the front page has been incredible recently November 27, 2006 9:26 PM   Subscribe

I just want to say that the front page has been incredible recently. What's up as of this post is just stellar post after stellar post. I love you guys.
posted by shmegegge to MetaFilter-Related at 9:26 PM (61 comments total)

If only the same could be said for metatalk! Hah!
posted by null terminated at 9:43 PM on November 27, 2006


shmegegge is dangerously happy! This aggression will not stand! Release the Ruiners!
posted by cortex at 9:48 PM on November 27, 2006


Uh, you're kidding, right?
posted by davy at 9:49 PM on November 27, 2006


I vote drunk.
posted by mediareport at 9:53 PM on November 27, 2006


What? It's a genuinely eclectic collection of posts.
posted by cortex at 9:55 PM on November 27, 2006


now, if only the discussion were interesting. narf!
posted by carsonb at 10:10 PM on November 27, 2006


All the Dawkins material on the Internet has been exhausted, so people had to find something interesting to post instead.
posted by Falconetti at 10:30 PM on November 27, 2006


I love you guys.

Well, no wonder - from vagina-cam porn to the heart-warming wit and wisdom of Mr Dawkins, the love factor's been absolutely through the roof.
posted by scheptech at 11:08 PM on November 27, 2006


I was going to say what Davy said. I've been considering flaming out in MeTa recently just so there would be something worth reading.

But I am mean and old and cranky, so, you know.
posted by blacklite at 11:38 PM on November 27, 2006


love you too, man... (hiccup)... you... you're my best friend, dude... lllove you, dude!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:44 AM on November 28, 2006


I'm glad to hear you are enjoying Metafilter so much shmegegge. Excellent.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:07 AM on November 28, 2006


You know who else liked to rain on parades?

That's right. Dagon.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 4:20 AM on November 28, 2006


liquorice : "Hmm, wondering what the mental age of MeFi readers are these days."

Somewhere between 25 to 30 is my guess. Same mental age as it was when most posts were politics, but with more levity.
posted by Bugbread at 5:32 AM on November 28, 2006


I've been considering flaming out in MeTa recently just so there would be something worth reading.

Do it, man! Do it for MetaFilter!
posted by languagehat at 5:40 AM on November 28, 2006


I love you too. shmegegge. Now, get your hands off my ass.
posted by jonmc at 6:19 AM on November 28, 2006


We'll get over it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:45 AM on November 28, 2006


Today (11/28) looks excellent up until now, with the lone exception of another mind-numbling repetitive atheism vs. religion thread.

Sunday (11/26) had wonderful posts as well.

Monday had some good posts, but a few too many politics posts.

On the whole, I would say that the posts since Sunday have been as good as they have been since August. It was nice to come back to the site after a hiatus (brought on with a disgust caused by politics devouring the site) and see such interesting threads.
posted by dios at 7:18 AM on November 28, 2006


I might disagree with shmegegge. I've been seeing a lot of posts that look like they were lifted from Reddit, Fazed, Fark, and other "news of the weird" aggregate sites. Don't let MF become like Fazed. I love Fazed, but I come to MF for other reasons. I don't come here to see links I read on Fazed two days ago.

My request would be:
I'd like to see less "cool stuff I found on the net while killing time" and more "links to interesting things that relate to some personal research or area of expertise".

Long time reader, new member, my two cents.
posted by Area Control at 7:40 AM on November 28, 2006


Welcome to town, Area Control.
posted by cortex at 7:55 AM on November 28, 2006


Well, Metafilter Music has been shining recently as well. Just to day these two posts are good examples of things out of the ordinary that make metafilter music soooooo good.
posted by micayetoca at 8:06 AM on November 28, 2006


All the Dawkins material on the Internet has been exhausted, so people had to find something interesting to post instead.

I'm surprised there wasn't anything about Elton John's recent comments regarding religion. Finally, an alternative to Dawkins!
That you can dance to!

Also, while there hasn't been a lot that's piqued my interest lately, it has been fairly eclectic, which is good for the site.

So stfu, poo-pooers.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:11 AM on November 28, 2006


I am not drunk, was not when I posted this. I happen to love posts about video games, so there's some bias if you need to see some.

But yes, I think posts about sexuality quirks are great, and in the past week jonson (who i think is now my favorite poster of all time) has been routinely entertaining me when he isn't posting just outright fascinating sites. basically, at the time of posting there were much better posts around than 6 months ago when i took my hiatus. i stand by my meta thread.
posted by shmegegge at 8:21 AM on November 28, 2006


and yes, the story of pop-up books is interesting to this 27 year old, as is the excellently crafted post on zealous anti-peace lunacy. and #1's own post of open source diy christmas gifts was something i had never seen or even heard of before, despite having known of make magazine.
posted by shmegegge at 8:26 AM on November 28, 2006


Your favorite posts suck
posted by matteo at 9:08 AM on November 28, 2006


Many posts during the election season have been absolutely outstanding. I don't think post quality has shown much abatement since the end of August, when most of the genuinely good "contest" posts showed up.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:28 AM on November 28, 2006


It was nice to come back to the site after a hiatus (brought on with a disgust caused by politics devouring the site) and see such interesting threads.

Waylon Smithers: "You know, sir, accidents decreased by exactly the number that Simpson himself is known or suspected to have caused last month. And our output level is just as high as during Simpson's last vacation."
posted by gigawhat? at 9:55 AM on November 28, 2006


Durrr... are you suggesting gigawhat that the amount of politics threads decreased because I wasn't here, seeing as how I make a lot of them and stuff?

Did you train to be this fucking stupid or did it just come naturally?
posted by dios at 11:59 AM on November 28, 2006


One does not need to "make" a politics thread to contribute to an atmosphere in which people get disgusted by politics on the site. One could call people names when they disagree with them, for example.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 12:16 PM on November 28, 2006


Eh. I was referring more to the improved quality of discourse within those types of threads during your absence, dios. Perhaps it's not all your fault, but you do tend to bring out the worst in people here.
posted by gigawhat? at 12:21 PM on November 28, 2006


Well, I guess it is worth noting that I can leave for a month and my fan club will be ready to try to engage me into fights right off the bat when I return.

It's a bit amazing how fast you guys jumped to try to insult me when I haven't said a damn thing in a month. Real assholes. But don't let that stop you from accusing me of lowing the discourse.
posted by dios at 12:28 PM on November 28, 2006


Cold shower, man. You sound like you're itchin' for a fight.
posted by cortex at 12:31 PM on November 28, 2006


Yeah. Good point cortex. I just got a little annoyed that, after not visiting the site for a month, I come back and inconspicuously post that I think the posts have been good only to have people to respond with the equivalent "that's because you weren't here asshole; you cause all the shit." That's pretty annoying and bristles me. But I suppose that is my fault. Silly me. I guess shouldn't post anything because apparently *I* am the one looking for a fight. I take a break, but apparently the dios strawman lives on.
posted by dios at 12:35 PM on November 28, 2006


I wish I had a fan club.
posted by cgc373 at 1:33 PM on November 28, 2006


The best I can offer you is some palm fronds and a slightly-used blackjack.
posted by cortex at 1:48 PM on November 28, 2006


dios : "But I suppose that is my fault. Silly me. I guess shouldn't post anything because apparently *I* am the one looking for a fight."

Stop thinking like a MeFite (i.e. in terms of "should") and start thinking like an engineer (i.e. in terms of "probability"). "Should" people jump all over you if you comment about anything political, even as tangential as "political threads in general"? No. But what's important isn't what should happen, but what does happen. It's why we have PINs for bank cards and ignition keys for cars. You know enough that you know that a fight will start if you comment in any thread that has the word fragment "poli" in it. If you actually want to avoid that fighting, then don't comment in those threads.

Personally, I think you enjoy the fighting, and I think that those who are fighting you also enjoy the fighting, so you both avoid the practical approach.

Which is fine, I guess. You get what you want, the people who fight you get what they want, I get what I want (navel-gazing and theorizing about people's motives), and if it gets hairy, languagehat gets some quality flame action (of the flame-war instead of flame-out variety, though).
posted by Bugbread at 2:01 PM on November 28, 2006


Stop thinking like a MeFite (i.e. in terms of "should") and start thinking like an engineer (i.e. in terms of "probability").

I understand your point, and you are certainly correct about it. Nevertheless, I find the inevitable conclusion not very palatable. I would not think it a sound macro policy to advise people to just lock themselves in their house to avoid all the thugs and vandals constantly on their block. I would hope that something would be done about the root of the problem instead.

Personally, I think you enjoy the fighting

That's an odd conclusion. There is a whole list of people I ignore. It's the same people who constantly nip at my heels and yet never get a response out of me. I don't engage them at all. You can probably guess who they are. And when new people (or, typically, old people with new sock puppets) show that they are the kind of people who like to pick fights with me, they quickly find themselves on my ignore list.

It would seem to me that if it was true that I like the drama and fighting that I wouldn't kill file these people and respond to their bait.

Needless to say it doesn't stop them from insulting me and trying to get me to fight with them, but I don't.
posted by dios at 2:13 PM on November 28, 2006


dios : "That's an odd conclusion. There is a whole list of people I ignore."

Ok. I wasn't aware of that. I really, really don't keep up with my intraMefi personality conflicts. About all I can remember is:

Amberglow and dios don't get along.
EB and quonsar don't get along.

Past that, I have no idea who dislikes or frequently argues with whom, so, conversely, I never noticed that you avoided engaging particular people.
posted by Bugbread at 2:34 PM on November 28, 2006


EB and quonsar don't get along?

cortex: I'm easy; I settle; I'll take them!

And dios, it's only a matter of time until your "fan club" attacks you, which you know, and claiming that you ignore them only encourages them to try to force you to respond. It's a sort of passive-aggressive troll, no? (I mean "troll" in its technical sense, and I don't have any intention at all of joining your fan club. You seem okay to me.)
posted by cgc373 at 2:40 PM on November 28, 2006


It's a sort of passive-aggressive troll, no?

Ahh. I see. So let me get this straight: if I respond to them then I am trolling for a fight. If I don't respond to them, then I'm passive-aggressively trolling.

Nice Siberian dilemma you have constructed for me.

Apparently the only non-objectionable solution for me is to not participate at all. Hmm. Maybe there is another way of considering this? Like maybe turning your criticism to the people who make unsolicited attacks and try to start arguments with me, such as occurred in this thread or in the only other active thread that I have commented in.
posted by dios at 3:05 PM on November 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


I hate you all... unless you like me. Then we can be friends. Please be my friend?

so cold, so lonely... why can't you love me?
posted by blue_beetle at 3:21 PM on November 28, 2006


dios, reread cgc373's comment more carefully. It doesn't say what you think it says. You may disagree with what it actually says as well, but it isn't saying "if you respond to them then you are trolling for a fight. If you don't respond to them, then you're passive-aggressively trolling."
posted by Bugbread at 3:27 PM on November 28, 2006


Just for the record, I love dios, Amberglow, EB, quonsar, bugbread, cortex, and cgc373 unconditionally.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:14 PM on November 28, 2006


Meatbomb! My love!

Please, please tell me now, is there something I should know?
posted by cgc373 at 4:24 PM on November 28, 2006


thugs and vandals

What in Xena's name are you talking about? I've never known you to be thin-skinned, dios, but damn if you're not making Grand Theft Auto out of Frogger.

You returned with a little dig at ole lefty echoland metafilter, and in response somebody posted some vague Simpsons dialog. The Simpsons, dude. Roughnecks, we are.

To which you yell persecution! Thugs! Fucking idiots!
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 7:08 PM on November 28, 2006


What do the Simpsons have to do with Hat Maui's comment (if that's what you're talking about, and hosted from Uranus)? If you're talking about gigawhat?'s Smithers lines, above, those were not, to my eye, vague at all, instead being somewhat pointed, and in fact, being pointed right at dios, who, until that time, had been mostly positive, agreeing with a mostly-positive thread about positive, happy, good stuff on the MeFi front page. So if dios feels attacked, it looks to me as if he feels that way with some cause. Saying, "Chill, dios, everybody attacks you, dude," doesn't seem 1) fair or 2) polite, and it's undeserved here. I saw no "dig" from dios that wasn't heavily interpreted by preconceptions of what dios (or The Dios Strawman™) is expected to say.
posted by cgc373 at 11:45 PM on November 28, 2006


The Simpsons have nothing to with Hat Maui's comment in a completely different tread. It's, uh, a completely different thread.

Strawman or no, when dios says metafilter is "too political" anybdy familiar the site knows he means "too lefty". He chose to bring politics up in one of his first coments back. If he wanted to avoid the history of bad blood, he should have left "politics" out altogether.

I saw gigawhat's response as rather mild, in part because it was several hours later and had an attempt at humor. You saw it as 'pointed'. I guess we disagree there. Perhaps we can agree, however, that dios' "are you fucking stupid?"was way over the top? He went from 0 to 60 in one comment. Which is why others noted he seemed to be looking for a fight.

Now, apparently, I'm on his kill file because I disagreed with the small bit of logic present in his outright attack on gigawhat. To which he expounds over four lengthy comments about woes of his "fan club".

So no, I wasn't saying "Chill, dios, everybody attacks you". I was saying "Chill, dios, you're ranting about fan clubs and sock puppets and kill files when you've hardly even been addressed".
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 3:30 AM on November 29, 2006


stop hurting my thread.
posted by shmegegge at 10:49 AM on November 29, 2006


White and sticky or no, when Uranus makes a generalization anybdy familiar the site knows to step to the left and cover their delicate parts.

stop hurting my thread.
I love MetaFilter. It is wonderful all the time. Thanks shmegegge for pointing out this instance of spectacularly concentrated wonderfulness. Amen.
posted by carsonb at 11:45 AM on November 29, 2006


the large pink elephant that no one seems willing to mention is dios' continued ugliness on his member page. metafilter is "feces covered"? OMG WTF?

such a masochist. "the feces here at metafilter tastes terrible. and such small portions!"

it really was a nicer place for the last month, dios. you're lying to yourself if you think you're a metafilter net positive.
posted by Hat Maui at 11:56 AM on November 29, 2006


You must be joking that dios' member page is the "large pink elephant" in the room. Yeah, that is likely the cause of divisiveness on Metafilter. The vast majority of people here, I wager, never look at others' member pages. Perhaps dios posted a song with a verse with nasty lyrics and that is bringing Metafilter down.
posted by Falconetti at 12:51 PM on November 29, 2006


dios' member page is so divisive that his lat/long points to the Mason Dixon.

*makes several posts about large pink elephants*
posted by cortex at 1:24 PM on November 29, 2006


Know who else was divisive? That's right: King Solomon.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:35 PM on November 29, 2006


Was King Solomon the one who said "Off with their heads!"? Wait, that was H. Rider Haggard, wasn't it?

Also, in regards to being a "metafilter net positive," it's my considered opinion that anybody who contributes, even the derails and catfights and snark and off-topic off-color off stuff, is a net positive, overall.

(And I really didn't want to hurt your thread, shmegegge. But it was asking for it.)
posted by cgc373 at 3:01 PM on November 29, 2006


You weren't hurting anything, cgc373. I really enjoyed reading your comments and participating here.

Thank you everyone, Metafilter is getting more excellent every day.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:29 PM on November 29, 2006


what i meant by large pink elephant is that republicans are homosexual.

no, seriously, what i meant was that dios was complaining of being attacked, when he's the one with the nasty crap on his userpage about how metafilter is "feces-covered" because of politics he doesn't like.

that's typical of him to throw a generalized insult out there in a comment and then act surprised and hurt if he gets called on it.

also, what good is a killfile script if you're still somehow hyper-aware of comments from users that you've killfiled? i call shenanigans.
posted by Hat Maui at 4:43 PM on November 29, 2006


When I put someone in my killfile, they actually die. Hypothetically.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:48 PM on November 29, 2006


So, then, IRFH, you were responsible for the carnage over here?
posted by cgc373 at 5:10 PM on November 29, 2006


That was clearly a suicide. He left a note. Can't prove nuthin'.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:12 PM on November 29, 2006


Hey, it's MetaTalk. No purchase necessary and no proof required. Accusations, libels, slanders, raised danders, and Ned . . . nah. I'll let it go.
posted by cgc373 at 5:20 PM on November 29, 2006


Well, five-dollar purchase required, and libel probably won't fly, and I bitched about Smithers quotes, which are pretty close to Flanders, who I left out, above, and WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?!
posted by cgc373 at 5:22 PM on November 29, 2006


PATIENT: Doc, it hurts my pink elephant when I do this.
DOCTOR: Well, stop doing that.
PATIENT: But he likes it.
DOCTOR: Circus peanuts are orange for a reason.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 6:33 PM on November 29, 2006


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