Less is more? February 5, 2025 11:42 AM Subscribe
I am finding the sheer number of US politics threads (many touching on overlapping issues) overwhelming. I do find the threads and discussions useful and interesting, but also distressing. So having lots of them to track feels worse to me than if US politics topics were consolidated in one place. I wonder whether others feel similarly. I seem to recall that for some time we had more of a one-at-a-time system. I would support returning to a similar model if there is sufficient consensus.
The current “completing the coup” thread is a handy one-stop-shop for shattering despair.
posted by Lemkin at 11:56 AM on February 5 [3 favorites]
posted by Lemkin at 11:56 AM on February 5 [3 favorites]
I don't think that political-megathreads-vs-political-discrete-threads is going to be the kind of thing you'll find consensus on.
(I also don't think MetaTalk is the kind of place you'll find consensus on anything, but I mostly don't say that out loud.)
posted by box at 12:31 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
(I also don't think MetaTalk is the kind of place you'll find consensus on anything, but I mostly don't say that out loud.)
posted by box at 12:31 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
Thanks, Brandon - hiding some of the threads would not be a solution for me, because I do want to see the discussion, but am hoping to reduce the number of separate threads I am tracking.
posted by prefpara at 1:23 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
posted by prefpara at 1:23 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
There's a lot of overlap in the discussion--repeated links, etc.--which does make me long for the days of single megathreads. Not the kind of thing you'd want to be like, "hey mods, delete this guy's comment, he didn't realize the link he posted was already in that other Trump thread."
Just to be fair, though, I don't remember this much stuff happening all at once last time we had megathreads, so maybe they'd be impossible to keep up with too.
posted by mittens at 1:56 PM on February 5 [7 favorites]
Just to be fair, though, I don't remember this much stuff happening all at once last time we had megathreads, so maybe they'd be impossible to keep up with too.
posted by mittens at 1:56 PM on February 5 [7 favorites]
I have them hidden but they still get through because people don’t tag them and so I flag away.
PLEASE tag shitty American awfulness. Thanks.
The specific tag to use to avoid political posts related to America is 'UsPolitics'
posted by chococat at 2:21 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
PLEASE tag shitty American awfulness. Thanks.
The specific tag to use to avoid political posts related to America is 'UsPolitics'
posted by chococat at 2:21 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
The current “completing the coup” thread is a handy one-stop-shop for shattering despair.
OK, I just ran over there eagerly because boy do I need that and my despair is not shattered in the least and I'm eveni wondering if their is at least one Russian bot with a metafilter account or who took over an abandoned metafilter account.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:35 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
OK, I just ran over there eagerly because boy do I need that and my despair is not shattered in the least and I'm eveni wondering if their is at least one Russian bot with a metafilter account or who took over an abandoned metafilter account.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:35 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
Mod note: Several derailing comments removed. Please wait for the MeTa that will be published and avoid derailing this thread or any other. If the derails do continue we will remove those comments also and possibly issue temporary bans to keep threads on topic.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 4:09 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 4:09 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
I do not feel similarly.
It's not wrong that you feel the way you do, but being able to pick and choose which threads to read and which to not read is helpful for me. The megathreads make engaging with politics on MeFi kind of an all-or-nothing thing, which for me would probably mean not engaging at all.
Also, my experience with political megathreads is that:
(a) my browser struggles with them
(b) the moderators struggle with them
(c) the community struggles with them
The lack of threading means that everyone is reacting to everyone else all at once, and one bad comment or exchange can derail it to a much more severe degree than if it happened in a smaller thread.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:37 PM on February 5 [12 favorites]
It's not wrong that you feel the way you do, but being able to pick and choose which threads to read and which to not read is helpful for me. The megathreads make engaging with politics on MeFi kind of an all-or-nothing thing, which for me would probably mean not engaging at all.
Also, my experience with political megathreads is that:
(a) my browser struggles with them
(b) the moderators struggle with them
(c) the community struggles with them
The lack of threading means that everyone is reacting to everyone else all at once, and one bad comment or exchange can derail it to a much more severe degree than if it happened in a smaller thread.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:37 PM on February 5 [12 favorites]
>a handy one-stop-shop for shattering despair.
my despair is not shattered
It turns out "shattering despair" can mean two different things... sigh.
posted by mmoncur at 10:17 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
my despair is not shattered
It turns out "shattering despair" can mean two different things... sigh.
posted by mmoncur at 10:17 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
Honestly I am suprised to see the troll/bot. I thought we had gotten small enough to be overlooked by such creatures.
Hard disagree on the topic of this post, though. Megathreads were bad for the community, bad for the moderators, and bad for me personally. I also think they made me more likely to feel I was sufficiently resisting by reading. I think that feeling was and is wrong.
I use Recent Activity to keep track of which threads I’m reading (yay for the “add to activity” button. But it is inadequate for fast moving threads; a page that had each of the threads in following, like the front page except only the threads in my Activity, would be nice.
posted by nat at 2:40 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
Hard disagree on the topic of this post, though. Megathreads were bad for the community, bad for the moderators, and bad for me personally. I also think they made me more likely to feel I was sufficiently resisting by reading. I think that feeling was and is wrong.
I use Recent Activity to keep track of which threads I’m reading (yay for the “add to activity” button. But it is inadequate for fast moving threads; a page that had each of the threads in following, like the front page except only the threads in my Activity, would be nice.
posted by nat at 2:40 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
Kutsuwamushi, thank you - your thoughtful comment helped me reframe my thinking around this. I appreciate the time you took to help me understand your perspective.
posted by prefpara at 6:19 AM on February 6 [4 favorites]
posted by prefpara at 6:19 AM on February 6 [4 favorites]
My main wish is that people tag more consistently. I use MyFi for when I don't feel like adding to my depression, but for example there is Yet Another Elon Post today with the single tag 'history', as opposed to some form of his name or politics, tags I can filter out. Being able to hide posts and mute users would help, but I gather that is well into the future.
posted by tavella at 9:58 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 9:58 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
I second tavella. Could we always have mods leave a note (if not done already) when adding the US politics tag so that the original poster is clued in to having missed it? Could the new post page, in the tags area, mention that the US politics tag is required for posts related to US politics, perhaps with a link to an explanation?
posted by lookoutbelow at 10:09 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
posted by lookoutbelow at 10:09 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
I think that right now in particular you are not going to find community consensus on this one: right now, it's less "US Politics" and more "The United States is having a fascist coup that is going to impact literally every other country in the world and facets of nearly every subject".
posted by FutureExpatCorb at 10:30 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
posted by FutureExpatCorb at 10:30 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
Speaking on behalf the rest of the world (but also a dual citizen), it is definitely US Politics.
posted by warriorqueen at 10:40 AM on February 6 [11 favorites]
posted by warriorqueen at 10:40 AM on February 6 [11 favorites]
^ 100% ^
Another dual citizen chiming in as well. It IS US politics. I understand an overlap with countries with situations like tariffs etc, but I don't subscribe that the American Exceptionalism applies to everyone. The US is in crisis, for sure, but other countries still have other politics that aren't Trump-related going on. (See: impending Ontario provincial election, impending Federal election, intra-provincial trade, etc.)
posted by Kitteh at 10:56 AM on February 6 [3 favorites]
Another dual citizen chiming in as well. It IS US politics. I understand an overlap with countries with situations like tariffs etc, but I don't subscribe that the American Exceptionalism applies to everyone. The US is in crisis, for sure, but other countries still have other politics that aren't Trump-related going on. (See: impending Ontario provincial election, impending Federal election, intra-provincial trade, etc.)
posted by Kitteh at 10:56 AM on February 6 [3 favorites]
It's not just that, but we know we have to watch US politics, because there's always an impact. It's ok, we'll find it.
posted by warriorqueen at 11:13 AM on February 6 [5 favorites]
posted by warriorqueen at 11:13 AM on February 6 [5 favorites]
Nope, I was dreaming I heard something. How embarrassing.
posted by y2karl at 5:52 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]
posted by y2karl at 5:52 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]
I'll experement with excluding uspolitics on My MeFi, just because its distracting.
I like the My Removed Posts page, so you can remove anything distracting, but then check back next week when you have time. It's simpler to ignore all the unsourced/linkless comments that way.
posted by jeffburdges at 4:13 AM on February 11
I like the My Removed Posts page, so you can remove anything distracting, but then check back next week when you have time. It's simpler to ignore all the unsourced/linkless comments that way.
posted by jeffburdges at 4:13 AM on February 11
Yet Another Elon Post today with the single tag 'history', as opposed to some form of his name or politics, tags I can filter out
um, apologies if it was difficult to see that; this post, i think. there are other tags on it now, including multiple versions of his name. anyone is always welcome to tag posts it seems, so if there's a post you want filtered & think others might want filtered: go ahead
Could the new post page, in the tags area, mention that the US politics tag is required for posts related to US politics, perhaps with a link to an explanation?
there's a link to an explanation in the US politics sidebar widget
right now in particular you are not going to find community consensus on this one: right now, it's less "US Politics" and more "The United States is having a fascist coup that is going to impact literally every other country in the world and facets of nearly every subject"
e.g. the tag 'history' was chosen in particular for the post being discussed because a focus is history & people are being impacted around the world:
um, apologies if it was difficult to see that; this post, i think. there are other tags on it now, including multiple versions of his name. anyone is always welcome to tag posts it seems, so if there's a post you want filtered & think others might want filtered: go ahead
Could the new post page, in the tags area, mention that the US politics tag is required for posts related to US politics, perhaps with a link to an explanation?
there's a link to an explanation in the US politics sidebar widget
right now in particular you are not going to find community consensus on this one: right now, it's less "US Politics" and more "The United States is having a fascist coup that is going to impact literally every other country in the world and facets of nearly every subject"
e.g. the tag 'history' was chosen in particular for the post being discussed because a focus is history & people are being impacted around the world:
outbreak emerged about 10 days before Trump’s inauguration. As before, WHO, Africa CDC, and US CDC experts quickly mobilized, identifying and isolating cases while conducting thorough contact tracing. However, within days of taking office, Trump issued executive orders that changed everything. He withdrew the United States from WHO, halted all USAID funding — including PPE, testing equipment, medication, isolation equipment — and barred CDC personnel from overseas health efforts. All U.S. medical and scientific teams were ordered to cease operations, severely crippling containment efforts and undermining the global response. [citizen-times]posted by HearHere at 3:08 PM on February 18
please just use the tag, I believe only users you're friends can add them (possibly only on desktop); the sidebar is not the new post page
posted by sagc at 3:11 PM on February 18 [1 favorite]
posted by sagc at 3:11 PM on February 18 [1 favorite]
from the faq: "Tags can be added/removed, either at the time of posting or later, by the original poster, or the site admins, or mutual contacts of the original poster. There's no automatic tagging, so if you see a post that you think is missing an important tag, let the moderators know"
posted by HearHere at 3:39 PM on February 18
posted by HearHere at 3:39 PM on February 18
not sure what you think you're saying: "contacts" does not equal "anyone"??
posted by sagc at 4:48 PM on February 18
posted by sagc at 4:48 PM on February 18
"Tags can be added...by ...the site admins..., so if you see a post that you think is missing an important tag, let the moderators know"
actually found this thread while thinking of posting a thread literally about US politics (there's currently an effort by Republicans to further restrict voting) [brennancenter]. just counted & there's 3 USpolitics threads in the first 8 fpps though. i clearly care about all this, but i will also agree that it's a lot
it is important to emphasize however that this is not just US politics. in the US, Trump = chlamydia, consistently [ap (2025), nbc (2019)];
globally, Trump = HIV babies
with everything going on, people should be able to process in whatever way is best for them
posted by HearHere at 6:29 PM on February 18 [2 favorites]
actually found this thread while thinking of posting a thread literally about US politics (there's currently an effort by Republicans to further restrict voting) [brennancenter]. just counted & there's 3 USpolitics threads in the first 8 fpps though. i clearly care about all this, but i will also agree that it's a lot
it is important to emphasize however that this is not just US politics. in the US, Trump = chlamydia, consistently [ap (2025), nbc (2019)];
globally, Trump = HIV babies
with everything going on, people should be able to process in whatever way is best for them
posted by HearHere at 6:29 PM on February 18 [2 favorites]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
Being able to hide posts should be part of phase 2 of the new site, aka after it's up and running. No specific ETA for that.
If users think that a new political post should be removed and its content directed or included in a current political post, please flag it with note that has the current post's link.
Some members have expressed interest in a new political sub-site. There are currently no specific plans for that, meaning it hasn't really been discussed and decided upon. It could happen, but it's not going to be happening anytime soon as far as I know, so it's not an immediate or near term option.
But MyMefi sounds like your best bet for now.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 11:44 AM on February 5