LDS Freedom Forum

At which point did forums like this turn into wellheads erupting with spam postings?
It seems that ten plus years ago, most threads on this forum began with an original thought, a well-formulated question or a candid take on a news item. Take a look back in the archives to see. Currently, 80% of new threads are direct copy-pastes from articles or blogs (unattributed, without personal insights), youtube video links, or banal observations. Was this twitterification always an inevitability ? How can we foster more insightful discussions?

nvr wrote: ↑April 1st, 2022, 3:14 pm At which point did forums like this turn into wellheads erupting with spam postings?
It seems that ten plus years ago, most threads on this forum began with an original thought, a well-formulated question or a candid take on a news item. Currently, 80% are direct copy-pastes from articles or blogs (unattributed, without personal insights), youtube video links, or simple banal observations. Was this twitterification always an inevitability ? How can we foster more insightful discussions?

The internet is a disaster now. Like most things the elite grab back or appropriate, it's become bland and useless and not very entertaining. If you go on a search engine, it's hard to find much at all these days, and a lot of the internet has been turned into a series of echo chambers, where people repeat the same opinions to one another and reinforce them. It's resulted in chaos in politics and even society as a whole, because people don't know how to talk to each other. The language people use is also being deliberately split in two.

But... some of what you say is a bit of a romanticisation of the past. I was online twenty five years ago, and there was no shortage of "simple banal observations", copies of text from elsewhere etc. It did go on back then too. The difference was back then, if I went on a search engine and typed in something like "Argentinian tango" (a random example), I would get websites ordinary people put together about dancing, maybe the Federation of Tango Societies (or whatever it was called) and a history of the dance etc... that type of thing.

Nowadays if I typed that in, I would get....
* Websites mostly from the UK, maybe the USA and almost nowhere else.
* Pages like the BBC, Wikipedia etc.
* Someone trying to sell me something vaguely related to dancing etc.

If I typed that into YouTube, I would get some midwit reciting the Wikipedia article almost word for word, and mispronouncing it, maybe if I'm lucky some examples of dancing (probably by celebs) etc etc.

But be thankful. This forum is much better than social media. It has a Google search function - its Achilles' heel - but the thought police haven't blocked it yet.

nvr wrote: ↑April 1st, 2022, 3:14 pm At which point did forums like this turn into wellheads erupting with spam postings?
It seems that ten plus years ago, most threads on this forum began with an original thought, a well-formulated question or a candid take on a news item. Take a look back in the archives to see. Currently, 80% of new threads are direct copy-pastes from articles or blogs (unattributed, without personal insights), youtube video links, or banal observations. Was this twitterification always an inevitability ? How can we foster more insightful discussions?

I have been thinking specifically about this over the last year or two. I have stopped using the forum as much during that time. Maybe we should have a forum specifically for original posts and thoughts or questions.

I think getting inundated with other people's thinking makes you kind of stop caring about what's going on and realize it's all a show and then you stop thinking about this stuff as much and then you stop posting. New people take your place. It just so happens the newer people tend to be of the mindset that the thinking has been done for them and post "shocking" videos. I don't know how many "This is the best video I have seen about the new world order" posts with little insight or even description of the video which I have seen, but it's got to be 100s of them. It's almost tiring to look at the top 40 threads to find the 4 that are not reposts of someone else's (obvious) thoughts with no insight.

I also think I have become less original in my posts because I know what I know and other people don't seem to care so I don't spend a lot of time crafting into a readable post.

Just some thoughts. Maybe if it was of more interest, I would think about it more and craft it into a readable post

harakim wrote: ↑April 1st, 2022, 7:21 pm

nvr wrote: ↑April 1st, 2022, 3:14 pm At which point did forums like this turn into wellheads erupting with spam postings?
It seems that ten plus years ago, most threads on this forum began with an original thought, a well-formulated question or a candid take on a news item. Take a look back in the archives to see. Currently, 80% of new threads are direct copy-pastes from articles or blogs (unattributed, without personal insights), youtube video links, or banal observations. Was this twitterification always an inevitability ? How can we foster more insightful discussions?

I have been thinking specifically about this over the last year or two. I have stopped using the forum as much during that time. Maybe we should have a forum specifically for original posts and thoughts or questions.

I think getting inundated with other people's thinking makes you kind of stop caring about what's going on and realize it's all a show and then you stop thinking about this stuff as much and then you stop posting. New people take your place. It just so happens the newer people tend to be of the mindset that the thinking has been done for them and post "shocking" videos. I don't know how many "This is the best video I have seen about the new world order" posts with little insight or even description of the video which I have seen, but it's got to be 100s of them. It's almost tiring to look at the top 40 threads to find the 4 that are not reposts of someone else's (obvious) thoughts with no insight.

I also think I have become less original in my posts because I know what I know and other people don't seem to care so I don't spend a lot of time crafting into a readable post.

Just some thoughts. Maybe if it was of more interest, I would think about it more and craft it into a readable post

Things change over time and people come and go. I believe that many have come to this forum as TBM with maybe a few questions. At first, they think that some people are against the church. Then they realize the people are really only against corruption. Then, after a while they see why and become awke to their own awful situation.

Everyone is not on the same level. I have looked at several different forums. This one is about truth. There are a wide variety of beliefs here. Flat earth, mud slides, TBM, multiple mortal probations, etc. Some things we don't know for sure so we keep an open mind. Anyone that posts quackery is set straight pretty quick. Many of us have been tricked into believing fake news. But in the end, we just want to know we are on the right path.

Somehow, everyone that seeks the truth will find it. That is pretty amazing, actually, since the places that one would expect to find truth does not have it. This forum and the Defending Utah videos are in my mind the two most important resources, other than the scriptures themselves. Many people have this forum to thank for learning the truth about covid.

I do think an opinion should be shared along with a video. Perhaps a friendly reminder to the poster that forgets.

I've thought about this recently, too.

something that comes to mind: it wasn't too long ago that there were a wide variety of vehicles you could purchase and they looked very different from each other. Look at what they are producing now:



some folks think it's because "aerodynamics". pshhhh. They are cookie cutter cars. There is no thought that goes into them anymore. A computer tells the engineer how to round the hood.

Take Hollywood then - why are there 12 spiderman movies, and 15 Batmans? Avengers is boring. Princess Leia is now a Disney Princess. So is the black widow. Yawn. I haven't seen an interesting movie from Hollywood in quite some time. Everything is CGI. They don't even really need living actors anymore - wasn't one of the star wars characters dead and they stuck her in a movie anyway? Cookie cutter movies.

Housing is also boring - fake faux ceiling beams are on every episode of HGTV:
.

compared to real ceiling beams (sorry, couldn't resist):


cookie cutter neighborhoods - this could be anywhere in the USA:


We've dumbed down our schools to the point that we have cookie-cutter kids. No one knows how to think anymore- they are not teaching it in school. I used to say that to my students in my math class -
"Mr. X, why do we have to learn all this dumb math, anyway?"
"You think this is a math class?" I would say with a laugh. "I'm not teaching you math, I'm teaching you how to think. Math is just the vehicle I'm using to get you to think. When you can think, you can create. And when you can create, you can live a life that's worth living."

When I see a video, I just scroll on by. I don't have time for videos. Give me some text - I can quickly scan it and see if it's worth diving into further. I hate videos for most things - unless it's how to fix cars or build something - but just some guy talking? no thanks!

people who can think are a rare commodity.

mudflap wrote: ↑April 1st, 2022, 9:10 pm I've thought about this recently, too.

something that comes to mind: it wasn't too long ago that there were a wide variety of vehicles you could purchase and they looked very different from each other. Look at what they are producing now:

Phillip K. Dick was right... in the future it will be hard to find things which are authentic.

We live in simulacra world. I'm part of this, because I drink alcohol free beer, but it's also common nowadays to find:

* Meat which isn't meat.
* Women who aren't women. Men who are not men.
* Social life which is not social life. (Facebook etc.) Meetings which are not meetings. (Zoom, Skype etc). Dating which is not dating. Sex which is not sex etc.
* Singing which is not singing (autotune).
* Tea which is not tea and coffee which is not coffee. (Especially among Mormons.)
* Milk which is not milk. (Oat, soy etc etc.)
* Foreign food which is not foreign food. (e.g. Italian food which is nothing like food from Italy.)
* News which is not news. (Regurgitates press releases, heavily censored.)
* Democracy which is not democracy. (Since multiple parties push the same agenda, usually from WEF etc.)
* Wood which is not wood.
* Work which is not work.
* Grass which is not grass. Flowers which are not flowers. Trees which are not trees.
* Leather which is not leather. Wool which is not wool. Fur coats which are not fur coats.
* Celebs who are not celebs. (Reality TV etc.)
* Indy media which is not indy media. (Buzzfeed, Vice- both parts of major corporations.)
* Local radio which is not local radio. (Often a livestream from somewhere else.)
* Activists who are not activists. (Often celebs who work for the establishment and do not do activism. Or fakes like Greta Thunberg )
* Word of mouth discoveries who are not word of mouth discoveries. (Lana del Rey promoted as such when father was an internet millionaire.)
* Animals which are not animals. (Furries or indeed Furbys!)
* History which is not history. (Fake versions of the past. Modern films which pretend to be set in the past and misrepresent it totally.)
* Folk music which is not folk music. (i.e. not very traditional - Bob Dylan, Neil Young etc )
* Businesses which are not businesses. (Elon Musk's public subsidy outfits like Tesla and SpaceX.)
* Education which teaches you nothing of use.
* Experts who are not experts. (News readers, Bill Gates with no medical qualifications, most YouTubers like Simon Whistler etc.)
* Writers who are not writers. (Twitter anyone?)
* Search engines which search for nothing.
* Vaccines which are not vaccines.

A few others I can't think of now.

I'm a single Mom who works 2 days a week and makes a six figure income of $987,789 a month.

The Nigerian Prince has got to feed his family. How dare anyone criticize spam on this forum! LoL!

mudflap wrote: ↑April 1st, 2022, 9:10 pm I've thought about this recently, too.

something that comes to mind: it wasn't too long ago that there were a wide variety of vehicles you could purchase and they looked very different from each other. Look at what they are producing now:



some folks think it's because "aerodynamics". pshhhh. They are cookie cutter cars. There is no thought that goes into them anymore. A computer tells the engineer how to round the hood.

Take Hollywood then - why are there 12 spiderman movies, and 15 Batmans? Avengers is boring. Princess Leia is now a Disney Princess. So is the black widow. Yawn. I haven't seen an interesting movie from Hollywood in quite some time. Everything is CGI. They don't even really need living actors anymore - wasn't one of the star wars characters dead and they stuck her in a movie anyway? Cookie cutter movies.

Housing is also boring - fake faux ceiling beams are on every episode of HGTV:
.

compared to real ceiling beams (sorry, couldn't resist):


cookie cutter neighborhoods - this could be anywhere in the USA:


We've dumbed down our schools to the point that we have cookie-cutter kids. No one knows how to think anymore- they are not teaching it in school. I used to say that to my students in my math class -
"Mr. X, why do we have to learn all this dumb math, anyway?"
"You think this is a math class?" I would say with a laugh. "I'm not teaching you math, I'm teaching you how to think. Math is just the vehicle I'm using to get you to think. When you can think, you can create. And when you can create, you can live a life that's worth living."

When I see a video, I just scroll on by. I don't have time for videos. Give me some text - I can quickly scan it and see if it's worth diving into further. I hate videos for most things - unless it's how to fix cars or build something - but just some guy talking? no thanks!

people who can think are a rare commodity.

I agree. I also prefer text to videos.

It is worse than just the cars and neighborhoods. As I travel through the USA all the cities are the same stores, similar setups.
I was watching a video of a guy outside a Costco in CA and it looked identical to Orem. When he turned it had the same apartment building on the far side of the parking lot across from the gas station. Just identical.

On some level it makes sense why some people can't see truth.

I homeschool so I give the example of the 65 year old lady in my ward who is a teacher and cannot even begin to fathom homeschool as anything but heresy. She has literally spent 60 years going to school whether as a student or a teacher. She lives by the bell. She has no idea she is hamster in a cage and will put her whole self into "saving" anyone who tries to escape.

C.S. Lewis
"“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

dreamtheater76 wrote: ↑April 5th, 2022, 9:17 am I'm a single Mom who works 2 days a week and makes a six figure income of $987,789 a month.

The Nigerian Prince has got to feed his family. How dare anyone criticize spam on this forum! LoL!

The way inflations picking up that’ll buy enough gas to get you to the store.

Good luck paying for any food, or getting back home.