No Fun Flash Friday

September 6, 2002 10:03 AM

Friday Flash! Friday Flash! Friday Flash! Friday! Flash!
posted by Danelope to Etiquette/Policy at 10:03 AM (36 comments total)

Enough already. We've already discussed this at length. Everyone realizes it's Friday. Everyone realizes it's Flash. Declaring something "Friday (Flash|Fun|*)" is little more than a pre-emptive quasi-apologetic way of saying, "I'm spamming crap to MetaFilter that otherwise may not make a good post, but since it's Friday, and Friday is the day of goofing off at work, here it is anyway!"

Either post your links as normal link -- without the unnecessary and annoying disclaimer -- or don't post them at all.
posted by Danelope at 10:04 AM on September 6, 2002

Someone woke up cranky.

posted by mischief at 10:07 AM on September 6, 2002

Sigh. You're right. They should all burn. BUURRRNN!!!
posted by interrobang at 10:07 AM on September 6, 2002

Well shit, if I realized I was going to get pulled into MetaTalk, I'd have left the phrase out. Sheesh.
posted by me3dia at 10:09 AM on September 6, 2002

Today's Friday? Oh, that's right, we had Monday off...
posted by adampsyche at 10:10 AM on September 6, 2002

Eh, considering the proliferation of double links and Harry Potter crap lately...it seems to me like this is minor problem. Besides, I'd rather know something was Flash before I clicked on it. Is it just the semantics of "friday flash" that's the problem?

Also, keep in mind that we've had such problems with the Harry Potter meme because things keep scrolling off the MetaTalk board too fast for people to realize that there's been a zillion of those darn posts already. Since the discussion you mentioned above, we've probably added a thousand people to our happy little blue and grey cult. Those people can't be expected to go through all the archives of MeTalk since they joined...it's not rational or fair to expect that, I wouldn't think.

So, perhaps the semantics are annoying to you...but really, is it important enough to get bothered about? Me, I think ignoring the word "friday" would be pretty easy...I dunno. :) As my yoga instructor would say...Breathe, breathe, breathe through the pain.

(I know, makes me want to smack her too...but still, the principal is sound.)

posted by dejah420 at 10:16 AM on September 6, 2002

::: pummels me3dia vigorously :::
posted by rushmc at 10:20 AM on September 6, 2002

"Friday Flash" as a saying is a little cringeworthy, kind of reminiscent of "someone's got a case of the Mondays!"
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:23 AM on September 6, 2002

My point is not that people use the word 'Friday' in posts. My point is that people use the word 'Friday' in posts as an excuse to post crap that otherwise wouldn't make good content for the site. I'd feel no different if someone began spamming links to the latest Batboy articles on a weekly basis under the heading "Wednesday Weekly World News!"

If you're not posting crap, you don't need a disclaimer, do you?
posted by Danelope at 10:26 AM on September 6, 2002

Offtopic: Even worse is the Wednesday chant of "Well, today is hump day!"
The first time I heard that, I nearly crapped my pants.
posted by Fabulon7 at 10:27 AM on September 6, 2002

If the links weren't good content for the site, Matt would delete them, wouldn't he?
posted by timeistight at 10:31 AM on September 6, 2002

I enjoy the time-wasters posted on Fridays. Lighten up, Francis.
posted by Samsonov14 at 10:33 AM on September 6, 2002

As far as I'm concerned, any thread that produces the words "I nearly crapped my pants" is worth fighting for.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:37 AM on September 6, 2002

Todd Hockney: Is it Friday already?
--Usual Suspects
posted by adampsyche at 10:56 AM on September 6, 2002

Hey, not only is it Friday - for us Jews it's New Year's Eve and New Year all rolled into one. A little extra levity is surely in order, no? Rosh Hashanah (and Shabbat) begins at sunset, which is only half an hour away here in Lisbon.

Shanah Tovah, all at MetaFilter!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:10 AM on September 6, 2002

Oh great...now I have Hava Nagila running through my head. It's all your fault if I have to watch Fiddler on the Roof again! ;)
posted by dejah420 at 11:22 AM on September 6, 2002

Old man voice: You kids keep your Friday links to yourselves. And next time one of yous hits a baseball into my yard, I'm gonna keep it.

*waves gnarled fist*
posted by eyeballkid at 11:52 AM on September 6, 2002

Deedle Idle Deedle Idle Dum.
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:59 AM on September 6, 2002

Meta needs more singing kittens!
posted by dangerman at 12:00 PM on September 6, 2002

I disagree with Danelope. declaring a post as part of "flash friday" makes it easier to know which ones to gloss over.
posted by mcsweetie at 12:01 PM on September 6, 2002

Yeah, I'm with mcsweetie. Don't have to read further. Saves time.
posted by languagehat at 12:18 PM on September 6, 2002

My point is that people use the word 'Friday' in posts as an excuse to post crap that otherwise wouldn't make good content for the site.

Well, Dan, I didn't think my post was crap. Did you? And, if so, since when is it your business to pass judgement on what's crap and what's not? I used the phrase "Friday Flash" not as a signifier of crap or an excuse, but rather as a signifier of the post's fluffiness. Maybe that's redundant on a post about marshmallow-shaped cartoon bunnies, but there seemed to be a convention of posting lighter items on Fridays, so I ran with it.

I gloss over most of Friday Flashes, too, since I have no speakers. But I value the signifier, so I can ignore them.
posted by me3dia at 12:41 PM on September 6, 2002

Oh, jeez, I'm still writing 6752 on my checks...
posted by y2karl at 12:58 PM on September 6, 2002

or is that 5762? And where are my checks?
posted by y2karl at 12:59 PM on September 6, 2002

declaring a post as part of "flash friday" makes it easier to know which ones to gloss over.

Yeah, no kidding. People who dislike Flash posts should be applauding rather than complaining, as they are all (a) confined to a single day of the week, and (b) clearly labeled to facilitate ignoring. If you insist on folks dropping the warning, don't come creating MetaTalk posts when you click on a link thinking it's gonna be about healthcare and are instead faced with the horror of singing kittens.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 1:26 PM on September 6, 2002

I like Friday Flash. If you don't like Friday Flash, you already know its flash and can skip it, if you're like me, then you scan MeFi each Friday in the hopes of running across something to enliven your otherwise drab, dreary life.
posted by Grod at 1:48 PM on September 6, 2002

Even worse is the Wednesday chant of "Well, today is hump day!"

That was more than one of my boss's rally cry for; it's Happy Hour after work on him........I guess the beer before closing hour is no longer too. What do folks do now to blow steam off, oh yea they come here to buzz.

Shhhhhhhhhpop.......gulp.......buzz home.
posted by thomcatspike at 1:50 PM on September 6, 2002

On the one hand, I think the constant refrain of "Friday Flash!" is akin to saying "this is so funny, you're going to love it." The reader's immediate reaction is often contrarian: "Oh, no I won't." If it's funny or entertaining or whatever, it can stand on its own two legs without the delivery-deadening proclamation.

The other side of the coin -- to mix metaphors -- is that I appreciate non-standard content-types being called out clearly so that texty-leaning readers like myself can avoid the way-cool multimedia glen interweb infobahn golly gee movin pitchurs on mah screen cheesy techno looping Newgrounds.com stick figure theater shovelware.

And yes, I enjoy for example the Xiaoxiao stuff, so this is mostly barking and no bite.
posted by majick at 1:52 PM on September 6, 2002

Use of the Friday Flash signifier seems to make sense, though it is humorous to see so many of them at once. I like when posts clearly state what is being linked to. Then I can just scroll on, if it's not anything I want to bother with. But being a Flash animator myself I'm a bit more tolerant of Flash links than many others here seem to be.
posted by gametone at 2:06 PM on September 6, 2002

I think it's helpful to have a Flash (or audio, or "big file" warning. It's frustrating to click on a link and be surprised by a big file.
posted by acornface at 2:21 PM on September 6, 2002

It sounds like you're saying you don't mind flash on fridays, but that you would rather it not be labeled. I would like to support people labeling their links. Flash is something fairly different from most links on mefi, descriptors are good. I can't say i like the alliteration, but whatever, I'm not picky.
posted by rhyax at 7:08 PM on September 6, 2002

Maybe we could just abbreviate Friday Flash Post to FFP?

*ducks to avoid hail of rocks and garbage*

I was joking!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:43 PM on September 6, 2002

People who dislike Flash posts should be applauding rather than complaining, as they are all (a) confined to a single
day of the week, and (b) clearly labeled to facilitate ignoring.

Add me to this chorus. I think Flash is web cancer, and I really appreciate the warning so that I don't click those links.

*pelts StWC with rocks and garbage* {
posted by sennoma at 11:47 PM on September 6, 2002

For the sake of clarification, though I suspect this thread is already deceased:

I don't mind Flash in general, and I don't mind people warning others that the links they post to MetaFilter contain Flash. As many of you have pointed out, you dislike or have no use for Flash, and can therefore avoid it easier.

However, everyone knows it's Friday. It says so at the top of the front page. At some point in the history of modern civilization, some people acquired the notion that Friday is the designated screwing-off-at-work day*, and therefore find it appropriate to post a variety of games, "What's your favorite ______?" questions, and so on to MetaFilter, frequently using terms such as "Friday Flash" and "Friday Fun" to note that, hey, it's time to screw off at work.

Many of these posts are what some members would call "sub-par". My concern (and the concern of others) is that people will adopt the "Friday Flash!" theme solely as a justification to spam otherwise-inappropriate crap to MetaFilter without a second thought. I could literally find ten thousand Flash games on the Web, but how many are worth posting?

Once again, if what you're posting is Flash, please do mention so in your post, as it benefits your fellow members. If the link is worthwhile, please post it, but you needn't do so under the implied disclaimer of "Friday Flash!" To do so is to encourage others to follow suit with a raging torrent of effluent, already armed with the excuse, "But, it's Friday!"

* As someone once said in another MetaTalk thread, any time you're reading MetaFilter on your employer's dime, you're screwing off at work. Friday is no different than the rest of the week.
posted by Danelope at 1:40 PM on September 7, 2002

I have clearly understood you, Danelope, but I think you miss an important point too:

People are always going to post crap to Metafilter, with or without Flash Friday. It seems to me that as a result of Flash Friday, people have been saving their crap for the end of the week. I don't think that we're getting inundated with more crap; it's just getting packaged nicely and sent to us only on Fridays. Hurrah!
posted by jennak at 9:17 PM on September 7, 2002

Maybe we could just abbreviate Friday Flash Post to FFP?

ROTFL
posted by rushmc at 9:23 PM on September 7, 2002