Comments on: Putting the "Meta" in "MetaFilter"

Putting the "Meta" in "MetaFilter"

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:10:11 -0800

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.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:19:36 -0800

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.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:31:26 -0800

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

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:39:02 -0800

I missed:
The Feature

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:39:40 -0800

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.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:44:21 -0800

Reading books is another great resource.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:49:42 -0800

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.

By: Chrysostom

Chrysostom — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:52:49 -0800

I read most of those. Kottke seems to be a regular post-generator, or he's reading the same sites.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:53:34 -0800

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.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:55:02 -0800

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.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:56:25 -0800

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

/low hanging fruit

By: Foci for Analysis

Foci for Analysis — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:04:21 -0800

Hacker News and bathroom stalls. But mostly Hacker News.

By: smoke

smoke — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:05:04 -0800

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.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:10:27 -0800

Lazenby.
Emily Short.
Adam Cadre.
Jessica Amanda Salmonson.

By: zarq

zarq — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:11:29 -0800

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.

By: IvoShandor

IvoShandor — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:13:12 -0800

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.

By: IvoShandor

IvoShandor — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:14:13 -0800

oh and PBS. I like to watch shit on PBS and then post about the next day or that night.

By: mediated self

mediated self — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:17:53 -0800

Reading books is another great resource.

I honor that comment with this eye roll masterpiece.

By: vidur

vidur — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:18:36 -0800

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.

By: 2bucksplus

2bucksplus — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:19:03 -0800

I like all the new Atlantic posts once a month.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:20:18 -0800

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.

By: no regrets, coyote

no regrets, coyote — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:21:04 -0800

I mostly just copy stuff from Plastic.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:21:41 -0800

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.

By: griphus

griphus — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:26:19 -0800

I'm basically an unpaid shill for Rock Paper Shotgun.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:28:03 -0800

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

Oh, and Projects.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:41:58 -0800

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.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:52:53 -0800

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.

By: Doleful Creature

Doleful Creature — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:12:05 -0800

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.

By: Doleful Creature

Doleful Creature — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:24:10 -0800

Speaking of which, I think I'm about to post something...quickly Mortimer! To the research hovel!

By: unliteral

unliteral — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:28:00 -0800

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

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:42:36 -0800

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.

By: Mrs. Pterodactyl

Mrs. Pterodactyl — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:03:17 -0800

My source is posts zarq has already made so all my posts get deleted as doubles.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:47:20 -0800

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.

By: Toekneesan

Toekneesan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:50:33 -0800

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.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:50:44 -0800

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.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:56:16 -0800

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 ;-)

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:57:23 -0800

Ha - thanks for your kind shout-out, oneswellfoop.

By: Toekneesan

Toekneesan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:13:58 -0800

Yeah, I follow my bliss, but I also just noticed that more than half of the sites linked on this page are colored "Visited".

By: Admira

Admira — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:16:47 -0800

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!

By: Charlemagne In Sweatpants

Charlemagne In Sweatpants — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:22:30 -0800

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.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:45:41 -0800

This is a great thread. Thanks for sharing.

By: librarylis

librarylis — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:47:10 -0800

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).

By: DU

DU — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:55:55 -0800

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.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:12:42 -0800

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

By: adamvasco

adamvasco — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:18:53 -0800

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.

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:28:28 -0800

Typically I'm reading or have heard about something that piques my interest and then I do some research.

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:28:48 -0800

gopher://cathouse.org/pub/humor

By: Chrysostom

Chrysostom — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:49:29 -0800

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.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:52:04 -0800

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.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:57:58 -0800

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.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:04:47 -0800

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.

By: justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow

justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:07:00 -0800

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.

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:41:12 -0800

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.

By: Charlemagne In Sweatpants

Charlemagne In Sweatpants — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:43:19 -0800

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

So you've posted about the Get Out Frog?

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:07:18 -0800

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.

By: empath

empath — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:11:09 -0800

Reddit, Andrew Sullivan's blog, some private email lists that I'm on, rock paper shotgun..

By: asnider

asnider — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:35:34 -0800

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).

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:36:11 -0800

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.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:46:27 -0800

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.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:56:13 -0800

And really very obviously, the NYTMag every Sunday.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 21:23:40 -0800

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.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 07:50:21 -0800

Most of my posts come from the music I love. They come from the world of music, and not especially from the internet.

By: empatterson

empatterson — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:57:38 -0800

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.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:49:10 -0800

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...

By: zarq

zarq — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:01:22 -0800

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.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:15:26 -0800

Take my secrets! Go read a book!

By: carsonb

carsonb — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:49:52 -0800

Just not the one I suggested. I really only ever got one post from it, and that one went over like chunky, sour milk.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:02:43 -0800

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.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:52:39 -0800

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"?

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 02:51:15 -0800

The secret of my success?

Radio 4.

By: ersatz

ersatz — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:47:50 -0800

I usually become one with the Zeitgeist and feel the palpitations of a billion souls. Then I click "Post".

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:44:15 -0800

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.

By: griphus

griphus — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:45:11 -0800

It it Ghostbusters 2?

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:01:52 -0800

I think they meant that things just showed up in their Facebook feed or whatever rather than them going out and looking for stuff.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:34:59 -0800

"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.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:39:38 -0800

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

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:43:28 -0800

Ghostbusters! No, wait... Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! No, no... Jurassic Park! Wait, no, I can do this... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Ah, crap.

By: quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon

quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:47:01 -0800

madamjujujive: q, that would make a great mefi post. you should post it!
quonsar: meh

By: carsonb

carsonb — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:25:21 -0800

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?

By: carsonb

carsonb — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:26:55 -0800

Oh fuck.

It was Ghostbusters 2, wasn't it?

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:16:36 -0800

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?

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:17:46 -0800

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.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:21:50 -0800

I keep looking for actual hipster pornography on Tumblr, but can only find regular porn reblogged by hipsters. Instagram brooks no NSFW!

By: y2karl

y2karl — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:14:24 -0800

Barakas in Caracas

By: obscurator

obscurator — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:21:56 -0800

Actual paper books and magazines!
"Spotlight" section of my Google News
Nasal grindstonery

By: griphus

griphus — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:08:44 -0800

Instagram brooks no NSFW!

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

By: sebastienbailard

sebastienbailard — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 23:08:26 -0800

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.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 11:50:58 -0800

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.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 16:33:52 -0800

Technoccult is good too.