Comments on: 20: Call-in Show

20: Call-in Show

mathowie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:49:05 -0800

Show #20 of the podcast is a call-in show featuring questions from various members of the site. It was recorded on November 30, 2007 and runs about 50 minutes long.

Helpful links Podcast Feed MeFi Podcast on iTunes Direct mp3 download (51Mb) Questions came in from: Meatbomb, headspace, Ladies I sure do love cunnilingus, parmanparman, konolia, BitterOldPunk, ludwig_van, ThePinkSuperhero, Argyle, ParisParamus, dios, jason's_planet, Afroblanco, item, jazon, wendell, and spiderskull Links to pages, sites, and threads mentioned Day-shun-day? Daykundi BigBigQuestion announcement 2007 April Fools page (unstyled) Sexism changes thread and I miss the old MetaFilter thread on MetaTalk All profile photos on MeFi The camgirl invasion of '01 Christmas Time for Girls and Boys by ludwig_van item asks for forgiveness from everyone for his transgressions Shop MetaFilter! MetaFilter Music podcast by Alvy Ampersand MeFi Music We All Live by umbu Weighin' me down by ORthey

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:05:40 -0800

For what it's worth, that Ron Paul question is totally still in the queue.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:13:28 -0800

Man, I haven't even listened to the last one yet. That's it. I'm "borrowing" one of my kids ipods so I can listen on the way to work. Dammit.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:15:14 -0800

This podcast also is the first to feature the patented Record Each Side Independently So It Doesn't Sound Like Ass™ technology.

By: Kwine

Kwine — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:25:59 -0800

Yuck-a-lucks at the bake sale!

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:31:59 -0800

ParisParamus?

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:33:07 -0800

Matt and Jess, you rapscallions, you.

My fave is White Christmas (written by a Jew, natch). Silent Night and Jingle Bell Rock are also up there.

By: Tuwa

Tuwa — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:34:50 -0800

Freud called; he said the beast with two backs is something else.

By: DMan

DMan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:36:11 -0800

I'm a fan of the RESISIDSLA tech.

By: divabat

divabat — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:37:48 -0800

Haha, I made a Mefi podcast again! Thanks folks.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:38:13 -0800

You skipped the whole part where we talked about how you think Daykundi looks like Maine and how you have no idea what Maine looks like!

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:48:54 -0800

Heh did you accidently call TPS PinkStainlessTail?

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:50:45 -0800

I probably did, I always get TPS and PST mixed up.

By: CKmtl

CKmtl — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:54:39 -0800

I always think TPS when I see TPS.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:54:44 -0800

::cries::

By: PinkSomethin'Somethin'

PinkSomethin'Somethin' — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:59:34 -0800

There, there, Pinkie. Happens to all of us.

By: pjern

pjern — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:59:52 -0800

This podcast also is the first to feature the patented Record Each Side Independently So It Doesn't Sound Like Ass™ technology.

It works.... must be an Apple or Linux thing.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:00:21 -0800

Heh did you accidently call TPS PinkStainlessTail?

Actually that was TPS covering PST's song, so hard to say.

By: DMan

DMan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:02:27 -0800

There's kind of a mistake in the More Inside...item asked for forgiveness; he didn't forgive everyone.

Kudos to him and stuff.

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:04:59 -0800

Oh, that fact went over my head.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:05:14 -0800

I fixed the item thing.

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:12:17 -0800

Great job on the podcast!

Any reason why you wouldn't finish off with Wendell saying "This will end well"? Seems like a natural, painless way to go. It's an apt meme, and you don't have to get it to get it. And he's got a great old-timey warm 'n fuzzy announcer voice. Kind of reminds me of Masterpiece Theater or something, but I'm not sure.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:13:30 -0800

dios!

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:22:26 -0800

The word is FOILS, Paris.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:24:15 -0800

Any reason why you wouldn't finish off with Wendell saying "This will end well"? Seems like a natural, painless way to go.

Eh, it would kind of feed into the meme and make people say it more, and I'm kind of over the whole "this will wendell" thing in every thread. It was funny the first few times, but y'know, those things get old after a while.

By: konolia

konolia — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:29:11 -0800

And then after they get old they turn into a warm and fuzzy tradition.

Kinda like " A Charlie Brown Christmas."

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:29:47 -0800

I like the askmetafilter April fools idea.

By: chococat

chococat — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:38:29 -0800

And then after they get old they turn into a warm and fuzzy tradition.
Kinda like " A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Yes, except that A Charlie Brown Christmas was good, with an awesome Vince Guaraldi soundtrack and wasn't a nerdy inside joke from a website.

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:40:18 -0800

I probably did, I always get TPS and PST mixed up.

Yeah, this kind of... confusion is exactly why we are asking everyone to put the new cover sheets... on the TPS reports, mmkay. Do you need a copy of that memo?

speaking of played out memes...

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:51:37 -0800

Free Paris!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:53:38 -0800

By the way. Would it be possible to email in MP3s for these questions, rather then calling in? This is the 21st century, man!

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:59:04 -0800

Jess sounded better but the volume on the calls was pretty wonky.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:07:15 -0800

Hey, where's this Dave Winer thread mentioned at 24 minutes?

By: iconomy

iconomy — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:11:33 -0800

I think it's this one.

By: deborah

deborah — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:17:00 -0800

And what was the whole camgirl invasion thingie? The MetaTalk thread isn't very clear.

And for what it's worth I started reading Mefi because of the Kaycee Nicole thingie.

And yes, I like starting sentences with "and". Gotta problem with that? Talk to languagehat.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:19:01 -0800

That "bear attack" bit from Afroblanca evokes this real restaurant.

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:21:53 -0800

"Blind in One Eye and Deaf in One Ear" is an AWESOME name for the Matt & Jess show. Which I love, and would listen to every damn day.

Also, most of my questions are both sincere and stupid. So I'm all over that. How long until April 1st?

By: edgeways

edgeways — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:40:55 -0800

Is there a difference between "sincere and stupid" and "sincerely stupid"?

By: hortense

hortense — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:42:43 -0800

I miss PP

By: frobozz

frobozz — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:43:09 -0800

Metafilter is the beast with two backs? I have been using this site incorrectly.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:45:21 -0800

I'm loving the "To be in your 20s and have the internet!!!" discussion.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:50:08 -0800

And yes, I want Afroblanco's life, too.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:52:17 -0800

AND (I'm just going to comment again and again)- I can't hold more than one Meta grudge at a time. If someone pisses me off, whoever I was pissed off before that is off the hook. Grudge space currently free. Limited time offer. Hurry now and have your very own TPS grudge for the holidays.

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:57:06 -0800

It was funny the first few times, but y'know, those things get old after a while.
posted by mathowiePosterAdmin at 7:24 PM

Ah, true. I guess I have an inner desire (and tendency) to take these memes and beat them senseless.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:00:04 -0800

only if it is a steel-cage-type-grudge

By: edgeways

edgeways — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:01:12 -0800

perhaps you should become a Hollywood writer?

By: cushie

cushie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:09:59 -0800

It kind of sounded to me like Meatbomb might be in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:25:44 -0800

Yaaay, I am teh famous!

So, yes, the Bear Attack idea is mine. I like the Giant Flood idea, but it's quite a bit different from Bear Attack. At Giant Flood, if the flood comes and you're there, that's it - end of story. At Bear Attack, you actually get a fighting chance. Not only that, but depending on the day, the bear might not even attack you. You may just get to feed it and hang out with it for a while.

My other idea for a restaurant was also a brunch-only establishment. What would happen is this - you show up Thursday morning. You disrobe and leave all of your clothes and posessions in a locker. You are then starved for three complete days. On Sunday morning, you are awoken and escorted to a long, narrow room. It contains a swimming pool about the length of a football field and the width of a small house. At one end of the swimming pool is a big, fresh, healthy seal*. At the other end is yourself and two sharks.

Now, realize that the sharks are not necessarily going to attack you. They're as hungry as you are, and a seal is far more appetizing than a human. But then again, you're a lot closer, and you're also a bit weak from being starved for three days.

The name of the restaurant - Competing With Sharks For Food.

* served with homefries and a salad

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:49:55 -0800

Now I hafta set up a PayPal account to put my $5 in the swear jar. Fuckers.

Plus, I haven't heard a recording of myself in god knows how long and I had no idea I sounded like such a hick. Now I'm unsettled and regretting having called in the first place.

On the plus side, it is good to know that the admins see our flameouts as written in water. Useful perspective.

By: maryh

maryh — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:59:47 -0800

Waitaminute, PP isn't an 18 yr old asian girl? The ever-shifting realities of this place set my head a-spinnin'!

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:02:31 -0800

ludwig_van, for shame sir!

I should probably mention that I was the one who suggested Meetups on the front page, which is what actually prompted my question. I always wondered how many features you had on your todo list.

Anyway, good podcast! It's always nice having this sort of interaction between you and the users.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:05:18 -0800

See you in hell, fuckers!

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:20:39 -0800

wendell -- you should exactly how I imagined you would.

By: wendell

wendell — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:25:32 -0800

Upon Matt & Jess's tongue-in-cheek invitation, I have recorded a little closing announcement for future podcasts, and it does NOT refer to the "wendell/end well" meme. It was also done with a crappy mic that just got worse when I tried a second take, so it's definitely not FM quality...

By: wendell

wendell — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:26:00 -0800

I should? Should I?

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:31:11 -0800

Haha! Great voice too.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:36:33 -0800

About the Meetups photos thing, couldn't you say use the Flickr API to like automagically pull in photos to a Meetup thread and stick 'em in a column over on the right of the thread if they were tagged with say 'MefiMeetup' and (just off the top of my head, say) something like Metatalk15387 (the thread number)? You could do it for the planning and post-party threads that way, just by tagging appropriately, and the photos would only appear in 'Meetup' category threads.

I dunno, just a thought. Could be abused, I guess, but like Matt said the other day, it'd be nice if we didn't have to exclude neat features because 1% of people are doodyheads.

By: nola

nola — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:36:52 -0800

No you should let ParisParamus back in so I can respond with STFU every time he posts anything

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:40:34 -0800

Nice closer wendell, it's a little long though.

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:40:42 -0800

I should? Should I?

Dammit. I meant sound, of course.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:41:36 -0800

stavros, we'll just do meetup photos like we do the meetup calendar, a simple little database to associate various photo gallery URLs with a meetup already in the table. That way it's not confined to flickr and we won't be requiring people to put weird tags on their photos.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:46:01 -0800

That's cool. Just an idea, like I said. It's probably bad to force people towards one service anyway, even if it is kind of the defacto default. Lots of photosets have also been on people's private servers, too.

By: wendell

wendell — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:06:40 -0800

Matt, when I get the tools together, I'll record a couple of shorter intros & outros you can alternate, because one thing I've learned is: if you're going to open or close with a joke, don't make it the same joke every time... (unless it's already considered a 'signature' joke, and I am NOT gonna do anything with wendell/endwell)

By: Item

Item — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:03:58 -0800

Man, I so didn't expect for my apology call to make the cut. I sound like a depressed sailor in the recording.

If you haven't read the MeTa callout, here it is. It makes for fairly interesting reading, and not just because I'm the star of it all, I swear.

Like I said, I know everyone else has forgotten about my ugliness and subsequent 24 hour time out, but I still felt bad about the whole thing 10 weeks later. I had had one in a string of shitty days, and the Fossett ordeal and the way folks were reacting to it had gotten under my skin in an unusually ugly way. I could've chosen to take a different approach to making my argument on the way I felt about the whole thing, but at the time it felt like being an asshole about it was a good way to let off some steam.

Rereading spock's Metatalk callout, it's funny how many folks thought I'd been a dick but didn't deserve to be reprimanded for it. Funnier still is how the thread turned into what ended up being one of davy's final straws - he was permabanned a day or two later.

It was frustrating not being able to speak for myself in the MeTa thread - I was timed out minutes after it was posted - and yet the mods chose to let it stay open and rack up 254 comments. I still don't think that was cool of you guys to let it stay open to allow others to say whatever the hell they wanted about me, both nasty and semi-nice. It should've been closed as soon as my account was suspended, but instead I was accused of flaming out (something that did not happen, either in the the Fosset thread or in MeTa), my use of the phrase 'you fuck' was repeatedly taken out of context, Poolio calling me 'the textbook definition of a fuck', and most upsetting to me was being accused of mental illness - just to name a few of the going-ons on that page. In all, people got way nastier towards me than I did in the Fossett thread.

On the flip side, a whole bunch of you folks were supportive of me, came to my defense, and it made me feel a lot better about the whole thing, as it's made me feel better rereading it now. The majority of commenters were more or less on my side. I actually went through and tallied a rough percentage at the time and it came to a surprisingly high number saying that the situation was handled poorly, even if I did act like a jerk.

I was also a bit pissed that none of the mods emailed me, either to tell me to cool it or to tell me I'd been suspended. I realize that this all happened pre-mefi mail, but cortex's excuse in the thread was a bit weak. Matt had originally grounded me for a week, but I talked him down to 24 hours, an amount of time that I thought fair. I wonder if that's a first?

Again, I handled myself inappropriately and was embarrassed that I didn't express my opinions on the subject in a more civil manner. Bah. I really do like a whole shitload of you folks, and hold no hard feelings towards anyone that I wouldn't anyway.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:48:32 -0800

When Matt "made the beast with two backs"?! TMI, forsooth!

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:22:28 -0800

It was frustrating not being able to speak for myself in the MeTa thread

Then don't be a dick.

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:33:34 -0800

Is that serious comment, Brandon, or are you just being an ass because it's Tuesday?

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:19:31 -0800

My restaurant idea:

WORKING CLASS VERSION

You know those Japanese-themed "hibachi" restaurants, where they bring raw food which you then cook via the grill in the center of the table?*

Well, my chain is going to put a uniquely American twist on it: instead of a grill in the center of the table, there will be a deep-fat-fryer. The wait staff will bring all manner of things that you can plunk into the "font of deliciousness"--doughs of all sorts, cheeses, meats, potatoes, sausages, slim jims, julienned onions...in short, anything which is fit to eat, available at your whim.

It will be fondue without the pretense, hibachi without the foreign mumbo-jumbo. And every evening there will be the "batter ball" competition, where contestants vie to create the largest glob of greatness by starting with a single crumb and repeatedly battering and frying it.

UPPER CRUST VERSION

Modeled on Benihana, the great fry cooks of our age will entertain diners seated around the fryer as they prepare fresh foods to order. Flourishing their tongs, wire baskets and breading boards, they will amaze and delight you as the flash of stainless steel and the hissing gurgle of the finest ingredients submerging overwhelm your senses, heightening the anticipation of biting into hot, breaded delight.

Anyway, franchises are available.

* C'mon, if I'm going to eat in a restaurant, one of the reasons I'm eating there is to NOT cook my own meal.

By: advil

advil — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:42:27 -0800

a uniquely American twist on it: instead of a grill in the center of the table, there will be a deep-fat-fryer.

Interestingly, this is basically a (Swiss) fondue used for meats, called "bourguignonne". According to wikipedia, it was invented by a monk in Burgundy in the middle ages. I first tried it in Canada. :-)

By: waraw

waraw — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:03:59 -0800

"...sometimes that was easier to track because everybody who was a shit -- a stakeholder -- could talk at the same time..."

Classic.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:24:19 -0800

Is that serious comment, Brandon, or are you just being an ass because it's Tuesday?

Serious comment. He was in Matt's house, being an ass. He got kicked out for awhile, for being an ass. Now he's bitching because he couldn't defend himself when people still in the house are talking about him for being an ass. The easy solution is to this *problem* is to not be an ass.

By: konolia

konolia — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:47:01 -0800

Brandon Blatcher, don't be an...

Do I really need to finish that sentence?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:09:44 -0800

I talked him down to 24 hours, an amount of time that I thought fair. I wonder if that's a first?

It's not a first.

I was rally pleased with the sound levels of how this worked out, we could jigger with the call volumes but at least it's not "mathowie and his trusty sidekick the girl yelling through a window fan from the other side fo the room" Wendell, I'd love some short (n=10 seconds?) outros. You do have the perfect voice/style for it.

By: Karmakaze

Karmakaze — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:27:03 -0800

Man. Now I wish I'd worked up the nerve to call in. Apparently the bar wasn't set all that high after all... ;)

I'm also amused that Jessamyn was apparently interacting with networking on the Vax when I was hanging out on BBS's and taking online courses via NJIT's EIES system (technically it was "Intro to Sociology" from the now-gone Upsala College, but it was 1985, which rendered the whole thing a bit more cool. Plus I was still in high school.) It wasn't quite the capital-I-Internet just yet, but it was trying to me. Oh, and porn wasn't so hard to turn up on the old BBS systems back then either, but the playboy-in-the-treehouse thing was still going on (which the boys assumed I did not know about and I did not enlighten them.)

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:51:45 -0800

Do I really need to finish that sentence?

It's impossible to win an argument with an ass.

By: headspace

headspace — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:12:20 -0800

Right next door to Bear Attack, I'm opening 18th Amendment Liquors. All manner of liquid refreshment, just no spirits!

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:22:37 -0800

Paris is whining.

Also...

See you in hell, fuckers!

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:32:39 -0800

It's impossible to win an argument with an ass.

I'm pretty sure there's some fundamental principle of Internots that says you shouldn't let that stop you online.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:35:19 -0800

While in retrospect, it should have been obvious that Konolia would have a Southern Accent, I was still a bit surprised. Though Dios sounded exactly as I pictured him.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:37:29 -0800

And, while I've mentioned this before on Mecha, my dream restaurant is called "Why You All Up In My Grill" Where the employees are extra sassy (think sexy dressing teens on Jerry level sassy).

We'll make a killing on t-shirt sales (someone feel free to come up with a design, and I'll buy one).

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:37:45 -0800

Finally, Wendell is awesome.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:45:15 -0800

Konolia sounds just as charming as I had imagined she would.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:16:47 -0800

Nice podcast—it's really much more interesting when there are other voices than just Matt and Jess (much as we love you two). The call-in questions are great; it's nice to hear people's voices (especially down-home ones like BitterOldPunk's).

It was frustrating not being able to speak for myself in the MeTa thread - I was timed out minutes after it was posted - and yet the mods chose to let it stay open and rack up 254 comments. I still don't think that was cool of you guys to let it stay open to allow others to say whatever the hell they wanted about me... In all, people got way nastier towards me than I did in the Fossett thread... On the flip side, a whole bunch of you folks were supportive of me... I was also a bit pissed that none of the mods emailed me...

Jesus Christ, here I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about your apology, but it turns out you weren't really apologizing, just looking for an opportunity to complain about how you were mistreated. Guess you didn't learn a thing from all that hoopla.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:47:58 -0800

Hey thanks for the mention, guys! I don't elaborate much in the podcast for the same reason I don't leave a lot of comments on MeMu - I don't know anything about music (I've had a guitar for five years and still can't play barre chords), and having nothing more to say other than 'That's a purty song' is sort of embarrassing.

We'll have "How I make music" segments coming in soon from several awesome MetaFilter Music contributors, so there'll be some really neat things to listen to in the hopefully near future.

Also, kudos on the not sounding like ass!

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:49:52 -0800

Yeah, Jess's story about the vax in highschool was pure awesome - it sounded like something I would have read about in Stephen Levy's excellent book about hacker culture.

The closest I can come to that - my highschool library had an Apple IIe, whose purpose I believe was for checking the online catalog at the St. Louis county library. It had a greenscreen monitor and a 1200 baud modem. I would sneak in at lunchtime and use it to check my favorite BBSes. Because even back then, I really was that much of an addict.

By: Item

Item — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:52:56 -0800

...just looking for an opportunity to complain about how you were mistreated.

Actually, no I wasn't. My above comment was just a wordy way of saying, "hey, threads like that should be closed when the problem is resolved, like most other metatalk threads are."

I'm still sorry for making an ass of myself, but rereading the thread with a bit of distance made me hope that mods will handle similar situations differently in the future - which I imagine certain they do with the advent of Mefi Mail. Creating an atmosphere that encourages flameouts and pileons is probably not a good idea, and that whole she-bang and the like are completely unnecessary.

I deserved a time out, but not a public picking apart of my mental state.

I avoid pileons around here like the plague and I always have. I'm certainly glad that they seem to happen with less frequency than they once did. I don't know if you enjoy them, languagehat, and in the very least I'm sorry to kill your warm & fuzziness. Maybe we can snuggle later.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:06:32 -0800

Well item, part of the problem was that after the thread started up, it became about more than just you. There was a lot of discussion about general churlishness and certain (other) people's habit of attacking folks. If it's a cut and dried "this person needs a timeout" "oh why yes he does" then we'll close the thread. This one got broader than that and that included some digs at you that you weren't able to respond to in a timely manner. If you see one of the recent Meta threads you can see that we're trying to reign it in somewhat but it's always going to be a case by case thing.

By: konolia

konolia — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:21:03 -0800

I finally had time to listen to the podcast...thanks for using my question, but one little correction.

It's pronounced kon-OH-lia not kon-AL-lia.

(Dang I DO sound Southern...)

By: Item

Item — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:22:08 -0800

You guys are doing a much better job than you were just a few months back and I applaud you for it. In the case of 'Item for Your Attention', it seemed as though the 3 Modsketeers were in agreement from a fairly early point in the thread, and while it was certainly interesting to watch go down, I still don't understand why the thread - and some of the rips at my mental state - wasn't nuked.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:29:56 -0800

We delete very little on Metatalk, so that kind of lousy comments (about you, among other things) tend to stay around to have their ugly day in the sun.

As Jessamyn just said, the thread sort of grew beyond just you, to the point where closing it would have been us cutting off a discussion about, in part, the propriety of timeouts and moderation decisions around that topic. Which might have been taken as kind of an ugly "stop talking about this" move on our part to folks invested in the greater discussion.

I'm sorry you were stuck watching but not being able to comment; I can imagine just how frustrating that would be.

By: Item

Item — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:41:00 -0800

Actually, I'm pretty open minded when it comes to S&M, so it was the good kind of frustrating. Next time I get to tie you up, though.

The thread seemed to devolve less into a discussion of the propriety of timeouts and more into being All About Davy, who dug the last few feet of his grave in there.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:23:50 -0800

cushie has it, I was calling from the glorious capital of the Tajik Republic, Dushanbe.

Get this: in Dari, Dushanbe just means "Monday". How lame is that?

It gets worse. "du" is "two" in Dari, and "shanbe" is "day". Guess what they call the days of the week? Oneday, Twoday, Threeday, Fourday, Fiveday, Sixday, and then it all gets wrapped up with the poetic mystery of Sevenday. This brought to you from the people whose flag is a cheap rip off of Hungary and/or Iran.

I kid, I kid. It's a lovely place, full of wonderful people.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:26:25 -0800

Oh, and their national anthem is just a poorly translated cover of Neil Sedaka's "Dry Your Eyes".

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:37:03 -0800

Neil Diamond, that is. But it sounds much better in Dari, I'll give them that much. Ok, my work is done here.

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:05:02 -0800

I love you, item. I know you in real life and your online shenanigans are not nearly an accurate representation of who you are on a daily basis (although I don't want to ruin your street cred here by any means).

Next time you get a time out, I'll be waiting, arms to comfort you, snark stowed carefully in pocket, possibly with some homemade food and a warm lap to lie your sweet little head in. : )

PS. Play nice. Nobody likes to be policed, right guys?

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:21:02 -0800

Looking back at that item thread, the whole thing was a mess, including me giving him a timeout over it. I hadn't read the thread and read the metatalk thread about it at face value, which did look like one user kind of flipping out and turning a thread into a user vs. everyone else fight. I did the timeout just to put an end to it but looking back it didn't really seem necessary. As for the metatalk thread, that was in the days of davy being off meds and going crazy so it wasn't about item really.

By: brain_drain

brain_drain — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:14:28 -0800

that was in the days of davy being off meds and going crazy

Well, that's just kind of mean.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:20:28 -0800

Well, that's just kind of mean.

I agree, especially since one element in this thread is item complaining about people slagging him when he couldn't respond. I liked davy despite his being exceedingly difficult to deal with, but even if I didn't, it seems to me we don't usually encourage loose talk about MeFites being "off their meds."

in Dari, Dushanbe just means "Monday". How lame is that?

Well, I don't know if it reduces the lameness factor, but it's named that because it used to be the site of a fair held on Mondays.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:41:37 -0800

Why is it mean? I only said it because jennydiski literally said it in her review of this site: "(known to be on medication for a bipolar condition and/or personality disorder) interrupted the discussion too often with irrelevant and infuriating comments"

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:42:41 -0800

I liked davy despite his being exceedingly difficult to deal with, but even if I didn't, it seems to me we don't usually encourage loose talk about MeFites being "off their meds."

In fairness, Davy more than once alluded to forgetting a dose of meds, problems getting his dose adjusted, or his significant other telling him he wasn't reacting well to his current dose. "Off his meds" is a little simplistic, but he did make his issues with psychopharmacology part of his persona.

By: brain_drain

brain_drain — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:55:53 -0800

If he was really on (or off) meds, then describing him as "going crazy" is a little harsh, that's all.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:00:35 -0800

Oh I mean going crazy in terms of posting on metatalk a bunch and turning threads into stand-offs and picking fights with other members. The proximity to me mentioning meds in the same sentence is unfortunate, I didn't mean crazy literally.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:36:27 -0800

We delete very little on Metatalk

What was the moderators' discussion behind the rescindment of that recent "closing MeTa posts sooner" practice? I know we used our big threads lately to good effect, but are we really gonna be free to have open-ended discussions all the time now?

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:40:26 -0800

I think it's going to continue to vary with time and context, AV. Closing bad threads or cut-and-dried threads seems like a good plan just in general, but other than that there's not thing really wrong with some open-endedness on the grey as long as it's not causing headaches. Wait for some headaches and you'll get to see an upswing in prompt closures, I figure; and the cycle carries ever on.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:42:25 -0800

(And here's a quickie graph I threw together of metatalk closures, a couple months ago; the detail listing in particular shows how variable closures have been over time.)

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:10:36 -0800

What was the moderators' discussion behind the rescindment of that recent "closing MeTa posts sooner" practice?

People complained that we were cutting off free conversation, so we laid off it a bit and I've made it a habit to close totally resolved bugs or total clusterfucks.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:41:34 -0800

I agree with Paris on the subject of sock puppets.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:22:42 -0800

What was the moderators' discussion behind the rescindment of that recent "closing MeTa posts sooner" practice?

There's no decision, there's a pendulum that swings back and forth. If a thread has something going on it (that isn't an obvious clusterfuck, sorry torch and pitchfork crowd) we try to keep it open. If it's a resolved issue or something that shouldn't have been there in the first place, we'll close it.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:03:28 -0800

zombies eat more because their hunger is insatiable, duh.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:05:42 -0800

Oh good point. I have no idea if this was a timed baby eating event or what.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:32:48 -0800

Every question in the subject of dinosaur vs. zombue baby eating simply raises more questions, just as zombies spawn more zombies and dinosaurs expose more viscera.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:02:23 -0800

I enjoyed listening to the MeFi voices and agree that Konolia, Wendell and bitter old punk sounded as I had imagined. Another thing that brought up a question in my mind that was Matt and Jess mentioned the user profile picture page in passing and I searched the site, but could not find an easy way to find a link to that page. If I am remiss, I apologize, but if not, may I suggest a link to the page that is as easy to navigate to as is the page that shows everyone's latest single flickr pic? Could it be near our own profile pic and say something like All Profile Photos?

By: anifinder

anifinder — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:20:44 -0800

This is the first podcast I've bothered listening to, and it's comforting to know that the weirdness I pick up coming from most MeFites is something they don't (or can't) turn off in real life. I am glad that all of you crazy, quirky people are sprinkled throughout the planet, because you make life hilariously interesting.

See you in hell, fuckers!

By: Rumple

Rumple — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:45:32 -0800

Why do some closed MetaTalk threads show on the main page as [closed] while others like the recent "baked alaska" one disappear altogether? I can understand the urge to disappear it since it might have brought out a lot of mean-spiritedness if people had taken it seriously. On the other hand, letting people see what is not a good thread is educational, and [closing] shuts the clusterfuck down anyway

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:19:41 -0800

The "closed" functionality is older—it used to be that when a Metatalk thread (or comment) was deleted, it was gone, poof, nuked from the db entirely, so there were two options for problem threads: close 'em but leave 'em visible, or completely destroy them.

As of recently, deleted threads stick around like they do on the blue and the green, so the bar for deleting rather than closing some of the more "this is a really bad idea" stuff has come down some since we can reference (and careful readers can locate) the deleted stuff directly if it needs discussing.

I'd say there's a difference between threads that just aren't really a great use of metatalk (or not really well-motivated) and threads that are just plain wrecks; the former are probably less likely to get deleted than the latter, since, yeah, the visibility isn't always a bad thing.

By: Rumple

Rumple — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:35:45 -0800

Thanks cortex ... that makes sense.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:49:51 -0800

Is it too early for me to re-predict another crackdown on MeTas?
posted to MetaTalk by Alvy Ampersand at 12:19 AM on November 17, 2007

Eat your heart out, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita...

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:41:48 -0800

Use ed... for editing

Ed is the standard editor.

By: jazon

jazon — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:00:00 -0800

Yay! I made the podcast!

And, while I may be late to this thread, here's your audio tagline (93kb MP3)

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:22:36 -0800

jazon, that's fucking awesome.

By: jazon

jazon — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:22:50 -0800

Glad you like it, Matt!

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:39:26 -0800

Oh god, that tagline just got imported into iTunes. It's gonna find it's way onto my iPod and I'll hear it randomly when I'm driving, just like that damn sputnik beep recording. Fuck.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:40:28 -0800

Oh, and I loved the podcast. Can't wait for the next.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:52:04 -0800

See you in hell, fuckers

I just found my new ring-tone for co-workers calling my personal line.

Thanks Jessamyn!

By: philomathoholic

philomathoholic — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:45:47 -0800

Finally listened to the podcast.

For the "favorite threads of other people (besides matt and jess)" idea, you could just have another call in show. But, instead of people asking questions, they could say what they liked about a thread or two. This way, you won't have to go through the logistical hassle of getting one user to call in at a specific time (and using the new RESISIDSLA technology, etc.).

By: jazon

jazon — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:51:01 -0800

That makes sense, philo, but my thought stemmed more from the discussion Matt and Jess have about the threads and wanting to hear that with another user in the mix. While Metafiler is all about the links, the podcast's strength, for me, is in the discussion.

By: philomathoholic

philomathoholic — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:52:54 -0800

I agree that it's a little nicer when there's someone else chatting along with them. I just thought that the call-in idea would be easier to implement.

By: philomathoholic

philomathoholic — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:12:01 -0800

Oh, I had another idea while listening to the podcast too. One thing that might cut down on the jokey questions on the anything-goes-on-AskMe-day is to do it on any other day than April fool's day. Maybe AskMe's birthday?