Linking a temporary absence

July 13, 2003 5:00 AM

Linking the temporary absence of a site is silly.
posted by Pretty_Generic to Etiquette/Policy at 5:00 AM (56 comments total)

It was an interesting post. Having the first link be the non-functional one and leaving the google cache at the bottom was probably not the best way to form it. But re-arranging the link order would have made it a decent post, at least for the politicsfilter variety.
posted by Space Coyote at 5:29 AM on July 13, 2003

What is silly to you is webArt for others.
posted by mischief at 5:43 AM on July 13, 2003

If the site reappears, the FPP should go. Otherwise, it is certainly something very interesting [not] on the web.

Metafilter has been the way that a lot of people learned about PNAC and this self-damning site. Let us mourn its fall down the memory hole.

Massive political scandal: it bigger than Horstine!
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:16 AM on July 13, 2003

I'm waiting to see if it comes back with things missing.
posted by mcsweetie at 8:25 AM on July 13, 2003

what mischief said. the dead link can say a lot. the misdirected or mislabelled link can speak volumes. of course, if one is a thoughtless lump blindly clicking in search of feeble entertainment, one will fail to discern such things and only be confused. in that case, i recommend sticking to television.
posted by quonsar at 9:14 AM on July 13, 2003

Bigger than Hornstine?!? I didn't think that was possible.
posted by timeistight at 9:23 AM on July 13, 2003

quonsar: What about sticking to your remote control?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 9:26 AM on July 13, 2003

Quonsar- this thoughtless lump takes offense. Now, entertain me.
posted by oflinkey at 11:38 AM on July 13, 2003

I dunno, it gave me a litle fun ... (",)
posted by dash_slot- at 11:44 AM on July 13, 2003

Um... the site's there now, and it was there when I posted this. They just had a server problem. Or am I missing something?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:48 AM on July 13, 2003

Still missing for me - have you refreshed, maybe *cough* it's in your cache...
posted by dash_slot- at 11:52 AM on July 13, 2003

It's not there for me, but I am a windbag.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 12:07 PM on July 13, 2003

Oh, I see. It's only sending out the homepage.

That's odd.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:11 PM on July 13, 2003

Aye.
posted by The God Complex at 1:10 PM on July 13, 2003

Oh, I see. It's only sending out the homepage.
ROFL!
posted by quonsar at 2:47 PM on July 13, 2003

Could Matt delete this thread? I may one day have a career in something.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 3:37 PM on July 13, 2003

Too late now, PG; you already stepped in it. ;-P
posted by mischief at 6:46 PM on July 13, 2003

Oh, I see. It's only sending out the homepage.

Still sends nothing to me.

Quonsar- this thoughtless lump takes offense. Now, entertain me.

Since when does quonsar do anything else? But maybe it could be taken further... qTV....
posted by namespan at 7:02 PM on July 13, 2003

qTV....
posted by homunculus at 7:15 PM on July 13, 2003

welcome to the hotel q. you can check out anytime you like. but you can never leave.
posted by quonsar at 8:10 PM on July 13, 2003

So Project for a New American Century is back online now.

No conspiracy, no revisionist historians at work. Nothing for the tin foil brigade to worry their heads about.

Can that FPP, with all of it looniness, be deleted now?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 7:34 AM on July 14, 2003

FWIW (which is obviously nothing) the workd "conspiracy" was first used in that thread by davidsmc, and I (windbag as I may be) was the first to mention that it could just be an accidental outage.

But its way more fun to talk shit than to have something to back it up, now isn't it?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:03 AM on July 14, 2003

{sad}
posted by Witty at 8:12 AM on July 14, 2003

I wonder if streamers and balloons fell from the ceiling after Witty was finally able to drop this one.
posted by mcsweetie at 8:18 AM on July 14, 2003

Now that that's been settled, IJR can safely shove this thread up his elitist ass.

It is never safe to shove something up one's elitist asshole, which is why I keep a spare low-brow asshole around. It is a little broader, slightly more seasoned, and it self-lubricates every time that witty walks into the room.

Total e-mail count from people who, in ripping on me, are really trying to affirm the standards of their community: 0.

If you want to be a prick to someone, pick someone who will get upset about it. It's more fun that way. There are a lot of them here.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:35 AM on July 14, 2003

But its way more fun to talk shit than to have something to back it up, now isn't it?

You would know better than me.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 8:36 AM on July 14, 2003

i recommend sticking to television

I tried, but there was nothing on.
posted by walrus at 8:39 AM on July 14, 2003

Look, one can find more than one example of someone calling me out on MeTa, and my responding positively. I am not the elitist that Witty sees me as (I am literally eating a Pop Tart right now), and I appreciate criticism. If the_fire_you_left_me had an email address, he would have received a prompt response to the effect that I agree that I had posted too often in that thread. And as hyperbole and a little trash-talking seem to be normal MeFi components, it didn't seem like that unreasonable a call out.

But I'm not the type to be really rankled by basic insults or "I know you are but what am I"-speak, though that was quite clever, Steve.

I like MeFi a lot, and I in no way consider myself above the community's guidelines or standards. I like criticism. It makes things better. Maybe if some of you were more given to engaging those with whom you have issues instead of just flinging unproductive poo, you wouldn't feel like you were shut out by this evil leftist MeFi monolith.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:44 AM on July 14, 2003

I'm having trouble figuring this one out. Some kind of political website was unreachable for the weekend. Now it's back. Why have these events caused such rancor here?
posted by timeistight at 8:53 AM on July 14, 2003

Because I think I'm better than everyone else. Don't you pay attention?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:55 AM on July 14, 2003

That's odd. I am better than everyone else and nobody yells at me.
posted by timeistight at 9:02 AM on July 14, 2003

IJR, I was just responding to your consistent snide and sarcastic remarks you make whenever you address me in any given thread. So I stand by my "shove it" comment. I'll take back "elitist" part and switch it for toolbag... how's that?

That thread was absurd. You lefties (or whatever the hell you prefer) can always find justification for posting that kind of crap (guidlines and common sense be damned). It's our "job, the rest of us, to call you on it once in a while. That thread was one of the worst... a dead link spun into some kind of coincidental conspiracy bullshit, that proved to be false. Pathetic.
posted by Witty at 10:13 AM on July 14, 2003

I have been wondering when they were going to do this. This is some major shit

Are you dense or just obnoxious?

Freaked out neoconservatives?
Bring 'em on.

Glad you've acknowledged your admiration of power and support for Machiavellian big government.

How does it feel to see your beloved warmongers get exposed for what they are?

There is enough seriously dopey bravado & naivete going on in that thread to embarass anyone from any political stripe. Not exactly the apotheosis of rational behavior, even by Metafilter standards.
posted by dhoyt at 10:28 AM on July 14, 2003

/does not exclude self from acting irrationally sometimes
posted by dhoyt at 10:28 AM on July 14, 2003

"...I am not the elitist that Witty sees me as (I am literally eating a Pop Tart right now)"

I guess that would make me the elitist, as I am figuratively eating a Pop-Tart right now.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:36 AM on July 14, 2003

Witty-

You can stand by you "shove it" comment all you want. I can be both an elitist and a toolbag, can't I?

And you didn't call me on anything. You just insulted me, which is absolutely fine, but let's call a spade a spade. the_fire_you_left_me "called me" on something (and shock! I have responded to that reasonably); you just acted like a vindicated WWF viewer by telling me to "stick it."

Big Picture:
PNAC site went down, and no one here claimed to know it was for good. A conversation about the import of that event ensued. Instead of addressing your issues with the thread (which shouldn't have been hard; the fucking site is back up; obviously everyone was premature in that thread, and it's not hard to rip on people who are wrong) you instead called me an "elitist" and asked me to shove the thread up my ass.

If I have been condescending to you in the past, I apologize. I think that the general mood of terseness and snarkitude can make it easy and tempting to do so, and despite my transgressions I recongnize that it is a counterproductive trap.

Again, I am in no way offended or upset by your childish sphincter-focused ad hominem attack, but I am amused by your attempt to portray it as some sort of attempt to make us all listen to reason. I still have received no emails nor read anything remotely constructive in these comments. If you are really just trying to self-police and preserve MeFi's standards, you could act like it.

You think I'm an elitist, and I think you're a rube. If anything, those views complement one another nicely. See ya around.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 11:14 AM on July 14, 2003

And you didn't call me on anything.

You're right... I didn't call you on anything. I didn't need to be specific to any one person. I called the thread out (if that's possible).

...you just acted like a vindicated WWF viewer by telling me to "stick it."

Whatever that means.

PNAC site went down, and no one here claimed to know it was for good.

Doesn't matter. The fact that an FPP was made based on 404 error (or whatever it was) is ridiculous. That's the point. The fact that a conspiracy was manufactured based on Apache being locked up is just silly... you know maybe there was a syntax error in DocumentRoot and no one was there to catch it over the weekend. Who knows. Claiming that 'good conversation' came out it anyway (a matter of opinion) doesn't justify making the post in the first place.

Instead of addressing your issues with the thread...

I don't know what you're talking about.. I DID take issue with the thread. Then after your repsonse to me, with the "genius" comment and all, and the fact that the thread turned out to be laughable, I took issue with you... something I might not have done had your conspiracy proved otherwise.

...but I am amused by your attempt to portray it as some sort of attempt to make us all listen to reason.

A perfect example of the attitude I'm talking about.
posted by Witty at 12:39 PM on July 14, 2003

And the holy warriors keep up their quest.

(psst.. don't mention the war)
posted by Space Coyote at 12:44 PM on July 14, 2003

[Fawlty] I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it [/Fawlty]
posted by jonson at 12:48 PM on July 14, 2003

You know, you can still email me, Witty. But I doubt you will.

Clearly, one may hate whoever he wishes to hate, hence our increasingly futile verbal vollies. I'm sorry that you have been so wronged, both by the thread and by my insensitivity.

One more thing: No matter how many times you use the word "conspiracy," it doesn't change the fact that it is your word. It is easier to disparage someone as a conspiracy theorist if it is true, like maybe if they actually allege the existence of, um, conspiracies.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 2:11 PM on July 14, 2003

Not that it's any consolation, but lately whenever I feel locked in a seemingly endless soul-draining, transparently-partisan-but-pretending-not-to-be stalemate of an online discussion about politics, I take a deep breath, read this article, stare deeply into this photo....and....just....meditate....
posted by dhoyt at 3:33 PM on July 14, 2003

Nice one dhoyt. I'll try to remember that.

(psst.. don't mention the war)
posted by Space Coyote at 12:44 PM PST on July 14

[Fawlty] I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it [/Fawlty]
posted by jonson at 12:48 PM PST on July 14
You guys are fast!
posted by dash_slot- at 3:53 PM on July 14, 2003

Clearly, one may hate whoever he wishes to hate, hence our increasingly futile verbal vollies. I'm sorry that you have been so wronged, both by the thread and by my insensitivity.

1. I don't hate you. I don't know you. Don't care about you enough to decide whether I like you or not.

2. I also don't feel wronged by anything. Stop inventing stuff about me to further your "point". It's just more of your sarcastic blather.

You know, you can still email me, Witty. But I doubt you will.

Correct. I won't. I don't see why I need to. Feel free to defend the post... and I will continue to argue that the post is/was lame. That's why we're here. But whatever. Thanks for the inspiration dhoyt. :)
posted by Witty at 4:56 PM on July 14, 2003

whats this about not mentioning the war? there was this stupid FPP earlier about Bush.. and press photos.. I made a few remarks. I went back to see if my trolling had any success and the FPP was gone. what gives? was it deleted? *cry*

posted by shadow45 at 8:58 PM on July 14, 2003

As of 9:09 PM PST on July 14, the PNAC site is still down.

Also, the top sponsored link on a Google search for PNAC yields an advert for price quotes on new Buicks.

I miss Berk Breathed.
posted by namespan at 9:14 PM on July 14, 2003

Heheh, I love watching the righties get all upset when the lefties do something to agitate them. Pavlov, anyone? ;-P
posted by mischief at 9:38 PM on July 14, 2003

The site has been up all day namespan.
posted by Witty at 10:48 PM on July 14, 2003

Tell you what: I'll retract the word "still" from my statement if you'll replace "all" with "most of" (at 9:09 PST connection attempts on my part involving a Gecko-based browser and 'telnet www.newamericancentury.org 80' yielded only timeouts)....

See? We *can* get along!
posted by namespan at 11:39 PM on July 14, 2003

I am figuratively eating a Pop-Tart right now.

i am having a filipino maid eat the pop tart for me.
posted by quonsar at 9:18 AM on July 15, 2003

why does that post threaten witty so? if that mefi post upsets witty so much, i don't wanna be anywhere around him the day the headlines scream "bush tarred, feathered; cheney rides rail."
posted by quonsar at 9:23 AM on July 15, 2003

why does that post threaten witty so?

He's just doing his job, see:

You lefties (or whatever the hell you prefer) can always find justification for posting that kind of crap (guidlines and common sense be damned). It's our "job, the rest of us, to call you on it once in a while.

I am endlessly amused by the fact that many on MeFi can continue to give unquestioned support to a war of conquest, in the face of countless emerging pieces of evidence to suggest that the nation was defrauded into supporting it. The cherry-on-top is that they do so as part of a campaign against groupthink.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 9:42 AM on July 15, 2003

Last year, when mathowie removed a paranoid post about the (ultimately temporary) absence of Textism, he wrote:

I think you guys are right, it was a non-event and I've removed numerous "is blogger down?" posts before, so this one is gone as well.

How is this any different?
posted by timeistight at 9:49 AM on July 15, 2003

You jackoffs like to THINK it upsets me so much... and please, IJR stop whining. Your whiney "comment" from last night was removed I see. Let it go.

How is this any different?

It's not.

Peace out! \m/
posted by Witty at 10:20 AM on July 15, 2003

How pleasing that your definition of "whiny" is as rigid as your definition of "elitist."
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 10:25 AM on July 15, 2003

"I'll give you the last word Mr. Reilly... GO!"
posted by Witty at 10:46 AM on July 15, 2003

Pancakes are a product of an international conspiracy. I'm sure we can agree on that one.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 11:58 AM on July 15, 2003