MetaTalk

Since my post on the Kilauea volcano erupting, it calmed down, but it's starting back up today. Camera 1 | Camera 2
posted by NoMich at 6:04 AM - 4 comments

As everyone knows, the hallmark of any big-time website these days is the seamless integration of VC slop cutting-edge AI solutions into every facet of their operation. After witnessing the undeniable success of this approach across the web, we knew it was high time for MetaFilter to join the bandwagon or risk becoming even more charmingly anachronistic than we already are. So, after a quarter century of maintaining our community's distinctly human-powered approach, we're excited to announce that MetaFilter is finally embracing The Future: starting today, every page on MeFi will support Socky the Sockpuppet, your personal AI assistant ready to enhance your browsing experience with randomly generated commentary and deep-cut references that may or may not be relevant to whatever you're doing.

[Click here to activate Socky!] / or / [Click here to cast Socky into the digital abyss] [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 12:01 AM - 119 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. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:58 AM - 84 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 at 10:00 AM - 78 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. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 12:01 PM - 42 comments

Spring is here, and I’ve been thinking about starting a seed swap! [more inside]
posted by SunPower at 5:56 PM - 4 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. [more inside]
posted by Faintdreams at 8:46 AM - 7 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. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:34 PM - 201 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. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:19 AM - 13 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. [more inside]
posted by Vatnesine at 2:33 AM - 221 comments