Seven days later, more than 700,000 boxes have been filled in. . . . Users on X describe the project as “strangely compelling” and “torture for people with OCD.” A Washington Post newsletter called it “the most pointless website on the planet” — which it seemed to mean as a compliment. Mr. Royalty has been frantically renting additional server space for about $60 a day to keep up with the site’s check-happy fans. He estimated that there have been at least 400,000 unique visitors, although that data is imperfect because the page has crashed several times under the weight of their enthusiasm.
But, of course:
Steven Piziks, 57, a science fiction author in Ann Arbor, Mich., began checking boxes on Tuesday because he thought it might be soothing. He soon noticed someone else working behind him and unchecking every single one. He started checking even faster, and about half an hour later, the site’s built-in tally said he had checked more than 1,000 boxes.
It was not soothing at all. It felt “like a metaphor for all of social media,” Mr. Piziks said. “We go into it thinking it’s going to be wonderful and collaborative and interesting, and it kind of turns into a fight.”
Some of this is just people being annoying, but some of the annoying people are smart enough to program bots to uncheck boxes at machine speed.
And so another clever little idea brings out the worst in some of us and ends up making everybody mad, sad, and disgusted with each other.
2 comments:
I think, if anything, this highlights the need for rules, laws, etc, in any human endeavor.
Most people are perfectly happy just checking those boxes, contributing their own little effort to the given communal task, and feeling a small sense of accomplishment or satisfaction over it.
Or they're uninterested and simply don't take part, preferring to spend their time and energy on other pursuits that are more meaningful to them personally.
But then there are the assholes, the misanthropes, the psychopaths, who aren't content simply not participating in someone else's thing, but have to go out their way to actively ruin it for others, for no sensible reason except taking delight in upsetting others randomly.
This is what drives me crazy about Anarchists and Libertarians and other people who insist that we need to throw out all the rules and simply let people be free to do as they wish - they seem to be unable to comprehend that a small percentage of people will only ever wish to ruin things, and they will force the creation and enforcement of rules and laws to stop them.
By July 11, the box checkers had “won.”
Post a Comment