14! August 21, 2015 7:07 AM   Subscribe

It randomly dawned on me that today, 14 years ago, I signed up for MeFi. I wonder what any users think this place was, is, and might be 14 years from now.

A very gracious thanks to Matt, Jessamyn, Cortex, Pb and all the mods who have worked here. I might not contribute much, but I still check MeFi almost every day.

Thanks and hopefully I'll post for my 28th in 2029!
posted by efalk to MetaFilter-Related at 7:07 AM (74 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

High five, long-timer!
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:11 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


14 years from now my guess is it will be exactly the same in every conceivable way except for slightly different in-jokes.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:13 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


I think it's time to add "15 years ago on Metafilter" to the sidebar archive, since it only goes up to 10.

14 years from now I expect Metafilter will be exactly as it is now only viewable on my pupillary implant.
posted by Rumple at 7:17 AM on August 21, 2015 [4 favorites]


I think it's time to add "15 years ago on Metafilter" to the sidebar archive...

I'd hate to kick the mice out of that wing of the database. They've made such a nice home there.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:21 AM on August 21, 2015 [35 favorites]


In 14 years it will have 3 themes, Classic, Modern and Post-Modern
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 7:34 AM on August 21, 2015 [11 favorites]


Happy anniversary, noob.
posted by bondcliff at 7:36 AM on August 21, 2015 [7 favorites]


o/*\o
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:40 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


14 years from now my guess is it will be exactly the same in every conceivable way except for slightly different in-jokes.

I actually feel like Metafilter is immensely different even in the time I've been here; I joined in 2008 and at the time it felt much more cliqueish and there was much more emphasis on stuff like low user numbers and there was more unkindness. There were also more in-jokes which, on the one hand, can feel super exclusionary if you don't get them but on the other hand I kind of miss -- having those jokes makes it feel like a community because there are common reference points.

I think some of the changes I feel like I've observed have come partially through conscious attempts to avoid things like "boyzone" stuff and at least trying to be more considerate of trans people, and also through being more open to new users and not emphasizing stuff like how people with low user numbers are realer members of the community or whatever. In some ways, I think it would be nice to have more site-wide jokes and references but really I feel like Metafilter has become a much more open and welcoming environment and I'm really, really happy about that.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:42 AM on August 21, 2015 [11 favorites]


14 years from now my guess is it will be exactly the same in every conceivable way except for slightly different in-jokes.

SPACE TATERS

$2,000 SAME AS IN TOWN

SINGULARITY, WHAT AN ASSHOLE
posted by prize bull octorok at 8:25 AM on August 21, 2015 [14 favorites]


There were also more in-jokes which, on the one hand, can feel super exclusionary if you don't get them but on the other hand I kind of miss

The.
posted by maxsparber at 8:28 AM on August 21, 2015 [4 favorites]


Stop trying to make the happen!
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:30 AM on August 21, 2015 [18 favorites]


Shortly after I joined, I had an argument with sleepless boy about whether or not I was talking to real dinosaurs. He'd spotted Mrs. Pterodactyl. He asked about you, how old you must be, what do you eat, do you poop on cars, swoop down on pets, etcetera.

Then it dawned on him that you might be married and lay eggs every year. I supported the theory. It's kinda like Santa Claus for us. Gonna get punched for this at some point.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:33 AM on August 21, 2015 [10 favorites]


He asked about you, how old you must be, what do you eat, do you poop on cars, swoop down on pets, etcetera.

Then it dawned on him that you might be married and lay eggs every year.


1. 31
2. Sandwiches and gin
3. No.
4. Yes but I always ask their owners for permission first
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:36 AM on August 21, 2015 [17 favorites]


It'll mostly be the same, but the sidebar will be underwater.
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:42 AM on August 21, 2015 [14 favorites]


I heartily approve of all this 14 talk.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:43 AM on August 21, 2015 [8 favorites]


14 years from now we will still be seeing the occasional FPP linking a breathless article about a breakthrough in strong AI or fusion power, both of which will be expected to be commercially viable in about ten years.

Google will be completely and unambiguously evil.

Facebook will have been superseded by something even worse, then bought by Yahoo.

Apple will own the entire music publishing industry, including all commercial US radio stations.

There will be no wall along the US-Mexico border. There will, however, be a fleet of autonomous drones fitted with tranquilizer guns backed up by a fleet of self-driving, self-loading prison vans. Occasionally one of these devices will kill an immigrant or a black US citizen by accident. No prosecutions will result.
posted by flabdablet at 8:57 AM on August 21, 2015


o/*\o

Is this an overhead view of a mole's head?
posted by Wolfdog at 9:08 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


It's a high five that is EXPLODING.
posted by maxsparber at 9:10 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


My 14th year starts in about a week.
posted by spork at 9:22 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Is this an overhead view of a mole's head?

A star-nosed mole.
posted by zamboni at 9:25 AM on August 21, 2015


Well obviously
posted by Wolfdog at 9:46 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


I miss MetaTalk epic flameouts. I hope they come back into fashion.
posted by amro at 10:00 AM on August 21, 2015 [6 favorites]


huh, I'm coming up on 6 years. 6 years of when I stopped lurking, anyway. Feels like a lot longer than that...
posted by rebent at 10:09 AM on August 21, 2015


MetaFilter: a timeline of sites
MetaFilter (original): June 1999
MetaTalk: March 2000 (8 months)
AskMe: April 2003 (37 months)
MeFi Projects: Dec. 2003 (8 months)
MeFi Jobs: Aug. 2006 (32 months)
MeFi IRL: June 2010 (47 months)
MeFi Chat: Nov. 2013 (29 months)
FanFare: April 2014 (17 months)

If nothing else, there should be another 7 subsites added in the next 14 years. I'll leave it up to smarter people than myself to figure out when they should arrive and what those will be.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on August 21, 2015


"In the future people with boring jobs will take pills read metafilter to relieve the boredom."

Or I dunno, maybe they'll take pills and read metafilter. What do I look like? A futurologist?
posted by octobersurprise at 10:38 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Potomac Avenue: " for slightly different in-jokes."

We have holographic neuro-projectors.
posted by boo_radley at 10:48 AM on August 21, 2015


MetaPillter, a GlaxoSmithKline product
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:50 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


If nothing else, there should be another 7 subsites added in the next 14 years.

And yet still nobody will remember MeMu exists.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:51 AM on August 21, 2015 [5 favorites]


> I think some of the changes I feel like I've observed have come partially through conscious attempts to avoid things like "boyzone" stuff and at least trying to be more considerate of trans people, and also through being more open to new users and not emphasizing stuff like how people with low user numbers are realer members of the community or whatever.

I agree with most of your points, but the low-user-number thing was always a joke. I've been reading MeFi since 2001 (and a member since 2002) and I don't recall anybody ever seriously putting down someone with a lower user number for not being a real member of the community.
posted by languagehat at 11:16 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


Huh, I was sure that I too could join in the 14 year festivities, 'cause I remember hitting refresh over and over again on the 9/11 thread, but per usual my memory is faulty and the wave of 14K neewbs didn't happen until a year later.
posted by romakimmy at 11:23 AM on August 21, 2015


I agree with most of your points, but the low-user-number thing was always a joke. I've been reading MeFi since 2001 (and a member since 2002) and I don't recall anybody ever seriously putting down someone with a lower user number for not being a real member of the community.

I don't mean anyone ever literally said "You have a high user number therefore you are not a real MeFite QED", but there was a lot of "GTFO n00b" joking stuff that I don't see anymore and about which I wasn't crazy. I'm more hesitant to post a comment if I know there's a chance the response will be an immediate joke that has nothing to do with the content, even if the joke isn't mean-spirited.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:31 AM on August 21, 2015


there was a lot of "GTFO n00b"

Glad there's no more of that.
posted by bondcliff at 11:57 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


In 14 years we will figure out how they got their cats wedged into scanners, and why.
posted by bleep at 12:11 PM on August 21, 2015 [4 favorites]


there was a lot of "GTFO n00b"

Glad there's no more of that.


I mean, again, I want to make clear that this is just my perception and I might be overstating it but I perceived a lot of jokey "high user numbers are not as good" comments and I don't think I do now and I like it way better; I think it's a lot easier to feel like a real part of the community now.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:13 PM on August 21, 2015


I'm always happy to see somebody with a super-recent signup date fully & frequently participating in the site; it gives me hope that we can continue to stave off calcification into a crusty old-timers' club.
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:16 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


there was a lot of "GTFO n00b"

That was GTFO five dollar n00b ...*

*In the future, no one will know what a "dollar" was and everyone will say "GTFO five bitcoin n00b."
posted by octobersurprise at 12:22 PM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


I wonder what any users think this place was, is, and might be 14 years from now.

probably a lot more AskMes about arthritis and back pain.
posted by philip-random at 1:29 PM on August 21, 2015 [10 favorites]


Congrats on your anniversary. I wish you many more.


I saw the title -- 14! -- and thought of my younger son when he was little. As a tot, 14 was the largest number he knew and he used the word the way some folks use "LOTS!" or "A Bazillion!" I would take him to the mall and let him order as much as he wanted of his absolute favorite tiny little mints from a candy shop. He would order 14! because it was the biggest number he knew and I would get away with indulging him for about a quarter. We were both happy.

Then he learned bigger numbers and I couldn't do that anymore without it costing me like $5. I had to stop letting him have anything he wanted once that was no longer the biggest number he knew.

14! is one of my happier memories in life.

I'm glad you are so jazzed to be here.
posted by Michele in California at 1:31 PM on August 21, 2015 [16 favorites]


That just reminded me that I am days away from my 14th. Looks like we signed up during that same window when sign-ups were turned on for a short while...right before 9/11. ...and when signing up was free.
posted by Benway at 1:52 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter (original): June 1999
MetaTalk: March 2000 (8 months)
AskMe: April 2003 (37 months)
MeFi Projects: Dec. 2003 (8 months)
MeFi Jobs: Aug. 2006 (32 months)
MeFi IRL: June 2010 (47 months)
MeFi Chat: Nov. 2013 (29 months)
FanFare: April 2014 (17 months)
MeFi Cats (obviously very overdue)
MeFi Book Club
MeFi Book Club Presents: The MeGo Awards
A MetaTalk offshoot: MeFi Recipes
Crones Present: MeFi Genetic Engineering
MeFi Recipes closes as everybody downloads their recipes from Thingiverse and prints them these days.
MetaTalk major redesign due to flood of hissy posts by new influx of genetically engineered cat members.
Cats infiltrate book club and nominate an entire slate of books about snoozing for the MeGos. poffin boffin lends her support for their campaign, converts many with hilarious comments.
Remaining non-feline members finally quit posting in favour of snoozing, chasing pieces of paper and deciding whether to print the salmon goo dinner or the chicken goo dinner.
posted by emilyw at 2:11 PM on August 21, 2015 [11 favorites]


Due to a spelling mistake, MeGo awardees are converted into brains in vats and transported out beyond Pluto for a luxurious vacation.
posted by Existential Dread at 3:01 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was going to make this exact post tomorrow, you jerk!
posted by ODiV at 3:08 PM on August 21, 2015


Based on observation and assuming a constant sort of "half-life", in 14 years everything will suck approximately 1.325 times as much as it does now, or 1.756 times as much as it did 14 years ago.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:32 PM on August 21, 2015


Ha! I'm one month away from my own 14th anniversary (well, one month minus one day). I continue to be grateful and happy that MetaFilter is still here, still going strong, and also grateful and happy about how it's evolved over the years. (I was re-reading an old 2005 MeTa thread the other day in which a female member gently and politely pointed out some gross sexism in a post, and the resulting discussion was just...arrgh.)
posted by Kat Allison at 6:57 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


GTFO, noob.


(I mean, woo-hoo!)
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:31 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh wow i guess my 14 years is 3 days from now. I'm not old, YOU'RE old. Off of my lawn, darn kids.
posted by juv3nal at 9:07 PM on August 21, 2015


N00bs indeed! FIFteen years, y'all! Humfph!
posted by Lynsey at 11:42 PM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


I was votin' #1 Quidnunc Kid before matthowie was even born, just sayin'.
posted by riverlife at 12:12 AM on August 22, 2015


Congratulations for persevering Lynsey 744, who Joined: April 11, 2000. Yes, there has always been a thing about low numbers. Perhaps it was more evident when the '$5.00 noobs' joined en masse in November, 2004.
posted by Cranberry at 12:32 AM on August 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Pshaw, I was voting for #0 Quidnunc Father!
posted by adrianhon at 1:49 AM on August 22, 2015 [4 favorites]


Creepy old scumbags comin outta the woodwork
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:59 AM on August 22, 2015


Hey, I checked out of curiosity, and next week is my 14th anniversary, too!
Maybe I'll get myself a cake.
posted by Superplin at 4:07 AM on August 22, 2015


Metafilter will diversify and become a brand leader in many niche industries. They will be first to market with a genetically engineered tobacco (LocoWeed®) that contains both nicotine and methamphetamine. They will make a superior fracking mud that uses partially depleted uranium to boost production by 4-6%. The Foodstuff and Mouthfeel Enhancer division will prove that people really will eat anything that tastes like bacon. The biggest profit center will be the suicide booths. Most people will pay $500 for the Premium Exit Experience® but there will also be an economy option (for those who aren't in a hurry and don't mind going without the painkillers) that will cost only $20, same as in town.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:51 AM on August 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


15 years here. Things have changed but remain the same.
posted by bjgeiger at 10:48 AM on August 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Just as cliquish, different cliques.
posted by merelyglib at 11:36 AM on August 22, 2015


14 years
Whatta Ya get...
Sign up for fifty cent
We're old by no means
Bling on the road

MATLOCK!
posted by clavdivs at 12:28 PM on August 22, 2015


I signed up 14 years ago also and it was worth every penny I spent on the membership fee.

Also, this being one of those threads where people talk about how long they've been here I feel it's my duty to mention once again:

I hate every single one of you.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:28 PM on August 22, 2015 [5 favorites]


prize bull octorok: I'm always happy to see somebody with a super-recent signup date fully & frequently participating in the site; it gives me hope that we can continue to stave off calcification into a crusty old-timers' club.

I was actually wondering what attrition and/or turn-over rate is for the site. Visiting old threads, I see a number of familiar names who are less present, if at all, at the present. Some long-timers stick around, others last a short while, like the various cells in a body.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:41 PM on August 22, 2015


In the year 2525, if Metafilter is still alive, I will have been a member for 519 years.
posted by nat at 6:20 PM on August 22, 2015


<grumpy old guy>

If we keep the way we're going, in three years "Best of the Web" will be completely finished off and the front page will just link to Daily Kos.

</grumpy old guy>
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:47 PM on August 22, 2015


I forgot what I miss around here
posted by infini at 2:47 AM on August 23, 2015


Hey looky there, the profile page has the actual joining date. I don't think I've ever seen that.
*waves to Lynsey*
posted by peacay at 4:58 AM on August 23, 2015


n00b
posted by jonmc at 6:05 AM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]


Can the mods lock the favs on my previous comment? Current count: 14!



:-P
posted by Michele in California at 1:27 PM on August 23, 2015


I was just thinking about this yesterday, that the site seems so much more friendly and inclusive now. Like Mrs Pterodactyl, I joined in 2008 and I remember way more mean-spirited snark. I feel like it's a much safer and more supportive space. In the absence of evidence that human nature has improved in that time, I put it down to the truly awesome modding.
posted by HotToddy at 3:45 PM on August 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


In 14 years, Mefi will have established a marketplace sub site where people will buy, sell, and trade goods and services and that one guy will finally have found a used car.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:49 PM on August 23, 2015


There was more unkindness in 2008? Wow. I simply never give opinions that would be considered heterodox here because people have been awful in the past. MetaFilter simply isn't, for me, a place to argue/discuss different points of view. I still learn a lot here, and mostly I like the community. But no way in hell would I argue for a POV outside the mainstream here.
posted by persona au gratin at 5:29 AM on August 24, 2015 [3 favorites]


no way in hell would I argue for a POV outside the mainstream here

thems fightin words
posted by flabdablet at 6:51 AM on August 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


here was much more emphasis on stuff like low user numbers

We have user numbers?
posted by MikeMc at 8:32 AM on August 24, 2015


There was more unkindness in 2008?

Well, there some...different people here. There was a user, whose name I can't recall, who seemed to be a bit of a violent sociopath. I wish I could remember, that guy was just this side of scary crazy. I'll see if I can track the name down or it will bug me all day.
posted by MikeMc at 8:43 AM on August 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


I can think of three or four people you might be talking about but I don't think there's much to be gained by listing them here.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:17 AM on August 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yeah, you're probably right.
posted by MikeMc at 10:08 AM on August 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


Wait--Trump was a Mefite?
posted by Joseph Gurl at 8:31 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

n00b
indeed.
posted by Jeremy at 9:32 AM on August 27, 2015


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