Self-link. Don't link to things you're involved with.

December 6, 2006 9:13 AM

Self-link. Brian, you're not supposed to link to things you're involved with.
posted by mzurer to Etiquette/Policy at 9:13 AM (79 comments total)

oh, snap!
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 9:17 AM on December 6, 2006

Looks like his only previous post was also a self-link, FWIW.
posted by luftmensch at 9:19 AM on December 6, 2006

get a rope
posted by Mr. Gunn at 9:30 AM on December 6, 2006

*dunks pitchfork in kerosene excitedly*
posted by Plutor at 9:32 AM on December 6, 2006

That's a paddlin'
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:32 AM on December 6, 2006

wait a minute, guys ... maybe he was drunk when he did it ... that would be ok, right?
posted by pyramid termite at 9:33 AM on December 6, 2006 [2 favorites]

Only if his user number is < 100.
posted by nicwolff at 9:36 AM on December 6, 2006

let's get the angry mob here and march over to the thread and leave insulting comments before it gets deleted!
posted by localhuman at 9:38 AM on December 6, 2006

oh, snap!

What does that actually mean? Or is it just a random exclamation? I've seen it in so many contexts ('Well done, that was witty'/'Ha ha! We said the same thing as each other!'/'Ooo-eee, you smacked him and or me down good!'/'Crikey Moses, I'd never though of it that way!') that I've never been able to work it out.

Whatever, on with the banning and stuff.
posted by jack_mo at 9:38 AM on December 6, 2006

got it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:40 AM on December 6, 2006

What does that actually mean?

it means that the poster laughed so hard his bubble gum bubble burst all over the monitor ... it's shorthand
posted by pyramid termite at 9:41 AM on December 6, 2006

It's a self-conscious verbalization of the actual act of snapping saucily. Why that is meaningful is itself sort of a mystery to me, but when a sassy BBW does so and then goes "mm-hmm!", the messages is somehow pretty clear.
posted by cortex at 9:41 AM on December 6, 2006

What about his previous post, which is about the same site (before the name change). Or his AskMe, which has a gratuitous link to his previous post?
posted by grouse at 9:44 AM on December 6, 2006

Oh, you make me so hot, Encyclopedia Brown.
posted by Tasty Like Your 9V Battery at 9:48 AM on December 6, 2006

'Snaps' are like 'props'. For example, you would give someone 'snaps' because they have done something good, or one better than yourself. I have mostly seen this in youth therapy group context, where it is used to boost small daily successes.
It is shown embarrasingly in Legally Blonde: Red, White, Blue.
(Perhaps I am just embarrassed that I saw that movie.)
posted by typewriter at 9:55 AM on December 6, 2006

Apropos of which: the phrase "Wikipedia Brown" occurred to me, the other day, and I presumed immediately that I wasn't the first to have that happen. Google confirms it. Oh, the mitigated pleasures of the slow wit.
posted by cortex at 9:56 AM on December 6, 2006

There was even a post about it, cortex.
posted by interrobang at 10:06 AM on December 6, 2006

Ha!
posted by cortex at 10:24 AM on December 6, 2006

Nope, "oh snap"* predates "props" and means: "Oh my goodness you have been made to look the fool." Snaps as props is a late and tawdry usage.


* a secondary meaning would be simply "oh shit" but that is a drift of the original usage, see also: "Oh Dip", which is even more obscure and used properly, delightful.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:27 AM on December 6, 2006

I've never said it, but always had D_W's former usage in mind as it's meaning (as learned on the intarwebs).

My 7-year-old uses it in the "oh shit" mode (constantly).
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 10:32 AM on December 6, 2006

For roughly two decades, Snap served as teh New Harsh, which in itself had been teh New Burnt, which was teh New Cold. Snap and its variant, Snaps, can be considered Old and Busted in today's parlance, but not to the point of broke-ass expression status.
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:33 AM on December 6, 2006

But basically, damn.
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:33 AM on December 6, 2006

Once again, descriptivism proves its worth, for language truly is a shifting and mutable thing. *snap*
posted by OmieWise at 10:37 AM on December 6, 2006

Oh heck and gall!
posted by loquacious at 10:40 AM on December 6, 2006

And furthermore, consarn it!
posted by loquacious at 10:40 AM on December 6, 2006

While we're at it, it seems hybernaut's post is a shoe-in for an Intellivision, leaving Matt's two iPods still in the running.
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:45 AM on December 6, 2006

Wow, this really devolved from a nice pitchfork burnination to a very clear "old geeks try to sound informed on hipness" thread.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 10:48 AM on December 6, 2006

yeah, i wanted more vitriol here
posted by localhuman at 10:56 AM on December 6, 2006

Once again, descriptivism proves its worth, for language truly is a shifting and mutable thing.

Yea Verily or Word Boogie in the parlance of our times, 'owever not always for the best, sadly. For instance:

"On my radar" used to mean "I have detected an object moving at speed via the use of radio waves" and now means -especially when used in a business context- "please leap across the table and slap me briskly in the mush with your cock". A sad loss to lovers of language.


yeah, i wanted more vitriol here

Go lick a dogs ass 'till it bleeds.

There no need to thank me.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:57 AM on December 6, 2006 [2 favorites]

Oh dip.
posted by typewriter at 11:05 AM on December 6, 2006

very clear "old geeks try to sound informed on hipness" thread.

What's the difference between green snot and yellow snot?
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 11:22 AM on December 6, 2006

fo shizzle!
posted by brain_drain at 11:22 AM on December 6, 2006

I'm glad you banned this guy— he fucking spams all sorts of publications that I'm affiliated with, and it's a pain in the ass. We've asked 'em to stop, but they keep sending shit.
posted by klangklangston at 11:36 AM on December 6, 2006

"please leap across the table and slap me briskly in the mush with your cock".

Also known as a "turkey slap."
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:51 AM on December 6, 2006

Oh, the mitigated pleasures of the slow wit

Oh, the mitigated pleasures,
Oh, the mitigated pleasures,
Oh, the mitigated pleasures
Of the slow-w-w-w wit.

*dunks pitchfork in kerosene excitedly*

That was no kerosene, that was my coffee, dammit!
posted by languagehat at 11:51 AM on December 6, 2006

Snap, crackle and pop a cap in his ass?
posted by Samuel Farrow at 12:09 PM on December 6, 2006

Snizzap!
posted by spicynuts at 12:20 PM on December 6, 2006

Bosh! Flimshaw!
posted by evilcolonel at 12:42 PM on December 6, 2006

Self-linking is SOOOOO not web2.0
posted by dhammond at 12:55 PM on December 6, 2006

I always thought 'snap' used like that was a reference to the card game snap, and indicated 'me, too', or 'I also noticed this' or something like that. These other explanations confuse me.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 1:00 PM on December 6, 2006

Divine_Wino: "Nope, "oh snap"* predates "props" and means: "Oh my goodness you have been made to look the fool." Snaps as props is a late and tawdry usage.
"

I always thought it was a reference to the AutoCad OrthoSnap tool.

Anybody with me one this?

Anybody at all?
posted by koeselitz at 1:35 PM on December 6, 2006

Oh Snap! to Grid!
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 1:59 PM on December 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

What in blue blazes is going on in here?!
posted by deborah at 2:07 PM on December 6, 2006

Seems strange to me that we should be happy with links such as "Content Management Systems I would or would not F***" - http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/56740 but frown on postings about open source CMS'

This is kind of funny to me - Brian hasn't been involved in our project for over a year ... I think you guys overreacted.
posted by commonmedia at 2:13 PM on December 6, 2006

It's pretty much the only universal policy on the site, commonmedia. It's not the content but the objectivity being questioned. Had anyone without a clear personal connection to the site posted it, the situation would be different.
posted by cortex at 2:19 PM on December 6, 2006

I always thought it was a reference to the AutoCad OrthoSnap tool.

Anybody with me one this?

Anybody at all?

*raises hand*
Every once in a while, I'll glance at the bottom of my work window and think "OSNAP...heh". I'm quite easily amused.

And the O stands for "object". Ortho is something entirely different.
posted by LionIndex at 2:36 PM on December 6, 2006

This is kind of funny to me - Brian hasn't been involved in our project for over a year ... I think you guys overreacted.

Tough shit. There's a specific section of the site for projects, and the Blue isn't it.

Self-links in the Blue just not tolerated, and the Cabal will spend a tremendous amount of time proving a connection between a user and a linked site.

He should have gotten a friend (or, at the very least, a sockpuppet) to post it. As it is, he should feel the wrath of the ban-hammer.
posted by bshort at 2:37 PM on December 6, 2006

Self-links in the Blue are just not tolerated...
posted by bshort at 2:38 PM on December 6, 2006

I give this thread... TWO SNAPS UP!!!!

O snap! That's the wrong usage of "snap."
posted by The Deej at 2:51 PM on December 6, 2006

I've been told that there is no Cabal.
posted by quin at 2:57 PM on December 6, 2006

This is a perfect example of why the rule is in place. The main reason I spent the 30 seconds looking into if Brian was involved is because the post is so uninteresting, only someone connected to the project in some way would bother to post it.

I find it a little amusing that neither hybernaut nor commonmedia are able to correctly construct a link. Or are hyperlinks too Web 1.0.3?
posted by mzurer at 3:28 PM on December 6, 2006

Yeah, but invoking NAMBLA, MILFs and Cabals doesn't really lift up the overall community. Do you want a community where people jump down each other's throats or do you want to have a basic reputation of civility? MetaFi's really developed well over the past year...and it kind of disappoints me to see these threads.
posted by commonmedia at 3:36 PM on December 6, 2006

Actually commonmedia, one could argue that MeFi has developed really well because of these threads.

This is what self policing looks like. Many times it's not pretty, but considering the general civility exhibited the site over (certain exceptions will always apply) this system seems to be working pretty well.
posted by quin at 3:42 PM on December 6, 2006

But self-links do?
And yeah, sniff, this last year is when things have really gone downhill, 25997.
posted by klangklangston at 3:43 PM on December 6, 2006

commonmedia, the one rule (and there is only one) on MetaFilter is you don't appropriate the community to benefit your own work. Everyone in every other community has to fight the urge to do this, and it takes everyone's collective trust here to not break the one rule. The rest of MeFi runs entirely on a loose set of guidelines, since I don't believe in absolutes and frankly once you start making a bunch of rules you end up with 10,000 rules and even that is insufficient. But over the past seven years, I've realized one of the worst poisons to the community was overzealous self-promotion.

The rule is in place for a variety of reasons, mainly that people don't take advantage of the community, since it's a shared resource and one member doing it leaves a "stain" which is selfish.

Objectivity counts a lot as well. People closely connected to a project really want to see it succeed and often know tons of background info on it and love it to death, but they're too close to the project to judge its merit objectively. Forcing outsiders to notice and post about your project ensures at least it passes the objectivity test.

Now, you seem to be comparing the community faux pas to reading a profane word in another post, but they're apples and oranges being compared. There's one rule at MeFi. It's the cardinal sin, and that's basically on the level of murder in the real world. Seeing a stray f-word used for comedic effect isn't the same thing at all, doesn't decay the community's trust in the same way a self-link does.

My advice to you commonmedia would be a simple apology for the former associate's posting, and moving on.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:46 PM on December 6, 2006

The CMSILF reference and the cabal are both references that make sense in the context of the community. (See recent CMS post you yourself referenced upthread, and the entire freaking history of MeTa, respectively, for details.) The NAMBLA thing was somebody being a cock.

A basic reputation of civility is something I personally favor. Not everybody agrees. The site is, as much as anything, stronger and better for the weird aggregate of views and positions.

All of that stands more or less independent of the cardinal rule you're bemoaning the maintenance of.
posted by cortex at 3:46 PM on December 6, 2006

here's brian's response, btw:

My affiliation with NewsCloud is this: I'm a user and a friend of Jeff Reifman. Jeff lists me as having provided "general assistance" (read: free advice) but I have no IP or financial stake in the project.

It surprises me that this level of involvement would disqualify me from posting about NC, but I totally understand where this is coming from, and respect the ferocity with which you defend the community.

Also, I haven't been following MeFi enough to realize that there was a more appropriate place for this post. Lesson learned.

My response would be that the post still fails the objectivitiy test, because it's pretty ho-hum information to outsiders (non-users of NewsCloud). I know a lot of small communities that have big news they want to share will engage members and ask them to post it far and wide, in an attempt to garner attention, and that's precisely why it's a bad idea to post it to MetaFilter.

And it's not like we're defending MetaFilter as some impenetrable fortress of purity, I built an entire site for self-promotion and the NewsCloud project has gotten its share of coverage there already.

Going a step farther and making posts about in MeFi proper was crossing a line and violating the single rule we have around here.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:55 PM on December 6, 2006

I built an entire site for self-promotion and the NewsCloud project has gotten its share of coverage there already.

Not to mention the last time hybernaut mentioned it on the front page, and in an AskMe.
posted by grouse at 4:09 PM on December 6, 2006

Matt, Cortext, thanks for your posts. The language has been offensive and I appreciate your thoughts. I think Brian feels badly about the original post.
posted by commonmedia at 4:22 PM on December 6, 2006

"Going a step farther and making posts about in MeFi proper was crossing a line and violating the single rule we have around here."

He tried to post an inline image, didn't he? That bastard.
posted by Eideteker at 6:03 PM on December 6, 2006

I love that goddam single rule, it represents the underlying qualities of metafilter that have kept me coming back for more than six years, no matter what.
posted by Divine_Wino at 6:07 PM on December 6, 2006

Speaking of OSNAP, do any other AutoCAD geeks use BHATCH as a derogatory term? anyone? no? well it's funny anyway
posted by misterbrandt at 7:01 PM on December 6, 2006

The language has been offensive

Oh for fuck's sake.
posted by mediareport at 7:16 PM on December 6, 2006

Speaking of OSNAP, do any other AutoCAD geeks use BHATCH as a derogatory term?

My girlfriend had a t-shirt made that reads (in a bitmapped font)

OSNAP
BHATCH
posted by Bookhouse at 8:07 PM on December 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

Shitstain cheesehostess web-two-point-oh bullshit bandwagoneer.
posted by blasdelf at 8:21 PM on December 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

Whenever I click OSNAP in AutoCAD, I always hear it in my mind in a German accent like the VW "Unpimp the Auto" commercial.
posted by The Deej at 8:41 PM on December 6, 2006

MetaFi's really developed well over the past year...and it kind of disappoints me to see these threads.

Your newbie-ness is showing...
posted by bshort at 8:49 PM on December 6, 2006

Um, blasdelf, I'm not sure if that's directed at my post above yours, but if it is, then please fuck off.

if not, then oops!
posted by Bookhouse at 8:58 PM on December 6, 2006

I always think of oh, snap as the verbal equivalent of one of these. Ouch.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:13 PM on December 6, 2006

mathowie said "...it takes everyone's collective trust here to not break the one rule."
First, there were 9 rules...now there is the one rule.
Someone should write a trilogy.
posted by Cranberry at 9:53 PM on December 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

Cranberry writes "Someone should write a trilogy."

I still love you Cranberry.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:27 PM on December 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

No self-links, no "img" tags. That's two rules, I think.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 10:59 PM on December 6, 2006

bookhouse: that was aimed at following up mediareport's comment, which was mocking commonmedia's blathering comment, which as usual is about his fucking website. At least this time we're talking about his fucking website.

Why fuck off when I can use stavroswonderchicken's cromulent vocabulary?
posted by blasdelf at 1:18 AM on December 7, 2006

Wow, this really devolved from a nice pitchfork burnination to a very clear "old geeks try to sound informed on hipness" thread.

Sorry about that. (I was going to say 'Oh, snap! Sorry about that', but I'm not sure it would make sense.
posted by jack_mo at 1:48 AM on December 7, 2006

Oh quoz!.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 2:01 AM on December 7, 2006

Divine_Wino writes "'On my radar' used to mean 'I have detected an object moving at speed via the use of radio waves' and now means -especially when used in a business context- 'please leap across the table and slap me briskly in the mush with your cock'. A sad loss to lovers of language."

Actually, I much prefer the new meaning.
posted by OmieWise at 6:19 AM on December 7, 2006

Hmm, I guess I do too.
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:28 AM on December 7, 2006

No self-links, no "img" tags. That's two rules, I think.

Well, technically, the "no img tags" thing is not a rule. You can use them all you want. They just won't work.

It would be like saying there is a rule that you can't write your post with a Sharpie on your screen and expect it to show up on the site. (Well, kinda.)
posted by The Deej at 8:49 PM on December 11, 2006

It would be like saying there is a rule that you can't write your post with a Sharpie on your screen and expect it to show up on the site.

Matt, disregard my e-mails about posts not showing up on the front page -- I think I just figured out the problem.
posted by brain_drain at 10:14 AM on December 13, 2006