Be Your Own Spouse: How to Add Yourself As a Contact

November 6, 2007 9:33 AM

Adding yourself as a contact is an easy way to keep track of Best Answers and Favorites and Stuff. To do so, just go to add anyone as a contact, then swap out their user number for yours in the address bar.

Or, just copy, paste, and edit the following:
http://www.metafilter.com/contribute/xfnlinkbuilder.mefi?to_user=|YOUR NUMBER HERE|

I stole the idea from librarina and within 1 hour have had at least three MeFi mails asking about it, so figured other folks may want to know!

posted by robocop is bleeding to MetaFilter-Related at 9:33 AM (52 comments total)

I have a no contact order against myself.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:36 AM on November 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Yay for self-referentiality. Also, I now have a contact!

I can't decide if this is good or I just reached a new level of sad.
posted by the number 17 at 9:43 AM on November 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Secrets of the Metafilter super Stars, indeed.
posted by boo_radley at 9:45 AM on November 6, 2007

I'm co-resident with myself!
posted by grouse at 9:46 AM on November 6, 2007

Does this mean i have a friend?
posted by French Fry at 9:49 AM on November 6, 2007

I'm my own grandpa!

Whaddaya mean, I can't do that?
posted by koeselitz at 9:56 AM on November 6, 2007

When the contact-activity-facebook thing was added to the front page I thought it was interesting because I could find out that a contact had a comment marked best answer, but not that *I* had a comment marked best answer. I guess this is the workaround to that.
posted by mattbucher at 9:57 AM on November 6, 2007

So it's pretty much like this.
posted by brain_drain at 9:58 AM on November 6, 2007

Huh. I added myself as a contact several days ago, and nobody sent me an email about it.

I guess nobody gives a fuck about me.

Alas.
posted by dersins at 10:13 AM on November 6, 2007

I got it from painquale who got it from grumblebee a few days ago...
posted by mdn at 10:24 AM on November 6, 2007

Micro-pony: Can we have an option to receive a mefi mail or an indication on the recent activity page when we get a best answer? That would save us all from the indignity of adding ourselves as contacts (although I did it anyway).
posted by roofus at 10:31 AM on November 6, 2007

This is why robocop is bleeding is my companion cube.
posted by shmegegge at 10:33 AM on November 6, 2007

I saw whir do this and did it last week sometime....
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:42 AM on November 6, 2007

I just did it. Thanks for the how-to!
posted by languagehat at 10:45 AM on November 6, 2007

dersins, I sent a bunch of people email telling them not to email you about it or else.

Can we have an option to receive a mefi mail or an indication on the recent activity page when we get a best answer? That would save us all from the indignity of adding ourselves as contacts (although I did it anyway).

Unlikely. Embrace the indignity if you need an alert.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:45 AM on November 6, 2007

This self-contacting contacts activity is shit hot.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 11:03 AM on November 6, 2007

I have done it and I have met this user in the real world.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:07 AM on November 6, 2007

Hey! I got a MeFi mail from Mathowie.

*gushes*

i AM a snowflake :)
posted by Mister_A at 11:10 AM on November 6, 2007

Yeah, I saw that. I was afraid that it would start the chain reaction that would end creation.
posted by psmealey at 11:10 AM on November 6, 2007

I hereby christen this hack, "Mefibation."
posted by googly at 11:16 AM on November 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Gentlemen, we have met our contacts, and they are us.

Shouldn't this be automated already?
posted by blue_beetle at 11:19 AM on November 6, 2007

Ha! I had to mefimail mosessis to figure out how. Thanks, mosessis!
posted by librarina at 11:24 AM on November 6, 2007

Ok, I'm being a jerk and want no parts of that asshole, but I can't uncontact me. Am I stuck with me forever?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:27 AM on November 6, 2007

sweetness.
posted by iamkimiam at 11:28 AM on November 6, 2007

Earlier I thought the omission of options such as "arch nemesis" and "mortal enemy" was a good idea. Now I'm not so sure, in light of this new information.
posted by Tehanu at 11:33 AM on November 6, 2007

Dandy, now my whole right-hand column is contacts adding themselves as contacts.

All this should settle down within a month or so, right?
posted by yhbc at 11:33 AM on November 6, 2007

yhbc: "Dandy, now my whole right-hand column is contacts adding themselves as contacts."

There's a fix for that now.
posted by team lowkey at 11:39 AM on November 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Ah, thanks.
posted by yhbc at 11:54 AM on November 6, 2007

What Jessamyn said. It was all in the initial thread. Keep up on your MeTa, people!
posted by SassHat at 11:57 AM on November 6, 2007

This only works once. I was hoping to generate a clone army on the cheap, but I guess I'll have to do it $5 at a time ike everyone else.
posted by nowonmai at 12:12 PM on November 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

the number 17: I'll add you if you promise to be the second most randomly generated two-digit number in the world.

And know about Robert Anton Wilson.

How YOU doin, prime number? ; )
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:37 PM on November 6, 2007

Hey now I'm popular - I knew the internet was invented for a reason.
posted by the number 17 at 1:25 PM on November 6, 2007

I added myself but only in a strictly professional manner. I don't want to give myself the wrong impression.
posted by Sailormom at 1:40 PM on November 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I was initially kind of wondering if it would send the site into some kind of infinite loop. Then I was looking around for other weird users that I could add, but nothing really happened. I did discover you can get a "whir added as a contact" message to show up if you add an invalid UID though.

whir - keeping your database untidy since 2002
posted by whir at 1:51 PM on November 6, 2007

Liquorice did this before it was fashionable.
posted by Wolof at 2:14 PM on November 6, 2007

For some reason, it's listing that I added myself as a contact twice.
posted by dismas at 2:57 PM on November 6, 2007

I'm self-contacted twice, too. It's the most attention I've gotten here EVER.
posted by idest at 3:09 PM on November 6, 2007

I think it's becuase you contacted them, and they contact you. That you and them might be the same person is not an assumption that was factored into it originally, being as how it's kind of a twisted little edge case.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:16 PM on November 6, 2007

MetaMail: a twisted little edge case
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:17 PM on November 6, 2007

Huh. Now I have an urge to favorite myself. WHAT WILL HAPPEN????!!!!
posted by idest at 3:23 PM on November 6, 2007

Huh. Now I have an urge to favorite myself. WHAT WILL HAPPEN????!!!!

How do you think I got to 2k favorites? Tehloki can only get you so far, man.
posted by psmealey at 3:31 PM on November 6, 2007

Huh. Now I have an urge to favorite myself. WHAT WILL HAPPEN????!!!!

Ceiling Cat is watching you favorite yourself.
posted by iconomy at 3:51 PM on November 6, 2007

It's tempting. But I'm afraid.
posted by idest at 3:52 PM on November 6, 2007

I tried it and it didn't work. What did I do wrong?
posted by konolia at 4:36 PM on November 6, 2007

Try it again, and don't add bunnyfire this time.
posted by yhbc at 4:40 PM on November 6, 2007

Self-contacting, like self-favoriting, just seems kind of... I don't know... sinful.
posted by amyms at 5:01 PM on November 6, 2007

I knew something was up when "ABC added ABC" was all over my activity sidebar thingy. Pssh. I added myself like three years ago, before it was cool.
posted by Eideteker at 6:06 PM on November 6, 2007

I have met this user in real life. But can I ever really know her? Even though she keeps wearing my favorite shoes?
posted by maryh at 6:46 PM on November 6, 2007

Huh. Now I have an urge to favorite myself. WHAT WILL HAPPEN????!!!!

You might wanna get some lube.
posted by deborah at 7:25 PM on November 6, 2007

It did NOT WORK.
posted by konolia at 1:09 PM on November 7, 2007

You're welcome, librarina!

For what it's worth, I got it here from Aloysius Bear.
posted by mosessis at 7:48 PM on November 7, 2007

Brandon Blatcher:
If you need to delete a contact:
I had to hack it, as I had a contact from years ago who got disabled, and then there's no way to do it.

http://www.metafilter.com/contribute/xfndelete.mefi?to_user=|YOUR NUMBER HERE|
posted by unrepentanthippie at 10:58 AM on November 11, 2007 [1 favorite]