Comments on: MetaFilter Fundraising for Fun

MetaFilter Fundraising for Fun

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:07:43 -0800

Announcing the new MetaFilter Fundraising for Fun project. dios and rothko/AlexReynolds have agreed to let you guys vote with your dollars, for charity. Throw some cash into the till for the guy you want to take a break for a week, and in the end it all goes to Creative Commons' fundraiser. Think of it as a charity dunk tank: you put down five bucks to toss a few at the guy you love to hate. It'll run for a week, so let's make the fun last.

By: allen.spaulding

allen.spaulding — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:09:48 -0800

Great idea for a great cause. Can I double down?

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:09:58 -0800

I can't contribute right now, so I won't declare my vote - but sheesh - way to go guys! Great idea.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:10:56 -0800

That's hilarious. What happens in the case of a tie?

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:11:02 -0800

I don't know what I'll do if both hit $500. I'm guessing they'd be cool with both taking a break.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:11:36 -0800

Sweet, let's do that.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:13:06 -0800

Oh, I forgot to mention that Jessamyn came up with the idea and it's certainly a brilliant one. This all happened in about an hour from idea to now. I emailed both alex and dios and they were cool with doing it, so I think it'll be fun.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:15:00 -0800

Am I to understand that neither one knew about this until an hour ago, and as such dios' recent (general) behavior improvement and rothko's (general) behavior improvement in the Roe vs. Wade thread were genuine?

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:15:21 -0800

Cool idea and good sportsmanship from the parties involved.

By: scody

scody — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:16:02 -0800

What'll it take to silence some members forever?

I kid! I kid!

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:17:50 -0800

Am I to understand that neither one knew about this until an hour ago

5:10 EDT pm by my chat log, so two hours ago give or take. Thanks to both guys for participating.

By: dios

dios — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:19:31 -0800

What happens in the case of a tie?
posted by ludwig_van at 4:10 PM PST on October 19

I don't know what I'll do if both hit $500.
posted by mathowie at 4:11 PM PST on October 19

Well..... the rule on the page says "First one to hit $500 will be sitting on the sidelines for a week...." So, I don't think by the agreed upon rules there would be a tie!

However, in the spirit of charity for which this was presented to me in, I will agree to abide by the "dunk" even if I am second, if my till also reaches to $500.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:20:52 -0800

Anybody else like the irony that they're being asked to (voluntarily) silence themselves for an organization championing... free speech? No, seriously - I lurv it!

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:23:24 -0800

So...hard...to...choose.....

By: menace303

menace303 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:24:06 -0800

Anybody else like the irony that they're being asked to (voluntarily) silence themselves for an organization championing... free speech?

genius.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:25:20 -0800

So hard to choose...

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:33:35 -0800

The results are quite surprising so far! I guess that's coming from a guy who doesn't care about political debate.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:34:37 -0800

this is a sad and ugly way to raise money for a good cause.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:37:19 -0800

careful amberglow, you could be next!

By: loquacious

loquacious — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:42:06 -0800

This is fantastic.

Though I was hoping for a drunken knife fight.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:44:29 -0800

Wow, I'm really racking up some bucks quickly.

Folks, the more you donate in dios' corner, the more goes to Creative Commons...

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:51:41 -0800

Keep in mind that if you're worried about one or the other person hitting $500 too fast and keeping the total donation from reaching the theoretical max of $999.99, but you don't want to provide funds that might be the deciding vote against the person you're actually supporting, you could always donate $X through MeFi Fundraising for Fun for the person you'd rather have silenced, and then match that donation with a donation of $X directly to the Creative Commons fundraiser itself.

By: FYKshun

FYKshun — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:52:52 -0800

I agree with amberglow. I don't want either of them silenced for a week. I love the new & improved both of them, whether or not I agree with them.

The people I'd pay a fee to silence are the folks that bait either of them just to get a rise.

By: Pot

Pot — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:56:56 -0800

How much, FYKshun? I'll take a little side action.

By: FYKshun

FYKshun — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:59:49 -0800

You're fine. Kettle, on the other hand...

By: Kettle

Kettle — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:03:11 -0800

Oh, now you've done it!

Seriously, if either account goes up by $20 in the next five minutes, ~~Pot~~ I will ~~take a shot~~ take a week off and "polish my handle."

By: Pot

Pot — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:07:49 -0800

[As a completely unrelated side note - while we're breaking character, we would like to point out that we are not Time is Tight. Wouldn't want anyone else to take a scouring for our hot water.]

By: trey

trey — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:08:15 -0800

I think it's a fun idea but I'm not sure that Creative Commons is the most deserving party.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:08:26 -0800

Anyway to display the number of people who've donated to each? I'm curious.

By: Kettle

Kettle — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:11:44 -0800

Sweeeet! A week off. If you need me, just whistle. You do know how to whistle, don't you? Just fill yourself full of boiling water and close your hole real tight!

By: FYKshun

FYKshun — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:11:57 -0800

Refresh that page, Pot & Kettle. Twenty each.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:12:26 -0800

Also, would it be fair to assume that the two of them are prohibited from donating against their opponent (or against themselves)?

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:17:15 -0800

Incidentally, I'll shut up for a week for the bargain price of just $20.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:18:37 -0800

Oh, I didn't think about them donating against each other, but I'm sure they'll be good sports about it.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:19:59 -0800

This is funny, as a one-off, if it's done in a good-natured kind of way. I hope that after all's said and done, our two fine MeFriends can get along and play nice(r).

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:22:37 -0800

Wolfdog : "Incidentally, I'll shut up for a week for the bargain price of just $20."

In elementary school (where $1 was a lot of money), I made $1 for shutting up for one minute. That means that, adjusted for inflation, a week worth of silence from me would cost $25,603.20.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:24:07 -0800

I have to know if you actually did the math.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:26:35 -0800

Yes.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:27:09 -0800

This site helped.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:28:27 -0800

this is a sad and ugly way to raise money for a good cause.

Allah forbid two people should agree to a consensual act of their own free will.

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:31:21 -0800

I agree with amberglow, it's pretty creepy, but you know, whatever. for what it's worth (basically zero) I don't think that Creative Commons is a particularly deserving recipient, but, again, whatever. I'm not donating anyway.

and considering the way it's going as of now, the right-wingers demonstrate -- again -- that they have more money and they are ready to use it to silence/oppress the people.
same as it ever was.

el pueblo unido jamàs serà vencido!

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:32:00 -0800

bugbread: Awesome. And thanks for the link. Went in my "Reference Tools" bookmark folder.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:34:53 -0800

Allah forbid that the idea of stopping two very active members from exercising their memberships and shutting them up would even occur to anyone, let alone as an appealling idea.

And why perpetuate a damaging reinforcement of certain aspects of their identities here? Why ensure it'll last and intensify? Why pit them against each other in a contest? A contest where you want one of them to lose--and to shut up?

Not.cool.at.all

By: Saucy Intruder

Saucy Intruder — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:34:58 -0800

[this is weird]

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:36:14 -0800

this is a sad and ugly way to raise money for a good cause.

I agree with amberglow. If both of them are cool with it and everybody else thinks it's a great idea, fine, but I hate enforced silence. Ah well, it's only a week.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:36:45 -0800

On post-non-preview, I still agree with amberglow.

By: amro

amro — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:39:17 -0800

for what it's worth (basically zero) I don't think that Creative Commons is a particularly deserving recipient, but, again, whatever.

I think it's a fun idea but I'm not sure that Creative Commons is the most deserving party.

Ditto. Why Creative Commons? (Just curious.)

By: my sock puppet account

my sock puppet account — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:41:52 -0800

With all the negativity around banning and people stepping over boundaries and all the hatred that goes on around that I'm glad that some good and humor is being made out of it.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:46:09 -0800

amberglow, they consented. It's not against anyone's will.

Jessamyn was thinking something along the lines of "hey, what can we do with all the mudslinging that goes on in metatalk, how can we turn that on its ear and make a goof of it?" and came up with the idea. I added the part where the money goes to a non-profit and picked the first one I could think of, the one I work for that is throwing a fundraiser.

By: mzurer

mzurer — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:48:06 -0800

Don't overthink it matteo.

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:48:15 -0800

I want the next fundraiser to be where you pick two people, and you make them post for a week.

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:49:12 -0800

Make the winner post for a week, that is.

By: FYKshun

FYKshun — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:50:05 -0800

Matteo, if dios were the one voted down, wouldn't it be just as easy to use that same line of logic to prove that Metafilter is just a lefty site that doesn't want to hear any contradictory opinions?

If either were being silenced for political reasons, wouldn't those tickers have dinged $500 immediately instead of going up by $10 or $20 per tick?

By: spaghetti

spaghetti — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:52:33 -0800

Why Creative Commons

By: Rothko

Rothko — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:52:51 -0800

When I'm not being an asshole on Metafilter, I'm involved in various creative projects. I personally liked the idea of giving to Creative Commons because the group makes it very easy for small record labels, musicians and photographers to protect their creative work with language that is simple and legally tight.

A CC copyright reduces the dependence of creative people on large media corporations to protect artwork. It also returns choice to creative people in how others may use their works in a derivative fashion.

If you want your work in the public commons, for example, you can say so while protecting your work from reuse for commercial purposes without your consent.

So, basically, what it boils down to is that a dollar for dios is a dollar for truth, justice and the American Way. Open those wallets, folks. ;)

By: spaghetti

spaghetti — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:53:47 -0800

Or, uh, what Matt said.
Must use preview.

By: amro

amro — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:58:30 -0800

I added the part where the money goes to a non-profit and picked the first one I could think of, the one I work for that is throwing a fundraiser.

Ahh, I see. Well, I'd do the same thing.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:03:36 -0800

You guys just don't see it, do you? Ronnie James Dio demonstrates -- again -- that he has more money and is ready to use it to silence/oppress Dios -- again!

By: LarryC

LarryC — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:05:48 -0800

This is hilarious, not at all creepy, and mad props to Dios and Alex for agreeing to it. My only concern is that they actually turn up the invective during the voting period in an attempt to win. You wouldn't do that, right guys?

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:10:16 -0800

"hey, what can we do with all the mudslinging that goes on in metatalk, how can we turn that on its ear and make a goof of it?"

Kudos to dios and Alex/Rothko for going along with jessamyn's and mathowie's idea. Good sports all.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:17:22 -0800

Yeah, actually that's the thing that impresses me the most: that they're being good sports about it.
Of course, $500 for charity, $5 for a new name...
(I would like to say that I'd find it hilarious if this was just an ongoing thing, where anyone could contribute $500 to a charity designated by Metafilter in order to give any other user a week-long timeout. I think that'd truly judge how disruptive any one poster was being— $500 is a lot of money, even with the large number of members here, and a week off from commenting/posting really isn't so bad...)

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:20:10 -0800

i bet i could beat either one of those n00bs!

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:22:30 -0800

Aww. You're back!
(And yeah, but you'd donate to yourself...)

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:29:44 -0800

Rothko and dios, you guys are awesome. And I mean that from the bottom of my obsessive and too-snarky little heart. This is a great idea.

And quonsar, you had me at goatse.cx.

By: spaghetti

spaghetti — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:30:49 -0800

Hi quonsar!

By: loquacious

loquacious — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:33:00 -0800

QUONSAR WILL EAT ITSELF

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:33:00 -0800

(and I disagree with the "creepy" judgements, but it might just be a matter of perspective -- I see the week-long posting hiatus more like an athlete shaving his head as a gesture to a teammate going through chemo. Without the specific cancer connotations, anyway. It doesn't seem like either dios or Alex has a problem with it, and it's all in good fun.)

By: reflecked

reflecked — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:37:53 -0800

This is repellant. Of course they agreed; how could they not, and still appear to be "good guys"?

By: moonbird

moonbird — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:44:47 -0800

How 'bout we raise $ to permanently reinstate quonsar?

/me ducks to avoid lobbed digital vegetables

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:45:44 -0800

how could they not, and still appear to be "good guys"?

Er, privately, before it was announced?

By: mds35

mds35 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:46:37 -0800

My vote is now cast.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:48:02 -0800

I think someone put $100 on rothko right at the start. Wacky.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:48:54 -0800

We should have these every week.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:49:38 -0800

Charity can be choice of "winner."

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:52:43 -0800

I get an internal server error after clicking to put money on dios.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:56:21 -0800

"the right-wingers demonstrate -- again -- that they have more money and they are ready to use it to silence/oppress the people"

Or people think Rothko is a giant wanker.

I'm just supposing here. It could be something else.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:58:13 -0800

I'm just supposing here. It could be something else.

A weather machine!!!

By: trey

trey — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:00:53 -0800

"the right-wingers demonstrate -- again -- that they have more money and they are ready to use it to silence/oppress the people"

I really hope this is a joke because I'm certainly very left-wing and I'd rather see Rothko silenced than dios.

By: Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:11:23 -0800

I'd like to contribute, but I recently canceled my PayPal account on account of that company sucks very much a lot.

Any other way I can make my voice heard, as it were?

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:13:39 -0800

this is phenomenal.

careful amberglow, you could be next!
posted by mathowie at 4:37 PM PST on October 19 [!]

You've got my vote.

By: Tenuki

Tenuki — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:16:11 -0800

Any other way I can make my voice heard, as it were?

From the contribute page:

Don't Have a PayPal Account?

You don't need an account. Pay securely using your credit card.

By: eriko

eriko — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:17:30 -0800

Hmm. Wonder if we can collect enough to make Miguel post once more....

"The MigSig Fund: Because MetaFilter needs a stiff drink."

By: Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:20:43 -0800

From the contribute page:
Don't Have a PayPal Account?
You don't need an account. Pay securely using your credit card.

You mean I was supposed to read that stuff? This is getting to be too much work.

By: reflecked

reflecked — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:20:49 -0800

Even privately, when the "contest" was suggested, there's a level of coercion when it came from someone with authority.

It's not even a halfway fair kind of vote, and if you folks had money to donate to charity, you should have done so without this kind of crudity.

When it comes to entertaining contests... ahh never mind. I think less of those of you that participate, but that makes no difference.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:25:22 -0800

Man, some people really do take the Internet too fuckin' seriously.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:34:03 -0800

Can't I just take both of 'em out for a drink? I guarntee me and Divine_Wino'll have 'em arm in arm drunkenly singing Ramones songs in no time.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:35:30 -0800

A graph of contributions over time would be really neat.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:36:11 -0800

reflecked : "if you folks had money to donate to charity, you should have done so without this kind of crudity. "

Well, given the three choices:

A) Should have, and did.
B) Should have, but didn't until the contest.
C) Should have, but didn't.

A is of course best, but even B is better than C. I doubt, for example, that Creative Commons or the people they help are going to be all upset that the money didn't come purely out of a charitable heart.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:37:58 -0800

interrobang : "A graph of contributions over time would be really neat."

Agreed on this pony. After all, we've already got smack-fu assuming that Rothko got his first $100 all in one pop.

By: davy

davy — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:49:40 -0800

I'll shut up for a week for $50, payable to my favorite charity: me. (I always wanted a bottle of Booker's; the aficionados say that since Booker Noe died I'd better hurry while there might still be good stuff left.) For those who think that's too costly let me remind you scumsuckers of the superior quality of MY silence, and that I'm not asking for a lot from any individual -- if 50 of you each sacrifice a buck you'll all be quite relieved for 7 whole days. (I'm not sure what I'd want to go away forever, so let's see some suggestions.)

By: interrobang

interrobang — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:53:31 -0800

HURF DURF BOOKEREATER

By: konolia

konolia — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:55:02 -0800

Guys, unclench. This is cute, funny and for a good cause.

I am sure Matt's only regret is he didn't think of this back in 2002. ;-)

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:56:40 -0800

Googling HURF DURF BOOKEREATER results in this helpful Google query: "Did you mean: HURF BURF BOOGER EATER?"

By: dg

dg — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:03:00 -0800

You could have made this even more interesting by putting an even higher (combined) target to shut them both up forever.

Seriously, though, kudos to both dios and Rothko for being good sports about it and to those who are getting at all panty-bunched about this, perhaps you should save your energy for things that really matter. It's not as if money is being raised for a retirement home for paedophiles and, while there may be more noble causes in existence, Creative Commons is quite apropros for this community, I feel.

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:10:34 -0800

It's not as if money is being raised for a retirement home for paedophiles

But . . . wouldn't one want paedophiles to retire?

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:10:55 -0800

Professional paedophiles, I mean.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:14:04 -0800

If you folks had money to donate to charity, you should have done so without this kind of crudity.
I think someone's getting a tad bit presumptuous. Maybe I tithe, where that 10% goes towards any charity I deem worthy. Or maybe I already planned on donating money to CC and this happened to come up. Or maybe I already planned on giving money to another non-profit, and this came up so I decided to divert some funds.
But, please, go back to your badass prophesizing.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:22:25 -0800

I wish there was a way to graph them easily, but I can do it with excel by hand looking at paypal. Here:

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:27:02 -0800

can you make the x-axis (or is it the y-axis) elapsed time?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:28:40 -0800

oh, never mind, i see. it's actually number of contribution.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:29:50 -0800

x-y scatterplot time

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:35:48 -0800

stupid excel refuses to scale the x on time shared on two data series. I haven't had to graph much since I used to graph copper in soil samples 8 years ago and I've forgotten much of my stupid excel fu.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:48:04 -0800

Choose the x-y scatter graph and when you get to the "series" tab, select the cells containing the X and Y data in the appropriate fields for each series.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:56:22 -0800

But, please, go back to your badass prophesizing.

Eh, let's face it, #1 can't even make his shopping list anymore without a bunch of shrill, humorless bluenoses following him around to tell him how sad and angry it makes them.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:01:14 -0800

HE DID NOT NEED TOMATOES THE ONES IN THE FRIDGE WERE PERFECTLY GOOD!!!!11

By: loquacious

loquacious — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:55:13 -0800

This is so not going to last a week. I predict $500 will be reached by early tommorow evening. Say: Less than 24 hours after posting.

dios and Rothko: Thanks for putting ~~your~~ our money where your mouth is isn't. ;) Good sports, good sport.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:05:22 -0800

I seriously love the idea of having my name put up on a "vote 'em off the island!" charity donation page. Honest to god, if what I have to say is so irritating or insulting or whatever it is tht pisses you off that you'd donate to charity to shut me up for a week, fuckin' right on! I am perfectly happy to effectively be paid to go away. My apologies, and how cool that you've got a self-managing system for maximizing community pleasure.

Some of the people who write here entertain me quite a bit. If the MetaWe were to commoditize that, more power to MetaUs!

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:11:01 -0800

And come to think of it, it'd be fair if I were able to set a minimum sale value. We'll soon find out how cheap we'll whore ourselves!

By: davy

davy — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:26:05 -0800

Ah, FFF, I'm so ugly that were I to whore myself I'd better be expensive.

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:49:06 -0800

Will the chair entertain nominations from the floor?

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:52:15 -0800

As long as you pay....;)

By: reflecked

reflecked — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 00:50:36 -0800

jmd82, you made a good point: it was presumptuous to make assumptions about people's charitable giving. My apology.

I don't feel clenched, Konolia my friend (just checked... nope.. loose as a goose). My humour-bone is tickled by irony more so than pratfalls, and this just doesn't seem funny. I'll just sit back and watch the virtual mob from a safe distance; it's only the internet, not meatspace.

By: timeistight

timeistight — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 01:43:22 -0800

[As a completely unrelated side note - while we're breaking character, we would like to point out that we are not Time is Tight. Wouldn't want anyone else to take a scouring for our hot water.]

So bite me, Mid.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 01:48:51 -0800

Doh!

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 03:59:06 -0800

And come to think of it, it'd be fair if I were able to set a minimum sale value.
I think every account should have a price-of-silence figure attached to it that's inversely proportional to the contribution index.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 04:02:10 -0800

Thanks for the graph, Matt.

By: Mid

Mid — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 06:15:18 -0800

Oh come on, you did like the last 10 of these.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 06:39:35 -0800

My humour-bone is tickled by irony more so than pratfalls, and this just doesn't seem funny. I'll just sit back and watch the virtual mob from a safe distance

Well, pin a rose on you.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 06:49:15 -0800

...meatspace.

Continued use of that word is so much more egregious than any little fundraiser. I wish that everybody that uses it would just stop.

By: matteo

matteo — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:18:26 -0800

Matteo, if dios were the one voted down, wouldn't it be just as easy to use that same line of logic to prove that Metafilter is just a lefty site that doesn't want to hear any contradictory opinions?

well, rightwingers whine about that all the time, and even this site's owner occasionally mentions "MetaKos", so that wouldn't be surprising, would it?
fact is, the first time we play MetaFilter Survivor, it's the liberal who gets voted off the island, and the rightwinger stays.

this is just a passive-aggressive way to gove a little warning like, be careful what you say or you'll get voted off the island, too. but then, this is Matt's house (and I'm one of those who didn't even have to pay for the privilege of being here), so it's all OK I guess.

it's not about Alex -- if it's OK with him, who am I to argue? but the vibe this whole thing gives off is a bit creepy. I'm happy I'm not the only one to think that

Guys, unclench
posted by bunnyfire at 7:55 PM PST on October 19

ah the irony.
;)

By: SeizeTheDay

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:39:37 -0800

fact is, the first time we play MetaFilter Survivor, it's the liberal who gets voted off the island, and the rightwinger stays.

Or, first time we play MetaFilter Survivor it's the two people who have MeTa threads related to their behavior on a weekly basis because they're constantly sniping at each other and it's getting really old, annoying, and tired.

But way to throw in politics where politics don't exist. Glad to know that you're playing the "liberal victim" card. Fascinating since you're constantly accusing conservatives of exactly that. Project much?

By: SeizeTheDay

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:40:47 -0800

And if you haven't already noticed, no one has actually been voted off yet and dios's amount is catching up.

By: matteo

matteo — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:51:36 -0800

I'm not expecting you to understand it, SeizeTheDay, but if you re-read my comments with the help of a tutor, he or she will be able to explain to you that what I have a problem with is the Survivor thing, I could care less about the personalities involved. and it doesn't matter if the dios is catching up, if we were really this horrible North Korean communist cell, dios would have won handily. instead, it isn't happening.

but when people try to argue that this place is full of liberals -- or even worse, radicals -- I just realize how sheltered they must have been for their entire lives. if they met an actual left-winger (a species not present in American politics, by the way) , they'd probably shit their pants.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:53:41 -0800

Now see, if this had been applied to the "bring back quonsar", only people had to pay to get him back, you'd have made a mint.

By: SeizeTheDay

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:58:37 -0800

My tutor told me that I should repond to your comments.

This contest is about loud personalities that tend to evoke cult-like love and hate within the community. If politics are involved, so be it, but they (the politics) are not the premise of this contest.

The fact that you're making these results reflect some sort of political mentality here is telling because it's clear that you can't seem to look beyond left and right. Looking through your posting history, it's fair to say that a super-majority of your contributions here are politically related, so that shouldn't surprise anyone.

My point, "which I'm not expecting you to understand" you fucking condescending, arrogant, schmuck is that there is no need to bring politics into a charitable event like this. Just enjoy it or (since you don't), move on. Trying to make this thread into your springboard for how conservatives are whiny "victims" here is innappropriate and uncalled for.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:00:07 -0800

I'm not expecting you to understand it, SeizeTheDay, but if you re-read my comments with the help of a tutor ...

I hate that fucking bullshit. I don't care what your argument is, or how dense you think the person arguing with you is, comments like that are pure arrogant condescension. They disrespect your opponent, they disrespect the site, and they make me lose respect for you. matteo, I know you're a good guy, and have a good sense of humor, so why don't you cut out the patronizing tone.

By: dios

dios — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:20:55 -0800

This contest is about loud personalities that tend to evoke cult-like love and hate within the community.

I didn't agree to this as a contest. As it was sold to me, this is more in the line of the "dunk tank" for charity situation or kind of like those pie throwing contests (which, frighteningly conjures up the image of the movie Grease in my mind... excuse me while I go vomit).

There are obviously a group of people who dislike me, and this is an opportunity for them to blow off some steam in a light-hearted manner with the hope being that the result is a benefit for charity and maybe, and hopefully, those people will get it out of there system, realize that it is a good natured person that they are so obsessed with, and get over their personal grudge.

That is the concept I signed up for. I didn't take it as a "contest" between myself and AlexReynolds, and to the extent it appears that way, I am disheartened. But I think we all ought to take this as a lighthearted and good-natured attempt at fun. This isn't about me vs. someone else. This isn't some turning over of admin rights to majority rule. This isn't some vanity thing. This has no lasting implications beyond the event. This isn't some sort of tacit condemnation of myself (or, at least, that isn't the way it was sold to me as). It's just an attempt to blow off steam for a charity cause, and it wouldn't be very effective if the people involved weren't controversial and loved/hated (no one pays to throw the bean bag at the dunk tank if it is the assistant mailroom boy in the booth). So have fun with it.

By: SeizeTheDay

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:50:30 -0800

dios, while I admire your ability to take this type of humor in stride (and Alex too), of course this is a contest. The only way this wouldn't be a contest is if the goal were $1000 and upon reaching the goal both you and Alex were silenced for a week.

And while I'm on the subject, it's really not like a dunk tank at all. Because in a dunk tank, you can be "dunked" several times without affecting fellow "dunkees". (I conjure images of a line of people with baseballs throwing to hit a target.) Here, only one of you two will be silenced, which is again why I come back to the contest theme.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:51:07 -0800

I'm with amberglow on this one. Yes, I understand it's voluntary on both of their parts, but it still reinforces an unfairly negative stereotype of dios and Rothko. How long after this will it be until the standard knee-jerk response to any dios comment includes a line about "and you were one of the two in that 'who should be silenced' thing! Why should we listen to one of the two worst MeFites?" I believe that dios and Rothko, while not perfect MeFites (but then, who is?), are each a net positive for the site, and it would be a shame to lose either of them for a week.

I will donate $100 if Matt adds a "silence neither" option, and agrees that if "silence neither" reaches $500 before either of the other two, neither will be bound to be silent. As it stands now, I won't donate a cent.

By: dios

dios — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:59:06 -0800

STD and DevilsAdvocate, fair enough. I did not take it as that when I agreed to it. If the two of you are describing the reality and the likely effect, then I would probably not have agreed to it in the first place.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:17:26 -0800

Folks, this is just for a laugh and a good cause. I might not be the best person to say this, granted, but let's not blow things out of proportion.

By: Penks

Penks — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:22:51 -0800

I think every account should have a price-of-silence figure attached to it that's inversely proportional to the contribution index.

I'd hate to see how cheap my sience would be.

By: Penks

Penks — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:24:28 -0800

sience = silence

By: davy

davy — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:46:33 -0800

"if they met an actual left-winger (a species not present in American politics, by the way)"

AHEM. Anarcho-communists like me don't count? Or did you mean "Democratic vs. Republican Party electoral politics"?

I agree that most so-called leftists around here are really middling centrists pitching "progressive" jargon, but you're wrong if you think leftists are totally absent here. Hell, even y2karl borders on it sometimes.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:51:32 -0800

sience = silence

I bet you can get that on a bumpersticker in ID sympathetic areas, with exactly that spelling.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:00:10 -0800

davy is the Only True Scotsman!

By: trey

trey — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:12:31 -0800

matteo has gone off the deep end here.

I repeat: I am pretty left-wing and I think Rothko is annoying as hell. I think dios (as of late) is much less annoying and shrill. I would prefer to read dios for a week rather than Rothko. This does not mean that I endorse his politics.

By: dios

dios — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:17:10 -0800

Wow. Someone just put up a $100 for me to be silent. Anyone want to cop to it? It's very charitable.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:17:27 -0800

Folks, this is just for a laugh and a good cause. I might not be the best person to say this, granted, but let's not blow things out of proportion.

Amen. I can see everyone is reading their own POV into it, but really, it's not at all serious, people aren't being banned by mob rule, it's just laughs for a cause and again, it's great to see both guys taking it in stride.

And shockingly, we now have a real horserace, after being behind from the get-go, the silence-dios side just took the lead.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:48:24 -0800

graph! graph! graph!

By: amberglow

amberglow — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:02:00 -0800

If it's not at all serious, and not a contest, make it so that the loser is the one silenced for a week.

By: philida

philida — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:13:45 -0800

i put a copy of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and chicken parts on Alex.
It won't stop them from posting. It will just stop them from posting here.

By: philida

philida — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:15:19 -0800

(shipping and handling not included)

By: Kwantsar

Kwantsar — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:25:27 -0800

If it's not at all serious, and not a contest, make it so that the loser is the one silenced for a week.

That would break the "contract." And if you mean that such a method should have been used in the first place, it would be the exact. same. thing.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:38:57 -0800

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:47:52 -0800

Is all this hew and outcry a facet of the nanny-state mentality, in which the government wishes to tell people how to live their lives (I'm thinking particularly of the government's inclination to interfere with adults engaging in consensual sex acts)?

I am not saying that dios or Rothko must not participate, nor am I saying that Matt must not engage in this, nor do I see anyone here saying those things, so your equating of the "hew and outcry" with "a facet of the nanny-state mentality" is a strawman at best.

If you don't like it, don't participate.

I am choosing not to participate (unless Matt adds a "silence neither" option), and I am choosing to express my concern over this and my reasons for not participating. I am choosing to ignore the unstated but implied second half of your advice, "...and don't bother the rest of us about it."

By: LarryC

LarryC — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:54:10 -0800

it still reinforces an unfairly negative stereotype of dios and Rothko

No, just the opposite! It reveals them to be playful, magnanimous, and more interested in the greater good than in pushing their opinions. What's not to like?

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:58:18 -0800

And shockingly, we now have a real horserace, after being behind from the get-go, the silence-dios side just took the lead.
Matt, I know you're not a real country boy, but horses are the ones with shorter ears.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:11:03 -0800

That would break the "contract." And if you mean that such a method should have been used in the first place, it would be the exact. same. thing.

amberglow just wants an excuse to say "Change the rules because I say so."

Also, I think Matt should buy Wheaties instead of corn flakes.

By: SweetJesus

SweetJesus — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:39:14 -0800

Everyone can find something to complain about, huh...

By: amberglow

amberglow — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:39:56 -0800

amberglow just wants an excuse to say "Change the rules because I say so."

The rules don't matter when it's all in fun and not a contest pitting one member against another, right? If this is truly just a lark, then it wouldn't matter about any rules. (And of course, people wouldn't be donating money specifically to shut someone up, but then, there you go.)

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:43:46 -0800

Has it reached a plateau? I would have expected either of them to have passed $300 by now, but they seem stuck at $270-ish.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:47:17 -0800

"The rules don't matter when it's all in fun and not a contest pitting one member against another, right?"
That's absurd. We could be playing a game of tag, and changing the rule not to gouge my eyes when you tag me would matter, even if the game's all supposed to be fun.

By: naxosaxur

naxosaxur — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:58:25 -0800

someone wake me up when dios and rothko enter the wet t-shirt contest thanks in advance

By: russilwvong

russilwvong — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:34:02 -0800

This is awesome. I'm really impressed by dios and rothko's being such good sports about the whole thing. I don't have anything against dios or Rothko, so I just donated $5 to both of you.

By: SeizeTheDay

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:34:04 -0800

Neck and neck with both at $280. This is kinda fun now.

And BTW, Matt, I would take DevilsAdvocate's suggestion and add a category for silencing neither. It may not win, but the cause will still get a hundred bucks from DevilsAdvocate, which is something.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 15:50:16 -0800

Getting MeFites to shut up is, apparently, really exciting. Kottke'd / Boing'd

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 15:59:44 -0800

FPP in 5... 4... 3... 2...

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:01:06 -0800

Kottke and BoingBoing linked to this? Don't they have anything better to cover? (It's like reality TV for nerds).

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:34:18 -0800

The boingboing post was kind of over the top unfortunately.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:34:18 -0800

I demand a pre-emptive recount.

By: SeizeTheDay

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:48:09 -0800

Kottke is a key player in the DropCash site. Both Kottke and BoingBoing definitely added some animosity to the whole thing, but that can't be surprising considering how many, many, many times that people around here abuse each other verbally. "You gotta have thick skin to post here" is not just an expression, but a way of life for many posters here.

And considering that Kottke is another member here that people love to hate, the peppering he adds on his site is...meh.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:07:26 -0800

This thread is a perfect example of illegitimate busybody interference. Rothko, Dios, and all the rest are consenting adults in this escapade and what they are doing has no conceivable impact on your lives.

The lipflapping about how terrible this all is is an awful lot like Dobson telling us all how we should have sex.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:09:00 -0800

MetaFilter: we should have sex

By: jonmc

jonmc — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:12:55 -0800

*pours beer on dios & rothkos shirts, wakes up naxo*

shake what mama gave you, boys!

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:40:29 -0800

Matt, I know you're not a real country boy, but horses are the ones with shorter ears.

Ha!

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:03:22 -0800

amberglow : "The rules don't matter when it's all in fun and not a contest pitting one member against another, right?"

Wrong. When was the last time you played a game? Changing the rules in a game midstream is exactly what causes the game to change from a fun activity into a big sprawling argument and a boatload of lingering resentment.

On the issue of reinforcing negative images of them: the fact that they both consented to this has greatly lifted my impression of both of them, and apparently I'm not the only one, so while I can understand your worry, I think it may be unfounded.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:03:51 -0800

*removes pants, gets comfortable*

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:07:06 -0800

Oh, and "Updated graph! Updated graph! Updated graph!"

By: Rothko

Rothko — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:53:14 -0800

*shakes moneymaker*

By: davy

davy — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:32:26 -0800

Rothko said: "*shakes moneymaker*"

Your typing finger?

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:56:29 -0800

I just realize how sheltered they must have been for their entire lives. if they met an actual left-winger (a species not present in American politics, by the way) , they'd probably shit their pants.

And if you tried to "debate" someone in the physical world with the same tact and charm that you exhibit here, you'd be ignored at best and beaten at worst. What else is new?

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 20:10:01 -0800

The Revolution controller. New and exciting. Also, Shadow of the Colossus is really, really good despite having an aggressive lack of traditional gameplay.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 20:16:54 -0800

The lipflapping about how terrible this all is is an awful lot like Dobson telling us all how we should have sex.

There's nothing at all wrong with Dobson telling us all how we should have sex, in and of itself. People are free to listen to Dobson or not. The problem comes when Dobson tries to pass laws telling us how we should have sex, but no one in this thread has crossed that line.

Rothko, Dios, and all the rest are consenting adults in this escapade and what they are doing has no conceivable impact on your lives.

If anyone reading this chooses to take my concerns into account, they are doing so as consenting adults, and that choice has no conceivable impact on your life.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 20:58:24 -0800

matteo : "fact is, the first time we play MetaFilter Survivor, it's the liberal who gets voted off the island, and the rightwinger stays."

Fact is, it's the person with the higher user number who gets voted off the island, and the person with the lower user number stays.
Fact is, it's the person who's gay that gets voted off the island, and the person who isn't stays.
Fact is, it's the person with a degree in science that gets voted off the island, and the person with a degree in law stays.
Fact is, it's the person six letters in his user name that gets voted off the island, and the person with four letters stays.
Fact is, it's the person mentioned on Kid 606's homepage that gets voted off the island, and the person who doesn't get mentioned that stays.

THAT'S IT!!! I've found the secret!!! MEFI HATES KID 606!!!

Or do you have some evidence that dios or rothko's political affiliation is the factor that matters, and the others don't? Because in the absence of convincing evidence, I'm going to have to stick with the clear and absolutely self-evident conclusion that this is all about hating Kid 606.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 22:36:22 -0800

Everybody needs to feel oppressed now and then. I mean, how can you justify your righteous rage if you aren't part of some oppressed underclass? Posting angrily for freedom just looks silly unless you can pretend the fascist boot is stomping on your face.

By: Stauf

Stauf — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 07:38:01 -0800

Oh my god! Dios is further along than Rothko!

Considering the way it's going as of now, the ~~right-wingers~~ left-wingers demonstrate -- again -- that they have more money and they are ready to use it to silence/oppress the people, eh matteo?

By: mullacc

mullacc — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 09:39:02 -0800

Rothko wins.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 09:39:05 -0800

Looks like Rothko "wins."

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 09:39:37 -0800

Missed it by that much.

By: mullacc

mullacc — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 09:40:47 -0800

I cheated, It's Raining Florence Henderson.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:02:43 -0800

Is this where we start yelling, "FREE ROTHKO!"?

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:07:20 -0800

Free? Hardly! I, myself paid... wait. Sshhh! I didn't say nuthin'.

By: philida

philida — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 01:17:00 -0800

nope it's free lynsey now
unless you're pricy

By: I Love Tacos

I Love Tacos — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:21:19 -0800

Looks like it was a tie to me.

No need for partisan animus.

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 14:48:41 -0800

Matt should have put his own name in the mix.
I'm all for wanking on about what great sports everyone is, but sometimes you've got to provide proof that you're willing to do whatever you get other people to do.
quonsar v Mathowie - Now there's a competition I'd get behind.