Is there a picture of the actual physical embodiment of the MetaFilter Server?

January 9, 2002 10:08 AM

Is there a picture of the actual physical embodiment of the MetaFilter Server? I'd like to be able to visualize where all the comments go.
posted by machaus to MetaFilter-Related at 10:08 AM (36 comments total)

That's just sick, man. Really, really sick.

(Just kidding. :)
posted by jennak at 10:36 AM on January 9, 2002

If I recall correctly it was in one the webcam shots when Matt worked at Pyra. It's beige full tower which sat in one corner and had a sticker or two on it.
posted by riffola at 10:40 AM on January 9, 2002

Isn't it still at Casa Queso?
posted by nicwolff at 10:54 AM on January 9, 2002

Ok so I probably mistook some other PC for the MeFi server. Oops :)
posted by riffola at 10:56 AM on January 9, 2002

That isn't my best side.
posted by Meta Filter Server at 11:00 AM on January 9, 2002

The black tower with the coffee cup on it? That's it.

The first node of the internet brews a much nicer cup of coffee though.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:02 AM on January 9, 2002

Sitting on the floor like that is bad for your back.
posted by jennyb at 11:19 AM on January 9, 2002

So now you know machaus. Your thoughts are gathered and trapped in a black box. Satisfied? Do you feel the hum of your thoughts as they stream out of your PC to MeFi when you press the "Post" button?

Matt - you should do a licensing deal with Starbucks - 'MeFi Brew, warmed by humming server'
posted by kokogiak at 11:20 AM on January 9, 2002

much better now...
I'm a visual person. All this router, fiber,RJ45, NIC, backplane, CPU, HD, middleware, DB, web server stuff isn't real.
posted by machaus at 11:32 AM on January 9, 2002

Why don't the make the entire INTERNET out of the stuff they make the black box out of?
posted by UncleFes at 11:41 AM on January 9, 2002

you got something there UncleFes... run with it. pave the suburbs with black box towers!
posted by machaus at 11:48 AM on January 9, 2002

Here's a 632k animated .gif of the server being set up.
posted by anildash at 2:12 PM on January 9, 2002

I'm with machaus. I feel strangely comforted. Now we'll be sad if the old girl is replaced.
What I'd really like to visualize, though, is the place where all the hot-headed comments we typed but decided not to post go?

Specially those you preview a couple of times. They must be somewhere, right? Right?

*crickets*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:39 PM on January 9, 2002

Choreographically speaking, that has to be the finest piece of setting-up I've ever seen. A whole new universe has been opened up and we'll probably never hear the end of it.

I bet it eclipses the rabbit, easy.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:44 PM on January 9, 2002

the animated gif is missing all of the uttered swear words...
"whadda mean you can't recognize the CD drive, you just booted off of the GD thing!"
posted by machaus at 2:51 PM on January 9, 2002

omg. There are posts MC decided not to post?!?

*kermits*
posted by mattpfeff at 2:53 PM on January 9, 2002

Yes, the good bits go straight into my book, I'm afraid.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:36 PM on January 9, 2002

What I'd really like to visualize, though, is the place where all the hot-headed comments we typed but decided not to post go?

...

Yes, the good bits go straight into my book

Heh. Answered his own question, he did. Poor fellah never stood a chance.
posted by mattpfeff at 3:57 PM on January 9, 2002

MetaFilter: sniff my ethernet
posted by rodii at 5:36 PM on January 9, 2002

Naw... How 'bout

MetaFilter: It eclipses the rabbit, easy.
posted by Marquis at 7:00 PM on January 9, 2002

Waaaaaaaaait.......................does that happy little server have a name? Because if it doesn't, it needs a name. Think about how hard it works, feeding all of our stuff out to the world. There must be something we could call it. It deserves some kind of nomenclature...

Serverbunny? It could have pancakes on its head...
posted by metrocake at 7:25 PM on January 9, 2002

If you want a more recent picture, with the server in it's more permanent home, here it is (to the left of the dresser, in my newly-decorated room).
posted by delfuego at 8:26 PM on January 9, 2002

I had pictured something more....majestic, somehow.

Ah well. Another illusion shattered.
*shakes an operatic Shatnerian fist at the sky*

"Curse you, inTarWeb!"
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:44 PM on January 9, 2002

No, now I'm in love with that chest of drawers as well. I'm outta here.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:02 PM on January 9, 2002

no kidding. jason: you have NICE furniture.
posted by rebeccablood at 9:16 PM on January 9, 2002

Jason it's still in your bedroom? I thought you were going to toss it into a closet.

Possible scenes from Jason's bedroom:

"Jason? Why are you stopping? What's wrong?"

"It's... well, I can't do this, it feels weird... being in front of the server and all. I get the feeling we'll warp its mind if we do this in front of the server."

"What? The server doesn't know what we're doing, try and forget about the server."

"I'm sorry, the way the server is looking at us... I just can't."
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:37 PM on January 9, 2002

I have to agree with wonderchicken. I would prefer to think of it in some kind of ultra-swank server farm somewhere where you need special codes to get into the earthquake/nuclear war proof cage.

Do you have a T1 going into your bedroom or something? That would be cool.

However, the mirror over that dresser has me thinking that you need to get a shot of the server in the mirror for The Mirror Project. That would have to be like the largest number of virtual people photographed in a mirror ever.
posted by willnot at 9:48 PM on January 9, 2002

What jennyb said and isn't that an aeron chair in the background? Ironic.
posted by Lynsey at 9:57 PM on January 9, 2002

The Jazz Age MetaFilter Server/Dresser.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:45 PM on January 9, 2002

That bastard does have a T1 in his apartment and an Aeron chair. But the good taste and new decorations are all due to Shannon and her parents. :P
posted by anildash at 10:52 PM on January 9, 2002

The creepiest thing isn't the pictures, it's the bowl. What's in the bowl??


posted by UncleFes at 8:03 AM on January 10, 2002

That's not goatse man in the righthand frame, is it?

Ewww.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:24 AM on January 10, 2002

How about a book?
posted by starvingartist at 11:45 AM on January 10, 2002

Ohmygod, I leave the thread for a day or so, and it goes nuts. I love your redo of the picture, skallas -- pure genius.

And Matt, don't fret; we put a sheet over the server when we... ummmm.... sleep.
posted by delfuego at 4:23 PM on January 10, 2002

Oh, and rebecca, thanks for the love sent my dresser's way. It's an antique that my parents and I found at a small auction in New Braunfels, TX; my Dad and I refinished it (and the mirror) about a decade ago. As Shannon can tell you, the top has taken a lot of wear and tear over the past decade and could probably stand to be redone again, but the rest of it is in tiptop shape.

Now, if I could just do the rest of my room the same way...
posted by delfuego at 4:29 PM on January 10, 2002

lol.. i'm reminded of the pottery barn friends episode.
posted by lotsofno at 8:12 PM on January 10, 2002