is this forum in the worst state it's ever been in?
- Thread starter woops
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Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Given the rate at which sex toy technology is progressing, there's one person I can imagine getting electrocuted or perhaps violently fucked to death by a malfunctioning sexbot after it suffers a short circuit caused by the hapless user getting spunk in its power socket.
version
Well-known member
There isn't much cohesion at the moment. There was a period a few years back where enough of us were on the same page that we were able to discuss things we'd all been thinking about in one form or another. I don't feel that anymore. My sense is we're all off in different directions at present or we've just not much to say.
And yeah, it's clearly a result of broader trends too: the switch to posting from phones, more time spent online, shorter attention spans. Judging from the older threads, it was quieter back in the day. The current iteration's somewhere between a forum and a group chat and more familiar and informal for it.
sus
Moderator
I've had subjects knocking around my mind which might've been of interest to c2020 Dissensus. Vines and trellises as a metaphor for life on the grid. The tourist as a pilgrim in search of authenticity. Technology as a bundle of affordances, to be irreverently seized (as opposed to tech as prescriptive flow). The musicality of birdsong, and birdsong as a metaphor for poetry.
But the board feels like a callous uncaring and ultimately uninteresting place, not a place where I can discuss anything with sensitivity or sincerity and get anything of sensitivity or sincerity back. I suppose it's always been that way—I remember back in 2020, most of what I posted was responded to with mockery or "gus is a nonce." Maybe I've just learned that the oven burns at touch, and keep my hands clear. Still, it seemed more worth engaging when the folks mocking me were genuinely trying to prod me into a new awareness, or were at least busy making their own interesting threads. I felt there was something to be learned, still, from presence; that any hazing was an acceptable cost of initiation into secrets. I don't feel that way any longer.
& of course I'm past hazing. I do feel that I've made a couple real efforts, the past months, trying to say something useful and interesting, but it always feels wasted, it doesn't get mirrored back, it doesn't go anywhere or build into anything greater, there's very little momentum and even less camaraderie. Perhaps the plague years united us.
But the board feels like a callous uncaring and ultimately uninteresting place, not a place where I can discuss anything with sensitivity or sincerity and get anything of sensitivity or sincerity back. I suppose it's always been that way—I remember back in 2020, most of what I posted was responded to with mockery or "gus is a nonce." Maybe I've just learned that the oven burns at touch, and keep my hands clear. Still, it seemed more worth engaging when the folks mocking me were genuinely trying to prod me into a new awareness, or were at least busy making their own interesting threads. I felt there was something to be learned, still, from presence; that any hazing was an acceptable cost of initiation into secrets. I don't feel that way any longer.
& of course I'm past hazing. I do feel that I've made a couple real efforts, the past months, trying to say something useful and interesting, but it always feels wasted, it doesn't get mirrored back, it doesn't go anywhere or build into anything greater, there's very little momentum and even less camaraderie. Perhaps the plague years united us.
sus
Moderator
Everything seems extremely minimal effort. No one is effort posting. No one feels compelled to put in any work, to persuade anyone or seduce or entertain or charm. Probably because everyone knows each other but no one much likes each other, and those are efforts born of either insecurity or love.
sus
Moderator
It's interesting to me that Linebaugh is literally in a Finnegan's Wake reading group and has to be begged to even bring up the book, or the group, or anything they've discussed together, in public on the board. Zero desire to make arguments or observations or even just ask questions here. Despite the fact that like half the board has read & thought about the Wake. Despite us having like three threads about the Wake. This is extreme Corpseyesque sloth on his part, but also probably reflects a realistic expectation that nothing good would come from publicly posting, and that his effort wouldn't be repaid with effort in kind.
It's interesting to me that both Kid Charlemagne and I are trying pretty hard to learn to read & write poetry, in our place as ignorant yung'uns. And altho there are a halfdozen board elders who spend their days seriously reading, writing, teaching, or thinking about poetry or literature more broadly, it's never felt like there was a place to discuss in earnest about what it means to be a poet, what poems are for, how they work, matters of technique—very little place or desire to actually pass this rather niche craft on, pass teaching on, etc. (@Benny Bunter has been incredibly generous answering some of my poetry questions, and is a notable exception)
Obviously no one here is obligated to teach anyone else poetry, or provide feedback on writing, or talk shop. Certainly am not trying to ascribe blame to any individual for not satisfying my desires—that would be ridiculous. My point is just that there are topics of shared interest that could be discussed. There's just no energy or motivation or desire to discuss them. There's no sense of stakes, and no emotional charge.
It's interesting to me that both Kid Charlemagne and I are trying pretty hard to learn to read & write poetry, in our place as ignorant yung'uns. And altho there are a halfdozen board elders who spend their days seriously reading, writing, teaching, or thinking about poetry or literature more broadly, it's never felt like there was a place to discuss in earnest about what it means to be a poet, what poems are for, how they work, matters of technique—very little place or desire to actually pass this rather niche craft on, pass teaching on, etc. (@Benny Bunter has been incredibly generous answering some of my poetry questions, and is a notable exception)
Obviously no one here is obligated to teach anyone else poetry, or provide feedback on writing, or talk shop. Certainly am not trying to ascribe blame to any individual for not satisfying my desires—that would be ridiculous. My point is just that there are topics of shared interest that could be discussed. There's just no energy or motivation or desire to discuss them. There's no sense of stakes, and no emotional charge.
you lot are whinging but any time me and oblique post anything with different timbres people are like robobumming/sounds antiquated. Which i mean idgaf, I'm used to it but look at yourselves in the mirror. always obsessed with the notional cool long after that has stopped existing.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
version
Well-known member
version
Well-known member
I'm not sure what people on here are actually interested in anymore, if anything. We're often talking to ourselves. Mind you, me, Third and Germ did go back and forth for an age in 'An Emergent Order' and that did feel like an actual discussion, even if it wasn't particularly productive.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
I think the music forum's probably a lost cause, considering how old we all are now, but there could be a future in the lit threads.
sus
Moderator
Yeah. Politics is obviously toxic and bad for camraderie. Lit is the natural thing. You can age into it because it's about sappy things like timeless truths and beauty and human nature. But there's enough blood and passion in it for the youngsters.
version
Well-known member
I wouldn't write it off as these things come and go, but I've definitely found 'Thought' and 'Art, Literature and Film' more stimulating for quite a while. The politics subforum gets a lot of activity, but it's the area of the forum which feels the most like the broader internet, i.e. fractious, unpleasant, pointless.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
The politics thread is pure poison, we should just delete it.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
If it wasn't there, I wouldnt be tempted to post boring stupid stuff in it and read other people's boring stupid stuff. If there was a way of muting the entire politics forum so it didn't appear on the main page at all, I'd do it. Out of sight, out of mind.