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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/27/2018 in Posts

  1. I’m going to try to add my own ramblings in here that will most likely be overly obvious. I’m approaching this solely from a technology standpoint. I’ve been here for a while. If I had to put a year on it, I’d say that I was first creeping around somewhere between 98-99ish. It was fantastic back then. The Beginning. You could see some true graffiti vets discussing style and exchanging mission/chase stories. It was a small niche community. At that time, I think there were a lot of lurkers like me. Cards got pulled when people talked bullshit, techniques and spots were still pretty well guarded. Pictures were not as common if posted at all. Maybe it was a constraint of the board at that time, but it was definitely also due to the fact most of us didn’t have a digital camera and or a scanner. I remember going out, taking flicks of freights, developing them, scanning them in. You had to use a thirdparty image host in order to share them. Still a lot of dial up connections back then. Privacy was a big deal during this time. Outside of Raven, most people didn’t put their names out there openly. Broadband + the dawn of digital camera/camera phones These become more common, Brickslayers really starts to grow, this in turn changes what content is posted/consumed. MySpace is around but at this point writers are still trying to lurk in the dark a bit. Channel Zero blows up. Seeking drops the dime letting kids know how to make Krink. Next tech change we would see is introduction of smart phone. Good quality flicks/ Facebook and Instagram emerge. People become content creators who publish but do not dialogue with others. No more hiding behind screen names or locations, if anything they are more upfront about it. Paint companies start sponsoring more writers and doing tours showcasing paint. Everything is accessible. The demographics for graffiti blows wide open- no longer just other writers interested. At this point we are literally flooded with flicks. Due to algorithms, you can’t keep up no matter how much your try. Now that that’s out. I would say that my engagement has decreased at each time there was a shift/progress. I went from reading every thread and comment posted to not being able to keep up, to no contact at all. There was a shift in management at one point where things got heated between some of us and I thought that I might be too close to it and needed to step back. We have entered an age that is counter to what most of us grew up in. Immediate gratification. When I grew up skateboarding, there wasn’t a YouTube channel that told you how to kickflip. Best you got was a photo sequence in thrasher magazine. You had to figure it out. Now, the culture is such that My nephew found a skateboard and at the end of 2 weeks, he could Ollie, shuvit, and landed a kickflip. A week later, he moved on to something else. Now what does this mean for graffiti culture. Will history survive? Books? Probably not. Outside of subway around a a couple of others most of this history will get wiped because it wont make it into a digital format. How many graff books would you like to order but they arnt out there. There was a time where I thought that a graffiti wiki would be a great idea. Something that you could use to track down the origins of style and crews. I quickly gave up on this because I don’t think it would be possible to get an accurate account or keep it from getting incorrupted by people within the community. Reddit. reddit gets so much right. Let’s the community grow as organically as possible. If your a member of /r/skateboarding and want to talk Only talk to dudes over 30 or dads or skate, there are subreddits for that. That way older dudes can avoid the kids who are obsessed with whatever a dragonlazer flip is. It allows groups to form and function on their own. If I want to read something on Reddit, I’m on a computer. I know it will be a deep info dive. But I also use it a ton to just look at images/memes/politics. I’m also able to post to it with a fairly anonymous username that doesn’t connect with what high school I went to. Design wise I remember when I first saw and and thought to myself, who would use this piece of shit. But turns out almost ever one and it could be one of the last places on the internet that has genuine discussion with potentially intelligent people. Is it possible to do something that appeals to people that isn’t instagram, and functions as a real forum, yes. But I also think that they have bridged the gap by not limiting it to just one subject. I deleted Facebook 2 years ago. I still have Instagram but think of deleting it all the time. My reasons for this are as follows. While I have access to friends, it feels false most of these people do not talk to me or interact other than liking Picts. I feel as though it cheapens our relationship and rarely is genuine. The ability to influence decisions based on what info they show you is scary to the point I would rather abstain until it is better regulated. All these services are free and no one is asking what it is costing them. I’m too old to think that it is only ad dollars. Most of all, social media is something that consumes more of my time than what it gives back. If I spent as much time drawing or painting graffiti as I do looking at it on my phone, I would be a much much happier person. Having a phone makes us feel like we always have to be checking something. Social media, a game, etc. we wind up spending every little break we would have sat waiting, getting consumed by time vampire activities. You feel like your busy, but what you are really spending time doing is fucking pointless. It takes and gives nothing back. Unlike seeking, ive been writing this all on a phone. It was a difficult to read and even harder to proofread so I haven’t. I’m certain I’ve rambled and even more so haven’t made sense or completed thoughts but I’m scared to try to clean it up out of fear I would lose what I’ve written. I’ll come back and clean it up once I’m at a real computer. One last thing, I think we will hit a counterculture of people who will disconnect from smart phones. I can’t be the only one that feels like this. Think about any music show you’ve gone to, someone spent the whole time videoing it on their phone, proving they were there and completely missed the show. I’ve been working on being more present in life and conversations. Next time your talking with someone, see how often they are distracted by tech and not really engaged with you.
    4 points
  2. Not sure there's an answer to this. Its personal to every person. I know people that dont document anything. Its 100% the feeling of doing it. Others might do it for fame or competitiveness. Personally me... Graffiti was the vehicle that kept a group of good friends together. For some of those it meant something different but to me... Could have been sports or anything else, just happened to be graff. If you hung out, you painted. After a while, I got bored by it to be honest. I love the rush and adventure of bombing, but never really enjoyed piecing that much. Of all the art I've created, the spraycan is the absolute most clumsy tool to create with, assuming your goal is creating art. I suppose even that, might be what drives some people... Creating art using the absolute most clumsy tool and still having it come off. Suppose dudes like Os Gemeos built successful careers off exactly that, so who am I to say?
    2 points
  3. ^^same. like at 6 flags they charge 20 bucks to park. like "welcome! we're gonna take advantage of your situation right away." i had to steal from the gift store just to cheer up after that. I will probably never pay for stickers, unless they're eggshell or dollar store
    2 points
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