Remember when. August 26, 2014 9:36 AM Subscribe
Sadly, the linked site shut down before Internet Archive could even capture a single indie rock review or recommendation.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:48 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by filthy light thief at 9:48 AM on August 26, 2014
What's the oldest metafilter baby?
posted by rebent at 9:52 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by rebent at 9:52 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Well, not to be a party pooper, but it's technically post number 100, not the actual 100th post. The oldest post is post number 19 and there's no post no. 20. The first few dozens of post numbers are hit and miss.
posted by Kattullus at 10:05 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Kattullus at 10:05 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hah, good point. Based on my hasty manual counting posts linked in the archive, I think post #132 is actually the 100th post:
posted by filthy light thief at 10:41 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
The first rule of fight club is... you do not talk about the fight club. Second rule of Fight Club is you do NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB. God I hope that movie doesn't suck. And I love walking around the office repeating the two rules of fight club. Do it, your co-workers will love you for it.The post was one of two on 9/9/99 (link to Sept. '99). What a missed opportunity for numeric nonsense or silly number-focused posts.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:41 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
What's the oldest metafilter baby?
Biting tongue.
posted by inigo2 at 10:53 AM on August 26, 2014 [5 favorites]
Biting tongue.
posted by inigo2 at 10:53 AM on August 26, 2014 [5 favorites]
These thin, single-link posts are ruining metafilter.
posted by phunniemee at 10:56 AM on August 26, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 10:56 AM on August 26, 2014 [6 favorites]
What's the oldest metafilter baby?
Biting tongue.
Um, pretty please, unbite your tongue and explain the joke. (You can memail me if it's a problem to say publicly, I guess. I'm just a five dollar noob and all that.)
k? thx.
posted by Michele in California at 11:10 AM on August 26, 2014
Biting tongue.
Um, pretty please, unbite your tongue and explain the joke. (You can memail me if it's a problem to say publicly, I guess. I'm just a five dollar noob and all that.)
k? thx.
posted by Michele in California at 11:10 AM on August 26, 2014
And gods, So. Much. Editorializing. It's like reading someone's personal blog. Here's a gem from September 15, 1999:
What a mess of a site. Good thing no one goes there anymore. /super-duper hamburger
Matt, thanks for letting us join you on your site, it's kind of astounding what MetaFilter has become.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:13 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
I can't believe I've never heard of this site. It's a weblog, but it highlights absurd and funny items from popular news sites. It's on my bookmark list now.Yeah, that's a link to fark.com. And then there's self-linking (tdecius = Matt Dabrowski). And that's not the only instance!
Related PostsAnd in that last link, #1 is all buddy-buddy with the self-linker. "The Official Site of the Millennium? Now why didn't I think of that? I'll be sure to spread the word to everyone, Mattdabrowski.com IS the official site of the millennium!"
Let me beat Matt D to the punch; tonight he takes... September 10, 1999
Mattdabrowski.com September 7, 1999
Mattdabrowski.com September 5, 1999
Mattdabrowski.com September 2, 1999
Mattdabrowski.com September 1, 1999
What a mess of a site. Good thing no one goes there anymore. /super-duper hamburger
Matt, thanks for letting us join you on your site, it's kind of astounding what MetaFilter has become.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:13 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Did someone remember to get the cat out of the scanner?
posted by arcticseal at 11:30 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by arcticseal at 11:30 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Wow, I don't even remotely remember what the reify site even was. I think it was music reviews in a pre-pitchfork world perhaps?
And yeah, the summer of 1999, I was treating MeFi like my personal blog because I was just seeing what might take hold. It wasn't until around January 2000 that the site started to operate like it does today and personal anecdotes were kind of gone from posts.
I remember I used to let Matt Dabrowski self-link because he was the only active member at the time, but after a month or two of it, I talked to him over email into stopping the practice and we kind of went with the whole no self-links after that.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:38 AM on August 26, 2014 [8 favorites]
And yeah, the summer of 1999, I was treating MeFi like my personal blog because I was just seeing what might take hold. It wasn't until around January 2000 that the site started to operate like it does today and personal anecdotes were kind of gone from posts.
I remember I used to let Matt Dabrowski self-link because he was the only active member at the time, but after a month or two of it, I talked to him over email into stopping the practice and we kind of went with the whole no self-links after that.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:38 AM on August 26, 2014 [8 favorites]
Oh yeah, Matt Dabrowski. I think he's a Republican pollster now. Anyway, there's a Republican pollster with the same name and it kinda fits with tdecius.
posted by Kattullus at 11:44 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by Kattullus at 11:44 AM on August 26, 2014
Um, pretty please, unbite your tongue and explain the joke. (You can memail me if it's a problem to say publicly, I guess. I'm just a five dollar noob and all that.)
Oh, just joking about calling someone a baby, rather than (the real meaning of the question) naming the oldest baby whose parents met because of metafilter.
I'm a simple person.
posted by inigo2 at 11:44 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Oh, just joking about calling someone a baby, rather than (the real meaning of the question) naming the oldest baby whose parents met because of metafilter.
I'm a simple person.
posted by inigo2 at 11:44 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
mathowie: "Wow, I don't even remotely remember what the reify site even was."
I blame poor tagging practices.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:26 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
I blame poor tagging practices.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:26 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Thank you. That's what I kind of thought you meant but then wondered if I was missing something.
MiC -- less of a loser than I thought. Yay!
posted by Michele in California at 12:36 PM on August 26, 2014
MiC -- less of a loser than I thought. Yay!
posted by Michele in California at 12:36 PM on August 26, 2014
And the poster is still around and helps to fund MeFi! What a mensch!
posted by biffa at 12:38 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by biffa at 12:38 PM on August 26, 2014
Warten! Kaufen sie in den nächste fünfzehn minuten und wir geben sie ein frei donut.
posted by arcticseal at 12:48 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by arcticseal at 12:48 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Having looked reify.org up on the Wayback Machine it appears it was the music review blog of journalist Jason Fagone.
posted by Kattullus at 1:28 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by Kattullus at 1:28 PM on August 26, 2014
So reify.org was a thing?
posted by benito.strauss at 1:57 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by benito.strauss at 1:57 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
Well because of this conversation the concept of reify.org is in fact existant so...
posted by rebent at 2:31 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by rebent at 2:31 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
At least back then we didn't spend so much energy analyzing a post to death. These days we'd end up over-thinking a plate of reify's beans.
posted by benito.strauss at 3:14 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by benito.strauss at 3:14 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Uh. I don't wanna even get NEAR to my personal August 1999. Some beans sure better stay reified for good.
posted by Namlit at 3:20 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by Namlit at 3:20 PM on August 26, 2014
In August 1999 I was starting 8th grade and had braces, a lingering, unrealized crush on Jim from Astronomy Camp, an unhealthy attachment to a bucket hat, and 3 pairs of corduroy overalls. You jelly.
posted by phunniemee at 3:28 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 3:28 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's hard to believe that back then Ronald Reagan was still President and nobody had even heard of airplanes. Now Reagan is dead and you can't throw a rock without it getting sucked into a jet engine. We truly live in interesting times.
posted by The White Hat at 3:36 PM on August 26, 2014 [12 favorites]
posted by The White Hat at 3:36 PM on August 26, 2014 [12 favorites]
I'm going to have to verify a couple of your "facts" on Wikipedia, White Hat . . . okay, they check out. Sorry to doubt.
posted by Curious Artificer at 3:52 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Curious Artificer at 3:52 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
Well, not to be a party pooper, but it's technically post number 100, not the actual 100th post.
Any time someone starts a sentence that way, you know that they really want to be a party pooper, like you are having a party, and they are itching to poop all over it. And, because he's an Icelander, Kattulkus's poop is like burning magma. I mean, he's a pretty nice guy, but, really.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:30 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Any time someone starts a sentence that way, you know that they really want to be a party pooper, like you are having a party, and they are itching to poop all over it. And, because he's an Icelander, Kattulkus's poop is like burning magma. I mean, he's a pretty nice guy, but, really.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:30 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
15 years ago I was arriving on campus as a college freshman and now look at me! I've moved at *least* two miles away.
posted by maryr at 5:07 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by maryr at 5:07 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Based on my hasty manual counting posts linked in the archive, I think post #132 is actually the 100th post:
The first rule of Fight Club is The page you were looking for doesn't exist.
The second rule of Fight Club is You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.
posted by maryr at 5:09 PM on August 26, 2014 [8 favorites]
The first rule of Fight Club is The page you were looking for doesn't exist.
The second rule of Fight Club is You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.
posted by maryr at 5:09 PM on August 26, 2014 [8 favorites]
To sum: 15 years ago if you were arriving on an engineering college campus there was a good chance you were an adherent of either the Fight Club movie philosophy or the Matrix movie philosophy and in either case that is what is wrong with my generation.
posted by maryr at 5:12 PM on August 26, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by maryr at 5:12 PM on August 26, 2014 [8 favorites]
Those are precisely the same philosophy tho' and they are both reddit.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:29 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:29 PM on August 26, 2014
My first post on the internet was my creation of a Friendster page for A Cardboard Box. It was wildly popular. Everything's been downhill since then tbh.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:31 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:31 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
The late 90s were all about the warring philosophies of Fight Club/Matrix vs Bridget Jone's Diary. We all won that war, in the end.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:34 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:34 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Some of those posts whose numbers have disappeared were by Paphnuty, but we don't talk about that.
posted by languagehat at 5:37 PM on August 26, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by languagehat at 5:37 PM on August 26, 2014 [7 favorites]
In 1999, I was still in my late 20s. Now I sit on my porch and wave my cane at young miscreants who make the mistake of veering onto my lawn. Usually because they are walking down the street with their faces glued to tiny glowing screens, completely oblivious to their surroundings.
posted by double block and bleed at 5:52 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by double block and bleed at 5:52 PM on August 26, 2014
I like how totally earnest and helpful that post is. Kind of self-effacing, but not too self-effacing. It's like: I'm not very cool. But I admit, my music awareness did get a little cooler after I discovered this website. So you might want to go there too if you want to slightly increase your coolness the way I have.
posted by John Cohen at 6:04 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by John Cohen at 6:04 PM on August 26, 2014
I remember I used to let Matt Dabrowski self-link because he was the only active member at the time, but after a month or two of it, I talked to him over email into stopping the practice
Yeah, good old Matt. I remember I used to let Matt crash on my sofa when he was in town and he was always showing up at, like, 10 PM, expecting to drink beer and shoot the shit until 2 or 3 in the morning. Finally I was just "Matt. Door's open, beer's in the fridge. Help your self, had to turn in early."
Worst thing is the people who still love to walk around the office repeating the two rules of Fight Club.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:47 PM on August 26, 2014
Yeah, good old Matt. I remember I used to let Matt crash on my sofa when he was in town and he was always showing up at, like, 10 PM, expecting to drink beer and shoot the shit until 2 or 3 in the morning. Finally I was just "Matt. Door's open, beer's in the fridge. Help your self, had to turn in early."
Worst thing is the people who still love to walk around the office repeating the two rules of Fight Club.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:47 PM on August 26, 2014
Sadly, the linked site shut down before Internet Archive could even capture a single indie rock review or recommendation.
Which is a shame, because it had a really great interview with Pretty Flowers bassist Rusty Buttoms.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:14 PM on August 26, 2014 [3 favorites]
Which is a shame, because it had a really great interview with Pretty Flowers bassist Rusty Buttoms.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:14 PM on August 26, 2014 [3 favorites]
Man, remember when Pretty Flowers were just this cool local band with the bassist we were all friends just chillin' and friends with? I think they kinda sold out after they signed with Warner, but you can still hear the edge in their sound. I'm happy for them, really.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:29 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:29 AM on August 27, 2014
Rusty Bottoms Wanted By Kennewick PoliceOh Rusty, where did you go wrong?
KENNEWICK -- Rusty L. Bottoms, 41, is wanted for questioning by Kennewick Police, after the apparent theft of copper wire from Allen Electronic Sunday night or early Monday morning.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:18 AM on August 27, 2014 [1 favorite]
Stealing copper wire? I'm guessing meth. Meth is where he went wrong.
posted by maryr at 8:11 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by maryr at 8:11 AM on August 27, 2014
I have no idea who Rusty Bottoms is. Though this discussion has me wondering if I lived in Kennewick in 1999. (Well, technically, I never lived there. We lived in Richland but my husband worked in Kennewick.)
I think the answer is no, by 1999 I was in Southern California -- Fort Irwin, National Training Center, in the middle of the High Desert, just south of Death Valley.
I think I finished my associate of arts in Humanities in May of 1999 and started on my BS that fall. Then in late 2000 -- early 2001 my life became a medical train wreck.
So August of 1999 was roughly when I was discovering that, no, their online degree program did not distinguish between resident and non-resident rates and I could thus afford to start school that year instead of waiting to officially make my California residency and applying the following year.
posted by Michele in California at 10:00 AM on August 27, 2014
I think the answer is no, by 1999 I was in Southern California -- Fort Irwin, National Training Center, in the middle of the High Desert, just south of Death Valley.
I think I finished my associate of arts in Humanities in May of 1999 and started on my BS that fall. Then in late 2000 -- early 2001 my life became a medical train wreck.
So August of 1999 was roughly when I was discovering that, no, their online degree program did not distinguish between resident and non-resident rates and I could thus afford to start school that year instead of waiting to officially make my California residency and applying the following year.
posted by Michele in California at 10:00 AM on August 27, 2014
Though some other part of my brain swears I got my AA right before I turned 30 ... which makes no fucking sense mathematically at all.
Too. Many. Drugs.
posted by Michele in California at 10:04 AM on August 27, 2014
Too. Many. Drugs.
posted by Michele in California at 10:04 AM on August 27, 2014
*awkward silence*
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:52 PM on August 27, 2014
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:52 PM on August 27, 2014
They were prescription. I swear.
Carry on.
posted by Michele in California at 2:01 PM on August 27, 2014
Carry on.
posted by Michele in California at 2:01 PM on August 27, 2014
I know it's not cool but... I actually like the editorializing. Just a little bit of editorializing, not a bunch.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:12 PM on August 27, 2014
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:12 PM on August 27, 2014
Nowadays that post would have been deleted with a perfunctory GYOB....oh, wait...
posted by maggieb at 8:34 PM on August 27, 2014
posted by maggieb at 8:34 PM on August 27, 2014
"In August 1999 I was starting 8th grade and had braces, a lingering, unrealized crush on Jim from Astronomy Camp, an unhealthy attachment to a bucket hat, and 3 pairs of corduroy overalls. You jelly."
Not really. That was the summer I bought a sheet of acid and sublet a student ghetto house where neighbors would break in to wake you up with bong hits. Though by the end of August, I think I'd been fired from Kinko's and was living off Flav-r-Ice stockpiles.
posted by klangklangston at 8:57 AM on August 29, 2014
Not really. That was the summer I bought a sheet of acid and sublet a student ghetto house where neighbors would break in to wake you up with bong hits. Though by the end of August, I think I'd been fired from Kinko's and was living off Flav-r-Ice stockpiles.
posted by klangklangston at 8:57 AM on August 29, 2014
I'd been fired from Kinko's
Were you the guy who ran off show flyers for all his friends for free?
posted by octobersurprise at 9:07 AM on August 29, 2014
Were you the guy who ran off show flyers for all his friends for free?
posted by octobersurprise at 9:07 AM on August 29, 2014
Yep! And to be fair to them, I was a pretty terrible worker there for a while before I got fired. But during my year and a half or so there, they went from being a pretty great place to work to being a pretty terrible place to work, so we all won by losing (it was during the FedEx buyout, and they took the longtime manager of the store away and had him launch another Kinko's while we got a new woman from corporate who was determined to be by the book).
My favorite thing there was the passport camera, which took stereo Polaroids. But I also learned that the giant flatbed copiers that were generally used for architectural and planning documents would make gorgeous prints of what looked like starry skies if you just left the cover open and didn't copy anything.
posted by klangklangston at 3:42 PM on August 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
My favorite thing there was the passport camera, which took stereo Polaroids. But I also learned that the giant flatbed copiers that were generally used for architectural and planning documents would make gorgeous prints of what looked like starry skies if you just left the cover open and didn't copy anything.
posted by klangklangston at 3:42 PM on August 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
August 1999? Went on a trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway with two lovely young ladies, got my wisdom teeth out and became briefly dependent on hydrocodone taken for after-surgery care. Didn't take much notice of metafilter that month, sorry.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:28 PM on August 30, 2014
posted by infinitewindow at 9:28 PM on August 30, 2014
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posted by Iridic at 9:41 AM on August 26, 2014 [6 favorites]