Steven Den Beste has posted 258 links to MetaFilter in the less than one year he’s been on the site. I’ve been a member 3 days longer, though I had read the site for months before that, and I’ve posted 6 links.

I don’t mean to pick on him, as he has posted some links that yielded good discussions. But I think he’s kinda using MeFi as his personal blog. When it’s so easy to get a blog of your own, and even easier when you already have a site, I think there comes a point when someone ought to be the bad guy, like I’m being right now, and just call a guy out.

This is all prompted by today’s 21 threads, and the danger that the massive overposting poses to one of my very favorite sites. I don’t share some people‘s distaste for Salon links or general news stories; I just care if a link prompts good discussion. I also like for as many different voices as possible to participate, and I think that the frequency (and, let it not be ignored, reader interest) in Steven’s posts means it’s time for him to get a blog of his own.

If I’ve offended Steven, I’m sorry. I didn’t email this to him because I don’t think anyone wants a message like this, that could be potentially offensive, in their email. If he wants to come to my site and read my opinion, he’s welcome. I like a lot of his links, (I don’t get over to HardOCP often enough to see the cool shit that he finds there) but I have more of a passion for the kind of community MetaFilter has, and I think there’s an easy solution to preserving both. That’s my goal.

And I know I’m not the MeFi cop. That’s why this is on my site, with my name up there at the top. If this annoys you or pisses you off, I’d suggest you get a peeves page of your own and put me on it. So there.

Addendum: Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels this way. There’s an entire thread on MetaTalk about this subject. Including the quote I was looking for where Steven says he doesn’t have enough material for a blog. Tish-posh, I say. Go read what everyone else said.