MetaTalk

Our Lady of Paris (Notre Dame) is in flames, the spire and roof have fallen, the news images are heart-breaking. I come to MeFi to learn more and to share this terrible moment and mourn with my community. Posts are deleted.
posted by theora55 to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 12:57 PM
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Hey, you want a nice MetaFilter tote bag with "[more inside]" on it? Fine, you can go buy one from TopatoCo now!
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Apr 19 at 11:07 AM
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I ran into yet another of these in the 2017 post about Truck Nutz, and realized I've been seeing them for years. Didn't see anything about them on the Wiki, but is anyone collecting them somewhere? Obvs. not an easy phrase to search.
posted by aspersioncast to MetaTalk on Apr 17 at 9:24 PM
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End of another week, let's talk about something else that is not related to politics. I want to hear about some "thing" that you've experienced over and over and over again. Maybe it's a book you keep re-reading, or a movie you've seen 100+ times, or a video game you play constantly, or an album or song you have on repeat. What piece of media are you constantly re-enaging with? Some thing that feels like the back of your hand, that you are familiar and comfortable with, that you know all the way through. Some thing you keep on coming back to because you just love it so much. As always, be kind to yourself and others. Cheers.
posted by Fizz to MetaTalk on Apr 12 at 8:09 AM
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End of another week, let's talk about something else that is not related to politics. In light of the recent Notre-Dame de Paris fire, I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can discuss other beautiful monuments/historical places from around the globe. Share with us places that you've visited in the past or would like to visit if given the opportunity. If you have old travel photos and feel comfortable sharing, all the better. As always, be kind to yourself and others. Cheers.
posted by Fizz to MetaTalk on Apr 19 at 9:48 AM
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crouton petting, n.

1. the state of feeling or expressing an anthropomorphized fondness, affection, or compassion for inanimate objects
2. the state of just literally petting some actual croutons

MetaFilter has only been able to accommodate that first definition (cf. this discussion among others)...until now. Thanks to recent improvements in both baking and recombinant genetics, we're happy to announce the opening of the world's first interactive Crouton Petting Zoo.
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Apr 1 at 2:31 AM
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I wanted to let folks know that long-time MeFite rtha, who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer earlier this year, has ceased chemotherapy treatment and moved to in-home hospice care to focus on comfort and quality of life, and to ask you to come share well-wishes with her and her spouse gingerbeer. [Addendum: rtha passed away on the 10th. —c]
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Nov 8, 2018 at 11:21 AM
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I am sad to inform our community that long-time member quin has died.
posted by ColdChef to MetaTalk on Jan 7, 2017 at 12:00 PM
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I'm not clear on how these work or who runs them, but thank you for fixing them.
posted by still_wears_a_hat to MetaTalk on Mar 25 at 3:54 PM
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Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week: Open thread!
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on Apr 13 at 5:34 PM
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Bingo and I are Human-Computer Interaction researchers in Bath, UK and Vienna, AT, who are looking at moderation on web forums and how it shapes discussions. Over the past several months, with permission from the site staff, we have been examining moderator comments on MetaFilter in order to answer several questions.
posted by katta to MetaTalk on Mar 26, 2018 at 7:27 AM
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It’s time for the very first all-digital MetaFilter Music Mixtape Swap! Signups are open from now until April 14. Then it’s time to make a mix of your favourite tracks, create a cover, upload it to the internet and get five awesome mixes from fellow MeFites.
posted by daisyk to MetaTalk on Apr 1 at 11:55 AM
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In the recent thread about post lengths, the question tangentially came up asking why more people don’t use Chat for politics stuff. For me, at least, it’s because it seems like when something big happens and we head over to Chat to talk about it, we’re barging in and taking over whatever people were talking about before. Could there be a separate chat room just for the politics stuff so we don’t have to bother the Chat regulars?
posted by Weeping_angel to MetaTalk on Apr 18 at 12:45 PM
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While catching up with the latest politics megathread, I was surprised to see this mod note from LobsterMitten: [Note about post drafts - putting here so people will see it, but happy to talk it over more in email, will email some of the recent posters. Please keep the posts on the shorter side, maybe 1000 words or that neighborhood. Thanks.] As a longtime crafter of megaposts, I don't think I've ever seen official mod guidance to cut them (relatively) short in this way. Posts have been edited for leaving too much above the fold, but I can think of only a handful of incidents where the post body itself got official pushback for being Too Long -- and those largely involved novella-sized posts with length-induced display errors (really) or blanket copy-pasting a website's contents. Is LobsterMitten's advice targeted at the political megathreads only -- perhaps for performance reasons -- or should it be construed more broadly? I happen to think a well-organized megapost is the best of MeFi and a feature few vid- and listicle-driven sites can match, and in the case of the politics threads specifically they're a fine example of community collaboration that provide a valuable curated record of this chaotic era. But what do you think?
posted by Rhaomi to MetaTalk on Apr 17 at 12:49 PM
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I love the unique titles MeFites comes up with for posts. I live for a well-constructed description full of links and clever word play. But, that makes it hard, sometimes, to differentiate a thread about some current event and the latest political catch-all. Can we have an above-the-fold notice that this, for whatever the value of 'this' is, is the current political megathread?
posted by hanov3r to MetaTalk on Jul 5, 2018 at 10:54 AM
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I've searched and couldn't find a post for this, so apologies if there is one and I missed it. I'd like your best/favourite William Carlos Williams "This Is Just To Say" parody poems from the green/blue/grey. I'd also love any other comment on the blue, green or grey that is in any way a parody of an existing text.
posted by guster4lovers to MetaTalk on Oct 27, 2016 at 9:15 PM
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Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, Wordshore wants to know, "what's the most ordinary thing you have never done? It could be seeing any of the movies in a famous franchise, drinking tea or coffee, eating at a ubiquitous chain, driving a vehicle, or something else?"
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on Mar 30 at 5:49 PM
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This is not exactly a callout, in that I don't have any problem with the advice per se, but... I noticed a recent answer to a job-related question which seemed to be basically the same as an answer I had gotten a couple years ago...
posted by showbiz_liz to MetaTalk on Apr 2, 2013 at 5:42 AM
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I saw this cartoon today and needed a place for it. Laughing at politicians, as opposed to laughing with them, is a much needed function of democracy; I mean, really we can't all hang out at the bank, all the time. Any way, Pat Bagley does it again!
posted by Oyéah to MetaTalk on Mar 19 at 12:31 PM
1 user marked this as a favorite

I've created a script that converts a Metafilter thread into a PDF designed for printing in book form, including title page and contributor index. I used lulu.com to print a few and they look pretty good.
posted by gwint to MetaTalk on Dec 8, 2014 at 10:30 AM
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[more posts]

I have been sober for a year as of today, y'all. [view]
posted by joycehealy to MetaTalk on Apr 14 at 6:40 AM
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Notre Dame burned. And it sounds like people are saying it means nothing and all I'm hearing is that it's not an American tragedy. Am I being unfair? Probably. But man, that's what it sounds like in here. Honestly, this is why breaking news threads go so badly. Because a bunch of people want to communally mourn, and then another bunch... [more]
posted by restless_nomad to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 2:17 PM
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I absolutely hate the "it's not 9/11" line right now. I'm an American, and I still hate it because it feels so damn US-centric. I have not set foot in a Catholic church in over a decade. I barely consider myself Catholic. And seeing Notre Dame in flames gutted me. It's Holy Week. I turned and said to a friend... [more]
posted by ultranos to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 2:13 PM
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Having been here a fair while myself, it sometimes seems like any MeTa about mod actions or inactions is immediately filled with approximately equally sized groups shouting at one another about how the other side is dead wrong and in bad faith and their ideas are killing Metafilter. The anthropologist Gregory Bateson coined the... [more]
posted by spitbull to MetaTalk on Apr 16 at 3:16 PM
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Good lord, if people think it's the mods who are being antagonistic in this thread, there really must be another thread going on that I'm missing [view]
posted by Frobenius Twist to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 3:24 PM
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Honestly, I'm nearly at a breaking point for understanding what is and isn't allowed on this site. "Let's get some more links and take a few minutes to build a bigger post" is a fine reason for deferring a single-link FPP. "MetaFilter isn't a breaking news site" is not, and betrays the site's history (including a reasonable... [more]
posted by schmod to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 1:54 PM
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I disagree strongly with that deletion. To delete breaking news of a such a universal tragedy is to deny one of the truly formative events which made Metafilter what it is today: the 9/11 thread — and as such is to deny Metafilter's true identity. [view]
posted by jamjam to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 1:11 PM
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I agree with the deletions. What can possibly be said this soon? What news does anyone have right now? Do we really need a thread that is 90% "this is terrible" and 10% "whatevs"? There will be a thread. There will be time to grieve and give insightful comments. Give it a few hours. [view]
posted by bondcliff to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 1:26 PM
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Generally, when a post is centered on "we must discuss this thing!" instead of "here are worthwhile links," it gets deleted. I agree with that general policy and it's applicable here. I'm also not stoked about the implication that deleting these posts is tantamount to saying Metafilter doesn't care about the fire. That's a... [more]
posted by Frobenius Twist to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 1:38 PM
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Twice I got "we can't make everyone happy all the time" dismissal. Even a "this may not make you happy but we do want to do this better and we're thinking about it" would have been better than, effectively being just straight up dismissed as asking for a rainbow and personal pony. I get that you're upset about this... [more]
posted by jessamyn to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 3:49 PM
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I see a lot of people implicitly assuming that the purpose of MetaFilter (or, at least, a purpose) is to provide comfort and emotional support during difficult times. And therefore, if the mods fail to immediately meet the users' emotional needs, they are somehow betraying the site's purpose. And, like...MeFi certainly... [more]
posted by escape from the potato planet to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 7:44 PM
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Seeing that thread break out in hives of hot takes was deeply depressing. I realize that for a lot of MeFites, Paris is very far away, but for those of us who've lived in Paris, a world without the Notre Dame just isn't thinkable. I'm honestly in shock. It's impossible for me to process the images of the Notre Dame on fire, it's like seeing the... [more]
posted by Kattullus to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 1:11 PM
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Given how breathtakingly uncharitable people are being to the mods in this thread (judging by the reactions, you'd think something much more draconian than "let's wait a few hours" had been posted as the deletion reason), I'm not convinced that any thread on this topic could go well [view]
posted by Frobenius Twist to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 2:42 PM
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I guess I just have more faith in the community here to be able to rise to the occasion given the chance. I don't know. You mean, the same community that's attacking the mods right now and insisting that no post available immediately = a heartless, sneering "no one cares" message? [view]
posted by palomar to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 3:10 PM
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I don't know how you can read "let's wait at least a couple hours for more information and then we can discuss it" as "Metafilter doesn't care." That's very weird. [view]
posted by Frobenius Twist to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 1:41 PM
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One effect of delaying posts about big news in Europe is you get a more thorough FPP that starts with 200 comments reminiscing about people’s vacations in that place—instead of getting local people’s perspective on the matter—because by the time the FPP goes live, all the locals have gone to bed. [view]
posted by colfax to MetaTalk on Apr 16 at 11:38 AM
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We are at peace with not being able to be everything to everyone, honestly. [view]
posted by restless_nomad to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 2:25 PM
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"a mod is the one who made it" Yeah, although, if it makes a difference, I'm Catholic (although pretty lapsed at this point), I have a BA in theology and a masters in theology that focused on liturgy, so church architecture actually IS something I know a lot about (I mean, I literally know three stonemasons who... [more]
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 10:06 PM
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I’m disappointed that I need to wait until days after an event of this significance to talk about it here. Mefites live everywhere and have every possible level of experience in nearly every field, but like the vast majority of us with any personal experience with the building, I have only visited Notre Dame as a tourist. So let’s stop... [more]
posted by mdonley to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 2:37 PM
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You see "pithy." I see someone who is trying to do a million things at once. [view]
posted by cooker girl to MetaTalk on Apr 15 at 3:28 PM
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[more comments]