Bad things and good people and privacy
by dixie
Dear Ravelry,
Ah my dear Ravelry. My favo(u)rite timesink is growing up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay, and now you are expanding. 20,000 or so people have entered the “beta,” and we’re all learning just how quickly the IQ of a mob can drop as you increase the size of that mob.
It will all work out, just hold on to your principles. They are good and wise, and your code is amazing, and this stuff will shake itself out.
Love,
Dixie
I don’t want to talk about the specifics of the “exploding thread” that will surely go down in the annals of Ravelry history alongside the infamous “Muggles” thread. Suffice it to say it was a fascinating cross-section of opinions and concerns, and a stunning example of how it’s completely possible, legal, and probable for morons to hold other people responsible for their own unwise actions. It made me realise something separate along the way.
The Internets have gone mainstream, for good or for ill. I complain frequently about the “dumbing down” of discourse because it bothers me, but there’s another very real problem that I’ve been overlooking in my raging arrogance. There are a lot of people who are “using the Internet” and have no clue what that means. I’m not talking about idiot politicians making policy based on things they don’t understand — that ground has been covered. I’m talking about people who put photos of their children on Flickr so they can share with their family and then find out people can download those pictures and edit them and use them however they want.
Yes, in some cases it’s not legal, and yes, there are ways of dealing with that specific issue. All of us here know this, but the rest of the world might (and in many cases does) not. There are hordes of people traipsing into this series of tubes with not only no idea of how it works (not necessary) but no concept of how big and open it is.
My initial reaction is to say, “Well tough, you should have thought about that before spewing your personal life onto the Information Superhighway.” But the reality of the situation is that sometimes people who are smart, well-meaning, and giving end up being held responsible because someone else used their tool unwisely. I know you shouldn’t blame Prometheus when the silly humans burn themselves, but the US is so litigious that such a thing would be possible if you could beat back that eagle long enough to subpoena the poor guy.
We have made the Internet so easy to use and so accessible that people are having the time of their lives from the comfort of their living room and then getting very upset when they find out that anyone can see what they’re doing. Then they create problems. I do wish it weren’t so.
Comments
Ravelry, like all Internet communities, will likely have its Neverending September. It’s starkly observable – World of Warcraft RP servers, for example, have a short, sweet time in which the vast majority of people role-play all the time with everyone before it falls apart.
Your ‘Chief Weaver’ in Ravelry might need to think about how the userbase can be structured to allow etards to annoy Good People as little as possible.
I haven’t blogged about the changes in Ravelry as membership grows simply because I am aware of that particular phenomenon on the Internet in general as well as within communities. I did see it coming with Ravelry, and it indeed has already happened.
I believe Jess and Casey have already thought about many of these issues and will not be held liable for their users’ stupidity. I just wish they didn’t have to worry about such things.
As a side note, did you happen to notice that you are now officially a member of a “Microtrend” as defined by Mark Penn, Bill & Hillary’s chief idea slicer? You are known to the Clinton campaign as one of the “Young Knitters.” Penn talks all about it in his new book “Microtrends” which I have not read yet but will in the near future.
The Microtrend thing is old news to the knitting community. ;) I think the outcome of that discussion was that if the Clinton campaign really wants to get our vote, she should promise free yarn for all if she gets elected.
Knitters are a formidable group. We’re diverse across ages, races, and vocations (though admittedly slanted towards women). Most people who knit have made friends through knitting. Most people who knit have found that knitting helps their self esteem and has made them smarter.
Of course we should be targeted by campaigns. We’re smart, we think well of ourselves, and we have lots of friends.