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But it is the real world now ... People form their beliefs and make decisions in the world based on what they consume online. I frequently see Twitter memes s

by chubot 7y ago

But it is the real world now ... People form their beliefs and make decisions in the world based on what they consume online. I frequently see Twitter memes spoken from people's mouths in person. I mostly abstain from it, but like it or not, Twitter does matter. I've also been online since 1993, and used Usenet for many years. Back then you could compartmentalize some argument as a bunch of nerds, but now it's just "people". FWIW I also agree that the wisdom of "don't feed the trolls" has been forgotten. So in that way it's gotten worse too.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lotyrin 7y ago
Yes. Encountering the Apache Helicopter joke on 4chan is par for the course, but I just really don't want to hear it out loud from a coworker who is senior to me in a meeting room, and have everyone else laugh along with it.
- iron0013 7y ago
  Yikes, if that happened at your workplace I hope you talked to HR about it. That’s a “joke” in the form of a death threat.
  - gjs278 7y ago
    no it's not. it's a joke about genders.
Mangalor 7y ago
But weren't "nerds" always just "people"? It's the interpretation of the culture that's changed as well.
- chubot 7y ago
  To clarify, in 1993 or even 2000, you could see a bunch of flame wars on Usenet, and you could ignore them because they "meant nothing". You could dismiss it as a nerd argument that's not connected to your life in the real world. That was usually accurate. (Although I should say there were very intelligent people on Usenet, and that's why I used it. I learned a lot there.) It's harder to do that now. You can ignore certain channels, but they spill out into the "real world" quite frequently. To give a different example, UFC fighters pick fights with each other online, often on Instagram or YouTube. So what happens online is critical to the entire sport, which has grown a tremendous amount in the past decade. It determines whether they get paid $100K or $1M. Real life happens online now. That's a somewhat random example but there are many many subcultures / industries where what happens on social media determines what happens in the real world.

by chubot 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

lotyrin 7y ago

Yes. Encountering the Apache Helicopter joke on 4chan is par for the course, but I just really don't want to hear it out loud from a coworker who is senior to me in a meeting room, and have everyone else laugh along with it.

iron0013 7y ago
Yikes, if that happened at your workplace I hope you talked to HR about it. That’s a “joke” in the form of a death threat.
- gjs278 7y ago
  no it's not. it's a joke about genders.

Mangalor 7y ago

But weren't "nerds" always just "people"? It's the interpretation of the culture that's changed as well.

chubot 7y ago
To clarify, in 1993 or even 2000, you could see a bunch of flame wars on Usenet, and you could ignore them because they "meant nothing". You could dismiss it as a nerd argument that's not connected to your life in the real world. That was usually accurate. (Although I should say there were very intelligent people on Usenet, and that's why I used it. I learned a lot there.) It's harder to do that now. You can ignore certain channels, but they spill out into the "real world" quite frequently. To give a different example, UFC fighters pick fights with each other online, often on Instagram or YouTube. So what happens online is critical to the entire sport, which has grown a tremendous amount in the past decade. It determines whether they get paid $100K or $1M. Real life happens online now. That's a somewhat random example but there are many many subcultures / industries where what happens on social media determines what happens in the real world.