This username link is not what I'm looking for

June 14, 2002 9:00 AM

In this thread from yesterday there is a comment from babyyoda. The link from the user name goes off of MeFi altogether and the timestamp is untagged. Just curious. Save the yawns.
posted by anathema to MetaFilter-Related at 9:00 AM (36 comments total)

it's part of the comment by y2karl. styled to look like a separate comment of it's own.

it's slightly different to the others if you look close.
posted by selton at 9:05 AM on June 14, 2002

Subterfuge! This could be a fun prank to commit, or it could become a bannable offense :)
posted by insomnyuk at 9:07 AM on June 14, 2002

OK. y2karl completely got me. Evil, and very funny.
posted by anathema at 9:11 AM on June 14, 2002

Hm. We discussed this somewhere before. Quite the amusing thread if I recall...
posted by Marquis at 9:19 AM on June 14, 2002

psych!

whoo hoo!

posted by babyhomer at 9:25 AM PST on June 14


Now see what you've done, anathema!
posted by y2karl at 9:32 AM on June 14, 2002

Lemme try:

I've changed my mind about the images in threads thing.

posted by mathowie at 9:34 AM PST on June 14

Mine's better I think.
posted by timeistight at 9:33 AM on June 14, 2002

Poo! Where's that extra line break come from?
posted by timeistight at 9:34 AM on June 14, 2002

Thanks timeistight, I think you've just shown how to use this for evil. This is a dangerous trick to know....
posted by mkelley at 9:39 AM on June 14, 2002

I pulled this years ago. Well, maybe in dog years. Almost worked, too ...
posted by dhartung at 9:43 AM on June 14, 2002

We should all be careful doing this because it is one of two things that often breaks the CSS (the other being the use of <faux html code>

Just cause Mefi pages with broken CSS drive me CRAZY.
posted by evanizer at 9:44 AM on June 14, 2002

Never mind:I surrender!--I'm selling all my stock and giving the proceeds to fold_and_mutilate for beer money and joining the Communist Party.
posted by Evanizer at 9:47 AM PST on June 14


*cries*
posted by babymidasmulligan at 9:51 AM PST on June 14

lalalalalala
posted by y2karl at 9:54 AM on June 14, 2002

drats! capitalized!
posted by y2karl at 9:56 AM on June 14, 2002

mwahahah! Foiled, you are, y2karl!

Mistake or not, that's pretty funny though...
posted by evanizer at 10:21 AM on June 14, 2002

I wanted to use the first one here but it wouldn't come up.
posted by y2karl at 10:32 AM on June 14, 2002

Years ago, I was on a conversation board and took total advantage of this trick, fooling a guy into thinking he was getting messages from someone else. Unfortunately, the sysadmin eventually caught on, and modified the message board so that all the messages were automatically indented 2 spaces from what would be the "posted by" line here on Metafilter, making it impossible to spoof it ever again.
posted by crunchland at 10:35 AM on June 14, 2002

That probably wouldn't be a bad idea for Metafilter. This thread could be very confusing to someone that didn't understand what was going on.
posted by jaden at 10:45 AM on June 14, 2002

Sorry for being such a troublemaker! I promise to give all my posessions to the church and live like as an ascetic captialist philosopher.
posted by y2karl at 10:47 AM PST on June 14


Good God.... you've created a monster...

y2karl: you need to put the </a> right before PST...
posted by insomnyuk at 10:47 AM on June 14, 2002

OK, prize for the first mad(wo)man to post an FPP & populate it entirely with fake posts.

*WHACK*

*OW* sorry Matt...
posted by i_cola at 11:23 AM on June 14, 2002

I'm going to MeTa about this!

Oh, wait a second.
posted by ashbury at 11:30 AM on June 14, 2002

If you wanted to spoof someone else's posts it wouldn't be that hard. Instead of linking to some weird picture, just link to their user page.
posted by Apoch at 2:43 PM on June 14, 2002

And as far as tracking, it would go to the page of the spoofer, should it become a matter of contention. Still, I should think anyone with manners would link to some weird picture, just so one could tell a spoof right off, making it more a misdemeanor than a felony.
posted by y2karl at 2:50 PM on June 14, 2002

OK, prize for the first mad(wo)man to post an FPP & populate it entirely with fake posts.

Wow, just think of the potential for straw men.
posted by hob at 2:43 PM PST on June 14


Hey, hob, you're the most amazing guy ever, nobody ever thought of that before!
posted by y2karl at 2:44 PM PST on June 14


but what if communists and their ilk get hold of this idea? it could cause chaos...
posted by jaden at 17:76 AM PST on July 4


communists? ilk? chaos? man, step into the 21st century. it's terrorists and anarchy now. sheesh.

posted by hob at 2:56 PM on June 14, 2002

(apologies to jaden for having picked a name at random from this thread. but not to y2karl, he deserves what he gets :)
posted by hob at 2:57 PM on June 14, 2002

*takes eternal vow of virtual silence*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:58 PM on June 14


Ex-cellent!
posted by Monty1 at 2:59 PM PST on June 14

Good one, sir!
posted by Smitherizer at 3:000 PM PST on June 14


Now look what you've done!

posted by y2karl at 3:51 PM on June 14, 2002

D'0h!
posted by y2karl at 3:52 PM on June 14, 2002

Another way I could think to squelch this sort of unbridled mayhem, if Matt doesn't want to lose the left justified formatting of the pages, is to embed an extended ascii character into the "posted by" line, but specifically filter it out from the message entry field, preventing anyone from actually inserting the symbol manually.

Sort of like a visual digital signature, quality assurance symbol.

Like :   "§ posted by y2karl at 3:51 PM PST on June 14"
posted by crunchland at 4:44 PM on June 14, 2002

That's a good idea, but I don't think that its necessary until this happens in a thread outside of this goofed up one.
posted by insomnyuk at 5:02 PM on June 14, 2002

...and the one that started the conversation... Yeah, I was just sort of tooling around with what to do if it got out of control. I wasn't really trying to stifle y2karl's jocularity.
posted by crunchland at 7:45 PM on June 14, 2002

*Warns Matt this is not his playground*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:31 PM on June 14, 2002

Ha Ha...huh?
posted by Nelson at 9:38 PM PST on June 14

*scratches head*
posted by y2karl at 10:33 PM on June 14, 2002

Or, filter font sizes and write 'posted by...' in a smaller size.
posted by holloway at 1:14 AM on June 15, 2002

I am so sorry I ever asked.
posted by anathema at 8:57 AM on June 15, 2002

Hey! Don't be fooled! All the comments in this thread were written by y2karl, except yours and this one.[And even for these two I'm not prepared to put my hands in the fire].
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:10 PM on June 15, 2002

in-the-fire-again. (takes brandy away) Karl, my grafting kit and how about a perky dirge for...huh?
posted by clavdivs at 4:01 PM on June 15, 2002

I am so sorry I ever asked.

That's one of the funniest things I've read.

I'm having a hard time figuring out who said what now.

*I don't think I said that, and yet, the all-knowing Metafilter says that I did, so I must have. Did I have an out of body experience?*
posted by jaden at 4:17 PM on June 15, 2002

<age="5">Maaaattt, the comments count is broken agaaiiiiin.</age>
posted by rory at 7:28 AM on June 16, 2002