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No doubt this is the question on everyone's mind these days! Or, I am a conceited bastard who thinks everything is about me, and the bans applied to me are really about me, and not about the random imposition of power!
Whence aristarchus? Interesting, my recent experience with mod bombing had my karma reduced to almost single digit. Now I am not privy to the inter databases as someone like The Mighty Buzzard is, for some reason, but I could tell that perhaps several of the spam mods (-10, you know!) were not called for, were in error, and should have been rescinded immediately. This was not the case, and after a campaign of posting "no comment" to current articles, either my spam mods were rescinded or my fellow soylentils responded to my mayday call, and restored my karma. But since my spam mods were not immediately rescinded, I felt it was apropos to spam mod the most visible face of the right-wing bias, and although I have no evidence to suggest such, the spam modder of me, The Mighty Buzzard.
Those of use who are mere Soylentils get some idea of how things go down. If I rip Runaway1965 a new one over some stupid thing he has posted, I can expect to get several down mods, in that or other threads. Same thing if I have to, once again! correct the obviously rebutted khallow. Now, I am not suggesting, and I do not know, that these fine Soylentils which whom I have obvious disagreements, are down modding me just because I disagree with them. But the pattern persists.
So, after we have entered upon the "Spam mod aristarchus four times", and "aristarchus spam mods The Mighty Buzzard once" situation, things have been, well, "fluid". My karma has gone back up to the max. But curiously, it does not stay there. I seem to dip in to the low 40's, and then back up to 50, depending on where the sun is shining on the earth. Well, that is as may be. But if a majority of Soylentils are so opposed to my posts, I can only assume that my time here is wasted. Except, of course, my education of khallow and insulting of Runaway, and dismissing of jmorris, and . . . spam modding of The Marginally Brossander! Well, I was workig on a real journal on Ethics for Soylentils. It may not see the light of day, if the current tyranny of the spam mod admins continues.
Aristarchus, out. Love you all, authentic Soylentils!!!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by melikamp on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:17AM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:30AM
We need you to keep us sane, to remind us that we're not alone, and that the Human Race was and is capable of some quite complex and enlightened thought.
I see the moderation system as a bit of a game. There are some people I tend not to engage with much since they go round in circles and my replies tend to get moderated down, but I do occasionally set them straight or tease them where appropriate as Anonymous Coward.
Some of the most vociferous contributors are the less enlightened but they're the most motivated. That's human nature, it seems.
Moderation is a thorny issue. I even had a snail mail letter from the police warning about the offensive nature of a comment apparently posted from my home network to a British web site. In my experience, the Alt-Wrong are delicate snowflakes who are quick to clipe, to run crying to the teacher when their delicate sensibilities are offended. Meanwhile they Stupid Signal their hatred and general intolerance of the rest of the world quite without any sense of irony.
Keep talking. Show that there is an alternative to heading for the past. The pen really is mightier than the sword.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:43AM
When I owned the New Jersey Generals, I always, always reminded my team of something Vince Lombardi said. He said winners never quit and quitters never win. So true! He was a huge, huge winner. Right up until he died of butt cancer. 🇺🇸
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 03 2017, @11:29AM (4 children)
A couple people want you to stay. A couple more people probably wish you would go. Most of us just don't give a damn. Maybe if you stop the sophomoric bullshit over a stupid temporary mod ban, more people would want you to stay. But, it's not all about you. It's about the COMMUNITY. The community will survive, even if you disappear in a fit of pique. Do as you wish. Just please stop acting so fucking immature. How long ago were you a sophomore?
(Score: 3, Touché) by shortscreen on Sunday September 03 2017, @07:31PM (3 children)
He must have tired of the classical Roman role play and has instead taken up Mean Girls.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @09:33PM (2 children)
Greek! Hellene! Samian! Why is it that Americans can not understand that Greece and Rome are two completely difference ancient cultures?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @01:30AM (1 child)
"Americans can not understand"
The typical American has so much room in his/her head for facts. Most American's heads are 3/4 full of useless shit by the time they reach age 20. If they learn any sort of an occupation, there isn't room for much more. Actually, that was true even before the education system went to shit - today, it's even worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 11 2017, @10:10PM
heck i can't even fit the word kardashian into my vocabulary, or the size of her whatever, or the ego of that guy she is with. peter north or something directional like that. i am sure she didnt get married for his intellect nor him to her for hers.
but we do read the posts for yours, so mr. ari, you should stick around but stop the drama, even if we americans have problems understanding your culutural differences. i guess you can say its all Greek to us?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @01:52PM (8 children)
Do you know why?
Perhaps it makes you happy to believe there's a small but dedicated cadre of foes, perhaps Persians determined to defeat the Greeks in such ways as they can, even as small as modding you down whenever they have daylight? Charming as the idea is, I'm afraid it's unrelated to reality.
The more likely explanation is that you keep losing karma because you keep posting obnoxious off-topic junk -- first your "no comment" stuff, and now "I'd mod you up, but oh noes, I cannot" -- on and on. And people mod those off-topic (or worse) because they are off-topic. I'm unhappy with the current definition of spam, so I'm in principle on your side -- but when I see one of your obnoxious, all-about-me "protest" comments, I still mod it down. This stuff belongs in your journal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @06:03AM (7 children)
Greece is still Persia's bitch.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @06:45AM (6 children)
Persia never conquered Greece! Turks did! And they did so badly. But the Persians were twice repelled, and then Alexander kicked their butt all the way to India. And now, the Farsi are Iranians, who only exist to piss off the Saudis. But the Saudis only exist to piss off the Ottomans, who no longer exist and so there is always Israel. No comment: Jews. I am trying this now. Let's see how it works.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @06:31PM (2 children)
Most recently, Greece has become the EU's bitch. Face it - Greece is the world's bitch. Everyone fucks Greece sooner or later. I think that Mexico is next in line.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @06:47PM
Mexico better stop by the currency exchange. You can't pay Greek whores with pesos.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Sulla on Tuesday September 05 2017, @05:52AM
I think the United States should buy Greece from the Germans for the sum of its debt and make it a terratory like Guam. I want to be able to say I live in the worlds strongest "republic" who owns the lands where democracy was founded. 25 years of shitposting would be worth it.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Monday September 04 2017, @08:31PM (2 children)
Greece was as much Ionia, Lydia and Miletus, etc. as Attica and the Peloponnese. The greats like Diogenes and Thales were Ionians.
The Ionians gave us early civic planning and monolithic colonnades before Attica. Ionia was firmly the Persian empire and orbit.
The "Persians" at Thermopylae were as surely Ionian speakers of Greek, as the "Persians" at Salamis were Phoenicians of Tyre.
Our modern and ahistorical attachment to notions of ethnicity and derived cultural lineage should not blind us to the reality that there is no boundary of a "West" and an "East". Our common shared origins and ancient synthesis are more relevant than the political propaganda of writers competing for public prizes in the Athenian theater.
The fact is that Attic Greece was an expensive-to-hold backwater, with poor attraction to extend the limits of Achaemenid domains. Were they incorporated to the federated empire, there would have been no tragic loss to a "Western" civilization. Perhaps Athens and Sparta would have been spared a few tyrants, as satrapies.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @10:21PM (1 child)
Cornelius! Your history is a bit whacked! Lydia was not Ionian! Not even Greek! Persians were Greeks? No, they spoke an entirely different language. Phoencians at Salamis? Oh, dear. Well, the point may be that Empires and Traders are not conducive to philosophy and science. They do tend to support religion and guns. And it seems, fake news and revisionist history?
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Tuesday September 05 2017, @03:44PM
"Persians" were a heterogeneous confederation, beginning with 13 constituent ethno-tribal peoples. Fars, Mede, Skyth, Elamite, Babylonian, etc. They expanded from there.
Alexander's "conquest" was not a series of overwhelming military victories across the known world, but a decapitate and replace action, at the decay of personal rule by late Achemenians.
It's an anachronism to project the notion of "Iranian" Persianess on to the empires of Kourosh and Khoshayarshah.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @12:44AM (12 children)
Do what is best for you. I appreciate having you around, but if staying around here is impacting your life negatively then you should leave.
From an outside perspective, there doesn't seem to be a conspiracy against you and you don't have to run a campaign against alleged participants. You do troll people and any protest posts or complaints about moderation in unrelated stories are off-topic.
You aren't getting spam modded now, so it is probably best to just let things drop. If you don't want to let things drop, then maybe you or someone else should submit an Ask Soylent story about the necessity of the spam mod, it's usefulness, and if the FAQ guidelines are clear enough. Just keep the submission general and don't bother accusing other users or even mentioning them by name. I'll do it myself if you wish (tell me in a reply), but I believe it is best to let this topic die for now.
Your "Ontology for Soylentils" was gold and I look forward with great eagerness to your Ethics post. My initial guess would be that you're a virtue ethics kind of guy, but, over the centuries, maybe you've drifted to utilitarianism. Regardless, at least everyone can agree that moral relativism is garbage.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @06:37AM (1 child)
I don't think that is the case. There are also multiple definitions of moral relativism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @01:18PM
You're right, of course. There isn't really any topic that everyone can agree on, even the obvious.
Moral relativism really isn't too bad, especially the weaker forms, but strong moral relativism is just too much fun to trash on. Moral relativism is actually very useful in everyday life.
My ideal moral reasoning is similar to what William MacAskill proposed: a type of ranked voting of options by moral theories, considering the relative worthiness of the choice, and your weighted preferences of those moral theories.
https://intelligence.org/2014/04/08/will-macaskill/ [intelligence.org]
(Score: 2, Troll) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @08:23AM (9 children)
Ah, you know the nomenclature! But you misjudge me. Deontology, all the way. Absolute duties that apply to all rational beings, even to The Mighty Buzzard, if he is rational. Oh, dear, I see we have some way to go with the argument against the moral relativistic Libertarian garbage! But the greatest question, is TMB a rational being? Soylentil minds want to know!
(Score: 5, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 04 2017, @09:49AM (8 children)
I'm not a moral relativist. My morals are correct. Anyone who disagrees is wrong. I simply acknowledge their right to be wrong, so long as they're not harming anyone I care about.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 05 2017, @08:32AM (7 children)
The Mounty Buzzbandard has illustrated perfectly the statement by the American Philosopher, Hilary Putnam, who said, "Relativism is a strategy, not a position." First, to all you Hilary haters, just shut the cuck up, because you are too stupid for a discussion like this. And second, so, Buzz, when do you expect your morality to be vindicated? Or more to the point, what would it take to get you to realize your morals are wrong? Perhaps something like mod-banning an innocent Soylentil? Does this not give you pause?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday September 05 2017, @10:44AM
I'm quite willing to reconsider my morality. I do it on a weekly basis at the very least. It doesn't change as often as it used to though, now that most of the convincing arguments have been made.
As far as mod-banning an innocent, it's happened before. They hit the scroll wheel or page-down and get their moderation selection moved to Spam without noticing. Every one has been reversed. You're the farthest thing there is from innocent though. The Spam mod is not a protest button and you absolutely did abuse it. Retroactive mental gymnastics will not be preformed by staff to accommodate you.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 05 2017, @09:15PM (5 children)
First, to all you Hilary haters, just shut the cuck up, because you are too stupid for a discussion like this.
Anybody here know what that's all about? Maybe you didn't notice, but it seems to me, you are answering your own questions about moderation.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 05 2017, @11:50PM (4 children)
Just trying to cut off the shouts of "Lock her up!" when talking about an entirely different (male and recently deceased) Hilary. Fair enough? (Stupid Trump supporters!)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday September 06 2017, @12:13AM (2 children)
Ah, the "preemptive SHHH"... And Trump, did he come up somewhere here, before now?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 06 2017, @10:03AM (1 child)
You really just don't get it? You could have asked for help, instead of attacking poor old aristarchus when he is down. In his own journal! Why am I referring to my self in third person now, like I was some kind of Bob Dole? No, fustakrakich, I will not explain to you what a Bob Dole is.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday September 06 2017, @12:46PM
Oh brother! You're a real pip there, buddy. Can't tell if it's an act or not. "poor old aristarchus" indeedy... I certainly can't argue against the entertainment value though. Thanks for the laughs.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday September 06 2017, @08:39PM
I love my stupid, and poorly educated, supporters. I love all my supporters. Who are doing something very smart. Because they're supporting a WINNER. I think BIG and always focus on the positive. Which is what Zig Ziglar did. Great businessman, great speaker, great motivator, great Republican, great guy all round. My favorite Hilary. We both spoke in the Made for Success series. #WINNING 🇺🇸
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 04 2017, @01:59AM (6 children)
Personally, I'd prefer you stay. When you're not being a whiny little tit, you're quite amusing.
Mind you, I don't care enough to break the rules for you. If that's the cost of reading your wit, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Nobody around here gets to be a protected, special snowflake. Not you. Not me. Not even NCommander. That's never going to change while I'm around.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @07:15AM (5 children)
So, to continue our dialogue from another thread,
Pro tip, "snowflake" is just as much a tell as "SJW" or "thug". You lose when you use them. But back to the question at hand. Did I break the rules? Did all the spam mods given to me stick? And then there must have been a huge surge of Soylentil support for me to bounce back from a -40 karma hit. Or were some rescinded? I seem to recall that one of the spam mods disappeared, but then I was not able to keep track of the rest. If they were rescinded, they were not legit? And my spam mod of you, your Mightenly Brusstard, was really in violation of the rules, when you are the admin that rescinds bad spam mods, and to my knowledge to did not rescind the spam mods given to me, most likely because of your Choctaw prejudice against Cherokees, in spite of your claim of ignorance that I have been adopted into that tribe?
In the interest of the survival of SoylentNews, three, no, five things:
1. Spam mods need to be public, who make them, who they made them upon. We are talking major damage here, inflictors need to pony up!
2. List of rescinded spam mods need to also be made public, with reasons for such rescension. Soylentils want to know.
3. About time that we had a mod function for submitted Fine Articles. Now we can look, but we cannot touch. How many Soylentils wanted my submissions to go?
4. The Mighty Buzzard needs to be less Mighnty. This is a liability to the site. We have had several submissions that were nothing more than TMB feeding frenzies.
5. Let aristarchus go! You have noticed the poor quality of comment modding since aristarchus was banned? OK, neither have I. But it does say something about a site, when a Soylentil that most, and even the TMB, say should stay, is hobbled in this fashion only because of a ineffectual spam mod of a obnoxious dev. But there is one advantage here. I will never forget. I have had enemies before, hard to avoid when you have been alive for 2400 years, and TMB is rather minor among them, but still, I will never forget.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming and C# coding. . . .
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday September 04 2017, @07:51AM (2 children)
Actually, "snowflake" is quite accurate - everybody is a unique and precious individual. Just like every other person on the planet.
As for "should I stay [on soylentnews], or should I go?" - that thought occurs to me quite often. Not because of mod bombing, but the lack of logic and pride in ignorance in too many comments.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2, Troll) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @08:06AM (1 child)
Thank you, Fido. Whenever I think of you, it reminds me that Russian literature really has gone to the dogs. But I recommend that you persist here on SoylentNews, we need people of your acumen and insight. Pride in ignorance always has a bad end, or it becomes Runaway1926, which really is the same thing. I look at our task here on SoylentNews as being to bring awareness of ignorance to those who are the most ignorant, like the Mountainly Buzzhard, so that they can be better people. It is a noble calling, if one that is too much under-appreciated. Hang in there, bro!
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday September 04 2017, @10:33AM
A lot of people think I'm a novelist, but actually I write specialised electronics manuals for minority markets.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 04 2017, @10:20AM
You got snowflake not for your politics but for your seeming to melt under a few moderations you didn't like. It's artifice, of course, but if you act like a snowflake, expect to get called one.
And no, it was not me that spam modded you. I don't read the comments on every story (only the ones that sound like they'll have an interesting discussion), so there's no way I would have even seen those comments if not for the spam mods on them. You're just not interesting enough to stalk.
1-3. Ideas are always welcome, though not always implemented.
4. Do please note you will not see several political subs from me in one day. Nor will you see me adding more than one or two sentences at the end worth of opinion, while yours drip with your own the entire way through.
5. Moderating of your comments is not about you, Captain Narcissism. It's about the quality of discussion your fellow soylentils care to have on this site. I'm not going to protect you from the rest of the community.
We really only have two rules about moderating around here.
1) Don't mod-bomb people.
2) Don't fuck around with the spam mod.
So, I expect we'll see you mod-bombing someone here in about a month and throwing a hissy fit about that ban as well. As far as site-wide meta-trolling goes, it's not poorly done. It's not unnoticed either though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 06 2017, @06:57PM
While Spam mods are the site's nuclear weapon, I approve of that openness, and would support you if you bring this as a nore formal request to the devs.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Redundant) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @09:45AM (15 children)
Currently at 50.
Stay tuned for updates.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @11:51AM
Just maybe, you shouldn't have made those troll posts, if you value your karma level.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @09:08PM (5 children)
Now at 44.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @01:36AM (2 children)
See? What did I tell you? If you value that high karma, don't make posts in which you troll TMB, Khallow, Runaway, and some random number of other members, all in one post. FFS, it's really that simple. Trolls get troll mods. When trolls bring a shopping list of people they want to troll, they can expect a shopper's cart full of troll mods.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 05 2017, @06:34AM (1 child)
Thanks for the advice, AC Runaway! The one thing that has consoled me throughout this entire ordeal, is that both Runaway and jmorris have confessed to having been mod-banned. I am not sure how it is supposed to make me feel to be in such company. But if the troll bites, the fish is hooked and the bridge looses a goat, who coughes up a red-shirt, and the dog whistles go out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 11 2017, @10:17PM
does everyone view their karma number as a high score or something?
im posting AC due to not being on my personal pc, but i dont even know what my karma number actually is. i dont think ive gotten less than the default 2 and an irrelevant mod when I made some bad joke or something, but... as any actor knows, you have to work your crowd, not offend them--it it is you want to befriend them.
if you just want to entertain, you still have to tell them what they want to hear.
only the court jester gets away with the truth, and we already have staff here that fulfills that role.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 05 2017, @06:55AM (1 child)
Now at 43! And 7/9 Fine Articles in the queue are from takyon. User driven news agreggation site. Yeah. What do we call it when the majority of submissions by soylentis are discarded in favor of those by the editors? We will see.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 05 2017, @06:19PM
Today karma is at 47.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 06 2017, @10:28AM (7 children)
And, back up to 50. Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to see other soylentil's karma? We would not at all be like chickens and peck the weakest to death, right?
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday September 07 2017, @06:18AM (6 children)
Took a dip down to 49, but back up to 50. This could get very boring. Do you thing that advertising Soylentils Karma would create some kind of negative arms race? Or a bling orientated competitive culture? Not like we have now? I feel like spam modding someone, don't know who, but it should be someone with undeserved high karma? Or do I look for those I can push over the edge? That's the ticket! Spam mod the aristarchus! He will appreciate it and the admins will never rescind! For the Win!
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 13 2017, @06:36AM (5 children)
Karma at 50 for a while again, after being 49 for a few days, for no discernable reason. And this is no small thing, what with the TMB all trussed up by Azuma, spouting Red Pillar stuff all over the sink, and in general spamming the entire site with comments that add nothing to the discussion. Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, I wonder why I bother.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:41AM (4 children)
Curious, wailed on the khallow, and my karma went down. Is this because so many like the khallow, or is it he his own self that mods me down? This is such a small community. It is like a town of around 299 residents, where we all know who is who, except we do not know who deals the mod points! Of course, when I point out that Runaway1929 is a crash of the stock market, I get down modded as well, I guess because some wish the crash of '29 had gone the other way! But, I can handle all of these. I really regret that I see that I have ten mod points, for every article and comment, and I can't use them just because the Mighty Brussander is still tied up in his jock strap over his beak, and OMG, Azuma, I will never be able to get that image out of my mind.
But seriously, why not is the Mounting Buzzard married, at least to one of the buzzards he might possibly have mounted? Fsck error? Or, he is one of them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 15 2017, @01:41AM (1 child)
That sounds like a bug. If you're banned from moderating, it should say so, along with the date the ban expires. If it says you have mod points, you should be able to moderate.
The moderation FAQ says:
Some of your comments, among them the one I'm replying to, resemble the "other examples." The moderation guidelines can be changed, but I'd rather see a change in the nature of (some of) your comments.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:35AM
Not there, at the head of the options bar, where you can set the level at which you read. Says I have 10 moderator points! Hooray! But, of course, I cannot touch them, or use them, all because I dared to spam mod the Mortality Brisskard. Other examples? You are funny, AC! I think your comment might qualify as spam, since you seem to be attacking me for the quality of my posts. And I, for one, resent the implication that I should have to explain to idiots why they are idiots instead of just dumping the ridicule they so roundly deserve upon them. Have you heard of Fustakrakish's adventure with suspected bots, yet? https://soylentnews.org/~fustakrakich/journal/2623 [soylentnews.org] Very amusing.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 19 2017, @03:39AM (1 child)
And curiouser, had some advice for khallow, in his own journal, mind you, and had some things to say to frojack, and the TMB, and now my karma is down to 44, a loss of 12% since this morning! Starting to look worse than a Trump Run on Wall Street! How will I ever recover? Perhaps you just cannot help some people, which I think is what Socrates figured out. But ya still gotta try, dammit!
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday September 21 2017, @08:54AM
Most recent incident: spam modded for no apparent reason, maybe it is the end of the world, so karma dropped precipiteciously, down to 43. Loud complaints, raised by c0lo especially, and back to 50, and them immediately down to 49, 48, 47, for off topic posting about being spam modded. What is a poor Soylentil to do?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 04 2017, @12:29PM (6 children)
aristarchus, if you hadn't been such an ass over the past few years, I'd regret seeing you leave.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @02:00PM (4 children)
This might seem like a troll, but I just want to point out something about predictions and why yours has little value:
High base rate of users leaving - the probability that an individual user will leave is pretty high. How many, of the thousands of registered users on this site, are still active? Let's just guess 25% (roughly 1700 users), so that is 3 to 1 that a random user left.
Imprecise and long timeline - this site has only been around for about 3.5 years and your prediction is for sometime within the next few years. This long timeline basically doubles the chances of a random user leaving and its imprecise nature means that any time within it satisfies your condition - now we're at 6 to 1 that a random user would be gone.
All inclusive conditions- your prediction conditions are subjective and varies between a "whimper" and "a lot of drama". This part doesn't take a firm stance and has a negligible impact on the odds.
Since your confidence is so high, how about a bet: 10 of your karma (a spam mod - willingly received) to 1 for the other party (troll mod - willingly received) that aristarchus will still be posting beyond the month of November (this year). Any takers?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 04 2017, @05:18PM
Fairly accurate as far as can be proven. Whether they're gone or simply can't be arsed to log in is an interesting question though. Traffic, however, is still steadily growing at roughly the same rate it has been for the past two years or so.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 05 2017, @10:03AM (2 children)
I disagree. My take is that named users who participate for years don't have the same rate of departure as new users.
That's just good sense. I wouldn't be knowledgeable enough to time such a departure.
That's not a prediction condition. And there's a lot of intermediate states I skipped over - I'm excluding the middle here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @12:58PM (1 child)
You're likely right, but without convincing evidence it is best to initially assume the base rate. Outliers obviously are exceptions, but they still do regress to the mean.
What do you think the odds are that a "named" user will leave or the average expected time they will remain active? To estimate something like this it may be useful to extend the reference class to include the turnover rate for similar users in other small community sites.
This is why your prediction was not a bad one (just not useful) - you have a large confidence interval and are not overly confident in your ability to predict certain outcomes.
I'd measure a prediction based on the calibration of their odds (90% confidence means being wrong 10% of the time) and their precision (their ability to exclude other outcomes). A prediction that the economy will change somewhere between down 10% and up 20% is smart, but not very useful.
A prediction can be smart - odds in your favor, good - well calibrated, and useful - precise.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 05 2017, @10:31PM
My experience is what I'm basing that on. Extremely active users like aristarchus usually stay a while and odds are fair that he'll stay on SN, just under different user names than aristarchus.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Monday September 04 2017, @09:38PM
I only threaten to leave like this to see if you still have feelings for me, khallow! Thanks for responding and letting me know you care. I think I'll stay now, just for you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @02:20PM (1 child)
We welcome a lot more of your philosophy and classical roleplay here under the name aristarchus.
If however as some people suspect, you are in fact the Anonymous Coward who is repeatedly trolling other Soylentils in humorless and quite personal psychological attacks, I'd suggest it'd be rather nice if you just fucking quit doing that!
If it's not you then accept our sincerest apologies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @06:44PM
Never apologize. Your friends don't need it, and your enemies don't believe it.
There are times when I think Aristarchus is doing some AC trolling, other times, I have to admit he's pretty open about his trolling. I don't think he cares what any of us untermenschen think of him.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday September 04 2017, @07:49PM
We need more people with personality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @02:02AM (10 children)
Here, he's harmless.
In real life, I strongly suspect he votes in favor of the downfall of Western Civilization. He spews hatred for the greatest civilization the world has ever produced. Our civilization is likely coming to an end, in no small part due to people like him. The new dark age will be gruesome. The population die-off will be billions upon billions.
All the while, he thinks he is doing good. (subconsciously he knows otherwise) The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/C..S..Lewis.Quote.E1E7 [liberty-tree.ca]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 05 2017, @07:08AM (9 children)
Now here is the problem with all these alt-right, dark enlightenment, conservative "catholic abused as altarboys" types: they really have no idea what western, as they call it, civilization is. It is the ideal of the Enlightenment, that the free exercise of reason by each and every human being would result in a better politic than that which had come from superstition, tyranny, and ignorance. The alt-right goes against that? And they complain when normal people hit them upside the head with a clue-stick? Oh, yes, "western civilization" is falling, if by that you mean the end of the Pax Britannica, and its morally compromised successor, the Pax Americana. But as with the fall of Rome, the ideals of freedom, liberty, and the necessity to tax assholes who thing they are competely autonomous and sovereign individuals, continues.
And really, progress is made! Nazis now are really just Cos-play Nazis; you draw blood, or even threaten to draw blood, or punch them in the face, and they will cry, and confess that it was all about the lulz, not really a real Nazi. As if they, and their defective genes, had anything to do with "western civilization".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @01:07PM
Your password is pitifully obvious.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @05:07PM (2 children)
Would you at least agree to oppose immigration of Muslims to the non-Muslim nations?
yes, or no
If no, then: You support a genuine for-real no-joke rape culture. You support a culture that demands death for homosexuality, rape victims who can't find 4 male witnesses, and people who leave Islam. You support Halal slaughter. You support a culture that normally demands that women be covered, and that will do so because the people who disagree will be silenced. You support a culture that causes about 100x the terrorism of the entire rest of the world.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 05 2017, @07:37PM
HAHAHAHA! You're a funny guy [youtube.com]!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @08:43PM
Do you disallow papism?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @09:44PM (4 children)
Considering the time period of roughly 1200 AD to 1700 AD rather than far-off antiquity:
Western civilization is more about London and Berlin than it is about Athens and Rome and Paris. (today we can add the contributions of those they most influenced, such as the USA)
Aside from perhaps the Japanese, all of the decent civilization in the world is of a Germanic origin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @10:05AM (3 children)
Berlin did not exist in 1700.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @02:01PM (2 children)
It's that area.
I couldn't very well use country names; they didn't all exist either. The people did exist.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday September 07 2017, @06:23AM
THIS is why we cannot have white surpremacism. Das Volk. Das dummheit Volk. Das reine Blut deutsch dumm, nicht mehr dumm als das.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:38AM
There were no Germans! There were Swabians, Bavarians, Prussians, et cetera. But no Germans. Are you an ignoramous? And those people, they all moved to California well before Berlin was established. Are you totally ignorant of history, or just racist?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 05 2017, @04:39PM
I believe this clarifies things a bit... In fact, it pretty much closes the entire thread. I mean, after that, what is there to discuss? But hey, it does draw a crowd. Not too many journals get this much response. In other words, carry on. I definitely enjoy the show enough to throw my one penny in (I need the other for a gumball, so I guess I owe you one)
Hey Buzz! Can we get a "Poe's law" mod? I would be all over that one.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 05 2017, @09:22PM (9 children)
If you'd have just posted a single off-topic thing, then it would have received just a -1 Offtopic, it was specifically the extended nature of your multiple personality inner dialogue that you were spewing onto SoylentNews that was agreed by all the staff who bothered to look into it to be worthy of the punishment it received.
You played and accepted the doubling cube repeatedly on would could have been just a simple 1-point loss. Hopefully you'll work out that's a poor strategy, and desist.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday September 07 2017, @08:23AM (8 children)
Interesting, FatPhill! "Supposedly different ACs", but in fact they were not? Prey tale, how did you know this? Do all the admins know who the ACs are who are not actually ACs? Are you sure it was me? This is almost as interesting as TMB letting slip my modding history! So much for TOR access to SoylentNews.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:15PM (7 children)
:-) You're a bit of a strange bird, aren'tcha? Are you for real, or is it shtick?
I don't really know how to explain that that is not how TOR functions. You mod through your account. How can Soylent not know how you use your points? And yes, if you do post as AC while logged in, they will know who you are.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday September 07 2017, @09:07PM (6 children)
Don't bother, I have a fair idea, and I wouldn't want you to strain yourself. TOR was mentioned satirically, not meant to be taken literally. Would you like some Bitcoin?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday September 07 2017, @09:37PM
TOR was mentioned satirically
:-) Along with all the other stuff, right? Hey look, I'm okay with it... A little bit a levity goes a long way. I really am enjoying the show.
And if you want to send me a whole Bitcoin, I won't say no. Now is as good a time as any to cash the thing in. Send me two or three in fact.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 11 2017, @02:04PM (4 children)
Maybe I can offer some help here. You may not believe this, but I've been a moderator on other sites. Mods, admins, and assorted staff members have access to the site's logs, depending upon their level of responsibility. It is trivial to search for access records based on IP addresses. It's so trivial, that the moderator need not even understand how IP addresses are assigned, how they work, or anything at all. Just the dumbest average Joe with zero education can learn to do a search, and do some cross references. It's called a "moderator's panel" for a reason - it's all programmed to spew out the most wanted/needed information that a mod might need.
Want to know how many different IP addresses you have logged in from? Staff can tell you. Yes, they've got that Russian IP address too, from your trip to Moscow, to answer to your handlers.
Want to know how many other users have logged in from any of the above IP addresses? Staff can tell you.
Do you have any neighbors who share your IP block? Staff can tell you.
They may be able to tell you how many times you have logged in here. Less likely, but they may be able to tell you how many hours you've spent connected to the site.
It's trivial, to the point of boredom, for any staff member to see that the same person has had a conversation with himself.
You can fool me, and most other members, because we can't access those logs. But, you can't bullshit the staff over something so silly. The logs don't lie. (Well, not unless I hack into the site, and alter the logs to tell whatever story I want told. But, Buzz is pretty good, and he'd probably catch me. Or not. I'd have to alter the logs that tell him that someone altered the logs, or he would catch me!)
If you don't understand any of that, or if you don't believe me, then you can just blame it on the vagary of the muses. Those bitches will betray any man, just for the fun of it. Yeah, you almost worship them, but I don't have to. Spiteful bitches. Weren't one of those hags hot on you, and you shot her down, so you could be with one of your boy-loves?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:33AM (3 children)
For someone using Tor, the IP address logged by a website will be one of many Tor nodes around the world. A Tor user can easily change circuits, connecting via Romania one moment, France a few seconds later, and Russia a few seconds after that.
Is FatPhil an administrator here, or did he surmise that the anonymous posts were all by aristarchus?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 12 2017, @01:49PM (2 children)
Yeah, I understand how Tor works. But the exchange between Ari and Buzz led me to believe that Aristarchus just threw mention of Tor in to confuse the issue. My take is, Aristarchus does NOT use Tor.
And, to tell the truth, I'm not sure if FatPhil is a member of staff. Could be, he just surmised. But, again, the way the conversation went, I'm almost half sure that Phil knew what he was talking about. Could be, he was just fishing.
(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 13 2017, @06:50AM (1 child)
How generous of you, Runaway! Are you sure about this? Or do we add it to the long list of other things you do not know?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:53PM
Don't be a dumbass, unless you really, really, REALLY feel it's necessary. I said that my impression was that you do not use Tor. I didn't say "Ari doesn't use Tor", I stated my take away from the conversation. I am quite certain of the impression that the conversation made upon me. Nowhere did I express certainty whether Ari uses Tor or not.
Additionally, I'm still believing that Aristarchus does not use Tor. He's just fishing here, with no real point to make. It's called "trolling" anywhere else, but it's probably called "philosophy" in Aristarchus' mind.
As for generosity - don't look to me. I'm an asocial asshole, remember? Do you have that on your list? Don't forget that one!!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday September 05 2017, @10:07PM (1 child)
You should stay put but chill on this particular issue for a bit. Wait for another good example of abuse and I'll jump all over it with you.
I bet, though, that if you get hit with another -10 that you think is wrong, and report it to the admins, they'll take appropriate action.
As for normal -1's some of those are definitely legit. If you give your detractors those opportunities they're going to go for it quicker than most but if the call is correct I can't really criticize that.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 05 2017, @11:58PM
-40, for anyone who is counting. That is four spam mods? Nice to know it was admin, and not Soylentils, who sunk so low as to censor free speech.