August 2007 Archives (all archives)
August 31
Victoria meetup
Boston meetup: Friday, Sept. 7
Boston meetup: Friday, September 7. 8p-ish? I'll be in town for a business meeting and I'd love to hang out with some Mefites while I'm there.
Odds are good I'll be staying in Waltham, so maybe something on Moody Street? The last time I did this we did Super88 in Allston for dinner then Big City for drinks, and that was pretty fun. I'm taking suggestions. I'm T-dependent so that's a (minor) limiting factor.
Let us party, my homeboys. And homegirls. And home-any-other-description-you-care-to-append-to-yourselves. Let us party.
The New Left. No, wait...
Small inconsistency. On members' posts/comments pages, < newer / older>> point opposite to all the regular pages, which are < older / newer>>. Not terribly annoying, but easy to fix, no?>>
Oh, no, it was deleted and no one can tell
Is there any disincentive to posting crap comments in AskMe? Should there be?
Me too!
Along the lines of the "favorite" button, I suggest adding a "me too" button to appear alongside comments. A list of the people who have clicked "me too" would appear after the comment.
Rationale: I get the impression that a lot of people use favorites not so much as bookmarks, but to endorse or "vote for" a comment. Particularly on AskMe, where the point is not so much to discuss a topic as it is to answer a question, it could be useful to indicate "I have nothing to add to soandso's great comment, but want to let it be known that I endorse this answer."
I suppose that a "me too" button also invites a "you've got to be kidding" button, but that's a lazy form of argumentation, and would be served just as well by clicking "me too" on a rebuttal comment or writing your own.
August 30
NOOOOOOOOOO
"You hit your favorite limit for the day." When did this happen? What's the limit? Anybody got anything to do away with the shakes?
The poached becomes the poacher!
No leaky fishtank mystery, but similar. Following up on this AskMe of mine. I have egg on my face.
Gawker tries its hand at RelationshipFilter
This account is differently-abled?
Hey, I see we now have a "This account is disabled" flag to slap on banned users' profiles. Any other additions along these lines?
August 29
New font is cool: now how 'bout smaller?
Hey, I see there's suddenly a new font in use for song titles (and linking directly to threads!) at MeFi Music. Looks good to me: the page is more unified. Might I be so bold as to make a further suggestion? Make the song titles a little smaller. I don't think they need to be so big, really, and it'd make more space, so more MeFier's songs could bask a little longer in those bright MeFiMu front page stage lights. Whaddaya think?
A moment of the silence for the IMG tag
How can I find those hilarious closed/deleted Metafilter threads from the days of the IMG tag? I remember the page taking a few minutes to load because they were full of ridiculous animated GIFs. I'd like to spam my friends with some of those images.
Can't upload songs to music
Uploading songs to mufi is maybe broken? Or maybe it is just me?
Surveh?
When was the last time we had a Mefi survey? Given the growing number of members, it would be interesting to learn how the demographics have changed (or stayed the same).
The HTML error is gone, but the [Flagged] remains!
You post a comment, but it contains an HTML error because you're dumb, so you hit the [!] and flag your own comment with "HTML/display error." A few minutes later, a helpful mod comes along and fixes your dumb mistake, and all is right with the world... except that you still see [Flagged] sitting right there below your comment, forever, reminding you of your typographical failings and offending your sense of aesthetics. Please, oh please, can the [Flagged] flag be taken away by the same moderator who cleans up your HTML? I promise I won't ask for anything ever again until I find something new to whine about!
I do not like green links and numbers
I think the sidebar in AskMe as currently constituted is a big fat waste of real estate.
MeFil
Meh-fill ~ Gathering (in Urdu), the name suggested by the cydonian to term the first ever, and subsequent (hopefully), Indian Metafilter Gatherings.
August 28
Cycling challenge - 3 days left
Only 3 days left in the August cycling challenge. Wolfdog still leads JeffL, but an 85 mile lead isn't very big the way those guys are riding.
IANAL, but I'll give legal advice anyway.
I'm sure I'm going to get absolutely hammered for this, but...consider it my personal pony request. AskMe should have some kind of "flag" for when an answer given is dangerous. Not simply ill advised, irrational, immature, subject to different discretion, or bad, but simply so wrong it could hurt, in a legal, medical, etc. way, the OP who asked for the advice. Yes, I say this because once again I am angered to see a non-lawyer, posting as such, giving legal advice that has no basis in fact, reality, etc., and as such simply sends the OP in a really bad direction. Again, I'm not talking about debatably bad advice, but answers that are simply so wrong it hurts. It's one thing to give your 2 cents, but another to suggest that a technical legal issue that has no application whatsoever is the right answer. So, I think there should be some kind of user-viewable flag that lets others know educated answerers think an answer is BAD. Since we already have a method to indicate people think an answer is GOOD...
Why can't one favorite deleted threads?
Why can't one favorite deleted threads? There are a few methods of viewing deleted threads, and one can work around the issue by favoriting a comment in a deleted thread; however I think it would be nifty if we could favorite a deleted thread itself.
I LOVE YOU ALL PLEASE LOVE ME TOO
How is favoriting every single comment (in several different threads) different from any other kind of crapflood? It dilutes what (arguably little) utility the favorites have for anyone else, and annoys me because I haven't had coffee yet.
Where in the world are all these people?!
We've began updating the metafilter KML file again. If you're using Google Earth, point it at metafilter.com/metafilter.kml to get the latest data (it's about 3Mb so it'll take a while). It'll be automatically updated once a week from here on out.
I unfavorite you! And you! and you! and especially you!
Teeny-tiny pony request: Adding favorites is all ajax-y and lovely. Removing favorites - from your favorites page - causes a refresh and a bump up to the top of the page. I can has ajax pls?
August 27
The Born Addendum
Hows about adding a free-form (go nuts) Born line to profile pages? [previ03ly]
By request...
Meetup in Ottawa?
Those of you putzing around on MeMu know I am heavily into folksongs and folk singing. This Thursday at 7:30 pm I am hosting a song session at Rasputin's in Ottawa (696 Bronson, for those of you who live here). The focus will be strongly towards accapella song, whether in groups or solo, and there will (hopefully) be singing from as many different musical traditions as we can manage.
Since I'm new here, I'd love the opportunity to meet some local Mefites; I thought this would be a fantastic excuse for a meetup. No singing is required, I'll only ask that you don't talk when someone is singing, out of respect for the singer.
So, are there any Mefites in Ottawa interested in coming down to Rasputin's on Thursday? I'd love to meet you!
August 26
14: Race Car Bed for Adults
Show 14 was recorded on Friday, August 24th and features mefi and ask mefi recaps with Matt and Jessamyn. It runs about 45 minutes.
Philly Meetup. MeatBomb in town.
Meatbomb is coming to town. Part of the Metafilter Meatbomb World tour. (Meatbomb and I had a tiny meetup in Dubai.)
Where: Philadelphia, near 95.
Location: To be still decided. I'm thinking beer, and some place conducive to us. I'm thinking of Nodding Head Brewery (or possibly Eulogy, or the pool hall next door).
When: Friday, the 31st (although Meatbomb might make this become the 30th.)
Last comment by?
A small pony request:
When I am interested in ongoing threads or participating in a discussion, I will frequently check back to see if there are new comments after the one I just posted. However, there is a time limit or something on how often the "new comment" message updates. Would it be possible / productive / desirable to add "last comment by [username]" after the "number of comments" text?
I can has NO Gnostic Novelist plz?
Could we perhaps gently show Gnostic Novelist where the door is? I would link to some of the more egregious of his baby-smearing-doodoo-all-over-threads, but it's probably simpler just to look at his posting history.
Mefi N00b post: does this count as eponysterical?
Does this count as an eponysterical comment?
Also, don't worry. A little panty flash now and again is just the sort of thing an easy spirit hip chick on a cruiser like you could be okay with.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:26 PM on August 26
Meetup in Amsterdam
Wanna meetup in Amsterdam? The Amsterdam Bike Culture thread is a good moment to drag the attention of dutchies and others in the neighbourhood to this metatalk thread to gauge the interest in a meetup.
is it brokeded?
Is there something broken in this askme post?
I can successfully click on any more inside except for that one.
Nuking old RSS feeds ...
I have a question/suggestion about the RSS feeds attached to each post. (If I have misunderstood something, and this turns out to be a 'Doh' question, then my apologies in advance ...) Closed threads still seem to have an RSS feed associated with them, including a 'Subscribe' link at the top. These feeds will of course never be updated, so will keeping these around be damaging to MetaFilter's standing in Google/Technorati/etc. rankings? After all, as time goes by, we'll end up with a gadzillion feeds that are never updated, and only a few (relatively) that are. I'm sure the Googlebot must be trained to give ranking 'demerits' to blogs, etc. with feeds that are never updated.
Nuking the RSS feeds for closed threads would also make it easier for users. At present, we never really know when any given thread that we are following by RSS is 'finished' or not. But if we see in our reader 'Feed failed to load', that will let us know that it's officially done, and we can delete it. I guess you could easily create a daemon that would run daily, nuking the feeds for closed threads ...
August 25
cant just search for "."
Morbid question I know, but here goes... I wanted to peruse ALL of the threads in the history of MeFi which are what I'd affectionately refer to as virtual wakes. Is there an ideal way to do this beyond just the obit tag, and how might one do it efficiently? [more inside]
quis custodiet custodes
I don't know where to start.
You're ignorant
I'm bored and ignorant. So are you. Let's learn something. There's a plethora of free open "courseware", books, and audio lectures on the internet. And IRC channels where we could "meet". And surplus of smart people here. Let's set up a "course" and take it together.
August 24
Dark blue forevah!
On my favourites page, the dark blue popups that appear when I hover over a link never disappear when I move my mouse away.
It made more sense when I was drunk
LA "Meat"up— Success. Photos.
Your single monthly running challenge post
One week to go in the August MeFi Running challenge, and things are heating up at the top of the leaderboard. In order to open up the mefi running challenges (previous: 1.0.,2.0.,3.0.,3.1.,4.0.,5.0) to all mefites, and not only the privileged possessors of nike+ kits and ipod nanos, I propose to organize future challenges on runnerplus.com, which has recently implemented a challenges feature.
Thread closing, generally; self links, particularly.
Can we keep threads open a bit longer, until the discussion covers some of the nuances of policy? Even when everything make sense to admins, it seems like the reason to have it on MetaTalk instead of via email is to clarify it for the rest of us. E.g., the recent "self-link" post was about someone getting banned for posting an article published by the same magazine he writes for. Presumably the magazine is just promotey and not cool or something, but I would've asked in thread if it were left open (I'd assume the same standard wouldn't apply if you were published by the New Yorker or something)
Mefi Summit
How many skiers/snowboarders are there on Metafilter? I'm wondering if there is sufficent interest for a meetup/summit at a resort this winter. Perhaps if it is planned far enough ahead of time, Mefites who are interested can coordinate ski vacations.
BANHAMMER
regulation
Recently jessamyn rushed to edit the title of an Ask Metafilter question, changing it from "Nice bag that isn't gay" to simply "Nice bag." Today, on Metafilter, there is "It's harder than you think to differentiate between what's gay and what's High School Musical."
Why is one offensive, and one is not, if they both reference ideas that are generally accepted as being attractive to gay men?
I am the photographer O Zhang
The photographer of the "white men with chinese daughters" thread has joined the conversation.
Propz
I have no idea what these people are talking about, but incredible answers like these are what makes me love AskMe.
August 23
Thanks!
I just wanted to say thanks to Matt for putting that extra-special touch on my post about Comic Sans. I have made a very few good posts and a number of bad ones, but this has completely made my MetaFilter day, no, wait - my MetaFilter year.
Should I post this?
So I've been reading a lot about a particular issue I'm involved in as part of my job (and personally), and I think that a lot of the stuff I've been reading online is MeFi -worthy. At the same time, does the fact that I do have some personal stake in this stuff getting read (in the sense that it would make me happy if more people knew about this particular issue) make this a self-link? I didn't provide content to these sites, or have anything to do with what goes on there. Can I safely post these on the front page, or should I just not?
Also, I know that once you ask yourself "should I post this" the answer is probably no. At the same time, I'm pretty passionate about this stuff and don't want to just not post anything...
Berlin Meetup
I'm hanging around Berlin for a few weeks. Are there any Mefites here interested in a meetup?
August 22
workfriendly un-favoritism?
can i unfavorite a comment?
and what exactly is the workfriendly/metafilter connection?
thanks.
not to be rhetorical
CortexHatesMe!
Apparently I suck at life and don't know where to post... but someone we all know and love received AskMe license plates from the Vermont DMV today!
Over-active Activity
I was digging through my "Activity" and discovered that, in Safari, clicking on "Older" or "Newer" opened the next page in a new window. Clicking "Older" or "Newer" in that window opens yet another new window. And so on...
Weirdly, clicking on "Older" or "Newer" in Firefox opens the pages in new tabs. Repeatedly.
A fair warning: I'm headed your way
Sooo, I'm going to be in London starting from Sept. 17, leaving on the 22nd. I was just wondering if any of the good people of London would be so kind as to spare a couple of hours for this lone NYC delegate.
New Search Box on Blue / Horizontal Scroll Bar
The "Google Custom Search" box on the blue is causing a horizontal scroll bar to appear in Firefox/Windows. The input box is just too darn large. I'd guess 100 pixels or so too wide?
August 21
iPhone-filter (Metafilter App for iPhone))
I made a MetaFilter application for the iPhone using iPhone Apper. You can see a preview of the icon, and download it here. I found some super easy instructions for installing 3rd party applications on shauninman.com.
If someone wants to take a better shot at it, you can use my Photoshop template. I hope others with iPhones get some use out of this-- I like having my favorite website within easy reach!
Netafilxter
Anyone want to do some intellectual cinematic cross-pollination and make MeFi Netflix Friends?
Tucson meetup?
In searching on whether there had been any recent meetups in Tucson, I found recent evidence of a desire for a meetup in Tucson. I live here for the next three months (excepting some weekends), and while I'm too busy melting right now to really want to go out, it would be awesome to meet some mefites in the near future.
7 posts, 13 comments? Go back under your rock.
Huh? Wha?
I have a humour imbalance - know any good bloodletters in the Denver area?
Sorry, there really are no 'good psychics', only charlatans. Deleting the posts in that thread stating so isn't going to change that.
Are we going to delete negative comments if someone asks the best way to transfer money to dead Nigerian princes?
This is 2007 - it's about time that Mefi grows up and allows people to call a scam a scam.
Cockblocked
I've been getting "connection reset while page was loading" errors every time I've tried to access any of the x.metafilter.com domains for awhile now. I post this in one of the small 5-minute windows of access which have opened up over the past few days or so. Is there still work being done on the site, or is the borkage on my end? [more inside]
HAI!
HAI GUISE WHATS GOINGON THIS CHANNEL??? Um, I mean, does anyone want to have an SF Meetup? I'm thinking Friday, August 31 - a little diversion for us nonburners, plus people can send me off into the Three-Day Novel Contest [http://3daynovel.com/]!
Rehash
This is what I see visiting AskMe. Attempting to log in returns a Forbidden error page. What up?
Security Warning, Re: Metafilter
All of a sudden I'm getting a security warning every time I switch pages within Metafilter (i.e. switching from MeFi to AskMe to MeTa, etc.) saying "The security certificate does not match the site name" and asking me "Do you want to proceed?"... So far I've just been clicking out of it without answering (it wants me to answer "yes" or "no") but it's kind of freaking me out. I've been logged in all day, and it just started within the last 5 minutes. Is this happening to anybody else? I'm on IE7 with XP, if that helps.
August 20
The MeFi podcast needs a sign off catchphrase.
The MeFi podcast needs a sign off catchphrase. Matt tends to end podcasts with 'That's it.' or 'Thanks'. We need something catchy like 'Pancakes!' or 'Don't overthink your plate of beans.'
What's your suggestion?
Self-linking comments
jbelkin needs an email from one of the admins about self-promoting comment links.
Server upgrayedd (the extra d is for a double dose of downtime)
We're in the process of updating the server. You probably noticed about 20min of downtime and things may be up and down throughout this evening but should resume and hopefully be faster later today and tomorrow.
Michael Vick posts
The Michael Vick plea is a pretty big deal. He's probably going to be banned from football. Why all the deletions of the Michael Vick FPP's? This is, if not on the same level, at the least very close to Pete Rose being banned from baseball. Plus the juicy dog fighting thing, of course. The deletions seem really administrator-specific. Though you may not like sports, lots of people on Metafilter do.
Trailer Park City Meet-up
Thus spake the Podcast! I have quit my all-too-important job in public radio and am moving this Friday, Aug. 24, to Redwood City, CA to take the helm of a new national daily radio show there. Any MeFites privy to Redwood City for a meet-up? Bob's Donuts, et al...
August 19
mom sez i can't play with sharp things
the tabs on metatalk have had the nice CSS rounded corners for weeks. how come the other sites still have those boxy square ones?
Thread killer! Thread killer in the night. I can kill a thread more than any troll would ever dare try-y.
Statistics on thread killers? A lot of people seem to think that they're usually the last ones to post in a thread and I would like this settled once and for all, especially since I thought I'm up for contention, especially recently.
Consider this a sort of reverse popularity contest
Safety first!
Before yesterday, it'd been 280 days, since November 11th, that we'd gone without a Metatalk post.
Fly your Flag, freak!
I know this has been requested before, but can we have a better flagging system?
I'd like to be able to:
1/ ... flag from the main page, and not have to go inside.
2/ Have either a user-fillable reason, or more/better reasons. F'r instance, "not the best of the web?"
August 17
Burning Man Meetup
So I'm going to be in the Nevada Black Rock Desert near the end of the month. If anyone else is gonna be in town, come have a Meetup!
13: Viewer Mail
Lucky show #13 is the viewer mail show, featuring questions from 13 mefites that jessamyn and I answered. It's about 40 minutes long and we recorded it on August 17, 2007.
lost girl: found!
I finally found you, Kelly Shanks -- or, rather, you found me!
Toronto meets up?
Are people wanting to get together in Toronto? The Comics Festival MeTa threatened of a meetup, but never really resolved itself (http://metatalk.metafilter.com/14693/Meet-Me-at-the-Comics-Festival)
Tag Mystery Chaos
When posting to the blue, I'm told that "1 post has been tagged with one of your tags ( long list of_tags GoesHere ) within the past 24 hours." I think this feature would be more useful if it told you which tag(s) and post(s) it was referring to.
August 16
Reach out and touch an admin
Viewer Mail time! For tomorrow's podcast, we're gonna take questions from members and answer them during the show. Call +1 (503) 487-0014 and record your question. We'll answer and play back the best questions we get for the next podcast.
Lost Another One To The Fark Side
what?
Curious why Poolio's first comment was deleted.
Strange posting results with no code errors.
AskMe posting bug - forced lowercase and paragraph splicing
August 15
I can has TWOO divabats?
The divabats are multiplying in my favorites!
Meetup in Victoria, BC?
I'm traveling to Victoria, BC (thanks to this thread). Are there enough MeFites in Victoria for a meetup? August 29 or 30, held somewhere a clueless tourist could find.
The Great Rewrite?
Given the regular and predictable performance issues with the site, and my limited understanding of the infrastructure behind the current implementation, when is the Great Rewrite planned?
August 14
daShiv in NYC
DaShiv is coming to NYC (fulfilling my hope). Circa Sep. 15 to 25th. If you don't know DaShiv, he is famous for his amazing knack for stunning professional-grade candid photography, especially in meetup contexts (not that we weren't all gorgeous to begin with). We need to:
a) plan one or more meetups around his visit, with the focus being on providing good backdrops for all the pics he's going to take. I suggest at least one indoor location and one outdoor location.
b) provide places for him to stay. I can donate floor space in Hoboken for a couple of nights.
We need to do this soon so that he can confirm his flight dates and be sure that he won't be left huddled on a grate in Central Park, taking photos of rats.
London dim sum meetup – Saturday the 25th of August
I was very excited to learn at a recent meetup that I am not the only London MeFite with a fondness for dim sum. So – who else is in for dim sum at Chuen Cheng Ku (as recommended in this thread)? Wilder will be in town on the Saturday the 25th, and is in. Let’s meet outside on Wardour Street at 12:30 p.m.
Pastabagel for prom king!
I know MetaFilter isn't a popularity contest, but just in case, I thought it'd be interesting to gather some stats on what percentage of certain users' posts/comments are favorited. Here is a completely unscientific sample.
Trailers.
I'm trying to find a post from the past year about remodeled Airstream trailers that were for rent in a campground out west like New Mexico or Arizona. Searching has gotten me nowhere. Thanks.
Tag Families
A request for 'tag groups' and 'tag aliases'. Explained inside.
August 13
PRE tag?
Could we get a <pre> tag or something so that example code posted inline doesn't get stripped (or is there something that already works)? I ask because of this.
Has this 1994 Cheney interview been posted?
Has this 1994 interview with Cheney, in which he advises to not invade Baghdad, been posted yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I
I couldn't find it using the search feature, but thought I would do a pre-emptive check here and get flamed before a smaller audience if I'm wrong.
Where were you when the bomb went off?
Meatbomb the West Coast! LA stizz, yo. August 23 (er so— road trips itineraries are notoriously hard to get spot), the esteemed will be out in LA with his lovely (who apparently we apparently put a guilt headlock on about the Pacific, scummy and salty).
Since me an' the Hodg are the two points on this, and since we've only been here two months (each of us! Wild!), we'll be looking for places what where to doing this. Come follow inside, all!
It is occasionally referred to as a Bosie (or Bosey) after its inventor Bernard Bosanquet; in Australia it is commonly referred to as a wrong'un (and in India as the wrong one, which led to the naming of the doosra, meaning the other one, named by its inventor Saqlain Mushtaq
Did I miss the memo? Are we now required to do eponysterical front page posts?
August 12
Scurvy of Butt!
Impromptu NYC meetup. Wends 15th.
Impromptu NYC meetup. Wends the 15th.
I'm in NYC for the week, and need a decent distraction. I'm in midtown...I'd like to hangout with some of the fine people of NYC. Somewhere with alcohol, quiet enough to talk, and not so crowed. I'm in midtown but can be anywhere on the island.
Sydney BBQ meetup?
Spring has well & truly sprung in Sydney, and it's been about six months, so I am proposing a MeFi BBQ.
If people are up for it, I'd propose finding a BBQ area (in local aboriginal, babakuarea) somewhere around Victoria Park or in Sydney Uni, just to be close to the traditional MeFi meetup home, the Alfred.
Any UK MeFites going to the Battle Of Ideas?
This year's Battle of Ideas will take place on 27 & 28 October at London's Royal College of Art.
It seems like the sort of thing people here would be interested in, anyone else going along? Much interesting discussion will be had no doubt and presumably a not insigificant amount of alcohol (if the governments binge drinking figures are to be trusted) will be consumed post-debate.
Disclaimer: One of my friends is talking at the event and many of them are involved in the organistation that runs it.
A game I could play
SWIMMERS UNITE? I was looking over at the side and see that MeTrain is one sport short of a triathalon. We wouldn't really want to start till September to make it a full month, most likely, but is there any interest?
August 11
Mass update of public facing info
I had this idea when encountering the problem of wanting to contact a metafilter member of their public facing email address not being filled in...
How about doing what PayPal, banks and universities do - they present a user on login with a page which they click 'confirm' on to get to the usual start page. On the confirm page would be form fields with the information metafilter currently has for them:
lat, lon
flickr ID
email address
URL
etc
it would give them a chance to update it (and the email address field would have some *decent* obfuscation, either images ala Facebook or the current SOTA JavaScript).
I think often the reason this isn't filled in isn't out of choice it's because the user in question simply hasn't got around to it, doesn't know he/she has a profile or hasn't changed it since they first enrolled.
What say you? I don't think doing this would cheese people off and I think it would really be a boon for the site.
Tony Wilson
I'm too newbie to post to the front page, but would like to know: is anybody gonna give a shout to Tony Wilson?
What? No flameout? And you paid yer 5 bucks and everything!
"You win, Metaflter", or, "How to go from very first post in the blue to self-banning in only thirteen comments!" (give or take one or two that were deleted...) "Mission accomplished!"
August 10
Favorites Miscounting Bug
The Favorited By Others tally on the user profile page seems to include comments which were later deleted, and are not viewable through the hyperlink. One would expect direct correspondence between number and linked page.
Emotional Intelligence post deleted, but why?
I'm curious why my carefully researched post about emotional intelligence -- the culmination of a three-month ordeal I suffered that I honestly think needed to be shared -- was deleted. Most of the links were articles that were no more than two weeks old, and there was a lot of activity in the comments. True, there was a previous post about the subject, but its main link was dead. Considering the trivial subjects of my other posts, I'm surprised that this one was taken down.
Zombies vs. bears vs. monkeys
This is a great question but it didn't include the obligatory "For the purposes of a work of fiction..." disclaimer to keep it from being deleted as hypothetical filter.
August 9
Can I has a pony I means an ELEFINK
Is IMG back? A sudden favoriting of a long-ago image-only post yielded sweet, sweet, elephantine pictograms! Can we keep them? They followed my pony home!
Coney Island, NY meetup!
Come one, come all: Coney Island, NY meetup on Saturday, September 8th.
August 8
Santa Barbara UnMeetUp
This is not really a MeetUp. We've tried to do a Santa Barbara meetup before will poor results. However, I am having a Labor Day party on September 3 and I'd like to extend the invite to any MeFites.
nobody noticed
MeFi affiliates?
Is there a complete list somewhere of all the 'affiliate' Metafilter sites like Monkeyfilter, Metachat, Sportsfilter, etc? What official relationship do they have with the main site, if any? Is there an official policy on creating your own *filter site? Encouraged, frowned upon?
MeFi on TV sighting
Wifey tells me that MeFi was mentioned on this show last night. She said one of the featured vids was from a post here on MeFi. (I missed it-was watching Billy Jack vs. Evil Bikers or something.)
August 7
Cycling challenge, end of week 1
MetaFilter's August cycling challenge, week 1 standings. When wolfdog puts up his next century, it will all be over..
And, can anybody help me create a chart that dynamically displays the race?
"Obviously, you're not a golfer."
I know I'll be run out on a rail for this, but jessamyn's deletion of the Bonds HR record FPP was weaker than the post itself. I take it she's not a baseball fan, because plenty of breaking newsfilter/obitfilter has stuck around on just such a quick post.
Albuquerque meetup?
Albuquerque meetup anyone?
How about Sunday, Aug 11, or is that too soon?
Maybe at Kelly's Brewpub on Central? 7pm?
Social Web Links On Profile Pages
New profile feature: link to your stuff at other social sites. [more inside]
Meet Me at the Comics Festival!
A plug, sort of: I'm going to be attending the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in a couple of weeks—I'll be there on the 18th and 19th, with my own little table. Robot Johnny will also be there. If any Mefites in Toronto are planning on coming to the festival, I'd love to meet you!
My comment was deleted; how did I transgress?
I had a comment in this thread deleted, and I'm not sure why. I don't believe I was insulting or anything, but don't want to re-offend. How do I find out what happened?
[less inside]
On this question, brownpau claims that there is information missing from the original question. However, it's just that the words "[more inside]" are not displayed in the question's page. I've noticed this a few other times; a turn of the phrase that is meant to end in the [more inside] looks out of whack and, until I realize that it's happened again, appears to be have something missing.
Should [more inside] perhaps be placed inside the thread, as well, to lessen confusion, even though, technically, we're already inside?
BPD
Is there any chance we can add BPD to "the list" alongside cat declawing and circumcision? [more inside]
August 6
"So well assorted were they that once there they fell into harmony like the strings of an instrument touched by an able hand."
This thread is a shining example of how a humble single link blog post can bring out the best in Metafilter. Some of the comments in that thread are among the most candid and moving I have every read, especially those by bookish, wendell, uh126, and swerve. But there are many other insightful, poignant, and informative comments as well. In general, the discussion has progressed with a dignity and class that have become a hallmark of Metafilter. To all those who commented, thank you for sharing your lives with us. And thanks, 2shay, for the post.
When the question disavows the obvious answer, what is AskMe to do?
When the question disavows the obvious answer, what is AskMe to do?
Please, no pushing.
The executive producer of MSNBC.com is currently taking questions, comments or concerns.
Metafilter: civil discourse
Is this normal, sanctioned behaviour?
MetaFilter seems rife with religious intolerance and disinformation under the guise of intelligent conversation. Is this a flaw or a feature of Metafilter?
Uh oh.
I didn't make this comment, but it claims I did. Database corruption?
Don't be fooled by cheap imitations.
Meatbomb Travelling Roadshow August 2007. I am travelling aimlessly through the United States with my lovely fiance, in a rental car, in the month of August. We want to come and meet you.
August 5
I can't be the only one?
I like the new /random in the sidebar, but all I use it for is to try and find good flameouts on the grey. Could there be a /flame, so I can have something to do on a rainy day?
Posting from beyond the grave
How to Share Your Obituary With Your Online Friends. When your journey is over, you are probably going to want your online friends, who may live all over the world, to know why your postings have suddenly stopped. Here's a good checklist for anyone who is an active part of an internet community.
get out of jail free
Why are people attempting to help this person's girlfriend?
how r u?
New askMe guideline: Must have a theoretical "Best Answer".
August 4
Not feeling good about being mostly a reader
I’m MetaFilter user 250, which makes me officially oldschool, but: I very rarely post on any branch; all my old posts are terrible (I checked); my recent posts on the blue are extremely conservative to avoid being terrible like the old ones (many are obituaries); and I pretty much live for AskMe.
I write a ton of things on my own sites, but I never really manage to write very much of use on the various Metas. This at least is my feeling.
I won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by asking “Is it really OK just to read MetaFilter?” Of course it is. I am just wondering how many other early members really, truth be told, never got the hang of front-page posts and other high-profile “content.”
I’m saying this after reading through the archived contributions from some new people (with userIDs 40 times higher than mine), who are way the hell better at it. “We can’t all good at everything”? Or what? What is the right way to react to this?
Draft Posts?
Saved drafts of posts for the blue - crazy idea?
August 3
how to link url
could someone please direct me to an explanation about how to enter links or urls so they are highlighted?
thanks
That one post about sound guys and bands.
Searching for a post from a while ago (one year? two?) that was a list taken from a bathroom wall consisting of suggestions from sound-guys to band members. It was very snarky and brilliant. I've spent hours searching and have found nothing. I need it. bad.
Central New Jersey meetup??
C'mon Mercer County! Let's show Philly and NYC a thing or two about a meetup. What say you? Central NJ Meetup?
A hiatus isn't a moratorium, but it'd be nice.
Suggestion to reduce complaint-filter: a MeTa queue similar to anonymous AskMe. If a complaint can be handled by an admin one-on-one, the admin can deny the requested post and take the conversation to e-mail. If it's a meetup request or a policy issue that seems worthy of discussion, the admin can approve it and let everyone chime in.
August 2
HiveMind: Where's the door?
Bad day for posting here, but I'm miffed. How many chances do/should people get to drop insulting hurtful shits in AskMe threads of all places before they're just banned? I don't want to institute a talk nice policy, but being a dick to an OP looking for a psychiatrist or similar is, to me, a higher crime than just crayoning the walls, it's really demonstrating a bad fit here.
Rage, rage against the flaming of the mefite
jessamyn: Wait, what? [more inside]
Mathowie's clone is the new Spock.
We need a new tag category
What's the opposite of eponysterical?
Rounded tabs? It'd be easy...
Just a look-and-feel suggestion: if the (wonderful!) new tabs are squared-off only because you didn't want to add any more images to the page, you could easily round them off (in Firefox and Safari now, and IE eventually) with just a little CSS...
Anarchy is Quashed
First-Person Post? Finally Passed Prelims? Fondling&Petting Prohibited?
RedundancyFilter: is it called a Front-Page-Post because there is some ninja-stealth method for posting to "inside" pages? (But then that would just be commenting, right?) Sure, MeFi has its structural and terminological idiosyncracies, but FPP just always seemed... off the mark.
Looking for Blabbermouth
Looking for an old AskMe — the question was something like "I talk too much. How can I stop?" It was posted within the past six months or so. I think I even gave an answer, but for the life of me I can't find it in searches or in my answers.
August 1
travel laziness
This might be a better suggestion for the upcoming Travel site, but is it appropriate to suggest to people before they post looking for things to do in a new city, that they:
A) Tell us as much about themselves as possible,
B) Have perused all the previous threads relating to that city? (more inside)
random!
Where should I post this cry for professional web help?
Should I post to Ask or Jobs? Long story, short explanation: I'm looking for someone who can help me understand how my small business can implement a database-driven website, and I'd potentially like to hire that same person to do a relatively small, one-time piece of work based on what I learn.
How many is too many?
I'm a little confused about the etiquette concerning favorites. I've had a few people tell me I favorite far too many comments, but I don't really see the harm in it. Is this something I should be worried about? Is there a compelling reason to curtail my willy-nilly favoriting?
Would it be possible to have "how many new" show up after you click a category to browse through?
I love the (x new) comments feature, but I notice that it doesn't work if you're browsing questions by category (say, "human relations"). Would it be possible to add that feature so one could still see how many new comments had been added to questions when vewed by category?
Is MeFi the new digg?
What are the rules for posting to MeFi? Ive noticed that many posts are news articles and many of the op/ed posts get snarked or berated for not being newsworthy... I thought this was "best of the web"?
I for one will read digg if I want news and MeFi if I want to find interesting web articles...
del.icio.us profiles
I imagine that some of my fellow mefites, collectors of the Best of the Web, would have great del.icio.us accounts for me to pick through. I'm not getting enough use out of their networking feature, either. Link your profiles! Here's me.
RSS feeds in Google searches
The new RSS feeds (which are wonderful) are starting to show up in Google searches. I doubt this is what anyone wants. I would suggest that they be disallowed in robots.txt, or set NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW.