Social Media vs Forums

[Hobbit]

I kind of like FB. However, I keep it to real friends and family. I joined when I moved to a different state. It's a nice way to keep in touch with people. Before FB I pretty much lost contact with people that weren't directly in my life everyday. So I think it's about your expectations and how you manage it. For instance, I have the feeds of friends who use as their personal pulpit hidden. Even if I agree with what they're saying. As I said to one recently, in person, you're preaching to the choir! I've also used it to contact family members who over the years, for one reason or another, lost touch with.

I view forums totally different. I feel sad that as a whole they're fading away. Forums to me are more like user groups. A great place to keep up with the latest and get new ideas. I really appreciate that people (like Gene) take the time to find the latest trends in technology and share them with us. Opinion threads, like this one are usually interesting. I'm glad folks on this site keep it peaceful and don't post if they don't have something positive, not that I have to agree, to contribute. There are plenty of forums where the only reason people post is to be an a-hole. I don't get it! I use forums totally different from how I use FB.

I've tried twitter and a few others. Twitter is a place where people seem to go to preach their ideas. I don't care and just don't have the time. Tik Tok is place to post stuff to scream, "look at me." Apparently a lot of people need that kind of stuff. Neither is my cup of tea.

 

[cpp]

FB for friends and family, but its a worthless junk ridden site and Twitter what a site to get stabbed by the all knowing posters who feel they are so far above others. But, I'm to darn old to care and to darn old to put up with BS on forums or other social media sites.

 

[panteragstk]

Isn't this forum part of the social media?

Yes and no. Forums like this usually only gain members that like the same things and want a place to discuss. Some forums are owned by large media companies, those usually die quickly after that type of purchase. If @gene were to decide he didn't want to host this forum any longer and sold it to one of those large companies, then yeah, it'd become part of the "social media".

Social media was supposed to be a way to keep connected with people you know, regardless of interests. Then it became what it is today because social media is trying to replace the "conventional" internet. Basically a walled garden.

The internet used to be a lot more fun when it was the "wild west" days.

 

[Trell]

Yes and no. Forums like this usually only gain members that like the same things and want a place to discuss. Some forums are owned by large media companies, those usually die quickly after that type of purchase. If @gene were to decide he didn't want to host this forum any longer and sold it to one of those large companies, then yeah, it'd become part of the "social media".

Social media was supposed to be a way to keep connected with people you know, regardless of interests. Then it became what it is today because social media is trying to replace the "conventional" internet. Basically a walled garden.

The internet used to be a lot more fun when it was the "wild west" days.

My comment was a little tongue-in-cheek.

I've been online for about 40 years, so a geezer.

 

[panteragstk]

My comment was a little tongue-in-cheek.

I've been online for about 40 years, so a geezer.

Yeah you are, but I think it's important to point out the difference from the "old internet" vs what we have now.

There are still a lot of forums that are owned by the enthusiasts that specific forum caters too, but they're not as abundant as they used to be. Kinda sucks.

 

[Trcu9]

I'm having trouble finding a use for social media. Is it just me?

I tried facebook a couple years ago and hated it. I don't like the way it announces to everyone that you joined. I ended up friending family and coworkers that I wasnt really interested in talking to. I ended up closing it down.

Recently I started playing with twitter. The only reason I joined was to try to talk a specific celebrity into doing a happy birthday video for my wife, which worked btw! So that was really cool, but the rest of it annoyed me. Nobody really has conversations, it's about getting likes and followers. But last night I had enough. I posted a picture that I took of 2 jet streams that formed a perfect X. For some odd reason this attracted all the conspiracy nut cases trying to convince me that it meant the gov was following me around and tracking the gps on my phone. Even with the battery removed they say you can be tracked. C'mon people, we all have the same brain why can't everybody use it? But then at the same time something else happened. My wife and I started watching this show that the above celeb is in and we really like it. But because we follow him spoilers started showing up on my feed from east coasters that started watching it before it ever aired where I live. Ticked me off that people would do that crap.

So now I've closed my twitter account as well. I dont know, I just like forums better. People can actually talk about things and nobodies worried about whos the most popular. Is it just me? Am I part of the wrong generation being in my early 40s? Should I try something like tumblr or instagram? Redit sucked, I didnt like that one either. Maybe I'll just bug you guys some more around here.

You still hanging out? LoL. What have you found hanging out on AH? Anything between the others and AH?

 

[jinjuku]

Isn't this forum part of the social media?

Not really. I grew up with dial up BBS's. More things change the more they stay the same.

 

[Trell]

Not really. I grew up with dial up BBS's. More things change the more they stay the same.

Yeah, I grew up with dial-up as well.

 

[NINaudio]

Not really. I grew up with dial up BBS's. More things change the more they stay the same.

My dad worked at IBM while I was growing up, so I grew up with dial up BBS's as well before the internet proper came to be. I still remember the 300 baud modem we had that you had to put the phone receiver into.

 

[Trell]

My dad worked at IBM while I was growing up, so I grew up with dial up BBS's as well before the internet proper came to be. I still remember the 300 baud modem we had that you had to put the phone receiver into.

Putting the phone on the modem I did not have to do 40 years ago, thankfully. Just plugging a telephone cable into the modem, still low baud rate though.

 

[Eppie]

Not really. I grew up with dial up BBS's. More things change the more they stay the same.

Hell, when I was growing up we had to tie a string between two soup cans and yell into them!

I've been around long enough to remember Compuserve dial-up and Genie. No stinking AOL for me. I even helped manage some Compuserve forums for a while. Any other Kesmai Multi-Player Battletech players out there? House Steiner forever!

 

[Trell]

Hell, when I was growing up we had to tie a string between two soup cans and yell into them!

I did that over 40 years, kiddo.

 

[panteragstk]

My dad worked at IBM while I was growing up, so I grew up with dial up BBS's as well before the internet proper came to be. I still remember the 300 baud modem we had that you had to put the phone receiver into.

When I was a teenager we were one of the first people to get cable internet. Wasn't anything special by todays standards, but that was when everyone had 56k or worse.

Needless to say I dominated Quake 3 Arena for a bit and it was quite unfair.

 

[NINaudio]

When I was a teenager we were one of the first people to get cable internet. Wasn't anything special by todays standards, but that was when everyone had 56k or worse.

Needless to say I dominated Quake 3 Arena for a bit and it was quite unfair.

We had a 12k modem when every else had 9600 ones. lol

 

[Trell]

We had a 12k modem when every else had 9600 ones. lol

Kiddo, let the grownups reminisce in peace about a baud rate of max 300.

 

[NINaudio]

Kiddo, let the grownups reminisce in peace about a baud rate of max 300.

Keep up old man, we already talked about those!

 

[Trell]

Keep up old man, we already talked about those!

Can’t teach puppies old tricks, apparently, on how to maximize the content with as few bits as possible. I rest my case.

 

[Eppie]

I sold my Atari 800XL last year. It was a complete working system except for the printer as the rubber on the print heads would dry out and crumble. I still have all of the photos on Google. Note the UCall modem interface. I had a 1200 baud Smarteam modem on that. 300 was for losers. The last two games pictures are Centipede and Frogger. Centipede and Missile Command were just like the arcade games when using the track ball (a rather rare piece of kit).

And yes, that is my current Panasonic plasma. I managed to get the composite signal from the Atari upscaled to fit the flat screen. It was pretty damn cool getting that old beast working again.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mc5BW5xG14WEzuZX9

I still have a 56k US Robotics USB modem in storage. You never know when you might get a country property with only dial-up.

 

[highfigh]

FB is a great place to pick up a computer virus, according to a friend who managed a computer store where he did a lot of repairs. I never posted much personal info and never set it up for everyone to see my posts or conversations because they're between myself and a limited number of people who are also concerned with privacy. For the truly personal conversations, Messenger isn't bad, but even then, not all users are strict about maintaining a closed conversation- I have received plenty of messages from people I don't know because they thought they were replying to one person when it was actually a group. That happened when a friend was taking his boat from here to the Bahamas and he provided a kind of travelogue as they went down the Mississippi River to Florida across the Gulf, did some Satellite TV repairs and continued to the Islands- most of us know each other, so it wasn't a problem but in other cases, it included some really rude people.

 

[highfigh]

And yes, that is my current Panasonic plasma. I managed to get the composite signal from the Atari upscaled to fit the flat screen. It was pretty damn cool getting that old beast working again.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mc5BW5xG14WEzuZX9

I went to a customer's house to drop off some equipment that came from her parents' house- as we were leaving, the dad showed me a Halloween decoration and said he thought it was time to put it away. It has a bird skeleton and I said "The only things missing are a wide-brimmed hat and trench coat, so it could look like Spy Vs Spy".