24 Jul 2023, 01:58:56
I’m writing this thread today to shed some light on the administrative philosophy of this bulletin board, its attached wiki, and whatever sites beyond may crop up in the future. I have spent a considerable amount of time browsing the Worldwide Web by now, and I have attained a very nuanced perspective that is informed by niche “net native” communities like this one, “mainstream” sites called social media, and the real world (I am not a basement dweller, I am very married and esteemed IRL). Crucially, I also came of age in an era where Tumblr broke containment and kind of ruined everything, because so many people don’t understand that they are psychically attaching themselves to online communities and thus becoming vulnerable targets for dark triad psychopaths who want to exploit others and piss on digital rocks for a living. All of this has gone on far long enough, and I am tired of watching it happen over and over. The Worldwide Web might be a shitty, sometimes hostile place, but it was not this pathological, totalitarian state of gaslighting until about 2015 or so, depending on what corners you look in.
In the interest of completely destroying any chance that radical, cancerous culture has at forming any kind of metastasis here, I am instituting a rule that needs explanation: the year 2000 is forever. What does that mean?
If you’re old enough, you might remember it firsthand. And don’t worry, 2008 wasn’t that different either if we’re being real. I just went with this because it’s an old Geto Boys lyric, and marketing matters. But if you’re too young, this is something you probably know about in your gut but don’t realise what it is – all of the cultural pull towards the vapourwave aesthetics of the 1980s is no accident. You guys are yearning for those times when people simply posted, and I’m here to tell you that we are going back there, whether you like it or not. The truth is, if we don’t commit to say no to this psychic corrosion and stop mentally “logging on”, it is inevitable that this community, like so many others, will devour itself in the course of spontaneous drama about nothing to feed the malevolent impulses of a few terrible, broken people who should be seeking professional help instead of ruining online communities.
So, say it with me, and commit yourself to keeping the Worldwide Web usable and interesting forever: The year 2000 is forever. I want you all to log on here like it’s a random Tuesday afternoon in 2007, or 1997, or whenever, and stop taking the Web to be more than it is. We are not fully human beings on here – we’re just people posting messages with avatars behind keyboards and we could be anywhere from Stockholm to Bombay. And that has to be good enough, otherwise… there’s going to be nothing left on here worth logging on for.
In the interest of completely destroying any chance that radical, cancerous culture has at forming any kind of metastasis here, I am instituting a rule that needs explanation: the year 2000 is forever. What does that mean?
If you’re old enough, you might remember it firsthand. And don’t worry, 2008 wasn’t that different either if we’re being real. I just went with this because it’s an old Geto Boys lyric, and marketing matters. But if you’re too young, this is something you probably know about in your gut but don’t realise what it is – all of the cultural pull towards the vapourwave aesthetics of the 1980s is no accident. You guys are yearning for those times when people simply posted, and I’m here to tell you that we are going back there, whether you like it or not. The truth is, if we don’t commit to say no to this psychic corrosion and stop mentally “logging on”, it is inevitable that this community, like so many others, will devour itself in the course of spontaneous drama about nothing to feed the malevolent impulses of a few terrible, broken people who should be seeking professional help instead of ruining online communities.
So, say it with me, and commit yourself to keeping the Worldwide Web usable and interesting forever: The year 2000 is forever. I want you all to log on here like it’s a random Tuesday afternoon in 2007, or 1997, or whenever, and stop taking the Web to be more than it is. We are not fully human beings on here – we’re just people posting messages with avatars behind keyboards and we could be anywhere from Stockholm to Bombay. And that has to be good enough, otherwise… there’s going to be nothing left on here worth logging on for.
The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast
The slow one now, will later be fast
As the present now, will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now, will later be last
For the times, they are a-changin’
The slow one now, will later be fast
As the present now, will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now, will later be last
For the times, they are a-changin’