MeFi Signs?

February 4, 2011 10:57 PM

How about MeFi event promotional materials?

I was at a MeFi event recently (thanks everyone!) and thought it would be nice if we could somehow get like MetaFilter meetup signs or something cultish-like. Plus it could help identify group meetups in crowded places or locations.

posted by antgly to MetaFilter-Related at 10:57 PM (57 comments total)

A cryptic MeFi symbol would be great. And then we could have little buttons to put on our totebags, too. That would be exciting. Maybe just a plain button divided into thirds of MeFi blue, green, and gray stripes...
posted by bubukaba at 10:59 PM on February 4, 2011

MeFi gang signs would be cooler.
posted by amyms at 11:08 PM on February 4, 2011

I'm for conspicuous mullets myself.
posted by philip-random at 11:09 PM on February 4, 2011

I thought that we already had this.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:11 PM on February 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

A mefite had created signs for meet-ups and forms for shout-outs several years ago but the links are currently 404 -- I guess he does not want them used anymore?
posted by mlis at 11:57 PM on February 4, 2011

I will buy you signs if we can all promise never to talk about gang signs again.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:06 AM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

I want to buy a MeFi t-shirt, wear it to a meet-up, and deny being a MeFite. "I bought it at thrift store," I would say. "I don't know anything about a meet-up. I come to this bar all the time."
posted by Bruce H. at 12:23 AM on February 5, 2011 [22 favorites]

The lost looking guy scanning the room? Checking his Future Phone? Yeah, just ask him if he's there for the meetup. Works nine times out of ten.


And most of the time at meetups I have been to, if there is confusion, someone will make a little sign. This is what humans do.
posted by The Whelk at 12:48 AM on February 5, 2011

I always suggest that, when meeting up in some public place, Mefiers should all bring their electric-hot-pink sousaphones, for easy visual identification. So far, everyone has always complied, and, as an extra bonus, we've had some badass jam sessions.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:00 AM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Bruce H.: that's pretty good, but I think it would be even better if you aged the hell out of the shirt, so it had an authentic vintage t-shirt feel to it. And then, you spend the entire meetup vehemently insisting you were a MeFite. Even when no one was asking. Chuckling and saying, "Oh, yeah, I totally love that web site. I go there every day. *snicker*"
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 1:23 AM on February 5, 2011

MeFi Signs?

we asked for signs
the signs were sent
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:36 AM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Maybe we need tradeshow-style promotional swag to hand out at meetups! MeFi squeezy-balls, labeled pens, official MeFi-blue plates on which to place your beans…
posted by hattifattener at 1:42 AM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

GIANT FOAM POINTING HANDS
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:42 AM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

MeFi pirate hats.
posted by arcticseal at 5:19 AM on February 5, 2011

You mean not everybody got a tattoo when they signed up?
posted by Sailormom at 5:42 AM on February 5, 2011

Flares. Sent up every 15 minutes.
posted by Splunge at 5:43 AM on February 5, 2011

MeFi gang signs would be cooler.

To quote Mathowie: THERE WAS A GANG SIGN FOR MEFI GOING BACK TO AT LEAST 2005
posted by The Michael The at 5:47 AM on February 5, 2011

Just look for the area with the highest density of visible corrective eyewear.

Yea, that doesn't work. Or at least, it didn't last week at our meetup. Seriously, every single dirty hipster person in that bar could have been a Mefite. Fortunately I was wearing my shirt, and they found me.
posted by cabingirl at 6:19 AM on February 5, 2011

I just ask people "Are you a friend of Jessamyn?" which makes us sound kind of like a cult but if they call me on it I can just be like "Oh, sorry, you looked familiar from, uh, a party Jessamyn was throwing. Yeah, that's right. My friend Jessamyn from real life where actual people hang out and meet and stuff. Because I was at a party. With real people. And my friend Jessamyn. WHO I KNOW!"

Of course, this has never come up because so far the answer has always been "Yes".
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 6:57 AM on February 5, 2011 [4 favorites]

Seriously dudes and dudettes, whenever I have to meet people I've never met IRL before, I just go up to a clump of likely candidates, wait for them to notice me hovering, and I shout "Who here is from the internet?"

Works every time.

If nobody there is from the internet, 1. they are liars and 2. I just say "Well I am! If anybody else internetty comes in, point them to me, okay?"

Though I like the idea of blue, green, and grey crepe streamers...
posted by Mizu at 7:06 AM on February 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

Just say, "excuse me, do you know if they serve taters here?"
posted by ifjuly at 7:22 AM on February 5, 2011

Yeah, any known technique doesn't work well when it's a small meetup in even a slightly crowded bar.

I made up my own sign last time, but it would have been easier if there were downloadable PDFs.
posted by smackfu at 7:47 AM on February 5, 2011

Over the years I've seen various signs produced, and there's even a gang sign already out there on Flickr somewhere - I bet somebody has the link handy. In the spirit of making the most of the Wiki, maybe that can be a place to house a set of links to images or files of printable signage (and how-tos for the gang sign, of course).
posted by Miko at 7:51 AM on February 5, 2011

a small meetup in even a slightly crowded bar.

It's true - especially when it's in a location where everyone looks like they could possibly be a MeFite. Viz: Cambridge, MA, and Portland, ME.
posted by Miko at 7:53 AM on February 5, 2011

The Japanese tour guides at Disneyland use little colored flags on VERY long poles. You can spot your guide from two lands over, so long as he didn't pick a popular color. This is handy to use when trying to figure out how many Japanese tour groups are in Disneyland today. They often wear distinctive shirts (the whole group) that match the flag color, which presumably helps those who might forget which color is theirs.

I suggest tricolor flags with the letters IRL. Pirate hats with appropriately colored feathers would also help.
posted by SMPA at 7:57 AM on February 5, 2011

We have the opposite problem in Chicago. Rather than people coming in, looking for the meet-up and not knowing who to approach, we have the Meet-Up, terrifying random people coming in for a drink by shouting "Hey Internet Guy! Meet-ups over here!"
posted by crush-onastick at 8:09 AM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

Could one not just enter a bar, and look for an obvious confab of Mods and Rockers?
posted by timsteil at 8:36 AM on February 5, 2011

this has never come up because so far the answer has always been "Yes".

Danger: you might wind up at a librarian meet-up instead.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:43 AM on February 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

I would be totally down for that, actually, so I win either way!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:46 AM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

I was super busy this week but really wanted to go to that. Happy birthday, antgly.
posted by mintcake! at 9:38 AM on February 5, 2011

Thanks mintcake!
posted by antgly at 9:57 AM on February 5, 2011

large tins of potted beef
posted by clavdivs at 10:34 AM on February 5, 2011

I shout "Who here is from the internet?"

Works every time.

At the last Richmond meet-up, there was also a meet-up for a vegan messageboard and there was some accidental mingling.
posted by empath at 11:46 AM on February 5, 2011

Ladies and gentlemen, THE MINGLING VEGANS!
posted by The Whelk at 11:52 AM on February 5, 2011 [4 favorites]

I seem to remember photos of a meetup where there were MeFi-branded nametags, where everyone could write their username on their tag. Those would be really cool.

But looking at the list of usernames who have commented on this post and picturing all these names on nametags, I imagine being a random person wandering into the bar/restaurant and seeing all these nametags and wondering what the hell I'd stumbled into.
posted by Tin Man at 1:36 PM on February 5, 2011

There was a previous thread for printable Mefi stuff, & though I thought mattdidthat had something in addition to the metagram, it looks like that directory on his server is gone.
posted by Pronoiac at 2:36 PM on February 5, 2011

fontophilic made some semi-improptu table tents for the 10th anniversary meetup in Austin, and they worked pretty well. I used one for a metagram (Can't find the pic, now) and it worked well for that as well.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:08 PM on February 5, 2011

also, ahem, mattdidthat makes amazing Mefi ID cards. We could flash them like FBI badges.

"I'm form the internet. And I'm here to help."
posted by The Whelk at 4:38 PM on February 5, 2011

Yeah, those ID badges are great. As WCityMike pointed out last month, one snazzy MeFi ID badge could be yours with a donation to one of the selected charities/organizations. Doesn't help much with finding other MeFites, but they're cooool.
posted by carsonb at 5:02 PM on February 5, 2011

Here, I just made a Mefi table sign (preview).
posted by Pronoiac at 5:44 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

Alternatively, for the meetup I went to, someone posted the group location in the bar on their smartphone when they arrived. I found that really helpful. Perhaps the first person with a smartphone could always do that? At least latecomers and other people with smartphones could find them.
posted by maryr at 7:57 PM on February 5, 2011

baseball caps, t-shirts, backpacks, and buttons that say "Surely this..."
posted by tzikeh at 8:43 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

I went to the last one and went up to nikitabot and sambosambo and said I was from the internet and was here to help and they asked if I was a friend of Matt Haughey.
posted by NoraReed at 11:56 PM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Danger: you might wind up at a librarian meet-up instead.

So far, every meetup I've been to has been a meetup of librarians. At least, I think they were; everyone was pretty drunk. I'm led to understand this is common amongst librarians, and no drunk person has ever lied to me, so there you are.
posted by Errant at 2:11 AM on February 6, 2011

OK: My first and only ( so far) meetup was at a restaurant i go to often, and I went in there looking for "Jessica's party" but couldn't say what "Jessica" looked like and the owner/hostess thought and still thinks I'm completely nuts. So I'd be all for a symbol or flag or something.
posted by sweetkid at 7:39 AM on February 6, 2011

I made this sign (PDF) in the pre-irl.metafilter days.
posted by exogenous at 7:46 AM on February 6, 2011

I also found this Word document set up for metafilter nametags, but I don't know where I got it.
posted by exogenous at 8:11 AM on February 6, 2011

I like the one I improvised from beer coasters, even though it didn't work.
posted by zamboni at 1:06 PM on February 6, 2011

Let's agree on an easily recognizable object: I vote for Life/form® Baked Beans Food Replica - 1/3 Cup.
posted by zamboni at 1:25 PM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

I have a copy of the .EPS used by the London MeFi group. Send me your email address and I'll pass it along.
posted by lhall at 4:20 PM on February 6, 2011

Email? Mediafire? I'll be happy to host those files, exogenous & lhall.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:58 PM on February 6, 2011

Miko: In the spirit of making the most of the Wiki, maybe that can be a place to house a set of links to images or files of printable signage (and how-tos for the gang sign, of course).

That's a great idea! I collected some info and also some files.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:14 PM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

zamboni, those are some freaky beans.
posted by Sublimity at 7:32 PM on February 6, 2011

rmm drew a terrific sign for our recent meetup train, incorporating a tam o'shanter and a thistle. It eventually landed on aubilenon's kitchen table. I hope somebody took a picture.
posted by tangerine at 8:24 PM on February 6, 2011

oneswellfoop brought old stickers and buttons to the summer TinyTown, CA meetup (OK, we're not that tiny, but we're no SF or LA). I like the abstract blue, green and white checkered design, personally.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:47 AM on February 7, 2011

My previous idea: I prefer to walk behind the suspected MeFite, leaning over and whispering "Praise cortex" in their ear. If they cross themselves and mutter "Long may he mod," they are good. I chose this method, after having to eat another plate of beans that a non-MeFite didn't want their free plate of beans.

(A note for the other mods, this isn't to belittle you. It's just that cortex is the one with god complex(ion).

And if anyone ask if cortex is a god, you say yes. Or he might pre-ban you.)
posted by filthy light thief at 9:50 AM on February 7, 2011

I used one for a metagram (Can't find the pic, now)

Ah, here it is.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:57 AM on February 7, 2011