The Yankees still suck December 2, 2009 6:50 PM Subscribe
I realize we have sort of a policy of not editing posts, but is there any chance an update could be added to the NY Marriage Equality post?
Because honestly, I felt pretty good reading the first 200-or-so comments and the letdown really sucked.
Also, I sounded like a moron when I proclaimed victory to a friend only to find out many comments later that I was completely wrong.
Because honestly, I felt pretty good reading the first 200-or-so comments and the letdown really sucked.
Also, I sounded like a moron when I proclaimed victory to a friend only to find out many comments later that I was completely wrong.
I kind of agree with this one: The reality is so coldly contrary to the overoptimistic pronouncement of the post, it deserves the rare update note to correct that impression.
posted by nanojath at 6:59 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by nanojath at 6:59 PM on December 2, 2009
i honestly wondered why the post stayed in the first place...
we've had discussions before about whether or not real time events still unfolding posts are useful/good for metafilter.
the 9/11 thread is a great example of it being good. balloon boy is an example of it being terrible. this thread, to me, is closer to balloon boy than 9/11 (not in weight of importance, just in, necessity for it to be unfolding in real time). it seems like if it had been made a few hours later, we chould have gotten a really fleshed out post about the state of gay marriage in america and how NY failure adds to that landscape.
posted by nadawi at 7:02 PM on December 2, 2009
we've had discussions before about whether or not real time events still unfolding posts are useful/good for metafilter.
the 9/11 thread is a great example of it being good. balloon boy is an example of it being terrible. this thread, to me, is closer to balloon boy than 9/11 (not in weight of importance, just in, necessity for it to be unfolding in real time). it seems like if it had been made a few hours later, we chould have gotten a really fleshed out post about the state of gay marriage in america and how NY failure adds to that landscape.
posted by nadawi at 7:02 PM on December 2, 2009
i think there are plenty of places on the internet to talk about news as it unfolds. i think that metafilter, by an large, strives to report news that's already happened. i'm often glad to come here 3 or 4 days after a story has been splashed over every blog and news site and get a well rounded, full story on metafilter.
i don't feel like rehashing all the same arguments about balloon boy, so feel free to get caught up here
and it's sort of the same thing here, minus the lulz. while the thread might have been enjoyable at the time, now, less than 12 hours later, we're left with a post that isn't well rounded, and was, sadly, ultimately incorrect.
posted by nadawi at 7:32 PM on December 2, 2009
i don't feel like rehashing all the same arguments about balloon boy, so feel free to get caught up here
and it's sort of the same thing here, minus the lulz. while the thread might have been enjoyable at the time, now, less than 12 hours later, we're left with a post that isn't well rounded, and was, sadly, ultimately incorrect.
posted by nadawi at 7:32 PM on December 2, 2009
That thread is a prime example of the the original poster getting everyone psyched up when in reality the bill probably didn't have a chance of passing. The lesson here is not count your chickens before they're hatched, especially over contentious issues like gay rights. Every other time getting gay marriage legal was a pretty big fight, I don't know what made everyone, including me, think it was going to "slip under the radar" this time.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:34 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:34 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.
I know, it's damned sad. I don't see it as a great reason to start editing posts however.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:37 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
I know, it's damned sad. I don't see it as a great reason to start editing posts however.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:37 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
The post is ten hours old and introduces itself as breaking news. It should probably be sufficient indication that the post's no longer timely. Sorry that you got caught out by the enthusiasm, but there are a lot of moment-by-moment dedicated news resources out there to check what had happened in the half-a-day since.
posted by ardgedee at 7:39 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by ardgedee at 7:39 PM on December 2, 2009
How was the balloon boy thread not enjoyable?
Several people actually thought there was a boy in the balloon and were shrieking at everyone else to be terribly terribly serious and respectful about the whole farce. That was kind of sad - they were genuinely upset but the whole thing was so stupid. It takes all the fun out of snarking.
posted by nowonmai at 8:01 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Several people actually thought there was a boy in the balloon and were shrieking at everyone else to be terribly terribly serious and respectful about the whole farce. That was kind of sad - they were genuinely upset but the whole thing was so stupid. It takes all the fun out of snarking.
posted by nowonmai at 8:01 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
That thread is a prime example of the the original poster getting everyone psyched up when in reality the bill probably didn't have a chance of passing.
The thing is, at the time there was genuine reason to believe it was. The postmortem is evolving, but the bill had been stalled for a long time as "We're not bringing it to the floor until we know we can win, even if just barely," and the supporters who brought it there didn't say "We hope it will pass" but "It will pass." Preliminary suspicion seems to be that some key flip vote (I'm hearing Addabbo's name bandied around a lot) flipped back after the vote was announced, and started a stampede of the other fence-sitters. It's also worth noting that some of the No votes were elected with nontrivial amounts of gay money and support - Addabbo and Monserrate in particular - and it really didn't seem strange to think of these guys joining in with sanity.
Anyway, point is, in retrospect it went down hard, but it shouldn't have even been brought up if it didn't stand a good chance of winning, so I think cautious optimism at the time was totally reasonable.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:01 PM on December 2, 2009
The thing is, at the time there was genuine reason to believe it was. The postmortem is evolving, but the bill had been stalled for a long time as "We're not bringing it to the floor until we know we can win, even if just barely," and the supporters who brought it there didn't say "We hope it will pass" but "It will pass." Preliminary suspicion seems to be that some key flip vote (I'm hearing Addabbo's name bandied around a lot) flipped back after the vote was announced, and started a stampede of the other fence-sitters. It's also worth noting that some of the No votes were elected with nontrivial amounts of gay money and support - Addabbo and Monserrate in particular - and it really didn't seem strange to think of these guys joining in with sanity.
Anyway, point is, in retrospect it went down hard, but it shouldn't have even been brought up if it didn't stand a good chance of winning, so I think cautious optimism at the time was totally reasonable.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:01 PM on December 2, 2009
Because honestly, I felt pretty good reading the first 200-or-so comments and the letdown really sucked.
But that's part of the beauty of it: it's dramatic irony.
The audience members (we, the readers in the future) know something that the actors (early commenters in the thread) don't yet know.
Besides, where would it all end? Editing old PalinFilter threads with a note to say [by the way, Palin didn't end up becoming VP - jessamyn]...?
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:10 PM on December 2, 2009
But that's part of the beauty of it: it's dramatic irony.
The audience members (we, the readers in the future) know something that the actors (early commenters in the thread) don't yet know.
Besides, where would it all end? Editing old PalinFilter threads with a note to say [by the way, Palin didn't end up becoming VP - jessamyn]...?
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:10 PM on December 2, 2009
I'm gonna go out on a bit of a limb and predict that that thread will stand the test of time as one of the great political liveblogging dramas on MeFi. That it went against prevailing site opinion is a side issue.
posted by telstar at 8:30 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by telstar at 8:30 PM on December 2, 2009
I trusted the wrong people.
What Tomorrowful said above is, as best I can tell, what was going on with Kos and Duane when they told everyone it was a fait accompli. They thought they had the votes but things collapsed at the last second.
I wrote the mods shortly after the bill failed and asked if it should be amended, not being sure myself, and Cortex said no almost instantly. For what it's worth I think only two people have popped in after the fact to celebrate incorrectly.
I really wish I'd said "apparently" or some other hedge word, but sadly it never occurred to me that sponsors and major supporters of the bill would declare its imminent passage if there was still any chance things could go south. When I hit POST it looked like clear skies.
posted by gerryblog at 8:37 PM on December 2, 2009
What Tomorrowful said above is, as best I can tell, what was going on with Kos and Duane when they told everyone it was a fait accompli. They thought they had the votes but things collapsed at the last second.
I wrote the mods shortly after the bill failed and asked if it should be amended, not being sure myself, and Cortex said no almost instantly. For what it's worth I think only two people have popped in after the fact to celebrate incorrectly.
I really wish I'd said "apparently" or some other hedge word, but sadly it never occurred to me that sponsors and major supporters of the bill would declare its imminent passage if there was still any chance things could go south. When I hit POST it looked like clear skies.
posted by gerryblog at 8:37 PM on December 2, 2009
Despite the text of the post being proven hugely super mega wrong (lesson: always be cautiously optimistic), it was kind of a pretty kick-ass thread, drama-wise. I mean, come on, tragic plot twist? How often does that happen on MeFi?
Still, yeah, in future, it'd probably be wise to not cheerily highlight how you're two days away from retirement and you're on your way to celebrate your silver wedding anniversary and your wife is about to have a baby and everything's finally going your way and blah blah blah right before boarding the airplane.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:37 PM on December 2, 2009
Still, yeah, in future, it'd probably be wise to not cheerily highlight how you're two days away from retirement and you're on your way to celebrate your silver wedding anniversary and your wife is about to have a baby and everything's finally going your way and blah blah blah right before boarding the airplane.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:37 PM on December 2, 2009
The thread has also taken a really bad turn in the last few hours, which is a separate issue. It was supposed to be the world's most awesome dance party.
posted by gerryblog at 8:38 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by gerryblog at 8:38 PM on December 2, 2009
That post made me cry on BART. It really was harsh.
posted by iamkimiam at 9:02 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by iamkimiam at 9:02 PM on December 2, 2009
The post should be left as is. It should serve as a reminder to folks that quislings and moral cowards and apologists walk among us and continue to fuck up our lives to this day.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:35 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:35 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
Can't speak to Duane, but this may be a good lesson learned that Kos is terribly terribly unreliable at times, and perhaps should not be used as a source for breaking news.
and, damn I say that wishing he had been correct.
posted by edgeways at 10:02 PM on December 2, 2009
and, damn I say that wishing he had been correct.
posted by edgeways at 10:02 PM on December 2, 2009
Kos is terribly terribly unreliable at times, and perhaps should not be used as a source for breaking news
MeFi even more so.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:07 PM on December 2, 2009
MeFi even more so.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:07 PM on December 2, 2009
I had no idea what was happening, it was one of the first links I clicked on this morning, and it was quite dramatic. There was a lot of copy-pasting of speeches, and like someone unable to avoid a spoiler, I flipped over to the NYT to see what happened.
I honestly think that the thread is one of the best demonstrations, up with the locked in the room AskMe, of how close this place is as a community. The joy, the congratulations, then the agonizing wait, and finally the heartfelt commiseration were powerful to read. It might not set a good precedent, but I think in itself, it shows what the best of the web can really be.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:58 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
I honestly think that the thread is one of the best demonstrations, up with the locked in the room AskMe, of how close this place is as a community. The joy, the congratulations, then the agonizing wait, and finally the heartfelt commiseration were powerful to read. It might not set a good precedent, but I think in itself, it shows what the best of the web can really be.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:58 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
It was supposed to be the world's most awesome dance party.
Five letters: O B A M A.
(ps: did you know MeFi posted Chicago Tribune's projections for Obama as the US's first black president back in 2004? Maybe you did - it was well before my time.)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:05 AM on December 3, 2009
Five letters: O B A M A.
(ps: did you know MeFi posted Chicago Tribune's projections for Obama as the US's first black president back in 2004? Maybe you did - it was well before my time.)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:05 AM on December 3, 2009
For those that want to do something and are motivated by yesterday's vote, may I suggest joining the national organization and any local chapters of Marriage Equality USA? On doing so, I found out that my local chapter (Southeastern Pennsylvania) is in need of new leadership and anxious for volunteers.
posted by bunnycup at 7:25 AM on December 3, 2009
posted by bunnycup at 7:25 AM on December 3, 2009
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posted by Think_Long at 6:53 PM on December 2, 2009