My friend's really cool thing ≠ a post to projects November 27, 2010 9:02 AM   Subscribe

Aren't projects for something that you've done and not a way to show off someone else's stuff?

I've always thought that projects were for things that we were a part of and not a way to show off our friends cool stuff. Even if that friend writes for my blog. Or is doing something that would be an instant winner if done by a member.

Please note that I'm not talking about things where the member made a website for someone else's work or had a side role in someone else's major project.

I know projects have been deleted before when it was someone else's thing. But are things getting through now because there aren't a lot of projects posted compared to posts in the other sections? Is it a case of "this is cool enough to break the rules"?
posted by theichibun to Etiquette/Policy at 9:02 AM (25 comments total)

Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:03 AM on November 27, 2010 [5 favorites]


We wrote to blazingunicorn specifically about that post and he said that he made the website for it, if I'm remembering correctly, and that was why the site was on projects. So yeah we're pretty serious about this being something that is "yours" but it can mean that you did the design and someone else did the content or that you put it all together and people made the pieces. Mathowie personally approves every project, so he's usually the one that's eyeballing them to make sure they're okay. I agree that the first post you linked seems a little far afield for the general idea we have for Projects, maybe mathowie talked to the guy and got a different vibe from him.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:09 AM on November 27, 2010


I pretty much feel the way you do; I think our general expectation is that folks are submitting their stuff, not someone else's.

That said, Matt's sometimes kinda flexible in general and there may be occasions where someone has dropped us a line to sort of talk out whether it'd be okay as a one-off, and at the end of the day he's doing most of the Projects approval work so he's really the only one who can definitively answer on any one of these as to whether it was an intentional bit of letting-it-stand thing or just him not catching the "not really mine" aspect and it slipping through.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:13 AM on November 27, 2010


Yeah, I agree with the OP, this one is weird for Projects.
posted by Dumsnill at 9:31 AM on November 27, 2010


This thread has accomplished something; I just bought two copies of Atreides' fiancee's book off of Amazon. I really ought to check Projects more often.
posted by Bookhouse at 9:31 AM on November 27, 2010


Yeah, we're still at the no-friends-projects stage, but I did a too quick read of the submitted post, saw the main link was to triplepundit (the member's blog) and figured it was their project. I was checking submissions on my iphone in between thanksgiving planning and didn't dig as deep as I should have. Usually I put off approving stuff until I can take time to scan them and check up on the projects but lately people have been complaining if their project isn't posted within an hour or two after submitting, and since it was a post-thanksgiving time-based project I hit approve before I had a chance to fully review it.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:31 AM on November 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


What's the deal with the suddenly ubiquitous 'look at me living in a gallery window and interacting through social media' projects? Does every city in the US big enough to have a gallery now have one? Is it some kind of NEA grant?
posted by fixedgear at 9:32 AM on November 27, 2010


It's a thing.
posted by carsonb at 10:17 AM on November 27, 2010


I love that phrase. I mean, is anything not a thing?
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:01 AM on November 27, 2010 [2 favorites]


Nothing is nothing.
posted by sveskemus at 11:23 AM on November 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


Why is there some thang rather than no thang?

But no, there ain't no thang
posted by Dumsnill at 11:37 AM on November 27, 2010


I mean, is anything not a thing?

The recent Alba/Chiklis movie version of the Fantastic Four happens to be on, and I can tell you for sure that Chiklis is NOT the Thing.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:38 AM on November 27, 2010 [3 favorites]


Nothing is nothing.

Nothing Ventured, wherein I learned to noth.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:38 AM on November 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


we're still at the no-friends-projects stage

maybe join a society or nightclass so you can meet people with a shared interest ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 11:40 AM on November 27, 2010 [2 favorites]


Well, I've seen some things in my time.
posted by Abiezer at 11:48 AM on November 27, 2010


Seen any attack ships on fire?
posted by cjorgensen at 12:17 PM on November 27, 2010


Abiezer: "Well, I've seen some things in my time"

Just don't pull the cord.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:30 PM on November 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


cool, thanks for clarifying!
posted by paddingtonb at 2:34 PM on November 27, 2010


I am fine with the occasional only-tangentially-qualifying-as-a-project submission getting through if it means some of us (mods included) may eat more pie.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:00 PM on November 27, 2010


Hell, I'm cool with the tangentially doing something as well as long as they tell us what they actually did in the thing.

Glad to see that I wasn't just being an ass.
posted by theichibun at 7:41 PM on November 27, 2010


I imagine it would be pretty easy to just post your friends stuff and say you worked on the website. Hopefully that's not really something to worry about.
posted by dead cousin ted at 8:49 PM on November 27, 2010


Yeah, but if someone did that then they at least went through the effort to fake it.
posted by theichibun at 10:21 AM on November 28, 2010


Hell, I'm cool with the tangentially doing something as well as long as they tell us what they actually did in the thing.

theichibun, I wasn't trying to get around the rules- I am indeed the owner of the blog, and the writer of the article I linked to. I knew Friend links weren't appropriate for the blue, but I thought they were kosher for Projects and I tried to be straight up in my listing about my connection to the project.

You were right to alert the mods that the post was accepted in error, but that doesn't mean I was unclear or trying to hide something.
posted by paddingtonb at 6:27 PM on November 28, 2010


No, I don't think you were trying to hide anything at all. I really don't think either of the first two that I linked to were trying to hide anything. I just didn't think that a post on your blog about what your friend was doing was even falling into that tangentially connected range.
posted by theichibun at 5:05 AM on November 29, 2010


Nothing is nothing.

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing
You gotta have something
If you wanna post to Me(FiProjects)
posted by davejay at 10:32 AM on November 29, 2010


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