March 28
[MeFi Site Update] March 2025
Hello and welcome to this month’s site update! Thanks for your patience, we are and were waiting on some information, details are inside.
Last month’s update can be found here. [more inside]
March 27
I come not to bury but to praise
User Cranberry has passed away after a long life. She was driven, I think, more by intellectual curiosity than any other factor and when I encouraged her to sign up for Metafilter, she was able to overcome her dislike of "potty mouth" language to sign up and become a regular user and answerer of AskMe. She was very proud to be a "$5 noob," and she greatly enjoyed reading the posts of her favorite users, especially gnfti and taz. She has gone on to join other family members in the afterlife and her obit is here.
How can we get staff to stick to promises?
The site update should happen by Wednesday of next week at the very latest. If it doesn't, mods will make a post a MeTa explaining the delay.]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 8:44 PM on March 20 [+] [⚑] [more inside]
March 26
Antisemitism on MetaFilter and how to reduce it
How can we create a safer and more respectful space for Jewish MeFites?
Better MetaFiltering through scripting
Back in the aughts, MetaFilter and sites like it were often improved by community-designed "userscripts" that added useful features to the default experience. Unfortunately, as more and more sites moved to mobile-first design, this power-user approach to customization declined in popularity (and accessibility). But that's no reason for such clever code to go to waste! We've reached out to some developers of classic, much-loved MeFi scripts who have generously agreed to let frimble incorporate their functionality directly into the site so it runs easily on any device -- initially as a direct port, then as a model for the new codebase if it proves popular and workable. First up: Plutor's humble MeFiQuote script, which adds a [quote] button to the byline of every comment on the site. Click to jump to the reply field while quoting the comment in full, with the username linking back to the original -- or on most platforms, highlight some text first to quote that excerpt directly! It's especially handy for mobile, where you'd normally have to type out a lot of tedious HTML and multiple copy-pastes to do the same thing. And if you used to use userscripts (or still do!), check out this list of classic MeFi scripts and share which ones you think would be worth adapting. [more inside]
March 25
Revisiting posts that disappear from the MeTa queue
Brandon Blatcher said, in February, that
Since December 24, 2024, the queue has been operating under the premise of just push anything through that isn't hugely fighty.However, there are at least two MeTa posts just in the last month which have vanished into thin air. I'm not sure what the earlier one was, because the person who wanted to post it has apparently wiped their account, but it is referenced in my comment here. The second is a MeTa which Violet Blue apparently made. Now, it's possible that both of these MeTas were in fact "hugely fighty", but there is no evidence of that. Most of the people who post on the Grey (certainly including me) already have less than zero trust in the moderators' judgment by this point, and failing to live up to assurances that you made not even six weeks ago only serves to further erode the possibility of ever trusting it again. What can be done about this, both in the case of the specific posts which were disallowed and in general?
Seed Swap—Anyone Interested?
Spring is here, and I’ve been thinking about starting a seed swap! [more inside]
March 24
MeFi post request ? Kinda?
As a someone not American, who does not live in America, I feel vastly under skilled / situated to make a post about the current Presidents (Trump) recent Executive Order that focuses on Library Funding. [more inside]
March 20
A moderation log, general info page, and site update note
Just posting several short notes since a page that we were creating was accidently made public a little early and discovered, so we're gonna talk about 3 specific things. [more inside]
Regular and semi-regular MeFi clubs?
Hey, with the recent MeTa about the Card Club, I was reminded that there are a number of member run activities and events, but there is no list of them. So I'm going to put together a FAQ entry about the member related MeFi clubs and activities with the following information for each club:
Name of club/activity
Contact Person
Premise of club/activity
How often/when the club/activity occurs
For those who do run these activities, thank you! Please chime in if you have any special instructions or corrections and I'll include them in the FAQ entry/listing.
For anyone who wants to help with compiling this information, let me know, we can do it in Google docs. [more inside]
Let's talk about the BIPOC board.
I've been interested in the BIPOC board since they were an idea here in metatalk about three or four years ago. I've read all their minutes. I don't see much evidence of their continued existence and I'd like to know what people here think about that.
There is a link at the bottom of every metafilter page that links to the BIPOC board page, where their minutes are. [more inside]
March 19
Two delightful MeFi cards arrived today!
Card club, let's chat about the cards we're receiving! [more inside]
March 18
Dancing time!
It’s NCAA Tournament time again (March keeps coming around). We’re over here on Fanfare.
March 14
Idea for IRL Posts - Political Actions!
Just had a thought - how about adding a new type of activity to the IRL tab, alerting people to different local political activism opportunities (rallies, demonstrations, postcard-writing campaigns, etc.)? [more inside]
March 12
Is it time to revisit favorites?
I want to suggest that we consider decoupling bookmarks from favorites. I very frequently want to favorite a comment to show my support or agreement, but I have stopped using favorites because I do not want to bookmark hundreds of comments that I appreciated but do not need to revisit. [more inside]
March 11
mods deleting posts at user request
this is a meta to discuss the practice of mods deleting comments that don't break guidelines, but receive pushback after the fact, solely due to the original commenter coming back and saying "please delete my comment." [more inside]
March 10
New Site Update 10 March
Update on the beta version of the new site. See notes inside. [more inside]
March 7
Don’t be a hoser*, eh?
Although many tariffs are again delayed, the political landscape has been shifted by Donald Trump and Canadians and Americans uneasily find themselves on opposite sides of a border that is, economically at the least and potentially existentially under threat. If this week’s tariff thread is any indication, this fracture can lead to differences in opinion and sentiment – new and old – flaring up on the site. This post is from a Canadian perspective – one, because there are many of course. Hoping it may help to express a minority (8% of all traffic) perspective and also have some discourse. This is NOT a policy or mod ask. All opinions my own. [more inside]
March 5
Could Fanfare posts be decoupled from their posters?
Currently, if somebody deletes their account, their Fanfare posts are also deleted. We have no idea how many books, movies, etc. had fanfare posts that have now disappeared. What if, in the new site, when you wanted to make a Fanfare post, the post itself was associated with a dedicated user (maybe "The Opener"), populated with some standard description from some API when possible, and your own thoughts went in your own comment?
March 4
What rhymes with “Election”? Calling all Mefite poets!
In these turbulent times, we literate few (who voluntarily inhabit a non-threaded text-only 20-year-old website that doesn’t use algorithms) cry out for the solid comforts of Fine Poetry to unify us and soothe our collective fevered brow. In short, fellow Mefites, we need a Poet Laureate (Pro Tempore*).
+++This is the Poet Laureate (Pro Tempore) Election Thread+++ [more inside]