[MeFi Site Update] December 2nd December 2, 2022 10:58 AM Subscribe
Hi there, MetaFilter!
It’s been a while! I’m happy to be back with this special update. You’ll find some updates regarding the site below. I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions.
General updates
The SC, Jessamyn and the staff have been focusing a lot on the fundraising these past weeks. We’ll share the final result soon. On top of that we have been creating a lot more internal structure in terms of how expenses are tracked, revenue reported and we have been having the huge help of a fellow Mefite to get the accounting side of things in order. This will allow us to operate and forecast revenue with a lot more accuracy.
Site/Code Changes
frimble has been working with the SC on several updates:
BIPOC Advisory Board
The 11th Board meeting just happened last Saturday and you can see part of their work translated into this thread that covers the mandate and perspective of the Board. I’m working with thyme and the Board to catch up with the meeting minutes that have not been approved and posted in the site, also the BIPOC Board’s page now includes meeting dates.
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.
It’s been a while! I’m happy to be back with this special update. You’ll find some updates regarding the site below. I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions.
The SC, Jessamyn and the staff have been focusing a lot on the fundraising these past weeks. We’ll share the final result soon. On top of that we have been creating a lot more internal structure in terms of how expenses are tracked, revenue reported and we have been having the huge help of a fellow Mefite to get the accounting side of things in order. This will allow us to operate and forecast revenue with a lot more accuracy.
frimble has been working with the SC on several updates:
- Several fixes for FanFare, Best of MetaFilter, and MeFi mail.
- Several fixes for Admin tools
- Several updates to the funding page
- Fixes to static linked CloudFlare files
- Changed "MetaFilter Network Inc." to "MetaFilter LLC" to reflect the business registration
- Several minor text changes across the site reflecting how the site operates and fixing brand typos (Like from Mefi to MeFi). These will be ongoing.
- Increased banner size.
- Fixed positioning on mobile classic skip link
- Some patches from the SC changing e-mail address on gift accounts, Fixing links in the "I already donate" copy.
- Added a “Steering Committee” page and subsequent HTML fixes.
- Changed contact e-mails to use Simple Email Service (SES).
- Updating Amazon affiliate tag
- Added Venmo to the funding page.
- Reworked and fixed gift accounts.
- Setting up an admin page for the Steering Committee where their tools are being added.
The 11th Board meeting just happened last Saturday and you can see part of their work translated into this thread that covers the mandate and perspective of the Board. I’m working with thyme and the Board to catch up with the meeting minutes that have not been approved and posted in the site, also the BIPOC Board’s page now includes meeting dates.
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.
Thanks for the update!
You mentioned some fixes to gift accounts. I'm curious - about how many gift accounts have been given out that have been activated? Has it been a significant way to bring new users in?
you can see part of their work translated into this thread that covers the mandate and perspective of the Board
I'm inferring that you meant to link to the November 28th MetaTalk post: "What The MeFi BIPOC Board Does" covering:
Board mandate and perspective
The Board's Scope (3 main areas of activity: Advising & Liaising, Community-Focused Initiatives & Direct Action, and Research & Data Analysis)
Brief history, relationship with Steering Committee, how to contact the BIPOC board, and upcoming plans
posted by brainwane at 5:17 PM on December 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
You mentioned some fixes to gift accounts. I'm curious - about how many gift accounts have been given out that have been activated? Has it been a significant way to bring new users in?
you can see part of their work translated into this thread that covers the mandate and perspective of the Board
I'm inferring that you meant to link to the November 28th MetaTalk post: "What The MeFi BIPOC Board Does" covering:
Board mandate and perspective
The Board's Scope (3 main areas of activity: Advising & Liaising, Community-Focused Initiatives & Direct Action, and Research & Data Analysis)
Brief history, relationship with Steering Committee, how to contact the BIPOC board, and upcoming plans
posted by brainwane at 5:17 PM on December 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'd like to suggest the Steering Committee page list the members, and possibly link to their individual pages.
Thanks for the update. Much progress!
posted by NotLost at 7:37 PM on December 2, 2022
Thanks for the update. Much progress!
posted by NotLost at 7:37 PM on December 2, 2022
So this is related to the site updates but only tangentially so apologies if this is the wrong thread:
At some point when I registered this account, I was directed to a guidelines page that stated that friends-linking was explicitly forbidden. However, I remember a few years ago that this rule had been relaxed to encourage more diversity in posts (and indeed I made a Metatalk post about it). Has this rule changed again?
posted by creatrixtiara at 8:16 PM on December 2, 2022
At some point when I registered this account, I was directed to a guidelines page that stated that friends-linking was explicitly forbidden. However, I remember a few years ago that this rule had been relaxed to encourage more diversity in posts (and indeed I made a Metatalk post about it). Has this rule changed again?
posted by creatrixtiara at 8:16 PM on December 2, 2022
> I'm curious - about how many gift accounts have been given out that have been activated? Has it been a significant way to bring new users in?
We don't have easy access to this data. We're planning a invitation/gift account drive sometime in the new year, and will set up a way to get that data in advance of that so we can track how effective it is. (The fixes to the gift account flow were in preparation for this, and we have a lot of streamlining of the registration page in the works)
> I'd like to suggest the Steering Committee page list the members, and possibly link to their individual pages.
This is on our list :)
> At some point when I registered this account, I was directed to a guidelines page that stated that friends-linking was explicitly forbidden. However, I remember a few years ago that this rule had been relaxed to encourage more diversity in posts (and indeed I made a Metatalk post about it). Has this rule changed again?
Friend-links are currently allowed so long as they are disclosed, is my understanding. Do you happen to remember where in the signup flow you got linked to a page that said that? It's presumably out-of-date copy that we'd like to fix.
posted by wesleyac at 11:39 PM on December 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
We don't have easy access to this data. We're planning a invitation/gift account drive sometime in the new year, and will set up a way to get that data in advance of that so we can track how effective it is. (The fixes to the gift account flow were in preparation for this, and we have a lot of streamlining of the registration page in the works)
> I'd like to suggest the Steering Committee page list the members, and possibly link to their individual pages.
This is on our list :)
> At some point when I registered this account, I was directed to a guidelines page that stated that friends-linking was explicitly forbidden. However, I remember a few years ago that this rule had been relaxed to encourage more diversity in posts (and indeed I made a Metatalk post about it). Has this rule changed again?
Friend-links are currently allowed so long as they are disclosed, is my understanding. Do you happen to remember where in the signup flow you got linked to a page that said that? It's presumably out-of-date copy that we'd like to fix.
posted by wesleyac at 11:39 PM on December 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
blargh I can't find it now, maybe it got updated since. Might be the welcome page right after you sign up?
posted by creatrixtiara at 8:14 AM on December 3, 2022
posted by creatrixtiara at 8:14 AM on December 3, 2022
Another suggestion re the banner: currently in firefox/chrome, in modern themes, at width 550px the banner switches from (on the smaller sizes) a relative position that appears below the site header and doesn't block anything, to an absolute position that covers a whole bunch of UI (like this). Could it just always have that relative position below the header? I don't think it'll be any less prominent in desktop widths if it is lower on the screen, if anything even more prominent, and it will make the site UI not break. (And realistically, present a lot better to people who are seeing it the first time and don't know the backstory...)
posted by advil at 9:54 AM on December 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by advil at 9:54 AM on December 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
Just to add to that, sorry for multiple comments, but while further testing I noticed that while not logged in, at most middle widths, you apparently can't dismiss the banner (I'm seeing no "x"), and therefore can't even get to the login/signup buttons? This actually seems like a really big problem. screenshot. (You can get to them by either making the browser window very wide, or very narrow and clicking on the head.)
posted by advil at 9:58 AM on December 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by advil at 9:58 AM on December 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
at width 550px the banner switches from (on the smaller sizes) a relative position ...
Just to add to that, if you view the site at a higher-than-normal zoom level (e.g. for eye strain reasons) even the classic smaller banner hides important UI, especially if it's a multi-line message. This has been true possibly since the beginning, I think on both mobile and desktop. (ETA that I've also had the problem of not being able to access the login link with the old smaller banners at highish zoom.)
posted by trig at 12:47 PM on December 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Just to add to that, if you view the site at a higher-than-normal zoom level (e.g. for eye strain reasons) even the classic smaller banner hides important UI, especially if it's a multi-line message. This has been true possibly since the beginning, I think on both mobile and desktop. (ETA that I've also had the problem of not being able to access the login link with the old smaller banners at highish zoom.)
posted by trig at 12:47 PM on December 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
This actually seems like a really big problem. screenshot.
Just noticed this tonight when I was on a new browser and had to resize the browser to max and was then just able to see "login" and I couldn't see the X to close it at all.
posted by terrapin at 4:52 PM on December 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Just noticed this tonight when I was on a new browser and had to resize the browser to max and was then just able to see "login" and I couldn't see the X to close it at all.
posted by terrapin at 4:52 PM on December 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Yeah, the absolute positioning on the banner shoves the close button underneath the scrollbar, which is no bueno.
Sure, you can delete it with dev tools, but that's probably not everyone's first go-to move. Even just dropping the font size a bit would help...
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:07 PM on December 4, 2022
Sure, you can delete it with dev tools, but that's probably not everyone's first go-to move. Even just dropping the font size a bit would help...
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:07 PM on December 4, 2022
I realise my issue was exasperated by my bumping up the font size in my browser because I have had too many birthdays (and I like larger text).
posted by terrapin at 12:20 PM on December 5, 2022
posted by terrapin at 12:20 PM on December 5, 2022
We're definitely aware of the banner size interacting poorly with the login screen. We'll get a permanent fix in the long run; in the short run bumping the text size down should at least allow for logins.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:13 PM on December 5, 2022
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:13 PM on December 5, 2022
in the short run bumping the text size down should at least allow for logins.
FWIW the chrome screenshot I posted is the default zoom. You have to zoom in/resize enough that the banner content goes to one line (which for the ongoing event banners is quite zoomed, 50% for my usual window size, or wide) to see the login/signup buttons. They are also in the footer, at least.
(Also, to respond to another comment, for non-logged in users, it not just that the x is under the scrollbar, it isn't there at all.)
posted by advil at 2:53 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
FWIW the chrome screenshot I posted is the default zoom. You have to zoom in/resize enough that the banner content goes to one line (which for the ongoing event banners is quite zoomed, 50% for my usual window size, or wide) to see the login/signup buttons. They are also in the footer, at least.
(Also, to respond to another comment, for non-logged in users, it not just that the x is under the scrollbar, it isn't there at all.)
posted by advil at 2:53 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
When will the fundraiser post be updated?
posted by freya_lamb at 5:32 AM on December 9, 2022
posted by freya_lamb at 5:32 AM on December 9, 2022
Further to the above comment - not implying we need a full update, just maybe take off the crouton-o-meter and the big sign saying 'Week three update' when we are nearly a month past. Or replace with a 'we've been running activity since x. We'll have a final round up later in the year' or some such.
posted by freya_lamb at 5:36 AM on December 9, 2022
posted by freya_lamb at 5:36 AM on December 9, 2022
When will the fundraiser post be updated?
Soon. US holidays and then some other commitments (and running Events) made this all take longer than expected. Fundraising is an SC thing, they're volunteers, and while we know an update is overdue (and I know they are actively working on it) this is just going to take as long as it takes.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:19 AM on December 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Soon. US holidays and then some other commitments (and running Events) made this all take longer than expected. Fundraising is an SC thing, they're volunteers, and while we know an update is overdue (and I know they are actively working on it) this is just going to take as long as it takes.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:19 AM on December 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Looks like the main banner issues here got fixed, thanks!!
(If you want more bug reports [sorry]: banner positioning after this fix has a bad interaction with the header position + header hide button when scrolled down far enough that the one-line header should appear on desktop. But this one is hardly site-breaking.)
posted by advil at 11:00 AM on December 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
(If you want more bug reports [sorry]: banner positioning after this fix has a bad interaction with the header position + header hide button when scrolled down far enough that the one-line header should appear on desktop. But this one is hardly site-breaking.)
posted by advil at 11:00 AM on December 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by Melismata at 12:50 PM on December 2, 2022 [2 favorites]