January 2014 Archives (all archives)
January 31
Please paste the site you'd like to link!
Very minor (probably) pony mod request: Can you stop pre-filling the comment editor's Link button prompt with "http://"? [more inside]
January 29
What is the reason, again?
Metafilter has translations of a newly rediscovered poem by Sappho
You know how we get excited when a lost episode of Dr. Who gets rediscovered? As described in this thread, two new poems by Sappho have just been rediscovered. Bromius and languagehat have made provisional translations of the new "Brothers Poem." As far as I can tell, this makes Metafilter the best place on the web to go for translations-in-progress of the new Sappho. (sidebar?) If you have training in Aeolic Greek your help in this ongoing translation project would be appreciated. [more inside]
Patreon Posts
Patreon is a way of crowdfunding creative workers in an ongoing way (i.e. you commit to paying, say, $5 per completed work). It's a great system, and I've backed a couple myself, but I'm curious how Metafilter will manage it as it becomes more widespread. Because, unlike Kickstarter there might never be an end point to the crowdfunding. Are there any issues with posts relating to Patreon-funded artists? Or are we okay as long as we don't mention the Patreon bit in the post?
When to post about a series of content?
I'm interested in hearing from the MeFi community about when people think is the best time to post about a series of content. Would you prefer to hear about such content on MetaFilter at the outset, or at the conclusion, or somewhere in between? [more inside]
A boon for the fumble-fingered!
A small pony request: we have the edit button for comments we make on AskMefi, would it be possible to add an edit capability to Memail messages? 'Cause sometimes, my fat fingers don't go where I want them to go....
January 28
Atlanta Snowjam 2014
If you're a Mefite still stuck out in the nightmare of Atlanta Snow Jam 2014, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency has some suggestions as to what to do if you're trapped in your car overnight. Since most of the 65 mile circumference of the Perimeter is still jammed solid as of midnight — not to mention the other Interstates, arterial roads, and surface streets — it might be time to accept that you're not getting home tonight. [more inside]
Where Do They Go? (and a question)
I have been a mefite for a few years now, and lurked as a non-mefite for about 2-4 years before. In that time I have seen many people leave Mefi, from a simple in-thread mod answer to someone's "Why is x's account disabled/closed?" to the full-on Metatalk flameout-'n'-flounce. And I have often wondered, where do they go when they leave here? So where do they go? Is there any data on this?
And my question: In the Mefi Labs thread, I found out that the most suggested book was "The Gift Of Fear." I have only seen it referenced once, in a self-defence thread on the blue, and I wondered why it was so popular?
January 27
Intersectionality or not?
Lately, the site consensus on social justice threads has seemed to be that if one group is discussing its experiences of mistreatment by another group, it is inappropriate for that second group to make the thread about them by talking about their own experiences of mistreatment, disagreement, etc. This thread seemed to take things back the opposite way. Should we be more consistent about this? [more inside]
comment deleted b/c of who i am, not b/c of actual content of the post
after a few emails back and forth the mod, Josh, said
For some random user with no pattern of behavior, obnoxious might not push it over the threshold, no. You are not some random user with no pattern of behavior on this. We have warned you to cut this shit out if you want to continue being; I am not going to go into detail with you on it again. Just knock it off.
regarding my comment in this thread.
more below the fold. [more inside]
This strange meme. Baffles me. Please explain.
I've seen this 3-phrase trend go around the blue recently, e.g. in the title of this post and in various comments I can no longer find. Can someone please tell me what it means and where it comes from?
Alert me when a favorited question has been resolved
Pony request: A checkbox in our profile settings to "Alert me via MeMail when a question I've marked as a favorite is marked resolved." [more inside]
January 25
Can You Ace This One Weird Quiz? CLICK HERE to Find Out!
I took this awesome thread where MeFites riffed on the idea of turning classic and popular books into Upworthy-style headlines, and the excellent spreadsheet that divabat created, and turned it into a Sporcle Quiz. How many can you get? [more inside]
January 23
How much is too much?
I know the general consensus seems to be that big posts are good posts - the December Posting Contest seemed to lean favourably towards link-heavy posts, much like this one that JHarris just posted. But where is the line drawn at how much is too much? [more inside]
Out of our depth?
Hi. I do not intend this metatalk to be a re-argument of the very contentious and upsetting askme thread about a father saying he has a right to show porn to his daughter. [more inside]
Thank you to the organizers of the Secret Quonsar Swap.
We've had the announcement threads, the planning thread, and the "thank you for the stuff" threads, but I think we all need to take a moment to thank the organizers of the Secret Quonsar swap. [more inside]
SoAndSo added you as a contact. 6 days ago
Occasionally people add me as a contact. Why do they do this? [more inside]
Post about memory and narcissism?
Can you please help me find an old post about people who at first seemed to have incredible memories, but were later found to be just really self-obsessed? [more inside]
January 22
Can we not link to the Daily Mail?
Can we not link to the Daily Mail?
This FPP consists of a single twitter + daily mail link that has the story in it. [more inside]
Slate Love
January 21
Sad update to a post from a few months ago.
Hoping to avoid a derail
In the recent Archer thread, the following exchange took place:
paper chromatographologist: This is something I really loved about Trailer Park Boys. The last couple of seasons seemed to be largely driven off of random, possibly improvised insults thrown by J-Roc a couple seasons earlier.
gucci mane: Whoa whoa whoa, as excited as I am for new Archer, I really need to know about this. I've seen every TPB episode at least 10 times and I never picked up on this fact. Give me examples! [more inside]
January 20
The hive mind is a genius
If anyone needed evidence of the utility of the MeFi Hive Mind, I submit for evidence this truly awesome question and its answers from AskMe. Good job, everyone!
ArtM
Congratulations to Artw on his 1000th post... several of which are not about comics, sf or horror films!
January 17
Thanks mefi & mefi chat
To the best of my ability to recall dates and details, today is probably the anniversary of my brush with death thirteen years ago. My journey of healing is nearing it's end and today is one of those moments where it feels like life has come full circle, or is about to do so. In light of that, I want to take a moment to say thanks. [more inside]
When an Obama derail isn't actually an Obama derail
In the post about John Schneider's grieving photos, the photographer mentions that he did some funny impersonations of other actors and presidents, and so I made the comment, "That Obama impersonation is pretty great," wanting to let people discover this photo for themselves, but I guess the comment was too obscure and the mods deleted it thinking I was making some axe-grindy Obama comment.
(I'm not complaining, I just thought y'all would think it was amusing.)
January 16
Two little ponies
I have a question about the feasability and desirability of two possible small ponies: [more inside]
Metafilter LinkedIn Group
Now that our leader has successfully added all of us to his friends list while pretending it was an accident (jk), I think it might make sense for there to be an expanded, private Metafilter LinkedIn group (not the public, totally barren one that exists now). Here's why: [more inside]
IRL reminders?
An automated reminder or some way to export the meetup item to iCal/gCal would be helpful. I've actually forgotten about two recent meetups (sorry, all), and am thinking that some form of reminder would be helpful for these kinds of things. All opt-in, of course; wouldn't want anyone being hit w/ spam. Thanks!
January 15
Metafilter's Community Guide to Discussions?
Could we have a permanent sidebar to guide people towards previous threads or comments about class/race/sex/gender/identity issues, to foster better discussions without having to repeat meta-discussions? [more inside]
I'm sure I saw it around here somewhere...
I'm trying to find a post from wherein someone described a strategy of inserting deliberate and glaring errors into advertising copy (or possibly, web page design) so that the customer would find them, correct them and leave the bulk of the work untouched. [more inside]
January 14
strange deletion
I posted a question tonight in the society culture section, and I'm baffled about why it was deleted. [more inside]
Big Number Celebration?
The other day, I clicked on a username, and I was kind of surprised to see that their user number was up in the high 180k range. We did the big raffle for user number 100,000, and I was wondering if there were any plans for something for the big 200k. Excitement? Adventure? Marmots?
It's not shocking if you hear that sort of thing all the time.
I'd like to ask that people stop posting "ironic"/"what if we were talking about X TOPIC" type comments to make their point like this comment in the Alinea baby post. [more inside]
January 13
Looking for a link in a comment
I was talking to a friend about comics and got onto the subject of Poison Ivy, and recalled this really disturbing page with Ivy casually talking to a man her giant pitcher plant is slowly dissolving. It's just horrifying, and it was a link in someone's comment. I've tried using the search here and Google, and I guess I'm not hitting the right keywords. Does the comment ring a bell for anyone? Thanks!
MeFi Marginalia discussion/signup
Inspired by chavenet's post, we're putting together a Metafilter Marginalia group. This is where you can help us decide how things will work, and sign up. [more inside]
January 10
Deletion for minor issues
Everyone here is pretty big on some of the serious words not to use, but I think there has been some serious creep: when entire comments are being deleted because of the lack of a space between two words, which is not only far from being universal, but far from being common even in social justice spaces, I think there's a problem. It's one thing to delete comments for offensive words, but another thing entirely to delete them for offensive spacing. [more inside]
January 9
Do you have resolutions? MeFites can help!
Team MetaFilter is (still!) on HealthMonth, and it's a great way to get support and encouragement for healthy habits and positive life changes. [more inside]
January 8
Joke Taboos
Can Mefites explain why MetaFilter as a whole seems to consider e.g. Chris Christie fat jokes morally unacceptable but Rob Ford crack cocaine jokes are funny fun times? I'm somehow guessing a "imagine all the donuts Chris Christie is gonna eat when he wins the Presidency" wouldn't be considered Mefi-funny, but I don't see what underlying moral principle is at work here.
Unearth the Hidden Gems of 2013
Do you have some under-favorited comments from 2013 you'd like to bring to the community's attention? This is the place! [more inside]
Poets and Bookworms - MeFiMusic Needs You!
Over at MeFiMusic, the latest Music Challenge has just been launched - Musicologize a Book. However, not all of us are lyric-writers, so please feel free to join the party! [more inside]
January 7
is it rude to respond to old or resolved questions?
Hello, I am fairly new to posting answers on Ask Metafilter. I have a general question which I hope is not foolish. I also hope that I am asking in the correct place (I checked the FAQ and also searched MetaTalk with possible keywords but am not sure). My question is: if many days have gone by since a question on Ask Metafilter was posted, or if a question has been marked as "resolved" by the Asker, is it okay to add your comment or is that considered rude (since the question was resolved or the question has become outdated)? I assume it would help members who are catching up after some time has passed, as well as non-members who are Googling for help with similar issues, but I am not sure what the community protocol is and do not want to offend. I am also asking this because I do not come online regularly, and often when I log on I see quite interesting questions that I would like to respond to, however several days have gone by or it has been marked as resolved. Thank you for all your help :)
In the future, all Content will be blocked because of legal obstacles...
If you live in the UK, like me, and are wondering why you cannot access the link in this Metafilter Post, despite the confusing explanation you see, this blog post asks the same question. The reason is probably government legislation.
Question about searching the site
I'm interested to see whether I favorite any particular user's comments more frequently than others, on the theory that I should link to them. Similarly, I'd be interested to see if there are other like-minded folk who favorite me more than once, for the same purpose. Is that possible? [more inside]
January 6
88: Owls as Pets
Episode 88 of the MetaFilter podcast features recaps from most of December, including a bit about the MeFites Choice contest as well as things we learned from Labs. The show was recorded on January 3rd and runs a little over 90 minutes. [more inside]
Pony Request: Math is hard!
Last week I was going to make an FPP and got the "too soon!" message. I see this often because I tend to post in bursts, so I look up the last posting time and do some mental math.
Since the form knows I've already posted in the last 24 hours, would it be possible to just have it tell me at what time I can make the next post?
On attempted posting preview: I was notified that I had posted a MeTa within the last seven days so this had to wait, too. Maybe this pony could ride across the whole site.
January 5
Mefites as guests on the podcast?
I think it would be cool if the podcast featured Mefites as guests because (1) people here do all kinds of amazing stuff (2) it would be a nice way to get to know you people. [more inside]
January 3
Study of violence in boys/men
Looking for a post or comment I believe I saw on MetaFilter about a (recent?) study of violence in boys/men. The salient feature I remember is that the study broke boys or young men down into four groups, depending on the level of violence each engaged in. The study then found that as these kids grew up, all but one group mostly shed their violent ways (or were seldom violent to begin with), while the fourth group remained dangerous and was responsible for the bulk of violent crimes. Sound familiar to anyone? Thanks!
Mefi Mall, year round?
Has there ever been any real discussion to keeping some sort of Mefi Mall link up year round? [more inside]
Mefites' Choice 2013 winners, Final Week
Thanks for your patience as we do all the complicated calculations to determine the week's three winners as well as the month's twenty-one(ish) overall category winners. [more inside]
January 2
The Achievements Keep On Rollin'
Per Rotato Ad Astra! MefightClub's annual charity donation drive has just wound up for another year [last year] [2011] [2010], and we've raised $5292.66 to go to Child's Play and Direct Relief (with a sprinkling to other worthy charities as well). [more inside]
Announcing MeFi Labs
Today I wanted to unveil a new subsite featuring some experiments with our data called MeFi Labs. [more inside]
January 1
>read meta
In exactly one month, the Third MetaFilter Interactive Fiction Contest will begin! [more inside]
I'm looking for a question about housework
or chores, or cleaning - where at least one of the commentors said that s/he likes to pretend to be Cinderella (or some other fantasy character with an evil bossy nemesis), so that s/he can attack her (probably "her") work with the feeling of high moral superiority and amused martyrdomship. Does this ring any bells?
I have a new question to ask about pretending as a (or pretending to be) grown up and want to reference that, because it seemed to say it better than I could.
(Also, may be same thread or not, but someone went around smiting the housework - that thread too, please).
I did search, but apparently I'm much better at finding obscure academic articles.