MetaTalk

I have some ideas about getting rid of religious fundamentalism, winning the War on Terrorism, and inoculating our nation against ever electing anyone like George Bush to the White House again -- all at the same time and using nothing more lethal than words and a few diagrams.

I'm new here, and I would appreciate suggestions on what I should particularly avoid doing in discussing such matters in this group.

I am also from an older generation, and I am extremely upset about the current atmosphere in Washington, if any of this helps to explain the kind of answers I need.
posted by jhilton on Feb 17, 2005 - 55 comments

Attention first-time posters: hpsell recently made a hideous front-page post that violated just about every possible rule. Inevitably, he was greeted with a barrage of negative responses: [bad bad bad], "I'm not going to make fun of you because I strongly suspect that you're retarded," and the like. Did he whine, counterattack, or curl up into a ball and hide? No, he said "i didnt mean to ruffle any feathers... ill try to do better with the grammar." [more inside]
posted by languagehat on Dec 30, 2004 - 83 comments

I am new. There is a lot of MetaTalk about politics.

Apparently, "The quickest way to get a label you'll never be able to shake here is to engage in political threads."

For a long time, I couldn't figure out why people freaked out so much about mentions of politics, but I've been reading this thread, and I'm almost three-quarters through, finally, and it looks like the consensus is: MetaFilter is not a soapbox, and your primary subject should be links, not opinions.

That's cool with me, I'm just curious if I've got it properly nailed down.
posted by blacklite on Nov 28, 2004 - 270 comments

Now that we have all read and agreed with Taz's post, lets put it into practice: User posts first Front-page Post. The Post is great and well-received. New user even explains where he got it from (not that he had to). Everything's great so far so...let's call him out because it appeared in some older comments AND let's accuse him of outright stealing it! Good work!
posted by vacapinta on Sep 5, 2004 - 21 comments

Can't well all just get along? To an extent I can accept the 14k+ crowd misbehaving for awhile — at least till they pick-up on 'Metaquette' — but others should know better than to feed the trolls or fan flamebait.
posted by nathan_teske on Sep 9, 2002 - 74 comments

I'd like to suggest that there might be a bit of a danger these days of stripping some potential away from the site. A lot of new users are being called out (or belittled) rather promiscuously for posts or comments that are often no different than what they have been accustomed to seeing from Metafilter elders pre-14k (as well as post-14k). Vigilance is worthy and needed in order to protect the integrity of Metafilter, but I suspect that there is a risk of creating an atmosphere of paranoia in which many promising new members will be afraid to post anything that they are not absolutely certain will not reap condemnation. (more inside...)
posted by taz on Sep 7, 2002 - 62 comments

20 neophytes a day - and I'm one of yesterday's crop. Fresh-faced, clean-skinned...

As a Content Editor at Everything2, I'm intimately acquainted with the stickiness inherent in introducing new people to an online community (especially a content-oriented community, as opposed to activity-, hobby-, or interest-oriented ones). There seems to be a dearth of documentation. I guess this site is pretty self-explanatory, which is refreshing - I've been an E2 user for two and a half years and I still occasionally scratch my big, fat head. Also, after such a long, long time with no new users (I know it was a long time because I spent a long time checking the new user page), you guys must be experiencing something of a shock, too.

Any ideas as to what could be done to ease the transition for newbies and allay the angst, if any, of the old guard?

Feel free to kill this if I'm out of line, long-winded or otherwise. I'm a new at this.
posted by bingbangbong on Aug 2, 2002 - 85 comments

"Of course not, dayvin, but thanks for ruining the excitement of posting my first link."

Link content aside, does this happen too often? Does MetaFilter need to be a nurturing environment? Could we maybe have "rookie" stripes that let the jaded know to cut the newbies some slack?
posted by machaus on Jun 28, 2001 - 15 comments