MetaTalk

If you've noticed that moderator travelingthyme has not posted here recently, it's for a grave reason: while on a cross-country move, they were involved in a horrible accident that totaled their car, destroyed nearly all of their personal possessions, and tragically cost the life of their father. Now their friend has organized a GoFundMe to help cover medical bills, funeral arrangements, and replacement of everything from lost family keepsakes to household essentials (if you're in the Boston area, contact the organizer to donate items directly!). If you've found any value in this community in the last few years, travelingthyme is part of the reason why it's able to work -- please give what you can to help them recover from this terrible loss. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Jun 26, 2024 - 58 comments

I’d like to open a discussion about the possibility of a public moderator log that would record all moderation activities on the site. [more inside]
posted by Diskeater on Feb 22, 2023 - 338 comments

We're introducing a new visual styling for moderator comments today! Instead of the older [small text and brackets style], mod comments will now feature a contrasting border, full-sized text, and for text browsers and screenreaders an explicit "Mod note:" text prefix to compensate for the lack of graphical cues. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Apr 14, 2021 - 48 comments

Some news I'm happy to be able to share: we're starting the process of hiring a new part-time moderator for MetaFilter. I've made a post on Jobs about the position, and interested MeFites are encouraged to apply, as are non-MeFi folks with a good feel for the needs of community management and moderation. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Jan 6, 2020 - 11 comments

Back in 2007 your humble narrator suggested, near the end of a rather challenging day at the comment factory, that we remember and honor June 13th as Moderators' Day henceforth-ish. Please join me in thanking all of our mods - past and present - for the hard and often thankless job they do every day to make MetaFilter one of the best places on the Internet. Thank you cortex, restless_nomad, taz, LobsterMitten, goodnewsfortheinsane, Eyebrows McGee, and vacapinta. Welcome and thank you to our new coder frimble, and special thanks to our moderators emeriti, jessamyn, mathowie, and pb. [more inside]
posted by Rock Steady on Jun 13, 2016 - 111 comments

A couple weeks back, we announced that we were hiring, and I'm thrilled to report that we'll be bringing a new part-time MetaFilter moderator onto the team starting in the new year. Please give a hearty welcome to Eyebrows McGee! [more inside]
posted by cortex on Dec 23, 2015 - 303 comments

Happy news: we're hiring. Specifically, a part-time, mostly-weekends US daytime moderator to help add a little wiggle room to the current daytime schedule. Take a look at the Jobs post, and drop us an application if it sounds like a good fit. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Dec 7, 2015 - 257 comments

"Moderator, chief datawrangler at Metafilter", "cortex is a 32-year-old musician, computer geek, and generally reckless creative-type person in Portland, OR. His username on mefi is “cortex”, for reasons that aren’t particularly interesting."
posted by Lynsey on Apr 26, 2013 - 5 comments

Especially with the new hires, it's getting a little harder for me to distinguish moderator comments. Sometimes there are typographical hints like small text or square brackets, but not always; sometimes the tone makes it apparent, but again, not always. What do people think about somehow marking moderator comments? This could be either automatic (like moderators get little tags appended to their usernames) or manual (moderators identify themselves when speaking as such); we can beanplate the details to any length. I just want to be less uncertain when I am and am not reading moderator comments.
posted by d. z. wang on Dec 15, 2012 - 94 comments

We are currently looking for at least one part-time moderator for MetaFilter. Apply if you've got a flexible schedule and have been a member for a while.
posted by mathowie on Sep 18, 2012 - 499 comments

An article on "professional online moderators" in Bloomberg Businessweek, including Jessamyn and the Metafilter Russian Incident. [more inside]
posted by Frank Grimes on Dec 1, 2011 - 103 comments

Modflation continues apace! We're adding a nighttime EU based mod to help cover our bases and that user is (drumroll...) taz! Welcome taz everyone as your new moderator overlord. [more inside]
posted by mathowie on Sep 30, 2011 - 220 comments

It's episode 61 of the podcast! We chat with new weekend moderator restless_nomad for twenty minutes or so up front, about moderation and video games and green vegetables; and then we ramble on for about a normal podcast's worth of chatter after that, so this comes in at a beefy 90 minutes or so. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Apr 29, 2011 - 54 comments

Pony Request: Could we please have a MetaTalk flag option of Flag it and move on, for new MetaTalk posts. [more inside]
posted by darkmatter on Aug 21, 2010 - 75 comments

Lacking confidence, I will not call this a pony. It's just a suggestion: how about setting that optionally removes moderators from the "contact activity" sidebar? I adore jessamyn, and many of her answers deserve to be favorites/best answers, but due to her high-profile here, my list has become a digest of jessamyn's activity, which crowds out all my other contacts. (This only affects people who have moderators as contacts.)
posted by grumblebee on Feb 25, 2010 - 66 comments

what's the policy for/function of an anon question? i've been using metafilter for awhile, but have never used it. since isaw about seven anon questions in a row, i'm curious: how long do they usually get to take approved? as i understand it, they are hand-screened? so, is it a few days...a week? and, do they count towards your question of the week (they have to, it would be too easily abusable, i guess...just one of the sentences in the explanation seems to mean that).

sorry for the confusion -_- just one of those things i never quite got around to figuring out.
posted by Lockeownzj00 on Nov 8, 2005 - 8 comments

This thread sucks. The link doesn't jump down to the story, the subject matter isn't very funny or interesting, it's just stupid. The post is too long, the comments are pretty pointless. I would delete it, but it could create more trouble than it is worth. What should be done about sub-par links? Anything? Take the good with the bad?
posted by mathowie on Aug 29, 2001 - 25 comments