Pop Loser

Chris Poole at ROFLCon

Chris Poole saying interesting things about web culture at ROFLCon. (Part 2 and part 3.)

Film Criticism and Limited Cultural Discourse

What starts as a get-off-my-lawn-and-turn-down-your-loud-music complaint against the current state of film criticism actually ends up making some pretty notable points about how shallow the web is making us.

When a site’s goal is to satisfy the great sucking maw of the Internet with a constant feed of new items, sourced or unsourced, nothing is around long enough to make an impact. When perpetual turnover is the norm, the shallow, silly, and irrelevant rule.

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In many ways, the Web has been a disaster for democracy.

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The rigorous division of websites into narrow interests, the attempts of Amazon and Netflix to steer your next purchase based on what you’ve already bought, the ability of Web users to never encounter anything outside of their established political or cultural preferences, and the way technology enables advertisers to identify each potential market and direct advertising to it, all represent the triumph of cultural segregation that is the negation of democracy.

The Joys of Blocking People

Choire Sicha on the joys of blocking people on Twitter.

I know a guy, a serious reporter and a grown adult, who, when he finds out that people have unfollowed him, blocks each and every one of them permanently, as a matter of course. It’s genius! I don’t really know why he uses Twitter in this way, it’s not my cup of tea, but I think it’s terrific! Making people DEAD TO YOU is so important.

A few months ago I deleted Birdbrain from my phone and mostly stopped caring about Twitter. I’ve been much happier since. (Related: Also happier since I turned off blog comments here.) That being said, I now regret not going in the complete opposite direction as described above.

Five Internet Lies

Five internet lies.

I really wanna check out that article you were telling me about, where can I find it? You tweeted it? Okay, cool… wait what? How am I not following you anymore? That’s weird. I definitely didn’t unfollow you. Heh. I mean, why would I unfollow you, right? Odd… Twitter must’ve malfunctioned or something. Following you now!

Top Twenty Top Ten Commenters

The 20 unhappiest people you meet in the comments sections of year-end lists. [via]

6. The Read A Book Guy. “Not one of these movies is as good as reading a book.” On a list of books, by the way, he will say none of the books is as good as books used to be. He also hates Kindles, which he may or may not mention.

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10. Harry The Hipster-Hater, Who Really, Really Hates Hipsters. “This is all hipster music. I guess it’s okay for hipsters, but I’m not enough of a hipster to like hipster picks like this. Too bad I’m not hipster enough. Maybe I’d like it better if I were more of a hipster.” [His username: “notahipstersorry.”]

Bethlehem Shoals on the web world and personality seepage.

Multi-tasking was a lie, put on this earth to expire alongside stock options and supervisors who care. It’s a word that splits the difference between several planes of distraction while providing satisfying outcomes for none. I know this, and yet my idea of work is tackling five to ten things at once. Chats, email exchanges, writing, Tumblring and Twittering make me whole, or at least create the illusion of meaningful activity. I suppose I’m worried about getting any one thing too right, or too wrong. But there’s also the sense that inhabiting the web in this way, or constructing this kind of web environment, is productive, even necessary.

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At least several times a day, I find myself misplacing tone and intention. There are supposed to be clear boundaries here, and yet as different as the interactions are, the relative homogeneity of the interface is what dominates.

The Oatmeal vs. FunnyJunk. This is as good an example of the internet in action as you’ll find, from the blatant infringement to the megalomanic webmaster to the lunatic commenters who say “fag” a lot.

I realize that trying to police copyright infringement on the internet is like strolling into the Vietnamese jungle circa 1964 and politely asking everyone to use squirt guns. I know that if FunnyJunk disappeared, 50 other clones would pop up to take its place overnight, but I felt I had to say something about what they’re doing.

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The owner of FunnyJunk made it so the site changes all instances of ‘The Oatmeal’ to ‘the fag,’ and none of the stolen material I mentioned was taken down.

I remember exactly where I was the first time I saw Napster. And Hot Or Not. And Netscape. Etc.