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February 2006 Archives (all archives)
February 28
How about a contest where candidate posts are judged on quality, the winner of which gets to be posted as item 50000? This would avoid the contention and possible server disruption likely to occur in the coming days, which will only be distracting, anyway. We could pre-emptively make this energy positive. Unless there are plans already, in which case, hurry up and delete this thread. (inspired by
this comment)
posted by cacophony to Feature Requests at 2:32 PM PST - 51 comments
In My Recent Comments, one of the long comments was truncated in the middle of an < i>italicized section< /i>. Consequently, the italics weren't closed for the rest of My Recent Comments.
posted by Aknaton to Bugs at 1:26 PM PST - 25 comments
In
this post the formatting of the "posted by..." message is weird.
Using Firefox 1.5 on a Windows XP SP2 machine.
posted by matkline to Bugs at 10:59 AM PST - 8 comments
Cleveland Meetup this
Thrusday, 3/2 @ 8:00: Several of us are already going and MeFi/MoFi/MeCha, lurkers, non-member readers and paparazzi are all welcome at
Edison's Pub in Tremont. Details inside.
posted by Shane to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:10 AM PST - 6 comments
February 27
This
website is using Ask.Metafilter content. I ran a search on my username and it turned up a slew of MeFi returns as it should, but also a few other items that were amusing. But it turned up this site that "launched" last month. Something that should be looked into? Followed up on? Simply ignored?
posted by FlamingBore to Etiquette/Policy at 9:18 PM PST - 25 comments
Newsvine. It was posted to the front page before, but it's still in beta and is pretty much invite-only. I have the ability to invite 20 of my nearest, dearest friends to join in. I realize that excludes the vast majority of you all, but I just thought I'd throw it out there. If you'd like an invitation, send e-mail to emelenjr at gmail dot com.
posted by emelenjr to MetaFilter-Related at 7:21 PM PST - 57 comments
In
this AskMe, I am in agreement with the post that follows mine, as well as of course my own, though I didn't word it as bluntly as Rhomboid did, as I was sort of "typing as thinking". That said,
the first response seems vaguely spammy. Full disclosure: I provide web hosting myself, and I still think the response is borderline inappropriate.
posted by twiggy to Etiquette/Policy at 3:17 PM PST - 7 comments [closed]
At some point down the road I will release a project to Projects. I think it's cool and interesting enough that a MeFi post could well be deserved, not just linking to my project but to a number of related sites and documentation. I'm very close to this project, so I can handily write up what I think is a good and wide view of the issue to do more than promote my project. However, I don't want to be accused of self-linking and instead would rather post it to Projects with enough info for someone else to post on MeFi about it. Would suggesting someone do this in the writeup in Projects be going too far?
PS. Additional suggestion for the form I'm currently filling in: "Projects related"
posted by Kickstart70 to Etiquette/Policy at 12:04 PM PST - 8 comments
I found these
two AskMe
threads interesting in a "he said-she said" sort of way and thought others might as well. One is about a person wanting to leave her husband, the other is about a husband whose wife just left him.
I'm in no way implying that I think the events are related, but thought they provided an interesting perspective on how people respond in relationship threads.
posted by forforf to MetaFilter-Related at 11:00 AM PST - 11 comments
Speaking as a pro-choice person,
this thread has to be the dumbest collection of arguments in favor of abortion rights that I've read anywhere in a long time, currently topped off with an attempt to draw an analogy between aborting fetuses and
shredding paper. Am I missing a giant troll tag here, or is MeFi really getting as stupid as it appears?
posted by Armitage Shanks to MetaFilter-Related at 8:57 AM PST - 55 comments
February 26
February 25
Question about the "Metafilter Users Near..." thing.
I show a user named
mdevore within 4 miles of me. He in turn shows a huge slug of users at the 23 mile mark from him.
Given our relatively close proximity, shouldn't more of those being showing up on my listing as well? What's the outer threshold of that listing?
posted by hwestiii to MetaFilter-Related at 3:12 PM PST - 10 comments
Matt. More broken.
I logged in from another machine - OSX 3.9, safari 1.3.2
I get that goofy code that I have to type...and it doesn't redirect correctly. You'll see it when you logout and back in.
posted by filmgeek to Bugs at 2:39 PM PST - 6 comments
Artists in every media, I'm thinking about the creative process, generating ideas for inter-media (is there such a word?) collaboration, and where abstract art originates.
posted by Julia Gill to MetaFilter Gatherings at 1:00 PM PST - 25 comments [closed]
Dallas, also proudly known as Dal-ass, the Ugly D, and Assassination City, is my home for the next couple of days. If you take a look at
this thread over at Metachat, you'll soon figure out that I'm going through an uncomfortable and difficult time.
I know few folks here, and could really use some friendly MeFi comrades to lighten my mood. I know these things're usually planned out with much more thought than this, but I'd like to do it tonight or tomorrow. {let's all do the more inside}
posted by item to MetaFilter Gatherings at 11:35 AM PST - 9 comments
This has got to be some kind of record. Setting aside the merits of Glider's argument, you have to admire his persistence. By my back-of-the-envelope calculations, the guy made roughly 17 posts per hour for 3.5 hours, took a three hour break, then jumped back into the fray for a total of 70 posts over 13 hours. Wow.
posted by BitterOldPunk to MetaFilter-Related at 12:06 AM PST - 64 comments
February 24
They want someone with an American bank account.
So how does this scam work?
posted by Ken McE to Bugs at 2:43 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]
An update on the mad Antarctic rower – I did put a fairly
unenlightening update in the thread to let people know he had failed again, but those of you who enjoyed the Pythonesque aspects of the original thread or missed the update might enjoy what’s inside here.
posted by penguin pie to MetaFilter-Related at 10:15 AM PST - 17 comments
Toronto meetup reminder: it's tomorrow night (Saturday, the 25th) at 8 p.m. And I have a proposition for you all — a change of venue.
Joelf is leaving Toronto to move back to Victoria, B.C. next week. His goodbye party is at the
Madison. So, perhaps we could have our meetup there and deign to mingle with his punk ass friends in order to say our farewells.
posted by orange swan to MetaFilter Gatherings at 4:03 AM PST - 20 comments
February 23
How many questions is too many for posting on MeFi?
Hi, my name is x, and I'm a MeFi Addict ('hi x!').
yes, it's come to the point in my life where I turn to this site because I know it'll have links/commentary on a variety of issues. I know if I post a question someone will inevitably have a good answer... the question is, what's the ratio of questions I should ask to questions I should answer? If I ask a question, is there some sort of karmic payback I should perform - i.e. try answering a few questions in return? I certainly don't want to seem like I'm a lazy person here. I honestly come after I've done a bit of research - honest!
Just curious - or is this too meta perhaps? I don't want to outstay my $5 welcome... although if a certain site owner had a donation button that might help me sort out my karm ;)
posted by rmm to Etiquette/Policy at 2:05 PM PST - 35 comments
February 22
I know that in the past, we've developed a kind of awareness that links to op-ed pieces and links to a thin AP or Reuters notice do not make for the best of the posts. To that end, I think Science posts,
such as this one, have gotten an undeserved free pass. New Scientist is, well, a rag, which posts sensationalist, unsubstantiated stories with rarely any references or contexts to back them up. Or, to be more succinct:
New Scientist posts suck.
posted by vacapinta to Etiquette/Policy at 12:36 PM PST - 61 comments
Oops. Can someone correct one of the links in my
FPP please? "Two" and "LPs" both link to the same place. One of them should go
here instead. Thanks!
posted by ludwig_van to MetaFilter-Related at 8:09 AM PST - 1 comments [closed]
Post now or post later? I've come across an interesting science experiment; should I post about it now or wait until August when it kicks off properly with interactive stuff?
posted by d-no to MetaFilter-Related at 3:52 AM PST - 9 comments
February 21
February 20
I think I just screwed up. The Newsvine FPP I just made doesn't seem to be working for people, and just takes them to a sign-in page. The site is still in beta, and may not be publicly accessible without invite. I did not know this, and I am truly sorry. Can my FPP be removed? Thanks, and many apologies.
posted by BitterOldPunk to MetaFilter-Related at 11:22 PM PST - 5 comments [closed]
Is it acceptable to post a self link in ask if you are looking for peer response to something you have done, ie ways to improve a site, suggestion on a book/article/song/video, and if not has anyone else ever suggested that a mefi peer review might be useful. Granted we enjoy flagellating each other as is, but it would be nice if we could solicit feed back. I understand that if such an option were available directly on projects it might lead to people slandering works of those they dislike, but surely some of us would like to actively seek criticism.
posted by sourbrew to Etiquette/Policy at 4:42 PM PST - 46 comments
Can we get a redo? mickeyz just screwed up his post and put the body text where the title was supposed to go. Instead of deleting it outright, can one of our benevolent overlords repair it and put it back? It's a legitimate FPP, otherwise.
posted by Faint of Butt to MetaFilter-Related at 11:55 AM PST - 11 comments [closed]
February 19
February 18
I just flagged an AskMe answer as "fantastic" for the first time, and I'm curious...and then what happens? What is the purpose of this feature?
posted by evariste to MetaFilter-Related at 10:39 PM PST - 14 comments
Sometime last summer, I believe, there was an FPP about a guy who would write songs based on submitted lyrics. What was really good was that he would make fun of spelling and gramatical errors in submissions. Like the sea "anenonomie". Does anyone still have the link to that?
posted by snsranch to MetaFilter-Related at 7:39 PM PST - 3 comments
February 17
Today, February 17, 2006, has seen the most quality, well written posts ever, or for at least during my time here. The bar has been raised. I'll try to keep up. Thanks!
posted by The Jesse Helms to MetaFilter-Related at 1:18 PM PST - 46 comments
Is Metafilter still getting hammered a la
this thread? I notice that just about every day this week, I have been unable to reach mefi at all in the morning time (GMT, say 8am till roughly 11 or noon). I thought it might just be my net connection at work, but my home connection has the same issues whenever it appears to be down.
Are we just undergoing backups or some-such thing at this time? Or does Ireland just disconnect from MeFi every morning for some reason? :)
posted by antifuse to Bugs at 8:55 AM PST - 10 comments
February 16
The new moo.fx includes some
scroll-to-named-anchor code which I'd love to see in threads here when you click on an anchor link back to another person's comment, used when quoting them inthread. At the moment, it opens a new tab (for me), and rarely actually finds the right place in the page. I realize that's a browser shortcoming, not Matt's fault, of course. Anyway, it's
not a new idea but it's easy to implement now with stuff like moo. Just an idea.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken to Feature Requests at 6:54 PM PST - 9 comments
In revising my post, I screwed up the very first link in
this thread. Should have been
this instead of the same link I posted later in the description.
posted by Meredith to Bugs at 4:42 PM PST - 2 comments [closed]
Deleted AskMe posts still add up to my tag count. Bug, feature, or menace to the community? [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane to Bugs at 2:31 PM PST - 5 comments
I mixed up the title and link fields in
this post making my FPP rather incomprehensible.
posted by delmoi to Bugs at 8:07 AM PST - 6 comments [closed]
Can I give the gift that keeps on giving? Meaning, a mefi account? As it stands I could pay the five bucks and sign somebody up, but the giftee wouldn't have any control over her username or password and can't change them after the fact.
posted by Saucy Intruder to Feature Requests at 7:47 AM PST - 19 comments
So, has anyone who opted to AskMefi an, ahem, embarassing/humiliating/etc question been discovered by a coworker, spouse, etc, whom the original poster thought never knew what mefi was? that is, anonymous posting is great and i want horror stories of those who didn't use it, raining upon them great consequences. stories please?
posted by yonation to MetaFilter-Related at 7:32 AM PST - 41 comments
February 15
Can we make this a link:
? Cuz I always try to click on it whenever I see it, and it's driving me a little nuts. And it would be super convenient and save me a little scrolling when I just want to see the Best Answer. Yeah. Ponies!
posted by tweak to Feature Requests at 9:51 PM PST - 13 comments
Jezztek:
"I can seem to find a thread I was interested in re-reading using the search function, perhaps someone else has the link handy. I remember it was a story of prisoner abuse that came to light not too long ago, and one of the key features that suck in my mind was some mention of a chef, or cook that was permitted to beat a prisoner to let off some steam. I'd like to reread the details of the incident, if anyone could help."
posted by WCityMike to MetaFilter-Related at 1:33 PM PST - 12 comments
I'm getting this on the front page of MeFi:
Connection Timeout members | You are logged in as: Godbert / logout
5 links and 88 comments posted since your last visit
posted by Godbert to Bugs at 8:06 AM PST - 5 comments [closed]
February 14
I'm getting some hang time while logging in. It's coming from dynamic.fmpub.net
It could be a porn-bot that I picked up but I'm only experiencing with Metafilter pages/sites. It's not a huge problem but it looks like I'm being routed through something else before making Metafilter contact. And sometimes it just lags forever.
posted by snsranch to Bugs at 6:32 PM PST - 11 comments
(not sure this should go in AskMe. It's a bit chatty, so please pardon me if I got the wrong forum.)
Since I found the
Sci-Fi thread so compelling I had a thought. Would you serious fans pony up, say, five bucks a piece, to help get a movie made if a studio was willing to match funds? And if it didn't get done, then you'd get your money back? Maybe done through an escrow account? I know that for the right production I'd pony up a lot more than that. Just wondering if you guys would.
posted by TeamBilly to MetaFilter-Related at 2:06 PM PST - 2 comments [closed]
It would be cool to have RSS feeds on a per user basis. I'm thinking mainly posts but comments would be fine too. Something like
http://www.metafilter.com/username.mefi/user/posts.rss and
http://www.metafilter.com/username.mefi/user/comments.rss. It'd be a great way to keep up with people whose stuff you enjoy (like everyone's
favorite) w/o getting lost in the volume.
posted by xmutex to Feature Requests at 8:58 AM PST - 35 comments
A couple of things:
1) When people view your profile and links to answers posted on mefi and such, it looks more like you've posted the question - this seems a little odd, could the actual comments be linked instead (I know they're accessible by clicking on the date, it just seems a slightly unintuitive way of doing it).
2) Mefi and ask.mefi have some GREAT posts on there that I'd love to be able to bookmark within Metafilter (part of my profile maybe?). An example, lots of ask.mefi questions are just damned useful, and I'd like to have a place where I could go and you could see "BishopsLoveSciFi's favourite questions / answers / FPPs".
If it makes it any clearer, think of it working like memories on LJ. (See
this FAQ item if you're not an LJer.)
posted by BishopsLoveScifi to Feature Requests at 8:52 AM PST - 8 comments
AskMe RSS feed isn't working. It's linking to MeFi.
posted by trey to Bugs at 5:21 AM PST - 4 comments [closed]
Why is Metafilter "taking a massage" when I try to view the page on Firefox, but works perfectly fine when I view it in Internet Explorer? I should add that before this morning, Metafilter always worked fine in Firefox. And, despite MeFi's problems, AskMe and MeTa are working fine in Firefox right now.
posted by Effigy2000 to Bugs at 3:07 AM PST - 8 comments
February 13
Hey Matt, what happened to Alumshubby's death threat email post to The Jesse Helms? It was here, it got closed, and then it disappeared. Did you uncover some info to lead you to believe it was fake, and you removed it to keep from besmirching alumshubby's good name? Cause if so, say something, cause he still seems like a death threat issuing prick otherwise.
posted by jonson to MetaFilter-Related at 7:57 PM PST - 18 comments [closed]
The metafilter rss feed is broken. It just gives a 301 redirect to itself.
posted by sfenders to Bugs at 6:50 PM PST - 5 comments
We just got this request a bit ago, but I'm afraid I must make a similar one. Can someone post an AskMe for me? I've got a time sensitive question and AskMe tends to be the best place to get good help [more inside]
posted by twiggy to Bugs at 6:08 PM PST - 11 comments
Sorry about the downtime today, it looks like some comment spammers were DoSing the box with requests for long-dead trackback URLs. After that was cleaned up, some other weird bugs kept the server unavailable for a few hours, but things should be back to normal now.
posted by mathowie to Uptime at 1:09 PM PST - 26 comments
February 12
Would somebody invite me to Orkut? I had forgotten all about it, and saw a passing mention of it today and realized that I never did get to see what all the fuss was about.
My Gmail address is in my profile.
Check my posting history if you want to check out my "suitability" for receiving an invite from you.
posted by davey_darling to MetaFilter-Related at 6:38 PM PST - 52 comments
Actually, so far,
it's not. Not yet, anyway, although I readily concede it's probably coming.
I have no problem with a FPP recounting developments to date about a likely future event, but it's disingenuous to the point of trolling to use a phrase that says the event is actually taking place.
posted by alumshubby to Etiquette/Policy at 10:49 AM PST - 44 comments [closed]
February 11
Is there a way to get MeFi to open links in a new tab, rather than a new page or on the same tab? (mozilla) I apologize in advance for being a klewles n00b.
(even though I've been a member for five years...)
I mean, other than right-clicking. Like, automatic-like.
posted by BitterOldPunk to Feature Requests at 10:56 PM PST - 3 comments [closed]
OK, I f***ed up. I put
6 paragraphs on the front page when I only intended to put one and five on the flip. I thought I'd done everything right. What went wrong?
posted by hwestiii to Etiquette/Policy at 10:31 AM PST - 21 comments [closed]
Uppercase HTML
TITLE text in anchor tags gets converted to lowercase (I think via previewing a post). Seen
here on AskMe. Also seems to be buggy
on MeFi. [MI]
posted by sjvilla79 to Bugs at 3:32 AM PST - 7 comments [closed]
February 10
Just a style suggestion for
links that include single words with multiple links.
A period ('.'), or a middle dot ('·' ·), or even a spacing cedilla ('¸' ¸) between the links would make it a lot less annoying, especially for those of us with motor control problems. I'm not suggesting this as any sort of rule, just as a nicety.
posted by Kickstart70 to Etiquette/Policy at 10:12 AM PST - 26 comments
Reminder: Minneapolis MeFi Meetup tonight at the Loring Pasta Bar at 8 P. M. Please wear nametags that state your screenaame along with the word MeFi. It will be easier to ID each other. See ya there!!
posted by wheelieman to MetaFilter Gatherings at 5:33 AM PST - 9 comments
The current
firefox search plugins for Mefi were written ages ago for the built-in site search (hence they don't work anymore). Can any of our hotshot code cowboy members look into making one that uses the yahoo search? I'm particularly looking for one to search AskMe.
posted by Firas to MetaFilter-Related at 2:56 AM PST - 5 comments
February 9
Everytime I login to MeFi, I get the following Coldfusion error message: " Element CAPTCHATEXT is undefined in FORM". [mi]
posted by neurodoc to Bugs at 4:26 PM PST - 7 comments
Has anyone ever been propositioned to put ads on their Mefi profile page? I was shocked. Well, not really. (mi)
posted by mrgrimm to MetaFilter-Related at 4:00 PM PST - 3 comments [closed]
The titles of the Ask posts are appearing at the top of the posts in GIANT fonts for me. Safari.
posted by Manhasset to Bugs at 3:17 PM PST - 7 comments [closed]
I added more descriptive titles to metafilter and ask mefi comment pages. Refresh your CSS to see them as they intended to look.
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 1:09 PM PST - 34 comments
I would love a feature that allows you to "subscribe" to certain posts, coupled with the ability to view all "subscribed" posts. This way it would be easier to track the progress of certain threads that you do not participate in (you can obviously track those threads through the "my comments" page.
posted by charmston to Feature Requests at 11:44 AM PST - 2 comments [closed]
There was a post on Ask Mefi a couple of days ago about professional/personal sites. I know it was posted after my "online portfolios" question because I was thinking of it while reading the thread. Thing is, I can't find that thread anymore - not by searching, not by going through the archives. Anyone know what happened to that thread?
posted by divabat to MetaFilter-Related at 7:29 AM PST - 4 comments
February 8
PonyFilter... Would it be possible to get a notification either as email (probably hard to do) or on the my comments page when an ask.mefi or metafilter post uses a certain tag. [more inside]
posted by drezdn to Feature Requests at 1:48 PM PST - 10 comments
Just curious. I got the following in my in-box, anyone else getting this spam which appears to be harvested from mefi profile pages?
...
I saw that you had art related sites, but we know that this doesn't have much to do with poker. As such, we would like to work with you for text space on your Mefi profile. We see ourselves liking Mefi traffic and think you make good posts that can attract people to your profile....
Fools!!! They must not have read my FPPs, good posts indeed, pffft.
posted by edgeways to MetaFilter-Related at 12:56 PM PST - 59 comments
Toronto MeFites, let's get together, quaff the good ale (or, as in my case, the mediocre fruit juice), and make Stephen Harper jokes. I'm suggesting 8 p.m.-ish, Saturday, February 25th as the time and date, but you can all fight amongst yourselves about where you want to meet.
posted by orange swan to MetaFilter Gatherings at 11:39 AM PST - 26 comments
[pony] Any chance that
coComment support could be added to to ?(ask.|metatalk.|projects.)metafilter.com? RSS feeds of comment responses sure would be spiffy. Instructions are
here.
posted by slhack3r to Feature Requests at 10:58 AM PST - 14 comments
In another thread
caddis said "Beth, is Matt going somewhere? I would guess that if a meteor dropped on his head tomorrow, MetaFilter would just fade into history." and it made me curious. Now that MetaFilter is a full-time job and presumably a corporation which Matt would leave to someone,
is there some sort of "if I get hit by a bus" plan? [mi]
posted by phearlez to MetaFilter-Related at 10:10 AM PST - 56 comments
I'm proposing a "Brand New Day" reset on grudges, grievances, and gripes. After that, the mods will apply stronger penalties for offenders.
posted by Gamblor to Etiquette/Policy at 9:46 AM PST - 159 comments
Computer crashed; it logged me out in AskMe but not here (?). Attempting to login at AskMe returns the following error:
Error Occurred While Processing Request
Element CAPTCHATEXT is undefined in FORM.
Resources:
* Enable Robust Exception Information to provide greater detail about the source of errors. In the Administrator, click Debugging & Logging > Debugging Settings, and select the Robust Exception Information option.
* Check the ColdFusion documentation to verify that you are using the correct syntax.
* Search the Knowledge Base to find a solution to your problem.
posted by Tuwa to Bugs at 8:54 AM PST - 6 comments
February 7
dead project. The link was to the ebay sale of
this thing which ebay removed for whatever reason (copyright violation, maybe)? Maybe the link should be changed or the post deleted (and perhaps the poster could be allowed to repost another URL)
posted by delmoi to MetaFilter-Related at 9:25 PM PST - 11 comments
Unable to post a FPP, I had to try several times. Firefox 1.5, Windows 2000. Error message inside.
posted by matteo to Bugs at 12:59 PM PST - 11 comments
Policy clarification question:
Matt deleted a link to revisionist.org. I'm not necessarily opposed to this, but I do have a few questions: a) What is the history of link removal from FPP - not modification, like adding a NSFW, but under what circumstances are links actually removed? b) When a link is removed for political reasons, what is the rationale behind the removal? [mi]
posted by By The Grace of God to Etiquette/Policy at 1:14 AM PST - 60 comments
Check it out - Gus somehow heard there was a
thread about his crazy starwars filled house & he joined up to
set a few things straight. That's the second time I've seen that happen in one of my threads, it's a cool testment to the visability of this place. Also, Matt, I will expect my $2.50, as we agreed.
posted by jonson to MetaFilter-Related at 12:05 AM PST - 38 comments
February 6
Does anyone remember a thread in AskMe, around the holidays, discussing a wall-mounted monitor-type thingie that allowed you to load it up with your pictures, say from your computer and view them as a slide show? Did I imagine that or did it really occur, and didn't Mathowie even mention a product like that that he knew about? Not knowing what such a thing is called makes it very difficult to Google for it successfully; does anyone have a clue about what I'm trying to find?
posted by Lynsey to MetaFilter-Related at 10:48 PM PST - 13 comments
Really not a problem, but I am curious: I click anywhere in AskMe, and Firefox doesn't ever seem to think the page is completely loaded? I get the busy signal cursor, and the Firefox load meter (bottom right-hand in Firefox) never completes, even though it seems like the whole page loads. Buh?
posted by trip and a half to Bugs at 9:22 PM PST - 6 comments
Once upon a time not so long ago, I could type in the FQDN http://www.metafilter.org and actually resolve that address and browse Metafilter threads from my office. Now, when I try to use that address, it automatically reverts to http://www.metafilter.com and that address is blocked by my company's "Smartfilter" as "chat/forums". I can't read threads at work anymore and I'm pretty sad about that.
posted by PuppyCat to MetaFilter-Related at 7:17 PM PST - 9 comments
I don't think users should take pot shots at other users for their assumed political views when the other users haven't commented in the thread. Most recently, Malor
wrotes, "I wonder where the primary shills for the Republicans, like dios or ParisParamus, go when threads like this come up?" Neither dios nor ParisParamus made any comments in that thread. According to Google, dios, for example,
has been mentioned in about 100 threads in which he has not posted, and Yahoo puts that number
much higher. Political threads are contentious enough without the sniping.
posted by monju_bosatsu to Etiquette/Policy at 1:44 PM PST - 119 comments [closed]
I want to post some links over on the Filter about an obscure topic. However, due to its obscurity, some of the links would be Wiki articles that I previously created. Would this count as self-promotion, or would it be accetable to do such? Should I simply do my best to work around them?
posted by Atreides to Etiquette/Policy at 11:07 AM PST - 88 comments
I know I'll probably get a lot of shit for this, like I do for every MeTa thread I post, but can we please please please put a moratorium on the phrase "X wins the thread" and all variants thereof?
Okay now please commence with snark and then others can quote that snark and say "[snarker] wins the thread" hooray!
posted by Optimus Chyme to Etiquette/Policy at 9:42 AM PST - 35 comments [closed]
February 5
The worst noise I see on AskMeFi is simple: posts that suggest
that a question should NEVER be asked on AskMeFi. I keep wanting to flag them as "obnoxious" but that isn't specifically an option.
Why do people assume that if someone asks on AskMeFi that they are somehow prevented from asking a real specialist? To put it the other way, can we assume - especially when the poster SAYS so in their question - that the person knows to seek proper help, that they are just asking here for additional points of view?
People here are adults and just because someone asks something in the Green doesn't mean that they're going to let the answers they receive trump a doctor or lawyer's advice. It usually just means someone's a little worried and wants to know what this often intelligent audience has to say on a subject in addition to any other advice they might seek.
posted by mikel to Etiquette/Policy at 1:29 PM PST - 40 comments
OH Man this STINKS! I have an important QUESTION for AskMefi, but my big mouth used up my weekly question......Can someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ask this for me on AskMefi??? (pretty please?)
I've been self employed for 12 years. I made a decent living in the music business and with property investments. NOW, at 39 yrs old, I want to grow up and get a REAL JOB. But over the years I kept lousy track of my TAX RECORDS and some years I was lazy and didn't make much. QUESTION IS: What would happen if I used fake tax returns to show a decade of organized self employment for the sole purpose of applying for jobs?
posted by SwingingJohnson1968 to Feature Requests at 1:12 PM PST - 12 comments [closed]
Pony: any chance of having the ability to look up a user by appending their username name to the "/user/" URL? The user number is okay, but being able to have the name as well would be really helpful.
posted by TheDonF to Feature Requests at 7:50 AM PST - 9 comments
How easy would it be to have an RSS feed of someone's individual contributions across Metafilter? There are a couple of members whose work is consistently good and might be worth watching as you would an individual blog.
posted by feelinglistless to MetaFilter-Related at 7:44 AM PST - 7 comments
Can we please stop questioning the need for anonymous AskMe posters to be anonymous? The posters can't respond, and I find Matt does a decent job of filtering out the questions that have no possible necessity for anonymity. Maybe you can't think of a reason, but then again, it's not your life at issue.
posted by grouse to Etiquette/Policy at 3:04 AM PST - 20 comments
February 4
How about a character limit on the first part of an AskMe question? I'm tired of seeing the AskMe page cluttered with questions like
this one.
posted by mr.dan to Feature Requests at 11:19 PM PST - 16 comments
Is it (would it be) possible to search for users based on # of posts/comments/questions? (Based on a few earlier threads, I'm curious as to how many accounts have been set up solely to ask question(s).)
posted by aberrant to Feature Requests at 1:35 PM PST - 11 comments
"Bullshit, and fuck you for assuming that." -- I've observed that without further insight into the poster behind relationship questions, most people will naturally make their own assumptions and bring their own personal experiences to bear. If you're going to put yourself "out there" like this (and I question whether this is a good use of Ask Metafilter since these questions have no real "right" answer) then you also need to be a bit more patient with those who respond -or, don't respond at all.
posted by vacapinta to Etiquette/Policy at 11:45 AM PST - 29 comments
Connection Failure members | You are logged in as: solopsist / logout
no links and 12 comments posted since your last visit
I'm a connection failure member? Did I torque someone off?
posted by pjern to Bugs at 5:25 AM PST - 5 comments [closed]
February 3
Denver Mefi Meetup!
South Denver/DTC area mefi's! I'm in town for the weekend, and have some free time tomorrow (Saturday Feb. 4) evening. Who's available for a meetup? What's a good place to meet? What time works for everybody? What will you be wearing?
Let's discuss! My email's in my profile to finalize details.
posted by Space Kitty to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:29 PM PST - 5 comments
Temporary comment editing?
I'm sure this has been brought up before but......It would be nice to be able to edit one's comments for a short period after posting. Not for very long, obviously, but long enough to fix glaring errors or spelling mistakes.
posted by fenriq to Feature Requests at 1:05 PM PST - 86 comments [closed]
I don't know how technically difficult this is but... can I ask, is there ever any intention to show clickthroughs? I think it would enhance the site because a post without many comments but many clickthroughs indicates that it was a worthwhile post. I know this could be gamed... but would anyone bother (not a tracker just a count)?
[excuse me if I have used clickthrough incorrectly, I mean how may times a post/link has been clicked on]
posted by tellurian to Feature Requests at 5:37 AM PST - 43 comments
This AskMe thread, although well intentioned, broke the guidelines and was subsequently deleted. But its subject matter still deserves attention, I think, and so here it is, being posted again, where the question can hopefully achieve some good. Where
is ethylene?
posted by Effigy2000 to MetaFilter-Related at 1:35 AM PST - 62 comments
February 2
When one submits an AskMeFi question anonymously, how long does it typically take to get posted? And if Matt rejects it, how would one know?
posted by jedicus to MetaFilter-Related at 3:28 PM PST - 1 comments [closed]
TTL tag is missing in MetaTalk RSS (and possibly other feeds) but not the main Metafilter feed.
posted by blue_beetle to Bugs at 12:21 PM PST - 8 comments
Would it be worthwhile to incorporate a tag search as part of the post new thread process? I'm picturing it comparing the tags chosen for a new post to previously tagged threads, and displaying a list of threads with two or more tags in common.
posted by GhostintheMachine to Feature Requests at 8:43 AM PST - 8 comments
February 1
I just know I'm going to get beaten up for this comment, but a lot of FPPs seem to assume that the audience is entirely American, or at least North American. The level of unthinking parochialism seems to have increased recently (or maybe it's just me). The Guidelines are silent as far as I can tell on whether MeFi has a particular cultural focus or bias, is there or should there be a policy on this?
posted by wilful to Etiquette/Policy at 9:59 PM PST - 202 comments
I'm not seeing the usual buttons under the comment fields. Bold, Italic, Link, et cetera. Is there upkeep/pony-development going on?
posted by brundlefly to Bugs at 9:17 PM PST - 7 comments [closed]
I'd like to stay logged out of MetaFilter and MetaTalk while staying logged in to AskMeFi. Is that too tall of an order?
posted by furtive to Feature Requests at 5:07 PM PST - 17 comments [closed]
Please explain the "Contacts" section of the profile.
Where, and under what circumstances should/would I link to another MeFite? Is this something people do in posts, or elsewhere?
Viewing the Contact Info of a Profile with Contacts seems to indicate something external to MeFi -- I see a column of links to profiles, and a column of external URLs, but nothing coupling them (although some of the identities of the latter are obvious).
And what's an example of a Contribution from a Contact?
posted by Rash to Etiquette/Policy at 2:17 PM PST - 27 comments
Is it just me, or are the AskMe topics getting more repetitive?
Even if the questions are not repeats, they're slight variations on existing questions, where a huge number of the answers are either identical or extremely similar.
I'm not sure how many more times I can rephrase my answer on what non-stick cookware to buy, or hear another question about whether some 18-year old who got married too early should explore polyamory on a trial basis, or engage in a heated discussion about how to extend the life of laptop batteries. Presumably, this happens more often than just the ones I notice.
The questions are interesting even the first few times. But it does get old and I feel like my will to be helpful is being sapped as I repeat myself. Obviously, people aren't reading the archives, or not finding the previous posts that quite obviously apply to them. Anyone else feel this way?
We've built up quite a knowledge base here, but it seems to me that the knowledge of where the knowledge is is still concentrated at the edges. The search isn't doing it, or people aren't using it. (The fact that the search results can't be ordered by date probably contributes.)
As a secondary concern, I'd also like to be able to better find those historical questions that do apply to me.
Thoughts?
posted by Caviar to Etiquette/Policy at 11:36 AM PST - 65 comments
Warning: This is a slightly silly question.
When people say "we" on MeFi, who are they referring to? An example of this is
here - sorry plep, not meaning to pick on you but your comment reminded me of a thought I have often had. A username refers to a single person, so when I see someone say "we" instead of "I", I get confused. Do couples regularly browse MeFi together? Do friends split the $5 sign up and share an account? Do businesses have an account for urgent AskMe questions? Please indulge my curiosity.
posted by Orange Goblin to Etiquette/Policy at 10:42 AM PST - 34 comments
I'm not sure of this is a bug or a feature, but I've noticed that in "My Comments" long comments are cut off. If it's a bug: "Hey Matt, I found a bug!" If it's a feature...well I suppose I see the logic, so whatever.
posted by duck to Bugs at 10:03 AM PST - 2 comments
A Modest Pony Proposal: There's been
talk in the past of adding a "Watch this thread" feature, which would be very useful. Is this still in the works?
posted by Gamblor to Feature Requests at 9:26 AM PST - 1 comments [closed]
Can anyone please tell me what the requirements are for posting on MetaFilter?
I mean, it looks random but I am not sure.
posted by Makebusy7 to MetaFilter-Related at 8:00 AM PST - 4 comments [closed]
