Google, ILM, and the late-breaking fandom: Classic or Dud?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

This is the thread where we discuss a burgeoning phenomenon on ILM: (a) you look at the New Answers and find a year-old thread resurrected, (b) you take a look, and (c) you find that some devoted fan of the artist under discussion did a google search, found an old thread struggling over the issue of the artist's talent, and decided to set the record straight with a message explaining that previous conversants obviously do not understand the artist in question, who is obviously great. Some individuals seem to be going through the archive and weighing in on various CorDs in sequence. A lot of them seem to be roughly 15 and not particularly interested in analytical discussion, which is not a snarky criticism, as there is nothing at all wrong with being 15 and not interested in analytical discussion, and plus it will make you more attractive to the opposite sex. But as a result, most of these late-breaking posts don't incite much thought beyond, "Oh, so you like this band enough to Google them," and so the threads wind their ways back down the New Answers page.

I was initially irritated, but am now finding this phenomenon absolutely fascinating. How about you?

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i like this guy who's essentially posting the same thing to every taking sides thread.

― ethan, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

also classic for the using the argument "c'mon, slavery was abolished a long time ago!".

― ethan, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i like the fact that some of those old threads come back, maybe some will get re-invigorated. some of the threads died very quickly, and perhaps prematurely. who knows, maybe my Alec R Constandinos thread will get revived?

― gareth, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like that some of the people don't realize they're looking at one thread of a larger board, and therefore assume that ILMers' tastes extend only to what's being discussed on that particular thread. It interests me to see what people, when confronted with someone else saying "I don't like X," assume the speaker does like -- usually they organize things into whatever dichotomies are important to them, like the young folks who see all musical discourse as an epic sides-taking battle between nu-metal and Britney.

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A lot of them seem to be roughly 15 and not particularly interested in analytical discussion
Why do they seem 15?

― helenfordsdale, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, it's just a general impression, Helen, based on: (a) their ranges of reference often being restricted to whatever's on Total Request Live, (b) their sort of aggressive, defensive, non-analytical fandom, and just generally (c) the way they express themselves in general. There's a particular 15-year-old fanspeak which is removed from "X band roolz and Y band is butt-sucks, stoopids" only insofar as the writer dresses it up in an attempt to sound clever and reasonable about it. And so it comes out more like: "You guys don't realize that X band is REAL ROCK because when I first saw their video I thought it was AMAZING real heartfelt music not like this soulless teeny pop stuff everywhere, which is just image. But X band put out AMAZING albums they are really good and if you don't realize it you are missing out."

It's this weird defensive assumption that anyone who disagrees with you about your favorite band's value just doesn't understand music at all, but then when you try to express it you wind up sputtering and not having any arguments besides "They are great and other stuff is not!" And it's a little bit more prevalent when you're 15, but then that's one of the great things about being 15, right? Like I said, I don't mean to insult or stereotype 15-year-olds. I should maybe have just said that this is a youngish, teenage-ish tendency, which is all well and good but throws a wrench into critical discourse.

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

With that last sentence you mean these kids showing up hinders the discourse? (Sorry, Englese is my second language... Or maybe I am just playing ACE OF SPADES way too loud.)

― helenfordsdale, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Not sure if you're even making a big distinction Nitsuh, but I don't see a particularly big one between these 15 year old types and er......."us" (possibly because I'm 18). but seriously, all the analysis that goes on on ILM is undermined by the fact that the people making clever digs at bands generally just don't like those bands. And vice versa. it's easy to take sides is what I'm saying. And I think I could write a convincingly good review of something I hated. I think any of us could.

― Ronan, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No, no, I'm not saying it "hinders," any more than I'm saying it's specific to teenagers. Just that that sort of post doesn't add anything to certain types of analytical discourse that go on on ILM. Nor should they be beholden to -- I really don't see anything wrong with those sorts of posts. But it's like ... imagine two guys have spent an hour discussing social security reform, in depth, really digging into issues and options, and then a little while after they've finished someone comes along and says "I'm in favor of privatization" and then wanders off. The first two guy are going to, well, sort of shrug and think "Okay, then," and that'll be that.

I take back the thing about 15-year-olds, anyway, as I think it's being interpreted as sort of ageist when I really didn't mean it quite that way.

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I didn't think you were being ageist. I just thought it was worth saying that the age difference is the only difference often.

You're totally otm about the manner in which they post, I must admit to doing it (in the manner of your last example, not the first one) myself often out of sheer lack of time. I don't expect responses when I do it, so I doubt they do.

― Ronan, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I never get that sense from you, Ronan, at least partly because you know who the audience is here, generally. What strikes me as fascinating about these thread-revivalists is that they wander across a thread with really no context about its participants, and yet they still pitch in these very strident opinions, and it's interesting to me to see what assumptions they make about all of us who are usually here.

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I can imagine how they do it though. Casual internet users coming across some forum. I wonder do they even realise that ILM full of other threads. I know when I found ILE and ILM first I had no real idea of what sort of debate went on.

― Ronan, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

as someone who has started going to and contributing to ILM more frequently, i would like to point out that some contributors might assume that everyone on the board is familiar with their thoughts and attitudes and manners of expressing themselves, which is sort of annoying for someone who doesn't know the full context. and i'm damned if i'm going to read the entire bboard just to get that context.

― di, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like how, even though I've only posted to ILM maybe 5 times (and once to say that I thought Carol King's Tapestry was crap), I recieved this one-line email:

Why do you think anyone cares what you think about Tapestry fatty.

Perhaps I will begin posting more just to recieve more emails like this!

― Emily, Friday, 28 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Man do I feel like shit now, I wish I got more email calling "fatty" please post more, please be the mother of my children and so one.

― Mr Noodles, Friday, 28 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Woah! Militant 15 year old Carol King fans! I want some of that. I only get emails from people asking me where they can buy Lynx body spray.