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August 13, 2002 8:45 AM

In light of this discussion, and comments from matt... This thread seems to fit the bill for "not new" product announcement that only links to a marketing page. I know how much mac folks love their machines, but its not like this is the G5 announcement, right?
posted by malphigian to etiquette/policy at 8:45 AM (29 comments total)

You've got my vote. If you can't find a news story or something else that shows why the new product release deserves to be on the front page, it's not worth posting.
posted by rcade at 8:58 AM on August 13, 2002

Aw hell, it's all true. Now I feel shitty for commenting in there.
posted by D at 9:22 AM on August 13, 2002

I also hear Steve Jobs took a big steaming dump this morning. I'll see if I can't find a link.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:37 AM on August 13, 2002

Well, I feel slightly vindicated now--I was worried I was going to get stoned for my comment in there. I do feel somewhat guilty for shitting on the thread, though; I could have just ignored it and moved on.
posted by LionIndex at 9:40 AM on August 13, 2002

I emailed Matt on this one. Which is preferred, in terms of fairly new - but poor - threads? A MeTa call-out or a quick-whispered email message?
posted by Marquis at 9:59 AM on August 13, 2002

I can't believe this thread got deleted. A criteria for "Should this thread be deleted?" seems simple. If there's lots of relevant discussion going on inside, deleting it just because of a vocal minority seems a bit brutish.

This particular thread did indeed have an interesting and relevant conversation going on inside, and yet it was wiped. At the very least I would expect the page to remain even if it did have to removed from the front page, but now it's totally gone.

I think that sucks.
posted by Mwongozi at 10:12 AM on August 13, 2002

If I posted something saying "Chef Boyardee now is able to stuff 10% more beef into their ravioli!" that might garner some discussion, but that doesn't mean it's appropriate. If the post had a little more content than "Apple releases x", it might have stuck around. I know there are a lot of mac fans here, but there doesn't need to be an announcement on the front page every time something new comes out.
posted by LionIndex at 10:16 AM on August 13, 2002

Mwongozi,

Conversation going on here and here and probably a gazillion other mac-chat sites, if that helps. I'm a big fan of the products but these folks have a point.
posted by hackly_fracture at 10:19 AM on August 13, 2002

I deleted it because you guys asked, but I did think the discussion was pretty good and worth keeping around, but after getting a couple emails, I caved.
posted by mathowie at 10:20 AM on August 13, 2002

Pooh. It was there for preview, but when I tried to post it was gone... *poof*.

Unless that's a bug that you can still see a deleted post on preview.
posted by SpecialK at 10:22 AM on August 13, 2002

Geez, Matt, if I send you a couple of emails will you cave the other way and bring it back?
posted by timeistight at 10:27 AM on August 13, 2002

Dear Matt--

You're fucked no matter what you do.

Love,

Metafilter

PS--Do more stuff!
posted by Skot at 10:36 AM on August 13, 2002

timeistight, receiving an unsolicited email up until this point usually meant that someone felt strongly about something. I won't do it again, since people may assume from here on out what you stated.

It reminded me of the original spiderman movie post. "hey this thing came out, what do you guys think of it?"

pretty flimsy reason to start a thread, and even with decent discussion, it's borderline for what should stay on the site.
posted by mathowie at 10:38 AM on August 13, 2002

"Nothing to see here. Move along"

Damn. I'm always late to the party.

*helps self to some partially eaten chicken wings*
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 10:46 AM on August 13, 2002

Point taken, Matt. I was just razzin' ya anyway.

Kevin, I've been away so I don't know whether this was previously announced, but you can now view the comments of deleted threads on lofi, for instance: http://www.metafilter.com/comments_deleted.mefi/19117.
posted by timeistight at 11:05 AM on August 13, 2002

I saw time!
posted by PrinceValium at 12:04 PM on August 13, 2002

*feels disturbance in the force*
posted by ColdChef at 12:33 PM on August 13, 2002

I've got a bad feeling about this.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:42 PM on August 13, 2002

*feels disturbance in the force*

Oops. My bad.
posted by Darth Vader at 12:46 PM on August 13, 2002

I've got a bad feeling about this.

Why crash? This feature has been requested more than once (I think).

The deleted threads are off the blue and closed to comments. What harm can it do?
posted by timeistight at 12:55 PM on August 13, 2002

i think you should delete this thread too.

it's happened before, but i don't like looking at threads that say:
"[this] thread should be deleted" and i click on it, and it's deleted already. once you make the decision, just delete the complaint thread too, why not? you're not going to put the original thread back, so what good is further discussion?
posted by rhyax at 1:10 PM on August 13, 2002

rhyax, then it appears as if I'm trying to cover something up.

If someone saw the post, and now it's gone, they can see this and realize why.

(by the way, I just deleted a post of the same announcement, but leading to a worse URL: just apple.com)
posted by mathowie at 1:19 PM on August 13, 2002

How about bizzaro.metafilter.com: deleted posts only? Only people banned from the "good" MeFi could be members.

Or should I post this to "feature requests"?
posted by timeistight at 1:29 PM on August 13, 2002

"I've got a bad feeling about this.

Why crash?"

Ahem.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:30 PM on August 13, 2002

Ahem

Sorry for missing the space opera pop-culture reference.
posted by timeistight at 1:35 PM on August 13, 2002

"Sorry for missing the space opera pop-culture reference."

That's quite all right. It was awfully presumptuous of me to expect anyone to pick up on such an obscure quote anyway.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:01 PM on August 13, 2002

No, no crash. It's me; it's me. I'm sure I'm the only one of the 14911 (and counting) members who didn't recognize it.

Confession: I can't even remember which episodes of St. George's fantabulous nonology I've seen.
posted by timeistight at 2:07 PM on August 13, 2002

*shrug*

Hey, matt's selling user #'s on ebay! hmn... #14155...

*grin* Just kiddng.
posted by SpecialK at 12:32 PM on August 14, 2002

I don't mind if he sells my scruffy old number. I want one of those shiny new 15000+ numbers.
posted by timeistight at 1:50 PM on August 14, 2002