Comments on: epic lulz

epic lulz

signal — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:54:51 -0800

By: champthom

champthom — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:57:46 -0800

tl;dr.

By: cgc373

cgc373 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:00:42 -0800

The essay is vastly more interesting and entertaining than I expected it to be. I expected terrible in-jokes and vapid misunderstandings, and instead, I feel as if actual analysis and insight were available. Good stuff! Thanks, signal.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:15:08 -0800

I was hoping for a research paper written in lulz: Significance. I haz it (p<.05).

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:22:38 -0800

INVISIBLE THESIS COMMITTEE

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:34:14 -0800

Also, cocks xD !

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:35:07 -0800

Index. Cocks. See "Bucket of"

By: cavalier

cavalier — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:37:23 -0800

Flagged for rule 1.

By: cavalier

cavalier — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:39:57 -0800

and eBaum's did it.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:41:12 -0800

Surprisingly lucid for someone who's apparently spent a lot of time on 4chan.

By: xthlc

xthlc — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:42:58 -0800

This was actually very well done. Not exactly publishable, but it's easily digestible and does a good job of framing the retarded chaos that is 4chan.

By: briank

briank — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:48:26 -0800

LURK MOAR

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:49:36 -0800

sage

By: uaudio

uaudio — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:51:30 -0800

You know who else wrote research papers?

By: m0nm0n

m0nm0n — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:52:41 -0800

Man, the Internet is funny when it keeps to being the internet. I know it has to be done (hell, I have an ex who wrote her M.A. thesis about a message board we both frequented years ago) but academically approaching the internet and its mysteries kills a little bit of the magic for me. That being said, it's a well-written research paper. I am glad, at least, that it was not written in whatever obnoxious language people are calling LOLcat these days.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:53:33 -0800

I stopped at the mention of long cat. Long cat is ~~long~~ satisfying.

By: fusinski

fusinski — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:10:00 -0800

You know who else wrote research papers? The Nazis?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:13:39 -0800

I can't wait for my next review assignment. My God, it'll be beautiful. Heteroskedasticity is in ur OLS, fuckin up ur SEs. U has endogeneity. HELLO GENTLEMEN. YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SATISFY THE IIA ASSUMPTIONS. MAKE YOUR MULTINOMIAL PROBIT.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:10:49 -0800

I found it kind of sad that anyone would spend this amount of effort on such a trivial and ephemeral subject.

By: lunit

lunit — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:12:50 -0800

I, for one, welcome our new anonymous warlords.

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:13:17 -0800

chicken.

By: Malor

Malor — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:24:38 -0800

4chan is where most internet culture stems from. I didn't know that. I guess the Internet I'm on must be culture-free.

By: Mick

Mick — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:30:45 -0800

This is good but, by stating that 4chan is the genesis of most of these memes, he either is unaware of, or unwilling to break the first rule, of the true font of these memes. This very rule hinders me from correcting him!

By: grouse

grouse — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:35:11 -0800

cog_nate: Chicken chicken

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:48:01 -0800

chicken. chicken_chicken: Chicken chicken chickens. [ChickenChicken]

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:52:48 -0800

I found it kind of sad that anyone would spend this amount of effort on such a trivial and ephemeral subject. Fightin' words, son.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:13:12 -0800

It's also interesting how this jargon is used to validate in-group membership in crucial ways for people whose actual subsistence relies on exploits. I've spent some time with spammers, anti-spammers and hackers who are leeter-than-thou and set on troll 24/7. Spouting anti-jew rhetoric steers most people well clear; one must be of the lulz to gain their trust and decipher what they're really on about.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:25:19 -0800

Fightin' words, son. *holds arms up* pew pew pew

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:26:10 -0800

"The answer is Anonymous. Their motto: We do not forgive. We do not forget. We are legion. Because none of us are as cruel as all of us. " We R in ur internetz, spoilin yer Potter endins. please go stand by the stairs so that we may protekt y00!

By: kkokkodalk

kkokkodalk — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:29:21 -0800

I half expected that the whole thing would conclude with: "...The internet is expanding more and more into everyday life, and with sites like YouTube and Facebook comes an undercurrent of internet culture slowly rising to the surface of the average user. With artifacts like LOLCats and YTMND leading the way, it will not be long before we will be encouraged to move in with our aunts and uncles who happen to live in a more affluent neighborhood. I whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said 'Fresh' and had a dice in the mirror. I fanything I could say that this cab was rare, but I thought, 'Nah forget it, yo home to Bel-Air!' I pulled up to the house about seven or eight and I yelled to the cabbie 'Yo, homes, smell ya later!' Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there. To settle my throne as the Prince of Bel-Air."

By: danb

danb — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:34:04 -0800

Speaking of which, anyone else going to ROFLCon?

By: Mikey-San

Mikey-San — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:34:06 -0800

I found it kind of sad that anyone would spend this amount of effort on such a trivial and ephemeral subject. tits or gtfo

By: cashman

cashman — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:35:31 -0800

one must be of the lulz That should go in here somewhere. Yea, one must be of the lulz to know within thyself true div1nity.

By: wyspa03

wyspa03 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:36:59 -0800

I found it kind of sad that anyone would spend this amount of effort on such a trivial and ephemeral subject. you damn right!

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:42:35 -0800

finally: The words "meme" and "fad" mean the same thing.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:43:15 -0800

So this internet expansion.. it vibrates?

By: Down10

Down10 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:48:43 -0800

TITS OR GTFO

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:49:15 -0800

I herd MeFi lieks mudkipz. (Actually I didn't herd. I guessed from the color scheme). also

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:54:40 -0800

Fightin' words, son. Surely we don't need to resort to mere violence. Yes, I'm calling you Surely.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:58:11 -0800

I've spent some time with spammers, anti-spammers and hackers who are leeter-than-thou and set on troll 24/7. Wow, they sound like awesome fun to be around. Where do you find such cool friends? (I particularly want to know where the spammers hang out. I mean, physically)

By: localhuman

localhuman — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:07:26 -0800

Belair. mostly.

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:37:29 -0800

Interweb Memeticist.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:46:20 -0800

This article avoids the dangerous side of the chan world. Y'know, when that Fox news video was posted here a few months ago, I joined in the laughter, thinking "Silly clueless mainstream media, not understanding what 'anonymous' means, ha ha!". Then I took a peek into the whole *chan boards. Monsters- they're all fucking monsters. Racist, bigoted, sociopathic monsters. Alongside their frightening love of violent imagery and complete lack of empathy for anything but their own genitalia, they spew incredibly offensive comments and racism non-stop, and worse still they target actual people and try to tear them down like the worst kind of bullies. Whether simply to attack or deface memorial sites parents put up for children lost to suicide, despite not knowing these people, or going further to attack online people in the real world: driving to their homes, photographing them and their cars, mass phone pranking, defacing their employer's sites with details of their online life, etc. I recall one example I saw where a woman who apparently dared to dismiss "anonymous" really did have the psychotic hordes descend on her: thread after thread detailing personal information, chan members driving to her home, phoning her landlord, hacking her employer's school website with personal pictures and libelous information about her. This wasn't just a message board raid, this was criminal harassment. The next time it will probably escalate to full fledged physical attack. They. Are. Monsters. And all the joking ha ha doesn't erase that we have a small army of Eric and Dylans, empowered by their anonymity to act more and more boldly as a de facto Cultural Revolution squad. Want to know what the American SS will look like? They'll look like Anonymous.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:57:55 -0800

Monsters- they're all fucking monsters. Racist, bigoted, sociopathic monsters. Alongside their frightening love of violent imagery and complete lack of empathy for anything but their own genitalia, they spew incredibly offensive comments and racism non-stop, and worse still they target actual people and try to tear them down like the worst kind of bullies. Whether simply to attack or deface memorial sites parents put up for children lost to suicide, despite not knowing these people, or going further to attack online people in the real world: driving to their homes, photographing them and their cars, mass phone pranking, defacing their employer's sites with details of their online life, etc. I recall one example I saw where a woman who apparently dared to dismiss "anonymous" really did have the psychotic hordes descend on her: thread after thread detailing personal information, chan members driving to her home, phoning her landlord, hacking her employer's school website with personal pictures and libelous information about her and my mom got scared and said, "You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air." I whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror if anything I could say that this cab was rare but I thought, "Nah, forget it. Yo home to Bel-Air!" I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the cabby yo holmes smell ya later! Looked at my kingdom I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:30:17 -0800

Hm- on reflection, sarcasm doesn't go well with the typed word. I want to be clear I was being facetious to make a point: it's all too easy to box the "online world" as somehow distinct, or separate from, our offline existence or "real lives". The thing is, with each passing year that distinction becomes less and less meaningful, and the "anonymous" of 4chan et al are forcibly blurring that line with genuinely damaging attacks on people for no reason other than amusement or a psychopathic obsession with "respect" and "submission". In the case I mentioned, the 4channers chanted in their little thread about how the only way they'd stop harassing the woman is if she "submitted forever". The places I'd seen such an obsession with submission and domination of a person was in neo-Nazi writings; the desire to utterly control another human life is at the heart of our worst actions, and 4chan is no different. Somehow, I think if Ambrosia Voyeur or any other MeFite were the target of a 4chan attack, to the point of disrupting their jobs, personal relationships or even sense of safety in walking down the street, we wouldn't be so cavalier. But ah, these are people we don't know, so who cares? Things are generally quite civil here at Metafilter, but that is the exception, not the rule, to both the online and "real" worlds.

By: lysdexic

lysdexic — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:41:34 -0800

I nodded at hincandenza, and laughed at Ambrosia's reply. They're both true. and also, cocks.

By: lysdexic

lysdexic — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:42:53 -0800

well, now I look reallysilly.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:40:52 -0800

Got two or three paragraphs in; couldn't hack how poorly written the article was. Epic lulz --> epic fail.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:48:19 -0800

Well, my last comment doesn't make much sense, since the comment before it was deleted.

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:07:05 -0800

What the hell, no mention of the rickroll?

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:16:16 -0800

Well, my last comment doesn't make much sense, since the comment before it was deleted. Things are generally quite civil here at Metafilter QED.

By: zabuni

zabuni — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:21:02 -0800

hincandenza: At least according to what I had read, and the youtube videos of hers, wasn't the person you were talking about acting as a "online dominatrix" or sorts, cajoling submissives into sending her money. I thought that the whole point of the "submitted forever" was putting the shoe on the other foot, so to speak.

By: cavalier

cavalier — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:40:10 -0800

Yeah, I'm sorry, as poor taste as some of those internet boards are, I have a hard time equating a bunch of anonymous f?cktards with a bunch of deranged homicidal killers. Are there xenophobes, racists, sexists, etc on the internet? Yeah, there sure are. But I don't necessarily see chatting on an internet message board even in a faux-anonymous situation as a precursor to violence -- even for the lulz. I think the many different takes on the puff local news scare piece, even with its exploding van, all seemed to agree on the notion that such a concept of the folks on ?chan was absurd.

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:52:52 -0800

Somehow, I think if Ambrosia Voyeur or any other MeFite were the target of a 4chan attack, to the point of disrupting their jobs, personal relationships or even sense of safety in walking down the street, we wouldn't be so cavalier. No, we'd get curtains made of dogs.

By: infidelpants

infidelpants — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:07:31 -0800

Pool's closed.

By: dersins

dersins — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:24:59 -0800

QED. Um. No, not really.

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:43:21 -0800

Good Heavens, just look at the time!

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:20:53 -0800

Are there xenophobes, racists, sexists, etc on the internet? Yeah, there sure are. Don't lump me in with them. Idiran-lover.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:59:14 -0800

cavalier: Yeah, I'm sorry, as poor taste as some of those internet boards are, I have a hard time equating a bunch of anonymous f?cktards with a bunch of deranged homicidal killers.

Eponysterical? You're awfully cavalier about this. Does it have to be homicide before it's dangerous? What about if someone kills themselves after constant abuse from "anonymous"? What about when that one 4channer in the same town takes the "joke" that little bit too far? As the many 4channers suggested when her home address and phone number were posted, "Can it be raep time?!" Because that's HILARIOUS fresh prince of belair haw haw haw. This is the most recent example I'm thinking of. The pictures and info aren't there- ED has apparently edited them- but for a time it included personal info, home addresses and phone numbers, logins for online accounts and yes photos of her home and her landlord's phone number. You should have read the bile on the 4chan threads themselves to really taste the dehumanizing monstrosity. People were harassing her and her co-workers and her landlord, with the expressed purpose of trying to ruin her life- this wasn't just some internet joke, it had long since passed that. But I guess she deserved it- she was a filthy fucking Jew, and we all know how them and the niggers deserve this treatment. That's the Metafilter spirit!

zabuni: hincandenza: At least according to what I had read, and the youtube videos of hers, wasn't the person you were talking about acting as a "online dominatrix" or sorts, cajoling submissives into sending her money. I thought that the whole point of the "submitted forever" was putting the shoe on the other foot, so to speak.

Wait, so if someone's a dominatrix, they deserve to get death threats to their home, and have some anonymous fucktard try to get them fired and ruin their public and personal life? Jeez- what hatred you must reserve for women who wear provocative clothing! Whether she was sleazy or dumb, or found suckers to give her money so she could insult them, it was neither illegal or immoral; it was her and their free choice. But somehow because a few hateful and dangerous morons decide her Jewishness is a mortal sin, or she slighted them in some petty way, she has harassment brought down upon her? Just how far should satire or irony go, exactly? Maybe if they HAD broken into her apartment and raped her, that would have REALLY made the whole "dominance/submission" joke super funny! I seriously wonder why you people aren't getting this. If you read the 4chan threads I did, it wasn't satirical comedy stylings, they were literally suggesting that unless she publicly paraded herself for forgiveness and ultimate submission, they'd not let up on the direct and non-stop personal harassment. That's a flat-out crime, and all for what? For any good reason? Nope, no good reason except some imagined slight. If anyone did that in "real life"- hair trigger temper, overblown sense of self-importance and belief they had the right to dole out harsh punishment to anyone who slighted them in whatever way, a dehumanizing, racist, element, and a lack of emotional resonance as they simply enjoyed the brutality because it was "funny" or "win"- they'd be a clear cut sociopath. But somehow, if it's just anonymous people you don't know on the interwebs, oh, then it's just good, mocking fun? Now, if one person were to, say, make a fake myspace page, and mock a vulnerable teenage girl to the point that she committed suicide... well, that would be something to get pissed about, eh? But the thought that there are hordes of online bullies who have no qualms about intruding into the offline world or holding themselves in check, and with no moral or ethical restraint other than "I did it for the lulz"... aren't these stereotypical definitions of a clinical psychopath, yet many of them working in concert?

By: blacklite

blacklite — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:27:59 -0800

I was going to write this, and now it exists. Internet provides. However, I still don't think he captured the true essence of the lols (or "lulz".) Perhaps I shall write a rebuttal. We need to have a journal. New Millenium Journal of Lolology?

By: blacklite

blacklite — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:29:03 -0800

hincandenza, anonymous is a clinical psychopath. But what can you do?

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:24:58 -0800

Weird to read this after reading Rainbows End. What happens when Anonymous controls enough votes to elect Ron Paul?

By: dasheekeejones

dasheekeejones — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:00:52 -0800

I hate these things. Who says that cats don't have proper grammar skillz?

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:43:52 -0800

However, I still don't think he captured the true essence of the lols (or "lulz".) Perhaps I shall write a rebuttal. We need to have a journal. New Millenium Journal of Lolology? I swear I read about an allegedly "peer reviewed" journal for online-culture 'research' a while back. I think there was some rather sophomoric piece in it about sociology in WoW that got a lot of online press (Slashdot, Digg, the usual) six months or so ago. It seemed pretty close to your Journal. I can't seem to find it now, though.