How do you regard the time you spend on MetaFilter?

November 10, 2004 9:20 PM

How do you regard the time you spend on MetaFilter? Is it information time (keeping up with the web; news-gathering); social time (discussing; engaging with others); fun pure and simple; vegetative-time (like watching indifferent TV); time-wasting when having a break from work...or what?
[Apologies if this question is of no interest to anyone but me.]
posted by MiguelCardoso to MetaFilter-Related at 9:20 PM (53 comments total)

All of the above and more, dear sir, much more.
posted by kenko at 9:24 PM on November 10, 2004

Ditto. Although if I have something really really really cool to do, I'll spend less time here.
posted by carter at 9:25 PM on November 10, 2004

It's entertainment, my Lisbonian friend. Better than a street-fight between two overweight whores.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:30 PM on November 10, 2004

procrastination-time
posted by mr.marx at 9:48 PM on November 10, 2004

it's when I wallow in self-loathing and hatred for my fellow man.
posted by crunchland at 9:48 PM on November 10, 2004

I feel like Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, having the time of my life, right up until the point when Metafilter tries that flying overhead lift catch into my arms and crushes me with the devastating weight.
posted by Stan Chin at 10:06 PM on November 10, 2004

Also, Metafilter is not like the wind.
posted by Stan Chin at 10:07 PM on November 10, 2004

Depends on the thread and the colour. AskMe is for learning, MeTa is for laughing, MeFi is for finding story ideas, laughing and when you're fixing for a fight.
posted by bonaldi at 10:07 PM on November 10, 2004

I'm finding myself in AskMe more and more these days, even if I'm still primarily a lurker.
posted by MiG at 10:35 PM on November 10, 2004

It's a daily pageant; its contestants are wordstreams; its categories are Beauty, Talent, Originality, and Personality; its prize is that winners are never announced, and everyone gets a chance to regroup and compete the next day.

MeTa includes an Honourable Mention for Purpleness, to which we hereby lay this day's claim.

The question? What question? Oh - the question.
I come here for the chicks.
posted by Opus Dark at 10:57 PM on November 10, 2004

They have chicks on the internet now?
posted by arto at 11:16 PM on November 10, 2004

time-wasting when having a break from work...or what?

How about time-wasting to avoid work? Also, with all the odd bits of information and the different personalities scattered everywhere, it's much more interesting than real life.

It's definitely top-of-the-line info-vege-tainment.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:31 PM on November 10, 2004

MetaFilter, to me, is probably not something I should be doing at this time of night.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:37 PM on November 10, 2004

Metafilter to me is a site I glean news and information from, and it blossomed into a social community of sorts. Primarily I use it for news and the social aspect is a strong second.
posted by Keyser Soze at 12:08 AM on November 11, 2004

Still writing that research paper huh Miguel. :)
posted by seanyboy at 12:18 AM on November 11, 2004

90% Procrastination. 10% all of the above.
posted by dobbs at 12:19 AM on November 11, 2004

More and more, merely entertainment.
posted by scottymac at 12:36 AM on November 11, 2004

I just come here to see if the JRun error happens. I'm disappointed when the screen goes blue and I see the word "Bush" everywhere.
posted by SpaceCadet at 1:01 AM on November 11, 2004

All of the above - from the original post, that is.
posted by yoga at 5:09 AM on November 11, 2004

All procrastination, all the time.
posted by cell at 5:11 AM on November 11, 2004

Fun, and flirting with straight guys.
posted by WolfDaddy at 5:47 AM on November 11, 2004

Hey there WolfDaddy, are those your hackles, or are you just glad to see me?
posted by papercake at 5:57 AM on November 11, 2004

Oh, and my answer: it's much more of an obsession-compulsion at this point. It's not enjoyable but I can't stop. Unless I cut myself. And I'm trying not to do that on Thursdays.
posted by papercake at 5:58 AM on November 11, 2004

I fantasize about other members and masturbate.
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:03 AM on November 11, 2004

Do you people really categorise your time like that? I just have all my time be "do stuff that makes me happy", though occasionally that includes doing stuff that makes stuff happen that makes me happy, or doing stuff that makes stuff happen that makes stuff happen that makes me happy (or once in a while doing stuff that I think will make stuff thappen that'll make me happy but doesn't, sadly).

I definately don't differentiate between information time, social time, vegetation time and time wasting. What if you socially interact with someone and they give you some information (about vegetation, for completeness sake) that seems useful but turns out to be a waste of time? Life in your brain's bookkeeping area must be quite hectic.
posted by fvw at 6:11 AM on November 11, 2004

I was gonna just comment: "wank time." But after y6's I'm afraid people might think I'm part of some trend.
posted by soyjoy at 6:41 AM on November 11, 2004

Great, soyjoy, now I'm imagining you, I dunno, licking your desk and grunting or something. Better to be trendy, in this case, methinks.

Oh, and papercake, those hackles are always up. You need to worry about my bristles.
posted by WolfDaddy at 7:23 AM on November 11, 2004

Also, Metafilter is not like the wind.

Nobody puts Metafilter in the corner.
posted by rocketman at 7:40 AM on November 11, 2004

I've never understood this urge to categorize every possible activity. Consequently, I don't do so. I'm around here a lot of the time, but it's just Something I Do. I don't allocate a certain amount of time to it out of my "staring at green things" budget or "evading profitable activities" budget -- the very concept of such a thing seems alien.

Do people really arrange their activities into little buckets like this? Why?
posted by majick at 7:48 AM on November 11, 2004

I don't group things like that. I have a MeFi window/feed open pretty often when I'm using my computer. However, I could be using my computer to buy plane tickets, IM with friends, write a talk I have to give, read the newspaper, email my Mom, listen to music, balance my checkbook or organize my life. I definitely see AskMe a little bit more related to my work life than the rest of the site, but since I'm a librarian, that shouldn't be too surprising.
posted by jessamyn at 7:54 AM on November 11, 2004

Nobody puts Metafilter in the corner.

Except for Stan Chin.
posted by eddydamascene at 7:54 AM on November 11, 2004

52.7% Information gathering
27.6% Critical Analysis Skills honing
39.2% Pure Entertainment
08.4% Obsessive compulsive behavior

And let me just say: It is frightening how many of you can quote from "Dirty Dancing."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:01 AM on November 11, 2004

Do people really arrange their activities into little buckets like this? Why?

nah, i'm pretty sure they only do that when forced to think about it by charming portuguese writers. it's also just "something i do", but yah it's for a reason, the information. along the way there's been the side benefit of gathering some groovy hostees (dong_resin) and IM & email friends (shane, the god complex, & amber) so it's social too, altho' that's more offsite than on.

And let me just say: It is frightening how many of you can quote from "Dirty Dancing."

yah, that's more than a little disconcerting :-D and i have to disagree, mefi is often like the wind, just a broken one.
posted by t r a c y at 8:12 AM on November 11, 2004

NewsFlash!

Ignore that previous poll, because apparently some of us did not have our cell phones "on." Some of us, in fact, confused our cell phones with our pagers, confusing our pagers with our iPods, confusing our iPods with our Blueberries, confusing our Booberries with our Frankenberries. The real results are:

57.8% Smug Self-Satisfaction Vindication
26.2% Typing Practice
11.1% Unholy Jihad Against "The Otherness" of the Others
33.4% Laziness
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:13 AM on November 11, 2004

I carried a watermelon to Metafilter.
posted by orange swan at 8:32 AM on November 11, 2004

you know the scene in The Green Mile, when the evil guard doesn't put the sponge on the head of the man to be executed?

It's like that.
posted by crunchland at 8:39 AM on November 11, 2004

what, exactly, is my tree?

(oh, and migs, my reasons are socioinformational)
posted by namespan at 9:04 AM on November 11, 2004

I'm with mr.marx, it's procrastination time. Also, every lunchbreak and dinner break-time.
posted by dabitch at 9:06 AM on November 11, 2004

Great, soyjoy, now I'm imagining you, I dunno, licking your desk and grunting or something.

Whatever floats your stoat, WolfDaddy.

And orange swan, that's not a reference to "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight," is it? Well, it should be.
posted by soyjoy at 9:40 AM on November 11, 2004

Better the gurgling of a camel than the prayers of a fish.
posted by rushmc at 9:48 AM on November 11, 2004

Perhaps it's because I'm Jewish but I'm amazed no one has yet mentioned guilt. And that strange feeling you get when a loved one, unaddicted to the online drug, asks what you've been doing all night and you mumble something about composing a "post" or making a "comment". Specially irksome is the rejoinder of the type "Funny how my parents have been asking you for a week what hotel they should stay in in Madeira and that you apparently spent an hour researching the best recipe for a "caipirinha" for some stranger in the Smokey Mountains who said he's given up alcohol and an extra two debating whether William Shatner's version of "Common People" is better than Pulp's."

As Michael Caine keeps saying, there's no answer to that.

(Come to think of it, this might be the very first mention on the thing on MeFi. It must be a guilt-free zone.) ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:22 AM on November 11, 2004

Its everything at different times. Sometimes its an incredibly useful source of information, sometimes its an incredibly infuriating checking in on some threads that just ooze with hate, sometimes its finding something fun to take my mind off the shitty state of this nation and the world.

And sometimes I even learn better manners. Such as trying to live up to your Perfect Gentleman Fenriq title you laid on me sarcastically last week.
posted by fenriq at 10:55 AM on November 11, 2004

The feelings I get from my time on MetaFilter:
15% joy of discovering something that can make my life better
10% joy of discovering something that has nothing to do with my life (and smug pleasure at my willingness to avoid "over-filtering" the Web)
15% pure entertainment (you guys & gals are fun)
10% guilty pleasure (...especially when you're not)
15% self-examination (finding a subject I can contribute to)
10% creativity (can I top the latest snarky comment?)
15% sociability (within my comfort zone)
10% shock, guilt and regret (at how much time I'm spending here, and how long it takes me to write posts & comments)

Excuse me, but I have to get back to work...
posted by wendell at 11:31 AM on November 11, 2004

By reacting as you did, fenriq, you proved that, of the two of us, you are much closer to being a gentleman than I am and make me truly regret my arrogant rudeness towards you. Thanks. :)

*tears a leaf from fenriq's book and bows*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:33 AM on November 11, 2004

Man, I'm tired.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:55 AM on November 11, 2004

Ahh, but Miguel, I'm a work in progress and really appreciate you folks taking the time to help straighten me out.

For what its worth, I didn't read it as arrogant rudeness, I read it as sardonic sarcasm. I've not come in too much contact with you before but I have always thought that your comments are well thought out, considerate and the model to strive for.

For some reason I've now got Rocky theme music running in my head.
posted by fenriq at 12:00 PM on November 11, 2004

I'm amazed no one has yet mentioned guilt.

I am opposed to guilt and it's not a significant part of my worldview.
posted by rushmc at 1:46 PM on November 11, 2004

It was an addiction, no, an unhealthy obsession really, until I took someone's advice and GMOFWL. Now it's just a quick scan to see if something interesting pops out at me.
posted by psmealey at 7:29 PM on November 11, 2004

Metafilter is the main way I get to sort if interact with really smart people (well, some of you anyway) who (mostly) know how to write and think. And some of you make me laugh. It cheers me up to see so many homolefties in one place, fighting the good fight.

I don't post much because usually someone else says what I was going to say, only better than I could have said it.
posted by beth at 8:46 PM on November 11, 2004

Oops. That's supposed to be "sort of", not "sort if".
posted by beth at 8:47 PM on November 11, 2004

Entering with hope, dread, and anticipation, sometimes awed, occasionally amused, often aggravated; so much like a (virtually) busy life.
posted by semmi at 8:38 AM on November 12, 2004

I only read MeFi at work. My job is feast or famine - spurts of ridiculous amounts of work in a very short time and lulls with absolutely nothing to do - so I love MeFi for the famine times. There is always something to keep me entertained, even if it's just a snark-fest between members. I *heart* AskMe - IMHO, it is the best feature of MeFi.
posted by widdershins at 10:52 AM on November 12, 2004

I copy it all into Word so that it looks like I'm working when my boss gives me a glancing glance.
posted by DenOfSizer at 4:42 PM on November 12, 2004