Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Total inanity

Page: (1)2

10:36 / 07.04.04

What do people get out of posting meaningless fluff on message boards? Is it just a way to assuage boredom at work? Or does it have a more purposeful function, e.g. to reinforce the poster's ego/self-image by posting posting posting, regardless of the worth or interest of said posts? Or do extended bouts of inane back-and-forth stuff act as a way of making bonds between board members by sharing jokes etc.? Or are they pernicious, and do they take up mental space that could be occupied by more intersting and thought-provoking conversations? Do they put people off making more interesting posts or topics because they are frequently the most active topics?

Do purposeless posts, in short, serve any purpose?

N.B. - I am certainly not saying all fluff threads are worthless. Many are enjoyable, many contain interesting material, many are funny. It is also possible that I am an old stick-in-the-mud and should leave the ninjas and pirates and discordian larping to the yoot. Certainly I can't think of any logical reason why this round of inanity is any worse than the lime shower gel episodes (though it seems to be so to me). Just thought it might be interesting to have a chat about it, is all...

10:51 / 07.04.04

Well, obviously it's all about sticking one to the order police, innit.

I dunno, I have nothing against total inanity, I only object when I don't find it funny. To be inane is not a crime. To be boring is much worse. But humour is a subjective judgement, after all. Put it this way, there are a lot of things in the Lime Shower Gel thread which made me piss myself and want to Barbquote. Other ongoing inanity, less so. I just think, fucking boring.

People often talk about the Conversation as if it's the Barbleith poor relation, and it is in a sense, in relation to some of the best threads in the Magic, a lot of the Headshop stuff, the Swithboard, the level of analysis sometimes shown in Books, Music etc. But I think it's absolutely key to Barbelith and there's so much great spur of the moment stuff, as well as the just hanging out human interaction. Which brings me great happy happy joy joy. There a lot of talented writers on Babelith and it comes out in the bizarre stuff in Convo. Qalyn, Saveloy. Von Kobra in particular wins the Iron Cross (and me, as a flushing, blushing bride) for pretty much all of his posts.

10:52 / 07.04.04

isn't it the new office chat if you hate your co-workers?

10:59 / 07.04.04

KCC - I read your post as if it was a voice over on Sex and the City, and Carrie was writing her column; all you needed to include to make it complete was a "so, I got to thinking...can x really be x"

For this - I am deeply sorry.

I reckon the fluff posts serve as fillers in an otherwise wordy forum. A bit like people's hmms and uh-huhs IRL. Keeps the conversation ticking along nicely.

11:03 / 07.04.04

Me: I just think, fucking boring.

Which well I might do as I'm if I'm not in the converstion -if you're having fun go for it. Don't want to act like the Conversation Police (should that be Order Pigs)? God knows I write enough shit here. Am curious though as to why people keep going sometimes.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:17 / 07.04.04

Hmmm.

I always like to view Barbelith as if it was some new model type of town.

And every town, while it needs its Town Hall, its libraries, its cinemas, its churches (or Temples), its newspaper offices and what have you, also needs its pool halls, its pubs and yes! its spaces of waste ground for its inhabitants to just, y'know, HANG OUT and have a laugh. It's proved to be useful in real life (think lots of FUN music and comics) and there's no reason why it shouldn't in non-real life.

Sorry. I'm drunk and I'm not sure what my final point was going to be.

Please bring back the bit where we can see the last few posts when we reply... please?

11:27 / 07.04.04

Well yus, I do agree that the Conversation can be a thing of beauty and a joy for ever (until the threads get deleted at any rate) and that there are some v amusing posters; and also that humour is subjective, etc. I was wondering though whether, as with joycore, the true humour of some current fluff threads was only evident to the key participants? And perhaps the number of participants is related to the level of enjoyment people get out of that sort of thread? (Though I did find Flyboy's spats with Qalyn funny, I must say, and being a very unamusing poster myself I should not really throw stones...)

It's community dynamics, really, innit? And engagement as well, I suppose.

Ex

11:28 / 07.04.04

I think that the debates in the Head Shop (frex) can be fierce at times, and fluff allows people to cool down, intereract in a less combative (and dry) manner and amuse each other.

(On the other hand, maybe people wouldn't be cracking knuckles in the Head Shop so often if there wasn't so much bloody ninjing and splicing all over the place.)

Now I will curl up under my desk and wail "You hate me! You hate my fluff!". Until someone posts a picture of a kitten to appease me, and the thread will be rotted through...

11:36 / 07.04.04

Argh, I don't hate fluff, I like baby platypi... I just don't like discordian larping.

(Casts mind back to extended bouts of Mornington Crescent)

Er...

I don't like fluff when I have no interest in joining in with it and nothing else is going on.

But I was seriously interested in what prompts people to engage in such sustained bouts of drivel, especially when there is relatively little creative content involved (erk, creativity is subjective as well, I suppose). Is it just boredom/the need for a break from more heavyweight stuff? Or is there more to it?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:41 / 07.04.04

fluff allows people to cool down, intereract in a less combative (and dry) manner and amuse each other.

Exactly. Which is, as far as I'm concerned anyway, just as important a part of a community as any other.

Play is an important part of life. Hence slogans such as "if I can't dance, it's not my revolution". And from it can come wondrous things.

BUT...

even if wondrous things DON'T come from it, play is a very important part of human behaviour. And I, for one, enjoy having a laugh with people I connect with. Otherwise I'd find the connection very boring.

And a community (if that's what we are), imho NEEDS it. We all have walled gardens into which we can escape if we need to... maybe we can take some stuff from the playground in there with us, and we'll get something out of it.

God, I AM pissed. I'm going to bed now.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:43 / 07.04.04

I hate sounding like a hippy.

11:45 / 07.04.04

You don't - you sound on the money. I, on the other hand, sound like a grumpy old bastard who doesn't want to let anyone else have any fun, and I am suitably chastened...

11:51 / 07.04.04

But I was seriously interested in what prompts people to engage in such sustained bouts of drivel, especially when there is relatively little creative content involved (erk, creativity is subjective as well, I suppose). Is it just boredom/the need for a break from more heavyweight stuff? Or is there more to it?

I think it's just different tastes and different brains. I very much see your point, K-CC. For some people, these "sustained bouts of drivel" are genuinely entertaining, amusing because of their sheer inanity. Some people don't need creativity/interesting/sensical content to have fun. To paraphrase Tom Lehrer, the only thing better than seventy posts about shower gel (or whatever you choose) is eighty posts about shower gel.

I don't think it puts you in the wrong or makes you a hater or a snob or anything to not like this kind of posting. You might well not be able to explain the joy you get in certain threads/certain types of humour/certain things you find interesting to people who like inanity. The two opposites find the other hard to comprehend, basically.

As for a purpose they serve - they make your name known; they show you're a fun guy who's nice to hang out with; people think they can gain authority/respect/kudos by sheer volume of posting, not content. That kind of thing. They're also a relief from the daily grind and, as sleaze says, perhaps another form of office banter.

I tend to filter the inanity out. To be honest, I'm even more incredulous about how much time most people have at work to fritter away and how little many employers seem to care. I'm very grateful that I'm kept busy and interested in what I do to stave off the descent into Barbe-addiction.

12:11 / 07.04.04

Yeah, I feel that fluff has a vital part to play in the Barbescene, just as an escape from the far more serious (and more interesting) forums. If you don't like a particular thread, don't participate, or make up your own brand of nonsense. As for the points about how much time is wasted at work, well I am guilty of that to a high degree, but if you don't like your job, and it doesn't use all your mental resources to do, Barbelith can provide an escape from the tedium. Though it brings up an interesting point on how much of the working week is spent fannying around. Could we all go on to a 3 day week, if we used those 3 days to the full, instead of posting on message boards, making vast quantities of tea and so on?

Ex

12:17 / 07.04.04

Argh, I don't hate fluff, I like baby platypi...

I know, I know. And the baby platypi understand too.

Is it because we have an articificially high expectation of shared guidelines, brought on by an equally artificial sense of board unity? (I blame the new colour scheme.)

Everyone has different tastes in humour, but also different senses of what this space is for, and of legitimate board usage. Also ficsuit exposure; when I joined, I was feeling rather protective of my suit and only posted when I thought I had something pertinent to say. Back then I couldn't comprehend why people were prepared to post something that made no sense with a "sorry, waaaargh, that made no sense! I'm on crack! I'll come back later". Then I remembered that everyone else wasn't trying to be me but failing. (Since then I have become more prolific and less incisive, but not much less solipsistic.)

I know that doesn't add much - it's just more "people are different" - but I think it's more pronounced because Barbelith also gives me a vague sense of community and conformity, which can persuade me that everyone here shares basic understandings, not just in a political sense, but also around use of this space (especially if I'm in one fora a lot).
This makes people who contravene my imaginary regulations look more like inappropriate rampant loons (to me) than they would on other boards or lists where I don't have a similar sense of coherence. Also, they're uncouth.

Which is why we need big, black pessimistic Barbelith health warnings. I'm kicking off with "BARBELITH: WHY SHOULD WE MAKE YOU HAPPY? LIFE DOESN'T."

Tryphena Absent

12:30 / 07.04.04

Everyone, may I present the thing that Kit Kat hates:

Discordian

Larping

12:31 / 07.04.04

This is not to be prescriptive, but just for a different perspective... I embrace drivel and nonsense. I think it's essential to creativity. If I'm stuck on some problem, I find that it helps a great deal to spout utter nonsense. I envision this as loosening up the stuck things in my brain. Maybe two things that were never close to each other will bump against each other & make something new. The Convo is particularly ideal for this because it's an uncontrolled environment, you never know who might pick up your thought & what they will bring back. This is sort of enlarging the idea of the brain to a collective, but I've found it quite good. E.g., there's a technique ...when you're stuck on a problem, you type some keywords into Google and see what you get. It's similar to that. Give the box a good shake.

Tryphena Absent

12:32 / 07.04.04

That man is why fluff is essential. That tough guy right there.

Sorry, I just needed to share really.

12:38 / 07.04.04

I have nothing against nonsense. There's a marked difference, however, between entertaining nonsense and the "I'm with stupid" t-shirt.

12:48 / 07.04.04

Big ups to me! I feel awesome.

I chose to carve out my niche as a drivel-meister specifically because I found the majority of argumentation on Barbelith utterly insufferable and my choice was to go mad or go crazy, you know? Much of the board seems to be concerned either with discussing spoilers to cultural products I haven't consumed yet or don't care about, or rationalizing one's esthetics as if it really matters... and yet I really like you guys. Nonsense, on the other hand, is transgressive; I can irritate you as much as you irritate me, only I get to feel morally superior because I'm "only kidding". And you love it!

I'm disappointed, by the way, because I read the title as "Total Insanity" and I thought you were really going to bring it, KCC. Bring it!

!!!!1!

Ninjas make great pets

12:49 / 07.04.04

a guilty member of fluffing stepping forward here.

If it helps.. the non-sense here has saved my sense.. so many times. I work in an intensely stressful job. In a currently very tense atmosphere

(company is closing and they can't even give us a day when- shit hitting the fan? it's more of a mudslide. the crap here has actually made me smile, lifted a day that gets so hard my neck freezes up with stress and my co-worker explodes on occasion and has to walk out for sanity sake)

I don't get to contribute to 'lith nearly as much as I would like. Only really get time for bite-size chunks (get hard time for my flighty visits as is). just read mostly.

silliness or hard core discussion I think there is more than enough room on Barbelith for every level.

and I'd like to thank all for making it what it is..

just a thought.

12:49 / 07.04.04

Far be it from me to put words into hir pert, lotuslike mouth, but possibly KCC is objecting to one particular posters tendency to go completey 'nanas on a regular basis. I have suggested elsewhere that this may be something to do with the phases of the moon. Initially, I found this very irritating, but I guess it's better that he's inside in front of a PC than running round a shopping centre naked with a traffic cone on his head.

...obviously, it's possible that he's in front of the PC naked with a traffic cone on his head but let's not go there.

12:56 / 07.04.04

Bad Illmatic! We're generalizing our distaste. We're dressing it in its theoretical smartclothes.

And, of course, yes, fluffing at Barbelith a way of kicking your boss in the nuts. Man, I'm getting paid to do this!

(but not for long)

12:58 / 07.04.04

There's a marked difference, however, between entertaining nonsense and the "I'm with stupid" t-shirt.

yeah... unless the Tshirt says SCOPE on the back.

13:05 / 07.04.04

There's a marked difference, however, between entertaining nonsense and the "I'm with stupid" t-shirt.

See, I don't actually agree with that.

13:08 / 07.04.04

Then I remembered that everyone else wasn't trying to be me but failing.

LOL!

13:09 / 07.04.04

If our IT department ever slow down enough to check our logged on time vs working time. I'm in biiiiigg trouble. Thank God for huge beauracracies.

13:11 / 07.04.04

P> How about an "I'm with stupid! Me! Me! ME! Look at me, everybody! I'M WITH STUPID!" t-shirt?

13:27 / 07.04.04

Great. Now I'll never enjoy another in-joke. Thanks a lot, Doop!

14:22 / 07.04.04

/As the pesky discordian I am

Bullshit makes the flowers grow. And thats beautiful

/As the pesky discordian I am

14:31 / 07.04.04

ah, but put too much manure on the garden and it smothers all the pretty flowers with interesting points to make about social darwinism and your garden will smell like shit.

14:53 / 07.04.04

Really?

17:18 / 07.04.04

ERD> Well, I was originally throwing out just one idea about what might be behind nonsense. So it doesn't cover all scenarios. What I didn't agree with was that there's a "marked" difference between kinds of nonsense. If I may play on words, where is it marked? I sort of believe in meaning clouds, you know? Perhaps at the center of the cloud is the thing itself --e.g., my cat. That is definitely a cat. (He agrees.) I mean, I definitely think that there is such a thing as stupid attention-getting. But I could never define that thing, I don't know where its boundaries lie... how outre is it for me to bump this thread? How stupid is it for me to talk about my cat?

17:26 / 07.04.04

I'm with you, Persephone!

Less searchable M0rd4nt

17:37 / 07.04.04

I dunno... I have a pretty high tolerance for random absurdity. I like the fact that every so often the Conversation will just erupt into discussions of how amazing one's penis is or whatever. I don't mind "Lookit MEEE!" threads either. Those can be fun too.

What I don't like is pomposity: "Look! I am being ABSURD! I shatter your reality tunnel with the QUANTUM GENIUS of my FRACTAL UNIVERSE!" Not saying that the LARPing dischordian thread is all completely pompous and things, but I definatly caught a whiff of that. It's irksome and condescending.

Page: (1)2