30,000 and still counting...

February 19, 2012 3:36 PM

delmoi has posted 30,000 comments to Metafilter. (Previously) (Previouslier)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane to MetaFilter-Related at 3:36 PM (173 comments total)

And goodnewsfortheinsane is stalking delmoi!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:44 PM on February 19, 2012 [7 favorites]

That's almost twice as much as me, in less time. The next person who says I say too much gets a fuckin' smack.
posted by jonmc at 3:45 PM on February 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

You're sixth in line, jonmc, so don't go getting uppity.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:48 PM on February 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

10K comments in 4-1/2 years. Over 2K per year. Not to mention the sockpuppets.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:49 PM on February 19, 2012

*smax Brandon*

(I have no sockpuppets)
posted by jonmc at 3:51 PM on February 19, 2012

It's only 30,000?
posted by carter at 3:52 PM on February 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

That's 30k on the blue alone? Good lord.
posted by elizardbits at 3:56 PM on February 19, 2012

Is that something to admire, or something to be appalled at?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:57 PM on February 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

posted by goodnewsfortheinsane

Eponysterical!
posted by Slap*Happy at 3:59 PM on February 19, 2012 [7 favorites]

who's delmoi?
posted by cjorgensen at 4:00 PM on February 19, 2012 [8 favorites]

I would have to post for nearly two hundred years to hit that number if my previous average is any judge.
posted by winna at 4:01 PM on February 19, 2012

Lovecraft In Brooklyn made 3808 comments in 264 days! That's got to be some kind of a record.
posted by vidur at 4:02 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

In fairness, LiB was mostly fighting off the realms of the appalled after he advocated clubbing seals/leaving on the heating and opening the windows/directly pumping CFCs into the ozone layer on Earth Day. And such. I was never quite sure if he was trolling.
posted by jaduncan at 4:09 PM on February 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

vidur: Lovecraft In Brooklyn made 3808 comments in 264 days! That's got to be some kind of a record.

Dude's been retired for four months now and he's still second place on the all-time contribution list. Then again, how long's amberglow been gone?
posted by gman at 4:10 PM on February 19, 2012

In fairness, LiB was mostly fighting off the realms of the appalled after he advocated clubbing seals/leaving on the heating and opening the windows/directly pumping CFCs into the ozone layer on Earth Day. And such. I was never quite sure if he was trolling.

Also numerous claims that Australians are barely literate savages.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:14 PM on February 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

10K comments in 4-1/2 years. Over 2K per year. Not to mention the sockpuppets.

What are you talking about?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:14 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I just hit my 1000th comment on the Blue. I was feeling pretty good about it until this thread. Thanks for nothing, y'all.

Delmoi, I bow before your prolificosity
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:16 PM on February 19, 2012

I feel like I contribute a fair amount to the site, and then I look at the statistics, and man. I'm a speck of dust compared to the rest of you.

This thread is like the machine that was supposed to torture Zaphod Beeblebrox.
posted by meese at 4:20 PM on February 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I have a measly MCI of 0.48. Maybe it's time to take up some highly controversial opinions.

(Don't act like you didn't look yourself up first.)
posted by Chichibio at 4:21 PM on February 19, 2012

It's quality, not quantity that counts.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:22 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm #50 and #18, respectively.

Yikes.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:23 PM on February 19, 2012

(I have no idea how that could have possibly happened.)
posted by Sys Rq at 4:23 PM on February 19, 2012

(I mean, I don't comment that much, do I?)
posted by Sys Rq at 4:24 PM on February 19, 2012

(Or do I???)
posted by Sys Rq at 4:24 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's all about stamina, the long game.
posted by The Whelk at 4:34 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Obviously, we of fewer comments need to team up into some kind of Metafilter Voltron, where the combination of our comments is greater than delmoi's.

But, kudos, too!
posted by Atreides at 4:37 PM on February 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

I just realized that if delmoi had 30,000 babies and if you stacked them on top of each other, you would have a completely nonsensical astronomy textbook example.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:46 PM on February 19, 2012 [16 favorites]

I just realized that if delmoi had 30,000 babies and if you stacked them on top of each other, you would have a completely nonsensical astronomy textbook example.

...but a whole new genre of dead baby jokes.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 4:47 PM on February 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Obviously, we of fewer comments need to team up into some kind of Metafilter Voltron, where the combination of our comments is greater than delmoi's.

And I'll form...the HEAD.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:47 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

We need some kind of system for talking about large numbers of comments, a comunred, comthousand, comillion
posted by The Whelk at 4:49 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Searching for adventure
Welcome to dementia
Delmoi sent ya
Every message that he meant ta

Envision this
Your parameters are limitless
30,000 posts on the blue
It's all true...
posted by mannequito at 4:53 PM on February 19, 2012

Logic bomb.
posted by Burhanistan at 5:02 PM on February 19, 2012

I like the part where delmoi waited three days to make his 30,000th comment. The restraint that must've taken.
posted by gman at 5:04 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

OH SHIT IM ON THE LEADERBOARD DOES THAT MAKE ME HAPPY OR SAD I CANT TELL
posted by nathancaswell at 5:05 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

oh it just keeps fucking loading forever, carry on
posted by nathancaswell at 5:05 PM on February 19, 2012

We need some kind of system for talking about large numbers of comments, a comunred, comthousand, comillion

Comments are metric, silly American!

30 kilocomments. "3 myriacomments" would be technically more correct, but, like, no one ever says that.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:10 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is that something to admire, or something to be appalled at?

Yes.
posted by dfan at 5:10 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's all about stamina, the long game.

...says the guy who's made over 13K comments on the blue in under 3-and-a-half years. (And another 7700 on the grey)
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:11 PM on February 19, 2012

I'm four favorites away from 15,000, but I would never stoop to asking for them. I'll just self-favorite.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 5:18 PM on February 19, 2012 [6 favorites]

Comments are metric, silly American!

THIS IS AMURICA WEBSITE Goddamnit!

12 comments = 1 twaddle
5280 twaddles = 1 dingler
5,865,696,000,000 dinglers = 1 light delmoi
posted by nathancaswell at 5:18 PM on February 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

KLOCs : code :: Ktalks : comments?
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:21 PM on February 19, 2012

I am less amazed by his volume of comment and much more amazed by his volume of opinions.
posted by GuyZero at 5:24 PM on February 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

I have half as many comments, but almost 15,000 more favorites, does that count for something?
posted by empath at 5:24 PM on February 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

*pats empath on the head*

We're proud of you too, yes we are!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:27 PM on February 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

empath: I have half as many comments, but almost 15,000 more favorites, does that count for something?

Not really. Favourites were implemented soon after you joined, whereas nearly half of delmoi's time here didn't include the biscuit system.
posted by gman at 5:30 PM on February 19, 2012

Wow. I thought I'd commented a bit too much, and have kind of slacked off this year (different job, more demanding, not so much time), but it looks like 1900 comments on the blue in 4 years is, essentially, slacking.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:33 PM on February 19, 2012

I feel like I spend all my time here but everyone in this thread is in another league entirely. I'm approaching 5 years (this week!) and my lifetime contribution to the site is only around 2200 posts/comments/questions/etc. combined.
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:34 PM on February 19, 2012

To be fair I think half my number is just the werid in thread alphabet games and riffs.
posted by The Whelk at 5:38 PM on February 19, 2012

delmoi is my earliest memory on MetaFilter
posted by KokuRyu at 5:39 PM on February 19, 2012

Hi guys I'm new here what are favorites?
posted by shakespeherian at 5:43 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

KokuRyu: delmoi is my earliest memory on MetaFilter

You should go read Obscure Reference's post on the blue today. It may be of help to you.
posted by gman at 5:45 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, wow, 30000 is pretty impressive. I wonder what his average comment length is and how it compares to the average comment length on the Blue. I suspect his average is well above.

Also, homunculus is on track to pass mathowie in most posts to the Blue sometime soon, which is astounding considering the first two years of MetaFilter is mostly all posts by Matt.
posted by Kattullus at 5:47 PM on February 19, 2012

In just over 10 years as a member of MetaFilter, I have only made 10% of the number of comments delmoi has.
posted by briank at 5:47 PM on February 19, 2012

.
posted by Wolof at 5:57 PM on February 19, 2012

So of course I scrolled through the list to see where I stood (behind desjardins! *shakes fist in impotent rage*) and I realized that I recognized almost EVERY SINGLE USER ID on it.

Maybe I should take a break for, like, a year. Again. (What, no one noticed when I did that a few years ago? Fuck y'all then.)
posted by BitterOldPunk at 5:59 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

Whenever I see milestones like this, I always think of this scene from Kingpin for some reason.
posted by jabberjaw at 6:00 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

YES THIS MEANS YOU DUCKIE o<
posted by mintcake! at 6:06 PM on February 19, 2012

Maybe I should take a break for, like, a year.

No, ND¢, don't go!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:10 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow, delmoi. Your dedication to the site is admirable.
posted by crunchland at 6:17 PM on February 19, 2012

dang, that's a lot! i'm just under 5k contributions on everything in just under 10 years. i am also just about to hit 10k favorites which makes me smile and then ashamed that it makes me smile. i am (if i counted correctly) 67th on ask mefi commenters. hmm. maybe i need a hobby.
posted by nadawi at 6:24 PM on February 19, 2012

Huh?
posted by ND¢ at 6:24 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow. And many of his comments are quite long. That's a lot of writing.
posted by OmieWise at 6:28 PM on February 19, 2012

Wow, thanks guys. What do I win?
posted by Meatbomb at 6:34 PM on February 19, 2012

Oops wrong login please ignore.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:35 PM on February 19, 2012 [9 favorites]

Huh?

Just wanted to give you a shout out.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:42 PM on February 19, 2012

I have scratched my arse 20,764 times. Yes, I kept count. Sad, isn't it?
posted by Decani at 6:43 PM on February 19, 2012

His thoughts were red thoughts: "In fairness, LiB was mostly fighting off the realms of the appalled ... Also numerous claims that Australians are barely literate savages."

In fairness to LiB, if it wasn't for immigrants over the past 30 years or so, this would probably be true.
posted by dg at 6:44 PM on February 19, 2012

I don't even think I have spoken 30k words to actual humans in the past 10 years.
posted by elizardbits at 7:19 PM on February 19, 2012 [15 favorites]

Light fixtures and reptiles count.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:36 PM on February 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Then again, how long's amberglow been gone?

A little over 4 years! I can't believe he's still in the top 5. amberglow, come baaaaaaaack.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:20 PM on February 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Some posters will be catching up very quickly - there are a few prolific mefites whose posting style is to shotgun spray 8-12 word one liners all over threads.

It's an interesting change that has come over the site in the last few years - perhaps the rise of twitter and "status updates" has tilted things towards funniest/fastest over thoughtful reflecting.
posted by davey_darling at 8:34 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Some posters will be catching up very quickly - there are a few prolific mefites whose posting style is to shotgun spray 8-12 word one liners all over threads.

It's an interesting change that has come over the site in the last few years - perhaps the rise of twitter and "status updates" has tilted things towards funniest/fastest over thoughtful reflecting.

Yup.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:46 PM on February 19, 2012 [4 favorites]

My comments, they are few and far between. Little nuggets of gold, perhaps, or pearls of wisdom, or, the less said, the better.
posted by Lynsey at 8:47 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've made 200+ posts on each of two different accounts.

Oh yeah.
posted by Trurl at 8:49 PM on February 19, 2012

I suppose it says something that all 30000 posts were here in the blue, rather than spread through out different fora and social networks.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:55 PM on February 19, 2012

This makes 3 for me. One each on the blue, green, and grey. Now I can move on to the next item on my Internet Scavenger Hunt: a sub-5-digit posting ID on Slashdot. Not sure how I'm going to manage that, but I thought the same thing when I signed up here back in November of '11 and look at me now. Woo!
posted by malthusan at 9:37 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

jaduncan: "In fairness, LiB was mostly fighting off the realms of the appalled after he advocated clubbing seals/leaving on the heating and opening the windows/directly pumping CFCs into the ozone layer on Earth Day. And such. I was never quite sure if he was trolling."

My head still hurts.
posted by arcticseal at 10:07 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow, malthusan, 3 IS impressive. Impressively restrained, that is.
posted by bquarters at 10:14 PM on February 19, 2012

Well, there is a scarcity, you know.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:34 PM on February 19, 2012

~1,200 comments on the blue.

... I'm just jazzed about being on the show, man.
posted by tzikeh at 10:45 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah. We've definitely reached peak delmoi.
posted by crunchland at 10:46 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Peak delmoi is a myth. Essence of delmoi is abiogenic in origin.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 12:05 AM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

delmoi has posted 30,000 comments to Metafilter

But 29,000 were typos. I keed, delmoi. Congrats!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:52 AM on February 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

30,000 comments from delmoi? That's gotta mean, what? 75,000 misspellings? At least, right?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:15 AM on February 20, 2012

There's a fine line between enthusiastic and slightly scary.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:23 AM on February 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

[a line that I all-too-frequently cross]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:24 AM on February 20, 2012

Also, I was feeling like 'how the fuck have I spent all this time here over the last decade and not washed up like spent eurotrash at the top of at least some of these lists' and then I realized that Metatalk is my local and I felt vindicated if not all that much better.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:29 AM on February 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Trurl, a shame the two accounts can't be merged somehow.

Meta-Trurl.
posted by zarq at 5:44 AM on February 20, 2012

and then I realized that Metatalk is my local

Hugs, brother.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:52 AM on February 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

There are other people here other than Delmoi? Oh... well, hi everybody not Delmoi then, I guess.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 7:38 AM on February 20, 2012

I like the part where delmoi waited three days to make his 30,000th comment. The restraint that must've taken.

Actually I just forgot I wasn't posting when I posted that comment. That actually happened with my 20kth comment as well. C'est la vie.

Someone already linked the contribution index thing, it's interesting other posters are a head of me, but that list changes over time. I think DU was actually number one when I hit 20k.

From the 20k thread:

Also, it took 5 years and about 3 months to get to 10k, but only 2 years 10 months to get from 10k to 20k, which is a little worrisome.

Apparently it took me 2 years, 5 months, and 4 days this time. So unfortunately my rate is still increasing, but it appears that concerns over a singularity have been allayed.
posted by delmoi at 8:11 AM on February 20, 2012 [6 favorites]

> and then I realized that Metatalk is my local

I checked that link and (after frightening myself by discovering I'm #6) found this sequence:

2608   delmoi
2607   MiguelCardoso

Maybe this will finally get Migs back!
posted by languagehat at 8:11 AM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

As someone who grew up in Iowa, all I can say is that it's obvious delmoi lives in one of the big cities, seeing as he's had time to only post 30k comments.

seriously though...wow. way to go!
posted by Lutoslawski at 8:24 AM on February 20, 2012

I'm just 9195 favorites away from 15,000, but I would never stoop to asking for them.
posted by mazola at 8:48 AM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow! 30,000 comments, ALL BY DELMOI!
(Full comic)
posted by euphorb at 8:49 AM on February 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

I primarily post to the gray. Is this something I would need to own a MetaFilter to understand?
posted by slogger at 9:03 AM on February 20, 2012

Some posters will be catching up very quickly - there are a few prolific mefites whose posting style is to shotgun spray 8-12 word one liners all over threads.

It's an interesting change that has come over the site in the last few years - perhaps the rise of twitter and "status updates" has tilted things towards funniest/fastest over thoughtful reflecting.

I wonder if this has something to do with the rise of smartphones.
posted by desjardins at 9:26 AM on February 20, 2012

The less I post, the fewer chances I have to make an ass of myself.
posted by item at 9:27 AM on February 20, 2012

...and for this we can ALL be grateful.
posted by item at 9:30 AM on February 20, 2012

Some posters will be catching up very quickly - there are a few prolific mefites whose posting style is to shotgun spray 8-12 word one liners all over threads.

I'm probably one of the people you're talking about, but the site has always been like that. People who post multi-paragraph comments are not the norm and never have been. And as far as I can tell, Delmoi is still out-pacing me and most other people at the top of the 'contribution index'.
posted by empath at 9:37 AM on February 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

languagehat: Maybe this will finally get Migs back!

This town isn't big enough for two European novelists!

What's that you say? That many people, huh. I guess this town is big enough after all. Never mind, carry on.
posted by Kattullus at 10:25 AM on February 20, 2012

This is the 102nd comment in this thread and I made it. Does it count for anything?
posted by infini at 10:35 AM on February 20, 2012

Some posters will be catching up very quickly - there are a few prolific mefites whose posting style is to shotgun spray 8-12 word one liners all over threads.


In much the same way green day caught up with the sex pistols.
posted by sgt.serenity at 11:49 AM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

there are a few prolific mefites whose posting style is to shotgun spray 8-12 word one liners all over threads.

You say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by GuyZero at 1:54 PM on February 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

My guess is that a word count analysis would turn up a few interesting things. I would bet the mean and mode are up but the median point is down. More users who have more to say, but the converse is probably just as true. I'm just glad this place doesn't have threaded comments, like Reddit, which seems to induce people to constantly use short and snappy zingers. Not like that doesn't happen here, but it doesn't seem to happen to a large degree in the midst of a conversation.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:20 PM on February 20, 2012

There's enough info in the Infodump (including per-comment character counts) that anyone wanting to do some more thorough spitballing could in principle do so.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:27 PM on February 20, 2012

This is the 102nd comment in this thread and I made it. Does it count for anything?

Yes, it does.
posted by arcticseal at 3:07 PM on February 20, 2012

When I quickly skim through the infodump list, I recognize nearly every name above mine and almost no names below mine. This makes me hopeful that one day I'll become one of those people everyone talks about.
posted by roll truck roll at 3:37 PM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Did you guys hear the latest about roll truck roll?

It turns out we all hate him.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:44 PM on February 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Technically that is the infodumpster list.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:58 PM on February 20, 2012

600 more meta comments and I'll have 3000+ on each of the main sub sites; time to start participating in alphabet threads.
posted by Mitheral at 5:39 PM on February 20, 2012

A is for Alpha.
posted by The Whelk at 5:40 PM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Z is for let's not
posted by desjardins at 5:57 PM on February 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

When I look at the infodumpster, I always pick my join date as the start date. (Interestingly, in the last five years, Artw has actually made 3700 more comments than delmoi.)
posted by desjardins at 6:03 PM on February 20, 2012

Awesome! According the the index I'm the tenth best commenter. It has been a long hard road, I can still remember my first comment like it was yesterday. I'd like to thank my coaches making me what I am today. Waking up at dawn, making 10,12 sometimes 20 comments a day even when I was hurt. I feel incredibly blessed to be up there on the list with some of the all time greats.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:25 PM on February 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

My guess is that a word count analysis would turn up a few interesting things. I would bet the mean and mode are up but the median point is down.

Histograms of Metafilter comments, by number of characters, broken down by year (omitting 1999 and 2012). The red lines are the medians for each year. The modes you can roughly see for yourself.

The mean is badly distorted by a relatively small number of very long comments. For example, the average nondeleted comment length is 6,253 characters; the longest 0.1% of comments are 5,625 characters and up, up, up to 226,831 characters.
posted by stebulus at 6:52 PM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm proud to have made a greater number of worthless and incoherent comments than any of my competitors since joining.
posted by maxwelton at 7:14 PM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

On Metatalk, I'm only 5 comments behind hermitosis. Watch your back, I'm catching up!
posted by misha at 7:29 PM on February 20, 2012

This is where the quality vs. quantity argument falls apart.
posted by arcticseal at 7:43 PM on February 20, 2012

Wow, I'd have guessed I'd broken into the top 100 at least.

Has the Whelk gotten the title of most comments/year of membership?
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:54 PM on February 20, 2012

the prize was a gilded, bedazzled can of fabulous spam
posted by elizardbits at 8:36 PM on February 20, 2012

Quantity has a quality all it's own.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:40 PM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Since we're here, who are you people with 20,000+ favourites? I mean, on one hand I need you. On the other hand, really? Don't they kind of lose meaning at some point?

Also, I don't mean to get weird here, but has BP been scrubbed from the Infodump? I mean, that's OK, I just want to make sure I'm not crazy here.
posted by GuyZero at 10:05 PM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Histograms of Metafilter comments, by number of characters, broken down by year

Histogram: The Motion Picture.
posted by stebulus at 10:10 PM on February 20, 2012

Also, I don't mean to get weird here, but has BP been scrubbed from the Infodump?

There's an option to have one's activity munged in the Infodump so that it is dissociated from your userid. Not many people opt for it, but it exists and I believe BP is one of the few on the munge list.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:20 PM on February 20, 2012

Histogram: The Motion Picture.

I laughed, I cried. It might be worth doing that at one frame per week rather than one per day to get rid of the constant rapid weekend-downtime-induced flutter in the levels.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:22 PM on February 20, 2012

there are a few prolific mefites whose posting style is to shotgun spray 8-12 word one liners all over threads.

I refer to this practice as "Whelking". Without a hint of judgment, might I add.
posted by MattMangels at 10:52 PM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

By the way, this thread reminded me of how much I miss Lovecraft in Brooklyn. If you're reading this, LiB, memail me!
posted by MattMangels at 12:29 AM on February 21, 2012

There's an option to have one's activity munged in the Infodump so that it is dissociated from your userid

How does one activate this option.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:48 AM on February 21, 2012

I saw that one in the FAQ. You have to publicly write a full paragraph, in MetaTalk, about why you want a munging. Also, include your feelings about the subject of mungings and how you think it will affect others in the future. If you are found to be deserving, the mods will respond with a time and place the munging will occur. When it is over, please include a follow up report on the munging. Details are appreciated, but please be responsible with possible spoilers.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:14 AM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh Sahib, munge me, O might one, take pity on this poor old toothless woman, sahib, munge me



Like that?
posted by infini at 4:22 AM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Here, put on this Downton Abbey costume and say it again.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:23 AM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

There's an option to have one's activity munged in the Infodump --- I'm trying to think of a reason why someone would do this, without coming to the conclusion that they are embarrassed by their own activity here.
posted by crunchland at 5:35 AM on February 21, 2012

You say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:39 AM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Trurl, a shame the two accounts can't be merged somehow.

It's a slight nuisance to have to asterisk all self-references to my stats. But a merge would still only put me at 7th place on the Most Posts list. [In your face, y2karl!] And after 30,000 favorites, it probably is time to stop counting.

So I'm probably more distinguished by having had two such prominent careers. Beese has been retired for almost a year now and he's still ahead of jessamyn on the Contribution Index. That's scary.
posted by Trurl at 5:50 AM on February 21, 2012 [4 favorites]

who are you people with 20,000+ favourites?

Active participant here. That's all. It builds over time. They're not a high number when you consider my posting/commenting volume.

Don't they kind of lose meaning at some point?

I sort of feel like they didn't have much in the first place?
posted by zarq at 5:54 AM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

It was neat to scroll down, looking for my name, and still periodically see the names of folks that have less and less activity on the site but who I still recognized as contributors I really enjoyed.

Not that you mega-posters don't do fine work.
posted by Nabubrush at 5:55 AM on February 21, 2012

Jeez, it'll take me forever to read through The Whelk's 13k comments! I best get reading!

There isn't any chart for "gave most favorites to everyone" but surely I must rank fairly high since I've given out 16k favorites.
posted by jeffburdges at 5:56 AM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Tehloki is the official giver of favorites.

I gave about 9600 last year, I think.
posted by zarq at 6:07 AM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

I can't be bought for favourites.

BB, that black and white with frills doesn't suit my complexion.
posted by infini at 6:16 AM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

How about a Klingon costume?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:38 AM on February 21, 2012

Does a Klingon beg to be munged?
posted by infini at 6:43 AM on February 21, 2012

How does one activate this option.

By very unambiguously and clearly not jokingly or lightly asking to have their activity munged. I had at least one "sounded like a straight-faced request" situation turn later on into a "hey why have I been munged?" spit-take, so I'm really boringly explicit about wanting a straightforward "I understand I likely won't appear in future casual analysis and can't be found in the infodumpster and etc, please add me to the munge list" request (in public or via email, I don't care) before I'll make the change.

If someone decides they want to be munged and then decides later they want to not be munged, that is technically doable and I'm fine doing that dance once. It's not something I want to keep going back and forth on with anyone, which has not to date been a problem but just putting it out there.

I'm trying to think of a reason why someone would do this, without coming to the conclusion that they are embarrassed by their own activity here.

There's a more neutral read that someone just might not feel like having their activity appear in a casually correlateable pile of data. Which, if that's how you feel that's how you feel and I don't really have an objection to it if so. The Infodump is all drawn from publicly visible content that could be scraped by anyone with shitty intentions, so munging the Infodump isn't actually any kind of protection against dataminers with bad attitudes, but I figure if as a speedbump it eases a couple people's minds that's an okay outcome at the end of the day even if it's not something I see any practical utility in myself.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:44 AM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Hey, what happens on Krios Prime stays on Krios Prime.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:14 AM on February 21, 2012

I'm in the mood to sprinkle the thread with fairy dust. Munge me already.
posted by infini at 7:23 AM on February 21, 2012

Yuck.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:28 AM on February 21, 2012

*puts on Wookie costume*

Oh yeah, the Force is definitely going to be in you.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:32 AM on February 21, 2012

It might be worth doing that at one frame per week rather than one per day to get rid of the constant rapid weekend-downtime-induced flutter in the levels.

I thought the weekly cycle gave it a nice beat.

But yeah, I'll give one-frame-per-week a shot. I might also add some kind of moving average of the distribution, to make it easier to see trends. But right now I should go to work.
posted by stebulus at 7:41 AM on February 21, 2012

It should be noted because of the very low number of munged IDs with work it is possible to un munge a munged ID. IE: privacy isn't absolute.
posted by Mitheral at 8:23 AM on February 21, 2012

Yeah, more to the point it would be possible to unmunge a munged ID even with a very large number of people using the system, because comment and post activity are still correlateable on the actual site. It is a speedbump only, a way to avoid showing up in casual searches of things like the infodumpster, and acts as a gentle hint to datawankers to maybe respect the implied wishes of the mungee.

The only way to fundamentally protect yourself from having your public activity on Metafilter analyzed is to not have any public activity on Metafilter.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:42 AM on February 21, 2012

Yuck.

What's wrong with lurve?
posted by infini at 9:59 AM on February 21, 2012

stavrosthewonderchicken: " I realized that Metatalk is my local "

Hey, how come I'm not on that list? did you filter it somehow or something? My profile says 387 metatalk comments, and on that list I see:
389 Frasermoo
389 dunkadunc
386 oneswellfoop
386 matthewr
384 Lentrohamsanin
384 machaus
383 fooljay

(Though I guess my profile will say 388 after I post this)
posted by Grither at 10:22 AM on February 21, 2012

And now that I've finished reading the thread, have I been munged?! Perhaps I asked to be munged once whilst under the influence of that avian/swine flu hybrid that caused me to lose my extraneous third big toe, but since I don't think I've ever heard the term "munge" before, I'm guessing that wasn't it.
posted by Grither at 10:32 AM on February 21, 2012

Also, "munge" triggers the red-squigglies, yet "munged" does not. Discuss.
posted by Grither at 10:33 AM on February 21, 2012

Trurl: Beese has been retired for almost a year now and he's still ahead of jessamyn on the Contribution Index. That's scary.

I've come to realize that the mods have more active real-world lives than I do. I cheer for them, and mourn some of my own choices. #52 (most comments) and #14 (for over-all contributions, and #13 for most posts made) seem a bit hollow now. Back to work, with thoughts of my next post stewing in my mind.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:37 AM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

You're on the list, Grither. Just look down a little farther; you're at 370 at the moment. The mismatch is just a result of the Infodump files that power the infodumpster being out of date.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:47 AM on February 21, 2012

Ah, gotcha. Thanks Mr. tex!
posted by Grither at 10:50 AM on February 21, 2012

stavrosthewonderchicken: "Also, I was feeling like 'how the fuck have I spent all this time here over the last decade and not washed up like spent eurotrash at the top of at least some of these lists' and then I realized that Metatalk is my local and I felt vindicated if not all that much better."

It's quite clear and unsurprising to me where I belong in this place, although I was somewhat surprised to be #25 on the MeTa All-stars list, especially given that there are quite a few above me on the list that aren't around any more.
posted by dg at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2012

...although it seems odd that I'm in exactly the same spot and the order above me seems to be the same whether I use data from my join date or from 'day one'.
posted by dg at 1:44 PM on February 21, 2012

Beese has been retired for almost a year now and he's still ahead of jessamyn on the Contribution Index. That's scary.

I spend more time in AskMe than MeFi, and probably more time here than either of those places. I'd say it's not that surprising.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:11 PM on February 21, 2012

yeah, I'll give one-frame-per-week a shot. I might also add some kind of moving average of the distribution, to make it easier to see trends.

Histogram 2: Weekly Boogaloo. Starring the exponentially weighted moving average!
posted by stebulus at 8:30 PM on February 21, 2012

I'm trying to think of a reason why someone would do this

Comments like yours, essentially.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:09 PM on February 21, 2012

Re Favorites: 14911 on the blue, for me.
But my comments are only 3k or so :(
posted by symbioid at 10:09 PM on February 21, 2012

Trurl, I forget you were Joe Beese! And Civil_Disobedient is now gone? How'd I miss that?
posted by symbioid at 10:24 PM on February 21, 2012

Quantity has a quality all it's own.

Stalin would have made a great zerg player.
posted by invitapriore at 9:26 AM on February 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

10K comments in 4-1/2 years. Over 2K per year. Not to mention the sockpuppets.

I Have No Life And I Must Scream
posted by y2karl at 11:44 AM on February 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hey, I don't want to waste an ask me question for this, but maybe someone who is still reading the thread knows the answers:

There's a phrase for the kind of question where people ask how to implement a solution to a problem, but they don't mention the problem they're trying to solve, and it's the wrong solution for the problem -- anyone remember what that is?
posted by empath at 12:27 PM on February 22, 2012

XY Problem? Or was that a joke?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:34 PM on February 22, 2012

Nope, serious question, thanks :) A surprisingly hard thing to google for.
posted by empath at 12:44 PM on February 22, 2012

empath: I have half as many comments, but almost 15,000 more favorites, does that count for something?

Not really. Favourites were implemented soon after you joined, whereas nearly half of delmoi's time here didn't include the biscuit system.


Metafilter: the biscuit system
posted by lalochezia at 3:02 PM on February 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

Histogram: The Motion Picture

What happened in mid-August 2001 that seemingly wiped comments for a couple days (more than a blink, less than a pause)?
posted by maryr at 2:38 PM on February 23, 2012

Matt straight up took a couple weeks off, and everybody else took it off with him.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:47 PM on February 23, 2012

That was very considerate of them.
posted by maryr at 4:48 PM on February 23, 2012