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Matt's interview in the latest issue of Wired: Matt Haughey on Trolls, Nonfriend Networks, and Why Buzzfeed Sucks
posted by vacapinta to MetaFilter-Related at 1:45 AM (87 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite

"Your friends are usually afraid to tell you the truth. But someone who doesn’t have any emotional investment in your relationships can be objective and say".... DTMFA.
posted by three blind mice at 1:56 AM on April 22, 2013 [12 favorites]


It's kind of interesting that Matt answered the first question as if the questioner was asking about, and it is the case that, AskMe was the entirety of MetaFilter.

But that's probably a function of editing. A bad choice because the interview doesn't make it clear that there's the AskMe part of MeFi and so if the reader is thinking "web community" the answer doesn't actually make much sense.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:01 AM on April 22, 2013


Mattafilter.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:09 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


He looks awful in that photo at the top of the article. Get some sun, guy!
posted by thelonius at 2:10 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


And the third answer is about Ask Me, too; they definitely left out some info on this.

Also, Matt looks like a beat poet in that illustration. I saw the best posts of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked...
posted by taz (staff) at 2:14 AM on April 22, 2013 [8 favorites]


I saw the best posts of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked...

I'd actually like that. I mean, I get the Ginsberg reference and all, but I'd actually like it if the best posts involved a certain amount of madness and nakedness. Maybe you could put that in as a requirement in the fine print when people sign up. Just a thought.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:24 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Surely it's:
I saw the best posts of my generation destroyed by madness Buzzfeed, starving shallow hysterical naked [listicles]...
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:25 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I like Buzzfeed – they honestly do post some good long-form journalism – but it feels weird that I have to keep telling people that "I read it for the articles."
posted by koeselitz at 2:34 AM on April 22, 2013 [6 favorites]


...but it feels weird that I have to keep telling people that "I read it for the articles."

No, that's fair, because their porn is awful.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:35 AM on April 22, 2013 [12 favorites]


BEST POST is almost an anagram of BEAT POET.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:40 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Ivan - I'm not sure if this article is from the same set of interviews at Wired with Matt that was discussed here previously, but he did say then that "My Q&A probably makes more sense when you realize I was answering questions about Ask MeFi specifically for a good while, and they edited the questions to make it sound like I was talking about the blue or MeFi in particular. That whole bit about the "right size" of a community was in reference to questions and answers, not really MeFi itself."
posted by kev23f at 2:50 AM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


"BEST POST is almost an anagram of BEAT POET."

So is PEARS CRANIUM.

Thanks for that link, kev23f, that clears that up.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:06 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


BUTT PASTE is not an anagram of BEST POST, but I like to say it over and over again. BUTT PASTE. BUTT PASTE. BUTT PASTE.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:17 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Matt's name is an actual anagram of "Yeah! Matt Hug!" (everyone needs a Matt hug).
posted by taz (staff) at 3:23 AM on April 22, 2013 [11 favorites]


Also, AHEM, THAT GUY.

That probably means something, but I don't know what.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:39 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Ahem, that {{{hug}}} guy – yeah, "Matt."

I think I'm punchdrunk. I need to stop now.
posted by taz (staff) at 3:44 AM on April 22, 2013


I THINK I'M PUNCHDRUNK is an anagram for HI, PINK MUNCHKIN TURD!

That probably means something, but I don't know what.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:56 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


METAFILTER = TRIFLE TEAM
posted by solarion at 4:05 AM on April 22, 2013 [4 favorites]


METAFILTER = TRITE FLAME
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:11 AM on April 22, 2013 [7 favorites]


"...due to your choice to cap the number of users..."

ummmm, I didn't think so, but I may be wrong? There's not an imposed "cap" is there? Or was this guy writing the article back in 2003?
posted by HuronBob at 4:15 AM on April 22, 2013


Previously.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 4:18 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Well, that's the last we'll see of HuronBob.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:19 AM on April 22, 2013 [5 favorites]


So, like, yeah, stuck that picture of our Matt from the article into Google Image to see what was similar, and it came back with this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this one.

I have no idea what any of this means.
posted by Wordshore at 4:31 AM on April 22, 2013


Though collectively they do, perhaps, resemble a group entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.
posted by Wordshore at 4:36 AM on April 22, 2013


I really like the drawing.
posted by Jode at 5:15 AM on April 22, 2013


I guess cortex did link to this in the previous thread but it seems to have escaped most people's notice, including myself.
posted by vacapinta at 5:21 AM on April 22, 2013


Was tempted to flag it as a double, but figured I'd been drinking the first time I thought I'd seen it. So is there a cap currently?
posted by arcticseal at 5:29 AM on April 22, 2013


Good article. I learned that there's something on Buzzfeed other than "15 Cats That Look Like Rutger Hauer".
posted by supercres at 5:33 AM on April 22, 2013


"Well, that's the last we'll see of HuronBob."

heh... you wish!
posted by HuronBob at 5:37 AM on April 22, 2013


There's not an imposed "cap" is there? Or was this guy writing the article back in 2003?

Signups were closed a ways back, I think a lot of things got lost in editing. I love the new goofy Matt icon. Here's the MeFi timeline on the wiki in case people are curious.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:38 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I was hoping for an actual interview. I don't know what the hell that wee thing was.

No fault of Matt's, of course. But come on, Wired. Not all of us have had our attention spans destroyed by Twitter -- some of us did it the old-fashioned way, with dangerous pharmaceuticals.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:45 AM on April 22, 2013 [16 favorites]


I know that places like Wired probably don't do real fact checking, but you would think they would at least let the subject of an interview give the final result a look for basic correctness. It's like they are so afraid of the subject reacting badly that they print completely wrong information. Go journalism!
posted by smackfu at 5:45 AM on April 22, 2013


Not all of us have had our attention spans destroyed by Twitter -- some of us did it the old-fashioned way, with dangerous pharmaceuticals.

Even before DSL, we had LSD.
posted by twoleftfeet at 6:10 AM on April 22, 2013 [7 favorites]


I'd actually like it if the best posts involved a certain amount of madness and nakedness

Note: Everyone needs madness and nakedness.

Additional Note: Possibly not as much as you might be thinking.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:22 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


BUTT PASTE!
posted by timsteil at 6:46 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


For those that missed it, ColdChef did something interesting with Matt's picture.
posted by arcticseal at 7:17 AM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


I know that places like Wired probably don't do real fact checking

For what it's worth, I've written there and they fact check quite extensively.
posted by escabeche at 7:25 AM on April 22, 2013


TIL Matt hates Buzzfeed. Perhaps wants it off his lawn.
posted by sweetkid at 7:45 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


As far as I'm concern, Buzzfeed's existence is completely justified as a funding vehicle for Katie Notopoulos's full-time tweeting.
posted by mullacc at 7:56 AM on April 22, 2013


taz: Also, Matt looks like a beat poet in that illustration. I saw the best posts of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked...

Obligatory "mathowlie"
posted by Rumple at 8:07 AM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


The comments about Portland reminded me of this mom-powered "minivan"
posted by exogenous at 8:08 AM on April 22, 2013


That sketch of Matt makes him looking like he should be playing backup for the Black Keys or something.
posted by slogger at 8:15 AM on April 22, 2013


I liked the part where Matt said that MetaFilter is important because it can delineate the exact reasons why you are an idiot.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:43 AM on April 22, 2013 [8 favorites]


I can only find the first page of this. Is there a link to the rest of the interview?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:50 AM on April 22, 2013


In that picture, Matt looks exactly like a guy that I used to go to high school with. His locker was right next to mine, and we'd talk about Farside Comics and Apple IIe games all the time. So, it goes without saying that he was a pretty cool guy.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:53 AM on April 22, 2013


That's like a hipster ghost Matt in the drawing. But perhaps that was the intent.
posted by angrycat at 10:18 AM on April 22, 2013


It’s pretty close to the real thing. There are something like 70 bike shops in Portland, and they really specialize. One imported from the Netherlands a hot tub you can tow.

Also, um that last sentence is a um huh?
posted by angrycat at 10:20 AM on April 22, 2013


That's like a hipster ghost Matt

And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for all the meddling other kids with the pumped up kicks.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:21 AM on April 22, 2013 [10 favorites]


10 Reasons why Matt Haughey thinks Buzzfeed sucks
posted by nathancaswell at 10:26 AM on April 22, 2013 [17 favorites]


it’s like gardening huge swaths of land

ps opportunity for huge... tracts of land joke missed here
posted by nathancaswell at 10:29 AM on April 22, 2013


But...but...I'm 67 and need Buzzfeed to clue me in on the 21st century!
posted by Carol Anne at 10:39 AM on April 22, 2013


Now I want to do a bike shop tour of Portland.
posted by GuyZero at 10:53 AM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]



One imported from the Netherlands a hot tub you can tow.


Matt Yodie?
posted by chavenet at 11:01 AM on April 22, 2013


No, really. Hot tub. No word on whether it has a time machine, too.

(I checked out that shop a week ago when I was in PDX and immediately fell in love / texted husband with "I've found our new bike shop if we move here." And then, coincidentally, found out its owners live next door to a friend of mine. They had one of the tubs in their yard. Very cool).
posted by bitter-girl.com at 11:49 AM on April 22, 2013


One [of the very specialized shops] imported, from the Netherlands, a hot tub you can tow.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:24 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


That's like a hipster ghost Matt

And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for all the meddling other kids with the pumped up kicks.


Ah best comment. It's like the duck fat fries with a PBR based artisanal cocktail of comments.
posted by sweetkid at 12:36 PM on April 22, 2013


No, that's fair, because their porn is awful.

22 Guys Who Are Not There to Fix Her Cable
posted by Rangeboy at 12:38 PM on April 22, 2013 [4 favorites]


Oh, sure, he can call people idiots because he's the founder and all, but when I do it my comments get deleted.
posted by trinity8-director at 2:03 PM on April 22, 2013


"Obligatory 'mathowlie'"

I had not seen that before. It's pretty great!

Though, did you refer to Miguel as a "spaniard"? Or did I misunderstand?

I really, really, really hate listicles.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:04 PM on April 22, 2013


10 things Ivan Fyodorovich hates about listicles:
posted by sweetkid at 2:23 PM on April 22, 2013


bitter-girl.com: "No, really. Hot tub. No word on whether it has a time machine, too."

Now that they mention the wok, no way I'm getting in.

The tub, complete with cover, fire coil shield, ash tray, wok,

posted by chavenet at 2:31 PM on April 22, 2013


The "blog movement" has NOT "run its course." Pffft.
Regularly updated art blogs ftw!
Ok, maybe some of it has run its course.

posted by Glinn at 5:16 PM on April 22, 2013


"The 'blog movement' has NOT 'run its course.' Pffft."

I keep trying to read the Mira Grant zombie books (read the first one, had some trouble with it, keep putting the second one down and then trying again weeks later) and the whole blogging thing reads as so amazingly anachronistic now, like this mid-aughts vision of a blogging-dominant future is the equivalent of 50s SF projecting flying cars and wars with the Soviet Union on the Moon. Near-future science-fiction has a short shelf-life but it also strongly reveals the preoccupations of the time in which it's written. But it's always so weird how there's this certainty that x recent trend will continue to infinity.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:56 PM on April 22, 2013


Metafilter: A midwife pulling a tub on her bike
posted by schmod at 6:39 PM on April 22, 2013


Rangeboy: "22 Guys Who Are Not There to Fix Her Cable"

22 guys who actually are there to fix her cable.
posted by schmod at 6:41 PM on April 22, 2013


He fixes the cable?
posted by nathancaswell at 7:04 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


I don't think that's a cable.
posted by maudlin at 7:13 PM on April 22, 2013


The "blog movement" has NOT "run its course." Pffft.

There were 1.6 million new WordPress blogs created last month, the highest number ever recorded. I don't think it's over; why would it be? Blogs and Twitter do totally different things and it doesn't really make sense to think of the latter as liable to "replace" the former.
posted by escabeche at 8:10 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Heh, I emailed the hot tub folks today to see if we could rent it in a few months for my husband's birthday. Shhh! No one tell him!

Also, true story: I saw Matt at cyclocross race near Portland. I didn't say hi because I felt stupid. Maybe because I was wearing bike clothes, which are stupid. Anyway, Matt is a big supporter of cyclocross around Portland, which is great for me. Thanks, Matt!
posted by bluedaisy at 9:33 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I was hoping for an actual interview. I don't know what the hell that wee thing was.
Yeah, I spent way too long looking for the 'next page' link. I guess it's an old person thing to want to read an interview for more than 15 seconds.
posted by dg at 9:56 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


The length, seriously, others mentioned it, but it continues to bother me...

And the more I think about it, the more it bothers me. Particularly when I realize that they got an actual illustrator to do artwork (I like it!), and presumably some serious professional layout people (wired always was a master at that sort of thing, from their Mondo2000 inspired beginnings until now) to lay it all out.

But then the wordcount, the actual *content* is sooooo tiny.

And darned it, they got a serious, no kidding A-list author to do the writing as well... (by writing, I guess I mean ask the 6 questions (with 2 sentences of text to introduce metafilter to everyone).

I mean, I didn't expect long-form journalism with Levy sleeping on Matt's sofa for a month or anything, but he could have at least written as many sentences as I have whining about the whole thing in this comment.
posted by el io at 10:08 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Thanks for posting the timeline, jessamyn... I‘ve mentioned it before, but I was away from the Interwebs for five years, and I‘d missed a lot of happenings, so it was cool to get caught up.

Holy shit, dhoyt and jenleigh were one and the same? Really?
posted by Jughead at 12:55 AM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Trolls are the new Welfare Queens.
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:40 AM on April 23, 2013


Trolls actually exist.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:44 AM on April 23, 2013 [4 favorites]


I got lost in that timeline and marinated in it for two hours.
posted by angrycat at 9:07 AM on April 23, 2013


Trolls actually exist.

Without being combatitive, I would rather the onus of the article had been to focus on the many thousands of users at Mefi who contribute to make fantastic content, rather than the trolls. Otherwise it is rather like when newspapers focus on social security and welfare mentioning only the worst examples or even as you say, creating artificial constructs.
posted by sgt.serenity at 12:20 PM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I think there's a narrative inevitability there, is the main thing: when a lot of online discourse is defined in terms of how bad it is, how ugly the comments are or how at the mercy of the trolls places can end up being, some place being an exception to that gets framed in terms of "how did you get around the problem?"

Partly it may just be that the assumption is that most places would be visibly populated by lots of good people contributing stuff of value if it weren't for the negative forces draggin' shit down, etc.

The distinction Jess makes is a totally fair one: it's not like people acting like shit-stirring assholes is some imagined villain used to get people angry and justify rhetorically some otherwise unpalatable agenda. Plenty of bored or angry or mischievous people actually are constantly being pretty terrible all over the internet, every day. It's as easy to verify as reading the comments on any newspaper site anywhere, or youtube, or Facebook or twitter, or or or. It's a self-evident problem with the intersection of some of our crappier social instincts and the weird new landscape of everybody's-got-a-megaphone internet media.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:30 PM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


That's fair enough Cortex.
posted by sgt.serenity at 12:37 PM on April 23, 2013


Isn't this also just a filler for their 20th anniversary celebration? Matt's like the sex worker who gets interviewed for a quarter-page article in a student newspaper's inevitable sex issue.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 8:57 PM on April 23, 2013


22 guys who actually are there to fix her cable.

I know porn is supposed to involve unrealistic fantasies, but isn't that stretching it a bit far? Next thing you know they'll be showing up on time!
posted by TedW at 11:21 AM on April 24, 2013


Well I think it's disgusting that anti-troll prejudice is so strong on this site - a shameful stain on metafilter's otherwise healthy reputation for equality and respect. I've formed a lobbying group for troll rights, and have been signing up people as members in response to this hateful discrimination. I see from my records that one new member, Mr or Ms "Lol stuped fagg" has signed up a number of times, so keen he or she is to join. Well Lol, I commend your commitment to our group, and when people like you and "fuk off shithed" and "quidnuc u r dickbrane" and others come to our first group meeting, I know we can really explain our position in a constructive manner to the public and defeat trollism once and for all.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 9:08 AM on April 25, 2013


There were 1.6 million new WordPress blogs created last month, the highest number ever recorded. I don't think it's over; why would it be? Blogs and Twitter do totally different things and it doesn't really make sense to think of the latter as liable to "replace" the former.

Yeah, but if I had a buck for every person who said, "I used to blog all the time, but now I just Tweet and...I'm done," I'd have a lot of money. And look, now Matt just said it too.

I hate Twitter and I hate that everyone else but me thinks it is the most awesome thing ever and I hate that Twitter won the Internet. I hate short updates, big effing deal. I want paragraphs. I used to really be into message boards, but now those are almost all gone. And I started reading Metafilter obsessively because it's a rare place left that HAS discussions, which aren't being shared with "all my friends" and every co-worker or future employer or relative who's ever heard my full name, and then can get ticked off about what I said no matter how innocuous it was.

*sigh* damnkidsgetoffmylawn i'mtoooldforthisshit *grumblewhine*
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:36 PM on April 25, 2013


Also, true story: I saw Matt at cyclocross race near Portland. I didn't say hi because I felt stupid.

Oh man, You should have said hi! Seriously I've met half a dozen of the most amazing people that were MeFi members that also happen to ride and bumped into me at a race or event. Say hi next time!
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:37 PM on April 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Just to recap, this was a really weird article when I saw it. I talked to Steven Levy for about 20-30min on the phone and we covered all sorts of topics, and it was crunched down to just a couple hundred words. I kind of wish we just did it over email so at least I got to explain things better and respond directly to questions. The questions asked over the phone were a bit different than what they printed, so the whole thing reads as off to me.

I do think blogging is going by the wayside a little compared to twitter/facebook, and my answer was informed by seeing all my web designer/developer friends go from enthusiastic bloggers ten years ago to posting once every six months on their sites, with twitter feeds filled with new posts every couple hours from the same people. It feels like something has shifted among all the early bloggers as blog publishing is now a bigger thing run by networks and people have lower friction ways to post quick quips on other services.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:42 PM on April 25, 2013


I hate Twitter and I hate that everyone else but me thinks it is the most awesome thing ever and I hate that Twitter won the Internet.

See, I use Twitter, and like it, but it doesn't in the least tempt me to start blogging. And my blog gets more hits and comments than ever, partly because I now put links to it on Twitter. Because Twitter is a great place to find links to paragraphs you want to read, if you're into paragraphs, which tons of people are and tons of people always will be.
posted by escabeche at 8:57 PM on April 25, 2013


I hate Twitter and I hate that everyone else but me thinks it is the most awesome thing ever...
Not just you - there's at least two of us!
posted by dg at 12:16 AM on April 26, 2013


but it doesn't in the least tempt me to start blogging.

To STOP blogging! To STOP blogging! Where's my 10-hour edit window?
posted by escabeche at 6:40 AM on April 26, 2013


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