There are a lot of us!

Scientist — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:17:56 -0800

Calling all scientists and scientist-lovers! Do you like knowing when a comment you're reading on MeFi was written by a Person of Science? Well, have I got a greasemonkey script for you. So it occured to me last night, when I was supposed to be reading a paper on the idenfification of β-defensin primers in passerine birds but was instead reading MetaFilter, that I really love it when I'm trawling through some science thread on the blue or the green and some actual scientists weigh in to provide a little bit of expert perspective. In order to facilitate this experience, I thought it would be neat if someone made a greasemonkey script that marked scientist contributions in the same way that Plutor's excellent script marks the contributions of librarians. So, I made one! Well, OK, I popped open the hood on Plutor's librarian script and rejiggered it just a tiny bit so that it would do what I wanted. (I did get his blessing, albeit retrospectively as it were.) It works great, though! Basically I changed all references to librarians to scientists, changed the book to a microscope, and changed jessamyn to me. That's right, I made myself the curator of the Big List of Scientists (and then went and set a few people who I think are pretty unambiguously scientists as my colleagues in order to test things out a bit) such that anyone who I name my colleague on MetaFilter will be identified to those running this script with a little microscope next to their name. I solemnly swear that I will use my powers solely for good. So, everyone, if you want to know who's a scientist on MetaFilter, you should go get the script. If you're a scientist (of any rank or stripe, biologist, physicist, sociologist, archaeologist, PhDs, grad students, technicians, anyone who works in the sciences!) and you want people to know about it then you should send me a MeMail and tell me what you do so I can put you on the list. I'm so excited, unicorn farts are pouring out my ears! Hooray for Greasemonkey, Plutor, and Science!

You don't always get what you want, but if you ask sometimes, you just might get...what you want.

dawson — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:05:07 -0800

A different kind of call out: MeFi has a brand new pony. Just last week I made a plea for some sort of thread marker/scroll tag. Others were interested. Then within a few days, miracle-man Plutor released a script that surpasses all expectations! Already he's updated it, and you can download it here. It's getting rave reviews, and team lowkey modified Plutor's script for a slightly different look if you prefer. Major thanks and props to Plutor for a badass greasemonkey script that should benefit all Mefite .

MetaTalk posts tagged with plutor

There are a lot of us!

You don't always get what you want, but if you ask sometimes, you just might get...what you want.