There are 6 and a half TFG posts on the front page right now

February 20, 2025 3:14 PM

Including one especially depressing one with the heartbreaking comment, "Where is the USPolitics tag? I didn't need to see this." The current balance between "MetaFilter is not a news site" and "We need to vent because we're shitting our pants in terror" does not seem sustainable. I propose enforcing a no-doubles rule on TFG matters. If he signs an executive order tomorrow outlawing public laughter, let anyone putting up a post about it be told to put it here.
posted by Lemkin to MetaFilter-Related at 3:14 PM (25 comments total)

Mod note: The big thing, IMO, is to tag posts about US politics, as they're being created, with the tag 'uspolitics'. Not everyone knows or remembers that and that's fine, please feel free to to flag it with a note asking for the tag to be put there.

Also, you can add tags of people you're a 'contact' with. So if the people who re enjoy and want to see or create these types of posts can chime in with a comment saying "Contact Me", then others can add them as a contact and help with keeping these posts tagged.

To do this, click on a user's name, which takes you to their profile page.

In the upper left, you'll see their username in large type.

Underneath that, you'll see the verbiage "Add as Contact". Click on that and choose what sort of contact you want to make them. It doesn't matter which one you choose, but if you think it's amusing to choose "spouse," well that's fine, there's a bit of history and backstory there.

But anyway, once you and another member are mutual contacts, you can add tags to each other's posts. So if all the political/news junkies (i'm one of you!) want to become 'contacts' of each other so they can add the 'uspolitics' tag when it's missing, that one way of helping this situation.

Still feel free to flag a post so the mods can add it.

Otherwise...it's Trump and he's pulling a lot of shit, so it's going to be a chaotic at times. That's ok, we'll manage
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 3:32 PM on February 20 [5 favorites]

So your proposal is that ongoing US politics events be consolidated together into a single colossal thread with a voluminous number of comments covering ongoing events as they unfold throughout the life of the post, with people making new posts being directed to make those as comments in this vast thread? It would become almost a sort of "mega thread," if you will?

Seriously though, how would this be different from the megathreads?
posted by zachlipton at 3:37 PM on February 20 [3 favorites]

how would this be different from the megathreads

A cortex decision from 2019 has limited applicability to our reality in 2025.

If the mods don't have the time or the emotional reserves to keep a close eye on such threads, then they can choose not to keep a close eye on them. MeFites who get into fights in them will also get into fights elsewhere.

I believe that leaving the front page All TFG All The Time will drive away more people by comparison.
posted by Lemkin at 3:47 PM on February 20 [4 favorites]

The problem here is that people want and need two legitimate but opposed things—a place to document and discuss the catastrophic damage being unleashed on America in a myriad of ways, but also respite from the intense anxiety and overwhelm that this onslaught engenders. I think it is incumbent both on people who need that respite to use the tool we have to filter out posts and on the OPs and mods to make sure those tools have what they need to function. I don’t think a single thread is an adequate alternative.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:50 PM on February 20 [8 favorites]

I recently posted a similar/related question.
posted by prefpara at 3:55 PM on February 20

But anyway, once you're a contact of someone, you can add tags to their posts.

You have to be mutual contacts with someone in order to add tags to their posts.
posted by phunniemee at 3:59 PM on February 20 [3 favorites]

Otherwise I'd be putting a buttslol tag on alllll you fuckers.
posted by phunniemee at 4:00 PM on February 20 [11 favorites]

You have to be mutual contacts with someone in order to add tags to their posts.

Excellent point, edited my comment about becoming contacts.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 4:01 PM on February 20

I would really hate a return to the megathreads. They were impossible to keep up with.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 4:22 PM on February 20 [2 favorites]

Fortunately, no one was being forced to keep up with them.

Not to be all salty, but this is why we decided to do megathreads in the first place, it kept the US politics corralled nicely. And frankly I don't see that mods have had any more capacity to mod effectively since they were banned, so there doesn't seem to be any particular reason to not go back to that model. I agree that it's probably better not to have multiple overlapping FPPs about The Present Situation, and as Lemkin says there's no law saying a decision that was made six years ago is binding for all time.
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:44 PM on February 20 [2 favorites]

I mean what if there were two mega-adjacent threads, split up like Horace Rumpole described:
One thread specifically to document and discuss the catastrophic damage being unleashed on America in a myriad of ways,
and one thread for respite from the intense anxiety and overwhelm that this onslaught engenders.
posted by Glinn at 4:46 PM on February 20 [1 favorite]

Posts people see (who are not filtering them) will affect the norms on "what makes for a good Metafilter post". And to me, as a non-American and prefer to get my breaking news elsewhere, it would be a shame if all the other great posts on the front page are drowned out by the daily outrages. Especially keeping in mind people driven away by this are not going to be here to say so. I think a stronger push to put related US Politics links in existing recent active threads would be helpful. If the only practical way to do that is to put hard limits, it's worth doing, in my opinion.
posted by lookoutbelow at 5:04 PM on February 20 [5 favorites]

I don't want to see this US centric site corral US politics at a time like this.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 9:08 PM on February 20 [1 favorite]

if it wasn't for the smattering of posts by chariotpulledbycassowaries we'd all be doomed

Read about TFG's latest assault on reality, or the hairy butts of Australian spiders. You decide.
posted by ginger.beef at 9:49 PM on February 20 [2 favorites]

In the interest of improving Metafilter political threads, I’d like to offer my .00002 cents. Maybe we can work to make them less “shitting our pants in terror”. I realize this is wishful thinking and I understand that many still have to vent. I’m not sure burying these in a post or tag is really the answer… maybe it is. I think it’s more about how we act.

The TFG posts seem to be dedicated to gloom n’ doom, which drowns out those trying to inform about active resistance or provide information about those who are working to help those affected by this. It’s exhausting and depressing. We’re all afraid… but the daily FEAR and PANIC isn’t going to change anything. I’m not trying to minimize it, but maybe we could focus on how to fight back?

My second objection is the demonizing of the Democrats that tends to dominate the discussion. I worked to get Kamala elected and I supported her running because I knew the alternative would be awful. I know I’m not ever going to convince those who hate her. But folks like me who supported her, get very tired of hearing about how she’s a monster. I’m not asking for censorship of those angry about the last election or the Democrats in general… maybe just a cease fire? I get enough “Dems r Evil” from accidentally overhearing Fox News.

Finally; as someone who has reached the “golden years”, I’m really getting pissed off at the ageism that’s becoming more common. The Dems are old and sclerotic. Who’s going to support the doddering Joe Biden or Chuck Schumer? There are a lot of us old Democrats who have been spent year after year voting, working and protesting to try and create change… and we don’t deserve this.

We just had a Ward meeting for my local Dem precinct and there wasn’t a single person under the age of 60 attending. I don’t know how to convince younger folks about the need to get active in the Party if they want any hope of changing it. I’ve often thought that Metafilter could be a great platform to promote this, but I’m not seeing it.

So… I’m done with most political posts here. I’m too old to be depressed and argue. I love being part of this wonderful community and I would hope that we can balance the overwhelming dread with some incentive to fight, create change or provide help to those who are. There’s a lot of very clever folks here who I think could help make this happen and it would be nice to see that reflected in more of the posts here.
posted by jabo at 10:15 PM on February 20 [15 favorites]

Jabo, I’d love to see an open post about what fighting back is looking like. But if you want to see that post, you have to make it.

And I don’t know how hard it would be to keep the focus in such a post on what can be done instead of on how bad it is.
posted by nat at 2:25 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]

METAFILTER: I’m too old to be depressed and argue
posted by philip-random at 10:58 AM on February 21 [2 favorites]

We just had a Ward meeting for my local Dem precinct and there wasn’t a single person under the age of 60 attending. I don’t know how to convince younger folks about the need to get active in the Party if they want any hope of changing it

FWIW, in my very-red Philly collar county town, we have a lot of under-40s and even under-30s that attend our local dem meetings and events. Now for us, we had school board issues that were so horrendous that they made national news and our beating back of the Moms for Liberty type stuff made national news (yay). I think that really got a lot of the younger folks engaged.

That said, I don't really have anything with which to convince younger folks that the Democratic Party would actually allow the change needed to make it better serve their interests. To me, as a middle aged woman, Dem Party leaders seem a lot like Lucy holding the football for the younger dem Charlie Browns to kick. "Show up, participate, vote for us, change from within!" Yeah sure, they would understandably say.

And listen, I maintain that narrative, of the value of activism and change from within. But do I actually in my heart believe it is going to work and we are going to see a Democratic Party that advances the more left, less centrist interests of younger folks? No, I don't.
posted by fennario at 11:04 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]

I would just like to point out that when progressives do join the Democratic Party and step up into leadership positions, the Democratic party goes scorched-earth and fucks everything. This was an absolutely shameful and disgusting move by the NV Democrats, and i think it soured a whole lot of the folks who weren't already soured on "change from within".
posted by adrienneleigh at 12:09 PM on February 21 [3 favorites]

I’d love to see an open post about what fighting back is looking like

ask
posted by HearHere at 12:49 PM on February 21

It's not every day you see a world power crumble into dust.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:28 PM on February 21 [3 favorites]

I liked the megathreads, but I don't think they are going to work this time around. There's just too much going on. I am pro US politics on metafilter, unashamed, unabashed, in fact I need them because they are my sanity check in these beyond parlous times. Honestly I think a daily US Pol thread would be excellent. It wouldn't get too big for reading on a phone or tablet, it would keep the front page clean for those who unlike me do not want to hear what mefites have to say on the latest outrages and I could refresh it all day. Is this healthy? FUCK NO but you know what? It's more healthy than, probably, doing the same thing on Bluesky and I mostly trust y'all.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:01 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]

Daily threads is probably better than the status quo, but again that leads to up to 30 active threads with all the duplication, "wait, where was this conversation happening again" and whatnot (including the administrative burden of moderating all those threads).

I mean, if there is a workable plan that's easier on the community and moderation energy than the megathread concept, I'm all ears I guess? But "US politics stuff goes here until the thread hits 30 days, or collapses under the weight of the ancient code" seems to be by far the most parsimonious solution by far.
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:41 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]

I am a member of the MOC, but I am speaking only for myself here — not the MOC.

I endorse the no-duplicates rule for political threads.

But I also find it confusing that the problem is being perceived as too many political threads. Maybe the problem is really too few non-political threads? If so, why aren't there more non-political posts, and how could you encourage more non-political posters?
posted by Violet Blue at 6:18 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]

Suggestion: one weekly or biweekly djt47/uspolitics catchall thread. All djt47 news and updates over the period get shared and discussed there, and it's closed when the new one is posted. The subject needs to be covered, but we should not feel like MeFi is being spammed with it.
posted by zaixfeep at 10:00 PM on February 21