This is fascinating and speaks to a theory I’ve been toying with.
Given the vastness of the web isnt it unusal that there appears to be an elemnt of “Gathering” amongst like minded individuals.
Say what ?
Well my links toolbar is prime real estate for any website.
When a site makes it on there the creators can rest assured that they have arrived.
They have recieved the APOC seal of approval and can make with the smug self possesedness of any “affluent Suburb” resident
(minimum requirments: retired by 45 , two boats , 3 cars , great tan)
So its surprising all of the websites listed in this thread (with the exception of the anime & gun stuff) and sites I know well and more than a
few have made it onto my toolbar.
I’ve recently dicoverered Ebaums , im Slashdot member since x , (and naturally then of Ars Technica).
Drew Curtis is an old friend and Strongbad proofreads my e-mails
There is a point to this , honest , bear with me
It seems that there exists a collectivism on the web that spawns sizable (and insular) groupings of surfers
In the Web “evolutionary-soup” ocean there are eddies of calm , localized rings of insight,rockpools of insanity all populated by like minded individuals
who happily exist and live out full web lives without stumbling across other collectives.
Why is it that if I polled for “Favourite Web Sites” on any of the other forums Im a member of that I can be sure that SDMB will get a mention or three
and that the same sites will keep coming up.
Now maybe its my websavvy at work , maybe I just know the very best places, maybe everyone on all the boards just read a thread like this
and was too lazy to look for their own favourites
But thats not true.
I wear a number of hats and so from time to time I stumble accross another collective.
An overheard site recommendation from the developers lunch table and I am whisked Alice In WOnderland style to a vast and unforgiving
new environment where even the newest of noobs is part of a clique. Places where I’ll find a board where if I polled everyone asking them
what sites they visited they would list sites that I have never heard of.
I might say “take it to the pit” and be met with blank bklank stares.
Who knew about the backdoor buqtraq boards ?
Who could dream up the Cloud10 posse and the insidous cycle of fantastic links that will keep you clicking and CTRL-D’ing till you just
cant click and CTRL - D any more
Where did they come from and why must I start over and prove my worth ?
Isn’t the fact that I have a post count of 80 million on TFP enough ?
No it isnt , and for a tiem I brcome lost.
My blog buddies get jealous of new people making comments like they know me.
I can miss whole days of links from www.bbspot.com
No matter how often I moveinto different locatiosn I will usually wind up back in my comfortable world of old favourites
There’s more at work here than simple link sharing
IMHO
One not mention so far
http://www.somethingawful.com/
Guys a nut