The Big Picture: Words for Nerds

[Blue2]

Batman:Agreed but I can't complain about it since I have a popular obsession of my own.

Console War: Agreed, Want make sales numbers mean anything, be an accountant.

web forum - book: Disagree, forms are meant to be open for opinions, discussion and debate like your video, No matter how long it is. However people haven't learned to disagree without pulling a knife out.

web forum - "...Leave this here": Never seen this before...Must be a 4chan thing.

"revenge of the nerd": I can see what you mean.

 

[thelittleman66]

I was agreeing with him, until he said that spamming pony pictures on forums was okay. Forcing your meme of choice into anything unrelated is totally unacceptable. Some people have to accept the fact that some people DON'T CARE about whatever obsession you might have.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hrm

3) Don't write books: Writing pithy summations is often seen as "low content".
4) Don't "leave this here": Useful if it's something outrageous that people haven't seen - especially if it directly contradictory to their argument.
5) Don't be a bully.

Take a look at any review, including most of the ones on here, is there an element of bullying in there? 90% of the time I'd say there is.

If our "betters" (meaning paid) do it, then...

You see the dilemma.

Oh, and pony culture was cute, now it's an abomination.

 

[Preston_r]

1: I liked this video because it said something that needed to be said, which basically evoked Wheaton's Law: Don't be a dick. Spouting off racist comments, sexism, and other forms of asshattery on the internet for general consumption is not a halmark of intelligence or maturity. It's just shitty jerkish behavior. Stop it. Yes, if you are in the right crowd of people who know you don't actually mean anything by it it can be funny, but on the internet with strangers? No. Just no.

One of the reasons why the whole "there aren't any girls on the internet" thing exists? Because guys on the internet either act like sexists jerks or try to get in their pants all the time. Its easier for a girl to be a guy on the net and not be harassed than to be honest. Stop being dicks.

2: I was bullied in school. Bullying is never Ok, just in fun, or tolerable. Being a bully on the internet is still being a bully. Stop it.

3: I wear my Brony t-shirt while playing D&D. I have a RBD figure standing underneath my Heroclix Sentinal. And if you don't like it, I don't really care. La la la.

4: Batman is cool when he's well written. Catwoman needs to be drawn by someone who doesn't have a lingerie fetish, and Starfire needs to be written by someone who thinks that women can be strong and awesome while fully clothed and not boning any humanoid that winks at her. Seriously.

 

[zedel]

I subscribe to the idea that a "nerd" and a "geek" are two different things. Pretty much everything discussed under this video feels like something I've seen/or would see among geeks as opposed to nerds. In high school, geeks were the ones talking about games and playing Magic. Nerds were the ones studying for tests at lunch and focusing more on academia. Certainly the two are not mutually exclusive, but most of my geek friends don't feel like nerds to me. That said, I probably shouldn't be too nitpicky, but I feel that my thoughts may have some value to someone.

 

[loomis]

That was some deep thinking Bob. Thanks.

 

[Cellseam]

Here's what a lot of comments are saying: "It's ok for us to be jerks because all humans are cliche-ish and jerks." Seriously.

 

[pearcinator]

Fuck yeah Zoidberg!

Long live John Fucking Zoidberg!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ0uUlOfPlQ&feature=related[/youtube]

 

[Raioken18]

I know this may sound stupid, but I like writing a lot. When I respond to someone on a forum I tend to enjoy analysing different aspects of what they are saying as part of a response, and when other people get into it as well it can be a lot of fun.

Now I know it is not for everyone, and that actually enjoying it is a little insane, however it is also hard to ignore that it has some benefits. For example, people take spelling and grammar pretty seriously, this means that when younger members of the gaming community join those message boards, then need to alter their behaviour to be taken seriously.

From secondary experience, someone in a gaming clan I used to belong to used to always use leet speak, and we found that he actually had trouble spelling words correctly while trying to get serious points across. Within weeks his sentence structure changed and he actually began writing longer more coherent posts. Earlier this year he got an A in English (Up from a D the year before). Now, whilst I can't prove that him being in part of an adult style clan helped improve his English skills, it was pretty obvious that his participation in our gaming discussion did have a positive effect (Even if most of it was about the different playstyles and logistics of killing other players with a variety of weapons).

I do realise that this is a form of elitism, however we accepted all members, and those who had excessively poor spelling and grammer over an extended period of time were considered to be trolls and removed.

Uhh... anyway I am getting away from the point, which was that it doesn't make sense to out people who like writing long responses as negatively influencing the nerd community or other people's view of it. I know it is uncool or whatever, but is it really a bad thing?

Also, it is not like I think I will be the next... Crap who's a good writer :/ Bryce Courtney? I am just writing for fun, and I don't really expect that a lot of people will bother to read the longer posts anyway.

 

[Saltyk]

You'll hate me for it people (going by some of the posts), but I agree with Bob. Well, except for Batman. Batman is still awesome! Oh, and I usually post much longer comments then this, too, so I'll take that one in stride.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Hrm

3) Don't write books: Writing pithy summations is often seen as "low content".
4) Don't "leave this here": Useful if it's something outrageous that people haven't seen - especially if it directly contradictory to their argument.
5) Don't be a bully.

Take a look at any review, including most of the ones on here, is there an element of bullying in there? 90% of the time I'd say there is.

If our "betters" (meaning paid) do it, then...

You see the dilemma.

Oh, and pony culture was cute, now it's an abomination.

I'm sorry, I'm going to need some clarification on just how my reviews are bullying anyone.

 

[The Thinker]

I agree. Batman was in the best superhero movie ever, at least for the next six months. I also nominate myself for new memetic badass.

 

[NinjaDC]

I agree with most, only Batman I disagree
Sure the batman bad@$$ nerd meme will crash and burn soon enough (who shall replace it? I wonder)

But what I disagree with is batman as a whole crashing and burning. He is just to great of a character often supported the right way by good authors.
Batman character great(on a narrative level) for many reason, but there are 2 big ones:
1. His trama. Of all the "major" superheroes has such a richly tragic past. Sure Parker had his uncle, but that is nothing to having both parents murdered infront of you as a child. The scar will never be gone, and hinders much of any chance Wayne will ever have for a happy end. Batman takes on a Shakespearean tragedy element from this.

2. He's human. Most other super heroes are super beings or made so through technology. Batman doesn't, yet has to keep up with them. He as a human has to triumph over these incalculable obstacles through will power and intellect.

Batman had the fortune to often get writers that recognize these(and other strengths) to craft rich narrative stories(in various mediums)

Other heroes often get writters that focus mre on fan/self service. I termed it the "and then",, 1 up-manship
An example with superman(SM): He'll crush Lex's new maga death machine,
"and then" SM will crush a city sized robot, "and then" he'll crush a country sized robot, "an then...
Instead of working towards there narrative strengths(for SM, the strong defending the weak, even though they could rule them), they just have him fight stronger and stronger enemies. The internal conflict gets thrown aside for the cheaper external

In short Batman the character won't crash and burn as he has to much story potential, and writers that know how to use it.
The nerd fandom, yeah.


ANd yeah, I broke # 3 in my poorly written response
Also movie Bob;

 

[rddj623]

I like your thoughts on this stuff Bob. Courtesy and understanding always go a lot farther in life then marginalizing and brutishness.

 

[RThaiRThai]

1) The Batman Thing: Ok, sure.

2) Console Wars: This I disagree with. Yes, the console wars get completely out of hand, but there's nothing wrong with the underlying idea. It's just people discussing 2 products, and which one of them is better. If all versus discussions are pointless, and maybe they are, a fair comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each is a discussion worth having. Hmm. Actually, no, you're right. I'm just being the devil's advocate here. Clearly there are exceptions, but the console war has mostly been destructive.

3) Walls of Text: The summary can take longer to write than the original post. Maybe people are less willing to read a long post, but some things take space to be said. If there are people in the discussion reading each other's long posts, there's no problem.

But that's not Bob's argument here. The argument is that there are better ways to spend one's time, and I disagree with that. Whether the post or outside is more worthwhile is something to be judged on a case by case basis.

4) No CTRL + C, CTRL + V: I don't really agree with this, but I don't find it completely objectionable. Wait, is that a word? Um... Yeah. It's a word. I guess I haven't seen this too often.

5) Nerds, Don't Be Dicks: Fair enough. I'm not a fan of that behaviour either.

Speaking of number 3, I have doubts about whether anybody will read this. I personally think the forum system is somewhat broken, and doesn't facilitate discussion beyond the first couple pages.

 

[RaikuFA]

I actually agree with this episode. A lot of internet cliche that become hate groups for the stupidest things. For example, the console wars. When you look at it, it doesn't matter who "side" your own, it just makes you look said, and when you actively go out and try to "attack" or "stop" people in the real world, it just makes look pathetic. My favorite example that happened to me. One guy working at a local gamestop refuse to sell me games that where not sony related. He then told me how it was better because of how it was currently out selling the other to console "for that week mind you." and how American products are inferior and how Nintendo doesn't cater to the hardcore, and that you shouldn't support them unless you where a traitor.

I think I was buying armored core 4 for the xbox 360, and super Mario Galaxies for the wii. In ether case, yeah, that is why I hate shopping at gamestop. When ever any non ps3 lover was in there he would continue to harass them, despite being an employee of a store that goal is to sell EVERYTHING IN THE FUCKING STORE.

Did he get fired for that? I really hope he did.

 

[RThaiRThai]

No Bob ponies should not be excepted from that! One of these days a certain topic on a post forum somewhere is going to look more girlie that a 8 year old dream bedroom. Also imagine, just imagine some one is passing by and saw that girlie thread?! Moderate the ponie stuff.

Wait. Really? You're not joking?

I don't think it really matters if we get a girly looking topic or post around here. It just doesn't matter. I guess if the annoyance it creates for people heavily outweighs the joy for people who enjoy ponies it would be a nice gesture to stop, but this forum has no obligation to be anything specific, and it has no obligation to be non-girly.

Edit: I do have to agree about the exception thing though. He can't just go around giving exceptions. It's your reasoning that I'm disagreeing with.

 

[omegawyrm]

Can't really agree with the Batman one, sadly, because it was sort of the premise for Grant Morrison's entire Batman tenure, which was immensely enjoyable. "Nothing can escape the Omega Sanction. Except Batman totally can, because he's awesome."

And it's not that hard to figure out why ponies are exempt. The pony subculture makes the internet a more colorful, cheerful, and goofy place, which Bob is always in support of. It's definitely a nice change of pace from all the cynicism and negativity.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

You should have also mentioned for bronies to stop freaking out every time someone mentions ponies....because I totally freaked out when you mentioned ponies.

 

[ManInRed]

Batman been the goto 'wins every fight' guy for decades now, but never in a way the other meme badasses got it in ways beyond the actual character, rather people just apply Batman's ability to always be prepared and imagine how it can work against anyone else. I don't see this getting old as long as Batman continues to be in good movies, cartoons, games, etc.

Being on the internet does not make you a nerd, playing a video game does not make you a nerd. Near 100% of people within a certain age bracket do these things now, so you can't label the action of a demographic based on what these population do.

I do agree with the general statement of self-victimization leading to a general lack of empathy for the pain you cause others, and breeding an excuse to find reasons to want vengeance. It's sadly one of the traits found in individuals whom had the most abuse, and should be everyones motivation to not abuse (if they needed another).

I never got the whole 'nerds' are persecuted idea. Not really something I see or have happen in area of the world I've explored, outside of fiction. The very idea of the statement "everyone just holding me back because I'm smarter than all of them" is the type of identity I'd expect to see outside of those I'd actually consider smart or geeky for that matter. Nerds are people that simple don't let what others think of them hold them back from having a good time, and I've always envy people who can take this to further extremes than me. Does being a nerd make people treat you differently, sure, but so does being anything else -and that's a sign that people treat you different based on who you are and what you seem to stand for. What about that makes you the victim in your role? Any form of victimizing must be based on a fictional premise. But I feel for anyone out there in a less favorable environment where the majority believe in a fictional premise to victimize you. I just hope those people don't let such abuse change them into something as bad as any bully. Because if they do, then they'll always be the victim.