One hack Two hack Red hack Blue hack January 27, 2008 2:57 PM   Subscribe

I guess I missed the memo: when did Matt start handing out red usernames? And are other colors available?

I'd like electric lime green, please!
posted by flapjax at midnite to Bugs at 2:57 PM (53 comments total)

see also...
posted by voidcontext at 3:00 PM on January 27, 2008


The memo
posted by Wolfdog at 3:00 PM on January 27, 2008


That's some pretty fucked up HTML.

But, there's no reason matt couldn't add a color field to our user names, letting us choose a color. But, you'd need to do some fancy coding to prevent the name colors from matching common backgrounds (i.e. gray, blue, green, etc)
posted by delmoi at 3:01 PM on January 27, 2008


In other words, there's a good reason matt couldn't add a color field to our user names.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:02 PM on January 27, 2008 [5 favorites]


So it no longer breaks the sidebar...but why's it (still) red?
posted by rtha at 3:03 PM on January 27, 2008


^5stavros^3the^6wonderchicken.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:05 PM on January 27, 2008 [3 favorites]


This comment in that meta thread has a list of other usernames with embedded HTML (including the one this post is about).

There is font styling info as part of the username, which now if someone tried to create a username like that would be disallowed.
posted by voidcontext at 3:06 PM on January 27, 2008


Huh?

I just bought a bottle of absinthe this afternoon and I'm gonna drink some soon. Solock up your wives, daughters, livestock and potted plants
posted by jonmc at 3:08 PM on January 27, 2008


I'll repeat my desire to have contacts show up in a different color.
posted by Pants! at 3:12 PM on January 27, 2008


jonmc, stay away from my plants, you crazy poison-swilling bastard!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:13 PM on January 27, 2008


when did Matt start handing out red usernames?

since this website became a front for the liberal godless communists

you are SO busted, matt
posted by pyramid termite at 3:13 PM on January 27, 2008


Red scare!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:21 PM on January 27, 2008


Aww shucks, it ain't red no more.

Move along folks, nothing to see here. Move along.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:24 PM on January 27, 2008


Stop missing me. I'm here.
posted by Memo at 3:26 PM on January 27, 2008 [7 favorites]


Yeah, these are all artifacts of various hacks people tried when signing up using holes that were patched years ago. We'll remove them (and no, you can't create accounts with HTML in them today).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:44 PM on January 27, 2008


I desire my name to be rendered in comic sans, please.
posted by Rumple at 3:48 PM on January 27, 2008


Ok, all old hacky users with HTML in their usernames have been removed (they were never used by anyone, just signed up).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:04 PM on January 27, 2008


when did Matt start handing out red usernames?

...he asks about user #13286.
posted by smackfu at 4:11 PM on January 27, 2008


...using holes that were patched years ago...

Sung to the tune of the Beatles' "Fixing a Hole":

Matt's fixing a hole
Where the hacks came in
And made some crazy user names
On his websiiiiiiiiii-iiiite...

There's some that were red
And there's some that were gifs
And some that borked the sidebar
On his websiiiiiiiiii-iiiite...

But it really doesn't matter
If they're pink or green
These days they're seldom seen
They're almost goooooone
See the little remnants and,
the artifacts,
they're still around,
Matt shakes his fist and says "get off my lawn!"

He's fixing a hole
Where the hacks got in
And still they pop up here and there
On his websiiii-ai-ai-iiite...
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo, hey hey hey!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:12 PM on January 27, 2008 [6 favorites]


We're Matthew Haughey's Snarky MeFi Banned
We hope you have enjoyed the show...
posted by jonmc at 4:34 PM on January 27, 2008 [6 favorites]


I would like a plaid username, preferably Black Watch tartan, or maybe that creamy Burberry.
posted by exlotuseater at 4:34 PM on January 27, 2008


in Fraktur blackletter.
posted by exlotuseater at 4:34 PM on January 27, 2008


plaidletter.
posted by exlotuseater at 4:35 PM on January 27, 2008


in Fraktur blackletter.

You know who else hated Fraktur? That's right, Hitler. No, really, it's true.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:38 PM on January 27, 2008 [1 favorite]


I would like my username to be a recording of the word, as spoken by David Attenborough.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:40 PM on January 27, 2008 [1 favorite]


I just bought a bottle of absinthe this afternoon and I'm gonna drink some soon...

Oh, so this is the thread where jonmc announces his drinking schedule for the day?
Oh, nevermind. I forgot. Every thread is the one where jonmc announces his drinking schedule for the day. :)
posted by miss lynnster at 4:43 PM on January 27, 2008 [5 favorites]


The cortex of the giant millipede creaks at is mounted by its matt. In the bushes alongside, a jessamynx keeps careful watch, waiting for an opening.
posted by Rumple at 4:46 PM on January 27, 2008 [2 favorites]


Don't be silly, miss lynster. It's been years since I bothered with a schedule. My drinking, like the solos of John Coltrane, is improvised.
posted by jonmc at 4:48 PM on January 27, 2008



The cortex of the giant millipede creaks at is mounted by its matt. In the bushes alongside, a jessamynx keeps careful watch, waiting for an opening.


Bill Burroughs meets Dave Attenborough?
posted by juv3nal at 4:53 PM on January 27, 2008


Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
posted by nola at 5:26 PM on January 27, 2008


You know who else hated Fraktur? That's right, Hitler. No, really, it's true.

He voted against it after he voted for it.
posted by languagehat at 5:32 PM on January 27, 2008


cortex: I would like my username to be a recording of the word, as spoken by David Attenborough.

Would you settle for John Lennon, in print, coming ever so close?

'If I'd said, "Do you know who I am?" I'd have said it in a joke. Because I know who I am, and I know she knew, because I musta been wearing a Kotex on me head, right? I picked up a Kotex in a restaurant, in the toilet, and it was clean and just for a gag I came back to the table with it on me head. And 'cause it stuck there with sweat, just stayed there, I didn't have to keep it on. It just stayed there till it fell off. And the waitress said, "Yeah, you're an asshole with a Kotex on," and I think it's a good remark and so what?'
posted by Sys Rq at 5:45 PM on January 27, 2008


Sure, now deletes them. He told me he'd get to it over a year ago.
posted by tkolar at 6:12 PM on January 27, 2008


Well, he did get to it...
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:20 PM on January 27, 2008


Now I wish I had a blinky-text username.
posted by not_on_display at 6:39 PM on January 27, 2008


Obligatory xkcd.
posted by signal at 7:22 PM on January 27, 2008


flapjax, damnit, your version of the ditty came across the screen as soon as that very song came up on random play. You've now transformed the rest of my evening into a skull scratching study of synchronicity.

Also, I need some big fucking purple over here, please.
posted by moonbird at 8:14 PM on January 27, 2008


Fuckin' Holdens. Troublemakers, firestarters, goddamn phonies, the lot of 'em.
posted by carsonb at 9:08 PM on January 27, 2008


It seems I don't see the red? Not colorblind either, last tested.

Any suggestions for me before you send me into AskMefi?
posted by LiveLurker at 9:47 PM on January 27, 2008


You missed the party, LiveLurker.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:08 PM on January 27, 2008


LiveLurker: It seems I don't see the red? Not colorblind either, last tested.

mathowie: Ok, all old hacky users with HTML in their usernames have been removed (they were never used by anyone, just signed up).

You see, this this one damn phony signed up a bunch of weird usernames with HTML all up in 'em. When ObsureReferenceMan noticed Plutor noticing the old hacks via the Contacts' Activity sidebar, the full extent of the dumb prank was revealed using Burger-Eating Invasion Monkey's statistical wallop on the newly available MetaFilter Infodump. Hope that clears that up.
posted by carsonb at 10:18 PM on January 27, 2008


(BTW, you should really read MetaTalk every day in its entirety, not to mention the wiki and the archives.)
posted by carsonb at 10:21 PM on January 27, 2008 [1 favorite]


mathowie should auction off those low numbers.
There are a few in single digits that would bring in millions.
posted by Cranberry at 10:58 PM on January 27, 2008


I hereby offer $10.00 for #2, to which I would like to have the user name "Attention_Whore" attached. In comic sans, natch.

Actually, it would make a good fundraiser for charity, or something.
posted by Rumple at 11:16 PM on January 27, 2008


I wish it were just my username matt turned red!

(Applies ointment.)
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:22 PM on January 27, 2008


Fuckin' Holdens.

The HR was OK.
posted by Wolof at 1:04 AM on January 28, 2008


Pants!: "I'll repeat my desire to have contacts show up in a different color."

There's my Metafilter mark contact contributions Greasemonkey script. It uses stars (grey for incoming contacts, yellow for outgoing, double star for co-contacts) and houses for people who live within 10 miles of you. I could easily change it to use colors, if that was in demand.

I spose I could also make it configurable, a la Mefiquote 2.0.
posted by Plutor at 4:52 AM on January 28, 2008 [1 favorite]


Okay, done.
posted by Plutor at 7:46 AM on January 28, 2008


Anyone remember when the 'only 10 per day' policy went into effect? Because if it was in place when the users in the comment linked to by voidcontext above were signing up multiple accounts in a row, I think I'm retroactively pissed off.

I was a ten-per-dayer, and I got in after only about a week of trying. This would have been summer of 2002. For comparison, user 13305 joined in December 2001, when I'm pretty sure that only the Sooper Seekrit Backdoor Sign-up was available.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:06 AM on January 28, 2008


In the infodump thread, cortex and timeistight have some good info on the signups timeline. It looks like the 20-per-day period was July to late fall 2002.
posted by Plutor at 9:28 AM on January 28, 2008


Stop missing me. I'm here.
posted by Memo at 3:26 PM on January 27


It's not that I miss you -- it's just that I don't get you, you know?
posted by Pantengliopoli at 11:38 AM on January 28, 2008


Obligatory TPS reference. [PDF]
posted by tr33hggr at 12:37 PM on January 28, 2008


Do we really need to report to The Pink Superhero? Man, she's demanding.

Yes, I know it's from Office Space. Now gimme back my staaaapler.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:14 PM on January 28, 2008


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