Happy to be back... April 18, 2018 10:34 AM Subscribe
A little bug came across me, out of nowhere, and reminded me: MetaFilter! It's been a handful of years since I've posted, and over a decade since I joined - with the Facebook et. al controversies of the world, I am thrilled to be back on the first "social network" community I joined aside from the myriad forums of the late '90's and early naughties.
I am beyond thrilled to see that the same substance that drew me here to begin with is alive and well (HTML tags, yes!). Any other folks return after an extended hiatus? I have some profile work to do here but, feedback wise - is the magic still here? It still seems like it but we are fantastic at tricking ourselves into what we want to believe.
You can't use the img tag anymore. :(
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:22 AM on April 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:22 AM on April 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
The biggest change is that we don't wear pants now.
posted by frecklefaerie at 11:53 AM on April 18, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by frecklefaerie at 11:53 AM on April 18, 2018 [10 favorites]
Favorites are now a cryptocurrency
posted by griphus at 12:00 PM on April 18, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by griphus at 12:00 PM on April 18, 2018 [29 favorites]
We no longer have cameras.
posted by bondcliff at 12:03 PM on April 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 12:03 PM on April 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
No pants AND no cameras? Gee whizz, I'm home at last! (A little Steely Dan reference there for old times sake).
Thanks all for your comments :)
posted by deacon_blues at 12:07 PM on April 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
Thanks all for your comments :)
posted by deacon_blues at 12:07 PM on April 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
Welcome back. Huzzah!
We still scan cats, but how they're scanned is up for debate.
posted by Fizz at 1:31 PM on April 18, 2018
We still scan cats, but how they're scanned is up for debate.
posted by Fizz at 1:31 PM on April 18, 2018
We voted #1 quidnunc kid.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 1:32 PM on April 18, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 1:32 PM on April 18, 2018 [32 favorites]
We finally came to a consensus about circumcision and cat declawing.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:10 PM on April 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:10 PM on April 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
The biggest change is that we don't wear pants now.
Wait. What? Was there a meeting I missed? No memo?
BTW, welcome back!
posted by Splunge at 3:18 PM on April 18, 2018
Wait. What? Was there a meeting I missed? No memo?
BTW, welcome back!
posted by Splunge at 3:18 PM on April 18, 2018
You are likely married to everyone else in The Great Enspousenation
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 3:39 PM on April 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 3:39 PM on April 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
There is no cabal.
posted by blurker at 4:06 PM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by blurker at 4:06 PM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
We banned political topics.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by elsietheeel at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
We didn't ban politics, unlike the rest of the country we put it in its place.
I left for a while too and then came back. Now I'm being more authentic but I'm doing it under a pseudonym. I think it's because I feel less vulnerable. On the other hand, I share your despair over the failings of social media and I'm back here after leaving most of it for the same reasons you did, but I'd temper your expectations about what returning means. The inherent problem with social media is it forces you to fit into a single, very public, identity. Truth is, we're a different person to everyone we meet and we know that and in IRL thus we adjust to be the personas we're expected to be, even when part of a group. Here there are also expectations, but they're more unified, typically fitting under the rubric of Don't be an asshole. That can be as seductive as the personas we wear on other platforms, but here, we're better at bringing that out in people. Probably because our legacy has proven we're better at words.
But we still don't say everything we're thinking. Social harmony here is dependent on the community in a much more direct way, thanks to the great work of active and engaged moderators. MeFi is a great home, but you need to be ready to live in a home, and not in a public square. The best parts of people live here, and we protect each other in a way we don't on other platforms.
All that is to say, welcome home, but take your shoes off at the door. We know it's a weird rule, but it works for us.
posted by Stanczyk at 6:05 PM on April 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
I left for a while too and then came back. Now I'm being more authentic but I'm doing it under a pseudonym. I think it's because I feel less vulnerable. On the other hand, I share your despair over the failings of social media and I'm back here after leaving most of it for the same reasons you did, but I'd temper your expectations about what returning means. The inherent problem with social media is it forces you to fit into a single, very public, identity. Truth is, we're a different person to everyone we meet and we know that and in IRL thus we adjust to be the personas we're expected to be, even when part of a group. Here there are also expectations, but they're more unified, typically fitting under the rubric of Don't be an asshole. That can be as seductive as the personas we wear on other platforms, but here, we're better at bringing that out in people. Probably because our legacy has proven we're better at words.
But we still don't say everything we're thinking. Social harmony here is dependent on the community in a much more direct way, thanks to the great work of active and engaged moderators. MeFi is a great home, but you need to be ready to live in a home, and not in a public square. The best parts of people live here, and we protect each other in a way we don't on other platforms.
All that is to say, welcome home, but take your shoes off at the door. We know it's a weird rule, but it works for us.
posted by Stanczyk at 6:05 PM on April 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
We still love a good complicated plate of beans.
posted by vrakatar at 7:06 PM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by vrakatar at 7:06 PM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
is the magic still here?
I can pull a rabbit out of my ass.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:09 PM on April 18, 2018
I can pull a rabbit out of my ass.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:09 PM on April 18, 2018
which is why we had to initiate the no-pants rule.
posted by taz (staff) at 9:52 PM on April 18, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 9:52 PM on April 18, 2018 [18 favorites]
Let the rabbits hit the floor.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:08 PM on April 18, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:08 PM on April 18, 2018 [8 favorites]
cortex is now the big cheese instead of mathowie --
Yes, the 360 story Velveetateen Rabbit Tower, now under construction in Dubai.
posted by y2karl at 12:13 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yes, the 360 story Velveetateen Rabbit Tower, now under construction in Dubai.
posted by y2karl at 12:13 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeah! My last comment was in 2010, and I came back in December 2017. (I would look things up here from time to time of course, but I wasn't reading daily as I did pre-2010.) (And I joined in 2005! Jeez that was a very different time in my life. To wit: In 2007, I asked a question about where to go dancing, and in 2018, I asked a question about where to live with a kid.)
I'm happy to be back, too.
posted by CiaoMela at 7:25 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm happy to be back, too.
posted by CiaoMela at 7:25 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
You can ask two AskMes a week now!
And we have a FanFare subsite to comment about TV, movies, and books.
posted by mochapickle at 8:13 AM on April 19, 2018
And we have a FanFare subsite to comment about TV, movies, and books.
posted by mochapickle at 8:13 AM on April 19, 2018
frecklefaerie: "The biggest change is that we don't wear pants now."
No one told me this. Where the %$#@! am I going to store my fish now???
posted by caution live frogs at 8:45 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
No one told me this. Where the %$#@! am I going to store my fish now???
posted by caution live frogs at 8:45 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
The biggest change is that we don't wear pants now.
Wait, wait, wait...
when were we wearing pants?
posted by nubs at 10:59 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wait, wait, wait...
when were we wearing pants?
posted by nubs at 10:59 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
You don't have to be wearing pants to store fish in them. I mean, it helps, but it's not prescribed.
We voted #1 quidnunc kid.
Narrator: Some did. Some didn't. Some say that's where all the trouble began...
A few years back Jessamyn taught us not to taunt librarians by posting an image of a chicken. It caused a small (and hilarious) riot, but we're mostly better now.
Some people disable their accounts off and on to take breaks and then come back, not to cut off their nose or spite anything at all.
MeFi came close to running out of operating funds a couple of times, so you can now directly support MeFi with donations. There was a clamor about it in the sense that the mods were like "No, donations and subscriptions are weird" but the users talked some sense into them and quite a few people now "subscribe" to Metafilter with one time or monthly donations. It seems to be working out.
posted by loquacious at 11:19 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
We voted #1 quidnunc kid.
Narrator: Some did. Some didn't. Some say that's where all the trouble began...
A few years back Jessamyn taught us not to taunt librarians by posting an image of a chicken. It caused a small (and hilarious) riot, but we're mostly better now.
Some people disable their accounts off and on to take breaks and then come back, not to cut off their nose or spite anything at all.
MeFi came close to running out of operating funds a couple of times, so you can now directly support MeFi with donations. There was a clamor about it in the sense that the mods were like "No, donations and subscriptions are weird" but the users talked some sense into them and quite a few people now "subscribe" to Metafilter with one time or monthly donations. It seems to be working out.
posted by loquacious at 11:19 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
There's a spot in profiles for pronouns.
posted by AFABulous at 2:26 PM on April 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by AFABulous at 2:26 PM on April 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
You can hide US politics on the blue (there's a checkbox on the sidebar/bottom of the computer/phone). We make an effort to not comment about them on unrelated posts, metatalks, etc. If you do participate in them, you need to rein in negativity, so as to not break our mods. (There're metatalks about all of this, if you want more details.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 2:43 PM on April 19, 2018
posted by Margalo Epps at 2:43 PM on April 19, 2018
With apologies to Chrysostom
John Scalzi’s Old Man, Fools Day!, Wuhan, China, Soviet X-Ray,
Downtime (Pacific), Barry Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Paul McCartney, Cynthia Nixon, Singaporean baker, television,
North Korea , South Korea, James Monroe
Delwarian iceberg, bathroom bomb, Billy Ray, paper jam
Brando, Educate Your Eye, and Cheap AND Good Rye
Required shower, vaccine, Star Trek pixie queen,
Marciano, Riverdale Archie, Santayana quote by?
***
Weatherman for Stalin, history of, casher and Prokofiev,
Kindly feller, La Campanella, mental block
David Cohn, Madonnas' Peron, Toscanini, Montfort Dacron,
Women do some falls, Trump tried to block
Rivka Stein, Sam and Dean, Security Engineering team,
Paintings of Crockett, a troublesome pan, Elvis Presley, Gold Disneyland
Bardot, Grand Budapest, Alabama, An actual chef,
Funeral grace, not from one place, pigs - "walking sewers"
***
Cop Rock, a bedtime snack, Prudie mantle, Kerouac,
Cat lick, Australian meat pie, 1.5 million Adélie
Lebanon, ancient Gaul, MeFi Fantasy Baseball,
A new tub - I can't decide, Earthquake causes school slide
Snowberries as holly, Who killed her?, snow monkey, raffia,
Stuffed with hoops, Castro, The problem with C.P. Snow
Thru You Too, Jennie Rhee, payola, Kasdan and Kennedy,
Spell checker, American Psycho, A female taxi driver in the Congo
***
Anyway, Ice cream man, backward time in a strange land,
Dylan, Berlin, popping up on the board without pearling
Arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Urination and mania,
Don't call me Mary, I'm Miss, Campbell (Glen), Systematized magic from Sanderson
Logan Paul, My ex, older folk having sex,
KFC twitter account blown away
***
Mission control, Vina Jie-Min, Do I ask her out again?,
Moon shot, Woodstock, swingin’ on a gate, American roots rock
Fights begin, Reagan, fork tine, Pooping on an airline,
Saffron from Iran, U.S. Drone Strike in Afghanistan
Missing fortune, dog ride, contemplating suicide,
Faked death, two separate vets, aids, crack, Dave Goetz
Found on the shore, Kudaibergen and martial law,
Indo-European Wars, I can't take it anymore
posted by unliteral at 4:46 PM on April 19, 2018 [29 favorites]
John Scalzi’s Old Man, Fools Day!, Wuhan, China, Soviet X-Ray,
Downtime (Pacific), Barry Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Paul McCartney, Cynthia Nixon, Singaporean baker, television,
North Korea , South Korea, James Monroe
Delwarian iceberg, bathroom bomb, Billy Ray, paper jam
Brando, Educate Your Eye, and Cheap AND Good Rye
Required shower, vaccine, Star Trek pixie queen,
Marciano, Riverdale Archie, Santayana quote by?
***
Weatherman for Stalin, history of, casher and Prokofiev,
Kindly feller, La Campanella, mental block
David Cohn, Madonnas' Peron, Toscanini, Montfort Dacron,
Women do some falls, Trump tried to block
Rivka Stein, Sam and Dean, Security Engineering team,
Paintings of Crockett, a troublesome pan, Elvis Presley, Gold Disneyland
Bardot, Grand Budapest, Alabama, An actual chef,
Funeral grace, not from one place, pigs - "walking sewers"
***
Cop Rock, a bedtime snack, Prudie mantle, Kerouac,
Cat lick, Australian meat pie, 1.5 million Adélie
Lebanon, ancient Gaul, MeFi Fantasy Baseball,
A new tub - I can't decide, Earthquake causes school slide
Snowberries as holly, Who killed her?, snow monkey, raffia,
Stuffed with hoops, Castro, The problem with C.P. Snow
Thru You Too, Jennie Rhee, payola, Kasdan and Kennedy,
Spell checker, American Psycho, A female taxi driver in the Congo
***
Anyway, Ice cream man, backward time in a strange land,
Dylan, Berlin, popping up on the board without pearling
Arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Urination and mania,
Don't call me Mary, I'm Miss, Campbell (Glen), Systematized magic from Sanderson
Logan Paul, My ex, older folk having sex,
KFC twitter account blown away
***
Mission control, Vina Jie-Min, Do I ask her out again?,
Moon shot, Woodstock, swingin’ on a gate, American roots rock
Fights begin, Reagan, fork tine, Pooping on an airline,
Saffron from Iran, U.S. Drone Strike in Afghanistan
Missing fortune, dog ride, contemplating suicide,
Faked death, two separate vets, aids, crack, Dave Goetz
Found on the shore, Kudaibergen and martial law,
Indo-European Wars, I can't take it anymore
posted by unliteral at 4:46 PM on April 19, 2018 [29 favorites]
Here in the future MeFi has a detachable saucer section, a Klingon chief of security, and a bar called Ten Forward.
posted by XMLicious at 7:15 PM on April 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 7:15 PM on April 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
Where is the magic? I'll tell you where you can find the magic...
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:39 PM on April 19, 2018
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:39 PM on April 19, 2018
Here's a serious answer:
MetaFilter has (in my opinion at least) become much better-- not perfect, but better-- at handling issues of gender, sexuality and gender identity, race/ethnicity, body image/shape and a host of other issues. MeFites in general are now much more considered in the ways they talk about these things, and I find it makes for better discourse.
This was due in part to greater care in moderation. There were the predictable few flameouts by those who felt that their language was being excessively policed. In my view, it's been worth it.
With all my heart, I'd recommend reading the great Emotional Labour thread of 2015, which opened hearts, cleansed souls and changed lives. Emotional labour has become part of our vocabulary, and we're all the better for it.
This huge Black Lives Matter thread is also a good read.
I also think you might like the thread on the "Why didn't gay rights cure gay loneliness?" article. It's short-ish, just over 100 comments, but there are some beautiful insights and personal stories.
The US politics threads are equal parts therapeutic and maddening, but always informative. Here is your guide to participating in them, wrought by the mod team after many sleepless nights and much server strain.
But some things don't change. Some things abide. Some things are eternal. For example: we still wonder, alone, in the dead of night, when the shops are closed and there's nothing else in the fridge, whether we should eat this.
posted by Pallas Athena at 7:34 PM on April 20, 2018 [6 favorites]
MetaFilter has (in my opinion at least) become much better-- not perfect, but better-- at handling issues of gender, sexuality and gender identity, race/ethnicity, body image/shape and a host of other issues. MeFites in general are now much more considered in the ways they talk about these things, and I find it makes for better discourse.
This was due in part to greater care in moderation. There were the predictable few flameouts by those who felt that their language was being excessively policed. In my view, it's been worth it.
With all my heart, I'd recommend reading the great Emotional Labour thread of 2015, which opened hearts, cleansed souls and changed lives. Emotional labour has become part of our vocabulary, and we're all the better for it.
This huge Black Lives Matter thread is also a good read.
I also think you might like the thread on the "Why didn't gay rights cure gay loneliness?" article. It's short-ish, just over 100 comments, but there are some beautiful insights and personal stories.
The US politics threads are equal parts therapeutic and maddening, but always informative. Here is your guide to participating in them, wrought by the mod team after many sleepless nights and much server strain.
But some things don't change. Some things abide. Some things are eternal. For example: we still wonder, alone, in the dead of night, when the shops are closed and there's nothing else in the fridge, whether we should eat this.
posted by Pallas Athena at 7:34 PM on April 20, 2018 [6 favorites]
> You can't use the img tag anymore. :(
Noone who joined after 16:32 UTC on October 22, 2006 has ever been able to post images (with the exception of one thread for a few hours). This is everybody with a member number higher than (approximately) 44367, including user deacon_blues.
posted by ardgedee at 4:00 AM on April 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Noone who joined after 16:32 UTC on October 22, 2006 has ever been able to post images (with the exception of one thread for a few hours). This is everybody with a member number higher than (approximately) 44367, including user deacon_blues.
posted by ardgedee at 4:00 AM on April 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
unilateral, you madman
(1) I'll take that as a compliment
[2] Can you add a comma after 'ancient Gaul' - it's doing my head in
(3) You get a second entry on the list
posted by unliteral at 6:24 AM on April 21, 2018
(1) I'll take that as a compliment
[2] Can you add a comma after 'ancient Gaul' - it's doing my head in
(3) You get a second entry on the list
posted by unliteral at 6:24 AM on April 21, 2018
Any other folks return after an extended hiatus?
I big-red-buttoned myself back in 2014 because I felt like I was spending too much time being righteously indignant about politics¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by ook at 4:23 PM on April 23, 2018
I big-red-buttoned myself back in 2014 because I felt like I was spending too much time being righteously indignant about politics¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by ook at 4:23 PM on April 23, 2018
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:38 AM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]