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Penny Arcade - Comic - Vox Something Or Other

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  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited October 2015
    Just as a counterpoint, my girlfriend spends a large portion of her time on the internet reading the comments of one of her favorite blogs. So everyone does something differently. There is room on the internet for everyone to try different things.

    I understand the humor angle of mocking Motherboard for their decision (much like the YA Dystopian Novel twitter or Florida Man twitter feed), and I laugh with them. But I feel that it's good for folks to try something different if what they are doing now isn't working for them.

    Hahnsoo1 on
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  • EupfhoriaEupfhoria Registered User regular
    so, what would you suggest, for what I'm talking about? Which specific type of social media would be a best fit, keeping in mind that as you said not everyone is a web designer and I sure as hell fall into that group

    (after all, I got my degree because I wanted to go out in the desert, dig holes, find cool stuff, and write papers on what/when/why that stuff is all about)

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  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    Eupfhoria wrote: »
    so, what would you suggest, for what I'm talking about? Which specific type of social media would be a best fit, keeping in mind that as you said not everyone is a web designer and I sure as hell fall into that group

    (after all, I got my degree because I wanted to go out in the desert, dig holes, find cool stuff, and write papers on what/when/why that stuff is all about)
    I think there are more examples of how NOT to do it, actually. The signal amplification of social media, for example, can lead to horrendous results and backfire badly. #McDStories or #RaceTogether on Twitter, for example. The conversation may have moved there, but that has its own set of problems. Again, in 10 years, it'll be something new and different and we'll probably complain about it then.

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  • EupfhoriaEupfhoria Registered User regular
    edited October 2015
    I think a key aspect of why the internet is failing as a mode for meaningful human communication is because no one likes to admit being wrong, which is compounded by the theoretically global audience not to mention plenty of other other factors (the whole 'having to admit that everything you know about the universe might be wrong', for instance... :D )

    fuck it, maybe I should just start on a book, huh? I'm imagining Cosmos (or The Demon Haunted World? I'm no astro-physicist and shouldn't pretend otherwise) but with more politics and a George Carlin-esque sense of humor

    Eupfhoria on
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  • LinktmLinktm Registered User regular
    I was going to belatedly read the comments, but... nah, I'll just pretend they don't exist. Y'know, in spirit of the comic and all.

  • Hargaad of OmnarHargaad of Omnar New Badges? Fucking BOSS!Registered User regular
    Eupfhoria wrote: »
    ... a graduate student anthropologist who did not believe in human evolution, climate change, or the moon landing...

    Are you insisting that we entertain the goosey notion that they're not right?

    Star Wars (2 separate links)
    Yelling at butts will never NOT be funny. Thanks, Psy!
    Also, Abby is awesome. Keep up with TLH because it's the tits!

    I love League of Legends, but seriously...screw you, Teemo.
  • doomybeardoomybear Hi People Registered User regular
    In case anyone is interested, here is the letters to the editor publishing thingy that Motherboard did.

    what a happy day it is
  • Hargaad of OmnarHargaad of Omnar New Badges? Fucking BOSS!Registered User regular
    doomybear wrote: »
    In case anyone is interested, here is the letters to the editor publishing thingy that Motherboard did.
    "... fond memories of reading letters to the editor in BMX magazines as a kid; I always read them in the magazines I subscribe to."
    Yeah...we all read the "articles" of "the magazines"...

    Star Wars (2 separate links)
    Yelling at butts will never NOT be funny. Thanks, Psy!
    Also, Abby is awesome. Keep up with TLH because it's the tits!

    I love League of Legends, but seriously...screw you, Teemo.
  • Plastic BoxPlastic Box Registered User regular
    Here's something I don't imagine has come up before: a few people, over the last 5? pages or so, have suggested emailing will act as a natural filter to the worst of lowest-common-demominator discussion. In response I'd like to present my university's student magazine, which primarily uses email for its feedback (and I've made a few incredibly minor contributions, so I get to claim my 'experience' in the 'field'); it's traditionally had a 'letters to the editor' section filled with irreverent banter, but at some point the culture got killed off, and when it revived half a year later it did so with a very serious tone. Let's look at some of the highlights of this enlightening dialogue:

    • Two people arguing exclusively to each other about abortion for five weeks
    • A flurry of anti-feminist sentiment whenever a feminist writes a column
    • One guy who sends in pages' worth on every topic the magazine has covered, that week (not a sin in itself, but the wall of text comes off as shockingly self-important)
    • General disappointment at the direction of the magazine this year, notwithstanding that there is disappointment every year, and that the contribution process is essentially an open door

    Of course, it's by the hand of the editor whether any of this gets through, and this year's team is more fond of the amusement borne out of publishing everything than any standard of discourse. But the conclusion I've drawn is that the feedback doesn't get any better, when you remove self-publishing; it just gets longer and more pompous. Doomybear's link hasn't done much to dissuade me from this impression. You can cull as much of the worst parts as you like, but I don't think it'll be any less of a headache for the moderators, if that's where the issue lies.
    If anything, I read comments sections to feel a conversation. I love it, even when it's awful. Letters to the editor are too slow to foster the back-and-forth, and too often its writers are left to brew in this smug, unwarranted hostility I can't stand (see in the motherboard link: 'data transfer rate, not clock speed'). It feels stifled, to me. It's missing the subtleties that come with human communication.

    On the other hand, when I was fourteen my class took a visit into a parliamentary hearing, and all I remember was politicians unironically heckling each other and being constantly ordered to silence by the judge(?). I imagine ancient greece had the same problem. Sometimes you feel like there's no real answer, other than to cut off the entire world and live in a small untraceable hut the rest of your life.

  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    You can cull as much of the worst parts as you like, but I don't think it'll be any less of a headache for the moderators, if that's where the issue lies.

    I disagree with the conceit that refusing to publish rubbish is the same amount of work as having to scrub your website clean of rubbish every few minutes. The first one definitely takes less work, because worst case scenario you could just ignore the mailbox and yet none of the garbage gets on your website as vandalism, whereas if you ignore comments for a week you'll have a lot of cleaning to do later.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
  • Hargaad of OmnarHargaad of Omnar New Badges? Fucking BOSS!Registered User regular
    Cambiata wrote: »
    You can cull as much of the worst parts as you like, but I don't think it'll be any less of a headache for the moderators, if that's where the issue lies.

    I disagree with the conceit that refusing to publish rubbish is the same amount of work as having to scrub your website clean of rubbish every few minutes. The first one definitely takes less work, because worst case scenario you could just ignore the mailbox and yet none of the garbage gets on your website as vandalism, whereas if you ignore comments for a week you'll have a lot of cleaning to do later.

    I'm fine with narrowing comments down to a "Letters to the Editor" section.
    What's the worst that could happen? They talk shit on every letter like MAD Magazine does? Big whoop. It's published rubbish anyways.

    Star Wars (2 separate links)
    Yelling at butts will never NOT be funny. Thanks, Psy!
    Also, Abby is awesome. Keep up with TLH because it's the tits!

    I love League of Legends, but seriously...screw you, Teemo.
  • Plastic BoxPlastic Box Registered User regular
    edited October 2015
    Cambiata wrote: »
    conceit
    Haha aw! :(
    NVM, I Got Shown Who Is The Boss, thanks hahnsoo :razz:

    I guess I'm just speaking from my own feelings on seeing an inbox filled with nothing I want to deal with. That shit feels way more pressuring to me, than just leaving a trash pile outside to devolve into radioactive waste. I mean, I can understand why the latter is not preferable, when presenting your house to passersby. But I'm just envisioning the bile that accummulates by email, and maybe the team is too busy or tired to have to deal with it, that week; and all of a sudden the inbox is fraught with cobwebs and you're "suppressing free speech" just like they knew you would. At least with a comments section, everyone agrees that when it hits code blue, never read the comments section.

    I mean, you're all right, letters to the editor have functioned perfectly well for decades hahaa. Making up reasons to stick with what I'm used to (which is the pros and cons of internet communication; it's time for all of you to feel old).

    Plastic Box on
  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    Cambiata wrote: »
    conceit
    Haha aw! :(

    I guess I'm just speaking from my own feelings on seeing an inbox filled with nothing I want to deal with. That shit feels way more pressuring to me, than just leaving a trash pile outside to devolve into radioactive waste. I mean, I can understand why the latter is not preferable, when presenting your house to passersby. But I'm just envisioning the bile that accummulates by email, and maybe the team is too busy or tired to have to deal with it, that week; and all of a sudden the inbox is fraught with cobwebs and you're "suppressing free speech" just like they knew you would. At least with a comments section, everyone agrees that when it hits code blue, never read the comments section.

    I mean, you're all right, letters to the editor have functioned perfectly well for decades hahaa. Making up reasons to stick with what I'm used to (which is the pros and cons of internet communication; it's time for all of you to feel old).
    She was using a different meaning of conceit. A conceit in literature is a metaphor, not excessive pride.

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  • GaryPotterGaryPotter Registered User regular
    You guys are really getting much too hung up over a comic featuring a fat guy with blue hair.

    Like, seriously.

  • WordLustWordLust Fort Wayne, INRegistered User regular
    GaryPotter wrote: »
    You guys are really getting much too hung up over a comic featuring a fat guy with blue hair.

    Like, seriously.

    I'm sure everyone will stop now.

  • GoatmonGoatmon Companion of Kess Registered User regular
    edited October 2015
    If you're popular and write about... Anything truly controversial, such as politics or religion, there is basically no chance for your comment section to not be a total shit show. You can pay a bunch of moderators to get PTSD for your sake and restore a semblance of civility but not everyone can afford to do so. If you somehow find the time to do it yourself all of the abuse is likely to take a toll on your mental health. I don't - I can't - blame anyone for killing off their comment section.

    I know this comes late and nobody's really reading this thread anymore, but I wanted to respond to this. By and large, I think the comment sections on articles (especially hot button issues) don't really benefit the people who publish them very much in general. And for online authors who are sick of them, I understand the frustration. How can I not?

    But I don't go to a comment section to talk with them. They've already established their stance on whatever the subject may be.

    If I want to talk to them, private messages and emails and twitter all work just fine for that purpose. I go to a comment section to see how other people feel about an issue. For better or worse, I want to see what they think.

    Yes, comment sections tend to have lots of crap in them. Especially ones relating to social progression issues. But with hot topics, I don't go into comment sections to participate in a circle jerk of agreements with people who already understand the problems being discussed. I go to talk with the people who don't. I appreciate when I meet someone new who shares my views, but they're a tangential bonus.

    But not everyone is able to shrug off obnoxious shit the way I do. So if an author says that that moderating their comments is too much work for them, I 100% support their decision to turn it off.

    But if someone comes out, like Motherboard did, with quotes like this?
    We all highly value solid discussion of our reporting and opinions, because it's a crucial way we get better

    And this is context of forcing people who want to have those discussions to redirect their energy into personal emails that you get to hand pick? Or go through websites like facebook that largely mean their views will mostly just be seen by people who probably already agree with them? Or through twitter where, in addition to being only really seen by people who like what they say anyway but also limited to having discussions based around small standalone sentences?

    Then I'm going to say you're full of shit.

    Don't try to tell me that it's better for everyone.

    Goatmon on
    Switch Friend Code: SW-6680-6709-4204


  • gekkobeargekkobear Registered User regular
    You don’t have to have comments on in order to be a good person. I don’t have comments on my posts, for example, and I’m an incredible person.

    If you want to be a "good person" you should have a place where I can comment on your statements about not leaving comments.
    Perhaps a forum section where people can leave commentary related to your discussion?
    That seems like it would be workable. Maybe have one of those.

  • trident042trident042 Registered User regular
    I feel like if I'm already signed in, and am passing through on my return trip to present day Penny Arcade, I would be remiss not to stop here and at least leave my mark to indicate my appreciation for the place in which I may do so.

    This signature now left intentionally blank.
  • KasaixKasaix Registered User regular
    I've read this strip so many times, and it's always a good read.

  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    Oh my God, Tube, I had no idea. I am so sorry.

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