Callout of all callouts

July 31, 2013 7:18 PM

I'm calling you all out, all of you.

Or at least I would if I weren't certain y'all could do it better.

In the midst of how almost reflexively snarky, and cynical, and bitter we can get, I'm hoping I can inspire as many of you as possible to earnestly call out someone in our community you think is awesome for how great they are - either in this thread or by memail.

Its always better to say nice things about people and I earnestly hope this can be a space for doing so.

My request does indeed require community input and cannot be addressed by contacting MetaFilter staff alone.

posted by Blasdelb to MetaFilter-Related at 7:18 PM (761 comments total)

I'll start!

I'd like to call out KathrynT for being pretty damn great. She is one of several MeFi heroes of mine and while I suspect she might not appreciate being called out as Christian, there has always been something deeper and much cooler than just the shallow and often awful label that consistently shines through her comments that is pretty inspiring, at least to me. Its a basic foundational kindness and reflexive compassion, even for people like me with different kinds of gender identities, that does things like make pregnant women cry in previous metas, and make the exclamation "Warm hands, strong people!" make perfect sense, which pretty much makes someone the best kind of mom.
posted by Blasdelb at 7:19 PM on July 31, 2013 [27 favorites]

dancestoblue gave me a huge-ass pile of books, then took the ones I didn't think I'd read, and went through those with our waitress, who took a couple, then he put the rest on the bookshelf at the coffee shop, so I'm calling him out for hosting the finest literary potlatch of the last 5 years.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:27 PM on July 31, 2013 [15 favorites]

rtha is made of an intricate assemblage of tiny pies all of which are a marvel of piengineering.

sweetkid is a delight at all times.

griphus is a jerkface for disabling his account and I am gonna fight him.

Also I decided the other day that prize bull octorok has the best name.
posted by elizardbits at 7:31 PM on July 31, 2013 [19 favorites]

GREG NOG IS OKAY I GUESS
posted by elizardbits at 7:31 PM on July 31, 2013 [33 favorites]

dizziest mailed me a pair of birkenstocks last year which I wore right after I finally got out of my broken-ankle boot. I've been wearing them a lot of this summer on the beach and they remind me of the kindness of random MeFites. Also I wrote a song that I have yet to put to music

Well it's Birkenstock weather
suck it haters
Birkenstock weather
you're gonna look at my taters
Birkenstock weather
They're super comfortable!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:38 PM on July 31, 2013 [22 favorites]

taters? So ...they're an appendage?
posted by Blasdelb at 7:42 PM on July 31, 2013

YOU ALL SUCK AT BEING AWFUL.
posted by The Whelk at 7:48 PM on July 31, 2013 [21 favorites]

Eyebrows McGee NO QUESTION -- so thoughtful, so patient, so funny but without pandering, absolutely who I want to be when I grow up (NB this will never happen).

I was actually planning to do a shout-out thread for her at some point but I think this is a really, really nice idea, especially because now people can feel warm and glowy instead of awkwardly self-conscious that there is a whole thread about them, even if it's good.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:49 PM on July 31, 2013 [20 favorites]

I "met" louche mustachio in some comments about RuPaul's Drag Race, and we've been Twitter pals ever since. I also saw her paintings and drawings on Facebook, and now I have two of them adorning my walls at home.
posted by xingcat at 7:50 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Aww, I was going to call-out Kathryn T.

Fine, then. Kattullus, for being generous and Icelandic and generally great, and Rory Marinich for being someone who I both love and love to argue with, and mr The Whelk for forcing me to interact with other human beings, and Going to Maine for saying smart things and Cygnet and iminurmefi for making me feel a little less lonesome and restless_nomad for being my favorite fantasy writer on the site.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:52 PM on July 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

clavdivs has an unparallelled record of excellence in all conceivable categories.
posted by Drinky Die at 7:53 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

I love this!

I also think KathrynT is pretty awesome, and Eyebrows McGee. Also Ruthless Bunny and Sara C. always give smart and thoughtful answers in AskMes!

And since he's my favoritest MeFite of all time, I'm just going to call out ColdChef since he's an awesome human being. If you're not following him on Twitter, you should be.
posted by radioamy at 7:55 PM on July 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

This has been very much on my mind recently because it's thanks to this post from The Whelk that I have a new artist to be all amazed by and in love with, and that ain't no small thing.
posted by rtha at 7:56 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

I met filthy light thief this past weekend, and he and his wife were DELIGHTFUL.

I frequently wonder how Sara C. knows so much about so many things and still finds the time to work in the entertainment industry. Clearly that woman is a MACHINE.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 7:58 PM on July 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

Barnacles always inspires me to learn more about archaeological sites I've never heard of and it's awesome!
posted by jetlagaddict at 7:58 PM on July 31, 2013

Sara C. is almost directly responsible for me finishing this freaking spec script already. In fact, so many Mefites have helped in so many ways that I'm now actually serious about having a writing career and now I have to worry about that all the time SO THANKS A FREAKING LOT.
posted by The Whelk at 8:00 PM on July 31, 2013 [15 favorites]

I express my affection for other Mefites in the traditional way: sending them weird shit in the mail they didn't ask for.
posted by The Whelk at 8:01 PM on July 31, 2013 [14 favorites]

Well it's Birkenstock weather
suck it haters
Birkenstock weather
you're gonna look at my taters
Birkenstock weather
They're super comfortable!

Could you not work in a line about what a "treat" it is for others to see your taters?
posted by Unified Theory at 8:02 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

sending them weird shit in the mail they didn't ask for

LURKING OUTSIDE OUR HOUSES WITH FINE TEA PRODUCTS
posted by elizardbits at 8:03 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

BAGEL STALKING BY MAIL.
posted by The Whelk at 8:06 PM on July 31, 2013

Eyebrows McGee is seriously both pretty fucking amazing and pretty damn emblematic of a lot of why I keep coming back. Being able to hear from people who actually know what they're talking about, especially on issues where almost everyone thinks they know what they're talking about, is a rare and special thing.
posted by Blasdelb at 8:08 PM on July 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

Also treehorn+bunny, treehorn+bunny is pretty damn awesome along the same lines.
posted by Blasdelb at 8:09 PM on July 31, 2013 [9 favorites]

elizardbits makes me laugh ALL the time.
ArtW is awesome.
The Whelk is spectacular.
I miss tkchrist.
ColdChef is delightful.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:12 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

bitter-girl.com laughs at allllll my jokes on twitter.
posted by The Whelk at 8:12 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

And ColdChef needs to set up on the NYC/LA rapid transit tunnel.

And a kudos who everyone who read and helped with my novella-length fan fiction that I used as way to get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. You know who you are and what you did.
posted by The Whelk at 8:14 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

i did the thing
posted by elizardbits at 8:15 PM on July 31, 2013

Well, you're funny. Stop being funny and I'll stop laughing. Except don't do that.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:15 PM on July 31, 2013

zarq knows THINGS.
posted by The Whelk at 8:17 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

thanks B! and mad props to you as well, because - SCIENCE!

I Nth KathrynT.

Thanks to herrdoktor, julthumbscrew, and gingerest for random acts of kindness.

Callouts to drpynchon and TedW for being great mefite colleagues in the world of medicine, and to Ruthless Bunny for being a cousin from some other lapine mother.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:17 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

DarlingBri's honest, warm and approachable advice has made me feel less alone in email anxiety.
posted by samthemander at 8:19 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

It's all the foop's fault for signing me up.

I could have told him it wouldn't end well.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:21 PM on July 31, 2013

we should probably start some kind of fund so sonascope can travel the country, telling stories.
posted by The Whelk at 8:22 PM on July 31, 2013 [20 favorites]

Here are MeFites I think are awesome but I have never met: ClaudiaCenter, Greg Nog, jessamyn, languagehat, mudpuppie, ROU_Xenophobe, vincele. (It's too hard to pick from the ones I have met.)
posted by grouse at 8:24 PM on July 31, 2013

tel3path not only gives kind and empathetic advice frequently, but I have also found (through MeMail) that she is a really nice internet person.

I award her +7 sparkly unicorns, or whatever it is that kids are into now a days (sparkly unicorn iPhones?)
posted by Shouraku at 8:26 PM on July 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

ColdChef, sonascope, and paulsc need to travel the country telling stories and then, reality show. Where they. Tell. Err. Stories
posted by lordaych at 8:26 PM on July 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

I'm kind of terrified with leaving people out cause there SO MANY so I'm just gonna high-five the sky. Imagine your hand is in that sky.
posted by The Whelk at 8:26 PM on July 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

Oh, and my cat would like to call out lonefrontranger and amtho for getting me to order that damned catnip banana. We've had it for a day and the thing is, like, gray with saliva already. He is a very happy kitty.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:27 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

Kitty enabler.
posted by The Whelk at 8:28 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Put me in the Eyebrows McGee fan club. And rtha is full of awesome.

Me, I vote for Elsa. I have so enjoyed her insights and commentary, especially in the Mad Men threads, and also her supportive comments here and elsewhere.

Also: frowner so frequently puts words to things in an eloquent manner, when I am just staring at my monitor going "GAK GAK GAK."

Oh and, definitely, Miko. Miko rocks.
posted by ambrosia at 8:29 PM on July 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

Elsa is also totally hilarious in person.
posted by The Whelk at 8:30 PM on July 31, 2013

phunniemee has given so many awesome answers in AskMe, that were she not a fellow Chicagoan I'd run into at MeFiMeetup (and hopefully assured of my non-creepiness), I'd be embarrassed of how often I favorite her stuff because hellooooo, stalker.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:36 PM on July 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

I love Brandon Blatcher's space posts (even if he never did marry me.)
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:37 PM on July 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

The World Famous is wise, has awesome taste in music, and is one of the nicest people I have ever met on the entire planet. Also he introduced me to Bela Lugosi, Jr., so HE IS SERIOUSLY THE BEST, YOU GUYS
posted by scody at 8:37 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

workerant showed me around Tennessee when I was in town for a conference and was a great person to go on a random mini hike with.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:40 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

When mule98J writes his memoirs I will be first in line to buy the book.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:44 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Divine Wino is pure gold. He sets the finest of examples. I esteem him greatly and respect him beyond measure.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 8:52 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

I still have the books that Malor bought me when I was poor as shit. I still have the packing label, even. That's how much it meant to me.

Parenting trauma helped me become facebook and occasional mail-friends with Sonika, and I value her even-handed, non-judgemental parenting advice. Theora55 sent me her phone number in case I ever need it, and I am so grateful to know that I always have someone to talk to.
posted by arcticwoman at 8:57 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yayyy backatcha elizardbits, also I heart KathrynT and love her mom stories, and also Zarq, and I have a huge special place in my heart for my Mad Men crew- Elsa, PhoB, ArtW, Whelk--

And Sara C and I are on a whole other plane (coincidentally know each other IRL and have been to people's weddings together and she drove me all over LA) but the rumors are true- she is a brilliant machine and one of the most unique and smart people you'll ever meet.
posted by sweetkid at 8:58 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Narrative Priorities, my wife said, after seeing all the beautiful, crafty things you've done, that if she new how awesome you were before we headed out to the meetup, she wouldn't have come for being in awe of all that you've done.


I want to thank so very many people for opening up their lives in some very touching (and some very tough) threads. I am in awe of what others have experienced and what they have shared with our community, and the internet at large. I cannot begin to name folks. Seriously, I'm tearing up just thinking of some past comments.

Again I am reminded that my life has been pretty easy and happy compared to so many people. I want to give you all hugs, forever. And I'm crying in front of my computer again.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:58 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

I don't even know who to start calling out. And I'm too tired to be coherent.

PhoB and shakespeherian and the whelk are some of my favorite people to talk to about things;

ausdemfenster and the young rope-rider and potomac avenue and mintcake and lalex and a bunch of other nyc-ers were all super awesome and made me feel a lot less nervous about the prospect of moving to the new york-ish area (which happens in TWO DAYS[!!]), which is awesome;

scody and miko and pater alethias and all of the uber-wise mefites are kind of maybe a big part of what's shaped my life philosophy over the last couple of years;

cortex and jessamyn and mathowie and taz and gnfti and lobstermitten and i think i'm missing a few people but those are all my favorite moderators, and also are all funny and smart and awesome non-moderator users;

oh, and chococat and bunny ultramod and flapjax at midnite and mediocre, i've introduced my friends to your various songs and some of you have become memes.

OH! and koeselitz and lutoslawski are my favorite people to talk about music with. like, ever, maybe.

also: congrats to the whelk on your spec script, hurry up so you can become a staff writer for the final season of mad men like you've always dreamed! and then when we liveblog all our speculations as to what's going to happen be sure to drop us all infuriating hints.

I have like a thousand people to go on this list, stand by till morning
posted by Rory Marinich at 8:59 PM on July 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

Sweetkid has loud arguments with me in very fancy places. We live like kings. Kings who are also sophomores in college.

Ablazingsaddle reassures me that I'm sane, even if I am a little bit neurotic about my dog.

CarsonB I have not met a lot of times, but he always makes me feel welcome. Also, good taste in science centers.

A mefite who will go unnamed because he is mostly a lurker and I think maybe taking a bit of a hiatus just helped my web series not suck and also gave me a place to live a while back. And taught me how to change a tire.

Elizardbits makes life worth living.

Ideefixe is always sending me messages about how I should have an advice column, which is crazy because I frequently go to Ideefixe for advice.

Miko always has amazing insights into things I thought I already understood.

PhoBWanKenobi consistently reminds me to stop second guessing myself and just do what I love.
posted by Sara C. at 8:59 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh I forgot to mention that Sweetkid should absolutely be everyone's default +1 for any event. Also good taste in both clothing and artisanal ketchup.
posted by Sara C. at 9:02 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

oh and I can't go to sleep in good conscience without namedropping mothershock and Mister A, because we had tons of fun coffee meetups together and also shared a couple of pretty rad twitter back-and-forths.

yup I'm physically collapsing now night all
posted by Rory Marinich at 9:03 PM on July 31, 2013

Sweetkid has loud arguments with me in very fancy places.

Omg we were loud weren't we.

Also rory I forgot you. Rory Marinich too! Mad men club. Welcome to NYC.
posted by sweetkid at 9:03 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

I am comforted by the thought that Empress Callypigos lives on my old block in Brooklyn and is keeping an eye on it for me.
posted by Sara C. at 9:03 PM on July 31, 2013

Oh I forgot to mention that Sweetkid should absolutely be everyone's default +1 for any event.

True but warning: I will make friends with all your friends.
posted by sweetkid at 9:05 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

yes mothershock is great! and headspace, too. writers & empresses of awesome.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:07 PM on July 31, 2013

I once met Greg Nog at a meetup and we didn't really get to talk because there were just so many people, but I am kind of in awe of him.

And then I read his deconstruction of the "Tworf" phenomenon and realized that there's no "kind of" about it.
posted by Sara C. at 9:07 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah Greg Nog is amazing. Basically I want you to all live in my house so I have people to talk to about television whenever I want. God, I love you guys.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:09 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

TO SIR WITH MILLIPEDES IS CONSTANTLY AWAKE AND THEN ASLEEP AND THEN AWAKE AGAIN. SO PROUD OF HIM.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 9:09 PM on July 31, 2013 [42 favorites]

Zarq, JHarris, and Artw are on my reliable list. And Languagehat when he's not at maximum crankiness.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:11 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

I have a lot of people who I really appreciate, and some where I can tell who wrote the comment even before I get to the end. But I'd like to thank Frowner for frequently saying exactly what I'd like to say but cant, and for also gracefully answering a memail I sent completely at random with an issue I was having.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:11 PM on July 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

And if nothing else, to sir with millipedes has an awesome handle.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:11 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

"Basically I want you to all live in my house so I have people to talk to about television whenever I want. God, I love you guys."

CONGRATULATIONS! WE'VE ALL ARRIVED. I expect cookies.
posted by Blasdelb at 9:14 PM on July 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

100% want to talk about tv at PhoB's house. Tv talk house retreat I'm there
posted by sweetkid at 9:14 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Well this just makes me want to meet more mefites IRL. (Not, like, in a stalky way. Mutual meeting.) I mean, this thread is basically a big IRL-meeting endorsement list.
posted by supercres at 9:15 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sara C.: CarsonB I have not met a lot of times, but he always makes me feel welcome. Also, good taste in science centers.

Are there science centers of questionable quality? Do people really have poor taste in science centers? I ask only because I haven't experienced many science centers, and they all seem pretty keen. Then again, I might be one of those science center bores, who says "aww, they're ALL great!" without any critical thought of presentation, experience, and relevance.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:15 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

And if nothing else, to sir with millipedes has an awesome handle.

I am named for a prank phone call that was once made to Sidney Poitier.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 9:16 PM on July 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

Yes come over guys I have no cookies but a perfectly good (if slightly drooled upon) catnip banana that we can all share.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:16 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

supercres: I mean, this thread is basically a big IRL-meeting endorsement list.

COME TO NEW MEXICO! WE HAVE SPARE BEDROOMS!

(It is late, and I should sleep, but I have this can of ginger beer I must finish tonight, because flat ginger beer is not good ginger beer.)
posted by filthy light thief at 9:16 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

I miss brunch with young rope rider, we gotta do that again.
posted by sweetkid at 9:16 PM on July 31, 2013

his deconstruction of the "Tworf" phenomenon

Best thing I've read in more than a week. Brilliant.
posted by supercres at 9:19 PM on July 31, 2013

(So much so that I bookmarked it with a favorite, sending me to 667 when I had semi-intentionally been holding at 666 for some time.)
posted by supercres at 9:20 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

There are many wonderful MeFites already named, but I want to say how much I've appreciated Ironmouth's articulate, intelligent, and well informed comments in legal and political threads.
posted by bearwife at 9:20 PM on July 31, 2013 [9 favorites]

Also, speaking of great people here and on twitter, I love BitterOldPunk.
posted by bearwife at 9:21 PM on July 31, 2013 [11 favorites]

As far as I can tell, mazola is pretty great.
posted by mazola at 9:23 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

villanelles at dawn should come back and be awesome

I DON'T CARE HOW BUSY YOU ARE DUDE
posted by elizardbits at 9:24 PM on July 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

I'd like to thank my mom, because she gave birth to me against my better judgement and it turned out ok just like she said.

I'd like to thank little baby jesus, because I got my first computing device for his birthday. Say what you want about the guy but he is totes ok in my book because we get presents on his birthday.

I'd like to thank presidents Bush and Obama, all that shit I always thought the NSA did? You guys made it happen! Reach for the stars guys!

I'd like to thank the staff of metafilter. They saw something in me. They took a young kid from the streets and taught him to be a man. It was hard at first but they persevered. The time I hid speed in my locker and Carlton took it and started dancing I thought they were going to send me back to West Philly.

Most of all thank you. All of you. I know Time once named you person of the year and I agree. You are aces and don't forget it.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:25 PM on July 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

Blazecock Pileon comments on issues of government and justice have always been among the most well spoken, smart, and deeply insightful comments available and I thank him for his contributions.
posted by Drinky Die at 9:25 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Re science centers -- I suppose they're all well and good. But CarsonB organized a meetup to visit the Space Shuttle in LA. Which is something I probably wouldn't have done on my own. And it turned out to be really fun.

Not counting the Natural History Museum in New York -- which I had to visit a lot in college as an anthropology major -- I don't think I've been to a science museum of any kind on my own, as an adult, just for the sake of going. Which makes me feel a little bit like a failure.
posted by Sara C. at 9:26 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ohhh totally second villanelles at dawn back
posted by sweetkid at 9:28 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh yes I would like to second phunneeme and phobwankenobe.

And seriously, Sara C., you do know about quite a lot of things, including but not limited to the entertainment industry and Southeast Louisiana.

Also, Ruthless Bunny, do you plan on opening a career center and/or blog any time soon? Your career advice is on par with Ask a Manager.
posted by radioamy at 9:31 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh, but seriously. I love Benito.Strauss, Rory Marinich, Elizardbits, PhoBWanKenobi and Filthy Light Thief. You guys are collectively the best.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 9:38 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Some science centers are definitely better than others.
posted by grouse at 9:41 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

I don't think I've been to a science museum of any kind on my own, as an adult, just for the sake of going. Which makes me feel a little bit like a failure.

Dude. Go to the LA Brea tar pits. Immediately. Those sabertooth tigers lived in LA like 30,000 years ago. There is still tar seeping up into the soccer field park thing behind the museum.

Also, it is next to LACMA.
posted by purpleclover at 9:44 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

I took the scientific route, and went to the Infodumpster. I'd have to call out netbros and tastybrains, both of whom seem to have sadly disappeared, but also Rory Marinich and nickyskye and reenum for awesome posts/questions that caught my interest.

But really, going back, the first user I remember standing out for me was carsonb. We were far apart colleagues of a sort, once upon a time, before the fall of Borders, and he always stood out to me as a reasonable guy with good comments, especially in heated threads. I remember thinking he'd make a good mod.

I need to go to a meetup, and actually meet some of y'all in person.
posted by booksherpa at 9:45 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

This feels like the Academy Awards! Too many people to name!

I would like to specifically call out Corinth and Roboton666 (who is taking a break) for their informative discussions of trans issues in what are often very heated threads, and threads where it's a very personal and emotional issue for a tiny handful of posters and for everyone else it's academic and sometimes that makes people be extra-insensitive. I knew very little about trans issues before I came to metafilter, and while they're not threads I post in (because I know very little), they're threads I read with great interest, and I feel that my understanding of trans issues has VASTLY expanded from basically next door to completely ignorant to having a lot more knowledge and sympathy and understanding. I have told them this in mefimail, but while I know it is shitty to have to be the person who does Trans 101 (or feminism 101 or Islam 101 or what have you), it is really really valuable to the community and specifically to those of us like me who are brought from the darkness of dumb-assery and ignorance into the light of knowledge by people's patient willingness to go over the basics again and again.

In the spirit of this thread, one of my theology professors in college said something along the lines of, "When you graduate from [relatively famous school] and people find out you went here, and majored in theology, you will be a public intellectual. People will have questions you think are dumb. They will want to discuss things you are bored of. They will be coming from places of ignorance and even bigotry, but people want to know what you know. It fascinates people. And you have a choice. You can refuse to engage with people asking dumb questions or basic questions or ignorant questions; or you can give to them generously from your academic talents and gifts. You are privileged people to come study here, and you are called on -- not by the school, but by Jesus -- to give back, and give fully, of yourself. You, personally, can advance knowledge, understanding, and love in the world. If you want to repay me for what I've given you, then I want you to go forth and share it with others." (He totally said things like "go forth" in a rolling sonorous voice.)

That has stuck with me as probably the most important thing someone taught me in my college education, and I think on it frequently. I do try to be open-handed and open-hearted with knowledge I have (sometimes to the point people want me to STFU), but I think one of the things that makes metafilter such an awesome, awesome community is that there's a whole community of people who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise open-handedly and open-heartedly. It's a vast mitzvah, a great generosity, by all y'all. It's how I think the world ought to be, you know? So I like this little internet-world where that is how it is, much of the time. :)

I am also particularly grateful for more scientist-posters than I can possibly point out (blasdelb, churachura, scientist, physicsmatt all jump to mind, but there are many many more) because I love reading sciencey things but am not very educated in science and they explain well. And also sometimes I'm able to lure restless_nomad into gchatting with me and then I feel awesome because r_n is cool. (Also if anyone wants to gchat me you can memail me, I don't have it on my profile but I do gchat with some mefites.)

Hey, look, I can produce novels even in the most light-hearted of metatalks!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:46 PM on July 31, 2013 [33 favorites]

For wisdom and ability to speak from the heart, Scody is an inspiration. Cortex amazes me with his funnies and Dune lore. Devil's Rancher is a master of pithy, witty remarks (often about the insane world of screenprinting.) I vote #1 Quidnunc Kid.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:49 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Dude. Go to the LA Brea tar pits.

I went as a kid on vacation to LA, but it's on my back burner list of stuff to eventually get around to doing again.
posted by Sara C. at 10:05 PM on July 31, 2013

I owe Mr. Nog one for a very, very special IRL kindness he did for me a while back. Until then, thanks again, Greg.
posted by mintcake! at 10:12 PM on July 31, 2013

Well this just makes me want to meet more mefites IRL.

I highly recommend it. I have met some lovely people.
posted by smoke at 10:13 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

oh, and I have to call out space kitty for spending the night with me in the hospital a few years ago at some point during one of my surgeries (details as to exactly which one are blurry; THANKS, NARCOTICS!). Mr. scody had hit the wall and needed a night home just to catch his breath and stare at the wall, and space kitty WAS THERE.

And really, this is emblematic of the kindness and compassion so many MeFites have shown me; I really can't possibly call out everyone enough. When I was sick I received literally hundreds of messages and gifts and calls and emails and people who showed up at the house with food, from all over the world -- including (off the top of my head) matteo, coldchef, nickyskye, adamvasco, klangklangston, Apathygirl, Asparagirl, eriko, gman, Greg Nog, mothershock, brujita, loquacious, fake, canine epigram, and of course all the mods... and so many more than I can even recall right now. I honestly don't know that I can ever repay people for the support and love they gave me when I needed it the most, though I hope I've made a good try so far.

My thanks to you all.
posted by scody at 10:20 PM on July 31, 2013 [10 favorites]

Props to unSane, Hoops McCann and flapjax at midnite for all their work and participation in MeFi Music - there are times I suspect that section might have sputtered to a halt were it not for those three.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:26 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

zombieflanders is the bestest. It's always great to love someone's comments, then use pb's magic randomizer button and come across a similarly great comment from that same person from years ago. (and of course pb is a wizard, and a hilarious one)

zarq is great also. I marvel at the various fpp's and wonder how one can construct so many well done posts.

Coldchef was awesome to me when I had some serious issues to think about. And I have to thank Avenger for all I have learned from too many informative comments.

And can we talk about lord_wolf? His comments always feel to me like they are from the person I should be on any particular day.

And Brandon Blatcher is great as well. He's like the wolf from pulp fiction, so collected and always posting with poise. And Brandon Blatcher owes me cookies. (Oh you thought I had forgotten! Where my cookies at Blatcher! When you shoot at an elephant you best be prepared to finish the job.)

And again eternal thanks for how awesome the moderation team here is. I should probably send more gifts. Yall should always be getting gifts.
posted by cashman at 10:29 PM on July 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

Since we are now also talking about not currently active folks, I have to shoutout to flex. Without her, I would have bad jeans and the wrong bra. My gratitude, it is large.
posted by ambrosia at 10:35 PM on July 31, 2013 [10 favorites]

Then I have to pour out a little lemonade for flex, iconomy, ericb (man I miss you), the straightener, and notjustfoxybrown.
posted by cashman at 10:40 PM on July 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

jessamyn and n_o_d made me a super excellent video for my birthday, just because my woman asked them to. It came with a custom poem and my name displayed across n_o_d's naked ass.

It made me cry, and I never even thanked them for it.

It was marvellous and I love them both.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:45 PM on July 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

The thing that baffles and amazes me about Greg Nog is how goddamn impeccable his comedy timing is, given that this is a written medium. How does he even do that? (e.g.: geese, cookies)
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:02 PM on July 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

CTRL+F my name
nothing

I'm calling out Artw, for knowning things about Aliens. and whoever Dave Ex Machina is on here, 'cause he has no comments on his awesome blog anymore
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 11:10 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'm a lurky fan and do a virtual nod of agreement with pretty much every rtha comment.
posted by chococat at 11:14 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm glad not only to know ColdChef and ArtW and The Whelk on MetaFilter, but to also regularly interact with them elsewhere online, where they have always provided terrific conversation and good company. Also, I have spoken to ColdChef on the phone a few times.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 11:17 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Jacquilynne is my favourite Canadian.

does that rhyme? i feel like it should rhyme

She is awesome at ever so many things, including just this very morning helping me decide what to wear because I am so very lazy.
posted by RainyJay at 11:21 PM on July 31, 2013

Blasdelb for starting this thread.
posted by immlass at 11:24 PM on July 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Avocet came to Los Angeles and we went out for beers and talked about our childhood crushes on Star Trek characters (OK look a lot of my callouts are going to be about Star Trek so just deal) and it was revealed that, despite being from different countries, we know people in common from our regular lives.

In conclusion, North America is a land of contrasts.
posted by Sara C. at 11:26 PM on July 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

JHarris has stolen dozens of hours of my life with his comprehensive introduction to MST3K. (1 2 3 4) Shame!
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:27 PM on July 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

Thanks to deezil and Lynsey for tech support.
posted by Cranberry at 11:28 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to say thanks! I think you know who you are.

Dear Cranberry, you're most welcome.
posted by Lynsey at 11:31 PM on July 31, 2013

Astro Zombie may have destroyed me. He wrote my favorite mefi comment of all time. It's been years but I can't forget the story, and someday I'm going to travel to the Amazon to sate my curiosity and it'll all be his fault.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:43 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

elizardbits makes me laugh all the time. Her Tumblr is basically always on at Red Thoughts HQ.

smoke is always a soothing voice of reason.

Ivan Fyodorovich is always an expansive, detailed and considered voice of reason.

sonascope's storytelling ability is a continuing inspiration.

23 took me and the Red Thoughts consort out for lovely afternoon in Tokyo last year.

Philosopher Dirtbike and Bluestocking Southerner make the time to sling wisecracks with the Sydney mefites over beers when they're in town.

kyrademon - for this amazing storytelling punnery.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:47 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Nattie! more bongo stories please!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:48 PM on July 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Danila and catchingsignals. Thanks for hitting "post" to commit!
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 11:49 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Astro Zombie may have destroyed me. He wrote my favorite mefi comment of all time. It's been years but I can't forget the story, and someday I'm going to travel to the Amazon to sate my curiosity and it'll all be his fault.

You'll note he hasn't been on the site in quite a while. I wonder if he actually made that trip he talked about?
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 12:00 AM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

Aw, just messing with you. I'm Astro Zombie.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 12:06 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

I'll chime in with another Frowner callout.

I read and re-read her comments, and try to take to heart all the lessons they contain about privilege, politics, compassion, and more besides. Such an insightful person and amazing member of the community.
posted by airing nerdy laundry at 12:06 AM on August 1, 2013 [9 favorites]

Getting things right is important, but I want to callout Drinky Die for pursuing the truth of things, which as I'm getting older I'm finding is more honest and more useful than being right.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:17 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Valkyryn's articulate, with formidable knowledge and insights.

Too, respect for Ironmouth, who makes reasonable cases for views that aren't always popular 'round here.

Oh, Brockles (a fellow gearhead/racing enthusiast) has mammoth car knowledge, and he's been quite generous in sharing his time and expertise.
posted by ambient2 at 12:18 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I should mention infini (and not only because she convinced me of the soothingness of peppermint tea at bedtime). Constant thoughtful delivery.

(I also had fun times with oneswellfoop, ook, kabanos, twoleftfeet, h00py and a few others in the alphabet thread [it's become good tone not to link to that thread, which is sad]. Göran Hasselqvist, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have signed up, so he shan't be mentioned)
posted by Namlit at 12:46 AM on August 1, 2013

I'd also like to call out en forme de poire, metabugs, and maryr as well as my own partners in crime churachura and scientist for providing awesome biology education around these parts. Also physicsmatt for physicsmatting.
posted by Blasdelb at 1:22 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

His thoughts were red thoughts' comments provoke a "good show old man" more often than not. So a call out is warranted (also: "Sredni Vashtar REPRESNT!").
posted by Alice Russel-Wallace at 1:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Calling out all of the following for saying smart and interesting things and making me think. If MeFi had a real "follow" feature I'd be following all of you:

Abiezer
agregoli
allen.spaulding
allkindsoftime
anitanita
Anitanola
anotherpanacea
bakerina
billyfleetwood
Broseph
Bunny Ultramod
clockzero
codacorolla
Danila
de
Dee Xtrovert
divined by radio
dobbs
DrMew
ead
EatTheWeak
emptythought
en forme de poire
EXISTENZ IS PAUSED
fiercecupcake
gauche
gerryblog
hazyjane
honey-barbara
ImproviseOrDie
infinite intimation
Inspector.Gadget
Ivan Fyodorovich
J. Wilson
jamjam
jb
jbenben
Jehan
John Cohen
Jpfed
Jubey
kafziel
kagredon
kavasa
kittens for breakfast
kyrademon
lalex
languagehat
likeso
longbaugh
Mavri
Meatbomb
mediareport
meese
mek
MexicanYenta
Miko
Monsieur Caution
nangar
Nattie
nickrussell
orange swan
Pater Aletheias
PercussivePaul
phaedon
Philemon
Phire
PhoBWanKenobi
pineapple
Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey
pluckemin
pointystick
Reverend John
Ruthless Bunny
Sassyfras
sculpin
smoke
spunweb
straight
taff
Tanizaki
tastybrains
taz
tel3path
thebazilist
vegartanipla
watercarrier
whoaali
xarnop
zennie


I also want to call out the following smart and interesting people in particular:

arco
baniak
beniamino
Catch
chrchr
colfax
DNye
dubusadus
edheil
emilycardigan
fieldtrip
Flitcraft
htid
gladly
i feel possessed
i_am_a_fiesta
jaguar
january
jcrcarter
JLovebomb
lilac girl
masquesoporfavor
milk white peacock
orangejenny
ostro
ourroute
parrot_person
past
pintapicasso
pluckemin
rumpsinc
Salamander
the dief
thebazilist
ThomasBrobber
troublewithwolves
williampratt
windbox
wwartoff
yogalemon
zipadee

And last but not least, a special callout to Ralston McTodd
posted by cairdeas at 1:40 AM on August 1, 2013 [19 favorites]

workerant showed me around Tennessee when I was in town for a conference and was a great person to go on a random mini hike with.

I thought that said mini bike and I had a great momentary image of jessamyn and workerant stealing a random mini bike and racing off through Tennessee. Damn. You guys should do that.
posted by pracowity at 2:06 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I know this is mostly callouts of users and there have been mod appreciation posts before, but for a long time I've wanted to thank both Matt and pb for the design and coding of MetaFilter, in particular it's low bandwidth on mobile.

This is the most reliable site to access in situations where the wifi is crummy or weak. In particular, when I'm at the edge of my office wifi, MetaFilter loads and nothing else will.

this particular specific use case may be when im in the office bathroom but anyways thanks lots you guys
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 2:17 AM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

I know this is done with good intentions and all, but it made me feel sad. I've been a member here for quite a while, and yet not made meaningful connections with other members. I also often refrain from commenting because I'm thin-skinned and I had a bad experience once when I differed from the main community stance in a thread, and because often I'll be thinking of writing something and I'll see, oh X has already spoken and everyone loves X and I won't be able to add anything because they have really covered it all. I don't think that elevating some members as being particularly brilliant or insightful helps people like me feel confident about commenting or included. Sure, I, like everyone, have a soft spot for certain members and I think the moderators are all exceptional people, but I think there are a lot of people like me who find the cult of personality brings up feelings of exclusion.
posted by alltomorrowsparties at 2:18 AM on August 1, 2013 [114 favorites]

I call out alltomorrowsparties for reminding me of Nico, William Gibson, and the fact that feeling left out really sucks.
posted by Nomyte at 2:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [16 favorites]

I don't think that elevating some members as being particularly brilliant or insightful helps people like me feel confident about commenting or included.

I totally acknowledge your feelings about this, and agree that communities can sometimes be o'erhasty with minor cults of celebrity and concomitant in and outgroups, that leave people feeling marginalised or left out.

Buuuuuuut, by the same token, because a person values - and calls out - the presence or comments of a mefite is not a slight on you, or anyone else, and it doesn't really come at your expense.

It is the value that all mefites give that makes this community what it is, and I think letting people know that you appreciate what they do is a nice way of encouraging them (and, who knows? perhaps others) to do it more.

I don't really feel that private or idiosyncratic feelings regarding comments that are meant (and accepted well by the recipients) are a burden the community - or any community - should bear. However they make you feel, and I genuinely sorry that they make you feel bad, the comments really aren't about you.

I can't help but feel if you broadened your horizon beyond the immediate context as it relates to you, you would feel cheered by the fact that so many people find something that inspires or comforts them here, and perhaps inspired to deepen your search for it, or even promulgate it yourself. There is enough love for everyone. I'm happy that elizardbits and gregnog found each other.
posted by smoke at 3:05 AM on August 1, 2013 [9 favorites]

Sure, I, like everyone, have a soft spot for certain members and I think the moderators are all exceptional people, but I think there are a lot of people like me who find the cult of personality brings up feelings of exclusion

I know, I know - but it isn't reasonable, is it? With a userbase that large, I don't think it is. Just look, someone as outstandingly good-to-read-from as Kattullus was only mentioned once here thus far, flapjax at midnite twice (!), and I'm counting only six in-text mentions of The Whelk. The people here mentioned are the sparkles on the ocean, we others are the ocean, and man how proud can we be!
posted by Namlit at 3:21 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

I can't count the number of times that Frowner's comments have made me think more deeply on a topic. Thanks for making MeFi a better place.
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 3:23 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Really, there are just too many Mefites that I admire, respect, and am thankful for to even begin to make that list, and I would fear that someone would be left out.

Let it suffice to say that I appreciate all of you that have figured out the unique nature of this community, respect its norms, and have stuck around to engage in the conversations in a meaningful or fun or thoughtful or positive or informative or interesting or, well, you get the point, manner. Without ALL of you, this place wouldn't be what it is.

Thanks also to those that gently remind me when I screw up here. And, thanks to those that affirm my thoughts, writing, memories with a favorite once in a while, it really does make me smile.
posted by HuronBob at 3:31 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Thanks Namlit for mentioning the mammoth alphabet thread, which I enjoyed immensely.

Yes, dg, I did stay up all night.
posted by h00py at 3:52 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

It actually is fun to re-read, I found. Time sink of the first order, though. A symbol for the entire site.
posted by Namlit at 4:01 AM on August 1, 2013

or is it a symbol of
posted by Namlit at 4:01 AM on August 1, 2013

Thanks Namlit for mentioning the mammoth alphabet thread, which I enjoyed immensely.

Yes, me too!
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:20 AM on August 1, 2013

I'm happy that elizardbits and gregnog found each other.

Aw dang. I was going to ask elizardbits to the prom, and now I have no chance.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

I'd like to call you all out for being amazing examples of humanity (and dogs on the internet).

In particular, but this is not an exhaustive list:

jph for making Quonsmas awesome last year, arcticcat loves his catnip rattlesnake!
There's people like mrbill and desjardins, who I only know over t'internet, but they've offered help with Android/systems (mrbill) and cosistently kick my ass at WWF (desjardins).
shakespeherian's choose your own adventure series on G+ is ace.

Y'all are interesting folks to follow on twitter and G+ as well.
posted by arcticseal at 4:39 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Shout outs to my hip hop thread homies:

cashman, Ad Hom, gucci mane (who is probably the real gucci mane right? at least thats how I read all his comments)...Lorin, chrchr, Teakettle all yall bammas who knows what's up. Obviously shots to the professionals, Filthy Light Thief and Flapjax At Midnite, old school music curating for all mankind sure true.

Special dedication to Greg and Eideteker, they know what they did.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:41 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Also, needs the schmoopy tag.
posted by arcticseal at 4:41 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

How somehow Metafilter turned into my go-to place to discuss new hip hop and get music recommendations is beyond me. I feel like when I started here in 08 you were more likely to get a "WHAT IS THIS (C)RAP" or "THESE THUGS UPSET ME" blizzard than a conversation and now just about every thread is full of wicked knowledgeable people. Is there like a okayplayer diaspora? Who knows, but kudos to you folks.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:47 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Shout out to those folks who I very very often do not agree with, who sometimes derail threads with their strong personalities, but whose totally unique understanding of the world sometimes shines through amazingly and they blow your mind with a story or explanation or perspective. Especially Michele in CA, Decani, Charlemagne, my man HuronBob and even DU. Glad y'all are here.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:03 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

I'm the kind of person who haunts Recent Activity, and if you're not, you're missing an awful lot of homunculus posting awesome links and followups. Thanks, munc.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:07 AM on August 1, 2013 [19 favorites]

you guys, awhile back there was a meta where a bunch of people listed their instagram accounts and I followed everyone and I'm telling you they are some of the best instagrammers out there.

I think most all of them have different handles from their mefi accounts and I've lost track of who's who but I don't care, and I'll call out anybody who's on both instagram and metafilter as being top notch. you all have swell lives and document them with wonderful images.
posted by dogwalker at 5:08 AM on August 1, 2013

Many of the people at the top of my callout list are already here in this thread, and I call you all out! I love that you are all so interesting, active, principled, warm, funny, honest, and making the effort. I've learned a lot from you all in different ways. At this point I think 10% of my brain is made of MetaFilter - thank you for all the perspectives.

One name I have seen missing so far, but have been appreciating greatly lately, is theora55. She chooses her moments, makes extremely wise, kind, and mature contributions, and is just a lovely person.
posted by Miko at 5:31 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

GenjiandProust - I consistently find myself seeing and subssequently enjoying your comments
posted by holmesian at 5:47 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Just look, someone as outstandingly good-to-read-from as Kattullus was only mentioned once here thus far

Holy crap! Katullus totally slipped my mind. Likewise theora55. This is like having to name your favorite child, if you had thousands of children and kept forgetting their names.

(That is, if you were how Rush Limbaugh imagines poor people live.)

Genjiandproust, Smoke, KathrynT, EmpressCallipygos, languagehat, quidnunc kid, Armyofkittens, Greg Nog, restless_nomad, PallasAthena, the man of twists and turns ...and that's off the top of my head. Figuratively. I don't have, like, a skull tattoo.

Yet.
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:54 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

(And alltomorrowparties, for putting his/her finger on an ambivalence that I think is very common, and sometimes awkward.)
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:57 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I agree with alltomorrowsparties, so no names from me.

But thank you to everyone who's ever posted an answer to one of my questions on Ask, commented on my songs on MeFiMu, posted their OWN songs which I have listened to and enjoyed, and posted cool stuff on the blue which has filled my mind with stories and facts and possibilities.
posted by greenish at 5:59 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

divined by radio's comments are always really good.

And I disagree with Justinian a lot but his/her comments are always worth reading.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:00 AM on August 1, 2013

Gosh, there are so many. Kattullus is awesome, of course, and, while Horace Rumpole doesn't comment much, I am in envy of his dry dry humor (it's like he writes the comment and then presses a photo of humor against the screen, then posts. Yes, it's that dry). ArtW laughs at my jokes.

eviemath, sweetkid, hippybear, EmpressCallipygos, rtha, muddgirl, Blasdelb, Frowner, The 10th Regiment of Foot, running order squabble fest, Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, Ghostride The Whip, phunniemee, lesbiassparrow, the young rope-rider, Ivan Fyodorovich, and way too many more give me things to think about....

Special call outs to MonkeyToes and codacorolla for these comments.

*sob* I love all you guys so much.....

Ahem, in a mature and dignified way, of course.

Also, everyone who has posted cat pictures and videos. You know who you are.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:04 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

I said "I MADE A CAKE" she gave me a look like she thought the cake might be full of traps

I WAS FORCED AGAINST MY WILL TO WEAR A FESTIVE SOMBRERO
posted by elizardbits at 6:05 AM on August 1, 2013 [10 favorites]

the shame of which has failed to recede over time
posted by elizardbits at 6:05 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

That comment of Monkeytoes' is really one of the best things ever on this site, and anywhere.

pix, elizardbits?
posted by rtha at 6:07 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mr. scody

Gutted!
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:10 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, can we see a picture of Eyebrows McGee's actual eyebrows?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:12 AM on August 1, 2013

Oh. Yes, the man of twists and turns, if only for his dogged ability to be somehow more passionate and even more of a screaming bloody commie then I am but not a jerk about it.
posted by The Whelk at 6:12 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Three cheers for Metafilter's Bird, Bug, and Plant Brigade: everyone who shows up to answer the burning question:

What is this thing I found [ crawling on the floor | sitting in the bush | growing in the yard ]?

There are too many to name.

And a generous huzzah to the other resident beeks: sonascope, showbiz_liz, TheTingTangTong, and rough ashlar among them.

MonkeyToes for pointing the way. Chickens today, guineas probably next spring. Turkeys...never.
posted by jquinby at 6:12 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Also, griph, I know you are reading this , If I can't talk about site drama when you're getting your suit tailored like the bitchy best friend in a romantic comedy, I will be so upset. So there.
posted by The Whelk at 6:14 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh, and cause she hasn't been mentioned, Lorena Cupcake, for being too precious for this world.
posted by The Whelk at 6:15 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

pix, elizardbits?

Could such a pic exist? I mean, I have always assumed that elizardbits does not show up on any normal film.

Also, can we see a picture of Eyebrows McGee's actual eyebrows?

I am pretty sure those eyebrows are also n-dimensional. Science has not yet developed a way to portray them in our limited spaceframe.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:16 AM on August 1, 2013

GenjiandProust, thank you for your smart and funny commentary.

The man of twists and turns posts on subjects that plug directly into my Relevant to My Interests port. Thank you.

wenestvedt, thank you for your consistent decency.

rumposinc and JohnnyGunn have provided sensible, down-to-earth advice; thank you.

hippybear's recently sidebarred comment struck me as an honest and thoughtful look at something far removed from my own life and interests; it helped me to understand a personal experience of a larger change, and in an accessible, smart, human way. Thank you, hippybear. Best of MeFi, indeed.

HuronBob and mule98J have been kind enough to share stories that speak to and from their lives and times, and I thank them both. Guys? Keep on.

The 10th Regiment of Foot, rtha, A Terrible Llama, Uniformitarianism Now!, peagood, scody, Miko, Benny Andajetz, benito.strauss, zombieflanders, PhoBWanKenobi, Blasdelb, Eyebrows McGee, as well as many other folks mentioned above: Thank you. Your presence here is appreciated. You guys are the ones who make me turn from the screen and say to my husband, "Wow, listen to this excellent comment!"

To all, mentioned or not: my appreciation. You'll never know the number of times I have taken your good advice, used your wise words in difficult situations, or wanted to reach out and thank you for being a voice in this amazing ongoing conversation that is MetaFilter. Thank you.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:18 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'm calling out lollusc for knowing the answer to all questions about grammar.
posted by bfranklin at 6:20 AM on August 1, 2013

I WAS FORCED AGAINST MY WILL TO WEAR A FESTIVE SOMBRERO

You are such a liar. As if it was against your will.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:23 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh, and everyone in San Fransisco who put up with my desire for torturous walks to obscure churches, and who tolerated my unhealthy love of Li Po's.

AND every Meefite I met during my tour of England, even after Bus Drama.

Hat tip to tractorfeed, for turning a meet up for wine in Paris into like a three hour grab fest.

Argh, still too many to mention!
posted by The Whelk at 6:23 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Could such a pic exist? I mean, I have always assumed that elizardbits does not show up on any normal film.

No you're thinking of mirrors backed with silver.
posted by The Whelk at 6:24 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Before I found Metafilter, I spent a lot of time with panic like background radiation in my head, because I had to solve so many problems on my own, and I was always worried that tomorrow would be the day that I would finally meet a problem I couldn't solve.

Just yesterday I realized that that panic is mostly gone, because when I stumble across a new unfamiliar problem, I now think, 'I'll ask Metafilter. They'll help me.' And you do, every time. I've never had anyone in my life who was that reliable, maybe because individual people with individual lives get sick or busy or over-committed, etc. But Metafilter is so steady and so reliable because it's such an enormous, diverse community, so someone is always there, even if it is not always the same someone.

So I would like to thank everyone who takes time out of their day to answer AskMetafilter questions seriously and kindly and thoughtfully. It's true that individual people often have really great things to say, but really it's the community as a whole that I am grateful for.
posted by colfax at 6:24 AM on August 1, 2013 [30 favorites]

Sorry, Blasdelb: can't do it. Can't, as the potato chip commercial used to say, pick just one.

I just want to thank all of y'all for making this little corner of the internet a damn fine place to be.
posted by easily confused at 6:31 AM on August 1, 2013

Ruthless Bunny and others gave me some advice in an AskMe that I posted anonymously. Obviously, I'm not going to disclose the post, or the advice, but I took all of it to heart and it has helped me greatly.

Everyone I've met at IRL meetups ever. I wish I could go to more, because then maybe I'll feel like less of a lurker and more included, and possibly would have been mentioned already in this post, but also because they're all really, really good times.

John Cohen and others gave me tax advice that helped me to this day.

All of the mods are incredible, selfless people.

And the rest of you are all awesome. Thank you.
posted by bookwibble at 6:35 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Pretty much everyone I've met from mefi has been super cool. Even though nearly every time I go to a meetup my anxiety rears its head and I get super nervous and drink too much too quickly and then ramble boringly at people :) So... good people, mefites.
posted by gaspode at 6:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

OH WAIT I FORGOT GASPODE TOOK ME OUT FOR JUST MARRIED DRINKS. (and is funny and charming with great hair).


SEE THIS IS WHY IT'S HARD THIS THREAD IS STRESSING ME OUT WITH ALL THE NICENESS SOMEONE THROW A CAT
posted by The Whelk at 6:39 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

(Thanks to Metafilter and Mefites I am watching a lot more TV then I used to but now I feel smarter and more of a critical viewer for having done so.)
posted by The Whelk at 6:40 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Looking at who I favorited the most comments for on infodumpster, I realize that I left a load of people in the "...and the rest" category in my comment above. I am now wracked with guilt, but I have work to do people! It's your own damn fault for being so awesome! Stop being so awesome!!!!

I regret that outburst, please, do not stop being awesome. Because you're awesome.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:43 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I know I will think of more but I do enjoy the FPPs of MartinWisse. Thank you Martin!
posted by pointystick at 6:46 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

OH ALSO telegraph and tel3path are both askme champions.
posted by elizardbits at 6:51 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

"Also, can we see a picture of Eyebrows McGee's actual eyebrows?"

They are in my profile pic! Those are them!

(But they are n-dimensional, those are just their space-time avatar as it appears to you normal humans.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:54 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Many, many people have reached out to me at various times and I am grateful to all of them, as well as to those who have patiently, kindly, and thoughtfully answered my various questions and demonstrated their support of me as a member of this online community. I haven't had the time or energy to participate as much lately as I used to, but knowing that MeFi is out there is definitely comforting. Moreover, I continue to learn from the people who generously share their knowledge and life experience in the various threads and questions that I read on the daily. Sending my very warmest thoughts to this entire community, which is a wonderful place (and quite homey).
posted by prefpara at 6:59 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I kind of don't want to single anyone out if I can't single everyone out. I do hope that my current long run working in LA half of every week coincides with a meetup I can make it to, because I haven't seen any LA mefites in a couple of years.

I like all of you, really. Well, most of you.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:03 AM on August 1, 2013

You know who you are. Disgraceful.
posted by Artw at 7:06 AM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

Oh no. Can't possibly list everyone. What if I forget to mention someone?

Y'all are brilliant, fantastic, wonderful, sweet and amazing people. I'm grateful to know you -- every last one of you. :)
posted by zarq at 7:10 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

The infodumpster says I should call out Pope Guilty, DU, robocop is bleeding, Artw, and klangklangston. Which I guess sounds about right. I particularly love comment fables and think robocop is bleeding should've been called out well before now.
posted by graymouser at 7:11 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Nobody's mentioned It's Raining Florence Henderson yet? Gosh. Also, Smedleyman, and Slarty Bartfast, and ... yeah, my neck is sore from nodding so much agreeement to everyone listed above, as well as to the people saying "Too many to remember!"
posted by Kat Allison at 7:14 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

I want to thank Frowner so much, for giving me hope that I can balance being a grown-up and having a job that I may not always agree with in principle with being a radical anarchist-leaning activist person. Special shout-out to this comment, for giving me hope through pretty dark job times.
posted by ActionPopulated at 7:14 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Okay, I'll give this a shot:

Everyone I've ever met at a meetup. I hesitate to name names, because I've met so many rad people and I don't want to inadvertently leave people out, but I really like you guys. Extra special thanks to DiscourseMarker and Horace Rumpole for organizing Taters trivia.

All the Mefites I follow on Twitter. Again, there are enough of you that I don't want to risk forgetting anyone, but you guys make my day so much better.

Backseatpilot makes me less afraid to fly.

I'm astounded that cairdeas hasn't been called out yet, because she gives consistently wise and excellent AskMe advice.

I wish Nattie would write a book. I'd read it five times and buy copies for all my friends.

A couple of times, Greg Nog has introduced me to people with "I think you guys would really get along!" which I have appreciated immensely: it's incredibly thoughtful, and as an awkward introvert I need all the people-meeting help I can get. Plus, so far he's been totally right. Greg, thank you for using your forces for good.

Orange swan has the absolute best crafty FPPs.

I don't know ColdChef terribly well, but I know that he's all-around great.

I confess that I am secretly delighted when elizardbits favorites a comment of mine, because she herself is so frequently hilarious. It feels like an official stamp of approval.

I think alltomorrowsparties has a really good point about threads like these inadvertently making people feel left out. I admire her courage for bringing it up, and her grace for doing so in a kind, non-inflammatory way.

There are many, many more of you. Anyone who hasn't been mentioned in this thread so far: odds are quite good that you're liked and valued and wanted here.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:18 AM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

b33j and I had a two person meetup at the Mediaeval Fair which involved public transport, Caboolture, booze and sitting under a tree in a park waiting for a bus a few years ago which is a treasured memory. She also happens to be an Askme Superstar!
posted by h00py at 7:26 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm calling all y'all out for being awesome.

Except for that one guy. You all know who I mean.
posted by desjardins at 7:42 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Whenever I'm reading a MeFi thread and thinking "what's the most humane take on this?" and can't really decide on anything, I usually find a comment by Frowner a little bit down the page and realize, oh, yeah, that's it. I feel the same way about PhoBWanKenobi in threads about books or narrative in general. idiopath is remarkably knowledgeable about the acoustics of music-making and he has a really compelling aesthetic sense.

In real life, notsnot was awesomely helpful to me last summer when I was planning a road trip to Glacier National Park, he takes beautiful photos of flowers and landscapes, and in general he is a smart and handy dude with good taste in beer!

also Looking at the infodumpster it turns out that most of the people in my top ten most favorited comments are from NYC, which either reflects the general excellence of that crew or maybe my subconscious desire to move back there
posted by invitapriore at 7:49 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

We're simply the best. Better than all the rest. Better than everyone, anyone you've ever meeeeeeet.
posted by The Whelk at 7:52 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Okay so I looked again a little more closely and it turns out that it's only the plurality, but the point still stands that if the top ten most favorited people by me were allowed to vote on my life then NYC's interests would probably win out.
posted by invitapriore at 7:57 AM on August 1, 2013

There are a few usernames that make me smile every time I see them just because I like their names

weretable and the undead chairs
Everythingsalrighteverythingsfine
two or three cars parked under the stars
itstheclamsname
that's how you get ants
twins named Lugubrious and Salubrious
late afternoon dreaming hotel
I love you more when I eat paint chips
New England Cultist
spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints
Mom
a humble nudibranch
bessel functions seem unnecessarily complicated
swimming naked when the tide goes out
jjjjjjjijjjjjjj
wuzandfuzz
time to put your air goggles on!
Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown
a robot made out of meat
Emperor Yamamoto's Eggs
Hot Like Your 12V Wire
strangeleftydoublethink
A god with hooves, a god with horns
Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo
Now there are two. There are two _______.
flag it and shut up
HighTechUnderpants
game warden to the events rhino
Combustible Edison Lighthouse
Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America
Captain Crusty's Zeppelin Repair Service
Hello, Revelers! I am Captain Lavender!

There are probably more but I ran out of steam.

And shothotbot got me into online trivia which has been an all-consuming type of thing for ten minutes a day these past few years. And donnagirl put me up at her place and showed me a good time in Kansas. So thanks everyone.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:08 AM on August 1, 2013 [13 favorites]

I don't interact with the site enough to have strong first-hand opinions of people, but I do appreciate how y'all are willing to help a stranger pick out gifts for his sister, think about a career, or simply share your little corner of expertise.

Among users I remember, Pjdoland made me a mix of music I didn't know I needed.

Sonascope consistently tells stories filled with deep thought, genuine emotion, and left turns into the goofy.

And scarabic gives great murder advice. Or, uh, so I've heard. From a friend.
posted by Turkey Glue at 8:10 AM on August 1, 2013

I'd like to call out garlic for regularly organizing the TINCC Chicago RonaldMcDonald House meet-ups and McMikeNamara for turning the August meet-up into a diaper charity pledge-o-rama.

I'm mean, lots of you folks are honest-to-god Jewels amongst Humanity and many of you say things I could not agree with more and many of you make me snarf coffee. And my life would be so much less with the Goat-Up regulars, but.

But right now, garlic, Mike and these small acts of humanity are giving me life.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:16 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Ctrl F "sweetkid"

-- couple mentions. Sigh of relaxation and grateful acceptance.
posted by sweetkid at 8:17 AM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

I would like to extend my shrill, embittered, irrational, and humorless thanks to the outspoken feminists of MetaFilter for inspiring me to become more actively engaged in the evisceration of publicly-aired sexist beliefs and attitudes. You've made me a better person, a better woman, and a better activist. I want to make a list but I have a terrible memory and don't want to leave anyone off, so instead I will continue on my quest to personally MeMail each of y'all and hope that it is OK for me to present you with a hearty high-five and your beverage of choice on the off-chance we are ever in the same town.

Thanks to everyone who uses this space to talk about their experience with growing up mired in poverty. I don't know anyone IRL who has a background similar to mine, and it has been eye-opening and comforting to realize that there is still room at the intellectual discussion table for poor and uneducated folks like myself. You are all such an inspiration to me.

Perhaps most importantly, my overwhelming gratitude is perennially extended to all the MeFites who have written at length about their abusive families of origin. I lurked for years before I signed up, and watching other people bring their painful histories into the sunshine and talk about them so matter-of-factly gave me strength, clarity, and focus in my darkest hours. I know I've called it out before, but after years of gnashing and wailing on my lonesome, reading L'Estrange Fruit's comment here was an especially life-altering lightbulb moment for me. So much of my personal healing has come about as a direct result of things I have read here, written by complete strangers! I am not eloquent enough to properly thank you all for being resilient and brave enough to talk about your experiences without shame or fear, so instead I will just say...

tl;dr - I love you, MetaFilter!

Also, I really miss Rustic Etruscan and Phire! If either of you happen to read this, I hope you are doing awesome out there!
posted by divined by radio at 8:20 AM on August 1, 2013 [25 favorites]

jessamyn: " spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints"

I can't ever see this name without also hearing Kramer from Seinfeld in my head saying, "He's a JUNIOR MINT! He's VERY REFRESHING!"
posted by zarq at 8:23 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I don't use my favorites enough but according to the infodumpster, I usually enjoy it most when jeffburdges posts and when Malor, Homeboy Trouble, or Frowner write comments.
posted by antonymous at 8:23 AM on August 1, 2013

;_;
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:24 AM on August 1, 2013

I am moving to the Bosston area with beloved fellow mefite grobstein and I just know that I will make lots of friends there from metafilter

wowie big news! Good luck!
posted by sweetkid at 8:24 AM on August 1, 2013

I feel much ctrl-Fing happening right now. Please check out my favourites list to know how much I appreciate your presence here.
posted by h00py at 8:27 AM on August 1, 2013

I could have sworn I typed this yesterday, and I bet I did, and I bet I didn't actually hit "post", so: Shoutout to all my Vikings. You're awesome.
posted by rtha at 8:28 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

In conclusion, North America is a land of contrasts.

America is TOO WIDE otherwise three stars would totally America again.
posted by sweetkid at 8:28 AM on August 1, 2013

And donnagirl put me up at her place and showed me a good time in Kansas.

One of the things that first seized my imagine about Metafilter was reading a thing that I believe was in your profile saying 'if anyone wants to turn up at my house (in the middle of nowhere) and sleep on my sofa for a few days, you're welcome.'

It struck me as the most surprising thing I'd read since the tale of the man who died being serviced by Mr Hands. Phenomenally kind and insanely dangerous at the same time.

I'm sure I didn't imagine this -- but I might have done. Assuming I didn't, can I ask why you gave it up? Did you have a bad experience? Just get fed up with people turning up unannounced? I also seem to recall you selling a house out in the wilds, so perhaps the offer was just limited to that house?

I would never turn up at anyone's house unarranged, even if they had made the offer previously. But I'm still struck by the radical kindness of that offer.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:35 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is the place to thank interplanetjanet, Golden Eternity, and beagle for their above-and-beyond response to francinefuqua's question about her lost soldiers of WWI. beagle, in particular, found more information than I could have hoped; his answers about Thomas Maxwell were fantastic, and in particular, he was able to track down Maxwell's present-day kin.

Francine said this: "I am so impressed by the knowledge and dedication of all of you, at MetaFilter. I tried for two years to locate my 3 missing GI's, to no avail. A few weeks after I asked for your help... Success." And I almost cried, because that sums up the amazing, responsive, supportive, dogged *help* that you all willingly provide for strangers with difficult, and sometimes seemingly intractable, questions. I ask, and I know you will answer.

colfax says, above, "Just yesterday I realized that that panic is mostly gone, because when I stumble across a new unfamiliar problem, I now think, 'I'll ask Metafilter. They'll help me.' And you do, every time." QFT. Thank you, denizens of Ask MetaFilter.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Their babies will be so beautiful

do you think that just because you are in boston that i will not find you and touch all the stuff in your fridge with my toes

do you
posted by elizardbits at 8:39 AM on August 1, 2013 [13 favorites]

Extra special thanks to DiscourseMarker and Horace Rumpole for organizing Taters trivia.

Ditto! I go very rarely but always enjoy our trivial hangouts.

Plus I have never been on a trivia team this good in my life.
posted by Aizkolari at 8:39 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

LURKING OUTSIDE OUR HOUSES WITH FINE TEA PRODUCTS

I would very much like this to happen to me.
posted by maryr at 8:40 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Has hippybear been mentioned? I just remembered his awesome bear culture stories. So there, hippybear.
posted by The Whelk at 8:40 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

OH ALSO re: awesome NEW people I have noticed billiebee and divined by radio being rad all over the place.
posted by elizardbits at 8:41 AM on August 1, 2013

I am from a small-ish place (St. Paul, MN), and I now live in a smaller place (Rhode Island), but I am delighted to find great people from both regions -- respectively Area Man, Louche Mustachio, Bunny Ultramod, and so many more great folks, as well as Ruki and Slap*Happy in Little Rhodey.

MetaFilter is awesome because stories about places that are not New York or L.A. still get serious attention & participation from all over: "non localist," I can say, with an approving nod.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:45 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I will also say that I have a friendcrush on rtha, who just seems to be cool and in to cool things, and on the NYC mefi crowd in general. Your boardgames meetups! They seem so cool! And the whiskey related ones in SF!

I will probably never hang out with the NYC crowd, but hope to start showing up at meetups in the Bay in the next couple of years.
posted by Aizkolari at 8:46 AM on August 1, 2013

Racist Dunk Tank Clown and that's it!
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:51 AM on August 1, 2013

I'd read since the tale of the man who died being serviced by Mr Hands.

I do not think I know what this is.

Assuming I didn't, can I ask why you gave it up? Did you have a bad experience? Just get fed up with people turning up unannounced?

I think it's still in my Metachat profile. I can't remember if it was ever in my MeFi profile. I have a sort of standing invite to people who want to visit Vermont (or, in summers, Westport MA) with the understanding that I'm often working but that I realize that hotels are expensive and I have extra space that is, in some ways, the result of MetaFilter's success. People would still need to make a plan, it's not a flophouse or anything. One of the things MeFi has taught me is that there are a lot of cool strangers around here, it's not as random a bunch as you might think.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:58 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

and mightygodking and the two mefites who launched a book about superhero law (Jedicus and valkyryn ) that made me accidentally get an illo in the New York Times via the transitive property....just everybody!
posted by The Whelk at 9:01 AM on August 1, 2013

Metafilter: It's not a flophouse or anything
posted by scody at 9:04 AM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

I would live in a wizarding tent in jessamyn's backyard prolly.
posted by elizardbits at 9:05 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Julen and phunniemee for making Quonsmas happen. They are sparkly examples of elvish goodness.
posted by arcticseal at 9:06 AM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

There's too many of you, but you're all great. Metafilter is an engine for overwhelming my ability to properly keep up with awesome people.

I once met Greg Nog at a meetup and we didn't really get to talk because there were just so many people, but I am kind of in awe of him.

I once met Greg Nog at a meetup on my first visit to New York, and it was so loud that I couldn't hear what he said after asking him to repeat it and, so I was like "oh hey, nice to meet you" when what I'd have actually done if I'd realized it was him was be like OH SHIT YOU FUCKIN' SCAMP GIMME A HUG YOU
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:11 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

elizardbits are you like dating GregNog or what because if you are I will mail you a congratulatory emu did you know you can mail those because you can and I know how you like emus is what I'm saying
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:13 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Special mention of the many members who aren't MeFi-famous, and who are thoughtful, interesting, kind and funny. It takes a village and all.
posted by theora55 at 9:16 AM on August 1, 2013 [9 favorites]

yes villagefuls of emus
posted by sweetkid at 9:20 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh my gosh, Blasdelb, I'm blushing. Thank you. (and, amusingly, I am a Christian. One with an unusual history to be sure, but I am one nonetheless.)

As long as we're talking about making people cry, it should be noted that it was Madamina who performed the truly amazing service of doing all the legwork to actually get zizzle her diapers. All I did was sound the klaxon. This is just one of many things like this she has done, and she deserves her own paragraph in this probably novel-length comment, because while other people think "gosh wouldn't it be nice if," she actually picks up the phone and makes it happen. Brava, lady.

On my own list, which I will certainly leave people out of: Eyebrows McGee and Elizardbits for sure. Scody and Miko. Frowner and DrMew and Corinth and a dozen other people whose names are failing my traitorous memory, for taking their turns on the Trans* Teaching Train. Rory Marinich and koeslitz and klangklangklangston. Treehorn+bunny and Slarty Bartfast and herrdoktor for being the physicians who will answer questions in AskMe; I'm pretty sure we all collectively owe them a bottle of scotch. Every single person on this site who is an expert in something, either by training or from lived experience, who has patiently rolled up their sleeves and waded in to correct our grave misapprehensions. Sonascope for telling the most beautiful stories. jbenben, for being unfailingly kind to AskMe questioners who so frequently need it so desperately. rmd1023, for buying me a MeFi membership as a present three years ago and thereby changing my life.

Last but not least, every single person -- and there are hundreds or thousands -- who has demonstrated the power of a gracious apology here. That was a lesson I badly needed to learn, personally, and it's one that has made me a better person in profound ways.
posted by KathrynT at 9:22 AM on August 1, 2013 [14 favorites]

Mad props to Blazecock Pileon for being right about so many things agreeing with me on so many things that I'm beginning to suspect we may be clones.
posted by entropicamericana at 9:23 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

griphus is a jerkface for disabling his account and I am gonna fight him.

aight let's do this
posted by griphus at 9:23 AM on August 1, 2013 [60 favorites]

DRAMATIC GASP
posted by elizardbits at 9:25 AM on August 1, 2013 [22 favorites]

Last but not least, every single person -- and there are hundreds or thousands -- who has demonstrated the power of a gracious apology here. That was a lesson I badly needed to learn, personally, and it's one that has made me a better person in profound ways.

OK JUST QUIT BEING SO AWESOME

no actually don't quit
posted by sweetkid at 9:25 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Do emus even live in villages?
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:26 AM on August 1, 2013

Do emus even live in villages?

just what kind of question is that? of course they do I think.
posted by sweetkid at 9:27 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

YAAAY griphus !!!!!111!!!!
posted by soundguy99 at 9:27 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

ALSO secret shoutout to the mefi-who-shall-remain-nameless who gave me Advice on Activity that the fucking MAN doesn't want me to do, proving that mefi is full of people who are delightful in the realm of Extralegal Victimless Fun Thrills

You were smart from the very beginning.
posted by griphus at 9:28 AM on August 1, 2013

Do emus even live in villages?

If my research is correct, they live in a forest about halfway between you and me.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:28 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

You were smart from the very beginning.

It's like riding a bike.
posted by Aizkolari at 9:29 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Do emus even live in villages?

They live in emunicipalities.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:30 AM on August 1, 2013 [38 favorites]

Philly-style props (that's a serious old school prop PLUS A JAWN - because we INVENTED "jawn") - to treehorn+bunny for excellence in all things medical (plus all-around awesomeness, plus jbenben, voice of wisdom, sanity, and an absolute Warrior For the Downtrodden in relationship AskMes, PLUS GregNog for being consistently hilarious.

And also to all of the numerous other wonderful MeFites whose recommendations have brought SO much joy into my life... it only takes a second to dash off a recommendation, but there are soooo many books and movies and foods and durable goods and activities (Cintamani hoodies! Rhubarb! The Magnetics Fields! Korean spas! WHO'DA THUNK?!) that I love that I learned about from you guys.
posted by julthumbscrew at 9:31 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

YRR is leaving? Well its been nice knowing everyone in NY I guess meetups are all cancelled for ever. :C
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:34 AM on August 1, 2013

Greg Nog: "ALSO secret shoutout to the mefi-who-shall-remain-nameless who gave me Advice On Activity that the fucking MAN doesn't want me to do, proving that mefi is full of people who are delightful in the realm of Extralegal Victimless Fun Thrills"

The crime rate here is kind of high, but I'm pretty sure the mere fact of living in St. Louis is not itself illegal.
posted by invitapriore at 9:36 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

brb knock at the door
posted by invitapriore at 9:37 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

No way to list everybody, but I will single out two three:

elizardbits, because she makes me laugh or say "Yes!" with every single comment. Every one. How does she do that? I don't know.

HuronBob, for making me cry at work yesterday.

I will now copy and paste the message underneath the Live Preview below:

Note: Everyone needs a hug.

In conclusion, Sara C. is a land of contrasts and is Trekily hilarious on Twitter.
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:37 AM on August 1, 2013

ITS THE SUEDE DENIM SECRET POLICE
posted by elizardbits at 9:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

They live in emunicipalities.

Oh, yeah, no, very nice. *slow, eyes-closed nod of admiration*
posted by wenestvedt at 9:38 AM on August 1, 2013

In conclusion, Sara C. is a land of contrasts and is Trekily hilarious on Twitter.

wow Sara C. is going to die of blushing.
posted by sweetkid at 9:40 AM on August 1, 2013

To join in on the fun: shout-outs to Nomyte and nasreddin.

When a very distinct sort of cultural gap crops up between myself and, well, most of the rest of the site, I know that at least one of the two of them is probably looking at what I'm looking at and also doing the manic hand-wavy "does anyone else even see this?" motion at their screen.
posted by griphus at 9:41 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

cortex: " I once met Greg Nog at a meetup on my first visit to New York, and it was so loud that I couldn't hear what he said after asking him to repeat it and, so I was like "oh hey, nice to meet you" when what I'd have actually done if I'd realized it was him was be like OH SHIT YOU FUCKIN' SCAMP GIMME A HUG YOU"

I spoke to The Whelk for 5-10 minutes at the big NYC meetup a few weeks ago and had no idea it was him until later when I asked Greg to point him out.

Meanwhile, I haven't had a picture of myself on my profile for at least 2 years. Maybe 3? At that meetup Greg and I arrived to the bar at the same time. He stepped back and made an "after you" gesture then looked closely at me and said, "Hey, are you zarq?" We'd never met. THAT was surreal. And really quite cool.

Everyone at that meetup was astonishingly nice. I am terrible in crowds. Always run out of things to say and feel horribly awkward, so I had always avoided going to meetups. But I had a wonderful time, because everyone there was so welcoming and friendly. I spent a lot of time chatting with ausdemfenster, mountmccabe, lalex, bookwibble, greg_nog, potomac avenue, overhauser, likeatoaster, young rope rider (AAAAIGH! You're leaving?!), ursus_comiter, grobstein, The Whelk... and other exceptional people whose Mefi handles escape me. Felt like I'd known many of them for years... and I guess I have. :)

Wish I had been able to chat more with griphus, showbiz_liz, (Over) Thinking, cowlick, larthegreat, Hactar, the Little Prince, lalochezia, zephyrial, sciencegeek, and others. Next time... next time.
posted by zarq at 9:43 AM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

Oh yeah, nasreddin. I haven't seen him around for a while, but he is terribly sharp and has a laser eye for bullshit that I've always really admired.
posted by invitapriore at 9:43 AM on August 1, 2013

Nasreddin is named after my favorite folk figure, so he gets a gold star.
posted by The Whelk at 9:43 AM on August 1, 2013

GRIPHUS! Welcome back! :D
posted by zarq at 9:44 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

(also Greg moving to St. Louis, YRR moving to Boston? Do I have tie you people to lamppost or something? I DID NOT APPROVE THIS)
posted by The Whelk at 9:44 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

(and I regard everyone who endured the epic Mad Men threads to be brothers in arms, we need a badge or something)
posted by The Whelk at 9:45 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I know, it sucks.

Although Rory Marinich is one of us now. So there's that. One of us. One of us. One of us.
posted by zarq at 9:46 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

(and shouts to everyone in the Occupy Flavortown video and who attended and made it awesome)
posted by The Whelk at 9:46 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I always found the tail ends of those threads to be the easiest to deal with, because it's hard to get a bead on the fast-moving early discussion of the big themes, but then later you can dig into the awesome little details like how Don says "I love puppies" and "I love Hershey's" with exactly the same inflection
posted by invitapriore at 9:47 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Wish I had been able to chat more with griphus...

I will tell you people EXACTLY how this went. My fiancee was already out the door and I was trying to get in some last goodbyes:

"Bye everyone! Bye Whelk! Bye Potomac Avenue! Bye Greg! Bye dude Greg is talking to who I didn't get to meet!"
"griphus, this is zarq."
"FUCK! I mean ... oh man come on we didn't even get to ... Agh! Buy this man a drink! I have to go!"

I was extra-livid because before the meetup I was so psyched to finally and specifically meet zarq.
posted by griphus at 9:47 AM on August 1, 2013 [10 favorites]

Yeah, as someone who only ever subscribes to Mad Men on iTunes, I, too, prefer the latter follow-up discussion periods.

Though reading the stream of consciousness is really funny the next day after I've seen the episode.

Right now I'm a little sad that the thread for my new obsession, Orange Is The New Black, isn't nearly as fevered. So um if anyone misses the Mad Men threads and has Netflix, come on over!
posted by Sara C. at 9:50 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I am working on a project and trying to avoid new TV stop suggesting shows people
posted by sweetkid at 9:52 AM on August 1, 2013

Verb is awesome - I always learn a lot from what he has to say. Also tons of other people who have been mentioned a lot already, but I didn't see a mention of verb.
posted by Wylla at 9:52 AM on August 1, 2013

I felt so bad about that. Was REALLY, REALLY hoping to meet you too and didn't want to hold you up when you had to run.

It's okay! We'll do other meetups! :)
posted by zarq at 9:53 AM on August 1, 2013

Right now I'm a little sad that the thread for my new obsession, Orange Is The New Black, isn't nearly as fevered. So um if anyone misses the Mad Men threads and has Netflix, come on over!

I am stuck waiting until internet happens at my new apartment but this is totally on the docket for me.
posted by invitapriore at 9:55 AM on August 1, 2013

JHarris is really putting in work on tech/gaming threads, blowing my mind with his breadth and depth of knowledge - most recently in the C64 thread. I'd love to read a longform version of his writing.
posted by porn in the woods at 9:56 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

A little more Chicago love: MCMikeNamara's posts are twice as good if you meet him because then you can imagine how it sounds when he says them which is so much better y'all. And eamondaly is exactly as much fun as you imagine he would be.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:57 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I miss hermitosis.
posted by The Whelk at 9:57 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

Speaking of zarq, he single-handedly complicated my views on circumcision in one thread with his very reasonable and patient argumentation.
posted by invitapriore at 9:58 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh! BevosAngryGhost, for being hilarious and my Crown Bearer.
posted by The Whelk at 9:59 AM on August 1, 2013

can't let this thread go any further without jumping back in to give a big shout-out to Tchad, whose incredible talent and generosity here made my nephew the hippest and happiest eight-year-old in all of SoCal.
posted by scody at 10:04 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

FAMOUS MONSTER is reliably awesome!
posted by EvaDestruction at 10:06 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

scody, for your nephew's sake, you have to archive that picture of him in as many ways as possible, since it will be his trump card in just about every situation imaginable when he grows up.
posted by invitapriore at 10:08 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

that is AMAZING
posted by sweetkid at 10:11 AM on August 1, 2013

You're all my favorite.

However, I'm calling out adipocere. Tho I haven't been able to show up in chat in quite some time, his wit and wisdom were many times the highlight of my day. But that's a gross name, dude.

And, corb. She truly went above and beyond one day for a person in need of immediate help, and it'll never be forgotten. Our points of view on many things are very different, and I appreciate the time she takes to explain hers, with passion and thoughtfulness and a willingness to take a second look from time to time.
posted by houseofdanie at 10:12 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

MCMikeNamara's posts are twice as good if you meet him because then you can imagine how it sounds when he says them My god, this is so.true. Although I think they're just as good anyway, but I always append the inimitable sidelong glance to anything Mike posts.

the eamon beast needs no more validation. NONE!
posted by crush-onastick at 10:13 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

scody: Is there a way I can hire that kid to come to my parties and have him spend the whole time just methodically going through my jazz record collection and once in a rare while nodding slightly to himself?

rest of metafilter: can I borrow your jazz record collection?
posted by griphus at 10:13 AM on August 1, 2013 [9 favorites]

Also, me3dia isn't the most active commenter, but he is the frigging mayor of Chitown internet people and a swell dude to boot.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:14 AM on August 1, 2013

then looked closely at me and said, "Hey, are you zarq?" We'd never met. THAT was surreal. And really quite cool.

He did that to me, too, last week. I can't decide whether it intimidated me more at my very first meetup or made me feel welcome. A little of both, really.
posted by Liesl at 10:14 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Except he called me Liesl, not Zarq, ya know. That woulda been really weird.
posted by Liesl at 10:17 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

He did that to me, too, last week.

He did that to me last night. It was creepy, because I wasn't at a meetup, and I'm not sure how he got into my house.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:17 AM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

Aw, you guys are all great. I'm terrified to call anyone out because I *know* I'm going to forget a bunch of people, but...

- all of the out-of-town folks who show up when I hoist the beer flag in my travels, even super randomly. And all of the Chicago meetup folks for being nice to my parents, who really enjoyed meeting y'all even if the whole concept of internet communities sort of bemuses them. My dad keeps threatening to show up to another one.

- PhoB for being super supportive about my writing, which means a ton to me, as well as being just awesome in general. (Go read her book, it's great!)

- Elizardbits for being generally hilarious and also for being indirectly responsible for today's writing chore, fanfic for Snow White and the Huntsman, which I would not even have seen if it weren't for her goddamned Tumblr, let alone bribed my friends into seeing with promises of slash.

- My coworkers, who are all awesome. One of these days we'll all get together in the flesh again (and the internet will implode.)

- My Twitter friends, The Whelk and Narrative Priorities and Devils Rancher and probably a bunch of other people I'm forgetting. So many funny, creative, awesome people. And Eyebrows McGee, for the occasional late-night chat and Donnajo for SXSW meetups and friendly memails.

I have to go write fanfic now but I love all of you. ALL OF YOU. Even when I ban you, it's with love in my heart.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 10:23 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

On a more personal note, I would like to call-out The Great Big Mulp who, the last time I moved, came over and spent about 5 hours helping me get my apartment clean. He cleaned the bathroom like a precision maniac, and even flossed the radiators, which had never occurred to me.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:25 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Sure, I, like everyone, have a soft spot for certain members and I think the moderators are all exceptional people, but I think there are a lot of people like me who find the cult of personality brings up feelings of exclusion.

alltomorrowsparties, I totally get this. There are so many days here when I feel so... average... as to be invisible amongst a group of people that I sort of consider giants. I have to make a conscious effort to let these folks inspire me though, instead of bring me down. When I grow up, I want to be an amalgam of Languagehat's knowledge and patience, Meatbomb's perspective and wisdom, Sonascope's experience and way with words and Jessamyn's easygoing charm and ability to cope.

Also. If you're on my contacts list, it's because I respect you, so consider yourself listed here, as I don't want to leave anyone out. Even those of you who have checked out for whatever reason. I miss all those names with the black bar behind them, too.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:26 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

I miss all those names with the black bar behind them, too.

When I have to look at my contact list, those little black bars make me really sad.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:28 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'd like to call you all out 'cos you're all super groovy (and especially everyone I saw last week).

That's why I'll be me-mailing each and every one of you to express my appreciation via a personal and heartfelt message - I'm thinking something like this ...

"Dear USERNAME

Just a short, but very sincere note to tell you that I'm proud to be on a website that has YOU as a member. Your contributions are always thoughtful, sometimes challenging and often pretty damn funny. And, if only you were in charge of this site - instead of that crazy "mathowie" weirdo - this site, and indeed the entire world, wouldn't be in the gosh-darned mess it's in today. I mean, is that even his real NAME??? What a numbskull!!!

Yours,

quidnunc kid"

Like I said, I'll be sending this memail to all of you, starting with user number 1, whoever that is. I'll post here when I'm done!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:35 AM on August 1, 2013 [10 favorites]

there is one user who has sent me personal notes every time I favorited one of their comments.

I'll just leave that there.
posted by sweetkid at 10:38 AM on August 1, 2013

Hey quidnunc! Sorry I missed you when you were visiting! I was too busy purchasing underpants and meeting with a wedding coordinator (who ausdemfenster graciously hooked us up with.)

Anyway, one of my proudest MetaFilter moments was when I could not, in any way, figure out how to phrase a joke for a perfect setup in a thread, and shortly after I gave up, quidnunc kid swooped in and made it and I was so elated I sent him a MeMail.

He sent me one back saying he liked my stuff too. I giggled like a schoolgirl at a giggling contest.
posted by griphus at 10:43 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Everything iamkimiam says is brilliant.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:44 AM on August 1, 2013 [9 favorites]

I wanted to also return to this lovefest to thank EmpressCallipygos, because she once answered a question I didn't know I had, and I've been grateful ever since, and I am not even sure she knows it.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 10:45 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

TOO MANY OF YOU I LOVE. TOO MANY!!

To name a few:

elizardbits and The Whelk - you guys always make me simultaneously laugh. so. hard. and feel like I'm not at the cool kids table at lunch. Sometimes it's like you guys and Griphus are over there eating pizza and I'm with the band nerds eating instant potatoes with meat sauce.

Of course, Eyebrows McGee, you are an awesome and smart and articulate and logical and insightful person. I would vote you for President of the Colonies.

KathrynT you are great and part of the I Look Forward to Your Answers Crew on AskMe.

Blasdelb, you intimidate me with your smarts, but I always look forward to your explanations of things because they balance intellect and appeal to the lay person well.

To both KathrynT and Blasdelb- I'm a hardcore atheist these days, but I grew up a fundie and I harbor A LOT of bitterness about Christians generally. But the two of you always make me rethink my anger and I'm glad Christians like you exist.

Sara C. I probably have an internet crush on you. You seem so good at life. I always look forward to your AskMe answers and comments.

JHarris why do you know everything about everything. You rule.

Koeselitz and unSane and moonmilk you guys are the best folks to talk about music with. Also Rory.

Which, Rory Marinich, you are fucking awesome and I really enjoy your long and opinionated and sort of sometimes DFW type comments (and posts). You've been a really awesome addition here.

Scody is like that person you wish you could call late at night and make some tea and cry on the phone to and she would make things okay.

Kattullus your posts are like best-est.

Greg Nog, natch.

cjorgensen because we have the same last name and we're both from Iowa. Holla.

Pour one out for Trurl. I miss his posts a lot. He liked the same weird art I do.

THE WHOLE PORTLAND CREW. SMOOCHES.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:47 AM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

Yo!

CTL+F = TWO mentions!!!!!

Welcome Back! and Posting as:

Y'all a buncha Lucy Van Pelts you know that?
posted by timsteil at 10:48 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

also if i lived in the uk i would stand outside armyofkittens&emmtee's house and make sad panda noises until they let me in for tea
posted by elizardbits at 10:48 AM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

Hi griphus!

Why is everyone in New York so damn lovely???
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:49 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

The Whelk: "I miss hermitosis."

And Phire. And ericb. And flex. And Trurl. And Optimus Chyme. And infini. And bunnycup. :(

The man of twists and turns has disabled his account. And Jahaza has also disabled his, probably after the Reza Aslan thread, which wasn't going well. :( Hope like hell they get back here quickly.

*taps foot*
posted by zarq at 10:49 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'm not gonna pretend I could ever call out everyone's comments who I have found wonderful and truthfully everyone who posts here helps make Metafilter one of the best online communities I've ever seen; in a lot of ways it's not any one individual poster's comments but the way they all work when mixed together. But I will specifically mention a few folks for specific things:

-FAMOUS MONSTER never fails to be thought-provoking and generally awesome.

-Miko lives right at the intersection of smart and wise.

-I give Ironmouth all sorts of crap for some of his views on the blue but A.) he takes it and always keeps a civil, level head and B.) he has given some really fantastic advice on the green over the years for which I feel he probably doesn't get enough credit.

-One of the superpowers I wish I had (alongside the abilities to read minds, teleport, and stop time) is the ability to tell a story as well as sonascope.

-saulgoodman is eloquent and awesome, and is probably the #1 most likely person to save me from having to post because he already posted what I would have said, but better.

-He's not around anymore (AFAIK) and had some rocky times here, but furiousxgeorge was the first person to give me a Welcome to Metafilter personal MeMail greeting(/hazing). I probably appreciate it more now than I did at the time, but it really helped me feel like a Member Of The Community.

- And I am a better person for reading Frowner's posts, that is all.
posted by mstokes650 at 10:50 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

And Phire. And ericb. And flex. And Trurl. And Optimus Chyme. And infini. And bunnycup. :(

bunnycup does still read the site, for what it's worth. Here in spirit. :P
posted by Drinky Die at 10:58 AM on August 1, 2013

I really appreciate delmoi's contributions to the community. I find his comments well reasoned and argued.

And now I find he's disabled his account.
posted by banal evil at 10:59 AM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Drinky, that's good to know. Thanks.
posted by zarq at 11:00 AM on August 1, 2013

Cortex always gives amusing and insightful comments. All the mods are great.
posted by I am the Walrus at 11:01 AM on August 1, 2013

Drinky, that's good to know. Thanks.

Also should probably point out she recently adopted an adorable baby boy named Ethan, since a lot of folks may have known her from some of her posts about dealing with the illness and death of her first child.
posted by Drinky Die at 11:04 AM on August 1, 2013 [18 favorites]

I have some personal thanks to individual members:

- emjaybee, rtha, crush-onastick, KathrynT, and several others who have (unknowingly and blessedly) curbed my commenting all over MeFi by simple dint of saying what I wished to say so much more succinctly, sensibly, cogently, and calmly that I felt I had nothing to add.

- scody, to whom I turned when the boyzone threads of yore started to crush my spirit. I confessed that I was struggling to keep a cool and dispassionate tone in those often-onerous discussions, which secretly made me want to go cry in the bathtub. scody doesn't know that her gente reminder --- that crying in the bathtub is okay, too --- has helped give me the strength to persevere and the permission to abstain in many a thread since.

- PhoBWanKenobi, specifically for ushering me into Who-via (and later critiquing it exactly as I was critiquing it, only smarter!), and more generally for her inspiring enthusiasm about her own and others' creativity.

- ambrosia for helming the current MeFi Health Month team, and for being such a supportive and encouraging teammate. Heck, I want to thank the whole MeFi HM team, including (I hope I've got this right!) ocherdraco for starting the team and web-goddess for sustaining it, and everyone else who's playing. It --- and you --- have been instrumental in making incremental but very real changes in my life. I especially want to thank those members who have (usually anonymously) sponsored me to play at a more challenging level while I'm unemployed. I am so grateful!

- Miko and Lipstick Thespian, for a zillion reasons but especially for the poem they gave me as a wedding gift.

- ArmyOf Kittens, for so many instructive and cogent and kind and steely remarks, and for frequently being hilarious.

- Sticherbeast, I would very much like to have a horror movie grade-school slumber party with you. You pick the movies; I will make kettle corn.

- shakespeherian, for writing a fantastic chunk of genre prose EVERY WEEKDAY during his Choose Your Own Adventure By Committee, thereby turning my gmail notifications from a source of "oh, hmm" into a source of joy; for unwittingly kickstarting my own writing, which had been in a slump; and especially for forgiving me for not yet sending the homemade candy I promised in thanks and will really really send as soon as the weather cools down, I swear it for realsies. Assuming he has forgiven me; if not then TO HECK WITH YOU SIR.

- And all the AskMe answerers who answer simple or seemingly-silly questions thoughtfully and with references, thus directing me to texts and writers I would never have stumbled over otherwise. It happens almost every day, so I'll just point out my most recently saved from "favorites" as an example: Weighted Companion Cube's comment in the question about haunted-house architectural tropes.
posted by Elsa at 11:06 AM on August 1, 2013 [11 favorites]

Aw, just messing with you. I'm Astro Zombie. posted by Bunny Ultramod

You are! I had to check - for a minute I thought you were pulling an "I am Spartacus."
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:08 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hippybear & I had a fruitful musical exchange via memail & Dropbox a while back, so we're like musical compatriots.

Boring Postcards is my BFFTwitter followee and a swell photographer & Flickr friend & I am jealous whenever he & BOP get together & post pictures. Also, he likes XTC so he's gotta be alright.

Heyho talked me down out of my tree over memail a couple years ago when I was REALLY stressing out about money and a potential move, and I've always appreciated that, and she's now also now one of my favorite Flick followees, who really knows how to wield a camera.

I've already mentioned the huge favor Misha did me when my daughter was stranded without cash in Florida & had lost her wallet, so she couldn't get a wire transfer from Western Union, even. I trusted a stranger, and she followed through!

It's as if you guys were my friends. Crazy!
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:11 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

The man of twists and turns has disabled his account.

Wait, WHAT? I am bereft.

And dammit, flex is still black-barred.

Come back, you guys!
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:14 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Boring Postcards is my BFFTwitter followee and a swell photographer & Flickr friend & I am jealous whenever he & BOP get together & post pictures. Also, he likes XTC so he's gotta be alright.

OH HELL YES. A few years back, BP made me a playlist that made me feel hip and cool and perfectly understood all at the same time. That is a tall order, friends.
posted by Elsa at 11:15 AM on August 1, 2013

Carillon introduced me to MetaFilter and is a swell guy all around, even if he does think that cereal is soup.
posted by coppermoss at 11:15 AM on August 1, 2013

I love treehorn+bunny's name. That + is so much fun to look at.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:17 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's telling that the vast majority of Christmas cards on my desk every year are from people I've never physically met. (although that is changing, because I keep meeting them)
posted by The Whelk at 11:17 AM on August 1, 2013

I hope sonascope never leaves this site (unless he wants to) because his stories are amazing.

I miss The Straightener, ericb, and hermitosis. It was shameful how they were pushed out of the site. Hopefully, they will one day decide to come back. Their posts and comments were unique and useful contributions.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:18 AM on August 1, 2013

Prefpara did something for me that I will never, ever forget or stop being grateful for.

Scrump, you know what you did.

Taz was very kind and offered to help me while I was going through a family crisis. It turned out to be a different crisis than the family thought and I didn't need the help after all, but I am still thankful for the kind spirit if was offered in.

A number of mefites convinced me in an Ask that it was ok for women to ask out men. If they hadn't, I would never have met the most special person in my life.

A few kind mefites offered to help me learn how to do things like gas a car, and offered to answer questions I might have about functioning in normal, not-poor society.

I can't even count the number of askme answers that have made my life so much healthier, safer and better than it would have been otherwise.

Soo many posters have made insightful, impactful, meaningful comments or really affected how I saw something. So many I can't name them all. You're amazing.
posted by windykites at 11:19 AM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Also cortex makes the best jokes.
posted by windykites at 11:19 AM on August 1, 2013

Do emus even live in villages?

They live in emunicipalities.

Look -- I don't even care what the fuck else has been said in this thread since this thing right here. This encapsulates what I love about youse guys. I'm getting laughy and weepy all at once.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:20 AM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

Also, the rarely-seen redfoxtail (Did anyone else hear that in David Attenborough's voice?), who appears every so often to dispense useful and often quietly hilarious advice, and who, yeeeeeeears ago, was one of the first web-blog people to inspire in me a sense of kinship and friendship, which is odd since she might well not have a clue who I am.

When I discovered she was also a MeFite, probably a month or two after I joined MeFi, I got a rush of warm fellow-feeling and a sense that I was really, truly in the right place.
posted by Elsa at 11:22 AM on August 1, 2013

was anyone else disappointed after searching for their own name and not seeing it?
posted by chasles at 11:27 AM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

CHASLES
posted by mintcake! at 11:28 AM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

BOOM
posted by mintcake! at 11:28 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Thank you to Eyebrows McGee for assistance for an issue a non-profit close to my heart is having. You are aces.

Also mad props to crush-onastick's thoughtful and comprehensive legal explanations.

& I am continually amazed at how each and every mefite I meet IRL has an immediate comfort quotient. It's like old home week. For all Chicago (and visiting) mefites, you've got to come on out. I wish I could stay out late with y'all, but I wake up early and I'm old.
posted by readery at 11:28 AM on August 1, 2013

Also thanks to all the funny people that make me do that snort/laugh and give my self away that REAL WORK IS NOT HAPPENING AT THIS DESK.
posted by readery at 11:29 AM on August 1, 2013

mintcake! for real Mintcake! is just simply the greatest human to ever had lived. better than Gandhi. what did that friggin guy ever do?
posted by chasles at 11:30 AM on August 1, 2013

also chasles. I'm a chasles fan now.
posted by sweetkid at 11:32 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

No mention of nadawi yet? That's a crime. She's good people in general, and in specific helped me pick out high(ish) end socks to buy my wife, just because she loves socks. Nobody that actively loves socks can be bad.
posted by Gygesringtone at 11:32 AM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

chasles, your name display indicates that I've clicked on your profile recently, which is either a high compliment or a dastardly indictment. And I can't remember which, mwahahahaha.
posted by Elsa at 11:32 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

even if he does think that cereal is soup.

YOU AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE WORDS.

And most of mine will be "no."
posted by Elsa at 11:34 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I like yoink's comments.
posted by Diablevert at 11:34 AM on August 1, 2013

Also thanks to all the funny people that make me do that snort/laugh and give my self away that REAL WORK IS NOT HAPPENING AT THIS DESK.

this is happening now.
posted by chasles at 11:34 AM on August 1, 2013

Drinky Die: " Also should probably point out she recently adopted an adorable baby boy named Ethan, since a lot of folks may have known her from some of her posts about dealing with the illness and death of her first child."

YAY!!!!!!
posted by zarq at 11:35 AM on August 1, 2013

Wait, I reread that! I thought you were positing cereal as a soup, not denouncing it. Come to my arms, my comrade!
posted by Elsa at 11:35 AM on August 1, 2013

sweetkid is another favorite of mine. such a caring sweet person! and so... pithy.
posted by chasles at 11:36 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I picked that name to fool everyone
posted by sweetkid at 11:37 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Usually reading political threads here makes me extremely twitchy, seeing a recurring handful of apparently well-respected members continually race to the bottom of poor-faith participation. But some folks, like Drinky Die and Blazecock Pileon and a number of people who will have to go unsung because I'm bad at names, repeatedly provide a voice of reason, questioning, and dialogue, and I don't know how they do it without going crazy but I appreciate it.
posted by threeants at 11:38 AM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

yea Drinky Die is rly good at political threads
posted by sweetkid at 11:40 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

elizardbits is a serious fav of mine.
posted by chasles at 11:42 AM on August 1, 2013

KlangKlangKlangston is my hero.
posted by munchingzombie at 11:46 AM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

ya'll are pretty great. that's all.
posted by inertia at 11:48 AM on August 1, 2013

I'd like to give meetups in general a shoutout and thank everyone I've met at one - particularly memorable for me are bondcliff's Blue Hills hike, the giant Peach Farm meetup with surprise! live fish, the very recent Western Mass meetup that lasted like 8 hours, and really every week at trivia, because I really love trivia and I've really missed having a regular meeting to do it. I'm especially thankful to the longterm trivia "regulars": Horace Rumpole, DiscourseMarker, Diablevert, maryrussell, backseatpilot, not_on_display.

(I also had a good time at the Saint Louis meetup and hope to someday organize a BTV area meetup for some weekend when I'm up there. Also, some of you Boston folks are awesome and I want you to be my real life friends and some day I will figure out how to do this without sounding creepy, but I'll probably have to clean my living room first boo.)
posted by maryr at 12:02 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

MeFi my sole source of tv recommendations, so thanks to all of you who won't stop gushing about their favourite shows. You have an almost perfect record (Better Off Ted made me slightly fidgety).

Thanks to all of you in the politics threads and the video games threads (and to JHarris for coining the phrase pizza mines and to whomever noted I was posting in most Fallout threads. Guilty as charged). Thanks to the poster of the POOM video. POOM.

Thanks to all of you who shared a story, discussed difficult topics like sexism, racism, trans* issues, family, relationships or quotidian frustrations and pleasures.

Thanks to all of you who come to meetups and chat by memail or in the room.

And thanks to all users, to the man in the arena for making this site worth reading. AAA+++ would favourite again.
posted by ersatz at 12:03 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I feel like we're closing Metafilter or something. Can I just take a few packs of printer paper, oh and some pens? I just really like pens.
posted by sweetkid at 12:05 PM on August 1, 2013

Better Off Ted made me slightly fidgety

oh god you didn't buy that office chair from the pilot, did you?
posted by griphus at 12:05 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Can I just take a few packs of printer paper, oh and some pens?

For some reason, I read that as "oh and some pants?" It didn't really seem strange, since I kind of imagine the place strewn with pants. So it would make total sense that there would be a lot of spare pants laying around.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:09 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I also like pants
posted by sweetkid at 12:14 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

There's no "i" in "pens" - but there should be.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:14 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

listen you
posted by sweetkid at 12:15 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I have the heart of a twelve year old. I keep it in a jar by my bed.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

I also like pants

Who doesn't? Now if MetaFilter was strewn with pandas, that would be really weird.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:16 PM on August 1, 2013

Wait when did hermitosis run away? GRR.

Also tkchrist should come back.

ALSO Kitteh and Shepherd should move to nyc.

ALSO OTHER PEOPLE SHOULD STOP MOVING AWAY FROM NYC LIKE RUINING RUINERS
posted by elizardbits at 12:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

Why one pen? 15!
posted by maryr at 12:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

ALSO OTHER PEOPLE SHOULD STOP MOVING AWAY FROM NYC LIKE RUINING RUINERS

I KNOW NEXT PERSON WHO TRIES IT I AM NOT KIDDING I WILL BE SO MAD AT YOU NOT KIDDING
posted by sweetkid at 12:17 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

It didn't really seem strange, since I kind of imagine the place strewn with pants.

So it's that kind of party then.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:25 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Don't eat the mashed potatoes. Or do. No judgement. I'm just saying: it's that kind of party.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:27 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

"The man of twists and turns has disabled his account."

MoTT got busy at work and needed to remove procrastination temptation, no dramarama here! I mean except for the wailing and gnashing of teeth in chat when he said he was taking a break. That was very dramatic, garments were rent and everything.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:28 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

garments were rent

How much did they go for? I'm looking to rent a pair of pants for the day. Seem to have lost mine somewhere.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:30 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I got em all. All the pants.


MoTT got busy at work and needed to remove procrastination temptation

I have a thing I need to finish before three day weekend and yet HERE I AM
posted by sweetkid at 12:33 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I think I am pretty awesome, and wish to congratulate myself for being so awesome.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 12:34 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

I don't participate as much as I'd like on MeFi, though I find a number of regulars, most of whom have already been called out here, very delightful. That said, new MeFite matthew.alexander (or old member with a new account?), really floored me with a compassionate and moving response to an AskMe question only a few days ago. It made me feel feels and think things, and changed my perspective on my relationship with my sibling.
posted by peripathetic at 12:35 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I may not be a noticeable part of the community, but it has been part of my life that I value.

I am not so good with names, I tend to group people by letter. G is a good letter. GregAceNogGuyZeroGuidnuncGriphusGrouse'n'ProusttheWhip that's a user right? C, there are some great users there, such as corbtex. I feel like someone should have said Countess Elenapygos by now. I also like IronmlasskimiambagelFyoro_nomad. That rascally klangoselitz! And who can forget the lovely P's? I can, apparently. But I like Proofs and Refutations automatically forever because I love Proofs and Refutations. Those BlazeBlatchersulgatoroonhouses sure are fighty but I admire their strength. There are tons of people both loud and quietly excellent who, when I see their names, I think, "Yay, this person!" but I can't ever bring them to mind on command because my mind is mush. So thanks to really everyone except maybe a couple people ahem.

Though, special one-of-a-kind limited-run props to blarg, who has helped me through many bad nights with absurdism and cats.
posted by bleep-blop at 12:36 PM on August 1, 2013 [14 favorites]

I'm looking to rent a pair of pants for the day.

I wouldn't. All the pants in this joint seem to have fish in them...


same as in town.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:39 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I told my husband about this thread over lunch. His response: "Did you call me out? Why not?"

I bought him an account on Sunday. He has one comment.

But it's a good one!
posted by Madamina at 12:42 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I just remembered a callout I need to make.

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabbadi Champion '94 has the best username ever.
posted by Sara C. at 12:50 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

Many of my favorites have already been mentioned several times over, so focusing mainly on posters ones who haven't had more than one mention in the thread so far:

palomar stands out as someone brave, brilliant, feminist, kind, funny, and basically everything I hope I could be.

hoyland, too, is someone who comments on social issues so elegantly, and can back it up with ALL OF THE RESEARCH. I am in awe.

Ad hominem and I sometimes agree and sometimes don't, but I always feel like I've learned something valuable after being in a discussion with him.

okbye put together an unimaginably awesome meetup in a place where I never expected to have an actual meetup, and wallabear and hippybear driving in from way out of town were part of why it was so great (okay I broke my rule for hippybear, since he's been mentioned a few times over, but you guys, hippybear is pretty cool in person too and I think you should know that if you don't already.)

There are so many times that I see something and start typing a response in a text file, only to scroll down and see that muddgirl has already said what I was thinking a hundred times better.

Rustic Etruscan and NoraReed are some crazy-smart types that make the rest of us early-mid-20-somethings look good (or maybe look bad, by comparison?)

Also, NoraReed deserves an extra shoutout along with nicebookrack, Jacqueline and asperity, for recognizing fanfiction is a thing that we can and should discuss on the blue and green without embarrassment.

I really appreciate that The World Famous, St. Alia, and zarq (also mentioned a few times already, but I wanted to have a trinity for this) are people who are so frank, patient and articulate when talking about faith, and also make incredibly helpful, smart, insightful comments outside of threads on religion.

Someday I hope I can make FPPs like Rhaomi. Also, as silly as it sounds, seeing people as cool as Rhaomi and JHarris confused and angry over the Google Reader shutdown made me feel much better about my own embitterment.

emptythought is a newer one (on my radar), but he stands out for being open and honest, yet graceful in the way he talks about difficult issues.
posted by kagredon at 12:56 PM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

pmcp hooked me up with the impossible-to-find-in-the-US Marmite chocolate to give to my girlfriend last Valentine's Day.

zen gargoyle worked patiently and for a long time helping me resolve a thorny VPN configuration problem.

samsara has a really helpful anti-malware primer in his profile, and has cheerfully and helpfully fielded questions for me several times.

Thank you, gents - you're the salt of MeFi.

posted by ryanshepard at 12:59 PM on August 1, 2013

I have no idea where to start, so I'll start with the folks I met:

Kattulus, GenjiandProust, krilli, acb, The Whelk - all beautiful human beings that I would party with again.

In terms of general appreciation for those I haven't met, there's a few names that jump out at me as folks I find interesting, engaging, and add to Metafilter, like the various and sundry spices used to make a good curry:

Miko, Pope Guilty, desjardins, zarq, elizardbits, Brandon (my first spouse!), Artw, Blazecock Pileon, ND¢ (wherever he is), It's Raining Florence Henderson, sweetkid, zombieflanders, Sara C., Greg Nog and corb.

Thanks, thanks and thanks!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:06 PM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

No ones said cairdeas more than once?

Also tel3path, EXISTENZ IS PAUSED, xarnop, and... most of the other people on cairdeas' list.

It's really kinda weird how you get a site with 10k+ people, and probably a few thousand active accounts and it's really just a few hundred who make it really memorable by posting interesting stuff all the time or really going the extra 10% to keep trying hard when the discussions get thorny.

also kagredon i was gonna say you thats like, o_o
posted by emptythought at 1:09 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, if I forgot you, it's probably because I'm in the middle of making dinner and a bit scatter-brained, or I just don't like you. But probably the former.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:09 PM on August 1, 2013

I have too many to remember so I am not even going to try. I love you wonderful people so much.
posted by gauche at 1:11 PM on August 1, 2013

I always really like ludwig_van and Schroedinger's comments on fitness and diet, I have a bunch of them bookmarked. They rock.
posted by jamesonandwater at 1:12 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I would like to call out pretty much everyone in DC, Baltimore, and Chicago, with particular nods to: sonascope for hosting a memorable meetup at the Bromo Seltzer tower; eamondaly for being a karaoke monster; and ocherdraco as an extra-geographical special mention for organizing the first DC meetup I was able to attend, where I met zennie, who is delightful. exogenous, Skwirl, MrMoonPie, Mrs. Pterodactyl, and ShawnString are fun folks, and meetups are awesome and everyone should go to them.

Oh! Also special mention to the small but very friendly group who turned up when I was visiting Ann Arbor over Memorial Day weekend last year (or was it two years ago?): Uniformitarianism Now!, leslies, and BillW.

Also, Apropos of Something is a dear, and I miss nebulawindphone and Forktine.
posted by EvaDestruction at 1:14 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

forever #1 on my list will be whoever comes to my house and takes these triscuits away from me
posted by elizardbits at 1:15 PM on August 1, 2013

Oh yes! MSTPT - he can party hard Iceland style.
posted by The Whelk at 1:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

gucci mane (who is probably the real gucci mane right? at least thats how I read all his comments

Take a look at Gucci Mane's join date. It's definitely Big Guwap commenting about shoegaze bands. Who knew right?

Thanks guys, especially the rap thread peeps and the programming thread peeps.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:17 PM on August 1, 2013

I think it's still in my Metachat profile. I can't remember if it was ever in my MeFi profile.

It must have been. I'm pretty sure I've never spent enough time on Metachat to look at a profile on there.

I thought Mr Hands was the name of the horse in the Enumclaw death case. On checking though, that horse was an Arabian stallion called Big Dick. Mr Hands is the star of the 2 guys 1 horse video.

I'm not sure how I know any of this -- but it's exactly what worried me. Wouldn't your open door policy attract the weirdest of oddballs? Furries, zoophiles, creeps -- they might all come a knocking.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:17 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

elizardbits: "also if i lived in the uk i would stand outside armyofkittens&emmtee's house and make sad panda noises until they let me in for tea"

oh god I just saw this thread and now I feel unaccountably guilty for not having put the kettle on
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:17 PM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

gucci mane (who is probably the real gucci mane right? at least thats how I read all his comments

for a while I just imagined that Lady Gaga was FAMOUS MONSTER.
posted by kagredon at 1:18 PM on August 1, 2013

Everyone who was kind enough to post answers in my last askme, when I truly hadn't a clue what to do or where to begin.
posted by jfuller at 1:18 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

pretty much everyone I have listed as a contact is because they said something super great and I wanted to keep an eye on them. except for emmtee, who was grandfathered in.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:20 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ad Hominem has the best old school NYC stories, esp with early strange computer network scene.

Eva Destruction tolerates me posting about my hair NON STOP.
posted by The Whelk at 1:21 PM on August 1, 2013

I told my husband about this thread over lunch. His response: "Did you call me out? Why not?"

I didn't call my boyfriend out either, who probably deserves it most of all since he's been around these parts years longer than I have, and was the one who introduced me to metafilter in the first place.

ArmyOfKittens and It's Raining Florence Henderson have some of my favorite usernames.

Now I can't stop picturing a tiny WWII era army made up of tiny fluffy kittens in tiny green helmets.
posted by inertia at 1:22 PM on August 1, 2013

Whelk, your latest tweets had me a bit concerned (if only for the state of your scalp), but the end result is very nice!
posted by EvaDestruction at 1:24 PM on August 1, 2013

*slow motion hair turn and pivot*
posted by The Whelk at 1:25 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

"I'm Concerned (For Your Scalp) [Kendal Mintcake 12" remix]"
posted by mintcake! at 1:27 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm right here, people. Jeebus...
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:28 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Still pissed at you about Le Car.
posted by mintcake! at 1:32 PM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

HAHAHA.
posted by sweetkid at 1:33 PM on August 1, 2013

inertia: "ArmyOfKittens and It's Raining Florence Henderson have some of my favorite usernames."

I picked it twelve years ago when I was young and packed with emotion. At this point I'm just glad it's not ridiculously melodramatic.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:33 PM on August 1, 2013

What happens when you eat Kittens for Breakfast? Angrycat raises an ArmyofKittens against you.
posted by zarq at 1:37 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

elizardbits for making me laugh almost every day!
posted by Hairy Lobster at 1:37 PM on August 1, 2013

I always get KittensforBreakfast and ArmyofKittens confused. I guess that's what happens to the Kittens if the Army loses.
posted by sweetkid at 1:38 PM on August 1, 2013

I think there was even a thread at some point where grar was achieved because we were constantly mistaken for each other?
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:41 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

yea you have pretty different viewpoints, despite being deliciously kitteny in username.
posted by sweetkid at 1:43 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Artw, whom I am convinced is not strictly mortal.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:44 PM on August 1, 2013

Shoutouts for amazing songs I have loved for years by jnrussell, armored-ant, snsranch, robotot, snofoam, The White Hat, crapples, MNDZ, gnfti the musician (and not just my great coworker), LN, ORthey, edlundart, Espoo2, 23skidoo and Jairus
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:44 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

KITTEN-FIGHT!

Aw, kitties.
posted by Artw at 1:45 PM on August 1, 2013

There is a badass feral cat who lives outside my apartment building that my boyfriend and I refer to as angrycat.

every time I see angrycat post here, I imagine it being posted by a giant gray feral who eats seagulls.
posted by inertia at 1:45 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, physicsmatt, who is utterly awesome and blows my mind every time he posts one of his in-depth analyses and explanations
posted by Hairy Lobster at 1:46 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

bonehead for being my online and IRL spouse (and for being really smart and funny). :)
posted by LN at 1:53 PM on August 1, 2013

I've been unashamedly using mefites to improve my mental health during the past year by putting myself out there into the world to make new friends.

Thanks to Greg_Ace for hosting many PDX meet-ups. The smoked meat is always good, but the safe space for me to meet new people has been invaluable. Same goes for the Albuquerque folks who showed up at the Frontier two weeks ago. And special shoutouts to my karaoke pals, homodachi and redsparkler!
posted by vespabelle at 2:13 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabbadi Champion '94 has the best username ever.

That's a fantastic username, but porn in the woods is the best username ever.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:14 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I wasn’t gonna comment in this thread since I am not a specialist in anything, will never personally meet any other MeFite unless they happen to pass through my home country, am mostly a lurker and only sporadically a poster, and then mostly in relationship asks – like alltomorrowsparties, I feel at the periphery of MeFi things. But I’ve just happened upon an FPP from one of the users I truly admire here, which sent me into a favourtites rabbit-hole, so that tipped the balance for me, and here they are:

The Human Relations regulars. Some names off the top of my head: jbenben, tel3path, salvia, scody, ruthless bunny, cairdeas, like a friend, rtha, FAMOUS MONSTER, roomthreeseventeen, discopolo, Frowner, fraula, PhobiWan, corb, EmpressCallipygos, Michelle of California, headnsouth etc, but really, everyone who regularly answers in HR, I have enormous respect for the wisdom, experience and the generosity to be found there. I never would have thought that at my age there are so many things to learn about what it means to be human.

People who post music FPPs. Some names already mentioned, also many others. Many, many gems, even when it’s not the kind of music I would typically listen to, the obvious joy and delight of the poster + commenters opens a little window to something new.

Everyone participating in thorny discussions on gender, race, LGBT issues, religion, poverty in a western country etc – many, many revelations, clarified some of my thoughts, and hopefully taught me how to be considerate and respectful of radically different life-experiences.

I must confess a particularly soft spot for emptythought, who writes with passion and who sometimes feels spookily like an alter ago (I was reading one of his older comments and thought I’d written it and forgotten about it – does anyone else have these weird moments), tel3path, who I’d love to have met, jbenben who is the most feisty, yet sweet and empathetic (or sweet, yet feisty) person I have ever encountered, Miko, from whom I learned how to be respectful AND assertive, Ivan Fyodorovitch, who is a sage, fraula, who has a wealth of knowledge on narrative and Native American story-telling and more, and introduced me to this site and other things, nickyskye for awesome posts, including this one on Romanian manele (warmed my heart), emapth, for the philosophy podcast and other things, jiawen for this sublime post on Chinese animation, flabdablet for being extra-uber-helpful, everybody who answered my question on wood-working, not just for the great advice, but also for taking a clueless person with some nails and a hammer seriously. A lot of the women here also have become role models of sorts, via the little glances posts and comments sometimes offer onto the life beyond the screen - so much resilience, and zest for life despite adversity etc, truly inspiring and uplifting during darker moments.

A lot of other names I recognize, and which stand for wit, insight, learning, eloquence, pretty much making MetaFilter a fixture in my personal lifelong learning plan. So thanks.
posted by miorita at 2:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

Pretty much everyone. You've collectively made up for the post-secondary education I never had. Already mentioned, but EXISTENZ IS PAUSED is my favourite username / reality test.
posted by Lorin at 2:19 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love the way zarq is passionate and articulate about moral issues without being haughty, nasty, or unjust, which is something I hope to learn about one day. And I love the way Adhominem loves Kanye West.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 2:19 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Miko, from whom I learned how to be respectful AND assertive

Seconded. She's a really great role model.
posted by scody at 2:20 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

forever #1 on my list will be whoever comes to my house and takes these triscuits away from me

Want to break a Triscuit habit? Here's a tip: get stoned and wait for the dry mouth to kick in. That's the time to try and eat a Triscuit. Your mouth is now coated in tiny dry pointy wheat shards that you cannot swallow for some reason, and when you try to breathe they threaten to move into your lungs. Ta-da! You hate them forever now.
posted by Hoopo at 2:22 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Hey, miorita. Your advice on Ask is solid and well-put. You're one of the names I associate with good advice that's well given.

Sidhedevil has one of my favorite user names.

Linda_Holmes and Ouisch I discovered elsewhere on the internets and was fan-girlishly thrilled to find them here, too.
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:23 PM on August 1, 2013

That same thing pretty much happened to me with popcorn (except I was like 12 and thus not stoned and it was in my THROAT) and I've still had popcorn since then. But also I like Triscuits better than popcorn.

(Not really) relatedly, I apparently left my 4th of July firework watching Triscuits in someone's car, and they wound up at a third person's place, and the third person now wants to know if I want them back, but I have never had Triscuits last for a month, so I have no idea if month old Triscuits are good? They are the roasted garlic flavor if that makes a difference.
posted by kagredon at 2:26 PM on August 1, 2013

I miss hermitosis. I occasionally check his page to see if he has re-enabled. I once wrote an excruciatingly difficult and anonymous personal question. One of first responses was from one of those posters who's often kind of brutal and harsh and it made me tear up and feel like an idiot for even trying to address the thing and more specifically, for how I had posted it. Several posters were able to straightforwardly answer my question and give me the information that I needed. But hermitosis was incredibly kind and, in addition to his answer in the post, he emailed me and we corresponded back and forth a bit about the issue. That was far and away the most positive internet-based experience I've had. After that, I started noticing how often the posts that really made me smile were written by him. I hope he comes back, partly so I get to meet him if I ever make it to a NYC meetup.

Also, I adore Language Hat.
posted by diamondsky at 2:27 PM on August 1, 2013 [11 favorites]

Yeah, I miss the hell out of hermitosis.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:29 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

inertia: "There is a badass feral cat who lives outside my apartment building that my boyfriend and I refer to as angrycat. "

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:30 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

kagredon: " so I have no idea if month old Triscuits are good?"

They can get stale, but they generally don't go bad. If they taste stale, hie thee to a store and buy a new box. :)
posted by zarq at 2:31 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

You hate them forever now.

but the recipes on the back of the box are so groundbreaking and original
posted by elizardbits at 2:31 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

This sentence belongs in the micro-horror story thread.
posted by invitapriore at 2:32 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

Great. Now I'm "Looming Raccoon Terror."
posted by R. Schlock at 2:38 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

In no particular order:

1. Deezil is, as I have previously said, a golden god.

2. carsonb deserves love for consistently organizing all the Mefi Music Swaps.

3. ausdemfenster is trying to get me a job and thus has my overweening gratitude. (Did you get my resume, by the way?)

4. Greg Nog gets a tip of my hat for doing way better in cookoffs than I do.

5. young rope rider made sure I was able to attend a meetup a few years ago when I didn't think i'd be able to (she knows how), and that was tremendously cool.

6. I can't remember whether it was jonmc or Eideteker who came to a meetup at a bar where they did sing-alongs to show tunes, and burst into delighted giggles the first time they heard the song "The Internet Is For Porn" - but whichever one of you it was, it was freakin' adorable.

7. Thanks to the whole NYC crew in general for coping with my frantic posts to our Googlegroups list in June, when I was coping first with a flaky roommate and then with an abandoned box spring mattress and conflicting trash pickup information. (It's all settled now, guys - and thank you for your patience.)

8. Every time I've gone on a major trip for the past few years, I've set up little meetups ahead of time, so in that vein -

* ColdChef and radioamy for joining with me in an impromptu birthday party while watching the Mardi Gras truck parade in 2009 (special props to radioamy for actually having a few pieces of an actual birthday cake on hand from the previous night),

* HandfulOfDust, ursus_comiter, essexjan, Gordafarin, ersatz, boudicca, Grangousier, and Running order squabble fest for a night out in London (and for bearing with me when I just had to take that picture of the Hotblack Desiato sign) in 2012, and

* romakimmy (con bambina), aqsakal, Triscotini, and Chichibio for squiring me around Rome on a night out; special thanks to aqsakal for giving me a ride to...well, to as close as the Roman streets would let you get to my hotel.


Sleep deprivation is making me forget scores more people right now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:38 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

There are so many wonderful people full of amazing advice for people in relationships that aren't going well, particularly for victims and survivors of domestic violence, on AskMe. This is a lovely, wonderful community that is just brimming with talent and love and care. There are so many of you that I'm bound to have missed many of you, and I apologize.

In no particular order...
tel3path, Ruthless Bunny, saucysault, 3491again, phunnimee, headnsouth, FAMOUS MONSTER, Jacen, jbenben, scody, These Birds Of A Feather, jaguar, roomthreeseventeen, kavasa, fraula, theora55, Madamina, anya32, EmpressCallipygos, brinna, Miko, DarlingBri, empath, treehorn+bunny, something something, Dynex, windykites, DingoMutt, Autumn89, Rainflower, everydayanewday, wondermouse, Ghostride the Whip, showbizliz

You are wonderful people. Many of you helped me get out of my bad situation - thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
posted by sockermom at 2:39 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh yeah! I also need to call out oh yeah! for girl talk. She knows what I mean.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:42 PM on August 1, 2013

two or three cars parked under the stars, thanks. To be honest, whenever anyone says something like that I wonder how they could possibly be talking about me, because I feel like I'm often way more abrasive and argumentative and just plain grouchy to people than not. You're MUCH better at being diplomatic and thoughtful and just plain showing grace under pressure than I will ever be. But, thank you! :)
posted by zarq at 2:45 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'm calling out xm, too. Because she's awesome.
posted by entropicamericana at 2:49 PM on August 1, 2013

Oh, and I'm calling out Kibo too, because holy fuck Kibo is on MetaFilter.
posted by entropicamericana at 2:50 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Xingcat gives awesome advice and answers in AskMe. (I already knew he was awesome, what with knowing him irl and all, but even if I didn't I'd be impressed with his smarts and empathy.)

I favorite-stalk elizardbits because she makes me laugh all the time.

And ColdChef should be an official MeFi ambassador -- having encountered him in the late, lamented Glitch and seen how friendly and awesome he is.

And... well, pretty much all the rest of you. You're all awesome.
posted by sarcasticah at 2:54 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

NortonDC I love you. And your cameras. :*
posted by onlyconnect at 2:54 PM on August 1, 2013

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

I could be Kids Smoking Weed on My Stoop. Or, Juve Coop Being Mobbed By Crows.
posted by rtha at 3:00 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Great. Now I'm "Looming Raccoon Terror."

R Schlock--

We were not meant to be.

--Raccoons
posted by kagredon at 3:00 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've been reading and thinking about this thread all day, thinking of all the people on here whose id makes me smile when I see them below a post or comment, but it's a mug's game. There are too many people for me to list them and I'd be worried I'd leave anybody out or make people I'd not name feel uncomfortable, as alltomorrowsparties talked about earlier. I don't think Blasdelb, sweetie that he is, would ever dream that this could be the case, but I can understand that anxiety.

One of the things I've been thinking about is how MeFi differs from other blogs or discussion sites, in that it's just big enough that there really isn't a single clique of uberposters, just a lot of people each with their own strengths and weaknesses. That creates an equality that few other sites can match, while it isn't really big enough to have subsites with their own cliques, like e.g Reddit.

Few people therefore, if anybody, can grasp the full complexity of the site or even try and rank posters here; it's quite easy to run into "new" posters who've been around for years, just posting into threads that don't interest you.

It's this diversity, the fact that for whatever subject you want to talk about, there are interesting, erudite and goshdarned charming people to talk about it with, that's what makes MeFi great.

So here's to y'all, the people who make me laugh, make me cry, who invariably are wrong on this (but in an interesting way), the people whose comments I nod sagely to, you who share my interests and know so much more about, can tell so much more about it, or you who are enthusiastic about stuff I've never even thought about and make me interested, you're all bloody marvellous.

I bloody love you, man
posted by MartinWisse at 3:10 PM on August 1, 2013 [29 favorites]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

I will adopt the voice of my two year old and say "Chocolate Truck! Chocolate Truck!" - his name for UPS trucks, which is cute and all but kind of depressing, because I wish UPS was bringing me some chocolate.
posted by ambrosia at 3:13 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

zarq sends nice MeMail.

I imagine running into KathrynT in Seattle and becoming buddies.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 3:18 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Most of the people I've seen on unicycles have been pretty chill about the whole thing.
posted by sweetkid at 3:19 PM on August 1, 2013

ambrosia: " because I wish UPS was bringing me some chocolate."

We should totally turn this into a Project. Send chocolate to ambrosia at random intervals for the next year. :)
posted by zarq at 3:20 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

awww, shucks!
posted by ambrosia at 3:22 PM on August 1, 2013

I like you all.

Too many to name. You have broadened my horizons, kept me out of my conservative Christian bubble (that's a good thing!) and I appreciate it.


Special thanks to Jessamyn and Brandon Blatcher for making the Enspousening Incident so much fun. This place does silly especially well, I think.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 3:23 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

GREG NOG IS OKAY I GUESS
posted by elizardbits at 10:31 PM on July 31 [23 favorites +] [!]

so i don't have many contacts on here but i went to one meetup a long time ago, then i came home and did the mutual contact thing with those few folks i met. Greg Nog was one of them. now on the main page of Meta Filter in the right menu bar i'm always seeing "Greg Nog posted this" and "Greg Nog added such and such as a contact" and "Greg Nog has a comment with 2000 favorites" and almost NOTHING else. that menu bar is should really be renamed The Greg Nog Show :)
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 3:23 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Along with so many people here that make me laugh, or think, or both, I'd like to call out RichardP, who, very early in my career here, picked up on a comment I made about loving a certain soundbyte, then turned around and made it into a ringtone for me within a span of a few hours. He didn't know me, but just randomly made me something wonderful that I still use to this day. My husband still talks about the awesomness of this community just for that reason. This place is awesome for all sorts of reasons, but random acts of kindness are a big part of it.
posted by blurker at 3:33 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

In no particular order, and with many inexcusable omissions:

The Chat regulars (adipocere, bswinburn, conspire, corb, double block and bleed, empath, Eyebrows McGee, KathrynT, MartinWisse, michele in california, mizu, scientist, the man of twists and turns, among others whom I'm sure I've offended by their omission) are good folks. I love coming home from work and talking with them. They take my parochialism and bellyaching in stride.

The whole Boston trivia crew. I go to Tommy Doyle's every two weeks and they never fail to humor my ignorance. Also, sorry for calling the wrong Richard the last Plantagenet.

Everyone who's ever MeMailed me.

Rory Marinich and Ivan Fyodorovich for writing athletic quantities of prose without losing coherence, as I would do.

Blasdelb, zarq, and St. Alia for their writing on religious life. My parents raised me secular, making their comments here educations in themselves.

languagehat for erudtion, forceful, yet measured, argument, and
this post from his blog.

divined by radio for never wasting a comment. I admire her example and hope others do, too.

sweetkid for wasting favorites all over the place and in general being awesome.

Drinky Die for a patience that is most frustrating when it's also correct.

zombieflanders for taking time off from social-justice arguments to play computer games in which he's a murderous feudal lord.

NoraReed and Pope Guilty for being angry at the right things and keeping a good sense of humor at the same time.

Frowner for general wisdom.

EmpressCallipygos for good advice and for writing about a New England upbringing different from my own.

homunculus for being the Human Google Reader Replacement.

Greg Nog for having a funny Twitter among funny Twitters. Also for favoriting that one Pushkin stanza that probably didn't deserve it.

And Phire, flex, Iridic, ericb, and all the others who should come back if they can.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:39 PM on August 1, 2013 [10 favorites]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

mine would be flocks of timid yet inconsolable juvenile birds especially cardinals.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:43 PM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

> Great. Now I'm "Looming Raccoon Terror."

I am Faint Nightly Skunking, pleased to meet you.

Now I wanna write a Southern gothic horror story about the last daughter of the Skunking family, who has returned to her family's long-abandoned homestead to unwind its mysteries. Chapter 1 opens with her walking the last hard mile home when the cab refuses to drive down the overgrown dusty road at sunset, dragging her heavy suitcase behind her, its gold-monogrammed FNS gleaming in the dying light.
posted by Elsa at 3:44 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

As far as favorite user names go, I'm going to have to go with Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam. They're also pretty hilarious. Shame there's been no activity in like a year.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:44 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Mine would be Wandering Rooftop Laborers.
posted by The Whelk at 3:45 PM on August 1, 2013

I'd get Bad Drivers Seeking Coffee
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:46 PM on August 1, 2013

after the microcreepypasta thread I don't look out my windows anymore.
posted by kagredon at 3:47 PM on August 1, 2013

WHERE CAN I GO TO CONSOLE TINY JUVENILE BIRDS???

You will not console tiny birds with allcaps. They are timid, remember.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:49 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

There's been an inconsolable juvenile rtha near my office for a couple of weeks, shouting all day for its parents to bring it some mice or lizards or snakes or gophers. Poor thing.
posted by rtha at 3:52 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

God damn it: Kattullus, your FPPs and comments are consistently good. Rock on.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:55 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Most of the people I've seen on unicycles have been pretty chill about the whole thing.

My personal favorite.
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:55 PM on August 1, 2013

I've just realized that I'm kind of saddened by my lack of me-mail, and that there needs to be more Denver meet-ups when I'm not out of town. If only somebody with knowledge of my schedule would propose one...
posted by Gygesringtone at 3:56 PM on August 1, 2013

jessamyn memailed me something personal that meant a lot to me.

The World Famous for Reasons.

flapjax at midnite for all his amazing musical things...I wish I could fly to Japan and jam with him for awhile.

woodblock100 for being an amazing artist and all-round mensch, saving me from my own inability to write proper shipping address information.
posted by Doleful Creature at 4:05 PM on August 1, 2013

I've never had any me-mail either. And someday there will be a meetup I can actually get to, damn it!
posted by sarcasticah at 4:07 PM on August 1, 2013

arcticseal: "Julen and phunniemee for making Quonsmas happen. They are sparkly examples of elvish goodness."

Don't count yourself out! arcticseal volunteered for a month of following up on missing, errant, and late packages and senders, and stayed for 2 helping with the followup, which is arguably one of the least fun parts of quonsadministrating. He was tremendous.

phunniemee has been fantastic, too. She has a real knack for talking people down when they suddenly start getting stressed out about quonsing, and boundless enthusiasm for facilitating people learning more about each other.

One of the things I like best about MeFi is that so many people keep surprising you: busting out unheretoforeseen or guessed at experiences or knowledge, subverting your opinion of them with sudden enthusiasms or epiphanies or interests, coming up with glorious turns of phrase, sharing fantastic tricks and tips and methods for everything from cooking to human interactions, and sharing their perspectives on the world. It's why I keep coming back.
posted by julen at 4:08 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

WHERE CAN I GO TO CONSOLE TINY JUVENILE BIRDS???

NOT HERE I'M DOIN IT RONG!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:10 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

omigod I got a callout from elizardbits!! In my head she is The Queen of Metafilter. This may well be one of my happiest moments.

please don't tell my husband

I only joined here because I had a problem and I found AskMe. But after lurking around while reading the (kind, wise) replies I got totally addicted. I just couldn't get over how smart, funny, interesting and engaged everyone is. I've learned a ridiculous amount but someone also makes me laugh every day.

So cheers to all of you for being just so damn fabulous. And one person in particular who I always love to see appear is the quidnunc kid, for reasons such as this. Joy.
posted by billiebee at 4:23 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ugh coming back to my original list and since reading this thread, the names keeping adding in my head. What I notice is that I tend to see groups of users being a part of different sorts of friendships I have with them, and they with each other. And on any given subject, will bring different dimensions to the discussion that I hadn't and might not have ever considered. Also, I need to pay more attention to Music and Projects.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:25 PM on August 1, 2013

WHERE CAN I GO TO CONSOLE TINY JUVENILE BIRDS???

Call up a local Birding store, ask if they know any wild bird rescue organizations you can volunteer at. They can get swamped this time of year by well meaning people who bring in baby birds they think have been abandoned*. One time my wife and I raised a pair of baby starlings that someone had brought into one of the birding stores we worked at (we worked at two different stores). We named them Dave and Ari after Dave Holland and Aristophanes, which I thought was pretty clever.

*They almost always haven't. Unless you happened to have seen the mother get eaten by a cat or something, you can safely assume she's somewhere waiting for you to scram so she can get back to her kids.
posted by Gygesringtone at 4:29 PM on August 1, 2013

"Alley lurkers, bursting into song". I think it was the early shift at the new brewpub in our alley. yes, I know, technically, the new brewpub is on the street, which connects with our alley, but the brewpub has a DOOR in our alley and we can SEE INTO the brewpub from in our alley, and the staff are in the alley, so, dammit, it's the brewpub in our alley.
posted by crush-onastick at 4:42 PM on August 1, 2013

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

I'm now Drunk Lawnmowing Rampage.
posted by Coatlicue at 4:44 PM on August 1, 2013

Sadly, my new name would be "Vaguely Racist Neighbor." :(

Yes, the Muslims are taking up a bunch of parking spots. It's Ramadan, and they're meeting for iftar. Funny, you never seem to complain when the JWs down the street do it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:50 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

Is it just me or are all these great band names too?
posted by Gygesringtone at 4:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

My new name is Construction Worker Who Kinda Sounds Like Randy Savage.

He's a guy I'd like to call out in real life, because overhearing a cheerful Randy Savage soundalike first thing in the morning is surprisingly delightful.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:57 PM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

If I leave you out it's DELIBERATE because I HATE YOU and not because I am an old and can't remember your name or that one comment you made that was totally hilarious.

Mathowie for the whole goddamned thing, which demonstrates that the Internet is not in fact a complete dumpster of horrible people who should be killed.

Jessamyn is a hero to my children because SUGAR but also makes a damn fine lunch companion and demonstrated an amazing tolerance for bridges.

Cortex for infinite willingness to go zero to stupid in less than 60 seconds, when appropriate (it is always appropriate) for instance on a plane to San Jose because REASONS.

Scody, because, DUH.

Greg Nog has something like a 75% chance of one of his comments making me giggle like a tiny girl.

Languagehat MORE LIKE LANGUAGE FAT AMIRITE but also because I want to be him when I grow up.

elizardbits has the only Tumblr I have ever deliberately read. She is my very favorite tiny Picasso.

The Whelk, but that's not his fault.

ColdChef put up with some random asshole calling him after his entire state basically blew up, caught on fire, turned over and sank into the swamp. And if I die, I want his to be the last hands that touch my liver. NEXT YEAR IN NEW ORLEANS GODDAMNIT.

I like to read Miko even when I disagree with her. Which is pretty awesome.

Rory came back, which was good news.

I continue to hope ericb can put it behind him because, INTERNET SAD FACE.

windykites for allowing me to do it.

But, yeah, thanks for everything, you bunch of reprobates, and I'm sure I forgot somebody everybody.
posted by scrump at 5:01 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

- Poopsmear Toddler-Sized Footprints
- Angriest Chihuahua
- End Table I Momentarily Considered Rescuing From The Trash
- Obnoxious Drunken Fratboy Whose Questionable Virtue I Threatened With A Tangerine Popsicle
- Single Damp Dorite
posted by elizardbits at 5:04 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

Also I always remember that Metroid Baby has a fleece bulbasaur hat and that igniknot asked a pokemon relationshipfilter question.
posted by elizardbits at 5:05 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

oh hell of course the singular of Doritos is Dorite, and yet I have just submitted a piece of writing in which I use the now-obviously incorrect Dorito what kind of Philistine am I?

ARGH
posted by Elsa at 5:06 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Leftover C-Stand.

DO THEY EVEN FEED THAT DOG OR WHAT

I kind of always wanted to have a band called Alternate Side Parking.
posted by Sara C. at 5:06 PM on August 1, 2013

dorite
posted by elizardbits at 5:09 PM on August 1, 2013

homunculus is just always there, in the important threads, posting the important things, new relevant finds on the internet. Often long after everyone else has left. But I see his comments in my activity page, and they are always appreciated. (I also end up favoriting at least half of them -- of course I favorite everything anyway.)

The Whelk, like, I just can't get a handle on him. He posts things, I like them. But by what mysterious processes are those things formed? I can't reverse engineer the process!

oneswellfoop knows more about cartoons than I do, and is just a generally great guy. +1 to foopy. (May I call you foopy?)

I've said to him in MeMail: I've never seen a comment Bunny Ultramod has made that I didn't tremendously agree with, or find wonderful, just just generally like.

There are lots of other people too! I can't decide, and can't spend the whole day thinking of them and writing them out. You're all awesome, even the ones I disagree with sometimes! St. Alia, it's nothing personal! Ironmouth, we've got to converse in a thread that has nothing to do with Occupy or Bradley Manning some time!

By the way: the boldface thing, I do it just as a way of drawing attention to usernames, so they stand out a little from the surrounding text.
posted by JHarris at 5:12 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Stavrosthewonderchicken for doing all the work involved in setting up Mefightclub and Full Glass Empty Clip and just in general for being a cool and froody dude and Mefite/Mefighter.
posted by longdaysjourney at 5:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

I am with the crowd who doesn't much care for these types of discussions because you will see the "popular" people listed again and again, as if we didn't already know they were popular. I loathe that whole pecking order thing, and not just because I am one of the little people on MeFi. I have also loathed it (probably all the more so, in fact) in every smaller pond where I was one of the bigger fish. I tend to think discussions like this mostly reinforce the types of social ills that pecking order fosters so well without any encouragement.

But reading this thread has me feeling ...less hostile to the idea. I am still not willing to name a lot of names. Those folks who are personally important to me have probably already gotten private emails or memails thanking them for specific things. (And if you have gotten such a note, I meant it sincerely. And thank you again. I don't have much social life. The Internet is my lifeline in that regard.) But I will publically thank michaelh, who gifted me a membership to MetaFilter even though I did not know who he was and had never heard of MetaFilter until he offered. He knew me from elsewhere*, I was in a world of hurt and a few people stepped forward (from mostly an avalanche of hate) to be supportive. He was one of them and it was a much more important gift than I could have possibly guessed at the time.

*It is surprisingly common in my life -- that someone knows me and I have no idea who they are -- given how unsuccessful my websites are.
posted by Michele in California at 5:21 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

dorite

I am pleased/alarmed by how quickly my brain adapted "do-ri-te" to "do-rite" and also by how it instinctively knew that "Why Don't You Do Right" would scan perfectly with "Get out of here and get me some Do-rit-os" in the chorus.
posted by Elsa at 5:21 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

St. Alia comes to mind for me, because her faith puts her in the minority in most discussions around here and she has sometimes been the brunt of some pretty ugly comments simply because of that faith, but always handles them with grace and kindness.
posted by jbickers at 5:25 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

oh hell of course the singular of Doritos is Dorite

Technically, dorite is the mineral from which Doritos are formed. So I think you are OK.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:26 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

"Why Don't You Do Right" yt would scan perfectly with "Get out of here and get me some Do-rit-os" in the chorus.

I HAVE A TERRIBLE IDEA.
posted by The Whelk at 5:26 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Michele in California is welcome to sit at the cool table with me.
posted by Drinky Die at 5:27 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I HAVE A TERRIBLE IDEA.

Does it begin with me dressed as Joel Grey sing-songing out "Welcome to ca...bar...et!"? Because IT DOES NOW.
posted by Elsa at 5:28 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently...

I shall henceforth be known as Mostly Obstructed Fireworks. (hey, it's better than my current username)
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:32 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

"Yeah, ericb is a huge loss."

Seriously, I understand and respect why he left, but I still hope he comes back.
posted by Blasdelb at 5:33 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hey zscore, do you read MetaTalk?
posted by oceanjesse at 5:35 PM on August 1, 2013

St. Alia comes to mind for me, because her faith puts her in the minority in most discussions around here and she has sometimes been the brunt of some pretty ugly comments simply because of that faith

I don't think this is true.
posted by grouse at 5:42 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Katullus, ocherdraco, and desjardins are top-notch at both posts and comments.
posted by troika at 5:44 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I don't think this is true.

I think this thread has been remarkably free of folks disagreeing with other folks about their views on various posters and that is a really good thing.
posted by Drinky Die at 5:45 PM on August 1, 2013 [10 favorites]

Aww EmpressCallipygos that was such a fun day! However I *still* have trouble spelling your username! :)
posted by radioamy at 5:48 PM on August 1, 2013

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently...

Right now it's Faint Dogbark Party, earlier it was A Tree of Bees and Hummingbirds.

But the inverse - if a manifestation of my username appeared outside - is far weirder. I don't even know what I'd do with turkey glue; probably hope it washed away in the rain. Echh.
posted by Turkey Glue at 5:51 PM on August 1, 2013

welcome to sit at the cool table with me.

I am sympathetic to the idea that this kind of calling-out reiterates a social structure in which already-celebrated members get celebrated once again. Of course a roll-call of members who've been influential or helpful or kind or otherwise notable will spur many people to remark upon already prominent MeFites. Notable people are notable, and they'll get (deservedly) recognized for their fine qualities over and over.

But it's not only cool kids and MeFi stars being named here. Lots of people are mentioning lower-profile members who've made an individual impression or performed a personal kindness. I've seen some names here to keep an eye out for in the future, some that made me think "hmm" and go back through their comments to see how very interesting they are about all kinds of things, and some to add as contacts so I can keep doing that.

I was startled and touched to see my own name tucked in here among MeFi's acknowledged luminaries. I know I'm a low-profile, low-intensity member; in 8 years, I've made fewer than 1500 comments.

I don't feel like a kid at the cool table; I feel like the goof who runs up to a table (without really considering whether the people at it are a whole lot cooler and better known, because Social Reckoning Is Hard) and says "HEY DORITOS THOSE ARE AWESOME WANNA SHARE LUNCHES?" or "Yes, let's talk about 'Mad Men' for a whole month!" or "Ooooh, I have a great recipe for that!" and then gets to talk to a lot of people who are more passionate about the subject than about being cool.

Seriously, I would really like some of your Doritos.
posted by Elsa at 5:52 PM on August 1, 2013 [9 favorites]

I'll trade for some curly fries.
posted by Drinky Die at 6:00 PM on August 1, 2013

I would kill to be able to digest corn again, let alone Doritos.
posted by plinth at 6:04 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm happy where I right now in my commenting career. I mean, I could have made it big but who wants the hassle, who wants that big time commenter lifestyle. I'ts not all favorites and best answers you know. Just ask some of the big names. After a while you aren't doing it for the love of commenting anymore, you need those favorites. Instead of owning those favorites, those favorites own you
posted by Ad hominem at 6:05 PM on August 1, 2013 [9 favorites]

I don't feel like a kid at the cool table; I feel like the goof who runs up to a table (without really considering whether the people at it are a whole lot cooler and better known, because Social Reckoning Is Hard) and says "HEY DORITOS THOSE ARE AWESOME WANNA SHARE LUNCHES?" or "Yes, let's talk about 'Mad Men' for a whole month!" or "Ooooh, I have a great recipe for that!" and then gets to talk to a lot of people who are more passionate about the subject than about being cool.

I've always thought that those tables are the cool tables.

And that, therefore, MeFi is one gigantic cool table. A fractal cool table with different discussions with passionate people occuring and branching and evolving on different fronds.

I like you guys and want to be friends is what I'm saying. Also, do you want to trade some doritos for these carrot sticks? And then talk about 3d printing and Dr Who and economics and new languages and history and farming and baroque music?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:06 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

After a while you aren't doing it for the love of commenting anymore, you need those favorites.

Plus, I'd just get burned out with all the touring.
posted by Gygesringtone at 6:12 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I don't even know what I'd do with turkey glue; probably hope it washed away in the rain

... and I'll never have that recipe agaaaaaaaaaaain!
posted by Elsa at 6:12 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

I agree with MartinWisse's point above, and I also like Elsa's observation about members who have made an individual impression, so in that spirit I'll mention harriet vane and vorfeed whose comments in various threads helped move me from long-time lurker to semi-active MeFite.
posted by audi alteram partem at 6:13 PM on August 1, 2013

This is a nice enough group of people that as long as I don't stand out as someone totally scraping the bottom of the barrel, as long as I'm not that asshole, I'm gonna call it a pretty good day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:15 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

oh god I just saw this thread and now I feel unaccountably guilty for not having put the kettle on

Most British MeTa comment ever.

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

Mine would be walkin' robin, which I kind of love.
posted by maryr at 6:15 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

After a while you aren't doing it for the love of commenting anymore, you need those favorites.

I could turn off favorites any time I wanted! *looks guilty, runs off to check profile*
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:17 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

Also, do you want to trade some doritos for these carrot sticks? And then talk about 3d printing and Dr Who and economics and new languages and history and farming and baroque music?

'red thoughts, I'll swap you half a kickass chicken sandwich (home-raised and butchered!) for some carrots. Can't get them to grow for love or money.

Seriously, sometimes when I talk about women bishops, or Robert Sapolsky, or Alison Bechdel at the kitchen table, my husband is like, "Can't you just talk to MetaFilter about that?" MetaFilter: Best Cool Geek Table EVER.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:18 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

'red thoughts, I'll swap you half a kickass chicken sandwich (home-raised and butchered!) for some carrots. Can't get them to grow for love or money.

My carrots are shop bought. The only things I seem to be able to grow are herbs. If you want to trade for some bushels of rosemary, thyme and oregano, I'm your guy. My chillis are pathetic failures. I scold them frequently, but they just flop around limply, sheepishly.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:20 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

The inevitable MeFi Dorito-themed potluck is going to be the tastiest, most fun event ever, until one of you hilarious cads makes me laugh so hard I choke to death* on a mouthful of sweet Dorito pie.

*worth it
posted by Elsa at 6:20 PM on August 1, 2013

The inevitable MeFi Dorito-themed potluck is going to be the tastiest, most fun event ever...

Ow. My arteries.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:25 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

But home-raised chicken sandwiches! And carrot sticks! And, admittedly, one thousand tons of Doritos, but that truckload is mostly for me.
posted by Elsa at 6:28 PM on August 1, 2013

I tried to write something here and got to about 1800 words before mentioning a single name, which is why I don't get on metatalk very much. I'll spare y'all that endless tale as a kindness.

I have to call out our founder and the mods for being patient with my interminable tangents and my rambling side trips and my bending of rules and reasonable expectations of orders. I got all giddyscreamy because my name was mentioned in the podcast, so I'll call out those folks.

I'll call out The Whelk because he's super cool, he's been an steadfast advocate for my lunacy, and because he sends me cool stuff in the actual mail. I can't play favorites, though, because almost everyone is a favorite of mine. I've been interacting with people in a digital world for thirty years now and I think MetaFilter is the smartest pseudoplace I've ever had the pleasure to inhabit.

Honestly, I don't get out much, my social life is small and limited, and I'd be awful lonesome without all the people here who make me smile and show me amazing things and who like it when I go on and on about whatever arcane thing I'm inclined to talk about. I'll call out all the folks with whom I can have a furious beef with and then be completely friendly and cordial with afterward. I'll call out the people who send me memails, even though I sometimes take way too long getting back to people. I'll also call out all the folks who answered my AskMeFi about how to get started getting published.

There's never enough air or time.

I don't have a clock tower to share anymore, but y'all are welcome if you want to come along on a road trip now and then.
posted by sonascope at 6:29 PM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

MartinWisse said it perfectly. There are so many people here I adore and admire, it's hard to know where to begin. This is a really great bunch of people.

And there are people I miss, like delmoi, ericb, hermitosis, iconomy, infini, the man of twists and turns, tkchrist and Trurl just to name a few.

My new outside name would be Cuddly Baby King Snake. If I believed in "outside," that is.
posted by homunculus at 6:30 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

one thousand tons of Doritos, but that truckload is mostly for me.

I will fight you for it.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:30 PM on August 1, 2013

It will always be your clock tower, sonascope.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:32 PM on August 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

one thousand tons of Doritos, but that truckload is mostly for me.

Poor Man's Tortilla Soup
(from the Texan side of my family)

1 big can of Campbell's Tomato Soup
Various spices (like, say, dried oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, pepper, and salt)
1 large bag of Fritos
Couple handfuls shredded cheddar cheese


Heat can of tomato soup per directions on can. Add spices as desired during cooking process.

Divide soup between enough bowls for those eating.

Stir a handful of Fritos into each bowl. Add shredded cheddar on top. Garnish with a few extra Fritos.

Enjoy.
posted by Celsius1414 at 6:36 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I like yoink's comments.

Check's in the mail. ;-)
posted by yoink at 6:40 PM on August 1, 2013

My chillis are pathetic failures. I scold them frequently, but they just flop around limply, sheepishly.

Well, sure, if you're going to attack their self-confidence like that.
posted by maryr at 6:40 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've always wanted to buy one bag of every Doritos flavor in production and combine them in a giant bowl for the Ultimate Doritos Megamix.

I guess I just gave away my secret recipe, but I trust y'all to do good with it.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:42 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

(My outside name would have to be Loud Crows in the Fig Tree.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:44 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

My chillis are pathetic failures. I scold them frequently, but they just flop around limply, sheepishly.

Well, sure, if you're going to attack their self-confidence like that.

SHOULD I CODDLE THEM LIKE THEY ARE CHILDREN? REWARD THEIR MEDIOCRITY? I WILL NOT PROSTRATE MYSELF BEFORE THESE CAPSAICIN SLACKERS.

OK, perhaps I have been reading too much elizardbits.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:46 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

My outside name would be Many Indian Children Playing, and not, delightfully, Cicadas Screwing Madly.

Pretty soon, it will be Cities Make Weird Noises. For three weeks, at least.
posted by booksherpa at 6:47 PM on August 1, 2013

My outside name would be Many Indian Children Playing, and not, delightfully, Cicadas Screwing Madly.

Beats mine, which would be Badly Driven Garbage Truck
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:49 PM on August 1, 2013

Jonmc, I'm calling you out. with you, i never would have become the rockist i am today
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 6:50 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

SHOULD I CODDLE THEM LIKE THEY ARE CHILDREN? REWARD THEIR MEDIOCRITY? I WILL NOT PROSTRATE MYSELF BEFORE THESE CAPSAICIN SLACKERS.

Look, weak chillies happen to all pepper plants at some point. Sometimes they're overwatered or under insect stress and they just can't produce the plump, firm fruits we expect from them. Sometimes the spring is just amazingly good weather and the plants get excited and flower too early. It's nobody's fault. It just happens sometimes. If you find it's a chronic problem, you may wish to speak to a horticulturalist about what fertilizers might work for you.
posted by maryr at 6:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

Everyone who helped me with my last ask was really, really helpful, and you all deserve praise for stopping me from doing something stupid.
posted by jenlovesponies at 6:58 PM on August 1, 2013

Not stupid at all jenlovesponies-we've all been there.
posted by sweetkid at 7:03 PM on August 1, 2013

A couple of people I haven't seen thanked here: usonian and floydd, who were both very kind both on my Ask and via memail when I had questions about fraternal orders. (I ended up an Elk, btw.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:05 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

If you find it's a chronic problem, you may wish to speak to a horticulturalist about what fertilizers might work for you.

Those horticulturalists are just in the pocket of big farma, what you need is some of this all natural stuff I get off the internet. I saw it as an ad on a site of explicit agrarian pictures. Not that I usually go to those hardcore farming sites often, but I was bored one night and...

Anyway, this stuff'll put the pep back in your peppers if you know what I mean.
posted by Gygesringtone at 7:06 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Every so often, box lays down a few words that tickle me. y2karl's music linkfest FPPs are generally worth more time than I have to spend on them. flabdablet reliably comes through with sound advice on saving PCs. When essexjan answers an AskMe, it's advice worth heeding. tangerine for the classic Ask vs. Guess culture comment from 2007. Ironmouth, not for his politics. ericko, Mutant, orthogonality, grumblebee for technical chops in various fields.
posted by paulsc at 7:08 PM on August 1, 2013

Not stupid at all jenlovesponies-we've all been there.

Some of us lived there for a while.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 7:10 PM on August 1, 2013

My new name would be Fucking Raccoons Climbing the Balcony and Rampaging In The Attic. Grrr.

I mostly lurk but this place adds to my life every day.
posted by Cocodrillo at 7:11 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

If we are going with new usernames based on what's outside, mine would be "Wierdly empty voting station".
posted by LN at 7:11 PM on August 1, 2013

Mine would be Dude Who Keeps Honking His Horn to Get His Buddy to Come Out as Though He Doesn't Own a Cell Phone and Can't Get Up and Ring the Bell.

Admittedly, there are character limit issues there.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:13 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'd like call out all the awesome people who host meetups, especially the young rope-rider and ocherdraco.

I am always awed by the wisdom of cairdeas and rtha (among so many others) over on the green.

And lintacious is the best baker ever!
posted by mlle valentine at 7:13 PM on August 1, 2013

Two callouts, one specific and one general.

Pater Aletheias, who made it possible for me to both embrace faith one last time and then gracefully let it go, both from his words here and on his deeply thoughtful blog

and

Everyone who ever answered a relationship AskMe. I used to hate them, and then I realized I was becoming a better human by reading them and applying the collective, if not the specific, wisdom to my own life. I am content in my friends and loves and family in ways I haven't been before, and its due at least in part to those hugely frustrating but ultimately useful threads.
posted by donnagirl at 7:27 PM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

I'm afraid to play the "what's outside" username game because I live in New York, and today it would most likely be something like "Wet Books".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:27 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

My "what's outside" username would be "Overgrown Ninebark".

But my actual user name is from the first thing I saw when I was filling out that bit on the Metafilter registration.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 7:31 PM on August 1, 2013

Thanks to all the people with different points of view and the willingness to share and discuss them civilly.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:37 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'd be okay with being Ladderback Woodpecker Gets a Huge Grub From the Rotten Stump in the Yard.

Except it'd be a pain to type whenever I accidentally logged out.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:39 PM on August 1, 2013

Look, weak chillies happen to all pepper plants at some point. Sometimes they're overwatered or under insect stress and they just can't produce the plump, firm fruits we expect from them. ... If you find it's a chronic problem, you may wish to speak to a horticulturalist about what fertilizers might work for you.

What is this sorcery of which you speak?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:44 PM on August 1, 2013

I miss hermitosis.

This. Back when I had an OKCupid profile (now deleted) I cruised AskMe to see if there were any critiques of profiles that stood out. hermitosis' did, so I contacted him and asked if he could look at my profile. He did, and gave me very helpful and lengthy advice. I deleted the profile for non-related reasons, but I'll never forget how approachable and nice he was. I did meet him IRL at Meet the Lady, and he was that way in person too.

Looking back, bunderful was super helpful, and also really nice IRL.

Also, now that I'm home, I look back at all of my anonymous posts and messages, especially those that I made when I was going through a really rough patch a couple of years ago. cairdeas, Meg_Murry, and Eyebrows McGee posted comments which made me cry at the time, not because they were mean or anything, but because of how spot-on and helpful they were. So was nomyte's, whose comments on the blue I also like. prefpara was charming and super nice to me at a time when it helped to know someone like that. rokusan gave me some much needed resume/job advice a long time ago, as well.

The young rope-rider is awesome for posting meetups and making people feel welcome at them, especially people who are visiting or attending their first meetup. The Pink Superhero was the first person I met at my first meetup, and she is just great. And while I did not meet The Whelk until fairly recently, I do remember agreeing with him on some comment he made about men's fashion.

And that's not even including the books, movies, etc. that I would not have discovered were it not for an insightful post or comment that someone wrote. Everyone on here is amazing, and I really mean that.
posted by bookwibble at 7:47 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

And I completely forgot: empatterson wrote me a memail wishing me a happy birthday last year, even though we had not met. I found out later that we shared the same birthday. It's one of the biggest birthday surprises I've ever had.
posted by bookwibble at 7:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Just have to share my outside name: Staring Deer Without Fear. You can't chase them away. I think they're about to turn on humans.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Similarly, my outside name is Unflappable Rabbit.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:28 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

human ecologist

Love her comments. Puts herself in other people's shoes.
posted by Ironmouth at 8:30 PM on August 1, 2013

I'm kinda quiet myself, so I can appreciate the popular-table concerns, but Ad hom said something about the hip-hop folks, so I'm gonna try that strategy: here's to the hip-hop heads, jazz cats, car and bicycle fixers, smart tv watchers, feminists, bodmodders, board and card and video gamers, cooks, library folks, people from when I was a more active Metachat member, longboaters, and people who say what I was going to say except kinder, or smarter, or funnier.
posted by box at 8:30 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

The outside name thing is delighting me to an unreasonable degree. This thread goes in the pile of threads to read when I need cheering up.
posted by ambrosia at 8:33 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

oh god I just saw this thread and now I feel unaccountably guilty for not having put the kettle on

[MUFFLED TRAGIC TEALESS WEEPING IN THE DISTANCE]
posted by elizardbits at 8:41 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Thank you to those who mentioned me, and I have to say that I am always happy to read comments from sockermom, jessamyn, the man of twists and turns, MartinWisse, cardeiras, ArmyOfKittens, corinth, emptythoughts, nadawi, theora55, and treehorn+bunny. And probably others, so if I've forgotten people I will post again.
posted by jaguar at 8:42 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'll get on to calling out specific users by name, but let me start off by calling out all of MetaFilter. Until basically just now I've spent the last decade in a very peripatetic existence and the one thing that was a constant daily presence was MetaFilter. I've taken a couple of breaks but I've never doubted I'd be back. This is home to me by now in a way that I'm not sure I could explain in words. It's a community I love and feel proud to belong to.

Now onto the specific people. First let me call out Queen of Spreadable Fats. We discovered MetaFilter together what feels like a whole lifetime ago and it's been one of the gazillion things that's tied us together since.

I'd also like to call out all the close friends I've made through MetaFilter:

likeatoaster, for always keeping me mindful of social issues and moral choices and helping me stay on the right path and helping me stay cheerful in a world full of wrongth.
The Great Big Mulp, for being a wonderful musician, great conversationalist and all around hoop frood.
iamkimiam, for always teaching me new things and being a fount of intelligent opinion on difficult subjects.
Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, for fighting the good fight in Iceland better than I could.
The Whelk, for being someone I can commiserate with about the joy and pain of writing.

I'd also like to take credit for forcing my great friend GenjiandProust to become a MeFite, I knew his wit, kindness and general good-human-ness would fit well into this place.

Here's also to:

homunculus, who is just amazing. I'm convinced that he's actually some kind of emergent consciousness of the internet, and not a mere human being. I'm constantly in awe at the mindboggling amount of interesting links he finds.
rtha, always says exactly what I'd wish to say in threads about social issues.
jessamyn, for helping me out when my life was at a particularly low ebb and turning a birthday that could have been dismal into one of my most cherished memories.
Iridic, his posts are brilliant and teach me things constantly.
flapjax at midnite, makes music for my soul, makes posts for my heart.
languagehat, not only a great MeFite but a wonderful blogger, whose blog I've been reading for about a decade now and never ceases to be wonderful.
liketitanic, for saying the right things in threads that would otherwise make me want to grind my teeth into dust.
cortex, for always entertaining my random questions and odd theories about MetaFilter and writing and recording my favorite New Year's song.
of strange foe, for having a great book blog and having great taste in good MeFi comments.
mathowie, for paying for drinks and creating by a mixture of work, skill and luck the best place on the internet.
jonmc (come back!), for getting me drunk in half an hour at five on a tuesday, that's crazy impressive.
koeselitz, for writing smart, erudite comments and being a great guy to spend a day with in Denver (I'm willing to bet that also applies in other cities).
mds35, for being the only other user who showed up at my first meetup and then proceeded to be a very fun, smart and empathetic guy to talk to.
goshling, for meeting me in Melbourne on no notice when I had to flake out of a meetup.
brennen and mustard seeds, for being friendly faces when I was staying in Boulder for a month writing.
nickyskye, for great comments, posts and wisdom.
PhoBWanKenobi, for being a smart person to chat about writing and genre with and saying smart, sensitive things in threads full of idiotic insensitivity.
klangklangston, for being a vehement voice of reason and picking me up to go with me for delicious cheap mexican food in LA when I had a 12 hour layover.
Lentrohamsanin, for recording my favorite funny holidays song.
UbuRoivas and the rest of the Sydney crew for going on a many, many hour bender on St. Patrick's day, which then turned out to be the perfect alibi for when the FBI asked me where I'd been when someone tried to firebomb my apartment in Providence, Rhode Island.
not_on_display, for simply always being a total joy.
nasreddin, for knowing his shit, fighting his corner and being just damn fun to talk to.
dw, for giving me a ride down from Seattle to Portland for the 10th Anniversary party and telling fun stories all the way.
idiopath, for letting me stay the night on his couch after the 10th Anniversary party and being a great musician.
pb, for being the nicest wizard I've ever met.
Horace Rumpole, for having wit as dry as mummy made of sandpaper.
The MeFightClub folks: stavrosthewonderchicken, the Minecraft server folk, the Men of War crowd, and in general everyone in the friendliest little gaming community on the internet.

Finally I'd like to call out all the people who've taught me to think better about society and humanity, made me understand points of view I didn't understand before, and last but not least, found cool stuff on the internet and posted it to the Blue. I love you one and all.

Except eyeballkid, who hates me... ah who am I kidding, I love eyeballkid too.
posted by Kattullus at 8:48 PM on August 1, 2013 [15 favorites]

rtha! gingerbeer! scody! I forgot them.
posted by jaguar at 8:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

How cool would it be if there was a script that appended [username of thing outside my house] alongside [posted by regular mefi name]? Like the Scientist script, maybe it's only visible to other people with that script installed.
posted by rtha at 8:53 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I should say that Pogo_Fuzzybutt always makes me wish I'd chosen Churchy LaFemme as my MeFi name.

even though there are neither possums nor turtles outside my house right now
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:12 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

outside-my-house username: Blinky-Lights Pothole Warning Easels For No Discernible Reason; There Are No Potholes Here
posted by tzikeh at 9:12 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

filthy light thief: "(It is late, and I should sleep, but I have this can of ginger beer I must finish tonight, because flat ginger beer is not good ginger beer.)"

I thought this was a callout of me, but then it wasn't.
posted by gingerbeer at 9:14 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

....How on earth did I go this long not knowing that there was a MeFite named "Queen of Spreadable Fats"? That's awesome.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I will call you out, gingerbeer! You are awesome!
posted by ocherdraco at 9:24 PM on August 1, 2013

There really isn't enough flapjax at midnight and jonmc in this thread. Apparently most of you don't really "get" MeFi.

So, yeah, Astro Zombie, meatbomb, nickyskye, Peter Altheias, Greg Nog, oh yeah and what the fuck: no ones mentioned middleclasstool or y2karl yet?!

TedW and docpops for being the second or third most awesome physicians on the site, you decide which is which.

Eyebrows McGee who's almost as good a parent as me.

Jacalata and iminurmefi for their amazing AskMe contributions, generally, and personally to my questions.

My Seattle homies: ArtW, the corpse in the library, stet, librarina, tube, grouse, blasdelf, lattiboy, Kat Allison, Errant, and I'm probably missing some.

Dios, with whom I vehemently disagreed with throughout the Bush administration, but whom I respected immensely for his courage to eloquently stick to and defend his positions. Sometimes I wish this place was less of an echo chamber and there were more like him here.

And jonson, I miss you more than all the others. This song is for you my brother!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:25 PM on August 1, 2013 [8 favorites]

Yea if anyone's feeling bad about not getting a shout out just ask, no shame, Peace and love all in here.
posted by sweetkid at 9:26 PM on August 1, 2013

Oh yeah, Bitter Old Punk. That guy too.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:27 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

this thread is amazing, and testament to why mefi is so durably valuable: mefites. So many incredible mefites.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:28 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

[MUFFLED TRAGIC TEALESS WEEPING IN THE DISTANCE]

You can't have tears without tea.
posted by Pudhoho at 9:31 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

You can't spell slaughter without laughter.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:34 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Almost all of my favorite people have been called out above already, and better than I could, so what I really need here are more favorites to distribute. But I would like to add Dirty Old Town to the honor roll.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:35 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Netflix just got Alphas season 2 and Fringe season 5. Be back in 30 hours.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:36 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

And Valkyryn and Justinian deserve additional mentions in my view. MoonOrb, too. Angrycat. JHarris. HuronBob. I feel bad because I know I'm forgetting people, so I will leave it at that.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:43 PM on August 1, 2013

Mrs. Pterodactyl writes some seriously good comments about life in Washington DC. I had an unusual DC living experience and am a hard sell when it comes to writing about the District, but Mrs. Pterodactyl's writing speaks closely to my experience.
posted by ActionPopulated at 9:47 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I FORGOT RTHA I'M SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME

i am a horrible person
posted by scrump at 9:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

If I was choosing a new username based on stuff we've seen outside our house recently, it would be Screaming Unicycle Guy.

mine would be flocks of timid yet inconsolable juvenile birds especially cardinals.

Mine would be lovable, obnoxious crow.

A few users I didn't see yet that I thought should be mentioned:

Jonathan Livengood and painquale have made awesome contributions to philosophy posts, imo.

Chekhovian, long inactive now, really ignited my love of science and philosophy.

matteo, Ictus, tonycpsu, hydropsyche, ob1quixote, CBrachyrhynchos, Mental Wimp, octobersurprise, cthuljew, and ennui.bz are users I have really appreciated, and I'm sure I've missed a bunch of others. I love metafilter.
posted by Golden Eternity at 9:55 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

I want to call out wemayfreeze for being my best friend IRL and for generally being one of the best human beings cell division has ever produced.
posted by ORthey at 9:59 PM on August 1, 2013

And these are just the people I've met in the flesh:

loquacious - Emits awesome like a pulsar throwing off electromagnetic radiation. (Also too far away at any given time.)

klangklangston, mandymanwasregistered, holyrood - The coolest people I know, generous beyond belief, always willing to lend a hand or extend a hand in friendship, and seem to know just when it's needed most. Capital G Good People.

scody - A closer star, and so so bright.

Bookhouse, Thin Lizzy, dhammond - For a good time call...

Herr Doktor - Another generous soul, and a damn good time to boot. Sir I have some tequila we need to sip on soon.

Sara C. - Up for it, down for whatever, quick to smile and quicker to smart.

Oh MeFi, I love you all. I would write each of your names down. Thanks for being friends with me!
posted by carsonb at 10:00 PM on August 1, 2013 [6 favorites]

I would have listed like 50 more people but my memory brainings are a bit off today as I had large needles stabbed into a various surly and unhelpful joints this afternoon.

The combination of repeated stabbing stress with the GLORIOUS DRUG COCKTAIL accompaniment did, at one point, lead me to suspect that I had transformed into a shiba inu. Various experiments on this theory (barking at a squirrel outside HSS, barking at a poodle on york ave, and leaning my head out the cab window on the FDR so i could whee) led to the predictable conclusions that I was simply high and very weird.

which kinda sucks because shibes always look like theyr'e havin funtimes.
posted by elizardbits at 10:08 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Holy cow I just vanity checked and I can't believe other people mentioned my name.

1. I was definitely just along for the ride on the Space Shuttle meetup, though the fry party could certainly be considered a Science Exhibit. filthy light thief came to my house to play Beatles Rock Band, which is a greatest honor.

2. booksherpa! We should totally backchannel. You've been on my to-read shelf for too long.

3. oh shit EmpressCallipygos mentioned MeFiSwap. I have been so totally slacking on that this summer. Uh.... A new one soon? I hope?
posted by carsonb at 10:11 PM on August 1, 2013

Huh, I could have sworn the shuttle thing was your idea. Maybe you're just good at corralling and shepherding mefites?
posted by Sara C. at 10:13 PM on August 1, 2013

which kinda sucks because shibes always look like theyr'e havin funtimes.

My childhood neighbor dog was a Shiba Inu named Karma, and I would walk her when her people were out of town. She was a generally chill dog, but if we ever passed a dog bigger than her, she would go absolutely bonkers barking and lunging and snarling. I will never forget the bemused look the 150-pound Great Dane gave her from the other side of the street.

Also my outside username is Week-Old Banana. No, I don't know either.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 10:17 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

Oh, what a great thread. Thank you, Blasdelb!

Some of the people whose contributions to MetaFilter make my world a better place:

Eyebrows McGee, who is so full of enthusiasm for terrific, sometimes underappreciated things (the midwest! architecture! engaged citizens! respectful discussion! the worth of every person!), so thoughtful, so kind, so funny, so delightful. Eyebrows, you're wonderful. Thank you.

peagood, especially her amazing advice on parenting and some posts filled with truly inspiring compassion and understanding. Peagood, you're wonderful. Thank you.

grumblebee, who isn't around nearly as much as I'd like but every once in a while posts some utterly amazing thing about Shakespeare or genuinely learning from one another or the wisdom of following your true passion. Grumblebee, you're wonderful. Thank you.

Rory Marinich, who has fascinating insights into all kinds of artistic things I know nothing about and also brings a great spirit of anti-snark into a lot of threads. Rory, you're wonderful. Thank you.

corb, who has so often responded to confrontation with calm, civility, and a genuine willingness to listen and learn as well as sharing what she has to share. Corb, you're wonderful. Thank you.


Thank you.
posted by kristi at 10:26 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also forgot ClaudiaCenter! She is also awesome!
posted by jaguar at 10:30 PM on August 1, 2013 [4 favorites]

My name is totally Ambulance That's Gonna Mess Up This Choir Recording For Sure.
posted by Madamina at 10:51 PM on August 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

Outside name: Motherfuckers playing cricket at 7 in the goddam morning on a fucking Saturday
posted by ambient2 at 10:54 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

My outside name is either Disaffected Youths Trying to Look Cool, Cat Pooping in my Flowerbeds for the Last Goddamn Time, or Two 6-year-olds Arguing Over a Big Wheel.
posted by KathrynT at 11:16 PM on August 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

My outside name is "idiot children endlessly circling the block in a goddamned fourwheeler, but at least they're not ruining the motherfucking national park."

Mefites I love, in no particular order: kimberly, scody, mandymanwasregistered, klangklangston, holyrood, loquacious, carsonb, the bone, coldchef, DaShiv, and so many I am totally and embarrassingly forgetting - you all are the absolute best and I miss you all dreadfully. Consider yourself hugged.
posted by Space Kitty at 11:30 PM on August 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

My outside name would probably be either "Lots of Hummingbirds Flying Around at Dawn" or "Trophy Wives Powerwalking with Content Dogs" or "Landord's Wife Gardening" or "Everyone's Cans are Out for Garbage Day." Hmmm. :-\
posted by cairdeas at 11:39 PM on August 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Cat Pooping in my Flowerbeds for the Last Goddamn Time

Man, that is the worst. How do you stop this? Get a dog?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:50 PM on August 1, 2013

Motion activated sprinklers.
posted by cairdeas at 12:36 AM on August 2, 2013

Gigantic Spooky Possum Shadow
posted by scody at 12:38 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Twigseeking Danger Dove

because he's totally shopping for construction materials in feline occupied lands, eek! I feel like piling up a bunch of twiggy stuff in a safe spot and saying, "there's your prefab nest kit, now g'wan gedouddaheah before my outside name has to become 'Fancy Feast by Misadventure.'"

Also, I'm shouting out All The Mefites like a craven coward, because seriously, too many, too fabulous.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:53 AM on August 2, 2013 [6 favorites]

restless_nomad: "which kinda sucks because shibes always look like theyr'e havin funtimes.

My childhood neighbor dog was a Shiba Inu named Karma, and I would walk her when her people were out of town. She was a generally chill dog, but if we ever passed a dog bigger than her, she would go absolutely bonkers barking and lunging and snarling. I will never forget the bemused look the 150-pound Great Dane gave her from the other side of the street."

My late, dear, sweet, and best friend who happened to be a cairn terrier used to go apeshit at the garbage truck. The driver laughed. The truck didn't seem to notice.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 2:47 AM on August 2, 2013

"This Vehicle Is Reversing".
posted by jonnyploy at 3:32 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Although it's been said many times already, I too am very appreciative of the moderators who have all been so kind and patient with me. Thank you. I'd especially like to thank LobsterMitten, who prior to becoming a moderator, did me a a very much appreciated favor that the statue of limitations hasn't run out on yet.

Although it's hard to imagine with a list this long, I'm sure I've left people out. I've also included some people who have been already been mentioned or who aren't around anymore because I really value their insights, their jokes, or both.

AElfwine Evenstar · Benny Andajetz · BitterOldPunk · Blazecock Pileon · BobbyVan · bongo_x · boo_radley · cashman · charlie don't surf · Cool Papa Bell · corb · Countess Elena · Decani · dejah420 · delmoi · Drinky Die · DU · Elsa · empath · Eyebrows McGee · felix · filthy light thief · five fresh fish · flapjax at midnite · furiousxgeorge · gen · Ghidorah · Golden Eternity · hippybear · Ironmouth · Ivan Fyodorovich · jaduncan · JHarris · jjjjjjjijjjjjjj · joe lisboa · jokeefe · jonmc · JPD · klangklangston · koeselitz · KokuRyu · languagehat · loquacious · lupus_yonderboy · madamjujujive · Malor · MCMikeNamara · Meatbomb · Michele in California · mikelieman · Miko · Mutant · mwhybark · orthogonality · Pastabagel · Plutor · Poet_Lariat · Pope Guilty · Potomac Avenue · Purposeful Grimace · RolandOfEld · Room 641-A · rtha · saulgoodman · schmod · Secret Life of Gravy · Sidhedevil · Skygazer · Slap*Happy · Smedleyman · sonascope · sotonohito · SubterraneanRedStateBlues · syzygy · the man of twists and turns · The Whelk · tonycpsu · unSane · valkyryn · verb · VikingSword · vuron · warbaby · Wilder · winna · XMLicious · XQUZYPHYR · You Can't Tip a Buick · zardoz · zarq · zippy · zombieflanders

Whether or not I mentioned you by name, if I've responded to you, answered your question, or even just given you a favorite, I appreciate you and the contribution you make to the community here. All y'all helped me hold it between the ditches over the last year or so, and I love you for it.

Finally, I have to call out homunculus for an extra special shout-out: I've favorited way more of your comments than seems proper. I want to make it clear here and now that those aren't favorites, they're jealousy points. You consistently provide quality links on myriad topics that improve the site immensely. I wish I could do it half as well as you do.
posted by ob1quixote at 4:01 AM on August 2, 2013 [15 favorites]

My outside name is Tiny Town Crier, at least that's what he sounds like.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 5:00 AM on August 2, 2013

Are we still doing the outside name thing? I'd like to claim "Big Green Beetle That Flies Like It's Drunk"
posted by jquinby at 5:31 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

* HandfulOfDust, ursus_comiter, essexjan, Gordafarin, ersatz, boudicca, Grangousier, and Running order squabble fest for a night out in London (and for bearing with me when I just had to take that picture of the Hotblack Desiato sign) in 2012, and

And for good drinks. Hi back to you!
posted by ersatz at 5:44 AM on August 2, 2013

JPD and Mutant are great in the finance/banking threads, even though Mutant doesn't post that much anymore and all of JPD's comments seem like they're typed at double speed with one hand.
posted by Aizkolari at 6:01 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Dammit!!!!!!!! I forgot aubilenon, both for having lots of good stuff to say, and for being a superb host of a meetup to taste scotch.

Sheer coincidence that I cannot recall the names of all the SFers who were quite generous, brought lots of marvelous scotch and food......

(My finances at the time were markedly less than outstanding so I was/am all the more grateful for a fab, luxe evening thanks to the kindness and generosity of Mefites.)
posted by ambient2 at 6:18 AM on August 2, 2013

Oh, and how could I forget, everyone who's ever come to a meet-up I've been at, you're all marked as "met" on my contacts page and I cherish having encountered every single one of you in the real world.

And a special shout out to all the MeFites who've come through Iceland and called for meetups, because not only have I met some cool non-Icelanders, but also gotten to know the wonderful Icelandic MeFites. Here's to you aldurtregi, krilli, svenni and Zero Gravitas.

Also, when I've been the only Icelander to show up, I've had a lovely time, so here's to you ursus_comiter and superquail.
posted by Kattullus at 6:19 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

ctrl-f "slogger"
*cries*
posted by slogger at 6:50 AM on August 2, 2013 [4 favorites]

I got a MeMail some months ago that said something to the effect of, "Whenever I see you in AskMe, you are giving great advice and illuminating important points." I gotta say, it totally made my fucking day/week/month. If there is a MeFite you think is great, tell them so with a quick MeMail while you are thinking of it. I guarantee you it will brighten their day.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:58 AM on August 2, 2013 [6 favorites]

If there is a MeFite you think is great, tell them so with a quick MeMail while you are thinking of it. I guarantee you it will brighten their day.

I can confirm this, because a few people have done this for me - however, I've also been way too bashful to respond, usually. So this is a global thanks to anyone who's sent me props over memail - and a global apology for not responding.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:01 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Cannot begin to list all of the people here who have made my day with a great post or comment - this site has been a big part of every day for me for years.
posted by leslies at 7:16 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, when I've been the only Icelander to show up,

Which reminds me, why is it when I come to Iceland, only you and MStPT show up? What are you telling the other ICelandic MeFites about me??????
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:29 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

My outside name is Cats Leaping, Frogs Staring.
posted by julen at 7:29 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

My outside name is "Lynchian Wasp Nest"
posted by Doleful Creature at 7:49 AM on August 2, 2013

My outside name is I Hear The Grass Growing. Also, I vote 1 the quidnunc kid every time, even if it is only in my heart.
posted by h00py at 7:56 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

my outside name is Unfinished Boardwalk.
posted by inertia at 7:57 AM on August 2, 2013

My outside name would be Giant Unsupervised Horde of Vacant-Eyed, Kool Aid-Stained Hyper-Aryan Children.
posted by julthumbscrew at 8:01 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

At work, my outside name is 16th-Story View of South Philly, Featuring ~1001 Building Cranes.

At home it's Asshole Groundhog Ate My Rosemary
posted by coppermoss at 8:04 AM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

I have social anxiety so I'll just drop this here and continue onwards, but y'all are awesome. I'm not good with names unless a person annoys me, so the people who have been brilliant, compassionate, and wonderful in sorts of ways, I don't remember your handles, because I am dumb in some ways. I especially salute those who took time to answer my poop question. OMG, there are actually people wonderful enough to take time to answer a stranger's poop question for no renumeration.

Mostly I think people are doomed as a species, but this thread (which initially spooked me big time, see social anxiety -- also, the reason I didn't read the thread much past the first 100 or so) has got me thinkin', hey, maybe we'll be okay! No just kidding I still think we're doomed but the good ones will put up a good fight, so that's something.
posted by angrycat at 8:06 AM on August 2, 2013 [7 favorites]

Hi coppermoss! I work in Philly, too, but my outside-work name would be Stupid Hulking Comcast Building (And Occasional Refinery Fire).
posted by julthumbscrew at 8:06 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

wait, shit, what are we doing now?
i have no outside name.
posted by angrycat at 8:07 AM on August 2, 2013

Ollie No Barking!
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:11 AM on August 2, 2013

Outside name: Phonebook Still On The Next-Door Neighbor's Porch

Apartments, so it's on the same landing as me. I recycled my phonebook two weeks ago. The neighbors come and go. One time they put out a bag of trash to sit next to the phonebook overnight, then took the trash out, leaving the phonebook behind. I imagine the couple (whom I can hear occasionally arguing) are having a gigantic passive-aggressive battle about that phonebook, still wrapped in a flimsy, clear plastic bag. After the first week, I thought I might take it out for them. But then I got curious about how long it would stay there. How long will their battle last? Who will be the first to blink? I imagine it will be me first, and I'll hang it from their door knob. I know from passive aggressive. I fought in the Great Passive Aggressive Wars of 1974-1990.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:12 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Mysteriously Idling City Bus
posted by Wylla at 8:14 AM on August 2, 2013

outside name: Pennsylvania Humidity Hugs
posted by jetlagaddict at 8:15 AM on August 2, 2013

My outside name right now is Unremarkable Residential Street,or possibly Discarded Rug.
posted by windykites at 8:17 AM on August 2, 2013

I just moved apartments, but until two days ago, mine would have been "Apartment Building Characterized by Disconcertingly-High Dead-Squirrel-Per-Square-Foot Density in Yard (Like Four of Them Are in the Little Side Yard Alone, Seriously, What's Happening Over There)"
posted by invitapriore at 8:18 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Outside name: Frantic Cicada in My Hair Makes Me Contemplate a Grace Jones 'Do.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:23 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

A little late to the party here (and also clearly interrupting an in-joke), but I'd like to give heartfelt thanks for everyone who contributes regularly to AskMe. I lurked MeFi for a long time (and am still a low-level user) but the insights of this community have seriously changed my life for the better. I've sought therapy, broke up with an ex, firmed up personal boundaries, found an awesome place for my vacation, and become a more curious and stimulated person. So, thanks y'all.

I'm working slowly to becoming a better contributor myself, but I'm usually halfway through a response and the crew have already added something more insightful/compassionate/clever than my comment. And I think that's great - there's still so much more to learn!

Now if you guys could just figure out which tropical disease I have, that'd be stellar.
posted by Paper rabies at 8:24 AM on August 2, 2013 [4 favorites]

Occasional Refinery Fire should be your band name, julthumbscrew.

Alternative outside names for me would be:
Half-finished fence
Pile of cicada carcasses (seriously cat, stop it)
Atlantic Ocean which should really stay where it belongs this year.
posted by inertia at 8:42 AM on August 2, 2013

Man, I wish I had the time to be an Ask Me regular because I've got a head full of answers, but good lord, time -- I'm running out of it. At 51, I'm starting to get the "get my affairs in order" feeling whenever I sit down at my desk. I'm leaving my kids a mess of unlabeled slides, negatives, magnetic tapes, CDs labeled "rough mix," IMG_3451.RAW & Audio_13.AIF files behind to sort through.

I need a goddam archivist!
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:44 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Devils Rancher, I'm 28 and my desk looks the same. My slides aren't even mounted though!

Also, I've been scanning and trying to archive negatives and slides from my grandparents and great-grandparents lately, which they threw in boxes and forgot about. I've loved doing it--so maybe your kids will too!
posted by inertia at 8:49 AM on August 2, 2013

inertia: "Pile of cicada carcasses (seriously cat, stop it)"

We had a periodic cicada emergence here (Brood XIX, represent!) a couple of years ago. I got to really like the little guys, even though, like the aforementioned green beetle, they fly like they're drunk. Bumping into stuff, crashing into the ground, and so on.

They hung around for however long they live, mating and raising their incredible racket, and then it was all sort of done. A couple of days later, a final one hatched. It sat in our yard whirring his heart out for days, but the party over, and no one responded.

Think about that. He waited underground for 13 years and missed the whole thing. It was one of the saddest things I ever heard.
posted by jquinby at 8:50 AM on August 2, 2013 [25 favorites]

(and also clearly interrupting an in-joke)

More properly, an outside joke.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:04 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

My outside name would be Feral Cat, I Think, Whatever It Is It Clearly Needs Help. No, How About YOU Pick It Up And Take It To The Vet Since You Love Cats So Much, I'll Just Watch From Here.
posted by gauche at 9:11 AM on August 2, 2013

:(
posted by maryr at 9:12 AM on August 2, 2013

Feral Cat, I Think, was not actually accepting any help from us, for what it's worth, rabbitted right the hell off this morning down the street as soon as I stepped outside. I'll probably call animal control tonight when I get home.
posted by gauche at 9:19 AM on August 2, 2013

My outside name is Fog Burning Off Slowly. Or maybe Did That Startup Across the Street Really Close Already?
posted by gingerbeer at 9:29 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

It is fun to try to guess where people are based on their outside names -- sort of a vague text-based GeoGuessr. I am not very successful.
posted by coppermoss at 9:52 AM on August 2, 2013

Can I change mine to "Deli Cat Is Not Concerned With Human Affairs"?
posted by The Whelk at 9:53 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

NO MORE SAD PEOPLE.

Maryr - you are clearly an AskMe hero. Thanks for being awesome.

Slogger - I recognise you from AskMe too. Keep up the winning.

Who else needs hugs. I have tons of hugs.
posted by greenish at 9:56 AM on August 2, 2013

I could do with a hug.
posted by h00py at 10:00 AM on August 2, 2013

you get a hug, and you, and YOU get a hug h00py!
posted by jetlagaddict at 10:02 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Hoopy you have a Douglas Adams reference in your name so that's pretty much all the win I think I need to mention right there. Thanks for being a frood.
posted by greenish at 10:08 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

rtha for being a superhero, elizardbits for cracking me up all the time, JHarris, artw, The Whelk, and MartinWisse for posting a preponderance of the geeky posts I chiefly participate in.
posted by Zed at 10:17 AM on August 2, 2013

Hugs for h00py, the most southerly of vikings!
posted by gingerbeer at 10:26 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Man, that is the worst. How do you stop this? Get a dog?

Motion-activated sprinklers work pretty well, as does the fertilizer the zoo sells that's made from carnivore poo. What worked the best though was studding the flowerbeds with a 2" x 2" grid of toothpicks stuck in end first. Giant pain in the ass, but the look of hatred from the cat whenever it tried to walk and poop in there was almost worth it.
posted by KathrynT at 10:41 AM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

My outside name is Kid Who Just Screams Sometimes, He's Fine, He's Not In Danger, He's Just Screaming, Also He's Satan, Fuck This Kid.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:54 AM on August 2, 2013 [25 favorites]

Consulting an oracle, I was given the outside name, "Abe Vigoda Eating Tomato Soup", but I almost never use it.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:01 AM on August 2, 2013

Not only are there hugs, there are performance-enhancing hugs.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:02 AM on August 2, 2013

My outside name: Yes, That Happened.

Or

I Got This.
posted by Shouraku at 11:08 AM on August 2, 2013

Today's new screen name:

Home Of The Endless Stoop Sale.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:11 AM on August 2, 2013

...now that I look at that I really like it. (It refers to this guy across the street who has a stoop sale nearly every weekend where he just brings the same stuff out again and again.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:13 AM on August 2, 2013

More of an exhibit than a sale, then.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:15 AM on August 2, 2013 [5 favorites]

cortex: "My outside name is Kid Who Just Screams Sometimes, He's Fine, He's Not In Danger, He's Just Screaming, Also He's Satan, Fuck This Kid."

Change "He" to "She" and I'd suspect you were one of my neighbors. Sorry. I think my daughter likes to remind us that she can hit that high C at will.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 11:31 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ah, you probably live near our house, sorry about that.
posted by Artw at 11:38 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

My outside name would be Fox Vaguely Initimidated By My Carefully Placed Urine Splashes.

Mayor Curley, Orthogonality and Meatbomb. For never being intimidated by the groupthink.
posted by Decani at 11:39 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'm glad MeFi has been a part of my life. Thanks to you all, you big mass of awesome.
posted by not_on_display at 12:08 PM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

My outside name is currently Pigeon Poop, Who The Heck Knew That There Was So Much Poop In A Pigeon?
posted by arcticseal at 12:11 PM on August 2, 2013

These threads always make me sad with all of the not talking about me that goes on in them. That said I would like to call out whoever sent me the "This Could Have Been More Punctual" CD from the last mix swap that had Mason Jennings, Bomb The Music Industry, Phil Ochs, etc. on it as being awesome. It was a good mix and since I don't keep track of the envelopes they come in I have no idea who you are.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:16 PM on August 2, 2013

So glad to have made Quonsmas memorable arcticseal! I was thrilled that I got assigned someone from IRL!

I have so many callouts! Most of them are from out in meatspace though. This community spilled over into the real world for me several years ago and now awesome dorks from the internet seem to make up the backbone of my social circles.

I'm having a fantastic time with katemonster and *s on our creative projects. Thanks a million times for that.

desuetude and I spent TWO wonderful vacations together (one in her city, one in mine!) in the last year! Hopefully we'll take this show on the road and go international next time!

politikitty, doublewhiskycokenoice, mostlymartha, jaybeans, casarkos and chatongriffes helped me immensely in the process of proposing to my now-spouse-to-be while I was visiting The Mothership. And we had a fabby brunch (my favorite team sport) to start that particular day off JUST RIGHT.

I just had a wonderful, completely random, catch-up with MexicanYenta at the amazeballs Indian place in my neighborhood.

I guess I would also like to pour one out for one of my homies who is no longer with us. WolfDaddy's death was, and still is, a total bummer. Once upon a time, I was kind of wigged out by the idea of orphaned Facebook and Twitter profiles, standing frozen in time. But when I occasionally run across WolfDaddy's Facebook page or Twitter feed, it's actually comforting. As if he came from the internet, and to the internet he has returned.

Anyway, here's to all of you - and all the rest of you who I couldn't name because the orchestra has already started playing the theme song and I think the usher has a shepherd's crook and is coming to remove me bodily from the stage! Wheeeeeee!
posted by jph at 12:36 PM on August 2, 2013 [4 favorites]

This community spilled over into the real world for me several years ago

Same here, so I show my Mefi peeps I love them by getting drunk and singing karaoke with them on a regular basis. No need to do callouts here. <3
posted by misskaz at 12:40 PM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

you have a Douglas Adams reference in your name so that's pretty much all the win I think I need

I've got one too!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:55 PM on August 2, 2013

It's elizardbits' fault that my Tumblr is full of cakes and Night Vale and pR0n and Teen Wolf and I think I'm starting to care about Teen Wolf you guys, please help me.
posted by emjaybee at 1:15 PM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

I love you all! But I'll give special shoutouts to JHarris, Sara C. and phunniemee, whos contributions I always seem to notice and love these days.

My outside name is apparently "Tattooed Hipsters Moving In Upstairs."
posted by Navelgazer at 1:16 PM on August 2, 2013

Oh yay! Valentines Day!

CTRL-F

Yep, I still hate Valentine's Day.
posted by srboisvert at 1:26 PM on August 2, 2013 [7 favorites]

Outside name: Squirrel suprise!
posted by Artw at 1:39 PM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mine would be The Unicycle Man Came Back But It Was More Ranting Than Screaming Today And I Am Not Sure Whether It Is A Unicycle Or Some Kind Of Home Made One Wheel Device Of Uncertain Purpose But At Least He Had An Actual Hat Today Rather Than The Cardboard Box He Had Tied To His Head Yesterday So I Think His Life Is Probably Getting Better And That Is Nice
posted by emmtee at 1:49 PM on August 2, 2013 [5 favorites]

Outside name: The Cars Are A Lot Nicer In Grandma's Neighborhood

Or

Ducks That Condo Owners Are Forbidden From Feeding (But Who Mysteriously All Flock To This Retention Pond Anyway)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:01 PM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love this Outside Name game. Mine right now would be Goldfinch at the Bird Feeder. Or possibly Turtle-Shaped Sandbox.
posted by not that girl at 2:14 PM on August 2, 2013

I'm at work, so now mine is Tour Bus That Comes Down Wilshire Twice A Day, Featuring Recorded British Tour Guide Nattering On About the Bit From a Steve Martin Movie That Was Filmed Here in the '80s, Christ, Does Anyone Under 40 Even Know That Movie?
posted by scody at 2:17 PM on August 2, 2013

(oh, I guess it was 1991. Still, the point stands: Christ, Does Anyone Under 40 Even Know That Movie?)
posted by scody at 2:18 PM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

I guess my outside name would be: Food Left Out For Birds.

Someone dumps food (not always bread) out underneath two trees on my corner a couple times a week, and it drives me crazy.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:21 PM on August 2, 2013

My outside names, in order:
Slugs eating potato plants
Bird trying out window pane in order to become inside name and failing
Neighbor kids apparently setting fire to their mom's shoe collection at dawn
Old NOAB Diesel roaring past with freight train.
posted by Namlit at 2:22 PM on August 2, 2013

My outside name would be The Neighbor's Children's Laundry, which sounds much creepier than it should. They just hang the laundry to dry right in front of our window.

I guess it couldalso be H1, because we see that Highway from our house.

Oh, and I want to call out hippybear, whose every music post makes me happy.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:31 PM on August 2, 2013

mine is now Otherwise Perfectly Normal-Seeming Hispanic Man Vigorously Humping A Scaffolding Pole
posted by elizardbits at 2:36 PM on August 2, 2013 [7 favorites]

My outside name would be, "The Natives are Restless During Voetbal Season"
posted by Blasdelb at 2:41 PM on August 2, 2013

Today, my outside name is Ninth Mattress on Curb From Same Family in Same Year.

How does that even work?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:49 PM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

bedbugs or bedwetters
posted by elizardbits at 2:51 PM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

My most regular outside names:
Loud Vietnamese Karaoke
Police Helicopters Overhead Again
I Swear That Was A Hawk Screeching Not Any Other Kind Of Bird
(depending on time of day) Good Morning Coast Guard Bugler or Good Night Coast Guard Bugler
posted by Lexica at 2:52 PM on August 2, 2013

My new outside name turns out to be Guy Who Shouts "Hey, Is Your Name 'Jay'?" And You Blink And Say "No" And Then He Says "Then Why Are You Jaywalking?" And You Blink Again And Think About Asking Him If His Name Is 'Nosy Asshole Yelling At Strangers In St. Johns' But You'd Rather Just Get Your Fucking Shopping Done.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:04 PM on August 2, 2013 [13 favorites]

bedbugs or bedwetters

The less sentimental B-side to Handbags and Gladrags
posted by scody at 3:23 PM on August 2, 2013 [6 favorites]

Scent of Laundry, Sight of Dogshit
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:58 PM on August 2, 2013

I'm going to call out elizardbits and Greg Nog for their fantastic tumblr and twitter respectively, and for balancing out the high dudgeon here with the appropriate level of wit and whimsy.

My outside name would be Sparrow Killing Cicadas Seemingly for Fun, or possibly Old Yelling Shirtless Guy from the Halfway House Next Door or sometimes Terrifying Raccoon Sex Noises.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 4:01 PM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

My Outside Name is The Neighbor Is Coming Again.

(Or, There's Something Wrong With The Neighbor Again. But I'm pretty sure those are orgasms.)
posted by Lyn Never at 4:10 PM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

Last night, I was up north at a cabin and my outside name was Lake Superior! Tonight, I am Longest Grass on the Block.
posted by Area Man at 4:25 PM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

My outside name is LEETLE BABY BUNNIES. On the drive home it was BABY HORSEY AND BABY DONKEY OMGGG SQUEEEEEE.
posted by desjardins at 5:00 PM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Outside name: Warm, dark and wet.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:35 PM on August 2, 2013

Sadly, my outside name would often be Homeless Man By Offramp With Food Sign Saying "God Bless."
posted by JHarris at 5:45 PM on August 2, 2013

Outside name changed to: neighbor yelling at invisible yet audible fireworks.

Callouts to stbalbach for longtime consistently interesting posts over the course of a dozen years. rokusan and Forktine always gave good relationship advice. herrdoktor and Slarty Bartfast make me want to be a doctor.

My neighbors: SirStan, fauxscot, kellygreen, bookrach, deCadmus, gurche, garnetgirl, Xurando, terrapin and turtlegirl make Vermont so wonderful. My MA peeps: backseatpilot, Girl Who Ate Boston, rmd1023, Songdog, yhbc, Plutor, ignignokt, Metroid Baby, robocop is bleeding/banjoandthepork, overeducated_alligator, zerokey, initapplette make it hard to go back to VT sometimes.

MeFites who I have hung out with in more than one US state include Great Big Mulp, Slap*Happy, Horace Rumpole, DiscourseMarker, jjg rebeccablood, maryr, maryrussell, Kattullus, GenjiandProust, Miko, Lipstick Thespian, HobGoblin, donnagirl, ColdChef, gingerbeer, rtha, blue andrea, joannemerriam, bitter-girl.com, LeLiLo, grimmelm, judith, djacobs, finn, newrambler, misterbisson, ryansara, sudama, youcancallmeal, Eideteker , googly, picklebird, Marie Mon Dieu, sdn and all the mods I've met

MeFites who let me stay at their house who are not previously mentioned: immlass, MrMoonPie, Hildegarde, maryearly, jammy, gman, bevedog, donovan, mrzarquon, umbú

Folks who have hosted meetups or gone out for a meal with me who are not previously mentioned: johnofjack, gregglind, klangklangston, bingo, ccheever, acro, cjorgenson, meliisa may/sleepy pete, the dief, thirteen

If you are supposed to be on one of these lists and aren't please let me know. I have pixel blindness now, it seems.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:34 PM on August 2, 2013 [6 favorites]

My name would be Nothing Going On, As Usual, This Tiny Street Is Boring.

Also, I want a hug too.
posted by sarcasticah at 6:43 PM on August 2, 2013

I have a deep fear that my outside name is Neighbors Wonder When She's Going to Mow the Lawn.
posted by donnagirl at 7:18 PM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

My Outside Name is The Neighbor Is Coming Again.

(Or, There's Something Wrong With The Neighbor Again. But I'm pretty sure those are orgasms.)

I went to college in a dense area. People would make a lot of noise. At night, I would play Laughter, Scream, or Orgasm? which kept me awake too long and too often.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:11 PM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

That's almost as good as my game entitled "Drunk Or Lost?" which I play when stuck behind an infuriating driver.
posted by Sara C. at 8:18 PM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

My outside name is The Projects I am Gentrifying Just By Living In This Building
posted by sweetkid at 8:23 PM on August 2, 2013 [4 favorites]

yeah!
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:28 PM on August 2, 2013

gingerbeer: "My outside name is Fog Burning Off Slowly. "

Now updated to Fog Pouring In Quickly.
posted by gingerbeer at 8:31 PM on August 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

My outside name is: HUUUMIDITY

Seriously. It's like living inside the mouth of a giant dog.
posted by jph at 9:07 PM on August 2, 2013

(oh, I guess it was 1991. Still, the point stands: Christ, Does Anyone Under 40 Even Know That Movie?)

scody, you live under the freeway sign?

Also, burnmp3s, you and ennui.bz are the users I am most pleasantly surprised are not spammers each and every time. (By username, I mean. The comments are always clearly not spam.)
posted by maryr at 9:16 PM on August 2, 2013

I would like to offer a programmatic but warm shout-out to everyone I have favorited more than once, although I'm sure that leaves out many whom I nonetheless appreciate.

The Whelk: 8
cortex: 8
elizardbits: 8
LobsterMitten: 6
griphus: 6
Greg Nog: 5
It's Raining Florence Henderson: 5
Nomyte: 5
The World Famous: 5
Artw: 4
Ghostride The Whip: 4
Rhaomi: 4
Rustic Etruscan: 4
Sys Rq: 4
Vowelzebub: 4
empath: 4
jessamyn: 4
justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow: 4
lollusc: 4
mathowie: 4
scody: 4
the young rope-rider: 4
DarlingBri: 3
Iridic: 3
Ruthless Bunny: 3
escabeche: 3
filthy light thief: 3
flapjax at midnite: 3
found missing: 3
louche mustachio: 3
phunniemee: 3
villanelles at dawn: 3
Anonymous: 2
Brandon Blatcher: 2
Charlemagne In Sweatpants: 2
Chrysostom: 2
ColdChef: 2
Drinky Die: 2
East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94: 2
Egg Shen: 2
Eyebrows McGee: 2
FAMOUS MONSTER: 2
Frowner: 2
His thoughts were red thoughts: 2
Horace Rumpole: 2
Ice Cream Socialist: 2
JHarris: 2
Jacqueline: 2
LarryC: 2
Magnakai: 2
MartinWisse: 2
Miko: 2
MuffinMan: 2
Multicellular Exothermic: 2
RichardP: 2
Rory Marinich: 2
Sara C.: 2
Sidhedevil: 2
Sticherbeast: 2
Tell Me No Lies: 2
The Devil Tesla: 2
These Birds of a Feather: 2
Toekneesan: 2
XQUZYPHYR: 2
b33j: 2
bonehead: 2
boo_radley: 2
box: 2
brainmouse: 2
cairdeas: 2
capricorn: 2
dephlogisticated: 2
dhartung: 2
digitalprimate: 2
gracedissolved: 2
headnsouth: 2
hippybear: 2
hydropsyche: 2
jammy: 2
jenlovesponies: 2
kadia_a: 2
latkes: 2
lunasol: 2
magstheaxe: 2
mazola: 2
mbrubeck: 2
medusa: 2
munchingzombie: 2
obiwanwasabi: 2
robocop is bleeding: 2
rocket88: 2
rtha: 2
running order squabble fest: 2
scrowdid: 2
showbiz_liz: 2
smirkette: 2
stoneandstar: 2
sweetkid: 2
tel3path: 2
treehorn+bunny: 2
tumid dahlia: 2
weston: 2
winna: 2
zarq: 2
zeek321: 2

My outside name is A Conspicuous Absence of Air-Conditioning.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:36 PM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Monsieur Caution, I will take credit for Anonymous
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:46 PM on August 2, 2013 [4 favorites]

It has been a frustrating and weird week for me, so to come in here and see my name mentioned a few times was very nice and very much a surprise. I admire many of the people participating in this conversation and am glad to be able to participate in a community that houses such a marvelous spread of fantastic people. Cheers, dears. Cheers.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:27 PM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Updated outside name, 6:30 A.M.: shrieking mystery beast caught and abducted by other mystery beast, magpies vociferously commenting.
Follow up outside name: Neighbor pressure-cleaning big car.

It's gonna be a long day. My outside names are all on my inside now.
posted by Namlit at 2:54 AM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

My outside name is Darkness Brings No Comfort. That's also my inside name. I have many people to thank here, but that will have to wait for another time. Peace.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:37 AM on August 3, 2013

My outside name is "Insomniac Woodpecker." I assume the reason he's tap, tap, tappin' away at 3am is high ambient light levels from the city and streetlights.

My inside name is "DAAAAAAADDDDDYYYYYY!"
posted by zarq at 5:10 AM on August 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

Ah, we're doing inside names too...

My inside name is "wouldya". Johnny, wouldya do this and wouldya do that and wouldya get this while you're out and wouldya pick this up. Well, wouldya?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:33 AM on August 3, 2013

My inside name is Miffy-Branded Demitasse, aka Espresso All Gone, Boo Hoo.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 5:44 AM on August 3, 2013

Inside name: I invited 14 people to my house, eight of whom are under 10 years old WHY exactly?

Oh right because they are friends from college and I love them. Enjoying last two hours of quiet before their arrival & hoping the rain stays away...
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:04 AM on August 3, 2013

Eight of your friends from college are under 10 years old? You run with a precocious bunch!
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:06 AM on August 3, 2013

My outside name is now The Wakeup Grackle.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:07 AM on August 3, 2013

DAMMIT I KNEW I FORGOT SOMEONE - Thepinksuperhero is also helping with my job search. Thank you!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:22 AM on August 3, 2013

Last night my inside-outside name was Flappy Little Bastard.

The worst part is that bat came in because I was letting a scared little bird trapped in the bedroom out. (It would have taken a lot less time to usher the bird out if there hadn't been a glinty eyed cat sitting in the open window waiting).

(I guess that would make potential inside names Scared Little Bird, glinty eyed cat, Butterfly Net of Doom, and open windows in a dark room)
posted by julen at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2013

My inside name is Stupid Lasagne Noodles, Why Don't They Fit, Augh Breaking Them Makes Everything Worse, Flying Pasta Schrapnel
posted by windykites at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

I want to thank quonsar, whose wonderful blog was my gateway drug to this crack den, and whose comments here I have consistently enjoyed. Smock on, you mad bastard.
posted by flabdablet at 7:04 AM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

adrienneleigh and Kid Charlemagne for keeping my brain relatively intact during a difficult episode in St Louis.

TimTypeZed for being so terribly, terribly Canadian about his art.

Devonian for being a rum cove.

Artw, biffa, BitterOldPunk, blahblahblah, brundlefly, The Card Cheat, Decani, delmoi, DU, filthy light thief, gompa, hermitosis, hippybear, Kattullus, KokuRyu, Rory Marinich, sonascope, Sys Rq & The Whelk for repeatedly writing stuff I've liked.

Artw, fightoplankton, horsemuth, JHarris, kandinski, Katjusa Roquette, koeselitz, lenny70, limeonaire, MikeKD, royboy, The Salaryman, sebastienbailard, Sinadoxa, stroke_count, titus-g and wenestvedt for finding several things to like in what I've written.

(and anyone's welcome to the rights to the obscure 70s cop-buddy/keyboard-mollusc movie Sys Rq & The Whelk any time…)
posted by scruss at 8:39 AM on August 3, 2013 [4 favorites]

My inside name is Those Dishes Are Growing Tentacles If I Don't Act Soon.
The other inside name is luckily I made a fire in the morning and the water is super hot.
posted by Namlit at 8:51 AM on August 3, 2013

Outside name: It Starts With The Daily 5am Sidewalk Pressure-Washers And Cleaning Zambonis (but you can call me Constant Noise for short.)

Inside name: Defeat At The Battle Of Cat Hair
posted by Room 641-A at 9:28 AM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Outside name: Billy Gibbons on a John Deere tractor
posted by maggieb at 9:45 AM on August 3, 2013

I'm pretty sure that the members I like very much have been much mentioned already (though a quick search shows 'bondcliff" showing up only once, which makes me think that FireFox broke its search implementation in the latest release). So I'm just going to callout two member names that I adore. The members are quite fine people, too, but I love their user names:

hapax_legomenon - a kind of obscure and lit-nerdy word, an interesting phenomenon, and a bit wistful-making.

Suddenly, elf ass - I smile, or even give a little laugh, when I see that name. Every. Single. Time.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:54 AM on August 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

Outside name: Doorstep Snail (Are You Dead Or Just Really Slow Cos Its Been Like Three Days)
posted by billiebee at 9:57 AM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

It has something to do with my feeling that deeply-felt thanks are best delivered one-on-one, privately, with no expectation of reward for the thanking, and with no intent of drawing attention to myself for paying thanks to someone.

That makes sense. I, personally, have a hard time with this though when it comes out to just calling out general awesomeness--I've memailed people to talk more about a specific comment before, but the times I've tried to write general "you write great comments a lot, thank you!" memails, I wind up rereading them before sending and saying to myself "man kagredon, way to sound like [a total snob | someone who wants to go to this person's house and turn their skin into a nice summer dress | vaguely unlikeable or unbalanced in some other way]," and then I delete it and never say anything. And logically, I know that's all in my own head and/or due to my poor writing skills, because I know I'd be totally thrilled to get a memail along those lines, but I actually like this thread because it seems like a low-pressure way to say "hey, I've noticed your comments a few times, and I've really liked them!" to people I've thought that about for a while.
posted by kagredon at 10:04 AM on August 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

nacho fries: It has something to do with my feeling that deeply-felt thanks are best delivered one-on-one, privately, with no expectation of reward for the thanking

Coming from a culture where public praise of a living person was considered only slightly less of a faux pas than showing up to church without pants (things have gotten a little bit less uptight lately) I understand that reaction. But a web community has a limited number of tools to create community fellow feeling. Shouting out people is one of them and is better than a lot of the others (torches and pitchforks create a sense of community too, but are less positive exercises).

That said, if people feel excluded, there is a problem. Making yourself heard can be hard, especially in MetaTalk, where threads can balloon up to hundreds of comments very quickly, almost all of them by a set crowd of people.* Getting comfortable enough on the Gray to feel included can be hard. I don't know what can be done to make people more comfortable taking part.

On the other hand, MetaFilter is a pretty welcoming community, and if people contribute, it's usually appreciated. It's just that barrier of feeling like you're on the outside that can be hard to get through.


* There is no cabal, and it doesn't convene every other gibbous quarter moon to sacrifice a rabbit with pancakes on its head to the Pancake Headed Rabbit God.
posted by Kattullus at 10:09 AM on August 3, 2013

Temporary inside name: Amen to that (just fyi, I've got my pants on, but I say amen anyway).
posted by Namlit at 10:34 AM on August 3, 2013

It has something to do with my feeling that deeply-felt thanks are best delivered one-on-one, privately, with no expectation of reward for the thanking

I totally understand this too. But (of course there's a but) one of the things I love about threads like this is how many mefites that I'm not that familiar with (or at all) get shoutouts because even though they're not in every thread alla time, they're incredibly helpful in askmes about [this thing] or they make astute and educated remarks in fpps about [specific, possibly obscure subject].

Today, my Outside Name will be Keeping an Eye on the Butt I am Smoking. Or, Fog's Burned Off in the Mission, Finally.
posted by rtha at 11:24 AM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Far too many to name individually, but the time I get to spend here is a treasure to me that nobody IRL understands. Thank you all.
posted by scottymac at 11:44 AM on August 3, 2013 [4 favorites]

OH MAN also I feel really remiss in not having mentioned how much I very seriously appreciate and applaud spitbull and RolandofEld for their many valuable comments on Native American issues. I know there are some other people who have been great contributors in that area and I'm upset that I can't remember their usernames offhand.
posted by elizardbits at 12:02 PM on August 3, 2013 [7 favorites]

I thought there was a collective understanding to only do these threads late night during the holidays while we are all drunk off our parents' liqour cabinets and watching bad TV?

Anyway, nadawi for always throwing down in the football threads.
posted by nathancaswell at 12:12 PM on August 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'm very uncomfortable with it because I worry about people feeling bad because they've not been called-out. That's acute when I ponder writing a positive call-out comment in this thread, but I've been feeling this just from reading the post and the thread.

I like the new thread that cairdeas made — I sort of feel like the more obvious people to praise, those who've been repeatedly praised in this thread, will already know they're appreciated by many so the bigger effect of the thread will be those who feel bad that their names don't appear here. So a thread to praise the more low-profile people seems like a great idea.

It's interesting how fraught this sort of thing is for some of us but not for others.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:21 PM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh and filthy light thief for making art posts yay art posts.
posted by nathancaswell at 12:23 PM on August 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

And ArtW and brundlefly for making the best movie posts.
posted by nathancaswell at 12:24 PM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Maybe Cool Papa Bell for seemingly having had 50 different careers?
posted by nathancaswell at 12:27 PM on August 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love you all and want this thread in my recent activity!
posted by iamkimiam at 3:13 PM on August 3, 2013 [4 favorites]

Oooh ooh! I'm late but I must call out hippybear. He helped me with my first FPP. He's the coolest of cool and I love him in a perfectly loving way.

And also IAmBroom because he's smart and funny.
posted by Splunge at 3:37 PM on August 3, 2013

Which reminds me, why is it when I come to Iceland, only you and MStPT show up?

The others are locked in a deadly cat-and-mouse war of attrition in the northeast. We don't like to talk about it.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:43 PM on August 3, 2013 [5 favorites]

One more callout. Something like 6 years or 7 years ago when I had first joined, I was very intimidated about making comments. And I didn't know anyone on the site except this one guy, kind-of (he didn't know I was on here, but that's another story). So, I started participating a little bit, having no idea if anyone ever read what I wrote, if anyone thought it was worthwhile at all or just stupid.

Then one day I noticed someone had added me as a contact. It was PhoBWanKenobi. I was flattered beyond belief. That a Prominent and Real Metafilter Member had noticed and actually added me.

So thank you PhoB for the encouragement you probably had no idea that you gave. That was a handle ago; I believe my very last comment on that handle was a reply to one of your questions, so I like the full-circleness of that.
posted by cairdeas at 8:13 PM on August 3, 2013 [7 favorites]

My new outside name is Curious Raccoon.
posted by homunculus at 8:54 PM on August 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

You gather shiny new baubles and leave them for us to find in our recent activity!
posted by rtha at 8:59 PM on August 3, 2013 [10 favorites]

By outside name is Calls Humane Society on Neighbors Who Let Their Dogs Bark.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 10:24 PM on August 3, 2013

After going back to the jackalopes of early July in order to understand why infini suddenly isn't callable outable any more, I would reinforce my previous callout with extra good wishes to

infini

while getting used to being without nicotine.

(hope she comes back one day)
posted by Namlit at 8:32 AM on August 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

That's quite a coincidence, Namlit - I too miss both infini and nicotine.

Come back, infini! Otherwise I'll go have a smoke and it will be your fault.
posted by vanar sena at 10:18 AM on August 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Man, is infini gone? God damnit!
posted by running order squabble fest at 10:53 AM on August 4, 2013 [4 favorites]

Yeah that's what I'm saying. It doesn't seem right.
posted by Namlit at 10:55 AM on August 4, 2013

Thanks kagredon and Rustic Etruscan for the callouts!

I just want to send a <3 to any of the Mefite Glitchen who might be reading this-- I miss seeing you guys in Ur but it's nice seeing you around the rest of the web. I regularly notice y'all's contributions in threads and I get a warm, fuzzy feeling every time.
posted by NoraReed at 2:53 PM on August 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

We have a new name: Damn Bird Stuck in the Organ Pipes During the Mahler.
posted by Madamina at 3:45 PM on August 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

This is somewhat self-congratulatory, but: I want to thank all the trans folks who've come out on MetaFilter, and who're making our voices heard. It can be hugely daunting to do that, and then so often have to defend your existence five minutes later, but it feels like we're starting to make this a decent place for trans people. We're succeeding.

My outside name would be Several Hipsters Chatting Amicably Around the Fire. Which reminds me, about half these outside names make better MeFi taglines.
posted by jiawen at 12:13 AM on August 5, 2013 [14 favorites]

Hey wait a second, I called out infini as AWOL in the other thread and I also miss nicotine... is there some threshold where if not enough of her buddies smoke she goes away?
posted by Meatbomb at 3:33 AM on August 5, 2013

MetaFilter: Damn Bird Stuck in the Organ Pipes During the Mahler.
posted by Madamina at 10:40 AM on August 5, 2013

Quel malheur!
posted by homunculus at 11:46 AM on August 5, 2013

This is my quite thorough callout of everyone to whom I have given 5 or more favourites. Thank each and every one of you (even those no longer on the site (or on the planet, in some sad cases)) for giving me something to laugh about, consider, empathise with, or learn:

Anonymous, jessamyn, empath, Brandon Blatcher, Astro Zombie, mathowie, The Whelk, cortex, Marisa Stole the Precious Thing, loquacious, rtha, koeselitz, Miko, orthogonality, Greg Nog, nickyskye, quin, smoke, griphus, shakespeherian, scody, zarq, UbuRoivas, homunculus, Kattullus, Bunny Ultramod, cashman, DU, KathrynT, PhoBWanKenobi, BitterOldPunk, Devils Rancher, EmpressCallipygos, ericb, restless_nomad, sotonohito, Burhanistan, desjardins, filthy light thief, languagehat, Malor, Metroid Baby, Pastabagel, Sys Rq, adipocere, boo_radley, DarlingBri, hermitosis, It's Raining Florence Henderson, jonmc, Navelgazer, Pope Guilty, stavrosthewonderchicken, The Straightener, Artw, ColdChef, Eyebrows McGee, fourcheesemac, Horace Rumpole, KokuRyu, maxwelton, nadawi, Sidhedevil, winna, Avenger, Blasdelb, bondcliff, davejay, Errant, FAMOUS MONSTER, five fresh fish, flapjax at midnite, headnsouth, jokeefe, klangklangston, Narrative Priorities, ottereroticist, PeterMcDermott, prefpara, robocop is bleeding, Rodrigo Lamaitre, schroedinger, Slarty Bartfast, sweetkid, taz, the young rope-rider, Ad hominem, adamrice, Afroblanco, box, burnmp3s, decathecting, EatTheWeak, Faint of Butt, Forktine, Frowner, Houstonian, Ivan Fyodorovich, MartinWisse, Mister_A, OmieWise, Potomac Avenue, Rhaomi, Scientist, shmegegge, stoneandstar, Tell Me No Lies, theora55, brain_drain, Dee Xtrovert, flabdablet, GenjiandProust, goodnewsfortheinsane, HuronBob, jamjam, louche mustachio, lupus_yonderboy, madamjujujive, Maias, MCMikeNamara, misha, miss lynnster, MonsieurBon, muddgirl, nanojath, netbros, Optimus Chyme, orange swan, seanmpuckett, Slap*Happy, sonika, SpacemanStix, Sticherbeast, taff, tel3path, thehmsbeagle, These Birds of a Feather, Toekneesan, turgid dahlia, tzikeh, zombieflanders, Admiral Haddock, amberglow, amyms, anastasiav, anitanita, anotherpanacea, artof.mulata, Baby_Balrog, chunking express, cjorgensen, dancestoblue, dejah420, Eideteker, emjaybee, fraula, Ghidorah, GuyZero, iamkimiam, infini, Joe Beese, Joey Michaels, Justinian, kinetic, lazaruslong, leotrotsky, Madamina, mediareport, Michele in California, Mitheral, Mizu, mudpuppie, mullingitover, mygothlaundry, nooneyouknow, octobersurprise, ODiV, palomar, Phire, pineapple, scrump, Secret Life of Gravy, SMPA, Stagger Lee, stbalbach, The corpse in the library, The World Famous, Thorzdad, tkchrist, unSane, vacapinta, XQUZYPHYR
posted by batmonkey at 11:53 AM on August 5, 2013 [8 favorites]

A quick question: for those of you who are calling out everyone who has X or more favorites, how are you doing this? Is there a script that lets you see who you've favorited?
posted by corb at 12:27 PM on August 5, 2013

In my case, I used the infodumpster query mentioned here, replacing with my username and then plugging in askme, meta, and music after I'd scraped for mefi faves, then swapping out comments for posts:

http://infodumpster.org/favees/[posts or comments]?faver_name=[your username]&site=[mefi, askme, meta, or music - I don't know what to put in for IRL or Projects]&start_date=&end_date=
posted by batmonkey at 12:35 PM on August 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Damn, this is a long thread. There are lots of great people here. But I wanted to just take a brief moment to thank (again) people who helped me out when I broke my leg. A handful never gave their MeFi names, but these are ones that I had in my spreadsheet.

lynsey
max power
cranberry
Jacqueline
bearwife
gman
It's Raining Florence Henderson
hobgoblin
blazecock pileon
marxchivist
adamschneider
Xezlec
Caddis
drjimmy11
arse_hat
Zqin
garnetgirl
St. Alia of the Bunnies
FelliniBlank
tantivy
carsonb
scody
holyrood

There's more, but for now those will do — they went above and beyond when I was having a really rough time.

(And, as a standing offer, I'll buy a beer/drink/whatevs for any MeFite that comes to visit, out of the spirit of comity.)
posted by klangklangston at 12:47 PM on August 5, 2013 [5 favorites]

I don't know what to put in for IRL or Projects

Nothin' would work; we don't currently have data for those subsites in the Infodump for the Infodumpster to be able to import. Maybe some day.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:19 PM on August 5, 2013

I would like to call out the following people for favoriting my comments so often, displaying excellent taste all Mefites should aspire to.

65 tonycpsu
56 zombieflanders
51 Proofs and Refutations
47 palomar
44 JHarris
36 IAmBroom
35 corb
32 sweetkid
32 Katjusa Roquette
posted by Drinky Die at 3:39 PM on August 5, 2013 [5 favorites]

And ArtW and brundlefly for making the best movie posts.

Holy cow! I'm honored!
posted by brundlefly at 4:36 PM on August 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

I can't believe someone favorites Drinky Die comments more than I do. (Actually, that goes for everyone else too. I have made nearly 48 thousand favorites. Sometimes I come to suspect I'm abusing the process somehow.)
posted by JHarris at 4:47 PM on August 5, 2013 [2 favorites]

I assume you got the memo: They put limits on favs just for people like you.


:-)
posted by Michele in California at 4:51 PM on August 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh, and my outside name is "Circling Helicopters".
posted by brundlefly at 4:53 PM on August 5, 2013

We put the limit on for people like tehloki who was MeFi's original kid brother.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:41 PM on August 5, 2013

Late to the party, but I'd like to call out everyone I've met at various meetups in NYC and in Chicago. One day I'll come back out to the Goat!
posted by SisterHavana at 5:44 PM on August 5, 2013

This callout goes to the folks who took the time and energy to grant me a favourite 6 or more times. Whatever you use favourites for, know that seeing some of your names involved in my history here makes me feel like I'm giving back a little to a site that has given me so much:

blueberry, jbenben, deborah, ShawnStruck, SMPA, bakerina, Space Kitty, tel3path, crabintheocean, nooneyouknow, rtha, Sidhedevil, sweetkid, Grlnxtdr, misha, palomar, Pope Guilty, zarq, ifjuly, marble, OsoMeaty, tehloki, hot soup girl, koeselitz, Miko, sondrialiac, fshgrl, h00py, orrnyereg, camyram, JHarris, Lexica, nadawi, arcticwoman, burnmp3s, cass, cooker girl, corb, hazyjane, Nattie, the young rope-rider, BrotherCaine, IAmBroom, IndigoRain, jtron, keep it under cover, lakersfan1222, languagehat, luckynerd, miss-lapin, papafrita, peacheater, Proofs and Refutations, Rock Steady, Scram, treasuretroveoftrollsandlust, chicainthecity, DingoMutt, DoubleLune, jenfullmoon, Jilder, junques, Kpele, ldthomps, Librarygeek, LobsterMitten, longdaysjourney, MuChao, PhoBWanKenobi, purpleclover, RedEmma, Sara C., showbiz_liz, wenestvedt, Ziggy500, bibliogrrl, bunderful, dejah420, Fig, fingersandtoes, flatluigi, HandfulOfDust, hydropsyche, iamkimiam, Ivan Fyodorovich, klangklangston, lalochezia, lia, limeonaire, lord_wolf, Mysticalchick, Narrative Priorities, nickyskye, orthogonality, PuppetMcSockerson, RJ Reynolds, Rosie M. Banks, scody, smoke, srrh, teleri025, The corpse in the library!
posted by batmonkey at 7:23 PM on August 5, 2013 [6 favorites]

I saw the LEETLE BABY DONKEY today so my outside name is still that, unless it has to be something that's outside RIGHT NOW, in which case my outside name is HORDES OF VICIOUS MOSQUITOS.

I prefer donkeys :(
posted by desjardins at 8:15 PM on August 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

But you don't seem like much of an ass, desjardins.
posted by maryr at 10:11 PM on August 5, 2013

I would like to give particular attention to Greg Nog, elizardbits, the young rope-rider, languagehat, Miko, Ironmouth, Frowner, scody, Artw, Elsa, The Whelk, yoink, Brandon Blatcher, charlie don't surf, unSane, nickyskye, griphus, jedicus, corb, JPD, valkyryn, HuronBob, PhoBWanKenobi, kavasa, Sidhedevil, as well as several people with disabled accounts, such as anigbrowl and Faze.

also, butts
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:41 AM on August 6, 2013

I wanna thank the people who have favourited me. For although I am only a filthy filthy newb, it makes me happy that some people have liked and/or otherwise slipped on the mouse button and accidentally hit + when reading some of my posts.

Also, there are a lot of awesome people here and sometimes I favourite you guys SO HARD, you don't even know.
posted by Dimes at 1:44 AM on August 7, 2013 [5 favorites]

I'd like to thank oceanjesse for convincing me that MeFi is a pretty cool place, and for talking to me about it just so I'm sure it's real.
posted by zscore at 11:08 PM on August 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

Oh! How could I forget, a very serious callout to ocherdraco and ishotjr for giving great answers to a question of mine long ago.

Metafilter is seriously part of the reason I'm a functioning adult! Well, at least most of the time. When I want to be.
posted by inertia at 6:41 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

jessamyn: "the tale of the man who died being serviced by Mr Hands."

I do not think I know what this is.

Your life is a good life. Never Google that. NEVER EVER. I realize how human curiosity works and all, but this is like a friend telling you that it's not important what "Goatse" means, that you really don't need to see what the two girls are doing with the cup, etc.

Congratulate yourself on missing at least one horrible internet thing and never think about it again.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:29 PM on August 18, 2013

Wikipedia entry.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:19 PM on August 18, 2013

As the kids say: "Nope."
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:23 PM on August 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't have looked had it not been made so abundantly clear that I shouldn't look. I couldn't not look.

i wish i hadn't looked
posted by billiebee at 2:35 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

As Jessamyn says the kids say: "Nope."
posted by taz (staff) at 4:34 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter (according to taz): As Jessamyn says the kids say: "Nope."
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:53 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

i wish i hadn't looked

This is where the decline in our educational standards has led us -- without constant exposure to stories like those of Pandora and Lot, people who know better than to look go ahead and look. Now, get your horrified salt-statues off my lawn.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:55 AM on August 19, 2013 [5 favorites]

"I wouldn't have looked had it not been made so abundantly clear that I shouldn't look. I couldn't not look."

Well, that's why I provided the Wikipedia entry, to sufficiently sate curiosity so as to help people avoid actually, you know, looking.

Not that this actually worked for me. I looked. Well, first I searched. Then I looked. Sigh.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:41 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's your link that traumatised me, Ivan! I didn't even search, just blithely clicked on it, and now I find myself with phantom arse pain. It also gave me rat king flashbacks.

(Note to self: stop clicking on mystery MetaFilter links.)
posted by billiebee at 7:55 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

Well, then just be glad you didn't actually see the video. It's out there. Like The Truth, and almost as disturbing but with poor lighting.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:02 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

For what it's worth, the Enumclaw horse did apologize.
posted by homunculus at 9:27 AM on August 19, 2013

So, not so much an apology as a written transcript of the video than I can never unread? Why, homunculus? WHY??

*weeps*
posted by billiebee at 10:57 AM on August 19, 2013

I was quite pleased with the results when I titled a post DO NOT CLICK.
posted by Artw at 11:07 AM on August 19, 2013 [4 favorites]

If I did that, they wouldn't click.
posted by Michele in California at 11:10 AM on August 19, 2013

Every so often I see fliers for fairs in Enumclaw with pony rides and such. I feel sorry for that town.
posted by Artw at 11:17 AM on August 19, 2013

Artw: Every so often I see fliers for fairs in Enumclaw with pony rides and such. I feel sorry for that town.

Even without the... horse-related PR issues, the name seems like it is written backwards, or at best an awkward anagram. When I was a kid at summer camp we had a phase of calling each other by our backwards-spelled names, and the best was a friend I whose actual name I will avoid typing, for fear of Google-associating it with Enumclaw, but his backwards name was Nagrom Nosnibor. Sounds like an awesome wizard, right?
posted by Rock Steady at 11:30 AM on August 19, 2013

From now on I won't be able to help thinking of this incident whenever someone makes a "pony request."
posted by grouse at 11:45 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

So anyway, related to the spider/worm thing...
posted by Artw at 11:47 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Artw: So anyway, related to the spider/worm thing...

I think this animated GIF is worthy of an FPP all on its own, no further context needed. It is the best of the web.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:47 PM on August 19, 2013 [4 favorites]

Rock Steady is correct. That is the best of the web.
posted by sweetkid at 1:49 PM on August 19, 2013

Absolutely be my guest.
posted by Artw at 2:04 PM on August 19, 2013

I'd like to call out cairdeas, both for her sister thread which gracefully addresses problems inherent to the system of this thread, and for just being generally awesome in threads relating to feminism and AskMe threads relating to problems that women have.
posted by Blasdelb at 11:40 AM on August 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Callout Blasdelb cuz YOU KNOW WHY RIGHT ABOUT NOW.
posted by sweetkid at 11:46 AM on August 20, 2013 [5 favorites]

The funk soul Brother?
posted by Gygesringtone at 5:56 PM on August 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

Calling out BP for again just for being his beautiful self.
posted by Drinky Die at 6:06 PM on August 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

check it out now!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:07 PM on August 20, 2013

Callout Blasdelb cuz YOU KNOW WHY RIGHT ABOUT NOW.

I don't. What's going on? Is there a reference I'm not getting? I got the Fatboy Slim joke, but.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:14 PM on August 20, 2013

Trainwreck over here.
posted by Drinky Die at 7:20 PM on August 20, 2013

Yeah, I learned about that on the chat server just a second ago. Good show, Blasdelb.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:27 PM on August 20, 2013

Holy cats... The only way that could have been more of a sick burn is if the mic drop had been followed by "sent from my Android tablet".
posted by running order squabble fest at 1:40 PM on August 21, 2013

This... Does not seem a good match for Happy Friendly Thread.
posted by Artw at 1:43 PM on August 21, 2013 [4 favorites]

Seriously rosf, this is not that thread. Please don't.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:04 PM on August 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Apologies - it was a throwaway thought, I was on a train, I forgot how hard you guys have to work around here sometimes to protect people from the consequences of their poor choices. Delete it if you like.
posted by running order squabble fest at 2:36 PM on August 21, 2013

I didn't get it.
posted by sweetkid at 3:02 PM on August 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Feel free to email rosf and maybe we can stop this derail here?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:06 PM on August 21, 2013 [4 favorites]

um yeah
posted by sweetkid at 3:55 PM on August 21, 2013 [1 favorite]