I keep seeing people wishing a happy birthday. Is this proper etiquette on mefi?

January 27, 2007 10:19 AM

Umm... happy birthday? Now stop?
posted by XQUZYPHYR to Etiquette/Policy at 10:19 AM (73 comments total)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM PLANET MOTHERFUCKER.
posted by loquacious at 10:27 AM on January 27, 2007

I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
'Cause you're evil
And you lie
And if you should die
I may feel slightly sad
But I won't cry
posted by four panels at 10:29 AM on January 27, 2007

A very merry unbirthday to the rest of us.
posted by IndigoRain at 10:49 AM on January 27, 2007

Tomorrow I will be 39.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:54 AM on January 27, 2007

You missed a couple.
posted by brain cloud at 10:54 AM on January 27, 2007

All right already! The bouncy house should be arriving within the hour. Now simmer down and have some cake.
posted by maryh at 10:55 AM on January 27, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM PLANET CAKEFUCKER.
posted by loquacious at 10:58 AM on January 27, 2007

Yeah that's noisy and annoying I removed the no-content comments that just said "it's my birthday" with a link to the google results for a search for the username.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:58 AM on January 27, 2007

I gave them a timeout corner for their birthday. I hope it fits.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:13 AM on January 27, 2007

Happy birthday from those of us who have no idea what just happened.
posted by cortex at 11:16 AM on January 27, 2007

Who or what is "they"?
posted by Rhomboid at 11:22 AM on January 27, 2007

It's my birthday too!
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 11:39 AM on January 27, 2007

It's a my birthday too!

/I Love Lucy! : >
posted by amberglow at 11:43 AM on January 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

The person involved, I don't remember who it was, basically accused the Universe of conspiring to make his or her birthday an unhappy one.... in the dead child thread.

I was shocked at first.... it took awhile for me to get pissed off about it. I just now came back to post something to the effect of, "Yeah, well, at least you'll get more. Abir's fresh out of birthdays." Couldn't find the post, and so I wandered over here to see what was up.

I'm glad it was pulled.... it would have ended up a flamewar in short order. I'd have been an enthusiastic participant.
posted by Malor at 11:45 AM on January 27, 2007

self policing, well any policing, only works if there is a very clear statement of what you percieve as the infraction, in the knowledge the infraction might be deleted, and a clear statement of why it was deleted, if it is deleted. Right now it is completely unclear what was said and why this was a problem, in the usually fairly forgiving blue.

So -- posters to metatalk, use your words. Explain your problem, repost the infraction, whatever. Just don't be coy. (This applies to a lot of metatalk posts, but it is in this one that I am whining about it)
posted by Rumple at 11:49 AM on January 27, 2007 [6 favorites]

Lucille Ball died on my birthday.
posted by cortex at 11:50 AM on January 27, 2007

Right now it is completely unclear what was said and why this was a problem, in the usually fairly forgiving blue.

I agree with the thrust of your statement, Rumple, but it is pretty clear that someone spammed a number of threads with some birthday themed off-topic comments, that those comments were deleted, and that the user has been put in the corner as a result.

I'd have to describe my desire for more details as simply morbid. It doesn't really matter what the literal content of the spam was, nor who the user was. This is a utility thread, and it's already served its purpose.
posted by cortex at 11:53 AM on January 27, 2007

My birthday was Wednesday! It was Yakov Smirnoff's too! Happy birthday, Yakov!
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 12:25 PM on January 27, 2007

My birthday is on the anniversary of Black Tuesday.
posted by danb at 12:33 PM on January 27, 2007

I agree with Rumple for more context, thank you jessamyn and Malor for the info. What it must be to be someone who thinks MetaFilter is fouling up his/her birthday and actually posts that...eeeeh. Maybe for a minute only, then I'd be out, because you'd all be up in my shit.
posted by nj_subgenius at 12:34 PM on January 27, 2007

I caught a couple of the comments and it didn't look to me like he or she actually thought that the world, and MeFi, was revolving around him or her. Rather it looked like attention whoring plain and simple.
posted by dreamsign at 12:38 PM on January 27, 2007

In Soviet Russia, birthday wishes YOU!
posted by cortex at 12:39 PM on January 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

My birthday is on Monday. It's my brother's, too.

Suckas!
posted by ludwig_van at 12:50 PM on January 27, 2007

Hey, I have a birthday too!
can we close this thread?
posted by jouke at 12:55 PM on January 27, 2007

"haaapppy birrrthday.....oooof!
haaapppy birrrthday.....oooof!
Miserrrryyyyyy and despair, people dying everywhere,
haaapppy birrrthday.....oooof!
haaapppy birrrthday.....oooof!"

-the Russian Happy Birthday song
posted by konolia at 1:11 PM on January 27, 2007

Have a happy birthday, whoever you are.

And eat a bucket of cocks suck a bag of dicks^* while you're at it.

^*YouTube, Louis C.K., nsfw
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:16 PM on January 27, 2007

I share my birthday with the first defenestration of Prague. Man, those must have been some really drunk college students to throw an entire city out a dorm room window!
posted by dirigibleman at 1:20 PM on January 27, 2007

My birthday falls on the exact same day that I was born. It has haunted me throughout my entire life.
posted by purephase at 1:44 PM on January 27, 2007

there is little i despise more intensely than clicking on links to things which inspired sufficient outrage to generate a meta only to find nothing.
posted by quonsar at 1:51 PM on January 27, 2007

and if you beleive defenestration means throwing something out of a window, then you are ignorant as to the meaning of the root word AND you lack imagination.
posted by quonsar at 1:53 PM on January 27, 2007

Walt Disney died on my birthday.
posted by deborah at 2:06 PM on January 27, 2007

I share my birthday with the first defenestration of Prague. Man, those must have been some really drunk college students to throw an entire city out a dorm room window!

It was actually just a Tandy PC, running Windows 3.1.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:17 PM on January 27, 2007

and if you believe defenestration means throwing something out of a window, then you are ignorant as to the meaning of the root word

?

OED:

[mod. f. L. DE- I. 1, 2 + fenestra a window: so in mod.F.]

The action of throwing out of a window.
posted by languagehat at 2:21 PM on January 27, 2007

Metafilter: My birthday falls on the exact same day that I was born. It has haunted me throughout my entire life.

(cortex, it's ok--she got people blacklisted way back when) : <
posted by amberglow at 2:21 PM on January 27, 2007

*jumps out of cake in bikini*

where'd everybody go?
posted by jonmc at 2:24 PM on January 27, 2007

Curiously, I've found that my birthday happens right before Halloween every year. After the first ten times, it stopped being an eerie coincidence and became downright, well, spooky.
posted by Malor at 2:28 PM on January 27, 2007

"*jumps out of cake in bikini*

where'd everybody go?"

Eye bleach store, most likely.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:05 PM on January 27, 2007

My birthday is the day after Halloween, and that's not only not spooky, it's boring. And if you're a Catholic that means you're supposed to be some kind of fucking saint. Thanks a lot, MetaFilter.
posted by nj_subgenius at 3:18 PM on January 27, 2007

Jesus died on my birthday. (the years when my birthday falls on Good Friday, that is)
posted by amyms at 3:37 PM on January 27, 2007

purephase writes "My birthday falls on the exact same day that I was born. It has haunted me throughout my entire life."

Right... I mean, what are the odds?
posted by clevershark at 3:40 PM on January 27, 2007

Some people believe the Buddha was born on my birthday Only several thousand years before me.
posted by clevershark at 3:43 PM on January 27, 2007

Squishy Earth worms humans, you demonstrate your weakness by being born. What a disgusting and filthy concept. You're filthy.

Every sentient being of proper lineage knows that the only way to come into the universe is to be hatched. And then be raised by robots.

/Zim voice
posted by quin at 3:59 PM on January 27, 2007

I was born the day Jesus saw his shadow.
posted by hal9k at 4:15 PM on January 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

So now we're going to have six more weeks of hal9k?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:20 PM on January 27, 2007

James Dean died on my birthday and all I got was a movie title.
posted by wendell at 4:33 PM on January 27, 2007

It doesn't really matter what the literal content of the spam was, nor who the user was.

Agree with the first, disagree with the second. If this social capital thing is gonna work at all, knowing the users who do stuff like this matters at least a little bit.
posted by mediareport at 4:41 PM on January 27, 2007

I guess I disagree, with the assumption that the content of the message wasn't vile, merely out of place. The difference between someone being drunk in public and someone yelling really hateful things while drunk in public: the latter has a lot more social import than the former, after fact. But I hear what you're saying.
posted by cortex at 5:11 PM on January 27, 2007

My dad was born on Hitler's birthday (April 20) and my grandma was born on Stalin's (Dec. 21). What does that make me?
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:07 PM on January 27, 2007

President Ford was shot at on my birthday. Reagan was shot on my sister's birthday. Kennedy was assassinated on my Dad's birthday. Every year when my Mom's birthday rolls around, we get a little nervous.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:18 PM on January 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

The Beatles came to America on my birthday.

You're welcome.
posted by yhbc at 8:38 PM on January 27, 2007

The golden spike was driven on my birthday.
posted by maxwelton at 8:54 PM on January 27, 2007

Beyoncé Knowles and I were born on the same day. Same year and everything. I demand to know which one of us is older.

Incidentally, my workplace somehow entered my hire date as my birthdate on some key forms and everytime I've gone to do something health-insurance related, I've been told that my birthdate is wrong. It's pretty disconcerting to be told that I don't know when I was born.

Nothing else of interest really happened on my birthday, but every so often, it's a national holiday.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:04 PM on January 27, 2007

Colin Ferrel and I share the same birthday and year. That depresses me. I mean, I still can't grow facial hair and he's got a scruff by noon. What's wrong with me?
posted by Bookhouse at 10:43 PM on January 27, 2007

I mean, I still can't grow facial hair and he's got a scruff by noon. What's wrong with me?

Men with less hair are more evolved.
posted by amyms at 11:33 PM on January 27, 2007

OMG! I just realized that there is less than like a one if four hundred or something to one chance that my birthday is the same as any kind of significant event in history.

I mean, whenever I play the lottery, there is like a million to one chance I could win, but here it's as if I will find some kind of connection, no matter what.

It's like, as if I can't fail to connect with some historical point. Damn, if only I could get some kind of odds on this, I could make some serious bank...
posted by quin at 11:48 PM on January 27, 2007

Quin, that is so obvious that I'm disappointed you felt the need to say it.
Disappointed, not angry. Try to do better next time.
posted by jouke at 12:02 AM on January 28, 2007

My birthday is an even power of two. There are only six such birthdays in a year.

It's geektacular.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:04 AM on January 28, 2007

My birth spells the coming apocalypse.
What are the chances of that?
posted by jouke at 12:32 AM on January 28, 2007

President Ford was shot at on my birthday. Reagan was shot on my sister's birthday. Kennedy was assassinated on my Dad's birthday. Every year when my Mom's birthday rolls around, we get a little nervous.

Let me know when your Mom's next birthday is. You know, like a five-day waiting period before? JUST KIDDING!!! Hello, Mr. Secret Service, nice to see you again.
posted by wendell at 1:58 AM on January 28, 2007

Well, it's not MY birthday...but what the heck:

*does sack dance*
*dumps Gatorade over head*
*holds fist in air*
*kicks mascot in groin*
*gives camera and referee the finger*
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:54 AM on January 28, 2007

there is little i despise more intensely than clicking on links to things which inspired sufficient outrage to generate a meta only to find nothing.

Fucking ditto, q.

Might as well remove the links in this post's title if you're going to expunge the comments. While you're at it, might as well delete this thread all together since the matter's been dealt with and we're sweeping everything under the rug.

Christ.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:06 AM on January 28, 2007

I am *exactly* as old as MTV.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:13 AM on January 28, 2007

I share a birthday with MetaFilter.

My birthday is an even power of two.

As opposed to all those odd powers of two?
posted by gleuschk at 12:09 PM on January 28, 2007

I didn't know about that pretty-interesting "Star Wars" thread till I went there from here. So whatever this thread was really about before everything got deleted, thanks.

And sometimes Labor Day falls on my birthday.
posted by diddlegnome at 4:16 PM on January 28, 2007

diddlegnome: Labor Day falls on my birthday as well! Perhaps we're birthday buddies. You too could share a birthday with Beyoncé Knowles!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:45 PM on January 28, 2007

I am *exactly* as old as MTV.

Get the hell offa my lawn!
posted by deborah at 7:16 PM on January 28, 2007

Labor Day also sometimes falls on my birthday. But alas, I share a birthday with Bob Newhart, not Beyoncé.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:25 PM on January 28, 2007

I don't share a birthday with either of you, grapefruitmoon and jessamyn, but rather with the likes of Joanne Worley, the Marquis de Lafayette, Pompey the Great and that guy who made all the weird noises in the "Police Academy" movies.
posted by diddlegnome at 8:15 PM on January 28, 2007

jessamyn: You also share a birthday with my friend Seth, who is supremely awesome.

Not that you know this guy, but there you go.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:36 PM on January 28, 2007

Oh, hey, and the Holocaust museum in DC opened on my birthday.
posted by cortex at 11:54 PM on January 28, 2007

Wankers. They blow stuff up in the UK for my birthday.
posted by eriko at 5:31 AM on January 29, 2007

It's my birthday.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:42 AM on January 29, 2007

Wendell, having Cheney as your second-in-command is the best life insurance money can't buy. Please re-think your aim, and pardon that pun.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 9:48 AM on January 29, 2007