Noise comments to raise contribution index

January 19, 2003 7:45 PM

Almost as worthwile as "first post."
posted by NortonDC to Etiquette/Policy at 7:45 PM (67 comments total)

Oh, no.
posted by hama7 at 7:51 PM on January 19, 2003

I spent my Sunday shopping and catching up on work, but I guess others have their own leisure time activities.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:56 PM on January 19, 2003

You just never know who's going to go off the deep end around here next, do you.

You missed this one, NortonDC, which is even more impressive. Hama, do you know anything about why the Sarge suddenly lost his marbles?
posted by yhbc at 8:12 PM on January 19, 2003

Wouldn't it have been better (since the index is your total number of posts divided by days), to get a new account, then just post 10 things a day to get the #1 spot?
posted by Stan Chin at 8:16 PM on January 19, 2003

Crikey!
posted by riffola at 8:21 PM on January 19, 2003

Be nice to Sarge, yhbc--he has a rare form of Keyboard Tourette's Syndrome. Everyone look at this cool frog by Chris Collins instead, then maybe Matt won't notice and go off on Sarge tomorrow when Sarge is recovering from a weird trip anyway. adampsyche got a good one in, though, eh?
posted by Shane at 8:24 PM on January 19, 2003

Damn.

The compulsive apologies are kinda creepy.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 8:26 PM on January 19, 2003

Two things I find (mildly) interesting:
1) His need to provide strings of at least four or five letters,
and
2) His occasional outbursts of "sense," e.g.:

its better than anything hama7 has written!
posted by sgt.serenity at 8:08 PM EST on January 19
posted by languagehat at 8:28 PM on January 19, 2003

This is what I feared might happen with the Contribution Index. I could always remove users who are trying to stuff the ballot, thus removing their claim to fame.
posted by jaden at 8:49 PM on January 19, 2003

I wonder if he realises that mathowie can just delete the comments and his contribution index will go back to where it was? What a sad, pitiful excuse for a human being. Ah well, no loss.
posted by dg at 8:52 PM on January 19, 2003

Hama, do you know anything about why the Sarge suddenly lost his marbles?

Well, he seemed mildly displeased when I commented on a Finnish airplane swastika in Stan Chin's post a few days ago, so much so, that he started a (deleted) MeTa post about it. He is obviously not terribly fond of yours truly, although as you can see, we've always had rather cordial exchanges. At least I thought so.

His occasional outbursts of "sense," e.g.:

Ho, ho! Very funny.
posted by hama7 at 8:57 PM on January 19, 2003

I would have started calling him sgt.jackass, but after seeing how much pointless damage he's done, sgt.banned is more apt.

People can be complete idiots sometimes.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:00 PM on January 19, 2003

People can be complete idiots sometimes.

Some of us do try to raise it to an art form.

] 'Try' being the operative word here. ;-P [
posted by mischief at 9:08 PM on January 19, 2003

shoot.him.now.
posted by crunchland at 9:18 PM on January 19, 2003

There is no try, mischief.
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:20 PM on January 19, 2003

May I also suggest deleting his comments so his work moving up the comment count charts will have been thwarted?
posted by eyeballkid at 9:22 PM on January 19, 2003

Wolfie: 'no try' = 100% success rate. Even I am not that vain.
posted by mischief at 9:39 PM on January 19, 2003

It isn't being vain if it is true, mischief :-)
posted by dg at 9:43 PM on January 19, 2003

filibuster!
posted by jessamyn at 10:32 PM on January 19, 2003

I'm upping my contribution index by posting inane messages, I'm just doing it more subtley.

So, $article was pretty interesting. I don't agree with everything $author said, but it's definitely food for thought.
posted by Hildago at 10:41 PM on January 19, 2003

$overlords = "i for one would like to welcome our new $pancake"
posted by quonsar at 11:18 PM on January 19, 2003

did you say pancake?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:26 PM on January 19, 2003

mathowie: Aha, so now your e-mail to me makes more sense. One thing I can't work out though.. how did you confuse me with this guy??
posted by wackybrit at 12:17 AM on January 20, 2003

wackbrit, I confused you with someone else (not the sarge) posting a lot over the past few days. Sorry about that.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:22 AM on January 20, 2003

Well he was definitely wacky, and he was British (Scottish, but we'll let it count), so probably an easy mistake in hindsight :-D
posted by wackybrit at 3:05 AM on January 20, 2003

Okay, time for bed. I just totally misread that reply, and I need to leave the keyboard before I go rattling up tons of posts explaining myself over and over..... zzzzzz....
posted by wackybrit at 3:06 AM on January 20, 2003

How did he edit his user page after being banned? Is banning just an IP filter or is the user actually able to login but just not comment, or...?
posted by willnot at 7:17 AM on January 20, 2003

The beginning of a soon-to-be canonical list of banned users:
- bunnyfire
- settle
- lostbyanecho
- sgt.serenity
- bannedthrice (not really trying too hard there, eh?)
- username
- hugh
- hugh2
- hugh3
- hugh4
posted by PrinceValium at 7:34 AM on January 20, 2003

PV - that's an interesting concept - but I wish you'd link to the thread that got them killed rather than just their user page. I'm sure it would make for great reading. Also, what about neu?
posted by jonson at 7:46 AM on January 20, 2003

Would be nice to see the number of times a user has been banned in their user profile. MeFi scarlet letter, serving as fair warning to all.
posted by rushmc at 8:02 AM on January 20, 2003

jonson - typically a soon-to-be banned user (bannedie?) poops all over a number of threads, so it's hard to pin down just one. Also, there's no lofi for deleted metatalk threads, and many giant flameouts happened there. As it was for neu, who I inadvertently omitted.

Try also looking at each user's most recent metatalk or metafilter comments, which would give you a hint of what's to come..
posted by PrinceValium at 8:06 AM on January 20, 2003

PV - you're right, I didn't think about that, thanks.

rushmc - I like it better when they just make it obvious, like in the case of bannedthrice. If I ever get kicked and somehow get back on my progressive nickname order through each round of banning getting back on:

jonson - current
angryjonson - after first banning/resignup
bitterjonson - 3rd try
cluelessjonsonwhokeepsgettingbanned - I'm worried that this one will be too much of a giveaway. Also, it's quite a mouthful.
posted by jonson at 8:14 AM on January 20, 2003

Well he was definitely wacky, and he was British (Scottish, but we'll let it count)...

Eh, wacky Scots--give 'im a slap on the arse and a time-out and a second chance, is what I suggest. And remember, not all Scots want to be Brits.
posted by Shane at 8:33 AM on January 20, 2003

Spanktacular ("ttrendel, you're a first class fuck-o.")
notchear ("Lick me, Fucko.")

I may need a MeFiCop badge with three notches.
posted by NortonDC at 8:35 AM on January 20, 2003

Yes, I agree with Shane.
Just give him two days or so to come to his sences. He deserves a second chance.
Please? I kind of like him around. Like the chicken that got a second chance.
not that I'm comparing, just the second chance thing.
posted by ginz at 8:49 AM on January 20, 2003

AHA HA HA! I know who "Spanktacular" is! I'm even on a (half-dead) e-mail list with 'im, and I occasionally post on another related weblog he posts on! Man, that's hilarious. I think I remember him bragging about his various bans, actually. Someone got pissed off at him just recently on that weblog and I said, "Don't bother..."

Too funny. I even know his full name. He's getting married shortly.
posted by Shane at 8:58 AM on January 20, 2003

Hmm, sgt.serenity states he has a degree in neuroscience. Maybe he is just being metareferential, but wasn't that neu's gig too?
posted by piskycritter at 10:14 AM on January 20, 2003

various poor sex starved troglydites that are presently sitting in a metatalk thread calling for his demise

Hey! Who is he calling a troglodyte?
posted by PrinceValium at 10:19 AM on January 20, 2003

damn...here I was thinking my fascinating thread had finally elicited the attention it was rightfully due. All my life, it's the same old story...*sigh*
posted by madamjujujive at 10:49 AM on January 20, 2003

Hmm, sgt.serenity states he has a degree in neuroscience.

Mmm, Sgt Serenity knows people are reading his profile...
posted by Shane at 11:04 AM on January 20, 2003

Sgt.serenity is no longer willing to receive steamy erotic letters from the female members of metafilter.

File that under things that could have been brought to my attention yesterday!
posted by iconomy at 11:04 AM on January 20, 2003

Ho, ho! Very funny.

Jeez, hama, don't be so touchy. I just grabbed the first non-sasasa comment that came to hand; the quotes around "sense" were meant to indicate that it was only "sense" as distinguished from the repeated-letter gibberish. No slight intended. If you like, we can replace it with "this is absolutely mind numbing." Feel better?
posted by languagehat at 11:12 AM on January 20, 2003

*sense is with two s-es?*

oops.
posted by ginz at 11:17 AM on January 20, 2003

MetaFilter: Licking Fuck-o Since 1999
posted by quonsar at 12:03 PM on January 20, 2003

On behalf of the entire 14K group, we hereby banish sgt serenity from our ranks. Let his number be stricken from the record, and no further mention of him be made, save as an example for the others.
posted by jonson at 2:04 PM on January 20, 2003

Has anyone ever been rehabilitated after being banned?
posted by timeistight at 2:08 PM on January 20, 2003

Have you been rehabilitated yourself?

Kid?
posted by yhbc at 2:14 PM on January 20, 2003

Get thee hence!
posted by languagehat at 2:14 PM on January 20, 2003

timeistight ... yes. You'll have to guess who.
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:20 PM on January 20, 2003

Agreed, jonson. Henceforth, Sgt. Serenity is to be known as user #xx482.
posted by dg at 2:29 PM on January 20, 2003

I'm incorrigible, yhbc. However, in spite of how much I've annoyed mathowie, I've never been banned.

I wouldn't want to guess, Wulfgar! I might hurt someone's feelings.
posted by timeistight at 2:29 PM on January 20, 2003

The beginning of a soon-to-be canonical list of banned users:

Hmmm. Wouldn't it be more interesting to create a canonical list of soon-to-be-banned users?
posted by Galvatron at 2:34 PM on January 20, 2003

Coming soon: The MetaFilter pre-crime unit.
posted by PrinceValium at 2:51 PM on January 20, 2003

Have you been rehabilitated yourself?

Kid?

Consider banning an instruction to sit down with the father-stabbers on the Group W bench.

Now!
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:53 PM on January 20, 2003

Back on the topic, what is there to stop someone like the Sgt (or anyone for that matter) from spamming the front page/threads with numerous posts?

Is there a function where it only allows X comments or posts within a certain timeframe, like Slashdot? Or is it really all on trust?

If it's on trust, I must say I'm -astounded- by how well behaved we really all are!
posted by wackybrit at 3:09 PM on January 20, 2003

Matt, it appears he made additions to the bottom of his user page gloating about how he's now... what was the term? "King of the shit pile?"

I hope I didn't have anything to do with that, but I may have. The difference is, I was kidding.

Feel better?

I should have put a :) thingamajig at the end of the earlier comment, because I don't (and didn't) mind a bit, languagehat.
posted by hama7 at 3:12 PM on January 20, 2003

Has anyone ever been rehabilitated after being banned?

BlueTrain and clavdivs were both placed on time-outs, and then allowed to re-up. Neither seems to contribute much anymore. Bunnyfire was banned, reinstated, and then banned again. I'm sure there are others ?
posted by iconomy at 4:08 PM on January 20, 2003

Actually, it would appear that Bunnyfire is back, in fully rehabilitated form. I, for one, applaud the efforts of that person and the guiding hand.
posted by Wulfgar! at 4:31 PM on January 20, 2003

Isn't bunnyfire still posting under an assumed name? Or are we ignoring the elephant in the room as long as it's well behaved?

On preview: well, that answered my question, I guess.
posted by turaho at 4:34 PM on January 20, 2003

P.S. Speaking of the banned, how could we forget PrivateParts?
posted by turaho at 4:35 PM on January 20, 2003

wackybrit - there's a 24 hr minimum wait between FPPs. Which is why we got that now deleted MeTa thread the other day from someone who shot their load too early and then realized it was the 20th anniversary of Blue Monday or something, and was using MeTa to troll for some other user to post the link for them.
posted by jonson at 5:02 PM on January 20, 2003

PPWingerMcGroin...a true gem and classic.
posted by Wulfgar! at 5:10 PM on January 20, 2003

I was also given a timeout/banning stemming from some hijinks undertaken by a certain iceberg and myself, and then reinstated. It is, however, a tale best left untold.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:24 PM on January 20, 2003

A tale untold isn't realy a tale at all, is it?
posted by timeistight at 6:50 PM on January 20, 2003

If a tale is told in a thread nobody ever reads, does it make a difference?

The question underlying every blogger's hitcount-driven insecurity.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:25 PM on January 20, 2003

I think I'm going to start a site called crapfilter where all of the threads are aimed at producing crazy flameouts. There's something really surreal about seeing someone freak out over the course of several time-stamped posts to a website.
posted by Fabulon7 at 7:31 PM on January 20, 2003

my apologies .
im not even going to promise not to do it again,
i just wont.

and norton , it looks more like a 2 star mcdonalds badge
to me mate.
Maybe they'll let you supervise the fry station one day.
posted by sgt.serenity at 9:38 PM on January 21, 2003 [1 favorite]