A pony.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 3:43 PM on October 6, 2008

I've never would have thought that death was a time to air a final word....on controversial things that should only be taken up with the living. I didn't agree with the man either while he was alive, but all I can say about the thread is, show a little respect...it's already full of terrible people.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 6:08 AM on April 7, 2008

When the namecalling starts by the fifth post, how do you expect him to react? Just speaking in terms of human psychology: if the intention is indeed contrition and behavior modification and not defensiveness and righteous indignation here from the guilty party, then maybe such harshness isn't the way to go. In fact, maybe it's the exact wrong way to go.

Absolutely agree, however the wording of the post really did act as a guideline for the responses... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 6:03 AM on May 16, 2007

Well I hate ads in any form, but I find this kind of stuff interesting. After stepping back from a feeling of being duped into believing it was user submitted. I began to think about the effects of viral marketing within a mostly donative community site. There's definitely a range of responses that one could probably write a book on. One of the risks to viral marketing if deliberately obscured is the possibility of consumer backlash as was the case in 2006 with Sony's viral marketing... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 1:46 PM on May 11, 2007

Looking at the problem as a public health issue (as EB suggested), and comparing the US and Canadian stats, you don't need to get rid of handguns entirely to have a positive effect; you just need to reduce the number of handguns in circulation by a significant amount.

Fwiw, the Swiss are also a good example that backs up your statement. I don't want to get involved in a gun control debate, because I neither support the NRA nor the people that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 5:25 PM on April 16, 2007

I'm not sure, It was a couple years ago, tho I think the "get your war on" reposts (tho many done jokingly) still rank as the most overdone...atleast above six.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 11:43 AM on April 9, 2007

I don't see the sense of posting as if it was someone elses way of wording it. We all know that there are people that talk like that...I personally don't need to be "waken up" about it which seems to be his goal. It's just a matter of not putting a lot of thought into a statement, rather saying things to evoke emotion or response. Close to the definition of trolling.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 1:59 PM on January 10, 2004

Doesn't Samsara suck?

Now wait just a minute there pal!
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 7:14 AM on June 23, 2003

eddydamascene, have you tried e-mailing s_o_m? I remember back in the old days of MeTa we used to do that when finding something objectionable. Sometimes it helps to get a feel of the person's knowledge of how offensive he/she meant to be before bringing the discussion over here. In many cases you can get a private apology and the person will strive to be a better meta-zin. Judging from the tone of his previous posts, I'm not sure if that would be the case however...but it's always worth a... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 2:50 PM on October 21, 2002

Even more freeware pop-up blockers can be downloaded here (FreeSurfer tends to pick up where adshield leaves off...they run great in combination)
Also, for those who don't want ANYTHING to do with banners and ads, try downloading a modified hosts file that redirects many ad companies to localhost :)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 4:06 PM on October 17, 2002

Mischief, the [more inside] is just a way of saying "this is a long post, so I'll conserve the front page." A lot of posters make their FPP and that's it, and of course there is more content to follow. But with [more inside], the poster hasn't finished the post. Whether you jump in to write "chirp chrip chirp" or you rebuttal to the way the post is sounding, it's incredibly rude because the poster hasn't finished refining the point. The post isn't finished.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 6:57 AM on October 7, 2002

Sometimes google's cache saves the thread, which makes me wonder sometimes why anything exists outside of google

I gave it a shot, but unfortunately, Tripod replaces idiots with their logo.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:34 PM on May 28, 2002

You mean the imminent death that is oozing over the main page like maple syrup?
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:56 AM on May 28, 2002

(speaking in redundancy) There's a point where you'll have to be sensitive HC. I could have predicted that there would be a MeTa thread about this once I saw the post as well. It's not a horrible to me, but it does change the look and style of MeFi just enough to make it annoying to many readers. And it's not a bad topic for a post. I actually believe it would have earned a more positive discussion if you just said. "Aw fiddlesticks, sorry bout that folks." (as above, noted, but... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 9:21 PM on December 26, 2001

I remember a short thread that had Ben Brown's preference to have longer posts....although I can't remember the number ;)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 9:51 AM on November 6, 2001

I posted in this thread and closed the small tag. But had scrolled down a bit further and noticed many more unclosed small tags that make the text almost unreadable by the end of the page. I am using *cough* Netscape 6.1 *cough* since I'm running BSD. Is anyone else seeing the same thing? (feeling like a little kid with a tall tale...Netscape's probably to blame)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:17 AM on October 22, 2001

Yay!
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:35 AM on October 22, 2001

I have no idea either, but it's still cached
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 12:03 PM on October 21, 2001

I think it was treated as a double post.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 2:35 PM on October 17, 2001

Drat..I double linked
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 2:36 PM on October 17, 2001

Good point lucien, that was one of the main cons to it I've seen so far. As most profiles go, each one has an ID and date-stamp. For some of the older accounts, a sign-up date isn't available. For those it would be hard to distinguish who was in the circle of trust first.

Actually, what I was getting at is what I also perceive to be happening for other users as well. When I browse the posts, or even browse the comments, I sometimes find myself looking at the user number... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 6:32 AM on September 7, 2001

This actually makes up for a very small portion of my overall experience on MeFi (cookies however, major portion :). You're absolutely right about the respect for a user because of recognition. What I'm talking about, however, is just the subtle first impression can be formed because of a user ID, and I think I did take an extreme end of the context in my last comment. As for letting things slide, I just imagine that it could be tough because the first thing that you know about another user... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 9:47 AM on September 8, 2001

However, it would be nice to have a little smiley put next IDs lower than 3203.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 10:02 AM on September 8, 2001

Well, between 675 and 3202 at least :)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 9:02 AM on September 19, 2001

To define normal, you should first consider that MetaFilter consists of what most of it's members want to discuss. Although there have been threads on other topics, the site is being used now to relay as much information about what this country has discovered and is about to do. These are trying times, and it probably won't go back to what it was before until after many of the standing issues are resolved, which as I mentioned before may take a very long time. The other possibility is that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 11:10 AM on September 14, 2001

And it's not even a valid prediction to begin with.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 3:38 PM on September 12, 2001

Man, I was trying to figure out what that sound was. It's been, like, following me all day.

You too, eh?
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 3:13 PM on September 6, 2001

I think this is probably linked to the "tipping point" of 10,000+ users...but also keep in mind that this has also been move-in week for college campuses across the US (inadvertently stressing people outside of campuses as well), which might have had some part. Hopefully it'll settle down and we will once again continue to sip our tea while insulting others in a more civilized manner :) (kidding!)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 10:19 AM on August 31, 2001

I think I do. It's close to the "You people on MeFi" tactic of putting people in their place. I've come across many threads that I'd want to put my "this is awful, so I'm not participating" tag, but haven't yet only because some people actually find the dialog interesting. It's sorta like walking up to people having a discussion and telling them that they should stop because it's upsetting. In real life, as here, I just move along to somewhere else. If I'm was really upset and needed to... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 11:29 AM on June 18, 2001

From what I understand of the guy, he doesn't want to be part of this community, and he revels in having a joke that no one else understands. He likes the attention, and has been noticed enough to make his appearance on MeFi a project of dissonance. I don't think he'll go away, or at least he won't anytime soon. The problem is that it would seem that he would not be affected by almost anything we say or do, so I have a bit crazy of an idea.

Accept him.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 7:45 AM on June 16, 2001

Be prepared for the upcoming experiment at MetaFilter.


If you're going to make changes to Metafilter for the benefit of increasing quality, you're going to have to treat it like a stubborn child. I'm with you on that.

At 5,000+ members tho, I feel that this has become a small city rather than a community. People have become less concerned about their actions from the lack of that community feel. If you're going to do... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 6:16 PM on April 5, 2001

hmm...do you think MeFi handles will be as valuable as domain names some day? I don't think I'm going to miss out on this one. How much for the ID madonna? (btw, tis better to license it :)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 10:42 AM on April 3, 2001

If only other things looked so beautiful. *sigh*
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:33 AM on April 3, 2001

Thanks, skot, for getting me sucked into this infinite vacuum of redundancy! ;-)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 12:17 PM on March 16, 2001

Excellent.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 6:39 PM on March 20, 2001

Although....Would this be the end of DoublePostGuy?
And his trusty sidekick Twice_Posted_Lad?

Be sure to stay tuned as Matt tweaks MeFi!
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:18 PM on March 27, 2001

I dunno cC: some threads just start off that way :)
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 3:30 PM on March 27, 2001

Sudama, I understand were you're coming from. If it helps the case any, I've heard African Americans use the n-word to describe people of their own race. They also use the word h-word as a demeaning insult. I'd hate to niggle over the details, but I'd like to point out that I know that 90% of the people out there today are fairly civil most of the time, although they don't have to like each other for many reasons. I'd also like to point out that you're amongst a crowd here at MeFi that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 7:40 AM on March 24, 2001

fine.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 1:52 PM on March 24, 2001

Although I do not see how I was baiting compared to everyone else...send me an e-mail if you want to express your opinion as to why. Thanks.
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 2:04 PM on March 24, 2001

rcade: It's a great idea, I hope you don't mind me playing devil's advocate with the reasoning tho :)


I feel that noise will be generated regardless. People will continue to publicly bash each other (as it seems to be more enjoyable in a crowded area...and the more ears the better). The first problem I see with this is in the post topics themselves. (1). Political thread (2). Political/moral thread (3). Political thread.

In these... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 12:07 PM on March 16, 2001

I think something in means of setting the mood for discussion would be more appropriate. Lets say, a simple question automatically inserted after the post suggesting a "type" of response. Direct the desired use of the thread by asking "Do you find this topic interesting?" or similar (the wording could be a mandatory radio button for the one who's posting).

If you want a restrictive type of discussion board policy, then I say, take all necessary... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:30 AM on March 15, 2001

Steven, not only do I highly respect your presence here, but you were the first person I felt intrigued enough to read about through your profile. I have been noticing the hostility within MeFi. The instances are perminently etched in it's history which makes it an even more dubious task to erase from memory. This also makes it a bit harder to digest as well. I'm not nearly as knowing or wise as many within this community (yeah yeah, obvious newbie flattery), but I would offer the advice... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 6:22 PM on March 14, 2001

Anildash: I was kinda joking around when suggesting a move to a different board. That seems to be the way things work though. The feeling I've been getting recently while reading through MetaTalk, is that there is an atmosphere of "us vs. them" The folks that have been around for awhile, or feel that they haven't been served a fair dish of discussion, usually come here to further discuss why it seems wrong. I would almost expect to see thesecretguild.metafilter.org for those that would... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 8:07 AM on March 15, 2001

It's like that saying, "Whenever we finally figure out the meaning of the universe, it will immediately re-arrange itself in a matter even more bizarre and fascinating."

Metafilter in it's current state has a feeling very close to utopia. I wouldn't want to have it monitored for it is already policing itself quite nicely. The absence of moderation has definitely had it's pluses and minuses. Being new here, I see where lagado is coming from when mentioning the great... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by samsara at 10:09 PM on March 11, 2001