Metafilter poster gets cranky

February 12, 2002 9:45 AM

Sometimes, if it's late enough, even the best amongst us gets cranky -- while I would never suggest emoticons outright, some kind of 'poster mood indicator' might smooth out a lot of misunderstandings and help MeFi in it's scale up problems.
posted by victors to feature requests at 9:45 AM (25 comments total)

I think that's a terrible idea. >: (

Seriously, what would that do to help things? If someone says something snarky out of outright crankiness, then they can be a big enough person to post an apology or a note explaining that they didn't mean to snark. Just like Matt did in that MeTa thread.

We're all grown-ups here. Well, most of us anyway. And, now, relax and watch the mind-numbing flood of emoticons that you have unleashed scroll down your screen and into MeTa history. Not to be snarky or anything.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:57 AM on February 12, 2002

Coming soon: 'what music are you listening to?' under every post.
posted by darukaru at 10:19 AM on February 12, 2002

I never understood why people add those fancy punctuation marks only at the end of sentences. Why not put them the beginning instead, so we feel their mindset/mood/frame of mind/whatever ahead of time.
posted by Voyageman at 10:34 AM on February 12, 2002

Well I am sometimes annoying and I've tried Matt's patience before, many times. Most of them were never made public, thank God. He's always been big about it, as he is with all the other regular nuisances, as long as we're well-meaning and make some progress by learning to stick with the rules and the spirit.

I know one day he'll crack and really let me have it but, considering my negative balance, I forgive him in advance. And this itself, I bet, is probably annoying too...but what can I do? If we can't be ourselves on MetaFilter where can we be?

If everybody followed Matt's posting standard - considerate but forthright and honest, without being formally polite(unlike me) - everything would be dandy and there would be no need for emoticons. ;) Er...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:44 AM on February 12, 2002

Coming soon: 'what music are you listening to ? ' under every post

it's been done already...remember when I was on my "Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack jag?

How soon we forget... thank God!
posted by bunnyfire at 11:03 AM on February 12, 2002

Why not put them the beginning instead

!Like Spanish!
posted by adampsyche at 11:13 AM on February 12, 2002

you're all a bunch of icky, snarky people.

:-P




posted by victors at 11:23 AM on February 12, 2002

who's being snarky?
posted by jcterminal at 12:11 PM on February 12, 2002

Icky, yes. Snarky, maybe.
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:57 PM on February 12, 2002

even the best amongst us gets cranky

For what it's worth, I don't think Matt was cranky here.

For some strange reason I was reading MetaTalk archives last night and noticed a trend. Truth is, Matt has had a consistent policy here and oddly, most of the stuff we take for granted today were MetaTalk discussion pieces a year or two ago.

This quote of Matt being "cranky" seems more like his insistence on a certain shell MetaFilter is. Like Michelangelo, Matt is simply chipping away at the e-marble to bring out the inner sculpture.

posted by BlueTrain at 1:09 PM on February 12, 2002

User messed up on a psychedelic toad.
posted by dong_resin at 1:16 PM on February 12, 2002

;-)

I say we do it as long as somebody designs hip, cool MeFi (and MeTa!) emoticons a la Trillian.

/ ;-)
posted by briank at 1:21 PM on February 12, 2002

posted by jennyb at 1:45 PM on February 12, 2002

and poopyheads.
posted by victors at 1:45 PM on February 12, 2002

posted by evanizer at 3:11 PM on February 12, 2002

Why not just pick the assholes, make a list, and make them run through eight or nine clicks each asking a different question before the post goes through

1. Are you angry?

2. You're trolling again aren't you?

3. Did you write fuckhead again?

4. Seriously, are you an idiot?

etc

posted by skallas at 3:38 PM on February 12, 2002

or just a .killfile
posted by skallas at 3:38 PM on February 12, 2002

Can someone please get D. R. to Amphibians Anonymous?
posted by bunnyfire at 3:38 PM on February 12, 2002

I thought the accepted term was "fuckwits," not "fuckheads."
posted by Lynsey at 4:01 PM on February 12, 2002

Coming soon: 'what music are you listening to?' under every post.

And a "what are you wearing?" emoticon.

User messed up on a psychedelic toad.

I'm not not licking toads.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:34 PM on February 12, 2002

We're gonna be on a very special Dateline.
We're gonna be on a 20/20 you can't afford to miss.
We're gonna make all the parents nervous.
`Cause we gave the venomous toad a kiss.
posted by dong_resin at 4:57 PM on February 12, 2002

..........Jer-ry! ......Jer-RY ! .......Jer-RY!.......

or Geraldo: "when toads go bad......"

But try to hold out for Montel. He'll try to get you into a treatment program.




posted by bunnyfire at 5:05 PM on February 12, 2002

misunderstandings need to be smoothed out with communication, not mood icons.

and i also don't think that post was at all cranky.

Kafkaesque nailed it with the first post here.
posted by th3ph17 at 5:44 PM on February 12, 2002

In my more or less quick reading of victors's post I immediately thought he was suggesting that matt invent, develop and distribute a "mood indicator" attachment, perhaps in the form of a finger cuff, which one would wear when posting to Metafilter. It would automatically read your emotional status (based on some kind of physioelectric thing that, as I say, Matt would invent), transmit a reading to the server which would then assign perhaps an appropriate font color to your post.

I need to stop reading Metafilter when drowsy...
posted by BT at 9:00 PM on February 12, 2002

Not really that much sillier than the suggestion of using emoticons here at the `Filter.
posted by dong_resin at 1:13 AM on February 13, 2002