(no subject)

[kradeelav]

cannot tell if *I'm* getting more ornery / opinionated / argumentative due to Old Age(tm)

or if the mainstream internet is genuinely increasingly bubble-y and does the whole 'hammer down the oddball nails that stick out' more?

(or both?)

( i may have gotten into some mini skirmishes on a discord server or two >__> there was a dude that had some slightly --only slightly!-- heterodox thoughts on the indie web and some folks took it as "disrespect" when it was imo only a difference of opinions on [checks wrist] the server itself thinking it was a "community"??? i didn't even know the server thought of itself as one ... or felt like there was "respect(???)" owed to it... red flag imo! given they partially walked back the "disrespect" comment when i said "i don't see any?", just aaaaargh -

asdcvfbhjkl;;; jesus christ i hate that kind of insular echo chamber, gives me proto-ideology vibes. don't think i'll be staying there longer.

Comments

[tei]

The increasing use of the word "community" to refer to a loose and completely unorganized collection of people who happen to have the same interest on the internet is so bizarre to me. And shitty, because it a) creates false standards, as clearly happened here, and b) waters down what "community" actually means. A community is not accidental! Community requires sustained effort and compromise and negotiation of what the community is and what's supposed to be acceptable there! If you have not had even an inkling of those kinds of negotiations, you are not in a community. Possibly you are in a discord server. Which is FINE, but is not the same thing.

[draculard]

discord servers are so ... I don't know how to describe it exactly, I haven't been in all that many. They're so intimate, and at the same time, I get the sense that everyone on a given server conforms to the personality and tastes of whoever is loudest. And that person (or group of people) is often a bit narrow-minded, a bit of a bully ... and frequently they're mods as well XD The only discord server I've been on that I've actually, totally liked only had 4 members lmao

[linky]

I think I know which server you're talking about, (and am also in it too, but discords past a certain size I get too intimidated to talk in often, then mute and just lurk) and I really get your feelings there...

I also agree with one of the points brought up in the replies here. People gathering together loosely, and in an unorganized fashion isn't really what I'd call a community, especially as a lurker for a lot of my life in many online spaces that called themselves such. But at the same time as you said in a reply here too, there also may definitely have been a group of people in there for longer and have talked more, and may feel/have that community feeling.

As someone who once did mod a discord for 3 years, as the size grows, people will not be fully caught up with the details, feel left out or just not feel the same as a whole entirely. That is a part of the growth of just about all public discords, regardless of purpose or intent. Trying to form a discord as an actual community, in the true sense of the word, is definitely possible! And I'm sure it's happened out there somewhere, but most places I've seen, to form community in the true sense of the word it has to be built in the foundation of the server from the very start. Not figured out as things go along. Which is how a lot of servers I've seen do it.

And after a certain size passes, that just gets a lot harder to do. More people joining, with different wants, views, and needs. It can get rather unruly and even if the server's foundation was exactly what a newbie in there wants, It's still so easy to feel left at the wayside compared to the rest. Discord servers can be great, but trying to form actual community in one has a lot of challenges that I don't have any of the answers to. Not saying or assuming all servers, or even this one aren't trying or haven't tried to form community, because I just don't know what all the goings on are in any server.

Hopefully I made some sense here, the coffee hasn't fully woken up my brain in full yet. Still a bit sleepy. *_* Just as someone with 3 years of mod and running a server experience I have A Lot of thoughts about Discord as a platform and trying to host a space there, but articulation of thoughts regardless of subject has always been a big struggle of mine. One day when I have all the needed words, I'd really like to make a post about it.

And back to your post: I really also feel those same vibes too as you do, I'm probably not gonna be in there for much longer myself either.