MetaTalk posts tagged with metafilterhistory

MeFites were right - it was a hoax

Oriole Adams — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:06:20 -0800

Anyone remember this thread about Dan "Blitz" Krieg who suffered a freak accident and then perished from MRSA? At the time several MeFites suspected a Kaycee-type hoax, but doubters were immediately trounced by those who knew and loved Dr. Syn and assured us that the story was true. Once again, though, MeFites were correct in their suspicions, as it seems that Daniel Krieg, ex-Navy man and northern Kentucky resident, is alive and well. Even some of his former supporters are peeved at his deception.

Should the profiles of deceased MeFites be preserved?

Faint of Butt — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:09:02 -0800

When an account is disabled, all the profile information disappears. Might it be better to preserve the information when the account is disabled due to the owner's death? Under most circumstances, it makes sense to delete the profile information when an account is disabled. For example, it's appropriate when someone wants to leave MetaFilter of their own volition and doesn't want to leave any trace. It's also appropriate when a spammer or scammer shows up and gets the banhammer, and we want to flush them down the memory hole. This morning, though, seized by a fit of 10th-anniversary nostalgia, I was browsing through the wiki and found the page of deceased MeFites. There are good people listed there, people who were appreciated for their contributions to the community: Radio7, alicila, poopy, Cancergiggles and Soulbee, just to name a few. But if you visit their profile pages, hardly anything remains except for their post histories and a blunt "This account is disabled," indistinguishable from the page of a banned self-linker. Even if it's too late to restore the profiles of those who have already passed on, perhaps, in the future, when we lose a good MeFite, his or her profile could remain as a memorial? Maybe a note could even be added to indicate the date on which MetaFilter learned of the death. It would be respectful and appropriate, I think. I know it's what I would want.

Bringin' it old-school.

solistrato — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:05:20 -0800

Birthday thoughts from an old-timer. Think it was Lance Arthur, on the old-old-old Glassdog, who linked to MeFi and naturally, as a duly-devoted Web Follower I logged on, got an account and thought nothing of it. Later, as "blogs" stopped being some arcane buzzword and became a reality, I would find myself coming to Metafilter more and more often. It became a crash pad, a place to find some commonality and actually feel like you were in a crowd on the Web. Kaycee Nicole, the 2000 election, 9/11: these are the most intense periods of Metafilter activity I remember. Afterwards, the entire web became one huge reptilian brain stem, and a place where horribly intelligent people were screaming at each other about the end of the world was too much too handle. Still, though, even in my periods of fallow activity, I would check out links that people would bring in and was always struck by just how much knowledge and experience was actually here, diligently catalogued by its users. Now don't get me wrong: you're all crazy. Out of your damn minds. But here Metafilter stands, ten years on, which is downright Paleozoic and also heroic. I have parodied it (which got noticed) and I have vented my frustrations, but I just wanted to thank MeFi for being here, because the Web is so much better for it. I also want to thank and congratulate Matt on what really is an amazing achievement. Metafilter's now officially an institution; long may she stand. Er, run. On servers. Which stand.

MetaFilter in the Ruins

cashman — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:41:42 -0800

"Nuclear warheads launched from North Korea, Iraq, China, Iran, U.S., Pakistan, India, and France have all but destroyed 22 of the world’s 50 largest cities." Ba-ba-dee ba-dee ba-dee…Th-a-a-a-a-t’s all, folks! When the apocalypse comes, when the world ends as we know it, you can bet someone will be updating Metafilter.

MLYT

Horace Rumpole — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:00:48 -0800

Whilst that was the lamest video I've ever sat through, you did point us to a pretty decent website of time-wasting videos. Inspired by Progosk's comment in the Kutiman thread, I've put together a few significant moments from the early years* of the Metafilter-YouTube love affair. First YT post evar. (and source of the comment quoted above the fold) Lazy Sunday. PopoZao! Autistic Basketball Player. The Evolution of Dance. The Oozinator. Carl Monday investigates. OK Go. lonelygirl15: fact or fiction? Impossible is Nothing. Google Buys YouTube. Dick in a Box. *through the end of 2006, at which point I collapsed in exhaustion.

What is the story of Metafilter?

infini — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:57:54 -0800

Imho this question didn't feel like it was "askMefi" so here goes. I'm observing how groups/communities form organically or virally online around common values/goals/whatever and I wonder if there's ever been a discussion, thread, study etc done on Metafilter's beginnings, how it grew etc? Any thoughts, stories, anecdotes?

MetaFilter History

SpacemanStix — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:59:37 -0800

Is there interesting MetaFilter history that newcomers wouldn't know about, but might find interesting? I'm relatively new here, but I always enjoy hearing back-history of social places that people who are new are not privy to. For example, if you join a new group somewhere, there's always an interesting history connected with the participants, including inside jokes, social drama, etc., that the average person joining wouldn't be aware of (I do know there is a place that describes the inside MeFi references). It could be something deep within the archives of MetaFilter (like the discussion thread where Woz showed up), or something that has no paper trail, but makes for interesting lore anyway. I'm not necessarily talking about a "best posts" thread (although it could be related I suppose) as much as the culture and happenings related to the board. What is your best or most interesting story about MetaFilter that the average person on the street wouldn't know about?

valerie flame

yonation — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:44:39 -0800

all-time favorite flamewars in the blue? either this will be a mefi project or just for my personal existential glee, but i want the cleverest, most hilarious flamewars you've seen erupt on mefi in the last few years. i'm thinking of things like this. thanks (and sorry).

Forgotten?

carsonb — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 06:21:08 -0800

The shadowy back alleys of MetaFilter... I've scoured the last 1000 MetaFilter-related MeTa posts and my sleep-deprived brains to come up with a list of pages and files that aren't officially linked anywhere, or are relatively unknown. Find here the remnant .gifs of one-off tweaks and limited-time promotions, ideas and directions abandoned or undeveloped, and there's also a couple of interesting files hosted at MetaFiltr. I feel like there's a lot missing from the list (ie I'm pretty sure BRAND_NEW_DAY.gif is hosted somewhere on metafilter.com) so feel free to add anything I missed. Here goes: Travel LoFi 100 random MeFite websites Google Earth KML File (Copy link to Google Earth) MetaFilter Taglines [MetaFiltr] Profile Photos - What do MeFites look like? Social Explorer - Where else do MeFites hang out? Recent Twitters - Say what? Recent Flickr Uploads - Say cheese. Recent LastFM Tracks - Sounds good. MarkovFilter - Come again? User Word Clouds Shop MeFi - $$ Metatalk thread closure status by month and per thread. [MetaFiltr] Flag Distribution [MetaFiltr] Threads containing at least one comment consisting solely of a single "." character - [MetaFiltr] Kottke header and footer Give the gift of MetaFilter Your very own Gold Star (image) Capital and Stratification within Virtual Community: A Case Study of Metafilter.com by Quartermass The Best Posts of August, 2006 (3/day) Banned For Life (image) Donate to MeFi The MetaFilter Scholarship Fund (2001) The Jabber Server (defunct) MetaFilter's Style Sheet (um, and another one?) There is no spoon... Banished won it (image) dios vs. rothko fundraiser Katrina Relief corner link (image) TextAds are phased out.

Oh boy! Sleep! That's where I'm a MeFite!

arcticwoman — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:39:30 -0800

Today on BoingBoing TV: MeFi's own Greg Nog asks Simpsons director David Silverman: " Does Ralph mean he dreams of being being a literal viking when he sleeps, or does he use "viking" as an absurd way of saying that he excels at the act of sleeping?" The answer: "I'm pretty sure [the writer] means that when Ralph falls asleep, that's when he becomes a viking."

MarkovFilter: Lemme see if any American supermarkets have taken in this stuff to decorate my dorm room.

cortex — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:37:15 -0800

Allow me to properly introduce you to MarkovFilter. MarkovFilter is an application that parses (random samples of) a comment history and creates a new comment via an elegant probabilistic model known as Markov Chains. The idea was done once before by majcher-here are some previous threads (1, 2, 3), and it's been mentioned many times over the years. Now it's back, and it's running live against the mefi database, so there's no scraping needed and it'll always be up to date and available for all accounts. I've tried to bulletproof the code as well as I can, and we'll try to tweak the script to make sure that it doesn't burn mefi down, but if you discover any problems or gotchas please do let me know. Big props to majcher for making it happen back in '03, and to pb for indulging me by setting up a dev environment where I could implement this The Right Way.

More Inside? You bet.

pb — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:11:12 -0800

More inside everywhere! Well, not technically everywhere, but the blue, Metatalk, and Music now have a [more inside] option when posting. (This has been available at AskMeFi for quite a while already.) No need to add to your own "more inside", "after the jump", or "below the fold"; [more inside] will be a appended to the post if an extended description is available. As always, bugs are probably lurking, and I know there are sections of the site that aren't expecting [more inside] yet, but we'll update/fix as we go.

Be safe and smart!

Krrrlson — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:25:29 -0800

Our own fandango_matt, of Metafilter design contest and multiple pissing elephant fame, has come up with his own Boy Scout inspired Metafilter safety guide.

Eponysterical

misha — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:43:08 -0800

What's the origin of the term "eponysterical"?

Follow up to "Vienna phonebook thread"

arco — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 06:33:16 -0800

FYI: Remember the "Vienna phonebook thread"? The archival collection we used to find all that information is (finally) being opened to the public with a presentation tomorrow afternoon here at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

I'm really not trying to be glib

jayder — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:12:31 -0800

I know this is a private website, where the administrator has a strong interest in avoiding litigation by celebrities, but what I saw happen in the last hour or so is just creepy.

Great answers are great!

divabat — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:11:04 -0800

Which AskMefi questions have elicited great responses or answers - the sort that just perfectly answer the question, or those where what seems like a long shot is serendipitously answered by the perfect person? Looking at the "metafilterhistory" tag, I found this and this, but are there others?

B-E S-U-R-E T-O D-R-I-N-K Y-O-U-R O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E: A resolution of a mystery site

thirteenkiller — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:20:29 -0800

To follow up the intense mystery of this AskMe, a resolution at last. Well. Um, see for yourself [flash]. from here

Don't tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about

reklaw — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:35:42 -0800

So I solved this problem, based on the help given by a few members, who I'm very grateful for. But was it really necessary for a load of people to come into the thread in the meantime and tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about?

nominate threads you thought had an impact on MeFi culture and history here.

John Kenneth Fisher — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 19:23:11 -0800

I just noticed that we have a metafilterhistory tag. This, dear admins, is a brilliant idea, and was a great walk down memory lane. We have cameras, indeed. I was wondering, perhaps, if people wanted to nominate threads they thought had an impact on MeFi culture and history here.

Sometimes I just love this place.

Floydd — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 07:51:45 -0800

Sometimes I just love this place.

Cortex comes through, again!

yhbc — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:11:29 -0800

Bump.

cortex comes through, again.

An update on MiHail memorial donations.

arse_hat — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 16:24:23 -0800

An update on MiHail memorial donations.

Mefi notices the Taliban back before they were fab

anotherpanacea — Mon, 22 May 2006 00:20:37 -0800

This post was flagged fantastic, five years ago today. It seems we underestimated the "Taleban's" Godwin factor. By a lot.

A man sodomising a chicken

sjvilla79 — Mon, 15 May 2006 17:40:13 -0800

ZoophiliaFilter: Would it be wrong to use AskMe to request graphic imagery of a man sodomising a chicken?