MetaTalk

In an ongoing thread a user volunteers that this has become an uncomfortable place to state certain, really, not all that weird ideas. What, if anything, are you afraid to say here? I pose this not to request debate on any issues that might arise, but to enumerate those things some of us might be afraid to even bring up. Because I think most of us were attracted to this place by the promise of free and open discussion. And it seems like the discussion isn't quite as free or open as it may have once been. [more inside]
posted by localroger at 3:47 PM - 1074 comments

Favorites! Where do I start? Some people don't get enough. Some people get too many. The system we have now is broken. We need a more orthodox approach to give out faves. They have to MEAN SOMETHING, people! [more inside]
posted by hot_monster at 7:06 PM - 157 comments

I occasionally post links to ads, if I think they're impressive, interesting, and cool, rather than just, you know, an ad for something. Inevitably there are responses that are along the lines of 'this is an ad' or 'you got suckered into posting an ad' which I personally find frustrating. I see the same kinds of comments in other people's posts, and they frustrate me there, too. It's not like anyone really doesn't understand that GoPro posts all those cool videos to make you want to buy a GoPro, you know? Is there a way to frame that kind of post that'll tend to pre-empt those kinds of responses? Or should I just accept that they are always going to happen in ad posts?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:35 AM - 103 comments

⚑ a proposal for a "good faith" flag [more inside]
posted by flex at 2:17 PM - 137 comments

There is currently a practice across Metafilter, especially within Metafilter proper (the Blue) and Metatalk (the Grey) of making personal attacks against other users that I feel undermines the community aspect of the site. The attacks I am concerned with most often take the form of ugly insinuations that the user is deliberately derailing, trolling or using common tactics which are allegedly known to be popular with (in alphabetical order, thee could be more, these are all I could think of when I set about making this thread):

• Anti-Semites
• Bigots
• Conservatives
• Misogynists
• MRAs
• PUAs
• Racists
• Redditors (specifically, usually The Red Pill subreddit)
• TERFs
• Transmisogonists

[more inside]
posted by misha at 4:29 PM - 1208 comments

The recent post that draws an analogy between White privilege and being a bicyclist in a world designed for cars was deleted for being too similar to a post two months ago that draws an analogy between male privilege and being a bicyclist in a world designed for cars. [more inside]
posted by Johann Georg Faust at 11:34 AM - 74 comments

This deleted post linked to an article on Israel battle tacticts inspired by post-modern philosophy that I found truly fascinating. Now, I guess the poster should have known that the comments would be 10% good faith discusion of the article and 90% standard Israel-Palestine axe grinding ... but for that to merit deletion is just a variant on the heckler's veto. [more inside]
posted by MattD at 7:07 AM - 188 comments

I have noticed an increasing trend on MeFi, especially relating to issues of feminism, gender relations, etc, that threads quickly divide into us vs. them camps, where the "us" camp is defined by strong outrage and criticism, and the them camp is everyone else. This is problematic enough, but what then naturally occurs is any sort of deviation or criticism of anyone in the "us" tent immediately casts one into the "them" tent, and attacks that the person is pro-rape, in favor of abusing women, just the same as everyone else, etc. etc. [more inside]
posted by crayz at 4:22 PM - 1445 comments

I'm too lazy to go back and delete the title pun. Anyway, this deleted post is clearly a spectacle of horror. But I don't think it's *only* a spectacle of horror. When I heard about this incident, I thought the particulars of the event had the potential to add something new to the gun control discussion in the US. And I think the Metafolk could have handled the discussion. I can understand why some topics, ripe though they may be for nuanced & thoughtful debate, are often off-limits (Palestine e.g.). But I didn't think we got that wild on the gun violence posts. Am I wrong?
posted by univac at 3:18 AM - 110 comments

Books on Fanfare has been discussed, but in a theoretical way. The thread on The Stand makes me want to re-read it, and makes me want to be able to discuss it with MeFites. May I shoehorn it into Fanfare? [more inside]
posted by theora55 at 4:28 AM - 25 comments