Post B6OyPWfVbFev6TLBXk by billyjoebowers@mastodon.online
(DIR) More posts by billyjoebowers@mastodon.online
(DIR) Post #B6OACF7qW8qLDq4HGS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T13:12:55Z
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I just discovered that for people slightly younger than me "bonsai kitten" can be a creepy and traumatic memory. I was in college when MIT students made a webpage where they pretended that they were putting kittens in jars to make "bonsai kittens" and I thought it was very edgy and funny and couldn't understand how people were upset about it. But people who were younger thought it was real. Some people still think it was real. 1/
(DIR) Post #B6OAI4trRskbFIJDiy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T13:13:58Z
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I now think it's kind of immature to have edgy humor like that. But, learning this has caused me to rethink the edgy contempt I had for people who were freaking out online about it. "This could cause animal abuse"Come on. It's a joke. But also, the person having that reaction being maybe 8 or 9 years old? Well, that makes sense. It's upsetting. It's mean to be upsetting and not explain the joke. Maybe it's not even a good "joke"2/
(DIR) Post #B6OAOv5YKG2IqL2XoW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T13:15:12Z
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I was such a disgusting little edge lord as a teen. There are new little edge lords today. Just like the credulous and sweet 8 year old who is worried about the kitten we also need to help the little edge lords to grow up and be better too. 4/4
(DIR) Post #B6OAhXVgDMcdDY8hkm by alexhaist@wandering.shop
2026-05-17T13:18:32Z
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@futurebird omg I was like 12, and I freaked out at that website.
(DIR) Post #B6OAjJ230wHMtV7aq0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T13:18:53Z
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The edge has no width. Therefore the area of the edge is zero. If you are the Lord of the Edge then you are a lord of NOTHING.
(DIR) Post #B6OAxMu3Q00oxE5WRU by hazelnot@sunbeam.city
2026-05-17T13:21:23Z
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@futurebird honestly I wasn't even that young when I found out about it and I immediately knew it was fake but it still makes me super uncomfortable to think about ;-;
(DIR) Post #B6OBMpnx6GLTpYNReS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T13:25:58Z
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@SarraceniaWilds I don't think there is more danger of people copying this stuff than in the past. I just think that now you could make a lot of money making bonsai kitten tiktok videos with creepy sex undertones too probably and so there is a perverse (literally) incentive to fill the world with horrible things that stimulate the worst impulses of the human id.
(DIR) Post #B6OBctUv8YvZux8JGa by aadeacon@mastodon.social
2026-05-17T13:28:54Z
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@futurebird Edgewalker, an Elder God and resident of the Warren of Shadow disagrees with you*.*Malazean Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson reference.
(DIR) Post #B6OBgxldCm1qJktDIe by at@mathstodon.xyz
2026-05-17T13:29:37Z
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@futurebird Margrave of the Void! Lord of the Riddermark (all my horses gone)!
(DIR) Post #B6OBhYdm6wjGg6Uxgu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T13:29:38Z
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@alexhaist It's horrible. But it was also one of the first bad conversations about "free speech" to happen online. And you look at monetized slop content and it's just filled with things that draw attention for the same reason. But people are doing it to make money, not just to be edgy. Being edgy like that seems almost quaint in a way...
(DIR) Post #B6OBjwOel0Zgw4Yyfo by asakiyume@wandering.shop
2026-05-17T13:30:11Z
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@futurebird I agree with everything in this thread! Before the internet, edgy lords could have their edgy humor, & probably not that many ppl outside their own circles would see it. With the internet, you (a) have ppl of all levels of maturity/sophistication posting stuff & (b) ppl of all levels seeing it. No easy answers for the situation, but letting people grow up & be better is always good. And remembering that not everything is *meant* for everyone. (+)
(DIR) Post #B6OBny7cHjURRcVtp2 by btuftin@social.coop
2026-05-17T13:30:53Z
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@futurebird I never saw it as edgy, but I think I never thought about kids accessing the Internet at that time. The people I saw reacting to it were adults who were, in my mind, sooo dumb to be thinking it was real. Since the Internet really only started taking off while I was a student, kids having access weren't part of my model of the world.
(DIR) Post #B6OBou0X4EHmyRe3pg by australopithecus@mastodon.social
2026-05-17T13:31:04Z
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@futurebirdAh, bonsai kittens; I, too, was a little shit lolI also feel that, as with things like horror stories, there are two distinct kinds of "edge lord" behavior at play here: those who enjoy making themselves uncomfortable, and those who enjoy making others uncomfortableI was solidly the former so I won't comment on whether that type is acceptable (it does still potentially result in 3rd party trauma), but I don't think it's too controversial to say that the latter behavior is not good
(DIR) Post #B6OC26pWhl7MVTnKsq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T13:33:29Z
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@btuftin Some adults also freaked out, but I remember getting in an argument with someone on a message board and I think I was about 17 or 18 and getting mad at a 9 year old who said it should be "banned" but couldn't explain why or "use logic" and I feel bad about that. But I didn't know they were 9 ...
(DIR) Post #B6ODHKHN5Ek6W4dfO4 by gbargoud@masto.nyc
2026-05-17T13:47:24Z
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@futurebird I was at a restaurant in Pittsburgh once and the people at the next table were talking about how they made that website and all the hate mail they got from people who thought it was real
(DIR) Post #B6ODzEKgYOl4ob7kSe by sewblue@sfba.social
2026-05-17T13:55:20Z
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@futurebird I remember that. It thought it was funny.Maturity tells me otherwise though. But I think there is a difference between enjoying edgy humor when you are young and creating it.I dont think the people who create edgy humor are as apt to grow out of it.
(DIR) Post #B6OGxodUuJdAgvwMbo by darkling@mstdn.social
2026-05-17T14:28:18Z
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@futurebird A friend had a "No Edgelords At The Breakfast Table" sign on his fridge while his sons were growing up.
(DIR) Post #B6OHnyoIKDqzIvreQi by alexhaist@wandering.shop
2026-05-17T14:38:08Z
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@futurebird hah! It was so edgy at the time. Now outrage is the bread and butter of the Internet, as you say. It must be such a strange environment for kids to grow up in. (Not that my experiences on the internet were especially normal...)
(DIR) Post #B6OJGRsTwiyNWBxhBI by llewelly@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T14:54:31Z
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@futurebird I recall first encountering it on April 1st, though the website stayed up for years.
(DIR) Post #B6OJd1hDSHogyfSSzQ by llewelly@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T14:58:36Z
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@futurebird there was also a website which featured kittens wearing bonbons and dual-wielding with a sai in each hand. Bonbonsai kittens! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_(weapon)
(DIR) Post #B6OL8s7yfKB2WSizRY by llewelly@sauropods.win
2026-05-17T15:15:34Z
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@futurebird as a teen I confined practically all my edge lording impulses to D&D and similar book-and-paper role playing games. Real life edge lording seemed to risky, and D&D seemed like the perfect outlet. On the other hand, I sure enjoyed forwarding appropriately labeled april fool's day jokes for any awfully long time. Until, I guess, about 2013 or so.
(DIR) Post #B6OqqZbzxtzkPx5Kwy by ii_infinitum@mastodon.social
2026-05-17T21:10:47Z
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@futurebird I realized it was a joke at the time, but I’d been on the internet from too young an age. Now that I look back, it was just an early form of “I dealt with it, so you should too.”
(DIR) Post #B6Ot71puzjGqUoZPcW by webhat@infosec.exchange
2026-05-17T21:36:09Z
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@futurebird I coincidentally was reading up on the history of rotten.com this week, and discovered that Bonsai Kitten was the work of the same creators, they were just trying to find the absolute edge of free speech
(DIR) Post #B6OwMSXIJA7PVeuO00 by catflyhigh@troet.cafe
2026-05-17T22:12:33Z
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@futurebird You probably don't know it, but there even is a german band called "Bonsai Kitten" (I can't remember if I knew the band or the jar thing at first)Bonsai Kitten - Done With Hellhttps://bonsaikitten.bandcamp.com/track/done-with-hell-remastered
(DIR) Post #B6OyPWfVbFev6TLBXk by billyjoebowers@mastodon.online
2026-05-17T22:35:31Z
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@futurebird I was too old to think that was funny at the time, but I definitely can relate to the sentiment.
(DIR) Post #B6PWxsDROI5mDblIfI by vt52@ioc.exchange
2026-05-18T05:02:41Z
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@futurebird not sure if this came across your radar, but an excellent episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-ai-cat-videos-are-becoming-the-internets-newest/id1740187810> Ryan takes us back even further, to cover an older cat-based moral panic: Bonsai Kittens. Together, we look at how though technology has changed, we’ve pretty much always wanted to show each other freaky stuff on the internet — whether real or fake.