Please don't change fonts.

December 26, 2001 7:58 PM

Holden baby, come on. Leave our fonts alone.
posted by geoff. to Etiquette/Policy at 7:58 PM (39 comments total)

If you don't like the fonts then change them yourself. Don't oppress us!
posted by geoff. at 8:02 PM on December 26, 2001

Yeah, I thought there would be a MeTa thread on this ASAP. Put it this way, the font changing adds spice, and if the majority is against it then it wouldn't be hard to bar tags from FPP's, just let Matt know and he'll take care of it. (Not difficult to ban tags from FPP's.) The bold, italic, link tags should stay of course.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 8:04 PM on December 26, 2001

If that's your idea of adding spice, HC, I surely hope you never cook anything for me - I don't think I'd find it edible. My view of MeFi after your post was of everyone's FPP except for the one above yours being underlined. It makes it difficult and annoying to read. Please stop changing the fonts, or at least confine your changes to your post only.
posted by Lynsey at 8:15 PM on December 26, 2001

Yeah, I thought there would be a MeTa thread on this ASAP

So, were you trolling? You also got pretty juvenile and nasty with your "learn to read" comment, in the above thread.
posted by Doug at 8:17 PM on December 26, 2001

Doug,

I understand some MeFites here do not like to see different fonts all over the place, and that's perfectly fine. If it bothers so many people so much then by all means lett Matt know and he'll without a doubt take away that privilege or let it be known on the sign up page as one of his "trusts". Please don't get me wrong.

But as it stands right now, there is no mention of font changing anywhere on MeFi and since that privilege (or oversight) exists I chose to use it. As the front page poster, I decided that changing the font would help the post. That's all.

[Now slowly reread the first paragraph again.]

Again I truly apologize for the bold. The learn to read comment was indeed childish, and I regret posting it. My hot headedness will kill me someday.

Note: the above was also posted in MeFi.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 8:29 PM on December 26, 2001

In Netscape 6.2 the entire front page is now displayed in bolded Arial Narrow.
posted by mrbula at 8:33 PM on December 26, 2001

As in all the browsers I assume.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 8:34 PM on December 26, 2001

There's nothing on there with changing fonts and that's the epitome of a post.

Also in the guidelines:

And lastly, don't troll (quick definition: posting purposely inflammatory things for the sole purpose of baiting others to argue the points until blue in the face - basically people do this for kicks, to destroy conversations and communites, for the hell of it).
posted by geoff. at 8:35 PM on December 26, 2001

geoff, how did I troll? Please explain.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 8:38 PM on December 26, 2001

Oh and read the bottom of the "example post"........

Do you see it?

"...with embedded html links (html is okay)"

If you plan on being technical it's end of discussion.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 8:41 PM on December 26, 2001

HTML links as opposed to [link blahblah.com] that many boards use to prevent such tomfoolery as changing fonts.
posted by geoff. at 8:44 PM on December 26, 2001

HC, I don't think you broke the letter of any law, and, personally, while I really dislike your choice of font stylings, don't particularly mind the posts. But if you expected a MeTa thread about this, as you say you did, then surely you must agree that you've violated the spirit of the guidelines. Changing the style for a word or two, for purposes of emphasis or whatnot, is obviously within reason, but such an unnecessary and extensive restyling does seem uncalled for. And the threads in question also seem to have suffered for it.

P.S. The front page looks fine to me (with those two obvious exceptions); I'm using IE 5.1 on Mac OS X.
posted by mattpfeff at 8:48 PM on December 26, 2001

HTML = Hyper Text Markup Language = all the tags that enter into that language.

Everything is permitted, or else it would have been:

"Only links, bold, and italic are allowed in the description"

P.S. how did I troll?
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 8:48 PM on December 26, 2001

If you're going to change the font, do it right. Christ, it's a simple thing. Somehow 99% of us do it.
posted by owillis at 8:48 PM on December 26, 2001

yes mattpfeff, indeed the bold does catch the eyes off guard, and for that I wholeheartedly apologize. Would geoff be so outraged had I closed the b tag?

I still don't see how I trolled though.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 8:51 PM on December 26, 2001

I decided that changing the font would help the post.

It's pretty clear that the only way it "helps the post" is by drawing attention to it. And the fact that you "knew there would be a meta thread on this ASAP" indicates that you knew the font change would draw unnecessary attention to the thread. And you did it anyway. And here's the metatalk thread, exactly as you predicted. You must be very proud.
posted by varmint at 8:54 PM on December 26, 2001

On IE6/PC the entire front page is bold thanks to Mr. Caulfield's experiment.
posted by owillis at 8:55 PM on December 26, 2001

I think this is the end of the debate, there won't be any more font changing since the majority (as you said previously) doesn't like it.

How were you trolling?

You had typos while at the same nit picking other's mistakes.

Other people (doug) said you were trolling.

If your intention with comments was not to pass on information (like pointing out that moz cannot apparently read) then it was in fact a troll.
posted by geoff. at 8:56 PM on December 26, 2001

OK, Holden. You didn't troll. You just have no aesthetic taste. And your taste is sufficiently bad that you behavior will lead to font creativity being de-activated.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:58 PM on December 26, 2001

Paris, I was talking about his comments in the thread.
posted by geoff. at 8:59 PM on December 26, 2001

Changing fonts could be done well; what you did was ugly, illegible, arbitrary and technically a total botch. And more importantly, because of it, the thread you posted is now fucked. Why did you do it, and why not acknowledge it was a dumb thing to do? A classic self-sabotaging post, and done for no real reason (beyond the reason the dog licks himself). And then compounded by acting like a jackass in response to criticism (criticizing people's capitalization? Come on). Grow up.
posted by rodii at 9:06 PM on December 26, 2001

Holden,

"just let Matt know and he'll take care of it..." Jesus, as if the guy doesn't have enough to do, now he's going to hear people bitching about this?!

Dude, why not just leave the fonts alone? Seems like you've attracted nothing but negative attention thus far.
posted by metrocake at 9:08 PM on December 26, 2001

Yeah, I thought there would be a MeTa thread on this ASAP.

That's what I thought they might take as an admittance of a troll. It's not. Let's not all get troll-happy again, please.

It's odd taste, but I'm more offended at the pack rats here.
posted by holloway at 9:14 PM on December 26, 2001

(speaking in redundancy) There's a point where you'll have to be sensitive HC. I could have predicted that there would be a MeTa thread about this once I saw the post as well. It's not a horrible to me, but it does change the look and style of MeFi just enough to make it annoying to many readers. And it's not a bad topic for a post. I actually believe it would have earned a more positive discussion if you just said. "Aw fiddlesticks, sorry bout that folks." (as above, noted, but just a bit too late.) We're all human though, I've often wondered what would happen if I filled out my tax return with a crayon. Yet I've always decided not to as to avoid the hassles. (bad analogy, but there was a point in there....I think)
posted by samsara at 9:21 PM on December 26, 2001

It's pretty clear that the only way it "helps the post" is by drawing attention to it. And the fact that you "knew there would be a meta thread on this ASAP" indicates that you knew the font change would draw unnecessary attention to the thread. And you did it anyway. And here's the metatalk thread, exactly as you predicted. You must be very proud.

I should have clarified earlier. I was sure that there would be a MeTa thread because of the whole front page being bold, which was an accident on my part. I intended to close the b tag but the preview and post buttons are slose together and I pressed post accidentally without adding the close b tag. And right AFTER I read the first comments in that FPP did I realize that would probably be a MeTa thread. Hope that clears up things, I know I don't sound convincing but please try to understand.

Again I truly apologize for the whole page going "bold". Should have been more careful in pressing preview.

And I messed up once more by not clarifying that the bold was by accident.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 9:24 PM on December 26, 2001

I was sure that there would be a MeTa thread because of the whole front page being bold, which was an accident on my part.

Then you weren't trolling. I assumed you knew changing the font would piss everybody off, and still did it.

Anyway, you've convinced me. I'm going to go post to the front page in all bold, blinking, italic letters. If you guys don't like it, please write to matt and have him disable those features.

Oh, and I really liked that Lord of the Rings movie, so I'm going to post in Elvish, cause that isn't explicitly against any rules.
posted by Doug at 10:18 PM on December 26, 2001

As the front page poster, I decided that changing the font would help the post. That's all.

Maybe I'm not understanding some of the comments above, but in what ways did the font change help the FPP?
posted by gluechunk at 10:31 PM on December 26, 2001

kuro5hin
posted by holloway at 10:33 PM on December 26, 2001

But as it stands right now, there is no mention of font changing anywhere on MeFi and since that privilege (or oversight) exists I chose to use it. As the front page poster, I decided that changing the font would help the post. That's all.

It's a troll because we know that you didn't change the font to help the post (which is an absurd assertion) but in order to draw the inevitable negative attention to yourself.

I don't buy the denial. Don't force Matt to have to do more programming, and all MeFi members to have to forgo legitimate uses of the font tag, just because you want to use MeFi to get attention for yourself.
posted by anildash at 11:04 PM on December 26, 2001

And I messed up once more by not clarifying that the bold was by accident.

Once?

No, you messed up because you are self centered about you postings. Drop it and stop beating me. If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, get over yourself.

Good night.
posted by dead_horse at 11:15 PM on December 26, 2001

dead_horse, are you really a new user (in which case, welcome!) or are you an old user that signed up for a new name to make a joke? Same question goes to ( .)(. )
posted by dlewis at 3:22 AM on December 27, 2001

Heh. Either way, dlewis, I think member number 12908 gets beat around a lot here.
posted by SpecialK at 8:13 AM on December 27, 2001

dlewis, to answer your question yes I am a new user. As you're well aware the signup page became "out of order" if I recall correctly right after the events of September 11th, and it was one hell of a coincidence as I was planning on registering for a long time!
posted by ( . )( . ) at 5:57 AM on December 28, 2001

You were planning on registering for a long time and all you could come up with was ( . )( . ) for a name? If you were looking for a way to lower expectations, you've done an excellent job.
posted by rodii at 9:30 AM on December 28, 2001

Same question goes to ( .)(. )
...
dlewis, to answer your question yes I am a new user

Maybe he's proud of his ass pimples, dlewis.
posted by j.edwards at 11:27 AM on December 28, 2001

Jason Kent's explanation of his nickname: Well, after seeing the episode of Guiness World Records where that woman made her eyes pop out I decided to commemorate her with two really big eyes. ;-)

I think he's just got a really bad case of mammary envy.
posted by Carol Anne at 11:39 AM on December 28, 2001

*ponders and discards half a dozen 'mammary' jokes before deciding against. Is disproportionately proud of his restraint.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:10 AM on December 29, 2001

Congratulations, stavrosthewonderchicken!

In my opinion, Jimmy Townsend's observation on marriage applies to all committed relationships, which includes contributing to Metafilter.

"Marriage teaches you loyalty, forbearance, self-restraint, meekness, and a great many other things you wouldn't need if you had stayed single."
posted by Carol Anne at 4:37 AM on December 29, 2001

dlewis,

dead_horse, are you really a new user (in which case, welcome!) or are you an old user that signed up for a new name to make a joke? Same question goes to ( .)(. )


DL, no I am a user who was just trying to make a joke. Here is the UID and/or email [e-mail].

Cheers.

F
posted by dataport72 at 7:06 PM on December 31, 2001