MeFi mod log archive
An archive of MetaFilter's
Recent Mod Actions
log
Mod note on 'Cleaning raccoon poop'
One deleted for not answering the question.
Mod note on 'Nobel Prize Winner Olga Tokarczuk embroiled in AI scandal'
Fixed a typo in the post title and updated all links to be clickable.
Mod note on 'Small acts of rebellion'
One comment deleted, please let's be sensitive to context and avoid one line drive-by comments, moreover if these are sexist or said ironically.
Mod note on 'The political narrative itself has become the porn'
A clarification of my previous note, because it's been brought to my attention that it was arguably dismissive and should've done a better job explaining the problem:
I am aware that penis size and eugenics/Great Replacement Theory are both discussed in the linked article. However, even in that context the following things are not things that need to be part of this thread:
- Saying or implying that immigrants have bigger penises than non-immigrants. (Penis size comparison is not okay in general; it's a kind of body-shaming. And when you bring immigrants into it, it also bleeds into and reinforces racist narratives).
- If you are cis, using trans people as a rhetorical prop when discussing penis size.
- Saying or implying that it's a good idea for any group of people to outbreed any other group of people to extinction (again, even if you are suggesting that the group to be extincted is "white people", it is still buying into and reinforcing a eugenicist framework and that is not okay).
- Talking about an incident 2500 years ago involving mass sexual violence, because (a) it is not relevant and (b) sexual violence is a thing that generally needs to not end up in people's faces on MetaFilter unless it is relevant.
Mod note on 'Catching fewer illnesses (and mitigating the ones I do catch), non-woo'
Fixed links in this comment to be clickable.
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
Pickman's Next Top Model: it turns out some folks are really bothered by the jerkoff emojis, and i think you've long since made your point with them. You are absolutely not required to stop criticizing anyone, but please stop doing that thing specifically?
Mod note on 'The political narrative itself has become the porn'
Two deleted. This conversation is not likely to benefit from a derail about penis size, rape, and/or breeding anyone out of existence.
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
One deleted. Posterโs request.
Deleted mefi post 'Best Sniper Settings in Free Fire for Accurate Shots'
MetaFilter post Best Sniper Settings in Free Fire for Accurate Shots deleted. Spam
Mod note on 'Please don't claim "we are all a bit [mental health issue]"'
Edited this comment to fix a typo, at the user's request.
Mod note on 'Two reports of speakers being booed at graduation'
BungaDunga, it's probably time to let the thread breathe a little. You don't need to stop talking completely, but it's kind of becoming the you-vs-the-world show in here; of the latest 20 comments in the thread, you've made 10 of them.
Mod note on 'Please don't claim "we are all a bit [mental health issue]"'
anoldfriend6: I understand what you're getting at here, but please be mindful that the way you are phrasing things does come across as pretty dismissive of folks who may have significant difficulty functioning but do not have a formal diagnosis. And note that the official diagnostic criteria for ADHD, in particular, make it extremely difficult for anyone who was unable to access a diagnosis by age 18 to ever get a diagnosis, even if they otherwise have all the symptoms; it is widely acknowledged by disability and mental health activists as a real access problem.
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
Melismata: "Perhaps heโs a troll, but is he also ND? Can we smart mefites figure out a way to explain things to him in ways that he understands?"
Melismata (and also anoldfriend6): i understand you're trying to be kind hereโthe impulse is a very generous one! But we definitely don't need to be diagnosing other users on here or speculating about their neurology.
Melismata (and also anoldfriend6): i understand you're trying to be kind hereโthe impulse is a very generous one! But we definitely don't need to be diagnosing other users on here or speculating about their neurology.
Mod note on 'Breeding program gives endangered frog a fighting chance'
One comment deleted as noise.
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
HearHere, this is really not acceptable behavior, and it needs to stop. I am not going to make you take a break from this thread, because i regard it as odious to put you in the position of having everyone else discussing your behavior without permitting you to reply, but there is a limit to how much we are willing to continue discussing this issue with you and it is approaching quickly.
At your request, i have corrected the typo in your earlier comment, but that in no way constitutes approval of this behavior.
At your request, i have corrected the typo in your earlier comment, but that in no way constitutes approval of this behavior.
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
One comment deleted at user's request!
Mod note on 'Two reports of speakers being booed at graduation'
One deleted at user request.
Mod note on '"It was that freedom to just be who we were"'
Fixed a link in the post, at the user's request.
Deleted mefi post 'Frugit'
MetaFilter post Frugit deleted. User request
Mod note on 'Medical conditions that require cold ambient temperature'
One deleted as noise.
Mod note on 'Declining America'
greatalleycat: "To be honest, Americans don't think about Canada at all."
I'm not sure if there's some reason you've decided to come into this thread specifically to antagonize Canadians, but it's unpleasant and breaks the guidelines, and you should knock it off.
Mod note on 'Stop bugging me!'
Fixed links in post to be clickable.
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
Another comment deleted, let's remember that AskMeFi comments MUST address the question being asked. If you have another comments about moderation on Ask, please feel free to do so here instead.
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
(Just updated a previous comment of mine to remove the mod-action styling, as it was also a "mod-hat but not mod action" comment. Sorry for the inconvenience!)
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
snofoam: "Is this possible on the tech side? I donโt remember ever seeing someone given a timeout from a specific subsite."
It's not something we can automate, but it is certainly something we can tell folks is a requirement for their continued participation! It used to be something that the mods did a lot back in the cortex/LM/EM days, although i don't think it's been done in awhile. It's just done on the honor system. (But of course if they violate that, that's obvious bad behavior.)
It's not something we can automate, but it is certainly something we can tell folks is a requirement for their continued participation! It used to be something that the mods did a lot back in the cortex/LM/EM days, although i don't think it's been done in awhile. It's just done on the honor system. (But of course if they violate that, that's obvious bad behavior.)
Mod note on 'Goddamn, itโs Donut'
Edited post at user's request to remove a bad link.
Mod note on 'MeFiCoFo Financial Update, May 11, 2026'
(edited my own earlier comment to add the mod-note styling; sorry about that oversight)
Mod note on 'Elite controllers'
Folks. One out of every 200 people is half a percent, or 0.5%. If you wanted to write it without a percent sign, it would be 0.005. That said, it's probably worth dropping the derail now.
Mod note on 'Book: Purgatorio: Canto 15'
One comment deleted for being a derail; it was largely a discussion of the Paradiso rather than the Purgatorio. You can't really say "spoilers" for a 700-year-old book, but it was deeply disconnected from the canto of the Purgatorio which is the subject of this FanFare post.
Mod note on 'Hey, can we not screw around on askmefi?'
Folks, while i can't speak for the other mods, i am absolutely reading this thread. Please note that for obvious reasons, we're not going to discuss what kind of private mod communications or actions we have taken or might take with respect to any specific user. I also want to be clear that, consistent with the entire history of the site, people do not generally get permabanned without an escalating process of warnings and timeouts unless they have said something egregiously bigoted or otherwise unacceptable. This is not a thing that is specific to any particular user, it is how things have always worked.
I understand that those two things, taken together, mean that it can look like we're not doing anything about a user who is bothering people. And i get that people are frustrated about that! It's part of the way the job works. I'm absolutely not trying to short-circuit any complaining in here; i just wanted to make sure folks know that we're not ignoring you.
I understand that those two things, taken together, mean that it can look like we're not doing anything about a user who is bothering people. And i get that people are frustrated about that! It's part of the way the job works. I'm absolutely not trying to short-circuit any complaining in here; i just wanted to make sure folks know that we're not ignoring you.
Mod note on 'The Most Corrupt U.S. Administration in History'
Added Substack tag.
Mod note on 'โYou seek followers? Seek zeroes!โ'
Added Substack tag.
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
Iteki: "What? Cos they're too woke or too chicken to hit you."
This comment is an answer to the Asker's question, and as such i am choosing to leave it, but Iteki, this is both facile and mean. Your answers in Ask are generally quite good; this is unworthy of you.
Folks, just in general, you need to treat the Asker with at least a modicum of compassion and respect or else skip this question.
This comment is an answer to the Asker's question, and as such i am choosing to leave it, but Iteki, this is both facile and mean. Your answers in Ask are generally quite good; this is unworthy of you.
Folks, just in general, you need to treat the Asker with at least a modicum of compassion and respect or else skip this question.
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
Fixed pronouns in another answer as agreed with the user.
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
One (more) deleted -- no arguing with other posters in here.
Mod note on 'MeFiCoFo Financial Update, May 11, 2026'
lapis: "I'm really not trying to be persnickety here, but when did comments start getting deleted from MeTa for being noise? I thought we were moving toward lighter moderation and fewer deletions? Is it because it's a Board update thread?"
MeTa is moderated very lightly, but that doesn't mean stuff is never going to be deleted. In this case, i made the judgment that the comment was likely to cause another giant derail, in a thread which is already like four derails deep.
MeTa is moderated very lightly, but that doesn't mean stuff is never going to be deleted. In this case, i made the judgment that the comment was likely to cause another giant derail, in a thread which is already like four derails deep.
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
Folks, with questions like this it can be useful to encourage an Asker to examine their part in the relationship dynamic as part of your answer, but at the same time, you need to be very careful not to shade into victim-blaming. A couple of comments are at least arguably on the wrong side of that. HearHere and Winnie the Proust, please be more mindful.
Mod note on 'MeFiCoFo Financial Update, May 11, 2026'
One comment deleted as noise.
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
One deleted. Comments need to answer the question. Non-answers will be deleted.
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
One comment removed. Please do not mock someoneโs question or call it "hilarious".
Mod note on 'Why does my partner do retail therapy after we fight?'
Fixed pronouns in one of the answers as requested.
Mod note on 'Any suggestions for a new computer (PC) monitor?'
Leaving the comment above as it includes useful information, but please, let's stop chastising the OP.
Mod note on 'MeFiCoFo Financial Update, May 11, 2026'
Folks. In this particular case, loup made the decision not to leave speculative misinformation about moderation in the thread, even with my mod note to counter it. Is it the decision i would have made? Probably not; as you might have noticed, i tend to reach for other tools much more than the delete button. But i had considered deleting the comment myself (instead of only leaving a mod note)--and although i decided against it, loup's decision here was in fact perfectly reasonable. Especially since the user i was responding to realized it was a bad call in the interim, and asked for their comment to be deleted.
I get that there's a lot of frustration about moderation! We're working on it! But in this particular case, the original call could've gone either way, and so could the subsequent call; there's not some kind of coverup going on.
I get that there's a lot of frustration about moderation! We're working on it! But in this particular case, the original call could've gone either way, and so could the subsequent call; there's not some kind of coverup going on.
Mod note on 'What are these contraptions?'
This comment edited to remove a bad link at the user's request; one follow-up comment about the (now gone) bad link deleted.
Deleted ask post 'Iโm not a six-million little pieces!'
Ask MetaFilter post Iโm not a six-million little pieces! deleted. Breaks the guidelines
Mod note on 'MeFiCoFo Financial Update, May 11, 2026'
One comment and the mod note addressing it have been removed as requested.
Mod note on 'MeFiCoFo Financial Update, May 11, 2026'
It is definitely a mistake to treat one data point as a trend, HearHere.
Mod note on 'Trial by ants'
Folks, this is me with my mod hat on. I'm sorry to have to drop into this thread this way, having already made a comment without my mod hat on, but coverage is tricky right now and a couple of the comments in here are getting flagged to hell.
I am not removing any existing comments. However, when discussing indigenous cultural practices, you absolutely need to be aware of your own cultural context, and exercise some caution to avoid falling back on racist stereotypes.
Mod note on 'The Floor Is Made Of Women'
One deleted. Copy/pasting LLM content is against the guidelines; please refer to our generated content policy.
Mod note on 'We Have a Gorilla Trade'
Two deleted for replying to a deleted comment. Kutsuwamushi, you're fine in general.
On further reflection, sammyo has been banned for 7 days and we will discuss whether it should be a permaban. (It's my bad; I didn't look carefully enough at the history.)
Mod note on 'We Have a Gorilla Trade'
Two deleted. sammyo: we don't really need to have random racist jokes introduced into the conversation, even if someone else said them and you're linking to them offsite. donnagirl: your comment was removed as a response to the deleted comment; you're fine.
Mod note on 'a kaleidoscope of butterflies'
HearHere: "๐ฆ"]
HearHere, I'm leaving this up, but just in general, you do need to contribute to the conversation with something besides just an emoji.
Mod note on 'What is the best concentration of vinegar for killing weeds?'
One removed for not answering the question.
Mod note on 'Book: The Player of Games'
Edited a typo in the post text.
Mod note on 'Thirsty rebel space gladiators'
Fixed a typo in the post text!
Mod note on '"the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place"'
One comment edited (to remove a link) at user request.
Mod note on '"the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place"'
Just a note, folks: i started this thread (without my mod hat on), but i'm also the mod with most of the scheduled time for the next day and a half. I am going to be extremely cautious about performing any moderation actions in this thread unless something blows way the hell up, which obviously i would prefer not to have happen. Please FIAMO and try to keep the conversation on rails.
Mod note on 'In search of unicorn recipes for meal prepping'
Fixed broken link in this comment.
Mod note on 'Grieving and Remembering Juniper Blessing'
Fixed a typo in the post.
Mod note on 'Debilitating work burnout/career change desire'
One deleted as both offensive and a non-answer (it was missed earlier).
Mod note on 'Debilitating work burnout/career change desire'
One deleted. Please answer the question without derailing the thread. Non answers will be deleted.]<
Mod note on 'The Floor Is Made Of Women'
Folks, just a gentle note: the baptism thing is turning into a derail (and making jokes about a woman getting nearly drowned is even more of one.)
Mod note on 'What is 'real' anyway'
Two comments deleted. tiny frying pan, you're fine, but if you want to talk about another user's behavior it's better to take it to MeTa at this point.
plagued out moggies, i want to address a bit from your deleted comment. You said, "TFP, youโve already been asked to stop shitting up this thread". In fact, tiny frying pan was told to try to comment more constructively; you, however, were told to stop talking to other users this way. Take a break from the thread, please.
Mod note on 'The Strain: Fallen Light'
Removed one comment at user request.
Mod note on 'Finding out: Are we the baddies?'
Hey, folks, just popping in to say that a few things in here have gotten flagged. I don't see any need for deletions or anything, but do please try to keep the conversation on the rails.
Mod note on 'Why stop at Thomas?'
Two deleted. Folks, i understand that over time MetaFilter has gone a lot of different ways on whether "covert wishes for violent things to Mysteriously Happen" are okay. And to some extent it's always gonna be a judgment call! The userbase here is clearly pretty on edge, right now, with things that are edging into "fedposting" territory, so i've removed it.
unearthed, you're totally fine, and i'm not even going to pretend i didn't fave that one without my mod hat on, because i did; but with my mod hat on, and with the number of folks who were made uneasy by it, i think it's a distraction this thread doesn't need. Ice Cream Socialist, your comment was only deleted because it was a reply to a deleted comment.
Mod note on 'Grief counselling in India'
One deleted. I understand that you were trying to be helpful, HearHere, but this is the sort of question where the answers probably need to be from folks with directly related experience of some kind.
Mod note on 'Kickstarter: Back on Their Bullshit: 'Adult' Content Guidelines Overhaul'
Fixed a typo in the post. Please carry on.
Mod note on 'Women's swimsuit with specific needs'
Deleted a duplicate comment.
Mod note on 'What is 'real' anyway'
Hi, folks, just addressing a couple comments that have picked up flags:
tiny frying pan: i am entirely in sympathy with you here, but your comment is effectively noise. It would be better to express your objection to the subject in ways that don't feel so much like drive-by snark.
plagued out moggies: I'm not removing your comment, but you need to take this kind of thing to MeTa rather than talking to other members this way.
Mod note on 'The images were generated by an ai off the prompt โlovely knittingโ'
Several deleted because they were either posted in the wrong thread, or replying to comments deleted for that reason. You're all fine, you didn't do anything wrong, but the thread about LLM detection and "commonly used phrases" is over here. This thread is about LLM-generated fiber arts.
Mod note on 'Hockey + Broadway + Gay'
Abehammerb Lincoln: "Ah, April 2027 for a second season. Good to know when my wife will be ridiculously horny again."
I'm not going to delete this locker-room-esque comment, but please consider how this sort of thing comes across to other community members.
Mod note on 'Zero Sum Gaming the System'
Fixed that link!
Mod note on 'How to create an away status in Home Assistant'
Just a quick note that people come to Ask for advice from other humans, and "go Google it" or "go ask a chatbot" isn't really the kind of thing that they're generally looking for.
Mod note on 'The creative writing students using AI to write fiction'
Duplicate comment removed. anshuman, i left the later of the two duplicates, since it had an extra sentence; hope that's okay!
Mod note on 'I think that something in the back end is broken'
One comment deleted at the user's request
Mod note on 'the blood dripping from his mouth and eyes'
URL in comment fixed. Please carry on.
Mod note on 'โThousands have lived without love, not one without water.โ'
Removed a paragraph with a duplicate link as requestedby OP
Mod note on 'Losing My Religion and/or Lover'
Updated post to fix typo, and removed a comment about the typo.
Mod note on 'National Debt just rose above GDP for the first time since WWII'
Added the USPolitics tag, out of an abundance of caution.
Mod note on 'Teenaged daughter + creepy dudes'
haptic_avenger: you are tripling down here and it isn't okay. I am leaving your comment because it is not, on its face, bad advice to talk to other parents in one's neighborhood. However, OP has directly addressed your concerns about their neighborhood, and while you are under no obligation to believe them in your heart of hearts, you are required to follow the guidelines for Ask MetaFilter. Please take a break from this thread.
Mod note on 'Phone reboot from hell'
(made link clickable in the post)
Mod note on 'Unique biometric facial features'
One removed for making a gross insinuation about another commenter.
Mod note on 'โthe biggest student data privacy disaster in historyโ'
One deleted. Galvanic, you have posted two comments in this thread involving "slutty clothes" analogously. I left the first one and deleted the second, but in general, that particular analogy is creating way more heat than light. Please stop.
Everyone else, please do not pile on and derail the thread.]
Mod note on 'Pinocchio is weirder than you remember'
Fixed the broken link in this comment.
Mod note on 'Is buying an e-bike a good idea? If so, what e-bike should we buy?'
Edited this comment to make the link clickable.
Mod note on 'Teenaged daughter + creepy dudes'
One deleted as noise. I am not deleting this comment, because it is potentially useful advice for the future/other people, but i would note that nobody is likely to believe a wedding ring on the hand of a 13-year-old girl is anything other than a prop of some kind and that therefore this isn't really a particularly good answer to this Asker's question.
I also want to note, in general, that while of course there do actually exist bad neighborhoods, the concept in the popular imagination of "bad neighborhood" is a very fraught one and is very often deployed in racist and classist ways. Please exercise caution, and be aware that poor and minoritized men are not, actually, the only or primary perpetrators of street harassment.
I also want to note, in general, that while of course there do actually exist bad neighborhoods, the concept in the popular imagination of "bad neighborhood" is a very fraught one and is very often deployed in racist and classist ways. Please exercise caution, and be aware that poor and minoritized men are not, actually, the only or primary perpetrators of street harassment.
Mod note on 'In search of the most delicious salad'
The_Vegetables: "Black bean/jicima salad:
Canned black beans, corn, jicama, cilantro, mini bell peppers, and a dressing typically made with olive oil, lime, and cilantro., but it can be left off. Only a tiny bit of dressing is used."
I'm making the executive decision to leave this answer, because it's always been true that posts in Ask are for more than just the Asker. However, the Asker specifically said absolutely no beans; please read the question carefully before you answer it!
Canned black beans, corn, jicama, cilantro, mini bell peppers, and a dressing typically made with olive oil, lime, and cilantro., but it can be left off. Only a tiny bit of dressing is used."
I'm making the executive decision to leave this answer, because it's always been true that posts in Ask are for more than just the Asker. However, the Asker specifically said absolutely no beans; please read the question carefully before you answer it!
Mod note on 'It's notable to me that the Met Gala gets compared to the Hunger Games'
WatTylerJr: "Demi-god Jeff "I destroy things for money money and more money" Bezos and that thing he 'married'. And so I decide I didn't like this at all."
I am not going to remove this comment, but please note that it is not ever acceptable to call a woman "that thing", regardless of how odious she is. (It is also not an acceptable thing to call anyone of any other gender, for the record.)
Mod note on 'โYou have to be very fond of men... Otherwise theyโre simply unbearable"'
One deleted. In general, it's not a great idea to have your first comment in a threadโespecially when it is also the first comment in a thread!โbe a snarky one-liner that invites a sexist reading.
Mod note on 'Teenaged daughter + creepy dudes'
Two deleted; one was nonresponsive to the question, and the other was a response to that comment.
Mod note on 'Teenaged daughter + creepy dudes'
Post edited to remove the hijab sentence as agreed with OP. Also deleted the comment addressing it and it's response.
Also, please be considerate and respectful here, OP is going through a difficult situation with their young daughter; so let's not attack his choice of words.
Also, please be considerate and respectful here, OP is going through a difficult situation with their young daughter; so let's not attack his choice of words.
Mod note on 'suggestion: book series on fanfare'
Oh, btw, cyanistes, i don't think you did anything wrong here. I think "feature requests related to books on FanFare" (and even games, by extension as "media that gets less love in the FanFare interface") are entirely on-topic here. Please carry on as you were.
Mod note on 'suggestion: book series on fanfare'
Seriously, everyone, that is enough. Two deleted. Pickman's Next Top Model, please stop picking fights with other users, especially contemporaneously with picking the same fights in another open MeTa thread. (The second was deleted for responding to the first deleted comment.)
I hate having to delete shit in MeTa, but "lightly moderated" is not the same as "unmoderated". I cannot speak for the other mods, but i personally am happy to hear you out at length about the shortcomings of any user you have a problem with, via MeMail or the Contact Form.
I hate having to delete shit in MeTa, but "lightly moderated" is not the same as "unmoderated". I cannot speak for the other mods, but i personally am happy to hear you out at length about the shortcomings of any user you have a problem with, via MeMail or the Contact Form.
Mod note on 'Who is most consistently appealing in music?'
Just a note for transparency: this Ask has gotten flagged multiple times as chatfilter. I don't particularly want to delete itโit's picked up a lot of answers, whatever its shortcomings as a question, and the restrictions on what counts as "chatfilter" have been loosened over the yearsโbut for everyone's future reference, this is way too open-ended to be a good Ask post.
Mod note on 'Secret, silent social gathering in unoccupied flat?'
Two deleted: answers must answer the question, and this is not a place for discussion.
Mod note on 'suggestion: book series on fanfare'
clav and HH, you're getting pretty far afield here with the derail into the Temple of Elemental Evil and its immediate neighborhood. Please take it to MeMail or make a post on FanFare.
Mod note on 'The morel is the Last Incorruptible Thing'
Sanicula: "I've always found it fascinating that morels seem to be the only wild food that midwesterns are universally excited to forage. Well...aside from deer that they pick off from a sniper post in their backyard."
Yeah, I'm not going to delete this, but please do not do this. Midwesterners are not, actually, an undifferentiated mass of gun-toting hicks. Some of them even read MetaFilter!
Mod note on 'Secret, silent social gathering in unoccupied flat?'
One deleted; i don't think that baseless speculation about an elderly gay guy secretly running a cult, a drug dealing business, and/or a glory hole is sufficiently answer-shaped to remain in this thread.
Mod note on 'celebrating jessamyn'
Noting that snofoam was banned for 24 hours due to making a seemingly offensive comment. I was unaware of the context behind the comment and do acknowledge it was a mistake. The ban was unnecessary, and the additional context was helpful in understanding the comment. It still would have been deleted, but the ban was a bit excessive.