From the Ashes

[drydem]

So, it is clear that at least some of those reading here want something. Whether it's decisions on cheese, semiotic gobbledygook(which apparently has a correct spelling according to my spellcheck, something I object too), or simply stuff, there's an audience for content.
And well, I just find the information flow of facebook to be numbing. So here goes.
Let's start with Lent. For Lent, I'll post every day, even if it's just a minor update about current goings on.
So let's talk about why I left Facebook. Oddly it has to do with memetics and the corruption of information. A meme passed around facebook recently that involved looking up your name on urban dictionary and then posting the first definition that comes up. This led to people going onto the wiki-style urban dictionary site and writing up whatever they damn well pleased under their name. Right now for Benjamin there are such gems as

The most wonderful an amazing person who ever lived the planet. He know absolutely everything in the world and anyone who knows him is lucky.
Benjamin is my brother, my teacher, and my best friend.

An awesomely cool guy that seems to attract alot of good friends. a very nice person to be around, and is not afraid to be himself. Benjamin's tend to be out going, a little cheeky, and they are always smiling. Almost like a golden retriever! They are very hard to tick off, and when they do get mad, they are quick to get over them selves.
Wow, that guy is just radiating Benjaminness!!

buy benjamin mugs, tshirts and magnets
Some dude who gets too much whoopie!
Damn, Benjamin just tapped that one bitch!


This annoys me. No, this angers me. Deeply.
One, I believe in wikis. I think the wisdom of the crowd is almost always right. There was a great thing on NPR years ago about this. If you get a hundred people to try and guess one person's weight, very few individuals will be right, but the average will almost always be right(well beyond statistical variation on guesses). This is wiki-vandalism. It's like scribbling in the encyclopedia with a pen, and it's done as clumsily and blatantly. As is, I think Urban Dictionary will probably not really recover from this and that name definitions will be eternally corrupted.
Two, I believe in meaning through randomness and unexpected information. It's why I believe in the use of the Tarot and the I Ching. The human capacity for pattern recognition renders randomness meaningful in a way that can grant insight into the present.
So,

short or slang expression for a 100(hundred)-dollar-bill 'cause Benjamin Franklin's face is on the front side of it
what is in this bag?--it's full of benjamins!

This is the meaning that should appear from this meme. This has potential meaning. This could be an oracular reading. What does it mean that my name is strongly associated with money. This is a legitimate question. Rewriting the tarot guide so that the Tower now signifies that the bearer has a large member isn't searching for meaning in the world, it's meaningless posturing, and ultimately, that meme drove me from facebook.
Ultimately, I've found that facebook is like a year-long Christmas letter. It trumpets your victories(and especially those of your kids) but doesn't really give you significant insight into a person. Twitter is worse, useful in my mind only for experimental poetry(for that it's an excellent tool, which proves that every tool has a use).
So, for now, I'm back on LJ, where I have at least some chance for insight that doesn't disappear from the world more quickly the more the girl who rejected me in high school posts pictures of her ugly children.

Comments

[akashiver.livejournal.com]

Thanks for saying that about the Urban Dictionary. I'd been angry about the meme-induced editing but hadn't really thought through why, and you said it much better than I could.

[squishymeister.livejournal.com]

Well said Ben! I remember when I first went to Facebook, my disclaimer was that I would be there much, because I preferred the LJ style social networking site. It has more soul, more meaning, and requires that we put effort into our relationships by taking the time to really read what's going on in our friends' lives, and to comment on them when we feel like we can add something.

But over time, everyone seems to have abandoned LJ, so I find myself spending more and more effort on Facebook, just cause it gives me the audience I crave... but I don't even always get that! And, then the cycle starts, the more my posts on facebook don't get noticed, the more attempts I put in to put something up that will entertain someone into liking or commenting on it, which has resulted in my posts being far too numerous, and absolute tosh much of the time (I'll admit it)

What struck me the most was when I went searching through my archives here. As a Pisces every once in a while I indulge in nostalgia, but for the last year or so there is hardy anything. A huge post with a list of updated information of what's going on every few months. But no day to day "here is what I'm thinking/feeling" that I thrive on. But to go back and see that content on facebook is nearly impossible, so the updates are lost. (this is also why I try to keep a written journal)

To be honest, I'm not really ready to leave facebook. There are too many people there who I want to keep in touch with that just won't do something like LJ, and if I leave facebook they will once again disappear into my history. (high school friends, college friends, family I never seem to see or speak to). But I am going to try to shift to putting more of *my* content here, and spending less time staring aimlessly at facebook. I really wish I could figure out how to see just statuses with the new design... it's gotta be somewhere. Cause I just hate having to skim through all the fan pages, memes, and who friended who.

I for one am thrilled that your back on LJ, and fully support your lent commitment!

[sapphohestia.livejournal.com]

I'm very happy to see people coming back to LJ. :) It's been a bit lonely here.

[chilimuffin.livejournal.com]

I like reading, but I have no particular topics to suggest.

[fallen-scholar.livejournal.com]

I dumped FB over the privacy issue. Not just the changes to the privacy standards, but when it became clear that even the CEO didn't understand what the hell the new standards meant.

I don't know how much the meme caused it, as much as it possibly irritated it. Even pre-meme, there was a lot of wiki vandalism on UD. There's always going to be a lot of graffiti on a wiki, to a different degree of 'always.'

[gollumgollum.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! If you're still looking for topics, i wouldn't mind hearing about cooking and/or food. I might have decided to become Julia Child (in that lifelong ambition way)? So i'm trying to learn more about food. And you're not only a good cook but i like the way you think about food.

BUT. I also think you should write about whatever the hell you want. (: