Thanks, QIbHom and Airhen. That quite a night.

For educational purposes: the epic Mathowie's Community Blog. :)
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:17 AM on July 20, 2008

Hmm, it looks like next year, July 14th falls on a Tuesday. A drunken meetup might be hard on people who work.

Unfortunately, that really only leaves one logical solution: Everyone must quit their jobs next year, we'll start drinking on Friday the 10th, and stop sometime around Sunday the 19th.

Possible alternative:
Saturday, July 11: Major meetups. Take photos, sing songs, get video, take names.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 1:28 PM on July 14, 2008

Anyway, maybe I just don't want to see a flameout.

(((Navelgazer)))
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:24 PM on July 11, 2008

Lately, Mefi seems a bit more baconzone than boyzone.

I approve of this trend.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 4:29 PM on July 10, 2008

But for other users who leave (and don't have Metatalk threads started about them), unless you have a good memory or are kind of a stalker with bookmarks, you kind of can't find them. Maybe that's okay, maybe that's what most folks want. To me, when people don't leave the site on bad terms or in a flameout or whatever, it seems a shame to lose all links to them.

This is a good point, but I believe that this is part of modern etiquette that is still... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 7:58 PM on July 7, 2008

I love pie.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 9:43 AM on July 4, 2008

do we have enough deadites here to have a brucecampbell.metafilter.com?
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 3:07 PM on July 3, 2008

what happened in late April?

The Miley Cyrus photos.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 3:28 PM on June 12, 2008

No, the entirety of Vanity Fair is a typo.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 3:48 PM on June 12, 2008

: And am I the only one who cares that with 71,000 members, MeFi has only attracted 720 votes?

That number probably reflects how many Mefites
a) voluntarily read Time.com
b) care to attract Time.com readers to MeFi
c) bother with online polls.

Is low turnout a bad thing?

The whole enterprise looks like a cheap hit-generator that rewards blogs that are willing to... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 1:31 PM on April 8, 2008

uncanny grasp of the obvious

Yeah, forgot where I was for a moment there.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 3:14 PM on April 8, 2008

Thank you! That sure was fast work.

I wonder whether (or how) this will affect the quality of the answers?
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 2:51 PM on April 2, 2008

You're a filthy lot of wretches. And I love you for it. :)
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:02 AM on April 1, 2008

Haven't gotten to that yet. Still figuring out how not to judge 'Lethal Weapon' by Danny Glover.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:32 PM on March 18, 2008

Every subject has politics embedded somewhere. Something as seasonal and mercurial as the election process is far less interesting alone than as part of the social tapestry Metafilter samples daily.

Random coverage of interesting points is the best.
My drive-by take, anyway.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 5:49 AM on February 22, 2008

We just used to send post cards.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:21 AM on February 18, 2008

Oooh... would love to do that.

COPY!

UPGRADE.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 2:01 PM on January 8, 2008

I hear zennie's bringing cake!

I hear grateful's trying to guilt me into baking. ;)
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 12:00 PM on January 10, 2008

Thanks, y'all! That was fun.

I'm not sure why i didn't smile for that picture.

I think the shot is kind of cool for the range of expressions, to which your not-smile only added.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 4:41 PM on January 26, 2008

Congrats, parmanparman! And having a picnic after the Spring thaw sounds grand.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 12:07 PM on January 28, 2008

Man... really, please consider just dropping the whole Phil thing-- both defense and offense.

Phil's been hated on and Phil's been defended. At this point, everyone's gonna remain where they're standing, so what's the point in continuing the shoving match?
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 5:17 PM on January 7, 2008

Response to my email noting the major missing parts of the NYT followup:

Thanks for your email. I know there are many more details, but with readers pressing us for shorter and shorter stories these days, I get less and less space to tell stories. So I try to hit the highlights at the very least.

Regards, Stephanie Strom (01/08/08)
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 10:46 AM on January 8, 2008

So it's not that I can’t take MetaTalk. It's that I don’t want to dwell in a community (cyber or real) that permits “rough and tumble” and asks people to simply adjust to it.

The thing is, Maureen, you don't have to get used to MetaTalk. Nobody but the moderators are obligated to read or post in MeTa. Many Mefites are quite happy to play in Metafilter and Ask Metafilter, and quite easily forget MetaTalk even exists.

MeTa... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 11:34 AM on January 9, 2008

Beware hubris indeed.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 2:50 PM on January 10, 2008

nax: This is nothing that hasn't been said here before, but nonprofits do not have a "product" and they do not have "profit" in the business sense that I put xx money in and get xxx money out, personally. They have a never-reachable goal (feed the hungry, preserve operetta, improve education) that simply cannot be measured. I can tell you how many hungry people I have fed, or how many operettas I have produced for how many people, or how many children are in how... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 9:15 AM on January 22, 2008

You know maybe below the box it should say "wisecracks and wild ass guesses don't help people find answers"

I imagine that, from the asker's perspective, the problem is that the wild guesses are not marked "wild guess" in some way. Would encouraging everyone to qualify statements help?
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 9:21 AM on January 12, 2008

We must! We've been promised cake.

Now look here, son. I said maybe.

Maybe I will bake you a monstrous ten-layer cake stuffed with home-made fudges.

That is, if I can forgive y'all for planning the Piratz while I was out of the country. ;p
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 10:26 AM on January 7, 2008

Whether Timonium or Baltimore, willing to carpool from points south (MD/DC). Mefi Mail me.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 2:55 PM on November 28, 2007

Eh, so that would be The Still... here.

Since I looked it up anyway.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 2:25 PM on November 29, 2007

...wow. Shoulda staged this meetup in Sykesville.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 6:36 PM on December 9, 2007

It seems inevitable that at some point something is going to go very wrong when advice handed out on AskMe is taken too seriously by a vulnerable or gullible person. Having dealt with suicidal and schizophrenic people myself (although not in a professional capacity), I can see how this is a concern in ikkyu2's example. Some people are simply not capable of judging. The best thing to be done for these individuals, by strangers on the 'net, is to... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 10:50 PM on December 5, 2007

AskMe: Better than WoW?
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:56 AM on December 7, 2007

I don't know how you can drink afterward, cog_nate. I'm woozy enough at that point!

I'm in for the Baltimore-DC area. I'm hoping they won't have to run a hematocrit this time. The finger pricking makes the 16 gauge needle seem like a breeze.

If you are physically capable of donating but are unable to donate blood for transfusions for any reason, you may still be able donate blood for biomedical research at a local research center. I'd have... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 12:41 PM on November 21, 2007

It's bad form to copy/paste from potentially members-only sections of a profile as Elim did, but the reflexive flaming response was completely absurd.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 4:38 PM on November 18, 2007

Dredging other people's profile information is also a trolling favorite. By forum etiquette, it's just not something you do without an obvious benevolent cause, and maybe not even then. I like to make AskMe answers geographically specific to the asker, but unless location in the question, I won't mention it. I've never seen an express rule against it; it just feels rude. (Maybe my admin days color my outlook on this.)
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 5:22 PM on November 18, 2007

I want this place to be, as much as possible, text only. I've swallowed it until now, but I did not like the flickr (etc) profile links, I do not like the mail feature (almost everyone lets the quality of their writing slide in private messages), and I especially, especially do not like profile pictures. I want this place to discriminate. I want it to scare away people who can't read and write. Adding these social networking features lowers the bar by broadening the appeal--there's now... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 4:21 PM on November 2, 2007

pb, I think Mitheral may have been referring to the "close your account" link.

(For that, I hope there is more than one "are you sure" step. Yeah, I'm that clumsy.)
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 4:56 PM on November 2, 2007

I had noticed that the slide show didn't totally jibe with the the article-- the slide show being affable and intimate, and the article being glib and extrinsic. Thank you, DaShiv, for your exemplary forethought; it made a huge difference.

I am happy to see Metafilter get recognition, although I am still a bit disconcerted that people in my online circles keep showing up in the media at diminishing intervals. Will you people stop being so damned awesome all the time so... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:59 PM on September 30, 2007

I should be around.

I understand that this is a demonstration, but I'm unclear on the ultimate goal. Do you want Silver Spring to reclaim Ellsworth Avenue as public property? Do you want to say that land that appears/functions as public should be under public regulation? Any action item for the city?
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 3:31 PM on July 2, 2007

So, you want to say that
1. People should have as many rights and freedoms on the government's leased land as they have on public streets, when the lease provides for public access, and
2. Tenants should be made aware of this in the contract?

I'm not sure what you mean by "these kind of public private partnerships." Does that have to do with the development?

I'm not trying to give you a hard time here. It's... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 10:10 AM on July 3, 2007

Oh yes, quite satisfactory. A++++++ WOULD PROTEST AGAIN. ;)

And cheers to Jamie Raskin, who was very patient in answering all the extra questions.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 8:43 PM on July 4, 2007

If I can count, 22 people piped up and said they're interested. Cool. :)

If anyone wants to recommend one of the "not to be missed" places for this, please do. I would if I could, but my experience with them is limiting.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 10:52 AM on June 9, 2007

That would be this festival? [warning: music]

I have to agree with arco, unfortunately. 'Sides, we need a fixed spot because we seem to have people showing up at slightly different times in the evening.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 6:24 AM on June 11, 2007

Brickskellar was suggested in the other thread; I just have no experience with it. It's near Dupont Circle, so it wouldn't be more than 10-15 minutes on the train from the Convention Center.

There are lots of options if we maybe go in a "dinner" stage of smaller groups and a "drinks" stage to gather up somewheres...?
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 9:38 AM on June 11, 2007

(People could still do dinner at the "drinks" place, of course.)
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 9:52 AM on June 11, 2007

arco, is the Brickskeller "backroom" you speak of just a room that happens to be quiet, or is it the kind we'd need to rent?

Timberlake's is a generic bar with diner-style food that's decent but not special. I don't know about Brickskeller's quality, but you can see their menu here. Brickskeller's selling point is the beer.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 4:19 PM on June 12, 2007

OK, looks like one party for Julia's. How do you get to Julia's from the Metro?

I might like to try that really-close-to-Brickskeller sushi place, if anyone else is interested.
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 10:53 AM on June 13, 2007

Aiight... let's whittle out an itinerary so as to avoid having Mefites wandering alone in the streets of DC.

Metafilter-ALA-DC Meetup: The Brickskeller ~ 8pm. We'll probably be downstairs, in the back room.The Brickskeller
1523 22nd St NW, Washington, DC 20037
brickskeller@aol.com
202.293.1885

Metro Directions
Exit the Dupont Circle Red Line metro stop at Q St., veer left off the escalator and... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 12:29 PM on June 13, 2007

Oh man, I'd love a tour of LOC, too. But as arco said...

Thanks for putting together that map, MrMoonPie. I'd had an entirely wrong idea of where Julia's was!
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 2:25 PM on June 14, 2007

That was quite awesome, everyone. :)

arco: Much obliged for your company on the way home, good sir.

blasdelf and Suparnova: Y'all aren't getting away so easily next time!
posted to MetaTalk by zennie at 9:21 AM on June 26, 2007