MetaTalk

Please help me track down the various links people have posted in the MeFi politics megathread that argue that general, across-the-board voter turnout is the key to defeating Republicans in elections. [more inside]
posted by Rykey on Jan 3, 2018 - 5 comments

Every so often someone proposes we avoid discussion of unhappy outcomes in general but more specifically the unlikelihood of an impeachment in the Trump threads, which now appears to be becoming de facto policy. It seems like it's worth talking over before it does.
posted by Artw on Jul 22, 2017 - 110 comments

The biggest change in the way that mefites participate on the blue in years has been the rise of US politics megathreads. We have had several discussions of the qualitative impact of them, but it occurred to me that it might be useful to dig into the infodump and see what quantitative picture might emerge. I think my findings are worth sharing - while a quantitative analysis on its own can't tell us whether the megathreads are a good thing or not, there are several negative trends regarding community engagement and participation that are happening in close concurrency with the rise of the megathreads. [more inside]
posted by strangely stunted trees on Mar 27, 2017 - 435 comments

Based on a lot of discussion over the last year and especially the last couple months about how the site handles the visibility and organization of posts about contemporary US politics, we've put together a new sidebar tool that you can test out starting today. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Feb 6, 2017 - 117 comments

Back in January, on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, I set up an election prediction contest for you fine folks, and got 74 ballots in response. Nearly ten months (and ten million comments) later, the results are in: congratulations to Cash4Lead, for his remarkably far-sighted prediction of the winners of Iowa, New Hampshire, Super Tuesday, the nominations, the House majority, and even Clinton's VP pick! A $50 donation to the charity of your choice is yours. Oodles more analysis of the collective wisdom inside [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Nov 20, 2016 - 14 comments

In the context of a discussion about Trump's hot mic tape, and whether this reflected common experience or not, I recently had a comment deleted. (I can't don't it in the thread or in my activity or recent favorites etc, so I assume it's gone.) [more inside]
posted by schadenfrau on Oct 8, 2016 - 57 comments

It's been an unbelievably unpredictable primary season this year, and the Iowa caucuses are less than 30 hours away. So why not get ahead of the curve with a TRUMP-SIZED election prediction contest? I'm thinking Iowa (Dem/GOP), New Hampshire (Dem/GOP), Super Tuesday (Dem/GOP), final nominee (Dem/GOP), and general election winner, with ties broken by House/Senate control, Veepstakes speculation, and as much analysis/rationalization/weeping as you feel appropriate. Prize: One (1) $50 ($fifty) donation to the charity of your choice (split equally if necessary), and eternal bragging rights over the ruins of the punditocracy. Deadline is 8:00 PM Eastern time Monday, when the caucuses start. (Feel free to enter after Iowa or New Hampshire vote, but be advised that your prediction for those states will not count!) See inside for entry form. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Jan 31, 2016 - 141 comments