Happy Mefday to us!

November 18, 2010 5:07 PM

The first wave of $5 noobs celebrate our sixth birthday today. $5 noobs are a community weblog project that allows participants to make comments & posts to MetaFilter on their home or business machines.
posted by UbuRoivas to MetaFilter-Related at 5:07 PM (137 comments total)

Meh. Things didn't get really good until ten days later.
posted by koeselitz at 5:10 PM on November 18, 2010

Things didn't get really good until ten days later.

I thought that was when we jumped the shark, or...they sucked after their first album, or something like that.

I think I'm doing this wrong.

Anyway, woo hoo me!
posted by marxchivist at 5:12 PM on November 18, 2010

Whoa, that includes me. I can't believe it's been that long.
posted by brundlefly at 5:13 PM on November 18, 2010

Oh, and I don't know about "Mefday," How about Noobvember?
posted by marxchivist at 5:14 PM on November 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

You can read the comments and posts of $5 noobs, but there's a two drink minimum.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:16 PM on November 18, 2010

Hooray for us! I can't believe it's been six years. Feels like only yesterday I was lurking.
posted by mai at 5:21 PM on November 18, 2010

Things didn't get REALLY good until 28 days later.
posted by DU at 5:26 PM on November 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Noobs. When I signed up, I had to hit refresh on the sign up page every day at noon to be one of the 20 lucky ones. And we were thankful!
posted by ALongDecember at 5:26 PM on November 18, 2010 [20 favorites]

Noobs!
posted by drezdn at 5:30 PM on November 18, 2010

Six years! How the time flies. And that doesn't count the years of lurking while signups were turned off. I couldn't think of a better community to be a part of for so long! Hooray for everyone :)
posted by Meagan at 5:33 PM on November 18, 2010

OMG! I can't believe I forgot! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FELLOW N00BS!!!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:33 PM on November 18, 2010

I signed up in some weird period after 9/11, where sign-ups had been shut down, but there were occasional openings, but before the time-release lottery system described by ALongDecember.

I realized sign-ups were open again when there was a post to MetaTalk that did nothing but complain about having to go through airport security, and recognized that it could only have been made by a total n00b. Thank goodness we no longer have those problems and don't have to read endless silly posts about airport security any more!
posted by LionIndex at 5:37 PM on November 18, 2010 [7 favorites]

I was having trouble with my credit card and it took me a whole day to sign up, so my Mefday isn't until tomorrow. I still remember how pissed I was at Chase about that.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:39 PM on November 18, 2010

Speaking of n00b, don't you have a diaper to change, ubu?
posted by gman at 5:41 PM on November 18, 2010

Happy NoobDay!
posted by spinifex23 at 5:43 PM on November 18, 2010

I regret getting the 14K 4LIFE tattooed across my fingers but I needed something to give myself a sense of superiority of the 15Kers that ruined this place.
posted by birdherder at 5:43 PM on November 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

Yay me! I can't remember when I started reading, but I think it was shortly after sign-ups were turned off. It felt like forever, waiting to sign up!
posted by peep at 5:45 PM on November 18, 2010

When the $5 signups came around, I decided to get this, my second account, not to do anything dicey, and not because I expected to someday not want to be MetaFilter's Wendell, but to give Matt a little well-deserved small change and to make sure nobody else ever registered this name, the domain name of my blog.

After I signed up, I realized that I was one user number away from a massive coincidence, because wendell was #206 and oneswellfoop was #20007. (And whoever reserved #20006 never finished signing up, the coward)
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:51 PM on November 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Worst five bucks ever! And by bucks I mean male deer. And by male deer I mean mail dear.
posted by NoMich at 5:52 PM on November 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Suckers.
posted by amro at 6:01 PM on November 18, 2010

What LionIndex said, but I get in a week before him. Fucking n00b.
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:02 PM on November 18, 2010

As someone who shares a birthday with Metafilter, I can say that a good year of lurking and then signing up on December 19th is what makes a quality mefite.
posted by orville sash at 6:02 PM on November 18, 2010

So, can someone explain the timeline again? I forget. Were sign ups wide open in 2001 for a while, then shut down, then 20 per day, then $5 bucks?
posted by amro at 6:06 PM on November 18, 2010

Oh, hey that's cool! Happy 6th Mefday to all my fellow n00bs. :D
posted by zarq at 6:11 PM on November 18, 2010

I want those six years back....
posted by HuronBob at 6:13 PM on November 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Weird. I got in in 2002, and I'm like 200 user numbers lower than you sorry n00bs. It's weird how slow the growth was in the early 00s.

Also: fucking n00bs.
posted by COBRA! at 6:15 PM on November 18, 2010

Also: my figurin' is on crack, I'm more like 6-700ish under the $5 wave.

Still, the basic point stands: surprisingly slow growth, and fucking n00bs.
posted by COBRA! at 6:17 PM on November 18, 2010

Happy Mefday n00bs.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:22 PM on November 18, 2010

Thank god, a holiday just for me. I am truly worth it, and truly greater for it. Yay, me.
posted by jivadravya at 6:22 PM on November 18, 2010

...allows participants to make comments & posts to MetaFilter on their home or business machines.

I use my pocket machine!
posted by mullacc at 6:24 PM on November 18, 2010

I suddenly feel very guilty that Metafilter has never seen a red cent of my money.
posted by Paragon at 6:28 PM on November 18, 2010

Weird. I got in in 2002, and I'm like 200 user numbers lower than you sorry n00bs. It's weird how slow the growth was in the early 00s.
aA
eysyyeysyss the 00' series you lot had those wanky telegphraph days of ^&YTu softwareb this anD existential monogomy + that. jebo metbo......

sorry about that sir the cable work..
no the cale is not broken, the software went out for cider,
TIA
posted by clavdivs at 6:29 PM on November 18, 2010

kale
posted by clavdivs at 6:29 PM on November 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

That's when it all started to go wrong.
posted by flashboy at 6:30 PM on November 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

don't you have a diaper to change, ubu?

What do you think I am, an astronaut?!??

Oh, you must mean lil ubu...'Er Indoors takes care of the daytime duties while I slave away at work. 12 months paid maternity leave; I don't get those kinds of benefits.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:32 PM on November 18, 2010

I got in by signing up to some other website. I can not remember what it was! But it was a sneaky loophole.
posted by malpractice at 6:35 PM on November 18, 2010

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I'll post on Mefi and be all "Meh, whatever."
posted by Sparx at 6:44 PM on November 18, 2010 [11 favorites]

Yay!
posted by klangklangston at 6:51 PM on November 18, 2010

Yeah, geez. Paying $5 to get in. What is that shit? Some of us had to be able to tell time to get in here. Rich folks just buy their way out of everything.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:57 PM on November 18, 2010

malpractice, you probably got in by signing up for The 5k Contest. When you did, you also got a MeFi user ID.

I know, because that's how my previous incarnation got in at that time as well.

but I wasn't trying to sign up for a website design contest, if you know what I mean
posted by Curious Artificer at 7:15 PM on November 18, 2010

Six years ago, after lurking for a while, on the spur of the moment I PayPal-ed mathowie a few bucks and wrote (I paraphrase) 'thanks for the great site.' And he wrote back and said (I paraphrase) 'hey, thanks, here's an account.' Then, a week later, the five-dollar memberships opened.

I will never have a better opportunity to tell that story.
posted by box at 7:15 PM on November 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

6 already? I almost forgot.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 7:17 PM on November 18, 2010

When I signed up, I had to hit refresh on the sign up page every day at noon to be one of the 20 lucky ones.

This is when I joined too. It took a whole month of daily attempts to finally get lucky.
posted by hot soup girl at 7:19 PM on November 18, 2010

Wow, in the last six years I finished grad school,I got laid off from work twice, my son graduated from high-school, I bought a house and three different cars and after all that I'm still hanging out with you idiots. You'd think I'd find something better to do.
posted by octothorpe at 7:21 PM on November 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

hot soup girl: "It took a whole month of daily attempts to finally get lucky."

Obviously hot soup boy needs to step up his game.
posted by gman at 7:24 PM on November 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

So, can someone explain the timeline again? I forget. Were sign ups wide open in 2001 for a while, then shut down, then 20 per day, then $5 bucks?

I think when I joined signups were wide open for a bit.
posted by ODiV at 7:35 PM on November 18, 2010

Show us your n00bs!
posted by Eideteker at 7:49 PM on November 18, 2010

Show us you're noobs!
posted by Eideteker at 7:49 PM on November 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

November 23 here. I remember being giddy with excitement when I got to sign up. It was a total high.

AND THEN THE FAVORITES CAME AND RUINED EVERYTHING.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:49 PM on November 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

[cite]
posted by Eideteker at 7:50 PM on November 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Chard.
posted by slogger at 7:55 PM on November 18, 2010

Swiss Chard.
posted by slogger at 7:56 PM on November 18, 2010

I'm just glad to be here. This is the best part of the internet.

HAPPY NOOBVERSARY BUTT PUZZLES!
posted by Tesseractive at 8:00 PM on November 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Six year olds, Dude.
posted by rocket88 at 8:28 PM on November 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

GET ORF MY LAND!
posted by Jofus at 9:10 PM on November 18, 2010

It was two years of lurking until the magic day. Oh, those witty, insightful comments I could have posted! Those conversations I so wished to join! I also can't believe it's been six years.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:52 PM on November 18, 2010

You're all Scorpios! That explains a lot.
posted by rtha at 9:52 PM on November 18, 2010

I hope Admiral Haddock is angry I favorited his comment. I STAND AGAINST EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR

FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE
posted by tehloki at 9:53 PM on November 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

All you people are n00bs.

I started out on a 75 baud mechanical Teletype^TM machine that was mechanically multiplexed onto a 300-baud high-speed modem that weighed 200 lbs and took up a foot and a half of a 19-inch relay rack.

In 1974.

I still have the onion from my belt, too.
posted by pjern at 10:00 PM on November 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Where's my cake? I was told there would be cake.
posted by knave at 10:04 PM on November 18, 2010

Dude, Ufez's user number is two lower than mine... Good to know there's still a couple people from my crop still lingering around. It's kinda surprising that I've been on here for eight years. In that time I've gone through four computers (two are still active!), went to four of my five undergraduate institutions, eventually graduating, and I'm now in my fifth year of grad school. I've read MeFi from at least five countries (and it'll be six in a couple weeks).

And, somehow, the links are still good...
posted by kaibutsu at 10:46 PM on November 18, 2010

I paid my five dollars five years and five days ago.

COINCIDENCE?!?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:48 PM on November 18, 2010

I THINK NOT!
posted by rtha at 10:51 PM on November 18, 2010

Aw, all you first graders are just freaking adorable. Show me your lunchboxes!
posted by maudlin at 11:05 PM on November 18, 2010

I'm pretty sure this was mine.
posted by knave at 11:23 PM on November 18, 2010

I had to hit refresh on the sign up page every day at noon to be one of the 20 lucky ones.
You were lucky! The brave souls of the 14k brigade had to lie, cheat, hack or bribe their way in. My god, was that 8.5 years ago? Time flies when you're having, well something.

Happy burfday n00bs - I hope you enjoy the hollow celebration of your sub-par achievement.
posted by dg at 11:38 PM on November 18, 2010

So, can someone explain the timeline again? I forget. Were sign ups wide open in 2001 for a while, then shut down, then 20 per day, then $5 bucks?

Don't forget the April Fools' sign-ups! (Seven years ago next year. Have I really been here that long?!) There were a few other on-and-off bursts of sign-ups between the initial shutdown and the $5 n00bs, but it's all a haze of lurking and refreshing the sign-up-for-an-account page.
posted by ubersturm at 12:00 AM on November 19, 2010

When I signed up, I had to hit refresh on the sign up page every day at noon to be one of the 20 lucky ones.

At least it was noon in your timezone. It was 5am or something where I was. Made it somewhat difficult. I lurked for so long, desperate to jump into conversations because someone was wrong on the internet dammit. I had so many important things to say.

And then I registered and forgot all of them :(
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:11 AM on November 19, 2010

MetaFilter: freeloaders and $5.00 noobs
posted by Cranberry at 12:11 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

It took me a few days to notice, but I still consider myself a member of noobember.
posted by handee at 12:35 AM on November 19, 2010

I had no idea there was any hoops to jump through to get an account, I just decided to sign up one Friday at about 4pm Atlantic time when I was screwing around in the lab and not really working. Apparently I had picked exactly the right time to click the sign up button because I ended up getting an account on my first try. Now I just waste the thing.
posted by Space Coyote at 12:36 AM on November 19, 2010

6 years and I still haven't gotten around to setting up that sock puppet. Or have I?
posted by klarck at 12:37 AM on November 19, 2010

Wow, six years.

Looking back on my first comments, I have to say, they were mostly pretty stupid.
posted by killdevil at 1:32 AM on November 19, 2010

Joined: November 18, 2004

BADGE OF FUCKIN HONOR RIGHT HERE.
posted by Mikey-San at 1:50 AM on November 19, 2010

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBZORZ!



Crappy barfday!
posted by Joseph Gurl at 2:35 AM on November 19, 2010

Obviously hot soup boy needs to step up his game.

My money's on sour soup boy. They'll have the most beautiful kids together.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:39 AM on November 19, 2010

I didn't have a PayPal account, so I had to wait until December so I could persuade an American friend to buy me a MeFi membership for a Xmas present.

Metafilter: Better than socks
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:42 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

My money's on sour soup boy. They'll have the most beautiful kids together.

Pho sure!
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:16 AM on November 19, 2010

We are here and we are awesome. And yes you oldies it might have been your lawn but we're dancing on it!
posted by adamvasco at 3:30 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

n00bs...
posted by Mick at 4:53 AM on November 19, 2010

YOU KIDS GET OFF MY... actually y'all are pretty cool. Please stay on my lawn and enjoy yourselves. And it's not my lawn anyway, it's really Matt's.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:09 AM on November 19, 2010

Ooh, I must've been one of the very last pre-noobs, having been snuck in through some tiny little secret wormhole while signups were still closed.

Pins oldie badge to lapel, swanks around insufferably.
posted by penguin pie at 5:11 AM on November 19, 2010

That was such a happy day!
posted by beandip at 5:46 AM on November 19, 2010

Wow, in the last six years I finished grad school,I got laid off from work twice, my son graduated from high-school, I bought a house and three different cars and after all that I'm still hanging out with you idiots. You'd think I'd find something better to do.

I was married, then divorced. Moved three times. Had six different jobs. Got remarried. Got knocked up. And I STILL have nothing better to do! Best yet: I bought a membership because I was fronting the credit card number for my now-ex husband I thought "HEY! I need a membership too!" and my time on MeFi has now lasted TWICE as long as our marriage. Amazing.

(Yes, yes, this account is new, but MeFi user grapefruitmoon was a $5 noob.)
posted by sonika at 5:47 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

i actually found metafilter a little later than this.

I said -- oh so it's like a memepool i can actually join and post to.
posted by empath at 5:49 AM on November 19, 2010

I am trying to sustain a self-imposed internet time-out, but damn, I need to represent, here. Lurked since 2001 - regular enough that I kinda panicked when there was a kinda protracted server outage (Or I had some sort of 6-week unlucky-hitting-the-site-during-short-outages) in 2002 or so. I posted a "what happened to Metafilter?" thread at the Mac NN lounge, but no one even responded, and I was sad.

I never caught wind of the noon signup window, but I continued to hit the "sign up" button at random. One day, a day late, it just worked. So, happy 6 years, Day 2 Fidolla n00bs!

Love you guys -- even you, eyeballkid.

Back to work.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:53 AM on November 19, 2010

I paid my $5 in USD and ISK.

Hang onto that note, jessamyn - one day, it might return to its original value!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:10 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

That's when it all started to go wrong.

The Metafilter equivalent of the September that Never Ended
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:27 AM on November 19, 2010

I discovered metafilter via a link from Feed in '99. I looked around, started to join, put it off, then forgot about metafilter entirely. Two+ years later, I found it again (in the last place I looked) and joined during the 20 a day admissions. But I'm still a little envious of that sweet, sweet "joined sometime in 1999" that almost was mine.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:33 AM on November 19, 2010

Five bucks for five posts and twenty comments. Still the best five bucks I have spent in a long time.
posted by publius at 6:37 AM on November 19, 2010

Cheers to all my five dollar brethren.
posted by fake at 6:40 AM on November 19, 2010

What are four noobs?

$20, same as downtown.
posted by Zed at 6:49 AM on November 19, 2010

I actually paid $5 to sign up eight years ago, during the noon-refresh era, so I think that was an unofficial backdoor at the time. It was like "if you can't wait, just send me five bucks and I'll put you through" and I was like "yeah, I'm impatient".
posted by padraigin at 6:52 AM on November 19, 2010

Speaking of Feed, I'm delighted to discover that Feed's archives are back online. I wasn't aware of that.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:57 AM on November 19, 2010

Ah, it's nice to know the actual date that my productivity at work went into the crapper.
posted by electroboy at 7:00 AM on November 19, 2010

> When I signed up, I had to hit refresh on the sign up page every day at noon to be one of the 20 lucky ones.

This is when I joined too. It took a whole month of daily attempts to finally get lucky

It's weird, my then-boyfriend is one of youse, and tells the same tale of obsession and woe and finally elation, but for some reason I never bothered just then with the 14kers despite lurking like all the rest for over a year (maybe 'cause he made it sound so nerve-wrackingly unlikely each day, and I don't like setting myself up for disappointment, aaand I'm lazy). Then out of the blue a little bit later, like a few months later, on a whim I clicked and was presented with an account set up, easy as pie and free and all that. It wasn't anywhere close to the midday rush either, it was hours later if I recall...I just randomly get really lucky. There aren't a lot of people who registered the same season as me, and I've always wondered if there was just some weird slight time gap for a while where the 14k rush had died down but accounts were still available and then that was shut down a month or so later. Whatever it was, I got lucky I guess, in all my laziness and random timing.
posted by ifjuly at 7:36 AM on November 19, 2010

Joined November 18, 2004.

My gosh, has it been that long?
posted by exlotuseater at 8:12 AM on November 19, 2010

Business machines? Heaven forfend! What's being implied here?
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:12 AM on November 19, 2010

*bangs ceiling with broom handle*
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:24 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Also, not to get all saccharine, but joining MeFi was one of the best things I have ever done in terms of internet activity.

Others have said it often, and better than I, but this community never ceases to amaze me. MeFi will come up in conversation somehow-- I'll be talking with someone and I'll say, "oh, I saw this thing on MetaFilter, are you familiar with it?" And of course they say "nuh uh." And then I say something like, "well, it's a community weblog, and basically that means that people find interesting stuff on the web and post it for all to see, and then others comment on it."

And they look nonplussed.

And I go into evangelical mode, and I'm like "What's confusing? It's a BLOG that has a LOT of posters. And while--like everywhere else--it has its share of crazies, that share is decidedly less crazy than other places. And it has a question and answer forum!"

"Oh, like Yahoo! Answers?"

"NO! Not at ALL like Yahoo! Answers. Shut up!"

And then I go on to explain how the discourse here is so much better than pretty much anywhere--that one can't just say whatever, there is an attitude of skepticism and reasoned debate and that one has to support his or her assertions,

And members (in an offshoot gaming group) are BUILDING THE VATICAN in an online game and where ELSE (besides maybe SA or something) would ANYONE be DOING THAT‽

MetaFilter:
MY GOD ITS FULL OF STARS

Thanks, Matt, and everyone, for letting me in on it [not the cabal of course].
posted by exlotuseater at 8:29 AM on November 19, 2010

Team 40K represent!

*crickets*
posted by Mister_A at 8:30 AM on November 19, 2010

Happy Birthday us!

Not coincidentally, I now realize that my paypal account is only 6 years old.
posted by muddgirl at 8:30 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

I waited until 12/7. Pearl Harbor Day!
posted by R. Mutt at 8:31 AM on November 19, 2010

*Blows out all MetaCandles, makes MetaWish*
posted by Aquaman at 8:41 AM on November 19, 2010

A couple of weeks ago, I dreamed that the original version of MetaFilter (before all this internet nonsense) was a rather thick, photocopied zine that was mailed out every month. MeFites both contributed and subscribed to this.

This print version of MetaFilter was still going strong, but you could only access it if your user number was sufficiently small. I remember being pretty jealous of this.

So I guess what I'm asking is... is it true? Can I have a print subscription?
posted by brundlefly at 8:42 AM on November 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

Just checked. Today is my fifth MeFi birthday.
posted by ericb at 8:53 AM on November 19, 2010

*Blows out all MetaCandles, makes MetaWish*

I'm pretty sure a metawish is a wish for more wishes, which is totally not allowed.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:01 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

I've never heard of the noon sign ups. I just remembered that every time signups opened for a day or a few hours, I always seemed to miss it. So, when the US$5 sign ups started, had to jump on that.

Unfortunately, all those comments I wanted to make while lurking were witty, profound and hilarious. Once I got in, Alzheimer's set in.
posted by QIbHom at 9:05 AM on November 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Mister_A, the party's over here.
posted by fiercecupcake at 9:06 AM on November 19, 2010

You know, on reddit they give you a little piece of birthday cake next to your user name on your member birthday.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:07 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I got in by coming to the site, thinking it was cool, and just sending an email to Matt. He wrote back with a link and something like, "Try this but don't tell anyone." It worked and with this very post I've betrayed him.
posted by dobbs at 9:53 AM on November 19, 2010

Yay, I'm a six-year-old MeFite.
posted by Miko at 9:55 AM on November 19, 2010

Hey! It's my Mefiversary, too! 9 years. Good grief.
posted by Zed at 10:09 AM on November 19, 2010

Just checked. Today is my fifth MeFi birthday.

Um, that'd be 'sixth.'
posted by ericb at 10:21 AM on November 19, 2010

Meh, I'm over fifty days old. Many happys meefday anyway, lawn critters.
posted by Dano St at 10:33 AM on November 19, 2010

My birthday's in July, which is why no one comes to my party.
posted by Mister_A at 10:49 AM on November 19, 2010

Right? That is the reason, right guys?
posted by Mister_A at 10:49 AM on November 19, 2010

I am here among you, my people. Please, be at ease.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:14 AM on November 19, 2010

You can't have it both ways, Meatbomb.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:28 AM on November 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

#19782 represent! I lurked for 4 years first.

I "borrowed" the $5 from a co-worker because I didn't have a Pay Pal account at the time and he did. Since I've yet to pay him back I'm here by dishonest means.
posted by sourwookie at 11:56 AM on November 19, 2010

Sonofabitch, today is the day.

I don't know how I feel about that. I think I need some peanut butter on toast.
posted by everichon at 11:57 AM on November 19, 2010

I'm part of this birthday litter and just want to say thanks to GaelFC for introducing me to Metafilter through her Pop Culture Junk Mail blog. I've gotten hardly anything done since, but it's been fun.
posted by SashaPT at 12:00 PM on November 19, 2010

T minus 5 days to 6 years for me. For more than 20% of my life, I have been a Mefite. What a long, strange ride it's been. I'm pretty sure this place has had a profound impact on who I am today.

Happy noobvember! Cheers!
posted by [expletive deleted] at 2:10 PM on November 19, 2010

Holy cow. That's me. That's me! Yay!
posted by verb at 4:24 PM on November 19, 2010

Holy shit, time flies!
posted by the_bone at 5:59 PM on November 19, 2010

Six years ago today! Saw a link on unfogged, lurked, tapped my toe for a few months, then leapt at my chance to be a five dollar noob.

How did I join without a PayPal account? Wasn't there some sort of temporary provision made?
posted by goofyfoot at 6:18 PM on November 19, 2010

I saw that the memberships had opened, realized I had very little to contribute, waited a while, and then got an account.

I still have very little to contribute, but damnitall, I'm TRYING.
posted by cmyk at 11:31 PM on November 19, 2010

8 years this past July. I was one of the refresh-at-noon kids. Lurked for at least a year before that.

Wow.
posted by aclevername at 11:40 PM on November 19, 2010

When I joined I had no idea that I was lucky to get in the club - I think I just registered and it let me in! My mefday is November 30th!
posted by radioamy at 11:47 PM on November 19, 2010

Aw, I missed my Mefday! Oh well, here's my first ever comment, reposted for posterity:

I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! Pardon me, I have to go piss in the corners.
posted to MetaTalk by stray at 11:17 AM on November 18, 2004 [+]
posted by stray at 12:44 AM on November 20, 2010

just want to say thanks to GaelFC for introducing me to Metafilter through her Pop Culture Junk Mail blog

For me, the track went Slashdot >> Kuroshun >> Metafilter WTF I CAN'T GET IN!
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:05 AM on November 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

here's my first ever comment, reposted for posterity:

I was prepared to be embarrassed, but in retrospect, my first comment, while typically self-absorbed, wasn't all that bad.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:34 AM on November 20, 2010

I got in by coming to the site, thinking it was cool, and just sending an email to Matt. He wrote back with a link and something like, "Try this but don't tell anyone." It worked and with this very post I've betrayed him
Yeah, that's how it worked for me too, except my e-mail was preceded by a virtual $20 note. Now he's been twice betrayed ...
posted by dg at 1:48 PM on November 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

On April 2, 2004, there was a wave of n00bs, that was then suddenly cut off.
posted by jb at 11:19 PM on November 20, 2010

You know, I think I've gotten my five bucks' worth.
posted by Malor at 5:36 AM on November 21, 2010

Wow, I'm in this bunch, yay. I tried for so long, and refreshed refreshed refreshed. I was ecstatic when I got to pay my fiver. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to FPP.
posted by thinkpiece at 6:51 AM on November 22, 2010

I started reading MeFi in 2001, right after 9/11. By the time I decided I wanted to join and clicked "signup," signups were closed. And I just sat back and accepted it. Now I look back and go "What was I thinking? I could have just emailed Matt, like so many people, and probably wangled in the back door." I think it's a testament to what it's like to be trained in life on one-way communications media. Even though I had been doing internet stuff since discovering the unix terminals at my college in 1993, it never occurred to me that I could approach something as big and fancy as MetaFilter, which was like famous, and just pipe up and ask for a ticket. In my mind it would have been like calling up Time Magazine and asking for a free subscription - just pointless.

Now that MeFi feels a lot like a neighborhood to me, I have a hard time remembering, let alone recreating, that "oh well, so much for little old me, I'll just sit here and wait" mindset.
posted by Miko at 11:02 AM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]