MetaTalk posts tagged with threads

Can't Find the Right Metafilter Search-Fu For This Question

WCityMike — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:03:52 -0800

I am wondering if people could assist me in locating Ask Metafilter questions along the lines of this and this. I know it's a concept frequently asked about, but evidently the concept's too amorphous for tags to be of help, Related Questions just circularly refer to each other, and I can't find the right Google-fu for this one. Mefites usually have a knack not only for wisdom borne of their own thoughts/struggles/etc. in stuff like this, but also usually for communicating that wisdom both clearly and memorably ... I've come to some (good, helpful) realizations lately and would appreciate incorporating some of that Mefite wisdom early on in the process, but frustratingly, I can't seem to get a read on the location of the stuff I know I've seen.

Should MetaTalk be the first choice when trying to find that thread

Deathalicious — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:44:48 -0800

Is this "name that thread" week? I see 5 posts in just the past 2 days where people are trying to find content posted on MetaFilter. Which is fine, I guess, but with so much content posted on MetaFilter constantly, if this becomes a trend (which it could), MetaTalk could get filled up pretty quickly, and the arguably more MetaTalk-relevant posts (not that I'm saying this is one, necessarily) might fall off the page prematurely. As I see it, there are a few options to resolve this issue:

Offer a new and separate forum for identifying old MetaFilter threads.
Really, really unlikely to happen. Really specialized need and understandably the MetaFilter staff like to focus on features that are needed and useful to a majority of the MeFites.
Discourage the behavior somewhat through language on the posting page.
This would only work if there was something else in place. Otherwise, you're basically saying "This is not the lost and found, sorry" when there isn't a lost and found anywhere.
Better search tools? Or educating people on better search techniques?
Kind of hard to change other people's behaviors, but maybe the best way to go. Some of these posts might have been found if there was a better way to filter out posts. For example, you could enter a date range: "Pretty sure it was posted in the past 6 months" or if searches could work across the entire thread, rather than posts *or* comments (since often the key peices of information for a thread query appear in both the posting and the comments).

I admit that my motives are not pure and abstract, nor am I a necessarily examplary MeTa poster. I've posted 20 MeTas in 2 years, which is probably well above the median, and not all of them deserved to be on the gray. But I have to admit being a bit upset when my posts about the MeFi IF contests kept falling off the page as MeTa filled up with a bunch of random posts. Many people I interacted with after the fact, people who followed MeTa fairly regularly, did not know about it because for some reason everyone that week decided to complain about one thing or another. Maybe this is sour grapes, but I think MeTa posts should count, and I think they should bring up issues relevant to the larger community. I know, I know, let he who is without bad post-itude cast the first plate of beans, but still...

Anecdotes

archagon — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:54:03 -0800

I love reading personal anecdotes on MeFi and AskMeFi. Could you link me to your favorite anecdotal comments and threads? Thank you! This thread is good, but not quite what I'm looking for.

Best of the Best of the Best, Sir! With Honors, Sir!

WCityMike — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:27:22 -0800

Click on "My Profile". Click on the number to the right of "Favorited by others:". Click on the word "Popular". Copy and paste the top result into this MeTa thread (with hyperlink).

CanadaElectionFilter

angrybeaver — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:05:19 -0800

CanadaElectionFilter: Can we sidebar one of these threads to prevent multiple threads from cluttering up the blue?

It was the best of MeFi. It was the worst of MeFi.

amyms — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:10:52 -0800

If you were showing the MetaFilter Universe (including the main page, Ask, Talk, Projects, Music, everything) to someone for the first time, what threads would you choose as examples of MeFi at its best and at its worst?

And you're cute too.

serazin — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:41:23 -0800

So far, this has been one of my favorite days on metafilter, ever. I haven't been around that long, but between the bacon bookmarks (which I would like to officially nominate for the sidebar), the mysterious rocks surrounding Washington DC, and the all-sugar replicator, I am really fucking impressed. I know some of you hate America (Maybe you should check this out), but I loved that post too. Thanks rad people!

Searching for 3D Terrain program mefi thread.

mystyk — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:41:25 -0800

Looking for a MeFi thread about a guy who created his own 3D terrain program from the ground-up. [more inside]

I have a comment to post about wills.

princey — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:24:43 -0800

I would like to make a comment on a post I had read before about people looking to purchase a will done by a lawyer.I found this company and this may be of some help to you all in your quest. If interested let me know.

Intra-filter trackbacks

Eideteker — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 12:16:25 -0800

For the big pile of stuff: How about a wikipedia-style "Mefi posts that link to this post" box on the side of each thread (that has been linked back to)? So when someone links back to a post, that old post now links forward to the new thread. Especially useful if you search and find an older thread, and would like also to read the subsequent threads which say "previously discussed on MetaFilter..." Ideally, it would pick up on comments as well as posts that link to a specific thread (not to a specific comment in the thread, though).

Win the thread.

Mean Mr. Bucket — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 10:04:21 -0800

What's the deal with people "winning" threads all the time?

Can we have permanently open threads in the sidebar?

rob511 — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:30:58 -0800

My favorite pony: Perhaps certain posts could be set aside in a Hall of Fame nook, like certain creatures of Hollywood — ever-youthful, never far from our thoughts, and always open to comment. I'm particularly thinking of this thread. All kudos to washburn, but in this case, the comments have been so wonderful that I hate to see this thread inch down the blue, creeping slowly slowly into oblivion. Save the worms! Anybody?

Are silly threads allowed now?

edgeways — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:42:57 -0800

Has there been a slight shift in policy?

The silly personality quiz and the infamous Mushroom post are both things I would have thought would have been flagged copiously and deleted, but they remain.
I am not having a hissy fit, and am perfectly willing to skip over or add to the stillness as I see fit.
This is just seeking some clarification as to if anything different is happening and can we expect more of the same.

Request: official deleted threads index on the site

tsarfan — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 22:52:04 -0800

Deleted threads should have their own place on this site somewhere. Not only could they be accessible for reference, but many are funny as hell.

Will someone explain the joke in this thread?

jonson — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 21:08:50 -0800

I don't get it. At the risk of exposing my terminal lameness, will someone explain the joke in this thread? Seems like a bunch of anagrams & words spelled backwards...

There was a thread with an 'instant HTML editor' the other day.

clgregor — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 12:43:55 -0800

There was a thread with an 'instant HTML editor' the other day. I can't seem to find it. Any help?

Is it ok to post followups in threads?

mudpuppie — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 19:43:41 -0800

Honest, innocent question: Is this o.k.?

User Profile Semantics

abiku — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 20:30:00 -0800

Wording in user profiles seems to be off:

abiku has posted no links 8 comments to MetaFilter
and no threads and no comments to MetaTalk

I believe there should be an "and" in between "links" and "8" on the first line.

Am I the only one having FireFox crash....

fenriq — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 23:05:53 -0800

Am I the only one having FireFox crash while trying to load the y2karl thread below?

What have been your best and worst links posted?

rcade — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 07:46:23 -0800

A what-makes-a-good-post question I'd like to see other MetaFilter dinosaurs answer along with me: What are the best and worst links you ever inflicted on the front page?

Can we - even if only briefly - discuss stuff on AskMe?

MiguelCardoso — Mon, 17 May 2004 11:38:01 -0800

Can we - even if only briefly - discuss stuff on AskMe or not? This Sopranos thread started off as a question but the discussion of last night's episode was inevitable and almost irresistible. My own opinion, fwiw, is that it would be nice if a little discussion was indeed allowed or, as has happened already, generously overlooked.

Best posts of 2003.

moonbird — Sun, 28 Dec 2003 19:19:12 -0800

Year end clearance! So, cats and kitties, what were the most memorable, most entertaining or most informative MeFi threads (in your humble opinions) of 2003?

Did I see this link here?

jann — Fri, 23 May 2003 14:16:21 -0800

was I dreaming?

I thought I saw a link here a few days ago, about a bookmark that would quickly let you know, using amazon's database, whether a specific cd was put out by a member of the riaa. but when I searched for this link here, it was gone. And I didn't see it on lofi, when I looked there. Normally, I wouldn't care too much about a deleted thread, but I can't seem to find the link in question via google either. can anyone help me out?

War threads are exhausting

nthdegx — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 23:50:54 -0800

Tired of war-related threads? Yes. Tired of non-war threads that feel the need to make reference to the fact that they are not war-related? Yes again.

Links do improve and furnish a comment

MiguelCardoso — Thu, 27 Feb 2003 12:23:20 -0800

Links do improve and furnish a comment: When people do a little research before they comment and include a helpful or amusing link (and some users, like sheauga and madamjujujive put in almost as much work as they do in their posts), threads gain a new life and go off in all sorts of interesting directions. Sometimes deliciously and all at once. Some more threadbare posts, like the Libeskind one, are actually repaired and rehabilitated by the ensuing links. For some, linky comments may be a pain - do many actually click on them, given that a few don't even read the main links? - but I, for one, think they're dandy and would like to see more of them.