over a barrel

January 3, 2006 2:16 AM

Self link: 1.2 million barrels a day by November
posted by tozturk to Etiquette/Policy at 2:16 AM (14 comments total)

What in the world would possess someone to make a (ridiculously obvious) LiveJournal self-link... and mix it in with other sources that are being presented as reliable and authoritative?

I'm actually more curious about the answer than jonesing for a bannination.

From his profile, insomnia_lj's been around awhile. He knows the drill and has always seemed pretty "with it". Why the departure?
posted by SuperNova at 2:40 AM on January 3, 2006

The selflink was accidental, as I copied the links from a post I did elsewhere without reviewing it as much as I should've first. If the link for 1.2 million barrels could be changed to this link, I'd appreciate it.
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:42 AM on January 3, 2006

In other words, I pasted it in along with several of the other links, thinking that my original link was going direct to the source, rather than to another post I did in my journal. I didn't look at the source or recheck the links, however, to make sure it wasn't a self-link.

I was making a quick post amidst taking care of a wife with food poisoning, and I flubbed it.

As a general rule, I try to make it a common practice to link to the best sources possible for an article. It's just as well that I didn't link to my original source from the Washington Post that I cited on the unintentional selflink, because that link is now dead.
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:49 AM on January 3, 2006

And I'm not kidding about the food poisoning, either.

In the event that any of you ever order pho to go, be sure to reheat the broth to a full boil before you add in the beef, noodles, etc. Your body may thank you.
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:07 AM on January 3, 2006

It was a good fpp, insomnia_lj. And I'm sorry to hear about the food poisoning. Your Katrina posts earned you miles of slack in my book, anyway.
posted by maryh at 4:01 AM on January 3, 2006

it was a dumb self-link, and insomnia is certainly not dumb -- he'd find better ways to self-link. it looks like an innocent mistake. I say let's believe him.
I do.
posted by matteo at 4:49 AM on January 3, 2006

good detective work, though, tozturk.
posted by crunchland at 4:56 AM on January 3, 2006

A witch! Burn him!
posted by Saucy Intruder at 5:23 AM on January 3, 2006

Yes, it's a self link, but i_lj isn't a drive by, hasn't done something like this before, and having dealt with a bad case of pho (oh. my. yes. That was a *bad* flight. Then I get there, and they say "Want Indian? No? How about Thai?" Gurr.) I think we have to detorch.

insomnia_lj, how about posting the corrected links here so that the Powers that Be can fix the post.

tozturk -- good catch, though this is one of the odd cases that doesn't merit Hot Banhammer Action.
posted by eriko at 5:43 AM on January 3, 2006

Oh, but for misquoting the title of Reconstruction of the Fables we should burn him. ;)
posted by eriko at 5:44 AM on January 3, 2006

I totally didn't mean for the self-link post to seem so cold. It was and is a good FPP.
posted by tozturk at 5:59 AM on January 3, 2006

good detective work, though, tozturk.

You have got to be joking?
posted by gsb at 6:26 AM on January 3, 2006

Misquote?
posted by lodurr at 6:46 AM on January 3, 2006

I fixed it, thanks for pointing it out.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:24 AM on January 3, 2006