One of Twitch's top channels right now is a live feed of a stop sign nobody stops at
Aux Features twitch
Early internet utopians predicted that the world wide web would usher in a new era of enlightenment. With unlimited information at our fingertips and the ability to instantly communicate with people from all around the planet, these people believed, the internet would fundamentally transform our species for the better. Anyway, it’s 2021 and the internet has indeed changed us forever, but mostly in that we can now spend our days doing stuff like watching a stop sign in Salem, Massachusetts that nobody stops at.
As Kotaku reports, Stopsigncam is a Twitch channel that’s been streaming a Salem intersection where, its title estimates, “98.73% of Vehicles don’t stop.” Apparently this stream has been going “since at least last year,” just documenting the many cars that pass the sign, hardly ever stopping. It gained more attention recently, though, after the YouTube channel JhbTeam let people know about the feed through a TikTok and summary video where it’s called “one of the best streams in existence.”
Now, Stopsigncam has around 150,000 followers on Twitch who just hang out in its chat section betting and commenting on which cars will stop and which will drive right through the intersection. The most devoted stop sign fans have even begun documenting the world of Stopsigncam on Reddit or made pilgrimages to the site in order to have lightsaber fights, do a backflip for the camera, or wash their beloved sign.
It’s tempting to attribute Stopsigncam’s success to the fact that a whole lot of people are still in lockdown and looking for distractions. But, even without quarantine causing us to look further afield for entertainment, Stopsigncam probably would have been a hit. It is, after all, a prime example of the kind of joy the internet can bring—not in the way the overly optimistic utopians might have predicted, but because it’s yet another unpredictable new way for the modern person to waste their time doing something stupid with strangers.
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14 Comments
Meanwhile, my Twitch channel of a live feed of me that no one watches has zero followers.{foreveralone.gif}
I wanted to watch, but your fees of 49.95 a month seemed a big high.
Really? I can pay less if you want.
Well, put some clothes on!
MrBeast to the rescue! (perhaps?)
WAIT A GOD DAMNED MINUTE! I was under the impression—based on letters to the editor, AM radio, etc.—that it was *cyclists* who are the scofflaws who don’t stop at stop signs, and thus should be off the road. Car operators are perfect angels who follow traffic laws to a T. Perhaps, then, cars should also be off the road?At the very least, I want to make everyone who has ever said that about bikes watch this stream.(I’m *not* suggest bikes don’t roll their share of stop signs; just calling out the hypocrisy of motor vehicle operators.)
BTDubs, has anyone checked out the new The Suicide Squad trailer?It looks pretty good.“I don’t want to do your dirty work, no more.”
Never heard of it
I see they’ve kept the painfully on the nose music cues. And here I thought they’d used them all up in the first one.
hi! i read this comment before watching the clip and thought you were saying Norm Macdonald had been cast as Killer Croc. thank you for the fifteen minutes of hysterical laughter!
Well this guy certainly seems to love hearing himself talk, as well as talking about himself. I’m going to STOP watching the embedded video.
Early internet utopians predicted that the world wide web would usher in
a new era of enlightenment. With unlimited information at our
fingertips and the ability to instantly communicate with people from all
around the planet, these people believed, the internet would
fundamentally transform our species for the better.HOW IT STARTED: “On the Internet, you’ll be able to search a medical database to find information about health issues, written by the world’s most knowledgable professionals! It’ll be just like Star Trek!”HOW IT’S GOING: “So, there’s 950,000 sites about hypertension and 949,000 of them are full of misinformation and/or trying to sell you questionable health supplements.”
This is blatant anti-vaxxer erasure. Good. Anti-vaxxers should be erased.