Real Time Conversations of Pop Culture Events? February 21, 2011 7:48 AM Subscribe
This article in NYT about networks trying to capture/drive online conversation by viewers reminded me of the recent real time MF conversations during the SOTU and Superbowl, both which I really enjoyed
Obviously everytime there's an event someone could cook up a post so that there's a place to discuss it, but has there ever been consideration to just having a spot for MeFites to discuss time-specific events as they happen? One could just declare "This is where we discuss the Oscars" or "This is where we discuss Masterpiece Theater". Perhaps this is just out of scope?
Obviously everytime there's an event someone could cook up a post so that there's a place to discuss it, but has there ever been consideration to just having a spot for MeFites to discuss time-specific events as they happen? One could just declare "This is where we discuss the Oscars" or "This is where we discuss Masterpiece Theater". Perhaps this is just out of scope?
Yeah the "open thread" thing is something that this site isn't really built for. I totally get that people enjoy this sort of thing. I often enjoy this sort of thing. But we'd need to have a differently working site for an open thread sort of model to be functional in the way the rest of the site is basically functional. So, right now the way these things happen, rarely and sort of spontaneously, seems to work but I think having anything more general as a practice wouldn't scale so well.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:02 AM on February 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:02 AM on February 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Fair enough. I'm convinced. Thanks.
posted by TheShadowKnows at 8:03 AM on February 21, 2011
posted by TheShadowKnows at 8:03 AM on February 21, 2011
So... do you think Social Network or King's Speech will win Best Picture?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:35 AM on February 21, 2011
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:35 AM on February 21, 2011
Dude, Obama said smoked salmon.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:41 AM on February 21, 2011
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:41 AM on February 21, 2011
I understand the argument there. I wonder if it might be nice to have a cabal of demimods, users who have been shown to have great personal restraint and judgement. These demimods would be called upon when there are huge, fast-moving threads like Egypt or livebloggy threads. They could monitor the threads for problems, and they would have a special kind of flag that could be weighted higher than that of a regular user.
I know this won't happen. But in the deep recesses of my mind, I imagine how it would affect questions like this.
posted by Night_owl at 11:03 AM on February 21, 2011
I know this won't happen. But in the deep recesses of my mind, I imagine how it would affect questions like this.
posted by Night_owl at 11:03 AM on February 21, 2011
It's definitely something we've thought about. Sort of a mod-lite if you will of people who can just keep an eye on [preferably by already being interested in and participating in them] certain megathreads and ... watch out for truly terrible behavior. Not sure how easy it would be to implement, but it might be a good allocation of resouces.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:49 AM on February 21, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:49 AM on February 21, 2011 [4 favorites]
It's definitely something we've thought about. Sort of a mod-lite if you will...
I got your toy soldier threads covered. Also anything that pops up about collecting ashtrays shaped like states. I'd volunteer to keep an eye on the comic book threads but we should save those for Artw.
I'd like to take responsibility for the threads where we argue about whether or not slavery caused the Civil War, but I get too pissed off in those discussions and have to walk away.
posted by marxchivist at 12:33 PM on February 21, 2011
I got your toy soldier threads covered. Also anything that pops up about collecting ashtrays shaped like states. I'd volunteer to keep an eye on the comic book threads but we should save those for Artw.
I'd like to take responsibility for the threads where we argue about whether or not slavery caused the Civil War, but I get too pissed off in those discussions and have to walk away.
posted by marxchivist at 12:33 PM on February 21, 2011
Live blogging threads of earth-shaking events is what makes me love MeFi with the passion of a thousand white-hot suns. And I must say the front page has been pretty blazing this past several days.
And I feel bad and sad that my passion is also what makes life difficult for the mods.
I really hope you/we can come up with a workable solution to this.
posted by marsha56 at 1:04 PM on February 21, 2011
And I feel bad and sad that my passion is also what makes life difficult for the mods.
I really hope you/we can come up with a workable solution to this.
posted by marsha56 at 1:04 PM on February 21, 2011
marxchivist: " I'd like to take responsibility for the threads where we argue about whether or not slavery caused the Civil War, but I get too pissed off in those discussions and have to walk away."
Last time that happened someone tried to cherrypick a Karl Marx quote to support their position, but neglected to cite Marx' entire essay... which explained that the Civil War was about slavery.
posted by zarq at 1:14 PM on February 21, 2011
Last time that happened someone tried to cherrypick a Karl Marx quote to support their position, but neglected to cite Marx' entire essay... which explained that the Civil War was about slavery.
posted by zarq at 1:14 PM on February 21, 2011
I was really sad when the very long tennis match ended.
posted by tigrefacile at 1:55 PM on February 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by tigrefacile at 1:55 PM on February 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
Can we liveblog my epic insomia right now? Cause ...dang.
posted by The Whelk at 9:26 PM on February 21, 2011
posted by The Whelk at 9:26 PM on February 21, 2011
I'll give you my sleepy if you give me your insomnia so I can make these darn cookies.
posted by Night_owl at 10:47 PM on February 21, 2011
posted by Night_owl at 10:47 PM on February 21, 2011
Thanks, The Whelk. Hope you slept well. This cookie is delicious.
posted by Night_owl at 11:55 PM on February 21, 2011
posted by Night_owl at 11:55 PM on February 21, 2011
Oh, I totally want each of the mods to have a posse of deputies. That's not what anyone is talking about but I'm getting this vision of a mashup of MeFi and a spaghetti Western that looks awesome.
posted by XMLicious at 5:22 AM on February 22, 2011
posted by XMLicious at 5:22 AM on February 22, 2011
I woke up with an ipad on my chest. I do not remember falling asleep.
I'd like a cookie, please.
posted by The Whelk at 6:15 AM on February 22, 2011
I'd like a cookie, please.
posted by The Whelk at 6:15 AM on February 22, 2011
You say spaghetti Western, but I think of Reno 911!.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:06 AM on February 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:06 AM on February 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
I can't believe The Whelk would wear short shorts on the Red Carpet. What was his stylist thinking?
posted by Dr. Zira at 11:08 AM on February 22, 2011
posted by Dr. Zira at 11:08 AM on February 22, 2011
When I met The Whelk one of the things I remember him telling me is that men never wear shorts. It was 100+ degrees out and we were both a little sweaty. I don't believe this short shorts episode, it must be a dream sequence.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:43 AM on February 22, 2011
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:43 AM on February 22, 2011
Look, I know I'm short, but there's no reason to call names.
posted by Night_owl at 8:49 PM on February 22, 2011
posted by Night_owl at 8:49 PM on February 22, 2011
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Livebloggy threads can be fun to watch and to participate in, but they also are unusually difficult to moderate because they're so big and fast-moving, and when they go south it's a huge pain in the ass to try and contain it. It pretty much eats our day if there's one going on about anything more contentious than how cute puppies are.
And so the "open thread!" model some sites pursue isn't really something we want to encourage here; that it happens sometimes by circumstance here isn't necessarily a big problem, but that's only because (a) it's not an official expected thing and (b) it only happens now and then. The current compromise is about as much of those sorts of threads as we're really able to deal with, and even at that we sometimes have to nix fairly crappy balls-out This Is Just A Nominal Thread Because Let's Talk About X posts where folks aren't even making an effort.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:57 AM on February 21, 2011 [1 favorite]