BEST THREAD ON ILX: Part TWO - The Poll

x-post Yeah I voted for the Jam thread. I would like Paul Weller to read it.

i need to read the jam thread. never been aware of it until now.

actually, there's a few of these i'm totally unaware of. jesus. what delights await me?

you can thank me with your votes

you know, you're kinda convincing me, and i might use my OTHER LOGIN to do just that. couch thread, though ... i nearly broke my laptop laughing. (i'm a very puerile man.)

DOES ANYONE BELIEVE THE COUCH STORY TO BE REAL THO?

There are some elements which give me pause.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/2/Posters/PO7017~I-Believe-Posters.jpg

who cares?

Hey Louis, the Bobby Gillespie Bullshit Game thread was nominated twice, butins't in the poll! it has hilarious impressions of Germans in it!

I haven't read most of these, but I can't believe they'd be as genius as "so not going to happen".... oh man, "in ever old movie" ever, I've been searching everywhere for that thread!!!!

Sorry, that was garbled, but you get the idea...

I CARE WHY BECAUSE IT LOOK INTERSTING

i have never doubted the couch

my favorites are so not gonna happen snorg girl and incredibly stupid step father but so not gonna happen wins and we really need a 1-10 type of weighted voting thingy for this - also ilnfl is generally ingenious and i would probably just vote for that bord altogether

for me, oink invites and uppers tie for second

Two threads I forgot to nominate which really should be on that list.

Taking sides:Madonna or Janet Jackson

Jay-Z /Nas hip-hop throw down? and other throw downs

Madonna/Jackson is actually up there on the ballot.

http://delivery.viewimages.com/xv/1512766.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19396908EAF14430D35200AB6A329EEE5A2201FA7A1454429C8

can you make us a 1-10 weighted voting type of poll plz

Madonna/Jackson is actually up there on the ballot, oh yes, I missed it. Now that makes my voting decision all the harder.

You really DID leave out "aw".

BOYCOTTING POLL

aw is shit

So you did a prejudging session?

i kinda like it really

<3

There's something kind of depressing about this thread, like watching a slide-show of my summer vacation.

i think i'm the only person in the world who finds neither the couch thread nor the "so not gonna happen" thread funny

so not gonna happen = 2 crepey altho gr80 sold it really well

ohhh shit another good one was mandee's 'guys in my area' thread

I don't really get so not gonna happen.

i just feel bad for the ppl in the so not gonna happen picture.

maybe this is a "it's funny if you identify with any of these characters" thing

I don't get this poll.

for me it was fun getting so into the minutiae of the room, analyzing everything etc. then while looking st on a microscopic level everything was revealed and it became just cosmic. the transition was so shocking i actually gasped when i saw the second photo. plus cyber-stalking is just kinda nerd thrillz.

Yeah, no one said it was "funny."

aw

<3

well it is kinda funny - wayne and all - but thats only part of it see.

I blogged about it:

There's something utterly fascinating about this ILX thread, which began with Emily posting a photo of three people sitting on a bed -- but with no information about it apart from her own caption "so not gonna happen." From then on, everyone almost instantly began dissecting it, and for hundreds of posts.

The ways in which people analyzed the photo differed, however. On one hand, you had those interested mostly in socio-psychological analysis based on the available clues in the photo: for instance, what are the motivations of the dude in the photo (quickly nicknamed "Wayne")? What does his dress and body language tell us about his goals in the scenario? Why are these girls hanging out with him? Etc. And then you had those of us who sought to expand upon that by gathering as much detailed, actual information as we could about the photo subjects and their environment. The fact that Wayne's Hooters t-shirt reads "King of Prussia, PA" at the bottom (look closely) is irrelevant to determining what sort of relationship he has with the sorority gals on the bed, but inasmuch as it broadens our knowledge base, the discovery of this detail is rather exciting.

When Emily revealed the source of the photo -- a photo gallery on the website of a young soldier deployed in Iraq -- some complained that this took the fun out of the game. But for the more investigative-minded posters, it only gave us more to work with. Full names led us to Myspace profiles, which enlarged the social circle beyond the partygoers pictured in the gallery. The comments there were revealing: a reference to "that shadeball Tommy Loftus" suggested Wayne's entire real name (we already knew the surname from the URL on some of the jpegs). And yet by the time I had worked out that Ashlee and Danielle and Jenna, who went to a different high school than most of the gang, must have met them at Delaware County Community College, I had to stop and ask myself what was really the point of all my amateur sleuthing.

Longtime readers of this blog might note shades of the Maya Keyes fiasco, at least in the initiative I took toward investigating and putting together a puzzle based on clues dropped around the Internet. (My friend Robyn joked that I should find some way to turn my obvious skill and talent in this area into a career -- like what, a private eye?) But in this case, there was no sense that I was on the front line of uncovering a political scandal; in fact, at one point, I remarked that the very banality of these kids' lives held a certain appeal to me. The pleasure, therefore, was related more to the thrill of fiction, at having a narrative unspool before you, a whole world opening up full of new people and places, all somehow connected. One of the things I like about an epic novel like DeLillo's Underworld is how you're introduced to a minor character like Eric Deming in the context of being a colleague of Nick Shay's, and then a couple hundred pages later you're treated to a prolonged account of his childhood. (You find the same thing in the improv-comedy form known as the Harold.) In this sense, the delight I took in tracing Andy's love of Pantera and friendship with a sandwich-maker named Glen (for instance) was like a great subplot spinning off from the main storyline, with boundless possibilities.

god you guys are kind of creeps

Love you, too, the schef (adam schefter ha ha).

There's something utterly fascinating about this ILX thread, which began with Emily posting a smiley of less than three resembling a heart -- but with no information about it apart from her own caption "aw" From then on, everyone almost instantly began reposting it, and for hundreds of posts.

The ways in which people analyzed the smiley differed, however. On one hand, you had those interested mostly in socio-psychological analysis based on the available clues in the thread: for instance, what are the motivations of the <3 in the photo (quickly nicknamed "less than 3")? What does the way the emoticon is repeated tell us about its goals in the scenario? Why is the title "aw"? Etc. And then you had those of us who sought to expand upon that by gathering as much detailed, actual information as we could about <3s and their environment. The fact that AaronHz's pm reads "Aw, aaron, we're not creepy <3" at the bottom (look closely) is irrelevant to determining what sort of relationship he has with the emoticons on the thread, but inasmuch as it broadens our knowledge base, the discovery of this detail is rather exciting.

When Emily revealed the source of the emoticon -- a conversation on the a chatroom of a young ilx0r deployed in london -- some complained that this took the fun out of the game. But for the more investigative-minded posters, it only gave us more to work with. Full names led us to facebook profiles, which enlarged the social circle beyond the partygoers pictured in 1P3. The comments there were revealing: a reference to "aw" suggested ken c's entire real name (we already knew the surname from the URL on some of the jpegs). And yet by the time I had worked out that Aaron and Jonathan and Ian, who went to a special needs school like most of the gang, must have met them at DT community college, I had to stop and ask myself what was really the point of all my amateur sleuthing.

Longtime readers of this blog might note shades of the Maya Keyes fiasco, at least in the initiative I took toward investigating and putting together a puzzle based on clues dropped around the Internet. (My friend Robyn joked that I should find some way to turn my obvious skill and talent in this area into a career -- like what, a private eye?) But in this case, there was no sense that I was on the front line of uncovering a political scandal; in fact, at one point, I remarked that the very banality of these kids' lives held a certain appeal to me. The pleasure, therefore, was related more to the thrill of fiction, at having a narrative unspool before you, a whole world opening up full of new people and places, all somehow connected. One of the things I like about an epic novel like DeLillo's Underworld is how you're introduced to a minor character like Eric Deming in the context of being a colleague of Nick Shay's, and then a couple hundred pages later you're treated to a prolonged account of his childhood. (You find the same thing in the improv-comedy form known as the Harold.) In this sense, the delight I took in tracing Andy's love of Pantera and friendship with a sandwich-maker named Glen (for instance) was like a great subplot spinning off from the main storyline, with boundless possibilities.

haha

ken is stuck at o'hare.

the kind of creeps thing is also part of what made it good too

Longtime readers of this blog might note shades of the Maya Keyes fiasco, at least in the initiative I took toward investigating and putting together a puzzle based on clues dropped around the Internet.

wait did you break the 'alan keyes has a gay anarchist daughter' story

he broke alan keyes has a gay anarchist daughter if you know what i mean

I didn't break it, but I contributed to its development.

It's not exactly a thread but I think honorable mention needs to go to the Jess/Ethan/Ronan Star Trek TNG AIM chat.

"make it beige"

Having read the So Not Gonna Happen thread now, I don't really get it or the couch thread either. The couch thread was funny at the time but people endlessly referencing it kinda made it the Star Wars Kid of threads.

lol sex