Site Update #2, 2020

August 14, 2020 11:00 AM

Hello again, Metafilter! It's time for another update on the state of the site. Comments are turned off for these, but we’re happy to hear from you via the Contact Form. If you want to discuss a particular subject with the community, you’re welcome to open a separate MetaTalk thread for it.

Documentation:

• Loup has updated the About page to make it more concise and current
• Updating the FAQs is in progress. I’m focusing on updating them in tandem with development and policy changes, and catching up on older stuff as I can.
• Next up on Loup’s documentation schedule is the "don'ts" list - this is a companion to the Guidelines which will discuss specifically what sort of content is not permitted on the site.
• Also noted for update is the prompt text on the freeform profile field, which is very old and does not read well any more.

Finances:

• The last public post on site finances was January 2020.
• Compared to that, we’re down a bit in revenue, which is expected given the economic climate.
• Our cash reserves are fine for now.
• We haven't done our annual subscription drive yet this year; we'll be planning one at the next team meeting.
• We have a number of membership- and revenue-increasing plans that we’ll be exploring later this year.
• We’ll continue to update on site finances quarterly.
• If you’d like to contribute to the site, visit this page! Also, you can still earmark your contribution for the BIPOC board honoraria by sending us a note at the contact form or email travelingthyme directly

Development:

• The slur filter has been updated, the FAQ has been updated, and the FAQ now links to the list of filtered words.
• Frimble has been working on some tools to help the mods manage privacy-related deletion requests. If you have concerns about a specific post or comment of yours in the past, please contact us and we can help you.
• Frimble has made some progress on the boring server stuff that has been backlogged, yay! (Mostly some cleanup related to the AWS migration back in April and a few minor mod-tool-related bug fixes.)
• Up next:
  • Frimble is working on expanding the anonymization function, which currently only exists for Ask Metafilter, to the rest of the site to offer a less-destructive privacy option. This is a fairly big project and will take some weeks.
  • Relatedly, the Comment Export function needs to be updated to include FanFare and needs a look in general.
• Projects that are on the list but on hold for higher-priority items:
  • Staff tag on posts
  • Revisiting the flag button design
  • Considering retiring the gender/pronouns field and replacing it with just the optional “pronouns”, to remove a lot of outdated and often offensive jokes from the original format
  • Restructuring the sidebars to highlight MetaTalks

Moderation:

• There’s a current MeTa discussing the impact of comments across the site about places or cultures by people who are only familiar in passing with those cultures. Please go read it!
• Comments like these tend not to meet the guidelines about being aware of your privilege and avoiding microaggressions. Flag these for moderator attention when you see them!

Thanks for checking in! You can read previous updates here. The next site update will be Friday, August 28th. See you then.

posted by restless_nomad (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 11:00 AM