MetaFilter
Ranked 11 of 14 discussion forums by recommenders
Recommended as a long-running community weblog with good link posts and discussion, and a one-time fee to join.
9 people recommended MetaFilter in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 13 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 11 of those comments still count.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- mixed feelings
- 1
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 7 of 12 months
In 10 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 10 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 11% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 11 of the 12 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
High-quality, thriving community discussion
“Two other fine examples of thriving online communities are metafilter and ravelry.”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services” “it was definitely one of the higher quality forums”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “The dead Internet is not a theory anymore” Good generalist links and discussion
“If you like interesting and the occasional link fest rabbit-hole, have you seen metafilter?”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Itiner-E – The Digital Atlas of Ancient Roads” “enjoy tildes and metafilter for generalist discussions”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Reddit will stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13th” One-time fee keeps it going
“I think it worked well for metafilter: $1/1euro one-time charge to join.”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 in “Updated practice for review articles and position papers in ArXiv CS category” “you pay them a living wage (like MetaFilter does”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Account bans on Reddit”
Other discussion forums people recommend
The four most recommended other discussion forums, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hacker News | 258 | 81 | 140 | 65% | 12 | 11 yrs16 people | — |
| 111 | 113 | 933 | 11% | 12 | 14 yrs47 people | — | |
| Lobsters | 87 | 16 | 25 | 78% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Old Reddit | 52 | 7 | 44 | 54% | 12 | — | — |
| MetaFilterThis page | 9 | 1 | 1 | 90% | 7 | — | — |
Also compared with Slashdot, Tildes, 4chan and Something Awful.
What people said
11 of the 12 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“MetaFilter is by far the most anti-social group of moderators on any site in history.”
“you pay them a living wage (like MetaFilter does”
“enjoy tildes and metafilter for generalist discussions”
“No, those are general-any link posting.”
“Both sites have survived and continue to work well for their users.”
“it was definitely one of the higher quality forums”
“Two other fine examples of thriving online communities are metafilter and ravelry.”
“I still admire the density and efficiency”
“their tagline is "Community Weblog". It might be worth checking out.”
“If you like interesting and the occasional link fest rabbit-hole, have you seen metafilter?”
“I think it worked well for metafilter: $1/1euro one-time charge to join.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.