Matt, say the word and we'll start a rumble with this guy the likes of which the blogosphere has never seen. I'm talking networks of spambots barraging him with saucy japes, I'm talking about unflattering flash animations depicting him as effeminate, I'm talking about total war waged guerilla-style on the battlefield of the 21st century (web chat boards), saturating his bandwith with 110% pure pwnage. Snap your fingers and we will drop the hammer on this... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 8:35 PM on April 26, 2005

Between you and rcade, Metafilterites have been getting some quality time on the news ticker this month. Next month I may have to invent a cure for something, or perhaps stab someone influential, just to keep up our profile!
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 8:16 PM on April 26, 2005

Let's shoot for 20 by this time next week, ok?
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:23 AM on April 24, 2005

rcade -- if you can read this, know that you are awesome.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:12 PM on April 21, 2005

One good thing about having a long posting history is I know riffola well enough from his comments to give him the benefit of the doubt here, though I disagree, and not jump on his ass like some others (who I am less reason not to immediately dismiss) are trying to do.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:57 PM on April 10, 2005

Crunchland, just to argue from the other side, some other things it does is:

Increases the number of bad and redundant questions
Misrepresents the nature of the site
Drives previous questions off the front page faster (thus in theory decreasing the quality of responses over all)

I don't think it's all good, I think there's some complexity to the issue whether you think that it is generally good or bad.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 4:10 PM on April 11, 2005

I agree that it's a good idea. There's no benefit from keeping a double post up, it just gives people a license to act like jackasses in a thread.

How about make it so that it only gets deleted automatically if both readers and the poster flag it as a double post?
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:47 AM on April 6, 2005

Andrew Cooke, cut the condescending tone, please, it's insulting, and anyway you're wrong, so it makes you look silly.

You've got a false premise. The thread started out as a question, which might be construed as a suggestion, but never as an instruction. It continued in this manner. In fact I don't see anywhere where anybody who thinks that double posts should have a mechanism for poster-deletion is instructing Matt to do fuck all.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 4:11 PM on April 6, 2005

sure, it's for discussing things. i have no problem with that. what bugs me - and i'm sorry if i sound condescending when i'm just pointing out how fucking stupid you all are - is when it ends up with "well, why don't we make rule x, and tweak it with y, and then our little rules will make everything work ok".

ok?

Well, no, cause now you're acting like a dick. You're basically saying that everybody who uses Metatalk... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 2:07 PM on April 7, 2005

I don't care if he was a sweet old guy, he could have done a lot of good, and instead, with a few words, he condemned millions of people to lead shitty lives in places on Earth that we might as well call hell. He's right up there on my list of people I don't give a shit about if someone insults them.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 7:18 PM on April 2, 2005

Weapons-grade pandemonium:

Did you RTFA? The rules specifically stipulate unconsciousness, not maiming or killing. Now, Australian Rules toddler fighting is a whole different story.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:59 PM on March 22, 2005

Here's the thing about the Schiavo case -- I don't think someone should be killed just for being vegetarian, no matter how long they've been like that.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:31 AM on March 22, 2005

For background, please review DirtyCreature's posting history on Metafilter and Metatalk. You might start with his first comment ever. Not that it discredits his complaints, but he does have a very low signal/bitching ratio.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 4:35 PM on March 17, 2005

Mayor Curley:

Could we please blame fat people for everything that doesn't go our way more often? It's awesome and not at all bitchy.

The thread's fine. You have issues. And that's not our problem.

Looks like you have some issues too...

... with making snap judgements about other people!

(oh snap no he didn't!!!)
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:21 PM on March 12, 2005

The site is collegeball.blogspot.com. Or at least that's the first result on google for Yoni Cohen.

Ha. Not for long. Now the first result on Google for Yoni Cohen will be Fandango_Matt likening him to a pervert. That was the intention of this metatalk thread, right? Google-bombing him as punishment?
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:10 PM on March 12, 2005

Quonsar I imagine as kind of a disheveled Wilford Brimley, dirty and reeking of gin.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 11:08 PM on March 10, 2005

I'm gonna make an FPP for my friend, who just returned to blogging from a nine day hiatus. She's got a killer post up about what her cat looks like. Her current mood: curious!
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:12 AM on March 10, 2005

Just stop giving a shit. Who made the mistake, them or you? Them. So, fuck 'em!
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 8:16 PM on March 8, 2005

Aww man, don' hol' that post against me man, I was totally faded man.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 1:36 PM on March 4, 2005

Orthogonality, here's a pony:

How about, the extension looks to see if any text that you've written has been quoted in another user's comment, then highlights it? That way you'd know if people have responded to you.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:17 PM on March 3, 2005

No, we need to rehash the same old arguments with each other, guys. Again and again, for their pleasure! Endlessly circling and circling in the same straw-covered dugout, like immortal roosters at a rhetorical cock fight.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:12 PM on March 3, 2005

Matt, what do you think about a separate navelgazingquestions.metafilter.com site for that kind of question? I like the people here, and their random bullshitting is often enlightening, but I can see how it doesn't fit on AskMetafilter.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 4:22 PM on March 2, 2005

None of these old members are really "gone", in the sense that they've left the site for good. The contributions they've made to the site are still there, as are the ways in which their participation shaped the nature of the community. Also, I've got many of them locked in an old bomb shelter on my property. I make them talk to each other, and answer my questions, and I bring them steak and water in the morning. Is there anything you'd like me to ask them?... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:34 AM on March 1, 2005

Grapefruitmoon: You know that, on the whole, Metafilter supposedly prefers links that aren't news-related at all, right?

That said, I remember people saying to a poster, "What's the matter with you, posting a month-old news story" but never "What's the matter with you, posting a week-old news story," so take that for what it's worth.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:28 AM on February 28, 2005

I'm just gonna wait until 39999 gets posted, then post "40,000nd POst!!!! i WIN!!!!" with maybe a link to cnn.com.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:40 AM on February 27, 2005

Ha. I'll remember this thread. It's always "It's Matt's site, live with it," until you disagree with him. Then you start bitching, and it's "I don't like the direction the site is going."

Holding your participation in the site up like a hostage until your demands are met. Come on.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:57 PM on February 19, 2005

Heh heh. Once again, my prescient warnings are not heeded. Cassandra's fate is always to be correct, never to be believed. Alas, alas, to be a genius out of one's time.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 1:10 PM on February 19, 2005

Yeah. What harm does it do to you? I'm imagining you wearing a monocle and spats right now.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:16 AM on February 18, 2005

Matt, I say go with [More Inside]. The [+]s would look just as bad, I think. And [MI] isn't an intuitive abbreviation... It'd confuse all the n00bs!
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 5:14 PM on February 17, 2005

McGraw who? I don't see anyone named McGraw. Especially not one who asked a question on MetaTalk instead of AskMeta. There's nobody who would do that here. If there was, I would probably give them the silent treatment.

Oh, what was that? It sounded like an apology, but it couldn't be an apology, since there's nothing to apologize for in this MetaTalk thread. Must have been the wind.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:25 AM on February 17, 2005

Man I don't know about this whole folksonomy thing.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 11:00 AM on February 1, 2005

I don't think it deserves to be anonymous. Having asked a question on a web site does not constitute damning proof in court, as far as I know. In general, I think anonymity in AskMe is being used more for convenience than necessity.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:55 AM on February 1, 2005

For shame!
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 5:11 PM on January 31, 2005

If person A asks something like, "How do I fix a flat tire on my car?", would it be acceptable for person B to ask, in that same thread, any of the following questions:

Has anybody had any experience with those run-flat tires?
How far can I drive on a donut?
Which insurance companies provide roadside tire repair or towing service?
How much does one of those big old monster truck tires cost?
Or if person C started... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:04 AM on January 28, 2005

Some of those posts were OK, some of them were really bad. Like you, I tend to appreciate stuff that doesn't read like gibberish, and I don't think I even clicked any of mcgraw's links when they came up on the front page the first time, since they didn't make any sense to me, let alone pique my interest.

But Chundo, if I may be frank, I noticed you haven't posted any links yet. One way to encourage good posts is to make some yourself.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:39 AM on January 28, 2005

Gonna make it for undergrads only? Us grad students are even poorer than they are. Better looking, too.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 6:43 PM on January 27, 2005

Welcome jessamyn, our new user#1a

Though I am an admirer of Jessamyn's, wouldn't she be, at most, user #1b? Even metaphorically speaking, I mean.

... Unless... unless she staged a coup? Oh Jessamyn, you sly dog. What did you do with Matt? Is he dead? Can I be one of your toadies in exchange for power?
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 9:23 AM on January 27, 2005

In theory, jessamyn is a good choice, and may turn out to BE a good choice... but that doesn't change that, in my opinion, Metafilter has been tarnished and weakened by the recent upswing in deletions.

I think that all the shitty posts and comments that need to be deleted are what tarnishes and weakens Metafilter, way more than their deletion does. Neither Matt nor Jessamyn has a deletion quota that they have to maintain, remember. I'm just guessing... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 3:07 PM on January 27, 2005

Matt, what did you promise to do a year ago that you haven't done?

Hint: it eats oats.

Tick tock tick tock. Just saying.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 3:54 PM on January 26, 2005

Quonsar is not necessarily a subject of his own posts, and so there shouldn't necessarily be a tag with his name in them.

He is often a subject of other people's posts, though, and so those posts should be tagged whenever appropriate.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 11:53 PM on January 23, 2005

Comments, to be sure, but posts?

I guess I meant "threads", you're right. But, ironically, if you could tag metatalk threads (can you?), his name should appear in this one.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 4:23 PM on January 24, 2005

Please everybody, take time to thank your local librarian.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 3:50 PM on January 24, 2005

If there was a "reply" link at the end of every comment byline, you could click on it and metafilter would quote the whole text of the message, which you could edit to your liking.

The advantage of this, beyond "spiffiness" of design, would be that you would could be informed (on the front page or something) if anybody had replied to your comments. That's something I've pined for for years.

Just don't make the threads nested or anything.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:51 AM on January 24, 2005

Sorry to bitch, but you couldn't be bothered to type "metafilter.com" when you asked the question?

Since "mf.com" pops up a security warning in my browser, I assume it doesn't have anything to do with Metafilter.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 11:20 PM on January 17, 2005

I don't know. If anything, I'd say that things have gotten more chatty since #mefi and 9622.net came along, so what's to make me think another outlet would curb rather than encourage chatting in metafilter?
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 2:46 PM on January 13, 2005

I think the issue is whether sites like 9622 succeed in diverting chat from metafilter to outside venues or not. That's at least what's nominally on the table. I don't want to put words in Seanyboy's mouth, but maybe that's what he meant when he said these sites "fail".

Personally, I'm not sure that's what those sites are even there for to begin with. Seems like they just increase the overall amount of chatter, rather than moving the same amount elsewhere.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 8:11 PM on January 13, 2005

How about, when the site gets redesigned, include a small area near the sidebar (one or two lines) for current meetup threads? In other words, something that contained every thread in the "meetups" category of metatalk from the last 3 weeks, and sat just above or below the metatalk sidebar. Hmm?
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 7:33 PM on January 11, 2005

Wait. Sorry, I was being sarcastic or anything, I just never noticed that there already was something like that on the sidebar. My bad.
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 7:35 PM on January 11, 2005

In the absence of a central lawgiver, there are only two possible states: 1) "do as thou wilt" or 2) constant political fighting over what MetaFilter should be

On all but its worst days, Metafilter has no active central lawgiver, and doesn't fit either of those cases you describe. I think you're presenting a false dichotomy.

One piece of evidence for this is that Metafilter has a pretty good reputation as a... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 10:55 PM on January 2, 2005

Also, and politeness aside for a minute, your reductio ad absurdum restatement of my argument:

Therefore, instead of reducing to "explicit standards would result in Mefi having explicit standards", Hildago's arguments reduce to "I don't like explicit standards because explicit standards would result in Mefi having explicit standards" which reduces to "I don't like explicit standards" which implies "I don't... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Hildago at 11:02 PM on January 2, 2005