Redesign status update request

February 5, 2005 3:57 PM

You'll see it when I'm done with it, I don't know what else to say. Sorry it's taken so long, but I've been a bit busy the past month.

Didn't you say you were using some of the newbie windfall to hire a coding helper to help advance all the vaporware projects? Is this happening or have you changed your mind and decided to continue to do it all yourself in your spare time?
posted by rushmc to Feature Requests at 3:57 PM (30 comments total)

I'm not so much interested in what the final redesign will look like than more in what the better redesign entries were. Can we have the results of the redesign contest, please? Some entries were highlighted earlier. Matt indicated to me by email that he was going to post them on the 16th of Jan.
posted by Gyan at 4:07 PM on February 5, 2005

Good god, rush, do you ever stop grouching? HE'S WORKING ON IT!

(I like the [closed] notices, by the way. Definitely a plus.)
posted by me3dia at 4:14 PM on February 5, 2005

hire a coding helper

That takes time, too. Even once you find someone, the investment of the necessary knowledge transfer and any training doesn't begin to pay for itself for quite a while.

And considering we, as a community, just nixed a significant source of cash, I think it's poor form to be tapping our toes waiting for Matt to hire up.
posted by scarabic at 4:17 PM on February 5, 2005

Some of you people are assholes with these sorts of posts.
posted by xmutex at 4:22 PM on February 5, 2005

The thread you linked to is:

1. Still on the page.

2. Closed.

If you've made donations, I admire your charity. But they are donations, not purchases.
posted by Tlogmer at 4:37 PM on February 5, 2005

Jeezus, rushmc.

Ponies are poppin' up like posies after a spring rain and you aren't happy? This question is rude, Matt has made it clear that he has no intention of opening the books for public scrutiny and his hiring paractices fall into the same category: none of your business.

The site works. Whatever voodoo needed to be done to make it stable and absorb an influx of new users has been done. Tags are added, the announce deal is close to ready, closed thread tags seem new today.

I know all the cool kids are bashing mathowie this week, but maybe we could give it a rest and let the guy work in peace.
posted by cedar at 4:38 PM on February 5, 2005

Could we leave the man alone for an hour? I don't know how all of these new ponies keep popping up every day (what m3dia said about the [closed] tags) when Matt's so busy dealing with our constant whining. All the changes are exciting, but can we calm down a little? Matt respects us with his enormous and undeserved patience; can we give him just a little patience back?

on preview, what cedar said too.
posted by obloquy at 4:42 PM on February 5, 2005

What scarabic, xmutex, cedar and obloquy said.
posted by fandango_matt at 4:47 PM on February 5, 2005

You people are weird. Or maybe you need to learn how to read.
posted by rushmc at 4:51 PM on February 5, 2005

Or, to spell it out for you:

1) This question had nothing to do with the previous closed question, which regarded the design contest results.

2) It is not either an accusation or a demand, therefore ponies or the lack thereof are not at issue.

3) As I recall, in the original comment mathowie indicated that he already had the person he was going to hire in mind. Many people offered to help if that fell through for whatever reason, and I'm sure that still stands.
posted by rushmc at 4:55 PM on February 5, 2005

How about I spell this one out for you:

"Matt, are you still seeking the help of a paid programmer? How's the search for someone coming? Any pony-training relief for you on the horizon?"

I don't think you're going to weasel your way out of the fact that "all the vaporware projects" was a less-than-polite way to put it.
posted by scarabic at 5:04 PM on February 5, 2005

Yeah, rushmc. That's it. Seven people misconstrue your words and it's clearly our fault rather than a result of your failure to express yourself.

But, you know, it's clearly better to just insult people rather than take the opportunity to explain.

On preview: okay, forget that last part.

Nonetheless, it's still an obnoxious question that smacks of a mistaken sense of entitlement. Ponies have everything to do with it. Your phrasing ("vaporware") implies that progress is moving at a pace you find unsatisfactory. Why you expect your opinion on the internal workings of anothers site baffles me, but your the one who chose to make it public.

Clearly changes are being made and how mathowie chooses to task his help really isn't any of our business. Nor is the existence, or lack thereof, of that help.
posted by cedar at 5:04 PM on February 5, 2005

Why don't you two just shut up? The question wasn't addressed to you, and I wasn't seeking your misguided input (or, as you put it cedar, "insults"). Thanks so very much.
posted by rushmc at 5:16 PM on February 5, 2005

I would just like to innocently point out that every minute Matt spends answering questions here is another minute he's not working on the ponies. So just, you know, keep that in mind.
posted by scody at 5:37 PM on February 5, 2005

Gee, rushmc... it never occurred to me that the only person who could respond was Matt. I had this funny idea that if you wanted a one-on-one type of dialogue you might choose to email rather than post to a public forum.

Maybe you should ask that the 'coding helper' code you in a nice little moderate button -- that way you could have your own little echo chamber where you could ask questions and spout wisdom without fear of ever hearing a dissenting voice or ever needing to explain yourself.
posted by cedar at 5:40 PM on February 5, 2005

So tell me, cedar, what did your response(s) contribute? You didn't know the answer to the question, so you couldn't (and didn't) provide it. So what did you (and the others) offer besides noise? Seriously?

I had this funny idea that if you wanted a one-on-one type of dialogue you might choose to email rather than post to a public forum.

I considered it, but I happen to know for a fact that there are others wondering about this. Most of what gets posted to MetaTalk could be emailed directly to mathowie if there were no advantage to sharing the answers with the community.
posted by rushmc at 5:49 PM on February 5, 2005

Let's see--first you voted against the SG ads, and unless I missed something I didn't see you offering to donate and you refused to pay $39 for a yearly subscription, and now you ask an obnoxious question essentially demanding to know why the projects on which Matt is working for his site--on which you continue to post for free--are not meeting your timetable, and to cap it all you tell people to "shut up" when they call you out for acting like an ass. Unbelievable.
posted by fandango_matt at 5:51 PM on February 5, 2005

No, I don't know the answer to the question.

I also don't know if mathowie is a tightie-whitie kind of guy or prefers boxers. I would no more ask him that than I would ask him about his finances or hiring practices.
posted by cedar at 5:54 PM on February 5, 2005

Dear Mr Rush,
Why don't you stop your moaning.
You arrogant, ignorant, self important twat.
Love,
posted by seanyboy at 5:56 PM on February 5, 2005

Krrrlson wipes the tears from baby Jesus' face.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:58 PM on February 5, 2005

So what did you (and the others) offer besides noise? Seriously?

They were commenting that the form and phrasing of your question was rude and innapropriate. That seems appropriate here unless you are suggesting they start another Metatalk thread about it.

You arrogant, ignorant, self important twat.

Thats out of line.
posted by vacapinta at 6:00 PM on February 5, 2005

Come on, rushmc. It's about context. How can you expect us to *not* see this post in light of the ALL-CAPS anger you recently directed at Matt? It's hard to believe you didn't anticipate how this would read.

Take a deep breath, rush. Trust me on this one. Every new comment just makes it worse.
posted by mediareport at 6:06 PM on February 5, 2005

FWIW, I thought it was a pissy-sounding callout.
posted by subgenius at 6:08 PM on February 5, 2005

First of all, mediareport, that was not anger but emphasis. Secondly, since the comment you link has nothing to do with this, I don't see the connection you're trying to imply.

I am not responsible for people's desire to imagine antagonism and criticism where none exists. I asked a simple question, that is all.
posted by rushmc at 6:11 PM on February 5, 2005

rush, if that's how you ask "simple questions" then I feel sorry for those that come into contact with you.
posted by xmutex at 6:18 PM on February 5, 2005

I guess the makeup sex is all finished now?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:24 PM on February 5, 2005

rushmc: Please bear in mind that this is intended to be helpful, rather than a jab.

You've seemed... unhappy here lately. You might consider stepping back from MetaFilter for a while and taking a break. It might give you some perspective.

There's a reason why everyone (including me) thought that your tone was dismissive and your question unreasonable. It's true that a lot of those reasons are as rooted in context and history as they are in your unnecessarily provocative phrasing, but the impression nevertheless remains, in a lot of people's minds, that you're reacting unreasonably a lot of the time. And since you're not seeing that, and since you haven't seen it for a while (as your replies to mediareport and, prior to that, to Matt, point out) a short break might give you some perspective and increase your appreciation of MetaFilter. Just a suggestion.
posted by gd779 at 6:24 PM on February 5, 2005

Why don't you two just shut up?

I stand uncorrected by this last resort of the rhetorically bankrupt.

So tell me, cedar, what did your response(s) contribute? You didn't know the answer to the question, so you couldn't (and didn't) provide it.

No, rush, AskMe is the green site. Now I understand why you've got such a cactus in your ass about people commenting on the issue you raised. As has been said, the next time you want to treat with mathowie under "everyone else shut up" conditions, try electronic mail.
posted by scarabic at 6:27 PM on February 5, 2005

Krrrlson wipes the tears from baby Jesus' face.

Won't anyone think of the BABY JESUS?!?!

Christ.
posted by Quartermass at 6:39 PM on February 5, 2005

This question had nothing to do with the previous closed question, which regarded the design contest results.

Do you really think that? You asked the same question again, with an added air of indignation about what I wasted helper coding on.

Like I said before, I'm working on it myself. I don't have to explain everything that goes on behind the scenes, but if you're going to continue to bust my balls at every opportunity, then I'll tell you that what I got was coding help from someone. They're 80% finished rewriting all the major database intensive queries and they've helped me here and there with quite a bit of the enhancements lately, but I didn't enlist extra design help and I answered the question already that I'm hoping to complete the new site this weekend, with the new design on it and announce the winners.

And rushmc, we've butted heads many times and for the most part I give you enough rope to hang yourself like you're doing now, but I guess I'll come right out and say that again your criticisms are falling on deaf ears. I'm tuning you out once again because you're no longer helping any. For whatever reason you feel the need, I'm sure you'll continue to say "I told you so" at every opportunity and tell me how I should be doing things the rushmc way and point out every little moment that might deviate from absolute 100% consistency that you would display. But I'm no longer listening or paying attention to any of it. Carry on if you like but you're wasting my time, your time, and everyone else's time.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:44 PM on February 5, 2005