One comment deleted. Please avoid arguing with the OP, instead, please address the main question being asked.

Just a quick note to acknowledge that chmmr has apologized for making this post and there have been some flags and comments asking for this thread to be closed. After talking it over with the board, we’ve decided to keep the thread open. MetaTalk is here for the community to have the conversations it wants to have, and we feel that closing the thread would cut off a conversation that people clearly do want to have. Let’s try to keep this conversation productive and empathetic.

One deleted for noise.

Moved text below the fold as it was breaking the mobile display text wrap on the front page.

Removed a duplicate comment.

One comment removed. Please read the question carefully before commenting. As OP said: "But I do want more traffic and voices than FanFare's book section"

One non-answer comment removed, as per the Content Policy.

One deleted. Poster’s request.

Title fixed!

Fixed!

One deleted: wrong thread.

After review by the Moderation Oversight Committee, the comments by cendawanita, gwint, and others have been reinstated.

Removed a trolling comment by cendawanita and a bunch of responses from gwint and others about the US and South Korea that was a derail. Please move on y'all. EDITED TO ADD: Those comments have been reinstated after a decision by the Moderation Oversight Committee--BB 10:23pm ET 3/4/2026

Hi, one comment has been removed, per the Content Policy, for not answering the question and posting a joke. Please remember that AskMetaFilter is more tightly moderated and comments need to answer the question being asked.

Hey, this is a general mod note to y'all to be careful with your analogies and how far you stretch them. It can cause a lot of derails and needlessly raise the temperature of the thread, so think'em through please!

One comment removed. Please refer to the AI Generated Content section of the Content Policy

A comment suggesting the pain may be in the OP's head has been removed.

Take people, especially women, at their word when they say they're in pain.

Hey falsedmitri, the link to that screenshot is borked. If you post it in the thread, I'll fix it in the post.

Hey prismatic7, Several of your comments have been removed, particularly the one saying "fuck you" and another using explicit violent language towards another member. Using that kind of invective against other members violates the Content Policy, hence the removal. If you keep making those types of comments, we will have to start issuing timeouts or bans. The situation sucks, yes, and you’re in the middle of it, which is terrible, you have our sympathies, but that’s zero reason to be abusive to other members of the site. Knock it off.

One deleted for spam.

One deleted for use of the r word. Feel free to re-write the comment without it.

One deleted. Poster's request.

One deleted. Duplicate.

One comment removed because it simply told the OP to search previous questions, which is not really helpful.

Several comments removed, please stick to the OP's request: "I would appreciate only personal narratives in an answer to this question, not general answers on the nature of alcoholism, addict psychology, or anything of that nature."

Hi, just a mod note to say we're aware of prismatic7's comments and recognize the frustration that produced them. Thank you for sharing them. But please remember that many MeFites, including in the US, don't agree with or like what's going with the administration or this war with Iran. Lots of folks are on your side and also frustrated with our lack of power in preventing this and so much other shit the American government has done and is doing. To my fellow Americans and westerners, please take a few minutes to think about where prismatic7's comments are coming from and why. Finally, the back and forth about those comments isn't doing anyone or this thread much good, so please recognize the validity of multiple viewpoints about all this and avoid arguing specific points repeatedly. No comments have been removed. (This mod note has been edited to clarify a distinction between individual MeFites and MetaFilter as an organization)--BB 3/2/2026 at 7:50pm ET

stoneandstar: "Just fill out the questions, man, it’s not that hard. You sound very difficult!"

Please focus on helping the OP and avoid berating them, 'cause that rarely works. OP is clearly having difficulties and making them feel worse about the problem they're having can be discouraging.

One comment removed at the writer's request.

One deleted. Poster's request.

Fixed!

Several comments that were about America have removed. This post is about Great Britain, please avoid injecting USA issues into it.

Thella's earlier comment stating that TERF is a "slur-ish silencing" term has also been removed for being transphobic. Other comments addressing that statemen have been left up for context.

A comment by Thella has been removed for transphobia, per the Content Policy. Continued violations of that policy can result in a ban.

Added Substack tag by a user's request.

One deleted. Posters request.

One deleted, poster's request.

AI comments deleted and one reply to them also deleted.

Updated the FAQ entry to make it clearer on how to hide and show US politics posts.

Calling Lindsey Graham "Ms. Lindsey" is homophobic so that comment has been removed, per the Content Policy. The member who wrote the comment, WatTylerJr, has been banned for a day and emailed a note about refraining from such remarks in the future or they may face a longer or potentially permanent ban

Mod here, have brought this up on the Slack, we’re discussing now to make sure we’re all on the same page/understanding of what the US politics sidebar is for. Will report back later this evening.

Post edited to include note and clearer link to the mentioned film, with OP's approval.

Main link updated at OP's request.

One deleted. Poster's request.

Another comment removed for not answering the question. From the Content Policy:

Ask MetaFilter comments should address the main question being asked. Jokes, derailing the conversation, ranting, picking a fight or chastising the asker, arguing among commenters, single word comments and other non-answers will probably be removed.

humbug: "uspol tag please?" Added!

Couple of comments removed for not answering the question.

One deleted. Insensitive comment that fails to contribute to the thread in a substantial way.

One comment removed. Please avoid arguing with other members' responses and remember that Ask MetaFilter comments should address the main question being asked.

martin q blank: "A group of Washington Post reporters has started a GoFundMe to get their colleagues home and pay for relocation, housing, legal support and more. IIRC we're not supposed to post fundraiser links here, but it's easy to find on the site." Generally speaking it's best to avoid GoFundMe type links in a post. But as a comment and for reporters dealt another crappy hand by a billionaire? Share that link(s) in the comments!

growabrain: "I've wanted to post an academic FPP on Metafilter about pornography, in order to stimulate a general debate about the topic (which is dear to my heart) and I wonder if it can be done without it being deleted. I know that the community is very politically-correct and protective and lots of people are offended by various subjects. So is it possible? The links I discovered are Wikipedia-worthy and couldn't pose any offense to anybody. So, if the consensus is 'better not', I'll keep them to myself. Your opinion?... Grazie." Moderator here, but not on duty. There's no inherent restriction against a post about pornography, but obviously it's a sensitive topic that can spark various reactions in the comments. So be mindful of that and lean into the academic side of things. Probably a good idea to leave include a Content Warning and put the bulk of the post inside. Feel free to email the mods a draft of the post if you want any feedback about whether it's ok as a FPP (which you're not bound to follow). I imagine that as long it's handled with care and sensitivity, it should be fine.

One deleted. Poster’s request.

tiny frying pan: "What is this post actually about? The range of topics seems all over the place." Hi, friendly reminder that there is a list of tags/keywords for every post, located on the right side of the post on desktop or at the bottom of the page on mobile. Granted, that's not easy to find on mobile, especially for this particular post, but it IS there, if people are wondering what a post is about. Remember, folks don't have to read, enjoy, or understand every single post. It's perfectly fine and even encouraged to just close the tab or window if you don't like or understand a post and move on to another one.

briank: "Sorry, my bad. The character is Series Acclimation Mil. I have emailed the mods to fix it."

Fixed!

Added AI tag.

Removed a snarky comment that was attacking another member and a response to it. Please remember that AI can be a pretty heated topic, but that doesn't mean you have to get nasty with other community members, that's a choice you're making. Knock that off.

One comment removed for being more about what that person things MeFi's attitude is about AI instead of the thread subject.

I've deleted the whole "BDSM is a Thing" derail. This is a serious discussion about a sensitive subject, so please Be sensitive to context. CynicalKnight please take a step back and let the thread move on.

plagued out moggies: "Maybe I’m just greatly misreading you, but this reads like a ChatGPT hallucination to my eye." Obviously feel free to disagree with others, but insinuating that another member is AI or using AI is an insulting and unhelpful path to take, so please avoid doing that in the future. It's also ok to move on if other members don't want to discuss a particular take with you or explain themselves to your satisfaction or understanding. Please just move on, thanks.

Member Kadonoishi has been banned for 24 hours for continuing the Elon Musk derail after being asked to stop and not doing so.

Kadonoishi, you're derailing the thread by making it about Musk, and/r how MetaFilter doesn't like Musk, instead of the actual subject. Stop it. You're free to make your own thread about Musk if you like, but you absolutely need to stop derailing this thread. If you can't, a timeout will be issued. Several comments are in the process of being removed.

kadonoishi: "Imma sharply criticize the MeFi community right now by pointing out that, if you like Technology Connections's presentation, then you need to acknowledge that Elon Musk has been doing exactly this since he bought into Tesla in 2004, with the exact eventual purpose that TC laid out very ably in this video." Hey, it's totally ok to leave Musk out of this thread since it's not about him or his company. There's plenty of other threads and places on the internet you can talk about him. It's also ok and even preferred to refrain from lobbing accusations at the entire community. No comments have been removed, but please move on from that derail.

Yes, tags do have RSS feeds, here’s the one for Siteupdate. Click on the tag of any post and you can access the RSS feed.

Hey, if your comment includes the words "I will almost certainly get dinged here for unhelpful victim-blaming or finger-wagging or condescension..." make the choice not to comment and move on, or adjust your comment to not be those things.

That comment and a response have been removed.

Added "Melania: " to the post to make it clearer what the film is.

bitteschoen: "Just kidding, sorry, I just wanted to try out the MefiQuote thing because this is the very first time I hear about this. Très cool. And really should be the default maybe?"

Added a FAQ entry about MeFi Quote with the help of Darling Bri and frimble. It has a couple of videos showing usage and how to turn off and on.

That entry may be updated once it's decided whether it's on by default, but for now there is reference entry to link to!

One deleted as it was noise and posted more than once.

One deleted. Poster's request.

Folks, the fighting and back and forth needs to stop now. Nothing deleted yet, please stop commenting if you've commented several times already.

An hour ago I got an actblue donation SMS for the Democrats that included Alex Pretti's name." Got a note asking that this comment be deleted because after further investigation it looked like it might be a scam unaffiliated with the Democrats.

One comment removed for being in the wrong thread.

Glegrinof the Pig-Man: "Dropping into a thread to "well ackhsually" collective action and demand "numbers" is some infiltrator shit." It's totally ok to disagree with someone WITHOUT accusing them of being an infiltrator, so please knock it off.

One comment removed for not really answering the question and getting into weight loss issues, which the OP asked people to avoid in this thread.

Hey OP, if find yourself veering towards suicidal ideation or harming yourself, please check out the ThereIsHelp Wiki page. It’s a list of support resources compiled by volunteer MeFites, so take a look and if you can't find resources near you, feel free to reach out to the mods with your general location and we can post it to the thread so others can help with finding help near you.

Just a reminder that threadsitting is discouraged. Ask MetaFilter is intended to serve as a place to leave your question to be answered by the community, without frequent back-and-forth commenting.

One comment deleted at poster's request.

Aye sir, edit so made. Ever an honour.

...but I can’t stress enough how much I’m not looking for weight loss tips or advice to lose the weight...]

Hi, mod here, am leaving a note for other mods to keep an eye on this thread. But if such comments do appear, please flag them and please don't hesitate to do so thinking someone else will flag them. Comments with a lot of flags will alert mods, so flag early a

One comment deleted, please refer to the AI Generated Content: section of the content policy.

Obvious maybe, but yeah, we’re leaving this one up, ‘cause why not?!

Okay, changed!

Changed media images in both episodes of Starfleet Academy.

One deleted. Noise.