Facebook MeFi group to go away.... May 11, 2011 4:08 PM   Subscribe

Facebook has begun rolling out their upgrades to Groups, and the most popular MetaFilter one is scheduled to be canned.

The group is maintained by an Oliver Don...dunno who that is. Not suggesting a specific action, and I haven't been keeping up with whether there's been any discussion of launching an official MF facebook page, but I thought it bore mentioning.
posted by softlord to MetaFilter-Related at 4:08 PM (61 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

Oh god where am I going to talk about Metafilter and link to other Metafilter users now? Here, on Metafilter? Don't make me laugh, bitterly.
posted by tumid dahlia at 4:10 PM on May 11, 2011 [10 favorites]


for when Meta's just not meta enough
posted by facetious at 4:13 PM on May 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


it's a simple matter for the admin to upgrade the group. It's one click.
posted by unSane at 4:14 PM on May 11, 2011


anyone who's also on facebook could just send him a message. that seems like the most appropriate venue for resolving the issue.
posted by lesli212 at 4:22 PM on May 11, 2011


it's a simple matter...

Or is it a simple...META?
posted by tumid dahlia at 4:22 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Oh the snark! The hilarious hilarious snark!
posted by softlord at 4:25 PM on May 11, 2011


YEssss, my plan is working, Phas 2 is complete.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:26 PM on May 11, 2011


Phas 2?
posted by Science! at 4:32 PM on May 11, 2011


At least we'll still have this.
posted by gman at 4:33 PM on May 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


It appears the e has moved on to Phase 3.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:34 PM on May 11, 2011 [20 favorites]


The MetaFilter: You don't get to charge $5 a user without making $20 (SAIT)
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:34 PM on May 11, 2011


Brandon Blatcher: It appears the e has moved on to Phase 3.

Ah, the comedown. It isn't so bad if you've been drinking your water.
posted by gman at 4:38 PM on May 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


Don't like the taste of water, have to dilute it with gin.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:44 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wow, actually that's kind of sad. I just looked into it, and apparently, your group has to have "sufficient recent activity" to qualify for a new group upgrade. This means that all of the stupid in-joke groups my friends and I made in college are going to disappear. I don't even have the option of a link to upgrade it.

Now how will the world know what I thought was hilarious seven years ago?! This is an outrage!
posted by phunniemee at 4:56 PM on May 11, 2011


It appears the e has moved on to Phase 3.

No, it's only about 2.718. However, the π is already past Phase 3.
posted by DU at 4:56 PM on May 11, 2011 [7 favorites]


Facebook just seems bound and determined to win the race to the bottom against itself, doesn't it?
posted by Aquaman at 4:58 PM on May 11, 2011 [3 favorites]


Wait... what? Who?
posted by jeffamaphone at 5:01 PM on May 11, 2011


I just want to know if the MetaFilter group has any normal subgroups.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:09 PM on May 11, 2011 [4 favorites]


Wake me up when we get to phase iv.
posted by kaibutsu at 5:11 PM on May 11, 2011


It's fucking facebook, dude.
posted by jonmc at 5:14 PM on May 11, 2011 [5 favorites]


Phase 4, in which Doris, who shouldn't have eaten it, throws up her oats. Phase 5, in which her friends race each other to see who can post the first pictures of it on Facebook. Phase 6, in which Doris goes to counseling. Phase 7, in which Doris learns to feel good about herself again, finishes her associates degree at community college with a 3.7 GPA, gets a decent job in the front office at an insurance company, and meets a nice polyamorous couple from Scranton. Phase 8, in which Doris has to come out to her parents. Phase 9, in which Doris learns she was adopted.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:20 PM on May 11, 2011 [6 favorites]


I'm pretty sure pb could fix this, but has chosen not to.
posted by eyeballkid at 5:22 PM on May 11, 2011


This and the economy.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:24 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


And you can bet that AskMe is going to hear all about phase 6 through Phase 9. thank god Doris can only post one question a week.
posted by tomswift at 5:25 PM on May 11, 2011 [3 favorites]


Forget it, Jake. It's Facebook.
posted by unSane at 5:30 PM on May 11, 2011 [3 favorites]


Eight year olds, dude.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:30 PM on May 11, 2011 [3 favorites]


So glad I posted!
posted by softlord at 5:35 PM on May 11, 2011


Did I mention that Doris's parents are Dicks? No - I don't mean they are unpleasant. They're both named Dick. Doris was raised by a lovely gay couple, both of whom happen to be named Dick. In light of which, the adoption really shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to Doris, but all of us have our blind spots. At any rate, in Phase 10, the Dicks are thrilled for Doris, but her birth mother refuses to meet with her, so drama rears its ugly head once again. Also, Doris adopts a kitten in Phase 10. The kitten is an asshole.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:38 PM on May 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


Phase 11, in which... something to do with horses. I don't know, I didn't see that part. What? Am I supposed to know everything?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:42 PM on May 11, 2011


Oliver Don is making an artistic statement. Oliver Don is Banksy. I am Oliver Don. Cool Papa Bell is Keanu Reeves.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:44 PM on May 11, 2011


So glad I posted!

Don't feel bad, softlord. Nobody here has any consideration for anything other than their own genitals.
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:48 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Forget it, i'm going back to the green to tell any person who asks any question that they should go get therapy.
posted by softlord at 5:52 PM on May 11, 2011 [5 favorites]


MetaFilter: Nobody here has any consideration.... nope, can't do it.

Also, I'm guessing that Doris is going to use all this drama as an excuse as to why she didn't post a kitten picture in that askme question about why the kitten is pissing in her shoes.....
posted by tomswift at 6:01 PM on May 11, 2011


How do you upgrade groups manually? I've got a group scheduled to be Archived, and I've got no idea how to save it.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:11 PM on May 11, 2011


I sent the admin a message with the link to this thread. Hopefully he'll show up soon.
posted by deborah at 6:16 PM on May 11, 2011


Facebook... Shit.
posted by jeffamaphone at 6:20 PM on May 11, 2011


Maybe if we schedule a thread about him in advance, Zuckerberg will give us $100M on the day it's supposed to take place.
posted by jamjam at 6:21 PM on May 11, 2011


Lovecraft: I thi nk they're rolling out the functionality slowly, and some may not be able to be upgraded...seems to depend on the amount of group activity and number of members
posted by softlord at 6:35 PM on May 11, 2011


I sent the admin a message. I didn't know it existed, so I won't be upset if he lets it go by the wayside, but if people are using it I don't see a reason to have it fade away.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:51 PM on May 11, 2011


Is something that I'd have to care enough to figure out what I'd have to have in order to care about it enough to write the cliched phrase about caring about it?
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:56 PM on May 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


Hey, It's Raining Florence Henderson, you're on FIYAH tonight! Literally every comment that I've read of yours, I've been like, HAHAHAHA why can't it always rain It's Raining Florence Henderson's? Are you always this funny and I missed it before, or is this like a special night or something?

*I especially enjoyed your work in the polyamory thread. *guffaw*
posted by deep thought sunstar at 7:17 PM on May 11, 2011


deep thought sunstar: I especially enjoyed your work in the polyamory thread. *guffaw*

Was he threading around again?
posted by gman at 7:35 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


schucks
posted by clavdivs at 8:08 PM on May 11, 2011


Are you always this funny and I missed it before, or is this like a special night or something?

Being the funnies motherfuck in the room is, like, Flo's thing. Short, punchy, witty one liners and puns? He has it down cold.
posted by piratebowling at 8:08 PM on May 11, 2011


Stop fawning over him you fanbois or he might disappear again.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:39 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Having read through the docs, it appears as though the process of "Archiving" old groups is virtually identical to the process of "Upgrading" them, except that the admin can instantiate the latter now, while the former will happen automatically in a few days/weeks/months (WHO KNOWS?).

I maintain a group and a page for my organization, and am none too happy with the new setup. Once it became clear that the writing was on the wall for the old groups application, I created a new Page as our public-facing presence, and also a "New Group" for internal business amongst our membership.

Up until this week, there was no way to migrate members of the old groups over to a New Group, and no way to migrate them over to a page (or even suggest that they like the page). For those of us who jumped the gun 6 months ago and made a New Group, there's still no way to migrate the members of your old group over to the new group that you made. There also continues to be no migration path for people migrating Groups to Pages (which is likely the appropriate migration path for 90% of old groups), and there is no way to delete Old Groups.

The exact line between Pages and Groups also continues to be blurry and constantly in flux, and the API changes frequently enough as to be virtually unusable.

Furthermore, it's impossible to invite people to become a member of your New Group unless you're friends with them. Relatedly, for some reason, Facebook uses a weird bastardization of their friend-picker dialog box to add friends to the group that requires you to type each of their names fully. For the particular group that I administer, this sucks, because I don't want to have to be friends with each of my club's 200 members. As far as I can tell, there's no workaround.

In the past, I was hesitant to be GRAR about Facebook upgrades/redesigns, probably because I've been on the site since its infancy, and could tolerate a bit of quirkiness and experimentation. However, ever since they've monetized the site and opened an API, they have an added responsibility to the people using their product that they've irresponsibly neglected. For a site that grew gracefully from nothing to 600 million users with virtually no downtime or growing pains, Facebook sure is poorly run and managed.

Whew. Felt good to get that off of my chest.
posted by schmod at 8:45 PM on May 11, 2011 [6 favorites]


If your group is scheduled to be archived and Facebook I'd not giving you the option to upgrade, here's a fix. Get five (Not sure of this number) group members to post something, anything really, on the group wall. Next time you log in, Facebook will give you the option to upgrade. Mixed blessing. New Groups format has significant drawbacks. Though I do like its Google Docs-like function.
posted by Lieber Frau at 9:06 PM on May 11, 2011


HURRY UP DIASPORA
posted by Meatbomb at 9:15 PM on May 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Facebook? Or Phasebook?
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:19 PM on May 11, 2011


Furthermore, it's impossible to invite people to become a member of your New Group unless you're friends with them. Relatedly, for some reason, Facebook uses a weird bastardization of their friend-picker dialog box to add friends to the group that requires you to type each of their names fully. For the particular group that I administer, this sucks, because I don't want to have to be friends with each of my club's 200 members. As far as I can tell, there's no workaround.

Wha? I run a group for a local cult film night. I don't want to be friends with all the 1000+ members. I'd upgrade to a Page, but than I'd have to migrate all the old users over.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:23 PM on May 11, 2011


Hey, thanks!

To be honest, I've found that the quality of my humor is usually inversely proportional to how well I'm feeling. Luckily for everyone, I've been feeling like shit a lot lately. Let's hope things don't improve anytime soon. I have my reputation to think of.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:50 AM on May 12, 2011


But the Metafilter GEnie RoundTable will still be available, right? Right?
posted by inturnaround at 6:05 AM on May 12, 2011


Sure, it's right next to the SFRT.
posted by Justinian at 12:55 PM on May 12, 2011


What's the AOL keyword?
posted by banshee at 1:38 PM on May 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'll be over at alt.metafilter.metatalk.hate.hate.hate
posted by unSane at 1:44 PM on May 12, 2011 [4 favorites]


So you're staying right here, then?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:45 PM on May 12, 2011


Fuck you, you fucking fuck. Sure am.
posted by unSane at 4:54 PM on May 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


I do not have an option to upgrade the group, possibly because it is not active enough. I am on holiday right now so all I have is a kindle. When I return on Monday I will look into this some more. I would also be happy to hand the group over to a Mefi admin if thats possible.
posted by Olli at 10:43 AM on May 13, 2011


Phase 11, in which... something to do with horses.

You're Reachin' now
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:10 PM on May 13, 2011


Having looked at it some more, I have no way of upgrading the Group. It seems the upgrade option is only made available to Groups that have "enough recent activity".

In any case I think the Metafilter Group doesn't really match what Facebook want Groups to be about now as they say the new Group system is "designed to help you share with the small groups of people in your life". They go on to suggest that a Facebook Page may be more appropriate for companies and organisations.

I think it may be best allow the archiving of the Group even if an upgrade option does turn up at some later point.
posted by Olli at 2:44 PM on May 15, 2011


There's always /r/metafilter.

...or is there?
posted by jquinby at 9:56 AM on May 16, 2011


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