Squishies gone missin

July 1, 2007 10:22 PM

This is my first time posting to the gray, but I thought the swift deletion of the 7/11 - Kwik - e - Mart story was uncalled for. I expected to see some discussion of the odd marketing being done, as the cost for this were picked up by 7/11, not Fox studios. Granted, there was the previous post about the movie site going live, but this felt worthy of being a post, and it didn't even link to YouTube!
posted by efalk to MetaFilter-related at 10:22 PM (85 comments total)

A deleted post as been undeleted about once, I think. So I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here.
posted by puke & cry at 10:29 PM on July 1, 2007

What post was that? Do you have a link, or know who posted it?
posted by jessamyn at 10:30 PM on July 1, 2007

A deleted post as been undeleted about once, I think.

It happened once, really?! Now, you've got my hopes up, damnit!
posted by dhammond at 10:31 PM on July 1, 2007

I'm with efalk on this one.
posted by blaneyphoto at 10:33 PM on July 1, 2007

http://www.metafilter.com/62551/Thank-You-Come-Again
posted by puke & cry at 10:34 PM on July 1, 2007

That was an odd (read: bad) deletion.

Sure, there was a previous post about the Simpsons movie websites but this post had something different and had some great links to some Flickr sets of people who had visited the stores. I thought it was really interesting.
posted by vacapinta at 10:35 PM on July 1, 2007

jess, here's the link. And, uh, cortex, I'll be honest, you're a little hair triggery on the delete button. I don't know if I'd say "drunk with power" or "unable to control your urges" but it's definitely something. I'm not referring to this link in particular, but rather to your reign of terror on the blue since you were given the keys to the delete-o-tron 3000.
posted by jonson at 10:36 PM on July 1, 2007

On (lack of) Preview: d'oh!
posted by jonson at 10:37 PM on July 1, 2007

As an aside, I was just glancing at my posting history, as I know people tend to make value judgements of call outs based on past posts made. this post of mine was part of the process of taggin old posts. I'm now aware the taggers are adding titles to old posts, but can there possibly be a message to these volunteers to refrain from adding political agendas to the headlines? My politics weren't part of that post, and I don't think the volunteers should be adding their thoughts to other people's posts.
posted by efalk at 10:40 PM on July 1, 2007

Wha? Taggers are adding titles to old posts? This is news to me. I didn't think a post on the blue could exist without a title. In fact, I'm reasonably sure it couldn't. Are you sure you didn't write that Cheney crack, efalk?
posted by jonson at 10:42 PM on July 1, 2007

Wait, what? They're editing titles? That would seem unlikely.
posted by puke & cry at 10:43 PM on July 1, 2007

I could be wrong but I don't remember titling it with that.
posted by efalk at 10:43 PM on July 1, 2007

I'm now aware the taggers are adding titles to old posts, but can there possibly be a message to these volunteers to refrain from adding political agendas to the headlines?

Taggers are adding tags; they are not adding titles. Did someone add a title to your post that you didn't put there, is that your assertion? Taggers don't even have access to your titles. The only people that do are the moderators and changing titles is really not something we'd do.
posted by jessamyn at 10:44 PM on July 1, 2007

There's no reason they should be able to edit titles. It doesn't have anything to do with tagging. I'd say you probably just forgot you wrote that.
posted by puke & cry at 10:45 PM on July 1, 2007

My first post has a title of " ?? ". I don't think I would have used that either. I'm thinking it got that as the link is now dead?
posted by efalk at 10:45 PM on July 1, 2007

Well, if thats the case my bad. It was posted years ago. Please ignore this side issue :)
posted by efalk at 10:47 PM on July 1, 2007

What jonson said. (I didn't know there was a Simpsons movie coming out, for what it's worth. Don't much care, either, but this was a perfectly decent post.)
posted by enn at 10:48 PM on July 1, 2007

I would also like the taggers to stop going back and making my jokes less funny. There are many comments I made that I am quite certain were absolutely hilarious when I posted them, but that seem to have been changed into forced and failed attempts at humor.
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 10:51 PM on July 1, 2007 [13 favorites]

this was a perfectly decent post.

Decent doesn't even begin to capture what it was. It was a perfectly cromulent post.
posted by The World Famous at 10:53 PM on July 1, 2007 [2 favorites]

I would also like to respectfully ask cortex to breathe and count to five before hitting the nuke button.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:55 PM on July 1, 2007

I favor deletion. Go, cortex, go!
posted by who squared at 11:13 PM on July 1, 2007

If anything, I think we need more deletions.
posted by puke & cry at 11:16 PM on July 1, 2007

If anything, I think we need more deletions.

This from someone who gave us this.

I was all set to dump all the Seattle Kwik-E-Mart links, but nooo, someone is confusing Blue with Orange again.
posted by dw at 11:28 PM on July 1, 2007

I put it back. I know it's a movie tie-in or something and we've discussed that, but this is kind of a strange real-life/cartoon curveball like the old Simpson house in Las Vegas. It's not a big deal and cortex has been great lately, this just seemed a little too hair-trigger for a lazy sunday.
posted by mathowie at 11:31 PM on July 1, 2007

I'm pretty sure that, if I had the power to delete, I would have a hard time ever holding back.

I guess it's an okay post, but it isn't pretty much currenteventfilter, isn't it? I'm sure that this is all over various news sites.
posted by blacklite at 11:35 PM on July 1, 2007

snap
posted by puke & cry at 11:36 PM on July 1, 2007

A deleted post as been undeleted about once, I think. So I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here.

I put it back.

Twice! Someone mark this day for future reference.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:43 PM on July 1, 2007

Interesting judgment call problem - should any non-negative post containing a recognizable brand name (or two) be auto-delete-fodder?
posted by scheptech at 11:45 PM on July 1, 2007

Wow. I am sincerely humbled by the almighty undeleted post.
posted by dhammond at 11:52 PM on July 1, 2007

I'd marked it as noise, myself, before it got taken down.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:58 PM on July 1, 2007

I thought at one point I had it in me to write a bit for cortex's ReFi project, so I read a couple of months' worth of MetaFilter's very early years. The one impression I really took away from that research was that The Simpsons is perhaps the only post topic mathowie really cares about and if MetaFilter had early on veered into strictly Simpsons news/fandom he'd be none the sadder for it. It does not surprise me now to see him resurrect this delightfully themed post.

As for post titles, never mind your failing memory. I change them at a whim.
posted by carsonb at 12:09 AM on July 2, 2007

Also:

puke & cry: A deleted post as been undeleted about once, I think.

jessamyn: What post was that? Do you have a link, or know who posted it?

Comedy gold. You get that post!
posted by carsonb at 12:13 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure that, if I had the power to delete, I would have a hard time ever holding back.

Seriously. I would spend all my time thinking up funny deletion reasons, and whenever I thought I had a good one, I'd go locked and loaded. The front page would be blue aboodee aboodye.
posted by Methylviolet at 12:16 AM on July 2, 2007

It was indeed comedy gold. Deleted, resurrected and deleted again.
This one was just a plain old delete, undelete.
posted by tellurian at 12:20 AM on July 2, 2007

Come on dw, the 33lb neck tumor was eponysterical.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:01 AM on July 2, 2007

Deletions for all!

Crowd: Booo!

Deletions for none!

Crowd: Booo!

Deletions for some, small MetaTalk flags for others!

Crowd: Yaaayy!
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:07 AM on July 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

This is a great day for the Empire.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:42 AM on July 2, 2007

This humiliation will be one more reason why Cortex will be ruthless and vicious when he overthrows his master in the Great Metafilter Coup in 2009.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:05 AM on July 2, 2007

CORTEX FAIL
posted by quonsar at 4:17 AM on July 2, 2007

Hey, speaking of deleted posts, it looks like the tags on this one weren't deleted like they usually are, if that matters.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:28 AM on July 2, 2007

but rather to your reign of terror on the blue

"reign of terror"?
posted by matteo at 4:31 AM on July 2, 2007

Let Freedom of Terror Reign
posted by Balisong at 4:36 AM on July 2, 2007

It was a perfectly cromulent post.

I agree 100%. I don't know about you, but that post embiggened my soul.
posted by milarepa at 5:07 AM on July 2, 2007

I think cortex should think twice before hitting the delete button; and if it seems borderline just randomly delete something of Meatbomb's instead.
posted by Abiezer at 5:18 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Actually, the titles of old posts are being changed by Hotmail.
posted by grouse at 6:05 AM on July 2, 2007 [4 favorites]

So ... impromptu NYC meetup at the Times Square Kwik-E-Mart? Is that where this is going?
posted by milquetoast at 6:27 AM on July 2, 2007

Maybe just give cortex a sandbox version of the front page where people could intentionally post deletion worthy links. Then he could get his kicks by coming up with witty deletion reasons without fear of undue molestation for actual posts.
posted by Burhanistan at 6:32 AM on July 2, 2007

"reign of terror"?

How else would you steer the horses of the apocalypse?
posted by dame at 6:33 AM on July 2, 2007

You ride those bareback, silly.
posted by Burhanistan at 6:37 AM on July 2, 2007

ZOMG UNITED FRONT YOU SONS OF

Okay, yeah, I can dig it. If I could have traveled back in time and deleted the original in favor of this one, that'd probably have been ideal, but so it goes.

For anybody worrying about it, I really do think twice on every deletion. It's just that this time, I thought, "really? Just another Simpsons Movie marketing post?" And then I took a breath and thought, "well, but it's the Kwik-E-Mart thing, that's pretty funny even if it is crass advertising, and—wait, wasn't that last post like a week ago? BALEETED".

Oh well. Gotta nuke somethin'..
posted by cortex at 6:40 AM on July 2, 2007

matteo writes '"reign of terror"?'

I have a fish in my sans-cullotes.
posted by jack_mo at 6:40 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Jessamyn always manages to muster a united front when she's under siege. You must not have paid your bill this month, Cortex.
posted by Dave Faris at 6:45 AM on July 2, 2007

Can I at least mustard a hebrew national?
posted by cortex at 6:51 AM on July 2, 2007

Are those things really from slaughtered beef or is it another case of a rabbi driving by the abattoir and nodding in approval as they owner passes him a check through the window? (This kind of thing happens with so-called halal chicken).
posted by Burhanistan at 6:54 AM on July 2, 2007

If the bit doesn't fit, it's a pain
So of course any horse will complain;
Is an equine aspirant
decrying this tyrant...
Arraigning the reign of the reins?
posted by Wolfdog at 6:56 AM on July 2, 2007

Wasn't the previous undeleted post about some cryptic message that everyone was trying to decode and Robocop is Bleeding won?
posted by pieoverdone at 7:19 AM on July 2, 2007

tullurian's third link.
posted by Dave Faris at 7:22 AM on July 2, 2007

(er. second.)
posted by Dave Faris at 7:22 AM on July 2, 2007

Fuck 7-Eleven and "The Sellouts Simpsons." I think it should have STAYED deleted.
posted by davy at 7:51 AM on July 2, 2007

it looks like the tags on this one weren't deleted like they usually are

they were -- that's a total bug looks like.
posted by jessamyn at 8:07 AM on July 2, 2007

The only people that do are the moderators and changing titles is really not something we'd do.
1-800-NO-CABAL
posted by nowonmai at 8:18 AM on July 2, 2007

Banning nowonmai for presenting contrary evidence is really not something we'd do.
posted by cortex at 8:40 AM on July 2, 2007

Everyone knows MetaTalk is different, right?
posted by jessamyn at 8:42 AM on July 2, 2007

It's only different because of the godless secularism that enables drawing divisions between site sections. As if that will help ease the punishment on Judgement Day.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:44 AM on July 2, 2007

Everyone knows MetaTalk is "different", right?
posted by Wolfdog at 8:48 AM on July 2, 2007

I can't believe this kind of personal attack is considered acceptable. What did I ever do to any of you?
posted by Metatalk at 9:00 AM on July 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

It took until today for someone to register "metatalk" as a username?

Either I'm greatly overestimating the number of sockpuppets, or we're lacking in the "obvious creativity" department.

alternate explanation: cortex is a sneaky bastard who is hoarding all the awesome usernames for himself. (you'd better have coughed up $5 for that one, smart guy!)
posted by god hates math at 9:25 AM on July 2, 2007

Can't hoard a userid, though. Consider metafilter, for example, and mefi, meta, gray, and blue. (And people have registered but not paid for 'grey' and 'green'.)
posted by cortex at 9:33 AM on July 2, 2007

Registered but not paid for?

...how can you know this? Does this count toward the total user numbers? How many of us are registered but not paid for?

...is a user number only assigned after payment is received?

HOW IS ANY OF THIS POSSIBLE??
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:52 AM on July 2, 2007

Registered but not paid for.

I know this because Tyler knows this. It does count toward the total user numbers; I don't know how many user registrations are in limbo—Matt could probably put together a number if he's so inclined—but it's a significant chunk of 'em.

A user number is assigned at the time the username is assigned, not at time of payment.

And it's all possible thanks to the power of ColdFusion, a Macromedia^TM product.
posted by cortex at 9:56 AM on July 2, 2007

I had an undeleted post Jess.
posted by vronsky at 10:12 AM on July 2, 2007

I had an undeleted post Jess.

yes, yes you did. that was the one I was thinking of.
posted by jessamyn at 10:13 AM on July 2, 2007

Bet you feel guilty about nuking my Dimmer post now don'tcha?
posted by vronsky at 10:21 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

your reign of  t error on the blue
Fixed that for you.

And it's all possible thanks to the power of ColdFusion, a Macromedia^TM product.
So what you're saying is "For Certain Tasks, the Cortex Still Beats the CPU", right? But who believes anything at Wired.com these days? We all know everything there is some parody by Lore.
posted by wendell at 10:25 AM on July 2, 2007

A user number is assigned at the time the username is assigned, not at time of payment.

So basically, I should be registering any and all usernames that I could ever be interested in (Hitler's Moustache, here I come!). When the time comes, I'll cough up $5, and sockpuppet away! Hell, I should write a script to scrape boingboing, kottke, and 4chan and automagically register any meme-related name goodness.

INGENIOUS!@


I swear, I'm not going to do this. I'm sorry if I'm giving anyone ideas. Any mass-sockpuppet registration in the near future is definitely not me. I have things to do, for crissakes!
posted by god hates math at 10:28 AM on July 2, 2007

Cortex was right to axe it.
posted by klangklangston at 10:30 AM on July 2, 2007

Bet you feel guilty about nuking my Dimmer post now don'tcha?

Your what?
posted by jessamyn at 10:33 AM on July 2, 2007

god hates math, that's definitely a paddlin'.

(And, more seriously, it'd be trivial to correlate the IP of a mass-registerer with mefi posting/commenting records, unless they were clever enough to use a wholly distinct connection for that task alone, in which case we'd just smoke 'em out anyway and tan their hide extra hard.)
posted by cortex at 10:37 AM on July 2, 2007

I'm so confused. Let's have a hot dog! If you use baguette loaf bread instead of buns, you are in for a treat!
posted by absalom at 11:49 AM on July 2, 2007

Ted: "Fishin' this mornin', saw a fish looked like a big long skinny loaf'n bread."
Jed: "Huh. Bag't?"
posted by cortex at 12:22 PM on July 2, 2007

it'd be trivial to correlate the IP of a mass-registerer with mefi posting/commenting records, unless they were clever enough to use a wholly distinct connection for that task alone

::adjusts plans thanks to double agent cortex::
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:25 PM on July 2, 2007

You will have to let the Dimmer thing go vronsky - Campbell and Bassey are fine but the cabal has dennounced New Zealand music.

I would say more, but don't want to get a visit myself.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 12:47 PM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's cool Sam. I always fight with my editors. It's a time honored tradition, circle-of-life thing. It's not like I'm gonna clutch at my chest and have a heart attack with the sudden, crushing realization that Jess doesn't cherish every post and comment I make.

Though, to be honest, there is a small place in my soul that secretly wishes she would.

Sigh.
posted by vronsky at 3:54 PM on July 2, 2007

And there will come a day Sam (and that day may never come) when I will give the word, and you and your fellow Kiwis will join me as we rise up and overthrow our vile oppressors. The Blue will run red that day, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Join me all who have had a SLYT post unceremoniuosly yanked. Those who don't give proper context. You who toil in the uTube mines all day only to have your post disappear in under 5 minutes. You who have suffered the slings and arrows of a snarky deletion reason. You who post drunk or fried only to waken in the morning and find your thread tossed onto the ash heap of the deleted thread blog. Many Shuvs and Zuuls will know what it is to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you! RISE UP! BABYLON A FALL!
posted by vronsky at 4:09 PM on July 2, 2007

The Blue will run red that day

Well, I'd think it end up running sort of a purplish, when you get right down to it.
posted by cortex at 4:36 PM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]