Real Life

July 18, 2012 5:45 PM

What "Real Life" Means On Wikipedia.
posted by homunculus (21 comments total)

Is that that thing that happens "outside?"
posted by louche mustachio at 5:49 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

.....or is it fantasy?
posted by schmod at 5:51 PM on July 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

Caught in an edit war.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 5:54 PM on July 18, 2012 [6 favorites]

I am kind of appalled that Llywrch asserted in that first draft that the Shatner bit on SNL was the source of the phrase "get a life". Like, I am as angry about that as it's possible to be about a mistaken Wikipedia factoid about which I am not actually angry.

I mean, everybody knows it was coined by Chris Elliott. C'mon.
posted by cortex at 5:55 PM on July 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

no escape from wikiality
posted by mwhybark at 5:58 PM on July 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

What "Real Life" Means On Wikipedia.

And on MetaFilter.

So much new information! And unlike the rest of the page, so specific. Burrow into the internet a bit more, and this "meat space" addition can be attributed to a 2005 March 2 MetaFilter (or MeFi) thread. MeFi—founded in 1999—precedes Wiki by three years. Often, Metafilter threads read like a “View History” page on Wikipedia, but with more narrative and less back-tracking.

posted by zamboni at 5:59 PM on July 18, 2012

And, oh my god. The wikipedia pages for 'Real life,' the 'Real world,' and 'Reality' are chock to the brim of circular references and tautologies.
posted by schmod at 6:09 PM on July 18, 2012

If I never hear or read the phrase "meat space" again, I won't complain.
posted by JLovebomb at 6:12 PM on July 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

open your retina displays...
posted by argonauta at 6:33 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Awesome. Thanks for posting this. And I can't help myself from linking to one of my favorite satirsts, H.C.:
The Meatspace Hearld Tribune.
Whathefukipedia 2029
(NSFW)
posted by Golden Eternity at 6:46 PM on July 18, 2012

Disambiguation.
posted by gimonca at 6:55 PM on July 18, 2012

Look up from the skype, and seeeeeee..........
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:07 PM on July 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

MeFi—founded in 1999—precedes Wiki by three years.

Two responses to that. 1) :o

and 2) in Wikipedia, "newness" redirects to "novelty" even though I'd think there's all sorts of philosophical difference between the two concepts, which I'd love to read about if someone would wiki it for me.*

*In real life, unlike on the Internet, people do not generally accede to outlandish/lazy requests; hence the Internet is different from and better than real life. ^{[citation not provided, deal with it]}
posted by psoas at 8:29 PM on July 18, 2012

“It is often said that a disproportionate obsession with purely academic or abstract matter indicates a retreat from the problems of real life. However, most of the people engaged in such matters say that this attitude is based on three things: ignorance, stupidity, and nothing else. Philosophers, for example, argue that they are very much concerned with the problems posed by real life. Like, for instance, 'what do we mean by real?', and 'how can we reach an empirical definition of life?', and so on. " - the guide
posted by rebent at 9:14 PM on July 18, 2012

Great moment from the piratebay trial.
posted by churl at 11:12 PM on July 18, 2012 [6 favorites]

I'm just a user; I need no sympathy (LOL*)

*sotto voce
posted by ersatz at 3:58 AM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Because I easy join, easy ban.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:11 AM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Often, Metafilter threads read like a “View History” page on Wikipedia, but with more narrative and less back-tracking.

Or, in the words of John Barth in The Friday Book:

" ... To cease to narrate, as the capital example of Scheherazade reminds us, is to die—literally for her, figuratively for the rest of us. One might add that if this is true, then not only is all fiction fiction about fiction, but all fiction about fiction is in fact fiction about life. Some of us understood that all along."

posted by octobersurprise at 6:09 AM on July 19, 2012

I hate you all.
1000 Burning Suns < Fury

I just got this thrice damned song out of my head after the cast of Dr Who sung it.
posted by Mezentian at 7:19 AM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Any way the Wiki blows, doesn't really matter to meat, toooo meeeeat.
posted by notashroom at 8:46 AM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

MeFi, i just made a post
posted by mwhybark at 12:01 PM on July 19, 2012