Linking the Haughey webcam

February 17, 2005 11:55 PM

Dare I post a link to the now deleted Haughey Webcam post of February, aught-five? I do.
posted by jonson to Etiquette/Policy at 11:55 PM (33 comments total)

What bums me out the most is that it got deleted in the middle of my "no, seriously, who the hell is this guy" rejoinder to the final post on the page. I genuinely wonder how far that could have gone.
posted by jonson at 11:56 PM on February 17, 2005

What may well have been my one and only Mefi tagline has gone forever with that thread. I may cry now.
posted by jokeefe at 12:08 AM on February 18, 2005

Cry all you want... just make sure you get it on your webcam.
posted by Lionfire at 12:27 AM on February 18, 2005

sure glad I got a look at the Mirra chair before it disappeared w/o a trace. code code code
I do not think I have been deleted; maybe a new experience awaits me.
posted by Cranberry at 12:42 AM on February 18, 2005

Well that was a fun 24 hours with a cam, but I don't think I'll turn it on anymore.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:58 AM on February 18, 2005

I love the ads Google is serving up based on the last sentence of the post. The ads are:

"Genetix Colony Pickers—the world leaders in picking bacteria, phage, yeast, cells"

"Pig Snouts—Come and sniff out our Pig Snouts. Low prices, personal service."

Damn, I can't stop laughing.
posted by terrapin at 8:03 AM on February 18, 2005

And here I was hoping you'd prance around in your underwear for extra cash.
posted by angry modem at 8:10 AM on February 18, 2005

Jonson, can I ask what the point to this MetaTalk thread is? Is it to continue the members' little jokey attempt to mock Matt? Seriously, I wonder why the hell Matt puts up with the shit that he takes from members of a site he works his ass off to maintain.
posted by delfuego at 8:25 AM on February 18, 2005

If I were mathowie, I'd be very afraid of most of you weirdos.
posted by xmutex at 8:25 AM on February 18, 2005

can I ask what the point to this MetaTalk thread is?

I dunno - it was suggested this was the place for it:

This post was deleted for the following reason: I don't think this is mefi worthy, honestly. maybe metatalk.

Sorry, Matt. I genuinely thought it was worth a post. As you know you're a giant figure in this community and the webcam offers a way of bringing you closer.

the members' little jokey attempt to mock Matt?

I certainly admit to nothing of the kind. I like and admire Matt and don't see why looking at pictures of him constitutes mocking. If anything, I find that pictures (and real-world meetings) have a way of putting a face to the username that really engenders more respect and humanity between people.

We put a lot on Matt and I think it's good to remember that he's just one guy. What communicates that better than an ill-lit, low-res webcam stream of him working late? Bring back the MattCam! ;)
posted by scarabic at 8:38 AM on February 18, 2005

You like and admire Matt's work so you want to stare at him on a webcam?

Hrmmmm...
posted by xmutex at 8:39 AM on February 18, 2005

a way of bringing you closer.

...which is why you creeped me out and I won't be running it anymore.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:39 AM on February 18, 2005

scarabic, is this what you meant when you kept hitting that rock with a stick and singing "mathowie's gonna payeeyay"?

:o)
posted by squirrel at 8:39 AM on February 18, 2005

Everyone with a webcam who isn't a camwhore gets creeped out when people talk to them about it. Webcam etiquette needs to be more like "Unless it's obvious that he's interacting with you, both of you have to pretend that the webcam isn't there". No-one ever gets this right.
posted by mendel at 8:44 AM on February 18, 2005

As you wish. But being "creeped out" is your own deal.
posted by scarabic at 9:01 AM on February 18, 2005

MetaFilter: Hitting Reload Like a Meth-Addicted Rat.
posted by fandango_matt at 12:49 AM MST on February 18

So true it's scary...
posted by Quartermass at 9:22 AM on February 18, 2005

delfuego, oddly enough, the goal of posting this was to see if I could get a wildly reactionary over the top response from a long time, normally leveled headed member of the site. Hey, look! I think I just did!!
posted by jonson at 9:48 AM on February 18, 2005

Mathowie, don't feel bad, I've tried the webcam thing before too and its just too weird. You could point it at a fish tank and people would love it.

Besides, we still have the eight or ten secret webcams sprinkled throughout your house to spy on you with.
posted by fenriq at 10:00 AM on February 18, 2005

delfuego, oddly enough, the goal of posting this was to see if I could get a wildly reactionary over the top response from a long time, normally leveled headed member of the site.

Er, ok, pointless goal, nonetheless met.

In before the lock!
posted by Bugbread at 10:06 AM on February 18, 2005

Well, crap. There goes my altar of nekkid worship. Now I've got candle wax all over my monitors and a blank screen.

--

I remember when I used to spend a lot of time on a public cam, mostly at work. It was really, really strange. I think the thing that weirded me out the most and eventually broke me of the habit was when I was having lunch with this girl I was talking to a whole continent away. Watching myself eat in the preview/monitor pane was just excruciatingly disturbing.

It seems like now the only time I turn on my cam is when I want to play with video feedback or when I want to record stupid pet tricks for posterity.
posted by loquacious at 10:32 AM on February 18, 2005

Jesus, jonson, fascinatingly you proved my point without me having to state it and then convince people it was true.

The point? That Matt saying this might belong in MetaTalk wasn't a command to bring it here, but rather to bring it here if it had some sort of merit for general discussion related to the state of MetaFilter. Instead, though, you brought it here because you childishly wanted to provoke a response, and that's just sad. I know there's been a lot written lately about how the civility and behavior around here has taken a nosedive as of late, but it bears repeating inasmuch as your behavior proves it. Grow up.
posted by delfuego at 10:47 AM on February 18, 2005

I was curious, Matt: is that picture on your wall of the whale at Disneyland (or, more likely from Pinocchio)?
posted by tracicle at 11:00 AM on February 18, 2005

delfuego, you are so shrill you can't even tell when you're being trolled. While jonson grows up, why don't you relax?
posted by scarabic at 11:06 AM on February 18, 2005

Well, the deletion notice said it should be posted on meta, and that's where it is.
posted by delmoi at 11:08 AM on February 18, 2005

This MetaTalk was worthwhile for the purpose of rescuing the 'htting reload' tagline. But let's face it Matt, going "old skool webcam" was NOT your best idea of the week. You never know WHAT it's gonna catch you with.

posted by wendell at 11:24 AM on February 18, 2005

As you know you're a giant figure in this community and the webcam offers a way of bringing you closer.

Just so....disturbing. I'm really surprised matt doesn't have members camping outside his home.
posted by justgary at 11:52 AM on February 18, 2005

You know what? Be disturbed. I explained myself quite clearly above. Every person who chimes in with some creepy-ass sexual/stalkery interpretation is only revealing their own predisposition toward the licentious.
posted by scarabic at 12:41 PM on February 18, 2005

See this is what happens when lots of background gets deleted (including the picture of the Mirra chair) This was brought here for discussion - and deleted from another page. It is a bit obscure if you did not see the beginning.
posted by Cranberry at 12:51 PM on February 18, 2005

lots of background gets deleted

I turned off my webcam. Nothing was deleted, you can see the old post and all the comments, but people were freaking me out so it's off. This isn't a deletion problem.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:53 PM on February 18, 2005

Well, there's an interesting power dynamic. It is just a little bit creepy--not in the sexual sense--but it does hint of a further objectification of mathowie. The cam might bring us "closer" to mathowie but it could also further remove us from him--which is the real goal of the one-way-screen experience. (Think of the modern day objectification of celeberities. On a side note, this is why I distrust all painters.) Either way it does cause a heightened sensitivity of the "distance" between us and #1. In the end I think everybody should be satisfied with carrying around a pic of mathowie in her wallet and we'll just keep it that.

It would be cool if we could listen in on mathowie's deepest, darkest thoughts. That might settle lots of Metatalk threads very quickly.
posted by nixerman at 1:40 PM on February 18, 2005

MetaFilter: Hitting Reload Like a Meth-Addicted Rat.
posted by fandango_matt at 12:49 AM MST on February 18

So true it's scary...
posted by Quartermass at 9:22 AM PST on February 18

YES! There it is! My tagline lives on in Metatalk! Woohoo!
posted by jokeefe at 1:59 PM on February 18, 2005

WE'RE WATCHING YOU.

well, we were...
posted by graventy at 2:02 PM on February 18, 2005

Turned it off eh? I was hoping for to Matt do NumaNuma for us.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 2:08 PM on February 18, 2005