I've had numerous accounts since the first boards, which were advertised in SLAP mag, sometime between 00-02, with the most recent starting in late 2019 after a break that began in 2012/13. Looking back at some of those accounts, they're all reflective of who I was, who I thought I was, and who I wanted to be at different points in life. 16-35 is a period that spans more than half of this physical incarnation and I can't think of another space (if we're considering the slap boards a manifestation of space) I've been able to occupy and hold similar, yet shifting interests, beliefs, and ideas throughout all these periods of life.
1) Slap as a community has distinct tastes – I’m thinking Matt Militano in Vanish. Describe these tastes. Where do they come from? Why do you think some parts get celebrated more than others? And how/why do you think Slaps’ tastes differ from other skateboarding spaces you inhabit?
-I don't know what other skateboarding places offer in tastes. Anyone I skate with these days is someone with whom I share other interests. SLAP is also a place where people who no longer skate but still identify as a skateboarder, who have been irrevocably altered by the act/way of life of skateboarding, can kick it online and shoot the shit without judgement regarding skill or steez, because we aren't actually skating. With the widespread mainstreaming of skateboarding, I don't know that that's the case in all physical skateboarding spaces.
2) For the pals, how do you decide when to kook or gnar someone? Relatedly, what do users like Cheetahsheets or Tracer mean/do for the space? How about users like Monkey_McPott and GAY?
-some posters contribute more meaningful content to the conversation than others and because of the different spaces for conversation, certain posters hold greater value in those spaces (skate talk, whatever, music, etc). I don't really pay much mind to those you listed but there are those who are memorable due to their specialty knowledge/experience. I don't know that the contributions of a poster can be based on the kook/gnar paradigm- a great example at this point in time is u/betaphenylethlamine, who has a pretty high kook % but, lately anyways, appears to be a friendly poster who is generous with their knowledge of speciality topics.
3) What is slap’s reputation in the skateboarding world more broadly? Why do you think it has this reputation? And what are the differences between Slap’s outside reputation and what Slap’s actual community actually is?
I'm not in the world of Skateboarding at this point in time. I do remember talking with different shop owners 10 years ago who had beef with SLAP for all the shit talking and hard criticism. There have been open beefs with various pros (thinking JT and Shetler) that have unfolded on the boards. Remember the shop boards v pro boards debate? There have also been folks in the industry who kick it on the SLAP boards in a friendly way. Does SLAP even have a reputation anymore? As for the community, it's mostly chilled out and I think a lot of that has do with the age/station in life of contemporary posters. I recall a thread from at least 10 years ago that asked age/job/life outside skateboarding and most posters were well under 30 with a lot of piss and vinegar. Young, dumb, and full of cum, you know what I'm saying? I'm seeing folks hook each other up physically, spiritually, and emotionally these days- I mean folks are hooking it up with great deals on the classifieds page, we've got what's essentially a mental health mutual aide thread pinned at the top of WHATEVER, I've been having conversations about herbalism and tinctures via PM while also telling total bro down stories of gnarly, awkward sexual experiences. We've got gun shooting vegan leftists on the boards. Where else are a bunch of dudes talking about their mental health struggles without shaming one another and actually offering support?
4)Does slap have political/ethical commitments/standards as a community? In what cases do they manifest themselves and how are they acted upon? Do you see slap as a possible vehicle for change within, and possibly outside of, skating? How?
-With the intense social climate that's really come to the fore over the past few years, it's been powerful to see outright racist, fascistic, hateful expression shut down these past few months. Those are the true kooks of the contemporary SLAP, whether they're trolling or not, the posters pushing a right wing agenda. I mean, I'd like to hope that poster's social justice work/outlook/outreach goes beyond an internet space and that they're telling people IRL to drop the hate. That's life right, doing shit based on emotion and fear. We aren't always pragmatic. SLAP hasn't always been such an openly allied space- for the first 10 or so years SLAP was a space for "shit posting," where a lot of us didn't realize how uncool or hurtful a lot of the things we were saying/posting could be. So I guess, if we're here and openly rejecting hateful ideas and speech, replacing it with conversations about why that's not cool, it might empower younger generations of skaters coming up to stand up and treat each other with general human kindness.
5) How do you mediate your online slap presence and your offline life as a skater? Do you see them as one in the same? As separate? Why and how?
-Lately, I'm on SLAP way more than I should be due to an ankle thrashing and I'm stoked to get back into skating after a long period away. I'm not generally writing anything here that I wouldn't say IRL. I'm hyped to be on SLAP these days because most of my OG skate homies fell off and like, making new homies at 35 is different than when you're a kid in the late 90s/00s and anytime you saw someone wearing vans you knew they were a homie and probably some sort of social reject. Watching video clips, chatting with posters about shit, seeing trick tips, seeing classics, shit, learning about wheel base, cupsoles, and different gear- shit that I didn't do before because I was either too wasted, broke, or busy chasing girls- gets me hyped and keeps me connected with this skating again. So I'm just as hyped and curious about skateboarding IRL as I am here. The few old homies that are still alive but not necessarily skating have been getting screen shots and quick clips of me from a session, or links to new gear or a sick clip, to try to get them confident enough to get back on the sled.
6) What keeps you coming back to slap and why?
While I've used reddit and FB in the past, SLAP is the only form of social media I use. It doesn't stress me out and is a decent way to occupy time.
I'm butchering this, but in SLAP mag Whitely wrote something about the democratic nature of small "s" skateboarding and it's stuck with me all these years. I mean, it's not real in a tangible sense, but SLAP, with all it's weird, ugly, beautiful BS, represents what I see skateboarding as; homies, PALS, truth, whatever you want to find.
Feel free to PM me anytime. I think this is a cool topic