I get a glow from low user IDs June 14, 2004 5:42 AM   Subscribe

Does anyone when looking at responses to posts in The Blue actively look at the User ID # of the respondants and get a good feeling when most of the posts are from people with single, double, tripe or quadruple numbers?

Conversely, do you feel bad when those 17K rapscallions are the only people that respond?
posted by Dagobert to MetaFilter-Related at 5:42 AM (61 comments total)

It makes me feel horrible when one of the 17K rapscallions is the only one who's responded.

On preview: Oh shit.
posted by Remy at 5:49 AM on June 14, 2004


I think I only find myself looking at user numbers here in Metatalk. On the other hand, we were all new once.

I came into metatalk during my first week, and launched a tirade on the "double post" bit. I learned.
posted by crunchland at 5:58 AM on June 14, 2004


I feel a kinship with anyone in the 14K range. It's odd, but I do.
posted by seanyboy at 6:00 AM on June 14, 2004


that's because we're fab, seanyboy : >

I like seeing usernames that are unfamiliar, especially if the comment is good/interesting.
posted by amberglow at 6:14 AM on June 14, 2004


I am not a number, I am a human being.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:14 AM on June 14, 2004


How about this for a pony, I would like to be able to filter messages by a user number range.
posted by corpse at 6:17 AM on June 14, 2004


No, because those with extremely low user ids have proven themselves every bit as prone to idiocy and triteness as those of us on the upper end of the scale.

Amberglow: exactly. it's pretty sad when a comment I'm reading is long enough to extend beyond the bottom of the screen, and even before I scroll up to read the rest of it, I know what username I'm going to see at the end.
posted by deadcowdan at 6:42 AM on June 14, 2004


What kind of a good feeling are you getting, Dagobert? Does it have anything to do with your naughty bits?

My own posts garnered so few responses that I was happy for any comments, and had never thought to check the numbers, and had never had any feelings, good or otherwise, about it. Is there a point here, or are you just chatting us up?

Love and kisses, iconomy (quintuple number member since February, 2002)
posted by iconomy at 6:46 AM on June 14, 2004


Hey, iconomy! Good to see ya. Your posts have, in my recollection, always been cool, but not such as to encourage argument. That's the problem. Have you considered posting something about Michael Moore's new film?

I only check the numbers for names I'm not familiar with, which there weren't that many of - until April, that is. But dozens of times since then, I've moused over an unfamiliar name expecting it to be a new 17K-er, and it's someone in the 4-digit range, who I guess just hadn't posted on any threads I was reading for a while.
posted by soyjoy at 7:17 AM on June 14, 2004


I came during the gold rush week that was September 11th. I am only out of quadruple numbers by a few days. . . and yet I could care less. Whenever these posts come up, I always have to remind myself what my user number is, and I never bother to check user numbers of others.
posted by Quartermass at 7:21 AM on June 14, 2004


When looking at responses in a thread, I find that reading the content of the response is far more valuable than looking at the user id. However, my user id will indicate to you that I am one of the last people to have joined on the last day new user registrations were open.

I click on user names when I suspect I know someone, which oddly enough has happened a couple of times, or when I want to establish an argument based on previous posts by a user. I'm not sure I've ever really paid attention to user numbers otherwise. I'm not even sure why it would be valuable to do so.
posted by sequential at 7:46 AM on June 14, 2004


I feel a kinship with anyone in the 14K range. It's odd, but I do.

Not so odd, I do too.

I'm happy if anyone takes the time to post to my fpp's.
posted by btwillig at 8:15 AM on June 14, 2004


But... don't the 16,999 of you love us as much as we 17,000+'ers love all of you???
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 8:37 AM on June 14, 2004


I feel a kinship with anyone in the 14K range. It's odd, but I do.

Me too. Guess it's a 14k thing. Can I filter all content so I only see posts and contents from 14k-ers?
posted by DrJohnEvans at 8:48 AM on June 14, 2004


Funny - I never thought to bother looking at user numbers until now.
posted by troutfishing at 8:50 AM on June 14, 2004


But now I can rank everyone by a scale that's taken by some as a measure of hipness or status.
posted by troutfishing at 8:53 AM on June 14, 2004


I pay no attention to user numbers until people start throwing them around as a measure of seniority. Then I breathe a small sigh of relief that they can't pull that stunt with me.
posted by Mars Saxman at 9:17 AM on June 14, 2004


"I've never felt so accepted in all my life. These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
posted by loquax at 9:17 AM on June 14, 2004


I hate my fellow 14kers with unbridled fury. Who are they to so closely align themselves with me without so much as a flowery invite first? I wage my wars alone.
posted by The God Complex at 9:46 AM on June 14, 2004


Why would the order in which you discovered Metafilter have anything at all to do with the content of your posts?

Hey, cool, I just noticed I'm #2726! That means only 2725 of you fuckers are better than me!
posted by bondcliff at 9:49 AM on June 14, 2004


It has been foreseen that it will be the 19kers who save us. So it is written, so it shall be.
posted by rushmc at 9:52 AM on June 14, 2004


I never look at user numbers. It stopped being a measure of experience and familiarity once registration got turned off, probably wasn't very accurate even before that. Plus, a lot of people with 17k user numbers probably draw more water in this quiet beach community than me anyway, so it would be depressing if I thought I was entitled to more credibility than user 7884 or 17884.
posted by Hildago at 9:56 AM on June 14, 2004


Does anyone...? Conversely, do you...?

no and no. altho' when forced to think about it i note that most of my favourite mefites are 14kers.
posted by t r a c y at 10:13 AM on June 14, 2004


I never look at user numbers. It stopped being a measure of experience and familiarity once registration got turned off, probably wasn't very accurate even before that.

good point. I lurked on MeFi for a long time and just by luck caught a registration period which lasted only a few days. Plenty of people have been online or even on metafilter for a long time but just never bothered or managed to get an account. Others have low user numbers, but signed up and then forgot about it for ages so weren't necessarily really part of the original "in-crowd".

Anyway. I forgot you can just mouse over a name for a number. Fun. But really you get to know who you respect and who you don't care about as you go, whatever the #s.

I know we've had discussions before about numbers and feeling solidarity with your "group" and stuff like that. I want to know who the other "thousanders" are though - the other folks who got a nice clean crisp number like mine.
posted by mdn at 10:17 AM on June 14, 2004


*shakes cane at all the youngsters on his Matt's lawn*

Take that, Saxman you punk!
posted by cCranium at 10:46 AM on June 14, 2004


*sends The God Complex a flowery invite, awaits the Coming of the 19kers with awe and humility*
posted by languagehat at 10:50 AM on June 14, 2004


Then I breathe a small sigh of relief that they can't pull that stunt with me.

Take that, Saxman you punk!

Shaddap both of you tykes!
posted by jonmc at 10:50 AM on June 14, 2004


No, though I think people did pay more attention to it in the past. I remember eagerly awaiting the day there would be more people on top of me than below me.
posted by drezdn at 10:55 AM on June 14, 2004


TGC, maybe you're just too young of a 14ker for some of us.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:56 AM on June 14, 2004


*sends The God Complex a flowery invite, awaits the Coming of the 19kers with awe and humility*

I don't believe in the 19kers. If and when they do come, I predict they will never leave us alone and will attempt to sell us bibles crafted from the skin of Iraqi children. I, for one, do not welcome our war profiteering overlords.

Your invite, however, was very pretty.

TGC, maybe you're just too young of a 14ker for some of us.

*declares a blood feud on DrJohnEvans and his ilk*
posted by The God Complex at 11:04 AM on June 14, 2004


Having a fairly low number (like I do) means nothing round here because:
1 - My contributions to MeFi have been pitiful
2 - I stumbled by here before a few other people - so what?
3 - I haven't found anything better to do with my life in the interim like virtually everyone else in my number range
4 - To use the slang I understand is so fashionable on the street, I'm old and busted and all these 14k+ guys are the new hot thingys
posted by dodgygeezer at 11:20 AM on June 14, 2004


*declares a blood feud on DrJohnEvans and his ilk*

Um, my ilk is the 14kers, which includes you. So it's your blood versus your blood, or something in that vein.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:26 AM on June 14, 2004


I was talking about doctors.
posted by The God Complex at 11:29 AM on June 14, 2004


Oh! Bloody good thing I'm not a doctor then.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:34 AM on June 14, 2004


I can't imagine thinking this way. Seems to me the good and bad MeFiers are distributed quite evenly throughout the numerical run.
posted by orange swan at 12:04 PM on June 14, 2004


Yes. User numbers are pretty irrelevant. I wish it were simply a random ID sequence.
posted by scarabic at 12:17 PM on June 14, 2004


I couldn't agree more orange swan. Except of course for the 14kers, who are very cute.
posted by squealy at 12:20 PM on June 14, 2004


Being in the primary quartile of the 14k'ers, you latter 14k'ers make me sick.

The kind of thinking alluded to in this post quite literally astounds me.
posted by Ynoxas at 12:28 PM on June 14, 2004


Everyone needs someone to pick on. The first "schism" I remember here was the pre-9/11 vs. post-9/11 crowd.

I can't remember what it was, but I remember some term on Usenet used to describe the annual influx of newbies in September, when school started (this was back when most people on Tha Net got their access that way). Anyone? Anyone?
posted by mkultra at 12:30 PM on June 14, 2004


It's always September, somewhere on the Net.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:40 PM on June 14, 2004


mdn, meet mr_stru, rob, tomplus1, jonathanbell, steinschlaf, salmacis, ice_cream_motor, fluxcreative, gm, ricci, caoien, pumpkinhead, jeffd, EmoChild, [?], and cratchit. Congratulations, you're the most prolific of all of 'em, with an honourable mention to salmacis. (A disturbing number of 0/0 posters in there. So much for '17339 members'.)
posted by rory at 12:42 PM on June 14, 2004


This whole thread was just a subtle attempt to heap abuse on the current king of the 17K rapscallions, right? Because, EB, after your South Austin Walgreens post, you're starting to come across as a genetic experiment based on the DNA of Miguel Cardoso, Martha Stewart AND Michael Moore... Advice from a MeFite with a lower # than nearly all your critics (and a tendency for overexplanation myself that I am not always able to suppress):
Repeat to yourself, "It's just a website,
I should really just relax."


Besides, sometimes September NEVER ends (which is particularly awkward when your birthday is September 30th).

Oh, and the exact Prisoner quote is:
"I am not a number! I am a free man!!!"
(In my case, I am not a number +200, but I am prepared to lord it over almost all of you. Neener.)
posted by wendell at 1:16 PM on June 14, 2004


rory: 17339 member?
posted by DrJohnEvans at 1:25 PM on June 14, 2004


...people with single, double, tripe or quadruple numbers

Heh. I'd like to hear more about that "tripe" group.
posted by taz at 1:28 PM on June 14, 2004


I have yet to post an enlightened or stimulating post -OR- comment! Ha! You pompous, arrogant, ponyboys!!
posted by Jeremy at 1:31 PM on June 14, 2004


(*Cries*)
posted by Lynsey at 1:38 PM on June 14, 2004


god this is silly.

We can't rate each other by looks or by how we dress. We need some way to classify people. But what?!?

Seriously, what is this, high school?
posted by Miles Long at 1:47 PM on June 14, 2004


Seriously, what is this, high school?

No. If so, a lot of us would be cutting class, and hanging out in... uh...

hmmm.

Actually, it's sortof like high school, only with more debate team members.
posted by weston at 1:53 PM on June 14, 2004


DrJohnEvans: just pulled the latest number off the front page for rhetorical effect. (Because some users or numbers have been deleted or skipped along the way by mathowie, it doesn't correspond exactly with the highest existing user number.)
posted by rory at 2:07 PM on June 14, 2004


You know, all the sudden the username "DrJohnEvans" makes me wish that I had picked Dr. Benway1 as my username.

1 Link is to an audio clip, an excerpt, relatively low-quality and low-bandwidth, in MP3Pro format (which is mp3 compatible). Info on the excerpt is found in the ID3 tag.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:16 PM on June 14, 2004


your link is messed up, EB--use this
who is that tho? it's familiar but i'm clueless.
posted by amberglow at 4:21 PM on June 14, 2004


Does this usernumber make my ass look fat?

Well, that's OK, because I'm fucking allowed! [joke, joke, please do not spank]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:22 PM on June 14, 2004


Oops. I was just trying to fix that. Thanks, amberglow. It's WS Burroughs.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:22 PM on June 14, 2004


EB: ahhhh : >
posted by amberglow at 4:39 PM on June 14, 2004


MetaFilter: I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered.
posted by Danelope at 6:06 PM on June 14, 2004


You haven't figured it out yet? Ethereal Bligh is Cardoso. He just needed something to do between Euro 2004 matches, so he concocted this whole scheme months back.
posted by The God Complex at 7:14 PM on June 14, 2004


Damn! Why couldn't I have waited just another month or two to sign up? I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a 13Ker, which is what I am.
posted by Khalad at 2:52 AM on June 15, 2004


You know, rory, I somehow completely misinterpreted your comment up there, and my reply was making a joke based on my interpretation, which, upon re-reading the next morning, really doesn't make any sense. So, uh, sorry!
posted by DrJohnEvans at 6:22 AM on June 15, 2004


Nice thought, EB, but really, it's not even close.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 6:23 AM on June 15, 2004


loquax: i'm on the floor.
posted by o2b at 8:35 AM on June 15, 2004


Jeez, I'm an 11ker who joined on 9/10/2001. Torn between two worlds. And how can I get a green star on my belly?
posted by tetsuo at 9:22 PM on June 17, 2004


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