Is humor verboten in the Green?

December 14, 2005 11:24 AM

This certianly isn't a question that impacts the stability or sanity of my life, but: Is humor verboten in the Green? Over on this question, as people got worked up in one direction or another over the topic, I posted a humorous comment placing the question on the Bridge of Death from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I notice this morning that it was deleted. Are we so high-strung here that people can't take a joke?
posted by theonetruebix to etiquette/policy at 11:24 AM (55 comments total)

yes
posted by mischief at 11:25 AM on December 14, 2005

You're not supposed to post wisecracks. It says so right there at the bottom under the comment box: "note: Ask MetaFilter is as useful as you make it. Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer. Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks." So, yes.
posted by Gator at 11:26 AM on December 14, 2005

Are we so high-strung here that people can't take a joke?

No. However, wisecracks that don't even address the poster's question tend to get flagged and removed. There are many ways to get your joke in and still contribute something useful.
posted by jessamyn at 11:28 AM on December 14, 2005

We're not so high-strung (in general, at least) that we can't take a joke. The issue is more one of utility -- AskMe is intended to be functional, and so throwaway comments (however clever, funny, whatever) are more literally useless on the green than elsewhere. Hence, they are more likely to be deleted (and, you'll note, a lot less likely to be posted in the first place.)
posted by cortex at 11:28 AM on December 14, 2005

if you have something funny to say, think up a piece of useful advice and tag your quip on to the end if it if apropos. that's your price of admission.
posted by kcm at 11:31 AM on December 14, 2005

yes.
posted by crunchland at 11:37 AM on December 14, 2005

I see. Jokes permitted if you assume people are too stupid to understand how they fit into the discussion without having it spelled out for them.

Got it.
posted by theonetruebix at 11:44 AM on December 14, 2005

Ooooo, someone's bitter. Better luck next time.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:47 AM on December 14, 2005 [1 favorite]

Gator has a great user page.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 11:49 AM on December 14, 2005

Ooooo, very pretty gator ::golf claps::
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:49 AM on December 14, 2005 [1 favorite]

bix, your comment was funny...sorta...but it wasn't helpful. AskMe is supposed to be less about "discussion" and more about "helping people find an answer to their question," that's all.

Oh, hey, thanks TJH and TPS! I'm just glad I snuck my stylesheet in there before the lockdown.
posted by Gator at 11:51 AM on December 14, 2005

jokes permitted if you assume people are too stupid to understand how they fit into the discussion without having it spelled out for them

No - it's not just whether they "fit in". Lots of witty, clever, and enjoyable comments might "fit in" without providing concrete information about the discussion. It seems likely that a Monty Python reference was all three of the above, but didn't really help actually provide an answer in any but the most philosophical, abstract of ways.

No matter how well written and apropos, if it doesn't provide concrete info, it's not a good comment in AskMe.
posted by freebird at 11:52 AM on December 14, 2005

Yea, I'm glad I missed the lockdown as well.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:54 AM on December 14, 2005 [1 favorite]

You have to be subtle, like the time I recommended Clifford Irving's book in a thread on biographies of Howard Hughes...
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:57 AM on December 14, 2005

Metafilter: get your joke in and still contribute something useful.
posted by OmieWise at 11:58 AM on December 14, 2005

I see. Jokes permitted if you assume people are too stupid to understand how they fit into the discussion without having it spelled out for them.

Um. Willful misreading of several matter-of-fact answers to your question is just plain shitty behavior.

There is a rough set of conventions on AskMe, reflected in both administrative actions and the general social concensus of the folks who are active there. That set of conventions differs from the set you'll find on MeFi proper or in MeTa, and differs more from both of the latter than they do from one another.

All of that is observable from even relatively little reading of the various subsections. A willingness to respect those conventions is in my opinion actually a strong refutation of the idea that folks on AskMe are "too stupid to understand" clever comments and throwaway humor. They are not too stupid; they are wise enough to perceive and respect the prevailing social code.
posted by cortex at 12:11 PM on December 14, 2005

cortex: "Um. Willful misreading of several matter-of-fact answers to your question is just plain shitty behavior."

It seems to me that theonetruebix started this thread off badly: "Are we so high-strung here that people can't take a joke?" The longer this thread goes on, the more it seems clear that xe doesn't want an answer to the Why-Is-This-Wrong query, but rather wants us to change.

AskMe is about asking questions and getting answers. Period. Use the grey or the blue for your oh-so-unique brand of Monty Python humor.
posted by Plutor at 12:16 PM on December 14, 2005

Keep your chuckleheaded noise out of Ask. If it's not an answer to the question, don't post it. There's enough blathering, grandstanding, and informationless noise in there without you smearing shit all over the walls.

And enough about discussion. Discussion ought to be the exception, not the rule. What makes it good is not discussion or your "entertaining" wit (and I question whether referencing Monty Python even qualifies as wit any more), but answers.
posted by majick at 12:20 PM on December 14, 2005

In other words, jessamyn's suggestion that "there are many ways to get your joke in and still contribute something useful" is best targeted at people smart enough to realize that the key part of that sentence is "contribute something useful".

The "get your joke in" clause is a concession to the instinct toward humor that neither the admins nor the general populace want to stamp out.

Plutor, you may very well be right, but I'm going to play it straight here.
posted by cortex at 12:21 PM on December 14, 2005

HELP, HELP, I'M BEING REPRESSED. NOW WE SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:26 PM on December 14, 2005

Where did this "chucklehead" thing come from anyway? I never heard this word before 2005, and now everyone's a chucklehead.
posted by selfnoise at 12:27 PM on December 14, 2005

Where did this "chucklehead" thing come from anyway? I never heard this word before 2005, and now everyone's a chucklehead.

Webster's (11th ed.) lists it as a synonym for blockhead (chuckle = lumpish), and gives 1748 as the date of first recorded usage.
posted by scody at 12:38 PM on December 14, 2005

We're all chuckleheads on this bus.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:38 PM on December 14, 2005

Chucklehead. Apparently dates to at least 2003, even on the web.

Ah, this is better. 1880, Mark Twain. Also use by Wodehouse in "Sunset at Blandings".
posted by GuyZero at 12:38 PM on December 14, 2005

scody, damn you, you... chucklehead!
posted by GuyZero at 12:39 PM on December 14, 2005

hee!
posted by scody at 12:40 PM on December 14, 2005

Please state your joke in the form of an answer.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:41 PM on December 14, 2005

...or your answer in the form of a joke. As long as there's an answer in there somewhere.
posted by JeffK at 12:47 PM on December 14, 2005

I'll take the Penis Mightier for 300.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:51 PM on December 14, 2005

My joke answer got deleted. As did somebody's joke followup to my post.

<shrug>
posted by I Love Tacos at 1:27 PM on December 14, 2005

Is this the right room for an argument?
posted by yhbc at 1:37 PM on December 14, 2005

I've told you once.
posted by Gator at 2:01 PM on December 14, 2005

Oh, oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:03 PM on December 14, 2005

Shut your festering gob, you tit!
posted by brain_drain at 2:35 PM on December 14, 2005

brain_drain, you need to find a way to work that comment into every thread.
posted by JeffK at 2:50 PM on December 14, 2005

*Does the Kettle/Pot whistle*
posted by onalark at 2:57 PM on December 14, 2005

No jokes. No jokes at all.
posted by koeselitz at 3:36 PM on December 14, 2005

I, for one, could not possible care less about the usefulness of AskMe. I am simply so fucking high-strung that I cannot take a joke. No more goddamn humor. Every wisecrack is like a little splatter of urine across my cornflakes.
posted by scarabic at 3:38 PM on December 14, 2005

This happens all the time. Thou shalt not make comments which do not directly address the question. PERIOD. Got it? Lordy, what a nightmare it would be if we didn't have rules. Why... it would be anarchy! Now trim that tidy little moustache, put those shoulders back and answer the question properly, like a good little Stepford.

I had one deleted recently myself. I'm starting to take a certain pleasure in making jokes on the green just to keep the protocol nazis' flagging fingers busy. This is pretty sophomoric of me, for a change.
posted by Decani at 3:49 PM on December 14, 2005

Hey! You got your cornflakes in my urine!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:58 PM on December 14, 2005

Guess urine luck, then.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:00 PM on December 14, 2005

On a scale of 1 to 10, urinate.
posted by brain_drain at 4:09 PM on December 14, 2005

koeselitz: "No jokes. No jokes at all."

In one of the most beautifully MetIronic moments I've ever witnessed, they just stripped the jokes in the AskMe thread you linked. The thread about the guy who got himself into trouble with inappropriate jokes. Then finished his thread off with another one - which did not get deleted. But the lame jokes referencing his joke did.

Not complaining, actually - I find this response funnier than the jokes, themselves.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:10 PM on December 14, 2005

Which brings to mind another question: What if I someone legitimate were to post an AskMe thread requesting lame jokes (let's pretend I they had a legitimate need for lame-tainted humorous material)? Would the mods have to delete any "serious" replies as derails?

/theater of the absurdly literal
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:27 PM on December 14, 2005

Strangely, I was seriously thinking of posting an AskMe thread asking for good suggestions of jokes (lame or not) to increase the size of my joke repitoire from 2 to something greater than 2. Maybe I'll do that.
posted by pithy comment at 4:42 PM on December 14, 2005

As the policy against noise in AskMe has settled in and grown stronger, the rest of the site has grown correspondingly noisier, I reckon.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:48 PM on December 14, 2005

Jokes permitted if you assume people are too stupid to understand how they fit into the discussion without having it spelled out for them.

Wow. What a prick.

Or, rather, what a prickish thing to say. Come on, bix. Tell us you failed to see the 'no wisecracks' note at the bottom of the post page.

I could use a good laugh.
posted by mediareport at 7:32 PM on December 14, 2005

"What if I someone legitimate were to post an AskMe thread requesting lame jokes "
IRFH

That is why we have the blue.
Thoug, for the record, I love shaggy dog jokes.
posted by oddman at 7:46 PM on December 14, 2005

Y'alls is about as high-strung as they come.

But then again... most internet communities are.
posted by thejoshu at 8:34 PM on December 14, 2005

See also September 8th, 2004's AskMeFi query "Is there a way to gently steer someone away from constant Simpsons or Monty Python quoting?"
posted by blueberry at 9:23 PM on December 14, 2005

Which brings to mind another question: What if I someone legitimate were to post an AskMe thread requesting lame jokes (let's pretend I they had a legitimate need for lame-tainted humorous material)? Would the mods have to delete any "serious" replies as derails?

Try it!
posted by staggernation at 6:12 AM on December 15, 2005

Are we all 12 here or what?
posted by tiamat at 7:07 AM on December 15, 2005

no. you're nine.
posted by quonsar at 8:49 AM on December 15, 2005

An example of a funny reply that also answers the question.
posted by terrapin at 10:10 AM on December 15, 2005

Are we all 12 here or what?


No. That's just the protocol nazis. They still get excited about boy scout badges. Rrr! Mayor Curley did a bad! HIT HIM, MATT, HIT HIM! YAY! I saw it first! I posted to the grey! Did I do good, sarge, huh, huh, huh?

Cretins.
posted by Decani at 7:25 PM on December 15, 2005