MetaTalk

Hello and welcome to this month’s Site Update! We your things are going your way as the year winds down.

You can find the last update here.

posted by Brandon Blatcher on Dec 20 at 5:15 AM - 226 comments

And what should happen with Winter Wishes? For those who don't know, Winter Wishes is a program by New York Cares where kids, teens, and elders write letters with their gift hopes during the holiday season. For 11 years, MetaFilter, as "MeFi Cares," gave to those in less fortunate circumstances. And not just monetarily. And eventually, we expanded our reach to other giving. Please see my MetaTalk post history for complete info on the last several years we participated, including photos, though I'll summarize below. I'm writing this right now because we seem to have more engagement on MeTa given new, hopeful developments, and because... well, 'tis the season. Please pardon me for the length of this, but I want to be as detailed and informative and honest as possible.
posted by houseofdanie on Dec 23 at 9:01 PM - 4 comments

Given how much this previous administration hived off a lot of users, what's the mods/owner's plan for this?
posted by Kitteh on Dec 20 at 7:42 AM - 19 comments

A place to share that your gift from the swap arrived.
posted by 15L06 on Nov 16 at 8:59 PM - 152 comments

Got any good news to share? Got new accomplishments, new dog, new kid, new positive outlook? New shirt, new group, new friend? Fixed your toilet, fixed your screen door, fixed your outlook? I found a few silly but hilarious items for Christmas this year [items that will not appeal to all and also contain some rude words] and I thought it would be neat to see the excellent finds others have found. Also, the aforementioned good news and all that. Kindly kindly, leave the grar elsewhere.
posted by Glinn on Dec 12 at 4:35 PM - 91 comments

Well, we're doing it again. Starting early morning on Dec 23 and going through to the end of Dec 25, in our video share room, MST Club presents our 11th annual Christmas Marathon. Look inside for details!
posted by JHarris on Dec 22 at 10:19 PM - 8 comments

I think a lot of the community doesn't understand how busy Mods are in their day to day shifts. It would probably be good for mod/community relationships to give a few users a chance to shadow a mod for a shift or two, so that we can get a better idea of the workload that mods are under, which would probably allow the community to take a step back and give the mods some breathing room. Is there any chance of that?
posted by bowbeacon on Dec 19 at 3:44 PM - 78 comments

Let's talk about the MetaTalk queue.
posted by Why Is The World In Love Again? on Dec 19 at 6:19 AM - 117 comments

A number of people have called for volunteer moderation at MeFi. The No. 1 question about that is, how many people are willing to be a volunteer moderator, and for how many hours a week?
posted by NotLost on Dec 20 at 6:20 AM - 94 comments

I’d like to suggest that the MeFi largely undergo a Brand New Day when the new executive director starts. (I expect we are several months away from that.) This BND would apply to both users (including former users) and mods.
posted by NotLost on Dec 3 at 1:56 PM - 1032 comments

Running windows 10 and Firefox. The past few days, Metafilter seems to be having trouble finishing loading when I "Open in new tab" on a link. And when it does stop, instead of the typical favicon, I'm getting a blue or gray "hourglass" favicon. Anyone else seeing this?
posted by Windopaene on Dec 18 at 12:26 PM - 30 comments

I didn't participate in the Holiday Gift Swap but I enjoy reading about all of the Gift Swap Arrivals - each posting is happy little burst of joy. However, I'm baffled by the constant references to beans and beansters. I'm familiar with things that aren't worth a hill of beans and with bean counting and even the more MetaFilter specific beanplating but this one has me baffled.
posted by metahawk on Dec 18 at 7:01 AM - 11 comments

Hi there!

Welcome to this month’s Site Update!

You can find the previous update here.

posted by loup on Nov 21 at 2:04 PM - 360 comments

New rule proposal: Moderators should not be able to moderate threads posted by themselves.
posted by glonous keming on Dec 17 at 3:25 PM - 29 comments

Hi all, this is a message from MetaFilter’s BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) board. In the interest of highlighting and growing the global perspective here on our little corner of the web, we want to encourage BIPOC members to post a bit more to the site. So we’re going to use this second week of November to encourage members who don’t consider themselves Western world natives (Diasporic BIPOC welcome here) to make a post or two about their culture.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Nov 13 at 4:10 PM - 104 comments

We have an EIN and have submitted a bank account application. The next task on our list is to complete and submit an IRS Form 1023 to receive not-for-profit status. We have two options.
posted by 1adam12 on Nov 20 at 8:25 AM - 154 comments

During the first Trump administration, we had MetaTalk threads to connect MeFites who had space at their holiday table with other MeFites who may not feel welcome at their family table or who had nowhere special to go. Given the recent election results, we should revive that tradition.
posted by maurice on Nov 16 at 7:04 AM - 8 comments

What would make MetaTalk more useful and effective, in your opinion, in the short term—the next X months until MetaFilter crosses the line into community-run status? Are there specific issues that you have noticed in recent weeks or months that you feel could reasonably be remedied and improve your experience here?
posted by cupcakeninja on Nov 15 at 5:39 AM - 326 comments

Hey! Community member Wobbuffet suggested we play a MetaFilter type version of bingo, so let's view or download the card, then get into the rules

HOW TO PLAY:
Complete 5 spots in a row, by making a post or doing the action in the square. You can work in any direction you like (horizontal, vertical, diagonal). Or expand that to include an X, a T, picture frames, a small blackout, a full blackout, whatever your heart desires! Once you're done, return to this thread, type "Bingo" and let us know which squares you did!

When making a post related to this game, please tag it as 'MefiBingo2024'.

There's a few notes inside about categories.

posted by Brandon Blatcher on Dec 1 at 5:07 AM - 13 comments

Guardian: 'Bluesky adds 700,000 new members as users flee X after the US election.' Bluesky no longer needs an invite code to join. A directory of starter packs (of users), a directory of feeds, and some other tools and clients. Also, @madamjujujive.bsky.social‬ maintains a list of some MeFites, including a librarian in Vermont. Post title by @jeffleyser.com‬.
posted by Wordshore on Nov 15 at 5:28 PM - 86 comments