Not preaching to the choir

January 23, 2003 6:36 AM

These guys are playing to a tough audience...


posted by PenDevil to MetaFilter-Related at 6:36 AM (44 comments total)

If we can accommodate the Suicide Girls, we can accommodate them.
posted by NortonDC at 6:51 AM on January 23, 2003

If we can accommodate the Suicide Girls, we can accommodate them.
posted by NortonDC at 6:51 AM on January 23, 2003

ehp. sorry.
posted by NortonDC at 6:51 AM on January 23, 2003

Yeah the Suicide Girls is one thing. But what happens if Hustler or Bob Jones University wants to advertise. Mat has final say on what goes and what doesn't but what if the MeFiServer needs a new hard drive urgently and Fred Phelps is standing outside the door with a big check?

How commercial should community sites get?
posted by PenDevil at 6:56 AM on January 23, 2003

I'm looking forward to the day that Hustler offers a special subscription rate for MetaFilter. They're just ads, Matt has to support the site somehow.
posted by sebas at 7:01 AM on January 23, 2003

RaptureChrist.com appears to be down... or did something finally happen? And why am I still here?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:09 AM on January 23, 2003

The insidious Christian mind-control ray has bent our beloved mathowie to its will ... whatever will we do?

Sheesh, it doesn't seem like this thread was brought up to discuss commercialization at all, but to question the content of the textad. Obviously RaptureChrist (which is down right now, btw) is starting the slippery slope towards funding from GodHatesFags, right? Wrong. Its Matt's call and Matt's choice. Let him make it, and quit worrying about the viral spread of the dreaded Christian message.
posted by Wulfgar! at 7:10 AM on January 23, 2003

My favorite Blondie song.
posted by machaus at 7:12 AM on January 23, 2003

and hey, it got your attention. Sounds like the ad did its job.
posted by Vidiot at 7:12 AM on January 23, 2003

For what its worth I never would have tried to go to RaptureChrist.com, if not for this thread. If only there site were up, I think they'd be gettin' a bargain for their textad bucks, all thanks to PenDevil.
posted by Wulfgar! at 7:14 AM on January 23, 2003

Wulfgar! you see malice where there is none, it's just a funny out of place ad. Kinda like seeing Ronald McDonald walking with a PETA protest. The commercialism question was just in response to NortonDC.
posted by PenDevil at 7:14 AM on January 23, 2003

PenDevil, no worries. Everything I've said was kinda tongue-in-cheek.
posted by Wulfgar! at 7:17 AM on January 23, 2003

This isn't a slippery slope toward anything.
Does the link promote intolerance or hate? (While apocalyptic evangelism may be annoying, it's certainly not a hate group.)

The way I see it, it offers two choices. Are you interested in learning more about foo? Click on this. If not, don't click on it.

It is a pretty ironic ad to put on Metafilter, but whatever generates revenue is good for all of us. I do have an issue with suicidegirls, BTW, not because it's pr0n but because the text of the ad itself is marginally NSFW.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:18 AM on January 23, 2003

Pendevil, did you hear the good news? He is risen.
posted by Ljubljana at 7:22 AM on January 23, 2003

Oh, and by the way: If you ever get in the rapturin' mood, by all means pull over to the side of the road first.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:30 AM on January 23, 2003

Image posting on main page. No like.
posted by iconomy at 7:30 AM on January 23, 2003

"These guys are playing to a tough audience"

a) I'm not sure what the point of this thread is. You say you don't have a problem with their message. Is this just sort of funny? Why a thread? Geez. (or am I just extra fucking cranky today?)

b) The whole Internet is a tough audience. The only way to get anyone's attention on the web is to troll or eat live cats or use the word "tard" over and over. Other than the obvious monetary gain for Matt, a text ad is just an admission no one cares and a sad plea for attention.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:37 AM on January 23, 2003

This is the worst meta-cry ever. It's a text ad. No one cares if it doesn't meet your limited tastes.
posted by four panels at 7:38 AM on January 23, 2003

how about the cheap clothes on ebay ("new clothes cheap")? i wonder exactly how the seller gets one-offs of expensive designer clothes, new condition... (not implying matt should hire investigators to check out advertisers, just curious).
posted by andrew cooke at 8:01 AM on January 23, 2003

tard
tard
tard
tard
tard
tard
it ain't workin, y6y6y6...
posted by quonsar at 8:12 AM on January 23, 2003

[stares, utterly enthralled, at quonsar's post . . .]
posted by vraxoin at 8:18 AM on January 23, 2003

[derail]
quonsar - You have "look at me I'm rude" thing down cold. Trust me. It's working. You take "tard" to a whole new level. I'm a cheap hack and bow to your superior talent.
[/derail]
posted by y6y6y6 at 8:18 AM on January 23, 2003

I don't mind it at all (they often provide rather amusing site content, after all) but I have noticed a fair number of evangelistic text ads recently. I was wondering about it myself - more just kinda how they found this site and why they think it would be a good place to promote their ideas.

Does the link promote intolerance or hate? (While apocalyptic evangelism may be annoying, it's certainly not a hate group.)

while I don't think it's anything to get upset over, one could certainly argue that they promote intolerance - they believe, and support, the idea that everyone who doesn't agree with their standards of morality and with their faith based religion is going to be eternally tortured.
posted by mdn at 8:57 AM on January 23, 2003

Yep. It's Matt's sandbox, and we just play in it. If one doesn't want to learn more about the organization behind the text ad then one shouldn't click on it. Just as if someone doesn't want to read another thread about SUVs, I/P or how Bush is an idiot—and he is—they one shouldn't click on the thread. If one just can't deal with the idea of a religious org or a pr0n site advertising on MeFi then they should consider moving on. Just like TV or radio, if you don't like what is on it, then turn the channel.
posted by terrapin at 9:11 AM on January 23, 2003

*begins development of MetafilterH8sChrist.com. A goldmine I tell you.*

*Also smothers the crying baby jesus*
posted by Stan Chin at 9:15 AM on January 23, 2003

I love Stan Chin.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:37 AM on January 23, 2003

Rapture Christ was linked to here.
posted by richardm at 9:49 AM on January 23, 2003

How commercial should community sites get?

I took the ad because it's so silly. I wouldn't take fred phelps' ad, and the suicide girls is sorta at the upper limit on the other end.

What do you do if some rapture freak wants to give you ten bucks to yell on your shouting mountain that no one listens to? I took it because it seems silly and harmless.

Also, the guy said I'd be saved. So I got that goin' for me... which is nice.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:03 AM on January 23, 2003

"Buy a text-ad or you'll burn in hell" - better than - "Buy a text-ad or we'll shoot this dog"
posted by dhacker at 10:11 AM on January 23, 2003

Also, the guy said I'd be saved. So I got that goin' for me... which is nice.

Holy kickback, mathowie!
posted by eddydamascene at 10:22 AM on January 23, 2003

a previous discussion on the text ads (and inside that thread are links to even older discussions of them.

I say good for them, but then I feel anybody at all should be able to buy an ad, whether offensive or not--as long as it's clearly marked as an ad.
posted by amberglow at 10:26 AM on January 23, 2003

But matt, he didn't tip you, did he?

Not big tippers, those rapturists. Or so I heard.

Yeah, it's kind of goofy, but I've seen personal sites that were way more offensive to me than these jokers. At least these Rapturists are up front about where they're coming from. Let 'em be. We're a smart lot, ain't we? Ain't we?
posted by chicobangs at 10:27 AM on January 23, 2003

That's great, but now could you kill all the golfers carl?
posted by willnot at 11:48 AM on January 23, 2003

Wow, RaptureChrist would be a great band name. I'm thinkin' deathmetal.

(And Matt, he had to give you a little something for the effort.)
posted by me3dia at 12:34 PM on January 23, 2003

Is this your place, Karl? It's really...awful.
posted by Ty Webb at 12:43 PM on January 23, 2003

Well, things must be just peachy in MetaFilterLand if the worst someone can find to complain about is that a textad is promoting a particular view of religion. You know, if things are that good you can always take the option, no matter how strange it may seem, of not complaining at all. If your intention was just to point and laugh at the site on the ad, try #mefi, where pointing and laughing at people is the natural order of things.

Oh, and ditto with the no likee image on front page.
posted by dg at 2:21 PM on January 23, 2003

"So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
posted by yhbc at 2:35 PM on January 23, 2003

New Fark category, Revelations Photoshopping
posted by planetkyoto at 4:41 PM on January 23, 2003

'Gotta confess, I absolutely love Revelations imagery. Any portals to said that y'all can suggest would be greatly appreciated, (especially that whore of Babylon chick ...rowr).
posted by Wulfgar! at 4:48 PM on January 23, 2003

That reminds me, I need to get a shirt made that says:
"In case of Rapture, dibs on your stuff."
posted by ODiV at 8:36 PM on January 23, 2003

If there's a portal to a place with Revelations imagery, I'm not stepping through it, that's for sure.
posted by Hildago at 11:40 PM on January 23, 2003

Also, the guy said I'd be saved. So I got that goin' for me... which is nice.

Sounds like a new text-ad sales pitch:

Save Time! Save Money! Save Mathowie!
posted by jonmc at 5:51 AM on January 24, 2003

ODiV, if you made that shirt, I'd totally buy one!
posted by mkultra at 10:00 AM on January 24, 2003

"nice kickback"

Ha! If I was drinking something I would have had it coming out of my nose.

See, I don't know why Matt wouldn't take any ad, except stuff that advertises spam, or something wildly political like an anti-abortion group or something.

Hustler would be a great textad to see. I bet they'd figure out a way to bring back 'text picture porn' to fit in the guidelines.

Yea, baby.
posted by rich at 11:25 AM on January 24, 2003