Not specifically Hikikomori related but this is top among my list of newbie frustrations when I switched to Linux.

Note: These are only the basic steps and don't really deal with troubleshooting but I found even the basic steps hard to learn when the top videos involve someone's music playing in the background or instruction guides not really explaining how "next step", guess additions really are from the installation instructions.

Other notable things to keep in mind:

1. There are two versions of Virtualbox

As a newbie, you want the PUEL version: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VirtualBox_PUEL

This can be easy to miss because I didn't know the package manager on Mint installed the OSE version and when I encountered that problem, it took me ages (I had previously quit using Linux) before I found that information today.

You also get the latest version although that's not exactly a good thing. Around my first time of using Linux, I've read something about the latest version being buggy so that further kept me from really thinking about a situation where two versions of the same program might be the case.

2. The group permission setting is for shared folders. (I think)

One of the instructions I found confusing was this whole thing about looking for the group vbox and allowing user permissions to the group.

Now even as a newb I understood that Linux uses permission so that instruction was clear to me.

What I don't get was how it was related to Guest OS sharing and combined with my confusion of the "next step" I really couldn't figure out what to do.

Not sure if this was made easier in the latest version of Virtualbox but it seems what it does is make your home network appear in My Computer -> Tools -> Map Network Drive -> <drop down list>

After that, the two folders are shared so you can move files to and from both OSes.

3. Mouse Integration (Guest Additions) causes a pop-up on Full-screen

Well seamless mode didn't work on my Linux Mint 7 (although I was able to make it work back when Mint was still Celena) so I opted for full-screen mode only to find out that a pop-up virtualbox menu constantly appears.

I didn't try fixing it and just maximized the VirtualBox window but according to this topic all you need is to turn off mouse integration.

4. Press Right Ctrl! Press Right Ctrl! Press Right Ctrl!

One of the things my impatience got me originally was when I couldn't figure out how to get the mouse off of a Virtualized OS and was stuck.

That's rarely the problem now but it's something to always keep in mind in case you forgot and I have very short term memory.

It used to take me minutes of pressing all the ctrl, alt and windows button before I got which key "escapes" the mouse from VirtualBox.

Even now, I have the same problem with Linux using the word Super for the Windows button.

Now though, I have to remember the key because it can be head scratching trying to auto-complete the url in IE or zoom in on Adobe Reader/Firefox only to realize... oh wait... right ctrl is the host key so I need to press left ctrl +/-/enter.

Well, that's it. I'm sure I made a lot of mistakes in this post especially when my priority is getting Windows XP to guest on Linux Mint 7 so please correct everything I got wrong here.

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http://jayisgames.com/cgdc6/?ref=sponsors&gameID=9

Review: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/11/small_worlds.php

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Note that since I haven't explored much of Experience Project, I'm not really sure how much Chair can edit and delete his replies. However as of this writing, the post exists.

For why I am stating this: some Hikikomoris have this strange habit of editing out their posts. This holds true whether they have spammed or not.

In HikiPhpBB, Chair has edited some of his old post out so I don't consider the act beyond him.

From the last update on this thread: http://hiki.posterous.com/hikiculture-admin-strongly-suspected-of-spamm

Update: This is actually old but I just visited experience project again and apparently Chair (under the username HikiCulture) posted this:

http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-Somehow-A-Hikikomori/760004#comment_embed

"By the way, if you don't remove those inane blogs of yours that are full of groundless claims about me, I will create a series of blogs stating reasons why I believe you to be the one behind the spamming of HikikomoriForum.

Not only me, but a handful of people I've talked to believe you to be one of the culprits behind all of the spamming.

Why were you online on HikikomoriForum while the spamming occured? You had stated that you had pretty much quit logging into the forums since you were busy with other things such as your blogs. I am highly suspicious of you and imagine that you are simply trying to hurt my image.

You know, you're not the only banned member who has tried to hurt my image. Just accept the fact that I banned you from my forum."

The important section is in the first paragraph as the last run of recent AnonIB spammings have been been using my username.

Not only that, this shows that Chair himself is not only capable of spamming but he himself has admitted that it is not below him to spam.

Since the post is dated Oct. 30th and I missed it, the context of the post is kind of lost but unless this poster is a fake account, even if Chair himself did not spam the forums, this is conclusive admittance that he is indeed a spammer.

Unless new evidences come to light, I am changing my stance and I sincerely believe Chair to be a spammer just based on these comments alone.

Whether he is the HikiPhpBB and AnonIB spammer, I don't know. But this statement proves he is a spammer.

May any Hikikomori beware of being associated with this person.

Post Ends

Now one can interpret "reasons" here as not synonymous with spamming.

However the key words that strike me as peculiar is the usage of "a series" of blogs as opposed to any type of singular reply.

Notice also, that he is "threatening" to do this and have no qualms of lying.

It's very... anti-perception of a non-spammer or at least a non-spam organizer.

The reply reeks of someone who would retaliate strongly against any comment instead of addressing the points raised against him.

Even in his state of anger, the post never assumes the role of a single person flaming or insulting back. It's always written in an "I'm capable of hurting you and I definitely will" manner that strongly hints of someone who is willing to organize a spamming spree.

Readers may wonder why I am trying to "psycho-analyze" a fairly straightforward post.

This is because I do give Chair the benefit of the doubt and listen to his words carefully to see if there's any hint that our personality just don't get along.

Unfortunately, I just don't see anything in his words that hints that it's merely a clash of personalities.

Each retaliation just seems like a spammer's way of saying "You're not getting me to admit this but shut up about it or I'll just continue to cause trouble."

Maybe I'm just reading too much of these words especially since I'm a poor judge of people.

Still, no matter how I try to interpret it, it's always comes off like he's planning something huge because someone said something possibly bad against him.

Then there's always the fact that he's dodging the points and then throwing unrelated insults back at the person he's talking to.

At least this holds true with his offensive replies to me.

For example, the original accusations with regards to my banning was edited by him as resolved.

Even in the non-edited post, he himself said it has been a long time since my ban.

Yet not only did he brought the issue back in this post but the only action in-between his "beating me up" comments was a single reply I wrote and it was a reply to a very issue he considers resolved.

It's really problematic to constantly excuse his behaviour.

If you treat Chair as a non-spammer, then there's something very fishy about the constant associations with HikiCulture and the spamming of other Hikikomori-related communities.

Then add another person also under the comments of that thread saying:

"Chair made this general comment before deleting it from hikiphp. Went along the lines of, "We have been made aware of our user on hikiculture who has been spamming. The situation is resolved." You need to brush up on internet laws."

Yet you would think he would have added/mentioned this in his replies but he constantly focused on saying the claims are "groundless" against him.

With all this consideration in mind.

Chair is either a bad forum admin and a bad diplomat for his brand "HikiCulture" or he's in league with spammers/is himself a spammer.

To the former, it's hard to think that a forum admin who is very loose in banning people suddenly gets this spam problem when he is very on top of non-spamming issues.

That's why I can only conclude that Chair is a spammer based on not only the evidences but his follow-up actions to them and unless new evidence come up that shed some light into that, I consider Chair to be a spammer at this point.

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First off, my apologies for the image quality.

I'm very newbish at image editing and it was only this year that I discovered what "cropping" does.

Anyways, on to the topic.

The short version:

Someone has recently been spamming the HikiPhpBB forum. (1st screenshot)

There's strong evidence that it is the admin of another Hikikomori forum, HikiCulture.

Evidence #1 is the conversation in the 2nd screenshot.

If the text is blurry, here's the conversation:

Chair:

Me and thirteen other people are talking about you in my IRC channel right now Foolness.

Do you think we are saying positive, or negative things? You have a day to answer. If you don't answer, I'll beat you up.

Wut R U gonna do about it tuff guy?

   

Click here to download:

HikiCulture_Admin_Strongly_Sus.zip (156 KB)

Update posted here.

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Click here to download:

Hikikomori_Media_by_ ().pdf (70 KB)

This isn't a catch all thread for every review I'm going to make about Hikikomori related media but is instead based on a set a user by the name of "..." has collected in this topic (requires registration)

Basically the document above is the OP thread minus the replies...

I actually didn't plan to tackle this till later since at the time, not only did the list look scary, but every entry seemed like it was worthy enough of it's own blog article.

...Then I got sidetracked by pasting the contents of that topic here.

The situation above made me angry with myself because I'm not even finding the motivation to properly re-format the links to make it easier for Hikikomoris to browse through the selection.

...Then I drank coffee.

I spotted one video where the definition said it was a Filipino docudrama which peaked my interest because I'm a Filipino.

Turns out it wasn't...

...Then I procrastinated

The reality was that I was in burn-out mode already and the poor quality of the video (to me) didn't help things...

Downloading the torrent for Ebola Syndrome (NSFW) that didn't contain any English sub really really really didn't help things at all...

Edit: Above title has nothing to do with this topic. It's just some movie I planned to watch at the time. I don't recommend searching for it. It's a well known HK Cat III movie known for it's sexual and disgusting scenes. --- Haven't watched the movie yet as of this edit though.

Edit #2: Nevermind, finished watching it and the gore is nothing special. Go ahead and watch it if you're into cult films with some nudity. Meanwhile, I'm just going to grab the courage to watch Eden Lake as the initial scene scared me to the point of closing the media player.

...Then the coffee took over.

The whole thing pretty much ruined my procrastination and I ended up with nothing specific to do.

At this point, I really should have focused on something else like playing my recent downloaded isos of PlaneScape Torment (which I deleted) or re-downloading The Witcher and trying to make it work on my PC (because I also deleted the files after the installer hanged after I mounted the 2nd iso on daemontools) but...FUCK! I've already written a review and if I'm going to type under the influence of coffee, it might as well be with images squiggling by my face between each text.

Note: My reviews are based on what these medias add to one's understanding of Hikikomoris so things like this video while "..." defines as hypnotic and moving doesn't hold any value to me because it's just an animation of a guy stumbling around or this self-help video where it's supposed to help anxiety because it's supposed to simulate a person staring at the Hikikomori back just seems like this was some stingy guy's idea of marketing something out of nothing because he doesn't really know anything about us Hikikomoris and couldn't pull off a "blinking eyes" ren'ai that appeals to his target audience.

(That said, I have no idea if the latter video was directed purely at Hikikomoris but to take a joke comment under that video too far - the only plus side was the larger breasts.

There are more effortful ways to create an illusion of a living silent beauty being interested in you like Magibon did.)

Summarized List of Recommendations: (click on links for reviews)

    * BBC Cram School Hikikomori.
    * Segment on Hikikomori and New Start.
    * Francesco Jodie Documentary (Link included in the above PDF not working)
    * The Missing Million
    * Cat Street
    * Shut In: Japan Below the Surface

Update:

Since the original post was too long for Posterous and it got cut off, all of the non-notable reviews are now located here: http://sqworl.com/a7mrge

If you just want to head straight for the Google Doc post (which contain only reviews), click here.

I don't recommend it though. I got problems viewing that shared folder using IronPortable. (Plus some of the reviews contain only one line of text or paragraph, you're better off using the sqworl url.)

Update #2:

Fuck! Screw this.

Even the shorter version got sliced off.

Just use the sqworl link provided above in conjunction with the google doc links in the summarized list.

What I didn't review:

A rough for a student animation (UK). (No sound)

    Chaos;Head (non-review)

    Hikikomori - Recluso social.

Biography and profile of a hiki in his late 30’s. (Japanese, no subs)

Portrait, brief interview with hiki (Japanese)

    Loner (2008) (non-review)

    Tamago

    Hikikomori: Tokyo Plastic

    Tobira no Muko (Left Handed)

    The Attic

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This should have been a cut and dry copy paste but I don't consider the link thought provoking nor practical.

In fact, the reason I'm even posting this is because many adult couples seem to get that they need to treat their partners as equals or at least within the boundaries of their culture but when it comes to the Hikikomori phenomenon, even the so-called experts seem to be baffled as to why a Hikikomori would commit a crime when they are disturbed.

• A separate work area is critical. My husband eventually moved to another room to his own space and can close the door as needed.
• Respect privacy - knock on the door and also ask if okay to interrupt.
• Work flow patterns should be recognized. Your way isn’t the only way to work.
• Communicate about quitting times. If you expect your partner to be done and able to play at a certain time, you need to discuss it.
• If possible, take a coffee or lunch break together. Isn’t it nice to hang out with your partner in the middle of the workday?

Source: http://www.jobacle.com/blog/2009/10/21/co-working-with-your-co-habitant.html

This doesn't hold enough details though to be a howto nor is this something you can just hand over to anyone you're living with and they'll suddenly "get it" especially if it's a senior or higher authority.

This is why it's so troublesome to think of what to tag this.

It's really one of those cookie cutter labels that you might see on generic slide shows to the point that it's only useful if you print out the bullets and even then it's just like a fun post that won't make a difference if you read it or not.

Even worse, it could just make the reader go: "Yup! Yup! Parents suck!"

Eventually, I settled for creating a new tag called "chewables" because if you omit everything I wrote here, this is no different than any run-of-the-mill nano-blog posts that you spot, pause, maybe reply and then forget except it's not as cool because there's no picture or smiley face in it.

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