MetaTalk posts tagged with post

Backdoor FPP?

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:31:05 -0800

Is there a consensus on "backdoor FPPs?" I have noticed a few - do people think they unnecessarily steer a thread? Takeover discussion? Provide a new viewpoint and welcome context? By "backdoor FPP" I am referring to a comment like this [mine], in which a comment is pretty clearly an FPP in its own right. "Backdoor" like backdoor pilot, in which an episode in an established TV show is a testbed for a new show.

Deleting Damascus

Whitall Tatum — Sat, 04 May 2013 21:24:34 -0800

I would like to discuss whether or not this post warranted deletion. I would like to begin by saying that while I am a new user, I've been reading for a long time, and am well aware that MeFi is generally not the place for breaking news stories. That being said, I have two major points of contention regarding why this post was deleted: 1. This post is not exactly breaking news. I believe that the value of this post is in the two linked videos of the bombing, which offer an entirely unique perspective on the Syria/Israel/Iran situation. The sheer authenticity of these videos -- by this I mean the fact that these videos seem to be shot by civilians, not journalists -- is something that, in itself, I think a lot of people here would have truly appreciated. Secondly, as I explicitly stated in the post (via the NYT), what we are witnessing here is an ongoing trend: Israel has attacked Syria before, and we know exactly why. It is not as if this post was "breaking news" in the sense that it was opening a slew of unanswerable questions. 2. Originally, I was planning on making a SLYT post, containing only a link to the first linked video. I was questioning whether this was MeFi appropriate, so I sent an email to the Mods asking their opinion. This is the response that I received: "It's a striking video, but without context really isn't going to make a good post. If you can figure out the backstory and find some links to give it that context, then it'd work, but otherwise I'd let it go." Please understand, I sincerely respect the Mods here, and mean no disrespect by pointing this out. However, I did exactly what was suggested: I added two (yes, "breaking") articles for context, and the second video which I found from the WP article (which, in my opinion, gives the post that much more "strength"). Again, I do not mean to come off as rude: but I find the fact that the post was still deleted to be incredibly disingenuous. All of this being said, I am submitting a Meta Talk question as I'd like to know what I could have done differently: Is there any way I could have better contextualized the videos? Did my wording of the post not place enough emphasis on the videos -- did they not come across as the main "focal point" of the post? Thank you all.

First post got deleted

karst — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:01:50 -0800

My very first post on Metafilter (about N. Korea) was just deleted! Bummer. I've read Metafilter daily for over a decade and I've been meaning to try my hand at a post. I've found myself hoping daily to find a meaningful post on the subject of N. Korea but coming up empty. I searched for previous (serious) posts on the subject and found none. Perfect! I'll be the guy. My post was deleted because of this previous post http://www.metafilter.com/126522/Why-Austin I'd argue that the previous post that covered the subject was more a "ha, ha, Kim Jog-Un is a loser" post than a serious analysis of an important subject. I haven't seen any good analysis posted on Metafilter about the situation, and the previous post had gone quiet for 3 days until my post was deleted. Here's my deleted post (with a missing period). http://www.metafilter.com/126680/It-will-be-911-times-2356 I'm doing it wrong apparently. Enlighten me. BTW-Cortex explained his decision a bit, but I don't want to pester him further. Seems his decision is final.

What are your Metafilter white whales?

grobstein — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:26:45 -0800

You know that one comment you read once, maybe about the kindergarten teacher who speciously reassures you, "I always put on a condom before I teach?" Maybe the all-time perfect Ask Me flowchart for reconciling your career decisions with your sexual kinks? You remember reading that great post or comment once -- but you can never find it! Yes, I know a lot about you. Share the ones that got away here!

Arrogance as jealousy

titantoppler — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 04:41:55 -0800

Some time back, I read a comment (I think on AskMefi) about how if you were jealous of someone else's success, it was because you were arrogant enough to think you deserved that success. In essence, be humble. I've tried to find that comment again with a combination of 'jealous' and 'arrogant' (and combinations thereof) but it doesn't seem to work; help is appreciated!

Putting the "Meta" in "MetaFilter"

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:10:11 -0800

Based on the front page, I can tell that other posters use some of the same resources to find potential FPPs that I do. I'll lay my cards on the table, and hope you do the same... The Browser Arts & Letters Daily Longform Big Think 3 Quarks Daily Longreads Damn Interesting Farnam Street Brain Pickings What other aggregators, filters, sifting sites do you like? How do you find things to post? Happy hunting.

Insert Title Here

Wordshore — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:30:18 -0800

This maybe just me with a particular writing hangup, but does anyone else find it difficult, sometimes have a "mental block", to come up with a title for the FPP they have constructed? End up sometimes spending more time on the title than constructing the rest of the FPP? Have abandoned FPPs as cannot come up with a decent title? Or have a fear that, no matter how good the FPP, a rubbish title will mean everyone will pass over it? Highly related; any tips for coming up with "good" (subjective, yes) titles. Related insecurity; that horrible, empty time, between when the post goes live, and the first comment appears. "No-one is reading it; I knew the title was pathetic. Time to quietly leave MetaFilter." For specific types of post e.g. a cat video, a political event, the story of some epic adventure or trip, are there any paths of thinking for a good, or appropriate title? With each day bringing many posts, is there a need to come up with a catchy title to grab the attention of MetaFilter readers (tho' disliking any competitive implications as it's not that kind of environment)? How best to make someone interested enough to read above the fold, and click on the [more inside] link?

— D R A F T C O P Y —

mazola — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:15:06 -0800

Pony request. Essentially re-asking this after a seven year gap: what are the chances of having a draft mode for posts so they can easily be built up or refined at different times and locations?

Inconsistent Preview/Post buttons

Lanark — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:11:57 -0800

The position of the Preview and Post buttons is inconsistent. This is a small usability issue, but when posting a comment the buttons are: [Post comment] [Preview] Which is fine and you get used to it, but then when creating a new MeFi post or AskMe question the buttons become: [Preview] [Post] I don't really mind which way around they are but could we make them consistent? I think this would reduce the number of people who press the wrong button from force of habit. Also [preview] is the smaller button when posting a comment but then becomes the wider of the two buttons when posting a new thread, this does makes some sense as the wider button is probably the most used option in each case, but it does make for an inconsistent UI.

MetaTalk Holiday Queue in the Queue

pb — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:23:32 -0800

We're going to be queuing MetaTalk posts from December 24th to January 1st. Around the holidays and New Year when MetaFilter mods have more plans with family and friends, we like to queue MetaTalk posts instead of posting them to the site immediately. This gives mods a chance to review the post and approve it when there are a few people around to help answer questions. If the post is about something a mod can address directly with the poster they can do that too. On January 1st MetaTalk will go back to business as usual. Thanks, and hope you have a great last week of December.

Was the women in board games post edited?

blue t-shirt — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:22:41 -0800

Was the women in board games post edited after being posted? I'm having an internet fight with someone who is thoroughly convinced that this post was modified after being posted. I've linked him to the FAQ entry that claims rather clearly that "Post or comments are not edited for content" but that was insufficient to change his mind. Would a mod care to chime in and confirm that the content of that post wasn't altered? Thanks.

Mefites' Choice 2012 winners, week one

cortex — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:38:04 -0800

It's time for round one of the MeFites' Choice awards, aka the December 2012 Most Fantasticked Posts, Week 1. Come on inside for winners and prizes! Storming the gates of the sovereign nation-state of Fantasticbourg this week is subject_verb_remainder with her slightly epic roundup of games primarily designed by women. Awesome pile of history and contemporary gaming context. Great job! According to the wiki, you've got a pair of mugs due from jessamyn and a donation in your name to the Internet Archive by LobsterMitten. There's also a runner-up prize from Wordshore, a mystery book, which goes to flex for the much-fantasticked privilege-checking and call-out culture cultural commentary roundup. And davey_darling offered an Amazon wishlisting for the "the most fantastical post with Canadian subject matter", which, well, there wasn't anything really about Canada that got any fantastic flags as far as we can tell but d_d did say mod's discretion and here's a post about hockey, so congratulations to mannequito! Winners and prize-givers should coordinate over mefimail about things like shipping addresses, etc. Congrats! Remember, if you won this week you're can't win for the rest of the month, so you'll have to go back to posting for the sheer joy of it. Voting for week two has of course already begun and we'll announce winners next week on Monday.

The Joy of FPPing

Wordshore — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:06:41 -0800

To people who have done this; why did you create Front Page Post(s) on MetaFilter? The motivations are interesting in themselves, and may also provide positive reasons for people to cross the rubicon from lurker to poster. It's an activity which takes a variable amount of time, from a single link cat video post, to a multi-screen, multi-linked complex. There is no monetary or career-enhancement reward for posting. There's (arguably thankfully) no shiny gamification 'badges' for posting many times on MetaFilter. As the poster you are, in a sense, putting your head "above the parapet". And it is very unlikely (tho' guess not impossible?) that posting to MetaFilter will ultimately result in you "getting laid". So, what have been the motivation(s) for you to post. Were they different depending on the nature, subject matter, of the post? Were they different from posting on e.g. online newspaper comment sections, community blogs, other sites where people link to and discuss online content? Was it to illuminate something you think should have a wider audience? To provoke debate, be the catalyst for comment? To highlight something negative you think people need to be aware of? To make people happy(er) with something cute? To digitally shout out "OMG!" at some news, event, happening in the world? Or did you take an intrinsic pleasure in creating the post (the "inner librarian" concept); editing it, doing the research, refining it for the particular audience which is MetaFilter? Or post to become more immersed, "meshed" into the MetaFilter network/community? Or to altruistically add to a "sum of MetaFilter community knowledge". Or, for regular posters, is the motivation to post more of a reflex reaction to encountering something interesting online? Or some other motivation(s) for why you dedicated the time and effort to creating a specific post? Related: Jessamyn's comment about mini-bibliographies.

Linking as approval?

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 04:44:21 -0800

Is linking to a site endorsement of a site? If somone links to a site, does that constitute approval or endorsement of a site? Obviously, a post is approval, in a "look at this" sort of way. But are supporting/followup links construed as advocating a certain worldview?

MetaTalk Holiday Queue Time

pb — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:03:49 -0800

With US Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, it's time for another MetaFilter holiday tradition: The MetaTalk Queue. MetaTalk posts will be queued starting this evening through Monday morning to give the moderators some time to be with their friends and families. Moderators will be around to answer questions via the Contact Form, but MetaTalk posts will need to be approved before they appear on the site. This helps the moderators time things so one or two of them can be around to help out when the MetaTalk post is approved. Thanks, and have a good Thanksgiving if you're celebrating.

...the primary buffer panel just fell off my gorram post for no apparent reason...

zarq — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 09:23:49 -0800

So, I made a post last week and now the main link (the only one above the "more inside") is broken. It's a youtube video that was apparently removed by the copyright holder. What is normally done in these situations? Do y'all summarily delete? Ignore? Is it at all possible (or even worth it) to re-work the post? Looked this morning, but couldn't find an alternate link.

halloween

clavdivs — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:58:38 -0800

This Halloween, if you could decorate your home or office as any movie or T.V. set, what would it be? Happy Halloween mefi!

Mormon temple ceremonies

XMLicious — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 09:37:09 -0800

I think other versions of this post linking to a video of Mormon temple ceremonies ought to stand if they're offered. The text embedded in the video is a bit silly - gasp, some elements of this are from Freemasonry! Shocking! - but for anyone who has been to a variety of religious ceremonies in different faiths this is kind of interesting. Maybe a similar post with some editorial caveats? I suppose that some people are going to be dicks about it and act as though what's going on in these ceremonies is radically unusual or barbaric and unlike most of the other religions on Earth, which it isn't. But since the next U.S. President may be a Mormon and many of the members of the country's national legislature already are, I think it's worthwhile for readers to gain some direct insight into the religion rather than just what non-Mormons say goes on in the Mormon faith. I for one would be quite interested in hearing the commentary of Mormon and ex-Mormon MeFites on what's depicted. On the other hand, if this isn't really never-before-seen footage and anyone has links to similar video without the embedded text commentary, maybe someone could do a post on that? And a'course I'd request that commenters not turn such a thread into the usual Mormonism-bashing session if one appears.

It's like a second chance to avoid opening your mouth and removing all doubt.

TheNewWazoo — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:59:35 -0800

What about an "on second thought, maybe it'd be better not to have said anything at all" window? I, of course, would never say anything regrettable on MetaFilter, but what if, say, I realized immediately (or a short time) after hitting "post" that perhaps it'd have been better if that comment had lived forever imprisoned in my head? It seems like a logical extension of the edit window, and I propose it as A Thing since the edit window seems to be going quite nicely.

Can I easily retrieve the HTML of a deleted post?

Sleeper — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:30:41 -0800

You tell me how to retrieve the HTML from a post that got deleted plz kthx? (I posted something on the front page last night, and it got deleted for too much personal commentary. I'm fine with that.) User Goofyy and deleting admin kaz suggested that I re-post sans commentary. This is moderation, it's not racism. So is there an easy way to get the HTML of my post back, or will I have to just re-type it all? (This question has probably been asked before, but I was unable to find the answer. )

Getting good at writing FPPs

Wordshore — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:28:13 -0800

Am still a relative newbie here, and finding MetaFilter a fascinating source of high quality / low noise information and interesting stuff. But am struggling a bit with writing FPPs. So far, have had 7 go up, but 4 pulled. Stressing that am not complaining; every time there's been a reason politely given why, and I've retrospectively thought "Yeah, that's a fair point." But it would be nice to consistently put up interesting and always legitimate FPPs. I feel a bit that am learning the ropes of doing proper FPPs by trial and (often) error - perhaps have gotten practice on other forums, that are slightly or very different to Metafilter, hardwired into me and it's difficult to spot other than retrospectively when it's pointed out. Is there a sandbox area, or some other mechanism for getting other people to look at one's FPP before it goes 'live', to see that it's legitimate (beyond the clear warnings not to self-promote) in terms of content and style and any other criteria? I have no problem with constructive criticism, peer review et al.

One pill makes you larger... and one pill makes you smaller.

nickrussell — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:03:45 -0800

The text was small for a reason. Font size can be important in meaning and expression. The comment in this post was small for a reason. And now it is no longer small, but normal-sized. Is there a rule on formatting comments with the tags that I missed? Or is this another example of arbitrary intervention on behalf of People That Hate The Small Tag?

I guess I can post after 5,000 comments

zardoz — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:20:05 -0800

"Your post could not be added. You have not posted enough comments to be able to post to the front page." Huh? Tried to make a new post, got this message instead. 2,500 posts isn't enough? What am I missing?

That's a lot of words.

empath — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:54:18 -0800

What is the longest metafilter comment that wasn't a stunt post?

Unflag/Reflag

These Birds of a Feather — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:30:49 -0800

Any chance we could have the ability to unflag/reflag a post or comment? I inadvertently flagged something as derail when I meant to flag it as something else. I also may have flagged something as having been breaking the guidelines when I meant to say it was a flipping fantastic post. I realize I suck at using my phone to traverse MeFi and that's partially why this is a problem for me, but is there any way that you we could change the flag system so you can unflag something once you've flagged it and either reflag it with the appropriate commentary or rest assured that you didn't flag something you didn't mean to after all? A cursory search of MetaTalk returns this comment, but no posts on this topic.