Let's not be SA November 21, 2004 7:00 PM   Subscribe

So from molatar to the animal dildos to a couple other sites that have been getting posted, mefi is getting something of a PoE flavor. I realize that's only a couple examples, I've just sort of had a growing impression of this sort of thing over the past couple weeks.

I don't really have an opinion on this, but it seems like the sort of thing people might want to discuss. Is "posting links to funny people so you can laugh at them" a thing Metafilter wants to be doing? If so, might I suggest stealing PoE's prime directive: "never, ever contact the people so linked."

Let's... not be SA. In any way.
posted by kavasa to MetaFilter-Related at 7:00 PM (57 comments total)

there's animal dildoes?!

*reloads*
posted by quonsar at 7:07 PM on November 21, 2004


tl;dr
posted by LimePi at 7:10 PM on November 21, 2004


So, let's look at these rules. No politics. No news. No opinion pieces. No posts about overweight people. No posts about Apple products. No links to software that runs on Windows. No posts about cool music. No posts about crap music. Cut down on the Flash. No links that might offend LGFers. No posts about sexual fetishes. No links to sites run by people who might be mentally ill.

I'm sure I've missed some, that's all off the top of my head. And within these confines we're supposed to catalog the best of the web? Talk about making life difficult.

Personally I reckon Molatar, and the animal dildos come pretty close to being "best of the web", no matter how bizarre and sick they might be. Now, if Molatar and the animal dildos were somehow combined, the WWW would have served it's purpose.
posted by Jimbob at 7:18 PM on November 21, 2004


Hm. Never heard of portal of evil. Don't think two examples makes a pattern. And didn't notice anything about those posts that hadn't cropped up here before from time to time. Trends do come and go. This sure isn't a significant one to me.

[shrugs]
posted by scarabic at 7:18 PM on November 21, 2004


I don't think two racy links makes a trend.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:24 PM on November 21, 2004


It's the inevitable result of the crackdown on political posts, really. People are desperately searching for "the best of the web", and finding grody stuff. I wouldn't worry about it; I'm more worried about the horrible things the government's up to that are now (rightly so) unpostable news-items.
posted by interrobang at 7:25 PM on November 21, 2004


It's the inevitable result of the crackdown on political posts, really.

Wow! New long-jump world record!
posted by scarabic at 7:30 PM on November 21, 2004


Huh? People have been trying really hard to find interesting web-content lately because of the danger of getting a post deleted. New users aside, the site definitely tastes different right now. How is this a jump?
posted by interrobang at 7:46 PM on November 21, 2004


Since when has Metafilter been all for serious, Mr. Prissypants McPrude?
posted by naxosaxur at 7:50 PM on November 21, 2004


If there have been racy or gross posts coming in to the front page in extraordinary numbers (which we haven't even established is happening) then I think it's a bit of a leap to connect it to a crackdown on political posts.

You say that people are resorting to "grody stuff" in a desperate attempt to find the best of the web, because the political stuff they'd otherwise post is verboten. That's a bit of a stretch for several reasons:

1) People are still posting political stuff
2) People who habitually post politics aren't the kind to resort to "grody stuff," they hold their noses a little higher than that.
3) There's plenty of non-grody "best of the web" out there.
4) People who would otherwise post politics and feel clamped down on are likelier to just not post anything. It's not like they need to meet a quota and can only find "grody stuff."

Connecting two disparate phenomena is always tricky, but you're way out in hypothesis land. Unless you're trying to say that the grody postings are some kind of protest - a statement that banning politics lowers the level of discourse. Is that in your thoughts at all?
posted by scarabic at 8:02 PM on November 21, 2004


I'm glad to see that the word "grody" is gaining newfound popularity.
posted by interrobang at 8:22 PM on November 21, 2004


I like the fucked up shit the most, personally.
posted by angry modem at 8:35 PM on November 21, 2004


There's a picture of a completely naked woman posted inside SmartDalek's love letter's post from today (11/21/04). I don't mean to be prudish, but can we not do that in our comments? I trust the comments to be reasonably work safe, and take care when clicking the links at work. That was a surprise.

Otherwise, carry on. I agree that the 2 posts noted above don't make a trend.
posted by onlyconnect at 8:48 PM on November 21, 2004


Dear Jimbob:

Please read my post again.

Love,
me

p.s.: if your stuff about invented rules was just sort of random and you were well aware it was barely tangentially related to my post, then ok.

I don't really think it's a TREND or whatever, or worth worrying about. I just remember that the first time a "here's someone with a wacky fetish" thing got posted here, I was surprised, pleasantly even. I thought molatar was hilarious, although I first saw the animal dildos site a long time ago. As a matter of fact, I know a mefi user who purchased one, although I haven't chatted with him in over a year (no, I'm not divulging the name).

All that said, the prime directive is still a pretty good idea.
posted by kavasa at 8:51 PM on November 21, 2004


There's a picture of a completely naked woman posted inside SmartDalek's love letter's post from today (11/21/04).

Just as an FYI, I edited the person's post and I'm *this* close to banning the img tag altogether.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:02 PM on November 21, 2004


Actually, Mathowie, I'm:

1) Surprised hte img tag isn't more abused than it is, and

2) Surprised more you allow it at all, even in spite of (1)

It seems like an accident waiting to happen, honestly.
posted by wolftrouble at 10:10 PM on November 21, 2004


SA kicks ass, and img tags rule. That is all.
posted by keswick at 10:17 PM on November 21, 2004


Oh, and it's interesting that you say "let's not be SA" and you have several SA imgs in your home dir. What's that all about? (Oh noes, some of them are even NSFW!)
posted by keswick at 10:18 PM on November 21, 2004


Let's not talk about it. I'd hate to see it eliminated and its continued existence and lack of abuse gives me some tiny spark of hope for mefi humanity.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:18 PM on November 21, 2004


kavasa is right in principle, but it's not a trend yet.
posted by gd779 at 10:19 PM on November 21, 2004


there's animal dildoes?!

there goes your vice-presidential bid, quonsar...
posted by felix betachat at 10:21 PM on November 21, 2004


I'm *this* close to banning the img tag altogether.

Aw, man, don't do that. I get a lot of laughs out of that tag. Just ban people who abuse it.
posted by scarabic at 10:58 PM on November 21, 2004


Don't forget the cooking with cum thread. I hope that a year from now I'm not saying,"You know, Metafilter turned into a harcore sex site so gradually I didn't even notice".
posted by euphorb at 12:04 AM on November 22, 2004


keswick, a grand total of two counts as "several"? And neither of them are nsfw. Anything else you see in there that looks like SA stuff is:

1. Something I did, for whatever reason
2. A picture that got posted on SA because it was funny, but had nothing to do with SA

I won't deny that whoever cherrypicks forum stuff for the frontpage does an alright job, but you can tell he's sifting through a gigantic pile of crap when 5-10% of the hand-picked stuff is actually funny.

matt - I can only think of one instance of use of the img tag off the top of my head. Of course, in that instance, it was used to post an nsfw image. But then the poster of that image censored it upon request, so hey. scarabic's solution is pretty good, too, unless you're spending 24/7 banning people.

On preview: right, euphorb, thanks for reminding me. That was another site contributing to the impression, not least because I saw it on poe before I saw it here.
posted by kavasa at 12:12 AM on November 22, 2004


Oh, and the "Jesus wouldn't approve of this." caption. Of the scores of SA captions/shops I've seen, that was one of the few that made me chuckle.
posted by kavasa at 12:14 AM on November 22, 2004


Just because there is some amount of crossover between Fark/SA/Whatever doesn't mean that MetaFilter is *becoming* those sites. I agree that when and if we ever veer *too far* in one of those directions, a course correction will be a good call. But no one has done anything to establish the degree of this perceived shift.
posted by scarabic at 12:27 AM on November 22, 2004


Woooah....at last....an FPP post I made gets mentioned on Metatalk...I feel I have finally arrived. I feel good!!!!

Ummm - its best of the web people....and I thought it was bloody funny....I marked it NSFW, so you didn't HAVE to click on it, but I'm glad you did!

Chillax a bit...huh?
posted by mattr at 12:39 AM on November 22, 2004


WTF?
We finally get to the point where the front page isn't entirely a wasteland of single-link-to-Reuters FPPs and people bitch about it?
posted by thatwhichfalls at 12:45 AM on November 22, 2004


Of course....I didn't mean to put the word 'post' in my post....

Its just an FPP

Damn its early
posted by mattr at 1:01 AM on November 22, 2004


Dear mattr and thatwhichfalls,

Please read my post again.

Love,
me
posted by kavasa at 1:04 AM on November 22, 2004


Dear Kavasa...

Please read my post again....chillax a bit....huh?

yours etc,
mattr
posted by mattr at 1:40 AM on November 22, 2004


I feel like there are only two MeTa threads any more:

1. This is "best of the web?"
2. AskMe is doing the date-over-each-question thing again.

This place used to be like an internet Valhalla - the Viking heaven where each day was a new battle and each night the combatants were miraculously healed to fight again tomorow - now its more like a fucking color test - monotonous and annoying. That's a severely mixed metaphor, and is symptomatic of the declining discourse on MeTa.

This is the worst of the best of the web?
posted by ChasFile at 2:04 AM on November 22, 2004


Poop Valhalla?

I feel compelled to note that your generalized, whiny bitch does nothing to correct this sitch, ChasFile.
posted by scarabic at 2:35 AM on November 22, 2004


mattr - not kidding, read it again. I do not need to chillax because I was not upset in the first place, nor did I suggest any of the posts were bad FPPs, nor did I mention best of the web, nor did I mention possible restrictions on FPPs, nor did I espouse any sort of distaste for the posts (it would be strange indeed for a reader of poe to not like this sort of thing). Neither did anyone else in the thread do any of those things, for that matter. The continuing inability to read plain, unambiguous english is grating, however, and soon I suppose I will need to chillax, huh.

Chas - way to join the growing ranks of people who missed the freaking point, entirely. Who in fact inhabit alternate planes of reality from the one in which the point exists or possibly existed.

Also: if you miss RIGHTEOUS BATTEL, well, find something to fight about. I'm sure Dr. Cube will enlist on your side. Simply complaining that no one fights about anything any more is pretty weak, when it's such an easy problem to fix on your own.
posted by kavasa at 2:36 AM on November 22, 2004


Yeah Kavasa....I was kidding...its Monday morning, and I need lightness....not heavy discourse....my continuing inability to either read your english, or even give a fuck continues to grate on me too....

Maybe I should start inserting smilies into everything.
posted by mattr at 2:41 AM on November 22, 2004


Agree that the img tag needs to go. If it's not being used for nudity, it's being used for cheap laughs, or sinister tracking images. Besides, Fark gives me the fix I need for funny pictures.
posted by PrinceValium at 4:00 AM on November 22, 2004


mattr: this -> . <- is a period. Until you learn to use it, limit yourself to one per sentence.
posted by darukaru at 8:08 AM on November 22, 2004


darukaru - I think you'll find its called a full stop...
posted by mattr at 8:20 AM on November 22, 2004


Ixnay on the alkingtay about the img agtay, okay? We on'tday antway the ooobnay's owingknay about it. Like EBli I think it's a great commentary on the civility of the community that it's so rarely abused. But we can't trust the noobies.
posted by TimeFactor at 8:26 AM on November 22, 2004


I don't WANT to be exposed to img.
posted by flashboy at 9:04 AM on November 22, 2004


If the rookies abuse blink tag priviledges, I'm gonna be [*error].
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:04 AM on November 22, 2004


Oh yes, while we're talking about full stops: This is an ellipsis: … This is three full stops standing next to eachother looking rather silly: ... Try to use the appropriate one.
posted by fvw at 9:41 AM on November 22, 2004


I don't really have an opinion on this, but it seems like the sort of thing people might want to discuss.

Hhmmm. Well.....if they did, I suppose someone would have brought it up. So, apparently, you do have an opinion on this, whereas no one else seems to care too much about it. Ya big baby.
posted by codeofconduct at 10:08 AM on November 22, 2004


.....................................................................................................................................................
posted by angry modem at 10:13 AM on November 22, 2004


I think the discussion over using an "actual" ellipsis, vs three periods in a row to approximate an ellipsis, deserves it's own metatalk thread.
posted by deliquescent at 10:24 AM on November 22, 2004


I feel compelled to note that your generalized, whiny bitch does nothing to correct this sitch, ChasFile.

Indeed. Such is the nature of satire. Remember when I said "That's a severely mixed metaphor, and is symptomatic of the declining discourse on MeTa," refering to my own metaphor in the previous sentence? Get a fucking sense of humor.

Simply complaining that no one fights about anything any more is pretty weak, when it's such an easy problem to fix on your own

You are right. In fact, I think I'll kill two birds with one stone: abuse [img] and attack you:

I don't know exactly what fetish a toon-shaded, shirtless, muscle-bound Colonel Sanders represents, or why it is on your public webspace, Kavasa, but damn its HOT:

posted by ChasFile at 10:39 AM on November 22, 2004


"You know, Metafilter turned into a harcore sex site so gradually I didn't even notice".

you obviously missed the triumph of gay rights political correctness that was the AIDS day (Dec 1) front page a few years back, especially the one where the guy was sniffing the crusty sheets his lover died on.
posted by quonsar at 10:57 AM on November 22, 2004


sinister tracking images

Yes, that one instance of sinister tracking images, which happened nearly two years ago and never since, is a huge problem.
posted by jpoulos at 11:44 AM on November 22, 2004


DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER THE METAFILTER GOLDEN AGE? BEFORE POLITICS AND SEX EXISTED?
posted by Kleptophoria! at 11:49 AM on November 22, 2004


You mean the golden age where it was just a bunch of web nerds talking about the latest redesign of Altavista's front page?
posted by Jart at 12:15 PM on November 22, 2004


No, Jart, the one after the Altavista age and before the polisex age. I remember it.
posted by Bugbread at 12:30 PM on November 22, 2004


Actually fvw, under many circumstances, this . . . is an ellipsis. The other thing is just some crap Word tries to pass off an an ellipsis. But whether it's a period or a full stop, it is is it's.
posted by dame at 12:48 PM on November 22, 2004


It used to be so hard to make babies entirely out of web code.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 1:04 PM on November 22, 2004


Chas - yeah I actually noticed that my collection of muscle-bound sanderses was growing to suspicious proportions recently. It's just that every time I find one, it makes me laugh and I save it. Frankly, that b&w picture of Sean Bean is much hotter.
posted by kavasa at 1:40 PM on November 22, 2004


3vv4y ry4y 4lly4y 34dyr4y 0|\|70y4y uy4y 1/\/\3F4c70r74y.
posted by vapidave at 1:44 PM on November 22, 2004


Dear Kavasa,

The summer we spent together will be etched sweetly in my memory forever. Alas, now is the autumn of our love, and I fear I will never feel your sweet breath against my cheek again. I send my deepest apologies that I filed you alongside every other pathetic whiner complaining about some random, arbitrary piece of content they don't like to see posted on Metafilter. Re-reading your post filled me with the deepest sorrow, when I realised the tone of your final sentance imploring us not to play with the freaks implied resigned acceptance of filthyfilter posts.

Perhaps one day we will meet again, when the first buds of May ripen by the river, and some twisted bastard comes up with something even sicker than tubgirl. Perhaps our love will again be renewed.

As always,
your Jimbob.
posted by Jimbob at 4:10 PM on November 22, 2004


Dear Jimbob,

I fear I shall never be able to rekindle my heart's flame in your hearth. Though it was beautiful while it lasted, and I shall carry those memories to my deathbed, you are still so cold and distant from the truth in my breast. My acceptance was neither resigned nor anything else, I am indifferent to these things since I will see them somewhere else anyways. But it is too late for us. Disregard the smudges on this letter, the tears dripping from my cheeks are for beauty lost. If we meet in Paris or Hamburg or Prague, pray, pretend you do not recognize me. It will be easier that way.

Love,
me
posted by kavasa at 4:56 PM on November 22, 2004


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