The first cosplay took place in 1939 - <AUTHOR> http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/firsts-the-first-cosplay-took-place-at-the-first-ever-con-in-1939 <comment><USER2> Baloney. What about the 18th-century noblewomen dressing as faux milkmaids and shepherdesses to live out the fantasies of their times' literature? What about longbows and suits of Lincoln green? Dressing up like characters we love has been done as long as we've had sufficient leisure to dream.

<comment><USER3> Sure, _dressing up like characters we love_ has been done since the beginning of mankind. But _cosplay_ is something different, distinguished primarily by not having occurred before 1939.

From the excellent [https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Hanging-Garden-Babylon- Elusiv...](https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Hanging-Garden-Babylon- Elusive/dp/0198728840/) :

> [Nebuchadnezzar] celebrated his prowess by inscribing on two rock faces in > the Wadi Briza, a ravine in the cedar mountains of Lebanon []. This was the > region where the legendary Gilgamesh and Enkidu had fought and killed the > monster Humbaba. Nebuchadnezzar referred to it as a place where he had cut > down gigantic cedar trees for his temple doors -- implying that he was like > Gilgamesh. On the surface of the rock he also had scenes carved that showed > himself grasping a tree, presumably intending to cut it down, and fighting a > lion, as Gilgamesh had done

<comment><USER4> > But cosplay is something different, distinguished primarily by not having > occurred before 1939.

That sounds a wee bit circular.

<comment><USER5> I think that was sarcasm.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think the authors have major problems with understanding history. They claim:

 _I believe that the reason that it is described as the $1,000 costume is that it features metal supports, which were made from aluminum. During that time period, the process for refining aluminum was extremely expensive, and aluminum was more valuable than gold._

In reality, aluminum became cheap early in 20th century: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Electrolytic_product...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Electrolytic_production)

In 1939, _massive_ amounts of aircraft were produced out of aluminum. It's like the authors mistake 1939 for 1839.

Since the authors demonstrate such gaping holes in knowledge that are trivial to check in Wikipedia, this is either complete baloney, or an elaborate prank.

In the latter case, the article is worth reading in search for more easter eggs like that.

</comment><comment><USER7> Cosplay is not a new phenomenon, it's just been interpreted through an exclusively modern lens. The reality is that people having been using costumes for similar purposes for thousands of years. People put on a costume of something else because it makes them feel different. People today aren't much different in their drives and desires than they were in the stone age.

<comment> white-flame I wouldn't even say that it's about making them feel different, but it's simply about celebrating something by recreating it themselves, either just to celebrate it with others, or to expose others to it (plays and such).</comment></comment>


Reddit Finally Bans R/CoonTown and Other Hateful Subreddits - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/05/reddit-finally-bans-rcoontown-and-other-hateful-subreddits-updates-user-policies/

<comment><USER2> Excellent. The racist users were spilling over into other subreddits. Just like how, before fatpeoplehate got banned, there were users going around making comments like "found the fatty". The /r/CoonTown posters were even worse in my opinion.

There will be a tantrum for a few days, but they'll get bored soon. It's like ripping off a bandaid quickly. Users like that just ruin the entire site for everyone.

Edit: apologies if this comment appears multiple times, posting from a train, poor connection.

<comment><USER3> Are you living/have lived in black neighborhood or met any black people in real life at all?

<comment><USER4> uh where exactly are you going with this

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> And they managed to botch it. It's gone wrong on two fronts.

The announcement states that:

> Today, in addition to applying Quarantines, we are banning a handful of > communities that exist solely to annoy other redditors, prevent us from > improving Reddit, and generally make Reddit worse for everyone else

Numerous commentators in the discussion of the new content policy pointed out that /r/coontown, loathsome as it was, does not seem to meet any of their criteria for banning.

Spez clarified:

> We didn't ban them for being racist. We banned them because we have to spend > a disproportionate amount of time dealing with them. If we want to improve > Reddit, we need more people, but CT's existence and popularity has also made > recruiting here more difficult.

I couldn't find any further elaboration. In particular I'd like to know if "disproportionate amount of time dealing with them" actually meant dealing with things /r/coontown did, or dealing with people complaining about the existence of it.

It probably would have been a lot better if they had tried quarantining them first, to see if that worked. /r/coontown clearly met the conditions for quarantine: "We will Quarantine communities whose content would be considered extremely offensive to the average redditor".

The way they handled it left a lot of people thinking that yet again the published rules and the real rules do not match.

The second front on which this has gone wrong is /r/ShitRedditSays. Numerous people have pointed out that SRS exists solely to annoy other redditors. People posted numerous detailed documentation of SRS brigading, doxxing, and harassing people. As Spez tried to clarify the new policies, specifically to explain the justification for the bannings, many people pointed out most of his justifications applied to SRS. Spez has pretty much ignored those comments. I believe the last time he commented on SRS was in an earlier thread where he said they know about the brigading, but they want to stop it with technical means rather than banning.

Looks like there is still a lot of work ahead for Reddit.</comment>