April 02, 2004

• A NEW CAR!!! *ding!**ding!**ding!**ding!**ding!**ding!**ding!**ding!**ding!*
• Same old. But now with a cookie.
• I can't wait for the photoshop contests! I'm gonna photoshop the *hell* out of that commander Ackbar!
• double post. you're getting more like MeFi all the time.
• double post. you're getting more like MeFi all the time. *sarcastic reply, crude ad hominem attack*
• Ach, enough already with your Mefi!
• Now that I've actually found a Golden Ticket in my Wonka chocolate bar, I'm finding that I'm most looking forward to AskMe.
• Plegmun read my mind.
• i tried to, but metafilter was down at noon from where i am (los angeles on comcast cable).
• C is for cookie and cookies are for me.
• SpellCheck?? We don' need no steenkin' SpellCheck! hwo lame is taht? _I_ went to Oxford! *bzzzt* Stanford! *bzzzt* . . Wisconsin! *bzzzt* . . Louisiana Tech! *bzzzt* *sigh* . . Brown. *ding!*
• I like it here. I don't feel like I have to watch my back...
• ...but I also find the whole monkey-MeFi obsession a little dorky. And not in a cute way.
• double post. you're getting more like MeFi all the time. *sarcastic reply, crude ad hominem attack* Nazi! (just wanted to set someone up to call Godwin) MoFi is so much cooler. Sort of like finding out the girl you've been after for years is a bitch with a drinking problem, while the girl you're with is much better in the long run, even if she does fling poo occasionally. But MoFi needs an ask.monkeyfilter.com type-function.
• howabout in a crispity-crunchity kind of way?
• leviathan, that's what the Curious, George threads ostensibly are. That is, when people use them for advice and not for polling. :)
• Metafilter is no doubt a delightful place for those who like that sort of thing, but I want no part of the incessant harping and carping, and the political/war bickering. So I will not apply to Metafilter, petebest.
• If I was "in", I would mod Levi's comment +1 insightful. A wonderful analogy... thank you, Levi. That was really the point I was trying to make in the last 'MeFi' thread. (BTW, does anyone hate that stupid verizon commercial... "you're in. you're in." dumb.)
• >>Today's signup allotment has been exceeded. Please try again tomorrow at noon. why on earth would i want to join that group when it's so much more friendly here? and our allotment is not exceeded? and i do not need to check back tomorrow at noon? (actually i was just going to join to do just one post, a shout-out to my mofi buds. heh.)
• fair enough bees. I just wanted the option to correct the incorrect over there. MoFi is where the banana is.
• No Meta for me as well.
• Just to let you know, the people who do want to join better do it in the next few days. mathowie is planning to stop them again.
• sidedish - i can do a shout-out for ya. don't know who the other lucky 19 were today but i frantically hit "reload" at 3:00 local time, until the mefi "join now" link worked, so i can (a) ensure that no froggy imposter steals my nick and (b) occasionally drop a snarky comment in a thread. as stated when i first joined the mofi crowd, i don't intend to disappear. i kind of like the small-blog atmosphere here. but i'd been waiting too long at the mefi door not to stick my foot in when given the opportunity (especially given that i had once half-filled out the membership form, then decided to put it off until later - at which point membership closed). don't worry - i'll save my interesting posts for here. if i dropped anything on mefi it would most likely be a double-post circa 1987 anyway. plus y'all won't just snottily check my user number and commence ignoring me.
• I'm gonna try. I'd really like to be a MeFi member. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to be a part of the blue and the green. Now it just remains to be seen if I'll be successful :)
• Well, us monkeys should definitely stick together over there in the blue. But really, I just like joining things...
• I just want to go to Metafilter so I can comment on languagehat's goddamn wonderful post. Bloody languagehat.
• livii, why do all the monkeys have to go over to the blue in order to stick together? We're all here and it's a hell of a lot more comfortable. The only thing I can see as a benefit from a metafilter account would be Askme or that rare time that my opinion isn't voiced on a subject. I'm just looking forward to this hype being over so Mofi can get back to what it was before, us enjoying the scenery here and not checking how green the grass is over at Metafilter.
• Do I get bonus points for invoking Godwin (and keeping the monkey theme) Darwin?
• Oh, I didn't mean that we weren't a great group here, I just thought that for those of us venturing over, we should watch each other's backs when we're there. You know, for poo, or bananas being flung at the newbies. That sort of thing. Sort of an extension of how good things are here that we'd look out for each other. I probably wasn't very clear. And don't worry, this will die down, but given that MoFi is directly billed as a "Metafilter clone", it's inevitable that we're all going to screech about it for a bit.
• Just to let you know. If it ever appears a Zemat over Mefi, it's not me. I won't join in. I don't have the guts to.
• Well, I don't know. I think a MeFi account is something useful to have, whether or not you plan to participate on a fairly regular basis. I'm personally more interested in the green -- just because there are so many MeFi members, questions are likely to receive more replies.
• I was glad to make it in today because I've been lurking MeFi for over a year. I wouldn't be (infrequently) here if I hadn't learned of MoFi on MeTa. It doesn't seem to me for there to be any good reason for hostility between the two sites; as t r a c y has said, there's a lot of MeFites here on MoFi.
• As upwardly mobile monkeys, we must try to invade MeFi. How else would we displace the feeble, aged alpha males and eat their babies?
• I just want to go to Metafilter so I can comment on languagehat's goddamn wonderful post. Hey, thanks! It was a great revelation to me when somebody said "Hey, languagehat, how come you never post language stuff?" It honestly never occurred to me that MeFites would be interested. *checks caution live frogs' user number, commences ignoring him*
• As upwardly mobile monkeys, we must try to invade MeFi. How else would we displace the feeble, aged alpha males and eat their babies? We should invade them because they have Weapons of Monkey Destruction. I've seen the RVs of doom in my satellite photos! I'm preparing a fuzzy powerpoint presentation for the UN as I type this.
• What genial said... I've come to the conclusion that MeFi membership means quite a bit to me...a little too much. After waiting patiently for over a year, hanging on Haughey's every word, waiting for signals that membership would be open, then having those hopes dashed multiple times, I'm angry, frustrated and disillusioned with the whole MeFi new membership tease. New members are clearly not Matt's priority right now, nor have they been in the past year. There are 17,200 members with the potential to help him sort out the logistics, financial, and tech issues of opening the floodgates to new membership if he chose to accept their assistance, but he's chosen not to do so. Doesn't mean he's a bad person or anything, it's just not his priority. Why not then relieve the man of the pressure of accomodating new users at all and enjoy what we have to offer here? MonkeyFilter has consistently proven to be full of fresh, interesting voices that any community would be proud to have as members. So for my own personal sanity, I'm going to give up my dream of MeFi membership and channel that energy into being the best Monkey I can be. That having been said, I'm really happy for all the new Monkeys who did make it in. MetaFilter should consider itself fortunate to have them.
• Amen Dr. Zira. You have echoed many of our sentiments.
• Hey you guys, I just looked at Frogs' user number .... psst, psst, psst, psst, psst, psst, psst Shhhhh, here he comes.
• ...and it's gone again...
• Oh, damn, so it is. Matt mentioned something about fixing it so the server load wouldn't be so great, but I didn't think he'd remove the newuser page so quickly. That sucks for everyone who didn't make it in.
• *sulks*
• Mmmmm.....................I got in.
• Wow. I can't believe he's closed them so soon. MeFi was running really sluggishly the past couple of days. Perhaps after it's stabilized, he'll open it back up. I hope so, for those who didn't get in who wanted to.
• I set my alarm to wake up early this morning, just to try to sign up. Yesterday morning, I got to work early, but I couldn't access the site until it was twenty minutes too late. And, of course, I only learned about new user signups the night before that. Oh well. My AskMetafilter obsession can go unrequited for the next year.

• I realized I don't want new commenting members. We already have too many comments on the site. I'd rather have new posts that are good, and will program a way to allow new users via that route.

  Looks like new prospects will have to please the FPP cabal from now on. All I want is to be able to answer the occaisonal AskMe question. But all is not lost. The Outdoor Life channel is showing luge! And it's not even an Olympic year! I knew my career had taken a wrong turn when I realized I wasn't blasting down an icy track on a tiny sled while wearing spandex.
• If matt wanted good posts he should have created an online magazine like backwash. not a so-called, community blog. Yes, I'm poo-flinging. Too much for niceness here.
• hey, stop checking my user number. i'm for darn sure lower than somebody... who can i ignore? ps - dirigibleman - the luge is pretty cool. although i've been known to watch a curling match to the bitter end as well - anything that looks like winter olympics (except figure skating) kinda draws me inexorably in.
• Matt, like many of the old timers, wants things to be as they (ideally) were. Though, I'm not sure they were ever as they were, ideally. Or, maybe the membership has just eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. opening themselves up to both more fun and more pain? And can the Creator turn the tide without taking self determination away from his children? Is Eden gone forever? Only seraphim who understand the "best of the internet" will be granted a pass through the pearly gates? And, who is the serpent? I'm sure we'll all stay tuned for further developments. Well, that's snarkier than my intention, but I think it rings true. Or not.
• What amazes me is Matt's reiteration that he doesn't want more commenters, he wants posters. I sympathize with the desire for better front page posts, but does he really think that anybody joins MeFi only for that purpose? Of course people want to comment, and the comments are a huge reason for the popularity of the site. It's a curious case of selective blindness (and one that obviously doesn't detract from his ability to run the site well).
• What I thought was strange about that comment is that he doesn't allow any of the new users to post - not for at least a week. So he doesn't know if they are posters or commenters yet. Also, looking at the posts on metafilter in the last few days, I wondered if there might develop a double standard for new members versus old. I don't normally post single links from any news site - I hesitate on really good magazine articles (all stolen from A&L of course) without finding supplementary links - but if I did, what would the response from mathowie et al be? Yet established metafilter posters are continuing to do so, even though they say they don't really like it. There are also so many posts, that I don't know if I would post at all, because they would be drowned out. Actually looking back - it was not so bad as I remembered (I really liked your Scots post, languagehat, and there are several others of general interest), especially as it was the weekend, but the busyness of the whole system still makes me shy away somewhat (despite the fact I am not shy). Perhaps there are simply human limits to online communities, regardless of technology or new servers. And maybe this natural limit will assert itself in new people not posting very often. I did have a question - how do people at Monkeyfilter feel about my making a post here, and later posting on metafilter (with a via Monkeyfilter) of course. Some I think might generate interesting discussion, but I would want to put them on the Monkey first.
• What I thought was strange about that comment is that he doesn't allow any of the new users to post - not for at least a week. That's odd. What's the reasoning behind that, then?
• I did have a question - how do people at Monkeyfilter feel about my making a post here, and later posting on metafilter (with a via Monkeyfilter) of course. Some I think might generate interesting discussion, but I would want to put them on the Monkey first. I see no real problem with you posting them here and there, if you want. (But does adding a via Monkeyfilter, to your own post, make it self-linking?...)
• That's odd. What's the reasoning behind that, then? I'm guessing the scintillating FPP on natural penis enhancement from recent member [email protected], but it's probably also a way to ensure some lurktime before jimmy posts the korn tribute page or something.
• What I thought was strange about that comment is that he doesn't allow any of the new users to post - not for at least a week. This is not true, at least not in all cases. I have seen many examples of the new user's abilities to comment. I believe there was a 24 hour wait period on posting. Of course I don't know because I myself did not attempt to get in this time around, and it was indeed a short window of time to do so...
• dammit, that first part should have been italics Oh look! A preview button!
• adding via MonkeyFilter would seem to me to be expected if not compulsory . . . /pokes_index_finger_inside_coat_pocket
• I very much agree, petebest, but dng might also be right about the self linking. But then again - it's not like it's my own blog/artwork/stuff. Hmmmmm. From the about page: "The privilege of posting links to main page comes after posting a few comments and being a member for at least a week." But maybe more weirdness because of the server confusion.
• I just noticed jb was talking about the inability to post for a week, not comment, which is where I misunderstood it. I've seen people commenting, not FPPing. Although I will add this person commented on looking forward to posting a link after the "first 24 hours are up" ::shrugs::
• I don't normally post single links from any news site... but if I did, what would the response from mathowie et al be? Yet established metafilter posters are continuing to do so, even though they say they don't really like it. I think that alleged prohibition is a crock of hooey, used to justify people crapping on posts they don't happen to like. When people make carefully crafted multilink posts, some people complain that there are "too many links." You can't please everyone. As far as I'm concerned (and I don't think Matt would disagree), if you're satisfied it's a good post, regardless of whether it has one link or many, you should go ahead and post it. (And don't worry about "the busyness of the whole system" -- trust me, if it's a good post people will welcome it, even if they don't comment. As is often said, number of comments does not equal perceived quality; it tends to reflect controversy, which is an entirely different thing.)
• guess my only fear is the inevitable crapping that will ensue when i try diligently to find something that hasn't already been discussed to death, only to discover that it has indeed been discussed to death, but not with the keywords that i used to search for it. i mean, if a link is more than 3-4 years old, is it worth everyone screaming "double-post!" and getting their undies in a bundle? i wasn't reading every post 3-4 years ago. i imagine a lot of people were not. ah, well; all i can do is post and see what happens... perhaps jb has hit on a strategem for any monkey dual-citizens. post it here first, gauge reactions, assume monkey reaction is normal, post to mefi, gauge reaction, use comparison as measure of how volatile mefi crowd is that day...
• Wow, frogs, so, like, we're a control or somethin' for MeFi? Like, wow, cool. /Surfer Dude
• i think we should watch for the first monkey FPP and comment here accordingly. Nay, i *demand* it. >set foot=down
• I also think it'd be interesting to post concurrently on MoFi and MeFi and see what the reaction is on both.
• frogs, Alnedra, certainsome1 NO NO NO!!! YOU CAN'T MEAN IT Monkeys are NOT for research and experimentation. Unless it's for psychoactive drugs. Now that's different.
• certainsome1 - i had planned on doing so, and even found an idea that hadn't been discussed to death on mefi, but didn't take into account the inevitable "no post for you" period that matt applies to new members. so, i'll wait. in the meantime i posted it here. enjoy.
• My post has already been called newsfilter (by a new member, nonetheless) - and I didn't even post it to mefi :) If I were to double post, I would post to mofi first out of loyalty, not experimentation. (and so I can say via mofi, of course.)
• It would have been a double post, too, jb, if you're talking about this post. That posting limit saved your arse, I'd say.
• The initail post on metafilter also proves that it would have been a suitable post for them, surely. I liked both your thread and theirs, anyway.
• Well, I would have searched, of course. I'm surprised I didn't though - I used to all the time for monkeyfilter posts, but I guess I just stopped thinking that people would be reading metafilter (I am less often). Oops. (Actually, I knew about the posting limit long before I thought of posting anything - I just wanted to make the comment stronger, about how we thougt about being good citizens by posting, but couldn't)
• And thank you. I thought the only problem with it was not that it came from the New Yorker, but from A&L daily - doesn't everyone in the world read that? :)
• Hey, Mayor Curley is dissing us! Should be good for an extra 50 or so members!
• yeah hours later I thought about *kicking dirt on Mayor Curley's shoes* but then I thought that might be too monkey for the blue. wh00p! /swings to next tree
• Wolof, I agree. No need to pick on us like that. I thought it was uncalled for.
• Hah, like we don't poo-fling MeFi once every five threads or something. I, for one, think it's time we give them a run for their money.
• No need to worry about defending the monkey-honour - the very next comment is:

  Kinda cranky there, ain't'cha Mayor? On the subject of diets, could I suggest a little more roughage in yours? posted by mojohand at 2:56 PM PST on April 29

  But I think that everyone should remember that they are different sites, some people read both (at least when they are procrastinating), some don't. Even when I am reading both, I don't care if anything goes up twice. If it didn't interest me, I ignore it twice - if I like it, I am glad it has the extra exposure. I did think the same thing as wendell when I first saw the mefi post ("wait, didn't I read about this last week?"), but mainly I was sad not to see a [via Monkeyfilter] - probably because it wasn't, but it is always cool to see monkey recognition.