May sixth is RTFA Day

May 6, 2012 8:11 AM

Enjoy reading some fantastic articles today!
posted by flex to MetaFilter-Related at 8:11 AM (67 comments total)

A, an, the.
posted by box at 8:15 AM on May 6, 2012 [14 favorites]

I didn't bother clicking on that link, but I'm pretty sure this doesn't belong here.
posted by absalom at 8:16 AM on May 6, 2012 [6 favorites]

This isn't 5/6/11, it is 5/6/12.
posted by Ardiril at 8:18 AM on May 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh the poor lemurs with scrofula. I encourage people to please read some fantastic articles today.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:20 AM on May 6, 2012 [6 favorites]

Where's TFA?
posted by mazola at 8:21 AM on May 6, 2012

[reads the article]

...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH. ok.
posted by fuq at 8:23 AM on May 6, 2012

Today's theme song is "Article Man", by They Might Be Giants.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:27 AM on May 6, 2012 [12 favorites]

I can't read....
posted by lampshade at 8:35 AM on May 6, 2012

Oh god are you British? Or do I not know what day it is? Or is it the 11 thing? MAY SIXTH IS RTFA DAY.

June 5th is RTFA-E Day. Except for the other side of the international date line in the Pacific, where June 6th is RTFA-J Day.
posted by XMLicious at 8:56 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

On metafilter shouldn't every day be RTFA day?
posted by cjorgensen at 9:11 AM on May 6, 2012

This isn't 5/6/11, it is 5/6/12.

Eh, 2012-05-06.
posted by D.C. at 9:14 AM on May 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Can I ask about the lemur thing? Because I can't find any references lemurs in the Gaiman post, the Star-Tribune article, or the original thread.

Also, there should be an entry on the Wiki about RTFA Day, but I can't find one there. I was actually looking for information about lemurs. No joy.
posted by SMPA at 9:24 AM on May 6, 2012

I wood butt I nevar lurned to reed.
posted by jonmc at 9:31 AM on May 6, 2012

I think that was right around the time when people were passing around the YouTube videos of the lemurs with the umbrellas and the ones where people were scratching their bellies and people were like "OMG teh cute!" and if you read the comments on a lot of those videos you'd see that the lemurs most likely had diseases or head injuries which was why they were acting in atypical [though possibly] cute ways. I think it was a bit of a zeitgeist thing around that time, so the comment maybe made more sense. But now you search for lemurs and scrofula and you find that comment, possibly because you can't Google YouTube comments, so I'm not totally certain.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:32 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

It that a requirement to work at the Strand?
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:32 AM on May 6, 2012

Yez
posted by jonmc at 9:36 AM on May 6, 2012

RTFA day will be fairly low key this year, in preparation for 2013 which will be INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF RTFA. It's going to be epic.
posted by Artw at 9:45 AM on May 6, 2012

Stop using 'epic' that way. It's right up there with 'fighty' on my shit list. And get off my damned lawn,
posted by jonmc at 9:52 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's gonna be Gilgamesh. Wait and see.
posted by Artw at 9:53 AM on May 6, 2012 [8 favorites]

Antoninus: I'm Article!
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 9:54 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

That's better.
posted by jonmc at 9:54 AM on May 6, 2012

around the time when people were passing around the YouTube videos of the lemurs

And once again I (sort of) lament my total inability to keep up on popular memes (and front page MetaFilter posts.) I had no idea about this, and would have found it delightful, and then been all conflicted about finding it delightful, and then felt really guilty, and then gotten all weepy when watching lemurs at the zoo, and been able to bond with the rest of humanity, and been able to avoid outing myself as one of those stick in the mud types who never understands memes till they're well past their expiration date. (I figured out rage comics this year.)

(Okay, I'm not actually that sad that I missed the Gaiman article the first time around. Just the lemur thing.)
posted by SMPA at 9:58 AM on May 6, 2012

Holy shit, that was a whole year ago?

I am old.
posted by subbes at 10:09 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm starting an NGO to raise the funds to make viral video to raise awareness in time for the Global Awareness Raising campaign on RTFA in 2014. I need volunteers.
posted by infini at 10:10 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

*sigh* I remember when the malls would wait until Moderator's Day to start putting out their Salmon Toast and their crockety bloats for CAPS LOCK DAY. Now people start getting drunk on the docks as soon as they put away their RTFA Day articles. It's so commercial now.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:12 AM on May 6, 2012 [10 favorites]

I remember this coming up with "cute loris" videos (umbrella as well). I made a "cute animals" post last April and it was mentioned in the comments (source; also see 1, 2; there's a few more comments that the penguin reaction to tickling is sexual excitement, that little birds and cats together in videos is not cute but dangerous; but apparently it's okay to like the sloth video.) I'm glad people said something because I personally had no clue.
posted by flex at 10:13 AM on May 6, 2012

If you want to read articles about articles (This is MetaTalk, right?), you can learn about "weak definites", which blew my mind when I first learned of them from my colleagues (some of whom are linked to below). Like how "the radio" doesn't necessarily mean "one particular radio unit." 1, 2, 3 mitt Deutsch, 4.
posted by knile at 10:14 AM on May 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

I made a post late last night which got deleted for being a double, and now I'm unable to post an article which you can then tell people to F R.

I am sad.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:19 AM on May 6, 2012

But in 12 hours you'll be happy again, right?
posted by Think_Long at 10:46 AM on May 6, 2012

Is it just me or do you all also discover the even cooler thing to link to within minutes of making an FPP? I wish there were draft saves available for such days. I'd wait a few hours each time.
posted by infini at 10:48 AM on May 6, 2012

MeFi RTFA day

Misread that as MeFi rtha day. Why don't we have one? rtha is awesome.
posted by special-k at 10:54 AM on May 6, 2012 [8 favorites]

I just went through that Gaiman post and am embarrassed to say that I spent several minutes thinking "it happened again?"

Speaking of whom. Does M. Gaiman live in Wisconsin or Minnesota? This is important, as a cheesehead I'd like to know if he's one of us or one of t h e m.
posted by Bonzai at 11:06 AM on May 6, 2012

Oh right, it's loris not lemur. Does anyone else confuse words with the same consonant/vowel patterns?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:07 AM on May 6, 2012

I just discovered that scrofula used to be called "King's Evil." King's Evil! Never has a disease name so majestic been replaced with such an adorable name.
posted by speicus at 11:18 AM on May 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Bonzai - I think he lives just outside of Eau Clair, so one of yours?
posted by Think_Long at 11:20 AM on May 6, 2012

I myself committed a RTFA transgression today. I almost never click onto page 2 of a multi page article because page 1 is almost never good enough to compel me to do so. (Has anybody else noticed a disappearance of the New York Times "single page" buttons on most articles lately? They are losing out on my mindshare big time with that as I will go one more click on borderline quality articles where I would never click 6 times unless maybe the article was written by Henry Louis Fuckin' Mencken.) On the Dallas billionaire New Republic article FPP'd today I read one page and no more but I did make a comment on the post. I guess what I am saying is there are RTFA's R(at least some of)TFA's and there are RT(complete)FA's. Depending on the article, RTFA may be ambiguous.
posted by bukvich at 11:31 AM on May 6, 2012

Has anybody else noticed a disappearance of the New York Times "single page" buttons on most articles lately?

They are getting harder and harder to find - usually, the functionality is duplicated by the 'print article' button.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:43 AM on May 6, 2012

I just discovered that scrofula used to be called "King's Evil." King's Evil! Never has a disease name so majestic been replaced with such an adorable name.

The next question being whether a loris with scrofula would be cured by the touch of any king, or if it would need to be a loris king...
posted by running order squabble fest at 12:31 PM on May 6, 2012

Think_Long: "Eau Clair"

Sweet.
posted by Bonzai at 12:32 PM on May 6, 2012

I don't think loris's tails are long enough to form a loris king, rosf. They must be egalitarian.
posted by hattifattener at 1:09 PM on May 6, 2012

> Today's theme song is "Article Man", by They Might Be Giants.

Article an, article an
Oing e ings a article an
Ut's e ike? It's ot i-ortant
Article an

Is e a ot, or is e a eck?
En e's u-er ater oes e et et?
Or oes e ater et im i-stead?
Obody ows, article an

posted by benito.strauss at 1:09 PM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Actually today is Beware the SiXth Day (the counterpoint to May the Fourth)
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:30 PM on May 6, 2012

But, my opinion about the subject that the article's description might imply is authoritative.
posted by Burhanistan at 3:31 PM on May 6, 2012

Part of RTFA day should be that people post some of their favorite F articles. My Instapaper queue is getting low.
posted by roll truck roll at 4:51 PM on May 6, 2012

Okay, seriously guys.

What the fuck is a crockety bloat?
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:59 PM on May 6, 2012

Today's article has been brought to you by the letters R T F and A.
posted by arcticseal at 5:01 PM on May 6, 2012

Speaking of whom. Does M. Gaiman live in Wisconsin or Minnesota? This is important, as a cheesehead I'd like to know if he's one of us or one of t h e m.

He lives in that part of WI which serves as part of the greater suburban area of the twin cities, and is thus more properly considered part of Minnesota.
posted by kavasa at 5:04 PM on May 6, 2012

What the fuck is a crockety bloat?

Um, it's what we get every year on CAPS LOCK DAY? Did you not RTFA in the post I linked to?
posted by Rock Steady at 6:05 PM on May 6, 2012

I could have answered had you asked about a crotchety bloke.
posted by Ardiril at 6:23 PM on May 6, 2012

What the fuck is a crockety bloat?

That's what you get after eating all the stuff you hollowed out of that raccoon you're wearing on your head.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:01 PM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I thought it was a blockety Croat.
posted by jenkinsEar at 7:15 PM on May 6, 2012

Crockett's gout.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:16 PM on May 6, 2012

Actually, I thought of a good way to encourage RingTFA aside from declaring a day.

Every now and then, we should run a trivia contest based on facts and information you can find only in TFA.

And some kind of good prize could be associated. Not crazy valuable, but you know, bragging rights +something.

And it would be good to structure it so as to be time-dependent; so it would actually have a short window, and would reward those who actually already R(past tense)TFA. It would advantage habitual readers.
posted by Miko at 7:34 PM on May 6, 2012

Yes, this will be on the test.
posted by Ardiril at 7:45 PM on May 6, 2012

I'd like a little checkbox to go next to the "Post Comment" box. This checkbox would be there to indicate that you read the article. And if you didn't read the article, then just after the little [!] underneath your comment would be the words Did Not Read The Article.

Because maybe you don't care, and I guess that's fine, but it'd be nice to be explicit about it, you know?

(I almost never watch the video: I'm very much NOT a visual/audio person. I would be okay with Did Not Watch The Video being next to my comments on video-oriented posts. Maybe the post-writer could enable various checkboxes, for the video, article, podcast, whatever.)
posted by SMPA at 7:53 PM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Speaking of the AV posts, those "here are 8 hours of content with absolutely no text summary" are the worst. If you want to be strict about things, maybe you should prevent anyone from commenting until at least that minimum number of hours has passed.

But seriously, I can read so so so much faster than I can listen. Why can't we always have a text summary? Plus its easier to get away with at work!
posted by Chekhovian at 8:08 PM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

DERAIL.

(looking for *jumps the shark* flag)
posted by joe lisboa at 9:50 PM on May 6, 2012

I'd like a little checkbox to go next to the "Post Comment" box. This checkbox would be there to indicate that you read the article. And if you didn't read the article, then just after the little [!] underneath your comment would be the words Did Not Read The Article.

I would ride that pony hard and put it away wet.
posted by unSane at 10:04 PM on May 6, 2012

Oh the poor pony with scrofula. I encourage people to read some fantastic articles today.
posted by taz (staff) at 10:09 PM on May 6, 2012

What the fuck is a crockety bloat?

Have you SEEN Don Johnson lately? From Crockett to Bloat in 20 years...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:57 PM on May 6, 2012

crockety bloat on a scofulous stout
posted by a humble nudibranch at 1:42 AM on May 7, 2012

Many years after the rest of the world, I have acquired a pre-loved Kindle and been informed about Instapaper, so am now RTFA like a F-er every F-ing day. Sometimes I even go nuts and contemplate the graphs and tables, or follow up the references.
posted by Abiezer at 2:25 AM on May 7, 2012

Ironically, the perfect test case post for RTFA day is a shitstorm of blatant failure to read or even pretend to discuss the article.
posted by nasreddin at 3:20 AM on May 7, 2012

That's a great post in which to run certain phrases through a user's history search, and see how their opinions have . . . migrated over the years.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:53 AM on May 7, 2012

May sixth is RTFA Day
May 7, 2012 2:11
Should that have been 'was' RTFA Day?
posted by dg at 6:58 PM on May 7, 2012

May sixth is RTFA Day
May 6, 2012 11:11 AM

Not in my timezone, buddy.
posted by SMPA at 7:35 PM on May 7, 2012

I'm not apologizing for this

Article man, article man
Pointing out things an article can
What's he like? It's not important
Article man

Content-rich, or an op-ed rant?
Is it about dogs, or is it about pants?
Or is it a paean to submerged plants?
Just read the damn thing, Article man

Fact-checker man, Fact-checker man
Fact-checker man hates article man
They have a fight, Fact-checker wins
Fact-checker man

Publisher man, Publisher man
Bi-coastal home-owning Publisher man
Usually kind to smaller man
Publisher man

He's got a watch with a minute hand,
A portfolio hand and a finance hand
When they meet it's a happy land
Powerful man, Publisher man

Freelancer man, freelancer man
Hit on the head with a frying pan
Lives his life in a garbage can
Freelancer man

Is he depressed or is he just stressed?
Does a six-thousand word piece bring him success?
Who will pay out freelancer man?
Underpaid man, freelancer man

Editor man, editor man
Editor man hates freelancer man
They have a fight, editor wins
Editor man
posted by Minus215Cee at 12:48 PM on May 19, 2012