November 2005 Archives (all archives)

November 30

"and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do"

Not that long ago (within the last month; two months at most) there was a link to a comment made by an advisor to the Bush administration that went somewhere along the lines of "we are the makers of history, and we will be judged by a future of our making." I can't find it. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
posted by ori to MetaFilter-Related at 10:14 PM PST - 8 comments

Downtime notice?

WhenMeFiIsDownFilter: Any chance we could see a message a la Flickr-style like MetaFilter is getting a massage and will return soon or something to that effect? Not trying to sound snarky, but ideally I think it'd be better than the hanging pages and timeouts we usually get.
posted by sjvilla79 to Feature Requests at 7:42 PM PST - 8 comments [closed]

Click here to add a title.

I've trained remedial ferrets to make better FPPs.
And linking to the same thing twice doesn't make it less crap.
posted by klangklangston to Etiquette/Policy at 7:18 PM PST - 41 comments

Any St. Louis MeFi's out there?

Any St. Louis MeFi's out there? I'm thinking of starting a little monthly St. Louis Meetup for MeFi and Flickr users. Any interest? Send me an e-mail at k_dern [at] yahoo.com.
posted by kdern to MetaFilter Gatherings at 3:51 PM PST - 11 comments

Revisiting the famous cult mushroom thread

Just to tell all of you the famous mushroom thread is finally tapering off. (But can it still reach the 1000 post goal?) Have there been more and more pictures and silliness in threads since the mushroom thread? Now that we are able to look back on the mushroom thread, is it the cause or the symptom of this growth in silliness? I've been here not as long as many, but it feels like there has been a definite and noticable increase in the silly factor. I am not saying this is wrong, just sort of curious what caused it.
posted by TwelveTwo to MetaFilter-Related at 2:23 PM PST - 88 comments

Metafilter filtered

This page takes metafilter to a whole new level of enjoyousness. I bet that guy was up all night working on it.
posted by spinoza to Bugs at 7:28 AM PST - 54 comments

links without learning HTML?

Apologies for what is most likely an extremely dumb question, but how do I create links within posted messages without resorting to HTML?

It's been a while since I posted and I remember there used to be a simple user interface to create hyperlinks, but now all I see in the posting area is a plain text-entry box.
posted by plenty to Bugs at 7:21 AM PST - 18 comments

Looking for old FPP on networked cameras

Need help finding an old FPP. New search feature not very helpful...
posted by j.p. Hung to Feature Requests at 7:00 AM PST - 5 comments

November 29

Was I really in the wrong here?

Was I really in the wrong here? I posted a question about my car stereo and I got a bunch of great answers. I thanked everyone and posted some additional information. A user posted a lengthy follow-up answer, which I appreciated. But then Thanksgiving, spotty Internet, and just life in general got in my way I didn't have a chance to mess with my car stereo, much less update my AskMe thread. (Frankly, it never occurred to me that people would be on tenterhooks about my Caprice's stereo.)

So then, seven days later, the same user posted this bizarre rant about how I never followed up with the thread. Was I at fault?
posted by Ian A.T. to Etiquette/Policy at 11:05 PM PST - 138 comments

Richmond meetup reminder

Richmond Reminder:
Saturday, 12/3, 3pm, at the Hill Cafe in Church Hill. We had fun last time!
posted by lalalana to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:33 PM PST - 7 comments

Who are your favorite MeFites, and why?

Who are your favorite MeFites, and why? We all know about (and secretly enjoy) the feuds, the hissy fits, the sniping, but what about those folks whose advice or comments you consistently enjoy? Please give one (1) example for any or all of the following categories, and link to one (1) example of said sterling statement.*

#1 Smartest/most learned
#2 Most interesting/creative/off-the-wall (in a good way)
#3 Most thought-provoking
#4 Funniest

*jessamyn doesn't count; we all love her.
posted by rob511 to MetaFilter-Related at 4:58 PM PST - 172 comments

Has the Projects site worked as intended?

Has the MetaFilter Projects site worked as intended yet? In other words, how many posted projects have been linked to from the front page?
posted by Robot Johnny to MetaFilter-Related at 12:06 PM PST - 25 comments

Could we have the threads/comments we've flagged as "fantastic" somehow noted on our profile pages?

Could we have the threads/comments we've flagged as "fantastic" somehow noted on our profile pages?
posted by gleuschk to Feature Requests at 11:46 AM PST - 14 comments

This thread is displaying like it combined two posts.

This thread is displaying like it combined two posts. Is it my browser or one of those little bugs?
posted by mkelley to Bugs at 8:24 AM PST - 10 comments [closed]

Time Zone Problem

Time Zone problem? My prefs are set to display the Eastern TZ, yet I'm seeing everying in PT. I think this is a recent phenomenon, though I may have just missed it before.
posted by TonyRobots to Bugs at 8:07 AM PST - 10 comments

What's with the downtime?

Matt: There has been lots of downtime lately. What's up?
posted by caddis to Bugs at 6:17 AM PST - 22 comments

November 28

Should MetaFilter have another section called MetaNews?

Should MetaFilter have another section called MetaNews to keep the geopolitical stuff separated from the quirky best of web stuff?
posted by parallax7d to Bugs at 7:46 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]

ASL?

AskMeFi could be improved if the people answering the questions gave more information about themselves and weren't so darned bashful. [MI]
posted by meech to Etiquette/Policy at 12:27 PM PST - 32 comments

"My Comments" algorithm to be perfected

I suspect the "My Comments" algorithm needs a little tweaking? [MI]
posted by nobody to Feature Requests at 9:27 AM PST - 21 comments

NYC meetup dec 2005

If any NYC MeFites are interested, Mykel Board's Eat Club will be meeting on Saturday, December 17th at the Peking Duck House on Mott Street. And yes, it's that Mykel Board, of ARTLESS and MAXIMUMROCKNROLL. As his group is appreciative of meeting new people, it seems fair for some of us MetaFilter/MetaChat members to perform one of those U.S./Russian spacewalk-type deals. Besides, this may be the only chance we'll have of finding out wether Board and amberglow are the same person.
posted by Smart Dalek to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:19 AM PST - 18 comments

Seattle Meetup Reminder

Seattle Meetup reminder thread. This Saturday. 8 p.m. Sunset Bowl.
posted by matildaben to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:45 AM PST - 24 comments

November 27

Do you remember that...? site

This is a neat site for those "name that movie from random bits of plot" questions that pop up on askme. Not sure where else this might go.
posted by frecklefaerie to MetaFilter-Related at 1:53 PM PST - 12 comments

upper west side fallout

upper west side fallout
posted by dorian to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:36 AM PST - 150 comments

November 26

Images at MeFi

Images in thread posts seem to be on the rise. They used to be rather pleasantly nonexistent, and I was under the impression that they were traditionally frowned on here.
posted by es_de_bah to Etiquette/Policy at 8:43 PM PST - 166 comments

I won first place, thanks to AskMe

Results for Chili question on AskMe
posted by RustyBrooks to MetaFilter-Related at 6:59 PM PST - 23 comments

Another Tagline Thread

Just becausw I'm bored and there is a new design, another tagline thread?
posted by wheelieman to MetaFilter-Related at 2:42 PM PST - 32 comments

Mefites playing mario kart ds via nintendo wifi?

Mefites playing mario kart ds via nintendo wifi? Post your info here...
posted by adamkempa to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:29 AM PST - 25 comments

Connecticut Meetup

Meetup reminder!
All MeFites within the greater Connecticut region are cordially invited to come on by Darbar India in Branford, CT, at 7:00 pm on Monday, November 28. (Two days from now.) As painstakingly hashed out in this thread. Here's a map; here's a restaurant review; here's the menu. (Thanks to Miko for those last two.) Hope to see you there!
posted by Dr. Wu to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:57 AM PST - 18 comments

November 25

Breaks the whole friggin' front page.

Breaks the guidelines whole friggin' front page.
posted by loquacious to Bugs at 8:54 PM PST - 61 comments [closed]

what brought you to non-belief?

There has been a number of religion oriented threads recently. In these threads it becomes apparent that, compared to the population at large, Metafilter has a higher frequency of non-believers. Inspired by this thread* at another website, what brought you to non-belief?

* it starts a little shallow, but more indepth stories come eventually
posted by jsonic to MetaFilter-Related at 6:50 PM PST - 346 comments [closed]

AskMeFi email notification?

AskMeFi email notification?

I understand for threads that get a lot of replies - an email per response is way too much, and would be more of a hassle than it's worth.

What about a nightly cron job that notifies AskMeFi posters who have checked an "email me to let me know about new replies" box a notice that X number of replies have been posted to their thread? The box could be unchecked by default, of course.

I've found that sometimes, AskMeFi threads that are days old end up getting responses from bored folks who scroll through several pages, so I think this would be useful.
posted by twiggy to Feature Requests at 8:54 AM PST - 11 comments

Legal AskMe

Some of the responses in this AskMeFi thread were dangerously wrong. I understand that AskMeFi is all fun and games, but when a poster asks a legal question and then says that he has no intention of consulting a lawyer, we're walking on dangerous ground in terms of the quality of the answers.

Not sure that there's any easy solution, but it's something worth thinking about.
posted by MattD to Etiquette/Policy at 7:09 AM PST - 11 comments

Comment preservation from doubleposted threads?

I was cool having my thread deleted, because it was a double...but it seemed like more people had commented in that one - and now those comments are lost. Can they be moved?

Better still, would it not be wiser to have read in the post that people wanted to keep open, and followed those wishes?
posted by mattr to Etiquette/Policy at 6:43 AM PST - 20 comments

November 24

There's a link with an entire article posted - I don't think this falls under "Fair Use"

The link associated with this post is not close to being "fair use".
posted by Ethereal Bligh to Etiquette/Policy at 3:04 PM PST - 95 comments

A problem with the new headers

A problem with the new headers: When I tab through links to "MetaTalk," in the upper-right corner, the browser puts a dotted border around the link. This border makes the page 1px too wide, and I get a horizontal scrollbar. This also happens for a second after I click on the link but before the MetaTalk page loads. FireFox 1.5 RC3 on Windows.
posted by stopgap to Bugs at 1:25 PM PST - 6 comments

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for the MetaCommunity, the ideas, the humor, the fun. Oh yeah.
posted by The Jesse Helms to MetaFilter-Related at 9:09 AM PST - 57 comments

How do I review my past comments?

How do I review my past comments? It was easy enough with the old layout. Now, when I click the 'My comments' link I can find out which threads I commented in, but I can't find any link to the comment itself. What am I missing?
posted by salmacis to Feature Requests at 12:45 AM PST - 14 comments

November 23

Askme broken

This AskMe is showing up like this for me. Clicking reload didn't seem to fix it.
posted by I Love Tacos to Bugs at 2:24 PM PST - 11 comments

Writing challenges, anyone?

Writing challenges, anyone? Would MF respond well to a weekly short writing challenge, perhaps posted on Fridays? Example challenge: Invent a new urban legend (in 50 words or less). There are no prizes, no scorekeeping, just for fun. Yes? No? Maybe? Try it?
posted by StarForce5 to Etiquette/Policy at 12:19 PM PST - 31 comments

The AskMe front page seems to lag in updating with published questions.

The AskMe front page seems to lag in updating with published questions.

This thread's "next thread" link leads to an anonymous question about boner problems, and the "next thread" from there leads to another anonymous one. But they don't show up on the front page of AskMe.
posted by evariste to Bugs at 11:32 AM PST - 5 comments

one long line

I'm on an imac (os9) and whenever I open the comments section from the front page all I get is a long single line of text in the middle of the page. I tried monkeying with the cookies and it seemed to help, but I'm not sure which cookie controls the text for comments page. And the machine gives me all kinds of grief when I refuse cookies.
posted by Smedleyman to Bugs at 9:32 AM PST - 13 comments

NYC meetup November 2005

nyc upper west side meetup reminder: this saturday. you should be there. no, really.
posted by dorian to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:26 AM PST - 31 comments

Troubled by the disappearance of parts of the conversation

I am a bit troubled by the disappearance of some comments in this thread. How do others feel about the altering of a record of a conversation?
posted by mania to Etiquette/Policy at 8:24 AM PST - 44 comments

Timestamps

"Timestamps" in "my comments": The quasi-timestamps in "my comments" are wrong. The early ones are right "This morning"/"12 Hours ago"/ "7 Hours Ago" etc.

But then at some point it seems to reset and comments from yesterday are listed as "This morning" and "4 hours ago". It looks like it's only taking time into account and not the date?
posted by duck to Bugs at 6:39 AM PST - 4 comments

Project RSS feed enhancements

The Projects RSS feed has no way of directly clicking on the project URL. The URL is the votes page; the title and URL are not included in the . If this is unintended, I suggest one of the following: change the to the project URL, and have a link to the votes page at the end of the ; or keep the the same but repeat the title, with a link to the URL, at the start of the .
posted by mcwetboy to Bugs at 5:09 AM PST - 5 comments

AskMe Preferences Not Working

No matter what I do in my preferences, the font on AskMefi seems to be stuck (on Times New Roman, I think). My settings work fine on Mefi/Meta, so I guess it must be something to do with the new layout.
posted by Orange Goblin to Bugs at 4:10 AM PST - 12 comments [closed]

November 22

What does the dot mean?

What does "." mean?
posted by Kwantsar to Etiquette/Policy at 8:51 PM PST - 43 comments

Once again, with feeling

A while back I posted a wonderful video for a song called "JCB Song". It went down very well.

I found out today they are going for a UK Christmas number one, and have added a back-story of their touching song to their site.

Im guessing I cant draw attention to this no? I'm dying for a decent xmas #1 after last year's god awful Band Aid thing.
posted by lemonfridge to Etiquette/Policy at 4:08 PM PST - 13 comments

The archive page for July 2001 has weird text formatting

The archive page for July 2001 has weird text formatting. It changes after bytecode's post on the 28th. Everything below that seems to be in smaller text.
posted by Irontom to Bugs at 3:56 PM PST - 3 comments

Font preferences vs headers

In preferences, my font preference is set to Times New Roman. With the new headers in MeFi and MeTa I see the site nav links in a sans serif typeface, as I'd expect, but in AskMe the site nav links appear to be in Times New Roman. Somewhere there's an inconsistency. I'm guessing AskMe is incorrectly using my font preference for its site nav links in the header.
posted by nthdegx to Bugs at 2:42 PM PST - 2 comments [closed]

MetaTalk Comments Bug

Bug: Try going to a user's MetaTalk comments page (example).

If you click on the page numbers at the bottom, offsets don't seem to work. Therefore, clicking on page 10 should return comments 451-500, but actually returns comments 1-500. Presumably, if everyone who sees this clicks on page 109, and therefore requests all 5437 comments, the world will explode.
posted by matthewr to Bugs at 1:27 PM PST - 14 comments

Fake questions on AskMe.

Fake questions on AskMe.
posted by nixerman to Etiquette/Policy at 11:07 AM PST - 202 comments

Rant posts will be removed

I posted the following on MeFi, and it was deleted because it would likely result in 'flame wars'. Yet, I have seen similar posts on MeFi several times, except the religion under fire is 'Islam'. Was the post deleted because of the link or the paragraph that followed it? Why are flame-wars in the reverse permitted on MeFi?

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/46901
posted by Azaadistani to Etiquette/Policy at 10:21 AM PST - 31 comments

Metatalk thread closing is the worst thing ever.

Metatalk thread closing is the worst thing ever. Just as threads are getting entertaining, the discussion supposedly somehow has ended. It never works; Either someone posts a new thread where the same discussion continues or we're just deprived of some funny comments.
posted by lazy-ville to Etiquette/Policy at 10:21 AM PST - 6 comments [closed]

Why me? Why multi-links?

Some snarky character here informed the world that my post had been scrubbed because it was only a single link. It was replaced by a bigger, multi-link version of the same story. I accuse him of scrubbing it but he denied it. How, though, did he know it had been replaced? But what I really want to know is why there is this new insistance on multi-link FPPs? When I first came to Metafilter I found it useful to have items that interested me pointed out and made available. That was great. I then did my own further research. Multi-link posts generally appear to be posted as a means of either making an argument for a particular pov or to publicize some topic or subject, with a lot of authorities sited much like footnotes. This is not, to my mind what this site used to be about.

As it happens if the intro interests me I want to go to the most relevant link, not plow through the poster's own research. But further, I am not a programmer or enough of a geek to even know how to do the html for all the secondary links, let along italics. My e-mail software makes URLs clickable and it seems that it ought to be simple enough to make URLs clickable in the windows for both comments and original posts. You- and I guess I am writing to Matt here - did try to do italics for a while, but they didn't work for my Mac and they have now disappeared. But really, has this become a place for people to show off theirs html cleverness or to pass along what might be interesting or valuable information? It is called a filter isn't it? What has that come to mean?
posted by donfactor to Etiquette/Policy at 10:13 AM PST - 26 comments

My girlfriend's sister is fake?

fake
posted by Pretty_Generic to Etiquette/Policy at 9:55 AM PST - 30 comments [closed]

Logouts

A little bug: I keep finding myself logged out against my will. A redesign glitch?
posted by jack_mo to Bugs at 8:16 AM PST - 8 comments

Text not exactly where it should be

AskMe bug: "Post a new question, Preferences, My Posts, and My Comments" seem to appear slightly below where they belong - the bottoms of the letters leave the hatched section and stick out into the lighter green section. This appears for main and comment pages in AskMe.
posted by By The Grace of God to Bugs at 6:05 AM PST - 8 comments

Archives link in Projects isn't working correctly.

The archives link within Projects seems not to work as expected. Apologies if this is known or expected.
posted by Rothko to Bugs at 12:28 AM PST - 4 comments [closed]

November 21

My AIM neighbor has an anonymous question pending with AskMe.

My AIM neighbor has an anonymous question pending with AskMe. How long does that take? If it gets kicked out for some reason, is questioner notified? He/she has asked me to ask this for the sake of his/her anonymity.
posted by snsranch to MetaFilter-Related at 7:06 PM PST - 12 comments

Projects Voting

In what order is the list of users who have voted for an individual post on the Projects site? It's not user number, it's not alphabetical, and it's not in the order of when users actually voted...
posted by Robot Johnny to MetaFilter-Related at 6:11 PM PST - 1 comment [closed]

New Layout Bugs

I found a few browser-specific bugs with the new layout, is anyone else experiencing these?

1) The main logo for MeTa,MeFi, AskMe and Projects works fine, except when you click on the comments for a particular post. Once you do this, my browser is telling me there's a broken image above the main logo, to the left. It appears there's a missing border or something that usually would fit nicely into place to make all the images play happily together. (I'm using the latest version of IE.)

2) In Safari on my crappy preferences-locked Mac at work, the default text color on Projects is yellow main links, white background, with my text set to (of course) white. I'm willing to accept this is just a stupid Safari bug I'll have to live with, I just wondered if anyone else was experiencing a similar problem.
posted by Happydaz to Bugs at 5:56 PM PST - 6 comments [closed]

I've tweaked things in the preferences pane

For the first time since signing up I've tweaked things in the preferences pane. The main font is now Arial 12 and the minor font is Helvetica 10. It's kinda changed the way I look at the site mentally as well as physically. It feels kinda odd, almost a non authentic interpretation of the site. Is that weird (yes!)?Anyone have any thoughts on their own settings and related perception of the site? (Hope this is in the right section, not quite an AskMe thing)...
posted by brautigan to MetaFilter-Related at 5:08 PM PST - 42 comments

Project Archives

I don't think the archives page on projects.metafilter.com is working...
posted by ph00dz to Bugs at 5:01 PM PST - 5 comments

Overriding Alt Keys

On Projects, when I press Alt+B, instead of getting my browser's Bookmarks menu as on almost every other site, I instead get About MeFi Projects. Personally, I would prefer it if web sites didn't override my existing keyboard shortcuts.
posted by grouse to Bugs at 3:42 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]

Seattle Meetup

Seattle Meetup anyone? I'm thinking Saturday, December 3, 8pm, at Sunset Bowl in Ballard. Rocketman may be here from Kansas, and I hope warbaby can come down and wow us again with his bowling skills.
posted by matildaben to MetaFilter Gatherings at 3:26 PM PST - 32 comments

navigation design requests

It'd be... nice... if the Preferences nav line was not bolded and the Home nav line was bolded. Also, no access keys?
posted by boo_radley to Bugs at 3:15 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]

a) Flash is mostly bad, and b) Browser resizing is bad?

Can we introduce a policy stating that it is a given and accepted fact that a) Flash is mostly bad, and b) Browser resizing is bad? [mi]
posted by uncle harold to Etiquette/Policy at 2:30 PM PST - 69 comments

Something seems different; did you get new glasses?

New blue layout? Is it perement?
posted by wheelieman to Bugs at 2:08 PM PST - 122 comments

Return to same spot upon refreshing thread?

Hard-to-describe, somewhat picayune, possibly impossible pony request: Is there any way to code the pages so that when I hit reload, it remembers my position in the thread? [mi]
posted by BackwardsCity to Feature Requests at 1:07 PM PST - 16 comments

Could the time left before I can another question be displayed?

Any chance there could be a bulleted add-on to the "Doh!" page that states you've posted an AskMeFi question within a week by telling me how much time left I have to wait until I can ask again? I could swear I only have seconds left, but there's no way to tell.
posted by vanoakenfold to Feature Requests at 11:01 AM PST - 22 comments

Small usability suggestion for the "MetaFilter comments by:" page

Small usability suggestion for the "MetaFilter comments by:" page (example).

When a user has made more than one comment in a thread, there are multiple "jump to the comment in this thread" links you can use to see them all. The weird thing is that they are storted top-to-bottom newest-to-oldest. Can you reverese sort these links, so that clicking the first link takes you to the first comment, and clicking the last link takes you to the last comment? This seems that it would more closely match the structure of the thread it's linking to.
posted by scarabic to Feature Requests at 10:43 AM PST - 16 comments

Question about Recent Comments

The My Recent Comments script seems to have a bug. [images & expl. inside]
posted by Gyan to Bugs at 10:19 AM PST - 4 comments

Mods can fix that for you....

Could we have a new category for MetaTalk for Oopsie! One day I swear I'll actually learn to type slowly enough to coordinate the output from my fingers with the output from my brain, or maybe just shut up, but in the meantime I've done something amazing even for me. In this thread, I mangled the anchor tag in my comment badly enough that I can't link to it here and refreshing the page will crash my browser. It's probably going to make messes for others, as well, or I'd just hide my red face in shame. Any friendly, helpful moderators looking for gratitude?
posted by dilettante to Bugs at 10:08 AM PST - 6 comments [closed]

NYC Meetup

At the last NYC meet-up, a number of us had mentioned getting together this Saturday for a post-whatthehelldoIhavetobethankfulfor meetup. Anyone interested in going to the Ding Dong Lounge this coming Friday or Saturday?
posted by Lola_G to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:45 AM PST - 20 comments

User questions double post policy

On duplicates, tags, and link quality... [more inside]
posted by knave to Etiquette/Policy at 8:44 AM PST - 20 comments

Chicago meet-up follow-up

Post meetup wrapup for Chicago: Thank you INTPLibrarian, felix betachat, me3dia and Slack-a-gogo for making the trip out to Southport Lanes for our little get-together [mas adentro].
posted by KevinSkomsvold to MetaFilter Gatherings at 7:24 AM PST - 12 comments

November 20

Spellchecking More Inside

Oops: The Spellchecker in AskMe apparently doesn't check the "more inside" section (and thus it is embarrassingly revealed that I know how to spell neither "precocity" nor "curiosities"). [MI]
posted by nobody to Bugs at 10:45 PM PST - 18 comments

multiple questions in one post

AskMe etiquette: multiple questions in one post, if they're all related (more inside)?
posted by aberrant to Etiquette/Policy at 11:24 AM PST - 18 comments

Is there a sequel to Jingle Bell Rock?

The holidays are here (more or less) and as Christmas music fills the air, I find myself reminded of last year's MeFi masterpiece... Jingle Bell Rock, vocalized by Pink Stainless Tail. It became a favorite of mine, my to the chagrin of all my friends, and I was wondering - nay, hoping - will we be similarly blessed this year? Does anyone hope to follow in his mighty footsteps?
posted by Miss Bitchy Pants to MetaFilter-Related at 8:31 AM PST - 45 comments

November 19

Don't copy the article, link to it

When y2karl quotes 4000 words of an article, it's really annoying. Just link to it. Thanks.
posted by The Jesse Helms to Etiquette/Policy at 9:03 PM PST - 25 comments [closed]

How do I make a good Metafilter post?

Dear Metafilter:
I would like to know EXACTLY what constitutes a good post. I am a long term reader, shorter-term member (coming up on a year) and just about every topic I've posted or proposed, every comment that I've made, whatever, has somehow not fit the "Metafilter" guidelines. Well, I've read the guidelines. I've read what I think good posts are and I am trying to emulate them. And yet every single time I post ANYTHING it is criticized for being too (fill in the blank).

My conclusion: this is a club. Club members posting whatever they want are OK. Nonclub members posting are (a) ripped to shreds for the WAY (not the content) they post; when they try to improve item (a) they are told that (b) the CONTENT is not appropriate.

However, if I found some stupid game where I can make George W. Bush flash Osama Bin Laden, well, THAT's worthwhile because THAT's most certainly "the best of the web".

Yes, I'm mad. The last straw has been laid on the camel's back and my ability to say "oh well" and "maybe next time" and "laugh it off" has now evaporated.

However, I guess it hasn't been completely smushed to oblivion because I am here, having once again read everything I'm supposed to, carefully followed suggestions given to me, tried to find something interesting that many don't often give thought to (and that I've been thinking about a lot lately), and am told that (SURPRISE!) my post was wrong in some way.

I should think I'm past the hazing period. However, it seems that the club is impenatrable. So let's lay it out here: WHAT IS A GOOD POST?

Please don't tell me to "take it personally." At this point, I AM FRICKIN' TAKING IT PERSONALLY.

(and thank you to other posters who have gone on to discuss my recent FPP in the vein in which it was meant.)
posted by MiHail to Etiquette/Policy at 8:48 PM PST - 96 comments [closed]

Adding Tags?

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I was wondering if readers would ever be able to add tags to a thread. The reason I am asking is that when I wanted to show the video linked at the top of this thread to a friend, I first looked here. When I did find what I was looking for soon after, it occured to me that if I could just add a video tag to the thread, it might help someone else. Again, I apologize for for whining about something that might already be a resolved issue - I don't frequent Metatalk much.
posted by jann to Feature Requests at 4:36 PM PST - 12 comments

Welcome to new users

I, for one, welcome our 30ker n00b overlords. Especially this one.
posted by Saucy Intruder to MetaFilter-Related at 3:06 PM PST - 121 comments

Preflag: frivolous

FeatureReqeustFilter: I think it would be cool if we gave users a way to 'pre-flag' their own comments as being frivolous. Other users would then be able to automatically filter out frivolous comments. So users (like me) who find comments like this totally hilarious would be able to see them, and users who wanted substantive discussion could also get that.
posted by delmoi to Feature Requests at 1:02 PM PST - 27 comments

November 18

RSS feature request

TinyPonyFilter: Add HTML LINK element to MetaTalk's HEAD content to benefit the RSS features in Mozilla.
posted by sjvilla79 to Feature Requests at 9:44 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]

Brooklyn meetup?

BrooklynFilter: Anyone interested in a meetup in west Brooklyn (Ft Greene / Clinton Hill / Boerum Hill / Prospect Heights / etc.)? Some of us feel excluded from the Manhattan meetups and want to rock the mefimeetup style. We're thinking Freddy's, Alibi (backyard bonus), Soda, etc... Nu? Any takers?
posted by pinto to MetaFilter Gatherings at 7:09 PM PST - 49 comments

Mefi Projects: I know it's beta but I'm still unable to vote.

Mefi Projects: I know it's beta but I'm still unable to vote. This makes me sad.
posted by panoptican to Bugs at 11:08 AM PST - 15 comments [closed]

MetaTalk RSS feed links point to MeFi not MeTa

The MetaTalk RSS feed is slightly misguided. Links point to MetaFilter threads of the same #, not the correct MeTa thread.
posted by yerfatma to Bugs at 10:13 AM PST - 1 comment [closed]

A gentle reminder on AskMe policy

I think some members lost sight of AskMe policy in this post. While mentioned in the thread, a gentle reminder seems appropriate.
posted by mic stand to Etiquette/Policy at 8:39 AM PST - 51 comments

Does the EFF count as a user's project?

Does this really count as a user's project? (And why doesn't MeFi Projects have flagging?)
posted by cillit bang to Etiquette/Policy at 8:20 AM PST - 34 comments

Sweeping generalizations = bad

Much as I love all kinds of inflammation... Single Link Opinion post or not, there's something to be said for not making sweeping derogatory generalizations about a type of person when your link is about one person. Following that up with snide remarks and sniping fellow MeFites who question the word choice? Always the way to go.
posted by shmegegge to Etiquette/Policy at 4:44 AM PST - 30 comments [closed]

November 17

Happy Anniversary, newbies.

Happy Anniversary, newbies. [more inside]
posted by soyjoy to MetaFilter-Related at 8:40 PM PST - 154 comments

baby steps

baby steps. I'm going to be redesigning things over a long period, one small chunk at a time. Up for feedback today: a new header for the sites. The goals were to make it shorter vertically, group items by activity, and to clean up things here and there. Please read along and leave some feedback [more inside]
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 2:18 PM PST - 213 comments

(via) format

I think the "(via)" cuteness is not as useful as "(via BoingBoing)", just to give a common example. Frequently, I'll think "is this the link I already saw, or another one on the same topic?" and having to actually mouseover to find out is just too strenuous.

Is it just me?
posted by Aknaton to Etiquette/Policy at 9:23 AM PST - 63 comments

Preview on the main page keeps wrecking my FPP

Preview on the main page keeps wrecking my FPP.
posted by penguin pie to Bugs at 7:54 AM PST - 23 comments

I thought it was decided that Unicode usernames were a bad thing

After the 김치 hubbub, I thought it was decided that Unicode usernames were a bad thing. So what about our new friend ND¢? What's the range of valid username characters? 0x0001 through 0x00FF?
posted by Plutor to Etiquette/Policy at 5:18 AM PST - 67 comments

politics subdomain

Not so much a feature-request as (I hope) a new twist on an old discussion. five_fresh_fish off-the-cuffed something in the "dhoyt" thread that got me thinking: What about poli.metafilter.com? It would address the problem that I think most people really have with "newsfilter", and it could be a way to leech off poisons from "the blue". (Hoping this doesn't derail into venom-swamp, and voting for purple...]
posted by lodurr to Feature Requests at 4:56 AM PST - 122 comments

"sort by" for AskMe

Could a "sort by" box be added to Ask MeFi, ideally by applying a bit of the existing MeFi code? In other words, a dropdown box that would allow me to sort the site by date, my posts, my comments, recent comments, and most comments?

I think it would be very useful, especially considering how many posts have been made on Ask MeFi lately. (I'm surprised this feature hasn't already been added, frankly.)
posted by insomnia_lj to Feature Requests at 3:18 AM PST - 2 comments

projects favicon please

OK, this is extremely petty..., but that's me in a nutshell. Can MeFi Projects be given a pretty favicon like Meta, AskMe, and MeFi? It's throwing off the Feng Shui of my bookmark bar.
posted by qwip to Feature Requests at 3:05 AM PST - 9 comments

November 16

Why was the candy bar question deleted?

So why was the AskMe thread "must I eat the whole candy bar" deleted?
posted by Rash to Etiquette/Policy at 10:17 PM PST - 19 comments [closed]

Lawrence, Kansas Metafilter meetup

Lawrence, Kansas Metafilter Meetup number two!
posted by interrobang to MetaFilter Gatherings at 7:25 PM PST - 43 comments

Time Zone Problem

Bug: The posts on the front page (www) all have my correct timezone. However, posts to Metatalk and Ask are all reported as PST. Can you please make them in terms of my configured timezone?
posted by about_time to Bugs at 6:34 PM PST - 7 comments

what's the best way to avoid a double?

I want to make an FPP (my first), but I want to make absolutely sure it isn't a double post. What is the best/most thorough way to check this? I have tried googling key terms but I get so many results that it would be impossible to search through.
posted by arcticwoman to Etiquette/Policy at 5:06 PM PST - 29 comments

Are silly threads allowed now?

Has there been a slight shift in policy?

The silly personality quiz and the infamous Mushroom post are both things I would have thought would have been flagged copiously and deleted, but they remain.
I am not having a hissy fit, and am perfectly willing to skip over or add to the stillness as I see fit.
This is just seeking some clarification as to if anything different is happening and can we expect more of the same.
posted by edgeways to Etiquette/Policy at 12:42 PM PST - 46 comments

LA meet-up reminder

Reminder: OMG LA MEETUP WOOOOOOOOOOOO

This Thursday the 17th starting around 7pm!
At Tom Bergin's on Fairfax about 1.5 blocks south of Wilshire!
There's drinks, potentially food, and a parking lot!
You can tell it will be exciting because of all the exclamation points!!!
posted by speicus to MetaFilter Gatherings at 12:07 PM PST - 19 comments

Is this a bad time to talk about puppets?

Etiquette Question. Maybe a bad time to post this? [MI]
posted by IronLizard to Etiquette/Policy at 11:12 AM PST - 26 comments [closed]

Pretty_Generic's comment now available on merchandise

Just in case anyone hadn't noticed, this thread led to this comment, which led, perhaps inevitably, to this store. Buy your shirts, mugs and stickers now, to support Pretty_Generic's best Infocom/Nixon crossover gag ever.
posted by Faint of Butt to MetaFilter-Related at 10:59 AM PST - 59 comments

Illustrated architecture book post

Quite some time ago there was a FPP about a book, written in either Italian or Latin, that was heavily illustrated with fanstatic architecture that often had an erotic element. I've done several searches of the archives, but have come up blank. Does anyone else remember the post, or am I imagining it? Thanks
posted by Quip to MetaFilter-Related at 10:02 AM PST - 6 comments

What makes a SLOE FPP BOTW?

Now that the SLOE FPP has been deemed acceptable, apparently, by the PTB, what makes a good one? What makes a bad one? What makes one mediocre? {Single-Link Op-Ed Front Page Post; Powers That Be}
posted by mischief to MetaFilter-Related at 9:31 AM PST - 29 comments

Village Voice piece about Metafilter is in this week's print edition

Whaddya know, I was right: The Village Voice piece about Metafilter is in this week's print edition.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero to MetaFilter-Related at 6:28 AM PST - 57 comments

November 15

crunchland has the most helpful user page

crunchland has the most helpful user page I've seen here. It's like the entire mefi wiki wrapped up in a single page. Thanks, crunchland.
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 7:52 PM PST - 40 comments

Scotland Meetup

Another Scottish Meetup ? Yes ? No ? Maybe ?
posted by sgt.serenity to MetaFilter Gatherings at 4:57 PM PST - 18 comments

Richmond Meetup

RVA MeFites?
posted by lalalana to MetaFilter Gatherings at 4:45 PM PST - 17 comments

Quote Pony

Quote pony? Whereby a user can quote another post without having to copy/paste and add italics. Gut feeling that if this was easy and feasible it would already exist, but you never know...
posted by fire&wings to Feature Requests at 3:52 PM PST - 33 comments

Dead Puppy Ads Are Gross

First Amendment issue? I have to say I've been really grossed out the last couple of days by the dead puppies picture in the ads on MeFi. I'm not for censorship---but similar to a NSFW notice, can't there be an icky picture warning that you can choose to click or not? I understand that is the point of the ad, to raise my ire (or bile) so I'll do something. But ewww.
posted by agatha_magatha to MetaFilter-Related at 1:21 PM PST - 48 comments

Connecticut Meetup

Calling all Nutmegger MeFites! [in the inside is the more]
posted by Dr. Wu to MetaFilter Gatherings at 12:20 PM PST - 38 comments

Seriously, though, metafilter should be better than this

Seriously, though, metafilter should be better than this
posted by yonation to Etiquette/Policy at 10:36 AM PST - 27 comments

Las Vegas Meetup

Vegas Meetup. It's been a while since we tried, so I figured it was time to give it another shot. [MI]
posted by mystyk to MetaFilter Gatherings at 10:29 AM PST - 7 comments

Multiple sockpuppets for one user

So, to recap, dhoyt was highsignal, hall of robots and jenleigh. [more within]
posted by y2karl to Etiquette/Policy at 10:11 AM PST - 702 comments

What happened to the redesign?

Whatever happened to the great redesign? Lack of time on the part of our great leader or did something go horribly wrong?
posted by twine42 to Feature Requests at 8:37 AM PST - 31 comments

Chicago Meetup

Chicago Meetup Redux: So far we've agreed on November 20th and I recommended Southport Lanes & Billiards... [More Inside]
posted by KevinSkomsvold to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:11 AM PST - 11 comments

November 14

One Line One Link Posts

When is a one-line FPP with no (or little) description appropriate for MeFi?

Oh really? Is that so? Well, is this a good example then [MI]?
posted by sjvilla79 to Etiquette/Policy at 6:35 PM PST - 42 comments

Jerk topper

Maybe I should be sufficiently inoculated to this by now, but it still amazes me. No matter how poorly someone's character is coming across or how unlikely someone's suggestion might be, someone else can come along with a reaction that is so condescending and snotty that they manage to make themselves look like an even bigger jerk than the person(s) they're reacting to.
posted by phearlez to Etiquette/Policy at 3:30 PM PST - 67 comments

I can't even see my own profile

I want to change my profile to include my email address. But I can't even see my own profile. I'm still painfully new to all of this. Please help.
posted by bilabial to MetaFilter-Related at 1:55 PM PST - 8 comments [closed]

Can I repeat my unanswered AskMe question?

A point of AskMe etiquette? I recently posted a question and got no useful response, and I suspect it's because I put the question badly. At this point, it's off the first page. Is it OK to repost the question in a more potentially useful way or should I just give up?
posted by Karmakaze to Etiquette/Policy at 1:24 PM PST - 17 comments

How can I share this BBC piece on blogging?

The BBC recently did a television news piece about blogging. I have recorded and encoded it. I'd like to post it to MetaFilter, but I'm worried this falls under "self-linking", since I would obviously have to host it myself. Does it count or not?
If it does, where else should I post it?
posted by Mwongozi to Etiquette/Policy at 12:39 PM PST - 17 comments

tag+tag browsing in Ask Metafilter is returning unhelpful results

tag+tag browsing in Ask Metafilter is returning unhelpful results. A blank result is returned even if I click on the + off a single tag's page. WinXP/FireFox/Metafilthy.
posted by Mitheral to Bugs at 11:32 AM PST - 7 comments [closed]

A requiem for Viewropa

A requiem for Viewropa. [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane to MetaFilter-Related at 8:54 AM PST - 22 comments

Moving to MetaTalk

Reading the thread about the eBay scam stuff, it made me want a new pony.

Wouldn't it be neat if when someone takes a post to MetaTalk (for whatever reason), that the original post be marked somehow (maybe similar to the "best answer" check-mark) to indicate that it had been brought to the other forum (by that I mean MetaTalk). This would make the whole MetaUniverse™ a more unified whole, more interconnected...

It'd also be entertaining for grouses like me who love to watch a trainwreck happen...
posted by jpburns to Feature Requests at 5:41 AM PST - 163 comments

A user seems to be comment spamming

What's cdgold's angle? Exhibits A B C.
posted by signal to Etiquette/Policy at 5:41 AM PST - 44 comments

Drunk Metafilter..ing?

Drunk Metafilter..ing?
posted by tozturk to Etiquette/Policy at 12:47 AM PST - 13 comments [closed]

November 13

Ability to view who flagged or added you as a favorite.

Personal Fantastic Post Viewer? [mi possibly available after a few minutes]
posted by onalark to Feature Requests at 11:28 PM PST - 6 comments

Jonson posts awesome links

ATTENTION METATALK WARRIORS. THIS MAY BE A SHOCK TO YOUR SYSTEM - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: Jonson. You have been consistently posting exceedingly fine links for quite some time now.
This thread is for you.
posted by loquacious to MetaFilter-Related at 11:14 PM PST - 33 comments

Maybe they didn't hear you the first time it was deleted

What do you do when you post condescending noise in an Axme and it gets deleted? Post it again in essentially the same form, of course. But wait! Don't forget to act indignant for maximum effect. [mi]
posted by Krrrlson to Etiquette/Policy at 7:36 PM PST - 190 comments [closed]

AskMe posting descriptions could be clearer

When posting to AskMe there is some confusion on the descriptions of the text boxes. I copied the italicized text from the "Preview Your Question" AskMe posting page.

Below the "Your question" box the text reads:
This will be the "more inside" area where you explain additional details about the question if necessary. If you use this space, don't write "more inside" to the question area, it will automatically be added for you.

Then below the "Extended explanation" box is something similar:
(optional) This will be the "more inside" area where you explain the question fully if necessary and remember there is no need to write "more inside" .....

I found this a little confusing and repetitive. I know that the top box is what would be a FPP, but maybe this could be phrased better? Is the text below the top box supposed to introduce/explain the second box? Of course, I posted a question so now I can't get back to the original "Post a new question" page to see if that is how this is written there.
posted by clgregor to Bugs at 6:50 PM PST - 2 comments [closed]

Yahoo Search Bug

Yahoo search isn't working properly, via the "Search Ask Metafilter" link. Clicking on a search result link goes directly to http://www.yahoo.com.
posted by hooray to Bugs at 5:51 PM PST - 2 comments [closed]

eBay scammer identified

can anyone clarify what's happening here? seems like some mefi detective work might either shed some light on things, or clear the poster's name; i'm not sure browbeating him with false dichotomies is working.
posted by andrew cooke to MetaFilter-Related at 4:59 PM PST - 64 comments

status.metafilter.com's RSS 2.0 and Atom

status.metafilter.com's RSS 2.0 and Atom. may cause problems for some users. [mi]
posted by sequential to Bugs at 12:45 PM PST - 5 comments

Bug in AskMe Archives

When I try to page through my AskMe archives by clicking "next," the same results start each page and some older ones are added to the end.
posted by callmejay to Bugs at 8:49 AM PST - 8 comments

Portland Meetup

How do you do, Portland? Area MeFites meet, drink beer, generate evidence.
posted by rebirtha to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:07 AM PST - 58 comments

How do I link to an earlier comment in a thread?

I am trying to post within a thread, with a link to an earlier comment within the same thread. I'm not sure how to do it. I can link to the thread but it then starts at the top of the thread, not at the part of the thread I want.
posted by MiHail to MetaFilter-Related at 7:41 AM PST - 12 comments

If we go around the firewalls, they will just be made taller

If it becomes custom to repost articles to get around firewalls, then metafilter will be eventually be blocked by those firewalls. I don't really have another solution but I think that it might be good to find one.
posted by rdr to Bugs at 5:47 AM PST - 19 comments

Posting recommendations.

I thought these were some great ideas from duck on how to turn a random interesting thought into a good FPP. (The now-infamous 'mushroom' FPP itself is discussed elsewhere)
posted by iffley to Etiquette/Policy at 5:02 AM PST - 10 comments

November 12

Is it just me, or does this no longer exist?

Is it just me, or does the thread that contained the link to the British doc about White Phosphorous and MK-77 being used in Iraq no longer exist?
posted by Chomskyfied to MetaFilter-Related at 10:02 PM PST - 6 comments

NYC meetup photos

when meetups go horribly, horribly wrong.
posted by dorian to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:33 PM PST - 229 comments

Yay Metafilter!

Why are the users of Metafilter so great? I'm serious. I lurk a lot and have for years, but I have yet to come across an online community that actually works other than this one. Is it the 5 dollar donation? The name? What? I love metafilter!
posted by mike_bling to MetaFilter-Related at 7:51 PM PST - 52 comments

Abanadoned questions on AskMe

Abanadoned questions on AskMe:
I think one of the purposes of AskMe is to provide an archive of solutions. Too often, even though the questions are answered by the community, the asker doesn't bother to report back, or forgets about the question. [more inside]
posted by Sharcho to Etiquette/Policy at 4:01 PM PST - 23 comments

She wouldn't know a portabello if it bit her in the bupkis

Just wouldn't want anyone to miss out on the mycological furor in aisle 46610.
posted by Count Ziggurat to Etiquette/Policy at 1:01 PM PST - 96 comments

Closed Threads

"This thread is over 30 days old, and has been closed for archival purposes." No, the thread life has been extended on all parts of MeFi, right? So the message needs changing?
posted by Tuwa to Bugs at 10:42 AM PST - 5 comments [closed]

Should incomplete questions be deleted?

Regarding ask metafitler similar to this one, where people don't give a fuller picture to their question/problem/situation: maybe they should be deleted? If a person isn't willing to be open about the things, why should metatime be spent on it?
posted by Brandon Blatcher to Etiquette/Policy at 5:14 AM PST - 42 comments

November 11

Reminder: New York City meetup

Reminder: NYC meetup, Saturday November 12th at 6 p.m. at Revival, 129 E 15th St. Read the previous discussion thread for a sneak peek at possible attendees. Look for us in the "couchy room" upstairs. I will be wearing a hot pink shawl as a beacon.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:11 PM PST - 14 comments

Why does a new window open when I flag posts?

Why does flagging a post or comment have to involve the opening of so many new windows?
posted by jack_mo to Bugs at 5:26 PM PST - 11 comments

MeFi in the Village Voice

Whoa, a big article about MeFi in the Village Voice.
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 4:43 PM PST - 71 comments

dA Double post callout

Forget the posting guidelines.
The flagging system empties straight into dev null.
Moderation is dead.
Anarchy prevails.
Yay!
posted by mischief to MetaFilter-Related at 4:06 PM PST - 26 comments

Indexing AskMe

For Ask.Mefi, please tell Google to only index the individual archive page for each question, rather than indexing the monthly archives, the tag index, etc.
posted by chunking express to Feature Requests at 8:42 AM PST - 7 comments

Askme followup: answers helped poster to quit smoking (using hypnosis).

AskMe Followup: [more inside, naturally]
posted by Jon-o to MetaFilter-Related at 7:16 AM PST - 35 comments

Time Zones

Posting to bugs, but not sure if there's something I'm missing - I can set my preferences to GMT or whatever the other abbreviation is, and this shows up on the MeFi front page but not on AskMeFi and MetaTalk. Am I missing something?
posted by altolinguistic to Bugs at 5:46 AM PST - 7 comments

November 10

Texas Meetup

Dallas Fort/worth meetup? I'll be in the area from the 23rd to the 26th. Anybody feel like getting together?
posted by delmoi to MetaFilter Gatherings at 7:03 PM PST - 11 comments

If you hate it so much, why are you here?

If you hate it so much, why are you here? (1, 2, 3, 4)
posted by Optimus Chyme to Etiquette/Policy at 12:04 PM PST - 297 comments

Error message while trying to comment.

When trying to post a comment from XP/IE7.0b I get an error message. [MI]
posted by yeoz to Bugs at 10:29 AM PST - 8 comments

Fix my Project!

Metafilter projects - very nice, but I made a mess up. I put the url link in the description and the description as the link - any chance someone could fix it for me? pretty pretty please? cheers!
posted by twistedonion to Bugs at 6:52 AM PST - 1 comment [closed]

Toronto meetup

So, is the Toronto meetup on Friday night still taking place as planned?
posted by greatgefilte to MetaFilter Gatherings at 5:53 AM PST - 20 comments

Problem Voting on Projects

Can't vote on Metafilter Projects. No matter which browser I try (Opera, Firefox, IE, Mozilla) I cannot vote on any of the MeFi Projects. I get the following message: There was an error recording your vote. I've done the cookie-clearing logout/login and still get the same error.

I realize the section is still in beta so it's not a huge deal. I just wanted to give a heads up since several other people are having the same problem.
posted by LeeJay to Bugs at 5:47 AM PST - 13 comments [closed]

Feeds per user pony!

If you thought sleepwalking was random enough, try... feeds per user!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane to MetaFilter-Related at 4:04 AM PST - 44 comments

November 9

Crazyness in firefox, odd redirects from askMe

Crazyness in firefox, odd redirects from askMe. [more inside]
posted by ozomatli to Bugs at 3:06 PM PST - 15 comments

Missing Search

Hey Matt, where did the search function go? Now all that is left is a Google search, but that doesn't pick up recent posts. I know you are working on some new search features, but could we have the old one back in the meantime, please?
posted by caddis to Feature Requests at 2:01 PM PST - 12 comments

Yeah, so how do you do the tiny text thing?

Yeah, so how do you do the tiny text thing? You know what I'm talking about. It seems it's not the "h6", "small", "tiny", "font size=""", or "li'l" tags...
posted by electric_counterpoint to Etiquette/Policy at 1:22 PM PST - 56 comments

Thanks for askme help tracking down family history in Vienna

I'm back from Vienna, where--thanks to the answers that came from this AskMe thread--I was able to visit the building where my mom lived as a little girl, as well as the location where my grandparents' grocery store likely once stood. I've posted some photos in the thread, for anybody who is interested. Thanks again to arco and his colleague at the USHMM.
posted by yankeefog to MetaFilter-Related at 4:39 AM PST - 13 comments

I'm calling myself out and then wandering away

My latest FPP might raise a few eyebrows and get called out here on MetaTalk. I just wanted to say here first therefore that I've left a trailing empty link at the post's conclusion on purpose. Yeah, I looked at the guidelines and I don't think this breaks the rules. And yes I have a legitimate reason for leaving the empty link, although I want to wait before disclosing what that is here on MetaTalk. I am doing this for the better of MeFi members however.
posted by sjvilla79 to MetaFilter-Related at 4:23 AM PST - 100 comments [closed]

November 8

Best cookie recipe?

I'm curious - what are the top 50? Nominees?
posted by jonson to MetaFilter-Related at 9:55 PM PST - 13 comments

Looking for an illustrator

MeFi Projects Filter: Would any mefite illustrator like to collaborate in the making of a childrens book or books? I currently write stories 3 or 4 times a week for kids. I'm also working on a program in which school kids write to me and I reply in the form of a "picture book" story. (This is specifically designed for ELL kids.)

I have other resources for illustration, but I would love to give the first shot to fellow mefites.
posted by snsranch to MetaFilter-Related at 8:45 PM PST - 10 comments

what's the policy for/function of an anon question?

what's the policy for/function of an anon question? i've been using metafilter for awhile, but have never used it. since isaw about seven anon questions in a row, i'm curious: how long do they usually get to take approved? as i understand it, they are hand-screened? so, is it a few days...a week? and, do they count towards your question of the week (they have to, it would be too easily abusable, i guess...just one of the sentences in the explanation seems to mean that).

sorry for the confusion -_- just one of those things i never quite got around to figuring out.
posted by Lockeownzj00 to Etiquette/Policy at 8:25 PM PST - 8 comments

Folks, how about an LA meetup?

I've been patiently waiting for someone to suggest an LA meetup since I moved here a couple months ago, but I guess if something's worth doing it's worth doing yourself. Thus:

Folks, how about an LA meetup?
posted by speicus to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:15 PM PST - 16 comments

I've got the basics of MeFi Projects working now

I've got the basics of MeFi Projects working now. You can announce your new project site and get votes from other members with it. I still need to fix some CSS display bugs, get the archives going, add tags for projects, do a RSS feed, and do a login/logout line, but it basically works.

I'm really giving away a video iPod to the coolest project launched in the next month, and you only get one post under consideration before next month, so make it count (so don't just blow it on a test post, we already have one of those).

The about page explains the rationale behind the site, how it works, and the contest bit. I'll link it from the other sites later this week when I fix all the bugs that are certain to crop up in the next couple days.
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter-Related at 5:13 PM PST - 129 comments

Chicago meetup Nov. 2005

Dear Chicago-

How have you been? I've missed you and hope you've been well. Want to get a beer sometime and catch up?

Yours,
posted by felix betachat to MetaFilter Gatherings at 11:51 AM PST - 23 comments

NYC Meetup?

NYC Meetup?

I know there was one recently but maybe you would be up for helping a girl out? The thing is...I am lonely. I moved here in July. I've gone out. Explored. Museumed. Ate. Shopped. Drank. Ate. Drank. Ate. Almost been killed on the subway about half a dozen times. Explored some more. Seen lots and lots of rats and even more rodents.

The thing is...I love the city but I am just miserable and heading into these winter months makes it even more dreadful. So, anyone up for a drink and some decent conversation?
posted by Lola_G to MetaFilter Gatherings at 10:47 AM PST - 97 comments

Bug in sidebar dates

It's a small bug but when you view the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago links in the sidebar, you get and around the date in the .</cfoutput></cfoutput>
posted by bouncebounce to Bugs at 2:01 AM PST - 10 comments [closed]

November 7

What the hell?

What the hell?
posted by loquacious to Etiquette/Policy at 6:26 PM PST - 10 comments [closed]

Way to email other users?

Would it be appropriate it use askmefi as a way of finding other people who have knowledge about a specific topic and would be willing to share it via e-mail? If not, is there another forum with this purpose?

For example, would it be appropriate to post the following (note that I'd be most interested in the last sentence:
I am interested in learning more about X-- specifically, I am wondering if XYZ. Anyone out there care to share insight specific to my question about XYZ? Know of good leads to learn more about X and XYZ? Anyone one up for a more in-depth e-mail correspondence regarding you experience and opinions?
posted by lalalana to Etiquette/Policy at 4:58 PM PST - 8 comments

Looking for an old post about live sound equipment

I'm trying to find a thread (either in AskMe or Meta) that mentioned a piece of live sound equipment. The person who mentioned it, raved about it as I recall and now I can't find the thread. It was a rack-mount unit that was an audio enhancement tool for live sound situations. Anyone remember this? It's making me nuts!
posted by KevinSkomsvold to MetaFilter-Related at 1:02 PM PST - 16 comments

What's this about?

What's this about?
posted by jenovus to Etiquette/Policy at 9:41 AM PST - 71 comments

How long are AskMe questions open?

AskMe questions still open for comments months after they were posted:

I thought that they were locked for archival purposes after 30 days? If this has changed, I didn't see where, and if this hasn't, it's a bug. I was perusing threads on Bipolar Disorder, and found this one from May, 2005: Is bipolar mis/overdiagnosed?. I was able to post a comment to the thread today, November 6th, 2005.

So, whatup?
posted by spinifex23 to Bugs at 12:09 AM PST - 4 comments [closed]

November 6

AskMe for free graphic design?

AskMe for free graphic design? It's a good cause, but it's still a solicitation; I get plenty of those through other channels, don't really think they belong here too.
posted by ikkyu2 to Etiquette/Policy at 9:46 PM PST - 133 comments [closed]

Why is my question broken?

Why does my question on ask.metafilter not work anymore? I want to get to the answers, but it appears that the question is broken. (Or is it only broken for me?) Here's the link:

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/26722
posted by crapples to Bugs at 9:06 PM PST - 8 comments

Book Versus Book!

jonmc has inspired me. in thread a while back, he recommended i read a book as a sort of "this is what i think about what we disagree about" retort. i have been thinking about it, and i do intend to get the book (from the library), but only on the condition that he do likewise for me. and then i thought, maybe i could invite some of our more famous meta-adversaries to participate in something like... a sort of tit-for-tat book exchange in the spirit of understanding each others' points of view.
posted by RedEmma to MetaFilter-Related at 12:51 PM PST - 49 comments

HTML error due to user error

Using Firefox everything below this post is a smaller font size.
posted by nile_red to Bugs at 10:34 AM PST - 8 comments [closed]

One user's great post is another user's meh....

I really don't care to see a FPP about what you vaguely remember your friend told you today. The Wikipedia links don't help, thanks.
posted by rxrfrx to Etiquette/Policy at 4:24 AM PST - 28 comments

November 5

Can everyone say "I'm the best"?

Policy Question: I am not trying to call anyone out at all, (really!), but is it considered OK to mark you own answer in AskMe as the "best" ?
posted by crazyray to Etiquette/Policy at 9:11 PM PST - 11 comments

Personal Vendetta Filter

Personal Vendetta Filter: dhoyt links to a comment amberglow made yesterday on Metachat. In doing so, dhoyt continues to insist on taking shots at members on his shit list in threads where they have made no comment whatsoever. This penchant for personal attacks is getting sick. All too often, he uses this place as a sort of personal emotional toxic waste dump where he can vent some jealousy, spite and malice at whoever is on his shit list du jour. This particular time his little chickenshit cheapshot was just a little too obsessive-compulsive over-the-top.
posted by y2karl to Etiquette/Policy at 6:25 PM PST - 73 comments [closed]

The web site you are accessing has experienced an unexpected error.

The web site you are accessing has experienced an unexpected error.
Please contact the website administrator.

The following information is meant for the website developer for debugging purposes.
Error Occurred While Processing Request
The request has exceeded the allowable time limit Tag: CFQUERY

And consider yourself contacted (heh). It worked the second time - my comment posted. I'll provide my "remote address" if necessary. And, please delete this post if it was unnecessary.

My first MeTa post! *giggles like a schoolgirl*
posted by deborah to Bugs at 2:27 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]

Leave the Turd World countries out of this...

Overkill is a bitch.
posted by Captaintripps to Etiquette/Policy at 1:50 PM PST - 57 comments

Please don't post spoilers.

PLEASE don't be a spoilsport! I can't understand why people gleefully post spoilers. In the thread linked below (read it if you want some movies spoiled), one poster proclaimed "15 years is well past the spoiler expiration date." Maybe this is a joke (i.e. Milk Carton expiration date), but if not I totally disagree. A young person might see an old movie for the first time. He deserves to see it unspoiled. [link] [more inside]
posted by grumblebee to Etiquette/Policy at 6:56 AM PST - 69 comments

November 4

Alberta Meetup

Calgary/Southern Alberta Meet-up? I'm willing to drive up (and/or carpool) to Calgary to do an Alberta Meet-up in the next few weeks. Anyone else interested in doing this? I'm thinking November 25 or December 2nd at a yet unnamed pub.
posted by Quartermass to MetaFilter Gatherings at 9:34 PM PST - 14 comments

Meta RSS please

Strangely, I enjoy reading MeTa far more than MeFi and AskMe. It saddens me that there isn't an RSS feed. I've searched the archives and found this and this, neither of which provide any real reasons why there isn't a feed in existence. Any chance that we can get one?
posted by panoptican to Feature Requests at 4:49 PM PST - 24 comments

The missing link

From the very "Post a new thread" link hovering above these very words:

Note: if posting about general weblog-related items, please post to Blogroots.com instead.

The linkey, she needs to go the way of BlogRoots.
posted by Ogre Lawless to Bugs at 3:04 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]

Why was this AskMe deleted?

Just wondering why askmefi thread 26643 was deleted. (As you've grown older what sort of changes have you seen in your face?)

I bookmarked the question and never got round to reading it, and now it's gone.

I can normally understand why a question doesn't fit askmefi, but this one I don't get. So please satisfy my curiosity - why was it deleted?
posted by suleikacasilda to Etiquette/Policy at 2:36 PM PST - 36 comments

SWF linking etiquette

A question of netiquette: (I know, I know, horrible word)

Re: this - isn't it rude to link directly to a any .swf when its creator has obviously created a page in which s/he intends for said work to be experienced?
posted by MaxVonCretin to Etiquette/Policy at 1:45 PM PST - 20 comments

discussion not as expected; how to improve?

I'm kind of dissapointed with the way things turned out in a post I made to Metafilter yesterday. I was hoping to discuss how many of the leaders of the fat acceptance movement are feeders and the consequences this might have in terms of it's future progress. Oh and I also wanted to discuss the new slate piece I linked to. But of 140+ comments, very few seem to even reference the links I made. Most just gave their opinion on fat people . I read all of the comments, and the general consensus seems to be that topics regarding obesity cannot be discussed sensibly at Metafilter. What should I do in the future to make a better FPP and what other topics should I wholly avoid?
posted by skjønn to Etiquette/Policy at 12:59 PM PST - 73 comments

I don't get it

Just so I, as a relatively new user, can understand: how exactly is this not a self-link, but my question was? (No hard feelings - I really would like to know.)
posted by ToasT to Etiquette/Policy at 11:56 AM PST - 17 comments

Craniac is spamming

Craniac seems to be spamming conversations with random posts pushing the metafilteruser tag on Flickr:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)
posted by anastasiav to Etiquette/Policy at 5:10 AM PST - 63 comments

Matt, can you ban this guy?

Matt, can you ban this guy? Or at least tell him to knock it off? He has posted the same lame in-joke over and over sixteen times. Annoying.
posted by dydecker to Etiquette/Policy at 3:40 AM PST - 93 comments

November 3

Hope us. Hope us all.

Hope us. Hope us all.
posted by Krrrlson to Etiquette/Policy at 9:10 PM PST - 57 comments

Five dollars to post comments?!?

Five dollars to post comments?!? "Bugger that for a pound of tomatoes."
posted by jaronson to Etiquette/Policy at 8:47 PM PST - 21 comments

what warrants a rude response like this?

Newbie etiquette question: I thought this was a pretty cool post about a topic on which I was I poorly informed [Cyprus, Varosha]. For future reference, what about a post like that warrants a response like this? Is there a backstory? Why so personal?
posted by highsignal to Etiquette/Policy at 6:10 PM PST - 168 comments

Thanks to every person who's contributed their personal story on AskMe...

On any given week there's someone pissing about the degeneration of quality or civility on MetaFilter/the Internet/the World. As far as I'm concerned if there's one post like this for every 10,000 assclown postings I will still consider there to be more signal than noise. Thanks to you, paulsc, and every other person who's contributed their personal story on AskMe and made my life richer in doing so. There have been many.
posted by phearlez to MetaFilter-Related at 2:43 PM PST - 22 comments

MeFi Swap is ON

- T (minus) 1 week -

As per This thread: cmonkey reactivated his MeFi Swap site.

This is a friendly reminder that the registration closes in 1 week, thus if you have been putting it off, or missed the first thread, now is the time for action.
posted by edgeways to MetaFilter Music at 9:07 AM PST - 47 comments

AskMe Archives

Is there a way to view the AskMe category archives beyond a month?
posted by o2b to MetaFilter-Related at 8:58 AM PST - 2 comments [closed]

Portland Meetup

The last Portland, Oregon MetaFilter meet up was in May. If any Stumptown residents would like to float a time and place to have another, I'd like to put some faces to the local names. (mi)
posted by rebirtha to MetaFilter Gatherings at 6:44 AM PST - 85 comments

Columbus (OH) meetup, with turducken?

Columbus (OH) meetup, with turducken? If we could meet at the home of someone with a kitchen and a sense of culinary adventure, I could spring for the food and the beer (within reason; I have a job but I'm not independently wealthy).
posted by alumshubby to MetaFilter Gatherings at 4:40 AM PST - 8 comments

November 2

Is that +1 geeky or -1 geeky?

People leave comments such as "+1 funny" or "-1 section". Given that this ranking system doesn't exist on MeFi, is it a wank, showing how l33t they are, and familiar with geeky norms at other sites like /. and k5? Or is it an acceptable shorthand for "I like this" or "I think this is dumb"?
posted by wilful to Etiquette/Policy at 9:41 PM PST - 104 comments

comment box doesn't appear only for this thread

I think I broke it because the comment box doesn't appear only for this thead.
posted by holloway to Bugs at 2:41 PM PST - 34 comments

November 1

Homework helperfilter?

I flagged this post as breaking the AskMetafilter guidelines. If I remember correctly similar posts about asking for help on a school paper were deleted. If the consensus that posts asking for research on school papers perhaps is not a good thing, perhaps something can be added on the posting screen so users are aware of it before they post.
posted by geoff. to Etiquette/Policy at 7:58 PM PST - 80 comments

No Comments: please comment

It's possible that MetaFilter has reached the tipping point with comments. There hasn't been a 0 comments for 6 months now (although I have come perilously close). [more inside]
posted by tellurian to MetaFilter-Related at 3:23 PM PST - 84 comments

Document contains no data

"Document contains no data". I know this has been mentioned recently but I couldn't find the link. It's happening pretty frequently. Is is just me? Should I just shut up and be patient?
posted by snsranch to Bugs at 3:17 PM PST - 4 comments [closed]

I recently posted my 100th FPP in the blue.

I recently posted my 100th FPP in the blue. (But didn't even notice at the time!) Now this probably isn't much compared to some others, but I've been using MeFi for what seems like forever, so I just thought I'd take a moment to say thanks to Matt and the other admin guys, and to everyone else who makes MeFi a great place - since it isn't often we get positive posts in the grey.
Thanks, MeFi!
posted by Mwongozi to MetaFilter-Related at 1:50 PM PST - 48 comments

Notification of new comments in AskMe?

Now that AskMe thread expiry dates have been extended (finally!), can we get a feature that tells us when new comments have been posted? Right now it just says 'go to the category view for this result' or something.
On a similar note, when I click on 'Work and Money', i only get results for the past month... what up with that?
posted by GleepGlop to Feature Requests at 1:32 PM PST - 3 comments

I think that metafilter users should post their pictures to flickr using the tag "metafilter_user"

I think that metafilter users should post their pictures to flickr using the tag "metafilter_user". That is all.
posted by craniac to MetaFilter-Related at 9:52 AM PST - 116 comments

ANN ARBOR/YPSI/SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN MEETUP!!!!11one!

ANN ARBOR/YPSI/SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN MEETUP!!!!11one!

Everyone seems up for meeting at Dalat, then going to a bar.
Which is good.
While I previously proposed Friday, a friend is having a birthday party and much as he's a cool, social guy, it's doubtful that he'll want to come to a meet-up.
Which is bad.
I'd like to reschedule for Saturday, which would be good.
I'm not sure how many of you would otherwise be at the Digable Planets show, which would be bad.
There will be free Frogurt, which is good. But it's cursed, which is bad.
posted by klangklangston to MetaFilter Gatherings at 8:28 AM PST - 28 comments

Why should the rest of MetaFilter care about a train delay here?

I'm from New York and I don't give a shit. Why should the rest of MetaFilter care about a train delay here?
posted by Captaintripps to MetaFilter-Related at 7:58 AM PST - 79 comments