Firstness

“I deserve the gift above everyone else because I will likely be the only one to actually write an essay and to get it close to 500 words.” That is what I would have started this with had Bugle not done pretty much the exact same thing (1). Instead my essay will be examining the claim that “First is best” (L. Wyman) and the validity of this claim along with what it truly means.

In his works Bugle brought up the fact that it has long been established that being first on the internet is usually the best, but in order to understand if this is truly the case we need to examine the origin of this and while firstness has been a thing as long as humans have been I believe first we need examine the history as pertaining to the internet era. According to Know Your Meme (a popular website dedicated to explaining and researching memes on the internet) it originates from the comments section of the news site Slashdot which launched in 1997 (2). As the comments used to be displayed chronologically the first post was always on top and this resulted in people commenting with things like “First Post” as quickly as they could so that they could have their comment be higher up and thus have more visibility than people who put actual thought and effort into their comments which as a result were pushed down the page stifling discussion of the actual topic.

A couple of parallels can be drawn between this old website and it’s commenting system and Bugle’s essay, as much like the commenters of the past he has just put some words onto paper without putting actual effort in in order to be seen and suppress the proper essays that had actual effort put into them. On top of that his propaganda was all conjecture and personal opinions and he did not perform any research as is evidenced by the fact that he believes the quickness of his work is a proper substitute for quality.

It can be argued however that first is indeed best as this is been tradition and a recurring theme throughout human history. For example we can look to many of humanity’s sports and almost all of them involve trying to become first such as racing, however it also of note that that speed is not the only way to be first in many sports. Most sports operate on a points system that is based on the quality of play, in such cases quickness is often not the most desirable aspect. In both cases however being first is indeed the best, the only difference is the way in which they become first.

Now much like Bugle, I too care little whether you deem it fit to award me with you charity as I was just looking for an excuse to write a short essay to help keep my skills somewhat sharp. However it is evident that speedy firsts, whist the best in certain and limited scenarios are generally more harmful to broader culture than quality firsts. While Bugle may lay claim to the first 500 word essay written, I possess the first quality essay.

References:
(1)	Luke Wyman. 2015. Untitled. [ONLINE] Available at: http://pastebin.com/H8RXN9kU. [Accessed 07 July 15].
(2)	Know Your Meme. 2010. First!. [ONLINE] Available at: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/first. [Accessed 07 July 15].