YorozuyaGinSan said:NicoIsPathetic said:
I meant what I said in a pragmatic sense, meaning, I'm aware there's too many cliques here, and I feel like people try so hard to join MAL cliques most likely because they're wallflowers away from it. On the contrary, there are only subtle cliques around me in real life, among my friends, I'm well-liked, although not popular. On MAL it's too much of a glory hunt, it's all about material gain here. People are trying to "buy" their successes right here on an anime forum, and I think critically of it. While my interpretation might not be 100% the case, this is what I sometimes see here, especially around the CD area.
If I lost you, rephrased what I mean is, most of the impressing is done by deliberately trying to fit in. It's not surprising the standards of MAL users are just low as they can be. Either you act like an idiot and fit in, act like a snob and fit in, act like a pretentious hipster and fit in, act like a douchebag and fit in, there's not really any free-thinking and well-rounded jack of all trades types here (guilty of describing myself as this). I guess it goes along with the stereotypical nerd anal-retentive complex as well as an us vs. them that Keys sometimes brings up when it comes to why MAL users tend to try hard too much. Impressing them beforehand is one thing, but no change is allowed. Because to me, people on MAL are flat as opposed to round, and static as opposed to dynamic. And to top it all off, people don't earn a damn ounce of respect here. They just get it for being someone who they're not.
When you say MAL cliques are you referring to people that identify themselves this way (chang, cc, o/u, etc.) or just the circles of users one frequently interacts with in cd? You definitely have a point but of course this isn't applicable to each and every person. Personally speaking, whenever I get some form of social gratification in real life it ultimately makes me feel more inspired to seek out the same acknowledgement on the internet.
Most people seem to think critically of it, you don't see many people taking to the cause of MALfame openly in this thread at least. Popular opinion seems to be that it's a joke.
I like to think of it more of sculpting the mold for other people to fit in with me. My "clique" doesn't frequent AD or CD so ofttimes I'm left to my devices.
It definitely doesn't boil down to each and every individual, but a good chunk of MAL users seem to have this issue or complex with people who are doing well with their lives or have any sort of good will within them. CD especially has this hostility towards anyone who isn't a douchebag, edgy kid, or some kind of shitposter. I think that's what it boils down to in terms of cliques. You can easily see how MAL users react to certain things, such as your popularity post, which many see as a joke, but also many try to flaunt.