MonkeyFilter FAQ
- What is MonkeyFilter?
- Who are the monkeys?
- So what's the point?
- What is metafilter?
- What are all the in-jokes and where did they come from?
- Everyone's having such a good time. How can I join in?
- What's appropriate to post? What's ïnot appropriate?
- How do I post?
- What are the Curious, George posts?
- Why is there a self-imposed posting limit?
- What HTML can I use?
- How do I post an in-line link?
- Why is my post on the main page twice?
- I logged out and can't log back
in. Help!
- Why didn't anyone comment on my post?
- What do I do if my thread is derailed?
- What if I find a post or comment offensive?
- What do I do if I think someone's abusing the system?
- How can I ask admin a question?
- How can I contribute to MonkeyFilter?
- I don't like the site's colours. Can you fix it?
- The site looks funny in my browser. Can you fix it?
- What's this #mofirc thing?
- I lost my password. Help!
What is MonkeyFilter?
MonkeyFilter evolved directly from Metafilter. That's why the two sites look so similar. Metafilter went through a long period of not admitting new members, so some of the Mefi lurkers got together at MoFi just to have somewhere to hang out until registration re-opened. This site began as a haven of sorts for Mefi wannabes to post and comment as they would on Metafilter, if they could only get a membership. Now it's become a community in its own right.Who are the monkeys?
Originally the monkeys were Metafilter lurkers who came here to talk about Metafilter and post links Metafilter-style. But when Metafilter ¬heard about how cool we were and that we had bananas, many rushed over to take advantage of the low user-ID numbers. We love them dearly and appreciate their knowledge about what makes an online community work. As word has spread we've met new monkeys from all over, not just Metafilter.So what's the point?
The point is to hang out and have fun. Like Metafilter, we basically aim to find interesting, bizarre or just plain random links on the web, bring them here to show off, and discuss them. While ostensibly Mefi is about the links, not the discussion, MoFi has a more explicit focus on discussion and debate - always friendly. We're less political (at the moment) than Metafilter has been of late, but otherwise the basic concept is the same. We like monkeys. We like Metafilter. We really like pancakes. We're laid back, hip, cool, sort of geeky.What is Metafilter?
Metafilter is the original community weblog. Matt Haughey created it in 1999 and it now has over 20,000 registered members. Due to the high traffic and large volume of front-page posts (FPPs), Matt has until recently kept registration closed to keep the numbers down. Now anyone can join for a $5US fee.What are all the in-jokes and where did they come from?
A lot of in-jokes have emigrated from Metafilter where they were born. Anything relating to ponies, pancakes or Pepsi Blue springs from the Metafilter well. Any online community will develop in-jokes: it's a sign of an established and like-minded community. There are plenty more that you'll get to discover as you go, and someone is always willing to explain their origins.Everyone's having such a good time. How can I join in?
First you'll need to register, by clicking on the "New User" link in the navigation bar. Your email address will be hidden from email harvesters who trawl the web for addresses to spam. We'd love it if you told us lots about yourself in the profile section, because monkeys are inquisitive little animals. Once you've registered, you'll need to wait up to 24 hours for admin to authorise you. This is to prevent random weirdos from registering just so they can fill up the main page with crap (it's happened, and that's why we do this). You'll need to keep checking back and trying the "Post" button as we don't inform you when you're able to post.What's appropriate to post? What's not appropriate?
Anything. Well, I suppose that's anything, within reason. Look around at the sort of things other monkeys have posted. At the moment there's not a lot posted along explicitly political lines, but mostly little oddities found randomly on the web. That isn't to say that news headlines aren't permitted, but discussions here tend to be lighthearted and war/Iraq/Bush links don't fit that scene right now. Self-links aren't allowed as the main link in posts, and full disclosure is expected at any other time. As a secondary link, or a link in a comment, it's fine. But we don't want to see you linking to your (or your brother's, or best friend's) blog right up there on the front page, okay?If your link has been discussed on Metafilter, it's okay to link to the Metafilter discussion. It's fine to post something that's been on Metafilter, especially if you think us monkeys will have some unique things to say on the subject. Not everyone reads Metafilter so the general consensus is that reposting something from Mefi is fine. But not too often.
Bear in mind that minors may be reading this site, so websites dedicated to pornography might not be smart. If it's not safe for work (someone could get in trouble with their boss if said boss was looking over their shoulder), add a "NSFW" at the end of the post.
Check the guidelines for more information about posting.
How do I post?
It's easy, honestly. I'm going to assume you're already registered and authorised to post (new registrations take up to 24 hours to be cleared by admin). If you're logged in, click on "Post" in the navigation bar on the top right of the screen. Make up a title that will be shown in the right-hand sidebar and on the RSS feed. Then add the most relevant link in the URL box, and a brief description below it. The description will be the intro to your post. In the "Link description" window, type in some more information about your link. You can add extra links here if you like, using correct HTML. Any further info can go in the "Extended Description". This will be inside your post, on the comments page. If your post seems too long, move some of it to the extended description, or put something in here about why this post is interesting to you.Some other useful hints:
- Note if your link is not safe for work (NSFW).
- Let us know if you found your link on a widely-read source such as slashdot, yahoo, fark, boingboing, or metafilter.
- Try not to simply post a link with no explanation: many people won't bother to look at it.
- State if it's a flash, shockwave, java, quicktime movie or other such slow-loading site.
- Do a quick search to make sure your link hasn't been posted before.
- At the moment, posting images in a post or comment is not permitted due to bandwidth and server space limitations. Post a link to the image instead.
- Last thing: special characters tend to show up in strange and unexpected ways. I'm talking about accents, umlauts, all those pretty letters that aren't from the English language, and occasionally characters that have been copy-pasted from MS Word. If you can, avoid using them. If they're integral to the post, it's cool. Just consider this a friendly warning that someone will probably say, "What on earth is that word??"
What are the Curious, George posts?
Metafilter recently started a side-site called Ask Metafilter (or AskMe). It seemed like such a good idea that we blatantly ripped it off with Curious, George. Essentially, you're welcome to post a question about almost anything. Technical problems, advice on what car to buy, how to find a certain song or book, all these and more may be answered by your fellow Monkeys. When posting, put "Curious, George: $problem" in the Title, a little bit of info on the front page and, if it's a long question, place the remainder in the "Extended Info" box. To look up past Curious George questions and answers, do a search for "Curious George" in the search page. Monkeys also use Curious, George for friendly discussion on silly things like "What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?" These sorts of posts are a great way to get to know your fellow monkeys, but try not to overuse them because ideally Curious, George are about seeking and receiving helpful advice.Why is there a self-imposed posting limit?
We want quality of posts to be as high as possible. Many Monkeys believe that the more you post, the less interesting the posts will be. We ask that you post one good, interesting and discussion-worthy post per day. If you think you have more than one, so be it. We're certainly not forcing you not to post. Make 'em good!What HTML can I use?
These are the usable tags:| Bold | <b></b> or <strong></strong> |
| Italic | <i></i> or <em></em> |
| Underline | <u></u> |
| Small | <small></small> |
| <strike></strike> | |
| Hyperlink | <a></a> |
How do I post an in-line link?
Use a hyperlink tag like the one above. A basic link looks like this:This is a link to <a href="http://monkeyfilter.com">MonkeyFilter</a>, the best mefi lurker site ever.
Type the URL of your link between the quotation marks and the title you want to give it in place of "MonkeyFilter". The above link will look like this in a sentence: This is a link to MonkeyFilter, the best mefi lurker site ever. Don't forget the </a> close tag.
Why is my post on the main page twice?
There's a couple of possible reasons: one is that you hit the "Post" button twice, or the "Back" button to repost the form. The other possible reason is issues with the Metaphilter engine itself. Let admin know if you receive any error messages while posting. If you can say exactly what the error message said (yay for copy-paste), we can resolve the issue.In the meantime, keep comments to one of the double posts if possible and admin will remove the other as soon as she sees it.
I logged out and can't log back in. Help!
Delete any cookies for monkeyfilter.com and try logging back in.Why didn't anyone comment on my post?
If no one comments on your post, that most likely means it's just not a very good post, sorry. A post should be discussion-worthy, or you should make it so. Take it as a hint that you should reconsider what sort of links you're posting, or the style you're posting them in.What do I do if my thread is derailed?
If someone goes off-topic in your thread, you'll just have to grin and bear it. It happens all the time, and more often than not Monkeys will return to the topic at hand. On the odd occasion you may find that the new topic is as interesting (or more so) than the topic of the original post.What if I find a post or comment offensive?
Try not to start a big argument in the thread. If you feel you're being trolled or abused, the usual "ignore them" statement applies. If it continues in the thread or elsewhere on MonkeyFilter, contact admin. Trolls are common everywhere on the internet, and it behooves us as monkeys to be the bigger simian and ignore them until they go away.What do I do if I think someone's abusing the system?
Contact admin via email or blog comment, and she will investigate. Don't, please for the love of God don't start a flamewar on the main page. Really.How can I ask admin a question?
Email Tracy or post a comment in her blog. Try not to post a complaint or bug to the main page.How can I contribute to MonkeyFilter?
Apart from posting and joining in the discussion, there's not a lot. Occasionally we're on the lookout for new logos, and if you have a stylesheet you'd like to see on MoFi, we'll be happy to add it. We have a metaphilter project that's current dormant as the code is running pretty well now, but we may add features in the future.If you are interested in working on the metaphilter code, check Tracy's blog for a current list of bugs that need resolving. We have a sourceforge metaphilter-hack project up at this project page. If you're interested in being a code monkey, join sourceforge and email me with your username. I'll add you to the project and mailing list. If you just want to be in on the mailing list, that's okay too. Email me and let me know (you don't need to join sourceforge).