MetaTalk posts tagged with history

Viva quien vence... but, still...

taz — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:05:43 -0800

I'm wondering if we should add a "History" category to Ask Me? I posted this today, and was surprised to find that we don't have this category choice. I wavered between "Grab Bag" and "Society and Culture" and finally went with the latter, though my impression of that category is that it's meant to address quite different, mostly contemporary questions... and checking past questions seems to affirm that it's not a great fit, though probably the best we have. I did find some similar queries, of course (most recently: this and this), and maybe it does make strict economical sense in terms of trying to keep the categories super condensed and manageable, but, dang - "History" seems like an important/logical/basic classification. I suspect that history questions must be somewhat illogically scattered among various less helpful categories (I briefly considered "clothing, beauty, & fashion" and "home and garden" - and maybe if I were only asking about either the gowns or the rushes, I might have gone with one or the other... but they would have been poor substitutes for a straightforward "History" designation).

Queries from the hive mind

Rhaomi — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:33:42 -0800

I was experimenting with Google's search suggestions feature when I noticed that it gave some interesting results for "metafilter + [letter]". Since it returns the most popular search terms starting with that phrase, what you get for each letter is an A-Z listing of the most sought-after topics related to Metafilter. So without further ado, I give you... Metafilter A to Z. (each search term links to my best guess of the most appropriate page for the query) -A- metafilter ask - humble AskMe, of course. metafilter april fools - a reference to Mefi's annual April Fools joke, nicely summarized at the Mefi wiki. metafilter ayn rand - Mefi's antipathy for the creator of Objectivism is probably best summed up by this 2005 thread commemorating the 100th year since her birth, though there are many other examples. -B- metafilter blog - Perhaps some dedicated AskMe junkies were curious about this "community blog" they keep hearing about? metafilter bradbury all summer in a day - an oddly popular subject for "find this book/movie" AskMe's metafilter bale - referring to the 249-comment post to the Blue about Bale's on-set freakout. metafilter battlestar - the interminable discussion of the BSG finale. metafilter book - the top result is the much-loved "What book is the best introduction to your field?" AskMe (1098 favorites!), but a lot of other good book posts are summed up on the ReadMe article from the Mefi wiki. -C- metafilter comic sans - Mefites diss Comic Sans; Matt gets revenge. metafilter contribution index - jaden's excellent tool for statistical analysis of any user's posting history. metafilter cat scan - "metafilter cat scan" is one of the strangest search terms I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got this wedged into Google Suggest, or why. metafilter clone - many sites have branched off from Mefi or use a similar layout -- the wiki provides a nice round-up. metafilter.com - the best of the web, I hear metafilter conficker - a thread about the "boss" of internet worms, which seemed to fizzle anti-climactically a few months ago. metafilter cortex - Metafilter's beloved moderator/bard. -D- metafilter deleted - a blog that keeps track of all deleted threads on Metafilter. metafilter down - a blog that keeps track of all deleted Metafilters on the internet (a thankfully rare event). metafilter david lee roth - "David Lee Roth's vocal track from Runnin' With the Devil, without benefit of, you know, music." -E- no results! (And for the most common letter in the English language? How about that.) -F- metafilter flash - Mefites love themselves some Flash metafilter flash friday - ...especially on Friday. metafilter faq - read it, learn it, live it. -G- metafilter greasemonkey - Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows on-the-fly customizations to webpages. There are several dozen designed to provide bonus functionality for Metafilter, like avatars and visible deleted threads. metafilter games - We love games! Especially free games. -H- metafilter hacked - Hackers? In my Metafilter? -I- metafilter irc - There's no official channel, but #mefi on slashnet is the unofficial equivalent. metafilter iphone - a super-sleek Mefi interface designed for the iPhone metafilter infodump - cortex's downloadable collection of site-wide statistics. Current as of July 30th! metafilter is down - ...face down, that is, for a relaxing massage! metafilter interactive fiction - A design contest for best interactive fiction game. All titles are playable on the contest site! -J- metafilter jobs - A popular topic in these uncertain times. Or maybe people are just gunning for adminship? -K- metafilter kutiman - a post discussing Kutiman's fantastic YouTube remix project. -L- metafilter livejournal - Blogs blogging blogs. metafilter lofi - a professional white background for the discerning Mefite. -M- metafilter music - Less talk, more rock. metafilter mobile - the iPhone version does double-duty for all mobile devices. metafilter meetups - Metatalk's the unofficial home for them now, but word is a dedicated subsite is in the works. metafilter mutant - the first non-mod user to show up, Mutant is Mefi's resident financial guru. metafilter markov - cortex's language toy generated random sentences based on a user's posting history. It's sadly out of commission due to security holes exposed in this year's hacking incident. metafilter mixtape - MixMe! -N- metafilter network llc - metafilter.net may be sparser, but it sure has a cool logo. metafilter nicwolff - another popular longtime Metafilter member. -O- metafilter omegle - "Like a slot machine, only with people." -P- metafilter podcast - Mefi's own semi-monthly site round-up. metafilter projects - Projects from the community. -Q- no results! -R- metafilter rss - The Blue is the most popular subscription, but there are feeds available for all subsites and threads, too. metafilter running with the songsmith - mrzarquon's wonderful, horrible procedural music/David Lee Roth jam burned up the web a few months ago. -S- metafilter status - The status blog, again. metafilter songsmith - The original thread on Songsmith that inspired the above song. metafilter space game - Space and games, two great tastes that taste great together. metafilter star trek - There've been a lot of Star Trek posts, but this YouTube mashup one is probably the most-loved. metafilter shirt - Cover your shame! -T- metafilter twitter - Sidebar Twitter stream. metafilter tf2 - A popular staple of Mefightclub. metafilter tater - Hardcore. metafilter travel - The neglected subsite now redirects to the main page... -U- metafilter userfriendly - One of Mefi's more memorable flare-ups, in which a webcomic artist pilfered users' one-liners and used them as the punchlines for his strips. metafilter updates - followupfilter? metafilter uptime - Moar status blog. -V- metafilter video - I figured this referred to video posts in general, but this is *so* much better. metafilter vs youtube comments - As if anyone ever needed any help feeling superior to Youtube commenters. -W- metafilter wiki - The Mefi Wiki! A repository of all site knowledge. I honestly found browsing it more useful than the FAQ when it came to understanding site culture. metafilter wikipedia - Eh, it's adequate. metafilter watchmen - Metafilter's comic fans attempt the daunting task of dissecting the merits of a movie from its first trailer. -X- no results! -Y- metafilter youtube comments - The MetaTalk thread! metafilter youtube - I'm surprised there aren't more vids, actually. -Z- no results!

Though now they are giants, once they were just like us.

ocherdraco — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:24:22 -0800

What were the mods like (on Metafilter) before they were mods? Please point me to notable posts by Jessamyn, Cortex, et al from when they were just some schmo on MeFi like you or me. This query inspired by Matt's blog post reflecting on 10 years of Metafilter.

Up

Artw — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:11:57 -0800

FollowupFilter: Edith Macefield’s house sold, to be elevated (previously)(previously)(previously)

Help searching for old post

bloomicy — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:32:10 -0800

Looking for an old post on book of made-up flora and fauna A couple of years ago I saw a post that presented a book that someone wrote and illustrated that had a whole fantastical world's flora and fauna (I think) like a catalog... as I recall it was written in a completely made-up language, but absolutely amazingly detailed. I've searched everything I could think of (illustration, encyclopedia, animals, fantasy, etc.) but can't remember what it was called or who wrote it. Help please!

It ain't me

telstar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:54:46 -0800

This thread achieves orbit. That is all.

Happy fourth birthday!

UbuRoivas — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:11:48 -0800

Happy birthday to us - four years old today! 18th November 2004 was the date that new accounts were made available again, after more than two years of no new signups* & enforced lurking for many of us. For others who came in from the cold on that day, birthday donuts all round!** * (apparently, there was some deal with 20 accounts per day - barely publicised & involving some arcane game of chance like trying at the stroke of midday, American time) ** (bring your own donuts)

Inauguration meetup planning inside!

brain cloud — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:52:34 -0800

Hear Ye: Exploratory committee for the formation of an Inauguration Day meetup in/around DC. WHEREAS there are many MeFites in the DC and surrounding area, and WHEREAS these MeFites are likely super happy right now about the election of Barack Obama to President of the United States, and WHEREAS many more MeFites, their families and their friends may be making their way to DC to mark the historic occasion of the inauguration of Barack Obama, I hereby request we start planning a huge meetup for this momentous day. All in favor, say AYE. Disclaimer: I am making this request from far away from the center of activity. I have plane tix and a place to stay for the duration, but have been out of touch w/ the DC scene for long enough that I don't have any great suggestions for a meetup location, especially a spot for a meetup that may potentially be pretty large. Locals, please hope me! I'll do whatever I can from my faraway location to make it happen once we settle on a time and place. Also: If we can somehow assemble as a group for the parade/big moment itself, that would be awesome too, but perhaps a bit more of a challenge to organize.

feed for personal activity

adamrice — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:53:31 -0800

I've been playing with a lifestream app, and it would be interesting to be able to pull my metafilter posting/commenting history into that. The most streamlined way for that to happen would be via RSS. It doesn't seem like there's any way to do that currently. Obviously this is a low priority, but if it's just a matter of flipping a switch, it could be interesting. Just to be clear, this would be different from the "recent activity" -- it would include only one's own comments and posts, rather than all new activity on threads one has participated in. It would be equivalent to feeds for http://www.metafilter.com/activity/[usernumber]/comments/ and http://www.metafilter.com/activity/[usernumber]/posts/

A trip down MeFimory lane to Obama's 2004 convention speech

Kattullus — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:31:42 -0800

Here's a little trip down memory lane. Obama's 2004 speech at the Democratic convention caught MetaFilter's attention. On July 28th, 2004 there was swift's MeFi post Obama's been lauded (which, in a refreshing change, derailed into a discussion of Canadian politics) and later that same day ronv asked what's more realistic/ which will happen first in the united states: a minority president or a woman president? It's fun to go back and see how opinions and analyses hold up in the harsh light of hindsight. Personally I think kickingtheground hit the ball out of the park in his answer to ronv. If you're interested in Obama's famous address at the 2004 convention there's no better article about it than Chicago Magazine's The Speech.

Easy Trips Down Memory Lane

interrobang — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:32:46 -0800

On the front page sidebar, it says "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago"—links to Metafilter, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years ago. Could we please have this feature in Metatalk?

A moment of the silence for the IMG tag

exhilaration — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:15:31 -0800

How can I find those hilarious closed/deleted Metafilter threads from the days of the IMG tag? I remember the page taking a few minutes to load because they were full of ridiculous animated GIFs. I'd like to spam my friends with some of those images.

New user history pages are up

mathowie — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:36:26 -0800

There's a new user history interface, at http://www.metafilter.com/activity/(your user ID). It's linked on user pages now and provides a consistent view of your posts, comments, and things favorited by others (including a new most popular favorited list from your history). Three cheers for pb for building it, it should be much easier to use and more consistent than the previous way we did things.

Detailed description of farm history; MeFi relatives get in on the act.

LobsterMitten — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:05:36 -0800

Callout for awesomeness: Want to know about farming history? Well, ontic's dad will tell you about farming history.

Grow a skin, people.

Aidan Kehoe — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:18:20 -0800

This is a good post, marred badly by its comments, which seem to be mostly in a vein of defensive nationalism. Odd, since a few minutes' research seems to indicate the poster is from the US, or at least was educated and is living there, and the story as described does merit the hostility of the poster.

Sidebar History

Eideteker — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:44:04 -0800

Sidebar: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago... 6, 7? I mean, I can type it in manually, but I figured I'd suggest it and see if enough people want it. And I'm not saying to go on indefinitely, could turn into "1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 years ago" over time, as per mathowie's decendants' wishes.

Metafilter History

progosk — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 10:01:04 -0800

having stumbled through the wiki and come out no wiser, a query: is there anywhere a concise source for metafilter history? i'm particularly interested in how the 5$ fee came to be conceived, and the effects (short-, mid- & long-term) it had on the blue/green/grey.

Metafilter book

airguitar — Thu, 18 May 2006 09:13:01 -0800

Is someone going to write a book about Metafilter? I would read it, maybe.

History Category on AskMe

Kattullus — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 14:48:17 -0800

Could "history" be added to the list of ask.me categories? I know that theoretically there could be an endless number of these but "history" seems to be a pretty big omission. I put my recent history question in "society & culture", and so did flexxer, while cuke put his in "grab bag" and my wife put hers in "writing & language".

Blocking Posting History?

Dean Keaton — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 07:58:12 -0800

This Mefi user is blocking their posting history. Should they be allowed to?

Biography based on previous comments

mindless progress — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 18:54:02 -0800

I recall a while back someone posted a sort of biography of another MeFi member using information gleaned from that person's comments and posts. Anyone remember that/have a link?

Dragging poster's previous answers in is not cool

ifjuly — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 08:13:00 -0800

"You also tried to fill a zippo with butane, so I'll reserve judgement." Everyone will likely tell me I've got my panties in a wad as that is the common response here at MeTa, but it'd be great if people didn't attempt to discredit the experience and advice of others on AskMe based on unrelated advice threads. Having to worry someone's going to throw your history of questions in your face later as an indication you are stupid or unable to give advice to others on different topics seems a bit shady. I'm not saying this is an established pattern, just that it'd be helpful to keep in mind.

Announcing the new search features

mathowie — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 19:23:20 -0800

NewFeatureFilter: Ask MetaFilter search, and all user pages have Ask MetaFilter history, with Ask MeFi removed from MetaTalk history. This is the tip of the iceberg, several major features will be added this week.

Anyone really know the history of MetaFilter?

answergrape — Wed, 14 Jan 2004 13:01:57 -0800

Anyone really know the history of MetaFilter? (more, as you expected, inside)

comment history bug-a-boos

NortonDC — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 20:54:53 -0800

One's Ask comment history is folded into one's MetaTalk comment history page, which may or may not be a bug, but the background color of the Ask threads are based on how you enter them (green from the Ask front page, grey from users' MetaTalk comment history) which probably is a bug.