💾 Archived View for zaibatsu.circumlunar.space › ~visiblink › phlog › 20190411 captured on 2024-07-09 at 04:23:49.
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-03)
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What follows is a bit of a ramble. Pardon me. I don't feel like being that disciplined today. Recently, there was a bit of a dispute in a thread on the BBS at circumlunar.space. It was nothing serious (at least, I don't think it was) and I don't want to overstate the extent of the disagreement. I didn't initially read through the thread in question because heated disputes (even mildly heated ones) really don't interest or fascinate me. Then, since I wanted to write this phlog entry, I read through it. As with most such disputes, it ended up not piquing my interest. So the dispute is not the issue here. The reason for this phlog entry is to ruminate on some of the proposed solutions to the dispute, which involved discussion of downvoting, killfiles, hiding forum threads, and the like. In the end, the decision was not to implement those solutions, but it seems to me that the BBS lends itself to such solutions because it exhibits the problems typical of forums. It also seems to me that the upvoting/downvoting solution (which was to be combined with some sort of automated moderation) is in itself as much of a problem as the reactionary style of argumentation provoked by the instantaneous responses typical of a forum/bbs environment. I don't particularly care for upvoting/downvoting and I also find myself bothered by some of the intentionally confrontational and/or conflict-inciting behaviour that I see on internet forums. The simultaneous popularity contest/conflict-ridden atmosphere those behaviours produce bothers me enough that at one point, I even wrote a greasemonkey script to remove all of the upvote/downvote information on reddit. Then I just gave up and deleted my account, because even when you cannot see the votes, they impact the discourse. I also wasn't disciplined enough, and found myself turning off the greasemonkey script to figure out what was 'really going on' at times, which kind of defeated the purpose. I clearly need to learn more self control, but I'm getting old, and it seems like that won't happen. In addition, there's no way to screen out intentional provocations with a greasemonkey script (but seriously, if you know of a way...). When I come online, I want to read good content. I don't want people's views to be constrained by popularity and groupthink. Nor do I feel like reading the lightning attacks that often follow upon the legitimate expression of a person's opinion. Sometimes the most interesting and thoughtful analyses are far from popular (or socially 'safe' to express), but might encourage you and I to rethink our ingrained ideas if we take time to ponder them. I want to see those ideas. On the internet and in person, some of the most enlightening things that people have said to me involved them taking a risk, questioning common knowledge and received wisdom. These days, it is getting more difficult to do that, and people risk their reputations and careers if they depart from our social norms. The immediate, rapid responses of the BBS often serve as a surrogate for the upvote/downvote -- they replicate the instantaneous voting response in words. But, in fact, they can be worse. It's easy to fire off a response on the spur of (and in the heat of) the moment. I've seen it several times. It's not horrendous. I can handle it -- and I usually recognize a dispute developing and simply tune out. But I am not usually the target, because I'm not that adventurous. I'm quiet, internalize a lot, and intentionally avoid conflict. I suspect it is much worse for the person who is targeted in that manner -- and I am sure that it makes a lot of people just clam up. I came to the small internet because of gopher. I once referred to it as the slow food of the internet. It's good in part because it takes time (and often has the best ingredients!). That's probably not an original thought. But it's apt. Few people will ever dash off an irate or oversensitive phlog post. Most will take their time, consider the whole question, and respond thoughtfully. In fact, a few weeks ago, Solderpunk wrote a phlog entry on software licenses. My immediate response was ... absolutely wrong. I didn't fully understand the complexities of public domain vs. copyleft licensing. But since I was about to write (and 'publish') a phlog entry on the subject, I looked into the issue, realized I was wrong, and didn't write my intended response. Solderpunk didn't have to endure my ill-informed phlog, and I didn't have to embarrass myself (well, except for now). Win-win. My point (there is a point ... honest) is that I think certain forms of internet interaction foster both groupthink and conflict. Others moderate (but, of course, do not entirely eliminate) those possibilities. It's a strange facet of my personality that I thought that in becoming a user of circumlunar.space, it was incumbent upon me to participate in all aspects of the 'service.' But on reflection, it is obvious that there are only some aspects of the small internet that work for me. So I guess I probably won't be frequenting the BBS in the future, because it replicates the style of forum that I find problematic in general. It is possible for us to do on the small scale the very things that we fled on the Large Internet. I don't mean any offense whatsoever to anyone who enjoys the BBS (especially board 5, which is clearly the best one). We're all different. Most of you are obviously capable of making good use of the BBS and enjoy doing so. By the way, I was thinking that I should explain the long silences on my phlog. My work has a seasonal rhythm, and I'm just going through the busy part of the cycle. I'll be writing more often in the near future.