Guys, I love MetaFilter. January 22, 2009 11:10 PM   Subscribe

Guys, I love MetaFilter.

Guys, I love MetaFilter.

I'm so happy it exists.

It is literally just the most perfect thing in the whole goddamn world.

I could spend the rest of my life on this wonderful website.

I love all of you.

I am totally sober and not even high or anything.

I just love this website.

I try to watch movies on my computer but I turn them off and read MetaFilter.

Maybe some of you have been here for so long that it's not a continually incredible best thing in the whole world, but it still kind of is that for me, more than a year after it was first recommended to me.

These twin titans dropped only about a month after I first discovered this website. I had been kind of lukewarm on the whole thing to that point; when I got into those threads though, I stayed up till like 6am I think two nights in a row, my mind being stretched and pulled in totally unexpected ways and to an extent I wasn't sure was possible for me anymore. I still consider that pair of threads to be one of the best things I've ever read. It was one of those “duh” moments where the abstract idea of like changes-in-technology-influence-media-of-human-discourse-and-therefore-how-we-think-and-relate-to-each-other, which I'd maybe been vaguely aware of since skimming through my parents' bookshelf's The Medium is the Massage and already like basically understood because of generally being alive while YouTube was being born, suddenly pulled up in a big tank on the doorstep of my mind and said “Hi yeah it works like that, it is real, human communication works different now.” Maybe what happened is that I already knew all about and loved and incorporated the internet into my life already, in a way analogous to say being aware of and being a regular user of the printed word, but my discovery of MetaFilter was like “Oh I see there is literary fiction there are people that do things in this medium that is just bonkers.” Reading those threads (along with maybe cough uh) gave me more of an insight into women than—well I don't want to quantify it but it was just totally this whole new thing.

I saw an ex-girlfriend about a month ago for the first time since last summer, and she was like “remember how you were all talking about MetaFilter all the time man you don't even have to proselytize no more all I do is go to parties and talk about MetaFilter with strangers.”

A few nights ago someone was telling me about an Eddie Izzard bit and I was like “Oh so it's a X's do things like this and Y's do it like this.” Which is of course insignificant on its own but it made me think about how much my cultural intelligence has been honed by this website. Having “fedora” as a conceptual shorthand (see uh link); ad infinitum.

So all I'm saying is I want to grow old with this website and the people on it.

And it's not escape. I have a totally great non-internet life. I just don't have any kind of “this is just the internet” sentiment. Okay I have it a tiny bit but not really.

In conclusion, I love MetaFilter.

So, I just wanted to say that.

But if I had a vote on the subsequent topic of this thread, I am curious about and would really like to hear other people's stories of and experiences with how MF initially became a part of their lives. I think maybe there are already threads that tell those stories, but it's not something you (I) can have too much of.

Or not! You can just make jokes or whatever too. I really just wanted to say the thing I said.
posted by skwt to MetaFilter-Related at 11:10 PM (151 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite

man.

oh, man. this is hard.

look, metafilter likes you, but it doesn't like like you, OK?

we just want to be friends. I hope that's cool.
posted by boo_radley at 11:14 PM on January 22, 2009 [12 favorites]


You're not getting my Bud Light, skwt.
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 11:21 PM on January 22, 2009 [2 favorites]


Wow. I must be dreaming this.
posted by dead cousin ted at 11:25 PM on January 22, 2009


Seriously though? My dad told me this was a cool website to check out. He sent me a link to the Mushroom Thread and one iTunes shuffle later the rest became history.

This is a pretty great place.
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 11:26 PM on January 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


Bunny!
posted by Caduceus at 11:26 PM on January 22, 2009


DID YOU REALLY THINK YOUR SNARK COULD DEFEAT MY LOVE
posted by skwt at 11:32 PM on January 22, 2009 [45 favorites]


Yeah, really. This is a great place. I first came by when I was, what, 15? Finally signed up when I turned 21. Do I win a prize for being longest lurker ever?
posted by Xere at 11:33 PM on January 22, 2009


I doubt it, Xere. I'm sure there are people who've never signed up still lurking. But nice job, though.

To treat the thread seriously for a moment, Metafilter really became my home on the intertubes when Gary Gygax died. I'd been signed up for several months already, but wasn't really involved. This thread, though, and particularly this comment revealed to me just how fucking awesome this site is, and it's been devouring my free time ever since.
posted by Caduceus at 11:40 PM on January 22, 2009


This is not about you.
joking.
posted by dawson at 11:41 PM on January 22, 2009


Metafilter's just not that into you.

I'm sorry, but it's just better to accept it and move on. Its a cruel lover, full of sound and fury, signifying peeing elephants in my pants.
posted by allen.spaulding at 11:41 PM on January 22, 2009


I want to grow old with this website and the people on it.
Do stick around matey; you'll find the people here, myself not least, grow old pretty damn quick.
posted by Abiezer at 11:41 PM on January 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


Guys, I love MetaFilter.

I'm so happy it exists.

It is literally just the most perfect thing in the whole goddamn world.


I felt the same way about Doolittle by the Pixies in 1992. I don't listen to it anymore.

Just sayin'
posted by KokuRyu at 11:43 PM on January 22, 2009 [10 favorites]


Why don't you marry it?

On second thought, DtMFA.
posted by Eideteker at 11:46 PM on January 22, 2009


It can't be monogamous.

Metafilter's too much x for just one y, man.
posted by codswallop at 11:49 PM on January 22, 2009


I've been thinking and I think that I think we should start seeing other people, I think. Ok?
posted by empyrean at 12:02 AM on January 23, 2009


I could be having sex right now, but instead I am typing this.

One handed.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:03 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Having the heart of a slumlord, I greatly dislike this glurgeful post.
Bitches.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:14 AM on January 23, 2009


skwt: "Guys, I love MetaFilter. "

Um, that's sweet and all, but dude... Metafilter is standing right there.

Awkward.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:19 AM on January 23, 2009 [8 favorites]


I envision this post as one of those strange ballet numbers in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

Specifically, the one in Oklahoma.

You're watching it, eating popcorn on the couch all ho, hum, lalala. Cowboys and barn dances and wait, what?!

I'm hearing rising strings and the ominous crooning of an off-camera chorus right now, and I'm all alone in the house.

Spooky.
posted by winna at 12:29 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Above and beyond just being some website with links the users people of MetaFilter have given me... well, just about a little of everything it is that your average human wants and needs to live and grow, at one time or another. Everything from work to money to quite useable used hardware to great advice and a lot of learning.

Most valuable of all is that I've made a bunch of new friends that I can actually talk to. Friends I look up to, and I'm comforted to know I can count on them.

Thanks, friends.

Thanks, Matt, for the living room. Thanks jessamyn, cortex, and vacapinta for cleaning up, and pb for setting up all the chairs.

If my time on everything2 taught me how to write - MetaFilter taught me a lot about what to write.

For example, I can totally blame all that mushy stuff up there on the fact that I have that insane cold that's going around and I'm whacked on cough syrup. I'm taking two times the recommended dose! Maybe three. WOO HARDCORE. zzz.
posted by loquacious at 12:39 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I could be having sex right now, but instead I am typing this. One handed.

Have you been exploding frogpads again?
posted by loquacious at 12:42 AM on January 23, 2009


OKAY YEAH WELL IF YOU LOVE IT SO MUCH WHY DON'T YOU MAAAAAAAAAAAAARRY IT?
posted by katillathehun at 12:43 AM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Whatever happened to Jenny Diski? She made such a good addition to Metafilter, and then she disappeared.
posted by orthogonality at 12:48 AM on January 23, 2009


I love it too.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:51 AM on January 23, 2009


skwt, I want to give you a hug right now.

I joined Metafilter because my coworker on a place I worked at forever ago lurked here (he's technically a member, but just doesn't comment much or post ever.) As it turned out, I got far more involved in all of this than he ever did. I met one of my closest friend through here, and this is still my first check to learn what the important news of the day is, and the different takes one can ave about it.

I, too, love metafilter, and am happy you're here.

(I'm a little bit drunk, but don't hold that against me. Unless it's a sexy holding that aginst me, in which case I'll have to check with my girlfriend, roommates and landlord)
posted by Navelgazer at 12:51 AM on January 23, 2009


I am totally sober and not even high or anything.

Ssshhhhhyeah, right.
posted by turgid dahlia at 12:53 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


ortho; she flamed out on some gender issues if I recall correctly. Just look up her last comments on metatalk for the details.
posted by jouke at 12:56 AM on January 23, 2009


OKAY YEAH WELL IF YOU LOVE IT SO MUCH WHY DON'T YOU MAAAAAAAAAAAAARRY IT?

I don't they allow real polyamory marriages anywhere in the world at this point, but there's a more than a few people here that I'd say yes to.

Are you asking?
posted by loquacious at 12:57 AM on January 23, 2009


I'm not kind enough to not mark the fedora post as a favorite. Good lord.
posted by svolix at 1:19 AM on January 23, 2009


I love you, but I'm not in love with you.

I hope you can understand - it's not me, it's you.....
posted by The Light Fantastic at 1:27 AM on January 23, 2009


she flamed out on some gender issues if I recall correctly

"Gender issues" is avoiding the issue.

Someone saying "Some women get the vapors when their post is deleted" isn't "gender issues" it's "someone is being insensitive, ignorant and gender-biased" issues.

For the record, for the boys and men in the house: this is why boyzone sucks. I'm really starting to wonder how many of the male or most male people in my life really realize how much utter bullshit like that women have to deal with on a daily basis - and they're expected to not take it personally or react or else they're invariably having their protests invalidated with offhand accusations of being on the rag or simply just being a bitch.

Why is it when a man gets all aggressive and protects his territory with vocalizations and posturing that it's positive thing instead of something demeaning, like bitchy?

All of those aesthetic judgments, all of the "I'd hit it" comments, the objectification, the posturing, the discounting of opinions and ideas and otherwise oppressing or degrading the worth of a real, live HUMAN BEING is a direct extension of that male posturing.

Yeah, yeah, it's kind of in our genes. Knock it off anyway. We're rational beings. We're not picking fleas off each other in the bush, we're consciously typing symbolic words at each other with language and highly developed frontal lobes.

This isn't just about MetaFilter. This is about our world and our lives and the things we can build and share together and not treating each other so damn poorly. This isn't about me wanting to fake it to look like a sensitive guy to get sex or companionship - to be accused of such is offensive. This is about the fact that I see this crap happening to all the women in my life. All of them. My mom. My sister. My friends. My lovers. My teachers, some of my favorite authors, scientists and inventors. Geologists! Astronauts! Steelworkers! Farmers!

To belittle and oppress women is to hinder half of humanity. It's stupid and irrational. It hurts us all. Please stop.


Anyway. I sent Jenny Diski a nice letter trying to apologize a little. I really think I would rather enjoy it if she returned and schooled us on gender politics, as much as she can bear.
posted by loquacious at 1:46 AM on January 23, 2009 [27 favorites]


I love you too.
posted by Jofus at 2:01 AM on January 23, 2009


I like MeFi plenty, and wife teases me about the time I spend reading it (as I do her about Ravellrey).
But, but, but, I can't commit to the level you describe because I see the burn outs on Meta from people that get too close. The randomness of the net means there is always someone to disappoint you if you get too invested.
That said, I've exchanged maybe 5 emails with mods, but *every one* has revealed them as genuine and interested humans (except Cortex, we know he is a humour bot).
The mods set the tone, the community responds with quality, and I feel better about the vision I saw for the net that day I fired up a mosaic beta in 1995.
posted by bystander at 2:07 AM on January 23, 2009


I love you too.

High-Five!!!
posted by chillmost at 2:12 AM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Shut up.

Just shut up.

You had me at "Guys".
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:26 AM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Love? Love is just a moment of giving. Metafilter's admitting Mathowie was right.
posted by bunglin jones at 2:31 AM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Love is just a chemical reaction in the brain. And I'm loving it!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:35 AM on January 23, 2009


I have a totally great non-internet life.

Sure you do.
posted by chillmost at 2:43 AM on January 23, 2009


ok, breathe
posted by infini at 3:15 AM on January 23, 2009


I love you back!
posted by arimathea at 3:34 AM on January 23, 2009


Which one did you take?
posted by gman at 3:51 AM on January 23, 2009


The Medium is the Massage

If you liked that book, I have another one with a similar title that will BLOW YOUR MIND
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 4:46 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


See a therapist.
posted by fire&wings at 4:59 AM on January 23, 2009


I don't know what you've heard, but Metafilter doesn't put out.
posted by waraw at 5:09 AM on January 23, 2009


And she never gives in. She just changes her mind.
posted by Jofus at 5:19 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Wasn't there a restraining order thread recently?
posted by genefinder at 5:21 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'm with the OP on this one.
posted by iamkimiam at 5:31 AM on January 23, 2009


For the record, for the boys and men in the house:

Thanks for the sermon, but no thanks.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:40 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


100% Agree with OP and would like to also point out that in addition I love Praga Khan, lime-green Gatorade and your nipples.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:51 AM on January 23, 2009


* backs away slowly, smiling a sweaty Duchenne smile*

on preview: * backs away from iamkimiam slowly, smiling a sweaty Duchenne smile*
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:54 AM on January 23, 2009


DID YOU REALLY THINK YOUR SNARK COULD DEFEAT MY LOVE

YES, BECAUSE SNARK CAN DEFEAT ALL LOVE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S WRITTEN IN *BOLD* ITALIC CAPS, WHICH ALWAYS TRUMP MERE ITALIC CAPS; THE FOOLS' GOLD OF THE NON-EMBOLDENED!
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:00 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Despite an unlimited potential for snarking in this thread, you're not alone - most posters feel a very strong affinity for this site, even if some are too emotionally stunted to ever indicate that might be so.

I like it a lot, too.
posted by Miko at 6:00 AM on January 23, 2009


YAY METAFILTER.

my gf occasionally mocks me when i have yet another sentence that starts "so, i saw this cool thing on metafilter..."
posted by rmd1023 at 6:09 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


if we're so emotionally stunted, why do we keep coming back, then?

oh, hold on. i think i worked that one out.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:09 AM on January 23, 2009


even though Surfer Rosa is, always has been, and always will be the far superior album

don't judge an album by its cover

posted by UbuRoivas at 6:12 AM on January 23, 2009


*BOLD* ITALIC BLINK CAPS

ftfy, UbuRoivas.
posted by explosion at 6:19 AM on January 23, 2009


YES, THIS. I SNARK ALL OVER YOUR LOVE IN BLINKY SNARK BLINKINESS!
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:24 AM on January 23, 2009


Metafilter and I were totally madly in love in 2005, but then we had a falling out for about a year...but now we're like peas and carrots again.

I love this website so hard that I'm afraid that all of you can see right into my heart.

Thanks y'all!
posted by schyler523 at 6:28 AM on January 23, 2009


My girlfriend and I have instituted a 'favourite' and 'flag' policy of each other's nightly stoner pillow talk. It's damn amusing.
posted by gman at 6:29 AM on January 23, 2009


If you love us so much, why do you still visit Fark.com and Digg.com? Isn't Metafilter enough? What's will all those other web sites in your browser history? You probably even use Web-based email when Metafilter already has a message center built in. Stepping out on MeFi ain't cool.

So in conclusion: "Dear MeFi, I love you... but I've got needs!"
posted by blue_beetle at 6:30 AM on January 23, 2009


Fedora.
posted by fixedgear at 6:31 AM on January 23, 2009


Novices.

Clearly,

BOLD ITALIC BLINKING UNDERLINED CAPS ARE THE SUPERIOR AFFECTATION.

I don't know why the underline gets so little love anymore. It's as though we let go of all those Web 1.0 rules that were oppressing us... except the very best one.
posted by pineapple at 6:34 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


OKAY YEAH WELL IF YOU LOVE IT SO MUCH WHY DON'T YOU MAAAAAAAAAAAAARRY IT?

Yeah, well, I was married to the dude that introduced me to MetaFilter when I joined. And now I'm not married to him anymore. But I'm STILL HERE.

My relationship to MetaFilter clearly does not need to be defined by the bonds of the patriarchy. We know the love that dare not speak its name.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:38 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


even though Surfer Rosa is, always has been, and always will be the far superior album

don't judge an album by its cover


Yes, despite the icky icky boobies, it is in fact better than Doolittle.
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:45 AM on January 23, 2009


For me its not so much love as it is addiction. Now excuse me while I refresh the page.
posted by Sailormom at 7:06 AM on January 23, 2009


*french-kisses metafilter*
posted by taz at 7:11 AM on January 23, 2009


I put ecstasy in your corn flakes this morning.
posted by ocha-no-mizu at 7:11 AM on January 23, 2009


the love that dare not speak its name.

Iiiiiiiiiit's BACON!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:12 AM on January 23, 2009


I've had better.
posted by carsonb at 7:16 AM on January 23, 2009


I also love you all. Can you feel it? Feel my love, let it in.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:29 AM on January 23, 2009


Man, why all the fedora hate? It's just a hat.

(besides, I've been told that I look good in one)
posted by Afroblanco at 7:29 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Personal space, guys.
posted by The Straightener at 7:36 AM on January 23, 2009


Okay, Drunky.
posted by FunkyHelix at 7:43 AM on January 23, 2009


Uh, skwt, you're awfully... intense.

Judging by your bizarre accent, are you possibly British or Eastern European? Have you perhaps bedded a disproportionate number of redheads? Have you been falling down emotional rabbit holes with brilliant, badass websites lately?

What I mean is... I'm flattered, but I'm taken, and I just want to ride the train in peace.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:43 AM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Gentlemen, I like Metafilter.
Gentlemen, I LIKE METAFILTER.
Gentlemen, I LOVE METAFILTER

I like AskMetafilter, I like Metatalk, I like MeFi Music, I like MeFi Projects.
I like callouts, I like flamouts, I like discussions, I like snark.
In Obamafilter, Boyzonefilter, Languagefilter or any kind of Filter,
I love every type of discussion that goes on in this site.

I like seeing self-linkers get banhammered by jessamyn. When they protest that they didn't mean harm and cry, my heart dances.
I like the sharp reprimands of Cortex to misbehaving commenters. When I see his small type in parenthesis, my hear soars.
I like it when I get the first snarky comment on a soon to be deleted post. I remember getting a good one in and getting favorited like a madman.

Gentlemen, I desire a Metafilter that is like Hell.
Gentlemen, my companions on the site who post with me, what do you desire?
Do you desire Metafilter as well? Do you desire a Metafilter in which no quarter is given?
Do you desire a Metafilter post that will stretch the limits of credulity, guidelines and sanity, one that will cause all who read it to flame out?

[POST! POST! POST!]

Very well, gentlemen, then we shall have a Metafilter post.
The night that will get us a free iPod has come.
Welcome to the Night of Metafilter!
posted by cimbrog at 7:50 AM on January 23, 2009 [4 favorites]


Started lurking in 2001 and just when I thought about joining, Matt closed the door. Then there were several exciting weeks of sweepstakes entry, which I having a dial-up connection with the speed of an arthritic snail was never a serious contender. Then membership 4 monies! Whoot.

Through the years, my love has been waxed and waned. I find myself spending more and more time here to the exclusion of other sites and even other pursuits. Then, at some point it suddenly becomes too dreary and repetitive and I take a break. When I come back it all seems fresh and exciting and names jump out at me-- oh look! jonmc and Five Fresh Fish and ColdChef and Taz and Language Hat and and and.

It's also disorienting because every time I've been gone for 6 months or more some new pony has been added. Why are people linking to each other? What's this flag thing? What is AskMe? MeMail? oh my. This last time favoriting had been added and now I have to get used to seeing some comments being favorited over others. I'm still not sure I like it, because it feels too much like a popularity contest.

These absences mean I've never felt part of the in-crowd, part of the gang, but I still enjoy the in-jokes and love how each person's personality and background is revealed over the years. That also means you miss the ones that are gone, although sometimes they come back under new names. I do think there is a lot of unnecessary flame-outs and hurt feelings and disabled accounts. When you feel like it's all too much, just take a break.

There really isn't another place on the internet that has the same level of intelligent/zany/heartfelt discussions. That's what keeps me coming back
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:56 AM on January 23, 2009


Metafilter, you complete me.
posted by gman at 8:05 AM on January 23, 2009


speaking of affectations, getting all

captain new paragraph

isn't quite ALL CAPS

but it's on the spectrum.
posted by bonaldi at 8:14 AM on January 23, 2009


flagged as noise.
posted by Busithoth at 8:21 AM on January 23, 2009


DID YOU REALLY THINK YOUR SNARK COULD DEFEAT MY LOVE

you're right, it can't. Thought I'm happy for this bit as well....

I have a totally great non-internet life.

One of my favoerite things about this place is how many of the people here are really interesting offline people as well. Well, maybe they also have blogs or whatever, but they also have interesting jobs, know interesting things, have interesting hobbies. Certainly not everyone but at the average meetup, as interesting as MeFi is, I often never talk about the site at all.

At the last meetup I think we talked about a friend's impending baby, my other friends' llama farm, the MeFite who met the Man on Wire man, the MeFite whose cabin burned down three times and the MeFites who moved to the area to become organic farmers. I was the dull one in the crowd, the dull one! If you had told me that affinity with a website could bring such an interesting crowd of people into my life -- and I run with the librarians, so the bar is high for what I consider interesting -- I would have laughed at you eight years ago.

But here we are. Neat.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:31 AM on January 23, 2009 [4 favorites]


Okay, guys, so really, I'm waking up from a night that may have gotten me home a little to late and a little too unsober (both a direct result from the mefites I was with) and maybe it's the afterglow, or the buzz I still have going on, and I'm not saying I'm ready to commit yet, but I'm definitely always willing to meet MetaFilter for a cup of coffee or a drink and see where it goes from there.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: I'm just not good with "labels", but, we cool? brohug?
posted by piratebowling at 8:42 AM on January 23, 2009


Metafilter: SHE'S HOTT, but what a terrible fuckin' athlete.
posted by gman at 8:50 AM on January 23, 2009


Metafilter, we need you. Hell, I need you. I'm a mess without you. I miss you so damn much. I miss being with you, I miss being near you. I miss your laugh. I miss your scent; I miss your musk. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together.
posted by jerseygirl at 8:55 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter is great... and fedoras are great! Don't try to divide me against myself!

And SLoG, you'll always be a MeFite. One of us, one of us...
posted by languagehat at 8:58 AM on January 23, 2009


Just when I was getting used to favourite and favorite... now I have to deal with favoerite too? Wtf?
posted by netbros at 9:09 AM on January 23, 2009


The thing I love about metafilter is that you can see wonderful, intelligent commentary, by interesting and knowledgeable people and crude puns and abrasive snark all in a single thread, and often by the same user. It's a place where you can have parallel conversation about the importance of adherence to the Constitution, the roll of robots in Sci-fi, the greatness that is bacon, and the fond memories of your childhood spent doing horribly dangerous things. And then you actually read the linked material and have to apologize for being so totally off topic.

So yeah, I love this place too.

For the record, This is how you do it if you are really hard core.
posted by quin at 9:11 AM on January 23, 2009


Metafilter: SHE'S HOTT, but what a terrible fuckin' athlete.

MetaFilter: and then there's gman.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:14 AM on January 23, 2009 [5 favorites]


One of my favoerite things about this place is how many of the people here are really interesting offline people as well.

you know what? after i joined, i found out that two other people i know are also members. they're the only two other mefites i know. and i don't like either one of them. (they don't like me, either, so we're even.) in spite of that i still think this is the best site on the internet. so yeah ... i'll marry metafilter, i just won't marry any mefites.
posted by msconduct at 9:18 AM on January 23, 2009


Jenny Diski thought she was better than Metafilter. When Metafilter declined to kiss her ass, she withdrew her august presence. Good riddance. Loquacious, garden-variety ass-kissing doesn't seem to be working. Try a little feuille de rose, that might do the trick.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 9:20 AM on January 23, 2009


MetaFilter: and then there's gman.

Ugly as sin, but a GREAT ATHLETE.
posted by gman at 9:26 AM on January 23, 2009


One of my favourite things about this place is how reflexive it is. Yes, it can be boyzone-y and heterosexist, but it's one of the only places on the internet that is aware of this tendency and where many of the users actively try to make things better. I can always rely on there being people in a thread who are arguing my side (way better than I myself could argue it), and that's a nice reminder that there really are great people out there in the world. Sure, lots of men just don't understand what makes being a woman so difficult sometimes, but apparently there are a lot of men who really do get it. If there are so many men on here who get it, so many straight people here who care, then maybe there are more in my offline life than I give credit for.

Statistically, a person's self-perceived trustworthiness and their level of trust towards others are closely related - because we tend to think that other people are more or less like us. I have this theory that our ability to extend our definition of "like me" to diverse groups is important to our ability to trust others. So, if I believed that race signified essential human differences, it might be hard for me to consider someone of another race/ethnicity as "like me" and thus hard for me to trust people from that group. When it feels like all men/all straight people/all Christians are against me, it can be easy to get angry, close up, and withdraw. Metafilter has so many awesome men, straight people, and religious people of varying denominations, that I can find our similarities and feel like maybe sex, sexuality, or religion doesn't necessarily impose boundaries. I mean, they can, but they don't have to and they don't always. It's nice to feel part of the human community once in awhile.

Also, I don't converse easily, although I listen well and monologue well. Metafilter is just perfect, then.
posted by arcticwoman at 9:26 AM on January 23, 2009 [7 favorites]


I also love you all. Can you feel it? Feel my love, let it in.

Dude, slower. You can't just shove it in. You gotta romance it a little.

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not a member who can just lurk and hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy you a gigantic, bacon-eatin' squid!

I'd link to you, but then again, no
Maybe I could banish all, spamming SEOs
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my post and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your post
It may be single link but that's better than most.

I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind

That I said in Metatalk

How wonderful this site can be when we all just squawk.

I stared at preview, avoidin' my boss
Well a few of the users, well they can get me quite cross
But the snark's been fine while I wrote my words
It's for members like you, you witty-ass nerds.

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if I've posted in the green or the blue

Anyway the thing, is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest site I've ever seen!

posted by The Whelk at 9:27 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


A MetaFilter parody to the tune of Bo Carter's Let's Get Drunk Again comes to mind:

You get the mattress,
I'll get the pea.....

posted by y2karl at 9:30 AM on January 23, 2009


Metafilter is an instantiation of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. It's that kind of place.
posted by scalefree at 9:36 AM on January 23, 2009 [6 favorites]


(blushes)
posted by Meta Filter at 9:40 AM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


I love Metafilter so much even signups being closed could not stop my joining. My love was that powerful. But, now I have to wonder, how can I love someone who thinks Surfer Rosa is better than Doolittle?
posted by fidelity at 9:42 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


The obvious solution to this is a threeway with Surfer Rosa and Doolittle.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 AM on January 23, 2009


My best friend died last year right after my 30th birthday. I was in a really bad place and went searching the net for advice. I found an askme (that I can't even find now) that helped bunches. And then I started reading other stuff and it's like this place is a giant library full of interesting things made by interesting people. I have learned to argue better, I am more informed by so many different viewpoints, and hopefully my grammar won't suck as much as it used to. Also, atheists! I'm not alone!
posted by shmurley at 9:44 AM on January 23, 2009 [3 favorites]


This is this thread's theme song.
posted by The Whelk at 9:45 AM on January 23, 2009


Sufer Rosa > Doolittle.

Surfer Rosa > many things.
posted by jokeefe at 9:51 AM on January 23, 2009


If Jess is five
And Cortex is six...

And if Cortex is six then
MATT IS SEVEN
MATT IS SEVEN
MATT IS SEVEN

This MeFite's gone to heaven!
posted by SpiffyRob at 9:52 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Is Metafilter male or female? Curious, but when I'm thinking about my relationship to the site, I think of "she," kind of like ships are female gendered. Is there anyone who thinks of metafilter as "he"?
posted by jasper411 at 9:52 AM on January 23, 2009


And if Cortex is six then

Wait, Cortex is the devil? Like in the "God's henchman doing all the dirty work so God doesn't get a bad rap" sense?


Huh, it fits.
posted by The Whelk at 10:01 AM on January 23, 2009


the devil was just a fallen angel anyhow.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:12 AM on January 23, 2009


Wait, Cortex is the devil? Like in the "God's henchman doing all the dirty work so God doesn't get a bad rap" sense?

No, more like Cortex is the new spokesmodel for Sleep Country as well as Progressive Car Insurance sense.
posted by y2karl at 10:14 AM on January 23, 2009


I love Metafilter so much, the.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:24 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I always thought of cortex as the stoner college brother who has an irritating tendency to side with the parents but is otherwise pretty chill.
posted by Phire at 10:26 AM on January 23, 2009


According to http://genderanalyzer.com/, while AskMe and MeFi proper are mostly male (66%), MetaTalk is ALL MAN (mostly---99%).

Music is pretty male (89%), but Projects goes both ways (50%).
posted by bonehead at 10:26 AM on January 23, 2009


Are you asking?

Yes. On bended knee. UB 40's "Red Red Wine" is playing in the background. My camera's got a YouTube setting. Awyeah.
posted by katillathehun at 10:29 AM on January 23, 2009


Oh metafilter.
posted by mullingitover at 10:43 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I always thought of cortex as the stoner college brother who has an irritating tendency to side with the parents but is otherwise pretty chill.

I think there should be a socioanthropological metric that's sort of like redshift/blueshift except for instead reflecting actual vs. apparent wavelength of energy emitted from moving astronomical bodies it would reflect how much people assume you smoke weed vs. actual practice.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:58 AM on January 23, 2009 [3 favorites]


Though it's not literally true, I feel like I started using Metafilter in 1982. I was in high school, and my dad was a Comp Lit professor at Indiana University. I guess they alphabetized the department locations, because the Comp Sci office was next door to Comp Lit, and to my teenage eyes, the computers there were much more fascinating that the books in my dad's office. So when I went to see him at work, I would always stray into the computer lab. Back then, they were transitioning from punch cards to dumb terminals.

Some nice grad student saw that I was interested, and he let me use his password. Later, I talked my dad into applying for one (back then, profs had to request computer access), and I used his. Eventually, we got a terminal at home. We had one of those modems that you actually had to plug your phone headset into.

Once I was on the IU mainframe system, I had access to "note," which was a very early message board. I got all of my friends into it, and soon we were able to communicate with people all over the IU-campus system. This was the first time I experienced all the common things we see here: sock-puppets, flameouts, meetups, etc.

I loved "note." I was my whole life for a while. I talked about it all the time. I stayed up until 3am, reading stuff and posting.
posted by grumblebee at 11:01 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


What cortex is saying is that he's light this week so quit asking. Moochers.
posted by The Whelk at 11:03 AM on January 23, 2009 [3 favorites]


UB 40's "Red Red Wine"
Let's have Jimmy James or Tony Tribe, not that bunch of Brummie rip-offs :p
posted by Abiezer at 11:10 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


All I'm sayin' pretty baby
La la love you
Don't mean maybe
posted by brevator at 11:15 AM on January 23, 2009


Metafilter: That's where I'm a viking!
posted by ob at 11:31 AM on January 23, 2009


This is true, because I was there, and it is how I met Grumblebee. I also have the sensation of having been here longer than it is possible to have been here.
the dude who wrote note did so in assembly language when he was FOURTEEN ...ish
posted by mwhybark at 11:34 AM on January 23, 2009


mwhybark, do you know if there are any other note people on Metafilter? I've never heard of any, but it seems like there must be.
posted by grumblebee at 11:46 AM on January 23, 2009


I loved "note." I was my whole life for a while. I talked about it all the time. I stayed up until 3am, reading stuff and posting.

I had a similar experience in college in the early 90s with ISCABBS. The transition was really easy.
posted by Miko at 12:04 PM on January 23, 2009


*wakes up looking rather confused and hung over, rolls over in bed, winces*

Hi. Uh, wow. No, no, it's fine. I was really drunk, wasn't I? Ehh, this is awkward. I don't mean to be rude, but I really should be in the shower getting ready for work and do you think... you can go, now? I mean, all of you? Great, thanks. Oh, I'll probably be eating at my desk. I have yoga tonight. Friday I'm flying to Seattle, and won't be back for a few days. I have a ride, thanks. I don't have a cat or any plants. I'll call, I promise.

*quietly bolts door*
posted by loquacious at 1:02 PM on January 23, 2009


Got me a mefi
Ha ha ha hoa
Slicing up eyeballs
Ha ha ha hoa
Mefie so groovie
Ha ha ha hoa
Don't know about you
But I am un chien Andalusia
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:49 PM on January 23, 2009


See that site all dressed in blue
Iko iko an nay
That whole damn site just loves you too
Jockomo feena nay

See that site all dressed in green
Iko iko an nay
That's not a site it's a lovin' machine
Jockomo feena nay

See that site all dressed in gray
Iko iko an nay
Well, that part's just a little bit gay
Jockomo feena nay


[NOT-FLAGGIST]
posted by Caduceus at 2:10 PM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


Woke up this morning and it seemed to me, that every post turns out to be a little bit more like Bukowski. And yeah, I know it's a pretty good read. But Christ who'd wanna be? Christ who'd wanna be such an asshole? Christ who'd wanna be? Christ who'd wanna be such an asshole?

Well we sat on the edge of the grey, the crowd screamed "Pitchforks out today!" If Matt takes life, he's an Indian giver. So tell me now why you'll tell me never. Who would wanna be? Who would wanna be such a control freak? Well who would wanna be? Who would wanna be such a control freak?
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:28 PM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


But here we are. Neat.

Not to be confused with NEET.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:18 PM on January 23, 2009


I thought Metafilter was your everyday religion. You sacrifice free time to the all-consuming gods of Hm, Interesting while the cabal chants soft MeMusic is heard in the background.
posted by ersatz at 3:55 PM on January 23, 2009


I have a totally great non-internet life.

Appreciate the love but there's no need to bring your fantasy world in here.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 3:55 PM on January 23, 2009


Very late to this, but I just want to say: After coming home early from work with a stomach bug, I am now sipping chamomile tea and reading MeFi, and for some reason I find the combination tremendously comforting. MeFi is like a great pub that's open 24-7 and filled with interesting people, and you can drop by and listen in without necessarily having to be "sociable." I personally appreciate that a great deal.
posted by GrammarMoses at 4:03 PM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


I was sure metafilter would improve after I had outlasted the short list of users who creeped me out the most, and that has pretty much happened.

But now there's no quonsar to share it with. Sweet things vanish and brightness falls from the air.
posted by jfuller at 4:48 PM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


jfuller - have you seen this depressing claim about your apposite literary allusion? I refuse to believe.
posted by Abiezer at 5:05 PM on January 23, 2009


I've been here just over 3 years, which is a bit mad because that's longer than any job I've ever had, for one thing. I stumbled across MeFi at a bit of a lowpoint and loose end, when I goofed off a lot and was looking for something to read. I think it came up in a Google search or got linked off BoingBoing or something equally 2005. I lurked for about six months then ponied up the cash to join, which was only the second ever thing I'd paid for on the web (the first was a Flickr account). I've gone through bursts of intense participation and written tens of thousands of words on here - even on a quiet week I check in pretty much daily. For a good long time recently MeFi became a bit of a coping/avoidance thing for me, as I procrastinated endlessly at work and home. Now I'm chilling a bit, trying to stay out of the 'socialised healthcare is for commies' type threads and loving it. I really, really want to go to a meetup - somehow doesn't feel right that I haven't managed one yet.

So yeah, I love you too Metafilter.
posted by Happy Dave at 5:10 PM on January 23, 2009


Did anyone else read cortex's comment & think maybe he was just qualifying his statement, not saying "I don't smoke" but instead "I'm not always high?" That might be a point of data for your redshift/blueshift, there.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:32 PM on January 23, 2009


I heard Metafilter was into field hockey players.
posted by jokeefe at 5:37 PM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


I mean, really, something smells off.



Oh, it's Astro Zombie. Never mind.

posted by Pronoiac at 5:50 PM on January 23, 2009


know whio reeeeeally loves Metafilter? tehloki. Happy birthday, braaaaaaah!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 7:08 PM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'm not sure when I started reading Metafilter, but I remember reading the 9/11 thread as it happened, so it was before then. That's such a long time. It struck me the other day that I can think of hardly any non-person (an object, institution, hobby, pet, brand, etc.) that has played a role in my life for so long.
posted by painquale at 7:26 PM on January 23, 2009


scalefree: Metafilter is an instantiation of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. It's that kind of place.

Y'know what? I was reading this thread with a warm fuzzy feeling in my brain and heart and thinking about how MetaFilter has been the only community I've been part of solidly for the last 8 years (I've moved back and forth across the Atlantic) and thinking about all the awesome people I've met and become friends with through MetaFilter and about all the times I've found myself raving to random people about how great this site is and then someone fucking drops a reference to the short story that pretty much made me decide that I should chase my dream and become a writer (that and Paul Auster's Moon Palace and Hand to Mouth) and I think:

HOLY FUCK! JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I COULDN'T LOVE THIS PLACE ANY MORE THAN I ALREADY DO!

And then I welled up with tears.
posted by Kattullus at 8:15 PM on January 23, 2009


And the next thing you know....

Happy birthday, tehloki. And skwt: your first comment in your own thread is probably one of the best comments I've ever read.
posted by Dumsnill at 8:18 PM on January 23, 2009


Though it's not literally true, I feel like I started using Metafilter in 1982.

Yeah, I feel like I met Metafilter back in 1993 through the guys* I used to hang out with in high school. Articulate and thoughtful, liked stuff like BBSes and and Civilization, generally up until four in the morning.

* Plus two of us non-guys.

Happy birthday, tehloki!
posted by salvia at 8:21 PM on January 23, 2009


it's tehloki's birthday?!??

right, i'm off to favourite 100 of his comments; who's with me?
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:26 PM on January 23, 2009


what? who are you? how did you get in here
posted by tehloki at 8:26 PM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


We are the people who love you.
posted by Dumsnill at 8:28 PM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


> have you seen this depressing claim about your apposite literary allusion? I refuse to believe.

Why no, I hadn't seen it. But I believe it on sight. Nashe definitely intended "hair," and all those citations of the "air" version are just Al Bloom-style misreadings. And since they've all been accompanied by misattributions to Nashe, that means nobody has formally and for the record said "brightness falls from the air." Yet.

I'm not making any unseemly rush to grab it, but it's quite the golden earring still to be lying around on the beach unclaimed after all these hundreds of years. If nobody else has claimed to have said it by morning, I'm going to. Arrrr!
posted by jfuller at 8:29 PM on January 23, 2009


Kattullus: "And then I welled up with tears."

Harrumph. Some Viking.
posted by team lowkey at 12:32 AM on January 24, 2009 [1 favorite]


Guys, I fucking love MetaFilter.
posted by carsonb at 9:43 AM on January 26, 2009


team lowkey: Harrumph. Some Viking.

Because of the great personal trauma inflicted by the shame of my eyes watering I spent the next 24 hours vomiting and wishing I were dead.

Well, either that or my attachment to MetaFilter has grown so symbiotic that having it go down caused my body to break out in fever and dry heaving.
posted by Kattullus at 10:02 AM on January 26, 2009


Don't let Kattullus fool you. Vomiting to him is like what coughing is to the rest of us. He's only saying all this so we'll feel less intimidated.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:50 AM on January 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


The clear message here is that Metafilter just needs some space right now.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:22 AM on January 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


Sweetest post ever.
posted by lunit at 12:18 PM on January 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


Dude, Metafilter is my Thunderdome.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:21 AM on January 27, 2009 [1 favorite]


We're fighting for who doesn't get to leave?
posted by ersatz at 5:36 AM on January 27, 2009


What I'm saying is, nobody's comments are gonna make me leave. Nobody'll flame me out, ever. You're gonna have to kill me to get me off this site. It's just SO. GOOD.

Also, I look hella hott in a metal outfit. Gman, this comment's for you and all the other boyzoners.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:12 AM on January 27, 2009


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