August 2016 Archives (all archives)

August 31

MetaFilter on Gitter?

According to Social Explorer, there are 230 Mefites on GitHub and thousands more on Twitter. While MetaFilter Chat is a great institution, I’m curious if folks would be interested in having a chat community on Gitter as well - it’s a sort-of-Slack that uses Github and Twitter credentials for validation. (This is quite definitely fixing a problem that doesn’t exist, but sometimes asking about those is a way to find out that they do.)
posted by Going To Maine to MetaFilter-Related at 4:04 PM PST - 15 comments

August 30

Happy Fun September

As [northern hemisphere] summer winds down, [other people's] kids are back in school and [US] politics ramp up, I would like to suggest more happy and/or fun posts in September. More cats and kittens! More puppies and dogs! If you find spiders to be cute and/or amazing, post some! Whatever strikes your fancy, share it! [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief to MetaFilter-Related at 9:09 AM PST - 103 comments

Trying to find a short story about AI and parallel universes

I'm trying to find a short story about AI and parallel universes that I'm sure I saw somewhere on Metafilter a couple of years ago but I can't seem to turn it up anywhere. IIRC it was set in Edinburgh and it might have been by Charles Stross? Does anyone remember this or has Mr Stross infected my brain with a virus?
posted by Chairboy to MetaFilter-Related at 3:51 AM PST - 8 comments

August 29

Just the facts, m'am

In a post about Colin Kaeperneck and the Star Spangled Banner, Potomac Avenue attributed to Kaeperneck statements the quarterback did not make. In response to a question I asked in the comments, Potomac Avenue acknowledged the attribution was based on a misreading of one of the articles linked to the post. However, this did not result in a correction of the error of fact that’s contained in the original post. [more inside]
posted by layceepee to Etiquette/Policy at 5:53 PM PST - 58 comments

August 28

Mazel Tov!

Yesterday, MeFi's Own chrismear and greenish got married! Huzzah! Shadchen Jessamyn officiated. Songs were sung. The minister's RV was pushed out of the moor, if you catch my drift.
posted by not_on_display to MetaFilter-Related at 10:18 PM PST - 61 comments

August 27

Were you the nearly megafamous MeFite?

Refound an anecdotal comment from OverlappingElvis on how he was once in a band with people who became Walk the Moon. If it's not too painful/regretful for people to say (or, maybe it'll help and bring closure?), have you been in a situation, group, job, team, project, garage band, whatever, and some or all of the others went on to great glory - but yourself, less so? (This may by definition exclude MeFites who are actually megafamous but if they have any great relevant anecdotes would love to hear them anyway)
posted by Wordshore to MetaFilter-Related at 3:10 PM PST - 193 comments

August 22

Wow, a Whole Week?

Over eight years ago, I asked a question about the relative frequency of MetaTalk threads over a stated period. I was just wondering if there has been any further observed data on lengthy gaps between sequential threads in that particular forum.
posted by yhbc to MetaFilter-Related at 9:06 PM PST - 82 comments

August 15

Just a note of thanks, really

Hey hey. After a year and a half in gestation, I'm in the process of wrapping up a manuscript for delivery to my publisher this week. And so now I'm finally getting to what is, by far, my favorite aspect of working on a book, which is writing the Acknowledgments. And you're in them! [more inside]
posted by adamgreenfield to MetaFilter-Related at 6:30 PM PST - 42 comments

Paganism is a thing some people here practice

This post is a perfect example of spiritual disrespect on multiple levels. I think it is fair to ask that we be accepting that others have different beliefs, and under the umbrella of paganism there are tons of belief systems that have existed much longer than the early 1990's. I know metafilter is host to a swath of beliefs and non beliefs regarding spiritlaity what that means and how to express it. Those who identify as pagan or a subset of paganism deserve as much respect as other religious groups, and have very real struggles of discrimination. How can we do this better?
posted by AlexiaSky to Etiquette/Policy at 5:26 PM PST - 321 comments [closed]

August 14

Post your seasonal reading/ listening/ whatever list!

Inspired by this post on the blue about Barack Obama's summer reading list, I thought it would be interesting if mefites posted lists of what they plan to or have read, listened to, or watched this summer. I don't want to leave out people in the Southern Hemisphere, though, so feel free to post seasonal lists for whatever the season you may be experiencing!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious to MetaFilter-Related at 5:34 PM PST - 124 comments

August 13

A ten year update... and an SF meet-up.

Nearly 10 years ago, I commented on the green about having fallen head-over-heels for a woman only once, back in college - but how, after 13 years of wondering if I'd ever have that feeling again, we ended up moving in together, had just gotten married, and all was right in the world. weapons-grade pandemonium issued a challenge just three minutes later: Update us in ten years, eschatfische. And so we will! gucky and I are pleased to invite Bay Area MeFites to our 10 year anniversary party, featuring a 35mm matinee of When Harry Met Sally, September 10th at 1pm at the Roxie. RSVP information inside. [more inside]
posted by eschatfische to MetaFilter-Related at 12:40 PM PST - 34 comments

August 12

FanFare stats?

I was looking through the trusty Infodumpster and realized it has never had FanFare added in. While I'm fuzzy on the specifics, I am aware in a vague way that the Infodumpster isn't an "official" Mefi thing, though it comes from official MeFi data or some such. In any case, will FF ever be added to that data and/or Infodumpster?
posted by DirtyOldTown to MetaFilter-Related at 10:20 AM PST - 9 comments

August 11

I hate football, but...I love fantasy football. Who's in?

Looking to set up a MeFi fantasy football league, but first I want to see if there is even any interest in losing to me. What do you say? Is anyone ready for a lesson in humility? It's fine if you don't know much (or care much) about football, but please be committed to sticking with it for the whole season. Please let me know if you have any questions.
posted by Fister Roboto to MetaFilter-Related at 8:42 AM PST - 23 comments

Thank You for the Music

MeFiMusic Podcast 3 is ready, featuring some July By Women challenge songs! Check it out on Soundcloud. [more inside]
posted by greenish to MetaFilter-Related at 6:02 AM PST - 12 comments

August 8

Vote the quidnunc kid #1 Tolkien limerick summarizer

Three rings for the elves, full of might;
Dwarves seven, men nine - that sounds right!
And one for their Lord? Sure!
He lives down in Mordor -
Where the shadows (and weather) are shite.
Our very own elected #1 the quidnunc kid has retold the entirety of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in limerick form and posted it on his profile page. Includes footnotes, also in limerick form. Rumors abound of an audiobook version.
posted by Kattullus to MetaFilter-Related at 3:35 PM PST - 81 comments

Amazon links for other countries?

I swear I've seen this asked before, but a cursory search didn't turn up anything so I'll ask again anyway just in case. I spend way too much money on Amazon - but in my case, amazon.ca. I'd love to give you guys my 4%+ affiliate income. Can you please setup amazon affiliate accounts in other locations than the US so I (and other non-USians) can give you guys free money? Since I can't use my own affiliate link, I'd much rather give it to metafilter than whatever other random referral link I clicked last that currently owns my cookie.
posted by cgg to Feature Requests at 9:27 AM PST - 8 comments

Bug and bad UI in 'blank link' detector

Error: Your post contains a blank link. Please check your HTML for a a href= or a href="http://" tag and remove it or add a full URL., O rilly? Do tell me more! [more inside]
posted by Devonian to Bugs at 8:49 AM PST - 20 comments

August 5

Olympics on FanFare

We're trying out discussion threads for the Olympics on FanFare. For tonight's opening ceremony, and for the athletic events that follow. Will aim to aggregate it all over here. [more inside]
posted by cortex to MetaFilter-Related at 11:32 AM PST - 80 comments

The Cheese Heist Movie

Who's going to help me write the cheese heist movie? [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels to MetaFilter-Related at 10:42 AM PST - 266 comments

Sensitivity to those with food allergies.

Food allergies are a (minor, manageable) disability, so like other disabilities, can we not blame people who are harmed by the negligence of others? Nearly every time food allergies come up, there are comments saying "people with allergies shouldn't eat out", and it feels alienating. [more inside]
posted by ambrosen to Etiquette/Policy at 10:13 AM PST - 74 comments

August 4

Object Oriented

When is it OK to objectify people? Which people are fair game? [more inside]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker to Etiquette/Policy at 7:16 PM PST - 71 comments

119: We're Very Helpful You're Here

Jessamyn and I take a break from house guests and election madness, respectively, to chatter about great stuff on MetaFilter from July 2nd through August 4th. We also take a super quick guided meditation break in the middle! We both ate our figurative Wheaties; this episode comes in at a fulsome hour and fifty-two-ish minutes. [more inside]
posted by cortex to MeFi Podcast at 4:41 PM PST - 25 comments

In political megathreads, can we please try to be more straightforward.

"punch drunk" is a thing, yeah. I get it. But there's a whole lot of us who aren't in on the cultural jokes. Or the sarcasm. [more inside]
posted by yesster to Etiquette/Policy at 5:17 AM PST - 226 comments

August 3

Metafilter, FOR SCIENCE

My abstract for an article about AskMe has been accepted at a conference! [more inside]
posted by orrnyereg to MetaFilter-Related at 5:32 PM PST - 29 comments

Requests for new post aren't appropriate in front page posts

The latest election thread seems to be getting creaky for some people. But asking for a new post in that thread isn't the correct venue, if anywhere it should be brought here. Users feeling a new post is warranted should just make one instead of contributing to the large comment count of the existing thread with off topic comments. [more inside]
posted by Mitheral to Etiquette/Policy at 10:16 AM PST - 72 comments

August 2

[Greasemonkey] Sort comments by favorites

I've written a userscript to sort the page comments by favorites. It's only been tested on the latest Firefox with Greasemonkey but it should work on Chrome with Tampermonkey. You can grab / install the script here.
posted by querty to MetaFilter-Related at 8:24 AM PST - 7 comments