December 24, 2002

12:35 AM

I found some of the following comments irresponsible and irritating. This attack nearly hijacked a thread. These comments are off-topic and are not fair to both the poster of the thread and the victim poster.
a->p->a
posted by abez to etiquette/policy at 12:35 AM (35 comments total)

Someone still reads those threads?
posted by walrus at 1:10 AM on December 24, 2002

On the first day of christmas my true love sent to me;
A snarky comment in a thread I/P...
posted by inpHilltr8r at 1:52 AM on December 24, 2002

Postroad deserves everything he gets.
posted by salmacis at 2:01 AM on December 24, 2002

Postroad deserves everything he gets

Nonsense.

It's an Israel Palestine thread for the love of all that is frolicking on the green grass in the warm sunshine!

No matter how you slice it, these threads are like a pork chop to a pack of wolves.

I'd hop in too and shoot out the streetlights if I had the gumption, as I sometimes do, but there's this birthday party that I'm celebrating for a baby in Bethlehem.

Best to all.
posted by hama7 at 3:22 AM on December 24, 2002

fwiw:
- apologies if my initial comment came across as nothing more than an excuse to flip postroad. i'd been trying to write about the paintings in the falafel shop, but was having a hard time describing them, when on preview i saw postroad's comment and thought "oh fuck, there goes another thread".
- you (abez) would presumably argue (since you don't link to postroad's first comment, but start with mine) that it's me that tried to derail the thread, not postroad. on the other hand, i was careful to (1) avoid continuing with any i/p argument (to avoid a chicken/egg suicide/repression cycle) and (2) stop posting as soon as i'd made my point. also, (3), i'm not a regular poster to those arguments (compare my and postroad's posting histories and see hama7's comments above for some idea of how some people view anything mentioning palestine) and i was wondering whether criticism from someone outside the clique might carry more weight.
- i was in a pissy mood yesterday (see my other comment about cars) (you try sitting all day on a bruised cocyx), and it's possible that influenced my judgement.
- in the end, what it comes down to, i think, is: is complaining about something in the thread acceptable or not? the decision has to be made thread by thread (unless you believe rules are absolute, in which case i'm sure you'll soon be picking one side or the other in the i/p debate and arguing as fiercely as the rest...). here i think postroad was already derailing things and my comments (which we're broadly anti-same-thing-again rather than picking one side or another) did as much to avoid an i/p argument as they did to provoke it.
posted by andrew cooke at 3:55 AM on December 24, 2002

ps i apologise to skoosh if s/he was offended by my posts, and i reject absolutely the idea that postroad is any kind of "victim" (see abez's comments at top of this thread).
posted by andrew cooke at 4:00 AM on December 24, 2002

I'm more puzzled by why no one is incensed by Postroad's inability to hit the fucking spell check button.
posted by machaus at 6:10 AM on December 24, 2002

bunch a fuckin babies
posted by clavdivs at 7:10 AM on December 24, 2002

Don't go there machaus. Nothing unites MetaFilter like lynching a grammarian.
posted by timeistight at 8:27 AM on December 24, 2002

bunch a fuckin babies
posted by jpoulos at 8:32 AM on December 24, 2002

when on preview i saw postroad's comment and thought "oh fuck , there goes another thread".

Unlike a child, don't stop. Just keep going and pass through a snark by ignoring it.
posted by thomcatspike at 8:51 AM on December 24, 2002

Postroad deserves everything he gets.

Now there's a responsible, community-minded sentiment.
posted by rushmc at 8:59 AM on December 24, 2002

Nothing unites MetaFilter like lynching a grammarian.

Every time you lynch a grammarian, the baby Webster cries.
posted by jonmc at 9:06 AM on December 24, 2002

thomcatspike - have you never responded? i don't think i have a history of being involved in childish arguments.
and if you're so adult, why the need to prepend the snide "unlike a child" to your guidance?
posted by andrew cooke at 9:07 AM on December 24, 2002

Ok, I'll defend Postroad. His posts and comments aren't nearly as trolling as they used to be and his tone has been much less confrontational than it was in the past. Rather than offhand snide attacks, it'd probably be more useful to give him credit for the improvement.

Lately, he's seemed like an opinionated member with a strong pro-Israel bias who likes posting single-link news stories. Hardly a crisis.
posted by mediareport at 9:08 AM on December 24, 2002

Nice try, mediareport, and I agree that he's gotten less trollish, but this time he does deserve whatever he gets (and if andrew cooke hadn't said something, I was going to). The post was about Palestinian Christians singing for peace, which seemed like an interesting topic that might generate some good discussion. But no, here's postroad:

and Arafat has of course used theexcuse of the Israeli incursion (result of suicide killings) to cover his butt. If there is to be withdrawl of Israeli troops it will be the same as in any war: peace accord between warring peoples. I realize I will be badmouthed on my post, and that I will hear all about Israeli atrocisites, but the fact remains: countries do not give up areas taken in war until there is a peace arrangement. There is no time cap that says Now you must withdraw even though we still plan to destroy you. The UN resolution calls for just and secure borders. Uner a peace agreement.

In other words, "you can try all you like to post something that won't turn into a standard I/P flamewar, but I won't let you!" Truly depressing.
posted by languagehat at 9:21 AM on December 24, 2002

Feel no shame. Should ya?
posted by johnnyboy at 9:33 AM on December 24, 2002

have you never responded? i don't think i have a history of being involved in childish arguments.
and if you're so adult, why the need to prepend the snide "unlike a child" to your guidance?

First answer to your question, yes.

Second to your statement; I meant to leave a ;) at the end of my comment. Was not directed towards you.

That may have helped you sort my thought better and let you know where I was coming from.

If not let me explain. I see where your coming from but you didn't post this thread. Again, your the victim. So your comment was a point I was springing boarding off of for abez. Not how you could make it better. You had every right to say that, but postroad too should have asked the first question you asked me.

I just brought up how to do deal with it, chill please. It's good to point but also wise to offer a solution that's all.

Are you part of the problem or a solution to it. Andrew you were not the problem, sorry for maybe giving you that thought. ;)
posted by thomcatspike at 10:04 AM on December 24, 2002

andrew: I reread Postroad's comments, I think they are somewhat legitimate. His comments are venturing off-topic but these I/P threads always turn into the freeforall of I vs P comments and linking. p->a->p->a probably would've been more appropriate for the post.
I felt there are other venues to vent about a poster, like metatalk. I don't think it's kosher to vent about other posters in that manner in a public post. If it's about Metafilter, it goes to Metatalk. As displayed by previous comments in this thread, you can say a lot on metatalk.
posted by abez at 10:20 AM on December 24, 2002

abez - Thread hijack is pretty much the norm around here. It's debatable just how bad a thing that is. Personally I don't mind as long as it's something worth talking about. Other boards seem to think the hijack is a sin that shouldn't be allowed. I think other boards are full of disciplinarians who have had all the fun drained out of their bodies. Many don't agree with me.

But you're going to wear out Metatalk if you call people out for something as minor as the incident you cite here.

Someone getting mad at Postroad for something in an I/P thread is the expected behavior around here. Short of banning 20% of the users and laying down strict usage rules, I don't think it's ever going to change. Feel free to try though. Good luck.
posted by y6y6y6 at 11:02 AM on December 24, 2002

I'm more puzzled by why no one is incensed by Postroad's inability to hit the fucking spell check button.

that's just the tip of it. his syntax is downright sclerotic. what haunts me is that he occasionally professes to be an academic of some sort, a professor, an instructor. i can only hope it's night school or community college.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:10 AM on December 24, 2002

From the thread:

No it's not his right to post on MeFi, it's a privilege that can easily be revoked. There has been a lot posted on MetaTalk about the I/P threads and even in the FAQ it's been noted that this is a Bad Idea. I think the link was a decent link, but this whole thread has just devo'ed into a good example of why IP posts are bad.

Non sequitur.

The front page post was good. The commentary was briefly ok (including that of Postroad, with whom I most often disagree) until someone decided to let personal emotion lead to a little personal attack, as so often occurs here.

Those calling for restrictions on "IP posts" because some can't discuss the matter like adults is exactly like demanding we throw the baby out along with the dirty diaper.

Controversial topics are not destroying Metafilter, and they never will. Personal invective in so many threads makes those who partake (as well as MetaFilter at large) merely look foolish...if not downright childish.

I'm more puzzled by why no one is incensed by Postroad's inability to hit the fucking spell check button.
hat's just the tip of it. his syntax is downright sclerotic. what haunts me is that he occasionally professes to be an academic of some sort, a professor, an instructor. i can only hope it's night school or community college.

Puzzles me too...unless I'm preoccupied with pondering how a spell check button experiences sexual intercourse...or how people who learned how to use a computer never also learned how to capitalize the first words of sentences.

Maybe we should look to the content of people's thoughts as expressed here...and go beyond these ridiculous ideology/"inflammatory"/syntax/spell checks?

~gasp~

apologies if my initial comment came across as nothing more than an excuse to flip postroad.
ps i apologise to skoosh if s/he was offended by my posts

Sincere apologies always garner my intense respect...but you might want to consider that these "if I offended" style "apologies" are now notoriously seen and derided as "Trent Lott-onements".


~wink~
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 11:56 AM on December 24, 2002

Whenever I need to brush up on my long-winded whinning and backpeddling, I'm glad I've got an ad hoc "How To" guide scattered across all of MeTa.
posted by Dark Messiah at 12:52 PM on December 24, 2002

Postroad has said many times that he is 70+ years old, and a bad typist to boot. Have a little mercy. There are younger folks on this board who are just as obtuse. I honestly think it's cool to have older users at MeFi. At least they have the life experience that the younger blowhards lack.
posted by dhoyt at 3:14 PM on December 24, 2002

And he never goes to MetaTalk. That in itself is pretty incredible.
posted by yhbc at 3:16 PM on December 24, 2002

derided as "Trent Lott-onements"

heh
posted by rushmc at 4:47 PM on December 24, 2002

What mediareport and foldie said with huge bells on it. Agreeing to disagree and being able to detect degrees of disagreement - and rejoice and work on them - is not only a sign of respect and intelligence, it's the very bedrock of MetaFilter civilization.

Some people seem to be more interested in motives ("What effect did X mean to have?), agendas ("What political caravan is Y barking for/at?") and styles ("Why does Z post like that?") than in what is being said. That's interesting, but an infertile kind of autism on a link-collector and discussion board such as this one.

Bunch a fuckin babies!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:00 PM on December 24, 2002

posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:00 PM PST on December 24
Best smack down in recent times.
posted by riffola at 6:14 PM on December 24, 2002

MC: I look on much of it as peer pressure to conform. Some people are just control freaks.
posted by mischief at 7:13 PM on December 24, 2002

old postroad sure is a horny geezer. gotta love him. :-)
posted by quonsar at 7:45 PM on December 24, 2002

And, as mediareport correctly said, he is in turnabout mode, after all. Grant him that. [Via postroad's blog.] :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:14 PM on December 24, 2002

bunch a fuckin babies amateurs

get it right, dammit!
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:48 PM on December 24, 2002

old postroad sure is a horny geezer. gotta love him. :-)
posted by quonsar at 7:45 PM PST on December 24

So, this postroad...it vibrates?
Look, someone had to say it, you know it had to be said... ;)
posted by dejah420 at 10:10 PM on December 24, 2002

if postroad is 70+ years old that means he lived through the holocaust (may be stating the obvious here). i didn't know that - if i had, i hope i'd have kept quiet. sorry, postroad.
posted by andrew cooke at 5:50 AM on December 25, 2002

And he never goes to MetaTalk. That in itself is pretty incredible.

How can you say that after reading this thread?
posted by rcade at 5:07 AM on December 27, 2002