February 6, 2002

7:11 AM

In what can only be described as top-notch hit-whoring, Shift magazine has compiled a list of the Web's 25 most interesting personalities. Let the thinly veiled resentment commence.
posted by rcade (18 comments total)

Mahir is still on there? Maybe he's listed because he's gone the route of creating a personal site -- is that all it takes to bridge the gap between interesting meme and interesting personality? This entire list reads like it was created a year or two ago. I'm not knocking the people listed, but have no torches been passed? Wil Wheaton is a good addition to the staple 1337 e-suite, but Shawn Fanning? Napster? Why not add Marc Andreessen to the pot (sarcasm)?
posted by Hankins at 7:32 AM on February 6, 2002

You know - I try reading Fark.com - and it seems like I used to really like it - but lately it's just so painfully irreverent and sophomoric that I can barely stomach it. What bugs me the most has been the idiotic shift to making sarcastic headlines for mediocre news links. It seems like Fark didn't used to be so farked up! Even the photoshops have been lack luster... and honestly what exactly does Drew Curtis *DO* for Fark? I mean - I never read any blistering or witty commentary for him. And I've seen him on TechTV's screen savers a few times and he's never really said or reported anything interesting or amazing. So I guess just being an average, beer swilling joe with a weblog and thousands of daily submissions from net-losers makes you an "interesting personality". Perhaps I'm just burned out on it.
posted by wfrgms at 7:52 AM on February 6, 2002

True, Mahir's pretty crusty by now. But at least they didn't mention Jennicam.
posted by ratbastard at 7:58 AM on February 6, 2002

I am going to feverishly sex up CmdrTaco, and you will all be jealous, because if you are going to sex up a famous Commander, he should be a Commander of Tacos.

A sexy Commander of Tacos.

Unless it stands for "Commodore," in which case, like countless AOL users, I will have been sexing up the wrong person entirely.

God damn the internet. Maybe I should just try and save the headaches and bag Tiffany Shlain instead. Or perhaps Rogers Cadenhead. There's something about that name.

Look, never mind. Who wants to fuck? I'll link you! Just as soon as I get a website.
posted by Skot at 8:03 AM on February 6, 2002

And what's with that Matt Haughey guy? I mean, c'mon, he sounds like a big loser. "Metafilter" - what kind of a dumb name for a website is that? Jesus.


Joke, ha ha.
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger at 8:04 AM on February 6, 2002

Jeez. If I asked you what Matt Haughey, Mr. T and Hunter S. Thompson had in common, I don't think you could give me an answer.
posted by crunchland at 8:19 AM on February 6, 2002

"low key community?"

Did this guy visit the same Metafilter I'm at?
posted by jonmc at 8:58 AM on February 6, 2002

boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, oh, and a woman, but only because she's linked to a boy, blah, blah blah.

i remember when shift used to write interesting, provocative pieces - a list is not a piece - about net culture. do you?
posted by maura at 9:36 AM on February 6, 2002

I'm sorry, but I think Wil Wheaton is a weenie. And Harry Knowles? shudder That website.... that horrible website...

And isn't Meg worth a mention without Kottke? Not that Kottke's bad or nothin', but...
posted by evanizer at 9:52 AM on February 6, 2002

Maura: The last site I read regularly for interesting stories on Net culture was Netly News.

Sigh.
posted by rcade at 10:11 AM on February 6, 2002

"Because whenever [Matt] enters a thread, it's like God has deigned to speak."

What's the sound of 13,414 MetaFilterians retching?
posted by KLAX at 10:25 AM on February 6, 2002

How could they forget Ben Schummin?
posted by bondcliff at 10:38 AM on February 6, 2002

Lists, lists, lists at shift. Always with the lists. This one feels more than a little recycled. Really, Mahir should not be on there anymore -- I thought the Peter Pan guy replaced him years ago.
posted by D at 10:40 AM on February 6, 2002

To be honest, I find none of the "personalities" named on the "Top 25 Web Personalities" list very interesting. Their site content may be interesting (AICN, Drudge, Metafilter) or they may have (often seemingly-unwarranted) leagues of fans (Kottke-Meg, Wil Wheaton) but none of them are particularly "interesting"*. Not any longer, especially in the case of tired old jokes like Mahir and Mr. T. And particularly not when they acknowledge the fact that they are shameless self-promoters and their work online is pap. (SEE ALSO: Tiffany Shlain)

Looks like the Internet ate Shift's balls...

* The opinions expressed herein are solely those of Danelope and do not reflect that of the entire population of Earth.
posted by Danelope at 11:35 AM on February 6, 2002

Jon. Fucking. Katz. On the list. OMG. WTF. BBQ.
Where is Kibo? I mean, if you're going to dredge up the dusty grave of comedy for Mahir, you should at least give Kibo an honorable mention for being the original Internet personality.
posted by darukaru at 1:52 PM on February 6, 2002

OMG. WTF. BBQ.

I want that on a teeshirt. Put it on the list.
posted by ColdChef at 2:18 PM on February 6, 2002

No one listed the Stile Project!
posted by skinsuit at 6:12 PM on February 6, 2002

How could they ignore Ben Brown?

How much personality do you need?

And, of course, I'm bristling over my own exclusion from the list, but maybe I should update more often than once a week.
posted by rich at 7:45 AM on February 7, 2002