IRL launch is a go August 5, 2010 4:51 PM Subscribe
Thanks everyone for trying out IRL during our alpha test and for
putting up with the awkward dual MeTa/IRL posts for a while. We're
ready to unveil new features and a new approach to meetups.
We've decided to move all meetup activity to the IRL site. This gets rid of having two URLs, and having to explain both sites to prospective meetup organizers. We'll have one URL for everything -- the proposed meetup will turn into the confirmed meetup when the organizer adds the information. That way after a meetup, there's only one thread to go back to for updates, etc.
We also added the following features:
1.) More categories! Now you can post IRL events in: Meetup (confirmed), Meetup (proposed), Performance, Presentation, Exhibition, and Etc. These should be a good start for the types of events we've talked about. If we spot a bunch of similar events showing up in the grab bag Etc. category, we'll break those into a new category. Basically, we're doing IRL as originally designed, for real, starting today, so musicians, artists, photographers, get your events listed!
2.) Propose a meetup. You don't have to have a date/venue in mind to post something at IRL now. You can just pick a city and see if anyone wants to meet up. Once things are confirmed, you can jump to our next change.
3.) Edit/Update an event. The author of a particular event now has the ability to edit the details of the event. That includes changing an event from Proposed to Confirmed so all discussion stays in the original thread.
4). Ten event limit. If you have a reoccurring event or a long book tour or something, you can post up to ten dates in the future as IRL events. Beyond that, you'll have to add them as events pass (once 1 event passes and you have 9 events to go, you can post one new one, etc). There is no bulk entry feature or way to repeat an event automatically. We don't know how often reoccuring events would happen, so we didn't automate the process to create them (we may revisit this).
There are bound to be bugs along with these changes, so list them as you see them. The MetaTalk sidebar for meetups will remain but eventually will all link over to IRL.
We've decided to move all meetup activity to the IRL site. This gets rid of having two URLs, and having to explain both sites to prospective meetup organizers. We'll have one URL for everything -- the proposed meetup will turn into the confirmed meetup when the organizer adds the information. That way after a meetup, there's only one thread to go back to for updates, etc.
We also added the following features:
1.) More categories! Now you can post IRL events in: Meetup (confirmed), Meetup (proposed), Performance, Presentation, Exhibition, and Etc. These should be a good start for the types of events we've talked about. If we spot a bunch of similar events showing up in the grab bag Etc. category, we'll break those into a new category. Basically, we're doing IRL as originally designed, for real, starting today, so musicians, artists, photographers, get your events listed!
2.) Propose a meetup. You don't have to have a date/venue in mind to post something at IRL now. You can just pick a city and see if anyone wants to meet up. Once things are confirmed, you can jump to our next change.
3.) Edit/Update an event. The author of a particular event now has the ability to edit the details of the event. That includes changing an event from Proposed to Confirmed so all discussion stays in the original thread.
4). Ten event limit. If you have a reoccurring event or a long book tour or something, you can post up to ten dates in the future as IRL events. Beyond that, you'll have to add them as events pass (once 1 event passes and you have 9 events to go, you can post one new one, etc). There is no bulk entry feature or way to repeat an event automatically. We don't know how often reoccuring events would happen, so we didn't automate the process to create them (we may revisit this).
There are bound to be bugs along with these changes, so list them as you see them. The MetaTalk sidebar for meetups will remain but eventually will all link over to IRL.
WOW. This is phenomenal. Thanks, mods!
posted by iamkimiam at 4:55 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by iamkimiam at 4:55 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also, should we strike a can of beans against a server frame or something?
posted by iamkimiam at 4:57 PM on August 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 4:57 PM on August 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
What about a IRL box in the sidebar, or maybe on the MetaTalk sidebar? I like the "upcoming meetups" list because it lets me quickly scan for events, and having to go check IRL manually seems like a step backwards. Or perhaps it could automatically show you meetups near your location, based on the location in your profile? Now that would be a super pretty pony!
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
zachlipton, yep the MetaTalk sidebar will eventually include the events at IRL. And over at IRL, we do show nearby events based on your profile location. Hadn't thought about moving that over here though. So, maybe!
posted by pb (staff) at 5:05 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 5:05 PM on August 5, 2010
Looks great.
Where do I (and shothotbot, if he frees up to rejoin me) put info about upcoming MeFi Book Club get togethers on MeCha? And the related discussions about what book to read next? Is MeTa still OK? Or should this go to the IRL tab?
I also second zachlipton on hoping for an ongoing sidebar on upcoming meetups listed in IRL.
posted by bearwife at 5:05 PM on August 5, 2010
Where do I (and shothotbot, if he frees up to rejoin me) put info about upcoming MeFi Book Club get togethers on MeCha? And the related discussions about what book to read next? Is MeTa still OK? Or should this go to the IRL tab?
I also second zachlipton on hoping for an ongoing sidebar on upcoming meetups listed in IRL.
posted by bearwife at 5:05 PM on August 5, 2010
So, to be clear, nothing that happens "In Real Life" is to appear on the gray any longer, correct?
If so, I shall retire to my sub-orbital space fortress to catch episodes from the 4th season of Arrested Development with the lovely Ellen Page, instead of returning to my depressing cubicle breathing recycled air so I can spend time on metafilter avoiding work.
posted by jabberjaw at 5:07 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
If so, I shall retire to my sub-orbital space fortress to catch episodes from the 4th season of Arrested Development with the lovely Ellen Page, instead of returning to my depressing cubicle breathing recycled air so I can spend time on metafilter avoiding work.
posted by jabberjaw at 5:07 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
If the bookclub meets at MetaChat, that's not really a In Real Life meetup. I dunno, seems borderline for an offline events site, especially since a physical location is required.
I'd say something that doesn't fit for IRL should continue to be mentioned here in MetaTalk as a new post instead of IRL. (so, similar things like gatherings for an online TF2 server gaming event, CD swaps, etc are on MetaTalk, not IRL)
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:09 PM on August 5, 2010
I'd say something that doesn't fit for IRL should continue to be mentioned here in MetaTalk as a new post instead of IRL. (so, similar things like gatherings for an online TF2 server gaming event, CD swaps, etc are on MetaTalk, not IRL)
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:09 PM on August 5, 2010
Could there be a Google Calendar feed for each location's meetups like there is one for iCal?
posted by griphus at 5:10 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by griphus at 5:10 PM on August 5, 2010
MeTa it is for MeFi bookclub and similar stuff. Thanks for the quick response, mathowie.
posted by bearwife at 5:12 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by bearwife at 5:12 PM on August 5, 2010
Could there be a Google Calendar feed for each location's meetups like there is one for iCal
If you add the ical link to Google Calendar, it should work.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:13 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you add the ical link to Google Calendar, it should work.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:13 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Wow. This is really cool.
And, oddly? I actually feel like it has utility outside of the MeFi community.
posted by Afroblanco at 5:14 PM on August 5, 2010
And, oddly? I actually feel like it has utility outside of the MeFi community.
posted by Afroblanco at 5:14 PM on August 5, 2010
similar things like gatherings for an online TF2 server gaming event
Hoo-ha! Matt's gone from 'wha? games? who?' to actually knowing the name of one of our favorites! At this rate, we'll be seeing him in-game by the end of the year!
(somebody, quick, gift him one of your extra copies of TF2 from the last Steam sale...)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:25 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Hoo-ha! Matt's gone from 'wha? games? who?' to actually knowing the name of one of our favorites! At this rate, we'll be seeing him in-game by the end of the year!
(somebody, quick, gift him one of your extra copies of TF2 from the last Steam sale...)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:25 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well done, Team Admin! Very tasty, elegantly done.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:27 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by DarlingBri at 5:27 PM on August 5, 2010
So... now where do we make threats against people who disagree with us? stuff like saying you'll track down peoples addresses and beat them up when they get home? Sounds IRL-ish, but tastes like MeTa.
posted by qvantamon at 5:34 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by qvantamon at 5:34 PM on August 5, 2010
Hooray! Being able to keep track of meetups in my town by RSS or calendar is TOTALLY SWEET.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:39 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 5:39 PM on August 5, 2010
Did I just say "totally sweet"? Srsly?
posted by ocherdraco at 5:40 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by ocherdraco at 5:40 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
I've noticed two bugs:
posted by RichardP at 5:51 PM on August 5, 2010
- Date/Archive pages don't show the specific date. For example, this August 2010 page doesn't indicate the day of the events within August.
- Geographic links are sorted oddly (perhaps by ID?). For example, this page of events in California should probably be sorted chronologically.
posted by RichardP at 5:51 PM on August 5, 2010
And, jeez, I've got a pony already. For the Performance, Presentation, Exhibition, and Etc. categories, can there be a place to put a link to the main website for the event? (Kind of like the primary link fields on the blue or in projects.) Or should we just build that into the post itself?
For things that are ticketed, being able to have a prominent link to where tickets are sold would be useful.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:52 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
For things that are ticketed, being able to have a prominent link to where tickets are sold would be useful.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:52 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Ok so what's going on tonight?
posted by fuq at 5:53 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fuq at 5:53 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
My IRL seems to be kind of backwards (least recent events first).
posted by ocherdraco at 5:55 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 5:55 PM on August 5, 2010
By which I mean the "My IRL" tab, not my particular view of IRL.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:59 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 5:59 PM on August 5, 2010
I don't know if this would be possible but is there a way to have a hidden profile location so we can get information about events near us without publicizing where we live? I'd like to know about stuff happening but I'd rather not be too specific about where I life in my profile. Someone could probably figure it out without too much trouble, sure, but I'd rather not just put it out there.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 6:02 PM on August 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 6:02 PM on August 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
Or should we just build that into the post itself?
I don't know if we really talked about this, but I'd vote for just building it in by hand as the default mode. Takes very little extra work, is far more flexible, and is a skosh easier to maintain as well.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:08 PM on August 5, 2010
I don't know if we really talked about this, but I'd vote for just building it in by hand as the default mode. Takes very little extra work, is far more flexible, and is a skosh easier to maintain as well.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:08 PM on August 5, 2010
Well, I've added the Florida calendar-thingy to my Outlook calendar, which I think/hope(???) means I'll see it if and when there's ever another meetup in Florida. If I'm right and that's how it works, you could do the same with your email client, or just subscribe to the RSS feed for your area, which nobody would know about but you.
posted by Gator at 6:08 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by Gator at 6:08 PM on August 5, 2010
I'd like to know about stuff happening but I'd rather not be too specific about where I life in my profile.
Interesting idea. I don't think you can do that currently, but prior to this we never had any real specific use-case for having location info so we've always treated it mostly as a "use this field for kicks if you wanna" thing without any other major implications.
In any case, if you're okay with people knowing what general metro area you're in you could always pick a spot at city center or otherwise not-really-where-you-are and still get totally useful "stuff nearby" suggestions.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:10 PM on August 5, 2010
Interesting idea. I don't think you can do that currently, but prior to this we never had any real specific use-case for having location info so we've always treated it mostly as a "use this field for kicks if you wanna" thing without any other major implications.
In any case, if you're okay with people knowing what general metro area you're in you could always pick a spot at city center or otherwise not-really-where-you-are and still get totally useful "stuff nearby" suggestions.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:10 PM on August 5, 2010
I'd rather not be too specific about where I life in my profile.
I'm pretty certain you can just type in a zip code and get approximate area. This is good for people without a lot of MeFites around, a little inexact if you're in a heavily populated area.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:45 PM on August 5, 2010
I'm pretty certain you can just type in a zip code and get approximate area. This is good for people without a lot of MeFites around, a little inexact if you're in a heavily populated area.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:45 PM on August 5, 2010
OK, having figured out how to add the My IRL to iCal as a subscription? This is AWESOME. Thanks, Team Mod!
posted by immlass at 7:00 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by immlass at 7:00 PM on August 5, 2010
Has anyone made a "My name is Irl" joke yet?
All righty then.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 7:20 PM on August 5, 2010
All righty then.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 7:20 PM on August 5, 2010
RichardP, I think your bugs are a couple sides of the same coin. There are two dates for every event, the date something was posted and the event date itself. So if we show the event date at all it's very prominent and it feels like things should be sorted by the event date.
So your first issue is that archive pages don't show the event date. That's because events in the archive are in the order of date posted. And your second issues is that events on the California page seem like they're out of order. That's because they're also in the order of date posted not the event date.
And I think that ordering things by date posted makes sense in both of these cases. The California page is something you might return to again and again, and it'd be nice to see newly posted items at a glance. The problem is that it's also nice to see the event date in this case, so it looks like things are out of order at first glance. I'm not sure how to resolve these two issues. I agree we should do something different.
Archives are simply a list of items as they were added, I think that makes sense too. But I took the event dates away because of the confusion with sorting. So if we solve one of these we solve both, I think. I'll give it more thought.
For the Performance, Presentation, Exhibition, and Etc. categories, can there be a place to put a link to the main website for the event? (Kind of like the primary link fields on the blue or in projects.) Or should we just build that into the post itself?
I lean toward including it in the post itself. Each different type of event could potentially have its own specialized fields. Art openings could have the name of participating artists, concerts the official band website, and Book Readings could have the name of the publisher. But I think all of these things can be included in the description by the poster. I'm not sure what the advantage of having it broken out into a separate field is beyond a reminder to the poster to include that information.
My IRL seems to be kind of backwards (least recent events first).
d'oh, fixed!
posted by pb (staff) at 7:22 PM on August 5, 2010
So your first issue is that archive pages don't show the event date. That's because events in the archive are in the order of date posted. And your second issues is that events on the California page seem like they're out of order. That's because they're also in the order of date posted not the event date.
And I think that ordering things by date posted makes sense in both of these cases. The California page is something you might return to again and again, and it'd be nice to see newly posted items at a glance. The problem is that it's also nice to see the event date in this case, so it looks like things are out of order at first glance. I'm not sure how to resolve these two issues. I agree we should do something different.
Archives are simply a list of items as they were added, I think that makes sense too. But I took the event dates away because of the confusion with sorting. So if we solve one of these we solve both, I think. I'll give it more thought.
For the Performance, Presentation, Exhibition, and Etc. categories, can there be a place to put a link to the main website for the event? (Kind of like the primary link fields on the blue or in projects.) Or should we just build that into the post itself?
I lean toward including it in the post itself. Each different type of event could potentially have its own specialized fields. Art openings could have the name of participating artists, concerts the official band website, and Book Readings could have the name of the publisher. But I think all of these things can be included in the description by the poster. I'm not sure what the advantage of having it broken out into a separate field is beyond a reminder to the poster to include that information.
My IRL seems to be kind of backwards (least recent events first).
d'oh, fixed!
posted by pb (staff) at 7:22 PM on August 5, 2010
I think it's great! Good job, pb!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:34 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:34 PM on August 5, 2010
Error: You forgot to include a venue name, please add one.
Error: You forgot to include a venue address, please add one.
So we gotta at least have a place in mind when we suggest something?
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 7:34 PM on August 5, 2010
Error: You forgot to include a venue address, please add one.
So we gotta at least have a place in mind when we suggest something?
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 7:34 PM on August 5, 2010
Oh, yeah, hell, sorry, I didn't mean to make whining the first thing I did -- this is super-much appreciated. Thank you!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:40 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:40 PM on August 5, 2010
So we gotta at least have a place in mind when we suggest something?
That depends on the category you select. If you select "Meetup - Proposed" you only have to include a city. If you choose any other category, you do need a venue with a name and address.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:51 PM on August 5, 2010
That depends on the category you select. If you select "Meetup - Proposed" you only have to include a city. If you choose any other category, you do need a venue with a name and address.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:51 PM on August 5, 2010
That depends on the category you select. If you select "Meetup - Proposed" you only have to include a city. If you choose any other category, you do need a venue with a name and address.
Hmm. I was going to post win a date with special-k in San Francisco (first come first serve, no purchase necessary. void where prohibited) under etc. everything else. Now I have to pick the venue too?
posted by special-k at 8:11 PM on August 5, 2010
pb writes "yep the MetaTalk sidebar will eventually include the events at IRL. And over at IRL, we do show nearby events based on your profile location."
Could we get an optional notification that an IRL event is occurring in our area on our profile pages? The dearth of events around here means I probably won't be hanging out on IRL very often. I'd hate to miss a semidecennial meetup because it was only on IRL.
posted by Mitheral at 8:11 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
Could we get an optional notification that an IRL event is occurring in our area on our profile pages? The dearth of events around here means I probably won't be hanging out on IRL very often. I'd hate to miss a semidecennial meetup because it was only on IRL.
posted by Mitheral at 8:11 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
Would it be possible to set things up such that if someone proposes a meetup near you (nearness determined by some sort of profile setting) you could get some sort of flag or star or something near your username on the blue and green? I'm happy to go to meetups, but at the moment, am not likely to be constantly scanning the field for stuff that is near me.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:23 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:23 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
The only concern I would have is meetup proposals for smaller/unusual places, (as kind of what Mitheral is alluding to) would sail by and not catch any attention whatsoever. Overall IRL sounds like a cool thing, but it also seems likely to work best for large Mefite population centers. Great for NY/LA..(?), but shoving all IRL events into a seldom checked corner for most members outside those hubs may make it even less likely for small events to gather any attention.
posted by edgeways at 8:35 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by edgeways at 8:35 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, pretty much nobody lives anywhere near me at all from what I can tell, but that's why I'm planning to try and keep tabs on the whole state of Florida, just in case.
Will the MeTa sidebar include proposed IRL meetups, or just confirmed ones?
posted by Gator at 8:39 PM on August 5, 2010
Will the MeTa sidebar include proposed IRL meetups, or just confirmed ones?
posted by Gator at 8:39 PM on August 5, 2010
Yep, the MetaTalk sidebar will include proposed meetups. I think everyone's ideal method of notification is probably a little different. We tried to provide a bunch of different ways to consume the info at IRL. We have RSS and iCal feeds by city so if you already use a newsreader that'd be a way to keep up with new events in a particular area.
But if you're already used to looking for meetups in the MetaTalk sidebar you'll be set. That's not going anywhere.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:57 PM on August 5, 2010
But if you're already used to looking for meetups in the MetaTalk sidebar you'll be set. That's not going anywhere.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:57 PM on August 5, 2010
Neat, but how am I supposed to pronounce "MefiIRL," you know, IRL? I don't want to embarass myself in front of the cabal or whatever.
posted by joshuaconner at 1:52 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by joshuaconner at 1:52 AM on August 6, 2010
'Throatwarblermangrove', of course.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:29 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:29 AM on August 6, 2010
oh god i'm sorry i can't stop doing that
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:29 AM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:29 AM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
win a date with special-k in San Francisco
Post it to jobs?
kidding!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:34 AM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
Post it to jobs?
kidding!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:34 AM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
Here's a little thing: someone favourited my event post, but that favourite doesn't appear in the "favorited by others" count on my profile page, nor in the list of my posts/comments that have been favorited elsewhere on the site.
posted by crossoverman at 5:13 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by crossoverman at 5:13 AM on August 6, 2010
robocop is bleeding: "Would it be possible to set things up such that if someone proposes a meetup near you (nearness determined by some sort of profile setting) you could get some sort of flag or star or something near your username on the blue and green?"
I like this. Or maybe an alert banner? Comic Sans is optional.
posted by Plutor at 6:31 AM on August 6, 2010
I like this. Or maybe an alert banner? Comic Sans is optional.
posted by Plutor at 6:31 AM on August 6, 2010
Okay, I'm trying to create an event, but it doesn't like the address. I swear that 95 Presidential Circle, Gettysburg, PA is a real place, and Google Maps agrees with me, but IRL just won't accept it. Help?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:55 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:55 AM on August 6, 2010
RELEASE THE PONIES. I would love separate boxes in the sidebar for meetups and gigs, et all.
posted by edbles at 7:12 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by edbles at 7:12 AM on August 6, 2010
Faint of Butt, Google Maps can't actually find that address—it just guesses by setting the pin nearby. Is your event at Old Eagle Grill? The address for that is 70 Presidential Cir, Gettysburg, PA.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:16 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 7:16 AM on August 6, 2010
No, it's the Wyndham Gettysburg.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:19 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:19 AM on August 6, 2010
Yeah, that's frustrating. Google doesn't have that address in their system if you just type it in. If you type in "Wyndham Gettysburg" it finds the location, address and all. But they don't make business names available through their API, so we can't go that route. We're a bit stuck that we're tied to what Google makes available to us.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:39 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 7:39 AM on August 6, 2010
Is it possible to get an RSS feed just for Meetups? Or will they still be in Meta?
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:39 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:39 AM on August 6, 2010
Can you suggest a workaround?
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:41 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:41 AM on August 6, 2010
Meetups won't be in Meta. Looks like we still need to add category feeds at IRL. I put that on my to-do list and I'll post here once they're available.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:42 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 7:42 AM on August 6, 2010
Can you suggest a workaround?
I don't have one right now. You could use the Old Eagle Grill and include a note in your description that it's just behind that.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:43 AM on August 6, 2010
I don't have one right now. You could use the Old Eagle Grill and include a note in your description that it's just behind that.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:43 AM on August 6, 2010
Yeah, that's probably what I'll do, since I want to get this posted right away. Thanks, pb.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:47 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:47 AM on August 6, 2010
I added the "New York" iCal feed to my Google Reader, but for some reason it isn't showing anything going forward except this event. It does show past events, however.
posted by griphus at 8:00 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by griphus at 8:00 AM on August 6, 2010
Yeah, I see the same bug as griphus -- only one event shows up in Google Cal for the NYC feed.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:19 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:19 AM on August 6, 2010
There seems to be some funny business going on with Australian events.
The postcode is ending up as part of the city: Melbourne 3000, Brisbane 4000, etc.
On the individual posts, the Australia breadcrumb (which should link to http://irl.metafilter.com/go/australia/) links to http://irl.metafilter.com/go/.
posted by zamboni at 8:32 AM on August 6, 2010
The postcode is ending up as part of the city: Melbourne 3000, Brisbane 4000, etc.
On the individual posts, the Australia breadcrumb (which should link to http://irl.metafilter.com/go/australia/) links to http://irl.metafilter.com/go/.
posted by zamboni at 8:32 AM on August 6, 2010
So there is an absolute flood of stuff in the NYC area, with a bunch of things listed on multiple dates. I know IRL is supposed to be for listing anything, but it's a bit much if you're mainly interested in meetups. Any ideas?
posted by smackfu at 8:40 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by smackfu at 8:40 AM on August 6, 2010
No noticeable change for the NY state feed or the NYC feed. I've tried re-importing both. Is there something I should be refreshing?
posted by griphus at 8:44 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by griphus at 8:44 AM on August 6, 2010
pb already said there's going to be categories, including meetup only.
posted by zamboni at 8:45 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by zamboni at 8:45 AM on August 6, 2010
griphus, it might just take some time for Google Calendar to notice the change. From what I can tell they do some serious caching with imported calendars.
zamboni, those should be working now.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:50 AM on August 6, 2010
zamboni, those should be working now.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:50 AM on August 6, 2010
I'm in a crunch and only browsed through the thread quickly. Anyway to make Meetups at least show up in the Metatalk feed that brings you to the IRL thread when clicked? It would help ease the transition, especially for those of us who live in locations with low Meetup turnout. Two or three casual users that don't check IRL can really mean a lot.
posted by geoff. at 9:10 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by geoff. at 9:10 AM on August 6, 2010
Sorry geoff, can you explain a bit more? I'm not sure what MetaTalk feed you're talking about. Can you include the URL?
posted by pb (staff) at 9:12 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 9:12 AM on August 6, 2010
Feed was a poor word choice, I didn't mean an RSS feed. I was thinking along the lines of Meetups showing up in Metatalk like they did before, even if by clicking on "comments" it would redirect you to the proper IRL thread. Does that make sense?
Might be too complex to implement, but it would help ease the transition to IRL for those who are used to just checking Metatalk for upcoming meetups.
posted by geoff. at 10:11 AM on August 6, 2010
Might be too complex to implement, but it would help ease the transition to IRL for those who are used to just checking Metatalk for upcoming meetups.
posted by geoff. at 10:11 AM on August 6, 2010
Oh I see, you'd like IRL posts to show up here in MetaTalk and then when you click the link to read comments you go over to the other site. No, we won't do that. We'd like people to get used to using IRL for meetups from now on. We will include a sidebar here at MetaTalk that points to meetup threads at IRL, though.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:13 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 10:13 AM on August 6, 2010
joshuaconner, it's probably pronounced IRL-Me (kind of like earlmee).
posted by amtho at 10:54 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by amtho at 10:54 AM on August 6, 2010
I've got a small critique/request: I'd like to see more information in the "Upcoming events near you" sidebar, since I expect it to be my primary notifier. How about including the city, the category and the number of attendees?
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:20 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:20 AM on August 6, 2010
Very cool. But the NYC feed is still all weird in terms of date order. I think it's posted order, sted date order.
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:17 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:17 PM on August 6, 2010
We have a lot of feeds going on at IRL, CunningLinguist. Which do you mean? iCal, RSS?
I think posted by date makes more sense than event date for most feeds, and the location page itself. Like a blog, I think a specific location is something you'll check in with once in a while for new content.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:23 PM on August 6, 2010
I think posted by date makes more sense than event date for most feeds, and the location page itself. Like a blog, I think a specific location is something you'll check in with once in a while for new content.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:23 PM on August 6, 2010
Thanks for the addition of the city, pb! Would it be feasible to add the other information, or would that just clutter things up too much? (My pony isn't sparkly enough!)
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:32 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:32 PM on August 6, 2010
And now I see you added the category after all. Two out of three is pretty good!
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:33 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:33 PM on August 6, 2010
I added category, too. Each post title should be prefixed with the category. I couldn't find a good way to fit number attending without adding it on a second line, and I don't want to do that. And I'm not sure it's necessary at a glance. It's just a click away.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:34 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 1:34 PM on August 6, 2010
Oh I meant the location page, pb. I didn't realize you wanted it ordered by posted date.
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:38 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:38 PM on August 6, 2010
Like a blog, I think a specific location is something you'll check in with once in a while for new content.
Personally, I'd rather the location page was by date order....I'd be more apt to check it to see if there was anything to do tonight, than keep track of when upcoming events are. But that's me and I don't feel very strongly about it.
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:41 PM on August 6, 2010
Personally, I'd rather the location page was by date order....I'd be more apt to check it to see if there was anything to do tonight, than keep track of when upcoming events are. But that's me and I don't feel very strongly about it.
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:41 PM on August 6, 2010
I didn't realize you wanted it ordered by posted date.
Yeah, that's the same problem I outlined here. We need to show both dates on the location page: the event date and the posted-by date. Because the event date has such a prominent part of the design, it will always look like things are sorted wrong unless they're sorted by event date. So I'm trying to figure this one out. Maybe date headers like we use on the Recently Posted page.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:44 PM on August 6, 2010
Yeah, that's the same problem I outlined here. We need to show both dates on the location page: the event date and the posted-by date. Because the event date has such a prominent part of the design, it will always look like things are sorted wrong unless they're sorted by event date. So I'm trying to figure this one out. Maybe date headers like we use on the Recently Posted page.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:44 PM on August 6, 2010
pb, the whole thing rocks, and it's a great addition to the site. Thank you for all of your hard work.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:01 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:01 PM on August 6, 2010
heh, no problem. Thanks for being a guinea pig and working on the site too. It's great to see people using this space now. It's always rocky at the beginning, but we'll get things hammered out soon.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:03 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 2:03 PM on August 6, 2010
Wow, didn't see this until the closed two-comment thread on Adelaide, and just piping up to say: looks great!
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:47 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:47 PM on August 6, 2010
Can meetups geographically close by be highlighted somehow on the sidebar? Underlined or bolded or something? I've missed a couple of nearby meetups before because I didn't grok how close I was or just didn't notice the MeTa post.
posted by Kattullus at 8:41 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by Kattullus at 8:41 PM on August 6, 2010
You mean on the MetaTalk sidebar? There's already a "meetups near me" list in the IRL sidebar.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:46 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 8:46 PM on August 6, 2010
well, we have the technology. Links are already underlined for many folks. Maybe a little icon or something could work, yeah.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:08 PM on August 6, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 9:08 PM on August 6, 2010
Hmm. I'm trying to post an event in London and the Google Maps box seems to be having an inordinate amount of difficulty finding my venue. I've tried several permutations that Google Maps is okay with, but IRL doesn't like any of them. What's the best format to use for UK addresses? Failures so far:
• 44-46 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB, UK
• 44 Pollard Row, Tower Hamlets, London E2, UK
• Pollard Row, E2 6NB, London, UK
• (51.52707539339267, –0.06336450576782227)
Hope me?
posted by him at 4:49 AM on August 7, 2010
• 44-46 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB, UK
• 44 Pollard Row, Tower Hamlets, London E2, UK
• Pollard Row, E2 6NB, London, UK
• (51.52707539339267, –0.06336450576782227)
Hope me?
posted by him at 4:49 AM on August 7, 2010
Why exactly are headings in Arial, and why aren’t correct semantics used? I filed a bug on the latter when the site was announced. Text on the Web is not all a
The “IRL” link in the toolbar at least needs a tooltip expansion via title attribute, preferably also
posted by joeclark at 5:41 AM on August 7, 2010
DIV or SPAN.The “IRL” link in the toolbar at least needs a tooltip expansion via title attribute, preferably also
ABBR markup.posted by joeclark at 5:41 AM on August 7, 2010
Just tried each of those addresses at Google Maps, him. None of them came up with an exact match. Behind the scenes, the Google API classifies each of those addresses as a route, meaning it can find the road but it can't find the address on the road. I have no idea why it can't find those particular addresses.
We could open up IRL to "route" being acceptable, but that means anyone could use addresses that don't exist as long as the road exists. So [road name], [city] would become an acceptable address. That might be what we have to do. The burdon of making sure the address was "close enough" on the map would be up to the post author.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:46 AM on August 7, 2010
We could open up IRL to "route" being acceptable, but that means anyone could use addresses that don't exist as long as the road exists. So [road name], [city] would become an acceptable address. That might be what we have to do. The burdon of making sure the address was "close enough" on the map would be up to the post author.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:46 AM on August 7, 2010
Out of curiosity, if you plug your addresses into the form here, is the pin the right place?
posted by pb (staff) at 7:48 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 7:48 AM on August 7, 2010
And what can I say, joeclark? We're not perfect and we're ok with that. And IRL isn't an abbreviation for anything. It's the name of the site which is based on a popular abbreviation.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:50 AM on August 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by pb (staff) at 7:50 AM on August 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
We could open up IRL to "route" being acceptable, but that means anyone could use addresses that don't exist as long as the road exists. So [road name], [city] would become an acceptable address. That might be what we have to do. The burdon of making sure the address was "close enough" on the map would be up to the post author.
Maybe you should do this only for places outside the U.S. (maybe U.S./Canada), where things seem to work fine? English addresses are messy.
posted by grouse at 7:56 AM on August 7, 2010
Maybe you should do this only for places outside the U.S. (maybe U.S./Canada), where things seem to work fine? English addresses are messy.
posted by grouse at 7:56 AM on August 7, 2010
Things aren't completely fine in the US. Faint of Butt had the same problem upthread with a US address. He ended up going with the closest address that Google Maps could find and explaining that in the description.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:00 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 8:00 AM on August 7, 2010
pb: Out of curiosity, if you plug your addresses into the form here, is the pin the right place?
Yup, that seems to be spot-on. I'd settle for a pin in the right general area, though, so maybe allowing "route" is the way to go. Thanks, pb.
posted by him at 8:09 AM on August 7, 2010
Yup, that seems to be spot-on. I'd settle for a pin in the right general area, though, so maybe allowing "route" is the way to go. Thanks, pb.
posted by him at 8:09 AM on August 7, 2010
Might a good compromise be to allow routes but highlight in some way that the location doesn't verify and extra attention might be required.
posted by Mitheral at 8:28 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by Mitheral at 8:28 AM on August 7, 2010
That's a good idea Mitheral, but might lead to more confusion. I guess some confusion would be better than someone following directions to a phantom address, though.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:38 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 8:38 AM on August 7, 2010
ok, just set IRL to accept "route" addresses so you should be set to add yours him. Let's see how this goes and if we need to add a disclaimer to these addresses we will.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:47 AM on August 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by pb (staff) at 8:47 AM on August 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Thanks, pb – that seems to have worked perfectly in my particular case, with the map pin exactly where it should be.
posted by him at 8:50 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by him at 8:50 AM on August 7, 2010
Alternately, maybe just use latitude/longitude, which seemed to work fine when I tried it.
posted by churl at 11:38 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by churl at 11:38 AM on August 7, 2010
griphus, it might just take some time for Google Calendar to notice the change. From what I can tell they do some serious caching with imported calendars.
Everything is working well! Awesome job!
posted by griphus at 12:13 PM on August 7, 2010
Everything is working well! Awesome job!
posted by griphus at 12:13 PM on August 7, 2010
Two things that may be minor bugs, or may be intended behavior: my IRL post did not show up on my contacts' sidebars on the main page, and when my IRL post was favorited, it did not show up on my recently favorited page.
posted by idiopath at 12:22 AM on August 8, 2010
posted by idiopath at 12:22 AM on August 8, 2010
One way to get better addresses where the Google geolocation fails is to allow people to open the map and click on the proper location. Its pretty easy to get Google to give you back the latitude and longitude from the onclick.
posted by smackfu at 9:50 AM on August 8, 2010
posted by smackfu at 9:50 AM on August 8, 2010
I don't know if this is a bug or an intended feature, but if you select "Yes" or "Maybe" for "Joining Us?", the item shows up in your Recent Activity, even if there are no comments.
posted by dmd at 1:33 PM on August 8, 2010
posted by dmd at 1:33 PM on August 8, 2010
Intended; it's the same behavior as we recently implemented for adding your own posts to RA; they'll show up with no comments ad well. Idea is that you don't need to add a throwaway comment to get it to show up.
We could probably suppress it for zero comments, but this way is unambiguous which is nice for passive user education on how the feature works.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:03 PM on August 8, 2010
We could probably suppress it for zero comments, but this way is unambiguous which is nice for passive user education on how the feature works.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:03 PM on August 8, 2010
When I try to update my proposed meetup with time date info, I get:
Error—Event Has Passed
The event you're trying to edit has already happened and has been archived. Please contact us if you feel this is an error or have any questions.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 4:07 PM on August 9, 2010
Error—Event Has Passed
The event you're trying to edit has already happened and has been archived. Please contact us if you feel this is an error or have any questions.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 4:07 PM on August 9, 2010
Sorry about that mandymanwasregistered, give it another shot.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:28 PM on August 9, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 4:28 PM on August 9, 2010
Could we have an events attended tab? Finding the thread for an event after it has passed feels like quite a pain since it scrolls off the page, goes into past events and becomes lost among a dozen other events that occurred far away from me.
posted by special-k at 5:38 PM on August 9, 2010
posted by special-k at 5:38 PM on August 9, 2010
pb does black magic. In the nano second since I posted that comment he somehow added the my IRL tab. damn pb.
posted by special-k at 5:39 PM on August 9, 2010
posted by special-k at 5:39 PM on August 9, 2010
I can't enter anything in the text box for "Find events by location." Is it just me, or is it busted somehow?
posted by iamkimiam at 5:36 AM on August 10, 2010
posted by iamkimiam at 5:36 AM on August 10, 2010
Find events by location is "coming soon" and hopefully you should see that note in the form field. We're still working on that.
posted by pb (staff) at 6:52 AM on August 10, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 6:52 AM on August 10, 2010
ONO TOP PRIORITY BUG IN THE RSS FEEDS:
<description>Events arount Boston, MA at MetaFilter IRL.</description>posted by Plutor at 9:46 AM on August 10, 2010
TOP BUG HAS BEEN FIXET.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:57 AM on August 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by pb (staff) at 9:57 AM on August 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
I'm getting the same issue as Mandyman... was - I'd like to update my meetup and it's telling me the event has passed and is archived.
posted by ChuraChura at 1:01 PM on August 10, 2010
posted by ChuraChura at 1:01 PM on August 10, 2010
Sorry about that (again). I think I found the problem this time. Let me know if not.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:43 PM on August 10, 2010
posted by pb (staff) at 1:43 PM on August 10, 2010
Yay! Thanks!
posted by ChuraChura at 4:14 PM on August 10, 2010
posted by ChuraChura at 4:14 PM on August 10, 2010
Just added a few things at IRL: tabs for locations, filter by category at locations, and the Proposed Events tab. Each location page, a la NYC, now has a series of tabs at the top of the page for switching between upcoming, past, future, proposed, and recently posted views. Proposed Events is the new one in that list, and we added it to the front page so you can see proposed events everywhere if you want to. You'll also see a new drop-down menu at the top of location pages. That menu lets you switch to say, all upcoming meetups in NYC or all past performances in NYC.
RSS and iCal Feeds for these filtered views at locations are still on the way.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:41 PM on August 11, 2010
RSS and iCal Feeds for these filtered views at locations are still on the way.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:41 PM on August 11, 2010
This is coming along so awesomely, pb. If I can request a feature: location defaulting. So that if I click "IRL," it'll take me directly to all the New York State meetups.
posted by griphus at 2:42 PM on August 14, 2010
posted by griphus at 2:42 PM on August 14, 2010
Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it seems like having a list of Upcoming Meetups (cities) in the IRL sidebar just like in MetaTalk would make scanning for new stuff easier.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 4:00 PM on August 30, 2010
posted by hapax_legomenon at 4:00 PM on August 30, 2010
I agree if you're just looking for Meetups. If we listed the city for every type of event we could end up with: New York, New York, New York, Chicago, New York, etc. If you're looking for newly posted events you could click over to the Recently Posted tab and check that periodically.
We also tried to put the city name in a consistant spot at the bottom-left of each post so you can scan down the page and isolate the cities fairly easily.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:57 PM on August 30, 2010
We also tried to put the city name in a consistant spot at the bottom-left of each post so you can scan down the page and isolate the cities fairly easily.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:57 PM on August 30, 2010
I agree if you're just looking for Meetups.
Good point. Thanks, pb.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 7:19 PM on August 31, 2010
Good point. Thanks, pb.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 7:19 PM on August 31, 2010
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posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:54 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]