MetaFilter History

March 16, 2008 11:59 AM

Is there interesting MetaFilter history that newcomers wouldn't know about, but might find interesting?

I'm relatively new here, but I always enjoy hearing back-history of social places that people who are new are not privy to. For example, if you join a new group somewhere, there's always an interesting history connected with the participants, including inside jokes, social drama, etc., that the average person joining wouldn't be aware of (I do know there is a place that describes the inside MeFi references).

It could be something deep within the archives of MetaFilter (like the discussion thread where Woz showed up), or something that has no paper trail, but makes for interesting lore anyway. I'm not necessarily talking about a "best posts" thread (although it could be related I suppose) as much as the culture and happenings related to the board.

What is your best or most interesting story about MetaFilter that the average person on the street wouldn't know about?

posted by SpacemanStix to MetaFilter-Related at 11:59 AM (107 comments total)

The Woz posted here once.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 12:09 PM on March 16, 2008

Start here.
posted by sleepy pete at 12:13 PM on March 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Portobello mushrooms. Free Orange Juice. Givewell (rather recently). Quoting SCIENCE. I have't been here that long either, but those stick out, and some members seem to always talk about missing something called the image tag.
posted by vrakatar at 12:14 PM on March 16, 2008

Well there's this (on the wiki too.)
posted by carsonb at 12:14 PM on March 16, 2008

Damn on-screen keyboard is slow. Anyway, the wiki page is most up-to-date. I'm considering a phase 2 where any corresponding MeTa threads are linked with each entry.
posted by carsonb at 12:17 PM on March 16, 2008

Don't start there, start here.
posted by nowonmai at 12:18 PM on March 16, 2008 [7 favorites]

Yeah if people see any other AskMe or MeFi posts that don't have the metafilterhistory tag, let me know. We try to limit it to stuff that's really become part of the common culture here, but I'll add the tag if there's something we've missed.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:22 PM on March 16, 2008

Great question SpacemanStix. Seriously. I wish I could +10 this. (ok, I'd +5 you and +5 carsonb)
:)
posted by jmnugent at 12:22 PM on March 16, 2008

Hey, don't tell me where to start nowonmai... oh wait, yeah, start there. I didn't realize that was going on.
posted by sleepy pete at 12:25 PM on March 16, 2008

This looks like the birth of Ask Metafilter - pretty cool thread with some advice from jessamyn in her pre-mod days.

One time mathowie had a web cam so people could watch him. Then it got weird so he turned it off.
posted by davey_darling at 12:51 PM on March 16, 2008

Well, including the gray, there is the story of Sgt. Serenity's unrequited crush upon the lovely jenleigh of fair Dundee.
posted by y2karl at 12:59 PM on March 16, 2008

son of minya chopped off his hand.
posted by quonsar at 1:00 PM on March 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

I kind of thought everyone was supposed to start here.
posted by churl at 1:06 PM on March 16, 2008 [20 favorites]

We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you.
posted by Class Goat at 1:07 PM on March 16, 2008

Don't forget plo chops. Please don't.
posted by chlorus at 1:12 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Should have a mention of user ASavage. Pretty cool dude, with a cool job, and it's awesome that he ducks in here every now and then.
posted by SlyBevel at 1:14 PM on March 16, 2008

That one or two threads stemming from the girl who couldn't pay her bills because her boyfriend was unemployed but spending money tricking out his car while she struggled with debt (and they were both posting to AskMe separately and it lead to massive warring) is a pretty classic piece of AskMeFi dirty laundry history.
posted by sneakin at 1:16 PM on March 16, 2008

Do you know how long it took me to figure out plo chops? Maybe it's because I'm a girl and they just aren't on my mind all the time but I spent a good half-hour going, "plo chops? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Maybe I just over-enunciate my Ps.
posted by LeeJay at 1:19 PM on March 16, 2008

Okay, this is great. Just what I was thinking about. Some of these references sound pretty interesting (quonsar, I have to admit, I'm intrigued, as I have no idea what that refers to), and I'll be doing some searching. Feel free to share links, if you've got 'em.
posted by SpacemanStix at 1:23 PM on March 16, 2008

I can't believe no one has mentioned the time the mods deactivated the dirty bomb that was about to spew radioactivity all over the Internet.
posted by lukemeister at 1:23 PM on March 16, 2008

LeeJay, the advice I've always gotten is just to breathe through your nose and relax your throat, and everything will be fine.
posted by rosebuddy at 1:25 PM on March 16, 2008

But I can't pronounce my Ps at all if I breathe through my nose.
posted by LeeJay at 1:34 PM on March 16, 2008

Maybe you can substitute a glottal stop. (Or does that only apply to Ts?)
posted by rosebuddy at 1:39 PM on March 16, 2008

Well there was that time reklaw went completely off the rails and continued insisting Hotmail hacked his ISP to forward his mail to hotmail after people told him it's essentially impossible. To the point he actually phoned up his ISP to grill them. The meta of which contains a link to s-o-m literally "betting his right hand" against quonsar lying.

We rarely see passion over trivial things like that anymore. *wipes tear*
posted by Mitheral at 1:44 PM on March 16, 2008 [5 favorites]

Maybe you can substitute a glottal stop.

I bet I could charge extra for it too.
posted by LeeJay at 1:53 PM on March 16, 2008

LeeJay:

Maybe I just over-enunciate my Ps."

You're supposed to say it with Arnold Schwarzenegger's accent.
posted by octothorpe at 1:57 PM on March 16, 2008

GOOGLE "SECRET MEFI CABAL CONSPIRACY"

QUICK BEFORE THEY DELETE THIS
posted by Greg Nog at 2:02 PM on March 16, 2008

This one time at a bar I totally smacked dhammond's ass.
posted by klangklangston at 2:06 PM on March 16, 2008

You're supposed to say it with Arnold Schwarzenegger's accent.

I know but even that didn't help. It wasn't until I navigated away from the page in frustration that it came to me. Ohhhhhhh, PLO CHOPS!
posted by LeeJay at 2:11 PM on March 16, 2008

> in frustration that it came to me. Ohhhhhhh, PLO CHOPS!

The level of innuendo this conversation has invoked is excessive.
posted by mrzarquon at 2:20 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

The time we got cameras was pretty good.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:21 PM on March 16, 2008 [3 favorites]

hurf durf butter
posted by ceri richard at 2:28 PM on March 16, 2008

There was some fun breaking Metafilter in this thread.

(check out the logo)
posted by flatluigi at 2:30 PM on March 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Fuzzy Skinner's very first post was at 2:44 PM on March 14.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 2:32 PM on March 16, 2008

If you haven't bothered to learn the MeFi history before you joined, perhaps you should just get back onto your Longboat and return from where you came.
posted by sourwookie at 2:33 PM on March 16, 2008

There's a bunch of crib-notes linked from the lyrics of this recording.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:55 PM on March 16, 2008

Don't forget the MetaFilter redesign contest. If you visited the site before, you'd hardly recognize it.
posted by gsteff at 3:04 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Kaycee Nicole. 1, 2.

Someone out there must have not heard of it, and it's a damn good read.
posted by fire&wings at 3:07 PM on March 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

First thread I checked with metafilterhistory tag - towel thief - where I saw this comment "Wow.... MeFi is going downhill. posted by randyshepherd"

Apparently that guy was so dissapointed in that post he made one single comment and was never heard from again. Awesome.
posted by puke & cry at 3:30 PM on March 16, 2008

Halfway down the first page of metafilter history tags, this post makes everything go small. I think it's missing a closing tag.
posted by Dave Faris at 3:31 PM on March 16, 2008

Good catch. Re-embiggened.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:48 PM on March 16, 2008

The Portobello Mushroom thread never fails to entertain. RIP MiHail.
posted by amyms at 4:03 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

I went to a meetup location once, didn't tell anyone I was coming or that I went, then peed in all the drinks.

Well, that's more of a personal inside joke that's site related, but no less funny for it.
posted by absalom at 4:24 PM on March 16, 2008

Use the search feature to look for rude words in MetaTalk posts for lots of nasty fun.
posted by Bookhouse at 4:31 PM on March 16, 2008

I'd forgot all about Oolong.
posted by marxchivist at 4:33 PM on March 16, 2008

Free Orange Juice.

I have no idea what this is referring to.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:39 PM on March 16, 2008

There was some self-linker that was pitching coupons for orange juice or something. He also threw in a little something about women being really good at shopping. I'm sure someone can dig it up if I don't find it.
posted by puke & cry at 4:42 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

For my money, I found the giant horse cock MetaTalk thread to be most amusing. I was thinking that was the thread that gave us "but I don't want to be exposed to anus", but no, that gem apparently surfaced elsewhere. Son of Minya was very colorful.

Some other interesting site threads that come to mind:
Who is your daddy and what does he do?
The war has begun
Mefi del.icio.us accounts
Where you live in one single photograph
Katrina related threads
posted by madamjujujive at 4:44 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

And, bingo.
posted by puke & cry at 4:44 PM on March 16, 2008

And since we're here, I was looking for a comment made by someone who I'm pretty sure is banned now talking about putting drops of his own urine in the coffee at his workplace to make the female employees fall in love with him, anyone know where that's at?
posted by puke & cry at 4:49 PM on March 16, 2008

Here's the thread you wanted, madamejujujive.

And if I did this right, here it is.
posted by konolia at 4:55 PM on March 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

puke & cry: here.
posted by brain_drain at 5:19 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Damn, I even favorited that comment too. Thanks brain_drain! This thread as brought me a whole days worth of entertainment.
posted by puke & cry at 5:21 PM on March 16, 2008

Ah, how can we forget thee, Comic Sans? - it could use a metafilterhistory tag I think...
posted by disclaimer at 5:58 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

There is a wonderful bit of invisible MeFi history that I can't exactly put my finger on, but there was once a user who posted three random comments in three unrelated threads about buying/selling a car, I think. I forget exactly who discovered the connection, but it was quite touching and compelling, in a very minimalist kind of way.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:00 PM on March 16, 2008

That'd be fred, Rock Steady.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:03 PM on March 16, 2008

Ye gods...i just reread most of the orange juice coupon thread. It holds up. Someone freeze it in carbonite and send it to NASA or something.
posted by vrakatar at 6:22 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Be Safe & Smart on MetaFilter!
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:29 PM on March 16, 2008

The legendary Perfect MetaTalk Post.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:52 PM on March 16, 2008 [7 favorites]

stavros - Leave the Grocery Shopping to the Women

Decided to go grocery shopping after my wife saw some minute maid juice boxes in a circular on special at target stores .. She did a search for printable coupons online ,and to my surprise she found some minute maid coupons for target stores . She printed ten coupons and got ten boxes of minute maid practically free ... (lol) . Why can't us men think of these things ? Lol
posted by 0xFCAF at 6:56 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ah, I remember that now, kinda vaguely sorta.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:58 PM on March 16, 2008

Pretty Flowers, was it?
posted by casarkos at 7:54 PM on March 16, 2008

Yeah, it was.
posted by casarkos at 7:54 PM on March 16, 2008

Oh my God. That really was the perfect MeTa post.

The discovery.

The celebration.

Can we all go get lives now?
posted by maudlin at 8:06 PM on March 16, 2008

I think the very best thing about the Oolong thread, the one which became a legend and an inspiration to us all as a wonderful example of all that is right and correct about MetaFilter, the very first comment is SOME JACKOFF COMPLAINING THAT HE'D ALREADY SEEN THE LINK SOMEWHERE ELSE.
posted by yhbc at 8:07 PM on March 16, 2008

That one or two threads stemming from the girl who couldn't pay her bills because her boyfriend was unemployed but spending money tricking out his car while she struggled with debt

xteraco and fr0zen?
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:32 PM on March 16, 2008

Thanks cortex. fred's unveiling is here. Thanks due to ALongDecember.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:55 PM on March 16, 2008

Ya know, JJ,

Yes Jim?

Thirty days is an awfully long time to hang out in a thread. I'm going to be way bored with this long before it gets archived.

A classic! It still makes me laugh. Thanks for the reminder of that thread.

Didn't somebody once say "your gay"? Who was that? It was a bit of a thing for a while.
posted by ashbury at 9:00 PM on March 16, 2008

Thanks cortex. fred's unveiling is here. Thanks due to ALongDecember.

Yep, my little contribution to Metafilter history. I definitely think "I hope you'll find that used car." should be the response if anyone posts they're leaving MeFi.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:15 PM on March 16, 2008

RIP MARQUEE, IMG, BLINK!
posted by blue_beetle at 10:19 PM on March 16, 2008

Didn't somebody once say "your gay"? Who was that? It was a bit of a thing for a while.

I can't remember whatever this is you're talking about, and initial googling didn't get me anywhere, but it did get me a couple of extremely gay comments from WolfDaddy.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:29 PM on March 16, 2008

Man, that guy is so gay.
posted by puke & cry at 10:33 PM on March 16, 2008

Especially if by 'gay' you mean 'totally awesome'!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:06 PM on March 16, 2008

Here's another cool little bit from back in the <marquee> days: Follow nobody (and here's the MeTa)
posted by carsonb at 11:12 PM on March 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

AskMe lunacy. What in the NOW is happening?
and just another day on the grey: -
-10 points for the double fuckative.

posted by adamvasco at 2:38 AM on March 17, 2008

All he wanted was a used car.

.
posted by sveskemus at 7:30 AM on March 17, 2008

I'M APPALED THAT A THRED ABOUT MEFATILFER HISTORY AND THE ASOCIATED TAG DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY MENTSHUN OF CAPSLORK DAY!
posted by eyeballkid at 9:45 AM on March 17, 2008

The 15 reasons Mr. Rogers was the best neighbor ever thread was fantastic and one of the examples I like to give when people wonder why I'm such a fan of this site.
posted by quin at 9:45 AM on March 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thanks everyone for the great stories. Lots and lots of good reading here.

I just realized that if this thread becomes legendary, it becomes self-referential. Would MetaFilter explode, or simply get hung up in an infinite loop?
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:21 AM on March 17, 2008

I sometimes miss ZIPPITY BOP and when Baby Jesus would join in a thread and cry.
posted by turaho at 10:35 AM on March 17, 2008

Don't try to figure out Metafilter in-joke or history to try to replicate them.

You can be a part of the group without having to go through that. There are far too many people who try to use the already way-past-funny-to-the-point-of-desperation in-jokes and self-referential comments in an effort to try to show they belong. It hurts Metafilter. It makes us insular and suggests a barrier to entry.

Just contribute meaningfully. That will get you noticed.

Be an awesome poster like blahblahblah and that will get you noticed. Don't be user #14892375 to use some lame tagline joke or talk about pancakes or mushrooms.

Meaningful contribution is all that we can ask.

Oh, and the only other thing you need to know is that everything you ever hear about me is a lie.
posted by dios at 12:11 PM on March 17, 2008

and self-referential comments in an effort to try to show they belong.

Was that in regards to my comment? Dang, I thought I just made that up.
posted by SpacemanStix at 12:21 PM on March 17, 2008

No, it wasn't specifically anything you did.

There is just a depressingly common activity whereby "newer" members will try to exhibit their knowledge of the community in an effort to fit in. This leads to in-jokes etc. It all becomes too insular. "Ok, here is where I am supposed to make the X comment." Yuck.

I was just encouraging you to understand that fitting in does not require you to exhibit a knowledge of shared history. If you contribute well, that will bring you into the fold.
posted by dios at 12:30 PM on March 17, 2008

But more importantly, he was telling you to ignore everything anyone tells you about him.
posted by Dave Faris at 12:40 PM on March 17, 2008

Metafilter: This leads to in-jokes etc.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:56 PM on March 17, 2008

dios is fucking cool.
posted by eyeballkid at 1:21 PM on March 17, 2008

dios : Oh, and the only other thing you need to know is that everything you ever hear about me is a lie.

This is true.

Or is it?

Dun dun duuuun!
posted by quin at 1:32 PM on March 17, 2008

What was that ridiculously soap-opera-ish AskMe thread that everyone decided was a troll? "I'm having an affair with my blind sister, and she wants the dog to join in," something like that? (I have a vague memory that it got someone—PrettyGeneric?—banned.) Anyway, it was definitely historic.
posted by languagehat at 1:34 PM on March 17, 2008

No no no, she wanted him to poop on her.

Or maybe she wanted the dog to poop on her. I'm not clear either.
posted by yhbc at 2:06 PM on March 17, 2008

This thread (which I found following this one tagged with metafilterhistory) is a nasty glimpse at boyzone-y metafilter back in the day. It's comforting to see that we've grown a little since that day.

But.... look! Matt kinda flips his shit reacting to a commenter.
posted by lunit at 2:17 PM on March 17, 2008

lh & yhbc, those were two separate regrettable threads. Man, I love that prarie dog.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:20 PM on March 17, 2008

The time we got cameras was pretty good.

Still waiting for Tivo-worthy essay to be recognized...
posted by NortonDC at 4:54 PM on March 17, 2008

Err..what are the links to the couple who posted 2 seperate askmefi questions about each other?
posted by jadepearl at 5:32 PM on March 17, 2008

Err..what are the links to the couple who posted 2 seperate askmefi questions about each other?

Well, it's not exactly like that. Here is fr0zen's question about getting her boyfriend a job. Here is where CivilDisobedient realizes who she's talking about. This is where xteraco eloquently comes to his own defense. And here's the MeTa. I think that'll get you up to speed.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:22 PM on March 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh and speaking of couples, who was the user that answered his own question -- the wife was logged in at home and the husband logged in from work to answer?
posted by Rock Steady at 7:27 PM on March 17, 2008

Pretty sure that was NortonDC and onlyconnect talking about whether they could get a five door Yaris in the US, but I can't remember exactly.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:31 PM on March 17, 2008

There was this but maybe that's not what you meant. Then there was the person trying to get someone to take care of their cat and someone else who was clearly an IRL friend of theirs was on AskMe being like "don't be a goober, I'll take care of it" or something.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:32 PM on March 17, 2008

No, it was something like, "Where can I get X in Toronto?" (or somewhere) and the same user posted later, "At Y, and I'll pick some up on the way home from work. You could have called, honey."
posted by Rock Steady at 7:36 PM on March 17, 2008

It was maybe dry ice or ice cream or something like that.
posted by puke & cry at 7:50 PM on March 17, 2008

It was dry ice. I can't believe I remembered that.
posted by puke & cry at 7:57 PM on March 17, 2008 [3 favorites]

tamim's limning of thomcatspike's bio.
posted by Vidiot at 11:00 PM on March 17, 2008

Thanks Rock Steady, that was amazing to read. That with Rainbow 2006 threads are amazing.
posted by jadepearl at 1:56 AM on March 18, 2008

Has anyone mentioned the Metafilter house band: Pretty Flowers?
posted by drezdn at 8:27 AM on March 18, 2008

Here's the MeTa about the dry ice story.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 9:47 AM on March 18, 2008

Has no one yet linked to How do I dispose of a body?

(and I'm totally gonna start slowly collecting these in my profile. Wanted to keep a rundown for a while now, even though threads like these make it somewhat unnecessary.)
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 9:12 PM on March 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ok, first wave added to my profile. Wheee! I love this site.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 9:45 PM on March 18, 2008

this thread sorely lacks a long answer from matthowie.
posted by krautland at 7:18 AM on March 26, 2008