Is it normal this site is now 'more normal'?

17 Comments

I've been browsing through some 2+ year old posts and noticed something.

Many of the weirdest and creepiest posts were voted normal. These days, from my experience, they are more likely to be voted abnormal (less than 50%).

Do you think the members back then were less normal? Do you think the current members are more normal? Have any of the long-time members noticed a shift in the consensus on the site as to what is and isn't normal and acceptable?

I'd love to read what you think :)

The old IIN crowd were less normal 11
The old IIN crowd were more normal 3
The old and new are an equal mix of weird and not-so-weird 4
Other (Leave a comment) 1
I have no idea, but clicking buttons gives me thrills. 14
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Comments ( 17 )
  • dom180
    10 years ago | pl

    I've got some cool theories about this, if you don't mind humouring my long-windedness.

    Firstly (and mainly), I reckon when those creepy stories (incest, bestiality, paedophilia etc.) were first posted they probably got the same "normality rating" as they would now; quite low. However, over time the normality rating old of stories tends to increase.
    For example: if a guy who's really into incest visits IIN and wants to convince himself incest is normal, he might search for "incest" then go into every incest story and vote every single one "normal" in an attempt to make himself feel more normal. Over a long enough time, ten or twenty incest guys (or one guy who makes ten or twenty profiles) might do that to every single incest story , which adds up to a real difference in how the stories are rated.
    Tell me if I've not explained that very well, because I probably haven't :P

    Secondly, I also think that IIN probably used to be less serious. Nowadays most people would go into a paedophile story and take it seriously, vote "not normal" and tell the OP to "fuck off" (or words to that effect :P), but I think in years gone by people would be more likely to assume the OP is a troll, vote "normal" just for a laugh and troll back.

    Lastly, maybe you're right and the IIN populous has become more normal. As a site becomes older it tends to attract a less niche, more normal type of user (the least normal people evacuate because people tend not to like spending too long in a place where their views are in the minority), so it makes sense.

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    • disthing
      10 years ago

      Great input dom (I'm the OP).

      I understood your points perfectly and think you are probably right.

      Those older stories get buried deep in the archives, which means the only people who ever find them are people looking for them. And the only people looking for them are, like you said, probably seeking to validate their own abnormal behaviour / desires - which inevitably skews the voting. Good thinking!

      Reading the comments on old stories, there has definitely been a change in tone and style. There are more helpful comments now than before, more interaction, more of a dare-I-say-it communal atmosphere. Like you suggested, is this because of a change in who the site attracts (and retains) as it gets older?

      People talk about 'generations' of IIN users. I guess we get different waves, and each wave has a distinct character, with those regular users still there in the background (lurking, like ghosts haunting the hallways of some mansion, going boo every now and then).

      Thanks :)

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      • dom180
        10 years ago

        Thanks for the question. All that stuff I wrote had been fermenting in my mind for a long time, and I'd been waiting for a good question to let me filter it, bottle it and textually serve it up. And yes, you catch my drift exactly; the people voting on old stories are almost certainly looking for validation, so over time everything becomes more skewed.

        On the flip-side, there are some things that definitely get voted as normal now that wouldn't have in the past, too. Foot fetish posts are a good example - I think they would have been voted "not normal" a few years ago but nowadays they regularly get about 80% normal. That suggests to me that IIN does go in waves, but maybe it also suggests that the character of each wave isn't predictable and that the hypothesis that IIN attracts a certain type of user more as it ages isn't supported. Although comparing rape fetishes to foot fetishes is hardly a fair comparison to make. Conclusion: more tests are needed :P

        Maybe I should take a small sample; favourite some stories rated "not normal" from this week and track their progress over time :P In fact, I think I will. My exams are over and I need to keep myself occupied somehow lest I start doing something actually useful :P

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    • Justsomejerk
      10 years ago

      Damn, you're on to me...

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  • Shrunk
    10 years ago

    I notice that too, but just that most of the stories back then were weirder than today's, it seems like your stories can be decline if they aren't "normal" enough now. Even if they were trolls it was usually more creative too. These days the troll stories seem to be something that the general public will find funny where as those were mire to the goal of a collective "WTF?"

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  • Legion
    10 years ago

    i noticed there seem to be a lot less assholes now than there used to be, and im only going back about 2 years. Even so, there were many nice iiners i wish were here now.

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  • bemah
    10 years ago

    I think that people now, think they're not normal! It's just our society tends to feel a little more isolated than they used to.

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  • soul-man
    10 years ago

    I was around back then, under a different username, and I can tell you first hand that most of the prominent members, myself included, were quite mental. It's not slander if it's true.

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  • Wendell
    10 years ago

    The stories like that were fake or voted normal bc people though they were. Just go to best of or those subcategories on the side and you'll see.

    But back then the stories were written by people trying to be funny and the comments were written by douchebags and insane people. Now the stories are written by douchebags and insane people and everyone tries to be funny in the comments. It seems to me

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  • GoraIntoDesiGals
    10 years ago

    Although I'm not as old here I miss the old crowd. At least they thought a piss fetish was normal whereas all I get now is thumbs down and "eww gross".

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    • disthing
      10 years ago

      Normal is simply another word for average, common, the usual.

      A urine fetish is not average, common or the usual.

      You shouldn't take people voting 'not normal' as a negative judgement. Normalcy doesn't necessarily denote acceptability. Something can be unusual, abnormal, uncommon, but still be perfectly acceptable and accepted.

      My impression is that the votes and responses now more accurately reflect the public at large.

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      • GoraIntoDesiGals
        10 years ago

        Well that's the thing... I was hoping to meet kinky people here but all I got is the public at large. Initially it seemed different though.

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        • disthing
          10 years ago

          I think you need to join a porn site :P

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          • GoraIntoDesiGals
            10 years ago

            And all you meet is men and men and men. Been there done that :(

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  • robbieforgotpw
    10 years ago

    I take powerdumps

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    • disthing
      10 years ago

      Literally everybody knows.

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      • robbieforgotpw
        10 years ago

        If you don't know you better ax somebody
        *manures himself**

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