MetaFilter

I have also lost some faith in people.

Having been a curmudgeon-in-training for many decades, and having finally attained the age of 60 and therefore being granted my official curmudgeoning licence, I can assure you that you're better off without it.

Individual persons are often pretty OK, and I think it's fine to maintain a bit of faith in those, but people are just fucked.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 9:51 PM on January 20, 2023

All of which is to say, is that if Binance's books aren't in the exact same state as FXT's, and if they're not being kept afloat with their own worthless tokens and shuffling money and returns around, then colour me pleasantly surprised.

This is basically it. Every single one of these systems are inherently zero sum games at a minimum, but are more often negative sum games, especially for high friction Proof of Work based blockchains.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by loquacious at 11:34 AM on November 15, 2022

Per potato ad astra!
posted to MetaTalk by Splunge at 4:11 PM on October 14, 2022

I was just talking with some (non-mefites) friends the other day and trying to explain Ankh-Mopork and the whole thing (they are big Discworld fans like me) and man, I just....MeFightClub rules.
posted to MetaTalk by lazaruslong at 1:30 AM on October 14, 2022

[this is most excellent]
posted to MetaTalk by dg at 11:08 PM on October 13, 2022

When telling tales to my kids, who didn’t really get to see much Aporkalypse because Minecraft was an old people game back then, I always mention the notional park as my favorite place to just wander around.
posted to MetaTalk by majick at 2:28 PM on October 13, 2022

I was most active in MeFightClub about ten years ago, when I moved back across the Atlantic after spending most of a decade in the US. It was a weird time for me, and one way I kept my mind on the level was to play Minecraft on the Aporkalypse. Some friends and I built a "notional park" inside it, which essentially meant staking off an enormous amount of extremely weird early-days Minecraft landscape and making it look like a national park. It was probably the most fulfilling thing... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Kattullus at 2:19 PM on October 13, 2022

stavros, thank you so much for that wonderful update. truly excellent that on top of everything else, you managed to turn the human energy of MFC towards charitable causes. 5 out of 5 astras you beautiful chicken you. 🌟🐓
posted to MetaTalk by lazaruslong at 1:12 AM on October 13, 2022

I am absolutely not a gamer, but I remember hearing about this back in the day and I am so stoked for y'all that it still exists.
posted to MetaTalk by nebulawindphone at 7:02 PM on October 12, 2022

We're all real active on the mefightclub discord server too! I constantly forget that the forums are still active too.

Come and join us on discord! https://discord.gg/RmbtVjJU
posted to MetaTalk by VTX at 6:26 PM on October 12, 2022

I've only ever been the most distant of Mefiters, but it sure did help get me hooked on D&D in a game run and crewed by a bunch of you lowlifes.

I am so incredibly grateful.
posted to MetaTalk by coriolisdave at 5:14 PM on October 12, 2022

I miss the pissyness every time Snofort came up in the rotation.
posted to MetaTalk by Cyrano at 3:53 PM on October 12, 2022

I had a lot of fun playing TF2 with MefightClub, even though I absolutely suck at first person shooters. I have fond memories of being killed regularly by people like zompist, and my one absolute moment of joy where I took off an invisible spies' head with my claymore as a demoman.
posted to MetaTalk by nubs at 3:06 PM on October 12, 2022

I occasionally throw a hopeful [MFC] or [MeFi] on my Steam name if I’m showing up somewhere new or playing something new. Just in case somewhere new has someone awesome in it.
posted to MetaTalk by majick at 6:44 AM on October 12, 2022

MeFightClub was such a wonderful place to hang out! So many hours spent enjoying TF2 and Left 4 Dead 2. While I drifted away ages ago for who knows why, I am so pleased that the rotato spirit lives on. Happy Birthday nerds!
posted to MetaTalk by lazaruslong at 6:19 AM on October 12, 2022

Yay happy birthday!
posted to MetaTalk by DiscourseMarker at 8:51 PM on October 11, 2022

MefightClub helped me during a very difficult time of my life and I met some amazing people because of the site. I will forever be grateful to Stav and the wonderful community of like-minded gamers.
posted to MetaTalk by Diskeater at 8:27 PM on October 11, 2022

MefightClub has been so great over the years. Getting TF2 spun back up early in lockdown was a balm. There's the DCSS games, reading what people have been playing lately, the occasional Minecraft threadbump... really glad it's stuck around.
posted to MetaTalk by curious nu at 6:15 PM on October 11, 2022

Pyro is such a fun class. In particular, that joy of setting invisible spies on fire. Awww yeah.
posted to MetaTalk by rmd1023 at 6:03 PM on October 11, 2022

I kinda sucked at TF2 but man o man it was fun. I got pretty good at pyro.
posted to MetaTalk by vrakatar at 5:50 PM on October 11, 2022

A bunch of us are still playing Overwatch every night. But if you log in, I will probably remember what class you played in TF2. Oh, I haven't forgotten you spies, no way.
posted to MetaTalk by zompist at 4:27 PM on October 11, 2022

What a happy thing! Congratulations!
posted to MetaTalk by mochapickle at 4:20 PM on October 11, 2022

Man. I would not have the job I have now (or have moved to Rhode Island or have met any of my local fiends!) without MeFightClub. I miss playing TF2 all the time with you guys. Back when I was feeling pretty isolated in my early twenties, it was nice to have so many friends on the internet.
posted to MetaTalk by JDHarper at 3:26 PM on October 11, 2022

A dark day indeed. ;)

(I can't log in there anymore!)
posted to MetaTalk by tittergrrl at 3:08 PM on October 11, 2022

HELL YEAH! I'm not as active over there as I used to be, but I'm the main cheerleader for our annual charity fundraiser, which Stav and I usually launch right after American thanksgiving. JOIN US!
posted to MetaTalk by vrakatar at 2:49 PM on October 11, 2022

Happy birthday! I haven’t played in the club for many years but I’ll never forget the fun I had staying up far too late in the UK to play TF2 with y’all…
posted to MetaTalk by adrianhon at 2:18 PM on October 11, 2022

FUCK YEAH MEFIGHT CLUB.
posted to MetaTalk by rmd1023 at 9:10 AM on October 11, 2022

“Periodic reminder that 'the Ukraine' refers to some hypothetical Russian province, whereas 'Ukraine' is the name of a country under siege.”

This can be a surprisingly difficult transition for English-speakers, which is sort-of fascinating in and of itself, since neither Ukrainian nor Russian have definite articles, but Russian propagandists have pushed really, really hard for almost 100 years(!) to get English-speakers to say... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Eyebrows McGee at 7:49 PM on April 9, 2022

Damn. This might not have been the best thing to read on my commute to my (largely) bullshit job where the work that I do has a negligible at best effect on the world, but without which I doubt I’d be able to find work that paid anything like being able to pay the mortgage.

That, and, yeah, I think this is what we’re *all* finding out. “Do your best and work hard, and you’ll achieve your dreams” has given way to watching failsons fall upwards into ever higher employment.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:29 PM on September 27, 2021

Yes, every nationalism is a system of comforting lies that citizens tell themselves. Granted. But Canada's and the US' systems of lies are different.

There's a reason that hyper-macho Canadian nationalists fetishize American symbolism to the degree that they do -- up to and including flying the Confederate battle flag from their trucks. It's because a certain type of asshole buys into a mythos of power -- and yes, exceptionalism -- that Canada's self-mythologies alone... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by klanawa at 7:17 PM on August 10, 2020

"I wish there were some psychological understanding of what exactly happens in cases like that -- as a layman looking at much of the existing research I find it frustrating.

I find the emotional and psychological motivations convincing -- secret knowledge, good vs. evil, escape from boring unsatisfying life, etc. But I don't think these completely explain the phenomenon."

This this this a million times this!... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by deadaluspark at 2:43 PM on July 18, 2020

As I said, Mefites aren't regular people.

Well, I'm a straight cis-het middle-aged white guy whose job swings between blue collar and white collar - am I fucking "regular people" enough for you?

That phrase is appalling, insulting, and ignorant.

Don't you DARE fucking sit there and try to tell us what "regular people" want. Don't you DARE sit there and tell me what... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by soundguy99 at 4:03 PM on June 14, 2020

Boris tapped into it. And that terrifies me.

Large amounts of bush country very close to where I live are currently in the process of being burnt to the ground. The fact that bushfire season got started so early this year is clearly a consequence of anthropogenic global warming, but the intensity and destructive power of these particular fires is mainly due to the displacement of the sustainable and sustaining forest management practices in use here... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 12:10 AM on December 13, 2019

Happy birthday, old friend. Thanks to everyone over its 20-year history, staff and members, who contributed to making it one of the best and most thoughtful communities online.
posted to MetaTalk by waxpancake at 2:58 PM on July 14, 2019

Hi, I haven't posted on or read this site in years, but I heard about the 20th anniversary and thought I'd pop back in to see what's happening.

The red flag says: “Metafilter is full of effective white supremacists”.

So, I work in Diversity & Inclusion, from a business perspective. I also chair an allyship group, and organize fund raisers for groups that help underrepresented minorities. I write angry letters to politicians... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jess at 3:59 PM on July 15, 2019

Okay, stop. You should read what you wrote. You’re dangerously close to saying “PoC should leave if they don’t like it”. I’m going to assume that you are not saying that.

Thanks - people wouldn't have to assume the worst, if they "read the thread".

Especially my comments where I mentioned that I have PoC children - and a partner (and an ex-partner), and inlaws. So, I am fairly certain that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jkaczor at 8:06 AM on July 13, 2019

While I did quip: "MetaFilter: It's exhausting", I wasn't the one to bring that up in the first place.

and just say you're leaving because you're personally tired of being held accountable to responsible, respectful dialog.

The same thing goes for those who are exhausted by participating in something they find tedious with too much emotional labour. Don't participate, but then complain that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jkaczor at 9:12 PM on July 12, 2019

MetaFilter: It's exhausting

That pretty much sums it up - people are checking out, new users have no interest in it, fewer and fewer participants year over year. And it is unwelcoming and alienates just about every demographic at this point. It's all in the numbers, right?

And hey - the people who do discuss how MetaFilter has made a positive impact on their personal growth through participation in this community are... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jkaczor at 7:02 PM on July 12, 2019

Few red tailed hawks circling above us. Thinking of you, rtha.
posted to MetaFilter by lazaruslong at 8:59 AM on November 17, 2018

Elizabeth Warren yesterday came out with her proposal for The Accountable Capitalism Act. (You might have to google to get around the WSJ paywall.)

This act would require large corporations to get a federal corporate charter which would change the primary corporate goal from "maximize profits for shareholders" to considering the interests of all Americans.

One of the key requirements is that 40% of all seats on the board of directors... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by JackFlash at 10:04 AM on August 15, 2018

I wish one day Samsung's postmortem becomes public. I'd love to know if anyone internally expressed any concerns with the design or the batteries, or if it was really a surprise.

From my experience collaborating with Samsung engineers, the company has a culture similar to the one at NASA that allowed the Challenger disaster to happen.

The engineers I worked with were terrified of losing their jobs. I pointed out flaws in their design, they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Dr. Curare at 10:44 AM on October 12, 2016

It wasn't that they were uninterested in making money. It was that doing so without simply running a numbers-game clickfarm is very, very difficult these days. The state of online advertising is making it progressively more so every day.

Yeah, this is a thing. A thing about which MeFi has been generally very lucky over the course of its life so far but also a thing that informs the relatively harsh financial reality of the last few years.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cortex at 5:31 PM on May 13, 2016

I really appreciate the information that verb provided. I disagree with the idea that it isn't possible for a site with The Toast's traffic and staffing levels to make the kind of revenue I'm talking about, but it is a valid point that not all types of content and advertising strategies work equally well for generating revenue, and it's interesting and enlightening to see the magnitude of impact that those differences can have.
Sorry if I came across as combative; a lot of my work... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by verb at 4:48 PM on May 13, 2016

I am still not entirely convinced that Trump isn't deliberately throwing the election, by saying and doing increasingly outrageous things that are at odds with his previous, admittedly unclear, positions. "What we need to do is default on the national debt!" "No, I need to start taking campaign contributions!" "Welp, we might have to raise taxes on the rich people!" This is, of course, in addition to continuing to double down on the outrageous positions previously... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by yhbc at 6:42 PM on May 9, 2016

zutalors!: "People like her more when she has a job than when she's trying to get a job."

I was looking for a job, and then I found a job. And Heaven knows I'm miserable now.
posted to MetaFilter by Chrysostom at 7:01 PM on May 5, 2016

Really overwhelmed by the responses here. Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement. I couldn't ask for a better going away present.

It has me thinking about what a group effort MetaFilter is. If I was able to do good work it's because everyone else was doing great work. Behind the scenes everyone is working hard and improving things before they ever become a part of the site. I feel really lucky to have worked with people who are extremely dedicated to what... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by pb at 8:10 AM on April 27, 2016

Oh, hm. My sister is the "white editor" in the second part of the first link; I have no special knowledge about the events discussed there and now here, but my impression at the time was that she blundered into a well-deserved public shaming of some soi-disant transgressive poets whom she had previously published, mistook it for a place in which the perspective of a self-aware oppressor was relevant or wanted or welcome, and then tried to engage in defensive dialectic when she got... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nicwolff at 1:13 PM on April 25, 2016

> I think the brain has a lot more variation than we think.

This is my takeaway from a lot of what I've been reading lately. We try to impose a false uniformity on humanity at large (and then, unfortunately, tend to persecute those who don't fit it). Thanks for this fascinating post!
posted to MetaFilter by languagehat at 7:57 AM on April 23, 2016

feckless fecal fear mongering: "Again, punching up vs punching down."

I was pretty pro-punching-up and anti-punching-down when first exposed to the concept, but over time watching MeFi discussions, and seeing my own children fight, have generally just made me dislike punching altogether. On rare occasions it works well, but a lot of times it just seems like justification for being a jerk (I'm talking in the general sense here. I don't think... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Bugbread at 5:17 PM on April 14, 2016

I mean, I guess I failed in trying to be a good-faith meta-commenter in this particular thread, which, fair enough, but that stuff seems to be willfully misunderstanding what I actually said, and just kind of mean, to be honest.

Most of those comments came from me, and I wasn't punching up. I'll be honest: I was being a little mean. I'm home sick with some mysterious illness today, I feel like crap, and when I saw your comments I saw every other... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by teponaztli at 5:06 PM on April 14, 2016