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

Underground > Conversation >

Is Barbelith Dying?

Page: (1)2

12:31 / 18.11.02

Ha! Got you! But before you cool your jets and smooth those hackles, what other thread titles really get your blood pumping and have you formulating your response even before you've opened up the thread?

Goodness Gracious Meme

13:10 / 18.11.02

Ooh. Good question. (NOTE:not saying these are justified at *all*)

Anything with 'PC'/'political correctness' in it.

Anything that smacks of middle class, educated, well-off white male guilt - often takes the form of topics pointing out how much easier it is for women/ethnic minorities/queers/etc to get heard- will try and think of an eg.

Anything with Terry Pratchett in the title. Ugh

13:12 / 18.11.02

"Why don't you guys ever DO anything?"

13:14 / 18.11.02

Hehe.

No titles have wound me up yet, except possibly "NASA writing book to 'prove' moon landing took place...". Those quote marks around the verb were like a red rag to a bull.

Generally, they're all so succinct you have to read the posts to find out what they're about.

Alos, I rarely visit Magick. :-)

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:03 / 18.11.02

'Hi, I'm new!'

So, you've just joined the board, and of the all the many discussiosn you could have joined, none appealed to you as much as a thread about yourself in which total strangers offer validation without any evidence that you deserve it?

14:08 / 18.11.02

Um, Flyboy, go and read the post I just stuck on Haus's companion thread. Before I read your post.

14:11 / 18.11.02

Ha ha ha, I'm with Flyboy. Whenever I see the "Hi I'm new" thread I wonder to myself what makes someone post about themselves right away rather than quietly joining a few existing threads and going from there. I figured maybe these people are just more outgoing and confident, like someone at a party who goes around introducing themselves to everyone and giving a synopsis of their life. It's something I find myself wondering about after I've logged off.

The Natural Way

14:15 / 18.11.02

Has anyone considered the millions of reasons why someone might assume it's more appropriate to introduce themselves before they start posting properly (apart from being a useless, vain git)? No? Goooood.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:33 / 18.11.02

That's an interesting one - vide the fella who recently did a lengthy introduction thread because he assumed that if he did not he would be shot down in flames on whatever thread he jumped into....

The Natural Way

14:37 / 18.11.02

S'what made me think of it. Seemed a bit paranoid and silly, but, y'know, hardly cockish.

14:39 / 18.11.02

If you fellas weren't so cliquey you might realise that on a lot of boards, it's the standard thing to do... jeez.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:44 / 18.11.02

Yeah, well, exactly.

It may seem cruel but it's the only way they'll learn. Spare the snark, spoil the board.

Murray Hamhandler

14:46 / 18.11.02

Right. I would think that it's quite difficult to pin down the standard on a board one hasn't been on long. Who here hasn't made an awkward first impression at some point? Honestly, though, I would expect that, for every person that posts an intro thread right off the bat, there's probably fifty lurkers who don't say a word for months after they've been here. So it's a minor problem, really.

14:53 / 18.11.02

A while back I started a thread so that lurkers could break their Barbelith duck and make their first awkward post there. And did any fucker take advantage?

No.

15:20 / 18.11.02

So this place is quiet all day and it only takes this thread for a flurry of activity to begin?

That's a bit annoying. And yes, I'm as much to blame as well - I've got two or three threads I'm waiting to kick off when I have time to write them properly... but still. That's a bit annoying in itself.

15:24 / 18.11.02

So this place is quiet all day and it only takes this thread for a flurry of activity to begin?

Ah, but it was a very cunning title. And it's about Barbelith's favourite topic, too.

16:18 / 18.11.02

hi my names toksik and i'd just like to introduce myself in the form of some of my favourite and least favourite threads!!

i like:
talking about things i read in grant morrison comics.
talking about girls.
talking about things that make other people feel sick.
talking about words and books.
talking about myself, and how tremendously large my penis is.
talking about religion, and trying to find a solution to it.

i dont like:
threads about your day.
talkng about my day, unless something PARTICULARLY funny happened.
talking homophobic nonsense. unless its about people who play rugby.
talking rascist nonsense, unless its funny. or about the americans, who deny their existenc as a race anyway. besides, point two usually qualifies for point three.
talking about not being good enough for anything(and i do mean ANYTHING) on account of some already formed opinion.
talking about threads.

16:21 / 18.11.02

ps
i also want to state that joke threads, especially satire, REALLY REALLY REALLY fuck me off.

16:36 / 18.11.02

Anything that smacks of middle class, educated, well-off white male guilt

Well, that's me well 'n' truly fucked then.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

16:47 / 18.11.02

Don't see why the "Hi, I'm new!" thread is deemed wanky. Many other boards have a specific forum so that people can tell you who they are and what they're into. I think it's a good idea.

Whay is it wrong to introdue yourself?

16:50 / 18.11.02

Nnh. Deeds, not words. Let us know you by the trail of dead.

17:05 / 18.11.02

Ah, but it was a very cunning title. And it's about Barbelith's favourite topic, too.

My point exactly. People are jumping onto "favourite titles" and not doing much else, rather than going "hmn. usual stomping ground boring. let's try another forum!". It's just sad we can sit around doing nothing until someone says "are we dying?" and a unanimmous "NO!" goes up.

Introduction threads: hmn, hate them. I mean, they're not wanky, certainly the wrong adjective. But so much of what people say in them is going to emerge pretty quickly if they start posting here. And though Barbelith is a community of sorts, it's a community that it one fits into (I'd guess, anyhow) from going about one's business and doing what other people do, not by saying "Hi! I'm a member of the community now!" Are you? Prove it. Post. Question. Etc.

Not meaning to be vitriolic, incidentally, folks.

17:13 / 18.11.02

Nah, I like intro threads... as long as they're fun.

17:34 / 18.11.02

Has anyone else noticed how introduction threads are generally started by individuals who never go on to post in another thread? Most recent examples: cyclepathgirl and that guy who went "Hi! Check out my board!", got slated for using this place as free advertising, assured everyone that he had actually joined up here to take part in discussion, then disappeared.

Although, from their own posts in their "Hello!" threads, I guess that we're not exactly worse off for them not being here...

Less searchable M0rd4nt

17:42 / 18.11.02

This is wierd. I mean, yes, we're arguably a community and all, but most boards don't look at themselves that way. Some boards request that you introduce yourself when you sign up; maybe the Hi-there brigade started out on a board like that? And the guy who was plugging his board was about 14 years old-- he was probably just ignorant of the applicable Nettiqute. That might well have been his first post anywhere, let alone on the 'Lith.

I think there's getting to be a real problem with the fact that a lot of us only post here, and simply don't realise that other boards, newsgroups, communities, etc., have different cultures. We risk becoming chauvinistic.

17:48 / 18.11.02

Maybe just tell people "No need to introduce yourself - just dive in and post" somewhere in the sign-up process. Friendly like.

I did a "hello" thread. That was what they taught us at my college.

18:03 / 18.11.02

Had to rush off for a sec - never got to finish off my post. What I was going to add was that there's probably a very good reason why some "Hello" thread starters hardly ever post again, and that's the fact that they tend to get jumped on.

Anyway, if you want a real teeth-grinder, I'm of the opinion that "I'm back" threads are far worse. They tend to end up one of three ways - either the person who's come back reappears for that thread and that thread only, disappearing again soon after, they were gone for all of two weeks, or nobody noticed they were missing in the first place. If you're back, you're back. If stuff's happened that you want people to know about, it's an entirely different matter, but simple "Hi! What's been happening while I've been away?" threads are... well, dump, really.

Threads like this very one are also iffy (yes, I'm a hypocrite), in that they just make us more self-centred as a board and inevitably lead to scratching and hair-pulling.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:23 / 18.11.02

I did a "hello" thread.

I didn't. Everyone thought I was a bloke for the first two months. That'll teach me.

18:24 / 18.11.02

Hold on a sec.

I think there's getting to be a real problem with the fact that a lot of us only post here, and simply don't realise that other boards, newsgroups, communities, etc., have different cultures. We risk becoming chauvinistic.

Other boards, newsgroups, communities, etc., have different cultures? Surely other boards, newsgroups, communities, etc., (just like Barbelith itself) are different cultures?

Isn't that the point? That we're all different? Some boards are very personal, some very impersonal. This one is... neither, and we're not discussing "what Barbelith is" again.

18:28 / 18.11.02

I didn't. Everyone thought I was a bloke for the first two months. That'll teach me.

It's not your fault. Clearly, what we need are gender-differentiated versions of the first person singular personal pronoun.

18:36 / 18.11.02

Everyone thought I was a bloke for the first two months.

Wait - Mordant's a girl? Does that mean Lurid's a lesbian?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:41 / 18.11.02

Only on Thursdays.

18:49 / 18.11.02

It's not your fault. Clearly, what we need are gender-differentiated versions of the first person singular personal pronoun.

Gender-differentiated pronouns? It'll never catch on.

19:11 / 18.11.02

I propose that henceforth I be replaced!

The blokes shall all refer to themselves as Oi, like jolly cockerneys: Oi loikes the looks o' that, oo-er.

The ladeeeeeeez, on the other hand, shall emulate genteel Southern belles and call themselves Ah, as in Ah declare, it's dreadfully hot in heah.

or vice-versa. Ah'm not picky.

19:18 / 18.11.02

But what about the rest of us, Jack?

Page: (1)2