Here at Mozilla, we are the first to admit the internet isn’t perfect, but we know the internet is pretty darn magical. The internet opens up doors and opportunities, allows for human connection, and lets everyone find where they belong — their corners of the internet. We all have an internet story worth sharing. In My Corner Of The Internet, we talk with people about the online spaces they can’t get enough of, the sites and forums that shaped them, and how they would design their own corner of the web. …
Here at Mozilla, we are the first to admit the internet isn’t perfect, but we know the internet is pretty darn magical. The internet opens up doors and opportunities, allows for human connection, and lets everyone find where they belong — their corners of the internet. We all have an internet story worth sharing. In My Corner Of The Internet, we talk with people about the online spaces they can’t get enough of, the sites and forums that shaped them, and how they would design their own corner of the web.
We caught up with John Sabine, the social media director of Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica. He talks about his favorite subreddit, silly deep dives and why his job makes him hopeful about the internet.
What is your favorite corner of the internet?
Honestly, it’s the “AskHistorians” subreddit. It’s one of my few internet habits that I have that has kept up. I can’t recommend it enough. I wish more things were curated with such level of scrutiny and scholarship. If people disagree, they disagree as Ph.D. people disagree. I don’t have a Ph.D., but I imagine it’s respectful. There’s profiles and avatars, but those feel very secondary to the content. You lead with the “what,” and then you can look up the “who” afterwards. I don’t post on Reddit at all; I’m a lurker in general on the internet. So I’m shocked by how many people weigh in on things.
What is an internet deep dive that you can’t wait to jump back into?
I have a bunch of articles that I have bookmarked… and my goal is to read one of the 400 articles I have saved. What I’m looking forward to specifically is just to read an article for joy, that’s not doomscrolling or part of my job. I do feel like when you have this job, you kind of get internet-ed out every day. And also: crosswords. I want to get better at crosswords, if that counts. We have one on merriam-webster.com, and I also do The New York Times, though I rarely finish it.
What’s the last great story that you read?
It was on ringer.com. A writer named Tyler Parker went through NBA names. He just ranked their names, had nothing to do with basketball. I started it before bed, and I was like, “Oh, I’ll skim.” I read every single word. He really thought about the names and how they make people feel. And it’s truly just how they sound like. That’s it. It was written beautifully. That’s a silly one, but I think silly deep dives are probably good for the soul right now.
What is the one tab you always regret closing?
Probably my calendar… And honestly, I always have Merriam-Webster and Britannica up. And I rarely do close them because I always need them for my work.
What can you not stop talking about on the internet right now?
So Merriam-Webster is releasing its first print dictionary in over 20 years. And they made it really pretty, and it feels like a really cool book that you would display. I’m very excited because I’m doing deep dives of old ads for an almost 200-year-old company. There’s a lot of stuff to go through. Some of it we have in the archives, some of it is just out there. So just going through the old print stuff, finding old paper dictionaries. So, like, selfishly, I’m excited for the new collegiate 12th edition.
What was the first online community you engaged with?
I’m a lurker, so engagement is a lot for me. The first time I probably posted was on a forum when I moved to Chicago to do improv comedy. There’s a Chicago improv forum and I think I was like, “What show should I see?”
What articles and/or videos are you waiting to read/watch right now?
I’m waiting for the next [recommendation] from my group chats. There are some people that will just send you anything, and you’re like, “OK, thank you for sending me this. I’ll watch 30% of the things you sent.” But there’s the ones that you’re like, “Oh, yeah, gotta watch that.” So I’ve got a couple friends like that, so I hope they send me stuff because Lord knows, the internet’s huge.
Is there anything about the way people engage with Merriam-Webster online that makes you feel hopeful about the internet?
Oh, 4,000%. Yes, doomscrolling is a reality of being online now. I know a lot of people who just step away and go outside and touch grass.
But there’s still good stuff happening. The comment sections on our Instagram and TikTok can actually be really fun. People have genuine, kind, often funny conversations. It’s rarely mean. Seeing that makes me hopeful, because people clearly want wholesome, thoughtful interactions.
People have a personal connection to language. Over time, I’ve seen our audience expand to include all kinds of people who care deeply about words, even if they wouldn’t call themselves “word nerds.” Language is personal, and I think our work celebrates that.
And honestly, I feel more hopeful doing this job on the internet than I think I would if I weren’t doing this work and was just online as a regular user.
John Sabine is the social media director for Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica. He is originally from Dallas, Texas, and he’s never once spelled “definitely” correctly on the first try.