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The Saddest Map In America

dish.andrewsullivan.com

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Re: The Saddest Map In America

#51

Post by marknutter »

zalzane wrote: post #28

I never understood the concept of missed connections on craigslist. Honestly, what's the chance of two people meeting each other, forgetting to swap numbers, and then both going onto craigslist to search/post in the missed connections category? It just seems like such an overwhelming statistical improbability that such a missed connection would ever be fulfilled through craigslist, I don't see why anyone would even b…

I had a missed connection happen for me. It was actually my buddy who checked missed connections regularly and realized one of them was in reference to me. It was at a halloween party and my costume and the general location was described in detail, including what we talked about. Pretty crazy.

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#52

Post by GHFigs »

philwelch wrote: post #30
zalzane wrote: post #28

I never understood the concept of missed connections on craigslist. Honestly, what's the chance of two people meeting each other, forgetting to swap numbers, and then both going onto craigslist to search/post in the missed connections category? It just seems like such an overwhelming statistical improbability that such a missed connection would ever be fulfilled through craigslist, I don't see why anyone would even b…

"Missed connections" plays to a romantic mindset that doesn't consider things like probability and statistics in everyday life. I'd say more people have this mindset than the one you're expressing.

Specifically, it's trading away consciousness of probability in favor of a sense of agency. We all do that a little bit from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_(philosophy)

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#53

Post by maxerickson »

sliverstorm wrote: post #22
newishuser wrote: post #9

Why is this sad? Because Walmart is the most cited location? Seems great to me. People are reaching out. Would be more depressing if they just decided to not do anything about it. Plus this only has relevance to craigslist users. Seems like a fun conversation piece but certainly isn't the anything-est anything in America.

It is, in some ways, a sign of where we are now most likely to see people we don’t know in various parts of the country. One could say the places listed are sad. "What ever happened to ?". You could take it as evidence that we are becoming less social, and withdrawing into our own shells. It’s also a sign of male loneliness or romance: men seeking to find a possible love-mate outnumber women 86 – 14. How is this not…

Lots of people that meet in more traditional settings probably go far enough to either exchange info or not bother.

There's also the part where they only used 100 listing from each state. That's a few days worth, enough to be pretty sensitive to the day of the week that the data was gathered.

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#55

Post by russell »

Gmo wrote: post #44
russell wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stopped traffic. A couple of decades ago, the only road from Silicon Valley to Skyline in the hills was blocked by construction equipment repairing a washout. My wife got out and walked up the line to see what was going on. She started talking to a man standing there. Turns out he was a freelance developer and my wife said, "My son knows how to program.", which lead to his firs job as a programmer in high school. In…

Ha, I was hoping that the freelance developer was you :)

No. The freelancer was Jim Normile in between stints at Apple.

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#56

Post by ComputerGuru »

jff wrote: post #39
ComputerGuru wrote: post #26

Chicago's keeping it classy with "TRAIN".

For Chicago, I'd expect "at the crime scene" to be more common.

Chicago is behind the following in terms of murder/manslaughter per capita:

New Orleans, Detroit, Newark, Baltimore, Oakland, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Stockton, Cleveland, Memphis, DC, and Miami (in that order, from most deaths/capita to least) [0].

You were saying?

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_...

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#57

Post by autarch »

barkingcat wrote: post #48
zalzane wrote: post #28

I never understood the concept of missed connections on craigslist. Honestly, what's the chance of two people meeting each other, forgetting to swap numbers, and then both going onto craigslist to search/post in the missed connections category? It just seems like such an overwhelming statistical improbability that such a missed connection would ever be fulfilled through craigslist, I don't see why anyone would even b…

I posted a missed connection once, and about 2 hours later got a reply from a person who was in the exact same circumstances (ie same time, same place, same details about furtive glances) - but she was looking at some other dude who was there and thought I was him. At the same time, I actually wasn't looking at her, but at another girl who was at the same event. So it fizzled cause we weren't looking for, but looking…

You absolutely should have gone on a date. Think of it this way, if by some chance it worked out you'd probably have the best "how we met" story of your entire social circle.

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#58

Post by liquidise »

This is only sad for 3 reasons:

1) Somebody spent the time, effort and likely funding to do an aggregate study of a craigslist Missed Encounters board.

2) This foolishly unrepresentative sample of the american populace is being referred to as a "scholarly study".

3) The author of this article is using this to make broad generalizations about the american social atmosphere based on the aforementioned unrepresentative sample.

I suppose i should sit back and watch this silliness get plastered around facebook ad nauseum as people who don't know anyone who knew craigslist has a "missed encounters" page talk about the facts of their states' social climate.

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#59

Post by charlieok »

I'll take a crack at explaining the Colorado label.

People here leave the Denver/Boulder area and head west into the mountains every weekend. The Sunday afternoon drive back is a miserable jam.

Some of those mountain destinations are a pretty far drive, so if you're one of those who came here for the skiing, climbing and mountain biking (and judging by dating sites, most people here are) then you're making some stops for fuel and caffeine in some mountain town, wearing your ski outfit or bike shorts.

If that's the explanation, I don't know why the label wouldn't be “trail” though.

Re: The Saddest Map In America

#60

Post by charlieok »

ellyagg wrote: post #35
zalzane wrote: post #28

I never understood the concept of missed connections on craigslist. Honestly, what's the chance of two people meeting each other, forgetting to swap numbers, and then both going onto craigslist to search/post in the missed connections category? It just seems like such an overwhelming statistical improbability that such a missed connection would ever be fulfilled through craigslist, I don't see why anyone would even b…

One time my sister-in-law met a guy at a bar and it was one of those movie conversations where they liked the same obscure writers and comedy and whatever. They parted coolly and casually, but the next day they reconnected through Craigslist. So it's happened at least once.

haha, I was just thinking that. Every romance movie where people in a huge city lose track of each other has to ignore the existence of that city's craigslist “missed connections” page. That is, if both parties felt that way about it.
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