June 11
Link


Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor may have Twittered for the last time.

The recently outspoken frontman contributed a post to the official NIN.com message board in which he confesses his disappointment in the overall negativity of online communities, writing, “We’re in a world where the mainstream social networks want any and all people to boost user numbers for the big selloff and are not concerned with the quality of experience.”

Reznor’s short tenure on Twitter was a beneficial one for fans, though some critics argued it was distracting him from his true calling: the music.

The NIN leader used the 140-character blog to slam Chris Cornell’s Scream, announce his collaboration with Jane’s Addiction and offer special tour packages to raise money for a heart transplant for Eric De La Cruz. It also gave fans access to Reznor on a more personal level. “I approached that as a place to be less formal and more off-the-cuff, honest and ‘human,’ ” he writes. “I was not expecting to broadcast details of my love life there, but it happened because I’m in love and it’s all I think about and that’s that.

“I decided to lower the curtain a bit and let you see more of my personality,” Reznor added. “I watched some of you get more engaged because you started to realize there’s a person (flaws and all) back there, and I watched some of you recoil in horror because I’m not what you projected on me. All expected. I’m not as concerned about “breaking” your idea of NIN at this point. It is what it is and I am what I am.”

Anytime a celebrity makes himself accessible to the public, the haters feast and a polarizing force like Reznor can often attract an army of them. So who’s to blame for Reznor’s defection from Twitter?

According to Reznor, the members of the online community Metal Sludge. “Metal Sludge is the home of the absolutely worst people I’ve ever come across,” Reznor writes in the tirade portion of his post. (Metal Sludge is having a laugh about the whole thing, calling Rez a “miserable little goth bitch.”)

While Reznor didn’t say he was completely finished with Twitter, his often-updated account has been silent since he routed followers to his NIN.com post. “I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it’s now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result,” Reznor writes. “Idiots rule.”

Seems someone is following in Prince's footsteps.....lol

Copycat said:

Sounds like some people on the org (prince forum)

paisleypark4 said:

It sure does. Very sad.

trent would last 20 minutes on here before starting his obligatory "I'M LEAVING THE ORG FOREVER STFU I MEAN IT THIS TIME" thread.

Anxiety said:

haha! yeah, prince.org is like internet boot camp. if you can make it here, then you can make it anywhere.

coolcat said:

actually, you know what, the .org is no different than any other online forum. i think it takes a certain kind of person to tolerate an online community, because you DO have so many trolls and attention seekers and people who are completely devoid of tact, home training, manners and common sense. a lot of people can't help but take that kind of behavior personally, and then there are others who have a thick skin and know how to avoid/ignore internet idiots.

if a person tries out a forum like this or nin.com's boards and they're like "screw this, i don't need to deal with these assholes", i completely understand where they're coming from. clearly trent doesn't have the temperament for it, which is good, because he should be busy making music instead of futzing around online anyway.

Anxiety said:

Remember the days of usenet... newgroups... no moderation... it was horrible! Things aren't perfect now, but they're a whole lot better than they used to be.

i am "present" on twitter because of some of the people i know who use it as their primary voice to the world. really, i think it's redundant because it does what facebook does, only with less functionality. and i don't care for all the trendy lingo surrounding twitter, either. wtf is this, CB radio for unicorns? shit.

well, he's right

Anxiety said:

Totally. I just checked out the Chastity Bono thread and was painfully reminded of that.

contrapposto said:

yeah, that shit's just depressing.

Graycap23 said:

Don't get it twisted. Trent never declared war on YouTube like Prince has.

TonyVanDam said:

i think trent's all for the technology and the accessibility. it's the behavior of people in the online communities that he seems turned off to.

paisleypark4 said:

...How on point is that?


I'll admit that I just don't get the whole social networking thing.
Probably because i'm trying to figure out how a productive adult would have the time to keep up with all their Twitter/Facebook/MySpace/Plaxo/Wacko/etc accounts.

A humorous take on the "Twittering" experience:
http://prince.org/msg/100/300360
Best line: But I can see I’m not using this social network for its intended purpose – to bore the crap out of my readers by sharing the minutiae of my daily life.




tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431[/url]

Graycap23 said:

I will eventually take it all under consideration and think of Reznor objectively, but I will say for now that I think he might be right when he says "I think it's time for NIN to go away for a while..."

Anxiety said:

What is it about these things called "online personality" and "online community" - I can't help but to think of the dialogue between Vanessa Bartholomew (Kirstie Alley) and Prince on the symbol album, about the tone box - "...it's like a field I can hide behind." I gotta wonder how much good it does to a person's psyche.

Never could see Trent lasting on Twitter..

It's silly

Anxiety said:

Anyone ever visited http://bossip.com or www.okayplayer.com ?

We all see the world through slightly different filters, and no amount of moderation (or dictatorship) over content on any site will ever be able to change that in the long-term. You can't ban (or behead) the entire lowest-common-denominator; especially since the very definition will always remain in the eye of the beholder.

And it has always been as predictable as death and taxes that nothing or no one is universally loved or hated. But with the Internet we get this information almost instantly.

Yes, it's too bad that vile ignorance can not only find solace on the Internet, but sometimes parades with fanfare. But you either grow thicker skin or you find other, safer pursuits.

It's somewhat humorous that it took all this time and Twitter to make more celebrities feel like safer participates. But I think it’s just a matter of time before quite a few are chased off (or allow themselves to be chased off).

Brendan said:

good comments

it's been interesting for me to read reznor's complaints and frustrations while at the same time i've been working on the wendy & lisa interview project here on the .org and realizing just how involved W&L are with their fanbase online, and how comfortable they seem with it.

i don't think W&L possess any great quality that reznor lacks, though i do think they have the patience and temperament to push past the requisite internet bullshit and focus on the aspects of online social networking that will benefit them and the fans who are really there to enjoy the music and the artists. i also think it helps to have people working with you to filter out a lot of the nonsense, so as an artist you can stay focused on the relevant feedback from fans online, instead of having to wade through a bunch of "OMFG U SUCK LOLOLOL"

i look at internet trolls as a kind of tax we have to pay to enjoy the immediacy and connection of the internet. nothing good comes for free, so the price we have to pay to have such an immediate forum of expression is that we have to wade through the idiots. they're the equivalent of pop up advertising banners. they're annoying, but you just click past them.

people take the trolls and the idiots far too seriously, and i wish they wouldn't. trolls will never go away. if you ban one, they'll come back under some new stupid name, or another moron will appear on the scene to take the place of the one that got banned yesterday. trying to eradicate idiots is like trying to eradicate idiocy. it can't be isolated and "cured" once and for all. the only way to combat them is to ignore them.

i deal with people all the time on the .org who have had their feelings hurt by some shmuckface who is just looking for attention so they decide to lash out at other users of this site. what these hurtful people need to realize is, it's not the negative behavior that gets attention in the long run. it's the positive behavior. the accomplishments. the involvement. THAT is how you get the kudos and the recognition. not by being an asshole.

but accomplishments take effort and being an asshole really doesn't, so....

BlaqueKnight said:

Why is Chris Cornell an ass? Reznor only slammed one song according to this story.

TonyVanDam said:

-----
P does not want to work with YOUTUBE and so do lots of other copyright holders. It is their choice as they own the copyright. Why is this so hard for some of you to comprehend.

Anxiety said:

theAudience said:

With U on that, my Brother.

I'm really not interested in anyone's daily journal...

LIKE: "So I decided 2 shine my shoes today, and noticed a scuff I hadn't seen. I used the neutral shoe cream, because that's far better than the dyed ones, and brings out the natural color. Well, it worked, and the scuff is unnoticeable now. I'm going 2 put them on, and go downtown... maybe get an espresso..."

not everyone on twitter is posting every thought they have

laurarichardson said:

that's fine, but we're talking about trent reznor here, not "lots of other copyright holders". trent reznor has posted higher quality versions of his music videos on youtube than that which his former record label has provided, and he doesn't disallow the posting of his videos like most labels do. other artists have the right to do what they want with their work, and this is what trent chooses to do. there's no right or wrong answer, just personal preference. trent doesn't look to be suffering as a result of his approach, though...

Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor may have Twittered for the last time.

The recently outspoken frontman contributed a post to the official NIN.com message board in which he confesses his disappointment in the overall negativity of online communities, writing, “We’re in a world where the mainstream social networks want any and all people to boost user numbers for the big selloff and are not concerned with the quality of experience.”

Reznor’s short tenure on Twitter was a beneficial one for fans, though some critics argued it was distracting him from his true calling: the music.

The NIN leader used the 140-character blog to slam Chris Cornell’s Scream, announce his collaboration with Jane’s Addiction and offer special tour packages to raise money for a heart transplant for Eric De La Cruz. It also gave fans access to Reznor on a more personal level. “I approached that as a place to be less formal and more off-the-cuff, honest and ‘human,’ ” he writes. “I was not expecting to broadcast details of my love life there, but it happened because I’m in love and it’s all I think about and that’s that.

“I decided to lower the curtain a bit and let you see more of my personality,” Reznor added. “I watched some of you get more engaged because you started to realize there’s a person (flaws and all) back there, and I watched some of you recoil in horror because I’m not what you projected on me. All expected. I’m not as concerned about “breaking” your idea of NIN at this point. It is what it is and I am what I am.”

Anytime a celebrity makes himself accessible to the public, the haters feast and a polarizing force like Reznor can often attract an army of them. So who’s to blame for Reznor’s defection from Twitter?

"Actually, it was BartVanHemelen. He kept on using me as a measuring stick with Prince... constantly comparing me to Prince, saying I do everything right, and Prince does everything wrong. I mean WHO AM I? I AM WHO I AM. I grew up loving Prince, and still do. You just don't compare someone like me to Prince. Wait 'til I've done as many albums, if you must. I AM NOT COMPARABLE. Yeah, it was Bart."

Dsoul said:

If you knew him, you wouldn't have to ask.