The Upside of Treading Lightly June 22, 2007 10:00 AM   Subscribe

Metafilter gets a plug in my local weekly Columbus Alive. Text inside.
posted by Otis to MetaFilter-Related at 10:00 AM (32 comments total)

From the column "Lunch Break Links" by Chris DeVille:

"Metafilter bills itself as a 'community weblog,' and it's just that. The site allows users to register and post whatever they please to the blog's home page. Well, sort of. Like most good things, it comes with a catch. In order to, ahem, filter the links, the site restricts users from posting for the first week, allowing them to 'get a feel for the place' and leave some comments. Metafilter has so many users that if even one percent of them submitted content in a day, it would crash the site, so users are encouraged to be picky about what they post. The upside of treading lightly is excellent quality control."

C'mon Mr. DeVille, don’t hide your light under a bushel. Stop in and say 'hi.'
posted by Otis at 10:01 AM on June 22, 2007


post whatever they please

I get the impression the bushel hasn't been there very long.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:04 AM on June 22, 2007


Oh, it wouldn't crash the site. Make it unreadable, sure, but our good Jrun is not so obvious and predictable as that.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:04 AM on June 22, 2007


Oh. Wait. We're supposed to be PICKY about what we post? Huh. I'm sorry, you guys. I totally didn't know.
posted by miss lynnster at 10:04 AM on June 22, 2007


Oh, you know, like pick your fave off the front page of YouTube.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:11 AM on June 22, 2007 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter: It comes with a catch.

ahem
posted by Duncan at 10:27 AM on June 22, 2007


Sorry, wrong thread.
posted by Duncan at 10:28 AM on June 22, 2007


From the column "Lunch Break Links" by Chris DeVille

Oh, thank goodness, I thought we were talked about in the High Flying Flaggots video (not that there's anything wrong with that).
posted by Pollomacho at 10:37 AM on June 22, 2007


Flaggots Ohio* | Flaggots NY, NJ, Philly
posted by ericb at 10:54 AM on June 22, 2007


Metafilter has so many users that if even one percent of them submitted content in a day, it would crash the site, so users are encouraged to be picky.

Fixed that for you.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:57 AM on June 22, 2007


Well, you know what they say; if you want to be talked about, telephone, tele-fax, tell-a-flaggot.
posted by The Straightener at 11:02 AM on June 22, 2007


Just flaggot and move on, willya?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:53 AM on June 22, 2007 [1 favorite]


That's actually a pretty good summary. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call the quality control "excellent," but I imagine if you've spent enough time skimming through the crap on certain other sites, it might well seem that way.
posted by languagehat at 11:55 AM on June 22, 2007


The upside of treading lightly is excellent quality control.

It's not working. I still have unfettered access to the site and no one has restricted my ability to comment.
posted by quin at 12:25 PM on June 22, 2007


The site allows users to register and post whatever they please to the blog's home page.

I think these guys might disagree.
posted by Dave Faris at 12:45 PM on June 22, 2007


Why would they disagree? They were allowed to post whatever they wanted to the front page.

After-the-fact deletions are NOT the same as pre-posting restrictions.
posted by dersins at 12:49 PM on June 22, 2007


The ol' prior restraint argument of the FCC, huh, dershins?

When I saw Columbus Alive, I had hoped that it was some sort of 1492 Zombie magazine.
posted by klangklangston at 1:06 PM on June 22, 2007


In Sovi't Fourteen Ninety Two
Ocean Sails Columbus YOU

posted by cortex (staff) at 1:38 PM on June 22, 2007 [5 favorites]


No, Columbus Alive would be about the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria crashing in the Andes.
posted by brundlefly at 1:41 PM on June 22, 2007 [1 favorite]


The ol' prior restraint argument of the FCC, huh, dershins?


Um, no klangklanshton, the opposite of that.
posted by dersins at 1:55 PM on June 22, 2007


I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call the quality control "excellent," but I imagine if you've spent enough time skimming through the crap on certain other sites, it might well seem that way.

Baby, you ain't lyin'! Public/news blogs, when I've ventured to check them out, make me want to put extra locks on all the doors and carry a stun gun. A few of those mangy strays wander into our yard now and then, but overall the quality of discourse around here is pretty nice.
posted by troybob at 2:29 PM on June 22, 2007


I think metafilter works because we are all accountable to each other for the quality of content on the site.

Sure the structure of the site help (with metatalk providing oversight) but the most important element is ethos.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 2:32 PM on June 22, 2007


"Um, no klangklanshton, the opposite of that."

No, the argument of the FCC, especially as applied to radio communication (where I'm the most familiar with the "rules") is that there aren't any truly specific guidelines on what is or is not obscene, because those would constitute "prior restraint." So, they won't actually tell you that you can't say fuck on the radio, but will fine you or jerk your license after you've said fuck on the radio. Even vaguer guidelines exist for after 10pm.
And, like the flag system, the FCC primarily relies on the volume of complaints to issue rulings (though the peculiar vagaries of whatever commissioner is sitting now play a large part too).

So yeah, at the risk of explaning any humor out of my quip, they are pretty analogous (though I tend to believe that works well here and not so well with the FCC).
posted by klangklangston at 2:35 PM on June 22, 2007


I think metafilter works because we are all accountable to each other for the quality of content on the site.

Sure the structure of the site help (with metatalk providing oversight) but the most important element is ethos.


What have the 3 Musketeers got to do with MetaFilter?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:07 PM on June 22, 2007


I think you mean Athos. But since you asked, he and Aramis, like to tool around AskMe dispensing wisdom and occasionally, when needed, justice.

Porthos lurks on MeTa, occasionally dropping in to make some witty yet drunken comment. He prefers the flame-out threads.

d'Artagnan got banned ages ago. But that's cool, he always was kind of a whiny bitch.
posted by quin at 3:25 PM on June 22, 2007


Apparently the subject of one of those deleted posts Dave Faris noted above has a few words about us.

ATTACK!!!!
posted by wendell at 5:28 PM on June 22, 2007


For christ's sake, don't.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:02 PM on June 22, 2007


From Wendell's link:

The site does not take kindly to using your membership as a means of flogging your own blog, but I find that for every 5 posts I do on Metafilter, I can creatively slip in one or two that will drive some traffic to my sites.

(emphasis mine...)
posted by dersins at 6:04 PM on June 22, 2007


Yeah, I noticed that too, dersins. There's something decidedly Denmark about the situation, but I'd rather not see any cross-site pitchforkery. I left a comment on the OA blog; hopefully, they'll take the honest road and get in touch with me one way or the other.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:14 PM on June 22, 2007


"...That, and the fact that the community members have evolved into a pretty rude and crude bunch who regulalry tell people to f**k off in their comments.

Well, not regulalry.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:35 PM on June 22, 2007


Well, not regulalry.

It might be a reference to the hopefully short-lived LOL royalty meme.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:32 PM on June 22, 2007


Haw! This is wild.... Listen... MetaFilter is sooooo huge.....

How huge is it?


It's so huge that if only 1% of the members posted, it would crash the site. HA! Isn't that wild?

It's soooo huge, that when it sits around the house, it sits around the house.

It's so huge that when it walked down the street in a red turtleneck, kids yelled "Kool-Aid!"

It's so huge that... aw crap forget it.
posted by The Deej at 10:59 PM on June 22, 2007


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