And, not that it' relevant, but since you asked, here's the saddest email I have ever received, which came just about an hour ago:

Council Members,

It is with great sadness that I inform you that a Franklin Resident has
been killed in active duty in Iraq. He name is
Robert Pirelli of 37 Jordan Road, age 29.He was a member of the Army.

Bob Fahey has just come from his mother's home and does not have any other
details at this time.

Dianne

Town of Franklin
Dianne M. Blanchard
Town Administrator's Office

He's the second from our town to die. We'll have to find another bridge to name after him.

Ugh, yhbc, that sucks. I'm sorry.

No sightings of thomcastspike here, everyone is fairly legible.

That's too bad, I had hoped we had seen the last of Thomcatspike. He's the only MetaFilter user who has ever sent me a mean-spirited e-mail. It was also slightly incomprehensible of course.

yhbc, what the hell is the new MeFi like? I've been contemplating posting a question to the gray in which oldsters would compare the new MeFi to the old MeFi I faded away from seven years ago. Something like, "Original MeFites: Please prepare an old-timer to return to MeFi after a seven-year (nearly total) absence. Have as much fun comparing the new and the old as you like." (I've checked in and even posted a few comments over the last few years, but nothing like the 8-hr-a-day surfing I did back when I was in the top 10 contribution index.)

Sorry for the loss also, yhbc. What state are you in again?

At the risk of making myself even more popular than ever I'm going to once again mention to no one in particular that this isn't the place to slag on MF members. It makes all of us look bad.

yhbc, that's so sad. It's just so shitty...

I started my MeFi lurking career in 2001 and my posting career in 2004. I have to say that I think a lot of the 'old MeFi' stuff is just pure nostalgia for a time when things felt new and the particular posters people liked when they were most active. Whenever I go back and read old pages, it sounds about like what it does today - same amount of snarking, same amount of complaints about newsFilter, PoliticsFilter, SLOE, flamewars, and so on. I think the main differences were just that the community was smaller and the site was simpler before all the new functions were added. But I don't think to the objective view it could really be called better or worse.

AskMe, at least, is more useful than it once was, not less. And FPP quality always seems to be just plain cyclical (though we are in the midst of a great, long run of good FPPs lately.)

...I think a lot of the 'old MeFi' stuff is just pure nostalgia...

I'm just wondering how it's different, not whether it's better or worse.

But, on the worse side, I do wish the img tag were still active. I think we used it with good judgment (except for the "We know this thread is gonna be deleted" free-for-alls) and I posted imgs fairly often. Sure, you can link to an image, but it doesn't equal the slightly shocking potential LOL! of just stumbling onto commentary in the form of a spot-on jpg. John Ralston was (recently) posting comments in the form of sketches, too, and I'd love to see those in-line.

Thanks for the update on MeFi, though, Miko!

I think the advent of Youtube signaled a major change in the character of Metafilter. For example, many FPPs seem to be compilations of Youtube videos of someone's favorite artist, possibly with a couple of Wikipedia links tacked on. They're easy to compose, and the posts generally consist of repeated expressions of the sentiment that the given artist is really talented.

I don't claim that this has made MeFi worse (after all, I can skip over FPPs I don't like; moreover, I only notice it because Youtube's been banned at my job, and so when I check MeFi there, there are often a good many FPPs I can't investigate). But it's certainly made it different.

I'd like it if the yootoobery was isolated. Miguel is still gone, which is a loss. Plenty of good posts & comments. I was never high profile, so I never had that neighborhood feel.

shane! Now there's a blast from the past. I didn't know you were hanging around here.

I still enjoy MeFi for the same reasons I did four years ago - there's engaging characters, interesting links, and witty, intelligent comments. There's just different people.

Yeah, I miss the img tag. I don't mind the youtoobery, because that's what the interesting links are at the moment. In six months, it'll be something else.

Come back, shane!
[/obligatory]

Oh, Massachusetts.