MEFI stands for Democratic Underground

September 6, 2005 3:09 AM

Can someone explain to me why this is on the front page? nlindstrom links to this as his source, who in turn links to this guy as their source. And Mr. Madsen? He doesn't list a source. Has this place become a Democratic Underground clone when I wasn't looking?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood to Etiquette/Policy at 3:09 AM (58 comments total)

no, Stevie, you're always looking, unfortunately.

(and by the way, we need you over at the Barbara Bush thread, when you're done with the lecture, thank you very much)
posted by matteo at 3:17 AM on September 6, 2005

What exactlly does that mean matteo?

That if only I would stop visiting this site, your dreams could come true and MetaFilter would be a Democratic Underground clone?

It still doesn't answer why this non-sourced tin foil hat stuff is on the front page.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 3:20 AM on September 6, 2005

Yep, cack post. But they seem to be allowed at the moment.
posted by jack_mo at 3:21 AM on September 6, 2005

Billy Madison: I swear to God I'm sick. I can't go to school.

Juanita: If you're gonna stay home today, you can help me shave my armpits.

Billy Madison: Oh my God. I'll go to school.

This sums up my feelings on the whole matter.
posted by Dreamghost at 3:35 AM on September 6, 2005

S@L: You could do some investigative journalism, refute the claims in thread, and otherwise discredit the claims with valid sources. Or you could investigate the sources and refute the validity of the sources.

Or you could flag it and move on.

Or we could ask "Would Steve be posting this to metatalk if he agreed with the politics behind it, regardless of sources?"

Instead, you just posted it to MetaTalk. Way to go, lazybones!
posted by loquacious at 3:57 AM on September 6, 2005

"Would Steve be posting this to metatalk if he agreed with the politics behind it, regardless of sources?"

If it were some right-wing tripe I wouldn't have to. Someone else would have...
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 4:02 AM on September 6, 2005

Everyone knows that Labor Day is for the loonies-- it's a monday, so they think that they can get a refill on their Depakote. But of course Rite-Aid is closed, so the crazies start seeing snakes and KGB. Look for naps today followed by less insanty tomorrow.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:24 AM on September 6, 2005

I agree with S@L, that's a very lame FPP. I flagged it yesterday, but I'm happy to say it in this thread too. If we're gonna have newsFilter, the more outrageous claims should be the best sourced ones.
posted by OmieWise at 4:28 AM on September 6, 2005

You know, the guidelines don't say anything about having well sourced material. Perhaps you think that they should, but that is a different issue entirely.
posted by spaghetti at 4:29 AM on September 6, 2005

S@L, just sit back and enjoy as your/our worst fears about the Bushaters confirm themselves. They did it for the last election, they're desperate.
posted by ParisParamus at 4:56 AM on September 6, 2005

How's that 'kinder, sweeter' thing working out for you, Paris?
posted by crunchland at 5:02 AM on September 6, 2005

spaghetti writes "You know, the guidelines don't say anything about having well sourced material. Perhaps you think that they should, but that is a different issue entirely."

It's not really a different issue. If the guidelines say best of the web, then well-sourced would seem to be an integral part of NewsFilter. This seems self-evident to me, otherwise every wacky blog entry would qualify as best of the web. Even then, it's hard to see most NewsFilter posts as best of the web.
posted by OmieWise at 5:23 AM on September 6, 2005

Bus haters? WTF are bus haters?
posted by loquacious at 5:29 AM on September 6, 2005

I hate buses. They're loud; they belch black smoke, and they try to run me over even more regularly than yuppies in BMWs.

I also hate the VESA Local Bus, but that's another story.
posted by selfnoise at 5:34 AM on September 6, 2005

But I think he meant "Bush Aters".
posted by selfnoise at 5:36 AM on September 6, 2005

I am a bush eater. Is that any help?
posted by longbaugh at 5:57 AM on September 6, 2005

*bats eyelashes at longbaugh*
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:07 AM on September 6, 2005

BusHaters--how is that?
posted by ParisParamus at 6:17 AM on September 6, 2005

first time I've giggled in over a week.
posted by taz at 6:20 AM on September 6, 2005

I still want to know WTF a bus hater is.

I'm hoping it's naughty. Please let it be naughty.
posted by loquacious at 6:24 AM on September 6, 2005

Can someone explain to me why this is on the front page?

When the levees around NoLa broke, so did the levees of good sense, good taste and good judgment around MeFi. The past week has yielded some of the most egregiously bad FPPs in recent memory. Wha happened?
posted by dhoyt at 6:24 AM on September 6, 2005

It's a crappity-crap post that even the BusHaters have scorned. If this is the harbinger of the Democratic revolution call, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I don't think it makes many points for rational liberals -- I don't have any respect for mutineers in a voluntary military -- and you can't have a decent revolution without the rational element clapping in the background.
posted by dness2 at 6:25 AM on September 6, 2005

One of the problems I had with the post was how to flag it. I mean, I went with "noise" instead of "breaks the guidelines," because I don't think that it really does break the guidelines... But it was a hard decision.
posted by klangklangston at 6:39 AM on September 6, 2005

When it was up, the content was pretty much ignored other than as a springboard for discussion about unsourced information. Now it's gone. I guess PP fill have to feed his martyr complex in some other thread.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 6:43 AM on September 6, 2005

Ok. So, steve, let me get this straight. An unsupported left wing rumor is posted as a fpp. It's pretty much resoundingly decried as bullshit by the leftist mefi cabal in the very fpp's thread.


What the fuck is your point?
posted by Freen at 6:50 AM on September 6, 2005

loquacious, maybe a Bus Hater is like a Car Hater.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 7:04 AM on September 6, 2005

No, not nearly naughty enough.
posted by loquacious at 7:06 AM on September 6, 2005

One of the problems I had with the post was how to flag it. I mean, I went with "noise" instead of "breaks the guidelines," because I don't think that it really does break the guidelines... But it was a hard decision.

Along that same line of thought, Matt, you still haven't replied to my email about adding the flag "Sucks Throbbing Purple-Headed Moose Cock" to the drop down list. I can be patient, I guess.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:09 AM on September 6, 2005

You say that like it's a bad thing. What's wrong with mooses?
posted by loquacious at 7:13 AM on September 6, 2005

I'm familiar with moose cock. It's rarely purple.
posted by horsewithnoname at 7:15 AM on September 6, 2005

Then you're not doing it right.
posted by soyjoy at 7:36 AM on September 6, 2005

actually, just rarely doing it right. I think now we can figure out a name for horsewithnoname.
posted by taz at 7:42 AM on September 6, 2005

A moose, purple cock-headed or not, is hardly an unnamed horse.
posted by loquacious at 7:54 AM on September 6, 2005

Has this placeMeTa become a Democratic Underground cloneBestiality porn messageboard when I wasn't looking? ; >
posted by amberglow at 8:12 AM on September 6, 2005

It's fun to see that my skepticism about PP's "I'm going to be less of an asshole" MeTa is so richly rewarded.
posted by clevershark at 8:17 AM on September 6, 2005

Thank god that post got deleted; it was truly a mess.
posted by mediareport at 8:17 AM on September 6, 2005

My bad on the cock flag request. Partisan politic aside, I'd agree with S@L on the dicey/shady foundation of the post. I thought it'd be gone much quicker but hell, Matt's gotta sleep sometime, I know.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:23 AM on September 6, 2005

It's fun to see that my skepticism about PP's "I'm going to be less of an asshole" MeTa is so richly rewarded.

And I feel like a fool for having even provisionally fallen for it. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me... how does that go? Something about the Who, right? Anyway, no more benefit of the doubt, Mr. Paramus.

And this was a perfectly reasonable callout, so all you goons going after Steve_at_Linnwood just because of who he is can knock it right off.
posted by languagehat at 8:33 AM on September 6, 2005

Yeah, Wayne Madsen always has these surprising articles but he never provides any evidence.
posted by johngoren at 8:38 AM on September 6, 2005

"It's fun to see that my skepticism about PP's "I'm going to be less of an asshole" MeTa is so richly rewarded.
posted by clevershark at 8:17 AM PST on September 6 [!]"

It's not fun to see that some people only see what they set out to see.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:28 AM on September 6, 2005

It's not fun to see that some people only see what they set out to see.

You just stabbed my brain with an irony knife.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:48 AM on September 6, 2005

What the fuck is your point?

That it should be deleted. Apparently, Matt agreed with me.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 9:51 AM on September 6, 2005

It's not fun to see that some people only see what they set out to see.

There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 10:06 AM on September 6, 2005

How about unknown knowns? Things that we don't know that we know.
posted by anapestic at 10:27 AM on September 6, 2005

PP: S@L, just sit back and enjoy as your/our worst fears about the Bushaters confirm themselves . . . It's not fun to see that some people only see what they set out to see.

It's an irony knife, but the blade is stainless stupid.
posted by fleacircus at 11:15 AM on September 6, 2005

Remember the flag option we had for about a week--"lame, super duper lame" I believe it was. I miss that.
posted by LarryC at 11:41 AM on September 6, 2005

I still want to know WTF a bus hater is. -loquacious

I'd say that'd be Bush and his administration, since they didn't send any buses to evacuate New Orleans before the hurricane hit. Sorry that's not naughty. Evil, yes. Naughty, no.
posted by hazyjane at 1:54 PM on September 6, 2005

That if only I would stop visiting this site, your dreams could come true and MetaFilter would be a Democratic Underground clone?

no, I just find funny that you of all people between your trademark Tourettian outbursts (you want me to link them again, after all these years, Stevie?) often shouted in all caps decide to play nanny and voice of reason. you're a very unfunny nanny, Stevie. but no, just like with paleocon and PEePee, I hope you stick around this place forever, I enjoy reading the right's arguments in all their USDA-prime, bovine beauty. not to mention, at this point I've develeoped for you guys the odd affection one develops, say, for architectural eyesores -- just so bad, but you get accustomed to them in the end.

and languagehat, you can be -- and often choose to be -- just as nasty as the "goons" you, as of late, are so fond of attacking. don't listen to me of course, just ask someone you trust around here. elegant writing does not excuse your vitriol -- your trademark sense of moral superiority over the unruly masses is at this point quite delusional. not that I don't consider you a friend, but still.

some of us at least acknowledge their taste for the political brawl, you just kick people in the throat while pretending to be the umpire
posted by matteo at 3:17 PM on September 6, 2005

and yes, "bus hater" made me laugh, thanks Paris. I dislike buses too, I'd much rather take the subway, or a tram
posted by matteo at 3:19 PM on September 6, 2005

Bus Hater? I still haven't figured out who Bu Shitler is.
posted by Krrrlson at 4:27 PM on September 6, 2005

I still haven't figured out who Bu Shitler is.

Jewish kung-fu undercover agent?
posted by Rothko at 4:31 PM on September 6, 2005

S@L, just sit back and enjoy as your/our worst fears about the Bushaters confirm themselves. They did it for the last election, they're desperate.
posted by ParisParamus at 4:56 AM PST on September 6 [!]

PP's getting slated as a backsliding hypocrite for that? Jeez, I hold no brief whatsoever for the guy, but my understanding was that he would refrain from personal attacks on posters. Which, as far as I can see, he has.

It's not fun to see that some people only see what they set out to see.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:28 AM PST on September 6 [!]


I never thought I'd quote ya twice, old boy. Life's full of surprises, I s'pose..

Put down that pitchfork Mabel, turns out it's just one of the townsfolk in a halloween mask.
posted by dash_slot- at 5:32 PM on September 6, 2005

some of us at least acknowledge their taste for the political brawl, you just kick people in the throat while pretending to be the umpire

that's fucking beautiful, matteo. i think several mefites have this affliction, but perhaps none so much as languagehat (well, maybe jonmc).

when the war against self-righteousness is unleashed, the throat-kicking "umpires" will be first against the wall.

/intentionally inflammatory rhetoric
posted by Hat Maui at 5:51 PM on September 6, 2005

*pisses on flaming pile of rhetoric*
posted by mediareport at 6:14 PM on September 6, 2005

The only question now is why this shitpile hasn't yet been scraped up.
posted by mischief at 10:26 PM on September 6, 2005

Best summation of MeFi lately. Evar.
posted by Joeforking at 2:02 AM on September 7, 2005

"Sucks Throbbing Purple-Headed Moose Cock"

I prefer "Applies sexually-stimulating oral suction to the masculine genitalia of a large swamp-dwelling deer."
posted by lodurr at 10:23 AM on September 7, 2005

Yes, matteo, it's the bourgeois dandies who are the real enemies. The goons and thugs are not so dangerous, because they do not fool people so readily; it is the apparently civilized who risk stifling the revolution, hence they must be dealt with by any means necessary.

*waits for Black Maria*
posted by languagehat at 12:53 PM on September 7, 2005