I spent some time trying to decide if this post was a good idea or not. I do on some level hate how "VIP QUALITY" has become a term to describe anything an individual VIPPER likes and I know that this is what the discussion will consist of after my post. So I should reinforce that I'm just talking about individual effort of the poster, not necessarily about what is truly "VIP QUALITY" in a specific way. To do that would be impossible as there is no such way to truly categorize specific things as VIP Quality or not. Although certainly we could say that jokes or whatever pulled from other boards who we mostly dislike or find not to be what we are aiming for here is certainly something that is NOT "VIP Quality," so in that regard it is possible, but that really isn't my purpose in this post. So without further ado..

>>24
Here's what's wrong with it: if you're meeting another VIPPER why post about it! Furthermore, why take up an entire thread about it?! The OP didn't even make an effort to make the post VIP! He or she didn't even bother to come back with pictures of them booning together or a video or anything! What's the point of sharing this with us all if you're not going to spend enough time to follow up?!

The whole thing is just an exaggerated way of saying "look at me I get to meet another VIPPER in real life aren't you jealous?" It's okay if they want to meet and not do anything for the good of us all, but if they want to do that they don't have to post about it!

It should also be obvious why we might not want people posting about each other in real life all the time as well. I think we ALL know how annoying it can get if the board begins derailing into people constantly posting little messages to each other that no one else can understand or enjoy. What's the point then?

All of this comes down to the modern fetishization and consumption of VIP-culture. Everyone is so obsessed with how much they "love" VIP culture that they spend most of their time consuming it and using it only for their own good. It is on the cusp of changing from being an attempt at having an enjoyable internet community to being a group of people who know each other and use VIP culture as if it's any other inside joke. Is it a horrible thing that there is a large subcommunity of VIPPERs who know each other and have twitters and various identities? Not for them, but it does become rather tiresome when they only seem to want to take from the culture for their own edification while simultaneously being too lazy to put any effort into making ACTUALLY "VIP" posts. It's selfish.

I would feel otherwise if there were a flurry of amazing posts on the AA Story board (which everyone seems to ignore, despite having "read" the the story of VIP-lantus) or a flurry of contributions to any of the VIP projects that have sprung up over the years (the bu-n video project being one that could be greatly aided by VIPPERs meeting each other in real life yet had all of four submissions over the course of two years). The "VIP music" project is the only one that is successful because it happens to fall in line with people's interests (making noise music and consuming VIP culture like its some sort of "cool" fad) and happens to also be incredibly easy to partake in. I find it slightly irritating that this is the ONLY project that has really picked up steam, and yet it is probably one of the few projects that has incredibly little to actually do with "VIP." I think any contribution to VIP is a good thing, BUT I find it annoying that no one can seem to muster the energy to produce their own VIP Quality in a meaningful way that doesn't include making a noise song. This does not mean you have to work on a specific project to produce quality, just thinking through a good post is the same thing (or perhaps even better).

I should, however, cite some great examples of VIP Quality that have popped up recently: everything in the AA story board, the amazing watercolor paintings from some VIPPER, and a number of other posts which have taken a special place in my heart. You don't have to make a grandiose contribution to VIP culture to be a "true VIPPER" either, but I'd like a little bit of effort ESPECIALLY if you're going to run around making posts on twitter all day about how something is truly “VIPPER” or how you're so quality whatever. Just a little effort from all of you. A post here or a post there which you find to be VIP Quality.

This is really turning into a long post, sorry, and it's probably not very clear either. I don't mind the fact that people post personal things. That has always been a part of what makes SAoVQ sort of different, in a way, but that doesn't mean that we should all go crazy with it. The reason why SAoVQ is great is because of the balance. We create VIP Quality through a balance of ourselves and our ideas of VIP Quality. There is both a culture and a sense of humanity here, but if it gets too out of balance we will lose everything. If we keep making posts about how depressed we are and not even bothering to write them in a humorous or somehow interesting fashion that's not a good thing (see the old “lj faggotry” thread for some examples of making discussion of your life actually entertaining for others!). Every so often someone is going to feel bad enough to make a post that they know is stupid in an attempt to get some attention. That's fine, it's going to happen, the problem is, if we go even FURTHER, and decide to not contribute ANY quality to the board as well, then it's a horrible thing. That's the real problem.

So when I say that this thread is a horrible thing, I mean to say that this thread takes, it doesn't give, it takes. At the end of the day this thread brings the uninteresting, and attention-seeking personal thread count up 1, and that's why we're having a problem with the balance between culture and personal issues. When I first saw the Indy story I was hoping it would create a backlash against the increasingly personal aspect of SAoVQ, and help balance things out. Unfortunately, it hasn't quite succeeded yet, and everyone seems to be too obsessed with themselves to notice.

After this bump I would appreciate it if we kept any further discussion to a sage so that this gigantic post doesn't have to interrupt our VIPPing for too long. Thanks!