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My thoughts on internet forums

PoetPhilosopher

Veteran Member
As I approach 10k posts, I've been thinking about forums and how they would benefit me and how my posts would benefit others. I've been thinking I don't want to use forums forever - just long enough to kind of make a presence and a few people might look back and say "they contributed".

I find the good and bad of internet forums to be that they actually end up being friendlier than talking to mere strangers, as people end up feeling a sense of community. That's the good. The bad is I often suspect that people don't really truely "know" a person on a forum as it's not really a good avenue of getting to know people. Rather than thinking thoughts like "I wonder what their mannerisms are like? I wonder what they think of a philosopher like Plato? What video games can I play with them some night?" I feel people end up thinking thoughts like "I wonder if my post count will exceed theirs and I will reach the milestone first? My favorite joke from them is the time they said X. I recall the time they said Y about religion and I agreed with it." The latter to me kind of represents the same echo chamber you experience if you get on Instagram, where only a few thoughts and dimensions are really explored.

So for that reason, forums are something I can do now because I'm still pretty young, but by the next 8-10 years, it's an avenue I wish to kind of move on from.

As for RF, I do think quite fondly of it. I can't guarantee there will be a second 10k, but it's certainly possible. When I joined, I kind of just expected to depart after 1k.
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
As I approach 10k posts, I've been thinking about forums and how they would benefit me and how my posts would benefit others. I've been thinking I don't want to use forums forever - just long enough to kind of make a presence and a few people might look back and say "they contributed".

It's good that you view forums as something you can contribute to, rather than just take from. I find the only forums I stick with (basically here, plus a basketball forum) are ones where I can both teach and learn (very simplistically) and where there is enough humour to keep things interesting.

I find the good and bad of internet forums to be that they actually end up being friendlier than talking to mere strangers, as people end up feeling a sense of community. That's the good. The bad is I often suspect that people don't really truely "know" a person on a forum as it's not really a good avenue of getting to know people.

My only counter to that would be to suggest that there are lots of people I 'know' RL who I don't truly 'know' too. It's just a rare thing to get that close to others, and we should remember and treasure the relationships we have where that occurs (rather than focusing on the 'warts' this closeness sometimes uncovers in others).

Rather than thinking thoughts like "I wonder what their mannerisms are like? I wonder what they think of a philosopher like Plato? What video games can I play with them some night?" I feel people end up thinking thoughts like "I wonder if my post count will exceed theirs and I will reach the milestone first? My favorite joke from them is the time they said X. I recall the time they said Y about religion and I agreed with it." The latter to me kind of represents the same echo chamber you experience if you get on Instagram, where only a few thoughts and dimensions are really explored.

It depends what you bring to it, I think. I quite like talking to people with different viewpoints and experiences to me, and I can access more differences here than I can in my day to day life.
My main concern on any forum is how honest and transparent people are, and that can certainly be hard to tell. If I am accessing people with vastly different backgrounds to me, the risk is I overgeneralise their opinions and start thinking I am getting an understanding of other groups. That's risky EVEN IF they are being completely transparent and honest.

So for that reason, forums are something I can do now because I'm still pretty young, but by the next 8-10 years, it's an avenue I wish to kind of move on from.

I guess you'll either naturally drift away at some point or not. For me, there are a lot of topics that I've 'seen before' and start to feel deja vu. But there are new topics and relationships, and there are always new issues to look at. It's probably part of the reason a lot of my posts here are about world events, or personal issues, and a little less on religion.

As for RF, I do think quite fondly of it. I can't guarantee there will be a second 10k, but it's certainly possible. When I joined, I kind of just expected to depart after 1k.

Heh...me too!! Who knows the future?
Although, I'm only about 1500 off at this point, so my best guess is that I'm not going anywhere before 20k.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
I haven't been here long. I haven't had the internet long, either.

Unfortunately, life presents itself in such a way that I can either use forums to communicate, or I can not communicate at all. I took that route for many years, but being an extrovert, it wasn't a happy one. Honestly, I've been doing the 'covid social distancing' thing for so many years, covid has had almost no impact on my daily life(other than that I'm homeschooling now). I threw myself out there for so many years, and found that while I got along well with almost everyone, I bonded well with almost no one. We are a cliquish society, and I find the way society functions now to be more exclusionary than high school.

So, the way I see it, I can try to poke my nose around on the internet to find someone to socialize with, or I can go without. I've done both, now.

I find its better to talk to people I will likely never know well in an abstract manner than to try to continue to engage the household pets in complicated conversation.

If you think people are opinionated here, just wait to see what happens when you try to talk to a large group of felines...

I say just go with it. If you're only here for another 2,000 posts, so be it. Its run its course. But if you make it to 30,000, that's okay too. As long as its serving a function for you, I see no need to overanalyze it.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Everyone should benefit from conversations with those of
different beliefs & values. Alas, some are merely angered,
& become mean.
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Everyone should benefit from conversations with those of
different beliefs & values. Alas, some are merely angered,
& become mean.

My world is turning upside down. The guy with the angry, red-headed Scottish avatar is countenancing calm. What next?
Although, having said that I don't appear too much like my avatar, so I suppose my assumption that you are actually angry, red-headed and Scottish might not be 100% accurate.

Food for thought.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
As I approach 10k posts, I've been thinking about forums and how they would benefit me and how my posts would benefit others. I've been thinking I don't want to use forums forever - just long enough to kind of make a presence and a few people might look back and say "they contributed".

I find the good and bad of internet forums to be that they actually end up being friendlier than talking to mere strangers, as people end up feeling a sense of community. That's the good. The bad is I often suspect that people don't really truely "know" a person on a forum as it's not really a good avenue of getting to know people. Rather than thinking thoughts like "I wonder what their mannerisms are like? I wonder what they think of a philosopher like Plato? What video games can I play with them some night?" I feel people end up thinking thoughts like "I wonder if my post count will exceed theirs and I will reach the milestone first? My favorite joke from them is the time they said X. I recall the time they said Y about religion and I agreed with it." The latter to me kind of represents the same echo chamber you experience if you get on Instagram, where only a few thoughts and dimensions are really explored.

So for that reason, forums are something I can do now because I'm still pretty young, but by the next 8-10 years, it's an avenue I wish to kind of move on from.

As for RF, I do think quite fondly of it. I can't guarantee there will be a second 10k, but it's certainly possible. When I joined, I kind of just expected to depart after 1k.
I think forums are great for open exchange on a vast variety of topics. However will a forum change the world? I think not.

I'm in agreement there is much more to life than forum participation. Still, its a part of life that people can reflect upon. I still think of forums I had joined and was never regretful of those experiences. RF is no different. :○)
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
My world is turning upside down. The guy with the angry, red-headed Scottish avatar is countenancing calm. What next?
Here's the thing....anger is my thing! I don't need horning in by undisciplined,
whining, immature, apple slice'n, penguin de-lice'n, ursine spank'n, engine
crank'n, lollygag'n, finger wag'n, miserable excuses for outraged posters.
 

MNoBody

Well-Known Member
given that all ones data is siphoned off into some internet of things ...such records are part of one's personal file......should let them know what you do think, while you have a platform to do so..... since "they" are observing..... and that isn't paranoid, that is fact.
 
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