Workshop Area to Help Build Posts July 18, 2013 10:21 AM Subscribe
Would it be worthwhile if we had an area to workshop potential FPPs, so that we could: a) better frame problematic issues; b) insure that we have sufficient context to make topics that start from a single or thin link worthwhile; and/or c) make sure that serious items (natural disasters, deaths, etc.) get the requisite care and depth to their presentation?
I realize that we always have the option of running things past a mod first, and I'm grateful for that. So if that needs to stay how it is for practical/logistical reasons, that's still good.
But given how often a big news event or a celeb death comes in and it takes multiple attempts at FPPs to get a post with the proper framing, and given how often something gets deleted with a note that it was not quite acceptable, but might be with changes, would there be value to having an area where people could work out some of the kinks of a post before submitting it?
Would that cause complications for authorship? That is, User A workshops something, but User B's conributions end up making the meat of the post?
Or, alternately, is this an acceptable use of AskMe or MeTa that I'm just not familiar with?
This isn't so much a pony request, as there is an acceptable avenue for doing this already (ask a mod). I just wanted to see if the workshop idea might be worth discussing.
Apologies in advance if my search fu has failed and this is a previously addressed topic. I certainly looked, though.
I realize that we always have the option of running things past a mod first, and I'm grateful for that. So if that needs to stay how it is for practical/logistical reasons, that's still good.
But given how often a big news event or a celeb death comes in and it takes multiple attempts at FPPs to get a post with the proper framing, and given how often something gets deleted with a note that it was not quite acceptable, but might be with changes, would there be value to having an area where people could work out some of the kinks of a post before submitting it?
Would that cause complications for authorship? That is, User A workshops something, but User B's conributions end up making the meat of the post?
Or, alternately, is this an acceptable use of AskMe or MeTa that I'm just not familiar with?
This isn't so much a pony request, as there is an acceptable avenue for doing this already (ask a mod). I just wanted to see if the workshop idea might be worth discussing.
Apologies in advance if my search fu has failed and this is a previously addressed topic. I certainly looked, though.
Or, alternately, is this an acceptable use of AskMe or MeTa that I'm just not familiar with?
Not really.
I think there's been some discussion of doing this in the past with the Wiki.
posted by Jahaza at 10:25 AM on July 18, 2013
Not really.
I think there's been some discussion of doing this in the past with the Wiki.
posted by Jahaza at 10:25 AM on July 18, 2013
I can't decide if this would make more work for the mods or less. That is, yeah, they'd have an additional area to police, but it might make it so that fewer problematic or thin posts squeak through in the first place. So that'd be good.
I have a feeling there are other practical reasons why this might not be a good idea, though.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:30 AM on July 18, 2013
I have a feeling there are other practical reasons why this might not be a good idea, though.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:30 AM on July 18, 2013
it might make it so that fewer problematic or thin posts squeak through in the first place.
This isn't, strictly speaking, something we think is a problem. I get that people think having places to work on posts would be a good idea and we've frequently told people that the wiki is great for this, but there's no compelling reason to create that space here. My feeling, just gut reaction, is that the people who would benefit the most from a post being workshopped are the ones who would use this feature the least. I think people just disagree about what makes a good post for MeFi more than they are needing a space to fine tune.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:39 AM on July 18, 2013 [9 favorites]
This isn't, strictly speaking, something we think is a problem. I get that people think having places to work on posts would be a good idea and we've frequently told people that the wiki is great for this, but there's no compelling reason to create that space here. My feeling, just gut reaction, is that the people who would benefit the most from a post being workshopped are the ones who would use this feature the least. I think people just disagree about what makes a good post for MeFi more than they are needing a space to fine tune.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:39 AM on July 18, 2013 [9 favorites]
jessamyn: "My feeling, just gut reaction, is that the people who would benefit the most from a post being workshopped are the ones who would use this feature the least."
Yeah, that's probably true. Even if you'd had a conscientious person carefully working out a James Gandolfini obit post, you'd have still had several misfires to delete while that was happening.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:41 AM on July 18, 2013
Yeah, that's probably true. Even if you'd had a conscientious person carefully working out a James Gandolfini obit post, you'd have still had several misfires to delete while that was happening.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:41 AM on July 18, 2013
What does workshop mean? As a verb, I mean?
It's the kind of thing the team leads action when they're trying to budget a spend.
posted by flabdablet at 10:41 AM on July 18, 2013 [25 favorites]
It's the kind of thing the team leads action when they're trying to budget a spend.
posted by flabdablet at 10:41 AM on July 18, 2013 [25 favorites]
How exactly would one use the Wiki for this?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:44 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:44 AM on July 18, 2013
The collaboration tag has some previous efforts to set up this kind of thing. filthy light thief got a ball rolling in 2011 by making a drafts and collaborations page on the wiki.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:44 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by pb (staff) at 10:44 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Here are a couple previous related MeTas. Chat can also be a nice place to get informal feedback on FPPs.
posted by beryllium at 10:44 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by beryllium at 10:44 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
flabdablet: "What does workshop mean? As a verb, I mean?
It's the kind of thing the team leads action when they're trying to budget a spend."
That's funny. And I don't want to ruin the heh heh corporate speak lulz, but I'm actually a blue collar person. I fix dishwashers for a living. Reg'lar people say this, too.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:46 AM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
It's the kind of thing the team leads action when they're trying to budget a spend."
That's funny. And I don't want to ruin the heh heh corporate speak lulz, but I'm actually a blue collar person. I fix dishwashers for a living. Reg'lar people say this, too.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:46 AM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
What I would like, and it is related to this but not the same, is the ability to save draft FPPs. So, I get going putting one together and click "save" and then the next day or whatever I can wrap it up.
Yes, I could do that with any number of text editing softwares, but with all the interconnected fields and the custom code and whatnot this really would be a Pony That I Would Ride.
posted by dirtdirt at 10:56 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
Yes, I could do that with any number of text editing softwares, but with all the interconnected fields and the custom code and whatnot this really would be a Pony That I Would Ride.
posted by dirtdirt at 10:56 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
But given how often a big news event or a celeb death comes in and it takes multiple attempts at FPPs to get a post with the proper framing, and given how often something gets deleted with a note that it was not quite acceptable, but might be with changes, would there be value to having an area where people could work out some of the kinks of a post before submitting it?
I appreciate the thought behind this idea, but the people who rush to make shitty posts on topical matters aren't the same people who would even think to 'shop their posts a bit before going forward.
posted by carsonb at 11:00 AM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
I appreciate the thought behind this idea, but the people who rush to make shitty posts on topical matters aren't the same people who would even think to 'shop their posts a bit before going forward.
posted by carsonb at 11:00 AM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
What does workshop mean? As a verb, I mean?
When you workshop something, you are building through rough drafts, practices, or rehearsals, often with a leader or leaders there to give and/or receive critical commentary.
I think the word was first used this way for theater groups that would perform early drafts of a play, without costumes or scenery, while the playwright watched. And then there would be a lot of back and forth about what worked and what didn't, etc.
But it is now applied much more broadly.
Does that help?
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 11:21 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
When you workshop something, you are building through rough drafts, practices, or rehearsals, often with a leader or leaders there to give and/or receive critical commentary.
I think the word was first used this way for theater groups that would perform early drafts of a play, without costumes or scenery, while the playwright watched. And then there would be a lot of back and forth about what worked and what didn't, etc.
But it is now applied much more broadly.
Does that help?
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 11:21 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
I'd use this, but I also have barely any FPPs and no actual deletes yet (on FPPs, at least).
Now a workshop area for comments, I'm all over it.
posted by corb at 11:33 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Now a workshop area for comments, I'm all over it.
posted by corb at 11:33 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
filthy light thief got a ball rolling in 2011 by making a drafts and collaborations page on the wiki.
Which quickly stalled out, but people can still work on/with it. Some people keep a list of their project ideas (see: the man of twists and turns), and others have said they're happy to answer questions or help out with tricky posts.
Also, there are some drafted obits on the wiki, if you'd like to work on something like that.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on July 18, 2013
Which quickly stalled out, but people can still work on/with it. Some people keep a list of their project ideas (see: the man of twists and turns), and others have said they're happy to answer questions or help out with tricky posts.
Also, there are some drafted obits on the wiki, if you'd like to work on something like that.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on July 18, 2013
Now a workshop area for comments, I'm all over it.
What? How? Is this a joke? Comments are very personal, and as such, tend to be different from front page posts, which people should generally remove themselves. You can self-link in comments (as long as you're not spamming the site), whereas self-linking is strictly forbidden in FPPs. I get the feeling that a lot more slides in comments that would get deleted if it were turned into a post.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:37 AM on July 18, 2013
What? How? Is this a joke? Comments are very personal, and as such, tend to be different from front page posts, which people should generally remove themselves. You can self-link in comments (as long as you're not spamming the site), whereas self-linking is strictly forbidden in FPPs. I get the feeling that a lot more slides in comments that would get deleted if it were turned into a post.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:37 AM on July 18, 2013
I workshop comments in my brain.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:41 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:41 AM on July 18, 2013
It's an idea that makes the most sense as applied to stuff like obits, as you say, which are often deleted multiple times, but the language here (sufficient context, worthwhile, requisite care and depth, proper framing, not quite acceptable) seems rooted in an idea that there is one correct way to make an FPP. This isn't meant as a call out by any means; it's just me, as one user, saying I appreciate any and all non-standard, unconventional posts (and posters!) that gently push at the edges of the house style.
posted by Lorin at 11:47 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by Lorin at 11:47 AM on July 18, 2013
What? How? Is this a joke?
It's funny because she's had a lot of comments deleted.
Try Chat, corb.
posted by carsonb at 11:52 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's funny because she's had a lot of comments deleted.
Try Chat, corb.
posted by carsonb at 11:52 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
I workshop comments near the North Pole, with elves. Wordy bastards, them elvish folk.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:52 AM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:52 AM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
Lorin: "an idea that there is one correct way to make an FPP"
I was talking more about how all bad posts tend to be the same, more than good ones. As you say, there are plenty of ways to make a good post, and new ones every day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:54 AM on July 18, 2013
I was talking more about how all bad posts tend to be the same, more than good ones. As you say, there are plenty of ways to make a good post, and new ones every day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:54 AM on July 18, 2013
Wordy bastards, them elvish folk.
Woody, too. Elves are made of wood. Saw one in half and you can count the rings. Of course, you will be an elf-murderer, but that's where curiosity gets you.
On worshiping -- it's a fun idea, but I don't really see it working, practically.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:56 AM on July 18, 2013
Woody, too. Elves are made of wood. Saw one in half and you can count the rings. Of course, you will be an elf-murderer, but that's where curiosity gets you.
On worshiping -- it's a fun idea, but I don't really see it working, practically.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:56 AM on July 18, 2013
Crazy idea, bred from a bit of lunchtime languid daze, and the older MeTa thread: similar to project, we could have a Collaborative Posts section. It wouldn't foster on-line collaboration beyond having someone submit their idea and material, and others can add material as comments. Someone else could click a [Make this Post] button, similar to the Projects [post this to mefi] button. It would automatically flag the post idea "in progress" to prevent someone else from submitting the same post.
The poster would have 15 minutes to put the post together, then the idea would be cleared up for someone else to make. This way, if someone falls asleep, or gets distracted, someone else can take over. Of course, if someone is working on a megapost, they can comment "hey wait, I'll be a while, but I'm making this post happen."
This system help could prevent (or at least lessen) the flurry of obit posts that get deleted for being too thin, and provide a venue for people to discuss potential posts in the making. It's just a crazy idea.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:58 AM on July 18, 2013
The poster would have 15 minutes to put the post together, then the idea would be cleared up for someone else to make. This way, if someone falls asleep, or gets distracted, someone else can take over. Of course, if someone is working on a megapost, they can comment "hey wait, I'll be a while, but I'm making this post happen."
This system help could prevent (or at least lessen) the flurry of obit posts that get deleted for being too thin, and provide a venue for people to discuss potential posts in the making. It's just a crazy idea.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:58 AM on July 18, 2013
"On worshiping -- it's a fun idea, but I don't really see it working, practically."
That's what Job said. But he wasn't a practical man, anyway.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:59 AM on July 18, 2013 [5 favorites]
That's what Job said. But he wasn't a practical man, anyway.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:59 AM on July 18, 2013 [5 favorites]
I was talking more about how all bad posts tend to be the same, more than good ones. As you say, there are plenty of ways to make a good post, and new ones every day.
Another idea! A polite, helpful animated friend, Meefy, the cheery anthropomorphic blob with big eyes and a bigger heart, happily asking "You seem to writing about abortion, and this is a touchy topic. Are you ready for the shitstom that is likely to come? Are you sure this is how you want to share this website?" Or "It looks like you're writing in the first person, do you think this is a good time to get your own blog?"
posted by filthy light thief at 12:05 PM on July 18, 2013 [17 favorites]
Another idea! A polite, helpful animated friend, Meefy, the cheery anthropomorphic blob with big eyes and a bigger heart, happily asking "You seem to writing about abortion, and this is a touchy topic. Are you ready for the shitstom that is likely to come? Are you sure this is how you want to share this website?" Or "It looks like you're writing in the first person, do you think this is a good time to get your own blog?"
posted by filthy light thief at 12:05 PM on July 18, 2013 [17 favorites]
That's what Job said. But he wasn't a practical man, anyway.
I blame the spellchecker. This is what I get for buying the "family values" platform.
Workshopping would also be impractical -- the coordination seems like a bit of a pain. I sometimes discuss FPPs with friends by email, though, which is sometimes helpful.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:10 PM on July 18, 2013
I blame the spellchecker. This is what I get for buying the "family values" platform.
Workshopping would also be impractical -- the coordination seems like a bit of a pain. I sometimes discuss FPPs with friends by email, though, which is sometimes helpful.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:10 PM on July 18, 2013
"Another idea! A polite, helpful animated friend, Meefy, the cheery anthropomorphic blob with big eyes and a bigger heart..."
I'd go with a blue anthropomorphized rabbit with a floppy pancake on its head. Its idling animation would be so cute, scratching his ear with the pancake bouncing and butter dripping down!
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:10 PM on July 18, 2013 [6 favorites]
I'd go with a blue anthropomorphized rabbit with a floppy pancake on its head. Its idling animation would be so cute, scratching his ear with the pancake bouncing and butter dripping down!
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:10 PM on July 18, 2013 [6 favorites]
Ivan, I was with you until the butter. Who would butter a bunny pancake? Maple Syrup (and maybe some peanut butter) or Fight!
posted by filthy light thief at 12:13 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 12:13 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
As long as it's unbearably cute and edible, it's all good.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:15 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:15 PM on July 18, 2013
Perhaps there could be targeted popup suggestions ("Are you sure you want to link to The Daily Mail?") appearing on the backs of turtles, and as you clicked on each, there would be another suggestion turtle underneath it, on and on, all the way down.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:15 PM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:15 PM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
The best thing I ever did for the quality of posts on this site was not registering (and hence not posting) between the years 2002 and 2010.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:18 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:18 PM on July 18, 2013
Ivan, I was with you until the butter. Who would butter a bunny pancake? Maple Syrup (and maybe some peanut butter) or Fight!
You can put butter on and then syrup over it. I know, mind-blowing!
posted by selfnoise at 12:20 PM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
You can put butter on and then syrup over it. I know, mind-blowing!
posted by selfnoise at 12:20 PM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
It is very clear in this picture that the pancakes Chilly Willy is about to eat have both butter and syrup. And if you try to tell me Chilly Willy doesn't know pancakes, clearly, you don't know shit about shit.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:25 PM on July 18, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:25 PM on July 18, 2013 [5 favorites]
Sane people butter pancakes. I'm not sure how the rest of the universe does it. I mean, maybe in Utah or somewhere out by Cygnus X-1 there may be some crazy people that lack the proper upbringing to know how to properly eat a pancake, but this is kind of silly. This actually posits there's a race intelligent enough to know how to make pancakes, yet not smart enough to butter them? Talk about dumb!
You know who else butters pancakes? That's right...everyone! In fact, if it's done some other way some place else I don't want to know about it! I realize there are a lot of inequities in the world, and I realize I can't solve all of the world's problems, but this one is too horrible to contemplate! Next you will tell me that some people smoke but don't drink coffee!
posted by cjorgensen at 12:27 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
You know who else butters pancakes? That's right...everyone! In fact, if it's done some other way some place else I don't want to know about it! I realize there are a lot of inequities in the world, and I realize I can't solve all of the world's problems, but this one is too horrible to contemplate! Next you will tell me that some people smoke but don't drink coffee!
posted by cjorgensen at 12:27 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Mods, can we get a ruling on this? IT'S TEARING US APART.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:28 PM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:28 PM on July 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
To the matter at hand, I kind of don't like the idea of a post workshop, or collaborative posts in general, but I do think the idea of a posts requests are would be cool. (Like from the last closed meta.) You want to know about cheeses of France, you put it up there. You want to know about the Boston punk scene in the 80's? Poetry in China? The Emmys? Throw out a topic and see if anyone runs with it. My guess is this would be a horrible flop though.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:31 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by cjorgensen at 12:31 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Buttering pancakes is normal. It's okay to not butter them but it's not as normal.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:37 PM on July 18, 2013 [15 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:37 PM on July 18, 2013 [15 favorites]
What I would like, and it is related to this but not the same, is the ability to save draft FPPs
This has been previously discussed; there is, however, a script for that!
posted by beryllium at 12:39 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
This has been previously discussed; there is, however, a script for that!
posted by beryllium at 12:39 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
I take jessamyn as my pancake authority. It it weren't for her I'd still be eating pancakes with grade A maple syrup and we can all agree that's wrong.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:18 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by cjorgensen at 1:18 PM on July 18, 2013
Speaking of comments, is it acceptable to use the edit feature to add a quote from a previous comment to the top of your comment?
Type comment expecting it will be under the one you are responding to.
Hit save, a large comment gets in before you, now it looks like you are just commenting a non-sequitur.
Edit comment to quote what you were replying to.
I just need a yea or nay in this.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:19 PM on July 18, 2013
Type comment expecting it will be under the one you are responding to.
Hit save, a large comment gets in before you, now it looks like you are just commenting a non-sequitur.
Edit comment to quote what you were replying to.
I just need a yea or nay in this.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:19 PM on July 18, 2013
Quote to begin with. (Let's see if my failure to do so here comes back to bite me.)
posted by hoyland at 1:33 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by hoyland at 1:33 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Quote to begin with.
This is my suggestion but unless you're a serial person-who-does-this doing it once in a while is fine. Any other yea/nay questions?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:35 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is my suggestion but unless you're a serial person-who-does-this doing it once in a while is fine. Any other yea/nay questions?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:35 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Ok . It's just sometimes it is like fast 1 line back and forth and people stop quoting, then a wall o text ends up in there. It isn't some kind of nefarious trick. I will use my best judgement.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:40 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by Ad hominem at 1:40 PM on July 18, 2013
You can put butter on and then syrup over it. I know, mind-blowing!
Extra butter is (generally) a way to ruin perfectly good food. Normalcy be damned, I demand deliciousness. If you made it right the first time, you wouldn't need butter.
Buttering pancakes is normal. It's okay to not butter them but it's not as normal.
Adding apple sauce or peanut butter is also not normal, but they're better than butter. Please, if you doubt me, try it. It may take some time to find your personal balance for the pancake/ syrup/ peanut butter or apple sauce ratio, but once you do, you will thank me. So in advance, I say, you're welcome. I ask only that you pass along this knowledge.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:53 PM on July 18, 2013
Extra butter is (generally) a way to ruin perfectly good food. Normalcy be damned, I demand deliciousness. If you made it right the first time, you wouldn't need butter.
Buttering pancakes is normal. It's okay to not butter them but it's not as normal.
Adding apple sauce or peanut butter is also not normal, but they're better than butter. Please, if you doubt me, try it. It may take some time to find your personal balance for the pancake/ syrup/ peanut butter or apple sauce ratio, but once you do, you will thank me. So in advance, I say, you're welcome. I ask only that you pass along this knowledge.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:53 PM on July 18, 2013
It is very clear in this picture that the pancakes Chilly Willy is about to eat have both butter and syrup. And if you try to tell me Chilly Willy doesn't know pancakes, clearly, you don't know shit about shit.
He doesn't have teeth. I was going to propose that his addition of butter is like a raccoon "washing" food in water, due to their lack of salivary glands, but the internet tells me my understanding of raccoons is dated and now incorrect. Even without this analogy, I still believe the use of butter and syrup is due to Chilly Willy's lack of teeth, and his desire to ease the swallowing of his pancakes, merely made mushy by mashing of his beak. Dry pancakes would stick, and syrupy pancakes might get stuck in his throat. So, for a penguin, butter and syrup makes sense, from a self-preservation standpoint. But you're not a penguin, are you?
posted by filthy light thief at 2:08 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
He doesn't have teeth. I was going to propose that his addition of butter is like a raccoon "washing" food in water, due to their lack of salivary glands, but the internet tells me my understanding of raccoons is dated and now incorrect. Even without this analogy, I still believe the use of butter and syrup is due to Chilly Willy's lack of teeth, and his desire to ease the swallowing of his pancakes, merely made mushy by mashing of his beak. Dry pancakes would stick, and syrupy pancakes might get stuck in his throat. So, for a penguin, butter and syrup makes sense, from a self-preservation standpoint. But you're not a penguin, are you?
posted by filthy light thief at 2:08 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Somewhat related: I can't eat pancakes without cookie butter now and it's ALL METAFILTER'S FAULT.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:11 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:11 PM on July 18, 2013
Extra butter is (generally) a way to ruin perfectly good food
Pancakes are one of the foods for which a pat of butter is part of the food. (Other examples include biscuits fresh from the oven and corn-on-the-cob.)
Also, with regards to peanut butter, I believe you are mistaken. It is waffles onto which you put peanut butter and syrup. Pancakes get cow-butter.
posted by hattifattener at 2:46 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Pancakes are one of the foods for which a pat of butter is part of the food. (Other examples include biscuits fresh from the oven and corn-on-the-cob.)
Also, with regards to peanut butter, I believe you are mistaken. It is waffles onto which you put peanut butter and syrup. Pancakes get cow-butter.
posted by hattifattener at 2:46 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Is there a MeFi equivalent of the Marvel Comics letters' page's No Prize? Because this was some first class 'splainin' y'all.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:56 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:56 PM on July 18, 2013
Extra butter is (generally) a way to ruin make perfectly good food even more delicious. Normalcy be damned, I demand deliciousness. If you made it right the first time, you wouldn't need butter.
FTFY.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:57 PM on July 18, 2013
FTFY.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:57 PM on July 18, 2013
Extra butter is (generally) a way to ruin make perfectly good food even more delicious.
Are you trying to set up a Paula Deen joke?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:06 PM on July 18, 2013
Are you trying to set up a Paula Deen joke?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:06 PM on July 18, 2013
Extra butter is (generally) a way to ruin perfectly good food. Normalcy be damned, I demand deliciousness. If you made it right the first time, you wouldn't need butter.
Butter that's in something that's been baked, or has been used to cook something doesn't taste the same as butter that's been spread on something.
My wife makes the perfect pancakes, all other pancakes are pale imitations of her blue-berry sour dough pancakes. They're the platonic ideal of pancakes, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the layer of ultimate reality beyond ours that some mystics talk about is really just her pancakes. They're that good. We all still add butter, because they're even better that way (especially with choke cherry syrup).
posted by Gygesringtone at 3:22 PM on July 18, 2013
Butter that's in something that's been baked, or has been used to cook something doesn't taste the same as butter that's been spread on something.
My wife makes the perfect pancakes, all other pancakes are pale imitations of her blue-berry sour dough pancakes. They're the platonic ideal of pancakes, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the layer of ultimate reality beyond ours that some mystics talk about is really just her pancakes. They're that good. We all still add butter, because they're even better that way (especially with choke cherry syrup).
posted by Gygesringtone at 3:22 PM on July 18, 2013
No one is a master of FPPs. Mistakes are always made. Just don't try to hit a deadline. I think a lot of people (me included) have tried to reach people NOW NOW NOW or first thing any morning. Now that I live in Europe and I have to wait to see if people are really awake at four in the morning it has given me a real eye to develop incredible FPPs like some of my contemporaries have imparted. Seriously, write a book! Get your own blog! There are so many ways you can document writing an FPP but I don't think a website of case studies will do you any favors.
posted by parmanparman at 3:29 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by parmanparman at 3:29 PM on July 18, 2013
Pancakes are one of the foods for which a pat of butter is part of the food. (Other examples include biscuits fresh from the oven and corn-on-the-cob.)
Once you've had boursin, queso fresco, or feta cheese pressed / smeared onto a roasted corn-on-the-cob, you will never go back.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:48 PM on July 18, 2013
Once you've had boursin, queso fresco, or feta cheese pressed / smeared onto a roasted corn-on-the-cob, you will never go back.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:48 PM on July 18, 2013
Protip: Microwave the butter with the maple syrup before application to pancakes.
posted by carsonb at 4:44 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by carsonb at 4:44 PM on July 18, 2013
Who puts a bunny in the microwave?
posted by cjorgensen at 5:55 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by cjorgensen at 5:55 PM on July 18, 2013
The same evil people who would pour scalding hot incredibly delicious maple syrup and butter mixture on a bunny. Savages!
posted by carsonb at 6:03 PM on July 18, 2013
posted by carsonb at 6:03 PM on July 18, 2013
Microwave the butter with the maple syrup before application to pancakes.
This is wrong.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:40 PM on July 18, 2013 [13 favorites]
This is wrong.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:40 PM on July 18, 2013 [13 favorites]
Extra food always ruins my perfectly delicious portion of butter.
And: I can donate a bunch of chisels for the workshop area. Great tool for de-wall'o'texting, if sharp.
posted by Namlit at 11:27 PM on July 18, 2013
And: I can donate a bunch of chisels for the workshop area. Great tool for de-wall'o'texting, if sharp.
posted by Namlit at 11:27 PM on July 18, 2013
The butter should be cold, so that the hot pancakes melt it from below and the syrup cuts rivulets into it as you pour. You should eat the pancakes at the precise speed such that as you reach the bit under the pat, it is nearly gone, and on the journey from the plate to your mouth the butter makes its final transition from solid to liquid and exhales into your mouth the cool spirit of fatty flavor that inhabits every refrigerated stick of butter waiting to be spread upon fresh hot bread at midwinter or cut into a pie crust in the fall.
Not that I have opinions on this subject.
Regarding FPP collaboration, how about something more realtime like an etherpad?
posted by hattifattener at 1:26 AM on July 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
Not that I have opinions on this subject.
Regarding FPP collaboration, how about something more realtime like an etherpad?
posted by hattifattener at 1:26 AM on July 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
Does anyone really care that much or feel so invested in this place that you'd devote time to helping others "workshop" their transient bits of cyber fluff? I mean, ok, I've checked out the blue, the green, the gray, the jobs, the music, the chat, and lets say even a meetup. Now I'm gonna spend 20 minutes pre-commenting a potential FPP? And isn't this just inviting crappy or controversial FPPs in the "workshop" area?
Even as a denizen of these parts, let me suggest there are things in this world other than metafilter. If you need to workshop a post with the crowd, you should be in grad school.
By the way, "meetup" as a noun is just as silly as "workshop" as a verb.
posted by spitbull at 4:23 AM on July 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Even as a denizen of these parts, let me suggest there are things in this world other than metafilter. If you need to workshop a post with the crowd, you should be in grad school.
By the way, "meetup" as a noun is just as silly as "workshop" as a verb.
posted by spitbull at 4:23 AM on July 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Collaborative content, as in multiple people contributing to a single FPP, could certainly improve Metafilter. It works at Wikipedia; it ought to work here. But I don't think the right idea has been expressed yet. More collaboration on this concept is needed.
posted by beagle at 4:48 AM on July 19, 2013
posted by beagle at 4:48 AM on July 19, 2013
filthy light thief: "A polite, helpful animated friend, Meefy, the cheery anthropomorphic blob with big eyes and a bigger heart,"
This seems to imply that MeFi rhymes with "beefy" which is obviously so wrong that I will just assume you had some sort of stroke while typing.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:42 AM on July 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
This seems to imply that MeFi rhymes with "beefy" which is obviously so wrong that I will just assume you had some sort of stroke while typing.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:42 AM on July 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm going to say this unpopular thing and consequences be damned: I love Log Cabin syrup made from corn syrup. It is delicious slightly warmed (not hot) on pancakes and waffles with real almost-melted butter, not that fake margarine crap. On waffles, every little square that doesn't already have butter in it should be filled about half-full of syrup, with a large puddle of syrup on the side for dipping.
I don't like maple syrup. It comes in tiny, expensive little cans and tastes like weird chemicals.
posted by double block and bleed at 11:02 AM on July 19, 2013
I don't like maple syrup. It comes in tiny, expensive little cans and tastes like weird chemicals.
posted by double block and bleed at 11:02 AM on July 19, 2013
Mother Murphy, but I have just this incredible hankering for pancakes right now. Why is breakfast so far away?
Followup question: Could someone come over and make pancakes?
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:42 PM on July 19, 2013
Followup question: Could someone come over and make pancakes?
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:42 PM on July 19, 2013
Could someone come over and make pancakes?
If your location is correct then you are less than an hour from me depending on bridge traffic. However I do not diplomatically recognize mornings and I have guests this weekend. I do have Grade C maple in the fridge (you heard me) so we should talk.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:04 PM on July 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
If your location is correct then you are less than an hour from me depending on bridge traffic. However I do not diplomatically recognize mornings and I have guests this weekend. I do have Grade C maple in the fridge (you heard me) so we should talk.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:04 PM on July 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Awesome, we should, I'm gonna tide myself over with some leftover tigers milk bars and smoked bluefish. (Theme of tonight's supper was weird things hippies have in the fridge.)
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:15 PM on July 19, 2013
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:15 PM on July 19, 2013
Oddly enough I am actually doing this with another member of the site, who has much better intuitions about the community than I.
posted by Teakettle at 3:41 PM on July 20, 2013
posted by Teakettle at 3:41 PM on July 20, 2013
whoah whoah, jessamyn, not to derail but grade c? What's that like??
posted by Teakettle at 3:42 PM on July 20, 2013
posted by Teakettle at 3:42 PM on July 20, 2013
It's basically like maple molasses, a little thinner. So take grade B and make it a little less sweet and darker. It's a food additive usually (which is why there is grade for it, you can't sell it as syrup, or people don't for whatever reason, but they make maple flavored stuff out of it) but there are some sugarmakers in my town who occasionally have some and I use it for sweetener more often than on pancakes and it does the job just right.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:52 PM on July 20, 2013
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:52 PM on July 20, 2013
I mentioned our pancake debate in conversation with friends and suggested, in the interest of diplomacy, that we all just have birds in a basket for breakfast instead. We ended up then in a fierce debate over the proper name for eggs cooked in a hole in bread. Answers given included "popeye toast," "moon over miami," "hole-in-ones"...
Clearly, breakfast is the most contentious meal of the day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:29 AM on July 21, 2013
Clearly, breakfast is the most contentious meal of the day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:29 AM on July 21, 2013
Oh, well, if we're expanding the discussion that far, that brings up the whole EOMEOT thing.
For pancakes and waffles, I am a Northern Californian freak who likes them topped with plain yogurt and Grade B maple syrup. Maybe plain yogurt with a suitable fruit compote, if something like that's available. But definitely plain yogurt.
posted by Lexica at 10:18 AM on July 21, 2013
For pancakes and waffles, I am a Northern Californian freak who likes them topped with plain yogurt and Grade B maple syrup. Maybe plain yogurt with a suitable fruit compote, if something like that's available. But definitely plain yogurt.
posted by Lexica at 10:18 AM on July 21, 2013
Answers given included "popeye toast," "moon over miami," "hole-in-ones"
At the diner I went to in St. Paul they called it the "one eyed Jack"
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:41 PM on July 21, 2013
At the diner I went to in St. Paul they called it the "one eyed Jack"
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:41 PM on July 21, 2013
Update: After further testing, butter with (grade B) maple or chokecherry syrup is still the way to reach enlightenment via pancake.
Oh and my family always called those egg in the hole in bread dishes Sally eggs.
posted by Gygesringtone at 6:42 AM on July 22, 2013
Oh and my family always called those egg in the hole in bread dishes Sally eggs.
posted by Gygesringtone at 6:42 AM on July 22, 2013
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pb, can you maybe work something up for that? You're so good at everything else.
posted by phunniemee at 10:24 AM on July 18, 2013 [16 favorites]