Shoulder-tapping and hate communities vs discussion forums

[eMTe]

This is the exact copy of my topic from blackdiam. I sometimes switch my activity between various forums, so my evening ramblings land in unusual places.

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Ive been browsing Facebook from time to time and I even have an account there to contact some people who suddenly stopped using other sites (huh) and there are no other means of contacting them. And I really dont like this site. It is messy and hard to navigate, but most of all, it's brainless. It creates what I call a shoulder-tapping community, where you make false, virtual friends and have fun (I havent been sober for a week, here are photos from my party, buuurp, now show me yours) for sole sake of making friends and having fun. No brains required.

On the other side (in fact on the same side) are hate communities like YouTube. Place which was planned as simple video sharing website created one of the biggest source of unmoderated racist, fascist, animal-cruelty, life-threatening and whatever-you-can-think-of commentaries (and videos), usually made by young people who dont quite understand what and why they talk about.

Common denominator? Lack of discussion. Lack of information sharing. Lack of opponent understanding. Lack of thoughts exchange. You either hate somebody (YT) or love him (FB). For no apparent reason or simply no reason. Emotions, empty expectations and biases rule. No greyscale allowed.

Ive been to Aphex Twin concert in autumn and one of the recurring motifs in videos was happy colourful teddy bear faces and run-of-the-mill web smileys slowly turning into crazy, mad face of a psychopath. Looks like Im not the only one seeing this. Cutiness, empty fun, madness and evil seem to like each other.

Now on the very other hand there are websites which promote mind-provoking discussions and seem to not like Teenage Mutant Cutiness too much...

[Chroelle]

I stopped using Facebook for other than an online phonebook months ago because of that very same feeling. My wife told me that she was wondering why I hadn't written anything on Facebook for a while, and told me that she always checked my site before logging out... I cant help but think it would have been easier to just ask me... Most likely I was in the very next room wondering when she was done with the PC so I could get back to CWF...
Some of my REAL friends and I call acquaintances (propably misspelled) facebook-friends now, as a term. This means people you might or might not remember names of, and propably faintly remember talking to at some point, but nonetheless decide to call your friend on Facebook.
One good thing about Facebook however is the very common use of getting back in touch wiht old classmates etc, and it has as such already sparked two reunion-parties in my life. So that is great!

[Pater Alf]

I don't like social networks like facebook as well and I refuse to become a member of any of them (even if several people invited me in the past). And mostly because of the same reasons then you. I mean what's the use of hundreds of virtual friends who tell each other how great they are??? That's so stupid that I even thought about creating a non-social network where you can become a member, upload photos, open messageboards etc. for nobody to see it (there would also be buttons to not invite people or not become friend with someone). Would be probably more a piece of art than of any real use and I'm not sure a friend of mine (who has the technical knowledge) will set it up for me, but I still like the idea...

About YouTube: I've never regarded it as a place of hate, but I agree that it should be stronger moderated or supervised to ban certain videos as well as copyrighted material (yes, I still believe in the use of copyright).

[Chroelle]

Youtube is certainly quickly spiralling into a place where you can watch copyrightet material and people getting hurt. It is seldom that I get a link from someone and it is not a "Whoooaaa, take a look at how funny this guy looks when he gets his nuts grinded by a drunk motorcyclist" (or something).

[SFault]

Hehehehehheh....

Currently I am writing an article about the value of social media services (DL tomorrow). There are several different elements that appeal the users on these services. Some like to have respect, others want to have acceptance from the community. Some find it creative (eg. this post), some find it way to build identity.

[eMTe]

One thing I especially hate about YouTube is that they dont react to reports. Ive discovered literally hundreds of videos promoting violence, showing violence (mostly animal cruelty), videos promoting racism, fascism and others and reported them, but seems reports from a single person dont ahve an impact. I was successful once. When Ive discovered video about so-called pigsticking. Basically, you have to live in USA, possibly in southern-midwest areas and have a farm, then you take one young pig, gather friends + yours and their kids, then stab the little pig into one of internal organ, but shallow enough to let it die only after several minutes and watch laughing like it runs in circles and squeaks in agony. Kids laugh especially loud. I threatened the guy with legal action against him (impossible to do from here probably and not worth) and he probably didnt check that Im not from the US, so he just removed the video and sent me pm full of swearwords and threats. Seems this is the only way you can have influence on such portals, because people who run them, together with (probably) small crew are not particualrly interested in lawful actions, not to say promoting values.

Not sure if it applies to Facebook also, but it seems to be a rather quiet place, just stripped off of any interaction depth.