May 2012 Archives (all archives)
May 31
Or is it just me?
I like the DECK ads, but the American Apparel ones aren't like the others. They are objectifying and cliched and make me wince every time they pop up. Any way for MetaFilter block those specific ads or send feedback to the DECK people to let them know they're hurting their brand by allowing that kind of crap?
Could we not scream "FAKE" without some evidence to that effect?
FAKE!!! Wait, maybe not. Could we consider not derailing a post with screams of FIRE errr... FAKE, without a bit of evidence that points to that? Could we especially not do it when there seems to be evidence that it ISN'T fake?
May 30
What Was this Term In a Comment?
A few months ago there was an AskMe or MeFi comment that described a very specific term for when layoffs or pink slips are used to force a political agenda. I think the context was education.
Can anyone remember the comment or term? Please forgive or delete this if it's misuse of MeTa. And thanks too!
The Cold War now on DVD
As a followup to this post: The Only Winning Move is to Watch This, you can now buy The Cold War on DVD. [more inside]
The Wheel is real?
May 29
She asked for help getting rid of shame, we gave her more.
Metafilter collectively piled on to this OP so hard that she returned to update that she was actually essentially being triggered by the responses. How can we do this better and keep our own issues out of being helpful? Is there a way to "report pileon"? Should there be? [more inside]
MeFi's Own Toekneesan Sees the Future of Books
MeFi's Own Toekneesan has interesting ideas about book places in the digital age. Andrew Sullivan and Inside Higher Ed's Scott McLemee think so too. Congratulations, Toekneesan! [more inside]
May 28
AskMe vs WaPo
May 27
What Is This Creepy Site Advertising? A book, perhaps?
Upon revisiting the classic Ask thread What Is This Creepy Site Advertising? (a.k.a., the thread where tons of Mefites congregated for weeks to solve the puzzle behind an unusual viral marketing website), I discovered something intriguing about the site in question. [more inside]
Perhaps we could save the zombie jokes for threads that aren't about actual cannibalism
I don't know what sickens me most about this post, the content itself, the framing of it, or the lolz comments. I'm not asking to have it deleted, and I'm not sure what I am asking for. Perhaps it's just that we show a little more respect for the victims of these horrible psychotic crimes. For example, I don't think anyone would write a post about real life rapes that referenced some sort of fictionalized supernatural rapists.
When is a Double not a Double?
I'm not entirely sure how I came to it but I was reading this post at Gawker & wandered down into the comments only to find this odd bit of writing. Some of the replies were witty but then (MeFi's own?) Gawker editor Maureen O'Connor pointed out it was essentially identical to this anonynmous AskMe from 5 years ago. At the very least I figure it's a curiosity worth pointing out to my fellow MeFites who have too much free time on their hands & want to dissect it under the usual microscope.
Site Search
404 error in the site search when logged out. [more inside]
long way to the top
It's a long way to the TOP if ya gotta scroll 'n' scroll. [more inside]
May 26
Best of the Wiki
What are some of the best things on the Metafilter Wiki? [more inside]
May 25
Is there an ignore/block function? Should there be?
Am I correct that there is no option to block/ignore all posts from a particular member? If so, could I please request that as a feature? [more inside]
May 24
Strip mobile tags
Can we strip the 'm' from links to Wikipedia?
In a recent post there was a link to a Wikipedia page that went directly to the mobile site. If your on a mobile device you would automatically get the mobile version so there is no reason to force people on non-mobile devices to it. [more inside]
Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of clubbing former actress Lindsay Lohan.
MeFi's Own™ nasreddin has won the Rossica Young Translators Award for his daring and inventive rendering of a passage from the new Viktor Pelevin novel. An excerpt of his entry starts on page 34 of this PDF.
Habeas factus
This post ought not to have been deleted. The reason given: "This post was deleted for the following reason: Seems like an interesting and pretty fucked-up case, but most of the links here seem like they're kind of filler material and if the meat of the post is essentially "read this legal PDF" it might need to be presented a lot more in those terms, or with some good long-form journalism or analysis. Otherwise we've just got folks arguing about rape charges yet again. -- cortex" [more inside]
Minor preview bug?
Minor preview bug? [more inside]
+1 or Thumbs Up buttons
I would like to request a feature to distinguish favorites (answers/posts I want to go back and read) vs "promotes" (ability to vote for a post/answer without adding a "nthing" comment). [more inside]
May 23
Big Companies FTW
Great Metafilter comment on moving up from a low-level position in a big company? [more inside]
MeFi's own...
Once again, an FPP has attracted its subject to comment on the proceedings. Deborah Feldman has dropped in to offer many clarifications and responses to questions in this thread about her interview on xoJane and the ensuing drama.
Just because it's commercial doesn't mean it's a bad idea
Klout interface for Metafilter? [more inside]
May 22
Say what?
Wait. Did he seriously go to the most expensive college in the country and tell the new grads to take the lower paying job? MeFi's own asavage gives an awesome commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College. [more inside]
I'm with Leah Remini on this one.
Do I have the most inane first comment ever? [more inside]
AskMe Duplicity
Hey, I just saw that AskMe... oh wait, it was a different cat problem... [more inside]
Where'd it go...
There was a FPP deleted about the blocking of parts of the NDAA and a link to a Guardian.uk article by Naomi Wolf. Why was it deleted? [more inside]
holdkris99's death was a hoax.
So, we were lied to. The good news is that holdkris99 is fine, rather than dead. He's also banned, his wife's (?) account is banned, and they're not welcome back to Metafilter, ever. [more inside]
"Well, I expressed them!"
Hat tip to MonsierBon, I think this might be the most disgusting Ask.Mefi ever. Is it? [more inside]
May 21
IPonyV6
The blockquote tag is awesome! Let me show you how to use it.
Quoting more then a sentence or two from a user or article? Let me introduce you to the blockquote tag to use in place of italics. [more inside]
Cab talk
World wide web
May 19
Showtime
So, apparently the term "showrunner" is new to Metafilter and Metafilter is offended by that. Shall we discuss it over here?
Even better than an advice column binge: how to search for most favorited/commented AskMes in a particular category
Is there a way to look at popular AskMe questions in a particular category, either in the recent past or over time? The infodumpster almost does this, but not quite. [more inside]
I guess I can post after 5,000 comments
"Your post could not be added. You have not posted enough comments to be able to post to the front page." Huh? [more inside]
May 18
"Expand all" on favorites?
Pony request: Expand all on favorites? [more inside]
There is no Lacuna Cabal, kid.
Author Sean Dixon is now a Grand Poohbah of Metafilter, thanks to this post. Also, a comment in that thread from suburbanbeatnik was quoted in a Globe and Mail article about the incident.
May 17
Ask question re: disability, accommodation and Massachusetts?
Within the last week or so someone posted on Askme needing disability/accommodation referrals/support in Massachusetts. [more inside]
May 16
This is how I tell it, ohhhhhhhhhh but it's long
It’s with almost unbearable sadness and a heavy heart that I am writing to let you know that my husband, Metafilter member holdkris99 took his own life on the May 12th. [more inside]
May 15
Like, Transcription
The web transcription of last month's podcast is 90% done. Stop by, and do a couple of 30 second snippets! [more inside]
Wiiiiild Horses
Seeing all the prancing ponies on Metatalk lately reminded me of something I've been meaning to suggest for a while now, regarding links. [more inside]
Add Remove from Activity to Mobile Site?
Feature Request: "(Remove from activity") link on the Mobile site? [more inside]
mobile me, mobile you
I love reading MetaFilter on my phone! I have a couple discussion prompts/pony requests about it. [more inside]
Pop-up YouTube HTML5?
Would it be possible to make the pop-up YouTube player have an HTML5 preference? [more inside]
My Little Pony, Draggable YouTube.
My Little Pony, Draggable YouTube. [more inside]
May 14
SL vs. ML?
So this double was deleted (as it should be). However, I'm curious if my behaviour regarding the posts is unique or if other Mefites are in my company: when I saw the original post, I started reading it and quickly (half-way through the first sentence) scrolled past it. However, the double, which is a SLYT, was immediately clicked and I loved the content. Of course, my loss as it might not have been reposted, but... what are your browsing habits regarding verbose multi-link posts vs. succinct single link ones? [more inside]
A plea for a smack on the wrist
It is Eurovision Time. A disclosed self-link in a high quality FPP with many links. I didn't like it, but didn't think the account should be banhammered as it doesn't appear malicious. To be clear, self-link bans are obviously good.
Another Bad Deletion - It Ain't What U Post, It's How U Say It
May 13
Fair Deletion?
This was an interestingly selective deletion on the askme Ron Paul thread, no? [more inside]
May 12
The Popular Tags cloud on ask.me just doesn't
Not Actually Extremely Problematic: The "popular tags" page on the green is a tag cloud, but none of the tags appear much larger than the others. [more inside]
May 11
I'm suffering from a painful goiter
Thorn: "Ask Metafilter: Thousands of life's little questions, answered."
"I'm suffering from a painful goiter."
Thorn: "Even the weird ones."
A short commercial appears on the front page of AskMe if you're, get this, not logged in. [more inside]
"I'm suffering from a painful goiter."
Thorn: "Even the weird ones."
A short commercial appears on the front page of AskMe if you're, get this, not logged in. [more inside]
See them fighting in the street, 'cause they can't make opinions meet.
PONY: Applying the same higher standard to FPPs about "the crisis in academia" as the one that's applied to other outragefilter FPPs? They come up regularly, they turn into trainwrecks. In fact, they always turn into the same trainwreck. I realize that these FPPs are not quite "newsfilter" and sometimes seem substantive, but experience shows that they never lead to respectful discussion, just acrimony and meticulous, systematic trolling.
Help me find this comic about weight loss and healthy eating
Can you help me find a comic strip written by a woman that showed her weight-loss progress? [more inside]
Wake Up, Tweeple!
I can haz FPP tweet-ability? [more inside]
May 10
Pop goes the www
Please can we all try to do this thing, along with all the other things? [more inside]
May 9
If you cannot say anything nice, quote somebody famous. [citation needed]
This is the [citation needed] thread. [more inside]
May 8
Oh no, my dirty laundry!
Is there a way to nuke my profile/change usernames for the sake of posterity? What if people I'd like to keep out of my business find out my username and suddenly all my business is out in the open? Can MeFi help me with that? Yes, I lead a double life. FWIW you're the ones I don't lie to. [more inside]
Walmart supplier comment
Apropos of this thread, I'm trying to find a MetaFillter comment from a few years ago in which the commenter related a story about a friend or family member whose company made a product that Walmart became interested in selling. [more inside]
Work harder
May 7
strange thing taking place on the front page
Could someone explain the strange thing taking place on the front page right now? [more inside]
We live great lives.
Looking for a comment from within the past couple of years, comment describes how in our current Western societies we live better than kings ever could have dreamed of, books on our shelves, good food easily found, tons of entertainment easily available at the click of a button, climate controlled homes, cars and bicycles and trains and planes, etc and etc.
A Plate of Venns
This hand-drawn Venn diagram that recently became semi-viral (via the usual chart-themed blogs) seemed MetaFilter-Related to me because it actually looks like a plate of beans, and note the legend for the outermost circle.
That's a lot of words.
What is the longest metafilter comment that wasn't a stunt post?
May 6
May sixth is RTFA Day
May 5
Unfavorite is my unfavorite
When you unfavorite, it hurts people. This is not a victimless crime. [more inside]
May 4
Metafilter: ???
Metafilter: WTF? [more inside]
How about quality over speed?
C'mon guys, enough with "first post wins". [more inside]
.
What happened to the Metafilter post about NYC police sexually assaulting protesters? [more inside]
The Favorites Experiment
As a follow-up to my previous MeTa, I've been running a little Mefi experiment where I strictly use favorites as references. Please join me inside for some bean cake and snark counseling. [more inside]
How hurtful do we go?
This is largely a self policing community- but what are community thoughts on sharing every thought we have when someone who hasn't harmed anyone creeps us out? [more inside]
May 3
Single link reddit thread?
We know where reddit is, don't we? [more inside]
Please stop deleting my comments
In a thread apparently inspired by a comment I'd made elsewhere a few days ago, I have had a comment deleted. Hardly my first time, but what I don't understand is why mods delete comments presumably because they disagree with the content itself. I responded in-thread a few minutes ago, but Metatalk seems more appropriate. And I'm sure my in-thread comment has already been deleted. [more inside]
Beanplating SLYT
Okay, so what does SLYT really mean? [more inside]
This thread is not being taped for a tv show
What was that thread that included a couple of examples of hidden camera "gotcha!"-type shows? [more inside]
Looking for an article that connects bike riding to female pelvic pain
I'm looking for an article that was on the blue within the last few months. It detailed how bicycle seats were damaging to women's pelvises, or something like that. It might also have related to vaginismus. Anybody know what I'm talking about? [more inside]
Smart Quotes too smart for MetaFilter?
Are character entities for smart quotes supported? [more inside]
May 2
Malicious AskMe
This question seems to be asking us to come up with the most malicious gossip we can think up about somebody the OP doesn't really know very well. I don't think this is something we should be aiding and abetting. [more inside]
sidebar pony
Pony Request: Indicate in a thread which comment(s) have been sidebarred. [more inside]
Music player not playing
Some of the music players on mefi music have a strange grey bit where the line goes when play is clicked and don't play when I click play. [more inside]
Non descriptive links harmful.
"This" considered harmful? I've noticed that it's fairly common when linking to something, that the link is given a non-description. This seems prone to cause problems with link rot. I know Matt has a long bet in place that link rot isn't a major issue, but I know I've stumbled onto dead links when looking at old AskMe answers. Should we consider links without description bad form? [more inside]
May 1
MetaFilter's teenage daughter/ fabulous teenage son
If MetaFilter had a sassy teenage child, he/she'd be OhNoTheyDidn't [more inside]
single link old content
Say, that's swell that by providing "additional context" for your post to an old short story, escabeche, you made it "clear why you're posting it to MetaFilter". It's a good single-link archival content. Really, a very good post.
Would I know if some of my comments had been deleted?
Would I know if some of my comments had been deleted? [more inside]
Pony request: Place to put unasked-for tips
Pony request: a place for random answers, or tips, that have no immediate questions, but might be useful to someone, sometime, somewhere. [more inside]
Cracked.com is terrible and horrible.
Cracked.com's posts are SPLIT INTO TWO PAGES. Also, most of their posts are nothing but linkbate. Over 31 worthless FPP posts have been made linking to this waste of time. Thank goodness so many comments in the most recent "post" saw through their evil schemes! I say we reinstitute the previously-requested ban of anyone linking to cracked.com.
+1 +1 +1
What's your Draw Something username? [more inside]