MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and
chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.
Jesus. I just finished Jared Diamiond's latest book. We're destroying our environment. Much of the problem is the environmental impact of First World peoples.
I mean, please, donate for a cure for AIDS or to the SPCA or to NPR. Jesus.
Yeah, I know it's not MetaTalk. I don't want to argue about this in MetaTalk. I just wanted to express a visceral reaction. I should get my own blog.
But no, seriously, what was our response supposed to be? You just posted a link without comment. How is that a reaction? What are we supposed to respond with? "Geez, that's bad." or "Jeez, that's funny!" or "*sigh* how pathetic"? What were you fishing for?
screw it, i'm gonna stomp:
I WANT MORE BARE CHESTED STEVENS
I NEED MORE CARELL A LA CAROOHAH
I DIG HIS TIGHT MANLY BOD
SORRY STEPHEN
YOU KNOW I STILL SYMAPHIZE WITH YOUR SOLAR PLEXUS
Hey, waitaminnit, I thought you could put anything you wanted on metachat. And if someone wanted to engage you, it was fine!
Stop trying to alienate orthogonality, people -- Sorry ortho, but I don't have much to say about askme, having given up on the blue/gray/green. But all this hostility ain't right. I mean, it ain't like you're dragging some fight over here or something, and people often point to crazy shit or trainwrecks on the blue/gray/green.
I'm the last person to support cross-pollenation, but in this case I think folks are just being dicks. Don't let 'em drive you away, ortho. Don't give 'em the satisfaction, at least.
And don't listen to anyone telling you how to post. They can shove it up their huge anuses.
You know what belongs on meta? Criticism of other people's posts. You don't like a topic, shut the fuck up in the comments. Here's some advice I myself rarely follow: Don't be a dick.
For crying out loud, I have no beef with you. But I hate seeing people told what to and not to do here. It smacks of there. Fuck off with that shit.
Just in case, I'm sure you know I din' mean you, ethylene. Them other meanies I was talkin' about. Who prolly wudna said shit if there hadna been a ruckus lass weak twix orth 'n' the star, IMNSHSFOAGDO. Or maybe they do have the courage of their convictions, and are just being pricks with barbs.
Me, I'm criticizing your criticism, and yeah, I'm telling you what not to do, and yeah, I'm being a dick. That's a sword I fall on from time to time.
This place isn't about that, and if you don't get my point, you won't. I'll back off now, because I hate polluting mecha. But it wasn't ortho who soured this thread, Eideteker, or me. It was you.
Sorry if I offended, and I hope our next exchange is more fun. And I hope ortho isn't driven away by this bullshit.
And, for the sake of ethylene, hugs. Really. Because this place is a lot of fun if you let it be. For everyone.
Ah, for the love of Christ. I didn't know the boy couldn't defend himself. Ortho, don't leave MeCha (though why you would over this thread is beyond me). I'll keep my opinions to myself from now on and only post pictures of bunnies (without comment, because something I say might offend someone).
Gee, you guys. It would just be too weird and kinky to have a whole "enemies" thing going on in fluffy little metachat, wouldn't it? I hope everyone can relax and let it go.
For the record here's our position:
Posts talking about problems with MeFi, Ask, etc. are generally discouraged because they should go to MeTa.
Posts complaining about or making fun of MeFi members are strongly discouraged, and if they are posted, the person being talked about will be emailed to alert them to the thread. If the person can't be contacted, the thread may be pulled.
The basic premise is that metachat is for stuff that doesn't belong at mefi: fooling around, getting advice about things that may not be right at AskMe, discussing topics that aren't mefi/ask material, survey questions that don't fit in there, games, music... all kinds of stuff.
But, we really don't want the mean, gossipy stuff, because we don't think it's fair or interesting.
What the hell, Hugh? hostility...dicks...pricks...fucking churl??? That hyperbole is some kind of twisted joke right?
And I'd like to set the record straight regarding the 'ruckus' last week. I did something stupid: I posted ortho's own words here to MetaTalk, without comment. The negativity which ensued at MetaChat consisted entirely of ranting and whining on ortho's part.
You guys must be right; I'm way outta line. Sorry. If it happens again, just chalk it up to a case of the crazies. Nothing I said here is worth repeating.
Lest anyone say I'm being passive-aggressive, I'm not. More like agressive-passive, with a beatdown in between. I see the error of my ways, and I don't have a dog in this race, and I should take my own advice and shut up a little more. And not post on threads like these.
I have some thoughts on this. OF COURSE I do. But keep in mind I’m no kind of professional writer, just a reader and a hack who occasionally writes some fiction for fun and who really, really, really, really, really, really, really enjoys thinking about sex in her free time. Which means my opinion is definitive and 100% correct, and anyone who disagrees is immediately a LOSAR--but then y’all knew that already, right?
Yeah dano, the "OF COURSE I do" link hits the nail on the head.
But my day might be brightening, as I've been laughing for the last few minutes at my coworker, who got together with a few old friends from college he hadn't seen for a while to go see a movie. They saw there was a cowboy movie on, and got all excited to see a shoot 'em up. Haha Brokeback Mountain bwaaa!
So as soon as the deal became apparent, he said all five of them just shrunk down in their seats and slid out the door.
Not that they are gay-unfriendly, but they were more looking for Unforgiven, I guess. Funny.
Hugh: I don't feel an apology is warranted; you were defending your views, as was I. We just disagreed. I was under the impression that "Ask" or other MeTa-fodder didn't belong here, and I'm sorry if my remarks were offensive (but c'mon, smartass is the order of the day around here, right?). I would never make a remark with the intention of getting someone to leave the community; everyone has something to add. I would always rather engage someone one-on-one (in rational debate, not flaming hostility) than pile-on; that's why I was so dismayed that it sounded like I was siding with TPS in my second comment. GROUPTHINK BAD!
I would also never beef with somebody online because of something they said. I don't like grudges; they tend to prevent you from learning and sharing information with people (please note I was serious when I asked ortho what he was looking for with his post; I did want to know). I respect you for standing up for your beliefs (what gets me is the people who repress and don't speak their minds; they drive me nuts). I've spent too much of my life apologizing for myself and am trying to learn to speak out. I know I'm tactless sometimes; I ask for understanding and in return will try to keep from being belligerent about it.
I appreciate the bunnies and the cutesy stuff, but hopefully I can also express my opinions (with a view towards not deliberately hurting any feelings). If I ever feel that my goals and views are irreconcilably out-of-keeping with the general MeCha consensus, I would rather leave myself than encourage someone else to flame out.
Thanks again for your understanding. Maybe next time I will just limit myself to: "WHAT. THE. FUCK. ORTHO."
Thanks, Eideteker. I turned grouchy not because of what you said, but because of where I saw it going. That wasn't really fair. I went off half-cocked because I saw that groupthink starting up, and because, little as I like mefi/ta/skme, I don't think it was a particularly bad post.
And so I connected it with last week's ortho-aggro, which I myself had thrown a few cents into, and jumped to conclusions.
Everybody's got a different take on this place. I used to love mefi/ta/skme, but got sick of the sysop's putdowns, and tired of my own inability to be a valued contributor there. Here I can be me, and also indulge my flights of fancy (and sometimes, alas, my flights of filth, hence the moniker).
Taz lays it out above, all-encompassed, but most of us are coming from one angle. I don't want to speak for orthogonality, but he seems to see mecha as an adjunct to the other three, where he can let off a little steam, or point out things he knows he can't over there (for whatever reason). I don't think he's wrong, and I think the guidelines here are loose enough to let him.
Anyway, I was wrong to put words in your mouth and then argue back. But usually when someone posts something here folks find unnecessary, those things just flounder with only a comment or two.
Ah, I've certainly overexplained myself here, but like always when I'm a jackass, I'm a jackass who cares. I'm just a big asshole, trying to be fair.
This just goes to show that everything we do here is purely for taz's amusement. We're just pawns in her game, actors in her play. You're sick, taz, and I like that.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
