Can I get a witness?

October 17, 2011 10:40 PM

The offending link is, thankfully, gone, but I'd like a clarifying ruling from the mods on the policy of linking to user's private facebook (or G+, or what have you) discussions about other users, if that's not too much trouble.

The mods did a quick erase job, which was good. I'm not going to rehash anything, and everyone involved already knows about it, but this is new (as far as I know) territory here and I'd like to see the policy written down for all to see, whatever it is.

posted by Navelgazer to Etiquette/Policy at 10:40 PM (230 comments total)

If somebody sees somebody else talking about me offsite, I'd appreciate a quick PM.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:45 PM on October 17, 2011 [3 favorites]

We would rather people didn't link to extra-mefi content for the purposes of furthering drama or bad feelings or weird gotcha-type shit, is the short version.

It's not really new territory, this goes for twitter and personal blogs and arguments from other sites mefi-related or not. There's nothing particular to Google+ here. Just a general expectation that folks will show the modicum of restraint about cross-pollenating this stuff such that they don't turn one bit of weirdness or one site's problem into everybody's weirdness or multiples sites' problem.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:47 PM on October 17, 2011 [5 favorites]

If I'm going to be talked about behind my back, I'd like a way to respond. Or just call me out HERE.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:48 PM on October 17, 2011

FFS, LiB, this is not a thread about what someone somewhere that isn't mefi said about you. The drama containment issue here goes both ways, please take it up elsewhere with whoever it concerns.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:50 PM on October 17, 2011 [10 favorites]

I didn't know about it and now I do. So thanks!
posted by grouse at 11:00 PM on October 17, 2011

I really wasn't trying to bring drama to light, I swear. This just seemed so far outside the realm of what was acceptable that it needed to be addressed. If this thread needs to be closed or even deleted I won't complain.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:03 PM on October 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

If I'm going to be talked about behind my back, I'd like a way to respond. Or just call me out HERE.

ok, dude; you asked for it.

I think you are a mefite.
posted by hal_c_on at 11:26 PM on October 17, 2011 [3 favorites]

"If somebody sees somebody else talking about me offsite, I'd appreciate a quick PM."

This one time somebody on facebook asked me what your username used to be, but I don't know. Were you maybe that Charlatantric guy? But I think he was Canadian.

Anyway, I think that brings us up to date.
posted by klangklangston at 11:33 PM on October 17, 2011

"If somebody sees somebody else talking about me offsite, I'd appreciate a quick PM."

Well, you're a prominent character in my MeFi slashfic, if that counts.
posted by auto-correct at 11:40 PM on October 17, 2011 [38 favorites]

Well, you're a prominent character in my MeFi slashfic, if that counts.

It's the tentacles. Am I shipped with Luvcraft, Hatecraft, or Palmcorder Yajna?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:42 PM on October 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'd like to see the policy written down for all to see, whatever it is.

Do Not Do That, is policy. It's basically in line with all the other "don't bring outside shit and petty squabbles from other places over here" along with not outing people's not-shared presence on other sites. It's pretty clear and at this point I'd like this particular thing to drop.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:06 AM on October 18, 2011 [8 favorites]

Am I shipped with Luvcraft, Hatecraft, or Palmcorder Yajna?

Yes. All of the above. At once. With a beach ball and a clown.
posted by strixus at 12:09 AM on October 18, 2011

It's pretty clear and at this point I'd like this particular thing to drop.

Thank you, and once again I apologize if I amplified this drama.
posted by Navelgazer at 12:24 AM on October 18, 2011

I'm thinking of shipping Lovecraft/Dickenson. Or Lovecraft/Poe/Dickenson
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 12:29 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Because I could not stop for the old ones
The old ones kindly levelled Massachusetts for me
posted by Ghidorah at 12:42 AM on October 18, 2011 [25 favorites]

Being well known is counterfeit currency.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 1:13 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

To further this a little more, requesting that people inform us every time a bad word is said about us online isn't a super healthy thing to do. People need to be able to bitch, and to gossip. If you catch them at it, fair enough, but pulling other people into what is a fundamentally human activity is nothing but decisive.

If every bad word I ever said about metafilter people was broadcast to those people, I'd be mortified. Yeah - I shouldn't bitch, but like most people, I do. ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOU, CORTEX. YOU WEIRD LITTLE SQUIRREL FUCKER.

But anyway. I think we all have enemies. Let's not get too freaked out that they may be saying bad stuff about us elsewhere online.
posted by seanyboy at 1:14 AM on October 18, 2011 [13 favorites]

You got an email LiB? 'cause there's a list...
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:11 AM on October 18, 2011

I'd also like a quick PM if anyone is talking about LiB anywhere, ever.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:30 AM on October 18, 2011 [20 favorites]

If there are enough people interested in hearing about other people discussing LiB, we could start up a newsletter. I'm thinking Fedora Feed. Brandon, can you handle the graphics on that?

Also: is cortex little? I always thought the doughnut in the picture was big, but now I'm wondering.
posted by pracowity at 3:42 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

It isn't that he's little, just far away.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:01 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

[Haven't seen this particular thing]

Linking to stuff that needs a signup seems not okay to me - unrelated to whether it's gossip or great content. Like "look at this or that, but only you and you and you can look (unless you sign up for *)." That's at least not what I understand this site to be about. So this would by default exclude that fb battles are being dragged across the site.

* yet another time-sinky thing that needs you to come up with yet another username-password combo and bombards you with e-mail updates.
posted by Namlit at 4:12 AM on October 18, 2011

I remember back as a youth experimenting with psychedelics one time hallucinating that my friends were sat round talking about me saying nice things, confirming that I'm not paranoid but also no doubt a deluded egomaniac.
posted by Abiezer at 4:13 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

I'd like to know if I'm saying my side of an imaginary conversation out loud. Again. Frighteningly, I find myself doing this more and more often.
posted by maxwelton at 4:14 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

LiB, create a google alert for yourself for the phrase "Lovecraft in Brooklyn." You can also fo "LiB." Be forewarned that it will probably turn up some false positives.

If a post is public, not private, as the one in question was, a Google Alert may pick it up.

Not that it matters, but if we're polling the crowd, I'd also prefer if this sort of drama could be kept off of MeFi and Meta.
posted by zarq at 4:31 AM on October 18, 2011

I have a Google Alert set for "Horace Rumpole is awesome!" If that isn't what you're saying, I don't want to know.

I hope I did it correctly--I'm not getting any results so far.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:01 AM on October 18, 2011 [11 favorites]

"Horace Rumpole is awesome!", says She Who Must be Obeyed.
posted by taff at 5:05 AM on October 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

LiB, create a google alert for yourself for the phrase "Lovecraft in Brooklyn." You can also fo "LiB." Be forewarned that it will probably turn up some false positives.

We've been compromised. Everyone, turn your codebooks to "Omega Plan" and execute order 999. Good luck and I'll see you at the safe hipster bar.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:08 AM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

Horace Rumpole is awesome!
Horace Rumpole is meh.
Horace Rumpole is a weener.

Which one did you get?
posted by lampshade at 5:25 AM on October 18, 2011

It's like the aspiring popular people in high school who would make sure to call all their friends every day to make sure that no one was talking about them behind their backs.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 5:44 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

We've been compromised. Everyone, turn your codebooks to "Omega Plan" and execute order 999.

Applying Omega Plan cipher to order 999, as commanded! D-R-I-N-K-M-O-R-E-O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E... waitaminit...
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:46 AM on October 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

In Soviet Russia, awesome is Horace Rumpole...wait a sec, am I doing this right?
posted by arcticseal at 6:00 AM on October 18, 2011

To: His Supreme Magnificance, Galactic Czar L. I. Brooklyn II.
From: Captain Zoltar, Imperial Inquisition.

My Lord,

It has come to our attention that subversives continue to discuss you behind and/or adjacent to your back, as well as in other back-facing localities. With your Majesty's blessing, I have constructed a giant, wooden back, hidden within which are 300 of our crack anti-discussion troops. Our plan is to wheel this structure into the very nest of the revolutionaries, wait until they are drunk on ovaltine, and then leap out and attack. I pray that God defends your high redonckulousness from every evil and that we utterly slaughter these rebellious back-fetishizing perverts. Zoltar out.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:12 AM on October 18, 2011 [14 favorites]

Be forewarned that it will probably turn up some false positives.

LiB could only hope he'll ever be more popular than the song he got his name from.
posted by griphus at 6:17 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also, Order 999 seems to be "loudly talk through an opening band's set while facing away from the stage." I thought we had a budget this time, people.
posted by griphus at 6:18 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't do all that much griping on Google Plus, but if anyone wants to send me their phone number, I'll be happy to text them every time I'm gossiping about something ridiculous they did on mefi.
posted by Greg Nog at 6:23 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

I like to think that people are talking about me, too. Shoot me a quick memail if that's so. Even if I just cross your mind, okay? Me me me.
posted by h00py at 6:28 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

I try to limit my Mefi bitching to Twitter.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:32 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'm paranoid because apparently the same thing is happening to me in real life.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:36 AM on October 18, 2011

nothing but decisive. --- you meant divisive, right?
posted by crunchland at 6:37 AM on October 18, 2011

And I limit my Twitter bitching to Mefi.

Damn Twitter!

See?
posted by The Deej at 6:37 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Which one did you get?

Not sure what you mean--you only typed one sentence, right? "Horace Rumpole is awesome!" That's all I see, anyway.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:39 AM on October 18, 2011

I have google alert me when people say bad things about me behind my back. Once I have that information, it's so easy to find mailing addresses, and driving directions. So if you get 20 anchovy and pineapple pizzas delivered to you that you didn't order, or you find you've been listed on Craigslist looking for an interracial, bi-curious experience, consider it a warning.
posted by crunchland at 6:43 AM on October 18, 2011

So if you get 20 anchovy and pineapple pizzas delivered to you that you didn't order, or you find you've been listed on Craigslist looking for an interracial, bi-curious experience, consider it a warning.

Pineapple? You monster.
posted by zamboni at 6:46 AM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

I'm just boggled that people actually have discussions about MeFi users on other sites. MetaChat, I could see, but FB? G+? Really?
posted by HopperFan at 6:48 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

Also, any of you guys call me Francis, and I'll kill you.
posted by panboi at 6:50 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

To further this a little more, requesting that people inform us every time a bad word is said about us online isn't a super healthy thing to do. People need to be able to bitch, and to gossip. If you catch them at it, fair enough, but pulling other people into what is a fundamentally human activity is nothing but decisive.

If every bad word I ever said about metafilter people was broadcast to those people, I'd be mortified. Yeah - I shouldn't bitch, but like most people, I do. ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOU, CORTEX. YOU WEIRD LITTLE SQUIRREL FUCKER.

Hmm. This is my theory in LIFE when it comes to gossip. Don't want to hear what people are saying to me, don't care. But this is a little different. It's like standing outside someone's bedroom window and trash talking them with a crowd of their friends. There are two former users I've seen do this, on metafilter and twitter. I'm not going to deny that I've had genuinely private (email) conversations about other users that may include language like the post in question. But I'm not going to do it in public where other people can point and laugh. It seems really petty and pretty awful, exacerbated by the fact that this kind of behavior and language would be deleted from this site, and I can totally understand why LiB feels crappy about it and would rather deal with it head on.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:52 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

on metafilter and twitter

On G+ and twitter, rather.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:53 AM on October 18, 2011

I'm just boggled that people actually have discussions about MeFi users on other sites. MetaChat, I could see, but FB? G+? Really?

It's actually against MeCha guidelines to talk about Mefi users & threads; the idea is to keep each site's drama on that site.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:55 AM on October 18, 2011 [8 favorites]

Hey Lovecraft, you sh!t me to tears sometimes, but I've become very fond of you. Please don't change who you are. And don't worry about the haters.

You do make big ol' generalisations about Australians and that unsettles lots of folk. You're young. Young people do that. I did it. You're wrong very, very often. But you also hold up a mirror to some tiny parts of Australia that we all, here, wish didn't exist. That we like to pretend doesn't exist.

We are a minority on Metafilter, us Australians. And when you say negative stuff about your experiences here.... racial stuff especially, we get angry and indignant. And embarrassed. I think you have the heightened and enlightened sensitivities of an educated American and you aren't imagining all of it. A lot of it, yes, but not all.

But what you see does not reflect the whole Australian experience. And you well know there are many, many racist people in the States. In fact, every country.

So, stay cool. Stay you. Remember that you are liked, respected, noticed and appreciated. The CONSTANT anti-Australian stuff... not my favourite stuff about you.

But if I have to choose between listening to your ugly generalisations and not reading your input because you've decided to leaver or lurk, I choose for you to stay and write your wrong sh!t about Australians. And I, when I see it, and have the time, will correct you. And remind you that you're young. And wrong. And that we have all been the same.
posted by taff at 6:56 AM on October 18, 2011 [14 favorites]

Oh, scurrilous gossip. I see. We all bitch, it is true. How many of us want to inflict damage, however? Probably not all that many. Direct links to nastiness are best obscured. Sucks to be a target, that is for sure.
posted by h00py at 6:57 AM on October 18, 2011

I stopped using G+ last month (well actually, I just culled my friends list very heavily) because it seemed to have a higher-than-average concentration of internet drama. I wonder if it has something to do with the circles idea, which makes it seem like you can bitch about other people without getting caught.
posted by muddgirl at 6:58 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I"m not a big one for hanging out in the blue. I don't generally read the comments. But Lovecraft has managed to give me the impression of actually not doing the ad hominem thing.

Now I'm a bit worried about what y'all say about me. How bad is it?


What if you're not talking about me at all???????????????????????
posted by taff at 7:01 AM on October 18, 2011

I'm just boggled that people actually have discussions about MeFi users on other sites. MetaChat, I could see, but FB? G+? Really?

There's quite a lot of it on Twitter, too. It surprises you that people engage in petty high school behavior elsewhere that they're not allowed to engage in here?

you can bitch about other people without getting caught.

Well, you can do it without getting chastised by the mods, is the idea, I think.
posted by Gator at 7:01 AM on October 18, 2011

it seemed to have a higher-than-average concentration of internet drama. --- Oh! So that's what G+ is good for!
posted by crunchland at 7:01 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'm thinking about all of you RIGHT NOW.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:02 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Order 999? I'll bring the peanut butter, but how are we ever going to round up four thousand square meters of velcro in such a short time?
posted by Wolfdog at 7:04 AM on October 18, 2011

Now I'm a bit worried about what y'all say about me. How bad is it?

(note: the vast majority of my bitching-about-metafilter occurs with my husband over dinner and is of the "someone is wrong on the internet!" sort. And the stuff we say about, say, certain relatives is far worse. And we still love them, too.)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:04 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

I didn't know about it and now I do. So thanks!

What happened? Someone talked about LiB on Facebook?
posted by sweetkid at 7:06 AM on October 18, 2011

"It's actually against MeCha guidelines to talk about Mefi users & threads; the idea is to keep each site's drama on that site."

Shows how much I visit there. I always encounter lots of confusing mentions of rabbits and leave.

"It surprises you that people engage in petty high school behavior elsewhere that they're not allowed to engage in here?"

Well, no - it's just astonishing (boggle : To cause to be overcome, as with fright or astonishment) to me to realize (again) that people have such different ways of interacting with Metafilter.
posted by HopperFan at 7:13 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you talk about me offsite, even IRL, and I'm not there or involved in the conversation, we have to have sex. I'm sorry, I don't make the rules. And no, I don't enjoy barebacking dudes (no problem if you do, though), so please... think before you gossip.


The more you know!
==============*




* hey, that graphic kinda looks like a flying asshole
posted by Eideteker at 7:16 AM on October 18, 2011 [7 favorites]

If somebody sees somebody else talking about me offsite, I'd appreciate a quick PM.

This topic arose at dinner not long ago, in fact. One of my guests said "That Lovecraft In Brooklyn, he's ... incroyable. Another replied "So true. He's practically the Ian Riese-Moraine of Metafilter." Then someone asked me to pass the wine.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:18 AM on October 18, 2011

I discussed whether a particular foodstuff was edible just the other day and referenced this very site. I didn't cite, however. I didn't say that I hated you or that you were up yerself, you'll be glad to know.
posted by h00py at 7:21 AM on October 18, 2011

Well, you can do it without getting chastised by the mods, is the idea, I think.

I'm not even talking about Metafilter Drama (I don't think I'm connected to any Mefites on G+ except the mods). I'm talking about (hypothetically) some moderately-popular-web cartoonist A drawing a controversial strip, and moderately-popular-web cartoonist B and his fans using that as an opportunity to mention that they Never Liked A, and A always seemed like an Asshole, and in all their dealings with A she was clueless and brusque, and A's response to this whole thing is just so sensitive and defensive, and who does A think she is anyway???

I mean, it's typical negative gossip bullshit, and I probably engage in it offline from time to time (although i really try not to), but doing so on G+ is pretty much just shit-stirring, because it's guaranteed that some friend of B is also a fan of A, and best-case-scenario they just unfriend the lot of them, and worst-case-scenario they send a screenshot to B, and voila! Instant fuel for fandom_wank.
posted by muddgirl at 7:24 AM on October 18, 2011

Metafilter: Hey, That Graphic Kinda Looks Like a Flying Asshole
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:24 AM on October 18, 2011

muddgirl: "I stopped using G+ last month (well actually, I just culled my friends list very heavily) because it seemed to have a higher-than-average concentration of internet drama. I wonder if it has something to do with the circles idea, which makes it seem like you can bitch about other people without getting caught."

Worth noting again that even though this FPP says the G+ post was a "private discussion," the post in question was in fact publicly viewable. So it was private in that the only people who could comment on it were G+ users, but everyone could see the conversation.

As Gator says, G+, Twitter and FB are unmoderated. So people no doubt feel more freedom to speak their minds.
posted by zarq at 7:26 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

You want Preventive Maintenance? A Post-Mortem?
posted by Crabby Appleton at 7:27 AM on October 18, 2011

Yeah, my beef is definitely with the fact that these conversations have been completely public. When they're started by former-members, I can't help but read it as a way to attempt to engage with site members without being constrained by moderator guidelines. But a lot of people mistake sites like twitter for their favorite IM or email clients, it seems. I've seen a lot of internet drama get started that way.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:28 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

muddgirl: "I mean, it's typical negative gossip bullshit, and I probably engage in it offline from time to time (although i really try not to), but doing so on G+ is pretty much just shit-stirring, because it's guaranteed that some friend of B is also a fan of A, and best-case-scenario they just unfriend the lot of them, and worst-case-scenario they send a screenshot to B, and voila! Instant fuel for fandom_wank."

Also see Livejournal (or any other blogging platform,) Twitter, Amazon reviews etc., etc.
posted by zarq at 7:29 AM on October 18, 2011

Wow. I so follow the wrong people. Barack Obama and Kristina Keneally hardly ever spill the beans on Lovecraft.
posted by taff at 7:30 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh I'm sure, zarq, but I mostly follow older content generators who don't use Livejournal. Definitely true for Twitter, but most of that is "140 characters isn't enough to get someone's intention across" talking-past-each-other drama.

I guess what I'm saying is that G+ is like the livejournal for 30-somethings.
posted by muddgirl at 7:32 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hey! I'm 40-something! I will take that as a compliment.
posted by Mister_A at 7:32 AM on October 18, 2011

quonsar's day job
posted by Eideteker at 7:33 AM on October 18, 2011

Man, it's hard enough to keep up with this place as it is. Hard enough to keep up on the conversation, hard enough to keep track of who's here and who's stepped back. Obivously, there's a good amount of inside baseball going on (though of course, there is no cabal*), and as much as I'd love to know about this stuff, I just don't have the time to delve into it. I tried out G+ and it was nice to find people interested in connecting with me, but I just don't have the energy to comment here half as much as I did last year, let alone try to keep up on other sites. Besides, it was freakishly hard trying to figure out who was who. I usually just assumed that if someone adding me to their circle had BitterOldPunk in their circle, they were a Mefite. Also, I was really hoping that high school was over.

There is, however, a seemingly large group of folks who know who's taken a step back, or disabled their account, or Brand-New-Dayed. I always find out months too late, by which time sending flowers is just gauche.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:37 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

According to the extensive surveillance equipment I've set up in all of your homes, I can see that nobody is talking about me behind my back...

So if you could, you know, start... that'd be good. Because renting this stuff is costing me an arm and a leg, and I'd like to know it was worth it.
posted by quin at 7:38 AM on October 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

Well I've been inspired to create a google alert for my name so you fuckers better start talking about me.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 7:48 AM on October 18, 2011

muddgirl: " I guess what I'm saying is that G+ is like the livejournal for 30-somethings."

Yep. I think as with most things it depends on the people you're friendly with. I can't speak for you or anyone else, of course, but most of the people I follow on G+ (mefites and non) don't seem all that interested in drama. (Or if they are, they're like me and mostly addicted to drama only about their kids and other real life stuff like politics.)
posted by zarq at 8:01 AM on October 18, 2011

villanelles at dawn: "Well I've been inspired to create a google alert for my name so you fuckers better start talking about me."

Heh. I started one for "zarq" when I had a blog. Deactivated it when Al Zarqawi was killed because some right wing nutballs used to call him "Zarq." It's a wee bit sobering to wake up one morning, check your email and see dozens of people talking about how awesome it is that "we assassinated that fucker zarq."
posted by zarq at 8:07 AM on October 18, 2011 [12 favorites]

Barack Obama and Kristina Keneally hardly ever spill the beans on Lovecraft.

What? They do it all the time.

Just remember that "economy" is a codeword for Lovecraft. Apparently he's in really sad shape and needs a complete overhaul. And most people blame Obama for his poor performance.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:07 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm with zarq. OWS fascinates me. Getting to know you dudes via g+ and what fascinates you that doesn't make it into your posts on the blue is pretty great too.
posted by garlic at 8:14 AM on October 18, 2011

Matt has a google news alert set up for Metafilter so that we can find out quickly if someone mentions us here or there. Often this is neat, like a passing reference to the site in some legit publication or whatnot. Sometimes, like yesterday, it's some SEO shitsergeant talking about how awesome it was that he harvested x thousand hits in y minutes thanks to his latest piece of shit site being linked on Metafilter.

It's a real mixed bag trying to keep track of this stuff; at least in mefi's case we get some utility out of seeing the crap, like when we see some new account sign up the same day as that article with SEO in the goddam name. But there's definitely costs that come with deciding to know as much of what people are saying as possible, and a lot of the time I feel like it makes more sense to worry about what the people you actually know and care a little bit about have to say.

ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOU, CORTEX. YOU WEIRD LITTLE SQUIRREL FUCKER.

That is totally uncalled for. What I and Tamiasciurus hudsonicus have is a romance.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:21 AM on October 18, 2011 [17 favorites]

It is only recently, in my experience, that G+ has become stinky with drama stink, so I'm going to try to stick to posting music videos of songs no one likes and posting my Choose Your Own Adventure By Committee because it is fiction and therefore scary.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:26 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

Oh cool, my google alert for "shitsergeant" just brought me back here. Perfect circle.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 8:27 AM on October 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

cortex: "But there's definitely costs that come with deciding to know as much of what people are saying as possible, and a lot of the time I feel like it makes more sense to worry about what the people you actually know and care a little bit about have to say."

Agree completely.

I use Google Alerts for work extensively. They're a publicist's godsend, because they allow tracking of placements and mentions even faster than the professional services you can pay to do so, like Vocus, Cision or Burelles Luce. But at the same time, GA's output are also unfiltered and you get a lot of chaff with the wheat. So for practicality you have to prioritize by importance, and ignore the rest.
posted by zarq at 8:27 AM on October 18, 2011

GOD MADE ADAM AND EVE, NOT ADAM AND SCIUROMORPHA

OKAY I MEAN YES HE DID BUT NOT IN THAT WAY

THIS IS THE LEAST PITHY BUMPER STICKER IN THE WORLD AND I SUPPOSE THAT THIS ADDITION TO IT IS NOT HELPING MATTERS ANY

NOR THIS ONE
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 8:29 AM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

shitsergeant

o hai new favourite word
posted by elizardbits at 8:29 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOU, CORTEX. YOU WEIRD LITTLE SQUIRREL FUCKER.

That is totally uncalled for. What I and Tamiasciurus hudsonicus have is a romance.

spermophile, n.
posted by Vibrissa at 8:31 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

The technical term is Non-commissioned Fecal Officer. Might wanna set an alert for that too.
posted by Edogy at 8:32 AM on October 18, 2011

The company commander's number two man.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 8:36 AM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Watch yourself cortex, Squirrels are well known seed predators.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:45 AM on October 18, 2011

Well, you can do it without getting chastised by the mods, is the idea, I think.

And that doesn't even always work, actually.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:57 AM on October 18, 2011

Every time I see a comment from one of the mods now, all I can think is "My name is cortex; I carry a badge."
posted by zarq at 8:59 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wonder if it has something to do with the circles idea, which makes it seem like you can bitch about other people without getting caught.

Quite possibly - although I haven't encountered this in Google Plus, I used to have a LiveJournal (because I really liked unicorns, yall) and their version of circles worked in basically the same way, and had the same problem - that people's social circles aren't discrete or discreet. Most often, somebody went on a tear in their "besties" group about someone in their "casual acquaintances" group, without noticing that in the time since they set the two groups up somebody in their "besties" group had either started dating that someone or just come to like them better. Cue the drama llama.

However, if this whatever-it-was was public, that's a bit different. People still sometimes suffer from the Blogger's Cloak of Invisibility, which led to many TMI moments in the early years. Like the guy who brought down the thunder by @-ing Stephen Fry in a tweet saying he found Stephen Fry's tweets a bit dull and promptly got deluged by abuse from his followers. There's an assumption that a) nobody's listening and b) nobody cares that, while almost certainly true, can't be totally relied on.
posted by running order squabble fest at 9:00 AM on October 18, 2011

And that doesn't even always work, actually.

Eh?
posted by Gator at 9:02 AM on October 18, 2011

"If somebody sees somebody else talking about me offsite, I'd appreciate a quick PM."

I'm sorry, but at best we can scrounge a somewhat lackadaisical MP.
posted by Eideteker at 9:05 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you're in Australia, are we behind your back or under your feet?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:06 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

So long as you're not talking about him behind his back, to his face, through your teeth, or out of your hat.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 9:07 AM on October 18, 2011

...SQUIRREL...

I believe that it has been established that the preferred terminology is now "squayell".
posted by quin at 9:12 AM on October 18, 2011

Eh?

All of us on the mod team are social media users as well, and while our jurisdiction as action-packed Metafilter moderators pretty much stops at the borders of this website our ability to be like "hey, that sucks, please don't do that shit" in a more conversational people-as-people capacity isn't quite so fettered.

So someone being a dick about metafilter stuff off elsewhere on the net isn't off in some untouchable valley where we won't notice and sometimes say something to them, basically. Most of the time I just roll my eyes and move on with my day, but the weirder or more overt stuff I will sometimes respond to.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:13 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

Which sites do you guys have extradition agreements with? I don't want to have to make for the /b/order every time I get in a sticky situation here.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 9:17 AM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

Definitely shouldn't say /b/ and sticky in the same sentence, it occurs to me.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 9:17 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

I can imagine circumstances where someone's offsite conduct with respect to continuing to engage conflicts within the metafilter community would be actionable here.

I signed up for Google+. I have yet to figure out why.
posted by spitbull at 9:19 AM on October 18, 2011

Hangouts with ColdChef!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:23 AM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

All of us on the mod team are social media users as well, and while our jurisdiction as action-packed Metafilter moderators pretty much stops at the borders of this website our ability to be like "hey, that sucks, please don't do that shit" in a more conversational people-as-people capacity isn't quite so fettered.

I'm reminded of the Law and Order episode where the tough guy from Oz goes to Prague chasing a child pornography ring and gets to indulge in all the suspect beating he's been denied in New York.

"cortex! cortex! Noooo! This isn't in the FAQ!"

"The FAQ can't help you out here, buddy. No one can."

"Gulp."

cortex plays a thousand songs about tetris.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 9:32 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

I have yet to figure out why.

Because deep down, in your heart of hearts, you really want to know what my rat terrier looks like wearing a goofy hat.

I try to keep those photos coming as often as I can, because I know that it's the only source of that sort of information for a lot of people.
posted by quin at 9:33 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Which sites do you guys have extradition agreements with?

Cyberpolitical dynamics are by necessity fluid things, so I can't in good conscience make any long-term guarantees about this or that specific interdomain jurisdictional agreement. There's rumors of a stable DMZ and safehouse on the salted earth that once housed plastic.com but I wouldn't take that on faith, personally.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:33 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

It is time that someone in this thread finally sets the record straight: A person's back is behind them. So if you say something about someone while you are behind them, you are in fact saying something about them in front of their back. Therefore, in able to talk about someone behind their back, you actually have to say it to their face. The more you know.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:38 AM on October 18, 2011 [19 favorites]

but the weirder or more overt stuff I will sometimes respond to.

Challenge accepted!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:39 AM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Well it goes without saying that if you need any kind of extra-judicial support beyond the DMZ I can have a crew of five ready at a moment's notice to provide you with asset recovery or disposal with a minimal logistical input on your part. This gives you deniability and allows us the flexibility to operate unilaterally.

However as a demand of the rest of my crew, payment must be remitted in the form of catnip and dog treats.

They have indicated that this is non-negotiable.
posted by quin at 9:39 AM on October 18, 2011

I have only professional contacts on G+, thus it is refreshingly drama free aside from the times they tell me to STFU when I talk shit about mifites, which is understandable because they don't even know what MetaFilter is.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:41 AM on October 18, 2011

It is time that someone in this thread finally sets the record straight: A person's back is behind them.

Now explain "head over heels."
posted by villanelles at dawn at 9:43 AM on October 18, 2011

That Flapjax at Midnight has a whole damn YouTube video where he accuses many of us of engaging in acts of physical violence and bullying others.

To make matters even worse, he mocks us all in rhyme.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:44 AM on October 18, 2011

So if you say something about someone while you are behind them, you are in fact saying something about them in front of their back.

I'm so sick of these busybodies cracking open my sternum, crawling inside my torso, nestling among my viscera, and talking about me behind my back.
posted by Greg Nog at 9:47 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sorry! It's just that your viscera are so warm on a cold autumn day!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:51 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm so sick of these busybodies cracking open my sternum, crawling inside my torso, nestling among my viscera, and talking about me behind my back.

How else will get insider information?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:52 AM on October 18, 2011

Your viscera
are a kind of bliss or a
do-not-miss for a
guy like me.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 9:54 AM on October 18, 2011 [8 favorites]

Metafilter: Hey, That Graphic Kinda Looks Like a Flying Asshole

Whenever I read these I nearly always think "too long, would have been more funny with less words!". For example:

Metafilter: Kinda Looks Like a Flying Asshole
posted by shelleycat at 10:09 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Would have been more funny with less words
posted by panboi at 10:11 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Would have been funnier with fewer words
posted by mimo at 10:16 AM on October 18, 2011 [13 favorites]

Metafilter: Would have been words.
posted by box at 10:18 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: words
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:21 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

Mfer : word.
posted by crunchland at 10:31 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

...and I thought Greg Nog smelled bad on the outside...
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 10:32 AM on October 18, 2011

posted by Meta Filter at 10:33 AM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

Too many notes.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:33 AM on October 18, 2011

MetaFilter: words

Wadsworth Constant.

get the chrome extension
posted by Ad hominem at 10:34 AM on October 18, 2011

I searched for my username on Google and now I'm kind of weirded out that the 6th result is my Twitter page.
posted by desjardins at 10:36 AM on October 18, 2011

I want a villanelles constant, the number of comments in a thread before you get to the people that RTFA
posted by villanelles at dawn at 10:38 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I only comment on stuff I already saw on another site. I get in early for those sweet sweet favs and I have had time to think about what I would say if it was posted to MetaFilter.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:42 AM on October 18, 2011

I had someone spam my personal blog with insults back in the day because of some (trolly) comments I made here. As then, I'm flabbergasted people can't keep Metafilter drama on Metafilter.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 10:42 AM on October 18, 2011

Nobody cares enough about me to talk about me off-site. And I like it that way.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:49 AM on October 18, 2011

If somebody sees somebody else talking about me offsite, I'd appreciate a quick PM.

Some of the most useful advice I've ever gotten:

What other people say about you behind your back is none of your business.
posted by arcticwoman at 10:50 AM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

The only way I'd remotely give a shit about what someone said about me behind my back is if it impacted 1) my marriage or 2) my livelihood. Either scenario is pretty unlikely.
posted by desjardins at 10:55 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

The offending link is, thankfully, gone,

I was once offended by a link. Thankfully, the health people closed that butcher down.
posted by Decani at 10:55 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wish I could remotely give a shit. That would be awesome. Somebody please invent this.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:58 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've got you covered, IRFH.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 11:01 AM on October 18, 2011

You all know how I feel about you. I don't really need to clarify offsite.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:08 AM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

LiB: The only thing worse than being talked about is NOT being talked about.
posted by absalom at 11:08 AM on October 18, 2011

Your hatred is the only thing keeps me warm at night, eyeballkid.
posted by Abiezer at 11:15 AM on October 18, 2011

My relationship to eyeballkid is a matter of public record.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:15 AM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

*glares*
posted by eyeballkid at 11:19 AM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

Squeeze him until he's Eyeballpoppingkid? :)
posted by zarq at 11:22 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sorry! It's just that your viscera are so warm on a cold autumn day!

I have nestled
by the viscera
that were in
your torso

and which
you were probably
saving
for winter

Forgive me
they were expedient
so nearby
and so warm
posted by juv3nal at 11:22 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

^ Note found on a dead tauntaun.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 11:34 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

The first time I ever thought to Google myself the first result was the personal blog of a guy I was in school with, who I barely knew, talking about how much he disliked me. I learned then that it's better not to self-google. I have enough net-trawler friends to not have to worry about missing too much, if I'm being talked about they usually let me know. And if it's something they don't want to show me, then I don't want to see it.
posted by Kattullus at 11:36 AM on October 18, 2011

Just so everyone knows, there are three Metafilter users in my house right now, so if you're reading this, I've probably talked about you behind your back. I probably want let you know every time, but if I'm drunk enough, I just might.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:42 AM on October 18, 2011

The first time I googled myself, I realized that even considering my unique (and outstandingly Jewish)c ombination of first and last name, the world is intent on pumping out doctor after doctor with the exact same name. I am lost in the shuffle of white coats. Forever. I am free.
posted by griphus at 11:42 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

want = won't
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:43 AM on October 18, 2011

There are literally thousands of people with my exact name; makes me feel like I could get away with anything.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 11:45 AM on October 18, 2011

My kids Galapagos and Zygote will not enjoy the same cover.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 11:46 AM on October 18, 2011

I talk about myself behind my back. It's the opposite of fellating myself, but not nearly as fun.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:49 AM on October 18, 2011

i've taked about mefi and mefi dealings on twitter before, but it's almost always "whoa, that's a weird thread, i'm sure the mods will be around shortly to fix that." or "wow, the mens rights guys are out in droves today!" i can't promise i've never listed someone by name, but i can't remember a time it happened. i guess i prefer plausible deniability to my grar.
posted by nadawi at 11:54 AM on October 18, 2011

OSCAR: There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that it not being talked about.
(There follows fifteen seconds of restrained and sycophantic laughter)
PRINCE: Very very witty... very very witty.
WHISTLER: There's only one thing in the world worse than being witty and that is not being witty.
(Fifteen seconds more of the same)
OSCAR: I wish I had said that.
Whistler: You will, Oscar, you will.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 12:02 PM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

As I noted on G+ the other day, I'm the easiest person in the world to find on the internet if you know my name; I think there may be one single other person on the planet with my name.

And yet

[sobs]

no one gets in touch!

[wails, rends garments, runs from person whose garments were rent]
posted by maxwelton at 12:07 PM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

griphus: "The first time I googled myself, I realized that even considering my unique (and outstandingly Jewish)c ombination of first and last name, the world is intent on pumping out doctor after doctor with the exact same name. I am lost in the shuffle of white coats. Forever. I am free."

Heh. There's a guy with my name out there in the real world who's a Hollywood screenwriter/director/producer with an impressive resume.

Apparently I am a huge slacker by comparison. :)
posted by zarq at 12:07 PM on October 18, 2011

There are at least five semi-famous people with my exact name. All athletes for some reason. There also used to be a gigolo/male prostitute in Houston who had a site bragging about his "apple butt." True story.
posted by drjimmy11 at 12:23 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

All this time I thought that was you.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 12:27 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Someone out there is living up to the stereotype for us, zarq, leaving us free to pursue other matters.
posted by griphus at 12:27 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

There's a guy with my name who is a stained glass artist in the next town over. There's also a rocker wannabe guy in New Jersey too. I'm less worried about him.
posted by slogger at 12:40 PM on October 18, 2011

So, G+ aye? I wish I had more friends there. I'm concerned about the connection with my real name though...hm. Not that it would take 30 seconds to de-anonymise me based on my posting history, though. I only have one MeFi friend on FB even. Tiny little tears, tiny little tears.
posted by TomMelee at 12:44 PM on October 18, 2011

I'm be your G+ friend and help you get into all sorts of trouble.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:46 PM on October 18, 2011

I searched for my username on Google and now I'm kind of weirded out that the 6th result is my Twitter page.

I'm the 8th hit for "naju" and it's an entire actual city in South Korea :(
posted by naju at 12:46 PM on October 18, 2011

My real name is buried, thanks to an attractive yoga teacher.
posted by desjardins at 1:02 PM on October 18, 2011

I love this thread simply because cortex used the (invented?) word cyberpolitical.
posted by Phire at 1:09 PM on October 18, 2011

I'll share with you all something about the whole "I'd rather know what people are saying about me than not know."

No, you wouldn't.

A while back, there was Some Drama among a group of friends (me included). Turns out that, during all of this, one "friend" set up a chat room with all the other "friends" to badmouth me, and to convince them all to *look for reasons to dislike me*, even if they had none at the moment. She "helped" by pointing out some bits of my personality, my likes and dislikes, the ways in which I was "unlike" the rest of them, etc.

A few months after the whole thing had died down, one of the people who had been in the chat room got a case of Severe Guilt, and told me about it. I was incredulous and boggled that such a thing happened among adults, and said so.

I honestly believe she meant me no harm, but she emailed me logs of some of the chats.

This was almost six years ago, and I have still not found the inner strength to put it behind me. Because of this, the friendships (or, I suppose, "friendships") with each of the people involved eventually died out because I'd read what they had said about me, and I'd read how this had all come into being in the first place--that they'd literally been instructed to find flaws with me in order to engender scorn and ill will toward me. I lost a large number of friends--some of whom I had loved with my whole heart.

It's better not to know.
posted by tzikeh at 1:24 PM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

I like lists. Favourite this comment if you hate me.
posted by gman at 1:38 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

It's better not to know.

No it isn't. I'd rather have no friends than false friends.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:43 PM on October 18, 2011 [10 favorites]

IFVH -- but if you don't know they're false, you can still have good times. People can enjoy your company and have fun hanging out with you even if they dislike things about you.

I bet anything that all of us have false--to one degree or another--friends with whom we have great times.
posted by tzikeh at 1:47 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
posted by pracowity at 1:53 PM on October 18, 2011

I have a very small set of friends, and I guarantee you that they all dislike certain things about me. I can guarantee that because when they have a problem with me they give me shit about it. As it should be. I have no use for gossips, and can not imagine having great times in such company. Because if they were talking shit about you when your back was turned, dollars to donuts they were also talking shit about each other to you. I have had false friends, and I do not miss them one damned bit. And every second wasted in their company was a loss.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:01 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

"I honestly believe she meant me no harm, but she emailed me logs of some of the chats."

Oh my goodness. That would definitely be cause for a flying bitch slap. I equate behavior like this to a "friend" in high school who informed me that people were talking about my highwater pants - which I was forced to wear because I was tall and had trouble finding pants that fit. Meaning no harm is not a valid excuse, and I'll bet you were the kind of friend who deserved better than that kind of "help."

You are well rid of so-called friends like this. Most indeeeeededly.
posted by HopperFan at 2:09 PM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Wow. I so follow the wrong people. Barack Obama and Kristina Keneally hardly ever spill the beans on Lovecraft.

I used to join the #QandA tweetfests... I think Malcolm Turnbull and Godwin Gretch followed me.
Does anyone besides MeFites use G+?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 2:13 PM on October 18, 2011

Good luck and I'll see you at the safe hipster bar.

"There is a place where we will all meet... and that place is Denny's."
posted by steambadger at 2:16 PM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

So uh...what is this all about anyway? Someone wrote something offensive about Lovecraft in Brooklyn on some other site and then someone else linked to it? I'm confused.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2011

Someone (we'll call this person Rodney) who isn't even on Metafilter was on some other site and was like 'blah blah LiB' and then in a thread on Metafilter LiB was like 'if Rodney was here we'd kick back and drink pink champagne' and then someone in that Metafilter thread was like 'No dude Rodney thinks you are horseguts' and linked to that other site where Rodney was all 'blah blah.' The complaint, as I understand it, is less that someone was somewhere else saying something and more that someone here brought outside business into the Blue.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:26 PM on October 18, 2011 [8 favorites]

They said: *whisper whisper whisper*.

Which, come to think of it, really doesn't make any sense.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:26 PM on October 18, 2011

Does anyone besides MeFites use G+?

A bunch of geography nerds do, yes.
posted by desjardins at 2:27 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

So uh...what is this all about anyway?

Marky got with Sharon
And Sharon got Sharice
She was sharing Sharon's outlook
On the topic of disease
Mikey had a facial scar
And Bobby was a racist
They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it in Texas
Tommy played piano
Like a kid out in the rain
Then he lost his leg in Dallas
He was dancing with a train
They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
posted by carsonb at 2:35 PM on October 18, 2011 [9 favorites]

My real name is buried, thanks to an attractive yoga teacher.

Your real name is Rodney Yee? Oops. Was I not supposed to say that?
posted by Lexica at 2:41 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hell, I'm outranked by a freaking dentist who, if memory serves, doesn't even have my first name. The only other links to me were, last I checked, a university I no longer teach at, and participation in my college's lit mag nearly 13 years ago. So much for the life of fame and/or wealth.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:00 PM on October 18, 2011

I am clearly not one of the cool kids, because I have no idea what's going on. I , too, appreciate the word cyberpolitical. And, since I haven't seen fishfucker around here in a long time,when I think of cortex, I'll think: My name is SquirrelFucker. I carry a badge.

Metafilter is so awesome that I enjoyed this thread while having no idea what happened to occasion it.
posted by theora55 at 3:01 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Does anyone besides MeFites use G+?

People around the world, I'd expect. People on G+ seem to organize around common interests like shared forums or mailing lists or such.
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:24 PM on October 18, 2011

*google alert* .... .... ....

0 results.

Strong men also cry... strong men also cry.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:33 PM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Does anyone besides MeFites use G+?

I know that was probably a rhetorical question, but there's actually a pretty nice little community of (mostly indie) video game developers and enthusiasts on G+ too.
posted by jess at 3:42 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I know that was probably a rhetorical question, but there's actually a pretty nice little community of (mostly indie) video game developers and enthusiasts on G+ too.

Ohhhh can I stalk the guy who does the narration for Bastion?
Actually the indie game community will probably lead me to people from another site I frequent talking shit about me.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:44 PM on October 18, 2011

Actually the indie game community will probably lead me to people from another site I frequent talking shit about me.

Mo' communities, mo' problems!

(And I don't think the narration dude has made himself known, but some of the devs for Bastion are around on G+. Yay, modern fanstruck stalking.)
posted by jess at 3:48 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Brandon Blatcher: "I'm thinking about all of you RIGHT NOW."

Thanks, at least someone is.
posted by symbioid at 5:51 PM on October 18, 2011

It's Raining Florence Henderson: "Nobody cares enough about me to talk about me off-site. And I like it that way."

Nobody even talks about me on-site. And I like it that way.

*sniff*
posted by dg at 6:20 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

zarq: " Heh. There's a guy with my name out there in the real world who's a Hollywood screenwriter/director/producer with an impressive resume. "

Yeah? I share my name with a porn star. Swell.
posted by IndigoRain at 6:27 PM on October 18, 2011

I usually just assumed that if someone adding me to their circle had BitterOldPunk in their circle, they were a Mefite

BOP is Kevin Bacon.
posted by arcticseal at 6:28 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wait, Swell Biglog or Swell Dickstrong?
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:35 PM on October 18, 2011

I share my name with a journalist from a UK broadsheet newspaper, a baseball player and a fictional character from a popular 70s TV show. You can find me if you look, but the other me's are more interesting. Really.
posted by arcticseal at 6:37 PM on October 18, 2011

There are some impressive people that share my first and last name - enough that people who don't know me IRL would have quite a few false trails to follow before they found me (one works in the same field), but a search for my first/middle/last name shows that the fifth result is my entire family tree posted online. Thanks Mum :-|
posted by dg at 6:43 PM on October 18, 2011

IndigoRain: "Yeah? I share my name with a porn star. Swell."

OK, you win.
posted by zarq at 6:58 PM on October 18, 2011

You all have provided me with a great distraction while my mother has been going through brain surgery to relieve a subdural hematoma. This, after my husband's father died last month. So thanks for the laughs.

And frankly, I don't G+ and I don't care who talks about me because I am a tiny dot in the whole internet experiment. And Jessamyn and Cortex are both swell people. Swell in every sense of the word.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:17 PM on October 18, 2011

"And Jessamyn and Cortex are both swell people. Swell in every sense of the word."

They get bigger when they get wet?
posted by Pinback at 7:20 PM on October 18, 2011

I'm not really clear on what prompted the original post, but thanks to LiB I have been enjoying the Mountain Goats. So some good has come from all of this.
posted by cgk at 8:07 PM on October 18, 2011

They plump when you cook 'em.
posted by Gator at 8:21 PM on October 18, 2011

My solution to bitching about MeFites is to only do it to people I know IRL. I start sputtering something like "..so we were having a perfectly good discussion about indigenous pumpkin-seed shelling techniques when that asshole Pendulous Marmoset came in and started spouting some crap about genetically modified pumpkins being the only way to save mankind...I mean, can you believe that shit?"

And then the RL person looks at me, head tilted, with a puzzled and slightly pitying gaze, and suddenly in my peripheral vision I begin once again to perceive the objects of my physical life,t the keys and books and piles of bills and cabinets of food and cats wandering around, and it tends to sort of fall back into perspective.
posted by Miko at 8:38 PM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

I share my real name with an Australian gay porn star.

I've seen the pictures; he does the name proud.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 8:46 PM on October 18, 2011

God I fucking hate Pendulous Marmoset.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:51 PM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

I share my name with a now deceased, white supremacist vocalist for a white power band.

But I look like Al Molinari from Happy Days, so there at least is a bit of redemption.
posted by lampshade at 9:23 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

er....Al Molinaro.....sorry Al
posted by lampshade at 9:25 PM on October 18, 2011

There are a couple of guys with my name on G+, and I'm vaguely tempted to add them to a Googlegänger circle, but I can't figure out if it would be weird, creepy, or weird and creepy and it's important to get that balance right, you know.
posted by cmonkey at 10:07 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Aside from a 19th c. London strongman, I pretty much own my name on the Internet. Sadly, Thomas the Tank Engine and his buddy Sir Topham Hat kind of get into my face... guess I'll be living with that the rest of my life, screw you Ringo Starr!
posted by Meatbomb at 10:36 PM on October 18, 2011

If one goes by my first name+last name, I'm invisible. Perhaps the most common name in America. If one goes by my middle name+last name (which is what I go by) then a popular romance novelist shows up. If one uses my full name they'll get a DC lobbying firm.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:45 PM on October 18, 2011

Pendulous Marmoset took th' whole axolotl them, to go. By learning everything, our hero has realized that by One, May, the year before current (oblaxue, current-future-current tense), ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny! The chicken has a dinosaur, whales, feet, under each axleotl, a Panderichthys (here you are thinking of the ultralight bone-armor options arising.); meddling for the seeming sake of meddling was forbidden, finding a ripe planet, and having watch-crews. The first editing breakthrough to reactivate the buried, but never destroyed basic sets of tools D_MNA (the breakthrough came because of a Humanities PHd obsessively drew Fractallik images of Adenine-Todjh Guanine-Wisi; it was a matter of months before the first Massive WaterBears (WaterBear Bob), as dried out they are wont to tun, husks, ships. The likes of which, one might hail as intelligently created by InnetiC-Dynamic, the newest project of Barclay Bischk, basically aware of everything that happened ever anywhere, ever. Preservation in space, a fleet within five years and an armada of 10 000 ships L'Exploratoire, crew compliment 121, 000, 000, deployed years ago, and sailing by mid-century. The M Space Select Service Expeditionary First Naval Brigade are first to escape the local system, into the disk at large. Lucky so soon too, debris in the dark, fusionfree, energetically dim regions. As rings of asteroids surround sol, in equilibrium, but far from ordered and staid, so too do rings of darksky matter orbit our home MilkySky. Barclay recognizes that despite the 21st century objections to meddling with life, it was the duty of any higher lifeform to do their higher-lifeform duty, which is to take every reasonable measure to preserve, stimulate, and provide opportunities to thrive for all species. Parents think their so special, Barclay can attest that guiding species from the cusp of self-aware consciousness to being identity. The planet the Whales get will look pretty fly (underwater). It is a tragic superhero Prequel, as the hero is destined to feel really sad due to knowing all of history intimately, other than that it's all regenera-arms, and the first genutors, which work in the odd-code-four-Dub-Binary xs10394 extracorporeal-Brainiotomy (not chosen by Barclay [for the first nine films]), but a common process done in the decades after the first age of expansion. Barclay spends his last 100 years as a history professor on New Sogdiana. The key to the angst was getting a chance to spill the beans on some last detail of the minutia of the timeline. Not forgotten, the age of remembrance and respect for history that was ushered in, in the inter-intra period.

#AxlotlSuperheropasteforthetaking #Bieberisthevillan #Comics #DonaldGloverusesroutersandmodemstomakehisheadwirelessthenhesleepsforayearwithfluidsandwakesupknowingkungfu&c. #Superhero-ingensues #NewSogdiana2015
posted by infinite intimation at 10:54 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Linking to stuff that needs a signup seems not okay to me - unrelated to whether it's gossip or great content. Like "look at this or that, but only you and you and you can look (unless you sign up for *)." That's at least not what I understand this site to be about. So this would by default exclude that fb battles are being dragged across the site.

I would add geo-restricted to that. Unfortunately, it will never happen..
posted by Chuckles at 10:58 PM on October 18, 2011

sigh
posted by infini at 12:00 AM on October 19, 2011

We've seen a fairly serious drop-off in the amount of geo-restricted stuff posted to the front page. Is this something that folks think is still an ongoing issue as opposed to something that comes up more than once in a blue moon?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:03 AM on October 19, 2011

What's the secret to getting around georestriction, generally speaking?
posted by taff at 12:05 AM on October 19, 2011

Imho I don't think the georestricted stuff is something we can do anything about in the short term and most of the time its inadvertent - if you're in the area you can see it, there's no way to tell you can't see it from a different continent. Until some kind of signage starts going up around that aspect, its something we probably should just accept as an 'oh well' kind of thing.

Bandwidth issues are greater - for me that has been one of the pleasures and wonders of MetaFilter, unlike any of the fancier shinier websites with their realtime this and that, the site has loaded up from everywhere and anywhere (unless the thread is a gazillion comments long).

The web and those accessing it is highly fragmented now - recently I found it easier to load bing for a quick search on a slow network in random spot Africa than basic homepage Google. It looks so clean yet now they're logging you into each and every aspect of their vast network (youtube is a major culprit in slowing things down) whether you want it or not. Better to stay signed out I suppose. Anyway, bla bla bla

/cutting rant short
posted by infini at 12:47 AM on October 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I share the same first and last name with a Hell's Angel who was convicted of murder in a high-profile court case, went to prison, and promptly killed a guard. I like to think this cuts back on a lot of hate mail I might receive if people Google my name for contact info.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:11 AM on October 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

There was a Hell's Angel named Marisa Thing?
posted by NoMich at 4:06 AM on October 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, and he was a bad dude. Sorta had that "Boy Named Sue" thing going on.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:32 AM on October 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Shel Silverstein might've been the first dude I ever saw who rocked the shaved-head-and-beard look.
posted by box at 4:52 AM on October 19, 2011

Well, and who would fuck with Shel Silverstein?
posted by shakespeherian at 5:21 AM on October 19, 2011

Kinda sounds like Marisa Thing would.
posted by NoMich at 5:49 AM on October 19, 2011

I heard Bunny Ultramod is the new St. Alia...
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 6:29 AM on October 19, 2011

Shel looks like a badass.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:50 AM on October 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I like a lot of people who do it, and I'm sure I've done it in the past, but I think publicly talking shit about other people where they can see it but not respond is gross and cruel.

Say it to their face or ensure that they don't hear it. The middle ground is thoughtlessly passive-aggressive at best and actively bullying at worst.
posted by the young rope-rider at 10:22 AM on October 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

We've seen a fairly serious drop-off in the amount of geo-restricted stuff posted to the front page. Is this something that folks think is still an ongoing issue as opposed to something that comes up more than once in a blue moon?

I haven't been paying close enough attention to say. I did run into one recently, but ya, that's just one.. As a general thing, I've learned to change my habits at websites. Basically, if a link says "watch this cool clip", I avoid it unless I'm particularly likely to be able to see it. That is a very bad thing, fundamentally, but something I'm over in terms of the personal offence it causes.. I'm glad you are paying attention to the issue. Is the possible drop off due to moderator action of any kind?
posted by Chuckles at 12:13 PM on October 19, 2011

Maybe indirectly in that it's something we've looked at in whether or not a post is borderline on that front or not and so deletions or commentary about it may have an influence; as much as anything I wouldn't be surprised if it's as a result of community discussion in Metatalk and regular posters being more aware of it and a little more attentive to potential region stuff in their posts in the first place.

There's also the reasonable possibility that the georestriction stuff has been less of an issue more for market reasons—nobody but nobody likes that shit when they encounter it, and people may be favoring non-restricted media sources (and some media sources may have loosened their restrictions) as restriction fatigue has set properly in, naturally tuning down the impact of such tomfoolery.

One of the weird things from a mod perspective is it's harder to know how often georestricted stuff is being posted (since we don't look at everything that gets posted, and certainly not from multiple spoofed regions to look for problems or whatever) than it is to measure how often people are complaining about it, whether because it comes up explicitly in Metatalk where we're sure to see it or because it comes up in threads (where much of the time it's flagged because it's kind of an annoying metacommentary thing to throw into a thread).

So my perception is that it has not been as much of an issue lately. Hard to say for sure why that is, whether it's people opting away from restricted content more often or people complaining less about the restrictions that do arise or people flagging complaints less often or what. But I'm hopeful about that sense that it's been less of an issue, and that at a market level it's something that will be less and less of an issue as media providers realize that it's generally just a stupid and unpopular move on an internet that behaves nothing like traditional segregated physical-media markets.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:34 PM on October 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I share the same first and last name with a Hell's Angel who was convicted of murder in a high-profile court case, went to prison, and promptly killed a guard. I like to think this cuts back on a lot of hate mail I might receive if people Google my name for contact info.

I bet it would make online dating sort of hard, though.
posted by Miko at 12:34 PM on October 19, 2011

That, and including "crystal meth, bar fights and racketeering" among my Interests. I really need to work on my profile.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:21 PM on October 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Dear Abby...
posted by infini at 1:30 PM on October 19, 2011

Paging Lovecraft: SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT YOU BEHIND YOUR BACK IN A BLINDINGLY FAST FIRST-COMMENT THREADSHIT.

That's what this thread is still open for right?
posted by spitbull at 6:47 PM on October 20, 2011

If your comment starts "inb4" you're probably fucking shit up.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 6:52 PM on October 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Paging Lovecraft

You can just email us or flag stuff and we'll nix that bullshit before it has a chance to piss people off.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:14 PM on October 20, 2011

My relationship to eyeballkid is a matter of public record.

As is mine.
posted by y2karl at 2:14 PM on October 22, 2011