MetaFilter

What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.

(Gone fishin' until war ends.) And y6 is right. Nevermind. But y6 is still right.

What's the deal with your nickname?

I get that every time I introduce myself to someone. And while I used to use the monosyllabic, somewhat-memorable Slade as an Internet moniker, it just seems so unoriginal.

Yelling @ Nothing (it looks much better with "@" than with "At," but I didn't realize I could use "@" when I registered. Sigh.) has its origins in my middle teenage years. I was one of those "engaged" high schoolers who followed politics. Once, when I went off on a particularly strange tangent, one of my cohorts stopped me. "Slade," he said, "you aren't even yelling about anything anymore." That eventually evolved into Yelling At Nothing. I started using the @ when I took the name online, since using random characters instead of words m4k3s j00z ub3r l33t.

(Ironically, my email has changed and jaded.politicals no longer operates under the title. So MeFi is really the only place Yelling @ Nothing still pulls any weight.)

Quick Reference Issues (with a nod to Ufez)
Abortion: Legal. Period.
Cell Phones: Really, I don't care. I find people's inane babble easy enough to tune out.
Drugs: Legalize, nationalize, regulate, tax.
Gay Rights: Is it even still an issue?
Gun Control: Make training/license mandatory. Like driving.
Israel/Palestine: There is no solution. Leave them alone.
Osama Bin Laden: Ideally, should be brought to trial in an international court. But I doubt we'll ever hear of him again.
Prostitution: Legalize, privatize, regulate, tax.
Rest of the Middle East: Leave them alone.
RIAA: Corrupt, monopolistic, stupid.
Saddam Hussein: Leaving him in power better than military invasion.
SUVs: Tax, tax, tax. Unless they're made more fuel efficient.
Video Game Violence: Not going to make me kill anyone.
War on Drugs: Legalize, nationalize, regulate, tax.
War on Terrorism: Creating more terrorists.

Since no one else ever seems to do it, I thought I'd devote some time to explaining all the MeFi inside jokes/phrases. Those that I'm in on, anyway.

Pancakes. Originally coined by aaron. A call for "pancakes" originally denoted a linkless thread, but has since evolved into an expression for any content-free thread. First known use.

Let me get this straight: this (X), it vibrates? Reference to the Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 Broom. Witches put a stick between their legs, and the stick vibrates. See, now you get it. Joined the inside joke ranks after being posted a gajillion times or so. First use.

I, for one, welcome our new (X) overlords. Reference to a Simpsons episode in which Springfield fell under "attack" by giant ants. "I, for one, want to be the first to welcome our new giant-insect overlods," went the original Kent Brockman quote. The post that started it all.

Billy Maulana! A somewhat obscure self-link reference. Billy Maulana (aka lostbyanecho) snuck seven self-links to pieces written for Sound the Sirens into Metafilter. The subsequent MetaTalk thread was a little, erm, strange, and turned into a strange form of Google-assisted mob justice. Observe!

WTFM, W.T.F.M., WTFM? (and similar.) Shorthand for

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
MATT?

Usually a request for deletion, or for a call-out by mathowie himself. First use here, discussed in detail here.

...and a pony. An old favorite. Accompanies a feature request; i.e., "Matt, how about you [spend a lot of time coding yet another feature for free]? Oh, and a pony." Also, "There must be a pony in here somewhere..." although this is more infrequent. The first use is more or less unknown, probably buried in the blue archives where no search can find it. You're welcome to try.

The Metafilter Cabal came into being in the early days of MeTa; they-*crackle* *zzzt* *beep* < robot voice>there is no cabal... there is no cabal... there is no cabal...< /robot>

Another listing can be found on adrianhon's MeFi Wiki.