Star Wars House Man comes into his own thread February 7, 2006 12:05 AM   Subscribe

Check it out - Gus somehow heard there was a thread about his crazy starwars filled house & he joined up to set a few things straight. That's the second time I've seen that happen in one of my threads, it's a cool testment to the visability of this place. Also, Matt, I will expect my $2.50, as we agreed.
posted by jonson to MetaFilter-Related at 12:05 AM (37 comments total)

And yes, I do mean "testment." It's a perfectly cromulent word, I'm surprised you've never heard of it...
posted by jonson at 12:10 AM on February 7, 2006


I've been in that basement!
posted by bunglin jones at 12:34 AM on February 7, 2006


Oh yeah, I forgot that one too.
posted by jonson at 12:37 AM on February 7, 2006


Gus said regarding some of the personal, mean-spirited, prejudiced, and ad hominem remarks aimed at me and Pam on this thread, well, Pam and I abandoned the endless pursuit of hipness a long time ago

Gus sounds like he's alright. Metafilter, maybe not so much.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:40 AM on February 7, 2006


discover your inner geek and you'll be free!

which Gus also said.
posted by johnny novak at 12:58 AM on February 7, 2006


In situations like this I think it'd be appropriate to return a subscriber's five bucks.

I mean, he basically paid for whatever bandwidth surge we just flooded over there, got a pretty hefty dose of MetaSnark for the honor, then paid five bucks to join to - gentlemanly and germanely - set the record straight.

We should be honored to have such even as fleeting participants.
posted by loquacious at 3:25 AM on February 7, 2006


I love Gus. He's a nerd's nerd, he stood up to withering criticism with grace and dignity, and he still managed to make a self-deprecating joke. Gus, I salute you.
posted by Plutor at 4:47 AM on February 7, 2006


Good on Gus, I hope he sticks around for a bit though it would be hard to blame if he chose not to.
posted by cedar at 5:04 AM on February 7, 2006


Aw. I hate to bitch*, but that thread (for the most part) is exactly one of the reasons I tend to feel somewhat alienated from MeFi these days. When did we become the Suburban Armchair Warriors' League for Enforced Conformity?

Or something that makes a better acronym.

Gah.

*not at you, jonson
posted by taz at 5:31 AM on February 7, 2006


SAWLEC? Yes, I think we can do better.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:40 AM on February 7, 2006


*is waiting*

How about "Look, Idiosyncratic Person - Be Average, Like Me!"

LIPBALM!!!!11

(Okay, I really suck at acronyms - even when I actually try. Somebody, help me out!)
posted by taz at 6:06 AM on February 7, 2006


I read the first 50 or so comments, and skimmed the rest until Gus' comment. I didn't see anything particularly over the top...anybody care to call out a comment they thought was particularly mean-spirited?

Geeks are allowed to call each other geeks, just as African-Americans are allowed to use the n-word.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:06 AM on February 7, 2006


Heh, LIPBALM rulez!
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:07 AM on February 7, 2006


Quick, someone tell Gus not to sign his posts.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:08 AM on February 7, 2006


I didn't see anything particularly over the top...anybody care to call out a comment they thought was particularly mean-spirited?

"not only do they have a creepy hobby, but they have very poor taste in decorating with anything other than Star Wars crap. How embarassing."
posted by smackfu at 6:13 AM on February 7, 2006


That's nothing. Nobody told him to cut off his own hand.
posted by Mid at 6:24 AM on February 7, 2006


smackfu : "'not only do they have a creepy hobby, but they have very poor taste in decorating with anything other than Star Wars crap. How embarrassing.'"

Is it really mean spirited? It is not a praise, but it is a "creepy" hobby in the obsessive sense of the word, "poor" taste measures against some accepted average so it is probably right and, both previous adjectives being correct, "embarrassing" fits the result. It is not even very insulting by Mefi standards.
posted by nkyad at 6:30 AM on February 7, 2006


You wouldn't say it to someone in real-life unless you wanted to hurt them, so it's mean-spirited. The fact that it's nice by MeFi standards just says something bad about MeFi.
posted by smackfu at 6:35 AM on February 7, 2006


Is it really mean spirited?

Yes, it is.
posted by Khalad at 6:36 AM on February 7, 2006


Yes, it is.

And narrow-spirited as well.
posted by taz at 6:57 AM on February 7, 2006




We All Need Konformity - WANK
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:14 AM on February 7, 2006


Justice Among Really Jaded Asshattery...Right?
posted by bachelor#3 at 7:25 AM on February 7, 2006


I sidebarred the comment, the living in a post office box just cracked me up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:30 AM on February 7, 2006


Jonson: Maybe Matt'll give you your next sockpuppet at half off.
posted by klangklangston at 7:35 AM on February 7, 2006


klang - sadly I don't have any... I'm rabidly against them, except in the case of the whole Pretty_Generic saga, which made me laugh & laugh & feel shame for laughing & laugh some more.
posted by jonson at 7:38 AM on February 7, 2006


he basically paid for whatever bandwidth surge we just flooded over there

Minor point, but it *is* possible he has unmetered bandwidth from his hosting company (I get it for $9.95/month, as long as I'm not hosting porn, warez or lots of suspiciously large files for download).
posted by mediareport at 8:36 AM on February 7, 2006


When a site gets a membership increase along the lines of what happened during the 14k days, and again recently, it's natural for that membership to begin to resemble the general population more and more.

In other words, The Suburban Armchair Warriors League for Enforced Conformity happened when we let people in.
posted by shmegegge at 9:27 AM on February 7, 2006


Minor point, but it *is* possible he has unmetered bandwidth from his hosting company (I get it for $9.95/month, as long as I'm not hosting ... large files for download).

Then, it's not unmetered. I'd bet they have a TOS clause that lets them pull the plug if you use to much 'resources'.

Actually their description page sounds like total BS to me:

You get 500 megs of diskspace. Plenty for most needs - we like to joke that if you need more than this, what you're doing is probably illegal :)

Okay... Think Metafilter requires less then 500mb of disk space?

Dreamhost has some crazy restrictions on the 'percentage' of disk space taken up by text or non text. It's just a scam to try to get people to use the service who would never even come close to their bandwidth caps, while excluding people who actually would.
posted by delmoi at 10:32 AM on February 7, 2006


Yeah, their business plan is to sell 'umetered' bandwidth, and then boot anyone who uses a lot. So it's not unmetered, or unlimited, or anything else, it just has an undefined (and probably low) limit.

If they want to 'ensure quality service for everyone' then allocate bandwidth to everyone and start shaping people who go over the limit.
posted by delmoi at 10:35 AM on February 7, 2006


In other words, The Suburban Armchair Warriors League for Enforced Conformity happened when we let people in.

Um, you're a 21ker.
posted by delmoi at 10:37 AM on February 7, 2006


Gotta disagree, shmegegge; a couple of what I would consider harsher comments were made by folks with 4 digit membership numbers.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:37 AM on February 7, 2006


What I didn't say in the other thread for fear of being heckled (yes, I'm being polite): as huge a mark the whole SW "thing" has made on society, I think it's important that someone is making a museum-worthy collection.

Gus handled the heckling well, I hope he hangs around a while.

I made my own lightsaber as a kid: broomstick (straw-end was removed) spray painted light blue and black electrical tape wrapped around it as a hilt.
/Star Wars geek-girl

posted by deborah at 11:22 AM on February 7, 2006


I would've gotten more into Star Wars back then, but I was busy having sex.
posted by horsewithnoname at 11:48 AM on February 7, 2006


I'm not saying the problem is that membership was opened up.

I'm saying the problem is barely a problem, so much as it's what happens when membership to any site gets large enough. Given enough time to grow, any membership starts to resemble the general population rather than a niche of specific personality types.

It's not an influx of "ordinary people" I'm talking about, either. It's a behavioral difference in ALL members that changes when the community becomes large enough for individuals to start to feel their role in the community diminish.

I'm not indicting new members, I'm not indicting anyone. I'm also not saying opening membership up was a bad idea. I'm just saying that this is an inevitable result. Is the alternative better? I don't know, and I don't care to speculate.
posted by shmegegge at 12:05 PM on February 7, 2006


Minor point, but it *is* possible he has unmetered bandwidth from his hosting company (I get it for $9.95/month, as long as I'm not hosting porn, warez or lots of suspiciously large files for download).

That's all well and good, Toach, but you hardly ever do anything on your site anymore.

/derail
posted by NoMich at 1:51 PM on February 7, 2006


When did we become the Suburban Armchair Warriors' League for Enforced Conformity?

I'm thinking "Cool Internet Conformity Enforcers", or "Cool ICE". I'm debating whether to drop the "Cool" part or not, though.
posted by Bugbread at 5:40 PM on February 7, 2006


I'd bet they have a TOS clause that lets them pull the plug if you use to much 'resources'.

Well, be sure to let me know when you find it.

their business plan is to sell 'umetered' bandwidth, and then boot anyone who uses a lot.

Hasn't happened to anyone I know using them. Seriously, delmoi, snide skepticism is one of my favorite things, but you're being silly here. There are services that cater to small sites that don't charge more when you get slashdotted or mefied, whatever you might think of them.

That's all well and good, Toach,

Shit! What are *you* doing here? Now I have to act nice.
posted by mediareport at 6:01 PM on February 7, 2006


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