http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=981179


in reply to Proposal: Have Image Macros

I think you are missing the original point of advice dog, which was to give horrible, retarded, or even downright malicious advice (like so). Also, as someone who has spent the bestworst years of his life in the unspeakable horror that is the origin of advice dog, and 90% of all memes in general (yes, I'm talking about that place which lovingly refers to itself as "The Asshole of the Internets"), I don't particularly want PM to start trying to imitate it and failing horribly.

Having said that, I suppose I would be a little more open to it if instead of trying to use established advice animals and doing it wrong, the available macros were limited to OC with a Perlish (or PM) flavor. Maybe something that pokes fun at the subtle, nuanced ways in which even our most esteemed users act like flaming asshats (Self-Righteous Saint? Douchebag Deacon?), or makes very generalizing stereotypes about the different types of users (Indians making posts with horrible markup/grammar, 16-year-olds trying to hide the fact that they are obviously asking for help on their homework). Naturally, we would use original images, perhaps even images of our own monks. But there's a big problem with this: image macros require a casual, easy-going attitude to avoid getting butthurt, and I'm not sure if everyone in our community is ready for this. Yesterday a certain Apostle (who shall remain nameless) chastised me for linking to LMGTFY (not only that, but I also obfuscated my link--the horror!). I think if image macros were to be implemented properly--that is, as a tool for users to be snarky and provocative--then they would anger a number of people in the PM aristocracy. And if they were used improperly--as a way to make lame jokes or condense any random thought into two lines--it would anger me. And probably the aristocracy as well.

I was thinking maybe we could limit macros to something you could only post as a (new) poetry node, or even have a separate section for macros that can be discussed and voted on, but there are already so many sites like that. If we really wanted to degenerate ourselves to the level of 26-year-old virgin basement-dwellers, we could go and form a clench there. The Monastery is not the most sanitary place on the Internets, but at least it doesn't have AIDS or cancer, and we shouldn't take the risk of doing anything that can introduce it within our walls.

TL;DR- do it right, do it with original memes, do it somewhere else.

edit: I just couldn't resist


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Happy, sober, smart: pick two.

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Re^2: Proposal: Have Image Macros
by jdporter (Paladin) on Jul 11, 2012 at 16:28 UTC
    I suppose I would be a little more open to it if ... the available macros were limited to OC with a Perlish (or PM) flavor ...

    Exactly! I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed that people picked up my entirely arbitrarily selected example of advice dog and focused their objections on that, as if it were the intent of the proposed feature.

    Use your imaginations, people. Heck, we could have an image of Larry, or Damian. And text doesn't have to be advice. Most of the time, I'd expect it to be some humorous quip.

[reply]

      Well, the problem with memes is that is lets people pretend that they are "creative" even if they don't have an imagination


      $,=qq.\n.;print q.\/\/____\/.,q./\ \ / / \\.,q.    /_/__.,q..
      Happy, sober, smart: pick two.
[reply]
[d/l]

        Yeah. By that token, we should also forbid people from posting text.


        ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.

        See what I did there?

[reply]

      It was your idea and your own example was lame. Blame everybody else.

      Imagine that in helvetica around a pop-culture reference if you prefer.

      If the instigator can't even come up with one really good use-case, then that's a pretty bad sign, in my experience.

      - tye        

[reply]

        Does the guy who invented paint have to be the greatest painter ever? Or even a decent painter?

        (The question is rhetorical. The answer, obviously, is no.)

[reply]
      It seems you underestimated the push back you would receive and worse, actually contributed to it by invoking an example worthy of an H.P. Lovecraft story, resulting in Monks imagining the nightmare this could turn into instead of how great it could be. You fumbled your sales pitch. End of story. If you want to save your idea, put some time into creating the image macros you want to see. Give everyone some great examples.

      Elda Taluta; Sarks Sark; Ark Arks
      My deviantART gallery
[reply]

        Good point. My expectation -- perhaps vastly overoptimistic -- was that other monks would see the potential for (good) fun in such a feature, and would, once the infrastructure was in place, suggest good images to use. I thought we could have some collaborative creativity on this thing. If in fact that is not the case, then I have to accept that the idea is DOA. I hope, after all that, that people will still give me credit for trying to come up with some new ways to liven up the place again.

        I reckon we are the only monastery ever to have a dungeon stuffed with 16,000 zombies.
[reply]

      I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed that people picked up my entirely arbitrarily selected example of advice dog and focused their objections on that, as if it were the intent of the proposed feature.

      If I only image macros worked already  [macro://asshole troll|what?]

[reply]
[d/l]

        Except that Anonymous Monks would not be able to use them, of course.

[reply]

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