March 2018 Archives (all archives)

March 31

Bringing back gopher was just the start.

Tired of increasingly bloated, over-designed web interfaces? Looking for a way to enjoy your content without all the dozens of JavaScript trackers and endless needless geegaws? Give the new MetaFilter Reader interface a shot! Clean, classic design; mobile friendly; it even comes with its own games! [more inside]
posted by cortex to Feature Requests at 10:15 PM PST - 140 comments

Metatalktail hour: beverage reveries

Hello, friends! I'm covering for Eyebrows this fine Saturday evening, and so I ought to post something! And I'm sitting around a fire pit at a MeFite friend's house, drinking a nice beer and thinking about nice beverages, so: what's the last best liquid you consumed, or a memorable sitting-around-with-folks situation along those lines? [more inside]
posted by cortex to MetaFilter-Related at 5:20 PM PST - 97 comments

March 29

a.k.a. Egg, Inc.

Are any other mefites playing the stupid chicken game? Anyone want to join a co-op? [more inside]
posted by phunniemee to MetaFilter-Related at 10:00 AM PST - 50 comments

March 26

Silent Moderation?

I was reading this post and left the page after a couple comments had been posted. Returning a few minutes later, both comments (from 2 separate users) were gone. Was this moderator initiated, or did I miss something (a new post made in its place)?
posted by bastionofsanity to MetaFilter-Related at 2:04 PM PST - 26 comments

Taking Care of a Fruit Tree: Moderation on Metafilter

Bingo and I are Human-Computer Interaction researchers in Bath, UK and Vienna, AT, who are looking at moderation on web forums and how it shapes discussions. Over the past several months, with permission from the site staff, we have been examining moderator comments on MetaFilter in order to answer several questions. [more inside]
posted by katta to MetaFilter-Related at 7:27 AM PST - 132 comments

March 25

Cleanup requested in Social Apps aisle

The Social Apps section of our profiles is getting badly dated. There are over 120 sites listed, but some of them are dead (AIM, Gawker), some are ambiguous (is Glitch referring to the old shared universe site or the new programming site?), and the absence of Mastodon is becoming an obstacle: We have to advertise our usernames on active threads because we can't put them in our profiles. [more inside]
posted by ardgedee to Feature Requests at 4:57 PM PST - 20 comments

March 24

Metatalktail Hour: Open thread

Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, my brain is tired, so oooOOOOoooopen thread ahoy! [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaFilter-Related at 5:19 PM PST - 125 comments

Why is my comment getting favorited so much?!

I swear this isn't a humblebrag. I'm perplexed. [more inside]
posted by MiraK to MetaFilter-Related at 1:24 PM PST - 34 comments

March 23

What Does The Man Have On You?

wenestvedt suggested we have a MetaTalk thread to discuss what our Facebook/Cambridge Analytica advertising profiles look like. Check Your Information > Your Categories, and also be sure to look at Hobbies and Interests. Besides being a fan of Cattle, Thought, Crop and Brick, I apparently have a mystery Housemate, perhaps lurking in my crawlspace.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 to MetaFilter-Related at 9:00 AM PST - 135 comments

March 22

Fig is awesome

I wanted to say thank you to Fig and to everyone who's signed up for the MeFi Card Club. I'm having bad day after bad day after bad day lately, but coming home to wonderful and goofy and sweet cards from MeFites has been making me so happy. [more inside]
posted by lazuli to MetaFilter-Related at 7:15 PM PST - 32 comments

March 21

Facebook as viewed by people who don't share your opinions

This is find-that-post filter: I'm pretty sure I read about this here, but searching is coming up dry. During the run-up to the 2016 election, a website appeared that showed, side-by-side, (then-)live news posts from "conservative Facebook" and from "liberal Facebook." It may have been built by or hosted by a major newspaper, like the Washington Post. Searching the web for "filter bubbles" isn't bringing up anything promising, and other search terms about Facebook and bias and the sitting US President are poisoned by the nonstop news stream over the past two years, and also the last two weeks. [more inside]
posted by fantabulous timewaster to MetaFilter-Related at 3:17 PM PST - 6 comments

March 20

10,000 and counting

Holy crap! So turns out the Radiohead song on a cello post by cozenedindigo just now was my 10,000th favorite on MeFi. Just wanted to say thanks for all the entertaining, thoughtful and thought-provoking, hilarious, nerdy, bean-plating, and otherwise awesome posts and comments from all of you over the years. Also: I got a rad haircut recently, Minecraft is adding tons of underwater content in the near future, and the patriarchy is deaththroeing all over itself. <3!
posted by Celsius1414 to MetaFilter-Related at 3:04 PM PST - 10 comments

March 19

Looking for a lost post with two short stories

I remember being linked to two excellent short stories from here, and I wanted to follow up with the author, but cannot remember her name. I know that it was a female author, I believe the links went to stories on her website, and her genre was surreal horror (I remember thinking the stories reminded me of a darker Kelly Link, but it wasn't Link). One story was about a girl who had an imagination projection machine in her attic, which she became addicted to. The second was about a couple living in a hellish dystopia where all men are "scholars" and all women work in a "factory", and the two accidentally have a child without authorization from the Big Brother type government. [more inside]
posted by codacorolla to MetaFilter-Related at 6:16 PM PST - 4 comments

March 17

Metatalktail Hour: Brushes with Fame

Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, Fizz wants hear about a time you had an encounter with a celebrity or famous person. You may bring your own definition of celebrity! As always, you can talk about whatever's on your mind (except politics).
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaFilter-Related at 5:04 PM PST - 203 comments

MetaSluggishness

Is anyone else experiencing instability with MetaFilter today? I've had a fair number of time-outs and slow-downs with site loading and refreshes. It seems only limited to this particular site. Just checking in.
posted by Fizz to Uptime at 10:46 AM PST - 18 comments

March 14

MeFi Fantasy Baseball 2018

We'll be drafting within two weeks. If you are interested in joining *and* being an active manager the league link is in my profile.
posted by cgk to MetaFilter-Related at 8:43 PM PST - 6 comments

Call in show: tell us a joke!

As suggested recently in another post: we're doing an community-participation call-in show for the April podcast, and we want to hear your favorite jokes! Call our voicemail box at (505) 663-6334 and rattle something off for us, and I'll edit it all together. (Or you can email me an audio recording! Or you can send us the text of a joke you like if you'd rather a moderator record it!) I'd like to get this edited before the 1st, so calling/writing/sending sooner is better than later. [more inside]
posted by cortex to MetaFilter-Related at 12:01 PM PST - 43 comments

Let's talk about spoilers, again.

Last night there was a Last Jedi post in the frontpage with spoilers above the fold. The post got deleted due to self linking but the fact remains that many comments inside were dismissive of the spoilers even though the digital download was out just yesterday. What should be the guidelines for this kind of thing? Are general spoilers above the fold OK after three months after the release? Should all spoilers go below the fold?
posted by Memo to Etiquette/Policy at 7:13 AM PST - 78 comments

March 12

Fucking Fuck IX

The venting thread is dead, long live the venting thread. [more inside]
posted by murphy slaw to MetaFilter-Related at 6:57 PM PST - 382 comments

It's Madness, I tell you

It's that time again! Does anyone have the bandwidth & interest to set up Metafilter bracket contests for the men's and women's tournament? I wish I had the bandwidth to admin this year, but I don't. (Thank you!) [more inside]
posted by joycehealy to MetaFilter-Related at 10:26 AM PST - 74 comments

I always knew you were special

On my 10 year anniversary here at MetaFilter, I would just like to thank all of the MeFites that have welcomed me to this community and given me so much to think about. I'd especially like to thank the mods (past and present) for keeping the place sane and levelheaded, the Quonczars for the annual Quonsmas season fun, and especially mathowie who built this special home. [more inside]
posted by Sophie1 to MetaFilter-Related at 7:25 AM PST - 30 comments

March 10

Metatalktail Hour: Spring Fling

Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, I want to know what you've got planned for the spring (/fall, hello people who can see the Southern Cross!), or what you're looking forward to, or if the change of seasons has arrived near you yet, or anything else to take my mind off this lousy Smarch weather and put me in a spring/fall mindset!
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaFilter-Related at 5:48 PM PST - 103 comments

March 9

A Questionnaire for Adults on Play?

I'm trying to find a questionnaire/assessment focused on different activities that adults can rate to understand what might be fun or playful for them. [more inside]
posted by neematoad to MetaFilter-Related at 10:02 AM PST - 6 comments

March 8

Recent post on the Blue featuring a home-rolled newspaper archive?

Within the past 60 or 30 days there was a post concerning a *very* idiosyncratic website devoted to archiving small-town newspapers from a local area of the mid-atlantic states, I think in Pennsylvania, which over time has become one of the largest online local-newspaper archives on the web. The site relies on a number of questionable technology decisions and UI implementations, but remains unique. Unfortunately, google and/or site searches for 'newspaper archive' and variants didn't do the trick for me. [more inside]
posted by mwhybark to MetaFilter-Related at 10:27 AM PST - 8 comments

Love Nikki? ME TOO!

delfin mentioned Love Nikki Dress UP Queen in the politics thread, and I must know, who else plays? Because I'm unhealthily addicted and WHY CAN'T I GET ABOVE 50% in the current competition? WHYYYYYYYY?
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaFilter-Related at 7:50 AM PST - 75 comments

March 7

The etiquette of thread poaching?

Question about thread poaching to external sites. I totally get that everything on MeFi is publicly accessible to anyone and everyone for ever and always. But, I was somewhat annoyed that one of my questions was made into an article on LifeHacker. They did credit it to MeFi, but it still seemed like a cheap thing for them to do (and presumably make money off of). Or at the least, poor netiquette? (Do people even say that anymore?) If I'm being a grumpy old dinosaur, do let me know. Just wondering if there's a precedent for this, and to hear others thoughts on the matter.
posted by stillmoving to Etiquette/Policy at 11:28 AM PST - 40 comments

March 6

What was this poem?

Within the last week or so, there was a link (I think in a comment) to a poem about how sometimes things actually do turn out okay. The author had written it in haste and was displeased with it and with the fact that it had become so well known. What was it?
posted by HotToddy to MetaFilter-Related at 5:46 PM PST - 14 comments

Thank you all for the wedding advice

I'm getting married on Saturday. While it would have happened without help from Metafilter, the help I've gotten in my Ask questions has made my life a lot easier. This is a big thank you to everyone who helped in those questions. [more inside]
posted by Hactar to MetaFilter-Related at 1:43 PM PST - 23 comments

March 3

Metatalktail Hour: Mad Skillz

Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, I'm curious -- if you could pick up a skill instantly, what skill would it be? (And are you otherwise working on acquiring this skill?) [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaFilter-Related at 5:05 PM PST - 112 comments

Winter Storm Riley check-in post

I've got three friends who I've been trying to get in touch with to see how they are enduring Winter Storm Riley and haven't heard from them. I thought maybe others might have the same thing going on. So, here's a post! If you're in the path of the current nor'easter, check in here and let us know if you're okay!
posted by hippybear to MetaFilter-Related at 4:09 PM PST - 31 comments

March 2

People vs Garbage

The phrase "garbage people" or the habit of describing people as "garbage" or as "trash" seems to be making a resurgence on my social media lately. I've seen it on metafilter, too, recently, and... can we not do that here, please? [more inside]
posted by eviemath to Etiquette/Policy at 11:33 AM PST - 174 comments

March 1

MetaJokes Podcast 'April Fool's Edition'

Back in January we had a year end call-in show/podcast. MeFites were able to call a line that Cortex set up to record seasonal greetings and well-wishes. A fun way to connect and listen to all of the wonderful people that make up our community. A number of MeFites called in and told some humorous jokes/asides. I previously mentioned how it might be fun to have a specific call-in episode for just jokes that would then be released on April Fools' Day (April 1). I realize it's a bit of behind the scenes work for our moderators, but if they're open to it, I think it would be fun. Let's discuss whether we can make that happen.
posted by Fizz to MetaFilter-Related at 7:07 AM PST - 39 comments