how has Metafilter changed your life?

August 31, 2001 4:53 AM

The Well celebrated their 15th earlier this year - it changed the lives of many of the people involved - how has Metafilter changed your life?
posted by johnny novak to MetaFilter-Related at 4:53 AM (8 comments total)

For me it has reaffirmed my belief in the medium and it's power to circumvent traditional media and enable many-to-many communication.

Not particularly dramatic perhaps, but at this time I think it is important to understand the strength of this medium and it's continued potential, particularly in the face of negative media coverage and wide spread job losses.

Plus I thought we needed a bit of positive feedback - go mefi.
posted by johnny novak at 4:59 AM on August 31, 2001

MF is a good thing.

I really do believe that.

Howver, I reallly do believe that MF needs to grow. It needs to mature. 15 years may be long, but a few years is not out of the question.
posted by tp3wen at 7:59 AM on August 31, 2001

Funny, I just got the book about the well, and started reading it last night. And it happens to be written by the same person that wrote the Kaycee story in the NYT, that mentioned MetaFilter.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:27 AM on August 31, 2001

I don't suppose Mefi has changed your life much Matt
posted by johnny novak at 8:31 AM on August 31, 2001

nope, not at all johnny. I'm sure I would have been quoted in the new york times three times this year, appear on a magazine, and on tv even if I didn't run the site. :)
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:42 AM on August 31, 2001

I think I've become more moderate in my politics, more articulate in my writing, and more understanding of views other than my own.

I'm still have a ways to go, but Mefi can be a good way to knock yourself off that pedestal and get a whiff of the shit you've spewed in the past.
posted by john at 5:08 PM on August 31, 2001

john, that was a horrible visual... or whatever the smelling equivalent to that is...

aside from much time lost from coming here too frequently, i find out a lot more about the world through the commentary and the news links posted here. i can talk more with other people about current events as i'm a lot more knowledgeable due to steve dan beste's explaning certain parts of the constitution, or the recent viewpoints hipstertrash brought to the table that made me think. i'm sure there are a lot of other benefits to being involved with the mf community, though i'm not really as involved as a lot of the people here... still, i'm happy to be a part of it.
posted by lotsofno at 5:14 PM on August 31, 2001

I had a well account, I got it in 1986. I quit when they started sending me bills. Back in those days (1995?), we thought it was sacrilegious and evil to charge for anything in the net, we thought people that profited from the internet were equally as sacrilegious and evil. In fact, there were hackers groups that gave amazon.com a very difficult time for a week or so, as well as a dozen other early merchants (where did all of this come from? sorry!)

Metafilter has made me a more conscientious writer, as well as a better internet news and nonsense gatherer. I have been able to learn an incredible amount of information in a short period of time. This community has an expert in just about every walk of life. That alone, coupled with the dialog has been an enormous resource that came at a time when internet communities were sagging.

IMHO, things are more active, but the quality is the same. I don't think anything should/could be changed.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 3:37 PM on September 2, 2001