I've been a television watcher and enthusiast as long as I can remember, but never have I been a television commentator...at least publicly anyway.
Sometimes I watch TV alone with a bag of M&M's curled up on the couch and other times I'm at a bar yelling at my football team or grabbing my sister's arm during a scary X-Files episode. But whether it's with friends or family or all by my lonesome, I always have an opinion on what I'm watching.
Okay. I'm opinionated, yes. But! I knew I couldn't be the only one out there burning to comment on last Wednesday's Survivor: South Pacific plot twists or the latest "survival of the fittest" sacrifice on The Walking Dead. I couldn't be the only psychopath that advises reality players through the flat-screen or scoffs at the dopey hero when I clearly told him "not to go in there" from the privacy of my own den...right?
Well, turns out...I was right. I am not alone.
It all started innocently enough one afternoon when, in a research frenzy over my new favorite Survivor castaway John Cochran, I started following Survivor: South Pacific cast news and happenings rather intensely. Week after week of posting sparingly on Nerdsburgh (not all Nerdsburghians are Survivor fans), I found myself with an overwhelming amount of ideas and thoughts about the show and the future of my favorite nerd star. Since my family doesn't watch the show, understandably, I turned where all lost souls turn when they are looking for a sympathetic ear...the Internet.
That's when I discovered there are websites on the Internet specifically for fans to discuss guided topics on their favorite television shows, or whatever it is they are a fan of.
Personally, I chose to scour Survivor sites and, with a timely recommendation from a fellow fan, triumphantly stumbled upon Survivor Sucks. Survivor Sucks is a Forum based website where fans of the show can go to vent about everything and anything that has to do with America's favorite Island Reality series.
I quickly created a profile and, with a few strokes of my keyboard, continued on to unleash weeks of pent-up hypotheses and predictions so detailed and deep into the plot of the show, I had to step back and rewatch the episodes I was referring to for character clues and confessional quotes. The fire of my obsession had been set ablaze. I had found common interest, mutual understandings and made real connections. The strangest part, and the biggest creep factor, is that all of this discussion and debate is between ambiguous Internet identities: a faceless, opinionated crowd arguing, hiding behind profile pictures of bobbing celebrities and posting under odd names like "Godlessdeviant" and "tublecane."
While it was exhilarating to finally be able to express myself and "geek out" proper, there was a moment after one particularly raucous session of Forum discussion when I looked at the clock in the bottom right-hand of my computer screen and realized three hours had gone by. I then rubbed my eyes, closed my laptop, cracked my back and stepped out the back door to check out what I had missed in the world.
Q: So, is posting on Fan Site Forums creepy or social?
A: It's creepy because of the anonymity of the "posters" and the fact that some people, myself included, spend copious amounts of time hypothesizing about events that occurred on a Reality Show filmed from a remote island in the South Pacific over a year ago.
However, that said... I love posting on Survivor Sucks. With all the arguments, discussion and debating that goes on there, I am convinced more than one of those people have to be lawyers in their real lives.
Q: So, it's Creepy?
A: It's both, but mostly social with the potential for creepiness.
So enjoy! Just stay on topic and you'll be fine.
Oh and...GO COCHRAN!
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