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I guess everyone is on Twitter?
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Butterfly



Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: Kuwait

PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:19 am    Post subject: I guess everyone is on Twitter? Reply with quote

So this forum is finally dead. Rest in Peace. It was fantastic while it ran, around 2004 I guess, was the high point. Well, if anybody is reading in this ghost town, I just wanted to share my tweet of the day:



@KarlreMarks: "I'm looking for people who don't speak Arabic and read only 'the alternative media' to explain 'the truth' about Syria to me. Apply here." I guess twitter is just better huh?
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Butterfly.

Yeah, this place has been in the doldrums for quite some time now, as have a number of other once-thriving boards I follow.

Not sure if I'd attribute it to twitter, since if you're someone who likes message-board debate, it seems to me twitter wouldn't really provide much of a substitute for that. Don't people just post pithy little comments that are distributed among cell phone users?

Apart from that, twitter seems mostly to just function as a ritual sword for commiting political suicide.
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ersatzredux



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Location: Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trolling. But you're right, it is pretty quiet in here. Maybe it's time to roll this forum back into the Off Topic forum from whence it came. Or is the rest of the site just as dead?

It's an historical accident that this kind of obscure and tucked away bit of the internet became such a fiercely contested ground in the first place. After all, why would anyone think of going to an EFL teaching and job resource site to debate politics?
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Chaparrastique



Joined: 01 Jan 2014

PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree with some of the clampdowns. There used to be a number of trolls on here who got away with really abusive stuff and never suffered consequences. The mods used to have a much more laissez-faire approach.

That changed though. One reason was the growing awareness of English-proficient Koreans and the political consequences of having dozens of 20 yr olds who had never experienced a foreign culture before venting juvenile hatred of Korea. Koreans register their identities online before expressing opinions, we don't have to.

I like the more civil atmosphere now. Although I will say that instead of pulling interesting threads wholesale, it would be far better to keep them going- but only censor the one or two inflammatory posters involved. Delicate balance I guess.
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On the other hand



Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 6:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
It's an historical accident that this kind of obscure and tucked away bit of the internet became such a fiercely contested ground in the first place. After all, why would anyone think of going to an EFL teaching and job resource site to debate politics?


Well, a couple of things...

1. It's a specialty board, and pretty much the only major board catering to the community in question, so it attracts a lot of people from that particular community. If this is the only board they visit regularly, it's the place where they'll discuss politics.

2. People with an interest in politics and especially international relations are likely to be over-represented among expat communities. Even if they're not your regular topics back home, the simple fact of being in a foreign country might make you more likely to think about them.

3. As Butterfly said, this place was really in full swing around 2004, when the world was polarized around the persona and policies of George W. Bush. Thnings tapered off a bit in his second term, but continued at a respectable pace through the 2008 election. But with mainstream western views of Obama ranging from giddy infatuation to mild reservation, you don't have the same impetus for 50-page screaming matches that you did a decade ago.
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bucheon bum



Joined: 16 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am on twitter and it is often what I'm reading on my way home from work, but I can't say I've ever had a political discussion/debate using it. That being said, I'd definitely agree other "outlets" have taken traffic away from here. I often post and read comments on the Atlantic and NY Times now. While the latter really isn't good for a discussion due to its formatting, the former can be (albeit it can also be an echo chamber).
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Kuros



Joined: 27 Apr 2004

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is so much more internet now than in 2004.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Twitter is not interesting (I'd go as far as to say it's intellectually toxic). These days I like Historum better than Dave's. I can talk about all my pet issues there just as well as here, and instead of the background conversation being emotionally scarred people ranting about how they hate Korea, it's a variety of historical topics from which I can often actually learn something.

One can post pictures and videos there as well, because the moderators actually pay attention instead of just lazily laying down blanket rules.
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mithridates



Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency

PostPosted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I spend more time on Reddit now, which is ridiculous when not logged in (the default content is terrible), but great when you have subscribed to good subreddits and unsubscribed from the rest. I still dislike the up/downvoting and the inability to keep interesting posts up, so I still prefer forums. My content comes from these subreddits:



afrikaans
agnosticism
AskHistorians
AskReddit
askscience
asteroid
Astronomy
bulgaria
Calgary
canada
CanadaPolitics
CaptchaArt
catalan
ChineseLanguage
Christianity
de
deutschland
Documentaries
duolingo
dvorak
Easy_German
Economics
etymology
europe
explainlikeimfive
flying
france
fullforeignmovies
Futurology
GermanPractice
germany
HistoricalWhatIf
history
Hoerbuecher
Iceland
idiomneutralmoderator
ido
ignosticism
interlingua
islam
IWantOut
japan
Jesuits
korea
Korean
languagelearning
LANL_German
latin
latvia
LearnANewLanguage
linguistics
lithuania
macedonia
MapPorn
metacanada
mondialmoderator
montreal
NorthKoreaNews
OrthodoxChristianity
PersonalFinanceCanada
piano
portugal
Portuguese
Quebec
religion
Romania
sambahsamoderator
science
SelfDrivingCars
seoul
Slovenia
space
spacex
TheoryOfReddit
tothemoon
TrueReddit
turkishlearning
vancouver
venusmoderator
windows8
worldevents
WorldMusic
worldnews
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Ginormousaurus



Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit

PostPosted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No AdviceAnimals, Mith? Laughing
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mithridates



Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency

PostPosted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ginormousaurus wrote:
No AdviceAnimals, Mith? Laughing


No, I have more refined tastes:

http://www.reddit.com/r/behindthegifs/top/
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Ginormousaurus



Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit

PostPosted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really like reddit, although unfortunately it has eaten up/replaced a lot of my book reading time.

My subreddits are:

askreddit
automate
books
china
chinabookclub
ece (electrical and computer engineering)
economics
energy
engineering
engineeringstudents
fortmac
funny
futurology
hardenergy
IAMA
industrialcontrols
korea
math
mechatronics
mining
news
northkoreanews
nuclearpower
petroleum
physics
pics
politics
science
singularity
technology
todayilearned
vancouver
watsonwatchers
worldnews
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Adventurer



Joined: 28 Jan 2006

PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This looks like a very old post.Smile How's everyone doing out there? I haven't been here in a long while.
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Gaininganadventur



Joined: 02 Aug 2013

PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Adventurer wrote:
This looks like a very old post.Smile How's everyone doing out there? I haven't been here in a long while.


I am on the site all the time. Still thoroughly enjoy it and always read something interesting. Very Happy
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Smithington



Joined: 14 Dec 2011

PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have no interest in the new social media. I text on occasion and that's it. Not on twitter. Not on facebook. Don't know what Reddit is (and don't care). All te other stuff, I just have no interest. I think this whole social media thing has gotten way out of control...Oh, and my phone is exclusively for making phone calls. Yeah, I love the internet, but even there I draw a line. I refuse to have it hooked up at home.

Social media. Bah, give me a book to read any day. So no, not everyone is on twitter.
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