April 2012 Archives (all archives)
April 30
Maximal Fundimental Condiments
April 29
April Last!
Just wanted to mention that the semi-official thread of this year's MetaFilter April Fool's Thingy (and the only one that continued to issue "staff tags" to every comment after April 1st was over) is going to be closing in a few hours. So if you haven't found out what your randomly-selected title is supposed to be, go there and leave a comment. (And if you don't like the tag you've been given, just refresh the page! It's so random!) [more inside]
I promise I washed it...
Free metafilter shirt up for grabs! [more inside]
April 28
A MeFite at Bookforum?
Minor MeFi-spotting: is there a MeFite at Bookforum? [more inside]
April 27
Meta MetaCensorship
I was repeatedly censored in a thread while discussing freedom of speech. When I posted again, connecting my censorship directly to the topic, I was censored again. I would like an explanation. [more inside]
Fascination Street
Ya'll are being strange and interesting again. Two recent AskMe questions are about whether to correct someone close to you and the answers, along with their reasoning, are fascinating.
April 26
Can we talk about hockey?
Maybe I'm just smarting because I was in the midst of composing a thoughtful comment when this thread got shut down. [more inside]
Happy birthday, Cortex!
Coooooooooooooortex! Happy birthday, dude! I think dude deserves a shoutout for his mod duties, for MeFi music, for all the data crunching, for the fascinating subsites and just for being an all-around outstanding contributor to the site. So, thanks man and again, happy natal anniversary!
April 25
As seen on Metafilter
This FPP brought the wonderful Alabama Shakes to my attention. It got me to wondering if MeFi has ever been responsible for helping a musical act "break out" before. We've got a lot of members with blogs, Twitter accounts, etc. so we potentially have a lot of clout but is this something that can be measured?
These threads are already difficult enough.
If a linked article on the blue is about a delicate or heated topic, please read it before you leave an angry or dismissive comment. If you don't want to read it, please don't comment in the thread. [more inside]
Show them this Meta
"Show them this thread." Has anyone ever actually done this? [more inside]
April 24
Turing test short stories
I'm trying to find a post that I'm pretty sure appeared in the last year or so. It featured two short stories; both were roughly concerning the subject of Turing tests and computer authenticity. The first was a chat log featuring a man who was locked in a room against his will, or perhaps (the story seemed to suggest) he was actually a computer. The second story was about a person who is convinced by a friend to be part of an experiment where the person has to crawl inside a sensory-deprivation tank, but it turns out they've been a computer all along. I know the post text was probably a quote from the first story. Does anyone remember this post?
Do we need to load comments to flag something?
Is there a reason we can't flag a post without clicking in to the thread? It seems like it adds a click for no reason? Or is this an oddity of my out-of-date browser on an out-of-date OS on an out-of-date macbook?
Best of Blog launch is a go
Announcing the Best Of Blog! The very best bits of MetaFilter, updated a couple times a day (sideblog posts automatically go to it instantly, sometimes they expand into bigger posts). [more inside]
Poopy link got flushed.
April 23
Make an effort, please.
This was a perfectly serious question.
Mainly cat name suggestions and obvious DTMFAs
I like to read interesting Ask Metafilter questions, although I rarely post anything myself. The Popular Favorites page is a good way to find these, but I've also noticed that questions with a lot of answers (say, over 50) are usually worth checking out too, even if they don't necessarily get a lot of favorites. Is there any way to view the AskMe site/feed in a way that only shows questions that have received more than a certain number of answers?
yourlogicalfallacyis.com
WTF Login issue?
I am somehow suddenly logged into Metafilter as someone else (that I don't know) - without changing cookies or logging out. [more inside]
How to tell when it is or isn't okay for a FPP to contain a single link?
Deletion clarification request! [more inside]
April 21
A room to park your drunk butt
I want to pass a Dragon*Con hotel room to a mefite. How? [more inside]
Why doesn't Safari iOS remember where I was last reading?
I just got an iPad (the 3rd gen/newest one, if it matters). In Safari, when I hit the back button from a MeFi post to the main page, I am always taken to the top of the page, instead of where I was last reading. Am I doing something wrong? I don't have this problem on my iPhone.
blue_beetle callout
blue_beetle gets a call-out - from the OUseful.Info blog.
April 20
Automagic Hyperlinks
People are pasting urls as text a lot more frequently, it seems, despite how easy it is to make a hyperlink with the "link" button under the text area. Maybe it has to do with people using mobile devices? In any case, would it be possible to add a routine that would automatically detect for "http://" in the text, and turn them into hyperlinks?
Chests are good, butts are bad, mmmkay? Bingo!
I'd like to know the reasoning behind keeping some posts up while deleting others, especially as it pertains to these particular threads. [more inside]
When pony was in mefi's land LOG MY PONY OUT
PONY TIME: Can we have a "manage active logins" page? [more inside]
Help Me Help You!
Pony AskMeFi request: "No Best Answers" filter/tab. [more inside]
Swiper No Swiping!
Can't swipe to favorite anymore. Did y'all disable that function? Or is it on my end? [more inside]
CISPA
Bean Plates, the MetaFilter recipe blog
April 19
As happy an ending as we're going to get.
Thoughts on comment thread meta-comments.
Perhaps I don't have enough experience on the site to gauge this, but does anyone else find one liner meta comments about threads really annoying and useless? Perhaps this is something that should be mentioned in the guidelines?
From the negative "This will not go well." to the typical sarcastic "This is thread is going nowhere..." to the positive "I'm surprised this went well!", they seem out of place and more about the person writing it than the topic at hand.
When I remember, I'm going to start marking all of these as noise.
Ride that Podcast Shownotes Pony?
Pony Request: Can we include the podcast shownotes in the podcast RSS feed? [more inside]
Transcribing is Love
Fanscribed helps listeners transcribe their favorite podcasts into text, by fanning out the work involved to followers of the podcast in 30 second snippets, making the transcription process fun and interesting!
Requirements: A Flash and JavaScript enabled web browser. That is it! [more inside]
Requirements: A Flash and JavaScript enabled web browser. That is it! [more inside]
April 18
I hate acronyms!
Whither acronyms? Do we hate them? Should we allow them? [more inside]
April 17
This is not the time machine I was hoping for...
When reading Ask on my iPhone, if I use the back arrow to back out of the question to the main page, it always takes me "back" to March 9th at 730 am. Is it just me?
Boxster Short
Why is this question about buying a Porsche Boxster anonymous? The only reason I can think of is the shame of being associated with a car that is associated with being driven by douchebags, which seems like a pretty low bar.
April 15
An ugly debate
I suppose the "I know better" attitude is intrinsic to the format of AskMe, but wouldn't it be better to just answer the question as best you can and refrain from attacking other peoples' answers? Being angry because others don't share your opinion is natural , but projecting that onto someone else you don't even know seems insincere. I also don't see a need for anyone to apologize because some peoples' opinions are different from yours. [more inside]
April 14
Lousy outrage filter
This is a lousy post and should be deleted. It's outrage filter and we don't have both sides of the story. Some of the links in the thread indicate that the blogger does not have a history of reliable behavior, so they may be nothing to be outraged about. I think it's bad policy to accept something apparently outrageous prima facie without delving into it further. If you can't find clarifying links, then don't post.
April 13
The Semite Subset
As a Jewish hetero man who has been transported by OK Cupid into the company of some of the creepiest people ever--of all ethnicities--I must respectfully take issue with Metafilter's acceptance of this non-Jew's comment that we Jews of JDate comprise a "particularly annoying subset." And I was surprised that this post was favorited more than flagged. [more inside]
You have many questions, Mr. Sparkle.
I'm a prolific AskMe user, but I think I'm doing it wrong. [more inside]
April 12
mobile saddle required for old pony
For some time I've been moving around MetaFilter on mobile, and I'm missing the 'Contact Activities' (side bar feature). I can't keep up with my favourite pack nearly as well. [more inside]
Wikipedia Posts Here?
Copying, without attribution from Wikipedia, should be cause for deletion.
Exactly the same, word for word, as the FPP. I pointed this out and got deleted. Why? If you can't write a reason for the post without using another's words, maybe the post shouldn't exist. [more inside]
You +1 me, you really +1 me!
Again, with the sidebar! [more inside]
We have a new meme. Yay! But it's like fingernails across a chalkboard. Boo!
Has anyone else noticed the quick spread of Yay! and Boo! on Metafilter, particularly AskMetafilter? I find it very annoying. I'm wondering whether others have noticed this too. [more inside]
Line breaks are not being stripped in mefi
Line breaks are not being stripped in mefi. I wanted to know if it's new site policy or a bug, and if it's new site policy, it would be great if we could talk about it. Thank you!
Sci-fi book recommendation AskMe threads
What are some of your favorite AskMe threads which are focused on recommending sci-fi books? It seems like this is a topic which comes up some with some regularity, and I even posted one myself a few years ago (and got great results). So I'm sure there are many more similar threads out there, and I'd love to see the ones you think are best. Thanks!
April 11
Which Active Users have been here the Longest?
Which Active Users have been here the Longest? [more inside]
Give full disclosure; get deleted.
Give full disclosure; get deleted. [more inside]
.231 isn't even a very good batting average.
70: phylactery, gegenschein, narthex, miasma & catarrh
Episode 70 of the MetaFilter podcast is the first one in a while and runs almost two hours. It was recorded on Monday April 9th. [more inside]
Fitness, Not Hateness
It's not cool to hate on fit people. [more inside]
Is this MetaFilter feature a security issue?
Is this MetaFilter feature a security issue? [more inside]
That's what the search function is for
Seeing quintuple (and counting!) [more inside]
What made you pay?
For MeFis that joined after Nov. 17, 2004: what convinced you to pay the $5 upfront fee? Needed for a research project, details inside. [more inside]
My Little Musical Pony
Pony request: music.mefi's 'most favorited this week' widget on sidebar (or at least this week's most favorited track). [more inside]
April 10
That was an ad.
Today there's a post that is only a series of links to a single retail website. The thread head offers no critique or external perspective: it's a glowing recommendation. If I were going to write an ad for that store (knowing mefi is my target sales demographic), it would look a lot like that thread. [more inside]
Don't be lazy.
There is no tin. There is no box. Nothing is written on them. [more inside]
Delete and favorite query
Are search and favorite broken? [more inside]
April 9
Much love to all of MeFi!
Shoutout!!!! [more inside]
Can I hide a thread?
Is there a script I can use to hide a particular thread? It's freaking me out and telling myself not to click isn't working.
BIGGAR!
BIGGARFilter: Could we please use less subscript? [more inside]
Enough Wooshing Already
Hate to be the one to say it, but we will be expecting a 2 hour podcast extravaganza
April 8
Mods get Gothic Blackletter.
Is there a userscript that can change the font of arbitrary users' comments/posts?
This post is basically 'you're not doing it correctly, do it my way'
April 7
So what exactly is the purpose of the profile?
What's wrong with referencing someone's profile info in a discussion? [more inside]
April 6
There may not be fifty ways but there are more than one.
Ugh, I'm just going to say it: continuously posting to this breakup advice in Ask is lazy and more often than not it doesn't really fit the situation. I wish people would speak to the actual specific break-up someone is asking about or just stay out of it. [more inside]
April 5
ISO comment
Total longshot: I am looking for an askme comment from several years ago (probably between 2007-2009) where a user said they had been employed as a computer programmer by a big bank, designing a program to re-order transactions so that the bank could maximize its overdraft fees. I have searched high and low and can't find it. Help?
Mudpuppie, we miss you!
Pony request! IRL photos in the sidebar. [more inside]
Potential MeFi post
April 4
Is Metafilter sex-negative?
Is Metafilter sex-negative? [more inside]
Hobgoblins of a little mind
April staff tags are not showing up in Recent Activity. [more inside]
April 3
Why did we treat this FPP differently?
A positive callout. [more inside]
Airbnbfi
April 1
Was GoT Worth a Shit?
Is the second season of Game of Thrones Good? [more inside]
This First-Page Party's Got to Go! Hey Hey!
Why do we treat FPPs differently? [more inside]