A pony for our MeFi birthdays? February 11, 2014 1:07 PM Subscribe
We can click birthdays in user profiles to find MeFites who share the same birthday, and we can click locations to find other MeFites who are geographically close. How about a clickable join-date to find MeFites who joined on the same day (+/- N yrs)? It would be like a pony crossed from the old-timers thread and bondcliff's birthday pony!
I was idly thinking of making a birthday pony request for the "welcome back [username]" to change to "happy birthday [username]" on the birthdays of logged-in users who had supplied their b-days. The "happy birthday" could link to the list of MeFites with the same b-day, kinda like an invitation to a party ride of bondcliff's pony. Silly, I know, but I think it would be kinda charming if MeFi remembered... I mean, we never forget its birthday....
But then I couldn't decide whether it would be more charming for MeFi to remember our meat-birthdays or our MeFi-birthdays -- or both? -- and I got to thinking how much I've been enjoying the old-timers thread. As much as I would love and feed and ride the birthday-greeting pony (and I would! really I promise), it would be even more magical if I could click a user's join-date and see other users who joined on the same day-of-year, sorted by year (maybe truncated with "and X others" if it's too long in the $5 newb years). There could be previous/next day links just like the birthday view, too.
Is this a lot of work for a feature only I would find entertaining? How about the birthday-greeting one? Failing those, maybe recipes for cake? Or an ascii balloon? Or just a thread, closed up, with no balloon?
I was idly thinking of making a birthday pony request for the "welcome back [username]" to change to "happy birthday [username]" on the birthdays of logged-in users who had supplied their b-days. The "happy birthday" could link to the list of MeFites with the same b-day, kinda like an invitation to a party ride of bondcliff's pony. Silly, I know, but I think it would be kinda charming if MeFi remembered... I mean, we never forget its birthday....
But then I couldn't decide whether it would be more charming for MeFi to remember our meat-birthdays or our MeFi-birthdays -- or both? -- and I got to thinking how much I've been enjoying the old-timers thread. As much as I would love and feed and ride the birthday-greeting pony (and I would! really I promise), it would be even more magical if I could click a user's join-date and see other users who joined on the same day-of-year, sorted by year (maybe truncated with "and X others" if it's too long in the $5 newb years). There could be previous/next day links just like the birthday view, too.
Is this a lot of work for a feature only I would find entertaining? How about the birthday-greeting one? Failing those, maybe recipes for cake? Or an ascii balloon? Or just a thread, closed up, with no balloon?
I think this is a nice idea and my thinking that is in no way an excuse to comment in this thread to point out that my 1st MeFi birthday is tomorrow...
posted by billiebee at 1:23 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 1:23 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
I must admit, I really like the idea of "happy birthday [username]" and "happy MeFiversary [username]".
posted by Rock Steady at 1:23 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 1:23 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
It's been suggested (and shot down) before.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:24 PM on February 11, 2014
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:24 PM on February 11, 2014
Oh sure, now you suggest this.
posted by cashman at 2:07 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by cashman at 2:07 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I don't want this - mostly because I don't like this idea that the length of membership at MeFi is somehow important. (I get the old-timers thread because 10+ years on a weblog is like an eternity, but I hate the implication that the longer you've been here, the more important you are.)
What does it really mean to have joined at the same time as someone else?
posted by crossoverman at 2:10 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
What does it really mean to have joined at the same time as someone else?
posted by crossoverman at 2:10 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
I actually thought of it in opposite terms - you could see who was a fellow n00b and then you could MeMail them like "hello are you scared too I don't know what they're talking about but they're all really shouty and what does 'there is no caba' mean?"
posted by billiebee at 2:19 PM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by billiebee at 2:19 PM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Not elegant, but good enough for idle curiosity.
And you discover how many people either don't complete the process or have never used their account for anything. I feel like I am surrounded by ghosts now.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:28 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
And you discover how many people either don't complete the process or have never used their account for anything. I feel like I am surrounded by ghosts now.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:28 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Not elegant, but good enough for idle curiosity.
But cortex, we need an elegant pony for a more civilized age.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:34 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
But cortex, we need an elegant pony for a more civilized age.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:34 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
same day-of-year as the OP requested doesn't have anything to do with length of membership, and can't be conveniently done by fiddling with the URL.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:41 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 2:41 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
I have concerns about features that one might use to measure one's contributions against others. Probably because when I investigate these things, I inevitably find myself wanting.
posted by Toekneesan at 3:13 PM on February 11, 2014
posted by Toekneesan at 3:13 PM on February 11, 2014
Probably because when I investigate these things, I inevitably find myself wanting a cookie.
posted by arcticseal at 3:49 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by arcticseal at 3:49 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Regardless of whether I investigate these things, I inevitably find myself wanting a cookie.
posted by aubilenon at 4:19 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 4:19 PM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
As Wolfdog says, I was actually more curious about the day-of-year than precise day -- who's exactly my age? Exactly a year older? 5 yrs? Who joined on my join-date this year? It's a very auspicious day to join, you know! Admittedly it's just a curiosity, but so is seeing who shares my birthday, and the symmetry with the birthday link was appealing. Getting it from the infodump would work too, I suppose.
Toekneesan & crossoverman, you both expressed concerns that this might encourage a sort of judgmental prejudice. I'm not sure I understand. The join-date is already in our user profiles, and the user number of any poster is visible with a mouse-hover. How would having a link to others with the same join-date make a difference?
posted by Westringia F. at 4:20 PM on February 11, 2014
Toekneesan & crossoverman, you both expressed concerns that this might encourage a sort of judgmental prejudice. I'm not sure I understand. The join-date is already in our user profiles, and the user number of any poster is visible with a mouse-hover. How would having a link to others with the same join-date make a difference?
posted by Westringia F. at 4:20 PM on February 11, 2014
And if you give a Toekneesan a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:20 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Toekneesan at 4:20 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
My only point is I'm always wary of features that might invite some sort of easy analysis of popularity or activity. Those metrics aren't actually all that important here. Yet sometimes I find myself looking at folks I admire and wondering why I can't be as prolific or funny as they are. I'm not saying everyone does this, just making a point about the proliferation of metrics, and how I'm not sure all measurements are worth exploring.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:30 PM on February 11, 2014
posted by Toekneesan at 4:30 PM on February 11, 2014
I'd like to see some statistics on which measurements are worth exploring and which are not.
posted by aubilenon at 4:43 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 4:43 PM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
50% are worth exploring and 49% are not.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:44 PM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Toekneesan at 4:44 PM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
The MetaCheese Greasemonkey script is useful for this kind of thing.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:46 PM on February 11, 2014
posted by Sys Rq at 4:46 PM on February 11, 2014
As Wolfdog says, I was actually more curious about the day-of-year than precise day -- who's exactly my age? Exactly a year older? 5 yrs?
Ah, yeah, I'd misunderstood you, sorry. The url-hacking approach wouldn't be any use for that, as you say. The Infodump-DIY route is still totally viable there if someone ends up feeling cleverly scripty or something.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:09 PM on February 11, 2014
Ah, yeah, I'd misunderstood you, sorry. The url-hacking approach wouldn't be any use for that, as you say. The Infodump-DIY route is still totally viable there if someone ends up feeling cleverly scripty or something.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:09 PM on February 11, 2014
Here's a text file that lists all users by signup day. Use ctrl-f to find a name, or scroll to the day.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:03 AM on February 12, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by Rhomboid at 12:03 AM on February 12, 2014 [11 favorites]
Thanks Rhomboid! I'm not sure why this sort of thing pleases me but it does.
posted by billiebee at 2:50 AM on February 12, 2014
posted by billiebee at 2:50 AM on February 12, 2014
Rhomboid: Here's a text file that lists all users by signup day.
Oh, that's cool. I share a MeFiversary with two of my favorite Internet people, though not in the same year, so I never would have known otherwise. Thanks, Rhomboid!
posted by Rock Steady at 6:01 AM on February 12, 2014
Oh, that's cool. I share a MeFiversary with two of my favorite Internet people, though not in the same year, so I never would have known otherwise. Thanks, Rhomboid!
posted by Rock Steady at 6:01 AM on February 12, 2014
Rhomboid:
posted by charred husk at 6:18 AM on February 12, 2014
Here's a text file that lists all users by signup day.The fourth anniversary of my becoming a charred husk is coming up soon but this feature wouldn't reflect my actual date of joining since I never reactivated that account.
posted by charred husk at 6:18 AM on February 12, 2014
Hey, and now I know there's only one other user with Celsius in their name (minusCelsius) and one with 1414 (Scamper1414). Yay!
Three mortal enemies: Krysie1313, mg1313, and phaedrus1313.
And, for the sake of completeness, there is also one Fahrenheit, one Kelvin (two if you count kelvineehk), two potentially temperature-related degrees (120degrees, degreezero), and surprisingly no thermometer.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:33 AM on February 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Three mortal enemies: Krysie1313, mg1313, and phaedrus1313.
And, for the sake of completeness, there is also one Fahrenheit, one Kelvin (two if you count kelvineehk), two potentially temperature-related degrees (120degrees, degreezero), and surprisingly no thermometer.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:33 AM on February 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Gah! Scamper1414 had only one comment five years ago! Granted, it was pizza-related, but still.
I shall have to carry forward in our struggle against the 1313s alone. Godspeed, Scamper. Godspeed.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:36 AM on February 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
I shall have to carry forward in our struggle against the 1313s alone. Godspeed, Scamper. Godspeed.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:36 AM on February 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Bondcliff's Birthday Pony is the best pony both because it got me invited to a party AND because it sounds like an actual racehorse name.
posted by maryr at 11:29 AM on February 12, 2014
posted by maryr at 11:29 AM on February 12, 2014
Woo hoo! I share a MeFiversary with HENRY ROLLINS.
do I get a cookie?
posted by DiscourseMarker at 1:42 PM on February 12, 2014
do I get a cookie?
posted by DiscourseMarker at 1:42 PM on February 12, 2014
Hey Celsius1414, you missed out:
Rankine: 0
Réaumur: 0 (with or without accent)
Delisle: 0
Rømer: 2 (Palindromer, Peggyromero)
Newton: 7 (newton, acousticnewton, Trivia Newton John, fignewton, pignewtons, knewton, knewton2)
although admittedly none of those appear to have been inspired by the temperature scales.
(I am also disappointed not see any onkians, but that is only for Romulans)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 8:17 AM on February 13, 2014
Rankine: 0
Réaumur: 0 (with or without accent)
Delisle: 0
Rømer: 2 (Palindromer, Peggyromero)
Newton: 7 (newton, acousticnewton, Trivia Newton John, fignewton, pignewtons, knewton, knewton2)
although admittedly none of those appear to have been inspired by the temperature scales.
(I am also disappointed not see any onkians, but that is only for Romulans)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 8:17 AM on February 13, 2014
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
That aside, this is something you can do manually with a little fiddling by just hacking the url for your profile page to increase/decrease the userid until the date stops being the same. Not elegant, but good enough for idle curiosity.
It'd also be pretty easy to roll this up as a DIY tool or greasemonkey script using the user data in the Infodump; if you asked Combustible Lighthouse Edison real nice he might even add it as a field over at the Infodumpster.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:12 PM on February 11, 2014