June 03, 2005

• Oh, so it's you. I'm happy with my penis size, I don't need blue pills, I don't want to work in police to defend the Homeland, don't need a mortgage and am not interested in meeting singles with my same christian beliefs, so just stop it, OK?
• I have nothing to offer except: I'm sorry it's happening to you.
• oh dear. admin please hope us. sysrq, step back from the computer.
• Please post responsibly! If you have already posted today, consider whether your next post is necessary. We aim for a self-imposed limit so that the quality remains high. Self-linking posts are not acceptable. Please refer to the FAQ.
• It's a virus spoofing your address, and you're not the only one, believe me; I've had dozens of the same bounce notices today. Welcome to the Internet.
• email was designed, for some reason, with the capability of spoofing the originating address. spammers use this feature to indemnify themselves and in this case, implicate you. I've actually set up a spam catcher that looks for undeliverable mail and ditches it. It only burns me every so often and it saves me the dozens of irritating emails you're talking about.
• Try calling (202) 242-1809 and registering a complaint. Patita: in SysRq's defence, if you check the times between postings, I'm quite sure it is another day where s/he is. An apology has already been made for previous multi-FPP's; I assume it was sincere. Beyond that, this is a legitimate posting for a Curious George FPP.
• I didn't do the math on the time in between posts (8 hours--that could go either way), just eyeballed the space between posts on the main page. I also hadn't followed the previous thread to see the apology. so, my bad. bananas offered in apology to any and all offended parties.
• Thanks, Patita, but, Goddammit, did I post irresponsibly here? I have not posted but the one time today, nor have I posted anything even remotely fucking "self-referencial." What's the Goddam problem with me asking you about a problem - that you have a problem with? - I don't know - I probably never will. I'm outta here. Enjoy. Enjoy yourselves, Monkeys.
• SysRq, in patita's defense because of the way the timing on the site works, it makes this Curious George post look like the third post you've made in one day. The site relies on UTC time (or some other thing or another) to switch over dates, so while it may be a new day for you, this post shows up as the third one posted under June 2nd. Not that the post isn't valid or anything. Back on topic though, I used to get these messages all the time and unfortunately there's not a whole lot you can do (besides the idea of filtering out returned emails). It does however subside after a month or two, at least it did for me, YMMV.
• Dude. Dude? DUDE!!!
• SysRq (if you're still around): In all honesty, some spammer probably picked up your email address and is using to spam. The target addresses are not accepting it and aren't smart enough to reject it back to the actual sending mail server, so they are sending you the reject messages. That would be my guess. This is really something you should discuss with your ISP. I doubt many of us around here could be very helpful in this matter. The innards of mail are a dark art requiring insanely high levels of kung-fu.
• I think we need to change the warning to "once every 24 hours" rather than once a day to make it clear what the general guidelines are.
• Considering that it's only a small minority of monkeys who actually post (and a slightly larger percentage that comments), we should probably avoid any warnings that scare them off.
• SysRq, the only advice I can offer is what you've probably heard a million times and what you are most likely already doing: make sure you have a firewall up and make sure your anti-virus definitions are up to date. Beyond that, this problem really is out of everybody's control, according to the Googling I've done on this for myself in the past.
• Perhaps a 'one post AND one Curious, George every 24 hrs.' rule would be good? Because I can understand an emergency or pressing question is something different from a 'normal' post... Notwithstanding I was the first to answer SysRq's post with some witty, useless comment... ah well...
• In SysRq's defense as well, Patita's post was bitchy and self-righteous as all get out. The apology is cool, but you could have been a lot more tactful originally. That said, Sys, Your email could have been in someone's address book whe their machine got compromised by one of the many outlook attackers out there.
• "we should probably avoid any warnings that scare them off." No. It's better that people who can't read and follow simple instructions are driven into the wilderness so that the bears may eat.
• In SysRq's defense as well, Patita's post was bitchy and self-righteous as all get out. The apology is cool, but you could have been a lot more tactful originally. Not given that this is the second post in which he/she was told to slow down his/her rate of posting. If this were his/her second post, sure, I'd agree, but this is post number three.
• I had a bad feeling about this one from the beginning.
• Chy: I have to disagree - some degree of tolerance should be shown to the newbs. One cannot expect them to instantly divine the spirit of the rules around here. Yes, they are stated - on the other hand, strictly enforcing them could drive people away, which is not, to my mind, the reason we are here. I suspect we'll just have to disagree on this point.
• Well, I've seen lots of newbie posts and can only remember a couple of incidents of this nature, this being one of them. So I would say that most people have no problem easing into the community, and that no changes need to be made to our approach. We are tolerant. Admittedly I did say 'old' in his first post - that's because it was something sitting on Blort's front page for the last nine hundred years. This is the internet. It's not guaranteed to be fuzzy and warm all the time. I think we're a hell of a lot nicer than most other places.
• In fact, he only had to wait an hour and 40 to post it and no problemo.
• "I suspect we'll just have to disagree on this point." NO! I disagree! We will AGREE!!!!111! OBEY!!!
• Jeeze, this is a tempest in a teapot. I would have let it go even if it was a second post. The guy was obviously freaked out and wanted some help. I for one don't really get the one post per day rule anyway. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'd be more for a "think about what you post rule" as opposed to a 24hr rule. But that's just me.
• I second squidranch. From the FAQ: Why is there a self-imposed posting limit? We want quality of posts to be as high as possible. Many Monkeys believe that the more you post, the less interesting the posts will be. We ask that you post one good, interesting and discussion-worthy post per day. If you think you have more than one, so be it. We're certainly not forcing you not to post. Make 'em good! 'Tis true that the internets are "not guaranteed to be fuzzy and warm all the time." That doesn't mean people have to go out of their way to make that statement into a self-fulfilling prophecy (and this comes from someone who has done his share of double post callouts and troll-baiting, so I know I'm not perfect here either). I think we all tend to assume that people are generally more internet etiquette-savvy and computer literate than might be the case. However, rather than harangue people who are obviously well-meaning yet unfamiliar with MoFi's conventions, please consider advising them instead in the future. I think SysRq could probably have developed into a decent member of this community had folks here taken that route.
• squid and bone's sentiments thirded.
• I agree that the single post per day thingie should apply to only FPP's (if we keep the standard at all.) And, I seem to remember that we've not complained about FPP plus CG from the same person on the same day in the past. Perhaps, we should relax the one-per-day stricture for a while and see if it results in someone taking ovet the fron page. If it doesn't, what's the point?
• The relevant point here is if the link is good. This one right here is like a 'where are my socks' kind of thing that doing a judicious google search could have solved. Tracicle posted those guidelines for a reason, they are not written in a strict way because she is trying to get people to use their discretion and self-moderate. I believe that should be responded to with respect. Up til now, the guidelines have resulted in pretty high quality postings. Several things will happen without it: lots more posts per day = good stuff shuffled off the front page much faster, and lower quality posts. Fuck that.
• ^ YHBT.
• As a relative newbie, I have to say reading this squabble is about as interesting as watching toast brown, but with less to look forward to.
• Chy/Nos, take your medication dude. And I say that because I think we are friends, even if we live on the other side of this planet. I think that if anything we should be more forgiving with newbies than with old timers. We take your gruffness (and other folks, including me, that we know from this site) with a grain of salt, but newcomers might see it in an entirely different way. I wrote the guy asking him to give us another chance and I hope he take me up on it. And let us remember monkeys, it's only the internets.
• "take your medication dude" This comment is red rag to a bull with me, old chap. But yousa point is well seen.
• Cutflamk pretty much wins this round.
• Thanks Chy. Sorry if I offended.
• No sweat bro.
• Did Chyren just insinuate that the socks could have simply been found with a Google search?
• Nice to see Squiddy and Chy kiss and make up. (not that there's anything wrong with that) I, too, hope SysRq comes back. I just don't want any email from him.
• bernockle: Yes, Chyren correctly insinuated that socks can be found with a Google search.
• Okay, I posted twice in one day yesterday. Guilty as charged. Lesson learned. No hard feelings there, at all. I should have studied the FAQ more closely - my wrong. My third "curious George" post was, however, posted the following day. I thought there might be a monkey out there who had experienced something similar to what I did, and who could provide some useful knowledge on the subject. I understand the need for general posting guidelines, and I'm certainly more than happy to comply with them, but at some point it's necessary to simply jump in with both feet and to live with the consequences. I might just be able to contribute to this site with something of value at some point, so please don't count me out just yet! I must admit that I'm a total shit when it comes to social interaction in general, but I do try to approach it with an appropriate amount of respect and concern - and I'm sorry Patita for my harsh reaction to your post above. Again, I apologize to the Monkeyfilter community if I have wasted your time - that was not my intention - why would I bother? I sense a lot of kindness coming from some of you , having received a very kind email from one of you earlier. I'm not the sort of guy who expects a warm and fuzzy response to everything I might have to post. Still, knidness does tend to make a favorable impression. I'll do my best to give some thought before I post anything more on this site. Thank you for your patience. Best to you.
• Thank you Squidranch. Islander doesn't want an email from me? Think I'll go email him/her right now! Second thought - no, why bother. Peace,
• He's afraid you'll spam him :) It does sound like you've been spoofed. I would run a virus check if you haven't, but your address can be picked up from anywhere, including the address book of someone who knows you, if they have gotten a virus. This happened to me a few weeks ago, and then it stopped quite suddenly. If you can, set your email program to filter out the messages, and then they will be out of your hair. (I send spam to a spam folder to double check - I have all hotmail blocked right now, but occassionally get mail from a friend still using hotmail. I should send her a gmail invite :)
• I like these socks. I already have rainbow striped socks, which I love. My wedding dress will (hopefully) have rainbow colours.
• HAHA, I SPOOF YOU
• At bit of info on forged helos
• MoFi is far too schizophrenic about its rules. Enforce them or banish them-- either would be an improvement over haphazard application, which invariably favors the long-timers. Personally, I think the software should simply disallow posting more than once in a day-cycle. Incidentally, would it not be better to complain to tracicle instead of here. Does she monitor every thread and comment?
• ))) for squidranch and the_bone!!! She looks at 'em all, tensor. She doesn't comment on each and every one, though. I admire tracicle in part because she stays loose and doesn't get all hung up on rules merely for the sake of rules, as well as for her good judgement. My conclusion -- she must like monkeys a lot.
• MoFi is far too schizophrenic about its rules And with good reason. Mofi isn't a country or a dictatorship. Tracicle owns the place, but she's nice enough to be lenient about the rules under certain circumstances. We're all human, and we all make mistakes. /cliche Enforce them or banish them-- Rules are not inviolable laws. They are there to provide a structure, but that means that rules can be bent or broken on occasion for good reason, and enforcing them all the time would mean banning new users who may not have read the rules clearly. I don't think that's the reason why the rules are there. which invariably favors the long-timers. Maybe, but in this case we are favouring the newcomer. While the rule-calling was a little enthusiastic, no one was calling for bannination or any penalty. Just "please read the rules, ok?" piece of reminder. One reason why it might look like the long-timers are being favoured is that long-timers (almost) never double-post or self-link. So long-timers don't get called out about them. would it not be better to complain to tracicle instead of here. I agree. Although we might wish to give a newcomer a bit of a nudge and reminder rather than going to tracicle every time to get her to warn the user. YMMV. Some newcomers might prefer a reminder comment, some might prefer more private email. I don't know. But for newcomers especially, we might wish to be a bit gentler on them when they break the rules, unless it looks like they are doing it deliberately for their own benefit (e.g. joining for the sole purpose of self-linking). My two bits.
• This is all because MetaFilter is down again, isn't it?
• Fuck Metafilter!!11!
• I think the objection that we want to keep FPPs to a higher standard of quality is pretty fucking laughable around here. "Wait, wait, I've got an AP wire story that mentions monkeys tangentially! I'll post it!" "Wait, I found a lyrics site! With the Rolling Stones! That's worth posting a second FPP! I'll make it about cats, so that the adle-pated cute lovers will comment!" "Wait, wait, I found an article where a dude totally wears a Goatse shirt! OMG!" "Wait, wait, let's all take internet quizes!" Nearly 90% of what gets posted here could be from PlaySkool's My First LiveJournal. SysRq: A quick way to prevent at least some of this in the future is to make sure that your email address appears in a form that can't be harvested by spiders. Meaning, put a space in like SysRq @ Gmail.com or whatever. Also effective: [email protected]. (Although, I'd imagine that someone could write a decent harvesting program to just eliminate the spaces or the REMOVE and DONTSPAM stuff, but they haven't so far to my knowledge).
• flamebait.
• I tried, Chyren, but it didn't respond to my overtures. It just blinked at me blearily, and said "JRUN Error".
• /nods @ frogs js, on further reflection on your first point, it seems you are entirely in agreement with me. The kinds of posts you mention are precisely the reason why higher quality standards are a consumation devoutly to be wished.
• Sweet. None of my FPP's were specifically called out by js above. Probably this has to do with the infrequency with which I make them. And mine do suck. I like to think of this place as a community. I don't care as much about the overall quality of every post (which is subjective) as I do about the fact that I find enough of the posts to be interesting. Also, the comments and banter here are more interesting to me than the posts. So I can tolerate FPP's that don't suit me. I trust tracicle to keep a handle on things, and I trust my fellow Monkeys to keep things interesting with commentary and the frequent enough post than interests me.
• Chy— Insisting on higher standards is bailing the ship with a thimble. If it makes you feel good...
• And if we all held to js's standard, there would be no posts, and the whole thing would fall apart. Frankly, the internet just isn't as interesting as you seem to think it is - monkeyfilter is the best of the web (not least for its comments). And you might have noticed that people had fun with most of your example "bad" threads. I much prefer monkeyfilter as it is, with lots of posts, some fun, some serious, some impressive, som just fun. Also, I wouldn't dis anyone else's posts unless you are sure your own are golden.
• PEOPLE, PEOPLE! THIS IS MOFI! FLING BANANAS, BUT FLING NO POO!
• Ooops, I meant... MONKEYS, MONKEYS! THIS IS MOFI! FLING BANANAS, BUT FLING NO POO!
• I need help. I actually read shane's two comments three times before I noticed what the difference was. Brain think PEOPLE=MONKEY: Not good.
• Right, JB, because I clearly said that all of the posts in the last couple days are shit. Oh, no, wait... The Fassbinder post was interesting. The post on Karla wasserfuckthekiller was interesting. Hell, I don't even mind the occassional chat filter, and tend to enjoy the curious george posts. But fuck if I'm gonna be a mindless sap goin' "A-yup, a-yup, these are all great, George," when clearly, most of 'em are fucking retarded. You don't like what I post? Call me out on it. I'm not a mewling sissy— I can take it. And the idea that there should be no criticism, no "poo flinging," is retarded. If all you want is group affirmation, join a fucking circle jerk. I'll also say that since Metafilter opened up their rolls, the quality here has declined. Despite the frequent "We're not MeFi" stuff. But you're welcome to your sewing circle gabby bullshit if you want it, jb. Maybe you can post about kittens? I hear they go over really well.
• perhaps when a noob posts a curious george about a basic, basic, basic problem that's rampant throughout the entire internets, someone could email them directly and explain what's going on. sysrq was obviously freaked about something that happens to many of us on a frequent basis.
• Alnedra- I had the same problem.
• genial, thanks for explaining. I saw the 3 posts in one day (and hadn't followed the other 2), forgot about the fact that the time stamps here don't relate to actual days, and let it get the better of me. I'm glad SysRq has come back! Sorry to cause a fuss. surlyboi, I made a mean spirited comment and apologized to the original poster for it. I'll now apologize to you. I can't do anything about the original comment (lacking a "delete comment" function). I can say that I'll try not to make such a comment again.
• One, my nickname is jb - lowercase just like your own. Two, please start using paragraph breaks. I find your comments very difficult to read in their current format. My point was that without a critical mass of posts, Monkeyfilter cannot function. I know I wouldn't check back if I thought there was a low chance of new material. I'm glad that you liked some posts. I would hate to think you kept returning to the site for no reason whatsoever. But please recognise that people are looking for different things. I'm not asking that you applaud posts you don't like, simply that you mind your own business. And try to improve your own posts and comments, if you are so disapointed with the current quality of conversation. If people aren't happy here, well, it is a free internet. You can go whereever you like. I would much rather some of the ruder old members leave than they scare off potentially less rude new ones.
• Look! cheese!
• JB- Yeah, but maybe I'm yelling your name. But thanks for the classic "If you don't like it, go elsewhere" reply. May I suggest that if you don't like my comments, you go elsewhere? I mean, so long as you don't realize the essential emptiness of your comment, you might as well be bound by it too. I'd much rather have well-meaning naifs leave than have endless masturbatory chatfilter bullshit. But hey, if rudeness is your windmill, tilt away.
• JB- Yeah, but maybe I'm yelling your name. Really lame. Makes you sound like some dumbass that just can't stand ever being wrong or called out on a mistake. You might not be. But you sure sound like one. First off, J S, jb didn't say that you should go elsewhere if you don't like it, just that you should just stick to what you like. If that makes you unhappy to do that, then you always have the option not to be here. Not as meaningless as you think it is. I'd much rather have well-meaning naifs leave than have endless masturbatory chatfilter bullshit. So? GYO fucking B. If the rest of us, and tracicle most importantly, like or don't mind having "well-meaning naifs" hang around, what the hell are you bellyaching about?
• Oh, fuck off, you tiresome wanker.
• (that was for the tiresome wanker js)
• The difference, js, is that I enjoy the majority of posts on monkeyfilter. So I return here. If I thought about the posts as you apparently do, I wouldn't. There are some posts which I don't like or I'm bored by. Some you may very well like. But I don't go into that thread to slag them. I was simply asking you extend the same courtesy. Yes, I will tilt at rudeness. Because it's destructive to good conversation.
• Say, is it me, or does anyone else have that Friday feeling??
• Anyways, we've stopped talking about SysRq's problem, and this will only go downhill. SysRq - did you get a satisfactory if tardy and confusing and very side-tracked answer? See js's comment above - his was the best advice.
• Not the Friday feeling, sugarmilktea. The "I've had enough bullshit and I'm not going to take anymore" feeling. Bullshit from js, of course. I still love everyone else. Just very, very pissed off right now. So I'm gonna go do something else for while.
• Don't stay away for too long... we'd miss you!
• and on a cool un-related note Alnedra, now I know the monkey that came before me!
• Does anybody else keep reading the title of this post as 'I've Been Spoonfed'?
• fish tick, you're silly. :op
• I think that if anything we should be more forgiving with newbies than with old timers. We take your gruffness (and other folks, including me, that we know from this site) with a grain of salt, but newcomers might see it in an entirely different way. HAHAHAHAHAHAH
• HA fish tick! Funny! On topic, while my work computer is busy sending out nasty Right-Wing German spam worldwide, my home machines are heavily firewalled and appear to be fine. (And we have and entire IS department at work to prevent this sort of thing!)
• I always thought js and jb was the same person, but I just kept forgetting the second letter. Alas, they appear to not be the same.
• BEHOLD THE KITTENS WITH LARGENESS OF EYES. not to mention ears. i think they like cheese.
• I think their breed is called "sphinx". I love their wrinkled little foreheads too.
• God, you people are such idiots, and I am so much smarter than all of you. I hate you, and your FPPs, too.
• *cries* *punches HawthorneWingo in the nose*
• That's no nose, that's a space station.
• I need help. I actually read shane's two comments three times before I noticed what the difference was. Brain think PEOPLE=MONKEY: Not good. posted by Alnedra at 04:15PM UTC on June 03, 2005 Alnedra- I had the same problem. posted by fish tick at 04:31PM UTC on June 03, 2005 Human, monkey... no big diff. Monkeys are generally nicer people ;-) Well, I tried to strikeout PEOPLE and follow it with non-struck-out with MONKEYS, but the tags wouldn't work here, heh. Maybe I'm a stupid techno-noob and don't know the right HTML. Anyways, I remember the first time my computer was used to spam a mess of people and how confused I was. Also the first time I got major spam and wrote back to the e-mail addies as if they were the real spammer.
• Ha ha, everybody laugh at the n00b funny monkey You want the <strike> tag
• Oh sheez, SideDish, those... things are spooky. Like the result of some alien genetic experiment, mixing up cats and chihuahuas... http://popoki.com/KittenPix/GrayGroup.jpg Well, there's the proof! Aliens, I tell you, ALIENS!!
• oooooooooooooooh, teh cute! If their ears had more muscles, I bet they could fly.
• They are the Udo Kiers of the cat world.
• Cat's can't fly?! Ohhhh crap...I've got some 'splaining to do.
• fish tick??? SideDish??? WTF. You guys need to fucking quit with your cheese bullshit and your kittens bullshit. If i wanted to look at a bunch of fucking kittens i'd fucking make my fucking own fucking KITTENFILTER or CHEESEFILTER. Bitches. snicker
• I always thought js and jb was the same person, but I just kept forgetting the second letter. Alas, they appear to not be the same. Best end to a flamewar ever?
• They are the Udo Kiers of the cat world. yes!
• And if we all held to js's standard, there would be no posts, and the whole thing would fall apart. Frankly, the internet just isn't as interesting as you seem to think it is I disagree. The internet is bloody interesting, and there is a ridiculously large amount of interesting new stuff out there
• dng - I would trust you to find it.