Creative Writing December 9, 2011 1:33 PM   Subscribe

What are the most creatively written posts on Metafilter?

I often see threads deleted for being too editorial, blog-like, or snarky in their tone, which made me wonder about posts that were written in a different way but weren't deleted. I know there's lots of variety in the style of posts, but are there exceptional examples of creative Metafilter posts?
posted by mokin to MetaFilter-Related at 1:33 PM (32 comments total) 28 users marked this as a favorite

felix's nethack post predates favorites.
posted by cgc373 at 1:37 PM on December 9, 2011 [7 favorites]


This was a favorite of mine.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:40 PM on December 9, 2011 [6 favorites]


[self-link]
posted by Trurl at 1:46 PM on December 9, 2011


Basically, anything written by sonascope!
posted by ericb at 2:02 PM on December 9, 2011 [6 favorites]


Alice's restaurant.
posted by Diablevert at 2:09 PM on December 9, 2011 [9 favorites]


The posts by hama7 are a study in pithiness.
posted by carsonb at 2:11 PM on December 9, 2011 [4 favorites]


Miko's Alice's restaurant post was great.

jonson has some great posts. Actually, lots of great posts. A lot of them were delivered creatively. I remember one that was just the word Lysol, and it was totally unexpected. His often humorous and clever posts are something that made me love this place.

Everytime people claim the staff is too rigid, I remember some of my own posts which survived. I was kind of impressed this one never got deleted.

And this one was a link to the next, un-written post, so it was like futuristic and stuff. It also got past the double-post check when the link was metafilter.com.
posted by dios at 2:26 PM on December 9, 2011


And yeah the nethack post was the first thing I thought of. There's also Backwards Day (now broken, sadly) and I think there was an upside-down text one too but I can't be arsed to find it.

Another broken one, Zalgo.
posted by carsonb at 2:26 PM on December 9, 2011


Ahh, yes. Here is jonson's lysol post that also contains the beloved 'cooterwash' tag.
posted by dios at 2:28 PM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


I think this was the Infocom post that sprung to mind when I first looked at this topic. I'm not sure, though, I seem to remember a slightly more involved setup for one. Maybe I'm crazy (probably).
posted by furiousthought at 2:32 PM on December 9, 2011


O.k. that Nethack post was art. And responsible for the fact that my kids\wife\dog\whatever other living thing occupies the same general location in space-time with me are about to be ignored.
posted by Gygesringtone at 2:37 PM on December 9, 2011


carsonb: " Another broken one, Zalgo."

It's actually a lot more amusing now that it's broken.
posted by zarq at 2:40 PM on December 9, 2011


Here's a few I've done that have used some alternative layouts:

Dairy Odes
The Music Lists
Twistori
Women in Rock & Soul (bad decision, though...)

And some people used to get really creative with posts that linked extensively to YouTube:

Woodstock (3 Dozen pieces of music)
posted by carsonb at 3:29 PM on December 9, 2011


Dios is back, Hooray !!!!
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:49 PM on December 9, 2011


Yup, it's like an early Christmas up in this motherfucker.
posted by gman at 4:05 PM on December 9, 2011


I'm too tired to make a post about it but Scotland had 160mph winds and called it Hurricane Bawbag. I think its only me and Len left on this site - are you dead Len ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:23 PM on December 9, 2011


Hardly worth mentioning I suppose but I had to take something of a poetic tone for my live erosion footage post.
posted by Anything at 4:26 PM on December 9, 2011


First, a scat fetish and now dead baby rabbits purposely put in a vagina.

I'm not clicking on another goddamn link today.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:34 PM on December 9, 2011 [4 favorites]



I'm not clicking on another goddamn link today.

Away and have a lie down and get yourself fit for another day of deputy work tommorrow, there's some self link rustlers on the outskirts :)
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:39 PM on December 9, 2011


Strindberg and Helium
posted by MrMoonPie at 5:25 PM on December 9, 2011


Hurdy Gurdy man
posted by Sailormom at 5:49 PM on December 9, 2011


I know I always come back to this, but it's one of my proudest moments on MeFi.

NetHack one was excellent. Maybe the most creative post ever of our generation of our time.
posted by absalom at 6:13 PM on December 9, 2011


Motherfucker who posted this hadda lotta fuckin nerve. But when he wrote, simply, "just watch this, I think you'll love it", that was a leap of faith and/or sheer stupidity, cause, like, if people hadn't loved it he'd a been raked over the motherfuckin Metafilter coals.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:13 PM on December 9, 2011 [2 favorites]


There has to be someone else on Metafilter who absolutely hates these creative posts.

"Purple. Monkey. Dishwasher. Captain Crunch is doing blow off the tits of a hooker! Is it here? Is it there? NO! It's EVERYWHERE!"

Sorry dude - if I can't figure out what you're trying to say and why should I click on it, I'm not clicking on it.
posted by falameufilho at 9:00 PM on December 9, 2011 [5 favorites]


The posts by hama7 are a study in pithiness.

I miss hama7. I don't really like mystery meat posts, but for some reason hama7's seemed like broadcasts from an alternate universe. Gnomic scribbles from another dimension obliquely brushing against the front page of MetaFilter roughly enough to leave a bruise.

Turned me on to some excellent doom/drone, those posts did.

Come back, hama7. We miss your cold clammy caress.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:00 PM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


The strindberg and helium post is fine but the links are all bogus.
posted by Namlit at 1:40 AM on December 10, 2011


There has to be someone else on Metafilter who absolutely hates these creative posts.

Unfortunately there are many of you.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:15 AM on December 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


Here's the thing, about the mystery meat posts - 'cause I always thought they were terrific and sort of kind of the pure expression of the whole point of Metafilter, "Look, I found this cool website."
Once someone, like hama7, makes a slew of single-link mystery meat posts and you've clicked through to a couple you kind of always know the general thrust of where this particular user is going to send you. And you trust them and their taste. Like Flapjacks or katullus (to pick two among many), I feel like I can pretty much rely on their brining something surprising and good to the table. Of course, they flesh out the descriptions a lot more than a hama7 post.

Especially with the way so many different aspects of the web start tailoring what they offer according to what you've 'done' in the past, it's hard to find something new and strange.
posted by From Bklyn at 7:24 AM on December 10, 2011


From Bklyn writes "Once someone, like hama7, makes a slew of single-link mystery meat posts and you've clicked through to a couple you kind of always know the general thrust of where this particular user is going to send you. "

Maybe this is a significant part of the reason I hate these posts; I rarely pay attention to who is making a post or a comment for that matter.
posted by Mitheral at 7:29 AM on December 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


This attempt got me into some almost trouble - I used to try and push the envelope back then. Now I think I've grown up (and gotten boring and mainstream)
posted by infini at 8:08 AM on December 10, 2011


infini: "This attempt got me into some almost trouble

That's hilarious. kingfish did not seem amused. :)

- I used to try and push the envelope back then. Now I think I've grown up (and gotten boring and mainstream)"

We should really create a MeFi bingo card:

Had a post deleted.
Banhammered.
Called out in MeTa

etc.
posted by zarq at 10:51 AM on December 12, 2011


Nattie, son. Nattie.
posted by cashman at 7:31 AM on December 13, 2011


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