New Orleans still has as much, if not more, unique about it than any other city I've been to or lived in in the U.S., New York, Chicago, and San Francisco included, even post-Katrina.

I grew up lower middle class in New Orleans, in Gentilly, New Orleans East, Lakeview, Bucktown and in Mid-City, most of which neighborhoods were obliterated all or in part by Hurricane Katrina and I've been back since the storm. You can still get jambalaya, gumbo, a softshell crab... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 10:09 PM on July 11, 2008

Or, alternately...

I live in my parent's basement.
posted by y2karl

That might make sense if the comment came from an anonymous source. I'm pretty sure if Joe Clark is living with his mother it's his choice.

I'd put that figure closer to 70% rather than 99%. There is still a fair amount of pet interest posting to Metafilter that doesn't really make the rounds in the same way as... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 1:44 PM on July 11, 2008

The big red button is a bad idea and has added nothing to the site, but the mods like it for some reason.
posted by Afroblanco

What he said.

We've discussed this before and it never has nor ever will make any sense. Every time the mods defend the big red button I think I must be on crazy pills.

You can delete all personal info except for a line that says "I'm gone" and do the same... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 11:28 AM on June 25, 2008

Just to clarify, a site feature that makes some people happier adds to nothing to the site?
posted by tkolar

It just adds an unneeded feature to the site. If you added a feature for every whim that would make a particular user happy you'd never stop adding features. And I don't care that we have this feature, if it makes you happy great. I'm all for happy people. But thinking that pushing the button does anything seems like an illusion to... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 2:11 PM on June 25, 2008

I don't know what's complicated about about "some users want a feature you personally don't use and by adding it the mods no longer have to manually do it, freeing them up to do other crap or at the very least, avoiding to do certain menial crap."

No, I'm fine with that particular explanation. It allows the mods to do other stuff and people want it. The rest of jessamyn's bulleted list, especially 1-3, still make little sense to me (not even... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 8:10 PM on June 25, 2008

So, I think I've done the best job I can explaining this part and if you still don't understand it then yes I think we're in "agree to disagree" land but I wanted to stress that it's not just a case of "we like this better" but that it actually helps us, to my mind, run the site better and with more respect and consideration for the users who would actually make use of this feature.

Thanks for the long explanation, and honestly, I... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 9:47 AM on June 26, 2008

note to self: don't date justgary.

Yeah buddy, one time and you're gone.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 11:47 AM on June 26, 2008

B
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 4:57 PM on June 17, 2008

Daringfireball linked to the flickr page of a guy who got a Dell with a broken keyboard last week, and the poor guy's page filled up with thousands of retards going "lol get a mac".
posted by bonaldi

Yeah, and then that guy responded with complaints against apple that haven't been valid for 5 years. Ignorance meets ignorance. They deserved each other.

The Mac zealots are just as awful as they've... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 6:23 PM on May 13, 2008

I figure my objections about anybody but the worst of people (and heston while not without his faults, was far from the worst) can wait for another time. call it maturity.
posted by jonmc

Perhaps, but it's our duty to cut them down to size.......
posted by jonmc at 1:04 AM on January 23
posted by Reggie Knoble at 8:02 AM on April 7

Yes, because people never change their minds or learn anything.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 7:26 AM on April 7, 2008

A sign of maturity is giving people the benefit of the doubt. Or so I have heard.

I'm all for giving the benefit of the doubt. That we shouldn't be held precisely accountable to our comment history when opinions can depend on our mood? Yep.

Believing that someone did a 180 in 2 months, not so much. You, however, are free to believe.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 3:30 PM on April 7, 2008

More people more noise. You can't stop it, you can only hope to contain it.

It is what it is, people. You don't like it, then I suggest you design and implement your own site. I'm serious. This is Matt's sandbox, and it runs pretty much how he wants it, usually.

Ironic comments from someone that complained about metafilter recently, left in a huff forever, and then came back a week later. You might want to take your own advice next time.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 2:38 PM on March 26, 2008

In a recent thread about city dwellers moving to the country to live off the land the first brilliant comment was a link to dueling banjos on youtube. We've never heard that joke, right? But it stayed. And the same member that posted that drivel was upset today because obama's unifying speech wasn't posted on the blue.

People can be idiots, and those type comments are allowed to stay. So you're fighting a losing battle. Just skip them. You'll be happier.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 8:38 PM on March 18, 2008

Any member that wants to come back can come back no questions asked.

Then what's the purpose? It seems to me that the button serves no function at all, much like those buttons at crosswalks.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 1:25 PM on March 3, 2008

I wouldn't be at all surprised if she returned under a new name, without the target on her back. I hope so, anyway.

Didn't she come back under a different account because the first one was banned? She wanted bunnyfire back, and many times she referred to her previous identity. She seemed to almost get satisfaction out the attention of being formerly bunnyfire. So even if she comes back under a new nick, I have serious doubt she'd try to downplay her... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 3:26 PM on February 29, 2008

case closed
posted by pyramid termite

I believe what the kidz are sayin' today is 'nuf ced'.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 4:21 PM on February 29, 2008

Hey now, don't succumb to the "I'm more persecuted than you" virus. I too hate the anti-South bias that so many ostensible "progressives" feel free to indulge in, and I speak out frequently when it shows itself, but that has nothing to do with sexism. They're both wrong and they both need to be fought.

Right, they both need to be fought, but one has its own tag? Look, I agree with you. Both are bad. Bigotry is bad. But I read all... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 8:32 PM on February 29, 2008

Growing up in a black neighborhood I also questioned why the majority of black people would cross to the other side of the street to avoid our half Dachshund / half mutt behind a fence and my black friends wouid have to be convinced he wasn't going to bit them. While at the same time I never saw the reaction when I took our dog to white neighborhoods.

No one put that in my head. Later I contributed it to the fact that we had many strays in our neighborhood that scared... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 2:59 PM on February 25, 2008

I just pick the sexy flag every time just to stay out of trouble.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 12:21 AM on February 13, 2008

Bah, unless you compare it to last years keynote (iPhone) it wasn't bad at all. But if you're an apple fan other sites do it better.

And apple would be nuts to bring out a tablet computer. You people have lost your minds.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 3:31 PM on January 16, 2008

MetaFilter: Hunting for "the best of the Web" and usually turning up nothing of the sort.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 7:16 PM on January 5, 2008

It's not, and I somehow thought we'd settled that awhile back. Depressing to have to fight these battles over and over for the very first time.
posted by languagehat

Settled it? With a metatalk thread and the added 'sexism' flag? It might make us feel better. It solved very little.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 7:54 PM on December 29, 2007

It would be interesting to me to see how our membership is concentrated. Do we have fewer members in the South?

Yes, fewer members in the south. Any tougher questions?
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 8:18 PM on December 16, 2007

I bought two PCs this holiday season, one for myself and one for my parents.

I hate my parents also.

(just kidding, I love you mom!)
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 5:13 PM on December 13, 2007

I use to work at a call center, though I won't mention the name (sears). I took the job because I was in college and needed the insurance. I started out gung-ho and doing everything by the book. That quickly changed. When people call because something is broken they are not happy. I survived at the job by hanging up on the meanest of customers. After I started doing that I enjoyed my job much more. The first insult or name and oops, wrong button. I could have been fired at any time, which I... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 11:01 AM on December 11, 2007

I can't believe the new sexy flag didn't solve this.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 3:47 PM on December 5, 2007

Rap music is just one of several topics that metafilter doesn't do well (sports being another). Sure, there are exceptions, but few and far between. Members who know nothing about the topic run to those threads to crap in them.

I had no idea who this rapper was but when hearing of his death and the first thought that crossed my mind was "now onto pimp d". I never thought of putting it in the thread because one, it seemed too easy, and two, seemed crass.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 8:24 AM on December 5, 2007

I don't really care if matt implements it or not. But we've had this same thread a couple of times here already with possible problem after possible problem being brought up.

It's been a part of spofi for a while now and not a single time has it ever been a problem. Yes, much smaller site, but not one single time. So vote against it, but most of these reasons are straight from chicken little.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 3:26 PM on November 30, 2007

Can we all post personal projects to MetaTalk or is it just a mod thing?

Yeah, a little weird. It's not affiliated with metafilter at all, but it's posted in metatalk?

Oh well, it's good to be king.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 9:26 AM on November 30, 2007

So it's a rare thing, and a little bit weird but I think in this case pretty much justified. But I hear ya.
posted by cortex

Well, now that a little time has passed, I would take back my snark (which it wasn't intended to be, but came off that way).

While your site isn't affiliated with metafilter, it could be an answer to one of the problems here that you, being an admin, are well aware of. So I can understand where you're coming from. Not a big deal to me.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 12:30 PM on November 30, 2007

Matt and I were just talking the other day about how it used to be a running ha-ha-not-funny joke that Mefi was going to be slow-to-unresponsive every single weekday, just by default. It's kind of stunning; you don't think about it because it's not happening, but, hey, that's not happening any more.

Stunning might be a little strong. It is nice though.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 12:30 PM on November 28, 2007

Well, I doubt it makes that much money.

Well, this is neither here nor there, and makes no difference, and Matt has put a lot of his time and energy for years into this place. But the days of "let's pull together and buy matt a new server!" are over. Between new users and advertising I'm sure he's doing quite well with enough left over to pay 2 others. He quit his other jobs to do this full time.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 3:54 PM on November 29, 2007

Worked fine.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 1:36 PM on November 28, 2007

It was a pretty weak post, it's rare that a "oh ha ha watch that animal struggle" link stays on the front page though it has happened.
posted by jessamyn

Very true. We've got the 'is it christmas' post up, and the cat purrrrring is pretty special, so the bar has been set damn high.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 7:17 AM on November 28, 2007

I'm already tired of the "plate of beans" comments, especially because people are now using it where it makes little sense. I'm probably over-thinking this.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 9:15 AM on November 27, 2007

Still, I manage to get 80% of what's going on here. But not quonsar.

There is nothing to get, as several commenters have already stated. As soon as someone says "you just don't get it" without being abloe to explain themselves you can be sure they don't get it themselves.

And there are plenty of old timers who don't get it either, so this whole 'newbies will never get it' is a crock also.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 6:41 PM on November 24, 2007

If you read the linked thread (and anyone who wants to be taken seriously by me might want to)

Being taken seriously by thepinksuperhero or reading a thousand comment thread. That's a difficult choice.

It looks like the "knee-jerk over-reaction" is yours, geekguy ... with emphasis on the jerk.
posted by wendell

Why even post this thread if you're going to call... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 5:24 AM on November 24, 2007

How so?

That it makes any great strides to go from 'offensive' to 'offensive/sexism/racism'. If others do, great. Putting those that don't see it as great into the 'i'd hit it' club, not so great.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 5:50 AM on November 24, 2007

And while we're swinging away at our ideological pinatas, I'll note that the people most often mischaracterized, lampooned, and otherwise discounted on this site are poor white Southerners. Of course, that's just what I'm sensitive to, so that's my perception.

Of course. It's not even close. But there's not a large enough poor southern mefi contingent to worry about or get kudos for defending. We get 'other'.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 11:27 AM on November 24, 2007

I, for one, have no problem with white Southerners being offended by something I say.
posted by Stynxno

If you're a white southerner and you feel the need to wave around a confederate flag to support your heritage, then I have no problem with saying something that said person might consider extremely offensive.
posted by Stynxno

Fuck, don't wimp out and include the 'and you feel...' the second time... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 1:09 PM on November 24, 2007

it's clearly intended as absurdist humor.

Absurdist, maybe. Humor, that's a stretch.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 7:50 PM on November 16, 2007

I find that the more I compromise, the less I love those who encourage me to do so.
posted by ewkpates

----

The fact that there are so many people who favorited that makes me sad.

And that gold nugget was preceded by this:

If you don't mind serving him for the rest of your relationship, go for it.

That those two sentences together can receive over 40 favorites is not only sad but embarrassing.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 8:39 AM on November 7, 2007

Just to back TPS up, I've heard the "Catholics aren't Christians" thing before, too.

I can't believe this is even in question. One of the first girls I ever dated was Pentecostal and when her mother found out I was Catholic it was over. Her word were exactly that: You are not a christian. Might not be right, but many people do believe it (and this was in california).
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 2:31 PM on November 6, 2007

Plus, it's not like we have a ton of meetups

Eight already planned in the first two weeks of November. What exactly would a ton be, nightly?
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 11:39 PM on October 28, 2007

If people want a full blown profiles/search/dating thing, then I guess it'd take a while (after we determine what the must-have features are for version 1.0).
posted by mathowie

O.k. Who stole mathowies password.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 4:47 PM on October 24, 2007

Come on matt. This:

I can't say I'm 100% no one has ever received unsolicited email from mefi before

doesn't equal this:

if you want to not be spammed

I'm sure that's just frustration speaking though. Thanks for the compromise.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 3:23 PM on October 17, 2007

You'd know better, too, because you've been told, at least, that your bigotries and stereotypes aren't true, and you've been pointed to evidence that it's not true. You ignore it. So that makes you a willing bigot.

Wow, that was deleted? I've been told and called much worse, and EB's comment is dead on. If amberglow wants to constantly throw around stereotypes he should be called on his bigotry.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 7:47 PM on October 9, 2007

What's with all the “be something they can't be in the real world” thing? Sure, a few people pretend to be people they are not. But most of us are just who we are

Well, in fairness the writer talked to someone they didn't know named thepinksuperhero who didn't want to be connected in real life to what she does online. Nothing wrong with that at all. But I can see why someone looking in from the outside might still believe people are simply having fun... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 9:56 AM on September 29, 2007

The "soft bigotry" to which EB refers is widespread here on MeFi and amberglow is hardly the worst offender.

The worst? I don't know. The most vocal? Definitely. Amberglow is for peace and love and understanding in regards to those he's sympathetic with. Otherwise, his comments often reek of bigotry, hate, hypocrisy, and often, ignorance.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 11:59 PM on September 10, 2007

Better to let him ramble on metafilter than elsewhere.
posted to MetaTalk by justgary at 12:00 AM on September 11, 2007