What causes newfags to integrate poorly? - The scientific process behind Eternal Septemberism?

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I think a lot of it comes down to being a generational thing.

Older millennials and younger Gen Xers grew up with online forums being the default “social media” of our time. Each of these forums were typically a small to moderate sized community, you recognized users and weren’t lost in a sea of thousands just autistically screeching. As such, each forum developed its own form of etiquette and culture. Fuck up too many times and you got banned.

Younger millennials and Zoomers grew up with MySpace, Facebook, Reddit and Discord as their primary forms of social media; thousands upon thousands of people just shouting into the void with no rhyme or reason. Aping the most popular opinions to farms likes or upvotes instead of feeling free to speak your true thoughts. It was all just a vapid popularity contest on who could shout the loudest, there was no real sense of community like forums had in their heyday. Piss off one random on Plebbit? Oh well, you’ll probably never interact with them again. Feel free to keep sperging and acting like a retard. Piss off someone on a forum typically composed of a couple hundred active users at most? Shit gets noticed and nipped in the bud. Kids who didn’t grow up with that can’t understand the etiquette differentials between tight knit forums and vast social networks.
 
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Having a personality that you don't throw around like a cudgel helps. Some people are just inclined to inflict themselves on others and be a nuisance. Courting controversy. Getting angry about internet slapfighting is just a waste of time and energy.

For my part I'm an old grognard but also a social chameleon to some extent. I like talking to people, but I find sites without a sense of anonymity to be cloying and fake. I'm also not horribly argumentative. I just like discussing stuff, reading opinions, and popping in to give my own half baked take if I've something to add. Blow off some steam from time to time. Being a live nerve is reserved for all the real bullshit we have to deal with.
 
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The Noise said:
I wasn't specifically talking about politics board users though I guess they're worth a mention.

The issue that people have with A&N users isn't the content of their posts or their viewpoints; they learn so hard right it's silly, but they generally stay in their own subforum and are decent enough to actually try and back up their viewpoints with rational reasoning and ideas when confronted.

What people don't like about the politics board users is an endemic behavior I like to call drive-by threadshitting, where someone will show up in a thread, talk some shit to everyone, and then abscond. It's low-effort garbage that is designed to emotionally vindicate the poster and get everyone else mad at them for a while. It's stupid behavior that is unbecoming of a discussion forum and it hurts the readability of threads. Just check the highlights of any long-running politics thread and you'll see. It's especially a big problem in lolcow threads because they're enshrined places of criticism, but the old DJT thread and current Elon Musk thread have whiteknights showing up every now and then to do drivebys.
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I meant opinions about anything not just politics.

I am sure there are some leftists on here that are so far left they seem silly. It seems there are some people that are upset because the forum isn't apolitical anymore. From what I gather from these peoples posts the forum was politically neutral to left leaning and it was full of nihilism since some people seem to think caring about things is "autistic". Society is changing though and as I said the forum is open to the public most of the time. The changes to society will impact the culture of the forum. The new member won't be like the old members.

If they make a post and don't say anything else that's probably all they have to say. Some people just don't want to argue.

I try not to take things on the internet too seriously. I used to post on a gaming forum in the mid to late 2000's and the members would say "the internet it's serious business".
 
Most of us don't lurk moar and don't care

-2025 join date newfag who has integrated perfectly because I lurked moar.
 
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