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    DiscoInfernoSupressionSystemRich Juzwiak
    1/25/16 4:13pm

    xoJane sounds like it’s aiming for the smarmy clickbait of Buzzfeed, crossed with the hopeless trainwreck oversharing of LiveJournal circa 2001.

    Except this time, the authors really, really don’t want to share.

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      BurnUnitDiscoInfernoSupressionSystem
      1/25/16 4:19pm

      You forgot to add Gawker to that list...

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      DiscoInfernoSupressionSystemBurnUnit
      1/25/16 4:22pm

      Oh, please. You can critique Gawker all you like, but it doesn’t even begin to resemble LiveJournal from a decade and a half ago.

      I was there, man. It was... bad.

      *thousand yard stare*

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    Jerry-NetherlandRich Juzwiak
    1/25/16 4:29pm

    Journalism committing suicide via death by a thousand self-cuttings.

    These sites are sorry substitutes for real magazines (either print or digital). Now whole journals are dedicated to such sub-niche material that we end up with their minuscule readership unaware of the world outside their narrow perspective. Back in pre-2000 (the published on print era), even a niche publication like Ms. or Playboy or The Advocate had to have variety to its content (in fact, hell, Variety had variety!)

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      ListerineyJerry-Netherland
      1/25/16 4:32pm

      Yeah, and Playboy actually did have really good articles.

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      Jerry-NetherlandListeriney
      1/25/16 4:34pm

      It sure did. I actually read it regularly, and as a gay teen couldn’t have cared less about the nudes!

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    browniesaregoodRich Juzwiak
    1/25/16 4:36pm

    “ I should never feel like I have throw myself to the wolves for clicks.”

    Good for her, but many of their articles are click bait that results in bullying from a liberal-leaning audience. Anything from weird cosplay to dating a Republican to freaking out about Black ppl in yoga class-all with the authors name shown, which they seem to have a strict policy about. These people are mocked and never heard from again or put into dangerous situations, even if that means being targeted by an abuser or rapist. It’s a ruthless site, and I wonder how many people’s lives they’ve ruined by targeting inexperienced writers and young people.

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      Flame Princess, Garbage-Mongerbrowniesaregood
      1/25/16 5:38pm

      No more than Thought Catalog has, I imagine.

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      Beatrice_Swans_Busy_Beebrowniesaregood
      1/25/16 8:42pm

      I truly don’t understand how anyone can reconcile the site’s overall predatory editorial tactics— frankly! Even for the staffers! Cat Marnell was their biggest draw and she was, by her own admission, being enabled by Jane Pratt!— with the gushy, girl-power, rah rah you go girl, your experience is valid, what’s true for you is true FOR YOU bulllllshit that is given lip service there.

      There are a number of women who wrote a couple pieces for that site when it first launched that are successful, but that’s no more. It would be embarrassing. What they do to young “writers” is gross. I look forward to some version of “IHTM: I Wrote an Ill-Conceived Article About Something Dumb* I Can Never Get Away From” in 2025.

      *or worse. There are things published under someone’s real name there that are much, much worse than just “dumb.”

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    IAmNotADamnWriterRich Juzwiak
    1/25/16 4:25pm
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      puncha yo bunsRich Juzwiak
      1/25/16 4:11pm

      “It Happened To Me: I Live With My Abuser,” which the site fucked up royally by posting the name of the writer)

      What the almighty fuck. Hope the clicks were worth it.

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        ww1383Rich Juzwiak
        1/25/16 4:18pm

        Trauma as a commodity.

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          ThePhantomDennisTheMenaceww1383
          1/25/16 4:20pm

          Traumity.

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          ThatFatScatCatww1383
          1/25/16 4:20pm

          Certainly nothing new.

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        LordBurleighRich Juzwiak
        1/25/16 4:36pm

        Foucault: “On the face of it at least, our civilization possesses no ars erotica. In return, it is undoubtedly the only civilization to practice a scientia sexualis; or rather, the only civilization to have developed over the centuries procedures for telling the truth of sex which are geared to a form of knowledge-power strictly opposed to the art of initiations and the masterful secret: I have in mind the confession.”

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          boaboaboatengtengtengRich Juzwiak
          1/25/16 4:28pm

          And now, it’s time for everyone’s favorite game: Is This “It Happened To Me” Headline Real or Fake?

          (I actually did pretty well on it.)

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            A Media DudeRich Juzwiak
            1/25/16 5:31pm

            “Besides, reluctant xoJane staffer is a much more unique cultural space than victim/survivor.”

            Isn’t this the thing? By writing about how she’s reluctant to write confessionally, she’s writing confessionally. Her meta-IHTM essay will go viral the same way that other ones do. You can’t beat the system!

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              DisMyBurnerBaeRich Juzwiak
              1/25/16 5:17pm

              Professional Bloggers Paid to Suffer Through XOJane Articles and then Cross Post Analysis

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