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> The internet has created the ability for any given subculture to discover instant validation and reinforce their beliefs into a tribe, which further solidifie

> The internet has created the ability for any given subculture to discover instant validation and reinforce their beliefs into a tribe, which further solidifies and extremifies those beliefs. I don't believe this is true. I remember "Ye Olde Days" (TM) of the Internet. You went to an independent forum or mailing list that supported your interest (video games, music, politics) and then you argued with everyone in your "tribe" about video games and music and politics regardless of the purpose of the forum (which is hilarious and endearing to me). You had friends and you had frenemies but you didn't have strangers. It was nice. It was a community. Some interest brought you all together but you didn't stay there solely for that interest. You stayed for the people. Now what do we have? Complete corporate domination and centralization. All interests are segmented into hashtags and subreddits but exist in the same super-massive platform. And there conversation is moderated by two entities. Moderators and the mob. There is no community anymore because the community is too fluid and too large (sometimes its everyone on the internet). You don't know the people you argue with. And so argument can never be taken on good faith. You know, I had more stuff written but can't quite complete the thought in words. I think I'll just make an alternative.

TazeTSchnitzel 6y ago
The only community you have is your friends, and your friends usually have similar beliefs to you. So the space where you could have people with significantly different political views meet on the same terms is gone.
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  The point is that your friends don't always have similar beliefs to you. You don't think rednecks in the south play video games or soup up their cars or listen to rock and roll, the same as a Biden voter from Los Angeles? So if you set up a forum for fans of the Atari, you get all kinds. They get to know each other. And then they talk about whatever. But several things have smashed that all to pieces. The first and main problem is that everything is a single site with millions of people now. You can go over to /r/atari and talk about Atari, but if you try to talk to any of those people about climate change they'll direct you to a different sub, which is full of entirely different people who you don't know or trust. Then the sites that are independent are often operated by the company that makes the product. Sony might host a PlayStation forum, but they're going to boot you out for talking about politics or religion. And then there's the fact that everything has become disposable. What do you do with your broken out of warranty Atari? Get a soldering iron. What do you do with a broken out of warranty iMac? Get a rubbish bin. But then there's nothing to build a community around, because everything is an appliance that you can't improve or repair.
calinet6 6y ago
You're right. The way we design our social platforms has a gigantic impact on how people see each other, and talk to each other, and the impact that has on us. Perhaps the problem isn't the self-reinforcement, but rather the platforms being designed more on instantaneous engagement and addiction rather than talking and human-level discussion. We've devolved internet discourse into very simplistic, unintelligent, instant gratification that's friendly to advertising and monetization. That makes a lot more sense, and why I think it's so important to think of this problem as a much bigger systemic ecosystem. The design of a platform or a system impacts how people behave; the ones we have now have just the right mix of characteristics to cause this sort of insular tribalism. We can choose to design different ones.
- sneak 6y ago
  We have, and the users, for the most part, chose the screamy, thirsty, censored, algorithmic ones.
  - calinet6 6y ago
    The worst argument for designing an experience is that users want it. We can do far better. But I get your point. Realistically this has to be a societal change that demands better social media platforms, not something just thrown into the market with no demand.
    - motohagiography 6y ago
      > The worst argument for designing an experience is that users want it. This statement may be the crux of disagreement in the culture wars as well. To me this is an alien and hostile idea against all that can be good. I'm sure you have some reasoning based on an experience behind it, but it's very likely one of those irreconcilable differences of interests that we have conventions and civilization to navigate and negotiate around. I don't think we persuade each other, but rather, negotiate boundaries. Those boundaries are what we understand as tolerance.
      - 6y ago

TazeTSchnitzel 6y ago

The only community you have is your friends, and your friends usually have similar beliefs to you. So the space where you could have people with significantly different political views meet on the same terms is gone.

AnthonyMouse 6y ago
The point is that your friends don't always have similar beliefs to you. You don't think rednecks in the south play video games or soup up their cars or listen to rock and roll, the same as a Biden voter from Los Angeles? So if you set up a forum for fans of the Atari, you get all kinds. They get to know each other. And then they talk about whatever. But several things have smashed that all to pieces. The first and main problem is that everything is a single site with millions of people now. You can go over to /r/atari and talk about Atari, but if you try to talk to any of those people about climate change they'll direct you to a different sub, which is full of entirely different people who you don't know or trust. Then the sites that are independent are often operated by the company that makes the product. Sony might host a PlayStation forum, but they're going to boot you out for talking about politics or religion. And then there's the fact that everything has become disposable. What do you do with your broken out of warranty Atari? Get a soldering iron. What do you do with a broken out of warranty iMac? Get a rubbish bin. But then there's nothing to build a community around, because everything is an appliance that you can't improve or repair.

calinet6 6y ago

You're right. The way we design our social platforms has a gigantic impact on how people see each other, and talk to each other, and the impact that has on us. Perhaps the problem isn't the self-reinforcement, but rather the platforms being designed more on instantaneous engagement and addiction rather than talking and human-level discussion. We've devolved internet discourse into very simplistic, unintelligent, instant gratification that's friendly to advertising and monetization. That makes a lot more sense, and why I think it's so important to think of this problem as a much bigger systemic ecosystem. The design of a platform or a system impacts how people behave; the ones we have now have just the right mix of characteristics to cause this sort of insular tribalism. We can choose to design different ones.

sneak 6y ago
We have, and the users, for the most part, chose the screamy, thirsty, censored, algorithmic ones.
- calinet6 6y ago
  The worst argument for designing an experience is that users want it. We can do far better. But I get your point. Realistically this has to be a societal change that demands better social media platforms, not something just thrown into the market with no demand.
  - motohagiography 6y ago
    > The worst argument for designing an experience is that users want it. This statement may be the crux of disagreement in the culture wars as well. To me this is an alien and hostile idea against all that can be good. I'm sure you have some reasoning based on an experience behind it, but it's very likely one of those irreconcilable differences of interests that we have conventions and civilization to navigate and negotiate around. I don't think we persuade each other, but rather, negotiate boundaries. Those boundaries are what we understand as tolerance.
    - 6y ago