But will it blend or float and can I eat it?

October 25, 2011 2:24 PM

"Before you make a complete fool of yourself when you send a link to your friends, colleagues or twitter followers (or post it to Metafilter) use ISITOLD.COM to make sure it's fresh enough." May not work on some long urls.
=== That's "IS IT OLD", not "IS I TOLD". ===
posted by oneswellfoop (49 comments total)

Double
posted by Flashman at 2:25 PM on October 25, 2011 [8 favorites]

I SIT OLD
posted by desjardins at 2:26 PM on October 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

I like Is I Told better...
posted by sweetkid at 2:28 PM on October 25, 2011 [6 favorites]

re: metafilter:

ABORT. I don’t even know if computers can run this anymore.
It has been tweeted 285 times already, and the first time was 972 days ago.
posted by empath at 2:30 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Will It Blend? DEAD
Down For Everyone or Just Me? DEAD
Is Abe Vigoda Alive? DEAD (The site, Abe is fine.)
Is It Old? YOU HAVE BROKEN THE INTERNET ABORT ABORT ABORT
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:30 PM on October 25, 2011

IT SOLID?
posted by griphus at 2:30 PM on October 25, 2011

IST SOL, ID?
posted by koeselitz at 2:32 PM on October 25, 2011

http://www.isitold.com tells me http://www.isitold.com is well....pretty old.
posted by samsara at 2:32 PM on October 25, 2011

'TIS SOIL'D?
posted by koeselitz at 2:33 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Facebook: ABORT. I don’t even know if computers can run this anymore.
It has been tweeted 7143698 times already, and the first time was 967 days ago.

967 days ago? Really?
posted by sweetkid at 2:36 PM on October 25, 2011

So facebook.com was first tweeted five days after metafilter.com was first tweeted? WE WIN THE INTERNET
posted by koeselitz at 2:37 PM on October 25, 2011 [6 favorites]

(not) DOLTIST
posted by davejay at 2:40 PM on October 25, 2011

funny. when I first played with this a couple hours ago, the result of entering "isitold.com" into isitold.com was a unique page saying THIS WILL NEVER BE OLD. honest.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:40 PM on October 25, 2011

Abe Vigoda == ALIVE
abevigoda.com == DEAD
posted by mazola at 2:41 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

I just got 978 when I put in Twitter. I wonder what the upper limit is.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:41 PM on October 25, 2011

http://www.metafilter.com/108770/But-will-it-blend-or-float-and-can-I-eat-it
YOU’RE THE FIRST!
Share your findings:
Number one. You must be some sort of internet pioneer!
It has not been shared on twitter yet.
posted by lampshade at 2:42 PM on October 25, 2011

Twitter started 2044 days ago (or at least I assume it did because founder Evan Williams tweeted just setting up my twttr on that day.) However, whatever API is being used here doesn't seem to go back further than 978 days.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:50 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

But what if I am really wondering if I is told or not? What website am I supposed to go to then?
posted by overglow at 2:56 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Peace Treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor and
the King of France and their respective Allies.

"YOU'RE THE FIRST!"
posted by everichon at 3:02 PM on October 25, 2011 [11 favorites]

Bravo.com
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:02 PM on October 25, 2011

google.com
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 3:06 PM on October 25, 2011

STOLID TITS?
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:07 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

If some of my forwarders used ISITOLD.COM and understood that the internet existed before they got a computer, I might never hear from them again. Hmm. OK!
posted by Cranberry at 3:12 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Of course, no one has Tweeted the Treaty of Westphalia. It's over 140 characters! (And those are just the signees)
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:20 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

I can't wait to show off my new website solutioninsearchofaproblem.com.
posted by snapped at 3:33 PM on October 25, 2011

snapped, it's been done. It's called Twitter.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:39 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

If it's old, then you is told.
posted by Spatch at 3:52 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I have omassive forward perpamong the people I know. She sends the damn stuff like SIX times and I gnash my teeth. Tiresome.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:53 PM on October 25, 2011

whatever API is being used here doesn't seem to go back further than 978 days

what is this I don't even
posted by sweetkid at 3:57 PM on October 25, 2011

I sometimes think it is very cute when someone sends me an old link and they are all psyched about it. Helps me realize how differently we all live our lives.
posted by jfwlucy at 4:09 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

http://twitter.com
DEAD ABORT. I don’t even know if computers can run this anymore.
It has been tweeted 432693 times already, and the first time was 978 days ago.

Assuming the first time twitter was tweeted is some kind of limit on how early things can be tweeted, which indicates metafilter was first tweeted just a few days after the creation of twitter, which is kind of interesting.
posted by delmoi at 4:13 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Litmus test:
It's results state MeFi is DEAD
posted by TangerineGurl at 4:29 PM on October 25, 2011

I don't understand why a link first posted yesterday is old, but a first posted 11 days ago is kinda ok.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:34 PM on October 25, 2011

That's because the concept of "retro" has eaten its own tail to the point where nostalgia is acceptable for things over ten days old.
posted by drinkyclown at 4:53 PM on October 25, 2011

I have omassive forward perpamong the people I know.

huh?
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 4:56 PM on October 25, 2011

It appears to be basing its judgment on a "Twitter age", only beginning the 'aging' process after the first time it was posted to Twitter.

And Omassive Forward Perpamong is my Porn Name.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:59 PM on October 25, 2011

"...a massive forward perp among...?"
posted by jpziller at 5:02 PM on October 25, 2011

Failure:

www.bianca.com: REALLY OLD
www.4chan.org: DEAD
posted by Mister Fabulous at 5:02 PM on October 25, 2011

4chan actually is pretty dead, they are about done blowing through the cachet of being 'the first' in english and are resorting to increasingly desperate measures to hold up
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 6:09 PM on October 25, 2011

I don't think I can trust this one. I mean, it's trying to tell me zombocom is dead! It'll never die!
posted by Deflagro at 7:25 PM on October 25, 2011

I never read I, Sitold, but I saw the BBC miniseries. It was well-acted, but the production values were especially poor.
posted by Mael Oui at 8:03 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

I sometimes think it is very cute when someone sends me an old link and they are all psyched about it.
Yeah, I do this. (Still no Twitter). But I've also had it done to me. Everybody has to start somewhere on the continuum.
posted by Glinn at 8:28 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I find it odd that Goatse has only been tweeted 140 times.
posted by pompomtom at 8:41 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cute, but basically useless. The decision metrics make no sense. Something could have been tweeted a million billion times since Ye Olde Inception of Thine Twitters and that very thing could still be new to me, and a whole lot of other people.

Twitter is solely a platform of immediacy. That's the whole point. It's the chat room writ large. It only ever gains lasting effect through sheer force of numbers, when enough tweets roll forth to awaken the first tier of cave-blind taste makers, aroused by the scent of fresh link bait, from which they spume their droll commentary and witty observations, to be read and relinked and tweeted again and spoofed on by other imitators and SEO spamhocked over and over and over...and the only truly lasting stuff does not become old and well known simply because it was on twitter a lot, but rather because it crosses over into other domains, from 4chan to Reddit to BoingBoing to Youtube to Whatever The Hell The Kids Are On These Days, and so on, churning and churning and churning until it eventually ends up as a bit on one of Conan O'Brien's monologues or an episode of My Little Pony or on a subway ad or some nonsense like that.

The signal to noise ratio on twitter is so fucking bananas that it just doesn't make sense (to me, anyway) to use it as a long term signifier of anything at all.

I also agree with Glinn. Everyone does have to start somewhere, and they might appreciate a little patience from us veterans. Is it really such a problem that we needed a website to solve it?

This is the provenance trolls, we need not concern ourselves with such pettiness.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:13 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Gimme pizza will never die!
posted by Beardman at 3:10 AM on October 26, 2011

I think this is a great idea. Unfortunately the people I know who need to use it won't find out about it for another 18 months or so, and then they'll email me excitedly, all, "Look at this awesome new site, lol!!!"
posted by lollusc at 4:04 AM on October 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

IsItOld.com

Remember capitalization? That thing that URLs don't ever give a flying fuck about, but that makes English so much more readable? Give it a whirl.
posted by IAmBroom at 7:08 AM on October 26, 2011

I thought CamelCase was banned long ago as a violation of the Geneva Convention.
posted by desjardins at 8:46 AM on October 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

(CamelCase in Comic Sans is considered an act of war, btw.)
posted by desjardins at 8:46 AM on October 26, 2011