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. Poster's request.

One deleted. Poster's request.

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

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.

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.

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!

Changed media images in both episodes of Starfleet Academy.

3 comments removed from thread at the writer's request.

did anyone reach out to the poster to ask them if they had used generative AI to create the question and ask them to repost, as a courtesy?

Yup, I sent them an email explaining the decision more in detail and pointing out to the relevant guidelines.

This thread has derailed and no longer productive. After many flags requesting a closure, it is now closed.

Just remember if the thread closes and y'all want to continue, contact the mods who can reopen it so it stays open.

This can only happen in MetaTalk, fyi

lapis: "The moderators delete comments all the time without notice and seemingly without recourse."

This should not be happening and if anyone does see it happening, I am asking that you use the contact form to send an email that goes to every mod about and/or report it to the Moderation Oversight Committee. Again, this should absolutely not be happening and moderators should be called out if it does happen.

trig: "Given that a huge discussion about this happened 2 months ago, which like every discussion about this complicated issue that has no drawback-less solution was really contentious, and that there doesn't seem to be an appetite to do it all over again quite so soon, and that the poster of this thread said they were okay with deleting it, and that this is a week when mods and the (brand new) board might have less time than usual to read and weigh in and, in the board's case, assess policy - maybe this one could be closed up."

Agreed, closing this thread up.

Ok, i got an example of this happening with this comment of mine, as the first comment and only comment in the thread, https://www.metafilter.com/211567/LEON, on mobile, using the Classic theme. On desktop, the problem does not appear when using the Classic theme.

Anyone seeing the small type in the first comment when it's the only comment?

Members can ask for their account to be deleted. Currently when that happens, the mods ask if the member would be ok with making their posts and comments anonymous to preserve the history of that information while removing the attachment to their account.

If the member says no, that's fine, then we remove all of their posts and comments.

If the member says yes, then we make the author of their posts and comments anonymous.

That rationale is that people should have control over their content and be allowed to redact or remove it for any reason.

Hope this helps clears this up!

Yep, closed

Thread permanently reopened by request, which is something mods can only do in MetaTalk.

Added to site banner

Deleted one at the user's request.

Fixed link, thanks for pointing out GeckoDundee!

Here’s the correct link to the contest!

Two comments deleted at poster request.

Added to site banner.

HearHere: "flagging: mods, can you fix above as requested?"

Can you please message or explain exactly what you want done? Thanks!

Thanks for the post, frimble has been alerted!

One comment removed. Let's avoid sexist comments, saying "she was basically asking for it" is definitely against our Content Policy

One comment removed for pulling information from a member's profile and posting it in a thread, which is not ok per this FAQ entry, please don't do that. This may not have been meant maliciously, or the info was viewed as being on topic, but either way, avoid pulling information from a user's profile.

If anyone wants to do this, they'll need to explicitly asked for permission to do so and the member has to give explicit permission for you to share the information in a thread.

The comment has been removed and the text of it has been emailed to the writer of it, in case they'd like to rewrite it.

What does 'promoting piracy' mean in that context?
Can you explain to me how saying "I went back to pirating" is "allow[ing] it on the site"?

Posting a comment that says "Honestly I just canceled everything and started pirating again", having that deleted and asked to not promote piracy, then posting a second comment that says "You should just pirate" is the line we're drawing here. Don't explicitly suggest/tell/advise others to pirate stuff and don't announce that you're pirating.

'Cause while the chances of the site being investigated for promoting piracy are small, we think it's a good idea to make those chances even smaller by having members avoid advocating piracy.

Post edited, link added!

extramachine: "I lurk there sometimes, but seeing the comments on other Ask-ers has dissuaded me a few times from putting personal questions on AskMe. "

Hey, you can ask a question anonymously or create another account to ask questions. The latter might be a better choice, as it allows you respond or clarify anything if need be.

Added to site banner.

Changed date in post to 18th, updated staff box.

Board tags should be showing up correctly now, and the error loading new comments should also be fixed.

One comment removed and account deleted due to the account being an obvious troll one that targeted a specific member and dragged off site happenings onto MetaFilter.

It should be noted that the troll account was directed at me as a mod and that I'm currently the mod on duty. After consulting with the new board they were in agreement that the comment and account should be removed because there was no need for it be left around for a different mod to deal with.

Two comments by Didymus have been removed, the reasons are summed by donnagirl in this comment.

Didymus has been put on an open-ended ban while mods discuss whether the ban should be permanent. This information has been emailed to Didymus along with a note that we'll have a final decision within 72 hours (Wednesday evening, eastern time).

Mitheral: "It is unclear whether it is anonymous to MeFi admin accounts."

The admins can see who gives guest accounts, yes.

away for regrooving: "Wait, any non-logged-in person can send themself a gift account? Seems potentially exploitable! "

Nah, if the email already exists, no account is made and if a different address is used, someone still has to pay the $5 for the account, so there's no secret about who it is.

1. Is Metafilter policy, "do not say 'Fuck x' where x is anyone."

Yes, in most cases. Allow me to explain, historically there has been no prohibition on non-hateful cursing into the void on the site, but cursing at another person (be it a member, staff, or other people). However, we always try to lean towards leniency, there are exceptions when it comes to public persons, and the subject at hand. Saying fuck [x] in an obituary post about said person is not the same as in a post about their work, or some terrible thing they have done, and even then there are, and will be exceptions.

Admittedly, that mod note, could have used more context. On top of the name calling it was early threadshitting and also a potential derail. Now, if there's a desire to set policies that are clearer and less obscure in their application, that is something I think we all support and can work towards with the new board once seated.

With a new board being seated in about 20 days (eta of November 18th), this is certainly something that could be brought up again sometime soon.

Just coming to clarify because this comment is getting flagged: Actually, saying "fuck someone" does fall under the "Be considerate and respectful" section of the guidelines and the "Name calling" section of the content policy.
However, this is also why we maintain lighter moderation on MetaTalk; it's the place where you can voice concerns, frustrations, and disagreements freely. So while this does technically go against our guidelines, we're probably not going to delete it.
That said, we do hope members can keep in mind that the people being called out here are fellow community members volunteering their time to help.

Do we, as a community, think that cursing public figures for their public actions should be forbidden? And do we know where the line is dividing people like NPH from people like JKR?

Speaking as a mod, these two questions are the most important ones to decide upon, IMO.

Because ause "fuck bernie sanders" and "fuck trump" and "fuck gen z" will probably have different reactions on MetaFilter.

tivalasvegas: "Yeah, AFAIK you can simply contact the mods to request that they post your contribution anonymously to the relevant post."

Yes, this is currently the only way to post anonymously on any MetaFilter site.

Bottlecap: "I already did. And it is my understanding that you can read all memail anyway."

Mods can not read memail. We have to get frimble to check it out. I

f something is going on in MeFiMail please let us know by sending examples of it to us via the contact form or have the person receiving them send us examples.

Anytime that happens, for any member, send us the MeFiMail.

Bottlecap: "Hey everyone, and mods especially, “the moon and I” is sending weird doxxy memails about zarq. I think this behavior merits a time out at the very least."

Please use the contact form to send the mods examples of this behavior, and we’ll take it from there.

No comments removed as MetaTalk has slightly lighter moderation, but please let's avoid calling other members names (dick, in this instance).

brook horse: "I don’t know how mods feel about their job...

It's neat and interesting, but It can be difficult at times, of course, but any job can be. From waiting tables to graphic design freelancing to delivering mail to MeFi mod, people can be brutal with their comments, or as I like to say "The people are definitely peopling today". In these instances it's best to focus on what the actual problem or request and deal with that, as opposed to negative attitudes. It's the other person's choice to be how they are and isn't a reflection on me..

But for MeFi, I do think having mods spend a lot or even most of their time in MeTaTalk isn't great and ideally they'd be spending more time on other parts of the site, encouraging more conversations in the various posts. I described the job as a "facilitator of fun" during one conversation with the interim board and I like that idea.

Have been going back and forth with Rhaomi in email this morning and here's a summary of what's going on:

The large quantity of FPP posts that zarq created would have meant removing a lot of contributions from other people who have participated in the threads. Manually removing the personal information would have required a lot of manual work.

So a new script was developed by Rhaoni (over several months) to go through a user's posts and remove the content of the person requesting an account wipe, while preserving the comments and links that were made in those posts.

Here's how that process works, explained to me this morning by Rhaomi:

The only things remaining from the original FPP are 1. the title (which is part of the URL), 2. the tags (which are a shared site resource), and 3. the raw URLs from the post. Everything else written by the user requesting the wipe is erased, including any original writing that could possibly identify them. The original post text, no matter how long or how simple, is replaced by a brief independently-written one-line description of the topic for context.

This process was developed by Rhaomi over the past few months to comply with any account wiper's request, while still keeping the links and comments of those who had commented on the post.

This new script was run last night on zarq's FPP posts on Metafilter.

That's what I know and understand as of this point.

Whoot, brand new day and times for the site! Congrats to everyone on the new board!

To be clear, I'm not against getting rid of the queue.

No specific data on hand about deleting posts from un-queued sites.

Projects is different though because it's specifically for "for members to toot their own horn and link to something that they have done". Do we care if someone signs up just to post their project on Projects? If someone signs up and puts up a link to a 'One Day Bathroom Remodel' site and says they were the designer for the site, do we let it stand? Matt (the original creator of MetaFilter) thought commercial projects were fine, but things have changed in those 20 years.

Not a big concern, IMO, at the moment. If it starts turning into that, we can rethink things. Probably worth thinking about what constitutes a Project, because shockingly there isn't a firm definition in the FAQ.

No major spam in Projects, it's pretty quiet in general.

For submissions, I would just review them and make sure the project was doing what it said it was doing. There's only two I can think of that I rejected over the past year, one was asking for help with a game design and the other was essentially a stunt post.

If we remove the queue, I'd expect more spammy posts over time, because people, but we'll see.

glonous keming: "ren't there already gaps in mod coverage or am i misremembering that?"

There are gaps ranging from 1-6 hours during weekdays, to a 16 hour gap over a weekend evening.

restless_nomad: "I also don't know if literally everyone is a contractor "

Everyone is a contractor. Mods, loup, developers, all contractors,

Brandon Blatcher: "Hey, just ran through some tests where I created a post for the FPP, Ask, Anon Ask, FanFare, and MeTa, that order. The system correctly posted the FPP, then has glitched where a message is posted saying an old post was deleted, but it wasn't wasn't. Have let frimble know about that, they'll look into it."

Frimble has fixed this, deleted posts are showing up in the mod log with their reason. Note that currently if the deletion reason is edited, a new entry appears in the log for the same post, which is ok, but I'd say it's fine in the sense of members being able to see everything that was done/edit differences.

Brandon Blatcher: "The queue button turns red after 48 hours, I think, still testing this part (will know this evening around 8pm ET). "

Yep, the "button" turns red after 48 hours.

Otherwise, looks like staff was approving anon AskMe's within on a much tighter time frame (a couple of hours) with no issues.

According to Brandon Blatcher, all anonymous AskMes are automatically delayed at least 48 hours.

There's an update to this, I was incorrect.

I wait for the queue button to turn green (as demonstrated here)before checking and approving anon AskMe's. That button turns green after 22 hours (created a test post to verify this).

So the Anon AskMe's are not automatically delayed for 48 hours. They do sit in a queue for 22 hours before the system "green lights" them for a mod to review and post. But the posts can be reviewed and published at any time once they're in the Anon queue.

The queue button turns red after 48 hours, I think, still testing this part (will know this evening around 8pm ET). I've only seen the red button once or twice, when we were checking with other mods about a problematic post, so it did sit for a while.

Apologies for confusion, hope this clarifies things

Klipspringer: "It was launched in March 2025 as "a log of official mod comments and post deletions". However at some point recently the page title has changed to "Recent moderation comments" and it doesn't appear to list deleted posts any more. Could we be told why deleted posts are no longer listed?"

Hey, just ran through some tests where I created a post for the FPP, Ask, Anon Ask, FanFare, and MeTa, that order. The system correctly posted the FPP, then has glitched where a message is posted saying an old post was deleted, but it wasn't wasn't. Have let frimble know about that, they'll look into it.

Checked the wayback machine and the mod seems to have always said "Recent moderation comments". Can you pinpoint a time when it said otherwise?

Talked with loup, we agree it would be best if the newly elected MeFiCoFo Board (voting ends October 14) makes the decision on whether to expand the current moderation log.

plagued out moggies: "I believe there are still some questions for loup from the anon-delay thread. "

Loup was notified of this.

Klipspringer: "for the next (October) site update could we have an update on the Recent Mod Actions page?"

Checking with frimble and loup about the questions!

Also, a delay might be a good thing, as people do write us sometimes, asking to remove their post from the Anon Queue .

The weekends have the longest time between shifts, between 12-19 hours currently. So there will be delays at times.

umber vowel: "
I have another question: Is it expected that moderators will read every AskMe question that gets posted? Is it up to individual mods how much they want to read of the site, as long as they're responding to flags?

It's just surprising that no one noticed those two duplicate questions before approving them. The topics were pretty memorable."

It is expected that we read most of the site, but that isn’t always possible, depending on what else is going. Something public or private might be happening that demands more immediate attention.

Is anything else arbitrarily delayed?

Everything else in the queues is posted as one gets to them on their shift.

Loup's off until tomorrow, but they touched bases on the Slack a little while ago.

It won't be a problem to approve Anon AskMe's during a mod's shift, once they've read them and verified they're not breaking any policy or law (my words). I'll start doing that later tonight.

Posting a link to this MeTa in the mod Slack so that others be aware as they come on shift.

jacquilynne: "Anonymous question submitted."

Approved the test Anon post and it appeared live immediately.

Will delete the test in a minute, but here's the text from the post:

Test
1:38PM Eastern Time
posted by anonymous to Technology at 1:40 PM - 0 answers +

] So yes, Anon AskMe's could be approved any time after they're submitted

Hi, I'd like to do a test of the anon queue and am requesting ONE person respond to this comment. Then that SINGLE person will go and create ONE anon AskMe labeled TEST and in the text of the question will post the time they submitted it and what time zone they'rei n. That test anon question will be approved and then quickly removed and we'll see what happens.

Basically, I'm pretty sure we can approve anon questions whenever, but want to test that assumption.

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

phunniemee: "Can we get any info on how the anon ask me queue currently works?"

Post appears in queue and stays there for 48 hours. From landing page of the backend, mods can see the number of posts in the Anon and other queues (no there is not a MeTa queue, the text was just left there, all MeTas are immediately posted).

After 48 hours (i think), the grey circle turns Green, letting us know to manually approve an Anon post.

After a certain amount of unknown time, the circle can red, letting us know a post is overdue.

Oh, the moderation team will be posting the ThereIsHelp link in suicide related posts, to remind people they don't have to face things alone, reaching out is a courageous step, and help is closer than they might think

mediareport: "I've sent this request via the mod contact form as well. This should be something easily remedied during the next mod's next shift, and I'm expecting it to happen quickly, since the voting period has now begun. Thanks."

Your request has been sent to the Election Committee, who have to approve any changes. Then the changes will be communicated to frimble, who is the only one who has access to edit the particular page.

Thanks for your patience.

Hey, thanks for asking about this.

My understanding is that we post or message the person directly with the ThereIsHelp link in situations when someone seems danger of committing or idealizing suicide. The most recent question wasn't explicitly either of those, so it falls in a gray area and looking at it, I think it's ok to leave it up since people are commenting about why it's not a good idea.

Being more liberal about posting the link is a good idea, so I'm mentioning it in the mod Slack to get everyone on the same page. Thanks for the suggestion!

At the Election Committee's request, am closing up this thread. If people have any questions or concerns, they can post in the "Reminder of end of campaign period" thread.

Several comments removed by commenter's request

pro-tip: If you send a message now, it will have been done...

Good point, I scheduled an email to remind me to send one in two days. Thanks!

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Closing this thread because the Campaign Period has ended. Voting is scheduled to begin on Oct 1, per the Election Timeline. Thank you to the candidates and to everyone that posted questions to them.

Thyme is off for a couple of days, I'll drop a note to them when they're back on Sunday.

plagued out moggies: "Like, here’s a simple, specific question: has loup been actively managing the BIPOC board minutes situation? If yes, how do they think they’re doing? If no, why not?"

I do not know and they're off for the weekend, so the soonest you could get an answer to that is probably around Monday afternoon.

For folks who want to minimize their presence on the site, here's what frimble suggested when we were talking about it the other day:

* Checking in your MetaFilter preferences that "Minimal Profile for non-members" is turned
* Reviewing what platforms are in "Also On" because they appear here https://www.metafilter.com/contribute/socialexplorer.mefi (only available to logged-in members, but regardless) ]

It's also worth noting that a Twitter/X account was trying to get right wing social media to attack the site by screenshotting some of the charlie kirk thread. Please remember that the web is very public and there are some ugly corners of that want to hur

mediareport: "Can you please point me to the mod comment noting that Brandon's mod-announced deadline for the BIPOC minutes to be posted by the end of August would not be met?"

There wasn't one, will keep that in mind for the future.

plagued out moggies: "So, in all honesty: who’s running the ship, mods?"

Same as it's been for a while, loup oversees the mods and we keep them in the, um, loop, of what we're working.

Changed 25 to 23 in post and deleted first comment at the user's request.

chasles: "I agree, seems an easy change. "

Minor note, the About page isn't editable by the mods, it'll have to go through frimble, to edit on the back end. Not a big deal, just a heads up.

One comment removed for posting in the wrong thread.

NotLost, give it about an hour, there's a small speed bump to prevent spamming.

Hid the countdown timer behind the details tag, just click the arrow if you want to see the time left