Terrorist threat alerts do not make good posts. February 11, 2002 7:44 PM   Subscribe

I think this thread is a prime example of the kind of things not to post to MeFi...
posted by evanizer to Etiquette/Policy at 7:44 PM (14 comments total)

The front page link is to a CNN 'Breaking News' story, and the discussion that has commenced inside is the kind of thing that adds to the 'noise' end of the signal/noise ratio. While the post may not have been intentional flamebait, that seems to have been the result. These kind of threads just make a lot of junk to wade through on the front page. I don't want to sound like a police officer, just making an observation upon an example of the wrong kind of post.
posted by evanizer at 7:48 PM on February 11, 2002


it caused discussion and commentary. i see nothing wrong with it.
posted by jcterminal at 9:06 PM on February 11, 2002


Yeah, maybe I overreacted, but it was worded in such an uninviting way and then the whole Israel-Palestine thing started up; very few of the comments were about the source link, even though, under ideal circumstances the topic could be an interesting one- the nature and purpose of warnings, what vague warnings mean to the citizenry... but that's not how the discussion panned out. It was a link to CNN, followed by an AP link. It's just sad that anything even remotely related to the terrorist threat and the government's response to it automatically becomes a catch all for snarky comments about perceived 'racism' or another intractable Israel/Palestine debate. Yes, it caused 'discussion' and 'commentary', but not all discussion and commentary is really appropriate or interesting for Metafilter.
posted by evanizer at 9:20 PM on February 11, 2002


I agree with your original assessment, evanizer. Every time there's a terrorist warning it's posted on Metafilter. It's also read on every news program, and printed in every newspaper. The first one was ok, because it was novel...at this point, it's unnecessary.
posted by Doug at 10:08 PM on February 11, 2002


The thread was pretty useless. At the rate the administration pumps out SEVERE WARNINGS THREATCON DELTA, the whole site would be overrun with them. Maybe we should wait till there's something more concrete or a different spin or (heaven forbid) an actual incident.
posted by owillis at 10:31 PM on February 11, 2002


I just look to see if the special forces guys' wives are chewing their nails.
posted by bunnyfire at 4:30 AM on February 12, 2002


I don't think Metafilter ought to compensate for people's unwillingness to visit CNN. The post in question does do that.
posted by luser at 5:41 AM on February 12, 2002


hmm.. thought just occurred to me.. let's say you were stuck in a room with a computer that could only access metafilter... and the world was about to end.. what would you post/do?
posted by lotsofno at 4:07 PM on February 12, 2002


Nothing. Why bother? MeFi would be jammed with 3000 other people all trying to post the same sort of Last Word, so it would just become inaccessible anyway.
posted by aaron at 4:21 PM on February 12, 2002


I'd post lotsofno's question on MeTa. Something pithy like "Famous last words, ladies and gentleman, please." ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:51 PM on February 12, 2002


hmm.. thought just occurred to me.. let's say you were stuck in a room with a computer that could only access metafilter... and the world was about to end.. what would you post/do?

Alone or with company?

Alone--what? Masturbate gloomily? Lie down, take a nap? Eat, if there was food? Listening to the birds if there was a window. Walking outdoors if there was a door. I wouldn't be wasting my last precious moments on some computer posting some soon to be unread last words, pardner...
posted by y2karl at 7:50 PM on February 12, 2002


Sacrifice the computer to the Great Old Ones.
posted by solistrato at 1:54 PM on February 13, 2002


hmm.. thought just occurred to me.. let's say you were stuck in a room with a computer that could only access metafilter... and the world was about to end.. what would you post/do?

Actually, if I was trapped indoors alone as humanity came to an end, I could think of few things better than listening to y2karl's drylongso.
posted by liam at 4:27 PM on February 13, 2002


ooh, my ears were burning... And as luck would have it, a rerun of my Halloween show--the station lost my way cool Valentine's Day show, grrr---with the oralse.cx kitten and a Metafilter props given in the notes. XOXOXO to you, liam!
posted by y2karl at 11:10 AM on February 15, 2002


« Older Does one get notified before one is banned from...   |   font and indenting fubar Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments