July 6
should we allow links from...monsters?
Taking a cue from mod_adrienneleigh's recent mod note, let's talk about linking to sites and people that we have problems with. [more inside]
July 5
The election committee is relieved
…that they have been officially disbanded. [more inside]
July 4
Board Update, July 4, 2026
Minutes are available from our meeting on June 30. Those plus highlights inside. [more inside]
The Perpetually Continuing Ongoing Modern Pen Pal Project
Since the beginning of 2020, I've been doing a project where I write a handwritten letter a week to friends, acquaintances, and family members on a topic of their choosing and have sent out over 320 letters since starting. I last posted for correspondents about 2 years ago here in MetaTalk -- and you folks continued to deliver! From your participation, I've started some lovely longer-term correspondences, and have sent out one-time thoughts on everything from video games to the history of my area to books to new interests. My list has dwindled and I could use some new folks to write to! [more inside]
July 1
MeFiCoFo Financial Update, June 2026
June income was up from May (18%), and expenses were down (9%), resulting in a small profit. The P&L can be found here (the QuickBooks P&L can be found here). Last month's update is here.
HOUSEKEEPING NOTE Going forward these updates will be titled to reflect the reporting period, and will only refer to the reporting month (so this is the update for June 2026, next month will be July 2026). [more inside]
HOUSEKEEPING NOTE Going forward these updates will be titled to reflect the reporting period, and will only refer to the reporting month (so this is the update for June 2026, next month will be July 2026). [more inside]
June 26
Should we have a puzzles page?
Puzzles are low-maintenance, high-value things that smart people like doing. They drive engagement. [more inside]
June 25
The Upstairs Apt above the neighborhood dive we call Metafilter Tavern
Where do the mods and the board actually meet? Besides zoom. I assume not all communication takes place on that platform? [more inside]
Thank you, Lyn Never
It has been a few weeks since Lyn Never buttoned. I don't want to start a thread discussing the whys of that. I respect Lyn's decision. I just feel like such a significant loss to the AskMe community ought to be noted, somewhere. Or, maybe just I need it. Lyn's wisdom truly made MeFi a better place and made me a better person. [more inside]
June 23
Making tags more readable
There has been discussion in the past about people using Camel Case/Capitalised Case (which looks like this: BananaSmoothie, StrawberryShortcake) to make tags easier to read. There is a website which quickly and easily converts lower case text into Capitalised Case text.
Request to post: De Schatkamer
A request for someone who speaks Dutch to post on this and provide more context than I can: De Schatkamer is a new website with an archive of hundreds of thousands of Dutch radio and television broadcasts from the past century, free to access.
June 22
Inter-generational MetaFilter
We just wrapped up the first of two Town Halls and discovered that one of the attendees was introduced to MetaFilter by his uncle, who is also a member. I'm just curious if anyone is a part of or knows of other intergenerational or familial member connections. Spouses and partners are common but what about parents and adult children, or siblings, or indeed uncles and nephews or aunts and nieces? [more inside]
June 21
Feedback on moderation
I noticed a good mod note from mod_adrienneleigh in a random Ask and it reminded me how appreciative I've been of her transparent and proactive approach to moderation - even when I don't 100% agree all the time. It made me curious as to whether there has been a broader shift so I visited the mod log to take a peek. [more inside]
MetaFilter Blood Donation Team
While bopping around the Red Cross Blood Donation App during my last blood donation, I saw that we can create teams. The app tallies up approximately how many lives you've saved via your donations and ranks you against other teams.
So I created the MetaFilter team, which you can access by selecting "IMPACT" at the bottom of the app. (imgur link to a screenshot of the iOS app) [more inside]
June 20
Precise likes broken
The behavior of the “precise” likes listing changed from useful to useless at some point. At least I think it did. [more inside]
June 19
MetaFilter members were immediately suspicious
MetaFilter's own waxpancake digs into the wild Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows affair. It's an excellent deep dive into this brave new world of fully automated monetized plagiarism.
June 18
What if you could give MetaFilter $2,000 a year by doing almost nothing?
Here’s the short version: the Donation page has been updated. And if you currently give $10 or less a month via PayPal, get in loser, we are optimizing fee structures to collect a pile of free money. Follow me below the fold for the deets. [more inside]
June 16
Intentionally making certain words unsearchable
Does anyone practice such here?
Do you want to type certain words, yet you don’t want those words associated with you? With ads, tracking, and general data collection these days…type in the wrong word (anywhere) and you get flooded with unwanted ads.
Then there’s sensitive info that you wouldn’t mind sharing with mefites, but you would mind otherwise. Like you have a unique first name.
Is it even possible? Like if I type in ~~~fornication~~~ here, will “fornication” (and this post) show up in the search results?
HEAR YE HEAR YE: 501(c)3 Application In, New Bylaws Out!
We are excessively pleased to report that Metafilter Community Foundation has officially applied to the US Internal Revenue Service for recognition as a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization. With this milestone comes shiny new bylaws. Find out what that means for the future of the site and for you as a member. [more inside]
June 15
Post about the Android lockdown?
I just found out about this: https://keepandroidopen.org/
I can't post about it right now - does anyone have time? Or has it already been posted?
June 14
You’re Invited: MetaFilter Town Hall #2
Our next two Town Halls will be held on Monday/Tuesday and Tuesday/Wednesday the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of June depending on where you are in the world. Everyone is invited! [more inside]