Comments on: MeFi census?

MeFi census?

oissubke — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 07:17:30 -0800

The success of the Political Compass thread a few posts back got me to thinking about an interesting notion: Might it be time for a MeFi census?

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 07:35:32 -0800

Ummmm, there's 17,139 people here.

...er... done?

By: pfuller

pfuller — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 07:50:44 -0800

I think oissubke is talking about the one where they come by your house and ask you questions.

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 07:50:49 -0800

There's roughly 100 members posting something daily (and some of those people have been booted or left anyways).

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 07:52:08 -0800

The success of the Political Compass thread a few posts back got me to thinking about an interesting notion: Are there other ways we can label people and further devalue their opinions as individuals?

By: oissubke

oissubke — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 08:02:13 -0800

Are there other ways we can label people and further devalue their opinions as individuals?

I think that there are, and we have to take advantage of them before it's too late!

(And by the way, you're a liberal, right?) ;-)

By: xiffix

xiffix — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 08:19:15 -0800

All I want to know is if oissubke has earned himself some of that cool gopteamleader schwag yet.

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 08:30:52 -0800

Hmm... all right. Let's try Pivot's Questionnaire, made popular in the US by the boogeyman James Lipton.

01. What is your favorite word?

"Yes." Isn't that what everybody wants to hear?

02. What is your least favorite word?

"No"

03. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Watching an improv sketch comedy group when they're "in the zone." There can be nothing closer to random flashes of brilliance.

04. What turns you off?

People who defend other people when they don't ask to be defended.

05. What is your favorite curse word?

Cunt. Because it still has that "I can't believe he said that" element to it. Pussy has lost its edge, as has dick, cock, fuck, shit, and booger.

06. What sound or noise do you love?

Laughter.

07. What sound or noise do you hate?

Fake laughter.

08. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I think I'd really enjoy being in a boy band right now.

09. What profession would you not like to do?

A boy band when I'm forty.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

I'm sending you back.

By: jonson

jonson — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 08:35:54 -0800

Hmmm... a census seems so invasive. Maybe we could plant some invisible gif on our FPP and track users that way?

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 09:00:47 -0800

What is your favorite curse word?

Assblanket.

By: ashbury

ashbury — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 09:04:03 -0800

all I can say, jonson is OUCH! Wake up in a bad mood, did you? Why don't we let bygones be bygones, eh?

By: ashbury

ashbury — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 09:09:55 -0800

Oh, and FWIW, I don't think a census is a good idea and probably impossible to do anyway.

By: oissubke

oissubke — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 09:50:38 -0800

Why don't we let bygones be bygones, eh?

Don't you realize what website you're on? ;-)

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:00:53 -0800

Do we have to return to the land of our fathers for it?

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:10:35 -0800

*stands, is counted*

*sits*

By: rschram

rschram — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:26:10 -0800

Hmmm... a census seems so invasive.

Yeah, they ask if you have a telephone that can both make and receive calls.

By: katieinshoes

katieinshoes — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:41:39 -0800

I think a MeFi census would be fun, if not totally complete. I don't know how many people would actually take it (percentage-wise, either by percent of active posters and more so by percent of total members), but I'm sure there'd be tons of responses.

So...who's going to come up with the questions and host it on their site?

By: amberglow

amberglow — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:46:20 -0800

please add this question if it gets created:

What kind of wood doesn't float?

thanks! ; >

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:54:41 -0800

Race: AssHatian

By: ashbury

ashbury — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:58:36 -0800

My naysaying aside, how is this, for starters?

usernumber:
username:
Location:
Age:
Sex:
Where you Mefi (ie work, home, cafe):
Favorite Post:
Least Favorite Post:
Favorite Comment:
Least Favorite Comment:
Political Stance (left, right):
Religion:
Race:
Favorite Mefite:
Favorite Site (after Mefi, of course!):
Favorite band:
Favorite Food:
Favorite Drink:
Favorite Cause:
Favorite Book:
Favorite Piece of Art:
What Do You Like Most About Yourself?:
What Do You Like Least About Yourself?:
Longest Time Away From MetaFilter:

By: Plunge

Plunge — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:10:31 -0800

All I want to know is if oissubke has earned himself some of that cool gopteamleader schwag yet.

The jackets are quite warm, thankyouverymuch.

By: jonson

jonson — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:17:32 -0800

Ashbury & Ois, I was just kiddin'. Jeez. Can't anyone take a joke anymore?

By: grum@work

grum@work — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:34:51 -0800

Add these questions to the census:

Do you like answering questions?
Can you take a joke?
Are you prone to ideological outbursts or rebuttals to other people's outbursts?
Do you like pancakes?

By: Kafkaesque

Kafkaesque — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:46:52 -0800

Alright, let me go over this again, then. You are a convicted criminal, living alone in an apartment with a bobcat. And you work 56 hours a week as a street performer.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:48:07 -0800

Then could we have an awards ceremony, like in high school? I hope I get "Most Likely to Host a Game Show" again!

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 12:03:31 -0800

What kind of Wwood doesn't float?

Would that be a thing or a person?

By: yhbc

yhbc — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 12:06:18 -0800

When you say it like that, my life sounds pretty damn good.

By: y6y6y6

y6y6y6 — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 12:20:05 -0800

One problem with this idea is that if Matt doesn't host it you'd have trouble authenticating people. It's a safe bet that many people would log in as others and mess with their answers.

More work for Matt, and he's already said he's not sure it's a good idea - "What'sa matter asshat, you said in your census you could take a joke. And since you like ABBA you are an idiot anyway."

By: elwoodwiles

elwoodwiles — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:32:38 -0800

I kinda got some flak from the US census people after filling in the names of the Chinese Communist Party members and claiming we all lived in my studio apartment together. I tried to get friends in my building to do the same. My goal was to establish a federally funded chinese community center in a neighborhood that has a very low asian population. They didn't buy it, maybe next time..../OT

By: zpousman

zpousman — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 16:39:29 -0800

Oh my god. I've got this great idea! If we all put "Jedi" in as our Religion, the powers that be will have to accept it as a real religion. Cool, huh?

By: matteo

matteo — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 17:01:07 -0800

Last year, here on MetaTalk, we were debating a certain user's background, nationality, grasp of the language etc.
One of the participants in the thread engineered this scary uberpost where, with David Foster Wallace-style footnotes (and each footnote had one or more links to other threads), we could find out EVERYTHING the debated user had ever told the community about himself (physical appearance, academic background, home State, sexual inclination and religious feelings and much more)
As much as I enjoyed the thread -- the person we were talking about is actually my favorite MeFi user and I was curious about some of his/her idiosyncracies -- I found the detective work pretty scary.

That's why I'm against the census, that's all. This place should be about ideas and interesting sites and links, not about detective work fucking with the users privacy

Matt knows our e-mail address, and our IP address, that's more than enough.
I'd rather every member had a working e-mail available (for flames and stuff, but that's just me). Just that. We don't need more personal info, really. Especially on user pages

By: aine42

aine42 — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 17:07:31 -0800

thomcatspike: the answer to amberglow's question is Natalie Wood.

And amberglow, thanks. Now you've just stirred up all the old Natalie Wood jokes that were stored somewhere in the recesses of my brain. (Sure -- can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but I can remember really bad jokes from 20 years ago.)

By: jonson

jonson — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 17:52:19 -0800

Matteo - that sounds like a scary system, but at the same time, it IS nice to have frame of reference around certain users. I mean, it's a big place, with a lot of different voices, sometimes things can be mis-interpreted. Like I've said before, on mefi you have to remember "oh yeah, this guy sounds normal, but then again, in that fashion thread that got posted three weeks ago, this was the guy who claimed to have a coat made of dead squirrels that he had stapled together."

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 18:21:52 -0800

The Unofficial MetaFitler Membership Census

Please only take once, your membername is optional, but highly recommended.

Why enough people have taken it, I will post the results..

Enjoy...

By: amberglow

amberglow — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 18:33:21 -0800

aine42, you're welcome!!!

(and i have the same problem, obviously! we're getting old i guess)

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 18:43:35 -0800

When enough people... ack!

By: iconomy

iconomy — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 18:54:40 -0800

Nice job, S@L. I was just about to set something up - you beat me to it. I have a few leftover questions if you'd like to use them.

By: PrinceValium

PrinceValium — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 19:04:34 -0800

This is what matteo was talking about.

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 19:52:42 -0800

email them to me iconomy...

By: adamgreenfield

adamgreenfield — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 20:03:40 -0800

Ufez Jones, when will that list of 100 be updated? I'd be curious...

By: oissubke

oissubke — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 22:56:46 -0800

The Unofficial MetaFitler Membership Census

On the question about favorite MeFite, I came this close to putting "Steve_at_Linnwood" -- I didn't even notice that you had posted it, and that it was on your site.

My reason? "He takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

Of course, then I completely dissed you and picked languagehat instead. Sorry, man!

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 23:43:53 -0800

haha...

By: taz

taz — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 00:32:30 -0800

I have to warn you, I always lie in the income and education fields. Oh, yeah, and age. But that's it - just age, income and education.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 00:38:29 -0800

No good can come of this.

By: hama7

hama7 — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 02:05:27 -0800

Very intersting... and will demand time for consideration.

In other news, am I the only one waiting for the next stop on oissubke's world tour?

Or did it stop at Baffen Island?

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 02:20:17 -0800

I'd take the census...but the age only goes down to 18...

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 05:44:07 -0800

ebony?

By: oissubke

oissubke — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 05:45:24 -0800

No good can come of this.

*rubs hands together gleefully*

In other news, am I the only one waiting for the next stop on oissubke's world tour?

Maybe if enough people put them down as their favorite posts... ;-)

By: oissubke

oissubke — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 05:46:23 -0800

ebony?

"Oh, my lucky stars....a negro!"

By: crunchland

crunchland — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 06:59:11 -0800

I'd take the census...but the age only goes down to 18...

actually, isn't it illegal to solicit information from minors online?

By: walrus

walrus — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 07:05:57 -0800

isn't it illegal to solicit information from minors online?

I would answer that, but it might get you in trouble.

Actually, I'm about thirteen years too late for that riposte, but still find it hard to resist. Probably my inner child waiting for a chance to usurp control of my body and force it to perform certain actions.

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 07:54:05 -0800

I'm pretty sure you have to get parental permission to get info from 13 year olds and under, but I'm 16, so lower the damn age! :p

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 10:55:49 -0800

This place should be about ideas and interesting sites and links, not about detective work fucking with the users privacy

You're absolutely right, matteo. It should be about ideas and interesting sites. Unfortunately, for some "members" insecure enough with challenges to their ideas and assertions, it can also be about hilarious attempts to use "information" they collect themselves (or in some cases "information" they gladly accept from "anonymous sources") on users with which they disagree, followed by clumsy intimations that they possess such personal information, followed by lame and oh so brave suggestions that the target user might therefore wish to alter what he/she posts on MetaFilter and/or the Internet.

One hopes that kind of behavior can be nipped in the bud, because the ramifications for such actions in the larger world are a bit more serious than the banal ineffectualness it represents in this little arena.

By: hackly_fracture

hackly_fracture — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 11:05:38 -0800

Kafkaesque,

Yr never alone with a bobcat.

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 11:58:03 -0800

Yes, it should be about ideas and interesting sites, not axe grinding and extremist political agendas. Unfortunately, some members of this community believe that their relative anonymity insulates them, and allows them to continue their histrionics without consequent.

And once they are backed in to a corner, all they have left are thinly veiled threats that they can not possibly backup. The sudo-power they have created for themselves in their Internet fantasy-land, leaves them with delusions of grandeur. Sadly, they can not handle the day to day activities of real life and hence must over compensate by acting superior to others in an environment that is protected from their real identity. MetaFilter, and sites like it, are merrily enablers in their illness.

Alas, in a community this large, a few nutjobs are expected.

By: oissubke

oissubke — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:04:40 -0800

S@L, I've found this, but where's the beef? Where's mine? Where are the results? :-)

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:15:32 -0800

oissubke, you h4x0r! You should not be poking around! That is not ready for release...

By: oissubke

oissubke — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:17:47 -0800

Oops! *averts eyes*

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:43:22 -0800

IS IT JUST ME OR IS THERE MAJOR SUBTEXT GOING ON BETWEEN F&M AND S@L?!!
(Sorry--everybody loves intrigue, right? I don't watch Popstars, so I have to get my excitement somewhere. Someone pickin' on you, foldy?)
(Steve, it's "pseudo," not "sudo." C'mon!)

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:53:30 -0800

aine42, you're welcome!!!

(and i have the same problem, obviously! we're getting old i guess)

I baited and what I reeled in was not the fish I had hoped for, dang it you guys. I really hoped the question was going over my head not through it ;P

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:02:38 -0800

sorry thom---i'll try harder next time to go over your head instead of through. But admit it, you laughed, didn't you?
: >

By: ook

ook — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:06:27 -0800

The sudo-power they have created for themselves in their Internet fantasy-land

That's not a misspelling, Shane, it's a brilliant pun. (Right, Steve?)

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:12:34 -0800

Su-su-sudio..?

By: scody

scody — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:14:58 -0800

The sudo-power they have created for themselves in their Internet fantasy-land

At first glance I misread it as "sumo-power," which immediately generated an image of S@L with a thought bubble over his head, imagining foldy as a 400-lb. wrestler wearing a silken loincloth. So yes, Shane, I too feel there might be some subtext going on there.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:21:26 -0800

~chuckle~

Nah, Shane, just some pretty standard nonsense. But looks like I must have touched a nerve.

As someone who has been one of the more "relatively unanonymous" members here, and who supplied a "real identity" some time ago, I'm assuming Steve_at_Linnwood is referring to all the posters here who choose not to do what I've done in revealing my identity. But in any event, the refutation (if any) of "extremist political agendas" (read: "ideas I fear or otherwise disagree with") should be based on other ideas, not on gathering personal information on a poster, intimation that personal information is available, and that "consequent" [sic] may follow if contrary ideas continue to be posted. Frankly, I can't think of less intellectually honest acts, or more craven ones.

But like Steve_at_Linnwood said, "Metafilter, and sites like it are "merrily (?) enablers" in the terrible "illness" of the free expression of ideas. I know that for some, that's a real threat. And some will do the dumbest things to escape that threat.

And for those of you who speak your mind here and in the world at large, I read Steve_at_Linnwood's statement that "some members of this community believe that their relative anonymity insulates them, and allows them to continue their histrionics without consequent" as quite a disturbing warning. Take it for what you will.

Alas, in a community this large, a few nutjobs are expected.

Too true.

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:29:14 -0800

Shane: No

ook: Yes

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:31:05 -0800

...imagining foldy as a 400-lb. wrestler wearing a silken loincloth. So yes, Shane, I too feel there might be some subtext going on there.

*ignores what foldy said*

S@L claims foldy is in fact a radical left-wing Sumo wrestler and attempts blackmail with the info! Read all about it!

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:33:10 -0800

At first glance I misread it as "sumo-power," which immediately generated an image of S@L with a thought bubble over his head, imagining foldy as a 400-lb. wrestler wearing a silken loincloth.

~grunt~

By: kindall

kindall — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:38:26 -0800

I always lie in the income and education fields. Oh, yeah, and age. But that's it - just age, income and education.

And an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.

By: Wulfgar!

Wulfgar! — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:49:06 -0800

Who needs reality TV, when we have the fold_and_Steve show. Honestly, I read MetaFilter for those beautiful and poignant moments when the two of them interact. They're two of the users here whose comments I will track through their user profiles. Honestly, I don't really care who they are "in real life", as defined by statistics, occupation, marital status, age, income bracket, hairspray choice, cola preference, voting registration, education, or willingness to fill out a census that could be as bogus as anything else we do here.

I think f_and_m is right; we do assume concerning the identities of those we deal with here. We come to believe that they are the people in real life that present themselves in MetaFilter. Frequently we could be wrong about our assumptions (a census might give us more of a false sense of security), but what does it matter here? The only way I know f-and-m and Steve is what they choose to present to me here. I don't have to be who they want me to be, and they don't have to live up to my expectations. Census or not, our identities here are a crapshoot, and I think most of us want it that way.

As for fold_and_mutilate vs Steve_at_Linnwood, I'm as eager as if about to watch a Raiders-Broncos showdown on Monday Night. Its ether its gonna be a blowout or one helluva game. They could have everything in the world in common, but it would spoil the fun if I knew.

By: ook

ook — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:50:04 -0800

*sigh* Shane, the unix command "sudo" gives you temporary godlike control over the whole machine -- so sudo-power would be a nice pun for delusions of grandeur in an internet context. And it's fun to imagine Steve as having that kind of dry wit, rather than as just another guy who can't spell and doesn't realize he's one of the people he's describing.

There. I killed the joke. It's dead. Watch it quiver ever so slightly as I scrape it off my shoe.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:52:39 -0800

Who needs reality TV, when we have the fold_and_Steve show.

I'm not a rich capitalist, but I play one here, and on "The Millionaire".

~wink~

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 14:11:06 -0800

f&m, you pretended to be a different person till I pointed out your rant that you seemed to have complete forgotten about... I have the emails if you would like me to forward them to you to refresh your memory...

I am really beyond caring, this was a personal conflict that I wished to settle privately in email, but I see that f&m insist on putting on a show. He stoped respoding to my emails, so I assumed that he droped the subject, but now I see that he wishes to drag issue here. I do not wish this to become more of a public spectacle, than it already is.

I will admit it was my fault for "feeding the troll" in this thread and I should have kept above it, as I intend to in the future.

So Keith, you have my email (as I have yours)...

I am sure you can figure out the rest

blah...

ook: I may not have "that kind of dry wit" but I do know what 'sudo' is, and that is what I intended, though I thought it was subtle enough that no one would get it.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 15:17:25 -0800

But admit it, you laughed, didn't you?

Only from the comments generated after mine, indeed I did, amberglow. Then I became speechless from one comment that posted because I got it :), then on top of it my name was posted right under it by chance;), then to have it pointed out that they were tied together...uhg ;P

PS, Does cafe express sell rocks, I need one to climb under out of embarrassment?

These threads they seem to weave us together that is a consensus for me. \iii/

By: y6y6y6

y6y6y6 — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 15:28:36 -0800

"I am really beyond caring"

That word you keep using...... I do not think it means what you think it means.

He has you hook, line and sinker.

By: inpHilltr8r

inpHilltr8r — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 16:19:42 -0800

the fold_and_Steve show. Honestly, I read MetaFilter for those beautiful and poignant moments when the two of them interact.

...and you'd think they'd just cancel each other out. Although there is the possibility of the release of an unexpectedly large amount of energy in the process. Potentially forming some strange, new, yet short lived poster, that gives unexpected insight into the fundamental nature of the blog.

By: sheauga

sheauga — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 16:57:25 -0800

If y'all feel ready to make each others' personal acquaintances via a web-page census, e-mail, and personal blogs, by all means, please do!

However, some of us women are a bit wary of fellas seeking personal and access information about us. My first reaction: to what end?

I know, y'all lust after our sharp female minds, and you wanna set us girls straight and impose the consequences we deserve. *resolves to blog veiled from now on.*

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:36:39 -0800

Shane, the unix command "sudo" gives you temporary godlike control over the whole machine -- so sudo-power would be a nice pun for delusions of grandeur in an internet context.

Aha-ha-ha!

Um, I knew that.

Duuuuude, I am so pulling that one out the next time I need to impress an attractive geek-ette : )

By: ?!

?! — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:37:12 -0800

Steve at Linnwood: I started to take your census, but I realized it felt like I was filling out a high school senior popularity contest. When we're finished you'll have "Mr. and Ms Metafilter," "Coolest Post," and "Conservative Club" and "Liberal Leaders."

Not that it's a bad thing. Just not my thing. On the questionnaire you suggest we use our handle.

And that ties in to comments you've made about the use of pseudonyms on Metafilter and in general.

Your comments directed at those who do not choose to mix their public life and their metafilter participation struck me.

I'm sure you haven't looked, but I list nothing personal. I also have other reasons I don't have a blog, or list my personal information. I might have even mentioned them on Metafilter.

I know my reasons for not sharing certain information. For example, I have found some people are more willing to listen when they don't use lazy shortcuts such as "That poster is fe/male." "That poster is old/young." "That poster is French/American." etc, etc.

I know you choose to be very public on your profile page. Aside from the "nutjobs" you spoke of, do you believe others have valid reasons not to be as public as you? Does it color your responses when they choose to use a pseudonym?

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:42:57 -0800

f&m, you pretended to be a different person till I pointed out your rant that you seemed to have complete forgotten about... I have the emails if you would like me to forward them to you to refresh your memory...

No, Steve. That's just dumb, and it's not going to wash. With that statement, YOU are the only one "putting on a show" here. You're just digging yourself in deeper in what was a discussion and a caution (prompted by the thread, matteo's remark, an awareness of the kinds of concerns sheauga mentions, and personal experience here on MetaFilter) on personal privacy, and which didn't mention "Steve_At_Linnwood" at all until you yourself made it about you (but feel free to describe how all this might or might not apply to you).

Any emails sent to you by me confronting you about recent acts by you contain my name, and they reference some really awfully highly pertinent behaviors of yours that would really pretty severely limit the number of humans or MeFites I could possibly be, so I couldn't possibly in any way have confused you as to who I am (at least I think, but no accounting for individual variances), right? And the "rant" you reference for some reason (which I linked to above, and which I've referred to on more than one occasion here on MetaFilter, so it could hardly have been "forgotten"), contained my name (the same name contained in my emails), address, and phone number. I've received phone calls from several MeFites. You're saying I "forgot" how they knew to contact me, right? But feel free put your inaccurate statement in the larger context for us, to show its relevance, if any.

Since it is in fact you who declined my request that we chat personally, and since you're the one who brought up this problem between you and I here, I really don' t mind hashing it out here in full view, and I have plenty of time for a change. I think there are some principles at stake behind what's really some pretty silly acts and words, and may be a good example of the generalities alluded to above.

By: oissubke

oissubke — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:58:12 -0800

Always a soap opera...

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 18:03:45 -0800

You kids are going to make daddy's brain explode, then you'll have to clean it up and there'll be no cartoons for you.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 18:47:48 -0800

I'd also love to hear someone with some Internet savvy advise as to whether supplying a community identifier on a non-community website means that potentially community identifiers and IP addresses would be matchable.

If that's possible (and I don't know that it is) one could imagine that in the wrong hands, the potential consequences for posting unpopular views in such a community could theoretically be anything from ISP complaints to denial of service attacks, if IP-username data somehow "gets out".

Just askin'.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 18:50:38 -0800

You kids are going to make daddy's brain explode, then you'll have to clean it up and there'll be no cartoons for you.

Just don't take away my pro sumo-wrestling on TeeVee, dad.

~grunt~

By: ook

ook — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 18:51:32 -0800

Duuuuude, I am so pulling that one out the next time I need to impress an attractive geek-ette [shane]

Better make damn sure she's a geek first... Otherwise, game over, man.

Steve -- apologies; on rereading my last comment it sounded like I was taking sides in f&m vs s@l, which was not my intention. I think you're both blowhards. <rimshot/>
And so am I, just not one that gets much attention. Does that make me a blowsoft? Or just blow?

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 19:08:20 -0800

I'm a goddammed commie blowhard though. Which therefore makes it all right.

Oh hell, I'm either inadevertently censusing myself now, or identifying myself with the terrible Leftists on the MetaFilter Political Compass. There goes my privacy.

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 19:18:14 -0800

Better make damn sure she's a geek first...

Joking, because I don't meet geek chicks where I live. Instead I hear classic lines I have now committed to memory, such as:
"Oh, no--this film you want to see--it's not one of those foreign films, is it?"
-and-
"That art is, um, interesting... but I wouldn't want to hang it in my living room. It's different... I guess maybe art is supposed to be different..."
-and-
"This Buddhism and Taoism stuff is interesting, but you know--the word of God is only in the Bible..."
-and-
"YOU DON'T EAT MEAT?"
Sorry. [/pity party]

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 21:52:41 -0800

On the questionnaire you suggest we use our handle

?!, the reasoning behind asking for usernames, was to simple discourage people from taking the census twice. This way a suggestion made to me, and I took it. But giving your username, much like the census itself, is optional.

By: taz

taz — Fri, 21 Feb 2003 23:24:43 -0800

kindall, this would make me related to Gwyneth Paltrow, I guess, but I'm going to lie about that on the census.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 02:21:38 -0800

Since this thread, like many threads, is just going nowhere, I thought I'd use the opportunity to post some additional drivel and help ensure that I stay on the top 100 lists mentioned in the third comment.

By: walrus

walrus — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 02:49:25 -0800

Speaking of which, I have just discovered that one is invisible in that index unless one actually calculates one's index value. Or that's the way it appeared to me. I wasn't there when I first looked, so I thought I'd have a look at my value out of curiosity. At first I thought I must have been obscured by Ufez Jones, but then I refreshed and there I was. So I'm not 100% convinced that the list is properly representative.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 09:36:47 -0800

My clever use of the small tags will undoubtedly assure that no one actually sees this comment, because using small tags renders off-topic comments invisible to everyone except the one person who was meant to read the post, who, in this case, is Shane. Hi, Shane!

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 10:13:33 -0800

Aww, man, iconomy's picking on me!! Heh, I just use small tags as an indicator of "off-topic" because I'm self-conscious about just how much I'm constantly "off-topic"... Readers who may actually be following only the meat of the thread (however improbable that may be) can therefore conveniently ignore anything ‹small› by me. Or just ignore me altogether.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 10:20:40 -0800

Is that why? I had no idea ;)

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 11:12:29 -0800

You're right--I'm silly. I should write BIG! Off-topic be damned!
; )

By: oissubke

oissubke — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 11:42:17 -0800

Not a fr1st pr0st, and probably not the last, so...

THIS POST!

By: aaron

aaron — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 14:17:08 -0800

Wow. I haven't posted in ten months and I'm still the 37th most active poster on MeFi. Not bad.

By: Wulfgar!

Wulfgar! — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 14:47:19 -0800

Welcome back, aaron. We might disagree idiologically about most things, but I hope you're back for real, and not just teasing.

By: aaron

aaron — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 14:58:49 -0800

Thanks Wulfie!

By: oissubke

oissubke — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 15:01:27 -0800

So where are the Census results? Steve?

By: Wulfgar!

Wulfgar! — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 15:14:18 -0800

Aaron, you know better'n that. Wulfie is for good friends only...

;-)

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 18:33:01 -0800

Welcome back, aaron - you were much missed! I've been welcoming other aarons thinking it was you and having to apologize later so, if it isn't you, I apologize straight away. :)

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Mon, 24 Feb 2003 18:53:59 -0800

The results.

Enjoy.

By: aaron

aaron — Mon, 24 Feb 2003 22:06:14 -0800

Apologies, Gen. Wulgartennugen, sir, USAF (Ret.) (Mrs.).

Hey Miguel! :)