Dissensus isn't dead, it just deserves to die

[forclosure]

I've come at this once or twice in the past but i'm just gonna go ahead and say it. Between the pensive whinges from people about how their not young anymore inane points being made in the midde of certain threads in an attempt to be funny, this is what's gonna this ship faster than some would like.

I said it in the past this place needs more new people and it needs to adapt with what's shifting with around us in order to at least extend its longevity somewhat, Luke i get it you say you don't want them breakcore Mark Fisher theorists types in here cause they're not what you deem as "the right sort of people" but real talk man there is no right sort of people this isn't Studio 54 and really they're the only people who have any kind of interest in this place i'm not saying that you have to like them or their music but this is the reality of things and this isn't just a "they need to be under 30 ting" either.

Like i get it you took the reigns from here Fisher left with his ponderous lot and you got to shift the tone of this place where we get deep on tings and in the mix make jokes about bumming you won that battle but that time has passed and chasing people off of the place who don't fit your bill is what kills these kinda places.

I know you don't want to pivot to discord even if i told you there's people on there who aren't gamers you'd still be like "ugh anime nonces and gamers don't want any of that" but social media is moving towards smaller spaces so people don't lose context and feel they have a greater control of what's going on compared to the "you can see EVERYTHING" approach of social media prior and it wouldn't be a bad idea to factor in and capitalise on that.

 

[forclosure]

Lastly i just wanna say aswell that you need to stop with this weird thing you do of hoverin around and latching onto youngers in some weird attempt to say you're nuturing proteges it makes you look bad and its bait to everybody what's your doing, you come off looking like Fagan in Oliver! man

 

[Clinamenic]

So I take it you'll side with the Americans in this obscure little revolution of ours? Really its already been won, but having more comrades certainly doesn't hurt.

 

[john eden]

It seems unlikely that significant numbers of new people will come over the hill, like the cavalry, to save Dissensus.

I think that's as much to do with the format as the nature of the discussions here though. Forums had their heyday in the noughties and the ones I am still on are shadows of their former selves.

It's not true that Mark Fisher held the reigns here and it's also not true that Luka took them over, but we sometimes let him believe that he has because it makes him very happy. He can be a pain in the arse but has also injected a lot of energy into this place which for better or worse has kept it ticking over.

 

[forclosure]

So I take it you'll side with the Americans in this obscure little revolution of ours? Really its already been won, but having more comrades certainly doesn't hurt.

no it wouldn't i don't know if i'd say i "side" with them but i think i've layed out what could be changed that could help

 

[forclosure]

It seems unlikely that significant numbers of new people will come over the hill, like the cavalry, to save Dissensus.

I think that's as much to do with the format as the nature of the discussions here though. Forums had their heyday in the noughties and the ones I am still on are shadows of their former selves.

It's not true that Mark Fisher held the reigns here and it's also not true that Luka took them over, but we sometimes let him believe that he has because it makes him very happy. He can be a pain in the arse but has also injected a lot of energy into this place which for better or worse has kept it ticking over.

so if Fisher didn't do it then who did then? cause it seems like at least for a certain kind of person whose all about aesthetics he's the most famous user from here and why people come here

 

[john eden]

so if Fisher didn't do it then who did then? cause it seems like at least for a certain kind of person whose all about aesthetics he's the most famous user from here and why people come here

Well I don’t know why people come here. Those of us who were here from the first day came here because we were part of a set of bloggers who were reading Woebot and K-Punk (the founders) but were also talking to each other in the dispersed blog comments sections.

 

[john eden]

So we wanted to continue to build something that was already happening. Together.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Speaking personally, I came here through Simon Reynolds and Woebot's music writings, not Mark Fisher. With all due respect to him, the philosophical Fisherite types have been the biggest flakes and don't really care about dissensus as a 'community'.

 

[john eden]

the philosophical Fisherite types have been the biggest flakes and don't really care about dissensus as a 'community'.

This was also true of some of the grime nerds tbf.

 

[forclosure]

This was also true of some of the grime nerds tbf.

i mean i understand why grime people might not care about a space like this, as for the Fisherite types from what i've gleamed from the people here who knew and talked to him it seems like he must've thought community was just doomed from the offsett

 

[sufi]

I've come at this once or twice in the past but i'm just gonna go ahead and say it. Between the pensive whinges from people about how their not young anymore inane points being made in the midde of certain threads in an attempt to be funny, this is what's gonna this ship faster than some would like.

I said it in the past this place needs more new people and it needs to adapt with what's shifting with around us in order to at least extend its longevity somewhat, Luke i get it you say you don't want them breakcore Mark Fisher theorists types in here cause they're not what you deem as "the right sort of people" but real talk man there is no right sort of people this isn't Studio 54 and really they're the only people who have any kind of interest in this place i'm not saying that you have to like them or their music but this is the reality of things and this isn't just a "they need to be under 30 ting" either.

Like i get it you took the reigns from here Fisher left with his ponderous lot and you got to shift the tone of this place where we get deep on tings and in the mix make jokes about bumming you won that battle but that time has passed and chasing people off of the place who don't fit your bill is what kills these kinda places.

I know you don't want to pivot to discord even if i told you there's people on there who aren't gamers you'd still be like "ugh anime nonces and gamers don't want any of that" but social media is moving towards smaller spaces so people don't lose context and feel they have a greater control of what's going on compared to the "you can see EVERYTHING" approach of social media prior and it wouldn't be a bad idea to factor in and capitalise on that.

👍 top post
& thanks for taking the time

you're right mostly but not about discord

various people and cliques have used this place and contributed, and perhaps others are gonna flock back when corporate social media crashes and burns

the stats say that there are a good deal more posts per day now than there were back in the day, fwiw, but with fewer posters 🤷‍♀️
& i get the feeling that posts are maybe shorter = twitterisation effect? i dunno

the board conked out for some reason last night while i was in the hills

 

[sufi]

i mean i understand why grime people might not care about a space like this, as for the Fisherite types from what i've gleamed from the people here who knew and talked to him it seems like he must've thought community was just doomed from the offsett

this is true imho

I've come at this once or twice in the past but i'm just gonna go ahead and say it. Between the pensive whinges from people about how their not young anymore inane points being made in the midde of certain threads in an attempt to be funny, this is what's gonna this ship faster than some would like.

I said it in the past this place needs more new people and it needs to adapt with what's shifting with around us in order to at least extend its longevity somewhat, Luke i get it you say you don't want them breakcore Mark Fisher theorists types in here cause they're not what you deem as "the right sort of people" but real talk man there is no right sort of people this isn't Studio 54 and really they're the only people who have any kind of interest in this place i'm not saying that you have to like them or their music but this is the reality of things and this isn't just a "they need to be under 30 ting" either.

Like i get it you took the reigns from here Fisher left with his ponderous lot and you got to shift the tone of this place where we get deep on tings and in the mix make jokes about bumming you won that battle but that time has passed and chasing people off of the place who don't fit your bill is what kills these kinda places.

I know you don't want to pivot to discord even if i told you there's people on there who aren't gamers you'd still be like "ugh anime nonces and gamers don't want any of that" but social media is moving towards smaller spaces so people don't lose context and feel they have a greater control of what's going on compared to the "you can see EVERYTHING" approach of social media prior and it wouldn't be a bad idea to factor in and capitalise on that.

oh yeh any technical suggestions for making this place a more effective cyborg/zombie are always welcome btw

 

[IdleRich]

There have been a couple of times where new people came on and got attacked bullied straight away and - not surprisingly - just fucked off, seems a shame to me. It's one thing to take the piss out of people who have been here for ages and who you know will see it as a joke and not be upset etc but when someone shows up all smiling and innocent and ready to make friends I reckon is best not to take a flying kick at their bollocks even if they do say something stupid. Our loss if they go without us ever seeing what they might be capable of... if we go easy on newbies then they might stay for a bit and be good... and if after they've had a fair shake of the stick they do turn out to be total Biscuits then you can bully them back to the stone age for all I care, enjoying the vindictive and childish cruelty all the more for knowing that you're doing the right thing.

That's my thoughts anyhow, I suppose it does assume that we do want more people to post stuff. Maybe that can't be taken as read but for me a good board is one where there are lots of interesting things being said and met with interesting replies, and this is more likely to happen when you have more people. Also new people coming in might have new viewpoints and stuff, otherwise there will come a point (if it hasn't already) at which even if a new and interesting thread is started, one will be able to tell exactly what everyone's position is going to be and kinda work through exactly what will happen with each post simply the next step in an entirely deterministic model.

The influx of Americans - despite obvious wind-ups like pretending to like Terence Malick - has been great, well ok let's not get carried away, it's been fairly good anyhow, for the forum. George Bernard Shaw I believe said that the US and the UK were two nations separated by a common language but Stan has certainly proved there is no common language, let's see if we can prove him wrong about being separated too.

 

[forclosure]

There have been a couple of times where new people came on and got attacked bullied straight away and - not surprisingly - just fucked off, seems a shame to me. It's one thing to take the piss out of people who have been here for ages and who you know will see it as a joke and not be upset etc but when someone shows up all smiling and innocent and ready to make friends I reckon is best not to take a flying kick at their bollocks even if they do say something stupid. Our loss if they go without us ever seeing what they might be capable of... if we go easy on newbies then they might stay for a bit and be good... and if after they've had a fair shake of the stick they do turn out to be total Biscuits then you can bully them back to the stone age for all I care, enjoying the vindictive and childish cruelty all the more for knowing that you're doing the right thing.

That's my thoughts anyhow, I suppose it does assume that we do want more people to post stuff. Maybe that can't be taken as read but for me a good board is one where there are lots of interesting things being said and met with interesting replies, and this is more likely to happen when you have more people. Also new people coming in might have new viewpoints and stuff, otherwise there will come a point (if it hasn't already) at which even if a new and interesting thread is started, one will be able to tell exactly what everyone's position is going to be and kinda work through exactly what will happen with each post simply the next step in an entirely deterministic model.

The influx of Americans - despite obvious wind-ups like pretending to like Terence Malick - has been great, well ok let's not get carried away, it's been fairly good anyhow, for the forum. George Bernard Shaw I believe said that the US and the UK were two nations separated by a common language but Stan has certainly proved there is no common language, let's see if we can prove him wrong about being separated too.

i mean i would say that's more so because Clinamatic comes at it from an academic background more academic than Barty's does in some ways its not like its completly impenetrable and no offence to Clina but the things he's expressed as a far as if he wasn't on here his listening habits would be akin to a /mu/RYM type of user relying on these floatcharts and listings that would have him listening to a mixture of obscure harsh free jazz,90s/2000s indie rock that's only developed a cult following in the last 5 years and the one or two trap big major label rap albums that people have decided are "the good ones" even if the rest of the rap world says otherwise (and maybe some melodramatic angsty soundcloud thing)

 

[forclosure]

and here i thought this would be the thread that would see me getting banned off of here

 

[sus]

My twelve step plan for saving the forum:

1. Convince Barty to return
2. Convince Beiser to return
3. In-person recruiting at the Verso loft
4. My friend Gianni Luigi joins, everyone welcomes him
5. Every Dissensus user has to recruit one person under 30 to join, or they are temporarily banned until they do
6. Kieran quits lurking and pulls his weight... no free lunches Kieran!!
7. Woops's novel becomes an underground hit, and his preface (dedicated to Suspended and the Dissensus board) lures more registrations
8. Lots of young people now, and Americans
9. Forum renaissance
10. Posts flow like wine
11. Forum golden age, forum renaissance
12. Profit with Dissensus merch and NFTs, reinvest the funds in crypto, we're all rich

 

[line b]

this sentiment comes up every few months whenever the board is in a dormant period. The fact that its not always on is probably a neccesasary side effect for whatever makes it good when it is.

 

[line b]

And in defense of the bullying- that everyone here can say horrendous things to each other and still go on civilly is maybe the boards best feature in that one its hilarious and two it allows for a wide bredth of opinion. Theres a fine line of course but its not something that can ever be enforced with any sort of rule or code of conduct

 

[line b]

The only downside is my wife now thinks that a cabal of middle aged british men is teaching me how to be mean after I showed her luka calling that child a nonce for liking machine girl.