Sometimes, geeks just have to let it out. No offense to our friends, family or that random guy on the street tolerating our incessant rants about the hidden meaning behind the ‘Batman’ Issue 3 cover. You guys do a great job of listening, but sometimes we just need someone who can agree that the cover is secretly homage to the Joker. Not that I spent three hours figuring that out or anything.

There’s only one place where geeks, dorks and dweebs around the world can unite to discuss all things nerdy: Internet message boards. The proverbial watering hole for geeks around the globe to meet up and chat, these forums allow geeks to discuss ninjas, pirates or even ninja turtles. If there’s a passion for it, there’s a digital message board to discuss it.

These message boards act like international comic book or video game shops. Instead of hanging out in strip mall, we just hang out and chat on computers. Socially acceptable? Perhaps. Totally awesome? You bet your 50 galleons it is. With an entire community set right before you, joining in on a conversation about George Lucas is almost too easy.

On message boards, the inner geek can really come out. Take my word for it. What you see and hear from geeks on a daily basis is just a miniscule tip of a much larger iceberg. Geeks are on a verbal playground, throwing as many vague references and useless facts out into the air, knowing full well that fellow ‘fanboys’ will understand.

‘To create a geek community, online discussion participants must use geeky words, write about geeky topics, and do appropriately geeky things,’ said Cynthia Gordon, who teaches a course on cultural communication and is a professor in communications and rhetorical studies, in an e-mail. ‘In so doing, they create not only shared ways of using language, but also a set of values defining the group.’

There is no major authority for geek culture. On message boards, geeks create and facilitate critical discussion on their own. ‘The way Siskel and Ebert reviewed movies, members of a comic book message board analyze the latest issue of ‘Green Lantern’ or ‘The Avengers,’ or whatever book(s) they’re reading,’ said Ryan Daly, aka ‘Bandito,’ one of most frequent users of newsarama.com, a site dedicated to comic book, movie and video game message boards. ‘Most members try to bring a level of depth and sophistication to the discussion beyond merely good or bad.’

Now, message boards among geeks are unique beasts: Sure, they facilitate discussion for fans and industry insiders, but more often than not, it often becomes the stomping grounds for super-geeks to harass everyone else for not being able to quote every episode of ‘Star Trek.’ Forget living long and prospering together, message boards for geeks often devolve into a grudge match between fanboys.

‘I feel vindicated when I can school a new fan on the archetypal natures of Superman and Batman,’ Daly said. ‘The reward is feeling smart. It’s very narcissistic, but it helps justify the amount of money I spend on this hobby.’

When taking on a ‘secret identity’ of sorts, it’s easy for most cowardice geeks to act like the Hulk online. As long as the anonymity is there, people feel liberated to say whatever they please. ‘I think interacting anonymously does at least two things: It frees people to talk about personal things without (or with reduced) embarrassment, and it also provides a low-risk context for ‘acting out,” Gordon said.

With geeks being able to say whatever they want without personal consequence, it is just like being a superhero, minus the spandex. We’re at large to do whatever we want. It can sometimes be a little self-serving, but that’s the point: On message boards, geeks can be themselves, but highly respected for it, too.

‘That’s all it’s really about: seeing your own username and whatever bon mot you posted to a discussion and feeling like you’re smarter and funnier than everyone else,’ Daly said. ‘That’s better than flying.’

Flash Steinbeiser is a communications and rhetorical studies and writing major and the feature editor. His column appears every Monday. He can be reached at ansteinb@syr.edu, though it’s probably easier to contact him on the newsarama.com message boards, where his name is ‘scarlet speedster.’ No joke.
 

Published on April 11, 2010 at 12:00 pm