the dumping styles of several people 2.0

list ordered by number of faves, first page only for 12 pm 11/11/2010. (source: http://dump.fm/directory) see bottom for reasoning/process.

1. frankhats - generally considered to be the godfather of clever ‘jams’ (combination of images). usually it takes a second to understand what the tone or meaning is behind his dumps. highly rewarding. gathers/introduces many new images. uses a ‘combine strategy’ over a ‘.gif creation’ strategy.

2. ryder - loud, abrasive style that often reinforces existing memes with a funny self-aware, iconoclastic flavor. promoter of ‘dumps speak for themselves’ mentality, among other people involved with the more technical aspects of ‘producing dump’ ie coding and hosting. possible nihilist… the troubled ‘voice of a generation’ trope seems to come through in alternately compelling and extremely annoying manifestations.

3. unicorn girl - prominent voice in positioning one’s self as an online personality. she often searches of obscure vintage images or .gifs on picsearch. her internet presence extends far beyond dump to include twitter, facebook, and tumblr (probably more), where she may have many ‘internet friends.’ her visual style seems to borrow from traditionally child-like and feminine themes. as a contrast, her chat personality is incredibly discerning and humorous.

4. jeanette - much of the social and visual discourse on dump seems to focus on dump. her cam photos are endlessly the subject of collaboration. she is the closest thing dump has to a glamorous center. meeting her IRL seems funny, interesting, and not at all a let down (in my experience). she keeps up on social gossip. her dumps are usually artful and aesthetically considered, though sometimes she ‘lowers’ her art to base repetition and personality interest.

5. noisia - important to the development of a recognizable dump aesthetic in terms of jams, alters (pseudo-spiritual aesthetic combination), and faces (eyes, mouths combined). occult themes. makes .gifs.

6. zoesaldana - interested in celebrity and personality to a great degree. also figure/body, religious iconography, faces.

7. ahem - kind of a generalist, combing a lot of interesting ideas. seems to have an overall flavor of ‘embracing internet culture.’

8. illalli - significant cam and humor person. she seems less like, ‘overtly fetish/sexual’ than many of women. seems more focused on eating and chilling. good mix of vintage images, text memes, and .gifs.

9. minty - ‘weird photos of technology’ focus. images of computers in compromising positions.. idk.. a lot of screen grabs of sites? maybe..

10. hypothete - profound, potent combination of approachable humor and image skills. great potential for ‘viral art revolution’ or something.. some really intense jams too.

11. frederick - cam boy to some degree. seems to have a bleak outlook, or something. images of him sleeping while ‘online’ continue to circulate. seems funny. his relationship to dump may indicate some kind of evolution ‘into’ a ‘deeper’ relationship with computing.

12. mirrrorring - visually oriented. honestly confuse with noisia style-wise. obvs they are both amazing. makes .gifs.

13. lux - interesting in the way he uses dump to explore the possibilities of online social interaction. seems conscious of this. very chat-oriented. strong personality. technique of ‘instantly’ redumping images he likes is almost totally unique on dump and possibly theoretically relevant to the way dump develops human communication.

14. erikhaspresence (me) - somewhat absent mentally, though often visual present. uses plants a lot in ‘alters.’ often attempts obscure references or frankhats-esque shit. cams too much. dumps his writing sometimes.

15. the kraken - aggressive, oppositional style that has evolved to become slightly less annoying. legitimately friendly, after a bit of interacting.

16. dak4ndym4nfu - funniest shit on dump. absurd combinations of images. weed. generally promoting positive dialog via chillness.

17. andrej - seems abstractly body-focused. posts a lot of like ‘fighter’ gifs..

18. foot - generally promotes abstract image based dumps. possible focus on face themes.

19. frakbuddy - major cam slut. really vocal in chat. seems to have certain obsessions. very friendly and ready to share himself. jams a lot of webcam shots. makes .gifs of people in compromising meme-oriented situations.

20. maryrachel - so fucking funny. sassy and absurd combinations. friendly. for a time, involved a lot of people in video chatting, which served to bond a core group of dumpers. as a radio show that is good to dump to.

21. jertronic - optimistic, energetic style. seems to cam ‘about the right amount.’

22. mspasta - a lot of cute/vintage .gifs and objects. ‘object’ means like.. a thing with a white background, in this context. Note: objects are good because they appear more integrated with other text and images. to contrast, ‘photos’ or things with rectangle edges seems to throw off any sense of narrative/dialog in a combination or series of images. ‘living rooms’ or ‘scenes’ where objects (separate white-background [or no-background aka .png] images) appear together (often includes furniture) appear often on dump.

23. mat3i - technically gifted. somewhat ‘above’ the fray. one of quite a few people ignore the general level of boring, repetitious imagery that ends up occurring when new users or un-interesting 4chan people are on dump.

24. wigs - cam-focused. seems to curate a faves collection carefully. often rapidly dumps many faves. ‘girly’ themes, sometimes.. very literate in ‘internet art world developments.’

25. tom moody - important figure because he has some experience both with ‘life’ and ‘art’ (to some degree). his blog has some of the only coherent writing about gifs and internet art to be found anywhere on the internet. his dumps are very focused on individual pieces, seemingly ‘skeletal’ or ‘motion’ oriented..

reasoning process - as with my first 1.0 post, i only kind of thought about my explanations. they are based more on general impressions in dump than a thorough research of people’s logs. there are honestly too many people/images on dump to carefully go through everything. there are many key figures who i did not include for reasons of remaining within the arbitrary boundary of 25-most-faved people. to me, it seems really important to approach dumping with the kind of lazy convictions of those who use dump. when i dump it’s often vague/idle brainstorming (for design or advertising) or simply relaxing, ‘blowing-off-steam’ as if i am watching a very fast game show-and-tell, with 20-year-olds who are mostly tired from work and stoned. in truth, i see dump as a window into unconscious interests and vague aesthetic impulses of internet friends, rather than as a ‘forum’ or ‘website’ or ‘fucking sweet new marketing tool.’ very occasionally you glimpse the possibilities of dump as a place to explore new ways of living/interacting or new modes of art. mostly, people are less ambitious..

original 1.0 post:

http://erikstinson.tumblr.com/post/652622317/the-dumping-styles-of-several-people