MeFi mod log archive
An archive of MetaFilter's Recent Mod Actions log
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2025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Monthly archive for December 2025

67 mod actions

Deleted ask post 'When and where did Sonny meet Cher?'

Ask MetaFilter post When and where did Sonny meet Cher? deleted. Poster's request

Mod note on 'Go for Broke'

A comment deleted at the poster's request.

Mod note on 'The original cassettes never left, but'

Link updated!

Mod note on 'Whatโ€™s the worst thing youโ€™ve done with a spreadsheet?'

Two comments deleted. Posterโ€™s request.

Deleted mefi post 'Where is Edward Snowden now (when we need him)?'

MetaFilter post Where is Edward Snowden now (when we need him)? deleted. Hi there! This looks like it would be better to post in Ask MetaFilter, as it's an actual question as opposed to linking to something interesting on the web.

Mod note on 'My first reaction was that, broadly speaking, all of this sucked'

dragon garlanding: "This post was the impetus for me to finally look at and set up mymefi, specifically to exclude items tagged with #ai." For those unaware of MyMefi, here's the FAQ about using it to remove posts tagged with particular keywords from your view

Mod note on 'My first reaction was that, broadly speaking, all of this sucked'

glonous keming: "fuck everyone involved with this, including the OP for posting it here" Original comment removed, reproduced here for the public record, replies to it left up to remind everyone this comment was not ok. This is a hateful comment against a fellow member of the site. The general 'fuck AI' was ok, but taking the time and thought to extend it to the OP violates the Content Policy and causes this one day suspension.

Mod note on '"tools replaced the clever nudge,"'

hilberseimer, if you can't contribute to the thread without calling someone names ("soulless"), please just move on and avoid the thread. One comment and response removed.

Mod note on 'How long can I keep this olive oil suspension at room temp?'

AlexiaSky: "I attempted to link a paper from foodprotection.org but the filter says it contained a slang word so I can't post it."

Hi, please use the Contact US form to email the mods the link to the paper, so we can take a lot at the filter. Thanks!

Mod note on 'The LGBTQIA+ News Post, December 23, 2025: No Whamageddons!'

Going forward, mephron will be using the 'LGBTQIAnews' tag for these posts and previous similar posts of theirs have had the tag added. This was done so members have an easy way of subscribing to these posts via RSS

Deleted mefi post 'The King William's College Quiz 2025'

MetaFilter post The King William's College Quiz 2025 deleted. Double. Double

Mod note on 'Changing all posts to anonymous?'

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.

Mod note on 'Tiny first comments'

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?

Mod note on 'Changing all posts to anonymous?'

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!

Deleted mefi post 'spam'

MetaFilter post spam deleted. Spammer doing spammy things. All of text removed from this post, as it was complete spam, but with no hyperlink to a specific site, so to avoid anything positive happenign, removed text. Worth noting that the username used to spam the site was 'cometapi'

Mod note on 'informal tutor/lesson hiring'

Moved the last paragraphs below the fold.

Deleted metatalk post 'Issue with posting 2 in a row'

MetaTalk post Issue with posting 2 in a row deleted. Reaching out to the member to offer assistance.

Deleted mefi post 'Origami That Can Hold 10,000 Times Its Own Weight'

Mod note on 'Giant God Bermydal'

2N2222: "Yes. People need to get over it. It's not going away, and it's going to get better." 1. Telling people to "get over it" rarely causes that to happen and usually just manages to make people angry. Please be cognizant of your fellow mefites and... 2. Indicate that it's a post with AI material and add 'AI' to the tags, because the Content Policy does request it. That helps who have issues with AI content to avoid it because... 3. One person's definition of better or good is different from others.

Mod note on 'Giant God Bermydal'

Added โ€˜AIโ€™ to tags

Mod note on 'I was married for ten years, three months, and twenty-four days'

ambrosen: "I just think threadshitting is bad, that's all." Just flag comments that you think are threadshitting, because at this point your repeated responses about the comment are creating a derail. Please stop and move on.

Mod note on 'Goldilocks Needs to Sleep'

One comment removed for not answering the question.

Mod note on 'Could this be the first hint of a tectonic shift in European politics?'

Pseudonymous Cognomen: "Trump is back in power because of Russian/Chinese propaganda No, Trump is back in power because Democrats love genocide more than they do winning elections." Original comment and replies deleted, relevant part reproduced here. Pseudonymous Cognomen, you need to drop this derail, which has been a source of various other derails on the site. If you want to talk about subject, feel free to create your own thread with that subject. But no more in this thread or you'll be given a time out.

Mod note on 'Baseless Conspiracy Theories'

Yep, closed

Mod note on '2025 Gift Swap Thank Yous'

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

Mod note on 'A meme for a generation who arenโ€™t reading a whole lot of books'

AlSweigart: "Cool. Thanks, ChatGPT. Now I don't have to read the article. Oh wait, "Come up with a short, witty, bon mot I could post as a Metafilter comment." " Please don't post output from ChatGPT, that goes against the Content Policy. Comment removed, relevant parts reproduced in this mod note.

Mod note on 'All milks made in house'

jacquilynne: "I think I inserted a period somehow. Will flag it for the mods to fix. In the meantime, here it is again." Yep, link in main post has been fixed.

Mod note on 'How should I spend a limited budget for online news/commentary?'

Pedantzilla: "@bluedaisy, I'm not "avoiding" the NYT - they are a garbage paper that is actively working against the American people (not to mention the rest of the world) and you should feel bad about giving them your money, so I am happy to shame you for whatever weak rationalization you want to give."

No one should be reveling in trying to shame anyone on AskMetafilter, knock that off. If you can't, please avoiding commenting.

Comment deleted, relevant parts reproduced in this mod note.

Deleted mefi post 'Trump buys nuclear company, lead scientist of rival company is murdered'

MetaFilter post Trump buys nuclear company, lead scientist of rival company is murdered deleted. Single link conspiracy.

Deleted mefi post 'Ego Death'

MetaFilter post Ego Death deleted. Spam

Mod note on 'MeFiCoFo Financial Update, Dec. 18, 2025'

Added to site banner

Mod note on 'Give me some comedy!'

One deleted, posterโ€™s request

Mod note on 'Pluribus: The Gap'

DirtyOldTown: "As a heads up... Decider says that episode 8 is one with a huge twist of the type that the entire Internet is going to talk about and recommends seeing it ASAP to avoid having it spoiled"

Thanks for the heads up!

Gentle reminder to discuss any new episode in a new thread, to avoid spoiling for others.

Deleted mefi post 'The Lost Generation'

MetaFilter post The Lost Generation deleted. This is likely not going to result in a calm and peaceful discussion.

Mod note on 'Ideas for creating an atmosphere for very romantic sex?'

Hey, the OP described their partner as 'girlfriend', not wife. No biggie, just noting in the hopes of avoiding confusion the thread.

Mod note on 'Is it Art...or Trash?'

Added AI tags.

Mod note on 'In the Hall of the Triscuit King'

One deleted. Poster's request.

Deleted metatalk post 'Test post'

MetaTalk post Test post deleted. -- frimble

Mod note on 'Have neutral point of view, will travel'

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

Mod note on 'Rob Reiner and wife found dead, apparently stabbed to death'

. Just a reminder that this is a post about a developing situation. This will deserve a proper obituary post as more details are made available, but in the meantime, can we avoid speculating about what happened, who did it, their motive, and more importantly, about the mental health of the people involved?

Mod note on 'Songs of Power'

mightshould: "The link in the question doesn't work for meโ€ฆ"

Fixed the URL so that it works.

Deleted fanfare post 'Book: A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper'

Mod note on 'How to fall in love'

Mod note on 'Revealing our online lives to the authorities - tourists first'

Changed 'reveling' to 'revealing' in post title and URL stub.

Mod note on 'Something weird happens when you teleport gravity through portals'

1 comment posted in the wrong thread. It and a response to it have been removed.

Deleted ask post 'sometimes you have to dig deeper, but sometimes you have to let go'

Ask MetaFilter post sometimes you have to dig deeper, but sometimes you have to let go deleted. Poster's Request

Mod note on 'board members posting as board members posting as board members'

Deleted one at the user's request.

Mod note on 'board members posting as board members posting as board members'

Fixed link, thanks for pointing out GeckoDundee!

Mod note on 'Does the example Ask seem a bit dusty?'

Mod note on 'Right to repair reforms to be expanded to farm machinery'

test test

Mod note on 'For anyone who wishes Season 4 of Stranger things had ended differently'

One comment deleted. While we support users posting links to make certain paywalled content accessible to the community, we do not encourage bypassing restrictions in place to maintain privacy. In this case, we cannot let the comment containing archive links stand.

Mod note on 'board members posting as board members posting as board members'

Two comments deleted at poster request.

Deleted mefi post 'What is this porcelain cup?'

MetaFilter post What is this porcelain cup? deleted. Hey this is question, so it belongs in Ask MetaFilter. Feel free to post this over there: https://ask.metafilter.com/

Mod note on 'Can I steal this and then eat it?'

Hey, big thanks to everyone who gave an answer, please keep in mind that weโ€™re all here to help the OP, so thereโ€™s no need to argue with each other about differences in the answers.

Mod note on 'Melting Spoons and Autistic Burnout'

Hey, just a friendly reminder that linked article and people in this this thread are taking the time to explain what autistic burnout feels like. So please be mindful of trying to explain or define this as something else and just listen to what people who experience this are saying. No comments have been removed.

Mod note on 'โ€˜The nonviolence ship has sailed for meโ€™'

Brandon Blatcher: "This comment and a response to it have been removed, because MetaFilter doesn't condone or support murdering people, so please keep your support for doing such things to yourself." A MetaTalk discussion has been created about this mod action, please shift all related discussion to that thread.

Mod note on 'โ€˜The nonviolence ship has sailed for meโ€™'

Tell Me No Lies: "Start killing off the people who work on it." This comment and a response to it have been removed, because MetaFilter doesn't condone or support murdering people, so please keep your support for doing such things to yourself. Strong reactions and/or statements to unfair situations or practices is totally fine, of course, but we are drawing a line at calls for murder.

Mod note on 'Looking for good Pagliacci riffs'

Removed several derailing comments about Italian syntax. The OP is just looking for jokes, not a language debate, please just stick to what was being asked.

Mod note on 'Cat-copy.com'

chasing: "God I hate TikTokโ€ฆ" Comment removed, as it adds nothing to the conversation and is potentially derailing. It's fine to not like a particular social media platform, but since it's a personal preference thing, there's no need to share that information with everyone else.

Mod note on 'Hollow feeling every morning despite best efforts'

Some text moved to be inside the post.

Mod note on 'Steve Cropper prolific guitarist (1941-2025)'

googly: "...and deserves better than this shoddy, low-effort post" Suggestions on typo fixes and the like is great, but tossing in these sort of comments isn't, don't do this. Whatever good you may have intended, it just winds up making people feel bad. DJZouke: "Sorry for the Mar-Keys typo. I did not intend for the post to be low effort. I was not feeling very well so..." Thank you for taking the time to make a post about a great musician, it is appreciated!

Mod note on 'Board Update, Dec. 3, 2025'

Added to site banner.

Mod note on 'Mathowie's Community Blog (and others?)'

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

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

Mod note on 'Blue is down?'

Thanks for the post, frimble has been alerted!

Mod note on 'The downfall of JoAnn'

One comment delete for posting the output from ChatGpt, which goes against the Content Policy:
Please do not query ChatGPT or other LLMs and then post the output unless the discussion itself is about those types of tools, and in those cases, please clearly label what you are posting as coming from an AI tool.

Mod note on '1,000 True Fans'

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

Mod note on 'Where to find what glasses are trendy'

One comment deleted, posterโ€™s request.
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2025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec