automatic form letter when a post is posted

October 27, 2008 4:34 PM

New posting automatic form letter: "From mathowie - Your MetaFilter Post - Message:Your post has been added to MetaFilter. Here are the details: Please contact us with any problems: http://www.metafilter.com/contact/"

Received immediately on posting my most recent post. This is a handy new addition. Thank you mathowie/cortex and jessamyn for taking such considerate care of your MeFite members.

posted by nickyskye to MetaFilter-related at 4:34 PM (98 comments total)

huh. i thought this was a pony request, and I thought "man, that's a good idea!"
posted by shmegegge at 4:42 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

also, since there's really no thread for this, cortex i hope you get some time to breathe between now and the election. those fpps just won't stop. so thanks for all the work on that end, too.
posted by shmegegge at 4:44 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

This seemed like an easy way for people to find their own posts in case of deletion, appearance of lagging posting due to caching, or other mishaps. Mathowie offered to take the brunt of the reply address on these, but we're hoping people will use the contact form if they have stuff they want to talk to us about. pb should take most of the credit actually, he does a lot of the heavy coding-lifting for this stuff.
posted by jessamyn at 4:50 PM on October 27, 2008

Totally awesome. Thanks!
posted by iamkimiam at 4:53 PM on October 27, 2008

unsung hero pb!
posted by onlyconnect at 4:55 PM on October 27, 2008 [3 favorites]

I should write a pb song.
posted by cortex at 5:19 PM on October 27, 2008 [6 favorites]

Who's this pb guy? Whoever he is, I love you man.

For several years I wrote on Suite101 and then in MSN groups. I've noticed in the last couple of weeks that all my writing has poofed on Suite101, not in the Internet Archive either. Oh well. Got a form letter from MSN groups yesterday saying they are closing. So presumably my writing there will also disappear, unless I meticulously try and sift through each thread over years (not going to happen).

So while thanking mathowie, cortex, jessamyn and this additional behind the scenes cyber hero, pb, I'd like to say how awesome it is that MetaFilter mods have also created a way to download one's writing here.

You guys just think of everything and are so amazingly respectful of your members, way more than any other posting site I've ever been on anywhere on the web. I guess you know how to do this because you know your stuff on the web but the fact is that you offer it, make it increasingly easy, comfortable to be here, it's really great, so generous. Thank you.
posted by nickyskye at 5:20 PM on October 27, 2008 [17 favorites]

pb. Paul Bausch. The pizzle bizzle. Father Of The Permalink. He's in the tank for ColdFusion.
posted by cortex at 5:25 PM on October 27, 2008

Oh man! Now I'm gonna post that hugungous tofu thing for sure!
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 5:41 PM on October 27, 2008 [4 favorites]

Hey thanks! But nah, I'm just doing my job. I also love MeFi, which makes my job fun. But yeah, the feeling is mutual!
posted by pb at 5:48 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

Fuzzy Skinner, you get points for simply writing hugungous tofu.

pb. Paul Bausch. The pizzle bizzle. Father Of The Permalink. He's in the tank for ColdFusion.

huh. So this hero has a name, Paul. But what the hell's a pizzle bizzle and what do permalink or "in the tank for ColdFusion" mean? Oh dear, that Luddite thing again. *trots to google dutifully.

In the meantime offering kudos to pb.

On preview, pb is here! A toast to the formerly unsung hero, now to be sung. You rock man!
posted by nickyskye at 5:54 PM on October 27, 2008

I got all excited when it said I had MeMail but it was this. Still, neato!

(goes back to dreaming of non-official MeMail)
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 5:54 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I liked that when Matt emailed me personally to let me know about my post. What a busy guy!
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:55 PM on October 27, 2008

What would the Meta be
Without that fantastic bastard pb
A longboat adrift at sea
Just the JRuns & me

How could the kitties LOL
Without the magician Paul
Conjuring ponies for all
He'll be last against the wall

This is the unsung hero song
I'll be unsinging it all night long
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:08 PM on October 27, 2008 [3 favorites]

Oh man, pb's way awesome. And a nice guy to boot.
posted by Kattullus at 6:08 PM on October 27, 2008

urban dictionary: pizzle the bizzle

pizzle the bizzle
to have sex with an easy member of the fairer sex.
slang for "pound the bitch"

oh dear. Forever boyzone. *sigh (but winks at pb secretly)

Because a permalink remains unchanged indefinitely, it is less susceptible to link rot.

omg, he really is the father of the permalink. I thought you were joking.

So this is ColdFusion (greek to me) but what does in the tank with ColdFusion mean?

On preview, This is the unsung hero song and pb's way awesome. And a nice guy to boot.

Oh YAY a pb lovefest.
posted by nickyskye at 6:15 PM on October 27, 2008

I always think of pizzle basically being bull penis, you know

Bull pizzles are almost exclusively used/produced today as chewing treats for dogs.[citation needed] The pizzles of bulls are cleaned, stretched, twisted and then dried at a very high heat. The result is a very hard, 80-100 cm long brown stick, which is then sawed into pieces appropriate for the size of the dog, usually 10-20 cm (this process also makes its anatomical origin rather unrecognizable). (more fun from category: penis)

In the tank is one of those new trendy wordisms and I didn't know it either.

The primary meaning is evident from the context: to be in the tank is to be “lovingly enthralled; foolishly enraptured; passionately bedazzled.” A more sinister meaning, however, hovers in the shadows: “self-interestedly involved; surreptitiously supportive” and in extreme cases “corruptly influenced.”

In the tank for in the tank,
I remain,
obediently yrs,
your librarian
posted by jessamyn at 6:31 PM on October 27, 2008 [4 favorites]

nickyskye: MetaFilter mods have also created a way to download one's writing here.

Sorry to be dense, but what are you referring to?
posted by ericost at 6:32 PM on October 27, 2008

izzle
posted by lukemeister at 6:40 PM on October 27, 2008

Sorry to be dense, but what are you referring to?

You're not dense, it's just a rarely-mentioned feature. If you go to your profile page and clock edit and scroll to the bottom, there's an "export my comments" link or something like that. You can download all of your comments in a pretty basic format. It's sort of neat.
posted by jessamyn at 6:46 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

Neat!
posted by ericost at 6:48 PM on October 27, 2008

I had a couple of tech problems with MetaFilter and pb helped me out. His attitude seemed to be "I work on one the coolest things around and I'm sorry it's messing you up right now and I'll do whatever it takes so you can use this completely cool website with no problem"

Basically, every positive stereotype of geek you can imagine and all from a couple of MefiMails!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:48 PM on October 27, 2008

I'm going to drink a Mr. Pibbizzle in PB's honor.
posted by lukemeister at 6:53 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

Something about the proximity of "link rot" and "pizzle" makes me go ick.
posted by rtha at 6:59 PM on October 27, 2008

Sorry to be dense, but what are you referring to?

Wait, I cornered the market in being dense with my Luddite thing. Are you horning in on my MeFite identity?

I always think of pizzle basically being bull penis, you know

Thanks for the bellylaugh jessamyn. I do know because of the local petstore and having picked up a pizzle, asking, "What's this?" I think it was a pig's pizzle. Excellent link explaining in the tank. Thanks. But what the hell does pizzle have to do with pb? (Unless somebody here's knows him that personally.). Oh, maybe it's just a play on the letters pb, p.izzle b.izzle? omg *reading lukemeister's link to izzle.

Dang, the things one learns here! So that's where the fo' shizzle thing came from! wow. You guys are smart. I like feeling like the dumb one here. Not that I like being the dumb one but that it's so cool to be among really smart people and learn from you guys. It's humbling but it's cool too. Thanks for not being mean about it.
posted by nickyskye at 7:16 PM on October 27, 2008

nicky,

But *you're* the cat's meow (or insert your favorite metaphor)!
posted by lukemeister at 7:34 PM on October 27, 2008 [2 favorites]

Awesome changes.

And I look forward to putting "in the tank" out to pasture after this election.
posted by Miko at 7:45 PM on October 27, 2008

I read this post, and still thought, What the hell does mathowie have against this question?" since the only time I've previously gotten email from mods was when they were telling me I'd fucked up.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:46 PM on October 27, 2008

When I noticed my mail I thought oh poop I must have screwed up my post. I do not do FPP since they changed it up long ago. When I first came here it had less spots to fill in.... I do not have a Mr. Pibbizzle but I will have a beer in pb's honor.
posted by bjgeiger at 8:09 PM on October 27, 2008

Paul Bausch is a co-creator of the weblog software Blogger, maintains a directory of Oregon-based weblogs, ORblogs, and is the author or co-author of several O'Reilly books including Google Hacks, Flickr Hacks, Yahoo! Hacks, and Amazon Hacks. He's currently hacking his days away as a developer at the community weblog MetaFilter.

my god. That's pb?!! wow.
posted by nickyskye at 8:16 PM on October 27, 2008 [2 favorites]

So, you'll be throwing "in the tank" under the bus then?
posted by stet at 8:26 PM on October 27, 2008

At the end of the day, yes.
posted by Miko at 8:29 PM on October 27, 2008 [3 favorites]

pb had a blog before there was an Internet.
posted by lukemeister at 8:36 PM on October 27, 2008

pb had internet before there was arpanet

I like saying arpanet. arpanet arpanet arpanet
posted by Kattullus at 8:44 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

I love pb, even though he's a cornhusker. ;)
posted by schyler523 at 8:52 PM on October 27, 2008

Mathowie offered to take the brunt of the reply address on these, but we're hoping people will use the contact form if they have stuff they want to talk to us about.

Have you guys considered giving the contact form an email address? It's a request tracker already, really.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 9:07 PM on October 27, 2008

Oh, Jessamyn. You left out the most interesting use of the pizzle (NSFW). For those of you loath to follow an NSFW link, it seems that throughout history, naughty girls (and boys) have been beaten with the stretched and dried out penis of a bull. The linked article provides an illustration of the process.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 9:08 PM on October 27, 2008

I should write a pb song.

the pb man
the pb man
doin the things
a coder can
what's he like
it's not important
the pb man
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:16 PM on October 27, 2008

(I hasten to add that that's not a dig or anything -- in our one and only email interaction like four or five years ago, he seemed like a totally standup guy!)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:29 PM on October 27, 2008

Ok, seriously, now I'm even more confused. Every time somebody brings up a pony request about social apps on Metafilter, I've almost always mentioned the lack of Blogger in the list. LiveJournal is there, wtf? And for all the 'GYOB' that gets slung about, you'd think we'd have it as an option.

In fact, I've mentioned this so often that its become my own personal inside joke. I even look forward to the opportunity to bring it up. For the lulz I suppose.

There is a certain sadness too, because my question always gets ignored. But if it has ever been addressed, I certainly haven't seen it. (I will apologize and drop and do twenty if I am wrong.)

So you can imagine my utter puzzlement to learn that pb is a Bloggerer, if not The Bloggerer.

Anyways, just wonderin'...why isn't Blogger listed in the social apps to add to our profile pages?

(feel free to ignore. I've only BEEN SILENCED ALL MY LIFE!)
posted by iamkimiam at 10:03 PM on October 27, 2008

What you want (hooo) pb's got it
What you need (hooo) pb's got it
(Hooo) He's not asking but he's getting... my respect
(Not just a little bit) on the blue
(Not just a little bit) hey baby, on the green
(Not just little bit) On the grey AFAIK

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Your coding means a lot to me
Take care, pb ILU

Oh (socket to me, socket to me,
Socket to me, socket to me)
Not just a little bit (socket to me, socket to me,
Socket to me, socket to me)
Whoa, babe (not just a little bit)
posted by nickyskye at 10:06 PM on October 27, 2008 [2 favorites]

If I may, here are 4 of our 5 mods at MeFi 8, held last July in Portland, OR. Not to leave anyone out, here is our esteemed 5th mod.
posted by Lynsey at 11:00 PM on October 27, 2008

Oops. Here and here.
posted by Lynsey at 11:04 PM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

why isn't Blogger listed in the social apps to add to our profile pages?

matt talked about this a while back and mentioned that Blogger doesn't have nice, guessable profile pages so it's not a great candidate for the social links. LiveJournal has nice easy-to-find profile URLs that include an overview of what you're adding at their site. Blogger profiles are hard to find, very sparse, and don't convey much information about what a user is contributing at Blogger.

Plus if someone wants to link to a specific blog (not a profile) we have other ways to do that including the website link that's more prominent than the social services links. (It's the first place I look, anyway.) While I suppose Blogger could be considered a social networking site, it lives outside that box in my mind. But I'm not the sole arbiter of the social network list here and I'm sure a case could be made for including Blogger.
posted by pb at 11:26 PM on October 27, 2008

I'm going to drink a Mr. Pibbizzle in PB's honor.

I'm going to have a peanut butter and sausage sandwich in his honor.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:29 PM on October 27, 2008

Aww shucks, pushups it is. And it was a really good rationale too.

And I guess I'll have to come up with new ways to amuse myself on Metafilter.

Thanks for all that you do pb! We really appreciate it!
posted by iamkimiam at 11:56 PM on October 27, 2008

Can anyone recommend an effective treatment for Pizzle Rot. At the moment, I'm liking the sound of Bizzle Balm, because my bizzle is in need of some serious balm, but all other suggestions are welcome.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:48 AM on October 28, 2008

Damn this is the sort of thing that might tempt me to make a post.
posted by Mister_A at 6:22 AM on October 28, 2008

I was just izzling on the man's initials, for the record. I didn't know about the animal dick thing or the getting-laid angle from Urban Dictionary.

Thank you, internet, for that insight.
posted by cortex at 6:32 AM on October 28, 2008

And Metafilter runs on ColdFusion. Barring the daunting prospect of a scratch rewrite on a different platform, it will continue to do so. I'm pretty sure nobody would actually choose, in 2008, to write for CF, but that's where we are.

Ergo, pb is stuck with it. But you don't want to say "x is stuck with y", so you spin it a bit. You suggest x enjoys x's partnership with y.

But you fumble your spin—you overstep into politically charged metaphor, and paint x as being not only supportive of but manically, questionably devoted to y.

And then everybody says "oh my what a complex and humorous agglutination of diverse topical items, oh ho ho!" and we all light cigars and move on to a discussion of the ongoing Taft-Bryan contest.
posted by cortex at 6:42 AM on October 28, 2008 [3 favorites]

socket to me

DANGER POINT! STAY AWAY FROM THE SOCKET!
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:55 AM on October 28, 2008 [2 favorites]

cortex wins the 2008 Ted Stevens Series of Tubes trophy for outstanding achievement in the field of Internettology.
posted by Mister_A at 7:01 AM on October 28, 2008

You suggest x enjoys x's partnership with y.

Please, names!

Kid Rock enjoys Kid Rock's partnership with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Euler enjoys Euler's partnership with Calculus.
Kelzmer music enjoys Klezmer music's partnership with Freilach.
posted by jessamyn at 7:02 AM on October 28, 2008

reference enjoys reference's partnership with referent
signifier enjoys signifiers's partnership with signified
tautology enjoys tautology's partnership with tautology
posted by cortex at 7:22 AM on October 28, 2008 [2 favorites]

oy. You never know where a thank you will end up in this joint.
posted by nickyskye at 7:32 AM on October 28, 2008

pb. Paul Bausch.

Under his tenure, Metafilter has gone from amazing to astonishing, so while I'm sure that "pb" is technically his initials, I'm going to choose to believe that it actually stands for his superhero nom de plum "Peanut Butter", and in his spare time, he and his sidekick Jelly go out to fight crime, update code, and make our city streets safe for children and puppies.

[All kidding aside, like so many of the changes here in the last year or two, this is a good idea which will make the site better. Thanks to all the mods be they superhero or no.]
posted by quin at 7:59 AM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

IT'S pb JELLY TIME!
posted by ALongDecember at 8:53 AM on October 28, 2008

Bryan is totally going to kick Taft's ass.
posted by languagehat at 9:25 AM on October 28, 2008

BRYAN GAFFED, VOTE TAFT
posted by cortex at 9:30 AM on October 28, 2008

meMail notification.
Cold fusion fusing.
pb does it all.
BURMASHAVE!
posted by blue_beetle at 9:41 AM on October 28, 2008

4 of our 5 mods

So that's mathowie, cortex, jessamyn, vacapinta, pb? So pb is considered a mod or an in-house cyber brainiac? Because he doesn't moderate so much as create really. Or does he moderate too? Or is he a mod as a modifier or modernizer?

This ColdFusion thing is the cyber structure/materials from which MetaFilter is built? Or is it the vehicle? Or the piece of road on which the vehicle runs? (Trying to get an idea what it is. Need a metaphor.)

The first version of ColdFusion (then called Cold Fusion) was released on July 10, 1995.

Whatever it is (a language?), it's kind of old-fashioned in cyber history terms. But sometimes old things work solidly (I miss my workhorse Panasonic Ease-a-Logic answering machine *sigh). Kind of curious what a more modern alternative to CF would be? They call the new CF8 Scorpio. Does it sting the coder? ooh 9's going to be a Centaur, that'll be fun.

Kind of curious where MetaFilter exists in its most primitive sense? Is it all in a bunch of disks in somebody's desk?

Bryan/Taft, der Vergleich hink (the simile limps).
posted by nickyskye at 10:23 AM on October 28, 2008

I kind of think of pb as being on the admin staff but not being so much of a "mod" per se, insofar as it isn't so much his job to deal with a the random daily moderation stuff me and Matt and Jess do and that vacapinta covers in wee-hours crises. So the five-person admin staff consists of three mods, a midnight crisis mod, and a coder with mod-like powers but fairly solid immunity from mod obligations. He has on a couple occasions deleted something horrific when the rest of us were like sleeping it off or whatever, but he's far too nice about it. Heh.

That may be making it overly complicated in terms of taxonomy, but there's a kind of protective instinct behind not wanting to just label pb and vacapinta "mods" and thereby expose them to the firehose of Daily Administrative Fun that the three of use spend our time on. If that makes sense.
posted by cortex at 10:36 AM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Is it all in a bunch of disks in somebody's desk?

MetaFilter lives on a couple servers at The Planet in Texas. We use SQL Server (a database) and ColdFusion (a scripting language), you'd probably use PHP (a scripting language) and My SQL (a database) these days. Or Ruby on Rails if you're trendy.

I've written little apps in a bunch of different languages and they all have strengths and weaknesses. ColdFusion is continually updated and version 8 came out last April--so it's not exactly a dead language. I might not pick CF as my first language, but now that I've been in that mode for a couple years it's definitely the language I'm thinking in as I develop. So I'm not in the tank for CF, but I'm fine hanging out around the tank.
posted by pb at 10:57 AM on October 28, 2008

Ooh! Question for Messrs. cortex and pb! Do you guys have some kind of signet ring that gives you gnarly modly powers? Cuz Matt totally gave jessamyn one, you know.
posted by Mister_A at 11:09 AM on October 28, 2008

Do you guys have some kind of signet ring that gives you gnarly modly powers?

Cortex has Heart, lawlz.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:23 AM on October 28, 2008

cortex, Thanks for the excellent clarification.

pb, Thanks so much for the excellent information and education. I actually understood what you said. wow. Not the deep details but the ideas and so appreciate you did that.

Does the server have a bunch of disks on anybody's desk that holds MetaFilter content? I'm trying to visualize the basic idea about where a site exists.

I know about language, so it makes total sense you're thinking in this CF language now as you develop and can relate to the concept that some languages are more flexible or expressive than others or lend themselves to greater creativity. Do they have cyberlinguists or is it thought of more as a mathematician, rather than communication?

So I'm not in the tank for CF, but I'm fine hanging out around the tank.

Funny.

Anyway, thank you both again.
posted by nickyskye at 11:49 AM on October 28, 2008

The server used to live in someone's closet, leading to lots of uproarious downtime when there were local power failures. Now it's in what's called a colo (I forget where, not anywhere near any of us) and we all access it remotely when we access it [meaning the admin team]. In fact I think there are two machines, one that holds the actual data and one that does the processing? Someone correct me on this, I remember this happened at some point.

I don't have a ring, I was born with these superpowers and it's good that mathowie found me before Drew Curtis did.
posted by jessamyn at 11:59 AM on October 28, 2008 [3 favorites]

Thanks jessamyn! ooh colo, new vocabulary. It's so good to get an idea how this beautiful cyber immensity works. I'm sorry to ask for such a tutorial and grateful for your giving it. I feel like I'm asking a bunch of da Vincis for crayon lessons.

So a server could fit into a closet? wow. omg, a server is a computer! I didn't know that I thought it meant a service provider, not a piece of equipment. Metafilter not on disks, but formerly contained in a device in a closet, now out of the closet and in a room with other sites? Or is a server also a program on a device, like a Matryoshka doll? A site on program on a software inside a program inside an electronic device? But I get that you can remotely access the data. Gee, MetaFilter is more existentially ethereal than I can grasp.

I'm so glad you didn't go over to the Fark Side dear jessamyn. Glad you stayed in the blue light.
posted by nickyskye at 12:22 PM on October 28, 2008

A server is like a high powered version of a desktop computer [well sometimes it's exactly like a desktop computer] with a direct connection to the internet and softwar eon it that lets it talk to other computers using standard protocols. So if it makes it easier, you can think of a colo as a big closet at someone else's house, with a bunch of computers in it. It's a little different though. Most if not all the computers don't have monitors or keyboards or mice. They are connected to a "fat pipe" to the Internet. There are usually redundant power supplies and network connections (if you're lucky) and mechanisms to keep the temperature from getting too high and the dust level from getting too choking.

So, MetaFilter is still pretty much "on disks" or rather on hard drives in the colo on a server that mathowie & MeFi LLC either rent all of or part of on a monthly or yearly basis. If I have to interact with the server, I have a program here on my computer (a normal old imac, nothing fancy) where I can log in to the server remotely and do things like restart it if it's dead or edit files on it if there are problems. The mods mostly interact with the site through web based tools that mathowie and pb built [TAHNKS GUYZ!!] but we can get to the site more directly if we need to which we almost never do.
posted by jessamyn at 12:33 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

I was going to find you a picture of a colo facility, but I searched google images for colo and got this and now I am going for a walk.
posted by jessamyn at 12:41 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Another fun fact about servers, Nicky:

Unless you work in refrigeration, any server room will always be the coldest place in the building, often dramatically so. I work next to a huge floor-to-ceiling window, and it gets really really hot in the summer. Times like those, I bribe one of the server techs to let me go lie down on the tile floor in there. It's cold and the air is pure. Spectacular.
posted by SpiffyRob at 12:47 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Except the colo is just a front. The truth is, MetaFilter, as such, doesn't even really exist, except as distributed packets on a virtual server in constant transit between 29 "fishing boats" adrift on the Andaman Sea.

There is no colo.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:57 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Interesting fact about machine/server rooms: Most of these fancy "machine rooms", IE, the room where you keep machines, like computers and servers or network switches and routers - most of them use High Efficiency Particulate Air filters - or HEPA filters - to clean all of the air in the machine room very often.

Even in a large, many thousand square foot machine room "very often" can mean "about every 30 seconds". They do this to cut down on dust and dirt which not only cuts down on cleaning, but protects hardware from failure from dirt or overheating due to dirt on fans and heat sinks.

The upside for the poor semi-evolved monkeys that work and climb around these rooms is that if they go to the little side room where the giant HEPA filter intakes are, they may find that it's the ideal spot for a quick break to smoke a little something or other, as the smell and smoke vanishes almost instantly.

Somewhere this suggestion is making a colocation facility ops manager have a case of the spitting fits.

Note to colo ops managers: Is your data center really secure? Really? Have you checked to see if all of your walls and doors actually block underneath your raised subfloor or above your suspended ceilings? Are you sure? Every machine room I've met had a hole big enough to crawl through somewhere in the subfloor or ceiling.

Hey, you feeling ok? You look a little green. And red, too. Maybe we should go take a break near the HEPA intake filter, help you calm down a little.
posted by loquacious at 1:16 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

jessamyn, I get it! Oh wow. I actually got what you said. All these 8 years I've been on the web and wanted to know that. It's so awesome to have this practically understandable. It's a relief. It's strange communicating, enjoying, spending a huge part of my life connected with, to, through something I never understood and had no idea where to begin knowing about, although I've repeatedly tried.

Usually people who understand these cyber things speak in a language I don't. And so when I made efforts to find out, it was like wandering into a university room where everybody was speaking &*@#$)!, having fun, lots of inside jokes and it made no sense whatsoever. So thank you for saying all this stuff, this basic concept, in plain English. It's truly lovely to understand. Can I send you a cyber hug?

It's cold and the air is pure. Spectacular.

SpiffyRob, Sounds like Switzerland. Brrr. I like India, the deep heat, ferns and barefooted with lots of sunshine. I'd probably like to hang out inside the server, where it's hot. The hotter and more humid the better. But I like your telling me about servers liking the cold, the mischief that a server tech can get up to in being compassionate to a co-worker and your enjoyment of it. Thanks.

MetaFilter, as such, doesn't even really exist, except as distributed packets on a virtual server in constant transit between 29 "fishing boats" adrift on the Andaman Sea.

It's Raining Florence Henderson, you're naughty.
posted by nickyskye at 1:16 PM on October 28, 2008

Times like those, I bribe one of the server techs to let me go lie down on the tile floor in there. It's cold and the air is pure. Spectacular.

See, this guy doesn't even have to climb through the subfloor. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS GRANTED.

So what's your MO, SpiffyRob? Credit card databases? Corporate espionage? Big Pharma bioengineering records?
posted by loquacious at 1:21 PM on October 28, 2008

When you say coloc, I think colocataires (in french: roommates) and suddenly my image of Metafilter is completely different.... the servers are probably spread across the dinning-room table, Cortex is playing banjo in the salon, Jessamyn is reshelving books in the library, and Matt is working on his bike in the kitchen. Meanwhile pb toils in the basement, and Vacapinta is out in the shed goofing off.
posted by blue_beetle at 1:43 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Now there's an MTV reality show!
posted by blue_beetle at 1:43 PM on October 28, 2008

There is no colo.

It's even worse than that; there is no server. I have it on good authority that the whole of metafilter and all it's sub-domains are actually housed in the unused portions of the brain of a raccoon in a thaumaturgic semi-vegetative state. This was one of the early efforts at necromatic storage that was eventually banned under the anti-demonic-media agreements of 1997.

You can tell this by the fact that the subject of bacon and pants-fish seems to come up repeatedly (this is the raccoon guiding our conversations), and if you look really closely, sometimes you can see self portraits hidden in the text.

Of course, the leadership here will completely deny this, as they are violating all sorts of international treaties, but trust me, it's a zombie-raccoon.

^oo^
posted by quin at 1:44 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

the ideal spot for a quick break...a hole big enough to crawl through

loquacious, Shhh! *tiptoeing over to the secret trapdoor with a mischievous twinkle. And you're really naughty.
posted by nickyskye at 1:46 PM on October 28, 2008

jessamyn once managed to explain base two and hex codes to me in such a way that not only did I get it, but I did not feel at all talked down to or anything, and could enjoy the (exceedingly!) nerdy jokes in the thread without feeling like a moran.

Yay to all you good-at-explaining-stuff people! And thank you!
posted by rtha at 1:47 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Mostly I like to remap our SKUs so I can sell myself overpriced espresso machines for the cost of a napkin ring. So, I guess that's #2.
posted by SpiffyRob at 1:48 PM on October 28, 2008

quin, No, that's MetaPhorter.
posted by nickyskye at 1:54 PM on October 28, 2008

Mostly I like to remap our SKUs so I can sell myself overpriced espresso machines for the cost of a napkin ring. So, I guess that's #2.

Well, that would explain why my grandma paid 179.99 for a set of four blue plastic napkin rings.
posted by loquacious at 2:06 PM on October 28, 2008

overpriced espresso machines

179.99

Our definitions of overpriced seem to differ by an order of magnitude.
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:10 PM on October 28, 2008

Yay to all you good-at-explaining-stuff people!

At the risk of overly schmaltzifying, I should mention that in my other job I mostly do explain stuff like this to people who know even less than the people here. No seriously.
posted by jessamyn at 2:27 PM on October 28, 2008 [5 favorites]

Our definitions of overpriced seem to differ by an order of magnitude.

That's a lot of napkin rings.

I'm pretty sure that coffee machine has more raw CPU throughput and mass storage than my computer. Does that model have the zero-point quantum heatpump or is it the old microtokamak fusion plant? Did you get the bean teleportation subscription?

More realistically it might be more appropriately priced than something at a tenth the cost, made entirely out of plastic by a company that used to make dubious power tools.
posted by loquacious at 2:32 PM on October 28, 2008

No seriously.

And people wonder why I actually like doing help desk and tech support for the right job or people. It can be very rewarding. Also often entertaining. And not in an arrogant LOL n00bz sort of way. People ask the wildest questions sometimes.

Also, that part where someone figures out something new and glows a little is primo stuff, man.

That was really schmaltzy. You made me miss my grandma. Argh.
posted by loquacious at 2:46 PM on October 28, 2008 [4 favorites]

even less than the people here. No seriously.

Oh man, there's humbling and then really, really humbling. It was beautiful to see that video. Loved the music and editing. So like kindergarten at the end of life. Very touching.
posted by nickyskye at 2:59 PM on October 28, 2008

Everyone got a hug! Yay!
posted by not_on_display at 3:53 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh hey guys, I need a tissue. I got something in my eye...
posted by Mister_A at 5:25 PM on October 28, 2008

Oh, that video is amazing. People are amazing. I love coming to a meTa thread and getting my faith in humanity restored.
posted by rtha at 7:29 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

I should write a pb song.

Done. :P
posted by davejay at 1:54 AM on October 29, 2008 [2 favorites]

I <3 thee, davejay.
posted by cortex at 6:36 AM on October 29, 2008

If there's no colo, why does Barack Obama keep visiting?
posted by lukemeister at 9:01 AM on October 29, 2008

If there's no colo, why does Barack Obama keep visiting?

To get to the other side.

wait, what?
posted by davejay at 1:24 PM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

To change the country and change the world. God bless you.
posted by lukemeister at 2:23 PM on October 29, 2008

Late to this thread, but the form letter mail from mathowie gave me a short panic -- ooooh nooo wha-deye do??? (Sort of like the principal sending you a note.)
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:32 PM on October 29, 2008

Sort of like the principal sending you a note.

*Mods: Class? Class? Shut up!*
posted by lukemeister at 5:05 AM on October 30, 2008