5 ms·

I used to love ask.metafilter.com! I went there almost every day, up until a couple of years ago. Around then, I sort of lost interest, as most of the popular

by ap22213 12y ago

I used to love ask.metafilter.com! I went there almost every day, up until a couple of years ago. Around then, I sort of lost interest, as most of the popular questions became 1) Can you recommend me a recipe X for Y?, 2) I hate my life, now what?, 3) Can I ask this question so that we can all bash men? That's just my opinion. I'm sure it's not the reason for their downfall. It does make me sad, and I hope the data doesn't disappear. (Losing karma is worth it sometimes, to state an opinion against the masses. Political correctness be damned.)

mbrubeck 12y ago
I think this might be some confirmation bias in action; if you actually look at the front page of http://ask.metafilter.com/ http://ask.metafilter.com/ today (or pretty much any day in recent years), or the popular questions at http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorites http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorites , the majority are not in these buckets you're complaining about. ("Recommend good books/movies/tools for X" questions are disproportionately represented in the "popular" list, because users interested in the same topic tend to favorite these so they can follow the recommendations too.) My own favorite AskMe thread recently was this crowd-sourced deciphering of a hundred-year-old postcard written in Norwegian in an obsolete gothic script: http://ask.metafilter.com/257990/Help-me-decipher-this-handwritten-Norwegian-postcard-from-an-ancestor http://ask.metafilter.com/257990/Help-me-decipher-this-handw...
- ap22213 12y ago
  Maybe. I'll check it out, at least. Edit: unfortunately I can't test your theory, because the 'most popular' links only go back so far. And, I'm interested in the ones in a typical 'day range' for favorites, around 10-60, or so. But, it would be interesting to test.
  - mbrubeck 12y ago
    If you're logged in, you can also use the "My Ask" tab to browse questions from selected tags/categories, instead of all categories. Useful if you prefer, say, science questions over relationship questions.
  - pronoiac 12y ago
    Check out "Most Favorited Posts in the Past 7 Days:" http://www.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7 http://www.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7 There are also links for 24 hours, 7 days, 12 months, and all time. Here's the equivalent for Ask Metafilter: http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7 http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7
Mz 12y ago
I will suggest that MetaFilter may be a victim of its own success to some degree. Growth of a forum always introduces new challenges and you solve those or experience die-back. I have seen it often, in other forums. though none were supporting multiple full time staff members. Yes, I realize Matt thinks it is largely due to changes in Google algorithms and that may be true. Or it may be more complicated than that. (In my experience, it is more about the community. Everything else is secondary.)
Niten 12y ago
I've been a long time reader and I am saddened at the prospect of MetaFilter's decline, but yes, the man-bashing is certainly one thing that's driven me away from the site lately. I consider myself egalitarian; injustices against women and men alike are infuriating to me. So several months ago I posted a powerful article about a woman's struggles growing up in Hezbollah culture. This was very well received, but one of the first commentators felt the need to add, "I say [this religion] was dreamed up in the first place by men, for men, and it seems continually to be defended and further embellished for the benefit of men." This became one of the most-favorited comments on the article, and I felt put on the defensive there simply for being a man. In contrast, I had also posted Susan Sons's Linux Journal article "Girls and Software" (very well-received here on HN), as I thought it was an interesting counter-point to numerous recent MetaFilter articles adhering to the popular view that the lack of women in computer science is due to some systemic bias against women in higher education and industry (as opposed to preferences formed in early childhood). It was quickly removed, with the moderator calling it a "fight-starter opinion piece". But every community has its faults I guess, and I certainly hope MetaFilter survives this.
- leoedin 12y ago
  It's a shame that "Girls and Software" was removed. That article was really fantastic (to the extent that I made a point of saving it). I suppose this sort of thing is the reason why we tend to engage in multiple online communities. The discussion around that article on HN was worth reading!

by ap22213 12y ago

mbrubeck 12y ago

I think this might be some confirmation bias in action; if you actually look at the front page of http://ask.metafilter.com/ http://ask.metafilter.com/ today (or pretty much any day in recent years), or the popular questions at http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorites http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorites , the majority are not in these buckets you're complaining about. ("Recommend good books/movies/tools for X" questions are disproportionately represented in the "popular" list, because users interested in the same topic tend to favorite these so they can follow the recommendations too.) My own favorite AskMe thread recently was this crowd-sourced deciphering of a hundred-year-old postcard written in Norwegian in an obsolete gothic script: http://ask.metafilter.com/257990/Help-me-decipher-this-handwritten-Norwegian-postcard-from-an-ancestor http://ask.metafilter.com/257990/Help-me-decipher-this-handw...

ap22213 12y ago
Maybe. I'll check it out, at least. Edit: unfortunately I can't test your theory, because the 'most popular' links only go back so far. And, I'm interested in the ones in a typical 'day range' for favorites, around 10-60, or so. But, it would be interesting to test.
- mbrubeck 12y ago
  If you're logged in, you can also use the "My Ask" tab to browse questions from selected tags/categories, instead of all categories. Useful if you prefer, say, science questions over relationship questions.
- pronoiac 12y ago
  Check out "Most Favorited Posts in the Past 7 Days:" http://www.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7 http://www.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7 There are also links for 24 hours, 7 days, 12 months, and all time. Here's the equivalent for Ask Metafilter: http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7 http://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite7

Mz 12y ago

I will suggest that MetaFilter may be a victim of its own success to some degree. Growth of a forum always introduces new challenges and you solve those or experience die-back. I have seen it often, in other forums. though none were supporting multiple full time staff members. Yes, I realize Matt thinks it is largely due to changes in Google algorithms and that may be true. Or it may be more complicated than that. (In my experience, it is more about the community. Everything else is secondary.)

Niten 12y ago

I've been a long time reader and I am saddened at the prospect of MetaFilter's decline, but yes, the man-bashing is certainly one thing that's driven me away from the site lately. I consider myself egalitarian; injustices against women and men alike are infuriating to me. So several months ago I posted a powerful article about a woman's struggles growing up in Hezbollah culture. This was very well received, but one of the first commentators felt the need to add, "I say [this religion] was dreamed up in the first place by men, for men, and it seems continually to be defended and further embellished for the benefit of men." This became one of the most-favorited comments on the article, and I felt put on the defensive there simply for being a man. In contrast, I had also posted Susan Sons's Linux Journal article "Girls and Software" (very well-received here on HN), as I thought it was an interesting counter-point to numerous recent MetaFilter articles adhering to the popular view that the lack of women in computer science is due to some systemic bias against women in higher education and industry (as opposed to preferences formed in early childhood). It was quickly removed, with the moderator calling it a "fight-starter opinion piece". But every community has its faults I guess, and I certainly hope MetaFilter survives this.

leoedin 12y ago
It's a shame that "Girls and Software" was removed. That article was really fantastic (to the extent that I made a point of saving it). I suppose this sort of thing is the reason why we tend to engage in multiple online communities. The discussion around that article on HN was worth reading!