But after publishing the post and clicking on the tag — "the [blank] community" — I saw that I'd used it 3 times in the last 2 years. Something about "the nice community of woke people." The notion that Amy Klobuchar gets mad about the use of "community" in press releases. And something about "the BDSM community" (who the hell was "Schneiderman" that I blogged about him without a first name?).
Before that, though, you have to go all the way back to Fall 2008 to find the tag. It flourished that season. There are 4 posts. One of the 4 posts is about about the loner community (and refers back to 2 other posts about the loner community):
In the comments there, Freeman Hunt says:"I'm here on the internet and I can't find any communities for loners."
"... I'm so deeply put-off of people from my grueling experiences with extroverts and socialites. So, I'd like to get a chance to talk to my own kind a little. I know there are a lot of people who feel the same way as me... but I can't find a message board for them."
That's a new comment on a post from last August. Perhaps you'd like to respond to the commenter, whose name is Autonomous. I'll redirect him/her to this post, so use this comments section.
Oddly, I've joked twice on this blog about "the loner community": here and here.
I guess I'm weird around here. I'm definitely extroverted. Not in the social butterfly, small talk, loud sense--I don't like boring conversation and some of this social butterfly talk seems to imply that--but I definitely enjoy the company of people. I like people, all kinds of people, a lot. Call me crazy.That was responded to by Meade (whom I would meet in real life 2 months later):
In fact, I've always hoped that there will someday be a nationwide Althouse get together. You people interest me. :)
I like Freeman's idea but wouldn't it be a riot if we all got together only to find out that in person we all rub each other the wrong way because in person we're all just a bunch of loud annoying energy-sapping attention-seeking opinionated extraverts who do nothing but talk over each other?For a disquisition on whether the spelling is "extrovert" or "extravert," go here.
The original "the [blank] community" post was from the first year of the blog, 2004. I took issue with the term "the sniper community."
Posts
36 comments:
Isn’t there “an Althouse commentator community” tag?
If you're seeking out a community of loners i would think that means you're not a loner, just lonely.
True loners use the internet to post their manifesto.
Or photographs of their scrapbook of strangers' hair.
I am Laslo.
@David Begley
Yes.
Complaining about the lack of SOCIAL Media for Loners is sort of like complaining that no one ever shows up for the Procrastinators Anonymous meeting.
It actually could belong on this post...
...
I'll add it.
Althouse! You did that thing with the extra spaces! Shame!
I am Laslo.
[blank] is an apt description, yet just a placeholder to some.
Meade said...
"...only to find out that in person we all rub each other the wrong way..."
I was thinking the same thing, but only in the feathered opera mask and black leather underwear sense of "rubbing each other the 'wrong way'".
"We have a fat population, so why don’t we have a community?"
Well, they use to meet quite regularly at the malls, but with Amazon and all their meetings are now pretty much only at Walmart.
An extravert is a double plus good shade of green, like the pile of cartoon dollars Uncle Scroggs McDuck rolls in when he's bore of rolling in Krugerrands.
My day is made. I got one over on Ann. I remembered something that she didn't. After she reminded me that she told me about "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and I wrote here about how great that show is.
"We have a fat population, so why don't we have a community?"
Because average home size limits get togethers to 3 people?
Word got out that new members are the next meeting's second course?
The last community died when no one was willing to wait for the next elevator?
We have a fat population, so why don’t we have a community?
But there is a fat community, at least two of them, in fact — one that prefers Krispy Kreme and another for Dunik.
Then there's another fat community that dare not speak its name composed of middle-aged gay men who resent middle-aged lesbians.
Wasn't Althouse proposing a meet up of some kind right before she married Meade? I seem to recall that.
The Althouse meet-up was definitely a topic of discussion. I now recall that people were identifying where they were located, and I put up a link to a google map showing my location as an abandoned penitentiary.
the [blank] community
According to Televison there is an entire Blank Generation.
No, not television. Television.
I Love the idea of a sniper community. Who else can you talk to about custom loads for a .338 Lapua and what tailors can alter your ghillie suit.
But don’t hold a meeting of the snipers’ club at the local park: they won’t be able to find each other.
@Kevin: nice. Richard Hell thanks you.
I am Laslo.
The uncommunitied probably wouldn't even join a community that would have Grouch Marx as a member.
We should definitely have a meet up. In Meadehouse's backyard. Big sacks of peanuts in the shells and a keg of beer. We'll shell the peanuts and pitch them all over the yard. A wild, drunken bash. Invite Justice Kavanaugh. He likes beer.
Kavanaugh and Althouse can debate the dormant commerce clause.
The ghost of comments past!
All still true.
Pretty sure the meetup would need to be within bicycling distance of rhhardin's place if he's going to be there.
Eric Schneiderman, former NY Attorney General, champion of feminist cause and, according to an ex or two, a very dirty old man.
Back when the internet and I were young, an online community of WABAWS nerds (coed) finally decided to break the virtual wall, and met for a weekend to stay in an historic house on the Perryville military park in Kentucky. (It helps to have connections.)
It was interesting, and people are definitely different in meatspace. I believe some ups were hooked, later if not there.
I can't speak for others, but the group and particular personal relationships sputtered along and then out over the next decade. No gatherings after that.
Narr
"Give back to the community? The community stole my bike!" (Chris Rock)
League of Non-joiners, follow me!
Loners, drifters, and shut-ins = Althouse.
Lonely means people who want company, but don't have it. As opposed to an introvert who is OK with being alone and just wants a certain amount of human contact. I'll guess most of Althouse commentators are in the 2nd category. Its like a CPA convention only more fun.
Wasn't Althouse proposing a meet up of some kind right before she married Meade? I seem to recall that.
A group of Cathy Seipp commenters went to lunch together. Some of us met several times as she was getting sick. Some of us went to her funeral.
can 'communities' confer legitimacy to individuals who share a certain
perversion/dysfunction?
"MAP's"-- "minor-attracted persons" (aka pedophiles) is a thing.
They want their own flag at the Pride parades.
is the term 'community' ascribed by others to a certain collection
of people, even though those may not actually 'commune' with each other,
or care to?
The "Loner Community" may be seen as such by outsiders, but they themselves
may eschew any connections or interactions.
Aren't fat people pretty much the last group of people you're allowed to make fun of? The elites run the culture, and they seem pretty uniform in their loathing of the overweight.
I'm a friendly and egalitarian sort, but every year I get pickier about the books, movies, television and, yes, people, I'm willing to spend my time on. Don't even get me started on porn...
You can't make fun of fat people anymore, unless they are white and lower class (or Trump supporters).
Michael K - thanks for bringing up Cathy Seipp. I would have liked to read what she would be writing in response to this age of craziness.
"Wasn't Althouse proposing a meet up of some kind right before she married Meade? I seem to recall that."
Before I met Meade, I had had 3 commenter meetups in New York, one in San Francisco, and one in L.A.
In the first year that I knew Meade, we had one in Cincinnati.
Then we talked about an ambitious commenter meet-up road trip, but that never happened.
Would be strange to do it now!
Last January, I met in person for the first time (at her wedding) a friend I made in the comments section at the Volokh Conspiracy maybe 15 years ago. She was introduced to her husband by a friend of hers who was active in another online community and who knew the now-husband from that community. When they started talking online (my friend and her groom), she mentioned her commenting name at VC, and he said "wait, YOU'RE Theobromophile?!?!" He also had been a commenter at VC, and had been impressed with her comments.
So these meet-ups can actually work out. For the record, Meade, I hit it off fantastically well with my friend and her mother and her other friends (some of whom I had met online previously), so I think the odds are good that most commenters here would get along well together.
I vote enthusiastically for an Althouse Roundup! I volunteer myself and Freeman Hunt (you in, Freeman?) to help organize it. We could have contests and prizes, like "match the attendee with their comment name!" Winner gets to have an audience with Lazlo.
Could the "Schneiderman" be Stuart at https://stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/ ?
Yes, it was the possible road trip that I was recalling. You could do that as part of your "Should We Move Somewhere Else" evaluation. Couch surf at commenters' homes across the country.
Michael K - thanks for bringing up Cathy Seipp. I would have liked to read what she would be writing in response to this age of craziness.
Yes, I was at her apartment with some friends when she learned her lung cancer had returned. Met Brietbart and Mickey Kaus through her.
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