a word he ain't heard yet
i'm gettin' outta his kiddie pool
he ain't nothin' but a goddamn fool
that lifeguard can swallow a fish hook
or else do some bullshit facebook
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:39 AM on February 28 [3 favorites]

Ghostbusters! No, wait... Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! No, no... Jurassic Park! Wait, no, I can do this... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Ah, crap.
posted by Flunkie at 10:43 AM on February 28

madamjujujive: q, that would make a great mefi post. you should post it!
quonsar: meh
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 10:47 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]

Moon
Argo
Groundhog Day
Agora
The Laughing Policeman
the Deer Hunter
Tiny Furniture
Panic Room
Point Blank
Drive
RED
Klown
Margin Call
Contagion

And that's just from the stack of DVDs on the floor here. Should I go over to the shelf?
posted by carsonb at 12:25 PM on February 28

Oh fuck.


It was Ghostbusters 2, wasn't it?
posted by carsonb at 12:26 PM on February 28

All of my posts come from the set dressing of pornography I peruse.
posted by klangklangston at 9:12 PM on February 26

So tumblr then?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:16 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]

Moons
Argos
Groundhogs Day
Agoras
The Laughing Policemans
the Deers Hunter
Tiny Furnitures
Panic Rooms
Points Blank
Drives
REDs
Klowns
Margins Call
Contagions

This is hard.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:17 PM on February 28

I keep looking for actual hipster pornography on Tumblr, but can only find regular porn reblogged by hipsters. Instagram brooks no NSFW!
posted by klangklangston at 3:21 PM on February 28

Barakas in Caracas
posted by y2karl at 4:14 PM on February 28

Actual paper books and magazines!
"Spotlight" section of my Google News
Nasal grindstonery
posted by obscurator at 8:21 AM on March 1

Instagram brooks no NSFW!

It took me a few moments to realize this wasn't a transliteration of a Japanese video game title.
posted by griphus at 9:08 AM on March 1 [2 favorites]

It took me a few moments to realize this wasn't a transliteration of a Japanese video game title.

You were thinking of the hentai game that was the precursor for that Noam Chomsky harem anime folk were talking about.

-------------------------------------------------

I've seen some good fpps via-ing thisiscolossal.com lately.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:08 PM on March 1

Yeah, Colossal is great. So is My Modern Metropolis.

I think every other site I often find FPP-worthy material on has been mentioned already except Grinding.

I miss Coilhouse and Ectoplasmosis; Ectomo has a tumblr now, but it's not the same.
posted by homunculus at 11:50 AM on March 2

Technoccult is good too.
posted by homunculus at 4:33 PM on March 2