May 2018 Archives (all archives)
May 31
Essay/Article by a guy who wrote college students' papers for them?
I am certain we discussed this on the blue. There was a man who wrote an article about how he'd been writing papers for college students, and that he was "quitting," and it seemed a bit hostile to college profs for not noticing, or something? He made like $60k a year writing essays and research papers for college students. Can someone find that post? I've tried, but I'm always terrible with finding things on this site.
Dear AskMe, My Husband's T-Shirt Has Llama Stains.
My husband and I are both MeFites - he introduced me! - and we often wonder about other couples or close friends who reference Metafilter in various 'inside joke'-type ways. Do you do this? And how? [more inside]
May 30
Pony request: identifying links to Medium
I know this isn't something mods can do, but thought I would put in a request here for people posting links to restricted-access content on Medium to identify their links (eg SLMedium or similar). [more inside]
New Year's Resolution Check-In/Update
We're just at the half way point of 2018. How are those New Year's resolutions coming along? Have you done the thing you said you were going to do? If you have, that's awesome. If you didn't, there's still time. And maybe you won't, that's also cool, there's always next year. Figured it'd be fun to have a place to share our triumphs, struggles, etc.
May 27
Fitocracy?
I see there's a Metafilter group on there, but it's dormant! If anyone's interested in following or being followed, just search for the group and you'll find me (I don't want to link that username with my metafilter identity). Thank you!
MyPony request
Would it be possible to let users set My Mefi and My Ask sites as their default views when signed in? Partly to save clicks and partly (mostly on Ask) because there are some topics I'd rather not read about here. [more inside]
May 26
Metatalktail Hour: Hot-Weather Recipes
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! I'm a little slow to post this week because MY AIR CONDITIONING DIED so there was all the drama of working over a hot computer in 90 degree heat while waiting for the repair guy. ANYWAY, not that my house is cooling back off, I desperately want to know your favorite hot-weather recipes -- things that taste good in the heat, or things that you don't need to turn on the stove for, or things that just taste like summer. Go!
May 25
General Data Protection Regulation and Metafilter
There are some meta questions about Metafilter in the GDPR thread, and more are likely to come up soon given some US sites blocking EU users by default. [more inside]
May 24
Sibling violence
I’m troubled by some of the responses to this post, wherein the OP describes being assaulted by his sister. I feel that some of the replies were victim-blamey and elevated the severity his actions to the level of her behavior (which involved actually punching him in the face, among other things). [more inside]
May 23
Metafilter's 20th: Any Plans
If my math is correct Metafilter will be 20 next year. This seems like something that may take a year to plan. Are there any plans? Anyone planning on making plans? What's the plan for plans?
Smells like teen spirit
As of yesterday I have been a member of this site for eighteen years. In Mefi years I am old enough to vote. I joined while in grad school at the university of Louisville. I just wanted to thank everyone for their help and insights over the years. [more inside]
May 20
Fizz¹⁰
Happy 10 Years! This is me saying thank you for dealing with my idiosyncrasies. My video-game obsessed posts, my overly polite Canadian need to apologize. I want to say thank you to all the moderators, developers, members, lurkers, friends & acquaintances, the entire community. You make living online worthwhile. This place truly is 'Best of the Web'. Here's hoping for 10 more! Cheers.
May 19
Metatalktail Hour: Open thread
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, I'm a little tired from too much stuff this weekend, so I declare an open thread. Tell us what's up with you, especially the nice things. Or share what's on your mind that the rest of us might enjoy!
May 18
The royal privilege
Regarding the mod note in the royal wedding thread, why are we pushing an unabashed royalist view of this spectacle? Should any negativity of this really be off limits?
May 16
MeFites on Are.na
Frimble was kind enough to add Are.na to the 'Also On' profile page options. So far I only see two other MeFites who have added their Are.na profiles (and one is broken). Surely there are more of you. How have you been using the site? [more inside]
May 15
Fucking Fuck XI
"Please excuse me for some profane words," Spike Lee asked his audience at his new film's Cannes premiere, "But the shit that’s going on, it makes you want to curse. [...] … stuff is happening, and it’s topsy-turvy and the fake has been trumpeted as the truth. "
This is the new fucking fuck venting thread. [more inside]
May 14
LearnedLeague: We Have The Technology
As you may have heard, LearnedLeague suffered a catastrophic server failure on May 5. Their hosting company lost the whole site, with no backup. (Exclusive documentary video footage of LL's hosting company.) Fortunately, Thorsten is a smart fellow, and had his own local backups, and he has now rebuilt almost the whole site. Private Rundle rosters didn't survive, though. You need to re-register for the MetaFilter Private Rundle if you want in for LL77. [more inside]
May 12
Metatalktail Hour: Family Jargon
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, Too Ticky wants to hear about the "expressions or jargon are used only in your family or friends group -- Bonus points for stuff that no one else would understand." This kind of question is straight-up my jam so I look forward to giggling for the next several hours!
May 9
Post About Flower Symbolism and Gifting Flowers
I vaguely recall a post about the gifting of flowers and the symbolic meaning behind them. And I think it's also a post that talks about this being done in a specific period of history, like the 20s/30s (could be very wrong about this part) and how this relates to the type of relationship you're trying to establish with a person? You'd give a person a rose if you wanted to send this message or a yellow tulip if you wanted this type of relationship. Please and thank you.
I like your favourites
I unfortunately am aware of the academic research around "likes" and the equivalent. But, metafilter favourites carry more weight with me, even than family likes on facebook, because you guys (apart from H00py, and the tenth anniversary 3 monkeys people) don't know me or owe me. So when you favourite something I post here, which is much much more than . [more inside]
May 8
Why Do People Get Stuck?
A few months ago, I read something - I thought via MeFi or AskMe - that addressed why people get 'stuck' in times of difficulty and become unable to 'think outside of the box' with any clarity. I really regret not saving the link - please help me find this article (blog post?) or something similar. [more inside]
May 7
Best Title Title
I wasn't around when the Great Title Wars were fought, but I would have sided with The Man. I enjoy coming up with titles that are cheeky and somewhat obscure.
I therefore propose a Best Title contest in May. I'll choose the winner by a proprietary method. The prize is fifty calling cards from MOO with your job title of choice and, optionally, a graphic on the reverse (I'm fond of The Wave Of The Future).
Others are welcome to sponsor sub-Title contests such as Most Obscure Allusion, BestWorst Pun, etc. Let the entitling begin (or continue, as it were, it being the 8th and all).
Math Enrichment Program for Kids
I remember reading a post some years ago (2-5?) about a math enrichment program for kids. The idea was to teach an intuition and sense of puzzle-solving/wonder around math rather than rote learning. I seem to recall an example being asking kids how they would find the area of a triangle rather than just teaching them how. There was a metaphor about how the way we teach math is akin to teaching music by making kids learn all about scales before letting them hear a single song. Anyone know/remember what this math program was?
140: We Usually Come Up With A Title
It's episode 140 of the MetaFilter podcast, and you know what that means: we've been doing this a while and we're all out of clever ideas, leave us alone, sheesh. Also it means Jessamyn and I talk about MetaFilter stuff and sundry internetries. I obsess about house numbers a little, and we chatter about weddings and downtimes and some of that recent Stack Overflow stuff and so on. Runs about 90 minutes. [more inside]
“Status” is not the same as “Relationship Status”
When you edit your profile, you get a nice free-form field for your “Relationship Status”. On your profile, it is listed as “Status”. (All other fields are described with identical language on both pages.)This has driven my pedantic self nuts for ages. Would it be possible to update the “edit profile” page so that it just asks for “Status”? Or, if we want to be wordy, for your “Status (Personal/Relationship/Whatever)”?
R.I.P. quarsan
Farewell to veteran Mefite quarsan, aka Andy Carling, who joined in March 2001—writer, editor, former EU journalist based in Brussels, latterly living in England's Lake District.
May 5
Metatalktail Hour: Quantified Self
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, aniola asks, "What data do you track about yourself? Eg., books read, places visited, eating out, etc." And why that data!
Alternate question: What did you do with yourself during the Great MetaFilter Outage of 2018?
Alternate question: What did you do with yourself during the Great MetaFilter Outage of 2018?
May 4
Unplanned Server Outage
The site had an outage today for about 6 hours. It wasn't planned and I'm sorry that it happened. [more inside]
May 1
AMP is not the Open Web
Does Metafilter have a policy about Google AMP urls in FPPs like this one? Might we consider stripping them out? Or do the benefits (mobile friendly speed, primarily) outweigh the possible costs (Google controls more of the web)