What a Dilbert December 9, 2015 6:40 PM   Subscribe

The Scott Adams incident is briefly discussed in the latest episode of the podcast Reply All. The discussion begins at 18:35.
posted by chrchr to MetaFilter-Related at 6:40 PM (118 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite

I hope that, at a minimum, this gets everyone here to start listening to Reply All, which is an excellent podcast - really varied, terrific storytelling - about the way the internet intersects with individual lives. I'm hooked on it.
posted by Miko at 9:23 PM on December 9, 2015 [8 favorites]


Halfway through this episode, so funny I am trying not to laugh on the metro!
posted by ellieBOA at 11:56 PM on December 9, 2015


Many thanks to chrchr and Miko for turning me on to Reply All. "What a Dilbert" was interesting, as was the Scott Adams backstory, which I didn't know because: noob. But after that I listened to the previous episode, #47: "Quit Already!", about Lucia and the Guatemalan protests, and it was absolutely rivetting.
posted by valetta at 1:45 AM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


In retrospect it's probably this event that really clued me in to what kind of person Scott Adams is.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:56 AM on December 10, 2015 [6 favorites]


In retrospect it's probably this event that really clued me in to what kind of person Scott Adams is.

The terrible kind.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:25 AM on December 10, 2015 [8 favorites]


Reply All #48 on FanFare
posted by jazon at 6:32 AM on December 10, 2015


Oh hey! That was me. Thanks for posting.
posted by Alex Goldman at 6:40 AM on December 10, 2015 [52 favorites]


We tried it as a Yes Yes No, Greg, but it just didn't come together, unfortunately.
posted by Alex Goldman at 6:47 AM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


Are you guys thinking about covering the MRA Bad Chicken

Wait what.

Okay, Google suggests it's this? I'm experiencing Poe's Law vertigo. I'm really confused.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:55 AM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


Perhaps someday another horrifying chicken recipe will bubble up in the web, and it can be mentioned obliquely.
"Have you ever taken a skanky old kitchen sponge, wiped it on a counter covered with chicken juice and veggies and then chewed on it? Don't. You can get the same experience by eating Jellied Chicken Loaf, which is slightly safer."
posted by zarq at 7:04 AM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


uncleozzy: Sadly true. Discussed on the delightfully snarky site that keeps track of the 'manosphere', we hunted the mammoth.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:06 AM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


Every time I read "We Hunted the Mammoth," I think the quotations are embellished for humor and emphasis and every time I click through I realize that no, those MRA sites really are that unhinged.
posted by jaguar at 7:16 AM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]


It looks like "We Hunted the Mammoth" needs to review their ad policy, because those context-sensitive ads on the right side of the page are full of horribly sexist "Hottest Celebrity Daughters!" type bullshit.
posted by backseatpilot at 7:29 AM on December 10, 2015


Remember when cortex banned Tao Lin for self-posting.

That felt really, really good.
posted by The Whelk at 8:53 AM on December 10, 2015 [26 favorites]


Link and MeTa for anyone else who missed this amazing moment
posted by thetortoise at 9:20 AM on December 10, 2015 [5 favorites]


Sadly true

Holy hell. That guy. Those people.

Although, admittedly, I have, in desperation, prepared chicken that way. It's not good. I mean, it's fuel, but it's not good. But it sure did make me hate women, boy howdy.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:35 AM on December 10, 2015


An ACTUAL chicken dish Ceasar might have eaten would be this

"Spatchcock a chicken. Crush pepper, lovage, and a dash of caraway; blend in fish sauce to create a slurry, then thin with wine. Pour over chicken in a casserole with a lid. Dissolve asafoetida in warm water and baste chicken as it cooks. Season with pepper to serve."

Just, you know, for contrast.
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 AM on December 10, 2015 [15 favorites]


Ok, holy fuck. That We Hunted the Mammoth blog is a rabbit hole I don't want to go down. It's scary.
posted by nubs at 10:03 AM on December 10, 2015


So Scott Adams is basically the human version of Dogbert?
posted by I-baLL at 10:13 AM on December 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


Remember when cortex banned Tao Lin for self-posting.

That moment is written on my heart forever.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:25 AM on December 10, 2015 [9 favorites]


I am not familiar with this chicken thing. When I Google "mra bad chicken," 3 of the top 4 results are from Greg Nog. The 6th is an AskMe "can I eat this?" (Tried in an incognito window and got the same results, fwiw.)

I'm still confused.
posted by radioamy at 10:30 AM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


TIL that I am a "stripper pole of cash climbed by needy, seductive succubi eager to harvest [me]."

That article about chicken reads like parody, but I think it is a parody of MRA parodies by an actual MRA. Anyway it is also a terrible recipe for chicken.
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:35 AM on December 10, 2015 [3 favorites]


Alex Goldman, please rethink doing a YYN about the MRA chicken thing. You could start with Greg Nog's tweet. Hell, just have Greg Nog on as a guest.
posted by radioamy at 10:54 AM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


Just add Greg Nog to the staff. Make it YYYN.
posted by chrchr at 11:16 AM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]


Okay, Google suggests it's this?

What the fuck did I just read?
posted by deadwax at 11:21 AM on December 10, 2015 [6 favorites]


In retrospect it's probably this event that really clued me in to what kind of person Scott Adams is.

I hear he's a wonderful creative genius who is excellent in bed, and is certainly not me.
posted by Sangermaine at 11:25 AM on December 10, 2015 [22 favorites]


nubs: "Ok, holy fuck. That We Hunted the Mammoth blog is a rabbit hole I don't want to go down. It's scary."

You're not kidding. Yikes.
posted by octothorpe at 11:26 AM on December 10, 2015


Just add Greg Nog to the staff. Make it YYYN.

I feel like Nog is a little too surreal for such a simple construct. It would be more like YYWTFN.

Or YYthebirddiditN.
posted by maxsparber at 11:31 AM on December 10, 2015 [5 favorites]


For a podcast about things happening on the internet, I find it infuriating that they don't have any links to the actual things they're talking about.

Fake Jeff Jarvis satirical tweet
hasty copy/paste job by history pics spammer
Rurik Bradbury pointing out irony of the shitty spammer
posted by Rhomboid at 12:52 PM on December 10, 2015


I'm actually surprised Greg's MRA chicken didn't turn out worse.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:59 PM on December 10, 2015


For a podcast about things happening on the internet, I find it infuriating that they don't have any links to the actual things they're talking about.

I think it's kind of cool. For one thing, they don't have to send traffic to some of the reprehensible,darker sites they cover. For another, it doesn't send listeners off to rout through people's old comments to see the trainwrecks they occasionally talk about. And much of what they cover is also more private (like email, password-protected fora, and PMs). And finally, if you are that motivated, you get to go on a little detective hunt. I really like that they chose definitively to be a podcast, rather than a site.
posted by Miko at 1:33 PM on December 10, 2015 [6 favorites]


Also, we should pitch them a story or two. We have some great stories.
posted by Miko at 1:41 PM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


I gave Scott a lot of free advice in that thread and I'm a little disappointed that his agent never got back to me.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:15 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


Huh, I went to college with one of the producers of Reply All, and didn't know that until just now after reading the transcript via this Metatalk thread (I mean, I knew I went to college with her, just not that she was doing radio). Small world.
posted by axiom at 3:08 PM on December 10, 2015


I only recently started listening to Reply All and it's become one of my favourite podcasts. Not surprised at all to see it pop up here on MetaFilter because cool people finding cool things wanting to share them. Of course.
posted by Fizz at 5:32 PM on December 10, 2015


I love Reply All and am so pleased these worlds are colliding.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:01 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


warriorqueen - me too! Occasionally Alex or PJ will pop in a FanFare thread too.
posted by radioamy at 8:42 PM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]


TL;DR is actually what got me to finally check out that weird blue site attached to the weird green site that used to come up in search results.
posted by WCWedin at 10:32 PM on December 10, 2015


that was bizarre - he's very successful with his work, why would he need to fool with this kind of shenanigans?
posted by thelonius at 2:05 AM on December 11, 2015


Because GIANT ASSHOLE
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:22 AM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


He is very intelligent. Can he not return to delight us another day with his grace and his charm and his genius IQ? There must be many things of great importance to be learned from such a person. Why do we shun this opportunity?
posted by Wolof at 3:30 AM on December 11, 2015 [7 favorites]


What an anti-social person, Scott Adams.
posted by oceanjesse at 3:55 AM on December 11, 2015


Because GIANT ASSHOLE

Technically, it's called a cloaca ...
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:03 AM on December 11, 2015 [9 favorites]


he's very successful with his work, why would he need to fool with this kind of shenanigans?

Hmm. As of recently, this seems to be a thing, right? Successful-with-their-work-type-of people talking about themselves in the third person and so on, and why? See Joseph Gurl's explanation. Just add some fancy hair.
posted by Namlit at 6:04 AM on December 11, 2015


I guess it is naive of me to wonder. The human ego, gawping at the Internet for accolades, like a hungry baby bird, explains all.
posted by thelonius at 7:03 AM on December 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


that was bizarre - he's very successful with his work, why would he need to fool with this kind of shenanigans?

Hubris, insecurity, massively underestimating his own "certified genius".... take your pick. :)
posted by zarq at 7:14 AM on December 11, 2015


I'm suing you
posted by The Whelk at 7:17 AM on December 11, 2015 [7 favorites]


Adams was using the same plannedchaos handle on reddit, and when we outed him here, he was also quickly outed over there. That led to this.

Redditors seem to have downvoted that account's comments afterwards: it currently has -6 comment karma. On Mefi, he (surprisingly) wasn't banned for sockpuppetry. The plannedchaos account is still open.
posted by zarq at 7:28 AM on December 11, 2015


I know the mods don't do this kind of thing, but I think in the interest of transparency, plannedchaos' MeFi account could be updated to specify it's Scott Adams, even (especially?) if he doesn't return to use it. Right now, he has added nothing to his profile.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:39 AM on December 11, 2015


Also, from reddit - Metafilter: the interesting website I never bother to visit unless I'm on ritalin.

(I was tempted to create a related tagline for reddit, but decided I shouldn't go there.)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:42 AM on December 11, 2015


Metafilter and chickens have history.
posted by adamvasco at 8:46 AM on December 11, 2015


From that old Reddit thread, a genuinely charming turn of events.
posted by WCWedin at 9:28 AM on December 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


I'm surprised at how against doxxing reddit was in that thread, considering, you know, reddit.
posted by dinty_moore at 10:20 AM on December 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


It always kinda amazes me that Dilbert used to such a big thing for me on the early days of the internets, basically the first thing I would go to... and now, until his latest lunacy re ISIS pushed his name back into the headlines (well news feeds) I'd basically forgotten he'd existed.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:30 AM on December 11, 2015


Metafilter and chickens have history.

Flap bait.

I'll just see myself out.
posted by zarq at 10:32 AM on December 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm surprised at how against doxxing reddit was in that thread, considering, you know, reddit.

Reddit is super against doxxing of white men. Everybody else is fair game because they probably deserve it.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:53 AM on December 11, 2015 [15 favorites]


Metafilter and chickens have history.

Flap bait.


Cluck bait.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 11:10 AM on December 11, 2015 [6 favorites]


That reddit thread feels super weird. Apparently to some, identifying as a party involved in a dispute is bad because then people will take that information into account? Or that there's nothing wrong with misidentifying while making an argument? The similarity to anonymous imageboards and platforms makes sense now.
posted by halifix at 11:12 AM on December 11, 2015


It's also possible that 90% of those Reddit commenters were Scott Adams.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:21 AM on December 11, 2015 [20 favorites]


I took it as the anonymity of users and free speech are both generally seen as sacrosanct over there.
posted by ODiV at 11:48 AM on December 11, 2015


And I get the impression it was specifically the mod intervention that grated a bit more than if it were, say, an outing by a regular user. The increased tools available to cortex made it "unfair", whereas if I had done it based on publicly viewable information, it might have gone over better? That's just the feeling I got for what they were saying, though.
posted by ODiV at 11:51 AM on December 11, 2015


Jesus, that whole thing.

There's a nice synchronicity to all this since it was PJ I think who did the footwork to get me talking to Brooke Gladstone on On The Media, which was a goddam delight all around.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:02 PM on December 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


cortex, I had no idea you were on OTM! Very cool, I'll have to listen to that segment.
posted by radioamy at 12:15 PM on December 11, 2015


I remember that reddit thread quite well (including the exchange WCWedin flagged), and re-reading it, it's just amazing to me how irritable, dumb, and not-getting-it most of those reddit people were. Yes, I get that we have a different culture from them. But why was it so hard for so many of them to grasp that same fact? It was almost as though they were fearful MetaFilter was going to come rule reddit and force everyone to out themselves.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 1:15 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Hello I am a Reply All fan now, this podcast was basically pulled directly from my heart I have to go listen to them all now bye
posted by clavicle at 1:26 PM on December 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Reply All is one of several excellent podcasts listed in this Guardian article: The 10 best new podcasts of 2015 (that aren't Serial!)

I am a huge fan of Hello From the Magic Tavern. Usidore's secret name among the bakers gets me every time.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 3:02 PM on December 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


Yeay, I'm glad that this MetaTalk thread is converting people to one of my fave podcasts! There are so many incredible episodes. You can also listen to their original show at WNYC, TLDR (eps 1-38).
posted by radioamy at 3:27 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


>But why was it so hard for so many of them to grasp that same fact? It was almost as though they were fearful MetaFilter was going to come rule reddit and force everyone to out themselves.

Discussions of Reddit on Metafilter, on the other hand, are always a picture of equanimity and grace.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:15 PM on December 11, 2015 [13 favorites]


I gave up on the Reddit thread, but not before I came across this:
I tend to think the reddit community is a bit better than the metafilter community simply because it can always see favorable viewpoints from both sides of an argument. Maybe you should look into revising your community's guidelines.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:00 PM on December 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


that's disgusting. everyone knows that reddit sucks and metafilter is diverse. everyone. you'd have to be so stupid not to know that. so stupid we wouldn't want you here, in our diverse community. how dumb can they be? look at reddit guys. don't we all agree that we don't agree about things? surely we are unanimous in disparaging reddit's criticism of our uniformity.

ok, who else can we mock as part of celebrating how diverse we are?
posted by andrewcooke at 3:32 AM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]


People who can't use the goddamn shift key.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:22 AM on December 12, 2015 [55 favorites]


This is my favourite quote from that reddit thread:

You're talking about Scott Adams. He's not talking about you. Advantage: Adams. -- Scott Adams

(I wonder if my brain would let me post a comment like that, or if it should shut things down if I tried.)
posted by effbot at 6:45 AM on December 12, 2015 [5 favorites]


So there's a couple different levels of things that were going on there, and looking at that old discussion soberly requires synthesizing the two instead of choosing one or the other:

1. Different sites have different practices, mores, structures, guidelines, etc. And another site or community seen from a distance is going to stand out to someone largely in terms of how those things differ from their home place, and so cross-site discussions especially where they involve policy or local rule-breaking are going to tend to highlight those difference as people from one direction or another try to put the far events into a local context. So it's not surprising that folks on reddit would look at a MetaFilter situation and think it's taken the wrong form, or vice versa, and from there to be critical about that difference or disagreement. This is pretty universal stuff, certainly not a reddit-only thing and obviously not something that MetaFilter is immune from when the situation is reversed.

2. A lot of reddit folks in that discussion were being huge fucking nitwits.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:16 AM on December 12, 2015 [23 favorites]


it's not surprising that folks on reddit would look at a MetaFilter situation and think it's taken the wrong form, or vice versa

At the end of the day it's anyway ten points to Gryffindor, so why worry.
posted by Namlit at 7:56 AM on December 12, 2015 [4 favorites]


I tend to think the reddit community is a bit better than the metafilter community simply because it can always see favorable viewpoints from both sides of an argument.

Eh, I think this poster had a point. MetaFilter is a great place to have calm, intelligent discussions, without trolls or spammers or one-issue ideologues, but I can usually guess which direction a conversation will go just by the main post (and maybe the first few comments). Greedy capitalists bad, student protesters good, surveillance bad, taking in refugees good.

The exceptional topics where there's no community consensus (Israel/Palestine, pit bulls as pets, in some cases free speech vs. hate speech, etc) end up being just as rancorous as other sites. The mods here are just better at pruning those comments, containing them in MetaTalk, or avoiding those topics entirely.

There are other fora (smaller communities than here, like Tumblr networks or mailing lists) where I can join a discussion and genuinely not know where it will go, but no matter what views we talk about we'll all be fairly polite about it. There's more of an understanding that you can entertain an idea, or even believe it, without being a bad person who deserves an insult pile-on, and if someone wants you to change your mind they ought to talk you into it.
posted by Rangi at 8:12 AM on December 12, 2015 [7 favorites]


From the Reddit thread on Adams: a commenter "trolls" cortex for not providing informative links and says Thanks for the interesting website I never bother to visit unless I'm on ritalin.

That is possible the best praise for MeFi from a redditor I can think of. I would love if that were our Reddit reputation: too informative.
posted by maryr at 9:03 AM on December 12, 2015 [14 favorites]


Oh goodness yes PLEASE let us have another wheel-spinning Metafilter v. Reddit discussion. It so never gets old to hear insinuations that Mefi is an echo chamber clanging with ideological homogenity. I'm sure this time we'll cover new ground on the topic!
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 9:44 AM on December 12, 2015 [15 favorites]


and the portions are so small!
posted by Miko at 11:41 AM on December 12, 2015 [23 favorites]


It so never gets old to hear insinuations that Mefi is an echo chamber clanging with ideological homogenity.

I first read that as "ideological homeopathy," and then I was lost in the idea of inserting tiny fragments of counter-arguments into a discussion to strengthen the main argument. 10000x diluted memes, as it were.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:31 PM on December 12, 2015 [14 favorites]


My husband is doing a "MRA Dilbert" Tumblr, taking the awful things Adams posts in his blog and putting them into Dilbert comics.
posted by sarcasticah at 3:17 PM on December 12, 2015 [42 favorites]


My husband is doing a "MRA Dilbert" Tumblr

link please
posted by Miko at 3:33 PM on December 12, 2015 [3 favorites]




Because if so, this is gold. A tip of the fedora to your husband.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 4:07 PM on December 12, 2015


...taking the awful things Adams posts in his blog and putting them into Dilbert comics.

I understand the sentiment, but some better drawings wouldn't hurt...
posted by Namlit at 4:22 PM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


That tumblr is amazing.
posted by nubs at 4:25 PM on December 12, 2015


i feel like there could be a manfeels park crossover.
posted by nadawi at 7:08 PM on December 12, 2015 [10 favorites]


i feel like there could be a manfeels park crossover.

Holy crap I love this.

And the extra layer of comedy in a blog about awful MRA commenting is some of the awful MRA comments on the blog itself. It's like a perpetual misogyny machine.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 7:27 PM on December 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


ideological homeopathy

My 60-page rant about the government isn't winning any converts. Time to bring out the 4-panel comics.
posted by Rangi at 9:07 PM on December 12, 2015


Coincidentally I ran into this [retracted, years ago] Scott Adams post on MRAs today.
posted by aydeejones at 11:06 PM on December 12, 2015


Coincidentally I ran into this [retracted, years ago] Scott Adams post on MRAs today.

Uncowed by controversy, the dauntless truth seeker labours to cut away the strangling and oppressive jungle foliage with his sharpest machete! How he sings! How he sighs!
posted by Wolof at 4:18 AM on December 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


Awww, he's like the saddest MRA because he got the money and fame but his penis is still lonely, because women weren't kidding when they said his terrible personality was the stumbling block, not his lack of alpha traits.

I wonder how MRAs solve this cognitive dissonance.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:20 AM on December 13, 2015 [24 favorites]


By blaming women, presumably.
posted by frimble at 4:52 AM on December 13, 2015 [14 favorites]


Heh, I didn't know until just now that the Metafilter incident made his Wikipedia page!
posted by Melismata at 5:27 AM on December 13, 2015


I'll have cheez bulgar
posted by clavdivs at 7:18 AM on December 13, 2015


I wonder how MRAs solve this cognitive dissonance.

This, best I can tell, is what I saw this weekend.

They see the gay guy with his stunning female friends in a bar. They drink and stare until they just can't help but amble over and cold-cock the gay guy and stomp him because he has something unattainable for them: real cross gender friendship.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 10:01 AM on December 13, 2015 [3 favorites]


On the topic of Reddit vs MeFi: I was at a Michael Jackson themed puppet show the other night and was checking the blue when this guy behind me taps me on the shoulder and says "Dude, Metafilter is the best site on the internet!"

I quickly dimmed my screen and asked "What's your username?"

"Oh," he replied, "I don't have a username, I just browse. I used to spend all day on Reddit but it got boring."
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2015 [12 favorites]


I was at a Michael Jackson themed puppet show the other night......

Best site on the internet indeed....
posted by wheelieman at 10:53 AM on December 13, 2015 [7 favorites]


"I don't have a username..."

so was he one of the puppets?
posted by Namlit at 11:58 AM on December 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


Holy cow, the Tumblr has gotten shared all over the place today! MeFites are amazing! (I had been planning to figure out a MeFi Projects post about it, but hadn't had time yet.)
posted by sarcasticah at 12:50 PM on December 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


I first read that as "ideological homeopathy," and then I was lost in the idea of inserting tiny fragments of counter-arguments into a discussion to strengthen the main argument. 10000x diluted memes, as it were.

That's called 'trolling'.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:42 PM on December 13, 2015


Scott Adams is now sparring with people sharing the tumblr on Twitter. It's probably best not to look directly at it, but it's too late for me.
posted by Alex Goldman at 2:25 PM on December 13, 2015 [9 favorites]


Scott Adams is now sparring with people sharing the tumblr on Twitter.

Why did I look? Ugh. If he sunk any lower he would be literal pond scum.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:08 PM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


Why did I look? Ugh. If he sunk any lower he would be literal pond scum.


What did he say?
posted by Sebmojo at 3:29 PM on December 13, 2015


He has so much self-confidence and is so successful that he spends all of his spare time defending himself against strangers on the internet!
posted by shakespeherian at 3:54 PM on December 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


Sounds good!
posted by clavdivs at 5:52 PM on December 13, 2015


Seems like it’s time to think about a MeFiScottAdams sub site! I’m just not sure where my original songs about Scott Adams would go.
posted by bongo_x at 5:59 PM on December 13, 2015 [3 favorites]


I think accepted policy is that you should post your original songs about Scott Adams under a sock puppet, but have that sock puppet give credit to yourself while calling them works of genius. That's the most ethical and objective way to go about it.
posted by Drastic at 6:08 PM on December 13, 2015 [12 favorites]


That tumbler is brilliant.

What I don't get about Adams is how he can be so spot on in his comics, and so obtuse outside them. I used to be corporate and had several of his comics in my cubical. The day our corporation announced they were going to an open air office his comic was one where Catbert (or some other character) was explaining how they'd done the research to find out open office was the only seating plan more demoralizing that cubicles.

I put in my notice prior to ever having to sit in an open air office, but I am still pretty sure Catbert was correct.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:15 PM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


What I don't get about Adams is how he can be so spot on in his comics, and so obtuse outside them.

I think the two facets of his life are not unconnected: putting art out in the world is *scary*. It requires heaps of confidence in your own abilities, an ability to handle criticism without being paralyzed, and so on. Some artists have healthy tools for that: realistic understanding of their limits, ego without egomania. Some artists are raging assholes. Either set of character qualities can get work out the door - either will weather the various issues that crop up in creative work.

You know which is which from the rest of how they behave, not from the one thing they did right, pretty much.
posted by mordax at 8:52 PM on December 13, 2015 [4 favorites]


If he sunk any lower he would be literal pond scum.

There's your problem, pond scum floats.
posted by maryr at 8:53 PM on December 13, 2015 [6 favorites]


What I don't get about Adams is how he can be so spot on in his comics, and so obtuse outside them.

Oh, I think this is actually the easy part to understand. People consistently in my experience demonstrate great mastery over some subjects while simultaneously being blithering idiots over others. Adams is no exception.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 10:55 AM on December 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


People consistently in my experience demonstrate great mastery over some subjects while simultaneously being blithering idiots over others.

There's even a term for it: Nobel disease, named after the large number of Nobel recipients (usually in physics) that turn into crackpots in later life. Watch in horror as a cosmologist turns into a cancer quack!
posted by Rhomboid at 3:11 PM on December 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


Then there are those who start crazy.
posted by maryr at 4:03 PM on December 14, 2015


Scott Adams is now sparring with people sharing the tumblr on Twitter. It's probably best not to look directly at it, but it's too late for me.

Oh, and he's also having a conversation with Vx Day, it's a self-proclaimed genius off.
posted by jeather at 6:13 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]


he's also having a conversation with Vx Day, it's a self-proclaimed genius off.

It's the Singularity!
posted by nubs at 9:30 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]


CTRL-F "same as in town"

MetaTalk I am disappoint
posted by entropicamericana at 1:34 PM on December 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


The title wasn't "What's a Dilbert".
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:30 AM on December 17, 2015 [2 favorites]


Close enough for cheap faves.
posted by entropicamericana at 6:39 AM on December 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


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