Anarchy is Quashed

August 2, 2007 1:02 PM

Matthowie Prevents Mefi From Breaking Out Into Anarchy Again.
posted by craven_morhead to Etiquette/Policy at 1:02 PM (111 comments total)

Seriously. What the hell was going on?



I was a little worried I'd reached the end of the internet. Is this going to become common?
posted by craven_morhead at 1:03 PM on August 2, 2007

No it's not. Is linking to deleted threads in MeTa going to become common?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:05 PM on August 2, 2007 [8 favorites]

Perhaps. I was just curious as to why someone with a somewhat established posting history ends up posting something so far out of left field. Was it crossover from travel? Hijacked account?
posted by craven_morhead at 1:08 PM on August 2, 2007

Are you seriously protesting the deletion of a Pepsi-Blue(like) post on cell phone plans?!? Seriously?!?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:08 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

jessamYWNED.
posted by boo_radley at 1:08 PM on August 2, 2007

I was also curious what was up with allterrainbrain.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:09 PM on August 2, 2007

jessamywned isn't really rolling off the tongue the way I thought it would. Ah well; you win some, you lose some.
posted by boo_radley at 1:10 PM on August 2, 2007

pawnedamyn?

Anyway, I was curious, especially since allterrainbrain has been posting for a while, it's not like it's a $5 bid by T-Mobile to increace their user base.
posted by craven_morhead at 1:13 PM on August 2, 2007

Also, who's this Matthowie person?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:14 PM on August 2, 2007

jessamywned isn't really rolling off the tongue the way I thought it would.

In Welsh, that's where I'm unpronounceable (also a Viking).
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:15 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

It seemed to me to be the same principle as a self-link -- allterrainbrain got deep into something that was rilly rilly important to him/her (a T-Mobile coverage map), and got confused and erroneously decided it would also be rilly rilly important to the rest of us.

It's just the first time I've ever seen someone go, "Oh, the rest of MeFi clearly will care about this, based on that one comment in my AskMe, so I'll link to my own site or my buddy's... damn, forgot, I don't have my own site... I guess I'll just post the whole epic thing right here in the blue."

That's the only rationale I can figure.
posted by pineapple at 1:15 PM on August 2, 2007

T-Mo's information running through my brain...
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:17 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Also, who's this Matthowie person?

He's the new moderator here, for when Cortex and Jessamyn aren't around.
posted by inigo2 at 1:17 PM on August 2, 2007 [3 favorites]

Treaty of Teamobilia
posted by ludwig_van at 1:20 PM on August 2, 2007 [6 favorites]

jessamyn, linking to deleted threads is the new ceiling cat/longboat/ tag.
posted by Mister_A at 1:20 PM on August 2, 2007

Haha I meant to write [img] but instead wrote
posted by Mister_A at 1:21 PM on August 2, 2007

Mattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttthowie.

Whoa. I got lost in there for a while. It was like I was in an endlessly self-replicating alphanumeric vortex.

That's it. I'm not eating the brownies that come with my monthly T-Mobile statement EVER AGAIN.
posted by hermitosis at 1:23 PM on August 2, 2007

A++++++++++++++
Would read again.
Now I know not to get T-Mobile in Russia!
Speedy service!!!!!!!! Super A++++++++!!!
posted by jmd82 at 1:24 PM on August 2, 2007

"There's no "i" in T-Mobile, at least not where you'd think..."
posted by hermitosis at 1:25 PM on August 2, 2007 [3 favorites]

Perhaps this was the result of pent-up anger about iPhone posts.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:27 PM on August 2, 2007

Wow, that was impressive. It sort of defeats the purpose of a link, doesn't it, when you actually reproduce all of the information from that link within the first comment of the thread.
posted by shmegegge at 1:29 PM on August 2, 2007

Wow. That was really weird. I'm glad it was promptly deleted, but I'd actually hold off on the banhammer until some investigation is done. I'm thinking either hijacked account or medication failure.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:30 PM on August 2, 2007

I travel overseas a lot as do most people in my office; if you're US based, T-Mobile is the only game in town (Verizon and Sprint are CDMA and don't work outside the US* and Cingular is crappy, overpriced, and has no unlimited data roaming plans) so I don't think "Pepsi Blue" really applies. Checking T-Mobile's international coverage is a pain since they "updated" it a year ago. This is extremely useful but yeah, Metafilter isn't the place for it.

If the original OP (or anyone interested) is reading this, T-Mobile has a version of the Desktop Manager software (4.2 IIRC) that allows the user to connect the Blackberry to a PC via USB (no Bluetooth) to use as a modem. if you have an EDGE connection it's much faster than dialup. As of a few months ago wasn't generally available, was barely supported and a pain to configure, but they had a download available to business users and once it's working is a thing of beauty.

*Verizon has a GSM+CDMA phone that will work overseas but it sucks and costs an arm and a leg.
posted by Challahtronix at 1:34 PM on August 2, 2007

It's not banworthy. Probably a failure of judgment but it doesn't seem so terrible to me. I think it wanted to be like that post with all the youtube music videos.
posted by grobstein at 1:34 PM on August 2, 2007

Nope, not a hijacked account, unless her earlier AskMe was a hijack as well.
posted by iconomy at 1:35 PM on August 2, 2007

I'm leaning toward catastrophic momentary lapse of reason. allterrainbrain was being all sane and lucid a few minutes prior, so, hey.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:35 PM on August 2, 2007

That could have been a useful post in the new travel section. Is there any way to move it there?
posted by LarryC at 1:36 PM on August 2, 2007

Well I thought that the discussion was going really well; people were very respectful and thoughtful and suchlike, and once again excessive moderation has crushed a post because it appears to violate some amorphous community taboo against "weird giant piles of links about an international telecommunications conglomerate, the contents of which bore even huge geeks like us". WTF Matt?
posted by Mister_A at 1:40 PM on August 2, 2007 [6 favorites]

I don't know about you but I am switching mobile provider.

*realises T-Mobile doesn't have a service in New Zealand*

Now I agree with Mathowie - the deletion should stand.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 1:40 PM on August 2, 2007

You know, if I were pitching in the major leagues and Barry Bonds came to bat, I'd throw four fast ones high and inside. And I would continue to do this until he retired.
posted by Sailormom at 1:41 PM on August 2, 2007

Just because one's brain is built to take it doesn't mean one should go off-roading ALL the time.
posted by hermitosis at 1:42 PM on August 2, 2007

That was possibly one of the strangest things I've ever seen here.

Seriously.

I vote for medication failure.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 1:45 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

It will become no more common than someone posting a discussion in the Grey just because someone posted some strange bullshit that got deleted.
posted by absalom at 1:45 PM on August 2, 2007

I like the way T-Moible sounds.
posted by blue_beetle at 1:46 PM on August 2, 2007

I am drinking the blood of posters whose stuff gets deleted from Metafilter. When they are drained I drink the blood of posters who post about the deleted post to MetaTalk.
posted by poppo at 1:48 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh, and I'm sorry I hijacked allterrainbrain's medication.
posted by absalom at 1:49 PM on August 2, 2007

Why the constant need to report back a deletion and argue over its merits?

As for allterrainbrain's rambling post, everyone is entitled to one brain fart every once in a while.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 1:53 PM on August 2, 2007

the impression I got was that the OP of THIS thread was not questioning the deletion, but rather wondering where the hell such a bizarre post came from.
posted by shmegegge at 1:56 PM on August 2, 2007

That's the real question of the moment.

No, the question is whether it is fresh
posted by poppo at 1:56 PM on August 2, 2007

Oddly, that info is really useful to me right now for much of the same reasons that challahtronix mentioned above.

So...thanks allterrainbrain...but, uh, yeah, cut it out too!
posted by vacapinta at 1:58 PM on August 2, 2007

There's already a film version in the works, with Michael Caine slated to play Mathowie.
posted by Mister_A at 2:00 PM on August 2, 2007

It's a useful post.

Too bad the OP didn't post it to as an AskMe answer.
posted by small_ruminant at 2:03 PM on August 2, 2007

mattmobilehowie?

And WTFwfrgms? Why did you have to invoke MY name in blinking text? I don't use T-ShirtMobile, I have a pay-as-you-go cheapo phone from the Mexican Mobile Mogul.
posted by wendell at 2:05 PM on August 2, 2007

It's because your name is an anagram of "Lewd Len", that's why.
posted by Mister_A at 2:08 PM on August 2, 2007

I'd just like to add that Kylie Minogue's "Slow" is probably the most sexy "sexy song" that has ever been produced. I mean, "sexy songs" usually means "Je t'aime..." and "Erotica" and such gems, but "Slow" is in a league of it's own.

• KYLIE: A (100%)

posted by soundofsuburbia at 2:08 PM on August 2, 2007

... Lotta hate for a non-malicious mistake. It's 100% clear that I did it wrong this time, but all I want to do on mefi is share info. I have zero affiliation with T-Mo. I have a substantial history here. After 350+ thoughtful/serious AskMe answers including many Best-Answers, this is the first incident like this I've been involved with.
posted by allterrainbrain at 2:10 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Come on, we're just kidding.
posted by Mister_A at 2:13 PM on August 2, 2007

Glug, glug, glug, I'm still drinking your blood
posted by poppo at 2:13 PM on August 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

But seriously, I think you could repost it to travel.
posted by smackfu at 2:14 PM on August 2, 2007

I don't think it's a lot of hate, it's mainly just a lot of ?
posted by chinston at 2:14 PM on August 2, 2007

Except the Travel Smart category is only for questions. Bummer.
posted by smackfu at 2:14 PM on August 2, 2007

Seriously allterrainbrain, that was some funny shit. It didn't seem malicious. I was amazed at the steadfast earnestness in your desire to share the information. I almost forgot it was on MetaFilter.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:19 PM on August 2, 2007

That's the only rationale I can figure.

Not saying this is true here, but I can think of another rationale that might apply in similar situations: astroturfing.

Specifically, I remember (but could not locate) something posted her a while back about a marketing company looking to hire a couple of hundred people to sign up for sites like this, spend months being "legitimate", then using that legitimatcy to seed marketing info into the board.

So, again, I'm not saying that's what happened HERE -- but I can guarantee 100% that at least a few of the people on this very web site are establishing legitimacy for this exact purpose.

he's...right...BEHIND YOU!
posted by davejay at 2:20 PM on August 2, 2007

legitimatcy: the kind of credibility one can obtain only by excelling at Katamari Damacy
posted by davejay at 2:21 PM on August 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

I'M NOT WORKING FOR T-MO

thank you that is all :)
posted by allterrainbrain at 2:22 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'd have more respect for this callout if it hadn't been made with some loser's sockpuppet.
posted by Dave Faris at 2:23 PM on August 2, 2007

cortex, did you favorite that post to save as an example of what not to do in a FPP, or are you thinking of switching cell phone providers?
posted by Gamblor at 2:24 PM on August 2, 2007

That could have been a useful post in the new travel section.

Shhhhhhhhhh. They'll hear you.
posted by timeistight at 2:31 PM on August 2, 2007

Where you at, dawg?
posted by Gamblor at 2:33 PM on August 2, 2007

More the former than the latter, Gamblor. I'm already on T-Mobile. I just collect strange mefi events sometimes.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:35 PM on August 2, 2007

"After 350+ thoughtful/serious AskMe answers including many Best-Answers, this is the first incident like this I've been involved with."

You know who else's history was clean until the first Jew was gassed?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:39 PM on August 2, 2007

And I see I misinterpreted the posting as a callout on Matt. Many apologies to the loser who posted this and his sockpuppet.
posted by Dave Faris at 2:40 PM on August 2, 2007

And WTFwfrgms? Why did you have to invoke MY name in blinking text? I don't use T-ShirtMobile, I have a pay-as-you-go cheapo phone from the Mexican Mobile Mogul.
posted by wendell

Mexican Mobile Mogul. Now that's a band name, wendell. I'll promise to give you credit for it if you promise not to sue.
posted by micayetoca at 2:41 PM on August 2, 2007

IG Farben?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:42 PM on August 2, 2007

You should repost it as a Wikipedia article. It's a toss-up as to what deletion reason they'd pick from their stable: "Original Research" or "Patent Nonsense"?
posted by blasdelf at 2:45 PM on August 2, 2007

Sigh, Remember the old days when posters used More Inside? It was so popular that Intel copied it.
posted by Cranberry at 2:52 PM on August 2, 2007

You know who else's history was clean until the first Jew was gassed?

Lindsay Lohan?
posted by djgh at 2:54 PM on August 2, 2007

oh, and btw, Michael Caine is much too old to play mathowie in the film version. He would need a wig, brown contacts and a Michael Cane. (Sorry)
posted by Cranberry at 2:58 PM on August 2, 2007

You know who else's history was clean until the first Jew was gassed?

These guys?
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:01 PM on August 2, 2007

allterrainbrain, it wasn't hate, just confusion. not really a callout, more of a "man, that was WEIRD."


And Dave, I'm not a sockpuppet, just a bona-fide loser.
posted by craven_morhead at 3:04 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'M NOT WORKING FOR T-MO

So then who are you working for? Hmmm?
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:07 PM on August 2, 2007

So then who are you working for? Hmmm?

Fark?
posted by Tuwa at 3:14 PM on August 2, 2007

jessamYWNED... ...isn't really rolling off the tongue the way I thought it would.

I hear it as jessa-moaned. And the fact that I'm still thinking about this some 60 comments later, suggests that I have obsessive compulsive issues I might need to look into.
posted by quin at 3:16 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessaminced?
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:33 PM on August 2, 2007

"Jessaminced?"

I like.
posted by craven_morhead at 3:34 PM on August 2, 2007

ATB: Seriously, I think the overall tone of this post is one of bemusement and amusement, not one of anger and wrath.
posted by absalom at 3:44 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessaminx?
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 3:50 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessamunched, as in the post has been eaten.
posted by Catfry at 3:51 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessaminced, Diced and Made Julienne Fries...
posted by wendell at 3:53 PM on August 2, 2007

librariOWNED?
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 4:07 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessadmin
posted by Toekneesan at 4:23 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessamaxxed
posted by ludwig_van at 4:31 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessamacated.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 4:33 PM on August 2, 2007

In rereading the OOP I think the problem is that a) the blue isn't the best place for it, and b) it isn't framed very well, several people have essentially said "why should I care?" since "worldwide e-mail" doesn't have mass appeal. But you also get a modem, a web browser, a version of google maps, IM, GPS software, and other stuff I haven't even considered for $50/month unlimited data use while int'l roaming text messages are $0.35 a pop. You can show up in a strange city and instead of having to ask a seedy cab driver where to stay and where to go and not go, you can pull up travel.metafilter.com, google or even babelfish (or PM languagehat;). You can send pictures instantaneously and cheaply. No more trying to figure out how to type on foreign keyboards or wondering what spyware is installed on the internet cafe PC you're using. Considering the alternatives for USers are 1) phones that don't work outside the US or 2) AT&T, a company that voluntarily gives up your personal data, doesn't unlock phones in a lot of cases (preventing one from buying a local SIM card abroad so you have to pay their $1-5/minute international roaming rates for outbound and incoming phone calls), and doesn't offer an unlimited data roaming plan meaning that you'll be hosed if you try using your new iPhone outside the US.

<sub>I have no affiliation with T-Mobile other than paying them for service every month.

also, Jessaphoned.</sub>
posted by Challahtronix at 4:34 PM on August 2, 2007

(Verizon and Sprint are CDMA and don't work outside the US*

FWIW, my Verizon LG phone (the chiclet one they gave me free with the contract) worked just fine in Beijing. I was surprised at how cheap the roaming charge was when I got the bill.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:43 PM on August 2, 2007

You guys seriously creep me out.
posted by bkudria at 4:51 PM on August 2, 2007

Come on over to my house, bkudria. We'll have a meetup, iykwim.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:53 PM on August 2, 2007

Kirth Gerson, I stand corrected. As of 18 months ago when I did a lot of my research they only had one phone that was global and it was extremely expensive. Apparently they have several handsets that can work outside the US now. From Verizon's website:
International roaming requires digital or tri-mode CDMA phone with current roaming software.
And they have a decent amount of them now. I don't kknow what their policy of phone as modem (DUN) is now but it used to be disabled in the device itself by Verizon, that may have changed.
posted by Challahtronix at 4:55 PM on August 2, 2007

"So then who are you working for? Hmmm?"

The Weekend.
posted by klangklangston at 5:15 PM on August 2, 2007

"Treaty of Teamobilia", ludwig_van

Just favorite-ing it is not enough, favorite-ed and quoted.
posted by Iron Rat at 5:20 PM on August 2, 2007

Yeah, but everybody's working for the weekend.
posted by misha at 5:58 PM on August 2, 2007

Am I alone in thinking the community would benefit by a high-profile perma-ban? Some real dickhead moves around here lately, and way too much whining about the admins.
posted by mds35 at 6:36 PM on August 2, 2007

Yall got it all wrong. It's pronouced "jessam-yawned."
posted by BeerFilter at 7:00 PM on August 2, 2007

I'm creeped out too. I look to this place for "the best of the web," and if that's the product of somebody's hard work and insight, so much the better. Beats the hell out of (no offense intended) a post about an actor's vanity album.
posted by atchafalaya at 7:38 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessamated?
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:04 PM on August 2, 2007

Seriously, if the deletion of that post creeps you out about mefi, you may want to just leave now.
posted by jacalata at 8:17 PM on August 2, 2007

So these phones, they vibrate?
posted by box at 8:19 PM on August 2, 2007

Jessamooned?
posted by tehloki at 8:46 PM on August 2, 2007

Oh, I see I am rather late with that one.

remember, preview, goddamnit
posted by tehloki at 8:47 PM on August 2, 2007

Burhanistan, I think jacalata was talking to atchafalaya. I also think that the previous sentence is pretty wacky looking out of context.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:48 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Certainly not those atchafalayatic jacalatin Burhanistanis.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:57 PM on August 2, 2007

Burhanistan, I think jacalata was talking to atchafalaya.

Since World War Two there is no longer a Ataratinali or a Perparpklin...
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:03 PM on August 2, 2007

Anarchism prevented, perhaps, but there is a Maoist faction that has been mass spamming other MetaFilter members with PDF copies of the Little Red Book.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:54 PM on August 2, 2007

Looks like my little T 'o' Westphalia meme is getting all growed up. It hardly seems like a year and a fortnight since I sired it (though the circumstances of that mating were a bit unsavory).
posted by sourwookie at 10:06 PM on August 2, 2007

That was yours, sourwookie? I guess that makes you Nietzsche to my Hitler. Nice to know who to shift the blame onto for my massive lapse in judgment, thank you.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:45 PM on August 2, 2007

Hey, so Elton John, of all people, said the internet should be shut down. After reading the gray this week, I agree. With Elton John.
posted by ninjew at 11:15 PM on August 2, 2007

craven_morhead: "Was it crossover from travel? Hijacked account?"

Blazecock Pileon: "Perhaps this was the result of pent-up anger about iPhone posts."

dirtynumbangelboy: "I vote for medication failure."

No. None of those things. The motivation behind this post was obvious to me the moment I saw it: it's revenge.
posted by koeselitz at 11:46 PM on August 2, 2007

I'm the mothaflippin

rhymenocerous
posted by ludwig_van at 12:54 AM on August 3, 2007

I remember the last time anarchy broke out in the Filter. Tearing up cobblestones along Rue Seau de Cocque; spontaneous networks of AskMe queriers arranging food supplies for the brave women and men at the barricades.
Yes, there was fear and bloodshed as the dark forces of the Web 2.0 imperium took back the site thread by hard-fought thread, but we breathed free in that sweet interlude; full in our humanity and conscious of our own power for the first time in generations.
A seed was planted beneath the smoking ruins made by the cannonades of the mercenary legions and some bright autumn we will harvest that sweetest of fruits, true liberty.
posted by Abiezer at 2:34 AM on August 3, 2007 [2 favorites]

Challahtronix, the Beijing experience was last fall, but I've had the phone for about 4 years. Maybe one of the firmware updates turned the capability on.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:40 AM on August 3, 2007

MetaFilter: 90%, extends well into water
posted by Eideteker at 4:31 AM on August 3, 2007