endWell? March 31, 2007 7:44 AM   Subscribe

Is it kosher to sell your MeFi account to someone else?
posted by nanojath to Etiquette/Policy at 7:44 AM (90 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite

Regarding this AskMe.
posted by nanojath at 7:44 AM on March 31, 2007


Thanks, Nano, this does belong here. I'm glad Wendell brought it to the site 1st. This has a bad feel to it. Identity on a site like this shouldn't be sold or transferred in any way.
posted by theora55 at 7:55 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


Well, it depends on how much MeFi treasure and swords and armor and power you have.
posted by The Deej at 7:56 AM on March 31, 2007 [3 favorites]


No, no it totally isn't.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:00 AM on March 31, 2007


There's MeFi treasure?

Seriously, with all the other stuff involved in this 'deal', I hadn't thought about how "other involved parties" like MeFi would deal with it...
posted by wendell at 8:04 AM on March 31, 2007


While what I would basically be "selling" is my personal websites, the interested buyer really wants the "goodwill" from my web persona (which seems as silly to me as it does to most of you). It wouldn't break my heart (or bank account) if objections at MeFi (and maybe elsewhere) killed the deal.
posted by wendell at 8:12 AM on March 31, 2007


I don't see why not. I bought 'quonsar' just yesterday.
posted by found missing at 8:18 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


This is wendell's elaborate setup for an april fools joke tomorrow.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:21 AM on March 31, 2007 [4 favorites]


Actually, I believe that.
posted by danb at 8:28 AM on March 31, 2007


Matt, I resent that accusation. I don't deny it, but I certainly resent it.
Maybe it'd be better if everyone believed that instead...
posted by wendell at 8:33 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


Clearly if wendell sells his web persona, his mefi account would need to be closed. Otherwise, I think thing things would wendell.
posted by birdherder at 8:33 AM on March 31, 2007


Intrestingly, that's how how U.N. Owen got her account (by buying it, back when accounts were hard to get)
posted by delmoi at 9:05 AM on March 31, 2007


You have to admit it's awfully inauspicious timing for not-a-prank; especially with the implication in your question that the deal might just go down tomorrow, 4/1, which is a bit of a rush for wholesale delivery of your online identity.

And, yeah, I can't see why your mefi account would survive the sale in the it-actually-happens scenario, man.

posted by cortex (staff) at 9:05 AM on March 31, 2007


It's not like he's the original wendell anyway.
posted by cillit bang at 9:09 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


Dread Internet wendell. The masks are extremely comfortable.
posted by carsonb at 9:12 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


...although wg-p's offer is very attractive, and must admit I am tempted.
posted·by jessamyn· at 8:44 AM on March 31 [+] [!]
­
Although it breaks my heart to part with all those porn CDs.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:13 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


w-g p, you are my enemy.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:16 AM on March 31, 2007


"wendell's" name is Ryan; he inherited the name from the previous wendell. The man he inherited it from is not the real wendell either. His name was Cummerbund. The real wendell has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:20 AM on March 31, 2007 [5 favorites]


I don't see why not. I bought 'quonsar' just yesterday.

i only charged him 50 bucks for it, too
posted by pyramid termite at 9:20 AM on March 31, 2007


Here's where you flubbed the joke wendell:

the interested buyer really wants the "goodwill" from my web persona (which seems as silly to me as it does to most of you).

If this really was true and the buyer wanted to take over your goodwill, the buyer would pay attention to the things you've said on the site, and mocking the buyer is something you'd never do.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:39 AM on March 31, 2007


I am Wendell!

I am Wendell!

I am Wendell!

This will end Well!

I am Wendell!
posted by nanojath at 9:44 AM on March 31, 2007


To Wendell: if this is real, don't do it.

To everyone else: Any chance that the "this will Wendell" meme has spread outside of MeFi? If so, the name could theoretically have some market value.

If you ever fall on really hard times, Wendell, you should go all Dustin Diamond and try to guilt everyone into buying T-shirts.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:08 AM on March 31, 2007


...and mocking the buyer is something you'd never do.

Unless I suspected that somebody else was setting ME up for an April Fools Joke...
posted by wendell at 10:15 AM on March 31, 2007


HELLO I AM DHOYT...J/K APRIL FOOLS
posted by Falconetti at 10:34 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


jessamyn : w-g p, you are my enemy.

Pandemonium does mean 'all demons' in the Latin.

And this particular flavor has been weaponized.

Therefore his adversarial role in your life should not come as a surprise to anyone.
posted by quin at 10:47 AM on March 31, 2007


And I thought Matt disabled the small with bold code to prevent people from spoofing.
posted by quin at 10:48 AM on March 31, 2007


nanojath, I'm everyone else ;)
posted by nthdegx at 10:51 AM on March 31, 2007


I've been trying to interest a consortium of inner-ear-disorder-venture-capitalists in taking over my persona for years, but they won't return my phone calls.
posted by Dizzy at 10:52 AM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


quin: "And I thought Matt disabled the small with bold code to prevent people from spoofing."

I think it's more of a simple pattern matching. Small plus "posted by bold user name" equals bad. Note that wgp put some ·s in there to make the pattern match fail.
posted by Plutor at 11:22 AM on March 31, 2007


test one
test two
posted by delmoi at 11:51 AM on March 31, 2007


I'm Spartacus wendell!
posted by EarBucket at 12:03 PM on March 31, 2007


The dread pirate Wendell!
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:09 PM on March 31, 2007


[not piratist]
posted by Mister_A at 12:11 PM on March 31, 2007


Hell, the stuff that breaks the pattern match doesn't even have to be a rendered character.
posted by cortex at 12:14 PM on March 31 [+] [!]


Yeah, what he said.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:20 PM on March 31, 2007


<Jerry>But I don't want to be a pirate!</Jerry>
posted by wendell at 12:24 PM on March 31, 2007


As we all log on tomorrow morning, we will discover that every single person on the Internet has changed his or her name to wendell...
posted by DMan at 12:30 PM on March 31, 2007


As we all log on tomorrow morning, we will discover that every single person on the Internet has changed his or her name to wendell...

That would wendell...
posted by jmd82 at 12:32 PM on March 31, 2007


As we all log on tomorrow morning, we will discover that every single person on the Internet has changed his or her name to wendell...
Then I'd better close the deal fast before my name becomes totally worthless...
posted by wendell at 12:38 PM on March 31, 2007


Matt, just for fun, tomorrow you should set it so every 'posted by' in Metatalk shows up as 'wendell'. Purely as a display thing, if you click on any of the names, it would still take you to the appropriate user profile page.

It would provide us with our very own "No, I am Sparticus" moment.
posted by quin at 12:52 PM on March 31, 2007 [3 favorites]


Malkovich
posted by wendell at 12:56 PM on March 31, 2007


I imagine there is a certain rabbi one could pay off. Mmm... kosher identities...
posted by ontic at 1:19 PM on March 31, 2007


B-han---
That's my Dad.
Almost a spitting image, but
I'm covered in boils.
posted by Dizzy at 1:21 PM on March 31, 2007


Is it kosher to ask if something is kosher?
posted by Dave Faris at 2:22 PM on March 31, 2007


Not sure, but it is trayf to fyart.
posted by Dizzy at 2:23 PM on March 31, 2007


Ah, the new boy! Ears are too long and I miss the cape. But not too shabby, not too shabby at all...
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:23 PM on March 31, 2007


Curiously enough, I just stumbled across this comment while looking for something completely unrelated.
posted by Spike at 2:44 PM on March 31, 2007


I'm for sale. Includes uncommonly high google pagerank results for a single dictionary word-as-a-handle.
posted by loquacious at 2:50 PM on March 31, 2007


I'm wendell and so's my wife.
posted by terrapin at 3:01 PM on March 31, 2007


miss her? I hardly knew her!

wait.. what?
posted by edgeways at 3:03 PM on March 31, 2007


Yes, Spike, I confess, I joked about selling my ID almost exactly 4 years ago. If I knew then what I know now... it wouldn't have been a joke.

MetaFilter: Russian Roulette for Kids
posted by wendell at 3:23 PM on March 31, 2007


Yes, Spike, I confess, I joked about selling my ID almost exactly 4 years ago. If I knew then what I know now... it wouldn't have been a joke.

Erk... Sorry, I wasn't trying to accuse you of anything, I was just amused by my serendipitous finding (I was actually searching through the archives for discussions of changing passwords, for my own needs).

On a personal note, though, I'd hate to see you sell the "wendell" moniker -- it's probably my favorite meme around here. It would lose its charm (in my eyes, at least) by being turned into a commodity.

If you did sell it, you'd stay around under a different name, right?
posted by Spike at 3:42 PM on March 31, 2007


I wasn't trying to accuse you of anything

Why not? I'd bet money this is a prank, although I suppose there's no way to confirm it. If I were Matt, I'd ban the "wendell" moniker permanently if I thought a genuine transfer was involved, and just give the would-be joker a time out if he's merely abusing AskMe for a dumb prank. But like I say, it's impossible to tell, so no one will do hard time in Gitmo.
posted by languagehat at 3:52 PM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


Now that languagehat's here, I can officially begin flaming out.

What?
Nobody believes me?
Nobody loves me?
Well, fuck all 50,480 of you and the ponies you rode in on!
What would this interweb shithole be without me?
I provide 19% of all the bad puns in comment threads!
Without that, you'd all be paying that much closer attention to each other's arguments and the shitfights would be just that much worse!
And do I even get an occasional shoutout? No-o-o-o-o!
Well, let's see what this place does without me!
Nothing's gonna END WELL now!!!
Nothing's gonna END period!!!
Don't let my ass hit your door on my way out! Or, whatever!
posted by wendell at 4:13 PM on March 31, 2007 [3 favorites]


This is the Low Blood Sugar speaking, wen.
I'm sending you Emergency Cake by FedEx.
Wait by your mailbox for further instructions.
posted by Dizzy at 4:23 PM on March 31, 2007


I have chronic low blood sugar. Can I have some cake too?
posted by Spike at 4:33 PM on March 31, 2007


languagehat: I'd bet money this is a prank

I'm becoming more convinced of that as time passes as well, now I'm just trying to figure out who's in on it.

At least, I hope it is.
posted by Spike at 4:39 PM on March 31, 2007


Do you DESERVE cake?
Don't use cake casually.
It is not just recreational.
posted by Dizzy at 4:42 PM on March 31, 2007


But like I say, it's impossible to tell, so no one will do hard time in Gitmo.

I thought that the official MetaFilter position was that because it was impossible to tell, they would do hard time in Gitmo.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 4:47 PM on March 31, 2007


But can you have cake in Gitmo?
posted by Spike at 5:23 PM on March 31, 2007


the original quonsar sold his account and retired to the phillipines quite some time ago.
posted by quonsar at 5:26 PM on March 31, 2007


This is why I live under a bridge. I used to have 5 million dollars. But now people think I'm quonsar.
posted by loquacious at 5:30 PM on March 31, 2007


The Dread Pirate Quonsar?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:39 PM on March 31, 2007


So you live under a bridge... and you are a known eater of goats... iOMG loquacious is an internet el chupacabras!
posted by Mister_A at 5:51 PM on March 31, 2007


You can't just sell your web identity. It's attached to you with something like an umbilical cord. It is tied around your neck and is impossible to sever. There's you on one end, and the huge albatross of words you've left like little bowel movements, across time, all the way from here to the Usenet, and the bbs's before that.

You can't just shed all that like an overcoat on a warm spring afternoon. It will follow you all the rest of your days, and haunt you in the afterlife.

You can't lose it even if you tried.
posted by Dave Faris at 7:36 PM on March 31, 2007


Or you could make a new name and have the admins randomize the password to your last account.
posted by puke & cry at 7:38 PM on March 31, 2007


And I thought Matt disabled the small with bold code to prevent people from spoofing.

no no no! he disabled the use of the words 'posted by' with small bold code to prevent people from spoofing. and if the use of 'posted by' with small bold code is detected, it tells you the comment is empty. he's a wiley one, haughey is.
posted by quonsar at 8:16 PM on March 31, 2007


No, quonsar, it's actually a span tag with the class set to smallcopy that's banned. Tho there is a cunning way round it, that I am unwilling to reveal, except for large cash offers.
posted by Aloysius Bear at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2007


No, no it totally isn't.

Well, there is precedent.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:25 PM on March 31, 2007


How do we know which Wendell is posting this stuff? Are we talking to the 'old' Wendell or the 'new' one? Has the transaction already taken place and Bizarro Wendell is just testing the waters around here?

From here on out we'll never know if we're talking to Memorex Wendell or Bizarro Wendell...
posted by matty at 8:58 PM on March 31, 2007


wendell, you are joking, no? Don't go breaking our hearts. Don't leave us this way. ...
posted by amberglow at 9:08 PM on March 31, 2007


If I had money in PayPal right now, I'd buy the name Swendell, then post some bullshit quip that would only seem funny if you'd had three glasses of wine.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 9:14 PM on March 31, 2007


Actually, no I wouldn't.

I'm with mat"Matlock"howie on the April Fools theory.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 9:18 PM on March 31, 2007


I've got two accounts. Anyone want to buy the other? It comes complete with its own set of high-quality stalkers and vicious enemies ready to respond to anything posted from it with grade-A high-quality ad hominem; what more could you ask for? Minutes of fun guaranteed.

(Dread pirate me?)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:26 PM on March 31, 2007




If someone offered me money to use the set of characters that I type into my keyboard so that I can comment at a website and it did not prevent me from being able to type in a different set of characters and commenting at the same site, I can't imagine that there would be a possible reason why I would not take it.

It's like someone is offering him money to not ever be the shoe again in Monopoly. He can still play, but now he has to be the horse or the car. I would rather be the horse or the car with some money than be the shoe with no money.
posted by flarbuse at 9:31 PM on March 31, 2007


Who the hell does this "cortex" guy think he is?
posted by mathowie to MetaFilter related at 9:16 AM - 1 answers +
posted by edgeways at 9:43 PM on March 31, 2007


lee, that popped up when I went to AskMeFi just now, and the kitten-in-python question had me clicking through, getting me all confused when it didn't show up.

Obviously, I'm quite simple, as it took me a little while...
posted by djgh at 9:50 PM on March 31, 2007


Ok, that does it. I'm breaking ranks to do this, but on behalf of the cabal, Matt, I'm ordering you to change everyone's displayed username to wendell for the day.
posted by Eideteker at 10:30 PM on March 31, 2007


Well, this certainly will end well.
posted by loquacious at 10:35 PM on March 31, 2007


For those involved:

aj3mzxv98hhlkd2398kladsjnlqewfiojsadl34

Use the r98 on this one.
posted by wackybrit at 10:53 PM on March 31, 2007


It's like someone is offering him money to not ever be the shoe again in Monopoly. He can still play, but now he has to be the horse or the car. I would rather be the horse or the car with some money than be the shoe with no money.

Silly--everyone knows it's the thimble and iron that are the winningest pieces to be. ; >
posted by amberglow at 11:08 PM on March 31, 2007


Or you could make a new name and have the admins randomize the password to your last account.

Yeah. That'll work. No one will ever make the connection between your old uid and your new one.
posted by Dave Faris at 11:20 PM on March 31, 2007 [1 favorite]


I think Wendell already sold it and it is the buyer who posted the ask me. By acting like he was the original Wendell nobody would suspect. The perfect cover.
posted by Ironmouth at 11:38 PM on March 31, 2007


Any chance that the "this will Wendell" meme has spread outside of MeFi?

Acually... I made a joke about RSS feeds to a cute girl in a bar, and when she didn't get it and responded with confusion and disdain, I actually said "this will not wendell." It was pretty much all downhill from there.
posted by sonofslim at 11:36 AM on April 1, 2007 [2 favorites]


Acually... I made a joke about RSS feeds to a cute girl in a bar, and when she didn't get it and responded with confusion and disdain, I actually said "this will not wendell." It was pretty much all downhill from there.

I would like you to consider the very real possibility that you will not reproduce.
posted by found missing at 12:04 PM on April 1, 2007 [3 favorites]


Is it even possible to appear witty and clever whilst discussing rss feeds?
posted by Dave Faris at 1:49 PM on April 1, 2007


So... anyone want to buy a MeFi account that will make women look askance and men snicker?
posted by sonofslim at 2:57 PM on April 1, 2007


men snickering changed everything.
posted by quonsar at 4:13 AM on April 2, 2007


I like ponie115;.
po115;ted by mathowie at 11:21 AM on March 31 [3 favorites +]
[!]

posted by Tuwa at 7:56 AM on April 19, 2007


ha! awesome.
posted by Tuwa at 7:57 AM on April 19, 2007


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