I found buttons fun at first but I later changed my mind.
I know that the Codex is the Codex and that you will always find a bit of everything here on every level of the spectrum. And I wouldn’t want that part to change because that’s what makes the Codex unique on internet. That means allowing trolls, cynics, extremists, racists, and other mean-spirited morons displaying their insecurities in a red neon sign—I admit I’m guilty of being one such moron at some particular points of my online life.
But one thing that kept everything working together was not the lax moderation but common ground. There were heated disagreements about politics but the same people could also discuss video games (the main raison d’être of this site); disagree about religion but find some common ground on literature. Common ground was what kept the Codex fun for a long time, and the truly extreme that would not find this common ground eventually left because nobody cared about their fatuous contributions.
It’s different these days. I’m not saying that things were better in the old days because that’s just nostalgia—which many outsiders accuse the Codex of. But there has been a change in society and it has affected the Codex: people are more likely to be extreme and less likely to find common ground.
There were circle-jerks before (a fine human tradition) but they usually involved some sort of argumentation. These days, there is a lot less of that. The Codex was never a beacon of intellectual radiance, but disagreement didn’t often get as nasty and stupid as it does today. Expressing disagreement with all the intellectual weight of a rating and optionally some jejune comment became too convenient.
For the longest time I thought of the Codex as the Gaul village from Astérix, with fights erupting frequently, but there was still a sense of camaraderie. The whole thing was twisted but it worked. But then it became nasty and things were a lot less fun. Again, at times I was part of the problem.
I don’t believe that removing the button parade will bring us back to where we were, and that’s because I don’t think the button parade was the cause but a symptom. But removing it is a step in the right direction and we can hopefully change things a bit for the better.
I know I’m naive, but I prefer to be positive. There is too much cynicism going around and I think it has reached unwholesome levels.
Of course, DU might just bring back the buttons next week. Screw this.
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