MetaChat - so what's with the "[x] people link to this user" thing on mefi profile pages?

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06 January 2006

so what's with the "[x] people link to this user" thing on mefi profile pages? I ask because I've gone through the mefi wiki and found nothing about it, and I can't figure out a way to search mefi directly for links and users without getting a bajillion unrelated results first.

apparently dhruva, dsword and parisparamus(!) consider me a muse. or is it that they think they're MY muse?

I don't get it.

post by: shmegegge at: 15:14 | 26 comments

Those are your 'contacts'. People who choose you as a contact can easily keep track of your comments. If you pick some mf members as your contacts, on your own profile there will be a sentence that says

View contacts and contributions from contacts

and when you click on it, you'll see their latest posts and links to their personal websites. T'is coolness.

posted by iconomy 06 January | 15:19

ah hah! and the muse thing?

posted by shmegegge 06 January | 15:23

They consider you their muse.

posted by iconomy 06 January | 15:23

how... unsettling. thanks!

posted by shmegegge 06 January | 15:24

Hmm I wonder why this isn't explained anywhere. So dhruva, dsword and parisparamus all want to keep an eye on your posts, shmegegge. Because you're so a-muse-ing, no doubt.

/bans self

posted by iconomy 06 January | 15:25

Hell, 23 people consider me their muse. That's truly unsettling.

posted by jonmc 06 January | 15:26

posted by mike9322 06 January | 15:27

At first I thought you had to pick something and "muse" fit better than the others. Although I chose some contacts for their taste in music. ba-da-bum!

posted by safetyfork 06 January | 15:41

Apparently my relationship to cmonkey is quite complicated.

posted by matildaben 06 January | 15:45

Anyone else have a "child"?

posted by tetsuo 06 January | 15:54

I am a contacts loner. I pretend I like it that way to hide the pain...

posted by amro 06 January | 15:54

Dhoyt and one of his sock puppets both link to me as muse, I think because I called Foldy "Aunt Tilde" once in one of my semi-annual fits of pique.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 06 January | 15:56

I'm going to add all of you as "crush."

posted by SassHat 06 January | 16:03

For a glimpse of greatness, check out Quonsar's user page:

Contacts: This user doesn't link to any other MetaFilter members. 134 MetaFilter user(s) link to this user.

posted by LarryC 06 January | 16:09

Wow! Who knew the demographic for inline images of pissing elephants was so huge?

posted by gigawhat? 06 January | 16:23

He has only 9 more than me, Larry, and I'm gaining.

posted by jonmc 06 January | 16:27

I've used that a couple times, but I can never remember why I added anyone as a contact, so yeah.

posted by puke & cry 06 January | 16:28

Hey jonmc, where's the love, brother?

posted by fenriq 06 January | 16:39

consider yourself loved, dawg.

posted by jonmc 06 January | 16:49

Make it 8 more than you, Jon. But the greatness of Quonsar is that he does it without ever linking back to anyone. It is some kind of accomplishment.

posted by LarryC 06 January | 16:56

It's called "playing hard to get." I never would have imagined that Q. was a fan of "The Rules."

posted by matildaben 06 January | 16:59

Don't be too weirded out by the "muse" category, shmeggage. When I started adding contacts I found that "muse" and "crush" were the only ways to designate that you thought someone was extra cool, and "crush" just didn't seem right for some of them, you know?

posted by agropyron 06 January | 17:07

I always forget to add contacts, and then I feel bad if I see that someone else has added me (yeah, me with all of 8 or so contacts... I'm so cool)

posted by gaspode 06 January | 17:09

huh. i have six contacts and i did not know that i had any.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 07 January | 01:15

i only had contacts to keep up with what certain posters post, or that their contact lists covered most everyone else, so i could navigate it as i pleased without having to read the whole site.
or that i dig them.
it's a lot faster that way and was how i kept up with askme when i read it.
also, to show solidarity.
it wouldn't let me name anyone as anything at the time.
but i didn't even start playing with the functions until scarabic tried to smack me around and accidentally told me about askme.

in fact i only started posting again because i had my second crippling computer crash and it is always something that happens because some guy turns off my machine wrong (horrifying, was in shock for maybe a year)
"fixed my computer" without telling me (total pain in the ass)
or some other "she must not know there is a new [fill in the ass] of this, i'll add it for her cuz she's just a girl" situation.

i only posted then because metafilter was one of the sites i remembered by url and long time webwatching. actually, it's all a very funny story of how i became a mefite but for another time.

send in the billistics!

posted by ethylene 07 January | 20:34

isn't billistics the name of the guy who posted the video of himself riding on a luck dragon? I love that guy!

posted by shmegegge 07 January | 20:49

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