I think it’s about time you tackle (another?) post about how people will just get ruder and less appreciative the longer a blog runs, regardless of merit. I see it happen everywhere and it’s pathetic and sad. Aren’t developers supposed to be more mature than the average person instead of the whiny children I see in these comments all the time? Grow the hell up, everyone.
@Dale: arguably it’s Jeff complaining about his own blog. It could get dangerous. Hope he didn’t use “On Error Resume Next”!
Meta might also mean all that stuff found in System.Reflection - which without there would be no ActiveRecord, no Reflector, no xxx (put in your favorite Reflection based framework here) etc. So meta in its pure sense have obviously different levels of values and justifications depending upon where and why you do it. I found SEO sites pretty interesting when I wanted to build a popular website for a previous startup of mine …
For those of you querying the meaning of meta - it means many. As in metamorph (many form).
Is seems you think the meaning, and perhaps it has become so, is something to do with reflection and introspection.
Lets try and reclaim the true meaning of meta! Meta Means Many! Chant it with me.
Then why are you going rehashing meta about an old blog post? Is this just a part of “keep jabbing?” You’ve made this point many times before and it, as surely you know, is kind of ironic.
As far as those talking about what “meta” means, I recommend studying some philosophy, it might make a little more sense. It doesn’t mean “many” or anything like that. It means something much closer to “beyond” and in CS we typically use it to mean “about” so metadata is data about data. Pretty simple.
I found this one of the most interesting posts, to be honest. I think there is a lot to be said about the efficiencies or lack thereof, of meta-work. Obviously there is a certain level of meta thinking that is productive, and a certain level that is not.
The business metaphor is really what degree of management – they aren’t actually doing the work, but they are thinking about it and coordinating it. It’s been rather extensively studied (optimal levels of management) , and frankly it remains a contentious and suboptimal aspect of business – there is much hand-wringing about micro-management or why if there are so many adminstrators/overseers, things end up so easily missed, yadda yah.
I think that meta about meta is deadly serious. Too many people screw it up in either direction.
“For those of you querying the meaning of meta - it means many.”
Oh no it doesn’t. It means many things, but “many” is not one of them. It’s origional Greek meaning was along the lines of “after” or “with”. It’s modern usage is “about”, as in “metamathematics”; using mathematics to study mathematics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta
I’m not sure what this post means by “the meta” though.
(Captcha “information atop” - seems apt.)
postBlogEntry(void ***********meta)
{
//indirection here we come…
}
Reminds me of something I learned a while ago about group dynamics. Where the most successful groups tend to spent more time than average working out organizational issues when they’re first organized, and then go on to spend less time than average on those issues when they’re up an running. In other words it’s not a simple issue, the hard part is having meta when you need it and not when you don’t.
As a software developer, have you ever worked with a MetaMetaModel?
“For those of you querying the meaning of meta - it means many. As in metamorph (many form).”
Doesn’t poly mean many? As in polymorphism.
I’m amazed because I just stumbled on this post and site after having a conversation with someone yesterday who was complaining that his boss was making him write a 17 page evaluation of someone else’s critique. Plus, one of the verification words I have to type to post this is kegel. Can I get more synchronicity? And now Walter Cronkite is dead, but it won’t drive Michael Jackson out of the public driveling. What does this have to do with meta-whatever? I don’t f-ing care!!!
Dude. Seriously. Let this one go.
I find Meta discussion far more entertaining and relevant than your Quixotic quest to end it.
BTW, I’m sad to see the orange go 
Yo Dawg! I heard you like blogs so we put a blog in yo’ blog so you can blog while you blog!!
For disliking meta as much as you do, you certainly do write a lot about disliking meta. Seems like it’s own sort of meta.
I found this meaningful. I am using this knowledge in my bylaw change effort at church… (They are happy to have bylaws that don’t match how we do business forever apparently in order to avoid talking about the meta discussion) I have to figure out how to either encourage people to tolerate the meta discussion or figure out how we as a “democratic Community” can avoid it all together…
I’d bet you didn’t think of that angle. It seems to me that there are meta people who are willing to discuss how we are going to do things, and non-meta people who cannot comprehend why we would want to change anything ever… I’m sure there is some truth here I hope I figure it out before we try to bring it again to a vote.
I stand corrected. I had always assumed meta meant many, but I can’t remember from where I read it.
Interesting post … can’t believe I read so many boring comments though … I wonder whether your moderator would push this off to another site or section of the site… oh wait, that’s you. The best way to get your meta-post on the home page is to own the site, hey. Technically, you could have posted this on StackOverflow while the rest of us couldn’t have - amazing the power one has when they are The Leader, haha.
You’re starting to see it in food too. They have pizza flavored Hot Pockets, its only a matter of time until they have Hot Pocket flavored Hot Pockets. It’ll be a Hot Pocket Hot Pocket!
Isn’t meta-thinking the cornerstone of humble programming? Doesn’t that include the self-reflection about ourselves and our processes that makes us all the Best Programmer Ever?
I agree that writing about writing about writing has a limited audience, but murdering meta seems too extreme.