I have occasionally dipped into online forums in topics that interest me, like brain tumors, Alzheimer's, orienteering, antiques, and the like. In my experience, forums (and long-term boards) are different from chat rooms in that forums are usually more closely "owned" or moderated, and don't seem to attract the nasties that chat rooms and temporary boards do. I suppose that's because the posts and the reactions don't show up so quickly (no instant gratification so important to the nasties). And it may be a natural function of the topics I choose (information vs opinion). I don't know.
However, a few forums I have visited lately suffer from an especially annoying form of "expertitis". (Notably the only decent Alzheimer's forum, and a particular belly dance forum.)
"Expertitis" occurs when one particular poster (not necessarily the moderator) seems to have nothing to do all day but sit at the computer and follow the forum, and sets himself or herself up as the resident expert, responding to every post with "the infallible word of God". Woe be to any who question, or disagree. They will be buried in indignation.
These people tend to acquire a following who lay flowers at their feet, and will join to stone the interloper.
The followers will nicely remind the interloper that So-and-so has "many years experience in this field ...". What experience? Four years of misleading people in this forum?
I haven't been stoned yet, because I rarely post, I just lurk to learn about the topic, but I watch it happening. In most cases, the "expert" is no such thing! In a lot of cases he/she is full of bluff, noise, and cattle droppings, and I feel sorry for those who blindly accept the advice.
Many of the stories and questions in the Alzheimer's forum are sincere and heartbreaking, but that forum also seems to attract posters (poseurs) who are just plain lying, looking for pats and sympathy. Like the guy who wrote in that his wife was in an advanced stage of Alzheimer's, and they have no insurance and no help.
He sobs that he gets no sleep, she's awake all day and night, that she must be watched constantly, that she is dangerous to him and to herself, that she soils herself, she's resistant and violent, there seems to be no end, he's so tired, and on and on.
I could sympathize with him. The last six months with Jay, I could leave him alone no more than three minutes at a time, he was incontinent and frightened to be alone. He slept no more than two hours at a time, usually less, so I slept no more than two hours at a time. Except! This guy was posting, long detailed posts, three to six times a day! Where's the wife while he's typing or reading? Tied in a chair next to the computer?
The last six months with Jay, I couldn't find the time to read email, let alone fool around with forums. And Jay was at least relatively reasonable.
Most posters to that forum who are dealing with real situations post one quick question, and you don't hear from them again for a few days (or until Mom goes to the nursing home).
It was obvious to me that he was making it all up. But nobody called him on it. Nobody picked up on the discrepancies in his story. Everyone (99% female) was properly sympathetic and offered all kinds of useful advice, like various services he could call for help. Significantly, he never acknowledged the advice and never looked into the services. He just continued playing them. In fact, whenever responders got off on a different topic, he would threaten to "end it all", making them all flock back to himself. He did that three times in the three months I was doing Alzheimer's research.
What th' ?
Another forum that annoyed me so much that I have crossed it off the interest list is a middle eastern dance forum. The first topic I checked into asked how bare is too bare. A dancer had attended a show in Europe and was horrified when someone had done a birth magic ritual dance topless! There followed a discussion of how stuff like that is dragging the dance down, contributing to the popular misconception that "belly dance" is simply a type of strip tease, and so on. The resident expert (again, it seems to be all she does) sniffed that it is very important that one dress for the audience, that one uphold the highest standards of modesty, etc. etc. etc.. "Moral Police" rhetoric.
Same forum, another topic, ooooo look at these wonderful costumes! The costumes they were ooohing and aaahing over were skin tight sequined dresses with many large strategically placed cutouts (see links to examples below), obviously designed to titillate, or skirts with 8-inch wide slits to the top on both sides, held skimpy back panel to skimpier front panel with a series of thin bands. They looked to me like something a cheap prostitute would reject as tasteless and lacking in mystery. They are not subtle, and certainly not modest. The same resident expert thought they were wonderful, because they come from Egypt or Turkey, "and that's what they're wearing there now".
She doesn't see the contradiction? Or does she think that's "Ethnic Police" rhetoric?
Hey forum folks - two widely respected names in Mid-eastern dance are Jamila Salimpour and her daughter Suhaila. In Suhaila's video recreation of her mother's '70s Bal Anat troupe, the first performance is a birth magic ritual. Topless. In front of a mixed audience. Shocking at first, yes, but there is absolutely nothing seductive about it. The dancer is wearing an expressionless mask - less to hide identity, I think, than to create a serious and almost frightening aspect. Of course I didn't post that news. I'd get my proper little tail kicked.
(In my opinion, neither a birth ritual nor a zar should performed before a mixed audience, since both rituals are quite serious and are for women only, but that's just straight-laced prudish me. If I knew anything about the origins, I'd probably be a member of the Ethnic Police. But I don't, so I'm not. Plus I am aware of all the inherent contradictions. Shrug....)
This particular group is determinedly cabaret-style. They look down on folkloric and tribal forms, and have actually denigrated American Tribal style as "invented so that fat girls and old women can get all gussied up and climb on stage". Ouch! That pretty much betrays what they think it's all about.
Hey, ladies! It's not about looking sexy. It's about moving in an amazing and exciting way. About celebrating. Even "fat girls and old women" can do that. And if you want to talk about ethnic correctness ....
Well, I suspect that these women belly dance because they can't get a job on a Las Vegas stage. The costumes they think are so wonderful are missing only a towering feather headdress. If this is what "they" are wearing in the middle east and north Africa these days, it's only because that's what the tourist audience wants, expects, and pays for - a dance show a la Hollywood and LasVegas.
(Which reminds me - I HATE Isis wings. Yes, they are pretty in motion, but they belong somewhere else, not in a mid-eastern number. I find them a perversion and a shift in the wrong direction. And yes, I am aware that in loving veil work, I am contradicting myself. But only slightly.)
What bothers me most is that young beginning dancers are going to that forum for advice. That's so sad.
~~Silk
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Safe Sites that will answer the questions left by the above:
American Tribal - http://www.domba.com/ , http://www.fcbd.com/html/scrapbook.html
An example of Isis wings - http://www.audrena.com/isiswings.html
Some dresses of the despised variety (not to knock the retailers, just the dresses)-
http://turkish-emporium.com/moreinfo.php?Costumes&3__Professional&Ephesus_Belly_Dance_Costume
http://www.bellydancewear.com/Dresses%20pic/BD302_small.jpg
http://www.lost-treasures.com/gallery/CS/C13t.jpg (note the hip holes)
http://www.bellydancewear.com/Dresses%20pic/BD301_small.jpg (is her backside half exposed? Her frontside certainly is.)
http://www.bellydancewithk.com/boutique/items/cabaretdresses/c0218RoyalMeshDress.htm (The dress with the stars - really unfortunate design on the bodice front. Do they light up?)
http://www.bellydancewithk.com/boutique/items/cabaretdresses/c0260HangSleeveNude.htm (Look, Ma, no underwear! (The mesh is semi-transparent.))
http://www.visionarydance.com/cowrieCostume2.jpg
(Uh, why bother putting the bottom half on?)
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