Let me preface by saying, I would love to hear counter points and am fully open to the fact that I could be wrong and totally out of touch. I just want to have some dialogue around something thatās been bothering me in the fediverse.
More and more often I keep hearing people refer to ānormiesā. I think by referring to other people as ānormiesā, whether you intend to or not, you inadvertently gatekeep and create an exclusive environment rather than an inclusive one in the fediverse.
If I was not that familiar with the fediverse and decided to check it out and the first thing I read was a comment about ānormiesā, I would quite honestly be very put off. It totally has a negative connotation and doesnāt even encapsulate any one group. I just read a comment about someone grouping a racist uncle and funny friend into the same category of normie because they arenāt up to date on the fediverse or super tech savvy or whatever.
I donāt want to see any Meta bs in the fediverse. I barely want to see half of the stuff from Reddit in the fediverse. I donāt want to see the same echo chamber I do everywhere else.
I do want to see more users and more perspectives and a larger user base though. I want to see kindness and compassion. I want to talk to people about topics they are interested in. I want to have relevant discussions without it dissolving into some commentary on some unrelated hot topic thing.
I think calling people normies creates a more toxic, exclusive place which I personally came here to avoid.
Just my two cents! I know for most people using the term it isnāt meant to be malicious, but I think it comes off that way.
Love to hear all of your thoughts.
nah, youāre right
the term always gives me images of channer culture; like it reminds me when the internet as a whole thought that 4chan and its ilk were cool and elite for being shitty for ālulzā
it needs to be retired
Thatās where it came from. Back in the day when everyone on 4chan was some type of āfagā:
-Newfag - new users
-Oldfag - old users
-Normalfag - normally-adjusted human being not on teh interwebz, later became shortened to ānormieā
Doesnāt ānormieā come from /b/? I donāt think I saw it used anywhere else until shitposting subs like /r/dankmemes started calling who donāt use memes correctly normies
Uh ā¦ I was in circles that used words like ānormsā and ānormalsā and, yes, ānormiesā before the Internet was a āthingā. SF fandom of the '70s was easily as nerdy and toxic as are any of todayās Internet circle jerks.
Sorry, Kiddies1, but very little of what you do is new. Sometimes the techniques are new (because technology happened) but humans have been human for, well, as long as humans have existed.
1 If youāre finding this word offensive, you might want to take a long, hard look at how you use words like the one that triggered this thread before the inevitable downvoting.
I heard usage of āNormieā way back on usenet long before 4chan even existed.
Yeah agreed. It was kinda funny 10 years ago, but I thought we wouldāve grown past it by now. Feels like needless gatekeeping
Right thatās the vibe I get too!