I saw it on Fark but want to discuss with MeFites

January 29, 2002 7:10 AM

So there's interesting story (or two) being prominently linked on another site with known readership overlap. I'm interested in hearing the comments of the MeFi community on either. Is that reason enough for a FPP?
posted by NortonDC to Etiquette/Policy at 7:10 AM (12 comments total)

my opinion is not to base your decision on the comments of one site or the other. is the link interesting? if it is, go ahead and post it. i don't read fark, so i have no idea what transpires there, and i'd rather you didn't exclude their links based on whomever here reads the site -- so long as the links are interesting. of course, that's just me and i know many believe otherwise.
posted by moz at 8:29 AM on January 29, 2002

I've always felt, and the evidence suggests, that most Mefi check a wide variety of net-sources each day, and that if I saw a link at some other place where links are collected and disseminated (fark, BoingBoing, Alternet, Onion, what have you) I immediately assume that most Mefi have seen it, it subsequently violates the first criteria for a good FPP (to wit: "most people haven't seen it before") and is therefore not a good post.

I have refrained from posting links/questions/discussion items that I am personally interested in because of this as well - that my personal interest in a subject not sufficient to meet the explicit criteria for a good post.


posted by UncleFes at 8:35 AM on January 29, 2002

People like me, who enjoy the MeFi treatment, probably enjoy the fact that item X and Y - and not all the others - have been selected for discussion, particularly if they're familiar with the link. It can be interesting, depending on who's posting and the way he/she approaches and presents it. And they certainly enjoy the discussion which is, er, different from over at venerable Fark.com.

But(before I'm told off for speaking in the plural) then again, perhaps there's no one here quite like me.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:56 AM on January 29, 2002

I was going to post Legodeath, and five minutes before I had everything ready it went up on memepool. One must never post links from memepool, I believe.
posted by j.edwards at 10:07 AM on January 29, 2002

Where have all the forwarders gone? I used to get these email forwards from people I barely knew about some lame joke or quiz or other tidbit that they thought was amusing. It was frustrating to say the least. But I've noticed that these email forwards are not as frequent as they once were. Could it be that community weblogs, or weblogs in general, have taken the place of forwarding?
posted by jacknose at 10:25 AM on January 29, 2002

That first story would have made a good FPP. I think the idea is that a FPP should be new at MetaFilter, not everywhere.

posted by Mack Twain at 10:31 AM on January 29, 2002

I like the first one, it's good, quirky out of the way news you won't typically find. I don't have time to read fark, so I would have missed this.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:47 AM on January 29, 2002

Cool, I'll put together a little post.
posted by NortonDC at 11:02 AM on January 29, 2002

Hah, I just got called out by jazon for posting a story linked on another site. :-) Can't please everyone...
posted by NortonDC at 11:29 AM on January 29, 2002

you must be reading x amount of A-List blogs and certain popular websites.

In my experience, it generally seems to be true. Your results may vary [shrugs].
posted by UncleFes at 12:32 PM on January 29, 2002

I don't read mempool, fark, or anything else (except obscure store, i love that). I used to visit a lot of these different weblogs, but I don't have time anymore. MetaFilter is a time saver for me, because it satiates my desire for a lot of interesting web stuff, along with generally good discussions about news.

I appreciate it when people post truly interesting things from other sites (which I would not visit any way). Despite my rampant narcissism, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that there are many others like me, who only use MetaFilter for this sort of thing.
posted by insomnyuk at 2:16 PM on January 29, 2002

gar. memepool.
posted by insomnyuk at 2:16 PM on January 29, 2002