"I just wasted an hour. I hope you're happy."
September 6, 2015 6:04 PM   Subscribe

me irl - Mefi's own The Devil Tesla describes the project: "Me irl is a subreddit where every post must be titled 'me irl'. The prompt is to post 'selfies of the soul'. It has 250k subscribers, and is responsible for several of the highest scoring links on reddit of all time, including #7. This is the burden I carry with me." [via mefi projects]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (65 comments total) 32 users marked this as a favorite
 
So this one (imgur link rather than reddit link) had me laughing out loud - something the internet only rarely manages.
posted by Death and Gravity at 6:19 PM on September 6, 2015 [16 favorites]


I'm glad that this post, of all posts, is the at the top spot to welcome metafilter.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 6:30 PM on September 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


The only good sub.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:32 PM on September 6, 2015 [8 favorites]


This is the 7th highest upvoted post on reddit of all time, by the way.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 6:33 PM on September 6, 2015 [4 favorites]


Am I allowed to use it to shill Gone Home?
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 6:34 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm liking it. It provides as many bookmark-worthy pics, gifs and memes as a dozen 'normal' subreddits.

And it already has spun off more 'irl-based' subreddits, including the all-cat meow_irl, the 'equal time for doggees' woofbarkwoof, and even a place to go to complain about me_irl, VERY well-named meta_me_irl.

Still, that current top ranked me_irl The Devil Tesla noted does REALLY belong in meta_me_irl, right?
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:35 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Am I allowed to use it to shill Gone Home?

The admins told me no, and banned me.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 6:36 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Still, that current top ranked me_irl The Devil Tesla noted does REALLY belong in meta_me_irl, right?

Maybe, but I don't read meta and I don't exspect anyone to.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 6:38 PM on September 6, 2015


The admins told me no, and banned me.

Reddit's admins: always wrong.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:41 PM on September 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:44 PM on September 6, 2015 [22 favorites]


i check this subreddit daily. The spinoffs are amazing too!
posted by ejoey at 6:50 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:51 PM on September 6, 2015 [12 favorites]


Ahhhh Fuck! I hate being alive!

(Whatever. Make the bed anyway.)
posted by Oyéah at 6:53 PM on September 6, 2015


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:54 PM on September 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


I have a cold right now and going through the top 100 of all time has greatly exacerbated my cough due to all the laughing, so a big fat thanks for nothing to you, Devil Tesla.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 6:59 PM on September 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:00 PM on September 6, 2015 [20 favorites]


This is great, if sometimes a little cruel. These were my favorites of the top 300:
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15
posted by crazy with stars at 7:15 PM on September 6, 2015 [26 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:17 PM on September 6, 2015 [27 favorites]


Sweet Jesus it's the mother lode.

Gif of cheerios in toilet: strangely compelling.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 7:47 PM on September 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


There was a time recently when me_irl was my favorite place on the internet, to the extent that I was even sharing it with friends. There is something incredibly therapeutic about the humor, and something gruesomely reassuring in the shared existential horror.

But then I got to thinking, "This is a mainstream subreddit. I know I'm no longer ok with mainstream reddit culture. I wonder what happens if I examine this content and my biases more carefully," and I started realizing that everything -- almost everything -- despite the pretense of neutrality was oozing the same white cis-het bias, and as much of a cliche as this realization is to have, I suddenly lost all interest.

I wish I could remember which meme it was exactly when I thought "Huh, maybe this isn't the holy grail of a community I've taken it for," but since then all I can see is #whiteguyproblems, sunset to sundown and I'm so goddamn fucking sick of being a white guy with problems.
posted by an animate objects at 7:50 PM on September 6, 2015 [8 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:50 PM on September 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl (for an animate objects)
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:52 PM on September 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


In other words me_irl might be specifically the antithesis of doing emotional labor, an archetype of humor's capacity to cushion untenable realities while whitewashing the intersection of those realities with broader physical communities where people need help from each other.

I can also relate to almost 100 of every hundred memes I've seen there and they have brought me much glee.
posted by an animate objects at 7:59 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


me irl, omg stop looking, it's vegemite, okay? No I don't wear pants in the house.
posted by adept256 at 8:02 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


My god, a picture of Sec. Albright next to a wooden owl.
posted by clavdivs at 8:03 PM on September 6, 2015


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:03 PM on September 6, 2015 [7 favorites]


#whiteguyproblems

It's even worse before being filtered through the amazing reporters in the community and the wonderful mods I work with. Please report anything you see that's questionable, and make use of the "general white people nonsense" option.

There was no way that a community on Reddit (at this size and without strict rules) was going to be any kind of diverse. I'd love it to be, I really would, but I'm accepting it as it is and learning a lot in the way.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 8:10 PM on September 6, 2015 [13 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:15 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Metafilter_irl
posted by blue_beetle at 8:18 PM on September 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:21 PM on September 6, 2015 [4 favorites]


I'm accepting it as it is and learning a lot in the way.

I'm sure my qualms are with the soil and not the tree; it is truly a magnificent tree. Thanks for taking the time to respond, means a lot.
posted by an animate objects at 8:26 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


So *that's* what "devtesla" is short for!
posted by edheil at 8:27 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:28 PM on September 6, 2015 [6 favorites]


#7

oh son
posted by Countess Elena at 8:31 PM on September 6, 2015 [11 favorites]


mods, someone is posting not the best of the web. I think you know who.
posted by adept256 at 8:37 PM on September 6, 2015


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:40 PM on September 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


someone is posting not the best of the web
comments are not required to be the best, just to be not the worst... I got none of these gifs from Reddit (not even from me_irl), so I think I'm safely within the margin for error.

MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:49 PM on September 6, 2015 [8 favorites]


me too thanks
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:13 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:28 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


My favorites of the next top 500 (i.e. #301-800):
#16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #36
posted by crazy with stars at 9:53 PM on September 6, 2015 [14 favorites]


This is awesome. Well done all around.
posted by midmarch snowman at 10:02 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:06 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Mefi irl
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:00 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


(not really - I just thought it was funny.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:00 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:08 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm just a bad influence here.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:08 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I would date this person

(thanks, crazy with stars)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:24 PM on September 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl (I don't call it derailing, I call it 'tearing the roof off the sucker')
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:29 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


I love me_irl, and it's still the best sub, but there was a period of time when it wasn't primarily funny gifs and memes, but something more sublimely weird. Is there some way to travel back in time in a subreddit?
posted by buriednexttoyou at 11:40 PM on September 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:07 AM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Me IRL joke is supposed to be a picture out of context that when applied to the emotions of the poster makes a poingiant statement about lonlieness, difference, and oddball triumph. It is from Weird Twitter.

What it is not: memes.

HTH
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:41 AM on September 7, 2015 [12 favorites]


Example of a shitty MeIrl: a Toothpaste For Dinner comic MSpainted to be about asking girls out in class
A Supernatual gif
Fake Texts from Last Night
Example of good MeIrl: literally any picture of a platypus
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:47 AM on September 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


Mod note: oneswellfoop, sorry but your comments are kind of taking over the thread at this point. Maybe save 'em up for a single comment with multiple links? Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:22 AM on September 7, 2015 [6 favorites]


#33 - 92 meg gif. Worth it.
posted by Iteki at 7:18 AM on September 7, 2015


MeFi thread-sitting.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:44 AM on September 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


(my last) MetaFilter_irl
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:33 PM on September 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


Anyone more familiar with reddit have any advice on viewing it without having to open up each picture in a new tab? Can you switch on imgur preview or something? Jesus reddit.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:56 PM on September 7, 2015


There's an extension called Reddit Enhancement Suite that puts a little plus box under image links, among other things. Personally I use hoverzoom but most people use RES.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 3:43 PM on September 7, 2015


MetaFilter_irl
posted by krinklyfig at 3:45 PM on September 7, 2015


Hmm... Still not entirely sure if Dropbox gif links work without a hassle. If not, apologies.
posted by krinklyfig at 3:50 PM on September 7, 2015


So, what's supposed to be the joke/poignancy here? That there's a dude on the computer in a room full of attractive women? If so, that's exactly the kind of annoying bro-y shit that made me leave reddit, but I feel a bit churlish saying that, because 95% of these are amazing.
posted by lunasol at 4:27 PM on September 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Somebody edited the 4chan UI into that shot. I believe this is a vague nod to the Mom's Spaghetti meme. Which is an exploration of social anxiety. If it's bro-y shit, at least it's nuanced.
posted by Phyltre at 5:34 PM on September 7, 2015


HOVERZOOM!

Thanks lunasol!
posted by kittensofthenight at 8:00 PM on September 7, 2015


So, what's supposed to be the joke/poignancy here?

...
posted by entropicamericana at 7:37 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


So, what's supposed to be the joke/poignancy here? That there's a dude on the computer in a room full of attractive women? If so, that's exactly the kind of annoying bro-y shit that made me leave reddit, but I feel a bit churlish saying that, because 95% of these are amazing

I was just about to comment the same thing! I stared at it for so long trying to find a nipple slip or someone about to throw up her wine or something and I couldn't find anything. If what you post is The Thing, then meh. (But I really appreciate being exposed to this one)
posted by like_neon at 6:15 AM on September 11, 2015


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