Stance on Decadeology

Expanding upon the definition of decadeology:

* Debating whether or not a specific year belongs to the early, mid, or late part of a decade, like each decade has to be rigidly divided into three separate eras dictated by completely arbitrary cutoff points. It's fine to feel that pop culture history enters different eras, and expanding upon them from personal experience can actually bring about fairly productive discussion, but when these discussions become purely dogmatic and technical, it's a complete waste of time and likely to just loop infinitely over the same brainless points.

* Debating when a decade truly started or truly ended. The early years of a decade always contain at least some elements present in the previous decade, that's just the natural flow of cultural trends. What elements and what points in time bring about the most overall change is strictly relative to personal experience and perspective, it isn't something that should be treated as fact. You can argue all day long how much the early 1960s still felt like the '50s and not the "true" '60s, but they were still the '60s by definition.

* Comparing two completely separate decades. Yes, history repeats itself, but you can literally theorize about the similarities between any two decades. Posting an entire thread about how the 2000s are the new 1950s or whatever isn't offering any real insight into anything.

* Generationology threads are an extension of decadeology in that they involve arbitrarily labelling someone or something born in or from a certain part of time based on personal standards. Generations may have cultivated distinct cultural identities, but there's never going to be a pure consensus over what their boundaries are, especially seeing as many individuals share traits of more than one or don't even relate to their own generation in the first place.

* Future-speculation threads, particularly those about predicting when the next cultural shift is going to take place. Oh my god, I am so sick of seeing these types of topics flooding the InThe00s boards. Nobody knows for sure what is going to happen down the road, let the future play out first before you try to literally define it. Even if we really were that prescient, that doesn't excuse all the arbitrary era-labelling. It's seriously bad enough when threads revolve around defining entire eras under such obtuse details, but to apply that to a time that hasn't even unfolded yet? How desperate can you possibly be just to talk decadeology?

To clarify a bit further, here are some examples of threads that would be okay, and ones which would not:

Okay:
* How would you describe the '90s?
* Were the 2000s more changeful than we give credit to?
* What was your favourite part of the '90s? The early '90s, the mid-'90s, or the late '90s?
* Was 2017 better or worse than 2016?
* Do you consider yourself a millennial?
* What musicians do you think will be most popular in the coming year?

Not Okay:
* When did the '90s truly start?
* Was 2006 the year everything changed?
* List the specific boundaries of the early '90s, mid'-90s, and late '90s.
* List the specific differences between 2017 and 2016.
* What's the first year for Gen Y babies?
* When are we going to enter the early 2020s era for music?

SharksFan99 , you can confirm whether or not these points are accurate.

Thanks for taking the time to expand on the definition of decadeology #Infinity. I really appreciate it!


I agree with this. Not only are those types of threads repetitive in their nature, they can also generate unnecessary, petty arguments over the start/end points of a certain era. For instance, there is a constant debate on inthe00s over whether 2008 is a "2000s" year or a "2010s" year. The debate has also spilled over onto completely unrelated threads, which ruins the forum experience for others. I'm not sure if a situation like that would ever occur on Popedia, but it's best to clarify it, in any case.


Yep, I completely agree. This is something which I find to be very frustrating. I personally don't mind if people talk about what certain eras were like for them personally, but their perception of an era should never be treated as being definitive of the era itself. 


I tend to agree. Although, I think it depends on the context in which the discussion takes place. For instance, the thread RockyMountainExtreme created was quite good, because it encouraged constructive discussion about the progression of social customs and pop culture. I personally wouldn't consider it to be decadeology, even though it was based on comparing the 1960s with the '20s and the '00s.

In contrast, threads such as "the 2010s are the new '60s" are an example of decadeology. Those type of threads consider someone's perception as fact, discouraging constructive discussion and leading to arguments, as a result. 


Yep. I personally don't mind if people talk about generations, as long as the discussion doesn't revolve around the start/end points and people collectively agree that there will never be a pure consensus over the traits/characteristics of generations, like you mentioned. Popedia does have a "Talkin' Bout Your Generation" board, however most of the threads are about the generations themselves and the stereotypes associated with them, not the retrospective boundaries. There is a general consensus on this forum that generations are insignificant and not set in stone, which is good to see. 


You're absolutely right. We do have the "What If?" board on our forum, however it's not entirely based on speculating the future. Threads based on discussing future cultural shifts are pointless and are entirely subjective in their nature. How can we predict when a cultural era will start, when the factors which determine a new cultural era may not even be in existance yet? 

In regards to inthe00s, those type of threads really annoy me too. The worst thing about them, is that they're all very repetitive and the same members post in all of them. Honestly, it's one of the reasons why i'm fed up with inthe00s and don't post on the boards as often anymore. Visiting the inthe00s boards just leaves me feeling frustrated. It's the same crap over and over again.

Also, I think it's telling that the "What has happened to this forum?" thread is one of the most popular threads in the "Tenacious Tuxedo Talk" board. There are other members on inthe00s who are beginning to become frustrated over the current state of the boards as well, yet no one makes the effort in discouraging those types of threads from being created. It's a constant cycle of wishing things would change, but nothing does. 


Yep, I agree with the examples you provided. In the "Okay" list, I would also add a thread example such as "Were the 1960s more like the 1920s or 2000s", like the thread RockyMountainExtreme created.