SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
After experiencing extensive spamming, ad-hominem attacks, and trolling it became necessary to protect the site by preventing all Anonymous Coward (AC) comments by anyone who was not logged in. This was a reluctant measure but it proved to be 99.9% effective. It was however, far from ideal. It partially isolated many of the responsible ACs who contribute regularly to the site and provide a valuable input to many of our discussions. They are still able to use journals for posting as the editors of SoylentNews have no control over the content of journals or the comments made in them.
I sought an alternative solution and provided access to some of the stories on the front page and marked them as AC Friendly. I had hoped by demonstrating to those abusing the site that there was a simple solution that they would perhaps cease, or at least return to previously manageable levels. Unfortunately this was not to be. The abuse restarted almost immediately and has continued in every AC Friendly story that has been published. It has clearly demonstrated that this isn't a case of the abusers defending free speech or any other laudable and justifiable aim but simply an attempt to prevent the majority of the community from holding any form of discussion at all. I am not continuing the AC Friendly stories on the main page with the sole exception of this Meta story.
I next tried to switch the attempts to include our AC community around by providing stories from the front page initially to my own journal, but subsequently to the journal of a new account named 'AC Friendly'. This was rather labour intensive and was not something that I could continue to do in the long term. These efforts have been ignored and do not seem to be of any interest to the AC community. Likewise I will not continue this effort unless there is evidence that it is wanted.
There are many perfectly understandable reasons for wishing to post comments as an Anonymous Coward. This was recognised when the original Slashdot code was written and provision was made for such individuals in the software. It is a straightforward matter to log in to the site and then automatically post as AC from then on. This both protects the site itself and those using it. If your justification is that you do not trust the staff then I must question why you would want to remain on the site.
Free speech is an essential part of our ethos but it is necessary to realise that free speech and anonymity are not necessarily related. We want people to be able to express their views without fear of harassment, abuse, or unfair moderation. Only by doing so can we truly claim to have free speech. It means that even those with whom we strongly disagree have the right to express their opinions. Subsequent attempts to argue against those views should not involve any form of harassment of the individual making them. Any attempt to prevent someone from expressing their views is directly counter to the very concept of 'free speech'.
Likewise, anonymity is something to be valued. Attempts to unmask either named or anonymous accounts is unacceptable to this site's administration and will not be tolerated. Those who publish information that appears credible to us must be deterred from continuing by whatever means are necessary. We cannot verify every claim made regarding the personal information of a community member and we must therefore assume that it is has some basis in truth and is an attempt at doxing. It does not matter where the information stated in the claim originates or whether it has been stated on this site or elsewhere previously. If it has the potential to unmask a community member it will be treated as doxing. The site will do all it can to protect community members. We are also fortunate that in the 8 years we have been operating we have only had one account that felt it was an acceptable thing to do. That account has been closed.
There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the toxic environment that has developed on the site has cost us numerous valued community members - both staff and regular contributors of submissions and comments. It cannot be allowed to continue. There is also no doubt that there is a straightforward and simple solution, and that is to prevent AC participation without the creation of an account. The software was designed to do this and it is wasted effort trying to find alternatives when it is unnecessary to do so.
There has been quite a bit of discussion over the last week or so. We have had a former community member (who was also once a member of staff) return to the site with his own story. Initially he chose to remain anonymous but subsequently decided to continue his comments under his username. I encourage you all to read the link given and the subsequent comments given in reply. I am very grateful that has taken the effort to explain why he has did what he has done and I welcome him back to our community if he choses to stay. As part of my reply to him I made the following statement:
It is vitally important that everyone is able to express their own point of view without harassment or intimidation or even unfair moderation. We do not all agree with each other. That is the same in any community. But by full, frank and honest discussion we can at least understand each others point of view and possibly identify potential solutions. The freedom of expression is still essential on the site - but it can only exist if we can ensure that it can be conducted in a suitable environment.
I stand by that statement. Since that comment was published I have received other views and experiences of the toxicity of our site from a significant number of individuals, including regular community members and both current and former staff. Quite simply, if we do not change then in all likelihood we will not survive much longer. It is not too late to make the necessary changes but time is running out.
I promised you that no changes would be made to how the site operates without first giving you all the chance to express your own opinions. But you have to decide now which path you want the site to follow. This cannot be a simple vote - as an extreme example we have no way of verifying that AC comments are not the result of a single person, or if some sock-puppets are still active on the site. Everyone has the right to be heard. However, let me point out a few rules:
- Any attempt to disrupt this Meta by spamming, ad-hominem attacks or trolling abuse will count as someone expressing an opinion that we should insist on accounts for all those wishing to post as AC. If anyone thinks that by abusing the site they will be helping their case they are mistaken. However, such actions will clearly show to the community that those who have been making the most noise about being prevented from expressing themselves are not actually fighting for free speech, but rather they are determined to prevent you from exercising your right to it.
- It will be pointless to keep repeating the same views as an AC. We cannot separate them. You want to be anonymous, you choose to have the account ID #1, and this, unfortunately, is a direct consequence to that decision.
- All views will be collated and then a decision will be made based upon them by the staff. This will include the SN Board who may accept that decision, but who have the right to choose the path that the site eventually takes. It may not be the decision that any of us want.
This is an important issue. It cannot be a simple vote but I encourage as many people as possible to express their opinions. It might be the last chance for you to do so. The Meta will stay active for several days to at least mid-week - but if it is abused excessively then it will be taken down and we will be forced to make a decision base on whatever views we already have or can get from elsewhere. I will endeavour to move the Meta in the story queue so that it remains on the front page. Many of our community log on at different times of the day or only on specific days. I would like to give everyone a chance to see the Meta story and to make their views known.
This is your opportunity - please do not waste it.
[Ed's Comment: See bold text - warning 2022-07-10 12:36 UTC]
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @06:26AM (36 children)
Just stopping in to give my opinion, one that has been suppressed, banned, and spoken badly about. I am aristarchus, the original. And I have to say, TMB's original objection to me pasting all conservatives as alt-right has turned out to be correct. And this is what has split SoylentNews apart. All the damn censorship.
You all know who I am. I am aristarchus. Evidently I have grown in stature, like William Wallace, to the point that fireballs can be fired from me arse. Stand back! I feel one coming on! Thai food can do that to you.
So, now, at the end, only now does janrinok realize the true power of the community. All the right-wingers who are buttherded by legitimate criticism are gathering here. I have seen users who have not posted for years! And strange that we have no contributing members with UIDs between 6000 and 17000. So if we take this discussion as representative? Well, maybe, but perhaps, not so much.
I think my reputation is based on the way that I argue. I do not tolerate fools, and yes, that does include khallow. But the point is, if my acerbic wit, and obvious rebuttals, could be rebuffed, then there would be not problem. It is only because they cannot that the right-wing is all butt-hurt and their snowflakes are damaged. But I have to INSIST that this is no reason to ban anyone from a community of discourse. Which SoylentNews has done to me. FuckBeta, #Freearistarchus!!!!1!
So, there it is. Do we go with janrinok, heir to TMB, or do we fulfill the promise of SoylentNews? Can we, or can we not, withstand the free debate on issues, using facts and logic? If we cannot, if we go with janrinok, then the dream that was SoylentNews is already dead. And it was janrinok what killed it.
I might have more to say on this, but it looks like attempts to keep me from posting, even as an AC, are in the works, so it might be time to say goodbye to aristarchus. It has been a good run, and I have enjoyed the company and arguments of many of you. Too bad that is has to end like this. Do not look for aristarchus anywhere else. He is gone. And SoylentNews is no longer viable.
(Score: 5, Funny) by janrinok on Monday July 11 2022, @06:58AM (18 children)
Apart from doxxing?
--- Yeah, doxxing, there is that, but what has aristarchus ever done to us?
Disrupted other discussions?
--- Yeah, of course, but apart from doxxing and disrupting discussions, what has aristarchus ever done to us?
Spamming?
---Spamming? That goes without saying, but apart from doxxing, disrupting, spamming, whinging about his treatment, demanding free speech for himself but denying it to others, what has ARISTARCHUS ever done to us?
With grateful thanks to Monty Python.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @09:46AM (7 children)
There never was any doxxing. Ask Zumi. No information ever posted, or we would know who, exactly was doxxed? Pretext, not a real thing, more runaway disinformation.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday July 11 2022, @10:17AM (6 children)
Are you trying to implicate Azuma in your doxxing? I can clearly recall her saying to you on IRC that you SHOULD NOT do it, and several times since she has told you that you are your own worst enemy for what you did.
Azuma was not involved in reviewing the material that was found. She cannot say whether it exists or not, only that she does not recall seeing it.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday July 12 2022, @03:46AM (5 children)
That said, I have an idle curiosity to see it sometime to see if it matches my own research :) Runaway's opsec is, how you say, pizdec.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday July 12 2022, @04:23AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @05:32PM (3 children)
Obsessive research into your imaginary enemy? How do you say Prozac?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday July 12 2022, @05:39PM (2 children)
I say it "fluoxetine" because a whole lot of my customers are on it and none of them get the brand-name stuff when the generic works exactly as well.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @09:27PM (1 child)
I saw a paper that the generic works better by a statistically significant amount but only in the US. The suggestion was that because it is so much cheaper than the name brand (it can be 1% of the cost or less), patients were more likely to follow the treatment and have less negative feelings caused by the negative circumstances surrounding the taking of medication.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday July 13 2022, @04:29AM
Yyyyyup. Because not being able to afford your antidepressant is pretty fucking depressing in itself...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @09:49AM (8 children)
I don't think that aristarchus ever spammed, despite TMB trying to claim political posts he did not like were a form of spam. So this claim is false, and uncalled for.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday July 11 2022, @10:09AM (7 children)
The Decision, posted in February, and partially repeated in this story discussion yesterday, states that, after the banning, ALL posts by aristarchus will be classified as Spam. He has many posts where he actually tells you it is his posts. That is Spam.
Secondly, I do not believe that it is the real APK - this is personal and aimed at specific individuals, not pushing his Hosts file. He has also compromised the actual sender by forgetting to change his IP address after spamming during a previous discussion and then making a comment. The only slight doubt in my mind now is, is it 2 different people or actually the same person running them both? It isn't too important, they both only currently have access as ACs and that can be switched off at a moment's notice.
No, the best that you can say is that, in your opinion, it is unproven. However, the first paragraph also covers the point quite nicely, don't you think?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @08:01PM (2 children)
Guilty until proven innocent eh? Without the necessary access to the site's backend? Interesting approach, totally sounds above board /s
Oddly you say TOR is great for anonymity and admit user IP hashes overlap, then you go and make pronouncements like the same hash means same real person.
You're either too old for this or a malicious actor in this whole drama. At this point the latter is looking most likely.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday July 12 2022, @03:49AM (1 child)
Where hashes overlap then they cannot be used. There are other ways of analysing the data that we have. But I mentioned a day or two back. With so few active members - including ACs - most AC are using hashes that are unique to them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @04:22PM
By definition of AC you can not say that. Thanks for the clear example of your dementia or lazy tyranny.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:50PM
"after the banning, ALL posts by aristarchus will be classified as Spam."
There we have it. A policy that impacted innocent users and allowed political bias. Any AC criticizing rightwing trolls gets modded spam, because as you like to say "if it quacks like a duck etc." I have no words left for how your shitty crusade has damaged this site, but I am grateful that your authoritarian nature has been exposed.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 13 2022, @07:13PM (2 children)
So, not really Spam, then? Only spam by decree, and with a rather subjective method of detection? I think we may have found the problem!
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday July 13 2022, @07:30PM (1 child)
Unwanted, repetitious, disrupting, entirely off-topic, irrelevant to the discussion. Spam sounds about right to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @01:53AM
You keep saying this, janrinok. In fact, you have repeated it enough to be disrupting, and entirely off topic: in other words, Spam.
Stop the spamming, jan!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @01:14AM
. . . Brought peace?
[You have to finish the scene, janrinok]
(Score: 4, Informative) by inertnet on Monday July 11 2022, @07:54AM (1 child)
Despite your relentless efforts to turn it into one, this isn't a site about politics. I must have missed most of your postings over the years, because I always skip articles about politics, and articles that turn into politics. It would be wonderful if we could have mature discussions about tech and science, but that's just impossible with some people. Anyone can buy themselves an internet connection and start polluting discussions, so you are not special. Well, you are special, but not in the way you imagine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @10:50PM
I posted elsewhere about not understanding the word 'anarchy'. Similarly, I would hope the vast majority of soylent/slashdot readers would be of a mindset that there is nothing apolitical about tech and science, at least not most of the stuff that makes it to a headline here or there.
To say that science and tech are both highly politicized in the realm of journalism seems to be an understatement to me, for very good reasons.
(Score: 3, Touché) by stretch611 on Monday July 11 2022, @08:46AM
I know that my eyes are far from perfect... But it does appear that I am contributing, both this article and the prior article about this topic. And look at that... my UID is in that range and I have seen others in that range too...
To top it off, I contribute financially to the site with a subscription
A good debate only tends to happen when the people participating in the debate have accurate facts.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @09:51AM
Just Saying: this is probably not the realAristarchus. You know it's possible!
(Score: 3, Funny) by acid andy on Monday July 11 2022, @11:58AM (2 children)
But you didn't answer my question.
What does God need with a starship?When are we going to get back to the philosophy?Somehow I get the feeling we might not have seen the last of you. As previously stated, I disapprove of your alleged methods; nevertheless I wish you well.
At least there's one thing all Soylentils can finally agree on: SoylentNews certainly won't be the same without aristarchus!
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 3, Touché) by bzipitidoo on Monday July 11 2022, @03:15PM (1 child)
What would be like to be present in some fashion for the death of a being with God like powers that was nevertheless still somehow mortal, or perhaps suicidal? Suppose the way their death progressed was very slowly, taking centuries, and that it was to lose their minds first, before losing their awesome powers? You'd get Cthulhu and the rest of the Elder Gods, that's what. Still functional enough to cause a hell of a lot of damage, without any awareness of having done so, let alone any restraining rationality or love.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday July 11 2022, @03:44PM
One could be forgiven for thinking that's an apt metaphor for those in charge of western civilization at the moment. Probably substitute decades for centuries though!
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 11 2022, @12:35PM (8 children)
Somehow, in your 2000+ years, you have failed to meet Hanlon, and his razor? You never even read about him?
Scroll down a little bit to Opportunist's post. https://soylentnews.org/meta/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=50331&page=5&cid=1259707#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
You, however, seem to presume that you are the smartest person in the SN community. No one is capable of cutting through your bullshit, to determine the facts for themselves.
FFS, ari, people like myself with no access to admin tools have figured out that you have used dozens of accounts, and hundreds of proxies (if not more) to facilitate your vendetta against SN. With admin tools, you must be as obvious as a five pound tumor growing from the side of someone's head! But, you insist that admin are fools, idiots, fascists, and much more when they state facts that are obvious to them.
If you really believe that half or more of the membership can't see through your bullshit, then you are the biggest fool of all.
Back to the quote from Opportunist - Unfortunately for you, when the audience has a higher than average IQ, there are going to be fewer people who you can fool all of the time.
I guess the point is, you should probably take your ego stroking to some other forum, where people have average IQs or less. Maybe Facebook? Or Twitter? Or maybe idiotsanonymous.org? I'm sure that you can dominate any and all discussions on a forum where people ain't real bright. And, of course, your ego will feel really really good when the idiots swoon over your wisdom and mental prowess.
Whatever. You really should give up trying to dominate a community where almost everyone can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.
Oh, FWIW. I don't think that you're an idiot. Maybe you can take comfort in that? But, I do think that you're extremely stupid. Even very intelligent people can be stupid. Whatever your IQ might actually be, your whole crusade against me, against SN, against the staff has been stupid, stupid, stupid.
The time to bow out gracefully has passed. Just please bow out now.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @08:05PM
Your sig is hilarious ;) I know reddit isn't popular amongst older folks, but your sig would make a great post on r/SelfAwareWolves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @01:10AM
Ignorant moron.
(Score: 3, Funny) by kazzie on Tuesday July 12 2022, @05:38AM (4 children)
That probably sounds more impressive in countries that use Fahrenheit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @06:11AM
That is why my thermostat is set to Kelvin.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 12 2022, @11:00AM (1 child)
Even in Fahrenheit countries, that is a backhanded compliment. Room temperature might be as low as 65 for some people, as high as 85 for other people. Given that the average IQ is supposed to be 100, Opportunist merely observes that most Soylentils are probably smart enough to dress themselves. Or, maybe not. (insert smiley)
My own take is, the average IQ of Soylentils is probably over 115, maybe over 120, possibly even higher. This is not a forum that attracts idiots.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday July 13 2022, @05:00AM
It's not a forum that attracts people with low abstract intelligence. Remember, INT and WIS are separate dice. There are a *lot* of people here who have high scores in former and very low in the latter.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @05:37PM
Some can be an absolute zero, regardless of where they live.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:03PM
Shit.
A few years ago, I had a boss laugh his ass off because I was walking, stopped, stood for a moment while I thought about something, then continued walking a few seconds later when I was done thinking. I'm afraid to try this challenge of yours.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday July 12 2022, @02:08AM
Hmmm... likely he's living in a home without mirrors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0