Mental map of the internet: anyone else get that?
Last week, I was going through a mental list of the sites where I wanted to crosspost some 
seasonal_spuffy announcement or other, when I noticed that not only does each of those sites have its own "place" in my head (I knew that), but also this structure is clear and vivid enough that it's somewhat useful for "visually" checking if I've posted everywhere I wanted.
Maybe "spatially" is a better word. It's not like I'm looking at an actual picture, it's more like a feeling that there's something there if I focus on an area or think about a site (though they do have a hint of color). I guess this is the wild, uncultivated version of what mind palaces are built on. I don't think it makes me Sherlock or anything. I wouldn't be surprised if most brains did some version of the thing.
I drew a picture. [ETA: to be clear, the pic includes quite a few sites where I do not post anything, as a rule.]
LiveJournal and Dreamwidth are definitely next to each other, and I'm very sure that DW is on the right and LJ is on the left. So every time I auto-crosspost an entry from DW to LJ, off it goes towards my left.
Elysian Fields are lower, and they are closer to me than Reddit or BuffyBoards. Pillowfort is to the right of EF, and tumblr is to the left. YouTube is definitely "up", and so is Twitter.
I have no idea if there is anything that makes sites be up or down, right or left. The only logical pattern I see here is that my frequently used sites are in the middle. Facebook is vivid, but a bit off to the side despite frequent use, probably because I hate it. BuffyForums and BuffyBoards are grouped together, but BuffyBoards are definitely farther away. I think AO3 is close to tumblr because I know some people use them as a set, e.g. they will make a fic post with a "read on AO3" link. I do know people do that the world over, though, not just on tumblr. Ooh, and Mastodon servers, Wattpad and all that stuff I don't get is somewhere off to the top right... but Discord is more like center top. Podcasts are "up"; this makes it easy for new episodes to fall into Dreamwidth feeds... Tea at the Ford is very definitely bottom right. The author archives of people like Rahirah and Slaymesoftly are somewhere in the far right.
Does your head do the thing?
View poll: #21598 This entry was originally posted at https://thenewbuzwuzz.dreamwidth.org/97907.html. They tell me you can comment there using OpenID.
seasonal_spuffy announcement or other, when I noticed that not only does each of those sites have its own "place" in my head (I knew that), but also this structure is clear and vivid enough that it's somewhat useful for "visually" checking if I've posted everywhere I wanted.
Maybe "spatially" is a better word. It's not like I'm looking at an actual picture, it's more like a feeling that there's something there if I focus on an area or think about a site (though they do have a hint of color). I guess this is the wild, uncultivated version of what mind palaces are built on. I don't think it makes me Sherlock or anything. I wouldn't be surprised if most brains did some version of the thing.
I drew a picture. [ETA: to be clear, the pic includes quite a few sites where I do not post anything, as a rule.]
LiveJournal and Dreamwidth are definitely next to each other, and I'm very sure that DW is on the right and LJ is on the left. So every time I auto-crosspost an entry from DW to LJ, off it goes towards my left.
Elysian Fields are lower, and they are closer to me than Reddit or BuffyBoards. Pillowfort is to the right of EF, and tumblr is to the left. YouTube is definitely "up", and so is Twitter.
I have no idea if there is anything that makes sites be up or down, right or left. The only logical pattern I see here is that my frequently used sites are in the middle. Facebook is vivid, but a bit off to the side despite frequent use, probably because I hate it. BuffyForums and BuffyBoards are grouped together, but BuffyBoards are definitely farther away. I think AO3 is close to tumblr because I know some people use them as a set, e.g. they will make a fic post with a "read on AO3" link. I do know people do that the world over, though, not just on tumblr. Ooh, and Mastodon servers, Wattpad and all that stuff I don't get is somewhere off to the top right... but Discord is more like center top. Podcasts are "up"; this makes it easy for new episodes to fall into Dreamwidth feeds... Tea at the Ford is very definitely bottom right. The author archives of people like Rahirah and Slaymesoftly are somewhere in the far right.
Does your head do the thing?
View poll: #21598 This entry was originally posted at https://thenewbuzwuzz.dreamwidth.org/97907.html. They tell me you can comment there using OpenID.