SLYT should be in FAQ December 4, 2010 2:37 PM Subscribe
Definition of "SLYT" should go into the FAQ. That is all.
You know you can submit a question directly to the FAQ from the FAQ page, right? I think we probably need an all-purpose "what does this mystery term?" question that points to the community-updatable Acronyms page on the wiki. How does this look?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:45 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:45 PM on December 4, 2010
The Slyt is a boss from Final Fantasy XII. It can be found in the Pharos at Ridorana.
Oh man, please use that definition.
posted by danb at 2:45 PM on December 4, 2010 [6 favorites]
Oh man, please use that definition.
posted by danb at 2:45 PM on December 4, 2010 [6 favorites]
Is it just my imagination, or did SLYT start off as a critical comment about a post and morph into a descriptive label? At first I thought people were labeling their own posts SLYT to needle other MeFites who can't stand those, but now it looks like people think it's almost a requirement to add that.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 2:47 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Pater Aletheias at 2:47 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
That's the way I remember it too. That it used to be a "eh, this isn't much" negative comment but now it's more of a descriptor. People seem to put it in their posts as a way for people who really dislike them to know that's what they are and enable them to pass them by. It's sort of nifty, though confusing, the way that all worked out.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:05 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:05 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
morph into a descriptive label
It's not even descriptive any more. I see people making posts with 5 or more links and still using the term SLYT to describe the post. I wish they would cut that shit out. You can add "(youtube)" after a link if you want to alert people that it's a video, which is a double plus because it doesn't require readers unfamiliar with the lexicon to go traipsing around FAQs and Wikis to find out what in the hell you're talking about.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:12 PM on December 4, 2010 [5 favorites]
It's not even descriptive any more. I see people making posts with 5 or more links and still using the term SLYT to describe the post. I wish they would cut that shit out. You can add "(youtube)" after a link if you want to alert people that it's a video, which is a double plus because it doesn't require readers unfamiliar with the lexicon to go traipsing around FAQs and Wikis to find out what in the hell you're talking about.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:12 PM on December 4, 2010 [5 favorites]
I always thought in was mean as a "short man" alert. But then I opened the links and found no short people.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 3:15 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 3:15 PM on December 4, 2010
Typo for Sylt, actually. Could mean pretty random stuff: an island in German, and jam in Swedish.
posted by Namlit at 3:23 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Namlit at 3:23 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
I see people making posts with 5 or more links and still using the term SLYT to describe the post.
One of those neat (linguistically speaking) things about the evolution of usage, the way a bit of coined jargon can move from being very specific to being much more general as it is passed on informally from one "generation" of users to the next without a specific regime of restriction and reinforcement of the original meaning.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:29 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
One of those neat (linguistically speaking) things about the evolution of usage, the way a bit of coined jargon can move from being very specific to being much more general as it is passed on informally from one "generation" of users to the next without a specific regime of restriction and reinforcement of the original meaning.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:29 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well, it's kinda like Yankee, right? The Brits started using it as a taunt, then the colonists started using it as a moniker to prove that it didn't bother them, now it's considered by some to be a catch-all term for USAmericans (or people who live where the upper colonies were).
posted by Night_owl at 3:57 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by Night_owl at 3:57 PM on December 4, 2010
It took me a while to realize that it wasn't SYTL for Single You Tube Link, which made more sense to me. Back then it seemed like the "link" should be AFTER the "You Tube", but now the other way just sounds wrong.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:17 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:17 PM on December 4, 2010
I read it as SYTL for a long time too, which I took to mean "stupid you tube link", serving both the descriptive and derisive functions.
posted by Think_Long at 4:19 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by Think_Long at 4:19 PM on December 4, 2010
Speaking of the FAQ, it looks like there's a duplicate question:
Someone linked to a video not viewable in my country. Should that be deleted? How can I see it?
I can't see video content linked in a post. Is this okay? What can I do?
posted by Rhaomi at 4:21 PM on December 4, 2010
Someone linked to a video not viewable in my country. Should that be deleted? How can I see it?
I can't see video content linked in a post. Is this okay? What can I do?
posted by Rhaomi at 4:21 PM on December 4, 2010
Also, convention dictates that it is *always* necessary to apologize when posting a SLYT post. We would prefer it if everyone apologized before posting anything to MetaFilter.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:48 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by KokuRyu at 4:48 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
> It took me a while to realize that it wasn't SYTL for Single You Tube Link,
Hey, guess what I just learned!
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:52 PM on December 4, 2010
Hey, guess what I just learned!
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:52 PM on December 4, 2010
It helps if you scream it in a Jerry Lewis voice.
But that improves almost any word.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:03 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
But that improves almost any word.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:03 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
SIGHTL!!!!
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2010 [3 favorites]
Yep. That was good.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
I have a love/hate relationship with Urban Dictionary and I think they defined it quite well: SLYT (note: this is coming from someone not above posting a SLYT).
posted by cjorgensen at 5:38 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by cjorgensen at 5:38 PM on December 4, 2010
I did not know you could submit FAQ questions from the FAQ page, but I do know. I just opened the page up and did a Ctrl-F for "SYLT". I would now like to apologize for what I just wrote.
posted by MattMangels at 5:52 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by MattMangels at 5:52 PM on December 4, 2010
Also, convention dictates that it is *always* necessary to apologize when posting a SLYT post. We would prefer it if everyone apologized before posting anything to MetaFilter.
Oops. Sorry about that.
posted by juv3nal at 6:07 PM on December 4, 2010
Oops. Sorry about that.
posted by juv3nal at 6:07 PM on December 4, 2010
OK then, what about SLYTMND posts?
posted by not_on_display at 6:59 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by not_on_display at 6:59 PM on December 4, 2010
I'm curious where the Metafilter: "random quote from comments/article" originated.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:18 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:18 PM on December 4, 2010
I did not know you could submit FAQ questions from the FAQ page, but I do know.
Yay, the system works!
I'm curious where the Metafilter: "random quote from comments/article" originated.
I'm not sure what you mean. Oh the tagline thing? Gosh I have no idea.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:54 PM on December 4, 2010
Yay, the system works!
I'm curious where the Metafilter: "random quote from comments/article" originated.
I'm not sure what you mean. Oh the tagline thing? Gosh I have no idea.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:54 PM on December 4, 2010
Confess, Fletch: "I'm curious where the Metafilter: "random quote from comments/article" originated."
Metafilter used to have a variety of taglines below the logo (now it just says "community weblog"). It would get changed every few months or years, and the variable nature of it inspired people to create their own. It's a pretty common thing -- another site I read features a playful page title that changes with each reload of the homepage; the associated forum likewise has a tradition of making up their own titles when it fits the situation.
On preview: Speak of the devil, the newest topic in the forum right now is about the site's taglines. Synchronicity!
posted by Rhaomi at 8:37 PM on December 4, 2010
Metafilter used to have a variety of taglines below the logo (now it just says "community weblog"). It would get changed every few months or years, and the variable nature of it inspired people to create their own. It's a pretty common thing -- another site I read features a playful page title that changes with each reload of the homepage; the associated forum likewise has a tradition of making up their own titles when it fits the situation.
On preview: Speak of the devil, the newest topic in the forum right now is about the site's taglines. Synchronicity!
posted by Rhaomi at 8:37 PM on December 4, 2010
It took me a while to realize that it wasn't SYTL for Single You Tube Link
The key is to look at it as hierarchical taxonymy. SLYT isn't a monolithic idiom, it's actually composed of two parts: SL for "single-link", and then a specifier YT for the type of single-link post, YouTube. Imagine a colon separating them. Compare with the (predecessor?) term SLOE, "single-link op-ed" (or SLBOE, single-link blog op-ed).
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:19 PM on December 4, 2010
The key is to look at it as hierarchical taxonymy. SLYT isn't a monolithic idiom, it's actually composed of two parts: SL for "single-link", and then a specifier YT for the type of single-link post, YouTube. Imagine a colon separating them. Compare with the (predecessor?) term SLOE, "single-link op-ed" (or SLBOE, single-link blog op-ed).
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:19 PM on December 4, 2010
There's always dunkadunc's morbid mnemonic: Single-link YouTube posts make me want to SLYT my wrists.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:26 PM on December 4, 2010
posted by Rhaomi at 9:26 PM on December 4, 2010
I try not to be one of those bothersome clods who use 'hate' to describe things on the internet that mildly and occasionally annoy them, I really do.
I don't actually hate framed content, or sites that only work in IE (I'm looking at you, Korea), or Flash intro movies, or Republicans, or bacon-as-a-meme, or people who use 'LOL' unironically or my doctor.
I don't.
That said, I pretty much hate 'SLYT'. Only slightly less than the 'clever' variations that people occasionally come up with. It's at the same time utterly redundant and needlessly opaque; it is like tits on a mongoose, but only if that mongoose if purple and 50 goddamned feet long. It is like a brutalist bathhouse with a window made of congealed snot.
It makes me cranky.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:38 PM on December 4, 2010
I don't actually hate framed content, or sites that only work in IE (I'm looking at you, Korea), or Flash intro movies, or Republicans, or bacon-as-a-meme, or people who use 'LOL' unironically or my doctor.
I don't.
That said, I pretty much hate 'SLYT'. Only slightly less than the 'clever' variations that people occasionally come up with. It's at the same time utterly redundant and needlessly opaque; it is like tits on a mongoose, but only if that mongoose if purple and 50 goddamned feet long. It is like a brutalist bathhouse with a window made of congealed snot.
It makes me cranky.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:38 PM on December 4, 2010
makes me cranky
Psh, My SLYT "Pushy Pandas " (2 year old link, but not widely viewed cutefest) gets deleted for being trite and stupid but the "ducklings blowing in the wind" doesn't? Same damn concept.
Is this balance or double standard?
posted by peppito at 11:32 PM on December 4, 2010
Psh, My SLYT "Pushy Pandas " (2 year old link, but not widely viewed cutefest) gets deleted for being trite and stupid but the "ducklings blowing in the wind" doesn't? Same damn concept.
Is this balance or double standard?
posted by peppito at 11:32 PM on December 4, 2010
Matt Haughey is famously anti-Panda.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:40 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:40 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Mathowie: That panda joke isn't really that funny.
Me: The joke is hilarious because "shoots" can either means shoots with a gun or bamboo shoots and it's funny bcause, you know, pandas with guns.
Mathowie: *sideshow Bob rake noise *
And here we are.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:32 AM on December 5, 2010
Me: The joke is hilarious because "shoots" can either means shoots with a gun or bamboo shoots and it's funny bcause, you know, pandas with guns.
Mathowie: *sideshow Bob rake noise *
And here we are.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:32 AM on December 5, 2010
Matt Haughey is famously anti-Panda.
Uh huh, yeah I had my suspicions he was an anti-pandite.
posted by peppito at 12:38 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Uh huh, yeah I had my suspicions he was an anti-pandite.
posted by peppito at 12:38 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
I hate 'slyt' and wish people would stop using it.
posted by empath at 1:13 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by empath at 1:13 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Seconded, empath. Kinda pointless since MeFi adds that little arrow thingy that lets you play the video in a new window after every YouTube Link anyway.
posted by MattMangels at 3:13 PM on December 5, 2010
posted by MattMangels at 3:13 PM on December 5, 2010
I always thought it was for self-link youtube because people were advertising their funny video's that they had put online.
posted by koolkat at 3:19 AM on December 6, 2010
posted by koolkat at 3:19 AM on December 6, 2010
The little YouTube arrow thingy doesn't work if you're reading on a mobile phone, which is when it can be quite important to not chew up all your data allowance watching a video of ducks tumbling over.
posted by harriet vane at 6:03 AM on December 6, 2010
posted by harriet vane at 6:03 AM on December 6, 2010
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No, that is not all. Say why.
posted by carsonb at 2:43 PM on December 4, 2010