MeTa post: Why deleted?

Numan(uma)
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 8:06 PM on July 17, 2008

MeTa post: monkey king

logjuicious has posted something 8,905 times, and has 5,970 favorites, which is around 67%.

plexi has posted something 228 times, and has 355 favorites, which is 155% omg these numbers are bullshit favorites don't mean anything!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don't do this. Or I will come over there and take your favorites away from you. Do people seriously do this math? Is this why we can't have nice things?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 9:00 PM on July 11, 2008

MeTa post: "Wow, look at the Boobies!"

I think "can you tell unenhanced breasts from enhanced breasts" is an interesting question. I am at work, and so I haven't read the thread, but if there isn't a lot of "OMG boobz, ha ha women are sex objects" going on, then I am reluctant to say that the fact that that link is an FPP is, in and of itself, creating a hostile environment for women on MeFi.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:33 PM on July 10, 2008

It's a link to a site that exclusively displays women's breasts. It's is pretty much the dictionary definition of boyzone.

Even if the site does not display them gratuitously? The quiz format is, um, irreverent at best, but I can imagine a website with a more restrained presentation of the same basic question. So, for example, would a website that simply posted pictures of enhanced and unenhanced breasts in order to demonstrate the visible... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:43 PM on July 10, 2008

I don't know. If people are upset, it's only right for them to voice their concern and ask the community to discuss it. However, it's also legitimate for others to question whether their concern is well-founded. I don't think that the fact that something is upsetting is enough to warrant a change in community standards or practice.

I do, as a member of this community, want to share a little about my experience here. First, for what it's worth, I feel far more comfortable... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 6:43 PM on July 10, 2008

If someone is changing the wiki, which is not something I know how to do (I know... shameful), I would really appreciate it if that person would take out any reference to the idea that some topics are "male" and some are not.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 7:33 PM on July 10, 2008

So menstruation and jock itch are of equal interest to both genders then?

They may not be of identical interest, but it's not like men would never have heard of periods if they weren't cruising women's blogs. Nor do women have a total disinterest in the workings of the male body.

More to the point, politics was explicitly listed as a "male" topic. Can we, as reasonable people, agree that this is total bullshit?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 7:41 PM on July 10, 2008

In this particular instance, I, personally, was not offended or upset, but I am glad that those who were are talking about it, and I am interested in what they have to say. Certainly, there have been things said in this and other threads that have persuaded me to think about and change some of my behaviors.

I don't think that the people who have said upsetting things in this thread speak for the entire MeFi community. They certainly don't speak for me. I speak for me. To... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 5:00 AM on July 11, 2008

Because I was critical before, I want to say, to whomever has been updating the wiki page on this -- thank you very much. It makes me feel much better to see the page deal with the issues raised without claiming that some topics, like politics, are "male."
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 5:06 PM on July 11, 2008

MeTa post: Why anon?

I know that sometimes, when I've shared that I am trying to lose weight, I will get an extremely judgmental reaction from people who think that this means I buy in to our toxic culture, and I don't appreciate being made to feel shallow and narcissistic. Furthermore, admitting that you're overweight, even slightly, even only in your own opinion, can lead to judgments of a different kind. For these reasons, I am more likely to post a weight loss question anonymously than not.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 3:27 AM on July 11, 2008

MeTa post: It's is not the possessive form of it.

Cousin It's cup of annoyance overfloweth.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:07 AM on July 10, 2008

MeTa post: I c*nt stop saying twat.

I understand if people don't want to get into it here, but can someone link me to the previous discussion of why saying "cunt" is like saying "nigger" so that I can follow along? I grew up in a culture that was very cunt-positive, if ya know what I mean. If you don't, I mean, it was used a lot but it was used more like "shit" than like "kike."
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:19 PM on July 9, 2008

MeTa post: FYI

Thanks, guys! The 8-ball confirmed my suspicions, and my nascent post has been aborted. ;)
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 9:25 AM on July 9, 2008

No one could have seen the double comment coming.

Unless... they had used the 8-ball. IRONY.

(and, thanks, pb!)
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 9:30 AM on July 9, 2008

MeTa post: Everything here is chatty

I, too, feel that leaving the question up would be a good thing. However, I am biased, because I commented in the thread.

I find the gray area we're in very interesting. There is a lot of emphasis on just answering the question as asked damnit, but there are also clearly times when that is not the most valuable way to contribute (e.g., Dear MeFi, I want to saw off my foot. Should I use a hacksaw or a chainsaw?). I do agree that here, the most valuable... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:57 AM on July 3, 2008

dg, I DID NOT ASK ABOUT A BANDSAW. Why can't you just answer the question I asked? Unbelievable! I can't explain why, but a bandsaw is not an option for me right now, and you need to get over your bandsaw fetish and concentrate on the problem I posed for you. Damn it.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 2:33 PM on July 3, 2008

MeTa post: Metafilter - lessons learned from the BB problem?

I have a question for the mods, actually. While we're on this topic.

The people who comment on BB appear to be very closely moderated, and there are definite (if perhaps uncodified) limits to the content and tenor of their contributions. On the other hand, the moderators at BB appear to be far less closely moderated, and their relatively unrestrained and aggressive demeanor has been the subject of some comment in the MeFi thread that spawned this MeTa.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:19 PM on July 2, 2008

Thanks, cortex and jessamyn. That does answer my question. Basically, I was curious to know the extent to which your role as moderator, given the priorities of this particular community, affects the way you participate in the conversations that take place. I would expect that it would be close to what cortex described as "a general professional obligation to not be a lousy example," but I did find myself wondering whether or not it went any further than that, and whether or not the... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:35 PM on July 2, 2008

MeTa post: Ugh, all RIGHT, mom, I get it.

I think when people post to AskMe they are often literally asking all of MetaFilter rather than looking for a single correct answer. Many problems are too complex to permit a single answer anyway, but beyond that, people often seem to be interested in polling the community in order to get a sense of what is "normal" and what is unusual or extreme. This is especially true for questions that touch on interpersonal relationships, because it's easy to lose perspective when your emotions... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 8:25 AM on July 1, 2008

You know what I hate? I hate poetry books that print those fucking numbers next to every fifth or tenth line. How can you get caught up in the poetry when your eyes are constantly assaulted by those irrelevant distractions? And it's all so academics can easily refer to line numbers without having to count. LET THE POETRY RUN FREE!

Even worse: footnotes or endnotes next to every fifth word. No matter how hard I try, I can't help but look at the note.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:08 AM on July 1, 2008

MeTa post: Oh shit, it's a walk-off!

I like B because I only have to look down to find a letter, whereas with A, I have to look down and across.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 5:27 PM on June 17, 2008

MeTa post: I am a commenter, but not your commenter

I've always been curious about this: does that really work? If I give you legal advice and then add, I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER LOL, does that really make me bulletproof? Nyah nyah, can't sue now?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 5:10 AM on June 4, 2008

MeTa post: Best MeFi conversations?

a good post is one which would still be good even if it receives no comments at all

1. My post would clearly fail by this standard. Well, on the blue, anyway.
2. Maybe it IS all about the links... (crickets...)

Thanks, googly, docpops, & Blaze.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:30 PM on May 30, 2008

Oh, sleevener... from the bottom of my heart...
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 3:49 PM on May 30, 2008

I so didn't mean to start a debate about you know is it the links is it the discussion whatever, I may be drunkers but I know what I was doing man. You guys are aweosme.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 7:31 PM on May 30, 2008

MeTa post: Stinking of gin...

If a class is so good that the teacher helps you find such rapture, you won't be the only one in class that finds it.

My turn to say: not in my experience.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 2:28 PM on May 27, 2008

I second klangklangston except for the, I hope, joking criticism of THE BARD OF AVON OMG.

I've enjoyed large lecture classes here and there, and I wouldn't say that that happened exclusively when the professor channelled Mitch Hedberg.

Anyway, college is wasted on the young. I think students would get a lot more out of it if they worked (for realz, not for pocket change while eating mom's casseroles) for two or more years before enrolling.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:04 AM on May 28, 2008

I've enjoyed large lecture classes here and there

Good. And did you learn form them?

To clarify, enjoyment of a class, to me, is synonymous with learning. I can't easily picture a class that I enjoy but which teaches me nothing. What am I enjoying, the colossal waste of my time and money? So what I meant to say was this:

I've learned a lot in large lecture classes, and I've had bad experiences with... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:23 AM on May 28, 2008

Oh by the way, re: the title of this post, does anyone else know that recording where the Beatles are doing Rocky Raccoon and Paul sings “sminking of gin” instead of stinking and someone (I think still Paul) says “yeah, he was really sminking” and it’s awesome?

Anyway that song has been stuck in my head ever since the original post. Sminking!
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:32 AM on May 28, 2008

I think grumblebee was not arguing that Shakespeare is inherently interesting. I think he was arguing that Shakespeare is not inherently uninteresting. I think you guys are saying the same thing: it depends on the person.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:42 AM on May 28, 2008

OK, actually, I will go ahead and abandon my pretense of being reasonable and open-minded.

If many people are finding Shakespeare uninteresting, then that is a sign that our culture has failed them in an important way. It has nothing to do with how good or bad Shakespeare’s writing is. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that if you don’t like Shakespeare you’re a bad person, but when I think about the fact that you don’t like Shakespeare, my hands shake a little.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:02 PM on May 28, 2008

Why? Why does it matter?

There’s no way I can explain myself without sounding like a total doof. I won’t try. BTW, this topic is my kryptonite. I am totally incapable of discussing it calmly.

OK, you know how in The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand gets all starry-eyed over the concept of a church built to Man? Well, in a manner of speaking, I worship at that church. All the meaning of life stuff, for me, is about human moral... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:18 PM on May 28, 2008

Would you say the same about every decent writer from the seventeenth century, though? Because Bill was very, very good, but he wasn't God—and if everybody finding every work by every talented 17th century writer interesting is a requirement of not having massive cultural failure, boy howdy are we in trouble.

Dude, also, I WOULD say that about every writer of similar brilliance, and I don't just mean from the 17th century.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:26 PM on May 28, 2008

Well, clearly, I made a vague claim and that led to misunderstanding. Let me clarify.

I agree with your very practical objections to what you imagine I am proposing (a boot… educating a human face to love Shakespeare… forever?).

The limited cultural failure I am talking about is this: some people will be born with the ability to appreciate great art. Some (very few) people will be born totally unable to appreciate great art. Most people could go... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:54 PM on May 28, 2008

Ultimately, though, I think "culture has failed" just means "culture has failed to mass-produce the sorts of people that I like." At heart, it's a selfish statement.

Arrrrgh. I make one hyperbolic statement and nobody likes it? No fun. I retract my statement that, in this regard, culture has failed. Please read me as having said: “our culture has this one specific flaw which irks me.”
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:58 PM on May 28, 2008

OK, I have lost even the ability to italicize? I need to go back to pretending to work and fail to italicize within the document I'm getting paid to create.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:59 PM on May 28, 2008

cortex: AGREE, and as for marketshare, more people are reading and watching and loving Shakespeare today than at any other point in history. I am not the thundercloud of doom and gloom that I sometimes dress up as (I just need to get this honey).

But I do think we could do better, so in that sense, our culture is slightly imperfect.

Also this conversation is hearted.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:14 PM on May 28, 2008

"But I don't get anything out of Pushkin! It's all in this weird language I can't even read!" Well, then, he must be totally overrated, amirite?
posted by languagehat 1 minute ago [+]

Ha! Earlier, I was dying to post this (dedicated to the ghost of Shakespeare, if it's reading this thread, also: hi!!!!):

Поэт! не дорожи любовию народной.
Восторженных похвал пройдет минутный... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:48 PM on May 28, 2008

Who can eat at a time like this?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 2:11 PM on May 28, 2008

While you're right that you don't have to go to college to appreciate Shakespeare, I'm going to feel pretty confident in arguing that for large swaths of Shakespeare, you really do have to have a fair amount of education to surmount the language barrier

Man, I don’t know how much education constitutes “a fair amount,” but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say I hadn’t gotten it when I opened up my Folger’s Library edition of Romeo and Juliet in... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 6:49 AM on May 29, 2008

Ahhh why must every good conversation devolve into the thin soup of relativism? Yeah, I'm soldily on the "such discussions are almost always useless" team. I just haven't smoked enough pot today to get into what words really mean, man.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 8:37 AM on May 29, 2008

Also, there was that lovely post-Beatles b-side by John, mocking Paul's commercialism in a metered spy-surf spoof: Live and Hamlet Die.

The real John-on-Paul attack song works surprisingly well with minor alterations

So poisoned rapiers took you by surprise
You better see right through that mother's eyes
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
The one mistake you made was in your... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:47 AM on May 29, 2008

Ahh! I missed a great opportunity to chg the chorus to:

Ah, how do you sleep?
Perchance, do you dream at night?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 11:49 AM on May 29, 2008

grumblebee, I just want to poke my head out and suggest that perhaps the system is not working, not because we are forcing people to learn things and that never works, but because we are really bad at forcing people to learn things, and forcing people to learn things sometimes works.

In other words, you propose what I think is a false choice: either we stick with the cram-it-down-their-throats status quo, or we groove to the mellow vibe of totally self-directed learning.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:00 PM on May 29, 2008

grumblebee, I would not measure the efficacy of a system of education in that way. First of all, I think it's much more important to produce students who CAN read and perform basic algebraic operations such as division. We don't, at present, have a system that can do this reliably. If I were king of the world, I would start there before I moved on to creating life-long learning enthusiasts.

I don't believe people can be forced to like anything. I don't think it makes... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:22 PM on May 29, 2008

As far as the actual basics (5th grade or lower), I do think the system does a pretty good job.

Beg to differ.
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:58 PM on May 29, 2008

MeTa post: Fightin' Obama and the howlin' wingnuts

Maybe I am displaying my ignorance by asking, but what about that post was important or interesting?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:34 PM on May 29, 2008

So, essentially, it's two people having a fight that has something to do with Obama? Is either person significant? Is their fight significant or likely to have far-reaching implications? I feel like I must sound like I am trying to be provoking, and please let me know if there's a better way to frame this, but I am genuinely curious to understand what makes this thread/issue something that people want to see up on MeFi. Is it because there was an OH SNAP on someone who isn't well-liked?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:44 PM on May 29, 2008

Is their fight significant or likely to have far-reaching implications?

Yes.

What do you think the implications will be?
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 12:48 PM on May 29, 2008

I thought the implications were explained well here

That makes it sound like one piece of a larger movement, and I think I recall the mods saying something to the effect of "we don't want to see an FPP about every piece of a potential eventual larger movement."
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 1:05 PM on May 29, 2008

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