I posted this on LambdaMOO. I’ve been on there for 9½ years, and it’s been around for about 16½ years. There was a discussion on a mailing list there that suggested somebody might actually still be interested in researching us. This was my response.

The question of anybody indexing or analyzing us is moot. We are a throwback, and people like new things. The “note to journalists and researchers” on the login screen hasn’t been needed for a while, I would think. Why come on here when Second Life is so much larger, more complex, and more shiny? There aren’t enough people left here for anyone to want to notice or study us. Time and technology have advanced without us.

I know multiple people who have left Lambda behind for There.com and Second Life. The number of people there used to number nearly 3,000 but I think there are fewer than 250 people still active, with about 125 logged in at any given time, and about 50 of those actually active and doing things at any given time. Compare that to the thousands and thousands of people on Second Life - there’s just no contest anymore.

I found my way to a corner of the web where concern is expressed about the website StuffOnMyCat.com. I was a little surprised by the suggestion that the cats minded or were being objectified in some way. I always thought that most of the pictures were just amusing, another form of playing with kitty. They certainly aren’t hurting the cats, nobody is putting crushing weights on the cats, it’s more like “oh this is my cute kitty she looks funny with a deck of cards on her!” A few of the cats look annoyed, like this reindeer cat, but nobody is being hurt here. Humans give their cats lots and lots of love, and we play with them, and we goof around with them. I’ve had cats all my life and I wouldn’t consider them to be objectified - it’s just silly. I guess I’m sorry StuffOnMyCat.com offended the posters on that site, but I simply don’t understand where they’re coming from.

I took the opportunity to find my entry at StuffOnMyCat.com. I had piled things on Truffle for submission but the photo that ended up getting posted was the one of Amanita chomping on Truffle’s head. (We’ve been calling him Tubbles lately - he’s put on some weight!) I was quite amused to find a few people saying in the comments, “I hope you broke that up!” Broke what up? They weren’t even fighting. Truffle was being a pain in the neck to his mom, and she was telling him to step off. Yes, sometimes our cats do get in fights with each other - it’s usually all Mischa’s fault, because he’s an asshole - and of course we break them up. But the ear chomp was just funny, not a fight. Oh well.

Oh, and I have over 400 pictures of my cats on Flickr. I am insane.

For a while, it seemed like tagboards (also known as shoutboxes) were really popular on websites. Everybody and their sister had a tagboard on their site! The benefit of tagboards was that you could have a discussion with other people visiting the same site. Next up was chat boards…you could chat with the website owner and with other visitors. But very often they would be empty - the problem with most chat rooms is that multiple people have to be in there at the same time, and on many blogs and other personal sites that just isn’t likely.

Enter Geesee, which I saw mentioned at TechCrunch a couple of months ago. Geesee enables webmasters to provide topical chat directly on their websites, and promises that there will actually be users there!

The way they do this is by allowing webmasters to tag their sites. Let’s say a tech blogger has a Geesee chat on their site, and they’re tagged with “internet” and “technology.” When users are in that chat room, they can also chat with other users around the web who are visiting sites that have the same tags for their Geesee chat rooms. You don’t have to be actually on the same site - you can just be thinking about the same topic!

A nice benefit of GeeSee is that it’s easy to install, it’s just a matter of a single line of code (I’m assuming JavaScript). Marshall Kirkpatrick of TechCrunch seemed to be really impressed by the service…not quite as high praise as if it had come from The Arrington himself, but still pretty good!

A bit of musing even though it’s 1:00 in the morning…and then I shall go to bed.

Most venues for online interaction have a way of keeping a user’s input from reaching your screen. Many forums have an Ignore List feature, LambdaMOO has @gagging, instant messaging services offer block lists, LiveJournal has comment banning, and so forth. I don’t use any of these. My way is actually not recommended, as it requires familiarity with a wide variety of types of online discourse, and a skin that is somewhat thickened. I used to let all kinds of crap affect me online. People would post anonymous comments about me - or even attributed ones - and I’d let it get right to me. I could have used ignoring features, but I didn’t because I was afraid of missing something. Now, it’s more a personal philosophy, and I’ve learned to deal with these comments. I don’t have anyone on my @gaglist or any Ignore Lists, only anonymous comments are blocked on LJ to reduce spam, and I use the blocking feature for IMs only for genuine spammers. It’s not easy learning to deal with those who would annoy you and piss you off. For those who aren’t directing anything specific at you but are just being asshats in general, you have to tune them out. They’re not worth your time. If you read their posts at all, rather than just skimming over them, you can laugh at their idiocy but you have to move on. If someone is attacking you personally, consider the source. The anonymous comments on LambdaMOO bothered me because I thought it might be someone I knew…but I decided it was more likely that they were comments from people who didn’t know me - and if they didn’t know me, they were obviously talking out of their asses and not worth paying any mind.

My personal philosophy of not ignoring anyone isn’t for everybody, and I am vulnerable too. I don’t usually get caught up in flame wars (I’m not the flaming type) or heated debates because I am willing to concede points fairly easily. But things people say to me are still hurtful at times, more so if it’s from an acquaintance who I thought I didn’t have any problems with. (Needless to say, friends don’t do this kind of thing.) I am a peacemaker, and that means trying to make peace with others and also making peace within myself. I don’t need to respond to idiots. I don’t need to listen to jerks. Much of what I read online is from strangers, and I am free to scroll on by.

Incidentally, I don’t think my way is better than using ignore features. If you are willing to use them, and if they help you drown out some of the noise or keep you from getting upset, then by all means use them and they are serving you well. Because I personally choose to not use them doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re a wonderful invention for those who like them.

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Bwahahaha. This happens every day around the world, but rarely do I get to see it. This was on a mailing list from the linguistics department at George Mason University.

From: So-and-So
Subject:Subject: Master’s/Doctoral Student or Prof needed to share townhouse
I need a second person to share a townhouse in Herndon. This is a 3 level townhouse in great neighborhood (quiet, safe) in Herndon just off the Dulles Toll Road and Fairfax County Parkway, [etc. including pictures]

From: Somebody Else
Subject: Re: Master’s/Doctoral Student or Prof needed to share townhouse
For me or for you?

From: Complete Bozo
Subject: Re: Master’s/Doctoral Student or Prof needed to share townhouse
for you, silly! i already got a house.. actually, i looked at the photos and am thinking the person who posted this is a dumbass. might want to clean the kitchen before you take those pics, asswipe.

From: Complete Bozo
Subject: Re: Master’s/Doctoral Student or Prof needed to share townhouse
biiiig whoops!! sorry!
i take it back! didn’t mean it! christ..