July 2014 Archives (all archives)
July 31
Fanfare Posting Etiquette
Recently I have seen several old movies just appear on Fanfare without any notice. I would like to participate in these discussions, but have a hard time watching them with no prior notification. I know the threads stay open for a long time, but the great majority of the comments come in the first couple days of a thread being posted. Wouldn't it be nice if we had some kind of guideline asking people to post a Fanfare talk notice a few days before posting older movies/tv shows? I am not pointing fingers at anyone, and I know this is all new functionality, but it would be nice if we had some idea that these older things would be posted prior to them landing on the main Fanfare page. Plus, I imagine it would push up the amount of discussion, which would be nice. Yes/No/Maybe?
Just to be clear, with new shows/movies this isn't an issue because we can assume that people will already be watching, but with something like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a few days to notice so I can plan a rewatch would make a big difference to me (and others?).
Thanks for helping a columnist out.
In my latest column, this comment helped me to write the introduction to a piece I was stuck on while I was on deadline, a few days after it had been made by elgilito. Thank you elgilito for your research, and your French, and thanks Metafilter for being part of my media diet. You are an odd and useful tool in my writing, and an unlooked-for blessing.
July 30
#JulyByWomen slightly passes goal
The original JulyByWomen project aimed for an ambitious 90 extra posts this month. As August approaches, the tag #JulyByWomen has hit 397. The original thread is archived, so here's a place to celebrate, analyse and discuss plans to first take over Metafilter, then the world! continue the fabulous diversity and discussions July brought.
Bless my buttons! Wired (via book excerpt) has cited MF re: sockpuppets!
AS SLEUTHS STARTED PICKING APART THE STORY, SOME BELIEVERS SUFFERED GENUINE ANGUISH BECAUSE OF THE CYNICISM.[more inside]
Then, on May 19, the user “acridrabbit” posted a simple question: “Is it possible that Kaycee did not exist?” Not only were there some inconsistencies in Kaycee’s story—some odd-sounding descriptions of how the doctors talked about leukemia, the difficulty people were having in finding an address for flowers and cards—but it also appeared that nobody had ever met Kaycee in person.
The threads that never end...
Friends, I just wanted to point out something to you that you might not have been aware of, and that I was only reminded of a few hours ago, when I saw a reply to a comment in a thread here at Mefi. The reply, you see, was to a comment made SEVEN YEARS AGO. Yup. It's Metafilter Music, neighbors, where the threads never end. Never! Y'all stop in sometime, y'hear, and leave a comment! And don't worry if you're a little late to the party. At MeFiMu, the party never stops.
July 29
Metafilter Fantasy Football Challenge 2014/2015
Are your nether regions still aglow from this summer's World Cup? Have the ritual scars from last year's dread ceremony almost healed? Well, the stars have come right again and the new Premier League season is almost upon us! Prepare to light the candles, chant the chants, and come in second to Hogtown Hotspur with the Metafilter Fantasy Football League! If you played before, just log back in to your account and you'll be back in the league. New? No problem. It's easy to play, helps you learn the game (and maybe even fall in love with a team), plus will give you another excuse to drink early on weekends. [more inside]
Abuse Complaint Handlers
I'm trying to find an FPP about the people who handle abuse and content complaints at various social networks. It went into detail of various policies about therapy after having to look at such terrible stuff every day. Does this ring a bell?
Allowing non-posters to add tags
Tags for posts are wildly variable, and plenty of tags that ought to be used on a post very often are not. It would be easy to fix this if any member, not just the poster or moderators, were able to edit or at least add tags to a post. This would make the entire tag system more accurate, make topics easier to find, research, and browse through, and otherwise make the site more useful.
Any chance this could be implemented? Thanks.
July 28
Another Metafilter Baby
One by one, our ranks swell. . . please join me in welcoming Madamina's daughter Josephine to the planet! Born at three minutes past midnight, 7 lbs 1 oz and as perfect as a peach. May her reign be long and her justice swift!
Tourette Syndrome Update
One of the first Ask questions I ever asked was about my Tourette Syndrome. A few different commented or contacted me to say that they'd never seen TS described so accurately before. I recently rewrote and expanded that comment into an article for xojane, and as a result, have been asked to present a keynote speech at the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada's yearly conference in October 2015. [more inside]
I think this Pony would be loved by many: previewing before 24 hours
Would it be possible to be able to preview your FPP, prior to your 24 hour time limit? [more inside]
July 25
Best practice: previously, previouslier, and ALL THE PREVIOUSLY
When a subject of an FPP has been posted about once or twice, it's easy enough to include the usual (previously) link or two. If that applies to more than one subject in a post, sometimes it's easy to provide the details in the extended description area in one way in another. Lately I've started to notice that some posts I make have subjects that have been visited too many times to list individually, so I have just been linking the (previously) to the MeFi search results. However, this is imperfect because it will sometimes include unrelated posts. As a poster, how do you deal with (previously) links? As a reader, what is your preference regarding format and labeling conventions?
July 24
If You Use IFTTT Then Consider Sharing Recipes
As of yesterday there is an Also On option for IFTTT. If you use the service, please consider adding IFTTT to your profile page. If you are also creating MetaFilter-related "recipes" then please consider sharing them on the wiki. Thanks for adding this useful service to the list, pb!
July 23
Goodreads vs FanFare vs ?: MeFi Reading Group
During the initial discussions surrounding FanFare back in March, some talk was had regarding adding books and other reading to the subsite at some future time. It was noted in passing that there is a two-year dormant MetaFilter Goodreads Group. I'm curious about moving forward on one of these options and would like to solicit opinions from the group. [more inside]
Metafilter-Youtube Rolling Playlist
Oh noes! The automatically generated youtube channel for metafilter videos doesn't seem to be working anymore... [more inside]
July 22
Mefiquote for Chrome/Tampermonkey?
Does Mefiquote work for any Chrome users out there? How did you get it running?
MeFites, What Purse Do You Carry?
Because we are having great fun in this thread sharing links to cool purse sites, and we have been talking about the Meaning Of Purses, and in the past we have done desks:
What purse do you carry, and what story does it tell about you? LINKS OR PICS PLZ. What important things does it carry?
Gentlemen, you are welcome to share your manbags or fancy wallets, but you must agree to ooh and ahh over purses. This is a place of PURSE ADMIRATION, not judgment or scorn.
July 21
Link to preferred discussion thread in deletion?
In this recently deleted post we're told to go to the most recent I/P thread. Couldn't there be a link to the thread in the deletion? I'm not sure where exactly to go, particularly if it doesn't appear in the first page of the popular posts tab. [more inside]
What it says on the tin
I don't like the "does what it says on the tin" phrase, such as employed by this recent post. Mostly, I just feel like it's overused. There have, however, been posts where I didn't understand what they were about and the description that it "does what it says on the tin" did not help. I think we can come up with better descriptions. For example, in this post, maybe a pull-quote of a helpful tip or something. [more inside]
July 19
Nintendo Wii U & 3DS/2DS ID enfriendening
The last Nintendo console friend code swap we had was back in 2012. Well the Wii-U is out now, and it's finally gotten an ultra-popular game out for it (MK8), so let's do the swappy thing. 3DS/2DS users also welcome, for those games that take advantage of the recently-added Nintendo Network ID functionality on those systems. [more inside]
New Resource for Collaborative FPPs on Same Sex Marriage Legalization
There has been some concern that some of the recent FFPs about state-level same sex marriage legalization have been relatively thin. For the states where legal SSM is still pending, prewriting draft text and collecting links to background information would help us create more substantial FPPs that could still be posted in a timely manner as soon a ruling is issued or a law is passed. To this end, all interested MeFites are invited to use these MetaFilter wiki pages to collaborate on future FPPs for each state.
July 18
MeFi Diplomacy 2014 round 2
MeFi Diplomacy 2014 round 2 is now open for participants. If you'd like to take part, go to PlayDiplomacy and search for game 86044. Specs about the game inside. [more inside]
A IRL project, based upon Metafilter postings.
Ok, so I work for a Public Access television station. I am finally getting to the point where I have time, and a possible team of people to help me produce my own show for our channels. While brainstorming for ideas, or whenever I am just out walking and thinking to myself, I often find myself mulling over the many myriad of things that I have learned over the years of reading Metafilter, and how much I can definitely credit the users of Metafilter for enlightening me on many subjects that are often either overlooked in the mainstream media, or are contentious current social issues that many times require them to be unpacked and explained through either individual personal experience, or through often very engaging discussions with participants from all walks of life, many times with input from actual experts in the subjects that are discussed.
So my idea was to make each show based around some of the fantastic posts that I have found on Metafilter, and I would like to use some of the information that users have provided. [more inside]
New Features: FanFare Talk, and Movies
Today we're releasing a spot for discussing plans for TV and Movie watching (stuff like the Horror Film Club, the Summer camp series, etc) by adding a discussion area to FanFare called FanFare Talk. We're also adding the ability for new posts in the Movies section to be added by members instead of just me for the last couple months of testing. Both discussion posts and movie posts will need to be approved before going up, as TV shows still are moderated. The front page of FanFare has been updated to show the titles of recent Talk posts along with a new tab in the upper right to get to all the discussion posts. [more inside]
Sausage fingered pony
I was wondering whether other sausage fingered mefites have the same problem I do. When bashing my opinions into the text box on my mobile or nexus starting the message often means accidentally hitting the link through my username or even the html tags link. Its a particular problem when trying to cut and paste at the beginning of posts since my paste function pops up over the username. If its not just me is there any chance these links could be given a little more space in the page design?
July 17
Fantastic commenters will never know they're fantastic
I'm seeing a lot of great comments on the blue lately; I mark them as favorites, of course, but sometimes I flag them as "Fantastic". However, the commenter doesn't receive this feedback. [more inside]
Please help me improve my comment
I waded into the discussion with a comment that I thought was asking for some help understanding the argument of the article under discussion. Can it be improved, or should I not have posted at all? [more inside]
FPP's celebrating every judge's ruling on SameSexMarriage are NewsFilter
I had a comment deleted calling the recent Florida decision a weak FPP. I'm happy to have the mods quote my comment, it included the word 'circlejerk'.
I contacted the mods and was told "You are welcome to skip threads you aren't interested in". That's.....not cool. [more inside]
I don't want to see this
Is there a "hide" button for Metafilter posts? [more inside]
July 16
Trying to Track Down an Old Comment
Quite some time ago there was a post on ruins that included links to one artist's idea of what an "ideal ruin" would be. The image was a photoshop creation that included a creek flowing through a ruined stone structure. I know this description is very vague, but I'd appreciate it if the description rings a bell for anyone.
Thanks.
So What Are You *Really* Trying To Say?
Responding to this FPP, KokoRyu makes a point about how there could be demographic parallels between issues in the developing world & New York City c. 1970; namely the large number of young people inhabiting both: "Just as the New York of the 60's and 70's was a violent place because of demographics, the same may be true of the world, with it's young, growing population today." [more inside]
"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
Mefite Paul-Olivier Dehaye’s three-week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) at Coursera, "Teaching Goes Massive: New Skills Required" 'reportedly launched on June 23 without controversy. The course targeted people in higher education who felt “threatened,” “lost” or “unprepared technology-wise,” -- a MOOC for MOOC skeptics, in other words.' And then the mindfuck began. Inside Higher Ed notes that in trying to figure out what is going on, someone uncovered a handful of comments he made on MeFi related to the project.
July 15
Add The Atlantic to the list of web-IRL-zines that link MetaFilter
What Happens When Digital Cities Are Abandoned?
Exploring the pristine ruins of Second Life and other online spaces
LAURA E. HALLJUL 13 2014, 6:55 AM ET [more inside]
Exploring the pristine ruins of Second Life and other online spaces
LAURA E. HALLJUL 13 2014, 6:55 AM ET [more inside]
July 14
MeFi GISHWHES Team?
Registration for The Greatest Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen is open for one more week. Teams are comprised from members worldwide. A Metafilter team would me mighty indeed. Anyone want to play?
Mathowie should do an AMA
MetaFilter is a long-running site with plenty of long-time members, but it's always stayed fresh through a slow and steady influx of new users to add new perspectives and replace those who've left. With the recent slump in Google traffic, we should consider ways to more actively promote the site elsewhere, in order to maintain this healthy growth and make sure the site and its values do not become complete unknowns to newer generations of web users. In that spirit, I've acquired the subreddit /r/MetaFilter and given it a fabulous CSS makeover with loads of informative links on MeFi history and culture. [more inside]
PhoBWanKenobi makes xojane!
Hooray for MeFi's own PhoBWanKenobi, who was interviewed for this xojane piece, "Phoebe North Talks About Her New YA Novel "Starbreak," Writing, Parenting, Faith -- And Sexy Plants." Congratulations! I asked PhoBWanKenobi if she was OK with me posting this, and she gave me the go-ahead.
deleting derails & off-topic comments
I was under the impression that derailing & off-topic comments (especially at the beginning of a thread) were going to be automatically deleted more often now that mod staffing is decreased. Do we have a community consensus backing up that standard? [more inside]
July 13
Help me find a thread about compassion fatigue and evolution.
I *swear* I found a discussion thread here a few years back about feeling overwhelmed by all the problems and natural disasters of the world and not being able to do more to help. Someone posted that there was research (or at least a theory) that our brains haven't evolved beyond "knowing" a set number of people - our local families and community members (essentially, people we'd met in person a few hundred years ago) vs. now being connected to people all over the world via the Internet (and extended news coverage of tragedies, etc.). Does this ring a bell for anyone?
July 12
FanFare talk page?
Does FanFare need its own talk page, like Music? It seems like there have been enough Fanfare planning posts here lately to make a new space for them, and to keep MetaTalk more MetaFilter related. [more inside]
July 11
FanFare: Slings & Arrows?
The FPP I made on Slings & Arrows (probably some spoilers there if you haven't seen the show yet) was pretty well received, so who's interested in working our way through the series? [more inside]
July 10
MeFi Horror Film Club, #5: Martyrs
We're going non-English again this week, but also taking a dip in the more extreme end of horror. Martyrs, a 2008 French film by Pascal Laugier is emphatically not for beginners. It's so violent, in fact, that it is sometimes lumped in with films like Saw and Hostel as "torture porn." The twist is, this film has--so I am given to understand (haven't seen it yet myself)--an ending that casts the subgenre in an entirely different light, and considerably more thought and sense of purpose than the genre typically bothers with. It is--I want to emphasize again--seriously and ceaselessly violent and upsetting.
[more inside]
July 9
FanFare Breaking Bad rewatch?
I just watched the finale of Breaking Bad last week, after snorting the entire series over the course of about six months. Withdrawal is giving me a fever, and the only prescription is more Heisenberg. Who wants to jump in the RV with me? [more inside]
Forthcoming Cult Film Club films
The next one is The Big Lebowski, which I will post Monday June 14. It's widely available to watch online, or you can simply replay the whole film in your mind, as can everybody in our generation. And then, alternating between old and new: [more inside]
Export the full text of Metafilter favorites
I'd like to export the "wisdom of Metafilter" that I've favorited over the years, but I'd like to do it with the least amount of effort and risk of error. The two methods I've found so far will require quite a bit of copy/pasting. Am I missing a special killer-combo-move, or will I just have to roll up my sleeves and get my ctrl+ C/P fingers warmed up? [more inside]
July 8
94: Incremental RPGs
This episode of the podcast was recorded on July 7th and features Jessamyn, cortex, and me going through the best of the last 30 days of the site, and the whole thing runs about 1hr 35min long. [more inside]
A poor showing even by the low standards of I/P posts
This is a poor post that links to at least one highly biased source and is generally framed in an exceptionally one-sided manner. While current events may be significant enough to warrant an exception to the (unofficial?) I/P moratorium, this post did not merit it.
MeFi15
To celebrate Metafilter's 15th anniversary this month, I have given myself a MeFi-themed manicure. I thought I would share with you all. [more inside]
July 7
Metafilter mentioned (and linked) at Fast Company
"Why Academics Are Incensed By Facebook's Emotion-Manipulating Social Experiment" by Chris Gayomali
Comments on Metafilter filled a spectrum ranging from "meh" to furious: "I don't remember volunteering to participate in this. If I had tried this in graduate school, the institutional review board would have crapped bricks."(See, was that so hard, New Yorker?)
July 4
AskMe quoted on NewYorker.com
AskMe gets a shout out on the New Yorker's Page-turner blog.
unique distinct idiosyncratic peculiar
I've noticed that I use a pair of tags for my front page posts that no other or only a few other posters use. Doing some digging, I've found a few unique or highly limited tags. Do you know of any more? [more inside]
July 3
Team Metafilter on Kiva
The team is going strong with 340 members who made almost 4000 loans totaling over $115,000. Great! There is room for improvement regarding two slight issues though. [more inside]
July 2
Pony Request: add favorites option to tag page
I'd like to be able to add favorite posts easily and quickly when I consult a summary page using the tag feature. [more inside]