There have been 9 FPPs taken from BoingBoing in the past month

December 13, 2002 1:26 PM

There have been 9 FPPs taken from BoingBoing in the past month, not to mention the occasional Slashdot link. Sources like these are widely read and have their own discussion fora. Is making FPPs from them something that should be discouraged?
posted by turbodog to etiquette/policy at 1:26 PM (24 comments total)

But I do read Slashdot and BoingBoing daily.
posted by turbodog at 1:29 PM on December 13, 2002

and where did boingboing get them?
posted by quonsar at 1:30 PM on December 13, 2002

it depends on the link in question. as both metafilter and boingboing post memes, i would expect there to be quite a lot of crossover. some of that may be derivative (we got it from boingboing, or they from us); some of that may be coincidental. the same applies, though perhaps not on the same scale, to stories from slashdot. ultimately, the source is not as important as the quality of the link itself.
posted by moz at 1:39 PM on December 13, 2002

Lets outlaw Fark, NYT, Yahoo, MSNBC, Google and the Washington Post while we're at it. Maybe someone could create some sort of link analysis application. I'd like to see some numbers: 42% of links are to Yahoo, 12% to Fark-Sourced sites, and 1% to ponies.
posted by blue_beetle at 1:43 PM on December 13, 2002

it's obvious! boingboing got them from blort, who got them from...
posted by amberglow at 1:47 PM on December 13, 2002

Beating a dead horse. This question has come up more times than I can count in MeTa. MetaFilter is MetaFilter. It is not SportsFilter or BoingBoing or The Obscure Store or memepool or Slashdot. Sure, its members share some interests in common with those sites, but they are seperate entities. To base posting protocol on what the other sites are posting is completely illogical.
posted by eyeballkid at 1:48 PM on December 13, 2002

You will see links posted on bOINGbOING from time to time that were posted here first, and as such, they are duly noted by bb's operators. Not everyone reads those sites, turbodog, and even if they do, so what? To answer your question in a word, no.
posted by Lynsey at 1:58 PM on December 13, 2002

quonsar: often, other weblog entries.

eyeballkid: i figured this horse had already been beaten pretty well, but my scan of the MeTa archives didn't turn up anything recently.

However, what makes MeFi MeFi to me is that it's (mostly) about fresh links. Leave it to the Day Pop Top 40 to tell you what's popular in blogland.
posted by turbodog at 2:08 PM on December 13, 2002

Of course there shouldn't be posting criteria for links. But. Seeing nine links from boing boing in a month makes me feel like MeFi's behind the filtering curve, not ahead of it. Of course, linking-gathering isn't the anthropological lifestyle for everyone, and it's also not really what Metafilter's about. However, those of us who jones for first consumption will tune out more and more to your obvious-source "via" links. (Bring on the obscure vias!)
posted by RJ Reynolds at 2:09 PM on December 13, 2002

Seeing nine links from MeFi's in a month makes me feel like boing boing behind the filtering curve, not ahead of it.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:14 PM on December 13, 2002

I don't mind it because MeFi is one of the only blogs I read. I imagine that there are a number of other Mefites who feel the same way. Besides, a discussion of a post on MeFi will be nothing like the same discussion on, say, Fark. I figure if all it costs me is the 0.5 seconds it takes to realize I've already seen something, it's worth it for the ones that I haven't seen.
posted by vraxoin at 2:24 PM on December 13, 2002

In my eyes, boingboing is hands-down, the best old school style, link-driven blog around. I know Cory pretty well, and know that he finds dozens of amazing things each week by sitting on hundreds of mailing lists and reading thousands of news feeds.

I find plenty worth sharing on that site, and have in the past reposted the most amazing things here. Nine does seem like a lot, but really, there's probably something worthy of cross-posting everyday, so nine's not all that bad. I do tend to think we might be moving a little bit slower than boingboing on pure memes lately, but I don't see anything particularly bad in the case of reposted boingboing or /. stories.

As long as people repost only the most amazing and interesting links, it shouldn't really matter where they came from.
posted by mathowie at 2:30 PM on December 13, 2002

Seeing nine links from MeFi's in a month makes me feel like boing boing behind the filtering curve, not ahead of it.

Heh, fair enough. I have to say, this thread has made me a bonifide boing boing convert. I like how they filter and source.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 2:32 PM on December 13, 2002

turbodog: my point was, links is links. boingboing didn't invent them, they got them from somewhere, and so does mefi.
posted by quonsar at 3:19 PM on December 13, 2002

I'd rather have 10 BoingBoing links a day than 10 NYTimes/Wash Post/BBC links, wouldn't you?
posted by Stan Chin at 6:17 PM on December 13, 2002

So, what you're saying is if something is cool and it's on BoingBoing, it shouldn't be posted to Metafilter? Rubbish!
posted by Hildago at 6:58 PM on December 13, 2002

I'm a total bOING bOING fan. The one area where it is weak is discussion. Sometimes it may be worthwhile to drag a link over here just to talk about it.
posted by chipr at 8:16 PM on December 13, 2002

I feel the same way about slashdot, chipr. I read it regularly, but trying to engage those folks in conversation? Forget about it...
posted by ph00dz at 8:39 PM on December 13, 2002

I really wanted to discuss the labia molds, but there was no way I was going to make that my first post.
posted by Wood at 10:43 AM on December 14, 2002

I think labia molds would make a great first post, Wood. They're probably a real ice breaker, especially at parties.

So we're getting our links from Boing, and they're getting their links from Geisha Asobi, and she's getting her links from sites who've gotten their links from sites who've gotten the links from MetaFilter.

And thus the circle remains unbroken.
posted by iconomy at 11:46 AM on December 14, 2002

Wow, I'd never heard of Boing Boing, but will definitely have a look over there once or twice. Looks cool.
posted by sebas at 11:46 AM on December 14, 2002

"Hey. You got bOING bOING in my MetaFilter!"

"And you got MetaFilter in my bOING bOING!"

MetaFilter & bOING bOING ... two great blogs that go great together!

Hey, Cory! Next time, buy a text ad instead of adopting some silly psuedonym like "turbodog."
posted by crunchland at 12:47 PM on December 15, 2002

Nah, I'm not Cory. But, I did learn about MeFi from him. Go figure.

And beer is never silly.
posted by turbodog at 6:02 PM on December 15, 2002

However, what makes MeFi MeFi to me is that it's (mostly) about fresh links.

They're all fresh to me... since I don't visit any of the other sites mentioned.
posted by Witty at 5:38 AM on December 16, 2002