The Petty Snobby General Disgruntlement With Social Media Influencers

[Scousecraigy]

Just thought i would post something that has been irritating me lately and that is the general snobby disgruntlement amongst organised cave and mine explorer groups towards social media influencers. Firstly, lets understand a few things first. If you are an organised cave and mines explorer groups, and you are actively posting content online of your members in abandoned locations on your social media pages or whatever, your group and its members have no right to throw digs at social media influencers for posting the same content. Yes, i agree, that WE as a collective, need to try and keep the unwanted (Yobs, thugs, graffitists, arsonists, etc) out of caves and mines to preserve these places and the history that comes with them. However, just because you are a member of an organised cave or mines group does not give you permission to go blasting social media influencers for posting content and disclosing these locations online, if your members are doing the exactly same thing and posting shit online. Other social media influencers have just as much right to go into these places and make content just the same way your organised groups and its members do. Especially if these places are left open and accessible by the location owners. It is down to the location owners to stop the 'Unwanted' getting into these places by putting things in place to stop them in the first place i.e grills, doors, arranged access, etc. Places like Browns Folly mine are open and accessible and already well known so stop finger pointing the blame at social media influencers if you find new graffiti or damage in places like Browns Folly mine because its not their fault. RANT OVER.

 

[Daniel Rose]

The low-effort MS paint videos with chatgpt generated scripts depicting actual people with actual families dying actual deaths 30 odd years ago is the stuff that most people (rightfully) despise; i don’t think anyone cares about tik told being made about caving lol - when I made one about getting an egg to the bottom of the technical masterpiece people on the whole either didn’t care about it or liked it

 

[Daniel Rose]

That being said, what I do actually dislike is social media influencers expressing this sense of superiority towards people who don’t enjoy outdoor pursuits - i’ve heard people call it ‘bloke-core’? () basically people who post a tik tok of them traversing crib goch and now think that they’re part of some enlightened elite who’ve escaped the mundaneness of the modern world - social media ppl do need to recognise that just because they like going up mountains or down caves or whatever they are not any better as human beings than other people (i haven’t seen this much in caving, more in climbing and especially hiking. It’s so cringeworthy.)

 

[Scousecraigy]

That being said, what I do actually dislike is social media influencers expressing this sense of superiority towards people who don’t enjoy outdoor pursuits - i’ve heard people call it ‘bloke-core’? () basically people who post a tik tok of them traversing crib goch and now think that they’re part of some enlightened elite who’ve escaped the mundaneness of the modern world - social media ppl do need to recognise that just because they like going up mountains or down caves or whatever they are not any better as human beings than other people (i haven’t seen this much in caving, more in climbing and especially hiking. It’s so cringeworthy.)

Yes i agree that there tends to be a common theme of 'Look at me and what i can do' when it comes to social medial influencers and the content they post. Saying that though, the same is with cave and mine groups posting content of themselves whether that is them SRTing down into a cave or squeezing through a tiny hole or whatever. Its the same concept of posting content with a theme of 'Look at me and what i can do'.

My post was more aimed at members of organised mine and cave groups who seem to think it is social media influencers posting content on the internet and driving dickheads to abandoned locations, when they are very much posting content on the internet themselves and contributing to the overall 'information piece' when it comes to advertising locations.

 

[Samouse1]

I think most people will be against "influencers" who don't advocate for accessing these places responsibly and safely. This has already led to an increase in traffic on mountains and we've seen how they've been affected (increased litter, erosion, more callouts). There's a difference between the "go and see it for yourself" type and the "come learn how to do this with us" in the clubs. If clubs aren't advocating for responsible access they should have a serious look at themselves.

 

[langcliffe]

Just thought i would post something that has been irritating me lately and that is the general snobby disgruntlement amongst organised cave and mine explorer groups towards social media influencers.

I assume if it is organised groups that are expressing their "snobby disgruntlement", they are doing so through their official media outlets (journals, social media, newsletters etc.). It would be interesting to know who these groups are, and to see examples of this disgruntlemen from their official media outlets.

 

[Scousecraigy]

I think most people will be against "influencers" who don't advocate for accessing these places responsibly and safely. This has already led to an increase in traffic on mountains and we've seen how they've been affected (increased litter, erosion, more callouts). There's a difference between the "go and see it for yourself" type and the "come learn how to do this with us" in the clubs. If clubs aren't advocating for responsible access they should have a serious look at themselves.

My post is more aimed at organised mines and groups who blame social media influencers for yobs trashing abandoned mines. I saw a few comments yesterday on a post about new graffiti in Browns Folly mine where several members of a local organised mine and caves group were calling out the social media influencers as being the blame for the new graffiti. My point being is that location details of these abandoned mines are being actively promoted all over the internet every time someone posts content, and members of organised mine and cave groups cant go posting content online of these locations, then every time a place gets trashed, point the finger of blame social media influencers for advertising these locations. Organised mine and cave groups need to take some responsibility for the content they post online too.

 

[hannahb]

My post is more aimed at organised mines and groups who blame social media influencers for yobs trashing abandoned mines. I saw a few comments yesterday on a post about new graffiti in Browns Folly mine where several members of a local organised mine and caves group were calling out the social media influencers as being the blame for the new graffiti.

Then perhaps your post should be wherever those comments were made.

 

[mikem]

This forum is only used by a very small percentage of cavers from some clubs

 

[pwhole]

What the f***'s an 'influencer' anyway? This all sounds like a personal beef over pissing rights, and I'm not sure why it's up here. If you don't want to lose a site, don't post it online at all.

 

[Daniel Rose]

What the f***'s an 'influencer' anyway? This all sounds like a personal beef over pissing rights, and I'm not sure why it's up here. If you don't want to lose a site, don't post it online at all.

The term ‘influencer’ was coined by and pushed by ‘influencers’ (ie social media careerists) themselves, and tells you all you need to know about the nauseating pervasive narcissism that runs through the ‘profession’

 

[mikem]

Unfortunately it's not quite that simple, as they are also trying to make money from it (& social media such as FB are encouraging them). Note FB shows "most relevant" replies, even if they aren't, you have to select to see all, and often shows the most inflammatory replies, because they know that they will get more responses that way.

 

[andrewmcleod]

This sounds like a mines thing, not a caves thing - I appreciate it's more complicated in mines because access is not always official. Generally access to caves by cavers is by permission or CROW or similar, with many places either open to the public or gated with access available to any 'caver' (often defined by BCA member which is available to anyone). So cavers aren't generally keeping things secret, access is usually legal, and even when access is restricted it's neither hard nor secret as to how to gain it.

Other social media influencers have just as much right to go into these places and make content just the same way your organised groups and its members do.

Which is often to say no right at all, when it comes to mines of course...

 

[bagpuss]

Little known sites that are either important for bat hibernation, formations or have specific agreements with landowners for access are now being found by 'influencers' who share the content eg photos of entrances to promote their content/ work. The issue I see with this locally is that its shared without context, so anyone coming across it online isn't pointed to access information or made aware of wildlife restrictions. Most of the places I've seen shared have gone unknown for years with no issue, but now have multiple likes/ comments, what's the postcode to get there posts etc. Often the type of posts I've seen on social media don't give information about landowner agreements eg paying a fee to cross the land, what then happens if multiple people start turning up and not paying? Perhaps it won't happen, but as someone that has been outdoor swimming for years I've seen multiple previously unheard of sites now trashed because they've been shared on Facebook.

 

[mrodoc]

One answer to this is overpopulation. Any social media post on a location results in hordes of people descending on it. UK population has increased by at least a third since 1970. It means the numbers of silly people has increased proportionally. People (generally but not cavers in my experience) tend to behave like sheep as well. They also like imitating others from fashion to sticking padlocks on any metal structure they come across. Yes, I am being cynical.

 

[legendrider]

Albert Einstein famously said, "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."