December 26, 2000

9:02 PM

Jason Robards passes away today - and seems to solidify the pop theory that famous people die in threes (or not.)

Jason joins recent departures Victor Borge - died 12/23, and Billy Barty - died 12/23.
posted by kokogiak (12 comments total)

I made a post about his death several hours ago.
posted by gluechunk at 9:04 PM on December 26, 2000

No, Gluechunk, you made a post about a character in "Magnolia." How in the world would someone who has not seen the movie know what you were talking about?

I've ranted about this before in Metatalk.

Oftentimes double posts happen because the original poster was unclear or too clever for her own good. "Clever" posts such as yours -- posts that tease, or that rely on outside knowledge or inside jokes -- require community members to click through every single link just in order to know what's been posted before. That's rude. We should expect good community members to keep up; we should not demand they click through every link.

But then it's even ruder to then smugly scold the second poster.

In this case, yes, kokogiak re-posted old news, the difference being that in his post, one actually knows what it's about without having to click through (although I dispute the dopey "celebrities die in threes" theory, which is in this case and in all cases pure silliness).
posted by luke at 9:19 PM on December 26, 2000

Double Post! Double
Post! Double Post! Double Post!
Double Post! Ha ha!

http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/4943
posted by DoublePostGuy at 9:22 PM on December 26, 2000

Come on you nitpickers!

This is not a double post at all because of its neat and intriguing theory about famous people dying in threes.

Think about that for a moment...Threes!
posted by lagado at 9:30 PM on December 26, 2000

I will admit that my post about this subject was "unclear" - but I guess I prefer having *some* MeFi links be mysterious. If I read something that I don't get, I don't feel like I'm forced to click on the link - usually I hover over the link to see what it may be about. I like a variety of different posting styles.

I'm curious how others interact with MeFi. Do you scan the new posts to just see if there's something that interests you? Do you click through every link? Do you read the comments for each post?

And I apologize if it seemed that I was scolding this poster. I was merely pointing out my earlier death flag.
posted by gluechunk at 10:07 PM on December 26, 2000

Those wishing to be too coy with their MeFi posting style may wish to consider ... their own weblog!

Honestly -- the stuff I (occasionally) post here is only because I believe it'll generate good discussion. That's unlikely when few people click through. Coyness also works best for readers who already know your posting style or obsessions.

Very Meta.
posted by dhartung at 11:02 PM on December 26, 2000

"But then it's even ruder to then smugly scold the second poster."

So what is it called when someone smugly scolds the first poster for smugly scolding the second poster?

Meta-scolding?
posted by jennyb at 5:04 AM on December 27, 2000

And it also depends on your definition of famous people, which tends to extend to the D-list when you're looking for number three. (I'd only heard of Victor Borge out of those three, for instance.)
posted by holgate at 5:49 AM on December 27, 2000

Fours.
Werner Klemperer, 3/22/20 - 12/6/2K.
posted by mimi at 7:31 AM on December 27, 2000

How in the world would someone who has not seen the movie know what you were talking about?

The URL had "obit_robards" in it. Admittedly that's not the biggest hint in the world, but the ability to read URLs is an important survival skill.
posted by rcade at 7:41 AM on December 27, 2000