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April 2007 Archives (all archives)
April 30
I recently posted an anonymous question to Metafilter (within the past week). I browsed to the 'New Question' page without thinking about the question limits because I had a new query, but to my surprise the page didn't restrict me from posting. A bug? A way to get around the question limit? Am I shortly going to be shot for pointing this out?
posted by Phire to bugs at 6:10 PM PST - 16 comments
I was wondering if there was any way to increase the cutoff distance for 'users nearby' in the profile pages. I realize the middle of Iowa isn't exactly a hotbed of technoloigcal happenings, but I know that there are some MeFites that live within 60 miles or so. Could this be implemented as a drop-down in the preferences page? That way, people who live in more densly populated areas could keep their list smaller, while those out in the sticks could have a bigger list.
Or is there a page somewhere that searches user's long/lat by distance, and my goog-fu failed me (again)?
posted by ArgentCorvid to feature requests at 8:30 AM PST - 21 comments
Post your MeFi Swap tracklist. I thought it would be great to see everyone's track selections and several people gave me encouragement so here goes. Mine is inside
posted by spicynuts to MetaFilter-related at 6:57 AM PST - 51 comments
April 29
April 28
This comment links to a video of a real life suicide without warning (other than "I'm a terrible person"). Normally I'd flag this and move on, but this is possibly the worst thing I've ever seen on metafilter and I'd like to see it deleted as quickly as possible.
posted by null terminated to etiquette/policy at 6:47 PM PST - 59 comments
I've got a feature that I'd LOVE to see added, largely driven by the number of "I just finished reading this, what should I read next posts" ... a set of fields on our profile pages where we can add a book that we've recently read/enjoyed (perhaps by ISBN?), followed by a comments box. That way, members could build their "reading histories" over time, and they'd be available to the rest of the community.
I realize there are plenty of stand-alone sites that do just this, but I'd love to see it integrated into MeFi, simply because I'd be very interested in checking in from time to time to see what certain posters are reading these days. We all kinda get to know each other over time, and there's an unusually high percentage of very literate people on this site.
(Forgive, please, if this has been requested before.)
posted by jbickers to feature requests at 2:38 PM PST - 38 comments
April 27
So, this user wants to ice himself and post it on the internet. Or, the question is "totally theoretical." Who knows. I
know this question has come up before, but the film-my-own-suicide dude seems to have an actual plan. I am thinking of the Viriginia Tech situation where former professors and classmates are coming with an example-a-minute of things the shooter wrote and said that people didn't respond to. I am picturing a local news story with friends and family going through this dude's bookmarked sites and saying "He pleaded for help on this site..." and seeing the green up there. Maybe MeFites more senior to myself can shed some light on this. I don't have a position either way (or, I should say, I have opinions that go both ways), I am more just wondering what an online community's responsibility is to its members, if any.
posted by sneakin to etiquette/policy at 5:17 AM PST - 84 comments
April 26
I've noticed quite a few times people will ask questions over on AskMe about laws or rules about say, taxes or renting an apartment or consumer rights, etc., but frequently forget to mention where specifically they are living, which can make the question very difficult to answer until further info is obtained.
Can we add in a note to the AskMe posting page (just like the one that says "Have you searched Google?" etc) saying something to the effect of "Have you mentioned where you live, if it is a question about the law, your rights, etc?"
posted by modernnomad to feature requests at 1:57 PM PST - 32 comments
I thought the
buster keaton post was incredible, one of my favorites to read (and watch) in a long time, and even more so when i read it was a first post. Anyways I just want to recognize churl for putting so much effort into making such a great first post .. links to criticism, sources,background info and of course videos.. its awesome. Just a really auspicious begginning, i hope he does more like this
posted by petsounds to MetaFilter-related at 1:45 PM PST - 32 comments
We may not have
Fark to kick around anymore:
Text comments, AudioEdit submissions, and Photoshopped images posted on Fark by registered users may not be reposted or broadcast without the express written permission or license from Fark.com, and must attribute Fark.com as the source.
via
posted by Kirth Gerson to MetaFilter-related at 12:54 PM PST - 46 comments
Reposting on MeFi after a long period of lurkage. I need some advice about self-linking. While I know the rule is "don't!", I've worked with a video collective that would be relevant in light of recent posts about Night Flight. I don't run the site, but I feel that I should mention that I've worked with them in the past.
Can I post this website, and should I mention my involvement after a [more inside] jump?
posted by pxe2000 to etiquette/policy at 7:26 AM PST - 10 comments
So, it's been
done and it's been
done again. Is anyone up for doing a third one? I just got an ipod nano for my birthday and picked up the nike kit. I'll have the shoepouch shortly. Anyone want to do a May competition? I haven't created a formal one yet, but I think I can figure it out. I also figure I will be more likely to actually run if I am competing against someone.
Is anyone interested? It seems to have been successful the last two times...
posted by bDiddy to MetaFilter gatherings at 5:24 AM PST - 20 comments
April 25
If an admin deleted an Ask MeFi question at the poster's request, what ethical implications are associated with blogging about it, if you saw the thread prior to its deletion and feel you have something to say? And what rationale do you use to form that opinion?
posted by WCityMike to MetaFilter-related at 2:41 PM PST - 53 comments
the snark feature is disabled for me - by that i mean the comments arent working.
posted by sgt.serenity to bugs at 12:43 PM PST - 22 comments [closed]
April 24
Upon reading some responses in the "Shooty" post, I have a basic question that has started to bother me and I hope it is appropriate to post here. Why, when there is debate sparked over anything in general, does it seem to always point to Republican/Democrat, Race or Income? More inside:
posted by ForeverDcember to MetaFilter-related at 9:27 PM PST - 75 comments
It would be neat if the
UTC date and time of postings could be incorporated into their URLs.
For example,
http://metatalk.metafilter.com/14082/Metafilter-Shoutout
could appear as
http://metatalk.metafilter.com/20070525-2249/Metafilter-Shoutout
There would likely need to be an additional digit after the datecode to disambiguate between threads posted nearly simultaneously. The benefit would be to let people see how old threads are when mousing over links to them.
posted by harmfulray to feature requests at 6:25 PM PST - 27 comments
Given the events of last week, it is really inappropriate to "moderate" comments to
this question, which announces (vaguely and without details or motive) a course of action that could very well be dangerous to public health. While requesting that responses be limited to those from people who agree with you is always counterproductive, here it is just stupid, and the moderators should either delete the question or leave on-topic comments alone. That. Is. All.
posted by Saucy Intruder to etiquette/policy at 2:00 PM PST - 316 comments
April 23
April 22
Why are people being so judgmental in
this AskMe question? Just because there is a celebrity connection? Other people like myself who have legitimate stories to share are being turned off by the sheer abrasiveness and lack of empathy displayed inside.
posted by divabat to etiquette/policy at 11:11 PM PST - 117 comments
I was looking at an
old AskMe of mine from 2006, and it doesn't appear to be closed to comments (though I didn't try posting a reply.) The usual "this thread is closed" isn't there - instead, it's the normal reply box. Bug?
posted by IndigoRain to bugs at 12:18 PM PST - 15 comments
I'm getting a server error when I hit any of the *.mefi sites that looks like it's related to cookie processing. Here's the relevant error message:
Element USER_PASS is undefined in COOKIE.
posted by kaefer to bugs at 9:09 AM PST - 4 comments
April 21
Off the back of
this AskMe, I propose an East Van meetup sometime in the next couple of weeks. Weekends are out for me (for the next couple of weeks, anyway), but I work more or less in the area, so after work at 8ish somewhere on Main would be good...who's in?
posted by Jon Mitchell to MetaFilter gatherings at 2:37 PM PST - 17 comments
I'll looking for a post from maybe a year or so back. It was about an Australian pop star who's father basically paid for his sons' stardom. It culminated is a concert where the son was booed off the stage and exposed as a fake. Does anyone remember this post?
posted by KevinSkomsvold to MetaFilter-related at 7:45 AM PST - 29 comments
April 20
At MeFiMusic, adding individual songs from other users' playlists to ones' own, or otherwise favoriting tracks looks time consuming. How about 2.0/itunes/etc style 'starring' beside the trackname to add a filter-layer for favourite/playlisting?
posted by acro to MetaFilter Music at 12:18 PM PST - 16 comments
Could someone direct me to specific policies that state why posts are removed? I had one removed today because someone chose to use inappropriate language in a comment. The language use was apparently blamed on the article I posted. That is very strange. I don't know where the policy is that states what can and can't be posted.
posted by scissorhand2 to etiquette/policy at 11:05 AM PST - 226 comments
April 19
Hey all, I'm working on an updated page that shows recent favorites activity. You can play along at home by adding your userID to this URL:
http://www.metafilter.com/recent_activity.cfm?user_id=[userID]
And for fun here's recent activity for
mathowie,
jessamyn, and
cortex. There are probably still some bugs to catch, this isn't the permanent home, void where prohibited, etc.
posted by pb to feature requests at 6:02 PM PST - 71 comments
There are
two favorites by the same user on one post on the Virginia Tech shootings thread. Similar can be seen
here, as mentioned
here. Also
reported in a MeTa thread on another favorite bug.
posted by Anything to bugs at 3:23 PM PST - 9 comments [closed]
I have metafilter set to open all links in a new window so I can enjoy sweet, sweet linkage while still keeping my wholesome metafilter goodness. It's very, very convenient. However, just now I was posting to the blue and when I deleted my كشري tag (I guess Arabic support is out of the question?) clicking on the
[x] spawned a new window. It probably shouldn't do that, since most similar links (adding favorites, top nav, pretty much anything other than a link in a post or comment) don't.
posted by Deathalicious to bugs at 8:09 AM PST - 29 comments
April 18
Speaking of
asavage, did anyone else see the MeFi shoutout on tonight's Mythbusters? On the wall during one the post-myth summaries, "MeFi" was written in what looked like chalk on a green chalkboard.
asavage mentioned that he'd shout the site out out in
MeFi Podcast 3, but it sounded like that would only be for the
old west show.
posted by paulus andronicus to MetaFilter-related at 9:30 PM PST - 41 comments
Dear Y2Karl,
For someone who is so pacifist/gun control you sure are a bully about the amount of front page real estate you use to make a post. Was that paragraph so important? Do you have to ram every point down our throats? WE GET IT. YOU HAVE AN AGENDA. PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE WHO VISITS THIS SITE UNDERSTANDS YOU DON'T LIKE BUSH. It gets freakin tiresome.
More inside is your friend.
posted by vronsky to etiquette/policy at 1:57 PM PST - 356 comments
April 17
Is there a bug in
this question? Looks fine on its own page, but on the main
AskMe page it starts with the second sentence: "But this time...". Perhaps something to do with the fact that the first sentence is identical to the title?
posted by allkindsoftime to bugs at 1:56 PM PST - 2 comments [closed]
April 16
Some
posts just don't get enough love.
Dead kids - 477
Creative French language video - 3
hmmmm
posted by caddis to bugs at 7:49 PM PST - 54 comments
April 15
Is
this MeFi featuring in the
Loose Change "documentary"? The colour scheme suggests yes but I can't read any of the text on the page.
[Google Video]
posted by alby to MetaFilter-related at 3:38 AM PST - 17 comments
April 14
I added a new feature: Custom CSS for profile pages. You simply create a .css file on your own server, write whatever CSS you want, and it will load after all the mefi CSS when anyone views your user page.
Here's mine (which loads
this). Just plop in the URL of your custom CSS file on your server in your user prefs.
Be sure to post here when you've got something cool to show. Let the ugliness/coolness begin!
posted by mathowie to feature requests at 9:43 PM PST - 188 comments
April 13
As I stopped in here trying to catch up on threads, it was hard not to notice that LandedGentry's original post about Kurt Vonnegut's death had about 600 entries. (Will the more anal among us please count the periods?)
davidmsc threw in his dime early on, and it was both counter to the general opinion and given in a very flippant manner. That SINGLE comment generated nearly three hundred other comments on the brown.
Now I ask you all. Does this make any sense for the long term best interests of metafilter?
posted by Penny Wise to etiquette/policy at 8:31 PM PST - 58 comments [closed]
Feel free to put me in my place if this is way too trivial an issue, but I've been posting more recently and can't help but notice the little tip below the posting box, and—I know this is trivial, sorry—can we replace the two hyphens with a dash? kthx.
posted by Firas to bugs at 6:58 PM PST - 67 comments
April 12
We're testing out a new resizable textarea feature. If you'll notice the comments area of any MetaTalk thread, there are some grab handles on the side and bottom of the comment box. Stretch that to a usable size, and it will set a cookie as your new default textarea size. The default size is the same as it was, so people that don't use it should be unaffected. We'll add it to other sites as long as it's working for most people here.
posted by mathowie to feature requests at 2:33 PM PST - 143 comments
I think that Kurt Vonnegut would have approved of commemorating his death during Happy Hour.
Corner Brewery, Ann Arbor/Ypsi, Friday, April 13, 6:00 pm. Or get there earlier and save us a table.
posted by ardgedee to MetaFilter gatherings at 3:56 AM PST - 7 comments
April 11
Anyone interested in an Atlanta, GA meet-up? I recently moved from an area with no local MeFites so it would be nice to finally meet some members.
posted by studentbaker to MetaFilter gatherings at 12:50 PM PST - 37 comments
Miko creeped me out, because I was just coming here to suggest my own
Chicago meetup. Wednesday, April 25 at the Hopleaf. Details in the comments.
posted by sjuhawk31 to MetaFilter gatherings at 11:03 AM PST - 10 comments
Skot
summarizes Ask Metafilter: "AskMe is often quite an amazing resource; it's made even more impressive by the fact that this 'community' of thousands of sun-deprived gripers frequently give good advice. Predictably, however, you have to wade through pounding waves of horrible bullshit to find it. And then, when you do find it, you have to sit there a moment and worry about the fact that this community—like all communities—is filled with a colorful band of assholes, half of whom hate the other half; a full two-thirds who are illiterate or insane; an unidentifiable portion who are basement-dwelling hate-wraiths; ten percent who are axe-grinding creeps, possibly with real axes; and your average random smattering of mean-spirited shitheads. But somewhere in there are some good answers! Usually." Great Scott!
posted by Mo Nickels to MetaFilter-related at 2:55 AM PST - 95 comments
April 10
Is it worth flagging AskMe questions that seem to have been asked without any attempt by the user to answer the question? They may contain a "legitimate" question, but the user has clearly failed to make the effort prior to posting.
I'm asking not in reaction to a specific post, although there was one recently, but just to know if it's worth the effort, and would such questions be likely to be removed?
posted by edgeways to etiquette/policy at 8:38 PM PST - 38 comments
This does not seem like an appropriate use of the jobs section. My attempt to flag it resulted in an error.
posted by necessitas to bugs at 12:07 PM PST - 12 comments
A Short Post In Which I Suggest: 1. Good Design Doesn’t Need Explanatory Diagrams, and 2. A Thorough and Simple Search Mechanism Would Prevent Many Double Posts.
posted by Milkman Dan to feature requests at 10:26 AM PST - 73 comments
Metafilter city pages: How about creating a section on the site, or in the metafilter wiki, that is a guide to various cities across the world, using links to ask.mefi responses to give the information?
posted by drezdn to feature requests at 7:13 AM PST - 28 comments
There's a
thread in AskMefi that may be a candidate for deletion or at least expunging identifying info. It includes personal info of third parties and asks if a business is a "scam" with no evidence/logic. And after this inflammatory claim there is no follow-up by the OP.
posted by sparrows to etiquette/policy at 4:32 AM PST - 11 comments
April 9
April 8
Do AskMe posts that don't contain a question on the front page annoy everyone else? Should the relevant text on the "Ask a new question page" be more prominent?
posted by ludwig_van to etiquette/policy at 1:53 PM PST - 40 comments
April 7
I need help with a popular song for the late 80s / early 90s. A chanting song, with monks in the background and a woman repeating latin sayings. Can you help? I tried Chant, but that's not the right album.
posted by Macboy to MetaFilter Music at 12:06 PM PST - 20 comments [closed]
April 6
I'm missing the inclusion of noteworthy posts/comments on the sideblog (it's been a couple months since a non-"site news" tidbit). Is it on its way out as a "super bump" or has the community just been that uninteresting?
posted by pokermonk to feature requests at 4:03 PM PST - 20 comments
Ridiculously long Headline/Titles result in ridiculously long "add to favorites" pop-ups.
See here.
posted by phaedon to bugs at 11:43 AM PST - 11 comments
April 5
This has probably been covered previously but I couldn't find it. Can I post to Projects for a friend? It's a good project that I think MeFites would appreciate. It's non-profit and others might like to check out similar things in their communities.
posted by snsranch to etiquette/policy at 6:17 PM PST - 22 comments
For
this thread in 'My Comments' in my profile, and in the other people's profile I checked, the comments are out of order. The comment appearing after mine in 'My Comments' appears before mine in the thread.
posted by philomathoholic to bugs at 4:22 PM PST - 8 comments
Just a casual observation, but it looks like AskMe's post count will reach parity with MeFi's somewhere in the next 24-48 hours. By the end of the week there will be more threads created on the green than created in the blue.
posted by XQUZYPHYR to MetaFilter-related at 1:23 PM PST - 43 comments
I would love to see a page that lists the tags related to the threads I have favorited. My favorites list has become unmanagable, and this would be a great way to navigate / explore what I've saved earlier. I have no idea if this has been asked for previously...
posted by xammerboy to feature requests at 8:59 AM PST - 10 comments
April 4
Observation... Preference for florence henderson?
While I truly enjoy florence's entries as much as you all do, I honestly don't see them as being better than SO many other comments, yet she seems to always get a fav vote or four.
Is there something I should know here?
Sorry, flo, not meaning to bust, I luvs ya too. Just asking though?
posted by Penny Wise to etiquette/policy at 9:27 PM PST - 233 comments
The map portion of jobs isn't loading. The job location of
this post seems to be the cause.
posted by sanko to bugs at 7:28 PM PST - 5 comments
Help me, O Admins! I screwed up!
Even though I previewed three times, I mixed up the tags and titles on
this AskMe After I am tortured and ridiculed, can you please change the to "In Here, Out Over There"?
posted by Robert Angelo to MetaFilter-related at 5:33 PM PST - 16 comments
In the past couple of weeks, whenver I load a fresh copy of the Blue it takes a couple of seconds for all the links (in posts, profiles, etc.) to start 'working'. Once or twice I've gotten an error message that says "Scripts are taking a long time to load, do you want to continue loading them?". What's going on? I'm a Vista user, but as I said it's only been for the last couple of weeks, and it doesn't happen in AskMe or MetaTalk. I ask here vice in an email in the event it's happening to others...
posted by matty to MetaFilter-related at 5:22 PM PST - 43 comments
When I click on 'popular favorites', the number of favorites for each post is consistently wrong. I think the number I see corresponds with how many favorites the post had when I last clicked it.
This question feels familiar to me - I think this has been discussed here before - but as
I mentioned earlier, I have a difficult time searching for stuff here.
If you want to point me to a previous discussion on this, feel free. Thanks.
posted by serazin to bugs at 4:29 PM PST - 9 comments
Minor AskMe usability gripe: Can [more inside] be a link to the thread? When a question is unanswered, the only way to get into the thread is by clicking "0 Answers." It seems more logical to click on [more inside].
posted by eyeballkid to feature requests at 3:05 PM PST - 8 comments
Can we please have a way to sort savedfavorites by "Most recently favorited?" Either as a default, or an option? As time passes, more and more active users have multiple pages of comments that have been favorited and it can be difficult to track down what's going on when old threads are suddenly rediscovered.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson to feature requests at 12:04 PM PST - 24 comments
Often there are questions posted to Ask Metafilter that have a similar format. The poster will have a general health problem, and will also be fat. In 95% of the cases, losing weight is the first step to solving the problem. Yet, this answer is often
immedietly removed. Is it really so terrible to point out the elephant in the room? And, more pointedly, are we doing others a diservice by not being frank?
posted by four panels to etiquette/policy at 10:56 AM PST - 178 comments
This is a good post, marred badly by its comments, which seem to be mostly in a vein of defensive nationalism. Odd, since a few minutes' research seems to indicate the poster is from the US, or at least was educated and is living there, and the story as described does merit the hostility of the poster.
posted by Aidan Kehoe to etiquette/policy at 3:18 AM PST - 81 comments
April 3
Are there price fixing guidelines for AskMefi? After
this question came up, I realized I am not very certain of price fixing laws. Is it okay to tell someone that there's a typical entry-level rate for freelancing or that a certain range is typical? If they come up with a fee, can we say yea or nay? I'm in Canada, so I assume rules may be different in the US. But perhaps we can establish some sort of guideline.
posted by acoutu to etiquette/policy at 4:29 PM PST - 42 comments
I did a google search, looked through the tags, and did a mefi search (for bee and bees) and found no posts that were related, but
this still seems to be a double. Why didn't
this show up in my searching? This kind of thing has happened to me on a few of my recent posts -- how can I change my search methods to find archived posts more reliably?
posted by cubby to etiquette/policy at 6:22 AM PST - 22 comments
April 2
"Long tailed awesomeness" - or AskMe brings the cheese in. In November 2005 I uploaded
this question to Ask. In September 2006 I uploaded
this song to Music. This morning I recieved
this image and a nice note.
posted by Jofus to MetaFilter-related at 9:32 AM PST - 34 comments
April 1
What is the policy on questions like
this? Is ask.me the proper venue for asking questions that are serial in nature? Is helping someone through every specific aspect of their life (and at 2 week intervals) something that is condoned?
posted by Stynxno to etiquette/policy at 8:56 PM PST - 95 comments
Can anyone help me find that great AskMe post from a while back that was about finding a nice, semi-unusual, old-fashioned boy's name for a baby?
posted by arcticwoman to MetaFilter-related at 6:46 PM PST - 17 comments
Y'know...I can handle bad April Fool's jokes from tech companies (or others). Yeah, they aren't great, but megacorporations aren't really known for their great sense of humour.
What I hate is that people feel this is there opportunity to bitch, whine and complain about someone else's attempt at humour, how much they hate AFD, how it should have been funnier, or how they would have done it better.
It's a joke frchristssakes. Laugh. Or don't. Just don't whine.
posted by Kickstart70 to MetaFilter-related at 10:17 AM PST - 34 comments
Ahoy, scurvy sea dogs! After looking around AskMe for MMORPG recommendations, I've become addicted to
Puzzle Pirates. I am having fun all by myself, but I was wondering if any of my fellow Mefites would care for a rumble or a good pilly. I'm Otterlee on the Viridian Ocean and I'm a member of Floruit Ab Intra. E-mail is in profile if ye want to parley.
posted by Biblio to MetaFilter-related at 9:41 AM PST - 12 comments
