Karnofsky alarm?

May 11, 2008 4:53 AM

Isn't this Metafilter FPP slightly suspicious?

Let's review the evidence:

a) Double;
b) From a very recent member;
c) Single-link;
d) To the website of a notorious self-publicist and spammer.

My alarm is ringing pretty loudly there.

posted by Skeptic to Etiquette/Policy at 4:53 AM (26 comments total)

I don't know, dude. 105 answers in askme suggests this wasn't the first thing the poster thought about doing and the answers strike me as a legit effort by a sincere person. this would be a lot of effort to get one link in, which seems like too much work considering that he already has figured out he can spam journos directly.

the thread got a decent-sized discussion in the comments going, lots of which blast this mr. nissan on the shortcomings of his story, which is a pretty good indicator for how solid mefi can work. I'd suggest that has added value to the post, which otherwise was lacking.

my gut feeling? first-time front-page poster who didn't self-link but still needs to figure out what flies here and what doesn't.
posted by krautland at 5:07 AM on May 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

Krautland sums it up. This reads like a noob, not a spammer.
posted by Ryvar at 6:10 AM on May 11, 2008

then again - I'm no miko. where's the resident super-detective?
posted by krautland at 6:14 AM on May 11, 2008

Meh. It's too beautiful a spring mothers' day for CSI Mefi style. I found it a vaguely nostalgic post, as I remembered tooling around in my dad's butterscotch Datsun Z car.
posted by DenOfSizer at 6:47 AM on May 11, 2008

It's not a self-link by any measures I can check against (wrong area of the country, no identifying info matching anyone at nissan.com, etc), so I agree with krautland and others -- it's just a meh first link.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:37 AM on May 11, 2008

I'd give it a pass. Especially since one of the mods commented early on, then used his sockpuppet downthread.
posted by grateful at 7:41 AM on May 11, 2008

Yeah, everybody's first post is a first post, and some are more first-y than others. I couldn't see anything hinky about this one either.

...then used his sockpuppet downthread.

At the risk of spoiling dry humor with earnest explanation, I'm pretty sure that's not Matt's.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:46 AM on May 11, 2008

Isn't it sort of better to, I dunno, write the mods en masse about things like this? Of course I'm forever new, but that seems like something I might do in such a situation. But hey, that's just me, and no, I'm as sober as I get. And I love everybody.
posted by dawson at 7:49 AM on May 11, 2008

Damn cortex. Happy Fucking Mothers Day!
posted by grateful at 7:51 AM on May 11, 2008

Isn't this Metafilter FPP slightly suspicious?

Yessss, they are. Quarantine the lot of them until we can separate the infected from uninfected. If any try to escape them, snark them.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:15 AM on May 11, 2008

grateful: "Damn cortex. Happy Fucking Mothers Day!"

But I don't want to... oh, I see.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:30 AM on May 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, everybody's first post is a first post

And for some of us, all of our posts are first posts.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 9:45 AM on May 11, 2008

Prospective parents, take note:

Good names
Tommy Saab.
Beretta Ferrari.
Remington Ford.
Walther Renault.
Winchester Lincoln.
Spencer DeLorean.

Bad names
Colt Oldsmobile.
Spandau Citroën.
Sten Jeep.
Kalashnikov Volkswagen.
M16 BMW.
Uzi Nissan.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:16 AM on May 11, 2008 [7 favorites]

Spencer DeLorean will be the new Leonardo DiCaprio
posted by Cranberry at 12:08 PM on May 11, 2008

Why hasn't made the obligatory eponysterical joke about skeptic here yet? I don't want to do it...

ahem
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 12:52 PM on May 11, 2008

cortex: At the risk of spoiling dry humor with earnest explanation...

oh dear gods how did we end up inside a garfield comic
posted by heeeraldo at 1:12 PM on May 11, 2008

"Let's review the evidence:

a) Double;
b) From a very recent member;
c) Single-link;
d) To the website of a notorious self-publicist and spammer."

HOLD IT!

TAKE THAT!

OBJECTION!

NOT GUILTY!

Great job, Phoenix!
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:17 PM on May 11, 2008 [2 favorites]

But, um, yeah, it really is a double, so...?
posted by Sys Rq at 4:23 PM on May 11, 2008

Isn't this Metafilter FPP slightly suspicious?

Doesn't your user name mean slightly suspicious?
posted by nanojath at 7:46 PM on May 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

No
posted by blasdelf at 7:50 PM on May 11, 2008

Hehe, that wacky Marmaduke!
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:09 PM on May 11, 2008

Beretta Ferrari

What a great name for a spy/master of martial arts/pole dancer.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:31 AM on May 12, 2008

True story: I once wrote some soft-core porn under the name, "Vivienne DeLorean".
posted by misha at 7:32 AM on May 12, 2008

False story: ditto, except it was "VB.NET For Dummies".
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:34 AM on May 12, 2008

I'm so going to use Browning Bugatti or Luger Lamborghini as my new porno name, but in honor of Uzi Nissan, I think I'm going to go with Tavor Toyota instead.
posted by quin at 8:38 AM on May 12, 2008

Well, whoever that "sockpuppet" is should be given an award for best comment ever. Honestly, I say that thread should be sidebarred!
posted by GoingToShopping at 10:22 PM on May 15, 2008