Things That Are on Your Mind

[CynicalSquid]

I feel like people are starting to become done with me
edit: that was a little cryptic. My roommate and our friends are just not talking to me anymore and they keep doing **** without me.

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

I had this quite interesting discussion with a friend recently about communities, and a binary discussion about a community where everyone is different vs a community where everyone is the same.

I'd think that a community where everyone is the same is a preferable one, since you're with your peers, you all have basically everything in common, there's a sense of proximity. But I've also experienced lot of bad feelings and ill behavior in such communities I've been part of, like .. since everyone is the same, I've experienced a lot of hostility towards 'those people' and a very us vs them mentality, there's an echo chamber regarding opinions that gets reiterated time and time again and if you're slightly different - like I usually am - you can get flacked for your differences since you don't fit the mold or the norm.

Now, I find the resetera vs neogaf situation pretty interesting. For those who didn't know, they were once only neogaf, but after an incident in 2017, a LOT of people migrated and formed resetera, and now they have double the amount of the activity from gaf.

What resulted was that resetera is now very left wing oriented, and neogaf very right wing oriented. It's fascinating that you can go to a thread on era and be like 'I guess gaf thinks the exact opposite' and vice versa, and lo and behold. I don't like any of these places, (though I consider neogaf to be way, way, worse because of their lack of moderation, whereas resetera is almost over-moderated to a fault) but I still read them, even gaf, because I try to keep my friends close and my enemies closer to gain perspective.

In general, I've come to the conclusion that I actually prefer communities where everyone is varied from each other - there just is a lack of norms and molds that I find comforting, I get less flacked because I just can't 'stand out', since everyone is so unique in their own way and their own assemblies of opinions and beliefs, there's really nothing to stand out from. And as my friend said "in such communities, there is no 'us vs them' since there is no us and there is no them'.

I've had a number of discussions with friends recently about communities and the state of them online, the way things have changed, etc. What I find is that there's levels of homogeneity in most communities now, both at small and large levels. For lack of a better term a lot have truly become hiveminds in the sense that everyone conforms to such a high degree to norms and mores and the use of language is rather artificial. Particularly with the larger ones, and the kind of "faceless mob" communities of many big gaming sites/discords/whatever, it's like, there's no way to establish yourself or make deeper connections, so everything happens on a superficial level that kind of both breeds and necessitates an ever simpler use of language and sharing of ideas.

The conclusion I've basically come to is that a lot of these types of communities are more "information dumps" than anything else. It's a kind of data in, data out that's so routine and mechanistic that very little thought is actually given to the idea of "community". I definitely agree that varied communities tend to be better. Naturally, people involved in a community will have things in common and like a lot of the same things, but I feel a lot of it is the expression and interaction of people as well. A good community has individuals, not x amount of users. There's a prevalent idea that everything is just about growth and being as big as possible, until it doesn't even matter who the users are or if they come and go. A lot of communities have been killed by an algorithmic outlook on human interactions and I think that's what dominates so much of the internet today and why it feels so cold and dead and often hostile. It's increasingly becoming by machines for machines.

 

[LegendOfMeesh]

DUNKAROOS ARE COMING BACK!!!!

We can only hope that 3D Doritos will be next.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I'm looking for a Google Doc I wrote and its gone and I'm pretty sure I didn't delete it. :/ I kind of need to find it, lol, so yeah if I don't find it I have to re-write it but I don't really remember the content verbatim.

 

[Fraxinus]

I'm looking for a Google Doc I wrote and its gone and I'm pretty sure I didn't delete it. :/

Maybe you were signed into another account when you wrote it?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Maybe you were signed into another account when you wrote it?

I have only 2 google accounts, one for exclusively my school work and one for everything else. I could check to see if it's buried in my other account lol, fingers crossed I goofed where I wrote it!

 

[Fraxinus]

I have only 2 google accounts, one for exclusively my school work and one for everything else. I could check to see if it's buried in my other account lol, fingers crossed I goofed where I wrote it!

I hope you find it! Data loss is so stressful. Especially if it's something you worked hard on.

 

[Jimmu]

I’m at the gate waiting to board my Tokyo-bound flight. I had a pretty busy week so I didn’t start packing until the last minute - hopefully I didn’t forget anything. I can’t wait to get there and catch up with some friends I’ve been missing, some foods I’ve been craving, and some places I’ve been longing for.

 

[Fraxinus]

Have a safe flight @Jimmu <3

I just found a really good band. Getting serious Amaranthe vibes from it, but it's a lot more otherworldly and spiritual? Idk, it's really good. Binging now.

 

[*M i d n a*]

Chapter 2, that's what.

 

[Spirit]

My mind is swimming with so much stuff but I don't think I could articulate any of it very well.


Though... I know it's very early, but trying to get a sense of belonging here feels a bit far off.

 

[Doc]

Bojack got heavy really fast.

 

[Raven Storm]

The way class bores me a lot. Will I see it through I reckon. (hopefully I do)

 

[Sheikah_Witch]

Moving .. Got 3 replies today, two from scammers and one from someone who had a room to rent out but they have kids and dogs and idk if I'd feel comfortable living with so many people.

 

[Dizzi]

Moving .. Got 3 replies today, two from scammers and one from someone who had a room to rent out but they have kids and dogs and idk if I'd feel comfortable living with so many people.

Howd you tell theu were scammers??? And youve gotta feel comfortable with where youre living..