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I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

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Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#71

Post by ALittleLight »

If I saw what the picture purports to show, a hipster in the park typing on a typewriter, I might smirk or roll my eyes or something if I did anything at all. However, if you want attention commenting on a post on reddit, or anywhere, you can't just say "There's a chance I'd subtly roll my eyes at this" - you have to go more extreme. In the same way that BuzzFeed described the picture as one that would make you "Black out with rage" you've got to go from "10% chance of smirk" to "I will smash this hipster-doofus's typewriter."

A lot of stuff in internet comments is stuff that would absolutely never happen in real life. If you saw a hipster on a typewriter and a crowd of people bullying him in real life, it would be absolutely clear which behavior was worse. Plus, none of those people in real life would actually do any of the extreme things they write about in internet comments.

The whole thing makes me imagine a forum of the future. Maybe it's more like a physical forum or park in virtual reality. There's a story at the center and radiating out from it are avatars that have been left behind by commenters. The avatars would be run by an AI that has been briefed on what point the commenter wanted to make. Other users, using the forum live, could wander through the park and interact with the deposited avatars or one another. Bringing some elements of reality to the forum experience - i.e. making it look like you are in a public space and interacting with people, may also bring in some elements of civility that we enjoy in reality and not online.

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#72

Post by ergot_vacation »

ALittleLight wrote: post #71

If I saw what the picture purports to show, a hipster in the park typing on a typewriter, I might smirk or roll my eyes or something if I did anything at all. However, if you want attention commenting on a post on reddit, or anywhere, you can't just say "There's a chance I'd subtly roll my eyes at this" - you have to go more extreme. In the same way that BuzzFeed described the picture as one that would make you "Blac…

IE the Greater Internet Fuckwad theory (https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19). The bitter irony is that originally, mods and admins on forums did what they could to contain this kind of behavior. Now it's actively encouraged because rage means engagement, and engagement means more ad revenue.

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#73

Post by Bodell »

I’m not sure I understand why people would violently react to a picture of a typewriter. If these same people saw a young kind with an original game boy would the urge be to punch them. Nor do I see how it’s ironic. The only real irony being that people who are striving for online attention are enraged when perceiving someone else as trying to get attention. It’s seems anytime I hear or read the word “ironic” it’s used in some novel way and is impossible to get a read on what it means in any given context.

“Hipster”, “ironic” and “pretentious” seem all to be very slippery words that are really just a judgements of how “normal” or not something is. It smacks of assimilate or die. Which are typically a projection of how little that person values their own life and how easily shaken they are by someone not make if their same choices. It’s no real wonder to me that a hyper-competitive culture would bring about this sort of behavior though.

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#74

Post by ergot_vacation »

Brendinooo wrote: post #19

I don't know if there's a named maxim for this phenomenon, but something I learned on Twitter is that everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith. This can be done on purpose, or it just happens because there's not enough shared context to connect how you read something to what the other person was trying to say. (Also, while a picture still says 1000 words, I've never had less faith in the veracity of those w…

Not only CAN it be interpreted in bad faith, but users are ENCOURAGED to do so, because that makes people angry, and people stay on the site and keep clicking longer if they're angry.

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#75

Post by naravara »

ergot_vacation wrote: post #72
ALittleLight wrote: post #71

If I saw what the picture purports to show, a hipster in the park typing on a typewriter, I might smirk or roll my eyes or something if I did anything at all. However, if you want attention commenting on a post on reddit, or anywhere, you can't just say "There's a chance I'd subtly roll my eyes at this" - you have to go more extreme. In the same way that BuzzFeed described the picture as one that would make you "Blac…

IE the Greater Internet Fuckwad theory ( https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 ). The bitter irony is that originally, mods and admins on forums did what they could to contain this kind of behavior. Now it's actively encouraged because rage means engagement, and engagement means more ad revenue.

Honestly, with Twitter and Facebook actually being more noxious than anonymous forums like Reddit or HN, I'm not so sure that anonymity is the driver.

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#76

Post by sjclemmy »

MarcScott wrote: post #68

I once had a blog post go a little bit viral on HN, Reddit, Twitter etc, years ago. At first I was really worried about the negative comments, and tried to justify myself or make corrections. After 24 hours I was so numbed to it all, that I began to find the negative comments amusing. One Reddit commenter called me a "Incompetent fuckbucket" and I enjoyed that phrase so much that I ended up screen capping it and usin…

That chimes with my experience. Back in 2009 my (then) 9 year old son made a few stop frame lego movies and we posted them on YouTube. Some of the comments were really mean. I remember being surprised by the response but found it quite amusing. We still joke about our favourite comment: “You’re an embarrassment to the stop motion community”

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#77

Post by dalbasal »

Brendinooo wrote: post #19

I don't know if there's a named maxim for this phenomenon, but something I learned on Twitter is that everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith. This can be done on purpose, or it just happens because there's not enough shared context to connect how you read something to what the other person was trying to say. (Also, while a picture still says 1000 words, I've never had less faith in the veracity of those w…

>>everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith.

You're only saying that to absolve yourself from understanding that people's criticism of whatever stupid or evil thing you're into is valid.

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#78

Post by Brendinooo »

dalbasal wrote: post #77
Brendinooo wrote: post #19

I don't know if there's a named maxim for this phenomenon, but something I learned on Twitter is that everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith. This can be done on purpose, or it just happens because there's not enough shared context to connect how you read something to what the other person was trying to say. (Also, while a picture still says 1000 words, I've never had less faith in the veracity of those w…

>>everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith. You're only saying that to absolve yourself from understanding that people's criticism of whatever stupid or evil thing you're into is valid.

Well done, I think.

Now I'm reminded of Poe's Law...

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#79

Post by frankosaurus »

Brendinooo wrote: post #19

I don't know if there's a named maxim for this phenomenon, but something I learned on Twitter is that everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith. This can be done on purpose, or it just happens because there's not enough shared context to connect how you read something to what the other person was trying to say. (Also, while a picture still says 1000 words, I've never had less faith in the veracity of those w…

Intentional misunderstanding is a time-honored technique for getting people to talk. If the target is an engineer, it's a form of nerd sniping. https://xkcd.com/356/

PUA "gurus" sometimes suggest this as a flirting technique.

Re: I am an object of internet ridicule, ask me anything (2013)

#80

Post by dalbasal »

Brendinooo wrote: post #78
dalbasal wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith. You're only saying that to absolve yourself from understanding that people's criticism of whatever stupid or evil thing you're into is valid.

Well done, I think. Now I'm reminded of Poe's Law...

No, no. That was serious. ;)
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