October 2015 Archives (all archives)
October 31
2015 secret quonsar: sign ups are open!
It's secret quonsar time again! Participants will find out who they have drawn on Thursday, November 12, and the gift send by (or on) date is Tuesday, December 1*. Please sign up by 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, November 10. The spending guideline: $10-20. [more inside]
Dance, Dance, Dance.
This Halloween, if you could dress as any past political figure, who would it be? [more inside]
October 30
Schmoopy from my eyeball!
Shout out to askmefi! I didn't even need to ask though. This afternoon at 4:00, my eye started acting strange (like I'd looked at a bright light and the spot wouldn't go away) and I thought, eh, maybe I'll google it or call the doctor on Monday. It's going to storm tomorrow, so New Orleans Trick or Treating has been moved to today so I have to take my little kid trick or treating and finish my teenager's Manos Hand of Fate costume. I didn't really know what to google so I thought maybe I'd ask metafilter. I didn't even pull out my phone - I knew all the answers would be "Are you insane, it's your eyesight you imbecile!" [more inside]
October 27
Stop! Nano time
It is almost November, which, as many Mefites will know, means its time for NanoWrimo! [more inside]
October 26
6 EXPERTS ON HOW SILICON VALLEY CAN SOLVE ONLINE HARASSMENT
Wired has a six-person panel discuss how to solve online harassment. MeFi gets a mention: "There are communities that are doing it just fine. On Metafilter, for example, people have totally elevated, helpful conversations, and there’s no name-calling."
October 24
Hurricane Patricia status thread
So right now it seems like Hurricane Patricia might be one of the worst hurricanes ever.
Is anyone on MeFi in its wake? Is there anything people can do to help?
October 22
We need to have a discussion about racism.
The cultural appropriation thread here went very, very poorly, and I think it highlights a pattern in ways we interact with people of color and talk about issues of race here on Metafilter that create a hostile environment for PoC. I want to bring up some of the tropes we saw in the FPP, and highlight them as specific suggestions as to what I need our community to do and be mindful of going forward, so we don't continue to alienate PoC on this website. [more inside]
October 21
The age of Books is upon us
Brace yourselves, bibliophiles: we're rolling out Books as an additional media category on FanFare! We're starting slow to make sure we've got all the wrinkles ironed out, with a few initial clubs started by your fellow users. Come on inside for details! [more inside]
From MetaFilter With Love
(Glang. Glangalangalangalang.) Nobody does it better. Makes me feel sad for the rest. Nobody does it quite the way you do, baby baby... darlin YOU'RE THE BEST. [more inside]
October 17
Should I eat this or not?
After reading this comment on this post, I have to ask, has there ever been an AskMe "can I eat this?" where the answer is 'yes'? Can we just add a line to the faq along the lines of "if you have to ask strangers on the internet, the answer is probably no" or "when in doubt, toss it out"?
Or are we just that fascinated by the never-ending parade of putrescent garbage that our dear readers desire to cram in their slavering pie-holes?
Discuss.(ting?)
Why does this page display correctly even though the hack has been fixed
I found this page via the wiki, and wondered why it still displays correctly? Amazing to see it being tested and fixed in one page!
I would like an ELI5 as well as a more technical explanation. Although this doesn't technically require community input I do feel it deserves to be seen (again in some people's cases.)
(Noobs - scroll down to see!!) *smiley face emoticon*
October 16
Pony request: IRL Regional Meetup tools
At a recent MeFi regional campout, there was some discussion about the need for the ability to post campouts that can somehow be regional. As in, it would have been helpful for this campout to be announced to IRL-interested folks who live in Portland, Seattle, and areas of eastern WA and OR, people who might not have their IRL radius set very wide because they mostly want to do local meets, but a big annual thing like this might be of interest even if it involves travel. [more inside]
October 14
Planning for secret quonsar: 2015 edition
If it's October, it's time to plan for this year's secret quonsar swap! The secret quonsar swap is - for the uninitiated - our holiday-adjacent wintery gift exchange (Read About it on the Wiki). Let's talk details! [more inside]
It's "The Guardian".
Can we stop referring to "The Guardian" UK newspaper as "The Grauniad" or"slGrauniad"? [more inside]
October 12
JHarris is the Joe DiMaggio of MeFi
Special Meta callout of JHarris: normally a valued MeFi member, what with incisive comments and the MST3K Club and such. But he made a kickass post EVERY SINGLE DAY OF SEPTEMBER. [more inside]
Passing of Danf
At the request of his family, it's my sad duty to let you know that MeFite Danf has died. [more inside]
October 11
"The TARDIS is in the shop, so I thought I'd swing by."
I can't do it in the thread, so I'd like to thank MeFi's Own (Apparent) Time Traveler Jane the Brown for her fascinating examples of bygone behavior in this AskMe.
Deletions record
I saw that five MeFi threads had been deleted in the past day for various reasons. I'm not here to question any of them; my curiosity is rather more vanilla: Does anyone know the record for most thread deletions in a 24-hour period?
October 8
109: Rhymes With Picard, feat. Greg Nog
For this episode, Jessamyn and I are joined by none other than Greg Nog, who chats about cats and puppets and moving from one city with "louis" in the name to another, plus lots of great MetaFilter stuff. We cover September 9th through October 8th, all in a shockingly lean hour and three quarters. [more inside]
October 7
MeFites residing with other MeFites: an airbnb profile option?
Good afternoon. One has a request for the consideration of MetaFilter. Could one's airbnb profile be added as an option on one's MetaFilter profile page? [more inside]
Play our Mario Maker levels!
A few of us (me, naju, Navelgazer, branduno and Elementary Penguin) have been making levels in Super Mario Maker for Wii-U. We've started a blog, mefimariomaker.blogspot.com, to show them off. You don't have to follow or friend us or anything to play 'em, just enter the 16-digit ID codes into Super Mario Maker and play! (This does mean you have to own the game and a Wii-U to play 'em, sadly.) Their difficulty is all over the map. If you have the game and want to post 'em too, just send me a MeMail with your email address and I'll invite you! There is no other requirement, besides being a MeFi member, for posting your levels. It's a Blogger blog, so you'll probably end up needing a Google account.
October 6
Questionable FPP deletion.
When a major non-partisan US political news source that is run by the former National Politics Editor of the Washington Post, has sponsored multiple presidential debates for both parties, and has broken numerous stories claims to have multiple sources supporting a major American political story, which is then replied to by the Vice President's staff, who doesn't deny the story -- an inherently newsworthy event -- why does this appear "not fully baked enough"? Keep in mind that stories such as Piggate, Watergate, the Lewinsky Affair, and this post from today, and, well... many MeFi posts in general, are based on a single person's opinion or slanted recollection, and not multiple confirmed sources from a reputable news organization, as is the gold standard in journalism. What are the community's thoughts on the standards that should be used by MetaFilter in order for a story to be considered shareable? Are other journalists expected to do the hard work of finding anonymous sources to confirm or deny the story first, before it can be shared with the rest of us?
Bad fpp Deletion
This post was deleted for the following reason: This needs to be framed much less editorially to work here, sorry. -- restless_nomad
Bad call in my opinion. What do you guys think?
October 5
Very old post about finding stars and constellations?
Ok, this is a long shot, but many years ago, I think there was a post linking to a kind of constellation primer (Northern hemisphere) where you started by finding the Big Dipper and used that to find Polaris, which allowed you to find other constellations, etc. Any old timers recall this one?
Has "news.metafilter.com" ever been considered?
Has MetaFilter ever considered or discussed the idea of having a News subsite? A MetaNews sub for posting things that might otherwise be considered Newsfilter, and therefore Detestable Front Page Clutter? [more inside]
Pitbull Threads
So I was under the impression that derailing a thread about pitbull pictures to talk about how awful pitbulls are was off-limits? [more inside]
October 2
carolina mefites: stay safe this weekend
As #notjoaquin floods the Carolinas, in amounts the news is calling "historic," "thousand-year," and "life-threatening," we're watching the weather maps all night. Looks like half of each state is covered in rain already, and it keeps on moving further in. SC+NC mefites, are you okay? Staying safe? How bad is it where you are? [more inside]
Whatever happened to... Habit Judo?
A while back on MeFi (2011) apparently user Leotrotsky described an intriguing habit-building system he deemed Habit Judo, which as I understood it was essentially a gamification system for developing habits. I was so intrigued at the time, but I guess I never *surprise surprise* developed the habit of looking further into it. It appears that a spreadsheet of some sort was developed (and mentioned in the Guardian), and even spun off Android and iOS apps, both of which appear to be down. So I've a few questions... [more inside]
MetaFilter: Multilingual Edition?
This post (and the previouslies mentioned in-thread by veggieboy) made me wonder whether posts and comments in languages other than English could/would be a welcome part of MetaFilter. [more inside]
First Post September Successes and Needs Works
How did "First Post September" go for people?
I know how it went *for me* (and am happy to share below), but I am interested in hearing how it went for other (potential or actual) first posters. [more inside]
October 1
Baby steps self care post
This post on the Blue is pretty cool, but I'm frustrated as my amygdala (I call her Queen) isn't liking the restrictiveness of having to go through steps in the order set by someone else. Also, she's messing up my prefrontal cortex something shocking, the bitch. So does anyone have the steps in a static format, even if it's text based? On another day, I'd be able to work out how to do it, but right now, not so much. Thanks so much.
Best way to ask MeFi for help with a project?
I'm not sure what if any is the best way to put out a general call for help with a project on MeFi. (Not to announce a completed project like in the Projects subsite, but to ask for help with one.) Has there ever been any thought/discussion given to the idea of creating a new subsite where MeFites can request help with things like art or writing projects from other MeFites? It could even be broader than that--call it "Hope Me, MeFi!" or something--and just make it a place where community members can seek out other members for help with whatever they might be doing.
Looking for a post about an awesome judge
I am looking for a post I saw a while ago- maybe last summer? Maybe before? In the last five years, probably the last two years. It was about an American judge, an older white man, who was fairly conservative, absolutely demolishing the arguments of a lawyer against.. gay marriage? Some form of gay rights? This judge is known for doing this sort of thing. I think he's a fairly high placed judge somewhere in the middle of America.
Thanks!