MetaTalk

As everyone knows, the hallmark of any big-time website these days is the seamless integration of VC slop cutting-edge AI solutions into every facet of their operation. After witnessing the undeniable success of this approach across the web, we knew it was high time for MetaFilter to join the bandwagon or risk becoming even more charmingly anachronistic than we already are. So, after a quarter century of maintaining our community's distinctly human-powered approach, we're excited to announce that MetaFilter is finally embracing The Future: starting today, every page on MeFi will support Socky the Sockpuppet, your personal AI assistant ready to enhance your browsing experience with randomly generated commentary and deep-cut references that may or may not be relevant to whatever you're doing.

[Click here to activate Socky!] / or / [Click here to cast Socky into the digital abyss]
posted by Rhaomi at 12:01 AM Apr 1 2025 - 123 comments [74 favorites]

Update on the beta version of the new site. See notes inside.

QUICK UPDATE (April 5, 1:05pm ET): As of right now, the staging site still throws a password error when you try to sign up, so it's not possible to test logged-in behaviors. We're aware, but kirk is out of town and unavailable to fix. Feel free to check other parts of the staging site in the meantime.
posted by Kybard at 9:17 AM Apr 4 2025 - 22 comments [6 favorites]

Hello and welcome to this month’s site update! Thanks for your patience, we are and were waiting on some information, details are inside. Last month’s update can be found here.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:58 AM Mar 28 2025 - 89 comments [13 favorites (5 in the last 7 days)]

User Cranberry has passed away after a long life. She was driven, I think, more by intellectual curiosity than any other factor and when I encouraged her to sign up for Metafilter, she was able to overcome her dislike of "potty mouth" language to sign up and become a regular user and answerer of AskMe. She was very proud to be a "$5 noob," and she greatly enjoyed reading the posts of her favorite users, especially gnfti and taz. She has gone on to join other family members in the afterlife and her obit is here.
posted by Lynsey at 10:00 AM Mar 27 2025 - 79 comments [9 favorites (5 in the last 7 days)]

If a user is a member of staff, and is not a moderator, should they have mod powers? Are there situations where it would be appropriate for them to use mod powers? If not, should they have mod powers at all? If they must have mod powers, what policies are/should be in place to prevent misuse? If they do misuse mod powers, how should this community deal with it? (Going to describe the inciting incident here as gently as I can below the fold)
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 11:01 AM Apr 1 2025 - 49 comments [4 favorites]

Back in the aughts, MetaFilter and sites like it were often improved by community-designed "userscripts" that added useful features to the default experience. Unfortunately, as more and more sites moved to mobile-first design, this power-user approach to customization declined in popularity (and accessibility). But that's no reason for such clever code to go to waste! We've reached out to some developers of classic, much-loved MeFi scripts who have generously agreed to let frimble incorporate their functionality directly into the site so it runs easily on any device -- initially as a direct port, then as a model for the new codebase if it proves popular and workable. First up: Plutor's humble MeFiQuote script, which adds a [quote] button to the byline of every comment on the site. Click to jump to the reply field while quoting the comment in full, with the username linking back to the original -- or on most platforms, highlight some text first to quote that excerpt directly! It's especially handy for mobile, where you'd normally have to type out a lot of tedious HTML and multiple copy-pastes to do the same thing. And if you used to use userscripts (or still do!), check out this list of classic MeFi scripts and share which ones you think would be worth adapting.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:01 PM Mar 26 2025 - 43 comments [7 favorites (3 in the last 7 days)]

I had an upsetting thing happen to me yesterday as a trans man, and was trying to find some solace in reading Metafilter, and instead ran into the train wreck of the metatalk on antisemitism. The whole experience got me thinking a lot about the quote "divided we fall, united we stand" in the face of the current fascist rise in this country (sorry to be so US focused), and made me wonder whether this might be an opportunity for understanding and reconciliation rather than leaving that thread be as is and letting it become an old wound that just festers.
posted by lab.beetle at 7:06 AM Apr 4 2025 - 24 comments [3 favorites]

I want to suggest that we consider decoupling bookmarks from favorites. I very frequently want to favorite a comment to show my support or agreement, but I have stopped using favorites because I do not want to bookmark hundreds of comments that I appreciated but do not need to revisit.
posted by Neely O'Hara at 10:28 AM Mar 12 2025 - 116 comments [8 favorites (2 in the last 7 days)]

How can we create a safer and more respectful space for Jewish MeFites?
posted by Jacqueline at 9:26 PM Mar 26 2025 - 148 comments [3 favorites (2 in the last 7 days)]

I was excited to upload my new profile picture after I found this lovely photo of some strawberries on Unsplash. Now my excitement has turned to ash in my mouth as the beauty of the photo is lost in the uploading, reduced to a blurry thumbnail. Surely the cost of hosting profile images at a better quality can't be that high?
posted by fruitdroid at 10:04 AM Apr 3 2025 - 17 comments [2 favorites]

After months of joyful toil under the expert and unflagging stewardship of Faint of Butt, I am proud to announce that the Metafilter Flood Tribute Album is now complete, just in time for the mid-January 25th anniversary of the release of They Might Be Giants' now classic record.
posted by umbú at 12:36 PM Jan 17 2015 - 78 comments [89 favorites (1 in the last 7 days)]

Less of a feature request, more of a mega cash-cow idea for Matt: The ability to make anonymous comments for $1 a shot.
posted by agropyron at 10:37 AM May 17 2006 - 94 comments [49 favorites (1 in the last 7 days)]

Currently, if somebody deletes their account, their Fanfare posts are also deleted. We have no idea how many books, movies, etc. had fanfare posts that have now disappeared. What if, in the new site, when you wanted to make a Fanfare post, the post itself was associated with a dedicated user (maybe "The Opener"), populated with some standard description from some API when possible, and your own thoughts went in your own comment?
posted by one for the books at 2:33 PM Mar 5 2025 - 42 comments [8 favorites (1 in the last 7 days)]

Hey, with the recent MeTa about the Card Club, I was reminded that there are a number of member run activities and events, but there is no list of them. So I'm going to put together a FAQ entry about the member related MeFi clubs and activities with the following information for each club: Name of club/activity Contact Person Premise of club/activity How often/when the club/activity occurs For those who do run these activities, thank you! Please chime in if you have any special instructions or corrections and I'll include them in the FAQ entry/listing. For anyone who wants to help with compiling this information, let me know, we can do it in Google docs.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:19 AM Mar 20 2025 - 14 comments [8 favorites (1 in the last 7 days)]

As a someone not American, who does not live in America, I feel vastly under skilled / situated to make a post about the current Presidents (Trump) recent Executive Order that focuses on Library Funding.
posted by Faintdreams at 8:46 AM Mar 24 2025 - 7 comments [4 favorites (1 in the last 7 days)]

Concerning my Mark Madoff obituary post.
posted by Joe Beese at 4:00 PM Dec 11 2010 - 243 comments [1 favorite]