<p>Great sentiment for a house party, but is this really a problem for a pretty public, open invitation Hackerspace?</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jun 4, 2012 12:49 AM, "Kelly" <<a href="mailto:hurtstotouchfire@gmail.com">hurtstotouchfire@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I'll just leave this here.<br>
<br>
Geek Social Fallacy #1: Ostracizers Are Evil<br>
<br>
GSF1 is one of the most common fallacies, and one of the most deeply<br>
held. Many geeks have had horrible, humiliating, and formative<br>
experiences with ostracism, and the notion of being on the other side<br>
of the transaction is repugnant to them.<br>
<br>
In its non-pathological form, GSF1 is benign, and even commendable: it<br>
is long past time we all grew up and stopped with the junior high<br>
popularity games. However, in its pathological form, GSF1 prevents its<br>
carrier from participating in -- or tolerating -- the exclusion of<br>
anyone from anything, be it a party, a comic book store, or a web<br>
forum, and no matter how obnoxious, offensive, or aromatic the<br>
prospective excludee may be.<br>
<br>
As a result, nearly every geek social group of significant size has at<br>
least one member that 80% of the members hate, and the remaining 20%<br>
merely tolerate. If GSF1 exists in sufficient concentration -- and it<br>
usually does -- it is impossible to expel a person who actively<br>
detracts from every social event. GSF1 protocol permits you not to<br>
invite someone you don't like to a given event, but if someone spills<br>
the beans and our hypothetical Cat Piss Man invites himself, there is<br>
no recourse. You must put up with him, or you will be an Evil<br>
Ostracizer and might as well go out for the football team.<br>
<br>
This phenomenon has a number of unpleasant consequences. For one<br>
thing, it actively hinders the wider acceptance of geek-related<br>
activities: I don't know that RPGs and comics would be more popular if<br>
there were fewer trolls who smell of cheese hassling the new blood,<br>
but I'm sure it couldn't hurt. For another, when nothing smacking of<br>
social selectiveness can be discussed in public, people inevitably<br>
begin to organize activities in secret. These conspiracies often lead<br>
to more problems down the line, and the end result is as juvenile as<br>
anything a seventh-grader ever dreamed of.<br>
<br>
From: <a href="http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html" target="_blank">http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html</a><br>
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</blockquote></div>