November 8, 2006

2:59 PM

Alright, this is just lame -- I asked a very specific question related to the election and it got deleted. I wanted to find a capsule summary of how Rush and Hannity were playing post-election as Wednesday programming opened. If my post is considered too redundant or inflammatory, fine, but telling me to go listen to the radio is kind of callous and rude. I said I missed the coverage and as it is, out where I live I don't even know if we get the shows. You all don't have to repost it; but I'm just kind of teed off.
posted by stam_broker to etiquette/policy at 2:59 PM (54 comments total)

There are a whole lot of places on the internet where you could find this information, and AskMe is not intended as radio recap service. Your question was lame. Being teed off will pass. All is well.
posted by cortex at 3:04 PM on November 8, 2006

Ding ding ding.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:04 PM on November 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

I didn't delete it, but it kind of falls into the "idle curiosities" realm that ask mefi isn't good for or useful for anyone else.
posted by mathowie at 3:07 PM on November 8, 2006

You and I, we could start a club.
Honestly, these people have websites, you know.
posted by boo_radley at 3:09 PM on November 8, 2006

What?!? Did our good cop play bad cop? ::mind asplodes::
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:09 PM on November 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

Rush Limbaugh's thoughts here. No need to thank me.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:18 PM on November 8, 2006

I am not the good cop.

stam_broker, I'm sorry for being rude, but I did say please. It seemed to me like you were trying to figure out what was currently going on on Limbaugh and Hannity's shows. They both have websites and archives and there are a zillion blogs that hang on those guys' every word. It seemed to me like asking someone to tell you what was in Newsweek last week because you didn't have the issue in front of you. It would have been easy for it to become a LOL REPUBLICANZ thread as well which are always major headaches.
posted by jessamyn at 3:26 PM on November 8, 2006

Hmm, yeah, you could have done a Google search, but it wouldn't have been as informative. If you're wondering what they're thinking Pamela Oshry's blog has been a heaping helping of crazy, with lots of excerpts from other blogs and stuff. For example:

Rumsfeld is going? Now I am depressed. The white flag has been raised. Bush has lost it.

I love Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld was solid. A straight talking brilliant strategist. He had to take a mid 20th century military, decimated and raped for 8 years by a shortsighted horndog (Clinton), and transform it into a lean, agile state of the art 21st centrury military overnight to go after the post modern 21st enemy...

posted by delmoi at 3:26 PM on November 8, 2006

Posting History:
MetaFilter: no posts and no comments
MetaTalk: 1 post and no comments
Ask MeFi: no questions and no answers
MeFi Music: no songs and no comments and no playlists
MeFi Projects: no post

A thing of beauty, that.
posted by brain_drain at 3:31 PM on November 8, 2006

LOL REPUBLICANZ
posted by bardic at 3:40 PM on November 8, 2006

I learned today on The Writer's Almanac that today is Bram Stoker's birthday. That is all.
posted by terrapin at 4:30 PM on November 8, 2006

I am not the good cop.

I'd like that on a shirt, please.
posted by muddgirl at 5:04 PM on November 8, 2006

I'd put that shirt on a coffee mug.

Oh crap, wrong thread.
posted by Diskeater at 5:33 PM on November 8, 2006

That AskMe was in at least the 20th percentile of AskMe quality. Jeez guys.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:14 PM on November 8, 2006

CONGRATULATIONS stam_broker!

You have won the first installment of the Lamest AskMe-Related Callout of the Previous Sixty Days Award!

Oh, you had some very tough competition, it is true. But your lame callout vaulted over said competition by virtue of the fact that it was your second contribution of any sort to the site. While most newbies would take the deletion as a sign that they were not sufficiently familiar with the site's written and unwritten rules, you took it upon yourself to get all offended and post a lame callout in MetaTalk, in which you called the moderators callous and rude. This indicates a level of ignorance and arrogance that easily outstrips your competitors. Well done!

We look forward to your continued participation in the MetaFilter community!
posted by googly at 6:42 PM on November 8, 2006

And we don't look forward to more of that kind of shit, googly. Sheesh, lay off.
posted by metaculpa at 6:47 PM on November 8, 2006

Not so long ago, the most painful experience of my life over took every sense I had. It held me so completely that the begging requests from those I loved the most had no impact. I may not have been screaming, but screams were all I could hear. It was almost exquisite, like a perfect note held till glass shatters. I'm here, typing at my keyboard. Not much of me works anymore. Good humor finds it's own level, even without control of my lower limbs, I can feel pain there, but still I smile. stam_broker your pathetic AskMe caused more personal pain than the fire I lost my mother and sister in, the fire that destroyed me. More than the court appearances I had to make to convict my step father. You say 'I asked a very specific question' you should have asked who gives a shit. In your incompetent and childish manner you limit the possibilities of crap to: redundant or inflammatory with no mention of tiresomely boring. I would recommend you go listen to the radio and stop being so callous and rude. Grow up a little. Try not to be teed off. And thanks from the bottom of my colostomy bag for not inserting it be reposted.
posted by econous at 6:59 PM on November 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

Inserting should, I would think, be insisting. Anyone else smoked crack before? Quite powerful I would say. Not unpleasant.
posted by econous at 7:04 PM on November 8, 2006

Mea culpa, metaculpa. I'll lay off the snarking just as soon as people lay off the incredibly lame complaining about their AskMe deletions. Perhaps you can find some constructive direction for your own snarking. Sheesh.
posted by googly at 7:07 PM on November 8, 2006

I didn't delete it, but it kind of falls into the "idle curiosities" realm that ask mefi isn't good for or useful for anyone else.

Yeah, but the ping-pong vagina question stood? That's idiotic.
posted by digitalis at 7:07 PM on November 8, 2006

I didn't delete it

In all honesty, I find it a bit skeezy that you have, several times now, declaimed responsibility for moderator's actions.

There is nothing to be gained by doing so. As mods, you folk should stand together united. If the mod responsible wants to 'fess up, s/he can. But don't "out" one another. That's just wrong.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:15 PM on November 8, 2006

Yeah, but the ping-pong vagina question stood? That's idiotic.

Wrong.
posted by brain_drain at 7:20 PM on November 8, 2006

There is nothing to be gained by doing so. As mods, you folk should stand together united. If the mod responsible wants to 'fess up, s/he can. But don't "out" one another. That's just wrong.

Bah, if anything is "just wrong" it's you constantly telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing.

We are two moderators with two sets of opinions. I'm not hiding behind something so jessamyn gets all the tomatoes thrown at her -- instead I'm saying upfront that I don't speak for her and she'll likely clear things up soon, but here's my take on what happened.

jessamyn and I disagree fairly often, making a united front for the sake of "moderator unity" completely dumb. I let jessamyn speak for herself and vice versa. Sometimes I say that I wouldn't have deleted something. Sometimes she says she would have let something go that I axed. It happens when there are imperfect humans running something.
posted by mathowie at 7:35 PM on November 8, 2006 [2 favorites]

As mods, you folk should stand together united.


Oh how quickly the people beg for dictators. Give us a simple solution, so that we might sleep better! Do not trouble us with several opinions, as too many are "skeezy"!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:01 PM on November 8, 2006

Can someone sum up today's Mary Worth?

I have the paper, I just can't bring myself to read Mary Fucking Worth.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:27 PM on November 8, 2006 [5 favorites]

Can anybody tell me what the weather's going to be like tomorrow? And what it's like right now? And hey, what happened with those elections yesterday? THX.
posted by aaronetc at 8:42 PM on November 8, 2006

Hey, is it raining outside? I can't be bothered turning my head to look out the window.
posted by dg at 8:50 PM on November 8, 2006

Is my computer on? I'd look at the little light but it's all the way under my desk.
posted by oddman at 9:07 PM on November 8, 2006

I think I swallowed a toothpick!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:09 PM on November 8, 2006

Wow, creating a sock puppet to ask a lame AskMe (presumably because you already used your questions this week) and following that up with a sock puppet call-out of the mods. Chutzpah!
posted by LarryC at 9:26 PM on November 8, 2006

no, but seriously, how many ping pong balls can a stripper fit in her vagina, assuming she's used to shooting them out of her pussy?
posted by shmegegge at 9:34 PM on November 8, 2006

stam_broker, I think you're under the mistaken impression that MetaFilter is a service, like FedEx. You're the customer, so you lodged a complaint.

In fact, MetaFilter is not a service. It's an Internet community, which means it might as well be its own country. mathowie and jessamyn aren't here to serve you; they're here to moderate (i.e. govern) the entire community. They're like a benevolent dictator and his trusted lieutenant. If you're going to complain, try to be diplomatic.

Plus there's the mob. If you're a tourist who complains loudly about the lack of McDonald's, people will show up and start making fun of you. Kind of like a Maoist criticism session.

At least you're not going to be subjected to a flood of in-line images.
posted by russilwvong at 9:48 PM on November 8, 2006

If I had a cat, could someone tell me what my cat's breath would smell like? I'd check but I forgot that I don't have a cat.
posted by fenriq at 11:42 PM on November 8, 2006

There's still a power differential there, Matt: afaik, you own MeFi, she doesn't. Maybe you and Jess have a perfect vibe going on and, if so, that's very cool. From this side of the page, to me, it reads poorly. That's all.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:45 PM on November 8, 2006

Here's where my head space is: I represent my company when I'm doing things for clients. If I make a decision that I feel is best and especially if it's a decision that my boss also feels was correct... well, I'd be a little PO'd if the boss, instead of catching my back, said "I didn't do it, but...".

All the more so when our clients aren't exactly knowledgeable regarding the best design and assembly of the end product.

And, frankly, even if what I did was absurdly daft, I would still expect the boss to not start off with "I didn't do it." I would expect nothing less than "We are responsible for this, and will do everything we can to make things right."

Anyway, that should about whip that horse into dogfood. Sorry to have nagged.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:57 PM on November 8, 2006

[wonders if his boss is on the same page...]
posted by five fresh fish at 11:58 PM on November 8, 2006

five fresh fish you're fired - the boss
posted by Joeforking at 1:21 AM on November 9, 2006

And hey, what happened with those elections yesterday? THX.

Ortega won, not that you'd have known reading MetaFilter.
posted by timeistight at 1:30 AM on November 9, 2006

CONGRATULATIONS stam_broker!

I think this is a flame-out, but it seems all backwards.
posted by GuyZero at 4:46 AM on November 9, 2006

I'd put that shirt on a coffee mug.

Oh crap, wrong thread.

I would put that shirt on an undetermined quantity of ping pong balls.

Is anyone here a stripper, or play one on TV?
posted by loquacious at 5:25 AM on November 9, 2006

five fresh fish, I get the gist of where you coming from, but I think you're projecting an unnecessary power dynamic onto the Matt/Jess/Mefi situation. The last thing we need is some corporatist kneejerk heirarchy of blame-management etc.

They're two people doing this stuff as best they can and disagreeing about it some times. That's all. Period. There's no need for them to maintain some weird facade of solidarity For The Good Of Metafilter.
posted by cortex at 6:07 AM on November 9, 2006

What cortex said. Personally I'm usually extremely annoyed at attempts by corporate masses to present some kind of unified front. Such attempts are usually insulting, ungenuine and frustrating.
posted by loquacious at 6:16 AM on November 9, 2006

I can see your point of view five fresh fish, but the relationship between Mathowie-Jessamyn-MeFites has a lot more dynamics at play than Boss-Employee-Customer.

Now, if those customers were liable to run into your boss' office screaming obscenities and pinch a loaf on his desk at the slightest provocation, maybe your analogy would hold up.

Mathowie could either speak for Jessamyn (Possibly misinterpreting her reasons, making the situation worse and her job more difficult), ignore the thread (Leaving it to snowball), or make a comment like the one he did.

I think it would be dishonest and irresponsible of him to just jump in without being able to fully articulate the motivation behind a deletion. Most of them are self-explanitory, but it's better to have the admin who did it explain, if an explanation is truly needed.

As it is, he's acknowledging the action, confirming Jess' authority and autonomy, and sending the message to the members that there is an admin prescence and they will get the answers they so desperately need eventually. And I think that's probably the best way to handle it.

At least until Matt and Jess get the Administrative Telepathy Link-Up running.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:24 AM on November 9, 2006

Or, what cortex said with about a third of the words and a bazillion fewer commas.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:26 AM on November 9, 2006

on preview, ,,, , ,, , ,, ,,,, , , , ,,
posted by cortex at 6:28 AM on November 9, 2006

It happens when there are imperfect humans running something.

put SkyNet on the line. then we'll have some dem fine moderation.
posted by carsonb at 6:34 AM on November 9, 2006

What was on the Google just then? I think I missed it.
posted by flabdablet at 6:43 AM on November 9, 2006

LarryC writes "Wow, creating a sock puppet to ask a lame AskMe (presumably because you already used your questions this week) and following that up with a sock puppet call-out of the mods. Chutzpah!"

So, so right.
posted by OmieWise at 6:58 AM on November 9, 2006

A unified front is needed by parents of 5-year-olds, or beleaguered presidential administrations propping up failed policies. It's a strategy that you use when you think your audience is naive or stupid.
posted by crunchland at 7:25 AM on November 9, 2006

Could someone tell me what's in this thread? I don't feel like reading it.
posted by languagehat at 7:58 AM on November 9, 2006

Could someone tell languagehat what's in this thread? I don't feel like telling him.
posted by Jofus at 8:44 AM on November 9, 2006

Could someone tell me what's in this thread? I don't feel like reading it.

You really should read it, it's fantastic! This guy was sexing up a walrus with this three-armed dwarf, and then there was the bit where all these singing, dancing echidnas did a nice little number in which they presented Sammy Davis Jr's corpse on a bejeweled litter, which was promptly eaten by a troupe of meth-addled polar bears.

We're still waiting for the finale, though. Rumor has it that it involves cake and strippers, but the last time I fell for that I ended up with acute radiation poisoning and a uselessly cheap tool for my tool box.
posted by loquacious at 9:00 AM on November 9, 2006

I have no idea, myself, I just figured based on history that Larry was a good guy to hitch my wagon to.
posted by OmieWise at 9:02 AM on November 9, 2006

Now, if those customers were liable to run into your boss' office screaming obscenities and pinch a loaf on his desk at the slightest provocation, maybe your analogy would hold up.

One can only dream!
posted by five fresh fish at 9:12 AM on November 9, 2006