October 7, 2006

12:09 AM

55335 on the blue is a self-link (I'm deliberately not linking to it), anyone know how to contact a mod? Are they asleep? It's especially irritating because it's a self-link to a crap site about "marketing and making money on the web". Also, how about a feature that allows a user to self-revoke posts for a certain amount of time (like 10 minutes) if they realize or learn it was a bad idea.
posted by delmoi to etiquette/policy at 12:09 AM (78 comments total)

don't kid yourself, this guy clearly knew he was sending himself traffic & hoping to profit by it.
posted by jonson at 12:15 AM on October 7, 2006

Indeed - series of short comments and posted as soon as he could. Not an accidental self-link, I suspect.
posted by greycap at 12:17 AM on October 7, 2006

He favorited the post himself, as well. Not ironclad proof, but unusual, even among new members.
posted by gsteff at 12:23 AM on October 7, 2006

gsteff, he linked to his own page in his profile, and his name is the same as the name of he website. He certainly wasn't trying to hide it.
posted by delmoi at 12:39 AM on October 7, 2006

mumble mumble something about needing a euro-timezone moderator STAT mumble rhubarb mumble
posted by slater at 12:53 AM on October 7, 2006

He is a cylon! /one track mind
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 1:17 AM on October 7, 2006

Yup, I agreed, delmoi; just was trying to point out a small additional piece of evidence.
posted by gsteff at 1:42 AM on October 7, 2006

It was a link to ONE picture. A SINGLE PICTURE. Even if it wasn't a self-link, what the hell? A single picture?
posted by TwelveTwo at 1:58 AM on October 7, 2006

mumble mumble something about needing a euro-timezone moderator STAT mumble rhubarb mumble

You know, if it has to wait for mattamyn to wake up, it really isn't the end of the world.
posted by grouse at 2:04 AM on October 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

Finally! Can we slowly feed this one to a room full of starved zebra finches? What about death by mime, or Enya? Deep Forest? Infest their socks and underwear drawer with ticks and leeches! Boil them in mint jelly! Make them drink pruno! Can we turn them inside out? Throw cactii at them! Light them on fire - with a magnifying glass! Pester their cats! Write snippy, overly critical letters to their mother! Secretly feed them a very small black hole in a delicious pastrami sandwich!
posted by loquacious at 2:06 AM on October 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

The edit window is something we've had at Sportsfilter for quite awhile now. It allows a three-minute window for editing or deleting comments. Since FPP's have no reason to be rushed or not well thought out it doesn't apply to them but it works great for comments.
posted by geekyguy at 2:09 AM on October 7, 2006

Got it.
posted by jessamyn at 3:46 AM on October 7, 2006

Awww, man, I just wrote a song for our dear, departed persona non grata, which I'd hoped to post in the thread. Damn.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:55 AM on October 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

You guys are certainly a bit harsh on new people to this site

that's something ... people were halfway nice to him for once and he still complained
posted by pyramid termite at 5:35 AM on October 7, 2006

I don't understand how self-favoriting indicates a self-link.
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:48 AM on October 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

Well that was confusing. I thought this callout was for the other self link belatedly caught by Jess.

Are we seeing an increase in overnight self links then, Jess? Is the oversight gap being exploited by the $5 whores? It all looks a bit blatant, doesn't it?
posted by dash_slot- at 5:50 AM on October 7, 2006

Are we seeing an increase in overnight self links then, Jess?

That's a good question, but I don't think so. This was really weird because it was one stupid self-link by a n00b spammer type and one rather deliberate self-link by someone who has been around a while. Maybe it's the harvest moon?
posted by jessamyn at 5:55 AM on October 7, 2006

Man... The Cash Cow? That was his name?
posted by klangklangston at 6:07 AM on October 7, 2006

Huh? When did persona non grata self link? I missed that one. Please educate me.

Also, what the hell is that star wars bear things original context?
posted by dobbs at 6:31 AM on October 7, 2006

Found it at 55338. Woohoo! No more links to Grateful Dead and Santana sets on Youtube. It's a glorious day! :>
posted by dobbs at 6:37 AM on October 7, 2006

anyone know how to contact a mod?

Are you new here?
posted by mathowie at 6:41 AM on October 7, 2006

thirteenkiller writes "I don't understand how self-favoriting indicates a self-link."

It doesn't. It does, however, indicate a higher than average likelihood that the person in question understands how MetaFilter works, and therefore should be more aware than a complete newbie that self-linking is against the rules.

It doesn't matter anyway, as it's pretty prominent on the posting page, so self-linking, whether by a newbie or an oldbie, is equally banworthy. So the "self-favoring" bit is just a nugget of trivia, not a banning factor.
posted by bugbread at 7:05 AM on October 7, 2006

posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:05 AM on October 7, 2006

delmoi wrote: anyone know how to contact a mod?

mathowie wrote: Are you new here?

Oh good, then I'm not the only one that noticed this, especially considering delmoi's extensive involvement on every part of this site. On a side note, I've also noticed that delmoi has been posting comments in the same thread that seem to suggest multiple people using one account. Here's one example. Am I completely wrong here?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:17 AM on October 7, 2006

I assumed the "contact a mod" crack was sarcasm. But yeah, I've noticed a couple of places where Delmoi has posted multiple comments that each sound like someone replying to a thread for the first time. I just chalked it up to the fact that Delmoi seems odd. I guess it could be a shared login, but it's a bit coincidental to figure that both people are using the same account to comment in the same threads around the same time.
posted by cribcage at 7:50 AM on October 7, 2006

I thought it was clear that the "delmoi" account had multiple users -- wasn't this discussed already on MeTa a few months ago?
posted by matteo at 7:57 AM on October 7, 2006

del moi == delete me
posted by quonsar at 8:01 AM on October 7, 2006

If I ever make a comment that is insightful, profound and well-reasoned, you can be assured that someone else has gotten his hands on my account.
posted by leftcoastbob at 8:01 AM on October 7, 2006 [2 favorites]

Isn't "delmoi" French for "delete me"?
posted by five fresh fish at 8:03 AM on October 7, 2006

i beat all five of your fish by two minutes.
posted by quonsar at 8:08 AM on October 7, 2006

metafilter: talking the piss out of quonsar
posted by quonsar at 8:10 AM on October 7, 2006

matteo is correct, and delmoi addressed the issue already. My apologies.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 8:11 AM on October 7, 2006

A fish in pants beats five.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:37 AM on October 7, 2006

Are we seeing an increase in overnight self links then, Jess?

See, the beauty of this is that I'm also asleep at night, so overnight problems don't matter to me either.
posted by smackfu at 9:43 AM on October 7, 2006

can we get rid of that flashing red and blue light on the post page now?
posted by empath at 9:59 AM on October 7, 2006

And there's another self-link up there right now. Three in one day.
posted by bob sarabia at 10:47 AM on October 7, 2006

Wow, two posts from MsWonderland, both about the same issue and both pointing to the site she runs. Bad news.
posted by gleuschk at 10:52 AM on October 7, 2006

And I'm sure she'll say "Ooh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know! Silly me!"... just like all the other self-linkers.
posted by languagehat at 10:57 AM on October 7, 2006

Are you new here?

I assumed the "contact a mod" crack was sarcasm.

Sorry, I was tired. My neighbors were up all night playing yelling and screaming about some video games they were playing. I remembered reading comments about people IMing matt or jess. Now that I've woken up, I realize their AIM addresses are both in their profiles.

*sigh*.
posted by delmoi at 11:04 AM on October 7, 2006

And another one! Number 55344; no detective work necessary; common factor: dawhb.com in both profile and link.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:16 AM on October 7, 2006

Ok, I was thinking 3 in a day may be record, but 4 has got to be.
posted by bob sarabia at 11:23 AM on October 7, 2006

"This post was deleted for the following reason..."

I won't spoil it, go read for yourself.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:24 AM on October 7, 2006

I won't spoil it, go read for yourself.

RTFRD is the new RTFM.

"This post was deleted for the following reason...thanks for the quick fiver, you self-linking asshat."
posted by iconomy at 11:36 AM on October 7, 2006

Wow, two posts from MsWonderland, both about the same issue and both pointing to the site she runs.

How do you figure? Here's what I have. She has a name different than anything associated with the justice4kirsten site, that site is registered to someone in vegas, and she's posting from a small east coast town. She doesn't appear to be an employee of CourtTV so she's probably just somehow interested/invested in the story. I'm not seeing a self-link there that I can prove.
posted by mathowie at 11:39 AM on October 7, 2006

Oh, and I went off with a RTFRD because I noticed when the person signed up that they seemed dodgy (generic email, real name russian, personal site about webmaster junk) and I left myself a note that said "watch this guy, he's probably a spammer".
posted by mathowie at 11:40 AM on October 7, 2006

Oops, I didn't see the quote from the about page implicating her. Removed, banned.
posted by mathowie at 11:45 AM on October 7, 2006

MsWonderlands real name on her user page is Helen Caddes. From her listed homepage:

"Helen is most widely noted for the creation of a comprehensive website entitled "Free Kirstin Lobato: Innocent and Unjustly Convicted in Nevada" focusing upon the injustices surrounding the State v. Lobato trial in Las Vegas, now in the retrial process." That's the justice4kirstin site.
posted by bob sarabia at 11:45 AM on October 7, 2006

damnit, too slow again.
posted by bob sarabia at 11:45 AM on October 7, 2006

I don't know if you wanna axe her other self-link too, just pointing out that she did it twice.
posted by bob sarabia at 11:49 AM on October 7, 2006

I don't know if you wanna axe her other self-link too, just pointing out that she did it twice.

Yeah, may as well.
posted by jessamyn at 12:02 PM on October 7, 2006

Madness on a Saturday morning!
posted by cortex at 12:06 PM on October 7, 2006

now we know what republican pages do when they're laid off from work
posted by pyramid termite at 12:09 PM on October 7, 2006

Let me first make something clear - I don't like self-linkers, and I think they should be mocked, taunted, have their threads flooded with animated gifs, and then banned.

But calm the fuck down with the outrage, the "OMG they're PROFITTTTIIINNNGGG FROM USSSSS!" and the "we need more mods because it took 3 hours to delete!!! it must be instaaaaaaant!" Deleted posts get no google juice, and the small window of time that a self-linker's post stays alive probably amounts for a few hundred visitors. Whoop-de-doo. Nobody's getting rich off that.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:36 PM on October 7, 2006

What do we want? BANNINATION!

When do we want it? NOW!

[repeat]
posted by brain_drain at 12:56 PM on October 7, 2006

Rhomboid:
are you telling people how they should feel?
posted by dash_slot- at 1:04 PM on October 7, 2006

dash-slot:
He's just telling them to calm the fuck down. I don't think he has a problem with unexpressed outrage.
posted by Roger Dodger at 1:20 PM on October 7, 2006

Funny, Rhomboid's objection seems more hysterical than the comments he's objecting to. The real ones that is, not his squealing caricature.
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:52 PM on October 7, 2006

I'm hoping png was good and drunk, or something. Disappointing.
posted by cortex at 4:53 PM on October 7, 2006

Oh, and I went off with a RTFRD because I noticed when the person signed up that they seemed dodgy (generic email, real name russian, personal site about webmaster junk)

Gotta watch out for those pesky ruskies!!!
posted by delmoi at 5:12 PM on October 7, 2006

It's too bad about the justice4kirstin post, I actually thought it was an interesting topic. If she hadn't linked to her own site in the middle, I think it would have been an OK post.
posted by delmoi at 5:14 PM on October 7, 2006

justassforcrash
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:20 PM on October 7, 2006

What did png do? I missed it.

delmoi, as long as your in the neighborhood, I'd like to apologize for my dumb comment here. (I was sick and would have been sent to bed had my wife been home.)
posted by snsranch at 5:23 PM on October 7, 2006

np snsranch.
posted by delmoi at 6:10 PM on October 7, 2006

What did png do?

Drank too much, posted a self-link with a dumb, drunken rationalization, and then when he sobered up a bit, tried to pass it off as some kind of post-neo-retro ironic joke. Or something.

It was pretty lame; you didn't miss much. But hopefully he'll get a new account and stick around; he was interesting enough.
posted by mediareport at 8:31 PM on October 7, 2006

mediareport, thanks. I'm glad I missed it.
posted by snsranch at 9:19 PM on October 7, 2006

And I'm sure she'll say "Ooh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know! Silly me!"... just like all the other self-linkers.

Actually, in MsWonderland's case I think she might genuinely have managed to completely miss the point. Look at her user page:

The first thing that interested me in MetaFilter was when that guy posted about his Pixies covers.

It seriously looks like she thinks that every link on the site is a self-link, and that that's just how it works.

Not that that's any excuse, given, you know, the fucking enormous flashing light on the posting page. I just thought it was bizarre enough to be worth pointing out.
posted by moss at 9:45 PM on October 7, 2006

How the hell did I miss PNGs morbidly drunken self-buttsexin?

You jackass! WTF?

I can only assume a number of things. First and most obvious - they were just stupid drunk. This drunkeness does not exclude or include the following points. Second, they were bored and just wanted to flame out instead of fade away. Third, they already have a new account lined up and just wanted to kill of the PNG account in, uhm, style.
posted by loquacious at 10:19 PM on October 7, 2006

loquacious, I've just e-mailed PNG. I understand that he is a relative NOOB like myself, but he has been a pretty prolific poster and generally an all around cool guy. Hopefully he was just drunk and won't be perma-banned. But then again, whatever.
posted by snsranch at 10:51 PM on October 7, 2006

Hopefully he was just drunk and won't be perma-banned. But then again, whatever.

Oh come on. There are almost no hard and fast rules here if not for "self-link = banned account." Create a new account and start over if that's what it takes. It's not like $5 is a lot of cash.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:08 AM on October 8, 2006

Yes, we know Rhoomboid. People are making a big deal because he's been a good poster and there's a very good possibility that he was fucked up drunk and made a stupid mistake.

We know that self-linking brings a banning. We know
posted by bob sarabia at 12:41 AM on October 8, 2006

That's a ban-hammerin'. That's a ban-hammerin' too!
posted by loquacious at 12:53 AM on October 8, 2006

nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!

*sung to the tune of "i know what boysmatts like"*
posted by quonsar at 7:25 AM on October 8, 2006

FREE QUONSAR just in case
posted by hangashore at 7:46 AM on October 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

BAN HIM!

I mean: how the hell did q get away with that?? I guess those were more innocent days: self-linkers just got a few harsh remarks instead of a one-way ticket to oblivion. And they called them "self-bloggers," too. And they had to post with hand-carved letters...
posted by languagehat at 9:14 AM on October 8, 2006

jesus christ a self-link about Al Gore got seven comments

that's seriously awesome
posted by matteo at 10:29 AM on October 8, 2006

jesus christ quonsar used to write comments longer than five words

that's seriously awesome
posted by mediareport at 11:52 AM on October 8, 2006

languagehat : "I mean: how the hell did q get away with that?? I guess those were more innocent days: self-linkers just got a few harsh remarks instead of a one-way ticket to oblivion."

Weren't the gates still closed in 2000? If so, it makes sense that self-linking was viewed less severely than now, as there would be no danger of spammers coming to MeFi en masse for self-linking loving, since sign-ups were turned off.

And, if the gates were open back then...well, ya got me.
posted by bugbread at 2:06 PM on October 8, 2006

For one thing, back then MeFi had a much smaller, much more bloggerati-heavy membership. Optamystic (remember Optamystic?) is the n00b in the thread, that fucking 1.2ker.

The gates might have been open, but the barbarians were not yet at them, and the phrase "self-link" wasn't even common trade at that point. Mefi has not always been the teeming, glamourous, unquestionable and inimitable glowing center of the digital universe it has lately become.
posted by cortex at 2:16 PM on October 8, 2006