Joy in June May 31, 2017 9:44 AM   Subscribe

I'd like to offer a challenge to our community. Many of us are experiencing Politics and especially Trump fatigue. Some days the flood of bad news and wtf-ery seems incessant, depressing and endless. Why don't we try and counter that a little by filling the front page of the site throughout June with posts about things we like and love? Stuff that makes us laugh, brings us joy or inspires our sense of wonder.

I propose that we spend the month of June filling the front page of the site with posts about stuff we love that has nothing to do with politics.

Such as: Great music. Happy, fun podcasts. Awesome photo galleries. Brilliant webcomics. Videos of baby animals. Great stories and articles. Links to media we love. A cunningly concealed herd of cows. Things that make us laugh. That inspire us. That give a warm, happy feeling.

What do y'all think?
posted by zarq to MetaFilter-Related at 9:44 AM (32 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite

We've got a proposal for a "special places" June Journeys theme month just below this, but IMO both are great ideas!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:51 AM on May 31, 2017 [7 favorites]


I'll commit to posting at least one cheerful/interesting/curious thing a week during June...
posted by Lexica at 9:51 AM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


Concealed herds of cows?

::perking up::
posted by holborne at 9:52 AM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


Concealed herds of cows?

Steer clear.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:43 AM on May 31, 2017 [28 favorites]


...Concealed herds of cows


That sounds like a methane gas explosion waiting to happen. And it brings us to Trump wanting to pull out of the Paris accords on global warming...

Anyway, YES for non politics and #JuneJourney posts.
posted by AugustWest at 11:05 AM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


Expect more video-game related posts from me throughout the month of June.

I also like this idea very much. It's something I've been doing on my own the past little while because I'm mostly trying to stay out of those threads whenever I can.

Cheers.
posted by Fizz at 11:23 AM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


I think this has been my general approach to FPPs for a while now, but regardless, "Here's a thing that's cool and neat to me" usually makes for the best posts, IMO. Sincerity > snark.

But "Joy-ly," surely?
posted by byanyothername at 11:31 AM on May 31, 2017 [3 favorites]


Concealed herds of cows?

I usually try to include one movie or TV quote somewhere in my metatalk posts. Often, it's in the title. Frequently, the quote's from Firefly
posted by zarq at 11:32 AM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


I've been deliberately trying to find more non-political things to post because of the recent MeTas about too much political stuff, though not all of it is sunny and fun. It is a bit of a bummer sometimes to put together a post about something you think is awesome, but then because it's non-controversial, it gets almost no comments. Sometimes a post will get favourites and sometimes it won't. It's hard to even know if more than a dozen people clicked the links or whether it's worth bothering.

So, if we're planning to do this, may I suggest an addition in this vein?

For the month of June, challenge yourself to favourite and/or comment on a post every day/week/whatever just to say that you like the subject matter. Even if other people have already said it. Even if you don't have anything else about it to say. I'm not suggesting you lie if you didn't like the post, but if you clicked the links and said "Hey, that's cool!" or "Ooh, I like the one with the lion!" in your inner monologue, please make it part of your outer monologue.

Yes, it may seem boring and repetitive to read, but as someone who makes a fair number of "Person is an artist, here are some of person's works that I liked" posts, it can be very hard to tell if more than a handful of people are interested in them.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:31 PM on May 31, 2017 [16 favorites]


Is there a preferred tag?
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 12:55 PM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm in!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:02 PM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


under_petticoat_rule: Is there a preferred tag?

Didn't come up with one. JoyJune? JuneJoy? JuneCheer? Don't think it would be fair to hijack filthy light thief's #JuneJourneys hashtag.

Totally open to suggestions!

jacquilynne: For the month of June, challenge yourself to favourite and/or comment on a post every day/week/whatever just to say that you like the subject matter. Even if other people have already said it. Even if you don't have anything else about it to say. I'm not suggesting you lie if you didn't like the post, but if you clicked the links and said "Hey, that's cool!" or "Ooh, I like the one with the lion!" in your inner monologue, please make it part of your outer monologue.

That would be amazing. Thank you so much for suggesting it.
posted by zarq at 1:16 PM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


I don't know if I have anything like that, but it's a wonderful idea and I'm glad you posted it!
posted by corb at 1:25 PM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


I really don't know how many pictures of my grandchildren you all can stand for a month but they are definitely my joy in June!
posted by Lynsey at 2:12 PM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


Oh man. I wonder if the mods / frimble can turn inline images back on for specific posts, because "show us a picture of your kids/grandkids/nieces and nephews/fur babies" MetaTalktail hour would be awesome.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:15 PM on May 31, 2017 [6 favorites]


I made a fpp and tagged it joyinjune and nonpolitical.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:19 PM on May 31, 2017 [3 favorites]


There is a nonpolitical topic never covered on the blue for which I'm working on a post. I vow to try to get this done before 06/30/17.
posted by scratch at 2:26 PM on May 31, 2017 [4 favorites]


Can we get a sidebar for both this post and the JuneJourneys, to spread the ideas?
posted by tzikeh at 3:39 PM on May 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


It will be a good exercise for me to find something that doesn't make me angry, so I'm down.
posted by PMdixon at 3:47 PM on May 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


I picked the wrong month to become a radical Maoist.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:32 PM on May 31, 2017 [7 favorites]


I'm doing one political post for the UK election - it's nearly finished - and after that taking a break from things politics online until the Norwegian election in September. So it'll be non-political posts from me this summer.

Concealed herds of cows?

Challenge accepted. Both myself and my local vicar have experience in this domain.
posted by Wordshore at 1:12 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


Oof. I started on a post about the Secret Space Program hoping to talk about recent developments, but in order to do that I have to talk about the history of this particular fringe movement and its influences and suddenly I have a Google Doc full of notes and ramblings and I think I just got accidentally booked as a speaker for next year's Contact in the Desert.

I'll keep poking at it, but this may go from FPP to Medium post to Podcast before long.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:10 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


There's a nice post about slime up. I wanted to do an fpp about this but wasn't sure it was "Metafilter-worthy". Turns out it is!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:58 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


#SlimeInJune! Let's have a slime post every day!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:06 PM on June 1, 2017 [3 favorites]


Joseph Conrad, I wish I knew something (anything!) about calligraphy / fountain pens. That video you posted looks so cool, but I don't know enough to leave a coherent, topical comment other than 'thank you'.

(I'm also a chicken-scratch writer). ;)
posted by zarq at 4:07 PM on June 1, 2017


I'll keep poking at it, but this may go from FPP to Medium post to Podcast before long.

If you put it on Medium instead, please comment with the link here? I bet one of us would happily post it to the blue.
posted by zarq at 4:08 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yuss, or a project post!

And I don't think you can hijack tags, just expand their use in interesting ways. Still, I like #JuneJoy for this theme. That doesn't mean a post can't be both joyful and a journey.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:22 PM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


So far, the consensus seems to be running toward JoyInJune.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:25 PM on June 1, 2017 [3 favorites]


I approve of JoyInJune.
posted by Thella at 7:56 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]


I sidebarred it! So far so good, hooray for people posting joyful posts!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:31 PM on June 3, 2017


LobsterMitten, thank you!
posted by zarq at 9:19 AM on June 5, 2017


I just tagged my cinemagraph post from 11 PM on the 31st, because I didn't know this tag was a thing when I posted it, but I totally posted it because it brought me joy.
posted by fedward at 7:52 PM on June 5, 2017


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