Upsetting the plate of beans.

/makes glib sarcastic comment, removes from recent activity

Someone stole your linebreaks!
posted by prostyle at 10:04 AM on November 28, 2007

Yeah, MetaFilter was a lot cooler before I was a member, too.
posted by peep at 10:06 AM on November 28, 2007 [6 favorites]

omg I'M SORRY FOR THE LAME POST ROOFUS.
posted by exlotuseater at 10:10 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

Roofus - I'm curious as to how you feel that the the tumult of the last week has been caused by Matt/Jessamyn/Cortex implementing pony requests and other changes. I know one pony-type change was made as a result of the tumult - or certainly largely influenced by it, but I don't get the rest of your argument. I'm honestly willing to be convinced, however.
posted by Sk4n at 10:14 AM on November 28, 2007

I liked it when all the FPPs were by mathowie
posted by criticalbill at 10:14 AM on November 28, 2007 [8 favorites]

At least half the changes you mention are not the result of pony requests or site changes. You can't stop evolution.
posted by amro at 10:14 AM on November 28, 2007

I miss my youth. And I am also drunk.
posted by GuyZero at 10:14 AM on November 28, 2007 [7 favorites]

Also, I miss the old Michael Jackson.
posted by amro at 10:15 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Your blog got metafiltered and the bad boyfriends there are having their usual blazecock pileon over it. I won't comment in the metafilter thread because I refuse to pay $5 to join a blazecock pileon so I'll just say here that "You Can Be A Better Boyfriend" is funny and you have a good ear, I mean that with intense seriosity, this is near Achewood-quality diversion. And the metamorons all hate Achewood, too and don't see why it's funny. So there you go.
posted by Mister_A at 10:15 AM on November 28, 2007

Is this a coded way of asking not to have to think about sexism?
posted by OmieWise at 10:17 AM on November 28, 2007 [6 favorites]

Is it possible to have greater consultation with users before implementing pony requests and other changes?

Most pony requets and changes to the community result in Metatalk threads that are several hundred comments long. What more do you want?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:17 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Can someone please post a link to the tumult? Please hope me, you are my only help.
posted by Mister_A at 10:18 AM on November 28, 2007

posted by roofus Is it possible to have greater consultation with users before implementing pony requests and other changes?

So the pony you want is the ability to vote on the ponies other people want? No problem! Let's start by voting on your pony. I vote no.
posted by fandango_matt at 10:20 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

I vote no.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:20 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I vote, what and where is the tumult? Is this the tumult right here?

Your favorite tumult sucks, natch.
posted by Mister_A at 10:22 AM on November 28, 2007

"Most pony requets and changes to the community result in Metatalk threads that are several hundred comments long. What more do you want?"

The img tag. And free alcohol.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:24 AM on November 28, 2007 [5 favorites]

There is consultation though, as has always been the Mefi tradition, new features are rolled out, and then, if we hate them people complain about it on Metatalk until it is removed (oh say, the suicidegirls ads-- remember when that site wasn't considered sleezy?)
posted by drezdn at 10:27 AM on November 28, 2007

I vote for FDR.
posted by ersatz at 10:28 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
posted by mattbucher at 10:29 AM on November 28, 2007

I liked it when the voices were just my imagination.
posted by katillathehun at 10:31 AM on November 28, 2007

To quote the great Michael Scott, "Adapt, react, readapt, apt. Alright?"
posted by inconsequentialist at 10:32 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I liked it when people didn't post shitty MetaTalk threads.
posted by cmonkey at 10:33 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

I vote for FDR.

Sadly, he's not as good as he used to be, either.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:34 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

GET OFF MY LAWN!
posted by purephase at 10:37 AM on November 28, 2007

Well, roofus, all those hazy golden yesterdays are still with us, immortalized in html, forever. You can go read them. So can the nostalgia, have a prune, and deal, ya simpering reactionary.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:37 AM on November 28, 2007

I liked it better before people called feature requests ponies.

I mean, in all the pictures I saw of immigrants on boats coming into New York harbor, I never saw one of them sitting on a pony. Why would anybody come here if they had a pony? Who leaves a country packed with ponies to come to a non-pony country? It doesn't make sense.. am I wrong?
posted by found missing at 10:37 AM on November 28, 2007 [7 favorites]

I liked Rufus before Chaka Khan became a Republican.
posted by klangklangston at 10:38 AM on November 28, 2007

I liked it when people didn't post shitty MetaTalk threads.

.
posted by Mister_A at 10:38 AM on November 28, 2007

Uh, you can pretty much still do/like/appreciate these things.

Is it possible to have greater consultation with users before implementing pony requests and other changes?

Oh, is that how it was in the olden days?
posted by desuetude at 10:39 AM on November 28, 2007

Ponies aren't all they're cracked up to be. Have you ever seen a pony get decapitated by a sunroof? No.
posted by Elmore at 10:41 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I miss the old metafilter.

Sure, it's put on some weight, gotten a few wrinkles, takes bit longer to get aroused and some parts are sagging, But deep down, it's the same bipolar shizo that you feel in love with.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:42 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

(oh say, the suicidegirls ads-- remember when that site wasn't considered sleezy?)

Um...no?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:42 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

You had me at "I miss the old metafilter." Unfortunately, you lost me at "Most of all I liked quonsar."
posted by MarkAnd at 10:44 AM on November 28, 2007

I liked it when callouts weren't passive-agressive.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:44 AM on November 28, 2007 [4 favorites]

Is this the post where we all complain about minor things that make our lives slightly less covered in glory?

Because last night I kept waking up because I was cold. But I was too sleepy to get up and get another blanket. I wish someone would fix that for me. Thanks.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 10:44 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

One of the nice things about having pb on board is that we're able to actually accomplish a lot of things that have been back-burnered for, in a lot of cases, literally years. As a result of that, it really has been a pretty busy and productive year, and I can see there being some apprehension and a sense that Things Are Changing as a result of that.

But I think it's pretty important to separate the things that are owed mostly to fiat development decisions (new profile features, subsite additions) from the things that are pretty much organic consequences of a site being around and increasingly popular for going on a decade. Of course FPPs get comments without fail these days—there are a lot more people around. Memes come and go, and so do users; I dig the nostalgia but that stuff is by and large the natural march of time.

As far as ponies go, we're trying to really think out what does and doesn't get pursued, behind the scenes, before anything comes out. There are things that we brainstorm and talk out at length and then just sit on because we can't see how to make it worth adding to the site; it's not like every random idea we have or someone suggests just gets plopped into play. We're trying to take a reasonably conservative approach to the whole thing, but the site will continue to change and grow a bit, both in response to community pressures and according to Matt's desires/vision of the site.

(As an aside, Matt and I were just talking the other day about how it used to be a running ha-ha-not-funny joke that Mefi was going to be slow-to-unresponsive every single weekday, just by default. It's kind of stunning; you don't think about it because it's not happening, but, hey, that's not happening any more.)
posted by cortex at 10:47 AM on November 28, 2007

In the olden days nobody would say "roofus is a doofus". But nowadays this happens, and then even in that very disingenous as-if-quoting kind of way.
posted by jouke at 10:48 AM on November 28, 2007

"jouke is a puke!"
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:50 AM on November 28, 2007

Sometimes a pony gets depressed.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:50 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Is it possible to have greater consultation with users before implementing pony requests and other changes?

Did you call the Podcast Hotline?

More seriously, the answer is sort of "no" as much as I like the answer to most questions to be yes even if it's sometimes "yes, but..." The site is too big and the users' opinions are all over the place and if we consulted with people any more than we do already we'd have to hire people whose job it was to just tally opinions and then we'd be.... some other site with a different vibe than this one. Having a decent balance between trying to get people's feelings on things and also being able to move and retool quickly enough for a site with only a few employees is a pretty tenuous plate-spinning act.

quonsar is still around and no moderator fiat made him not be. He Is Welcome Back, let me be clear about that. Most of the changes you describe have very little to do with moderating and a lot to do with how people are using the site differently. We can't control that any more than we can say "no more lolcat" and really have it happen. Loose guidelines mean fewer editorial fiats, but also more "well what happens happens" shrugging when the unexpected happens which is surprisingly often.

So, sorry to be a big hippie about this, but if we were more dictatorial people would flip out and leave (and I would not blame them) and if we do less moderating stuff other people would flip out and leave. I think it's fair to say that while people might not flip out and leave because we didn't get profile photos available fast enough, a lot of people had been pony-requesting more intractivity options with profile pages and friending and whatever.

I'm sorry the site isn't everything to everyone. I'd sort of like it to be. But I live in a dreamworld most of the time anyhow.
posted by jessamyn at 10:51 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

HAHAHA, Alvy doesn't know Dutch pronunciation.
I can only imagine your burning shame
posted by jouke at 10:52 AM on November 28, 2007 [8 favorites]

(Man, we both said "fiat".)
posted by cortex at 10:52 AM on November 28, 2007

One of the nice things about having pb on board is that we're able to actually accomplish a lot of things that have been back-burnered for, in a lot of cases, literally years.

OMG! You've have turned into George Lucas! Next you'll be remastering Matthew Chan is spamming!

*sets himself on fire*
posted by nola at 10:53 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

Jouke is low key?
posted by boo_radley at 10:54 AM on November 28, 2007

MetaFilter is now neither meta nor a filter. Discuss.
posted by timeistight at 10:55 AM on November 28, 2007 [11 favorites]

I miss the image tag.

So, in-stead here is a random string of unwarranted profanity. Don't try this at home, kids - profanity is the crutch of an inarticulate motherfucker!

Fuckshit bilgesuck. Jackoff. Dick. Asshole. Fuckwit-dangle shitburger. Fuck. Asshole salad. Whorefilthy nougat-burgler. Shit. Jizzmop, novice. Jizzmop, expert. Bung-wronger. Butt chutney. Crackmonkey. Felch-filcher. Drank-drunk droog-dookie. I'll fuck your sunshine, sunshine.
posted by loquacious at 10:55 AM on November 28, 2007 [4 favorites]

"OMG! You've have turned into George Lucas!"

s-o-m fires first!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:56 AM on November 28, 2007

how about a unicorn story to cheer you up?

what.
posted by exlotuseater at 10:56 AM on November 28, 2007

Next you'll be remastering Matthew Chan is spamming!

It was never my intention, when I first scripted that, to have matthewchen spam first.
posted by cortex at 10:56 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

~dons asbestos suit~
posted by exlotuseater at 10:57 AM on November 28, 2007

Metafilter: The democracy that's not.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:57 AM on November 28, 2007

"HAHAHA, Alvy doesn't know Dutch pronunciation."

It rhymes if you imagine that Alvy speaks like Mark E. Smith.
posted by klangklangston at 10:59 AM on November 28, 2007 [3 favorites]

God dammit, crash.
posted by cortex at 10:59 AM on November 28, 2007

Things Are (A) Changing - yes, particularly The Times. Does anyone use bugmenot anymore?

Wait - Chaka Khan is a Republican?
posted by Sk4n at 11:00 AM on November 28, 2007

OMG! You've have turned into George Lucas!

Yep. A dewback just walked across my screen.
posted by brain_drain at 11:00 AM on November 28, 2007

It's approx. pronounced Yowkah (yowzah with a k).

The shame, it burns! And thanks for the pronunciation!

*Heads over to rhyming dictionary with vengenance in my heart*
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:01 AM on November 28, 2007

Shut the fuck up. I have no tolerance for creatures like you. Make your own damn website.

This goes for anyone who propagates the trope that "Metafilter was better before Afroblanco and most of his friends joined the site."

You guys will hopefully make fun of this comment - because this is MetaTalk, and if you didn't, I'd be disappointed - but this is in fact my real, unvarnished opinion, and you can take it for what you will.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:03 AM on November 28, 2007

I guess what roofus might mean is that he misses JRUN
posted by adamvasco at 11:03 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

I'm with you, roofus.
posted by dead_ at 11:03 AM on November 28, 2007

What on Earth where you thinking when you made that post, roofus?

In the old days you'd have been mounted on a spit and sent careening down a mountainside towards a pack of marmots baying for your pancreas. Sure, MeFi's changed, some for the worse, a lot for the better (most, I'd say). In fact, the recent tumult felt like a good positive change to me. There was a lot of talk and concrete changes came out of that discussion. That's good. Some other bad things happened (I like EB, quonsar, jennydiski and vronsky and I'm sad they're gone) but on the whole it's reaffirmed my belief in the potential of the site.

Also, another sign that MeFi's improving is that no one's said "this will wendell" yet.
posted by Kattullus at 11:04 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

*Alvy heads over to rhyming dictionary with vengenance in his heart*

ONOES! I'm going to find a rhyming horsehead in my bed!
posted by jouke at 11:06 AM on November 28, 2007

I liked the internet better when it was 'text only'.
posted by Dr-Baa at 11:10 AM on November 28, 2007

roofus?? Damn' near killed us!!

*sobs zombie tears*
posted by Kwine at 11:11 AM on November 28, 2007

"Metafilter was better before Afroblanco ~~and most of his friends~~ joined the site."

Fixed that for you.

/bans self
posted by iconomy at 11:13 AM on November 28, 2007

A couple of things to address here:

1. I liked it when callouts weren't passive-agressive. - Oh, that's OK I guess, I mean if you like that, fine. I said fine. What do you mean it's not fine if I say "fine"?
2. In Jessamyn's dreamworld, we are Vikings
3. Lists will be banned in the near future.
4. Liszt was in a band in the distant past.
5. RON PAUL !!!11!111!!!1
6. Profit.
posted by Mister_A at 11:13 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

Chaka Khan

Goddammit, If I'm gonna have to have Tell Me Something Good stuck in my head, I'm gonna take you all with me.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 11:15 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Profanity is the spice of language.
posted by zoinks at 11:18 AM on November 28, 2007

I'll see your Tell Me Something Good and raise you one I Feel For You.

Because I think I love you
posted by Sk4n at 11:21 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Fuck yea, fuckers!
posted by Mister_A at 11:21 AM on November 28, 2007

I was going to write a limerick here, but I decided that the universe would move more in the direction of balance if someone else wrote one about me instead.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:21 AM on November 28, 2007

this will wendell.
posted by Horken Bazooka at 11:23 AM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

Thanks for ruining Metafilter, jerks. You're all going in my killfile.
posted by Krrrlson at 11:24 AM on November 28, 2007

I miss the days when I cared about MetaFilter. [NOT METAFILTERIST]
posted by tr33hggr at 11:28 AM on November 28, 2007

You know when you live in a dreamworld none of your dreams really need to come true.
posted by Sailormom at 11:29 AM on November 28, 2007

You're all going in my killfile

Finally I get in somebody’s killfile
posted by French Fry at 11:29 AM on November 28, 2007

I always thought it was:
Limerick = "Stab City" in Ireland
Limrick = There once was a poster called Roofus....

But googling seems to be inconclusive. If only we had people here on this site who were good with words and shit.
posted by Sk4n at 11:31 AM on November 28, 2007

Don't you mean your Krrrlfile?
posted by fandango_matt at 11:32 AM on November 28, 2007

If only we had people here on this site who were good with words and shit.

If I wasn't busy, I'd register "Shitsworth, the Scatological Vocabularist" right now.
posted by cortex at 11:35 AM on November 28, 2007

How much longer would it take you to register that than it just took you to explain how you were too busy to do so.

ZING!!!

COWBELL!!11!
posted by Mister_A at 11:41 AM on November 28, 2007

If only we had people here on this site who were good with words and shit.

You're talking about the art of letter-pooping, right?

Or as I call it, "crapligraphy".
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:42 AM on November 28, 2007

Good catch, but I guess that would be coprography or scatography gnfti.
posted by jouke at 11:45 AM on November 28, 2007

Shitsworth, the Scatalogical (you know, for short) - didn't he just leave the site?
posted by Sk4n at 11:45 AM on November 28, 2007

I'm not upset.

Signed, the plate of beans.
posted by nkknkk at 11:49 AM on November 28, 2007

When I first read this, I thought that this was simply one of those generation gaps between the veterans like roofus who joined back when the internets were still made of lead pipes, and anonymous noobs like myself who came in and spoiled the party when the doors were thrown open wide to anyone with $5 in their sweaty paw. Then I noticed that roofus joined exactly three days before I did. So my question is: WTF happened here on November 20th, 2004?
posted by googly at 11:49 AM on November 28, 2007

Wolfdog has a Siberian husky
A breed that some people call trusty
There was not much to glean
from the profile I seen
plus my limerick skillset is rusty
posted by Don Pepino at 11:52 AM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

By definition, you liked how Metafilter was when you joined.. or you wouldn't have joined. Well, it changes. I remember the way it was way way back for the years I lurked. That's different than it was when I joined. That's different than it is now.

There are many things/people/policies that are now defunct here that I sorely miss. There are many things/people/policies that we have now that I love. It changes. Sorry.

It's still the best site on the web.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 11:53 AM on November 28, 2007 [3 favorites]

"Wait - Chaka Khan is a Republican?"

Yeah, she did fundraising for Dubya.
posted by klangklangston at 12:06 PM on November 28, 2007

I liked MetaFilter better when I couldn't sign up because you had to wait for a friggin eclipse, or live in Portland, to sign up. That was great because it helped me to stay hungry. Now, for $5, I can gorge at the trough of MetaFilter intemperately, and my pants are too tight.

Whenever I say pants I think of Quonsar [sniff}
posted by Mister_A at 12:10 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Nice marmot.
posted by CunningLinguist at 12:12 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

Burning Man was better last year, too.
posted by scalefree at 12:14 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

I miss Mark E. Smith. Why can't we have more Mark E. Smith? A Mark E. Smithless MetaFilter just isn't the same.

This video has no Mark E. Smith in it. AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.
posted by maudlin at 12:15 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

(Man, we both said "fiat".)

I liked it back when the mods didn't shill for Italian cars.
posted by languagehat at 12:17 PM on November 28, 2007 [6 favorites]

Well I think it's resolved—we're all going to travel back to the year 1999 in Al Gore's fantastic time-travel machine. And we're going to warn people about things, and bet on sporting events, but mostly we are going to party.
posted by Mister_A at 12:21 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I don't know how much I agree with the original sentiment behind this post, but there HAVE been an awful lot of changes to adjust to lately, with predictably mixed results as everyone figures out what that means to them.

Maybe new member sign-ups should be closed for a while. Let people adjust to who and what is already here before moving on.
posted by hermitosis at 12:27 PM on November 28, 2007

Matt and I were just talking the other day about how it used to be a running ha-ha-not-funny joke that Mefi was going to be slow-to-unresponsive every single weekday, just by default. It's kind of stunning; you don't think about it because it's not happening, but, hey, that's not happening any more.

Stunning might be a little strong. It is nice though.
posted by justgary at 12:30 PM on November 28, 2007

Actually, I don't know if you guys noticed, but I did quit lurking for a while because of the issues with the server not serving well.
posted by Mister_A at 12:34 PM on November 28, 2007

Did someone call for a unicorn in this thread?

Sorry, thought I heard my name.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:35 PM on November 28, 2007

The unicorn thread is over there ------>

And it is an abomination.
posted by Mister_A at 12:40 PM on November 28, 2007

"Wait - Chaka Khan is a Republican?"

Yeah, she did fundraising for Dubya.

She's still hot.
posted by tommasz at 12:41 PM on November 28, 2007

Maybe new member sign-ups should be closed for a while. Let people adjust to who and what is already here before moving on.

I had the same thought recently, but immediately realized that this could not happen any more because this playground of ours is now Matt's primary source of income. That may have been the biggest change of all, and the principal reason for the undercurrent of - well, not exactly unhappiness with the changes, but at least recognition that things have changed around here.
posted by yhbc at 12:43 PM on November 28, 2007

What I have been thinking recently is that there should be a longer gap between signing up and being able to post (even comments.) Some people wouldn't like this, 'cause it'd kill of the 1-a-week AskMe workaround, and some of the hilarious (I gather) screen name jokes, but...
posted by Wolfdog at 12:47 PM on November 28, 2007

Stunning might be a little strong. It is nice though.

Oh, I didn't mean that the solid uptime is stunning; I mean the way it was a sort of big constant resigned thing, with Jrun on the lips of one and all, and now, not many months later, it's just...gone. Like realizing, halfway across the Atlantic, that one of the kids isn't on the plane.
posted by cortex at 12:48 PM on November 28, 2007

I had the same thought recently, but immediately realized that this could not happen any more because this playground of ours is now Matt's primary source of income.

Not that this is an argument for closing signups, which in my gut I feel like is not a great idea, but Matt's said more than once that the income from new accounts isn't a major chunk of the site's revenue.
posted by cortex at 12:50 PM on November 28, 2007

I miss the Fametracker forums. Now THOSE were forums!
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:52 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Holy crow! Mister_A has stumbled onto the critical step for the New Economy. In the business plan:
1) Bad Idea.
2) Series of question marks.
3) Profit!

Step number two is clearly, always:
RON PAUL
posted by verysleeping at 12:57 PM on November 28, 2007

I miss buying 20c of mixed lollies and getting a whole big bag.
posted by pompomtom at 12:58 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

Man, you know metafilter was better before Afroblanco and most of his friends joined the site.

I sometimes wonder if the old metafilter has wandered to a new, seekret metafilter and all these changes are some grand social experiment/performance art.
posted by Skorgu at 1:01 PM on November 28, 2007

I found a picture of myself as a young man the other day, and I miss being that age.
posted by maxwelton at 1:02 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

Wow. All these comments after what is actually a death knell (at this early pre-coffee hour, in my mind, for much of what has been good about Metafilter

Is it possible to have greater consultation with users before implementing pony requests and other changes?

[...] More seriously, the answer is sort of "no" as much as I like the answer to most questions to be yes even if it's sometimes "yes, but..." The site is too big and the users' opinions are all over the place and if we consulted with people any more than we do already we'd have to hire people whose job it was to just tally opinions and then we'd be.... some other site with a different vibe than this one. Having a decent balance between trying to get people's feelings on things and also being able to move and retool quickly enough for a site with only a few employees is a pretty tenuous plate-spinning act.

and nary a raised eyebrow.

You're right roofus, things have changed.

The site is too big and the users' opinions are all over the place

Also, this is weak weak sauce. Pesky democracy, so messy and unmanageable with such a multitude of differing opinions, better to just drop it and issue fiats, amirite?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:03 PM on November 28, 2007

Ummm, Skorgu, I don't know how to tell you this, but .......
posted by Afroblanco at 1:04 PM on November 28, 2007

Not that this is an argument for closing signups, which in my gut I feel like is not a great idea, but Matt's said more than once that the income from new accounts isn't a major chunk of the site's revenue.

You could jack the price up (temporarily) to $10 if that's an issue, which I've wanted for years now. Not because there haven't been plenty of excellent new contributors, but because I wish there were a bit less content, particularly on the green. Threads on the blue can also move too quickly for less-obsessive participants.
posted by gsteff at 1:08 PM on November 28, 2007

MetaFilter membership is WORTH ten dollars. It really is.
posted by hermitosis at 1:12 PM on November 28, 2007

Jacking up the price and limiting the number of daily sign-ups to half of whatever the average amount is would be interesting.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 1:15 PM on November 28, 2007

I knew it Afroblanco, I've known it all along. There is a cabal. They're all laughing, I can hear them!
posted by Skorgu at 1:18 PM on November 28, 2007

KHAN!!!

Chaka Khan
Let me tell you what I wanna do
I wanna love you
Wanna hug you
Wanna squeeze you too
Let me take you in my arms
Let me fill you with my charms
Chaka
'Cause you know that I'm the one
To keep you warm, Chaka
I'll make it more than just a physical dream
I wanna rock you, Chaka, baby
'Cuz you make me wanna scream

posted by porn in the woods at 1:22 PM on November 28, 2007

So my question is: WTF happened here on November 20th, 2004?

Well, we cured cancer, definitively answered whether God exists, invented a perpetual motion machine, saved the whales, reunited a mother and her daughter who had been abducted decades ago, and all the while we got along -- boys and girls alike -- in a spirit of complete peace and harmony. Of course, as was probably inevitable, that night the government stormed Matt's house and forced him to delete it all from the archives and replace it with (clearly fake) banal posts like "Pepsi Holiday Spice."

Too bad you missed it.
posted by pardonyou? at 1:24 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

A static culture is a dead culture
posted by edgeways at 1:38 PM on November 28, 2007

better to just drop it and issue fiats, amirite?

Issue me a Fiat and I'll sign my pony dreams away, no problem.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:41 PM on November 28, 2007

I don't remember what metafilter was like when I joined or even why I joined. Therefore it was better then. Quantitative comparisons will reveal that my then was also better than your then. So, then, I hope that settles things.

I can't forget this comment soon enough.
posted by prosthezis at 1:42 PM on November 28, 2007

Pony request: Can there be a new section of the site called MetaWhinger? If I see one more thread like this in MetaTalk, I am going to . . . I'm going to . . . I'll . . .

I DON'T LIKE IT.

That said, I agree completely with this particular post. I had been lurking for years, loving MeFi, and then the moment I paid my five bucks, whammo, shitsville.

So I guess it's all my fault. Sorry, folks.
posted by Reggie Digest at 1:43 PM on November 28, 2007

I spoke to the business agent of the pony union. He neighed that ponies do feel a certain nostalgia for the old days when they were props for snapshots of human children. They also feel that while being used as a humorous synonym for human cravings is a bit demeaning, any publicity is good publicity.
posted by Cranberry at 1:46 PM on November 28, 2007

"...this playground of ours is now Matt's primary source of income..."

Other than the meth, yeah.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:49 PM on November 28, 2007

"Also, this is weak weak sauce. Pesky democracy, so messy and unmanageable with such a multitude of differing opinions, better to just drop it and issue fiats, amirite?"

Yes, stavros, we should return to when there was a vote on every issue to decide the best course of action. If only we had some way of going back to never…
posted by klangklangston at 1:50 PM on November 28, 2007

Cran!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 1:51 PM on November 28, 2007

Pesky democracy, so messy and unmanageable with such a multitude of differing opinions, better to just drop it and issue fiats, amirite?

Uh, stav, are you under the impression this was ever a democracy? 'Cause it wasn't. Matt's always done what he wanted. Sometimes he'd look at a pony request and nod, and lo, it was granted; most times he'd mutter and turn away and there was no pony and children wept under the Dawkins Tree. Some things have changed around here, but not that.
posted by languagehat at 1:51 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Dammit, klang.
posted by languagehat at 1:51 PM on November 28, 2007

Also, this is weak weak sauce. Pesky democracy, so messy and unmanageable with such a multitude of differing opinions, better to just drop it and issue fiats, amirite?

And this is a weak noodley straw-legged bludgeon you've been hammering on that dead-for-years horse here in MeTa.

My point, which I've made to you innumerable times, was that we consult with users nearly constantly and are answerable to them, even to you, always. Not just when it's convenient, but always. The fact that you don't like the answers doesn't skip the fact that they are there for the asking and often offered before that. The question was could we be more answerable and my guess is probably not. How would that work?

There has never been a point in time in MeFi where mathowie -- before me and cortex and pb -- asked people to vote or even thumbs up/down an idea before he implemented stuff so I don't know what you're remembering and wanting to get back to, and I don't get the democracy jab. Sometimes requests in MeTa get implemented and sometimes they don't. Sometimes top-down decisions get discussed to death in MeTa and sometimes they don't. Sometimes mathowie has an idea and he finds a way to build it and roll it out over a weekend. It's always been like that.

Seriously, spill it, what is it that you miss? When mathowie was the only person answerable so if he said yes the answer was yes, otherwise it was no? When there was one person's opinion making every moderation decision with absolutely no user input, except emails or IMs to him? When the site was totally unmoderated when he was away or sick or or on vacation or asleep? Get back to me after coffee and put a finger on the timeline when the site was the way you wanted it. I'll wait.
posted by jessamyn at 1:52 PM on November 28, 2007 [4 favorites]

As far as ponies go, we're trying to really think out what does and doesn't get pursued, behind the scenes, before anything comes out.

Ya, this behind the scenes thing is.. Not so good.

Obviously things are running way more smoothly now than ever, and I can see why that seems like a good thing. However, there is less and less tension between 'community' and 'mathowie's site'. I don't know what you do about the practical issues around participation either, but that doesn't mean you stop trying. True, MetaFilter is just a website, but it is the community aspect that makes this place compelling.
posted by Chuckles at 2:00 PM on November 28, 2007

They miss when I wasn't here I think.

[sniff!]
posted by Mister_A at 2:01 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

The roofus,
The roofus,
The roofus aims higher!
posted by pardonyou? at 2:02 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

(I liked metafilter better when I wasn't such a jerk.)
posted by pardonyou? at 2:03 PM on November 28, 2007

Get back to me after coffee and put a finger on the timeline when the site was the way you wanted it. I'll wait.

Ooh, this reminds me...maybe there should be a timeline of Imaginary Points in Metafilter History in the Wiki. With links to all of the FalseNostalgiaFilter posts.
posted by desuetude at 2:06 PM on November 28, 2007 [5 favorites]

I sometimes wonder if the old metafilter has wandered to a new, seekret metafilter and all these changes are some grand social experiment/performance art.

THERE IS NO SECRET METAFILTER.

Now, please to return to snarky discussions of unicorns and cats and chaka khans, and speak no more of secret sites.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:12 PM on November 28, 2007

Bah. Whatever. Conservatives are there to be ignored. The good old days were never as good as they say they were.
posted by Afroblanco at 2:12 PM on November 28, 2007

I think Metafilter really has changed, and it has nothing to do with the moderators or the things that have been done to the site... well, aside from making it more reliable.

Truth is, it's just gotten too crowded here. When a thread like this gets 200 replies in 4 hours, when every thread gets 200 replies in 4 hours, it's just information overload. Who has time to keep track of all this pointless chattering dreck anyway? Not me.

For whatever the reason, I've lost the interest to load the site more than once or twice a day. And I just can't keep up with all of it. It's just not scaling well, in my opinion, and there are all these names and memes that pop up that I don't recognize, and don't care to learn.

Not Matt's fault. Not pb's fault. Not jessamyn's fault.

Probably cortex, though, with all that animal magnetism.
posted by Dave Faris at 2:13 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

There has never been a point in time in MeFi where mathowie -- before me and cortex and pb -- asked people to vote or even thumbs up/down an idea before he implemented stuff

Ya, but mathowie used to be so run off his feet that it didn't matter as much. The community would run along ahead of him, causing the debate to be fully framed by users, and he would catch up where he could. Sure, he sometimes made arbitrary decisions ahead of community input, but when it was a bad idea he would back off - see Suicide Girls. For practical purposes, there was a lot more community influence.

we consult with users nearly constantly and are answerable to them, even to you, always.

This will sound more aggressive and personal than I want it to, but.. That has the ring of corporate PR.
posted by Chuckles at 2:13 PM on November 28, 2007

Damn, you knew I should of kept the can opener away from all you worm-can-wielding freaks.

/me likes metafilter just as it is now...
posted by bkudria at 2:13 PM on November 28, 2007

...I knew I should have...
posted by bkudria at 2:15 PM on November 28, 2007

I like it here.

Also, I generally am down with UK English spelling, but I am just never going to read "whinging" and think anything but "win-jing."
posted by god hates math at 2:22 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

> As far as ponies go, we're trying to really think out what does and doesn't get pursued, behind the scenes, before anything comes out.

Ya, this behind the scenes thing is.. Not so good.

Would it make more sense to have every administrative brainstorming discussion we ever conduct take place in a metatalk thread for public dissection? It would be a good thing to panic people with un- and half-baked ideas that, after some thinking, we realize should never see the light of day?

I really like transparency, and I think there's a lot of it and I try to be a part of that because I know Matt in particularly doesn't always have the time or energy to get verbose in the grey. But talking about stuff behind the scenes—the four of us trying to hash out ideas and anticipate what problems and objections we can before throwing an idea out for consideration.
posted by cortex at 2:23 PM on November 28, 2007

Probably cortex, though, with all that animal magnetism.

Faris, you dog!
posted by cortex at 2:24 PM on November 28, 2007

Stop the ~~world~~ mefi, I want to get off!

Not really. That would be boring.

However the many changes made in the last year seem, to me at least, to be insidiously eroding what, for want of a better phrase, has been called our culture.

See, the strange thing about culture - much like life, it's constantly in flux. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be culture, but history.
posted by pupdog at 2:30 PM on November 28, 2007

I liked it when MTV still played music videos.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:37 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Would it make more sense to have every administrative brainstorming discussion we ever conduct take place in a metatalk thread for public dissection? It would be a good thing to panic people with un- and half-baked ideas that, after some thinking, we realize should never see the light of day?

Oh god, please no. MeTa already has a factor of ten too many threads.

Seriously, I think you three do an excellent job of separating wheat from chaff, and keeping the masses abreast of what's going on. I'm actually surprised at how much transparency there is, especially since I'm sure you're aware of how much bitching will come of it. I understand the sense of ownership that comes with being a part of this community, but there's a lot of us who need to pull it back a bit, and understand that not everyone cares as much about feature creep or round corners as one might think.

Just breathe, people. Slow, deep breaths.
posted by god hates math at 2:38 PM on November 28, 2007

we consult with users nearly constantly and are answerable to them, even to you, always.

You people call me at home, I don't know what else to call it, but yeah point taken.
posted by jessamyn at 2:41 PM on November 28, 2007

I liked it when lame FPPs sometimes got no comments.

This is what it used to be like. I like it better now, personally. Get with the retrotagging and relive some randomly-selected golden days of yore, roofus. Or live them again for the very first time, since it appears we're both part of the Nov '04 wave.
posted by mumkin at 2:41 PM on November 28, 2007

you know what helps with 200 commented posts? nested comments, or threads. Too bad they're metafilter's kryptonite.
posted by garlic at 2:46 PM on November 28, 2007

It's only now that I realized "gnfti" is just an acronym. I had always assumed it was a username, pronounced "Nifty".

Dang.
posted by everichon at 2:50 PM on November 28, 2007

What I have been thinking recently is that there should be a longer gap between signing up and being able to post (even comments.) Some people wouldn't like this, 'cause it'd kill of the 1-a-week AskMe workaround, and some of the hilarious (I gather) screen name jokes, but...

I've been a member for only 2 months, and lurked for over a year. I wish I had spent more time reading archives before I was able to post anything, if for no reason other than to see who 'everyone' (the regulars) was/were. As a n00b there is so much here to get your head around - or react to, or post intelligently on. It's probably best to sit and watch a while longer before diving in...like everything. Otherwise, it's one of the best places I know of to visit. I always learn something or see something cool...
I'd have paid $10 without a thought and would have waited for longer than a week........*skips rope back to n00bsville*
posted by greenskpr at 2:51 PM on November 28, 2007

Wait - Chaka Khan is a Republican?

Yeah, she did fundraising for Dubya.

Huh, a metatalk post actually made me scream OH GOD WHY. I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

Also, this post is much better if you imagine it in the dulcet tones of Paul Harvey.
posted by melissa may at 2:53 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Would it make more sense to have every administrative brainstorming discussion we ever conduct take place in a metatalk thread for public dissection? It would be a good thing to panic people with un- and half-baked ideas that, after some thinking, we realize should never see the light of day?

Well, I'd like that. That's my kind of fun.
posted by timeistight at 3:02 PM on November 28, 2007

I would have deleted this I mean really, is a one link post to amazon.com the best of the web?
posted by nola at 3:02 PM on November 28, 2007

Also, it was better before Dylan went electric. Judas!
posted by onlyconnect at 3:05 PM on November 28, 2007

I usually respond to these threads with, "There were no good old days. What you remember is a lie."

But this time I think Dave Faris has a point. There are a lot more active users on this site. Hell, there's a whole AskMe crowd that I know nothing about since I divide my time between Meta and MeFi proper. We're getting to a saturation point where it's hard for individual users to stand out in the crowd. I don't think the new ponies take away from the sense of community as much as help to extend it by taking this giant explosion of users and letting us filter it down to our own smaller MetaFilters. At this point, without contacts, favorites and MefiMail, most of you would look like the millions of slashdotters to me.
posted by eyeballkid at 3:05 PM on November 28, 2007

I love MetaFilter, even though MetaFilter doesn't love me.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:08 PM on November 28, 2007

Let's remember that the USA is a democracy, but MetaFilter is a privately owned virtual entity that some members paid to join and some ~~elderly deadbeats~~ did not pay to join. The owner has been refreshingly approachable about all the changes that ~~troublemakers~~ some members have asked for.
To demand changes/ponies and whinge if they are not forthcoming is ill-mannered. Do you want casual readers to think that we are a bunch of louts and yobbos?
posted by Cranberry at 3:15 PM on November 28, 2007

Ah, I miss the old days. Me mammy sending me out into the rain soaked street of Limerick in me stockinged feet to find some turf or an old boot for dinner. God Bless the good old days.
posted by Elmore at 3:16 PM on November 28, 2007

To me, MeFi (by which I mean MeFi and AskMe) is a big site with lots of other people. What distinguishes it from other sites is that the users here are more intelligent than the average person, or at the very least are capable of carrying on an intelligent, chatspeak-free discussion.

To my mind, this is something that has not changed over the years. I've been reading MeFi since early 2004, and I have seen no degradation as a result of increased membership. AskMe, in my opinion, has actually gotten better - more users means more questions, and more questions means more interesting questions.

However, I think that there are some people on this site who want MeFi to be their own private little fishpond where they know everybody and everybody knows them, and it's a nice little tight-knit community or whatever. And that's fine and all, but I don't see why these people don't just get their own blogs or hang out on Facebook. The internet is a big place, and MeFi is a big site. I don't read MeFi because I want notoriety. I read it because it's a good site.

True, I'll never know most of the users here beyond their usernames. However, there are names that I see frequently, and over time I've associated personality characteristics with them. The fact is that if you want to stick out on a big site like this, you have to actually do something worthy of attention. Maybe at one point in time all you needed to do was post a few comments or make a few posts, but if that time did exist, it's long past, and it doesn't look like we're ever going back.
posted by Afroblanco at 3:34 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

god hates math: Also, I generally am down with UK English spelling, but I am just never going to read "whinging" and think anything but "win-jing."

Well, it's actually pronounced that way, and I hate it. It's an awful word, and it seems to have completely supplanted "whining" around here. If you're not British, don't say whinging, and don't sign your emails with "Cheers!"
posted by team lowkey at 3:35 PM on November 28, 2007

I think whinge has a certain je ne sais quoi, don't you? And yobbo is so OZ, as our several members. Not to imply that the Aussies specifically are yobbos; just to accept interesting expressions and slang from other countries.
posted by Cranberry at 3:45 PM on November 28, 2007

Stop your whinging.

Cheers,
A colonial
posted by timeistight at 3:45 PM on November 28, 2007

wanker
posted by timeistight at 3:46 PM on November 28, 2007

Amen lowkey.
posted by Mister_A at 3:46 PM on November 28, 2007

I think there's a disconnect between Metafilter-as-website and Metafilter-as-community. The more people join the more compelling it becomes as a site but (I think) the less compelling as a community. That's what I was (awkwardly) getting at with the secret metafilter thing. I do, semi-seriously wonder if there is a site that has a similar small-community over-educated neighborhood pub feel. Not to replace metafilter but to augment it.

Of course as you said most small communities are closed networks of existing friends and obviously not open to new members. I didn't say it was particularly sensible.
posted by Skorgu at 4:02 PM on November 28, 2007

Cortex: Would it make more sense to have every administrative brainstorming discussion we ever conduct take place in a metatalk thread for public dissection?

I'm not sure about every, and it wasn't my suggestion, but why not? Something in that direction could be great.

To extend the idea in my previous comment.. mathowie hasn't ever had a public to do list, and that always made sense because it would have created unfulfilled expectations, and unnecessary nastiness. Nowadays new features get rolled out on a regular basis, and things that were previously unthinkable are implemented quickly (like remove from recent activity). The reasons for keeping new feature discussion behind the scenes aren't nearly as relevant anymore.

As for god hate's math's "there are too many MetaTalk threads already", thing.. I really don't like the consumer mentality reflected in the sentiment, but to each his own. MetaTalk is a perfectly good place to put more discussion - it is kind of the purpose of the place - but if people don't want that here, there are approximately infinite other places you could put it..

Cranberry: Let's remember that [...] MetaFilter is a privately owned virtual entity

I believe many people contribute selflessly (or, if you want, with the selfishness of philanthropy) to this community because it is easy for them to ignore the question of ownership. Honestly, I don't see what purpose is served by bringing it up at this time..
Okay, I admit, I do see a purpose. It cuts off discussion. And, it is probably time for me, but.. Well, anyway :P
posted by Chuckles at 4:05 PM on November 28, 2007

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

Ecclesiastes 7:10.
posted by MasonDixon at 4:08 PM on November 28, 2007

I miss Crunchland.
posted by klangklangston at 4:10 PM on November 28, 2007

I miss the old metafilter.

...says mr 18719.

whinging pommy noob.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:12 PM on November 28, 2007

I do, semi-seriously wonder if there is a site that has a similar small-community over-educated neighborhood pub feel. Not to replace metafilter but to augment it.

like metachat, do you mean?
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:14 PM on November 28, 2007

Well, it's actually pronounced that way, and I hate it.

Wow. Just wow. It's like "moist," or "flaccid," but much, much worse.
posted by god hates math at 4:27 PM on November 28, 2007

nola: Aww, c'mon. It was a completely different kind of site. The bar wasn't quite as high back in the day.
posted by mumkin at 4:32 PM on November 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure about every, and it wasn't my suggestion, but why not? Something in that direction could be great.

What I'm getting at is that "something in that direction" is really pretty much where we are already. When I talk about "behind the scenes", it's a question of the practical point at which we decide that something is ready for public consumption/debate vs. not. It's not a carrot-dangle or a Hee Hee Seeeecrets! thing; I was just trying to acknowledge and address the notion that we're just firing away with features, nary a thought given to the consequences.

The reasons for keeping new feature discussion behind the scenes aren't nearly as relevant anymore.

The thing is, I can't think of any features that appeared out of nowhere from behind the scenes. There's a big backlog of ideas that have come up over the years, many of them several times, and it happens that lately we've been able to implement them more readily. I think it's probably intentional on Matt's part that he doesn't maintain a super-public To Do list, because the pacing of how and when things get worked on is never going to satisfy the folks who think that their favorite feature is what should be happening next.

As it is, the threshold for finding out about said favorite not-here-yet feature is to write an email, or start a metatalk thread, which I think makes for a pretty good throttle—someone has to care enough to either knowingly bring it up again or (for newer or less metatalk-attentive users) independently come up with the idea of the feature. And at that point, we're generally pretty dang comfortable having the discussion (again) and talking about what is and isn't in the offing; and such a thread might well prompt Matt to take a second look at something and consider putting it forward on the priority list a bit.

So I feel like there's a pretty good existing balance of transparency vs. overexposure, of energy spent working on things vs. energy spent instead talking about working on things.
posted by cortex at 4:34 PM on November 28, 2007

I really don't like the consumer mentality reflected in the sentiment, but to each his own.

Eh? I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. Let me clarify my stance a little -

I like MeTa. It's nice to have a place where the rules are a little more relaxed. Here's the thing, though - MeTa is the only place where I've noticed a degradation in signal/noise. I think that's probably been true across the board, but because the amount of signal in MeTa is generally low, it's (at least to me) more noticeable when there's junk. I think there's a lot of stuff (quickdraw callouts, chatty crap) that should be happening other places (email, MeCha). Maybe that's just me, I really don't know.

Obviously, I don't think there are big problems with any of the sites - I spend all day at work yearning for new MeFi content, and then I read it some more when I get home. If there was one thing I could wish for, though - it'd be that people show a little more restraint before posting.

But as I said above - I like it here.
posted by god hates math at 4:43 PM on November 28, 2007

I enjoy recreational flatulence.

I guess I've come to the right place.
posted by jonmc at 4:46 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's only now that I realized "gnfti" is just an acronym. I had always assumed it was a username, pronounced "Nifty".

When I was first looking into AFS permissions, I was like, "Who is this rlidwka guy who has access on every machine??"
posted by transona5 at 5:03 PM on November 28, 2007

wow, i just found out quonsars ' i feel pretty' meme was ripped off from a film called ' anger management ' - i feel so used.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:06 PM on November 28, 2007

used rather than pretty obviously.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:07 PM on November 28, 2007

I miss the old Internet.

I liked it when web pages were center justified.
I liked it when porn was hard to find and you had to work for it.
I liked it when people used black backgrounds and flaming animated .gifs unironically.
I liked it when pop-up advertising was still a distant concept.
I liked it when there wasn't too much difference between browsing in Netscape and browsing in lynx.
Most of all, I liked JWZ.
posted by quin at 5:19 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

There was a link on some post or other recently to a FPP from 2004 and the quality of discussion afterwards was noticeable better. Admittedly I am very much part of the nosediving tone of the site, but so fuck.
posted by fire&wings at 5:23 PM on November 28, 2007

I still like jwz. Are we talking about the same one?
posted by roofus at 5:24 PM on November 28, 2007

Honestly, i thought he'd come out with this wonderful non-sequitur, looking ( if you hadn't seen the film ) as though he had came to the thread in drag.
If anything, i feel he owes this site an apology for ripping off adam sandler.
Perhaps by commiting meta-seppuku, he has redeemed himself from this heinous act.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:29 PM on November 28, 2007

Oh hey, jwz blogged my dorkery recently. Nerd crush fantasy fulfilled, right there.
posted by cortex at 5:29 PM on November 28, 2007

JWZ was my first very, very small moment of Internet fame; he linked to my JTHM site back in 1997 or so. It was the coolest thing because I didn't even know it 'till I was perusing his page and I saw a link to me.

I was so proud.

Still am in fact.
posted by quin at 5:45 PM on November 28, 2007

In case it hasn't been said before- fuck quonsar. I just don't get this nostalgia for him, his stupid/crass comments, and his all-around Look At Me immaturity. In fact, it really fucking annoys me that his antics are celebrated here. If there were ever an "old Metafilter" we should return to, it should be the one there was without him.
posted by mkultra at 5:45 PM on November 28, 2007

people move on pal, usually gravity helps pull them down, and after this dies there will be something new to dip your wick into. we haven't jumped the shark quite yet, be we have a bead on on it. Hit the gas Ritchie.
posted by caddis at 5:47 PM on November 28, 2007

wow, i just found out quonsars ' i feel pretty' meme was ripped off from a film called ' anger management '

I always assumed it was from West Side Story.
posted by Wolof at 5:48 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I saw Metafilter first at a party in Oakland where a Ms Blood demonstrated the site to me. When I saw it, it immediately attracted me because it was like a more freeform and immediate memepool. Lots of links, not so many comments, easy to bookmark and keep up with. Worth reading, not worth registering until the volume of postings increased to such a degree that some form of sticky permanence was required for navigation. Ironically, then, registrations appeared to become closed for long periods of time. After a while they became open again. So for me, it was the ability to own my comments that prompted me to register. Such is vanity. Also, the increasing variety of names in the interim meant it felt less like a private club. Anyway, avoiding evolving towards the feel of the Slashcode-y genre has been a winner for me over the years because I personally feel that the consensus voting schemes there distort contributions and opinions in a way I find constraining. Favourites are a thin end of that wedge when used as ersatz popularity meters instead of for, you know, bookmarking, but introducing them seemed to please a lot of people who like that sort of thing. Simple flags are a nice touch but expanding flagging into many categories could start to resemble a ratings system similar to MPAA/ESRB/PICS and that's a trend against the universality of the site about which I harbour reservations. While I see some evolution ongoing, I have been impressed by this site's idiosyncratic approach. It's featured some notable innovations. Going against the imageboard trend and disable the IMG tag, for example, has probably protected the site's discourse from becoming more Farkified/4Channed... as much as I miss the thrill of looking at copiously pissing elephants, constraining user behaviour to only text was ballsy.
posted by meehawl at 6:05 PM on November 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm not going to say I miss the old Metafilter--I'm too busy missing Suck and Word--but there are definitely a few recent developments that drive me nuts. And, yeah, I'm sure they have been around since the very first Cat Scan post, but they seem to be getting on my nerves more and more lately:

*1*
The near-constant hurfdurfery present in every thread. You pretty much have to skip the first seven or eight comments of any thread because it's exclusively knee-jerk wisecracks, either about the subject or the post itself. And then, throughout the thread, there's that constant unfunny oneupsmanship where every single comment is quoted back in the service of some lame sarcasm or tired in-joke or stupid pop culture reference. Enough already. It's like watching ten episodes of The Family Guy at once.

I'm sick of re-reading my previewed comments twenty times to make sure there's nothing some Favorites junkie could latch on to and turn into a weak bon mot.

*2*
We have almost 63,000 users, yet I only ever see the same 100 names again and again and again.

To be clear, I'm not saying that these users are an elite clique or the cool kids or anything other than people who seem to have enough time to post comments all day long. In fact, I find Metafilter to be one of the most welcoming sites around, where you're judged by your contributions rather than your status; only very rarely have I seen one user call out another for being a n00b, and it was usually an egregious case of a new user not understanding the unique culture of our site.

Sure, in every community there will always be some people who participate more than others, but I really feel like having so many Big Names who seemingly post in every single thread does the discourse on this site a disservice, because having such a dedicated core of commenters makes new voices reluctant to join in.

*3*
More than liberal or conservative, more than Christian or atheist, more than cut or uncut, more than Republican or Democrat or Libertarian, more than British or Australian or American or Canadian, more than gym rat or buttereater, more than clawed or declawed...the one single word that defines and unites all Mefites is CONTRARIAN.

And sometimes this is awesome...hell, sometimes it's glorious. Recently, there was a thread exhorting us to buy low-rent homemade junk for Christmas--"Happy holidays, it's an old LP I melted into a bowl!"--and I was delighted, because I knew without even clicking the link that there was no way Metafilter was gonna let this stand. (I wasn't disappointed.)

But sometimes, doesn't it seem like almost every post is accompanied by a long thread populated solely by self-styled curmudgeons acting as though they've deigned to turn their jaundiced eye on this subject? Is that really what we want our site to be: the best of the web written off by a bunch of humorless dicks who think they're the second coming of Ambrose Bierce?

Last week I was putting together a FPP on Life Without Buildings, a post-punk Scottish band who put out one lost classic of an album in 2001 and then immediately broke up. The band is an acquired taste, to be sure, and I eventually scrapped the post. I realized that to make a truly effective FPP on the subject, to really get people to argue passionately about how great the band was and how worthy they are of rediscovery, I'd have to employ some sort of reverse psychology: "Life Without Buildings was this shitty Scottish band with a lead singer who ripped off Bjork. They put out one terrible album and then thankfully broke up. [more inside]"

And again, this lowers the quality of the site and stifles participation. A user finds something they really want to share and they post an FPP about it, only to be told in no uncertain terms by multiple users that the subject they were so excited about is boring, stupid, ugly, and awkward. Should the user toughen up and let the criticism roll off their back? Absolutely. But will they also think twice about posting another FPP? You bet they will.

There are possible draconian solutions, most of them worse than the problems they're supposed to cure. (For example, we could impliment the "no wisecrack" ban on the blue that we have on the green. Or we could limit participation: "You have 50 comments a week; use them wisely." etc.)

But really I'm not even saying these are problems that can or should be solved. All I'm saying is that these three elements, though with us from the beginning, have grown more and more pronounced as the site has expanded in the last couple of years, and to Metafilter's detriment.

But still, even with these compromises and degradations, I have to paraphrase Churchill and post my first and hopefully last tagline:

Metafilter: The worst site on the internet. Except for all the others.
posted by Ian A.T. at 6:10 PM on November 28, 2007 [11 favorites]

Upsetting the plate of beans. November 28, 2007 9:53 AM Subscribe

Upsetting the plate of beans.
November 28, 2007 9:53 AM Subscribe