25 new posts about how it doesn't say that.

November 27, 2007 3:02 PM

Very short question. Why does it say 'X new links' when most posts here don't have links? Shouldn't it say 'X new posts or X new flameouts/hugesexismthreads/podcasts'?
posted by Memo to Bugs at 3:02 PM (36 comments total)

To be clear, you're talking specifically about the Metatalk front page, right?

But, yeah, "posts" would make a hell of a lot more sense. I think metatalk just didn't get that bit of facelift. Metatalk always gets the bum deal.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:06 PM on November 27, 2007

Yes, I'm talking about the front page of metatalk. Sorry about that.
posted by Memo at 3:07 PM on November 27, 2007

posts seems the most appropriate

(though I'm tempted to change it to: waaahaaaa my favorite feature doesn't work anymore please advise)
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:22 PM on November 27, 2007 [4 favorites]

There's a link to each new post, silly.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:28 PM on November 27, 2007

1 new link and 29 flameouts posted since your last visit
posted by shakespeherian at 3:34 PM on November 27, 2007 [3 favorites]

It says new links in the blue, too, but "3 new links since your last visit" isn't technically correct if an individual post contains more than one link. Funny, I was just thinking about asking about this in Metatalk.
posted by emelenjr at 3:36 PM on November 27, 2007

Yes, the correct phrasing would be "3 new links and most likely a shitload of stupid padding."
posted by Wolfdog at 3:41 PM on November 27, 2007 [3 favorites]

Metatalk always gets the bum deal.

Except when it comes to rounded corners. That's where it's a Scandinavian seafaring warrior.
posted by quin at 4:09 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

7 new ponies requested and 521 unique snowflakes posted since your last visit
posted by 31d1 at 4:27 PM on November 27, 2007

Something has happened since you were last here. See if you can figure out what it is.
posted by trip and a half at 4:31 PM on November 27, 2007 [9 favorites]

This post says "very short question." Shouldn't it say "two questions of moderate length?"
posted by koeselitz at 4:38 PM on November 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

I have a completely unrelated question that I didnt' feel like wasting an AskMe on.

Why does everyone say "Please advise." in emails that they send to tech support? Where do they learn this? Is this something they teach in school or something?
posted by empath at 4:56 PM on November 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

empath: It is because the help desk techie cannot see the caller/emailer wringing his/her hands and sobbing.
posted by Cranberry at 5:01 PM on November 27, 2007

Think of it as an insider thing -- backstage, away from the warmly glowing stagelights of Mefi and the comfortable velvet chairs of Ask, there's Meta: unfinished walls that are just the 2x4s with canvas staple-gunned to them, a bare bulb swinging from its cord, a couple of paint-stained folding chairs.
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:02 PM on November 27, 2007 [4 favorites]

Yeah, it just seems like a weird phrase to me, and yet its in every third email I get.
posted by empath at 5:02 PM on November 27, 2007

Why does everyone say "Please advise." in emails that they send to tech support?

Because they are used to emails to tech support vanishing off into the darkness, perhaps never to be heard from again. "Please advise" is their polite way of asking tech support to keep them in the loop, or at least give them some clue when/if the issue will ever be addressed.
posted by Karmakaze at 5:06 PM on November 27, 2007

At least 'please advise' makes sense. I get emails from people that say 'please revert', thinking that 'revert' means 'reply'.
posted by chrismear at 5:10 PM on November 27, 2007

Also, instead of "welcome back username," in MeTa it should say "fuck off username."
posted by languagehat at 5:12 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Perhaps the liked the previous guy better, chrismear.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:15 PM on November 27, 2007

Think of it as an insider thing -- backstage, away from the warmly glowing stagelights of Mefi and the comfortable velvet chairs of Ask, there's Meta: unfinished walls that are just the 2x4s with canvas staple-gunned to them, a bare bulb swinging from its cord, a couple of paint-stained folding chairs.

And a bloodstained floor and a sort of farty smell.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:19 PM on November 27, 2007

Also, instead of "welcome back username," in MeTa it should say "fuck off username."

You can change that with Greasemonkey.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:43 PM on November 27, 2007 [3 favorites]

Story of my goddamn life, Wolfdog.
posted by chrismear at 5:47 PM on November 27, 2007

I'll take responsibility for the farty smell, but I swear, I had nothing to do with the blood on the floor.

I've been taking this medication that I found.

On this body...

Shit. Nevermind.
posted by quin at 5:55 PM on November 27, 2007

"Also, instead of 'welcome back username,' in MeTa it should say 'fuck off username.'"

Are you saying it doesn't say that for you? 'Cause it sure as shit says it for me.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:29 PM on November 27, 2007

"Please advise" to me, means "This is not a rhetorical question. The water is waist-high and rising and even if you don't know how to drain this swamp or even how to get me out of here, I'd like you to reply with something... swimming lessons, how to use my co-workers as a flotation device, something."
posted by wendell at 6:34 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Origin of "please advise."
posted by Partial Law at 6:40 PM on November 27, 2007

empath writes "Why does everyone say 'Please advise.' in emails that they send to tech support? Where do they learn this? Is this something they teach in school or something?"

Sounds to my ears like something that came from the days of telegrams. "GERMAN ARMY ADVANCING STOP SUPPLIES LOW STOP PLEASE ADVISE"
posted by Bugbread at 6:47 PM on November 27, 2007

What a diverse group of wits & half-wits this Algonquin link contains, Partial Law: Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Franklin P. Adams, Robert E. Sherwood, Harpo Marx, Alexander Woollcott, Harold Ross, George S. Kaufman, Heywood Broun, Marc Connelly, Edna Ferber - Just like Metafilter
posted by growabrain at 6:53 PM on November 27, 2007

Wait, so why does my greeting say "Get off the damn internet... nobody wants you here, Miss Lynnster"?

That's kind of mean, you guys.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:12 PM on November 27, 2007

Mine just says "You Again?".

Kind of like when I visit mom...
posted by pupdog at 8:38 PM on November 27, 2007

Mine says "This will not..."

How do it know?
posted by wendell at 9:11 PM on November 27, 2007

Metafilter: how to use my co-workers as a flotation device
posted by lonefrontranger at 9:30 PM on November 27, 2007

This isn't the place for it, but I'm annoyed by a couple of comments. (1)(2)

They're really bugging me, but I can't bring myself to flag them. Am I just being cranky?
posted by ODiV at 9:43 PM on November 27, 2007

GERMAN ARMY ADVANCING STOP SUPPLIES LOW STOP PLEASE ADVISE

WNW TO CALAIS CHUNNEL TO FOLKESTONE STOP ADVISE CENTRAL FISH BAR AVOID CHUMMY CHIPIE
posted by oneirodynia at 9:56 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Wow. This point is totally valid but vanishingly insignificant. What amazes me is that it took years for someone to point it out. We usually pounce on vanishingly insignificant shit. This one was staring us in the face for how long? Wow. Hats off to the OP.
posted by scarabic at 10:03 PM on November 27, 2007

You can change that with Greasemonkey.

Mine says "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".
I was listening to Michael Jackson when I installed the script, which I promptly forgot doing.

Unfortunately I forgot to put a comma after "Enough", and it freaked the shit out of me the next time I noticed it.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:05 PM on November 27, 2007