The Hive Mind

Help Pick the Village Voice Web Award Nominees for 2011

By Jen Doll Wed., Oct. 26 2011 at 11:45 AM
Categories: Jen Doll, The Hive Mind, The Internet, There's Something for Everyone, Things About Us, Village Voice Web Awards

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Greetings, dear Internet friends! Do you remember last year's fun-filled Village Voice Web Awards, an event filled with frivolity and Four Loko? Things got wild, and we ended the night spilling salsa on our own computer cord, which means: It was highly successful!

Well, it's that time of year again, and we want you to help us choose the best neighborhood blog, best music blog, best Twitter accounts, best Tumblr, best viral videos, and more. Please go to our Web Awards 2011 poll and write in your nominations. Don't be shy, it's the Internet.

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The Subway

Subway Conductor Tells You What to Do If You Fall in the Tracks (and Other Transit Real Talk)

By Jen Doll Mon., Oct. 10 2011 at 4:10 PM
Categories: Jen Doll, MTA, The Hive Mind, The Subway, Things to Know in Easy Bites

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via
A recent IAmA on Reddit is fascinating, at least, if you're kind of a subway nerd like we are. Or even if you're just a commuter and not a nerd at all! A user named Fusoyaff2, who says he's been a subway conductor for New York City Transit since spring of this year, has answered some of the most pressing questions the average commuter has about subway transit. Are there mole people? What does "sick passenger" mean? Like we said, it's fascinating. We've excerpted some of the most interesting bits, after the jump, but the whole thing is well worth a read.


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Maps

New York City for Nerds: The Ultimate Map

By Jen Doll Fri., Oct. 7 2011 at 3:47 PM
Categories: Jen Doll, Maps, Nerding Out, The Hive Mind

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BuzzFeed
Our friends at BuzzFeed have created a map for nerds -- "The Ultimate Nerd Guide To New York City" -- drawing on the combined knowledge of the nerd collaborative, a/k/a, the Internet. They're calling it "a guide to New York City that's actually useful for once," and, truly, it is kind of special. We are excited to see multiple Ghostbuster's locations, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's headquarters, and Mario's Plumbing, among other important spots. We talked to Jack Shepherd, the editorial mastermind behind Nerd Guide (and BuzzFeed's Community Manager).

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The Hive Mind

Peter Coffin Speaks as the Internet Taunts Grow: 'I'm Just Going to Shut Off and Leave'

By Joe Coscarelli Fri., Mar. 25 2011 at 10:37 AM
Categories: Dating, Internet, Online Dating, Reddit, The Hive Mind

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Peter Coffin might currently be the most hated man on the internet, even though what he allegedly did has no real victims. According to the popular Singaporean blogger and model Xiaxue, who became fed up with Coffin's Twitter taunts about her plastic surgery, Coffin, a YouTube comedian, carried on a charade of an online-only relationship with someone purporting to be an 18-year-old Japanese girl named Kimi Kobayashi. Not only does Kobayashi not exist, but her pictures are of a Korean model (arguably the only innocent victim). Xiaxue has compiled damning evidence that Coffin created the Kobayashi character, complete with the tasteless, racist and sexist jokes that constituted the pair's public flirting.

In a thirty minute conversation with Runnin' Scared this morning, a despondent Coffin, who's been mocked relentlessly online for more than 36 hours, maintained that he did not create Kobayashi, but was instead the victim of someone else's online identity games. "I'm just in a place right now," he stuttered somberly. "I'm sitting here, and I've got these people coming at me from a million angles and I don't know what happened."

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California

Berkeley Residents Panicking Over Almost Non-Existent Radiation

By Rosie Gray Sat., Mar. 19 2011 at 11:41 AM
Categories: California, Hippies, Paranoia Politics, Rosie Gray, The Hive Mind
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​The Daily has an article (not that I can read the whole thing in my iPad-less state!) about irritating Berkeley, Calif. residents being irrationally afraid of radiation from the nuclear crisis in Japan. They are flocking to the area's health food vitamin apothecary-places to buy potassium iodide, which protects against thyroid cancer resulting from exposure to radioactive iodine. This, despite the fact that no elevated radiation levels have been detected in California. More »
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Servicey

The Rules of New York City Slush

By Rosie Gray Sun., Jan. 30 2011 at 4:03 PM
Categories: Rosie Gray, Servicey, Snow News Day, The Hive Mind, Top That!, Very Important Issues, WE CARE A LOT!, Weather

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Blind man followed by elderly lady: a high-risk slush situation.
Snow is pretty. But its red-headed stepchild -- slush -- is gross and awful and makes you fall down, and it happens to be all over the sidewalks right now. We at Runnin' Scared have compiled some thoughts on slush to get you through these slippery days.

I'll start with my most recent and best Slush Experience:

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The Hive Mind

The Dangers of Going Viral: Kidney Donor Attacked by Reddit For Plugging Charity

By Joe Coscarelli Sun., Dec. 19 2010 at 4:28 PM
Categories: 4Chan, Internet, Joe Coscarelli, Privacy, Reddit, Stalkers, The Hive Mind

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In the span of one week, a user of the highly influential social news website Reddit, a man who goes by the internet handle BadgerMatt, experienced the extreme highs and lows of going viral. At a moment when the internet's nerdiest, and often ugliest, underbelly is gaining mainstream attention -- from 4chan's antics, both sour and sweet, to the giant Gawker hack to Anonymous' targeting of Scientology -- BadgerMatt's tale encompasses it all: the power of a crowd, "vigilante e-justice," piles of goodwill and then -- just like that -- how quickly the hive mind can turn on you, leading to harassment and threats. His whole story is below.

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