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I read an interesting article about a well known internet forum on which sentiment analysis had been performed over a number of years using a basic Google NLP Sentiment Analysis tool. This rated the sentiment of every post between -1 and +1 to scale from very negative sentiment up to very positive sentiment.
There was a nice clear graph that basically showed the forum sentiment ticking along nicely at a positive reading with obvious ups and downs but pretty consistent. There was a sudden negative drop when the first lockdown happened but it quickly bounced back to positive as lots of people realised they were paid to stay home and the weather was good. Reasonably soon after that though there was a marked drop to a negative sentiment that has remained ever since. It has little ups and downs as it did when it was positive but it remains stubbornly negative.
I am wondering if being on a forum where most stuff is negative fosters a sense of negativity and there is a feedback which is why it remains so consistently negative. The same may well have been true when it was staying consistently positive previously.
Shall we see if we can all be as consistently positive in all of our posts for a month or so and make Mark's graph bounce back into positivity?
It's an interesting theory, I've wondered if we have created a self perpetuating Spiral of Doom.
But from previous attempts at this, 3 pages, a warning and no change
The last time Mark published this we had a laugh about how simple it was to fool the algorithm.
I reckon the Boris Johnson thread would skewer the overall results towards negativity.
It is easy to fool the algorithm but I don't think everyone has been doing that for the last two years.
I was more interested in the positive feedback loop being an attempt to cheer up everyone so they are feeling positive rather than testing the algorithms thoroughness.
I'm not sure that breaking the cycle is what we want to do - we have enough negative posts about broken cycles as it is.
The last time Mark published this we had a laugh about how simple it was to fool the algorithm.
I thought that just turned into the most ironically short lived thread we've ever had?
When I made jokes people laugh at me instead of the jokes.
I don't mind as long as they laugh but then I got into trouble ...
Forums don't really foster positive or negative sentiment, life does that and people bring it to the forums, it's also dependent on what the forum is about, as this place is both a specialist forum for 'likeminded' individuals (a bike forum), and a general chat forum, you'll be hard pressed to root out negativity in chat, unless you are able to limit who accesses this place and moderate it more, which kind of removes a lot of the reality.
We live in a country that has a high percentage of people with mental illness, as well as physical illnesses and hardships of life, i doubt you'll be breaking any cycle on a computer forum unfortunately, especially when you see the way things are going at present!
Look.
Pandemic, Brexit, Ukraine, cost of living, potential recession (see the first three), our joke of a government.
There’s a lot dragging the mood down.
On the plus side, bikes are still great.
Bikes are ace. Riding bikes even more so.
Break the cycle?
This is a bike forum surely that's the last thing we want to do when we are in a community where "is my bike ok" is a mantra to live by when we've got half our limbs hanging off. 🙂
I had a little self imposed break from here during lockdown and now much more selective about what threads I open and try to only be nice or click away. It feels a much nicer experience for it.
On the bike forum you still consistently get some really nice helpful people (also true in chat but more chance of derailment).
STW POSITIVITY THREAD? It was just an idea for random uplifting experiences, it could still work!
Bugger off.
Oops, thats it dropped by another 3%
😆 😆
Sorry to say but the internet is just a reflection (albeit a hyperbolic one) of the real world.
If people aren't happy, the internet isn't happy.
And TBH sometimes a lack of positivity is actually necessary, people want to talk about the stuff that has captured their attention and thoughts. the internet isn't a place for bottling things up.
As ever, you can always choose not to click on a thread or to respond. That's certainly something I've done a bit more recently when I see familiar patterns emerging on familiar threads (but not always).
Fortunately there are alternatives to living in an angst fuelled online bubble.
Bikes are ace. Riding bikes even more so.
Amen!
Pretty sure I’ve got the flu at the moment.
Happy
Positive
On the plus side, bikes are still great.
Except gravel bikes. They are awful and so are the people that ride them.
Ahh FTFY
Except
gravelroad bikes. They are awfuland so are the people that ride them.
Well going from the facial sentiment recognition of people riding them.
When I made jokes people laugh at me instead of the jokes.
lol?
If your jokes were your previous persona then that was a very very convincing long game!
negative|forum sentiment
Blatant anti-Yorkshire discrimination
Blatant anti-Yorkshire discrimination
See? There are positive things on the forum.
Take care Caher. Feet up, hot water bottle, let your body fight it. Hope it passes quickly.
It amuses me when people say that the forum reflects life as if it is a one way stream.
If you are feeling down because of all the valid reasons mentioned but you spend time talking with lots of other people who are positive and there are lots of uplifting and positive things being discussed, the overall affect is to increase your awareness of the positive things and that will improve your general demeanour.
'A reflection of the real world' - Yes but how you view the real world is strongly influenced by those you interact with whether face to face or online. Other people act as a stabilising force which is why isolation and loneliness are such potentially dangerous things as people can spiral off, without restraint, into their deepest despairs.
While I agree with the above the reality is that I believe, for the majority of people life now is worse than it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Less prospects/social mobility, less freedoms, less real terms free cash, lower life expectancy even! It's not surprising that forum sentiment reflects a general reduction in life quality and therefore a lack of positivity becomes pervasive.
The irony is I think that actually for a lot of people Covid (Or rather the covid period) was a respite from an otherwise declining standard of life, where you could spend less & work less, and hence a return to normality following that would actually be a negative for many, not a positive step given the social & political landscape we step back into.
I read an interesting article
Any chance of a link? Sounds quite interesting..........
The irony is I think that actually for a lot of people Covid (Or rather the covid period) was a respite from an otherwise declining standard of life, where you could spend less & work less, and hence a return to normality following that would actually be a negative for many, not a positive step given the social & political landscape we step back into.
Agree. I loved the lockdown period (expect the death toll obviously). It seems worse in many ways since that ended.
I do wonder whether the perceived increase in negativity, bitterness and criticism on here tracks across internet fora in general in recent years?
Or whether it's a symptom of the STW population skewing increasingly towards grumpy, boorish middle-aged men (who often don't seem to actually ride MTB)?
Or whether it’s a symptom of the STW population skewing increasingly towards grumpy, boorish middle-aged men (who often don’t seem to actually ride MTB)?
Interesting point - I've been here 18 years and literally watched other people's lives flow up and down, good and bad, our kids grown up "together" as we've moved from our thirties to our fifties.
I knew someone somewhere would plot this:
That pretty much matches my sentiments on the matter. Up until maybe 2019 overall life was getting better post 2008 crash (Shame this doesn't go back far enough to see 2008) but 2019 was really the start of the second major decline in living standards again after dropping in 2008. Between government inability to get brexit done (Which of course is a never ending issue that still effects us now) and increasing tensions in middle east, US politics etc. 2019 was the tipping point for me anyway. Everything after 2019 is a write off in terms of the UK I would say. It will be another few years I would think before the graph tips back the other way.