How to describe the phenomenon of “small” people being ignored on the Internet

Question

I live by Internet, as both a user and a developer. This dual role gives me a chance to observe.

Every time I try to ask something in communities like StackOverflow, I always pick words carefully and provide sufficient information, hoping that my questions will be answered in a short time. But even so, sometimes my questions still get ignored.

Maybe StackOverflow, or even the whole Internet, is too big a world, filled by floods of information. Small people try to fit in, but end up being swallowed by Twitter and Facebook, without even a sound.

So, enough of complaining, I just want to know: Is there a word or a phrase to describe this phenomenon where people find themselves lost in the the great Information Age, ignored by others?

Answer 1

The first phrase I thought of was the one you used: lost in. After all, being “lost” in cyberspace is relatively metaphorical.

Another alternative might be swallowed up by. NOAD defines swallow up as:

take in and cause to disappear; engulf

Information overload may also apply here, although that usually refers to being overwhelmed by information, as opposed to feeling lost in it.

If you wanted to try something wryly original, you could say that you feel like a cog in the virtual machine.

Answer 2

There is actually a specific word for this: you’ve been warnocked, because what you have here is a classic case of Warnock’s Dilemma:

The problem with no response is that there are five possible interpretations:

1. The post is correct, well-written information that needs no follow-up commentary. There's nothing more to say except "Yeah, what he said."
2. The post is complete and utter nonsense, and no one wants to waste the energy or bandwidth to even point this out.
3. No one read the post, for whatever reason.
4. No one understood the post, but won't ask for clarification, for whatever reason.
5. No one cares about the post, for whatever reason.

You can and must assume nothing whatsoever from a non-response; it is undecidable.

Many tragedies might well have been averted had the parties involved merely recognized this fundamental axiom of undecidability instead of leaping to unfounded conclusions, and doom.

Answer 3

It seems to me OP's question is based on a false premise, as indicated by some comments.

The fact that most individuals aren't particularly significant/acknowledged on the Internet doesn't imply the Net has some "nameable characteristic" making it tend to ignore the little people.

To the extent there's a nameable characteristic involved at all in the phenomenon OP describes, it's a matter of how the average individual perceives his insignificance within the total online world.

In that context, I suggest insignificancy, alienation, estrangement, disaffection are all plausible candidates with slightly different shades of meaning.