Today I realized that I cannot expect people on the Internet to have heard of the Geek Social Fallacies any more.
The Geek Social Fallacies are five things that geeks often believe about How Socializing Should Work, that cause a lot of conflict. I've found them to be pretty useful as a way to put a handle on certain concepts, and maybe even avoid going into bad situations.
http://plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html
(Looking at them in 2017, I find myself wondering how many of the GSFs the design of most social networks is running straight into...)
@anthracite *whispers* it's 2018 though
@InspectorCaracal I keep on making that error this year. I don’t know why.
@anthracite one reason there should be greater modularity and granularity of control of access to posts and conversations
even here on Mastodon there's still way too much of the EVERYBODY SHOULD BE ONE BIG INTERNET FAMILY shit that Twitter and everyone else pretends is the case
@kara @anthracite evefn tho i neve got particularly involved in forums or irc, i do kinda miss the modularity of friend groups those allowed for
@anthracite Huh, that's a nice, digestable way to explain social norms (and lack thereof). I like it.
@anthracite thanks for posting this. I first encountered this about 20 years ago, and a whole ‘nother generation has come of age since then. Always good to review this from time to time.
@anthracite The fourth one is one that Felthry and I struggle with....
@anthracite Given basically all of those can be swung as "But it's good for business.", all of that's making me groan hella hardcore.
And yea, rules to live by.
@anthracite thnx for that link. Online since the 90s, but see it for the first time actually...
@anthracite all the issues i had with my dad largely stemmed from 4 and maybe a little of 2 <,<
@anthracite Oh my goodness but that list was so essential to my social maturation. Such an important read.
@anthracite
Holy shit, this was me to a T, along with some of my friends:
"if you spend enough time around GSF1 carriers, putting up with trolls is going to seem normal."
Thank you for this toot!
@anthracite This is incredibly useful! It helps me understand some problems I had back when I was neck-deep in fandom circles and couldn’t understand how it had all gone abruptly wrong for me. It’s been a source of confusion and sadness for me for a decade, and this article just laid it all out. Thank you so much.
@anthracite GSF 4 is why I quit Facebook. My LGBT-activist social justice friends, my small-c-conservative older white USian friends from 60s pop fandom, my techie work colleagues, and my friends from comics fandom who like inappropriate jokes, all interacting with me in the same space was *not* a good thing...
@stealthmunchkin @anthracite I just used that as an excuse to troll by posting something that is not obvious flame bait but *will* attract people with strong opinions and then I’d enjoy watching them have a go at it with one another (the people who are my actual friends on FB are almost all smart enough not to engage, so it’s just former co-workers and classmates getting angry at one another for no reason)
@duck57 @anthracite Ah, see, I'm *horribly* conflict-avoidant, and if I see two people I know fighting I get stressed for days 😕
@stealthmunchkin @anthracite That’s typically how I am in real life, but Facebook encourages bad behavior (especially when people get married and change their name and you no longer know who they are or why you added them as a friend your freshman year, so they no longer are people you know).
IRL, I’ve been known to invite people who hate each other on small gatherings because I never thought to check my guest list for conflicting personalities.
@anthracite Wow. GSF #2 and #3 are so me :/.
@anthracite I have long maintained that the furry community is the embodiment of them. Had a bit of a rant about it a few weeks ago.
@fluffy I am not going to disagree with that in the least after a couple decades in the furry scene.
@anthracite Hadn't seen these before but definitely experienced them (and exhibited them at times). There are definitely online communities that are basically completely founded in all of these.
@anthracite fascinating
@anthracite
I read this and my only takeaway is that its writer and supporters are just taking a transgressive hatchet to human feelings for the sheer joy of being transgressive and judgmental toward people who are already confused and traumatized enough as it is.
@anthracite
And another takeaway, yet another generation of people who were raised in a barrel of artificial feces force fed to them by robotic friendship-mediating robots, think they understand based on that experience where feces comes from -- friends.
@astro This is from 2003, when "social networks" barely existed.
@anthracite
That's ok, my view of the average people who caused geeks to flee en masse to the internet in search of a new country with new social contracts, is compatible enough in spirit with "robots who mediate robotic friendships" since neither they nor their relationships are real
@anthracite I’m not sure how problematic #3 is in isolation: it’s my opinion that people would generally be happier if they dropped significant others to priority 2 behind their closest friends.
If it’s combined with #4, however, you’re all in for a world of hurt.
@anthracite as someone who was never part of 'geekdom' culture, this was really interesting to read, and explains a few odd encounters I had..
If people wonder why I don't say much, or go out of my way to meet new people, the Geek Social Fallacy is a big part of that. (Depression, anxiety, asexuality, and the fact that I am 15-20 years older than most furs is the other part.)
RT @anthracite https://dragon.style/@anthracite/99581993631433178
@anthracite I've run afowl if number one before. Several people stopped going to board game days at the comic shop because of one guy who couldn't go a single game without mentioning his size change fetish in some way. Constantly bringing up she hulk and how he'd buy multiple tickets if she got a movie, wink wink. Picking characters because 'oooh, she changes size? I'm in love.' get your greasy hands off my cards, please.
@anthracite Mainstream geekdom is one of the most appalling cultures there is. Non-tolerant, will excommunicate you if you don't fit in and pretend you're the worst person around.
It doesn't surprise me that they want everything to be like that, they're not progressive, they're conservative.
It’s two days later and people are still replying to this toot. I am so glad for the “mute conversation” function.
@anthracite oh man I haven't read these but I have encountered them so often on social media