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I'm not deaf, I'm ignoring you.

 
 
Traz
15:17 / 19.04.02
Suddenly seized with the desire to find out how many of my fellow posters I could tune out at the same time, I began selecting people at random and hitting the "Ignore" button. I am now ignoring fifty Barbelithers, whose names shall remain unspoken. I may add more, or eat orange jelly beans. I haven't made up my mind.

The board has suddenly become hushed; browsing the threads is like walking down the aisles of a vast, echoing library, with only a handful of other people within earshot. It is peaceful, in an eerie, ruthlessly enforced sort of way.

Feel free to use this thread for anything at all; I'm unlikely to complain if I can't see what you're saying.

On the other hand, you could simply ignore this thread. That's what I'd do.
 
 
The Apple-Picker
15:20 / 19.04.02
I've not yet used The Button. Can you UN-ingnore people after you've ignored them? Or do you just have to wait for the week to be up?
 
 
w1rebaby
15:22 / 19.04.02
It would be interesting if you ignored everyone else. Then, it would be like having your own website.

When I say "interesting", I don't mean that in the classical sense of "interesting".
 
 
Tony Montana
15:23 / 19.04.02
THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THREAD I HAVE YET READ ON THIS BOARD

CAN YOU HEAR ME? MR JESUS MCBLANKALOT?
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
15:24 / 19.04.02
If you go back to their profile you can choose to unignore them. Possibly a no-backing out week's hiatus would make more sense, as my attempts to ignore the likes of the Artful Nodger, Jungle Bunny and Special Boy Potus have been broken on the rocks of "Oh, God, what the hell is he saying now?"....

Hello, Traz, if you can still hear me.
 
 
Spaids
15:33 / 19.04.02
I don't know you Traz and therefore don't really care if you've blocked me or not. I would, however, be interested in hearing any results or discoveries you gain on "the silent web". Ooh! Possible book/song title. Baggsy mine! No copyright infringment here!!
 
 
Tony Montana
15:35 / 19.04.02
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

LISTEN, I WONDER WHO'LL BE THE NEEDLE IN THIS HAYSTACK? IT'S LIKE A VIRTUAL LOTTERY!
 
 
Captain Zoom
15:38 / 19.04.02
Stop yelling. I'm so tired this morning I can almost hear it.

Zoom.
 
 
Tezcatlipoca
16:23 / 19.04.02
I'm ignoring nobody, and it suits me jus' fine.
 
 
Trijhaos
16:56 / 19.04.02
I'm not ignoring anybody. I like getting the full experience, even if that experience involves people who have problems with their capslock key.
 
 
ill tonic
19:24 / 19.04.02
Im with Tezcatlipoka and Trijhaos on this one, eh.
 
 
Ethan Hawke
19:28 / 19.04.02
I just read "Capslock key as Slapcock key which I now think is much better.
 
 
Spaids
19:30 / 19.04.02
Can we take that as an insight into your person and mindset? Are you in fact a one-track-gutter?
 
 
Tony Montana
21:47 / 19.04.02
I'm still keen on an ignore yourself button. One where you aren't even allowed to see what you're typing in the reply box, so that people will see how truly fucking stupid you are...
 
 
Ganesh
22:50 / 19.04.02
Or perhaps the opposite of an Ignore button, a Pay Me Attention button. I have Skinneresque visions of the Barbelith trolls sitting in darkened rooms repeatedly press-press-pressing, heedless of all else, until they starved to death.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
23:08 / 19.04.02
I don't "ignore" anyone. I don't NEED a button to ignore stuff for me. But then, I'm old-fashioned.
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
00:02 / 20.04.02
What you said, Maominstoat.
Arthur Sudnam, II
 
 
Traz
05:08 / 20.04.02
A few observations on the 'Kinder, Gentler, Quieter Barbelith':

1. The continuity of most threads isn't damanged at all by silencing half or more of the participants. These aren't dialogues; they're serial monologues. We are all disposable.

2. I have yet to see a brilliant new juxtaposition of words magically appear from this primitive version of Burroughs' cut-up technique, but I'm still hoping for something along the lines of:
 
 
Traz
05:12 / 20.04.02
3. The goddamn tab button doesn't tab over, it takes you to the "Post Reply," which will then post your half-finished essay if you're careless enough to press enter. Fuck. Ignore my previous post.
 
 
Ganesh
09:49 / 20.04.02
I don't actually NEED Barbelith. Or cable television. Or alcohol. Life's better with 'em, though.
 
 
Sax
10:50 / 20.04.02
You have cable television? Gosh.
 
 
Ganesh
10:53 / 20.04.02
Yeah, but I'm iggying it.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
11:06 / 20.04.02
And whaddaya mean, you don't NEED alcohol? It's a prerequisite for the watching of cable television.
 
 
Ganesh
11:55 / 20.04.02
Whaddaya mean, you don't NEED an Ignore button? It's a prerequisite for the ignoring of trolls.
 
 
Sax
14:14 / 20.04.02
Whaddaya mean, ignoring trolls? They're a pre-requisite for using the ignore button.
 
 
Traz
02:03 / 21.04.02
More observations:

4. We are all competing for the attention of everyone else. As the number of my competitors has dropped, I can feel my own sense of self-worth expanding to fill the apparently vacant niches in the "egology." Already, I have to fight the urge to post a breezy, blogsy, intimate account of how orange jelly beans are wonderful substitues for human company, despite their disastrous effects on the gastrointestinal tract.

5. Word associations: horse blinders; bio-dome; Self-Awaria; phallus-shaped ear-plugs; the entire goth subculture wearing white lab coats, holding clipboards and thoughtfully chewing on the erasers of #2 pencils.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
08:15 / 22.04.02
the entire goth subculture wearing white lab coats
Oh, puh-leeze. That whole ironic lab-coat thing is so over.
 
 
Baz Auckland
22:06 / 22.04.02
...but they are dead sexy...

...I said that out loud didn't I....
 
  
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