Spooky. Senile? Deleted. October 10, 2002 8:38 AM   Subscribe

Pretty sure it wasn't a senior moment. Rather, I think I just had an Orwellian moment. What happened to the thread at www.metafilter.com/mefi/20692, regarding Kuwaiti opinions? It now says "...a non-existent post, or one that was deleted for various reasons."

Spooky.
posted by ZenMasterThis to MetaFilter-Related at 8:38 AM (54 comments total)

RTFM.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:46 AM on October 10, 2002


Think that's spooky, wait until you see what happens with http://metatalk.metafilter.com/mefi/2688
posted by mss at 8:49 AM on October 10, 2002


LOL, mss.

Now, where's that little notepaper that I wrote the filename of the bunny with the pancake on his head? That'd be appropros for this thread.
posted by SpecialK at 8:52 AM on October 10, 2002


I RTFM but that post wasn't a self link, didn't appear to be a troll, and was unique in that I had not heard the issue before.
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 8:54 AM on October 10, 2002


My guess is that mathowie decided that the post was a troll and that the thread had no redeeming value.
posted by timeistight at 8:58 AM on October 10, 2002


ZMT, deleted posts and threads can be found at lofi.mefi, FYI.
posted by mediareport at 8:59 AM on October 10, 2002


So much for community.
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 9:01 AM on October 10, 2002


Yep. Fun's over, folks! You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!

* Danelope escorts dirtylittlemonkey to the door.
posted by Danelope at 9:04 AM on October 10, 2002


I second timeistight's thoughs. the thread did seem trollish and didn't add anything. community had nothing to do with it.
posted by mkelley at 9:05 AM on October 10, 2002


Why was it a troll, necessarily? It shouldn't come as a great shock to anyone who's kept up that Kuwaitis aren't all necessarily fond of the United States. To people who have not, on the other hand, such information can come off as rather startling. This info is also highly relevant to current American foreign policy debates (not only about invading Iraq, say, but about how to handle things later, and about gaining respect over the long term in the Arab world). Perhaps the thread could've have used links to other sites (the National Review covered similar issues earlier in the year)
posted by raysmj at 9:07 AM on October 10, 2002


So much for community.

I don't understand your comment.
posted by timeistight at 9:08 AM on October 10, 2002




I deleted it because it was a boring news link, not because it was a troll. I also deleted the "would you suck cock to save your life?" because, well, it was stupid.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:19 AM on October 10, 2002


So much for community.

I don't understand your comment


i think he's pissed because HE rtfm, HE hadn't seen the link, and HE didn't think it was a troll, and by god, HE thinks HE and only HE is the community.

but i'm probably wrong :-)
posted by quonsar at 9:21 AM on October 10, 2002


i had some good counter-points going in that thread, pre-viewed and ...it's gone. I was miffed. because it seemed the typical course for such threads. I had some good data to support Kuwaiti moderation, how a few terrorists do not speak for all of Kuwait, etc. I understand the issue of posts with just news and vitriol but I think this raises a slight concern.
Is it better to delete the thread rather then then let members posit their own counter-argument?

i hated the way the thread was turning and sought to place some historical data to counter such rash claims.

but, all in all I can see why it was deleted. the wording was slanted and the majority of posters seemed to have no idea about the history of fundamentalists in Kuwait.

basically, same old crap. Matt acts as an editor on the blue. perhaps if someone re-did the post, placed in other viewpoints or tried to form a more comprehensive post dealing with the issue, it may stand. But placing up a news story and the typical rush to judgement does not make for a goodpost IMO.




posted by clavdivs at 9:24 AM on October 10, 2002


This community member applauds the deletion of all stupid and boring news links.
posted by timeistight at 9:27 AM on October 10, 2002


I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it.

"Many of you are feeling sorry for this post. That is because you crazy. It is just a post. It has no feelings. And Metafilter is now much nicer."
posted by mcwetboy at 9:28 AM on October 10, 2002


My community jab did come off trollish, sorry for that, but I am the community. Not I and I alone but all of us and I didn't see that the community had anything to do with the post being axed. There was no call for it's deletion in the comments and after a rocky start there was a serious discussion forming. On preview, what clavdivs said "same old crap".
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 9:35 AM on October 10, 2002


RTFM???
posted by sadie01221975 at 9:43 AM on October 10, 2002


RTFM???

It's an old tech support acronym, sadie. It stands for "Read The Fucking Manual". It refers to users who ask questions that are already answered in the documentation.
posted by timeistight at 9:48 AM on October 10, 2002


ah, thanks so much.
posted by sadie01221975 at 9:49 AM on October 10, 2002


Replace "manual" with "guidelines" and I could see a future here for RTFG.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:59 AM on October 10, 2002


RTFL - Read The Fucking Link.
RMFCA - Read My Fucking Comment Again...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:02 AM on October 10, 2002


There's also the valuable TFG: "try fucking google"

which, in the same assholish way says "did you even fucking lift a finger before wasting my valuable time with your pissant question? Go to fucking google and look yourself, I have a D&D meeting with my everquest buddies where we'll be forming a quake clan, and my moms needs her station wagon back by ten so I have to go."

But really, use of any of these terms is most unwelcome on MetaFilter or MetaTalk. It instantly makes you the cranky asshole to use them, but people largely do it as a joke and aren't serious about it. Still, it's up there with invoking hitler and stalin over the slightest things. It's totally over the top.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:06 AM on October 10, 2002


you sir, have a potty mouth...
posted by machaus at 10:17 AM on October 10, 2002


and was unique in that I had not heard the issue before.

Oh, right, that's how we judge things here. I keep forgetting ;)

[insert lame have you seen theonion.com joke here]
posted by The God Complex at 10:20 AM on October 10, 2002


On preview, what clavdivs said "same old crap".

err, I ah. well? The same ole crap is posts with Just
a story and the uninformed opinions there-in. If you mean by the some ole crap about matt' didn't see that the community had anything to do with the post being axed.' that is not what i meant. I did not see the childish comments. It was an easy call for deletion IMO. I wrangled with it for about 35 seconds and decided it was appropriate to delete. but the 'community' does have a say, here in meta. I suggested a re-post with a balance, some, ya know, context. Matt, i believe, does not delete all news threads. Just the ones that don't have any value for discussion.




posted by clavdivs at 11:03 AM on October 10, 2002


Good riddance

posted by matteo at 11:20 AM on October 10, 2002


How can I RTFM when I'm RTFM? (Reading The Fucking MetaTalk?)
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:22 AM on October 10, 2002


There is also:

W.
T.
F.
K.

FYI.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:26 AM on October 10, 2002


How about FFFF?
posted by i_cola at 11:30 AM on October 10, 2002


"invoking hitler and stalin over the slightest things....totally over the top". You know, Pol Pot would just have murdered all the damn complainers and sent their families to the countryside for rehab.

posted by Mack Twain at 11:33 AM on October 10, 2002


"try fucking google"

Tried it. Got the clap.

Had to trace all my previous entries.

Can never go back there again...
posted by dash_slot- at 11:37 AM on October 10, 2002


W.
T.
F.
K.


K.? I thought it was M.
posted by me3dia at 11:40 AM on October 10, 2002


You know, Pol Pot would just have murdered all the damn complainers and sent their families to the countryside for rehab.

cute. not even a accurate bad insult. salot sar sent everyone into the countryside and had their families murder them. Auto-genocide was a word used to describe the cambodian horror. and what you probably don't realize is that sars Nom de guerre amongst the cadre was Brother #1. seeing that matt is member #1 on mefi, i believe you just called matts action analogous to genocide. which is....beyond stupidity Mack. Your words are the working of a small mind lashing out. and i take offense. and if you knew anything of these horrible crimes you would understand that Sar put to death many members of his own cadre towards the end of the horror. You get the idiot of the day award in my book.

posted by clavdivs at 11:51 AM on October 10, 2002


A little touchy, clavdivs, for someone named after a Roman emperor who, while not quite a demon, was also not a saint. Perhaps you would have preferred a jokey suggestion that Matt send the complainers into the coliseum to gladiate it out.
posted by dness2 at 12:28 PM on October 10, 2002


Well Clav, you would be the person to hand out that award. Thanks for sharing.
posted by Mack Twain at 12:29 PM on October 10, 2002


Sorry, Mediareport. I get "K" and "M" confused all the time. Yes, it should have been "M."
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:04 PM on October 10, 2002


How humiliating to misspell a one letter word...
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:05 PM on October 10, 2002


what a bunch of clowns, ITS A USER NAME. I tried to change it twice before. you two are really gluttons for punishment.
namby-pamby is all you can muster?

touchy? yes, comparing someone to Salot Sar gets me upset.

'Thanks for sharing' there is no sharing Mack, i pointed out your stupidity with historical facts and all you can retort is a further slam to yourself...ya know One 'Idiot'
to another.

in fairness, it seems I'm playing mefi cop (stavs come get yer badge my friend) and sucking up to matt. HAHAHA. I've attacked matt on more then a few occasions and i seek no approval from matt. even been put in the time-out corner. It is the cambodian dig Mack. I take that personal.
posted by clavdivs at 1:05 PM on October 10, 2002


clowns=Mack and dness2. Now pardon me, i have a duet to do.
posted by clavdivs at 1:10 PM on October 10, 2002


which, in the same assholish way says "did you even fucking lift a finger before wasting my valuable time with your pissant question? Go to fucking google and look yourself, I have a D&D meeting with my everquest buddies where we'll be forming a quake clan, and my moms needs her station wagon back by ten so I have to go."

I think my unsuppressable shriek of laughter just upset several dozen people here in the library....

To my mind, an "Orwellian moment" would be a friend turning you in to the Secret Police or your door getting kicked down in the middle of the night, not Matt Haughey deleting a MetaFilter post.
posted by redshoes3 at 1:44 PM on October 10, 2002


Perhaps a more Orwellian moment would be mathowie deleting a MetaFilter thread before it was posted?
posted by dg at 3:33 PM on October 10, 2002


Sorry, Mediareport.

me3dia =/= mediareport.
posted by me3dia at 3:44 PM on October 10, 2002


what a bunch of clowns, ITS A USER NAME. I tried to change it twice before. you two are really gluttons for punishment.

Did you really? Never change yovr vser name, clav, it's perfectly brilliant.
posted by Hildago at 4:04 PM on October 10, 2002


Clav channeled by the Eagles : "There's a new name in town....everybody's talkin' bout the new name in town...."
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:39 PM on October 10, 2002


that was the second fiasco Stavs. when i blundered into mefi (think i got hauled into meta first day) I consulted my Patron, I realized my idiotic metaphor was gonna get pounded. Patron suggested to just start a new account, like a fresh start. Of course i did not listen (tried too) and keep the the name and got pounded into ground-round by rcade and rodii. avatars and all that. NNIT was just that, a cheesy rendition of the same ole wannabe gadfly.

my original picks where-
Larbear-(nick for bearish behavior given to me by an old friend.)
-Arch Stanton
-flintiest
-beaglescout
-Regel Baumbeck
-and oddly 'OpusGrey'
(where is Opy?)

theres alot more to it, but who gives a rip.


posted by clavdivs at 5:19 PM on October 10, 2002


I'm pinging grapes off clavdivs head because I can't aim well with this damn red bubble-nose.
posted by dness2 at 5:19 PM on October 10, 2002


Can someone who speaks clav tell me what happened to the thread?
posted by Mid at 6:33 PM on October 10, 2002


why, it was deleted by golly
posted by clavdivs at 6:39 PM on October 10, 2002


Auto-genocide was a word used to describe the cambodian horror. and what you probably don't realize is that sars Nom de guerre amongst the cadre was Brother #1. seeing that matt is member #1 on mefi, i believe you just called matts action analogous to genocide.

~peals of laughter~

I think you forgot to point out that "Salot Sar's"birthday and matt's birthday have the numerals "1" in them too. Why, they even have "A"s in their first and last names! But you didn't forget your childish labeling, as always. I'm sure "Salot Sar" would have approved, for sure.

What a piece of work.

~chuckle~
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 6:57 PM on October 10, 2002


What a piece of work.

Yeah, that's not an empty insult at all, eh f_and_m? If clavdivs took offense at what another poster wrote then that's between them. Your only interest in involving yourself with it is to dig at one person who actually had the temerity to stand up to your awesome self. You select a quote out of context (as usual) and draw specious associations to attempt painting a ludicrous image of your dire enemy. Sorry, there, but I think most of us have figured you out by now. Your motivations are becoming transparent to all, finally.

So doctor, what salve, other than meaningless invective, do you use for your wounded ego?

posted by Wulfgar! at 8:04 PM on October 10, 2002


Come on now, dang it, it's Matt's birthday. Play nice, kids!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:31 PM on October 10, 2002


To my mind, an "Orwellian moment" would be a friend turning you in to the Secret Police or your door getting kicked down in the middle of the night, not Matt Haughey deleting a MetaFilter post.
In 1984, Winston Smith's job is altering/deleting old news items so it appears the events described therein either never happened or happened a different way (to agree with current political orthodoxy). If Matt had deleted the post, removed all references to it, denied it ever existed and possibly made up a new one instead, then it would truly be an "Orwellian moment".
posted by monkey closet at 12:57 AM on October 11, 2002


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