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Jessamyn: Thanks for the kind words about my fiction-related front page posts. It's good to know that you particularly like the ones where there's a jumping-off point to talk about something beyond the specific story/stories. And those threads do, reasonably, get more comments, so I figure you're not alone!
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 6:32 AM on December 1, 2021

I am doing a variant and working on my nonfiction book! I'm aiming on at least 400 words per day, following in Terry Pratchett's footsteps.

I often find it helpful to do live videocalls for accountability while working ... I'll probably be doing some of that this month, so speak up if that's something that would interest you! I often have a lot of flexibility regarding time of day.

Resources for NaNoWriMo and variants, by The Wrong Kind Of Cheese.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 6:44 AM on November 1, 2021

I've added 446 words to my manuscript today, spurred on by something I read on social media recently: "The only job of a first draft is to exist."
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 5:02 PM on November 1, 2021

I am trundling forward, fleshing out some chapters per my outline.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 4:41 AM on November 10, 2021

The Wrong Kind of Cheese -- no problem! Glad people got a second chance to find your resources!

Today I started a new chapter in the nonfiction book I'm writing (a guide to learning open source maintainership skills for rejuvenating legacy software projects) and tore through several hundred words -- they came a lot easier than a lot of words have so far this month. Yay!

How are others doing?
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:45 AM on November 10, 2021

We’re discussing the removal of the question limit in Ask entirely.

Wow! That's big and could be great!
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 10:13 AM on October 20, 2021

I am enjoying the newsletter! A more all-in-one curated taste than Best Of is.

Suggested title:

What's New on MetaFilter
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 9:54 PM on August 3, 2021

As Gotanda said:

One implication of this decision, is that flagging problem posts or comments is even more important during low moderation periods.

Yes! Agreed!

Reminder that the most recent site update discusses the current status regarding updates to the flag feature itself.

In past discussions about flagging comments and posts, some users have said "I've never flagged… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 10:00 PM on July 19, 2021

EmpressCallipygos, you've just reminded me of this tale of accidentally mooning Maya Angelou, which led to 10 minutes where my spouse and I discussed how different contemporary English-language poets would react to being accidentally mooned. (My spouse opined that Larkin would moon you back.)
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 1:03 PM on July 12, 2021

An additional accommodation that some people use, mentioned in a past MeTa thread: some disabled and/or neuroatypical folks prefer ThreadReader-type links instead of reading threads in the original Twitter interface.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:13 PM on June 29, 2021

curious nu: for long text articles/pages, I think it's sometimes also appropriate to provide a summary, or (as I did here) give a kind of table of contents with summaries of the sections in the linked-to thing.

In case a post author wants to write image descriptions for images that don't have descriptions already, I saw a link to a good resource on how to do that well. Relatedly it'd probably be good to dig up guidance on emoji usage to check that screenreaders don't… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 9:10 AM on July 4, 2021

the primroses were over: context starts here in this MetaTalk thread where Acheman talks about this MetaTalk post with mods.

Folks who didn't see it: the primroses were over is referring to this now-deleted front-page post.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 2:08 PM on July 2, 2021

There are a few specific objects I have lost where I'd like to definitively know what happened to them. In particular, I loved a mustard-yellow light corduroy jacket that I even had a favorite performer sign at a show in the late 1990s, and somewhere in the subsequent ~4 months it disappeared. Did my mom get rid of it in a sort of Jeeves-like quiet judgmental disposal? Did I leave it on a bus or something? Where did it go?! Similarly for a little bag of electronics cables and similar that… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 9:21 AM on May 17, 2021

I'm very sad about his death. What a huge loss. A friend of mine who knew him well said, "He always tried to bring other people up to his level, but he wasn't afraid to meet you wherever you were." and that's such an important pair of principles -- that's how I want to be too, and I'll remember it as a part of his legacy. 42 is so young -- he had so much more ahead of him.

I met Dan in 2010 at QuahogCon, a little information security conference in Rhode Island,… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 6:32 AM on April 27, 2021

I still seek more complete answers regarding bindis, a temple, a crowdsourced list of non-Amazon shops, and an aggregated way to search a person's local US political campaign donations across all fifty states, the territories, and all 3,000+ counties (Follow The Money has gotten some more info but is still not as comprehensive as I would like). The question I have asked that garnered zero comments: "Final exam question about how infotech can help oppressed poor people".… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:19 PM on April 4, 2021

Much thanks for the update! Glad to hear about what's cooking.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 1:41 PM on February 14, 2021

(I'm a member of the BIPOC board and I had neglected to fill out the scheduling form for the next meeting, despite a reminder; just did that now. Sorry.)
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:11 AM on February 15, 2021

Ghidorah -- it's interesting how we can perceive the speed/volume of a thread so differently! I find this thread so much more manageable and readable at its current speed than I would if it were moving far faster. I can actually keep up with what people are saying (in terms of words posted per minute).
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 3:05 PM on February 15, 2021

Whereby.com and Jitsi.org are videocall platforms to consider, too. Both make it easy to start a free meeting and to do audio and/or video, share your screen, and/or watch a YouTube video together (ad-free), with accompanying text chat. I use them to watch videos with friends, including exercising together along with instructional videos -- YouTube audio takes over and everyone else is muted, but you can still see everyone else's camera. Meetings on Whereby's free tier are limited to 4 people;… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:10 AM on February 10, 2021

In case you are thinking "what makes a good short post?" one option is linking to a good short story. I would love for more people to post links to short fiction they've enjoyed as front page posts to MetaFilter. Here are some sources of recommendations in case that's helpful.

I agree with various people who have spoken in this thread so far: thoughtful criticism of the articles/stories/videos/etc. that we link to in our posts is, like, 1% as discouraging as… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 3:05 PM on January 19, 2021

The thread sciatrix is mentioning.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 9:33 AM on January 20, 2021

Not A Thing, you are very kind to say that any aspect of that series was impressive. But I liked the one-per-day limit; it did not break momentum for me. The externally imposed one-per-day limit was soothing, in an interesting way; once I had posted, I knew that I could not possibly post again for 24 hours, which meant that I was [temporarily] done. This external constraint can reduce, for me, the nagging feeling that I could be doing more, and that, thus, I ought to do more.… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 11:09 AM on January 20, 2021

Some people have never flagged a comment and do not know how to do so or are afraid of doing it wrong. Here is a guide, with screenshots. I probably flag two to four comments every day (mostly as "noise/derail/other") and sometimes that results in comment deletion and/or a mod note. Also: cumulative flag totals (how many times you have flagged other people's comments and posts) are not kept on individual users.

If you want to write a comment complaining about… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 4:48 AM on January 26, 2021

mandolin conspiracy asked whether there is a running list of accessibility concerns that are in the queue for staffers to address. I don't know of one but in 2019 in one of the MetaTalk threads about disability this list was compiled. Scroll down to the "Some broader ideas that might help?" section.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 2:03 AM on January 14, 2021

I think the thread we're talking about is this one.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 3:44 AM on December 15, 2020

MeFi Projects has a bunch of short free online things to read, listen to, etc. that might amuse y'all.

I've been watching The Great Canadian Bake-Off (EVEN NICER than the British version! Nicer judges!) and my household also recommends the British series The Repair Shop where competent people quietly repair well-loved heirlooms.

Also last night I spent a few hours reading this compilation of humor on Tumblr and it was great.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:47 AM on November 4, 2020

I have a few short story recommendations, fun stuff:

"Necromancer that doesn’t know they’re a necromancer and thinks they’re just a really good emt"

"Tudor Spies and Perfidy", a fanfic based on "The Ten Stupidest Things I’ve Heard Since Richard III’s Remains Were Identified"

"Average Avengers Local Chapter 7 of New York City", a Marvel fanfic in which "Steve and Tony… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 10:05 AM on November 5, 2020

Today I got to watch an acquaintance's Ph.D. dissertation defense (he passed) and it was so interesting to get to learn about his research! I love watching dissertation defenses -- if it were possible to drop in on a few every week I think I would, in widely different disciplines. I get to see a very motivated person share research they've thought about and worked on for years, a culmination, and then afterwards we (usually) get to celebrate their achievement and people are super happy!
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 6:58 PM on November 6, 2020

I'm so glad people value and appreciate the series. And it means a lot that I've been helping people discover new authors and publishers. Thanks for the comments and messages! They are motivating!

In 2009, my spouse and I solicited submissions, paid authors & artists, and published a short scifi/fantasy anthology. In retrospect I thought: there already exist fantastic indie magazines and presses that get way too little attention. I didn't feel the need to make more… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:55 AM on October 5, 2020

Right now I have posts queued up till 31 October, and I am planning to stop there, FYI. Since so many folks appreciate these posts: consider keeping them going.

Some sources of short fiction recommendations: My short fiction recommendations (tagged on Pinboard) (I think "Retriever" and "The Most Important Thing" might particularly appeal to MeFi), Charles Payseur's reviews, joannemerriam's recommendations, No Time To Read A Book Club, Maria Haskins's… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:50 AM on October 20, 2020

Made my last post in the series. Thanks again to everyone who commented or MeMailed, especially people who talked about their reactions to the stories!
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 7:51 PM on October 31, 2020

From 2015, on what to do with his ashes.

.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 11:20 PM on October 25, 2020

I only realized after hitting Post that I could tag my FPP today with "dreamweek" because it's partially about a utopian scifi story told as a recollection of a dream! Thank you, MeFi website developers who have made it possible to add a tag to a post after initially publishing it.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 9:15 AM on September 9, 2020

I like and support Going to Maine's three suggestions in the original post, and two more recent points.

As a MetaFilter user I had a general assumption that I would be able to browse the comments that I personally had made, via the website, for as long as the website would be up, and that I'd be able to see the context they were replying to. Browsing my past comments has helped me think about things I want to say elsewhere; sometimes I've expanded thoughts from my… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 11:52 AM on August 6, 2020

Flannery Culp: If I understand you correctly, you would not find it to be the case that your labor was disrespected if comments that had you made to MetaFilter years previously disappeared from the Internet, because you make your comments focusing on the immediate discussion and not particularly caring about whether they will be of interest or use to future readers. I'm thinking about whether the same is true if a commenter did/does write on the assumption that the discussion… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 11:54 AM on August 9, 2020

restless_nomad, the recent approach you and other mods have taken in recent MetaTalks has helped give me some useful tools as a community manager in a different space. I'm leading a thing that will change stuff that other people depend on, and I just dealt with some upset folks. In particular, your example helped me remember to be more ok with saying "thanks for the suggestion, I'll bring it up with the team next week" instead of replying with a longer "here's… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 11:06 AM on August 1, 2020

On a general "who should have access to whose words" point:

I second saeculorum and maxwelton.

"Right now, wiping your account wipes all answers to the AskMeFi questions you post. That means wiping your account involuntarily erases the works of others (including marginalized groups). It'd be even more disrespectful to the question responders to claim ownership over their answers and that you have the right to both retain their… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:01 AM on August 5, 2020

Currently the export tools available give you all undeleted [...] comments, and all favorites on undeleted items. I'll get the FAQ updated with that more specific info today.

I'm sorry but I am not sure whether "undeleted comments" includes comments on deleted posts. So, (example) if I made three comments on a post by user A in 2013, and then in 2019 user A deleted their posts, then the export tools will omit those three comments?… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 11:15 AM on August 9, 2020

loup, thank you for leading this project!

People who want to see the previous guidelines, so you can compare: here's what the page said in mid-June.

I saw that the guidelines revision removed some "don'ts," and if you don't mind talking a bit about how you decided to remove stuff, I'd like to know. For instance, I'm guessing that the reasoning for removing the item about name-calling is different from the reasoning for removing the item about spamming.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 2:00 PM on July 27, 2020

Ah, got it! Thanks!
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 2:28 PM on July 27, 2020

cortex: Thanks for the explanation of what you're considering.

I hear what you're saying about how flag-immediately-for-mods (instead of blocking the post/comment from being made) makes sense because many of the problematic words, for instance, show up in URLs, or might be substrings of other words. If you want help starting that list, I know Darius Kazemi has a list of words he excludes from use in his bot projects (also see data/words/expletives.json in his corpora… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 3:13 PM on June 26, 2020

I also should have said: big appreciation here for xtine for writing this up and proposing it!

Thanks for the further context, cortex. Totally understand about the level of software change involved being much easier if you hook things into the flagging system versus building a new holding/preventing/hiding comments feature. If there's some way to make a certain rare class of "this is extra-urgent" flag that notifies the on-call mod more "loudly," like… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 3:57 PM on June 26, 2020

Sometimes all you need is the MVP.

For people who aren't familiar with this bit of software jargon: Alterscape is referring to a "Minimum Viable Product", which is a starter version of an application or a feature that has the absolute minimum useful functionality, and that is good enough for users to start using for real. The idea is that creators start by making an MVP, and have users interact with it, because in real-life interaction, users… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 12:20 PM on June 27, 2020

Since I originally pointed to Kazemi's list in this thread (in the spirit of "If you want help starting that list" for MetaFilter's use), I followed up with gudrun privately regarding this comment:

This is one of the two words that jumped out to me as being left off of Kazemi's list, and why I said it has some flaws.

and helped get both of those two words added to Kazemi's wordfilter list. (See "pull… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 12:39 PM on June 29, 2020

For clarification: here, BIPOC means "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color"? (I want to make very sure of this because I am a person of color who is neither black nor indigenous, and I'm interested in volunteering some time to participate.)
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 4:40 PM on June 25, 2020

A while back I expanded the MeFi wiki page about flags and flagging in case there is anything there to integrate into revised official documentation, or any policies documented there that ought to be changed.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 8:23 PM on June 24, 2020

zamboni: Glad the wiki page expansion was helpful!

I did this because of stuff that came up in the disability & ableism threads. A few times in those threads, people have said "I have never flagged a comment" or similar statements. For some people, it's scary to click on something they've never clicked on before, especially something that might lead to an interaction with authority figures. And some people appreciate a step-by-step guide to an unfamiliar… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 10:03 AM on June 25, 2020

Oh wow I know James! I've worked with him a bunch. Thanks for the heads-up, terrapin!
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 1:54 PM on June 24, 2020

Sorry, but I did not read all of your comments. They are pretty long. I think your tendency to filibuster is something you could pull back on quite a lot.

Can you say a little more about why verbose explanations read as "filibustering" to you, and why you did not read the responses? I find this confusing and am trying to work out what you mean and whether you are saying that you *could not* read them or you did not *want* to read them, but don't want to misread you.
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 5:01 PM on June 19, 2020

Don Pepino, I think I disagree with you about a couple things. (Maybe you were using hyperbole; I'm not always good at reading when people mean things literally versus hyperbolically.)

How can you say that in print and affix your username to it and not even worry for a second how it makes you look?

Where are you getting that, as he wrote the comment, he didn't worry about how it made him look? Sometimes I worry about a decision… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by brainwane at 1:19 PM on June 22, 2020