MetaTalk

The site update should happen by Wednesday of next week at the very latest. If it doesn't, mods will make a post a MeTa explaining the delay.] posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 8:44 PM on March 20 [+] [⚑]
posted by bowbeacon on Mar 27 at 8:05 AM - 130 comments

User Cranberry has passed away after a long life. She was driven, I think, more by intellectual curiosity than any other factor and when I encouraged her to sign up for Metafilter, she was able to overcome her dislike of "potty mouth" language to sign up and become a regular user and answerer of AskMe. She was very proud to be a "$5 noob," and she greatly enjoyed reading the posts of her favorite users, especially gnfti and taz. She has gone on to join other family members in the afterlife and her obit is here.
posted by Lynsey on Mar 27 at 10:00 AM - 67 comments

Brandon Blatcher said, in February, that

Since December 24, 2024, the queue has been operating under the premise of just push anything through that isn't hugely fighty.

However, there are at least two MeTa posts just in the last month which have vanished into thin air. I'm not sure what the earlier one was, because the person who wanted to post it has apparently wiped their account, but it is referenced in my comment here. The second is a MeTa which Violet Blue apparently made. Now, it's possible that both of these MeTas were in fact "hugely fighty", but there is no evidence of that. Most of the people who post on the Grey (certainly including me) already have less than zero trust in the moderators' judgment by this point, and failing to live up to assurances that you made not even six weeks ago only serves to further erode the possibility of ever trusting it again. What can be done about this, both in the case of the specific posts which were disallowed and in general?
posted by adrienneleigh on Mar 25 at 7:32 PM - 71 comments

How can we create a safer and more respectful space for Jewish MeFites?
posted by Jacqueline on Mar 26 at 9:26 PM - 120 comments

Hello and welcome to this month’s site update! Thanks for your patience, we are and were waiting on some information, details are inside. Last month’s update can be found here.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Mar 28 at 7:58 AM - 64 comments

In these turbulent times, we literate few (who voluntarily inhabit a non-threaded text-only 20-year-old website that doesn’t use algorithms) cry out for the solid comforts of Fine Poetry to unify us and soothe our collective fevered brow. In short, fellow Mefites, we need a Poet Laureate (Pro Tempore*). +++This is the Poet Laureate (Pro Tempore) Election Thread+++
posted by Vatnesine on Mar 4 at 8:03 PM - 79 comments

Card club, let's chat about the cards we're receiving!
posted by rabia.elizabeth on Mar 19 at 4:23 AM - 9 comments

Back in the aughts, MetaFilter and sites like it were often improved by community-designed "userscripts" that added useful features to the default experience. Unfortunately, as more and more sites moved to mobile-first design, this power-user approach to customization declined in popularity (and accessibility). But that's no reason for such clever code to go to waste! We've reached out to some developers of classic, much-loved MeFi scripts who have generously agreed to let frimble incorporate their functionality directly into the site so it runs easily on any device -- initially as a direct port, then as a model for the new codebase if it proves popular and workable. First up: Plutor's humble MeFiQuote script, which adds a [quote] button to the byline of every comment on the site. Click to jump to the reply field while quoting the comment in full, with the username linking back to the original -- or on most platforms, highlight some text first to quote that excerpt directly! It's especially handy for mobile, where you'd normally have to type out a lot of tedious HTML and multiple copy-pastes to do the same thing. And if you used to use userscripts (or still do!), check out this list of classic MeFi scripts and share which ones you think would be worth adapting.
posted by Rhaomi on Mar 26 at 12:01 PM - 38 comments

Just posting several short notes since a page that we were creating was accidently made public a little early and discovered, so we're gonna talk about 3 specific things.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Mar 20 at 4:34 PM - 201 comments

I've been interested in the BIPOC board since they were an idea here in metatalk about three or four years ago. I've read all their minutes. I don't see much evidence of their continued existence and I'd like to know what people here think about that. There is a link at the bottom of every metafilter page that links to the BIPOC board page, where their minutes are.
posted by Vatnesine on Mar 20 at 2:33 AM - 221 comments

Update on the beta version of the new site. See notes inside.
posted by kirkaracha on Mar 10 at 6:14 PM - 47 comments

Spring is here, and I’ve been thinking about starting a seed swap!
posted by SunPower on Mar 25 at 5:56 PM - 3 comments

Hey, with the recent MeTa about the Card Club, I was reminded that there are a number of member run activities and events, but there is no list of them. So I'm going to put together a FAQ entry about the member related MeFi clubs and activities with the following information for each club: Name of club/activity Contact Person Premise of club/activity How often/when the club/activity occurs For those who do run these activities, thank you! Please chime in if you have any special instructions or corrections and I'll include them in the FAQ entry/listing. For anyone who wants to help with compiling this information, let me know, we can do it in Google docs.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Mar 20 at 9:19 AM - 13 comments

As a someone not American, who does not live in America, I feel vastly under skilled / situated to make a post about the current Presidents (Trump) recent Executive Order that focuses on Library Funding.
posted by Faintdreams on Mar 24 at 8:46 AM - 6 comments

I want to suggest that we consider decoupling bookmarks from favorites. I very frequently want to favorite a comment to show my support or agreement, but I have stopped using favorites because I do not want to bookmark hundreds of comments that I appreciated but do not need to revisit.
posted by Neely O'Hara on Mar 12 at 10:28 AM - 116 comments

Although many tariffs are again delayed, the political landscape has been shifted by Donald Trump and Canadians and Americans uneasily find themselves on opposite sides of a border that is, economically at the least and potentially existentially under threat. If this week’s tariff thread is any indication, this fracture can lead to differences in opinion and sentiment – new and old – flaring up on the site. This post is from a Canadian perspective – one, because there are many of course. Hoping it may help to express a minority (8% of all traffic) perspective and also have some discourse. This is NOT a policy or mod ask. All opinions my own.
posted by warriorqueen on Mar 7 at 1:00 PM - 129 comments

The new site should have a moderation log from day one.
posted by Diskeater on Feb 28 at 7:56 AM - 113 comments

The "social sharing" option on posts (the single little icon off to the right if you haven't turned them off in your preferences) was first added in 2011, with Twitter and Facebook. Twitter was removed in September 2023. I think, given everything, we should also remove the Facebook option. And in general I'd prefer to have zero than one, no matter what the "one" site is. I don't have a strong opinion about what sites, if any, should be there. But perhaps we could come up with a consensus on two or three new options. (I've had some small discussions with the admins about this and they suggested a MeTa post to discuss.)
posted by skynxnex on Feb 20 at 8:22 AM - 37 comments

When will elections for permanent board members for the MetaFilter Community Foundation take place?
posted by ssg on Mar 1 at 12:28 PM - 155 comments

Just had a thought - how about adding a new type of activity to the IRL tab, alerting people to different local political activism opportunities (rallies, demonstrations, postcard-writing campaigns, etc.)?
posted by EmpressCallipygos on Mar 14 at 6:46 AM - 10 comments