brand new brand new day ?

June 8, 2010 11:58 AM

Have people been fighting a lot more on mefi lately ?

I say this as i've noticed a lot of people leaving recently, flaming out, fighting with each other etc

Is there any possibility of a brand new brand new day type situation coming around - or has that been done already ? It might make things a bit better. Perhaps someone may have a better Idea of how we can resolve conflicts.

posted by sgt.serenity to MetaFilter-Related at 11:58 AM (233 comments total)

And just where the fuck has the Obama administration been while all this has been building up?!
posted by barrett caulk at 11:59 AM on June 8, 2010 [37 favorites]

All I know is that I got to post in the thread before it gets closed.
posted by GuyZero at 12:00 PM on June 8, 2010

I have a good idea:

People need to stop taking themselves so fucking seriously.
posted by greekphilosophy at 12:00 PM on June 8, 2010 [52 favorites]

Have people been fighting a lot more on mefi lately ?

Well, they started it.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:01 PM on June 8, 2010 [10 favorites]

Barrett's got a point, this may be Obama's Katrina....

and, what's a "brand new brand new day" anyway?
posted by HuronBob at 12:02 PM on June 8, 2010

It seems like a normal amount of fighting but we've had a few threads lately that have examined people leaving specifically which has highlighted that sort of thing more. People leave the site for all sorts of reasons, and many of them come back. I think the last 4-5 days have had a high number of MeFi posts which turned into MeTa posts where people have been jerks to each other and a few crabby people being crabby all over everywhere, so it's a blip but it's not something way out of the ordinary, to me.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:02 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, that was poor timing on the close of the last metatalk thread.
posted by Grither at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2010

All I know is that I got to post in the thread before it gets closed.

well if theres some constructive solutions to the problem put forward in the thread i'm sure it would benefit the site. I'm certainly not going to try to fight anyone anymore.
posted by sgt.serenity at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2010

Metafilter is funny. Sometimes I'll get really upset about political things - like the Flotilla - and I'll just read the threads about those things on Metafilter. After a few days I'm like, "Wow, Metafilter has sure been fighty lately." And then I'll just start reading the posts about art and music, and I'll be like, "Metafilter has been awesome lately!"
posted by roll truck roll at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2010 [12 favorites]

Perhaps someone may have a better Idea of how we can resolve conflicts.

Double elimination rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Spock-Lizard.
posted by iamabot at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

As on so many other websites, people have discovered that it feels good to get a lot of comments, and the best way to do that is be inflammatory and incisive. I think for every year that Internet communities grow, people need to be more on their guard about not responding to clearly irrational anger. Just back off and don't let it spiral out of control.
posted by shii at 12:04 PM on June 8, 2010

Also, I'm a big fan of the flameout threads, but seriously, is it that hard to just not visit a website for a couple weeks? Do you really need to flameout and close your account to accomplish that?

Can't we all just get along??
posted by Grither at 12:05 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

We're just coming around to summer here in America.
posted by boo_radley at 12:06 PM on June 8, 2010

Note: fighting usually brings about recipie exchanges. Stop raining on our cooking parade.
posted by stormpooper at 12:06 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

Perhaps someone may have a better Idea of how we can resolve conflicts.

Them's fightin' words. Put 'em up! Put 'em up!!
posted by Floydd at 12:08 PM on June 8, 2010

boo_radley: "We're just coming around to summer here in America"

This site isn't only in america, STOP BEING SO AMERICA-CENTRIST, A-HOLE.
posted by Grither at 12:08 PM on June 8, 2010

As on so many other websites, people have discovered that it feels good to get a lot of comments, and the best way to do that is be inflammatory and incisive.

I really think the people who post things that are controversial or "fighty" really do it because they care about the topic and want to talk about it someplace that isn't Digg or HuffPo, not because they're looking for sheer numbers of comments. We're lucky in that we don't have to paginate or shill for page clicks so while these threads go on we can say "Well people seem to like talking about [or arguing about] that topic" but when threads don't garner a lot of comments, there's not some sort of financial incentive on our part to say "hey people, please fight more, our revenue stream depends on it"

I can't imagine what it must be like to be a site like HuffPo where you're basically baiting people with your headlines so you can get more clickthroughs. I used to really love that site and now I feel dirty when I read it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:09 PM on June 8, 2010 [30 favorites]

maybe it's the weird weather. that's what I blame everything on, anyways.
posted by angrycat at 12:10 PM on June 8, 2010

Yeah, that was poor timing on the close of the last metatalk thread.

It needed closing, pronto, and I closed it as quickly and as politely as I could from my iPhone. Nothing about that setup was good, I'm nominally on vacation and being an antisocial jerk during lunch at this point.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:10 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Grither: "boo_radley: "We're just coming around to summer here in America"

This site isn't only in america, STOP BEING SO AMERICA-CENTRIST, A-HOLE"

Y'all are just future colonies who ain't know it yet.
posted by The White Hat at 12:10 PM on June 8, 2010

A while back I decided to make it a personal policy of mine to avoid political threads. I definitely don't comment in them anymore, and I try not to even read them (though I still get sucked in from time to time). There's still plenty of great stuff on MeFi to enjoy without getting bored.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 12:10 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

I mean in Philly it's gone to like 65 to 90 back to 65 in the course of like a week. Shit's fucked up.
posted by angrycat at 12:11 PM on June 8, 2010 [4 favorites]

Grither: "This site isn't only in america, STOP BEING SO AMERICA-CENTRIST, A-HOLE."

Oh wait, this is the brand new brand new day thread, my bad.

I love you, boo.
posted by Grither at 12:11 PM on June 8, 2010

Um what does this have to do with Lady Gaga?
posted by iconomy at 12:12 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

Is this the thread where we whip it out?
posted by dirigibleman at 12:12 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Metafilter is funny. Sometimes I'll get really upset about political things - like the Flotilla - and I'll just read the threads about those things on Metafilter. After a few days I'm like, "Wow, Metafilter has sure been fighty lately." And then I'll just start reading the posts about art and music, and I'll be like, "Metafilter has been awesome lately!"

Yeah, I've found there is a correlation between whether or not I think Metafilter has been extra grar grar and the sorts of posts I spend time in. If you hang out in MeTa and/or threads dealing with circumcision or Israel or Lady Gaga or vegans or hipsters or whatever, it'll seem like MeFi is super grar lately! But if you hang out in posts about, say, the noises of the insides of flies, you'll probably be like 'man, MeFi is awesome lately.'

Somewhere in there is a lesson about making FPPs and good faith.
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:12 PM on June 8, 2010

Wow, this egg salad sandwich is super tasty. I never met an egg salad I didn't like, I don't think. My grandma puts roughly chopped sweet pickles in her egg salad. Anybody got crazy ideas of things to put in?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:13 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm just saying
(a) it's hot
(2) I'm crabby from my neighbors yelling at me to stop wallowing in a kiddy pool while I compute.
posted by boo_radley at 12:14 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well, there is one user I've noticed recently who consistently takes over threads with many long, rambling rants that seem like they're designed solely to cause a ruckus. That user could probably use a talking-to.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:15 PM on June 8, 2010

cortex: "It needed closing, pronto, and I closed it as quickly and as politely as I could from my iPhone. Nothing about that setup was good, I'm nominally on vacation and being an antisocial jerk during lunch at this point."

I know it wasn't on purpose, it just played out in an unfortunate manner. No worries! Happy vacation!
posted by Grither at 12:15 PM on June 8, 2010

I'm crabby from my neighbors yelling at me to stop wallowing in a kiddy pool while I compute.

Do you need me to make a call?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:15 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

That user could probably use a talking-to.

Name names, dammit!

I'm crabby from my neighbors yelling at me to stop wallowing in a kiddy pool while I compute.

Admit it, it was their pool, wasn't it?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:17 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

I mean in Philly it's gone to like 65 to 90 back to 65 in the course of like a week. Shit's fucked up.

So what you're saying is, for now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring?
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:17 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Ooh, just taking this opportunity to mention that whomever got that print of sgt. serenity's bovine art (Moohaha) that was auctioned to benefit loq is one lucky sumbitch. $31 was a steal, and if I'd seen it sooner you would've paid a lot more.
posted by carsonb at 12:20 PM on June 8, 2010

Ambrosia Voyeur: "Anybody got crazy ideas of things to put in?"

The key to a good cream salad is making your own dressing. Combine by vigorous whisking a cup of oil (I prefer safflower) with an egg yolk and 1 Tsp dry mustard and 1 Tsp of japanese sushi vinegar. Take two boiled eggs and an equivalent portion of tsukemono minced. I prefer cucumbers and daikon for the tsukemono, but whatever vegetable you like. Fold in your mayo. Allow to sit in fridge. When making sandwiches, top the filling with sesame seeds or furikake.
posted by boo_radley at 12:20 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

I never met an egg salad I didn't like, I don't think. My grandma puts roughly chopped sweet pickles in her egg salad. Anybody got crazy ideas of things to put in?

It's not really crazy, but: the secret ingredient for good, basic egg salad is a nice dollop of ketchup. You want to stop just before it turns the stuff pink. Makes it nice and salty and a hint sweet.

Om nom nom.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:20 PM on June 8, 2010

Anybody got crazy ideas of things to put in?

Peppers. Really hot peppers that would make your grandma sweat and swear. And pot, to mellow her out, so she's all "Fuck, yeah. Bring it on. I can already feel my asshole burning." So that's peppers and pot egg salad.
posted by pracowity at 12:22 PM on June 8, 2010 [8 favorites]

Pickled beets are pretty good on an egg salad sandwich. You don't put 'em IN the egg salad. You put 'em ON the sandwich.
posted by cgc373 at 12:22 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Greg Nog: "turned those devilled eggs into scotch eggs "

I was disappointed to learn that there is no scotch involved in "scotch eggs".

They still look delicious, though.
posted by Grither at 12:23 PM on June 8, 2010

And if you're going to add peppers as Greg suggests, I like to dice up some bacon (lardon, not rashers) and add that and a tiny pinch of ranch seasoning (a tiny pinch, you don't want it to taste overtly of ranch) to the mayo before folding.
posted by boo_radley at 12:25 PM on June 8, 2010

odinsdream: "I read this as commute initially, and thought "well, that is a bit unsafe really.""

I imagine computing in a pool could lead to some nasty shocks, though. I think his neighbours are just looking out for him!
posted by Grither at 12:25 PM on June 8, 2010

jessamyn: "Do you need me to make a call"

Oh, hey, congrats on your thing, btw.
posted by boo_radley at 12:25 PM on June 8, 2010

Not to be fighty, but my favorite addition to egg salad (and tuna salad, and oil and vinegar dressing, and lots more) is Dijon mustard. Also have a thing for chopped celery and chopped sweet white raw onion. MMMMMM.
posted by bearwife at 12:26 PM on June 8, 2010

I'm crabby from my neighbors yelling at me to stop wallowing in a kiddy pool while I compute.

Maybe put on some swim trunks or something- that could be it.
posted by small_ruminant at 12:27 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

Those are good places for Dijon, bearwife, but Dijon—and celery and onion—aren't CRAZY. CRAZY is Pretzel M&M's. Or old sweatpants. Or a '52 Vincent Black Lightning. THOSE are crazy things to put in egg salad.
posted by cgc373 at 12:31 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

I like to mix in roasted garlic and chiptole peppers, as well as a wee wee

I never would have believed this, but it added a nice salty kick!
posted by dirtdirt at 12:31 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

if I'd seen it sooner you would've paid a lot more.

We only hit my max bid on 2 items, I woulda been fine with paying more.
posted by nomisxid at 12:31 PM on June 8, 2010

Sorry dudes, I was in a national park all last week so I couldn't keep y'all focused on a common enemy
posted by klangklangston at 12:32 PM on June 8, 2010

Foo, it's sardines and green olives that go in egg salad.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 12:33 PM on June 8, 2010

"I'd like to have an argument, please."
posted by entropicamericana at 12:34 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

There are certain people here, and in life more generally, that make everything personal and therefore react with emotion when they come across something disagreeable. I, in my infinite wisdom, tend to hold in reserve a measure of self-doubt, even in my most deeply-held beliefs. Therefore, I rarely find myself getting angry over opinions I disagree with. I find the discussion here much more engaging when the personalities involved are supple rather than rigid in their thinking and actively engage with other people rather than attempt to prove they are correct.
posted by Falconetti at 12:35 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

jessamyn: I can't imagine what it must be like to be a site like HuffPo where you're basically baiting people with your headlines so you can get more clickthroughs. I used to really love that site and now I feel dirty when I read it.

I'm so glad to hear somebody say this. I feel the same way. I'd be more comfortable reading Perez Hilton or TMZ these days.

(not doing either)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:36 PM on June 8, 2010

Ooh, just taking this opportunity to mention that whomever got that print of sgt. serenity's bovine art (Moohaha) that was auctioned to benefit loq is one lucky sumbitch. $31 was a steal, and if I'd seen it sooner you would've paid a lot more.


A steal indeed, yes it was - its worth a lot more than that tbh - but what people do for charity isnt my concern. It's what i do that counts.
posted by sgt.serenity at 12:38 PM on June 8, 2010

I think it's just that we've had like 18 threads about Israel and Palestine. They make people go crazy. I'm not sure where the dirtynumbangelboy came from, but that seems like a more regular-ass flame out than something tied to rest of the noise on the site.
posted by chunking express at 12:38 PM on June 8, 2010

No way, Falconetti. I'm absolutely right about the idea of putting a motorcycle into egg salad being crazy.
posted by cgc373 at 12:38 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have a bad habit of starting with a project premise - making, say, egg salad - and quickly devolving down the ingredient chain till I've decided to grow my own chickens for the eggs. And grain for the chickens. And breeding earthworms for the dirt the grain is in.

Anyway, I have not made egg salad recently but have made salad dressings, and I have to say that using homemade mayonnaise is really key. It goes bad in about 4 days and is a huge pain in the ass to make, but it's sooo worth it. You also get the satisfaction of knowing just what goes into mayonnaise, so you don't use too much of it. And then it goes bad because you keep thinking of all the fat in it.

MAYONNAISE
1 egg yolk
1/2-3/4 cup oil
1-2 tbl. lemon juice or vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

You're really gonna want a stand mixer for this.

1) Whip egg yolk until it lightens in color and looks a bit velvety.
2) Add the lemon juice or vinegar.
3) Start adding your oil. SLOWLY. You're still going too fast. Seriously, get out an eyedropper. Keep that mixer going.
4) After you've added about half your oil, you can start pouring it in in a gentle trickle.
5) Salt and pepper to taste, plus any other flavorings you might care to add.

Now that you have mayonnaise, you can make

RANCH DRESSING

...I have lost my recipe for ranch dressing. I remember it had sour cream and maybe some cheese or something.

With the ranch dressing, it is time to make a

SIDE SALAD

Seriously, you need a recipe for this?
posted by backseatpilot at 12:38 PM on June 8, 2010 [5 favorites]

Look, if I disagree with you, it's because you are wrong.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:39 PM on June 8, 2010 [4 favorites]

Oh, but for egg salad? Those little pink and green and white and blue marshmallows. Yum!
posted by carsonb at 12:43 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Someone needs to do a doctoral thesis on conflict resolution via recipe sharing. Dare I say we've got something for the Israel/Palestine situation.

Hummus for all. My invoice is in the mail, Middle East.
posted by joe lisboa at 12:43 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

(a) I left the site for years, not for any particular reason, but after being back for a while I have found that the character has changed. Not a bad thing, necessarily, but changed. There have always been flameouts and badly done subjects, but I think the increased size of the place lends itself to people wanting to make a big ruckus to become a "known" member.

(b) I hate egg salad, yet adore deviled eggs. What's that about?
posted by JoanArkham at 12:43 PM on June 8, 2010

Egg salad?

I put potato chips on top. I have no idea why, just been doing that since I was little.

THEN, when we lived in South America, I went to tortilla chips on top. Even weirder.
posted by functionequalsform at 12:44 PM on June 8, 2010

odinsdream: Someone needs to do a doctoral thesis on conflict resolution via recipe sharing. Dare I say we've got something for the Israel/Palestine situation.

I knew that whole "putting bacon in everything" craze from a few years back was going to come back to bite us in the ass somehow.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:45 PM on June 8, 2010 [8 favorites]

I'm doing my part by deleting about 3/4ths of my comments un-posted. That, and a lot of take-out pizza and burgers.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:45 PM on June 8, 2010

Greg Nog, is there anything you can't do?
posted by Nabubrush at 12:48 PM on June 8, 2010

Hummus for all. My invoice is in the mail, Middle East.

Don't you know humus makes you stupid?
posted by Nothing... and like it at 12:51 PM on June 8, 2010

Hummus for all. My invoice is in the mail, Middle East.

And to go with the hummus, a huge thing of pita bread. And, then, because you'll have some pita bread left over otherwise, this:

Baked Spinach and Artichoke Spread

1/4 cup raw cashew nuts
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
10 ounce package chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup artichoke hearts, canned or frozen and thawed, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, grind cashew nuts to a powder. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Add the garlic slices to food processor and pulse to chop, stopping to scrape down the side sides of the processor once or twice. Add spinach and pulse a few times to combine with the garlic. Transfer to the bowl with the ground cashews.

Stir in the artichokes, salt, thyme, white pepper, allspice and balsamic vinegar. Add mayonnaise and mix well.

Transfer to a small, oiled casserole dish. Bake for 25 minutes.
posted by zinfandel at 12:53 PM on June 8, 2010 [17 favorites]

functionequalsform:
I put potato chips on top. I have no idea why, just been doing that since I was little.

Why? CRUNCH.

For some people egg salad is somehow infinitely better if there is crunchiness involved. I have no idea why but I am one of these people.

For me, as an adult, this has been solved by my boyfriend by always putting celery in it.

Though I will also put chips on a sandwich if we have them in the house.

He also puts in olives, not for crunchiness but for awesomeness.

Also, if we're talking awesome egg recipes made by my cuter half, chipotle deviled eggs would be worth marrying him for if we were the marrying kind.

(not someplace where it's not legal)

posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:53 PM on June 8, 2010

posted by zinfandel at 12:57 PM on June 8, 2010

Oh, but for egg salad? Those little pink and green and white and blue marshmallows.

My stomach actually clenched when I read that. Eggs are my number-one food I refuse to eat, and marshmallows are in the top ten. I bet it looks cute and Easter-y, though!
posted by Metroid Baby at 12:59 PM on June 8, 2010

Though I will also put chips on a sandwich if we have them in the house.

Why would you do that? The idea of putting chips is a sandwich just seems tantamount to heresy for me. If you need crunch, put some lettuce or pickles in.
posted by pecknpah at 12:59 PM on June 8, 2010

Someone needs to do a doctoral thesis on conflict resolution via recipe sharing. Dare I say we've got something for the Israel/Palestine situation.

We in the US love our aggression and imperialism, so I suggest that we conquer Egypt and sell their koshary to the Israelis and the Palestinians. They'll be too busy eating delicious koshary to fight!
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:02 PM on June 8, 2010

This thread has become jessamyn's Katrina.
posted by Danf at 1:02 PM on June 8, 2010 [4 favorites]

This thread has become jessamyn's Katrina.

How did you know how I feel about egg salad?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:04 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Devils Rancher: "I'm doing my part by deleting about 3/4ths of my comments un-posted. That, and a lot of take-out pizza and burgers."

I don't even type most of mine, but I'm sort of an unknown entity around here. If anyone were to ever notice me for anything, it would probably be for over-long answers in AskMe with more detail than anyone wants.
posted by JMOZ at 1:05 PM on June 8, 2010

Oh, and I'm sorry for anyone I offend, but I really dislike egg salad.
posted by JMOZ at 1:06 PM on June 8, 2010

Pee-Wee Herman's opinion of egg salad is basically the only right or good thing about Pee-Wee's Big Top Adventure.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:08 PM on June 8, 2010

Egg salad. Yuck.
posted by desuetude at 1:10 PM on June 8, 2010

I'm not sorry.
posted by desuetude at 1:10 PM on June 8, 2010

Before I left Metafilter a few years ago, I was way way too deeply involved in the politics of the site. I closed my account and pretty much vowed never to return. AskMe and Jobs were what dragged me back into the fold, and even though I've really tried to remain above the fray as best as I could, I find myself falling back into some old patterns.

That I once helped to cultivate a culture of rude and impolite discourse on this site, I have no doubts. That I've returned and find myself perpetuating it is frankly a bit of an embarrassment.
posted by crunchland at 1:11 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Okay, dissing on

chips on a sandwich,

egg salad, and

Big Top Pee-wee (the proper titlle)

in one thread. WTF Metafilter?!?!

I take back everything I ever said about people flaming out publicly being attention starved narcissists.

Because it is now ON!

posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:12 PM on June 8, 2010

Er, that's should be Big Top Pee-Wee. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is a classic.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:12 PM on June 8, 2010

I also find egg salad disgusting. I much prefer yegg salad. Oh, to dig into a nice slaw of dismembered safecrackers.
posted by Skot at 1:13 PM on June 8, 2010

I learned to shut up the day I realized that nothing I have to say matters. However some people take the opposite approach when they learn this about themselves.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:16 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms.
posted by Cranberry at 1:21 PM on June 8, 2010

How did you know how I feel about egg salad?

I don't care how you feel about egg salad. How you're going to stop the egg salad leak, and get it off all of those pelicans, is what I want to know.
posted by Danf at 1:23 PM on June 8, 2010

Sorry dudes, I was in a national park all last week so I couldn't keep y'all focused on a common enemy
posted by klangklangston at 12:32 PM on June 8

The Judean Peoples' Front?!
posted by toodleydoodley at 1:23 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Zip it.
posted by tigrefacile at 1:25 PM on June 8, 2010

a snake
posted by pracowity at 1:25 PM on June 8, 2010

So is that bacon thing officially over? Because it because such a beating after a while. Also, I put potato chips on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
posted by dead cousin ted at 1:26 PM on June 8, 2010

I just want someone (maybe grumblebee?) to write some awesomely long-winded defense of chips on a sandwich.

On preview: Chips on PB&J? What is wrong with you people?!
posted by pecknpah at 1:29 PM on June 8, 2010

OK, so last night I made a big ole salad, with some hard boiled eggs to slice on top. Especially while they're still warm, awesome. I also put on some crumbled goat cheese.

So as the wife and I were watching Treme on demand and eating some big ole salads, I was noticing that the crumbled goat cheese and the egg really went well together. And I said - and this is no lie:

"The next time I make egg salad, I'm throwing in a bunch of this crumbled goat cheese."

I haven't tried this, note. But damn, just the two together in salad was dee-lish.

Also, dice pickled jalapenos, then sort of squeeze them in a paper towel to get out most of the pickling juice, otherwise it's too runny. Or just use fresh.
posted by nevercalm at 1:33 PM on June 8, 2010

That I once helped to cultivate a culture of rude and impolite discourse on this site, I have no doubts. That I've returned and find myself perpetuating it is frankly a bit of an embarrassment.


You do it very well though : )
posted by sgt.serenity at 1:33 PM on June 8, 2010

Chips don't go in the sandwich, you boors.

*I HEREBY FLAME OUT*
posted by Mister_A at 1:39 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

sgt.serenity: "Is there any possibility of a brand new brand new day type situation coming around - or has that been done already ?"

This is a good idea. What should MetaFilter's Brand New Day name be? AbstractionSorter? We need to make sure no one knows it used to be us.
posted by charred husk at 1:39 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Egg Salad is pretty nasty.
posted by chunking express at 1:39 PM on June 8, 2010

Somebody once said in an AskMe response (that I can't find now) something like, "There are no Life Points for being right."

It was in the context of an AskMe from some dude who was young and read philosophy books and liked "debating" with people, and didn't get why he didn't have more friends or something, and I think the answer came fairly early in the responses. And I read it and thought, "Jesus, I wish someone had told me that when I was young, and that I'd been in a place to be able to understand it." It just really crystallized something that I think I've been learning all my adult life, and it's kind of become my mantra now for whenever I think someone else is an idiot and I open my mouth/put my fingers to the keyboard to say as much.

I still think I'm right and everyone else is wrong, and I still sometimes get caught up in arguing with people the way I did when I was 16 and reading Hume for the first time. But mostly I don't, and I think my life and my interactions with others are better for that.

(I do think the site has been more argumentative recently, and although I've always been more of a reader than a commenter, it makes me even more hesitant to join conversations here. For the record.)
posted by marginaliana at 1:40 PM on June 8, 2010 [18 favorites]

Note: fighting usually brings about recipie exchanges. Stop raining on our cooking parade.
posted by stormpooper at 2:06 PM on June 8 [1 favorite +] [!]

I just sent out my package for the MeFi Homebrew Swap! Hooray for fighting!
posted by slogger at 1:44 PM on June 8, 2010

Conflict resolution via recipe sharing
posted by lukemeister at 1:45 PM on June 8, 2010

This guy, marginaliana?

Yeah, the fighting comes in waves. Right after New Years of this year, people were not only leaving but saying F you on their way out. Then most of them came back and said hi folx, I missed you all! Weird.

Now I want some macaroni or potato salad.
posted by Melismata at 1:50 PM on June 8, 2010

I've found that if I go to the bathroom before posting, when I come back, someone will have already said what I planned to say, so then I don't have to bother. This approach has the additional benefit that I don't have to try to think up clever ways to say "I dislike egg salad" while my bladder is uncomfortably full.
posted by nickmark at 1:51 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Someone needs to do a doctoral thesis on conflict resolution via recipe sharing. Dare I say we've got something for the Israel/Palestine situation.

Now let's forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!
posted by Space Coyote at 1:52 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh, and I'm sorry for anyone I offend, but I really dislike egg salad.

META!
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:53 PM on June 8, 2010

Marshmallows? On egg salad??!
*argues HARD*

I quite like capers and anchovies in mine, just a hint of them, though.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:53 PM on June 8, 2010

greekphilosophy People need to stop taking themselves so fucking seriously.

This. It has been especially bad lately, and as a result, I haven't commented on anything much for a week or so. But even at the best of times, I feel like if I commented that I liked to paint my toenails pink, someone's liable to holler that I'm Red-ist, or "So are you saying that fingernails aren't as important as toenails?!? Because that would be fucking WRONG!", or tell me to stop being so America-centric, because in 3rd world countries, they can't even afford to buy toenail polish, and don't I feel guilty for being a rich, ignorant, fried-chicken eatin', electric light usin', clean running water havin', toenail painting Capitalist Pig? And so instead of having intelligent conversation, it deteriorates into a festival of weeny name-calling and accusation-hurling that any 7th grade locker room would be proud to call their own.

It gets to be like a bad marriage, where no matter what you say, it's assumed you had the worst possible motive. But I find that all relationships work better if you assume the other person has good intentions. (Unless they're trying to buy your old gold jewelry from you.) And I think most people on here *do* have good intentions. The few that don't, it's usually fruitless to argue with, and more fun to just ignore them.

My mother always, always put celery in her egg salad, and I hated it. But now I'm allergic to celery, so I don't have to feel guilty about not making it the way Mom used to. Yay!
posted by MexicanYenta at 1:59 PM on June 8, 2010 [9 favorites]

Oh, wow, Melismata, that's definitely it! And it was DarlingBri's comment that I was thinking of: "Jesus Christ. You do realise you don't get points for being right, yes?" Though I know I read the whole thread and absorbed it all.
posted by marginaliana at 2:00 PM on June 8, 2010

all I'm saying is you can't spell marginaliana without anal rim again
nothing personal I just really like anagrams
posted by jtron at 2:08 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Haven't eaten egg salad since a Greyhound trip through N Florida/S Georgia about ten years back, where I subsisted on gas station egg salad sandwiches - the closest to a 'vegetarian entree' that I could manage.

Can't imagine it's any better than frying up an egg with yesterday's rice and eating it on whatever flatbreads are handy.
posted by jtron at 2:10 PM on June 8, 2010

Oh, wow, Melismata, that's definitely it!

Woo-hoo! I got points for being right! Wait a minute...
posted by Melismata at 2:12 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

"Double elimination rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Spock-Lizard."

That's Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock, dammit! What the hell is the matter with you?
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 2:15 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was going to suggest that you are imagining the increased levels of fightyness. On the other hand, while there have been plenty of flameouts, today was the first flame-in I can remember.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:28 PM on June 8, 2010

Melismata => Tamaleism

I would like to hear more about your tamale-based theories, Melismata, and surely I can't be the only one
posted by jtron at 2:33 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

116 comments and nothing on the eponystericalness of the poster?
posted by desjardins at 2:36 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've found that if I go to the bathroom before posting, when I come back, someone will have already said what I planned to say, so then I don't have to bother.

Well, yeah, but you obviously haven't been SILENCED ALL YOUR LIFE.

Did I ever tell you about the bad egg salad sandwich I got out of a vending machine at college? I knew it was bad. It tasted bad. But I was too cheap and broke to just throw away the only sandwich I was going to get that day. So I ate it.

As it turned out, I didn't eat another damned thing for close to three days. I got a lot of mileage out of that egg salad sandwich.
posted by pracowity at 2:37 PM on June 8, 2010 [8 favorites]

Well, I admit to being about 29x crabbier than normal this past week. I've been getting a lot of long-avoided dental work done so my teeth are aching in their new fillings. Combine that with the chunk I bit out of my lip while it was still numb and I'm left snarling and snarking all over the place.

So, sorry about that.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:38 PM on June 8, 2010

Have a sandwich.
posted by pracowity at 2:38 PM on June 8, 2010

(If you can chew yet.)
posted by pracowity at 2:39 PM on June 8, 2010

desjardins: 116 comments and nothing on the eponystericalness of the poster?

I did notice it, but I got distracted because it made me think that that Sgt. Serenity was WWF Superstar/GI Joe character Sergeant Slaughter's kinder, gentler, New Agey twin and then I started writing pro wrestling plot lines in my head as per usual and got distracted.

And I usually keep those flights of fancy to myself.

Except for now.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:41 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

If only. Cold egg salad would send my fillings nuclear. I'd have to heat it up and a warm open face egg salad sandwich feels like an affront to some eggy god.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:42 PM on June 8, 2010

I learned to shut up the day I realized that nothing I have to say matters. However some people take the opposite approach when they learn this about themselves.

I'm pretty sure this is where trial lawyers come from. And from trial lawyers, we get politicians. It's like the stages of an insect's life, except instead of an insect it's a cancerous mass destroying quality of life for everyone else.
posted by kaibutsu at 2:43 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm on deadline for about four different pieces right now and this shouting isn't helping one bit, so could you all ...

Wait, that's me shouting.

Sorry.
posted by WPW at 2:45 PM on June 8, 2010

I once brought in some mini-doughnuts for my colleagues, and one of them got really upset because she didn't like mini-doughnuts and she said I was deliberately excluding her, which was crazy, I had no way of knowing she didn't like mini-doughnuts, so I was like "what the hell" and everyone else just laughed which made her even angrier, and a few weeks later we got a big box of Krispy Kremes as a freebie from somewhere and we ate them all before another colleague got in and had to hide to box because otherwise the whole doughnut-exclusion issue would have got totally out of hand, and now it's three years later and I'm the only person left in the office who has been there long enough to remember both these incidents so I think it's time to start thinking about bringing in doughnuts again and I think a lot of life is like that sometimes so there's a lesson there for us all.
posted by WPW at 2:55 PM on June 8, 2010 [9 favorites]

You know what? I've really had about enough of this shit. One fucking libtard comment after...

Oh hell, I'm too tired.
posted by nevercalm at 2:56 PM on June 8, 2010

Egg salad? Pfft. Pimiento cheese is where it's at. On a grilled cheese, or on a burger, or slapped between two fried green tomatoes.

Don't forget to pronounce it correctly: Puh-MINna-cheez.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:58 PM on June 8, 2010

Dammit, I was going to make a SILENCED ALL MY LIFE joke. Now I'm going to have to think up something myself.

...

Anyway, egg salad just needs a little mayonnaise, pepper and spinach. If you need more of a recipe than that, I don't know what to say to you.

And for some reason I read boo_radley's comment way up there in the voice of that radio guy. I don't know who he is, but he's what the radio switches to at the start of the second season of The Wire, when they're going to Philadelphia or whatever. Is that Garrison Keillor or something? I'm so out of touch.
posted by Dandeson Coates, Sec'y at 3:01 PM on June 8, 2010

I have it on pretty good authority that egg salad smells like farts, and if you eat an egg salad sandwich you're pretty much eating a fart sandwich and your breath is gonna smell like farts now. So says my 6 year old nephew, and I'm inclined to agree.
posted by Kirk Grim at 3:21 PM on June 8, 2010 [4 favorites]

I always rememebr the time I was in Pike's Place Market and I found a Metro pass just lying on the ground, good for a few more months. That saved me like fifty bucks or so, in 1993 dollars so I was pretty psyched. Then the punk rock dude who worked at the mini-donut stand, who had seen this happening said "Dude, I will give you free donuts and coffee FOR LIFE if you give me that Metro pass". I said thanks anyway and walked off with it. I wonder if my life would have turned out differently, with free coffee and mini-donuts for life in Seattle...
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:21 PM on June 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

You do it very well though : )

Please, don't encourage me.
posted by crunchland at 3:24 PM on June 8, 2010

Sliding Doors II: This Time With Sprinkles.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:25 PM on June 8, 2010

Then the punk rock dude who worked at the mini-donut stand, who had seen this happening said "Dude, I will give you free donuts and coffee FOR LIFE" if you give me that Metro pass.

I would have had to base my decision on what I actually knew about punk rock dude, etc. Was his employment at this donut stand apparently steady? Was he a stakeholder in the business or hired labor? Did he seem likely to be reliable re: the donut/coffee dynamic? Was the coffee any good? Was I regularly passing by this stand in the course of my day?

Basically, would I trust this guy to be reliable to hook me up with free goods and to be around at that stand long enough to reach the break-even point be for recouping the dollar value of the metropass over time based on retail value of goods rendered? Because you know "that other guy, uh, Ricky maybe, with the spiky hair, we had a deal going" isn't gonna fly with the next guy.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:38 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

> I'm pretty sure this is where trial lawyers come from. And from trial lawyers, we get politicians. It's like
> the stages of an insect's life, except instead of an insect it's a cancerous mass destroying quality of life
> for everyone else.
> posted by kaibutsu at 5:43 PM on June 8 [+] [!]

Not to say anything positive about the cancerous mass, but here's long Tom Jefferson to the same point--in 1821: If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? So take heart, if y^e canſerouſ maſs hasn't killed the patient in the going-on-200 years since 1821 it may not go critical this week or next. Or the patient mey be tougher than we think. (Quote from TJ's Autobiography of)


> I'm not sure where the dirtynumbangelboy came from, but that seems like a more regular-ass flame out than
> something tied to rest of the noise on the site.
> posted by chunking express at 3:38 PM on June 8 [+] [!]

dnab's account doesn't seem to be closed out as of right now and for the record I'm glad of that. But I don't understand flameouts and have never been tempted.
posted by jfuller at 3:43 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I was going to say the odds of that guy sticking around the donut stand too terribly long were probably not too good so I think you got the better deal.
posted by dead cousin ted at 3:55 PM on June 8, 2010

I could be wrong, but it seems like the hellfests come along and in scrolling through, "Yep, it's (that person) or (that other person) or (another well-known hellfester) yet again." Feels like a small number of people bring/perpetuate the snottiness.
posted by ambient2 at 3:59 PM on June 8, 2010

I really think the people who post things that are controversial or "fighty" really do it because they care about the topic and want to talk about it someplace that isn't Digg or HuffPo, not because they're looking for sheer numbers of comments.

This a hundred times. A thousand times.

I make posts on controversial and noncontroversial topics. I certainly don't post because I want to cause fights or stir up trouble or outrage. Am more of a "can't we all just get along and discuss this rationally, please?" type than anything else. No, I do it solely because I'm interested in discussing what I'm posting about and like it when they spark conversations.

I knew before I posted them that some of my FPP's wouldn't appeal to a large segment of Metafilter -- but I found the topics interesting and wanted to share them. Like this one. Seven meaningful, moving comments are worth more than hundreds of fluffy ones.

I'm not here for favorites. I just love the conversations. Most of the time, anyway. :)
posted by zarq at 4:14 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

robocop is bleeding => clobbering poi dose

I will take my chances with the egg salad thank you very much
posted by jtron at 4:15 PM on June 8, 2010

Oh, and dnab, I sent you a welcome back message in your memail when I first noticed you'd returned. In case you missed it, welcome back.
posted by zarq at 4:16 PM on June 8, 2010

Someone up above said there was no reason to put chips on a sandwich when you have lettuce, and celery, and what-not. And to that I say poppycock!

The type of crunch provided by potato chips is significantly different from that provided by celery, lettuce, and most other vegetables. It's just not the same. The idea of celery in tuna, chicken, or egg salad makes me want to cry. I can't stand it. It's so disheartening when you get all excited about the prospect of a tuna sandwich (a delicious, nutritious, tuna sandwich!) and then you get it only to see despicable, disastrous little bits of celery all throughout it.

Chips, on the other hand, provide the good kind of crunch.
posted by meese at 4:28 PM on June 8, 2010 [5 favorites]

(b) I hate egg salad, yet adore deviled eggs. What's that about?

JoanArkham, this was me, too, until I had mr epersonae's mom's egg salad.

No, wait, that was potato salad. Never had a specific thing against egg salad (sandwiches). But never liked potato salad. I think it's that most potato salads are either too sweet or include textures I don't like (onion, celery). MIL's version is very simple and very tasty. (Potato, egg, pickle, mayo, mustard. Tricky part for me is getting portions and potato texture right.)

I wonder if it's texture: the hard chopped-up whites mixed with the creamy yolks? Whereas a deviled egg keeps the textures (nominally) separate. (It's my totally unscientific opinion that many food-pickiness issues are less about flavor than about texture.)
posted by epersonae at 4:34 PM on June 8, 2010

I am not a fan of egg salad myself, but if you are, this should make you glad: on aggregate, this means more egg salad for you. It also pleases me that other people like egg salad, because it means that I don't have to deal with it so much. Other people eat it, and it goes away.

If only other hot button issues were so easily resolved.
posted by motty at 4:35 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I feel for dnab. There are a couple people on this site who should be fracking banned for what they get away with. So it goes.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:45 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Feels like a small number of people bring/perpetuate the snottiness.

No doubt. There are people with volatile personalities, and there are others who follow those people around and poke poke poke at them for sport. If I had to choose one over the other I'd take the former every time, but I'd prefer neither.

Here's my take on the dnab/Apologetics thing. I refrained from saying it in that thread out of respect for Joe, and I was just about to post it in the more recent Get It All Out thread but that one was closed before I could hit the post button. So here goes. I hope this doesn't come off as piling on, because I really don't mean it in that way.

Dnab, your comments can really get under my skin sometimes but I know you're a good person and I'm glad you're back. May I suggest that you try to choose your words a little more carefully? When you said Ugh. Only on Metafilter. I'm sure you only meant to say that you disapproved of the jokey comment, but it came off as flatly ridiculous (you really can't think of any other websites where such a comment might appear?) and an insult to the entire community. I'd bet that the reaction you got in that thread had more to do with that than with your well wishes to Joe. More than that, though, it just seemed wildly inappropriate in a thread started by someone with the grace to recognize and apologize for what he perceived in himself as a pattern of behaviour that was lowering the level of discourse on the site.

Having said that, in my opinion it is simply inexcusable for others to follow you or anyone else around on and off site just to throw barbs and try to get a reaction. You are absolutely right about how that behavior sucks and needs to stop. I don't think it will completely stop anytime soon though, no matter what you or anyone else does, so please just rise up and fuck those fucking fuckers by being better than them.
posted by Balonious Assault at 4:52 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Have people been fighting a lot more on mefi lately ?

No. Twas ever thus.
posted by jonmc at 4:52 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Recently I've been having issues in real life. I won't get into it because this is not a sympathy post.

But after another person posted about similar behavior, I sent a PM to the mods about my recent behavior. To make it short, it was noticed by a mod or mods that I have recently been a bit of an asshole. Mainly attacking people and or spending too much time in threads being a general dick.

I apologized to the mod in question and now I think this is a good place to apologize to the whole community.

I'll be a better Mefite in the future. Sorry for my nasty comments in certain threads. Sorry for the fighty attitude.

MeFi deserves better from me.
posted by Splunge at 4:54 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I guess we all have rough days and speaking for myself, I get crabby when somebody else is more right than I am. That's annoying. But people take things a lot more personally than they ought to. A couple of my admired participants have bailed recently and the only reason they have done so, as far as I can see, is because they took things too personally. Don't do that! Possibly it's precious snowflake syndrome, which a lot of people here suffer from, but c'mon guys, we're all contributing to this tiny little insignificant corner of the human experience, is all, it's not a pissing match and nor is it something that should affect you any further than "Huh, that's an interesting thing, glad I read it" or "Ha ha, so funny!" or "Christ, what an asshole." And then you go and make yeast rolls. I make kickass yeast rolls.
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:15 PM on June 8, 2010

Jasper and the Unbaked Yeast Rolls
posted by netbros at 5:29 PM on June 8, 2010

Potato chips make almost anything better. Once when I had no clean spoons I used thick-cut salt & pepper potato chips to eat coffee ice cream.

It was divine.
posted by sallybrown at 6:01 PM on June 8, 2010

WHAT. NO. That way lies madness, madam.
posted by elizardbits at 6:03 PM on June 8, 2010

And I say this as a person who eats peanut butter and spaghetti sammiches.
posted by elizardbits at 6:04 PM on June 8, 2010

Egg salad? Maybe for you. I got such bad food poisoning from an egg salad sandwhich that I couldn't leave the house for a week and had to sleep in the tub for the first two days. No never again will I taste egg salad.

But chips on a sandwich? Yes please, and often. See what you need is fresh thin roast beef, something like swiss or provolone, lettuce, horse radish and salt & vinegar chips on a thin bread.

eggs and marshmallows? Pure madness.
posted by gofargogo at 6:09 PM on June 8, 2010

extra grar grar

I am an idiot. What is GRAR? Googling turns up several realtors' associations but somehow I don't think that's what y'all are talking about.
posted by Famous at 6:20 PM on June 8, 2010

For lunch I had the following:

1 cup homemade tomato sauce
1/2 cup fontina cheese chunks

Put both in a container and heat in microwave until chunks of cheese start to melt.

Add:

1 cup pretzel bites

Stir. Eat like soup.

Man that was heavenly. No I was not high. I just wanted something different. It was different. The teaspoon of Tabasco pulled it all together.
posted by Splunge at 6:21 PM on June 8, 2010

My callout thread was all about fun reminising about Madonna and produced this. I must be doing it wrong.
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:23 PM on June 8, 2010

Grar is an onomatopoeia and state of mind that embodies pure internet rage. You still have control of your body, but you find yourself lashing out at strangers online.
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:24 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

What is GRAR?

It's a MeFi family word that means grumpy aggro energy of some sort. Used in a sentence....

"Wow there seems to be a lot of GRAR in this thread. Why are people so unhappy about a little performance art during rush hour?"
"Hey a little less GRAR and a little more discussion of the topic at hand would be great right about now."
"I am feeling GRAR after all these I/P threads and related MeTa threads."
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:25 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Mefi family word?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:32 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also, it's kind of a snarly growl as might come from an agitated bear with a sore head.

"Grrrowl. GROWL! RAWR! GRAR!!!"

*gives bear some aspirin and a recipe for egg salad with a touch of sauce béchamel*

*bear relaxes, whips up a roux*
posted by darkstar at 6:35 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

Ah ha!

it's kind of a snarly growl as might come from an agitated bear with a sore head.

This makes me extra glad I asked.
posted by Famous at 6:40 PM on June 8, 2010

Mefi family word?!

I love how you say that like you're not the Joseph Smith-esque king of pluralistic marriage on MeFi, dude.
posted by elizardbits at 6:42 PM on June 8, 2010 [5 favorites]

Grar is the sound that the adults from the Peanuts cartoons would make if the got really pissed off.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:45 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

I've recently decided I like Udon better than Ramen. Wanna fight about it?
posted by jonmc at 6:48 PM on June 8, 2010

Bring it on jonmc.
Bring. It. On.
posted by Floydd at 6:54 PM on June 8, 2010

But not right now. I'm going to bed.
Later, maybe. OK?
posted by Floydd at 6:56 PM on June 8, 2010

Whatever, man, whatever.
posted by jonmc at 6:59 PM on June 8, 2010

Egg salad, WTH?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:14 PM on June 8, 2010

I wonder if my life would have turned out differently, with free coffee and mini-donuts for life in Seattle...

You'd be fat and jittery?

I just got a jar of Baconnaise and I have been putting it on everything; I'm thinking a deviled egg made with Baconnaise would be pretty damn good...tomorrow lunch!

Now I'm off to bed early because I am really excited about my book.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:58 PM on June 8, 2010

I used thick-cut salt & pepper potato chips to eat coffee ice cream
Spoons are now obsolete. If I had either potato chips or ice cream in my house I would be doing this right now!

Egg salad needs tuna and pickles and dill, so that it becomes tuna salad and therefore palatable.
posted by jeoc at 8:00 PM on June 8, 2010

Baconnaise in tuna salad. Damn. I killed a jar that way. Best tuna salad I ever had. I think I'm going shopping tomorrow.

List:

Baconnaise
Bacon Salt
Bac-Os

Hmmm... I think I'm forgetting some kind of bacon flavored product. Some kind of ur-bacon flavored stuff. Damn, I'm drawing a blank. Better sleep on it. It will come to me. Maybe when I have some eggs and toast for breakfast.

Damn. I hate when this happens...
posted by Splunge at 8:25 PM on June 8, 2010

Okay, I'll start a fight: whoever came up with the idea of having ginger with sushi is likely a child murderer.

Discuss.
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:28 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Obligatory Jim Gaffigan bacon bit (heh). (SLYT)
posted by darkstar at 8:35 PM on June 8, 2010

Have I lost my mind a little or were there originally 34 comments in the dnab thread after it got closed?

Possible answer: C - All of the above.
posted by chiababe at 8:48 PM on June 8, 2010

We took out some totally shitty comments after we closed it, yes.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:49 PM on June 8, 2010

GRAR.
posted by Lexica at 8:59 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Here's a proposal -- it's probably too late at night for this to catch on, but I'm doing it anyway. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to take a dozen donuts to work, and explain that they're courtesy a member of MetaFilter. My hope is that doing this may help spread ownership of goodwill towards the site out into my everyday life in such a way that it will reinforce keeping it good here.

So -- 9 July 2010 is hereby declared Donuts From MetaFilter Day.

in my little world, anyway. Join in if you want -- it might feel good.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:18 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'll start a fight: whoever came up with the idea of having ginger with sushi is likely a child murderer.

Discuss.

You must be lacking the wasabi. Sushi on the bottom, a slice of ginger on top, and about 1/4 teaspoon of wasabi per bite. It should be enough to temporarily blind and deafen you. If you don't go completely blind for at least 2 seconds, increase wasabi quantity on following bite. This makes the ginger work, and is the single greatest legal food-rush.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:23 PM on June 8, 2010

So -- 9 July 2010 is hereby declared Donuts From MetaFilter Day.

I'm on this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:26 PM on June 8, 2010

So -- 9 July 2010 is hereby declared Donuts From MetaFilter Day.

I too am constantly thinking it is July when it is actually June. It is like June doesn't have full month status with me or something. I always am trying to skip it.

Too bad you missed National Doughnut Day.
posted by Famous at 9:26 PM on June 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Someone needs to do a doctoral thesis on conflict resolution via recipe sharing.

Well as long as it's all blather about egg salad, I personally see only darkness in our collective future. Because, sadly I'm one of those one-in-fifty (or whatever) who just DOESN'T LIKE EGGS (and not just the green ones).
posted by philip-random at 9:40 PM on June 8, 2010

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to take a dozen donuts to work, and explain that they're courtesy a member of MetaFilter.

This is a good plan. As I work from home, I can even skip the preamble and get straight to the spreading of goodwill.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:03 PM on June 8, 2010 [2 favorites]

I don't understand. What has this got to do with Hull??
posted by peacay at 10:22 PM on June 8, 2010

As I work from home, I can even skip the preamble and get straight to the spreading of goodwill the size of your butt.

Obligatory, dude. Sorry.
posted by desuetude at 10:31 PM on June 8, 2010

So that's peppers and pot egg salad.

You could call it Pepperpot Egg Salad and everyone would eat it up without hesitation.

As I work from home, I can even skip the preamble and get straight to the spreading of goodwill the size of your butt

Even more improvement, I should think. Or the opposite, perhaps. Depending on your mindset.
posted by davejay at 11:08 PM on June 8, 2010

Ginger on sushi is da bomb. It's soy sauce with sushi that should be banned.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:59 AM on June 9, 2010

Mathowie 26:26

While at the meetup, cortex offered a donut as big as his head, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take this to MetaTalk, for this does not belong on MetaFilter."

Time to translate MetaFilter into LOLcat

This probably won't involve much work.
posted by lukemeister at 2:00 AM on June 9, 2010

Ginger on sushi is da bomb. It's soy sauce with sushi that should be banned.

What? Why?
posted by Omnomnom at 2:19 AM on June 9, 2010

Because it's evil and foul.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:12 AM on June 9, 2010

1. d4
posted by flabdablet at 4:54 AM on June 9, 2010

Don't let any Japanese see you doing that.

Not much to worry about there. Seeing as I live in Tejas y Coahuila, I do observe proper tortilla etiquette, though.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:57 AM on June 9, 2010

I put the cranberry sauce right up on my bites of turkey, too. I am a bad, bad person.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:58 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also also. June, July, whatever -- it's all hot. Maybe Donut Day should be monthly.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:02 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Umm pickled ginger. One of my favorite relishes. I like it in salads, on sandwiches, and as an accompaniment to heavy meat dishes such as pot roast. Pickled ginger is always uplifting. I bet a tiny piece on top of a deviled egg with be heavenly.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:17 AM on June 9, 2010

Is this the thread where we whip it out?

First of all, dirigibleman, please accept my heartfelt apologies from all of us at Team Mod for not getting to your question sooner. Maybe best not to air dirty laundry in public, but I'll have you know that I am not really impressed to see certain mods "having a laugh" and in general "yukking it up" with egg salad recipes when there is still serious business here to attend to. Again, sincerely, I am sorry.

In answer to your question, yes. This is indeed the thread where we whip it out.
posted by Meatbomb at 5:48 AM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

In my expert opinion, yes. People seem to be putting on their cranky pants before posting with alarming degree.

I've discussed it a ton off-site and even took a short MeFi vacation because of it - it really does seem to be an actual phenomenon of increased GRAR levels and not simply confirmation bias on my part.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:01 AM on June 9, 2010

I'd put on the schmoopy pants, but they make my butt look big.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:06 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Whereas:
The inbibing of donuts is know to increase goodwill towards fellow men, and
Whereas:
The donut is recognized internationally as the preferred breakfast food of kings and commoners alike, and
Whereas:
MetaFilter is a big website full of people, some of whom profess to the eating of donuts, and
Whereas:
I am hungry for breakfast,

Let it be hereby decreed.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:39 AM on June 9, 2010

How, exactly, does one whip it out only on the astral plane?
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:40 AM on June 9, 2010

How, exactly, does one whip it out only on the astral plane?

It's not the size of the chakra....
posted by zarq at 6:51 AM on June 9, 2010

In my expert opinion, yes. People seem to be putting on their cranky pants before posting with alarming degree.

For what it's worth, I have noticed a lot of users sniping at one another--and also that a lot of people are quick to complain about metafilter itself on non-meTa threads (stuff along the lines of "people like you are the reason metafilter sucks now!"--not those words, but that tenor). I always want to be, like, come on, now, metafilter is awesome, but being poopy about wouldn't help anything if it wasn't.

I, for one, would love to see the term "threadshitting" evaporate. I've been in a few threads now where dissenting opinions--sometimes, but not necessarily mine--were shouted down as "threadshitting" when pretty clearly it was just a matter of simple (if passionate, or snarky-toned) disagreement, not attempts to troll or derail. The recent sweetjuniper thread on old books, where a few people said they didn't like things about the links, and were then yelled at to "GYOFB" if they didn't like the blog in question (which was weird, because it's not how I've ever understand that term to be commonly used here before) stood out to me; even as I understand that a lot of people are big fans of the sweetjuniper blog and sweetjuniper himself, I think there should be room for dissenting opinions to coexist here happily.

That being said, I still love everyone, and metafilter.

And egg salad.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:01 AM on June 9, 2010

I think there should be room for dissenting opinions to coexist here happily.

The current round of GRAR, increased or not, feels to me like some folks are having an investment in Metafilter Having an Opinion Which Must Be the Right Opinion. Soylent blue is people, and they're not all going to agree. The impulse to shout people down until they agree, or at least shut up, is why I try not to repeat myself more than three times in a single thread on the same topic.

(I have no opinion on egg salad.)
posted by immlass at 7:18 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have an opinion on egg salad, but I've resolved not to discuss contentious subjects here on MeFi and add to the GRAR.




Oh, OK: I like it.
posted by languagehat at 7:22 AM on June 9, 2010

I think that's an awesome policy, immlass. I might just try it.

However, I'm uncomfortable with people with no opinion on eggsalad being on metafilter. STFUetcetc.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:23 AM on June 9, 2010

Mathowie 26:26
While at the meetup, cortex offered a donut as big as his head, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take this to MetaTalk, for this does not belong on MetaFilter."

Transfatsubstantiation!
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:44 AM on June 9, 2010 [6 favorites]

Brandon Blatcher you are WRONG. Of all sushi people who have ever been wrong, you surely are the wrongest!
posted by Omnomnom at 7:44 AM on June 9, 2010

PhoBWanKenobi, thanks. It's a goal I don't always achieve but it does keep me centered on making my contributions positive and useful. Letting someone else have the last word won't kill me! Also, I'm willing to develop an opinion about egg salad if that's what it takes.
posted by immlass at 7:49 AM on June 9, 2010

How, exactly, does one whip it out only on the astral plane?

just githyank it out?
posted by ServSci at 8:31 AM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Mathowie 26:26
While at the meetup, cortex offered a donut as big as his head, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take this to MetaTalk, for this does not belong on MetaFilter."

Stigmata!

Wait. That's jelly.
posted by pracowity at 8:32 AM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Egg salad's great when done well, terrible when done poorly. I do think it's strange how often someone destroys good egg salad by simply adding too much mayo—I know they want it all fatty and succulent, but it makes the whole consistency gloopy.
posted by klangklangston at 8:34 AM on June 9, 2010

I, for one, would love to see the term "threadshitting" evaporate. I've been in a few threads now where dissenting opinions--sometimes, but not necessarily mine--were shouted down as "threadshitting" when pretty clearly it was just a matter of simple (if passionate, or snarky-toned) disagreement

When it's working healthily (and it does quite often) the blue generally deals with such disagreements by simply ignoring them and carrying on with the established flow. In other words, intended as a derail or not, the disagreement fails to register.

Case in point, a comprehensive FPP about techno music (or whatever we're supposed to call it these days) a few months back in which I tried rather vainly to voice a few basic grievances about the whole culture (specific details unimportant here). But no one took the bait. They just kept on enthusing, sharing links and otherwise not giving a shit about what I had to say.

Of course, I could have ramped things up a bit and got genuinely confrontational and assoholic ... but I didn't. I smelled which way the wind was blowing (straight over my head) and took the dog for a walk.
posted by philip-random at 8:41 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ginger on sushi is da bomb. It's soy sauce with sushi that should be banned.

No, no, no. You don't eat the ginger on the sushi, you eat it between your different pieces of sushi to cleanse your palette. And some sushi needs soy sauce and wasabi, and some doesn't. And Japanese rice needs no soy sauce because it is DEELISHAHSS. And how come I can't get no tang round here?
posted by Kirk Grim at 9:04 AM on June 9, 2010

I rub egg salad all over me.

Oh wait. Wrong website.

Carry on.
posted by stormpooper at 9:19 AM on June 9, 2010

Although after second thought, maybe it is the right website if I anon it and put it in AskMeFi.

"I rub egg salad all over me. I got paprika in a procurious spot. YNMD, but should I call the doctor?"

There. Better.
posted by stormpooper at 9:20 AM on June 9, 2010

I rub egg salad all over me my wizard hat.

Now you're on the right site.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 9:23 AM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Melismata => Tamaleism

Melissa (my real name) => Aimless
posted by Melismata at 9:30 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Y'all can have all the nasty yellowish egg salad you want. I'm going over to mudpuppie's house for grilled pimiento cheese sammiches.

oh no. I almost started grumbling about damn yankees. i've lived here too long.
posted by catlet at 9:39 AM on June 9, 2010

"I rub egg salad all over me. I got paprika in a procurious spot. YNMD, but should I call the doctor?"

Still Tasty


For the 'pro-curious' among us. ;)
posted by zarq at 9:44 AM on June 9, 2010

Thanks to this thread, I had an egg salad sandwich from the deli across the street today. On a roll. With lettuce and tomato. And mustard. It was delicious!

Could've use some marshmallows, though.
posted by Grither at 9:45 AM on June 9, 2010

Pro-curious. New political agenda. I'm all about for the rights of the curious.

*totally embarassed she cannot spell.
posted by stormpooper at 9:49 AM on June 9, 2010

*totally embarassed she cannot spell.

Don't be! Look at it this way.... you coined a cool new term!
posted by zarq at 9:53 AM on June 9, 2010

Egg salad is all well and good, but it's mayonnaise-based potato salad you need to be careful with. Potato selection is of ultimate importance. Too strachy a potato, like a Russet, and you wind up with a gloppy mess. Too waxy a potato, and you get a dry, lifeless potato salad. Personally, I find Yukon Gold to be a good compromise, it being a well-rounded, all-purpose potato. Bonus points if you make some hard-boiled eggs, then make a gribiche with the yolks and oil, plus some dijon, capers, parsley and tarragon, then use that in place of mayonnaise. That, my imaginary Internet friends, is good eating!
posted by slogger at 10:06 AM on June 9, 2010

a MeFi family word

MeFi turned into a Juggalo site so slowly, I barely even noticed.
posted by norm at 10:29 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Fuckin' taters, how do they work?
posted by waraw at 10:37 AM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Um, what does this have to do with Hi, Iconomy!?
posted by y2karl at 10:56 AM on June 9, 2010

PhoBWanKenobi: "
That being said, I still love everyone, and metafilter.

And egg salad."

That's easy for you to say; you're one of the awesome people whose contributions are enjoyable. (This disclosure brought to you by my new "tell strangers when you think they're awesome" policy.)

That having been said: egg salad is gross. Your feelings are ugly and wrong.
posted by JMOZ at 11:15 AM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

warm open face egg salad sandwich feels like an affront to some eggy god.

Yolk-Sothoth knows the eggs. Yolk-Sothoth is the eggs. Yolk-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the eggs and their salad. Yolk, while, and shell - all are one in Yolk-Sothoth.
posted by never used baby shoes at 11:22 AM on June 9, 2010

Egg salad? Ew, gross.

Devilled eggs, now those are awesome.
posted by IndigoRain at 1:06 PM on June 9, 2010

mefi always ebbs and flows between and among fighty and non-fighty, mellow and non-mellow, GRAR-y and non-GRAR-y. There is no net increase, there is no net decrease. It is all flux. As with so many other things in life.

Egg salad is great if you're in the mood for it.
posted by blucevalo at 1:28 PM on June 9, 2010

I just thought I'd drop in here one last time to mention that The First Annual MetaFilter Bring A Donut To Work day was a pretty smashing success with my cow orkers.

Seeing as we print and ship for Achewood, everybody got the comic sans, too.

Here's 2 "salad secrets" for you: Add red seedless grapes (halved) to chicken salad, and add diced granny smith apple to tuna salad. I haven't hardly room in this comment box for a proper paen to the humble egg, salad or otherwisde, so I'll stand down, now.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:19 PM on June 9, 2010

Pips makes fantastic egg sald.

Deviled eggs are great as long as they contain NO relish. To do otherwise is an abomination.
posted by jonmc at 4:42 PM on June 9, 2010

Devil Sauce. It kicks ass in deviled eggs (recipe here); I'm pretty sure it would work in egg salad too.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 11:23 PM on June 9, 2010

There'd be less GRAR if people stopped saying such stupid shit.
posted by fleacircus at 2:27 AM on June 10, 2010

By which I mean, marshmallow on egg salad? The hell?
posted by fleacircus at 2:30 AM on June 10, 2010

add diced granny smith apple to tuna salad.

Diced apples and red onion. Mmmmmmmm...
posted by Splunge at 6:04 AM on June 10, 2010

warm open face egg salad sandwich
Horrifying.
Egg salad is great if you want to imagine what it's like to bite into a big loaf of farts.
posted by chococat at 1:27 PM on June 10, 2010 [3 favorites]

Egg salad is great if you want to imagine what it's like to bite into a big loaf of farts.

Yeah, but *chicken* farts.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:30 PM on June 10, 2010

Heh.
posted by chococat at 1:31 PM on June 10, 2010