June 2001 Archives (all archives)
June 29
Obits: if you don't care, stay out
Raining on other people's parades. I've seen this before, eulogizing, and I don't know if it's been discussed here, but people have a bad habit of being contrary and blase simply for the sake of it.
So in this thread, which admittedly I am very upset about, seeing as how I used "font size=7" to proclaim my sorrow, why are people coming in to a thread that is about mourning of a sort and talking about how much they don't care? You didn't read pamie.com? Wonderful! Why the hell are you talking about it, then? You didn't like it? Super! Does that mean your opinions are appropriate?
Are people so in love with the "sound of their own voice" that they just have to blab, regardless of the thread? I'd like to know, really.
So in this thread, which admittedly I am very upset about, seeing as how I used "font size=7" to proclaim my sorrow, why are people coming in to a thread that is about mourning of a sort and talking about how much they don't care? You didn't read pamie.com? Wonderful! Why the hell are you talking about it, then? You didn't like it? Super! Does that mean your opinions are appropriate?
Are people so in love with the "sound of their own voice" that they just have to blab, regardless of the thread? I'd like to know, really.
New link indicator on front page; pony!
I'd find it very useful if there were marks next to links on the front page so that I could see straight away which links are new since my last view. If I check the front page and there are 20-odd new links, I can't remember which I've seen before. Something like this would be nice.
just an excuse for people to mourn their own future demise
I'm not knocking the people who posted the threads, but does anyone else feel like every online discussion about a death is really just an excuse for people to mourn their own future demise (complete with overstated praise for themselves and why-God-why lamenting)?
Matt, what do you think about charging for Metafilter now (June 2001)
I know the "Matt make another post" thread is a joke, and it's funny. But lately, my guilt mechanism for getting Metafilter for free has been kicking in.
Then I read this post: http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/8677#101532
And there's the thing about Yahoo possibly going subscription (sorry, I'm a technomoron and I don't know how to link from over here).
I know we've asked before, and you've refused. But Matt, what do you think about charging for Metafilter now on some sort of basis? Is it time? And what do others think?
Then I read this post: http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/8677#101532
And there's the thing about Yahoo possibly going subscription (sorry, I'm a technomoron and I don't know how to link from over here).
I know we've asked before, and you've refused. But Matt, what do you think about charging for Metafilter now on some sort of basis? Is it time? And what do others think?
June 28
Change password
Can we get a form to change our MeFi password? I haven't been able to find it, so I guess this is a feature request...hope I haven't just missed the link somewhere on the front page :)
Matt has a funny number of posts!
Quick, Matt, make another front page post! Your eternal destiny may depend on it! [explanation inside]
Does MetaFilter need to be a nurturing environment?
"Of course not, dayvin, but thanks for ruining the excitement of posting my first link."
Link content aside, does this happen too often? Does MetaFilter need to be a nurturing environment? Could we maybe have "rookie" stripes that let the jaded know to cut the newbies some slack?
Link content aside, does this happen too often? Does MetaFilter need to be a nurturing environment? Could we maybe have "rookie" stripes that let the jaded know to cut the newbies some slack?
June 26
Maybe I already AM stoned
I say that tonight, to those who flame we respond as though we're stoned no? Now wouldn't that be irritating?
BTW. I don't expect anyone to actually do it nor post on this thread.
BTW. I don't expect anyone to actually do it nor post on this thread.
Question for Matt
Question for Matt: How long would someone's MeFi posting privileges be maintained if they posted about "how many niggers" there are on MeFi? Or the number of "kikes"? Is there a limit here, at any point on the scale?
Should one get permission before linking to another site?
should linking to another site be contingent on that user's permission? this question is an old one, mostly debated on slashdot regarding linking to DeCSS sites being ruled illegal. many said that was an impingement of their 1st amendment rights. as a site that relies on linking to other websites, i think it's a relevant issue.
i never read many of the comments on slashdot about the subject because there were so many, and perhaps this has already been debated here by others. but the notion of a site being "slashdotted" came to mind. the costs of bandwidth are, to me, a perfectly legit reason to sue another site over being unknowingly linked to or at least linked without prior approval. so what do you guys think?
i know that mefi is not the sort of site where you can expect a gigabyte's worth of bandwidth to come from one link here, but i think it's a problem that may need to be addressed. has anyone ever been slashdotted here? how much have you had to pay? if you could, would you want to sue to recouperate the costs of being slashdotted?
i never read many of the comments on slashdot about the subject because there were so many, and perhaps this has already been debated here by others. but the notion of a site being "slashdotted" came to mind. the costs of bandwidth are, to me, a perfectly legit reason to sue another site over being unknowingly linked to or at least linked without prior approval. so what do you guys think?
i know that mefi is not the sort of site where you can expect a gigabyte's worth of bandwidth to come from one link here, but i think it's a problem that may need to be addressed. has anyone ever been slashdotted here? how much have you had to pay? if you could, would you want to sue to recouperate the costs of being slashdotted?
common un/pwd for nyt?
Another NY Times suggestion...
Opensewer has a publicly available login and password to view articles they think are of interest. Is this feasible for us? I know there haven't been a lot of NYTimes posts lately, and someone mentioned in a previous MetaTalk thread that NYT might crack down on group logins. But since channel.nytimes seems to be closed for the time being, is this a possibility? Something like login: Metafilter, pwd: A-list...
Opensewer has a publicly available login and password to view articles they think are of interest. Is this feasible for us? I know there haven't been a lot of NYTimes posts lately, and someone mentioned in a previous MetaTalk thread that NYT might crack down on group logins. But since channel.nytimes seems to be closed for the time being, is this a possibility? Something like login: Metafilter, pwd: A-list...
MeFi has officially eliminated a date on the calendar.
There is no June 24th on my "dates" view. MeFi has officially eliminated a date on the calendar.
Banned IP ranges get you redirected to plastic.com
This past week I've tried to access metafilter from a public library computer and an internet cafe computer, but each time I've gotten redirected to plastic.com. Very strange - from my PC at work it's fine. I live in France.
June 25
MeTa Errors
The Error Messages are getting more and more frequent in Metatalk. Yes, this is a double post, but sufficiently urgent. The most recent one was: http://metatalk.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/8590#99606
using IE5.0 for Mac.
And yet another error message when I tried to post this on--oh cruel irony!
using IE5.0 for Mac.
And yet another error message when I tried to post this on--oh cruel irony!
"Older"/"Newer" links at the top of the page
I would just LOVE it if the "Older"/"Newer" links were up at the top of the page as well (in a fixed location). That way I could easily to the next thread without having to scroll down or go Back...
I could script my own blogging tool, couldn't I?
It occurred to me today that I could take a simple web discussion board script, modify the interface a little bit, and turn it into a blogging tool. I guess archiving would be a drag, but otherwise it would probably work. Anyone try anything like this?
Italics Policy
What about this? Can we frown upon front page posts that consist only of italics? Ouchie.
Inline Pong Animation
Isn't this frowned upon?
curious if the MeFi community could advise me
i've remember threads like this before, but my searches turned up nothing, i think im searching for the wrong things ... anywho. i was trying to set up an apache server with some fun toys and was curious if the MeFi community could advise me on what i would need to set up to run PHP, and all that fun stuff.
June 24
raysmj is unhappy with the hostility in a thread
Is this weblog-as-conversation or game site material? (I know - it's only one person, but this sort of thing shouldn't happen.) What is up with such comments? In more controversial threads, it's to be expected. Do sarcasm and concurring opinions always have to be clearly labeled, though? (In the former case, my use of "disorder" was slight exaggeration for effect, given our society's current mania for the label. But it just so happens that it fits the angry-letter description perfectly. Unfortunately, by the end of that second angry letter, a rather intriguing thread on a non-dire matter has been killed by hostility.)
June 23
usounds.com is seeking a weblogger
Want Ad: Music Loving Weblogger
usounds.com is seeking a weblogger to update the daily news section. We used to do it ourselves, but time and other issues have made it difficult. From 1999-2000 we updated the news section daily, providing news and links to our readers favorite bands such as Air, Radiohead, Bjork, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Thievery Corporation, St. Germain, etc.
We cannot offer any financial rewards, however we can get you almost any new CD (indie or otherwise) that you require. Also the page receives many more hits than the average weblog, and we can post links to your other projects. We're looking for someone to update daily (or close to it) during the week. Must have a love of international underground pop music. Thanks!
please contact chaz bartok if you are interested.
usounds.com is seeking a weblogger to update the daily news section. We used to do it ourselves, but time and other issues have made it difficult. From 1999-2000 we updated the news section daily, providing news and links to our readers favorite bands such as Air, Radiohead, Bjork, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Thievery Corporation, St. Germain, etc.
We cannot offer any financial rewards, however we can get you almost any new CD (indie or otherwise) that you require. Also the page receives many more hits than the average weblog, and we can post links to your other projects. We're looking for someone to update daily (or close to it) during the week. Must have a love of international underground pop music. Thanks!
please contact chaz bartok if you are interested.
June 22
Callout
Were the end of this thread a football match, yellow cards woudl be shown. Were it an ice hockey game, there'd be penalties. Within MetaFilter, it's really not on.
How about a Statute of Limitations on double-posts?
How about a Statute of Limitations on double-posts? jpoulos just posted a link that turns out to be a double-post from something from April 2000. Sure, he should have done the search, but is there a point where something has slipped out of our collective conscious long enough that it can be seen afresh?
When you reload the page, can the "new" comments be updated?
i have this tendancy to sit on mefi's home page and just reload every now and then for new comments. (am i alone?) anyway, i notice that when you leave the site and revisit, you get a different tally of what comments are "new", but when you stay and reload, what was new last time is still considered a "new" comment (with newer ones added onto what was there previously).
my idea is to change the code such that when you reload the page, the "new" comments for a user are updated as when you leave and revisit the site. i don't know the algorithm you're using matt, so i don't know if this even feasible or not, or if anyone else would want the behavior to change.
my idea is to change the code such that when you reload the page, the "new" comments for a user are updated as when you leave and revisit the site. i don't know the algorithm you're using matt, so i don't know if this even feasible or not, or if anyone else would want the behavior to change.
I can't seem to logout of MeFi using the logout button
I can't seem to logout of MeFi using the logout button. The only way seems to be for me to manually delete the cookie. If I don't, then the next time I enter MeFi, or if I refresh the page, I remain logged in.
I am currently using a pretty crappy old shared PC running MSIE 5.01 and Win95. Could this be my problem?
I am currently using a pretty crappy old shared PC running MSIE 5.01 and Win95. Could this be my problem?
Welcome to AOL
Maybe it's just me, but there are times when a thread seems to take on the conversational (and intellectual) tone of an AOL chat room.
June 21
Make that list of user blogs into a sideblog
Blog of the Moment? Perhaps you could randomly cycle through the user database and highlight a blog every 10 minutes or so, like at the top of the sideblog. It may be a way to temper the urge to self-link.
The Metafilter gopher server is down
I can't access the site (June 2001)
Recently I discovered that I was mysteriously unable to access MeFi from my home peecee running Win98. I keep getting server timeouts. I tried Netscape 4.74, 6, and even IE to no avail. I didn't see this problem until recently.
At work I've got an O2 and a Dell laptop running IRIX and NT4.0 respectively. Both systems are running Netscape 4.74 and I seem to be able to access MeFi just fine.
Is this a problem with cookies, or a sinister plot to drive Win98 lusers like me insane? Please, give me another reason to hate this OS.
At work I've got an O2 and a Dell laptop running IRIX and NT4.0 respectively. Both systems are running Netscape 4.74 and I seem to be able to access MeFi just fine.
Is this a problem with cookies, or a sinister plot to drive Win98 lusers like me insane? Please, give me another reason to hate this OS.
June 20
Blogger vs. LiveJournal Webby War
Ev declares "war" on Livejournal. Yeah, they're pricks - but it may also smack of crass self promotion. Whaddya think?
Go To Jail Day
Apparently, it's Go To Jail Day here at Metafilter. Someone forgot to tell me.
Go to Jail Day!
Today is "go to jail" theme day! I hope everyone got their postcards in the mail alerting them to this fact, and I hope you all wore your jail yard stripes to work like we agreed on.
Isn't it funny how an odd trend can pop up out of thin air and start charging?
Isn't it funny how an odd trend can pop up out of thin air and start charging?
Online articles made crappier by lack of reprinted photos
I don't know where else to put this: If you work for a major media company that is repurposing analog content into the digital media, then please pass a note to your people that a) when a caption says "Left, Joe Blow" in analog form, it might need editing in digital form, particularly as considering how Joe may now be to the right, top or bottom of the caption, or Joe's picture may not be there at all, leading to b) Please, if you feel the need to print stories like "Calvin Klein was hit with a pie, as shown in the picture above" please show the picture above. Very frustrating. I know you old media people are too cheap to pay photographers that little bit extra to use their pictures online, too, but it makes no sense to then go ahead and pay the writer for a story that is near useless without the photo.
Italicized front page
Can someone put a tag on the front page?
Everything after the description of the very first entry is now in italics.
Everything after the description of the very first entry is now in italics.
June 19
Desperately seeking an album from a page that no longer exists
Hi all,
I'm posting here because I knew this would be way out of line for a front page post, but I am desperate....
I need to find as many copies of this album as possible, on vinyl.
does anyone happen to have a few dozen laying around? Or any good ideas when I could find some either online or off...? And relatively CHEAP?! I've tried ebay and some cutout companies...ebay is too slow... I've found two.... and cut out places are too expensive... $8.00 a copy!!! with maybe 10% off for bulk.
Its for a good cause.... Sorry if I've ruffled any feathers with this post...but any help would be appreciated.
thank yous,
darkPony
I'm posting here because I knew this would be way out of line for a front page post, but I am desperate....
I need to find as many copies of this album as possible, on vinyl.
does anyone happen to have a few dozen laying around? Or any good ideas when I could find some either online or off...? And relatively CHEAP?! I've tried ebay and some cutout companies...ebay is too slow... I've found two.... and cut out places are too expensive... $8.00 a copy!!! with maybe 10% off for bulk.
Its for a good cause.... Sorry if I've ruffled any feathers with this post...but any help would be appreciated.
thank yous,
darkPony
Mefi member count discrepancy
Someting simple, actually (I hope). On the front page of MeFi, if you're not logged in, the member count is 9342. When you're logged in the member count is 9075.
June 18
Spousal disapproval of Metafilter?
My wife just asked me:
Are you reading Metafilter again? You've got that coprophagacious grin on your face, and I can see that blue background reflecting in your eyeglasses.
Are you reading Metafilter again? You've got that coprophagacious grin on your face, and I can see that blue background reflecting in your eyeglasses.
Doublepost magically disappears?
So, is a repeat topic deleted? I posted a comment on a topic that had been revealed as a repeat. About a minute later, the thing didn't exist. Poof!
Either Matt is really on top of things, or there's some kind of cool scripting going on that I need to know about.
Either Matt is really on top of things, or there's some kind of cool scripting going on that I need to know about.
I am too good for this, and I am telling you that now.
Of all the cheap rhetorical tactics employed here, I think my favorite is "you people are sick and this conversation is beneath me, so I'm not participating except to note this fact" (#1, #2, #3, #4).
June 17
Little problem with XML parsers
a tiny problem with the rss feed -- some xml parsers (particularly expat, the parser used inside mozilla and perl's XML::Parser, require that the '' appear at the very beginning of the file. it seems like an overly strict reading of the spec to me, but there you are. kudos for adding the feed, in any case!
Self-links in comments.
has bonzo gone too far? three of four posts have been self-links, and now this comment....
June 15
Metatalk 404 error
I keep getting the following when accessing Metatallk:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Error Occurred While Processing Request
Error Diagnostic Information
An error has occurred.
HTTP/1.0 404 Object Not Found
Please inform the site administrator that this error has occurred (be sure to include the contents of this page in your message to the administrator).
Any idea why?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Error Occurred While Processing Request
Error Diagnostic Information
An error has occurred.
HTTP/1.0 404 Object Not Found
Please inform the site administrator that this error has occurred (be sure to include the contents of this page in your message to the administrator).
Any idea why?
Let's leave links like this to the Southern Poverty Law Center, OK?
What is Dave Winer talking about?
Can anyone figure out what Dave's saying today at Scripting?
mention of MeFi in USA Weekend
mention of MeFi in USA Weekend. The blurb says "This collaborative weblog features links posted by all sorts of surfers on all sorts of topic." Technically right, but oh Gannett, how you could do so much more.
"recent comments" browsing misses interesting stuff
For the past week or so, I've been browsing by "recent comments," which seems to work the best for me. However today I switched to "date" to check out what I've been missing and was surprised to see that there was quite a bit of very interesting links that I had missed.
It seems that the really chatty topics are the ones I've been seeing, but the really interesting links were in the date filter.
Anyway to make the side-bar customizable to add the feed of date or recent comments? Not that it's all that difficult to switch between the two, but it would be nifty to be able to look at both at the same time.
It seems that the really chatty topics are the ones I've been seeing, but the really interesting links were in the date filter.
Anyway to make the side-bar customizable to add the feed of date or recent comments? Not that it's all that difficult to switch between the two, but it would be nifty to be able to look at both at the same time.
June 13
Matt asks for feedback on an abusive multi-account user
So the FreeSpeech guy came back today. For those that have never heard of him, he's also PrivateParts, RightWinger, and PatMcGroin among other accounts.
In the past, I've deleted his most inflammatory posts and banned his IP range and accounts. His real name is Mike Allen, and he works as a temp, so he gets a new IP range with every new job. I know he lives in LA, and I've been told he's a 36 year old guy that lives to fuck with chat rooms and message boards.
He contends that I'm a "self-righteous left wing politically correct little prick who cant take a fucking joke on your precious site" and that I'm a censorship nazi that can't handle his right wing views. He calls Aaron a pussy and claims that aaron is a moderate (I pointed out that there are non-abrasive right wing members of MetaFilter that never get banned).
His email is michaelpatrickallen@hotmail.com and I don't know what the fuck to do about him. I just told him to stop, but he basically told me to fuck off and he'd keep it up forever and that the site deserves to be torn down by him.
He's the user I always feared existed. The freak with unlimited time and not a care in the world, someone that would do anything in their power to destory whatever you've built. Someone that won't listen to reason, and doesn't care to debate anything.
What the fuck am I supposed to do? I'm tired of following around and picking up his messes these past few months, and I don't want give up and let him win, but what else is there to do?
In the past, I've deleted his most inflammatory posts and banned his IP range and accounts. His real name is Mike Allen, and he works as a temp, so he gets a new IP range with every new job. I know he lives in LA, and I've been told he's a 36 year old guy that lives to fuck with chat rooms and message boards.
He contends that I'm a "self-righteous left wing politically correct little prick who cant take a fucking joke on your precious site" and that I'm a censorship nazi that can't handle his right wing views. He calls Aaron a pussy and claims that aaron is a moderate (I pointed out that there are non-abrasive right wing members of MetaFilter that never get banned).
His email is michaelpatrickallen@hotmail.com and I don't know what the fuck to do about him. I just told him to stop, but he basically told me to fuck off and he'd keep it up forever and that the site deserves to be torn down by him.
He's the user I always feared existed. The freak with unlimited time and not a care in the world, someone that would do anything in their power to destory whatever you've built. Someone that won't listen to reason, and doesn't care to debate anything.
What the fuck am I supposed to do? I'm tired of following around and picking up his messes these past few months, and I don't want give up and let him win, but what else is there to do?
Matt's in the news
Rock-star Matt Haughey is in the news again (with gratuitous photo). This time, in a New York Times article on the Amazon honor system (penned by Ironminds' Andy Wang).
Not needing to respond to every post
"Your Usenettish respond-to-everyone-who-disagrees-with-you style might be less effective than you think." 11 out of 49 comments were posted by one user. Is there a proper way to "debate"? Should one save up all retorts and include them in one or two comment posts? Or is it okay to respond to each person individually? I personally am getting tired of it...
MeFi Primer: How Best To Post
Uh-oh Zach's got another stupid idea... A thought that has apparently been percolating in my head just surfaced: MeFi Primer: How Best To Post.
Of course, I don't know how, so I'm asking for input... [more]
Of course, I don't know how, so I'm asking for input... [more]
June 12
The Metafiler Official Language Request
Is it appropriate to post non-English links to the front page? For the majority of MeFites, it's equivalent to a linkless post, no? Or worse: In this case, at least there was no warning until the very end of the comment, so I'm sure many wasted their time clicking a useless link. But hey, maybe everyone here speaks French but me.
Fes' Fece Flingin
Fes' Fece Flingin
Could we please end the Kottke linking?
Could we please end the Kottke linking?
Scholarship voting problem
I voted for all of the essays, but when I went to check my votes with the provided link, it claimed I had not voted for any essays. Is the problem a bug or just me?
Time to vote on those crazy scholarship kids
Time to vote on those crazy scholarship kids. It's been tested on IE 5 and NN 4, on a PC and a Mac and seems to work. I took great pains to make it hack proof, so it's as fair as possible. If anyone finds anything wrong, post it here, or email me about it.
There's over $1600 on the line, so read carefully and vote wisely.
There's over $1600 on the line, so read carefully and vote wisely.
June 11
Mefi compared to chemical spill
I think Lance finally hit upon the perfect motto:
"Like a great train wreck involving hundreds dead in a chemical spill that strips the skin off babies and puppies and makes the entire population collectively vomit up blood, I keep coming back to look some more."
"Like a great train wreck involving hundreds dead in a chemical spill that strips the skin off babies and puppies and makes the entire population collectively vomit up blood, I keep coming back to look some more."
June 10
Self-blogger
This is a classic self-blog. [more]
please post my comments!! (closed membership)
The huddled masses are getting desperate!
I received the following e-mail yesterday:
From PreesiGirl@aol.com
To:pikachulolita@home.com, edchamp@earthlink.net, srosenyc@aol.com
Hi Everyone,
Since 'Metafilter' aint accepting new users I thought I'd
write to a bunch of you. Someone please post my comments
for me?
Heres my take on MaryRomantic (Mary Terry):
Read the part about the gift and the 'snag-points'
Also think about the fact that she's asking for something
unattainable in men (IE no one will ever fit her profile). And the fact that she only meets them
in public and that she ultimately has the full power to say, "Sorry! I don't think YOU are 'him', Goodbye" !
That is after She has obtained the GIFT.
Look at this statement:
[. No matter what kind of other strange message I may hear on your answering machine, even if it sounds as though you won't be around until way past our appointed date time, I'll know that that kind of message doesn't pertain to me, ]
This makes ME believe as though ALOT of men have gotten thru to her answering machine and those are the strange messages.
The fact that she's jobless and unmarried leads me to the following:
Mary is a grifter! In the same fashion as Robert Blakes wife was.
She has men meet her somewhere, probably where her real boyfriend
is hiding behind a bush, gets her 'gift' and chats with him for a few minutes and since she has the authority in the say so of the meeting
she tells him she needs to think about him and she'll contact HIM!
She never does and goes on to the next sucker thats lined up in a few minutes somewhere else.
The men are too ashamed that they fell for this that they don't dare discuss it with friends or go to the cops.
If the gift is $100.00, she could make a nice income off of this grifting!
Just my observations.
PS Ed? I thought the same thing about LRonHubbard and her site. LOL
Preesi
I received the following e-mail yesterday:
From PreesiGirl@aol.com
To:pikachulolita@home.com, edchamp@earthlink.net, srosenyc@aol.com
Hi Everyone,
Since 'Metafilter' aint accepting new users I thought I'd
write to a bunch of you. Someone please post my comments
for me?
Heres my take on MaryRomantic (Mary Terry):
Read the part about the gift and the 'snag-points'
Also think about the fact that she's asking for something
unattainable in men (IE no one will ever fit her profile). And the fact that she only meets them
in public and that she ultimately has the full power to say, "Sorry! I don't think YOU are 'him', Goodbye" !
That is after She has obtained the GIFT.
Look at this statement:
[. No matter what kind of other strange message I may hear on your answering machine, even if it sounds as though you won't be around until way past our appointed date time, I'll know that that kind of message doesn't pertain to me, ]
This makes ME believe as though ALOT of men have gotten thru to her answering machine and those are the strange messages.
The fact that she's jobless and unmarried leads me to the following:
Mary is a grifter! In the same fashion as Robert Blakes wife was.
She has men meet her somewhere, probably where her real boyfriend
is hiding behind a bush, gets her 'gift' and chats with him for a few minutes and since she has the authority in the say so of the meeting
she tells him she needs to think about him and she'll contact HIM!
She never does and goes on to the next sucker thats lined up in a few minutes somewhere else.
The men are too ashamed that they fell for this that they don't dare discuss it with friends or go to the cops.
If the gift is $100.00, she could make a nice income off of this grifting!
Just my observations.
PS Ed? I thought the same thing about LRonHubbard and her site. LOL
Preesi
June 9
Open Sourcing something MetaFilter like.
Open Sourcing something MetaFilter like. [more inside]
Can we bring back the floaty DHTML log list?
How about bringing back the floaty DHTML log list? At least just for fun.
June 8
Comment text disappearing after preview.
Editing weirdness. Is it just my lack of standards compliant browser (all I ask for is a browser that is compliant, supports imap mail and runs on linux) or what? Tried to post a comment and previewed. Last night there was nothing to edit "below" and back erased everything. Today at one point I could edit below, then I couldn't although back left text in place. Neither seems to be true here (talk not mefi).
Open sourcing Mefi?
Open sourcing Mefi?
I know you were thinking of it, but the rest of us have sites to build on your back... :)
I know you were thinking of it, but the rest of us have sites to build on your back... :)
June 7
Why can't I post?
Why I suddenly haven't any posting rights for the main page, allthough I've already posted and commented different threads?
So, maybe one of you could announce this link for me:
http://jsoft.zabia.net/reblogger.php
ReBlogger is a blogvoices alternative.
Thanks.
So, maybe one of you could announce this link for me:
http://jsoft.zabia.net/reblogger.php
ReBlogger is a blogvoices alternative.
Thanks.
Lurking and the community
Everything I Know I Learned at MetaFilter. I am amazed at how many of the little knowledge bits I pass on each day to friends, family and co-workers I originally came across on MeFi. It is a rare day that I do not access the site multiple times. Truly addictive.
But I feel like a bit of a leech though...always lurking and rarely posting. I'd like to hear the experiences of other habitual users who tiptoe around the fringe...are we legion or merely the non-vocal minority? Community members or parasite?
But I feel like a bit of a leech though...always lurking and rarely posting. I'd like to hear the experiences of other habitual users who tiptoe around the fringe...are we legion or merely the non-vocal minority? Community members or parasite?
Why Are Links Adding Metafilter URL to Them?
Has anyone noticed that a lot of the links people are building have http://www.metafilter.com crammed in front? I don't have specfic examples, but I've seen it at least four times.
Toaster multiple posts
Would anybody care for some toast? I just posted a remark to a thread about the weather toaster, saying that I thought two other posts on said toaster had already been deleted this week. And now that thread has been deleted as well. I got over the toaster thing when it was first discussed on MeFi before, and apparently so did others. I can understand wanting to get rid of redundant posts, but if we delete them, some people aren't going to realize that the subject has already been discussed.
What's up with the Metafilter Scholarship?
What's the status of the MeFi scholarship? Did I miss the judging?
Offsite fight brought to Metafilter
Do coverage of ongoing dramatics between a single site owner and a single site user (and in neither case is the site referenced MeFi...) qualify as valid MeFi front page posts? Our survey SAYS... ?
URLs won't resolve
Ok, consider me confused. For the last 20 mins or so that I've been looking at MeFi & MeTa the addresses as they stand in my favorites list, www.metafilter.com & metatalk.metafilter.com, give me zilch & the MetaFilter homepage respectively. On the other hand www.metafilter.com/index.cfm & metatalk.metafilter.com/index.cfm produce the index pages as I expect. For one godawful moment when I first tried to access MeFi I thought that it was down again. Spare me the anguish.
Ask MetaFilter.
Ask MetaFilter.
There have been more than a few times when I wanted to one of those "Does anyone know...?" type of questions to the community, and I couldn't think of an appropriate place for it. Asking a question on the front page seemed like a dumb idea (and one that would open me to ridicule), and I couldn't think of a proper place to put it on MetaTalk. So how 'bout a link on the front page that sez Ask MetaFilter. Click on it, you can ask a question ("Does anyone know...?"), and generate a discussion.
Granted, it could be abused by smartasses and idiots, but I think the community on the whole would swiftly punish actions like that.
There are a bunch of smart people here with very different backgrounds and educations, and I think something like this could be very cool and simple to implement.
There have been more than a few times when I wanted to one of those "Does anyone know...?" type of questions to the community, and I couldn't think of an appropriate place for it. Asking a question on the front page seemed like a dumb idea (and one that would open me to ridicule), and I couldn't think of a proper place to put it on MetaTalk. So how 'bout a link on the front page that sez Ask MetaFilter. Click on it, you can ask a question ("Does anyone know...?"), and generate a discussion.
Granted, it could be abused by smartasses and idiots, but I think the community on the whole would swiftly punish actions like that.
There are a bunch of smart people here with very different backgrounds and educations, and I think something like this could be very cool and simple to implement.
how is one supposed to pronounce "MeFi"?
I'm sorry if this has been posted before, but I couldn't find any reference to it. I've been wondering, how is one supposed to pronounce "MeFi"? Most abbreviations exist in a pronounced form as well as written. But "meffy" just sounds really weird to me. Does this ever come up when people talk about the site face to face? :-)
June 6
How about a "Requested Feature" page?
How about a "Requested Feature" page?
Community HTML fixes
I like the fact that posters can leave HTML tags unclosed and that other people come along and "save" the page. It builds communty strength. Even if a way is devised to automatically close tags, I vote against implementing it.
(and I don't like that I am incapable of editing copy on a computer screen and don't notice errors until it's too late.)
(and I don't like that I am incapable of editing copy on a computer screen and don't notice errors until it's too late.)
Have we leveled off at 9075 users?
The number of users has been at 9075 for a few days now. Have we levelled off?
June 5
Looking for someone out there who knows the ins and outs of greymatter
Looking for someone out there who knows the ins and outs of greymatter... Jonathan is having issues with it and photographica.org. It's choking on the update of the index page. He managed to get it going for a short while this morning, but when he tried to delete the dupes and test messages, it choked again. From the backside, off the greymatter control panel, it looks like people's entries are being saved, but the main page just isn't getting updated.
Can you help?
Can you help?
More Yahoo Internet Life dead tree press on MetaFilter
More Yahoo Internet Life dead tree press on MetaFilter: my dad subscribes to YIL and sent me these scans. It looks like an article mentioned on the cover talks about plastic, slashdot, and then metafilter and blogger, and it shows up in a pull out URL section.
What's this in the source?
Source watch! The MF front page source now includes this:
What does that do?
What does that do?
June 4
Matt's working on ticketstub
Yes, I'm working on it. Here's a mockup of the front page as it might appear, and I'm coding the guts of the site this week. Once things are up and ready for content, I'm sure the front page will change. It's a bit too sparse at the top, and I don't know if the mockup design lends itself well to revists, it looks too first-time-visitor to me.
But I'm working on it.
But I'm working on it.
A poignant comment
There is much poignancy seeping between the posts in Paris' "Mel Brooks comment on Hitler" thread. And I must say, because of, well, Paris bringing it up. It may be most important to argue with how one feels emotionally on Mel Brooks' statement, but the sum here is definitely more robust than its parts. I thought everybody's posts lent to deepening the discussion and I've found the thread, thus far, very moving.
This miniscule, though very public conversation is yet another example of humanity working through issues that somehow hypothetically we all will go through, whether in fact we actually do or not. Thanks to Paris for bringing it up and sticking to his guns. And like I said, whether I agree with him or not.
This is pure MetaFilter!
This miniscule, though very public conversation is yet another example of humanity working through issues that somehow hypothetically we all will go through, whether in fact we actually do or not. Thanks to Paris for bringing it up and sticking to his guns. And like I said, whether I agree with him or not.
This is pure MetaFilter!
Should we run ads?
Okay, we've discussed it before, but now having looked at the stats for the last couple of months, ADs are a real possibility. Last I checked the average AD payout was $1 ever 1000 page views. Now, with MeFi getting over 5,000,000 a month, that's $5000 a month in revenue. That could keep Matt happy all year round and MeFi up for life. Comments?
June 3
Daylight timestamp
I notice that all of the timestamps say 9:34 PST and yet in the Pacific time zone it's definitely Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). Is that right? Is it actually corrected PST (which doesn't take into account daylight savings time so as not to confuse some of our International and Arizonan friends) or the wrong PST (which is actually PDT but was just stuck on there cuz it's cool).
avoiding nyt registration page
Following up on a previous thread, I just posted something with a link to the NYTimes, and it apparently got filtered to channel.nytimes.com... which would be fine except that channel.nytimes.com is reachable. I tried to post a correction before I realized the filtering was at fault, and the correction got filtered too. Then Rebecca tried to post a working URL and hers also got filtered. Needless to say, this adds a lot of noise to the thread. I would vastly prefer the URL to remain to www.nytimes.com; perhaps the filter could instead follow up the post automatically with a link that says "if you want to avoid registration, try this link instead" with a link to channel, so that the content of the post isn't altered?
I wonder if the Times has closed the channel back door, or if the server's temporarily down?
I wonder if the Times has closed the channel back door, or if the server's temporarily down?
take a look at what the numbers say
Considering all the hub-bub we keep getting about vets VS oldies, signal-to-noise, volume posters, etc, I just finished wasting a huge volume of time crunching the may stats based on individual posters - all 310 of 'em. For whatever it's worth, take a look at what the numbers say about who's posting what and how successfully. info inside
June 2
I'd like to buy some MeFi gear.
say ... any intentions on a MeFi store? nothing big... maybe shirts or mousepad... : ) ... they could even be handed out as prizes..(for what? .. beats me... but hey.. its late. and im tired)
Hatemail from MeFi.
I feel so darn tootin' speshul -- I just recieved my first MeFi hate mail, anonymous or otherwise! Do I get a prize?
Should I be commending perogi for at least signing the email? Or are hate mailers still cowards for not spewing publicly on MeFi or MeTa?
Should I be commending perogi for at least signing the email? Or are hate mailers still cowards for not spewing publicly on MeFi or MeTa?
June 1
New Stats
New Metafilter stats are online. Check out the top 20 charts, the user growth statistics, and the thread/comment stats. The downtime barely put a dent in all the increased activity from the Kaycee threads.
A piece about Kaycee Nicole
A piece about Kaycee Nicole ran in today's Industr Standard Media Grok. See inside for more