Thank you to all those who have sent kind words to us - they really do help us stay tough. And thanks as a whole to the MeFi community, which has kept me entertained, interested and mentally functioning the past weeks as I lurked, learning new things and following the drama. Vivienne passed away in her sleep last night - I guess she was waiting to make one final point.
posted by bunnycup on Feb 17, 2009 - 173 comments

The founder explains why he allows great freedom to the members. HerfDerfGuardianReader
posted by Sparx on Feb 28, 2008 - 39 comments

I'm looking for a post I read here — at least I think I did — concerning the natural evolution of online communities. The conclusion talked about population growth leading to divisive groups that clash with each other leading to the decline of the community... or something along those lines. [more inside]
posted by empyrean on Feb 12, 2008 - 20 comments

This just in: Metafilter endorses Obama. [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Feb 4, 2008 - 121 comments

Some of you may remember that I've been working on a case study about MeFi for an ecommunities class. Well, as promised, here is my paper.

(As a reminder, this is NOT research.)
posted by nalihasan on Apr 23, 2005 - 49 comments

How many of you (if any) have had issues with MeFi interferring with real life? I use a pseudonym because way back in the dark ages of BBS's, I regularly indulged in flamewars and I ended up getting prankcalls at all hours and such. Now, I try not to get sucked into flamewars, but I have a feeling I'm still kind of a dick online, so I hang on to a pseudonym. How about you?
posted by keswick on Nov 15, 2004 - 54 comments

Er-
I certainly appreciate the thought, and the enthusiasm, but when the time comes I'll buy a text ad like anyone else. I don't think of Metafilter as my personal billboard.
Matt, please kill the thread, or move it back here to "metafilter-related", as that's about as close to relevant to this site as my book is.
posted by dong_resin on May 12, 2004 - 50 comments

Does anybody remember a link posted that referenced the dangers of group mentality? I've been looking for days now and its making me crazy that I can't find it. Thanks
posted by redhead on Mar 21, 2003 - 11 comments

Considering two recent author responses to threads, I'm wondering if we should give certain parties the opportunity to rebut or respond to questions raised by MeFites, particularly if the parties involved are not members. I'm not sure how something along these lines could be established. We'd need some way to obtain provenance beyond an email. But if Metafilter is to raise questions and an author of an article wishes to respond, should we develop a policy to implement their participation?
posted by ed on Feb 18, 2003 - 37 comments

I don't know what's worse: slamming Courtney over a photo shoot, getting riled up over the Bloggies or speculating over actors who may or may not be gay. Cult of personality or just plain boredom? Or is this a coping phase after the shuttle thread? Why can't MeFi do better?
posted by ed on Feb 4, 2003 - 83 comments

Not so much a feature as a one-time feature. The thread on tort reform (quite entertaining and refreshingly civil, given the number of comments it spawned) left me surprised that so many MeFites are attorneys. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
But I often wonder about the demographics of planet MeFi.
Isn't there a simple way we could have a town census (a/s/l occupation etc. It would be mildly fascinating to have such info in our profiles as well, but maybe thats raising the veil too high.
posted by BentPenguin on Jan 3, 2003 - 43 comments

On initial inspection, this post by y2karl appears to me more suited to his own weblog. For me it just doesn't seem to belong on the front page. It's long winded, with lots of "this" for the links. Yet it seems to work as well..? It seems to highlight a desire for the 'community' to exchange not only ideas and opinions but also experiences and holiday destinations....
Perhaps it's a 'bridge' of a post that signifies a new direction for MeFi?

posted by Frasermoo on Aug 9, 2002 - 67 comments

For newer members, including myself, what were the best times at MetaFilter? Any ‘I remember the good old days’ thoughts that you would like to share? Can we learn anything from this past? Is there any advise that the old guard would like to offer up to us rookies, by way of assuring that this community continues to thrive? We are listening, well I am anyway.
posted by RobertLoch on Feb 10, 2002 - 63 comments

We like to apologize.
posted by gluechunk on Dec 19, 2001 - 26 comments

I'm bothered that some people seem to think they should control the content of this site to their liking.
posted by starvingartist on Jul 24, 2001 - 14 comments

I just wanted to point out that I just finished writing a pretty thoughtful message in response to some of the comments in this thread, but decided, before I hit submit, that I really didn't feel up to the onslaught of personal attacks that I'd have to endure because of my opinion. So I pressed the backpage button instead.

Not that it matters, really. Maybe I'm just being thin-skinned. Some might say that if I felt strongly enough about my opinion, I'd be able to suffer the slings and arrows of the opposition. I dunno. In fact, I don't know if I even feel up to the kind of response this message is going to get.

But how many other MeFi users are doing the same as me? How many have just given up completely? This is how the blow-hards and the flame-warriors take over.
posted by crunchland on May 18, 2001 - 16 comments