Is MOL old?

We're going to have to start carding you people.

MOL hasnt been the same since the new forums -- a lot of conversations take place in the SWAP lounge

The onething swap lounge has proven, though, is that the people here who think we'd all be nicer to each other if we weren't anonymous are wrong.

nan said:
But, I know that high school students lurk and sometimes troll here, so there is hope for the future.

Prove it.

RobB said:

nan said:
But, I know that high school students lurk and sometimes troll here, so there is hope for the future.

Prove it.

My son and his friends always commented (made fun of) MOL threads. He graduated 2 years ago and I'm quite sure he no longer looks at it now, but he certainly did while at CHS.

Never heard of The Swap Lounge. What is it?

given the degree of ranting and raving about the schools, and the degree to which some cranks and malcontents bash the TC and blame Vic DeLuca for everything from the weather to leaves falling off the trees, to reckless drivers, it wouldn't surprise me if realtors steer newcomers away from MOL. And let's not even get started on the daily Alex Torpey threads that when on for years. If I was trying to sell someone a home in SOMA, I'd probably tell prospective buyers to ignore the people on MOL. I suspect many, if not most newcomers to the area come in with the notion that this site is nothing but irrational complaints from people with some kind of ax to grind.

For example, I live in Maplewood but even I couldn't bear the last few years of South Orange bashing on this site.

ridski said:
The onething swap lounge has proven, though, is that the people here who think we'd all be nicer to each other if we weren't anonymous are wrong.

Ain't that the truth!

ml1 said:

For example, I live in Maplewood but even I couldn't bear the last few years of South Orange bashing on this site.

I live in South Orange and I couldn't bear it either... It was embarrassing.

cuethesun said:
I look at MOL as being the modern day cyber-cousin of The Town Cryer - guess that reference makes me a fossil at 55...

Or ye olde party line...

Agree that MOL has some reputation as a complaint site (shocking), but am less sure that realtors have much sway in how people choose message boards and social media.

Swap SoMa Lounge on FB has a lot of MOL users in its audience, but it does seem to skew a bit younger. Many of the discussions are similar to MOL - where to eat, interesting places to take kids, where to buy cake (a mystery which apparently will never be solved), taxi vs. Uber, etc.

FB seems to be more "please help" oriented, and less discussion on politics and issues - though I have enjoyed a few faux controversies raised there, including the sale of Brooklyn pillows and t-shirts at a Maplewood village store, and why isn't Kings sponsoring the Ricalton Square celebration of the best downtown poll. Was interesting to see one of the OhNo! shills trying to raise the P.O. issue on the Swap SoMa Lounge on FB, and the reaction against her seemed harsher than on MOL. So I suppose you can say that MOL is a more open place for broad discussion, for better or worse.

marylago said:

ridski said:
The onething swap lounge has proven, though, is that the people here who think we'd all be nicer to each other if we weren't anonymous are wrong.

Ain't that the truth!

indeed. if anything, this site is more civilized than FB, and certainly more so than the comments section on almost any news site. I do think there's a lot of over-the-top complaining on MOL. but generally, the majority of people don't directly insult each other or engage in name-calling the way they do on other sites. I'm sure the many banishments over the years handed out by jamie and dave are the reason. But it may also be why some people stay away. They may find it "boring" if they can't come in here and spew bile in all directions.

apple44 said:
Agree that MOL has some reputation as a complaint site (shocking), but am less sure that realtors have much sway in how people choose message boards and social media.

I probably shouldn't have implied it's realtors. It may or may not be. I'm just guessing the first time someone may be told to take MOL with a grain of salt is when they're doing research to move here. I also suspect that many newcomers hear the same from neighbors and new acquaintances after they move in. I've heard it many times over the years -- "don't pay attention to what you read on MOL." or "I stopped reading MOL because of the people who [fill in the blank]."

I do think the lack of anonymity makes a big difference with the Facebook page--not because people are friendlier, but because you can see when your friends and neighbors are posting stuff. It feels more like a real community that simultaneously functions in the real world, whereas for me, MOL is purely a digital community. I have no idea who anyone is here unless they use their real name as a handle. I realize lots of you do actually know each other in real life, but I don't know anyone outside of the board context. It's a fundamentally different experience. (I also really hate seeing frequent posts on Facebook from a couple of super icky former MOL posters who are not missed around these parts.)

One thing that does bug me about the Facebook migration is that it's taking business away from a local mom-and-pop (MOL) and giving it instead to a gigantic corporation (Facebook). If it were the same situation IRL, I'm not sure people would be so fast to act. If, say, a Starbucks opened next door to the Able Baker, would people make the switch? Probably some would, but many would not, and I'm not sure people quite realize they're basically doing the same thing by moving over to Facebook.

MOL is much much better than SWAP for sustained conversations On Facebook threads appear and then get buried almost immediately Here on MOL one can engage in a thoughtful ongoing discussions, easy to find and follow

Well, those younger types only need 144 characters for a sustained conversation ;-)

librarylady said:
MOL is much much better than SWAP for sustained conversations On Facebook threads appear and then get buried almost immediately Here on MOL one can engage in a thoughtful ongoing discussions, easy to find and follow

that's a big part of it for me. I get a notification that several of my friends have posted on the SWAP, but when I click, I can't find the comments because they've been buried by the time I'm looking for them.

ffof said:
Well, those younger types only need 144 characters for a sustained conversation

It's 140 characters, old man

144? That's gross.*

*Joke of the summer of 1981

librarylady said:
MOL is much much better than SWAP for sustained conversations On Facebook threads appear and then get buried almost immediately Here on MOL one can engage in a thoughtful ongoing discussions, easy to find and follow

The flip side is that circle jerks Do. Not. Die. here, since all it takes is one poster to bump them to the front page again.

bump

dave said:
bump

Bwaa hahaha!

Could someone please opine on why the younger generations are content to be data-mined and analyzed on Facebook? Why are they willing to give over ownership of everything they post there to the corporation, especially photographs?

I think it's pretty straightforward - the value of being able to connect with friends, neighbors, potential customers and (in the case of election campaigns) potential constituents easily and for free is usually perceived as being greater than the value of any losses of privacy or copyrights. There might be situations where someone is giving up a valuable copyright on an image, but I'd think those cases are few and far between.

Elle_Cee said:
Could someone please opine on why the younger generations are content to be data-mined and analyzed on Facebook? Why are they willing to give over ownership of everything they post there to the corporation, especially photographs?

Definitely not just younger generations, either. Older generations are reconnecting with old friends and keeping up with their grandchildren on social media.

In 2015 there is no such thing as privacy so nothing matters anyway.

I think privacy still exists, but you have to opt out of technology as much as possible. I'm not at the point where I'm going to dump the dumb cell phone, go to all cash purchasing, and use only the USPS to communicate, but I am aware of how my behaviors are being tracked. It's the Facebook ownership issue that I don't understand. I found this article from _The Atlantic Monthly_ quite interesting:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/11/if-youre-not-paranoid-youre-crazy/407833/

Elle_Cee said:
Could someone please opine on why the younger generations are content to be data-mined and analyzed on Facebook? Why are they willing to give over ownership of everything they post there to the corporation, especially photographs?

Because Facebook. In the grand scheme of things, the overwhelming majority don't give a whit... let them have it.

Doesn't it work two ways? If I post the Mets logo or a link to The New York Times or a book jacket on Facebook, presumably those organizations can ask me to not post their copyrighted/trademarked material. But they don't, as it's too much of a burden to track these kinds of uses, and they perceive a benefit in terms of publicity.

Also, even if it's a subtle distinction, I think there's some difference between how people use Facebook generally and how they use Swap SOMA Lounge. If anyone has published anything valuable on the latter - i.e., that it's worth stealing - I certainly haven't seen it.

The corps welcome the links. They drive traffic to their sites. They just don't want people copying and pasting up articles.