December 2014 Archives (all archives)

December 31

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! [more inside]
posted by h00py to MetaFilter-Related at 6:51 AM PST - 153 comments

December 30

Finding an AskMe re kids' post-holiday blues

I seem to remember reading an AskMe two or three years ago (though the question may have been older) where the asker described their child (daughter?) acting sort of ungrateful after Christmas, complaining that there weren't enough gifts, etc. One of the answers suggested that the child didn't really want more gifts, but was just feeling some post-holiday letdown, and offered some suggestions for dealing with that. [more inside]
posted by Paul the Octopus to MetaFilter-Related at 2:33 PM PST - 2 comments

We're grownups, right?

restless_nomad, stop censoring the discussion about the effect of suicide on those left behind. That discussion is more important than a bunch of dots left in honor of someone who, being dead, will never see the thread.
posted by MrMoonPie to Etiquette/Policy at 10:38 AM PST - 619 comments [closed]

December 28

MaTe MeTa

Looking for some advice given by commenters on MetaFilter (pretty sure it was the blue) about maths teaching. The advice wasn't specifically requested itself, just a response to the subject of the post—presumably maths education related somehow, though I've searched through a bunch of threads and haven't found them. Perhaps someone has the comments favourited and will know what I'm referring to. [more inside]
posted by Quilford to MetaFilter-Related at 7:13 PM PST - 11 comments

December 24

Happy MeFi Holiday Wishes!

And to all a good night. :D love, yoga
posted by yoga to MetaFilter-Related at 2:55 PM PST - 121 comments

December 23

Neckbeard, is this a word we need?

Neckbeard: (n) Derogatory term for slovenly nerdy people who have no sense of hygene or grooming. Often related to hobbies such as card gaming, video gaming, anime, et. al. [more inside]
posted by el io to Etiquette/Policy at 12:29 PM PST - 424 comments

How do you track and curate your favorite threads for future reference?

I've marked a ton of threads on the blue and green as favorites for later reference (recipe questions, fitness recs, etc). When I want to find something later I either do a Google boolean search (ugh) or poke around and scroll through my favorites list, but both these options are a drag. [more inside]
posted by _Mona_ to MetaFilter-Related at 8:10 AM PST - 24 comments

December 22

Announcing My FanFare

We just added My FanFare: a way to tell FanFare which shows, movies, or podcasts are your favorites and then limit what you see to posts about those favorites. [more inside]
posted by pb to Feature Requests at 4:04 PM PST - 77 comments

Mefites' Choice 2014 winners, Week Three

It's week three of the December Best Post contest (reminder: please vote for the posts you like most via the fantastic flag, and if you are so inclined, sign up on the Wiki to contribute a prize!) and I've got the winners for the week. The top post for the week is Rhaomi's comprehensive salute to Stephen Colbert. For the prize, Rhaomi can pick out anything from the Mefi Mall up to $25 from me. [more inside]
posted by restless_nomad to MetaFilter-Related at 12:35 PM PST - 17 comments

A Patrick Swayze Christmas: all day Mystery Science Theater 3000 stream

Every week I put up a post about an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 over on FanFare. In conjunction with that, we've been having group watchings of the episodes online Thursday evenings through a stream syncing site. This year however, Thursday falls on Christmas Day. So instead, we're going to have an all-day marathon stream of MST-related Christmas artifacts. [more inside]
posted by JHarris to MetaFilter-Related at 5:39 AM PST - 24 comments

December 19

Ask The Pony Anything

I've felt uncomfortable for some time with the "AMA (Ask Me Anything)" posts at Reddit becoming such a high-profile 'thing' that they make it too easy to ignore that place's general toxicity. Then this happened and I really wasn't surprised. But I wondered "why does Reddit have a seeming monopoly on the format? Couldn't some other site do something similar, but SMARTER and MORE CIVILIZED? Someplace like... here?" (Wait... don't reject out of hand until you hear details of my proposal) [more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop to Feature Requests at 4:04 PM PST - 100 comments

MeFi in Randall Munroe's What If?

Ivan Fyodorovich's comment about folklore was mentioned in today's question: "What if I made a lava lamp out of real lava?".
posted by mkb to MetaFilter-Related at 7:00 AM PST - 32 comments

December 17

A MeFi women's forum?

I know this might have been discussed before, but my searches didn't yield anything; I was just wondering if there is any interest in a women's or women's-interest forum discussion here on Metafilter. [more inside]
posted by ladybird to MetaFilter-Related at 2:56 PM PST - 197 comments

Another "help me find this thing" post

Pretty sure I originally found this through Metafilter. It was a short documentary on Youtube about 3 girls (high school students?) in the middle east documenting the harassment and threats they received for doing things like going out in public without a head scarf or driving a car. It was mostly just footage the girls filmed themselves.
posted by Librarypt to MetaFilter-Related at 12:25 PM PST - 15 comments

December 16

Metafilter in the AV Club

JHarris's epic licensed character Christmas specials post made the Onion A.V. Club. It would have been nice if they had mentioned JHarris and not just "Metafilter" but eh.
posted by Chrysostom to MetaFilter-Related at 12:42 PM PST - 20 comments

December 15

Mefites' Choice 2014 winners, Week Two

It's week two of the December Best Post contest (reminder: please vote for the posts you like mostest via the fantastic flag*, and if you are so inclined, sign up on the Wiki to contribute a prize!) and I'd like to reveal the winners for this week. Coming in at #1 is the exhaustive history of everthing you ever wanted to know about long distance trucking post made by cwest. For his efforts, he gets a transforming flat vase from Eyebrows McGee and I'll personally buy one shirt of the poster's choice from Cotton Bureau. [more inside]
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 10:33 AM PST - 22 comments

December 14

Redundancies in navigation

There are currently some links on the front page menus that seem a bit redundant. [more inside]
posted by BuddhaInABucket to Bugs at 1:20 PM PST - 9 comments

Intention-reception for non-native speakers

What are the go-to articles or blog posts for explaining that the intentions of the speaker do not trump feelings of the person spoken to? [more inside]
posted by CtrlAltD to MetaFilter-Related at 11:14 AM PST - 35 comments

December 13

Profile Links on Mobile Devices

The number of times I've intentionally tapped the profile link of a thread poster on my phone: 0. The number of times I've accidentally tapped the profile link of a thread poster on my phone: an embarrassing amount, uncountable in modern number theory. Can we do something about that? [more inside]
posted by tocts to Feature Requests at 12:04 PM PST - 21 comments

December 12

What are some Spotify Playlists made by Mefis?

Over the last year or so, I have absolutely loved every spotify album made by mefis. It is always a high quality compilation. [more inside]
posted by bbqturtle to MetaFilter-Related at 3:27 PM PST - 26 comments

December 11

MeFi and data leaks?

So after sleeping on it, as far as making this post goes, i'm still really uncomfortable with this as an FPP. Many good points were brought up in thread about how it's basically the fappening with no nudes, rotten fruit from a poison tree, and how the data leak includes a whole bunch of random non-celebrity rank and file workers at sony who are now hosed. [more inside]
posted by emptythought to Etiquette/Policy at 2:23 PM PST - 144 comments

December 9

Sample new shows on the FanFare Podcast Feed

After recently adding podcasts to FanFare, we decided to add a meta-feed of all currently discussed podcast episodes into one unified feed. [more inside]
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 2:56 PM PST - 16 comments

Talking about rape too much

The deletion reason for this post states that we've had 'a ton' of rape-related posts lately; this would have been the fourth in the last month. I understand that this is a topic which is psychically taxing and can result in threads which require disproportionate levels of mod attention; however, the suggestion that 'we'd really like the site to do other things, too' rubs me the wrong way. [more inside]
posted by shakespeherian to Etiquette/Policy at 12:32 PM PST - 421 comments

in celebration of Anitanola

I received an incredibly moving package from my secret quonsar Anitanola this past weekend, and I wanted to share its story here. When I opened the box full of beautiful presents wrapped in ribbon, organza, and silvery tissue paper, it also contained a notecard with “read this last” written on its envelope. I set that aside, and instead read the note on top, which you can see here. It reads:
This is lagniappe! I’m downsizing my stashes and this is a share of the notecards. Maybe you’ll write a note or just pass them on or pitch ‘em! Anita
The package contained an amazing variety of handcrafted and locally-made stationery samples, as well as some charming magnets and art beads. Once I had oohed and ahhed over it all, I obediently opened the sealed envelope last. You can see it here: [front] [back], and here is what it said:
Dear [a fiendish thingy], I’m sorry that this was sent late. Sadly, my mother, Anita Cage, who drew your name in the metafilter “secret santa,” passed away on Monday, Dec 1st, after a long illness. She so appreciated her community of online friends, as she was housebound with considerable mobility issues. Even as she was worsening, however, she was concerned that this reach you, and that I “round out” the package with some locally made artcraft magnets. So I send this as she wished, and on her behalf wish you a fond hello and happy holiday season. [Her son]
I was deeply touched that she had made sending these beautiful gifts such a priority under the circumstances, and I emailed her son immediately to tell him so. In our communications, I asked him if he would like for me to post about Anitanola’s passing on metafilter, and he was relieved that I had offered so that he would not have to figure it out himself. He also sent a link to her obituary (found here), for those of you who wish to read it. She lived a long and inspiring life. Given her extraordinary kindness in helping to make my holiday beautiful even as her health was diminishing, I not only wanted to post to let everyone else know about her passing and her generosity, but I wanted to act on the inspiration of her own note to me. I definitely do NOT want to pitch the lovely notecards she sent, and instead I’d like to offer to send them on to any of you who would like to remember her in a tangible way. You can memail me your address, and that way her stash can wend its way around the world to other mefites in Anitanola’s honor. (This offer is open to anyone who wants one, of course, even if you didn’t know her well— I think she would enjoy the idea of these missives going to as many mefites as possible!) I will also be sending this MeTa post to her son at his request, so if you have any stories about her to share, he will see them here. If any of you want to send a message to him directly, let me know and I will be happy to pass it on. Her passion, humor, and wisdom will be missed.
posted by a fiendish thingy to MetaFilter-Related at 9:04 AM PST - 282 comments

December 8

mefi2book

I've created a script that converts a Metafilter thread into a PDF designed for printing in book form, including title page and contributor index. I used lulu.com to print a few and they look pretty good. [more inside]
posted by gwint to MetaFilter-Related at 10:30 AM PST - 121 comments

Mefites' Choice 2014 winners, Week One

It's that special time of year again (reminder: please vote for the posts you like mostest via the favorites button, and if you are so inclined, sign up on the Wiki to contribute a prize!), and the first week of the Mefite's Choice 2014 best posts extravaganza has come to pass, revealing to us that, with or without salad, Metafilter members love a good chuckle, as demonstrated by storybored's #1 winning post "JokeFilter" (What's the one joke you always tell when someone says "Tell me a joke."). In thanks for the all the hilarity, storybored wins anything from the Mefi Mall from me, up to $25*. [more inside]
posted by taz to MetaFilter-Related at 8:29 AM PST - 29 comments

December 7

Could we allow comments to be posted on music.metafilter.com by Ajax?

I was listening to a piece of music on MeFi Music and posted a comment. It was great that it asked me first if I really wanted to leave the page, but it occurs to me that you could also set it up so that the comment is posted by Ajax instead so you never leave the page. Last time we had this brought up was Nov 2012 and in the context of long threads rather than threads where posting actively interrupts a listening experience. [more inside]
posted by Deathalicious to Feature Requests at 6:47 PM PST - 13 comments

Is there an official Metafilter Charity we can donate to for Christmas?

I was just wondering is there an official (or at least majority agreed) charity that Mefite's can give to in Metafilters name ? I know some people like to give to specific charities during this time of year. [more inside]
posted by Faintdreams to MetaFilter-Related at 6:31 AM PST - 32 comments

December 6

All I want for Christmas is a tiny pony

Would it be possible for the "Random" link to be included in mobile view? I like this feature a lot as it's a great way of finding cool FPPs from the past, and some old MeTas are just...wow. But to get to it I have to switch between the mobile and desktop views, which is a pain on my phone. On desktop it's between the "Popular" and "Best Of" links so could it be put there on mobile as well? Does anyone else even use it on a regular basis?
posted by billiebee to Feature Requests at 6:30 AM PST - 18 comments

December 4

Rules for new accounts for existing users?

A few months ago I got into an regrettably poor discussion with another user in mefi mail. During the course of that discussion it became clear the user was an older user with a new account. I asked why they were using a new account and the answer was essentially: "because I want too". This seemed very different from the still current FAQ answer about new accounts which says that the only legitimate reason to change your username was a "Grave or life threatening reason". [more inside]
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory to Etiquette/Policy at 1:36 PM PST - 181 comments

December 3

Nintendo love?

So hey, any chance we could get Nintendo (Miiverse) IDs for Wii U/3DS users as an option for other networks we use on the profile page? [more inside]
posted by DoctorFedora to Feature Requests at 7:34 PM PST - 18 comments

tilde.club

Hi MeFites: I thought the original tilde.club (previously on MeFi) was a really neat idea. Now that there is a larger proliferation of other tilde groups inspired by the original, with many accepting membership applications, I was wondering if any of you fine people are active users (or admins!).
posted by en forme de poire to MetaFilter-Related at 2:33 PM PST - 27 comments

New for FanFare: Podcasts

Today we're adding podcasts to the mix at FanFare, as a way to discuss shows, and kicking it off with Serial, This American Life, Welcome to Nightvale, as well as others (based on your suggestions). [more inside]
posted by mathowie to Feature Requests at 1:48 PM PST - 64 comments

December 2

99: HOW DID IT BE THE 2ND?!

The 99th(!!!) podcast was recorded earlier today and runs about 1h45m as we cover November on MeFi, Thanksgiving fun, and other upcoming events. [more inside]
posted by mathowie to MeFi Podcast at 9:04 PM PST - 57 comments

December 1

That's wrong, sorry.

I believe that AskMe answers that are factually incorrect (and thus dangerous) should be deleted. [more inside]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering to Etiquette/Policy at 6:18 PM PST - 200 comments

Personal attacks and biased moderating: is this what we want on Metafilter?

This is in regards to this thread [more inside]
posted by phoenix_rising to Etiquette/Policy at 9:17 AM PST - 1404 comments [closed]