I double post and get shit. A triple post gets a pass? April 4, 2005 7:41 AM   Subscribe

Why is it that when I double posted an item on The World in January everyone pissed in my cornflakes, repeatedly, but with this triple post fenriq gets a pass?
posted by togdon to Etiquette/Policy at 7:41 AM (78 comments total)

I ask because I ended up getting email outside of the thread implying that I was a moron, incapable of using the internet, and that the newbies were fucking this place up.

It disturbed me enough that I emailed Matt to have him close the thread. Seeing the civil discussion (with a nice mention of other previous discussions) in Fenriq's thread this morning piqued my curiousity, and salted the wounds a bit too.
posted by togdon at 7:42 AM on April 4, 2005


We like fenriq and we hate you.

That's sort of what I figured.
posted by togdon at 7:55 AM on April 4, 2005


And... fenriq's number is higher too, which makes it even MORE unfair!!

But, it IS us noobs that fuck this place up, it is our job, if it wasn't for us MetaTalk wouldn't even be here.

But, the actual answer to this is "Some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield". Don't let it bother ya, just learn to dodge!
posted by HuronBob at 7:56 AM on April 4, 2005


just don't eat the cornflakes
posted by matteo at 8:03 AM on April 4, 2005


It's the Internet. People are jerks and behave erratically. Don't let it get to you.
posted by cmonkey at 8:08 AM on April 4, 2005


Threads on Metafilter are mostly vicious back-and-forths. But then, so was/is usenet and most sites like mefi. I think it's emergent behaviour from the ability to feel anonymous when posting and that 1% bad apples can ruin any public forum.

on preview: what cmonkey said.
posted by about_time at 8:09 AM on April 4, 2005


...i hope the rest of my day is as entertaining as this post. Who had sent you the email (divulge divulge)? Excerpts, plz!
posted by naxosaxur at 8:12 AM on April 4, 2005


"cornflakes"...... ??? huh

(I know I'm gonna feel stupid, but that one went right over my very short head!)....
posted by HuronBob at 8:24 AM on April 4, 2005


My God, he's right! Everyone to that thread to piss on fenriq's cornflakes!
posted by nthdegx at 8:25 AM on April 4, 2005


Metafilter: 92% complaints
posted by dfowler at 8:28 AM on April 4, 2005


What cmonkey said. I think the main reason I find the endless, tedious bitching and whining about the quality of FPPs, multiple posts and so on so pathetic is precisely because the alleged posting guidelines and principles are so widely ignored, and such "lapses" are given hugely varying responses. It's plain that some of the old-timers get cut slack which isn't given to newbies (who, arguably, need it more while they find their feet at the site). This is understandable to a degree but it still makes the aforementioned selective FPP criticism pretty silly.

Honestly, is the occasional lame or duplicate FPP such a big deal? Really? Especially if the duplicates are way in the past? Well, if the majority of people really think so, at least let them try to be consistent in their criticisms.

But aside from that, yeah, don't let it get to you. For every annoying, anal snark-o-matic at MeFi there's probably a dozen smart, funny, articulate people. That's why I paid my five bucks. In my brief time here I've received a fair measure of personal abuse, a few agreements and a couple of nice emails. Variety is the spice.
posted by Decani at 8:30 AM on April 4, 2005


I'm curious who sent the email too. Can you post the text of it at least?
posted by about_time at 8:31 AM on April 4, 2005


I think the cornflakes problem is that you kept waving your cereal bowl around the urinal. Look at that thread, you posted to it 3-4 times agonizing about your search difficulties. You made the the doublepostedness of it all kind of a minor theme of the discussion. Also, fenriq's post was better written, had more interesting links, etc. Anyway, by dragging yourself into MeTa you only compound your problems.

On preview: yes, do tell who is asshole enough to harass you via email about a doublepost? Does that happen to anyone else? That's kind of disturbing.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:32 AM on April 4, 2005


naxosaxur (others), I didn't bother saving the message. I do recall that I didn't recognize the name from any of the posters in the thread, which was actually the disturbing part. The person also had to go to at least minor lengths to figure out an email address I was likely to read, as I don't list one in my profile.
posted by togdon at 8:35 AM on April 4, 2005


stupidsexyFlanders your point of waving the bowl in front of the pissers is exactly what I was looking for. From now on I'll just ignore the "double post" and related snark and tell them to fuck right off... thanks.
posted by togdon at 8:37 AM on April 4, 2005


I think it comes down to your combative attitude in the post, basically. Somebody gave you a pretty polite heads up about the previous posts and you basically called them a no-life loser who had nothing better to do than remember old MetaFilter posts. You got treated badly because you were treating other people badly.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:42 AM on April 4, 2005


Metafilter: you got treated badly because you were treating other people badly
posted by breezeway at 8:43 AM on April 4, 2005


Metafilter: People are jerks and behave erratically
posted by Plutor at 8:45 AM on April 4, 2005


One day MetaFilter is a pack of hyenas and you are the meat. The next day, its a warm busom in which to lay your weary head. Doesn't matter what your user number is. Doesn't matter if you've performed fellatio on each and every member. It just doesn't matter. Callouts and cornflake pissing are the great MetaFilter pastime and you are only as good as your last link.

So yeah, brush it off and keep plugging away.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:53 AM on April 4, 2005


mefi is dodgeball. you are the dork in gym class.
posted by quonsar at 8:55 AM on April 4, 2005


I didn't bother saving the message. I do recall that I didn't recognize the name from any of the posters in the thread, which was actually the disturbing part. The person also had to go to at least minor lengths to figure out an email address I was likely to read, as I don't list one in my profile.

According to dejah420, it was mcgraw.
posted by dfowler at 8:56 AM on April 4, 2005


One day MetaFilter is a pack of hyenas and you are the meat. The next day, its a warm busom in which to lay your weary head.

That's spelled "bosom", asshole.
posted by 327.ca at 8:57 AM on April 4, 2005


We could, of course, design a careful experiment to answer your question. Perhaps when you double posted, the dt between the first post and yours was much less than the dt between the second post and the third post, thus increasing the likelihood that other MeFites had simply forgotten.

Alternatively, it could be the noobishness factor, in which case we'd have to compare the time that elapsed between when you joined and when you double posted with the time that elapsed between when fenriq joined and when he triple posted.

Then again, perhaps odd posts (first, third, fifty-seventh) always provoke less criticism than even posts. Or it could be a function of your MeFi contribution index.

My point (and I do have one, maybe) is that through a carefully designed and executed series of multiple posts, we could gather a great deal of data, analyze it exhaustively, and present our findings to the MeTaWorld.

But that would be wrong.

On preview, somebody help me out with the deltas.
posted by anapestic at 9:01 AM on April 4, 2005


So it's not "bazoom"? Because if you're right, a lot of the poetry I wrote in college no longer rhymes.

anapestic: sure -- Delta Burke was the BBW from Designing Women. Delta Dawn was the Helen Reddy song. Delta Force was the Chuck Norris movie.

Does that help?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:04 AM on April 4, 2005


Well, that's weird. On preview, I had lower case deltas. Now I just have little ds. Injustice is everywhere.

Yes, ssF, that is very helpful, except that I think you have underestimated Ms. Burke's cup size.
posted by anapestic at 9:06 AM on April 4, 2005


Need your lovin
I need your lovin
Bazoom Bazoom, Bazoom...


stupidsexyFlanders, that was you?
posted by 327.ca at 9:14 AM on April 4, 2005


Actually, maybe this is a fine example of the flagging in process.

First off, it happened on a Sunday -- while I was busy doing errands around the house and I only looked at mefi twice the entire day. If anything is going to slip through the cracks, it'll be on a day like that.

The flagging system was added so that "double post, dipshit!" comments would lessen. I only saw one person say it was a double post, and I usually wait until there is more of a consensus (2+ votes) before I delete. It also looked like someone put a lot of effort into the post, so I didn't delete right away.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:16 AM on April 4, 2005


anapestic: were you trying δ? The MeFi preview system is seriously broken with respect to ampersands. Only the special cases of <, and > are handled. If you want to do something else you need to copy your text beforehand, and then paste it back into the preview box.

Like so: δ
posted by sbutler at 9:22 AM on April 4, 2005


anapestic: sure -- Delta Burke was the BBW from Designing Women. Delta Dawn was the Helen Reddy song. Delta Force was the Chuck Norris movie.

And Delta House was the fraternity in the Belushi movie. The Mekong Delta is a region in Vietnam. Delta Delta Delta is the bimbo sorority on SNL. Delta is the airline that went broke. Deltoids are that muscle near your armpit.
posted by jonmc at 9:24 AM on April 4, 2005


Deltoids are that muscle near your armpit.

A curiously strong muscle, that one.
posted by 327.ca at 9:26 AM on April 4, 2005


sbutler: "If you want to do something else you need to copy your text beforehand, and then paste it back into the preview box."

Or, the alternative, is to double-encode it thusly: δ
posted by Plutor at 9:31 AM on April 4, 2005


On second thought, that's a stupid solution.
posted by Plutor at 9:33 AM on April 4, 2005


That's spelled "bosom", asshole.

Hah, HAH! Suck it. And I say that in the most smarmiest of ways.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:39 AM on April 4, 2005


Matt: I think I flagged it as a double. I almost didn't, since I assumed lots of other people had already, and it was so obvious (jonson called it out in the third comment). I think you need to show how many flags a post already has.
posted by cillit bang at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2005


On second thought, that's a stupid solution.

Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.
posted by papercake at 9:53 AM on April 4, 2005


papercake: Hey, I just watched "Airplane!" last night!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 10:02 AM on April 4, 2005


Doesn't matter if you've performed fellatio on each and every member.

Er, well it would, because not all of us are equipped to receive fellatio.
posted by orange swan at 11:35 AM on April 4, 2005


In a similar gray area, no one has complained that there was a Detroit salt post made before this recent Detroit salt post. The thread of the earlier post is much more informative, but Capn's fpp has more links. None of the fpp links are shared though.
posted by klarck at 11:57 AM on April 4, 2005


Er, Orange Swan, I was going to give it the all-inclusive "fellation/cunniligus" correction but then decided against it.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:17 PM on April 4, 2005


Note to self-- Double post on Sundays.
posted by graventy at 12:29 PM on April 4, 2005


Heh, heh. Good point Graventy. So maybe Sundays, say around 11:00pm would be the solution. I've made a couple of double-posts and none were ever savagely beaten as in the example given. Best Togdon, to just just run away from the double post, like it was on fire. Can't save it.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:35 PM on April 4, 2005


Delta Delta Delta is the bimbo sorority on SNL.

It's actually a real bimbo sorority, at least at University of Illinois. They prefer to be called "TriDelts."

Delta is also "the faucet that works," a crappy dental insurance plan and an animal welfare society.

Thomas Pynchon just used d to mean delta in "The Crying of Lot 49." Maybe he didn't have much luck with special characters either.
posted by Gucky at 1:25 PM on April 4, 2005


Doesn't matter if you've performed fellatio on each and every member.

Er, well it would, because not all of us are equipped to receive fellatio.


But such people would be those without members, right?
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:39 PM on April 4, 2005


Can we have a flogging system instead?

Did someone make this joke months ago?
posted by cortex at 1:53 PM on April 4, 2005


"First off, it happened on a Sunday -- while I was busy doing errands around the house and I only looked at mefi twice the entire day. If anything is going to slip through the cracks, it'll be on a day like that."
posted by mathowie at 9:16 AM PST on April 4 [!]


Well, I totally know when I'm going to do the rest of my fpp's.
posted by exlotuseater at 2:46 PM on April 4, 2005


That's spelled "bosom", asshole.

That's spelled "arsehole", arsehole ;-)
posted by dg at 3:37 PM on April 4, 2005


That's spelt "spelt", sport.
posted by cortex at 3:46 PM on April 4, 2005


Jeezo, isn't it customary to put a MeTa callout in the thread so that the poster can have some idea that there's a backroom meeting to discuss the post's future?

Anyway, I did my searches as best I could and came up with just the two attributions I did find. I thanked jonson for mentioning the other two. I hadn't known that there was an FPP to this effect before, just the two mentions within threads that jonson pointed out.

It also looked like someone put a lot of effort into the post. Hey, could that someone have been me? Yeah, I actually spent a good portion of Sunday constructing the post in between taking care of my kid. I didn't intend to "sneak" it by Matt or anyone else. I thought it was a pretty interesting subject to post. And tried to fill out the story with supporting links, images and other information.

Sorry for the triple post but now it makes sense because I was astonished it hadn't been posted before.

And trharlan, thanks! I like you too!
posted by fenriq at 4:18 PM on April 4, 2005


fenriq, I specifically didn't link to the MeTa post because:

1. It wasn't a callout, I was more curious as to how I could have avoided the cornflake pissing in my earlier thread. There have been lots of good comments here to that end (thank you everyone)...

2. I liked your post, the ensuing discussion, and the overall civilized tone... mentioning the triple post there would have likely resulted in a lame snarkfest, or at the very least a derail.

Your post was certainly better than mine, and I'm glad there's now (hopefully) an easily findable post on The World that's survived on the blue.
posted by togdon at 5:22 PM on April 4, 2005


It was all worth it for wgp's 'Dubai or not Dubai?' comment. Brilliant.
posted by painquale at 5:58 PM on April 4, 2005


That's spelled "bosom", asshole.

The comma goes inside the quotes, you dot-named ding-dong!
posted by squirrel at 6:08 PM on April 4, 2005


All of you shaddap and shove it up your :
posted by jonmc at 7:00 PM on April 4, 2005


Er, no, squirrel, that's in the case of a quotation. In this case, the word "bosom" is not a quotation, and the comma goes outside.

"Please touch my bossom," she said.
It's spelled "bosom", you know.

posted by Bugbread at 7:07 PM on April 4, 2005


I dunno, bugbread. You have a citation for that rule?
posted by squirrel at 7:52 PM on April 4, 2005


All of you shaddap and shove it up your : Metafilter
posted by dhruva at 7:57 PM on April 4, 2005


You have a citation for that rule?

Sort of. The answer seems to be "it depends"...

Or, "it depends..."

Here's more than you want to know.

Use quotation marks [ “ ” ] to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language. Quotation marks also set off the titles of things that do not normally stand by themselves: short stories, poems, and articles. Usually, a quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma; however, the typography of quoted material can become quite complicated. Here is one simple rule to remember:

In the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation marks regardless of logic.

In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education, punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. In American style, then, you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design." But in England you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design". The placement of marks other than periods and commas follows the logic that quotation marks should accompany (be right next to) the text being quoted or set apart as a title.

Now, as to why the US convention is different, here's an explanation.

There are peculiar typographical reasons why the period and comma go inside the quotation mark in the United States. The following explanation comes from the "Frequently Asked Questions" file of alt.english.usage: "In the days when printing used raised bits of metal, "." and "," were the most delicate, and were in danger of damage (the face of the piece of type might break off from the body, or be bent or dented from above) if they had a '"' on one side and a blank space on the other. Hence the convention arose of always using '."' and ',"' rather than '".' and '",', regardless of logic." This seems to be an argument to return to something more logical, but there is little impetus to do so within the United States.
posted by 327.ca at 8:18 PM on April 4, 2005


*bolts up and salutes Old Glory while humming the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."*

Now we just have to liberate the rest of the English-speaking world from the tyranny of logic.
posted by squirrel at 8:33 PM on April 4, 2005


mefi is dodgeball. you are the dork in gym class.

Finally, amazingly, after years of toil, quonsar has found a way to transform himself from the pasty nerd from the math club into the gym class jock. And all it took was 35 years, the internet, and an analogy. I have to say, Q, that the strutting walk, the estimable pectorals, and the dashing haricut sit well on ya, fella!

Yo go white boy! I'll steal glimpses at you in the locker room later ;)

[swoons]
posted by scarabic at 8:43 PM on April 4, 2005


Thanks for that excerpt, 327.ca. I use the British system because even though I'm American, the "always inside" rule severely grinds my nerves. And, no offense at all to you, squirrel, because you were just playing anyway, but I really, really hate seeing people "corrected" on this point of grammar when the American rule is so transparently silly.
posted by taz at 10:45 PM on April 4, 2005


Metafilter : I was busy doing errands around the house.
posted by sgt.serenity at 12:25 AM on April 5, 2005


He said "silly", and right away I knew he was right.
"Silly," he said, and I knew he was right.

*mutters something about boiled cabbage*
posted by squirrel at 1:23 AM on April 5, 2005


*tries to cancel out mental picture of matt with slippers ,pink apron and fluffy duster cleaning threads , fails.*
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:05 AM on April 5, 2005


"He was right," said squirrel, but squirrel was wrong, because she was right.
posted by taz at 2:52 AM on April 5, 2005


It is not entirely clear to me that insisting on American-style punctuation is a greater offense than calling someone an asshole for a spelling error. I agree with Taz that the American system makes little sense, but since I'm an American, I tend to follow it, though I mutter to myself whenever it makes me place a comma or a period in an illogical spot. I'm going to England for a week in the summer, though, so perhaps I'll use the opportunity to punctuate logically.
posted by anapestic at 4:02 AM on April 5, 2005


Touché.
posted by squirrel at 5:24 AM on April 5, 2005


hey, squirrel, I sent you an email about this, so if you are interested but don't get my mail (because I'm thinking maybe I didn't figure it out correctly), just email me.
posted by taz at 5:42 AM on April 5, 2005


anapestic: It is not entirely clear to me that insisting on American-style punctuation is a greater offense than calling someone an asshole for a spelling error.

I guess it wasn't clear that was meant as a joke. I mean, if someone says...

One day MetaFilter is a pack of hyenas and you are the meat. The next day, its a warm busom in which to lay your weary head.

...how could you not immediately want to correct his spelling and call him an asshole at the same time?

No? No? Oh...OK.
posted by 327.ca at 8:10 AM on April 5, 2005


togdon, thanks for the further explanation. No worries on my end.

On another note, did anyone else see the news about the woman who's breastfeeding two Bengal tiger cubs?
posted by fenriq at 8:24 AM on April 5, 2005


woman who's breastfeeding two Bengal tiger cubs

I don't think you could pay me enough to do that. It might be fine while they're tiny like that, but how long do you breastfeed a tiger? How big do you let them (the animals, not the breasts) become before you cut them off? How much milk can a woman's body be producing before it's bad for her health? Isn't it kind of wierd to feed them breast milk from another species? (just like humans drinking cow's milk or goat's milk is kinda weird).
posted by raedyn at 9:29 AM on April 5, 2005


I like that the tiger cubs "were separated from their aggressive mother." This will end well, I'm sure...
posted by togdon at 9:34 AM on April 5, 2005


I ended up getting email outside of the thread implying that I was a moron, incapable of using the internet, and that the newbies were fucking this place up.
So are you new to the site with an old account?
Because looking at your profile page, the person e-mailing you was acting like a newbie by the fact your profile is not.
I’m asking as You taking this to MetaTalk may make you look like a newbie.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:26 AM on April 5, 2005


It might be fine while they're tiny like that, but how long do you breastfeed a tiger? How big do you let them (the animals, not the breasts) become before you cut them off? How much milk can a woman's body be producing before it's bad for her health?

From what I remember from when the kids were infants, I don't think that there's much of a health risk to the woman. Of course, IANAV, but I'd guess that tiger cubs, like baby humans, take a while to get their teeth. And breastfeeding is largely an on-demand phenomenon. The more demand, the greater the supply.
posted by anapestic at 10:34 AM on April 5, 2005


327.ca, we cool, we cool

*gives the Huggy Bear low five*
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:07 AM on April 5, 2005


From what I remember from when the kids were infants, I don't think that there's much of a health risk to the woman. ... And breastfeeding is largely an on-demand phenomenon. The more demand, the greater the supply. - anaseptic

I also remember this from when I was breastfeeding (about a year ago for me). Similarly to pregnancy, if she is not getting proper nutrition while breastfeeding, a woman's body will sacrifice nutrients from the woman to nourish the infant - including leaching clacium from bone IIRC. So it's important to get adequate nutrition while breastfeeding as much or more than when pregnant.

I only wonder about possible health risk (depending how long this woman continues) because I imagine that 2 tiger cubs plus the infant that had the woman lactating in the first place would put much greater demnds on her body than your typical baby human. It might work out fine. But human females were not designed/evolved to nourish tigers in their infancy. Unless I missed something in biology class!
posted by raedyn at 11:40 AM on April 5, 2005


One day MetaFilter is a pack of hyenas and you are the meat. The next day, its a warm busom in which to lay your weary head.

Yes, it's an internet phenomenon I've dubbed "The Hyena Circle": the air fills with the screeching laughter of the assembled hyenas, who alternatively dart out of the shadows and into the light of the pale, waning fire to nip at their rapidly fading prey, whose laboured breathing and feeble, un-coordinated movements signify the beginning of the end, a fact that only arouses the hyenas moreso.

I would, however, suggest that the hyena-to-bosom ratio is slanted far more in the favour of the hyenas than you would portray it to be. Perhaps 6:1 or 7:1, which, sadly, is an impressive feat for the internet. The less accountability there is in a situation, the less impressed you'll be with the rest of your lot, I think. The intelligence of a crowd is less than that of its stupidest member and all that ;)

So just do what I do, man: put on M83's "America" and lament the death of that god-amongst men the Pope, all the while writing long elegaic prose about the African Legacy CNN so lovingly reminds us of.
posted by The God Complex at 3:25 PM on April 5, 2005


TGC where have you been?
posted by mlis at 4:38 PM on April 5, 2005


So are you new to the site with an old account?

Old account, older user. I lurked for years, never bothering to get an account. I didn't mind that I couldn't comment on posts, so I never felt compelled enough to setup an account to do so, especially since the sign-ups weren't closed. After Matt closed the sign-ups I'd occasionally see something I really wanted to comment on, and I'd end up lamenting the fact that I couldn't. When he did the 10-a-day back in 2002 I got in, and have rarely used the account to comment/post since.

Because looking at your profile page, the person e-mailing you was acting like a newbie by the fact your profile is not. I’m asking as You taking this to MetaTalk may make you look like a newbie.

I'm certain that my moaning about my (lack of) Google skills in the comments probably inspired someone I'd tweaked off in the thread, or someone figured that they could get a rise out of me for the hell of it... easy to do, which is why I rarely comment (or post).

You all are more fun to respond to by yelling at my screen.
posted by togdon at 12:37 AM on April 6, 2005


MetaFilter:You all are more fun to respond to by yelling at my screen.
So true.
posted by thomcatspike at 8:20 AM on April 6, 2005


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