MetaTalk

Is there any way for MeFites to download/export our own posts? I'm pretty sure the Comments download only gets comments, not posts. If this feature doesn't yet exist, could it go on the list of nice-to-have features? [more inside]
posted by kristi on Dec 21, 2021 - 4 comments

Okay, someone made a (possibly throwaway) comment in one of the POTUS45 threads that it would be interesting to see how the comments/content of the threads had changed since the election. I got my teeth into that, and after some playing with the HTML of the threads with VBA and Access, I now have a headache. As well as that I've got a database with 48 threads, 139,882 comments (including the posts themselves as a comment), 9,230,306 words, 2,193,898 favourites and 46,692 links. Some charts and stats inside. Let me know if there's other stuff you're interested in. [more inside]
posted by MattWPBS on Sep 1, 2017 - 103 comments

After too long a wait, here are some initial results from The Big MetaFilter Survey 2015.
What We Talk About When We Talk About MetaFilter - information about your interactions with the site.
Tell Us A Little About Yourself - information about the personal lives of your fellow users.
The Food Wars - what kinds of foods are acceptable and what kinds are garbage nightmares.
Other Results [pdf] - includes curated responses to the more interesting open-ended questions and some other numerical data. [more inside]
posted by Rock Steady on Dec 9, 2015 - 358 comments

Please take an informal, light-hearted survey that is designed to let us all discover some fun, fascinating and potentially insightful things about MetaFilter and each other. Here is the link to The Big MetaFilter Survey 2015. [more inside]
posted by Rock Steady on Sep 14, 2015 - 237 comments

Inspired by this post about the XKCD Survey and this comment by The Underwear Monster, I thought it might be fun to do a Big MeFi Survey along the same lines - mostly goofy questions that we can sic our local datawranglers on and see what fun, weird, fascinating things drop out. [more inside]
posted by Rock Steady on Sep 3, 2015 - 318 comments

Hi MeFites. After many years of overthinking a plate of beans, I made a thing! I'm pleased to share my PhD dissertation about MetaFilter with you all. A simple question of how we pronounce our own nickname has unfolded into many years of research. This time spent would not have been as enriching or meaningful to me and to the field of sociolinguistics without the support and enthusiasm of my fellow MeFites. I say I made a thing, but really, you made this. Thank you. [more inside]
posted by iamkimiam on Apr 3, 2015 - 180 comments

Hi Everybody! I'm trying to come up with a "MeFi glossary of terms / phrases / behaviors" to include in my PhD dissertation about linguistics and MetaFilter. If you could help me with this, that would be fantastic. I'm looking to create a list of the types of things that say to you (or to others) "Oh, that's so MetaFilter!" or "That sounds like something a MeFite would say." This could be anything from the use of a single character to a phrase or meme, to a way of doing things here. If you can think of something to add, please share it in the comments. Thanks! [more inside]
posted by iamkimiam on Feb 29, 2012 - 314 comments

MetaFilter "Political Compass" Survey, 2011 Edition [more inside]
posted by Salvor Hardin on May 5, 2011 - 201 comments

Has anyone done any interesting analysis of metafilter data? I'd like to see average posts/day, average comments/post over time, for starters. But I bet there are many more interesting/pointless questions to be answered beyond that.
posted by flotson on Mar 5, 2009 - 68 comments