Social media cell phone zombies...

[Umbra]

It is interesting that we have moved into an era where you are considered a weirdo if you DON'T have social media accounts.
It's only been 10-15 years since there wasn't any such thing.

Twitter: 2006
MySpace: 2003 (remember the war between them and FB?)
FB: 2004
Instagram: 2010
Snapchat: 2011

 

[Chris]

More than anything, I pray for the downfall of Facebook. I honestly would love for it to happen, absolutely love it. It's so stupid, it's so annoying, and people are so addicted to it.

Instagram and Snapchat... Well, those are just daily life tools of teens and tweens. I'm not sure why any adult would be using those (though I'm sure there's plenty).

 

[Nicholas]

This hit me


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[Umbra]

Me too. It frightens me a little to think someone may lose a job opportunity because an interviewer thinks they are lying when they don't confess to having a social media account of some sort.

 

[LTTJ]

One of my friends who is currently applying for work in data migration got the third degree from a potential employer because he told them he doesn't use Facebook and never set up an account, which is true for him but the person doing the interview just didn't believe him. There are meant to be laws over here were they are not meant to check your social media accounts when considering your application but there is no way to enforce such a thing and all employers do it.
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This is messed up. Not everyone wants to live their entire life on the internet. I also agree with @Chris - at least on many forums you can learn something!


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[StG58]

This is messed up. Not everyone wants to live their entire life on the internet. I also agree with @Chris - at least on many forums you can learn something!


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Forums tend to develop their own bias. True, you can learn a lot on a forum, much of it wrong or outdated, but the information is there. The peer review process on a forum gets progressively weaker as time passes though. The opinions of the strongest, or most persuasive, or most active members becomes the forum groupthink.

Examine the groupthink here on this forum, for example. Taken critically, we are developing a bias towards a certain set of mods on a TJ. The recommendations of the group to our new members especially reflect those biases. That's why one of my first questions is "What are you trying to do, and where do you use your Jeep?".

Social Media is 99% nonsense that has replaced the sitcom on the boob tube.

 

[Umbra]

Forums tend to develop their own bias. True, you can learn a lot on a forum, much of it wrong or outdated, but the information is there. The peer review process on a forum gets progressively weaker as time passes though. The opinions of the strongest, or most persuasive, or most active members becomes the forum groupthink.

Examine the groupthink here on this forum, for example. Taken critically, we are developing a bias towards a certain set of mods on a TJ. The recommendations of the group to our new members especially reflect those biases. That's why one of my first questions is "What are you trying to do, and where do you use your Jeep?".

Social Media is 99% nonsense that has replaced the sitcom on the boob tube.

I'd have to agree with you on most of what you said. Group think is epidemic on most forums, especially older ones that have been around for a long time. The outright hostility towards non-conformists is stunning. I was a member of many forums going back to the late 90s. I've quit all but one. There's a couple I still check in on. The mods and admins are trying to gain control on one of them, but it's too late. They've allowed the trash talkers and "me too" robots and wannbes to control it for too long and that's about all that's left.
It's primarily populated with cranky old men with nothing else to do but browse forums and piss people off all day.

For that reason, I have moved to FB. But only for car stuff and primarily because the cars I really like aren't that popular with the mainstream/conformist old car crowd. FB is really the only place that those of my ilk can connect.
But I'm also there under an alias and I check in about the same as I used to check forums. For me, that 1% is useful and can be fun.

 

[Chris]

It's primarily populated with cranky old men with nothing else to do but browse forums and piss people off all day.

Ahhh, so true, so true. Every forum that's been around for a long time has those guys. Hell, I can think of a few in the Jeep world, but I'm not going to name them.

 

[StG58]

Ahhh, so true, so true. Every forum that's been around for a long time has those guys. Hell, I can think of a few in the Jeep world, but I'm not going to name them.

Oh come on @Chris, it's no fun unless you point fingers and name names. We haven't had an entertaining controversy in awhile.

 

[LTTJ]

Ahhh, so true, so true. Every forum that's been around for a long time has those guys. Hell, I can think of a few in the Jeep world, but I'm not going to name them.

Well you can easily balance out the cranky old men on forums with the young, very assertive dudes in Reddit. Problem solved.


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[Chris]

Oh come on @Chris, it's no fun unless you point fingers and name names. We haven't had an entertaining controversy in awhile.

I'm not airing controversy publicly anymore (lesson learned). If someone has an issue, they can take it up with me via PM. If they choose to make it public, they'll be banned, plain and simple.

The drama belongs on Facebook and social networking, not on this forum.

Now trolls on the other hand... Sometimes it's funny to let a troll go at it for a while and entertain us all.

 

[StG58]

Well you can easily balance out the cranky old men on forums with the young, very assertive dudes in Reddit. Problem solved.


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What's Reddit? I like it though, balance is good.

I'm not airing controversy publicly anymore (lesson learned). If someone has an issue, they can take it up with me via PM. If they choose to make it public, they'll be banned, plain and simple.

The drama belongs on Facebook and social networking, not on this forum.

Now trolls on the other hand... Sometimes it's funny to let a troll go at it for a while and entertain us all.

Mmmm-mmm. A side of Troll is tasty with eggs in the morning.

Still love this place, especially now that the answer isn't always Savvy / Currie and Duratracs. Gotta work on the Warn thing though.

 

[Chris]

Still love this place, especially now that the answer isn't always Savvy / Currie and Duratracs. Gotta work on the Warn thing though.

You must have noticed I've changed my tone though, a little bit.

I always suggest Currie / Savvy. However, lately I've been really pushing OME lifts, only because I think that for most of us (myself included) it's more than we need. Let's be honest, unless you're planning on doing some really crazy stuff, you don't need to build your Jeep as much as some of us do. But then again, part of building it is the fun!

And hey, I'd love to say something like "Metalcloak lifts are amazing", but I've never actually tried one. I'm only pushing the stuff that I've tried, because I know it works well.

If Metalcloak were to send me a free lift (haha, I wish!) to review, I would happily review it over the period of 2+ years and offer my unbiased feedback 100%.

But so far all I've tried is Rough Country, OME, and Currie.

 

[StG58]

You must have noticed I've changed my tone though, a little bit.

I always suggest Currie / Savvy. However, lately I've been really pushing OME lifts, only because I think that for most of us (myself included) it's more than we need. Let's be honest, unless you're planning on doing some really crazy stuff, you don't need to build your Jeep as much as some of us do. But then again, part of building it is the fun!

And hey, I'd love to say something like "Metalcloak lifts are amazing", but I've never actually tried one. I'm only pushing the stuff that I've tried, because I know it works well.

If Metalcloak were to send me a free lift (haha, I wish!) to review, I would happily review it over the period of 2+ years and offer my unbiased feedback 100%.

But so far all I've tried is Rough Country, OME, and Currie.

You have toned it down a bit, and I did notice! Good show, by the way.

I'm constantly surprised by how much of the TJ world is driven by style and opinion. If you are after style points and are motivated by kudos from strangers on social media, does it really matter what parts you use? You can say anything is under your TJ, and the masses will buy it. You can be a social application hero for cheap! Who's to know?

 

[Umbra]

I'm constantly surprised by how much of the TJ world is driven by style and opinion. If you are after style points and are motivated by kudos from strangers on social media, does it really matter what parts you use? You can say anything is under your TJ, and the masses will buy it. You can be a social application hero for cheap! Who's to know?

I get a giggle out of it. Every car group suffers from some form of "gotta have". A saying in the muscle car world says something like "There are 90,000 70 Chevelle Super Sports on the road, even though Chevy only built 20,000". I often wonder how many off-road built Jeeps actually get off road, especially when the owner constantly jabbers about Mall Crawlers.
If you look at Wrangler forums in general, you'd assume that thousands of folks were out tearing up the trails, but I never see that many. Most heavily modified Jeeps I see are clean, shiny and pristine.

 

[Chris]

I suspect most Wranglers aren't off-roaded much at all. Hell, mine sees maybe 10-15% off-road time. But the joy I get out of it just from driving around with the top off and doors off, that alone makes it worth owning. Plus, it's nice to know you have a capable vehicle incase you ever need it.

Same as those doomsday preppers. They're constantly preparing for something that will likely never happen in their lifetime. However, even if it doesn't happen, I'm sure they can sleep better at night knowing they're prepared. Same thing with Jeep Wranglers really!

We've all got our opinion about style mods. I think light bars and unibrow look stupid. Would I publicly say that to someone? Yes, I probably would. However, I don't mean any ill will by saying it to them, I'm just voicing my opinion (something that happens all the time on the internet).

And sure, if someone wants to buy an RC lift, I'll advise them not to. Why waste the money on it when you're just going to have to eventually spend $300 more for new shocks? Why not just spend $900 and get the OME lift right from the start, which includes good shocks.

So maybe it's groupthink, but I'm also trying to steer people in the right direction in terms of not having to spend money twice.

 

[Umbra]

Steering people in the right direction and/or advising folks that ask about your experience is what forums and social media should be about and used to be.
Being a ****head and criticizing other people choices without being asked is what they've turned in to. And it's not just the smart phone generation that has fallen victim.
The last 20 years or so has seen all of us break into groups. Politics, age, race, nationality, gender, sexual preference etc. That's all even bled down to cars and other hobbies.

Now you're either "one of us" or an asshole.

 

[Chris]

I hear ya. More of a reason I've got to fight to keep this forum as friendly as possible. Maybe it's inevitable, but I'd like to avoid the typical forum assholes as much as possible.

Man, I'll never forget when I joined this one motorcycle forum years ago. I posted a for sale ad with a motorcycle jacket I was selling. I posted some photos of myself wearing the jacket with some pictures I snapped in the mirror (I did this because some guy asked).

From that point on, the entire discussion turned into trolls commenting on my physical appearance! I reported these guys to the admin and moderators, and they told me that I was getting "the newbie treatment".

Like are you serious? I never went back there again. I was blown away by how many assholes could possibly be in one place. There truly is some very lonely (and bored) people on the internet.

 

[Umbra]

Have you ever heard of yellowbullet.com? The biggest conglomeration of ****heads known to man.

You should check it out just for the entertainment value. But wash your hands afterwards, you'll feel slimey.

 

[Chris]

Have you ever heard of yellowbullet.com? The biggest conglomeration of ****heads known to man.

You should check it out just for the entertainment value. But wash your hands afterwards, you'll feel slimey.

Haha, I'll check it out. But from what I can tell, these guys are branding themselves as an asshole specific forum, so I think it works in their favor!