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.

SLoG. Not a great name, actually. The word slog conjures up tedium, bogs, slugs, and the sound of gulping frogs. I should have gone with another secret life of... but for some weird reason gravy popped into my head the day I signed up. Why gravy? God only knows. I suppose I could change it to The Secret Life of Taters but then I would lose all of my history. For better or worse, I will always be SLoG. Drink!

I view Metafilter as The Big Show, and AskMeFilter as the local library where you are supposed to be quiet and respectful and the librarians do their best to help you out.

Metatalk, on the other hand, is the Townhall meeting.

It is attended only by the old farts and people with a real concern for how their community is run. Sometimes it is tedious and trivial. Sometimes it is momentous. Sometimes it is short and sweet-- a meeting about a very specific nuts and bolts problem. Every once in awhile it turns into a social occasion. Sometimes the topic is the sewer system. Sometimes the topic is an annoying neighbor. Sometimes the mayor is petitioned for changes. Very often it is a waste of time, but sometimes it turns into a rumble and the cops have to be called in. It is almost always an ongoing soap opera and a fascinating display of human interaction.