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=> The various media fora involve discussion of products that I either A) don't care about, or B) have not consumed yet... but that's really my problem, not yours.
Fair enough.
=> If there is a topic of interest to me, discussion tends to revolve around someone's ill-considered or -informed or generally stupid opinion, or even worse around someone's manners, rather than the merits of the product itself. Can't we just ignore stuff like that?
You'll have to give examples before I understand that. If you mean that people are criticised for trolling or launching personal attacks, then I admit that is irritating. As are trolling and personal attacks.
=> And anyway, what is there to say about it, really? As I attempt to illustrate here, one can either admit that the qualilty of cultural products is a subjective matter, in which case there's not much to say but "I like this", or one can take one's opinion as fact. Arbitrary assholery is only fun for a little while. The tone of critical discourse is very low in general.
Maybe. But if we look at your trolling of the China Mieville thread, I'd say you managed to come significantly under the level of discussion. I would say further that your analysis is simply wrong - you have identified two possible approaches to criticism, but have not identified all of them. In aesthetic terms, you've actually gone for two versions of the Strong Subjective, I think. If those are the only two options you're going for, and you assume further that in the second case your opinion is not subject to critique or discussion, then you're not likely to get much out of any discussion of media, because ultimately any discussion of anything resultant will be a discussion of you, as was also shown in your contribution to he China Mieville thread. So, no. I would love there to be a higher quality of discussion on Barbelith, but if by that you mean you saying "China Mieville is ass!" and somebody else going "No, China Mieville r0x0rs" - or somebody going "I like China Mieville" and somebody else saying "I also like China Mievile, but my liking cannot intereact with yours", I think we have different goals.
=> In the theory fora and in Conversation, this board can be very conservative about subject matter and style, tending to ignore or deride attempts to do things differently. This isn't particularly offensive, but it's boring, and I'm not just talking about myself here. How many vocal n00bs in the last year have been called suits of one kind or another? Why do you care if they are suits?
Actually, not many who have not been suits. In practical terms, if somebody has nothing to add, it doesn't particularly matter if they are a suit or not. Benfox may suddenly develop a mastery of high Heideggerean thought, in which case wahey. Otherwise, why not have a bit of fun while we're waiting? N00bs who are vocal and useful don't have this problem. Nor indeed do suits who are vocal and useful, if such things there be.
=> There have been some anti-troll measures, such as the limits on name changes, that I find unnecessarily restrictive to the creative use of the board.
Having Billy Corgan around was hilarious, as was Ho Garden et al, and I enjoyed having two suits for a while, but you said it yourself - anti-troll measures. They have stopped people enjoying liberties that can be abused by trolls. That's a shame, if those liberties were fun liberties, like being able to change your name every other day, or have a fictionsuit spare to ask whether Grant Morrison could beat Alan Moore in a fight. Other boards demand that you use your "real" name, or that you never change it. It's just one of those things. If better troll-handling measures exist, that's great - suggest them, Tom will implement them and we can get back to having fun in the sun. However, I have a feeling that your idea of the freedoms that would be good for the board, and the uses to which you would put them, are quite different to mine, and to those of many others.
=> I miss the days when we were all Invisibles devoting to Fucking Shit Up.
Fair dos. Why not start some threads in the Switchboard or Gathering about direct action? |
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