penalty box January 31, 2002 10:37 AM   Subscribe

Penalty box, if not outright removal from the playing field?
posted by owillis to Etiquette/Policy at 10:37 AM (59 comments total)

penalty box? for being funny?
posted by jcterminal at 10:39 AM on January 31, 2002


I think it escalated from this overzealous comment.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:47 AM on January 31, 2002


Skot's shit doesn't stink?

Oh, thaaaaaat's right -- the rules are different for MeFi'ers with tenure.
posted by KLAX at 10:48 AM on January 31, 2002


But, as owillis points out in the thread, Skot was making the mistake of feeding the troll. I think I fed the same troll yesterday. Very enlightened. Jump into a thread that's obviously about faith and bash the participants.

posted by eyeballkid at 10:54 AM on January 31, 2002


I agree. Anyone that calls football, soccer, should be banned.

- Another snot-nosed British cretin
posted by RobertLoch at 10:58 AM on January 31, 2002


I think it escalated from this overzealous comment.

Guilty. Apologies extended all around. I bit hard on what was either a joke or a troll. HHH's past comments make me think it was the latter, but in either case, it was unnecessary.

Skot's shit doesn't stink?

Sure it does. That's why I'm here in the woodshed trying to clean it up.
posted by Skot at 11:10 AM on January 31, 2002


Oh, thaaaaaat's right -- the rules are different for MeFi'ers with tenure.
You forgot to dust off your argument, that thing was old when I got here.
posted by thirteen at 11:13 AM on January 31, 2002


HHHs comments were what I was pointing to yesterday; I was purposefuly vague so as to not give him more attention. Those sort of demeaning, ridiculing remarks are rude and uncalled for, and since no one is trying to convert or convince others about religion in those threads, it is silly trolling.
posted by Mack Twain at 11:25 AM on January 31, 2002


It seemed to me that Harry was joking, and Skot attacked him...to the point where he brought up Harry's (admittedly) stupid email address.
posted by Doug at 11:44 AM on January 31, 2002


Oh, thaaaaaat's right -- the rules are different for MeFi'ers with tenure.

Who doesn't cringe when they read nasty sarcasm like this? Man. It's like acid.

Just as bad as Skot's nastiness in the MeFi thread and HHH's back.

You can make a point without being nasty about it. All it takes is starting from a position where you respect your reader enough to treat them as you would like to be treated.

Can we all just hug now?
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:50 AM on January 31, 2002


I think it escalated from this overzealous comment.

Which in turn escalated from this pointless little cheap shot. Where do we draw the line, and to whom do we point the fingers, when this happens? (Viz., what's worse, being the troll or feeding the troll?)
posted by mcwetboy at 11:51 AM on January 31, 2002


Most of you don't really bug me too much when we get on the subject of God but this guy is a little too sharp for my taste. Even Skallas would probably have coffee with me but this person might just pour it on my head....my apologies if I am wrong, tho.
posted by bunnyfire at 11:54 AM on January 31, 2002


"You would have known that if you weren't some inbred, snot-nosed British cretin..."

I though Skot was from Seattle?
posted by Karl at 12:18 PM on January 31, 2002


I pointed this guy out, cause he did the same thing yesterday. Religion comes up, and instead of a decent arguments he launches into something way outta left field of the most intolerant nature. Look, I'm an agnostic that finds 90% of what the church does cuckoo-for-cocopuffs, but I'm willing to be tolerant of other's beliefs (within reason) which is what I think has (and should be) the stance on Mefi.

If I'm wrong, I'll gladly join the mob and hurl bunnyfire on the stake. (this is what is called being sarcastic :)
posted by owillis at 12:22 PM on January 31, 2002


I thought Skot was from Seattle?

Yep. Though I am an inbred cretin. *Drools*
posted by Skot at 12:24 PM on January 31, 2002


*wipes excess of snot from Skot's nose*
posted by Karl at 12:25 PM on January 31, 2002


*duelling banjos*
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:27 PM on January 31, 2002


It seemed to me that Harry was joking, and Skot attacked him...to the point where he brought up Harry's (admittedly) stupid email address.

So, in addition to all the nose-thumbing that goes on around here, a user's e-mail address is also fodder for derision? Pathetic.
posted by KLAX at 1:05 PM on January 31, 2002


KLAX, you're proving the point about negative-toned discourse leading nowhere. What's the point of mentioning the email-address issue if all you going to do is sneer yourself and say "Pathetic"?

It's all about the tone.
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:11 PM on January 31, 2002


cuckoo-for-cocopuffs

I thought I was the only one who used this phrase...
posted by ColdChef at 1:11 PM on January 31, 2002


I've stopped acting as if I just expect solid comments and started praising the ones I notice inline with their threads.
posted by NortonDC at 1:13 PM on January 31, 2002


No Klax, it isn't. I shouldn't have included the admittedly. It seems I may also be british, and drooling.

I dunno, I like Skot, but he went a little overboard. I also think Harry was JOKING. A joke is different than a troll, although they are both made to illicit a response.

Let's ask, though: Harry, were you joking, or trolling, buddy?
posted by Doug at 1:15 PM on January 31, 2002


Doug: see this thread
posted by owillis at 1:28 PM on January 31, 2002


Harry seems incredibly proud of being rude. If he wants to wallow and rut with pleasure over the deaths of the Branch Davidians, infer homosexuality on major league baseball in a childish way, or jump up and down on a picture of jesus I think we can take it. All that generosity on our part seems like we deserve to react as we see fit.

The question as always is, "who lit the fuse?".
posted by thirteen at 1:38 PM on January 31, 2002


guess I'll go look for the marshmallows and coathangers....(sigh)
posted by bunnyfire at 1:54 PM on January 31, 2002


the rules are different for MeFi'ers with tenure.

*checks Skot's user number*
*checks own user number*
*ponders*

Hey! I must have tenure! I wonder what one does with tenure.
posted by iceberg273 at 1:57 PM on January 31, 2002


Hey! I must have tenure! I wonder what one does with tenure.

First, start getting a TA to make your MeFi posts.
posted by zempf at 2:09 PM on January 31, 2002


KLAX, you're proving the point about negative-toned discourse leading nowhere.

Where would you rather see it, Kafkaesque? Here or MeFi?

I've gathered MetaTalk is a place to call somebody out, play the dozens, have a pissing match, and tell tales out of school. Here's where acting like a cretin or elitist asshole won't get you severely spanked 'cause, after all, we want to puff out our chests or ride a high horse once in a while.
posted by KLAX at 2:30 PM on January 31, 2002


First, start getting a TA to make your MeFi posts.

*slouches into room*
posted by Iceberg TA at 2:36 PM on January 31, 2002


Point taken, KLAX. I guess it was just the sarcastic comment first, and then the "pathetic" comment put together that raised my hackles. Thanks, though. I haven't had a good hackle-raising in a while. Insert Bob Dole joke of your choice.

But I still think that if you just read what you're posting - hover that extra moment over the Post button - you could rephrase things so as not to seem like a cretin or elitist asshole. If you want to seem like that, that's valid too, as far as I'm concerned. Just not for me. I'm happy seeming like an amiable rogue.
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:40 PM on January 31, 2002


Ha ha ha ha. Oh man. Please stop. Please. Harry Hopkins' Hat (since you're all to lazy to type it) is prone to blanket statements. You noticed. Terrific. He doesn't mean any of it. Well, except the Branch Dividian thing-- I can't shake him off the idea that their lives don't count.

As for everything else, I wouldn't expect it to translate on the web all that well, but he's a funnier bastard than the 12,000 rest of you put together. I'll draw that line in the sand. While he probably should stay away from religious threads for fear of causing some of you hard-line atheists to drop dead from fright, I don't think he's exactly public enemy #1 around here. No wait, I take it back: he's funny and he doesn't toe any party line and he doesn't engage in that wonderful MetaFilter sham of pretending peoples' "minds get changed around here. All the time." He is the enemy. Show him a thread from the last year or so about a real issue where someone says, "Oh. I get it. Thanks, mister!" Maybe then he'll go away.

Instead we get self-congratulatory claptrap from the same old gang. We even get a thread purporting to investigate MetaFilter's liberal slant. Containing numerous comments from ye olde bleeding hearts about how there isn't any slant at all. Not one voice in dissent. Amazing. Even the "conservatives" nod in agreement, lest they be subjected to e-noogies and pixelated swirlies from all the cool kids. (By they way, that "Step inside, won't you" shit got tired a long time ago.)

Yippee. You're all wonderful. Please don't forget that. If you do, start a MetaTalk thread about yourself. Better yet, I propose MetaSex. Whenever you run into an old pal in a thread and you both need a little self-congratulation, set up a MetaSex post. Whheeee!

And picking on an email address is super cool by the way. There was definitely no irony intended.
posted by yerfatma at 5:18 PM on January 31, 2002


he's a funnier bastard than the 12,000 rest of you put together
He must be very funny.

By they way, that "Step inside, won't you" shit got tired a long time ago.
Yes, it has gone the way of the hat-tip, the handshake, and the common courtesy and civility.

Better yet, I propose MetaSex.
Is.. this sarcasm?
posted by j.edwards at 6:01 PM on January 31, 2002


...teeth like tea cups...well an A- for the image.
posted by clavdivs at 6:15 PM on January 31, 2002


Is.. this sarcasm?

Well, it certainly was vigorous!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:20 PM on January 31, 2002


A.) Teeth like God's Shoeshine, thank you very much.

B.) How droll. See, the problem I have is that, here's this nice little sandbox, a terrific site with a terrific concept, and you people insist on reenacting high school. The only difference is that you aren't the toolboxes anymore, but you can't seem to do any better to others than they do to you. Not exactly insightful, I know. It's just human nature.

Unfortunately, it seems like once any site on the Internet reaches a certain size it loses its charm. People talking about veterans and newbies (which seems increasingly popular) and speaking up about everything that doesn't meet with their vision of the site are pretty common symptoms.

There's a reason people like Lileks and SDB are making so much noise about leaving. It's not just self-importance (maybe it is), it's because MetaFilter can be a lot of fun. But it's become so clique-y it gets repetitive and boring.
posted by yerfatma at 7:21 PM on January 31, 2002


*has deja vu, for the umpteenth time*
posted by iceberg273 at 7:41 PM on January 31, 2002


It's Pissy Day at MetaTalk!
posted by rodii at 7:48 PM on January 31, 2002


Is not!
posted by gleuschk at 7:58 PM on January 31, 2002


If you page through the sands of time for Mefi, you'll find that even though I've been here for a while - I'm almost always sticking up for the newbies. Why? Because if everyone toes the g-d line it's fricking boring as f*ck.

I sure as hell don't pretend like I have my mind changed. I'm a dogmatic ass, but I enjoy a decent argument - which was my main reason for calling out HHH.

If you're a fire breathing Nazi, at the very least you should articulate your sick world view in a cogent manner.

[of course, I have tenure - and I haven't written an entry of my own since December of 2000, but lemme tell ya - the sorority girls at Fi Kappa Mefi are cute as hell!]
posted by owillis at 8:01 PM on January 31, 2002


It's Pissy Day at MetaTalk!
I can't wait until someone calls for warm milk and blankets. (Although bunnyfire's 'let's all take a midol' line in the thread above is pretty close…)
posted by darukaru at 8:33 PM on January 31, 2002


"You would have known that if you weren't some inbred, snot-nosed British cretin..."

I though Skot was from Seattle?


same thing.
posted by jcterminal at 8:42 PM on January 31, 2002


I'm still trying to figure out how a site with over 13,000 members can be "cliquy."
posted by solistrato at 8:42 PM on January 31, 2002


So is the new game to be actively working to provoke Matt into banning members? I'm not at all comfortable with that.
posted by rushmc at 10:02 PM on January 31, 2002


For what its worth, a few more inbred, snot-nosed cretins from anywhere but the US wouldn't necessarily do Metafilter any harm. Just for the sake of a little more diversity...
posted by normy at 11:05 PM on January 31, 2002


"like Lileks and SDB" bye-bye-see ya. write if you find work. babies go out screaming. a man just opens the door.
posted by clavdivs at 7:24 AM on February 1, 2002


you people insist on reenacting high school. The only difference is that you aren't the toolboxes anymore

God, I miss being a high school toolbox.
posted by Skot at 7:49 AM on February 1, 2002


but he's a funnierbastard than the 12,000 rest of you put together.
Apparently more of a blind self linker too. Is it possible his greatness is just so vast that I cannot comprehend it? That must be it.
posted by thirteen at 8:04 AM on February 1, 2002


A little clarification:

1. I truly don't care what happens to right-wing religious survivalists or bible smugglers. I know it's hypocritical, but seeing as how I don't make or enforce any laws of any state, it really doesn't matter.

2. I was making a joke about Catholics practicing ritual cannibalism. I really think that's what the rite of Eucharist is, but it's certainly not indicative of a tendency towards pederasty and not even any stranger than some of my pursuits.

3. I'm a Red Sox fan and I wanted to direct a childish insult at the Yankees, hence my email address. I'm aware that in real life, deriding someone for being a homosexual is inappropriate. Not that it's anyone's business.

4. I'm an Anglo-American and I'd look it, too, except that I had extensive orthodontia. I have Marmite in my cupboard.

5. Take a Xanax or something. Sheesh.
posted by Harry Hopkins' Hat at 8:43 AM on February 1, 2002


Apparently more of a blind self linker too.

Not my site. I merely had the idea of a Billy Bragg fan fiction page. I didn't do the Sox comics, or write the fiction. I know the author, but she doesn't post here.
posted by Harry Hopkins' Hat at 8:45 AM on February 1, 2002


Hey, I'm from Alabama and I resent that remark about inbred cretins. Y'all cain't tawk about my fambly like that.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:05 AM on February 1, 2002


he's a funnier bastard than the 12,000 rest of you put together

He must be very funny.


Not necessarily. Humor is subjective, so we can define 'average' funniness as 0. People who are funnier than the average man get a postive rating, people who are less funny than the average, get a negative rating.
Now, with a sample size of about 12,000, we can expect that the mean funniness will be roughly equal to 0 (putting aside for the moment any thoughts that MF'ers are funnier than average people.)
We can also expect the total funniness of the MeFi membership to be near zero.
So Mr. Hopkins' Hat doesn't really need to be very funny in order to be "a funnier bastard than the 12,000 rest of you put together."
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:10 PM on February 1, 2002


So, what's the mean funny amount?
posted by tj at 1:25 PM on February 1, 2002


Don Rickles?
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:11 PM on February 1, 2002


Woop. Sonofsam, but "put together" I was assuming he meant cumulatively, which is most likely false. But since it is a little vague, it certainly could be the mean, in which case you are entirely correct.

Well, based on the subjectivity and the twists and turns of this thread.. Let's just say an even root of his funniness rating wouldn't be in the set R.
posted by j.edwards at 3:00 PM on February 1, 2002


HHH Funniness = (Your age * 17) / ((Total MeFi Users - HHH) * 2) * cirumference of the planet earth in cubits - average airspeed velocity of unladen African Swallow

By this simple formula I think you will find that HHH is indeed way funnier than the square root of the total number of MeFites.

Doh! Forgot to carry a three!
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:28 PM on February 1, 2002


Even if "funnier than all of MeFi put together" is meant to be cumulative, if the mean is zero, it means that the total must also be zero, assuming MetaFilter has at least one member.
posted by kindall at 5:26 PM on February 1, 2002


Perhaps we're all a dream from which mathowie cannot seem to awake...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:00 PM on February 2, 2002


MetaFilter has at least one member

I can think of a few actually.

Enjoy the buffet! I'm out!
posted by Kafkaesque at 7:11 PM on February 2, 2002


Thank you, kafka. I'll keep settin' 'em up, you keep knockin' 'em down.
posted by kindall at 9:08 PM on February 2, 2002


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