February 20
Time to remove Facebook social sharing?
The "social sharing" option on posts (the single little icon off to the right if you haven't turned them off in your preferences) was first added in 2011, with Twitter and Facebook. Twitter was removed in September 2023. I think, given everything, we should also remove the Facebook option. And in general I'd prefer to have zero than one, no matter what the "one" site is. I don't have a strong opinion about what sites, if any, should be there. But perhaps we could come up with a consensus on two or three new options. (I've had some small discussions with the admins about this and they suggested a MeTa post to discuss.)
February 16
How are Popular Comments chosen?
Reading the Popular Comments is the best way to find the hidden gems of knowledge and deep dives from awesome people on this site. [more inside]
February 15
the case for banning chatgp
As per Brandon's suggestion, consider this a discussion space for whether or not ChatGP/LLM/generative AI posts, comments and (perhaps most importantly) AskMe answers should continue to be allowed. [more inside]
What went wrong in the dubious_dude/nouvelle_person thread?
In early December, there was a contentious AskMe thread that went badly and led to the loss of a site member. nouvelle-personne's departure has continued to be an argument for various things in MetaTalk and around community governance, and it would be helpful to me to have a succinct, consensus account of what went wrong. [more inside]
February 14
Deletion Trend Report?
With all the talk about deletions - justified, unjustified, excessive, etc. - it might be useful to see some kind of data or reporting on deletions.
Are the amount of deletions up over the past few years (certainly seem so)?
What kinds of comments are being deleted and what are the reasons for deletion?
It might be useful to get some broader sense from the community about whether or not the increased deletions are improving people's experiences as an asker, reader, commenter.
February 13
Why are "wrong" answers getting deleted now?
I get annoyed when people answer questions in AskMe that don't meet the asker's stated criteria, but they were not previously deleted this aggressively. That seems like a large change that goes against what many people in MeTa have been asking for, and has been instituted without any discussion.
Moderator Code of Conduct - an idea whose time has come
In the recent post about removing the MeTa queue, Violet Blue made a comment that they had submitted a post about creating a Moderator Code of Conduct that had been refused at the time with a suggestion to try again later. We're officially a non-profit, responsibilities for site management are transitioning to the board and the Moderation Oversight Committee is working to form. I think "later" is now. [more inside]
February 11
Turn off the MeTa queue before it becomes a teenager
Ten years, eight months and 12 days ago, the MetaTalk queue was turned on. The reason for doing so was a reduction in the availability of moderators at any given time and the high workload MeTa threads created relative to other parts of the site.
However, it has continued to be a contentious issue for members from time to time, much more so recently, where the queue is seen to have become much more of a filter than a queue, with perceptions that some people are now actually being Silenced All Their Life. [more inside]
February 8
MetaCritter
Have a critter, do you? (And, just between ourselves, a paragon of the species?) As a community-building exercise, let us showcase them here. [more inside]
February 5
Is there a rule against swearing now?
I had a comment deleted by travelingthyme with a note "One deleted. Please practice care with comments and refrain from swearing etc."
All I said was "What is this shit? Can we say what we fucking mean?"
Was it a bit intemperate? I guess. But the second part of the mod note is ridiculous. "Refrain from swearing etc." Is there a rule against swearing now? Are the mods our parents? Do people on this website want a no swearing policy?
Less is more?
I am finding the sheer number of US politics threads (many touching on overlapping issues) overwhelming. I do find the threads and discussions useful and interesting, but also distressing. So having lots of them to track feels worse to me than if US politics topics were consolidated in one place. I wonder whether others feel similarly. I seem to recall that for some time we had more of a one-at-a-time system. I would support returning to a similar model if there is sufficient consensus.
February 4
Anonymous Comments?
I'm sure this has been discussed before, but the recent Federal Government Workers Thread made me think it might be works revisiting. I would think that anyone actually working in government, who might have a very good perspective to contribute, would be rightfully wary of posting something in a thread where they might be identified. Sure, people have user names that maybe hide their identity, but not always.
For the sake of informed dialog it could be good for people to have a way to contribute to a thread anonymously. I realize this is likely a complicated thing to solve for.
February 3
Question about opening links on MeFi
This may have been asked before - but is there a rationale for opening links in the same tab as the post, as opposed to opening the links in a new tab? I prefer the latter, but can live with the former, I'm just curious about the reasoning. My somewhat-educated guess would be that the 'same tab' behavior is compatible with browsers that don't support tabs, but that is just a guess.
Leaving the USA?
This thread is meant for discussion and information for Mefites thinking of leaving the USA because of the political situation. Mexico is my leading contender. But the discussion is open for anywhere.
Closing MeTa threads
There's a new mod trend of abruptly closing MeTa threads when they don't like how it's going. Let's discuss as a community how we feel about that, because it's an un-asked for change that was made without consulting anyone.
February 1
Comment deletions "with OP's support"?
Huh?
Not having the seen the comment, I won't second guess the mod's decision to delete. But their enforcement of the guidelines isn't supposed to depend on whether the OP supports the decision or not.
Or am I missing something?
Small Things
I am pretty sure many of you in the US, and elsewhere, feel like they should be doing something or contributing something. Even if it's a small thing. It feels important to start somewhere, and help other people do the same. Right? Please post small things you have found that are helpful for yourself or your community. For instance, someone on Bluesky offered this page where you can download red cards in many languages, from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. And john hadron collider posted a Bluesky thread on how to think about public data archiving. [more inside]
January 30
Moderation and MeFiMail
Hi all. Community member y2karl has made an accusation about the moderators ability to read MeFiMail. This is absolutely not true and I have no idea how he could come to such a conclusion. Moderators are unable to read members MeFIMail.
I’ve linked to karl’s comment and created this new thread to discuss these accusations. But be aware that it’s the middle of the night for most of the staff, so there won’t be much response. The interim Board and other staff moderators have been notified, so please be patient. [more inside]
January 28
mefi music radio hour
OK...I'm pitching. New podcast. Mefi Music made and kept me a musician. This is a goldmine of beautiful, homemade music. Bimonthly music review podcast that acts as a playlist and funnels money back to the best community on earth? [more inside]
What's the one subsite you've never posted to?
For those of us who participate on most of the subsites (MeFi (the front page), MetaTalk, Ask, Music, Projects, Jobs, IRL, and FanFare) -- if you've made posts to all of them except one, what is that one? And if some alternate universe version of you did make a post to that one remaining subsite, what would it be about? This is meant as an invitation to curiosity and amusement. [more inside]