Online Social Atmosphere Essay

A STUDY

PERTAINING TO INTERNET COMMUNITIES

AND

PERSONALITY.


AN ESSAY.





BY
David A. Archer
02/15/1968















In recent years I have frequented several different internet community sites. I did this particularly to experience the social atmosphere for myself. I did and do so with the intention of eventually writing about. This is a beginning essay in that line of works.


At first, I thought it would be interesting to find a community with a political theme. I searched around and found that there were very few which were not a part of a larger collection of similar communities. I also found that those which were “independently” in existence, were very much difficult to function within. This is no slant, as I was soon to find that even the larger groupings of such communities are similar in that respect. Factually, there is no reason that those claiming to be independent of a larger body, shouldn’t just be a part of one of those larger bodies.


The “individual” communities tended to subject a person to a “review period,” which meant that you had to “fit in” regardless of the promoted theme of the community, such as “Free Speech” and the like. It seemed that it was “Free Speech” as long as you agreed with the others in the community and/or filled a character “role” there in. If you did not “know your lines” per say, as pertaining to the “character” you seemed to be, then it was that you were immediately blocked from further accessing the community.


As strange as it may sound, this is also a common aspect of the larger groupings of such communities, thought there is a slight difference in the level of “toleration” of individualism within the larger groupings/communities. Another thing a person may find to be strange, is that each given “member” of these communities IS expected only to promote a certain given social character…. From what I can tell it has much to do with what is currently on television, surprisingly enough. If it is that a person shows signs of any sort of divergence from the “script,” that person is quickly singled out in various ways, one of which is the “blocking” or banning from the community and another very popular tactic is similar to “hen pecking” through incredibly obvious bias and special treatment for those that maintain their “character role.”


It creates a social atmosphere that is very similar to a poorly run kindergarten class. Even comparable to a playground gang of bullies.


This is particularly comical, as most of the people involved are actually of the “nerd” type of back ground. Think of it, “Nerd Bullies.”


I must note that the greatest victim of this sad display and consistency, is very much the potential of the form of communication itself. Being the forums and communities, the internet.


Another somewhat disturbing attribute to this, is that it is consistent regardless of the “community” which is experienced. It is the same dynamic. The very same “script” in play. As if everyone on the internet were being programmed with the same data, from some far off, science fiction like broadcast facility.


There seems to be the same implied hierarchy of social structure in most all of these communities as well. More specifically, it is some weird game of kiss ass which sets it. I can see no other real consistency beyond the “buddy system” which dictates the “station” a person may occupy in any of these online communities. This again is very much detrimental to the potential of the medium itself. None of these hierarchies are based on actual achievement… none of them based on actual personal intellect, personal strengths… positive attributes. There is nothing to stimulate human progress in these forums. Only some false form of manufactured popularity.


There are several different ways and tactics which are employed from the direction of the inhabitants to obtain these social stations. One of which is the “number of posts” authority. Though each and every one of them, when questioned about it’s importance will deny any level of said importance pertaining to the “number of posts” a person has… it is that each and every one of them look to the lists of “top posters” as some form of rank. As well with the pre set “titles” which accompany the personal profiles, these being changed automatically when certain “post numbers” are reached.


It is also quite common to see the “I have 100 posts!” thread.. or 1000 or 10,000 on and the like. All while outwardly denying any importance to such an easily manipulated “rank” system.


Oddly enough, each of these same people which deny the importance of number of posts, also find themselves criticizing those people that purposefully post non sense threads to bolster it. Another comedic note is that each of these people have all done it. Whether their “excuse/subject” was blatant about it or not.


The number of posts a person has attained is very much is regarded in some personal manner, as achievement.


There is another particularly peculiar social interaction on all of these communities that I have found. That is a strange Oedipal thing. A parent/sibling dynamic that truly goes into the areas of sexual tension. Many of the “moderators” are seen as parenting figures and simultaneously as sexual objects…. Some even while being incredibly immature in their own right.


This makes for a very strange overtone to the entire atmosphere. It reminds me momentarily of the timbre in the motion picture “Blue Velvet.” Again, if a person fails to become a part of it, they are subject to becoming a target in many ways, both legal and very much illegal as I have experienced.


Some of the favoritisms I have experienced are along the lines of really sad displays of bias… seemingly in support of the “officially “ non existent hierarchy based on ass kissing and false importance. The one that most stands out in my mind at this moment, is as follows;


I had just started an “account” with a very popular online community of communities. A rather large grouping of different themed communities. I searched for a message board along a political theme, using “Personal Rights” as a search engine objective. I was directed to a list of message boards that matched “politics” and “personal rights.” I chose one and proceeded. I did the customary “hello” thread…. And then made a few posts. It was within a very short time from my first post, when I ran into an example of the type of hierarchical structure I have described, bias for that false station and something else that I have found to be as consistent as it is just plain weird. That being the inherent and seemingly all important need to be seen as “victorious” and/or correct, regardless of the truth pertaining to the matter.


The post which drew this very sad display was nothing a person would expect to have been of such importance. I had begun a thread based on (what I had thought to be) some chit chatty, topical subject… something which I can’t even recall at this time….. but I was immediately met with this attitude as if I were some sort of “fresh meat.” Of inferior intellect. Laughably and quite obviously sad in the respect that the people perpetrating the “tactic” actually seemed to think that they were “in” on something, of a higher level of intelligence…..and just to give them the benefit of the doubt, I think they assumed that I was of an inferior mental capacity. They displayed very much a “clique” type of social action in regard to my topical, yet friendly post.



In particular pertaining to this instance, was an aloof response within the thread, from a man that obviously was one of those that needs to feel as though they have won something. The fact that they all took this angle is very much in bad taste, but the manner in which several of them approached the “new guy” was even more an embarrassing exchange. A few of them, including the gentleman in this example, were very much of the “snoot” type of tone. Many of them polluting the very simple and topical thread with non related, self important fodder. Again, a display of that strange, fictitious hierarchy I have referred to.


I remember this example over the non descript topic, simply because the poor man happened upon a sad fate in this instance. In is ill disguised, self important and self aggrandizing attempt at insult as well as attitude and post, he flayed himself in a manner that I feel is truly deserving of such arrogant and purposefully hateful disposition. Here it was, I had placed a very non-offensive topic post just to chat, and this gentleman was going to show his superiority and prowess in displaying his superior intellect and “position” being “in” with the crowd, while insulting me “without” my knowledge.


His statement was predictably snotty… but then he made a sad mistake. He crossed the line into the field of culinary arts which is very much a forte of mine own, at a very respectable level.


Someone had posted a comment/question before him in regard to my person…. What kind of person I might be, as it were… along with a short attempt at classifying me as some food item in the vein of the “fresh meat” attitude I have touched on. His response to the question/statement was along the lines of “Oh… I think he looks more like a salad with non-fat dressing.”


I promptly responded with a preparation of stuffed Cornish game hen and black trumpet mushrooms. It was fairly concise and obviously a bit more involved than most of these “happy meal” type of people would grasp….. but it was fitting considering the ill direction in which these people had taken the conversation.


Needless to say, at the first sign of being bested, the gentleman did his snivel dance to whom ever he needed to, and the post I replied with containing the preparation for stuffed Cornish hen off the top of head, was removed. The “non-fat salad dressing” remained as did the other poor examples of culinary knowledge and/or skill. I questioned this action with the communities moderators, and was met with NO reply.


Please keep in mind that my intentions were not malicious. My intention was simply to reply in the subject matter that the thread had taken on. Unfortunately, putting his foot in his mouth and finding himself in some pretty “deep water” with a rather deft swimmer, was a bit too much for the man to handle.


This type of need to be correct, and need for no one else to have witnessed NOT being correct, seems to be incredibly consistent on the internet as a whole, as well. Regardless of what needs to be done to maintain it including illegal activities/violations of well established law and codes of conduct. Many times this is carried out in the attitude of “everyone else does it.” It is very easy to see why it is that the internet holds a substantial percentage of the identity theft crime rate as well as other electronic crimes. Many even see it as sport, when really it is the biggest detriment tp what would otherwise be an incredible form of communication.


These type of actions and consistencies within the internet communities, has very much given me great reason to believe that the internet is really nothing more than the best modern example of an irrefutable argument AGAINST humanity. It is it’s own worst enemy in creating and supporting these types of dynamics within these communities. The structure from which they are “governed” would be better put to use on a grade school playground. It really isn’t something an adult seeking intelligent exchange would expect to find among literally millions of other adults.


Another kind of creepy consistency is as I have briefly mentioned pertaining to subject matter within these communities. It doesn’t matter which community that you happen upon, you can rest assured that any subject which would seem to promise stimulating communicative exchange, will play out as nothing more than a sad reproduction of the any other thread on the internet pertaining to the same subject matter. It is as though the old video game “pong” is still in use as programming… though now it has progressed to humans.


A thread in regard to the very common “re-run” subject matter of “Creation vs. Evolution” for instance, will be filled with the very same, empty and topical information in every different version of it that you happen upon. Should you as a participant make a good point that is not a common “tool” within the “re-run” mentality, you are immediately targeted and “outed” as not in the group. Especially if it happens to be a question or point which none of the others can make a decent response to. If it is beyond all of the pre-fabricated, regurgitated response material that is at their finger tips, they opt for immediate personal insult and really lame attempts at some passive aggressive provocation… more the hack work attempt at making it seem as though they haven’t provoked any sort of non-related confrontation.



I have actually seen these people work in teams to promote a very flimsy façade of such provoked response.


I have seen this behavior tolerated repeatedly. Even more directly I have seen the favoritism of actually insulting someone else through defamation and “name calling” (for lack of a better description) tolerated and even defended by so called “moderators,” there-in exhibiting the sad hierarchical structure I have described.


I have actually seen purposeful, hateful and hurtful commentary tolerated and defended, because the individual that issued it had no intelligent response to a posed question or series of facts presented to them, but happened to be the moderators buddy. The “moderator” actually having gone so far as to defend such comments through threat of expulsion of the actual victim in the given example, among other things. This exhibits that “need” to be correct which I have addressed coupled with the favoritism and narcissistic need to be correct.


If it is that these very consistent happenings and examples are any indication of any considerable percentage of common interaction outside of virtual reality, within society in a real sense. Then it is that this could been seen as a fair gauge to the level, dynamic, and workings of the more common corruptions that are found within society in a real sense, simply as a reflection. A person has to consider that given as common as these violations of even the most basic of human respects is so tolerated and frequent in such a popular (though really quite useless) medium, that the real word commonality and consistency of such violations cannot be far off.


If these people think that such actions are acceptable in their daily lives online…. As much time of their lives that they spend online…. A person must then logically deduce that they will and do find such violations as not only acceptable but as a common means of existence in all other areas of their lives. Including how it effects others in and around their daily lives.


The fact that any given individual which seems to be trying to hold some fictitious status in some online community through any means at their disposal including blackmail, slander and corruptive actions associated with favoritism, AND through any means that they may happen upon regardless of the outcome/effect on others, indicates an underlying instability that does translate back into society in more ways than are immediately seen. Factually, given the number of people that find this type of activity as acceptable, it is indicative of an underlying instability within society itself. Especially when a person considers how much less and less is the line between virtual reality and perceived reality, and how much more and more is the amount of time dedicated daily to existence within such online atmospheres as the majority of their existence stimulation as reality.


Life very much is a video game for some people in our day and age.


This very lack of standardization beyond “what we want to do to make us look cool,” could be construed as an enemy to society itself. It isn’t hard to see it as the rot that it is, though all involved insist that it is acceptable and quite efficient behavior. Truly it is reminiscent of many of the corrupt and despotic dynamics within failed governments from history.


I can safely say that I now know why Nero fiddled if it is that such a social climate was that which surrounded the downfall of that era. I do have to say that it is a very interesting (and on going I might add) study of our human existence. I should also add I am quite surprised that among so many people claiming to be of average or higher intellect within these online communities, that such obvious forms of social disease which they all exhibit, would be so readily the common mode of existence. That is, when anyone of even the most common intellect and basic knowledge of history pertaining to the downfalls I have mentioned, can tell you exactly where those types of atmospheres have lead civilization EVERY time.


It seems as though it would be something that would concern more people, if it weren’t for the negative effect it may have on the world of virtual commerce to actually address these problems. That in itself present a rather interesting contradiction that will have to be dealt with sooner or later. Do they expose the rampant and accepted corruption and weakness for the purpose of addressing them and strengthening the potential as well as the result of such a medium? Or do they continue down that old and very worn road bound directly for downfall, in maintaining a façade… a semblance of normality which is really nothing but a vortex of despotism?


The concern seems it would be even farther in regard to the growing influence that such online communities have within society. If you observe, you will see how it, this corrupt dynamic, actually effects the concept of value itself in a negative manner.


Quite the puzzle. Quite the entertaining show of “assholes and elbows” in the efforts to maintain some façade. All wasted energy and effort in that respect. All of that attention could actually be going to maintaining a potential that both has yet to be matched in human history, and actually realized beyond speculation as a means of communication.


I have come to the point that I actually play with the very predicable reactions I have described… just to witness the repetitious response.


It truly seems as though these very basic things would be more the concern. Especially when it isn’t uncommon to hear people speak of the concept of “digital commerce” as it’s own entity, free and clear of anything else. Such is nothing but silly spew in the reality of our modern day… particularly because of that very sad atmosphere I am referring to.


As of now, internet commerce is nothing more than a very risky extension of credit card purchasing. Credit is and will always be directly connected to cash money… hard currency. Currency then is directly related to the trade of goods and settlement of debt. Such is the path of development which has played out…. All mostly for the purpose of easing the movement and trade of goods. That is just the way things have been designed.


In order to establish an entirely independent means of payment… a virtual/digital currency… it is that consistent value must be established. Such will be incredibly hard to do with such unchecked levels of corruption as the normality of daily exchange within the very terrain that such a digital currency would be most used.


I suppose, given the ease of perpetrating such activities, that it becomes harder and harder as time passes, for many to see the gist of what I am talking about. The prevailing attitude being “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” but this being the attitude in the midst of something so broken that no one even notices it anymore. The way that it is “broken” having become comfortable to those that are “in” the group of it.


As this means of communication and tool for commerce grows within this despotism and corruption, it also grows as a danger in regard to dragging entire societies along with it in it’s down fall. Such technology has actually entered “virgin societies” with pre existing despotic corruption tendencies that were employed as if they were the normal means of operation. Such does not bode well for humanity in any regard.


Then there is the aspect of bad information being past from generation to generation….. in even more than is suggested in that statement. There is the aspect within that of the “bad instruction” being handed down as the normal mode of operation, and conversely the over bearing and useless modes of operation maintaining some presence due to that given corruption element. Both of those immediate examples being very much of the “broken comfort” I have mentioned.


Then there are aspects as well pertaining to the effect on the human psyche in regard to a sort of “time displacement.” This happening as the more that the internet and technology become the standard of reference for humans…. No matter how fast or advanced it becomes, it still is losing ground on reality itself. It is always “behind the pitch” as it were…. And the larger and more common it becomes as a normal reference, the farther that human perception is then removed from actual, occurring reality. A delayed effect so to speak… and then further with that, a regression of sorts from the lack of utilizing our full capacity through relying on the ease of internet/computer generated reality. This cycle has self consuming elements to it as well which I have and will again address in other works.


To again address the idea of value with no tangible anchor to any other system, it is that I would first state that value itself, when studied closely is found to be based on very little that is actually tangible. What it is based on at the very core elements that are far too complex to go into here, is quite simply a form of consistency.


It is my belief that as with all else which is our existence, emulating that consistency in other ways should prove to be a very attainable thing. It is merely that inconsistency of corruption that proves as impasse to attaining a consistency suitable to sustain the value of an independent, non-tangible form of “currency.”


As I have proposed in other works, I can see the potential beyond this immediate corruptive element, to do this through the co-employment of a form of restitution for the descendants of American slaves. The consistency of their limited numbers combined with the consistency of the issuance and use of this newly established “digital currency,” should prove to provide an efficient emulation in the degree with which to establish a solid, floating value system. This of course could be bolstered and further refined with extensions into this system of movement of this currency in the form of “deposits” for the purpose and use of higher education….. thus lending to the value of the currency itself in a layered sense along with the already established consistency of common use and movement. This again will bolster itself in the event that a recipient reaches a certain age and opts not to utilize the balance due them for education. That unused balance will again cycle through the newly established system…. As well as the “interest” accrued there-in.


When it is that we live in a society which seems always on the edge of failure in many ways… and purposefully so in the effort to drive certain aspects of it’s economy, it isn’t hard to see where it is that such common forms of corruption as what I have described have come from and what it is that sustains them. As I have mentioned, in many instances it is seen as sport to “hack” or “crack” any given account or web site. It really isn’t difficult to realize how tempting this activity is when you consider that there is truly NO website in existence that is 100% secure. All any of them are is a body and series of characters which anyone could eventually figure out. This physical aspect with the very obvious social aspects of the internet seem to have proven to be far too tempting for average people to keep away from. Someone always seems to know someone else, and people utilize it.


For instance, a website might have the top issued level of security certificate, but that doesn’t encompass the owner of that websites friends… or their friends… or even someone that isn’t necessarily a friend but has means with which to traffic in any given example of material.


Though it is something that many people seem not to consider, even the owner of a given website that happens to take credit cards as payment, has far too much influence over the average persons personal information. That “owner” of the website may not actually use any information him/her self for ill purposes, but there is nothing stopping them from “accidentally” allowing someone else access to that information.


This is even a larger risk when dealing with larger online entities. Websites that traffic in thousands and hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers and personal information sets per day … if not even more. Think of it, all it is in all reality is a computer readout…. Perhaps a continuously printed list and series of credit card account numbers and their access codes. Given the obvious standard of social dynamic on the internet, why is it expected to be hard to believe that a given percent of those daily numbers are at huge risk of violation? Especially at companies that have a large employee population as well?


It is a very interesting situation in our modern day. One that I will continue to study and document.


As a simple example of what I have witnessed and experienced…. It is as if many of these places (web sites) are similar to high school atmospheres… the difference being that the people are from many walks of life, and from different areas around the world…. And as I have already stated… insist upon regurgitation of nearly identical, empty information.



Sad that a person cannot find an actual conversation that isn’t a promotion of someone or some product in an off handed manner in such a promising medium. “You are cool. Tell me I am cool” is about the basic mentality and substance of it. Even those that hold the pretense of higher intellectual standing. Very much the same mentality. It is an overblown popularity contest, with other people (usually celebrities or notables) as the focal points…. as making oneself and ones own opinion the focal point would be too risky to these people for various reasons.



Definitely something I am going to continue to study and document.