The "royal we" or the Metafilter "we?"

February 1, 2006 10:42 AM

Warning: This is a slightly silly question.

When people say "we" on MeFi, who are they referring to? An example of this is here - sorry plep, not meaning to pick on you but your comment reminded me of a thought I have often had. A username refers to a single person, so when I see someone say "we" instead of "I", I get confused. Do couples regularly browse MeFi together? Do friends split the $5 sign up and share an account? Do businesses have an account for urgent AskMe questions? Please indulge my curiosity.
posted by Orange Goblin to Etiquette/Policy at 10:42 AM (34 comments total)

The Royal "we," man, you know, the editorial …
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:42 AM on February 1, 2006

"We" often means "me and the people at my job" or "me and the person I live with at my house" or "me and my significant other" or "me and the other people on MetaFilter who agree with me" though I'm sure you'll get a bunch of wiseass answers. To the best of my knowledge there are few, if any, shared accounts.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:44 AM on February 1, 2006

Speaking for myself (ourselves), my wife signed this account up, (hence the name I would NEVER have picked), but we both use it.
It's always me doing the commenting, but I sometimes say "we."
posted by chococat at 10:46 AM on February 1, 2006

We are not amused.
posted by jonmc at 10:47 AM on February 1, 2006

Strange question.

It does my head in when a user says something like, 'We don't do single link posts on MetaFilter' or similar, expressing a personal opinion as if every other member holds it. 'We have cameras,' on the other hand, always makes me chuckle.
posted by jack_mo at 10:56 AM on February 1, 2006

Our account is shared (I'm Awkward, the missus is Pause). We got up at four in the morning to sign up an account in the limited window of open sign-ups in April 2004. We were going to get an account each, and I cavalierly let my SO (now wife) sign up first, only to find out that we could only create one account from the same IP address (or I was too stoopid to figure out how to circumvent it). Anyway, as it turned out this account is shared, the handle invented by my wife, and I do most of the posting/lurking (but don't use the 'we' very much).

And I guess that now that I can just go create my own account, I'm just too much of a user# snob...
posted by AwkwardPause at 10:59 AM on February 1, 2006

I think most people tend to solve problems in pairs (or more)... if you're having a problem, you tend to recruit help. So seeing 'we' in AskMe seems quite likely.

In the blue, God only knows.
posted by Malor at 11:03 AM on February 1, 2006

They're talking about me, George, and Big Thelma.

Do NOT piss off Big T.
posted by anonpeon at 11:07 AM on February 1, 2006

Resistance is futile: you will be assimilated.
posted by y2karl at 11:09 AM on February 1, 2006

By "we" I mean me, and all my sockpuppets.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:11 AM on February 1, 2006

It varies according to the circumstances. In AskMe, many of the questions have, even when asked initially in the singular, a collective noun behind them. "Help me get my dishwasher fixed," is an appropriate way to ask a question about a household dishwasher, and using "we" in a subsequent comment need not imply a joint account as much as a joint problem.

The editorial "we" can be used a bit too frequently around here, but that's the way we like it, so that's the way it is.
posted by OmieWise at 11:17 AM on February 1, 2006

a sock puppet has sock puppets?
posted by crunchland at 11:26 AM on February 1, 2006

It was called to my attention a while back on Metachat that some people think this account is owned by two people. It is not. There is only one matildaben.
posted by matildaben at 11:30 AM on February 1, 2006

I assumed it was a couple, or friends at work.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:31 AM on February 1, 2006

It's sockpuppets all the way down.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:34 AM on February 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

We find the notion of a singular discrete identity attached to each signifier to be an obsolete concept.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 11:42 AM on February 1, 2006

And I say to ourselves, what a wonderful world.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 11:45 AM on February 1, 2006

We find the notion of a singular discrete identity attached to each signifier to be an obsolete concept.

We find the notion of an undifferentiated Idea subsequently split into intelligible units through its correlation with differentiable sound or text units to be a concept both pleasant and mundane.
posted by nobody at 11:50 AM on February 1, 2006

Tengo un pollo en mis pantalones. ¡Somos felices!
posted by Roger Dodger at 11:52 AM on February 1, 2006

It means All Right-Thinking Netizens. Be one.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:52 AM on February 1, 2006

"It's sockpuppets all the way down."

This place confuses the hell outta me sometimes. I think I know you people, and you turn out to be each other.

I'm getting a bunch of sockpuppets.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 12:05 PM on February 1, 2006

A username refers to a single person, so when I see someone say "we" instead of "I", I get confused.

Usually anything from the royal "we" to "the collection of people who think like I do (which should be everyone, duh)."

Do couples regularly browse MeFi together?

Yes.

Do friends split the $5 sign up and share an account?

Yes.

Do businesses have an account for urgent AskMe questions?

I don't know.
posted by Ryvar at 12:06 PM on February 1, 2006

In the same vein, I've also been wondering exactly who is being referred to when people invoke the expression "Konichiwa, bitches."
posted by scarabic at 12:31 PM on February 1, 2006

We = NSA. Relax. If you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about.
posted by TimeFactor at 12:35 PM on February 1, 2006

I've not done nothing wrong.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:53 PM on February 1, 2006

We were slightly perplexed to discover the inquiry of a certain "Orange Goblin", one of the frequent partons of online watering hole MetaFilter. No doubt unfamiliar with the New Yorker's long-running Talk of the Town segments, this individual, we're quite certain, can be forgiven for harboring such ignorance.
posted by Smart Dalek at 1:03 PM on February 1, 2006

When people say "we" on MeFi, who are they referring to?

we'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you.
posted by quonsar at 1:38 PM on February 1, 2006

"When people say 'we' on MeFi, who are they referring to?"

When I say it, I mean me and the Reverend. When quonsar says it, he means him and the fish in his pants.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:28 PM on February 1, 2006

Sometimes I let my gimp out of his footlocker, remove his ballgag, and listen to him read MeFi aloud.

It's a hoot.
posted by Kwantsar at 2:35 PM on February 1, 2006

Usually when I say we I mean me and my partners or all right thinking people.
posted by Mitheral at 3:10 PM on February 1, 2006

I'm less concerned with figuring out who the we are than I am in figuring out who the you are.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:32 PM on February 1, 2006

When I say "we" I mean me, and the mouse in my pocket.
posted by Guy Smiley at 11:28 PM on February 1, 2006

"We" is, well, "we".
posted by owillis at 1:50 AM on February 2, 2006

The upper-left image on the FP used to say:

Metafilter
we're all in this together

Dunno when that went away.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:00 AM on February 3, 2006