Which hobby is considered a cult or has cult-like tendencies? (piefed.social)

submitted 2 weeks ago by sk1nnym1ke@piefed.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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[-] anachrohack@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

People who code often come to their technical opinions via aesthetics rather than legit technical reasons. On 4chan/g/ there are people who only code in C, or only code in Lisp, or only code in Ocaml, and there's nothing you can tell them to convince them to use a new language because their hero is Terry Davis and they imagine themselves as living in Serial Experiments Lain. They code on projects with no real world applicability. I think the appeal behind Terry Davis is that these people are all building their temple to God, in a way.

[-] Emotional@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago

Nix and NixOS

[-] EtherWhack@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Gunpla, pop/labubu, liquid-cooing/overclocking, 3D printing, drones/RC

There is a bit of a threshold between an innocent hobby and a cult, but once crossed, it's.... yeah...

[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

If you're into liquid cooling cause it gives "better performance" then that's cope and a cult, but if you just do it to make your PC look cool asf then there's nothing wrong with that

[-] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Nahhhh, better performance WAS a totally true and valid thing. Though since moore's law died, power management systems advanced, and heat pipes/chambers were commercialized, the difference is now neglegible for all but the extreme cases.

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[-] Takapapatapaka@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I second DnD and Warhammer, and i'll add Magic the Gathering to this list

[-] Pronell@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, anything that has you speaking in game jargon in public should qualify.

One of my friends at a pizza place a few years ago: "I can't believe I didn't get to poison anyone last night."

Me: "Dude, context! We are in public!"

[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Hanging out with angry white dudes in white sheets who carry flaming crosses.

[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Buying used panties from onlyfans sites.

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[-] badbytes@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Religion IMHO is a hobby.

[-] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

Honestly, I don't think very many of them could really be described as such, as at the very least most hobbies either don't have a person or group that could be called it's leader, or if they do, it's generally some business that owns some relevant IP that very much isn't considered unquestionable and above criticism. You could get cults that emerge within some hobby group instead of taking up the whole subculture, but given even things as mundane as exercise groups have had this happen before, I'd guess that can technically happen in just about any of them.

[-] Lemminary@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think you need to specify what you mean by cult. The way I personally understand it, a cult includes a leader who exploits their members for free labor, oftentimes for sexual gratification, and removes them from their friends and families while subjecting them to psychological manipulation. I'm having a hard time thinking of a hobby that meets the criteria I'm more familiar with.

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[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I feel like it would be easier to list the hobbies that aren't, based on the answers so far.

[-] Lumisal@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

People who play Call of Chuthulu every single day

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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025

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