Attention Best Posters from August 2006 September 1, 2006 5:51 PM Subscribe
Attention Best Posters from August
Please go to your profiles and make sure you have some PayPal information entered so that mathowie can give you the $30 you so rightfully deserve. This means you b_thinky, bigmusic, blahblahblah, cenoxo, CodeBaloo, ColdChef, dios, Drunken_munky, emph, HuronBob, hydrophonic, jason's_planet, jonp72, jonson, ktoad, languagehat, LobsterMitten, MetaMonkey, Miko, mygothlaundry, nthdegx, ottereroticist, peacay, pwedza, reklaw, signal and y2karl. Thanks for making MetaFilter in August rock!
Please go to your profiles and make sure you have some PayPal information entered so that mathowie can give you the $30 you so rightfully deserve. This means you b_thinky, bigmusic, blahblahblah, cenoxo, CodeBaloo, ColdChef, dios, Drunken_munky, emph, HuronBob, hydrophonic, jason's_planet, jonp72, jonson, ktoad, languagehat, LobsterMitten, MetaMonkey, Miko, mygothlaundry, nthdegx, ottereroticist, peacay, pwedza, reklaw, signal and y2karl. Thanks for making MetaFilter in August rock!
With a portion of my winnings, I am going to order myself a customized trophy.
posted by jonson at 5:57 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by jonson at 5:57 PM on September 1, 2006
Woo-hoo! But although I actually have a PayPal account (with nine bucks and change from some failed project several years back), I haven't used it in so long I'm not sure what to put in the Preferences field. Just the e-mail address PayPal has for me? I looked at my account page and can't find any other "PayPal information."
—Confused
posted by languagehat at 6:21 PM on September 1, 2006
—Confused
posted by languagehat at 6:21 PM on September 1, 2006
yep, just the email address you use to sign on to PayPal is all we'll need.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:27 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:27 PM on September 1, 2006
The contest was very nice in inciting people to find nice shiny things to put before our eyes. Yay. However, when it came to administering the awards, meh. Unbelievably great posts were ignored, and common tripe was elevated to winner status. Agggh! This is not some "I hate Matt" comment. Au contraire, Matt has built an awesome site through his incredibly good judgement. His conception of the site, and his improvements and insightful moderation over the years have been brilliant and have made MeFi the power that it is. That is my frustration with the contest. The awards seemed almost random. Ungodly shite took prizes and awesome posts were ignored. Both Matt and Jess professed vacation as an excuse, and it seems they obviously won't puwere gone for most of the month. Well, perhaps it was a bad month for a contest then. When Anastasiav did her contest the care she took in making sure that the posts were duly examined was clear. Matt and Jess seemed to spend a few minutes in an airport checking over the site and picking a winner. Whatever the issue, I can not say that I agreed with many of the picks after about the first few days or so. What, were you guys just using a dartboard? Case in point, August 17. The winning pick "indexed." Dull. Casper blew it away, especially with Jonson's, (he made the month interesting) awful link in the thread. The FSI language course post was great yet ignored. Skip the contests in the future please, unless you will put the necessary effort into making them work. Well, that is my humble opnion at least.
posted by caddis at 6:30 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by caddis at 6:30 PM on September 1, 2006
Folks... take my $30 and either use it to continue to make metafilter a better place, or donate it to a group that you feel worthy...
I appreciate all that Matt and jessamyn do here.
thanks,
Bob
posted by HuronBob at 6:34 PM on September 1, 2006
I appreciate all that Matt and jessamyn do here.
thanks,
Bob
posted by HuronBob at 6:34 PM on September 1, 2006
and.... let me add that being picked as the "post of the day" was a huge honor, made me smile, and will encourage me to look for quality stuff to pass along here on mefi.. I have tremendous respect for the intent of this site and the intelligence, caring, and creativity of those that hang out on this corner of the internet....
posted by HuronBob at 6:37 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by HuronBob at 6:37 PM on September 1, 2006
caddis, that might have come off as less whiny if you hadn't made a dozen posts during August. Better to let someone who wasn't trying so hard do the bitching and moaning. Yeah, I wouldn't have picked some of the winners either, but guess what? It's not my site! Tastes differ, end of story.
posted by languagehat at 6:38 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by languagehat at 6:38 PM on September 1, 2006
I think I have to vocally side with caddis, unfortunately, as I really do have a ton of sympathy for what Matt & Jess did this month; it was noble, the results were great, and it can't have been easy subjecting yourself to a lot of second guessing. The problem is, great posts really did get overlooked, every single day. Only maybe five times out of the 31 was the winner something I would have thought of as "best post of the day". Most eggregiously the FSI link, with 105 favorites (the most favorited fpp ever?) doesn't even get "runner up" status. I dunno... it's lame of me to complain, since the estimable languagehat is right, by posting every day I was making a concerted effort to win, every single day, so any complaint could be viewed as just sour grapes. Still, I think if this ever happens again (and I really hope it does) we make a couple changes. First, no money, except maybe for "best of the month" or something similar. $30 every day is too much. Winners should get something goofy like the old Stan Chin "Gold Star", or the equivalent. Second, more judges. Matt & Jess alone as the judges, you end up eliminating the "community" aspect of the place and just getting things that Matt & Jess like. Finally, prompter notification of winners. For the few of us who cared, it was really kind of maddening that several days went by (not just once, but between every update) without an update to the winners page.
Sorry for being a whiny little snot. I'm going to put the remainder of my winnings towards therapy to try and be a better person.
posted by jonson at 6:59 PM on September 1, 2006
Sorry for being a whiny little snot. I'm going to put the remainder of my winnings towards therapy to try and be a better person.
posted by jonson at 6:59 PM on September 1, 2006
I'm really surprised that the Calvin and Hobbes post didn't even get a runner-up mention. That post was amazingly excellent. The only reason I could think of that would keep that post out of the "best" list was that it was posted here before (God knows over the years we've had A LOT of C&H posts) and Matt didn't want to take away from the post by mentioning that.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:11 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:11 PM on September 1, 2006
Man. I was hoping for a simultaneous deletion and win.
posted by cortex at 7:17 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by cortex at 7:17 PM on September 1, 2006
Matt, Jess, I'm very happy that you picked one of my posts as best of the month. I'm new here and I'm liking this place an awful lot. The contest was a lot of fun and it inspired a lot of people to put together some very interesting, enjoyable posts. I hope that there are more contests like this in the future.
Again, thank you very much!
posted by jason's_planet at 7:32 PM on September 1, 2006
Again, thank you very much!
posted by jason's_planet at 7:32 PM on September 1, 2006
It was interesting - I had two winning posts this month (thank you again Matt and Jess!), but I had thought that one was only okay while others of mine that didn't win were stronger. I chalked it up to the fact that MeFi is delightfully ideosyncratic, much like when that post you spend hours working on only gets one or two comments, while that *?#$ YouTube link gets all the attention.
Also, I would like to point out that, despite a lack of contests, today was an incredible day of posts! Light on political screeds, but all sorts of interesting stuff from arts and literature to the heights of geekdom.
posted by blahblahblah at 7:39 PM on September 1, 2006
Also, I would like to point out that, despite a lack of contests, today was an incredible day of posts! Light on political screeds, but all sorts of interesting stuff from arts and literature to the heights of geekdom.
posted by blahblahblah at 7:39 PM on September 1, 2006
I did totally underestimate how much time and effort putting my full attention into it would take. For the first few days, I read every single post, every single link, then periodically checked every comment thread to see how they progressed throughout the day. I would set about 5 or 6 favorites to be in the top three, then re-read all the comments, links within, and view what other people set as favorites and sometimes take that a bit into account. Jessamyn would do the same, and we'd spend 10-20 minutes talking about it over IM before finalizing our picks. Some days there were 40+ posts, 10 of which were great on any other day. It was really difficult to narrow down the lot.
After a few days, I realized it was pretty nuts, and was taking me literally most of a day to do it in this manner. Then I took off on a trip and left it up to jessamyn, then she took off and left it up to me, and definitely a few days were phoned in because I only had an hour or two to skim every post (not read every web page linked) and skim the discussions before picking. The stuff I was picking as winners was still stuff I loved, but I just didn't have time to read *everything* to compare it against (yeah, sometimes something would become top three because I was like "hey, I love legos too!" and loved the post more than ones about unfamiliar subjects).
As much as I wanted this to be a hand-picked, hand-curated affair, it was impossible on top of the hours I was coding up jobs and fixing bugs on other parts of the site.
I could simply continue the best of page, having it list the top three posts per day by most favorites. I'm sure it could be gamed and all, but without any prize at stake, I don't think there's much incentive. I think we're all adults and can play fair.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:39 PM on September 1, 2006
After a few days, I realized it was pretty nuts, and was taking me literally most of a day to do it in this manner. Then I took off on a trip and left it up to jessamyn, then she took off and left it up to me, and definitely a few days were phoned in because I only had an hour or two to skim every post (not read every web page linked) and skim the discussions before picking. The stuff I was picking as winners was still stuff I loved, but I just didn't have time to read *everything* to compare it against (yeah, sometimes something would become top three because I was like "hey, I love legos too!" and loved the post more than ones about unfamiliar subjects).
As much as I wanted this to be a hand-picked, hand-curated affair, it was impossible on top of the hours I was coding up jobs and fixing bugs on other parts of the site.
I could simply continue the best of page, having it list the top three posts per day by most favorites. I'm sure it could be gamed and all, but without any prize at stake, I don't think there's much incentive. I think we're all adults and can play fair.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:39 PM on September 1, 2006
Also, I do want to thank everyone for participating, there were literally hundreds of great posts this month, and every time I was away for a few short hours I was rewarded on return visits to catch reams of new interesting stuff to read.
My favorite types of posts were the ones that taught me something I didn't know by pulling me into worlds I didn't know existed. At least one of the top three every day did just that, and for that I'm grateful for people making both history and the web come alive for me.
It rekindled my love of the web and its many shiny things, and definitely reminded me of the first couple years of MeFi, back where there was an entire world to explore and no one else doing it (pre-blogexplosion). So thanks again everyone, I'll be dropping stuff into paypal accounts on Monday.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:47 PM on September 1, 2006
My favorite types of posts were the ones that taught me something I didn't know by pulling me into worlds I didn't know existed. At least one of the top three every day did just that, and for that I'm grateful for people making both history and the web come alive for me.
It rekindled my love of the web and its many shiny things, and definitely reminded me of the first couple years of MeFi, back where there was an entire world to explore and no one else doing it (pre-blogexplosion). So thanks again everyone, I'll be dropping stuff into paypal accounts on Monday.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:47 PM on September 1, 2006
having it list the top three posts per day by most favorites. I'm sure it could be gamed and all, but without any prize at stake, I don't think there's much incentive. I think we're all adults and can play fair.
Judging from the complaints I'm not sure we're all adults, but that's a really awesome idea. Please run with it. Kudos for the honesty, btw.
posted by Ryvar at 7:48 PM on September 1, 2006
Judging from the complaints I'm not sure we're all adults, but that's a really awesome idea. Please run with it. Kudos for the honesty, btw.
posted by Ryvar at 7:48 PM on September 1, 2006
This is somewhat off topic, but I just wanted to mention that I love the "favorites" feature. Of all the innocuous enhancements you've made to the site over time, this one brings me an inordinate amount of joy. I can keep track of interesting/amusing comments, I can log fantastic threads without bookmarking them, I can see if people "enjoy" something I posted even if it gets few comments, and I can find things that other people liked in great qty that might otherwise have slipped below the radar. In short, viva the Favorites feature, and everyone that's reading this, please pease take advantage of it.
posted by jonson at 7:52 PM on September 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
posted by jonson at 7:52 PM on September 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
If you do any thing, please kill the best of page. MeFi is great because the group provides for the group. Congeniality defines this place, despite the dust ups over politics or other minor stuff. Very few group sites which are not focused on some sole agenda achieve the harmony that MeFi has. A short contest doesn't affect that, but to make a permanent rating system seems detrimental to congeniality. I have been a student of group dynamics for a long time and from what I have seen this is one thing that could really be harmful to the site.
posted by caddis at 8:01 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by caddis at 8:01 PM on September 1, 2006
All I wanted was enough fame to get a shoutout at a meetup.
posted by geoff. at 8:04 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by geoff. at 8:04 PM on September 1, 2006
thanks to everyone who made a great post this past month. MetaFilter was a real treat every day.
also to everyone, thanks for all the contest drama. MetaTalk was a real treat nearly every day.
posted by carsonb at 8:12 PM on September 1, 2006
also to everyone, thanks for all the contest drama. MetaTalk was a real treat nearly every day.
posted by carsonb at 8:12 PM on September 1, 2006
I'm gonna agree with caddis - there were a lot of great posts this past month, but then, there were a lot of people trying to make great posts. Often, the best posts are the ones that just happen, or that someone comes across without really working at it. While I agree the favorite feature is nice (now that I've warmed up to it), if you do keep listing the favorites each day it will become a contest, like it or not.
A not-announced-in-advance contest once in a while would be great, though - I support both random contests and idiosycratic moderation (but only in moderation)!
posted by yhbc at 8:23 PM on September 1, 2006
A not-announced-in-advance contest once in a while would be great, though - I support both random contests and idiosycratic moderation (but only in moderation)!
posted by yhbc at 8:23 PM on September 1, 2006
Yeah if we do it again, I suggest February because
1. It's the shortest month, not the longest
2. There is much less better stuff to do in February in this hemisphere
3. Valentine's Day posts would be awesome
Maybe we'll also call it something other than "best post" or, better yet, have someone (jonson? caddis?) new pick a fave every day to make it clear that it's not supposed to be some objectively best post designation, just something good. I really wasn't going for highest quality or most loved post, just the posts that went to neat online stuff I never would have seen or known about otherwise, and in some cases, awesome web treatments of things that I'd only known about offline.
For me, this also got me to read the site, the whole MeFi part every single day -- 882 posts in August -- which just gave me an even better idea of what an interesting and diverse set of people come through here.
So yeah, I'm sure we missed a lot of great posts, and I know a lot of you likely don't care about mathowie and jessamyn's personal heartwarming epiphanies that came about as the result of the contest, but there's something to be said for keeping the mods happy in addition to being able to point out some of the things that are special and great about MetaFilter which I think everyone helped with this month, even more than usual.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:28 PM on September 1, 2006
1. It's the shortest month, not the longest
2. There is much less better stuff to do in February in this hemisphere
3. Valentine's Day posts would be awesome
Maybe we'll also call it something other than "best post" or, better yet, have someone (jonson? caddis?) new pick a fave every day to make it clear that it's not supposed to be some objectively best post designation, just something good. I really wasn't going for highest quality or most loved post, just the posts that went to neat online stuff I never would have seen or known about otherwise, and in some cases, awesome web treatments of things that I'd only known about offline.
For me, this also got me to read the site, the whole MeFi part every single day -- 882 posts in August -- which just gave me an even better idea of what an interesting and diverse set of people come through here.
So yeah, I'm sure we missed a lot of great posts, and I know a lot of you likely don't care about mathowie and jessamyn's personal heartwarming epiphanies that came about as the result of the contest, but there's something to be said for keeping the mods happy in addition to being able to point out some of the things that are special and great about MetaFilter which I think everyone helped with this month, even more than usual.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:28 PM on September 1, 2006
If you do any thing, please kill the best of page.
Just a datapoint, but I was running numbers today and looked at the site's traffic for the first time in weeks. I bet you'd be surprised to know that 9/10 people that hit the server any one day look at one or two pages, then bail. 1 in 10 are crazy active users that read several threads. 1 in 100 are people that might read metatalk and hit refresh on a bunch of things.
I think you're waxing poetic about the 1 in a 100, while ignoring the other 90-99 that drop by, and quickly drop out.
A simple "here are the highlights if you don't have time to comb through 30 posts and their discussion threads" page would do wonders for people new to the site and present pretty much the cream of the crop, all on its own. I don't see how that can be a bad idea.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:31 PM on September 1, 2006
Just a datapoint, but I was running numbers today and looked at the site's traffic for the first time in weeks. I bet you'd be surprised to know that 9/10 people that hit the server any one day look at one or two pages, then bail. 1 in 10 are crazy active users that read several threads. 1 in 100 are people that might read metatalk and hit refresh on a bunch of things.
I think you're waxing poetic about the 1 in a 100, while ignoring the other 90-99 that drop by, and quickly drop out.
A simple "here are the highlights if you don't have time to comb through 30 posts and their discussion threads" page would do wonders for people new to the site and present pretty much the cream of the crop, all on its own. I don't see how that can be a bad idea.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:31 PM on September 1, 2006
yeah, but those 99/100 who drop in for one or two clicks are not the community which provides the content
posted by caddis at 8:39 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by caddis at 8:39 PM on September 1, 2006
MeFi is delightfully ideosyncratic
All else aside, that bears repeating. And repeating.
And I really and truly apologize for the Thirty Dollars post. I did like the video, but it was stupid; and I did want to make a questionable but meta-referential post, but I kind of knew it was a bad idea, but I was really entertained by the whole languagehat churlish pule synergy phenomenon and I hadn't had much sleep and OH GOD BABY I'M SORRY
and so yes, it bears repeating:
MeFi is delightfully ideosyncratic
posted by cortex at 8:42 PM on September 1, 2006
All else aside, that bears repeating. And repeating.
And I really and truly apologize for the Thirty Dollars post. I did like the video, but it was stupid; and I did want to make a questionable but meta-referential post, but I kind of knew it was a bad idea, but I was really entertained by the whole languagehat churlish pule synergy phenomenon and I hadn't had much sleep and OH GOD BABY I'M SORRY
and so yes, it bears repeating:
MeFi is delightfully ideosyncratic
posted by cortex at 8:42 PM on September 1, 2006
A simple "here are the highlights ..." page
Like y6's MF Distilled, only with more than a handful of people picking the 'highlights'. It sounds fine to me, provided you don't refer to it as "best of", but more like "most popular" or something. "Best of" just sounds so much like a declaration of victory.
Every day that I didn't win "Best of" this month, a tiny piece of my sould died. I lost 29 pieces o' soul in August, and it slowly drove me insane, culminating with being accused (correctly so) of "douchebaggery" by mathowie via email.
posted by jonson at 8:46 PM on September 1, 2006
Like y6's MF Distilled, only with more than a handful of people picking the 'highlights'. It sounds fine to me, provided you don't refer to it as "best of", but more like "most popular" or something. "Best of" just sounds so much like a declaration of victory.
Every day that I didn't win "Best of" this month, a tiny piece of my sould died. I lost 29 pieces o' soul in August, and it slowly drove me insane, culminating with being accused (correctly so) of "douchebaggery" by mathowie via email.
posted by jonson at 8:46 PM on September 1, 2006
1 in 100 are people that might read metatalk and hit refresh on a bunch of things.
It's Friday night, you just finished watching Knight Rider and Airwolf, and you're itching to see what's on next...
low-fives to jonson!
posted by furtive at 8:46 PM on September 1, 2006
It's Friday night, you just finished watching Knight Rider and Airwolf, and you're itching to see what's on next...
low-fives to jonson!
posted by furtive at 8:46 PM on September 1, 2006
I feel so fucking special to be the one in a hundred of anything, I just can't tell you.
posted by yhbc at 8:55 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by yhbc at 8:55 PM on September 1, 2006
Being a runner up made me so proud :-D
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:30 PM on September 1, 2006 [2 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:30 PM on September 1, 2006 [2 favorites]
I tried to just do my normal thing and to ignore the idea of a contest, at least insofar as my own posting. Competition has a tendency to bring out psycho bitch in me, and then win or lose, I just wind up feeling sullied. Damaged goods, I tell you.
I was stoked to see the volume of new or infrequent posters rising to the occasion and submitting such awesome things! If I had any complaints, it was that some days there were too many really neat, meaty posts to keep up with - file under "happy problems."
I agree with what jonson said about the "favorites" feature. I'm a frequent poster & I love sharing neat things. My posts are often quirky or esoteric, more often than not eliciting few comments. Sometimes, I have been discouraged to see a one link Yahoo newsfilter or, worse yet, a double post accumulate hundreds of comments, while my labored "gem" wilted on the vine. My goofiest things often get the most comments and I have tried to resist listing that way - because let's face it, getting lots of comments is fun! It may be cheap shallow quickie sex, but it sure can feel like true love.
So the favorites have been a real motivator for me. Whatever the favoriter's intent, I choose to take them as a gracious hat tip, a crisp slap-me-five, or at least a sign of sentient life. The contest as a motivator, not so much - but it obviously was motivating for others so that's cool. We all dance to a different beat.
I do feel a bit skittish about an ongoing "best of" page and share caddis's views. Private highlights or distillations are fine and dandy, but anything that smacks of being the "official" picks from on high - be it mathowie and jessamyn, a team or poohbahs, or whatever - holds too much power to shape the site in a certain direction as everyone tries to fit the cool mode. Occasional contests seem fine as a motivator; an ongoing "best of" competition, not so much. YMMV.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:34 PM on September 1, 2006
I was stoked to see the volume of new or infrequent posters rising to the occasion and submitting such awesome things! If I had any complaints, it was that some days there were too many really neat, meaty posts to keep up with - file under "happy problems."
I agree with what jonson said about the "favorites" feature. I'm a frequent poster & I love sharing neat things. My posts are often quirky or esoteric, more often than not eliciting few comments. Sometimes, I have been discouraged to see a one link Yahoo newsfilter or, worse yet, a double post accumulate hundreds of comments, while my labored "gem" wilted on the vine. My goofiest things often get the most comments and I have tried to resist listing that way - because let's face it, getting lots of comments is fun! It may be cheap shallow quickie sex, but it sure can feel like true love.
So the favorites have been a real motivator for me. Whatever the favoriter's intent, I choose to take them as a gracious hat tip, a crisp slap-me-five, or at least a sign of sentient life. The contest as a motivator, not so much - but it obviously was motivating for others so that's cool. We all dance to a different beat.
I do feel a bit skittish about an ongoing "best of" page and share caddis's views. Private highlights or distillations are fine and dandy, but anything that smacks of being the "official" picks from on high - be it mathowie and jessamyn, a team or poohbahs, or whatever - holds too much power to shape the site in a certain direction as everyone tries to fit the cool mode. Occasional contests seem fine as a motivator; an ongoing "best of" competition, not so much. YMMV.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:34 PM on September 1, 2006
I bet you'd be surprised to know that 9/10 people that hit the server any one day look at one or two pages, then bail. 1 in 10 are crazy active users that read several threads. 1 in 100 are people that might read metatalk and hit refresh on a bunch of things.
Yikes, I must be a mainliner then. One in a thousand. Mefi detox, here I come.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:50 PM on September 1, 2006
Yikes, I must be a mainliner then. One in a thousand. Mefi detox, here I come.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:50 PM on September 1, 2006
Me too, PinkSuperhero! I started lurking sometime in June, and the contest inspired me to join. Although I didn't post a runner-up until August 27, I did manage to post a few things that others liked enough to favorite. And really, while it is exciting to have a post on the "Best of" page, I think getting favorited is better.
Thanks for the contest!
posted by owhydididoit at 11:00 PM on September 1, 2006
Thanks for the contest!
posted by owhydididoit at 11:00 PM on September 1, 2006
Cool. One of the posts I flagged as being particularly good actually won. That's a nice feeling, to know that I put some bucks in a good poster's pocket.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 11:31 PM on September 1, 2006
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 11:31 PM on September 1, 2006
Thanks, Matt and Jess, that was super-fun.
That my little DIY fashion post could win proves that MeFi is not (just) a boyzone.
Credit also goes to fatshionista, a fantastic LJ community of stylin' fat girls, and to reachingxout, whose post was the original source.
posted by ottereroticist at 1:23 AM on September 2, 2006
That my little DIY fashion post could win proves that MeFi is not (just) a boyzone.
Credit also goes to fatshionista, a fantastic LJ community of stylin' fat girls, and to reachingxout, whose post was the original source.
posted by ottereroticist at 1:23 AM on September 2, 2006
And my publicist. And my hairstylist. And...
posted by ottereroticist at 1:24 AM on September 2, 2006
posted by ottereroticist at 1:24 AM on September 2, 2006
After a few days, I realized it was pretty nuts, and was taking me literally most of a day to do it in this manner.
NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS!!
/junkie
Also: the Foriegn Language Institute post was one of the most actually useful threads I've ever seen on MeFi. I scornfully wag my shame finger at Matt and Jess for their choice that day. Can there be a special honorary prize, kinda like a "Miss Congeniality Post Award"?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:12 AM on September 2, 2006
NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS!!
/junkie
Also: the Foriegn Language Institute post was one of the most actually useful threads I've ever seen on MeFi. I scornfully wag my shame finger at Matt and Jess for their choice that day. Can there be a special honorary prize, kinda like a "Miss Congeniality Post Award"?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:12 AM on September 2, 2006
MetaFiler: cheap shallow quickie sex, but it sure can feel like true love.
posted by HuronBob at 5:25 AM on September 2, 2006
posted by HuronBob at 5:25 AM on September 2, 2006
I have a lot of mixed feelings about the contest, but mostly I'd just be dittoing everything mjj said. Thanks for saying it all and saying it well.
Community weblog or competitive weblog? I don't think the two mix well. I'd guess there were more hurt or negative feelings about the contest than you'll hear about, because not many people will be willing to put up with the "whiny" and "sour grapes" comments that would inevitably follow.
Personally I get a great deal of pleasure out of the simple "thanks" and "good post" comments that MeFites are very generous about providing, and I would rather see that be the sole reward for posting here; anything else makes "just" getting thanks from the readers seem like second-best or worse. If matt & jess want to acknowledge a good thread, go in and contribute a comment to it the same as everyone else does. I say that's all the value and none of the harm of rolling the dice to see who gets $30 each day.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:38 AM on September 2, 2006
Community weblog or competitive weblog? I don't think the two mix well. I'd guess there were more hurt or negative feelings about the contest than you'll hear about, because not many people will be willing to put up with the "whiny" and "sour grapes" comments that would inevitably follow.
Personally I get a great deal of pleasure out of the simple "thanks" and "good post" comments that MeFites are very generous about providing, and I would rather see that be the sole reward for posting here; anything else makes "just" getting thanks from the readers seem like second-best or worse. If matt & jess want to acknowledge a good thread, go in and contribute a comment to it the same as everyone else does. I say that's all the value and none of the harm of rolling the dice to see who gets $30 each day.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:38 AM on September 2, 2006
Also: the Foriegn Language Institute post was one of the most actually useful threads I've ever seen on MeFi.
Whoa! I had missed that post when it came out and just went and hunted it down. Awesome! I think I'm going to send anjamu $30 myself...
posted by vacapinta at 6:31 AM on September 2, 2006
Whoa! I had missed that post when it came out and just went and hunted it down. Awesome! I think I'm going to send anjamu $30 myself...
posted by vacapinta at 6:31 AM on September 2, 2006
Born to runner up! Woot!
posted by sourwookie at 6:53 AM on September 2, 2006
posted by sourwookie at 6:53 AM on September 2, 2006
*gets in line, crosses field*
good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good...
posted by sourwookie at 6:54 AM on September 2, 2006
good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good...
posted by sourwookie at 6:54 AM on September 2, 2006
I liked the contest, but checked the winners pages maybe once or twice in the whole month.
Because it wasn't about the winners. Half the things that won had no interest to me at all, and I wouldn't have cared if they weren't even posted. But the contest itself got people to post more interesting things, and I liked a bunch of those. I don't care that they didn't win. Complaining about the specifics of who won or didn't win is missing the point of the contest.
posted by smackfu at 10:08 AM on September 2, 2006
Because it wasn't about the winners. Half the things that won had no interest to me at all, and I wouldn't have cared if they weren't even posted. But the contest itself got people to post more interesting things, and I liked a bunch of those. I don't care that they didn't win. Complaining about the specifics of who won or didn't win is missing the point of the contest.
posted by smackfu at 10:08 AM on September 2, 2006
Link please?
Here's the thread for the Foreign Service Institute's free language classes online.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:41 AM on September 2, 2006
Here's the thread for the Foreign Service Institute's free language classes online.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:41 AM on September 2, 2006
From a study for which I don't have a citation handy (and I'm too lazy to look it up right now)... They took a class of preschoolers, and paid half the kids a nickel for every picture they drew. In the second phase, no one got compensated. The kids who had been compensated drew far fewer pictures than the kids who had never been compensated. Reward kills inherent motivation.
(Also may say a lot about my own laziness given that real life doesn't keep handing out A's...)
posted by daisyace at 12:57 PM on September 2, 2006
(Also may say a lot about my own laziness given that real life doesn't keep handing out A's...)
posted by daisyace at 12:57 PM on September 2, 2006
Non sequitur.
posted by owhydididoit at 1:14 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by owhydididoit at 1:14 PM on September 2, 2006
Like the majority of people I don't live on the site 24 / 7 and found most of the past month totally overwhelming. I've found that many FPP's have to be investigated a bit to find out what they are all about especially with one link no explanation posts which don't have more inside. This is a pity as I'm sure I miss many interesting posts. I would like the cabal to post a suggestions list each day / 3 days / week or whatever thus avoiding the dross; of course if they are all youtube posts to hampsters with light swords this idea would be a failure, but I'm sure something constructive can come out of Matts origional wonderful idea and generosity. With that off my chest I'm off to do the churlish pule.
posted by adamvasco at 1:54 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by adamvasco at 1:54 PM on September 2, 2006
eee! I didn't even know I was a runnerup. Thank you so much!
posted by divabat at 2:10 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by divabat at 2:10 PM on September 2, 2006
I thought the whole thing was brilliant, but then of course I totally spaced the contest after a few days, forgot about it, spent a morning constructing a post I'd always meant to make and lo, won! Yay! I feel very Voltaire, having stumbled into this best of all possible meta worlds. So thank you both to Matt & Jessamyn - I am all proud and stuff. Also, the email in my profile is also my paypal email. Thank you again!
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:50 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:50 PM on September 2, 2006
People seem to get a little pissed off with me here sometimes, but I don't care. I'm one of the 31 official METAFILTER KINGS. And I'm getting $30! That's like £15!
Man, I'm totally ordering pizza with it.
posted by reklaw at 4:02 PM on September 2, 2006
Man, I'm totally ordering pizza with it.
posted by reklaw at 4:02 PM on September 2, 2006
There are only 28 of us, reklaw, as jonp, blahblahblah, code baloo & I all won twice; which makes US the actual kings. I shall now enact the right of Prima Lubricus (first slice) on that pizza.
posted by jonson at 5:19 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by jonson at 5:19 PM on September 2, 2006
I, for one, welcome our new jonp, blahblahblah, code baloo, and jonson overlords.
posted by languagehat at 5:40 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by languagehat at 5:40 PM on September 2, 2006
Thanks a lot guys! You can just give my money to the next guy who posts a pissing elephant. That elephant always makes my day brighter.
posted by graventy at 6:32 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by graventy at 6:32 PM on September 2, 2006
I would've just wasted the $30 on six more sock puppets anyway.
"1 in 10 are crazy active users that read several threads."
Hmph. "Several"? Amateurs.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:36 PM on September 2, 2006
"1 in 10 are crazy active users that read several threads."
Hmph. "Several"? Amateurs.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:36 PM on September 2, 2006
As the 1 in god-knows-how-many who always has a MeFi tab open, thanks everyone for making August 2006 the best month of posts ever.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 10:30 PM on September 2, 2006
posted by Optimus Chyme at 10:30 PM on September 2, 2006
Yay! I'm a runner-up! With my almost-once-yearly post. :) Oddly, I didn't even remember about the contest when I was posting.
posted by litlnemo at 3:49 PM on September 3, 2006
posted by litlnemo at 3:49 PM on September 3, 2006
Wow, I'm really unobservant. Didn't realize my post had won -- so this is a very nice surprise upon coming back from a wet weary weekend of hurricanery.
Thank you!
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:54 PM on September 3, 2006
Thank you!
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:54 PM on September 3, 2006
It's strange to see that the post about Peter, the old English YouTube dud, is HuronBob's first FPP
posted by growabrain at 11:05 PM on September 3, 2006
posted by growabrain at 11:05 PM on September 3, 2006
"From a study for which I don't have a citation handy (and I'm too lazy to look it up right now)... They took a class of preschoolers, and paid half the kids a nickel for every picture they drew. In the second phase, no one got compensated. The kids who had been compensated drew far fewer pictures than the kids who had never been compensated. Reward kills inherent motivation."
Does this mean no more FPPs from jonson for awhile? If so, please start a best comment contest ASAP OK PLS TKS.
posted by Eideteker at 8:36 AM on September 5, 2006
Does this mean no more FPPs from jonson for awhile? If so, please start a best comment contest ASAP OK PLS TKS.
posted by Eideteker at 8:36 AM on September 5, 2006
To the community, this past months collection of posts was great. Thank you. To mathowie and jessamyn, thanks for your effort in the contest and im glad to hear it was so enriching for you.
I second the one month a year approach.
As to the best of page: The openness and equality of the front page is part of what makes mefi great. I hold the act of FFPing in very high esteem. I think a constant contest would do harm to that equality. Also, it may encourage people to post a large number of so-so posts in the hope that one may hit the mark; This increases the noise and decreases the quality of content.
Since the most favorited page already exist, i think the 'best of' by voting would be redundant and a misnomer. As digg shows most votes does not equal best of.
Again, thanks to all.
posted by Merik at 7:38 PM on September 8, 2006
I second the one month a year approach.
As to the best of page: The openness and equality of the front page is part of what makes mefi great. I hold the act of FFPing in very high esteem. I think a constant contest would do harm to that equality. Also, it may encourage people to post a large number of so-so posts in the hope that one may hit the mark; This increases the noise and decreases the quality of content.
Since the most favorited page already exist, i think the 'best of' by voting would be redundant and a misnomer. As digg shows most votes does not equal best of.
Again, thanks to all.
posted by Merik at 7:38 PM on September 8, 2006
It was an honor to have a post chosen as a runner-up. Mathowie and Jessamyn, I so appreciate all the work you both put into MetaFilter and thank you for making it a fair, well-rounded and interesting place. The posts in August were/are awesome. I think a one month a year contest is a good idea and the favorites page is plenty. I get so much out of my time spent at MetaFilter, learning, laughing, enjoying sharing and companionship. Thank you.
posted by nickyskye at 11:06 AM on September 16, 2006
posted by nickyskye at 11:06 AM on September 16, 2006
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posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:51 PM on September 1, 2006 [1 favorite]