Sociopath Community

Xadem said: 

Waiting for autumn activity spike

Two people who don't log in too often appearing a day apart from eachother is optimistic, with Peach appearing the day before them too. Blanc has also been around more which has been nice too. 👍

The problem moreover now seems to be related to finding things to talk about, the only ones starting conversations for the most part right now don't seem to want to actually talk with other people (Turquie, Med, etc). 

It got boring. Found other things to do and yeah discord can be significantly better. 

Can't really bring new people here, it's not wanted and they cringe at most of the content. 

Yeah I've basically settled for gaming communities related to the games I play and a few d20 groups to fill the gap. The game groups have  been a consistent source of salt and patience with writing, while everyone here's all gunshy now unless they're the ones posting to read their own content solely. A few times we had people back they were already feeling like they were going to be spotlit for it. 

Is anything interesting even happening with people right now? Part of the allure before was seeing people say crazy stuff, but overtime the problems have kind of normalized and become accepted which rends apart some of the absurdity behind it. It's either that or, after enough years, they finally learned how to make less of a spectacle out of their own behaviors. 

It would just be “it rends” not it rends apart. Nice going otherwise 

Jim and Luna drama were the life of this website. It was fun to pick a side just to flame. 

Edvard did add a nice spice since he was the very extreme opposite of Jim, but the extreme were so extreme that they met at the very end both liking young girls. 

The whole Med issue chasing Chapo kinda hijacked the website and became boring. If at least Turncoat stopped deleting the doxxing it would instigate more drama and funny stuff going around. 

TC being too strict to rules also helped to kill the website. Maybe he should just let people Doxx and see where this would lead, the max it would happen would be the website being closed down, but then this would open new doors.

I know I already replied to this thread, but how about to examine this question, we consult something much more ancient than SC and indeed the internet itself:

The divination book of ancient China, the I-Ching, also known as the book of changes. 

Me, to the I Ching said:

What caused SC's decline?

 I meditate on this, and cast 3 coins 6 times. Each coin toss will yield a binary one, represented by an unbroken line, or a binary 0, represented by a broken line. This forms a hexagram, a stack of 6 lines, some broken and unbroken. The broken/unbroken symbolize yin and yang elements at different positions, corresponding to different situations and concepts. There are 64 Hexagrams in the I Ching.

Some types of coin tosses yield a result where a 1 may turn to 0, or a 0 to 1, which yields a second hexagram. The first hexagram corresponds to the current situation, and the second to the future transformation of the situation. 

So after casting my coins, it generates two hexagrams. First, the initial one:

Hexagram 34- Great Vigor

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The I Ching says of this hexagram:

The I Ching said:

Congratulations! There is strength and vigor in this situation, like that of a ram that knocks down a fence to free himself from captivity. This points to a time when a strong force comes into its own and asserts its power.

When a leader comes into a position of power, his or her personal strength has usually already peaked. Though great stamina was required in climbing to the top of the mountain, once at the summit, the support of others is needed to maintain position. Therefore, a shift in attitude becomes necessary to persevere in what is right and just. Let your strength be tempered by wisdom. To maintain power, the strong leader learns to share it with others, for only then will his or her position be secure. A strong leader will not only be the possessor of power but a source of it.

If you find yourself in an influential position, it is important to act responsibly and react with care. Power must not be allowed to degenerate into raw force that rides roughshod over everything in its path. A strong sense of responsibility for the collective good is the key to the successful exercise of power. By following what we intuitively know to be for the greater good, we avoid reckless abuses, which in the end, only undermine the source of our strength. Arrogance contains the seeds of its own undoing.

 Remember that when consulting the I Ching, it doesn't necessarily give exact answers, but rather an open ended wisdom that can be applied to a situation. Consider that for SC, the main leaders that come to mind are Good, Turncoat, and Luna. Take of it what you will.

Now, the I Ching is called the book of changes for a reason. Certain coin tosses result in certain lines on your initial hexagram to flip from yin to yang, or vice versa. This produces a second hexagram corresponding to a changing situation. In this case, the third and sixth lines flip. Before we examine that second hexagram, let's talk about the position of the third and sixth line, and what it means:

The I Ching said:

Line 3:
The ordinary person uses force,
the noble one does nothing.
Persistence is dangerous.
A ram butts against the fence,
entangling his horns.

Trying to force things. This results in getting stuck or some kind of damage. It's better to step back and not do anything just now.

Line 6:
A ram butts against the fence.
It is unable to move back,
it is unable to go through.
This lacks a beneficial purpose.
Difficult and thus good fortune.

By trying to force things, one has gotten stuck. One is unable to move on or to go back. The difficulty forces one to take a different, more careful approach. This different approach helps other things later on to go better as well.

 Again, take of this what you will. Has anybody's use of force entangled them,  and contributed to the fall of SC? 

Since those lines flip due to the coin toss, it yields this hexagram:

Hexagram 38- Diverging Interests

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The I Ching said:

Some level of estrangement is indicated. For example, when brothers and sisters choose partners and marry, they often grow apart, since their allegiances prioritize new families. Though they will remain close enough to deal with problems and interests related to their original family, they are less likely to undertake great projects together. Simply put, when people grow apart—even for the most natural of reasons—their points of view, values, interests and schedules diverge.

Different natures and interests bring opposition into the world of human affairs. If opposition drifts into alienation and enmity, good results are few (if at all). But when opposition takes the form of healthy competition, or when it is recognized as part of the natural order of things, good fortune is still possible for the relationship.

When diverging interests make a situation seem stagnant or futile, remember that there are always creative possibilities inherent in polarities. One is reminded of the interplay of the opposites, yin and yang, which is fundamental to life itself. As the symbol of the Tao illustrates, the yin and the yang each have the seed of the other residing within them.

If opposition has its roots in issues of principle, you must hold on to your integrity and individuality. Let go of vulgar or self-absorbed people who do not share your values. With both people and companies, one measure of stature is the quality of one’s competition.

 Once again, take of it what you will. I have consulted the I Ching, one of the oldest divination oracles in history, and through random chance of my coin toss this is what it had to say. You may call it foolish, likening it to a mere magic 8 ball, but if there's anything over a decade of SC should have shown, it's that the future is unpredictable and no amount of analytics or stats or logic or data could have discerned all the moving variables contributing to SC's downfall. Therefore, I believe consulting the I Ching is as valid as any.

The oracle has spoken!

There are fewer people here to talk to, leading to people not staying as long after signing in or not signing in at all. It's a snake eating itself.

Speaking on my own inactivity,

The things I actually want to talk about i don't want to bring up here, and I don't care about most of what others are saying.

Turq is delusional and Med is obsessedwith Chapo pretty well sums up the entire front page and all of visible public chat history at any given time. Old news. Nothing to keep one here after 2 minutes.

PalePeach said: 

There are fewer people here to talk to, leading to people not staying as long after signing in or not signing in at all. It's a snake eating itself.

Speaking on my own inactivity,

The things I actually want to talk about i don't want to bring up here, and I don't care about most of what others are saying.

See that's the problem, a lot of people get it out of their system elsewhere (Discord) and expect others to do all the talking here, then complain about the ones who do. We have a bunch of Wallflowers afraid of a little spotlight, and frankly... while fear can be a part of it for some, I think the truth is closer to people having run out of things to say, moreso than not wanting to say it here.

Most of those I've kept up with lead pretty typical (boring) lives if not repetitive ones, with myself included for the most part, and I bet those I haven't do as well. 

People have to be willing to step forward and make topics, and other people have to be willing to contribute. We have plenty of people coming here to check up on the place, but few willing to put themselves on the line over feeling like this place is dangerous or something, over feeling scared of vulnerability after being hollowed out this far, and over a desire for an ingroup that goes soft within things they already believe. Even the excuses people make feel old now, and enough people know better. 

Otherwise, if you ask me? I think it's closer to people being tired while otherwise noticing how little they have to talk about. We know all the old stories and new stories aren't living up to that hype. We're getting OLD, all we probably have left to talk about now's food and the weather, and our defenses aren't nearly as bold and brash as our younger selves. 

Meanwhile, with new blood? The old stories are new to them and they have things to say that haven't been heard before. Said new blood isn't here and no one's willing to bring it, so all that's left are a bunch of boring social-sissies who've run their course with nothing left to them. Even the ones with issues in Impulse Control have the hairs on their neck at attention. 

Like what's unsaid really? It's got to be more of the same but from an older person. New people might still find shock value in it, but we're all jaded and normalized now. With the current political climate post-COVID no one does anything interesting anymore, especially here, and any sort of scandal or vices people have we've heard of like twenty times by now. 

Yeah we still have a lot of the old freedoms here, ones not present in many other places, but that very freedom either scares people or doesn't serve the purpose it once did. The escape this place once represented is something the regulars here don't really need anymore as people become more insular and shut in, and there isn't even a proper antagonist for people to rally against. 

TLDR;

1) We'd need topics made by irregular users to show there's people that others want to talk to that have been here. 

2) The ones making topics now tend to not want to have discussions about what they're saying, let alone critique over it. 

3) Almost no one wants to put themselves on the line over various fears that they either will or won't admit to. 

4) Much of what's left to say otherwise we've heard hundreds of times before as long as we keep to only the old guard. 

5) Those who'd want to talk to eachother don't see eachother talking, lurking instead invisible to one another. 

Lenalee said: 

It got boring. Found other things to do and yeah discord can be significantly better. 

Can't really bring new people here, it's not wanted and they cringe at most of the content. 

Duh.

This commentary is vanity.