Comments on: April Fools!

April Fools!

yeoz — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:30:27 -0800

Happy April Fools Day.

[historical note: unstyled view of old page is here. -c 3/31/08]

By: cosmicbandito

cosmicbandito — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:39:45 -0800

I adimit it, I bought the kitten one, hook line and sinker.

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:40:43 -0800

as did I, as did I.

I love the other captions on the same page. But clicking through brings me to the usual offerings of everyday AskMe...

By: niles

niles — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:47:25 -0800

...and then I reloaded and got the normal page.

I thought that one was fake, too.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:48:05 -0800

This is the real thread because you actually went to the trouble of linking to it.

By: gummi

gummi — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:50:01 -0800

I adimit it, I bought the kitten one, hook line and sinker.

I adimit it, too. I bought it. I expected something here, and STILL bought it. Har, even.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:50:13 -0800

This is the real thread
Bloody hell, I demand a recount!

By: djgh

djgh — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:52:30 -0800

I liked the little things, like the usernames. They had me chuckling almost as much as the questions.

By: bigmusic

bigmusic — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:55:03 -0800

Which kind of chicken that I can buy at the supermarket has the tightest cavity? I need to know for an experiment I'm doing. Are Perdues good? Are fryers better than roasters? You wouldn't get salmonella by putting body parts into raw chicken orifices, right? Thanks for the help.
posted by beatingajoketodeath to grab bag at 9:16 AM - 123 answers +

Jess, can you clarify this one for us? We need a librarian with chicken sex research skills.

By: yeoz

yeoz — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:56:13 -0800

I've recently finalized the sale of a long-running community website to a major media conglomerate. I have not yet told the users. Should I embed a veiled admission in a jokey April Fool's page so that I can point to it later and claim that, technically, I *did* warn them?
posted by anonymous to food & the drink at 9:16 AM - 1142 answers +

Would also like clarification on that one too. (Oh Noes! Mefi sold!)

By: bluesky43

bluesky43 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:57:15 -0800

darn it. I wanted to find out who cortex thinks he is.

By: Phire

Phire — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:59:40 -0800

Re: yeoz. *hopes mathowie isn't that cruel*

I actually stared at the screen and wondered if it was a coding mixup and how I could get around it by directly typing in the URL instead of clicking on obviously defective links.

Until I realized it was after midnight.

Dammit, thwarted by irregular sleeping habits, AGAIN.

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:04:12 -0800

I really wanted to answer those questions. REALLY.

By: kdar

kdar — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:04:35 -0800

I got owned.

By: frogan

frogan — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:07:38 -0800

Seconding the pwnage. Thanks. That was awesome.

By: MadamM

MadamM — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:07:48 -0800

so how long until the fake usernames start showing up as actual members?

By: janell

janell — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:12:05 -0800

IronLizard, me too.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:12:14 -0800

It just doesn't get much funnier than "Jimmy Svendsen, age 7."

By: geoff.

geoff. — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:14:21 -0800

First thing I saw was the one about beating one's wife, when I came home. I was all giddy with excitement and ready to look at the trainwreck. Thanks for nothing, assholes.

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:16:06 -0800

Good show, this cracked me up.

But seriously, who does this cortex guy think he is?

By: kdar

kdar — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:19:01 -0800

Where can I cast my ballot for vi? TIEM TO MAEK SLAHDSDOT POLLS!

By: Salmonberry

Salmonberry — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:19:28 -0800

Doctor...Therapist...Priest...Mom...Lawyer

It's the little touches that make the joke. Very funny! I like it.

By: cortex

cortex — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:26:07 -0800

*giggles like a schoolgirl*

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:28:49 -0800

* yay *

By: the_bone

the_bone — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:34:26 -0800

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:39:49 -0800

"librariansrhotamirite"

haha even the tags are funny.

Matt you went all out. I commend you.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:42:10 -0800

It was all jessamyn's idea and doing. I take no credit for it.

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:44:01 -0800

Yay, Jessamyn!

I hate April Fool's Day, and I thought this was hilarious.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:46:58 -0800

Word.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:48:36 -0800

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Also, "I Drove All Night" is my favorite Celine Dion track.

By: gomichild

gomichild — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:49:59 -0800

heee! (^_^)

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:59:05 -0800

I don't get the joke.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:02:27 -0800

Man, that poor kitten! I keep trying to click on the post but I get redirected to another page!

Help!

By: nelvana

nelvana — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:03:19 -0800

Heh - very creative. Thanks!

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:04:36 -0800

cortex helped!

I also have historically hated April Fools stuff that made you feel stupid or that a bunch of people were in on some joke and you weren't, where you wound up feeling p0wned. I wanted to make something that was fun and rewarded close inspection but would go away entirely if it wasn't your thing. Sorry to deny some of you the trainwreck that you felt was finally yours.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:07:19 -0800

I'm confused and crying, but all happy-like!

By: Listener

Listener — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:19:30 -0800

Someone should let everyone participate in writing the April Fools day responses, donchathink?

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:23:13 -0800

amusing stuff, like the "thinly veiled excuse to talk about penis " and "what the fuck is WITH people" categories

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:26:53 -0800

Sorry to deny some of you the trainwreck that you felt was finally yours.

No no, it was still great.

By: gummi

gummi — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:34:45 -0800

Expecting these kind of surprises to pop up today, has anyone else noticed this yet?

By: gummi

gummi — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:36:24 -0800

Ooh, never mind.

By: gummi

gummi — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:47:08 -0800

Fine, I will not quit. There's this.

By: gummi

gummi — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:49:51 -0800

Give. Me. A. Break.

You know what? I quit. I'm off to bed. Laughing, but off to bed, nonetheless.

By: Listener

Listener — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:02:38 -0800

Yeah, "Doctor, Therapist, Priest, Mom, Lawyer" tabs are good too. Very clever.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:18:02 -0800

My heart goes out to hollywoodjodie. I think I'll write her a few more letters.

By: Many bubbles

Many bubbles — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:24:30 -0800

Heeheeheeheeheeeee!

By: painquale

painquale — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:32:48 -0800

That was a great surprise. Thanks.

By: Many bubbles

Many bubbles — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:44:10 -0800

...And can I petition for a "what the fuck is WITH people" category for real?

And a "why so hostile" one for things to be moved to retroactively when they're deleted?

By: IshmaelGraves

IshmaelGraves — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:01:35 -0800

No, Many bubbles, you may not. Clearly "First World Problems" is the category most deserving of a place in the Real AskMe.

By: chrisamiller

chrisamiller — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:02:43 -0800

Well done! Thank you for the laugh!

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:28:32 -0800

I got a sneak preview of the last LOST episode and the part where Jack's legs get eaten by a polar bear is really confusing me.

Heh. Nice work, MeMods. And I admit to clicking on the kitty thread before I had even read the rest of them, being surprised that it redirected to AskMe, thinking, "Damn, must have already been deleted," going down to the next question, then finally getting it.

Success.

By: safetyfork

safetyfork — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:29:36 -0800

Well played.

By: faineant

faineant — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:55:58 -0800

Blinked twice until I realized it was after midnight...fun stuff for sure, still giggling over some of them. Thanks!

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 03:11:35 -0800

I kinda want to read the threads for all the fake questions.

Scratch that. I REALLY want to read the threads for all the fake questions.

By: plant

plant — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 03:11:38 -0800

After substantial lurking time, I finally signed up today.. and just for one second, I thought that maybe AskMe was always full of trainwrecks deemed too awesome for the general public to see. Then the glorious vision before me was revealed to be nothing more than a cruel trick. Sigh.

By: teleskiving

teleskiving — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 03:18:54 -0800

I laughed out loud at a few of these; some of the setups are like Far Side cartoons in their sense of "something really bad is about to happen, and this guy has no idea".

By: paulsc

paulsc — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 03:39:37 -0800

Good job, kids.

I thought the English-only kid with the Japanese-only wireless router was April Fools. It had all the classic elements for a great technical AskMe trainwreck.

Clueless newbie.

"Minor" problem.

Impossibly broad question.

No manual.

No information in post.

Snark from the OP.

Guess not. Now that's funny/sad.

By: nthdegx

nthdegx — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:27:14 -0800

mathowie, can you, on the user sign up screen, please include a note that wookiee has two e's?

By: Jofus

Jofus — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:35:23 -0800

Well done everyone. Good darts.

By: Gator

Gator — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:50:38 -0800

I also have historically hated April Fools stuff that made you feel stupid or that a bunch of people were in on some joke and you weren't, where you wound up feeling p0wned. I wanted to make something that was fun and rewarded close inspection but would go away entirely if it wasn't your thing.

Well done, indeed.

Now I just need to brace myself for the rest of the day. Some of my co-workers are not as considerate as Jessamyn...

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 05:44:48 -0800

Dammit, I so want to read some of those threads!

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 05:50:06 -0800

ligerbeat!

By: veggieboy

veggieboy — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 06:10:35 -0800

Very nice. Thanks for the laughs.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 06:49:46 -0800

I wanted to suggest a name for the polyamory's kitten. Well done, jessamyn.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 06:53:44 -0800

I'd like to see the onion do straight news for april fools.

The rest I can live without.

By: wheelieman

wheelieman — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 06:57:52 -0800

I was hoping all of our usernames would be wendell but this works too.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:07:54 -0800

Brilliant! But for the first time, I had occasion to regret my ingrained habit of reading the site in the order MeFi - MeTa - AskMe. It would have been better if I hadn't seen the three (!) MeTa posts about the joke before clicking on AskMe. But I was still weeping with laughter. Well done, jessatex!

Now can you please open threads for some of those so we can have the pleasure of snarking at AskMe questions without guilt for once?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:31:51 -0800

That was just too damn funny. Kudos to all responsible.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:40:40 -0800

I now have non-sexual-internet-crushes on jessamyn and miss lynnster.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:59:21 -0800

DNAB, can we surmise from that comment that you have sexual-internet-crushes on humorists mathowie and cortex? Just asking, you understand...

But just lemme know if I'm getting too personal.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:18:02 -0800

I wub you, jessamyn.

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:30:10 -0800

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:33:28 -0800

Bah. My milkshake is unquestionably superior to Haughey's. I could teach him, but I'd have to charge.

By: itchie

itchie — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:42:38 -0800

Brilliant.

By: sveskemus

sveskemus — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:43:05 -0800

That was the awesomest april fools ever.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:04:02 -0800

Good show!

I thought that the questions on the 'real' ask.mefi page were another iteration of the joke page, though...

By: O9scar

O9scar — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:09:26 -0800

Hilarious stuff.

By: jerseygirl

jerseygirl — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:11:43 -0800

That was fantastic.

By: ClarissaWAM

ClarissaWAM — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:17:36 -0800

Wow. That was absolutely awesome! Thanks for the laughs! Even the comment counts made me laugh.

By: selfmedicating

selfmedicating — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:24:01 -0800

awesomeawesomeawesome.

By: artifarce

artifarce — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:30:02 -0800

I can't believe I missed the beret one on the first pass. Great job. :D

By: plaidrabbit

plaidrabbit — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:32:16 -0800

PONY QUESTION: Can we have the "why so hostile" group, so I can read them and laugh on bad days? Seriously?

Oh. And I, as well, was totally p0wn3d by the kitty thread.

By: WPW

WPW — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:52:17 -0800

Very good - the best I've seen today.

By: Listener

Listener — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:58:55 -0800

"I thought that the questions on the 'real' ask.mefi page were another iteration of the joke page, though."

Yeah, me too, just now.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:59:59 -0800

"ligerbeat" - heh. It's funny because it's true!

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:06:42 -0800

I don't know if any of you ever play any games at "jay is games" but he has a pretty decent fools' joke up: an endlessly loading game. In the comment thread there are some people who are still waiting for it to load, anticipating how good it's going to be.

By: bru

bru — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:56:50 -0800

I laughed a lot last night.
Thank you.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:00:04 -0800

I don't understand "ligerbeat", so I'm going to cut off my hand.

By: nthdegx

nthdegx — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:18:10 -0800

Wait - unless you guys deliberately spelt wookiee wrongly as a reflection of the ongoingMeFi "wookie" misconception - in which case this would be the best April fool ever.

By: blag

blag — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:18:15 -0800

You used my kitten-drowning question. I feel warm and fuzzy.

By: treepour

treepour — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:44:21 -0800

Really well done. Like several others, I admit that I initially thought the kitten-in-python question was for real!

By: Asparagirl

Asparagirl — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:45:23 -0800

This is wonderful. Thank you, Jessamyn and Cortex!

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:52:51 -0800

That was awesome, jessamyn.

By: Mr.Encyclopedia

Mr.Encyclopedia — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:07:10 -0800

I thought "I wonder if anyone posted any joke questions to AskMe?" so I look, and think, "Aha, somebody posted the classic kitten-in-a-python question! Let us read it!" Then when redirected to AskMe Proper I thought, "Wow, Jessamyn must be on the ball. It's already gone. Guess there's no room for humor in AskMe"

And I was wrong. Wonderfully, hilariously wrong.

By: Mom

Mom — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:50:18 -0800

I don't get the one about the chopped liver.

By: mmahaffie

mmahaffie — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:55:40 -0800

Very nice. Thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed that. The rest of the web I'm afraid to read today, though.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:13:04 -0800

My cow-orker wears this really annoying beret. We are on a television show and I keep making hints that maybe it's not the best fashion statement -- I bought him a Yankees cap, I talk in an affected French accent whenever he's around -- but he's not getting it. I have access to power tools and explosives, how can I be less subtle?

That one took me a minute, and then I laughed my ass off.

By: thetenthstory

thetenthstory — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:43:15 -0800

...was out hunting and I accidently shot my friend in the face. hes being a whiny bitch about it, can i not claim its an accident if I shoot him again?

Sure, take him hunting again.

Very original jokes from Matt and Jess. I Love them all.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:55:27 -0800

ligerbeat = Napoleon Dynamite ligers plus awesome 80's tween fan mag TigerBeat! (OK, it's from before the 80's but whatever).

Plus pretty much all of the usernames and categories were awesome. Not just that one.

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:16:42 -0800

I was afraid "ligerbeat" would fly under the radar. Glad it didn't.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:43:49 -0800

ligerbeat was awesome, but I had to ask jessamyn for the beret/explosives reference. That one was brilliant but subtle.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:08:37 -0800

My cow-orker wears this really annoying beret.

Folks, cow orking is a serious subject, and those who are compelled to ork cows are not to be laughed at: they suffer from a very specific mental illness and they deserve our respect and support. I am disappointed that people here at MetaFilter would be so callous as to make the cow orking community the brunt of tasteless April Fool jokes.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:02:50 -0800

Well done!

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:17:33 -0800

Stick-in-the-mud: I went to Ask today to, you know, ask a question and decided to defer given both the page overlay and the general "haha, question-asker asshats" tone here. Given J'myns years-long denouncement of the holiday, I've got to say that I was a bit dissapointed to see that she had a hand its in its perpetuation.

Ultimately, "whatever", but I felt there was someting vaugely un-community about the whole deal.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:22:58 -0800

Okay, I still don't get the beret/explosives one, as I'm not sure what show is being referred to. Please to be explaining?

(My personal favorite was the 1142 answers to the MeFi - sold - to - media - conglomerate question. That's so... Meta!)

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:36:09 -0800

The beret one is supposed to be written by adam savage. Make sense now?

I turned off the joke redirect, so things should be back to normal now.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:18:30 -0800

Good idea, but small suggestion:

I kept getting the fake askme page whenever I went to askme throughout the day. That got annoying and the joke less funny.

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:20:18 -0800

Weird. Was supposed to be cookied so it'd only show on the first visit. Do you rule your cookies with an iron fist, Brandon?

By: dg

dg — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:36:02 -0800

Some people need to get a sense of humour. I thought it was hilarious and extremely well-done, with the first question being just what we expect to see on AskMe.

sale of a long-running community website to a major media conglomerate.
Is it just me who is thinking that this would be the perfect time to slip in an announcement like this? You know - "well, the joke part was the bit about announcing it here pretending to be a joke, the rest was totally serious". No? Just me? Yeah, I thought so.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:18:07 -0800

I really REALLY appreciated the number of comments to the Lost thread.

I would tell you how hard that made me laugh, but I think the others are watching me via the Pearl station.

I've said too much.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 23:01:31 -0800

That was beautifully done. (I'm glad this thread is here or I would have missed the joke - having not visited at all yesterday.)

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 04:37:32 -0800

"The beret one is supposed to be written by adam savage. Make sense now?"

Ahhhh, now it makes sense.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:25:31 -0800

I felt there was someting vaugely un-community about the whole deal.

Right, because you didn't like it, whereas everyone else in the community seems to have gotten a huge kick out of it. So it shouldn't have happened, just to satisfy you. As opposed to the community. Gee, there's somethnig vaguely un-community about that.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 06:15:32 -0800

Ogre Lawless's shoelace is undone.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 06:41:35 -0800

oh noes i'm pregnant

I'm having a hard time thinking of a less anti-community prank than this one. I'm sorry it bugged you, Ogre Lawless, but short of a steadfast refusal to even acknowledge April Fools Day exists, what would have been less invasive/jarring than a one-click-long collection of jokes about, essentially, the normative behavior of this very community?

It didn't supplant the community's function; with a couple of obviously, outlandishly fictionalized exceptions it made no reference to actual users, and it disappeared right quick. Not quite the same as running serial bullshit stories folded into your normal news feed (heckuva job, Malda) or lying about the site folding or other such dramatic prank bullshit.

By: teleskiving

teleskiving — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:07:52 -0800

Weird. Was supposed to be cookied so it'd only show on the first visit. Do you rule your cookies with an iron fist, Brandon?

I also got it on every visit that day, but maybe this is just a cache thing? I just clicked through instead of trying F5. I'm fairly confident my Firefox cookie settings are just the defaults.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:38:07 -0800

I lol'd

By: deborah

deborah — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:48:19 -0800

Oh, geeez. I didn't notice the tabs until someone up-thread mentioned them.

Well done, jessamyn and cortex. And you too, mathowie, for letting them do it.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:16:33 -0800

So it shouldn't have happened, just to satisfy you.

I'm so glad that languagehat gets it -- its all about MEEEE!

That some of the A-Fools "questions" -were- spot on made me think that some humor was being found at the expense of folks who post obvious, obtuse or obfuscating Asks. I presume company policy is to beshit upon them then? I inquire as I'm sure many of us have at one point or another asked such a question and should know the consquences of such ill-conceived musings. Clearly, such fools should not be tolerated -- perhaps a pony can be invoked to have "ASSHAT" replace their user name. Thanks for clearing that up, everybody. [/snark] So went my thinking yesterday.

Also, I do not wear shoes, having had my feet blown off by a land-mine at a very tender age. And really, I'm not all bent about this or anything, I just thought "ROFL: asshat question askers" kind of strange from mgmt, especially the "I hate April Fools Day" mgmt. Perhaps it was off perception on my part. I clearly should have gone to church instead of logging on yesterday. Also: I do not go to church.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:26:54 -0800

That some of the A-Fools "questions" -were- spot on made me think that some humor was being found at the expense of folks who post obvious, obtuse or obfuscating Asks. I presume company policy is to beshit upon them then?

Where are you getting this? How does the idea that we're willfully shitting on users jibe at all with how the site has historically been run? How does having a self-reflective sense of humor about what does and does not sit will in the community's norms qualify as anti-community?

Is it your position that there is no such thing as a bad question for AskMe? If not, do you think we should just never speak of them, and pretend they do not exist?

I'm not trying to be combative, I just don't see the nastiness you read into it and I want to understand why, because I'm having a hard time imagining anything less offensive than this setup.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:40:35 -0800

Also: I do not go to church.

My only other AFD activity yesterday was to set my twitter and IM status to CHURCH.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:19:12 -0800

do you think we should just never speak of them?

Let us never speak of the bad AskMe questions again.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:19:08 -0800

Cortex: I'll apologize for -my- earlier combativeness -- languagehat always bring it out in me. I didn't think it was -intentionally- mean spirited, though I felt poorly for those who have asked questions close to the humor therein. The piss was being taken, yes?

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:31:44 -0800

And lord knows none of us is ever deserving of that.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 22:16:47 -0800

Heh. If it's any reassurance, Ogre, I was pretty firmly in the "food skepticism is a reasonable thing" camp.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:46:34 -0800

And lord knows none of us is ever deserving of that.

Don't be a douche. Of course we all are deserving of that from time to time. Is there not a difference, however, from us taking the piss of ourselves and those who run a site (with previous and still maintained "I love you all" caveats on my part) taking the piss of the userbase?

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:34:21 -0800

There's some sort of difference, sure. I'm not sure if it's a meaningful let alone dismaying difference in this case, though, which is what's got me puzzled.

If all of those fake questions had been submitted by non-admin mefites, would it have been less troubling?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:57:49 -0800

If all of those fake questions had been submitted by non-admin mefites, would it have been less troubling?

In fact, many of them were from non-admin MeFites.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:22:20 -0800

If all of those fake questions had been submitted by non-admin mefites, would it have been less troubling?

Probably, yes. Its about the same as getting The Business from one's boss as opposed to getting the same Business from one's coworkers. Your boss, as does mine, may vary.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:13:39 -0800

I hear you, I think. So, taking it further, is there anything in the presentation of the questions that makes some of them seem specifically admin-authored? Though it's not so, would it be plausible to say that that exact page, as posted, could have been written entirely by non-admin users? If not, which, and why?

I guess I'm wondering if there's anything about the joke page that had a Boss flavor to it, or if it's strictly the knowledge of (partial) authorship conveyed in this thread that generates the distaste. I know we were both going for funny AskMe tropes in general, rather than aiming at specific users or mocking by proxy, but I'm not clear if we missed the mark there or if it's just a post hoc reaction to the fact that we were the ones pressing the button.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:35:08 -0800

is there anything in the presentation of the questions that makes some of them seem specifically admin-authored?

Why yes, of course! The fact that each and every one of the questions was a perfectly hilarious nugget of humor, brilliant, shining examples of the kind of incisive and thoroughly entertaining wit that could've come only from the minds of very, very talented individuals of the highest merit!

[NOT SHAMELESS SUCKING UP TO ADMINS. NO WAY.]

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 21:54:11 -0800

I'll stop being a douche if you'll stop being a petty, nitpicking wowser. Deal?

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:34:41 -0800

Though it's not so, would it be plausible to say that that exact page, as posted, could have been written entirely by non-admin users?

Given that the page was a hard overlay, no. Otherwise, sure. It was exactly the button-pressing aspect of it that got me a bit off-center: the buy-in required of both asker and responder would make me think Ask to be something of a fragile creature. And really, it was funny. ~~Like tripping blind people~~ I love you man.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:39:00 -0800

Given that the page was a hard overlay, no.

Okay, fair enough, and agree-to-disagree. I find these kinds of perception questions interesting; I appreciate you hashing it out with me. ~~And if you really want to fuck with 'em, move the toilet.~~ Hugs!

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:18:50 -0800

I laff'd

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:51:32 -0800

So did we ever figure out how to shot web? My friend and I have a bet going on and we need to know before Spider-Man 3 comes out.