
Meta is Murder - Mintz
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001282.html
======
embeddedradical
Too much _meta_ is bad, too little _meta_ is also bad. If you live by 'meta
murders', you're going to become a braindead doer, instead of a creative and
insightful contributor. I believe that to find a good balance of meta in all
things, we should simply look at meta-cognition and find balance there, and
then extrapolate out.

I recommend checking out this article from Seed Magazine:
<http://seedmagazine.com/content/print/thinking_meta/> :

 _Unless we are aware of our tendency to act irrationally in certain
situations, then we’ll continue to act irrationally. That much is
predictable.Although the mind is full of flaws, we can learn to outsmart
them._

I think for an approach to productive use of meta discussion in these tech
circles, we should begin by looking at the already existing strategies for
utilizing meta-cognition for our benefit - like the ones listed here:
<http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/metacognition/start.htm>

In short, thinking about thinking, thinking about you think, are quite
valuable, but do it wrong, do it too much, and you end up driving yourself
nuts -- and say crazy things like _meta is murder_ and run away from it....'I
will not think, I think too much, will not think...will be braindead zombie
not questioning what I'm doing...' -- also, your analysis of your thoughts
isn't often that valuable to other people, which I think relates to why we
find reading about bloggers telling us how they blog is kind of mmm, boring.

------
mrtron
I don't think this sort of topic qualifies as Hacker News.

~~~
GavinB
_A lot of people cite MetaTalk as a reason that MetaFilter works. If you talk
to a regular from the site they'll tell you MetaTalk is key to the success of
the site because it's a sort of release valve._

The solution to the "not hacker news" problem isn't to shout people down. You
need to give them that release valve. The comments are a symptom of a problem,
and it needs to be addressed through the site architecture.

~~~
akkartik
I tried out and stopped using the JoS discussion boards (way before the days
of reddit) primarily because this release valve didn't exist. My submission
would occasionally get magicked away and there was no recourse, no way to ask
why that had happened.

------
biotech
"Generally speaking, I am not a fan of the meta."

Ironic that he should say this, considering that a considerable portion of his
communications relate to meta-discussions.

~~~
brown9-2
This blog post is a discussion of a podcast discussion of where to host
discussion of stackoverflow discussion.

------
jrockway
I think he just wants to ignore any criticism aimed at Stack Overflow. That's
the impression I get from his comments on the meta site, anyway.

"LALALAL ITS FINE LALALA"

~~~
acexman
while there is one (annoying) search result that points to www.experts-
exchange.com stack overflow is relief.

------
fogus
Sometimes I just want to scream: Stop having 3-hour discussions about what to
name the product and just build the product!

~~~
sant0sk1
I understand your sentiment, but I also _really_ like trying to think of cool
names...

~~~
fogus
As do I; which is probably why I have yet to scream.

------
joe_the_user
The thing about meta-discussion is, to an extent, it is people talking to hear
themselves or each other talk.

That sounds terrible but is it? Suppose instead of just talking, people sang?
Singing to hear yourself sing is wonderful. So the question isn't just whether
you are accomplishing anything with meta-comments. The question is whether you
either accomplishing or whether you are just enjoying what you're doing in a
somewhat rich, creative or satisfying way. This seems more likely when the
meta-discussion is humorous and good spirited than when it is angry and mean-
spirited. But perhaps some people enjoy trying to destroy other people's
intellectual position on some level or other.

------
o314
Actually this is so spot on!

I ADMIT! I have been living a meta-life for far too long now. A life where I
ponder about HOW I want to/should live my life. In a sense it has given me
much - a perceived knowledge and understanding about me, life and the world.
All in theory. Lately in my meta-living I've come to the conclusion that
that's just what it is. A meta-life. I need to stop meta and go out there, to
actually get things done. Get practical.

------
tezza
I think a better term is _Self-Referential_

Meta data is not always self referential.

