digital echo chambers, taking the bait, and so on
hey,
i haven't been on here much. i thought i posted more in april, but no. i checked my guestbook by chance and saw words by an anonymous person who thought it'd mean something to tell me i'm a mess. i'm leaving it up, even after filtering out what looked like unmoderated spam.
so, this is gonna be a means to set some boundaries. folks across online spaces sometimes forget that going to someone's public profile, blog, etc. is like stepping into their house. sometimes you're invited and sometimes you're not. sometimes people welcome debates or like-minds. the viewer has a choice on participating or moving on.
but no, i'm not taking any ragebait or encouraging everyone to agree with me here. taking the bait would probably be more a charged reply of overexplaining myself in a thesis as to ~why i am not a mess, actually.~ thinking everyone will be in favor of my posts, supplemented with engagement in toasts and praise, is also a pitfall i'm not interested in.
(sidebar: i don't really like how replies are formatted/coded in the guestbook, and i can't figure out how to fix it currently. it'll stay up as it is until i can find an alternative. anyways, back to our regularly scheduled programming.)
i'm a tumblr university alumni, sharpened first by unregulated AOL & yahoo chatrooms, 4chan forums, gaia online discussion boards, and myspace chainmail. i've used twitter before the elongated takeover, and a bit after. i've walked through the nine circles of discord. i've seen more than enough takes and interactions that are relevant to the current digital landscape.
what i've observed is that even the most well-intentioned and thorough caption, piece, or essay can garner disagreement. that just means solicited and unsolicited feedback can happen. lately, it's the latter more often. there seems to be regression back into 4chan-era trolling under the rebranded, doubled-down guise of "lol it's a joke"-type nonchalance. that's so tired.
and what's funny is that this post of mine could be interpreted as me taking the bait. if anything, i'm just surprised a microblog platform could invite commentary i'd expect in an engagement bait post elsewhere.
word to the wise: people will interpret what you say however they want. people's thoughts of you are none of your business, so just say what you mean. and if you must say something to someone else that offers nothing past a self-imposed echo chamber, well, if that helps you sleep at night...
until next time,
venado 𐂂
p.s. i don't resent constructive feedback, though. i've gotten correspondence that changed some views of mine, even the way i code my blog. i think that's cool.
p.s.s. if you don't like someone's content, you don't have to interact. (shocking...) the close tab button is right there. my blog ain't a tumblr ask box, either. i'm not the one for that.