MeFi suicide post shout-out

March 16, 2006 7:54 PM

Sometimes we get it really right. It was nice, affirming even, to see something as complex as suicide handled with such grace.
posted by cedar to MetaFilter-Related at 7:54 PM (33 comments total)

*Lights the torches and breaks out the ban-hammer*
posted by shnoz-gobblin at 8:05 PM on March 16, 2006

shnoz-gobblin - I'm not sure what you mean by that response unless you were being sarcastic. Cedar is simply pointing out a thread that appears to be an example of some of the good that MF can be. Good callout Cedar.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:34 PM on March 16, 2006

Yes, good callout cedar. I was thinking the very thing and the only thing that stopped me posting it here was my unblemished no posts to metatalk record.

I sorta dip in and out of metafilter these days and one the half-baked theories that has ended up in my mental notepad is that metafilter has achieved such a heavy internet gravitational pull that it has attracted sort of half formed web personality fragments that just parrot oft-repeated phrases without knowing what they mean.

Makes popcorn, newsfilter, pitchforks, I for one, This is not the best of the web... etc. I don't know if I'm just creating patterns out of randomness but I swear I see usernames that I've never seen before just spouting the above, without ever saying anything else. If you've ever read any Tim Powers this might make a bunch more sense. Strange, lunatic, half-wit web ghosts.

Anyway, good point. That thread is powerful.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:51 PM on March 16, 2006

one of, lo ciento.

Also schnoz-goblin joined on 3/9, has three semi-randomly distributed posts that are in context, but essentially content free, but cleverly me too, which (and I hate to say it) smells like we are gonna see a perhaps better than average astroturfing self-link from homeboy in less than a week. Sorry, hope I'm wrong,
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:58 PM on March 16, 2006

I think I solved my own mystery by the way, as a dreamer I assume they are ghosts in the machine, actually they are just astroturfers who are slightly more on the ball. Science wins again.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:59 PM on March 16, 2006

No, I think your original observation is on the mark. Other forums have "Frist Post!!!!!", MeTa has "*makes popcorn, opens beer, pulls up comfy chair*". It's because people want to belong to the community, and so make an effort to conspicuously conform to what they think its rituals are.
posted by nowonmai at 9:09 PM on March 16, 2006

eyeballkid still hates you all.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:12 PM on March 16, 2006

It's a great post. Period. This, bluegrass talk radio, and some others make me think this is the best FPP day on the blue since I joined.
posted by rollbiz at 9:19 PM on March 16, 2006

We have cameras.
posted by dong_resin at 10:11 PM on March 16, 2006

I don't. Well, a free one at least.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:34 PM on March 16, 2006

Too bad the Cobain thread didn't fare so well.
posted by amro at 2:41 AM on March 17, 2006

but cobain deserved to die.
posted by quonsar at 4:25 AM on March 17, 2006

34057 monkeys at 34057 keyboards . . .
posted by If I Had An Anus at 5:09 AM on March 17, 2006

Also schnoz-goblin joined on 3/9, has three semi-randomly distributed posts that are in context, but essentially content free, but cleverly me too...

No, I think Matt will just ban P_G/PoTEoA again....

(No, I don't know this, but boyo, that's who it looks like.)

ObTopic: Yes, it wasn't a flame out, and compliments to all.
posted by eriko at 5:13 AM on March 17, 2006

BitterOldPunk made me cry damnit. I hate that.

And wait, is that dong resin back? Woo-hoo.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:07 AM on March 17, 2006

shnoz is just being sarcastic. jeez. let it go.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 6:52 AM on March 17, 2006

Yeah, I got a chuckle out of shnoz-gobblin's response. Don't be such sourpusses.
posted by languagehat at 6:58 AM on March 17, 2006

Oh, and that is indeed an amazing thread. Well done, all.
posted by languagehat at 7:06 AM on March 17, 2006

OMGLMAO!!! I get it now!1!1!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:08 AM on March 17, 2006

*I can't resist and opportunity to go all AOLspeak - my apologies*
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:15 AM on March 17, 2006

Yes, it's a good thread, and as happens in such threads, it's the range of responses that struck me. Yours, cedar, seemed as powerful as many of the longer, more involved comments, and relly hit me with it's simple summation of the whole issue.
posted by OmieWise at 7:19 AM on March 17, 2006

Golly, you guys sure are paranoid. I guess that was what I was playing off of in the first post. You know, how Metatalk is someplace for flame-outs and banning. I loved the FPP, but there seemed to be no reason to make a MeTa post about it.
I'm not going to make a post to a self link, since I don't have a homepage. Maybe I can link back to this post. Would this count?
posted by shnoz-gobblin at 8:21 AM on March 17, 2006

Round One:
Shnoz-Goblin 1
Divine Wino 0

Jeez. Heckuva welcome wagon ya got in this town.
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:38 AM on March 17, 2006

I say we hang 'im, then we kill 'im!
posted by shmegegge at 8:39 AM on March 17, 2006

Round One:
Shnoz-Goblin 1
Divine Wino 0

But it's the top of the first inning and you have Calvin Schiraldi on the mound. And not the 1986 version, either. I don't like your chances.

shnoz-gobblin - It's all good. Your sentence "I loved the FPP, but there seemed to be no reason to make a MeTa post about it." is entirely appropriate and would have sufficed. I'm all for monkey-poo flinging in some MetaTalk threads too but you have to pick your spots. Welcome, btw.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:51 AM on March 17, 2006

Thanks, all. I promise to play nicely.
posted by shnoz-gobblin at 8:54 AM on March 17, 2006

shnoz: I loved the FPP, but there seemed to be no reason to make a MeTa post about it.

Myself, I thought your response was funny and the above isn't entirely off the mark. There are a ton of good posts lately. I singled this one out because of the effect it had on me.

My opinion is, of course, entirely subjective. I just like to point out what I think are positives about the site after a shitload of silly MeTa nonsense. It ain't all bad and there must be some reason a few of us old geezers are still lurking about.
posted by cedar at 12:39 PM on March 17, 2006

*sings while skipping in a cirlce*

"I made CunningLinguist cry-y, I made CunningLinguist cry-y"

*remembers thread topic*

Ahem. Yeah, it was a good thread.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:55 PM on March 17, 2006

It was a different kind of NSFW thread..."warning, content will make you cry".

Kevin and others, thanks for sharing your stories. Glad you're here.
posted by luneray at 4:51 PM on March 17, 2006

Ah, the sweet memories we'll all have. Something to hold on to during those grey times in MeTa.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:09 PM on March 17, 2006

Calvin Schiraldi on the mound

Thanks. Now I'm suicidal all over again.
posted by yerfatma at 6:22 PM on March 17, 2006

34057 monkeys at 34057 keyboards . . .

I'm using two keyboards at once, so you really should adjust for such occurances.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 6:55 PM on March 17, 2006

Ah well I cannot win them all. Even my own pitch black sense of humor has a ray of light or two in it. Gobble on you crazy diamond.
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:01 PM on March 17, 2006