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Why is Tumblr good at creating lolcows? -
- Thread starter Ravenor
- Start date
I'm afraid I know very little about Tumblr other than what I've read on here but as an ex-LJ user, I do think it's rather interesting how trends have changed, traits have adjusted and mindsets have amplified. LJ did have its occasional lolcow (usually a furry or a weeaboo) but said lolcow was very rarely hostile - just somebody supremely pathetic who refused to face reality. They inspired a lot more pity than anger.
I used LJ from around 2003 - 2008 with a bunch of other people. Back then, if you knew a person's real name, you were considered close. If you saw their picture, that was an event. When you wanted to be different/tortured, you were a goth, a self harmer, eating disordered or a combination of the three. You were also probably a bisexual because that was about as edgy as it got... unless you were sexually masochistic too, but that was generally considered TMI for most. It wouldn't have made you particularly popular, it would more likely have gotten you ridiculed behind your back.
Like on Tumblr - or any social network really - almost everyone on LJ wanted some sort of attention they weren't getting offline... or IRL as we always referred to it because there was still very much that distinction. We knew we couldn't be our LJ selves away from the computer or we'd be laughed out of the room. That was a big part of the attachment.
Partially because of this, the method of acquisition wasn't anywhere near as demanding; deep down we all still knew it was something we weren't entitled to. Said attention was usually gained by posting something cryptic, something passive aggressive. The biggest attention whores would usually amp this up by posting song lyrics and/or a picture of self harm scars or partial nudity (either to show off weight loss/gain or merely because they were whores). And although those people did have their hug boxes, 1) most of us did look down on them for it and 2) they did actually have to step outside of their own blogs and join communities - i.e. share the attention and give as much as they got. Like genuinely siding with like.
If you got this far, you might be wondering what this has got to do with Tumblr. Well, a lot of you will be too young to have LJed in earnest, so I hope that the above was informative but more than that, I think the changes made in blogging platforms illustrate how times have changed and how we've gone from tolerating the slightly unbalanced to dropping everything for the batshit crazy. Social media, once used for communication purposes by people unafraid to express reservation or dissent, has become a breeding ground for lolcows because delusions are now actually entertained "IRL" by idiots who can't process logic and are scared to death of being outed as the sociopaths they really are. If they have to ostracise kids and tell them that they need hormone injections or that they're dragons to maintain this paper-thin facade then they'll do it. We had our feuds but these people will throw entire generations to the wolves if it is in furtherance of their own agenda.
Back in the days of LJ, we were all at least a bit competitive for attention but we knew the limits and to not cross them because in the end we did still want to be part of a community, online and off. Arguably, part of the escapism and addiction was because we were (or thought we were) pushing the limits. We were "different" (we weren't) for a few hours a day and there was something a bit childlike and naughty about that - it was the equivalent of swearing at your mother or wearing a top hat to school. Now we see segregation and demands that society changes its standards completely and that is why it's more sinister. It has stopped being a game.
I used LJ from around 2003 - 2008 with a bunch of other people. Back then, if you knew a person's real name, you were considered close. If you saw their picture, that was an event. When you wanted to be different/tortured, you were a goth, a self harmer, eating disordered or a combination of the three. You were also probably a bisexual because that was about as edgy as it got... unless you were sexually masochistic too, but that was generally considered TMI for most. It wouldn't have made you particularly popular, it would more likely have gotten you ridiculed behind your back.
Like on Tumblr - or any social network really - almost everyone on LJ wanted some sort of attention they weren't getting offline... or IRL as we always referred to it because there was still very much that distinction. We knew we couldn't be our LJ selves away from the computer or we'd be laughed out of the room. That was a big part of the attachment.
Partially because of this, the method of acquisition wasn't anywhere near as demanding; deep down we all still knew it was something we weren't entitled to. Said attention was usually gained by posting something cryptic, something passive aggressive. The biggest attention whores would usually amp this up by posting song lyrics and/or a picture of self harm scars or partial nudity (either to show off weight loss/gain or merely because they were whores). And although those people did have their hug boxes, 1) most of us did look down on them for it and 2) they did actually have to step outside of their own blogs and join communities - i.e. share the attention and give as much as they got. Like genuinely siding with like.
If you got this far, you might be wondering what this has got to do with Tumblr. Well, a lot of you will be too young to have LJed in earnest, so I hope that the above was informative but more than that, I think the changes made in blogging platforms illustrate how times have changed and how we've gone from tolerating the slightly unbalanced to dropping everything for the batshit crazy. Social media, once used for communication purposes by people unafraid to express reservation or dissent, has become a breeding ground for lolcows because delusions are now actually entertained "IRL" by idiots who can't process logic and are scared to death of being outed as the sociopaths they really are. If they have to ostracise kids and tell them that they need hormone injections or that they're dragons to maintain this paper-thin facade then they'll do it. We had our feuds but these people will throw entire generations to the wolves if it is in furtherance of their own agenda.
Back in the days of LJ, we were all at least a bit competitive for attention but we knew the limits and to not cross them because in the end we did still want to be part of a community, online and off. Arguably, part of the escapism and addiction was because we were (or thought we were) pushing the limits. We were "different" (we weren't) for a few hours a day and there was something a bit childlike and naughty about that - it was the equivalent of swearing at your mother or wearing a top hat to school. Now we see segregation and demands that society changes its standards completely and that is why it's more sinister. It has stopped being a game.
I was never on LJ but I did have an account on blogger, and while the "hugbox" mostly consisted of college friends that I actually knew in person, there was also some attraction to the idea that what you were writing could be read, evaluated, and commented on by anyone anywhere in the world. So yeah I'm not going to deny that I didn't have my share of intentionally vague posts in which I wallowed in my own self-absorbed misery, but I think that there was at least some impetus to create something informative or at least amusing, even if it didn't really have a coherent theme.
I feel that the people who stuck that out are now writing drivel for places like HuffPo while the "new generation" (I kind of hate that cliche because (a) I'm not that old and (b) I'm not much older than said "new generation" anyway, at least not sociologically speaking)) is more used to putting out instantaneous, easily-absorbed snippets that are exemplified by the popularity of places like Twitter, Vine, Instagram, etc. Also the relative ubiquity of these media means that, compared to twelve or fifteen years ago, it is so incredibly easy to accrue literally thousands of "followers" when in the 2000s you were hot shit if you got like twenty hits on a post from around the world.
So basically I don't think that the motivations have changed too much when teenagers of ten or fifteen years ago were themselves the edgelords who have (hopefully) since outgrown it, it's just that these traits are hyperexaggerated because of how easy it is to (a) get exposure, (b) subsequently get ridiculed for it, and (c) form a massive hugbox to protect from (b) being a consequence of (a).
Can someone start printing out media studies degrees now?
There was definitely that impetus because we did still want to give as well as take. We had to be a lot more creative as bloggers to put out regular content that was entertaining to our peers; we were essentially raconteurs re-shaping the mundane events of the day as something whimsical and meaningful whereas now it's so much easier to post a million pictures or videos of the expensive shit we bought or the cool places we've been. The social currency itself has changed in both form and importance and if you don't have anything to bring to the table (which is now increasingly small to match the average attention span and EQ), you'd better have some damn interesting mental disorders. At least in that way, you'll serve as a crutch for those needing a cause/disguise.
It's also depreciated in value. As you point out, twenty hits made you hot shit because that meant that twenty people had read what you had to say. They'd proven more or less that they actually gave a shit. Comments in response to blog posts. Now, we're reduced to likes in response to photos, most of them procured by pressure and/or guilt. It's all about the numbers; we were also far less likely to add people we never exchanged views with. Now, meaningless numbers = validation. It's a game of smoke and mirrors because how do you tell who is and isn't inactive, REALLY? It's become dog-eat-dog and yet it's all bollocks.
And the emergence of self-important gimps who write the equivalent of what we did in our blogs and now want their opinion pieces to be considered journalism doesn't help matters...
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I try to keep up with what all these tumblr people believe, but it's just so contradictory and redundant and stupid that I literally can't even most of it. I can't keep track of which headmates are whose, who's a tupuke and who's a truscum, who's claiming to be autistic without a diagnosis now, and what gender a given user is claiming to be this week (if indeed it is an actual gender). I'm pretty sure most people who use tumblr feel the same way that I do--utterly confused--but I think that they assume they're alone and so they pretend to know what's going on in order to not feel left out.
This is my theory: it's hard to be interesting and unique in real life, because you and everyone around you are for the most part from the same environment (especially as a teenager). On the internet, though, you can be welcomed and liked as unique and special if you just do this one thing! So you call yourself a demiboy nanogirl (is that right? I don't know from Tumblr slang). However, that's not enough. Everyone else doesn't feel 100% pink and feminine all the time, either, and they use the terms too. So you decide that not wanting to jump the bones of everyone you meet makes you 85% asexual. So in the process of trying to be unique and interesting, Tumblr users all blend into each other's specialness. Eventually, enough repetitions of the cycle produce a Springtrapp, or Vade, or whomever.
Facebook is a place for normal people and average attention whoring. It is arguably the natural successor of MySpace, when blogging became social networking and the focus was drawn away from diary-like posts and engineered more towards collecting stupid amounts of "friends" through likes, shares, photos, etc. It was intended to attract the then casuals of the internet and it worked like a charm because most people are lazy sheep who like to be rewarded through repetition and simplicity (though not in the workplace - they prefer to think of this cheap psychological trick as their choice). That's why they keep posting inspirational quotes to the contrary because you wouldn't know otherwise... ...
Twitter is a place for people to express brief outbursts. Even if they have to make several tweets at a time and are talking absolute bollocks, you get the gist of the argument. But it's no place to introduce an entirely new lexicon, it's for people on the go.
Tumblr is the internet equivalent of the Ministry of Truth where all we knew is re-written. It returns to the blogging format of LJ and its derivatives (Deadjournal, Blurty, etc) and away from the popularity contest of MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Had this been ten or more years ago, the blogs would have been where such people gathered. It's where people shared thinspiration and self harm pictures underneath "trigger-warning" links and where mouthy, bitchass edgelords hammered out florid accounts of how Requiem for a Dream made them cry into their copies of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
So, given that the platform was available, why did this not explode at the height of the blogging era? Why were there merely warning signs?
Simple, really. While some platforms are more rant-friendly than others, they are all inherently neutral and there simply weren't enough ways of avoiding real life to become a full-time Wizard. You had to do something and in doing this thing, you saw others and came to realise that maybe you weren't actually that misunderstood afterall and that not everyone is a shitlord out to get you because they have their own lives. These days, you can just set up a Patreon confident in the knowledge that the whole world revolves around you and that the whole world stinks, therefore you must change it from your lard-encrusted bed.
But you can rant on Facebook, right?
Right, I guess you can. However, I did mention that Facebook is casual central and its strength is in numbers. You go on there and be gay, lesbian, bi, trans and you'll be championed not for your right to be who you are but because doing so will make them look good. Note how Youtube comment sections under videos of gay artists always pertain more to the sexuality of the artist rather than to the song itself? That's what I meant by average attention whoring and popularity contest. The average person is all too eager to show off the fact that they aren't raving homophobes (as if they were before).
These Facebookers and Youtube commenters are people who balance and even sync online life with off; i.e. where gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals exist too. You go in there ranting about how you're a fucking dragon-fae fartkin and you'll be BTFO.
So the trick is to find a small, niche audience. You don't actually want to spread your message far and wide like you claim because then the interpretation of it would be harder to manage; you'd lose power. Therefore, you create an enclave like a cult leader and you intimidate by constantly changing the message.
SJWs and snowflakes aren't looking to change the world, they're merely looking to change what they perceive to be theirs.
Twitter is a place for people to express brief outbursts. Even if they have to make several tweets at a time and are talking absolute bollocks, you get the gist of the argument. But it's no place to introduce an entirely new lexicon, it's for people on the go.
Tumblr is the internet equivalent of the Ministry of Truth where all we knew is re-written. It returns to the blogging format of LJ and its derivatives (Deadjournal, Blurty, etc) and away from the popularity contest of MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Had this been ten or more years ago, the blogs would have been where such people gathered. It's where people shared thinspiration and self harm pictures underneath "trigger-warning" links and where mouthy, bitchass edgelords hammered out florid accounts of how Requiem for a Dream made them cry into their copies of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
So, given that the platform was available, why did this not explode at the height of the blogging era? Why were there merely warning signs?
Simple, really. While some platforms are more rant-friendly than others, they are all inherently neutral and there simply weren't enough ways of avoiding real life to become a full-time Wizard. You had to do something and in doing this thing, you saw others and came to realise that maybe you weren't actually that misunderstood afterall and that not everyone is a shitlord out to get you because they have their own lives. These days, you can just set up a Patreon confident in the knowledge that the whole world revolves around you and that the whole world stinks, therefore you must change it from your lard-encrusted bed.
But you can rant on Facebook, right?
Right, I guess you can. However, I did mention that Facebook is casual central and its strength is in numbers. You go on there and be gay, lesbian, bi, trans and you'll be championed not for your right to be who you are but because doing so will make them look good. Note how Youtube comment sections under videos of gay artists always pertain more to the sexuality of the artist rather than to the song itself? That's what I meant by average attention whoring and popularity contest. The average person is all too eager to show off the fact that they aren't raving homophobes (as if they were before).
These Facebookers and Youtube commenters are people who balance and even sync online life with off; i.e. where gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals exist too. You go in there ranting about how you're a fucking dragon-fae fartkin and you'll be BTFO.
So the trick is to find a small, niche audience. You don't actually want to spread your message far and wide like you claim because then the interpretation of it would be harder to manage; you'd lose power. Therefore, you create an enclave like a cult leader and you intimidate by constantly changing the message.
SJWs and snowflakes aren't looking to change the world, they're merely looking to change what they perceive to be theirs.
Heh, I can tell that you've thought about this probably at least as much as I have, if not more. I think to me what it boils down to is the identity that one associates with the site in question, and Facebook has sold itself and certainly become a place that one most closely associates with one's "real life" identity, so some level of self-policing is generally needed on Facebook because of (a) its ubiquity and (b) the fact that "real life" acquaintances - who are not necessarily chosen in the sense that no one can control who they actually meet - may not be a part of the hugbox and might be liable to call one out for shit.
tumblr is the intersection of several things: namely, you can have a handle/username, you have some limited anonymity BUT still have the power to craft an image/identity associated with the username in a way that Twitter/Reddit/Instagram etc do not allow. It is basically the successor to the blog except that the degree of interactivity is higher, which makes it much more prone to becoming a hugbox. All of this, of course, attracts the attention-seeking folks that other avenues can't provide - either there are limitations on exactly what can be shared, or there are limitations on the type of people whom one can build a community around.
You do have people on Tumblr unironically (and ironically, because this is Tumblr) talking about building their web brands. I think Tumblr's love of vaporwave may tie into that, since it's big on having a unique aesthetic.
It's all pretty fascinating. I'd fucking love Tumblr if it weren't for the SJW mob justice bullshit.
SJW want to create a tumblr like platform called "inkstand".
http://inkstandapp.tumblr.com/
the creators are typical SJW hypocrites:
We are against discrimination! But it's totally ok to hate [insert people as long as it's not poc, trans women, lgbq people and so on)
because that's somehow part of a "safe space".
SJW want to create a tumblr like platform called "inkstand".
http://inkstandapp.tumblr.com/
the creators are typical SJW hypocrites:
We are against discrimination! But it's totally ok to hate [insert people as long as it's not poc, trans women, lgbq people and so on)
because that's somehow part of a "safe space".
I hope all the SJWs go there so I can reblog pictures of confused looking dogs doing people things in peace.
Great, so now we're going to need a ballpit for the ballpit.
For our new users:
I have a Tumblr, use it regularly, and don't have a problem with SWJs, fandom wank, specul snowflaekes or any off that bullshit. First- before you follow anyone or post anything- go to your dashboard settings and turn off replies, rebloging from your account, and especially "allow anonymous user responses". Then download a Tumblr keyword filter, install it & upload a list of common SJW terminology & the names of fandoms you can't stand.
Bingo. You're bulletproof. It takes about five minutes to set it up.
(Edit: This about literally digs a moat around your Tumblr. You can see out, and they can see in, but that's about it. No interaction allowed. All you can do is follow people and like & reblog pages to your Tumblr, but the only thing they can do is report you for breaking the terms of service.)
I have a Tumblr, use it regularly, and don't have a problem with SWJs, fandom wank, specul snowflaekes or any off that bullshit. First- before you follow anyone or post anything- go to your dashboard settings and turn off replies, rebloging from your account, and especially "allow anonymous user responses". Then download a Tumblr keyword filter, install it & upload a list of common SJW terminology & the names of fandoms you can't stand.
Bingo. You're bulletproof. It takes about five minutes to set it up.
(Edit: This about literally digs a moat around your Tumblr. You can see out, and they can see in, but that's about it. No interaction allowed. All you can do is follow people and like & reblog pages to your Tumblr, but the only thing they can do is report you for breaking the terms of service.)
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(...so "turn off reblogging" is possible now?
@Sinners Sandwich - I remember that one showing up. Built-in blacklist/whitelist and a blocking system that actually works? Sound fine and dandy, but yeah, the 'capped asks soured the impression.
Speaking of, the guy behind Xkit - trying his best at actually doing what those behind Inkstand claim to include - once mentioned being blamed in all possible ~phobias~, ~erasures~, etc. for posting an April Fool's Day mock ad. Tsk.
I was last I checked, but to be honest I set my Tumblr up about two years ago, they might have changed it.
You know the best thing about these SJWs? They're exactly the kind of bullies - invariably always popular people who'd get involved in charity events and the like - who'd call you a gay or a paki or a ching-chong, etc in the 90's at school, the ones who absolutely couldn't stand anything different to them and were vocal about it unless a teacher was there. Now they're behaving in the exact same way (white, straight males being flavour of the moment) only this time they're demanding the right to do it from a 'safe space'. They're even bigots according to their own academic material because they 'hold political, economic and insitutional power'.
It's a real shame there's no popular blogging platform dedicated to free speech and common sense with minimal policing (i.e. just no doxing or stalking offline) and the emphasis put on handling shit yourself, saying what you want and taking responsibility for it. They'd probably catch wind of such a site and tell mainstream media that it was a gathering place for misogynistic neo-nazis.
It's a real shame there's no popular blogging platform dedicated to free speech and common sense with minimal policing (i.e. just no doxing or stalking offline) and the emphasis put on handling shit yourself, saying what you want and taking responsibility for it. They'd probably catch wind of such a site and tell mainstream media that it was a gathering place for misogynistic neo-nazis.
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