Can all of y'all stop apologizing?

April 6, 2004 7:18 AM

Can all of y'all stop apologizing in the first post of a thread, please?

People shouldn't have to feel as if their contribution is any less because of subject matter than any other post. It's extremely annoying to read an interesting fpp and then have a sniveling self-deprecating post within. Grab some balls people!
posted by drgonzo to etiquette/policy at 7:18 AM (32 comments total)

Agreed. It would also be nice if new users didn't announce they were new users every time they posted, it gets tired fast.
posted by chunking express at 7:37 AM on April 6, 2004

You're right. I retract my snivelling and self-deprecating apology, and will henceforth grab someone's balls before making a post.
posted by cbrody at 7:53 AM on April 6, 2004

So now we're whingeing about people trying to be polite.

Or was this intended to be taken meta-meta-ironically?
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:08 AM on April 6, 2004

You know, eventually the rush of newness will wash over, and people will be appropriately rude again in due course. I don't think we should be hurrying that process along.

If people want to be apologetic, as long as they're staying on point, whatever that point may be, then it don't bother me none.
posted by chicobangs at 8:11 AM on April 6, 2004

It's more a symptom of the outrage that some members express when a post (eg. about Google ;) cbrody) is made, and that members come to expect.

Stop deriding, stop apologizing. Both make mf a less interesting community to spend time in.
posted by drgonzo at 8:27 AM on April 6, 2004

*crosses legs*
posted by carter at 8:40 AM on April 6, 2004

cbrody, if you grab my balls, you're going to get slapped.

unless you're gentle
posted by drpartypoopercrankypantsesquire at 9:05 AM on April 6, 2004

Hey, sorry about that. I should've known better. Next time I'll read the rules. No hard feelings, I hope.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:22 AM on April 6, 2004

actually, it's not written down at all, DrJohn...most things aren't.
posted by amberglow at 10:01 AM on April 6, 2004

Hey, sorry about that. I should've known better. Next time I'll read the rules. No hard feelings, I hope.
posted by amberglow at 10:01 AM PST on April 6

actually, it's not written down at all, DrJohn...most things aren't.
posted by amberglow at 10:01 AM PST on April 6


i think that was a joke. i also think it was quite funny.
posted by Miles Long at 11:55 AM on April 6, 2004

Noob or no, perhaps it is due to reading countless new orafice administering [by the self appointed MeFi Elite] that an introductory apology seems necessary to ward off such attack. Just a thought.
posted by yoga at 12:39 PM on April 6, 2004

So when does the ball-grabbing begin? Huh? Huh?
posted by orange swan at 1:04 PM on April 6, 2004

Or ovaries as the case may be.
posted by Feisty at 1:26 PM on April 6, 2004

Let the gonad-grabbing begin—and remember, no apologies!

*pulls up a chair, pops open a beer, waits expectantly*
posted by languagehat at 1:41 PM on April 6, 2004

At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, you don't have to be ovary-challenged to have cojones. Just saying.
posted by chicobangs at 1:43 PM on April 6, 2004

that's weird, Miles: on my screen it reads:
Hey, sorry about that. I should've known better. Next time I'll read the rules. No hard feelings, I hope.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:22 AM PST on April 6

actually, it's not written down at all, DrJohn...most things aren't.
posted by amberglow at 10:01 AM PST on April 6
posted by amberglow at 1:45 PM on April 6, 2004

Look on the bright side: at most you'll only have 140 "sorry's" or so, now that new user sign-ups are closed again. Surely that must be better that a thousand pardons. But I don't think it enters the realm of profuse appologies, so relax. Anyway, sorry for appologizing.
posted by ChasFile at 2:21 PM on April 6, 2004

amberglow- you would be right, and i... would have cut and pasted wrong.

but... no apologies!
posted by Miles Long at 2:27 PM on April 6, 2004

Noob or no, perhaps it is due to reading countless new orafice administering [by the self appointed MeFi Elite] that an introductory apology seems necessary to ward off such attack. Just a thought.

Bravo! All this apologising-in-advance is a prebuttal (yes it is a word!) to imagined call-outs. This isn't paranoia, but a realistic approach on Metafilter (sadly). I often look at this place as a wasteland of what isn't said.
posted by SpaceCadet at 3:08 PM on April 6, 2004

I'd also retract my apology, but the thread disappeared seconds after someone threatened to do something with my dead carcass. That guy had pull!
posted by Meridian at 3:14 PM on April 6, 2004

I would like to apologize now for any possible grumpiness I may exhibit should someone else post in MeTa about a possible future NewsFilter post. Oh never mind.
posted by freebird at 4:44 PM on April 6, 2004

initiation. They need to apologize at the very least.
posted by Keyser Soze at 6:13 PM on April 6, 2004

I'd like to offer MetaApologies for whinging about MetaWhinges.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:02 PM on April 6, 2004

i think that was a joke. i also think it was quite funny.
posted by Miles Long at 11:55 AM PST on April 6

I'd also like to apologize for formerly thinking that we had no use for new users.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 7:06 PM on April 6, 2004

Can I mention repeatedly that I've been around here since the fourth day of Mathowie's six-day creation of the MetaVerse?

MeFite #206.
Almost all the earlier ones have either died, moved away or grown up.

And I'd like to apologize for that.

And also for this comment.

And for not wearing pants while using the computer at the Library.

And for that 6.5 Earthquake in Paso Robles. (It's Wendell's Fault)

Sorry.
posted by wendell at 7:16 PM on April 6, 2004

I'd like to retract my apology, as I've just witnessed a stunning MetaMetaWhinge in another thread.

I suspect my notice of it constituted another level of Meta, and this a level again. It's a MetaMetaMetaMeta(Meta?)Whinge...
posted by five fresh fish at 11:45 PM on April 6, 2004

I started a meme!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:27 AM on April 7, 2004

Wendell, please apologise for mentioning twice recently in separate threads how long you've been on MeFi.

If I've confused you with someone else, I apologise.
posted by SpaceCadet at 3:09 AM on April 7, 2004

I for one apologize to our new MetaFilter overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a newless cluebie, I could be useful in rounding up others to post in their underground metacaves.
posted by petebest at 10:58 AM on April 7, 2004

I would really like to apologize to the newbies for the merciless and unforgiving snarky atmosphere on metafilter that makes them feel that they need to apologize or in many cases plead that we take it easy on them because it is their first post.

I always wonder how many great posts went unposted because the poster just said to themselves "why bother?"
posted by vacapinta at 11:29 AM on April 7, 2004

I'm still waiting for the gonad-grabbing. Hey, one of you newbies, bring me another beer, willya? And then go grab somebody's gonads. I'm sick of all this namby-pamby apologizing.
posted by languagehat at 12:39 PM on April 7, 2004

Yeah, when do we get to the nard-snagging?

I didn't pay my way into a membership to sit around all day with my trackball in hand, waiting in vain for the berry-juggling hoedown to go down as advertised!

Oh wait, I didn't pay my way into anywhere. But still!
posted by chicobangs at 2:50 PM on April 7, 2004