April 14, 2004

• As noted over here by dng. What a sanctimonious hypocrite. Which is my favourite brand.
• Oooh, I'm sorry, I read most of that thread but hadn't seen the more recent comments. Me bad.
• Did mathowie ban the predator? I can't see any harm in full disclosure self-links for non-commercial purposes, but marketing has no place in communities. I really, really hate predatory marketers
• Yes, his posting privileges are wiped, and he is getting a thorough tongue lashing in the various threads. I guess I'm not crazy about self links, but in any case it's a difficult policy to enforce.
• On the topic of MoFi self linking, allow me the paraphrase a section of the FAQ: Self linking isn't cool, kiddies, and we've disallowed self-links as the main link in posts. [and by paraphrase I of course mean quote directly]
• Clarification: A full disclosure self-link -- when nothing else will do -- in a comment doesn't trouble me. I like all the MoFi member sites I've visited.
• Thanks, fractal_badger. I guess what I really meant was rtfm. or "f" as the case may be.
• Bloggers have been getting spam on their comments pages for a while now, message boards are constantly bombarded with that stuff and, for as long as anyone can remember, old-fashioned guestbooks have been mercilessly spammed. It was bound to happen to MeFi sooner or later. "I just can't believe the jesus guy turned out to be worse than even our worst fears." Those folks take themselves way too seriously. The way they're talking about it, MeFi is a church and the spammer had sex on its altar. Delete the damn thread and be done with it already. Spam happens to everyone.
• Those folks take themselves way too seriously. The way they're talking about it, MeFi is a church and the spammer had sex on its altar. Amen Carabas.
• I disagree, though. The nefarious thing about this post is that it wasn't just spam, which frankly is easily recognizable as spam and, while a pain to dispose of, at least is not taken seriously by those who read it. But this was a real post -- or a maneouver to make a website more popular by by spreading it around the web via metafilter through a real post, and thus make money off of it. If people hadn't played detective, it would not have been revealed as a fraud and deleted. That sucks. You think the quote sounds like the site owner is taking himself too seriously, but that's because he doesn't want his creation to be unknowingly manipulated into a commercial tool. And I think he's perfectly right to be wary of such issues. But I'm sorry to monitor my own thread here, and I'll step back now.
• Can we call a moratorium on pissing on MeFi? Please?
• It never fails to impress me how good the MeFi detectives are, though. But yes, self-linking is okay in comments, if relevant, and as a secondary link if necessary, but never as the main link in a post. Like mexican said when he, er, quoted me.
• The biggest problem with keeping a community friendly and interesting comes from people determined to hijack it for an agenda. A commercial agenda is very destructive! When you have to worry about being used to someone's financial advantage, you get cynical.
• I think it's all really funny... in a 'not funny' -kinda way.
• i'd really like to know how much time the average MeFite spends online each day.
• ChristFollower obviouly missed that bit about the love of money and its moral value.
• I disagree, though. The nefarious thing about this post is that it wasn't just spam, which frankly is easily recognizable as spam and, while a pain to dispose of, at least is not taken seriously by those who read it. But this was a real post -- or a maneouver to make a website more popular by by spreading it around the web via metafilter through a real post, and thus make money off of it. If people hadn't played detective, it would not have been revealed as a fraud and deleted. That sucks. Especially when you consider that Matt makes no money off this venture. The nerve of some people.
• ChristFollower obviouly missed that bit about the love of money and its moral value. And the bit about man not serving two masters at the same time. Selfishly, one of my reactions was that this bastard managed to get in while a whole bunch of us couldn't. *chewing on heart* And I can just imagine him saying, right after he confirms his entrance in Mefi, "There IS a God!" *shakes 100 ton hammer at ChristFollower*
• while a whole bunch of us couldn't *sulks again even more unattractively*
• 5 AM RANT To those who want/need to join MeFi (not a MeFi slam): why? It's not like it's an exclusive country club - it's yet another in a series of linkdumps. They don't hand out jackets or special keys - you don't get into the exclusive members-only bathroom on the fifth floor (the one with the marble floor and the gold plated flush knobs). Examine your motives for joining MeFi and remember: they put their pants on one leg at a time, just like y'all. Excepting the kilt or skirt wearing crowd. And nudists. Or those who've made alternate clothing arrangements. Much better to be a small fish in an uncrowded pond, than a small fish in an overpopulated pond. Or something like that. This was meant to be a wise lesson, but it probably sounds like crap, so just pretend I said something wise and meaningful.
• 5 AM RANT To those who want/need to join MeFi (not a MeFi slam): why? Because we read it a lot, and would like to comment and post stuff there occassionally, most probably. Nothing sinister about that, really, now, is there?
• Preferred "alternative clothing arrangement" = underpant toast :)
• Wasn't what Mathowie said, like, a joke?
• I don't feel a religious need to join Mefi. But it would make it more convenient for me to read through all the stuff, rather than having to memorise how many comments were in which thread since I read it last. As much as I've felt it's become too hulking and too uncivil in there, I would like to get inside and look around. I don't think it's an exclusive club, just a place I would like to hang out in, from time to time. In fact, to over-strenuously state that I *don't* want to join Mefi would probably a case of sour grapes. Now can I stop psychoanalyzing myself? Or would you like to ask more questions, drivingmenuts? /irritable
• I used to go to great, drug and booze fueled parties with interesting, even brilliant, people. We danced, we sang, we solved the world's problems. After a while they started to get sour in the wee hours. Even though I lived in a big city, I kept running into these people at other parties, in party circles I thought they'd never frequent. There was no getting away from them. Their good looks and fine, sparkling wit grew hateful in my eyes. That said, I'd still like to join Metafilter.
• The Tragedy of the Commons meets the Price of Freedom.
• Yeah whatever's going on over there the wiz is certainly flowin'. There's something . . rats I was looking for a non-religious analogy but can't think of one . . anyway something sacrosanct about the freedom of the Internet that crass marketing (or maybe just marketing) inherently attacks. I remember when our company put up it's first banner ad, and all of us went nuts because it sucked. Still does, just everyone's used to it now. And that was the point.
• drivingmenuts - what are you talking about? the second i joined mefi mathowie asked for my home address so he could send me my complimentary blue "mefi members only" hip retro-80's jacket and keys to the executive washroom. just one of the little perks. we also get half-price drinks at the bowl-a-rama in tulsa. but only on tuesdays. we're working towards mondays and wednesdays as well but those are league nights so it doesn't look promising. and, fractal_badger, to answer a question that's already been answered - mathowie probably didn't just ban the guy outright because of his user name. imagine the shitstorm of hoopla a savvy person could generate off of that - "banned from mefi for being a christian!" that's what people would hear, and that's what word would get around. the whole bit about trying to steal emails to sell to spammers would kind of go unnoticed.