MetaTalk

Brandon Blatcher said, in February, that

Since December 24, 2024, the queue has been operating under the premise of just push anything through that isn't hugely fighty.

However, there are at least two MeTa posts just in the last month which have vanished into thin air. I'm not sure what the earlier one was, because the person who wanted to post it has apparently wiped their account, but it is referenced in my comment here. The second is a MeTa which Violet Blue apparently made. Now, it's possible that both of these MeTas were in fact "hugely fighty", but there is no evidence of that. Most of the people who post on the Grey (certainly including me) already have less than zero trust in the moderators' judgment by this point, and failing to live up to assurances that you made not even six weeks ago only serves to further erode the possibility of ever trusting it again. What can be done about this, both in the case of the specific posts which were disallowed and in general?
posted by adrienneleigh at 7:32 PM - 19 comments

this is a meta to discuss the practice of mods deleting comments that don't break guidelines, but receive pushback after the fact, solely due to the original commenter coming back and saying "please delete my comment." [more inside]
posted by sagc at 4:18 PM - 112 comments

Although many tariffs are again delayed, the political landscape has been shifted by Donald Trump and Canadians and Americans uneasily find themselves on opposite sides of a border that is, economically at the least and potentially existentially under threat. If this week’s tariff thread is any indication, this fracture can lead to differences in opinion and sentiment – new and old – flaring up on the site. This post is from a Canadian perspective – one, because there are many of course. Hoping it may help to express a minority (8% of all traffic) perspective and also have some discourse. This is NOT a policy or mod ask. All opinions my own. [more inside]
posted by warriorqueen at 1:00 PM - 131 comments

In these turbulent times, we literate few (who voluntarily inhabit a non-threaded text-only 20-year-old website that doesn’t use algorithms) cry out for the solid comforts of Fine Poetry to unify us and soothe our collective fevered brow. In short, fellow Mefites, we need a Poet Laureate (Pro Tempore*). +++This is the Poet Laureate (Pro Tempore) Election Thread+++ [more inside]
posted by Vatnesine at 8:03 PM - 79 comments

Are the only problems with this comment the ones described in this mod note? Would it be better if it said "women"? The community deserves clarity in rules, not to wonder if mods are worried users are thinking of "immoral actions" (what?). Why wasn't this just deleted for being objectifying, rather than left standing with a mod note that doesn't seem to align with the existing guidelines?
posted by sagc at 12:23 PM - 101 comments

Reading the Popular Comments is the best way to find the hidden gems of knowledge and deep dives from awesome people on this site. [more inside]
posted by Dashy at 9:07 AM - 19 comments

As per Brandon's suggestion, consider this a discussion space for whether or not ChatGP/LLM/generative AI posts, comments and (perhaps most importantly) AskMe answers should continue to be allowed. [more inside]
posted by fight or flight at 11:49 AM - 187 comments

I get annoyed when people answer questions in AskMe that don't meet the asker's stated criteria, but they were not previously deleted this aggressively. That seems like a large change that goes against what many people in MeTa have been asking for, and has been instituted without any discussion.
posted by lapis at 8:34 PM - 104 comments

In the recent post about removing the MeTa queue, Violet Blue made a comment that they had submitted a post about creating a Moderator Code of Conduct that had been refused at the time with a suggestion to try again later. We're officially a non-profit, responsibilities for site management are transitioning to the board and the Moderation Oversight Committee is working to form. I think "later" is now. [more inside]
posted by phunniemee at 9:57 AM - 23 comments

I had a comment deleted by travelingthyme with a note "One deleted. Please practice care with comments and refrain from swearing etc." All I said was "What is this shit? Can we say what we fucking mean?" Was it a bit intemperate? I guess. But the second part of the mod note is ridiculous. "Refrain from swearing etc." Is there a rule against swearing now? Are the mods our parents? Do people on this website want a no swearing policy?
posted by rhymedirective at 4:12 PM - 360 comments