The RNC posts July 19, 2016 9:39 AM Subscribe
Could we, maybe, divide-up the RNC thread into separate days?
Given how long (and massively unwieldy it's becoming on a phone or tablet) the current RNC thread is, would it be possible to break it apart into discrete days? RNC-Day 1, RNC-Day 2, etc.?
I mean, you know by the time the RNC is over, that single thread is going to be impossible to navigate, especially on a mobile device. My poor iPad already hates me for going into that thread.
Given how long (and massively unwieldy it's becoming on a phone or tablet) the current RNC thread is, would it be possible to break it apart into discrete days? RNC-Day 1, RNC-Day 2, etc.?
I mean, you know by the time the RNC is over, that single thread is going to be impossible to navigate, especially on a mobile device. My poor iPad already hates me for going into that thread.
Heh, I read that as "divorce-up" the RNC.
posted by buzzman at 9:47 AM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by buzzman at 9:47 AM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
Or, conversely, we could skip the RNC altogether. It's a bit like live blogging the current season of The Real Housewives of Orange County. I mean, yeah, sure, we can do it. But why bathe in shit if we don't have to?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:51 AM on July 19, 2016 [16 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:51 AM on July 19, 2016 [16 favorites]
I find it easier to just skip the threads than to try to convince everyone else not to have them.
posted by dfan at 9:53 AM on July 19, 2016 [21 favorites]
posted by dfan at 9:53 AM on July 19, 2016 [21 favorites]
Echoing what LM said. It's a weird, once-every-four-years circumstance that we have this specific lump of a pre-scheduled week of high-demand, high-traffic livebloggy events, and I don't really feel like there's any good solution ready to hand that fits my view of the structural character or spirit of MetaFilter, so it's one compromise or another. In this case I'm willing to run with notion that the simplest thing in terms of usability is to go ahead and say, okay, we can do a short string of daily threads as necessary, for this and for the DNC.
But it's with reservations, because we have otherwise been inclined and will continue to be to push in the opposite direction for general US election chatter, which doesn't have this added posting-volume challenge from the livebloggy angle. So I'm underlining what LM said about this being a one off exceptional thing. Every year we get a crockety bloat but people know not to go CAPS LOCK DAY the rest of the time; maybe every four years we'll all paddle out onto Convention Live Blog Lake as long as everybody is good about bringing the boats back in and hanging up the life jackets after.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:54 AM on July 19, 2016 [12 favorites]
But it's with reservations, because we have otherwise been inclined and will continue to be to push in the opposite direction for general US election chatter, which doesn't have this added posting-volume challenge from the livebloggy angle. So I'm underlining what LM said about this being a one off exceptional thing. Every year we get a crockety bloat but people know not to go CAPS LOCK DAY the rest of the time; maybe every four years we'll all paddle out onto Convention Live Blog Lake as long as everybody is good about bringing the boats back in and hanging up the life jackets after.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:54 AM on July 19, 2016 [12 favorites]
Of which: one thing that'll help the threads not get even bigger than they need to be is to not start 'em a lot earlier than the event itself, since otherwise we tend to get a lot of time-killing front loading an something on the order of hundreds of extra bonus comments right up front.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:55 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:55 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
I find it easier to just skip the threads than to try to convince everyone else not to have them.
True, but it's also easier to skip threads if we don't keep making new ones every day because we've basically decided to sextuple down on chat filter.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:00 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
True, but it's also easier to skip threads if we don't keep making new ones every day because we've basically decided to sextuple down on chat filter.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:00 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Why aren't they on Fanfare? People are watching it for entertainment, after all.
posted by bondcliff at 10:15 AM on July 19, 2016 [22 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 10:15 AM on July 19, 2016 [22 favorites]
I know we've discussed it in the past, but can we paginate really long threads? Splitting pages every 500 comments would solve problems for lot of people, and probably wouldn't really bother anyone....
posted by schmod at 10:16 AM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by schmod at 10:16 AM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
Another vote for breaking up the threads to day by day. I know, I know, IRFH, but a whole bunch of us want to talk to other MeFis about the shenanigans in near real time.
posted by bearwife at 10:16 AM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by bearwife at 10:16 AM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
We've had folks suggest putting them (and the debates) on Fanfare, but although we're open to experimenting with live events like sports on Fanfare, these political things are different. Fanfare is a pretty friendly, chill space (which also requires very little moderation), and we'd like to keep it that way as much as possible. Bringing some of the most contentious discussions on the site over there would change the tone a lot.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:18 AM on July 19, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:18 AM on July 19, 2016 [9 favorites]
a whole bunch of us want to talk to other MeFis about the shenanigans in near real time
Isn't this basically why we have a chat room?
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:19 AM on July 19, 2016 [8 favorites]
Isn't this basically why we have a chat room?
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:19 AM on July 19, 2016 [8 favorites]
There is a lot of information being shared. Not the same thing as a chat topic at all. Wanting to talk to other MeFis does not equate to "want to chit chat."
posted by bearwife at 10:21 AM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by bearwife at 10:21 AM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
Fanfare is a pretty friendly, chill space
The RNC thread is indistinguishable from any of the threads about The Walking Dead.
I keed. I keed. Mostly.
posted by bondcliff at 10:22 AM on July 19, 2016 [5 favorites]
The RNC thread is indistinguishable from any of the threads about The Walking Dead.
I keed. I keed. Mostly.
posted by bondcliff at 10:22 AM on July 19, 2016 [5 favorites]
I get the interest. I even share it. I just find it a bit disconcerting that we have an ongoing thread about how to maybe be more internationally inclusive on MetaFilter just below a thread where we're talking about loosening the rules of both chatfilter and multiple threads on a single topic just because we really, really want to talk a lot about the daily details of US election cycle.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:25 AM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:25 AM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
Chat was added to Metafilter on November 6th 2012. It was, and please correct me if I'm wrong, started so there was a place to discuss the election with each other in near real time without creating threads of overwhelming length. It is perfect for this.
I am in favor of keeping the threads as they are and gently directing livebloggy commentary to chat.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:31 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
I am in favor of keeping the threads as they are and gently directing livebloggy commentary to chat.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:31 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
I think Chat is a great solution for folks who want that specifically: a place to sort of chatter ephemerally. Which is keen and a good thing and seriously if you need a little of that while keeping up with this stuff, perfect! But it doesn't seem like something that has ended up being even close to a general solution in practice even if we had sort of hoped it might be years ago when we rolled it out, so much as a bit of an extra release valve.
I just find a bit disconcerting that
I get you, but it's also kind of a We Contain Multitudes thing. I think we can simultaneously try and think through larger systemic site things over the long run and fiddle around with stopgaps for a specific quadrennial outlier, etc. Neither makes the other impossible.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:33 AM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
I just find a bit disconcerting that
I get you, but it's also kind of a We Contain Multitudes thing. I think we can simultaneously try and think through larger systemic site things over the long run and fiddle around with stopgaps for a specific quadrennial outlier, etc. Neither makes the other impossible.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:33 AM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
a place to sort of chatter ephemerally
This is how I would describe the current politics threads, though.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:40 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is how I would describe the current politics threads, though.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:40 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
We've had folks suggest putting them (and the debates) on Fanfare
Oh, please no. Because for one thing, some of us subject to stringent webmonitoring at the workplace can get to Mefi and AskMefi, but not Fanfare.
posted by suelac at 10:43 AM on July 19, 2016
Oh, please no. Because for one thing, some of us subject to stringent webmonitoring at the workplace can get to Mefi and AskMefi, but not Fanfare.
posted by suelac at 10:43 AM on July 19, 2016
This is how I would describe the current politics threads, though.
And you're not alone in that feeling, but it's also definitely not universal. I don't think there's a solution to or perspective on this that's ever going to be universal; like I said above, it's basically going to at best be one compromise or another.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:45 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
And you're not alone in that feeling, but it's also definitely not universal. I don't think there's a solution to or perspective on this that's ever going to be universal; like I said above, it's basically going to at best be one compromise or another.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:45 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
This might be a good example of not expecting people outside the US to just know stuff. I had no idea what RNC meant. I mean I worked it out eventually as I read the thread (because DNC was also added I mean thanks but also I can't even) but still, a link might have been nice or even just type out the whole name, ta.
(Radical Ninjas Club?
Random News Cartel?
Really Nice Cats? That's probably it.)
a crockety bloat
actually i still have no baldy clue about what that means but i think i like it
posted by billiebee at 10:56 AM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
(Radical Ninjas Club?
Random News Cartel?
Really Nice Cats? That's probably it.)
a crockety bloat
actually i still have no baldy clue about what that means but i think i like it
posted by billiebee at 10:56 AM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
A crockety bloat is an American tradition, very important for our cultures. It's good in a boat. It beers a root float. It's taller than Spock. It engineers locks. It salmons a toast, and triples our boast.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:02 AM on July 19, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:02 AM on July 19, 2016 [11 favorites]
Sadly, the actual CAPSLOCKDAY site seems to have had its security changed.
posted by yhbc at 11:05 AM on July 19, 2016
posted by yhbc at 11:05 AM on July 19, 2016
I know that not everyone feels this way. I like the threads, I just find them difficult to read sometimes and it feels like chatty noise both adds a lot of unnecessary bulk and is totally incomprehensible if you aren't watching live. Perhaps in future threads a note could be dropped (or included in the post itself by the OP) to gently remind folks that not everyone reading/participating is watching live/able to follow along in real time and encourage participants not to treat the thread as a chat room?
posted by everybody had matching towels at 11:14 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by everybody had matching towels at 11:14 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Splitting into days seems like it may be the best option.
Yes, please.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:16 AM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yes, please.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:16 AM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
a place to sort of chatter ephemerally
This is how I would describe the current politics threads, though.
By far the majority of the good commentary I have read elsewhere (not to mention the good commentary I've read here) was first posted in the election threads.
posted by OmieWise at 11:34 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
This is how I would describe the current politics threads, though.
By far the majority of the good commentary I have read elsewhere (not to mention the good commentary I've read here) was first posted in the election threads.
posted by OmieWise at 11:34 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
I know we've discussed it in the past, but can we paginate really long threads? Splitting pages every 500 comments would solve problems for lot of people, and probably wouldn't really bother anyone....
The option for it on mobile at least at some point in the future would be great.
posted by Drinky Die at 11:35 AM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
The option for it on mobile at least at some point in the future would be great.
posted by Drinky Die at 11:35 AM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
I put up a new thread since I put up the first one.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:45 AM on July 19, 2016
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:45 AM on July 19, 2016
RNC = Rancid Neck Cheese
DNC = Diseased Neck Cheese
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:48 AM on July 19, 2016 [5 favorites]
DNC = Diseased Neck Cheese
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:48 AM on July 19, 2016 [5 favorites]
By far the majority of the good commentary I have read elsewhere (not to mention the good commentary I've read here) was first posted in the election threads.
Yep! Same. That's not what I'm talking about. I am talking about noise.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 11:48 AM on July 19, 2016
Yep! Same. That's not what I'm talking about. I am talking about noise.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 11:48 AM on July 19, 2016
Just as a datapoint, I can't access chat on my phone. New threads help me participate better.
posted by corb at 11:54 AM on July 19, 2016 [16 favorites]
posted by corb at 11:54 AM on July 19, 2016 [16 favorites]
I am talking about noise.
And noise and derails can and should be flagged with extreme prejudice. I myself had a fairly substantive comment deleted this morning because it was part of a derail into the nature of whiteness. I was annoyed for a good five seconds but then I got better.
Mods are continuing to do a bang-up job but we need to be doing our part both in terms of not contributing to the noise ratio and also flagging stuff to the mods when we see it.
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:59 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
And noise and derails can and should be flagged with extreme prejudice. I myself had a fairly substantive comment deleted this morning because it was part of a derail into the nature of whiteness. I was annoyed for a good five seconds but then I got better.
Mods are continuing to do a bang-up job but we need to be doing our part both in terms of not contributing to the noise ratio and also flagging stuff to the mods when we see it.
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:59 AM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Think of it this way: Once the US POTUS election season finally reaches a solid 4-year timeframe, the ad revenue from all the constant page refreshes from election threads getting 1800 comments per day will make it feasible to buy all the mods underground bunkers in which they can survive the coming firestorms
posted by beerperson at 12:03 PM on July 19, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 12:03 PM on July 19, 2016 [8 favorites]
Also, while we're letting all the ponies out of the stable, would it be possible for the mods to close up the previous thread when the new one is created, at least for the duration of the conventions if we keep having daily threads. That way there aren't 6 open threads for everyone, mods included, to get lost in.
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:04 PM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:04 PM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
The longer threads get a bit unwieldy on desktops, but really not bad. The problem seems to be mostly on phones/tablets. Why do the mobile threads need to load every comment, couldn't they archive or collapse all but the most recent 250 or 500?
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:05 PM on July 19, 2016
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:05 PM on July 19, 2016
There's no mechanism to close threads anywhere but Metatalk. Folks will usually move over reasonably soonish, though, and right now the threads are both reasonably amiable so it's not as much of a problem as it would be if things were really hot.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:06 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:06 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just find it a bit disconcerting that we have an ongoing thread about how to maybe be more internationally inclusive on MetaFilter
But it seems to me that most of the discussion in that thread is how to encourage more non-US- or at least non-Western-centric posts, and how to better handle discussion on those posts; not that we should have fewer US-centric posts.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:07 PM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
But it seems to me that most of the discussion in that thread is how to encourage more non-US- or at least non-Western-centric posts, and how to better handle discussion on those posts; not that we should have fewer US-centric posts.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:07 PM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
In any case, I love the long election threads. I love the stories and the commiserating and the people who post links to current and breaking news and to essays and editorials that I can dive into when I have the time. My least favorite thing is when we start over anew and the first 500 or so comments seem full of derails, noise and jokes from people who aren't really following the previous thread. Maybe having one each day will keep that effect down, but I'm mostly browsing from work so if the threads are impossible to use on mobile then I don't really mind I guess.
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:09 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:09 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Another solution might be to change the number of comments in the Recent Activity page (or give folks the option to have the last, say, 15 / 30 / 50 comments load instead of the default 10).
You can't comment directly from Recent Activity but it would cut down on the whole thread having to be reloaded all the time particularly for people who are just lurking / favoriting.
I try to use Recent Activity for passive keeping-up-with-the-thread while commuting but it's hard to do when things are moving at the rate of multiple comments per minute.
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:12 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
You can't comment directly from Recent Activity but it would cut down on the whole thread having to be reloaded all the time particularly for people who are just lurking / favoriting.
I try to use Recent Activity for passive keeping-up-with-the-thread while commuting but it's hard to do when things are moving at the rate of multiple comments per minute.
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:12 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
I find that for sufficiently fast-moving threads I have a better time just leaving a tab open while I'm away and grabbing new comments with the "x new comments, show" loader when I get back; doesn't require a whole reload of the thread, keeps my place, etc. Seems to work pretty reliably on my phone, too, though now and then it ends up needing an actual reload because the OS dumps the cache or whatever because I decided to look for Bulbasaurs.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:14 PM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:14 PM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
I know there is not much appetite for technical solutions due to the desire for stability and the general viewpoint that this is a limited-instance problem, but there's a pretty low hanging fruit type thing which might help to break the giant-thread logjam a little bit, so I figured I'd throw it out there. Implement a skip=x parameter for the comment listing. Once this is in place, others can take something like Mefi Scroll Tag and have it use that instead of merely skipping down the page, which would allow for threads of any size. You could also extend it to support "skip forward/back x comments" type features if that made sense. From an implementation perspective, it's straightforward: you already have code to render all of the comments, so when the skip parameter is present, instead of returning them all, you slice off the first x comments and display what's left, if anything. If it's a huge success, you can always add the features directly to the site templates.
posted by feloniousmonk at 12:30 PM on July 19, 2016
posted by feloniousmonk at 12:30 PM on July 19, 2016
Can we work harder at putting in fewer jokes and witty one-liners? Those play a huge role in bloating up the threads quickly. Most of you are super funny, I promise.
posted by kimberussell at 12:30 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by kimberussell at 12:30 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Yeah, no. If we're making exceptions to have a thread a day, we got room for humor, too.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:33 PM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:33 PM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
If we make enough jokes can we get a new thread every 45 minutes?
posted by beerperson at 12:35 PM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 12:35 PM on July 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
We should have fewer threads and more elections.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:36 PM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:36 PM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Another solution might be to change the number of comments in the Recent Activity page (or give folks the option to have the last, say, 15 / 30 / 50 comments load instead of the default 10).
Unfortunately, the Recent Activity page is one of the heaviest pages on the site in terms of server/database load. On its face, this is a really good idea. The issue with it comes in that I can't, in good conscience, recommend that a lot of people be hovering over Recent Activity and refreshing every minute, as there's a critical mass of users at which point it starts to bog down the database server.
At this point, the query is pretty well optimised, and works for the common ways that Recent Activity is used. That means, though, that it's a system in tension: improving it for one set of circumstances is likely to make other aspects suffer.
I'm sorry to be conservative here, but what I desperately want to avoid here is a Verschlimbesserung, a supposed improvement that actually just makes things worse.
posted by frimble (staff) at 12:37 PM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
Unfortunately, the Recent Activity page is one of the heaviest pages on the site in terms of server/database load. On its face, this is a really good idea. The issue with it comes in that I can't, in good conscience, recommend that a lot of people be hovering over Recent Activity and refreshing every minute, as there's a critical mass of users at which point it starts to bog down the database server.
At this point, the query is pretty well optimised, and works for the common ways that Recent Activity is used. That means, though, that it's a system in tension: improving it for one set of circumstances is likely to make other aspects suffer.
I'm sorry to be conservative here, but what I desperately want to avoid here is a Verschlimbesserung, a supposed improvement that actually just makes things worse.
posted by frimble (staff) at 12:37 PM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
Make MetaFilter Verschlimbesserung Again
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:38 PM on July 19, 2016 [14 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:38 PM on July 19, 2016 [14 favorites]
I think this is a fine solution. I also think the DNC threads will see a lot less traffic than these RNC ones because nobody can resist rubbernecking a trainwreck, but we'll hardly notice a do gooder with a clipboard.
posted by notyou at 12:38 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by notyou at 12:38 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Unfortunately, the Recent Activity page is one of the heaviest pages on the site in terms of server/database load. On its face, this is a really good idea. The issue with it comes in that I can't, in good conscience, recommend that a lot of people be hovering over Recent Activity and refreshing every minute, as there's a critical mass of users at which point it starts to bog down the database server.
At this point, the query is pretty well optimised, and works for the common ways that Recent Activity is used. That means, though, that it's a system in tension: improving it for one set of circumstances is likely to make other aspects suffer.
I'm sorry to be conservative here, but what I desperately want to avoid here is a Verschlimbesserung, a supposed improvement that actually just makes things worse.
Shutting down the pony request but bringing us a fun new German word instead is like showing up late to work but bringing donuts.
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:41 PM on July 19, 2016 [28 favorites]
At this point, the query is pretty well optimised, and works for the common ways that Recent Activity is used. That means, though, that it's a system in tension: improving it for one set of circumstances is likely to make other aspects suffer.
I'm sorry to be conservative here, but what I desperately want to avoid here is a Verschlimbesserung, a supposed improvement that actually just makes things worse.
Shutting down the pony request but bringing us a fun new German word instead is like showing up late to work but bringing donuts.
posted by DynamiteToast at 12:41 PM on July 19, 2016 [28 favorites]
Like bringing Pfannkuchens, surely
posted by beerperson at 12:45 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 12:45 PM on July 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
what I desperately want to avoid here is a Verschlimbesserung, a supposed improvement that actually just makes things worse
#nevertrump
posted by fedward at 12:45 PM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
#nevertrump
posted by fedward at 12:45 PM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
I really really like this idea, because I don't have a computer and have to use my IPhone 6S to view everything, and as soon as the threads get to a certain amount of comments they get unusably slow or straight up crash, so thanks!
posted by gucci mane at 1:01 PM on July 19, 2016
posted by gucci mane at 1:01 PM on July 19, 2016
I am certainly interested in seeing how this would work out. Experiment time!
posted by blurker at 1:08 PM on July 19, 2016
posted by blurker at 1:08 PM on July 19, 2016
I'm sorry to be conservative here, but what I desperately want to avoid here is a Verschlimbesserung, a supposed improvement that actually just makes things worse.
Sheesh, pb was never afraid to make things worse.
posted by OmieWise at 1:26 PM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sheesh, pb was never afraid to make things worse.
posted by OmieWise at 1:26 PM on July 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
I find that for sufficiently fast-moving threads I have a better time just leaving a tab open while I'm away and grabbing new comments with the "x new comments, show" loader when I get back
don't comments that have been deleted still show up unless you refresh the entire page though
i mean obvsly in the ideal world one does not respond to inflammatory jerkish comments in the first place but like, they're there and im weak
posted by poffin boffin at 2:23 PM on July 19, 2016
don't comments that have been deleted still show up unless you refresh the entire page though
i mean obvsly in the ideal world one does not respond to inflammatory jerkish comments in the first place but like, they're there and im weak
posted by poffin boffin at 2:23 PM on July 19, 2016
Comments that are already on the page won't disappear when you load newer comments, but if the comment is part of the crop of new comments that would be loaded and has already been deleted at that point, it won't show up in the first place.
That said, I heartily endorse any kind of loading/reloading/smoke-breaking strategy helps anyone personally avoid responding to inflammatory shit that they should just be flagging and moving on from, so you do you.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:35 PM on July 19, 2016
That said, I heartily endorse any kind of loading/reloading/smoke-breaking strategy helps anyone personally avoid responding to inflammatory shit that they should just be flagging and moving on from, so you do you.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:35 PM on July 19, 2016
don't comments that have been deleted still show up unless you refresh the entire page though
I'm pretty sure that's not the case, as I've seen the "1 new comment, show" button turn into nothing before, which I assumed meant they just got deleted super quick.
posted by DynamiteToast at 2:35 PM on July 19, 2016
I'm pretty sure that's not the case, as I've seen the "1 new comment, show" button turn into nothing before, which I assumed meant they just got deleted super quick.
posted by DynamiteToast at 2:35 PM on July 19, 2016
I have to admit this kind of gives me a throbby forehead vein for literally combining at least three of the most common reasons mods offer when deleting posts that are often decent-quality: newsfilter, double, and "this terrible thing happened"
posted by threeants at 3:27 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by threeants at 3:27 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
(which certainly isn't to say I don't find a certain shit-shooting value in the threads, as a US person, or that I haven't/won't participate in them, I just agree with above that this is a pretty awkward bookend to the barely-out-of-the-oven MeTa on US-centrism)
posted by threeants at 3:29 PM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by threeants at 3:29 PM on July 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
It has been a year of throbby forehead veins; I feel you.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:32 PM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:32 PM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]
Hmm, when you frame it that way, the throb does feel a little more like a light palpitation.
posted by threeants at 3:33 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by threeants at 3:33 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: Crossed eyes, side eye, and throbby forehead veins. This election has handed my imagination its ass, however. I try to ignore it, and when I peek in, it is a much bigger nightmare than I could have come up with. Before you know it they will have killed the Moose and Squirrel, and Natasha will be wearing Michele Obama's clothes.
posted by Oyéah at 8:41 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 8:41 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Sadly, the actual CAPSLOCKDAY site seems to have had its security changed.
It actually appears to have been domain squatted by... a company that makes software for "crisis pregnancy centers"?
that's weird
posted by murphy slaw at 11:12 PM on July 19, 2016
It actually appears to have been domain squatted by... a company that makes software for "crisis pregnancy centers"?
that's weird
posted by murphy slaw at 11:12 PM on July 19, 2016
It has been a year of throbby forehead veins; I feel you.
That does cause me to wonder if 2016 might be best explained as a Talosian-induced collective hallucination.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:05 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
That does cause me to wonder if 2016 might be best explained as a Talosian-induced collective hallucination.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:05 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
Already mentioned in other metatalk threads, but is there any possibility of there ever being a separate meta-news site? It seems like it keeps coming up as something that would be useful.
posted by Cozybee at 5:58 AM on July 20, 2016
posted by Cozybee at 5:58 AM on July 20, 2016
a separate meta-news site
I think the door has been firmly shut, locked and barred on that particular pony.
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:34 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think the door has been firmly shut, locked and barred on that particular pony.
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:34 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's pretty irritating and alienating for anyone who isn't along in the livebloggy moment - a request last night for people to not just react but explain what they're reacting to was met with a dozen joke answers. I flag pretty aggressively but, like, why bother. I come in late to a lot of threads and usually enjoy catching up but when you're wading through heaps and heaps of jokes and riffs and reactions that don't make sense after the fact to get to the good stuff that OmieWise mentioned upthread, it's not worth it anymore. These threads are not for users like me, and that's kind of a shame, because up until recently they were.
I happen to be on the US East Coast but I would imagine that many users in different time zones also have this problem.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:54 AM on July 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
I happen to be on the US East Coast but I would imagine that many users in different time zones also have this problem.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:54 AM on July 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
I enjoy the react-first-explain-later thing because it means I have room to brace myself before the horrible thing gets announced. It's like building up defenses against a virus. I've been operating as a mostly-functional human being so far this week and I think I have the sheer length and humor of those threads to thank for that.
So, yeah, different strokes. It's hard to come up with a One True Thread Behavior for something like this, since people are posting without any real coordination, and hundreds of people are pretty damn enthusiastic (for lack of a better word) about this week.
posted by rorgy at 7:07 AM on July 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
So, yeah, different strokes. It's hard to come up with a One True Thread Behavior for something like this, since people are posting without any real coordination, and hundreds of people are pretty damn enthusiastic (for lack of a better word) about this week.
posted by rorgy at 7:07 AM on July 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sadly, the actual CAPSLOCKDAY site seems to have had its security changed.
It actually appears to have been domain squatted by... a company that makes software for "crisis pregnancy centers"?
that's weird
I didn't go on to the site because IE warned me of a change in its security certificate. What will we do next October 22?!?!??
posted by yhbc at 7:52 AM on July 20, 2016
It actually appears to have been domain squatted by... a company that makes software for "crisis pregnancy centers"?
that's weird
I didn't go on to the site because IE warned me of a change in its security certificate. What will we do next October 22?!?!??
posted by yhbc at 7:52 AM on July 20, 2016
Tommy Westphall monitors all other Fanfare threads 24/7, 365.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:28 PM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:28 PM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just... how is a regular election in one country an "exceptional-onsite-circumstance" that warrants radically diverging from the normal moderation rules? I like those threads too, but either put them in FanFare where they belong, or let's start a politics.mefi already and be done with it. I mean I get that the RNC a hot mess that people are into watching but to me it's exhausting to see it on the front page every single day.
Yesterday there were 17 front page posts. Today so far, there are 23. Is a single day of a single political convention in one country really worth 1/20 of the main site's real estate?
posted by likeatoaster at 7:43 PM on July 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yesterday there were 17 front page posts. Today so far, there are 23. Is a single day of a single political convention in one country really worth 1/20 of the main site's real estate?
posted by likeatoaster at 7:43 PM on July 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
I just... how is a regular election in one country an "exceptional-onsite-circumstance" that warrants radically diverging from the normal moderation rules?
The numbers speak for themselves as to how exceptional it is. As of this comment it's got 3 times as many responses as the rest of the day's FPPs combined. The only other post that has close to 10% of its volume is about some Ghostbusters ugliness. In one day. Apparently MeFites have the energy to keep this up all week.
Yesterday there were 17 front page posts. Today so far, there are 23. Is a single day of a single political convention in one country really worth 1/20 of the main site's real estate?
Well, from point of view we have confined 75% of what people are talking about on a community blog to just 5% of the front page space, seems like a reasonably efficient way to keep things going.
FWIW, I haven't commented on or even opened a convention FPP this week.
posted by mark k at 11:51 PM on July 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
The numbers speak for themselves as to how exceptional it is. As of this comment it's got 3 times as many responses as the rest of the day's FPPs combined. The only other post that has close to 10% of its volume is about some Ghostbusters ugliness. In one day. Apparently MeFites have the energy to keep this up all week.
Yesterday there were 17 front page posts. Today so far, there are 23. Is a single day of a single political convention in one country really worth 1/20 of the main site's real estate?
Well, from point of view we have confined 75% of what people are talking about on a community blog to just 5% of the front page space, seems like a reasonably efficient way to keep things going.
FWIW, I haven't commented on or even opened a convention FPP this week.
posted by mark k at 11:51 PM on July 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
"It's pretty irritating and alienating for anyone who isn't along in the livebloggy moment - a request last night for people to not just react but explain what they're reacting to was met with a dozen joke answers."
I read the first night's convention thread two or three hours after the convention ended, and I found that while occasionally some context-less quips were baffling and slightly annoying, most of the time the context became apparent within a few subsequent comments. So I didn't find it too much of a problem. I can see how it might annoy other people more. But I don't think it's a serious problem unless it gets really out of control.
Speaking for myself, it's not a bug but a feature for me when I read a thread after-the-fact that contains a fair amount of real-time commentary. Obviously, there's not that many threads that are like that and there's kind of a reason why reading something like that later is interesting and helpful to some people such as myself -- I find the immediate reactions and evolving opinion to be revealing and interesting in itself. Plus you have things like the amazing stuff we're hearing from corb.
I haven't been around much lately because of a family death and related crises, and I also don't have the stomach to really dive into these threads on a daily basis. But I found the Brexit thread to be invaluable and I found that first night's RNC discussion to be quite interesting and valuable. I haven't read any more than that, but I do want to express some appreciation for these kinds of threads, speaking as someone who has always been (notoriously, probably) very anti-newsfilter. I'm still against this stuff in the larger every-day-of-the-year sense, but I have very strongly come around the idea that for certain events, they are invaluable.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:48 AM on July 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
I read the first night's convention thread two or three hours after the convention ended, and I found that while occasionally some context-less quips were baffling and slightly annoying, most of the time the context became apparent within a few subsequent comments. So I didn't find it too much of a problem. I can see how it might annoy other people more. But I don't think it's a serious problem unless it gets really out of control.
Speaking for myself, it's not a bug but a feature for me when I read a thread after-the-fact that contains a fair amount of real-time commentary. Obviously, there's not that many threads that are like that and there's kind of a reason why reading something like that later is interesting and helpful to some people such as myself -- I find the immediate reactions and evolving opinion to be revealing and interesting in itself. Plus you have things like the amazing stuff we're hearing from corb.
I haven't been around much lately because of a family death and related crises, and I also don't have the stomach to really dive into these threads on a daily basis. But I found the Brexit thread to be invaluable and I found that first night's RNC discussion to be quite interesting and valuable. I haven't read any more than that, but I do want to express some appreciation for these kinds of threads, speaking as someone who has always been (notoriously, probably) very anti-newsfilter. I'm still against this stuff in the larger every-day-of-the-year sense, but I have very strongly come around the idea that for certain events, they are invaluable.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:48 AM on July 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
I think the thing was many of us in those threads seem to be getting too drunk to post good.
posted by Drinky Die at 1:07 AM on July 21, 2016
posted by Drinky Die at 1:07 AM on July 21, 2016
I have been informed that I have misspelled Verschlimmbesserung. But perhaps this is an object lesson: My offer of Verschlimmbesserung as a useful word, should the word be misspelled, is, in and of itself, a Verschlimmbesserung, should the misspelled word be adopted as is.
posted by frimble (staff) at 1:48 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by frimble (staff) at 1:48 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
As a disclaimer to whatever I say: I'm fairly new to MetaFilter and, hence, my comments might be... meta.
My interaction with the RNC posts so far has been on day one a friend reading out a bunch of interesting commentary to me and today trying to make sense of the day three post. I gave up after about half an hour of reading, because I found it irritating to see that the timestamp was still at 10am server time (as in seven hours before the actual event started) and I couldn't see myself getting to the point where the stuff I was interested in would happen without skipping a whole bunch of commentary that might or might not be relevant. Out of pure curiosity I scrolled down to the starting time and would say about 40% of that thread were building up and mostly referencing what happened on previous days (spiked with what I deem highly problematic commentary on Melania Trump's agency). Shortly before the starting time, however, the nature of comments changed and people were reacting to at that time current events.
By allowing a daily post, users are encouraged to do that 40% of pre-chit chat because it also becomes some kind of informal badge to open that 'daily post', so you want to do it early. If such behaviour is not desired, I would suggest putting a time constraint on such daily posts of multi-day events in terms of only allowing a new daily post e.g., an hour before the actual stuff happens. That way the commentary might become more meaningful towards that day of an event.
As is now, I see that the goal was to have less comments on one page, but I have the feeling the overall amount of comments for that event has been increased. From my perspective, that is more a reason for pagination (e.g., along days) than putting up new posts (which would be effectively the same from a loading perspective for users).
posted by katta at 2:10 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
My interaction with the RNC posts so far has been on day one a friend reading out a bunch of interesting commentary to me and today trying to make sense of the day three post. I gave up after about half an hour of reading, because I found it irritating to see that the timestamp was still at 10am server time (as in seven hours before the actual event started) and I couldn't see myself getting to the point where the stuff I was interested in would happen without skipping a whole bunch of commentary that might or might not be relevant. Out of pure curiosity I scrolled down to the starting time and would say about 40% of that thread were building up and mostly referencing what happened on previous days (spiked with what I deem highly problematic commentary on Melania Trump's agency). Shortly before the starting time, however, the nature of comments changed and people were reacting to at that time current events.
By allowing a daily post, users are encouraged to do that 40% of pre-chit chat because it also becomes some kind of informal badge to open that 'daily post', so you want to do it early. If such behaviour is not desired, I would suggest putting a time constraint on such daily posts of multi-day events in terms of only allowing a new daily post e.g., an hour before the actual stuff happens. That way the commentary might become more meaningful towards that day of an event.
As is now, I see that the goal was to have less comments on one page, but I have the feeling the overall amount of comments for that event has been increased. From my perspective, that is more a reason for pagination (e.g., along days) than putting up new posts (which would be effectively the same from a loading perspective for users).
posted by katta at 2:10 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I have no problems with the live bloggy posts and would have been fine ignoring them, but I wish there was still a way to get Mefites comments on the convention without going through all the comments about, say, the way one MLM business owner speaks. I loved reading corb's updates, and also appreciated the people who posted links to commentary by others and the picture of actual nazi's. That nazi pic was the picture that made me realize that I do want to read these threads. I am not American, and not a person who talks a lot about politics but pictures like that make me speak out, make me say to people how scary this is, let people know that the silent majority is not with the fascist populists and that this actually really does remind of nazi Germany and that that is not a ridiculous exaggeration.
And of course if I ignored the threads I would also miss the good things, like the band that trolled the convention by playing only songs that nobody knew, asking who believes in science, and donating their earnings to charity (link for those who don't read the liveblog threads).
So, I like reading about politics on Metafilter. I don't agree with the perspective that this is just one convention of one country's election and therefore not all that important. I want to read about the convention. But I wish there was a non-liveblog thread about it too.
posted by blub at 3:38 AM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
And of course if I ignored the threads I would also miss the good things, like the band that trolled the convention by playing only songs that nobody knew, asking who believes in science, and donating their earnings to charity (link for those who don't read the liveblog threads).
So, I like reading about politics on Metafilter. I don't agree with the perspective that this is just one convention of one country's election and therefore not all that important. I want to read about the convention. But I wish there was a non-liveblog thread about it too.
posted by blub at 3:38 AM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Thought I'd drop back in and say "Thank you" to the mods for breaking the RNC into separate days. I think it's working great. The threads are still hella long and make my iPad weep, but it's nothing compared to what it would be like had it been one endless thread.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:00 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 7:00 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I wish there was still a way to get Mefites comments on the convention without going through all the comments about, say, the way one MLM business owner speaks. I loved reading corb's updates, and also appreciated the people who posted links to commentary by others and the picture of actual nazi's.
But it's going to differ from reader to reader what they find important and valuable. To you, the MLM owner is not important, and the pictures of Nazis are. I can easily see another MeFite having exactly the opposite preference. (The MLM owner being an actual invited convention speaker, and thus implied to have some actual cachet with Republican voters, and at least the official acknowledgment if not support of the Republican Party; while the Nazi picture, if it's the same one I saw, had something like, what, four? six? Nazis outside the convention center, and could be seen as a cheap attempt to paint the entire party with a tiny tiny tiny fraction of its most extreme supporters.) So if the pictures of Nazis are important to you, and comments about MLM speakers are not, that's fine for you, but I don't think it can be established as some sort of objective MeFi-wide standard.
I'm fine with the sort of livebloggy type comments, and like Ivan Fyodorovich find them valuable for reading afterwards while not watching the convention itself. But I also tend to agree with katta on the timing of the posts. The Day 4 post has already gone up, at 8:30 a.m. EDT, but the convention speeches don't start until 7:20 p.m. It seems like most of the comments up until the convention actually opens this evening are likely to be rehash/analysis/fallout from Day 3 (and earlier) and would be better in the Day 3 thread. I don't see much value in opening the Day 4 thread before 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. EDT. (Not that the current one's going to change since it's already up, but something to consider for the DNC next week.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:11 AM on July 21, 2016
But it's going to differ from reader to reader what they find important and valuable. To you, the MLM owner is not important, and the pictures of Nazis are. I can easily see another MeFite having exactly the opposite preference. (The MLM owner being an actual invited convention speaker, and thus implied to have some actual cachet with Republican voters, and at least the official acknowledgment if not support of the Republican Party; while the Nazi picture, if it's the same one I saw, had something like, what, four? six? Nazis outside the convention center, and could be seen as a cheap attempt to paint the entire party with a tiny tiny tiny fraction of its most extreme supporters.) So if the pictures of Nazis are important to you, and comments about MLM speakers are not, that's fine for you, but I don't think it can be established as some sort of objective MeFi-wide standard.
I'm fine with the sort of livebloggy type comments, and like Ivan Fyodorovich find them valuable for reading afterwards while not watching the convention itself. But I also tend to agree with katta on the timing of the posts. The Day 4 post has already gone up, at 8:30 a.m. EDT, but the convention speeches don't start until 7:20 p.m. It seems like most of the comments up until the convention actually opens this evening are likely to be rehash/analysis/fallout from Day 3 (and earlier) and would be better in the Day 3 thread. I don't see much value in opening the Day 4 thread before 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. EDT. (Not that the current one's going to change since it's already up, but something to consider for the DNC next week.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:11 AM on July 21, 2016
Yeah, I'm in the same school of thought - these posts shouldn't be going up 12 hours before the day's actual events start.
Today's will stay up, because it's well established now, but if we do this again, I think we'll be quicker on the delete with very premature posts. We had to do this a couple times with posts during the primaries too; the thread fills up with hundreds of comments before even getting to the action, and that defeats the purpose of splitting into multiple threads.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:38 AM on July 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
Today's will stay up, because it's well established now, but if we do this again, I think we'll be quicker on the delete with very premature posts. We had to do this a couple times with posts during the primaries too; the thread fills up with hundreds of comments before even getting to the action, and that defeats the purpose of splitting into multiple threads.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:38 AM on July 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
In the current thread we're following what a defiant Ted Cruz said to a (mostly angry) Texas delegation this morning at breakfast. It's fascinating.
The Republicans have nominated a non-traditional candidate who under normal circumstances (and if the party were embracing sanity) would have far too many negatives to ever be considered their flag-bearer. As others have said, the convention threads aren't just about the speeches. They're about the entire event. How it's being presented to the public, what's happening behind the scenes -- including corb's reports from the floor, and what effect many little details may have on the Republican party, the participants and our country going forward.
The threads have been excellent. Thank you, Team Mod, for allowing them to happen.
posted by zarq at 7:44 AM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Republicans have nominated a non-traditional candidate who under normal circumstances (and if the party were embracing sanity) would have far too many negatives to ever be considered their flag-bearer. As others have said, the convention threads aren't just about the speeches. They're about the entire event. How it's being presented to the public, what's happening behind the scenes -- including corb's reports from the floor, and what effect many little details may have on the Republican party, the participants and our country going forward.
The threads have been excellent. Thank you, Team Mod, for allowing them to happen.
posted by zarq at 7:44 AM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
As others have said, the convention threads aren't just about the speeches. They're about the entire event.
I get that, but then my perspective is also influenced by the fact, that I'm at a time zone that is 6 hours ahead of EDT, which means that I can really only read about what happened at the convention tomorrow morning, but then have to deal with a lot of stuff rehashing what happened a day before that and all the upblown interaction beforehand before getting to what actually happened at the convention. But the question then becomes also whether I'm even in the target audience for such a post.
posted by katta at 7:55 AM on July 21, 2016
I get that, but then my perspective is also influenced by the fact, that I'm at a time zone that is 6 hours ahead of EDT, which means that I can really only read about what happened at the convention tomorrow morning, but then have to deal with a lot of stuff rehashing what happened a day before that and all the upblown interaction beforehand before getting to what actually happened at the convention. But the question then becomes also whether I'm even in the target audience for such a post.
posted by katta at 7:55 AM on July 21, 2016
Chat was added to Metafilter on November 6th 2012. It was, and please correct me if I'm wrong, started so there was a place to discuss the election with each other in near real time without creating threads of overwhelming length. It is perfect for this.
Cortex: But it doesn't seem like something that has ended up being even close to a general solution in practice even if we had sort of hoped it might be years ago when we rolled it out, so much as a bit of an extra release valve.
I'm curious about this. Ok, so the chat room didn't work out for your hoped-for purpose. But since you're in charge, how come you can't just say "no live-bloggery posts, take it to Chat"? For that matter, do people like and use Chat? If it's not being used for what you hoped for, can you just nuke it? (For the record, I don't care for Chat and prefer that these live-bloggery posts stay as they are more of a permanent record, a snapshot of the events, something that just doesn't get covered as well in a live chat. Or something like that.) But perhaps other people like it for what it is, which is fine too.
posted by Melismata at 8:04 AM on July 21, 2016
Cortex: But it doesn't seem like something that has ended up being even close to a general solution in practice even if we had sort of hoped it might be years ago when we rolled it out, so much as a bit of an extra release valve.
I'm curious about this. Ok, so the chat room didn't work out for your hoped-for purpose. But since you're in charge, how come you can't just say "no live-bloggery posts, take it to Chat"? For that matter, do people like and use Chat? If it's not being used for what you hoped for, can you just nuke it? (For the record, I don't care for Chat and prefer that these live-bloggery posts stay as they are more of a permanent record, a snapshot of the events, something that just doesn't get covered as well in a live chat. Or something like that.) But perhaps other people like it for what it is, which is fine too.
posted by Melismata at 8:04 AM on July 21, 2016
On some things, we can redirect liveblogging to Chat. In these election threads, there are too many people who want to participate in that way, and Chat turns out not to work well for huge numbers of people who want to discuss something happening fast -- it gets overwhelmed and becomes impossible to participate. It also isn't as good for going back through it later (as many people do with these threads). But it is good for mellow, drop-by chitchat at quieter times, and folks happily use it for that, and it's not causing any problems.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:15 AM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:15 AM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Can I complain here about the overwhelming number of links to tweets in these threads? It seems kinda dumb to me to quote the entire tweet in the thread, then link out to the exact same 140 characters.
I don't have a solution, however, except to urge people to avoid it.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:30 AM on July 21, 2016
I don't have a solution, however, except to urge people to avoid it.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:30 AM on July 21, 2016
As someone who often links tweets and quotes them, generally I like it because sometimes I want to go favorite/retweet the tweet from my twitter account. Do you dislike that there's so many references to twitter itself? It seems odd that the linking would offend you, most people who quote and link tweets do it in a format that makes it clear its going to the tweet in question, so why bother clicking on it if that's what you object to?
posted by DynamiteToast at 9:34 AM on July 21, 2016
posted by DynamiteToast at 9:34 AM on July 21, 2016
What's the alternative? I like seeing what the tweet says before I click through (to read replies, favorite, respond, etc).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:36 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:36 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm talking about today, when everyone was pretty much retweeting here on mefi that ddale fellow at the TX breakfast this morning, with plenty of repeats from various users.
I'm on twitter, and I read twitter there. I don't necessarily want my Mefi saturated with twitter. If something has over 10K retweets, it probably doesn't need to be linked here, too.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:37 AM on July 21, 2016
I'm on twitter, and I read twitter there. I don't necessarily want my Mefi saturated with twitter. If something has over 10K retweets, it probably doesn't need to be linked here, too.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:37 AM on July 21, 2016
I'm cool with being in the minority here. Just taking it to MeTa to complain instead of the thread.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:38 AM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:38 AM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm on twitter, and I read twitter there. I don't necessarily want my Mefi saturated with twitter. If something has over 10K retweets, it probably doesn't need to be linked here, too.
So you're more just tired of seeing people post a lot of tweets that have already shown on your twitter feed, not the linking aspect per se?
I respect your opinion, but just want to cast a vote on the other side of the issue. I'm pretty plugged in on twitter, and still didn't see the ddale tweets til they were on metafilter. Also, the tweets that get 5k+ RTs and are huge deals for moderate twitter users are still useful in an election thread for the many metafilter users who don't use twitter as much as some of the rest of us.
posted by DynamiteToast at 9:44 AM on July 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
So you're more just tired of seeing people post a lot of tweets that have already shown on your twitter feed, not the linking aspect per se?
I respect your opinion, but just want to cast a vote on the other side of the issue. I'm pretty plugged in on twitter, and still didn't see the ddale tweets til they were on metafilter. Also, the tweets that get 5k+ RTs and are huge deals for moderate twitter users are still useful in an election thread for the many metafilter users who don't use twitter as much as some of the rest of us.
posted by DynamiteToast at 9:44 AM on July 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
I am talking about things like this. (Sorry to pick on you, Merriment!) What is metafilter gaining with comments that quote a tweet verbatim, no additional commentary from the user, that links out directly to the tweet?
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:49 AM on July 21, 2016
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:49 AM on July 21, 2016
I take your point that it ends up a bit silly, but for my own part (just as a member, not a mod), I vastly prefer when people quote the tweet they're referring to, since just linking to it with mystery-meat reason like "what this guy said!" isn't useful to me. It's a short enough text snippet I'd rather have people quote the whole thing than have to jump over somewhere else to read a single sentence. But of course, it would be a bit weird to quote the whole tweet and not link. So we end up with this slightly silly compromise.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:54 AM on July 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:54 AM on July 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
Ah, ok that makes more sense. I guess they don't want to feel like they're stealing the joke, so giving attribution to the original tweeter. But yes I see your point.
posted by DynamiteToast at 9:55 AM on July 21, 2016
posted by DynamiteToast at 9:55 AM on July 21, 2016
What is metafilter gaining with comments that quote a tweet verbatim, no additional commentary from the user, that links out directly to the tweet?
It saves people from having to click the links.
I feel you, though. It made me very cranky when people were doing it during the primary threads -- they're low-content filler in big threads, which we don't need when the darn things are already difficult to load on some devices. On the other hand, as LobsterMitten says, sometimes it's nice to be able to see a tiny bit of content without clicking through.
posted by zarq at 10:00 AM on July 21, 2016
It saves people from having to click the links.
I feel you, though. It made me very cranky when people were doing it during the primary threads -- they're low-content filler in big threads, which we don't need when the darn things are already difficult to load on some devices. On the other hand, as LobsterMitten says, sometimes it's nice to be able to see a tiny bit of content without clicking through.
posted by zarq at 10:00 AM on July 21, 2016
To you, the MLM owner is not important, and the pictures of Nazis are.
It's not so much that I don't find the MLM owner important, it's that I didn't care much for the live bloggy comments around the way she spoke (among other things). I did care about the discussion about the content of her speech. I liked the comment that pointed out for example that she mentioned that her mother worked very hard and wore the same coat for 40 years and that that was perhaps not actually a good thing. But I could do without the "wow she looks drunk" comments. And even a lot of content comments were snippets without context. And I understand that other people love those comments, that's why I said that in my ideal mefi the liveblog thread would be there for those who love that, but also a normal thread.
posted by blub at 10:45 AM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's not so much that I don't find the MLM owner important, it's that I didn't care much for the live bloggy comments around the way she spoke (among other things). I did care about the discussion about the content of her speech. I liked the comment that pointed out for example that she mentioned that her mother worked very hard and wore the same coat for 40 years and that that was perhaps not actually a good thing. But I could do without the "wow she looks drunk" comments. And even a lot of content comments were snippets without context. And I understand that other people love those comments, that's why I said that in my ideal mefi the liveblog thread would be there for those who love that, but also a normal thread.
posted by blub at 10:45 AM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I just want to say thanks to everyone for hearing me out. I'm likely to employ the time-tested flag it and move on if I feel like someone's just doing it for the favorites.
Yay for adult discourse!
posted by frecklefaerie at 11:03 AM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yay for adult discourse!
posted by frecklefaerie at 11:03 AM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm talking about today, when everyone was pretty much retweeting here on mefi that ddale fellow at the TX breakfast this morning, with plenty of repeats from various users.
*raises hand*
Yeah, I resemble that comment. And your concerns are fair - if the site is just larded up with random Twitter hot takes on whatever, that's not adding anything.
The reason I was tossing alot of the Daniel Dale tweets into the thread is that he's a working journalist (Washington bureau for the Toronto Star), rather than just some random guy snarking on Twitter.
There's also this odd parallel since he was the Star's City Hall bureau chief here in Toronto during the Rob Ford mess here (Ford once physically threatened him while he was researching an article, and then proceeded to smear him as a pedophile - well, you can read the allegations, and Ford's retraction thereof here).
So anyway, he's now covering a US political phenomenon that at least has echoes of a shameful period in the political history of one Canadian city, so it's kind of on point, IMHO. And he's also bringing a non-US eye to the proceedings. When I've been dropping those in there, I don't feel like I personally have a lot to add to that particular tweet at that point - and his have been on-the-ground observations.
So anyway, that's where I was coming from with those.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:57 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
*raises hand*
Yeah, I resemble that comment. And your concerns are fair - if the site is just larded up with random Twitter hot takes on whatever, that's not adding anything.
The reason I was tossing alot of the Daniel Dale tweets into the thread is that he's a working journalist (Washington bureau for the Toronto Star), rather than just some random guy snarking on Twitter.
There's also this odd parallel since he was the Star's City Hall bureau chief here in Toronto during the Rob Ford mess here (Ford once physically threatened him while he was researching an article, and then proceeded to smear him as a pedophile - well, you can read the allegations, and Ford's retraction thereof here).
So anyway, he's now covering a US political phenomenon that at least has echoes of a shameful period in the political history of one Canadian city, so it's kind of on point, IMHO. And he's also bringing a non-US eye to the proceedings. When I've been dropping those in there, I don't feel like I personally have a lot to add to that particular tweet at that point - and his have been on-the-ground observations.
So anyway, that's where I was coming from with those.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:57 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Just wanted to pipe to say that I'm a person who really likes having what is happening in social media like Twitter posted and posted with a link. I think that it's an important aspect of elections now and as someone who has very little time right now to play around with my media or go looking for stories about it myself.
I am extra appreciative for the 'filter' of what is happening right now.
I'm not American but I do believe that what is happening right now in the US, for better or worse, is extra in the historic department and it's important to pay attention to it.
posted by Jalliah at 5:30 PM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I am extra appreciative for the 'filter' of what is happening right now.
I'm not American but I do believe that what is happening right now in the US, for better or worse, is extra in the historic department and it's important to pay attention to it.
posted by Jalliah at 5:30 PM on July 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Remember when it used to take days or weeks to get a thread to 1k comments? The day 4 thread started at 8:30 this morning and is already over 2k.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:47 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:47 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
One more request for pagination (300 posts?) on mobile devices. Anytime I rotate the screen I can feel the device heating up as it tries to render 1000+ comments.
posted by benzenedream at 9:17 PM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by benzenedream at 9:17 PM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not everybody reads Twitter. I'm glad MeFi links to the gems. It's the same reason I appreciate links to Tumblr posts, Facebook notes, YouTube videos, Vines, Atlantic articles, people's blogs, recipes, excerpts from books I haven't read, and literally anything else that ever gets posted to this web site.
I love the original commentary or whatever, but the name of this site isn't PostTakes.
posted by rorgy at 9:19 PM on July 21, 2016 [11 favorites]
I love the original commentary or whatever, but the name of this site isn't PostTakes.
posted by rorgy at 9:19 PM on July 21, 2016 [11 favorites]
What is metafilter gaining with comments that quote a tweet verbatim, no additional commentary from the user, that links out directly to the tweet?
It's just part of the cite culture here.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:24 PM on July 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's just part of the cite culture here.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:24 PM on July 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
People quoting tweets like that is really helpful to me in a fast-moving thread like the convention threads. People say interesting things on Twitter. I cannot possibly read every such tweet, and I certainly can't do it while following the thread and the convention at the same time. When people see something of interest on Twitter that's worth sharing in the thread, I appreciate that, and linking back to the tweet is just a basic part of providing attribution.
If threads turned into an endless stream of tweets, I'd be more concerned, but that's not really an issue.
posted by zachlipton at 12:19 AM on July 22, 2016 [9 favorites]
If threads turned into an endless stream of tweets, I'd be more concerned, but that's not really an issue.
posted by zachlipton at 12:19 AM on July 22, 2016 [9 favorites]
Breaking up the days in new threads worked for me. My feedback would be to not create the new thread until maybe an hour before the convention coverage begins again, rather than when the day starts. Otherwise, the thread is a mile long and full of analysis of the day before before it actually gets to the convention events.
posted by like_neon at 4:11 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by like_neon at 4:11 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
And I for one appreciate the Twitter links. I would not have found Daniel Dale otherwise.
posted by like_neon at 4:12 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by like_neon at 4:12 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I think we'll do the same basic thing for the DNC but with a much clearer expectation that folks will hold off until shortly before go-time each day to post a new thread.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:16 AM on July 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:16 AM on July 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
I was a bit skeptical but I think this worked well. Is there going to be a 'RNC: Epilogue' post now since the day 4 one is enormous?
posted by DynamiteToast at 8:24 AM on July 22, 2016
posted by DynamiteToast at 8:24 AM on July 22, 2016
This experiment worked. I'll nth that the level of chat (song choice, omg!) vs. analysis vs. links to articles/think-pieces vs. links to hot twitter takes was really good for my tastes.
And, in the relatively fast moving threads I saw very few distractions/need for moderation.
With that said, the 'slow' periods seem to be more problematic with the "prior argument cosplay". I'm sympathetic to the desire for a new post for the Democratic VP announcement, that sounds reasonable. But I hope it can be a deeper dive into the individual and not just a quick new post so everyone can start again with the comments. So, I hope it isn't rushed up there.
And, a huge thanks to the whole community for giving me a great outlet for politic digestion. You're like my great big mother community premasticating the content just for my tender gut.
posted by meinvt at 9:00 AM on July 22, 2016
And, in the relatively fast moving threads I saw very few distractions/need for moderation.
With that said, the 'slow' periods seem to be more problematic with the "prior argument cosplay". I'm sympathetic to the desire for a new post for the Democratic VP announcement, that sounds reasonable. But I hope it can be a deeper dive into the individual and not just a quick new post so everyone can start again with the comments. So, I hope it isn't rushed up there.
And, a huge thanks to the whole community for giving me a great outlet for politic digestion. You're like my great big mother community premasticating the content just for my tender gut.
posted by meinvt at 9:00 AM on July 22, 2016
Not that my opinion matters, but the liveblogging seemed to get better as the convention wore on, less commenting for commenting's sake and more actual engagement.
I've been putting together a post about the selection of vice presidents, if the mods are allowing a new post...?
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:05 AM on July 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
I've been putting together a post about the selection of vice presidents, if the mods are allowing a new post...?
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:05 AM on July 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
If there's a VP announcement today I'm not gonna try to argue for shoehorning that into the tail end of the hugest-of-the-set RNC post from yesterday, yeah. So if you've got something solid in progress, everybody had matching towels, I'm okay with you aiming to post it today once there's actually some action from the Clinton campaign.
Any "hey they say there might be a VP nom today!" gun-jumpers are going straight in the bin, though. If I had my way the whole political process would take a long weekend at this point.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:34 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Any "hey they say there might be a VP nom today!" gun-jumpers are going straight in the bin, though. If I had my way the whole political process would take a long weekend at this point.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:34 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Awkward timing, no harm no foul, but see above: let's wait until there is an announcement.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:42 AM on July 22, 2016
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:42 AM on July 22, 2016
Ha, I rushed it a bit because I thought it was okay! Oh well.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:46 AM on July 22, 2016
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:46 AM on July 22, 2016
I didn't originally catch the username of the person cortex was referring to, and thought he came up with a new B-52s-related euphemism, which I actually thought sounded pretty clever.
"if you've got something solid in progress, everybody had matching towels, all your I's are dotted and T's are crossed, etc., etc.,...."
posted by yhbc at 11:24 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
"if you've got something solid in progress, everybody had matching towels, all your I's are dotted and T's are crossed, etc., etc.,...."
posted by yhbc at 11:24 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not sure why my comment about needing a new thread got removed from the Day 4 thread just now. We have the VP pick, the thread is bogging down,what gives?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:32 PM on July 22, 2016
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:32 PM on July 22, 2016
Sorry, meant to Mefimail you -- it's just that the meta-discussion should happen over here.
If someone wants to make a post about Kaine, now that the announcement has been made, that would be fine.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:35 PM on July 22, 2016
If someone wants to make a post about Kaine, now that the announcement has been made, that would be fine.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:35 PM on July 22, 2016
I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:02 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:02 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
We had been discussing Kaine for several hours on the RNC4 thread. Splitting the discussion into a new thread has already turned into a dark whirlwind of every discussion we've had all year (and in the last 8 hours). In my opinion, the time for a new discussion was when he was nominated not hours and hundreds of comments later.
This is in no way to criticise the pink superhero's post which I applaud as both well-framed and pleasingly Hamilton themed.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:47 AM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is in no way to criticise the pink superhero's post which I applaud as both well-framed and pleasingly Hamilton themed.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:47 AM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wish you hadn't allowed a separate Kaine thread either, because it just gave every concern troll on the site the opportunity to blast their issues on the top of yet another thread.
posted by yhbc at 7:29 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by yhbc at 7:29 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Of course, 200 comments in they're still doing it, so ...
posted by yhbc at 8:43 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by yhbc at 8:43 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'd like to say I endorse this Hamilton bar for new election threads.
posted by corb at 8:46 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by corb at 8:46 AM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Something had to be done, because the RNC4 thread, at 3600 comments, legit would not load at all on my phone. I'm glad mods are allowing regular posts to work around lack of a technical fix for that problem.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:52 PM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:52 PM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Will we be doing the same thing for the DNC threads?
posted by spinifex23 at 1:27 AM on July 25, 2016
posted by spinifex23 at 1:27 AM on July 25, 2016
We're planning on the same with the DNC threads, BUT BUT BUT no posting until maybe an hour before the thing starts so we don't end up with 1,000 comments before anything actually happens. ALSO BUT BUT BUT – if people are going to be mostly just fighting with each other and repeating the exact same arguments from months of these election threads instead of discussing the event, we might not continue on with the one-a-day thing.
posted by taz (staff) at 2:03 AM on July 25, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 2:03 AM on July 25, 2016 [5 favorites]
Yeah, what taz said on both fronts. I'm hoping (like an idiot, maybe) that the folks who really need to get some pent up "no really let's have another fight about Clinton/Sanders/etc" blarg out of their system have done so in the open thread, because man this has felt like a total throwback to the roiling obnoxiousness of April and I'm not super interested in providing a venue for another rehash daily.
A post around 3:30 Eastern, shortly before the actual live/streaming event kicks off, would be ideal. cooker girl actually put together a really nice post this morning but misread the schedule and so put it up way too early, and may coordinate with someone to get that revisited by proxy; that might sort out today's post right there.
The enforced timing thing is an experiment on top of an experiment and depending on whether it's especially bumpy today we'll consider whether we need to think about finding a way to do additional communication there.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:48 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
A post around 3:30 Eastern, shortly before the actual live/streaming event kicks off, would be ideal. cooker girl actually put together a really nice post this morning but misread the schedule and so put it up way too early, and may coordinate with someone to get that revisited by proxy; that might sort out today's post right there.
The enforced timing thing is an experiment on top of an experiment and depending on whether it's especially bumpy today we'll consider whether we need to think about finding a way to do additional communication there.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:48 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yeah, what taz said on both fronts. I'm hoping (like an idiot, maybe) that the folks who really need to get some pent up "no really let's have another fight about Clinton/Sanders/etc" blarg out of their system have done so in the open thread, because man this has felt like a total throwback to the roiling obnoxiousness of April and I'm not super interested in providing a venue for another rehash daily.
Between the protests and Wikileaks and the two campaigns sniping at each other, it's bound to be part of the conversation. Hopefully people here will remain civil to each other.
posted by zarq at 7:55 AM on July 25, 2016
Between the protests and Wikileaks and the two campaigns sniping at each other, it's bound to be part of the conversation. Hopefully people here will remain civil to each other.
posted by zarq at 7:55 AM on July 25, 2016
Update: there is indeed a plan hatched for a 3:30 Eastern or so post, so if you were getting antsy about doing one yourself you are now officially off the hook and can go look for Charmanders for a bit instead.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:20 AM on July 25, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:20 AM on July 25, 2016 [5 favorites]
I want to interject here and say a huge thank you to the mods (taz and cortex specifically) for being so kind and fair when faced with my snafu. And now, seeing cortex's post from 5:03 this morning, I feel like even more of a doofus! Had I just come here first, I would have waited, and had I checked with the mods before posting, I would have known to wait.
Every single contact I've had with the mods here has been productive, calm, and thoughtful. Thanks for all you do.
posted by cooker girl at 8:20 AM on July 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
Every single contact I've had with the mods here has been productive, calm, and thoughtful. Thanks for all you do.
posted by cooker girl at 8:20 AM on July 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
So, I just wandered in here to see where the DNC Day 1 post was and managed to see the word from El Jefe Cortex about the 3:30 start time plan for the week.
Maybe put one of those dismissable banner things at the top of the front page on the Blue so that anyone landing on the site knows what's up and doesn't have to dig around looking for either a thread or an answer?
posted by briank at 12:24 PM on July 25, 2016
Maybe put one of those dismissable banner things at the top of the front page on the Blue so that anyone landing on the site knows what's up and doesn't have to dig around looking for either a thread or an answer?
posted by briank at 12:24 PM on July 25, 2016
Did they start the DNC a bit later today since we didn't have a thread up yet? I like to think so.
posted by zachlipton at 1:25 PM on July 26, 2016
posted by zachlipton at 1:25 PM on July 26, 2016
This may deserve a separate metatalk post.
But for enormous posts, I want to be able to click add to activity without having to actually enter (and load the the two thousand comments attached to) the thread.
But the only button available is the + sign, which I have repeatedly mistaken as add to activity but which in fact adds to favorites instead.
posted by Cozybee at 11:00 AM on July 27, 2016
But for enormous posts, I want to be able to click add to activity without having to actually enter (and load the the two thousand comments attached to) the thread.
But the only button available is the + sign, which I have repeatedly mistaken as add to activity but which in fact adds to favorites instead.
posted by Cozybee at 11:00 AM on July 27, 2016
I feel like that's gonna just have to be a "take the one-time hit" sort of deal; the cases where loading a thread is a burden at all are going to be rare and I'd prefer not to add more byline clutter to the front page.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:14 AM on July 27, 2016
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:14 AM on July 27, 2016
I just came back to thank the mods for their tireless work.
I appreciate the changes to the procedure a lot and think the posts including their comments are more informative now than they've been previously. Thank you.
posted by katta at 10:56 PM on July 27, 2016
I appreciate the changes to the procedure a lot and think the posts including their comments are more informative now than they've been previously. Thank you.
posted by katta at 10:56 PM on July 27, 2016
We're blessedly at the end of the road for convention threads, at least for four more years. Just wanted to thank everyone for the insight, punditry, jokes, and Hamilton references and especially the mods for their good humor and judgement in putting up with a combined total of 20,851 undeleted convention comments across eight threads.
*Takes off life jacket, hangs on designated hook in the MeFi boat shed*
posted by zachlipton at 10:54 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
*Takes off life jacket, hangs on designated hook in the MeFi boat shed*
posted by zachlipton at 10:54 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
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Note, this is a major, major exception to the "keep it in the open thread even when that thread gets impossibly long" rule, which remains in force. Doing this in these exceptional-onsite-circumstances isn't an indicator of that rule overall changing.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:44 AM on July 19, 2016 [7 favorites]