Mehmories
19Much to my shock and dismay surprise, I have been nominated as this month’s scapegoat. I guess I have only myself to blame. And maybe @tinamarie1974 and lack of any competition. I’m actually not quite sure if I’m officially the goat since at the moment I don’t have a goat avatar next to my username. Seeing my Kickstarter “K” still on my profile page and noticing I have been a mehtizen since Day Zero, July 8th 2014, I got to reminiscing about this place we call Meh.
So, as a conversation starter, what are your fondest or not so fond mehmories here? What did you buy or win that was great or not so great? What changes have taken place here that make Meh better or worse?
- 19 comments, 69 replies
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It’s surreal that Meh will be a decade old next year. We’ve run Meh longer than we ran Woot.
@snapster That’s great news. Looking forward to the decade events and celebrations for next year. A definite reason to party.
@snapster “We’ve run Meh longer than we ran Woot.”
That seems crazy to me. I’m still coming to terms with meh being nearly 10.
@snapster A decade is a good milestone (or kilometre marker for me
), a nice long time, and an accomplishmehnt.
As I think back to the changes over the years and ponder what’s ahead, I must ask: is anything happening with InLo and Project Precipice anymore?
@snapster Who you gonna sell this one to, Elon Musk? Or, I hear the CCP is spending a lot of cash on American institutions…
@snapster
Did The Bezos-Galactic-Empire ever try to buy your biz out a for second time?
The best thing I’ve won is my easine by iLife cordless vacuum. I use it all the time to clean my floors, I love the little spinner that catches stuff at the side. My family loves the endless amount of sheets I’ve supplies them with (everybody has gotten at least a pair if not more). The best purchase I’ve made is the baby earrings I purchased from @koolhandjoe (I purchased them from his Etsy shop but saw them here) which reminds me I got one of his baby heads in an irk so that’s defiantly the best thing I’ve won. But honestly the best thing about this site for me is the conversation. I don’t work and it gives me an outlet (I don’t do the book face or any of that social media shit). Oh and the irk bags, I use them for everything and now all my family members and neighbors have them too bc they’ve made me give them some after seeing me carry them around for so long, they love that they have pockets.
Over the years the forums have been entertaining, although there have been periods where they have seemed to stagnate and ignored by meh.
I really liked when we used to pick teacher projects on a site that vetted them and band together to fund 8 or 9 projects. And occasionally we’d help people. The community saved the life of a non-member’s young cat by paying vet bills. That kitty is still around my friend is still very grateful. The community found out a member had brain cancer and during an unofficial exchange was sent a box of really good stuff even though she was not a part of the exchange.
Occasionally there has been merchandise I have needed and bought (I am not a much of a money maker for meh) at a price lower than is generally found elsewhere which has been nice.
Irks are nice except when there are so few offered at one time that those of us with high latency can’t even load before they are sold out. I’ve gotten put a match to your money irks (except for the bag) and decent ones. Far more of them were decent in the distant path than the recent past. I appreciated that. Also the “jokes” that went on with some irks was entertaining (like the bubblewrap “thing” or when whomever sent boxes sometimes stacked one for someone with things that that person in particular would find entertaining or a personalized joke. That kind of attention showed us meh actually cared about us and payed attention to us which adds to the community. I also liked the “contests” that took no talent to win that we had more of in the past than we do now (and we had one recent “contest” that never even had a winner - so don’t call it a contest!). Also things @jonT (staff for those who don’t know who he was - I think he was largely responsible for nurturing the early community) did on the forums was one reason why the early forums and early community was so rewarding. I also liked the “oh shit” topics and the greater involvement @snapster had early on, especially when talking about his ideas in those early days. All of this added a layer that isn’t typical for a for profit company to have and in my opinion added value (there is more but this post is long enough already).
@Kidsandliz I came along too late for the ohshit.report postings, and I wish those still happened.
@Kidsandliz @werehatrack i think the oh shit reports still happen, just few and far between
@ironcheftoni @Kidsandliz They’re gone; several comments a while back confirmed that they aren’t a thing anymore. (And with all of the rollover fumbles in recent months, there ought to have been plenty.)
i remember when meh sent us self addressed stamped envelopes with a birthday card inside to send back on their first (or maybe second?) birthday. i also remember i moved then and the card got stashed away somewhere.
i’ll probably be moving again this year, so meh shouldn’t hold their breath on getting a birthday card from me. as @snapster pointed out above, it’ll be a decade next year. so, maybe i’ll find the card by then. maybe not. the point is, meh exists.
Most of the stuff I’ve bough has been okay, though there have been some thuds and duds too. The high point in the edible-things category was the Frookits; the low point was the roasted edamame (which even the local possums disdained), and the weirdest was the Talia chickpeas - which I’m still working through. The first sort-of-major thing we bought was one of the Kaloric air fryers, which still works but has some glaringly obvious shortcomings. (Some of those are shared with every air fryer out there.) I miss the forum enthusiasm (even the enthusiastic loathing) that accompanied the many 'Thons of that storied period in 2021, and I believe that the massive-inflation IRKs (both rounds) were A Big Misteak which no giant eraser can address at this point.
As for the wearables… Meh and worse than Meh. From the multitude of comments here, I get the feeling that either the buyers haven’t been doing a very good job of vetting samples for quality and fit issues, or the sellers of this schmutz have been cherrypicking what they send for evaluation. (And us Tall People should just expect endless regret when ordering long pants or anything with sleeves from a place like Meh.)
Things I’m proud to have disdained:
Everything from Hell+Bowell
All of the snake oil
Anything Harvic
All of the robotic vacuums (because that class of devices is useless in my house)
Repeated purchase of sheet sets, particularly those awful Kathy Ireland ones with pockets and utter crap elastic on the fitted sheet.
Those Sharper Image boats (which should come as a set with a tabletop trebuchet and a supply of small aerial mortar shells to fling at them).
Things I have wished I needed
Some of the Cuisinart
Some of the Shark refurbs
Some stuff I’ve forgotten about.
Oh, and my own level of enthusiasm has now fallen below the level that allows me to GAFF about the new item 11PM-Central rollover, or maintaining a Meh button streak. The server issues at rollover were just the icing on the burnt meatloaf there.
And I very much doubt that saying all of this will make a difference. Once the fun is gone from something, it’s hard to get it back.
@werehatrack Hang on. Are you saying those sheets had actual pockets? What kind of effed-up world is it when sheets get pockets but women’s clothes don’t?
@lisagd Yes, they had pockets. Effing useless ones AFAIAC. Pockets in that location are a dumb idea to sytart with, and they were made doubly useless by the fact that the crapola elastic on the fitted sheet meant that there was never enough tension to keep that sheet in position to begin with. And they were polyester. Thin polyester. Woot is still trying to peddle them. SideDeal seems to have given up on them for the moment.
@werehatrack I’ve had good luck with the wearables I’ve bought from Meh and continue to wear them (when appropriate for the weather). Maybe I’m just to selective on which ones I buy?
@werehatrack Not only that, but you always have to put the sheet on in the same direction, so if you want to use the pockets, you can’t distribute the wear by rotating the sheet. It sounds like you’d need to distribute the wear in those sheets.
@werehatrack
Some of the best socks I’ve ever bought have come from meh. I wear them all the time. I even have back ups in my closet for when it’s time for new pairs. I’ve also gotten some good sports bras, leggings and shirts. But I’m pretty easy to please
I miss the extra discount on the most unpopular colors or patterns of things. There’s still some electronics around my house that are purple or some type of crappy animal print. Mysteriously, nobody has wanted to steal them. Also, miss the ability to buy Meh swag every once in a while. The Meh face pillows and tumbler are still some of the most popular buys I’ve had with the fam. Still loving the writups and polls. I definitely buy more of the cheap stocking stuffer type of items than the big stuff. Gotta maximize that Mehmbership!
@rrapnek I still have my 3 pink 64gb USB 3.0 thumbs drives I got cheaper because of the pinkness.
I miss so much of old meh. Clearly, as my appearances have dwindled greatly. Mehbe some of you have even missed me just a little bit. (Wishful thinking) I think the thing I miss the most is new daily videos from @matthew. I also miss my meh face streak. When I lost that a few months ago it was like the I lost the one primary reason to keep coming back every day. I’ve been clicking it daily but even missed another day in December. My heart just isn’t in it anymore. I do miss a lot of the people here and the conversation. I miss when the goats actually did something with their month. I miss people getting letters stating there was going to be a bigger, not always better delivery after their Irk. I miss when we decided it wouldn’t always be called an Irk and we submitted different names that they once said they would cycle through. The site goes on for now, but there’s so much less appreciation for the users here. I’m pretty sure I miss the cash that I’ve continued to give on a monthly basis just for the sake of routine.
I’d like to miss my plushie Irk when I’m away from home, but almost 10 years later and you guys still haven’t fucking made it for us…
I also miss proofreading my own posts.
@cinoclav
You should have been checking in October and November - @mossygreen and @capnjb’s daily posts were really great!
And then in December our @Charliedoggo posted a lot of charming pictures of himself…
@capnjb @CharlieDoggo @cinoclav @Kyeh Well, I mean, if you weren’t super-excited about the movie Psychomania my month was a mixed bag. Which reminds me, I have NOT been spending enough time listening to the soundtrack to Psychomania. And that one episode of Ironside is going to be on getTV this week! I should make a new post.
@capnjb @cinoclav @Kyeh @mossygreen and I gave nose bumps and PB treats for good boi’s and girls!!!
@CharlieDoggo
You get a treat!
/giphy dog treat
@f00l WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! THIS MAKES ME HAPPY!!! I LOVE TREATS AND I HOPED SOMEONE WOULD GIVE ME ONE!!! EXTRA NOSE BUMPS FOR YOU!!!
/giphy DOG CELEBRATE
I’ve only been a member since 2019, so I missed most of the things people here are nostalgic for and haven’t been here long enough to miss anything.
My best purchase was probably the $50 irk. I was excited just to get one, having given on getting a BOC years ago. Mine was one of the apparently few that was worth the money.
I get an inordinate amount of pleasure from clicking the Meh button and seeing what the face will look like that day and growing my streak. But the best thing for me is the forums. They’re an oasis of civility and good humor in that mosh pit called the internet. Well, except for the guy who went off about food labeling the other day.
To paraphrase, Keep Meh Weird!
I think the level of quirkiness that attracted a lot of customers has paled and needs to be reignited.
Maybe more contests, random give-a-ways, starch drops, or such would help. Maybe bury some more IRKs on sister sites. Coins celebrating sell-outs. Mug shots of employees goofing off. Pet skunks of Meh. Whatever.
Just up the FUN Quotient.
@phendrick Does “Fun Quotient” get abbreviated like “Intelligence Quotient” does? Hmm…
@xobzoo New motto? “Fun Up!”
So the merch could say “FU @ Meh”.
@phendrick
Austin isn’t very much weird anyone. Just trendy and overpriced.
The cultural vibe got Elon’d long before Elon showed up.
I also really like the meh exchange we do. It gives you a chance to interact with somebody else on a different level, some of really get into it. That is one of the highlights of the year for me. Yes I always go above and beyond what’s expected but I like to and think it’s fun to brighten somebodies day even if I have to shell out the money.
@Star2236 i apologize for the lack of a mehitzen exchange for 2022-23. We talked about after holidays would be best for everyone, then vacation happened, then death in the family, now helping elderly parents clean up my late uncle’s home. ☹
How about a spring cleaning exchange?
@ironcheftoni
I think that sounds good. Sorry for everything you’re going through. I’ve done the cleaning out of a family members house after they pass and it’s a lot of work (we’re polish and save everything) my aunt was a major hoarder. I’d be throwing stuff out and another aunt would be taking stuff out of the trash thinking somebody might want it (and I was only throwing out trash bc we donated everything) it was a constant battle.
Meh should deliver a pallet of something to someone’s house (mine would great since I suggested it) during the next mehathon, just for shits and giggles and to keep the fun alive.
@Star2236 If they take that to heart, lemme just say that I think I’m glad I don’t live anywhere near Plano.
@Star2236 didn’t they deliver pallets of pasta to some unlucky souls?
@ironcheftoni @Star2236 Yes. Before my time here, but it was reportedly epic in scale.
@ironcheftoni @werehatrack
I don’t remember the huge amounts of pasta being delivered.
@Star2236 @werehatrack
https://meh.com/forum/topics/end-of-june-irk-reveal?sort=most-likes
@ConradHilton was the lucky mehitzen to receive 74 boxes regret
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Star2236 @werehatrack oh yeah, I remember that, but it was part of an Irk and not just a pasta drop. I dont recall anyone receiving a pallet from a drop?
@ironcheftoni @Star2236 @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack that story has been such a great ice breaker for me. Also, I ended up donating almost all the dry pasta to a local community kitchen for the houseless. The only bad part was that I was flying halfway across the country 2 days after the delivery, so I had to scramble like heck to find a charity willing to pick up 69 10lb bags of pasta on such short notice
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Star2236 @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack I came within inches of getting a pallet of broken TV’s. I was called and because I was living where I had no place to put them they went somewhere else. That person made 3 working ones out the mess. I was told I was picked to get them as I had taken 2 broken mac laptops at $25 each and made one working one out of them with only 3 tries and 2 screws left over. LOL
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @werehatrack
I do remember that now, that was awesome. I want a pallet of stuff delivered to my house.
POPSOCKETS! SPROCKETS! DAVY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @werehatrack
@Star2236 So … like this?
https://meh.com/forum/topics/end-of-may-irk-reveal#60c674d2f60135001bce65d5
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Kyeh @werehatrack
I would love it if they came in Victoria secret cheekies size M, I need new underwear, but I’m very picky. I want my pallet to be an assortment of things to have fun with.
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Star2236 @werehatrack Yeah - I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be any of those things!
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Kyeh @Star2236 @werehatrack Well I got some R rated undies in an irk not so long ago. I’ll check if they are medium and you can have them for postage if they are and you want them for your, um, “activities”.
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @werehatrack
What are R rated undies? Like crotch less?
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Kyeh @Star2236 @werehatrack no those would be X rated. These are mostly red or black or both lace.
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @werehatrack
To me those are just undies. I wear all colors, lace and all.
@ConradHilton @ironcheftoni @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Star2236 @werehatrack I would agree! I wouldnt call them R ir X rated in general. Lol. Good thing no one can see my underwear drawer!!!
/giphy giggle
Remember the meh socks we got as an early VMP reward? They served me as boot socks for a long time and I was really sad when they finally wore out. Among my purchases were quite a number of duds and a few things I thought would be very useful, but weren’t. Most of these went to the local thrift shop. The kicker is that quite a few things that I’m enjoying daily, I couldn’t even remember. I had to go back to my order history to realize how useful these purchases were. A few pickings from my first two years: Kershaw and Schrade knives, optiled cree bulbs, coolgear food boxes, zippered ziplocks, water bottles, cuisinart colored knives, rechargeable bicycle lights, ooma, escali scale, bionaire heater.
Then there was the purchase that blew my mind: I’m not an audiophile and even lost part of my hearing more than 20 years ago. I bought the Polk bookshelf speakers without really needing them. When I hooked them up to my receiver, the change in clarity and dynamic range from my stock Yamaha speakers was so mind blowing, that I immediately replaced all the other speakers in my surround system with Polk speakers as well.
And then there was the life saver purchase: I bought the Winix Hepa air purifier thinking it could help with my allergies. What I hadn’t counted on was the California wildfire season that was coming. We had air quality so bad, that the sun appeared as a dim orange globe at noon and I had to turn on the lights during the day. During those days the air purifier ran 24/7 and migrated from the living room to the bedroom and back every day. Thank you, meh!
@heartny Oh yeah, I forgot this is the scapegoat thread: You’re the one to blame for all my purchases and the related mehmories.
@einrad The zippered ziplocks - I STILL regret I didn’t buy more of those!!! Ans with the christmas motif on them it was always easy to see what food was mine in the work fridge.
The Polk speakers - at $39/pair I regret now I didn’t buy them. In 2019 they were $90/pair at Amazon (according to the write up) now $180/pair at Amazon…
@einrad Sorry for making you buy all that
crapstuff. I blame myself for all thecrapstuff I bought too. I wonder where it all went?@heartny I don’t think the crap stuff quote is a lot different outside of meh. I bought stuff I hardly ever use from other sources as well. The difference is that the meh deals just make it easier to take a crap shot.
Not that I miss the baby arm, but I had an exciting encounter at a thrift store this week:
@mossygreen
So that’s where it went!?!
@mossygreen Buy and send that baby arm to meh! They need it!!!
/showme nostalgic e-commerce community engagement in the style of a poorly done Photoshop contest entry
@mediocrebot eerily similar to the original mediocre labs cardboard animation
https://web.archive.org/web/20190223203009/https://mediocre.com/
Like shown here.
@medz Thanks.
Think it’s time for some Really Meh (upper-echelon) people to take another look at it?
I believe I had not seen it before, and it does give me vibes of Meh from a few years ago.
@phendrick not sure what you’re asking
@medz I’m asking whether the powers that be at Meh have gotten away from their original vision as given in their “ideas” expressed in that link (to wit: “community”, “transparency”, “fun”, and the various “experiments”), and whether it’s time they revisit it.
/showme what meh used to be in the style of Picasso
meh
@carl669
how fucking fitting!
What are zippered ziplocks?
@Star2236 I think they’re talking about the type that has a slider to engage and disengage the lock strip, instead of having to try to pinch it between thumb and forefinger.
Am I the only one who has seen a significant deterioration in the functionality of the regular Ziploc closure lately? Several years ago, various generic imitations and the genuine product itself were all much easier to seal than any of the non-slider versions available now. And that’s without even discussing the absolutely useless versions included in the packaging of frozen foods. On some of those, the two parts of the zip don’t even line up at the ends. They’re fucking close to impossible to engage at all.
@Star2236 @werehatrack I’ve found that the supposedly resealable plastic bags that a lot of things come in (cheese, frozen fries, etc.) will just peel open along the side of the track, so that you can’t even use the “zipper” - if that makes any sense.
@Star2236 Yep, exactly the ones @werehatrack described. I found they are very easy to open and close and haven’t failed on me like the other ones did. In my experience the resealable product ones as well as the original ziplock bags tend to fail at the seams on the side close to the seal. Bottom line is that the standard ziplocks work well if you seal them and don’t touch them. But after a few opening and closing cycles they are no longer sealing airtight. I wish I had bought more of the slider type ones when meh had them on sale.
@einrad @Star2236 The local grocery store chain, HEB, has their own store brand of the slider type, and they’re decent. I’ve bought them at Target as well, and at WallyWorld.
@Star2236 @werehatrack
Get the Hefty brand zippered ones. Walmart, Amz, Winco, lots of other places carry them.
Hefty makes one version that’s 2.5 gallons. That size is insanely useful around the house.
Meh it is now.
/showme e-commerce community in virtual reality
/showme e-commerce community style of Dr. Seuss
@mediocrebot WTF is that?
@heartny Huh, disappointing - it could have been so much more entertaining.