OMG!!!! Google Buys Metafilter!!!!

April 1, 2003 12:09 AM

OMG!!!! Google Buys Metafilter!!!!
posted by muckster to MetaFilter-Related at 12:09 AM (69 comments total)

WOW! Just .... wow!

Wow.
posted by RavinDave at 12:13 AM on April 1, 2003

Well done. Great bit. Happy April Fools!
posted by herc at 12:15 AM on April 1, 2003

Wow, pretty neat.
posted by bobo123 at 12:16 AM on April 1, 2003

Ha! I love it!
posted by Down10 at 12:20 AM on April 1, 2003

Best April Fools' EVER! Nice one.
posted by biscotti at 12:21 AM on April 1, 2003

whoa.

</keanu>
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 12:23 AM on April 1, 2003

Metafiiiiiiiiiiilter!
posted by misteraitch at 12:28 AM on April 1, 2003

I ? MetaGoogle.
posted by readymade at 12:28 AM on April 1, 2003

It's the MetaFilter-coloured Google textads on the side that do it for me.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:30 AM on April 1, 2003

Beautiful. Well done.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:32 AM on April 1, 2003

Gah! My heart disappeared! That should have said, "I *heart* MetaGoogle."

Although one must admit a certain poetry of "I ? MetaGoogle."
posted by readymade at 12:33 AM on April 1, 2003

I like "meooglefilter" better
posted by cbrody at 12:34 AM on April 1, 2003

MeFoogle.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 12:37 AM on April 1, 2003

gah. hook, line and sinker.
posted by deborah at 12:39 AM on April 1, 2003

heh.
posted by walrus at 12:51 AM on April 1, 2003

Ho ho. That was fantastic.
posted by Summer at 1:08 AM on April 1, 2003

What a shock when I reloaded a page and saw the color change. Bravo!
posted by litlnemo at 1:11 AM on April 1, 2003

WELL DONE MATHOWIE! ROFLMFAO!
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:20 AM on April 1, 2003

excellent work, good joke. I flipped out, thinking - who hacked metafilter. Maybe not your intention, but good fun nevertheless.
posted by ericrolph at 1:20 AM on April 1, 2003

I'd be interested in seeing what people have typed into the search field.
posted by gluechunk at 1:43 AM on April 1, 2003

I'll admit: I got caught for a second =)
posted by XiBe at 2:11 AM on April 1, 2003

fantastic - can we keep the look and feel ;-)
posted by brettski at 2:21 AM on April 1, 2003

Looks good (as a rip of google) but that's bloody hard work to browse and read.

Since I left my sunglasses a home I'll be on MeTa and Fark today I feel... *sigh*
posted by twine42 at 2:29 AM on April 1, 2003

Brilliant.
posted by zygoticmynci at 2:38 AM on April 1, 2003

Totally April foogled.
posted by Dunvegan at 2:59 AM on April 1, 2003

MetaAprilFools
posted by matteo at 3:29 AM on April 1, 2003

That's AWESOME, mathowie. You have (once again) made my day.
posted by Vidiot at 3:37 AM on April 1, 2003

(actually, this way I can use the 'Filter at work. w00t!)
posted by Vidiot at 3:50 AM on April 1, 2003

After the confusion and the head-scratching comes the gormless grin.

Legendary stuff from Matt, fair play to his little cotton socks!
posted by Doozer at 4:03 AM on April 1, 2003

that was most excellent...!

/more keanu than YaN
posted by t r a c y at 4:45 AM on April 1, 2003

actually, this way I can use the 'Filter at work.

Yes. Can we keep it like this? Google won't mind will they?
posted by Summer at 4:50 AM on April 1, 2003

Actually, it's easier to read than Google. Ever try reading UseNet groups off Google? Friggin' horizontal scrolling makes it dang near impossible to read unless you have a monitor the size of a barn door.
posted by RavinDave at 4:54 AM on April 1, 2003

Y'know what would be a supersweet addition to this very well executed joke? a link to the regular front page!

man, wouldn't that be somethin'?
posted by mosch at 4:56 AM on April 1, 2003

The best weblog and the best search engine belong together.
posted by 111 at 5:08 AM on April 1, 2003

Brilliant, Matt.
posted by ColdChef at 5:08 AM on April 1, 2003

mosch - click archives and then choose april, takes you to all of today's posts
posted by t r a c y at 5:29 AM on April 1, 2003

or just click on the m e t a f i l t e r graphic at the top
posted by twine42 at 5:31 AM on April 1, 2003

I love it!

I thought Matt would be swapping with Gawker, though ...
posted by Songdog at 5:34 AM on April 1, 2003

Ehh? Where's the pull down menu for sorting threads?
posted by Witty at 5:39 AM on April 1, 2003

I for one welcome our new Google overlords...

(Someone had to say it!)
posted by Stuart_R at 5:42 AM on April 1, 2003

OK, that had me a mite spooked. I was figuring this year it'd be FARK.
posted by jonmc at 6:19 AM on April 1, 2003

Better than the one last year, even.
posted by adampsyche at 6:22 AM on April 1, 2003

Very funny, and I second the "browsing at work" applause. Also, seeing all the post titles at once is actually a nice addition to the MeFi experience. However ... is there a way to sort posts by "most recent" in the MeGoo template?
posted by yhbc at 6:28 AM on April 1, 2003

i heart MetaFooler.
this is an immediate classic.
posted by myopicman at 6:50 AM on April 1, 2003

I mucked around with my OS last night, and created a nasty little problem which eventually took a fresh OS install to fix. At one point I even thought I had fried my not-too-recently backed up hard drive. I got the system up and running this morning, went online, looked for Metafilter..........all the stress -of the late night computer possible data loss catastrophe- primed me to bite.....

...a cold sweat ran down my face, and the sky suddenly turned a sullen gray. The low whine of my hard drive bored into my skull...the wartalk jabbered away endlessly on the radio and the crows screeched in the cold dawn. No Metafilter. Just some Google to bed and pulled the covers over my head hoping that I would wake up later, a lot later, and all would somehow be set right with the world.............
posted by troutfishing at 7:14 AM on April 1, 2003

Brilliant! What a nice way to start the day!
posted by Dantien at 7:33 AM on April 1, 2003

Hey Matt, can you keep it like this for a while? Or make "Meogoogle" a customization option? It's way less suspicious looking--- my boss is far less likely to bust my ass for googling than for mefi-ing.
posted by DenOfSizer at 7:46 AM on April 1, 2003

As soon as I saw this, I typed "WHAT. THE. FUCK. MATT" in the search box...nice work, even tho it is a pain to read
posted by Orange Goblin at 8:05 AM on April 1, 2003

Dude; I kept clicking clicking on my MeFi link and thinking "why is it sending me to the home page?" [Google, that is]. Click. Scratch head. Click. Scratch. Click. Scratch. Click. Gaaaaaahhh! I am a danger to myself and others on April Fools. Nice going Matt.
posted by jessamyn at 8:08 AM on April 1, 2003

Two great tastes that taste great together!!
posted by dash_slot- at 8:20 AM on April 1, 2003

next year: MSN!
posted by quonsar at 8:50 AM on April 1, 2003

Good Aprilicious fun!

You got me completely. I was already getting a denial of AIM service and wacky errors on my email this morning, so I thought I'd just amble on over to Mefi til they sorted themselves out, and.....GAHHHH!
posted by hippugeek at 9:36 AM on April 1, 2003

Geez, that scared the hell out of me. Didn't even realize what day it was.

Good job, nice prank.
posted by Plunge at 9:43 AM on April 1, 2003

I wish you'd keep this template. Makes it easier to read MeFi at work. Google is at least SOMETIMES work-related :)
posted by scarabic at 10:35 AM on April 1, 2003

Great job. I like the look as well. Damn fine work.
posted by geekyguy at 10:44 AM on April 1, 2003

Matt: Kudos! It's a beauty! I vote for keeping the new design, if at all possible. Hooray!
posted by davidmsc at 10:45 AM on April 1, 2003

ohhhhhhhhhhhh boy. almost had me fooled. not.
posted by manero at 11:09 AM on April 1, 2003

absolutely brilliant! i am wearing my MeFi baseball jersey today too...with pride! :-D
posted by serafinapekkala at 11:27 AM on April 1, 2003

It was neat as a novelty, but the white is really getting on my nerves. I've been reading LoFi with a custom stylesheet all day because of it.

Still, cool, and happy april fool's day. ;)
posted by SpecialK at 11:49 AM on April 1, 2003

The deal fell through. I was collecting an oversized check and shaking Larry Page's hand (and "increasing my pagerank" if you know what I mean), when SpecialK stormed in, complained about the background, and the whole thing came apart before my eyes.

You wouldn't think a geek could rip a 4 foot by 8 foot cardboard check into tiny shreds, but he did it.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:21 PM on April 1, 2003

That's the funniest thing I've heard all day - thanks again, Matt! :D

BTW, right now in my library, we have Army recruiters and anti-war protestors having a very interesting conversation. You gotta love April Fools Day!
posted by Lynsey at 12:42 PM on April 1, 2003

You got your Google in my Metafilter!

No, you got your Metafilter in my Google!

You're wrong!

No, YOU'RE wrong!

Great job, Matt!

Funniest thing I've heard all day, though, still has to be the upcoming musical episode of Enterprise.
posted by WolfDaddy at 1:47 PM on April 1, 2003

Hmmph. Heh.
posted by hairyeyeball at 3:45 PM on April 1, 2003

Oh well, better luck next year Matt!
posted by Zonker at 5:20 PM on April 1, 2003

Flat out fantastic. Thanks.
posted by vanderwal at 7:39 PM on April 1, 2003

Wish I'd seen it earlier to get the full effect, but still brilliant even in retrospect. We bow to you, Matt.
posted by jokeefe at 8:25 PM on April 1, 2003

Ha! I was just jealous because I didn't buy stock in time...
posted by SpecialK at 10:27 PM on April 1, 2003

*passes SpecialK an option*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:53 PM on April 5, 2003

Interesting. I missed it because I'm running a textual browser -- as I was in
a hurry, I didn't pay close attention and I just pested at Mefi beeing broken
(again :-)
posted by NewBornHippy at 4:08 PM on April 8, 2003