Gripes with some of the metal community

[Sabazios]

I couldn't see a better place for this subject than here, so here we go... I'd like to point out straight from the off the emphasis on the "some" part of the subject title.

 

I joined a black metal fb page today, mainly to promote my own music, while scrolling through fb I came across Darkthrone's page, I must say I'm surprised they even have one tbh, I found it highly amusing that Facebook suggested "if you like darkthrone, why not check out Slipknot!" Like fans of darkthrone would a) have not have heard of them and b) would be at all interested in them, they're not exactly compatible bands are they? ?. So I took a screen shot and shared it to the black metal group, with a comment "i think fenriz would vomit if he saw this hahaha" obvs it's an exaggeration, only to be instantly trolled, with a reply that went "I think fenriz would vomit if he realised how cringey bm fans are", the irony of it!!! You mean people who like black metal, who have joined this group to chat with like minded people are cringey because what? Was I slagging off Slipknot? No, not at all I respect them, was I trying to prove how black metal I am by saying they are not worthy to be mentioned anywhere near darkthrone? ? I know some that might argue that's the case, but no, I was merely commenting on how its amusing that fb associated the two, I get it's a simple science with Slipknot being one of the most popular metal bands in the world, that's why its amusing, Darkthrone the self proclaimed "Most Hated Band in the world" ? What irks me though is the fact that SOME metal fans think they are high and mighty and automatically assume that the new guy or girl is a wannabe (who cares even if they are?!?!) It's not very welcoming is it? A part of me is like "meh" what do you expect from a genre of music that in its essence is hateful, but another part of me is like "nah it's this kind of elitism that's a big problem with metal in general, especially in bm.

With that being said I would like to thank everyone that I have spoken to on this forum for being very kind and welcoming, keep doing what you're doing!

 

Sabazios

[Parker]

I'm not so sure that this is a metal problem that you encountered, rather than a facebook problem. That site is toxic. People go on there just looking to get on a soap box and put others down. I closed my account there long ago and would rather claw out my eyes than go back. 

 

[NokturnalBoredom]

On 7/19/2020 at 7:04 AM, Parker said:

I'm not so sure that this is a metal problem that you encountered, rather than a facebook problem. That site is toxic. People go on there just looking to get on a soap box and put others down. I closed my account there long ago and would rather claw out my eyes than go back. 

Agreed. My experience with metal fans is that they generally break down into three types: the aspiring musician, the teenage delinquent (me), and the partier. All of these three types are nerds about the music that they like & have no problem engaging you in long conversations about said bands and musical styles, it's just what the theme of the conversation about said music is going to be varies depending on which one you're talking to. The aspiring musician is usually the most knowledgeable one to talk to whereas the teenage delinquent simply wants a soundtrack for being a contrarian, hitting mailboxes with baseball bats from a moving car, so on and so forth; and the partier wants the good times and great tunes to keep on rolling.

Facebook is a toxic piece of shit. I closed my account on there over a year ago and as @Parker has stated, would rather claw my eyes out than go back and get involved in that negative, bullshit, fundamentally phony scene ever again. The problem with Facebook is that it's a giant competition to see who can get the most "points" and most people are not at all honest about their lives on there. You see people whose lives seem perfect, and then you feel like shit because yours is not. Newsflash: neither is theirs, they're simply curating what they want to show to the world in an attempt to get points in the stupid, pointless game that is social media. I do not use Instagram, Twitter, or any of that nonsense either because it's all the same shit: people trying to dunk on each other and being nasty to one another over shit that really doesn't matter whatsoever.

[AlSymerz]

Not that I'm an advocate of Facebook but you do realise you can be a member of the site and not comment on every post that pops up. Shit, you can even go as far as following a band, artist, whatever and not read the comments and therefore not get triggered by point scorers.

[NokturnalBoredom]

The problem with being a member of facebook is that you're then generating data that is enriching this piece of shit company and the turd that stole it from it's original creators. You're generating this data, and you're not being compensated for it whatsoever and then it is used by giant corporations to more effectively manipulate you into parting with your money. That's the main reason why I am not on there or any of the mainstream social media networks. I'm only on forums, and I make an exception for Reddit. I don't use that worthless echo chamber either.

Do I not get to follow bands? No, I don't but it's a small price to pay to not be generating precious "data" on myself that will then be sold so I can be more easily manipulated into spending money on garbage that I don't actually need.

[AlSymerz]

We enrich a company with everything we do. Visit a website and we're helping the website become popular, the more popular, the more money it can generate. Visit a site with ads we're creating revenue for the site owner whether we click on them or not. Buy a car, we are advertising the brand, more cars of X brand on the road, bigger their brand becomes. Buy band t-shirt we're enriching a label, a manufacture, and in some cases even the band.

All those purchases come with data being shared and more than likely sold at some point. Most of them even make you a walking billboard showing the world your preferences. But it's only companies like FB that shouldn't be allowed to make money from it? Fuck that. FB is a joke. Zuck is a stuck up cunt, but he's not doing anything that a million other companies out there aren't doing. He's just doing it better

As for generating data, what data is being generated on FB? Why should Joe Public care that he's generating it? Why is FB the only one that gets flack for using it when pretty much every search engine, every shopping site, even forums can be used to track the same or similar data? Many can even use it to make money if they choose to. Analyse the data bouncing through your modem, most people don't even know how to do it, let alone actually understand what data is being shifted, yet they still claim FB is stealing everything. Microsoft was the same when they started making Windows report back to base, yet they were far from the only company doing it, it had been written into computer peripherals for years. Mobile phones are even better given the way they can listen into conversations and track everything from online activity to physical movement, to shop visits, to even when a person sleeps, yet still FB are the evil bastards.

I've got one site set up for a photographer that only sells a few items to a select group of people and for the ease of use and security fixes I use a "paid for", industry respected, out of the box e-com system. Without even tweaking it the data it records in a lot cases is enough to pin point a person down to a street address anywhere in the world. It's slightly less efficient with mobile phones but they leave different trails that the manufacture pre-codes anyway. Forum software, chat software, file share software, even VPN software can by and large do the same tracking. By AU government rule I have to protect any the data I record and I'm not allowed to on-sell it, but so many countries in the world don't have such protections.

If FB were the only ones doing it sure, they deserve all the flack but the internet has got data sucking leaches everywhere FB is just using them more effectively than others.

Again I'm not condoning the use of FB, there are comments and posts on the site which should never been seen by anyone but to suggest opting out of it is not giving away just as much data as someone who uses it is completely wrong.

 

[Andre_Jones]

When I read the words Black Metal & Facebook in the same text I have no doubt which term is stronger but FB accepts no criticism even though it feeds in human's emotions. 

Hundreds of millions of posts makes people angry and upset with where mankind is going and either we have commentaries strong enough to put some reason in an ignorant's mind or avoid it and focus on ourselves, it stays the same. 

Some readers have good intentions and would calmly explain that Slipknot isn't in the right place but we're not in the best mood all the time and using the internet to fight is a way of making people really upset and who knows what the consequeces are in their lives.

Finding a way to feel good about yourself with your tastes outside the social medias is a better way as the foolishness keeps on happening but you'll won't care because you'll not feel like you need to feed the monster.

[CentipedeAbyss]

Im a member of 3 FB groups that do BM, and they are amongs the welcoming communities Ive been part of. I think it all depends on the group of people involved, their manners and general inclination to be civil....

[raven1313]

I must agree with some of this. FB is a sad note. But I, think of myself as a fourth "type" of metal guitarist. I feel deeply connected to the tones of Metal. It is by far one of the most spiritually rewarding practices I have. I am a classical music, conservatory at 12, kind of guy who studied music since childhood, but dreamed of playing like Page, Rhoads. For myself, I am "old school"when it comes to my equipment and tone. That being said, I find a lot of people on the social media groups like fb to be more of a "poser" than real musicians. we need to remember the agendas behind some claiming to be into metal. Metal is a deep state of being for most, it goes beyond the darkness, beyond the light, it resides in the soul. unless you are there, you will always come across as a little void of content.