Photos
Please sit down, you guys. It’s early June, so it is time for our annual 6-month performance review, even though we have never actually done one of these before, at least not in June, we’ve kind of done them at the end of the year around the holidays, but we’re doing one now, so please sit back down. This is not just a review of your performance, it is also a review of our performance. Performance is a two-way street, as they say. Well, I am running this meeting and I say that they say that. Look, the point is, we are past due for a taking of the Videogum temperature. So, let’s.
It seems like things are going pretty well for the most part. Kelly is here! And I think, personally, that she is doing a great job! But that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you guys about. This is an exciting time for Videogum to start trying new things and mixing it up IN THE BLOG STREETS. There are two people working here now, so, you know, NO RULES. I mean, mostly just rules. There are still only two people working here now. But that is double the number who were working here a few weeks ago. So, how can we use this to our benefit? Let’s make the most of what we’ve got! We’ve got some ideas of our own, no duh, but we still would like your input. There IS “input” in TEAinputM! SO: What is missing from the site? What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? Why won’t you friend us on Facebook? What happened to the Videogum Monster Book Club? Do people still use the chat? Why not? What do we need to do to regroup and strengthen the community? Questions like these and then other questions. Basically, let’s use this post, please, to get some fresh blood pumping into this old dinosaur. Blogs are out but people are texting each other “no more animals.” This guy knows what I’m talking about.
So, I’m going to write a figure down on a piece of paper and slide it across the desk to you, and you let me know what you think. The figure is: ONE MILLION HELP US OUTS WITH YOUR THOUGHTS!
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Rabble Rabble Rabble
Oh you don’t wanna know what I think.
Honestly, I think the site is in a great place right now. At the end of last year, there was tumult on the commenting side, and the tone editorially seemed to grow increasingly ugly. But I find that it has gotten better on both ends.
The posts are sharp and ‘keepin em honest’, without being unfair/mean spirited. Gabe is a gifted, thoughtful writer and should express himself in that same measured fashion, it works out wonderfully when he does. For the most part, commenters have gotten along (save for the GIF argument which is the chicken/egg of our time). I think more TV recaps would be wonderful too.
Videogum Chat has receded back to more of a weekend deal, but I still see friends there.MOBFD.biz is booming which I am very proud of, along with my many monster friends for making that happen.
What I would really like to see is Kelly unique columns. We liked Lindsay’s unique voice, I would love to see what Kelly is made of. That’s all.
TL;DR
i think the reason it seems like that whole civil war calmed down is because the OG dropped out. can’t fight a one sided battle. that said, it’s okay.
Agreed, Kelly is great! More Kelly!
I totally agree with more TV recaps. It would help out the slow internet days and I personally have always found them to be some of the best parts of the site. Gabe is on fire when he loves/loves to hate TV shows.
Seconded, Thirded and Fourthed! I want to marry True Blood, and I still love his recaps. And/or Kelly could do one (yay Kelly!)
I would also like more TV recaps…
Gossip Girl and True Blood recaps have always been great.
Oh is this where I get to say I love everyone and that’s ok?!
That’s what I meant to say down there. Let’s both start driving toward each other and meet at TeacherFriday’s house, okay?
SG, we will always have our rooster dance!
Party at the Teacherfriday house for all the cool Monsters!
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
Clarifying: all Monsters are cool Monsters. Just so we know.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
Ahh, this reminds me of the good old days
Sort of looks like you care… what with all the replying to yourselfs.
I’m looking forward to the Videogum TV Club we talked about here, where we’d watch a show on DVD this summer: http://videogum.com/288781/wait-nbc-is-bringing-the-marriage-ref-back/tv/
We could all watch Summer Heights High on Youtube and talk about its greatness!
I’m nominating Black Books, IT Crowd, Angry Boys and We Can Be Heroes y/y?
Yes do this! Would a videogum book club be beside the point? We could do books that have been made into movies, and compare them!
Ohh I like it. Here’s my vote!
Well what would I do without you pointing out what I should be making fun of?
I’ll take on the chat issue:
While I’d like to take sole credit for the death of videogum chat (I went from being in there like 18 hours a day to basically just 1 or 2, on the best of days). I think that the crop of monsters who were holding it down all day, every day, just haven’t had the time or energy to do it recently. I’m sorry! Some of us have jobs to not get fired from! But for real, it might just be a lull between crops of day chatters who set up shop so that when you go in there it’s not just dead space. I hope some new people will set up shop in there!
It’s a seriously great way to meet people and then awkwardly flirt with them and/or tell them all your life problems. I love chat. I love all the people I got to know way, way, wayyyy too well in chat. And now I’m really sad that I haven’t been spending as much time in chat recently. Sigh …
Yes, I have to say, I have just been supes busy lately and have been neglecting my day chat duties. It is my duty, right?! Anyway, I hope to return soon b/c I miss you guys! NEW PEOPLE SHOULD COME TOO!
TWSS.
New people should definitely come! Whenever I’m in there I try to be very nice to them! So does Nightmare! We are very happy to see you, always! Also, we are both cute girls who like to dance like Mick Jagger so what’s not to love, right??????
OMG! DONNA DARKO, BITCH!
I went for the first time last week and everyone was very nice even though I’m sure I gave plenty of reasons for them to make this face:
NICE LAMPS!
Oh hi Cundela! I see you’ve bought an e-timeshare on Videogum! Welcome!
#womenbeshoppinfortimeshares
“Also, we are both cute girls who like to dance like Mick Jagger so what’s not to love, right??????”
Suspiciously specific… girls… on the internet…
Seriously. It’s like we all of a sudden got lives or something. I miss commenting too. Maybe that should be my personal 6 month review goal- comment more!
Do it because I like your commenting swag.
It’s true! I don’t even know what happened.
Oh right, my mom made me install self-control add-ons on my browser so I could spend more time doing work and less time Videogumming, that’s what happened.
Luckily, school is almost done and I can then spend all day erryday ‘Gumming it up.
Moms, am I right? It’s like GET OUT OF MY ROOM MOM JEEZ!!!
MOM I’M ALMOST 18 OKAY I’M NOT A LITTLE KID OKAY YOU DON’T UNDERSTAAAAAAANDDDDD MEEEEEEE
Napoleon, weren’t you 15 like five minutes ago? THEY GROW UP SO FAST!
(Note – it was very hard to write this in a way that didn’t say “Wait, you’re almost 18?” because that would be one of those ‘The problem with conveying tone on the internet’ thing. But seriously! Time flies! Yay for you almost being done with high school!)
Naw, I actually just turned 17 in February, but that won’t stop me from pretending I’m an adult! *struts around town*
(I actually just had to check and remember if I was 16 or 17. I am 17. I start senior year in the fall. RIP baby Napoleon.)
chat’s been picking up again lately (at least in my experience, though i was absent for awhile due to crippling depression… i mean work), but it seems to be more of a weekend thing. Fridays especially.
Chat is pretty sweet, but it’s hard to always be hangin’ with you guys. I can’t chat at work, so daytime is out. Friday night’s usually pretty bumpin’ in there, but I often have Friday night stuff* to do so I’m not in there as often as I might like.
Anyway, I didn’t really have a point. Just that I like chatting with you guys even though I’m not always around.
*standing across the street from FLW’s apartment, looking in the window
Yeah, I am doing the same thing except it’s Lawblog’s window I am looking in.
Actually Nightmare I AM DOING THAT because we LITERALLY live ACROSS THE STREET from eachother! (end AnAmPatriot style)
True story.
That’s so weird- I live in the tree outside his window! *waves*
Dammit, man. I’m usually across the street from your apt on Fridays. We need to get on a better schedule.
Are all the hardcore commentators from New York (more liek Zoo York amirite?)? It’s hard to keep up with you guys when I have to wake up at 6am to get in the first rush of posts.
I have loved Chat from the beginning. The Friday afternoons got me through my week. I still love chat although I am hardly ever in there. Since I got a new job I just don’t have time to chat. It makes me sad because chat got me through a difficult period in my life. Please don’t let it die. I want it to stay the safe, funny, fun, place it is. Like that fort in the woods when you were a kid.
I was on chat a lot too (at nights), but got busy because of exams. I can personally attest that it is an excellent place to talk things out with people who care about you.
The best way to get people onto chat is to send out a twitter call. Most of us either follow or have a twitter list of monsters that we check pretty regularly. I used this recently to get some relationship advice and it was really great. What particularly was great about it was not only was i not being judged, I was getting a variety of opinions that I could consider, allowing me to get perspective from all sides of a complicated issue.
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST AND I DON’T EVEN CARE THAT I JUST HIT TWO VGUM STEREOTYPES IN ONE SENTENCE.
Can Kelly do weekly recaps of Franklin & Bash? In other words, can Kelly do her own version of T14TT?
Send Kelly to the Gathering of the Juggalos (ultimate T14TT). I’m sure some monsters would contribute cash money for the tickets. Or just me.
TOTES IN.
I will donate $100 American dollars to make this happen.
Gabe should go too at least. I want photos of him looking sad beside Juggalo Furries.
Can Gabe go back to Comicon? That week was possibly the best videogum week ever.
Gabe photobombs were effing hilarious.
I also sincerely miss T14TT. It was absolutely one of my favourite things on the site!
Clearly, what we need now are more upskirt photos.
crotchshot coverage, plz
“MOAR JESSICA ALBA PLZ.”–Steve Winwood
More Ryan Gosling, please. -ME
I’d take a Ryan Gosling up nose pic if offered. His face is like a delicious piece of flan. Wait, what?
You’re making me hungry in the strangest way right now.
Meow you have nose thing don’t you? I’M ON TO YOU MEOW. You nose fetish haver, you. Incidentally I have been told my nose is PERFECT.
How about some Gosling AND B-Coop?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/bradley-cooper-and-ryan-gosling-together-at-last%2C56926/
I saw Ryan Gosling on the street and I followed him for five blocks past where I was going. I think he may have caught on because of the whole hyperventilating thing.
OH…MY…GAWD!!!!!!!! I think I would totes just die if I ever saw him IRL. I would have a panic attack and scream, “RYAN!!!!! RYAN!!!!!!! HAVE MY BABIES!!!!!”
or maybe like this:
Fwiw I still can’t comment in real time unless I do using my Droid. I have a droid, you guys. I guess itsprobbly internet explorers fault? Bill gates needs to quit it with malaria and start getting back to curing my very white persons problem….that or maybe you guys could respond to my email queries? Other than that it’s all aces. Y’all keep me from crying all day.
Having to log in every time i want to comment is annoying
Yes, there is that weird thing how I check the “Remember me” box but Videogum does not actually remember me, not even a little bit, not at all
Is there a way to fix that?
I would love a Droid app for V-Gum. The Mobile version of the site doesn’t display all the comments, and the comments are 40% of why I read Videogum.
Yes!! Smart phone apps for V-Gum!!
Personally, and I think this is personally for a lot of people, so it ceases to become personally, I would love it if you caught up with Breaking Bad and wrote recaps for that great show.
Lost recaps and WMOAT are what initially brought me here. While I enjoy most of what is posted, I find we are brought together by what divides us the most- strong opinions.
Also, more Gwyneth Paltrow upskirt shots, please. Asking for a friend.
I came here for the WMOAT too, and for Trueblood recaps, despite stopping watching that show a long time ago – basically you guys made it 10 x more fun. Maybe, like 15x I don’t know.
I also love the film club reviews, even though I cannot afford the cinema in this country – In MotherEcosse, cinema pay you! Not true, but for 4 pounds I couldn’t not go, right? 14 dollars on the other (empty) hand…
I would have taken part in the book club (at least commented as I can’t afford books right now, and I have many unfortunate fines at the library) if it hadn’t been sort of exiled to wherever it was (I’m lazy, yes.)
Checking Vgum to find a Lost recap made me feel like this:
Breaking Bad would do the same.
Please DONT do Breaking Bad.
I love that show so much. I don’t want to be left out if you guys are commenting on recent episodes because I have to watch it on DVD.
So start at the beginning or just DON’T DO IT.
Please.
i don’t have anything super great to add except that yeah, i loved the Lost recaps, but part of the fun of the recaps was that the show itself was fun and entertaining. are there any other, similarly fun hour-long shows on tv right now? shows that we love because they’re so entertaining but also because they’re so easy to make fun of? lost also lent itself really well to the kind of inside jokes that have contributed to this site’s tone (and success).
but as others have said: it’s a lot more fun in the long run to read about someone loving something than about someone hating something. it’s the “yes, AND” of blogging, or something.
also, omg, realization: andy dwyer is basically cookie monster. semi-related thoughs: i love thursday night tv open threads, but i also wouldn’t mind if gabe started full-on recapping one or more of those shows. i don’t mind gifs if they’re well chosen. but i think they also can sometimes limit creativity, paradoxically, if for example they simply show an awesome moment instead of articulating why exactly that moment is awesome. furthermore, not all gifs are created equal.
also, as someone who doesn’t comment super frequently, the comment culture here can be intimidating. everyone’s so clever! but even more so: commenters themselves are inside jokes, which necessarily kind of excludes those of us, like me, who can’t comment super frequently.
there are really two separate issues here: the commenters and the content. i’m not really sure which we’re supposed to be talking about.
i just lizzed at work…thank you.
I miss the Top Chef recaps. Wish you would have done one for Top Chef: Masters because it is truly awful television programming.
I agree 100%. At least promise us you will recap the next season of Top Chef: Just Deserts, Gabe. That is just Top Chef, but a MILLION TIMES more color and sugar and bitchfights and drama and uniorns and alliances. Like 21st century social philosopher and writer J. Franco famosly said: so good.
Oh – Doctor Who recaps. If anyone likes Doctor Who.
Actually, anything showcasing interesting programmes (perhaps from the UK?) like Sherlock, Misfits (new series in the autumn I think)
Doctor Who is so good. So. Good.
Yes to all of the above!
Just be prepared for lots of “lorrie” jokes…
YES. Bowties and Doctor Who recaps are cool. Hell, I’ll write them. All I do is talk about Doctor Who anyway.
I can’t even bring myself to watch that edition. What is so exciting about precision-style cooking? Although I did enjoy the guy that had a major breakdown/panic attack when he was eliminated.
Wel, because I imagine you can only do so much with fondant and buttercream, much more attention goes out to creativity. I mean, those eadible dresses and the centre pieces they made for that circus show were really spectacular.
Other than that, the precision cooking bring out much more OCD cheftestants, not to mention the bordeline offensive gay guys. They talk so much about Gail’s shoes! Because while you have to have a passion for cooking to want to be a chef, you have to be messed up to want to be a pastry chef.
If you like Doctor Who coverage, I would kindly refer you to the rest of the internet.
But with a shrewd, non-fanboy eye?
Doctor Who is so oversaturated on the internet. I don’t even watch it but I can id most of the characters. I hate that. Same with Glee.
Seconded on Breaking Bad.
May I put in a vote for more recaps? Or maybe something like a shorter Movie Club post/Thursday TV thread, but for specific shows?
I really enjoy the perspective of Gabe and the rest of the community in terms of pop culture references, intelligence, comic sensibility, etc in ways that are not represented for me IRL. Many websites do recaps, but they are often of all the same shows, which is great (please don’t stop recapping Mad Men!), but leaves a lot of shows untouched that I know you all watch anyways.
Specifically:
Justified
Archer
America’s Best Dance Crew
Honestly though, screw all the other shows, I want Gabe to talk about ABDC. Goddamn do I love that show – enough to use the acronym unabashedly – and goddamn do I want to have a safe place to talk about dance-offs in the both serious and sarcastic manner with which Gabe addressed Step Up 3D, my favorite post of videogum ever.
So I would actually like to change my vote to MORE DANCE BATTLE COVERAGE PLEASE.
Your thoughts on Iconic Boyz?
@Krys Eff those guido kids and eff all the little girls that are keeping them in the competition at the expense of actual amazing dancers. I mean, I am a few episodes behind, but I am prettttttty sure that opinion won’t change
As this is the first ABDC conversation I have ever had (minus the ones where I tell my friends it is sooooo good and then beg them to watch it, to no avail), if you are in the Iconic Boyz fanclub, I am so sorry I take it back they are the greatest let’s just talk about something everyone can agree on. Like how I prefer the adorable, nervous D-Trix that was in Quest Crew rather than the chatty, confident judge.
Re: Bookgum. As I understood it, Anamericanpatriot simply got too busy with life stuff and thus didn’t have the time to dedicate to running it, and thus things simply stopped.
Re: Facebook: I already follow on Twitter. Between visiting the actual site and Twitter telling me to visit the actual site, having Facebook also telling me to visit the site seems like overkill (blasphemy I know).
I want to know when we are doing a book club featuring Detroit and the Kid by Gabe Delahaye.
Don’t forget On a Walk by Birdie. I hear it’s our generations On the Road.
I JUST STARTED READING IT LAST NIGHT.
A Facebook Group as opposed to a fan page would allow for more interactivity such as submitting links for blog consideration alongside emails and Twitter mentions , but I imagine it would be a bit too insular.
Can someone do my job (looking at you, Kelly) so I can have more time to comment???
The only thing I’ve been missing is the Hunt, and that kicks off again soon so…
Well this is impossible not to like.
More adorable animals. Less deplorable people. That’s all I want from my internet. (that’s all I want from my life)
Your gif reminds me:
More Birdie “content”: We haven’t had a good Birdie video in ages, and I would quite like to see/hear more of her opinions on rubbish films and nightmare human beings. A “star rating” system with miniature Birdie heads out of five for the Movie Club would be a bonus.
I am not as active in the community now as I was 6 months ago (and the monsters rejoiced), but that is mostly because it is hard to convince my bosses that, no, Topher Grace’s career trajectory really IS important to a small midwestern intellectual property firm.
Sadly, I have nothing constructive to say, as my brain is filled with cotton balls.
I think that alligator over there has a suggestion. Sheesh, hold on I’ll talk to him…
I love you, itsahotdog.
Gabe, I know its a lot of work, but I think what this site has been missing since the end of LOST is a regular tv recap. For me, like many others, the thing that drew me to Vgum was those recaps. I don’t know exactly what the draw is, but I know it would be a must-read for me if you started a new show. Maybe you could have a rotation? (Breaking Bad in the summer, Boardwalk Empire in the Fall, Mad Men in the winter, and Game of Thrones in the Spring.) Or maybe just one show like before. Anything would be great. Just throw us bone.
TV Recaps are the lifeblood of the internet right now. Get back on board!
I SORELY MISS Soft Gabe and the Gleecaps (BAND NAME.) and perhaps a new Gleecapper is in order? It’s a stupid, silly show that is ripe (rife? I never know) for the sort of biting humor I have come to associate with Vgum. Is that helpful? Do I win?
me too! i don’t even watch glee and i miss his recaps. and then every once in a while i’ll go and watch an episode (to see how lea michelle tackled an adele song, for example), and i can’t follow ANYTHING because the plotlines and relationships change so quickly (sam is broke now?), and i don’t have any way to catch up other than to watch the actual show, and i just can’t bring myself to do that. i miss his recaps so badly. the whole world is missing out because they’re not being written.
True Bloods back in about 3 weeks Gabe!!!!!!
I agree. TV Recaps is what brought me to Videogum. I feel like there’s not enough content on here now. I also really love The Hunt For The Worst Movie of All Time. I think you should be doing twice as many this summer as you plan.
I’m still find Videogum a fun way to pass the work day. I’m quite busy with work and school, so I don’t get to comment as much as I’d like (i.e. on every post), and I can’t seem to make it to chat at all anymore. But Kelly’s great and Gabe’s still holding down the fort. I’d say all is well.
Oh, except for the lack of Adventure Time re-caps. Can we get some Adventure Time re-caps? Please?
That would be, “I” still find. Me fail english, I guess.
That show is so surreal and delightful. Should we throw My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic into the mix? I know it deals with some pretty dark, arcane stuff that many might not agree with, but it might just work here.
Topknot your love of Adventure Time mirrors my own, you have always been unrelenting in trying to bring any mention of it to these boards. You are a cool guy.
Also I’ve always wondered, Is your avatar a live action version of FLCL?
Thank you Slothdrop! Nothing makes me quite as happy as that show. You are very cool for liking it as well!
My avatar is from the Japanese film “The Taste of Tea.” You should check it out, it shares some of the same whimsy as Adventure Time.
I haven’t used Videogum very much over the last six months. I used it consistently in 2010 (get to the point Grandpa), probably reading every post and rarely going a day without contributing. And since New Year I’ve barely made a post. I don’t think anything has changed on Videogum, but I no longer get the kind of excitement I used to get that a post was imminent. It could be that there’s more focus on American culture/TV shows recently, and as a Brit there’s no real in-road where I can comment.
It could be a little bit to do with the favouritism amongst certain commenters, leaving comments unrelated to the article as if trying to exclude other people (Videogum is not a special place just for you to make your tiresome repetitive jokes, it is a place for EVERYONE). It’s maybe a little to do with some of my favourite columns morphing into the same old thing every week, The Hunt is suddenly Gabe exaggerating the flaws of average films every Monday, WUWTG has disappeared. Guest weeks keep popping up and, whilst entertaining, just don’t have the same standard of writing I’m used to. I’m not trying to knock Videogum here, I’m just saying the little spring of excitement I used to get at about two minutes to the hour has dried up and I’m sad it has.
This is still a great place for funny, smart writing not just from the article writer themselves but from the comment sections (the best comment sections on the internet? The best comment sections on the internet) but somehow, what was once a need for Videogum has dried up to be an idle interest. Just me, maybe. Don’t know if all that’s at all relevant to your six month review but I loved the few months I was commenting and my interest waning is a sad event. You monsters rock. Keep it up.
tl;dr I don’t know what I’m talking about
As an oldie (and I like to think a goodie, too) I agree with Capu Flapu that my personal enthusiasm for the site used to be for the discussions in the comments. Gifs and one-liners are fun and all that, but just not my cup of tea.
But, change and progress and growth all that shit…
I also think that the “community” that used to be here has also branched out to twitter and facebook. It used to be that the only place that the monsters interacted was here on the site. So it was fun to see what everybody else was saying here. Obviously, I enjoyed the posts, but I really enjoyed the reactions to the posts. Now we are all over the place talking to each other.
Additionally, how many people read the same blogs consistently for how long? How much of the old commenter drop off is due to the natural fickleness of blog-readers? As long as new readers are coming along, you don’t really need us, do you? We’ll always be around if you need someone, just maybe not, you know, the same way.
I guess what I’m really going with here is that it’s not you, it’s me.
I was going to say that lots of vgummers have grown up and spreaded their wings and flyed (what?) and that is a good thing! Just not from a traffic/community/most things point of view.
I definitely agree that the branching out to twitter and facebook has both been good and bad. I seriously used to be in chat all the time, but once the old format got hacked and tinychat came up, it just wasn’t the same. I miss giving out stars to people (if you used the old chat you definitely know what I’m talking about) and just chilling with two or three monsters talking about whatever. Chat now is like the exclusivity that sometimes happens here times 10.
All in all, I love Videogum and come back every day, but let’s not lose some of that old magic.
I want to marry this comment or at least take it out for coffee
“It could be a little bit to do with the favouritism amongst certain commenters, leaving comments unrelated to the article as if trying to exclude other people (Videogum is not a special place just for you to make your tiresome repetitive jokes, it is a place for EVERYONE).”
Definitely agree. You miss a few days on here and you may as well take a few months off or you won’t understand why someone gets 56 upvotes for something that doesn’t make sense out of context and almost always amounts to basically quoting something Gabe said 2 days previous.
DANNY DEVITO PIC.
But yeah I think that’s just the inevitable truth about any internet community. A dialogue begins and it’s often hard to keep up. The only reason I have started commenting hard the last few months is because I quit my job to start my own business, so there’s really no one looking over my shoulder. (Just that Samara lady from The Ring NBD.) Also, some have jobs that allow them to go so far as to video chat in the middle of the day.
As far as in-joking, Gawker is the same, or once was before they changed format, and they have millions more hits than Vgum (which is fine! We love the number of hits.). I think this aspect is, unfortunately, unavoidable, no matter the size of a site.
On a related note: I am wildly jealous of all the same commenters getting “into the Ball” consistently on comments that are impossible to understand, unless you go back to the post and follow the whole thread. Not to invoke Gawker again (Not the same. Apple/Oranges, I know) but they quite swiftly abandoned the “highest rated comments of the week” post to instead pick a comment of the day, and even give it its own post. I very much enjoy that, and it’s often less “in-jokey” and is instead rather insightful and sometimes even intelligent beyond the website’s usual level.
In fact, maybe that’s my suggestion. No more Ball. (HEAVENS TO BETSY!) Or a differently formatted Ball? 5 Highest/5 Best (Which I suppose is editor’s choice?) instead of Highest 5 plus Choice and Lowest? Perhaps that can better curb the “vying for the upvote via recent in-joke” wins? No offense-o! Just sayin…is all…Sorry I use parenthesis so much!
I really like the Ball (standing on the outside, looking in like the shivering leaf of a commenting waif I am).
Just to give my 2 cents (2 cents Australian = approx 2.4 cents US), I think Capu was correct to say that the same comments seem to be trotted out a bit on comments pages. I’m thinking things like Spiderman pie, Danny Devito Pic, ‘she’s pretty’ (no disrespect to Winwood) and a few others. They’re funny, definitely, but they kind of become lazy and they still get heaps of upvotes.
Maybe it’s just my own issue but I find catchlines lazy comedy. That’s why I fucking hated everything about Little Britain after Season One.
In-jokes are great (and an inevitable part of any community) but I wish the comments threads would keep a lid on it.
Beyond that everything’s dope-rad in Videogum town. It’s ruined my life (in the real world) but I’m really glad I found this corner of the internet.
I like the idea of “comment of the day” like Gawker, but I don’t want to abandon the Ball. It’s kind of like the lottery at this point – I keep playing even though I’ll probably never win (sad face). But I agree with the overuse of in-jokes and laziness of repetitive jokes. We should all make an effort to be more original/insightful in our comments, but maybe the reason we aren’t is that we are all, at the end of the day, vying for upvotes? This whole thing is an ouroboros! Maybe we should get rid of the Ball after all.
I totally agree with Capu Flapu and I’m not even British! I still have warm vibes for Vgum and Gabe and for Kelly, but I’m just not as enthusiastic as I used to be. Also having to sign in every fricking time with a password that is impossible to remember cools the fire for commenting.
More reviews of hotels I’ll never be able to afford and where to buy the most authentic cowboy boots in Nashville, please. (Are we still doing GOOP jokes? I have literally twos of them.) On the real though I sometimes deliberately avoid clicking on Vgum links from Twitter because of all the AAAAAAADS that make me have to force-quit Firefox. Sometimes I have OTHER TABS to think about, you know! It’s not like I can just REOPEN Gmail!
Also I’m SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THESE DANG GIFS DOWN WITH THE GIFS oh god just kidding is it too soon to joke about that?
Finally, I think part of the reason chat is dying is because at first it was exciting to get to know everyone and, yes, “awkwardly flirt,” but now we all know and it’s boring and we’re all talking to each other on Twitter anyway. As for the book club…reading is hard.
Gabe, do you know those guitars that are like, double guitars? Get one of those.
Chocolate microscopes?
Why would anyone downvote that? It’s from the same sequence, you heartless bastards!
we need more Tito Puente!
LOL
Needs more dick jokes.
More fart jokes, too.
More fake jorts, too.
i pretty much check out every story every day… but lack of commenting is simply due to two things: 1) i am no where near as witty or creative as the majority of monsters and 2) by the time i have something witty there are already 75+ comments and i just decide not to
i did post a salsa dog video thou, prob my proudest moment of the internet EVER
But again that brings us back to the point that several other monsters have made: Lately, it seems that Vgum is less of a community and more of a place to drop witty one-liners or GIFs. You should always comment even if it’s on the “second page”!
I always thought the chat was an invite only thing, which is why I never went? Also, it’s super awkward to just be sitting in there watching conversations between people who know each other real well while waiting for your turn to jump in. On the other hand, I feel like getting into chat might make commenting more fun (I’m totally not in on the inside jokes and I don’t know people’s “personalities”).
Other than that, more TV stuff.
We were all new in chat at one point or another. You should definitely pop in. Most of the time, Monsters will ask you questions to try and get to know you. It’s good times and everyone is nice. I SWEAR!
Well, general chat is come one-come all (TWSS) but chatting in the ultra-luxe Videogum Platinum Chat is for Diamond Circle-level Monsters.
http://tinychat.com/videogumplatinum
Do I have to buckle down and get a real videogum account to go to the chat?
Oh, no doubt. But being new to a new thing is different from being new to an established thing, y’know?
I might check it out but if not I’ll always have the comments section and the RTs by the few Videogum monsters I follow on Twitter!
It’s true, one time I popped into chat and 5 minutes later I was vid chatting with 5 strangers, including nightmare here! This doesn’t necessarily make any of you feel more comfortable to come in there, does it!? But please do, everyone is very attractive and nice. What more do you need in a human, really.
In case anyone is looking, it’s http://tinychat.com/videogum and there is no longer a password needed. Friday evenings in particular are BUMPIN.
I had the exact opposite experience. Initially, everyone said hello to me and then resumed their conversation. I felt like such a peeping-tom! Soooooo…. I’ve never been back.
I was first introduced the VG (do we say that here?) by an old post on Best Week Ever linking to Taking One for the Team. So, that was a cool feature I miss. Obviously, Joe Mande is probably very busy being awesome somewhere, but the concept was fun. Also, maybe for newbs, Werttrew’s exhaustive breakdown of all the inside jokes etc is invaluable. Maybe pimp that more? I lurked forever feeling like the kid sitting at the lunch table by the cool lunch table group that have all known each other since the sandbox (good metaphor, me) and being able to understand some of the history helped build up confidence to dive in wheee. Also, have I been missing the links to chat and the book club this whole time? I know they’re kind of separate, unofficial things, but only saw them mentioned in Friday posts occasionally. Well, I’ve certainly taken this seriously enough! Book club this post everyone.
Yes! Taking one for the team!
More Ed Harris tenderly stroking a giant green picture of Jim Carrey.
Gee. Thanks FLW.
Frank Lloyd Wrong, you are a master of this strange, under-appreciated art.
I left a comment somewhere in here about hating the whole .gif thing on videogum.
But I am just going to go ahead and make an exception for this one. JUST THIS ONE.
Hypocrite.
I just want upvotes. It’s been so long.
Weak.
I echo a lot of the sentiments that I found Videgum through the Hunt and the TV recaps. We definitely need a couple of TV shows for recapping again. I like when Gabe mixed it up by talking about at least one TV show he enjoyed (Lost) and some others that were for hate-watching (Gossip Girl, True Blood, etc). I would love for two sides of the TV coin to come back!
I think this gets what I was trying to say better than my comment. Good job, capsulekei!
What I mean to say is that back in Lost time there was a certain flow in the variety of posts, mixed with interludes (interludes?) of salsa dogs splitting up the space between very well-written essays about pieces of media we enjoy and don’t, which accomplished why we felt those things while entertaining. Many posts lately don’t feel like they accomplish a whole lot? I haven’t decided if that sounds ridiculous yet.
This isn’t to say that I think Videogum is past its prime, hanging around old pubs, drinking away its sorrows and yearning for the good old days. This place is pretty kick ass, and I think it can be a lot more kick ass.
Oh, the hate-recaps! I forgot about those. Those were lovely. Especially the Real Housewives of Wherever. Solid gold.
I don’t comment too much any more cuz I’m too busy getting LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
I don’t comment too much any more cuz I’m too busy MAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSTTTTTTUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRBAAATING
Don’t say that. I have met you IRL. Don’t say that.
I can’t even upvote that, it goes off my screen josh.
1) Chat is awesome, not too many people are chatting. I think maybe removing the password would help with that. (I also miss harassing random juggalos that would come in) I’ll get back on the Goth Chat bandwagon (bloodwagon) when IRL stops interfering or it’s starts raining liquid eyeliner. (Does anyone know how to make the text bigger on chat? My screen is way too big for it to make the text bigger and command + doesn’t really work on Tinychat. #firstworldproblems)
2) I miss Gabe’s random tv recaps. I know it’s all NBC thursdays all day everyday, but there is only so much you do with Liz Lemon jokes and Joel McHale nudie pic news. Bring back Gossip Girl recaps, if you don’t want to I will volunteer my eyeballs and time because it’s basically the Onion’s version of NYC high society mixed with Apprentice: Celebrity Rehab Edition. Someone has to call Rufus out on being a horrible parent and Nate blowing the makeup budget.
3) Overall you are doing a great job! Keep up the good work and stay hydrated!
I truly think Videogum is the best, funniest site on the internet. I love it here, the community is great and i think the coverage of videos is tops… that being said, i’ve always wondered when the gum coverage is going to begin…? I hate that i have to constantly check Wrigley’s, Bubblicious & Bazooka Joe’s (VASTLY inferior) blogs separately. That’d be my only gripe. Needs more gum coverage. (FUNNY COMMENT! Most likely gonna be the first/only ever double-editor’s choice & #1 comment)
Also, I am really looking forward to Videogum TV Club, I think that’ll be a great addition. I am so good at watching TV.
More recaps of reality tv with .jpgs featuring large superimposed block-letter captions (I really, REALLY miss the Real Housewives of Atlanta recaps. I’m sorry you had to watch that awful show, but *I* was able to stay in the loop with my coworkers without actually subjecting myself to viewing it.
It feels weird to ask for “less” of something on a website that I visit of my own volition and which NO ONE IS FORCING ME TO READ, but maybe some less stuff from everythingisterrible?
Just realized I have no idea what this place is like anymore. There’s a new writer named Kelly?? Hiiii Kelly!
I’m trying to think of what my favorite types of posts were when I commented here a lot (back in 2009? fuck I’m old [no I'm not (LADIES)]) and it’s basically the kinds of posts that are still here…WMOAT when I’ve seen the movie in question and rando vids of toddlers soliloquizing about persistence. I think the variable here is my current lack of desk job, TBH. Videogum can keep on keepin on. Forever. But now I’m out of the loop and don’t feel like I can ever get back in. If only there was an encyclopedic list of everything that’s happened since I dropped out of the scene! Did That One lose a baby tooth? Did KP take his first step? Everyone’s growing up so fast and I hardly recognize this site! The only reason I know how to navigate it even is because it has the same layout as every other Buzzmedia blog that exists.
Needs more whole grain fibers!
My lack of commenting (not that I was ever a solid member of the Vgum crew but I commented at least once a day) is due to the fact that I just got hella busy at work and it hasn’t stopped. I have more downtime later in the day but, being in CA, most of the Monster action has already occurred.
Same here. I miss the first 4 posts since I work on West Coast time and if i’m more than an hour late to a thread, I usually wont comment since I assume no one is still reading the comments.
Ditto concert_addict. Being on the west coast is hard.
this is my issue with commuting/working as well. My commenting schedule, while reg as hell from aug 09 to nov 10, was always structured on this. I never do BNPG, Caption Contests, etc, Bc by the time I get home I dont care about the internet that much and everything funny I could possibly have thought of and typed fastest (FIRST!) has already been taken, pounded out and Meta-BNPG’d to death
Honestly, I think Animated gifs have been done to death. However, I am working on something new called Meta Animated Gifs.
I think the gif threads are done until Fall.
.gifception
This is magnificent.
The outside Videogum sites are usually only pimped during Monster’s ball.
For those who are interested in Chat
http://tinychat.com/videogum
The password is ENHANCE
The only reason there is a password is that it used to get a ton of random trolls and a lot of people who would come in just to show us body parts we would rather not see.
Listen I said I was sorry. If people didn’t want to see my webbed feet, they didn’t have to look.
I haven’t been here as often because I tweet too much.
Also, I don’t have the attention span for entire videos of a thing. This is why I like gifs.
Also,
It’s not you, it’s me.
Hey wwwest. Whats up?
We need to talk about how I live in Pittsburgh but you killed your twitter account.
Pittsburgh! Really? Both of y’all? Me too!
Wait what? Lets get together and make bad decisions drunk. I’m kind of a big deal in making bad decisions drunk…..not to brag or anything.
Seriously. Are you both on Twitter? I leave this town forever in less than a month so let’s dooooooo thiiiiiiiiiiiis @KiriMack GET AT ME
(jwormyk, where you been at?)
Needs more Godsauce.
I agree, I really love recaps, especially of terrible reality shows I don’t watch (Real Housewives), True Blood, etc. I even really liked the Thirtysomething reviews, even though I know they drained Gabe.
I also REALLY miss Joe Mande, taking things for the team or in any incarnation, really. Sometimes, when I’m down, I go to his “boy band audition” T14TT and laugh at him covering LMFO. True story.
T14TT was a great feature. All guest bloggers have always been very delightful!
Also, I know Kelly is her own person and is not Lindsay or anything (and she’s doing great, good job Kelly!), and I also DON’T know what the distribution of creative ownership is for “Double Dog”, but I really liked Double Dog. Reading articles about funny people documenting their experiences watching all the Saw films in a row, or Gabe going down to Good Morning America at o’dark thirty with a sign he didn’t make and whose content he had no say in with the assignment to get on television with the sign, etc, is a very good read. My LOLk was filled to the brim every time.
So maybe not Double Dog if that’s not an option, but a spiritual successor would be worth looking into. I think blogger to blogger interaction is a positive, fun thing to see.
Double Dog was the shit. The Today show one is still one of the greatest posts this site has ever had.
I fucking loved the Thirtysomething reviews. Those were basically my introduction to VG and what made me love this place so much.
Television recaps are always fun. I don’t remember exactly how I found the site initially. I was at work at the Lube Factory, sitting at my desk doin’ nuthin. Probably a LOST recap maybe? But yeah, even if people don’t watch the show, the recaps are usually engaging and hilarious. The most recent recap series I read was Paul F. Tompkins’ American Idol recaps, and I’ve never watched a single episode of American Idol.
All the television shows are on summer break, so the open threads and the SNL recaps are also on break. The only exceptions are shows airing this summer like Rescue Me’s final season, new Futurama episodes, and BEST OF ALL, FUCKING BEST OF ALL, Breaking Bad season 4. I don’t know if any of these are recap worthy (oh, and I forgot to mention Game of Thrones because I don’t have HBO and it is totally off my radar, but maybe that would be good for recaps, because from what I understand it’s all fucked up with crazy family threads, incest, hot metal poured on dudes faces and wolves, WOLVES!).
Let’s see, what else?
The Best Show on WFMU could always use some more attention. Scharpling is the fucking man!
Some thoughts:
- I think facebook is always going to be tough sledding because of the nature of the site. It’s built around the idea of a commenting community that exists on the site, so I’m never that surprised when the active members aren’t spending a lot of time commenting on Facebook. That being said, I share stuff whenever it’s awesome (often) and would think other devoted readers should (and probably do) the same.
- I’d love to see more recaps, which I think play to Gabe’s strengths (and to be honest I think social commentary is the other thing he’s particularly strong at), but I also realize there are only so many seasons of True Blood or whatever you can watch before your soul corrodes. I might suggest a more active rotation of shows (both good and awful) to recap. I love Top Chef recaps, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t pull the masses in. Recap Outsourced! Recap the new version of Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen’s replacement. Recap Sherlock! Or whatever. Maybe do them in four episode bursts where you can bail out when/if you want to. But more recaps, for sure. I visit the site throughout the day, but save recaps for when I can really savor them.
And I’ll try to think of more. But honestly I mostly don’t have any complaints.
i think the stuff you said about facebook here is very true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ckCAUVOn0
I like videogum a lot. I did, however, pull back commenting to about 1% of what I had contributed before because I switched jobs. I’ll sporadically get the bug and comment on every other post for a couple of days, wait two months, repeat.
It’s not a content thing, or a community thing, it’s because I now own an adult diaper factory and these giant diapers are not going to package and ship themselves. If I could, I would photoshop Topher Grace hanging out with Amelia while they chat about Tom Cruise having a picture of a gay person in his wallet (I guess it’s been a while) all the dang time. I am, however, about to start my shift and won’t be allowed to leave the adult diaper testing room for another 12 hours.
I see you guys on twitter sometimes, though! Look out, cute puppies below!
A DIRE WOLF IS NO PET!
Guys, do you realize how long television recaps take to do? They are nightmares.
How about a compromise? Children’s Hospital is only a 15 minute show.
Season 3 starts tonight. Are you so excited?!
i am
Gabe’s getting paid, right?
just because a man is getting paid doesn’t mean he should be TORMENTED by the NIGHTMARE that is watching a tv show he likes and writing about it. Have some sympathy.
Seriously. Whatever happened to C.R.E.A.M.?
do you realize how long creating and maintaining terrifying spreadsheets about arts giving and non-profit budgets take to do? NO COMPLAINTS
I have actually considered/assumed that, but honestly I’d take fewer random posts during the day in exchange for more recaps. Not an UNREASONABLE amount – just more.
Just one show a week! Gabe does one, Kelly does one. Maybe?
Also I want to stay up for just five more minutes mom, pleeeaaaase.
I suggested this earlier [in the wrong thread], but rather than a full-on recap, is there a compromise where we get a paragraph or two about Gabe’s most favorite or hated parts of the show and then the comments could take over?
As a long time reader, my favs are/were:
– LOST recaps (the captioned pics alone were great!)
– You Can Make It Up
– Anything related to how horrendous Gwyneth Paltrow is
– and last, but not LEAST, the epically underrated “Thirtysomething” recaps! (EPIC!!!)
What I’d like to see?
– Gabe at the Gathering of the Juggalos (it would surely lead to a sarcasm strewn diatribe worthy of a Pulitzer!)
– Frank Lloyd Wrong added to the staff as a weekly editorial writer. His comments are gold!
And thus we found out what FLW’s real name is.
Given that I’m about one comment away from getting canned at any given moment, I would happily have this Golden Parachute in my back pocket.
I like videogum a whole lot. I don’t comment more because I am new (at commenting) and shy and the thing someone already said about when I finally think of something funny enough to say someone already said something better. Gabe is the best. I am terribly jealous of Kelly and will be for maybe one more month but she is obviously awesome and is doing a great job and soon we won’t even be able to comprehend a time when we didn’t have a Kelly and how we got by.
Just once I found the url for the chat and the password at the same time and went and no one was in the room and I suddenly felt terribly embarrassed and vacant and pathetic and like everyone else had stuff to do so why am I trying to chat? So I left suddenly and now I don’t know where the URL or the password is.
General- Videogum best place on internet, ever. . Oh ok, just one thing. Someone once said something about all of us watching Buffy together, episode by episode and discussing it in depth, as a family, even though it will take forever? This may have been a joke but it really stuck with me and now I have to be honest, I don’t think I will be truly content unless that happens. Just saying.
Re: Buffy (stupid brain programmed by WORK) – I think that was me!!! And if Gabe is too busy to do it, I humbly nominate myself! My husband will be sooo excited to watch Seasons 1-7 on instant Netflix again!
Chat is awesome and you should try again! Especially of Fridays right before Monster Balls and late Friday or Saturday (EST) when monsters be getting shitty together on camera and embarrassing themselves. Or so I’ve heard, I’ve never done that.
tinychat.com/videogum
pw: enhance
Am I the only person who refers to Monsters Ball as Monster Balls in my head? I can’t be the only person.
I post way less now that the comments have mostly turned into a show of one-upmanship. I used to be able to just discuss things like a normal person. Now I have to think about the funniest thing I can say just to get noticed.
Also, everything is an extreme? This is the best. This is the worst. I can’t have a middle-of-the-road opinion or it gets ignored. Everyone speaks in hyperbole. At some point, that becomes exhausting.
Lastly, I perceive the comment section to be a Gabe echo chamber. We use the same memes every single day. We all write like you. I’m guilty of it, too, I’ll admit. We all choose from a bank of 50-odd sentence structures. I know these turns of phrases (plural?) make us a special little community, but it also makes us fucking boring sometimes.
That said, the regular writing is still great. Like others are saying, I would probably be more into things if there were more recaps of shows I watched. That’s all I can think of.
It’s kind of annoying when you want to talk about the article but there are so many gifs nobody reads it
I definitely don’t read the threads that are all gifs, which sucks – I’d love to talk Thursday night tv, but no one TALKS in that thread!
I have been on videogum for a few years and although I don’t comment very often, I find myself visiting less lately. Funtastik makes great points on how homogenized the site has become. It sometimes feels like Gabe writes a post then Gabe copycats try to out-Gabe each other to make points.
I think it would be cool if there was some sort of contest for the arty/designy types. Like maybe a T shirt design? Or is that lame? I know I would rock the shit out of a v-gum t-shirt because I am the coolest.
PLAGIARIST COMMENTATOR!!!!!!!! what?
I’m going to chime in with my two cents, just because its the current topic, but if my opinion annoys too many people, they are free to disregard it.
I don’t really visit Videogum anymore. As time has gone on, it just feels like it lacks the sense of community that it once had. Perhaps that’s my fault. I’ve never been a big commenter (working nights will do that to you), but even viewing the site from outside depresses me sometimes. Half the time it feels like a sterilized version of 4chan, except instead of trying to shock each other, we’re all trying to out-clever each other. At times, it feels like a population of trolls who claim to hate trolls. Its certainly a very homogeneous community, as the Week’s Lowest Comment always seem to prove. There’s a lot of back-slapping and kuhdooz for posting what everyone agrees with. I was briefly encouraged by the sharing of the birth of Baby Wert, and Son of Gabe’s coming out to his friends, but it always seems to go back to Twitter games and posting things a day after Buzzfeed gets them (this is in no way a recommendation of Buzzfeed, just sayin’). Add to that moments where seasoned Monsters have been reprimanded on Twitter for expressing displeasure with features on the site, and I’m just done with the negativity.
Of course, anyone who knows where I’ve been spending my time lately online probably think I’ve just gone off my rocker. That’s fine. I also want you guys to know that the majority of you are freaking awesome, and I still would relish the chance to meet you guys in a more formal capacity. You’re some of the funniest and smartest people out there, and I wish you nothing but the best.
oh man, can i get some links? in which episode was baby werttrew born? in which episode did son of gabe do the coming out story?
Things I miss:
-WUWTG: (as evidenced by my newly reinstated Topher Grace avatar)
-Anything related to Sad Keanu
-There used to be tons of badly photoshopped images in the comments that always made me laugh
-Movie Club (where we are told to see the movie ahead of time and not just surprised with the review on Mondays)
The WMOAT has a rule that no movies based off a popular superhero are eligible. I propose Gabe does a special edition “ALL POPULAR SUPERHERO WMOAT” series.
Seconded! Although I would hate for Gabe to have to sit through The Spirit, The Saint, Spider-Man 3, Batman & Robin and much more, it would make for some great demented ramblings.
BARBED WIRE
HOWARD THE DUCK
GHOST RIDER
WANTED
You forgot the ultimate culprit: DAREDEVIL
I’m sorry, that should’ve read as “BARB WIRE.”
Also, CATWOMAN, JONAH HEX, and STEEL.
Nick Fury?
Hoy crap, I would love this so much. Make it happen Gabe. Think of the children!
How about some Buzz Media crossover posts? Gabe writes the Superficial. The Superficial writes the Kim Kardashian bog and Kim Kardashian writes for Videogum. It’s called SYNERGY folks!
Like many, maybe. I still read videogum regularly but I only comment once in a blue moon. I don’t really expect any of my grievances to be addressed. That’s not because I suspect a lack of motivational will behind this review post, but more due to my complaints being a mix of unaddressable (with regards to the realities of a community) and of these complaints being in the minority.
So I’m mostly listing these because I really don’t have a lot going on in my life.
1) Obviously this has been addressed in the great civil war of 2010 and I guess my side lost but, my god the .gifs. Sorry but real talk: the .gifs are the worst. They make the comments page load 10x slower and for literally no gain. “Oh but the .gifs can be just as clever as the comments!!!” Nope. No. But whatever, us .gif haters will lick our wounds. It may have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.
2) Maybe this is a problem limited to my account, I don’t know. But i have to login every single time that I want to leave a comment. That “Remember me” checkbox is a lie. Even the autocomplete features on my browser are like “LOL wut?” Also if I sign in to leave a comment here and then go to stereogum to leave a comment in the same half hour, i’ve got to sign in AGAIN? These are precious 5 second intervals that could add up to a whole youtube video of a cat jumping into a box.
3) Monster’s Ball. Still hate that. Makes all of these comments competitions to be the funniest and just a big giant circlejerk. I feel like this community would literally be 10x better without that stupid thing.
4) Shake things up a bit? All of these WMOATs and You Can Make It Ups (as awesome and hilarious as they are and continue to be) have just gotten kind of tiresome.
5) I think the number of comments are a little disparaging. And really how can you stop that or why (as an enterprise that really relies on networking) would you want to? But maybe cut out those party games? I mean really? Who reads 400 comments worth of a thread? We read maybe the first 20 that catch our eye and then stop, if we even read them at all.
Other than that, we cool bro.
THE REMEMBER ME CHECKBOX IS THE BIGGEST LIE!!!!!!
You are SO RIGHT.
I logged in just to heartily agree with point number 2. It doesn’t take forever to log in, but it takes just long enough to stretch my attention span to it’s limit, and I click away to facebook or twitter and never come back. I want to upvote/downvote without logging in!
cosigned on all 5 points.
#3 Agree. It feels like part of the reason that Vgum has turned into a place to show off instead of discuss things is that people are trying to win the Monster’s Ball.
I just logged in for the first time in like two years so that I could heartily support # 2. I still read the site every day, but I stopped commenting/upvoting because I was tired of having to sign in EVERY SINGLE TIME I visited (I come via Google Reader, so I usually click through on each separate post). Then again, I’m terribly lazy about these sorts of things: so much internet to catch up on at the end of the workday, so little time.
I appreciate your thoughtful comment, but have you ever BEEN to the Ball? It’s like the sweet alcoholic cider, and we are all the rat from Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Also, off topic, your avatar looks like a penis. No offend-o.
It doesn’t help that the script for the login pop-up only loads towards the end of the page. This means that if I’m on the home page, or a page with a million GIFs, so I guess basically any page, I need to wait 15 seconds for the page to load entirely so the button will even work and give me the pop-up.
White people problems, I know, but this is the best time to mention it.
YES! Agreed.
Captain Malcolm Reynolds quote!
I wasn’t here for the gif debate, but I hear what you’re saying on the rest. I assume the gif debate was whether it was pronounced with a g or a j (like the peanut butter). Must have been one fiery debate! (Like the peanut butter was the original pronunciation by the creator of the gif, but both pronunciations are acceptable now).
The more you know!
I kinda agree with #3, not that I hate the Ball, but I think ditching it in favour of a weekend open thread (and leaving the ball less “official”) might foster a bit more discussion, as well as give people a bit more of a space of general discussion on the weekends when theres no posting. I know were open to discuss what we want in the comments anyway, but make it a bit more talkie and a bit less dance giffy?
Jeez I hate that I feel im being critical of this site because I love it, just chucking in my 2 cents anyways as a big Vgum luvah.
It’s weird to me because my computer lets me stay logged into VG for days at a time. I login maybe twice a week and VG is my homepage (no lie). I don’t know what you guys are doing but it is working for me!
the thirtysomething recaps were my favorite thing ever. i would love more recaps of terrible, and not so terrible, old shows that are on netflix instant, we could all watch along. have you watched numbers? that is a terrible show. joel fleishman is in it (HI JOEL!), and so is that dude from taxi. what about magnum p.i.? that is also an awful show, the dude with the mustache that isn’t burt reynolds is in it. studio 60 on the sunset strip? it was fun to wait every week to talk about something that aired 20 years before. buffy, angel, twin peaks. the possibilities are endless (not really, but sorta).
I knew I wasn’t alone in my adoration of the Thirtysomething recaps.
yes! thirtysomething was the best of times
soo goooood.
I totally vote for a Videogum Community Hate-Watch Club.
YES, THIS! I was going to post this at the bottom of the 8,000 comments here, but I think more love/hate watching on instant Netflix would be awesome. There is so much bad stuff on there! There is so much good stuff on there! You could do it with TV shows and/or movies. Maybe have some Monsters write some content? I just watched Purple Rain last night, and I’d have many funny things to say about it.
I know I’m kind of new as a poster, but I’m just glad to be here. (I lurked for awhile.)
I would also like more TV recaps. I did join up because of LOST. And Wednesday nights have been solid lately until the seasons ended (sigh) and it was honestly nice to know there were others out there who like Cougartown as much as I do. I would hope we still get True Blood recaps this summer, especially bc I’m moving to a city where people are really proud of not watching TV (fuck you, hippies) and I need an online space to feel safe.
And I like it when Gabe gets political. I always share that on the Facebook because we have a pretty similar looking soapbox. I’m actually curious what his take is on the Anthony Weiner situation.
I also enjoy the Paltrow jokes. They’re way funnier and smarter than those made on other sites.
Plus, and I know this is goofy, but it’s kind of our job to help raise Son of Gabe. He came out to US before his IRL friends and that’s kind of amazing. I know this is a silly site and I log on a lot because I work from home and can’t have witty office banter with my coworkers like my old jobs, but it seems like a nice place to make pop culture jokes to and for other people who get it. Like yesterday? I was at the doctor’s (I’m okay, just a checkup) and THE PEOPLE IN THE WAITING ROOM WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW AMAZING MEL GIBSON IS AND HOW ALL HIS MOVIES ARE FANTASTIC. And all I could think of was “my Internet friends are totally going to laugh at this.” But then I came home and did real work and packed for my move and forgot to tell you. But if we as an Internet-based pop culture site don’t raise Son of Gabe, who will? His parents? His classmates? A shifty-eyed stranger with a van? STAY AWAY FROM VAN GUYS, SON OF GABE! (And Van Nuys if you’re ever in Los Angeles. Hey-O!)
Okay back to coding. 0111010101000101010001111010101
EVERYONE TAKES IT WAY TOO SERIOUSLY. People get defensive over way too little.
Any dissent or waver from the groupthink is confronted with hostility.
Plus, I just don’t think it’s funny anymore. It’s borderline cultish. Kelly shows promise and balances it out a bit, but Gabe’s solo run was draining my patience.
but hey, I love me some Monsters. I just can’t take the writing “YOU GUYS.” I once received a ton of downvotes for saying I thought it was a waste of time to catalogue “inside jokes”, and I stand by that. It’s a blog. #blogblog
WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN BY ALL THAT, APPLE?!
what needs clarifying? it is pretty straightforward, no?
Awe shucks. I was joshing ya by being too serious and defensive and confronting you with hostility, as that was your opinion of what all monsters act like.
OH SHIT.
& I, with the equally-defensive, antagonistic dumb-playing that I so easily fall into.
Seriously, CALM DOWN.
And also, no more lists, about anything. I come here to screw around a little bit between classes. That’s really all this blog should provide.
I want to get this comment pregnant with twins. I think that’s why I get downvoted a lot or just not accepted in the commenting realm too much on Videogum proper. I treat Videgum like my e-weekend house from NYMAG and other forums I comment on. I treat it as a fun place to BS around or have a fun discussion on the impact of Garden State etc. It’s a bit of a oneliner factory with GIFs. And goddamn do I hate excessive GIFs. It’s not good humor, they’re just lazy visual references. I’ve been an OG on the internet for a long time, and GIFs are great for slowing the script down and that’s about it.
I’ve noticed a bit that there are consistent complaints about one-upsmanship. However, I don’t really see it. It is entirely possible that it’s there, and if it is there, that it is a bad thing. Personally I just attribute it to everyone being really, really funny.
I like you guys. I’ve never felt ostracized or anything. True, I am zero percent towards my EGOT, but I honestly just think that’s because other people say funnier and more interesting things than I do.
Maybe the trolling or exclusion comes from the familial atmosphere that vgummers have created. Maybe it’s everyone trying to literally outwit the other commenters. I think that if you look for that stuff, then you’ll find it. But for me, this is a funny website full of funny people. It’s not the end of the world if my comment only gets 9 upvotes. Or no upvotes.
Bottom line, everyone is super cool, Gabe is handsome, Kelly is pretty, and I am the smartest person alive.
YES! I think it’s so weird people get upset about one-upping one another. I mean, don’t you do that with your real friends too, always trying to be funnier than them? If not, why do people visit Videogum in the first place, because you can see sleepy cats everywhere on the Internet. It’s both the orginal content and the great comments that put Videogum apart from any random site out there.
That’s probably why I’ve commented less. I enjoy talking about TV, movies, celebrities and comedy and I feel like both Videogum focuses less on that in recent days (the last entry in the Hunt was over two months ago) and more on viral videos. Like I said, the web is full of bad white rappers, we get it. Plus I feel I personally can indulge in these interest more with podcasts.
“I mean, don’t you do that with your real friends too, always trying to be funnier than them?”
N….no.
Is that a thing you guys do? ….a thing that you guys do in real life?!?
Maybe i’ve been living my life wrong, but I think most people just joke around without really trying to out-funny everyone. Maybe if you’re trying REALLY hard to impress a group of new people or something. But that’s about it.
I think more than the 1-upsmanship, for me at least, is the feeling that the comments section becomes a closed dialogue between 8 regulars which is kind of hard to crack into. The fact that those most vocal contributors have actually been guest bloggers only enhances that feeling.
Sometimes I feel a little like a guy who went with a friend to his office party. Like… I guess I can to participate, but I kinda feel like it will be a pointless effort.
All that being said, I don’t feel like it’s fair of me or anyone else to complain about the open comments section because who am/are I/we? I don’t begrudge anyone their commenting celebrity. It’s just that I went from commenting on several posts a day to 1 or 2 a week and I think that sense of being an outsider is the reason.
Speaking as a regular commenter and also as a guest blogger, I can kind of see where you’re coming from. I spend probably way too much time commenting on here! I get to threads early because I know when they post. They also happen to coincide directly with my work day, where I’m otherwise sitting at a desk spreadsheeting. It has more to do with quantity than anything else. And sure, if you look at someone’s profile and their 10 most recent comments are all the same joke, regardless of the originating thread, that can get tiresome, but don’t think it’s some sort of conspiracy that 8 people have against everyone else. I comment a lot because I have a lot of time to comment. I get to know other people who comment a lot because they also have a lot of time to comment.
It’s like going to a bar and complaining that it’s full of regulars. You don’t get to be a regular at a bar unless you go to the bar a lot. It just takes time. Everyone who comments regularly now has gone through the same lurker-occasional commenter-regular metamorphosis. That’s just the way it goes. Then eventually you get sick of it, or you find something else to do, or you get pregnant and can’t go to the bar anymore.
Maybe that wasn’t that well-phrased, I’ll admit, but my point is don’t people want to make their friends laugh? Then they want to make you laugh? Because you like each other and just want to have fun together? It’s not to assert dominance, it’s to show you feel like you belong in that group. That’s what most of the commenters want to do.
From that perspective, I get your point. But it still comes off as a little much, y’know? When i’m joking around with friends, not EVERY line has to be a joke. There are set-ups and there are discussions.
Granted I don’t read every single comment page anymore, but the ones I do choose to read are just punchline after punchline after punchline. I rarely see anything in the comments resembling conversation or discussion anymore. And to a large extent, that’s cool. I like to laugh! I like to read jokes! I like to make jokes! All of these things!
But…. just relax, you guys. I think that things like the Monster’s Ball encourage people to be one-up’ing all the time, whether consciously or not. (I think the upvote/downvote sitch as Godsauce mentioned also plays a role, but i think without the Ball it wouldn’t be NEARLY as pronounced). Without all of this hierarchal competition crap, everyone would be able to just chill out without sacrificing the laughs.
I do think that the commenters on the site are often remarkably funny, and I hang more at another site that is as big a self-referential wank as this one so I can’t really talk, BUT
I wish people talked more about movies and stuff. What makes my day is a tip about something awesome that I have never heard about.
And, in general, Gabe’s take on TV and movies can be pretty relentlessly negative. Can we talk more about great stuff and less about the latest obvious shit sandwich? Like, here’s a column — pick an actor each week and talk about how badass they are. Off-kilter career retrospective. Call it something snappy like “Unimpeachably Badass: Michael Gambon.” Unimpeachably Badass: Michelle Yeoh.
Guys, I do not agree with AM about everything in this comment, but at the moment of this writing, he has a negative comment rating, and that just makes me sad.
Why should a person have to face blatant and anonymous shunning for expressing an opinion? I have been involved in a discussion with Gabe about this on twitter for the last hour, but nothing could make my point better than this. This should not be a community where offering a sincere opinion is met this way.
Since it seems that upvotes are here to stay, I would like to publicly suggest that downvotes be removed from the site. They are unnecessary, they invite trolls, and they discourage open discussion. We could still express approval anonymously, but we would be forced to use our words to express disapproval. Maybe that would be good for everyone.
YES!
Exactly. This is the same reason Facebook steadfastly refuses to implement a “Dislike” button. Just don’t click the “Like” button.
1. I agree with many of you on here about the recaps. I hadn’t realized I missed them- esp of bad shows- until many of you mentioned it.
2. Sometimes the posts just annoy the hell out of me. A recent example was the last The Killing post. It started with this whole explanation how she Obviously wasn’t really the worst bc she is character on “TV” & it’s “fiction.” Don’t get me wrong, in the beginning I use to find this type of writing funny, but more recently it’s been bugging me, coming off less funny & more condescending. I tend to not finish a post if I repeatedly think “not shit, dude” in the 1st paragraph.
And hey, it’s you humor & that’s fine. But on my side, it has made me less interested on coming on the site when I can just talk to monsters on Twitter.
Ugh, that should be: “it’s your humor & that’s fine”
Well, wait, if your complaint about Videogum is just that you don’t like it, then I don’t think we can help you? (This also goes for maisonaise.)
So you would like us to say what’s missing or what can be added but not what might keep us away performance-wise?
Well, if what is keeping you away performance-wise is all the writing on the site, basically, then, no, I guess I don’t feel like that is even remotely constructive. There are different things we can write about, and there are different subjects to approach, and even different structures in which to house that writing. But your main point is that you find the writing annoying, and that is not really open for discussion?
My constructive comment is for you to end fewer sentences with question marks. I keep having to reread them in my head to add the rising intonation, and it’s driving me crazy?
Godsauce hit on a huge point for me. I have been meaning to comment on this but didn’t feel like logging in just to be group-downvoted. I am not sure if Gabe has always had this writing style or if it has been exaggerated lately but it seems as if he uses bingo style lottery to decide whether to use a period, exclamation mark or question mark to punctuate a sentence. Then another drawing to see how many to insert.
It has been distracting and takes away from the humor.
@my name is not my name— Pictures or it didn’t happen!
@Godsauce + others (what ARE these reply buttons?) Stop criticizing the writing style. That shit is petty and basically says “I dislike what this website fundamentally is at the moment” which is a problem with you, not the website. Gabe did not set up this “performance review” to hear all the little style-based things that you wish were more to your taste, he wants to know how the site and its off-site supplements can be more user-friendly and/or engaging. “Your punctuation style annoys me” is just…the worst, least constructive form of criticism. Bad job.
Yes, I am criticizing your criticism. “META.”
I was joking, Carrie, but thanks for all the help.
Oh. Well then I am changing my criticism to “get better jokes.”
Interior semiotics?
I just want to say that I really enjoy inserting question marks in places they don’t belong? TWSS? My name is Ron Burgundy?
I know you already know this, but I’m going to say it anyway. Gabe’s use of question marks is meant to really lay on the sarcasm thick. But, yes, he overuses them and it’s sort of lazy writing.
I don’t understand why Gabe responded to this comment. Mostly because I don’t understand it. What does “not shit, dude” mean? This comment is a poorly written pile of shit. But, by all means, take it very seriously, Gabe!
Any possible way to get links to open in new windows rather than navigating away from Videogum? When I come to Videogum, I want to stay at Videogum! (Except when i want to check out a link posted away from Videogum, but in that case I want to come BACK to Videogum!
CTRL + click is going to be your new best friend, I just know it.
i’m not going to re-hash the whines of yore (.gifs, insular over-commenting, etc.) but i will say that i, like many others, miss the recaps and the 2nd voice we had by having Lindsay around…
…. which brings me to my next point and i TRULY MEAN NO DISRESPECT WHEN I SAY THIS. the guest bloggers are great and i welcome kelly with open arms but i think it’s important that all vgum contributers who are not gabe, find their own voice and style in their writing. we don’t need gabe 2.0 or gabe 3.14. no pie gabe. we need great writers around here with unique points of view and communication styles. we have one gabe and that is enough. (hugs, gabe.)
I think this is a really good point. My favorite guest blogger to date was Mans, only because of the bizarre, dry humor that we love Mans for and its stark contrast to the material Gabe writes (No disrespect to Gabe, I find his voice hilarious). It was so refreshing and unique, and I distinctly remember a movie review that simultaneously made me giggly and introspective (sorry, don’t feel like looking for links…). He got trashed for it by some people, distinctly because it wasn’t Gabe’s style. Oh well.
Back to lurking.
Mans!
I found this wonderful place through Stereogum years ago and while it was Lindsay v Gabe Friday Fights and Double Dog Dare that drew me in, I stayed for the Lost recaps and the community of amazing people who comment here. Just wanna say I love ya monsters and Gabe and now new mom Kelly!! XOXOXO I promise to chat/comment more.
Friday Fights were some of my favorite things©
I agree with the basics, like more recaps and keep doing movie club (and maybe an old summer show we can all watch? Twin Peaks…I haven’t seen IT Club, etc.).
I really love gifs, you guys! It makes me sad that there is gif backlash. I say keep the gifs coming!
I think Gabe should go on a once-a-week adventure. But not something awful, necessarily. Something fun and funny that he will enjoy! I just want Gabe to be happy, guys.
Is there a way to do a weekly GIF roundup like we did last week, but not use GIFs in comments anymore? Personally, I actually just LIKE the aesthetic of GIFs but I can see how they are bogging down the community and also become one-uppy. So, maybe a centralized GIF repository at the end of the week for all the GIFs but toning down the GIFs in the threads?
It’s just an idea. I’m not particularly interested in curbing the way people want to use the site, but if there was some kind of consensus agreement then maybe that would be a solution?
A weekly gif roundup is an awesome idea. I also think the Thursday night TV open thread should continue with the gifs, there’s only so much you can say about comedy shows other than quote them, and gifs are basically moving picture quotes.
Yes, please. Thursday Night TV gifs = Yes. Curbing them in other posts = Yes.
I actually think the Thursday night TV thread is the one place gifs are overused… Some of them are cramazing, eg Ron Swanson spinning to avoid the citizen in his circle desk. But once you’re just capturing a gif of a one liner I don’t see the point, can’t you just type it if it needs to be posted?
Just agreeing with Duke Silver. A lot of the gifs of the physical humour are great, but I don’t get the point of like, sepia screeening 2 seconds of someone’s mouth moving with the quote underneath. You could just type the funny quote you like instead of asking concert addict to create/find a gif of it for you.
Pro-GIF.
SECONDED.GIF
Gifs are funny. They are a “bog the site down” thing, sure, but I hardly agree that they are getting out of hand in the comments. I don’t think there needs to be a “place” for us to put them. We have Twitter, Facebook, etc for our conversational needs re: gifs. But every once in a damn while, it’s freakin FUNNY to see Zack Morris shaking his damn head at something stupid! That’s IT! If someone, and by that I mean mostly everyone, can use the joke “(LADIES)” which is just EFFING OVER-USED by everyone but Gabe, then why can’t we put a stupid moving-picture-thing in the comments if we want to??
Moving-picture-things can be over-used, too. But whatevs. You guys have obviously already had this discussion so it’s pointless to have it again!
[Oprah .gif here]
They can be overused, but they can also be funny. I think that’s the point of this thread. How can we accommodate the people who like gifs and accommodate the people who hate gifs. I think there’s a middle ground that most of us can agree on. I like the idea of having pro-gif posts where people can let their gif flag fly.
Although I am confused by intensity of the gif hate. I get the technology complaint. Some people visit Videogum on phones or net-books or izunes that can’t handle lots of gifs, but I don’t understand how they hinder discussions. Like, if I see a gif that I don’t like or don’t think is funny, I don’t think it prevents me from posting a funny/insightful/brilliant comment (this never happens, I’m speaking in hypotheticals). I’m not trying to cause a ruckus, I’ve just seen that posted before and I don’t understand it.
No. The point is not “overuse”. The point is, if everyone makes THIS annoying, thread killing joke, always trying to sound like Gabe, etc, why can I not make this OTHER joke, which some people also find annoying? This isn’t exactly the Civil Rights Movement, I get it. But, hands off my gifs. My gifs, my choice! Don’t tell my gifs they can only sit in the back! (oof). That is, I’m going to say what I want, where I want to say it.
Here we are on a website about websites and the web, and trying to make the WWW’s version of a one line joke is somehow causing irritation? (TWSS <——-GUNSHOT)
Furthermore, if I'm getting mad upvotes for the gifs I only very occasionally post, where are the V for Vgummers? If they're not representing, I don't see why I need to take my shit elsewhere.
Yeah, I'm pissed about this.
V for Vgum
I can’t believe that’s the first V for Vgum occurrence on this thread. I’ve been waiting so long…
some of us were holding back in the name of TRUE REFORM.
Ha! Just being an ass here. Please don’t take this as a throwdown or challenge. I am too old and broken.
hatelove you
You’ve made a huge mistake.
I think this is my first performance review in which my spelling has not been brought up. Oops! Back to coding! 0101110101101001010
hi all,
first post and such.
this is for sure one of my favorite “internet places”.
Gabe has a great mix of humor and sincerity and often humility to his BLOGS and i think Kelly is off to a real great start.
what initially brought me to the site was the hunt and im looking forward to the next run. i of course enjoy the gwyneth p and the laff videos and DUH aficionado with the occasional liberal commentary.
though, when kelly put up the animated short, DRIPPED, the other day. i was pretty pleasantly surprised.
as this usually isnt that kind of site.
which is OK, but maybe? .. a bit more of that? i know this site is on a mission of GIFS and GAFFS and LAFF VIDS. and thats a big part of what the NETS are, sure. but i think it would be super great to open our vidgum arms up to “the arts”(????) to put it very generally.
i would really like to see that side of the nets touched on in thats special videogum way.
perhaps you will consider it.
i would also like to echo the sentiments of some others on the commenting atmosphere at times.
you guys do seem really great and things are very REAL here, keeping it real, most of the time.
but it is a bit daunting for a newborn commenter to get in among the wash of constant WIT and one up joke-threads.
thats being said, i enjoy the GIFFs.
also, maybe there could be a re-cap of Doctor WHO(nerd) because that show is both entertaining as well as being almost complete garbage
Welcome.
Just do you, (wo)man. I always comment with what I feel or what pops into my head. A lot of ppl think I’m a troll or something. Meh, fuck em. Just found out a few weeks ago some Detroit Monster thinks I’m a troll, so there’s that. But Meh.
And also, it took me a while, but votes dont matter. This is your videogum, treat it with respect, but also recognize no one can tell you how or what your internetting experience should be.
The Hunt is the best. Keep doing the Hunt. I love the Hunt. Hunt.
I like Videogum. Gabe is very funny and has a distinct voice. I’m not bothered that others emulate him. Some of the comments are very very funny. Certain running jokes get annoying but not enough to keep me away. I’m not sure the “community” is what I’m drawn to and to be honest, I’m a bit intimidated by a lot of the extracurriculars. Especially since it seems that some people don’t even comment on the site itself anymore (I guess I’m mainly thinking of DS3M, whose only comments lately seem to be links to his tweets). That’s not fair! You should comment on the site!
It is nice that people here seem to like each other. I’ve stopped commenting on most other blogs because it always turns into, well, the comment section on a blog. Videogum feels different, and I like that.
That’s pretty much it. So, keep up the good work! It’s still one of my favorite places on the internet and I try to read as many posts I can.
Oh, one thing, Gabe – I would LOVE to see something like a movie review of the week independent of the Movie Club and WMOAT. Just something really open-ended, something smaller you saw in theaters last week, or even a really old film you just caught on Netflix. I really enjoy when you interject yourself (memories, personal experience), and it would be great to see more of that against the backdrop against rewatching, say, Home Alone. Almost like a funny journal entry.
That is insanely specific and I’m weird for even suggesting it, but oh well…
“Certain running jokes get annoying but not enough to keep me away.”
I know you’re not talking about Donna Darko.
Not in the least. DONNA DARKO 4LYFE <3 NVR 4GET <3
Honestly, the running jokes I mentioned don’t really bother me that much. At all. I regret even bringing it up. Running jokes are great! I like that some monsters find them funny and that’s far more important than any distaste or misunderstanding I might have. Videogum is great because there’s room for that discrepancy in taste. Or at least I hope there is.
I apologize for being cryptic about this but I don’t want to detract from anyone’s enjoyment of these memes. I hate, hate, hated VforVgum and still have no idea why people were such assholes during whatever that was, so TOforThatOne’s Personal Taste is so not the idea I want to communicate with my in-jokes comment.
Also, I’m drunk. So there’s that.
“I’ve stopped commenting on most other blogs because it always turns into, well, the comment section on a blog. Videogum feels different, and I like that.”
I really like that statement. I don’t think I’ve been on Videogum long enough to know that to be true, but I like that you think it’s true, and that I completely understand comment sections on blogs.
Oh hi. I’ve been a commenter on here since 2009 maybe even earlier I can’t remember for certain. My old name was jneslo (which is also my twitter name feel free to follow!) and I ended up switching it due to impatience with being able to login after the redesign.
I’ve been tweeting about why left but, I guess this is the best forum. Most of the reasons I left have nothing to do with Videogum. To be honest I got really busy being social (it was a weird phase) and working retail also makes it hard to be a day commenter.
On top of that I was part of the VforVgum crew and the way it all went down just really left a bad taste in my mouth. I really felt like I didn’t belong here for awhile.
As you can see none of this has to do with Gabe or the site in general. Though I do agree with grace6697 that a change in tone is much welcome since thats the point of having more than Gabe (and what we loved about Lindsay).
So consider this me trying to reconnect. I’m not the wittiest person and enjoy discussion more than one liners because of that so I’m willing to try if y’all are.
Fine, I’ll ask – what’s the VforVgum crew?
Many moons ago when some of us saw that .gifs and oneliners were taking over videogum we started a twitter campaign called #VforVgum. It started small and then it seemed to erupt over night. Part of it was just us having fun but unfortunately it also hurt peoples feelings and there was a pretty emotional comment thread about it. It was a really bizarre moment in vgum history.
I miss everything good.
vaguely, some people got upset over the state of commenting and amount of .gifs (heavily paraphrasing), and it led to people wanting “the old vgum” back which ostracized a lot of folks and I think on both ends it ended up getting personal in one way or another (eg bad taste in mouth).
am I wrong here? btw FWIW Jana I am 100% with you in everything that you said! I am more inflammatory than anything (troll at heart) and so I will still refrain from commenting in the future.
More Tubgirl!!!!
You’re a monster! (wait, we’re all Monsters)
Post some kind of stuff on the weekend.
Since you are asking …
I don’t consider myself a very argumentative person, but have gotten into some sticky weird “pseudo-fights” on this site. It’s confusing to have all sarcastic posts and then have people jump down your throat for being sarcastic. I’ve laid off commenting for a year or so but still visit the site every day. I quit facebook 6 months ago because I don’t think they respect my privacy and I’ve never had a Twitter account. I find all this extra interaction overwhelming and would prefer to just keep all interactions on the site. (I have a feeling I am alone in my hatred of Facebook, Twitter ect. but am just putting my reasons out there.) Also, I had no idea there was a chat option on this site.
Things I love/loved about the site.
The Thirtysomething reviews
Worst Movie of All Time re-caps
Random internet crap like Die Antwood.
True Blood re-caps
You Can Make it Up
Goop
Things I don’t get or don’t enjoy as much
Guest bloggers. (sorry guest bloggers)
Thursday night open thread. (it’s getting old)
Being overly sappy about pictures of cute animals. (I’m not that big of an animal lover)
Glee (Sorry don’t throw tomatoes at me but the Glee re-caps are sooo long and detailed and not that funny)
New Movie Trailers (Sometimes the movie isn’t “so terrible it’s funny” or “so amazing it must be shown” It’s just meh a movie and a waste of my 2 mins.)
Overall I still visit the site so good job … 5 gold stars!
P.S. Less ads please .. sometimes they choke the page.
Agreed on everything but the Gleecaps, I enjoyed those, but then again, Soft Gabe has already left us… And while I do enjoy trailers, maybe put them into some sort of context or give a more personal analysis of what you expect, I can see trailers on /Film.
Firefox.
This is more of a technical issue than anything: do all of the gif people have like, supercomputers with 1,000,000 terrabytes or something? because my browser crashes on like every 5 out of 10 times i click on a post. Because of the mass amounts of gifs. Just sayin’.
Back to trollin’!
This is the only legitimate concern re: gifs.
I have a pretty crappy Toshiba computer that is like at least 8 yrs old and my browser hardly ever crashes (except when I get on Twitter for some reason). Maybe it’s your browser? Maybe you need to update your software? Maybe you need more memory?
Kelly! I loved loved “This Week In .gifs”. Keep doing that. Over and over again on an infinite loop please.
life imitating GIFS
The writing styles seriously need to get mixed up and freshened up around here. Gabe is a very funny man, but he’s starting to sound like a parody of himself with the same tropes and catchphrases, and everybody who isn’t Gabe (Kelly, guest bloggers, commenters) falls all over themselves trying to sound just like Gabe. I BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN ALL BE FUNNY IN YOUR OWN VOICES IF YOU JUST TRY.
I never understood Donna Darko, and then I kind of understood Donna Darko, and then I went back to not getting Donna Darko.
I miss the long multiple-comment debate threads. I feel like too many replies in the comments don’t add to the idea but instead just have a picture of Danny DeVito’s hilarious face. Granted, DeVito’s face is hilarious, but I can only stare at his face so many times. My favorite recent Vimeojam memory was Son of Gabe’s revelation and the outpouring of support that came from that. I recall someone saying it felt like the Season Finale of Videogum.
I’ve been around this site since its beginning, though only an occasional participant. Each year has indeed felt like a new season, with a few mainstays and some characters who go on to bigger and better Twitter feeds. I don’t feel like the quality of the blogging has declined, but the Monster community today feels smaller than it has in the past (though no less hilarious). Maybe what the others are saying is true, we need a new LOST recap to bring in new folks to replace those who have retired.
I guess what I’m saying is…
(1) Let’s be funny, but thoughtful.
(2) Can we get the REMEMBER ME button to work? If I were a new commenter and had to log in every frakking time to upvote or post, I’d be really discouraged stay involved. Why does my internet family keep locking me out of my internet house?
Also, Kelly is great.
“Hey, I got a suggestion for you, why don’t you try being funny? Huh? Right?”–Mr. Coconuts
Jeez, cool it the fuck out, Mr. Coconuts.
Tardy to the party, but here are a few things in case Gabe or Kelly comes across me:
1. VG is great.
2. I agree with more TV Recaps. I imagine that they’re time consuming, but you’re really good at them. I would love to see Justified and/or Breaking Bad. Maybe Archer? Archer is pretty funny, but I can see it being hard to recap. (No Modern Family. That show just doesn’t have it.)
3. After I guest blogged, my producer went to the site to check it out and ended up reading most of the WMOAT entries. I came into my office the next day and wouldn’t stop talking about (a.) how funny they were and (b.) how entertaining and civil all the comments were. He asked how you’d managed that, and I honestly have no idea. You’ve created something that, near as I can tell, is just unparalleled on the Internet and it stands out to new-comers and old-timers. Thanks for that.
4. That damn “REMEMBER ME” button doesn’t work. Do you know how many times I’ve thought of, like, the totally perfect funniest comment ever and then I try to submit it but VG has signed me out and then I have to sign in again and by the time I do somebody’s already used it? NOT VERY MANY TIMES AT ALL and it takes, maybe, three seconds. STILL. I want to nip this problem in the bud before it becomes an issue.
I used to read all the time, and comment all the time, in 2009 or so, I lost my account in the redesign. I actually still read almost every day, but usually checking in to see what is going on. I think Vgum is rad, and can offer praise and criticism. Not because you deserve criticism, but because you asked for it
Very good is varied long-form articles. Recaps, reviews, essays. I know a billion people who could post a short post about some dumb video, and the internet is endlessly full of dumb videos.
I got a general feeling over the last two years that that the site got more and more negative. Probably factually inaccurate, but there are weeks where it feels like every post is about how the internet is terrible and the world should end. Funny in small doses, too much is just too much. It started feeling like Gabe didn’t even like writing the posts anymore, or watching the videos. or whatever, and his (perceived by me) contempt for the material made me feel dumb for being interested. Over time, the number of things I liked that Videogum was regularly trashing just made me feel like an outsider, probably what will happen with any specific, well written viewpoint. On this topic, it seems like EVERY movie club is about going to see a movie so Gabe can say he hated it afterward
Also on topic is the rule that non-terrible movies be WMOAT’d. Garden State the worst movie ever? It just feels negative. I get disappointed enough by movies, so I don’t need to have some little romantic comedy I had a nice date to getting trashed for no good reason. An excpetion to this is that I always felt like the vgum posts about SNL were more positive than the rest of the internet.
Open threads are no help to me. I’d read recaps, but I’ve lost most interest in blog comments internet-wide, not just at Vgum. I feel like it was a fad maybe? And I don’t click on the ads, so I don’t know how I expect you to stay in business, I don’t really understand that stuff.
Also, the constant instant comment rating – uninterested/hate. Trying to join in a fun convo only to be immediately downvoted? No thanks.
I also think there may be a content lull – No LOST, Mad Men, pretty poor movie crop so far in 2011 – you can’t write about what’s not there. Not sure what the solution is to this.
Hope this is helfpul.
plus 10.
I am breaking my now LEGENDARY¹ silence.
I’ve been reading Videogum for a really long time², and I have never really commented on anything. I created an account on here a few days before Gabe made a post about sharing our Twitter handles³, and I got into the community that way. I’m @nopurpleshelves FIND ME.
This is going to sound really stupid, but I think this Videogum “community”⁴ is way bigger than a comments section. I’ve made a lot of friends because of this weird thing thing, and those friendships have become more than wondering what they will say in response to a blog post.
I don’t even check Videogum all that often anymore. Twice a week or so, I will get on and go through the back pages and whatever jumps out at me, but lately it all feels somewhat forced.⁵ It just feels like sometimes no one has their heart in it, no one (writer or otherwise) is as invested in it.
Maybe the reason why I feel that was is that my discovery of Vgum happened at a time I really needed it. My wheels were spinning, and I really wasn’t doing much of anything. Now that that has changed, maybe my borderline obsession with the site has becalmed because I don’t need it as much.⁶
I will always love Videogum. It has given me literally the greatest thing to ever happen to me. I met, became friends, fell madly in love, and am now moving in with a girl who came to Videogum in much the same way and the same time I did (Hi, @KiriMack!).
So. I owe this website everything. IOU, website. I’m constantly weirded out by how tight knit this “community⁷” is. I’ve never encountered anything else like it on the internet, and I mean to tell you I have seen some things on the internet!
¹ Nope.
² Two and one half years is a long time.
³ Twandles
⁴ I really hate using this word. For a brief moment I considered using “quasi-gathering of predominantly like-minded (for the most part) jaded-about-nothing-specific twentysomethings”, but then it got TOO REAL.
⁵ Both my reading of the site, and — many times — the writing.
⁶ LOLOLOLOLO I SOUND SO DUMB
⁷ Again, ugh.
tl ; dr
Videogum is your generation’s SaladMatch.com, TheObservatory. Happy for you!
TRUE LIFE: I MET MY BOYFRIEND THROUGH VIDEOGUM. Do you think we should e-vite Gabe to the i-wedding? (Also, hi, honey! Love yooooou!)
i was waiting for you to bring kiri into this and you totally did so kudos to me.
aww dont downvote me! I didn’t mean it in a bad way!
I’m sure this will get lost in the SEA OF A BILLION COMMENTS, but here goes:
- I, too, lost the thread of commenting in the redesign. It IS a pain to relogin every single time. And for a while I couldn’t change my password so I literally had the string of letters and numbers saved as a folder on my desktop so I could easily copy and paste it. I just ended up giving up. That being said…
- I still read Videogum everyday. It’s the first thing I do when I get home from work (site is blocked at work). And that’s part of the issue re: commenting. Now that commenting is a game for Chuck E Cheese tickets, there’s no point in commenting on a story posted hours earlier — no one will read it.
- I know this is going to be a VERY UNPOPULAR statement, and I’ll take my lickings. I miss Lindsey. There I said it. I don’t mind Kelly, but I resent the false justification for cutting Lindsey and now there’s a replacement? What, was Lindsey too tenured and you had to bring in fresh blood who would be lower on the pay scale? Sorry. That’s a low blow. But it’s more than just Lindsey…
- I miss the way Videogum was BEFORE Lindsey left. It was absurd and adult and little post-modern. Now, I feel like all of the older commenters have graduated and I’m still hanging around the high school. It’s like Saved by the Bell the New Class up in here.
- And my last point, and this is 100% true. Gabe, I think you are an extremely talented writer and an authentic voice for this generation. I think you sell yourself short by committing to this blog. Really, I expected you to have abandoned it for bigger and better things by now (and I kinda feel like you may have had opportunities you turned down). You are my go-to pop culture guru. You tear it up. You’re not afraid. You “get it”. You are on my list of “top 10 people to have dinner with” (No, Stalker.) I hope you blow this joint and make something of yourself!
clap clap clap
I completely agree with this, in particular your last point. I have been consistently amazed that Gabe has not yet been snatched up by the writing staff of some fancy tv show or magazine. I hope he finishes the novel I’m sure he must be working on and goes on to all the fame he deserves. For now we should be lucky we’ve got him in our little corner of the internet, writing on our little blog for us. This wont last forever.
Which speaks to your other point about commenting here feeling like being left behind at high school after all your friends have moved on. I feel the same way. I’ve never been a big commenter so I can’t say I’ve exactly been friends with many on here. But I’ve been reading the site forever, since back in the days of technojeremy and da cake eatur, and genuinely enjoy reading the comments section. And the community changes and people move on, but I always have a nostalgic feeling for the commenters who were once here and come no more. whither mans? Makes me feel pretty lame to be still checking it multiple times a day, when others have moved on. This is a really weird emotion to get from a trampoline blog!
Sometimes I wish I was more a part of the current community, but despite the fact I read the site all the time by the time I get to any post 100+ people have already written something (as evidenced by the timeliness of this very comment). Honestly I have no idea how some of you guys are so fast with your posts. Do you just refresh constantly?
Plus being a part of this community is a lot of work nowadays! It’s like I’d have to chat and be on twitter and reading for a book club in order to understand what anyone is talking about. I still don’t know what Donna Darko means. And that’s fine. It’s not a priority for me to comment all the time, and I havn’t gone out of my way to do so, but I feel like it’s gotten more discouraging over time. And the upvotes/monsters ball makes it more intimidating. I shouldnt care about votes, but there’s definitely a very primeval part of me that really wants those votes, and so I’m less likely to comment if I’m down at the very bottom of the list and know I might only get a +1.
I’m about to change jobs to one that will (hopefully!) not constantly bore me to death and feed my internet addiction. So I probably wont be reading videogum as regularly, and that kinda makes me sad and nervous.. how will I get through my day without making fun of gwyneth paltrow on a website? Again, this blog creates very weird emotions for me!
Well this comment ended up going all kinds of places for me.. what was my point again? Oh right:
BRING BACK FRIDAY FIGHTS!!!
(and seriously, put out that book gabe, or whatever it is you want to do)
Mans!
I second almost all of this. Not to beat down on Gabe at all because he does this job 1000000000x better than I could ever do it, but it seems like he HAS gotten all of these other opportunities and videogum has a different feel because of it. Not to say that Vgum is suffering at all, because I don’t think that’s the right word to describe it… I just don’t think Gabe is necessarily as present as he used to be. Maybe that’s a result of readership growing, the community growing, etc, but I think that Gabe’s other projects distract the audience from videogum and it’s much more about Gabe as a semi-famous person then Gabe, the really funny, but slightly curmudgeonly writer that you kind of take for granted.
I started reading Videogum in 2008 and I was in a very different place (college!). Then I went to a super easy job that left me lots of time to check videogum throughout the day and now I’m in a really busy job that has semi-shitty internet and Videogum just can’t be a part of my routine anymore. To read everything all at once at night isn’t fun and it limits commenting because all of the babies are in bed by then (joking, sort of!). But really it isn’t any fun to comment on something that has 200+ comments already. Besides reading the post, you also have to spend 10 minutes reading and thinking about the comments? It’s like a second job. I loved you guys here, but it’s too much work. Also, maybe I am getting old and boring, but the hundreds of inside jokes and the gifs get old verrrry quickly.
Does anyone who is willing to mention it know exactly why Lindsay was cut? I had assumed it was the result of the economic downturn, but was there something bigger going on that can be quickly summarized?
Aside from their secret love child (CopperCab), I would have to say no, there didn’t seem to be anything bigger going on. VG had a lot less readers then, and I could kind of see that it didn’t make enough (economic/practical) sense to have two writers. Of course if anyone knows something that I don’t, or just wants to start some interesting rumors, feel free to correct me.
I am breaking my now LEGENDARY¹ silence.
I’ve been reading Videogum for a really long time², and I have never really commented on anything. I created an account on here a few days before Gabe made a post about sharing our Twitter handles³, and I got into the community that way. I’m @nopurpleshelves FIND ME.
This is going to sound really stupid, but I think this Videogum community⁴ is way bigger than a comments section. I’ve made a lot of friends because of this weird thing thing, and those friendships have become more than wondering what they will say in response to a blog post.
I don’t even check Videogum all that often anymore. Twice a week or so, I will get on and go through the back pages and whatever jumps out at me, but lately it all feels somewhat forced.⁵ It just feels like sometimes no one has their heart in it, no one (writer or otherwise) is as invested in it.
Maybe the reason why I feel that was is that my discovery of Vgum happened at a time I really needed it. My wheels were spinning, and I really wasn’t doing much of anything. Now that that has changed, maybe my borderline obsession with the site has becalmed because I don’t need it as much.⁶
I will always love Videogum. It has given me literally the greatest thing to ever happen to me. I met, became friends, fell madly in love, and am now moving in with a girl who came to Videogum in much the same way and the same time I did (Hi, @KiriMack!).
So. I owe this website everything. IOU, website. I’m constantly weirded out by how tight knit this community⁷ is. I’ve never encountered anything else like it on the internet, and I mean to tell you I have seen some things on the internet!⁸
Let’s all just hug it out, maybe cool it with all the GIFs, and have some coffee. Let’s wake it UP, y’all!
¹ Nope.
² Two and one half years is a long time.
³ Twandles
⁴ I really hate using this word. For a brief moment I considered using “quasi-gathering of predominantly like-minded (for the most part) jaded-about-nothing-specific twentysomethings”, but then it got TOO REAL.
⁵ Both my reading of the site, and — many times — the writing.
⁶ LOLOLOLOLO I SOUND SO DUMB
⁷ Again, ugh.
⁸ Mostly cute animal videos, but I’ve managed to avoid 2 Girls 1 Cup and the Chris Crocker kid.
Would love to see Gabe replace the True Blood recaps with Game of Throne recaps. I prefer seeing something he (you? whatever) mostly likes but can explain the flaws in a humorous way, as opposed to something he fucking haaaaaaaaaates.
Wow. I am so happy of myself that I read all of these comments. This site is great. Needs more Kelly, but I am biased.
What an appropriate time to officially post! I am a long time lurker and I finally decided to make an account to comment and do other official Videogum business. This is mostly because I couldn’t think of a screenname? And the one I have now isn’t even that good? This is just embarrassing! It is also not true, because I am at my parent’s house where I don’t actually live anymore…
Anyway, Videogum is great! I think it is one of smartest internet commentaries on pop culture (and fart jokes, obviously). I wish it was a real place where I could silently sit in the corner and listen until, a year a half later, I finally emerge only to neurotically discuss the origin of my screenname and then back in the corner I go, probably! But really, I am very excited about becoming more involved in the community. Now I will actually contribute.
1. I will actually say that while television recaps are great, they are not actually my favorite part! I am usually reading Vgum at the end of the day to catch up along with other blogs, so to sit down and read an entire recap can be a task I am not always up for. They are awesome and when I do take the time to read them, I am glad I did. That was a worthless argument, but looking at the comments, it seems to be a heated debate!
2. Taking One for the Team. I am aware Joe Mande is probably too busy getting famous and stuff, but it is one of my favorite features and I would like to see one soon.
3. Kelly is great! She has posted two videos that have been my favorite of the week (Thumbs Up for Rock n’ Roll and Dripped) and has fit in splendidly. The future is bright!
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
this is a serious “No offense, but…”
I don’t think people are down-voting because they disagree; this is just a really mean way to greet a new commenter who is coming out of a lurking shell.
Look, just because some people have pointed out that they don’t like ending sentences with question marks, that doesn’t mean that everybody agrees and we’re not allowed to do it anymore?
Also, although everyone is free to like or dislike Gabe’s writing style, you’re kind of on Gabe’s website? Where he writes? Although I have to admit I’m getting kind of tired of writing like this? I should have stopped a few sentences ago?
You forgot the exclamation points!!?? Joking, I agree it was a shitty way to welcome a new monster. I had just gone through reading every comment on this post and was a little fried and just vented.
Welcome allice
This is something I did notice after I had submitted and wish I hadn’t made it so obvious that, yeah, I read a lot of VGum and am really jealous of Gabe and his funny writing style. No one likes a copycat. My heart DID kind of sink when I saw the first response was sort of surly, but I can take it like a big girl and fully accept yours and everyone else’s welcomes.
As a writer who sometimes (hell, frequently) adapts that writing style, I did so as a younger/newer Monster because I saw so many others doing it and like a lemming, figured that’s what fits in around here. Groupthink, right? And I laugh when Gabe writes that way.
I guess I don’t come here for a reading of Keats or some type of highbrow English, but I can certainly say that I see where you’re coming from.
Bienvenue.
Maybe if we could choose to expand each comment and see the reply’s to it, so we don’t have to wade through all the one-man upmanship and gifs? i feel like that could store things a little better. Then again people might just stop replying to things and we’d have a bigger problem.
BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA
Great idea. I agree that there could be negative implications from it, but I think its seriously worth trying out. GREAT IDEA!
better yet:
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
I totally thought of this at 3am last night and almost logged in to type it: you could definitely solve some “problems” by introducing the ability to minimize/expand a thread (I’d say all-expanded should be the default). I’m certainly not immune to BNPGs/puncontests when they spring up due to I have a dumb brain? But there are times when it starts on comment #2 and my heart sinks. If I could sometimes minimize a thread that would be a pretty big joie de vivre-boost.
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
“BEST IDEA STOP SCROLLING LOOK AT THIS BEST IDEA”
This might make me sound super nerdy, but I used to spend a lot of time on Fark.com (specifically totalfark.com) and I loved the commenting system there. The community was like the community here, but instead of responding to one (or two writers) we were responding to “headlines” (in totalfark most of them are of a personal nature – not actual news).
Anyways, if we could emulate the Fark style of commenting and replies, I think there would be more continuity.
tl;dr – LET’S COPY A DIFFERENT SITE
I may be in the minority here but every post doesn’t have to be a cute animal post. I have developed diabetes lately. I am an animal lover but lets not get out of hand.
Very late to this party but what the heck…
A lot of what I read tonight here made me feel a little sad. It seemed like everybody wanted to complain about everything little thing they don’t like, even if it’s not something Gabe can change (the writing style of the commentators) or something just way to big to ever change (Gabe’s style of writing. What WAS that, guys?). I really love this site. I’ve been lurking for three years and I’ve gotten all my biggest LOL’s from tv recaps and WMOAT, although posts about Randy Quaid and Jeremy London also were amazing. If I read a post I don’t like, I just move on, and I think it’s kind of weird that people are acting like they are personally offended or annoyed by a blog post or comments on that blog post and all their complaints need to be shared. I also groan at personal attacks on commentators. If people comment a lot and have formed internet friendships and inside jokes, who really cares? Again, I’m just a lurker and I’ll shut up, but I would hate to see this site go away because people want to pick a million bones. If I ran the site and I saw all this crap, I would probably shut it down, and that just sucks. Like, a lot of the mean posts I read started with “I don’t come here much anymore…” or “I don’t comment much anymore …” and then went on and on and I thought to myself “I can see why. You don’t seem that fun. Someone needs to watch more trampoline videos.”
tl, dr. But Gabe, just please keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll always have a sarcastic chick in Nowheresville PA refreshing every ten minutes.
To all the “regulars” around here, I just want to add that I hope you keep up the witty comments (and .gifs!) in spite of some of the hurt feelings by people who feel unwelcome. I couldn’t care less if you have formed a niche community that makes some people bashful of commenting for fear of not being “funny enough.” I totally understand that sentiment; everyone wants to be funny, however, even though it sometimes doesn’t seem that way, not everyone can host SNL. I take comfort in the fact I am good at other things, like riding my bicycle safely and lurking Videogum at the public library.
My brother was amazed when I told him that I actually read the comments of a blog, but the “regulars” here make this site 2x funny! Helluvah lot funnier than the comments of a Yahoo! news article
I always liked when Gabe and Rich of Fourfour sat down and watched a movie and took it seriously. Maybe some more guest movie reviews for old art films or whatever? Maybe that’s boring. I’m an actuary. I don’t even know what boring means.
And it doesn’t even have to be just Rich. Having a movie party with anyone would be fun.
But Rich is so amazing!
I meant to upvote this, but in my excitement the opposite happened. Please add two upvotes accordingly.
Also please make the new videos watchable from Canada and other countries. We want to see too!!
PARTY PEEP….. O Whoops…. I’ll be back later and
when that time comes I will yell YEAAAAAAAAAAH
And Tag Team will truly be back, again.
You try too Hard…
Haha, Yay ambiguous negative comments! Please endow me with more of your downvotes.
Done.
There seems to be a consensus that more regular features would be good. One of the great things about TV recaps is they’re a dependable source of LOLs on a regular schedule. Having more or less weekly features like WUWTG, T14TT, and the much-lamented (by me) Friday Fight served a similar function. There’s so much sameness out there on the Internet, so many different places to see the same viral videos, that I definitely find myself getting fatigued by it. Having some posts with more structure and continuity would help break the monotony. I’m way more likely to visit the site if I know that a feature I like is going to be posted on Tuesday rather than going “I wonder what’s up with Videogum today, oh hey, it’s that hedgehog video all my friends keep posting on Facebook, huh.”
I think you have put your finger on the thing that is keeping videogum stalled as an A- rather than an A for me: the viral video scene is too saturated. The threshold for me to watch a video has become much higher now and if the site is mostly writing about viral videos, I am less likely to visit it multiple times a day. And if there is a post about a video I have already seen, I am infinitely less likely to click through to read another take on it.
So, for me: less viral video coverage please! Not because you aren’t good at it, but because christ it is everywhere.
New feature: The Hunt for the BEST movie of all time!!
Bringing in a new distinctive voice is the best thing that could happen to VG right now. I’m glad you guys already did that. I like that I have to glance at the by-line. It makes Gabe’s stuff better and I’m definitely enjoying getting to know Kelly. (You are doing great Kelly!)
The log in thing is truly a big issue. I try to glance at VG very quickly while at work. (It makes me feel less guilty) Therefore, I never take the extra time to log in to even up-vote some funny/insightful comment, let alone comment. I’d suggest fixing this first before even thinking about content changes.
Also, more just generally interesting stuff. Maybe videos that aren’t only just funny, but also somewhat educational or just cool looking. I’m sure you can put your own VG twist on them.
One more thing: I’m glad that there is a lot going on on Twitter and Chat, but I also wish Gabe would engage more in the comments here and not just on twitter. I think it would help focus everyone a bit. Keep us on our toes.
Agree on the log-in issue. I know this makes you and I seem really lazy, but it could definitely be easier.
Ive said it before but it would be really nice to be able to switch to filter by newest comments, so that if you are, say, the 310th commenter in the thread, you don’t feel like you are completely wasting your time.
More Australians would be nice. Move to Australia. And I want a hover bike. And a new pony.
I want more absurdity.
The Gorch gives this reply 8 thumbs up!
I know this may not win me any friends, but I would love to see fewer videos of “adorable” children.
only ugly ones please!
Hey all,
I am writing this like a letter because I am probably going to spend way too much time writing it. Sorry about the tardiness of my comment, but real life things like spending time with my girlfriend came first and reading all the comments came second.
I read this site regularly because of its voice (both posts and comments), not because of any particular feature. It is filled with one liners and sarcasm and wittiness and ridiculous things. It takes an interesting look at this crazy culture that the internet helps facilitate. Underneath it all, however, is this sense that we are all apart of the things we find ridiculous. That we are in some sense responsible for the culture we are commenting on. We are real people that comment on the culture we are surrounded by. The culture is messy, it is FUNNY, and it is beautiful. And that is the basis. That is the basis of this site. That is why I am here. I began commenting here because I felt like my voice was similar. I was attracted to commenting because it seemed like a place where it would be welcome.
Thank you everyone for making this a place where I feel welcome to say the weird things that pop into my head. You all, (and I mean all), are my favorite part of the internet.
Goodnight,
digtochina
Josh Rood from Grand Rapids, MI
Forever reader (2008 counts as the beginning of the world), rare commenter because I can’t handle downvotes–I’m already unemployed and single. I like when the internet celebrity (or maybe it’s just Brooklyn celebrity–I have a hard time differentiating) worlds collide; anything with Max or Rich or comedians and crap. I’m much more prone to read guest posts like that than from fellow commenters (mostly because I’m immature and bitter, I guess). I also like when Gabe just runs with his shit–writing about a Louis CK taping or something related to his personal reactions to real life. I’d much rather read something he is into, something he feels like trying out, than a forced reaction to a video he got a bunch of tips about and feels the need to post. It’s not like the site reeeally revolves around particular videos–the site is Gabe and that’s just the way it is. So I’d rather read things he wants to be writing–and it makes me sad when it seems like he’s just exhausted with the whole thing. (Also, as mentioned above, I like Kelly and really want her to find her voice. Lindsay had a completely different voice from Gabe and that made things more interesting–the dichotomy.)
Speaking of, the first post I ever read on Videogum was a Friday fight, and I fell in love. I like reading people’s interactions and discussions with friends (joke-y or serious [like the movie thing with Rich]). So basically, I like when the writing feels personal and natural. I think it would help the commenters let down their guards a bit more (sincerity over sarcasm) so we can have real discussions in addition to all the lolz.
This was very emotional. “She doesn’t even go here!”
If it makes you feel any better, you avatar is my favorite!
Honestly, it makes me feel really good. A little too good….Ok, back to hating my life!
YES TO ALL OF THIS.
Yep. That’s pretty much the ideal! This guy definitely knows what you are talking about.
I get what you’re saying (and everyone else seems to be saying) about Kelly’s voice. Although, I’ve usually found myself reading some of her posts, thinking “Hey! Gabe is not as ‘grumpy old man’ in this post as he usually is, it feels strangely relatable.” and then realizing it’s really one of Kelly’s posts. In other words, You’re very cool and relatable, Kelly. You’re like Gabe’s grand daughter that is waiting for Gabe to die so you can inherit his beloved 1972 Gran Torino.
Could we have some porn reviews? Like, funny porn reviews?
Also, I’m really curious to know more about the other GUMMALOS.