MetaTalk | Community Weblog

Am I the only one who has been experiencing a good deal of downtime, timeouts, and generally slow surfing lately on MetaFilter?

I remember reading awhile back that signups were turned off the last time because of server strain. Is that the issue here or are we (is Matt) dealing with something else?
posted by The God Complex to uptime at 1:14 PM PST - 32 comments

News posts: done right and not so right [more inside]
posted by mathowie to etiquette/policy at 11:51 AM PST - 17 comments

Remember single-link posts?

A glance at the front page soon reveals they are now the exception rather than the rule. This is perhaps due to MeTa influence. You know: "Add a link or two for context/to show you care/as proof you can google". And yet great single-link posts, like this one, are probably the most appealing and difficult to get right. Not least because I suspect most users will only click on what they assume is the main link. Have multi-link posts become the norm or are they just a passing trend?
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-related at 11:09 PM PST - 24 comments

I am more than fed up of this sort of nonsense being posted to MeFi. Can we give some sort of community time-out or other shot over the bows here? [See also here.]

Kablam: were you not content with comments like this last time?
"...I'd think a site should at least have to have a shred of legitimacy to rate a front-page link here...
I find it doubtful that there is anything on this website that is not a lie...You know, being linked to by MeFi is going to make this nazi's guy's day...It's not out of line to expect some sort of warning, if the post has a link of questionable nature...Crap link=Crap Post...we don't want to give these assholes hits..."Various posters
posted by dash_slot- to etiquette/policy at 7:41 PM PST - 18 comments

Metafilter: Remixed -- a collaborative filter for MeFi. Several people have suggested in the past some sort of "[this is good]" button people could use to vote for excellent posts; I know Matt's busy, so I went ahead and made one. Let me know if you find any problems with it.
posted by webmutant to MetaFilter-related at 9:57 PM PST - 132 comments

New member; first post; searched and searched; usual story. Then this comment, by furiousthought, pointing to the fact that my link had already been posted in a thread (albeit, in my defense, long before I joined and cryptically referenced). So I wonder whether the automatic URL search facility which exists when you preview a front page post could possibly be extended to include URLS mentioned in comments? At the very least, we could thank the first users to link to it. Nobody has the time to read all the threads or click on all the links in comments and searches, whether MetaFilter or Google, often fail to point to cryptically described links.

Forgive me if this is impossible to achieve, stupid or has been asked before, of course!
posted by Carlos Quevedo to feature requests at 12:10 PM PST - 15 comments

Figured this would be better in the gray than on the blue, party because it's about MeFi itself and partly because it might be construed as self-refrencing: MetaFilter was recently mentioned in a Wired News article about this thread on referral log spam. I was quoted; because she used names and not handles I was wondering if anyone else was, or if she contacted anyone else about this and they didn't respond. Furthermore, do MeFites get contacted by reporters a lot/ at all? Is there a standard protocol for these reporters' questions? (which, looking back, I'm now hoping I didn't violate)
posted by XQUZYPHYR to MetaFilter-related at 7:58 PM PST - 19 comments

I was looking through an old thread, and found these three alternate mefi designs. Anyone know of any other not quite ready for prime time ideas that are still floating around?
posted by betaray to bugs at 4:18 PM PST - 25 comments

Hi....I posted a URL the other day that was similar to metafilter, and so I thought MeFi was hacked for a minute there. When I realized the typo, I was relieved! I wondered if other people had found similar sites. But the post isn't there. I'm just wondering if that was a server glitch or just a lame post that was pulled. No worries, just curious for my own edification.
posted by Modem Ovary to etiquette/policy at 1:40 PM PST - 26 comments

After reading this article, which was linked at Plastic, I was tempted to post it here, at MeFi, but then I decided not to. Isn't Plastic a popular site among MeFi readers, and wouldn't posting this link be redundant? Is there a general rule about posting from popular sites, or does it always come down to a hunch?
posted by Beholder to etiquette/policy at 12:32 PM PST - 27 comments

We've got a new stylesheet, and one on the way for MeTa. So, are there any plans to apply user preferences to MetaTalk?
posted by Yelling At Nothing to feature requests at 8:25 PM PST - 9 comments

How about linking to one of the dozen-odd currently active sniper threads from the sideblog and designating it "Sniper News Central"?
posted by timeistight to feature requests at 11:24 AM PST - 64 comments

Marketing, demographics, psychographics, no matter what key-word I try I can't seem to find the post I'm searching for. It was a link to two different sites that provided free demo- and psychographics for your zip code. I seem to remember seeing it on MeFi about a year ago, sometime between November and this Febuary. Anyone remember this, or am I imagining things?
posted by Grod to MetaFilter-related at 7:54 PM PST - 4 comments

Are there archives for the sideblog? I am looking for a sideblog post that Matt put up a few months ago about a site that had a collection of old "morality" films shown in high school. Does anyone know where I might be able to find this post/link?
posted by jacknose to feature requests at 5:51 PM PST - 6 comments

This comment, made by red cell, is way over the line.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood to etiquette/policy at 2:57 AM PST - 122 comments

I'm not getting at the actual poster's with this (I love both of the stories). But wouldn't a Wheadonesque 'more inside' style posting ability be really useful in cases like this and this?
posted by feelinglistless to feature requests at 3:24 PM PST - 23 comments

Metafilter is too good at breaking news not to be used for that purpose. If there really is a consensus here that the number of news links is a bad thing, one solution would be to hold all new posts for a few hours after submission so people are forced to look elsewhere when big stories break.
posted by rcade to etiquette/policy at 7:50 AM PST - 108 comments

"I've got Lupus." You're a werewolf!? No wonder you don't go outside. I'm no model MeFite, but this struck me as particularly offensive, inappropriate, and sophmoric, especially in the context of the thread. Sharing too much personal information is discouraged, but I don't think anybody deserves this amount of disrespect.
posted by eddydamascene to etiquette/policy at 5:48 PM PST - 51 comments

There has been discussion about this before, but I'm wondering if at this point I am the only one having this problem: Mozilla 1.1 in XP crashes about every other time I try to use the spell checker in MeFi (MeTa seems to behave better).
posted by epimorph to bugs at 5:18 PM PST - 5 comments

I'm just curious. What does one see when they've been banned from MeFi? After a smoting, do they just get the 404, or is there some neener-neener message? (I would have emailed number 1 with this query, but I'll bet dollors-to-donuts I'm not the only one who wants to know.)
posted by Wulfgar! to MetaFilter-related at 8:13 PM PST - 40 comments

what's the deal with kileregreen spamming threads with a porn site?
posted by modge to etiquette/policy at 4:17 PM PST - 13 comments

As soon as any news links appear i'll post them here.

Wouldn't want to let the lack of an actual link interfere with being the first to post, would we?
posted by timeistight to etiquette/policy at 8:31 AM PST - 82 comments

Brilliant post that is thoughtful and worthy of discussion, but is it appropriate for Metafilter? The link rules in Metafilter, and the links are just regurgitations. It reeks of discussion board. Granted, others have gotten away with unworthy links just to talk about their soapbox issue in the past. Should this be an exception?

posted by Stan Chin to etiquette/policy at 10:56 PM PST - 21 comments

Plain text theme for MetaFilter:

Now available on the customize page.
posted by mathowie to feature requests at 5:19 PM PST - 39 comments

Are the textads and sidebar breaching into the rest of the front page for anyone else? IE5.2.2 on OSX here.
posted by machaus to bugs at 4:58 PM PST - 6 comments

Is it just me, or does this FPP contain so many links on such a variety of issues as to be 'undiscussable'. Thats likely not even a word, but you get my drift.
posted by schlyer to etiquette/policy at 2:58 PM PST - 12 comments

AnnoyanceFilter! [Much more inside...]
posted by Danelope to MetaFilter-related at 1:15 PM PST - 41 comments

Metafilter had some questions for me this month.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders to MetaFilter-related at 10:47 AM PST - 52 comments

Threads should be bias and threads should be made to provoke thought. However when does a thread cross the line of appropriate and thought provoking into the realm of insults and claptrap? What about this one or this one (self-post)? Should the inmates do the policing? If so, how can it policed? If a weblog is a form "journalism" should there be some sort of code of ethics? Or guidelines for objectivity?
posted by Bag Man to etiquette/policy at 12:01 PM PST - 19 comments

Please, if your front page post links to anywhere remotely not worksafe, could you make sure this is properly flagged?
posted by salmacis to etiquette/policy at 7:40 AM PST - 41 comments

im not happy with the fpp treating the homeless as though they were vermin. out of order.
(dont know how to link to it)
posted by sgt.serenity to etiquette/policy at 4:41 PM PST - 25 comments

I'm new to this so I was wondering if someone could help me with posting a link in a thread. When the prompt comes up for the url, I copy and paste it. But when I preview it, it doesn't come out as a link but the whole thing with the brackets and all. (I don't know what you call that) I figured it would come out ok as the link when it was posted, but it didn't. Could someone please tell me with what I'm doing wrong?

posted by tami3_3 to bugs at 7:35 AM PST - 75 comments

Not that I want to question Matt... and not that I want to seem like the cranky old fundamentalist complaining (and it be far from the truth), but there is a TextAd for a porn site, and I am just wondering about the appropriateness of that.
posted by benjh to etiquette/policy at 4:12 PM PST - 48 comments

i don't get it. my link to this site and my commentary about tasteless domain squatting was removed. not that i'm complaining (much), just wondering what's up.
posted by jcterminal to etiquette/policy at 1:10 PM PST - 22 comments

Posts which contain [br clear=all] (but, you know, with sharp pointy brackets) cause the following text on the front page to drop below the side bar in IE6 (Win XP).

Also, how does the 'clear=all' benefit the 'br' tag?
posted by iceberg273 to bugs at 11:56 AM PST - 4 comments

mefi-projects (a mailing list for members to anounce their own pet projects) now has an archive [various apologies + caveats inside].
posted by andrew cooke to MetaFilter-related at 3:08 PM PST - 11 comments

Something really got your knickers in a knot? Well, then, don't just put it on the front page once. Wait one day and post an update. Note that in this case, the update's new information is a week old and was already posted in the original thread.
posted by anapestic to etiquette/policy at 8:25 AM PST - 2 comments

Grrr. Can we stop with the ad hominem comments, please? You don't need to repeat someone's "It's ugly!" comment over and over again. And over again. And then again. And then repeat the last person who said it again. And then repeat the repeat. And quote the last repeat to agree with it. And then say ditto. (See how annoying that gets?)

Probably a better question: Do we have guidelines for posting a good comment? Should we?
posted by SpecialK to etiquette/policy at 5:07 PM PST - 61 comments

Looking at MetaFilter's front page, one finds an awesome variety of styles regarding capitalization of titles. Is there a preferred style? Which one better enhances readability? I'm not proposing uniformization - just asking what fellow members find most congenial.
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-related at 5:18 AM PST - 62 comments

happy birthday matt... i tried so hard to find you a pony...
posted by heather to MetaFilter-related at 12:01 PM PST - 86 comments

Does anybody know how to make bookmarklets? (Also here.) I have an idea for a great one for Metafilter users.

I, like many, use lo-fi me-fi almost exclusively. It's easier on the server, it's easier on my eyes, and it's not so obviously "not work." But when I want to post a comment, in lo-fi, I have to go up to the URL bar and delete the string "comments_deleted." from the URL and click Enter to bring up the comment window. A bookmarklet that did this would allow me to bring up that comment window with a single click to the links toolbar (IE6) -- and perhaps strip out the color at the same time? Anyone?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders to feature requests at 11:55 AM PST - 8 comments

Pretty sure it wasn't a senior moment. Rather, I think I just had an Orwellian moment. What happened to the thread at www.metafilter.com/mefi/20692, regarding Kuwaiti opinions? It now says "...a non-existent post, or one that was deleted for various reasons."

Spooky.
posted by ZenMasterThis to MetaFilter-related at 8:38 AM PST - 55 comments

Is linking to your employer's site within a post a self-link?
posted by i_cola to etiquette/policy at 5:29 AM PST - 38 comments

Bug: If you set your prefs to show 99 days of posts, the front page shows 99 days of posts, thereby taking forever and making the server pretty unhappy, I bet. There should be some max built in there.

Suggestion: Set login cookie domains to ".metafilter.com" (note the two periods), so logins will work at metafilter.com, www.metafilter.com, and metatalk.metafilter.com.
posted by endquote to bugs at 7:29 PM PST - 8 comments

MeFi outage last night from about 8 p.m. PDT until 10 when I logged off and went to bed . Just me or anyone else?
posted by Lynsey to uptime at 12:46 PM PST - 9 comments

The news posts have pretty much dissapeared (huzzah). But what's taken their place? I know "we've already discussed this" already, but there have been a few "Friday" posts in the past few non-Fridays. They're usually great fun, but I'm not getting any work done. Time to cry FridayFilter? But seriously folks, what makes a "Friday" post? Sillyness, flash, fun?
posted by SimStupid to etiquette/policy at 11:05 AM PST - 24 comments

Ehh, what's up, mat? Both metafilter and metatalk seem to be internal-erroring at random places, sometimes all you get is an error, sometimes it shows part of the page and then prints the error and quits half way through. This happens both with opera and lynx.
posted by fvw to bugs at 5:50 AM PST - 20 comments

I “think” spéciàl chàràctérs shöuld wörk nöw, thöugh it's pröbably töö éàrly tö sày the böxés and quéstiön marks will be göné. That'll be £5 or 1000¥ or €3.5.
posted by mathowie to bugs at 1:18 PM PST - 55 comments

How about a MetaFilter user survey about some of the ideas that have been bandied about in MetaTalk lately: recommending or rating posts, enforced posting delays, giving better posters higher posting frequency, etc.
posted by timeistight to feature requests at 9:29 AM PST - 24 comments

So, when do Nazi references become gratuitous?
posted by dhartung to etiquette/policy at 8:50 PM PST - 88 comments

A Possible New Law: The fewer the comments, the better and more generous the post.[More Inside]
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-related at 7:23 PM PST - 54 comments

I'm almost certain that I saw this website posted to metafilter maybe 8 months to a year ago - a girl goes to a bar and guys are asking her for her home number. Rather than give them her real number she gives them the phone number from this website. When the man(they had a number for women too) calls he gets the answering machine message saying that they aren't interested in that person and not to call again(or something to that effect). The great part about the website is that a lot of times people ended up leaving a message and those messages were on the site to listen to in mp3 format. It was hilarious. I think I remember the number was a NYC 212 number and it was designed in a purple/pink/blue. I've searched all over metafilter and even tried Google but I can't seem to find it. I bookmarked it ages ago but several HD crashes later it's no longer around. If anyone can find it w/your great skills it would be very much appreciated.
posted by suprfli to MetaFilter-related at 6:40 PM PST - 26 comments

Wierdest thing. Checking the site meter for the weblog mentioned in this thread, it doesn't look like anyone is visiting from here. How does that work? Is there some kind of block in place? Are we the 'unknown' quantity?
posted by feelinglistless to bugs at 3:48 PM PST - 5 comments

I am an idiot and misspelled my user name. I ignored it first and now it is really bothering me. I need to add another L in the middle, it should be Woollcott'sKindredGal. Any idea how I can fix this without being a pain in the ass to Matt?
posted by Woolcott'sKindredGal to bugs at 3:45 PM PST - 67 comments

Here's a fun brain teaser for ya. Wouldn't sports oriented front page posts like this and this be better suited in SportsFilter? And if not, why not?
posted by ZachsMind to etiquette/policy at 11:30 AM PST - 24 comments

Hardly Life Threatening......but..........
posted by lampshade to bugs at 9:50 AM PST - 12 comments

I'm re-reading Orwell's Notes on Nationalism and I couldn't help thinking of Metafilter- more inside
posted by Summer to MetaFilter-related at 9:26 AM PST - 18 comments

Item! (just kidding) Why don't we keep simple one-word posts to the most provocative current events on the sideblog? [more inside]
posted by grrarrgh00 to feature requests at 7:55 AM PST - 15 comments

So here's a minor issue, strictly for decompression purposes: How long should we wait for someone to post his/her "More Inside" supplement? Matt recently rebuked ZachsMind and indeed deleted his offending comment because he leapt too soon, saying: "(...)you didn't wait until I had gotten my chance to finish my "more" post(...)". Yesterday y2Karl played the same trick on me.

Should it be ten or fifteen minutes? Or doesn't it matter? My own opinion is that one should just wait until the supplement is posted - unless it's demonstrably not forthcoming. Isn't jumping the gun just another version of annoying, pre-emptive thread sabotage? Or is it, somehow, fun?
posted by MiguelCardoso to etiquette/policy at 9:32 PM PST - 38 comments

Cool it with the "NewsFilter" shit, ok? [more]
posted by mathowie to etiquette/policy at 9:34 AM PST - 113 comments

Fat or short , it seems like Metafilter is the internet's answer to the island of misfit nerds. As a short guy (we prefer the term "diminutive"), I'm curious about how many of the 16000 of us would be condidered "average" people. Can the members of MetaFilter be considered a fair cross-section of the population?
posted by Samsonov14 to MetaFilter-related at 3:44 AM PST - 41 comments

Hi,

I'm new. Been here a month or so. I'm not even sure if it's appropriate for me to post this here, now, but damn the torpedoes, or whatever. I bought my account, because I had been reading metafilter for almost a year and wanted to join in the discussion.

I'm seeing a lot of discussion about too much news, too many links posted to the front page.

But, I thought MeFi was *about* the news. If it's not, what is it, then?

And it occurs to me that the whole point of having loose guidelines with anyone being able to post to the front page is so that the site can grow and change.

That's organic, and that's the point isn't it? That it's not plastic with karma whores and it's not a newsgroup with trolls and spammers.

Do you want the group to evolve over time or not? And if not, what do you want? I think I've read all the faqs and things I'm supposed to read, but apparently I still don't get it. Because I don't understand what the oldtimers are upset about.

And this isn't to stir up controversy, but I'm looking to be enlightened. Have the few things I posted to the main page been out of place? How about some new guidelines for us newbies?
posted by nyxxxx to etiquette/policy at 8:43 PM PST - 74 comments

This was apparently a double-post, but I can't find the original post anywhere on the FP. Was it deleted, or is there just a problem with my browser?
posted by kate_fairfax to bugs at 8:40 PM PST - 28 comments

if you could filter mefi, how? more inside.

posted by andrew cooke to feature requests at 3:40 AM PST - 113 comments

Reality Check Time: Is it really true that older MetaFilterians are leaving in droves? Apart from Evanizer [Is there anything we can to do get him back? Like compiling our favourite Evanizer moments?], my own perception is that they're not. At least one valued member (y6y6y6) has returned. Although it's increasingly repeated, here and elsewhere (and in danger of becoming a blotter-meme for every random drop of dissatisfaction leaked by users everywhere), how many older members have actually upped and gone since the recent influx of newbies, as the proto-meme pretends? And, if some have indeed left, does anyone know in which green pastures they now roam?
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-related at 1:38 AM PST - 77 comments

The Hopefully Somewhat Complete As Of Right Now List of MetaFilter And Metatalk Taglines, as tirelessly collected by dg. These are fabulous! We have such poets amongst us.
posted by iconomy to MetaFilter-related at 8:00 PM PST - 46 comments

Okay, just a quick history lesson, paraphrasing Tom Tomorrow:

Feminazis are women who would prefer to treated equally, and in some cases slightly superior, to men, and attempt to spread these views through public protest and legislation.

The actual Nazis were a military group that systematically slaughtered twelve million men, women, and children by means of public execution and torture before burying them in mass graves or incinerating them in ovens.

Sorry if I'm being a Language Nazi, but this has to stop. Please.
posted by XQUZYPHYR to etiquette/policy at 5:08 PM PST - 110 comments

Of the 20 posts made to MetaFilter today, the majority are based solely or primarily on 17 links to major newspapers and/or other news sources on the Web. Three Yahoo news links, two Washington Post links, yet another dead-or-abused-child thread. [More inside.]
posted by Danelope to feature requests at 11:23 AM PST - 168 comments

In the interest of having a positive example in MetaTalk (rare, I know), I put forth this example. I thought the phrasing of the original link was sub-standard, but after the first few comments the discussion was positive and, as so often happens here, a member with a more in-depth knowledge of the field helped the understanding of others.

I also thought it might be worth mentioning so that those who are upset by his politics and (debatable) trolling can see that fold_and_mutilate does contribute positively in other ways.

posted by The God Complex to bugs at 11:16 AM PST - 23 comments

Matt, have you ever thought of detailing "an average day in the life of administering MetaFilter?" [more inside]
posted by machaus to MetaFilter-related at 11:11 AM PST - 5 comments

So, there doesn't seem to be anything in Metafilter policy *banning* it- how does one "theme" one's user page like Danelope ?

BTW it's wacked yo in IE 5 for Mac
posted by jeremias to etiquette/policy at 12:05 PM PST - 13 comments

After I posted this link, I noticed it was a year old. It's not a repost, but is this bad form?
posted by monkeymike to etiquette/policy at 10:45 AM PST - 3 comments

I have a theory about my own laspes in grammar: whenever I'm applying text to paper, I can easily iron out my flubs with a high degree of accuracy. But once I begin typing onscreen or with a typewriter, my proofreader's eye is more prone to falter.

I suspect this is due to the differences between horizontal and vertical perception; while focusing upon the words as they are produced, it seems that anything beyond a 45 degree angle triggers off an odd left/right hemispherical conflict. But it would be just my luck to have an "shielded" LCD screen for my web work.

Has anyone else notices any similar paper/screen elevatory quirks as they write?
posted by Smart Dalek to MetaFilter-related at 7:10 AM PST - 18 comments

So a single product link (that's been linked before) is okay now? Or is it only because its "benbrown"? Curious.
posted by owillis to etiquette/policy at 9:10 PM PST - 24 comments

READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE.

Some people are letting their politics get away with them. And it's not like they're a newly minted user either.

What's up with that?

posted by Irontom to etiquette/policy at 10:48 AM PST - 31 comments

turlyming.com (metafilter.com's primary mx, primary/secondary ns, and #mefi host) suffered a drive failure yesterday. while matt has his bases covered, you may still experience minor delays in ns lookups for metafilter.com addresses and of course, the irc channel is unavailable until i can rebuild the box.
posted by chrish to MetaFilter-related at 7:05 AM PST - 13 comments