Wrong! January 29, 2017 6:54 PM Subscribe
Mefites are a smart bunch, but no one is perfect. Tell us, what is the wrongest comment you've made here?
Inspired by this comment:
Inspired by this comment:
Here is possibly my wrongest comment ever
posted by paper chromatographologist at 5:31 AM on January 27
Yeah dang man if this is all jokes about Trump crashing and burning it'll be about as much fun as an ICU
posted by Countess Elena at 7:24 PM on January 29, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 7:24 PM on January 29, 2017 [7 favorites]
I'm too lazy to go dig it up, but I once defended fedoras as excellent headwear.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:31 PM on January 29, 2017 [33 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:31 PM on January 29, 2017 [33 favorites]
I just read a bunch of my metatalk comments from like 2006. I was kind of a dick at times. Sorry.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:34 PM on January 29, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by Rhomboid at 7:34 PM on January 29, 2017 [10 favorites]
I wagered that cortex couldn't make a teapot.
posted by moonmilk at 7:38 PM on January 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 7:38 PM on January 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
The wrongest comment of my life isn't on Metafilter, but it was so egregiously wrong that I have to give it an honorable mention.
To my manager at my first IT-related job when the IBM PC/AT first came out in 1984, about the 20 megabyte hard drive it shipped with: "That's stupid, who needs that much storage?"
(Despite my naiveté we stayed good friends, and years later we had a good laugh about it)
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:40 PM on January 29, 2017 [27 favorites]
To my manager at my first IT-related job when the IBM PC/AT first came out in 1984, about the 20 megabyte hard drive it shipped with: "That's stupid, who needs that much storage?"
(Despite my naiveté we stayed good friends, and years later we had a good laugh about it)
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:40 PM on January 29, 2017 [27 favorites]
I commented on the notorious ass-burns ask. My comment was not exactly incorrect, but was bad advice - later comments were clear that the OP needed to go to the doctor.
posted by insectosaurus at 7:45 PM on January 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by insectosaurus at 7:45 PM on January 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
It's maybe not my wrongest, but possibly the highest coefficient of visibility and wrongness. I'm hesitant to even bring it up, actually, because I cringe so much at the memory of it. I'm doing this because I think it's good for us to recognize where we've failed:
I first learned the term "mansplaining" from this site, alas too late to recognize it in myself.
Here's my MetaTalk post mansplaining to women that guys are totes okay with them using AskMe for personal questions about women's health. Looking back at the comments on that thread, it's amazing how profoundly people had my number.
Ugh. I swear I meant well. But a decade later, I've learned so much... and so much from this site, specifically. I've learned to stop assuming I understand people's life experiences as well as they do. And I've learned that how you're saying something often has more content than what you're saying.
I was partly wrong on the "what", and super-wrong on the "how". Clearly it was a good decision to bring my voice to the front page of MetaTalk.
I'm really sorry. I'm trying to be less wrong, wrong less often, and less ostentatious about my wrongness. Thank you all for being my teachers, this site has made me a better person than I was in 2007.
posted by Riki tiki at 8:14 PM on January 29, 2017 [54 favorites]
I first learned the term "mansplaining" from this site, alas too late to recognize it in myself.
Here's my MetaTalk post mansplaining to women that guys are totes okay with them using AskMe for personal questions about women's health. Looking back at the comments on that thread, it's amazing how profoundly people had my number.
Ugh. I swear I meant well. But a decade later, I've learned so much... and so much from this site, specifically. I've learned to stop assuming I understand people's life experiences as well as they do. And I've learned that how you're saying something often has more content than what you're saying.
I was partly wrong on the "what", and super-wrong on the "how". Clearly it was a good decision to bring my voice to the front page of MetaTalk.
I'm really sorry. I'm trying to be less wrong, wrong less often, and less ostentatious about my wrongness. Thank you all for being my teachers, this site has made me a better person than I was in 2007.
posted by Riki tiki at 8:14 PM on January 29, 2017 [54 favorites]
i have mentioned this before but the great shame of my life is the time i publicly lamented the great unfairness that amerigo vespucci did not get any countries named after him like all the other explorers did
however to return to the subject of this thread i should note that i have never at any time made an incorrect comment here
posted by poffin boffin at 8:16 PM on January 29, 2017 [33 favorites]
however to return to the subject of this thread i should note that i have never at any time made an incorrect comment here
posted by poffin boffin at 8:16 PM on January 29, 2017 [33 favorites]
wait i just remembered the 2 years i really liked teen wolf
posted by poffin boffin at 8:16 PM on January 29, 2017 [40 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 8:16 PM on January 29, 2017 [40 favorites]
I held out so much hope for the second season of True Detectives. I was sporting theories left and right regarding how the show would probably redeem itself and was likely just being really clever in subverting our expectations. Nah, it ended up that the main writer was rushed and ran out of ideas.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:22 PM on January 29, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:22 PM on January 29, 2017 [5 favorites]
Also, I'll throw this into the ring.
Ever since I made that comment, I have felt the need to apologize for my excessive self-confidence. I sometimes log in thinking that someone is going to quote me as an example for the rest of the world. Especially since it was in response to THIS.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:30 PM on January 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
Ever since I made that comment, I have felt the need to apologize for my excessive self-confidence. I sometimes log in thinking that someone is going to quote me as an example for the rest of the world. Especially since it was in response to THIS.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:30 PM on January 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
I'm a little torn, partly because I've been so wrong, so often, anything I offer up is probably going to get a reaction of "wait, what about your comment here, Ghidorah?" The other part of me is how embarrassingly bad my reaction was to the discussion of cis and trans when it first really became a site wide discussion. I can't really point to a single comment, since I seemed to have believed that the best thing to do when you're in a hole is to keep digging. I reacted poorly, and reading my comments now are pretty painful. It was five years ago, and I've done a lot more listening since then, but I have no excuses. I was an idiot.
I mean, I'm still and idiot, and I will continue to be wrong about things in ridiculous and embarrassing ways, but hopefully not like that, not again.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:43 PM on January 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
I mean, I'm still and idiot, and I will continue to be wrong about things in ridiculous and embarrassing ways, but hopefully not like that, not again.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:43 PM on January 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
Based on how the conversation evolved after I posted this comment. I regret ranking Tokyo Drift as low as I did on my list. I suspect that I'll not be able to live that one down. Apologies to anyone I may have offended.
posted by Fizz at 11:27 PM on January 29, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 11:27 PM on January 29, 2017 [4 favorites]
I once got into a back-and-forth on AskMe about whether a particular cleanser is unscented. I insisted it was, over someone's objections. Much later I figured out: nope. I was using a generic version, but the real thing is scented.
(I realize that's a boring one, but it has to have been ten years and every so often it pops into my head in my "Times You Were an Ass" mental newsreel. I'm sorry, person who wanted an unscented thing!)
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:03 AM on January 30, 2017 [13 favorites]
(I realize that's a boring one, but it has to have been ten years and every so often it pops into my head in my "Times You Were an Ass" mental newsreel. I'm sorry, person who wanted an unscented thing!)
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:03 AM on January 30, 2017 [13 favorites]
Oh, also I'm evidently wrong about Phil Collins.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I have been “didn’t read the question properly” wrong; I have been “should’ve actually read TFA” wrong; I have been “that factoid I recollected was not in fact an actual fact” wrong. I have only avoided being offensively wrong in some cases by not clicking ‘Post Comment’ at a crucial point and thereby discarding whatever glib idiocy was on my mind. I was straightforwardly wrong in my pessimistic prediction that the 2011 UK newspaper phone hacking scandal would’t have a decisive impact on the circulation of The News of The World, when, as it turned out, the paper was closed down altogether.
posted by misteraitch at 1:30 AM on January 30, 2017
posted by misteraitch at 1:30 AM on January 30, 2017
I will never again make a comment as wrong as this one.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [22 favorites]
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [22 favorites]
Not wrong in the truthfulness sense but rather the other one, but one of my most favorited comments consists entirely of a Hitler quote.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:44 AM on January 30, 2017
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:44 AM on January 30, 2017
I should not have posted this. I could have realised that some people would take it as a suggestion that Sweetkid was wrong, even though I meant no such thing. I was, and am, sorry I posted that question at all. It was just a bad idea.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:43 AM on January 30, 2017
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:43 AM on January 30, 2017
>so egregiously wrong
Ha. About five years after that I was drooling because my mate's older brother had a ten meg drive. YOU RARELY EVEN NEEDED TO CHANGE DISKS!
almost all my comments are the wrongest, and finding the least wrongest would be too much work, sorry.
posted by pompomtom at 3:46 AM on January 30, 2017
Ha. About five years after that I was drooling because my mate's older brother had a ten meg drive. YOU RARELY EVEN NEEDED TO CHANGE DISKS!
almost all my comments are the wrongest, and finding the least wrongest would be too much work, sorry.
posted by pompomtom at 3:46 AM on January 30, 2017
I have only avoided being offensively wrong in some cases by not clicking ‘Post Comment’ at a crucial point and thereby discarding whatever glib idiocy was on my mind.
I usually hit the post button and then immediately regret it, causing me to flag my own comment and pray for deletion before anyone reads it.
I am deathly afraid to look at my past comments and find when I was most wrong. I really don't need that stress in my life. However, most of my comments are stupid jokes that contribute nothing, so I think I am less factually wrong and more asshole wrong. Not that that helps me sleep at night or anything.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:38 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I usually hit the post button and then immediately regret it, causing me to flag my own comment and pray for deletion before anyone reads it.
I am deathly afraid to look at my past comments and find when I was most wrong. I really don't need that stress in my life. However, most of my comments are stupid jokes that contribute nothing, so I think I am less factually wrong and more asshole wrong. Not that that helps me sleep at night or anything.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:38 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
pray for deletion
A.... friend of mine... advises me that a quick trip to the contact form can ensure that deletion.
It seems odd but that's what they said.
posted by pompomtom at 4:44 AM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
A.... friend of mine... advises me that a quick trip to the contact form can ensure that deletion.
It seems odd but that's what they said.
posted by pompomtom at 4:44 AM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
A.... friend of mine... advises me that a quick trip to the contact form can ensure that deletion.
But then what am I going to agonize over? What will cause my self loathing?
posted by Literaryhero at 4:53 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
But then what am I going to agonize over? What will cause my self loathing?
posted by Literaryhero at 4:53 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
But then what am I going to agonize over? What will cause my self loathing?
I deleted my Facebook account quite a few years ago, but still recall a few comments I will eternally regret.
I'm so glad my early online activity is (mostly) lost to the ether.
posted by mushhushshu at 5:19 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I deleted my Facebook account quite a few years ago, but still recall a few comments I will eternally regret.
I'm so glad my early online activity is (mostly) lost to the ether.
posted by mushhushshu at 5:19 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
What will cause my self loathing?
Sorry, can't help you there. I don't even need a computer for that.
posted by pompomtom at 5:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
Sorry, can't help you there. I don't even need a computer for that.
posted by pompomtom at 5:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
I joined Metafilter in 2004, and I am now in my thirties. This means there is an extensive written record of all the opinions I held through my late teens and early twenties. So I can't actually identify my most wrong comment, because if I were to start reviewing from the beginning I'm quite sure that before I hit 2006 the embarrassment would cause my skeleton to tear away from my body and run screaming through the streets.
posted by Anonymous at 5:52 AM on January 30, 2017
posted by Anonymous at 5:52 AM on January 30, 2017
I can't find it right now, but right after Dance of Dragons came out I'm pretty sure I was confidently telling people on here that the last few books would be coming out quickly, since GRRM would suffer financial penalties if he didn't get them out before the TV series caught up.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by dinty_moore at 6:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [8 favorites]
At a librarian conference, doing my first presentation to this sector, in late 1992: "You may have heard about this thing called the World Wide Web. Well, I've played with it, and even created a few of what are called Web Sites. And, it's kind of a flaky technology. Obviously it will soon fade and disappear, and Gopher will obviously become the predominant online technology through the remainder of this century and into the next. Ignore the hype about the so-called Web [exaggerated eye-roll]".
Me at the same annual conference two years later: "As I have confidently predicted for some time [puts unreferenced text on acetate up on the overhead projector], the Web - only those people call it the World Wide Web - will become the predominant online technology through the remainder of this century and into the next. Don't listen to anyone who ever tells you otherwise".
posted by Wordshore at 6:36 AM on January 30, 2017 [19 favorites]
Me at the same annual conference two years later: "As I have confidently predicted for some time [puts unreferenced text on acetate up on the overhead projector], the Web - only those people call it the World Wide Web - will become the predominant online technology through the remainder of this century and into the next. Don't listen to anyone who ever tells you otherwise".
posted by Wordshore at 6:36 AM on January 30, 2017 [19 favorites]
wait i just remembered the 2 years i really liked teen wolf
You were so emphatic about it you almost got me to start watching it. Like I was thinking, "Is this some kind of geniously subversive show masquerading as trash TV?" Luckily I got distracted by something else and never got around to watching.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:27 AM on January 30, 2017 [7 favorites]
You were so emphatic about it you almost got me to start watching it. Like I was thinking, "Is this some kind of geniously subversive show masquerading as trash TV?" Luckily I got distracted by something else and never got around to watching.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:27 AM on January 30, 2017 [7 favorites]
I'm certain all my other comments were right. Making this my wrongest one.
posted by Diablevert at 7:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Diablevert at 7:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
Around 2006 on AskMe I predicted the bursting of the craft beer bubble by the end of 2008. I think my words were: "Everything that can be done with something as basic as beer has been done. The era of innovation is over."
I'm too embarrassed to find the actual comment, but I have amazing beers in my fridge right now by breweries that weren't even a twinkle in a bearded man's eye then, and they are pretty mind-blowing, so that placates me somewhat.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [10 favorites]
I'm too embarrassed to find the actual comment, but I have amazing beers in my fridge right now by breweries that weren't even a twinkle in a bearded man's eye then, and they are pretty mind-blowing, so that placates me somewhat.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [10 favorites]
Since I assume most of the comment I wrote before this EXACT moment are probably wrong, I went back through my comment history to find my most popular comment that I now think is wrong.
It's this one. Maybe it's not necessarily an incorrect comment, but it's certainly framed in the sort of bougie western-centric absolutist language that someone in their late 20s would favor, and not the early-30s grown adult I am now.
posted by muddgirl at 7:40 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
It's this one. Maybe it's not necessarily an incorrect comment, but it's certainly framed in the sort of bougie western-centric absolutist language that someone in their late 20s would favor, and not the early-30s grown adult I am now.
posted by muddgirl at 7:40 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
> I once defended fedoras as excellent headwear.
Congratulations, this is your new wrongest comment! Fedoras are excellent headwear, and I will cock a snook at anyone who says otherwise.
I've made lots of wrong comments, but I've got too much work to do to spend any more time going through my history to find the wrongest; before I quit, though, I happened on this ancient thread, which I hope you will enjoy. Note this comment complaining that "the longest threads of Metafilter are now closed"; yes, kiddies, there was a time when commenting wasn't shut off after a month!
posted by languagehat at 8:25 AM on January 30, 2017 [9 favorites]
Congratulations, this is your new wrongest comment! Fedoras are excellent headwear, and I will cock a snook at anyone who says otherwise.
I've made lots of wrong comments, but I've got too much work to do to spend any more time going through my history to find the wrongest; before I quit, though, I happened on this ancient thread, which I hope you will enjoy. Note this comment complaining that "the longest threads of Metafilter are now closed"; yes, kiddies, there was a time when commenting wasn't shut off after a month!
posted by languagehat at 8:25 AM on January 30, 2017 [9 favorites]
since I seemed to have believed that the best thing to do when you're in a hole is to keep digging.
I've talked about this elsewhere on the site recently. I wanted to elaborate more on this in the thread itself, but I knew I had to make a point and this was a tangent.
I wish I knew the words to make them listen.. or make more people aware that this is a thing that happens.
It's ok to be wrong, everyone. How you react to being wrong is the important thing.
posted by INFJ at 8:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
I've talked about this elsewhere on the site recently. I wanted to elaborate more on this in the thread itself, but I knew I had to make a point and this was a tangent.
The problem with telling [a group of people] that they voted against their best interest is the way humans (Americans?) react to being wrong. Most people will dig in deep when they're told they're wrong. Their defenses fly up. No matter what you say, how you say it, or what you do, they will refuse to admit to being wrong. Shame is a strong emotion, and invokes strong emotions in response.As soon as you've pointed out to a person that they're wrong, you've lost the argument. It doesn't happen with everyone (thankfully) but a good portion of the population will stop listening to you and write you and your opinions off.
I wish I knew the words to make them listen.. or make more people aware that this is a thing that happens.
It's ok to be wrong, everyone. How you react to being wrong is the important thing.
posted by INFJ at 8:29 AM on January 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
According to a profile search I have said "sorry" 255 times, so I figure probably a good half of those sorry comments were preceded by something stupid and wrong I said. (Bulk of the other half is likely some version of "sorry, but your SO is an asshole," which I fully stand by.)
I also, upon review of this thread, gave bad advice in the butt burn Ask, but learned a valuable lesson that day about not to ever burn my butt. Don't burn your butts, kids.
posted by phunniemee at 8:48 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I also, upon review of this thread, gave bad advice in the butt burn Ask, but learned a valuable lesson that day about not to ever burn my butt. Don't burn your butts, kids.
posted by phunniemee at 8:48 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
That time I thought King Arthur's sword was named Excelsior.
So, where's yours, 641-A?
posted by zamboni at 8:49 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
So, where's yours, 641-A?
posted by zamboni at 8:49 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
phunniemee are you sure you're just not secretly a Canadian?
posted by INFJ at 8:59 AM on January 30, 2017
posted by INFJ at 8:59 AM on January 30, 2017
My most wrong comment would be anything I could possibly post in this thread linking to something dumb I've said. I've said a lot of dumb things and have no desire to revisit them.
In fact, I will probably regret this comment within ten minutes of posting it.
posted by bondcliff at 9:14 AM on January 30, 2017
In fact, I will probably regret this comment within ten minutes of posting it.
posted by bondcliff at 9:14 AM on January 30, 2017
phunniemee are you sure you're just not secretly a Canadian?
My "sorry" comments account for approximately 0.007% of my total metafilter output so I'm pretty sure I'm not even secretly sorry.
posted by phunniemee at 9:25 AM on January 30, 2017 [7 favorites]
My "sorry" comments account for approximately 0.007% of my total metafilter output so I'm pretty sure I'm not even secretly sorry.
posted by phunniemee at 9:25 AM on January 30, 2017 [7 favorites]
see now I wisely expunged the worst of my asininity on usenet under my real name years ago
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:32 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:32 AM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think I have a lot of comments these days with weird verb conjugations and things, because the part of my brain that used to look at a sentence and say definitively, "That looks right!" or "That looks wrong!" has been (perhaps permanently) confused by spending 5 years living in countries where the following word order is completely normal: "I, who once good spell could, get now a bit lost, when I things down-writing am."
posted by colfax at 9:50 AM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by colfax at 9:50 AM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
Congratulations, this is your new wrongest comment! Fedoras are excellent headwear, and I will cock a snook at anyone who says otherwise.
This is a great example of how not to let the internet dictate the narrative.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:13 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is a great example of how not to let the internet dictate the narrative.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:13 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
No, just in countries with Germanic languages. Same thing, really.
Incidentally, watching the Star Wars movies dubbed into German is a very strange experience.
posted by colfax at 10:15 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Incidentally, watching the Star Wars movies dubbed into German is a very strange experience.
posted by colfax at 10:15 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
In 2009, I very confidently predicted that this 'hamburger to indicate sarcasm' thing would never take off on MetaFilter. Eight years later and you'll still find the occasional reference to it.
posted by librarylis at 10:50 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by librarylis at 10:50 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Not so much wrong in the moral sense, but I am basically incapable of posting a comment without a typo, despite edit window. And to add insult to injury, I write for a living.
posted by thivaia at 11:19 AM on January 30, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 11:19 AM on January 30, 2017 [12 favorites]
The list of my most regrettable comments and the list of times I was deleted have a pretty solid overlap. Not so much things I said that I would walk back from an ideological stance, just times when my inner asshole-or-not-asshole calibration was off in how I phrased things.
Sometimes, when it erases evidence of your assholery, deletion is your friend.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:20 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Sometimes, when it erases evidence of your assholery, deletion is your friend.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:20 AM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Not so much wrong in the moral sense, but I am basically incapable of posting a comment without a typo, despite edit window.
Qouted for truth.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:20 AM on January 30, 2017 [10 favorites]
Qouted for truth.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:20 AM on January 30, 2017 [10 favorites]
Basically all the advice I gave about anything relating to children before having kids myself. Everything seems so easy and commonsensical until you're actually confronted with your own child who won't sleep/sit quietly at a table/eat non-nuggeted food products/walk upright like a human being/etc.
posted by TheLateGreatAbrahamLincoln at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2017 [22 favorites]
posted by TheLateGreatAbrahamLincoln at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2017 [22 favorites]
TheLateGreatAbrahamLincoln, I don't have kids, but have you tried shutting it down and turning it on again?
posted by phunniemee at 11:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [20 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 11:30 AM on January 30, 2017 [20 favorites]
I kind of wish my entire first year of comments could be stricken from the record. When I joined up, I really wanted to get past the "new guy" stage by having a good amount of comments on record, so I would say "all of 2006" is my wrongest comment .
posted by The Gooch at 11:32 AM on January 30, 2017
posted by The Gooch at 11:32 AM on January 30, 2017
This comment from 2007 in which I praised Bill Cosby. (To be fair, in the same comment I also dissed Carlos Mencia, so my comment was only half wrong.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:43 AM on January 30, 2017
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:43 AM on January 30, 2017
non-nuggeted food products
User account name up for grabs
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:57 AM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
User account name up for grabs
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:57 AM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
That time I apparently didn't know what snow tires looked like and posted a "what's with all the hubcap-less cars" AskMe. Not linking to it because it's too embarrassing.
posted by chococat at 12:14 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by chococat at 12:14 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Not so much wrong in the moral sense, but I am basically incapable of posting a comment without a typo, despite edit window.
So so so true. Usually I can deal with being wrong factually with no problem. I've been wrong morally, which does bother me quite a bit and has kept me awake at night even years later, those hurt - I would trade every favorite I've ever gotten to take back/delete some of my more horrid comments. But it took awhile to get over typos and errors - at first I would just run and hide from MeFi for awhile. Now I'm a lot better because basically all of my comments have typos and errors, but oh geezus whoopsie fires just this year I posted a huge comment talking about my palate but used the word "palette" instead. I realized it while walking down the street an entire week later when it was far too late and didn't sleep for two nights, that was awful.
posted by barchan at 12:18 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
So so so true. Usually I can deal with being wrong factually with no problem. I've been wrong morally, which does bother me quite a bit and has kept me awake at night even years later, those hurt - I would trade every favorite I've ever gotten to take back/delete some of my more horrid comments. But it took awhile to get over typos and errors - at first I would just run and hide from MeFi for awhile. Now I'm a lot better because basically all of my comments have typos and errors, but oh geezus whoopsie fires just this year I posted a huge comment talking about my palate but used the word "palette" instead. I realized it while walking down the street an entire week later when it was far too late and didn't sleep for two nights, that was awful.
posted by barchan at 12:18 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
Atom Eyes, I share your pain. If you go down, I'm going with you. And I'm taking all the commenters in this thread with me.
posted by Liesl at 12:19 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Liesl at 12:19 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm not going to link to it because it's in a thread about the usage of "the n word" and I don't want that to be a thing. It doesn't matter why or to what degree, but I was so wrong.
However, I do want to want to say thank you to the MeFite who sent me a PM to explain why I was wrong and ways to correct my wrongness. I followed their advice and, I think, have become a much better person as a result.
posted by Tevin at 12:34 PM on January 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
However, I do want to want to say thank you to the MeFite who sent me a PM to explain why I was wrong and ways to correct my wrongness. I followed their advice and, I think, have become a much better person as a result.
posted by Tevin at 12:34 PM on January 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
I've been keeping a blog since the late 90s; before that I was a teenager from the rural midwest who posted sometimes on Usenet about science fiction and programming. There are at minimum probably a couple hundreds of thousands of words of me being wrong on the internet. I'm not sure my MetaFilter output can really compete.
I'm probably still wrong a lot on here, though.
posted by brennen at 1:35 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm probably still wrong a lot on here, though.
posted by brennen at 1:35 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is still one of the greatest quotes in the history of cinema - or is, when you transcribe it correctly.
I have written and erased no fewer than three letters to the mods over the past years, asking for it to be belatedly corrected (even though I know that's not how it works here), so great is my shame. Not least because someone took the time to correct my typo in-thread, making it crystal clear I am a moron - and immediately got more favorites than me.
I also regret my boneheaded easily-googlable Barbra Streisand question, which I will not link to, because better to keep quiet and be thought a gibbering maroon...
posted by Mchelly at 1:48 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
I have written and erased no fewer than three letters to the mods over the past years, asking for it to be belatedly corrected (even though I know that's not how it works here), so great is my shame. Not least because someone took the time to correct my typo in-thread, making it crystal clear I am a moron - and immediately got more favorites than me.
I also regret my boneheaded easily-googlable Barbra Streisand question, which I will not link to, because better to keep quiet and be thought a gibbering maroon...
posted by Mchelly at 1:48 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
And I just reread the comment I linked to, and TWO people corrected me and were duly rewarded.
Now I am back in a hole again. I am so ashamed.
posted by Mchelly at 2:00 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Now I am back in a hole again. I am so ashamed.
posted by Mchelly at 2:00 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
reviewing one's most-favorited comments is normally a life-affirming experience wherein one is reminded of how clever and beloved one is, but in my case one of my most-favorited comments is a top ten list in which I accidentally omitted one of the major numbers in the one through ten sequence (four) and I always click away feeling like a dumbass who can't count
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:07 PM on January 30, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:07 PM on January 30, 2017 [7 favorites]
This comment where I predicted Trump's electoral victory.
Not because I was wrong but because I should have been.
posted by double block and bleed at 3:09 PM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
Not because I was wrong but because I should have been.
posted by double block and bleed at 3:09 PM on January 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
double block and bleed: "This comment where I predicted Trump's electoral victory.
Not because I was wrong but because I should have been."
At least you got Santorum wrong.
Along a similar vein, my mostest wrongest comment is one that never saw the light of day. One Saturday night, late, actually early Sunday morning, I wrote a comment in response to what I consider to be that persons most wrong comment (ever). For some reason, I had the presence of mind to write it out but never hit the "Post Comment" button. Divine protection for animals, small children and drunks I guess.
posted by AugustWest at 3:15 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Not because I was wrong but because I should have been."
At least you got Santorum wrong.
Along a similar vein, my mostest wrongest comment is one that never saw the light of day. One Saturday night, late, actually early Sunday morning, I wrote a comment in response to what I consider to be that persons most wrong comment (ever). For some reason, I had the presence of mind to write it out but never hit the "Post Comment" button. Divine protection for animals, small children and drunks I guess.
posted by AugustWest at 3:15 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
My most wrong comment? Oh but there are so many to choose from. I feel though, like they are my children - you know... like I should keep them locked in the cabinet under the sink for a few more years...
Truthfully,
I triggered an entire subsegment, it went way off the rails bad, I spent a few hours emailing back and forth with cortex and then finally emailed each identified party and apologised, and posted an apology in thread. I tried searching for it, but I could not bring myself back to relive this more than that.
I actually revisited this recently this past weekend. I finally cleaned out a bunch of my mefi mail (you know, because saving IRL events that I don't make it to seems pointless after this many years), and yeah... the whole thing... I went back and read the memail correspondence... it was... a big piece of humble pie.
Just to be clear, I'm still sorry for any inadvertent pain I've ever caused.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:53 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Truthfully,
I triggered an entire subsegment, it went way off the rails bad, I spent a few hours emailing back and forth with cortex and then finally emailed each identified party and apologised, and posted an apology in thread. I tried searching for it, but I could not bring myself back to relive this more than that.
I actually revisited this recently this past weekend. I finally cleaned out a bunch of my mefi mail (you know, because saving IRL events that I don't make it to seems pointless after this many years), and yeah... the whole thing... I went back and read the memail correspondence... it was... a big piece of humble pie.
Just to be clear, I'm still sorry for any inadvertent pain I've ever caused.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:53 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
There's nothing so shameful about a wrong comment on Metafilter that a spell in the French Foreign Legion can't fix as I've learned many times over.
posted by um at 4:52 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by um at 4:52 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
One time in a linguistics thread (NB I am a language teacher with training in second language adquisition) I commented and referenced a study I remembered reading about once, but I was too lazy to get up and walk across the room to look in the book for the exact parameters.
That comment was so wrong, I had to post another one basically correcting every single one of the research parameters, as well as the conclusion of the study.
posted by chainsofreedom at 5:13 PM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
That comment was so wrong, I had to post another one basically correcting every single one of the research parameters, as well as the conclusion of the study.
posted by chainsofreedom at 5:13 PM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Election related. Enough said about that.
And the typos, of course, oh my god, the typos.
posted by she's not there at 5:52 PM on January 30, 2017
And the typos, of course, oh my god, the typos.
posted by she's not there at 5:52 PM on January 30, 2017
To my manager at my first IT-related job when the IBM PC/AT first came out in 1984, about the 20 megabyte hard drive it shipped with: "That's stupid, who needs that much storage?" posted by Greg_Ace.
I recently said the same thing about a laptop with 1T hard drive, flashed back to the Commodore 64 I used when I learned Basic (since unlearned), and added "Oh, nevermind."
posted by she's not there at 5:58 PM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I recently said the same thing about a laptop with 1T hard drive, flashed back to the Commodore 64 I used when I learned Basic (since unlearned), and added "Oh, nevermind."
posted by she's not there at 5:58 PM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
The Capaldi-To-Regenerate-(Spoilers!) thread reminded me of a comment I made at the time of Matt Smith's announcement as the next Doctor Who. Can't find it here via search, so may well have been elsewhere. I observed that Andrew Buchan would have been the much better choice of actor from the "This Life But With Politics Not Lawyers" show Party Animals to play The Doctor. Not to knock the under-exposed Buchan, who I still enjoy watching when he pops up, but the last thing I remember him in was Cranford (2009-ish), despite having definitely watched the first series of Broadchurch (meh!). Not seen him stretched (nor having the chance to stretch). At least he didn't end up acting opposite Clone Tom Cruise, I guess.
posted by comealongpole at 6:00 PM on January 30, 2017
posted by comealongpole at 6:00 PM on January 30, 2017
Must have been elsewhere, d'oh! Didn't materialise here until 2012!
posted by comealongpole at 6:02 PM on January 30, 2017
posted by comealongpole at 6:02 PM on January 30, 2017
Verbatim, my first answer on AskMe:
"I signed up just to answer this question and I don't even have a very good answer. Go figure."
Site standards were a lot looser in 2005.
I'm sorry.
posted by GuyZero at 8:54 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
"I signed up just to answer this question and I don't even have a very good answer. Go figure."
Site standards were a lot looser in 2005.
I'm sorry.
posted by GuyZero at 8:54 PM on January 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
According to a profile search I have said "sorry" 255 times
Wow, at 206 I too am a pretty sorry mefite.
Sorry everyone.
posted by GuyZero at 8:57 PM on January 30, 2017
Wow, at 206 I too am a pretty sorry mefite.
Sorry everyone.
posted by GuyZero at 8:57 PM on January 30, 2017
I know metafilter has made me a much better person in the last 15 years; I'm sure there is lots of mansplaining in my history to be embarrassed about but luckily I can't figure out how to search for that.
she's not there: "I recently said the same thing about a laptop with 1T hard drive"
I remember, on purchase of my first harddrive to exceed the partition limits of Win98's version of FAT32 (about 130GB); "I'll never need more space than this for my personally created data". My "photos taken by me" folder now consumes just a smidge under 750GB and I have essentially no video there and merely a 16 megapixel camera. Now that there is a GoPro in the family I expect to blow through the 1 TB on my machine by the end of summer.
posted by Mitheral at 9:08 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
she's not there: "I recently said the same thing about a laptop with 1T hard drive"
I remember, on purchase of my first harddrive to exceed the partition limits of Win98's version of FAT32 (about 130GB); "I'll never need more space than this for my personally created data". My "photos taken by me" folder now consumes just a smidge under 750GB and I have essentially no video there and merely a 16 megapixel camera. Now that there is a GoPro in the family I expect to blow through the 1 TB on my machine by the end of summer.
posted by Mitheral at 9:08 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I recently said the same thing about a laptop with 1T hard drive
I currently have a 4TB external drive, that I upgraded to from an accumulation of serially-purchased 1- and 2-TB drives with a fair number of duplicate files, that's already over half full of consolidated music, movies, and RAW image files. I'm already wondering how soon I'll have to buy a second one.
I was shopping for a laptop about a year ago, and sneered at anything less than 16GB of included RAM. I'm already wishing I'd sneered at models with "only" 16GB RAM capacity as well, and I don't even play computer games.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:37 PM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I currently have a 4TB external drive, that I upgraded to from an accumulation of serially-purchased 1- and 2-TB drives with a fair number of duplicate files, that's already over half full of consolidated music, movies, and RAW image files. I'm already wondering how soon I'll have to buy a second one.
I was shopping for a laptop about a year ago, and sneered at anything less than 16GB of included RAM. I'm already wishing I'd sneered at models with "only" 16GB RAM capacity as well, and I don't even play computer games.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:37 PM on January 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I joined Metafilter in 2004, and I am now in my thirties. This means there is an extensive written record of all the opinions I held through my late teens and early twenties. So I can't actually identify my most wrong comment, because if I were to start reviewing from the beginning I'm quite sure that before I hit 2006 the embarrassment would cause my skeleton to tear away from my body and run screaming through the streets.
Yeah, really the only good thing is that while I started reading Metafilter in time to catch the 9/11 thread, which would have been when I was a senior in high school (!) (I think I got here through memepool?), I didn't manage to catch an open sign-up window until the 2004 batch of April Fool's n00bs. So that's at least, like, 3 years of thankfully unrecorded internet idiocy. Well, unrecorded except in Livejournal, but while I am afraid to log back in and see what might lurk there, at some point I at least made the entire thing private or friends-only, so thankfully I can just pretend it isn't out there somewhere.
posted by ubersturm at 12:52 AM on January 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Yeah, really the only good thing is that while I started reading Metafilter in time to catch the 9/11 thread, which would have been when I was a senior in high school (!) (I think I got here through memepool?), I didn't manage to catch an open sign-up window until the 2004 batch of April Fool's n00bs. So that's at least, like, 3 years of thankfully unrecorded internet idiocy. Well, unrecorded except in Livejournal, but while I am afraid to log back in and see what might lurk there, at some point I at least made the entire thing private or friends-only, so thankfully I can just pretend it isn't out there somewhere.
posted by ubersturm at 12:52 AM on January 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
I signed up for an account in 2005 after reading about The Green in Cool Tools. I didn't really understand how the site worked beyond a general understanding that you could ask questions about anything in the world, but I had some money in my PayPal account. So $5 later, I had an account. As part of not really understanding the site and not really thinking it through, I just threw my name into the username field when I signed up. And yep, it's still there.
posted by zachlipton at 1:41 AM on January 31, 2017
posted by zachlipton at 1:41 AM on January 31, 2017
I have no idea what my wrongest one is. I'm sure there's something awful out there but I can't even put in the search terms that will lead me there. But I did want to drop this one in here:
Thanks for giving me the opening for the confession I've longed to make here: I look great in a fedora.
posted to MetaTalk by MCMikeNamara at 5:48 PM on December 20, 2012
Obviously, we've got a lot more important battles to fight in the upcoming months, but I'm on languagehat's Team Take Back the Fedora when that gets back on the social agenda.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:23 AM on January 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
Thanks for giving me the opening for the confession I've longed to make here: I look great in a fedora.
posted to MetaTalk by MCMikeNamara at 5:48 PM on December 20, 2012
Obviously, we've got a lot more important battles to fight in the upcoming months, but I'm on languagehat's Team Take Back the Fedora when that gets back on the social agenda.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:23 AM on January 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm not sure why you would ever need to wear a fedora when you already have a top hat.
posted by phunniemee at 7:33 AM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by phunniemee at 7:33 AM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
My "sorry" comments account for approximately 0.007% of my total metafilter output so I'm pretty sure I'm not even secretly sorry.
Can we add a query to get a user's Canadian Coefficient to infodumpster.org?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:12 AM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Can we add a query to get a user's Canadian Coefficient to infodumpster.org?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:12 AM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
In the thread announcing the creation of Ask MeFi, I expressed great skepticism about its utility. I now admit that I was wrong about this, but in my defense, I was not as wrong about the future of Ask MeFi as was the commenter directly below me.
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:39 AM on January 31, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:39 AM on January 31, 2017 [9 favorites]
but in my defense, I was not as wrong about the future of Ask MeFi as was the commenter directly below me.
Yeah, but, I mean, look at the quality of that guy's threads.
posted by bondcliff at 11:17 AM on January 31, 2017
Yeah, but, I mean, look at the quality of that guy's threads.
posted by bondcliff at 11:17 AM on January 31, 2017
Sure, let me relive embarrassing moments, of course my ego is tough enough for that, yah sure.
nope. But thank y'all for offering up moments.
posted by theora55 at 12:17 PM on January 31, 2017
nope. But thank y'all for offering up moments.
posted by theora55 at 12:17 PM on January 31, 2017
I won't link to it but there was one screed I wrote on a sockpuppet account probably a decade ago, about how it's not fair that nobody takes the accomplishments of rich kids seriously because we can't help it that we were born well off.
You guys. You guys. I'm so sorry.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:37 PM on January 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
You guys. You guys. I'm so sorry.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:37 PM on January 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
In Kristen Neff's book on self-compassion (titled something something self-compassion, too tired to look it up) one of the three main ways to access said self-compassion is to remind yourself of common humanity. That is to say, look around and realize that everybody makes mistakes that suck just as bad as yours.
I am not feeling strudy enough to look into my own history right now, but am grateful to read this thread and feel some common humanity.
(Also very sorry because I wrote this all drugged up and will surely be horribly embarrassed by having witten it at all)
posted by moira at 1:06 PM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I am not feeling strudy enough to look into my own history right now, but am grateful to read this thread and feel some common humanity.
(Also very sorry because I wrote this all drugged up and will surely be horribly embarrassed by having witten it at all)
posted by moira at 1:06 PM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I met my partner whilst wearing a fedora (a real one from the 50's, and not a trilby) and I consider myself a feminist and am definitely not a red pill or brown pill or whatever the colour is person. Fedoras are awesome, the kind of people who wear trilbies but think they are fedoras not so much.
posted by deadwax at 1:12 PM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by deadwax at 1:12 PM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
that time i said "this statement is false"
posted by entropicamericana at 2:17 PM on January 31, 2017
posted by entropicamericana at 2:17 PM on January 31, 2017
Going through some of my early comments and posts is a bit of a downer - really wish I could delete the first year of the generally poor quality text I put across MetaFilter, especially some of the ropey posts. Much of which seems to be about Gangnam Style for some reason (checks: it's just passed two and three quarter billion views).
I'm fairly sure (haven't found or got to it yet) I wrote a comment somewhere predicting that cricket would be the dominant or main sport in the USA by the middle of this decade which ... erm ... has passed, so guess I got that one wrong.
posted by Wordshore at 2:18 PM on January 31, 2017
I'm fairly sure (haven't found or got to it yet) I wrote a comment somewhere predicting that cricket would be the dominant or main sport in the USA by the middle of this decade which ... erm ... has passed, so guess I got that one wrong.
posted by Wordshore at 2:18 PM on January 31, 2017
This comment from 2007 in which I praised Bill Cosby.
I was trying to think of what my wrongest comment was, and your comment reminded me of my own. Knowing what we know now, Cosby's portrayal of Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable might not be the best example of a wholesome, respectable ob/gyn.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:48 PM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I was trying to think of what my wrongest comment was, and your comment reminded me of my own. Knowing what we know now, Cosby's portrayal of Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable might not be the best example of a wholesome, respectable ob/gyn.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:48 PM on January 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I made a comment in a Woody Allen thread which I did not fact-check and was immediately humiliated (not by you guys!) when I found out that I had jumped to a wrong conclusion because I needed my very strong emotions about the subject validated. I asked the mods to delete it, which they did, and I left the thread after that, but it has always served as a reminder to me to check everything for source and provenance on the Internet.
Advice which will certainly serve me well at an ever-increasing rate nowadays.
posted by tzikeh at 4:12 PM on January 31, 2017
Advice which will certainly serve me well at an ever-increasing rate nowadays.
posted by tzikeh at 4:12 PM on January 31, 2017
My wrongest moment was the time I thought I'd made a mistake - but it turned out I hadn't.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 4:52 PM on January 31, 2017
posted by HiroProtagonist at 4:52 PM on January 31, 2017
I got bored at work today and spent some time reviewing my entire comment history. Not that it was "wrong" per se, but it's a little embarrassing to realize how many of my early comments were Hitchhiker's Guide quotes or references.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:04 PM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:04 PM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
This comment incorrectly explaining that the bounty hunter sat opposite Han Solo in Mos Eisley Cantina was named Guido. In fairness it's very close to his actual name (Greedo) and I wasn't the first person in the thread to call him that, so I was trying to sort out what in my mind was confusion about which SW character was under discussion because my brain had quietly decided that Guido was close enough to Greedo that surely the comments like "guido?" were coming from a place of confusion, not pointing out the incorrect name.
I hope Navelgazer won't mind me pointing out my favorite one: this exchange here, wherein Navelgazer tried to (erroneously) correct me then graciously apologizes. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes he eats you.
posted by axiom at 8:46 PM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
I hope Navelgazer won't mind me pointing out my favorite one: this exchange here, wherein Navelgazer tried to (erroneously) correct me then graciously apologizes. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes he eats you.
posted by axiom at 8:46 PM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
A comment made about a month after I watched BBC Sherlock for the first time:
I loved the Jeremy Brett version as kid because they were pretty much what I'd pictured in my head as I was reading.
True. Jeremy Brett is Best Holmes. It is known.
I can enjoy BBC Sherlock as long as I forgot it's supposed to be Sherlock Holmes.
Still true. As a Sherlock Holmes adaptation it is pants. Mofftiss will Mofftiss.
Cumberbatch is fine, but I have trouble accepting skinny Mycroft, hot Lestrade, and an Irene Adler who is not from New Jersey.
Oh my god! What is wrong with you, past self!? Lestrade is the greatest! How could you have had trouble accepting him???
When I recently reread Anno Dracula, swapping the furry and twitchy Lestrade in the book for BBC Lestrade made the book 110% better.
posted by betweenthebars at 9:41 PM on January 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
I loved the Jeremy Brett version as kid because they were pretty much what I'd pictured in my head as I was reading.
True. Jeremy Brett is Best Holmes. It is known.
I can enjoy BBC Sherlock as long as I forgot it's supposed to be Sherlock Holmes.
Still true. As a Sherlock Holmes adaptation it is pants. Mofftiss will Mofftiss.
Cumberbatch is fine, but I have trouble accepting skinny Mycroft, hot Lestrade, and an Irene Adler who is not from New Jersey.
Oh my god! What is wrong with you, past self!? Lestrade is the greatest! How could you have had trouble accepting him???
When I recently reread Anno Dracula, swapping the furry and twitchy Lestrade in the book for BBC Lestrade made the book 110% better.
posted by betweenthebars at 9:41 PM on January 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
In the thread announcing the creation of Ask MeFi, I
I was definitely wrong about allowing the 5-minute edit window*. I was pretty sure there'd be enough abuse to cause utter chaos. And in short order.
But so far, it really hasn't been that bad at all.
* there is at least one edit in this comment
posted by philip-random at 12:41 AM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
I was definitely wrong about allowing the 5-minute edit window*. I was pretty sure there'd be enough abuse to cause utter chaos. And in short order.
But so far, it really hasn't been that bad at all.
* there is at least one edit in this comment
posted by philip-random at 12:41 AM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
The one that is in my mind most these days is how I was pretty sure the DOOM remake was going to be bad.
It's an ongoing wrongness in a wolfpupy sense, in that I'm pretty sure it actually is bad, & the vast number of intelligent people whose opinions I respect are actually in this one case deluded. The wind might be changing? I've already seen one person degrade their estimation from, "It's great!", to "It's clean stupid fun," to "It's pretty same-y." Some day I will be seen to have been right all along.
Okay that's more like about being stubborn.
A better answer is the time when I went up for a huge dunk on some article that referenced Huckleberry Finn metaphorically. It claimed Huck and Jim were trying to go upstream to the free states. But they weren't! It was a total misreading of the novel and ruined the entire metaphor!!!! In my comment about it I got Jim's name wrong. Someone corrected me, and I'm still dead with embarrassment from it. On my tombstone it reads, THIS DOESN'T AFFECT THE VALIDITY OF MY OVERALL POINT.
posted by fleacircus at 3:54 AM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's an ongoing wrongness in a wolfpupy sense, in that I'm pretty sure it actually is bad, & the vast number of intelligent people whose opinions I respect are actually in this one case deluded. The wind might be changing? I've already seen one person degrade their estimation from, "It's great!", to "It's clean stupid fun," to "It's pretty same-y." Some day I will be seen to have been right all along.
Okay that's more like about being stubborn.
A better answer is the time when I went up for a huge dunk on some article that referenced Huckleberry Finn metaphorically. It claimed Huck and Jim were trying to go upstream to the free states. But they weren't! It was a total misreading of the novel and ruined the entire metaphor!!!! In my comment about it I got Jim's name wrong. Someone corrected me, and I'm still dead with embarrassment from it. On my tombstone it reads, THIS DOESN'T AFFECT THE VALIDITY OF MY OVERALL POINT.
posted by fleacircus at 3:54 AM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Huck and Jim were trying to go upstream to the free states. But they weren't!
Wait, aren't they? I thought their original plan was to travel down the Mississippi until they reached the Ohio, and then turn upstream there until they reached the state of Ohio. They miss the Ohio River in a heavy fog and have to continue downriver then.
At one point I was confused about why they didn't simply cross over to Illinois, a free state, but a while back I read an annotated version that pointed out, quite sensibly, that while Illinois and Indiana were free states, southern Illinois and Indiana were decidedly unfriendly places for an escaped slave then.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:18 AM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Wait, aren't they? I thought their original plan was to travel down the Mississippi until they reached the Ohio, and then turn upstream there until they reached the state of Ohio. They miss the Ohio River in a heavy fog and have to continue downriver then.
At one point I was confused about why they didn't simply cross over to Illinois, a free state, but a while back I read an annotated version that pointed out, quite sensibly, that while Illinois and Indiana were free states, southern Illinois and Indiana were decidedly unfriendly places for an escaped slave then.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:18 AM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Various drunkposts and drunkcomments. Here's one from aught-nine; I don't think I was actually drunk when I made it (although I was probably quite hungover; I usually was in those days), but it was concerning a dream that I had when I fell asleep while drunk.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:20 AM on February 1, 2017
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:20 AM on February 1, 2017
I called this (excellent, but tame by some of the current megapost standards) post by y2karl the Biggest Post Ever.
A pretty terrible prediction that the iPhone wouldn't be used for business purposes.
A sadly optimistic view of the future of Asheville, North Carolina that has already been proven wrong as it instead continues to become a playground of the rich to the expense of the people.
There are so, so many more. Having been here since 2002 when I was 18, I did a lot of growing up on this site. Even this brief dip into past me was embarrassing.
posted by lazaruslong at 8:47 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
A pretty terrible prediction that the iPhone wouldn't be used for business purposes.
A sadly optimistic view of the future of Asheville, North Carolina that has already been proven wrong as it instead continues to become a playground of the rich to the expense of the people.
There are so, so many more. Having been here since 2002 when I was 18, I did a lot of growing up on this site. Even this brief dip into past me was embarrassing.
posted by lazaruslong at 8:47 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
I once turned down a music group for a recording contract who later turned out to be the Beatles but for the life of me I can't find the comment right now
posted by beerperson at 10:00 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by beerperson at 10:00 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
How about wrongest post? In 2006, I framed a post about Bolivia nationalizing natural gas by using my conservative mother's warped perspective. I even have a reminder in my Metafilter profile to keep me humble:
Result of first FPP?
Your mother? Flagged.
posted by skallas at 11:30 AM PST on May 3
Yes, ten years ago I was already fascinated by the right wing's ridiculous spin on news, and it's continued to this very day. And by this very day, I mean the three emails about Muslims she sent me this morning. Oh god, how much of my life have I poured down the drain trying to fact check that woman?!
posted by redsparkler at 10:51 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Result of first FPP?
Your mother? Flagged.
posted by skallas at 11:30 AM PST on May 3
Yes, ten years ago I was already fascinated by the right wing's ridiculous spin on news, and it's continued to this very day. And by this very day, I mean the three emails about Muslims she sent me this morning. Oh god, how much of my life have I poured down the drain trying to fact check that woman?!
posted by redsparkler at 10:51 AM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
How about wrongest post?
Oh, I nearly forgot, in my 90th birthday/nobit post about Cloris Leachman, I fell for an April Fools joke. 29 days after April Fools day.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:07 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oh, I nearly forgot, in my 90th birthday/nobit post about Cloris Leachman, I fell for an April Fools joke. 29 days after April Fools day.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:07 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
There are a few questionable ones from my oeuvre circa late-2005. I don't regret mentioning Mac Hall in this one about webcomics, but my other suggestions are suspect. Oh well, those gamer comics are what I was into at the time.
Also, this diet advice is nonsense that only worked once in my life when I was much younger and of higher metabolism, apparently. Oh, how I've learned.
posted by limeonaire at 2:10 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also, this diet advice is nonsense that only worked once in my life when I was much younger and of higher metabolism, apparently. Oh, how I've learned.
posted by limeonaire at 2:10 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
It's a little embarrassing to realize how many of my early comments were Hitchhiker's Guide quotes or references.
How many of them were? 42?
posted by ambrosen at 2:14 PM on February 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
How many of them were? 42?
posted by ambrosen at 2:14 PM on February 1, 2017 [5 favorites]
Sadly, a swutting lot more than that. I feel like such a turlingdrome
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:18 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:18 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
(112 comments total)
I'm impressed that so few MeFites have ever been Wrong!. I guess that's why I hang out here. So much perfection.
posted by philip-random at 3:32 PM on February 1, 2017
I'm impressed that so few MeFites have ever been Wrong!. I guess that's why I hang out here. So much perfection.
posted by philip-random at 3:32 PM on February 1, 2017
I thought their original plan was to travel down the Mississippi until they reached the Ohio, and then turn upstream there until they reached the state of Ohio. They miss the Ohio River in a heavy fog and have to continue downriver then.
They'd turn the raft upstream?
No... they were never doing that. Huck and Jim aren't really specifically trying to do crap. They are running away. They are two outcasts literally adrift and rudderless on a big ass river. Talking about their journey as if it was about getting somewhere specific on purpose is uh not well supported by the book in my opinion.
Anyway I reread it ~15 years ago. Maybe I'm wrong—and in the wrongness thread no less, the shame of it all. It seems like it would be a good book for FanFare, you could argue with my ghost about it there.
posted by fleacircus at 4:02 PM on February 1, 2017
They'd turn the raft upstream?
No... they were never doing that. Huck and Jim aren't really specifically trying to do crap. They are running away. They are two outcasts literally adrift and rudderless on a big ass river. Talking about their journey as if it was about getting somewhere specific on purpose is uh not well supported by the book in my opinion.
Anyway I reread it ~15 years ago. Maybe I'm wrong—and in the wrongness thread no less, the shame of it all. It seems like it would be a good book for FanFare, you could argue with my ghost about it there.
posted by fleacircus at 4:02 PM on February 1, 2017
My wrongest comment was quickly deleted and I'm happy that it's not on my permanent record. This one I still have hope for, but Chris is probably not up to it anymore.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:06 PM on February 1, 2017
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:06 PM on February 1, 2017
not on MF but back in like...1986? I emphatically proclaimed that Rap was a flash in the pan. WRONGEST WRONG EVER!!!!
posted by supermedusa at 6:43 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 6:43 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
I once made a comment suggesting that Sally Draper grew up to be Joan Jett. I still have no idea what the hell I was talking about.
posted by 4ster at 7:11 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by 4ster at 7:11 PM on February 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
They'd turn the raft upstream?
No... they were never doing that. Huck and Jim aren't really specifically trying to do crap. They are running away.
You are wrong on that point. Even without a lot of worldly wisdom, they knew enough not to run away, helter-skelter, heading South. They did have a plan:
No... they were never doing that. Huck and Jim aren't really specifically trying to do crap. They are running away.
You are wrong on that point. Even without a lot of worldly wisdom, they knew enough not to run away, helter-skelter, heading South. They did have a plan:
WE judged that three nights more would fetch us to Cairo, at the bottom of Illinois, where the Ohio River comes in, and that was what we was after. We would sell the raft and get on a steamboat and go way up the Ohio amongst the free States, and then be out of trouble.posted by Miko at 8:20 PM on February 1, 2017 [7 favorites]
The dress was blue with black trim.
posted by mon-ma-tron at 9:39 PM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by mon-ma-tron at 9:39 PM on February 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
After a quick crawl through my comment history I can confidently assert that I have never been wrong. This is probably because either a) I got the mods to remove my most egregiously wrong comments or b) I hedge my comments so thoroughly that they will never be right or wrong, just anodyne.
I did think that the new DOOM was going to be terrible, but that’s a minor sin given that they demoed it the multiplayer & it was grim. Still haven’t bought it though - what I’ve seen of the single player just doesn’t really appeal somehow.
posted by pharm at 2:00 AM on February 2, 2017
I did think that the new DOOM was going to be terrible, but that’s a minor sin given that they demoed it the multiplayer & it was grim. Still haven’t bought it though - what I’ve seen of the single player just doesn’t really appeal somehow.
posted by pharm at 2:00 AM on February 2, 2017
I once wholeheartedly endorsed varenicline (Chantix) to help stop smoking. After reports of its psychological side effects came out (and I saw some in person) I felt bad enough to retract my advice in an FPP. On a lighter note I once posted one of my favorite bits of trivia here only to have it shown to be wrong.
posted by TedW at 5:23 AM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 5:23 AM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oh, man, I said so many dickish things in my first full decade here that I seriously considered signing up under a different name when I returned to posting on a regular basis.
And then I figured, naah — just own it. I said those things. It doesn't mean I don't cringe to recall them; as a matter of fact, I really do prefer not to dig too diligently in my posting history. I don't even have a clever screen name to hide behind: those things were said, in public, by me. There they are, in white and blue, scraped and archived for all time. And I kind of like it that way?
If I have any deeper point, it's that individuals and communities demonstrably can and do grow. (The boyzone conversations, for example, were huge for me — I like to think, a turning point in my demeanor more generally.) And sometimes it's not unhelpful to have access to an index of just how far one has come. It's one of the many reasons why I love this place so much.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:33 AM on February 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
And then I figured, naah — just own it. I said those things. It doesn't mean I don't cringe to recall them; as a matter of fact, I really do prefer not to dig too diligently in my posting history. I don't even have a clever screen name to hide behind: those things were said, in public, by me. There they are, in white and blue, scraped and archived for all time. And I kind of like it that way?
If I have any deeper point, it's that individuals and communities demonstrably can and do grow. (The boyzone conversations, for example, were huge for me — I like to think, a turning point in my demeanor more generally.) And sometimes it's not unhelpful to have access to an index of just how far one has come. It's one of the many reasons why I love this place so much.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:33 AM on February 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
Well, so many to choose from. I could nominate as most wrong my many predictions of Hillary being our President, with all my other confident election comments. But also up there is this early comment referring to a "proud tradition" of hating and fearing cats. MetaFIlter has taught me the error of defending any cat criticism.
posted by bearwife at 10:08 AM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bearwife at 10:08 AM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm "in the market for a WoW-ish" game in the sense that I've played WoW for four years. I spend a lot of time playing video games, and they're all mmos. I'm cancelling my WoW subscription and moving over to SWTOR, and most of my friends in game are as well. I think SWTOR is (a) going to be a huge success, and (b) won't go F2P anytime soon.
LOL
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:18 PM on February 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
LOL
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:18 PM on February 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
My wrongest comment was mercifully deleted by a mod. I have been careful not to be so damn wrong since then.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:36 PM on February 2, 2017
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:36 PM on February 2, 2017
That was back when you were just "a nudibranch", right?
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:52 AM on February 3, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:52 AM on February 3, 2017 [8 favorites]
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posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:54 PM on January 29, 2017 [9 favorites]