ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING? PART THREE
FORUM FASCISM

STUPIDITY vs. EVIL
Welcome to the final part of this blog… Oh, the first part is still to come… Yes, I am aware that it is somewhat unorthodox to write parts two and three before part one. However, I have written part one and it is not family friendly! I will have to re-edit for all-round consumption!

Most people would agree that the Fascist movement was pretty stupid and the atrocities committed were pure and utter evil. The same can be said for slavery, the destruction of the rain forests, etc. Wherever you have stupidity it is almost certain that evil will follow!

It never ceases to amaze me just how stupid people can be on forums; you might think that the comparisons to Nazi’s is extreme but it is not. The Nationalist Socialist movement started out as a concept of hate masquerading as politics; the strange shouting man with the funny moustache was a joke to begin with… People started to take the joke seriously! It’s a similar thing with forums… Again, you’ll get a group of people that form a clique and anyone coming after had better fit into the profile of that clique: DUMB & UNQUESTIONABLY CONVENTIONAL UNTIL BOREDOM HAS LOST ALL MEANING!

Forum members that claim to be upright standing citizens can turn out to be the nastiest judgeMENTAL people you’d not care to meet. What is it about the Internet that brings out the evil in people? How is it that forum members – including the moderator(s) can be so ignorant? What is the common denominator in these people that makes them act that way? Is it being relatively anonymous that brings out the nastiness? Perhaps the Internet allows people to take their moral filter off and that affects people of all religions: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc. These citizens are usually the first to break the form terms of etiquette.

Could it be that people can’t understand context? I guess humour can be misconstrued from time to time. There again, there are those who just look for what they see as negative in every sentence uttered into a forum! However, when you try to explain the context they just don’t want to know. A few times I have been called a “smart Alec” but why on God’s green Earth would I want to contribute anything less than intelligence to a forum discussion – unless, of course, I am being silly for the purpose of raising a laugh!

Typically, all it takes is just one of the clique to take a disliking to you and the rest will inevitably follow like sheep! Then it becomes a sport of goading which is very ugly to witness indeed; it’s certainly not nice to be in the midst of and the focal point of such inane and insane derision.  What is even more disturbing is when the forum owners – the people behind the product / service – join the derision on the understanding that the so called moderators are right in their stance. Well, the majority must be right, right? Even the people behind the product / service can be just as dumb!

THE INSTIGATOR
Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to see things that tired eyes can’t see. Foolishly (sic), I put some ideas forward for the forum to be improved. The main improvement being is a dedicated area where – in the case of the software – the users can show off their work without all this stupid spam accusations. Of course the Hive Mind objects to this idea and proceed to tell me why this is such a bad idea… It’s not as if someone will place a link to porn, Viagra, miracle dieting pills, free iPhone, iPad and other such annoyances. I think the reason for not allowing other users to show what they have done with the software is because they fear that an outsider will put their efforts to shame. It can happen! But someone else’s innovation can be a great source of learning!

The best forums are the ones where they allow a “promotional” area! It is common sense that once you have done something you want to find an audience! However, the Forum Fascists don’t see it that way! It really comes across that they do not want you to succeed. Why should you? You weren’t there from the beginning? You don’t contribute much, so why should the other longstanding members give you any support? Yeah, dumb unwritten rules that these lovely people go by! The Not So Silent Majority! The Forum Illuminati who are willing to delete your membership at will! Wow! Such power!

I try to instigate interesting conversations beyond taking about Mr. Fluffy the cat and my thread gets ignored or sabotaged. You can just see that the Instigators of Derision are private messaging each other to pour on the onslaught of undeserved scorn.

THE TESTS
I have conducted a bunch of tests to see if my hypotheses were correct…

Test One
I held up a mirror to the forum by starting simple threads that required simple answers and before you know it the responses got out of hand.

Test Two
I noticed that there was a member who has an online business using the software and, although he joined in the derision, he was up for an article based on him and his business! Ultimately he is loyalty lies with himself! Way to go! Yes, I ran another online magazine a while back!

Test Three
I would post pictures similar to the one above to see if they were able to understand the context. There were the usual bigots who would class me as a pornographer and there were those who actually got it! My good God… A glimmer of hope – if I weren’t deleted! Lol!

Yes, I haven’t lost my sense of humour! You’ve gotta laugh or these Misguided Misfits will win! Again, ultimately – in this case – the software company loses out… …no, not because of me alone! Uh-uh… It’s because of the private messages I received telling me that I was right to stand up to the judgeMENTAL Clique who have managed to consistently put people off!

I tell ya… …it’s not easy being a one-man army!

Thank you for reading! Please read Synapse Circuit magazine! Bless you!