what? August 16, 2007 8:55 AM   Subscribe

Curious why Poolio's first comment was deleted.
posted by sluglicker to MetaFilter-Related at 8:55 AM (91 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

In what thread?
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:56 AM on August 16, 2007


Some of the subsequent comments don't make a whole lot of sense.
posted by sluglicker at 8:56 AM on August 16, 2007


oops.
posted by sluglicker at 8:56 AM on August 16, 2007


Oh, wait, this one:

I walk very fast around NYC. There are a lot of big black men here, and I don't suck cock.

It was deleted because, well, it was that. We do our best to clean up the messes, but it can be tricky. I wasn't there, so I don't know if this is something currently being cleaned up or not; if so, you may have seen the job only half done.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:58 AM on August 16, 2007


The funny thing is, poolio totally DOES suck cock. He just really hates black dudes.
posted by jonson at 8:59 AM on August 16, 2007 [6 favorites]


I can't take all the BigBlackCockism on this site. I have a big black cock and I'm outraged! Matt, please e-mail me my 5 bucks back, and coolio's too, and some other five buckses as you see fit.
posted by Mister_A at 9:03 AM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


Okay, there were two responses that were still there and either just confusing or genuinely bizarre out of context; nixed.

When someone gets flagged to high heaven, the direct and indirect responses to the flagged thing don't always get flagged, which means non-sequiturs sometimes stick around afterward.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:06 AM on August 16, 2007


Ok. Well I got it right away and I thought it was funny. I didn't think it was racist or homophobic. Topical. I guess different takes for different...whatever. I'm not complaining or anything, and yes, I can see why some people might be offended by the comment, but maybe some people should lighten up a bit. Just sayin'.
posted by sluglicker at 9:08 AM on August 16, 2007


cortex: "When someone gets flagged to high heaven, the direct and indirect responses to the flagged thing don't always get flagged, which means non-sequiturs sometimes stick around afterward."

I call this a turnip vacation.
posted by Plutor at 9:12 AM on August 16, 2007 [3 favorites]


Sure, anybody who got the George Allen reference would likely smile or giggle or just groan slightly. Anybody who didn't get it—and pervasive, unanimous awareness of that one joke can hardly be presumed—saw something that looked just bizarrely racist. It's not a sense of humor thing, it's a being-aware-there's-even-a-joke thing.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:13 AM on August 16, 2007


That comment only made sense to people "in on the joke" of a previous thread, and even for those of us who get what he was referring to, it was totally offensive.

Good deletion.
posted by serazin at 9:13 AM on August 16, 2007


Oh, cortex covered what I said, only more clearly.
posted by serazin at 9:14 AM on August 16, 2007


I can see why some people might be offended by the comment, but maybe some people should lighten up a bit. Just sayin'

There are plenty of funny comments in the thread so it's entirely possible to make a joke without using race or sexuality as the hook. This one was so lame it didn't register very high on the ha-ha meter for me.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:16 AM on August 16, 2007


oh jeez, so it was a previous thread joke? double lame.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:17 AM on August 16, 2007


It was a stupid comment which turned into an almost immediate "you're an asshole" derail for which poolio apologized, iirc, so it seemed like just nipping those comments would ease up on further scorn and poolio is newish and a pretty good contributor so far, so I figured I'd give him the chance to not have a comment he immediately regretted hanging there continuing to piss people off.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:18 AM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


Fair enough. That's why you guys get paid the big bucks and I don't.
posted by sluglicker at 9:21 AM on August 16, 2007


Previous thread. And it's Bob Allen, of course—goddam power of suggestion.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:22 AM on August 16, 2007


There are a lot of fish in the sea, and I don't suck cock in full pirate regalia.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 9:23 AM on August 16, 2007


I call this a turnip vacation.

Huh? I don't get it.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 9:24 AM on August 16, 2007


It's not a sense of humor thing, it's a being-aware-there's-even-a-joke thing.

Sense the humor around you. Use your feelings you must.
posted by breezeway at 9:25 AM on August 16, 2007


Please people, from now on make obvious jokes that everyone finds funny so we can avoid this in the future.
posted by Falconetti at 9:27 AM on August 16, 2007 [3 favorites]


Was that, like, sarcastic or something?
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:30 AM on August 16, 2007


I infuse my humor with lemon zest.
posted by smackfu at 9:33 AM on August 16, 2007 [2 favorites]


Cock-up on the humour front!
posted by Abiezer at 9:37 AM on August 16, 2007


Was that, like, sarcastic or something?

Completely sincere. Nothing but respect for the three of you.
posted by sluglicker at 9:38 AM on August 16, 2007


No, not you, man. I was being all sarcastic about not knowing whether Falconetti sarcasm was sarcasm and, well, this just goes to show what a dangerous goddam game this internet humor stuff is.

Wear your seatbelts!
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:46 AM on August 16, 2007


Damn internet! I'm going to bed.
posted by sluglicker at 9:48 AM on August 16, 2007


they can have my keyboard when they pry it from my cold, dead hands
posted by pyramid termite at 9:51 AM on August 16, 2007


I always wondered why really possessive people don't move to tropical environments where their hands are less likely to get cold even when they are dead. Seems like that'd be a great way to spite their next of kin and such.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:55 AM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


You know who else thought referring to something in a new context somehow infused humor into the reference?
posted by grouse at 9:58 AM on August 16, 2007 [5 favorites]


there's a fish. in my pants.

Interesting. But the more relevant question is, does it vibrate?
posted by quin at 9:59 AM on August 16, 2007


"Please people, from now on make obvious jokes that everyone finds funny so we can avoid this in the future."

I always put my punchlines in the blink tag, so people can tell when I'm being facetious.
posted by klangklangston at 10:00 AM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


You know who else thought referring to something in a new context somehow infused humor into the reference?

Carlin? Stephen Wright?

Oh wait, I've got it: Carrot Top.
posted by quin at 10:01 AM on August 16, 2007 [2 favorites]


You know who else thought referring to something in a new context somehow infused humor into the reference?

Bing Hitler?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:17 AM on August 16, 2007


We can also avoid this if people stop thinking that the mere act of referring to something else in a new context somehow infuses humor into the reference.

This would be on par with the moon landing in my opinion.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:23 AM on August 16, 2007


Bad deletion. Coolio seemed apologetic and good-natured. If further anger and confusion had emerged he would have likely explained himself further, and the matter would be dead.
posted by Catfry at 10:26 AM on August 16, 2007


There was a thread a while (long while) back, where mathowie noted that his friends would eventually inject some Simpson's quote into a conversation. At that point, everyone knew the conversation was over, and they'd all start something else.

I suggest we call the circumstances before us Poolio's corollary to Mathowie's rule of de-contextualized quotations.
posted by boo_radley at 10:26 AM on August 16, 2007


Poolio, sorry.
posted by Catfry at 10:27 AM on August 16, 2007


The other day I was at the grocery store and the checker was unable to identify an infused reference. And no, she wasn't new...and to make matters worse the checker next to her didn't get it either.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:30 AM on August 16, 2007 [3 favorites]


Was that, like, sarcastic or something?
+
mathowie noted that his friends would eventually inject some Simpson's quote into a conversation
=
I don't even know anymore.
posted by Falconetti at 11:03 AM on August 16, 2007 [2 favorites]


I think it would be awesome if Coolio has an account here.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:04 AM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


Slide, slide, slippity slide!
posted by jonson at 11:08 AM on August 16, 2007


If Poolio had just had an open discussion with Weird Al about the Bob Allen parody in the first place, we could have avoided all this drama.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:09 AM on August 16, 2007


Slide, slide, slippity slide!

We ain't got no car.

Foo'.
posted by dersins at 11:20 AM on August 16, 2007


BUT KLANG YOUR LINE ABOUT BEING FACETIOUS MUST ITSELF BE FACETIOUS BUT THAT MEANS YOU ARE LYING ABOUT TELLING THE TRUTH OMG HEAD ASPLODE
posted by Mister_A at 11:22 AM on August 16, 2007


poolio is newish and a pretty good contributor so far

Why yes, just marvel at his ratio of posts to favorites! Here's a fellow who really knows how to maximize the Metafilter experience for one and all.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:32 AM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


Wait, Carrot Top sucks cock?
posted by NationalKato at 11:57 AM on August 16, 2007


Wow... I can't believe I'm being MetaTalked about. This is quite an honor, right?

FWIW, I had no problem with the deletion, and I apologize again to anyone who was offended by the comment (and to the mods, for creating the mess).
posted by Poolio at 12:30 PM on August 16, 2007


Carrot Top sucks cock

Try saying that five times fast in full pirate regalia.
posted by The Bellman at 12:56 PM on August 16, 2007


What does poolio being jewish have to do with anything?
posted by flashboy at 12:56 PM on August 16, 2007


Oh, hang on, wait.
posted by flashboy at 12:57 PM on August 16, 2007


What? I thought he was mexican?
posted by IronLizard at 2:31 PM on August 16, 2007


Dang. That is really hard to say.
posted by Don Pepino at 2:31 PM on August 16, 2007


cortext:If Poolio had just had an open discussion with Weird Al about the Bob Allen parody in the first place, we could have avoided all this drama.

I kind of wish I hadn't seen this. Since I am clearly incapable of expressing myself, I thought it was for the best I just shut up. So I did.

It had been my hope that my posting history coupled with years of self-disclosure might have served to mitigate my lack of coherence. I guess not.

It's really a shame that MeFi has become such a bastion of political correctness and snark that dissent, however muddled, is simply drowned out by the mob. While that element has always been present, it now seems to dominate. It probably doesn't help that an admin, someone who voluntarily took over a role as moderator and would be expected to set some sort of token example, is lighting the torches. Maybe there is more to this 'moderating' business than fighting for a seat at the popular table?

I doubt it matters, but I'll be shutting up now. I'll fade away for a year or so and I'm sure by then there will be some new feature in place so that comments, like the ones the bulk of you found so egregious, will never see the light of day.
posted by cedar at 2:44 PM on August 16, 2007 [3 favorites]


I thought Saalk cured Poolio.
posted by klangklangston at 2:46 PM on August 16, 2007 [3 favorites]


The same joke would have been funnier if it was in a context in which it wasn't such a stretch to make the connection. I got the reference, but it didn't really fit the thread.
posted by empath at 2:49 PM on August 16, 2007


It probably doesn't help that an admin, someone who voluntarily took over a role as moderator and would be expected to set some sort of token example, is lighting the torches.

What? It was a joke about the Amish Paradise flap years back, prompted by Catfry's innocent typo. Poolio doesn't seem to be taking any of this badly and I've got no beef with him either, so I'm not sure where the "lighting the torches" thing is coming from.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:56 PM on August 16, 2007


It probably doesn't help that an admin, someone who voluntarily took over a role as moderator and would be expected to set some sort of token example, is lighting the torches.

What? I can't even tell which of us you're bitching about, but it doesn't sound like anything either of us have been doing.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:10 PM on August 16, 2007


I don't understand cedar's comment at all. I mean, at all. Is it written in French? Because I don't speak French.
posted by jonson at 3:19 PM on August 16, 2007


Oh, I've been telling cedar that I'm a mod and I've been editing his comments to make him look crazy.

Also that he has to masturbate at bus stops.

So that's what all that's about. Sorry.
posted by klangklangston at 3:27 PM on August 16, 2007


Weird, because I was telling him he had to masturbate to make the bus stop.

Poor little devil is probably just crazy tired.
posted by quin at 3:32 PM on August 16, 2007


Okay, so cedar was involved in the Bob Allen thread, on review. Dude, I don't know if you're raw about that thread—it looks like it was pretty epic, and you in the center of it, so I could understand it being a touchy point—but I'm not clear what you think this thread has to do with it aside from the thin topical reference to Allen.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:35 PM on August 16, 2007


oh jeez, so it was a previous thread joke? double lame.

it was a current events joke. try to pay attention. i merely skimmed the story several days ago and i never saw Poolio's comment until i read it upthread here, and i got it instantly. and found it hilarious. as par for the course, a shitcock deletion, and as usual lately, based on cortex's knee-jerk reaction to the flag queue.

When someone gets flagged to high heaven, the direct and indirect responses to the flagged thing don't always get flagged, which means non-sequiturs sometimes stick around afterward.

see? he's not thinking, or even trying to be thorough and consistent. he's just reacting to flags. so, the membership had better take it upon themselves to vigorously flag all things directly and indirectly related to the initial flagged thing or else nyah nyah nyah, the mods will fuck the thread even worse than if they'd just left it alone.

what a neat deal!
posted by quonsar at 4:21 PM on August 16, 2007


as par for the course, a shitcock deletion, and as usual lately, based on cortex's knee-jerk reaction to the flag queue.

Yeah, you know? I wasn't the person who deleted it. So you're going to have to revise your policy argument back a couple years, there, if you've got an issue with the deletion, instead of weak-kneeing it with a cheap shot at the new guy. If, you know, your interest is in making a good faith argument about this instead of just trying for points.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:34 PM on August 16, 2007


ok then, they aren't thinking or trying to be consistent. they're just reacting to flags.
posted by quonsar at 4:42 PM on August 16, 2007


and it seems to me that the rampant deletion engine is fired synergistically. it's like the more of you there are, the worse it gets.
posted by quonsar at 4:44 PM on August 16, 2007


Curious why Poolio's first comment was deleted.

Verbs, the last refuge of the passive.
posted by blue_beetle at 4:47 PM on August 16, 2007 [2 favorites]


quonsar, if you persist in misusing 'shitcock' I'm going to have to pull your file. Again.

The HR lady's going to go ballistic.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:57 PM on August 16, 2007


Also that he has to masturbate at bus stops.

Bus Stop, Wet Day
He's there, I say
'Not on my umbrella..'
All the people stared
because he was fucking insane...

posted by jonmc at 5:01 PM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]


yeah I always thought "shitcock" was what happened when normal people had an audience and a pseudonym... that they would suddenly go from being decent people to irascible assholes. I can't see why quonsar would misuse it though...?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:05 PM on August 16, 2007


Isn't it ironic that I posted an FPP about Lenny Bruce today... don't you think?
posted by Poolio at 5:08 PM on August 16, 2007


Maybe cedar's first name is Al?

I think cedar thinks that cortex meant him when he said "If Poolio had just had an open discussion with Weird Al about the Bob Allen parody."

Whatever - cedar dude: cortex was not referring to you - he is not calling you "Weird Al." Yes, that thread was ugly for you, but just about everyone else has forgotten. I read that thread, and did not remember you as the dissenter. And even if I did, bfd ... most people aren't going to hold a dissenting opinion against you.
posted by madamjujujive at 5:10 PM on August 16, 2007


Man, if that's the case, that's a tremendous bit of serendipity, and would explain the weird reading. To be darn clear, cedar, it was in no way a reference to you. I was very much talking about Weird Al Yankovich.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:19 PM on August 16, 2007


"I was very much talking about Weird Al Yankovich."

This is why we must always use full names.
posted by klangklangston at 5:45 PM on August 16, 2007


Wait... isn't cedar's thing a joke cleverly disguised as a flameout? I think he is just doing the sarcastic thing with old tropes in new contexts to continue the funny. Surely?

a bastion of political correctness and snark that dissent, however muddled, is simply drowned out by the mob

That line is so familiar, I'm sure I've seen it before. See: in the new context, it's funny. Or maybe it just sets up the joke... but I'm one of those people who sees a joke coming and starts giggling preemptively.

I doubt it matters, but I'll be shutting up now. I'll fade away for a year or so and I'm sure by then there will be some new feature in place so that comments, like the ones the bulk of you found so egregious, will never see the light of day.


Come on!?! The old 'I'm never coming back' move? Added to the censorship gripe? He might as well call the admins 'stasi' and quote the line about how 'I didn't speak up when they came for the Jews, because I wasn't a Jew'! It's classic flameout humor, in a context where it rides the edge, making some who are unfamiliar with the genre suspect authenticity. However, I maintain that cedar is a comic genius. He's dry, there's no doubt... but the LOL gets through.
posted by anotherpanacea at 11:15 PM on August 16, 2007


You know who else thought referring to something in a new context somehow infused humor into the reference?

Chip Hitler?
posted by The Deej at 2:34 AM on August 17, 2007


Ah, comments that don't make sense anymore after whatever comment they're referencing has been deleted: in a perfect world it would be a fine thing if the mods could go clean 'em all out. But of course the mods are busy, and keeping up with all ensuing comments in any given thread can be time consuming and probably next to impossible. Recently, however, I had a comment in a thread in answer to a later-deleted comment, and when I went back to the thread my comment looked pretty strange. So, I emailed the mods, bringing it to their attention, and jessamyn graciously removed my comment from the thread.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:48 AM on August 17, 2007


The fact that flapjax at midnite maliciously accused Poolio so early in this thread of not only decapitating babies but sexually assaulting the gory neckholes while singing the Star-Spangled Banner and wearing a Dick Cheney mask, intimating that the hard choices he's forced to make for his performance art are somehow suspect -- well that was not only in bad taste and utterly uncalled-for, but factually inaccurate as well.

He'd never hurt a baby human.

posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:13 AM on August 17, 2007


cedar, qonsar.
Really strange, but it looks like a low member number doesn't guarantee a basic understanding of what is going on.

Sometimes I wonder if people really remember a time when Mefi was different or if they have always felt that Mefi wasn't up to their expectations. Is it "paradise lost" or just "chronic grumbling"?
posted by bru at 7:01 AM on August 17, 2007


it's "chronically lost".
posted by quonsar at 9:27 AM on August 17, 2007


Where I am it's just "paradise grumbling."
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:34 AM on August 17, 2007


God, that sounds Jimmy Buffet-esque.
posted by klangklangston at 11:12 AM on August 17, 2007


Where I am it's just "paradise grumbling."

Yeah, that stuff about the apple was just to avoid embarrassment in front of the grandchildren.

God gave Adam and Eve the boot because they wouldn't stop kvetching and couldn't be house-broken.
posted by jamjam at 2:17 PM on August 17, 2007


Woke up this morning stumbling
The very walls were crumbling
Another day in paradise
And paradise was grumbling
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:58 PM on August 17, 2007


you're on a roll lately, flap.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:03 PM on August 17, 2007


Hey, you've been an inspiration, lately, jessamyn! I got a book of songs as thick as the frikkin' phone book, though, I ain't lying. I gotta get more of 'em up on MeFi Music. (Just about to record my new "bridge" song...)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:12 PM on August 17, 2007


Why are we talking about Coolio? Did I move back to 1996? Are we going to start mourning Tupac's death again?
posted by dirigibleman at 1:24 AM on August 18, 2007


Some of us have never stopped mourning, you poseur.
posted by Ryvar at 4:30 AM on August 18, 2007


I'm loving the Coolio(Amish Paradise)/Coolio(misprint?)/Poolio confluence.

And I liked Poolio's out-of-context remark
posted by MtDewd at 9:33 AM on August 18, 2007


As a result of this thread, I've added a disclaimer to my profile regarding my relation (or lack thereof, as it were) to Coolio.
posted by Poolio at 7:38 PM on August 18, 2007


I missed this and the thread which spawned it, but after reading them I have to say that I think cedar was treated shamefully, his comments were read with the greatest amount of malice possible, and a simple glich in how the location algorithm works (hint, it doesn't show your actual house) was used as fuel for the fire. As much as I deplore racism (and I've spent plenty of time as an anti-racism activist), my opinion of several posters went out the window after reading their shit in that other thread.

I'll certainly miss cedar's infrequent contributions, and that isn't just rhetoric, I only saw these threads because I was checking his profile to see if he's been around lately.
posted by OmieWise at 12:29 PM on September 14, 2007


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