Is there a general rule about posting links from popular sites like Plastic, Digg, etc.?

October 24, 2002 12:32 PM

After reading this article, which was linked at Plastic, I was tempted to post it here, at MeFi, but then I decided not to. Isn't Plastic a popular site among MeFi readers, and wouldn't posting this link be redundant? Is there a general rule about posting from popular sites, or does it always come down to a hunch?
posted by Beholder to etiquette/policy at 12:32 PM (27 comments total)

It comes down to a hunch. If it's a novel enough link, it doesn't really matter if it has been linked in a popular place before.

I don't read slashdot or plastic, so they're new to me, however people do like to point out if they have been discussed previously somewhere else. I would say in general don't look to those places for stuff to post here, unless it's something really amazing (the article, not so much)
posted by mathowie at 12:42 PM on October 24, 2002

I thought it was an interesting article, and I don't read plastic, so I wish you had posted it to the Blue Page so I could have said, "I agree with the concept that law abiding citizens have nothing to fear from having their lives monitored, but what would protect them from a corrupt government, or evil minded individuals from abusing this technology to hurt innocents, and profit from their pain. Imagine electronically stealing someone's identity so that you could frame them for murder beyond a reasonable doubt, or assume their wealth, or their car or their home.. Or imagine a dictatorial regime decides to change the socioeconomic landscape of a nation and uses surveillance technology to find out exactly who has what where, and then redistribute it." Well that is what I would have put into the comments for this article had it been posted on the Blue side. And then I would have been ripped to shreds by those who disagreed with me. Probably call me a fascist, or a Republican or a moron.
posted by Mushkelley at 1:11 PM on October 24, 2002

Or all three!
posted by ColdChef at 1:26 PM on October 24, 2002

Although MeFi has some crossover from Plastic, I doubt that those who frequent both sites would care. In my experience, the discussions usually take off on different tangents.

Those who stick only to MeFi wouldn't know that Plastic is also discussing it.

posted by mischief at 1:35 PM on October 24, 2002

My take is, if the link's good, Plastic and Slashdot are OK
Fark, never
But it's just me
(I'm never on Slashdot and I occasionally check out Plastic's FP)

posted by matteo at 1:38 PM on October 24, 2002

Damn you ColdChef, you pinko lesbian soccer mom!
posted by Mushkelley at 1:44 PM on October 24, 2002

I also never read Plastic, and I don't really understand the don't-post-from-Plastic (or -whatever) philosophy (there are 16,000+ members here; how can we make assumptions about what "everyone" has seen?) -- but like mathowie says, people do like to point it out, so be ready to face them down (a water pistol helps keep them off your ankles). And if it had been posted to the blue, I would have expressed astonishment that there are people who don't care about privacy, and perhaps snarked about Canadians.
posted by languagehat at 1:54 PM on October 24, 2002

Damn you ColdChef, you pinko lesbian soccer mom!
posted by Mushkelley at 1:44 PM PST on October 24

What the?! Okay, that's it. Girls! Get in the van, we're outta here.
posted by ColdChef at 2:04 PM on October 24, 2002

I don't think there's much of a point in posting the article here after it was soundly ripped apart. :)

Anyway, as a frequenter of both sites, I don't see anything wrong with sharing the occasional link. Of course, you could probably figure that out from my profile...
posted by toothless joe at 2:11 PM on October 24, 2002

Hey, tj, I didn't know you hung out here too! Wow, just like Old Home Week. I wonder who else is here about whom I didn't realize. ;-P
posted by mischief at 2:22 PM on October 24, 2002

I'm a recovering plastic.com visitor. I've been clean for 6 months now.
posted by Ms.JaneDoe at 2:34 PM on October 24, 2002

Yeah, I snuck in the back door a few weeks ago by slipping a fiver to the bouncer. I lurked for months without a login, though.
posted by toothless joe at 2:38 PM on October 24, 2002

*sticks hand up*
Never read plastic.
"people do like to point it out, so be ready to face them down"
Good advice, though I would exchange 'waterpistol' with 'bleeding great knobbly stick'.
posted by Catch at 2:59 PM on October 24, 2002

Plastic? Fark? Slashdot? There are places to visit on the net other than Metafilter? Who knew? After the two or three hours a day I spend here ("there have been 49 links and 1657 comments posted since your last visit"-- ok so I took Sunday and Monday off, so sue me) I don't have the eyeball power to visit anywhere else.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:23 PM on October 24, 2002

Post it, Beholder. Maybe even find a few related links and post them, too. :)
posted by mediareport at 5:09 PM on October 24, 2002

"Hi Ms. JaneDoe"
:)
posted by clavdivs at 6:03 PM on October 24, 2002

"Hi Ms. JaneDoe!" (in chorus)
posted by Ljubljana at 9:07 PM on October 24, 2002

"Hi Ms.JaneDoe!"... er, wait...
posted by Ms.JaneDoe at 7:06 AM on October 25, 2002

Hey, tj, I didn't know you hung out here too! Wow, just like Old Home Week.

what the?
posted by tj at 7:37 AM on October 25, 2002

If you're worried that some people may have seen it on Plastic, why not find some supporting links to throw in with it? That generally makes for a better post regardless of where the main link is from, and then no one can complain about "another Plastic.com post." (Well, OK. But it's a nice dream, isn't it?)
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:43 AM on October 25, 2002

tj = toothless joe
posted by mischief at 9:53 AM on October 25, 2002

toothless joe - I think you should have just stopped your Plastic post after the 1st two sentences. This has got to be, as phenry later noted, pure Swiftian sarcasm.

Doesn't the whole "Orwell's Big Brother = my big brother" part of the essay tip his hand?
posted by pitchblende at 12:21 PM on October 25, 2002

I don't read plastic, so if something was posted here that is also posted there, I wouldn't know. If it is interesting, I don't care where it comes from. : )
posted by SisterHavana at 6:52 PM on October 25, 2002

Fuck Plastic. Anybody who reads Plastic is an asshole, so when you post something here and somebody goes, "Hey, dipshit, this was already discussed over on Plastic," then you know you're dealing with an asshole, and assholes should always be ignored. But if you want to respond, you can just go, "So?" because really, what's that got to do with anything? Or tell that bastard if he likes reading Plastic so much, he can just go right the fuck back over there and stop clogging up your thread with irrelevant bullshit regarding other sites he's seen the story discussed on. I hate that shit. When some bastard goes, "Hey, this has already been discussed on Plastic and Fark and blah blah blah," it makes me want to puke. Especially if they link to every fucking one of them. Like I give a shit where that bastard wastes his day, like I want to follow in his bastard footsteps and read all the crap that he's been reading. I don't want to do that at all; if I did, I'd already be doing it. But then I'd be an asshole bastard, too, and there are already enough of those around here.
posted by David Dark at 7:58 PM on October 25, 2002

Well David you seem a bit angry, are you quitting smoking,or caffeine?
posted by jbou at 11:35 PM on October 25, 2002

My my! Someone has issues!

posted by mischief at 7:09 AM on October 26, 2002

He's got a point. Discussion on relevance should be (entirely) the realm of MeTa.

Also, has anyone considered that if someone posts a link on MeFi, it may be seen then linked to on Plastic/Fark/Slashdot? I know I don't read any other community blogs, so if I ain't heard it, it's news to me!

"What's an Iraq? I've heard people talk about it, but..."
posted by armoured-ant at 9:25 AM on October 26, 2002