Copying unrelated comments from another site May 2, 2005 10:35 AM   Subscribe

Someone's bein' creepy! [+]
posted by Mayor Curley to Etiquette/Policy at 10:35 AM (124 comments total)

Is there any reason to grab an irrelevant comment from an unrelated site and post it here, except to tell someone that you've worked at tracking down their real identity? And is it okay to do?

So I made a comment that I felt was obviously commenting on peoples' consumer habits when they're confronted with cancer studies. dfowler took exception to this, largely because I had been making fun of white, American buddhists in his previous thread. It didn't occur to me that the author of the posts was the same until it was pointed out. And I wasn't attacking the post's author in either example. I can understand where my approach in the first thread might have been construed a caustic. Whatever, that's Metafilter.

However, here, dfowler is making reference to a post I made on a different message board. As in:

1. - he googled the url of the personal site listed on my user page

2. - then googled my name-- it comes up in the google description, but isn't visible on the page itself

3. - sorted through the results for all the people sharing my name and found a post I had made with my real name in it on a Red Sox board

4. - quoted part of the post here while admonishing me.

The only reason to do that is to send a thinly-veiled threat-- to say "I know who you are..." I'm not particularly worried for my safety-- dfowler's welcome to try and rough me up with his pillowcase full of 20-sided dice. But I thought other folks might want to know that there's a stalker about.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:35 AM on May 2, 2005




I think dfowler's intention was to say, "hey why are you dropping in on people's threads just to troll?"
posted by dfowler at 10:42 AM on May 2, 2005


*yawn*
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:43 AM on May 2, 2005


Do you think bevets thought it was cute for you to offer to rape his/her dead mother?

Go ahead and ban me, but ban Mayor Curley too while you're at it.
posted by dfowler at 10:44 AM on May 2, 2005


Wow. How many posts do you think this thread will get before Matt shuts it down. My money's on 746. Get busy, people!

And you *have* been rather caustic lately, Mayor Curley; I can't say I can blame someone else for trying to find a way to get under *your* skin. Just sayin'.
posted by Doohickie at 10:48 AM on May 2, 2005


What Doohickie said. It's hard to feel sympathetic for someone who seems to go out of his way to be an asshole all the time.
posted by Galvatron at 10:49 AM on May 2, 2005


The only reason to do that is to send a thinly-veiled threat

Oh, bullshit.
posted by mediareport at 10:52 AM on May 2, 2005


Man, this is all gonna end with someone's boss getting an e-mail, I just know it...
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:52 AM on May 2, 2005


heat, fire, kitchen, etc...
posted by quonsar at 10:53 AM on May 2, 2005


What the shit? People are getting upset over that "dead mother" comment? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST PEOPLE GO OUTSIDE ONCE IN A WHILE

Oh, and dfowler's being a dumbfuck but this is the internet. So go take photos of his house and maybe make a blog about him.
posted by cmonkey at 10:58 AM on May 2, 2005


This happened to another user not long ago. Seems he googled the name listed on a Mefi user's site which brought up many links about/to that person's weblog. Then the user mentioned a fact from the apparently well-known weblog here and was immediately accused of stalking and sending hate emails and posting hate messages to the site.

The thing about it was that any hate message or hate email would have been able to be traced, right? Well, nobody wanted to find out who had posted the alleged hate message or sent the alleged hate mail, and so these events, if they actually happened, were conveniently assumed to have been the user, despite the fact that this user pressed for someone to look into where the hate messages or emails had originated.

Googling a user's name does not equal stalking or sending hate emails.
posted by dfowler at 11:04 AM on May 2, 2005



posted by AlexReynolds at 11:04 AM on May 2, 2005


Oh, damn... I forgot to put in a bet as to when Alex would come out with the Drama Queen sign!
posted by Doohickie at 11:06 AM on May 2, 2005


I'm not particularly worried for my safety-- dfowler's welcome to try and rough me up with his pillowcase full of 20-sided dice.

NERD FIGHT!
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:07 AM on May 2, 2005


This happened to another user not long ago.

Yep, sure did. dfowler neglects to mention that the user that happened to was dfowler's "buddy," who disappeared from the site just before dfowler started his current posting streak. Hmmmmmm....
posted by soyjoy at 11:09 AM on May 2, 2005


Oh, and what a lovely gem from that little fiasco:

There is nothing wrong with stalking. As long as get a 'yes' or get her drunk before you take it to the next level, it's all good.
posted by dios at 3:00 PM EST on March 4 [!]

posted by AlexReynolds at 11:13 AM on May 2, 2005


That's true, soyjoy.

You know why mcgraw was banned? Because he googled the name given on Dejah420's user page which brought up many links about/to "Dear Owen". Without any more effort other than reading the google link list, mcgraw noted that the author of the fictional "Dear Owen" claimed to have a manservant. After asking Dejah420 about the manservant, immediately mcgraw was claimed to have posted hate messages and to have sent hate emails to Dejah.

In many emails to admin, mcgraw asked for the hate emails and hate messages to be scrutinized to find out who did it. Nobody cared. Nobody looked into where they originated, apparently, because if they had they would have found that they didn't originate from mcgraw.

Googling a user's name as listed on their user page is what got mcgraw banned. His requests to find out who had harassed Dejah (if it actually happened) were ignored.
posted by dfowler at 11:19 AM on May 2, 2005


So which one of those guys is you and which one is mcgraw?
posted by Witty at 11:22 AM on May 2, 2005


I'm mcgraw. But not for long, it appears.

Thanks everyone. Great hanging out with you all.
posted by dfowler at 11:25 AM on May 2, 2005


dfowler neglects to mention that the user that happened to was dfowler's "buddy," who disappeared from the site just before dfowler started his current posting streak. Hmmmmmm....

Similar attitudes towards their contacts, too:





Nice catch, soyjoy. We've had differences before, but I'd kiss you full on the lips today.

McGraw/dfowler, this has made my day. I would like to be the sole object of a stalker's attention, but a fickle serial stalker is a start.
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:27 AM on May 2, 2005


Please don't leave just yet. The pile-on hasn't even started.
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:27 AM on May 2, 2005


I would like to be the sole object of a stalker's attention, but a fickle serial stalker is a start.


posted by AlexReynolds at 11:28 AM on May 2, 2005


Googling a user's name as listed on their user page is what got mcgraw banned.

Oh, bullshit. Posting a frantic personal message to the front page is what got mcgraw banned. Seems you and the Mayor deserve each other.
posted by mediareport at 11:29 AM on May 2, 2005


Gosh. Remember back when we had real drama? This has all the elements of past MeFiascos, but with none of the interest.
posted by anapestic at 11:30 AM on May 2, 2005


Well, I never stalked anybody, Mayor Curley.

But you, you're telling people you're gonna rape their wife. Anybody want to come up with a list of Mayor Curley's offenses?
posted by dfowler at 11:31 AM on May 2, 2005


Yowza, that meltdown happened so fast I nearly missed it!

Oh, wait.
dfowler is still here.
I'll make some popcorn.
posted by Floydd at 11:34 AM on May 2, 2005


#1 is out of the office just now, dfowler, so you're here for at least another day, one would guess. but talking to the Mayor probably won't help. it never does.
posted by koeselitz at 11:34 AM on May 2, 2005


dfowler/mcgraw you still have the breezeway account.

I am glad I do not have a blog
posted by mlis at 11:35 AM on May 2, 2005


Well that's all very weird.
P'raps it's not such a hot idea to threaten rape/murder of anyone. Funny how it seems to offend. More kudos to intelligent and witty skullduggery rather than pure redline abuse.
posted by peacay at 11:35 AM on May 2, 2005


But you, you're telling people you're gonna rape their wife.

That's totally inaccurate: I told someone I would sodomize their mother.
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:36 AM on May 2, 2005


Wait a fucking second Curley: is this why you never returned my copy of Zen & the Art of Motorcylce Maintenance? Asshole.

Aside to Alex from Nowheresville: you weren't funny before, you're not funny now. You're just tolerated because you myna bird it up anytime someone says anything so it's easier than going through 12 rounds of "I know you are but what am I?".
posted by yerfatma at 11:38 AM on May 2, 2005


dfowler/mcgraw, seriously: get out. No one gives a shit about your petty little internet grudges, and your repeated weird behavior is a pretty big indicator that you should not post here anymore and/or kill yourself.

The only thing good that came from this thread is that choice dios quote.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:39 AM on May 2, 2005


Right, because it's a perfectly normal response to say you'd sodomize someone's dead mother because they have an opinion other than yours.

Frightening.
posted by agregoli at 11:40 AM on May 2, 2005


That's totally inaccurate: I told someone I would sodomize their mother.
Well....dead mother if we're going for accuracy. But...
posted by peacay at 11:41 AM on May 2, 2005


Oh, yeah. That sodomize the dead mother thing. I totally forgot what this thread was about.

Mayor Curley, if you were more creative in your fuckwittity it might be possible to come to your defense. But that was just stupid and offensive.

(And dfowler is mcgraw?? Yow!)
posted by Floydd at 12:05 PM on May 2, 2005


In many emails to admin, mcgraw asked for the hate emails and hate messages to be scrutinized to find out who did it. Nobody cared. Nobody looked into where they originated, apparently, because if they had they would have found that they didn't originate from mcgraw.

Bullshit. Mcgraw/dfowler, I don't know how much email Matt sent you, but I sent you a LOT of email describing why you were banned, what happened leading up to the banning, why we didn't track down the IP of the offending "hate email", and even how you could get posting rights at MeFi if you wanted to start with a clean slate. I sent you more email than any other MeFi poster except mathowie, and you continued to misunderstand what I was saying for whatever reason.

Today is really not a good day to start this up again.
posted by jessamyn at 12:12 PM on May 2, 2005


I'd just like to point out that this thread is about how dfowler is stalking me. He is probably going to come to my neighborhood and engage in some Michael Skakel-style onanism in my trees. That's what this thread is about.

If we're going to debate my obviously totally earnest remarks about sodomy and possible necrophilia, please keep them in the context of whether or not it's okay to physically threaten me because you don't like what I say. Some of you have already essentially said that and that's fine because it's on topic.
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:24 PM on May 2, 2005


Stalking: following or observing a person persistently and surreptitiously, sometimes done out of obsession or derangement. Stalking may involve the intent to acquire private information or objects. Common victims of stalking include celebrities, ex-husbands/wives and ex-boy/girlfriends, and teachers. In more extreme cases, stalking leads to threats or violence.

Also...

Being followed or under surveillance on at least two occasions that have been reported to the police and at any time being threatened with or possessing a reasonable fear of bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint by another person(s).
posted by C17H19NO3 at 2:41 PM on May 2, 2005


wow. mefi's back up.

somehow, while it was down, I kept hoping this thread was just a bad dream. can we please try to put this in the past?

posted by koeselitz at 2:42 PM on May 2, 2005


Has anyone seen my socks?
posted by mischief at 2:46 PM on May 2, 2005


Jesus Mayor Curley, did mommy and daddy not show you enough attention growing up? Seriously, what did you do before metafilter came into your life?

I know being a whore for attention is a tough job, but let it go, or at least take a break.
posted by justgary at 2:46 PM on May 2, 2005


I just wanted to chime in and note that Alex's constant use of the Drama Queen image is very funny and remarkably clever, and I hope he keeps it up. Please keep being incredibly amusing, Alex.

Don't ever change.
posted by xmutex at 2:46 PM on May 2, 2005


He is probably going to come to my neighborhood and engage in some Michael Skakel-style onanism in my trees. That's what this thread is about.

MC, do you really believe this? I'm sure with a half-hearted effort, it would be easy to suss out my real name, and while I would be miffed if it were posted (only because of admitted actions that the federal government looks down upon, like copyright infringement), I wouldn't be scared for my life... or knees.

Forgive me if there's more to this that I've missed.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:47 PM on May 2, 2005


dfowler/mcgraw, pffft, you whinger.

Mayor Curley, I don't think he's a stalker, but I do think it's a little creepy to try and track someone down for the purpose of saying "neener neener" during an admonishment...
posted by Specklet at 2:47 PM on May 2, 2005


I'd just like to point out that this thread is about how dfowler is stalking me ... That's what this thread is about.

Tough shit. Your dickheadedness is fair game.
posted by GeekAnimator at 2:48 PM on May 2, 2005


Grow up you two. Jessamyn is right, this is the wrong day for this bile. Step away from the keyboards and cool off.
posted by caddis at 2:49 PM on May 2, 2005


I just wanted to chime in and note that Alex's constant use of the Drama Queen image is very funny and remarkably clever, and I hope he keeps it up.

Xmutex, your thinly-veiled sarcasm earns you a sack filled with 20-sided drama queen logos:


posted by AlexReynolds at 2:54 PM on May 2, 2005


I would have figured that a MetaTalk callout with dead mother sodomy would be at least mildly interesting. meh. One and a half stars out of five.
posted by arse_hat at 2:56 PM on May 2, 2005


this thread is about how dfowler is stalking me

So googling info about someone you've argued with at Mefi now qualifies as "stalking"?

Uh, okay.
posted by mediareport at 2:57 PM on May 2, 2005


Oh, for fuck's sake!

I'm pretty sure Mayor Curley was making a (tasteless) joke about necrophiliac sodomy, not threatening to actually engage in it.

And dfowler having good Google-fu isn't stalking. Yes, what he did is in questionable taste and could be construed as threatening, but it could also be construed as showing off. Whatever it is, it's not stalking.

I really hope that dfowler will disavow any intention to stalk, and explain to Mayor Curley and all of us that he was showing off his search skillz without considering that it would look creepy (and it does look creepy).

I value both Mayor Curley's irreverent snark and dfowler's excellent links. Is having both too much for me to ask for?


As for dfowler being McGraw -- well maybe he is, and maybe he isn't, but if he is I'm now inclined to believe he didn't stalk Dejah420 (another Mefite whose comments I find insightful), because only someone made foolish by righteous indignation would bring up a previous allegation of stalking in response to a new allegation.
posted by orthogonality at 2:58 PM on May 2, 2005


Off topic:
So does dfowler get banned because he's really mcgraw?

On preview:
20-sided drama queen logos

Weak, Alex, weak. I thought you'd come up with something better than that.

posted by Specklet at 2:58 PM on May 2, 2005


wow, jessamyn is from VT also...I was beginning to feel like a loner.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 2:58 PM on May 2, 2005


DISCLAIMER

I found out jessamyn's location by checking her member page.

I'm not stalking, am I?
posted by C17H19NO3 at 2:59 PM on May 2, 2005


Anyone who investigates someone else off-site for material to use in debating / debunking / deflowering them here is up to no good.

Anyone who types the words: "I thought my second comment was some of my best work-- a sarcastic critique" is pulling pud in the Blue.

Not that anything's wrong with either of those.
posted by scarabic at 3:01 PM on May 2, 2005


I was aware of no veils upon my sarcasm.
posted by xmutex at 3:01 PM on May 2, 2005


Wow. Orthogonality has it dead-on, absolutely, completely correct.

I can only add: there are more important things to think about right now. How 'bout we all just calm down and bask?

posted by koeselitz at 3:01 PM on May 2, 2005


Mayor, stop poking dfowler. It's annoying and derailing.

dfowler, stop googling for ammunition against Mayor. It's annoying and derailing (and you derailed your own post)

there--did that work?
posted by amberglow at 3:01 PM on May 2, 2005


dfowler and Mayor Curley, f I were #1, you'd both get a week's time-out for all this shit-flinging. Quit it. Now.
posted by me3dia at 3:02 PM on May 2, 2005


Weak, Alex, weak. I thought you'd come up with something better than that.

It's a Monday and you've just earned yourself a treat:


posted by AlexReynolds at 3:02 PM on May 2, 2005


So...mcgraw/dfowler is breezeway too or not? I feel violated.

Seriously though guys, [deep breaths] & relax, go take a walk for Bob's sake.

If mcgraw/dfowler gets deepsixed again, i will always remember the day he called himself dflower fondly with moist eyes.
posted by schyler523 at 3:03 PM on May 2, 2005


I have always figured that Mayor Curley was previously Harry Hopkins' Hat. It is like a M. Night Shyamalan movie here with the twists and the pseudodrama.

I also accuse him of liking the Clash!
posted by thirteen at 3:05 PM on May 2, 2005


I also accuse him of liking the Clash!

That was low.

It's a Monday and you've just earned yourself a treat

You were an only-child, weren't you Al?
posted by dhoyt at 3:07 PM on May 2, 2005


Who are all you people?
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:09 PM on May 2, 2005


WolfDaddy: "Who are all you people?"

This gives me an opportunity to explain my own theory: everyone here, all 20,000 odd, we are just puppet accounts that matt created during that month in 1999 when he was bored with posting so much alone. They fight when Matt fights within himself; and all of the evil feelings have left him today and entered his avatar Metafilter-body that he created to post for him when he's too busy.
posted by koeselitz at 3:13 PM on May 2, 2005


Wait! What exactly did mcgraw do to get banned?
posted by C17H19NO3 at 3:13 PM on May 2, 2005


Koeselitz, thanks for the link -- I'd forgotten that BabyHaughey was due!
posted by scody at 3:17 PM on May 2, 2005



posted by I EAT TAPES at 3:18 PM on May 2, 2005


You're so cool, dhoyt! Here's a thumbs up from your hero-in-chief!


posted by AlexReynolds at 3:20 PM on May 2, 2005


That's not a thumbs-up. He's indicating the size of the national deficit.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 3:24 PM on May 2, 2005


so I EAT TAPES is also AlexReynolds?
posted by hellbient at 3:29 PM on May 2, 2005


I thought he was measuring heads before crushing them.

Unfortunately, Kerry's "Crush your head" move missed the mark, and Bush went on to win the election.
posted by schyler523 at 3:30 PM on May 2, 2005


About a year ago some guy from my wife's past found her email on a website for high school alumni and started sending her sexually explicit emails. When I told him to knock it off he responded with a bizarre message that indicated he had Googled me all over the web, from Motley Fool to some other places. It was creepy and unsettling as hell. Based on that alone I think it suggests something sociopathic about dfowler - just the fact that someone would engage in that sort of effort is somewhat pathologic.

I also thought that MC's comments to Bevets were spot-on. Why the fuck would one continue to speak to a moron in sensible terms? I thought the use of the most graphic and unsettling imagery imaginable was perfect.
posted by docpops at 3:31 PM on May 2, 2005


so I EAT TAPES is also AlexReynolds?

I enjoy a fiber-rich diet, sorry.
posted by AlexReynolds at 3:34 PM on May 2, 2005


I also thought that MC's comments to Bevets were spot-on. Why the fuck would one continue to speak to a moron in sensible terms? I thought the use of the most graphic and unsettling imagery imaginable was perfect.

docpops, thank you. Seriously. I was tired of explaining myself and you did it perfectly.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:39 PM on May 2, 2005


What Doohickie said. The Mayor's being such an asshole lately I don't really care what anybody says to or about him. You want to get treated right, start acting right. (For chrissake, the Red Sox won -- what does it take to get you to calm down and play nice?)
posted by languagehat at 3:39 PM on May 2, 2005


It was creepy and unsettling as hell. Based on that alone I think it suggests something sociopathic ...

YOU feel creepy and unsettled, and that makes HIM a sociopath. interesting.

...Googled me all over the web... ...engage in that sort of effort...

um hum. type name, click button, click results. clearly the actions of an obsessed sociopath.
posted by quonsar at 3:41 PM on May 2, 2005


Quonsar,

Next time someone sends your wife or lover sexually explicit emails then replies to your own efforts to stop with that sort of response let me know whether you think you are the one with the problem, you mutant pigfucker.

Now get back to being funny.

Yrs. in Christ.
posted by docpops at 3:46 PM on May 2, 2005


googling someone's name=sociopath
threating to sodomize someone's dead mother=totally perfect
posted by Snyder at 3:47 PM on May 2, 2005


it's interesting how those who attack the Mayor for his (admittedly quite rude) corpse-raping comment -- God knows the Mayor can be vitriolic, and we all know he's the only one around here of course -- forget to remember that it was a response to bevet's* shameful, misogynistic delirium about abortion. in a country that's one SCOTUS vote away to overturning Roe vs Wade (and one vote away to a bull-market in coat hangers), people can be quite nervous when somebody trolls about a targic topic such as abortion like bevet did (just re-read it).

if Christians feel besieged in Bush's America, well, pro-choice people have a right to feel a little nervous, too, I guess.

* (bevet, by the way, who appears to be just another sad sock puppet -- I'm happy people around here have money to burn buying all these accounts, by the way)

AND in that thread the Mayor threatened to ass-rape Jesus, too -- and nobody here defended Jesus. only bevet.
Jesus, at least, is no sock-puppet. we can discuss the "Son of God" thing, but it's not like he was John the Baptist's or Elijah's sock puppet
posted by matteo at 3:48 PM on May 2, 2005


koeselitz: "Wow. Orthogonality has it dead-on, absolutely, completely correct."

Ah, you won't say that once your see my similarly acerbic response to your own MetaCarpal. Oh wait, you did. ;)

Let'a all hold hands, sing and think relaxing thoughts about how matt won't be getting a full night's sleep for the next six months.

Huh. For some reason your comment and only your comment gives me a never-before seen MetaFilthy error, using MetaFilthy mode, as if the javascript itself cannot be found. Very strange.

posted by orthogonality at 3:50 PM on May 2, 2005


googling someone's name=sociopath
threating to sodomize someone's dead mother=totally perfect


Yeah, actually. Googling them, following multiple links, searching out their identity, etc....the sustained frustration and vengefulness that brings to mind is a hell of a lot more worrisome to me than something off-the-cuff that was obviously meant to be inflammatory and shocking. And it obviously worked, judging by people's reactions.
posted by docpops at 3:51 PM on May 2, 2005


I just "stalked" Mayor Curley by following the instructions in his post.

I guess I have to go to jail now.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
posted by punishinglemur at 3:54 PM on May 2, 2005


um hum. type name, click button, click results. clearly the actions of an obsessed sociopath.

quonsar, you conveniently missed two steps so that you could take exception to the description: it's "type name, click button, click results, spend time sorting through results, make it clear to the subject that you did the previous three steps."
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:00 PM on May 2, 2005


Susan slowly crossed through the warehouse, silent except for the sound of her shoes against the wet cement floor. An eerie blue glow emanated from a crack in the office door, and a drop of sweat fell from her brow, splashing against the ground. Her lips pinched together as she approached the door, and she could begin to hear an irregular click-clack, like a machine with a broken gear. Reaching the door, she screwed up her courage, then threw it open.

Inside, Peter sat, his back to her, facing the a computer. She realized the clacking was not some broken machine, but a keyboard.

"I see you graduated high school in 1974," Peter said.

She could say nothing, as he wheeled his chair away from the screen, and she could see, for the first time, that her all her deepest fears were true.

"Hmmm. Three posts to a chinchilla lovers message board, an homepage not updated sine 1996...I could go on," Peter spoke with a chill voice.

Susan stared at the innocent-seeming multi-colored word on the bottom of the screen, and even Peter winced at her scream.
posted by Snyder at 4:05 PM on May 2, 2005


matteo writes "* (bevet, by the way, who appears to be just another sad sock puppet -- I'm happy people around here have money to burn buying all these accounts, by the way) "


If Bevets is (I believe it's capitalized and ends with an "s", unlike "orthogonality" which is not capitalized except by everybody other than me, goddammit, and I'll will sodomize their chocolate Easter bunnies for it as soon as I Google their home addresses), ahem.

If Bevets is a sockpuppet, he's one of long long standing, as he's infamous on fark.com and has his own creationist web site -- not to mention a, uh, unique posting style. I think we can safely say Bevets isn't a sock of anyone at MetaFilter, not even Anyone_at_Metafilter.
posted by orthogonality at 4:06 PM on May 2, 2005


Snyder's stalking my sister!
posted by grouse at 4:14 PM on May 2, 2005


Searching the Web for info about a fellow community member is not creepy, dammit. You want creepy? Try this.
posted by mediareport at 4:18 PM on May 2, 2005


Wow, schyler523, I guess it explains why dfowler kept insisting he was sleeping with mcgraw's wife after he stalked himself. I know a way we can wrap this up. Would everyone who is sleeping with mcgraw's wife please raise his or her hand?
posted by fleacircus at 4:19 PM on May 2, 2005


the Mayor threatened to ass-rape Jesus, too -- and nobody here defended Jesus

First they came for Jesus' rectum. And I said nothing.
posted by yerfatma at 4:24 PM on May 2, 2005


Mayor Curley writes "quonsar, you conveniently missed two steps so that you could take exception to the description: it's 'type name, click button, click results, spend time sorting through results, make it clear to the subject that you did the previous three steps.' "

Maybe. But some people are just good at Goolging, and if dfowler is one of those people, it's not that much work. His post came three hours after yours. Maybe he spent the whole three hours grepping through your site's source, but I doubt it.

I mean, we're all (well, Most_at_Metafilter, anyway) intelligent and highly talented people. There are some things I can do with little effort (rough out a database design, write C++ code that's object oriented, craft a "STFU lib'ruls" sarcastic comment, talk on a popular level about biology) probably a whole lot faster than some others here (but certainly not all others).

And a lot people here can have some talent which is, after much practice an honing, trivially easy for them but that others of us have no idea how to go about doing: quonsar deflating pomposity, Bevets quoting scientists out of context, felix betachat doing Biblical exegesis, ikkyu2 explaining clinical medicine without being clinical, OmieWise being trenchant, Steve_at_Linnwood making ad hominem attacks.

Given that all of dfowler's posts show that he's able to search out the damndest interesting things on the web and make startling connections between them, it seems probable his Google-fu is pretty good, and searching for stuff is his way of showing off, not threatening.
posted by orthogonality at 4:26 PM on May 2, 2005


Wow--maybe there are only like, twelve of us, each with a sock drawer full of aliases!
posted by LarryC at 4:35 PM on May 2, 2005


if dfowler doesn't threaten to cut off mcgraw's hand, I'm gonna be upset

But, yeah. Really. Googling someone is not hard. Saying you did so to the someone afterward? Not necessarily charged with creepiness. Especially in a neutral public forum without any explicit threat.

Calling this "stalking" is just stupid.

The only reason to do that is to send a thinly-veiled threat-- to say "I know who you are..."

C'mon, MC. That's one possible reason that falls a bit lower on the list than "to say 'I've got a few minutes on my hands, and you're a dick.'"

There's no one-website-at-a-time rule.
posted by cortex at 4:42 PM on May 2, 2005


Really, not the day for this kind of shit.
posted by seanyboy at 4:43 PM on May 2, 2005


1. Someone posted the definition of stalking here, and googling someone then posting the fact that you did so doesn't count.

2. It's still creepy, and I (for what it's worth) wouldn't really be all that proud of doing it if I had.

3. Googling things that are inordinately popular or vague to find specific information is much harder than googling something rare and extremely specific. Try googling your own name in quotes (if your name isn't "John Smith" or something very common like that) and see. I can google myself and find exactly 2 web sites pertaining to me, both at the top of the search return, because that's the only place on the web my name exists. It takes 15 seconds to search and read all of it.

4. Take it outside, you dipshits. Personal attacks belong in email, not MeFi, MeTa or AskMe. You're both assholes and this is wasting everyone's time.
posted by shmegegge at 5:11 PM on May 2, 2005


correction: "Googling things that are inordinately popular or vague to find specific information is much harder than googling something rare and extremely specific for anything at all you can find."
posted by shmegegge at 5:12 PM on May 2, 2005


thank you, shmegegge. I concur.
posted by puke & cry at 5:17 PM on May 2, 2005


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

You know, Matt's probably pretty preoccupied right now. I bet we could get this puppy over 1000 posts easy.
posted by keswick at 5:33 PM on May 2, 2005


I'm in.
posted by docpops at 5:41 PM on May 2, 2005


.
posted by Stynxno at 6:02 PM on May 2, 2005




posted by koeselitz at 6:07 PM on May 2, 2005


Does image-googling "fish" and "pants" mean I'm stalking quonsar?
posted by koeselitz at 6:08 PM on May 2, 2005


MetaTalk: You're both assholes and this is wasting everyone's time.

On preview: Hubba-hubba! Now that's what I call a fish!
posted by languagehat at 6:11 PM on May 2, 2005


I'm in this camp. Dfowler crossed a line, albeit a slim and difficult to discern one, and Mr. Mayor's got some rather pungent vitriol to burn. I like you both, so please, for the love of Fiona, go have a nice satisfying wank and realize while you feel all hot right now, we're just tomorrow's crusty sock under the couch.

On preview: koeselitz wins!
posted by moonbird at 6:13 PM on May 2, 2005


Alex, maybe you can use this instead:

provided as a public service...

koeselitz, fish in leather pants? pass the tartar sauce!
posted by wendell at 6:17 PM on May 2, 2005


this reminds me of my days on the overclocked remix forums - we should just kick off people that are both easily annoyed and verbose. I don't really see this as an issue of being a stalker in the sense of looking up personal information, but rather that dflower keeps attacking mayor relentlessly. Sometimes in three posts in a row.

also i love the irony in posts that say "you're wasting everybodys time" while taking the time to read it and also pushing the post count higher and higher.
posted by klik99 at 6:24 PM on May 2, 2005


Well, dfowler has a long history of strange, interesting links and seems like a cool guy, if a little prickly. Mayor Curley is an asshole. And really, who here hasn't googled the phone number of the parents of an Internet asshole and called to let them know that the parents are responsible for the sins of the son and time is running out because midnight is Redemption Time? We're all humans. I guess what I'm trying to say is, dfowler take some time out to relax and don't respond to Mayor ever again.
posted by nixerman at 6:31 PM on May 2, 2005


Can we ban them both?

Also, is it now ok to include signature images in every post? I must have missed the memo.
posted by Krrrlson at 6:32 PM on May 2, 2005



posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:34 PM on May 2, 2005



posted by koeselitz at 6:37 PM on May 2, 2005


*snif* I love that ABBA so much.
posted by koeselitz at 6:40 PM on May 2, 2005


Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
posted by punishinglemur at 6:50 PM on May 2, 2005


Now the Mayor will surely return.
posted by punishinglemur at 6:51 PM on May 2, 2005


you_win_the_prize.jpeg
posted by moonbird at 6:55 PM on May 2, 2005


for the love of Fiona, go have a nice satisfying wank

EXCUSE ME?

Jesus that didn't take long.
posted by scarabic at 6:57 PM on May 2, 2005


koeselitz: it's really a shame Abba couldn't work out their differences... hint hint.
posted by moonbird at 7:02 PM on May 2, 2005


I motherfucking hate all you people. Kisses!
posted by fungible at 7:08 PM on May 2, 2005


If Major Curley had Googled your grandmother... then, you'd have a leg to stand on here.
posted by VulcanMike at 7:10 PM on May 2, 2005


make it clear to the subject that you did the previous three steps

here, nobody even needs to go to those lengths to stalk a mutant pigfucker like me!

this comment was underwritten by the fiona haughey jailbait countdown foundation
posted by quonsar at 7:12 PM on May 2, 2005


Wow--maybe there are only like, twelve of us, each with a sock drawer full of aliases!

Jesus, you guys have gotta lay off the pot.

Hell, I'm going to bed. I'll probably spend all day tomorrow and most of tomorrow night reading this shit. Woot!
posted by graventy at 7:16 PM on May 2, 2005


punishinglemur, is that Lynne Cheney?
posted by matteo at 7:16 PM on May 2, 2005


who else would it be
posted by punishinglemur at 7:20 PM on May 2, 2005


BEEP BEEP

posted by cmonkey at 7:31 PM on May 2, 2005 [2 favorites]




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