July 2007 Archives (all archives)
July 31
Double double?
Post Title
Would it be a huge inconvenience to actually have Post Titles heading posts on the blue? Yea, I understand the face of the blue is tried and true, however, some, if not all, posts need "Headlines".
Why even have them if they only show up AFTER you check into the post/thread?
(not complaining, I love Mefi!)
Turn and face the strain
There have been a few tweaks to tagging, flagging, and posting. [more inside]
First-Timers Club
Congratulate me! I just got my first deleted FPP, courtesy of cortex!
Delegation
Strangely, my answer to this ridiculous question was favorited 17 times, then deleted. The answer was sincere, if not hyperbolic. Should I just email the admins directly next time I disagree with what I perceive to be out of control heavy-handed decimation? Thanks.
How do you say thank you in Telugu?
I just wanted to point out the cydonian's fantastic observations in this post that he made yesterday, and thank him publicly for his efforts. thank you!
July 30
Talk about PoliticsFilter!
Why is this thread on "penalties for abortion" still here? And the FPP is a Youtube one-link yet.
12: Melissa May and a Harvey Girl
Here's show 12 of the podcast, with melissa may as our featured guest. It was recorded on July 27, 2007, and is about an hour long.
Black Book Art Circle Project reredux!
9 months ago I mentioned my Black Book Art Circle Project, and sent out a whack of books to MeFites. So far, none have come back. I did move in the meantime, but paid for mail forwarding to my current location, just so there would be no lost art. That service is about to expire. Does anyone know the status of the books they received?
People die every day, and so what?
I would like to know what the standard is for obituary filter. Scores, nay hundreds, of semi-famous people die every day. Can we do a thread about each and every one of them on MetaFilter? I hope not.
Cyclists do it on two wheels
A MeFi bicycling challenge was mentioned here and if it was mentioned in other places as well, I apologize-- I couldn't find it. So, who is up for a bicycling challenge similar to what those wacky runners have going on? I am pretty sure we can use a website such as We Endure or similar to start a group and track our progress.
Any takers?
Metafilter runs in August
We're near the end of the month which means Metafilter run 5.0 for mefites with the nike+ kit is almost over. I'll post the final July standings in this thread in a couple of days. As always, if you want to take part in the next mefi running challenge, post your nike+ screenname in this thread, and I'll send you an invite. (FAQ : yes, it only works with the ipod nano; no, you don't need nike shoes) - (Previous challenges : 1.0.,2.0.,3.0.,3.1.,4.0.)
However, we're a little bit in a existential crisis. Some fine mefites joined the running challenge, but proved to be formidable long-distance walkers, crushing all the other running competitors distance-wise. How do we keep it interesting for everybody? Separate MetaWalk challenge?
July 29
MeFi Omnia Vincit
For Oklahoma's centennial, I was thinking the Okie Mefites (resident and expatriate) could contribute a set of FPP posts on the state leading up to Statehood Day (November 16). Non-Okies invited, too.
I can't has cheezburger. Do not want sense of taste
I don't like the question. Either lizzicide is a very clever troll, or she is a very foolish person. I put in an answer mostly to highlight the overall foolishness of her position, but it appears that despite clear reasons that her hypothesis (tasting less=eating less) is not a good one, she seems more convinced than ever that her idea will work. What if someone else comes along and is convinced by her "reasoning" and does this very, very stupid thing? Apparently, it's not all that acceptable in the AskMe itself to berate the questioner. So let me come out on MeTa and say it, lizzicide: your idea is bad, and you should feel bad.
Santiago, CL, meetup.
The 1st ever Santiago, Chile meetup.
Somewhere in Providencia on the 16th of August. dhruva, andrew cooke and myself will be there, anybody else in the neighborhood welcome.
Just Because
I'd just like to say something nice about grumblebee.
Shut down all the trash compactors on the detention level!
What used to be a forum for bugs, feature requests, and the occasional callout for really egregiously bad behavior has devolved into a whinefest for anyone with a keyboard and a grudge.
YOU ALL NEED TO STEP AWAY.
Can we shut down MetaTalk for a week? I'm completely serious. The contact form is still there for emergencies.
July 28
remember to breathe
Cortex, can you chill out? More inside.
Give it up.
I am so goddamn tired of being rickrolled in the comments. I think somebody spilled some 4chan on my metafilter.
Feature Request: MetaSnark
Crawl over the grass at a moderate pace, beating your forehead against the ground at one-second intervals. The place where your head rests when you lose consciousness may be the approximate location of your septic tank. Or it may not.
July 27
Linking to Deleted Posts?
Something about the most recent Alberto Gonzales post really irks me: people linking to their deleted posts in comments. It seems to me that this (a) just fundamentally defeats the point of the deletion, (b) lowers the incentive to make a good post in the first place -- since you can always link to it if it gets canned, and (c) is contrary to at least the tacit reasons underlying the no-double-post policy. (Obviously, there's a separate PoliticsFilter issue here, and the problems are related, but I would like to focus on the linking-to-deleted-posts issue and get a clarification on it.)
Can't add a contact
I'm trying to add someone as a contact, but when I hit the "Add Contact" button I get a white screen that says "Wrong username and password, please try again."
What gives?
July 26
Proposal for new MetaFilter guidelines
The subject of rewriting the guidelines is something that comes up from time to time. As MetaFilter evolves as a community, it is good to rewrite the guidelines to reflect evolving standards. I have been thinking about how to write new guidelines on and off for the last week and here's my proposal. [more inside]
Over the Line
This deletion of a post on Christians United for Israel was way over the line. We leave in a Lindsay Lohan linkfest, but we take down a newsworthy post about how people who happily look forward to Armageddon are influencing our country's foreign policy. Max Blumenthal may be an arrogant documentary film-maker, but the footage is still important.
How much do I have to pay for a random button on GreenFilter?
What are the chances of getting a random result on the green, for setting as my homepage?
MeFi Meetup in Ottawa?
When I used Ask Metafilter to learn about the housing situation in Ottawa, several people proposed a gathering of MeFites in this most bureaucratic of cities. Now that I am here, I would definitely be up for it. Is anyone else interested?
Northern New England Meetup at Jessamyn's
Cookout at my place, Saturday August 4th. Grilling starts at 5 or so. Drive-in movies at 8-ish assuming the chosen films aren't totally awful. Rain plan is drinking and Scrabble/Boggle/old Connections episodes. Details to follow in the comments once we know who's coming.
Pownce
Does anyone here want an invite to pownce? If so, I have 6 invites up for grabs.
Dallas Meetup August 4th
Dallas meetup. Saturday, August 4th. tog is coming down and she's bringing her Wii! Anyone that didn't get blown up in yesterday's asplosion is welcome to join in the revelry. (more inside)
July 25
hi
mefi weirdness. I can't seem to comment on the blue. The site shows me as logged in, but every time I hit post on a comment (within the past 5 minutes. it's been fine till now) I get sent to a login screen. And if I login, and then try to post again, I go back to the login screen again. Opera 9.10 on OSX. Is this happening to anyone else? Posting on the gray is fine.
Close your eyes and visualize...
Community-based interactive pony request: With all our new doodads, favorites, flags, and feeds Metafilter is crying out for some cool ways of visualizing our community and content, ala dig labs. The only thing I have seen along these lines is this contact map made with ManyEyes. Some potential ideas for neat visualizations inside, but does anyone have the skills/interest to put something snazzy together?
Another example of wrong and bad ask me answers.
Almost all the answers in this thread are wrong and bad.
July 24
Oh, Berkeley, what a disaster
Meeting my nephew for only the second time in his very young life, I will be in my hometown of Berkeley, California from Friday, July 27. Is there any interest in a Berkeley/Bay Area Meet-up? First round is on me! I suggest Triple Rock Cafe on Shattuck and Hearst on Saturday evening, but other thoughts duly welcomed.
Submissive
You know, as the guy who has trouble pointing out that you just cut in line in front of him, I gotta say wtf davy? Is it that hard to imagine that there are people who actually are insufficiently assertive—problematically so—and that this may cause trouble with partners who don't feel they're 'manly' enough? The world doesn't view everyone the same way so it's a bit too much to ask that everyone refuse to project anything besides hesitant soppiness.
20 July 2007. Copenhagen, Denmark. Meetup. Photos.
Photos from the Copenhagen meetup of 20 July. [more inside]
I can has login pony?
Smart logins: It's been mentioned before and didn't quite happen. Matt, can you please just sit down and do this instead of redirecting to the front page? If I'm on a page I want to [comment on/flag/favorite] I [am too lazy to/don't want to/will explode if you make me] use the back button to go back to the original page.
Disguising or couching AskMe "opinions" as comments
I noticed in this askme thread some comments that were against the guidelines, so I flagged and moved on. Jessamyn posted and both posters responded to their deleted comments here and here, couching their previous complaints into something resembling more of a proper AskMe answer, progosk perhaps more flagrantly.
Consider this a callout on the seemingly accepted practice of providing an AskMe derail, as long as you also provide a throwaway answer. Also consider it a callout to users to just swallow their objections and move on, rather than a complaint against moderators (I know we've discussed editing half a post in similar situations before and don't necessarily want to go there).
On preview of the thread again, the OP has been forced to respond, and progosk is still arguing their point.
ReAskMe?
If you asked a question on AskMe a while ago and got not-so-good* answers, would it be bad form to ask the same question again? Should it be disguised so as to not seem to be the same question?
* to put it politely.
Amazon's Askville
I got an email from Amazon regarding a new question-asking site called Askville. So far it doesn't seem as nice as our own AskMe, but I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention.
Big (Pepsi) Blue
Self-link policy question:
I'm one of the creators of a site that features a lot of user-generated content (and has been discussed on MeFi before). One of our users recently made something that I thought was pretty cool, and I'd like to share. The problem is that I have a conflict of interest here -- of course I want to drive more traffic to my site in general, but then I genuinely think this particular thing that a complete stranger made is pretty neat and people would find it enjoyable. Any opinions?
July 23
Lintels and newels
Chapeau! To Mefi's brilliant doggerel-smiths who have once again made a thread far exceeding the link that began it. I've been laughing all day, and I needed it — thanks.
there once was a post on the green
SansPoint's limerick post needs to get sidebarred hard.
NPR blocking
So whats with PageFlakes?
What's with the PageFlakes ads? I dont really care if they are there, I just posted this so some other people can vent if needed.
Personal Blimp Followup
Hastings (UK) Meetup
Hastings Meetup pics.
My camera battery died on Saturday afternoon, so these are from Friday night and Saturday morning. Many more photos were taken by other attendees.
A good time was had by all.
We got snakey.
So, the call went out, and the call was answered: we got us some fine and snakey new songs around MeFi Town. 'Bout half as many as poured in for the previous water theme, but I reckon that's to be expected, sophomore slump and all. Just wondering, now that we're two days past the serpentine deadline, what's the next MeFi Music Challenge, admins?
July 22
IraqFilter Really Sucks.
IraqFilter Is Awful. Is there some wide swath of MeFi users who derive a lot of enjoyment or benefit out of posts like this, which seem to surface whenever somebody pens an op-ed that criticizes the Iraq war (i.e., fairly frequently)?
Here's the pattern: (1) op-ed is published; (2) op-ed is copied to MeFi; (3) posters say how bad President Bush is; (4) a poster or two will defend the administration; and (4) posters will attack the defenders until they no longer respond.
Am I the only one who thinks that is tedious?
Flamewars may cause burning sensation; consult your doctor.
Shetland Ponyfilter: small feature request, it may be time to surrender to the litigiousness of the modern world and add a disclaimer to AskMe thread pages.
BOSTON: Shakespeare in the Park Jul. 24
Ok, lets try this again..
Who's up for an opening night (that's tuesday, as in 49 hours from now) Shakespeare in the Park mefi meetup? Its at 8pm in the Boston Commons. I'll be getting coffee after, if I can find anywhere that's open past dark (this f-in city doesn't know how to drink coffee, I swear).
The play is Midsummer Night's Dream. I hear its good ;)
I could be up for another night, but I have guests coming in & I'm not quite ready to expose them to MeFi yet, so Tuesday's my preference.
Ajax-enabled tagging
Would it be hard to enable AskMe's tagging system with a bit of AJAX so existing tags are pulled from the database as you type them -- kind of an "auto-recommend" feature -- in order to prevent redundancy?
July 21
Born Every Minute
I strongly disagree with This Thread being posted.
Adding link to post.
So I am a new member. I am having a hard time getting the link option to work. I click on the blue "Link" link, enter the link, then preview it and I get the full html in the preview. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks!!
Are you feeling a little randy?
I count 7 sex-related questions on askme today. What's up with that? Desirous of titillation, I frequently check the 'sex' tag for askme. For weeks it's been fairly devoid of new questions. Then, bam, today... everybody wants laid. Is it seasonal? Or is it just folks who're triggered to write a sex question by seeing one earlier?
LA Meetup
LA Meetup. Dear LA MeFites, let's have a meetup next weekend, on Saturday, July 28th! In case, you don't consider the success of the last one a good enough reason, DaShiv will be in town and wants to make good on his promise.
July 20
priyatam
Aww man... Priyatam was the man. His UG Krishnamurti links were the best things I have ever seen on mefi.Wasn't permanent bannination a little harsh? Damn Jess - why you gotta be so gangsta? How about banning me, and letting him come back?
It's hot here
I'm living in Las Vegas for awhile. I don't know anyone here. Meetup?
A midsummer's night meet-up in NYC
It's been at least a few days since I saw a posting for the last NYC meetup, so thought I'd try again here, shooting for mid August. Unfortunately, the last couple occurred during the week, which is unfortunately out of the question for a working schmuck like me. So, I ask you all, who is game for a meetup on the night of Friday, August 10, in a place convenient for all our Manhattanite, outer borough and tri-state MeFites?
Yet another why was it deleted : repulitards or kids with troubles ?
What's the line between axegrinding (this axegrinding ? or some kind of GodWin rule ? ) which caused the deletion of this post of mine and showing the psycological troubles of bunch of indoctrinated kids that are just parrotting talking points ? It this better and/or acceptable , because it clearly (?) shows a nascar redneck or because he makes fun of Michael Moore, therefore it must be "republitard" BUT it fits under "satire/comedy ?" I tolerate deletion with no problem, and may even accept that I was deemed brutal and deleted, but I would like to understand where the borderline could be, according to you guys.
So, are you even still allowed here?
Is there a meta-index of banned users? I got a strange e-mail about a month ago from someone who claims to have an account but 'cannot post this week'. It was stupid and I wrote back that I thought the link was very commercial. It got me thinking: is there an index to check whether a user name has been banned?
Pitchforks?
This post links prominently to this URL, (which redirects to this Blogspot site). A rudimentary glance at the source code reveals a rather obvious favicon icon almost certainly belonging to this first-time poster.
July 19
MeFi's 8th Anniversary Party: Ground Kontrol, Portland
When will computers figure out how to delete a double?
Soooo...what happens when we get a much better post on the exact same topic just a few minutes later?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=3706
The Meta chain Gang weekend. 21st -22nd July weather for our meet-up in my house! (Hastings, UK)
Libertarian Gilbert and Sullivan **genius**
Photo and caption by...
Go to this link and check out who the photo and caption are by.
Pass the bacon salt, please.
Update: Bejing's counterfeit pork dumplings [referenced in a prior food thread] have been discredited as byproducts of the monkeyfishing industry.
Many Eyes?
What on earth is this?
To what end?
At what point do you get a perma? I'm not going to link back to the post, but Reklaw's Harry Potter post was out of line on a major level.
Am I overreacting?
Request: A moratorium on Harry Potter related FPPs
Can we please please please have a moratorium on Harry Potter related FPPs for the next, say, year? And not just because I don't participate in this ubiquitous and frankly downright embarrassing pop culture phenomenon. It sucks that even on Metafilter I can't escape earth-shattering news about Weasleys and Dursleys.
I had a dream...
I had a dream about Metafilter. I think that's sort of meta, so I'm sharing it here.
July 18
Huh?
This post was deleted for the following reason: seen it. -- jessamyn
Huh?
Finally! RSS for everything!
New feature: RSS on all threads. If you're using IE7, Firefox, or Safari, open any thread on mefi, ask mefi, metatalk, music, or travel and you'll see a small RSS icon in your address bar. Click that, and you'll find a feed of the post and all comments. We'll soon add explicit links on the pages themselves, but for now the autodiscovery tag should work. Use this feature to track new comments on questions you've asked, threads you were interested in hearing followups, and any other thread you'd like to stay up to date on in your RSS reader.
censorship on Metafilter
My post titled "The Most Dangerous Video on the Internets" was pulled after appearing for a mere 10 minutes or so. In addition to that, jessamyn's posted "reason" was a cheap resort to name-calling. The video to which I was linking is 2 hours long. How can you possibly have decided that it was worth censoring after a mere 10 minutes? Are Metafilter readers really unable to decide for themselves whether or not they should view the video? I've received an email reply from jessamyn which I appreciate, but believe her reasons to be without merit. I like Metafilter a lot (it's my homepage), but really don't like censorship which is exactly what this smells like. I'd like to know more about this decision.
Metatalk doesn't want me to be me!!!
I'm logged into Metafilter as myself (Ramix) however when I click on the metatalk/askme links from Metfilter, it shows me logged in as user oxfcaf. Strangely though it shows me logged in as ramix as i am posting this thread. However when i navigate to askme from this posting page (metatalk) it shows me logged in as oxfcaf! What's going on?
"All favorites" display error
This page appears to be borked. (Firefox 2.0.0.1 / OSX 10.4.9. Also in Safari 2.0.4)
How do they do that?
A few hours ago I posted a question at ask.metafilter.com. An hour later nobody's answered so I resume my Googling for an answer. Number three in the list of results is my very question! And it's on a different site! I'm shocked Google updates its index so fast, but, more than that, why is my question on a different site?
Got to get mah jong on.
Any mahjong playing MeFites in Brooklyn/NYC? [more inside]
July 17
Long lost link
I'm looking for a puzzle that was linked to in one of the askme comments a little over 6 months ago...
Using music from music.mefi
I want to use a song from Music.Mefi, but the creator (Vicarious) doesn't have an e-mail!!! Is there any way to contact said creator, or maybe the musicians could add a creative commons tag so others could use their work, and attribute appropriately?
I wanted to use the song in a video that I'm making.
2007 Madison Meetup?
Well, it's official, my house is on the market as of yesterday, and it looks like we'll be moving out to the east coast sometime this fall. I'd like to meet up with my Mefi friends for at least one last big bash. What say ye, Madison, Wisconsinites?
Now help me find my MySpace password!...
Hay guyz, I wanna open a really sensitive document that I've been working on for the last few years. Not only do I not have any of the software I had been using, I don't really know what software it was! KTHXBUY
Lost a website for band booking rates
Quite a while ago there was a FPP that had a link to a website that listed the rates for hundreds of musical artists, plus their contact info or a link to their agent. As it turns out, a friend needs this to book an act. Does anyone remember this website?
Yet Another Chicago MeFi Meetup Option (& HostingCon)
Okay - it looks like there's mixed reception for the 27th in Chicago and I won't be there anyway.
Are there any MeFites going to HostingCon that would like to connect there - or alternatively anyone down for grabbing a beer on Sunday July 22? Flexible to locations that are public transit friendly. Northside or Downtownish preferred.
Ask the Moral Compass
A recent AskMeFi question:
Should I have this affair?.
Some responses:
Is there any personal honor left in this world? Have you no sense of decency?
Your tone is one of weakness
before you fuck up his life with your own selfish interests
Question 1: Why are some people in this community judgemental?
Question 2: Do people practice what they preach? Has anyone ever given advice that does not reflect the way that they themselves live their life?
You sir, are a jerk.
Looking for a quote from Metafilter comments from less than a month ago. About calling a lawyer a jerk.
I paraphrase badly:
"If you think the defense is wrong then attack the defense. If you think the facts are wrong then argue the facts. If you've got nothing then call the other lawyer a jerk."
July 16
Metafilter sites not working in Firefox
I cannot access any of the metafilter sites when using Firefox. It works in IE (what I am using right now) but in firefox I get an error message page that reads as follows: [more inside]
I like to complain.
Is there room for personal preference in the "users close to you box"?
Chicago Mefite Meetup
Chicago--Friday night, July 27th. Original thread is closed, but if you're up for a meet-up at the Rock Bottom Brewery (due west of Navy Pier), I'll be there around 8 p.m. for some food, drinks, and a camera for pics.
Beer and Pool in DC
Turtlegirl and I will be in DC this weekend and will be hanging out at Atomic Billiards in Cleveland Park on Friday, July 20, from about 6 p.m. Drop by if you are interested in grabbing a few beers or getting your ass kicked on the pool table.
Be safe and smart!
Our own fandango_matt, of Metafilter design contest and multiple pissing elephant fame, has come up with his own Boy Scout inspired Metafilter safety guide.
Oops, I nuked you again
I remember reading a few years back on the blue a link about incidents of accidental criticality, or some similar title. The page was a list of all (unclassified?) incidents in US laboratory history where a critical mass of fissionable material was brought together in a lab and what happened. My Google-fu is failing me, in part I think because this predates titles and tags...
Or any use at all, for that matter.
Twitter on steroids? I have five Pownce invites left if anyone is interested. Looks pretty good, but its still kind of early for me to have put it to any good use.
Where my stitches at?
Mefi knitters! Do you guys want to start a group on Ravelry? The site's still in beta, hopefully going public soon, but if anyone was fortunate enough to get an account already you can find me under the username "mimsie". I also posted this topic in the Remnants forum if you'd like to respond there.
Jeg taler ikke hverken dansk eller engelsk.
Copenhagen is an extraordinary city of note and repute. It deserves a meetup.
"How to get sent to the sandbox" on AskMeFi
I distinctly remember reading a thread in AskMe a few weeks (?) ago, where someone was asking, in a nutshell, 'how do I get sent to Iraq as a defense contractor?' It might not have been that, exactly, but it related to jobs as a defense contractor, or maybe overseas jobs in general, or maybe just 'dangerous jobs.' I think it specifically mentioned the idea of defense contracting (Blackwater, etc.), and the question related to how one gets their foot in the door.
I can't find this, using any combination of searches or tags, looking under all the logical terms (jobs, employment, iraq, all combinations thereof).
Does anyone else remember or have a link to this thread? Or did I just totally hallucinate it?
July 15
Existential other or something
I could swear I saw an FPP arguing that Dubaya isn’t really there at all in the conventional sense of being there. Then I left and came back, and it wasn’t there anymore.
So is this an in joke with the moderators or what?
Time's up. Where are the pictures?
It is afternoon in Portland, Oregon. Where are the pictures from last night's big 8th anniversary meetup? Lynsey and da shiv and maybe others had cameras there. Skip the photoshopping and just post the pictures, please.
Happy Blogiversary, Metafilter!
Happy Blogiversary, Metafilter!
Metafilter gets a mention in a Wall Street Journal article celebrating 10 years of blogs. (WSJ subscription required)
July 14
Dude, nobody is moderating?!!!??
Mirror Pond please! (Or do you have better ideas? If I were at Ground Kontrol, what would I drink? Should I talk to strangers or play video games? People are scarrrryyy!!!)
Twofer: Los Angeles and Portland meetups?
I'm visiting Portland, OR from July 21 to July 27, and it would be really groovy to meet up with some MeFites while I'm up there. Any takers? Suggestions on location and time welcome.
Also, I'll be at the Grand Hallows Ball in Los Angeles on July 20, ready to get my grubby hands on my copy of Harry Potter and the Somethingsomethingwhatever. There's a good chance I'll be wearing a cape. Any LA peeps who'd like to join me would be good company.
Shakespeare in the Park (Boston Meetup)
Anybody want to go to Shakespeare in the Park's performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common?
I propose any of these times: Friday, July 27 @ 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, July 28 @ 3:00 p.m.; Saturday, July 28 @ 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, July 29 @ 7:00 p.m. Approximate running time for each performance is 2 1/2 hours. We'd probably want to meet early to find each other, and get good seats.
a'splain
July 13
Any Pre-Party Parties Going On?
Is anybody doing anything in Portland before the big party tomorrow? I've been traveling the western states with my camera looking for interesting sites to see, and I will be driving from Seattle where my parents are to Portland tomorrow. I'm just not sure if it's worth getting to town before 7 or not.
Zen and the Art of Scanning Cats
So you've been planning for years to be the first person to make a post concerning scanning cats tonight. I can personally tell you, it is like joining a very prestigious and sexy VIP club. Oh the massages and seafood buffet! Don't forget though, in the spirit of friendly competition, the MeFi Server time is in a Particular Time Zone. Or else we'll laugh at you until universal heat death. Game on.
MetaProm6Meet-up London
Have a look at BBC Prom 6 from 10.15pm on the 17th July.
Interested?
I'm going to suggest a mini London MetaProm6 meet-up somewhere near the Royal Albert Hall.
[MI]I'm free from 5.30. The Hubby can be here from 7. How about a mini-meet-up that ends up with Prom 6?
(as opposed to the debauched ending our London Meet-ups normally have?)
VA PL8Z SUXXORZ
Why is a partial list of unavailable leet vanity plates in Virginia sidebar fabulous?
What gives with the deletion?
"This post was deleted for the following reason: Wingers, wingnuts, wikipedia, wikipedia. I'm not sure where the quality content is supposed to be, here. -- cortex"
Can we get a ruling on what constitutes "quality content" given the crap linked to in some of these posts? Or is it just that gossipy "outing" posts can only be made about Republicans?
Bloop, Beep, Doooo
I seem to remember an AskMe post regarding the bell-like, bubble-ish synth noises that Radiohead (and others) coax from their machinery, and how to replicate them, but i cant find the post using my limited google/AskMe-fu. Anyone remember this and can point me in the general direction?
A Repost Question Button request.
I'd love to see a button (part of the 'best answer list') in an ask.mefi question that allowed (after say 7 or so days) a question to be 'relisted.'
Maybe the 'cost' should be less than 7 days wait (or the same as.) I wonder/think that some questions scroll so fast, that people may miss it; and a 'repost' question' would be helpful. Thoughts?
July 12
it's my party and i'll cry if i want to.
i didn't want to derail this post about singleness either, so i thought i'd clarify my statement here.
mathowie on babies -- what else could MeTa be for?
Fresh Haughey sighting in the wild: confirmed. Dispatch all units.
Corrected link
As I was previewing the corrected link for this post, the post was deleted. Of course Jessamyn had no way of knowing, but it's emphatically not a "snuff film". Perhaps it wouldn't have been deleted with such alacrity if someone else had posted it.
Odd Display Bug?
Anyone else see a weird display bug with this comment? In both IE and Firefox, the "posted by" line (and only the posted by line) for that comment (and only that comment) is not indented at all. I'm not familiar with the Metafilter code, but when I view source it looks like all the rest of the comments.
Please Sidebar Asparagirl's post
Any chance that the mods could sidebar this post by Asparagirl? It was a fantastic post, with great clarity, structure, and purpose, as well as being critically important to most Americans.
how to become anonymous?
wow. anonymous - despite having a bunch of issues with sex, relationships, health, work, depression, relationships, marriage, dating, jobs & love - sure has a hell of a lot of sweetheart, muse, date and spouse contacts! how can i emulate this alchemical transmutation of general leaden fuckedupness into popularity gold?
“I don't believe in astrology; I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical.”
I'm not snark-honing here, but... seriously? If it's not deletion-worthy due to general craziness, it's now just a chat.
Amsterdam meetup pictures
Amsterdam meetup pictures. Not so many people (and jouke didn't really want to have his picture taken) but a huge lot of beer (not pictured).
July 11
Queires margaritas?
My puppy & I will be in San Diego for a few days this weekend/early next week to take care of my mom. My second order of business will be to overdose on Roberto's food, but I'm also going through withdrawal for a good San Diego margarita, though. Anybody up for joining me?
Who made the Metafilter pins?
A coupla years ago, a very nice Mefi user, whose user name began with A, (I think) made Metafilter pins and he sent me some. I can't for the life of me remember his name. Does anyone remember who made the neat-o Metafilter pins?
BookFilter?
I was kind of peeved when Technorati dropped the book category from their popular page and list. I've also noticed a lot of requests for book recommendations on AskMiFi. Bunches of book or bookish tags. Mefites seem a bookish crowd. A fascinating Librarything group. Might it be worth considering expanding the book conversation specifically? We have a Music page. Why not a Books page? Rather than posting music files or lists, we could link to Amazon or Powells or Libraything or Google Book Search or WorldCat or blogs or reviews. There's a movement to react to the old media's abandonment of book coverage by encouraging more online coverage. Is this worth investigating for Metafilter?
Cthulhu Blue
The Blue is Broken?
Is it just me, or has the Blue been replaced by a default apache loading page?
Feature request: mark original poster comments
Feature request: Some visual way to easily tell where the original poster has posted a follow-up comment. Often in reading an Ask MeFi question, I have to scroll back up and down a few times to get the name of the original poster and then do a search to see if they posted a follow-up.
Perhaps a different color for the original poster? It works well for comments marked "best answer". (Oh - and a pony)
OMG CHEATING!
This is why jokey answers are bad in AskMe.
Just post the links, please.
A personal request: If you think the formatting or content of your post needs defending (newsfilter and single-link youtube posts seem to be the prime offenders here), make your justifications in the first reply to the thread instead of pointing it out in the FPP itself.
Oh man am I stoked
Just wanted to give massive shout-outs to everybody at MeFi who have patiently answered many of my questions about moving from the US to Canada. I'm a week away from that move, way nervous, but infinitely better prepared due to your valuable feedback. Thank you!
If you ever want to email more than one MeFi user...
The recent Wendell kurfuffle brought to mind a very simple rule of email that is quite easy to remember and it is amazing (and annoying) that so few people actually use it. So I share it here in the hopes that anyone emailing more than one MeFi user will use this technique, in the future:
If you ever want to email more than one MeFi user*: send the email to yourself and put the list of people you are sending to in the Bcc field. Any moron recipient who hits "Reply to All" will send their reply to an audience of ONE (the original sender) and (additionally) no recipient can see the other recipients' email addresses.This is simple, basic stuff. *Obviously this applies to any email you send to more than one recipient, not just MeFi users.
PLS TO BE COMING TO NYC MEETUP FRIDAY
July 10
I want to listen to all of your songs
I once found (and bookmarked) this page of all of chococat's music. I like it because it has the little flash player, so I can listen to all of his tunes. How do I get to the same kind of page for other MeFi Musicians? I've tried looking on members' profile pages, but the link to all of their songs goes to the music parts of their Activity pages. Thanks.
yay it's the one millionth comment!
www.hawtlibrarians.com
A Hipper Crowd of Shushers featuring one JW. NYT - registration required
July 9
It's not rape if you're a guy?
CLEANUP: to a rape victim in this AskMe. [mi]
I like you. Do you like me? Check one.
Possible to see members whose comments/FPPs you have favorited, who have themselves favorited one or more of your comments/FPPs?
Photograph this!
Fine, already. Here's a MeTa thread for all the derailing going on here.
An enigma wrapped in underscores
Seriously, though. What was this all about?
rss on tagged ask query fails if empty set.
The rss feed for "ask metafilter" tagged empty sets returns an error. (For Example.) I wanted to add a bunch of esoteric tag links to google reader that would allow me to answer those questions that I consider myself an expert in. This works fine in those situations where questions currently exist for the specified tag, but not so good when nobody has asked a question about that subject before.
Oh where, oh where, oh where has my post gone...?
Just wondering what happened to my Metafilter post (why it got deleted). Did I do something wrong? I checked my email and there was no reason given over there too. Sorry if I'm being a bother Jess; just wanted to know if there was something I could've done better to make the post stay up (liked the andaman site that I'd linked it to).
July 8
Amsterdam meetup?
I know it is very short notice, but any NL dwellers interested in meeting in Amsterdam on the 10th, 11th, or 12th?
July 7
Update on SO with Aneurysm
UPDATE: My SO with the aneurysm survived brain surgery. I didn't know if this was appropriate to post here, but the askme response was so comforting. It was the middle of the night and I felt really alone. Now she's home, having survived a craniotomy, and doing great. So, it's late at night again and I'm awake and she's asleep with her giant Frankenstein scar and I wanted to say thank you.
Another ask site
Another Ask site appears: Fluther.
Fluther. I'm sure it is no AskMe.
Dramatic Chipmunk
This is the source of the "Dramatic Chipmunk" clip that everyone loves so much. It's actually a prairie dog.
Fixed that for you.
Moderators edit comments?
Mefi Music Challenge #1 wrap-up etc
The first Metafilter Music Challenge, "water", has officially deadlined, with 27 entries as of this writing. Fantastic! A whole lot more below the fold, so come inside!
July 6
Jessamyn in the NY Times
Woo woo! Jessamyn is in the NYTimes.
Jessamyn West, 38, an editor of “Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out” a book that promotes social responsibility in librarianship, and the librarian behind the Web site librarian.net (its tagline is “putting the rarin’ back in librarian since 1999”) agreed that many new librarians are attracted to what they call the “Library 2.0” phenomenon. “It’s become a techie profession,” she said.
In a typical day, Ms. West might send instant and e-mail messages to patrons, many of who do their research online rather than in the library. She might also check Twitter, MySpace and other social networking sites, post to her various blogs and keep current through MetaFilter and RSS feeds. Some librarians also create Wikis or podcasts.
A Hipper Crowd of Shushers
Jessamyn West, 38, an editor of “Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out” a book that promotes social responsibility in librarianship, and the librarian behind the Web site librarian.net (its tagline is “putting the rarin’ back in librarian since 1999”) agreed that many new librarians are attracted to what they call the “Library 2.0” phenomenon. “It’s become a techie profession,” she said.
In a typical day, Ms. West might send instant and e-mail messages to patrons, many of who do their research online rather than in the library. She might also check Twitter, MySpace and other social networking sites, post to her various blogs and keep current through MetaFilter and RSS feeds. Some librarians also create Wikis or podcasts.
A Hipper Crowd of Shushers
11: Music Challenge, TravelFilter, and the Party
Here's show 11 of the podcast for July 6, 2007. It's about an hour long.
July 5
Bestest derail evah?
Thanks, miss lynnster. Are Cadbury sales down yet?
My pony involves managing favourites - help!
Help me tame this pony...ok, so I'm a bit addicted to adding favourites. I know I have a problem, but gosh darn it, why does there have to be so much great stuff!?
Does anyone have any scripts, apps, anything that can help me deal with the backlog of my favourites? I've googled and searched but haven't checked Projects as much - has someone created something there to deal with favourites? It would be neat to be able to export them or bulk add them to del.icio.us, or something...export them to an XML file (if that's possible) or CFM or whatever format and somehow create a hack to manage them.
Does something to manage them exist? Is it on the horizon? Should it be? Discuss. Thanks muchly.
33 comments (33 new)
Would it be possible to have more accurate counts of the number of new posts in a thread based on my most recent comments? I know currently it's generated based on a cookie, but that doesn't work if you read MeFi from multiple computers or if you don't look at the frontpage. It also doesn't take into account my comments like the Recent Activity page does. If there are 33 new comments, but comment #17 is mine, shouldn't the count reflect that? (33 comments (16 new)) instead of thinking all 33 are new?
whatever, techsters
Was there really a good reason why every post in this AskMe thread was deleted? Looking at the question, it looked as though the poster was looking for A) good tech news sites and B) whether it would be worth it to start one. Not my fault it turned into a fight.
So they delete my question without reading it
I think the moderators should please actually READ the question before deleting it. I asked a valid question about dinner table conversation, and the moderator deletes it on reading the word "troll". I cry unfair!
Agua
Music Challenge: what is the last day of the Water Theme?
July 4
Denver MeFites are the best MeFites of all
Denver MeFites are the best MeFites of all
Denver Meetup Photos for your enjoyment
Incorrect comment count
There's a minor bug in the activity page. It says "Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 490" while my profile page says I have 507 comments. Perhaps it's printing the number of total threads in which I've commented instead of the total of comments I've made?
Justice: Blind?
Are we deletion-worthy sure that this guy is blind based on an anonymous comment on another site? Especially after jourman2's examples showing a bad photographer is likely to blame for the image?
July 3
Can you comment on my first metafilter post?
A few days ago, I made my very first post to Metafilter, giving links to several different kinds of interactive film. It didn't get deleted, but there was almost no response. Was the topic just that boring? Or could I have done better in my post? Suggestions welcome.
Metabiorhythms
I'm a heavy user. I read a LOT of posts. So, I'm amused at how my usage of this site has developed and cycled, and I'm interested in hearing anecdotes from others about patterns or changes in their mefi experience. More inside.
Update to White Glove Tracking post
Assholes in Aisle 12
Fucking flag it and move on. It's not about YOU.
July 2
Ads
whale oil beef hooked
Fearless Leader on Consumerist
Our fearless leader stars in "Recording Of Tmobile Trying To Prevent Matt Haughey From Cancelling For An iPhone" a chilling adventure of talking to a guy named Vic.
Bears, baby. All the way, bears.
This is a great freakin question. I'd just like to use it to once more point out that we really should be able to reopen this discussion for a more full, rounded finalization.
Party RSVP for Portland
Portland meetup party is less than two weeks away, and I need to do a head count. If you're attending the 8th anniversary party, please RSVP on this page. Thanks!
Seriously guys, he just wants a name.
The poster of this question has clearly stated, "I'm not trying to solve their problems, I'm looking for specific recommendations for a marriage counselor. You know, like a name. If I wanted advice about 'how do I deal with my friends' psychotic marriage problems,' that's the question I'd have asked." I've flagged the responses that judged the poster rather than answering the question, and several of those comments were deleted, but many of them remain. I'm curious about where that line was drawn. Also, if people really feel the need to question the poster's judgment, hopefully they can do it here and leave the thread with less noise.
Kareoke humbled us all
LA Meetup photos:
Only four turned out for me (I do have a fair number of drunkish blurred shots of my feet). I hear that there were more, and even voice recordings.
If you've got the missing photos, please post inside!
How about a meetup within a protest?
I've submitted this to Projects since I think the issue has nation-wide interest, but I also wanted to shout out to the Baltimore & D.C. area mefites whose backyard this is happening in and invite you all to come along. If you haven't been following the Silver Spring photo debacle covered by the Washington Post, DCist, DC Metblogs (disclosure: that's me) and others, you might not be aware of our planned gathering on July 4th.
We've scheduled it at Noon so you still have time to leave and head off to whatever BBQs and fireworks watching you have planned for the evening and the location is just two blocks from the Silver Spring metro.
poor matt, sorry man.
OLYTP (one link youtube post)...i know, but I feel really bad for Matt. Such a shiny new toy and it doesnt even work.
July 1
Squishies gone missin
This is my first time posting to the gray, but I thought the swift deletion of the 7/11 - Kwik - e - Mart story was uncalled for. I expected to see some discussion of the odd marketing being done, as the cost for this were picked up by 7/11, not Fox studios. Granted, there was the previous post about the movie site going live, but this felt worthy of being a post, and it didn't even link to YouTube!
Beignets on the Bayou!
My wife and I are having friends over for a beignet brunch on the morning of the 4th. I'd love it if any Louisiana MeFites could join us. Drop me a line and bring your favorite additive.
I'm overwhelmed
I loves me some Metafilter and AskMe - but I can't keep up!
I use Google Reader to keep things nice and condensed, but if I go more than a full work day without checking in on the Blue and the Green posts seems to easily creep over the 100+ mark. The deluge is kind of diluting the whole Metafilter experience for me 'cause it's starting to feel like there's too much to keep up with.
Anybody out there use any tricks or methodologies to keep their required Meta-reading under control?
I'm glad I'm not an admin!
disclaimer - this is not one of those 'please limit the posts' posts, as I'm all for them. I'm just looking for a way to keep things more manageable.
better music challenges
Meta Music filter. As a newbie, I was a touch underwhelmed by the recent song challenge. "The theme of water" seems so broad as to be kind of, well, boring. Why not 'love' or 'nature' or 'loneliness.' Might I suggest something a bit more kooky, esoteric, and actually challenging for the next one. Something along the lines of, "you make me touch your hands for stupid reasons." (via)
Maybe nothing that gimmicky, but come on! Can't we do better?