B1C6

My behind-the-scenes thoughts for the next few chapters would get into spoilers, so instead I'm going to write about random ideas that have been on my mind.

I am not an expert in any of these ideas, and am making lots of generalizations, and a few errors as well.

Theses on conversing online

For the purposes of this essay, when I say "conversing online," I mean activities like "conversing in Facebook comments" or "replying to a Tweet" or "engaging in a Reddit thread." Writing this book doesn't count as conversing online; it is more like "giving a speech online."

The experience of reading this book.

For the below discussion assume that:

  • Sally posted a picture on Instagram
  • Harry left a comment on the picture
  • Sally replied to the comment
  1. When Harry and Sally interact, they play to a gallery. On the surface, they are replying to a each other's words. Underneath that thin veneer, they are extremely aware that they are being observed by dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. The conversation is warped by the desire to make a good impression on the watchers.
  2. The watchers are extremely silent. Like dark matter, they exist but give no signs of their existence. They do not like, do not reply, do not react, do not upvote, do not DM. They lurk and leave. The algorithmic tides carry them to the shores of conversations and then sweep them out again into the great content sea. People want to please their watchers but they have basically no idea how to do so.
  3. More than 99% of the people online are watchers. Watchers can't perceive other watchers, and their experience of the internet is warped by the bizarre behaviors of the weirdest 1% of the human population.
  4. Sally can easily develop very bad ideas about what her watchers want. If Harry says "you look good in yellow," Sally might start to think all her watchers like her in yellow. But Harry is not representative of all the watchers. Maybe he has an inordinate fondness for the color yellow, more likely, there are even weirder things going on in his brain.
  5. All of Sally's commenters are curiously flattened. Maybe Harry is a close friend, or maybe he is a total jerk. Regardless, his comments will appear in the same font, the same size, and the same place as the next guy. In real life, nice people have a nice aura and evil people have an evil aura, but both of them show up the same way online.
  6. Conversations just don't last very long. Both Harry and Sally have at least half-a-dozen distractions each pulling them away from the conversation with each other. Once they are done playing to the gallery, they follow it out the door.
  7. All this to say, I won't be enabling comments on my story or this blog. Feel free to email me at [anything you want]@midtrilogy.com.