I (reluctantly) call for an end to anonymous or pseudonymous commenting, and to 200+ comment threads. They end up monopolizing the entire site, and take away from the enjoyment of the entire site if you're not involved with the thread from the beginning. They also (I can't believe I'm saying this) could give a very bad impression to a first-time visitor to the site.
Being the inclusionary monkeys that we are, I don't think it's a good thing to foster and encourage (by example) behaviors that set a small group of readers and participants apart from the rest of the herd ... no, maybe, um ... how about pride ... definitely not, how about just group ... no, too generic ... well, then monkeys.
Okay, I'm done now.
Go to film.
Posted by yhbc at August 09, 2002 11:50 PMYou're right. I'm sorry for being such a tool. Thank you for showing me the error of my ways. I wish I could be as wonderful as you, ColdChef.
Posted by: YHBC on August 10, 2002 12:08 AMAll right. Go to bed.
I didn't get your CD either, you sniveling bastard.
Posted by: yhbc on August 10, 2002 12:22 AM::emphasis to let everyone else know I was just kidding with the Chef with that last comment::
And your mother smelt of elderberries! I fart in your general direction, you son of a silly person!
Posted by: yhbc on August 10, 2002 12:29 AMI definitely understand what you're saying yhbc, but it's a bit bizarre to ask that a site that started as a cult thread curb it's own cult threads. Isn't part of the charm of this place that it fosters the goofiness that was quashed at that other site?
However, having said that, I always wished that I had the gumption to join the 200+ threads on MeFi. It was as though I was too late to a party that I really wanted to go to. I wasn't jealous, just sad that everyone was having so much fun without me.
There is also the matter of timing--I was never on time to join the really great MeFi threads; they had been carrying on quite happily for weeks before I showed up. But it's just like that sometimes: once in a while you stumble upon the goofy carnivale in progress and are asked to join the fray, sometimes you just find yourself looking at the confetti floating around after everyone's left.
Blah blah blah. Did any of that make sense?
Posted by: readymade
on
August 10, 2002 12:44 AM
Has my medication worn off?
Sometimes I just don't know what the hell you people are talking about anymore...
Posted by: stavrosthewonderchicken on August 10, 2002 12:52 AM(to the thread suggestion, not readymade, what you said does make complete sense.)
Posted by: eyeballkid on August 10, 2002 12:52 AMHoly crap.
I just noticed there are over 800 posts in one of the threads, and now understand why the Commish has his knickers in a knot, I think.
I wonder how many it would take to break Moveable Type? And do we really want to find out?
Posted by: stavrosthewonderchicken on August 10, 2002 12:59 AMOkay, that's a different issue. How much is too much for the technology at work here? Does anyone know?
Posted by: readymade on
August 10, 2002 01:01 AM
Or too much for the pocketbooks of our gracious monkey-lovin' hosts?
Posted by: readymade on
August 10, 2002 01:06 AM
The knickers-knotting was primarily a result of not seeing interesting stuff here when I could come by, but only seeing an additional 100+ comments on that or other threads. I can't read them in one sitting, who can?
You guys are the technicians; and at this point you also have the better of me in debate as well (fuck me, I'm drubk), but either way, lets work it out, people.
(Okay, did that make any sense?)
Posted by: yhbc on August 10, 2002 01:10 AMThey end up monopolizing the entire site, and take away from the enjoyment of the entire site if you're not involved with the thread from the beginning.
So? Isn't that the definition of a cult thread? Which, if you recall, is where this site sprang from. The whole point of 9622 was to take our cult thread environment off of mathowie's server.
They also (I can't believe I'm saying this) could give a very bad impression to a first-time visitor to the site.
While the site is inclusionary, we really wouldn't kick anyone off for any reason but straight out harassment, this isn't Kuro5hin or Plastic or MetaFilter, we are not catering to a user base. Why should we care what first time visitors think? If they like it, they like it. If they don't, they don't. This site was made to get out of the stifled rule ridden world of MetaTalk so that we could be the chatty little monkeys we are. If we start to lay down rules, beyond the usual common courtesy, that exists on this site, this #666666 shade of brown we're all fond of elsewhere is going to leak out across the rest of this site.
A word about moveable type, I believe that movable type can take whatever we dish out. It uses a flat file data storage area, which could be moved to mySQL for faster access, but the truth is that they are static html files once the comment is made. This is not MetaFilter where a SELECT query is sent to the SQL Server everytime a thread is entered. Matt Haughey's got a pretty neat little system on MetaFilter, our out of the box MT install doesn't come close, nor does it need to. We don't have 14,000+ users. As for the pocketbook, if you're concerned about what it costs to run the site, contact the admin address and toss a bit in it. Posted by: eyeballkid on August 10, 2002 01:14 AM
But can you see why, Commish? You're asking us to stop doing what we started the site to do and what everyone who has joined in since has been doing and likes to do. This site exists for meaningless conversation, it was the whole point.
Posted by: eyeballkid on August 10, 2002 01:26 AMHeh. MetaMonkey white on grey. Coolies.
Posted by: stavrosthewonderchicken on August 10, 2002 01:43 AMGod, I think I'm channeling Miguel here, but no, meaningless conversation is never the point. Yes, the jokes are funny - when you can read them. I think it's very safe to say that everyone here has not only a high degree of intelligence (and a high opinion of themselves, but we'll leave that for the moment) but a sophisticated sense of humor. Why else would anyone stick around, anyway?
However, that's also why the individual personalities of the contributors mean so much to the repartee. Maybe I'm just pissed because I don't see the site during the day, but I also picture myself as someone else trying to only access it during the evenings and weekends and being royally pissed off at the recent developments, in which the personalities are hidden to only those "in the know".
Aaaah, I had intended to respond at greater length, but I'll shut up now instead. I wasn't trying to say "stop doing what you set up the site to do!", but ... aaaah, again, fuggit. Goin' to bed now.
Posted by: yhbc on August 10, 2002 01:44 AMSounds like an existential monkey crisis is afoot:
To fling, or not to fling: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of pseudonymous posts,
Or to take up poo against a sea of troubles,
And by hurling, end them? To post: to jest;
No more; and by a jest to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That ape is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To post, to jest;
To jest: perchance to bore: ay, there's the rub;
For in that joke of monk what cults may come
When we have shuffled off this MeFi coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long thread.
-Willie the Shake
Posted by: bmarkey on August 10, 2002 02:05 AMCommish, come here, you big lug. You're feeling left out and unloved because, while you're working, us less responsible monkeys come out to play and, when you arrive home and join the party, you don't understand the code words of the day.
Like we're all going "iddly diddly fort" and laughing our heads off and then grabbing our elbows and going "Oblomov anyone?" and falling about.
The solution is to just join in. You think the guys in those threads know what's going on? It may look like a big private joke but it's as public as you make it.
Come here!
*gives Commish a big hug, pours him a stiff one*
Come on, you know you don't want to make this MetaTalk 2. Why, next thing you know you'll have Miguel-bashing too! ;)
Posted by: Miguel on August 10, 2002 02:22 AMI wrote this big bumptious response, shelved it, and then read Shakes the Clown's beautiful soliloquy, and THEN was trumped by Miguel's moving missive to his true love, yhbc.
It's just as well, I think my post was just as rambling and silly as my first one.
*beats Miguel*
Posted by: readymade aka Milo, et al. on August 10, 2002 02:41 AMSo I get all fancy and serious and Miguel says it better than I could: You think the guys in those threads know what's going on?
This is all in fun Commish and I probably should have stepped back before getting all testy, as you put it, and, I was, indeed, being testy. I like having all of you around to muck about on this site with. There are days I don't visit and show up and it's like I never left. There are no inside jokes, everyone's a part of it.
Posted by: eyeballkid on August 10, 2002 02:51 AMFor what it's worth, eyeballkid speaks for me as well.
Although I'd have used the word "poopcutter" a tad more than he did.
This isn't the place to act with decorum, this is the place to see if we can't prove that Darwin was wrong.
If there's a technical or financial concern, that's a different issue.
Stop that! Too silly ...
I know what you mean commish, cuz I figure as this place gets ever more delicious, I'm not going to be able to taste it all. But that won't stop me nibbling on the odd thread here and there when no-one's looking.
Besides, I love 800 comment threads where I don't know who anyone is. The whole point is to dip in and out of the words, play with the ones you can dabble with and roll up your eyes at the ones you can't. Meaningless conversation is never the point, but an interesting diversion from time to time.
As long as I know who everyone is now and then, so I don't become paranoid that you've all been replaced one by one, by alien simulacrums.
Posted by: walrus on August 10, 2002 04:17 AMYou lost me Commish.
I love you, my man, but I think everything's been going swimmingly. The site has been just what we wanted it to be: inclusionary and fun.
Posted by: kafkaesque on August 10, 2002 05:36 AMBut maybe what you're saying is that you want more threads, and more diversity. I can dig that. I promise to work on it, too.
Posted by: kafkaesque on August 10, 2002 05:39 AMI can hear what the honorable commish is saying, but I just don't see the need for tighter guidelines. It's early, so I am not very coherent now (like I ever am...ha!), but I think the best thing is to let the site develop on its own. And, let it be said, that though I have spent way too much time in a few threads, I have absolutely no idea who anyone is when they are impersonating deities, gobots and other such trivialities (save for baby satan (way early in the thread), who was revealed to me through confidence, and I shall never tell, damn you!)
That said, I can understand what you are saying, and as life takes me away from the computer from time to time (yikes!), I am sure to feel the same way. I am starting school soon, monday and wednesday 6:05-10:45 pm, and every other saturday morning. I am taking an intensive course for which I am paying a buttload of money that I don't have, and I can already see (and am already lamenting) the fact that I won't be able to play as much. Then again, I play mostly at work (*looks over shoulder, realizes I am at home, relaxes*), but I there's bound to be a point somewhere in which I am not going to be able to visit every day. *weeps*
I am sure to come at times and see such fun frolicking as in the other thread, and perhaps be jealous that I wasn't in the in from the gitgo, but asking the site to operate at my level of participation is kinda wierd.
I need some more goddamned coffee. Hell, I love you guys. I was talking with aw on the road yesteray how the commraderie here is very nice, unlike anything else I have seen, and I am thoroughly enjoy it. The inclusionary nature of the place, the fact that I was welcomed despite not being here from the first day, the fairness and handoffishness of the admins, and the politeness with which they have brought things to my attention (however seldom), everything about this place warms the cockles of my heart.
Posted by: adampsyche on August 10, 2002 09:39 AMAt the risk of incurring wrath (so what else is new) shouldn't the jacket on that officer be, ahem, a lighter shade of pale?
Posted by: b****fire on August 10, 2002 09:43 AM::hugs commish::
Hey, if it's a technical or financial issue, as dong_resin sleekly mentioned, is there a way to spread the burden?
::sings:: we are the world, we are the monkeys....
The site's in pretty good shape, actually, both technically and financially. Hosting and domain reservation are paid through April. Unless we start going over our data traffic limits (which we're not in danger of doing yet), we really don't need any money.
If you feel compelled to give. The Buy-A-Brick donation page will remain in place. We've already got enough for our brick, so any additional funds will go to the Helping Hands general fund.
Posted by: jpoulos on August 10, 2002 10:18 AMCommish,
step over here with me for a second...
*pantses yhbc*
ok, you've done you're peneace now go back and fling poo with the rest of us...
(jeez, they start walking upright and the get all serious)
Posted by: tj on August 10, 2002 10:25 AMbtw i have suddenly noticed that the guy in the pic looks like my ex-fiance.
ugh.
Posted by: b****fire on August 10, 2002 10:49 AMBy the way, when I say "smooth", I mean smooth like a salad bowl or burn victim, not smooth like Barry White.
It's important that I'm clearly understood.
Hey, I show up late and read the entire content of 200+ post threads. I cut down frickin' trees for a living, man. It's not like elms come equipped with keyboards and monitors now, ya know. It's not that big of a deal. Most of the comments are only a sentence long, and by the 8th or 9th post they're usually off of the thread subject anyway. Those are the best threads to read in one sitting.
Posted by: MarsCrash on August 10, 2002 11:08 AMLike, picture Kojack and Capt. Picard wrestling under a waterside.
Smooth, see?
Posted by: dong resin's disturbingly smooth dangly bits on August 10, 2002 11:19 AMNick found heroin withdrawals an agonizing hell on earth until someone tossed him a beach ball.
Posted by: dong resin on August 10, 2002 01:15 PMI cut down frickin' trees...
Wow, that's neat. The frickin's are back in season. I always loved when mom made frickin' pie, frickin' fritters, or best of all bread with some frickin' jam.
mmmmmmm. frickin' memories...
Posted by: jonmc on August 10, 2002 01:53 PMYO! Jon, where's my damn mix? You do know you are in danger of getting the old habanero suppository dontchya?
Posted by: anathema on August 10, 2002 02:57 PMI'd like to thank y'all for singlehandedly killing any craving for Mexican food I might have been having with the phrase "habanero suppository."
Posted by: romakimmy on August 10, 2002 03:11 PM* tugs pants up *
All-right, already! Trust me, I would never call for more (any?) rules - I just wanted to point out that, as the Good General says, things were getting a little "silly". I think kaf hit my real complaint on the head, though - more threads would be nice (no pressure, though!) I love you all, too - thanks for indulging me in a little snit.
* group hug *
* group step-away to wipe the poo off *
Posted by: yhbc on August 10, 2002 04:05 PMYou do know you are in danger of getting the old habanero suppository dontchya?
Will it be followed by a guacamole enema? Huh? Huh?
All kidding aside, I know I'm late with the CD's. This is because of the same reasons why my MeFi/9622 output and blogging has been irregular the past couple of days...there's a whole lotta stuff afoot in jonmc-land that I can't go into detail about here. Just rest assured I haven't forgotten about my monkey brethren.
Posted by: jonmc on August 10, 2002 04:09 PMWill it be followed by a guacamole enema?
Mmmmmm....cooling relief.....
Posted by: jpoulos on August 10, 2002 04:15 PMyes.
*rubs hands together*
kneel before cooling relief!
(sorry, superman II is on sci-fi today and I know we have some Zod lovers in this jungle.)
Posted by: eyeballkid on August 10, 2002 06:29 PMmmmmm. zod. mmmmm. terence stamp. mmmmm. world domination. mmmmm.
Posted by: witchstone on August 10, 2002 06:44 PM
Take care of the important stuff Jon, I'm super patient. I'll just cruise by the cockeyedabsurdist everyday and drool over the tracklist. Speaking of drooling...just got back from the Apple store. mmmm 20gig iPod. If I'm REALLY REALLY good?
Posted by: anathema on August 10, 2002 11:38 PM
I shan't make another front page post about it (especially after I started all this crap!), but I'm afraid I'll have to renege on my earlier offer to run a 9622 fantasy football league. Sorry, kaf (I think you were about the only one who was interested). Maybe next year!
Posted by: yhbc on August 11, 2002 09:04 PMDo I hear a fantasy hockey league? I know there are a few Canadians on the list and all...[/blatant ignorant american stereotype]
!
Posted by: adampsyche on August 11, 2002 09:38 PMHow come there's not a fantasy synchronized swimming league, or a fantasy croquet league?
Personally, I could really get into fantasy Jell-O(r) wrestling.
Posted by: Crash on August 11, 2002 09:50 PMDid someone say Croquet? Name the time and the place Crash.
Posted by: anathema on August 11, 2002 09:51 PMI can't log into MT for some reason to start this as a thread, probably for the best since someone has no doubt already linked to it. It's a Renaissance Faire and a Monkey sanctuary all in one. Come and meet a colony of woolly monkeys.
Posted by: anathema on August 11, 2002 09:55 PMDid I just type "Renaissance Faire?" Oh my. My, oh my.
*shivers*
Posted by: anathema on August 11, 2002 09:57 PMHeh. I'm not completely gone yet. Anathema, I'll email you about contacting my brother-in-law to set up an extreme croquet game. In his words, "If he's serious, have him email me; we'll play whenever he wants to come join us - we've had other people email us out of the blue, and we've played with them. If he's just all talk, tell him to go f*ck himself; we've had plenty of those types email us too."
Posted by: yhbc on August 11, 2002 10:06 PMPersonally, I could really get into fantasy Jell-O(r) wrestling.
OK, if you really want to, Crash, I'm in. I prefer lime flavor.
Posted by: jonmc on August 11, 2002 11:24 PMIs whipping stuff at the Olsen twins a sport?
`cause I'd like to do that.
Posted by: dong resin on August 12, 2002 12:34 AMStuff is such a broad term.
I'm down with that, though, if the "stuff" is really heavy or has nails sticking all out of it.
Posted by: brittney on August 12, 2002 01:41 AM*emerges from Jell-O cocoon*
did somebody call me?
Posted by: witchstone on August 12, 2002 09:09 AMA note about posting images:
We encourage users to post images, especially those hilarous pics of monkeys
wearing dresses or programming for Linux. But posting images that reside on someone
else's server is considered by many to be bandwidth theft. Our thoughts
on the matter, along with some solutions to the problem, can be found
here. Thanks.
In an effort to help eliminate spam (and to preserve the sanity of the 9622 Volunteer Simian Spam-Cop Brigade) all threads older than 30 days will now be closed to comments.