March 2012 Archives (all archives)

March 31

Can we 3D print that in Steampunk?

There seems to be a little, well, very dry churlishness towards BoingBoing on Metafilter. Is there a paricular reason why, or is it one of those ironic in-jokes that I am failing to pick up on? Any enlightenment is appreciated.
posted by roboton666 to MetaFilter-Related at 9:43 PM PST - 280 comments

April Frist!

It's only 10pm here in Albuquerque, but it's April 1st somewhere, so I'm giving everyone randomized (staff) tags in MetaTalk! Happy April!
posted by filthy light thief to MetaFilter-Related at 9:12 PM PST - 2030 comments

Off the rails

So what happens when the entire discussion in a FPP is a derail?
posted by dmd to Etiquette/Policy at 12:58 PM PST - 157 comments

determining doomed and deleted discussion dates

My temporal ocd wonders why deleted posts show up as being from the previous day, significantly confusing my time/date continuum meter. Examples: this and this
posted by HuronBob to Bugs at 8:05 AM PST - 28 comments

March 30

Bewildered

So I posted a comment in this thread that was deleted. Poor me, too bad, so sad. [more inside]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken to Etiquette/Policy at 6:40 AM PST - 152 comments

March 29

Unflag/Reflag

Any chance we could have the ability to unflag/reflag a post or comment? [more inside]
posted by These Birds of a Feather to Feature Requests at 12:30 PM PST - 40 comments

You say you want a resolution, well...

Having the "AskMe Tick" go up upon resolution rather than Best Answer? [more inside]
posted by solarion to Feature Requests at 6:06 AM PST - 51 comments

Years on Popular Favorites

Tiny pony: I noticed that the classic What single book is the best introduction to your field AskMe from 2007 has been rediscovered and is showing up in the Popular Favorites list, but without a year associated with its date. Can threads older than a year in that list show a full date so it's easier to see when posts are redescovered?
posted by gwint to Feature Requests at 5:03 AM PST - 24 comments

March 28

Pony Request

Would it be possible to view the "Related Posts" section (that shows up at the bottom of pages on the Blue and Green,) when we preview our posts? Is it a bandwidth-intensive operation? [more inside]
posted by zarq to Feature Requests at 1:38 PM PST - 25 comments

March 27

Help me find a comment about an American in an Australian hospital?

Please help me find a comment about an American who ended up in the hospital in Australia, and burst into tears when he/she realized that it would not cost them anything. [more inside]
posted by tzikeh to MetaFilter-Related at 6:24 PM PST - 324 comments

Resume / cover letter review group

This might not be what meta talk is for, but is there a metafilter resume / cover letter review group? [more inside]
posted by satori_movement to MetaFilter-Related at 12:59 PM PST - 34 comments

confused about how to successfully ask anonymously

If asked anonymously and waited for more than 4 days, and your question does not show up, does that mean your question was rejected? or it means you need to wait even longer. There got to be some response to it so you can decide on what to do next (rephrase your question, ask again using userid, or rephrase question, ask anonymously again hoping to get it pass through the second time). Please explain the policy to me.
posted by akomom to Etiquette/Policy at 12:40 PM PST - 63 comments

Duplicate posts on Ask Metafilter?

Sometimes I see posts that are very similar on Ask Metafilter. That got me wondering: is there anything done about duplicate posts over there? [more inside]
posted by Elly Vortex to Etiquette/Policy at 10:09 AM PST - 41 comments

reopen classic ask posts?

How about Ask classic, reopening a question or two a day to updated answers? [more inside]
posted by bystander to Feature Requests at 6:16 AM PST - 35 comments

March 26

Flagged as appreciative

Whether it's by happenstance or by design, the increasing sidebarring of fantastic posts is greatly appreciated. [more inside]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders to Etiquette/Policy at 8:44 PM PST - 37 comments

Hey! What happened to that post I was about to comment on?

I was about to comment on a post earlier tonight about the state of the mental health care system in Louisiana, and before I could comment, the post was deleted. It seemed like a decent enough post with a number of links and I thought it probably would've engendered a good discussion. It disappeared so quickly, I couldn't even catch the reason it was deleted. [more inside]
posted by dave78981 to MetaFilter-Related at 7:39 PM PST - 45 comments

Why is my cat doing $weirdthing?

Ask Metafilter is becoming less useful as the site grows.

As the site has grown in popularity and more people join just to ask questions, the ratio between people who are knowlegeable and people who ask questions has fallen. This means that the questions on AskMe are coming in so thick and heavy that questions are buried before they can get answered properly. [more inside]
posted by dunkadunc to Etiquette/Policy at 4:44 PM PST - 130 comments

Topical Topics

Editorial handling of longitudinal and/or multi-faceted topic posts. [more inside]
posted by j03 to MetaFilter-Related at 2:50 AM PST - 60 comments

March 24

Trying to find a question on askmefi.

What was that post on askmefi about a woman (I think) having recently ended another long-term relationship in a string of relationships and feeling very apathetic about breaking up, splitting up belongings, moving out, etc.? I accidentally removed it from my favorites, and I can't find it again for the life of me. Thanks!
posted by shipsthatburn to MetaFilter-Related at 9:04 PM PST - 1 comment [closed]

Have you ever favorited yourself?

Have you ever favorited yourself, i.e. a comment or a post? Why did you do it, and what happened? Something makes me feel it is a no-no, but just curious.
posted by polymodus to Etiquette/Policy at 3:25 PM PST - 144 comments

March 23

Are you on GetGlue

How many other MeFites are on GetGlue? [more inside]
posted by reenum to MetaFilter-Related at 5:22 PM PST - 24 comments

Where does MetaFilter rank among your creative outlets?

Where does MetaFilter rank among your creative outlets? [more inside]
posted by Trurl to MetaFilter-Related at 3:35 PM PST - 86 comments

Get over yourself, gimp.

Hotbutton issue (isn't everything?), but this is not an OK comment. Surprise inside. [more inside]
posted by TomMelee to Etiquette/Policy at 3:02 PM PST - 223 comments

Post/Preview buttons

The new css Post/Preview buttons buttons added last year don't have any :active styling. [more inside]
posted by Lanark to Bugs at 11:27 AM PST - 7 comments [closed]

Cicle, Block, Block, Is that a tree?

This line noise post is spreading. Can we please not post gibberish in unrelated threads.
posted by Mitheral to Etiquette/Policy at 8:59 AM PST - 92 comments

March 22

what's the deal?

I'm uncomfortable with this deletion, the post seems fairly "just the facts", albeit with one grammar meh, the comments were good thus far, etc.
posted by jeffburdges to MetaFilter-Related at 6:02 PM PST - 121 comments

First Metafilter BDSM Symposium

In the interest of improving the quality of discourse in BDSM/kink-related threads on the Blue, may we talk about some common misconceptions about BDSM? Perhaps if some MeFite kinksters/allies are willing, we can do some Q&A about BDSM, kink, and "the scene". [more inside]
posted by Scientist to MetaFilter-Related at 2:22 PM PST - 216 comments

Apologies for the apologies...

This is just to say / the best deletion reason / I have ever read / was in this post / forgive me / for posting it / it was fantastic / cortex / have my manbabies
posted by WinnipegDragon to MetaFilter-Related at 10:44 AM PST - 96 comments

March 21

Thanks to the community for the amazing commentary and analysis

Thanks to the community for the amazing commentary and analysis in this thread about employers asking for Facebook passwords. [more inside]
posted by rollbiz to MetaFilter-Related at 8:24 PM PST - 24 comments

BlueBeetle FTW

Zittrain shows Blue Beetle love! [more inside]
posted by k8t to MetaFilter-Related at 4:17 PM PST - 24 comments

Do Zombies Poop? MetaFilter Knows

prinado and The White Hat get named as experts in a Grantland.com article, "Do Zombies Poop? An Investigation."
posted by Cool Papa Bell to MetaFilter-Related at 3:55 PM PST - 67 comments

March 20

Wild guesses do not fix cars.

Automotive questions generally, but specifically those that mention a Check Engine Light, repeatedly get flooded with well-meaning but ultimately pointless (and often directly unhelpful) anecdata about their own check engine light experience in their own (similar or completely different) cars. It is in the best interests of Askme if that kind of thing just stopped. [more inside]
posted by Brockles to Etiquette/Policy at 6:28 AM PST - 222 comments

Matt Matters to Matter and Matter Matters to Matt

Unexpected Matt Haughey sighting and Metafilter mention in the "Matter" Kickstarter video (~2:27) [more inside]
posted by Defenestrator to MetaFilter-Related at 1:14 AM PST - 15 comments

March 19

Such a thing as too many?

How many AskMe posts about the same issue are too many? [more inside]
posted by insectosaurus to Etiquette/Policy at 9:36 PM PST - 51 comments

Under the radar Blockbusters?

I guess I’m unclear on what’s an appropriate post. I find the summer blockbuster movie links to be weird, but wasn’t going to mention it, but then there’s the whole discussion about an article being to mainstream because it appears on CNN.com. [more inside]
posted by bongo_x to Etiquette/Policy at 1:52 PM PST - 76 comments

What is good deleted post etiquette?

As a follow up question to this MeTa, isn't it kind of bad form for another user to re-post a deleted FPP before the original poster has a chance to revise and, uh, re-post? [more inside]
posted by apricot to Etiquette/Policy at 10:50 AM PST - 28 comments

How Stuff Works: MeFi Spam

How's the bad mojo work in this deleted post? [more inside]
posted by griphus to MetaFilter-Related at 9:46 AM PST - 45 comments

If I can do it, so can you

Matt Haughey: Lessons From* A 40-Year Old "taking a longer term view of your work and focusing on life/work balance and having a happy life as well as a fulfilling career." One big reason why MetaFilter is my favorite place on the Web. [more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop to MetaFilter-Related at 9:15 AM PST - 27 comments

Best of the Web (except cnn.com?)

When did "you can find this on your own" because a reason to delete an FPP? [more inside]
posted by drlith to Etiquette/Policy at 4:44 AM PST - 104 comments

March 18

The MeFi Register, Poster and Paper

Kim Witten, AKA MeFi's own iamkimiam had asked us last month to help her collect some meta MeTa Data data. She just won the HRC Poster Competition with her poster How do you pronounce "MeFi"?
posted by bru to MetaFilter-Related at 6:28 AM PST - 111 comments

Captain Zyrain wants YOU!

Anyone interested in a Metafilter game of TradeWars 2002? [more inside]
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike to MetaFilter-Related at 6:02 AM PST - 83 comments

March 17

Looking for two fairly recent animated short vids.

I've looked but not found a couple of fairly recently (6 months max I think) linked animated videos, the 1st featuring a chase scene, the person being chased is on a motorcycle, ends up the bike smacking into parked cop cars; the 2nd vid shows real world city being taken over by 8bit animation, which starts by coming out of a tv (if I recall correctly.) [more inside]
posted by dancestoblue to MetaFilter-Related at 8:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Anyone for fantasy baseball?

I'm eager to give this 'fantasy baseball' thing a go, but I'm a complete n00b. Anyone here want to start/join a novice league? [more inside]
posted by macdara to MetaFilter-Related at 3:02 PM PST - 17 comments

Meatbomb does an AMA on Reddit

Meatbomb does an AMA on reddit, about his 20 years teaching English as a Foreign Language. [more inside]
posted by StickyCarpet to MetaFilter-Related at 10:34 AM PST - 65 comments

March 16

BTW: I am a cat

Geneva Uswazi's profile made me crack up.
posted by The Whelk to MetaFilter-Related at 7:32 PM PST - 81 comments

msalt to battle for title of world's best palindromist

Portland's Mark Saltveit MetaFilter's msalt to battle for title of world's best palindromist
posted by turbodog to MetaFilter-Related at 3:04 PM PST - 75 comments

Mike Daisey's truthy issues

How is this deleted post any different from the current, non-deleted post on the subject?
posted by ghastlyfop to MetaFilter-Related at 1:19 PM PST - 26 comments

Dharun Ravi just rolled snake eyes.

Update on the Dharun Ravi / Tyler Clementi case: he has been found guilty on all counts.
posted by Sticherbeast to MetaFilter-Related at 12:06 PM PST - 1 comment [closed]

Fact-checking comments

Fact-checking comments in "I have difficult news."
posted by Avenger50 to Etiquette/Policy at 11:38 AM PST - 211 comments

Lil Tetrax is now Lix Tetrax

There's a (new) demonologist amongst us. demonicpedia joined the discussion of his site and other collections of information on demons.
posted by filthy light thief to MetaFilter-Related at 10:33 AM PST - 12 comments

Can we increase the amount of space allowed for specifying our "favorite tags" for controlling what is shown in My AskMefi and My Mefi?

Can we increase the amount of space allowed for specifying our "favorite tags" for controlling what is shown in My AskMefi and My Mefi? [more inside]
posted by philipy to Feature Requests at 9:55 AM PST - 10 comments

March 15

High-res apple-touch-icon

I would love a small, high-resolution pony: could we get a retina-resolution version of Metafilter's apple-touch-icon that's used on the iPhone/iPad home screen? [more inside]
posted by duien to Feature Requests at 3:40 PM PST - 31 comments

It's a Favorites-Off

I made Griphus and Greg Nog race to 30,000 faves. And the winner is... [more inside]
posted by functionequalsform to MetaFilter-Related at 2:00 PM PST - 195 comments

shuffling the hive mind

Idea: MetaStrategies Card Deck [more inside]
posted by Doleful Creature to MetaFilter-Related at 1:41 PM PST - 51 comments

I, too, would like a chance to have my work be rejected by MefiMag

What's the deal with MefiMag? [more inside]
posted by showbiz_liz to MetaFilter-Related at 8:16 AM PST - 55 comments

YAPAMNTDS

YAPAMNTDS (Yet Another Post Asking MeFites Not To Do Something) [more inside]
posted by theichibun to MetaFilter-Related at 7:09 AM PST - 94 comments

Mythbuster museum exhibit takes off

Still not convinced about that plane on a conveyor belt thing? (See also here here and here.) Well, now you can try it for yourself at the new Mythbusters exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.
posted by hydrophonic to MetaFilter-Related at 6:55 AM PST - 50 comments

March 14

Anyone taking any of the free Stanford classes?

The next round of free Stanford classes have been starting up at Coursera. Is anyone taking any of them? How is it going for you? Anybody want to start a mefi study group?
posted by empath to MetaFilter-Related at 2:11 PM PST - 38 comments

New directive: we don't do "tl;dr" here anymore.

New directive: we don't do "tl;dr" here anymore. [more inside]
posted by Meatbomb to Etiquette/Policy at 4:04 AM PST - 275 comments

March 13

Disabled Contacts

7 people just removed me from their contact list! From beyond the MeFi grave! [more inside]
posted by carsonb to MetaFilter-Related at 6:37 PM PST - 82 comments

what is this?

does anybody know what on earth this website is for? [more inside]
posted by Tarumba to MetaFilter-Related at 5:40 PM PST - 31 comments

Ik who?

Whatever happened to ikkyu2? [more inside]
posted by lalochezia to MetaFilter-Related at 12:00 PM PST - 19 comments [closed]

March Metafilter Madness

Metafilter NCAA basketball Pick'Em! [more inside]
posted by box to MetaFilter-Related at 9:52 AM PST - 79 comments

Meet

I am going to be in Juneau for a week on April 2nd. Any MeFites interested in a meet up?
posted by Belle O'Cosity to MetaFilter-Related at 12:11 AM PST - 1 comment [closed]

March 12

Trackback pony?

Any way we can be notified about people linking to our posts/comments? [more inside]
posted by valkyryn to Feature Requests at 8:39 PM PST - 31 comments

March 11

Who me?

Please make profile pictures bigger when clicked. [more inside]
posted by cjorgensen to Feature Requests at 11:23 PM PST - 115 comments

Distant voices?

Who is the mefite furthest from other mefites? [more inside]
posted by unSane to MetaFilter-Related at 7:07 PM PST - 119 comments

Mobile stylesheet changes?

Have there been changes made recently to the ask me mobile stylesheet? Specific things I've noticed in last couple of days: title of ask posts are now in bold, poster's followup comments no longer marked. [more inside]
posted by mosessis to Bugs at 4:47 PM PST - 3 comments

[+]

Y'all are so good, I didn't even have to use my question. [more inside]
posted by rumposinc to Etiquette/Policy at 9:53 AM PST - 45 comments

March 10

Shirts for "a website nobody goes to."

Dearest Metafilter, can we talk about new MeFi t-shirts? [more inside]
posted by killdevil to MetaFilter-Related at 6:56 PM PST - 268 comments

New comments since last visit in Chrome is funky

Is there weirdness occurring with the "new since last visit" numbers on the front page in Chrome? [more inside]
posted by obloquy to Bugs at 3:56 PM PST - 6 comments

MeFi Connections

Missed MeFi Connection: me: This guy. you: The MeFite on the crew who recognized my shirt and let me get a picture of the Daily Show set and Jon Stewart's pen. [more inside]
posted by mccarty.tim to MetaFilter-Related at 1:35 PM PST - 55 comments

Favorite categorization revisited

Around a year ago there was an idea floated about favorite categorization. I think that this would be a great feature for the site. Is it still in the "too ambitious" pile of site features, or have the coders taken another look at it since then? [more inside]
posted by codacorolla to Feature Requests at 11:34 AM PST - 28 comments

March 9

Dear Friends

Just days before the sad news of the death of Peter Bergman of the Firesign Theatre today, we had another thread that was a delightful FST love-in and reference-a-thon, and I was moved to hear that he saw and enjoyed it.
posted by Horace Rumpole to MetaFilter-Related at 6:18 PM PST - 28 comments

March 8

Whatever

Talk about talking about talking about words.
posted by Smedleyman to Etiquette/Policy at 9:17 AM PST - 6 comments [closed]

March 7

Help a novice 'audiophile!'

A sound starting point. [more inside]
posted by drewski to MetaFilter-Related at 8:49 AM PST - 1 comment [closed]

Enhancement Suite for MetaFilter?

Enhancement Suite for MetaFilter? [more inside]
posted by namewithhe1d to MetaFilter-Related at 5:34 AM PST - 49 comments

March 6

Solving US Corruption post

Can't find old post on US corruption in politics.... [more inside]
posted by Stu-Pendous to MetaFilter-Related at 8:07 PM PST - 5 comments

Diversity on Mefi

After this comment by an 82 year old in Ask, it got me thinking about the diversity of the site. I'm interested in people who do not fit the common demographic of white, 20-50 years old, Western, IT/humanities/sciences, more likely to be male. Do these people feel comfortable here? How can we encourage more diverse people to post? Or am I off-base and things are just fine?
posted by desjardins to MetaFilter-Related at 7:09 AM PST - 655 comments

March 5

Want to know what books fellow Mefites like? Come participate in a mass Goodreads enfriending

Want to know what books fellow Mefites like? Want to maybe take part in a Mefi reading group? Come participate in a mass Goodreads enfriending! [more inside]
posted by philipy to MetaFilter-Related at 5:24 PM PST - 129 comments

Podcast pony: normalisation/compression?

Podcast pony: A smidge of normalisation/compression to even out the volume? [more inside]
posted by embrangled to Feature Requests at 3:46 AM PST - 38 comments

Does this post hold currency?

I hate being that guy, but I'm going to beg an explanation of why this post is allowed to stand. It's a couple of wikipedia links and a tiny news blurb strung together in a highly ax-grindey way, complete with a sprinkling of anti-Iran sentiment. [more inside]
posted by mek to Etiquette/Policy at 2:44 AM PST - 118 comments

March 4

Help me help myself by helping me!

Trying to remember an old post I THINK was on MeFi: basically a Japanese site with photos of unintentionally funny road signs. It was all in Japanese, and the one photo I can remember specifically had a "STOP" written along the center line of the road, so that the トマレ became トマレーーーーーーーー ("STOOOOOOOOOOOOP"). Does… does this ring a bell with anyone at all?
posted by DoctorFedora to MetaFilter-Related at 4:27 PM PST - 6 comments

Pony Request: IRL notifications

Hey, look, another pony request! [more inside]
posted by rabbitrabbit to Feature Requests at 1:51 PM PST - 37 comments

Killer tools for a killer post?

What are your techniques and tools for making a killer post? I have a desire to start making somewhat regular mefi posts that have lots of substance and links... [more inside]
posted by symbioid to MetaFilter-Related at 9:02 AM PST - 56 comments

March 3

FitbitFilter

Does Metafilter have a Fitbit community? I got a Fitbit* for myself for Christmas, and of all the web-based health and fitness trackers, I like this one the best. I'd love to talk with other MeFi Fitbitters for encouragement, tips, venting. etc. [more inside]
posted by spinifex23 to MetaFilter-Related at 8:51 PM PST - 26 comments

Did the text size on the blue get shrunk?

Text size issue - looks smaller on the front page of the blue than it used to. I increased text size in my profile, now the blue looks "normal" (like it did before) but MetaTalk and AskMe look much bigger. [more inside]
posted by marble to Bugs at 5:15 PM PST - 12 comments

March 2

The pony is too cute.

When adding a contact, the reasons you can give are all positive. But those aren't the only reasons you can have for wanting their posts on your sidebar. [more inside]
posted by clarknova to Feature Requests at 10:54 PM PST - 115 comments

live preview

There is definitely something wrong with live preview [more inside]
posted by delmoi to Bugs at 8:49 PM PST - 20 comments

The Missing (single) Links

This "SL[blank]" convention is officially starting to annoy me, and I think MeFi may need some sort of system like FARK has. If the post is a single link the host website will automatically be displayed when the user hovers over the post, or it will be appended in a small font size. The whole "SL" thing I believe jumped the shark with this post. The link text is "The Guardian reinterprets the three little pigs", but for some reason the OP added "SLGuardian". Well yeah, obviously we can see that. I'm craving some standardization here.
posted by MattMangels to Feature Requests at 2:04 PM PST - 66 comments

Favorites bug?

"You've hit your favorites limit for the day" - I have favorited 16 comments today. Nothing I've tried (cookies, etc.) has fixed it. Anyone else having this problem? (Previously)
posted by mrgrimm to Bugs at 1:56 PM PST - 52 comments

Can I copy your site?

A bit of a lazy question here, but I've gone through quite a bit of the site to find out if it's possible to use the Metafilter source code for an internally branded community site at my company, and search/FAQ's just aren't getting me there. We have an email distro that is essentially MeFi - but the code to this site is so much better than email. Is it possible to use the site back end, and brand it for my company for the purposes of an internal community? Is it open source? I'm not a developer, but I have access to people who could make it happen, I'm just lazy and if we could build our own using the source from here, it would be easier than starting from ground zero.
posted by Chuffy to MetaFilter-Related at 10:46 AM PST - 18 comments

Oh Meta Book Club, Do You Have a Future?

So, shall we continue Meta Book Club? If so, what shall we read after the last book in the sylabus we have been tracking, the Open Yale course on the American Novel since 1945? [more inside]
posted by bearwife to MetaFilter-Related at 9:48 AM PST - 38 comments

There are a lot of us!

Calling all scientists and scientist-lovers! Do you like knowing when a comment you're reading on MeFi was written by a Person of Science? Well, have I got a greasemonkey script for you. [more inside]
posted by Scientist to MetaFilter-Related at 7:17 AM PST - 135 comments

March 1

I think these xtranormal videos are kind of played out.

Nothing personal but we have a hardline "no xtranormal" policy here. (source)
posted by crunchland to Etiquette/Policy at 2:35 PM PST - 69 comments

AskMe changed my life

Two years ago today, I posted an AskMetafilter that changed my life. [more inside]
posted by MrMoonPie to MetaFilter-Related at 7:14 AM PST - 48 comments

YES! There are adults who are interested. You know this already.

Regarding the thread about the new "Avengers" trailer: for fuck's sake can people please, for the love of god, quit it with feigning surprise that adults might be interested in such a thing? See comments by Dragoness and Trochanter for specifics. If you are surprised, genuinely surprised, you haven't been paying enough attention to pop culture over the past thirty years to have an informed opinion. You sound like an old person. And if you're not surprised, if the pose is just assumed for the sake of crafting good snark, you're threadshitting.
posted by Ipsifendus to Etiquette/Policy at 5:23 AM PST - 290 comments