Needs metafilterhistory tag, please.

December 1, 2006 4:38 PM

Is no problem. Is now thread with greatest number of comments. Needs metafilterhistory tag, please.
posted by cgc373 to MetaFilter-Related at 4:38 PM (39 comments total)

Can I get a first-year to read it top to bottom and memo me a three page summary? I need this by Monday.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 4:42 PM on December 1, 2006

I vote for deletion instead.
posted by brain_drain at 4:52 PM on December 1, 2006

That thing STILL going? Oh well, guess I better get back in there and straighten everyone out.
posted by The Deej at 4:57 PM on December 1, 2006

Crashed firefox.
posted by bob sarabia at 5:01 PM on December 1, 2006

Oh crap! Crashed FF for me too!! What will those poor people do without my incredible insight and withering sense of humor?!! Dear Lord, help them.
posted by The Deej at 5:04 PM on December 1, 2006

God I love no img
posted by bonaldi at 5:17 PM on December 1, 2006

I don't know if threads are historical just by being superlong. Ping me when there's a spinoff site dedicated to it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:17 PM on December 1, 2006

Will do, jessamyn, should such a thing—um, such an abominable thing—come to be.
posted by cgc373 at 5:26 PM on December 1, 2006

Huh. Someone was asking me just the other day what the record was for the greatest number of comments in a thread. I didn't know. And now I do, but now I can't remember who asked me.
posted by orange swan at 5:26 PM on December 1, 2006

Well, orange swan, at present the record is still in flux. The thread isn't; the thread is definitely #56002; but the number of comments is still an open question. One reason I posted this here—mea culpa—was to encourage that number to rise. Although at the moment, there are two gigantic comments at the bottom of the thread that consist of nothing but "bureaucraticindividualism" in one case and "meow" in the other, repeated through several pageviews of text. Those may be breaking the thread, thus rendering it impossible to add to. But I hope not. I hope for perseverance!
posted by cgc373 at 5:33 PM on December 1, 2006

Wow, that was almost exactly a month ago. Time flies...
posted by daninnj at 5:46 PM on December 1, 2006

I just successfully added a comment (just to ensure that the phrase "This will not Wendell" appears at least once), and I have Firefox 2, so I think that all you need is a little extra patience (and use the Live Preview forgoshsakes, don't hit the Preview button).
posted by wendell at 5:47 PM on December 1, 2006

So, that thread should be closed to further comments in just under 22 hours. And considering how few "comments just to add to the comment total" there seem to be (Don't ask me to read the whole thing - I've been ignoring it all month), it may be appropriate to call in "The Longboat Crew" who kept MetaTalk 9622 and its follow-ups alive, even if they don't have img tags to work with...
posted by wendell at 5:54 PM on December 1, 2006

I deleted the idiot all meow/bureaucraticindividualism comments. Please don't give me cause to go back into that thread again. Thank you.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:02 PM on December 1, 2006

Ok, it loaded this time. I saw the meow/bureaucraticindividualism thing though. What the hell was that about?
posted by bob sarabia at 6:37 PM on December 1, 2006

Well hey, Jessamyn, maybe you could keep that thread open a little longer. Seems to me there has been a lot of rational, intelligent discussions, and the opposing sides have really taken each other's sides into full contemplation. I think some people may even be ready to defect to the other side. Why stop it now?
posted by The Deej at 6:41 PM on December 1, 2006

Where's that image of John Goodman talking about The Rules™?
posted by cgc373 at 7:00 PM on December 1, 2006

Why stop it now?

What are you talking about? I didn't close it and wasn't planning to.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:01 PM on December 1, 2006

I think it's just weird cross-talk and a misunderstanding. It sounded like there was a larger deletion than there actually was. It's fine; and thanks for deleting those dopey repeater comments, jessamyn.
posted by cgc373 at 7:03 PM on December 1, 2006

Oh, and bob sarabia, those repeating comments were in response to a commemorative t-shirt, as peeping_Thomist tried to add "bureaucraticindividualism" to the cloud, and pyramid termite responded with "meow," which I guess was a Usenet meme from some while ago. I'm not l33t enough to remember that, though. I just looked it up at Wikipedia.
posted by cgc373 at 7:07 PM on December 1, 2006

I almost posted to that thread on it's first day. I had an opinion when I read the FPP, but I saw that it had already been posted in within the first two comments, I didn't feel my submission was necessary.

And thank god for that. I couldn't stand the idea of that thing plaguing the My Comments page for the next month.

Ugh, /shakes off a case of the willies.
posted by quin at 7:29 PM on December 1, 2006

Wow, that's the first time one of those long threads didn't give FF a case of the shudders.

Most of the comments gave me the shudders, but anyhoo.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:39 PM on December 1, 2006

How low Metafilter has fallen. [/single tear]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:16 PM on December 1, 2006

What are you talking about? I didn't close it and wasn't planning to.

Sorry, what I meant was, give it special status and let it continue past the normal time for a thread. You know, with it being all so civil.

Just being sarcastic. It's my Writing Style. (tm)

78^)
posted by The Deej at 8:16 PM on December 1, 2006

I've read better.
posted by ColdChef at 9:06 PM on December 1, 2006

ColdChef, I was really hoping to see you in-thread. I wasn't around during the heyday of #9622, but I liked the idea of the old guard being around to show us how to do things.
posted by cgc373 at 9:18 PM on December 1, 2006

Man, my gaydar was pinging when i read* that thread. And it's infallible.

* Well, I read down to about the point where I read it when it was still on the front page and then wandered off to the garage, where I sat in my running car for a few minutes, just to feel clean again.
posted by maxwelton at 9:21 PM on December 1, 2006

It was a great thread until the end. Shame.
posted by bardic at 5:30 AM on December 2, 2006

bardic, do you mean it was great and then started to suck at the end, or it's a shame it's ending?

'cuz I didn't start to comment until late in the thread, and I'm feeling attacked! Shields up!
posted by cgc373 at 10:43 AM on December 2, 2006

Sigh. Perhaps peeping_Thomist needs a timeout.
posted by scrump at 11:51 AM on December 2, 2006

Perhaps peeping_Thomist needs a timeout.

Done.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:27 PM on December 2, 2006

...and undone. He said he's sorry.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:05 PM on December 2, 2006

i got last post!!
posted by pyramid termite at 3:45 PM on December 2, 2006

Yep, you shore did, pyramid termite.

Hey! Your initials are the same as peeping_Thomist's! YOU'RE SOCKPUPPETS! SHENANIGANS! GUARDS!
posted by cgc373 at 3:51 PM on December 2, 2006

uh, no, i don't even want to think about that ...
posted by pyramid termite at 3:59 PM on December 2, 2006

Ah, but you you have thought about it, pt. Mwuahahahaha.
posted by cgc373 at 5:45 PM on December 2, 2006

Congrats, pyramid termite. I'm just glad it's over, myself.
posted by maryh at 10:56 PM on December 2, 2006

Orrrrrrr is it?
posted by The Deej at 9:08 PM on December 3, 2006

Many 13th century serfs died for that thread.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:53 AM on December 5, 2006