September 11, 2001

6:57 PM

I would just like to offer mad propz to The Haughey for keeping the site up and running today. Where Microsoft failed, a lone hobbyist working for free came through.
posted by jjg to MetaFilter-related at 6:57 PM (20 comments total)

Matt, can you provide us with any rough info on much traffic MeFi has been getting in the past 12 hours? Or how much of a spike there has been compared with regular days?
posted by gluechunk at 7:49 PM on September 11, 2001

The real mad prizops need to go to everyone here.

The past few weeks have been pretty stressful for me, as friend after old friend has told me they don't like the site anymore, and how it had slid into slashdot snippiness and wasn't as great a place as it used to be. At frayday, I was thinking of shutting down the site in a couple months due to my frustration with it.

When Janelle Brown emailed a local list this morning fishing for strong reactions online, I pointed her to the thread discussing it. I was thinking about how things had progressed in the recent past, and figured it was only a matter of time before some name-calling and dicey posts would show up. She printed it word for word, and I feel like an ass for not giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.

Today proved to me that vocal, opinionated people here could keep a sense of calm and worry, and help each other disseminate information. I didn't even see as much rumor mongering that I thought I'd see. Overall, it was helpful and cordial, and I thank everyone for participating in it.

Tomorrow, there's supposed to be an article in a San Diego newspaper talking about the positive aspects to sharing info about the tragedy online, and that will be an interview I'm very proud of.
posted by mathowie at 7:54 PM on September 11, 2001

Let me do a quick stats check. The stats up to yesterday were showing 31,000 pageviews a day. Let me run stats for just today.
posted by mathowie at 7:55 PM on September 11, 2001

the traffic amounted to about 70,000 pageviews (up until 4pm today), and since 4pm, there's been 45,000 more.
posted by mathowie at 8:18 PM on September 11, 2001

matt, go for all the mad propz you can get. I'll totally second jjg. all day, when msnbc & cnn were sketchy, I kept coming back to mefi to get snippets of news (& occassional rumors) and intelligent discussion.

I've seen some of the sniping here too, and felt sort of sad for you about it. I'm so very sorry that you've been driven to think of closing it all down.

I'm a newbie, still finding my legs as a poster (no front page links yet), and I love mefi, even at it's most snippy & silly. it's a wonderful mix of things - I feel more informed when I visit, and my view of the world is often expanded by the discussions I've read.

frankly, I think your gentle, mostly hands-off, moderation of the site is a good thing, and helps keep us level. at least, it helps keep me level, because I know that you're a real person, and I don't want to break your labor of love.

be proud of creating this weird wonderful thing, of bringing together all these people. and thank you.
posted by epersonae at 8:36 PM on September 11, 2001

Hey Matt,

after I get a job (fingers crossed should be soon), the check is in the mail. Mefi was my main source of information today. Good discussion, good info, glad to be here. Smart thinking with the 5 min refresh, I thought the site degraded very well under heavy load. Mad propz indeed.
posted by daver at 10:10 PM on September 11, 2001

I just want to see Jesse actually say the phrase "mad propz" (with full enunciation on the z, or alternatively with a boy-eeeeez on the end...)
posted by fooljay at 1:28 AM on September 12, 2001

Dear Matt

Please banish those suicidal thoughts. Yesterday MeFi and its members showed how to balance information and opinion with real solidarity and intelligence. The ability to reflect - in the optical and mental senses - is something vastly more valuable and difficult than the mere journalistic capacity to "cover" extraordinary events.
I felt that members were on their best behaviour - specially regarding their generosity in sharing information, doubts and fears - and that this is entirely due to the spirit which animates your site.
Yesterday a rhythm was established - information-gathering followed by MeFi regrouping -which will stand as a model for web-based communication.
Be proud!
Coz we would have all been even more lost and befuddled without this island of instant freedom, sanity and compassion.
So, hey, if you're too modest to take it in English, please accept it in Portuguese:
Obrigado!

posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:52 AM on September 12, 2001

Great job Matt,

The recent tragedy only proves that you have created a cohesive entity. I have always appreciated what you have created, but the attack shows that you have created a tightly-knit community willing to share information and help one another. I depend on the site for news, and in this case, sane discussion. Thanks for creating a voice that is so worthwile.
posted by ttrendel at 2:56 AM on September 12, 2001

Matt: good job keeping the thing going, this place helped a lot of people yesterday.
posted by owillis at 4:11 AM on September 12, 2001

I didn't post in any of the threads, because I couldn't grasp the enormity of the events. I still can't. But my friend (a stranger to MeFi) and I have been visiting the site regularly today, to get a break from the vapidity and repetition of the news.

This community has provided us with insight, information, and, above all, comfort during this most painful time. This is a special place.

I would like to thank Metafilter as a whole, and Matt as an individual for providing a few moments of sanity in an otherwise insane reality.
posted by Optamystic at 5:12 AM on September 12, 2001

Not to throw cold water on the party, but the last thing I thought to do yesterday was to look here.

When I did finally look in last night, what I saw was a mixture of some half-useful information, some rampant speculation, some genuinely insightful stuff, some amazing first-hand accounts, and people who could find the time in the middle of a national panic attack to still snipe at one another over petty crap.

But I don't think that's an indictment of what goes on here; I think it's a fairly realistic picture of how the world goes on even when events seem to be running out of control. The bigger MetaFilter gets, the more it is like a mirror, but what we see in the mirror isn't always pretty.

I think whatever credit Matt deserves is for being able to be okay with that far longer than most people would have the patience for. As far as yesterday goes, all it proves is that the world is a very large, very diverse, and very scary place.
posted by briank at 6:44 AM on September 12, 2001

Bravo, briank. But being passive is hell. You watch TV, you read the papers but, all over the world, what people really want to do is to know about other people's reactions. This includes rants; desperately stupid questions; badly expressed dilemmas.
"The bigger NetaFilter gets, the more it is like a mirror, but what we see in the mirror isn't always pretty".
Isn't that the perfect definition of truth? That's what I meant when I said MeFi is able to reflect a community of preoccupied citizens. You go off on a tangent; someone else convinces you to get off your high horse; yet another proves that you were wrong... isn't that precisely what you don't get on the traditional media, with its awful consensus and its even worse planned dissent?
Words that cropped up on TV and in the Press - like "sophisticated", ""network" and "symbol" - were mercifully absent from our debate.
Being "fairly realistic", as you say, strikes me as the noblest pursuit of anyone involved in the exchange of information and opinion.
Who wants a pretty picture if it isn't true to life?
Life is messy. That's why it takes so many of us to collectively describe it.
Like here.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:59 AM on September 12, 2001

All I can repeat is your site must live on. It is as sobering, funny, angry, desperate as we all are. Dont let anyone get you down. You are and will remain my home (page).

PS Add a way for us to send MeFi donations that is not "anonymous". We should be proud to do so.
posted by Voyageman at 7:51 AM on September 12, 2001

Just a little 'me too' post to add mine to the chorus of voices thanking Matt and all of MetaFilter for the news and the support over the last day.

I think it helps us all deal with horrific events like this to be able to gather together with friends and community members, to share our information and to seek comfort and reassurance, and that's just what happened here.

with the exception of some hateful xenophobic chest-pounding but i'm ignoring all of those people and recommend the rest of you do the same.
posted by Sapphireblue at 8:04 AM on September 12, 2001

Matt, I don't agree with you on much. But when MSNBC was choking on its own digital guts, when CNN had static pages up, when even Mercury Center was an hour out of update, I was getting fresh news and comment from here and passing it on to my office. You did a great job yesterday, and many thanks to you. In addition, there were a lot of people yesterday who were doing their best getting news in and helping out with phone calls, info, etc. If you were one of those poeple, please accept my thanks as well.

On behalf of the hateful xenophobic chestpounders, I'd like to additionally thank Matt for not making this place a one-note drum and allowing alternative viewpoints even when they're not popular or, in some cases, even reasonable. It's why I'm a member here instead of at freep. Imagine how bored we'd be if we all agreed on everything.
posted by UncleFes at 11:49 AM on September 12, 2001

Matt --

Many thanks for keeping this running. MeFi has been a great resource as I am still stuck in SF a country away from my wife, who is just outside of DC. MeFi has been a good source to look into to see how others I know are doing and to add that wonderful MeFi human touch to the world around us.

Thanks!!!
posted by vanderwal at 5:43 PM on September 12, 2001

I agree whole-heartedly. MeFi has become the major news source for me in the past few days. Some of the togetherness that has been seen on MeFi within the last 48 hours is really touching. Between adampsyche's experiences and others within the NYC area that have been offering help, this community has been more helpful than any physical community I have ever experienced.

For all of our differences, the qualities that made us all MeFi-addicts are firmly in place.

Thank you Matt.
posted by ttrendel at 1:03 AM on September 13, 2001

Just another cheer for Metafilter and it's incredible range of topics. From the dire seriousness of the attacks Tuesday and it's aftermath, to the bizarrely funny article about the Playstation 3 and it's incredible abilities (plays old VHS tapes of Perfect Strangers along with The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley for Gameboy AND a 1972 Clue board game).

Thanks for your utterly fascinating contribution to the Internet, Matt!
posted by the biscuit man at 11:46 PM on September 13, 2001

fantastic place!
and i think i am starting to get the hang of it.
i have showed the 'truth' thread to a philosophy lecturer with 30 years 'in the trade'. he said socrates would use metafilter if he were around! he's not prone to conjecture, normally.
posted by asok at 2:13 PM on September 20, 2001