MetaTalk

Rambling op-ed + dubious science + completely unrelated links + grinding axe = bad post.
posted by PrinceValium to Etiquette/Policy at 1:33 PM PST - 25 comments

On January 12th, PRIX ARS Electronica will be opening up submissions for a new category, "Digital Communities." I would like to gather support to have Metafilter.com submitted as an official entry. (More inside.)
posted by gen to MetaFilter-Related at 8:33 PM PST - 12 comments

This question about the posited decline and fall of aliens in film might be worth addressing here...
posted by namespan to Etiquette/Policy at 7:08 PM PST - 24 comments

It would be nice to have a "Recent comments (on 20 threads)" viewing option in Ask Mefi.
posted by crunchland to Feature Requests at 5:23 PM PST - 15 comments

Shouldn't MetaTalk, recently flooded (and, imho, diluted) by AskMe queries, be about MetaFilter alone and AskMe have a reflective sidekick of its own? [More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso to Feature Requests at 9:37 PM PST - 52 comments

What, no AskMe favicon?
posted by nicwolff to Feature Requests at 7:07 PM PST - 2 comments

Is anyone already thinking ahead to indexing AskMe so that all the dog questions or MP3 player questions or digital camera questions can be seen together, both as an aid and as a way to keep down too many duplicative posts?

I am far too lazy to do it myself, of course, but figure one of you spiffy computer-geek types might be thinking along these lines already and have something for us.
posted by briank to Feature Requests at 1:24 PM PST - 14 comments

When getting ready to submit a Q to AskMe, the far right button says "Preview Link", which might prove to be slightly misleading to newbies as AskMe is not required de jure or de facto to have any links. Recommend the button be changed to "Preview Questions."

Also, when looking at my most previous posts, I can find my MeTa and MeFi posts but no direct link to my AskMe posts in my profile (hey don't act like you don't do it). Might be good if we make the posts more accessable via user page.
posted by Dagobert to Feature Requests at 7:41 AM PST - 2 comments

The San Diego meetup extravaganza was a success. We were expecting 20-30 people from around the Southern California region. Unfortunately only BatGrlHG, y6y6y6, LionIndex, and Matt where able to make it.

The microbrews and pizza flowed freely. Matt got the Iceland vacation (the grand total ended up being $2145), and reciprocated by telling us many MeFi secrets.
posted by y6y6y6 to MetaFilter Gatherings at 11:06 PM PST - 49 comments

Year end clearance! So, cats and kitties, what were the most memorable, most entertaining or most informative MeFi threads (in your humble opinions) of 2003?
posted by moonbird to MetaFilter-Related at 7:19 PM PST - 28 comments

I was contemplating tranquileye's previous post, and thinking that it's a fun idea to give something to and get something from somebody you don't know at all, but even more fun if you know at least a little something about them; wouldn't it be great to have a MeFi "Secret Santa" next year? And if so, how would we go about that? more...
posted by taz to Bugs at 5:18 AM PST - 38 comments

Why are people debating gun control in this thread? It seems as if it was a simple request. It did not seem like there was an invitation or even suggestion for a gun control debate.
posted by SpecialK to Etiquette/Policy at 5:42 PM PST - 24 comments

BlueStone, what an unfriendly (to put it mildly) response! So tell me, do you ever go to the doctor or take prescription drugs? Seems like you ought to be the captain of your own ship and just let your body strengthen its own defenses instead of using such a crutch.
posted by billsaysthis to Etiquette/Policy at 12:23 PM PST - 48 comments

Help- I've lost a post. Will someone please send me a link to that post outlining ramping up of the US war machine against North Korea? It was just a few days ago but I looked through December and can't find it. The search engine can't find it. Google can't find it. Was it removed? Anyone know what I'm talking about? Was it all in my head?
posted by small_ruminant to MetaFilter-Related at 2:12 PM PST - 10 comments

How important, with MeFi or Meta posts and comments, are extraneous factors like time, caffeine, midwork intervals or alcohol? Is there really a before and after coffee; a morning and late night inflection; according to how long you've been up and what you've ingested to get through the day? I think there is. Is the time-stamp your best counsellor and friend? Specially considering the wildly disparate time-zones? No names mentioned; just saying. In my humble opinion, the hour (and the perceived condition or, more generally, circumstances) says as much as the name. If not more.
posted by MiguelCardoso to Etiquette/Policy at 9:00 PM PST - 41 comments

Not designed to solve a problem. Begs a bunch of purely hypothetical discussion. Flamebait right from the very first comment. Heave-ho or what?
posted by scarabic to Bugs at 11:48 AM PST - 23 comments

Seasonal Greetings?
posted by biffa to Feature Requests at 6:59 AM PST - 61 comments

The MeFi RSS feed works great. While I can envision the reason(s) for ommitting this feature for metaTalk, wouldn't it make sense to have on for AskMeFi ?
posted by Fupped Duck to Feature Requests at 9:54 PM PST - 1 comment

In a recent AskMeFi thread a link to a Google query was provided in lieu of an answer [more inside].
posted by cedar to Etiquette/Policy at 9:37 PM PST - 20 comments

For curiosity's sake, when does a post like this become something to be shifted to Ask Metafilter? [more inside]
posted by FunkyHelix to Etiquette/Policy at 7:38 PM PST - 12 comments

I'm a big fan of IraqFilter, but when we post new developments like this thread by Postroad, can we provide a little direction about what's supposed to be discussed? Perhaps it might lessen the flamewars/snarkyness that ensues. [more inside]
posted by Happydaz to Bugs at 7:28 PM PST - 7 comments

San Diego Meetup is on. So that interested LA/OC MeFis can attend I've picked a spot in north county. Matt may or may not attend. [more inside]
posted by y6y6y6 to MetaFilter Gatherings at 1:33 PM PST - 8 comments

Where did the Blogroots sidebar go?
posted by Orange Goblin to MetaFilter-Related at 7:26 AM PST - 6 comments

Since botching policy on a recent post (asking about why people smoke) and being promptly deleted, I'm left scratching my head about why this post went unquestioned. I'm not complaining, and I don't think the thread should be deleted, I'm just trying to understand the distinction so I don't get my own posts deleted again in the future.
posted by oissubke to Etiquette/Policy at 6:09 AM PST - 46 comments

Logging in via the ask.metafilter.com login link sends one to metatalk.metafilter.com. Just something to think about when Ask is pruned from MeTa.
posted by UKnowForKids to Bugs at 12:25 AM PST - 5 comments

This logic argues for the deletion of this thread.
posted by scarabic to Etiquette/Policy at 1:51 PM PST - 18 comments

Ask MetaFilter is currently only available to those of us who come to MetaTalk. Since it's probably the best thing on MeFi since the sliced-bread thread, wouldn't it be an elementary courtesy to extend the service (and information) to the blue-only crowd? Is it really so marvellous that it deserves to be kept for us aficionados alone? Fwiw, I think we could use the extra minds and souls. Why not include a link (plus sidebar mention) on the main page? Or is it meant to be an insiders' secret? This, imho, is just wrong!
posted by MiguelCardoso to Feature Requests at 6:43 AM PST - 34 comments

So when will we see a 'has posted X questions / comments to Ask MetaFilter' in the user profile?
posted by antifreez_ to Feature Requests at 8:53 PM PST - 5 comments

This post is a self-link, but with a twist ... the poster is currently in Iraq and is apparently part of the unit that captured Saddam Hussein. Is this post simply a violation of the rules that should be deleted? Or is it the 'exception that proves the rule' -- the fact that he's a unique witness to history trumping one of the few hard-and-fast MeFi rules?
posted by anastasiav to Etiquette/Policy at 4:04 PM PST - 36 comments

What just happened to ossibuke's "why do people smoke?" question?
posted by scarabic to Bugs at 1:43 PM PST - 71 comments

"self-policing since 1999"
Has anyone else noticed all the funny tag lines floating around MetaTalk threads lately? I've collected a few, but there must be more, my favorite:
MetaFilter: the preview box is full of lies.
The rest, below...
posted by Blake to Bugs at 9:36 AM PST - 20 comments

I have refrained from participating in the recent political thread wars. I agree the political threads are hopeless, but I can't disagree with the folks who say, "If you don't like it, don't read 'em." Fair enough. Surely MeFi is big enough for all of us?

But please, please, PLEASE: if you are a political thread brawler, at least have the decency to keep your snark and bile out of the non-political threads. It really pisses in my oatmeal to be reading an interesting article about a little-known scientific finding, hit the discussion, and run smack into this.

And troutfishing, you're just as out of line: Osama, conspiracy theory—WTF, man?

The political threads are tolerable because, as people keep pointing out, however bad they are, they're a small part of MeFi. But if the crap in them, and the cranks who dominate them start spilling over into every other MeFi thread—we're doomed.
posted by Slithy_Tove to Etiquette/Policy at 7:50 AM PST - 96 comments

The old coffee thread doesn't load. It spouts a ColdFusion error due to a fake <corporatewhore> tag used by KevinSkomsvold.
posted by riffola to Bugs at 5:53 PM PST - 3 comments

How many of the 17,173 MeFi users actually use the site? Assuming the answer is not 100%, is it possible to determine if/when a user profile has been abandoned? And then offer those abandoned profiles to new users?
posted by o2b to Feature Requests at 8:43 AM PST - 23 comments

I nominate this thread as the point in AskMe's development cycle where we start giving in to to one-liners, boy-zone silliness, and the usual MetaFilter noise. We've been very good in Ask MetaFilter so far. - On topic. Helpful rather than chatty. Signal rather than noise. Do we want to allow this sort of thing? If so, how can we put limits on it? The question asked sort of invites grade school antics. Do we blame the poster, or the users who gave in to temptation?

If AskMe goes the way of MetaFilter, there isn't much point in having two sites.
posted by y6y6y6 to Etiquette/Policy at 6:09 AM PST - 53 comments

Can we please stop with the PETA goes overboard and drowns threads already?
well, some are okay...
posted by wendell to Etiquette/Policy at 3:57 PM PST - 28 comments

Front page skipping a range of posts [more inside].
posted by turbodog to Bugs at 10:45 AM PST - 4 comments

America's Finest City Meetup: Meetup.com, the website that created "the frontrunner," seems to need some help in creating a Meet Up for those of us in San Diego. Vote for your venue, date and time here.
posted by rschram to MetaFilter-Related at 12:50 AM PST - 32 comments

For those of us who don't have the money to register at CES, how about MeFiSoCalWenCom2004, featuring the first promised opportunity to call Wendell an asshat in person!!! When: January. Where: Somewhere in L.A. Let's narrow it down...
posted by wendell to MetaFilter Gatherings at 11:33 AM PST - 31 comments

Can we stop with the HateBushFilter posts that are a blight on the the front page daily?

(more inside)
posted by Seth to Etiquette/Policy at 10:39 AM PST - 269 comments

Can we please stop with the 419 already, pretty please?
posted by leotrotsky to Etiquette/Policy at 4:59 AM PST - 69 comments

Posting something in Blue or here should have a definite link to a persona set up here. But a question? There are some questions we want asked but not have anyone know we asked them. What about an anonymous possibility?
posted by Dagobert to Feature Requests at 4:34 AM PST - 10 comments

Layout breaks at 800x600 on AskMe in IE 6. Screenshot inside.
posted by Grod to Bugs at 3:11 PM PST - 6 comments

This has been discussed before, but I think there needs to be a small and unobtrusive indicator for deleted comments, those removed from threads by the hand of God. Today's example in theMr. Mixed Up Bigotry thread. [More Inside]
posted by zpousman to Feature Requests at 1:55 PM PST - 22 comments

Why can't we all be as considerate of each other on MeFi as we are over here on AskMeFi? Is it because it's new, or is it something else? Don't get me wrong, I like a measure of snark & biting wit. But everyone here is so damn nice (which is why it was a great holiday present to us, Matt) that I think I have entered George Costanza's opposite day. Will there be any spillover?
posted by madamjujujive to MetaFilter-Related at 8:51 AM PST - 34 comments

The current archives button from MeTa takes me to a page formatted like MeTa but containing Ask MeFi's threads.
posted by wanderingmind to Bugs at 12:46 AM PST - 5 comments

Given that Ask Metafilter had 40 questions posted yesterday (more than the number of posts to Metafilter proper, in fact), would it be possible to see more than 25 questions on the front page at a time? It seems kind of silly to have to go to the archives for questions posted earlier during the same day. Adjunct question: how's the server holding up under the onslaught of posts?
posted by Johnny Assay to Feature Requests at 9:05 AM PST - 15 comments

Great thread, people. Keep it coming.
posted by Yelling At Nothing to MetaFilter-Related at 4:53 PM PST - 12 comments

Can't log in via the blue using Firebird 0.7+.
I was able to log in, however, via Metatalk.
posted by signal to Bugs at 11:56 AM PST - 12 comments

Perhaps we should make Ask MetaFilter a Clydesdale instead of a pony: if user profiles included a means of categorizing one's expertise, we'd be able to have Ask MetaFilter automatically email appropriate questions to the experts; we'd be able to hunt down an expert for 1:1 communication; we'd be able to create some sort of synergy.
posted by five fresh fish to Feature Requests at 11:23 AM PST - 18 comments

Anyone else going to Vegas for the CES show in January?

Should we orginize another meetup, wear small "Hello my MeFi Screen name is" stickers, anything?
posted by KnitWit to MetaFilter Gatherings at 7:51 AM PST - 16 comments

automatic banning of anyone who does this.
posted by crunchland to Feature Requests at 6:51 AM PST - 25 comments

I've noticed (myself included) that comments to a FPP are often posted within minutes, even though the links on the FPP would take a lot longer to read. This means the poster probably did not read the FPP links. One thought to have a comment moratorium period (coded) to encourage the reading of the FPP links before posting. There sometimes seems to be a /. "first post" mentality to get a comment in as quick as possible near the top of a thread.
posted by stbalbach to Etiquette/Policy at 6:20 AM PST - 20 comments

The older and newer links in the bottom of MeTa threads are pointing to AskMeFi threads rather than MeTa ones. I think the plumbing's exposed.

not that I'm complaining. I love our pony
posted by bonaldi to Bugs at 4:30 AM PST - 5 comments

How hard would it be to keep the "_ new comments" feature when browsing through the archives? I've been close to asking for this feature before but never felt that threads in MT really had a long enough posting life to warrant such a change. With the addition of Ask Metafilter, however, checking the number of new comments in threads even a day old becomes a rigorous exercise in memorization. If it's not too much work, I'd certainly like to see it changed, perhaps in January when everything else is looked at.
posted by The God Complex to Feature Requests at 11:57 PM PST - 6 comments

Ask is very cool - but where's the RSS?
posted by LukeyBoy to Feature Requests at 5:28 PM PST - 15 comments

Clicking the AskMetafilter link in the "posted by x to AskMetafilter" bit gives an error.
posted by Orange Goblin to Bugs at 1:50 PM PST - 5 comments

I don't know if this question is acceptable for this section, but I really am curious - what I am doing wrong ?

I have prepared a post for Metafilter (my first), and while it displays perfectly on preview, when I post it a not-so-nice error appears. Could anyone help, please ?
posted by Masi to Bugs at 9:36 PM PST - 10 comments

One's Ask comment history is folded into one's MetaTalk comment history page, which may or may not be a bug, but the background color of the Ask threads are based on how you enter them (green from the Ask front page, grey from users' MetaTalk comment history) which probably is a bug.
posted by NortonDC to Bugs at 8:54 PM PST - 9 comments

For a moment, I thought it was synaesthenia. For better or worse, it was not. But it sure did make my user experience far more vivid, and so I checked up on the technology ; yes, the prototype is out, iSmell from a company named Digiscent. Oh, I know it's been done before in a gimmicky way, but this is the 21st century. We have the technology to make it an everyday experience, one which would greatly enhance the Metafilter user experience. Users would have to, of course, purchase their own iSmells. Then, in making comments, members could - if they chose - pick from among a set list of smells available by means of a simple drop down menu.
posted by troutfishing to Feature Requests at 3:43 PM PST - 23 comments

Ask MetaFilter is born. Feel free to pose a question to other members here. Obviously those of a technical nature are going to meet with the most success, but questions outside of that realm are also good too.

I'll delete dumb questions or those that prove to be nothing but flamewars and/or goof-off fests, and if this section takes off I'll be adding more features to it (like rating what the best answer was) and move it into its own area.
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 1:17 PM PST - 98 comments

It's been mentioned a few times here, but one thread in particular got me thinking about it, and this weekend I finally got off my ass and did something about it. I bring to you, Ask Metafilter.
posted by Hackworth to MetaFilter-Related at 10:13 AM PST - 29 comments

A recent comment about "feeling gypped" made me curious about what people here think about the term. [more inside]
posted by Ljubljana to Etiquette/Policy at 3:28 PM PST - 148 comments

Who is going to one of the Truth About Iraq Parties tomorrow? Include which one you will be at!
posted by Keyser Soze to MetaFilter Gatherings at 7:37 PM PST - 51 comments

metafilter nominated for wizbangblog's "best group blog" [via monkeyfilter].
posted by birdherder to MetaFilter-Related at 5:20 PM PST - 44 comments

The story of the trampled Wal-Mart shopper was a a FPP post a few days ago. It turns out it might have been contrived. As I read the latest story, I felt that somehow the record had to be set straight on mf with this new information (I am an idealist, I suppose). But, at the same time, it certainly did not seem to be worthy of a new FPP. How does MF- as a community- handle retractions or new (conflicting) information without gumming up the front page with mediocre posts? Or is it not even worth worrying about?
posted by limitedpie to MetaFilter-Related at 11:27 AM PST - 28 comments

Can we stop with the vagina comments?
posted by monju_bosatsu to Bugs at 8:16 AM PST - 184 comments

Not exactly a double post, but this link is the same site (but not page) as the first link in this post.
posted by ashbury to Etiquette/Policy at 6:52 AM PST - 8 comments

Should there really be a FPP that's really a rather thinly veiled marketing attempt for some rather skeezy malware?
posted by LimePi to Etiquette/Policy at 7:32 PM PST - 26 comments

It all started with cats wedged into scanners, and took off from there. Metafilter's 30,000th thread will be posted sometime tomorrow morning. Cat-scan your memory banks: what's your nomination for Best. MeFi. Thread. Ever? And is Woody Harrelson available to host the obligatory awards show...?
posted by PrinceValium to MetaFilter-Related at 7:55 PM PST - 39 comments

dazed_one: six (1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6) of the last ten thread he/she has participated in contain this "here comes the (newsfilter) pain" message. Is it really necessary to go around to every thread you don't like and comment in it?
posted by The God Complex to Etiquette/Policy at 5:45 PM PST - 60 comments

Ok, maybe I'm just an idiot...or my google fu is way off...but does anyone remember a post in the last couple of weeks that went to a satire site for a sensual surrogate love lump thing? It was a silly site, and I was going to use it in a column, but the site is now totally 404 and I'm wondering if anyone has a picture of the lump in their cache that you could send me? I would ask in the thread...but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
posted by dejah420 to MetaFilter-Related at 2:44 PM PST - 12 comments

MATT IS NOT ALLOWED TO VIEW THIS THREAD TILL AFTER CHRISTMAS: Posted by Hackworth; Part 2. (Fighting the dreaded Falling Off The Page Syndrome.)
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-Related at 8:55 AM PST - 76 comments

I've had three friends asking me what "hoops we have to jump through" to become members of MetaFilter now that the new process is in place. Any chance of a set of guidelines?

Either that, or we can start talking about building an assault course for the new signups... ;)
posted by twine42 to Etiquette/Policy at 1:00 AM PST - 19 comments

Troutfishing's post about Miami seems to have some formatting problems.
posted by Irontom to Bugs at 6:01 PM PST - 10 comments