Front page is kicking all sorts of community weblog butt

November 24, 2004 10:01 PM

I'd just like to say that the front page is kicking all sorts of community weblog butt at the moment, and this is a good thing. There, now I've probably gone and jinxed it.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken to MetaFilter-Related at 10:01 PM (47 comments total)

Yes, the day before we, the dreaded wave of neophytes, come to spout forth what we are ever so certain is worthy.

Eh, really, things are better now that the political clamor has died down some. It's to be expected.
posted by Saydur at 10:33 PM on November 24, 2004

Stavros is banjanxed in the head.
posted by The God Complex at 10:45 PM on November 24, 2004

Stavros - this one's for you, my man.

[indicates mututally understood gesture]
posted by scarabic at 11:07 PM on November 24, 2004

nOOb weighs in -- arsekickingly good! I'd join in, but I only have one leg.
posted by Wolof at 11:32 PM on November 24, 2004

Counting your eggs before they've hatched?

I'm one of the so called n00bs, and I joined pretty quickly after mathowie opened things up. But I can't post... yet. I'm going to stick out my neck and say that the vast majority of new members still have just a little bit to go.
posted by sbutler at 11:57 PM on November 24, 2004

That's right, johnny-come-lately. Don't you DARE post to my beloved website before you can pass MY rigorous and ARBITRARY standards, or face my NONETHELESS TEXTUAL wrath. Yeah. Mofo.

Kidding, of course, but seriously, folks, don't post a 10 day old news item just because you've been waiting 10 days.
posted by scarabic at 12:04 AM on November 25, 2004

I too am surprised by the recent surfeit of fpps, and all from the old timers. I am hoping that we see some good stuff from the new members soon. My guess is that most have been lurking here long enough that they already know what makes a good post etc.
posted by caddis at 12:28 AM on November 25, 2004

Mmm, textual wrath.
posted by tracicle at 12:40 AM on November 25, 2004

stav'. I agree. The front page has been excellent recently. I suspect that the old-timers are only flexing muscles, slapping alpha-male claws at the soft white underbellys of all the young cubs, but so far it's been a good thing. Metafilter needed a shot of Adrenaline, and it looks as though it got it. When the n00bs can post, I'd like to see us oldies putting the brakes on, maybe leaving off posting for a while. I'd like to see a metaphorical "You kids are old enough to look after the house for an evening, and me and your father are going out for a nice meal."
posted by seanyboy at 2:05 AM on November 25, 2004

*screws up and bins long speech beginning "As we enter a new Golden Age bla bla bla"*

I couldn't agree more - well, I could, but I'd have to marry you, Stav, and you just live too faraway.

May I be unfair and single out someone whose posts have been an endless joy? Matteo may be an old sourpuss like your good self, except he isn't at all: his posts have been an education, but in that thrilling way pedagogues dream about but somehow never achieve. His passions *cue Bach* are of themselves fascinating but it's the way he presents them, as if he himself had just discovered them, sharing the wonder as well as the requisite knowledge and mode d'emploi, with such a complete and elegant mise-en-scene to boot, that is so impressive - a real lesson, but the best sort, when you only realize you've become wiser and richer when the lesson is over.

I may hate his guts but I now do so with the utmost respect and feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself for it. A high price to pay - but more than worth it. ;)

*circles today's date in calendar, moves forward three years and pencils in "OK to praise Matteo again, if you must"*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:09 AM on November 25, 2004

I just checked the "Post a Link" page and got stage fright when a scary new form appeared, instead of a soothing "thou shalt not post" refusal.

All downhill from here, folks. We senseless, excitable kiddies are past the defenses. Check your snarks at the door and dig in for the winter.
posted by NinjaPirate at 2:22 AM on November 25, 2004

so when the mobs of $5 n00bs wiegh in, you've gotta bring it to Talk? Good we're here, eh?
posted by stirfry at 2:47 AM on November 25, 2004

But...

How many new members are old members disguised in freshman plaid? How many of us have more than once cast a shadow across the velvet rope? How many of us have cloned our own coteries? How many of us have surrounded ourselves with our own Borgesian mafias?

How many of us are plural?

Then again, who cares?
posted by Opus Dark at 3:30 AM on November 25, 2004

I looked at the profiles of the most recent twenty or so fpps, and didn't see any n00bs (folks who signed up last week, myself among them) posting to the front page. When's the new blood gonna start to flow?

I have a few ideas for fpps, but I'm going to hold off for awhile. I'll wait until next week for my first real bitch slapping.
posted by marxchivist at 6:21 AM on November 25, 2004

One of the best features of MetaFilter, Marxchivist, is the kindness shown by older members to someone's first few posts - you always feel, however snarky they may seem, that they'd genuinely be happy if you found your posting feet.

Everyone's first posts are crap - how could they not be? Even if they're not, they're certainly crap compared to what the same user will post once he or she becomes more proficient and demanding. Real scorn is, quite rightly, reserved for those who should know better. I know because I've felt the brunt (what is a brunt, anyway? Is it an awful cabbage-and-currant-based Bavarian cake reserved for the funerals of corrupt aldermen who everyone's well rid of?) of both.

You really should go ahead and post what you yourself sincerely feel is interesting, rather than worrying about being bitch-slapped. It's your own personality and uniqueness that are interesting to the so-called but still very real community; not your generalized and reductive idea of what the "community", in a sinister (and inexistent) collective sense, wants.

Being a newbie is the easiest part. It's justifying still being here that really challenges your every ability. :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:42 AM on November 25, 2004

single out someone whose posts have been an endless joy... Matteo

I couldn't agree with this more. Matteo has been on.
posted by Quartermass at 6:43 AM on November 25, 2004

I agree with all of the above, but if I may make a small complaint - I have noticed an increase lately (and I could be wrong) in the number of comments posted by those who obviously haven't read the thread, or even the last few comments. I have no idea if it's just new members or not, and it could just be my imagination, but I implore you, please read the thread before you post, there's no need for repetition!
posted by loquax at 7:18 AM on November 25, 2004

MetaFilter: Face my nonetheless textual wrath
posted by DrJohnEvans at 7:39 AM on November 25, 2004

PLEDGE OF WELCOME

I, for one, pledge to exercise tolerance and understanding with regard to posts by new members, to take them in the spirit in which they are offered without demanding that they mimic exactly the posting style of old members, and to refrain from using the pejorative "newbie" or any variant thereon, for a minimal adjustment period of two weeks, beginning today, the day of giving thanks that we have been permitted new blood and new brains to play with.


Who dares join me?
posted by rushmc at 8:12 AM on November 25, 2004

Oh, great. If it ain't the posts, it's the comments.

Geezus. There's just no pleasing you people. Well, except for stav and Miguel.


And rushmc, two weeks is a long time. The word "noob" is going to show up every once in a while, and that's okay. Some of them will pick it up right away, and others will take years to get the FPP thing down pat. (Case in point: me. There's a reason I don't do it very often.)

But the "play nice" part? I can try that.
posted by chicobangs at 8:21 AM on November 25, 2004

Oh, the hell with holding off for awhile.
posted by marxchivist at 9:01 AM on November 25, 2004

Everyone's first posts are crap...

I dunno - mine have all been downhill since this.
posted by mattr at 9:45 AM on November 25, 2004

I hereby proclaim this era of Metafilter as the Thanksgiving that Never Ended.
posted by Stan Chin at 10:00 AM on November 25, 2004

Everyone's first posts are crap - how could they not be?

Not true. Some are brilliant. For example, lobakgo's first post.
posted by homunculus at 10:03 AM on November 25, 2004

I dunno - mine have all been downhill since this .

I like #4 from 11 Nov. '04: "Apparently, all the koalas in Australia have chlamydia."
(Maybe I'll expate to New Zealand instead.)
posted by davy at 10:05 AM on November 25, 2004

Damn interesting first post, Marxchivist. Good stuff.
posted by Shane at 10:18 AM on November 25, 2004

Not true. Some are brilliant. For example, lobakgo's first post.


Or Marchivist's, indeed. I stand happily corrected, homunculus - thank you.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:00 AM on November 25, 2004

I have been away for a month or so, and must say that returning did bring a smile to my face. All hail the new flesh!
posted by asok at 11:50 AM on November 25, 2004

I thought my first post was great, though it got very few responses...

Anyway, Ive been here all all this time and I still can't figure out how to make good post. Good luck, everybody!
posted by taz at 11:58 AM on November 25, 2004

A star is born, Marxchivist. As a fellow history geek I look forward to your posts!
posted by LarryC at 12:25 PM on November 25, 2004

Most excellent idea rush!

I join you in this.
posted by kamylyon at 12:37 PM on November 25, 2004

Oh fuck, now I've got to deal with all this pressure. I don't know if I should cobble together a mega-post for my first time, or just some goofy flash link. History links? Music links? Quirky links?

I'm going to have to eat a box of cookies and see what answer comes to me via hallucination.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 2:39 PM on November 25, 2004

I hereby proclaim this era of Metafilter as the Thanksgiving that Never Ended.

Does that mean in a few months it's newbie genocide time? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Can't we just shower them with snark?
posted by The God Complex at 3:00 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm obviously hella n00b, being of the 18k vintage, but already I've enjoyed some thought-provoking discussion that I've actually contributed to, rather than just read.

I could have read the same homunculus post in MonkeyFilter, and participated there; or I could have just read other people's discussions on MeFi as a passive observer (a-la the last four years). Instead, in literally the first few days of membership I've had my view challenged & therefore expanded. Awesome.

Any moment now MeFite old skoolers coulld call for a n00b p0gr0m, but until then...let the love flow unchecked.
posted by kamus at 3:50 PM on November 25, 2004

Well, good this thread came about. I started one two days before the n00b posting began and got summarily deleted.

/I'm not bitter
posted by Turtles all the way down at 4:46 PM on November 25, 2004

17kers get no love, Turtles. We'll start a revolutionary movement.

Anyway, maybe this will be the real Golden Age. You know, a revival of the age that never actually happened.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 4:59 PM on November 25, 2004

Kleptophoria: I'll have you know, I've been a member since April of this year--I'm *not* a "17ker". Kids!.....

...actually, I guess I am. Makes no difference. Never mind! ;-P
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:23 PM on November 25, 2004

Miguel: If I may be so bold: given the recent dearth of political posts, and the, in my opinion, excellent recent comments and posts of the new breed, are you tempted to return?

(I'm Canadian, Migs, I mean only good.)
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:26 PM on November 25, 2004

Veteran Mefites-- should I be especially proud of myself for getting over 60 comments on my first FPP? I'm not tooting my own horn, but I was going to be pretty happy if I got as many as a dozen comments. I was all worried about fucking up, but so far nobody's called me a filthy five dolla n00b or anything. Maybe it's only the political threads that are that scary. I think I'm liking it here afterall.

You're the best, Metafilter!
posted by Kleptophoria! at 8:42 PM on November 25, 2004

It was a music thread. Music threads are pretty much guaranteed to get a lot of attention, especially when they cover a wide range of genres. Still—good post. (Better than my first.)
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:07 PM on November 25, 2004

Not to rain on your parade too much, but. The number of comments a thread gets is a poor -- in fact, often counterproductive -- indication of the quality of the link. It's sometimes the worst links that get the most comments, and the best that get the fewest. Not to say yours was bad or anything, of course. Just sayin'.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:05 PM on November 25, 2004

Veteran Mefites-- should I be especially proud of myself for getting over 60 comments on my first FPP?

you don't really know what 9622 was, huh?

so far nobody's called me a filthy five dolla n00b or anything.

filthy five dolla n00b.
happy now?
posted by matteo at 6:28 AM on November 26, 2004

so called n00b here. I guess many new members like me have waited a long time to join the metasphere. And I also guess that most new mefites are seasoned internet surfers and forum/blog users.
posted by homodigitalis at 11:09 AM on November 26, 2004

fuck you very much, matteo
posted by filthy five dolla n00b at 11:15 AM on November 26, 2004

should I be especially proud of myself for getting over 60 comments on my first FPP?

if you're looking for a boring, serious answer - the number of comments doesn't correlate with post quality. sometimes there's nothing much to say even though a link is excellent, and sometimes there's a load of comments because it was a terroible post that everyone is complaining about. my advice is to ignore it, although it does feel a bit lonely when there's nothing at all...
posted by andrew cooke at 11:57 AM on November 26, 2004

I thought having a post with 0 comments was a badge of honour?
posted by Quartermass at 12:26 PM on November 26, 2004

I'm going to try and get zero for my next thread. I've been inspired.

Good points, everyone, though. Maybe I should consider a thread a success based on the enthusiasm of the comments within? Or maybe I should just drink a milkshake after every FPP I do, thus ensuring everything is awesome.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 11:04 AM on November 27, 2004