I've run across this one before in other places. When people spend considerable time on a social networking website or online game, they begin to feel as though they are a part of something. Here at TBD They post a question and get many answers and opinions. They browse around looking for conversations to take part in. "Hey I have an opinion on that subject!" they say to themselves, and off they go, sometimes at length. (At least that's what I do sometimes.)
I've seen several posts where the writer refers to "the community." or "the TBD community." It's as though in their mind, we are all a part of something that has a shape, mass, and even a direction. It's never a "bad" direction either, such as a decline or evil. It's always going somewhere positive, or at least a better place or state than the present.
I'm certain this mythical community has a structure. Some seem to recognize village elders and idiots (jesters might be a better word.) Invariably they attribute the qualities they hold in high regard to the rest of the community. Say for example, someone believes tolerance to be a virtue, and has seen tolerance expressed by others, then they might say something like "We TBD'ers are tolerant of different [insert here]."
I wonder if the people they assume to be the community realize their place in it? Do you feel like you are a part of something at TBD? How many hours per day do you spend here? Do you think there is a correlation between hours spent online and any feeling of belonging?
Humans typically attribute their own ideals to total strangers. We want to believe we're just like everyone else. Is a community the natural progression of a collection of disparate people discussing their private lives?
Posted: Apr 4, 08 10:51pm
What is it with you?
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:12pm
Huh? What is it with me? What is that on your head?
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:31pm
Forget that Pru, I LOVE your hat!
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:32pm
Remember "Go Dog Go"?
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:43pm
It is a very fine hat indeed.
Yes Joe, I remember...we need to find us a community dog party!!
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:52pm
It looks like a weird lampshade, or a device to block CIA surveillance devices
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:53pm
Let's get off this boring thread and start a P.D. Eastman thread, or Dr. Seuss or something more intellectually stimulating.
I LOVE that hat! And your other silver one.
You know what Prunella. I love you!
And your hats!
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:58pm
Do you love me for my hat?
Do you love my poor dead rat?
Do you love the things I've said?
Will you love me when I'm dead?
I so enjoy the things I see
When I'm here at TBD!!
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:07am
I do not like them anywhere.
I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like them SAM I AM.
Thanks for your bold humor. You make me feel good Pru. and thanks for putting up with my senselessness. (What was this thread about?)
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:09am
I believe this thread was initially about community, comaraderie and loyalty.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:12am
Well then, why did Dr. Suess so rudely F**KING interupt?!!!
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:14am
Joe, Shhhhhh!
In Heaven...everything is fine.
You've got your good things...
And I've got mine.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 5:54am
You know my favorite song????? How do you know that? NOBODY knows that song.
That sick movie is one of my favorites.
Oh look you're sleeping.
Good night.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:42am
Pru, the answer I think would be you have a troll.
trolling is an interesting concept here... As in a setup to entrap...remember that issue has come up before....
"Do not feed the trolls" and its abbreviation DNFTT redirects here. For the Wikipedia essay, see Wikipedia:What is a troll?
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
Posted: Apr 5, 08 7:11am
Joe, I love Henry Spencer! At one time I wanted to have his baby...well...not really.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 9:19am
Well, I'm about as tall as a troll. I just need the Eraserhead hairdo.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:40pm
Pru, love tha hat--sorry your CIA cover has been blown
I like you without the hat
I like you without the cat
I like you without the rat
I do not like green rice and spam
I do not like them, Rox, I am
Posted: Apr 10, 08 10:07pm
Hee! Rox, I just saw this.
Look at you, waxing poetic!!
I'm loving it.
Posted: Apr 15, 08 5:53pm
Sir, your remark is not relevant and the reason people are leaving. This place is meant to be a discussion between adults. That is what this person is saying.
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:41pm
Shiningpath needs to find new path outta here.
bye bye
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:47pm
Why?
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:50pm
Potato
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:52pm
What's taters?
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:43am
dotcom, consider that the thread is for trolling..
trolling is an interesting concept here... As in a setup to entrap...remember that issue has come up before....
"Do not feed the trolls" and its abbreviation DNFTT redirects here. For the Wikipedia essay, see Wikipedia:What is a troll?
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
Posted: Apr 5, 08 11:00am
It seems to me that highjacking of threads (off topic, insults, trivia) meets the definition of trolling (#2), but since it is common here at TBD, it isn't identified as such.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:47pm
hey dottie!
i believe this troll is not a new tbd member but has taken on an additional, (who knows how many really), moniker. this troll needs to have imaginary friends because there are no real ones in his life.
iggit +++
Posted: Apr 7, 08 10:22am
Am I missing something? I didn't see where ShiningPath was offending Prunella. Based on other posts by him, I think he was just being playful with her, nothing else.
Posted: Apr 7, 08 11:34am
Was I offended?
Posted: Apr 7, 08 11:39am
I never suggested YOU were offended. In fact, I acknowledged that maybe I could be missing something. I thought people were giving Shiningpath a hard time because he'd said something about your hat. That's it. No hidden agenda here.
Posted: Apr 7, 08 11:43am
Ha-ha! I'm with you on the 'missing something' part.
It does break my heart that shiningpath doesn't like my hat, but that's off topic.
Who brought up the hat in the first place?
Oh.
Posted: Apr 4, 08 11:53pm
mashed
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:28am
With garlic!
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:59pm
fried, with catsup
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:29am
I want to bw a part of the community. Where do I sign up?
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:41am
You've already signed up...now you just have to pay the membership fee.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:43am
LOL - you must be lonely. Just jump into a thread somewhere and start rambling about nothing in particular, say for example, Dr. Seuss. Get a big hat to shed the deluge of new friends you're sure to make. If you ask politely, they might even make you a village elder or shaman.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:58am
Lonely?
Probably not in the way that you're thinking.
Here's my deal:
I have a teenage son (17) who is a delight, but in the evenings I find myself quite stressed and that often makes sleeping difficult.
Truthfully, I am lucky. Tonight only one of his friends got hauled off to jail
Laughing, playing, kidding around...just somehow makes it all a little easier to take.
I think I can sleep now.
Goodnight Shiningpath.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:00am
Pru .. You are an inspiration!
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:43am
Joe, do we have a troll starting this thread?
trolling is an interesting concept here... As in a setup to entrap...remember that issue has come up before....
"Do not feed the trolls" and its abbreviation DNFTT redirects here. For the Wikipedia essay, see Wikipedia:What is a troll?
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:56am
set, game, and match goes to pru.
participating here has sharpened my intellect and verbal skills. i find i am better able to assert myself in the 'real' world because of some of the encounters i have had here.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 9:24am
Could be (?)
Hey whatever works to keep me cracking wise and having some good belly laughs.
It's all in the name of fun. Reading this one and the other one certainly are entertaining. I've even showed my daughter this morning and she was laughing.
She call this site "oldspace".
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:25am
* includes photos
Excuse me ?
Yom Yom Yom
Oooops ..did I miss something significant in the thread ..?
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:44am
You missed nothing Frog except trolling...
trolling is an interesting concept here... As in a setup to entrap...remember that issue has come up before....
"Do not feed the trolls" and its abbreviation DNFTT redirects here. For the Wikipedia essay, see Wikipedia:What is a troll?
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
Posted: Apr 5, 08 12:52pm
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLL!
No BF, you missed absolutely nothing here. Please go to another thread asap and take as many members with you on your lily pad!
Posted: Apr 5, 08 2:54pm
"oldspace" is hilarious!
(smack that kid. ok, no dessert.)
if a person honestly wanted to have such a discourse as the initiator implies, then open up your own group. these home threads are really primarily for letting off steam and being silly because for many of us with such huge brains thus very high IQs, they would explode if we didn't give them a touch of humor and wit sometimes on a daily basis. Fighting against the tide will take you down into an undertow. Choose wisely.
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:27am
<When people spend considerable time on a social networking website or online game, they begin to feel as though they are a part of something>
Yes, shiningpath. I think we are part of something. We make friends here and some online friendships grow to real life once.
I don't know why you call it mythical, it is what it is, online community and there leaders and jesters, I don't think that the feeling of belonging has correlation with the hours spent online. I don't spent much time online but I have some good friends here, some of them are already real life friends.
We are community and it is like every other community, you fitt in or you don't.
Good part about it is that you if you don't fitt in, it is only you anonymous ego hurt
Posted: Apr 5, 08 6:44am
powergirl careful of the troll
trolling is an interesting concept here... As in a setup to entrap...remember that issue has come up before....
"Do not feed the trolls" and its abbreviation DNFTT redirects here. For the Wikipedia essay, see Wikipedia:What is a troll?
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll