Post Apocalypse

[Capper]

Last month a woman who worked for the Stranger, an alternative weekly in Seattle, quit in a huff. She had been writing for the paper's blog, the Slog. The problem was the comments people were making on her posts. She couldn't stand them anymore. "The word I would use is cruel," she wrote in her sign-off.

Actually, if cruel was all they were, she got off pretty easy. For all the hype about Flickr and YouTube and Twitter and whatever else is putting "Web 2.0" in its business plan these days, the most ubiquitous form of user-generated content (to employ a phrase that just won't die) is the humble comment. Web publishers have begun to offer commenting on everything--posts, videos, pictures, whatever--like it was a kind of interactive condiment. Now practically anything on the Web collects comments the way a whale collects barnacles.

In theory, it's a great thing. We're giving the people a voice! But the reality is that commenting either attracts loathsome people or somehow causes ordinary people to express themselves in a way that is loathsome.

A random example: on June 11, a user called way21337 uploaded a video to YouTube. It's titled My new gerbil, and it shows, in fact, a black-and-white gerbil snuffling around cutely in somebody's hand. It is 11 seconds long. By press time, it had acquired 102 comments. Let's take a look! They begin with NewTyhuss, who writes, "sweet!" Things start going south with comment No. 4: "id hit it." (Good one, ZRace67!) After a week, we're down to eldergod: "why dont u shove that gerbil up yur ass and quit posting stupid videos." bwalhof writes, "kill yourself. fast." And so on.

Post Apocalypse

[drew and not u]

KILL IT WITH FIRE!

[screwballl]

after dousing it in gasoline and set it free in an enemy's car

[Zambini]

That's youtube though. Its basically a cesspool of teenage angst and 4chan attitude mixed in with dorks-who-are-the-least-popular-in-school-so-they-have-e-elitism

[Capper]

Originally Posted by Zambini

That's youtube though. Its basically a cesspool of teenage angst and 4chan attitude mixed in with dorks-who-are-the-least-popular-in-school-so-they-have-e-elitism

No different from 99% of the blogs and forums on the web......Anywhere you go, you'll find assholes. The real problem though is that it seems that people who are overly negative, paranoid, or who question authority are given instant credibility.....maybe its just me, but thats a big trend I've noticed....younger, inexperienced people cling to the negative, rebellious people.

[Jokerswild]

Richard Gere would hit it.

Digg is getting real bad when it comes to this too. You just have to consider the source of the comments I suppose.

[Tyreal]

I'm starting to see comments like this more and more on the Internet. I think Zambini hit the nail on the head. All that and internet anonymity.

[Zambini]

Originally Posted by Capper

No different from 99% of the blogs and forums on the web......Anywhere you go, you'll find assholes. The real problem though is that it seems that people who are overly negative, paranoid, or who question authority are given instant credibility.....maybe its just me, but thats a big trend I've noticed....younger, inexperienced people cling to the negative, rebellious people.

NO YOU'RE WRONG ITS NOT YOUGN PEOPLE ITS ALL YOU OLD PEOPLE RUINZING OUR INTERNZER!!!


lol.

Sad thing is...... I have been in a clan with several people much like that...

other phrases from this person include:
"Dude, my new Dell XPS will pone j00!"
"The only way you're that good is walls (hacks)"
"I HAET DELL" (after me telling him his video card is worth ~$100 and he paid 200+ for it)