Forums vs. Social Media

[Starbreaker]

I've been using TrekBBS for almost 15 years, and Facebook for a decade. Twitter for about 6 years now. They all serve their own purpose. I use forums to talk about nerdy stuff, Facebook to connect with real life friends and Twitter to vent about sports mostly.

 

[T'Girl]

I wouldn't know what to do with Facebook even if it dropped in my lap. I literally don't know what I would ever use it for

If you don't go on Star Trek's FB you totally miss out on random crap like this ...

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I'm surprised you're not on it for the sports MLB, so much stuff going on there.

 

[Timewalker]

She doesn't think forums exist. According to her, anything that allows members to post comments is a blog site - whether it's an actual blog, newspaper/newscast comment section (ie. CBC.ca), forum, or Facebook.

Therefore, according to her, TrekBBS is a blog, we're posting on a blog right now in this thread... I guess filling out customer service complaints is really commenting on a blog, emails are blogs, the whole internet is just composed of blogs.

I tried explaining the difference, and giving concrete examples of sites where both she and I participate(d), and it was a classic case of "my mind is made up; don't even think of trying to confuse me with facts; I don't care if you've been a poster, moderator, admin, and owner of "forums" (always in quotes to make it clear that she doesn't think they're real) for the past 11 years, THEY'RE JUST BLOGS." (paraphrase)

So after all that crap, I wondered why, since she doesn't believe forums exist, is she still a member of my apparently nonexistent forum that she joined last year? Oh, right. She thinks it's a blog.

Well... that's just odd.

Yeah, it was bizarre... given that over the years I've belonged to various RPG & computer gaming forums, science fiction forums of various kinds (Star Trek, Dune, Doctor Who, general SF/F, writing), other writing forums, a bilingual English/Latin forum for people who want to learn Latin, a Roman history forum, various kinds of graphics forums, plus a couple of others... I asked her if she thought all these were "just blogs" and she insisted that I could call them "forums" if I wanted, but the fact was that they were just blogs, because anything that allows comments is a blog.

There was a celebrity who posted a cat cut in half, in her bid to convince the rest of us to stop animal testing. I commented that it wasn't right to post that stuff so it shows up in people's news feeds, and she essentially said I was being sensitive and that I needed to toughen up.

But not quite as odd as that! I don't even know where to begin...

Reminds me of someone on a social media site I used to belong to; the main section consisted of blog articles, and there was a section of the site where people could set up miniature forums (called "groups"; they functioned as very basic forums, on a much smaller scale).

On one of these, there was a member who enjoyed finding the most disturbing pictures she could and posting them - no "NSFW" warnings, no trigger warnings, just pictures of mutilated animals, deformed babies, etc. This stuff came in my email notifications, with no warnings about the pictures, and just asking her to at least post warnings didn't work. So I made a formal complaint to the group owner, and this person either got the message, quit, or was kicked out - not sure, and don't care. But those photos were incredibly sickening. I don't get why some people enjoy this stuff.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I wouldn't know what to do with Facebook even if it dropped in my lap. I literally don't know what I would ever use it for.

Twitter and TrekBBS are as far as I get.

Whatever you're doing on Twitter, that's probably what you'd be doing on Facebook.

I unfollowed her.

That's such an easy solution. In general, the people whom I hear complaining the loudest about Facebook have never learned to use all the settings.

 

[tomalak301]

I'm still confused over the whole private policy thing. I'm on Facebook and haven't had any problems with it. Also, I consider the group aspect to be like the forums, only with the additive "Like" feature, which I like because it lets me know that yes people are reading my posts. Other than that, I really don't post that much on Facebook, even though I use it to follow news, groups, and play some games.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I asked her if she thought all these were "just blogs" and she insisted that I could call them "forums" if I wanted, but the fact was that they were just blogs, because anything that allows comments is a blog.

I guess it wouldn't help to tell her that forums have been around longer than blogs have? Since at least the BBS days? Blogs are more or less an evolution of personal websites.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

And all forums are basically a spin on bulletin boards, and physical bulletin boards are one of the oldest forms of mass communication! But yes, let's let Johnny Blog Lately take all the credit.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm surprised you're not on it for the sports MLB, so much stuff going on there.

I follow my favorite teams (Yankees and Mets) on Twitter, plus some of their players and reporters. So it's all good.

 

[Timewalker]

I asked her if she thought all these were "just blogs" and she insisted that I could call them "forums" if I wanted, but the fact was that they were just blogs, because anything that allows comments is a blog.

I guess it wouldn't help to tell her that forums have been around longer than blogs have? Since at least the BBS days? Blogs are more or less an evolution of personal websites.

If I'd known that, I would have mentioned it. My first forum experiences weren't until 2004 and previous to that, I'd just looked up a few things online at the library.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I still remember posting on the alt.music.pink-floyd bulletin board way back in '94. On dialup. Good times.

 

[martok2112]

My philosophy on social media is this:
If you're a friend of mine and you want to find me, get up off your lazy ass and look for me.

Also, social media is just giving celebrities a bit more of a soapbox from which to preach, pounce, rant, and rave. When the news can't give their bullshit credence, they turn to social media where somehow, everyone is deluded into thinking that their preachings carry more weight.

 

[Owain Taggart]

And all forums are basically a spin on bulletin boards, and physical bulletin boards are one of the oldest forms of mass communication! But yes, let's let Johnny Blog Lately take all the credit.

Shhhh! Bulletin Boards are blogs!

But yeah, that's more or less what I was hinting at in my previous message.