July 16, 2002

7:23 AM

MeFi Users: You're Preapproved!Plastic begs for users, takes shots at MetaFilter with lines such as: "Plastic: the MetaFilter that doesn't reminisce about its 'golden era', three times a week!" and "Plastic: The MetaFilter that's already had weeks of unexplained downtime." Is offering "karma" and "mod points" going to make you switch? Isn't complaining about a lost golden era better than never having one at all?
posted by magnetbox (27 comments total)

MeTa thread about the same.
posted by riffola at 7:25 AM on July 16, 2002

Plastic: The MetaFilter that steals its ideas from slashdot!
posted by statusquo at 7:27 AM on July 16, 2002

Heh.

I've been thinking of plastic, and I have an account there, but between Mefi, kuro5hin and now fark I'm afraid of adding another timewaister to my life.
posted by delmoi at 7:30 AM on July 16, 2002

I stop off there now and then but find most posted articles not of any great interest. At MF by contrast you just never know what will pop up.
posted by Postroad at 7:32 AM on July 16, 2002

Plastic begs for users, takes shots at MetaFilter .... Isn't complaining about a lost golden era better than never having one at all?

I think Carl is funning with us, so let's not freak out and be jerks about it, eh?
posted by sad_otter at 7:52 AM on July 16, 2002

MeFi+filepile+kuro5hin = no goddamned time for anymore.
posted by das_2099 at 7:53 AM on July 16, 2002

one thing to note. the meFi tagline has for some time offered up " the plastic.com it's ok to like."

who took the first shot?
posted by das_2099 at 7:55 AM on July 16, 2002

I drop by Plastic from time to time, but with nowhere near the regularity that I read MeFi. When I do post to Plastic, I do it as an AC, and I haven't invested enough time there to care about karma or mod points.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:00 AM on July 16, 2002

I thought that said "plastic bags for users" and I had this mental image of a trade show plastic bag with a bunch of links like hamsterdance, a ' what X are you' quiz, and some design rant in it. And a squeezy ball with "Kaycee Nicole" on it.
posted by fnirt at 8:14 AM on July 16, 2002

got a five spot that says they wont let me in.
posted by clavdivs at 8:32 AM on July 16, 2002

i signed up for plastic when it first started, but i liked metafilter more. i really don't care for "karma", or whatever. the ultimate selling point of metafilter will continue to be the chickfactor: we've got some chicks here. has plastic got the same?

matt, you've really gotta stop telling people that they write like 15 year-olds.
posted by moz at 8:33 AM on July 16, 2002

Same with me, moz. There wasn't much "community" to it, and I got hooked over here instead. I also didn't like the mediated posting concept (a complaint I also have about blogroots, grumble grumble) they borrowed from slashdot.
posted by me3dia at 8:52 AM on July 16, 2002

one thing to note. the meFi tagline has for some time offered up " the plastic.com it's ok to like."

who took the first shot?

See, the funny thing about that is I didn't write it. It was metafilter member holgate, who also happens to be the person that made the post on Plastic we're discussing.

Odd, no?
posted by mathowie at 8:56 AM on July 16, 2002

what's plastic ?!?!?!?!
posted by adnanbwp at 9:14 AM on July 16, 2002

Was it holgate? Well, we've all been taken for a ride. He must be laughing his head off by now, bless him. ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:26 AM on July 16, 2002

Mmmm... elitist wankery.... does a body good.
posted by jammer at 9:51 AM on July 16, 2002

I would never post to a 'community' where any topic the moderators considered 'gay' was relegated to a category called "queer", whose logo is two copulating male symbols. Labelling. Yech.
posted by evanizer at 9:57 AM on July 16, 2002

looks like some in that thread didn't get the joke. Heh. Makes it even funnier. Or maybe i don't get it....ah well.
posted by th3ph17 at 10:02 AM on July 16, 2002

the thing i dislike most about plastic is the way nearly every post ends with some conversation starter question aiming towards some moderate viewpoint , usually added by an editor. Perhaps in the effort to build a larger audience, they've filed their teeth down to the gums.

alas suckdot, we hardly knew ye...
posted by mantid at 10:26 AM on July 16, 2002

Moving on, Plastic did have a post about the snakehead almost a week before it was posted here.
posted by sherman at 11:05 AM on July 16, 2002

Clearly, then, they stole it from me. I am a one-man karma machine.
posted by yhbc at 11:16 AM on July 16, 2002

we've got some chicks here. has plastic got the same?

Yes, but I've pretty much stopped posting there because of their reflexive macho-libertarian slant. They have a "feminism" category and almost everything there is a news story about some fathers' rights atrocity or the latest polemic on why feminism is dead.
posted by transona5 at 12:00 PM on July 16, 2002

I signed up at plastic out of frustration at not being able to get into MetaFilter, but didn't like the commenting system at all. I think that I am not smart enough to follow all the threads and replies to comments and replies to the story. MeFi is more like a (mostly) civilised conversation where everyone takes their turn to speak, as opposed to a rabble where everyone is talking at once.

Somehow, I managed to be given my 10 + 10 points, even though I was already a member. What on earth am I supposed to do with them, though? Can I just use the whole lot to mod up MeFi?
posted by dg at 4:36 PM on July 16, 2002

I think that I am not smart enough to follow all the threads and replies to comments and replies to the story.

Do what I do and set your preferences to read Plastic "flat," without threading. Then it's just like MeFi. Well, except for the fact that people generally don't quote part of what they're replying to because they think everybody can see the threading.
posted by kindall at 5:48 PM on July 16, 2002

Do what I do and set your preferences to read Plastic "flat," without threading. Then it's just like MeFi. Well, except for the fact that people generally don't quote part of what they're replying to because they think everybody can see the threading.

But it does take a lot longer to load- with all the extra info and images tacked onto posts. This is a problem if you connect at an incredibly slow speed (as I do), making the discussions so much slower to follow than the beloved mefi.
posted by drezdn at 6:09 PM on July 16, 2002

who took the first shot?

At least that one was almost funny.
posted by walrus at 12:34 AM on July 17, 2002

I've heard that Plastic users have fleas and smell of spam.
posted by Summer at 2:32 AM on July 17, 2002