MeFi comments added to subject of FPP

December 16, 2015 3:45 PM

Last April, I posted a FPP on Down the Rabbit Hole, a site collecting observations about estranged parent support forums. The FPP went really well and generated some really good discussion. Today, I glanced at Down the Rabbit Hole and noted that the author had added FAQs, including some of the questions that MeFites had had about the original post. One of them prominently cites MeFi's own robot-hugs' comment as a partial answer to the question "where are the estranged fathers?"
posted by sciatrix to MetaFilter-Related at 3:45 PM (17 comments total)

People notice traffic to and from their sites. Happened at BLDGBLOG from this front-page post.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:06 PM on December 16, 2015

That site is so valuable. I've sent the link to multiple people whose responses were basically "holy shit this is my parent(s) and now I feel like I understand."
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:19 PM on December 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

That was such a great FPP, thanks for reminding me of it!
posted by rebent at 11:39 AM on December 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Agreed, that was a fantastic FPP. I've been rereading the comments in the FPP and linked site again recently ('tis the season for fraught family relations) and it's been a great comfort to know there are others with similar experiences/it's not all in my head.
posted by zenzicube at 4:18 PM on December 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I missed the FPP the first time. Thanks for this post!
posted by salvia at 7:12 PM on December 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hey there. I do check out pages that link to my estrangement site, because it sparks some amazing discussions.* You guys had one of the best. I wanted to join in, but thought better of it because the presence of the creator can quash conversations. This one is about my reading your discussion, though, so it seemed less intrusive to pop my head in.

So: Hi! You guys are awesome. And if you want to ask me questions, I'm happy to answer.

I was going to ask if it was okay with you guys that I used quotes from it and linked directly to it, but that would be hypocritical, since I grab from estranged parents' forums without giving a good goddamn. So I'll just say I hope no one minded or was adversely affected.


* Plus, you know, egoboo and all that. It's depressing to see how many people the site resonates with, and wonderful to see how many people it helps. That means a lot to me.
posted by Issendai at 9:50 AM on December 18, 2015 [28 favorites]

Hey Issendai, since you're reading here, let me briefly derail to say "thanks!" for both this and your "sick systems" essay from back in the day. That especially was helpful in getting me through and out of a really horrific place in my life. I've also got an estranged parent who would probably be on one of these forums if they knew how to turn on a computer, so.. Guess I'm in your target demo.
posted by Alterscape at 10:50 AM on December 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hi Issendai! Welcome! Actually, Metafilter is pretty welcoming to creators. Conversations rarely get quashed, they often get expanded. We always tell them exactly what we think.
posted by Melismata at 12:20 PM on December 18, 2015

G'day Issendai and welcome! You have now become a Mefi's own which means that next time someone makes a front page post (fpp) about your work, it will be prefaced with the proud moninker, Mefi's own! which is how we make known that metafilter is where cool kids hang out.
posted by Thella at 5:40 PM on December 18, 2015

Thank you Issendai and sciatrix.
posted by Coaticass at 8:33 PM on December 19, 2015

wow. Weird! Welp, glad I could be helpful.
posted by robot-hugs at 8:09 AM on December 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

also, I'm on MeFi all the time even if I don't participate, and scanning through MeTa and seeing my name is a weird 'oh shit' moment while I try to figure out if someone's mad at me.

I'm glad you're not mad at me?
posted by robot-hugs at 8:14 AM on December 22, 2015 [4 favorites]

Shit, I'm sorry to have terrified you! I try to make a policy to MeMail people when I mention them in MeTa, usually with a rider of "don't worry! it's a nice mention!" to pre-emptively get over that oh-shit moment. Didn't think about it this time--my bad!
posted by sciatrix at 8:25 AM on December 22, 2015

Also I know for a fact that your name popping up caused at least one person to go "omg robot-hugs is on MeFi? THEIR COMIC IS AMAZING", so, y'know, definitely no one is mad.
posted by sciatrix at 8:26 AM on December 22, 2015

eh, don't worry about it. MeFi is an excellent place that non-infrequently helps me organize my thoughts on some topics in ways that make it easier to articulate concepts through comics.

folks here are often funny and smart and insightful. being here has helped me be a better educator and webcomicist.

it's funny with this though, I'd never ever do a comic about the PAS/MRA stuff from this post because it just wouldn't be worth the increased backlash and harassment I'd get, so it's interesting to see my experience get incorporated elsewhere on the internet in a quieter way.
posted by robot-hugs at 1:41 PM on December 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Issendai, that site is fantastic - informative and really well-written. Analyzing those sites and explaining them clearly was no small task. Thanks for doing all that work. I learned a lot from reading it.
posted by salvia at 12:11 AM on December 23, 2015

I also missed it first time around. I've just spent the whole afternoon reading it from start to finish.

Fantastic work, Issendai.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:40 AM on December 23, 2015