Numeristerical!

July 19, 2008 7:43 PM

Are there any Mefi user accounts that have a coincidental (or intentional) relationship with their user number?

This comment by Burhanistan makes me wonder if there are any user accounts on Mefi that have some connection to their user number, either through serendipity (say, user numbers that are the same as one's zip code or date of birth) or by design, where they play off the name in a witty way (for example?).

Also, now that Mefi is getting more and more members, and since the $5 fee turns many people away mid-signup, leaving many empty user profiles behind, how hard would it be to snag an "interesting" number? Is there even a way to keep track of the newest users, short of typing in higher and higher numbers after http://www.metafilter.com/user/ ? Will this "flaw" in the process that creates ever-larger swathes of nonexistent profiles ever be corrected?

posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter-Related at 7:43 PM (117 comments total)

user 1 is pretty significant.
posted by netbros at 7:46 PM on July 19, 2008

That was actually going to be my original post title:

Does this mean mathowie is The One?

But everybody knows that already, so's I changed it.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:54 PM on July 19, 2008

My user number represents the GNP of Rumania for the year 1973 (inflation adjusted, of course) and divided by the all-time domestic box office grosses from showings of "Repo Man" in the movie theaters of Laos and Tajikistan. Frankly, I'm surprised you hadn't already noticed.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:58 PM on July 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Mine is the zip code for Hayward, WI.

I think this makes me their leader?
posted by Ms. Saint at 8:01 PM on July 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

in the movie theaters of Laos and Tajikistan

Clearly you are lying, as Laos has no actual movie theaters.
posted by Falconetti at 8:04 PM on July 19, 2008

Correct.
But they do have lots of wholesome buttery popcorn.
posted by Dizzy at 8:09 PM on July 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Many moons ago mathowie auctioned off a low user number on ebay. I don't recall the whys or wherefores. A user named accountingboy won the lower number, which was 8. I don't remember what happened after that. He disappeared. Probably done in by someone with a slightly higher user number.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with anything, now that I think about it.
posted by iconomy at 8:11 PM on July 19, 2008

I'm user #16000. My usernumber is highly significant and you can read about why on my profile page.
posted by Kattullus at 8:13 PM on July 19, 2008 [5 favorites]

I have bragged before about how I am the first member of the "14k" crew, because the seven that preceded me were only there for - well, for other reasons. Hey, they never made any comments, right?

Any one of them, however, could suddenly show up and make a comment just to prove me wrong, though, so I've been pretty much on pins and needles for the past seven years.
posted by yhbc at 8:24 PM on July 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Mine turns out to be the ZIP code for Honey Brook, PA, which, oddly, was the year-round home of a former boss I had for years and years at my summer camp.

What does it all mean, Mr. Natural?
posted by Miko at 8:26 PM on July 19, 2008

My user number is 18025. If you visit thread number 18025, you'll see that it says you can tell a lot about a person just by looking at their mouse pad. And what kind of mouse pad do I have? METAFILTER.

No, actually it's just Duke Nukem 3D. Sorry.
posted by steveminutillo at 8:29 PM on July 19, 2008

Six years. I was so worried about counting off user numbers on my fucking fingers (00, that's one, then zero-one, that's two ...) that I can't count years.
posted by yhbc at 8:29 PM on July 19, 2008

My user number 53730 adds up to 18 (5+3+7+3+0). Eighteen adds up to 9 (1+8). There are exactly nine letters in my user name. And there you have it.
posted by Sailormom at 8:30 PM on July 19, 2008

38322 is meaningless, except for that it's me.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:33 PM on July 19, 2008

actually, though, 3+8+3+2+2=18 as well, with 1+8=9. That doesn't mean much though. 18 was a pretty good year for me. Nine, less so.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:35 PM on July 19, 2008

I picked my user number to commemorate the best post ever on Metafilter. I joined a month after that. Who could stay away? I couldn't stop thinking about how great it was and wanted to pay homage to it for all eternity.
posted by iconomy at 8:36 PM on July 19, 2008

abqnative: Hey, Mefite, what's your usernumber?

vachement: 61047.

abqnative: No way! Mine's 64008!

*they laugh heartily*

Y!A user: *laughs nervously* ...I don't get it.

abqnative: We're both expressible as the sum of two cubes!

*high five*
posted by Rhaomi at 8:53 PM on July 19, 2008 [9 favorites]

My user number is also the number of an asteroid discovered on 9/9/1999.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.
posted by Stunt at 8:59 PM on July 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Mine was deleted.

The funny thing? I'm not even Mexican.
posted by klangklangston at 9:00 PM on July 19, 2008

My user number inspired someone important to name an asteroid belt after it. An asteroid belt with an orbital period of 1774.9168747 days (4.86 years). Significant, because I have been TOTALLY wanting this smocked baby doll tank top and I just found it on sale for ...wait for it...

$4.86.

I KNOW, right? Spooky.
posted by jeanmari at 9:05 PM on July 19, 2008

4-formylbenzenesulfonic acid, also ear membrane of a mouse. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 9:11 PM on July 19, 2008

Heh, I was just makin' a funny there. You'd have to be a bit obsessive and lucky to even get close to a desired number as people are abandoning the sign up process constantly.

That being said, my user number is in fact a secret coded message within a search string on Airliners.net to my Jihadi brothers awaiting further instructions.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:12 PM on July 19, 2008

Clearly you are lying, as Laos has no actual movie theaters.

Ah, Falconetti, how quickly you've forgotten! You and I strolled through the moonlit streets of Viang Chan, just a stone's throw from the Thai border (remember that guard who pointed his bayonet at your nose? I laugh every time I think of that!), then grabbed some Tam Mak Houng and a bowl of sticky rice and headed over to the Seng Lao for the midnight screening of Apocalypse Now.

Good times, man, good times.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:16 PM on July 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

Come to think of it, though, maybe it was the Laosamay.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:20 PM on July 19, 2008

My number is 50444 and if you enter #50444 in the photoshop color picker you get a dark/navy blue which happens to be my favorite color.
posted by lilkeith07 at 9:48 PM on July 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

If it weren't for that darn six, I'd have all twos.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:01 PM on July 19, 2008

My user number is not a zip code. In fact, most five-digit numbers are not valid zip codes. If the postal service only used the numbers 00001-43000, think of how much energy they'd save.
posted by lukemeister at 10:01 PM on July 19, 2008

My user number is referred to repeatedly in one of my favourite Eno songs, recorded 26 years before I even signed up here. Certain Streets Have Certain Corners;
Sooner Or Later We'll Turn Yours.
posted by maudlin at 10:25 PM on July 19, 2008

16935 is the exact number of hairs on my right leg. I counted.
posted by Krrrlson at 10:34 PM on July 19, 2008

73721 seems rather insignificant
posted by hellojed at 10:39 PM on July 19, 2008

Mine is a prime number. So I got that going for me.
posted by JaredSeth at 10:41 PM on July 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Mine is a zip code in Galveston—chosen because my mother played this 8-track incessantly when I was a child.
posted by Knappster at 10:59 PM on July 19, 2008

My number describes a genetic structure. As it happens, this structure is part of a cluster called 17594. Now, if you look to see who has that user # you will see that it is somebody with the name Katie.

Katie is my cat's name.

Coincidence??! You tell me!!
posted by brain cloud at 11:10 PM on July 19, 2008

googling my user number turned up a VERY FANCY EXPENSIVE AND CLASSY CHANDELIER and the letters after the hyphen in the model number are the actual first two letters of my last name. How ya like me now?? Huh??
posted by longsleeves at 11:55 PM on July 19, 2008

Mine is the last user ID before the Anonymous Ask MetaFilter account was added.
posted by grouse at 12:02 AM on July 20, 2008

My user number is a discount phone provider in the UK
posted by Megafly at 12:06 AM on July 20, 2008

17588 is the first $5 account*.
*Some will say this is bullshit, but this dubious factoid has not yet been debunked on Snopes et al.
posted by Meatbomb at 12:16 AM on July 20, 2008 [2 favorites]

17/5/1988 is also the date that James Brown reinvented funk.
posted by Meatbomb at 12:19 AM on July 20, 2008

Google tells me that my number is the zip code for Racine, WI, the home town of Albert Dremel, the founder of the Dremel company, and of Greg Graffin, the lead singer of Bad Religion.
posted by CuJoe at 12:55 AM on July 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

Your search - site:icanhascheezburger.com 14421 - did not match any documents.

*sigh*
posted by taz at 1:03 AM on July 20, 2008

Mine, 14478, is a zip code in the finger lakes, and OMGWTFBBQ synchromystically I have fingers which I use to type on Mefi with.
posted by bunnytricks at 1:48 AM on July 20, 2008

my username is directly based on my number, but if i explained why, i'd have to kill you.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:07 AM on July 20, 2008

Of course, I have the awesome three-digit 206, so I'm not a zip code but rather the area code for much of Seattle, where I have NEVER been. 206 is also the number of bones in the normal adult human body and the model number for a very very very small Peugeot.

The 206th day of 2008 is coming up on Thursday the 24th. If you can't celebrate it with a wendell you love, then love the wendell you're with.

And MeFi Post #206 was posted my #1 himself, had ZERO comments and points to a site that still exists today!

And my father's apartment number is 206 which is the only part of his address I don't keep forgetting. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it).
posted by wendell at 2:07 AM on July 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

Because i want to go out and kill tonight (I feel, I feel like taking a life. Please, I wanna silver kitchen knife, and feel, feel like taking a life) i might point out that 18403 is the zip code for Archbald, Pennsylvania.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:48 AM on July 20, 2008

I've never been to zip code 45017. And by an amazing coincidence 45017 is not a valid zip code number.

What are the odds of that, people?
posted by ardgedee at 4:45 AM on July 20, 2008

Purely coincidental.
posted by Dave Faris at 5:28 AM on July 20, 2008

37291 = Understanding God Wisdom Born Knowledge

Which I take to mean that the Understanding of God is the supreme Wisdom, the completion of all exsitance through the accumulation of facts.

In the long form, 3+7+2+9+1 = 22; 2+2 = 4

Understanding God Wisdom Born Knowledge All-Born Wisdom Wisdom All-Born Freedom

Which means that True Freedom is only accessible to those who, having absorbed all the Knowledge of reality, commit themselves doubly-strong to the distillment of Wisdom. Which is why I have dropped these jewels upon you.

Mammon has tried to prevent me from telling you this. My cable modem just dropped connection.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:48 AM on July 20, 2008

My birthday is a power of two, and I've been programming computers since the third grade. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by Afroblanco at 8:14 AM on July 20, 2008

My user number is 58. By the most amazing coincidence, my penis is 58 centimeters long.
posted by jonmc at 8:48 AM on July 20, 2008

I have had repeated and quite torrid sexual encounters with my user number over a series of several years. These encounters have not been coincidental, in answer to your question, but they have been rather meaningless, and the morning after I always feel more alone than ever.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:53 AM on July 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

Dude, you banged an odd number! That's just...odd.
posted by jonmc at 8:56 AM on July 20, 2008

It's a sin to say DaShiv's user number out loud.
posted by lukemeister at 8:58 AM on July 20, 2008

jonmc,

Don't sell yourself short.
posted by lukemeister at 9:00 AM on July 20, 2008

lukemeister..you may want to do some metric conversion.
posted by jonmc at 9:01 AM on July 20, 2008

jonmc,
No, I just knew that you're famously self-effacing.
posted by lukemeister at 9:04 AM on July 20, 2008

22022 is a SQLServer error code indicating that the server agent is not running so it can't be notified of this action. Guess what's not running at my house!

It's also the KEGG database entry number for protein-tyrosine sulfotransferase 2 from mouse, an enzyme I have never worked on!

How's this for weird: it's the ID number of Geotrans, a maritime shipping agency on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, where I have never shipped anything!

22022 is also a palindrome, and a lot lower than many of you noobs' user numbers, so I'll understand if some of you are consumed by jealousy. You'll get over it.
posted by Quietgal at 9:05 AM on July 20, 2008

heh. actually, all those porn stars who supposedly have 15-inch cocks and what not...if they got a hard-on, wouldn't the blood flow make them pass out? I'm just saying...
posted by jonmc at 9:06 AM on July 20, 2008

jonmc,
Maybe they've evolved a special circulatory system, like the giraffe.
posted by lukemeister at 9:22 AM on July 20, 2008

I can get you a great deal on aircraft parts, but keep it on the QT, special deal for MeFites only!!!
posted by supermedusa at 9:39 AM on July 20, 2008

My thread was made about a month after I joined... Wonder if anyone's thread occured on their joining date?
posted by FortyT-wo at 9:48 AM on July 20, 2008

I just found out that if you put my user number in google maps, it points to the White House. I think that means I'm the president.
posted by team lowkey at 9:51 AM on July 20, 2008

THE NAUGHTY PUPPIES

There were two little puppy dogs,
"Tiny" named, and "Toodles,"
Who got into all kinds of scrapes,
Like little foolish noodles.

Tiny was a brownish dog,
And Toodles was a white one;
And Tiny had a cunning eye,
And Toodles had a bright one.

Project Gutenberg EText-No. 23431
posted by dirtdirt at 10:18 AM on July 20, 2008

team lowkey,

You probably just got yourself on a terrorist watch list, buddy.
posted by lukemeister at 10:21 AM on July 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

The second result for 21365 in Google. Whoa. Meta.
posted by desuetude at 10:46 AM on July 20, 2008

73858 is the eBook ID number for this book, where 'masculine adventure stories meet men’s love stories.' I refuse to disclose how that is relevant.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 11:07 AM on July 20, 2008

17619 is a product of three distinct primes.
I've been known to produce wee, succinct rhymes.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:28 AM on July 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

My usernumber is the only one on all of MetaFilter that's randomized.
posted by Eideteker at 12:45 PM on July 20, 2008

I will always be proud of the factoid that two of the greatest Chinese poets, Li Po and Du Fu met for the first time in - yes, 744!
posted by Lynsey at 1:37 PM on July 20, 2008

mine is -Amino-2-nitro-N-(2-hydroxyethy)aniline (HC Red 3),2-Nitro-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)aniline (HC Yellow 2),2-Amino-4-nitro-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)aniline better known as hair dye HC yellow #5 (via CAS number).
posted by francesca too at 1:50 PM on July 20, 2008

Apparently, a place corresponding to my userid (besides it being the zipcode for Dickinson, ND) exists somewhere in the Czech Republic. Coincidence, I have actually been there - not in the Czech Republic - in that spot, having entered the highway just outside Jihlava - not too long ago.
posted by _dario at 1:52 PM on July 20, 2008

1061 is a prime and is also a prime reversed, which gets me laid a lot.
posted by nicwolff at 2:10 PM on July 20, 2008 [2 favorites]

When I say "19792" to the cashier at the Winn-Dixie supermarket, I generally get the buy-one-get-one-free "meat manager's special" on one pound tubs of fresh-never-frozen chicken livers, whether I brought a coupon, or not.
posted by paulsc at 2:42 PM on July 20, 2008

I would have been 1337 and thus cool in the eyes of all the hax0rs, except I came along 50 accounts too late. The story of my life, really, encapsulated in a single four digit number.
posted by ewagoner at 2:59 PM on July 20, 2008

25755 is both my mefi number and my ATM PIN.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 3:13 PM on July 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

First Google hit for my user number brings up this, which makes me glad I don't do whatever the fuck that is for a living. Though, coincidentally, JIRA is the same issue-tracking thingy we use at work.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:43 PM on July 20, 2008

My user number is the same as the year of the First Barons' War in England which is ok, I guess, since King John was an ass.

The supernova is cooler, though.
posted by elfgirl at 5:32 PM on July 20, 2008

I got nuthin.
posted by spilon at 7:10 PM on July 20, 2008

Are there any Mefi user accounts that have a coincidental (or intentional) relationship with their user number?

I think the answer is a resounding NO. From everybody.
posted by crossoverman at 8:20 PM on July 20, 2008

It was random I got so lucky.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:32 PM on July 20, 2008

I'm not special :(
posted by divabat at 8:40 PM on July 20, 2008

57641 is the zip code for McIntosh, South Dakota, which apparently has a median household income of $25,795 and a high school with exactly 56 students and 6.1 teachers.

How exactly it is that 1/10th of a teacher works there, I have no idea.
posted by Quidam at 8:59 PM on July 20, 2008

Charter school.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:01 PM on July 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

This Google image search of my user number really says it all.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 10:03 PM on July 20, 2008

Google gave me this, which tells me that my number is the "largest prime such that all its multidigit substrings are prime". It also lists several "common properties" for good old 9719, of which I as a person could only be argued to share "odd", "deficient", and perhaps, though not necessarily, "square-free".
posted by transient at 10:30 PM on July 20, 2008

Try a search of your user ID in Bartleby.com's Columbia World of Quotations. Not sure how high it goes numerically. (link goes to mine. wish it were true.....)
posted by longsleeves at 11:03 PM on July 20, 2008

Crap, mine was a Reagan quote about eating jelly beans.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:32 PM on July 20, 2008

Haha! Mine was all about resurrection & reincarnation.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:16 AM on July 21, 2008

My user number is actually silly close to my last four digits in my social security number. dum dum DUM!
posted by dabitch at 12:23 AM on July 21, 2008

Google: All users marked 73457 as a favorite (Metafilter).

Holy shit, I'm famous! Oh wait, that's a link to the favorites of fpp #73457, which coincidentally was posted yesterday. What? Not even my DNA is special now? Fuck that.
posted by ZeroAmbition at 12:51 AM on July 21, 2008

Of course, mine was choosen because it is the shelfmark of "The elements of sanitary science" (1903 ed.) at the British Library. If you saw the state of my house it would make perfect sense.
posted by saucysault at 1:07 AM on July 21, 2008

A musical tribute to my user number.
posted by decathecting at 1:34 AM on July 21, 2008

"Hexalobular socket raised countersunk (oval) head tapping screws."

That's all I'm allowed to say.
posted by seanyboy at 4:37 AM on July 21, 2008

Why was 56 afraid of 7?
Because 7 8 55!

(I got nothing)
posted by jozxyqk at 5:58 AM on July 21, 2008

Hmm I'm an ISO standard for testing cotton, poly/cotton and reverse blend workwear intended to be industrially laundered as well as being a denial-of-service IKE attack against a handful of Cisco switches. Oh and:

O harmless Death! whom still the valiant brave,
The wise expect, the sorrowful invite,
And all the good embrace, who know the grave
A short dark passage to eternal light.

posted by Skorgu at 7:46 AM on July 21, 2008

Hey, mine is Quietgal's if you move the zero one digit to the left.

It is also the zip code of Washington DC.

Wow, is that boring.
posted by rottytooth at 8:22 AM on July 21, 2008

When spoken in a terse and punctuated way, my user number evokes images of a hardened, grim faced man who has spent too many years doing bad things, in other countries, all in the name of a government he isn't sure he even respects anymore. He would be speaking into an old radio; he would have a cell phone that would provide a more private form of communication, but on this particular job, the point was to not be secured, to let the enemy hear and draw their own conclusions. It was this kind of enigmatic psychological operations that were taking their toll on him. He shrugged and got back to work, mentally ticking off the hours till he could sink into a hammock with a bottle of vodka.

"One, Five, Zero, Five, Five... say again... One, Five, Zero, Five, Five. Confirm?"
posted by quin at 8:34 AM on July 21, 2008

I have the same usernumber as cortex.

Also: this.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:42 AM on July 21, 2008

I have the same usernumber as cortex.

That must be so embarrassing at meetups.

"Hey! You're cortex!"
"No, I just share his usernumber." *cries into beer*
posted by Kattullus at 9:01 AM on July 21, 2008

Also, I'm this guy. Hail to the king, baby.
posted by team lowkey at 9:23 AM on July 21, 2008

64035 is the zip code for Hardin, MO. Hardin is my boss' last name. I had a different boss when I got this account, though.

Also, apparently, it's a shoe.

Lame.
posted by owtytrof at 9:41 AM on July 21, 2008

That must be so embarrassing at meetups.

It was at first, but then I decided to run with it. "Yes", I tell them, "that's me."
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:48 AM on July 21, 2008

Deep down, isn't everyone his/her own doppelganger?
posted by Burhanistan at 9:56 AM on July 21, 2008

Wait, huh?
posted by Burhanistan at 9:56 AM on July 21, 2008

This Google image search of my user number really says it all.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST]

Hey, at least you're not a Grease Control Valve.
posted by mothershock at 10:42 AM on July 21, 2008

My user number corresponds with a metafilter thread about winners, so I'd like to pretend it's appropriate (and the thread came a mere 11 or so days after I signed up!).

It's also my PIN.
posted by drezdn at 12:19 PM on July 21, 2008

My livejournal usernumber (22855) is an ambigram when displayed as standard digital numerals.
posted by Eideteker at 2:45 PM on July 21, 2008

Googling my user number brought up a bug with the Ubuntu operating system - which is so crazy, since I have recently been struggling with a number of bugs in my first Ubuntu system! (I have yet to upgrade, or really understand geek-speak in order to do my own trouble-shooting).
posted by ikahime at 3:30 PM on July 21, 2008

Mine commemorates the Neutrality Act of 1937, the coolest of all the Neutrality Acts, which was passed on 5/01/37. It was the first one to have a cash & carry provision (that stupid Neutrality Act of 1939 was just a copycat) and it was the first one to include civil wars, correcting a loophole in that lazy Neutrality Act of 1936 that let American companies sell goods to Franco. This was definitely intentional, and not at all something I had to go look up on Wikipedia.
posted by lilac girl at 6:01 PM on July 21, 2008

Deep down, isn't everyone his/her own doppelganger?

I'm not. My doppelganger doesn't return my phone calls anymore, not since the incident.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:14 PM on July 21, 2008

lilac girl,
Yeah, the Neutrality Act of 1939 really sucked. I can't believe people even talk about it any more.
posted by lukemeister at 6:53 PM on July 21, 2008

Mine, 17932, is the first uninteresting integer.
posted by jewzilla at 10:19 PM on July 21, 2008

The face of oxford blue. (user number -> google images -> sexy results)
posted by oxford blue at 9:09 AM on July 22, 2008

That would make a great profile pic, oxford blue.
posted by Kattullus at 9:14 AM on July 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

My user number is the date of the St. Valentines Day Massacre, but I had nothing to do with it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:08 PM on July 22, 2008

The title of the post with my user number is 'Osama Fin Laden'.

Which is appropriate as I'm Finnish and a terrorist.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:57 AM on July 23, 2008

Mine's a palindrome... at noon, taxes.
posted by softlord at 5:49 PM on July 23, 2008

Mine is the postal code for Ellendale, Delaware. SWEET!!!!
posted by tomble at 9:39 PM on July 24, 2008