Comments on: Comments on 4946

Post number 4946

kokogiak — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 21:02:19 -0800

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.

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 21:04:48 -0800

I made a post about his death several hours ago.

By: luke

luke — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 21:19:29 -0800

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).

By: DoublePostGuy

DoublePostGuy — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 21:22:21 -0800

Double Post! Double Post! Double Post! Double Post! Double Post! Ha ha! http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/4943

By: lagado

lagado — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 21:30:27 -0800

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!

By: aaron

aaron — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 21:33:37 -0800

and Billy Barty - died 12/23.

Well, 2 1/2 anyway.

BTW, famous people will always "die by threes" as long as you're waiting to counting them by threes.

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 22:07:35 -0800

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.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Tue, 26 Dec 2000 23:02:36 -0800

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.

By: jennyb

jennyb — Wed, 27 Dec 2000 05:04:34 -0800

"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?

By: holgate

holgate — Wed, 27 Dec 2000 05:49:42 -0800

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.)

By: mimi

mimi — Wed, 27 Dec 2000 07:31:20 -0800

Fours. Werner Klemperer, 3/22/20 - 12/6/2K.

By: rcade

rcade — Wed, 27 Dec 2000 07:41:58 -0800

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.

By: kokogiak

kokogiak — Wed, 27 Dec 2000 08:14:04 -0800

I have to admit scanning the most recent 5 or 6 posts before posting this, and didn't see anything on Robards - but after posting, I did notice (by mousing over and seeing the URL - I never saw Magnolia). Even though it was a double-post, I thought the two were different enough (a Magnolia-based epitaph, and a celebs-in-threes idea) that it didn't seem like a big deal.

For the record, I think the death-trios theory is nonsense, but love it when pop theories get a little boost like this - I imagine people saying "see - I told you so" in a very knowing manner.

Props to gluechunk for being first, but I don't generally turn to MeFi for breaking news.