The observant reader will notice that we have reduced the number of stories we post on weekdays from about 15 stories per day to about 13 stories per day. We would certainly like to continue with the higher rate, but we have been struggling to do so with current staff.
We try to post enough stories each day so that there is "something for everyone". Ultimately this site is for the community. It is also by the community; it does not run all by itself.
We Need Your Help
People's lives change. They move, get married, have health issues, change jobs, etc. All of these place additional demands on their spare time. SoylentNews is not immune to this; in fact we have experienced all of these. With less free time available, more work falls upon the other staff members — whose lives are already quite full.
What would help?
Volunteer! Have you ever thought about being an editor at SoylentNews?
You'll get to learn a super-sekret handshake, the passcode to enter our volcano-lair, and the admiration of your fellow Soylentils!
Right from the start, let me point out that we — SoylentNews — aim to be impartial. If you have an agenda that you would like to push or advocate (or denigrate) then skip to the next story.
On the other hand, not a great deal of time is needed. Even if you have only an hour or two per week that you could contribute, that would be greatly appreciated!
An earlier request for help summarized things nicely (slightly updated here):
Well we are all volunteers, so we contribute what we can, when we can, no one is expected to edit X stories/day (make your own hours). I would say a strong recommendation (maybe not requirement) is signing onto IRC once in a while (especially when editing) so one can communicate with the other editors. Editing a few stories a day, or even a few a week would be welcome. A typical submission takes me about 15-30 minutes to edit, usually on the longer side if I'm expanding or adding a balanced point of view without trying to put words into the mouth of the submitter. The rest is pretty much what you'd expect:
- Opening up a story
- Checking links
- Checking basic grammar and spelling
- Correcting wording
- Expanding a weak submission (sometimes it's just a few links and a sentence or quote)
- etc.
One also needs to:
- Learn the editing interface (not particularly hard but it has its quirks like UTC 24 hour time and the interface could use a little polish)
- Learn the SN Style Guidelines
How else could I help?
Nominate someone. Have you noticed someone who tends to compose well-written comments or journal entries? Think they might be a good fit? Please let us know!
How else could I help?
Submit a story! A well-written story that needs little editing takes a huge load off of the editorial staff. If just a few Soylentils submitted a story each day it would make a world of difference. Ideally, a story submission would be grammatically correct, have no spelling errors, be balanced and impartial, and be "publication ready". But even if your writing skills are not up to (or are even far from) that level, we are experienced at "cleaning things up", so do not let that keep you from making a story submission! If you see something tech-related that you think would be of interest to the community? Send it in!
How can you reach us?
Send an email to editors (at) soylentnews (dot) org. Or drop a message on our IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel. Just issue the command "/join #editorial" and leave a message expressing your interest, along with your SoylentNews nickname, and someone will get back to you.
What's in it for me?
That is a good question. Speaking for myself, it started with my getting onto IRC and occasionally pointing out an error I'd seen in a story. Sometimes it would take a while before I could get the attention of an editor who could make the correction. I got frustrated. Finally, I suggested that if I were made an editor, I could fix things myself without having to track people down. Over the 5 ½ years since then, I have made mistakes... and learned how to own them, in writing, in front of all of you. I've developed a thicker "skin". I've made great friendships with people all around the world. The technical expertise on staff here is amazing; they've taught me so much. And, I hope, I've been able to teach them a thing or two, too.
Related Stories
We're pretty used to fluctuations in the number of editorial staff available at any one specific time. There have been several periods since our inception when 2 editors had to keep the site going for extended periods of time. LaminatorX even coined a term for it - 'ironman editing'. It is in exactly that situation that we now find ourselves again. Combining one's personal and professional life with the task of being an active editor without a break is hard work and not without its costs.
The last time that I was this involved was during the second half of last year. In the end, I had to take a 2 month break which necessitated medical treatment and prolonged rest. I am beginning to feel the same as I did then, and I cannot keep going at this rate. So I have a plea - all those who are authorised Soylent editors, please consider if you can make a small but sustained effort to help keep this site active 24/7. I know that you all have demands on your time but if you find yourself able to process a couple of stories a day, particularly at weekends, then it would go a long, long way to helping us overcome this current manning problem.
Over the last 2 weekends, the effort of being an editor has been severely tested by a very small number of our community swamping several worthwhile stories with, in my opinion, childish behaviour. I have decided that I am not able to continue to work 7 days a week at this level of intensity. If we cannot muster enough editors to keep the site active 7 days a week then I will stop editing at the start of my weekend and return the following Monday morning. I, too, need to rest and spend time with my family.
There are some others who do contribute to the editorial task - and to them the current active editors are extremely grateful - but they have their own roles to play in the team and it is not fair that they should have to shoulder the extra burden. I hope that someone out there will be able to make the not insignificant effort that is now needed.
Who has noticed anything new at SoylentNews these past couple days?
We have a new editor who has just come on board and has posted his first two stories to the site (one each for the previous two days).
You may recall that I posted a request for help a little over two weeks ago. I am happy to report that we had a positive response to the request... and a new editor has been in training starting a few days later!
Please join me in welcoming spiraldancing to his new role as an editor on staff. He is not new to the site as he created an account here a bit over 4 years ago. He worked his way through training on our development server. (Under the watchful eye and guidance of janrinok. JR not only walked SD through the mechanics of how to post a story, but also a goodly amount of what to be mindful of during the whole process. It is all too easy to make a mistake... which I can attest from personal experience!)
I look forward to seeing him bring his perspective and input to our team.
Welcome
Aboard!
Publishers are growing audiences by producing less content:
Increasingly, publishers are seeing that less is more when it comes to producing content.
Publishers including the Guardian, News UK’s The Times of London and Le Monde have trimmed the number of articles they publish, leading to a growth in audience traffic, higher dwell times and ultimately more subscribers.
Over the last year, the Guardian cut its weekly output by one-third[...] In December 2019, the Guardian had 25 million monthly unique users in the U.K., a rise from 23.4 million the previous year, according to Comscore.
From 2017 to 2019, French subscription publisher Le Monde reduced its total number of articles 25%[...] Comscore reported that during December 2019, Le Monde had 9.1 million unique monthly users in France; that’s a rise from 8.4 million in December 2018.
Last summer The Times of London published 15% fewer stories on its online Home News[...] Readers of The Times smartphone app spent on average 28 minutes each day on the Home News section; that’s a 25% rise as compared with the same stretch the prior year, according to the publisher.
[...] Publishers often find that the types of stories they produce the most of are often the least read, so they don’t generate as much ad revenue as the more widely read pieces. This leads to difficult decisions about whether publishers should cut back on premium content (that typically costs more to produce), change the ratio of non-premium to premium content, or tweak the pricing of subscriptions, so that people start to read more of what the newspaper wants them to read, he said.
[Editor's note]:
Some, upon reading this story would wonder if SoylentNews has any plans to do something similar. The very short answer is "no". Read on if you want to know more.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:14AM
Would you prefer more hit-or-miss types of submissions?
I probably submit fewer stories than I personally find interesting. This is mostly because I do try to think it will be a near guarantee to make the front page before I submit it.
Of course I don't mean throw everything in and let the editors sort it out, but edge cases that could be just "meh, not worth wasting everyone's time."
(Score: 0, Troll) by fustakrakich on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:16AM (40 children)
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:39AM (31 children)
Some are not able to distinguish "agenda" from "objectivity" and "experience". No doubt this Aristo guy would be willing to serve, but given the past history of this site, he would not be allowed to. Same thing happened to some other Soylentils, as I recall. All trained up, but then the alt-right cabal put the kibosh on that. So here we are, on TMB's blog, and nothing has changed.
(Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:14AM (25 children)
Thanks for your contribution - I assume it is you Ari...
Submitting over 100 stories condemning the Alt-Right does not seem terribly impartial to me, particularly when the subject matter is not what this site is all about. There are plenty of places where politics is discussed but, unless there is a clear link to our main areas of interest, this is not one of them.
Right there is a clear statement there expressing why anyone with such a submission record would probably not be seen as a prime candidate to be an editor. It has nothing to do with this site being 'TMB's blog'. In fact, TMB has no influence on the editorial process, but he has as much right to express his opinions in the comments as any other community member.
Submissions by Aristarchus that are on topic get published quite often. Perhaps there is a clue there....
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:38AM (20 children)
If you expect a low selection range of topics to be all about, you know very little about people. Yeap, those people S/N is supposedly is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:42AM (19 children)
There are plenty of other sites that cover all the topics that we are not interested in. The site was created to cover STEM and related items, and politics was only introduced initially to cover the 2016 US elections. Those elections are over - although some like to continue to argue the rights and wrongs of the process and outcome. And many seem to think that Politics refers solely to US Politics; to counter this we occasionally include stories that report on China, the Middle East, Europe, Australasia and elsewhere.
We do not wish to be another Facebook, Reddit or anything similar and there are no plans to make this a general discussion site.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @11:21AM (11 children)
Incorrect.
1. This site was created to Buck Feta.
2. From the very beginning "Soylent News is people" and not "News for nerds, stuff that matters"
You should do it more often, not just occasionally. Because it's "Soylent News that is people" and not "Some people make Soylent News" (put that into the the world doesn't start and stop at US, people are all over this planet"
False dichotomy? Slippery slope? Maybe a whiff of strawman in there?
Do you think that there only two choices, "Keep away from politics or become FB/reddit?"
Or have I ever said S/N should be only about politics, so that you need to strenuously oppose any increase of stories with a social topic lest we the risk of slipping in all-stories-in-politics?
Just asking, you know?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @11:35AM (10 children)
Incorrect correction.
Feta was just the draw that stroke the caramel slacks.
SN has always been about the STEM, if that has to come with a little (please keep it a little) politics, which can be popular, then so be it.
Quality of the informative comments is all i come here and STEM are the most interesting, a little aguement can help clarify a viewpoint (usually at least two). If only the predictable mudslinging on environment or eagh US binolitics would draw less focus.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @11:53AM (9 children)
Yeah, well, that's, like, your opinion, man.
Don't get me wrong, you are entitled to it and I respect it.
Just be careful not to sell it as The Absolute Truth (in the aristarchian sense, the one that will set you free).
I'm not actually interested in politics specifically, I'm more interested in anything pertaining to social.
This may include STEM (when the STEM story has chances to have social ramifications), may include politics (but I'm not interested in just bashing His Orangeness Clown).
To put some perspective: I'm bored to death of astronomy stories (absolutely no chance to have any social impact in my life) and stories about Trump's impeachment or the like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @12:09PM (1 child)
Sounds like you might do well as an editor. I heard something about SN wanting editors, so here's your chance to make SN more like you want it to be. Perhaps some more submissions too. You go, girlfriend!
This is your G.B. Shaw Moment, C0lo:
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @12:42PM
Theoretically, maybe.
Practically, I'd have the compulsion to reject "opinion stories based on factual falsehoods". But, as I don't think S/N needs to devolve in another target for deluded conservatives with a victim complex accusing S/N of being part of establishment, I prefer to post comments exposing the lies - at least there are some discussions going on.
That compulsion that I mentioned? Comes with a cost in the time I'd need to put in; a far higher time cost than just correcting the gran'ma.
Besides, as a non-native English speaker, my editorializing will have good chances to correct the mistakes of the others and introduce new mistakes, ones that I'll need to call my own; and this will be terribly egotistical from my side, I love mistakes but I must let others enjoy theirs too.
Correction needed: my nick is not capitalized. The way you wrote it ruins the mystical semantic behind it.
In regards with GBShaw moment: nah, mate, at my age I find myself dreaming of "Can a buck converter be designed around a NE555 logic? How about a boost one?" or "Can there be blackholes inside blackholes? What if we actually fall into a hypermongous blackhole and the perception of the Universe expansion is just an artefact of our "local" spacetime falling faster and asymptotically towards the hyper-singularity?"
I'm having those dreaming moments quite often lately, as a manifested syndrome of the procrastination caused by the looming project terms.
But maybe aristarchus would be interested?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @02:19PM (6 children)
It is hardly just his opinion. The topics under which stories can be submitted are Answers, Business, Career and Education, Code, Digital Liberty, Hardware, Mobile, News, OS, Rehash, Science, Slash, Software and Techonomics. If you look at that list you will notice that there is a very definite bias towards STEM and technology. We try to spread stories to cover all those topics providing that we have submissions to do so. You will also notice that there is no Politics as a topic. The other topics were created very early on in the site's initial setting up period and have not been significantly changed since that time. (I think some of the science subdivisions e.g. archeology, health etc were merged under the single science topic, but my memory might be failing me on the exact name of topics that were merged.)
There is also the possibility to submit stories under a specific nexus: Breaking News, Community Reviews, Main Page (default), Meta, and Politics. The last one was added immediately prior to the 2016 election to keep politics stories in their own nexus so that the community could filter them out if they wished so to do, as many at the time asked for this to prevent politics from interfering with the remainder of the site. Politics was never meant to be a topic. We had also hoped to have separate editors for the Political submissions as few of the then editors - or current - were particularly interested in doing that role.
You could always request that we add a 'social' topic but, currently, no such topic exists.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @03:14PM (5 children)
Say, how about you make a stat on percentages of submissions by humans vs topics and post it here. Feeling of my guts, /dev/random should beat everything by a largish margin; if my guts are right, something is askew with the topics some editors prefer.
In regards with the topics, some are absolutely deprecated. Look, who the hell thinks "Mobile" is a topic still worth individualizing? It's like trying to say "Computers" are in interesting topic.
But of course there isn't!
Because
1. some editors are keeping the door shut for it and resist even a simple yes/no poll consultation with Soylenters
2. the fucking Politics is a node (or whatever the slashcode terminology), very much like "Breaking news", "Meta", "Reviews", "Community". Each of this nodes has the same list of topics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @03:57PM (2 children)
No we are not. We are simply following what the site was created for and is well documented. Go back in the logs and read it for yourself. We have created the politics nexus (or section if you prefer) and asked for people to edit it. How many volunteers did we get. None! People might 'want' something but nobody is prepared to do the work involved in supporting it. Having a politics topic needs additional staff or else the existing editorial coverage is reduced. We are struggling to maintain the current status quo with the existing staff who all have other commitments and real lives to live too.
Precisely the point we are making - and it has always been thus. If you want a politics 'topic', volunteer to help us please.
There is no such thing as a 'simple' poll - as we learned the hard way last time. There are all sorts of potential problems - duplicate accounts and sock puppets which several of our community have created and use to unfairly influence voting or even their own moderation, huge investment in manpower, writing the code (and with only one dev active at the moment we cannot even do site updates when we would wish to do them), making sure everyone who is entitled has a chance to vote etc. This story is all about getting more support to do the actual work.
I encourage you to join the team - in any role that suits you - and you will see that many of your claims are simply entirely unfounded.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:10PM
Ah, the infamous "Soylent McSoylentface" naming poll! What a fiasco! "Many Shubs and Zulls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of a Sloar that day, I can tell you!"
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:47PM
In all seriousness, I'm not in a situation I can make a commitment i can reliable keep, not even one that would allow predictibily for the times I'm unavailable and the length of the unavailability.
That's the only reason I don't volunteer now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:23AM (1 child)
I've actually wanted to compile those stats for awhile, but the state of the API endpoint won't let me. The topic/nexus search for stories is broken, and IIRC there is no way to check submissions beyond the subs queue. Although I can't double check that last one, as I keep getting the error:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:38AM
TMB has gone full retard.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @06:52PM (1 child)
Speaking of topics, I was touched that SN heeded a notion of mine and tried out a monthly SF book recommendation.
But I just don't read SF like I once did, and that seems a bit sad. Or maybe not, if reading habits could be seen as a life progression. Maybe reading fiction is sort of like listening to music, something you do more when you are young? Now I'm middle aged, and jaded.
I read The Lord of the Rings when I was 12, and that was my first encounter with the idea of an Ultimate Bad Guy. Before that, evil seemed just kinda random, opportunistic and isolated, as in good deeds are often done in broad daylight in front of an audience, while evil deeds are done in secrecy and darkness. Now, UBGs are difficult to do without being trite and stale. The goal of Ultima 1, 2, and 3 and such like adventure games was to kill the UBG. The medieval romanticism is another fixture of fantasy that's gotten very old. SF mostly doesn't suffer from those tropes. Instead, we have time travel and faster than light travel being massively overused.
Maybe what I should be doing is trying to write books. See if I can address the issues I'm complaining about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:32PM
I thought I didn't like reading much anymore, I just didn't enjoy it and it seemed like work. Turns out the work was focusing on the small print.
Get your eyes checked, and maybe get an e-ink e-book with adjustable fonts. (recommend a Kobo* or Nook, also install Calibre and all its DRM-breaking plugins goodness. (don't support Amazon and its shitty DRM and tracking)).
---------
*I have the Kobo Aura One, and it is fantastic. (They have a later model that looks good too. Slightly bigger 8" screen, and can do landscape mode.) Don't get a little one, all the page turning will drive you nuts. It's a book not a postage stamp.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:45PM
I think that looking back that 2016-2020 may be seen as the first time a presidential election campaign didn't end, but rather transitioned directly into the next one :-p
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:05AM (3 children)
No, janrinok, sometimes it is takyon's fault!
Or, contrary to your loss of long term memory, sometimes it is TMB's fault, what with him worrying about broad brushes and Flathead catfish. So now I am encouraged to correct my submission on how Richard Spencer, White Person, regrets voting for Trump, so that it will meet the high standards of our very professional and accomplished volunteer right-wing editores. What was it, minute particle editor? The exposing of your antipathy towards SLS? Or the Medical wishful thinking?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:56PM (2 children)
I'd have rejected that too.
That seems to be an editorial. Editorials are opinion pieces not news.
Why should a soylentil care about Richard Spencer? Are you promoting him for some reason?
Quotes of quotes. Go to the source if it is interesting, which in this case it seems not to be.
Who the hell is Frank Miller ?
That is maybe a little harsh, you and possibly a few others do. What he should have said is "Almost nobody cares".
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Wednesday January 15 2020, @07:21PM (1 child)
I would have rejected it as well. But, fixed it and resubmitted! Result?
janrinok is of a single mind, a very limited view, tunnel stem, you might call it. At least he is polite.
Frank Miller? Seriously? This is why we cannot have witty and entertaining discussions on SoylentNews, that and all the damn alt-right.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @07:46PM
ha, ha, cute puns.
But takyon is right. Richard Spencer is a non-entity, and no-one cares. Not bothering to putin the links just nailed the lid on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Miller [wikipedia.org]
Could be just about anyone apparently.
I would guess this is another reason your submissions get rejected. We're not fucking mind readers, most of us don't even share the same zeitgeist. You put a lot of obscure shit in that makes you feel superior and everyone else goes "blah blah, he's waffling again, if he can't communicate, ignore him".
(Score: 2, Troll) by aristarchus on Tuesday January 14 2020, @06:44PM
Why would you think the GP AC was moi? Submission and editing are quite different tasks, and one's record at one should not be a grounds for being banned from the other. Unless, my dear former Senior Editor, there is a pre-existing bias on SN. Say, perhaps, against the SLS and interested in life-extension tech? Pro-alt-right in a techie incel sort of way? We can see it in what the editors allow to make it to the front page, not in what is submitted.
(Score: 2, Informative) by aristarchus on Thursday January 16 2020, @08:40AM (2 children)
[05:23:26] {TheMightyBuzzard} [sylnt.us] i'm not a fragile little snowflake who needs to be protected from mean words
Oh, Contaire, mon petit Buzzard!
Sept. 25, 2017 #editorial [sylnt.us], TMB is triggered, needs protection.
Well, there it is. TMB is a scaredy-cat alt-right sympathizer.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday January 16 2020, @01:47PM (1 child)
Our rules prohibit us publishing any material that gives support to any political party or faction - TMB was of the opinion that this was giving unnecessary and undue publicity to the minority alt-right.
The fact that you had to go back as far as 2017 for an example is also something to bear in mind.
(Score: 2, Informative) by aristarchus on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:20PM
Some things haven't changed. Only the beginning of a thousand subs. And you know as well as I that is was not the political "support" that triggered, unhumourously, TMB, it was the truth about recent American Conservatism, and it's fascist tendencies.
I am continually amazed at your inability, congenital or feigned, to see this. Thanks for your service to SN, janrinok!
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:16AM (4 children)
Would you like to provide some evidence to back that accusation up?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:16PM (3 children)
No. But the candidate is posting in this thread.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday January 16 2020, @01:51PM (2 children)
So it remains an unsubstantiated accusation. Guess we can all ignore that contribution to the discussion then.
I could claim that someone posting on this site is a mass murderer - it wouldn't make it true, but it is statistically possible I suppose.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 17 2020, @09:09AM (1 child)
I know, and you know, and many, many Soylentils know, which is why this call for volunteers sucks. Stop the hypocrisy, janrinok!
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday January 17 2020, @06:47PM
It is a shame that your writing style compromises your attempt to mask your ID. Nevermind - we can all work it out.
It is empty barrels that make the most noise. You have made accusations and claims that you cannot substantiate in an effort to convince others that you have discovered some right-wing plot behind this site. Please take your politics somewhere else. However, I can explain exactly why your stories are stopped and it has nothing to do with a right-wing bias. Stories on themes such as politics are often contentious. We stress in our submission advice that submissions should be unbiased and balanced. Please point out which of your political submissions demonstrate a balance between the political parties in the US. Show me where your bias is not evident. I contend that you cannot. By all means live in your dream world but you (and others) were forecasting only a year or two back that the site was about to fail because of the 'bias' that we show - and yet we are still here.
Nevertheless, both in the comments and on IRC people are free to express their own views. It is only in the published stories that we have to demonstrate a level of editorial control. As you well know, if we face litigation of any sort then the site will die - we cannot afford the the legal costs even if we are the innocent party. That is an important role carried out by the editors and every member of the team helping to run this site.
You have quoted an exchange that took place on IRC in 2017. You had to go that far back to 'prove' a specific point. But you should have read it more carefully. TMB didn't tell the editorial staff to remove the story that you mention. He has no such power over the editorial process. And if you continue to read on (i.e. the part that you conveniently omitted to quote) you will notice that the editors defended their selection of the story. We have a procedure when such differences of opinion arise - as they are bound to do from time to time. We discussed the matter and eventually referred the story up for a decision. NCommander agreed in part that TMB had made a valid point (so it wasn't just his bias) but that the story raised additional interesting points that did justify it being published. However, to protect ourselves from any adverse action he suggested that the summary should be rewritten to clearly indicate that it was an Op-Ed piece that we were quoting under fair use rules. This in no way proves the site is biased to the right wing - that is nothing more than your own paranoia.
TMB is the same as everyone else on this site and he is free to state his views and opinions. That his views do not accord with your own is irrelevant. And if you do not like what he is saying it can be corrected by you discussing in the comments or on IRC, as appropriate, why you disagree with him. Suppressing free speech or making accusations against individuals is not what we are about.
You seem to strenuously dislike what this site stands for and the topics it was established to discuss. Please, feel free to move to another site that meets your own personal needs. Personally I hope you stay, but you really should get some control over your views that we are all part of a right wing establishment. I can assure you that my politics are to the left of either of the US political parties, but that doesn't pose any problems for me when I carry out my editorial role.
Also personally, I think that Trump is doing significant long-term harm to the US' image around the world - I am most certainly NOT a right-wing supporter.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:29AM (1 child)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @06:31PM
TMB works for free - just like the rest of us. How much time do we have to work to justify the amount we are paid?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @02:07PM (5 children)
I nominate Ethanol Fueled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @06:39PM (4 children)
I second that! He's the Walter E. Kurtz of Soylent. He's perfect! He should be chief editor! A shotgun wedding made in heaven!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:55PM (3 children)
It would have worked if you got me 5 years ago. I can submit and can singlehandedly mangle even the most boring others' submissions into entertaining reads in their own right. I have a feel for the pulse here, and now what balance of stories to bring to the front page to make the readership a happier place. But back then I was also more idealistic and impartial.
Now, with the neighborhood in which I've lived for ten years going to shit because of Mexicans, and my constitutional rights under attack like never before from Jews, I have an agenda, and that is to get the Jews and Mexicans to either fall in line with American cultural standards (yeah right), or work in real life to get them cast out back to the hell-holes where they belong.
Guess which option I chose, and why that is incompatible with being a Soylentnews leader!
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:20PM
That told 'em.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:36AM
Alright, then you can be Soylent's mad hatter, Howard Beal. You're still perfect for the job.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 18 2020, @04:27AM
Fuck you
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:35AM (44 children)
I guess that leaves me out. :\ I'll endeavor to write up and submit more stories anyway.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:18AM (2 children)
Give it a try - you might surprise yourself!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:33AM (1 child)
Surprises can be deadly after a certain age, don't say I didn't worn you. (grin)
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:44AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:30AM (40 children)
That's me out
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:45AM (39 children)
(Score: 4, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 14 2020, @03:20PM (37 children)
Oh, horsehockey. Beware the Golden Mean fallacy. This site has been shifting hard authoritarian for years now. Remember, the Overton Window moves; what you think is "centrist" is a) not what the civilized world thinks is centrist and b) may change without you noticing it.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @04:13PM (4 children)
Do you mean in the content of the submissions, or views being expressed by the community in the comments? The editors are responsible for neither...
...or perhaps your position has been shifting in the opposite direction?
We try to avoid stories that support any political view unless the content justifies it and it is relevant to the site's interests.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:10PM
When something like this makes it to the front page: House Deals Blow to Millions of Small Businesses by Passing Corporate Transparency Act [soylentnews.org]
But the third President of the Unites States to ever be impeached, does not...
Yeah, I think there's an argument for a rightward slant there.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:13AM (2 children)
The Overton Window is moving, not me, and screw you sideways with the proverbial cactus for that lazy slur.
You ever hear that saying about the hottest places in Hell being reserved for those who cling to selfish neutrality in times of moral crisis? Hope you're wearing your asbestos longjohns, asshole. You managed to utterly annihilate the last little bit of respect I had left for you with that post.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:27AM (1 child)
No. Next please...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:31AM
Pity. You should keep abreast of these things. Don't say I didn't warn you...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Tuesday January 14 2020, @07:42PM (10 children)
No. The left has been moving toward more authoritarian methods/policies for years and the election of Trump somehow exacerbated the authoritarian left to fight authoritarianship by upping their authoritarian game. This site has remained relatively stable while the world shifted around it.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:17AM (9 children)
In other words, they've begun to realize that going high when the other guy goes low is a mug's game and that the only thing sociopaths respect is force? I don't like that path either, because I know damn well where it goes, but the "right" have no one to blame but themselves.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by hemocyanin on Wednesday January 15 2020, @05:17PM (8 children)
No. Today's left feels like 80 radical evangelicals, censorship, prudishness, shunning (cancel culture), self-righteousness, a sense of being culturally and intellectually infallibility, mean spirited, dogmatic. I can see now that this was budding pre-Trump, but Trump's election made the worst aspects blossom. Gone are the days of being concerned about the rights and dignity of all people and personally, I'm appalled.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday January 15 2020, @05:17PM
80=80s
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:09PM (1 child)
"Gone are the days of being concerned about the rights and dignity of all people and personally, I'm appalled."
Cause you're a disingenuous idiot, aka: typical republican, or republican lite-ertarian
You complain about outrage culture and then go all outrage yourself. Projection, not just for theaters. Here, let me boil down conservatives to their worst members. Buncha racist literal Nazis who want to install fascism and murder brown people. Yup, that's every conservative ever. /s
Still want to play the extremist game? I'll 100% take radical left over radical right, though regular left would be perfect. Universal healthcare, environmental regulation, proper wealth tax, universal education. You know, stuff that improves our society.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday January 15 2020, @10:02PM
I've been a lifelong Democrat although the way Obama expanded and extended all the worst of the GWB policies opened my eyes to what Democrats actually represent and I would be embarrassed to be called a Democrat at this point. Nostalgia for what Dems were in the 60s or 70s is not a valid criteria -- current action is. I'm also not a Republican, although why I should have to say that out loud after clearly disparaging Republican authoritarian impulses is beyond me.
That said, I currently see people using pure power to stifle speech. That is authoritarian. I see that mere accusation is now all that's left of due process. Frankly, these are incredibly dangerous principles your side is adopting. When civil rights do not apply to the worst of us, eventually, they apply to none of us. Even those who sincerely believe they are on the right side of history, can be airbrushed out of it when human rights are reduced to nothing more than who has power. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_images_in_the_Soviet_Union#/media/File:Lenin's_speech.jpg [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:24PM (4 children)
You don't know "today's left" then. You're seeing what I suspect is a deliberately-curated subset of them (and curated by whom, ask yourself that). You're falling for the same mental trap that snares people who think "Westboro Baptist Church" when they hear "Christian" or "violent lesbian separatist" when they hear "feminist."
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 17 2020, @04:18PM (3 children)
I don't know you, and I haven't been on this site for very long. My first experience with you was seeing you make an unprovoked personal attack, questioning the Christian faith of another user because he disagreed in good faith with a climate activist. I looked at your posting history and saw more of the same behavior in other comments. I never replied to you previously, nor do I plan to do so again.
From what I've seen from your posting history, you are a great example of the toxic behavior from some people on the left, and are a pretty good example of what he's describing. You've shown that you're a bigot by posting unprovoked attacks that question the Christian faith of others. You irresponsibly label people who disagree with you as white supremacists when, in fact, those people are posting in good faith. Your behavior is toxic, extreme, and highly divisive.
It would be irresponsible to claim that a bigot like you is representative of the left. Such labels are unhelpful and actually destructive. However, you do represent a subset of the left that is highly toxic and engages in the same types of authoritarian behavior that you claim to condemn. You silence opposition by labeling those who disagree with you in good faith with labels like "white supremacist" that pretty much everyone disapproves of. Rather than speak up and engage in dialogue, people keep their disagreements silent for fear of receiving those labels. That frustration festers over time, eventually being released in the ugliest of ways.
I highly doubt that if Martin Luther King were alive today, that he'd approve of the behavior exhibited by people like you. No doubt, he would condemn the very real problems of racism and other forms of bigotry that are all too common. However, he would also understand that many people who don't agree with him are acting in good faith, and try to change their hearts rather than label them and lob personal attacks. He would understand that suppressing good faith, if misguided, criticism by labeling them actually alienates people from his cause.
Dr. King would probably see that racism is not only alive and well, but gaining strength because of the divisiveness that prevails today. Labels like "white supremacist" would be reserved for people who overtly hold those beliefs rather than being thrown around irresponsibly. He certainly wouldn't attack the Christian faith of people who, in good faith, disagree with him or express skepticism. I'm actually an atheist who has chosen to leave the Catholic Church on the basis of principle. Despite my personal rejection of religious beliefs, I find it deeply offensive for a person to make unprovoked personal attacks that call into question the religious convictions of others.
Unlike Dr. King, you don't seem to grasp that people might disagree with you in good faith and need to be won over with reason and love. Instead, you go straight to labeling people and attacking their character. Your behavior is toxic and nasty, exhibiting the same type of bigotry that you claim do disapprove of. You're a hypocrite and your actions may well be driving people to the alt-right rather than away from it.
It's extremely unfortunate and dangerous that racism, especially white supremacy, is thriving. You, however, are a bigot in your own right, and are part of the problem. I thoroughly condemn bigotry and white supremacy, but I do so in spite of people like you, not because of people like you.
I hope you take some time to reflect on how your behavior is so toxic, and how you're actually driving people toward white supremacy rather than away from it.
Good day.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 18 2020, @03:48AM (2 children)
That is a lot of words for a disingenuous, bad-faith tone troll.
Listen, buddy: we're dealing with sociopaths here. They're the kind of people who only care for "civility" as a weapon to browbeat the opposition with, and you've fallen for it. Stop and listen to *what* people are saying, not how they're saying it. Declarations of racial supremacy, intent to commit genocide, and so forth do not suddenly become morally acceptable because they are couched in "civil" language.
I was a "nice girl" for entirely too long. It got me nowhere. It took entirely too long to realize being "nice" is something sociopaths not only laugh at you for, but take as evidence that you are weak ("cucked" when speaking of males) and *deserve* to suffer. I'm not having it. I will call out evil when I see it, in raw, harsh terms, and if you don't like it, you should take a moment to examine your own priorities, lest you end up in the same quarter of Hell as Neville Chamberlain and for the same reasons.
But of course, this is obviously not written in good faith, your post. Your constant, ignorant namedropping of Dr. King, your unseemly concern over one's "Christian faith," as if that religion isn't one of a trinity of devil-worshiping noetic plagues that have spilled blood and wrenched tortured screams from their victims for centuries, is a dead giveaway. If you are a Christian (or a Jew, or a Muslim), stop and examine that too: ask yourself why someone would have such a problem with your God figure that they explicitly call said God a demon and its followers devil-worshipers. The answers may surprise you.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @09:42AM (1 child)
Allow me to start by apologizing for the incivility in my own comment. I am sincerely sorry for that. I recognize that being uncivil does undermine my message. I'm sorry. I was somewhat mad at you because of some of your other comments when I wrote my post, but it wasn't written in bad faith.
Your views on Abrahamic religions remind me of TNG's pilot episode, Encounter at Farpoint. Q accuses humans of being a savage race based on barbarism of centuries past. Picard counters by requesting that humanity should be judged based not on their past but on their present. It's true that over the past few millennia, much evil has been committed in the name of the Abrahamic God. However, most followers of those religions in the present day consider violence in the name of God to be blasphemy. Judging present day followers of Abrahamic religions on the basis of crimes committed by other followers of those religions in centuries past, is not a valid argument.
I agree that there are "dog whistles" or code words for bigotry without explicitly expressing such bigotry. And expressing bigoted views with civility doesn't remove any of the bigotry. It should be condemned, absolutely. However, I don't want to simply drive the bigotry farther into the shadows. Rather, I want to eradicate the bigotry entirely.
Regarding Dr. King, I spoke of him because today is Martin Luther King day in the United States. But let's refer to him with his titles as the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., because those are significant. He was an ordained Christian minister, motivated in part by his faith to speak up against injustice. How is it that one of the greatest voices for justice and equality of the 20th century was significantly motivated by a "devil worshiping noetic plague?" Before you respond that the holy texts of the Abrahamic religions command their followers to do evil, those texts are subject to much interpretation, which leads to a wide variance in how those religions are practiced. One can condemn the Westboro Baptist Church for their interpretation of the Bible and their actions while accepting that Christianity motivates many others to do good. These are nuanced matters and are far more complex than dismissing three of the world's major religions as a "devil worshiping noetic plague."
Regarding your response to bigotry, anger in the face of injustice is righteous. I agree with your statement that one who sits back and does nothing, one who does not become angry in the face of injustice, is complicit in that injustice. It is a powerful motivation to affect positive change. The problem is when that righteous anger transitions to rage, when one becomes consumed with hate, that a person can become the very thing they despise. Darkness does not drive out darkness. Hatred does not drive out hatred. Only love can do that.
One should not abandon their principles in the face of evil. And yes, evil cloaked in civility is still evil. However, evil does not justify responding with incivility, lest one risks becoming the thing they despise.
And your point about sociopaths mistaking kindness for weakness is well taken. But it seems like a lousy idea to jump to the conclusion that one is a sociopath and instantly respond in harsh terms.
Be well.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 21 2020, @12:30AM
There is so much wrong in there :/ And it sucks because I can tell from what you've written you're a decent person. But it's too wishy-washy and frankly somewhat ignorant on the matter at hand.
Regarding Yahweh specifically: Yahweh *is* either a myth or a demon, sorry. He claims to be God, but does not meet the criteria which a being must meet in order to be God; thus he is blaspheming, and since he is supposedly a spiritual existence (or at the very least not flesh like us), he is an evil spirit, i.e., a demon.
Now, a priori, one *cannot know* whether God is talking to them or whether a demon is, because, to mangle the quote, "significantly advanced demons are indistinguishable from God." This is important, because the nature of revelation is such that it is private of necessity; it is not an epistemological method, because there is no way for any mind other than one's own to experience it. Much as people like Plantinga would like to argue that a revelation is "properly basic," the point is moot if there's no way to test the hypothesis.
That said, we have some powerful inductive evidence that this Yahweh character is not God. Mostly it has to do with the definition of what it means to be God. Among other things, God is perfect, utterly self-sufficient, lacking nothing, needing nothing, wanting nothing. This is a point few people ponder and even fewer take to its logical conclusion, which is this:
- 1) if this perfect God existed, *nothing else would,* because by definition the most perfect possible state of affairs is that in which nothing *but* God exists. Not other souls, not the universe as we know it, not any universe at all, not space, not time, not matter, not energy, *nada.* Just. God.
- 2) A perfect being has, in the most powerful and literal meaning of the words, no reason to create. Anything. Perhaps an exception could be made for "more aspects of itself," and Yahweh is said to have done this twice, with Jesus and the Holy Ghost, but even this is suspect. And the usual reason I hear from apologists ("God is love, but love needs an object, so, voila, more aspects of God so he can love himself!") runs into the earlier part of objection 2 here.
And I find it very, very, *very* telling that the supposed unforgivable sin isn't murder, rape, child molestation, or even *genocide* (because, whoa-hooooo, boy, would Yahweh be in trouble if it were...), but..."blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." In other words, calling a demon out for being what it is (though technically my beef is with the first person of the Trinity; I really can't say anything one way or another about the Holy Ghost). This is a very demonic thing to do in the first place; completely selfish, utterly self-absorbed, concerned with nothing more than keeping its own power over its subjects through fear.
Given all this and more (much more, like the problem of evil itself), inductively, it's more likely that Yahweh if he exists is some kind of powerful demon feeding off of peoples' devotion and emotion than that he's God. Now I happen not to believe any such being exists, but even if it does, it's not a God for the reasons mentioned above and many others I'm not going to get into in this specific post.
I've spent almost 15 years studying the Bible, comparative and precursor religions in the Ancient Near East and in Greece, and some of it has been in the original Koine and Latin. I've also spent this time learning apologetics and counter-apologetics, basic predicate logic, and moral philosophy, with deep sidetracks into Buddhism and the philosophy of atheism as well. The Abrahamic religions are utterly morally bankrupt, and even the supposedly advanced, highly-moral ideas in Christianity are just thin veneers over profound injustices--I speak here specifically of the "penal substitutionary atonement" hypothesis, to say nothing of the problem of Hell (which actually was imagined as purgation followed by annihilation, not eternal torment, originally...).
Do I come on strong? Yes, but it's because I know these things. I am well aware most people don't. So it's time to educate them.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:24PM
I can confirm that as a non-American what many of you guys think of as "left" would be considered extreme hard right wing in my country, as hemocyanin confirms below.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday January 14 2020, @10:30PM (19 children)
Azuma, you would make a great Soylent editor. You have all the chops.
Even if you only do it for a season, I hope you take a turn at the wheel.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:16AM (18 children)
I've been considering it very strongly, but given this place's hardcore rightward and authoritarian shift, no doubt I'd not last long.
It's not as if I'd start passing Aristarchus subs willy-nilly either; I've told him to his virtual face he's undermining his message with his trolling and antics. His brand has zero "pull" now. Too many people see the username and instantly tune out, and that's a crying shame since he's got some serious brainpower behind all the shitposting.
Still, who knows? May be worth a try.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:11PM (4 children)
If a boat is listing to one side, the way to bring it back to an even keel is to lean the other way.
Apart from and beyond that, you would do a good job promoting stories that bring the energy back to STEM topics and the excitement about innovation that we all share. I suspect that would be a balm this year.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:38PM (3 children)
No way would I be allowed to. To be honest, there are times I would happily watch this place disappear right off the face of the earth.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:11PM (2 children)
^ this place is infested with alt-right shitheads spreading racism and misogyny because they are triggered by people caring about prejudice. Just look at the NASA story about women astronauts, my god did the turds come out in force for that one.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:21PM (1 child)
Hence why there are times I really wonder if the internet would be better off without SN. I'd like to help, maybe even be an editor at Phoenix666 suggests, but it doesn't seem like there's any point. We're infested.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:27AM
You can either join us - and try to change the 'infestation' that doesn't even exist - or you could leave. I would be sorry to see you go but, rather than remove SN from the internet, it would be much easier if you just stopped reading it, wouldn't it?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday January 17 2020, @07:06PM (11 children)
This site doesn't exist so that community members can push a 'message'. Join the discussions. Make intelligent and relevant comments. Do not try to push the community in your own preferred direction.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 18 2020, @03:38AM (10 children)
Oh kiss my entire ass, starting and ending at the brown eye. We're neck-deep in hard-right authoritarians, and yet I don't see you telling *them* not to "push a 'message.'" Get up in the faces of, for example, Hallow or Bot or J-Mo, and I'll take you seriously about this. Until then, enjoy being a useful idiot for the internet fascist club.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday January 18 2020, @07:43AM (9 children)
Idiot - they don't push their 'message' in the stories that we publish. People are free to say whatever they want in the comments. Even people such as yourself who are showing a remarkable lack of intelligence on this matter. You are advocating that people become editors 'to push their message'. Nope, that would mean that any editor could push any message that they wished. You want to push your own message while stopping others from exercising their right to free speech in the comments.
WE SUPPORT FREE SPEECH.
Is that clear enough for you now?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:03PM (8 children)
What the hell, no, I'm not advocating that. If I were an editor the only "message" I'd be pushing is "Can we PLEASE get some more STEM in here? And also I'm dropping this politically-charged clickbait sub in the trash."
Someone here is an idiot and "showing a remarkable lack of intelligence on this matter" and it's not me.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:57PM (7 children)
We do reject those submissions, and then some in our community complain that our topics are too restrictive despite those very same topics being in place since this site was created. They would prefer it was a free-for-all like some other social media.
However, STEM and politics can also be connected. Education - one of our topics - is dictated by politics to a significant degree. Anti-vaxxers are arguing from a point of ignorance, as are flat-earthers and climate change deniers. Business - another topic - is also very closely linked to the state of a nation's politics. Are you not heard of the tariffs being imposed on various nations? Is science being funded adequately, and are scientists even being listened to by those who control our current lives and our future? Is your privacy protected and your personal data being kept safe when your own government and huge software giants want to track you, record your every move, or use AI and cameras to identify everything you do or who you talk to?
There are times when the political connections cannot be ignored and the reporting and discussion of such stories is important to us all. Who is more responsible for the actions of governments than your own politicians and leaders - elected or otherwise? The problem is that when we report such stories many in our community take it as an opportunity to abuse those with different political views rather than debate the actual STEM topic that is being reported.
You have the ability to shut down such abuses by moderation - but you do not have the right to prevent others from expressing their own views. And that, we believe, is exactly how it should be.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday January 18 2020, @06:22PM
Couldn't decide whether to say Are you not aware of or Have you not heard so my brain decided to use both!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:14AM (5 children)
We need to have a serious talk about moderation then because one set of 10 points daily, with a maximum of 4 downmods per registered account, is *not sufficient* for the task at hand. People can post almost endlessly. They can shitpost more in 10 minutes than one person can -1 downmod them in 3 days.
If you want to make any progress here, I suggest three things:
1) All AC posts start at -1. Don't give me "butbutbut muh freezepeach!" okay? It's not censorship if the community does it according to our local carrion-molesting raptor.
2) Split mod points into 20 available daily for upmods and 10 for downmods. Yes that's 30 points a day. Tweak the numbers a bit if you like, maybe 15/15 or so, but 10 is not enough for the volume of trolling we get.
3) Troll modifier needs to be made stronger, -2 instead of -1, and modbombing with it taken seriously.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:21AM (4 children)
Moderation isn't there to enforce one person's opinion - it is to aggregate the community's opinion. One person MUST NOT be able to dictate the views of everyone else or decide which comments members can see. I keep repeating this, but by having more modpoints you seem to want to be able to personally to shut out views that YOU do not like. There are over 8000 registered members - that is 80,000 moderation points that are available. Perhaps the community does not see things the way that you do? By all means bring this discussion to IRC and we can discuss all of the possible options and outcomes.
What would that achieve? It is an arbitrary value. Some AC's make interesting and insightful comments. Why should they be penalised for the actions of a few? You can select the level at which you can see stories without rewriting the whole site just to suit your preferred values. Use the site properly - start surfing at a higher threshold than you are currently doing.
You are still looking at this as YOUR battle so that you can (or you wish to be able to) clean it up single-handedly. Others have solved the problem by surfing at different thresholds, or by switching off the Politics nexus in their personal settings, or simply ignoring the crap and not getting excited about it. You are making the assumption that everyone shares your opinions on every topic. They do not. Do not try to personally control what other people can say, read or believe; it is a community view not a personal one that we are seeking.
One of the reasons that we get more Trolls at the weekend is because people like you get into such a tizzy about it. They get a reaction from you. They can wind you up and sit back to watch the fun. As you get more frustrated or when arguments do not go your way you often switch to ad hominem attacks. You are giving them all the entertainment and publicity that they crave. Mod them down and then ignore them, or vice versa if you prefer.
By all means come and join us to improve what this site can be, we would welcome that. But do not expect us to change everything because you see things that you do not like. I don't like the trolls or the abusive comments either but if the community doesn't wish to moderate them then I have to change my personal selections to 'clean' the comments up. Unfortunately, as an editor you have to spend a lot of time reading the site at the lowest thresholds just so that you can see those comments that you might prefer not to see.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:37PM (3 children)
You know that .gif of the dog man in a bowler hat drinking tea in a burning house and going "this is fine" even as his skin melts off and his flesh crisps? Yeah. That's what this puts me in mind of. You really do not seem to understand either the scale or the kind of problem we're facing here. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Constantly taking the high road not only doesn't make it go away but encourages it. Direct opposition and even violence don't either.
Know what ideologues fear most? *Mockery.* Every tinpot dictator, every frothing monomaniac, every teeth-grinding troll in all of history fears laughter, mockery, the metaphorical high-velocity custard pie, more than anything else. Closely behind this is being ignored, which downmods help with.
Now, if y'all want me as an editor, we're going to need to talk a little about what that would entail. I will tell you up front, as an editor I would be dropping a lot of political stories straight into /dev/null and heavily favoring STEM. I'd also make sure to publish a few Ari subs here and there if he can be convinced to quit bloviating in the submission directly (argh...) because, you know, he's not wrong. I wish he hadn't gone in for trolling and shitposting so hard...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday January 20 2020, @08:04AM
It entails you joining a team that supports this site - not the site having to comply with your demands. There are a set of rules that we all work to [soylentnews.org] and you would be expected to follow those rules just as every editor before you has done. The 'wanting to join' has to come from you - if you're waiting for your own gilt edged invitation it probably won't arrive in the post.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday January 20 2020, @08:18AM (1 child)
So you will be biased too, or will you also post a few stories supporting the alt-right too? Not as simple as you first thought now, is it?
If Ari's submissions have something new and interesting to say - not just a change of naming an individual and then trashing everything else that follows, we might post those submissions too.
Finally - no single editor releases a story. To comply with the rules every story has to be signed off by a 2nd editor.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 21 2020, @12:35AM
Actually, yes. I want people to understand what it is that drives others into the arms of the "alt-right." I want people to understand what rural Americans have suffered over the last 45 years, ever since the Democrats ripped out the populist engine that kept their car going after that humiliating defeat to Dick Nixon. I want people to see how obvious it is that when people are hurting, they will vote for anyone who even pretends to give a damn, even if they're actually the worse choice, because pride is pride and the Democrats wrote off all of Middle America by 1974.
In short, I want people to understand that the alt-right are still human, despite how hard they're trying to get themselves disqualified from the human race for shoving. And in seeing this, I want them to understand that This Could Happen To Them To (TM), to sharpen their wits and attack the problem while there is still a chance to do so. I want them also to see that this is merely the next turn of the wheel, that this has all happened before with the Nazis and for the same reason, and that the calls, as it were, are now coming from inside the house.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @10:29AM
Azuma, I don't agree with some of the things you say or how you say them. In fact, I bluntly articled that here [soylentnews.org] in a manner that wasn't particularly civil.
However, my quarrel with you doesn't extend to whether or not you should be an editor. If you post interesting and thought-provoking content, I support you being an editor. I'd like to think that people are capable of compartmentalizing things to the extent that they can argue with you vehemently in comments and journals while still appreciating the quality of the editing. I don't give a damn about the political views of the editors so long as they post worthwhile content.
So, yes, this is an endorsement.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 14 2020, @03:22PM
Oh, and how bad you are failing in your trials! (very large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @02:35PM (3 children)
tbh i have surfed the web "in the zone" and stumbled on stuff that i thought might be worth mentioning on SN. however, being "in the zone" the thought of having to open a new tab, click "submit story" etc etc was quickly making me lose my interest.
submitting storied works, no doubt but it still seems a bit "crufty".
now i am not saying we need a "garbage heap of potentiel valuable news" that is very simply added too. like a browser plugin that provides a button at the top and clicking it will report the open site URL.
aaaaannnnddd get ready for abuse.
more needs to be weeded out but better then no weed and nothing at all?
also maybe if other submitters could recall and reveal how they go about submitting?
IRC is cool ... if you're not on a smart phone device?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday January 14 2020, @04:17PM
(Score: 2, Informative) by RandomFactor on Tuesday January 14 2020, @11:01PM
I generally edit my own and submit for publication, but if you just come across a useful nugget and don't have time, you can submit in about 2 seconds from the IRC channel.
=submit somelink
will result in the link being parsed and dropped in the subs queue for editors to consider/write up.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 4, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:53AM
This is the form I use to submit stories. Speeds things up a lot. I can pull the relevant bits from a story in a couple minutes and send it off.
I copy & paste the excerpt instead of trying to digest the whole article and regurgitate it, since that takes a lot of time and it's easy to get something wrong or forget important details even if you know the subject well.
Feel free to use if it helps anyone:
<p><a href="[SOURCE URL]">[NEWS SOURCE]</a>:</p>
<p><blockquote>[EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE]</blockquote></p>
<p>[CONVERSATION STARTER]</p>
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @02:50PM
New articles appear quite fast compared to other sites. If I catch an article late in the feed, commenting is dead because everyone is already on to the new ones.
(Score: 2) by einar on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:31PM (3 children)
The bone I have to pick with political discussions is that they are nearly always about some local rubbish. Your village might be the most beautiful one and its inhabitants nice and important people, but believe me, it is not the center of the world.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday January 14 2020, @09:03PM (1 child)
Universally, influxes of minorities ruin traditionally non-minority neighborhoods. When you too get the balls to start pointing these things out, you'll get an outpouring of support from all those who would be censured or even jailed for expressing the same notion. Unless you're a fucking Pajeet stinking up your European, American, or Canadian office with your turbo curry swamp-ass. In which case you should be forcibly-introduced to a soap shower and then some decent antiperspirant.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:16PM
Hi racist dickbag, something must've gone wrong in your life again to be bombing SN with your douchey stupidity. I'll take microwaved curry smells over the unpleasantness that is your simple existence of hate. Congrats on choosing a corrupt moron btw, stellar move!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:56AM
I get the most out of political discussions when they're covering laws or policies that might be useful where I live. For example, I was interested in stories a couple years ago about the rise of the Pirate Party in Europe, and the tech and privacy planks they were putting in their platforms. Also, the EU's data privacy law is something I'd like to see in the US also.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 15 2020, @02:00AM (1 child)
Janrinok, can you please give us a ballpark of how many new editors we're looking for?
How many more story submissions per day are we looking for? The subs queue looks pretty decent at the moment, and has for the last couple of weeks that I've been peeking at it.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday January 17 2020, @07:19PM
The more editors we have the less work that everyone has to do - so there is no set limit to how many we are looking for. Ideally, they would be spread in both interests and location, but this is not an ideal world.
We specifically do NOT say how much time people must spend on the site. We all have personal lives and, from time to time, we are unavailable for several days or even weeks at a time. If you look at the site carefully you will see that some days one editor might post 8 - 10 stories in succession, and then apparently do nothing for the next few days. This is often to meet real life priorities. We have some editors who are moving from one country to another and haven't been able to contribute for several months. It is not a problem, they will still be welcome when they are able to become active again and they remain as editors with all the privileges and access rights that entails. One story a day would be a huge help, but one a week will save someone else having to do that story.
Weekends can sometimes be a problem - we all want to spend our free time with family and friends, but nowadays we try to preload the story queue so that by late Friday we have much of the weekend covered.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Wednesday January 15 2020, @07:40PM
That if elected I will push for changing "Politics" to "Musings from the Ancients" and blanket approve all aristarchus submissions there
#Freearistarchus
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam