Has Facebook and Twiiter....

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sattva
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Has Facebook and Twiiter....

Post by sattva »

Just curious for those who remember the days when social media was first beginning and so many people hung out at places like E-Sangha. Has Facebook, Twitter, and such hurt online forums and chat rooms like DW :stirthepot: ?
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The Thinker
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Re: Has Facebook and Twiiter....

Post by The Thinker »

The opposite is more likely, as basic foundational knowledge is spread amongst the masses in a way not possible before.
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Re: Has Facebook and Twiiter....

Post by DNS »

sattva wrote:Just curious for those who remember the days when social media was first beginning and so many people hung out at places like E-Sangha. Has Facebook, Twitter, and such hurt online forums and chat rooms like DW :stirthepot: ?
E-sangha came on the scene in the early days of social media, as you mention. There were few if any, good Buddhist forums available (yahoo and google groups were terrible formats, imo) at that time and so easily received all of the Buddhist traffic. E-sangha had a great format with good software; except that there were too many ads.

Then when e-sangha went down several new Buddhist forums popped up. It is like e-sangha was the monopoly that got broken up.
sattva
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Re: Has Facebook and Twiiter....

Post by sattva »

David N. Snyder wrote:
sattva wrote:Just curious for those who remember the days when social media was first beginning and so many people hung out at places like E-Sangha. Has Facebook, Twitter, and such hurt online forums and chat rooms like DW :stirthepot: ?
E-sangha came on the scene in the early days of social media, as you mention. There were few if any, good Buddhist forums available (yahoo and google groups were terrible formats, imo) at that time and so easily received all of the Buddhist traffic. E-sangha had a great format with good software; except that there were too many ads.

Then when e-sangha went down several new Buddhist forums popped up. It is like e-sangha was the monopoly that got broken up.
I think that is a good explanation of things, David. :anjali:
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ieee23
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Re: Has Facebook and Twiiter....

Post by ieee23 »

sattva wrote:Just curious for those who remember the days when social media was first beginning and so many people hung out at places like E-Sangha. Has Facebook, Twitter, and such hurt online forums and chat rooms like DW :stirthepot: ?
I knew of E-Sangha, but never used it more than once or twice. I found the UI way too gaudy. If I am thinking of the right sight, golden budai gifs everywhere. I did have a similar set of experiences with talk.religion.buddhism on Usenet back in the 90s. A mix of educational posts, decent interactions, and cesspool interactions.

As to your question, I don't see Twitter as a place to discuss any subject, given the 140 character per post limit. A Japanese friend of mine claims she can have political discussions since Japanese characters represent entire words :).

Facebook you can type a little more, but I don't see it as substitute. It is more of cocktail conversation kind of place.

I think a discussion forum for Buddhism has to be a plain text friendly place and a longer post friendly place.

It isn't perfect, but I like /r/Buddhism on reddit. There is a lot of freedom on there like you don't on other web sites( you rarely see a mod intervene in anything), but despite that freedom and despite it being reddit most of the people who post there are polite, non-combative, and are there to learn, as well as find support.
Whatever a bhikkhu frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the inclination of his mind. - MN 19
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