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Language like WSB uses is meant to amuse edgelords and (hopefully) upset 'normies'. When normies are offended by cavalier use of slurs and labels (and if you're

Language like WSB uses is meant to amuse edgelords and (hopefully) upset 'normies'. When normies are offended by cavalier use of slurs and labels (and if you're offended, you're by definition a normie), the edgelords point and laugh at the normie who doesn't share their same nihilistic worldview. WSB is what happens when immature, nihilistic, overly online middle class boys grow up into immature, nihilistic, overly online men-children. The only thing that changed as they aged is now they have to hide their power level while in normie society.

volkk 6y ago
i think that's reductive and while it feels true, it probably isn't. it's the same logic with which i can say HN is a bunch of mostly male programmers who take themselves too seriously, think they are much smarter than everyone and probably mostly all share the same personality traits it's not quite true, and reducing a whole lot of people into one easy bucket dumbs all of the conversations down. IMO wsb is pretty riveting, and i would love to hear more nuanced takes on the sociology/mindset behind these types of communities, especially the legality when it comes to the market and what the future holds. at what point will WSB become illegal in the way that it moves stocks around? etc.
buryat 6y ago
WSB is more about laughing at themselves rather than trying to amuse or offend someone. WSB doesn’t care much about so called “normies”, they have never attacked anyone outside of wsb and labels don’t spread outside of wsb either. WSB never had nihilistic worldview, there’s plenty of people supporting each other, there’s regular donations to charities, and etc. WSB is just a tongue-in-cheek ridicule of the finance world, that’s it. Attempts to see some specific class of people lurking there is just not true at all and mostly people project their views on the finance world onto WSB as well while it’s a completely different thing.
- bathtub365 6y ago
  They’re engaging in blatant market manipulation. I’d say that harms people outside their group.
  - socialist_coder 6y ago
    How is it any different from Kramer / CNBC / The Motley Fool recommending stocks to buy and giving price targets?
    - ethbr0 6y ago
      And I think that's fundamentally the point (for those who think through it that far and aren't just following the crowd). 2008 produced a lot of resentment of the heads-I-win, tails-you-lose financial arrangement (in terms of financial services companies) of the Western world, but there wasn't any attainable way of actually taking action based on that belief. Now, there is. WSB gets to have its lulz, specifically at the expense of those they feel wronged them (banks, traders, etc). As the saying went in Eve Online from Goonswarm, it doesn't matter if you lose 1,000 ships, if everyone wants to hang out with you instead of the other team. Cultural victory. I imagine the first HFT firms felt very similarly.
  - YarickR2 6y ago
    Well, not that anyone is forced to participate in the market, especially knowing about intentionally irrational players.
    - s1artibartfast 6y ago
      Unless you consider the lack of other viable investment options. Still not violet forever tho
- mox1 6y ago
  As someone who has spent the last few months following WSB, to me it feels very much like an old school Internet club/social scene/etc. Reminds me a lot being involved in a niche IRC community or something. Along with all the silliness, there are a lot of smart people posting very interesting things on the forum. Open, free for anyone to read (in a hack-the-finance-planet) sorta way. You have people writing in-dept thesis' on which way a stock is heading / what happened yesterday / how to "play" the trade. Its clear some of the people are serious as they put hundreds of thousands up against their theory. Along with this you get a bit of a stick-it-to-the-man feeling as well. I will shed 0 tears if a bunch of people on reddit bring multiple hedge funds down. Perhaps the entire finance world should be more open, equitable and accessible!

volkk 6y ago

i think that's reductive and while it feels true, it probably isn't. it's the same logic with which i can say HN is a bunch of mostly male programmers who take themselves too seriously, think they are much smarter than everyone and probably mostly all share the same personality traits it's not quite true, and reducing a whole lot of people into one easy bucket dumbs all of the conversations down. IMO wsb is pretty riveting, and i would love to hear more nuanced takes on the sociology/mindset behind these types of communities, especially the legality when it comes to the market and what the future holds. at what point will WSB become illegal in the way that it moves stocks around? etc.

buryat 6y ago

WSB is more about laughing at themselves rather than trying to amuse or offend someone. WSB doesn’t care much about so called “normies”, they have never attacked anyone outside of wsb and labels don’t spread outside of wsb either. WSB never had nihilistic worldview, there’s plenty of people supporting each other, there’s regular donations to charities, and etc. WSB is just a tongue-in-cheek ridicule of the finance world, that’s it. Attempts to see some specific class of people lurking there is just not true at all and mostly people project their views on the finance world onto WSB as well while it’s a completely different thing.

bathtub365 6y ago
They’re engaging in blatant market manipulation. I’d say that harms people outside their group.
- socialist_coder 6y ago
  How is it any different from Kramer / CNBC / The Motley Fool recommending stocks to buy and giving price targets?
  - ethbr0 6y ago
    And I think that's fundamentally the point (for those who think through it that far and aren't just following the crowd). 2008 produced a lot of resentment of the heads-I-win, tails-you-lose financial arrangement (in terms of financial services companies) of the Western world, but there wasn't any attainable way of actually taking action based on that belief. Now, there is. WSB gets to have its lulz, specifically at the expense of those they feel wronged them (banks, traders, etc). As the saying went in Eve Online from Goonswarm, it doesn't matter if you lose 1,000 ships, if everyone wants to hang out with you instead of the other team. Cultural victory. I imagine the first HFT firms felt very similarly.
- YarickR2 6y ago
  Well, not that anyone is forced to participate in the market, especially knowing about intentionally irrational players.
  - s1artibartfast 6y ago
    Unless you consider the lack of other viable investment options. Still not violet forever tho
mox1 6y ago
As someone who has spent the last few months following WSB, to me it feels very much like an old school Internet club/social scene/etc. Reminds me a lot being involved in a niche IRC community or something. Along with all the silliness, there are a lot of smart people posting very interesting things on the forum. Open, free for anyone to read (in a hack-the-finance-planet) sorta way. You have people writing in-dept thesis' on which way a stock is heading / what happened yesterday / how to "play" the trade. Its clear some of the people are serious as they put hundreds of thousands up against their theory. Along with this you get a bit of a stick-it-to-the-man feeling as well. I will shed 0 tears if a bunch of people on reddit bring multiple hedge funds down. Perhaps the entire finance world should be more open, equitable and accessible!