According to a page now at Trainwrecks’s URL, the site is not coming back. If it was a hack in the first place, this may be a hack as well. It just doesn’t feel like the same authorial voice as what I read in official TW posts.
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t buy this 100%. I guess I’ll know it when I don’t see it.
And for what it’s worth, not all TW readers were in the closet. Some of us were out & proud. Yes, I enjoyed Trainwrecks. Yes I submitted a minor trainwreck or two in my time, none of which were any great consequence. I was never trainwrecked myself but I never thought I was above it. Maybe that was part of the thrill — you never knew when you might show up in a post or in an open thread.
If it is the end of Trainwrecks, okay. Another site just like it will pop up. There are sites like it all over the Internet. We call them Television Without Pity, Perez Hilton or Snarkywood. I guess it’s okay to mock celebrities but not to say another of our own ilk is full of shit (MDC), bizarre (IndieBrides) or downright mean (Non-Ugly Fats). I do enjoy when someone points out a naked emperor; let me know when someone else starts.
32 Comments
January 14, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I guess I will never get it. I don’t even understand the fascination with celebs…
January 15, 2007 at 1:26 am
I think it’s all the same mindset and I think that “schadenfreude” is really the only word for it. The difference isn’t tone or severity — it’s subject.
We all have personal lines that we think shouldn’t be crossed (mocking someone’s looks, making fun of their kids, etc.) and some stuff just isn’t worth the time it takes to click on the link but sometimes there was amusement to be found.
I’ll even venture to say that there are TW regulars who are enjoying watching this unfold same as they would any trainwreck.
Much as I’ll miss my daily dose of nastyass & bitchitude, I have to say that if TW is going out, it’s going out as the queen mother of all trainwrecks — and that’s funny and fitting, whether you’re laughing at them or with them.
January 15, 2007 at 3:31 am
Too true - the hole will be filled.
Um, I mean…
I valued trainwrecks for its willingness to tell the Internets when it had crossed the line from “TMI” into “Danger, Will Robinson!”
January 15, 2007 at 10:12 am
I was just always amused by the people who got all indignant about how “mean” the site was.
it’s the internet people. Real life is RIGHT outside.
But hey, I’m a bitch after all.
January 15, 2007 at 2:02 pm
A-fucking-men. It’s exactly what people are doing via e-mail or message boards or something anyway. It’s just that w/ TW, no one was hiding what they were saying.
January 15, 2007 at 2:58 pm
What was Heaven Nose? I never heard of that site until this happened. Sounds as though I did not miss much?
Oh well.
January 15, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I agree with Eden’s assessment. It was the same stuff I would have said on MSN to a friend, only with a larger group, and everyone upfront–as upfront as we all are with our net identities–about it.
And to those who called it trolling, I’d say it was anything but. Those comments weren’t posted on people’s blogs. Other than the sheer vanity of checking stats, or “helpful” friends who let the wreckee know, there was no reason for the “stars” of Trainwrecks to even know that they’d been featured or what was said. I have a hard time working up a tear for those kinds of hurt feelings.
Now I’m gonna have to read MDC for myself if I want my dose of the truly crazy! I don’t have the time for that!
January 15, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I had asked for, and gotten, a clarification on that at TW not long ago. Apparently it was a troll who decided to hitch itself to the TW star. I think there are connections implied between HN and other blogs/bloggers but I couldn’t follow it. As I replied on TW, I didn’t care enough to sort it out since any time I saw anything from HN or the sock puppets, I just ignored it.
From my understanding, HN was to TW what VA was to the A/B-list. If there’s a connection between HN & VA, I do not know. Whether the connection to other blogs/bloggers is accurate gossip, I don’t know and don’t care. Seems kind of a moot point now.
I hope “VA” is clear enough since that’s not an association I want in terms of Google hits. TW I understood. VA, I went twice to see what the fuss was about and it was just nothingness. Not funny, not provacative, just bland. Of course I feel that way about VA’s targets more often than not so maybe it fits.
Hopefully we’ll get lucky and cornichonaddict will come back and clarify. No word yet from Bobo the Chimp, although I’d love to know what that word would be
January 15, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Ah. I’m too lazy to really try and figure out those kinds of connections, unless they’re really obvious. I had never heard of HN so I must have skipped over mention on TW, or it just did not register as something of interest.
I mentioned VA in a blog entry once a few months ago and every day notice people searching for VA and ‘real identity.’ Why people care so much about the real identity of anonymous bloggers is beyond me.
January 15, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Frankly it’s b/c I think some of the stuff VA has done is libelous and they may be looking for information in regards to a lawsuit. As I said on my other TW post’s comments, I don’t the TW folks did anything libelous. If there was so much as a whiff of it (like someone posting personal info in comments), the TW folks swooped in and removed it.
January 15, 2007 at 5:28 pm
The whole thing made me wonder as well. If you put it out there, someone, somewhere will find a way to mock it. I never thought they did anymore harm than most of the victims did to themselves. But, I could be full of it too.
January 15, 2007 at 5:31 pm
I thought VA’s Letter to Leta was a pretty smart piece of satire. But then she just got mean, and then degenerated into stupid.
So far as a lawsuit goes, the net rallied around Sweetney. Donations poured in and a lawyer was hired. The appropriate information was obtained. But Sweetney decided she didn’t want to relinquish her own blog anonymity and backed out.
January 15, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Who in the FUCK wants to sue over what amounts to a bunch of kids giggling in the lunchroom? because that is kinda what it is?
I have trouble with these “popular” bloggers putting it out there, and then getting their panties in a twist when someone point at them and calls them retarded. Just because people like you doesn’t make smart or special..
I don’t get it. I’ve written stuff that likely deserved to be Trainwrecked. Hell, I expected it, and if I ACT like a moron, bring it on.
Just another example that no one can handle having their widdle feelings hurt. How do these people get through the day.
January 15, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I like Sweetney.
That said, she does much the same at MamaPop (is that the name of the site? I’ve only visited twice.) so the whole knotted panties thing… yeah. However, one of the reasons I like her is that she does seem to have some semblance of a sense of humor over things like that. The thing where VA mocked her kid? Just not funny & if memory serves, the Trainwreckers came down on that side of the issue as well. Pointless, IMO, except that VA got the hits/attention she wanted. If I were Sweetney, I would have sued over use of the image but that’s just me being a litigious bitch.
I commented once… maybe last April or so? on TW about a Dooce post they had up. Something was going on, comment deletion or Jon was threatening people or somesuch and I said that people are half-afraid to say anything critical b/c either he’ll make noise about it or her fans will come & crucify you or something. At the time I still supplied my URL w/ my name/e-mail addy. Someone read it the post I’d written about how I didn’t get Dooce and thought it was a load of crap and I was called out by a commenter for not being tits-out enough with my opinion. The commenter was right; I had held back b/c I didn’t particularly feel like dealing with a shitstorm of any magnitude. But the commenter went on to say that if I wasn’t careful, I would be trainwrecked! My reply was something like “I don’t know if I’m worthy of being a trainwreck but thanks!”
Wow, if I’d been trainwrecked, I wouldn’t have known what to do with myself. So long as they left my kids alone, I’d probably be right there saying “What a pretentious cunt!”
January 15, 2007 at 7:47 pm
I don’t dislike Sweetney, although the dishing it out but unable to take it mentality is a bit difficult for me to take. Don’t be a cunt and then start deleting comments and then shutting them down for calling you out on it.
And I agree that the VA attack on Sweetney was waaaay too far. That wasn’t satire. It wasn’t funny. It was small minded and cruel.
I understand why she decided to protect her identity, but….She made such a big fuss about it. And everyone–even non fans, to put it mildly–rallied around her and ponied up. And she just wussed out. So NOT punk rawk.
I liked your dooce post. It was the first time outside of my circle of rl friends that someone had articulated the bad taste that gets left in my mouth over the blogosphere–particularly if you happen to be a mommy–to revere dooce as our god.
January 15, 2007 at 9:00 pm
I agree about VA. Trainwrecks just made us aware of the existence of douchebaggery; VA was shrill and mean.
As for Heaven Nose–go to Yahoo! answers and type in their name–there’s a good summary of what happened. But the Cliffnotes version is they’re asshats.
January 15, 2007 at 9:09 pm
There’s a great discussion going on over at TheZeroBoss of the OMG UR MEEN!111 variety…
January 15, 2007 at 9:53 pm
O rly?
I am participating in the ZB discussion; I’m edenza over there. Paula made good points on Ultrablog (and in Jay’s comments). Last I’d dropped in on the ZB discussion, HN was using sock puppets to argue for itself. Now if only the Non-Ugly Fats would show up…
Asshats. That sums it up well enough for me.
January 16, 2007 at 10:57 am
It’s all more fun than the worksheet on phylogenetic reconstruction that I’m avoiding by following these posts.
I do dislike Sweetney– that is,as much as you can dislike an internet personality. I think she’s a smart, and she writes well, but my limited interactions with her online left a bad taste.
I do not get Dooce either. But what I *really* do not understand is how simply stating that opinion inflames so many people. Weirdness.
January 16, 2007 at 4:18 pm
This is what my husband and I talked about last night. I do not take the Internet seriously. If I don’t like someone, I click away (that is, since TW went down). I enjoyed pointing and laughing, and I don’t really think it was wrong.
What I do not understand is these people who are just devastated by what strangers on the Internet think about them. There is nothing that can make up for human contact; for doing life together day to day. That is why none of the people on the Internet that I’ve met would be considered my close or trusted friends.
Why do you need to put your whole life out there? It’s not a price I’m willing to pay for fame. I think that the people who get so imbalanced by either criticism or rabid praise need to take a closer look at their life. What are they hiding from? What makes the opinions of strangers so important?
I think it suggests an imbalance of some kind, this dependance on the fanclubbing of readers. And I hope more bloggers realize this and intentionally redirect before the value of human interaction is lost.
January 16, 2007 at 4:52 pm
All very valid.
I blogged once about “if you can’t take the criticism DON’T put your life on public display!” If you want to keep a journal online but don’t have the emotional strength to take a comment or criticism (and if you don’t, hey that’s okay — not everyone does), make your journal private.
I was raised to base my self-worth on what others thought of me. It’s a hard mindset to break. I do think that, in general, we care what others think of us (blogged that more than once; probably under “Deep Thoughts”) and in some ways we use blogs as tools to gain approval or to say, “I think this. Don’t you agree?”
In a way, I got that from TW. I was looking at A/B-list bloggers and going “WTF?” When I discovered TW about a year ago, I was SO grateful to find people who were also saying “WTF?” It wasn’t about approval but there was a certain amount of “my opinion is valid” that was buoyed by the commenters and administrators of TW.
Now I’m reading the comment thread here (and at Zero Boss and other places) and thinking how those of us who were TW participants are the ones now sitting back and analyzing its impact while its detractors are dancing on its grave.
I really dig that you’ve come here to comment (everyone). Thanks
January 16, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Hehe. Eden, I know what you mean. It felt good on some rudimentary level to know that other people were wtf-ing over the narcissism of it all. The Internet has cheapened getting your voice out to the point that people think just because they hit ‘publish’ they have the right to everyone telling them how awesome they are.
Also, I totally understand what you mean about basing your self-worth on what others think of you. In a way TW has taught me to do that less. At the end of the day, it’s just words in a box.
January 16, 2007 at 5:58 pm
By the way, VA’s post about girl bullies is really spot-on. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but she’s really grasped how women worked.
January 16, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Hrm. Well maybe I’ll check it out. Can’t agree w/ everything VA says (what a boring world that would be — agreeing with people all the time about everything) but it sounds like there’s some satire that hits the mark and some observations that are deeper than I’d thought. Thanks for the heads-up
January 16, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Geez, I went away for a week and look what I missed!
I will miss Trainwrecks. All those folks who thinks TW was the height of meanness have obviously led a very sheltered life.
January 16, 2007 at 9:14 pm
“I was looking at A/B-list bloggers and going “WTF?” When I discovered TW about a year ago, I was SO grateful to find people who were also saying “WTF?” It wasn’t about approval but there was a certain amount of “my opinion is valid” that was buoyed by the commenters and administrators of TW.”
Yes, yes, yes. I remember reading certain blogs thinking, “This is what passes for engaging stories on the internet?” I couldn’t figure out all the hoopla and the devoted followers just confounded me. There are indeed really talented writers out there (a lot of them have very few regular readers) and those writers were never train wrecked. I think that says something.
Anyway, I’ll miss TW, but I’m glad I’m finding new blogs to read in its place. I’ll be lurking around, Eden.
January 16, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Ooh a new lurker. Teh awesome
Maybe it’s just habit that keeps people reading bland crap every day? Or the feeling that they “belong” to a community?
I keep thinking if the TWers heard us doing these “wah — I miss TW. I luffed TW” they’d tell us to fuck the hell off. And that’s the kind of community *I* wanted to be a part of
January 16, 2007 at 10:31 pm
I think in a way, the TWers would be proud to be going out as one of the biggest trainwrecks of all time.
I think it’s partly an Emperor’s new clothes thing. If everyone else says they’re beautiful, maybe it’s just me? I’d better play along or people will think I’m stupid.
It’s partly coattail riding. There are some out there who are savvy enough to figure out who the cool crowd is and ass kiss in comments to ride that popularity.
And it’s partly a fear of missing out. It is a community thing. If everyone else is talking about it, then I need to be up on it so that I can join the conversation too type of mentality. I mean, I was never much interested in reality tv, but when the only conversation in the staffroom was about Survivor, I watched so that I could participate.
Plus, if you don’t read, you could miss something (like a really juicy wreck).
January 17, 2007 at 12:14 am
Wow, everyone has made great points here! I also was happily surprised to find other people who didn’t think the “Blog Goddesses” (Dooce, Klein, etc.) were all that and a bag of soy chips. But even so, I think the world could do with less meanness, so it’s okay by me that TW is gone. For me, they were just too focused on pointing and laughing without contributing anything. I don’t mind some P&L if it’s interspersed with other stuff.
Now, has anyone checked Zeroboss tonight? I’m soooo confused! It looks like The Shnozz (from HN) is *defending* TW from a couple of anon. commenters, who may be all the same person, or not. I joked earlier that TW, HN, and VA could all be the same writer, but who knows. It’s all a great distraction from balancing the checkbook anyway.
January 17, 2007 at 12:22 am
HN is fond of talking to itself, making sock puppets, etc. Jay probably has the IP addresses that the comments are coming from & knows that it’s one person arguing w/ him/herself. HN liked to hijack TW comment threads as well.
Hey, w/ TW gone I had so much free time that I finished the rewrite on my book. Who knew?
January 17, 2007 at 12:37 am
That’s awesome Eden. Hilarious, but awesome. Congrats!
January 18, 2007 at 12:08 pm
You’re going to have to translate this conversation for me sometime
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