[MeFi Site Update] October 14th

October 14, 2022 9:12 AM

Hi there, Metafilter! Apologies for the delay on this update. I was sick in the past days, but now I'm feeling much better. You’ll find some updates regarding the site below. I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions.

- Steering Committee updates
You may read about the first Check-In from the Steering Committee (SC) here. As you can read there, one of the current priorities is Fundraising so I’m currently going over recurring revenue vs one-off contributions. You may expect more details about this once the Fundraising campaign kicks off.

- Site changes.
frimble is still working through the flagging UI. Also, the SC met with frimble recently to define other priorities, like contributing to the site’s code and development as well as evaluating our current spend in AWS for the site’s hosting. Feedburner issues with the site’s RSS feed have been examined and root causes looked at.

- BIPOC Advisory Board
The 10th Board meeting is scheduled for Saturday, October 22, afterwards the notes for the 9th meeting should be approved and posted. If you have any questions about the progress of the Board’s meetings that are not covered in the minutes, please feel free to ask here.

If you have any questions or feedback not related to this particular update, please Contact Us instead. If you want to discuss a particular subject not covered here with the community, you’re welcome to open a separate MetaTalk thread for it.

posted by loup (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 9:12 AM (9 comments total)

One vote for not using nonspacing mark Unicode jiggerypokery in posts. I get what you're going for, but It COMBINING LONG STROKE OVERLAY doesn't seem great for screen readers.
posted by zamboni at 9:32 AM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

Glad you're feeling better, though!
posted by zamboni at 9:35 AM on October 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

Sick?? How dare you steal from the company! Kidding of course, glad you're feeling better!
posted by Melismata at 12:36 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure who's doing the MetaFilter twitter account or the sidebar stuff these days, but THANK YOU! I've caught some stuff that I'd've missed otherwise, and it's just been really nice to see the activity and feel like things are happening.
posted by curious nu at 1:27 PM on October 14, 2022 [6 favorites]

First time I have used the ask multiple option and it is so nice not to have to ration questions!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 9:39 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

loup, it’s lovely to hear you are feeling better. Thank you for bringing the many threads of change together in one place.
posted by majick at 8:04 AM on October 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

As feedback, something for the committee to think about in the technical arena: This question should not have to be asked with regard to images related to AskMe questions. Not being able to upload a photo file related to a question in the year 2022 is ridiculous. MetaFilter should be able to solve this problem. I'm not suggesting inline photos, just links that would go to MeFi-hosted photos, or other files, without having to deal with Imgur and the like. This would encourage more use of AskMe, which would be a Good Thing.
posted by beagle at 1:47 PM on October 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

Mod note: Forgot to Mention: Taz is now handling the MetaFilter twitter account, hence all the new activity there. Big props to her for the willingness to help!
posted by loup (staff) at 2:02 PM on October 17, 2022 [8 favorites]

Not being able to upload a photo file related to a question in the year 2022 is ridiculous.

While I don’t disagree at all — technically it’s a pretty solvable problem with enough effort and priority — my thoughts turn somewhat naturally towards some pretty significant non-technical obstacles, not the least of which is that MetaFilter is an American company with limited resources and you can fly a jumbo jet through the holes in Section 230 now. Americans hosting images on American soil have a pretty scary legal landscape in front of them.
posted by majick at 3:02 PM on October 17, 2022