Why are some goofy threads deleted, and not others?

June 14, 2006 4:50 PM

Just out of curiosity, how is it that some posts get deleted because the thread is full of the same animated gifs we always see, and some posts continue to live way past their prime? Is it the presence of ceiling cat?
I understand some of these are left in for humor value; such was the case with the infamous Mushroom post. But when the only thing that's different is the original post, and there are no actual responses anyhow, what's the criteria?
posted by hoborg to bugs at 4:50 PM (34 comments total)

This is ironic: I actually put this post into "Metafilter>Etiquette" but, as you can see, it arrived in "bugs". So the post itself is a bug. Hm.
posted by hoborg at 4:53 PM on June 14, 2006

[sigh] Ok, cancel that. I just checked my history. In the absence of a MetaTalk preview that allows you to actually make changes, I just copied and pasted what I had written, went back a screen and then reposted, not checking that the dropdown went to its default. Perhaps it could be "Feature Requests" instead. So much for my first MeTa post - don't worry, though, I'm used to talking to myself.
posted by hoborg at 4:55 PM on June 14, 2006

Ho Borg nsfw
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:00 PM on June 14, 2006

posted by exlotuseater at 5:06 PM on June 14, 2006

Sweet! Twice the animated gif posts for the price of nothing!

*heads off to LJ gif-scraping site for a heaping plateful of Awesome*
posted by RakDaddy at 5:13 PM on June 14, 2006

[animated gif]
posted by cortex at 5:16 PM on June 14, 2006

Just out of curiosity, how is it that some posts get deleted because the thread is full of the same animated gifs we always see, and some posts continue to live way past their prime?

It's mostly my whims. You knew that, didn't you? Did you just want to hear it spelled out?

The ceiling cat thing was kind of ham-fisted. It was like screaming to everyone "bring me your animated gifs here and it will be funny ha ha". A flismy premise to link to the site which wasn't very funny or original.

The animated gif-off today seemed to build from the poster using the blinking dot, and grew from there organically, without feeling forced. The post is about some public internet scratchboard first and foremost, the gifs are accidental fun. It was fun for the sake of fun. Ceiling cat felt fake in comparison.

But mostly, stupid shit lives on based on my whims. What other answer is there?
posted by mathowie at 5:20 PM on June 14, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Awesome
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:24 PM on June 14, 2006

THANK YOU, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!
posted by antifreez_ at 5:29 PM on June 14, 2006

MetaFilter: Stupid shit lives on based on my whims.


Man, the ceiling cat thread was awesome. It was no 9622 or 9622v2, but still.
posted by loquacious at 5:30 PM on June 14, 2006

whims are great. I love MetaFilter. I love whims.

YAY WHIMS!

what
posted by exlotuseater at 5:32 PM on June 14, 2006

I did know that. I remember reading somewhere that the mushroom thread lived because you "thought it was funny". Still, "whims" are as good a reason as any.
posted by hoborg at 5:39 PM on June 14, 2006

Some people just like to have fun. Keep some of that more animated fun in the fun rooms and everybody is happy.
posted by caddis at 5:45 PM on June 14, 2006

At least three or four times in the past week, I've thought to make a MetaTalk post asking for the suspension of photos or gifs in threads. I find that, more and more often, they completely turn a thread to shit.

Then, I decided I'd sound like a twat.

Still, I wouldn't lament the loss of pictures and gifs in ALL MetaFilter threads. Feel free to post a bunch of wacky flashing pictures to prove me wrong.
posted by ColdChef at 5:47 PM on June 14, 2006

Also: off the lawn.
posted by ColdChef at 5:48 PM on June 14, 2006

That thread was fun and cute and everything.

But that dickwad that included the animated GIF in the main part of the post deserves a hard punch in the cock, as there was absolutely no reason whatsoever that the post needed an animated GIF, other than "oooh look at my flair!!"
posted by Rhomboid at 6:24 PM on June 14, 2006

But Rhomboid, just just think how that gif will brighten up the next obituaryfilter thread!
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:49 PM on June 14, 2006

Then, I decided I'd sound like a twat.

Well, I agree with you, and as I've already sounded like a twat, I might as well make it official: if there's a valid reason for an image, why not make it a link?


Also: loud rap music bothers me.
posted by hoborg at 6:58 PM on June 14, 2006

Goddam that Sketchzilla thread.

Twice I've opened it along with six other tabs (Just my way of reading MeFi), and FF instantly gobbles up 100+ megs of memory while it loads, at least until the whole bloody thing freezes up.

My computer's five years old, dammit!
Its memory ain't what it used to be!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:16 PM on June 14, 2006

what rap music isn't loud? goddamn kids today!
posted by jonson at 9:41 PM on June 14, 2006

I think it's really funny to say that that thread was mostly about the sketchzilla site, since there are almost no comments in the thread about the sketchzilla site.
posted by shmegegge at 10:53 PM on June 14, 2006

But mostly, stupid shit lives on based on my whims. What other answer is there?

I hope some future translator manages to squeeze that in to the Next Major Bible Translation. Maybe in Genesis, between the two creation stories.
posted by b1tr0t at 11:11 PM on June 14, 2006

ceiling cat sucks.
posted by delmoi at 11:33 PM on June 14, 2006

* sucks.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:40 PM on June 14, 2006

Not that I disagree much, mind you.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:41 PM on June 14, 2006

Dammit eyeballkid, that's the second time I've unwittingly viewed the chickenfucking image at work. Stop it!
posted by antifuse at 1:59 AM on June 15, 2006

Metafilter: I've unwittingly viewed the chickenfucking image
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:26 AM on June 15, 2006

I love that sketchzilla thread with an unholy passion. But I don't dare open it again; just now I had to go read a book while it finished loading, and I was afraid I was going to have to shut down Firefox. But such is the price of greatness! (For one thing, it taught me all about Scientology, and for another, I discovered this [backstory].)
posted by languagehat at 6:25 AM on June 15, 2006

LH: You didn't know about the story of Scientology before (Xenu, thetans, nuclear bombs in volcanos, etc.)? I find that surprising.
posted by Bugbread at 8:08 AM on June 15, 2006

I knew the basic basics (Xenu, thetans), but no, I didn't know all those details. Hubbard wrote some decent sf, by the way, before he saw those dollar bills gleaming in the distance and went for them.
posted by languagehat at 8:26 AM on June 15, 2006

starvos: only 2600 hits? I'm disappointed.
posted by absalom at 8:29 AM on June 15, 2006

starvos: only 2600 hits? I'm disappointed.

I do not understand this comment.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:31 AM on June 15, 2006

Your "* sucks" google search only returned 2600 hits. That seems way lower than I would have imagined.
posted by absalom at 9:36 AM on June 15, 2006

Ah, ok. I thought you meant you didn't know any of the Xenu stuff. Never mind.
posted by Bugbread at 9:41 AM on June 15, 2006