Published on 12, July, 2020
A while ago I got a notification from this system that I had achieved the award of "socialite".
A brief investigation reveals that here, a "socialite" is someone who has 25 "friends". I had already been surprised at the number of people in my "friends" list, but I was amazed (and a little bit dismayed to be honest) to then find out that out of 80 odd THOUSAND of us, there are only 8 who have this number of "friends"!
NOW, if I had more ego and naivete I'd be feeling pretty good about my "exceptionality", but a brief and very cursory evaluation of my overall score/number of posts made, and the utter failure of my "film night" here, paints a very different picture, especially when the nature and duration of my back channel chats with some of these "friends" is also taken into account.
There appeared to be a contradiction to me between how sucessfully I interact on the forum with others and my abnormally high number of friends, which I decided to resolve by inviting people a lot less often, and considering incoming request more carefully than I did at the beginning.
It has not worked as expected, and now I am (apparently) 4 new "friends" away from earning the "CELEBRITY" status badge notification doo-hickey.
This is just surreal. Especially as I feel that my presentation and interactions with people have gradually become less nice and positive overall, to the extent that I've been trialling winding down my participation, and building a vision of me quietly leaving this forum, when the time seems right. (I'm not seeking a reaction, and wouldn't mention my plans in that regard except that it highlights the paradox of having so many "friends" but actually by other more reliable metrics, it can be seen that I am not actually a particularly popular poster here!)
I won't really get anything out of being awarded the "celebrity" badge except more cognitive dissonance, and it kinda looks inevitable based on past performance if I stay here long enough, SO I'd like to use the feature to do an experiment with this site.
I'd like five "false friends" to apply, so I can get the badge, and then remove themselves quickly , so that I can see if I LOSE the badge again. I just want to know if it works that way...
UPDATE: I have the badge!! Now it's time to lose a couple of friends and see if it goes again..Just take a quick screenshot...
Opportunity! If you are in my friends group, and wish you had not joined so quickly, here is a very good opportunity to leave in a way that won't be in the slightest bit hurtful... There must be at least someone who has done that.
(As the tally wound back towards a single digit he wondered if that was quite the right approach... :c)
Lets just hope that your experimental fiddling hasn't started a chain reaction that will ultimately break the interweb thingy.....can you imagine......1996 all over again?! I think that was probably one of my very best years - young enough not to care too much and old enough to get stuff done well with endless energy.
On inspection this morning the badge has now re-appeared!
(unlike my D/L!)
And that HAS to be the conclusion to this experiment!
Oh, those sorts of things make me happy.
ON further inspection I find it has notified me of the achievement but NOT rewarded it!!
SCORE!!
(this is the sort of thing that keeps one "off grid".. My driving licence in the real world has a similar schrodingian reality as a result of a similar thing I did twenty years ago.)
But this time I don't appear on the roll of honour like I did before!!
I thought it would break something! Although it might refresh periodically, and thus update the roll of honour later.
*TESTED*
It's an appropriate answer really, to such an appalling statement.
Oo! -- I just got my badge back..
If it's a "smart" tv most versions of windows will let you stream the screen from a laptop to the widescreen TV over your wi-fi.
If you are lucky, it'll even work well!
I'd suggest people practice and make sure the tech works, but I do seem to be able to stream a dvd up to zoom better than anyone else who has tried so far with me. and that's the crucial bit for a streaming service.
GFY.
[Disambiguation - My flavour of autistic humour is a bit like my friendship - dubious!]
Aimed for and hit!
Well done everybody! ;c)
I salute your endeavour and thank you for answering a question that did need to be answered.
I just wish I could manage the group a bit better, it is a bit hard to keep track of who is who, and I like people for different reasons. I'd like a notes area or better still a tag that I can see that I can sub categorise people in.
My real life "friends group" includes at least one criminal, one guy who "made it the right way" in business and got out with the money! a youngish byelo-russian guy with tourettes (I think) and a burning passion for science (who sent me the most thoughtful & beautiful Christmas card I think I have ever received this year), a Jamaican/irish lady who does "race relations" with me fearlessly, (but can actually listen as well as hand it out) and the guy who helps me do film night who is an ex-fireman and as normal as they come, plus one or two others.
I like people who are honest with themselves and as far as is possible, with others...
Im glad your experiment worked :)
The experiment is now complete.
The badge does indeed go away if your friends level dips below the level required to obtain it.
Thanks for all who helped me, I know it was a bit of a pointless endeavour, but I had to know* and it had to be done now fro numerical & logistical reasons.
The badge needs to be both OBTAINED and SUSTAINED!
*Or at least wanted to know, and what's the point in having a friends list if you don't do anything with them?
Making and maintaining friendships is an active process like gardening, and if you stop doing the neccesary work yourself to obtain and sustain in the real world with friendships. just like gardening, it all goes awry inexorably.
Even cats know & practice this, but an awful lot of humans (Including some I love dearly) do not.
If I did mythbusters, they'd never let it go to air...
And my real friends give me their money! ;c)
It is not complete yet, I have the badge, but due to a rounding error I am stuck at 50 and now have to lose ONE more friend to see if it goes away..
Was your experiment a success? ^^
I Sperg said:doo-hickey.
Anyone who says things like doo-hickey, is a friend of mine - badge or no badge, "listed" or "unlisted" in your not-so-little book of friends.
Congratulations on your notable achievement, but even more warmly for your decision to seize the moment to conduct an experiment with it ...... like a true spergian Mythbuster. I can't decide if you are the orange Savage one, or the one who has facial hair that looks like a Walrus.
Your friend,
Number.
Yep, please. I'll extend an invite as soon as I've finished the experiment so if you actually wanted to be a part of my friends group, you can rejoin and if not, I'd like very much to thank you for your service.
So now I need to unfriend you?
Only FOUR in that group inc 1 deleted user...
Now lets make it three if we can!