Deletion: ask and ye shall receive

May 26, 2002 11:35 AM

Is it appropriate to ask that clavdiv's moronic, homophobic, 4-post dump on this thread be deleted?
posted by mediareport to Etiquette/Policy at 11:35 AM (52 comments total)

it does kind of ruin the thread. clavdivs's complaint that rcade is bringing cruel into metafilter makes no sense, because i don't see anything like rcade's link on the front page of cruel. (maybe clavdivs just didn't appreciate how the wording of the post might have sounded like a cruel post. because, you know.) even considering the apology and taking away clavdivs' words, "this post sucks" is still kind of a crap thing to say as far as engendering discussion goes.
posted by moz at 11:53 AM on May 26, 2002

Um...WTF was that?
Clavdius does have a bit of a reputation for..."difficult" comments, but those were something else entirely.
I thought the post was hilarious.
posted by Su at 11:58 AM on May 26, 2002

I've always wondered if Clavdivs is mentally ill, or trying to affect a "unique" writing style. This settles the debate for me.
posted by Doug at 12:08 PM on May 26, 2002

He was reacting to rcade's MetaTalk post about the prison comments. Why he didn't comment in the MetaTalk thread is a mystery.

Those comments are going to be read by thousands of people who never venture into MetaTalk, and they're all going to have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on. This is precisely the kind of thing that drives Matt up the freaking wall. I wouldn't be surprised to see some light pruning in that thread sometime soon.
posted by iconomy at 12:10 PM on May 26, 2002

deleted, and clavdivs is banned to the timeout corner for it.

I actually like it when rogers posts the best of cruel here.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:27 PM on May 26, 2002

This settles the debate for me.

Speaking of Settle...where the hell has he been?
posted by adampsyche at 12:33 PM on May 26, 2002

I haven't had the trots in a while but you don't hear me reminiscing about it, adam.
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:43 PM on May 26, 2002

I didn't get to see the posts, but if Clavdivs was taking shots at me over this thread, that's one I'd like to erase from communal memory. Everyone thinks I posted it to slag rodii.

The bag thief link wasn't posted on Cruel, nor was I intending to post it there. It seemed like a nice odd personal story from an interesting weblogger who hasn't been linked here before. For me, the thing that made it worth a link was her dad's Seinfeldian decision to contact and negotiate with the thief.

As for bringing Cruel here, there may have been a time or two where I did that, but I'm more likely to find something here and post it there -- such as the rape drug buyer's guide.
posted by rcade at 1:44 PM on May 26, 2002

Looking back over my links, I've posted something on both places more than I thought -- around six times.
posted by rcade at 1:56 PM on May 26, 2002

yeah, but you did it with etiquette. bwahahaHAHAHAHAHA!
posted by quonsar at 3:24 PM on May 26, 2002

I'd be half-tempted to call this whole episode just a bad joke that backfired but now it's led to two great(if imperfect posters) disappearing. I didn't see the post that got clav in trouble so I won't comment on that. Now skallas and rcade seem to be at eachothers throats.It's giving this little fart of an event way more of an effect than it deserves.
This whole thing just sucks.I seriously doubt that anyone involved had evil intentions. Let's just call it a mistake and move on.
posted by jonmc at 4:12 PM on May 26, 2002

*cue spaghetti western music* They call him PEACEMAKER...*reverb*

jonmc, i agree. I love you, man.

Now everybody else, look at the person to your left and tell them you love them. NOW!
posted by ashbury at 5:23 PM on May 26, 2002

*looks at wall* I love you wall.
posted by Apoch at 5:30 PM on May 26, 2002

[eastwood]
....nothin' like a good peice of hickory.
[/eastwood]
posted by jonmc at 6:10 PM on May 26, 2002

Oh, geez. I didn't have a clue this was related to those stupid rape jokes. I gather the "faggot" reference was clavdiv's way of poking at rcade's defense of prison rape humor? Yeesh.

Anyway... Thanks, Matt, for deleting the dumb stuff. I'm a bit sorry I wound up on the same side as rcade on this one, but I guess that's what I get for not reading MeTa regularly.
posted by mediareport at 7:21 PM on May 26, 2002

So I guess clav's off the shortlist for Supreme Overlord now, huh?

This is a most regrettable situation. rodii taking a MetaVacation (hopefully not a terribly long, or permanent one) and clavdivs in the penalty box just makes me sad. Not too mention a large handful of other participants I've come to love (in the meta-sense) who seem to be drifting off into the sunset of late.

I've just got something in my eye...

"Imminent demise of Metafilter predicted."
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:34 PM on May 26, 2002

Skallas: You'll get no argument from me. I thought that by doing what I was complaining about, it would take a little of the edge off with self-deprecating irony, since my point was to discourage jokey prison rape references even though I'm such a bad person that I find them funny.

As you can see from this ponderous explanation and my belabored attempts in the thread to extricate myself, it was a bad idea.

If the "some people" you refer to is a group larger than you and Clavdivs, this thread is turning into a nice referendum on me, so I hope the rest of you will feel free to suggest any other corrective measures I should undertake.
posted by rcade at 7:44 PM on May 26, 2002

It's been said before by wiser men than me, but if we took all the time that we devote to pissing and moaning in here and redirected it towards creating good content(links and comments) for eachother and the readers, we'd all be a lot happier. I'm not saying this should be some love fest, but enough already, we've got our navels memorized at this point.

Not to mention, even with all this petty sniping we're still head and shoulders over everything else I've seen. The next complainer or doomsayer is sentenced to 2 weeks of hanging out in a Yahoo chat room. That'll have you appreciating this place, dagnabbit.

posted by jonmc at 8:04 PM on May 26, 2002

Bah.
Metafilter without Clavdivs is like sex without the thumb tacks.

No sir, I don't like it.
posted by dong_resin at 8:12 PM on May 26, 2002

I hope the rest of you will feel free to suggest any other corrective measures I should undertake.

You're kidding, right? I think I missed where you answered this simple question: If jokes about prison rape are OK to post here, then are jokes about non-prison rape OK to post here, too?

Start with that. And when you're done, try offering a thoughtful response to the arguments presented in Stop Prisoner Rape's letter to 7-Up about the use of prison rape jokes to sell soft drinks:

"This light-hearted depiction allows the public to simultaneously acknowledge the existence of widespread sexual violence, while denying the serious, often life-long pain and suffering of the victims...Prisoner rape is commonly the subject of jokes, but by pandering to this insensitivity, your company is only perpetuating callousness regarding this horrific, widespread abuse."
posted by mediareport at 8:47 PM on May 26, 2002

I must have missed the memos, because I have no idea what the hell is going on.
posted by evanizer at 9:10 PM on May 26, 2002

Given that I made my feelings on the topic of prisoner rape a long time ago here while derailing my worst post ever, I'm glad to see the consensus that's developing. I've always hated the jokes and references on TV and in movies. skallas's point about why we don't make jokes about men raping women is on point. But then prison bitches are women in the common cultural understanding--weak, defenseless, something less than a man.

This really speaks volumes about us, what we think is manly and womanly in America, the world at large. In my post, made when I was new here, I got into it with an old timer whose attitude was well, they're prisoners, they''re bad people, so therefore they deserve it. Which is a not uncommon attitude that's something worse than kryptonite to the culturally and morally stupid.

People never think about the brutality of prison in the context that brutalized and brutalizers, they get out one day and bring that prison culture out into the world at large. Where we see and hear it each and every day, where it corrupts and infects us all, stains our lives in common.
posted by y2karl at 9:21 PM on May 26, 2002

y2karl, that old-timer was quite possibly me. And my position on the sorry bastards remains the same. That said the recent attempts to pc-ify Metafilter so that nobody is ever offended is rather lame in my estimation. It's obviously a fine line, but I hope Mefi doesnt become stifling in the process.
posted by owillis at 9:37 PM on May 26, 2002

It certainly was one shallow, self-righteous prig I sincerely hope never has authority over one other person, I will say that.
posted by y2karl at 9:51 PM on May 26, 2002

You're kidding, right? I think I missed where you answered this simple question: If jokes about prison rape are OK to post here, then are jokes about non-prison rape
OK to post here, too?

You obviously haven't read the original thread, or you wouldn't suggest that I ever said "jokes about prison rape are OK to post here." Even in this thread I said "my point was to discourage jokey prison rape references."

I don't think they belong here, for reasons already covered, even though I find the jokes funny. If you're one of the people who is so evolved you never laugh at gallows humor or other insensitive comedy, bully for you. Personally, I enjoy humor that's in such bad taste you know the comedian has punched his one-way ticket straight to hell.
posted by rcade at 9:56 PM on May 26, 2002

no imminent demise in sight for imminent demise of metafilter predictions.
posted by quonsar at 10:06 PM on May 26, 2002

I thought it was uncool of rcade to single out a MeFi regular in his previous MeTa thread -- particularly since the regular in question has previously expressed regret at what seems to be (but I don't actually think is) a somewhat common perception of him as a "MeFi cop" -- but his (rcade's) intentions seemed honorable. He raised an issue worth raising, and if MeFi enjoys one less crappy, tasteless prison-rape joke for it, it'll have done some good.

I don't get why every time someone posts a comment other people take issue with, they think it's open season on him. OK, he made an unfortunate comment. He's apologized for causing the misinterpretation. Let's move on.
posted by mattpfeff at 10:11 PM on May 26, 2002

Wow, this thread's getting kind of long. Anyone wanna post a third thread on the same subject? I hate having to scroll this far. Let's spread this crap out.
posted by eyeballkid at 10:16 PM on May 26, 2002

since when did prison rape jokes become tasteless?
posted by jcterminal at 10:40 PM on May 26, 2002

since when did rape jokes become tasteless?
posted by y2karl at 11:03 PM on May 26, 2002

shallow, self-righteous prig

I think only the baby jesus doesn't fit that profile.
posted by owillis at 11:07 PM on May 26, 2002

why is there really a discussion about this? matth erased the posts. there's your answer. don't like it? start your own site.

can we go back to making fun of canadians now?
posted by jcterminal at 11:47 PM on May 26, 2002

posted by holloway at 12:16 AM on May 27, 2002

I'll sue your ass off if you ever post that picture of me again.
posted by Optamystic at 2:06 AM on May 27, 2002

Did anyone ever see that John Candy movie Canadian Bacon? I saw it at BlockBuster last night, but didn't have the nerve.
posted by adampsyche at 4:46 AM on May 27, 2002

We have ways of making you pronounce the letter O!
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 1:37 PM on May 27, 2002

Adam, my friend.

Watch the preview. It has every moment that's even marginally amusing, with thirty seconds to spare.
posted by Kafkaesque at 4:17 PM on May 27, 2002

This is the shortest MetaTalk front page I've ever seen.
posted by NortonDC at 4:53 PM on May 27, 2002

I assumed as much. I am just a sucker for all things Canadian. And John Candy.
posted by adampsyche at 5:47 PM on May 27, 2002

Yikes, I know. If it wasn't for prison rape, where would we be?



*Slowly removes foot from mouth*
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 8:33 PM on May 27, 2002

adam,

i don't think the film itself is canadian. michael moore directed it.
posted by dobbs at 9:06 PM on May 27, 2002

> michael moore directed it.

That must be a different Michael Moore. I don't recall anyone mentioning Moore as the director of a crappy old John Candy movie, which is something Moore's detractors surely wouldn't have overlooked.
posted by pracowity at 11:16 PM on May 27, 2002

roger & me/bowling for columbine michael moore == canadian bacon michael moore

posted by juv3nal at 11:21 PM on May 27, 2002

Sweet St Sebastian, patron of pincushions, it's true.
posted by pracowity at 12:58 AM on May 28, 2002

I didn't recognize the Canadian Bacon title at first, but I've seen that flick, possibly on Comedy Central. Not sure it was under that title, although it might have been. (Often if a movie tanks they'll try renaming it in hopes it might do better.)
posted by StOne at 7:55 AM on May 28, 2002

Quite the chat room you guys got going here.
posted by y2karl at 7:59 AM on May 28, 2002

exactly, karl. as you and i know all too well, community-building is frowned upon in these parts. and it seems futile anyway, considering the imminent death.
posted by mlang at 8:16 AM on May 28, 2002

You mean the imminent death that is oozing over the main page like maple syrup?
posted by samsara at 8:56 AM on May 28, 2002

Another Canadian reference!

Canadians Hijack MetaTalk over American Long Weekend
posted by timeistight at 9:21 AM on May 28, 2002

Ah, let them have it, they're a sensible people.
I'm perfectly willing to start typing it "aboot".
posted by dong_resin at 11:52 AM on May 28, 2002

aye
posted by goneill at 12:19 PM on May 28, 2002

It's really pronounced more like "a boat" not "a boot."
posted by kindall at 1:34 PM on May 28, 2002