June 16, 2009
The End of Fail
FAIL is over. Fail is dead. Because it marks a lack of human empathy, and signifies an absence of intellectual curiosity, it is an unacceptable response to creative efforts in our culture. "Fail!" is the cry of someone who doesn't create, doesn't ship, doesn't launch, who doesn't make things. And because these people don't make things, they don't understand the context of those who do. They can't understand that nobody is more self-critical or more aware of the shortcomings of a creation than the person or people who made it.
When someone says "FAIL", what they’re really saying is, "I’m failing to understand a creative person’s constraints."
Of course, I'm not the first to point out that "Fail" sucks. Andy Baio articulated the case quite well, and I even touched on it in my Battledecks presentation a few years ago. Here's the relevant segment:
But we know that people who cry "FAIL!" are assholes — so why do we have to deem their petulant cry completely unacceptable? It's because of the Law of Fail:
Once a web community has decided to dislike a person, topic, or idea, the conversation will shift from criticizing the idea to become a competition about who can be most scathing in their condemnation.
It is in this way that the obnoxious jerks who offer an unthinking, uncritical belch in response to others' efforts kick off an even worse mob-minded pile on. And what I want to make clear is those who begin these conversations are, it must be said, the true failures. They choose a reflexive shorthand instead of a reasoned critique, and they bring out the worst in a community. I care deeply about people being creative on the web, and I care almost as much about people having thoughtful and productive conversations on the web.
So, fail is dead. I won't accept it in dialogue from those I communicate with, I won't permit those I'm connected to on social networks to use it around me, and no, you're not the first to think you're clever enough to use it as a comment here. If you have the urge to say it and you're a good person, then go do something creative instead. If you have the urge to say "Fail" and you haven't done anything? Well, then your statement speaks for itself.
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Meh.
I beg to differ. I'm frequently presented by half-assed work hacked out by talentless clowns convinced that the world owes them something for their vulgar anal secretions.
We can all agree that FAIL is an unhelpful response but sometimes it is the best one.
Hi Anil,
I agree that for creative work, FAIL fails to deal with the complexity and the personal sacrifice by the creator. But I've most often used it for situations where obtuse behemoth companies fail to get the ironic multifaceted disconnect around what they are doing in providing a service or product. The FAIL to me makes sense to me in that context.
What about in those circumstances? What do you think then?
Or is FAIL over in your estimation, no matter the context?
mary
I am so tired of snarky, facile, commenters who spew hate and critique in such ugly ways.
I liked your piece here and agree.
"But I've most often used it for situations where obtuse behemoth companies fail to get the ironic multifaceted disconnect around what they are doing in providing a service or product. The FAIL to me makes sense to me in that context."
And what I'm saying is -- *somebody* at that company probably gets it and wants to do the right thing. But changing the culture at a big company takes time, and all shouting "FAIL!" accomplishes is to make that clueful person (who actually follows their presence in social media) feel bad, while all their coworkers continue on, blissfully unaware of your criticism.
I dunno. This feels a bit like when you criticize someone else for not being polite, thereby making someone uncomfortable in the process, thereby being sort of unnecessarily rude yourself.
Essentially what you're saying here is FAILers FAIL. Which isn't particularly different from what you're condemning. You're just using more words. If you'd done your anti-fail argument in a more forgiving, compassionate way, I'd give it way more credit. Make people change their ways by being funny, or showing them something better to do!
Inspire us, dude! Don't lambast us! Do you want people to feel shit about something they thought was funny, or do you want people to feel positive about changing for the better!?
Come on Anil, drag people into the light of the EPIC WIN through positive means!
Hm. That was me, Tom Coates, by the way. Weird way to sign a message. Never mind!
End of fail...FAIL!
sorry I had to do it.
1) Great article and message.
2) "FAIL" has jumped the shark more than "jumping the shark" has jumped the shark. Hearing 'normal' people use it is like hearing your parents try to use text lingo in day to day conversations. So by uttering "FAIL", you've only marked yourself as an internet luddite who's behind the times...
You know who else said "FAIL!" all the time? Hitler.
So, fail is dead.
Well, that's that, then.
I wonder how the people at failblog.org will react to the news. (Didn't they win a Webby award?)
In the meantime, I look forward to news of the eventual demise of the phrase "Don't judge me!" (Which seems reminiscent of the "No tagbacks!" outburst as a kid, or "Dibs/Shotgun" later in life.)
Unfortunately there is no slang police. You can build yourself a bubble if you want to but the world will keep moving on the way it wants to move. We collectively decide in a very undemocratic way when an expression is dead. Usually we mimic what famous people are doing.
But there has always been a version of FAIL, and there always will be, especially as the Internet makes people more insular. You're expounding on your own brand of fail in this very article.
Sorry mate, reality check fail.
I'm happy to agree that 'Fail' was a complete failure. It's about time the world took notice.
And here *I* thought that "FAIL" was a kind alternative to substantive but devastating criticism which would reveal unforgivable incompetence.
Surely there's a difference between the FAIL of failblog and the lazy, creativity-squashing, kid-on-the-playground use you talk about here. After all, when a fast-food restaurant puts an unintentionally sexual reference up on their billboard, and it creates laughter and joy for the internet, where's the actual fail? Where's the discouraged creativity?
I see where you're trying to go, but I think there are situations where "fail" is really the best possible expression out there.
This one time, Metafilter jumped all over me for sayin "Just sayin'." Just sayin'.
I'm not propagating it much, but I think "fail" will be in mass culture for a long time, at least on the lowbrow side of things. Anything so blunt and simplified is going to be the easiest, quickest way to dismiss someone or something - and dismissing things will always be in style.
I'm curious what prompted this now.
Baio made all these points in greater detail, what, a year ago? What was the stinky FAIL belch that made you feel so compelled to wave your arm to waft away the stink now?
I'd agree that thoughtless responses to someone's attempt at creativity are just so, well, meh....but I'd also agree with some of the comments -- without a better alternative, ranting against things that plenty have already been ranting against feels like futile whinedom.
Meh. FAIL. Anil Dash has never had a sense of humor (unsurprising with his easily mocked name…) & has always hated those who do.
Mark, the next time you want to accuse someone of not having a sense of humor, you may wish to do so on a page that doesn't also include an embedded video featuring literally hundreds of people laughing at a series of lines that I improvised on the fly. But please, next time I'm in Seattle, let's do go out to an amateur hour at a comedy club and see which of us has a sense of humor, shall we?
Take a look at the Wikipedia page about me, which lists a series of gags I've done over the years. Now granted, you may have a better sense of humor than me on some areas, judging by the design of markdamonhughes.com, but while I think there are many fair criticisms that could be leveled at me, "lacks a sense of humor" is just an absurd assertion.
ok, but what is the point? aren't you just pointing out a 'fail' of 'FAIL' ?
in my opinion, it was never meant to be hatespeech, but was yet another internet meme.
i think you are blowing it out of proportion by reacting so strongly against it. just a thought.
this is a definite fail. not only is fail funny, it demonstrates a concern in discrimination of the bad (stupid) from the good (smart). and i create stuff and use the word all the time. the person who wrote this has to stop listening to idiots instead of blaming their idiocy on a word
I think that the FAIL tag is usually prematurely applied and often just wrong. Take this for example: iPhone 3.0 FAIL. Inaccurate and stupid. Perhaps made worse by the editor's note now affixed to the original post.
I guess want I am saying is that I agree, Anil.
Thanks for writing this Anil. I think really the only acceptable time to say it is when it's directed at your own efforts. In many ways, it's cathartic.
For all other instances, I think "floor(success)" is a much better and more positive invective.
where do you stand on this image?
http://osmoothie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/paulsonfail.jpg
I think that woman looks ridiculous, and whatever the hell it is she's trying to argue, people can't deduce from context and are unlikely to be persuaded even if they do somehow figure it out. In short, it's the worst case scenario: Doesn't convince anybody to agree with her, and makes it more likely that people who disagree with her will write her off as unproductive.
1) Yes, failblog and it's tumblr cousins are sophomoric.
2) Twittering #fail because Apple didn't give you a pony at the last Keynote is privileged.
3) However, when a community uses a tag such as #racefail (with respect to unacknowledged racist statements by science fiction fans, editors, and writers) or #amazonfail, saying "don't use #*fail" can come across as what's called the tone argument, where the discussion is derailed when someone asks "but why are you so angry?"
Yeah, I had thought a bit about this. I didn't follow the whole racefail conversation that closely because I'm not involved in SF fandom and the terminology of discussion was too impenetrable for a casual reader to grok. But I think @amazonfail is a perfect example of what's wrong with "fail".
Because the #amazonfail meme on Twitter was about ascribing malice to an institution that has shown no history of such malice, based on a simple error, it is almost the definitive example of why "FAIL" sucks. Instead of checking facts, a community (including even some smart people I respect) tarnished that company's reputation in order to participate in a mob. They demonstrated the Law of Fail by amping up the rhetoric continously, and I'll even risk evoking the Tone Argument to say that they made their own advocacy of a cause look like the work of unreasonable extremists. Fortunately, Amazon's team has a pretty thick skin and handled it well, but it wouldn't be surprising at all for other institutions to say "Why should we ever listen to those people again? They're not interested in advocating a cause, they're interested in getting attention for themselves."
I mean, I am absolutely in favor of By Any Means Necessary communications when a community is in crisis. And I am explicitly not in favor of holding one's tongue just because you might offend the object of your criticisms.
But "FAIL" isn't advocacy, it's the tool of those who don't know how to be advocates, who don't know how to persuade. Take a look at the "results", such as they are, of #racefail or of #amazonfail and you'll see exactly why I criticize that technique. It puts the ego of the complainers ahead of the cause they're trying to advocate.
The End of Humor.
Well said! I could never well articulate what was so problematic about "Fail": the fact that it allows dumb, anonymous web cruelty to serve as legitimate criticism for creative endeavors and complexities of human nature...
Missed this the first time around.
Is yelling "WIN" over too? Because that's my response. You're spot-on: "FAIL" is the resonant frequency of a negative feedback echo chamber. I'm so bored with seeing it used by people thinking they're being clever.
Here's how it works, sonny: The world is chock full of hype merchants who'd eat a mile of shit to get mass attention for their product, idea, show, what have you.
A lot of us just want to use the Internet to find out a couple things, or connect w/ a few people, or for the lulz.
When these douchebags full of their sense of entitlement and smug attitude that they have something we need to have rammed down our throats like we're some foie gras ducks fall flat on their fucking faces, that's when it's right and fun and even necessary to say it loud:
FAIL!
FAIL!
FAIL!
Fail is the ultimate (so far) evolution of the petty, childish, bully culture that the web has facilitated. When you're too lazy to even compose a multi-word insult, you can simply cry Fail! My concern is that with the web quickly becoming the de facto communications medium - what effect will this have on the culture at large. There is a disturbing convergence here. We live in a time when complex problems that cut across traditional boundaries og geography and culture. At the same time, the type of reasoned discussion and exchanve of viewpoints and ideas have been greatly devalued. How can we hope to solve these problems when our discourse is reduced to slurs and grunts? Frankly, if you lack the articulation or the energy to express your viewpoint in a sem-coherent, quasi-thoughtful manner, then you are a contributing nothing positive to the conversation, you are only stroking the least admirable aspects of your own ego.
All I can say is "Wow".
With embarrassing self-awareness, I must admit to being a frequent user of the word 'Fail' in daily life - particularly my work life.
I must say your piece has caused me to re-evaluate this seemingly innocuous and playful jab and consider the impacts of its use on my colleagues.
Thank you for presenting your thoughts in such a way as to elicit sincere consideration among your audience. I think I'll find myself modifying my vernacular a bit.
Cheers to you, sir.
Looks like somebody is a bit butthurt over people critizising their "Creativity" Waah my art is me expressing myself and it's subjective so don't judge meeee.
You obviously never understood the origins and purpose of the very hilarious and amusing "FAIL!". Be it in spoken or photoshopped form.
Sorry but whenever a buddy drops a recently opened bottle of soda, or I see a picture of a car lodged half way up a house or a horse with it's head stuck in a tree trunk, FAIL will be heard and seen for t3h lulz of all.
OK, so let me reword the introduction to this blog post:
“SARCASM is over. Sarcasm is dead. Because it marks a lack of human empathy, and signifies an absence of intellectual curiosity, it is an unacceptable response to creative efforts in our culture. Sarcasm is the cry of someone who doesn't create, doesn't ship, doesn't launch, who doesn't make things.”
Oh, well, of course. So now all critics have to be fair, creative, empathic. And i want a pony too.
(That last sentence was sarcasm. I deem the rest to be constructive criticism, though deprived of strong empathy and unicorn tears. Ok, those last three words were sarcastic too. Damn it.)
I am a person with intellectual curiosity, and maybe a bit of empathy. I do create and ship stuff, including stuff that sucks because i either screwed up or had fucked up constraints or both. But i still think that if something sucks (entirely or in part), it's somehow fitting that some people would label it “FAIL”. That's feedback. And depending on the person who says or write it, it can be mean-spirited, or a honest interjection that means “i think this is bad”. Actually, i think “FAIL” may be more neutral than most sarcasm.
Labels, it's all labels. Internet anonimity + labels + snobbery = mother of fail.
Labels, it's all labels. Internet anonimity + labels + snobbery = mother of fail.
FAIL does not evolve a good idea. FAIL just scares people out of having them to begin with. FAIL expects perfection on the first go-around.
Having never been FAILed or FAILing anyone myself, I can righteously say that this article hit the nail on the head. FAIL is as pointless a response as referring to someone (else) as a n00b.
Maybe you should give news on the topic more often