Newsfilter!

October 7, 2002 7:55 AM

Item! (just kidding) Why don't we keep simple one-word posts to the most provocative current events on the sideblog? [more inside]
posted by grrarrgh00 to Feature Requests at 7:55 AM (15 comments total)

I realize this is a fairly obvious suggestion, and I searched through the MeTa archives to see if this had been proposed and shot down with similarly obvious drawbacks (that I have somehow overlooked) before, but I could not find it.

So you all know the backstory: we get four links to the imminent war on Iraq every day; if it's not Iraq, it's I/P, or terrorism, or a link to another Bush verbal gaffe/ominous speech. Obviously, due to the tremendous number of comments each of these threads manages to receive, there's an audience for this stuff, but many users (mostly those who read MeTa) rightfully complain that the front page is always cluttered with every twist in the Iraq proceedings. So what if, at the top of the sideblog, Matt just keeps four words, each linking to a particularly current, newsfilter-ish discussion. People could conduct all their various arguments in these threads, shamelessly posting links to new twists in the game as they happen. Perhaps these threads could get an exemption from the 30-day cutoff, or perhaps they could be archived once they got too unwieldy (in which case Matt could call the thread, for example, Iraq 1, and when he decides to archive it, could start Iraq 2, with the first link in the thread being a one-word link to Iraq 1).

Of course, I'm sure this still leaves us with a plethora of posts to CNN.com because a cat is caught in a tree somewhere, but it might actually lead to a somewhat nuanced discussion of some big topics, as people realize that the typical "We can't go to war with Iraq!! .... We have to go to war with Iraq!!" non-sequiturs have been done to death?
posted by grrarrgh00 at 7:55 AM on October 7, 2002

Why mess with something in which the community at large obviously enjoys participating just because a minute segment of users does not like this type of post?

posted by mischief at 8:07 AM on October 7, 2002

Matt just keeps four words
1. Mideast
2. Bush
3. Metafilter
4. Pancakes
posted by quonsar at 8:08 AM on October 7, 2002

mischief, you're not losing a daughter, you're gaining a son. The community at large would still be able to participate in this stuff, only the discussions might be more thorough and focused.
posted by grrarrgh00 at 8:17 AM on October 7, 2002

Meanwhile, despite Matt's request to give him time to rework the text on the posting page, you go ahead and throw out yet another idea requiring new or revised code, the functionality of which is contrary to Matt's explicit vision.

For shame! ;-P

(Also, grouping discussions under one heading broadens their range, it does not focus them.)

posted by mischief at 8:29 AM on October 7, 2002

but doesn't this mean that they would truly never end? the thought of an infinitely long I/P thread is enough to put me off my pancakes...
posted by gravelshoes at 8:34 AM on October 7, 2002

Daily digest, anyone?

It doesn't have to be Matt. It can be anyone. In fact, it can be a bunch of people, and you can pick and choose to which ones you want to subscribe.
posted by PrinceValium at 8:36 AM on October 7, 2002

This is where the Delphi-type forum has an advantage. Threads can "reappear" when a new comment is posted. Therefore, one thread can be used for "War in Iraq & Bush/Middle East Politics/UN Resolution on Iraq War/Testing for Nuke and Bio Weapons at Chez Saddam/ETC ETC." (Um, for example.) Or even one thread for News in general.

But this ain't Delphi, so we gotta(sic) deal with it. When someone comes up with a new news story they think is relevant and just must be posted, it means a new post. Thus alla this "N****Filter" banter of late. (I didn't want to say the N-word.)

This too shall pass.
posted by Shane at 8:38 AM on October 7, 2002

barf barf barf.
posted by donkeyschlong at 9:00 AM on October 7, 2002

The past 2 days have been golden as far as posts go. Gorgeous, even. If every day could be like the past 2, even if there were a newsy link or two mixed in with the gems, I don't think you'd hear a peep out of the no news on MetaFilter contingent (of which I am a card-carrying member). As much as mathowie hated it, the constant mentions of newsfilter! and links to that particular metatalk thread seem to have made an impression on a lot of us.

I would very happily trade off a news post or two a day for the quality and variety of the posts we've had here recently. And I always felt that the sidebar was mathowie's own little space to blog the good stuff he reads about on MetaFilter, so I sort of doubt he'd want to see news links there on a daily basis, seeing as how he loves them so.
posted by iconomy at 10:00 AM on October 7, 2002

You won your little shout-down. Don't gloat.
posted by dhartung at 10:49 AM on October 7, 2002

May I suggest the prompt colection of all identified news threads (by the card carrying intelligesia of course) these may then be burnt ceremoniously to much nude dancing, witchcraft and general merriment, perhaps sacking a monastery along the way.
posted by johnnyboy at 11:29 AM on October 7, 2002

Just this morning some guy asked me why I couldn't seem to wipe the smile off of my face. I told him, "My side won our little shout-down and I just can't stop gloating!"

For dg, the tagline collector: MetaFilter: You won your little shout-down. Don't gloat.

Good advice.
posted by iconomy at 1:50 PM on October 7, 2002

grrarrgh00: Covered here (follow the November link).
posted by MzB at 2:01 PM on October 7, 2002

nude dancing, witchcraft and general merriment

Just tell me where and when.
posted by dg at 3:33 PM on October 7, 2002