Bad Post Callout

January 11, 2002 10:48 AM

What do we conclude about a thread that simply poses a question?
posted by tomorama to MetaFilter-Related at 10:48 AM (27 comments total)

No link to outside content, instead it just poses a common question on a topic that everyone is garaunteed to have an opinion on (musical taste). At the moment it's reached something like 60 comments. Has it passed the point where deletion is an option?
posted by tomorama at 10:48 AM on January 11, 2002

I doubt it'll get deleted, considering Matt kept the beer, liquor, and food threads. But this one is just dumb. There will be no consensus, and discussing bands that people hate is likely to bring about a lot more argument than discussing bands people like. Well, a lot more trashing, trolling, and flaming, anyway.

d00d, Creed sux!
posted by starvingartist at 10:59 AM on January 11, 2002

It's a bad thread, if there were <10 comments when I first saw it (there were 53 I believe), I would have deleted it. It's mailing list material, precisely the type of thing I don't want to see on MetaFilter.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:05 AM on January 11, 2002

There will be no consensus

Consensus? On MeFi? Hehe.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:17 AM on January 11, 2002

I think Matt wanted to delete the thread because he likes Creed!
posted by sexymofo at 11:28 AM on January 11, 2002

Question: Why is the number of comments significant? As I argued in another recent thread, shouldn't a thread survive/be killed solely on its own merits, or lack thereof?

Seems to me the message being given here is "It's okay to post a crappy thread...just make sure it fills up with comments before Matt sees it."
posted by rushmc at 11:36 AM on January 11, 2002

I agree with rushmc. Kill it, Matt! Bad thread! Bad, bad thread! No biscuit!
posted by starvingartist at 11:40 AM on January 11, 2002

as much fun as i had writing comments in that thread--certainly didn't help any, i have to agree with rushmc. Killworthy should be regardless of the number of posts if the thread is not MeFi enough. Sort of like not punishing your dog because instead of chewing up one of your shoes it chewed up All of your shoes.
posted by th3ph17 at 11:45 AM on January 11, 2002

me and starvingartist are two of the main posters in this thread. While I agree with the big guy that this is more suited to a mailing list than MeFi, it is fun and most of the flaming/trolling in the thread has been of the good-natured, nudge and a wink type and some of the likes and dislikes have revealed some surprising alliances. This definitely should not be the dominant type of thread around here, but arguing about music is fun precisely because it is so pointless.
posted by jonmc at 11:46 AM on January 11, 2002

The number of comments a thread has is analogous to the number of dollars a person has: having a lot doesn't mean you shouldn't be killed.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 12:34 PM on January 11, 2002

I hate the thread, and I've railed on threads like this many times before. Still, I participated. Why? Because, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't tell the difference between this one and the beer, liquor and food threads, all of which were subsequently deemed OK. (Plus, people were trashing Devo, Prince and the Smiths--I hate that.) It's a fine line between survey posts that work and those that don't. That's why I think they should all be killed de riguer.

Having said that, had the poster found a link to someone's (anyone's) "Worst Band Ever" list, I think it might have passed the test. As we've said before here at MeTa, bad posts are one thing, lazy bad posts are something altogether worse.
posted by jpoulos at 1:12 PM on January 11, 2002

If Matt deleted a thread with 50+ (now 100+) comments, he would have a lot of people demanding an explanation. In the end, I don't know if it would be worth the trouble. (A mob-mentality ensues and the next thing we know Matt is tarred and feathered and taken to the edge of the Internet cliff.) Better that they stumble into MetaTalk and realize that it was a bad thread.

On second thought, I take that back. Kill it! (We can start our own mob.)
posted by jacknose at 1:57 PM on January 11, 2002

Is there any harm in leaving the thread where it is? No.
posted by Succa at 2:14 PM on January 11, 2002

Is there any harm in leaving the thread where it is?

Yes there is! Tomorrow there will be a "what's your least favorite movie?" thread--with a link to the American Pie 2 site...etc etc etc
posted by jpoulos at 2:22 PM on January 11, 2002

d00d! American Pie 2 r0x!
posted by jennyb at 2:26 PM on January 11, 2002

Scary Movie 2
posted by jacknose at 3:00 PM on January 11, 2002

Best line I read in a 2002 movie review: "Scary Movie II will be playing on every screen in every cineplex in Hell for the rest of eternity." (I can't find the original citation, but there's a whole host of such lines over at rottentomatoes.com. Here's another good 'un: ""Perhaps, in a rare instance of subtle social satire, this film is being released on July 4 to remind America of the high cost of freedom of speech.")
posted by Shadowkeeper at 3:14 PM on January 11, 2002

(Er, "2001 movie review". Oh, and here's The Stranger's capsule review of "Behind Enemy Lines": THERE IS NOTHING GOOD ABOUT THIS FILM. NOTHING. AT ALL. EVER. AT ALL ALL ALL!!! Ugly as sin, badly lit, poorly acted, logically untenable, and possibly not even written, Behind Enemy Lines is a total fucking travesty in which even the makeup is incompetently applied.")
posted by Shadowkeeper at 3:18 PM on January 11, 2002

Tomorrow there will be a "what's your least favorite movie?"

Too latte--that car's been driven over the cliff right here. Delete this deletion demanding post, dammit!
posted by y2karl at 4:48 PM on January 11, 2002

Too latte'd to spell too late, I fear.
posted by y2karl at 4:49 PM on January 11, 2002

You're all making the thread seem like some kind of horrible flaming trainwreck. It's fun, it's harmless, and it's not a big deal. The world won't change because someone thought The Cranberries sucked more than Foreigner. Let people have mindless discussions sometimes, you know?
posted by Succa at 6:56 PM on January 11, 2002

well said succa. plus it had one good byproduct. In the (currently) last post in the thread I ate crow for the first and hopefully last time in my Metafilter career. Aaah, the humiliation!!
posted by jonmc at 7:01 PM on January 11, 2002

d00dz, Devo r0x!
posted by Lynsey at 11:28 PM on January 11, 2002

I love weekends on MeFi. I never know what's going to pop up but I know it will keep me reading.

I don't recognize 80% of the bands the MeFolk are trashing in this thread, but please don't take it away before I have a chance to take notes!


posted by realjanetkagan at 11:59 PM on January 11, 2002

Is there any harm in leaving the thread where it is? No.

Precedent. Remember, the vast majority of MeFi readers don't read MeTa and so will quite naturally assume that the post & thread were deemed acceptable because they were left to fester unmolested or rebuked.

It happened, some of you enjoyed it, by everyone's admission, it produced nothing significant. Why maintain the record? Consider it a harmless silly exchange that lightened your day, then went away. Ephemera should be more ephemeral than the other sort of experience....
posted by rushmc at 12:09 AM on January 12, 2002

For the first (and probably last) time, I agree with rushmc. People will remember 'that thread where people could post about bands they hate' and think it's okay to create similar posts.
posted by kv at 3:39 AM on January 12, 2002

For the first (and probably last) time, I agree with rushmc.

Hey, now, you be careful there...that's a slippery slope...you can't just eat one...watch that first step, it's a doozy...all journeys begin with a single step...you always remember your first time...every habit was first a novel event...
posted by rushmc at 7:18 AM on January 12, 2002