June 17, 2002

6:09 AM

Who needs textads? A new world record in self-links has been set by the publisher of Sound the Sirens, Billy Maulana. He's gotten seven self-links past us.
posted by rcade to etiquette/policy at 6:09 AM (92 comments total)

Indeed.
posted by adampsyche at 6:45 AM on June 17, 2002

I'm trying to come up with a suitable prize.
posted by Marquis at 7:09 AM on June 17, 2002

He appears to be doing the same over at SportsFilter, albeit with a different nickname. Alas, he used the exact same wording for his post.
posted by pardonyou? at 7:42 AM on June 17, 2002

I'm trying to come up with a suitable prize.

The golf trophy that woman was kissing?
posted by adampsyche at 7:54 AM on June 17, 2002

damn, he was on my "watch this guy" list. D'oh.
posted by mathowie at 8:08 AM on June 17, 2002

I love the greeting on his user page:

hello bastards.

Says it all...
posted by evanizer at 8:22 AM on June 17, 2002

> damn, he was on my "watch this guy" list. D'oh.

Which list is he on now?
posted by pracowity at 8:28 AM on June 17, 2002

Thank goodness for rcade.
posted by iconomy at 8:47 AM on June 17, 2002

nice find, rcade.
posted by moz at 8:49 AM on June 17, 2002

Maybe we could have a subtle self link day. Then perhaps no one would do it anymore.
posted by Spoon at 8:57 AM on June 17, 2002

Give 'em an inch...
posted by NortonDC at 9:08 AM on June 17, 2002

Like rcade said, text-ads were just made for self-linking, and Matt gets moola to boot. A win-win situation, and no underhanded tactics required.
posted by iconomy at 9:09 AM on June 17, 2002

Ugh. Didn't occur to me. Should have known no-one else would link to an article that misspelled "whose" 47 times.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:14 AM on June 17, 2002

<aside> I was bothered by the title of the post, it felt like a Draft notice </aside>
posted by insomnyuk at 9:35 AM on June 17, 2002

Which list is he on now?

The banned one.

(he didn't have an email address associated with his profile so I couldn't politely ask him to stop, so I've had to block him outright)
posted by mathowie at 10:24 AM on June 17, 2002

[scooby villian]"And I would've gotten away with it too...if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"[/scooby villian]

posted by gummi at 10:41 AM on June 17, 2002

> The banned one.

But oughtn't you ban links to his magazine? Or don't you have a mechanism for that?
posted by pracowity at 10:43 AM on June 17, 2002

But oughtn't you ban links to his magazine? Or don't you have a mechanism for that?

I could do that, yes, but for now he broke the rules (severely) and is deserving of losing posting rights.
posted by mathowie at 10:52 AM on June 17, 2002

This was just posted on my weblog:

with regard to this:

http://metatalk.metafilter.com/mefi/2295

what a feeble little dickhead you are. how much time did you spend outing this metacriminal? you must feel so proud and superior. what a cunt!

posted by quonsar [[e-mail]] at 06:09:32 AM on June 18, 2002

To answer the question, it took about 10 minutes using WHOIS and the sites involved. I can post a technical how-to for others who want to share my sense of pride and superiority, if there's interest.

People who want to promote themselves on MetaFilter should buy text ads. Anyone who posts links on this site under false pretense "(found this on Sound the Sirens)" deserves to be called out.
posted by rcade at 11:22 AM on June 17, 2002

6/12/2002: QUONSAR IS GONE.
AND BEST FORGOTTEN.

That's not the same quonsar as the one who posted that flame on your website, is it rcade?

P.S. You don't even need to know how to do a WHOIS to figure out Maulana is behind STS, since his name is all over the website, including the thing he linked to today. You'd think he would have been aware of the self-linking guideline and tried to have done it in an incognito fashion.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:43 AM on June 17, 2002

I have no idea if it's the real quonsar or not; I've sent him an e-mail to find out if someone else is using his name.
posted by rcade at 11:46 AM on June 17, 2002

Crap! I used to like quonsar!

*hangs head*
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 11:51 AM on June 17, 2002

maybe quonsar could benefit from some time away to relax and gather himself. i know he'd been pretty surly towards some people (myself included) in recent months. or maybe that's how he always was.
posted by moz at 12:01 PM on June 17, 2002

I just like saying quonsar.

quonsar!
posted by dangerman at 12:48 PM on June 17, 2002

Still, you gotta admit that [[e-mail]] is a pretty cool email address.

"Grandma, you can send me pictures of the family reunion to [e-mail]."
posted by ColdChef at 1:14 PM on June 17, 2002

"We value your feedback. If you have questions or comments about our product, please drop us a line at [e-mail]"
posted by luser at 1:42 PM on June 17, 2002

rcade, I'm assuming you already deleted that comment? Can't seem to find it at the workbench.

"We have rescheduled the next pedagogical day to March 13. If you have any further questions or concerns about this Please don't hesitate to contact the school at 212-594-5100 or write us an e-mail: [e-mail]"
posted by ( .)(. ) at 2:32 PM on June 17, 2002

what a feeble little dickhead you are. how much time did you spend outing this metacriminal? you must feel so proud and superior. what a cunt!

Jesus loves the little children. All the little children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.
posted by crunchland at 2:47 PM on June 17, 2002

The comment is still there. My foul-mouthed online friend posted it in response to an item about a fund-raising effort for someone in the hospital, so I did some Radio Userland trickery to get rid of the link to it.
posted by rcade at 4:18 PM on June 17, 2002

Well if the real quonsar is gone, good riddance. He's the meanest Mefite I've ever encountered.

Although I give him props for calling me a "sperm burper" in email.. that was a new one for me.
posted by evanizer at 4:24 PM on June 17, 2002

I still like "dork-snorkeler" better, Ev. :)
posted by jonmc at 5:29 PM on June 17, 2002

I've always wondered if quonsar and quarsan were the same person...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:28 PM on June 17, 2002

I don't think so Stav. I had an email from Quarsan once, and not once did they call me anything that rhymed obscenely or was even vaguely alliterative.
posted by Kafkaesque at 7:08 PM on June 17, 2002

You can't get [e-mail], but you can get [e-mail], [e-mail], or [e-mail], which work alright too.
posted by malphigian at 7:18 PM on June 17, 2002

Don't ban him, just count the click throughs (or estimate) and send him a bill at the going text ad rates. He got his hits, now time to pay up.

He's got money, just look at that tux!
posted by skallas at 2:55 AM on June 18, 2002

could i just say that i'm not quonsar. i used to like in a remote tanzanian village and quarsan was the name the villagers gave me. i know i can occasionally be a tad blunt, but it is very rare for me to swear.
posted by quarsan at 3:17 AM on June 18, 2002

Thanks for clarifying, quarsan.

re quonsar : I still think Anusfilter was pretty funny, if crude.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:24 AM on June 18, 2002

> could i just say that i'm not quonsar.

Yes, but you have to say it in Iraqw.
posted by pracowity at 4:17 AM on June 18, 2002

i could, but it would hurt. you could always listen to some iraqw music though...

but i'm not going to self-link on this thread am i?

ahnagha wathl
posted by quarsan at 4:55 AM on June 18, 2002

Billy Maulana has posted an apology in his profile.
posted by rcade at 5:57 AM on June 18, 2002

It makes me sad that he got hate mail.
posted by ashbury at 6:32 AM on June 18, 2002

> It makes me sad that he got hate mail.

That is sad. I think I see why some people do it, though. People here have sites they would love to promote to 14,000 Metafilter readers but, to be civil, they follow the rules and hold back. The rule against self-promotion is the most important rule here; without it, most links would be spam and everyone would leave. When someone else doesn't follow the rule, cursing the rule-breaker is like yelling "asshole!" to the guy who jumps to the head of a long line in which you have been patiently waiting all morning and have only just now worked up to seventy-ninth place. The guy who jumped the line might not really be an asshole, but he did something to bother a lot of people, and some people are going to yell "asshole" (but maybe the spineless way, anonymously).

> but i'm not going to self-link on this thread am i?

No, don't do that. But your site is quite nice. I especially hope you get some help with mosquito nets to fight malaria.
posted by pracowity at 7:35 AM on June 18, 2002

I personally don't think Matt should delete this meta thread, as this guy requested. If his publication gets any flack for it, I think he should have thought of that before he broke the Mefi Primary Directive seven times.
posted by crunchland at 8:26 AM on June 18, 2002

I think Billy Maulana should buy a couple of Text Ads to show how sorry he is.

Ahh, MeFi extortion!
posted by turaho at 8:44 AM on June 18, 2002

That's a remarkably contrite apology; it shows far more class than I would have expected.

Speaking of class, sending hate mail to someone over this is a classless thing to do. He was a bad boy and he got his wrist slapped, but it's not like he, say, burned down half of Colorado.
posted by timeistight at 8:44 AM on June 18, 2002

I personally don't think Matt should delete this meta thread

Yeah tell me about it. When I read that part of the apology I saw, "Please delete the stuff that might make me look bad on a google search."
posted by skallas at 8:58 AM on June 18, 2002

Billy Maulana
posted by skallas at 8:59 AM on June 18, 2002

"Please delete the stuff that might make me look bad on a google search."

Actually, I think that's closer to the truth than anything. It looks like Billy Maulana even went to the trouble of removing his name (Billy Maulana) from his user page, and he only signed his apology as "Billy", not "Billy Maulana". I think this Billy Maulana character is more concerned about his vanity searches, than the fact that he, Billy Maulana, posted all those self-links to Metafilter.

And I certainly don't think that anyone should send hate mail to Billy Maulana or anyone who works with Billy Maulana, or any of Billy Maulana's friends, or anyone with the name Maulana.

That's just disrespectful. Billy Maulana doesn't deserve that kind of treatment.
posted by crunchland at 9:10 AM on June 18, 2002

You may be right to question Billy Maulana's sincerity, skallas and crunchland. It just seemed like more crow than I'd be able to choke down.

If it really is just a cynical attempt to whitewash his reputation, then Billy Maulana needs to examine his morals.


posted by timeistight at 9:57 AM on June 18, 2002

This really hurts. Here I am trying to get together some capital for textads and just spent a long time trying to convince the keepers of the cash that textads are the way to go and Billy Maulana ruins it by showing marketing departments everywhere that they can shill and self-link.
Kids, don't be a Billy Maulana!
posted by rodz at 10:08 AM on June 18, 2002

I sense that "Billy Maulana" will now be the term for a self-link.

"Dude, that link is a total Maulana"
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:12 AM on June 18, 2002

Jeez, we really are vindictive pricks, aren't we?

(Billy Maulana, Billy Maulana, Billy Maulana)
posted by Marquis at 10:18 AM on June 18, 2002

damn. You may think that this Meta post should stay, and that's fine. but turning around and intentionally filling the thread with his name just to be a jerk, that's pretty juvenile. He apologized, now accept it and move on.
posted by jnthnjng at 10:38 AM on June 18, 2002

His name is Robert Paulson, his name is Robert Paulson, his name is…oh, sorry. Wrong thread.
posted by Danelope at 10:49 AM on June 18, 2002

intentionally filling the thread with his name just to be a jerk

Oh. I honestly didn't even think of that.
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:05 AM on June 18, 2002

Danelope: you got me to laugh harder right now than I have all day. Almost as much as SillyFilter.
posted by adampsyche at 12:55 PM on June 18, 2002

Ah, ah, am I the only one who gets that cynical tingle down my spine when someone claims 'I got hate mail' ? (Or porn spam, or 450 entries to my contest). I've never seen anyone post in any thread, "Yeah, I sent the bastard some hate mail". The thing is, as a cynical manipulative technique, it works so well. Now metafilter users (unspecified) are the ones who've sunk so low. Look how bad timeistight and ashbury feel.
'Aaww, you guys, don't do that. He's sorry already'.
posted by Catch at 2:27 PM on June 18, 2002

turning around and intentionally filling the thread with his name just to be a jerk, that's pretty juvenile.

Yes, I think we've all learned a thing or two about the merits of apologizing to the MeFi community today, haven't we?
posted by Shadowkeeper at 2:51 PM on June 18, 2002

Yes, I think we've all learned a thing or two about the merits of apologizing to the MeFi community today, haven't we?

shadowkeeper, do you honestly think that mr maulana is, after 7 egregious abuses of the system, suddenly torn with remorse over his actions over the last 5 months?
posted by rebeccablood at 3:46 PM on June 18, 2002

Rebecca, you have this way of summing up a situation in a minimum number of words that I always have to admire.
posted by Su at 6:46 PM on June 18, 2002

If I said that I've received scads of hatemail and porn bombs due to my unfair and juvenile treatment of Billy Maulana, would that get me off the hook? Ok. How about if I also throw in a remarkably contrite apology, indicating my sincere remorse over the actions of 9:10am pst?
posted by crunchland at 6:53 PM on June 18, 2002

Matt was kind enough to let me post for one last time here so I just wanted to say a few last things before I am gone from the MeFi community.

First of all -

I am not making any excuses for my actions. What I did was wrong, stupid, selfish and against everything this community stands for. I have no excuses and am truly sorry for what I did.

- I know you may find it difficult to believe but I am sincerely sorry. You can say what you want about me but just as I do not know any of you, you do not know me. As I do not know the trials of life you each have been through or are going through now, you don't know what I've been through or am going through. I made a mistake, I recognize it now and whether or not you believe me, I am sorry.

- You will never see me here at MeFi again because I don't deserve to be here and out of respect to everyone (respect previously not shown) I will leave and not come back.

- There is no attempt to whitewash my "reputation" or anything like that, like I've said, this is my email address - [e-mail], I'm not trying to hide or escape. I'm just someone who made a huge mistake.

I hope that you will be able to put this in the past. I apologize again for my disrespect to Matt and everyone else in the community.

Sincerely,
Billy M.



posted by lostbyanecho at 7:24 PM on June 18, 2002

Adios, William. And when you speak of us, be gentle.

Hey, here's a good question. If you fuck up, ala Willie here, is there any way to really be forgiven and pulled back into the herd? Or is it...you know...the Scarlet "M"?
posted by ColdChef at 7:37 PM on June 18, 2002

He's apologized, I think he means it, I think we should let it drop. He's been spanked, there's not any reason to keep going over it. Matt has obviously accepted the apology, I think the rest of us should as well. :)
posted by dejah420 at 7:54 PM on June 18, 2002

I agree that using his name as a "self-link" reference/standard is too much. But his initials, BM, are fair game, no?
could make for a more interesting google search (if you're into that shit, I mean).

posted by G_Ask at 8:40 PM on June 18, 2002

On the internet, nobody knows if you're a reformed sinner or former criminal either. Also, on MetaFilter at least, nobody but Matt knows (for sure) any single member's prior identities. With an apology freely given and accepted, perhaps one day we will again have lostbyanecho among us, but under a new name and with a new attitude and a correspondingly higher form of karma.

Kind of like MetaReincarnation.

Anyway, that's my pleasant thought to end on.
posted by yhbc at 8:41 PM on June 18, 2002

But his initials, BM, are fair game, no?

Umm, I think that acronym is too heavily associated with this usage...
posted by evanizer at 8:47 PM on June 18, 2002

I agree that using his name as a "self-link" reference/standard is too much.

That really was unkind of me. I am sorry. A lesson in the gravity of one's words and their potential for mischief.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:09 PM on June 18, 2002

Yes, maybe he can come back as "lostbyaselflink".
posted by scottymac at 11:10 PM on June 18, 2002

personally, i think we should accept his apology and move on.
posted by quarsan at 2:34 AM on June 19, 2002

Congratulations (for better or worse, you decide). Your Google campaign worked.
posted by adampsyche at 5:37 AM on June 19, 2002

If I were Billy, I wouldn't be too worried about this page showing up in a Google search. Being upset about self-links is a decidedly Metafilteresque gripe--relevant to those here in the community, but meaningless to the rest of the world. If you don't know MeFi and you stumble upon this page, your most likely reaction to all our complaining will be "who cares?"

I mean, it's not like he double posted...
posted by turaho at 6:17 AM on June 19, 2002

Uh, yes, Evan. That was the point.
posted by G_Ask at 7:42 AM on June 19, 2002

it looks like he has a history of this, so why should we accept an apology?
posted by mkelley at 8:36 AM on June 19, 2002

Um. Because that's what good people do: accept honest apologies.
posted by Marquis at 9:45 AM on June 19, 2002

adampsyche: The Googlebomb effect is temporary. Check that again in a week.
posted by rcade at 9:47 AM on June 19, 2002

Because that's what good people do: accept honest apologies.

Who's to say his apology is honest? Call me cynical, but he deliberately and knowingly posted seven links to his own site in gross violation of the MetaFilter and SportsFilter rules, so recently as Monday. Had he not been discovered by rcade, there's no indication he wouldn't have continued his self-serving behavior unrepentantly.

I get the feeling he's only sorry that he got caught, and is doing what little damage control he can (via 'delete this post' revisionist history) for his site. Fortunately, members of this community can't delete or modify their posts, and as a result we are all held accountable for our actions.

Believing what seems an obviously disingenuous apology does not a 'good person' make.
posted by Danelope at 11:21 AM on June 19, 2002

rcade: true.
posted by adampsyche at 12:19 PM on June 19, 2002

Its impossible to tell a sincere apololgy from an insincere apology. You can draw arbitrary dinstinctions all day long, I guess. In the end his name is pasted all over this thread and if he forever comes up on google as a shameless self-promoter then that's the consequences of his actions, apology or not.
posted by skallas at 12:33 PM on June 19, 2002

Its impossible to tell a sincere apololgy from an insincere apology.

And that is why an apology is only useful to the one making it, not the one receiving it. Anything beyond that is self-delusion by one who wants to feel better.
posted by rushmc at 1:03 PM on June 19, 2002

Anything beyond that is self-delusion by one who wants to feel better.

So if I bump into you in the street and knock you down, I should just keep walking? I think apologies do serve a purpose in polite society beyond alleviating guilty consciences.
posted by yerfatma at 1:12 PM on June 19, 2002

You should watch where you're going next time.
posted by crunchland at 2:40 PM on June 19, 2002

I think it's worth pointing out that the letters in "Billy Maulana" can be rearranged to spell "lullaby mania".
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:01 PM on June 19, 2002

rcade (re: googlebomb effect): if that's one of the only references to Billy Maulana on the Internet, won't it stay on top due to the fact there are no other references to Billy Maulana?

I'm just curious, I don't really know their algorithm for determining best hit and decay.
posted by perplexed at 5:04 PM on June 19, 2002

In an incredibly strange coincidence, I'd never heard of Mr. Maulana until this metatalk thread. Then, today I found out that he had reviewed my band's CD and liked it. Small world, I guess.
posted by drezdn at 6:36 PM on June 19, 2002

Anything beyond that is self-delusion by one who wants to feel better. --rushmc

You don't believe this, do you?

posted by ashbury at 7:08 PM on June 19, 2002

if that's one of the only references to Billy Maulana on the Internet, won't it stay on top due to the fact there are no other references to Billy Maulana?

I don't think it would permanently top the other stuff. Google gives links on a much-linked page like http://metatalk.metafilter.com a lot more weight than a little-linked linked page like http://metatalk.metafilter.com/thread.cfm?category_ID=3. So when this scrolls off into the archives, I expect it will hop down a few notches or even further.
posted by rcade at 8:09 PM on June 19, 2002

You don't believe this, do you?

If you don't know the level of sincerity of the person apologizing to you, then any significance you give to their apology is something YOU are generating. In some cases (being knocked down on the street), you may have fairly good reason in assuming that they feel some degree of regret...though they may just be mouthing the right words to comply with the social norm. But in more complex situations that involve greater complexities of emotional entanglements...you can never know.

And even if they DO feel great regret and sorrow for having wronged you in whatever way they did...what does that do for you? You have still suffered the wrong, and the ex post facto acknowlegement of wrongdoing does exactly nothing to mitigate that, much less undo it.

Judge a person by their actions, for words are cheap.
posted by rushmc at 9:06 PM on June 19, 2002

Judge a person by their actions, for words are cheap.

Given that, I have to ask, What the fuck are you doing in an online forum?
posted by yerfatma at 4:54 AM on June 20, 2002

Not judging the participants, that's for sure.
posted by rushmc at 8:52 AM on June 20, 2002

Well, as long as they're not fat, anyway.
posted by Skot at 8:58 AM on June 20, 2002

Fat? Ewww.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:22 AM on June 20, 2002