MetaTalk

So I had this wacky idea, and I'm doing it. Please join me. If you have an animal in your username, post about (directly, tangentially, barely-relatedly) about your animal over the next month. Post your animal month goes from August 23 to September 23 or whenever people stop doing it. Whichever comes later. Tag #postyouranimal .
posted by If only I had a penguin... to MetaTalk on Aug 23 at 11:20 AM
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It's a little over a month since the State of the Site post where I talked about our current revenue shortfall, and as part of a goal of moving toward more regular financial updates I wanted to give a quick snapshot of where we are now.
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Aug 19 at 9:49 AM
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mrbill, a Houston MetaFilter member since 2002, has died. Many of you may remember in 2009 when his wife died suddenly and unexpectedly. Bill was kind, friendly, and generous. If you see his posts here or on Facebook, you'll see a person who gave and gave, without thought to what he got in return. We will miss him and his contributions.
posted by ColdChef to MetaTalk on Aug 16 at 11:59 AM
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A conversation-starter as another incredible week draws to a close... Let's talk about intentionally shedding one or more of aspects of identity: the what, the why, the how, and the results vis-a-vis your state of mind. Did some part of your identity become a burden, perhaps an affiliation with a social/religious group or just being The One Who Loves Pigs And So Will Be Given Porcine Porcelain Forever? Did you discover unacceptable limitations associated with an aspect of your identity, like never being able to do or say [x] because it conflicted with that persona? Was it easy or hard to let go? Did you decide to recast your vocation as an avocation (or vice versa)? Or tell us about how you came to re-home your hobby gear. Was it part of finding true purpose, living authentically, embracing growing up, removing a source of guilt, or simply moving on? Did the shedding happen as a consequence of other identities you chose intentionally, like becoming a parent? Did your identity shift gears, perhaps because you decided to be a maker and creator of [x] instead of a consumer and aficionado of it? Did you affirmatively let something go, put it on a shelf or let it drift away? Are you at peace with it? And how did it go if you chose to announce your decision, e.g., the equivalent of, "I don't collect pigs anymore," to your friends and family?
posted by carmicha to MetaTalk on Aug 23 at 7:32 AM
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If you are neurodivergent, how does MetaFilter affect you, and how does your neurodivergence affect your participation in and use of MetaFilter? How could MetaFiter -- technologically and socially -- better accommodate your neurodivergence?
posted by diss track able to MetaTalk on Jul 30 at 9:53 AM
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I know we have some cross-stitchers here, is anyone else doing (or spectating) this year's Steotchalong?
posted by Lyn Never to MetaTalk on Aug 15 at 12:11 PM
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Looking for a FPP that I think was from NPR. It was a series of articles where the writer paired a brunch recipe with an album. I've tried searching on here to no avail. Halp?
posted by too bad you're not me to MetaTalk on Aug 13 at 11:12 AM
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We're rolling out a test of a revamped front page for FanFare, that we're hoping folks will find a lot more useful as a starting point to find media and conversations you're interested in on the subsite. Come on in for the details!
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Jun 14 at 12:26 PM
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MetaFilter, that weird blue site (and, yep, we've finally turned it blue again), is 20 years old today.

It's a thrilling and boggling and remarkable and ungainly and heartening number. I've had trouble figuring out what the thing is that I want to say about the site today, and I've realized the problem is there's no one thing. MetaFilter is too complex, its history too complicated, to reduce to a tidy anecdote.

But I want to talk a little about what it means to me, and what I want it to aspire to, and to reflect a little bit on this twenty year milestone on an unsteady world wide web.
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Jul 14 at 10:30 AM
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Dialup is "A voice-chat app reviving the magic of phone calls." You can join groups that have a set schedule, a call usually once or twice a week; you get paired randomly with someone in the group for a call.
posted by KTamas to MetaTalk on Aug 13 at 5:45 AM
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I would like to bring the mods' attention to a conspiracy that appears to have been operating for a number of years. This is not about me, specifically, but I think it's time that we, as a community, address how it has been affecting me.
posted by Greg Nog to MetaTalk on May 23, 2015 at 2:53 PM
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Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, ricochet biscuit wants to know, "What is the last thing you changed your mind about?"
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on Aug 17 at 5:35 PM
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A bit over a month ago, Cozybee asked Can we do a "post something interesting from your bookmarks" month? Some folks did, and you can join in! Dig through your old links and add the tag postfromyourbookmarks.
posted by filthy light thief to MetaTalk on Aug 14 at 11:11 AM
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So the staff are collectively donating $2K month? I'm gonna have to give that a little side-eye for sure. When I worked here, I watched my salary drop 25% while Matt didn't talk to anyone about the belt-tightening he was doing behind the scenes and refused to ask for community support (until he did, after I left). It was absolutely... [more]
posted by jessamyn to MetaTalk on Aug 19 at 12:17 PM
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Guilt. Guilt, man, that messes you up. I was brought up to be nice, to say sorry for things, and have felt guilt my entire life, for not being nicer, better, richer, thinner, more normal, eating too much, not eating the right foods, hair too curly, having an outtie belly button (even tho' it saved me at birth! I had positive Rh factor & my Mom... [more]
posted by Marie Mon Dieu to MetaTalk on Aug 17 at 7:40 PM
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I strongly oppose any kind of tiered system where more money = more privileges. [view]
posted by Chrysostom to MetaTalk on Aug 21 at 9:17 AM
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plus they’d have to change the name to Metafiltre [view]
posted by Huffy Puffy to MetaTalk on Aug 19 at 5:16 PM
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"2b. Also, how do you feel that getting rid of the megathreads has affected the moderation load? Has it been a worthwhile shift in terms of making moderation more sustainable at current staffing levels?" As a user I kind-of miss the megathreads, but as a mod? SO SO SO SO SO SO SO much more sustainable. We've been able to... [more]
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on Aug 19 at 10:34 AM
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Cortex, I'd like to thank you for providing the update and for somehow always maintaining a cordial tone. I've been avoiding these MeTa threads about the site lately because they've been so damn negative - it feels like every time you post something it's immediately picked apart by people who are relentless in their criticism and second-guessing.... [more]
posted by widdershins to MetaTalk on Aug 20 at 11:46 AM
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Oh and also I've read like four novels since the end of the megathreads, because I'm not reading 500 pages of political commentary a week or whatever it was when we did the math and left with no energy for outside reading. Yay books! [view]
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on Aug 19 at 10:37 AM
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We're never gonna charge people more to be here or charge for privileges. It's not the MeFi I believe in. I get the structural thinking behind it, but it's an absolute non-starter. How about having ambassadors? It's a nice idea! We'd need to think about what that might look like; there was some brainstorming previously about... [more]
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Aug 21 at 11:46 AM
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So, when I put this MetaTalk post up the other day, I considered for a while just posting it and closing the comments. It's an unusual direction to go with MetaTalk, but then doing things different to make things work better has been its own running theme here the last few years in particular and it's borne fruit. Doing things differently and... [more]
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Aug 24 at 9:48 AM
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I've been a member for 8 years, lurking for a few months to a year before that. I have lived and worked in Poland my entire life and so part of the appeal of this site, at least at first, was to get a peek at the world outside my country. Though I seldom comment, I visit the site several times per day and consider it my internet home. I am... [more]
posted by M. to MetaTalk on Aug 22 at 2:51 AM
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Do people generally notice new people at all? I don't mean that in a negative way, like old-hats are ignoring newbies One of the most annoying things about this website is how ridiculously invested people are in whether a user has been around for a long time or not. Who fucking cares? Ambassadors? Are you kidding me? Why on earth would... [more]
posted by Autumnheart to MetaTalk on Aug 21 at 8:20 PM
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Jesus fucking christ Autumnheart, give it a rest. This site isn't your personal punching bag. [view]
posted by desuetude to MetaTalk on Aug 21 at 10:02 PM
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I've always had this incredibly naive notion in my mind about how to live the perfect life. Do your chores, work hard, pay your bills, never be late, don't let anybody else down, do what you say you will do, help anybody you know that asks for it, do it now. I'm glad you said this, because this has been me also and it's been challenging... [more]
posted by jessamyn to MetaTalk on Aug 18 at 3:32 PM
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It would be a big change in site norms, but I might consider turning comments off for posts like this, cortex. I'm not sure the comments really help you or the community. [view]
posted by smoke to MetaTalk on Aug 21 at 6:11 PM
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(Just piping up to comment that I'm a U.S. user who's not white. We're out here! Posting amongst you, reading your comments, and even sharing in certain 90's American tv nostalgia, ha. Speaking of which, I appreciated seeing LobsterMitten's comment above - massive relief to see that a mod has already stepped in to directly address the earlier... [more]
posted by rather be jorting to MetaTalk on Aug 20 at 2:22 PM
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How is $5 classism? Jesus Christ a single ride on the subway is $3. You know there are people who walk to avoid paying that $3, right? [view]
posted by If only I had a penguin... to MetaTalk on Aug 22 at 11:36 AM
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So I see we've reached the part of a MeTa thread where the Brave Speakers of Truth to Power do their Ritual Airing of Grievances. I'm going to go back and read the first couple of those, from 2000. [view]
posted by Chrysostom to MetaTalk on Aug 21 at 11:41 PM
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The more the long-term financial stability of the site becomes donation-based, the more people will see themselves as stakeholders, leading to the kind of interactions you are finding dispiriting. [view]
posted by prize bull octorok to MetaTalk on Aug 21 at 12:02 PM
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I kind of hope we can get this thread away from "if only cortex would do this one simple thing..." That was the last thread. And, let's be honest, it's vanishingly unlikely that there's some magic bullet that only you have thought of. [view]
posted by hoyland to MetaTalk on Aug 20 at 4:58 AM
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I was going to post a metatalk with a modest proposal, but I'll put it here instead: Would there be interest in a mefi "swap space", for free and low cost items we want to find new homes for but don't want to deal with CL weirdos in order to do so? (My local thrift stores are surprisingly picky, so my alternative for a fair amount of it... [more]
posted by maxwelton to MetaTalk on Aug 19 at 4:12 PM
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