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	soleta 2003-09-18 10:44 pm UTC (link)
	your link to go-gaia is messed up. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	nekoneko 2003-09-18 10:56 pm UTC (link)
	Damn... Okay, I fixed it. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	phosfate 2003-09-18 11:01 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know from Goth, but Gaia Online's board design with the chibis and giant word balloons sucks and blows. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	ruaki 2003-09-19 07:15 am UTC (link)
	Trust Go-Gaia to finally do what pr0n stars have been attempting for eons. And I am in total sentiment, so word up. Cause yanno, I like watching my computer grind to a halt trying to load everything, and my brain explode as I try to understand the fucked up layout of a message board. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	necronomist 2003-09-18 11:16 pm UTC (link)
	"The Bauhaus" *sprofle* Idiot. If I was five years younger, I'd be there with bells on. But since I don't care for Gaia Online, I'm not. Tara (whose oh so goth nick was greentara. Really) (Reply to this)

	gairid 2003-09-18 11:49 pm UTC (link)
	U go to Hottopix? U r all posers, fuck off! Attack of the Teenage Suicidal Chibi Goths! (Reply to this)(Thread)

	eljuno 2003-09-19 08:25 pm UTC (link)
	I'm beginning to think that shopping at Hot Topic is more non-conformist than NOT shopping there, at least with the mood in the scene... I don't, much, because most of their stuff sucks dead donkey dick and is really overpriced, but I'm tempted. Really, really tempted... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	katemonkey 2003-09-20 06:23 pm UTC (link)
	I like Hot Topic for their sales rack. I got an obscure Star Trek shirt! For $5! And Afro Ken shoelaces! For $1! So neener to the teeners. Neener neener neener! I'm cooler than you! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	backfromspace 2003-09-19 12:05 am UTC (link)
	Well, they are right about one thing. Hot Topic (aka Punk-In-A-Box) is a joke. When we were filming our tongue-in-cheek gothic poetry movie, I had the lead actress stand in front of these giant foam gargoyles holding torches to pine. It was beautiful. (Reply to this)

	jfpbookworm 2003-09-19 01:51 am UTC (link)
	Okay, I think I've got some clue what goth is (and isn't), thanks to my friends, but what the fuck is "prep"? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	gairid 2003-09-19 02:44 am UTC (link)
	Prep is preppie...it used to mean kids who went to 'Prep Schools' preparatory to college entry, usually private and expensive. Now it refers to a look...like having one's cardigan tied around one's neck in a casual manner...docksiders...khakis...used to be Izod shirts were the height of Prep but I'm, not sure what it is now! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	vengeance_bean 2003-09-19 02:56 am UTC (link)
	However, these days it is more often a derogatory term used by those who see themselves as socially outcast in any way to refer to those well-balanced, smart, happy high school teens. b/c they SUK!!!!11!!1 (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(Reply from suspended user)

	beandelphiki 2003-09-19 03:35 am UTC (link)
	Heh. If you haven't been on Gaia for months, then you must be missing out on the wank in the Extended Discussion forum. There's a new "Iz homosexauality RITE?!" thread every few days. (Reply to this)

	psychofangirl 2003-09-19 03:36 am UTC (link)
	"Just another minion to feed the Communist war machine." ????????? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	snowball 2003-09-20 07:11 am UTC (link)
	Oh, didn't you hear? Making references to Communism means you're d33p and you think about 'important issues'. ₤50 says that these wankers haven't even read the Communist Manifesto, but hey, it's the principle of the thing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Anthropology starherd 2003-09-22 11:01 pm UTC (link)

Been nosing about for a bit, randomly felt like commenting. Warning: pointless info-dump beyond. :-) Having done an anthropology paper on the subject: the only constant in the definition of "Goth" (the sub-culture, named for a genre of victorian novels, not the architecture) is that there is no set definition. "Goth" is different depending on your age, maturity, geographic location, and when you decided to join the sub-culture. In mid-90's Pittsburgh, for example, the point of being Goth was to accept oneself completely, and not fight your own nature for the sake of conforming with society... any society. This philosophy was much more embraced by the older Goths, who didn't even consider the youngers to be of interest until they got a grip on their own personalities and tastes - so long as they were rebelling for the sake of rebelling, they weren't really Goths, just "baby-bats". It was the younger Goths who popularized the notion that Goths are moody, suicidal, and anti-social. And that they are incapable of writing good poetry. ;-) The younger Goths loved the aesthetic, but didn't yet realize that much of it was simply that - an aesthetic, not a reality. (If you're moody, suicidal, and anti-social, you're actually quite unlikely to go to clubs at all, much less with a large group of similarly afflicted people...) Older Goths, well established in their personalities, will shop where they wish and are unlikely to buy clothing that proclaims them to be Goth (in text). They know they're Goth, so the clothing label is redundant. Nascent Goths, on the other hand, aren't as secure in themselves and/or just don't know any better. Hot Topic is, after all, just a store - they're going to market to the people most likely to spend money there, i.e., the ones who don't know any better. So, really, it's just a matter of the maturity of the customer, and nothing else - not even the customer's musical preference (other than the obvious advertising-or-imitating-your-favorite-band factor). Hot Topic is a successful because besides the ostensibly Goth stuff, they also carry large amounts of punkish, preppy, low-quality fetish, 50's retro, and child-of-the-80's stuff. It seems that their only requirement is that they carry things a bit out of step with mainstream fashion. (Some of them also carry some good non-RIAA music - go Hot Topic.) The upshot of all this is: for a variety of reasons, Hot Topic is currently a successful store, therefore it will be shunned by the baby-bats who are still rebelling for the sake of rebelling. Unfortunately, Gaia's cute, impractical graphical interface attracts the teenyboppers in droves... hopefully the baby-bats will decide to shun it because it's so popular... ;-) Until then, they're going to go on, and on, and on, and on... just like they always have. Oh yeah - I do know one 16-year-old who buys a lot of clothing/accessories from Hot Topic and considers himself Goth. I find him hysterically funny. The last time I saw him in a "Gothy" outfit, he looked like an extra from "Welcome Back Kotter", plaid pants, 'fro, and all. He's what's being complained about there on Gaia... But he's learning. They almost all figure it out, eventually. That said, *nothing* can beat the Hot Topic sale racks. Half off the lowest marked price is fantastic when it means that you can get a $40 black vinyl catsuit (an essential costuming component) for $5, or a $120 Gothy-dress (ripe for decorating) for $20. :-) (Reply to this)(Thread)

P.S... starherd 2003-09-22 11:02 pm UTC (link)

(Analyzing the excerpts above in this context:) The Death Tarot fellow there *thinks* that they know Goth, and (as is evidenced by their musical tastes) is probably at least in their 20's if not older. They evidence a level of maturity less than that of the actual Goths I know, though. Daukan is getting there... Jenkat *might* have started being Gothy in the very early 80's (when the subculture arose around the London club scene), but given their statement... I doubt it. None of the rest of them have any clue at all, at least not in this excerpt. Dark Omen, though, is one of the most dangerous kinds of people - the kind that hasn't yet learned to not take everything seriously. That's the sort that a.) yells a lot online, and b.) puts their foot in their mouth an awful lot, and fails to see the humor of it. Without looking... I predict that they have a *lot* of futher posts under that topic... or someone with the same affliction does. ;-) (Reply to this)(Parent)