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Long have we labored in the wit-mines of metaquotes, and long have we seen our canaries fall to the rocky earth, dead from unfunny.

Too long have we seen truly hilarious metaquotes edged out by repetitive fanfic references and private in-jokes. With all respect to the original community, where is the genuine wit and wisdom of Livejournal? Where are the Wildes and Carlins among the LotR cracks and chat transcripts?

Well, here, we hope.

You know the metaquotes drill: post worthy excerpts from the best of Livejournal, credit where credit is due, and mind the following Ps and Qs:

The Rules

1. Yes, we are elitists. That's the nature of a "Best Of" community, like it or not. Keep substance alive. Trust us when we tell you that the pot-addled conversation you had with your cousin about how the Iowa incest statutes are totally fascist is not that funny in the cold light of day. Use your judgment skills and post only quotes that are genuinely funny or deep. And we mean deep in a non-ironic sense.

2. Think outside the fandom. We aren't going to outlaw it, but see if you can't control yourself when it comes to posting quotes that reference slashfic and fanfic. These are what we call "easy targets." Contrary to popular belief, not everyone on LJ engages in these activities, and thus, one joke about the wild n' crazy pairing in your friend's newest Potterfic is usually enough. That quote can be found on metaquotes. Same goes for quotes which are only of interest to a small minority, such as the much maligned Saved By The Bell and Baywatch Nights fandoms. Quotes about movies, books, and television are welcome--but keep a leash on the fanstuff. Let's try for a higher bar, here.

3. Sweat the small stuff: spell things correctly, always link to the original material/author, and since this is a Livejournal community, make damned sure that anything originating outside of Livejournal or an RSS feed (unsyndicated blogs, or text-oriented websites--IM transcripts, emails, and whole-site links are naughty.) is funny enough to trigger an aneurysm. Make sure, when quoting from extra-LJ sources or comment threads, that you clean up the text for cogency and change all screennames to link to LJs/websites/blogs in appropriate markup. This isn't so hard; copy/paste and autoreplace have been staples of word processing for a long time now.

Try not to quote yourself, it's tacky. Don't double dip the chip, i.e. quote someone quoting someone else. Ask nicely before quoting from a locked post. Penile puns are hilarious--but not usually worksafe. Use an LJ-cut when that niggling voice in the back of your brain says "Maybe I should LJ-cut this." On the other hand, don't scream spoilers if someone blows the end of, say, The Bible for you. People have the attention span of speed-snorting hummingbirds, so fill in the blank: ___________ is the soul of wit. Common sense is the key to perfect spiritual bliss. Coarse language and lewd subject matter welcome.

4. This is supposed to be fun. We love metaquotes, that's why we made this community. We aren't insulting them, just noting that their interests tend to be, well, a little on the focused side. We prefer a broader funny, a smarter funny, and to be honest, a funnier funny. Do not flame us, abuse us, or tell us that the use of the word "elitist" in the userinfo means we eat babies. Do not get pissy because the funny involved something you disagree with--politics are the lewdest content of all. Do not flame other members, whine that they are breaking the rules, or cry if you don't get your way. The mods are a stone-cold bitch in possession of the Jaws of Doom and a magical negro in possession of the Boot of Justice. We're on it.

All that being said--go forth and be funny.

Mods:

scathedobsidian
yuki_onna

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