Welcome to my killfile.

September 3, 2005 9:21 AM

Welcome to my killfile.
posted by sohcahtoa to Etiquette/Policy at 9:21 AM (78 comments total)

If you want to use a killfile when reading Metafilter, more power to you. But announcing it in the thread is trollish and derailing, and lowers the standard of discussion 'round here.
posted by sohcahtoa at 9:21 AM on September 3, 2005

Welcome to my killfile...
I think you're gonna like it...

/Alice Cooper
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:24 AM on September 3, 2005

Welcome to a thread that will consist almost entirely of everyone calling you a dick. Dick.
posted by absalom at 9:48 AM on September 3, 2005

But announcing it in the thread is trollish and derailing, and lowers the standard of discussion 'round here.'

But if no one knows you're using one, and who's on it, well, where's the fun in that?
posted by justgary at 9:59 AM on September 3, 2005

::PLONK::
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 10:01 AM on September 3, 2005

Now that the lame joke is out of the way, you only found two examples. The first two are about the killfile itself, not examples of people announcing in a thread that they are killfiling someone. Try harder.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 10:02 AM on September 3, 2005

Subscribe me to your killfile please, oh l33t ph34r50m3 0n3!
posted by davy at 10:05 AM on September 3, 2005

Well now we know how easy it is to get in zaack's killfile. zaack has given us the benefit of knowing that if we cross that rather wide line, we'll miss his wonderful contributions to the points we make in the discussions zaack is involved in.

It's basically a BEWARE isn't it?
posted by juiceCake at 10:06 AM on September 3, 2005

Welcome to a thread that will consist almost entirely of everyone calling you a dick

I'll call him a schmuck, just to stand out.

I gotta be meeee.....
posted by jonmc at 10:28 AM on September 3, 2005

Oh ignore lists. Even those fail eventually. Human curiosity.
posted by Captaintripps at 10:38 AM on September 3, 2005

Unless it's clever enough to killfile quoted text, it will not accomplish what you want. Or, perhaps you only installed it just to tell people that "I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU LALALA..." in which case, good job.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:57 AM on September 3, 2005

Welcome to a thread that will consist almost entirely of everyone calling you a dick. Dick.

I don't understand this. He's a dick for complaining about ostentatious "you're on my killfile" comments that do nothing to add to the discussion, behavior that, as he says, lowers the standard of discussion? And what exactly do you think you're contributing to this discussion? I really get the feeling that tragedy makes people feel they're suddenly licensed to spew all the venom they normally try to keep under control.
posted by languagehat at 11:01 AM on September 3, 2005

No, really, I am a dick.

Actually, that surprised me too. I expected the plonks.
posted by sohcahtoa at 11:09 AM on September 3, 2005

There was already a discussion about the legitimacy of killfiles in at least one MeTa thread. This is a pointless call out.
posted by anapestic at 11:16 AM on September 3, 2005

WELCOME TO THE KILLFILE BABY, YOU'RE GONNA DIE
posted by keswick at 11:20 AM on September 3, 2005

.|.
posted by loquacious at 11:20 AM on September 3, 2005

Since I got called out, I should note that I said 'ignore list' which is inelegant language for, basically, "I'm not listening to you anymore."

For many of the reasons stated above, I haven't bothered with an actual killfile. If the comment starts getting wacky, I just look to the post label and move on if it is part of my "onboard killfille."

I do take the criticism that it is a somewhat crappy move to announce generally that I am no longer listening to someone. But hey it was early and it was much easier than some long dissertation about why the post sucked and why it was kind of sad to have that as the first post on the page. See my discussion further along in the thread for more if you are all that interested....

Also: keswick -- HA! Very nice.
posted by zaack at 11:30 AM on September 3, 2005

Killfile == Thunderdome?

Many will enter, but only one will survive.
posted by wendell at 12:16 PM on September 3, 2005

Welcome to the killfile. We've got fun & games.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:19 PM on September 3, 2005

wendell:
Here's hoping that the last two will be PP & Dios. I'd love to see them duke it out "gladiator" style for community acceptance, but that's just my inner sadist talking.
queue the star trek kirk vs. spock fight music...
posted by mystyk at 12:23 PM on September 3, 2005

No, juiceCake, it's not a beware at all. Why don't you read my previous comment.

And I'll be sure to keep my eye out for your own wonderfully informative contributions, based on this thread.
posted by zaack at 12:44 PM on September 3, 2005

Who is KillFile anyway?
posted by LarryC at 12:56 PM on September 3, 2005

All these hurricane discussions make me wish there were a way to highlight comments posted by people I really like. Anybody?
posted by hartsell at 1:26 PM on September 3, 2005

Hartsell, plutor created a greasemonkey script which puts little stars next to the names of members you've added to your contacts. It's available here.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:46 PM on September 3, 2005

Killfiles are for weak, thin skinned weenies lacking the brainpower or willpower to ignore the low level of trollishness around here. This is a pretty tightly controlled universe. If you can't hack it here, you can't hack it anywhere.
posted by caddis at 1:51 PM on September 3, 2005

The intresting thing about this killfile system is that the file is actualy on the web and can be linked too.

(that's the killfile for the person who actualy wrote the origional killfile script, who is actualy not a member)
posted by delmoi at 2:11 PM on September 3, 2005

Hah, matthowe is on that list.
posted by delmoi at 2:12 PM on September 3, 2005

Me, too! Yay!

If you're not on that list, you're probably not that interesting or you're just not trying hard enough.

What do all the people on that list have in common?

Their relative merits (or lack thereof) aside, they are "difficult," people meaning they don't like complacency or self-satisfaction. The fact that this guy chose to put them in his killfile speaks volumes about him.
posted by jonmc at 2:16 PM on September 3, 2005

languagehat is on the list? languagehat?!
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:30 PM on September 3, 2005

Aiieee!
*dies*
posted by languagehat at 2:32 PM on September 3, 2005

languagehat is on the list? languagehat?!

to repeat myself: they don't like complacency or self-satisfaction etc. etc. The Hat skewers such things with more aplomb than I ever managed but he's enough of a gadfly to irritate those who think that MeFi should be a place where we all pat eachother on the ass for having the right opinions, tastes and ideas. And good for him.
posted by jonmc at 2:36 PM on September 3, 2005

I made the list! I made the list! I'm special. Wheeeeee!
posted by SeizeTheDay at 2:36 PM on September 3, 2005

You're all killfiled in my head, where it counts.
posted by substrate at 2:37 PM on September 3, 2005

Hey, I'm the third link! Well, for the record, I was only kidding about testing my killfile on ParisP. I just don't have the heart to actually squelch someone out, no matter how much I think they deserve it.
posted by milovoo at 2:53 PM on September 3, 2005

Their relative merits (or lack thereof) aside, they are "difficult," people meaning they don't like complacency or self-satisfaction.

You could say the same thing about any garden variety troll who likes stirring the pot. So what? It doesn't mean there's any value in it.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:00 PM on September 3, 2005

I made the list! I made the list! I'm special.

Me too. Let's both dump on the floor!
posted by jonmc at 3:00 PM on September 3, 2005

You could say the same thing about any garden variety troll who likes stirring the pot. So what? It doesn't mean there's any value in it.

True enough. But there's stirring the pot and stirring it well, Armitage. I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't make provocative commets simply to see the fireworks. I do it because, (to repeat myself) I consider self-staisfaction the ultimate enemy of progress and free thought. So when I see it, I feel obliged to upset it a bit, if for no other reason than to remind people that not everyone thinks like they do and that dosen't make them monsters.

Even though we've disagreed loudly on occasion, I've always respected you, so I'm not sure why you feel the need to accuse me of trollery.
posted by jonmc at 3:04 PM on September 3, 2005

posted by wackybrit at 3:05 PM on September 3, 2005

I wish our signatures appeared at the top of our posts. That would make skimming threads more practical and reduce the attraction of killfiles.
posted by LarryC at 3:08 PM on September 3, 2005

Even though we've disagreed loudly on occasion, I've always respected you, so I'm not sure why you feel the need to accuse me of trollery.

No, no, you misunderstand me. I'm just saying that being on that list says nothing. Some people may be honestly opposed to complacency, others may just be just trolls. There's no point in trying to draw *any* conclusion from one person's list of people they wish to ignore. (For what it's worth, I can't think of anything you've ever written that qualifies as trollery.)
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:12 PM on September 3, 2005

I'm crushing your head! I'm crushing your head!
posted by loquacious at 3:14 PM on September 3, 2005

There's no point in trying to draw *any* conclusion from one person's list of people they wish to ignore.

Well, I dunno about that. Let's take a look. (I've deleted those who I am unfamiliar with or who I honestly think are trolls.

angry modem (difficult guy, vulgar sense of humor)
davidmsc (conservative, military)
davy (difficult cranky leftist)
dhoyt (cranky centrist)
dios (cranky rightist)
Ethereal Bligh (long-winded, but decent guy)
evanizer (cranky conservative gay guy)
jenleigh (conservative)
jfuller (conservative)
jonmc (sexy genius wit of the century)
justgary (cranky centrist southerner)
languagehat (cranky anarchist)
loquax (conservative)
MattD (conservative)
mathowie (I'm confused by this one myself)
Mayor Curley (cranky in general)
mischief (ditto)
pardonyou? (cranky centrist)
ParisParamus (cranky conservative, but working on it, Allah bless him)
peacay (confused here, too)
realcountrymusic (see Ethereal Bligh)
rocketman (confused yet again)
Rothko (cranky lefty)
Thedevildancedlightly (conservative)
Witty (cranky in general)
xmutex (ditto)

What do they have in common? Crankiness (I mean "cranky," in the low-tolerance-for-bullshit/prickly temper sense, NOT "cranky," as in "insane." And they tend to deviate comewhat from the centrist/liberal educated "norm," such as it is, here. Just a theory.
posted by jonmc at 3:23 PM on September 3, 2005

caveat: I'm not trotting out the silly "conservatives are persecuted," strawman, but any honest appraisal of MeFi would show that conservatives (both reasonable and not) are a minority here, and someone disinclined to hear minority veiwpoints would probably put them in a killfile, thus stultifying debate.
posted by jonmc at 3:27 PM on September 3, 2005

justgary (cranky centrist southerner)

I'm in therapy. I'm workin' on it!
posted by justgary at 3:29 PM on September 3, 2005

I'm at the top of the list, bitches.
posted by angry modem at 3:29 PM on September 3, 2005

Let's hear it for the alphabet.
posted by jonmc at 3:31 PM on September 3, 2005

jonmc (wears plaid)

I got nothin'.
posted by justgary at 3:36 PM on September 3, 2005

also worth noting: non-cranky conservatives like davidmsc and MattD (say what you want about their political opinions, but they've never been anything less than class acts) made this guys list, too. I'm just saying.
posted by jonmc at 3:44 PM on September 3, 2005

Anyone who has a killfile is a dick. Add me to to it you dick(s).
posted by Joeforking at 3:56 PM on September 3, 2005

Waitaminute... I'm a cranky sum'bitch. I'm not on the list.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:32 PM on September 3, 2005

Well, I'm ignoring your ingore file and soon we're all going to disappear up our own collective arses.
posted by qwerty155 at 4:35 PM on September 3, 2005

Any killfile that doesn't include quonsar isn't worth the bits it's stored in.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:36 PM on September 3, 2005

quonsar doesn't seem to come around these parts too much anymore. wah.
posted by caddis at 4:47 PM on September 3, 2005

"I wish our signatures appeared at the top of our posts. That would make skimming threads more practical and reduce the attraction of killfiles."

This, too, was a specific design decision of Matt's. He wanted the words people write to be more important than who wrote them.

We fight like cats and dogs, but there's no arguing that we aren't a community. That this is the case is largely the result of how Matt designed the site. Some of the changes people propose would turn mefi into a handful of ghettoized communities. AskMe already has done that to a certain extent.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:55 PM on September 3, 2005

say what you want about their political opinions, but they've never been anything less than class acts

One thing, at least, is comforting: I think we can trust John Ashcroft's INS to have a paddy wagon waiting for them when they come to the courthouse to try to sue Duke for malpractice. A bumpy flight to Mexico, shackled to the floor of a Bureau of Prisons plane, rather than a payday at the cost of all of our insurance premiums, seems well deserved.
posted by MattD at 2:39 AM CET on February 23 [!]

if this is your idea of your classy, jon, let me say I'm not sure I'd invite you over at my place -- I'm afraid you'd take a shit on my couch, thinking that's classy, too
posted by matteo at 4:58 PM on September 3, 2005

and EB, if we're a community, then Usenet is one, too.
posted by matteo at 5:01 PM on September 3, 2005

"and EB, if we're a community, then Usenet is one, too."

Huh? I don't see your point. Some long-standing newsgroups are communities (my old hang-out, a.f.u. comes to mind). There's lots of evidence for mefi being a "community" in the way that, say, a local hobby club is a community. Even the people who don't like each other have to deal with each other if they want to be here.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:26 PM on September 3, 2005

I was all gonna make the "This thread's all blank..." joke, but then I thought better of it.
So I kinda did it meta.

(Thanks, Jonmc: I didn't realize Loquax was a conservative! I thought he was a libertarian Canadian or something...)

I'm not on there because all my comments are fucking gems that will be republished in chapbook someday.
Yeah, fuckin' collected wit and wisdom.
posted by klangklangston at 5:32 PM on September 3, 2005

quonsar, come home!

matteo, your newly honed Rottweiler persona is getting tiresome.
posted by languagehat at 5:39 PM on September 3, 2005

Killfiles are infantile. I 'd venture that those who use them are the worst among us. And those who use them and then announce it should be beaten like mangy dogs and turned out into the streets, where they can ignore other people at their own risk.

Welcome to a thread that will consist almost entirely of everyone calling you a dick. Dick.

Indeed. Very small dick, too, one suspects.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:29 PM on September 3, 2005

"I wish our signatures appeared at the top of our posts. That would make skimming threads more practical and reduce the attraction of killfiles."

Wish no more. You can make this happen in your browser with a trivial Greasemonkey script. Or you could go here, get an RSS feed of a post, and only read posts from the users you like. It's a free Internet.
posted by mullingitover at 6:35 PM on September 3, 2005

Just to follow up on my note above, there is a greasemonkey extension that marks comments made by your contacts. Instead or blotting out those you don't like, for whatever reason, why not mark the contributions of those that you do like and trust?
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:54 PM on September 3, 2005

matteo, I didn't say that the man didn't occasionaly have me clutching my head in disbelief at his opinions*, but I could say the same about you, mathowie, and my late Uncle Charlie. But that dosen't mean I automatically throw them in my pay-no-mind file. I am under no delusions that I've got the world figured out, and any reasonable human being would admit the same.

I just read this comment you addressed to the estimable languagehat 9and to a lesser extent, me). matteo, paisan, if that's what you honestly believe about us, then you are simply mistaken.

All you know of the two of us is what you've read here, so I'll cut you some slack on your assesment of us, but one thing that's true of both me and the 'Hat is that we will tell anyone, anywhere what we think in no uncertain terms. But at the same time we both fervently respect everyone's humanity.

As far as politcal leaders go, hey, no holds barred as far as I'm concerned, but they people who get cajoled, conned and manipulated into supporting people like Bush (or as is far more often the case, into apathy/withdrawal in disgust) that's a whole other story. I understand that fundamentally decent people can be led astray, conned or (*gasp*) differ on issues. Accusing the two of us of being feckless losers in way off base.

I actually had a casual conversation on this subject with a fellow mefite, and she said (and I quote directly) "Republicans are bad people!" I think she even stamped her foot while she said it. I tried to say that things aren't quite so simple, but I think it fell on deaf ears. That can be incredibly frustrating. I don't want to live in a a country where people can't disgaree reasonably. And you have a rather irritating habit of presuming to understand the motivations of those who disagree with you. That's not an attack, merely a constructive criticism.

I post this comment not to argue with you (and I'm probably not as cogent as I'd like to be, since I've been on a DVD and Budweiser jag all night) but to let you know where I (and although I'd never presume to speak for him, but I have a hunch he's on the same page as me) and languagehat are coming from. take it for whatever it's worth.
posted by jonmc at 10:14 PM on September 3, 2005

* you could cherry pick anyone's comment history and find moments of egregious obtuseness. we're all only human here.
posted by jonmc at 10:27 PM on September 3, 2005

Just call me 'cranky'! - luv m
posted by mischief at 10:30 PM on September 3, 2005

Killfiles are infantile. I 'd venture that those who use them are the worst among us. And those who use them and then announce it should be beaten like mangy dogs and turned out into the streets, where they can ignore other people at their own risk.

posted by stavrosthewonderchicken

And I think that people who post about inflicting violence on people who say they have killfiles and then talk about it should be raped with a nightstick and then left to whimper on a cold concrete floor all night. And are infantile.

Isn't it great when we can announce what we would like to do to other members of the community? I think it is!

F***ing moron.
posted by zaack at 11:31 PM on September 3, 2005

monju_bosatsu: "Just to follow up on my note above, there is a greasemonkey extension that marks comments made by your contacts."

Also worth installing is the Mefiquote user script, which is coolness on wheels. (This is me testing it right now.)

As for the killfile script: meh. I'm in jonmc's camp about this, and there's no way I can engage in constructive, reasoned debate while keeping my views and beliefs safely stashed away where detractors can't touch them. But to each his own, I just don't think it'll bring any good to the community.
posted by Goblindegook at 11:36 PM on September 3, 2005

"Isn't it great when we can announce what we would like to do to other members of the community?"

I'd like to have dinner with everyone on the list jonmc posted.

... with lots of wine.
posted by mischief at 11:40 PM on September 3, 2005

F***ing moron.

I am many things, zaack, but a moron ain't one of them. You, on the other hand, in mistaking my obviously satirical (and HST-referencing) hyperbole for 'what [I] would like to do to other members of the community'... well, that might just be moron-grade right there. Since I can't recall ever reading anything you've said before, it's hard to tell, based on limited evidence.

But I forgive you. Rape away, nightstick man, rape away.

I'd like to have dinner with everyone on the list jonmc posted.

Hell, I'll have dinner with anyone once, if there's enough wine.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:31 AM on September 4, 2005

/adds thewonderchicken to the list
posted by mischief at 12:55 AM on September 4, 2005

Yay!

Er, I think.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:00 AM on September 4, 2005

heheh
posted by mischief at 1:15 AM on September 4, 2005

Rape away, nightstick man

That sounds like the title of a kickass novel or play. Write it, somebody!
posted by languagehat at 6:30 AM on September 4, 2005

No, juiceCake, it's not a beware at all. Why don't you read my previous comment.

And I'll be sure to keep my eye out for your own wonderfully informative contributions, based on this thread.

I see we have a similar sense of humour, though you missed mine for some reason. I'll add you to my non-existent ignore list!
posted by juiceCake at 7:39 AM on September 4, 2005

I wanted to see that killfile list but dammit, I can't get it to open. *cries*
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 9:05 AM on September 4, 2005

check your killfile
posted by angry modem at 10:56 AM on September 4, 2005

That's what I get for posting late at night and letting a vague memory of disagreeing with many things you said from the last time I was here color my reading of the thread.

You got my sense of humor in your killfille!

You got your killfile in my sense of humor!

[cue looks of comic frustration, fade out, put up the logo]
posted by zaack at 1:42 PM on September 4, 2005

And I even did that wrong (my/your).

Sigh.
posted by zaack at 1:44 PM on September 4, 2005