MetaTalk

Conspiracy theories: please stop. Between coronavirus and the primaries the conspiracy theories have been ranging far and wide. Before writing up that comment with the latest conspiracy you found on Twitter, please get some evidence of it besides Random Twitter Person or WhackadoodleNews.net. If said evidence does not exist, maybe sit on the comment until something manifests from a reasonable news source. If your argument for posting without evidence is that said evidence will not manifest because The Man is suppressing it . . . well, maybe your comment would work better as a rant on Medium or Twitter. It is really tempting to post things that confirm our existing biases but c'mon, a little skepticism and basic media literacy in this day and age never hurt anyone.
posted by schroedinger to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 3:17 PM
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Today is my 20th anniversary of joining Metafilter, and I just wanted to say: you're all flagged as fantastic!
posted by adrianhon to MetaTalk on Feb 21 at 9:29 AM
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Apparently it's Scorpion - Scorpion - Scorpion - Crop Is On day on MetaFilter, so, y'know, post some fucken scorpions if you got 'em.
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 2:40 PM
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Happy weekend, Mefites! This weekend, jacquilynne wondered what games people are enjoying on Android phones lately. I'm also wondering what other kinds of games you've all been into -- boardgames, cardgames, rpg's, console or pc games. Even physical games you play with your actual body, if that's how you roll.
posted by LobsterMitten to MetaTalk on Feb 22 at 9:05 AM
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Catch-all thread for mefites living in the virus in Asia or directly affected. No idle speculation or “it hasn’t come here yet but I think...” chat, but actual news, updates and more from people dealing with the virus affecting daily life.
posted by dorothyisunderwood to MetaTalk on Jan 31 at 7:01 AM
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Over the course of a couple of recent threads, the idea of a space for trans MeFites to come together and chat outside of the confines of an FPP has come up. I'm posting this to gauge interest in whether such a space might be of interest or value to others.
posted by winterhill to MetaTalk on Feb 18 at 5:44 AM
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There is a lot of DTMFA in Ask posts. Often, there's a lot of DTMFA in response to questions which involve a romantic relationship, but where the question is of the form "Who's right?" or "Where should we live?" or "Should we buy or rent?" but not "Should I D this MF?" I was just wondering: are there a lot of members who are now in marriages or other more-or-less permanent relationships with partners who've been the subject of dump-urging pileons in Ask? Or did all of you actually D the MFs as instructed?
posted by escabeche to MetaTalk on Apr 15, 2015 at 7:57 PM
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Hey folks, time for a quarterly update on how the site's doing financially, and a reminder that the direct financial support of MetaFilter's membership and readers is fundamental to keeping this place operational. Your help supporting this community is vital, and appreciated.
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on Jan 15 at 3:09 PM
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When I click "Random" to generate a random AskMe question, I'm constantly taken to this question about DVD commentary tracks. Why would this be the case? I probably hit it once every few days? It seems statistically unlikely with a random generator?
posted by Dressed to Kill to MetaTalk on Jun 21, 2017 at 8:34 AM
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In the wake of gman's death, I have been thinking about how unexpected kindnesses and generosity have improved my life and the lives of many others. I find such stories inspirational and comforting. Have you had such an experience? Please share your story.
posted by Bella Donna to MetaTalk on Jul 23, 2018 at 7:15 AM
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I want to gush about Animal Crossing: New Horizons but I'm not sure a link to the direct would be a good post. Any news about adding Video Games to Fanfare?
posted by simmering octagon to MetaTalk on Feb 20 at 8:58 AM
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Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! After reading 8 billion AskMe recs over several years I finally gave in and bought a Tom Bihn bag that arrived this morning, so this week what I want to know is: What has MetaFilter convinced you to do? Dared you to try? Forced you to attempt? SHARE.
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on Oct 7, 2017 at 3:43 PM
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Fizz and I often joke about how random or out-of-context phrases or clauses that we either say or overhear in conversation would "make a great Metafilter username." Since we almost never bother to write them down, we've forgotten many of our favorites. Now that we plan to start writing them down, we thought we'd have some fun and put the question out to the community: what random phrases or expressions have you said or overheard that you think would make a great Metafilter username? (Fun bonus question: what out-of-context Metafilter comment snippets do you think would make great Metafilter usernames?)
posted by nightrecordings to MetaTalk on Feb 16 at 9:17 AM
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We recently discussed resolutions to AskMes. This got me to thinking...I would like to hear about the strange and wonderful things that have happened to you that are related to MetaFilter in some way. A post that led you to study a new topic, a comment that connected you with someone that's now your best friend, could be anything.
posted by wellred to MetaTalk on Dec 19, 2018 at 5:50 AM
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[more posts]

it is important and noble to be skeptical and critical of the people with their hands on the levers of power, and to consider who they associate with and why. You understand that no one is saying not to do that, right? This is literally about saying "Well the Russians totally owned the last election and they are going to own... [more]
posted by jessamyn to MetaTalk on Feb 25 at 9:20 AM
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And if you find yourself deciding that WaPo or NYT are not reputable sources then maybe take a step back and recalibrate? OK as long as you realize that part of media literacy is understanding the role that major papers play in shaping news cycles, framing stories, choosing what to cover, etc. [view]
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 4:05 PM
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i'm going to make two main points in this post. a.) while there is certainly a tendency among some users to post conspiracy theories, often any rhetoric that is critical of the connections between our financial and political elites gets branded as conspiratorial thinking. b.) often the distinction between "conspiracy" and "not... [more]
posted by JimBennett to MetaTalk on Feb 25 at 12:10 AM
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As a person in a huge Asian city being very negatively affected by coronavirus, I just want to say that it is exhausting refuting whatever nonsense conspiracies are out there, both here and what I hear from friends and family in the US and other places, and I simply don't have time while we get online teaching at a school of 10,000+ students, some... [more]
posted by mdonley to MetaTalk on Feb 25 at 3:54 AM
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pretty sure this metatalk wasn't created for the purposes of dunking on each other [view]
posted by um to MetaTalk on Feb 25 at 2:57 AM
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Ah just inject that good old weird metafilter directly into my veins- it's been kinda a shit day and themed shenanigans soothes me. [view]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 2:43 PM
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I'm really glad you posted this. This got really bad around Iowa in particular. I feel like we're all responsible for what information we choose to share and distribute to wider audiences. I've certainly messed that up before, and I regret that, but I don't always feel like everyone who posts information that turns out not to be true feels like... [more]
posted by zachlipton to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 5:18 PM
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I don't know how 'conspiracy theories' are to be defined (or if it's even possible to draw a bright line between a political belief and a delusion), but I will come here to defend, let's call it 'heterodox interpretation' of news and current affairs. The formative experience of my early adulthood was the leadup to the 2003 Iraq War, and... [more]
posted by Fiasco da Gama to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 7:39 PM
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I came here hoping to get more answers about the scorpion overload and now I just have more questions instead [view]
posted by divabat to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 4:44 PM
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To address what internet fraud detective squad is saying, though: What if, in addition to asking, "does this seem plausible? how is it sourced?", we also asked ourselves "why do I think this is a conspiracy theory? what steers me in that direction?" Here's an example that's low stakes and happened to me which sort of... [more]
posted by Frowner to MetaTalk on Feb 25 at 11:22 AM
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Given that there is no public information about what actually caused the departure (and we may never know) how can it be discussed in anything but the vaguest terms if this deletion is to set the standard? As I recall, this was exactly one of the objections to soi disant Newsfilter back in the day. I don't think it was incorrect. The... [more]
posted by PMdixon to MetaTalk on Feb 27 at 6:01 AM
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(1) If the apparently breaking news seems JUST LIKE WHAT THEY WOULD DO, pause and reflect. That is, the truthier it feels, the more cautious you should be in giving it credence. (2) Fake signals of authority are big red flags. I disregard anyone who's not a well-known pro journalist who posts anything on Twitter with a BREAKING:... [more]
posted by praemunire to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 8:45 PM
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I am also interested in your stupid dog games. Here’s one of mine: I make a very low humming noise, and my dog comes racing from wherever he is, does a flip turn off of me, then races back to where he was. Repeat until one of us gets bored. That’s it. How did this even get started? I have no idea. [view]
posted by HotToddy to MetaTalk on Feb 22 at 10:48 AM
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Sorry to derail. I think too that it's worth being gentle with people when they get stuff wrong. A lot in our modern media/political ecosystem is designed to trick people (think tanks with vague names, stuff like that). People will be a lot more amenable to correction if it comes with a "hey I looked and that doesn't seem right"... [more]
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 5:33 PM
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Nah. Speculating about medical diagnosis/attributing things to mental health is ableist and is therefore off limits like any other form of bigotry. Hardly idiosyncratic. [view]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis to MetaTalk on Feb 26 at 12:42 PM
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Thanks for this. As we head into Super Tuesday this is especially useful. [view]
posted by jessamyn to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 3:22 PM
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Look, first they said jessamyn retired. Now she's back but with a 'temp' sign on her signature. I'm not saying aliens aren't involved but it is a bit fishy. [view]
posted by RolandOfEld to MetaTalk on Feb 25 at 10:45 AM
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I find that when trying to extract myself from a conversation about something, the most effective action is to stop talking about it. Let somebody else have the last word. [view]
posted by Kirth Gerson to MetaTalk on Feb 27 at 5:16 PM
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This is a much better framing than I would have managed, so thanks for that. The problem, I think, is that people posting conspiracy theories don't recognize that they are conspiracy theories. But perhaps like you said just doing the bare minimum of checking out the facts before posting randos on twitter will help. Some strategies I would... [more]
posted by Justinian to MetaTalk on Feb 24 at 3:37 PM
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We can try to consider the problems censorship introduces as separate from the benefits If we're going to consider moderation on MetaFilter akin to censorship, I don't think we can do this. [view]
posted by jessamyn to MetaTalk on Feb 27 at 12:07 PM
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[more comments]