For those coming back here after being away, what's changed recently? January 20, 2025 4:52 AM Subscribe
As much of the internet becomes, well, enshittified, there may be more people like me who remember the sense of community and collaboration here and want to come home. To avoid us making idiots of ourselves, what's changed in the past few years? Has there been any culture shifts or discussions that prodigal posters need to know about? Is Metafilter in 2025 fundamentally what it was in 2016? Can we even precis this?
(I've been trying to piece together the shift to non-profit that's going on and not quite getting my head around it!)
I've not been here for a while, and perhaps it's time to start posting or at least lurking again. The internet needs a place for good people, for discussions that don't end with 'tl:dr', for an internet that remains collaborative rather than reactive and trusts your judgement over an algorhythm. Arguing for dopamine cheapens us all, or at least it wastes my time.
Perhaps I'm not the only erstwhile poster to be feeling the same after the places where we hang out online become gradually enshittified and silted up with bots and extremely dull billionaires who don't understand why we all came there in the first place. So I thought it might be good to ask what's been happening over the past five years or so, what's changed, where is the site heading, have we seen any real cultural shifts in the manner of the post-boyzone years? Are we pro or anti ChatGPT, the Robbie Williams movie, Darwin Nunez, holidaying in Dubai, outdoor cats, or any of the other things that I see people argue about elsewhere in a way that makes me want to go and live in a blue-painted cave?
(It was wanting to read some good analysis of the Gaiman article that brought me back here, btw. And it was cathartic, and wise, and sad, and I realised how much I missed all of that.)
(I've been trying to piece together the shift to non-profit that's going on and not quite getting my head around it!)
I've not been here for a while, and perhaps it's time to start posting or at least lurking again. The internet needs a place for good people, for discussions that don't end with 'tl:dr', for an internet that remains collaborative rather than reactive and trusts your judgement over an algorhythm. Arguing for dopamine cheapens us all, or at least it wastes my time.
Perhaps I'm not the only erstwhile poster to be feeling the same after the places where we hang out online become gradually enshittified and silted up with bots and extremely dull billionaires who don't understand why we all came there in the first place. So I thought it might be good to ask what's been happening over the past five years or so, what's changed, where is the site heading, have we seen any real cultural shifts in the manner of the post-boyzone years? Are we pro or anti ChatGPT, the Robbie Williams movie, Darwin Nunez, holidaying in Dubai, outdoor cats, or any of the other things that I see people argue about elsewhere in a way that makes me want to go and live in a blue-painted cave?
(It was wanting to read some good analysis of the Gaiman article that brought me back here, btw. And it was cathartic, and wise, and sad, and I realised how much I missed all of that.)
I’ll add, any discussion of AI is absolutely unhinged. Fanfare commentary of currently airing shows is really good (looking forward to Severance!), you can say Palestine and genocide in the same sentence.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:12 AM on January 20
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:12 AM on January 20
Oh. Oh, that’s a loaded question, mippy. But first, welcome back!
You’re going to get a wide range of opinions on this but to keep it very simple, in my opinion MetaFilter is still somewhat close to what it was 9 years ago. There are still arguments, people still have strong opinions, they still go off the rails, the jokes are still funny and not funny, there’s still posts that are passionate projects, one link posts. Ask still has people as,in questions and people answering them in a thoughtful and cogent way. Fanfare is going through a renaissance.
Where it’s different from 2016 is in how the place is run, the nonprofit, the moderation and its slower, fewer people here, fewer regulars, fewer comments, fewer posts. I’ll leave that part for others to comment on.
It’s not the same as it used to be, and nor could it be. Is it better or worse? Again, that depends on who you talk to but it’s definitely different but trying to get back to what the community thinks it should be.
In my opinion it’s still a warm blue place in a cold world.
posted by ashbury at 5:18 AM on January 20 [11 favorites]
You’re going to get a wide range of opinions on this but to keep it very simple, in my opinion MetaFilter is still somewhat close to what it was 9 years ago. There are still arguments, people still have strong opinions, they still go off the rails, the jokes are still funny and not funny, there’s still posts that are passionate projects, one link posts. Ask still has people as,in questions and people answering them in a thoughtful and cogent way. Fanfare is going through a renaissance.
Where it’s different from 2016 is in how the place is run, the nonprofit, the moderation and its slower, fewer people here, fewer regulars, fewer comments, fewer posts. I’ll leave that part for others to comment on.
It’s not the same as it used to be, and nor could it be. Is it better or worse? Again, that depends on who you talk to but it’s definitely different but trying to get back to what the community thinks it should be.
In my opinion it’s still a warm blue place in a cold world.
posted by ashbury at 5:18 AM on January 20 [11 favorites]
MisantropicPainforest - when Twitter went X and I started to feel weirdly lonely without my pals to chat nonsense to all day, I started posting on Reddit, thinking all is good as long as you stick to the right subs and never ever venture into anything about politics/feminism etc and I was getting into football so wanted to follow discussion on my team. I was in the process of buying a house so I was in a lot of finance/housing subs, and my god were there lots of inane answers there, especially regarding people who were struggling to find affordable rentals, social housing tenants, people who weren't looking to FIRE or gear their entire lives around maximising as much money as possible at the expense of everything else, etc. (Made me wish that AskMe worked for that kind of discussion for non-US folk.) Eventually I realised I was just using it as a dopamine machine, arguing with terrible people because it was easier than stressing out about everything else going on to do with buying a house etc.
The slower pace this site now has might not be a bad thing. I found I was doomscrolling, the equivalent of buying a pack of value tortilla chips and eating them all even though I knew I'd had enough after the first couple, because sure now the bag's open why not finish them? Maybe slower is good. At some point I stopped checking back here and I don't know why that was. Maybe because it was slower, and that didn't suit me when I was looking to be perma-distracted.
posted by mippy at 5:39 AM on January 20 [6 favorites]
The slower pace this site now has might not be a bad thing. I found I was doomscrolling, the equivalent of buying a pack of value tortilla chips and eating them all even though I knew I'd had enough after the first couple, because sure now the bag's open why not finish them? Maybe slower is good. At some point I stopped checking back here and I don't know why that was. Maybe because it was slower, and that didn't suit me when I was looking to be perma-distracted.
posted by mippy at 5:39 AM on January 20 [6 favorites]
Well first, welcome back!
I think on the down side, people have left and I personally feel the lack occasionally of people who would chime in on their areas of expertise. Please do, if this describes you. :) I feel this most in Ask. Ask allows a bit more leeway around chatfilter type questions.
Some of the rules about post/ask frequency have been lifted. Certain types of derails (bringing US politics into threads about news internal to other countries) are deleted fairly freely. Lots of structural changes happening and ahead. I think the site feels a bit more bootstrapped by its members and what I mean by that is both financially but also that posts and comments are understood as contributions so there's a little less sniping about whether something is worthy and a little more "well if you want to see a quality post, make one."
posted by warriorqueen at 6:54 AM on January 20 [6 favorites]
I think on the down side, people have left and I personally feel the lack occasionally of people who would chime in on their areas of expertise. Please do, if this describes you. :) I feel this most in Ask. Ask allows a bit more leeway around chatfilter type questions.
Some of the rules about post/ask frequency have been lifted. Certain types of derails (bringing US politics into threads about news internal to other countries) are deleted fairly freely. Lots of structural changes happening and ahead. I think the site feels a bit more bootstrapped by its members and what I mean by that is both financially but also that posts and comments are understood as contributions so there's a little less sniping about whether something is worthy and a little more "well if you want to see a quality post, make one."
posted by warriorqueen at 6:54 AM on January 20 [6 favorites]
Welcome back Mippy!
In AskMe I would say it’s less common to get the really wild social etiquette questions with whacky reactive responses, but when they do happen it’s kind of hilarious. For the most part that kind of energy has offloaded to AITA and relevant subreddits or elsewhere, I think. When they happen here, people seem to be a bit more considered about things like cultural context and money based pressures. But also there is almost no patience for shitty men, which is fun.
There are also a lot fewer “can someone help me find this story I read as a kid?” questions, which is sad for me because those usually lead to some good reading. Questions about recommendations in general seem to come up less often but when they do they are extremely specific.
The preponderance of people incapable of fully reading a question and incorporating any mentioned caveats into their answers remains large. I am guilty of this myself, as are we all, but I remain annoyed at other people who do this at about the same rate as I always have.
Over on the blue, if there is a post about somewhere called WA, it’s Western Australia, and not the US state of Washington, and it’s usually a post about a cool animal.
Scientific discussions don’t go as far ranging or as detailed as they used to, sadly. If you know any nerds with really niche areas of expertise you should invite them.
There are free threads now, which I generally avoid, but people seem to like them and I find them occasionally nice for doom scrolling cool down.
There are some extremely angry people in Metatalk who may or may not be justified in their anger but I truly cannot tell either way and it’s not for me to decide, either.
Niceness is definitely more prioritized than a decade ago, but you can still curse and be bitter about things. You just should qualify your bitterness with being about something outside of the site, and not users here. People are quick to perceive aggression, which is understandable considering the wider internet.
A handful of really awesome and prolific mefites have buttoned and even asked for their entire site history to be deleted, including their posts and questions. You will occasionally find your older stuff has been memory holed. It sucks and I’m still sad about it. A good chunk of the energy is just missing, imo. But they had reasons that I must respect.
There are fewer inside baseball terms being thrown around as often now. People try to be more explanatory or simple in their language, and be responsive if someone has a question. It’s a little less goofy but I’ll take that over creating a feeling of chilling exclusivity.
posted by Mizu at 7:08 AM on January 20 [14 favorites]
In AskMe I would say it’s less common to get the really wild social etiquette questions with whacky reactive responses, but when they do happen it’s kind of hilarious. For the most part that kind of energy has offloaded to AITA and relevant subreddits or elsewhere, I think. When they happen here, people seem to be a bit more considered about things like cultural context and money based pressures. But also there is almost no patience for shitty men, which is fun.
There are also a lot fewer “can someone help me find this story I read as a kid?” questions, which is sad for me because those usually lead to some good reading. Questions about recommendations in general seem to come up less often but when they do they are extremely specific.
The preponderance of people incapable of fully reading a question and incorporating any mentioned caveats into their answers remains large. I am guilty of this myself, as are we all, but I remain annoyed at other people who do this at about the same rate as I always have.
Over on the blue, if there is a post about somewhere called WA, it’s Western Australia, and not the US state of Washington, and it’s usually a post about a cool animal.
Scientific discussions don’t go as far ranging or as detailed as they used to, sadly. If you know any nerds with really niche areas of expertise you should invite them.
There are free threads now, which I generally avoid, but people seem to like them and I find them occasionally nice for doom scrolling cool down.
There are some extremely angry people in Metatalk who may or may not be justified in their anger but I truly cannot tell either way and it’s not for me to decide, either.
Niceness is definitely more prioritized than a decade ago, but you can still curse and be bitter about things. You just should qualify your bitterness with being about something outside of the site, and not users here. People are quick to perceive aggression, which is understandable considering the wider internet.
A handful of really awesome and prolific mefites have buttoned and even asked for their entire site history to be deleted, including their posts and questions. You will occasionally find your older stuff has been memory holed. It sucks and I’m still sad about it. A good chunk of the energy is just missing, imo. But they had reasons that I must respect.
There are fewer inside baseball terms being thrown around as often now. People try to be more explanatory or simple in their language, and be responsive if someone has a question. It’s a little less goofy but I’ll take that over creating a feeling of chilling exclusivity.
posted by Mizu at 7:08 AM on January 20 [14 favorites]
People don’t care like they used to about posted stuff being old (we ourselves are old now).
posted by Phanx at 7:35 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]
posted by Phanx at 7:35 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]
MetaFilter has become a lot more US politics-focused with an activist bent.
I don't find it particularly worthwhile to join discussions about either AI or covid here. Your mileage may vary.
There are a lot more efforts around pure community building, like the weekly free threads for fun chatty discussion, and check-in threads on MeTa when there's a natural disaster or other frightening event.
A lot of trans users and POC users - as well as many of the most prolific posters of 10ish years ago - have left the site feeling that the culture and moderation wasn't welcoming. But not all.
IRL went on hiatus for covid and never really came back.
A larger percentage of the mods are professional moderators who don't otherwise participate in MeFi posts and comments. But not all. The transition to nonprofit has been part of a larger discussion about whether the moderation and overall direction of MeFi should be a community effort. This has been a pretty rocky and contentious process. MeTa comments on a whole are extremely critical of the moderation in ways that I think started to show up 10 years ago but have intensified. I think it's helpful to remember that only a small percentage of users comment frequently in MeTa.
posted by capricorn at 8:09 AM on January 20 [6 favorites]
I don't find it particularly worthwhile to join discussions about either AI or covid here. Your mileage may vary.
There are a lot more efforts around pure community building, like the weekly free threads for fun chatty discussion, and check-in threads on MeTa when there's a natural disaster or other frightening event.
A lot of trans users and POC users - as well as many of the most prolific posters of 10ish years ago - have left the site feeling that the culture and moderation wasn't welcoming. But not all.
IRL went on hiatus for covid and never really came back.
A larger percentage of the mods are professional moderators who don't otherwise participate in MeFi posts and comments. But not all. The transition to nonprofit has been part of a larger discussion about whether the moderation and overall direction of MeFi should be a community effort. This has been a pretty rocky and contentious process. MeTa comments on a whole are extremely critical of the moderation in ways that I think started to show up 10 years ago but have intensified. I think it's helpful to remember that only a small percentage of users comment frequently in MeTa.
posted by capricorn at 8:09 AM on January 20 [6 favorites]
12 years ago, when I last read the site regularly, the gray was a reliable hotbed of intra-user callouts and animosity. By comparison, it’s cucumber sandwiches and lace doilies now.
And of course the site was lot busier then.
posted by Lemkin at 8:52 AM on January 20 [2 favorites]
And of course the site was lot busier then.
posted by Lemkin at 8:52 AM on January 20 [2 favorites]
"A lot of trans users and POC users - as well as many of the most prolific posters of 10ish years ago - have left the site feeling that the culture and moderation wasn't welcoming. But not all."
That surprises me, this space always felt more welcoming and more willing to listen than elsewhere on the internet. But it's a low bar, I know.
I ask about AI because I think it's almost entirely bollocks, and I don't want to be here if AI posting is now the thing on this site (especially AskMe) as it has become on others, or people are constantly telling you to use ChatGPT, or citing ChatGPT as a source. Not for me, ta.
posted by mippy at 8:53 AM on January 20 [3 favorites]
That surprises me, this space always felt more welcoming and more willing to listen than elsewhere on the internet. But it's a low bar, I know.
I ask about AI because I think it's almost entirely bollocks, and I don't want to be here if AI posting is now the thing on this site (especially AskMe) as it has become on others, or people are constantly telling you to use ChatGPT, or citing ChatGPT as a source. Not for me, ta.
posted by mippy at 8:53 AM on January 20 [3 favorites]
Mod note: Hi mippy, welcome back! Not on shift, just poking my head in the door to note that AI comments in general or answers in Ask are discouraged and should be flagged. In most cases they’ll be removed.
Overall the transition to a non-profit and rewritten site will produce a lot of positive changes. It’ll be a bumpy road at times no doubt, but it’ll be all good in the end.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 9:00 AM on January 20 [7 favorites]
Overall the transition to a non-profit and rewritten site will produce a lot of positive changes. It’ll be a bumpy road at times no doubt, but it’ll be all good in the end.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 9:00 AM on January 20 [7 favorites]
Welcome back!
We updated the guidelines and content policy. And some policy has shifted -- for instance, it's now far more okay to make a front page post linking to something made by a friend of yours. (This comes up for me especially because, in the last few years, I've made something like 200 posts linking to short science fiction and fantasy stories, and I hang out in genre circles and thus know a bunch of people who write sf/f.)
There's an advisory board that works to help MeFi be a more welcoming place for nonwhite people and people from all over the world (more on what they do; I was on that board for several years).
You're less likely to see front page posts that are just a link to a Guardian or New York Times piece, partly because MeFi as a whole is pretty unhappy with those newspapers' coverage of and stances on trans rights.
And here is a statistics overview to help you understand changes in site activity/usage over the past several years, thanks to user Klipspringer.
posted by brainwane at 9:50 AM on January 20 [10 favorites]
We updated the guidelines and content policy. And some policy has shifted -- for instance, it's now far more okay to make a front page post linking to something made by a friend of yours. (This comes up for me especially because, in the last few years, I've made something like 200 posts linking to short science fiction and fantasy stories, and I hang out in genre circles and thus know a bunch of people who write sf/f.)
There's an advisory board that works to help MeFi be a more welcoming place for nonwhite people and people from all over the world (more on what they do; I was on that board for several years).
You're less likely to see front page posts that are just a link to a Guardian or New York Times piece, partly because MeFi as a whole is pretty unhappy with those newspapers' coverage of and stances on trans rights.
And here is a statistics overview to help you understand changes in site activity/usage over the past several years, thanks to user Klipspringer.
posted by brainwane at 9:50 AM on January 20 [10 favorites]
There feels like a big culture of grudge holding among a subset of regulars, based on one another's prior contributions to threads about COVID and Gaza and AI and site structure and moderation decisions and on and on. Filters into Ask threads, even, which feels new to me.
Otherwise, it's just smaller: fewer regular users, fewer posts, fewer comments, fewer answers, a wider spectrum of topics that don't get useful engagement or enlightening info around here. But by and large Ask still works for what its purpose seems to be, as does the blue, though less so. You can still eat this (but you might die of botulism).
A positive aspect of the smaller site, I guess, is that you can come in and make a bigger change in site culture through your own efforts. Someone comes in and posts female-fronted metal every week, which I probably wouldn't have noticed on the blue 10 years ago, but I notice it now, and kudos to that person for helping the site.
posted by kensington314 at 10:14 AM on January 20 [9 favorites]
Otherwise, it's just smaller: fewer regular users, fewer posts, fewer comments, fewer answers, a wider spectrum of topics that don't get useful engagement or enlightening info around here. But by and large Ask still works for what its purpose seems to be, as does the blue, though less so. You can still eat this (but you might die of botulism).
A positive aspect of the smaller site, I guess, is that you can come in and make a bigger change in site culture through your own efforts. Someone comes in and posts female-fronted metal every week, which I probably wouldn't have noticed on the blue 10 years ago, but I notice it now, and kudos to that person for helping the site.
posted by kensington314 at 10:14 AM on January 20 [9 favorites]
I don't want to be here if AI posting is now the thing on this site (especially AskMe) as it has become on others, or people are constantly telling you to use ChatGPT, or citing ChatGPT as a source. Not for me, ta.
Others have talked about the ways this place has changed since you've been back, but to this: AI posting is not a thing here, culturally. Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry occasionally, you may see some ChatGPT-derived answers to questions in Ask, that people post as kind of a supplement to their actual answer. But, those are very few, very far between, clearly labeled as such by the person that does them, and in no way a majority or in any way preferred to the human experience-driven answers that make Ask, at least, such a valuable resource for me and keep me around as long as I've been around.
posted by pdb at 10:53 AM on January 20 [3 favorites]
Others have talked about the ways this place has changed since you've been back, but to this: AI posting is not a thing here, culturally. Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry occasionally, you may see some ChatGPT-derived answers to questions in Ask, that people post as kind of a supplement to their actual answer. But, those are very few, very far between, clearly labeled as such by the person that does them, and in no way a majority or in any way preferred to the human experience-driven answers that make Ask, at least, such a valuable resource for me and keep me around as long as I've been around.
posted by pdb at 10:53 AM on January 20 [3 favorites]
I'm probably in the minority here, but I prefer when my spaces/niches/interests become or stay unpopular. I en joy the quieter, less crowded MeFi.
Also, welcome back mippy!
posted by signal at 12:52 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
Also, welcome back mippy!
posted by signal at 12:52 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
Heya mippy, welcome back. Lots of good comments upthread.
All things politics, Trump, and related tend to get a lot of attention. A super-busy politics day means many other discussions can be slow or quiet. Likewise, the grar from the politics threads can spread sometimes (see the bit above about grudges).
Enough people became dissatisfied enough with MetaFilter, yet still liked aspects of the site culture and/or want to talk/kvetch about the site, that there's now a subreddit named MetaFilterMeta. It gets busy when a thread goes kablooie here, or when there are significant discussions about site changes on MetaTalk. It's a little gruffer, but it can be helpful when threads, comments, etc. have been deleted (silently or otherwise) and you want to know what happened.
posted by cupcakeninja at 2:45 PM on January 20
All things politics, Trump, and related tend to get a lot of attention. A super-busy politics day means many other discussions can be slow or quiet. Likewise, the grar from the politics threads can spread sometimes (see the bit above about grudges).
Enough people became dissatisfied enough with MetaFilter, yet still liked aspects of the site culture and/or want to talk/kvetch about the site, that there's now a subreddit named MetaFilterMeta. It gets busy when a thread goes kablooie here, or when there are significant discussions about site changes on MetaTalk. It's a little gruffer, but it can be helpful when threads, comments, etc. have been deleted (silently or otherwise) and you want to know what happened.
posted by cupcakeninja at 2:45 PM on January 20
I hadn't seen that subreddit. It's wild that people go on a separate site to complain about metafilter. Some seem to have closed their MeFi account years ago.
Talk about living rent-free in people's heads…
posted by signal at 3:34 PM on January 20 [8 favorites]
Talk about living rent-free in people's heads…
posted by signal at 3:34 PM on January 20 [8 favorites]
I suggest askme but fanfare is quite good.
how things have changed.
Rule #1: Enjoy your life on metafilter
Rule #2: Be happy.
Rule #3: Work hard.
Rule #4: try to answer a question if asked..
Rule #5: discuss the past.
Rule #6: Do not discuss others private lives.
Rule #7: Do not try to leave.
with time, older things tend to become new again and I see that as an undercurrent for best of the web theme, that's not quite the word, ethos perhaps, nonetheless, welcome back.
posted by clavdivs at 6:46 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
how things have changed.
Rule #1: Enjoy your life on metafilter
Rule #2: Be happy.
Rule #3: Work hard.
Rule #4: try to answer a question if asked..
Rule #5: discuss the past.
Rule #6: Do not discuss others private lives.
Rule #7: Do not try to leave.
with time, older things tend to become new again and I see that as an undercurrent for best of the web theme, that's not quite the word, ethos perhaps, nonetheless, welcome back.
posted by clavdivs at 6:46 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
I hadn't seen that subreddit. It's wild that people go on a separate site to complain about metafilter
Me neither.
Seeing someone make an in-joke about my deleted Ask MeFi question was a surreal experience.
posted by Lemkin at 9:25 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
Me neither.
Seeing someone make an in-joke about my deleted Ask MeFi question was a surreal experience.
posted by Lemkin at 9:25 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
I ask about AI because I think it's almost entirely bollocks, and I don't want to be here if AI posting is now the thing on this site (especially AskMe) as it has become on others, or people are constantly telling you to use ChatGPT, or citing ChatGPT as a source. Not for me, ta.
Hey there, mippy. I read the comments above about AI threads being "unhinged" as meaning that they're full of people who hate what generative AI is doing to the creative industries, online search and the web in general, and say so. I hate all of that myself, plus what it's doing to my other interests of education, politics/government and the environment, so my hinge is well and truly un-. (Maybe I've misread those comments above; they're ambiguous.)
You aren't at risk of seeing many recommendations to use ChatGPT or image generators here nowadays, at least on the blue.
posted by rory at 4:41 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
Hey there, mippy. I read the comments above about AI threads being "unhinged" as meaning that they're full of people who hate what generative AI is doing to the creative industries, online search and the web in general, and say so. I hate all of that myself, plus what it's doing to my other interests of education, politics/government and the environment, so my hinge is well and truly un-. (Maybe I've misread those comments above; they're ambiguous.)
You aren't at risk of seeing many recommendations to use ChatGPT or image generators here nowadays, at least on the blue.
posted by rory at 4:41 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
I absolutely love to read the MetaFilterMeta subreddit. Long may they continue.
The majority of the folks there seem like fairly normal MeFites who just want to have a sidebar now and again about this place, over on their other internet place. The stuff they say is mostly like we'd say in MeTa anyway, or maybe in MeMails to a friend.
Yeah, there's a fair bit of harsher snark here and there, but generally it's only a level or so different than here, so it's a valuable pressure release as far as I'm concerned.
While there is a small percentage of stuff over there that is snottier, more poop-flinging, honestly, that doesn't bother me either. If you read more than a few lines of that slice of it, you see pretty quickly that it's the very least self-aware people being unintentionally hilarious. They attempt to puncture the self-important, navel-gazing drama of this place by... hovering on minute stuff to find drama and then layer it with the very important personal analysis that only they can offer. Weird people making a game of being uncharitable is all.
Running across this is a bit like being a band nerd, stumbling out of the cafeteria only to find even bigger nerds gathered around a dumpster muttering, "Those marching band people think they're so cool." I mean, I understand if that gives you a real caveman must pull their underwear over their heads reaction, but take a deep breath and just leave those poor bastards alone.
Anyway, those are the exception and by volume they're mostly normal, okay people, seems like.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:25 AM on January 21 [23 favorites]
The majority of the folks there seem like fairly normal MeFites who just want to have a sidebar now and again about this place, over on their other internet place. The stuff they say is mostly like we'd say in MeTa anyway, or maybe in MeMails to a friend.
Yeah, there's a fair bit of harsher snark here and there, but generally it's only a level or so different than here, so it's a valuable pressure release as far as I'm concerned.
While there is a small percentage of stuff over there that is snottier, more poop-flinging, honestly, that doesn't bother me either. If you read more than a few lines of that slice of it, you see pretty quickly that it's the very least self-aware people being unintentionally hilarious. They attempt to puncture the self-important, navel-gazing drama of this place by... hovering on minute stuff to find drama and then layer it with the very important personal analysis that only they can offer. Weird people making a game of being uncharitable is all.
Running across this is a bit like being a band nerd, stumbling out of the cafeteria only to find even bigger nerds gathered around a dumpster muttering, "Those marching band people think they're so cool." I mean, I understand if that gives you a real caveman must pull their underwear over their heads reaction, but take a deep breath and just leave those poor bastards alone.
Anyway, those are the exception and by volume they're mostly normal, okay people, seems like.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:25 AM on January 21 [23 favorites]
Running across this is a bit like being a band nerd, stumbling out of the cafeteria only to find even bigger nerds gathered around a dumpster muttering, "Those marching band people think they're so cool."
I’m dumbstruck by how perfectly expressed this is.
posted by Lemkin at 6:34 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
I’m dumbstruck by how perfectly expressed this is.
posted by Lemkin at 6:34 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
Hiya again!
I would say that some kinds of posts will draw out the best of MeFi: thoughtful replies, empathy, humor, helpful Ask answers, interesting insider knowledge. Other posts will bring down a tornado of screeching comments about....whatever that person's particular hobbyhorse is. For example, I would venture that the permission to have I/P posts was a step forward, while the inability to discuss, say, Joe Biden without a stream of invective was a step back.
You may find that many old inside jokes (not insidejokist) have died out: few threads devolve into exchanges of pancake recipes, and no one is encouraged to vote for #1 Quidnunc Kid. (Don't forget to vote #1 quidnunc kid!)
It feels bad to write this, but some people here have seething anger just under the surface, and it doesn't take much for them to erupt into a thread and drown out anyone who disagrees with them, or who they think might disagree. I find myself closing threads way more often than I used to, whether I agree with them or not.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:37 AM on January 21 [8 favorites]
I would say that some kinds of posts will draw out the best of MeFi: thoughtful replies, empathy, humor, helpful Ask answers, interesting insider knowledge. Other posts will bring down a tornado of screeching comments about....whatever that person's particular hobbyhorse is. For example, I would venture that the permission to have I/P posts was a step forward, while the inability to discuss, say, Joe Biden without a stream of invective was a step back.
You may find that many old inside jokes (not insidejokist) have died out: few threads devolve into exchanges of pancake recipes, and no one is encouraged to vote for #1 Quidnunc Kid. (Don't forget to vote #1 quidnunc kid!)
It feels bad to write this, but some people here have seething anger just under the surface, and it doesn't take much for them to erupt into a thread and drown out anyone who disagrees with them, or who they think might disagree. I find myself closing threads way more often than I used to, whether I agree with them or not.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:37 AM on January 21 [8 favorites]
Hey there, mippy. I read the comments above about AI threads being "unhinged" as meaning that they're full of people who hate what generative AI is doing to the creative industries
I agree with all those concerns, but AI threads on metafilter are full of lots of ignorance. People have asserted that you should never use a LLM because then they use your data for training (which is true as saying that you should never use an internet search since they use that info, sometimes is true, sometimes its not, and is not a property of a LLM.
I've said I've used GenAI all the time at work and received pushback saying that I wasn't actually being more productive, that anything it produces is crap, etc.
There's no nuance here, that's fine, but on metafilter AI=LLMs=ChatGPT and thats where it starts and ends.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 7:06 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]
I agree with all those concerns, but AI threads on metafilter are full of lots of ignorance. People have asserted that you should never use a LLM because then they use your data for training (which is true as saying that you should never use an internet search since they use that info, sometimes is true, sometimes its not, and is not a property of a LLM.
I've said I've used GenAI all the time at work and received pushback saying that I wasn't actually being more productive, that anything it produces is crap, etc.
There's no nuance here, that's fine, but on metafilter AI=LLMs=ChatGPT and thats where it starts and ends.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 7:06 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]
I’ll just say that a lot of the criticism of AI seems based on its current technical shortcomings - which it seems foolhardy to assume will never be remedied.
posted by Lemkin at 7:35 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
posted by Lemkin at 7:35 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
The thing about the AI stuff is people looking to destroy the opposing viewpoint.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:55 AM on January 21
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:55 AM on January 21
I mean, I kinda loathe AI, though I have made peace with it to some extent as my work pushes it.
But I'm not popping up to try and like smite people who like it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:10 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
But I'm not popping up to try and like smite people who like it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:10 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
But I'm not popping up to try and like smite people who like it.
Me neither, I'm not much of a smiter. I haven't contributed at length to those threads for about six months. Reached the point where I'd figured out where I stood on it, and that was enough.
I’ll just say that a lot of the criticism of AI seems based on its current technical shortcomings - which it seems foolhardy to assume will never be remedied.
Welll... as someone in a university role where I've encountered multiple examples of student assignments that have clearly used genAI (as in, the references are all fake, so you've got to figure at least some of the text is too), I don't think the basic problem my colleagues and I have with it is that it isn't good enough at producing convincing text citing real sources. I would apply the same criticism to academics using genAI to produce journal submissions, too. More photorealistic images of giant-testicled rats aren't going to cut it.
posted by rory at 9:06 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Me neither, I'm not much of a smiter. I haven't contributed at length to those threads for about six months. Reached the point where I'd figured out where I stood on it, and that was enough.
I’ll just say that a lot of the criticism of AI seems based on its current technical shortcomings - which it seems foolhardy to assume will never be remedied.
Welll... as someone in a university role where I've encountered multiple examples of student assignments that have clearly used genAI (as in, the references are all fake, so you've got to figure at least some of the text is too), I don't think the basic problem my colleagues and I have with it is that it isn't good enough at producing convincing text citing real sources. I would apply the same criticism to academics using genAI to produce journal submissions, too. More photorealistic images of giant-testicled rats aren't going to cut it.
posted by rory at 9:06 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
I’ll just say that a lot of the criticism of AI seems based on its current technical shortcomings..
Sure, because many of its promoters ignore those shortcomings, and talk about AI like it's already perfect.
As someone in .edu IT with young-adult kids, I view AI with skepticism, mostly because of their lack of skepticism. Can students write grade-level essays with it? Sure. Are those full of weird hallucinations? Sometimes. Did the kids actually spend time reading and mastering the material? Probably not.
That's on the adults in the room to manage, but it's hard for them to do over the din of the media repeating the claims of software companies that AI is amaaaaaazing, while ignoring its shortfalls.
I was a scifi kid and I can't wait until LLMs can be trained on good data sets, and fenced in to limited action domains, and run in my house so that I can trust them with my personal data. But I don't think that they're there yet, and people need to be honest about it.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:15 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
Sure, because many of its promoters ignore those shortcomings, and talk about AI like it's already perfect.
As someone in .edu IT with young-adult kids, I view AI with skepticism, mostly because of their lack of skepticism. Can students write grade-level essays with it? Sure. Are those full of weird hallucinations? Sometimes. Did the kids actually spend time reading and mastering the material? Probably not.
That's on the adults in the room to manage, but it's hard for them to do over the din of the media repeating the claims of software companies that AI is amaaaaaazing, while ignoring its shortfalls.
I was a scifi kid and I can't wait until LLMs can be trained on good data sets, and fenced in to limited action domains, and run in my house so that I can trust them with my personal data. But I don't think that they're there yet, and people need to be honest about it.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:15 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
More photorealistic images of giant-testicled rats aren't going to cut it
Speak for yourself.
posted by Lemkin at 9:19 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Speak for yourself.
posted by Lemkin at 9:19 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Welcome back mippy!
Like others here I'm finding more people ignoring question details, and putting in from their viewpoint rather than what was asked.
An increase in what I call American secular puritanism, when answerers call out the premise of a question on American moral/ethical viewpoints when that is not germane to question. I think the puritanism is related to the anger wenestvedt refers to.
Too much editorialising on the blue (sometimes very subtle), and not enough filtering.
Too much 'AI'. I'd love a Pauline (personal ai in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy) but it is not remotely there yet.
Several newer members (esp. since Covid / Russian and Israel wars, and visible global evangelicalism) who are definitely framing these topics rather than filtering - this is happening on many other forums too.
That said Metafilter is still the best question site on the web, and an early heads up on new trends.
posted by unearthed at 10:19 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Like others here I'm finding more people ignoring question details, and putting in from their viewpoint rather than what was asked.
An increase in what I call American secular puritanism, when answerers call out the premise of a question on American moral/ethical viewpoints when that is not germane to question. I think the puritanism is related to the anger wenestvedt refers to.
Too much editorialising on the blue (sometimes very subtle), and not enough filtering.
Too much 'AI'. I'd love a Pauline (personal ai in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy) but it is not remotely there yet.
Several newer members (esp. since Covid / Russian and Israel wars, and visible global evangelicalism) who are definitely framing these topics rather than filtering - this is happening on many other forums too.
That said Metafilter is still the best question site on the web, and an early heads up on new trends.
posted by unearthed at 10:19 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
I've never buttoned but the thing that has made me go on extended absences here is the known tendency on this site to assume the worst from fellow MeFites, even when doing so is nonsensical and ridiculous.
It's another corruption of "intent doesn't matter." Since intent doesn't matter, folks will decide functionally you were coming from a place of the worst imaginable intent when you said the thing I did not like, even if the very context of this web site would indicate that's fantastically unlikely.
I could name specific examples (and maybe I will need to if this isn't clear), but my guess is it happens often enough you can probably think of a few of your own.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:41 AM on January 21 [11 favorites]
It's another corruption of "intent doesn't matter." Since intent doesn't matter, folks will decide functionally you were coming from a place of the worst imaginable intent when you said the thing I did not like, even if the very context of this web site would indicate that's fantastically unlikely.
I could name specific examples (and maybe I will need to if this isn't clear), but my guess is it happens often enough you can probably think of a few of your own.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:41 AM on January 21 [11 favorites]
regarding machine learning--which I still think is a better name than "AI"--the problem is that the field is very large and the discussion space uses terminology so coarsely that there's a ton of room for people talking past one another right as generative LLMs driven by ChatGPT or Copilot or whatever the hell else are getting pushed on everyone whether they want it or not... driving massive and extremely valid frustration for everyone. The sloppy terminology obfuscated by this aggressive marketing and pushing makes everything so much worse!
I've been working with large-scale pose estimation machine learning models for the last couple of years now to mark the position of animal bodies in recorded video data with an eye towards automating and streamlining behavioral analysis to pick up on things that might or might not get caught by traditional behavior analysis methods (most of which involve humans watching videos and marking things down on cards). It's a huge opportunity as a research technique in both behavior and neuroscience if you can make it work, because it has the potential to make behavioral analysis much easier, faster, and cheaper....
if you can make it work. and if you're working on it with a deep understanding of behavior to start with (not just relying on unsupervised cluster assignments like some people I will not name), it's a technique that has a lot of potential. But it's such a different beast to something like Chat GPT that it becomes very difficult to talk about without hitting all the extremely valid frustrations that come alongside the desperate corporate attempt to make us all love and find LLMs useful and necessary and all-seeing, and when people are feeling reflexively crabby, that can make conversation a bit difficult.
posted by sciatrix at 10:49 AM on January 21 [10 favorites]
I've been working with large-scale pose estimation machine learning models for the last couple of years now to mark the position of animal bodies in recorded video data with an eye towards automating and streamlining behavioral analysis to pick up on things that might or might not get caught by traditional behavior analysis methods (most of which involve humans watching videos and marking things down on cards). It's a huge opportunity as a research technique in both behavior and neuroscience if you can make it work, because it has the potential to make behavioral analysis much easier, faster, and cheaper....
if you can make it work. and if you're working on it with a deep understanding of behavior to start with (not just relying on unsupervised cluster assignments like some people I will not name), it's a technique that has a lot of potential. But it's such a different beast to something like Chat GPT that it becomes very difficult to talk about without hitting all the extremely valid frustrations that come alongside the desperate corporate attempt to make us all love and find LLMs useful and necessary and all-seeing, and when people are feeling reflexively crabby, that can make conversation a bit difficult.
posted by sciatrix at 10:49 AM on January 21 [10 favorites]
Like others here I'm finding more people ignoring question details, and putting in from their viewpoint rather than what was asked.
We're even seeing that in this very thread, where mippy's clarifying comment was "I ask about AI because I think it's almost entirely bollocks, and I don't want to be here if AI posting is now the thing on this site (especially AskMe) as it has become on others, or people are constantly telling you to use ChatGPT, or citing ChatGPT as a source."
And now in this thread there's a discussion about AI's overall worth, the value of AI to certain groups of people, AI threads on Metafilter, etc and so on.
All mippy wanted to know was if AI was being used to generate or source answers on AskMeFi these days. So yeah, that's what MeFi is now, kinda? Best of intent from all, I'm sure, but here we are. Is it answering the question as asked? Nope! Is that a problem? I'm not sure.
posted by pdb at 10:52 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
We're even seeing that in this very thread, where mippy's clarifying comment was "I ask about AI because I think it's almost entirely bollocks, and I don't want to be here if AI posting is now the thing on this site (especially AskMe) as it has become on others, or people are constantly telling you to use ChatGPT, or citing ChatGPT as a source."
And now in this thread there's a discussion about AI's overall worth, the value of AI to certain groups of people, AI threads on Metafilter, etc and so on.
All mippy wanted to know was if AI was being used to generate or source answers on AskMeFi these days. So yeah, that's what MeFi is now, kinda? Best of intent from all, I'm sure, but here we are. Is it answering the question as asked? Nope! Is that a problem? I'm not sure.
posted by pdb at 10:52 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
My guess is unearthed's bit about "people ignoring question details" was about Ask, where people often process/notice about 10% less of each sentence past the first, until finally their answers ignore much/most of what the Asker said they were seeking.
I was inclined to get irritated with this, but I realized after a recent Ask I made didn't go great that you can't fight human nature on that. Instead, maybe just include less background color, as people use those details to answer peripherally with their opinions/experience/expertise, even if you've mentioned the actual info you're looking for is something else entirely.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:23 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
I was inclined to get irritated with this, but I realized after a recent Ask I made didn't go great that you can't fight human nature on that. Instead, maybe just include less background color, as people use those details to answer peripherally with their opinions/experience/expertise, even if you've mentioned the actual info you're looking for is something else entirely.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:23 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
AI responses, especially on Ask, are strongly frowned upon, and I think very few people would prefer otherwise. Low-effort generative content is also unpopular in principle, though I’ve seen some things that seemed pretty low-hanging fruit to me slip though because “50s style AI song cover” is still enough of a novelty in principle and impressive enough in sounding like a song now that people don’t notice how lazy most of them are in execution, I guess.
Discussion of AI, I have to agree with MisanthropicPainforest that there’s an issue of some people being so polarized against it that they’ll just show up to snark whenever it’s mentioned, making it a less than ideal venue if you actually want to talk about how it works or what works versus what doesn’t.
posted by atoxyl at 11:38 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Discussion of AI, I have to agree with MisanthropicPainforest that there’s an issue of some people being so polarized against it that they’ll just show up to snark whenever it’s mentioned, making it a less than ideal venue if you actually want to talk about how it works or what works versus what doesn’t.
posted by atoxyl at 11:38 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
DOT: ...the known tendency on this site to assume the worst from fellow MeFites, even when doing so is nonsensical and ridiculous.
Yep, this is spot-on. Last fall I simply asked a question in a FPP in order to learn more, and got scorched for sea-lioning. I came away hurt, confused, and dubious that the topic was worth serious examination, given that its supporters were so fucking rude. (Also, I was still ignorant!) Some other folks, seeing my smoldering wreckage, commented on how harsh the responses had been, and the angry commenters turn on them instead. It was wild.
I really do try to assume good intent for most people here. I have a bad memory, so I am 100% sure that sometimes I give a pass to someone who doesn't deserve it -- but "better that ten guilty men go free," &c.
But yeah, the hair trigger on some MeFites' keyboards, whew!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:03 PM on January 21 [7 favorites]
Yep, this is spot-on. Last fall I simply asked a question in a FPP in order to learn more, and got scorched for sea-lioning. I came away hurt, confused, and dubious that the topic was worth serious examination, given that its supporters were so fucking rude. (Also, I was still ignorant!) Some other folks, seeing my smoldering wreckage, commented on how harsh the responses had been, and the angry commenters turn on them instead. It was wild.
I really do try to assume good intent for most people here. I have a bad memory, so I am 100% sure that sometimes I give a pass to someone who doesn't deserve it -- but "better that ten guilty men go free," &c.
But yeah, the hair trigger on some MeFites' keyboards, whew!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:03 PM on January 21 [7 favorites]
At the risk of extending the AI sidebar, a couple of you came in here with fairly inflammatory language about AI, and there's a few calm replies explaining why there is skepticism...to which pdb makes it sounds like they were "just asking questions."
Exactly what DOT was talking about, in other words.
Shit, now I'm doing it. Mippy, run, while you still can!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:06 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Exactly what DOT was talking about, in other words.
Shit, now I'm doing it. Mippy, run, while you still can!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:06 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Lemkin: "Seeing someone make an in-joke about my deleted Ask MeFi question was a surreal experience."
I'm not sure if my comment is the comment you're referencing, because I think a few people have made in-jokes about the Porky's thing, but if it is, then seeing you make a comment about an in-joke I made about your deleted Ask MeFi question is also kinda surreal. We're like Dali and Magritte here, surrealing off each other.
signal: "I hadn't seen that subreddit. It's wild that people go on a separate site to complain about metafilter. Some seem to have closed their MeFi account years ago.
Talk about living rent-free in people's heads…"
Yeah, it's a strange subreddit. I think most of the folks there are basically even-keeled. Lots of complaints about MeFi, but then when something goes well or a mod makes a good decision, people recognize and are happy about it. But there's also a contingent of hardcore "bitch eatin' crackers" folks. I think if reddit worked like Mefi, with an unthreaded view, there would be a huge amount of friction between the two types of users, but because it's threaded they coexist within the same subreddit without too much friction.
posted by Bugbread at 3:22 PM on January 21 [5 favorites]
I'm not sure if my comment is the comment you're referencing, because I think a few people have made in-jokes about the Porky's thing, but if it is, then seeing you make a comment about an in-joke I made about your deleted Ask MeFi question is also kinda surreal. We're like Dali and Magritte here, surrealing off each other.
signal: "I hadn't seen that subreddit. It's wild that people go on a separate site to complain about metafilter. Some seem to have closed their MeFi account years ago.
Talk about living rent-free in people's heads…"
Yeah, it's a strange subreddit. I think most of the folks there are basically even-keeled. Lots of complaints about MeFi, but then when something goes well or a mod makes a good decision, people recognize and are happy about it. But there's also a contingent of hardcore "bitch eatin' crackers" folks. I think if reddit worked like Mefi, with an unthreaded view, there would be a huge amount of friction between the two types of users, but because it's threaded they coexist within the same subreddit without too much friction.
posted by Bugbread at 3:22 PM on January 21 [5 favorites]
Someone should spin up a MetaMetaFilterMeta Discord so we have a place to talk about the MetaFilterMeta subreddit.
posted by Diskeater at 3:58 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
posted by Diskeater at 3:58 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
All set! https://discord.gg/stDbGftb
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 4:18 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 4:18 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure if my comment is the comment you're referencing
I don't know. The names over there are too hard to read.
But when they responded disparagingly to DOT's band nerd analogy, I suddenly had this sense of being a participant in some kind of arena fight with spectators -- like someone was betting twenty quatloos on the newcomer.
posted by Lemkin at 5:35 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
I don't know. The names over there are too hard to read.
But when they responded disparagingly to DOT's band nerd analogy, I suddenly had this sense of being a participant in some kind of arena fight with spectators -- like someone was betting twenty quatloos on the newcomer.
posted by Lemkin at 5:35 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Can I be played by Stanley Tucci if we re-cast MetaTalk as a Hunger Games sort of thing?
posted by wenestvedt at 6:35 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
posted by wenestvedt at 6:35 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Brandon, you should've called that the "Bitch Eatin' Crackers" Discord.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:12 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:12 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
What's changed?
Start here: Jessamyn. She was the heart and the soul of this place, she was the conscience. She was MetaFilter. And once she set in with Cortex, they were unbeatable. Some knotty problem, some snotty shitbird squawking, and sometimes with a valid point and point of view,
I swear to you I could about feel Jessamyn and Cortex, in the background, working it out. And coming out in one piece, and settle the room.
They were amazing, remarkable teamwork.
Change? No way do I write here as I did. I bled here, I really loved to write for this community, and for myself. No more. What I see is that no one reads closely, or at all. This was a writers communiry, and a readers community. No more.
posted by dancestoblue at 8:25 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Start here: Jessamyn. She was the heart and the soul of this place, she was the conscience. She was MetaFilter. And once she set in with Cortex, they were unbeatable. Some knotty problem, some snotty shitbird squawking, and sometimes with a valid point and point of view,
I swear to you I could about feel Jessamyn and Cortex, in the background, working it out. And coming out in one piece, and settle the room.
They were amazing, remarkable teamwork.
Change? No way do I write here as I did. I bled here, I really loved to write for this community, and for myself. No more. What I see is that no one reads closely, or at all. This was a writers communiry, and a readers community. No more.
posted by dancestoblue at 8:25 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Someone should spin up a MetaMetaFilterMetaAlready done a few months ago, albeit with the additional "Meta" as a suffix rather than prefix.Discordso we have a place to talk about the MetaFilterMeta subreddit.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 12:30 AM on January 22
It is not a hall of mirrors!
posted by Bugbread at 2:41 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]
posted by Bugbread at 2:41 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]
If we're going through the MetaFilter Expanded Universe (MFEU?), there is also an /r/Metafilter subreddit which mostly just does "Best Of" links. It has almost no comments these days but could presumably be revived.
There is also an unofficial Metafilter Mastodon instance MeFi.social which is a pretty chill and fairly active place populated by current and former MeFites. (Mastodon is a decentralized social network kind of like a hippy version of how Twitter was a decade ago, if you don't know of it already).
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:47 AM on January 22
There is also an unofficial Metafilter Mastodon instance MeFi.social which is a pretty chill and fairly active place populated by current and former MeFites. (Mastodon is a decentralized social network kind of like a hippy version of how Twitter was a decade ago, if you don't know of it already).
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:47 AM on January 22
I gave up plugging mefi.social here because even mentioning it somehow reactivates the bad feelings from every bad experience some folks have ever had regarding Mastodon/The Fediverse and whatever defensiveness they feel about going to BlueSky, Threads, etc.
I got tired of stepping in that, so I just don't anymore.
It is nice over there though.
[crouches on floor in tornado sheltering position]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:13 AM on January 22 [4 favorites]
I got tired of stepping in that, so I just don't anymore.
It is nice over there though.
[crouches on floor in tornado sheltering position]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:13 AM on January 22 [4 favorites]
I've just come back myself after a long period of inactivity - I'm curious to see how my take on things aligns with what people have posted here (I'm also wondering how many usernames will ring a bell, other than the mods)
posted by Calloused_Foot at 6:49 AM on January 22
posted by Calloused_Foot at 6:49 AM on January 22
A lot has changed for those of you who were inactive, but one eternal truth has not: DO NOT say "quonsar" three times while looking in the mirror. Just don't. It took AGES to clean up the mess the last time someone tried it. Fish in everyone's pants...
posted by caution live frogs at 6:56 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]
posted by caution live frogs at 6:56 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]
Eponysterical! But you shouldn't even say "quonsar" once, lest someone else come along and fill in the other two mentions...
posted by nobody at 7:03 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]
posted by nobody at 7:03 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]
Quo-
posted by wenestvedt at 8:25 AM on January 22
posted by wenestvedt at 8:25 AM on January 22
Another vote for Mefi.Social.
Great things about my Mastodon feed: geeky, radical, welcoming.
Great things about my blsky feed: um, IDK, there are more semi-famous people in it I guess? A lot of cross-stitched samplers with swears on them for some reason?
posted by BrashTech at 6:36 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]
Great things about my Mastodon feed: geeky, radical, welcoming.
Great things about my blsky feed: um, IDK, there are more semi-famous people in it I guess? A lot of cross-stitched samplers with swears on them for some reason?
posted by BrashTech at 6:36 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]
mefi.social is very, very relaxed.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:47 AM on January 23
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:47 AM on January 23
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Any discussion of a scientific paper or finding absolutely sucks and you’re gonna find something better on r/science.
The Gaiman thread was very useful and informative.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:03 AM on January 20 [11 favorites]