March 2017 Archives (all archives)
March 31
Very belated appreciation for my secret quonsar
I got my amazing, delightful, thoughtful gift package from miratime way back at the end of November...while I was in the middle of a combination of post-election freakout and literally the biggest project of my entire career. So I didn't say thank you properly, and now it's almost April!
I especially want to show off these socks that I made with the yarn she gave me. This project has been fun and emotionally soothing and the socks look amazing. :) Thanks again! [more inside]
March 30
"Humor is just another defense against the universe." - Mel Brooks
I've seen a couple people recently mention that some of their own favorite comments are languishing at the bottom of the political megathreads, unappreciated. So I figured, let's show off here! Post your own personal favorite comments that you're proud of and don't think were sufficiently appreciated!
March 29
Fond farewell to ads from The Deck
Advertising service The Deck, whose ads we've long featured in several spots on MetaFilter, will be shutting down in April. As a result, we'll be removing that ad box, and exploring other ad solutions to make up the revenue. (Don't worry, MetaFilter's okay.) Here's some details. [more inside]
March 28
GraphFi + user tags chrome extension
Hi friends,
Remember when yourcelf made GraphFi and it was great? Well, it still is great, only now it is also available as a chrome extension that I threw together.
I've also added another thing that I've always wanted to make threads easier to follow - user tagging!
Yay! Enjoy it (or hate it), and let me know what you think!
Previous safari extension by nicwolff.
Pony request: "Related Posts" post-thread and in megathreads
As per Rock Steady's comment in the mega-thread ...thread, I thought i'd set up a separate post about this related content widget pony. [more inside]
March 27
Visualizing the impact of US politics megaposts on the blue
The biggest change in the way that mefites participate on the blue in years has been the rise of US politics megathreads. We have had several discussions of the qualitative impact of them, but it occurred to me that it might be useful to dig into the infodump and see what quantitative picture might emerge. I think my findings are worth sharing - while a quantitative analysis on its own can't tell us whether the megathreads are a good thing or not, there are several negative trends regarding community engagement and participation that are happening in close concurrency with the rise of the megathreads. [more inside]
March 26
Small italicized pony request
I can't believe I'm harassing y'all for this, it really is an itty bitty pony. That said I just realized in my Recent Activity when answering a question from an anonymous poster that the anonymous wasn't italicized like it is everywhere else -- ie on the askme home page, question page. (Also this is desktop only as the the username doesn't appear on mobile.) Anonymous was also capitalized, where it's not in the rest of the site. Any specific reason why it's different on the Recent Activity page? And if not... pretty please can I get it to look the same across the site? I don't even know why this bothered me enough to ask, but here it is. Thanks awesome metafilter team, as always you guys are amazing!
March 25
Metatalktail Hour: The Last First Time
Good Saturday Evening, Metafilter! This week's topic is from bookmammal: What was the last thing you did for the first time? (That is, what's the most recent brand new experience you had?) [more inside]
March 24
Disposable YouTube playlists from recommendation threads
The other day I recommended some songs on an AskMeFi thread and, after some fiddling, I compiled almost all the links in two disposable YouTube playlists. Today, while catching up on a year of podcasts, I noticed that in Best of the Web Ep. 112 they talked about this exact issue and the partial solution that exists on Labs.
I figured I should share my notes with the rest of the class to figure out how to improve on this long-sought question. [more inside]
March 22
State of MetaFilter, 2017
Heya, folks, it's time (and then some!) for a State of MetaFilter post. I want to give everybody an update on how the site is doing financially, and catch y'all up on the major goings-on in both the business and community aspects of MetaFilter in the time since the last State of MeFi post.
The very short version: it's been a weird couple years out there in the world; we've hired a couple staff and wished pb well; and things are financially pretty stable, thanks in significant part to the ongoing generosity of the MetaFilter community whose contributions continue to represent a vital chunk of the site's operating revenue. But come on inside for a much less short version! [more inside]
The very short version: it's been a weird couple years out there in the world; we've hired a couple staff and wished pb well; and things are financially pretty stable, thanks in significant part to the ongoing generosity of the MetaFilter community whose contributions continue to represent a vital chunk of the site's operating revenue. But come on inside for a much less short version! [more inside]
March 21
Closing Your Community Right: Jessamyn interviewed
A podcast where Jessamyn is interviewed by Patrick O'Keefe about the experiences around an online community (mlkshk) closing down and what happens afterwards. There is much on moderating, membership, community issues and service shuttering procedures within, as well as discussion of death/the passing of people, how this impacts on online communities and how moderators and community members deal with it. The page contains many MetaFilter-related links and a link to the transcript.
March 19
A Metafilter Sighting in the Wild
Playing with Fire is your basic best-friends-since-childhood-fall-in-love m/m romance, but what makes it special is that it features the protagonists performing Jingle Rock Bell—yes, Metafilter's own special Christmas song--at a karaoke party. [more inside]
MeFi post I can't find - sci-fi audioplay by one man in 70's or 80's
I've given up on trying to Google this. Can anyone link me to that MeFi post about a science-fiction audioplay made by one guy in the 70's or 80's? The post was also about it being re-released.
Alexa, play Mefi* music
While bemoaning the fact that there's not an Amazon playlist or station that scratches my itch for eclectic music, it dawned on me that Mefi Music hits that particular sweet spot for me. Which led me to wonder about the feasibility of integrating Alexa with Mefi music. It seems it's been done for iPhone using the RSS feed, so I'm assuming doing something for Alexa is not totally out of the question. I'm curious as to what people think of the idea in general, and also any thoughts on technical implementation. [more inside]
Metafilter not working on laptop!
Metafilter will not work on my laptop! [more inside]
March 18
Metatalktail Hour: My Hometown
Good Saturday Evening, MetaFilter! This week: What's the coolest unknown thing about your hometown (current or former!) that all visitors should see, or all residents should know? [more inside]
Magical Mefites
In a recent post discussing witches and feminism/political activism I received a few emails of interest about getting in touch with other magical mefites. I made a forum for us! [more inside]
March 17
An explicit license for the infodump?
My impression is that all of the infodump data is in the public domain. Is that license explicitly stated anywhere? And, if it is stated somewhere, could we get that statement reprinted on the infodump’s home page and possibly bundled with the zipped downloads. It’d be nice to have some legalese posted somewhere so that no one feels at risk of getting into trouble.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
How are you celebrating? Are you reading about Irish history? Maybe some James Joyce? Or maybe you're having a nice stout craft beer. Just make sure it's poured correctly. Share how you are celebrating St. Patrick's Day or how you are not. And remember to stay safe.
March 15
Let's follow each other on Pocket
Surely, there are many MeFites on Pocket. Their Friends function is the closest thing I've found to the social features on the dearly departed Google Reader Let's exchange usernames and become friends. [more inside]
March 14
Thanks to kitteh and to Metafilter
I'm writing to give a shoutout to kitteh's post from January about homelessness and menstruation. [more inside]
March 13
March Madness
Is anyone planning to do a MeFi March Madness pool? I'd like to participate (using my top-secret system, of course), but, with a sick three-month-old baby, I'd rather not be the admin. Anyone else interested?
March 11
Seeking FPP about a photographer who chronicled her weight loss online.
I remember a post here on MetaFilter about a photographer who decided to lose weight and, as the artist she is, decided to chronicle her weight loss with an online journal, telling the story in words and in black and white images of her body as she lost weight. She was unaware at the start of her project that she would end up having folds and flaps of skin but she found out pretty rapidly, and regardless that it was painful for her to discover what she did, she kept the journal ongoing. [more inside]
Metatalktail Hour: Parental Shame
Good Saturday Evening, MetaFilter! In honor of the Korea expert on the BBC and his adorable children, what is the worst way you ever embarrassed your parents, or your children ever embarrassed you? In the alternative, what's the most interesting thing that happened to you this week? [more inside]
March 10
Thank you, MeFites!
I'm an inveterate, invertebrate people-pleaser, from a long line of inveterate, invertebrate people-pleasers. It's almost pathological. When I want to say 'no' to someone, I typically have a panic attack, hint around wanting to give a negative answer, then say 'yes' anyway. I then spend weeks kicking myself for saying 'yes' to them. [more inside]
March 8
Identifying mods on the blue and the green
Mods are identified as staff on MetaTalk, but not identified as such on AskMe or on the blue. Why is that? [more inside]
Created a GM/TM userscript to display tags on main pages
I created a GreaseMonkey/TamperMonkey userscript to show post tags on main pages. Check the page out for a screenshot of what I'm talking about. [more inside]
March 7
MeFi Fantasy Baseball 2017!!!!!
The MetaFilter Fantasy Baseball League is organizing for its 12th season. [more inside]
Don't tell me about my own life
The specific is not the universal, and when an article is posted about the specific experiences of a specific group, especially if it's about traumatic experiences, it is really alienating to have people come in and try to zoom out so they can shoehorn it into their favorite construct of the moment. It blots out the ability of members of the group in question to discuss their reactions if there's a constant need for "Actually it's more complicated than that." [more inside]
March 6
Making an FPP for Women's March? Let's chat.
As the call for a Women's March MeTa has gone dead, I figured here might be a good space for brainstorming topics, asking for help crafting FPPs, and talking about what makes a good FPP. Women are particularly welcome to come and post and look for support here. [more inside]
Links followed by full URL?
Links followed by full URL: Anyone out there have a script or something they could share that does this? [more inside]
March 4
Metatalktail Hour: I've Got a Secret
Good Saturday Evening, MetaFilter! This week's Metatalktail conversation starter is, what's something we don't know about you and wouldn't guess? Unusual skills? Strange hobbies? Secret identities? [more inside]
March 3
Favorited comments, but not in *those* threads
My first MetaTalk post, and alas, it's a Friday afternoon pony request for the queue. I think it would be nice to be able to filter my Contact Activity to exclude activity on threads with specific tags. The election threads (yes, of course that's what I'm talking about) have been a lifesaver, and I'm spending most of my MetaFilter time on them. But my Contact Activity is also completely taken over by highly-favorited comments in those threads, usually topical but transient, and I'd like to be able to see what else is happening on MeFi. And I think others might like this feature too. [more inside]
March 2
126: Ask A Moderator
In a big break in format, Jessamyn and I spend the entire show doing nothing but answering your questions! For over two hours; it's an epic. Featuring few bonus voicemail answers from Eyebrows McGee and write-ins from other mods on a couple things. Thanks everybody for calling in, that was a lot of fun! [more inside]
Our very own headspace is in Time Magazine
Mefi's very own headspace is featured in Time for kids online at http://www.timeforkids.com/news/women-warriors/567936.
Congrats!
Full disclosure: I'm her stepfather.
Full disclosure: I'm her stepfather.
Narrative Games in Fanfare
As discussed in this Fanfare Talk post, there are some heavily narrative games that would benefit from Fanfare discussion. The rationale is that release threads on the Blue aren't really appropriate, because of the spoiler content, and (in terms of format) these games are similar to movies, shows, and books, in the way that discussion revolves much more around the plot and characters rather than game mechanics. I understand the reluctance to expand Fanfare any more than its current scope, but I think it's worth having the conversation about narrative games as an exception. [more inside]
Post about The South/Tea Party/Power
Hi all,
Google-Fu is failing me. Looking for a post in the Blue about an article (maybe from The Atlantic) that talked about the South or Confederacy and its impact on rise of the Tea Party but the article talked about how when that group is out of power, they are all about resisting those in power as a patriotic duty and once they are not in power, they talk about law and order and obedience. Might also have talked about civil rights or gun rights within that context as well. It was a longer article with good explanation of American history as it relates to these topics.
Wasn't sure if to post here or on Askme.
Welcome to Metafilter, Mat Brown
In the post about orichalcum, a video was linked in the body. Lo and behold, the author, auntie-matter of the video posts in the comments (as a long time lurker, now a member) [more inside]