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.
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!
Off the rails
So what happens when the entire discussion in a FPP is a derail?
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
March 30
Bewildered
March 29
Unflag/Reflag
Any chance we could have the ability to unflag/reflag a post or comment? [more inside]
You say you want a resolution, well...
Having the "AskMe Tick" go up upon resolution rather than Best Answer? [more inside]
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?
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]
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]
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]
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.
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]
reopen classic ask posts?
How about Ask classic, reopening a question or two a day to updated answers? [more inside]
March 26
Flagged as appreciative
Whether it's by happenstance or by design, the increasing sidebarring of fantastic posts is greatly appreciated. [more inside]
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]
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]
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]
Topical Topics
Editorial handling of longitudinal and/or multi-faceted topic posts. [more inside]
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!
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.
March 23
Are you on GetGlue
Where does MetaFilter rank among your creative outlets?
Where does MetaFilter rank among your creative outlets? [more inside]
Get over yourself, gimp.
Post/Preview buttons
The new css Post/Preview buttons buttons added last year don't have any :active styling. [more inside]
Cicle, Block, Block, Is that a tree?
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.
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]
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
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]
BlueBeetle FTW
Zittrain shows Blue Beetle love! [more inside]
Do Zombies Poop? MetaFilter Knows
prinado and The White Hat get named as experts in a Grantland.com article, "Do Zombies Poop? An Investigation."
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]
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]
March 19
Such a thing as too many?
How many AskMe posts about the same issue are too many? [more inside]
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]
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]
How Stuff Works: MeFi Spam
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]
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]
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"?
Captain Zyrain wants YOU!
Anyone interested in a Metafilter game of TradeWars 2002? [more inside]
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]
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]
Meatbomb does an AMA on Reddit
Meatbomb does an AMA on reddit, about his 20 years teaching English as a Foreign Language. [more inside]
March 16
BTW: I am a cat
msalt to battle for title of world's best palindromist
Mike Daisey's truthy issues
Dharun Ravi just rolled snake eyes.
Fact-checking 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.
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]
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]
It's a Favorites-Off
I made Griphus and Greg Nog race to 30,000 faves. And the winner is... [more inside]
shuffling the hive mind
Idea: MetaStrategies Card Deck [more inside]
I, too, would like a chance to have my work be rejected by MefiMag
What's the deal with MefiMag? [more inside]
YAPAMNTDS
YAPAMNTDS (Yet Another Post Asking MeFites Not To Do Something) [more inside]
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.
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?
New directive: we don't do "tl;dr" here anymore.
New directive: we don't do "tl;dr" here anymore. [more inside]
March 13
Disabled Contacts
7 people just removed me from their contact list! From beyond the MeFi grave! [more inside]
what is this?
Ik who?
March Metafilter Madness
Meet
I am going to be in Juneau for a week on April 2nd. Any MeFites interested in a meet up?
March 12
Trackback pony?
Any way we can be notified about people linking to our posts/comments? [more inside]
March 11
Who me?
Please make profile pictures bigger when clicked. [more inside]
Distant voices?
Who is the mefite furthest from other mefites? [more inside]
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]
[+]
Y'all are so good, I didn't even have to use my question. [more inside]
March 10
Shirts for "a website nobody goes to."
Dearest Metafilter, can we talk about new MeFi t-shirts? [more inside]
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]
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]
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]
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.
March 8
Whatever
Talk about talking about talking about words.
March 7
Help a novice 'audiophile!'
A sound starting point. [more inside]
Enhancement Suite for MetaFilter?
March 6
Solving US Corruption post
Can't find old post on US corruption in politics.... [more inside]
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?
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]
Podcast pony: normalisation/compression?
Podcast pony: A smidge of normalisation/compression to even out the volume? [more inside]
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]
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?
Pony Request: IRL notifications
Hey, look, another pony request! [more inside]
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]
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]
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]
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]
live preview
There is definitely something wrong with live preview [more inside]
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.
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)
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.
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]
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]
March 1
I think these xtranormal videos are kind of played out.
AskMe changed my life
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.