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Social Media vs Forums
- Thread starter ShineCero
- Start date
LoopyPanda
Black Jacket
Forums are a good place for casual discussions and stuff with people online for both strangers and online friends, and I rely on it heavily to do the hobbies I love with people I like to interact with.
Social media for me is more isolated, but also very easy to get tired of due to how easy it is for toxic groups to cluster together and spread. It's honestly tiring for my mental health to engage in political or ideological/philosophical stuff on there just by looking at it! It's really a mixed-bag of luck who you'll encounter and your mileage may vary greatly. On the bright side, you can control what you post and control what appears on your feed. The mute button is a godsend on Twitter.
Social media for me is more isolated, but also very easy to get tired of due to how easy it is for toxic groups to cluster together and spread. It's honestly tiring for my mental health to engage in political or ideological/philosophical stuff on there just by looking at it! It's really a mixed-bag of luck who you'll encounter and your mileage may vary greatly. On the bright side, you can control what you post and control what appears on your feed. The mute button is a godsend on Twitter.
JamesYTP
Blue Jacket
LoopyPanda said:
Really? Out of general privacy concerns and such I usually don't talk politics in places where my real name is used online like most social media, but in my general experience, people are often more reluctant to make toxic kinda comments where people they know IRL can possibly see it and their real names are used. The sole exception, of course, is YouTube's comment sections if you count that as social media. There the toxicity levels on YT are damn near fatal lmao. Even those aren't as bad as they used to be to my eye though. This might just be because I'm old now and don't have the energy for such people and am more selective in my interactions. Only really toxic group I ever found was this one Star Wars Expanded Universe group I was a part of but other than that one I've never seen a flat-out toxic one. I find there are more forums and such with flat-out toxic atmospheres and ones made explicitly for "dark" purposes, but that might be just me.
I kind of find a trade-off though in that the depth of discussion on social media with complete strangers is kind of shallower and duller. Particularly re: political stuff and whatnot since with social media groups people can kind of make groups around political and philosophical ideologies and they become echo chambers pretty quick and the people with differing views who do pop in come off more like trolls who aren't particularly interested in any real debate than anything (partly because they usually are). So in that regards if you know how to choose a forum well social media almost just becomes a more sophisticated version of an email list lol.
LoopyPanda
Black Jacket
JamesYTP said:
For me, "politics" on twitter can range anywhere between stuff actually relating to the government or more "social" politics, I don't ever use my full real name though. In fact, I avoid replying to big threads of socially political stuff. The echochambers on Twitter for almost any issue are typically perceived with black-and-white thinking. Usually because the OP is set in their ways and dissenters are set in theirs, and there isn't much middle ground allowed. This can also be attributed to the fact we have at max 160 letters to type out a tweet about complex social issues that people think they can come to an informed conclusion by just reading a few tweets... when that isn't really how educating yourself works
I use Twitter exclusively to follow my favorite youtubers and artists online, so my exposure to politics is limited to socially oriented concepts rather than governmental issues. I don't actually reply to any of these threads because it's exhausting to argue with people who have black-and-white thinking all the time, it's just easier to mute people and move on with my day. It may also have a bit to do with the age of people I follow who are in their late teens-young adults, who are a bit more... volatile with their opinions sometimes lol
It isn't really worth my time or energy, I just read and keep scrolling if I don't feel like I agree with whatever statement there is.
A forum is like going out to dinner because you have to try to use decent English and organize your thoughts before posting, if you want to be served.
Discord is essentially KFC, you can just shout out whatever you want, don’t waste time thinking before you type out your thoughts to other players—it’s essentially shit-posting central.
Reddit is basically a large-scale Starbucks with their own echo-chambers on each table.
I personally prefer the structure of the forum because of the organization purposes, the layout of how quoting system works and the overall feel of engaging in a conversation. Reddit's quotation system is a bit of a pain in the ass to go through based on the "upvote/downvote section", the sense of familiarity is lost due to the abundance of members, and the lack of moderation control due to literal millions of sub-reddits. Twitter and Tumblr are basically cesspool that, while it does have good things of getting artists, entertainers, etc., it draws in the worse of the worst.
Discord is follows the same path when group with other folks and can be a pain in the ass because - you can easily go back and check the responses in a thread, while in Discord, it'll be a spamfest at one nights and impossible to keep track of. Though, I do like the feature of blocking people so you don't have to worry about shitters that much (even if you're the group leader/admin/etc).
Outside of that little feature, I feel that forums are a stronger place of more familiarity and social engagement than these types of social media devices.
Discord is essentially KFC, you can just shout out whatever you want, don’t waste time thinking before you type out your thoughts to other players—it’s essentially shit-posting central.
Reddit is basically a large-scale Starbucks with their own echo-chambers on each table.
I personally prefer the structure of the forum because of the organization purposes, the layout of how quoting system works and the overall feel of engaging in a conversation. Reddit's quotation system is a bit of a pain in the ass to go through based on the "upvote/downvote section", the sense of familiarity is lost due to the abundance of members, and the lack of moderation control due to literal millions of sub-reddits. Twitter and Tumblr are basically cesspool that, while it does have good things of getting artists, entertainers, etc., it draws in the worse of the worst.
Discord is follows the same path when group with other folks and can be a pain in the ass because - you can easily go back and check the responses in a thread, while in Discord, it'll be a spamfest at one nights and impossible to keep track of. Though, I do like the feature of blocking people so you don't have to worry about shitters that much (even if you're the group leader/admin/etc).
Outside of that little feature, I feel that forums are a stronger place of more familiarity and social engagement than these types of social media devices.
Elio
Blue Jacket
I like using Twitter -- it helps me connect to people easily and I like how you can write thoughts and share information with like-minded people. Although as with a lot of social media, the "instancy" (?) of it makes it a lot easier for people to be nastier. Granted, Twitter's easier to curate with its mute/block functions, but it gets draining and it's not very good for my mental health.
With forums I can write my thoughts on certain stuff more cohesively and form better responses. And like Shine, the fact that it's organized makes it easier to do so. And with forums where rules are more easily implemented, you do have to watch what you say, because in forums at least what you say and what you do has immediate consequences. Social media doesn't.
With forums I can write my thoughts on certain stuff more cohesively and form better responses. And like Shine, the fact that it's organized makes it easier to do so. And with forums where rules are more easily implemented, you do have to watch what you say, because in forums at least what you say and what you do has immediate consequences. Social media doesn't.
LoopyPanda
Black Jacket
Social media is also making it increasingly easier to change your handle on a whim... I know like 3 people who change their icon and username like they change clothes... it gets hard to keep track of who I'm following and why when they're constantly "rebranding" thenselves. That's another symptom of how social media has changed; marketing and branding takes precedence in the social networking aspect and I think this is so integrated into someone's online identity that they either feel trapped by the "brand" they made for themselves or wantonly rebrand to escape the anxieties associated with it.
I much prefer forums for posting my written works and RP/worldbuilding, but Twitter is much easier to manage in terms of showing my artwork. Tumblr is no longer viable to me (and it hasn't been for a while since I do not produce fanart often enough to really have an audience there) and with the new rules/algorithm, it's nothing more than an archival tool at this point. My deviantart is still my go-to archive for completely finished work and I heavily curate it, but Twitter feels much more lax about people posting sketches and works in progress. Twitter is easier to spread art with since likes put people's work on your followers' timelines, but retweets guarantee it will be seen even by people browsing your profile.
I perceived reddit to be a hybrid between social media and forum, but on a subcultural basis. Subreddits are managed by their respective moderators and admins who see any reports you make on user posts, but sometimes people feel ostracized by their mods since they kind of let it go to their heads a lot. The redditwide administrators are the only ones capable of closing down/quarantining other subreddits and they feel often like a faceless entity when you need to report to them about suspicious subreddits. After the recent makeover, your profile layout feels much more like social media. It's also incredibly easy to be anonymous and delete your own comments. Forums like this one deny the ease of being able to make throwaway accounts and self-moderation, which does make you moderate your own behavior more. (It also comes with actual consequences like IP bans and permabans).
I much prefer forums for posting my written works and RP/worldbuilding, but Twitter is much easier to manage in terms of showing my artwork. Tumblr is no longer viable to me (and it hasn't been for a while since I do not produce fanart often enough to really have an audience there) and with the new rules/algorithm, it's nothing more than an archival tool at this point. My deviantart is still my go-to archive for completely finished work and I heavily curate it, but Twitter feels much more lax about people posting sketches and works in progress. Twitter is easier to spread art with since likes put people's work on your followers' timelines, but retweets guarantee it will be seen even by people browsing your profile.
I perceived reddit to be a hybrid between social media and forum, but on a subcultural basis. Subreddits are managed by their respective moderators and admins who see any reports you make on user posts, but sometimes people feel ostracized by their mods since they kind of let it go to their heads a lot. The redditwide administrators are the only ones capable of closing down/quarantining other subreddits and they feel often like a faceless entity when you need to report to them about suspicious subreddits. After the recent makeover, your profile layout feels much more like social media. It's also incredibly easy to be anonymous and delete your own comments. Forums like this one deny the ease of being able to make throwaway accounts and self-moderation, which does make you moderate your own behavior more. (It also comes with actual consequences like IP bans and permabans).
Grey Star
Red Jacket
I like Discord for the fact I can easily have a conversation with other people, and often have multiple conversations.
But I'm only able to use it well because I completely check it three to six times a day, otherwise it'd be impossible for me to keep track of the backlog. Forums are a lot, a lot, better in that regard. I missed like two weeks of one RP and got caught up in short order.
But I'm only able to use it well because I completely check it three to six times a day, otherwise it'd be impossible for me to keep track of the backlog. Forums are a lot, a lot, better in that regard. I missed like two weeks of one RP and got caught up in short order.