SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The proposal to enforce AC posting for logged in members only on the main page was promulgated to all staff and members of the board 7 days ago. Thank you to all those who contributed to the earlier discussions and clearly expressed their own views, suggestions and potential enhancements. All are being studied for implementation, if feasible, when staffing and resources permit.
There has been unanimous agreement from all responses received in favour of the proposed restriction. However, it was also apparent that there was a wish that this will be only until other alternative methods of restricting spamming, abuse and other disruptions to discussions can be identified and implemented. This is unlikely to be achievable in the short to medium term; other sites are struggling unsuccessfully with the same problem. The long-term aim remains to include AC posting in all discussions if at all possible
Therefore, beginning immediately, all AC posting on the main site will be limited to registered members who have logged in to their account. We regret that this leaves a number of AC community members unable to contribute as they once did, but anonymity remains a personal choice.
This will not affect discussions in journals which will have no limits and will be open to all.
If there is a demand for it, I will look at alternative methods of publishing a small number of stories each day into a journal.
On a more positive note, there is evidence that because of the recent restrictions on AC posting a significant number of existing accounts have returned and are commenting in the discussions. The quality of discussions (i.e. signal-to-noise ratio) is significantly better than it was several weeks ago. Although we have lost overall numbers of comments, the value of many of those lost comments appears to have been quite low. There has also been a noticeable improvement in moderations being awarded with more positive moderations being given when compared to negative ones. It is too early yet to draw any firm conclusions from other site statistics.
janrinok
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday July 26 2022, @03:17PM (29 children)
Maybe it's just me, but with
half of the fun is gone. Now, you will need to make everything possible to keep Runaway1956 around, we need to have someone to bash and the one better be a high quality asshole to justify the bashing (large grin).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 26 2022, @03:36PM (15 children)
But Runaway1956 happily posts the stuff* he does under his account (I suppose he could be posting AC too), but the change described in TFS won't prevent him from posting AC as well.
*I use that word as I'm trying not to be an asshole. So. How'm I doing? (with no apologies to Ed Koch [wikipedia.org] and his gigantic ego)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday July 26 2022, @05:34PM (14 children)
True, but Runaway alone can't be as effective an asshole to compensate for the many other (expletive)wits who only posted as pure AC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Tuesday July 26 2022, @10:00PM (13 children)
I know people like to dump on Runaway, but imagine how boring the place would be if everyone agreed on everything. Besides, there are _some_ things that I agree with him on. I'm willing to take each separate argument on its own merits.
I can't think of any time I've ever agreed with Ethanol_Fueled, but it's still good to have a difference of opinion here to stimulate debate, and the odd flame war.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 26 2022, @10:30PM (1 child)
Ethanol-fueled was never as coherent as most trolls. Even when he posted something worthy of consideration, he would make sure to derail the conversation and devalue his own point by throwing in a non sequitur attack on a random minority group. It was so odd to see something that clearly had some rational thought and reasoning put into it, then witness the inevitable train wreck of irrational hate in the last sentence of the post.
All he'd have to do is stop typing and some of his posts would have been half decent, but it's as if he simply couldn't resist putting in the finishing touch of bigotry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2022, @04:55PM
That was his comic shtick though. For various values of "comic."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday July 26 2022, @10:39PM (9 children)
I doubt disagreement will ever go away.
But there's a difference between quality disagreement and time-wasting shit posts.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday July 26 2022, @11:32PM (5 children)
Agreed. The latter may be funny (large grin).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Touché) by Immerman on Wednesday July 27 2022, @02:40AM (4 children)
I'd say the funny ones aren't time-wasters!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday July 27 2022, @03:10AM (3 children)
Be them as they may, it still shit-posting.
Because shit-posting involves a shift of perspective, most of the time divergent to the topic being discussed in a focused, "quality disagreement" way.
The "funny" arises when the shift is unexpected (and the consequences aren't repugnant)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday July 27 2022, @02:26PM (1 child)
Oh certainly. But I'm retroactively revising the interpretation of my original comment to mean I object specifically to shit-posts that are time-wasting, rather than using "time-wasting" to describe all shit-posts. ;-)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 27 2022, @06:39PM
Ah, shifting goal posts, such a relaxing and enjoyable pastime when exercised within the context of the flexible-like-shit English language (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday July 28 2022, @07:20PM
Now say that twenty times as fast as you can, preferably after a few beers.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 4, Funny) by deimtee on Wednesday July 27 2022, @02:49AM (2 children)
Of course. Disagreeing with my opponent is a quality post. Disagreeing with me is a time-wasting shit post.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2022, @03:22AM (1 child)
Iff this is the meaning you intended, congrats, you just time-wasting-shit-posted in an unfunny way.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2022, @08:03AM
Poe's Law [wikipedia.org] strikes again!
Boo-Yah!
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday July 29 2022, @12:38AM
While he sometimes resorted to trolling of a sort, usually he is willing to engage in a discussion to try to defend his points.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Tuesday July 26 2022, @03:56PM (1 child)
How will it spoil your fun (equally large grin)? You can always post your topic in your journal and have whatever conversation you wish with everybody, including any ACs who insist on their anonymity.
What those few ACs will not be able to do is to spoil discussions where that input is not wanted.
The only difference is that the journals will not be filled with a series of topics each day to create discussions. And I have already stated:
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday July 27 2022, @02:20AM
In this context, the fun is not in posting, but in witnessing how deep the insanity of some poster go; pushing their buttons - whenever possible - only add to the fun.
The fact they manage to survive fills me with unbounded optimism about the future of humanity and an immense gratefulness for the lenience of nature (large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday July 26 2022, @04:06PM (1 child)
I like that it seems to be returning to the discussions we had at the start (lo, these many years ago, and get off muh lawn!).
Proper discussion and mostly 'nice' conversations.
I'd like to keep Runaway of old around and wish MDC was still here. I want, even, TMB of old to still be here. Too many members went toxic and i would have too if MDC hadn't been around once.
Too many AC's and logged-ins became like that Denis Leary song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrgpZ0fUixs [youtube.com]
Let the fun begin! :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Kell on Thursday July 28 2022, @03:03AM
I feel ya. Soylent back in the heady days of Buck Feta was a breath of fresh air - like a terra nullis of opportunity. Nobody knew about SN who wasn't frustrated by the thing the green site had become. We were there because our axes needed sharpening and the grinding wheel was at hand. I hope we can return to that.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Opportunist on Tuesday July 26 2022, @04:46PM (1 child)
Do you really miss some bozo's private vendetta against some user who apparently shat in the cornflakes of someone with an ego large enough to require its own zip code?
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday July 26 2022, @05:28PM
No, what made you think so?
But I'll surely miss TMB's juggling regexes to keep the "D¡¢κ ȵɪ̈ggεr5" at bay without slowing S/N to a grinding halt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday July 26 2022, @05:30PM (5 children)
Journals are still a free for all so I think that's a good compromise!
(Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Tuesday July 26 2022, @05:41PM (2 children)
This is exactly why I couldn't understand some of the arguments being made a few weeks ago.
We haven't removed anything. The site is clearly divided into 2 areas where different rules apply. Anybody is free to choose which set of rules they wish to discuss topics under.
Give a journal the same title as the front page story, link to the story itself, and then begin your discussion in a journal if you wish. Anybody can read the main page, but those that want to remain anonymous or like the type of discussion which is less regulated can discuss it under journal rules. The same people can create journals as they could before. Nobody has lost any of the site's moderation, breakthrough or filtering of friends and foes but, if they don't want it, they can simply ignore it.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Wednesday July 27 2022, @05:32AM (1 child)
There is the difference that journals aren't as visible from the main page (with obvious benefits in the situation we've been responding to).
From my personal experience, I've only interacted with journals a half-dozen times in the time I've been with the site. But that might just reflect what I'm looking for from this site.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday July 27 2022, @06:41AM
I am definitely in agreement with you on this. I enjoy a discussion which stays reasonably on-topic and often has insightful comments by people who know far more about the topic than I do. I enjoy a bit of humour, but I do not want to wade through off-topic, argumentative and usually unresolvable claims and counter claims. I am not concerned by usernames - I would welcome the inclusion of ACs if, as the majority do, they join in the discussions and are sometimes equally insightful or demonstrate an level of subject knowledge that I do not have. But the small proportion of ACs who have spoiled the site for the majority are driving many of our community away.
Nevertheless, I can accept that perhaps not everybody views things the same way. The journals have provided a place where others can discuss matters that probably wouldn't make it to the front page but are still of interest to themselves and others. I can think of several journals that are well worth looking at from time to time - hubie, takyon and mcgrew spring to mind immediately. And yet there are others who relish the type of free-for-all that the journal discussions can generate. There are also those journals that I try to avoid unless we are asked to take some specific action or, rarely, it is something upon which I have a genuine view.
Hopefully, things will settle down a little now and people will find on which side of the divide they wish to discuss each topic without being constrained to either one or the other. If not, then we will continue to lose valuable members of our community and that would be a very sad thing to see.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 26 2022, @05:44PM (1 child)
At the discretion of the user posting in her journal, to be more precise. At least that was the case when I last posted mine.
Let's hope that some of the AC fuckwits would be enticed enough by journals to exhibit themselves, bashing only Runaway will become boring after a while. E.g. I developed a fondness towards the VitaminD/Zinc/Oxygen Therapy/Ivermectin/etc one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Tuesday July 26 2022, @07:17PM
I have a feeling that some of those who professed to always posting as AC actually did have an account. There have been very few accounts created recently, but quite a few accounts that hadn't been used for a while, sometimes 5 or 6 years, have suddenly come alive again and are contributing.
Whether that is simply because the environment has changed or whether they have overcome their reluctance to log in I cannot say for sure. Either way - they are most welcome!
We have only had 1 email from an account holder asking that his account be closed. We can usually do that very easily and ensure that there is no personal link to that individual left in their account or in our database. I cannot edit backups, but they get rotated fairly quickly so all trace should disappear.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by inertnet on Tuesday July 26 2022, @07:21PM
For me it's very hard to bash Runaway1956, because I was born in 1956 and as a toddler I used to run away all the time, to explore the great unknown.