MetaTalk

If a user is a member of staff, and is not a moderator, should they have mod powers? Are there situations where it would be appropriate for them to use mod powers? If not, should they have mod powers at all? If they must have mod powers, what policies are/should be in place to prevent misuse? If they do misuse mod powers, how should this community deal with it? (Going to describe the inciting incident here as gently as I can below the fold) [more inside]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice to Etiquette/Policy at 11:01 AM - 41 comments

As everyone knows, the hallmark of any big-time website these days is the seamless integration of VC slop cutting-edge AI solutions into every facet of their operation. After witnessing the undeniable success of this approach across the web, we knew it was high time for MetaFilter to join the bandwagon or risk becoming even more charmingly anachronistic than we already are. So, after a quarter century of maintaining our community's distinctly human-powered approach, we're excited to announce that MetaFilter is finally embracing The Future: starting today, every page on MeFi will support Socky the Sockpuppet, your personal AI assistant ready to enhance your browsing experience with randomly generated commentary and deep-cut references that may or may not be relevant to whatever you're doing.

[Click here to activate Socky!] / or / [Click here to cast Socky into the digital abyss] [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter-Related at 12:01 AM - 99 comments

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]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 7:58 AM - 84 comments

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.
posted by Lynsey to MetaFilter-Related at 10:00 AM - 74 comments

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]
posted by bowbeacon to Etiquette/Policy at 8:05 AM - 131 comments

How can we create a safer and more respectful space for Jewish MeFites?
posted by Jacqueline to Etiquette/Policy at 9:26 PM - 148 comments

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]
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter-Related at 12:01 PM - 40 comments

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?
posted by adrienneleigh to Etiquette/Policy at 7:32 PM - 72 comments

Spring is here, and I’ve been thinking about starting a seed swap! [more inside]
posted by SunPower to MetaFilter-Related at 5:56 PM - 3 comments

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]
posted by Faintdreams to MetaFilter-Related at 8:46 AM - 7 comments

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]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 4:34 PM - 201 comments

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]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 9:19 AM - 13 comments

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]
posted by Vatnesine to MetaFilter-Related at 2:33 AM - 221 comments

Card club, let's chat about the cards we're receiving! [more inside]
posted by rabia.elizabeth to MetaFilter-Related at 4:23 AM - 10 comments

It’s NCAA Tournament time again (March keeps coming around). We’re over here on Fanfare.
posted by joycehealy to MetaFilter-Related at 9:14 PM - 0 comments

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]
posted by EmpressCallipygos to Feature Requests at 6:46 AM - 10 comments

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]
posted by Neely O'Hara to Feature Requests at 10:28 AM - 116 comments

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]
posted by sagc to Etiquette/Policy at 4:18 PM - 111 comments

Update on the beta version of the new site. See notes inside. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha to MetaFilter-Related at 6:14 PM - 47 comments

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]
posted by warriorqueen to Etiquette/Policy at 1:00 PM - 129 comments