[lbo-talk] death of a discussion list

[Sean Andrews]

Facebook is also not as useful a space for actual engagement with the
text of a post.  A common practice on the list is to clip from an
earlier post and respond to it directly.  It just feels weird to do
this on FB, where you can't quote things as easily in the comment
section.  It is also not nearly as easy to figure out who's watching a
conversation; though I suppose archive lurkers may abound, it is
unlikely that the reactionary friends of my parents on Facebook will
start nosing around there and raising a ruckus because I mentioned
socialism in a positive light.  It would be cool for there to be a
parallel space for punchier topics, but in a sense that already
exists: it's Doug's facebook page, twitter handle, and blog - all of
which are basically the distributed form that "LBO" takes.  No longer
is it about Left Business Observer the publication (which the
discussion here almost never involves) but Doug Henwood as a Left
Business Observer, and the kooks who populate the list.  I admit to
being a bit overwhelmed at keeping up with the internecine debates
that sometime take place here, but it is the classic form of the
subaltern counterpublic: I learn a lot about what I believe in these
exchanges, either by engaging in them or reading them.  I would like
it if more of the stuff Doug shares on Facebook or twitter would end
up here because sometimes I assume everyone here heard him say that
thing over there, when that is obviously not the case.

Along with this, the advantage of this platform is that it has easily
navigable archives, something that Facebook and Twitter certainly do
not. But I agree with those here who say that it is becoming
increasingly difficult to have a long form argument - or to spend the
time on it - now that those other platforms have become more central
to my mediated existence.  Ironically, it seems like aggregation is
their best role - but it is an ephemeral aggregation: after it has
passed, you can't easily explore or search the archives of the
aggregation.

On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 10:29, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> // ravi
>
>
>> I have been multitasking communication forever, so
>> I am not really complaining.
>
>
> I just don't see it as an either/or question.
>
> Email or Facebook?  Yes.
>
> /jordan
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