Who's Your Buddy?

May 13, 2002 7:47 AM

It's The Old Problem: You Never Know Who Your MeFi Buddy Is - but MetaFilter's own Mr Skallas has devised a cunning quiz that just might help you find that difficult-to-locate alter ego you've secretly been searching and, indeed, yearning for. Or, if this is not the case, which fellow member has unconsciously been influencing your every word. The rat! [To avoid disappointment, note that this will not tell you, as iconomy's questionnaire did, which MeFi user's posting style you most like - rather it will quite precisely identify which Metafilter user you are most like. Enjoy!]
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-related at 7:47 AM (53 comments total)

Er. Does it just randomly come up with a MeFi user who has never posted anything? That's all I get. Er.

Ha?
posted by Marquis at 7:51 AM on May 13, 2002

Apparently I am most like the mysterious Mr. Wiehl, who has never posted anything, linked anything, has no e-mail & no home page. I am a man of mystery.
posted by tdismukes at 7:54 AM on May 13, 2002

There must be some message for the three of us, because my buddy is the legendary but no less enigmatic or silent Horse9 - BART to those lucky enough to ever hear from him.

Friends of mine, though, have MeFi buddies who've actually posted, so it must be something wrong with us. ;(
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:58 AM on May 13, 2002

edwardko. go figger.
posted by quonsar at 8:07 AM on May 13, 2002

I played around with values (and tried pushing the 'who's my buddy' button more than once), and kept coming up with different, but equally non-participatory members.

I think it's some sort of tongue-in-cheek something-or-other that I'm not old enough to understand.
posted by Marquis at 8:07 AM on May 13, 2002

I too got someone who has never posted anything...his homepage is EarthLink's startpage. Funny thing is, I used to be on EarthLink, but I never used their startpage. those bastards!
posted by StOne at 8:09 AM on May 13, 2002

Welcome to the world's most pointless MeTa thread:

<script language="JavaScript">
var url="http://www.metafilter.com/user.mefi/";
random_num = (Math.round((Math.random()*14100)+1))
url+=(random_num);
function goToURL() { window.location = url; }
</script>

I bow before the master, skallas.
posted by rory at 8:12 AM on May 13, 2002

Welcome to the world's most pointless MeTa thread:

<script language="JavaScript">
var url="http://www.metafilter.com/user.mefi/";
random_num = (Math.round((Math.random()*14100)+1))
url+=(random_num);
function goToURL() { window.location = url; }
</script>

I bow before the master, skallas.
posted by rory at 8:14 AM on May 13, 2002

Two bows, that's all you're getting.
posted by rory at 8:15 AM on May 13, 2002

Maybe it's Skallas' cunning plot to draw out the lurkers, or maybe his trying to tell us all to emulate them and stop posting. Hmmmm...

*scratches chin thoughtfully*
posted by jonmc at 8:15 AM on May 13, 2002

...or maybe I'm wrong. I took the quiz again and got Vek who I actually did have a nice conversation about music with here. So perhaps I'm wrong. Here's to skallas, mefi's own yenta!!
posted by jonmc at 8:21 AM on May 13, 2002

How many times do I have to hit submit before I land on witchstone, is my only question.

And I'll have my answer sometime this afternoon.
posted by luser at 8:23 AM on May 13, 2002

I am most like myself. That is not good.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:28 AM on May 13, 2002

Well, so far about seven of ten random user numbers have submitted no links and no comments. If this is a true statistical sample of the entire 14,000+ database, there have in all of MetaFilter history only really been about 4,200 active users. Makes the place seem much more cozy, don't it?

Kevin: Know thyself.
posted by yhbc at 8:33 AM on May 13, 2002

Marquis: Does it just randomly come up with a MeFi user who has never posted anything?

I got you.
posted by iceberg273 at 8:38 AM on May 13, 2002

Here's some code for a bookmarklet if anyone wants to spend the day T-testing yhbc's hypothesis:

javascript:void(location.href="http://www.metafilter.com/user.mefi/"+(Math.round((Math.random()*14100)+1)))
posted by rory at 8:43 AM on May 13, 2002

iceberg273: I got you.

How about that; and I was just browsing your website on Thursday. The short fiction in your userpage was simply too tantalizing (oh, and the iceberg glyph).

Want to be buddies? ;)
posted by Marquis at 8:54 AM on May 13, 2002

: sniff :

I got a rock. < :(br>
posted by metrocake at 9:02 AM on May 13, 2002

I did it twice, and both times got this.
posted by dong_resin at 9:07 AM on May 13, 2002

It'll never come up with a user number higher than 14100. Another slight to us new guys.
posted by timeistight at 9:13 AM on May 13, 2002

Well, timeistight, I just e-mailed skallas and he said it didn't matter and comforted me - link here - for my appalling result.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:25 AM on May 13, 2002

Rory, Shhhhh!!!
posted by skallas at 9:27 AM on May 13, 2002

Myf lfps r seafld.
posted by rory at 9:44 AM on May 13, 2002

Interestingly (though obviously just coincidentally) the user I came up with first, aharici, joined on my birthday.
posted by me3dia at 9:45 AM on May 13, 2002

Every "who are you" quiz I ever take comes out with the exact same answer: You Are Rip Taylor.

It's a dirty dirty world. But it's funny! Woooo!
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:46 AM on May 13, 2002

Yah, I tried three times and got three pages from people who've never posted, too. Seems that 14000 thing is jus' nonsense. Aren't there any stats of how many users have actually posted (ever, or maybe, within the last year... but let's start with ever)?
posted by mdn at 9:53 AM on May 13, 2002

I got a user with a fantastic web site on his user page.
posted by eyeballkid at 10:27 AM on May 13, 2002

"I tried three times and got three pages from people who've never posted, too"

I must be gifted, I keep getting fairly loquacious people like SpecialK and biscotti.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:35 AM on May 13, 2002

To deconstruct the skallas mindframe, considering his past history, I propose this entertainment of his is pregnant with meaning and deserves careful scrutiny. To wit, it is one of five well-defined memes:

1) A hippy-like plea along the lines of Stephen Stills's "Love The One You're Not With", where he suggests we all "adopt a buddy". Preferably a randomly found lurker or obstinate, orphanage-style non-poster whom nobody's ever heard of. Call this the "Reach Out And Touch" hypothesis.

2)An epistemological tour-de-force railing against the current mania for "What X am I?", denouncing our narcissism and credulity by applying random javascript to expose our tendency to identify with anything or anyone that moves or even lurks within MetaFilter.

3)A cheering anti-A list demonstration, baffling our pretensious expectations to achieve some pathetic identification with royalty(Matt, Jason, Zeldman, Cory, Rebecca, Rory)by pointing us in the direction of equally deserving bloggers whose charms remain undiscovered.

4)A metaphysical plea for the eternal, yet often forgotten appeal of the "We're all connected" ideology of the Internet, albeit with skallas's disturbing extra-terrestial overtones.

5)Er...something else which, for now, entirely escapes me. ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:36 AM on May 13, 2002

5) a Brave Attempt to extend Friday afternoon deep into Monday.

Also,

Stephen Stills's "Love The One You're Not With"

Isn't that song title actually "Love Not the One You're With"?
posted by luser at 11:06 AM on May 13, 2002

Monique? Unique!
posted by Lynsey at 12:01 PM on May 13, 2002

Hey Dong. That Eartha Kitt is one dynamite lady and a class act to boot. I'd be proud to be her.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:33 PM on May 13, 2002

Catwoman!

Why am I in this thread 3 times?
posted by luser at 12:56 PM on May 13, 2002

Seems that 14000 thing is jus' nonsense. Aren't there any stats of how many users have actually posted

Matt has posted some related info on that.

posted by vacapinta at 2:14 PM on May 13, 2002

Hmm... a bogus test to tell me that I'm most like a completely random user on Metafilter.

So much for individuality. I'm most like *.
posted by crunchland at 2:20 PM on May 13, 2002

Not to stir anything up at all, but where are the new users coming from now, anyway? I thought the only back door was shut shortly after - well, after some other users got here.
posted by yhbc at 2:28 PM on May 13, 2002

)An epistemological tour-de-force railing against the current mania for "What X am I?",

We've got a winner! I think my test is about as meaningful and accurate as any other out there. Plus if you click long enough you get to see some interesting user pages.

I didn't intend to show how the 14k number is pretty much meaningless, like I've said so many times before, but that kind of worked out too.
posted by skallas at 2:38 PM on May 13, 2002

I was told I don't have a MeFi Buddy.
posted by gluechunk at 3:06 PM on May 13, 2002

I don't understand it. Aren't you always most like yourself?
posted by darukaru at 3:34 PM on May 13, 2002

Not to stir anything up at all, but where are the new users coming from now, anyway?

We came in through the bathroom window.
posted by timeistight at 3:36 PM on May 13, 2002

We came in through the bathroom window.

*grabs silver spoon to protect the new users*
posted by jonmc at 4:11 PM on May 13, 2002

*grabs silver spoon

That would be Maxwell's silver hammer, Jon.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:16 PM on May 13, 2002

Check your lyrics, Miguel. You gotta brush up, man.
posted by jonmc at 4:42 PM on May 13, 2002

Why you...that's the seventeenth time you've corrected me quite rightly. But not this time, boyo. Substitute Jon for Joan and you'll get my(admittedly feeble)joke. :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:51 PM on May 13, 2002

Not to stir anything up at all, but where are the new users coming from now, anyway?

I lurked forever. Read bits of info. Begging and pleaded didn't help.
Being frustrated and determined eventually worked.
Also, it appears I learn well from my buddy.
posted by gummi at 10:03 PM on May 13, 2002

...and by pleaded I of course mean pleading.
posted by gummi at 10:04 PM on May 13, 2002

Only one Catwoman there is.

Yoda
posted by y2karl at 10:05 PM on May 13, 2002

FYI, y2karl's last two links, "there" and "is" are not quite work-safe.
posted by BlueTrain at 10:11 PM on May 13, 2002

busted!
posted by y2karl at 10:19 PM on May 13, 2002

what is theatre if it doesn't have an audience?

beware us lurkers. we watch what you say, we know the cliches and in-jokes, we even read the cult threads. And we are amused by it all...immensely.

It's like having an aquarium of urbane and intellectual [beatles-singing] goldfish, really. :P~~
posted by elphTeq at 12:46 AM on May 14, 2002

Hang on. Did Miguel just call me royalty?

Oh yeah... he must be referring to this.

Phew, that was close.
posted by rory at 3:03 AM on May 14, 2002

Umm.. Goldfish, elph?

As in "The wholesome snack that smiles back until you bite their heads off!?"

Is this the thanks we get for getting advanced degrees in brain-ology and buying "Rubber Soul"?

Sheesh.

Well, I for one, may give you words. But never, ever, head. And I am unanimous in this.


posted by Perigee at 9:03 AM on May 14, 2002

y2karl, are you saying you'd say no to this Catwoman?

i don't think i could.
posted by witchstone at 11:06 AM on May 14, 2002