7 FAQ tagged with mods
How do I comment anonymously?
There is no anonymous comment function. If you want to add something to a thread but want it to remain unconnected to your account, you can use the Contact Us form to reach the moderators, and one of them can add it for you. (If instead you want to ask an anonymous question on Ask Metafilter, the procedure is here.)
(tags: anonymous comments mods privacy metafilter askmetafilter askme ) December 11, 2012 - permalink - back to questions
(tags: anonymous comments mods privacy metafilter askmetafilter askme ) December 11, 2012 - permalink - back to questions
I need to get in touch with a site admin in a hurry. How do I do this?
Here is a link to the Contact Us form. It will reach whoever is on shift; this is the quickest way to get most problems resolved. When you use the Contact Us form, an email is sent to all of the admins, and whoever is working will respond. Note, the response will go to your email address, not to MeFi Mail.
In general, if your request is time-sensitive, don't use MeFi Mail. The person you're MeFi Mailing may have gone off duty and be unavailable. Admins sometimes make MeFi Mail inactive when they're not available to handle site issues, as well. The Contact Us form will almost always get a faster response.
(tags: mods admins metatalk contact ) March 6, 2006 - permalink - back to questions
In general, if your request is time-sensitive, don't use MeFi Mail. The person you're MeFi Mailing may have gone off duty and be unavailable. Admins sometimes make MeFi Mail inactive when they're not available to handle site issues, as well. The Contact Us form will almost always get a faster response.
(tags: mods admins metatalk contact ) March 6, 2006 - permalink - back to questions
Who is in charge here? Are there admins and moderators like other sites?
Metafilter is run by a small staff of paid moderators ("mods"). The moderators are: taz, goodnewsfortheinsane, travelingthyme, Brandon Blatcher, and loup.
There are two web developers: frimble and kirkaracha.
The best way to reach a moderator is to use the Contact Us form, which emails all of the mods. The site is generally staffed around the clock, with regularly spaced gaps in coverage. The contact form will reach whoever is on duty.
All the moderators are also regular site members, so you may see them around participating just like anyone else. When a moderator leaves an official moderation comment, the comment will appear in the thread but enclosed by a box, or [in small type, in square brackets], and a "staff" badge will appear in the byline next to their name. (This text is searchable, so you can find moderation comments by using your browser's "find" function to find the word "staff" on the page.) You can confirm someone is a moderator by looking at their profile page, too -- they'll have a "staff" badge under their profile picture.
Some history:
1999: MetaFilter was created by Matt Haughey (mathowie); he was the sole admin of the site for the first several years.
2005: Jessamyn West (jessamyn) was hired; she was especially instrumental in establishing the culture of the new subsite, AskMetafilter.
2006, May: Paul Bausch (pb), our technical wizard, joined to keep the back end running smoothly and do bugfixes and feature builds.
2007, March: Josh Millard (cortex) started helping out around the place.
2008, May: vacapinta became the unofficial "Midnight Mod", checking in a few times during the North American night.
2011, April: Jeremy Preacher (restless_nomad) came on, originally to keep an eye on things over the weekend, although gradually shifting to weekday hours too.
2011, October: taz joined the team as the first regular non-US mod, bringing civilization to the formerly-lawless hours of North American night.
2012, October: goodnewsfortheinsane and LobsterMitten joined the team as part-timers, with a few regular shifts and some flexible coverage for other mods' hours.
2014, May: Layoffs. Due to a budget crunch, jessamyn retired, and gnfti and LM were laid off. Over the next months, site members contributed enough money to keep the site operating and even bring back the laid-off mods at sharply reduced hours.
2015, March: Mathowie retired, still the owner but handing nearly all site operations over to cortex and the remaining mods. Cortex took over most operational stuff, and LobsterMitten took over mathowie's on-site mod hours.
2016, January: Eyebrows McGee joined the staff as a part-timer and often weekend mod.
2016, May: pb retired.
2016, May: frimble joined the staff as resident tech person.
2017, July: mathowie transferred ownership of MetaFilter to cortex.
2020, Jan: restless_nomad retired
2020, June: new mods travelingthyme and loup joined the team.
2020, July: restless_nomad returned to help with administrative tasks for a limited time, jessamyn returned to a more active role
2021: restless_nomad stepped away again as planned; jessamyn reduced her role and schedule gaps were introduced
2022: cortex stepped down as owner, jessamyn took over as owner, loup took over operations, Lobster Mitten retired, Eyebrows McGee transitioned to a sub/fill-in mod
2023: Brandon Blatcher joined in February, Eyebrows McGee retired in April
2024: Kirkaracha the web development team in February
(tags: mods MetaFilter admins moderation ) March 20, 2006 - permalink - back to questions
There are two web developers: frimble and kirkaracha.
The best way to reach a moderator is to use the Contact Us form, which emails all of the mods. The site is generally staffed around the clock, with regularly spaced gaps in coverage. The contact form will reach whoever is on duty.
All the moderators are also regular site members, so you may see them around participating just like anyone else. When a moderator leaves an official moderation comment, the comment will appear in the thread but enclosed by a box, or [in small type, in square brackets], and a "staff" badge will appear in the byline next to their name. (This text is searchable, so you can find moderation comments by using your browser's "find" function to find the word "staff" on the page.) You can confirm someone is a moderator by looking at their profile page, too -- they'll have a "staff" badge under their profile picture.
Some history:
1999: MetaFilter was created by Matt Haughey (mathowie); he was the sole admin of the site for the first several years.
2005: Jessamyn West (jessamyn) was hired; she was especially instrumental in establishing the culture of the new subsite, AskMetafilter.
2006, May: Paul Bausch (pb), our technical wizard, joined to keep the back end running smoothly and do bugfixes and feature builds.
2007, March: Josh Millard (cortex) started helping out around the place.
2008, May: vacapinta became the unofficial "Midnight Mod", checking in a few times during the North American night.
2011, April: Jeremy Preacher (restless_nomad) came on, originally to keep an eye on things over the weekend, although gradually shifting to weekday hours too.
2011, October: taz joined the team as the first regular non-US mod, bringing civilization to the formerly-lawless hours of North American night.
2012, October: goodnewsfortheinsane and LobsterMitten joined the team as part-timers, with a few regular shifts and some flexible coverage for other mods' hours.
2014, May: Layoffs. Due to a budget crunch, jessamyn retired, and gnfti and LM were laid off. Over the next months, site members contributed enough money to keep the site operating and even bring back the laid-off mods at sharply reduced hours.
2015, March: Mathowie retired, still the owner but handing nearly all site operations over to cortex and the remaining mods. Cortex took over most operational stuff, and LobsterMitten took over mathowie's on-site mod hours.
2016, January: Eyebrows McGee joined the staff as a part-timer and often weekend mod.
2016, May: pb retired.
2016, May: frimble joined the staff as resident tech person.
2017, July: mathowie transferred ownership of MetaFilter to cortex.
2020, Jan: restless_nomad retired
2020, June: new mods travelingthyme and loup joined the team.
2020, July: restless_nomad returned to help with administrative tasks for a limited time, jessamyn returned to a more active role
2021: restless_nomad stepped away again as planned; jessamyn reduced her role and schedule gaps were introduced
2022: cortex stepped down as owner, jessamyn took over as owner, loup took over operations, Lobster Mitten retired, Eyebrows McGee transitioned to a sub/fill-in mod
2023: Brandon Blatcher joined in February, Eyebrows McGee retired in April
2024: Kirkaracha the web development team in February
(tags: mods MetaFilter admins moderation ) March 20, 2006 - permalink - back to questions
Someone made a official-seeming comment in small type, with square brackets. What does that mean?
It is probably a comment by a moderator. See here for details.
(tags: moderator mods etiquette comments metafilter askmetafilter askme fanfare ) December 15, 2012 - permalink - back to questions
(tags: moderator mods etiquette comments metafilter askmetafilter askme fanfare ) December 15, 2012 - permalink - back to questions
How can I tell if a comment was made by a moderator?
On MetaFilter and AskMetafilter, moderators used to use small type and square brackets to indicate they are making an "official" comment:
[Mod comments used to look like this.]
As of 2021, Mod comments on MetaTalk, FanFare and MetaFilter will have a box around them. On other parts of the site, they will still be in small type in brackets. As of 2018, moderator comments made in "mod voice" will also have a "Staff" badge in the byline of the comment.
Moderators are also regular users of the site, and they also participate in threads in a non-official capacity. If you're not sure how a specific mod comment is meant, ask using the contact form. If you're not sure if someone is a moderator, see the list of moderators here.
Moderators also have a "staff" badge on their profile pages, under their profile picture.
(tags: mods admins moderators staff ) December 15, 2012 - permalink - back to questions
[Mod comments used to look like this.]
As of 2021, Mod comments on MetaTalk, FanFare and MetaFilter will have a box around them. On other parts of the site, they will still be in small type in brackets. As of 2018, moderator comments made in "mod voice" will also have a "Staff" badge in the byline of the comment.
Moderators are also regular users of the site, and they also participate in threads in a non-official capacity. If you're not sure how a specific mod comment is meant, ask using the contact form. If you're not sure if someone is a moderator, see the list of moderators here.
Moderators also have a "staff" badge on their profile pages, under their profile picture.
(tags: mods admins moderators staff ) December 15, 2012 - permalink - back to questions
What is the Contact Us form?
The Contact Us form is used to contact the MetaFilter staff directly. It is always available, located at the bottom of every page, though there is not always a member of the Moderation Team on shift.
The form can be used for site questions or problems and a response will be sent to the email address the user provides. Every staff member will be able to see the message and whoever is on duty will respond. If you are commenting about a specific thread or comment, please include a link.
(tags: communication mods admin moderators ) June 18, 2024 - permalink - back to questions
The form can be used for site questions or problems and a response will be sent to the email address the user provides. Every staff member will be able to see the message and whoever is on duty will respond. If you are commenting about a specific thread or comment, please include a link.
(tags: communication mods admin moderators ) June 18, 2024 - permalink - back to questions
What is the policy on member to member communications via MeFi Mail?
Members may use the site’s messaging system, known as MeFi Mail, detailed in this FAQ. MeFi Mail is an optional feature of the site. Users may ask other people to stop contacting them and may use MeFi Mail’s blocking feature. Unwanted communications in MeFi Mail–persisting in communications after a user has asked you to stop–constitutes harassment.
Please note that sharing any private user-to-user communications without permission is potentially a bannable offense.
(tags: members moderators mods admins communication ) June 18, 2024 - permalink - back to questions
Please note that sharing any private user-to-user communications without permission is potentially a bannable offense.
(tags: members moderators mods admins communication ) June 18, 2024 - permalink - back to questions