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Message Board Psychosis

VonKobra,Scuttling&Slithering

13:37 / 12.06.04

I've recently gone back to an old message board I used to post on. Turns out that the person I used to have the most problems with is now quite the nicey nice. We've become quite good pals. Problem is, this bloke is now out to slander me at every opportunity because this woman and I are getting on so well. Now, I'm sure it's a jealousy thing. I accept that. Boys&Girls, etc. I didn't intend anything like this to happen.

Thing is:

The feeling that I get more and more from boards are that they're there(and this is in particular with American based boards for some reason)so people can slag each other off wittily. There seems to be no place for constructive thought, or even reflection on the good things. Or even having a bit of FUN. If fun isn't telling each other you're FAGS or to EAT SHIT in one of a thousand ways, then you're BRINGING THE PLACE DOWN. And I DON'T subscribe this to the relative ages of the people involved.

The Internet, for me, has been a really healthy way to get my demons out, be constructive in a wordsmithing sense, meet great people, etc. My friend Millie on her board has an alter ego called Appendy Shitehouse who continually posts OMG LOL !ROFLMAO111 type crap, it's quite funny. But people are becoming more and more ONE-LINER KINGS&QUEENS it seems to me.

And these communities closing ranks on outsiders who bring something different to their boards? I dunno. It's a shitfight out there.

Seriously, could you ever HATE someone you've never MET?

I just don't understand.

22:50 / 12.06.04

I don't know. How could you like someone you've never met?

03:00 / 13.06.04

May I dirct your attention, if you are not already familiar with it, to John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory?
John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory

15:28 / 13.06.04

I think maybe the root of this is that a lot of people are generally angry, twisted types who like to argue and hurl insults at people, but doing so in real life tends to be somewhat antisocial, messy and uncomfortable, whereas doing it online is dead easy and doesn't involve having to deal with other people's reciprical hostility face to face - eg. on a messageboard you can dish it out to your heart's content, and not be forced to face up to the consequences..

07:44 / 14.06.04

Well, I don't go on a lot of message boards - only this one and one other, so I don't have the most rounded view, but it tends to confirm what I think of people generally - the vast majority of people are okay, nice and reasonable, if given to be a little stroppy at times, especially when challenged. Only one person per hundred or so is a destructive anti-social fuckwad. That's a ratio I'm happy with.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

08:35 / 14.06.04

Lord Morgue's link is fairly on the money there. I spent some five or six years up to Summer last year on newsgroups and by the end and, though to an outsider I was probably as bad as anyone else I despaired at the poor level of communication that went on there, so when circumstances arose to stop me using them for a few weeks, I suddenly realised how much better I felt and haven't gone back.

As soon as arguments start out there it becomes all about the ego, the politics groups post 11/9/01 became very strange places. I think in a way it accounts for the rise of the blog, even if you allow comments primarily the blog is you putting the world to rights and the two-way communication is not the same. I do think that Barbelith is slightly different to that but being in the middle of it as I am it's difficult to tell whether someone new to it all would agree.

"I miss that we don't talk any more."

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:19 / 14.06.04

doing it online is dead easy and doesn't involve having to deal with other people's reciprical hostility face to face

Good ol' Rizla's put it far better than I would have. (If anyone's interested, I was gonna say "you can call someone a cunt and they can't twat you")

I actually have very little experience with message boards, newsgroups and all that malarkey. Pretty much my entire online community experience has been here, and it seems okay to me. Though from what I hear (generally on here) about other places, VK sounds about right.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:38 / 14.06.04

Oh, and Morgue's link is bang on the fucking money. Makes me think of the valleys...

01:13 / 17.06.04

I'm with Rizla too, especially this part :

eg. on a messageboard you can dish it out to your heart's content, and not be forced to face up to the consequences..

That Internet Fuckwad Theory really made me laugh aswell, i agree with it.

Nah i'm still laughing at that, that was classic.

*shitcock!*

Geez, makes me glad i nipped my own alter ego problems in the bud not so long back.

AHEM........

01:17 / 17.06.04

WOW am i GLAD we can't search for posts by username here.....

02:15 / 17.06.04

You know, this right here is why I signed onto Barbelith in the first place. I'd checked out a few other message boards, and they were infested with antisocial twits. I came here and everyone was so civilized... I fell in love immediately. Of course, the second I did there was a spate of "old posters suck/new posters suck" threads...

Nice and calm now, though.

VonKobra,Scuttling&Slithering

05:24 / 17.06.04

Yeah, I like this place... it reminds me of a Victorian Travellers' Club or something.

Without Blunderbii.

And obviously with a better Cold Salad Section.

06:45 / 17.06.04

Lord Morgue and Rizla are absolutely right. The reason these things happen is because one cannot be punched through a wire....

15:24 / 17.06.04

WOW am i GLAD we can't search for posts by username here.....

You used to be able to. I wonder why that was changed...

If you type site:www.barbelith.com followed by the fictionsuit into google, you can see all the topics started by that person (I only found this out recently).

It's a bit more difficult with individual messages. You just have to check the board regularly and you could maybe create a little spreadsheet that lists the number of topics and messages posted by that person plus the last message they posted - that way you can track them quite easily. After a while you will get a feel for the type of topics they are likely to contribute to and at what time of the day they tend to be on the internet etc etc.

I would never do this of course.

I'm gonna go and hide in a corner.