skip to main content
August 2004 Archives (all archives)
August 31
Matt, can you please post the spoiler from this
The Office post to the "more inside". And in general, can people please not put spoilers on the front page. It's pretty lame. And if you are going to include spoilers on the more, a warning on the front page would be nice. Thanks! (NOTE: don't click the link if you haven't seen all of The Office!)
posted by dobbs to Etiquette/Policy at 6:09 PM PST - 184 comments
Metafilter is one of those sites I visit when I've got 2 seconds to rub together, and the rubbing won't intrude too much on my train of thought. I read the posts, and I can dive in when something seems too entertaining to pass up. Other sites that hit me the same way:
Boing Boing,
Fark, and
/.. However, on a particularly loathsome day of work related idiocies, I find that I can exhaust those sites pretty quickly (particularly since I let my TotalFark subscription lapse). Does anyone have other locations that are equal parts whimsy and serious thought?
posted by thanotopsis to MetaFilter-Related at 3:02 PM PST - 25 comments
Not just minutes, but HOURS have gone by, and no one has created a post regarding the new iMac. This seems bizarre for Metafilter. Am I missing something?
posted by ParisParamus to Etiquette/Policy at 2:13 PM PST - 38 comments
August 30
"Troll" may have a respectable lineage on the Web but, frankly, for some of us who joined later in the day, it seems like a quaint, medieval way of classifying anyone who's the least bit provocative, thought-provoking or even unorthodox. Recently, any forceful, strongly-worded attempt to spark discussion with a non-mainstream viewpoint, generally from the Left, has been lamely denounced as a "troll". Could it be time to give the
ye olde troll accusation a well-deserved rest? I hope so. The English language is one of the richest in the world and
troll sounds parochial, pimply, nerdish, cliquey, incestuous and, ultimately, meaningless.
posted by MiguelCardoso to Etiquette/Policy at 10:56 PM PST - 78 comments
There have been a number of discussions about threads that are not "the best" or that are "(your cause here)filter". As an alternative to commenting on the worthiness of a post after it has been posted to the blue, does anyone think that it might be a good idea to post somewhere examples of what a really good post might be like, as an inspiration to posters yet to come?
posted by unreason to Etiquette/Policy at 1:16 PM PST - 8 comments
Would anyone here like a Gmail account? I'm an antisocial bastard, and have 6 to give away. First posted - first served.
posted by jpburns to MetaFilter-Related at 12:36 PM PST - 44 comments
UPDATE: MeFiSF, September 10 (Friday), 7 PM, Zeitgeist (Duboce and Valencia). This represents a change of date and venue from the original plan.
Email me if you want to be reminded via email.
posted by caitlinb to MetaFilter Gatherings at 10:14 AM PST - 8 comments
August 29
DC Meetup.
I'm Selfish. I'm going to be in DC tomorrow thru fri. Any interest in a meetup on Wednesday night? I'll be in the downtown region (near Farragut West.) We could make it a happyhourish thing. I've never been to a meetup. And I know all you DCites want to meet a real philadelphian.
posted by filmgeek to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:08 PM PST - 12 comments
I come for the
FPPs, but I stay for the
comments. Articles and whatnot are dandy, but nothing compares to the wry wit of fellow MeFites. What are some of the gems you've come across that have shone so brightly you couldn't help but archive (or even bookmark) something so poignant that a fellow MeFite has shared?
posted by Mach3avelli to MetaFilter-Related at 2:47 PM PST - 20 comments
August 28
What's the etiquette for VIA if you're emailed a link by a blogger, but that link's not actually on their blog? Should one just not provide a VIA or should you link to the blog anyway to give credit where it's due?
posted by dobbs to Etiquette/Policy at 6:04 PM PST - 20 comments
August 27
So, I notice there's a link in the sidebar to
Devoter, and I was just wondering: is there a new policy about election/iraq/political posts? Should they be moved over to Devoter? Are you going to start deleting political threads here, Matt?
posted by monju_bosatsu to Etiquette/Policy at 2:22 PM PST - 96 comments
Pardon my ignorance, but what is the origin of the "Pepsi Blue" reference? I've waded through several searches, but cannot find The Original post to which it refers.
posted by JeffK to MetaFilter-Related at 9:55 AM PST - 16 comments
August 26
I looked at my profile today and was shocked to see how many people are suddenly residing in zip codes near mine. Any interest in a Pittsburgh MeFi gathering?
posted by Dreama to MetaFilter Gatherings at 10:50 PM PST - 6 comments
Worst FPP ever? There's plenty of marginally psychotic fetishes out there. This one is neither unusual nor entertaining. There are plenty of specialty sites for this crap (Stile, Rotten), so it would stand to reason that only the most entertaining of it, if any, should make it to Mefi, a more general-interest site.
posted by abcde to Etiquette/Policy at 7:31 PM PST - 44 comments
I posted Hackworth's proposed Burning Man meetup coordinates at
MonkeyFilter. It looks like we have the makings of a small MoFi/MeFi meetup (a first?). Time & place inside.
Cue the disparaging remarks about BM and MoFi (or - imagine this - just keep them to yourself!)
posted by scarabic to MetaFilter Gatherings at 2:21 PM PST - 68 comments
Let me tread carefully here. Is there a legit way people could post entire articles that require payed subscription (Atlantic, Salon, TNR, etc.) for the rest of us who have no subscriptions?
posted by semmi to MetaFilter-Related at 1:45 PM PST - 28 comments
The format of Ask Metafilter questions is still something that bothers me a little. To my mind,
this is the ideal question style. It takes up five lines, but all the necessary information is expressed briefly on the front page.
Next best thing: a post can't be compressed into a reasonable length, but judicious use of [More inside] whilst still giving enough information on the fornt page gives people an indication of how much help they can likely offer.
This is ridiculous, however. Five lines occupied on the front page, of which only one word is of any use. The [More inside] then takes us to a statement of the question in - quess what? - only three lines. I think people should spend a little more time posing their queries so as to make the Ask.me front page as useful as possible.
posted by nthdegx to Etiquette/Policy at 6:33 AM PST - 56 comments
August 25
more inside. metaphilter uses an auto-more-inside box that generates the [more inside] link and adds the extra bit of the comment in, formatted as if it were the first post.
as it stands now, posters need to be quick or the more inside will end up as comment number 2 (rare, but i've seen it happen). any chance we can duplicate the metaphilter model on this one?
posted by caution live frogs to Feature Requests at 7:37 PM PST - 45 comments
This post is nothing more than a mini op-ed piece about the top news story (at the time) that takes up too much real estate on the home page and has been discussed to death already. IMO, if your FPP has one link and needs a "more inside...", you need to rethink it's place here.
posted by mkultra to Etiquette/Policy at 11:38 AM PST - 21 comments
Two things:
1. Deleting metatalk threads is bad karma.
2. The "don't pardon big tobacco" blogad is broken -- apostrophes ['] and quotes ["] are displaying as question marks [?] (this is strange, since quotes are displaying fine in the other blogad).
posted by reklaw to Bugs at 11:03 AM PST - 57 comments
August 24
I posted
this entry that was deleted because "previously." The linked entry did not contain the same link and was marginally about the same subject. What gives?
posted by bbrown to Etiquette/Policy at 8:00 PM PST - 3 comments
Hey
this is what the guys over here at this partisan extremist forum think. What do you guys think? Let's chat.
For future reference, does this mean the ban is lifted on LGF links? Are we going so far down the road that DU forums are now acceptable linkworthy posts? Does
Matt anyone care anymore?
posted by Seth to Bugs at 8:31 AM PST - 128 comments
Multiple Metatalk things. Your amaglyda and why politics on MetaFilter achieves nothing, outsourcing Ponies and a free meal at Wagammama. (more inside >>)
posted by seanyboy to Bugs at 7:42 AM PST - 37 comments
August 23
IE6 - opens new links in new window [as it's s'posed to];
Firefox 0.9.1 - doesn't.
I take it that's a FF bug, not a Mefi one?
posted by dash_slot- to Bugs at 11:03 AM PST - 7 comments
That NY, taunting us with its rich meetup culture! For the less spontaneous, Meetup.com just suggested September 7, and scarabic and I put it on our calendars. Meetup.com also suggested (for SF) Jillian's, which is conveniently located at the Metreon (4th and Mission) but has little else to recommend it. In the past,
scarabic has suggested other places, too. How about it?
posted by caitlinb to MetaFilter Gatherings at 10:38 AM PST - 19 comments
Quickie NYC coffee/drinks meetup? Weds. or Thurs night, and I'm calling out amberglow to suggest the venue. Your suggestions welcome inside.
posted by falconred to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:10 AM PST - 24 comments
August 22
Could we have a
post comment button on the comment page? Going through preview is unnecessary in a lot of cases, and in the cases
where it is necessary people aren't going to let the extra step actually force them into previewing. Also, since it looks like preview for html character entities is going to remain broken for the time being, being able to hit
preview and then going back and hitting
post comment if all is well would be preferrable to having to preview and then fix up the entities again (or copying and pasting).
posted by fvw to Feature Requests at 6:57 PM PST - 35 comments
I know this has been requested before, and I understand that it may be an extremely time-consuming feature, but please, if possible Matt, could you give us reasons for deletion in MeTa and AskMeFi? I really think that it helped in MeFi and will probably help prevent repeated mistakes made in AskMeFi.
posted by BlueTrain to Feature Requests at 10:57 AM PST - 4 comments
August 21
August 20
MeFi swap for food? Zpousman asked about it in the moving thread from the gentleman in NYC whose lovely wife misses her home. I am sending a modest care package to the South and have been offered something southern in return - and I don't even know what's down there, let alone crave anything from there. Does someone terribly miss something that can be obtained in Florida? Grumblebee? Are Mrs Grumble's GooGoo Cluster needs met? In my fantasy, someone in upstate NY is dying for something Southern and then turns around and sends me cookies from the Ithaca Bakery.
posted by caitlinb to MetaFilter-Related at 3:35 PM PST - 57 comments
I did a google search on askMe and got great results, but I noticed that the Sponsored Links were really hard to read. (
For example) Light grey and yellow on a pale green/blue. I don't know what the click throughs are on the Google searchs, or how important / significant this revenue is. Nor do I care. The Google Ads are readable and unobtrusive and fit well everywhere else in the MeFi domain. This one spot seems like a small oversight. Worth fixing? Not my call.
posted by putzface_dickman to Bugs at 11:47 AM PST - 9 comments
August 19
ParisParamus,
cut it out. Please. Your hateful spewing on AskMe does not help anyone. You're not "bucking the lefty trend", you're just being a jerk, and polluting an otherwise useful resource. If you really feel the need for release, please be considerate, and try to keep it in the blue.
Everyone else, stop feeding the troll. Please.
posted by majcher to Etiquette/Policy at 2:18 PM PST - 113 comments
August 18
Remember all those times you said "I'd pay to help keep MetaFilter safe and running more smoothly"? Here's your
chance.
posted by karmaville to Uptime at 7:46 PM PST - 65 comments
Right around the Democratic Primaries, I followed a link I saw here to an article about John Kerry, where he was grilled for a while by Dem-friendly (but anti Iraq war) journalists about why he cast a vote for the resolution that gave Bush the power to go to war. I can't find this now. Can anyone help?
posted by namespan to MetaFilter-Related at 11:10 AM PST - 4 comments
What does the reaction to
this post tell us? Myabe it's just a statistical blip, but I'm a bit surprised at the very vocal negative reaction to this bit of US-centric front-page/TV news as contrasted to the reaction to the NewsFilter posts we get every single day. Why are the naysayers in this thread right when the anti-NewsFilteristas are not? What, exactly, is different?
posted by Ethereal Bligh to Etiquette/Policy at 10:42 AM PST - 78 comments
August 17
I posted
a question to the green yesterday evening and it's gone already. Is there any way to get more entries defaulting to the front page of the green? I would think 24 hours min would be better. 48 Would be ideal... Please?
posted by dobbs to Feature Requests at 9:27 AM PST - 26 comments
August 15
MetaFilter is an American weblog. Europeans here, whether British or continental, are mere tokens. Perhaps we should all give up the international pretense. The truth is that MetaFilter, for those of us not lucky (or, to be frank, unluckly) enough to live in the U.S. or Canada, is fast becoming a domestic concern with an ever-decreasing regard for what happens in the (enormous) rest of the world. Whereas (the few remaining) Europeans here are curious about America, Americans here seem boringly and predictably obsessed with themselves. Is isolationism the growing trend on this board? It certainly seems so. Say the word, by the way, and you can have it all to yourselves, no hard feelings.
It is not a good idea but it's a stone's throw away...
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-Related at 8:43 PM PST - 373 comments
Matt: when you setup status.metafilter.com, wasn't it supposed to be independent of the Mefi server? I don't get how come they were both down at the same time last night.
posted by dash_slot- to Uptime at 6:46 AM PST - 41 comments
August 13
Since I started
this AskMe thread about the game of go a couple of weeks ago, I've taught myself the basics, and I've just opened an account on the
Dragon Go Server. Are there any other MeFites around that want to join along with me? Now's the time--if you're an absolute beginner then you'll be certain to have at least one other total newbie to play against, and if you know something about go, then you can start schooling me. (My ID over there is Prospero--same as here.)
posted by Prospero to MetaFilter Gatherings at 6:04 PM PST - 8 comments
August 12
SmallRequestFilter! The trend in Ask.Metafilter toward beginning posts with "XYZFilter!" is, I realized, an example of a feature added by users on their own. This way of starting posts is useful since it creates context immediately ("This post is about Cats!") and also self-categorizes. Why not formalize this so that when you create an ask.mefi post it asks you for a free-form category (e.g. cats). Then your post would look like this:
Cats: So, yesterday my cat fuzzy started doing something really strange....
And thus no more need for BlahBlahFilters.
posted by vacapinta to Feature Requests at 11:27 AM PST - 28 comments
Sometimes I wonder just how many MeFites write from mental hospitals or incarceration of various kinds (acutely confining job, marriage, jail, etc.). Not that there is anything wrong with that, just that the anger and the obsession quota seems to be quite high, and destructive.
posted by semmi to MetaFilter-Related at 9:52 AM PST - 48 comments
August 11
How much flak will I catch if I start using "." to mark threads that I want to track on my "My Comments" page? I ask because there are several interesting threads that I want to monitor but in which I don't necessarily wish to post a message.
posted by five fresh fish to Feature Requests at 5:21 PM PST - 35 comments
August 10
Question: When I use a a character code in a post, for example, — (em dash) it turns into the character when I press "preview", if I forget to replace the actual character with it's code what appears in my comment is unpredictable.
posted by Grod to Bugs at 6:32 PM PST - 8 comments
Question: Is it a
self link to post your own photos of an event you had nothing to do with, except by your presence? I even discovered the event online.
posted by effugas to Etiquette/Policy at 5:23 PM PST - 19 comments
Matt, would you please delete
this comment? It's not actually a comment that I posted, rather a clever bit of coding by Pretty_Generic, made to look like it's my post. Cute, but not cool. Thanks!
posted by Witty to Etiquette/Policy at 11:44 AM PST - 52 comments
New Yorker Filter? I've noticed a fairly steady stream of posts to New Yorker articles. Now, I love the New Yorker, but I also like other periodicals. People finally seem to have topped posting Onion articles to the front page. Perhaps an end to NY FPPs would also be nice. Or am I totally bonkers?
posted by Outlawyr to Etiquette/Policy at 9:32 AM PST - 19 comments
August 9
August 8
several people are noting thisafternoon that having logged out, they are now unable to log back in.
posted by quonsar to Bugs at 12:02 PM PST - 21 comments
Where's Amberglow? I was supposed to meet him yesterday before the NYC meetup. Last I heard from him (12.30) he was gonna come. Then he didn't show up for either our thing or the meetup. So that's 24 hours now, and I'm getting a little worried. Is there anyone out there who has a number and can check on him?
posted by dame to MetaFilter-Related at 9:42 AM PST - 97 comments
August 7
Logging onto MeFi via a Sidekick is currently impossible. Is there any quick fix to this? The Sidekick browser times out when trying to access the Login_action.cfm page. Matt has said this probably won't get fixed. But is there something in the coldfusion code that can be slightly tweaked to allow logging in? I know of at least a handful users that would love to be able to access their mefi account on their Sidekick.
posted by gluechunk to Bugs at 7:46 PM PST - 6 comments
August 6
Matt - speaking curiously,
what is the system bottleneck that makes new users a bad thing? I presume it's database load, because the logged-in user enjoys comment counts and other database-intensive features that are demanding to serve. The static, logged-out homepage is easy to serve, even to a large number of visitors, by comparison, right? The real danger number to watch is the pageviews by logged-in users (please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm totally guessing). Are there features we could sacrifice for the sake of an open reg? What are you all willing to give up to open the gates? User comment history? Custom timezones and comment previews...?
posted by scarabic to Uptime at 11:45 PM PST - 83 comments
I wonder if it would be worthwhile to disable some HTML tags to prevent ...poster shock as it were. I've noticed the 'comment by x' nested inside a comment by 'y' in several threads already, and there seems little to prevent a similar slight of hand on an actual FPP. Too nitpicky?
posted by leotrotsky to Bugs at 11:26 AM PST - 21 comments
Did anyone else noticed the membership count changing in the blue? It seemed like it dropped from the 17000's down to 16896.
posted by phyrewerx to MetaFilter-Related at 12:19 AM PST - 28 comments
August 5
So I'm putting around in my car about a half hour ago, listening to KYW newsradio in Philly, and a "Washington bureau" correspondent starts talking about how Tivo users can now share their shows. Cool, I'm thinking, some pretty mainstream exposure for TiVo. Then the reporter cuts to "
industry observer mathowie"...
posted by stupidsexyFlanders to MetaFilter-Related at 3:17 PM PST - 38 comments
I really enjoy watching bright (and not so bright) people make stupid, dumb mistakes. Is there any easy way to check for deleted threads?
posted by graventy to MetaFilter-Related at 12:00 PM PST - 37 comments
August 4
August 3
August 2
This post got me wondering - how many of us will be in Edinburgh for the Festival in August? Sailoreagle is there, and I'm going to be there in a couple of weeks, so that makes at least two. Maybe a UK-but-not-London-with-some-international-colour meet-up is a possibility?
posted by ascullion to MetaFilter Gatherings at 10:58 PM PST - 4 comments
I've posted the
photos I took of the meetup last night in Minneapolis. Also, no better place to do it than here, so where should we meet/are we meeting at for the 14th?
posted by angry modem to MetaFilter Gatherings at 10:30 PM PST - 32 comments
How about a longitude/latitude lookup? (I was planning on cloaking my identity for this question but I dithered too long and lost my chance.)
posted by timeistight to Feature Requests at 2:34 PM PST - 20 comments
August 1
As per this
ask.me thread, I'm considering starting a weekly movie screening at my (Toronto) house. A few people posted in the thread that I should email them if it goes ahead. I'm getting closer to actually doing it so thought I'd post officially and say that if this interests you, please post here or send an email to me at metafilter @ victoryshag DOT com and I'll send you an invite with details. {more}
posted by dobbs to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:00 PM PST - 19 comments
Are em-dashes bad? In my
post from yesterday I used an — and some “ and ”s (double quotes). But looking at it just now I see they've been changed to plain old - and ". Was this done by hand or automatically? Are there still systems / browsers that mangle these charaters?
posted by Space Coyote to Bugs at 6:34 PM PST - 7 comments
Matt, you can actually IP trace logins, right? Not that I'm asking for any particular reason, like the most disgusting thing I've seen on MeFi being posted through an anonymous login's abuse or anything....
posted by XQUZYPHYR to Etiquette/Policy at 12:00 PM PST - 161 comments
