Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 1)

[BIONIC]

Guess who’s back from a perma with more dumb fuck threads:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/so-i-did-it-again-i-opened-my-mouth-inserted-my-foot-and-now-for-reasons-i-cant-share-here-are-some-very-bad-impressions-that-i-have-recorded.1106370/

[BIONIC]

Some nepnep for the masses:

Ah. See, I've taken a break from posting in this thread. I'm even keeping the word "STOP" in the reply field to remind myself. And if I ever needed a stronger reminder that I'm not the one with the ability to speak my thoughts in a way that can change anything, this post is it. That probably sounds like nonsense but what I mean by that is in like three sentences you said what I was trying to find the words to say in like 5 massive multi-paragraph posts across several days. And you did it in a way that is not only more poignant and direct but also less likely to upset others in the way my posts were, as it comes across as less accusatory or however else people were taking the confused meandering text vomits I was doing earlier. Thanks for this. Hopefully you don't mind if I use these words elsewhere in my life, unrelated to here, to convey a sentiment closer to what I feel that I've otherwise been able. Because these words speak to me a lot.


That said, I do feel that is an asterisk to this part. What you say here is certainly true about some people. However, it is also possible to be tired simply from the nonstop defeats and torrent of abuse from the current world. That's not to say that I think people should let that break them, nor is it suggesting you don't understand that. I only say this because I do recognize that there are a lot of people who are tired because they've been worn down and no longer feel hope. It's a type of apathy but it's an understandable one. Because it's exactly what those in power right now are hoping for, that the torrent will beat down and wear out any potential resistance. I think part of where I was struggling was in how I could accept and understand this and still argue for people to stay aware of what is happening and do whatever they can against it.


... anyway, just felt compelled to post this as a sort of epilogue to my earlier posts. Thanks for listening.

I really appreciate this. I am trying to find ways to communicate my ruminations and learning in ways that I feel people who do not engage with far-left theory on the regular can understand and receive.

Furthermore I've been trying to take on a more dialogical approach to analysis, wherein I am obligated to understand that that there truly is a line delineating the oppressed from their oppressors, and I must understand most people on this planet right now are oppressed even if they display ignorance, bigotry, or violence as an inevitable result of the ignorant, bigoted, and violent conditions they're subjected to by the people over them. This means I can't inherently be all that accusatory, because it is imperative on me to understand that behaviors and thought patterns follow the environment and conditioning, and not the other way around. And what can you expect from people who are forced to live in awful environments?


Of course the defeats and torrent of bigotry and abuse are exhausting. Hell, even the stupidity is exhausting. Seeing conservatives simultaneously confident and ignorant about basic concepts like tariffs is cringey. But I digress, I try to think non-vacuously, or dialetically, if you will; how does my exhaustion compare to those who live in worse conditions? Palestinians are exhausted, and they're still fighting. The Congolese are exhausted, and they're still fighting. To what end does my personal exhaustion as an American materially inhibit me from doing things I know I can do and, ethically, should do?

My worry is ultimately that people using taking their frustration, exhaustion, and indignation to excuse themselves from the massive amounts of work that need to be done. Our neighbors need help right now. And again, I sympathize to a degree. This is undoubtedly many an American's first run-in with fascism, and it is scary to them. But welcome to the club that colonized peoples (Black and Indigenous folks) who also live here, and have been sounding the alarm about for decades, have been going through for centuries.

An elementary historical reading of the economic and social conditions forewarned that this was inevitable, if not in 2024 then sometime later. We've been here plenty of times before and we will get out of it. I'm confident we will! Change is inevitable! And we have actually better odds than most because we still have access to significant levels of civic, economic, and technological power. We're not running from bombs or drones. Most of us are not sleeping in refugee camps or holding cells. There has also been, however middling you want to call it, actual systemic opposition to much of the chaos happening right now. We are actually in a good position all things considered, more than most have been historically (which explains why a lot of international people are upset across the forum at the seeming lack of action.) There has also been an increase in organizing, and lessons from previous battles are being applied right now. Look to the Indivisible Organization for some good stuff on the civic front.

But ultimately, being tired is not permission to permanently abdicate one's responsibilities. But I understand none of us can be at 100% all of the time. We're human. Take the time you need. Get your eight hours of sleep in, but then wake up and go to work. Here's some words from Kwame Ture about the matter, although I would suggest just for good food's sake you listen to the entire thing:

“ We who are conscious cannot speak of being tired.

I would see my father come in very very tired from working and I say to him "why don't you rest". He says "when I die I will have enough time to rest."”

Aiight I'll bite… what exactly is "organizing"? Like what's the tangible difference between the two in terms of actually getting shit done?

Reaction is a short-term, emotional response to a perceived injustice that does not result in permanent change. Organization is the establishment of permanent, new systems of living. It is about first educating people to understand how the world operates and how they interact within themselves and within that world so that they can analyze and name the problems of the world, activating them into cooperation to physically implement stopgap systems, safety nets, community security, mutual aid, and other ways of amassing power and reforming their living situations, and ultimately working to achieve a new, permanent change within the world. This is the basis of all human-guided change, whether we are talking about something as small as unionizing to something as big as revolution.

You talk about voting being the most important, but how in the world do you think Africans even got the right to vote in the first place? They didn't vote for it. They organized.

Your complete dismissal of organization as nothing but internet slackticism, to scoff at food banks when the Black Panthers were fucking feeding children, is an actual affront to what the Civil Rights Era was actually about, the equivalent of spitting on King's grave, and if I weren't confident that this was just a matter of lack of knowledge versus actual maliciousness, I'd just call you a dumbfuck nigga and leave it at that. But I am instead going to implore you to actually read about the history of Black and African struggle to understand this distinction. Read Freire. Read Ho Chi Minh. Read Fanon. Listen to Fred Hampton. Listen to Kwame Ture.

Something.

Anything.

Fuck.

[BIONIC]

Mod application q&a:

Just curious, are you looking for more mods because of an uptick in reports lately?

It's less that and more we do need some extra coverage in certain areas and it is kinda hard to recruit sometimes given how a lot of the userbase tends to treat staff members. I'll go and talk to half a dozen to a dozen people and get maybe 1 or 2 maybes and most of the no's I get are a result of people not wanting to get attacked by the community in some way (among other issues, like availability).

It's not a recent thing either, it's generally always been this way.

One thing I can tell you is this: what usually happens is when a mod from a specific community joins up is they're either summarily kicked out of said community or allowed to remain until they disagree with the bulk of the community and are then kicked out. It happened to me when I was a just a mod back in like 2018/2019 and there are a lot of other staff members who have similar stories. There used to be members we had to warn new mods about because they had a history of taking a run at anyone new from their communities. We've had groups of members with vendettas against certain mods that caused us no end of trouble. I have got some incredibly wild stories and most of you don't even know the half of it. Keep in mind, none of this is a new development either. A lot of it goes back to literally the birth of the forum. If anything, it's a little better these days, but people have long memories and tend to not want to deal with the nonsense.

Also curious if people who have been banned before are up for consideration. I think their perspective would be valuable.

And no I'm not asking for myself lol.

It depends on what they were banned for and how many times they were banned. If you have any bigotry bans, you're probably out of the running unless you were that one guy who sent in literally the best ticket any of us had ever seen in our lives. Beyond that, we're obviously not going to accept any huge console warriors or people with over 15 warnings/bans. It would just feel silly to make a member who was constantly breaking the most basic rules a moderator, you know?

As a note, we do have people on staff who have been banned before.

If anyone is on the fence and wants to learn more about joining moderation I'll try to be around and answer some questions here or we can have a chat via PM if you prefer some privacy.

I clicked on the link then clicked away after wondering if I would even have the time to do what mods here do.
It seems to be an immense timesink. How do you guys manage time and the reports that are needed to be checked?

Look, it is true there is an immense amount of work. Trying to keep the queues at 0 has been nonsense for many years now. However we don't expect moderators to put in any more time than they want to. Like house chores, it is never ending and that is ok. If you can comment on one or two reports per month, that is still contributing. If you just browse and fix title spelling mistakes, move threads from one section into the correct section and simple stuff, that is still contributing. If you happen onto a report that you think requires more urgent attention and bring it to admin attention this is already immensely helpful.

The forum is almost always online. New posts are always happening. We chip away at it, together. Sometimes just discussing the issue helps push it along.

For new moderators, I'm not going to gatekeep on what you want to be doing. I have suggestions though. Stick with the familiar stuff and don't over commit. I'd rather you're helping now and more than you feeling overwhelmed for trying to get a handle on this quickly in all areas. Asking questions can also help a lot as it can refresh our memory on things. There is rarely a perfect solution when moderating but we try our best and put in the effort we can/want. Your life outside of Era should always be your priority.

As for how I personally manage my time and priorities. It depends on what I'm in the mind set for. If I'm up for working then I'll check alerts (we have tags, eg if I need admin to help with an report that I can't handle I can alert them to the report) and then skim the queues for reports in threads that I think I'll be most useful. Once I get into a report then I just comment or process it as usual. That is my general process and the two exceptions are when I'm working on tickets and when I'm responding to this thread. Oh we also sometimes meetings around once per month. I'm literally almost never there for them and only offer my piece after due to timezones. Those type of engagements are just whenever I have time and am capable.

[Alpacx]

When you're finding yourself arguing for rapists of women to go to a women prison just because said rapist declare himself a woman out the blue after arrest, maybe consider that that was a sign of your cause jumping the shark?
.
The trans movement have continuously burned bridges and presented itself in an aggressive, all-or-nothing matter. It's little wonder there's a backlash and erosion of support across the board. There's much the trans movement could have done differently these last 15-ish years to help ease society into being more open-minded about them.

Prison-onset Dysphoria is valid chud.

[Polident]

When you're finding yourself arguing for rapists of women to go to a women prison just because said rapist declare himself a woman out the blue after arrest, maybe consider that that was a sign of your cause jumping the shark?

Or calling biological women "womb havers";

Or thinking it's fine for pre-op transwomen to have their dicks flopping around in women/girls changing areas;

Or biting the heads off your own allies when they aren't complete doormats and disagree with your cause on one or a few points but otherwise supports it;

Or pressuring lesbians to try lady dick or accuse them of "transphobia";

Or basically the entire issue with them competing in women's sports.

The trans movement have continuously burned bridges and presented itself in an aggressive, all-or-nothing matter. It's little wonder there's a backlash and erosion of support across the board. There's much the trans movement could have done differently these last 15-ish years to help ease society into being more open-minded about them.

From conversations, this was a big point of radicalization for women. Especially when you didn’t have such gobbledygook about men. Weird decision all around.

[BananaBlast]

Forgot to comment on this:

They actually patched Lords of the Fallen to replace Body Type A/B with Male/Female

It's so pathetic and I say that as someone who really likes the game.
Like all this Chud signaling is pushing away people. We see it time and times again, Chuds will talk up a big game but they don't ever walk the walk. They aren't going to suddenly buy the game nor will they buy the sequel.
It's literally pandering to an audience who doesn't care about your games.

You know, since we know this isn't a troll (kalentan, aka that guy who's trying to be a female v-tuber and boob artist instead of getting a real job. also has a really shrill voice that makes you wanna blow your head off.) that means this dude isn't being ironic. And from that, you just know this fucking moron's drowning in the kool aid. That sweet, purple, grape-flavored, Reset-branded drink. 

No kalentan, it is those who care excessively about "inclusive pronouns" and offended over "male and female" that are always in the minority. Who do not play, buy, have fun with, or actually care about video games. Games marketed exclusively towards those terminally online crowds, like Concord, Dustborn, etc. usually flop miserably. Everyone knows this, except of course, delusional woke leftists so desperate to spin this narrative on its head.

This is the kind unnecessary shit that doesn’t matter in the long run. What is the difference between this and the dude cry about pronouns?

Funnily enough, the difference is that these people would automatically lose out. As what they're campaigning for is, by far, the worse option.

Like sure, the "FAWKING PRONOUNS!" starfield guy was very easy to meme on and laugh at, but at the very least, you could at least argue the guy was just urging on a return to normalcy. Male and female instead of "he/him and she/her" or "body type A/B". As what most people would prefer. Doing the opposite of that, aka "FAWKING TWO GENDERS!!!" would just be five times as unhinged.

[benji]

I love these guys, they are way cuter than bees (I do love bees though)!

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

Factually incorrect.

[HaughtyFrank]

Forgot to comment on this:

They actually patched Lords of the Fallen to replace Body Type A/B with Male/Female

It's so pathetic and I say that as someone who really likes the game.
Like all this Chud signaling is pushing away people. We see it time and times again, Chuds will talk up a big game but they don't ever walk the walk. They aren't going to suddenly buy the game nor will they buy the sequel.
It's literally pandering to an audience who doesn't care about your games.

You know, since we know this isn't a troll (kalentan, aka that guy who's trying to be a female v-tuber and boob artist instead of getting a real job. also has a really shrill voice that makes you wanna blow your head off.) that means this dude isn't being ironic. And from that, you just know this fucking moron's drowning in the kool aid. That sweet, purple, grape-flavored, Reset-branded drink. 

No kalentan, it is those who care excessively about "inclusive pronouns" and offended over "male and female" that are always in the minority. Who do not play, buy, have fun with, or actually care about video games. Games marketed exclusively towards those terminally online crowds, like Concord, Dustborn, etc. usually flop miserably. Everyone knows this, except of course, delusional woke leftists so desperate to spin this narrative on its head..

It's a very weird new argument by them considering their typical argument has been that all gamers are evil chuds. But now the chuds don't actually buy games? Doesn't make much sense

[benji]

This is undoubtedly many an American's first run-in with fascism, and it is scary to them. But welcome to the club that colonized peoples (Black and Indigenous folks) who also live here, and have been sounding the alarm about for decades, have been going through for centuries.

An elementary historical reading of the economic and social conditions forewarned that this was inevitable, if not in 2024 then sometime later. We've been here plenty of times before and we will get out of it. I'm confident we will! Change is inevitable!

There has also been an increase in organizing, and lessons from previous battles are being applied right now. Look to the Indivisible Organization for some good stuff on the civic front.

Indivisible Action, a progressive PAC, has announced it will endorse President Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign.

In a news release, Indivisible Action said it made its decision to support Biden’s reelection bid following a two-week voting period where the PAC’s leaders, group members and unaffiliated activists cast their vote.

About 97 percent of the members who participated in the voting period cast their votes for Biden, affirming the group’s endorsement of his campaign.

“We are so proud to make this endorsement official today. In his first term, President Biden has led the country through a perilous period, while also delivering on transformational policies on climate and economic opportunity with the slimmest congressional majorities. President Biden has restored decency and leadership to the White House, and perhaps most importantly, he has been a champion for democracy and choice in the face of MAGA extremism that has worked to rollback rights and personal freedoms at every turn,” Indivisible Action co-executive director Leah Greenberg said in a statement.

Greenberg also said that with their endorsement of Biden’s reelection campaign, they’re doing whatever it takes “to reelect Joe Biden and to send the forces of Donald Trump and MAGA extremism back to the dustbin of history.”

“Everything we care about is on the ballot next November: our bodily autonomy, economic and climate justice, and the fate of democracy itself,” Greenberg added. We can and will use our people power to win: to reelect Joe Biden, expand our majorities, and reclaim our rights and democracy. That work starts here.”

“The Indivisible movement began as a movement to stop Trumpism. Defeating Trump and stopping MAGA extremism is our north star. The consensus is clear. There is no doubt in our minds: Rallying around the Vice President is the way to beat Donald Trump.

“Because the Indivisible movement’s power is ultimately in community-by-community local organizing, we are also encouraging Indivisible groups to locally run their own endorsement processes and announce them in their communities, and to hold events to welcome Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket. “

...

“Everything we care about is on the ballot this November. We can and will use our people power to win: to elect Kamala Harris, expand our majorities, and reclaim our rights and democracy.”

Politics is a spectator sport for most Americans. And not an entertaining one at that — it’s full of dread, doom scrolling, and confusion over fluctuations in swing-state polls. As with most anxieties, the only antidote is action — and the 2024 contest has many avenues for Americans willing to make democracy a voter-contact sport. Are you someone who wants to heed Michelle Obama’s call to “do something?” Here’s something to do:

Turn out your neighbors to vote.

One of the largest voter-turnout organizations on the progressive side is Indivisible, which went viral in response to the election of Donald Trump in 2016, and helped channel the anger of “resistance” Democrats into political power. Ezra Levin, one of the founders of Indivisible, is bullish on 2024 — and ambitious. “Our north star is taking the White House, the House, and the Senate,” he tells Rolling Stone, seeking to deliver a “Democrat trifecta so that we can reform the filibuster, codify reproductive freedom, and pass democracy reform.”

To put this dream in play, Indivisible is innovating the “ground game” used to get out the vote in 2024. With a program called Neighbor2Neighbor, Indivisible is mobilizing progressive volunteers to canvas where they live — and persuade neighbors who are like-minded, but infrequent-voters, to cast a ballot.

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

Like all this Chud signaling is pushing away people.

The opposite sure worked for the Veilguard and other games. 

Companies are not your friends. They do not align with your beliefs. Stop giving them credit. They will pander to anyone that will give them money. Believing companies actually care about your personal political views is the biggest mistake you can make.

[DavidCroquet]

Starry-eyed forum posters, eager to learn: Nepenthe, where did the 15th amendment come from? 
Nepenthe: Why, organization, of course!

[Potato]

I'm sure they'll blame it on Rowling or whatever but the demand to participate in women's sports and the increasing rhetoric that actually trans woman are the same as cis woman has guaranteed pushed people away. At that point it goes from just letting people live their lives and instead demanding that you accommodate your perception of reality for them

UK yougov poll shows collapse in trans support across the board with every demographic

When you're finding yourself arguing for rapists of women to go to a women prison just because said rapist declare himself a woman out the blue after arrest, maybe consider that that was a sign of your cause jumping the shark?

Or calling biological women "womb havers";

Or thinking it's fine for pre-op transwomen to have their dicks flopping around in women/girls changing areas;

Or biting the heads off your own allies when they aren't complete doormats and disagree with your cause on one or a few points but otherwise supports it;

Or pressuring lesbians to try lady dick or accuse them of "transphobia";

Or basically the entire issue with them competing in women's sports.

The trans movement have continuously burned bridges and presented itself in an aggressive, all-or-nothing matter. It's little wonder there's a backlash and erosion of support across the board. There's much the trans movement could have done differently these last 15-ish years to help ease society into being more open-minded about them.

You see this 

That's genocide.

[benji]

Organization is the establishment of permanent, new systems of living. It is about first educating people to understand how the world operates and how they interact within themselves and within that world so that they can analyze and name the problems of the world, activating them into cooperation to physically implement stopgap systems, safety nets, community security, mutual aid, and other ways of amassing power and reforming their living situations, and ultimately working to achieve a new, permanent change within the world.

...

But I am instead going to implore you to actually read about the history of Black and African struggle to understand this distinction. Read Freire. Read Ho Chi Minh. Read Fanon. Listen to Fred Hampton. Listen to Kwame Ture.

I don't think any of those dudes wrote about the first thing. Especially not in the context of a democracy. Or against fascism for that matter. I know none of them did the first thing. I guess unless you count establishing totalitarian control over half of your country during a civil war.

Also, none of these dudes were about anything "new" in ways of living they were all bog standard Marxists who repeated all the divine truths revealed to him and wanted to establish Leninist states.

[Potato]

Mod application q&a:

Just curious, are you looking for more mods because of an uptick in reports lately?

It's less that and more we do need some extra coverage in certain areas and it is kinda hard to recruit sometimes given how a lot of the userbase tends to treat staff members. I'll go and talk to half a dozen to a dozen people and get maybe 1 or 2 maybes and most of the no's I get are a result of people not wanting to get attacked by the community in some way (among other issues, like availability).

It's not a recent thing either, it's generally always been this way.

One thing I can tell you is this: what usually happens is when a mod from a specific community joins up is they're either summarily kicked out of said community or allowed to remain until they disagree with the bulk of the community and are then kicked out. It happened to me when I was a just a mod back in like 2018/2019 and there are a lot of other staff members who have similar stories. There used to be members we had to warn new mods about because they had a history of taking a run at anyone new from their communities. We've had groups of members with vendettas against certain mods that caused us no end of trouble. I have got some incredibly wild stories and most of you don't even know the half of it. Keep in mind, none of this is a new development either. A lot of it goes back to literally the birth of the forum. If anything, it's a little better these days, but people have long memories and tend to not want to deal with the nonsense.

Also curious if people who have been banned before are up for consideration. I think their perspective would be valuable.

And no I'm not asking for myself lol.

It depends on what they were banned for and how many times they were banned. If you have any bigotry bans, you're probably out of the running unless you were that one guy who sent in literally the best ticket any of us had ever seen in our lives. Beyond that, we're obviously not going to accept any huge console warriors or people with over 15 warnings/bans. It would just feel silly to make a member who was constantly breaking the most basic rules a moderator, you know?

As a note, we do have people on staff who have been banned before.

If anyone is on the fence and wants to learn more about joining moderation I'll try to be around and answer some questions here or we can have a chat via PM if you prefer some privacy.

I clicked on the link then clicked away after wondering if I would even have the time to do what mods here do.
It seems to be an immense timesink. How do you guys manage time and the reports that are needed to be checked?

Look, it is true there is an immense amount of work. Trying to keep the queues at 0 has been nonsense for many years now. However we don't expect moderators to put in any more time than they want to. Like house chores, it is never ending and that is ok. If you can comment on one or two reports per month, that is still contributing. If you just browse and fix title spelling mistakes, move threads from one section into the correct section and simple stuff, that is still contributing. If you happen onto a report that you think requires more urgent attention and bring it to admin attention this is already immensely helpful.

The forum is almost always online. New posts are always happening. We chip away at it, together. Sometimes just discussing the issue helps push it along.

For new moderators, I'm not going to gatekeep on what you want to be doing. I have suggestions though. Stick with the familiar stuff and don't over commit. I'd rather you're helping now and more than you feeling overwhelmed for trying to get a handle on this quickly in all areas. Asking questions can also help a lot as it can refresh our memory on things. There is rarely a perfect solution when moderating but we try our best and put in the effort we can/want. Your life outside of Era should always be your priority.

As for how I personally manage my time and priorities. It depends on what I'm in the mind set for. If I'm up for working then I'll check alerts (we have tags, eg if I need admin to help with an report that I can't handle I can alert them to the report) and then skim the queues for reports in threads that I think I'll be most useful. Once I get into a report then I just comment or process it as usual. That is my general process and the two exceptions are when I'm working on tickets and when I'm responding to this thread. Oh we also sometimes meetings around once per month. I'm literally almost never there for them and only offer my piece after due to timezones. Those type of engagements are just whenever I have time and am capable.

BDuds is a fucking lying tool. He's so delusional. 

I'm almost tempted to submit my original account that got banned for calling out the mods over Juicy Smoolet and saying that I can clean up the problems in two weeks and immediately increase traffic by at least 25% within the first month. 

That's no exaggeration either. I would guarantee results because that's all it would take. Banning maybe 20 people (mostly mods like Nepenthe, spineduke, Hecht, plagiarize and a few others), and promoting a common sense moderation policy would immediately bump traffic up significantly.

However, BDuds will ALWAYS make the worst decision possible and he thinks that if they just Nepenthe a little bit harder, then capitalism will be defeated.

[benji]

I have got some incredibly wild stories and most of you don't even know the half of it.

Love that he's never shared a single example of these stories. I wonder if he'll ever understand that's why nobody believes him about his girlfriend who goes to another school in Canada.

[Taco Bell Tower]

Some nepnep for the masses:

Aiight I'll bite… what exactly is "organizing"? Like what's the tangible difference between the two in terms of actually getting shit done?

You talk about voting being the most important, but how in the world do you think Africans even got the right to vote in the first place? They didn't vote for it. They organized.

Your complete dismissal of organization as nothing but internet slackticism, to scoff at food banks when the Black Panthers were fucking feeding children, is an actual affront to what the Civil Rights Era was actually about, the equivalent of spitting on King's grave, and if I weren't confident that this was just a matter of lack of knowledge versus actual maliciousness, I'd just call you a dumbfuck nigga and leave it at that. But I am instead going to implore you to actually read about the history of Black and African struggle to understand this distinction. Read Freire. Read Ho Chi Minh. Read Fanon. Listen to Fred Hampton. Listen to Kwame Ture.

Something.

Anything.

Fuck.

Yet she didn't go vote 

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

Yes, please become a mod of a forum where staff openly mocks and argues with their community or ban them for wrong think. I'm sure it will be a toxic free experience for you.

[DavidCroquet]

I can’t get over her big “organizing uber alles!” example is…securing the right to vote.

Well, as democracy dies and facism descends upon the american wasteland, its good to know I’ll be able to fight a fellow survivor to death over a can of Le Sueur very young small sweet peas that Nepenthe food banked 3 years prior.

[Boredfrom]

Nepenthe: “I’m more black than you!”

Feels like the summation of Nepenthe insecurities.

[benji]

I can’t get over her big “organizing uber alles!” example is…securing the right to vote.

Look, everyone organized, neighborhood pods were everywhere, the Black Panthers (who wouldn't be founded until 1966) were handing out canned goods. And then suddenly Congress passed the Voter Rights Act of 1965 by overwhelming margins (328–74 and 79–18) and then the President signed and started enforcing it.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Part IV, Section 131 banned intimidating, coercing or otherwise interfering with the rights of persons to vote for electors for president and members of Congress. The United States attorney general was allowed to institute actions, including injunctions and charges of contempt of court, with fines not to exceed $1,000 and six months imprisonment. Extensive safeguards for the rights of accused were provided by the statute. United States federal judges were allowed to hear cases related to the Act with or without juries.

Title VI amended section 131 of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (71 Stat. 637) to address the issue of depriving African-Americans the right to vote.

Section 601 declares that those given the legal right to vote shall not be deprived of that right on account of race or color. Any person denying that right shall "constitute contempt of court."[22] The section also states that the courts can appoint "voting referees" to report to the court their findings of voting infringement. The section also defines the word "vote" as the entire process of making a vote effective--registration, casting a ballot, and having that ballot counted.[24]

I also love that her theory doesn't explain the 15th Amendment as you already mentioned. "Africans" never voted for that either. That was whites forcing it on other whites who they had beaten in a war.

[Polident]

Full disclosure: I’ve never been a mod or admin or any digital stasi. But how hard could it be? Presumably there are rules. You reprimand users who break those rules. This is somehow a full time task that gives you ptsd  ?????

[books]

There's something to be said about NepNeps ability to to write essays about bullshit. But after a Trump victory, it rings hollow.

Not voting is retarded.

[benji]

Full disclosure: I’ve never been a mod or admin or any digital stasi. But how hard could it be? Presumably there are rules. You reprimand users who break those rules. This is somehow a full time task that gives you ptsd  ?????

You forgot the part where you eliminate all your relationships to focus solely on your Discord relationship with a bunch of crabs in a bucket.

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

Benji literally risks firing squads and rape patrols as a mod, why would anyone put themselves in such danger? Y'all should be saluting people like Benji and B-dubs for standing in harms way.

[TylenolJones]

1739329657[/url]']

It's less that and more we do need some extra coverage in certain areas and it is kinda hard to recruit sometimes given how a lot of the userbase tends to treat staff members. I'll go and talk to half a dozen to a dozen people and get maybe 1 or 2 maybes and most of the no's I get are a result of people not wanting to get attacked by the community in some way (among other issues, like availability).

It's not a recent thing either, it's generally always been this way.

One thing I can tell you is this: what usually happens is when a mod from a specific community joins up is they're either summarily kicked out of said community or allowed to remain until they disagree with the bulk of the community and are then kicked out. It happened to me when I was a just a mod back in like 2018/2019 and there are a lot of other staff members who have similar stories. There used to be members we had to warn new mods about because they had a history of taking a run at anyone new from their communities. We've had groups of members with vendettas against certain mods that caused us no end of trouble. I have got some incredibly wild stories and most of you don't even know the half of it. Keep in mind, none of this is a new development either. A lot of it goes back to literally the birth of the forum. If anything, it's a little better these days, but people have long memories and tend to not want to deal with the nonsense.

Bdumbs giving the California Conservation Corps a run for their money. 

[NekoFever]

Edit: I should refresh the page before posting

[Besticus Maximus]

Which topic are you the most tedious and belligerent about?

- Trans business
- Corporate idolatory
- Weeaboo Gachas
- Unproductive discussions
- Building PCs
- Redeeming Coupons

[normalindividual]

Given neppy hasn't even been to Brazil I assume she is scared of flying. If she spent some in Africa she would see not every African Nation is like Sudan.  I'm sure the African middle class would appreciate her coming to decolonize them. In the poorer regions she'd be just seen as another rich American to be taken advantage off, not some long lost comrade in arms.

Also if neppy is so good at organising things - why can't she hold down a job stacking shelves?

[benji]

When all this shit is done the companies that stuck with DEI will have the upper hand in creating the best products. The data on this topic is pretty clear.

 

Google says in the employee memo that it's "carefully evaluating" other DEI initiatives across the company that "raise risk" or "aren't as impactful as we'd hoped."

Be Evil.

Between this and them loosening regulations on AI I think it's safe to say Google has gone full evil

Google went full evil a long time ago

Companies showing their true colors everywhere, no surprise at all they are all evil.

I guess they are finally showing their true faces now

If dems ever have power again, they need to go after these tech bros assholes. Dismantle their companies completely.

Not only that, but people cannot let these slimy weasels walk their stances back. If Dems have control ever again, I don't want to see any of these tech companies being like "on second thought ...".

Yea… seeing all of those tech leaders at the inauguration makes me believe that they know Trump and his cronies are here to stay. They are just falling in line because the tide isn't going to change in their lifetime and they have a chance to be on the power side.

If there was any chance that things would change in 4 years. Things would be different.

corporations are not and never will be your friend, nor a force for any good in the world

Honestly this is the straw that breaks the camels back for me. I'm switching to iOS

How about that Apple has decided to party with the Nazi's company, Starlink? Now he's going to have more power with everyone connected to that global system

Don't forget Tim Cook was at the inauguration too and donated to it.

Think I need to look at how to un-google my life and shift out of the android ecosystem.

Your CEO is literally a PoC you fucking idiots.

You'd think he'd have some say in it but then again a lot of people turn into the "fuck you I got mine" mentality at that pay grade.

He's a billionaire first.

Looking inside for News to the upcoming German election sucks.
Looking outside for News to distract myself to see how the rest of the world is doing and it's just a downward spiral.

I hate all of this.

Love how these threads always have posts mixed in where people say "they never meant it and these programs weren't real true DEI anyway" as everyone else is performatively swearing off every single company on Earth and talking about this scam shit going away is the Fourth Reich 2.0 with Extra Genocide.

Also the racism where they think the CEO has to support idiocy because of his skin color or else he's immoral.