Metafilter 10th Anniversary party line and voice mailbox

July 13, 2009 8:13 PM

Metafilter 10th Anniversary party line and voice mailbox. Numbers inside!

At the suggestion of several denizens of #mefi, I have set up a Metafilter 10th Anniversary party line and a 10th Anniversary voicemail shoutout box.

The phone number for the party line is [phone].

The phone number for the voicemail box is [phone]. This number is toll-free and can only be reached from the USA and possibly Canada. If anybody would like, I can supply a standard worldwide-reachable number for this mailbox in addition to the existing number.

Obviously, the voicemails are being recorded. The conference is being recorded too. All calls and comments may be used for lulz or other purposes and may be disseminated to anyone! You will be reminded of this upon calling.

Feel free to call these numbers anytime, although I would imagine the party line will be most active during and near the times of the meetups.

[Note: some additional info in this comment below. -c]

posted by Juffo-Wup to MetaFilter gatherings at 8:13 PM (65 comments total)

I'm on a party line,
Wonderin' all the time,
Who's on the other end?

sounds fun.
posted by thatelsagirl at 8:22 PM on July 13

Phreak.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:24 PM on July 13

This is the cost of a normal phone call, right?
posted by kldickson at 8:28 PM on July 13

Yes, the area code 269 number is the cost of a normal phone call to Kalamazoo, Michigan. The 866 number is toll-free from within the United States (and maybe Canada?); the same price as any other 800/877/866 number.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 8:30 PM on July 13

We can either record or listen to the voicemails, right?
posted by kldickson at 8:41 PM on July 13

I don't have a facility for listening to the voicemails over the phone; I was planning on publishing them online once the meetups have concluded.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 8:49 PM on July 13

/me warms up the Arnold soundboard.
posted by carsonb at 8:50 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

Why does this creep me out?
posted by Item at 8:58 PM on July 13

I'm currently the only person in this conference. Someone join me.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:04 PM on July 13

Well if no one is joining me, I"m playing the logdrivers' waltz for the benefit of future listeners.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:05 PM on July 13

I actually appreciate this, because I (unfortunately) won't be able to attend any of the 10th anniversary meetups and I wasn't really looking forward to making too many cell phone calls to noisy, happy drunks in other states just to let them know how much I wish I was there with them. Now I can do it once, at my leisure.
posted by yhbc at 9:11 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

I think a reading of a thread or a favorite comment would be awesome. Like story time for grown-up meta nerds.
posted by iamkimiam at 9:38 PM on July 13

Party line is fun! I hope it only recorded when I was saying really cool things.
posted by thirteenkiller at 9:41 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

I'm great at drunk texting, I can only imagine what my drunk voicemail would sound like.
posted by crossoverman at 9:47 PM on July 13

Oh thirteenkiller and I have a brilliant plan for the voice mails!
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:02 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

I am to be kept far, far away from this.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:26 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

Righto—I'll just put this in place of all those ex-girlfriend numbers lingering in the cell phone. Drunken "Ffffffaack you, I shit in your bathtub!" comin' up.
posted by klangklangston at 10:58 PM on July 13

oh god this is going to be fun
posted by little e at 12:22 AM on July 14

phonesex.metafilter.com
posted by little e at 12:22 AM on July 14

I just spent 5 minutes in the party line giving a Gene Ray oratory. It sounds so much .....better.. in person.
posted by Avenger at 12:41 AM on July 14

Juffo-Wup: This number is toll-free and can only be reached from the USA and possibly Canada.

I once got an 866 number to work for free from a payphone in Pamplona, Spain, using an old cancelled US phone card. However, I was somewhat drunk at the time, and don't really remember what the hell it was I did.
posted by koeselitz at 1:15 AM on July 14 [2 favorites]

Wow, this is awesome. Who is going to handle the Victrola recording?
posted by DU at 4:55 AM on July 14 [1 favorite]

*waits patiently for 2am drunk call*
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:00 AM on July 14

I am currently the only person in this conference. I'm so lonely.
posted by little e at 6:02 AM on July 14

*makes plans for 9am drunk call*
posted by little e at 6:05 AM on July 14

If anybody would like, I can supply a standard worldwide-reachable number for this mailbox in addition to the existing number.

Yes, please.
posted by allkindsoftime at 6:17 AM on July 14

I'll be calling from a roller coaster!
posted by Spatch at 7:42 AM on July 14

Sweet! Yet another public platform for me to use to spread the word about Planet X and the reptilian invasion!

Also, drunken revelry!


But seriously. We've been invaded by iguana people.



Fortunately, they brought BOOZE! WOOOO!
posted by quin at 7:55 AM on July 14

Telephone Rock!
posted by mdonley at 7:57 AM on July 14 [1 favorite]

I was invited to Google Voice then disqualified for being Canadian.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:18 AM on July 14

I'm in Canada and connected to the party line just fine.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:42 AM on July 14

Awesome. It's like 1990 all over again.
posted by scalefree at 9:26 AM on July 14

^{^}kldickson: "This is the cost of a normal phone call, right?"

I don't think you're going to hear anything "normal" coming out of this, not by a long shot.
posted by not_on_display at 9:55 AM on July 14

It's so lonely on the party line ...
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:00 AM on July 14

I have saved some markov filter results. Perhaps I'll read a sampling thereof.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:09 AM on July 14

I have set up an additional number for the voicemail box. The number is [phone] and is reachable worldwide.

Also, the partyline and voicemail recordings are now automatically posted to the web at http://mefiphone.inactivex.net. The website automatically adds new recordings every 5-10 minutes.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 11:28 AM on July 14 [3 favorites]

I have the biggest file so far. I win. There's a free-t-shirt, right?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:00 PM on July 14

Oops...nope...second biggest file. Can I have the T-shirt if the biggest file person can't fulfill their responsibilities as wearer of the t-shirt?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:01 PM on July 14

Love MSG001....set these up as favouritable!
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:04 PM on July 14

So, who wants to get together with me for a party line jam session sometime tonight?
Seriously. I'll bring the electric ukulele.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 12:36 PM on July 14

Wow. So this combines "talking on the telephone" and "being social" into a "things that cause brundlefly anxiety" gumbo.
posted by brundlefly at 1:08 PM on July 14 [1 favorite]

Oh wow, who's this? It's an incarnation of the phrase

so lonely.
posted by Lush at 1:28 PM on July 14

That's me.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:38 PM on July 14

Work has been very slow and very hungover, today.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:39 PM on July 14

Juffo-Wup: This number is toll-free and can only be reached from the USA and possibly Canada.

I have discovered that using Skype Out (if you have at least 2 euros in your account) allows you to make toll free calls to the USA for FREE - perfect for being on hold with the credit card company or the banks
posted by infini at 1:44 PM on July 14

PARTY LINE LIVE STREAM PLZ KTHXBI
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:06 PM on July 14

Does it save the incoming phone number along with the voicemails/party line recordings?
posted by inigo2 at 3:39 PM on July 14

Does it save the incoming phone number along with the voicemails/party line recordings?

The system saves and very explicitly associates the incoming phone number associated with each voicemail message.

It records the phone numbers of the callers to the conference bridge but does not automatically correlate calling line numbers with the particular conferences they participated in.

I was thinking it might be best to refrain from publishing the phone numbers of callers. :)

PARTY LINE LIVE STREAM PLZ KTHXB

I'll look into this tomorrow. It should be feasible.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 4:36 PM on July 14

Still the only person in this conference.
posted by little e at 4:47 PM on July 14

Now I'm the only person in conference.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:53 PM on July 14

Brandon, your dinner's on... when are you gonna get off that conference call?? I made homemade mac-n-cheese.

IT'S GETTING COLD! :(

-Brandon's 410th e-spouse
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:58 PM on July 14

WHO WAS THAT JUST NOW
posted by thirteenkiller at 7:46 PM on July 14

-Brandon's 410th e-spouse

You know you'll always be 320 in my heart.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:53 PM on July 14

All alone again.

Barren barrel bottom.

Conference call cold.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:02 PM on July 14

Aw man I would have called in again but I had to go to work. Maybe tomorrow.
posted by little e at 10:49 PM on July 14

Aw B, you always were the romantic one of my many pretend spouses. xo
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:03 AM on July 15

You know, now that I'm hearing messages from other mefites I'm now realizing that holy shit we are insane people.
posted by Avenger at 1:46 PM on July 15

No. We are sane people reacting to an insane environment.

Or so the leprechauns living under my mouse pad would have me believe. I'm not completely convinced though, and I got in a rather heated debate with them on the subject just yesterday.
posted by quin at 2:33 PM on July 15

HEY DOES ANYBODY WANT TO HAVE A PARTY ON THE PARTY LINE NOW
posted by little e at 3:21 PM on July 15

I need to get an iPhone just so I have that "Find My Phone" feature.

Cats probably hid it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:54 PM on July 15

Hey I sang a song and it didn't get published, does that mean I have to do it now that I'm actually pissed?
posted by h00py at 5:03 AM on July 16

I read the entries on irregardless, beg the question, and pants from my new dictionary for you all, but they also never showed up on the website. It's probably just as well the world remains unaware of my enthusiasm for my new dictionary.
posted by little e at 5:33 AM on July 16

I feel SO ALONE IN HERE!
posted by The Whelk at 8:44 AM on July 16

probably just as well the world remains unaware of my enthusiasm for my new dictionary.

Ohh, no! Everything should be up there now. The autopublishing process was a little bit broken. It still is, but I manually uploaded everything. No more secrets!
posted by Juffo-Wup at 8:47 AM on July 16

THERE IS TOTALLY A WAITRESSES COVER IN THE VOICE MAIL

THIS IS NOW THE BEST THING EVER IN EVER.
posted by The Whelk at 8:50 AM on July 16