Hey, good idea! I'm down for a Harvard Square meetup, but I'm also out of town for the next week and a half or so. I'll keep an eye on the thread.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 11:53 AM on May 16, 2008

If y'all are going bowling, I recommend Sacco's in Davis Square.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 2:49 PM on May 16, 2008

I dunno -- pie is kind of overrated. I much prefer cake. (And don't come at me with that Portal bullshit -- it's better on its own merits.)
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 11:08 AM on May 16, 2008

Hey, flapjax, thanks for taking the initiative on this. Lots of us (like me) were all "Yeah! More challenges!" but really didn't do anything beyond throwing in two cents in the MeTa threads; you actually went and got the ball rolling. So, thanks for that. I look forward to being a more regular contributor.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:56 PM on May 12, 2008

I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.


Yeah, that's right, it's getting all Shel Silverstein up in this bitch.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 6:35 AM on May 12, 2008

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1726
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 2:36 PM on May 9, 2008

I totally should have brought up the white background thing when Anil was moderating Matt's panel at ROFLCon.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 10:05 PM on May 10, 2008

Well, this is certainly a balls-random thread to have started a fight.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 5:22 AM on May 12, 2008

I'd like to see the challenge return as well. As I suggested last time we had one of these threads, I think "cover a MeFite" would be a fun theme. Maybe even "cover a MeFite in the style of another MeFite," but that might be getting a bit ambitious.

It seems to me that MeFi Music is right on the cusp of hitting critical mass -- it's not quite popular enough to be on the average MeFite's radar, we're starting to see more multi-song days and fewer... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 10:34 PM on May 10, 2008

"while it's not quite popular enough to be on the average MeFite's radar..."
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 10:35 PM on May 10, 2008

I support the idea of having years listed in archived threads. (And MeFi Music threads, maybe, since those appear to not ever be archived.)
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 8:20 PM on May 7, 2008

Awesome!
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:22 PM on May 8, 2008

It's actually quite amazing to me that we haven't hit 30 days yet.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 8:19 PM on May 7, 2008

I like to imagine there's a crack team of MeFites that scours the site and flags every occurrence for her perusal.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:28 AM on May 8, 2008

One of the pitfalls of jessamyn's system is that, once someone asserts their interest in hitting it, the floor is open for others to second the motion for the rest of the day.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:12 PM on May 8, 2008

Also, I feel compelled to point this out.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:16 PM on May 8, 2008

Speaking of which, what happened to fortuito.us? The last post was a year ago. I'm impressed that the Deck is still advertising there! :-p
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 3:12 PM on May 7, 2008

It's okay, cortex.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 4:40 PM on May 7, 2008

Oh wow. Yeah, it was a cool site, but I had no idea it was so contentious...in that case, good riddance!
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 8:13 PM on May 7, 2008

I am certain that this wasn't the purpose, but this MeTa has overwhelmed me with guilt.

Yeah, me too, so I posted an update a year in the making. I hope there weren't too many of you on pins and needles waiting to hear about my shitty audio interface.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 2:08 PM on May 3, 2008

Here are some ideas.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 3:38 PM on May 2, 2008

Regarding rubber band AI: I think the problem is that every MK iteration has had more items that are both instant and unblockable. Now there's the blue shell, the squid, the lightning bolt, and the POW block. It's one thing to give good items to those in the back, and another thing entirely to give them the ability to immediately ruin everyone else's shit. :)

I'll come back with a friend code later!
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:41 PM on April 29, 2008

I'm in.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 11:06 AM on April 11, 2008

HOLY FUCK IS IT CROWDED IN HERE
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 6:51 PM on April 26, 2008

That was fun! I apologize to the people I talked to towards the end of the evening, when I was not making nearly as much sense. Especially to brett on the T.

I also apologize to martinX for our complete failure to talk about something besides video games. Ryvar, I think you were actually better than brett and I at that game.

I am flattered and a little bit frightened that a couple of people recognized my username. That's never happened to me... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 9:58 PM on April 26, 2008

Kattullus: Also add kwaller and her non-imaginary boyfriend.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 8:30 AM on April 27, 2008

Sucks to your ass-mar.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 5:11 AM on April 26, 2008

I listen to most podcasty things while walking around, etc., but always save the MeFi one for when I'm at the computer. I need to have this thread open and click on the links as j&m talk about them to get the full experience.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 12:15 PM on April 15, 2008

Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus -- I remember reading that thread, and I'm glad to see its resolution.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 10:01 AM on April 14, 2008

Aside from the aforementioned godawful numeric ID, random internet strangers can't actually see your Facebook profile anyway -- they'd need to have you as a friend.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 6:15 AM on April 14, 2008

Well, sure, but even with the broadest privacy settings, the vast majority of Facebook users are not going to see your profile.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:25 AM on April 14, 2008

Oh wow, thanks MeFi tech team for adding the new IM thing! That's awesome.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 9:53 AM on April 14, 2008

Also:

Even still, if I'm in, say, the Austin network on Facebook, I'm a lot more likely to find a fellow Mefite on that same network on Facebook than some of the sites in the current Mefi profile preferences that I've never heard of.

That's a good point.

I guess I usually think of online communities as a way to bridge distances and talk to people I wouldn't normally run into. But with sites like this,... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 9:58 AM on April 14, 2008

We have a couple people that can fill in as midnight mods if necessary...

MetaFilter has been overrun by trolls. Are you a bad enough dude to moderate MetaFilter?
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 9:18 PM on April 10, 2008

PeterMcDermott: Fair enough; but as cortex also pointed out, YouTube's commenting is secondary to its purpose as a video sharing site, whereas for us the comments are half the reason we come here.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:54 AM on April 11, 2008

first come seventy
then fifty six syllables
haughey's odd haiku

You counted all that?
And for a silly haiku?
I'm a bit worried.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 4:38 AM on April 11, 2008

I'll be there. I'd be down with a meetup also, but it'd have to be on Saturday -- I'm booked Friday night. If that doesn't pan out, the conference itself should be a good time anyway.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 6:54 PM on March 27, 2008

If we end up doing a meetup, it'll have to be Saturday night.

That's what I like to hear!

I'll leave the venue decision to the big boys, since I'd end up suggesting this really great pizza parlor I found or something.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:02 AM on March 29, 2008

kwaller: I don't see why not!
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 8:37 PM on April 7, 2008

When the Escapist picked up Zero Punctuation, their traffic jumped 400%.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 8:01 PM on April 3, 2008

loiseau: I agree with you, but it seems that that some people -- especially doctors -- are reluctant to mention their credentials because they don't want to be on the hook for giving "official" advice. Some will disclaim their posts with a comment like "This is not medical advice," but maybe that's not enough? I'm not really sure.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 12:23 PM on April 3, 2008

Kottkeing aside, that's a great thread, and I'm glad I went back and read the rest of the comments.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 6:37 AM on April 2, 2008

Confirmation bias.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 9:06 AM on April 1, 2008

Underneath the search bar in the top right, there is a line that says "welcome back jimmyjimjim," and next to that is a small envelope. That's it.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 3:22 PM on March 30, 2008

Also, if you go to someone's else profile, there is a small link underneath "[username]'s profile" that says "send MeFi mail" with that same envelope icon.

I agree with you, though -- it's pretty well-hidden as MeFi features go.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 3:25 PM on March 30, 2008

My suggestion is to make the favoriting system invisible. Being able to see the number of favorites each comment has is an incentive for attention-seeking types to post flip one-liners instead of making meaningful contributions to conversations.

And actually, favorites aside the flip one-liner is a distressingly entrenched part of MeFi culture (on preview, what BorgLove said). Look at the types of comments in this thread so far:

*gets... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 1:03 PM on March 26, 2008

Well, really, they're not even close -- my comment was meant as good-natured joking around, and I figure that's true of the others as well. No offense, but if this is your idea of "lowering the discourse," the discourse must be quite low in your eyes pretty much all the time.

Oh, of course it was. I don't think anyone was being malicious, but it's still noise, good-natured or not.

Actual malice, like ad hominem... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 1:33 PM on March 26, 2008

Speaking of The Wire, Sudhir Venkatesh (the Freakonomics guy mentioned in the podcast) watched a bunch of episodes with his gang friends and reported their reactions on the Freakonomics blog.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 3:48 PM on March 25, 2008

So when's Woz going to show up on the podcast?
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 2:03 PM on March 25, 2008

Let the front-tagging begin!!!!!

Actually, it's funny you should say that. This project got me thinking about whether the older posts might now have better tags than the newer ones, since the backtagging team seemed to be very diligent and professional about what tags to add. I wonder if the pre-tag era posts will be easy to find now while the newer ones will be all, you know, butts lol.
posted to MetaTalk by danb at 7:11 AM on March 21, 2008