Suddenly the traveler understood wh y the Eloi feared darkness. They
were like fatted calves, kept well and healthy, only to be seized and
eaten when the Morlocks grew hungry. Eloi society wasn't perfect after
all.
>From a summary of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
By SHELTON BAUMGARTNER
Ahssa! Editor
How does stuff like this happen?
LiveJournal has become the latest thing the bobo Eloi of Silicon Valley
want to protect from the evil clutches of the Morlocks (that would be
you and me) and I didn't even realize it. To clueless me, LiveJournal
is just another blogging Website. (Oh, dear God, Shelly, you've turned
into Gary Senise's character in the move Ransom! What the hell is wrong
with you? -- Coy)
This brings up an interesting point about how "male media" and 'female
media" become popular. (Oh, sweet Jesus, not another one of your
theories! -- Coy)
Male media phenomenons like "South Park" become a success after a long
"secretive" gestation where only the coolest of the cool know about
them. Then the show 'breaks" and everyone knows about it...just as the
people who originally made it popular grow tired with it because it's
so popular. Meanwhile, popular 'female media" events like The O.C.,
Ally McBeal or *** and the City are often instant hits and everyone of
any in****tance in the mainstream media talks about them for months
before and after they actually air. (I'm sure I've just discovered some
basic concept of "sociable media" without realizing it, and I don't
even go to Berkeley! )
What brings all this up is this post posted to alt.religion.kibology
(it's been slightly edited for drifting stupidity:)
LiveJournal, bah! It has singlehandedly destroyed Usenet, or what was
left over after Usenet singlehandedly destroyed Usenet.
Oh don't give livejournal so much credit. How long has that been
around, anyway? Five years? What else has popped up on The Web since
around then that might keep people from Usenet?
Besides, Usenet isn't totally dead; it's still possible to get in
decent
discussions, or to download binaries.... What did happen is that Usenet
has ceased to be constantly noticeably reinforced, especially each
September by a new crop of college freshmen (do schools still
distribute .edu addresses?); for one thing, having grown up with
Windows, Internet Explorer and AOL, livejournal
is more "user-friendly", as one only "logs on" (GACK!) to another
website without having to learn to use any new programs or any very
different interfaces (not only shell prompts and tin or slrn, but even
ftp and telnet GUIs, are "too HARD").
Then too, "LJ" does eliminate crossposted annoyances like cascades
(what happened to those karl-malden-nose fans anyway?), political
flamewars(remember the years-long "debate" about the Ottoman
anti-Armenian pogroms of 1905?)....This is good for people who don't
want to (even have to learn to) use killfiles or "mark thread read".
It also coddles infantile narcissism more effectively than Usenet, as
one posts "entries" and then (maybe) gets a few "comments" (often only
from designated "friends"; cowards or plotters who don't want to learn
to send encrypted email can even set their whole damn thing
"friends-only"), so there's little risk of the free-for-all
give-and-take that wounds so many poor little egos. On livejournal you
get to be a god -- if someone flames you or even contradicts you you
can BAN them! OOH, what power!
Obviously, the Eloi have an emotional commitment to LiveJournal that I
was unaware of. I always thought Usenet was pretty much dead by this
point, but Google keeps helping it out. It's pretty cool and pretty
interesting that such a big, powerful company would care about such a
weird and wacky form of media.
Now, if we were cool, we'd shell a few bucks each month and participate
in the Eloi "virtual community" of The Well. I do have to note,
however, that the beautiful Eloi gated virtual community of The Well
has seen better times.
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