Reddit.
Unless it’s completely changed since the APIpocalypse, I’m going to say wrong criticism, right target. It’s a big place, only some parts of which gatekeep much.
Yeah, Reddit seems like it does the exact OPPOSITE of gatekeeping. It’s progressively lowering the barrier to entry to attract new people.
Before I signed up, it was very much “The narwhal bacons at midnight”, with people needing to understand the inside jokes and references, Reddiquette, and other “soft skill” kind of stuff to get upvotes.
I left with the API situation, but even by then, it was nearly mainstream. “Normal people” would tell people about things they saw on Reddit. Of course, nobody would share their username with anyone else. (Nor should they! Lol)
Even since then, I’m occasionally seeing Reddit screenshots from people whose phones I imagined never opened much else aside from messaging apps, image/video-based social media, and their camera app, lol
Fire Emblem Three Houses, the game literally has an NPC named “Gatekeeper” who won a yearly Fire Emblem popularity poll with the highest vote count ever.
Sheepdog trials. Though mostly it’s about making things go through the gates.
I don’t even know why they have trials, and the jury isn’t even selected from their peers. Every one of those dogs looks guilty to me.
A lot of more traditional hobby communities like HAM and model aircraft clubs, that want you to take a dozen tests to play with them. Those same communities seem to scratch their heads as to why they can’t attract new members.
I think those only need 1 test to play with them, and that’s because they are regulated by the government. They want people to follow the rules because if they don’t it can come down on all of them.
The biggest one of these that I know of is falconry which requires 1 falconry test, 1 hunt test, 1 inspection, and finding a two year sponsor. Falconry is specifically set up to gatekeep as to protect the sport in the USA.
Yeah, I have yet to encounter ham gatekeeping beyond “don’t broadcast without a licence and callsign”. The test itself is all important stuff, as I’m studying for it in Canada.
It’s dead because what we’re doing right here is an easier way to talk to people around the world. You have to be nerdy enough to love the technology for it’s own sake, so that cuts down the pool pretty severely even before the cost and “red tape” come into it.
How is putting up so many barriers to participation meant to protect the sport?
Falconry in the US exists as an exclusion from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Both of these laws make it illegal to disrupt or possess native birds or their parts. Falconers successfully petitioned the government to let them take wild raptors from the wild as long as falconers themselves regulate the participants. If the falconers are not being respectful of the birds it would be incredibly easy to strip their privileges.
In the same sense RC flying is a privilege from the FAA after too many people flew drones into airports and HAM is a privilege from the FCC to keep people from jacking up the airwaves.
That’s interesting, I never knew that! Makes sense though
I’m on board with rules if it involves live animals tbh
Ham licenses make sense. If you screw up, you ruin things for everyone, so you have to make sure everyone who transmits knows what they’re doing. The problem is the elitism, and how many of them look down on anything more modern than vacuum tubes as not being real amateur radios.
But from experience, hams are usually enthusiastic to explain anything related you might be interested in
Right target, wrong reason: Testing for HAM makes complete sense. It’s government imposed to get licensed, and that’s because the equipment required for HAM could be easily modified to interfere with other electronics or run up against communications laws. HAM being self-regulated (in that everyone is a snitch if they find out you’re operating without a license) is only going to be possible if everyone is a snitch. Also, everyone has to share the radio spectrum, so you should know how to be a good actor before you get the chance to go on air.
But there is gatekeeping in HAM in how few beginners focused resources there are. At least in Canada, I found only one set of books that taught the latest HAM exam and one series of YouTube videos (thanks Ylabs!)
I have found very few “your first radio” resources. Hunting for that sort of thing is an intimidating experience, full of jargon and acronyms (not stuff like “VHF” and stuff you need for the exam, but model descriptions and stuff). Lots of sites and radio club web pages aren’t kept up to date, and it’s a lot to ask of new people that they come out to field day for in person meetups when it’s just a bunch of strangers.
I found HAM folks super welcoming. I came to take the entry level test and they encouraged me to take the next level one at the same time, and generously offered to help me pass it.
The fish doorbell folks.
Just whatever makes sense
hoarders are good at gate keeping
Gardeners.
So many gates to maintain.I guess ranchers too. Except they gatekeep the old fashion way as well.
North Korea
I grew up in a very conservative Catholic community. Imagine a group where JD Vance and Harrison Butker would be considered mild. If a new person didn’t show up in the right kind of clothes and faux humility, people would make a snap judgement and start gossiping. If the new person were wealthy or had a lot of children (8+) or were in a medical field, they would probably be ok. The single parent mom with two kids who dared to send one to public school for better STEM classes? Lol, she had no chance.
There was a “welcome wagon” type group who were supposed to invite new people to coffee and doughnuts with the congregation in the basement after services. I watched the one invite one family and offer a handshake, visibly retracted the hand to skip over Single Mom, and then extend an invitation to the next family. Ice cold.
There was a “welcome wagon” type group who were supposed to invite new people to coffee and doughnuts with the congregation in the basement after services. I watched the one invite one family and offer a handshake, visibly retracted the hand to skip over Single Mom, and then extend an invitation to the next family. Ice cold.
Just like Jesus would have wanted eh
Jesus would understand, because they’re special
Star Wars. God help you if you actually like The Acolyte or the sequels, they’ll flay you alive while they harass everyone involved in the making of.
Railway and train modellers, of all scales. To their credit, a fair fee people are becoming more open, but especially modelling clubs are often run by old white men with questionable politics and problematic behaviours. They will sneer at anything that’s not steam, or at people who run modern instead of vintage trains, or who don’t get a train model exactly right the way the original ran that one time in the mid 50s from Bumfuck, Idaho to the middle of nowhere. They have little patience for newbies who might not have internalised all the lingo, or who might need something explained in simple English. If you build something that is not an exact replica of a real world location, they’ll say you’re not doing model railway, but merely toy trains. And then these same people go and wonder why they can’t attract new people to the hobby.
All of this applies to many niche communities. In Germany, especially the older forums that are around since the internet became widly popular show such behavior. Take HiFi- forums for example: If your plugs are not made with gold, you are doing it wrong. Also, if you want to spend money for a hobby, don’t bother to start if you are not willing to spend at least an unreasonable ridiculous ammount of Euros.
These enthusiast also complain about a lack of new members. It’s the nobody wants to work anymore sentiment, but with niche hobby communities.
Replace “trains” with “amateur radio” and the entire paragraph fits perfectly.
Sad, imagine if ham ran the radio decentralized parallel internet. Progress occurs one silent key at a time
Anime - People don’t like you when you’re into the popular ones.
Video Games - It’s everywhere here. If you’re into AAA games, you’ll never hear the end of it. If you’re into Indie games, then you have to be into games like Hollow Knight, Undertale .etc or you just don’t know indie.
Metal Music - Fucking hell, you’re always going to be snubbed and looked down upon because you’re not into Death or Black Metal. Doesn’t matter if you’re into Iron Maiden or X Nu Metal band here, but you’re just not metal until you listen to anything Black/Death. Maybe I don’t want to listen to Cookie Monster and Friends.
As an older metalhead, this makes me a bit sad, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The metal scene I joined in the early 90s did have its tolerance problems specifically against other music genres, but I never knew it as particularly gatekeepy, at least the circles I socialised with and the concerts and festivals I went to. There were some people who though you weren’t a real metal fan if you didn’t exclusively listen to metal, but they were a minority. Nobody had a problem with me not particularly liking Slayer or Motörhead, and there was no requirement to have long hair and be covered in leather and/or band patches.
If it makes you feel better, it’s mostly just loud people on the internet. I’ve never really seen any gatekeeping behavior at any of the many shows I’ve been to.
And even if you do listen to death/black metal, you can still get crap from some people if it’s not a certain sub-genre. It’s just music, let me listen in peace, I don’t need a lecture.
“Yeah, I like tons of metal bands! …just not sure which ones as I can’t read any of their names.”
I listen to a variety of metal. If most of your song is incomprehensible screaming or growling (in any genre, for that matter), I’m not interested in that song.
TERFs
Gatekeep so hard they require DNA tests
