[Noisebridge-discuss] Geek Social Fallacy #1: Ostracizers Are Evil

[Corey McGuire]

Great sentiment for a house party, but is this really a problem for a
pretty public, open invitation Hackerspace?
On Jun 4, 2012 12:49 AM, "Kelly" <hurtstotouchfire at gmail.com> wrote:

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