Comrad
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Conceptual Issue: Symmetric ties ('friends') or Asymmetric ties ('followers')?
Symmetric ties have that immediate feel of reflecting a closer and more actual relation to someone (something? group, collective?), is that what a socialist network wants though? In my opinion the 1:1 mapping of online relationship to what happens in your real life is a terrible defect of modern social networks. It is enforced on us that our online existence must represent the real life one, bringing over the many aspects of having an "identity".
Asymmetric ties, then? "Followers" sounds passive, we don't like that! We could use another word that isn't hierarchical in essence?
I hope we can have a constructive debate about that. Thank you for your work, happy to help if I can!
Can there be different names for assymetric and symmetric ties, with different levels of attachment? You follow me, your my 'fan' or whatever sounds less passive than follower - but if I follow you back, then we're officially comrades? If we communicate enough, we become real Komrades?
This might be a good, flexible solution. It's what Secure Scuttlebutt does and I think it works pretty well. They call it "following", "followers", and "friends", which sounds a bit too hierarchical to me. I really like "fan": it reminds me of "stanning" and seems more active and more internet-compatible.
Trying to formalize your idea @hawc2. One idea would be to have/show for any person something like:
- 5 comrades
- 10 fans
That actually means:
- 15 ppl follow this person
- 10 of whom are not followed back ('fans')
- 5 of whom are followed back ('comrades')
- we don't know how many ppl this person follows (unnecessary information, and avoids 3 way system)
What do you think?
There is also the broader question about the social function of these numbers. Has follower count replaced/quantified some kind of cultural capital or stature? Is recording such numbers consistent with socialism and conducive to an equal, classless society? I'm not sure either way, to be honest.
Yeah this is an interesting way to do it, and provides a different sort of metric for popularity. As you say, I do think we should think twice about whether the platform should enable the kind of open commodification of people's profiles affiliated with popularity rankings like these, but it also doesn't need to be as front and center as on accounts like Twitter while still being a part of the process. Like, why exactly do I need to know how many fans you have? I'm more interested in whether you are my comrade or just someone who follows me from a distance . . .
My only other thought for another possible term to use here would be 'ally', perhaps instead of 'fan', or as an intermediary step between fan and comrade. Like just because we follow each other doesn't mean we've ever spoken. But this is getting into the weeds, maybe making it too complicated
Definitions of Fan
From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- An ardent devotee; an enthusiast.
- Etymologies: Short for fanatic.
From The Century Dictionary
- One who is very enthusiastic on the subject of athletic sports, especially base-ball; one who haunts base-ball grounds and base-ball games; a base-ball ‘fiend.’
Definitions of Fanatic
From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- A person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause.
From The Century Dictionary
- Same as fanatical.
- A person affected by zeal or enthusiasm, particularly on religious subjects; one given to wild and extravagant notions of religion.
From Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- Same as fanatical.
- A person who is zealously enthusiastic for some cause, especially in religion.
From WordNet 3.0 by Princeton University
- Marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea.
- A person motivated by irrational enthusiasm (as for a cause).
Definitions of Fanatical
From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- Possessed with or motivated by excessive, irrational zeal.
From The Century Dictionary
- Wild and extravagant in opinions, particularly in religious opinions; extreme, or maintaining opinions in an extreme way; especially, inordinately zealous, enthusiastic, or bigoted.
From Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- Having an extreme, irrational zeal or enthusiasm for a specific cause.
From the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- Characteristic of, or relating to, fanaticism; fanatic.
Definitions of Fanaticism
From the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- Excessive enthusiasm, unreasoning zeal, or wild and extravagant notions, on any subject, especially religion, politics or ideology; religious frenzy.
From WordNet 3.0 by Princeton University
- Excessive intolerance of opposing views.
Definitions of Ally
From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- One that is allied with another, especially by treaty.
- One in helpful association with another: synonym: partner.
- An animal that cooperates with another animal of the same species in an alliance.
From The Century Dictionary
- One united or associated with another by kinship, treaty, or league; a confederate; more particularly, a sovereign or state connected with another by league offensive and defensive, or a subject or citizen of such sovereign or state.
- An auxiliary; an associate or friend.
From the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- One united to another by treaty or league; usually applied to sovereigns or states; a confederate.
- Anything associated with another as a helper; an auxiliary.
- Anything akin to another by structure, etc.
- To unite, or form a connection between, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league, or confederacy; often followed by to or with.
- To connect or form a relation between by similitude, resemblance, friendship, or love.
From WordNet 3.0 by Princeton University
- A friendly nation.
- An associate who provides cooperation or assistance.
Source: https://www.wordnik.com/
After reading all this, I think "Ally" would be a friendlier and better fitted term for our needs, as @hawc2 suggested. Ally is also an internet slang term that roughly mean "An heterosexual person who supports LGBT rights" which is "active and internet-compatible" as @marxzuckerburg said it.
