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Today I read a comment on slashdot that inspired me to write on this subject.  The comment was written on the Secret History of Star Wars article and was given by Omestes and was as follows:

Oh god, the Nerd/Dork/Geek argument. We always went with nerds being unwashed, antisocial geniuses who small vaguely like cheese, and somehow manage to reference Yoda, and differential equations in every utterance. Dorks are just like nerds, but dumber. And geeks are the swashbuckling generalists who get all the chicks (er…) because they have some modicum of social skills, while still knowing their swallows apart.

By your jargon though, there still is a deep relation between nerds and dorks, since both of them are “systems” people. D&D is just another complex system to play with, just like math, code, and circuits. As is, oddly, the various nerd friendly mythologies. Both groups, by your classification, are equally likely to get the chicks… Not very. Neither math nor D&D impress many of the chicks I know.

So where does arguing over the semantics of nerdery put one?

Now this has been written about hundreds of times (if you don’t believe check google), but wanted to stick my two cents into this discussion.   Let’s go over my own defintions:

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Dork: A dork is an invidual that has an interest in something in so far that they are singled out and people believe because of some title given to them they are thought to be an expert.  In all actuality they are no better then a lay person and has the largest social anxieties and problems dealing with others.   They normally think they are smarter then they are, but yet normally lack in depth knowledge to move them up the dork/nerd/geek ladder.

However there is a missing factor to this definition, that is the fact that a dork is more likely to be the one that non dorks/nerds/geeks are most comfortable around.   They are the ones that come off lovable – like when your friends or significant other says “You big dork”.   While in some terms dork is an insult, when you properly it is definitely the least offensive to the general population at large.

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Nerd: Nerds are the individuals that have an interest in things the goes so far that not only do they have to prove tehy are better then everyone on the subject of interest, they also are so intensely interested in there area of focus that social situations really don’t bother them.   It’s a waste of time for them.  They don’t know why you don’t want to dig into replicating a hologram in your microwave with tin foil and baking soda, which they do daily for amusement.

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Geek: Geeks usually can deal with society the best, but completely zone out similar to nerds to nerds, but are normally capable of human relationships, though they took the hologram in the microwave and made a short film out of it to upload to youtube.   They are interested in the obscure and bringing it into fruition.   Normally geeks wear the term geek on themselves with a badge of honor.

Me and my grandparents – Years Ago (Years and Years)

I can say in certain areas I’m all three, but I’m mostly a geek.   I’m normally quite knowledgable in the things I have extreme interest in, and i’m capable of zoning out.  Most of my family considers me a nerd when it comes to social networks (and I really am when it comes to crossposting).  When it comes to certain items and gadgets I’m definetly a dork trying to be a geek.

Wait what am I saying I was a pimp, I don’t know why I’m sticking myself into any of these groups.  You don’t believe me?  Behold Creeva with a mullet (once again many years ago):

So which do you identify with and what is your definitions?

What is Slashdot (from wikipedia):

Slashdot, often abbreviated as /.^[1], is a science, science fiction, and technology-related news website owned by SourceForge, Inc.. It features user-submitted and editor-evaluated current affairs news with a “nerdy” slant. Each story on the site has an Internet forum-style comments section attached; Slashdot was one of the first popular websites to include a commentary section in such a prominent manner.

The summaries for the stories are generally submitted by Slashdot’s own readers with editors accepting or rejecting these contributions for general posting. While Slashdot’s haphazard editorial style produced a unique voice in the pre-blog age, users frequently post criticisms of perceived arbitrary or biased editorial choices.

Though the site predates the modern concept of the weblog, Slashdot’s architecture is commonly compared to that of modern blogs. Slashdot is notable in that its commenting system is much more robust than most blogs, with threading and user moderation having been introduced before these were commonplace in modern weblog packages.

Officially, the name “Slashdot” was chosen to confuse those who tried to pronounce the URL of the site (“h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slashdot-dot-org“)

I can say that I have been using it for roughly 9-10 years (depending on how early on I discovered it. For many years it was my primary geek news location. However in the last couple years that has started to waiver. I get my news now from sites like the previously mentioned Digg and other sites along the way. Slashdot moves too slow (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but gets boring when you are looking for quick news bites.

My last position (when I worked in the office) we had enough geeks there that we were actually banned for a couple days from slashdot by slashdot – because they thought we were launching a DoS attack on them. Just shows get a large large group of geeks together and they all think a like.

With the rise of digg is slashdot irrelevant? The legions of fans don’t seem to think so – going so far that diggers make fun of slashdotters and vice versa. If you are actually involved in the community the two are quite different. Slashdotters are passionate but Digg brings out more of a party care free atomsphere. I really don’t go to slashdot for the news anymore – I go for two things.

The first thing that I absolutely use as a reference point is the Ask Slashdot Section – this section allows you to post a question to the community and the community picks it apart or tells you unique answers that can be mostly quite helpful.

Which goes straight into the other reason I use slashdot – the commenting system. The fact that’s digg’s commenting system is broken (but they are fixing it soon) plus the attitudes difference makes slashdot’s comment section much more insightful and interesting then almost every other news board (to me at least).

The grandfather of the geek news sites will always have stories to tell and memories to live on. Let’s all hope it lives for a long long time.

You enjoy the visual stimulants of a video game, chatting on AIM, or reading online comics. Most of these types of nerds are considered dirty who lack hygeine, of course they always end up being the ones who make a crapload of money. And don’t worry, that’s just a stereotype; I’m not calling you dirty. ^_~