What do you call this particular type of post? August 8, 2013 2:52 PM   Subscribe

Is there a term or phrase for posts where most of the comments are creatively continuing the theme of the thread? I first thought about this after my Pico Horror post, and I also thought of the recent Book Titles with One Letter Missing post. The former is a case of the comments being little stories, while the latter is wordplay, like Spoonerisms and Tom Swifties. And of course there are joke threads, which are somewhere between the wordplay and story telling. What would you call these?

I was looking in the MetaWiki, but I didn't find anything, and I didn't want to make a page without having a decent name for the phenomena.
posted by filthy light thief to MetaFilter-Related at 2:52 PM (163 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite

What would you call that phenomenon where you want to create a wiki page, but don't have a good name for it?
posted by box at 2:55 PM on August 8, 2013 [3 favorites]


I call them community-building grabassery but there might be a more technical term.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:57 PM on August 8, 2013 [20 favorites]


I call them: The Aristocrats!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:02 PM on August 8, 2013 [7 favorites]


I don't call them; they call me.
posted by ook at 3:06 PM on August 8, 2013


Is this where we link to our favorites of these kinds of threads? Because I liked the uncomfortable plot summaries one.
posted by burnmp3s at 3:12 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]


I think cortex (?) once referred to a specific example as an "extended riffing session" or something like that.
posted by griphus at 3:19 PM on August 8, 2013


Does what it says on the tin threads.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:19 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'll put in a vote for "riffing session" thread. If we're voting.
posted by Night_owl at 3:23 PM on August 8, 2013


Munchausen by Posties?
posted by iamkimiam at 3:24 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


And if we're picking favorites, mine is Santana Smooth.
posted by griphus at 3:24 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


A filter loop?
Epostystericals?
A meta meme thread?
Metacommentary would be a very useful term here somehow, being that it conveys two (three?) senses of the phenomena.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:32 PM on August 8, 2013


My favorite one is the "This is the title of this post" post, but the links are all dead now (which I guess doesn't really matter, does it?).

Speaking of, quine or selfrep could be useful.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:36 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

community-building grabassery
I visited Versailles a couple of months ago, and my favorite building was the grabasserie.
posted by moonmilk at 3:37 PM on August 8, 2013 [12 favorites]


Does what it says on the tin threads.

I am enjoying parsing this sentence and imagining some kind of audio recording system based on tin wire.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:41 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


I visited Versailles a couple of months ago, and my favorite building was the grabasserie.

I think the grabasserie was actually in PerVersailles.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:43 PM on August 8, 2013 [7 favorites]


i call them Steve
posted by titus n. owl at 3:55 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


A couple years ago I was at a sushi restaurant in LA. I looked out the window and noticed across the street a mispelled (or perhaps not?) furniture store sign that read something like "Pervincial Furniture." I imagined forbidden loveseats with extra cabriole legs and whatnot.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:58 PM on August 8, 2013 [3 favorites]


When we were very little my sister and I, ever fearful of being left out, would apparently react to anyone around us asking for or receiving something with "And I do!". I always think of this sort of iterative, participatory thread here and elsewhere online as an "And I do!" thread.
posted by comealongpole at 3:59 PM on August 8, 2013


That's what she said.
posted by iamkimiam at 4:00 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


I think cortex (?) once referred to a specific example as an "extended riffing session" or something like that.

That sounds like something I would say.

My specific favorite of these (and that's saying something because I love them in general, and they're one of the things that I love specifically about Metafilter because of the verve and aplomb with which people often collectively engage them) is the one about the straightfaced SA list of the top fifty video games characters that don't actually exist.

It was about the point where I was freestyling the walkthrough hint for the talking bridge in Angelo Vincenzo's Danger Driaving that I started seriously thinking about making a blog out of an alternate reality console history project. That hasn't happened yet but it's at the top of my I Should Write A Book pile still.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:03 PM on August 8, 2013 [8 favorites]


MensaFilter.
posted by you must supply a verb at 4:04 PM on August 8, 2013


Mimetic threads.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 4:12 PM on August 8, 2013


I suppose we could call the phenomenon something like "conspicuous diegesis". The willful refusal to treat what is nominally a context of commentary as commentary, the insistence on extending rather than deconstructing (or, in a lot of cases, jocularly deconstructing by extending) the premise or joke; the inversion of expectations of discussion about, by pursuing instead participation within.

It's basically thread-as-fanfic, I guess.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:41 PM on August 8, 2013 [6 favorites]


Infrafilter?
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:51 PM on August 8, 2013


I suppose we could call the phenomenon something like "conspicuous diegesis".

It would have to be something like that except containing words that most people would know. I opt for MetaRiffing and if someone won't set up a page on the wiki and call it what they want (which would be fine), I will call it this
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:12 PM on August 8, 2013 [8 favorites]


LOOK, I'M NOT GONNA GET AN HONORARY DOCTORATE IN INTERNETTING IF I DON'T LEAN ON THE VOCAB THING A BIT
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:19 PM on August 8, 2013 [9 favorites]


An old-school Usenet phenomenon called cascading comes to mind. I think it was called cascading. You'd reply to someone's post with something that sort of rhymed. As would the next person, and so on. 30 or 40 posts deep (with all of the indented quoting), you'd have this madcap thread of rhyming nonsense. It was the style of the time.
posted by jquinby at 5:24 PM on August 8, 2013


I call them PARTEY POAST mostly.
posted by elizardbits at 5:24 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


The cascading thing seems to have a ton of cultural currency on parts of reddit these days, I've noticed. It's one of the more likeable things about the place, though while the threading allows for more focused subthreads I find it dilutes the purity of the unthreaded "if you're gonna say something, it's the next thing anyone says, so don't fuck it up" pressure/constraint of mefi-type threads.

Rock Paper Shotgun has nearly obligatory pun threads every third post too, which is kind of fun as well.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:30 PM on August 8, 2013


YOU GUYS IT IS INTERNATIONAL CAT DAY

WHERE IS THE CELEBRATORY CAT POST
posted by elizardbits at 5:58 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


Every day is cat day!
posted by moonmilk at 6:01 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


The cats have gotten to you, haven't they
posted by mmmbacon at 6:05 PM on August 8, 2013


We should call them "MakeFi" and there should be a whole section of the site where such creative collaborative things can happen more frequently.
posted by oulipian at 6:06 PM on August 8, 2013


creative collaborative things
posted by oulipian

finally i get to say "eponysterical!"
posted by moonmilk at 6:18 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]


OP, if you think it is an infection caused by an ingrown hair, go see a dermatologist. If you don't take care of it, it can turn into conspicuous diegesis which will be a lot harder and more expensive to treat than a simple infection.
posted by griphus at 6:55 PM on August 8, 2013 [3 favorites]


oops wrong thread
posted by griphus at 6:55 PM on August 8, 2013


griphus: "oops wrong thread"

I really hope that wasn't for the cat poop emergency question.
posted by jquinby at 7:12 PM on August 8, 2013


oops wrong thread

This is the single greatest pickup line in the history of the internet. Preface it with whatever you want... "The Doctor said it was normal for men my age to have their love member lengthen and thicken, it's a natural result of our hard-won lovemaking expertise."... and post a quick follow up with an "Ooops! Wrong thread!"

The mods love that action, they scrapbook it with little pink foam hearts and shit.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:55 PM on August 8, 2013 [4 favorites]


moonmilk: "Every day is cat day!"

I just commented on a person my son and I were watching on TV. I said, "Man, that is one hep cat." My son said, "Pops, you're getting old, that is not a cat, that is a guy wearing a fedora playing the saxophone." Call him what you want, I can't believe they get their own day.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:01 PM on August 8, 2013


cortex, I beg of you, now that it is closed, go back into that Greatest Videogame Characters thread and delete all the comments that are not totally straightfaced playing along. You know you want to!
posted by Rock Steady at 8:26 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]


I call them teRIFFic.
posted by arcticseal at 8:55 PM on August 8, 2013


This is the single greatest pickup line in the history of the internet. Preface it with whatever you want...

And then seal the deal with a brisk "BTW I am a cat", yes.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:09 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


canz we have MeowFi?
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:21 PM on August 8, 2013


Grabassery is close.

I love those threads, and I'm always sad when I miss out on the chance to jump around in the bouncy castle.

Though there was a post where everyone was group-editing a document and I was supplying the text side of a text adventure, and when the other person typed QUIT it broke my heart. It's never too late to RESTORE, whoever you were.

I call them teRIFFic.
do you even riff
posted by bleep-blop at 12:10 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Or how many hipsters it takes to change a lite emitting diode...
posted by y2karl at 12:59 AM on August 9, 2013


I can't pronounce diagesis. A little help here?
posted by slogger at 5:51 AM on August 9, 2013


dye-uh-GEE-sis

I was really tempted to give you a Pronunciation Manual style pronunciation. You are lucky I resisted.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:58 AM on August 9, 2013


How to Pronounce Diegesis
posted by y2karl at 6:00 AM on August 9, 2013


Just Emma Sayin'....
posted by y2karl at 6:01 AM on August 9, 2013


It's pronounced like GIF.
posted by Kabanos at 6:29 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


I call them home.
posted by The Whelk at 6:55 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


do you even riff

Oh no, I'm doing it wrong, aren't I?
posted by arcticseal at 7:09 AM on August 9, 2013


International Cat Day!


I DEMAND KITTY POSTS.
posted by The Whelk at 7:27 AM on August 9, 2013


First person to post a kitty post gets a paperback book of my chosing sent to them. Totally not kidding.
posted by The Whelk at 7:28 AM on August 9, 2013


kitty post
posted by ook at 7:37 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also I concur with Rock Steady: If ever there was a thread where it would be appropriate to revise the comment history, it's that one
posted by ook at 7:42 AM on August 9, 2013


I went with Extended Riffing Sessions, and mentioned all the other proposed titles from this thread. I also pulled all the posts mentioned in this thread, as well as a few more I found while looking through the jokes tag. I added the section to the main Wiki page under "Group/social stuff," as I wasn't sure how else to index the page in the wiki.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:21 AM on August 9, 2013 [3 favorites]


One more teRIFFic thread just came to mind, but I'm failing in my efforts to search for the MeFi thread on mediocre rock'n'roll stories. I thought it was mentioned in a podcast, but I don't remember how long ago the post was made.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 AM on August 9, 2013


I added the Greatest Videogame Characters thread.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:39 AM on August 9, 2013


And I swear there was (at least one) other "self-referential comments only" type thread. I think I made some sort of "MetaFilter: This is an out-of-context quote used as a humorous tagline" joke in it.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:40 AM on August 9, 2013


I'm OK with the ass-grabbing name, honestly.
posted by Mister_A at 8:45 AM on August 9, 2013


Ass grabbery for all!
posted by The Whelk at 8:53 AM on August 9, 2013


I'm doing it right now! More fun to grab someone else's ass, but still...
posted by Mister_A at 8:55 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


ook: "kitty post"

kitty post

posted by jquinby at 9:00 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]


Don't forget about The Riffer's Daughter.
posted by Kabanos at 9:04 AM on August 9, 2013




Filting.
posted by scalefree at 9:46 AM on August 9, 2013


A fliterie of riffing.
posted by arcticseal at 9:48 AM on August 9, 2013


What about The Big Atreides? Does that count?
posted by Eideteker at 11:26 AM on August 9, 2013


The "Replace Heart With Butt" movie titles thread should be on that wiki list
posted by elizardbits at 11:38 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also there was that MeTa that somehow devolved into inserting font names into old movie titles.
posted by elizardbits at 11:58 AM on August 9, 2013


which in all honesty i am only mentioning because ONCE UPON A TIME IN HELVETICA occurred to me many months after the thread closed
posted by elizardbits at 12:00 PM on August 9, 2013 [3 favorites]


Times New Roman Holiday
posted by griphus at 12:08 PM on August 9, 2013


wow i definitely should have checked that thread first because you made the exact same joke
posted by griphus at 12:09 PM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]


Masters of the Univers?
posted by jquinby at 12:13 PM on August 9, 2013


The Wiki is updated, now with the two new alternate titles, and the two MetaTalk threads.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:17 PM on August 9, 2013


V for Verdana
posted by griphus at 12:25 PM on August 9, 2013


The King of Comic Sans
posted by box at 1:11 PM on August 9, 2013


Waiting for Didot
posted by iamkimiam at 1:16 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ghost in the Snell
posted by iamkimiam at 1:21 PM on August 9, 2013


Princess Monospace
posted by moonmilk at 1:22 PM on August 9, 2013 [3 favorites]


The Big Lebow Skia
posted by iamkimiam at 1:23 PM on August 9, 2013


Meet Arial Black.
posted by box at 1:23 PM on August 9, 2013


Plantagenet Cherokee?

Man, the coworker who had this computer before me was into some freaky stuff.
posted by box at 1:25 PM on August 9, 2013


The Eurocrats!
posted by iamkimiam at 1:31 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Myriad's Wedding
posted by iamkimiam at 1:31 PM on August 9, 2013


Calibri's Way
posted by iamkimiam at 1:35 PM on August 9, 2013


The Last Unicode
posted by iamkimiam at 1:36 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Everyone! We have to stop! If we keep going, this thread will turn into an extended riff, which means it will have to be put into the Wiki entry and based on these calculations, that will cause MetaFilter to collapse in on itself, like a poorly-made souffle!
posted by griphus at 1:46 PM on August 9, 2013


Arial Quiet on the Western Front
posted by griphus at 1:50 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


What's Eating Gil Sans Grape?
posted by jquinby at 1:59 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Deep Impact

Wait.
posted by maryr at 2:05 PM on August 9, 2013


Every Which Way But Lucida
posted by iamkimiam at 2:21 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Papyrus Moon
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:40 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


what have i done
posted by elizardbits at 2:42 PM on August 9, 2013


Courier Hand Luke
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:43 PM on August 9, 2013


Palatino Royale
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:43 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Abbot and Calisto Meet Frankenstein
posted by jquinby at 2:45 PM on August 9, 2013


Back to the Futura
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:45 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wingding Commander
posted by griphus at 2:47 PM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]


daaaaang, you did it! I've been trying to work on Palatino for over an hour now. I'm now stuck on Trebuchet and all I've got is The Trebuchet Baker Story (which isn't a movie, but it should be).
posted by iamkimiam at 2:47 PM on August 9, 2013


Glengarry Gill Sans
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:47 PM on August 9, 2013


The Trebuchet List
posted by iamkimiam at 2:48 PM on August 9, 2013


Kindergarten Copperplate
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:49 PM on August 9, 2013


Glengaramond Glen Ross
posted by griphus at 2:50 PM on August 9, 2013


Tahoma Alone
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:52 PM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]


Arial Blacula
posted by griphus at 2:53 PM on August 9, 2013


50 Trebuchets of Gray
posted by iamkimiam at 2:53 PM on August 9, 2013


Robocoptima
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:54 PM on August 9, 2013


Wingding Commander
posted by jquinby at 2:57 PM on August 9, 2013


SHIT
posted by jquinby at 2:57 PM on August 9, 2013


The Goudy, the Bad and the Ugly
posted by iamkimiam at 2:59 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Butch Caslon and the Souvenir Kid
posted by iamkimiam at 2:59 PM on August 9, 2013


To Avenir and Avenir Not
posted by iamkimiam at 3:01 PM on August 9, 2013


griphus: Everyone! We have to stop! If we keep going, this thread will turn into an extended riff, which means it will have to be put into the Wiki entry and based on these calculations, that will cause MetaFilter to collapse in on itself, like a poorly-made souffle!

Oh, it's linked. I'm waiting for my poorly-made souffle to appear.

(Perhaps that was your goal, too, as you waited a mere 6 minutes before posting the next movie/font mashup)

(Can we still call things like these mashups, or is there a new term now?)
posted by filthy light thief at 3:01 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Minion in the Avant Garde of Goudy and Arial
posted by iamkimiam at 3:03 PM on August 9, 2013


Marker Maiandra Myanmar Mistral
posted by bleep-blop at 3:04 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


The Bauhaus Rules
posted by iamkimiam at 3:05 PM on August 9, 2013


Wingdings Migration
posted by box at 3:05 PM on August 9, 2013


Mean Curlz
posted by iamkimiam at 3:07 PM on August 9, 2013


Caslonblanca
posted by moonmilk at 3:08 PM on August 9, 2013


Kagemoji
posted by bleep-blop at 3:08 PM on August 9, 2013


No Bodoni's Fool
posted by iamkimiam at 3:08 PM on August 9, 2013


Zapf Dingbatman Begins
posted by griphus at 3:09 PM on August 9, 2013


An American Typewriter in Paris
posted by iamkimiam at 3:09 PM on August 9, 2013


Cloudy With A Zapf Chancery Of Meatballs
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:09 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


Rashomonotype
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:10 PM on August 9, 2013


Skarklato
posted by bleep-blop at 3:11 PM on August 9, 2013


Helvetica Neue Jack City
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:12 PM on August 9, 2013


24 Hour Papyrus People
posted by bleep-blop at 3:12 PM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]


The Akzidenzal Tourist
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:14 PM on August 9, 2013


The Jungle Book Antiqua
posted by griphus at 3:16 PM on August 9, 2013


Crouching Frutiger, Hidden Dragon
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:16 PM on August 9, 2013


The Italics Job
posted by bleep-blop at 3:16 PM on August 9, 2013


Sabon Private Ryan
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:17 PM on August 9, 2013


Oklatahoma!
posted by griphus at 3:18 PM on August 9, 2013


Joseph and the Amazing Tekton Dreamcoat
posted by iamkimiam at 3:19 PM on August 9, 2013


Kenan Thompson in John Carpenter's Fat Albertus
posted by bleep-blop at 3:19 PM on August 9, 2013


From Papyrussia With Love
posted by griphus at 3:20 PM on August 9, 2013


Trajan Places
posted by bleep-blop at 3:20 PM on August 9, 2013


Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sistina Hood
posted by iamkimiam at 3:21 PM on August 9, 2013


The Perpetua Storm
posted by iamkimiam at 3:22 PM on August 9, 2013


The Madness of King Georgia
posted by bleep-blop at 3:23 PM on August 9, 2013


La Bembo
posted by iamkimiam at 3:24 PM on August 9, 2013


Romancing the Stone Sans
posted by iamkimiam at 3:26 PM on August 9, 2013


Never Say Nevis Again
posted by bleep-blop at 3:26 PM on August 9, 2013


Arial Potter and the Demi-Bold Prints
posted by bleep-blop at 3:34 PM on August 9, 2013


The Quicktype and the Dead
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:45 PM on August 9, 2013


cortex: "Rashomonotype"

orsonwellsslowclap.gif
posted by jquinby at 4:32 PM on August 9, 2013


The Italic Job
posted by jquinby at 4:52 PM on August 9, 2013


SON OF A I'm out
posted by jquinby at 4:52 PM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]


My favorite old riffing thread is backward movies from 2006:
Bruce Wayne shuns his role as the masked crusader "Batman" in favour of international travel after cleaning the city of a mysterious fog and receiving no thanks in the process.


A great white shark reconsitutes off the shores of Montauk to repair a boat and to vomit tourists onto a beach.


Titanic
An enormous iron ship surges up from the vast depths of the ocean in order to save a large number of people who are inexplicably, and somewhat foolishly, floundering in the water near an iceburg. It then kindly takes them back to Southampton.
And so forth.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:19 PM on August 9, 2013 [3 favorites]


The Courier

wait, that's too easy...
posted by nickmark at 8:31 PM on August 9, 2013




I am deeply confused. No one has yet mentioned 9622. It's the first one of these that I'm aware of (and so much more...). Is there a reason not to include it?
posted by A dead Quaker at 12:01 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oh, shoot. Good call, Quaker. There was actually an earlier one, too, but it wasn't as good, though it did feature Fred.

I'm still trying to find the thread of mediocre rock'n'roll stories. Time to dig through the sidebar posts, as I think it was mentioned there.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:48 PM on August 10, 2013


Here, I think?
posted by Night_owl at 1:55 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]


HelveticaRaiser
posted by lordaych at 1:44 AM on August 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Thank you, Night_owl! Dull! Anecdotes! Both words I failed to look for in my efforts! Thank you!
posted by filthy light thief at 4:56 AM on August 12, 2013


I want to thank everyone in this thread, since without it I would not have gone to the wiki page and ended up joyfully reliving the Lyrics of the '90s battle.

In the park! On the beach! You and me! In Spain!
posted by psoas at 7:51 PM on August 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Is that where you once king or where the rains mainly stay?
posted by maryr at 8:12 AM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


It should be noted that at comment 5142776 this thread becomes a rap battle.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:05 AM on August 16, 2013 [2 favorites]


omg how'd I miss that? OH GOD IT'S STILL OPEN *wades into the fray*

PS, show tonight [self-link, but it's free] COME BATTLE WITH ME
posted by Eideteker at 7:16 AM on August 16, 2013


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