IT IS CALLED A METAFILTER
March 23, 2015 4:27 AM   Subscribe

What is this thing called? – a Tumblr site of odd devices with reader-submitted explanations.
posted by Joe in Australia (17 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
i like this idea a lot,
to the extent my opinion matters to the universe one iota,
i'd prefer to not have to click to see the responses.
this would be even better with up voting and the top answers displayed on the main page
posted by compound eye at 4:44 AM on March 23, 2015 [4 favorites]


Related: r/whatisthisthing
posted by Going To Maine at 4:45 AM on March 23, 2015 [4 favorites]


Well, there goes my morning.
posted by 4ster at 4:54 AM on March 23, 2015


> this would be even better with up voting and the top answers displayed on the main page

I imagine if they had wanted to set it up on Reddit, they would have set it up on Reddit.
posted by ardgedee at 5:12 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Mystery device on the green.
posted by FallowKing at 5:14 AM on March 23, 2015


It's a cool idea, although the implementation is awful to the point where I don't want to bother finding out what stuff is. Click on a little # and then wait and wait for discus to load comments? Shouldn't sites be better than this now? I don't care about voting, but a proper implementation of the basic functionality of the site would be good.
posted by snofoam at 5:54 AM on March 23, 2015 [15 favorites]


I'm still not sure how to see what the things are called, but I'm on mobile and don't have a tumblr account so maybe it wasn't meant to be.
posted by johnnydummkopf at 6:21 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah unfortunately tumblr's mobile theme disables Disqus. Adblock sometimes disables it too. Hastily assembled freebie web utilities conspiring to keep these items shrouded in mystery forever.
posted by SharkParty at 6:32 AM on March 23, 2015 [3 favorites]


I'm also on mobile and can't figure out how to see the responses, but it's ok because I'm pretty sure I know what they all are.

In descending page order:

1. dingus
2. widget
3. thingamabob
4. doohickey
5. gizmo
6. actually I have no idea what this one is
7. thingamajig
8. whatsit
9. doodad
10. gubbins
posted by phunniemee at 6:38 AM on March 23, 2015 [10 favorites]


That site needs moderation to clear out the jokey comments in my opinion. I also not so keen on the video entries -- why do I want to wait for a couple of minutes of bad video to see the thing I am supposed to be recognizing?

NTL; DR -- honestly, this is a lot of work to reproduce something AskMe does more elegantly.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:39 AM on March 23, 2015 [3 favorites]


I really like the idea of a photo based strange-object ID site though. I hope someone improves on this concept.
posted by SharkParty at 6:58 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


"What is this thing called?"

Ooh, I like this idea already.

" – a Tumblr site of odd devices"

I gots a Tumblr. I'm down with the Tumblr.

"with reader-submitted explanations."

oh god no

if there's any one single thing that Tumblr does badly it's discussions. This is a site where the culture of conversation requires that you reblog to your own tumblr anything that you want to talk about and add your notes at the end, immediately fracturing any sort of linear or trackable discussion. Oh, there is that alternative of using Disqus - a third-party commenting system that's not fully integrated and also requires a separate login, and (as noted above) doesn't even work on mobile.

I would rather see this What's This Thing idea happen pretty much anywhere else on the web. I'd rather see it on Twitter, with its 140-character limitation. I'd rather see it take place in the comments section of my local newspaper's website, racist rants and all. I'd rather see it on ... okay, I have to stop at "I'd rather see it on Reddit" because that means I'd never see it, but you get the point.
posted by komara at 8:43 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Next you'll be telling me that you've never heard of Sir Humphrey Gadget...
posted by schmod at 8:51 AM on March 23, 2015


okay, I have to stop at "I'd rather see it on Reddit" because that means I'd never see it, but you get the point.

Which is too bad, because not only is it on reddit, but there's also r/whatisthis, r/WhatsThisBug, r/WhatsThisPlant, r/WhatsThisBird, r/WhatsThisRock, and r/WhatIsThisWorth
posted by Going To Maine at 9:14 AM on March 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


The top post of all time on /r/whatsthis:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Whatisthis/comments/2hmmn0/i_found_something_in_the_ocean_off_the_coast_of/

If you just want to browse the images relating to the top post then they're here:

http://imgur.com/a/QFAHJ
posted by I-baLL at 9:36 AM on March 23, 2015


Hn. Been looking for the Mark 13.
posted by Smedleyman at 12:15 PM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Have these people never heard of sniglets? If I could count the times someone on Tumblr wrongly believed they'd invented a thing by showcasing a particular flavour of superficially clever, I'd really have someth... Hang on. I, uh, gotta go.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:23 PM on March 23, 2015


« Older Plugging a 1986 Mac Plus into the modern Web   |   This kind of upends the traditional high school... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments