Memories of MeFi troll May 17, 2013 10:24 AM   Subscribe

Settle / KettleBlack reflects.
posted by Chrysostom to MetaFilter-Related at 10:24 AM (141 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite

Shows that the decision to charge for membership certainly had an impact on the number of trolls.
posted by arcticseal at 10:35 AM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Aaaaaah Settle! The short wide goth making a cyberdifference! I never did pick up that he returned under a different name later. Interesting stuff.
posted by furiousthought at 10:39 AM on May 17, 2013


I've been here for a long time (tho I'm still a five dollar n00b), and I have no idea what this is about.
posted by slogger at 10:40 AM on May 17, 2013 [6 favorites]


From the interview:
I have never disliked someone on the internet

I have done obnoxious things to some people

I never really recognized them as real people

Which had ugly consequences
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:42 AM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]



I have never disliked someone on the internet

I have done obnoxious things to some people

I never really recognized them as real people

Which had ugly consequences


Burma Shave
posted by hellojed at 10:42 AM on May 17, 2013 [114 favorites]


That twitter handle "@jomc" at the top had me confused for a second that this was jonmc's blog.
posted by Jahaza at 10:44 AM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Worth it for the epic mathowie deletion reason alone.
posted by donnagirl at 10:44 AM on May 17, 2013 [39 favorites]


Wow. We should wish that everyone who flames out / gets banned eventually has this kind of thoughtful look back.
posted by Mngo at 10:58 AM on May 17, 2013 [5 favorites]


I think I was the first member to imply that KettleBlack was Settle, but I did it too subtly and no one picked up on it for a while.
posted by Curious Artificer at 10:59 AM on May 17, 2013


I thought this was a pretty interesting read when I saw it earlier this morning; there's something really heartening, in the long haul, about seeing people growing to be self-reflective about where they've been and why they did the things they did back in the day.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:00 AM on May 17, 2013 [10 favorites]


0<
posted by scalefree at 11:03 AM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


Well. I'll be a monkey's uncle.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:03 AM on May 17, 2013


Metafilter: a group of people who used the site for earnest discussion because they were having their emotional needs met by reality, and then the rest of us.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 11:05 AM on May 17, 2013 [33 favorites]


This bit was quite interesting:
How do you feel about this experience in retrospect?

I would say I’m lucky

The internet has gotten a lot better at forming places for people to not grow up

People like me are so common that they’ve formed their own communities

Which is unfortunate because what I really needed was to grow up a bit

ongoing process of course
Thanks for posting this.
posted by zarq at 11:05 AM on May 17, 2013 [20 favorites]


Yeah, as annoyed as I am by trolling, even when it happened a decade ago, the willingness to confront one's past honestly is almost always going to win me over, and I found this oddly charming.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:07 AM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Some kids never grow up. Act up like 2-year-olds to get attention. Sad.
posted by Cranberry at 11:09 AM on May 17, 2013


FWIW, I still sometimes chuckle at the Joseph Sabia thread.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:10 AM on May 17, 2013


That was a really interesting read; thank you for posting it.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:10 AM on May 17, 2013


And he basically presaged that "HAMBURGER"thing, too. Pioneering.
posted by boo_radley at 11:16 AM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


I was super turned off by all the yayimatroll stuff earlier in the post; if it gets reflective I might read on.
posted by sweetkid at 11:20 AM on May 17, 2013


No, like there was a group of people who used the site for earnest discussion because they were having their emotional needs met by reality, and then the rest of us.

That seems like a pretty great capsule summary of the mental state we ought all to aspire to.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:27 AM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


I thought that was meant to say "weren't"
posted by sweetkid at 11:27 AM on May 17, 2013


He seems to think that the 'net has gotten worse in this respect in the last ten years, but I think it's gotten better.

That is to say, that it's so much larger and diverse means that there are more targets of opportunity for trolls and there are certain places which are really, really horrible; but the larger culture of the 'net has accepted that one's online life is an extension of one's offline life and quite real in its own way, where ten years ago and earlier the ethos that it was all unreal and therefore conduct doesn't "matter" was much stronger. That assertion came up all the time on the MeTa of 2003-2007, which I pretty much read in its entirety. No one ever makes this argument now.

"Some kids never grow up. Act up like 2-year-olds to get attention. Sad."

Yeah, this guy (in my reading) strongly associates this behavior with youth, but I think that there's at best a very loose association. There's quite a few middle-aged trolls out there.

"I was super turned off by all the yayimatroll stuff earlier in the post; if it gets reflective I might read on."

He's quite self-critical, I think. The things that seem like the opposite are more when he's describing his mindset at the time, but he repeatedly disavows it and criticizes it. He seems to be quite certain that this was largely unhealthy for himself and rude to others, though there seems to be some small amount of feeling that it was better than nothing and he learned some things about himself as a result.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:30 AM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


I mean I was at a point in my life where I would go months without having any sort of personal interaction with anyone

None of those people knew how important that was to me

Well they knew insofar as they could deduce from how annoying I was being


Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
posted by Mooski at 11:34 AM on May 17, 2013 [52 favorites]


I thought that was meant to say "weren't"

I read it as saying that there was a userbase of people who were well-adjusted and just came to the site to actually discuss cats or music or whatever, and a userbase of people who weren't well-adjusted and so put too much emotional stock in the discussion in some way that was ultimately anti-social. Like, they were discussing cats, but it had a lot of extra weight behind it because they had unmet emotional needs that a discussion of cats couldn't ever meet, and that was kind of explosive.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 11:35 AM on May 17, 2013 [10 favorites]


Man, I remember Settle. Thanks, that was a very interesting read.
posted by languagehat at 11:37 AM on May 17, 2013


Thanks, that was a very interesting read.

Presumably it got better then? I stopped about a third of the way in, having better things to do with my time than read mental masturbation from an aging troll. Once he started going on about how trolling was a fine art, my patience with him snapped.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:41 AM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


sweetkid: "I was super turned off by all the yayimatroll stuff earlier in the post; if it gets reflective I might read on."

You should.
posted by boo_radley at 11:42 AM on May 17, 2013


You should.

I did. Still meh. Maybe you had to know the guy?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:50 AM on May 17, 2013


Interesting read....like an internet Lockup: Raw transcript.

Would have benefitted from a pruno reference though.
posted by lampshade at 12:05 PM on May 17, 2013


I remember him. He was annoying.
posted by jonmc at 12:11 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


jonmc: "I remember him. He was annoying."

Hello new grave marker
posted by boo_radley at 12:17 PM on May 17, 2013 [68 favorites]


I apologize to anyone who saw my mental masturbation, hopefully you closed the window before I made my o< face. And for those who say trolling is not a fine art, consider that in the time it took to make this post, Michelangelo could have chiseled David almost three times.

This tender reflection on my value as a human cyber being is in some ways the crowning achievement of someone who has relentlessly provoked the infinitely decent people of this community for love and attention.

It's crazy to think of how long ago it was when we were all ten years younger. I feel very privileged to know Joanne, who has given me the very peculiar type of friendship that allows you to reflect on your virtual travails. She has her own, but I am told they are now deleted, not found on archive.org. She is both lucky and unlucky in that regard, but that is her story to tell, not mine.

I also appreciate her account of my bone crushing loneliness, described with all the subtlety of a warhammer 40K advertisement.

The one question remains - is this post o<? Or o=, silently buoyant in self reflection?

Quack quack it says. Quack. Give me some corn, it says.

2002~~~~~~~~~ \_o< ~~~~~~~~~~~~2013

I am deeply sorry if I wasted your time on the internet ten years ago. I just wanted some corn and some advice about how to avoid cats. I didn't get what I wanted, but maybe, just maybe, I got what I needed.
posted by Teakettle at 12:26 PM on May 17, 2013 [57 favorites]


Metafilter, making the internet a small world since ... well since whenever.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:34 PM on May 17, 2013


Thanks for dropping in Teakettle, you were here before I was a $5 n00b so it was interesting to read reflections on a period from MetaFilter's past.

You can never avoid cats either on the Internet or in real life. They're insistent like that.
posted by arcticseal at 12:43 PM on May 17, 2013


Before my time, but I found that interesting.
posted by Decani at 12:44 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


You certainly can't avoid cats on Metafilter.
posted by Namlit at 12:46 PM on May 17, 2013


I like the duck icon.

One of my sons has a stuffed duckie he got as a baby who is his totem and best buddy; when he is old enough to Do Email I will set this up in his .sig.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:47 PM on May 17, 2013


I thought this was a pretty interesting read when I saw it earlier this morning; there's something really heartening, in the long haul, about seeing people growing to be self-reflective about where they've been and why they did the things they did back in the day.

Seems like he has a better understanding, but no remorse or lessons learned. I came away thinking he's still an ass. The more people change....
posted by cjorgensen at 12:52 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


Now "Put Down the Duckie" is running through my head.
posted by Melismata at 12:52 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Man, I used to be an asshole.
posted by eyeballkid at 12:59 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


Teakettle, welcome back. Good to see you.

Melismata: "Now "Put Down the Duckie" is running through my head."

Dammit.

♪ "If you wanna play the saxophone." ♫
posted by zarq at 1:03 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


The one question remains - is this post o<>

Quack quack it says. Quack. Give me some corn, it says.

2002~~~~~~~~~ \_o< ~~~~~~~~~~~~2013


You should have resisted the urge to post that.
posted by vincele at 1:06 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


Ok I read all of it and still meh. It just seems really self indulgent to me.
posted by sweetkid at 1:12 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


LEAN WAS A POPULAR DRINK, STILL IS
GOT ME DYIN HARD, BRUCE WILLIS
posted by box at 1:20 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


\_o<
posted by leotrotsky at 1:45 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]



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posted by leotrotsky at 1:48 PM on May 17, 2013 [43 favorites]


Life is like a hurricane
Here in
mefi
posted by Teakettle at 1:51 PM on May 17, 2013 [14 favorites]


Racecars, lasers, aeroplanes
It's a
Duck-lie
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 1:53 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


That was not an effective attempt at rewriting those lyrics, but I had to prove that I at least knew the first two lines of the next verse.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 1:54 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


might solve a mystery,
like Russian sex rings
mefi
whoo hoo ooh.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:58 PM on May 17, 2013 [7 favorites]


I have vague recollections of settle, ten years ago was a long time. Welcome back, teakettle, hope you can get more out of your BND than you could back in the naughties.

I'd pay to read a similar interview with dhoyt.
posted by carsonb at 2:11 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


If it feels self-indulgent it's the nature of the form: the blogger/interviewer is asking him to reflect on his past. Among him for it is silly.

There's some pretty great wisdom in his responses. Some has been quoted above and this one got me too:

I don’t think anyone is intrinsically bad

I think there are a lot of teenage boys without a future

posted by wemayfreeze at 2:13 PM on May 17, 2013 [4 favorites]


I like stories with an ending. Maybe next month Faze will return to explain just what its deal was.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:15 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Now dhoyt, that guy had better mix his one part memoir with eight parts grovelling.
posted by furiousthought at 2:17 PM on May 17, 2013


\_o==o_/
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:33 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I like this guy I'm sure he's very happy on Reddit. :)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:34 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


metafilter is srbiz
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:34 PM on May 17, 2013


\_o==o_/
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:33 PM on May 17 [+] [!]


Duck + duck = happy crab.

From another $5 n00b, thanks for posting this. An interesting slice of internet history.
posted by daisyk at 2:46 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


If anyone was wondering, ParisParamus was my other pseudonym.
posted by Teakettle at 2:49 PM on May 17, 2013 [7 favorites]


I'd pay to read a similar interview with dhoyt.

Yeah, but it'd actually be four different interviews that contradicted each other in details but were nonetheless mutually supportive of one another.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:50 PM on May 17, 2013 [20 favorites]


ParisParamus was my other pseudonym.

I can't tell if you're quacking or not here, which means you've still got it, man! Werk!
posted by carsonb at 3:03 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Well, shit.

No one better play the "Summon Bevets" card.

I told you I was hardcore
posted by Curious Artificer at 3:04 PM on May 17, 2013 [16 favorites]


If anyone was wondering, ParisParamus was my other pseudonym.

Just to be really boringly modlike here, to the best of our knowledge this is not actually true.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:04 PM on May 17, 2013 [12 favorites]


No one better play the "Summon Bevets" card.

I ended up, somehow, yelling at him on FARK a year or two back, for reasons that are no longer remotely clear to me.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:06 PM on May 17, 2013 [4 favorites]


You were in a fugue state.
posted by The Riker Who Mounts the World at 3:09 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Had nights like that, too, man.
posted by octobersurprise at 3:10 PM on May 17, 2013


Wow, ten years.

Here lately, things that happened ten or eleven years ago are popping up all over. That period of time was totally horrifying for me, and having it way back in the rearview mirror has been a blessing.

Settle has just been the latest of things popping up from that time. Weird.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 3:13 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


You guys really are the best.
posted by Teakettle at 3:15 PM on May 17, 2013


If anyone was wondering, ParisParamus was my other pseudonym.

That's the most dazzling 9-word troll I have seen in a decade.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 3:15 PM on May 17, 2013 [25 favorites]


So... this exists: PutDownTheDuckie,com
posted by zarq at 3:17 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Settle! Hey, sorry I had such a stick up my ass back then. I always loved your duck, at least.

PS: Summon Bevets! *snrk*
posted by rodii at 3:18 PM on May 17, 2013 [4 favorites]


Rodii I was probably the stick in question, no hard feelings.
posted by Teakettle at 3:29 PM on May 17, 2013


When all you have are sticks, the whole world looks like an ass.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:33 PM on May 17, 2013 [17 favorites]


I'd pay to read a similar interview with dhoyt.

You and me both.
posted by jokeefe at 3:46 PM on May 17, 2013


From the article: metafilter was much more troll resistant

Hey mods, have you been spraying some of that Troll-B-Gone around the site lately?
posted by medusa at 3:48 PM on May 17, 2013


damn am I more sympathetic to trolls now. cool read, much maturity shown
posted by angrycat at 3:49 PM on May 17, 2013


> If anyone was wondering, ParisParamus was my other pseudonym.

fuller stands in gaping admiration. Don't ever change.
posted by jfuller at 4:22 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's crazy to think of how long ago it was when we were all ten years younger.

It was almost exactly 10 years. You may find, though, as I did, that ten years seems like a lot shorter time when you're in your forties than it does when you're in your twenties.

Give time some time.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:25 PM on May 17, 2013 [5 favorites]


I turn 50 this year, assuming I make it. Time can suck it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:27 PM on May 17, 2013 [5 favorites]


Time always sucks it, IRFH. Seems to be most of what time does.
posted by cgc373 at 4:28 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


True that. Sucks it right out of you.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:29 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


Ducky's first cigarette

~->O

Interesting read, thanks.
posted by h00py at 4:37 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


No, I'm ParisParamus!

I'm also Spartacus.
posted by GuyZero at 4:48 PM on May 17, 2013


I am Spartacus's Raging Bile Duct.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:57 PM on May 17, 2013


I met ParisParamus twice. The second time I blew pot smoke at him.
posted by jonmc at 5:04 PM on May 17, 2013 [8 favorites]


ITYM Raging Bile Duck
posted by carsonb at 5:05 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I didn't mean that, but I wish I had.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:13 PM on May 17, 2013


I thought I saw ParisParamus show up again the other day, as NiceParis or something like that?
posted by Chrysostom at 5:31 PM on May 17, 2013


On urine:

No, what you do is put like 1/4" into a pixie cup, freeze it and then kick it like a puck under someone's door... not that I've ever done that.
posted by Settle at 12:26 AM on April 8, 2002 [+] [!]


You must admit that that is kind of brilliant if you love inflicting WTF moments on people. I think someone did that to me once. It's the only explanation that makes any sense and I am glad to have it after all these years.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:44 PM on May 17, 2013 [4 favorites]


But in person that is harder, no backspace key on my shitty posture

That's a great little line.
posted by painquale at 5:53 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


(I should add that in person PP was actually a nice guy, the pot smoke thing...I just couldn't resist)
posted by jonmc at 6:17 PM on May 17, 2013


I read this right after reading the Kai the Hitchhiker thing and watching the video, and now I have this narrative and that narrative and this voice and that voice mixed up in my head somehow.
I once turned an image of a man groping another man’s genitals into an enormous piece of ascii art

You have to understand my social circumstances at the time were very very bad

I'm all up for scrapping this fool but I couldn't get him separated from the others so I took a couple shots to the head trying to lure him out

I don't have any family. Like, as far as anybody I grew up with is concerned I'm already dead. So, whatev
posted by mbrubeck at 6:24 PM on May 17, 2013


Thanks Jon, I was more surprised than anything.
posted by Teakettle at 6:24 PM on May 17, 2013


Another ply, another fold, but it's the same old game.
posted by fleacircus at 6:38 PM on May 17, 2013


We need a "Ten Years Ago in Metafilter" kind of thing.

Also... what of Opus Dark?
posted by rodii at 6:38 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


What ever happened to rodii... HOLY SHIT IT's rodii!
posted by eyeballkid at 6:42 PM on May 17, 2013 [5 favorites]


I just realized I have never changed my password in all the time I've been on MeFi.
posted by norm at 7:02 PM on May 17, 2013


This is so enlightening as to what the hell is going on in the minds of trolls. It may have forever enhanced my point of view on that.
posted by Miko at 7:14 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]




In case anyone's keeping score, I was phone.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:03 PM on May 17, 2013 [6 favorites]


We need a "Ten Years Ago in Metafilter" kind of thing.

Having just come from the Red Letter Christians Metatalk, this immediately played to the tune of 'A Long Time Ago in Bethlehem' in my head.
posted by undue influence at 8:07 PM on May 17, 2013


I'd pay to read a similar interview with dhoyt.

Next up: interview with sixcolors.
posted by Unified Theory at 8:19 PM on May 17, 2013 [5 favorites]


What ever happened to PlannedChaos?
posted by maryr at 8:31 PM on May 17, 2013


I have a feeling they'd all be kind of the same interview.
posted by Miko at 8:32 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


Just a little over ten years ago was when I joined MetaFilter, and this interview really took me back and made me feel some of the things I felt as a participant ten years ago.

I remember posting my first few comments to MetaFilter as a new user and in general hearing crickets in response. (I mean, I hadn't contributed anything very exciting, certainly, so, yeah.). And I remember thinking that you were more likely to get responses if you were a long time user who was known in these parts or if you had said something controversial or flamboyant. And I SO remember the feeling as a new user of wanting to connect with people here, to have a dialogue, particularly after relying on the September 11 thread for as-it-happened-news live from my office in DC less than ten blocks from the White House.

So in a way I can really, really understand this: "my first posts were actually pretty civilized. . . . I gathered a sense of who the colorful people were, but I got the impression that the people who were most interesting AFK were not the most amusing people on there. . . . there was a group of people who used the site for earnest discussion because they were having their emotional needs met by reality, and then the rest of us. . . . I think when I realized I wasn’t getting the results I wanted I began to just look for reactions."

Most people here will just post their real opinions, occasionally dressed up in fancier than normal rhetoric, but essentially their truth (or whatever truth they feel comfortable having on the Internet). And generally, unless you are extremely smart or funny or a troubadour, posting just your truth won't get you noticed right away. You become a member of the community over time. That's fine for most people, but I can see how not wanting to wait for ALL OF THE ATTENTIONZ could make an essentially lonely person say things they don't really mean.

Ten years, man. SpaceCadet! stavrosthewonderchicken! scarabic! KeyserSoze! dame! Anyway, I thought the interview was really interesting and thoughtful, thanks.
posted by onlyconnect at 9:56 PM on May 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


I guess it's time for me to come clean. Here's a partial list of my sockpuppets: mathowie, jeesamyn, cortex...
posted by double block and bleed at 10:42 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


...dhoyt, sixcolors, wastelands...
posted by double block and bleed at 10:43 PM on May 17, 2013


I just have one sock: double block and bleed.
posted by donnagirl at 10:56 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


Someone needs to resurrect pot and kettle and use them to stalk Teakettle around the site claiming to be him. I'm considering a tribute sock myself. To both of the parties, of course: weed and mettle.
posted by carsonb at 11:01 PM on May 17, 2013


I think It's Raining Florence Henderson could put you in touch with pot and kettle.
posted by Cranberry at 11:18 PM on May 17, 2013


Ten years from now, the wolfdreams edition of this is going to drop.

No one will pay attention.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 12:49 AM on May 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


Discussion about idiosyncratic site interactions is always interesting, but let's not veer into slagging on ex-members / people who aren't around.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:10 AM on May 18, 2013 [5 favorites]


I thought I saw ParisParamus show up again the other day, as NiceParis or something like that?

Not that I could find but Google dumped wildcard searches a long time ago and Altavista is nothing but a Yahoo shell now. Anyway, he's still (today even) posting on Twitter under the ParisParamus handle. Other than following the official feeds, there's no indication of remaining interest in the community.
posted by dhartung at 1:56 AM on May 18, 2013


ou may find, though, as I did, that ten years seems like a lot shorter time when you're in your forties than it does when you're in your twenties.
Pshaw, wait 'til you turn 50. It's like time hit the N2O switch, I swear.

The interview was interesting and I was all ready to add one of my precious (although now devalued by a factor of 2.4) favourites, when I noticed the parisparamus comment. I guess, no matter how much time passes or how quickly, some people never change.
posted by dg at 2:42 AM on May 18, 2013


I had nothing to do with it.

Rodii (hey), Opus Dark showed up a year or two back. I do miss Opus and Dong Resin and you.

Life was funner with Dong Resin around.
posted by clavdivs at 6:38 AM on May 18, 2013


let's not veer into slagging on ex-members / people who aren't around.

Indeed. I apologise.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:50 AM on May 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wow I can remember posting this back in the day. Tears in the rain and all that.

I miss Settle.
posted by euphorb at 5:04 PM on July 3, 2002 [+] [!]

posted by euphorb at 8:04 AM on May 18, 2013


Ha, that was in a thomcatspike thread.
posted by rodii at 8:08 AM on May 18, 2013


I remember that thread! In fact, I think I even remember that comment from back then! Man, I spend too much time here.
posted by languagehat at 8:11 AM on May 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also, I miss tamim.
posted by languagehat at 8:12 AM on May 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter: I remember that thread! In fact, I think I even remember that comment from back then! Man, I spend too much time here.

I couldn't resist, I'm sorry.
posted by SMPA at 9:05 AM on May 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


I should make a post consisting of the lyrics from a sibelius lieder google translated back and forth, each linking to blogs arguing about the safety of different canning techniques for old time's sake.

Also do you guys realize how weird it is to not be able to delete things? I'm like, thinking about what I'm typing right now. It's sort of screwing my game up.

This is all going on my permanent record. Posting on Metafilter is like actively failing the GREs.
posted by Teakettle at 10:40 AM on May 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


norm: "I just realized I have never changed my password in all the time I've been on MeFi."

So your password is... one, two, three, four, five? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! That's the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
posted by subbes at 3:55 PM on May 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


Ah, here we go: NiceParisParamus.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:41 PM on May 18, 2013


Also do you guys realize how weird it is to not be able to delete things?

How do I edit or delete my post?
How do I edit or delete my comment?
posted by scalefree at 9:36 PM on May 18, 2013


I feel awfully new. :-(
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:27 PM on May 18, 2013


I sort of see where he's coming from...

[cue story about me rather than controversial opinion]

My first multi-user-chat-room experience occurred on a 16-phone-line MajorBBS system that gave everyone 30 minutes or free use per day, $0.50 per hour after that.

The first thing I said joining the room of 8 or so people was "hey dorks" with no punctuation -- I was the darling of my English teachers but this behavior almost seems innate with teenage punks, though I didn't go ALL CAPS at least.

They tore me a new one. Hard. I was wounded sitting there on my 2400 Procomm Plus connection and won them back over that night (they gave me credits!) and we became friends and fought in victorious MUD battles. I saved up my allowance and sent it to a PO BOX to get more hours. I love lamp
posted by lordaych at 1:29 AM on May 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


Hey dorks with no punctuation

Ive got your backs
posted by the quidnunc kid at 4:27 AM on May 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm telling you, trolls throw eggs but they pray they'll stick like Benedict. But it's hard to be liked when you've been a dick. Uhh, what, mmm, jeah. They want to be a part but they can't reveal their heart is lying on their sleeve, but they won't leave because their soul is like a sieve, and it needs to be filled. With soul slaw.

Anyway, back to bringing up Egbert from Poppy Cat. From children's shows to Jesus Christ's skull skin flappers:

Egbert – an arrogant, stout, and adenoial male six year-old badger with a British accent in both the UK and US. He is desperate to be part of the group, although only by his rules. But rather than accept their invitation to play, Egbert always has 'top secret stuff' to go to on his way... but he always meets the group again, in their adventure. There, he will insert himself into their journey, costumed as a ridiculous antagonist of his own invention. Depending upon their location, Egbert may fancy himself to be a pirate, troll, or sea monster. His nerdy, eccentric energy elicits groans from everyone but Poppy. Egbert pretends to not know 'this Egbert', and always stays in character. He wears lots of disguises and is often the antagonist of the stories. Voiced in the UK and US by Cake Charles.

posted by lordaych at 5:29 AM on May 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm telling you, trolls throw eggs but they pray they'll stick like Benedict. But it's hard to be liked when you've been a dick. Uhh, what, mmm, jeah. They want to be a part but they can't reveal their heart is lying on their sleeve, but they won't leave because their soul is like a sieve, and it needs to be filled. With soul slaw.

It took me a while to realize this represents freestyling.
posted by Miko at 2:37 PM on May 19, 2013 [3 favorites]


Man, I used to be an asshole.

Right there with you, my friend!

Fascinating read and a reminder of how ten years can slip by.
posted by Kafkaesque at 7:29 PM on May 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'm telling you, trolls throw eggs but they pray they'll stick like Benedict. But it's hard to be liked when you've been a dick. Uhh, what, mmm, jeah. They want to be a part but they can't reveal their heart is lying on their sleeve, but they won't leave because their soul is like a sieve, and it needs to be filled. With soul slaw.

It is true that trolls are vulnerable, but teakettle is right that trolls today are meaner than ever. There has been a change since 2001. This is a generation of teenage boys who've grown up with internet porn and in chat rooms who know nothing else. 10 years ago teens and young adults knew the world before the internet was pervasive.

These kids online today never developed real-life relationships. They find guys online who reaffirm their anger and they do anything to make others feel their pain. Like teakettle said in his interview, they have no future and they want to hold someone accountable. It's not apparent perhaps to the user base of Metafilter because we've aged out of the places where they go.
posted by vincele at 9:10 AM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


I think I confused this earnest discussion for sadness on some level because a lot of my first posts were childish attempts to bring some levity into the family.

This explains a lot, and I can see it playing out in real life frequently, as well. Like how there's always that one guy who wants to offer a "new perspective" to all of those "serious people." It's like the male version of the MPDK. Whereas many people seek out social forums where they're finally "comfortable" with "their tribe", there's another strain of personality that seems to seek out the polar opposite in the hopes that they can make themselves the center of attention by winning them over with their transgressive personality.
posted by deanc at 12:18 PM on May 20, 2013 [3 favorites]


They find guys online who reaffirm their anger and they do anything to make others feel their pain.

For every one of those, there's a gay or trans* kid who would have thought they were the only one in the world without the internet. You can't just say "knowing the world before the internet was a thing" is a simple positive and leave it at that.
posted by donnagirl at 3:06 PM on May 20, 2013


vincele: "It is true that trolls are vulnerable, but teakettle is right that trolls today are meaner than ever. There has been a change since 2001. This is a generation of teenage boys who've grown up with internet porn and in chat rooms who know nothing else. 10 years ago teens and young adults knew the world before the internet was pervasive.

These kids online today never developed real-life relationships. They find guys online who reaffirm their anger and they do anything to make others feel their pain. Like teakettle said in his interview, they have no future and they want to hold someone accountable. It's not apparent perhaps to the user base of Metafilter because we've aged out of the places where they go.
"

People have been complaining about how the current younger generation is the Worst! Generation! Ever! since the time of Socrates if not before.
posted by Lexica at 4:25 PM on May 20, 2013 [2 favorites]


Yeah, it wasn't Socrates.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:24 PM on May 20, 2013


I don't think I was here 10 years ago but I was on other web forums.

Since then, I'm much more skeptical about what people say online. It used to be I would more or less assume people were expressing their genuine beliefs and opinions. Now I'm much more likely to think in terms of can this be explained by the reaction they are trying to get or are they trying to advertise a ski resort or something.
posted by RobotHero at 11:12 AM on May 21, 2013


What do you mean?
posted by Chrysostom at 11:32 AM on May 21, 2013


Nobody disputes that the principles guiding our interpretation of the Youth hold over, they do seem eternal, but cultural and technological changes should be examined as if they were new phenomena. The online experience of this generation of super-trolls is something that we know about but cannot relate to - we have a responsibility to relate to it. I admit that my observations about destructive online communities becoming more populous are extremely generalized, but I believe they ring true to some people, hopefully people who are more expert than I.

In 2001 if you wanted to let the internet consume you, you only had a few different ways to do it. Now there are millions of ways to find other consumed people. In 2001 I could not have become a part of a culture of people behaving badly for fun - in 2013 there are ample venues. I feel very lucky in this regard, because if I had continued to be a complete dick, I would have never had the opportunity to experience the growth and joy that come from activities other than seeking the anguish of imaginary people.
posted by Teakettle at 5:33 PM on May 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


I realized it's kind of a mixture of cynicism and Pollyannish optimism.

Because on one hand, I believe this person is lying to me for their amusement. On the other hand, I decide they're lying because I can't believe someone is really so ignorant/offensive/etc.
posted by RobotHero at 12:33 PM on May 23, 2013


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