The Cloak Room is a terrible place.

[atomheartbevo 89683]

On 3/30/2023 at 12:28 PM, Nicole44 said:

I was disappointed when I first found the CR. I just thought it would be like conspiracy theories and cloak and dagger type shit.

To our credit, we kept the batshit Qanon types away from here, but they can be found on TexAgs and SECRant/Tiger Droppings.  Well, they could be easily found on TexAgs, but a bunch of those threads got nuked because they were making TexAgs look bad and hurting them with advertisers (and you know it's bad when something makes TexAgs self-aware enough to realize they have some batshittery going on).  And they were attacking each other, because the saner people were mocking the Qanon idiots.  And the racism in those threads got really bad I believe (I know, TexAgs).

But I will say Nicole, that if you went back through various predecessors of this board, you might be surprised that quite a few of the more liberal or independent posters here used to be quite conservative, even well before Donald Trump.  I don't know if it's an age thing (Which would be odd because usually you become more conservative, or at least many do, but most of use here are college-educated so...?)

[atomheartbevo 89683]

On 3/31/2023 at 11:25 AM, Rimbo said:

So Hot Wheels made this - shocked the hell out of me the other day when I came across it at an HEB.

Yep, it's covered in manure.

[Brian Fantana 6689]

On 3/31/2023 at 11:34 AM, Nicole44 said:

I assume you’re talking about the Taliban and not ashamed to say I don’t care if they are obliterated. The Taliban. I’ve also been sober since April 24, 2022. Not one drink since. Period. So I get people from every forum probably have a lot to say about any of my posts on any given thread. I rarely neg people and have explained why. I have never reported a single poster or post on surly. Not once. I don’t get into all that shit even though several posters have made and DERAILED many threads bitching about me and my very existence on this site. I can take up for myself. I don’t need the mods to do it for me. 

 

He kidnapped a lot of us. We are in his basement and he forgets to feed us. Please send some pizza, Pinkertons BBQ, voodoo donuts, $50,000 in cash and Amy’s Mexican Vanilla ice cream. Thanks! 

I mean this with all the best intentions, Nicole, but you really need to open a history book and learn about events that happened prior to September 11, 2001 in more depth than just the highly Americanized highlights most people get from media and undergrad education. You might then understand why so many people rightly shit on you for those posts.

[YGIFS 19450]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:04 AM, atomheartbevo said:

So Hot Wheels made this - shocked the hell out of me the other day when I came across it at an HEB.

Yep, it's covered in manure.

If we got one for Biff Tanen and put a little M&M guy inside of it, I think his head would explode from world's colliding.  And I say that as a poster who really likes the sumbitch.  

[Anastasis 23474]

On 4/2/2023 at 7:29 PM, Willfully Horn said:

CR is the free speech zone here on Surly.

[serious]

[Cheeseweasel 26438]

[YGIFS 19450]

There really should be a 48-hour no holds barred/no rep + or - time for CR.  

Just bottles the mind that posters don't see the tectonic shift in the forum from 2015 to now.  Hell, I didn't see it until 2018.  But as posted upthread, it's just indicative of the evolution, or de-evolution, to shitty sources/links/news/data sets.  Is that reflective of where we've shifted to, or did we shift because of the volume of it?  I dunno.  

But it does reaffirm the question---if there are concrete, irrefutable facts about what Trump did so elegantly to help this country, why has nobody posted them yet?  I have a half dozen talking points regarding what I liked about his administration.  And I fucking that the cocksucker.  Why has nobody started a thread with detailed analysis of his greatness?  I'd put it to immamac to hang back and not thread police, let the true greatness of Trump shine for once and all.  No neg reps, no reporting, just bask in his greatness.  I don't know why we can't do that.  If he was truly the greatest president of all time, and I'm no Democrat, why can't the facts speak for themselves once and for all so we can quit this hand-wringing and get back to talking about Hunter's laptop? 

[Brian Fantana 6689]

wat

[Cheeseweasel 26438]

53 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

There really should be a 48-hour no holds barred/no rep + or - time for CR.  

Just bottles the mind that posters don't see the tectonic shift in the forum from 2015 to now.  Hell, I didn't see it until 2018.  But as posted upthread, it's just indicative of the evolution, or de-evolution, to shitty sources/links/news/data sets.  Is that reflective of where we've shifted to, or did we shift because of the volume of it?  I dunno.  

But it does reaffirm the question---if there are concrete, irrefutable facts about what Trump did so elegantly to help this country, why has nobody posted them yet?  I have a half dozen talking points regarding what I liked about his administration.  And I fucking that the cocksucker.  Why has nobody started a thread with detailed analysis of his greatness?  I'd put it to immamac to hang back and not thread police, let the true greatness of Trump shine for once and all.  No neg reps, no reporting, just bask in his greatness.  I don't know why we can't do that.  If he was truly the greatest president of all time, and I'm no Democrat, why can't the facts speak for themselves once and for all so we can quit this hand-wringing and get back to talking about Hunter's laptop? 

[DDD Dad 14339]

43 minutes ago, Cheeseweasel said:

 

[royiv 9323]

2 hours ago, YGIFS said:

get back to talking about Hunter's laptop  dong? 

FIFY

[Mullet Free 40]

1 hour ago, royiv said:

FIFY

No one loves talking about Hunter’s dong more than the “former Republicans” in the CR. It’s quite the obsession. 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

I still don’t get why adults are worried about rep. I rarely neg anyone. Usually it’s aggy or an aggy like bigot (the drunk deacon for example).

[YGIFS 19450]

2 hours ago, Mullet Free said:

No one loves talking about Hunter’s dong more than the “former Republicans” in the CR. It’s quite the obsession. 

It is a little weird how many posts that subject gets in CR.  I've never partaken (Hunter Dong nor related posts).  I just find the laptop as McGuffin paradigm to be fucking hilarious.  It's kinda all over the site actually.  It's like the Maltese Falcon or the briefcase of Marsellus Wallace.  We'll be referencing it decades from now with no mutually agreed upon set of contents.  

[Mullet Free 40]

1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

It is a little weird how many posts that subject gets in CR.  I've never partaken (Hunter Dong nor related posts).  I just find the laptop as McGuffin paradigm to be fucking hilarious.  It's kinda all over the site actually.  It's like the Maltese Falcon or the briefcase of Marsellus Wallace.  We'll be referencing it decades from now with no mutually agreed upon set of contents.  

I listened to a podcast with the author of this report. He's obviously biased, but appeared to know the details every way possible. 

The report itself I've only scanned, but it's dense with listed statutes that were allegedly violated. I share this here not to debate it. Just sharing since you said there's no agreed upon contents. It's all here for review.

 

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/report_viewer/index.html#p=1

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/

[YGIFS 19450]

I'm sure it's a scintillating read and I have no love for the Biden family.  But the fucking report has a fucking dolphin on the first page and you want me to review the subsequent 600 pages?  You fucking insane?  

The previous administration's DOJ had two years to prosecute it and chose not to, wonder why that is?  Because it's a McGuffin.  It remains this thing on to which we can all project our hate and biases.  There's gotta be one GOP judge/DA/Sheriff in Delaware that can demand its contents revealed?  My former party chose/chooses not to investigate it publicly precisely because it's more valuable in the obscure.  It's like the "unseen" last 90 seconds of the Zapruder tape.  It wasn't released because it shows something mind-bottling, it wasn't released because it's just a rolling shot of more grass.  We are thumbed monkeys capable of mental and emotional projection, that's all.  

When the hard drive is discovered to contain the secrets of Ukraine, the Deep State, JFK Jr., Trump's greatness, Biden's compromised status, drug trafficking, child trafficking, and bribery involving a Mister Ronan Sinatra---I will happily eat crow and donate my life savings to the Trump PAC of your choice  

[royiv 9323]

3 hours ago, Mullet Free said:

No one loves talking about Hunter’s dong more than the “former Republicans” in the CR. It’s quite the obsession. 

Have you seen it? It's really quite exquisite. 

11 minutes ago, Mullet Free said:

I listened to a podcast with the author of this report. He's obviously biased, but appeared to know the details every way possible. 

The report itself I've only scanned, but it's dense with listed statutes that were allegedly violated. I share this here not to debate it. Just sharing since you said there's no agreed upon contents. It's all here for review.

 

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/report_viewer/index.html#p=1

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/

www.creedthoughts.gov.www/creedthoughts

Cite a legitimate source, one that addresses chain of custody, in the appropriate forum (CR) and we can have a discussion.

[TwiceHorn 31488]

1 hour ago, Mullet Free said:

I listened to a podcast with the author of this report. He's obviously biased, but appeared to know the details every way possible. 

The report itself I've only scanned, but it's dense with listed statutes that were allegedly violated. I share this here not to debate it. Just sharing since you said there's no agreed upon contents. It's all here for review.

 

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/report_viewer/index.html#p=1

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/

That report is utter dogshit.  Complete, utter, nonsense devoid of legal analysis.

I mean, look at the author.

Edited April 5, 2023 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31488]

4 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

That report is utter dogshit.  Complete, utter, nonsense devoid of legal analysis.

I mean, look at the author.

He not only lacks credibility, he's an insane jackass.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-garrett-ziegler-rant-january-6-committee-clip-1726586

That you apparently listened to a podcast featuring him and then decided to repost his  product doesn't speak well for your media literacy.

Edited April 5, 2023 by TwiceHorn

[Brian Fantana 6689]

Literally exhibit 1 billion in the exact point we were trying to make about media literacy lol

[YGIFS 19450]

31 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

That report is utter dogshit.  Complete, utter, nonsense devoid of legal analysis.

I mean, look at the author.

This offspring human answers the question, "What if Jim from the Office fucked Dilbert and Popeye, and they all had a kid?"  

[royiv 9323]

43 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

That report is utter dogshit.  Complete, utter, nonsense devoid of legal analysis.

I mean, look at the author.

[Captainant 27678]

Sidenote the trump indictment thread in DT getting derailed by MAGA sympathizers and BL protecting the safe space is just 

[Celery Man 20962]

Nobody loves talking about Hunter Biden's dong more than the people I hate. Anyways, I listened to a cool podcast about Hunter Biden's dong and here's a link to the blog.

[Covri 6249]

16 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

That report is utter dogshit.  Complete, utter, nonsense devoid of legal analysis.

I mean, look at the author.

Fun fact this guy's head is an exact size and shape replica of, you guessed it, the tip of Hunter Biden's massive dong.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Nobody loves talking about Hunter Biden's dong more than the people I hate. Anyways, I listened to a cool podcast about Hunter Biden's dong and here's a link to the blog.

You’re so mean. No way can I go into the scary CR with all you mean libtards.

[Homercles 10206]

17 minutes ago, Covri said:

Fun fact this guy's head is an exact size and shape replica of, you guessed it, the tip of Hunter Biden's massive dong.

[Beau Vine 54238]

22 hours ago, Mullet Free said:

I listened to a podcast with the author of this report. He's obviously biased, but appeared to know the details every way possible. 

The report itself I've only scanned, but it's dense with listed statutes that were allegedly violated. I share this here not to debate it. Just sharing since you said there's no agreed upon contents. It's all here for review.

 

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/report_viewer/index.html#p=1

https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/

[mchookem 16336]

need an rep-neutral eyeroll reaction AS I'VE BEEN SAYING FOR THREE YEARS NOW 🙄

 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

How about people stop caring about rep?

[safe sex 11735]

As always, freedom of speech is misunderstood by those claiming their rights are somehow being violated. Posts don't really get removed like they often are from DT for being "political" (except for conservative posts—those are allowed to stay). But you will suffer neg rep for fascist shitposting, bigotry, trolling, insistence on ignorance, etc. If that matters to you, an adult, for some reason, then I can see why you'd stay away and want to whine about it.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by safe sex

[safe sex 11735]

But whining about rep is pathetic and makes you look like a bitch.

[bolverk 29683]

24 minutes ago, safe sex said:

As always, freedom of speech is misunderstood by those claiming their rights are somehow being violated. Posts don't really get removed like they often are from DT for being "political" (except for conservative posts—those are allowed to stay). But you will suffer neg rep for fascist shitposting, bigotry, trolling, insistence on ignorance, etc. If that matters to you, an adult, for some reason, then I can see why you'd stay away and want to whine about it.

 

Yep. Post in the Ukraine thread about how you're happy Brexit happened because that somehow freed up Britain from the shackles of the EU to help Ukraine (as if that stopped Poland), that post can remain. But don't you dare state your opinion that Brexit was an epically stupid move from an economic and geopolitical perspective. That one will get reported by butthurt posters who have a different political view and promptly "canceled."

Some are just blind to the fact that their political DT opinions are also, in fact, political.

Edit: And just to add, the statement about Brexit being stupid was also linked to Putin/the Kremlin's, at a minimum, decade-long misinformation campaign to break up the Western Alliance, including both NATO and the EU, without making a single reference to any Western politician or political party.

It was simply a statement of well-known and well-documented facts and a tip of the hat to acknowledge that the vast majority of Britons now recognize their departure was a mistake. If that doesn't pass muster, then I don't even know what is "political" anymore, especially within the context of all the mentions of what other countries have been doing or how they're responding to Russian belligerence, including other domestic elections that have occurred since the invasion such as France, Italy, and Finland.

Edited April 7, 2023 by bolverk

[Homercles 10206]

Wait…who is arguing brexit was anything but distilled dumbassery?

[bolverk 29683]

7 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Wait…who is arguing brexit was anything but distilled dumbassery?

Trey, for one. But apparently enough DT posters got their fee-fees hurt I made the above statement that blacklab deleted that commentary, stating emphatically that he'd delete any and all posts not directly related to the conflict in the theater with a post stating:

Obviously, that threat has now been forgotten only 3-4 days later as multiple other tangents have since been allowed, including a comical debate on Van Halen versus non-existent Soviet Rock 'n Roll bands from the 1950s.

Edited April 7, 2023 by bolverk

[blacklab 11939]

Yes, obviously it's me that got my feelings hurt and not you. What is this, your 5th post crying about it?

[G650 14263]

On 4/5/2023 at 3:53 PM, YGIFS said:

You fucking insane? 

 

Yes. Yes he is.

[Captainant 27678]

9 hours ago, blacklab said:

Yes, obviously it's me that got my feelings hurt and not you. What is this, your 5th post crying about it?

Well please allow me to be the first to thank you for a consistent and coherent set of moderation rules, and not just dropping in to disrupt a thread and then fucking off for another week or two.

Your "I'll fuckin do it again" is very on-brand for surly, but rings hollow when later that day the thread was derailed a bunch more times. Or is the line with you just certain subjects? Like how Russians actively influence and steer domestic political discourse via dark money and social media influence campaigns?

It would be much less frustrating if you were at least self aware of how your moderation politics are being exploited to protect and shelter a particular world view. That and, if you didn't memory hole posts when you moderate them so we could actually hold people to account for the awful things they've posted, but that's a whole other thing. 

[Brian Fantana 6689]

Mental note to check back in a month when bl finally responds

[YGIFS 19450]

Is “memory hole” like an Aggie thing?  

[blacklab 11939]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

Well please allow me to be the first to thank you for a consistent and coherent set of moderation rules, and not just dropping in to disrupt a thread and then fucking off for another week or two.

Your "I'll fuckin do it again" is very on-brand for surly, but rings hollow when later that day the thread was derailed a bunch more times. Or is the line with you just certain subjects? Like how Russians actively influence and steer domestic political discourse via dark money and social media influence campaigns?

It would be much less frustrating if you were at least self aware of how your moderation politics are being exploited to protect and shelter a particular world view. That and, if you didn't memory hole posts when you moderate them so we could actually hold people to account for the awful things they've posted, but that's a whole other thing. 

I try my best to moderate fairly. There are days where I have plenty of free time to moderate, and other days like yesterday where I was very busy at work and with family and I didn't have time to clean up the thread. You are free to discuss those things on the CR thread on Ukraine. The problem with those discussions is they end up turning into a mudslinging left/right clusterfuck. Do you really enjoy reading a full page of "your team did this", "but obama",  "but trump"?

Do you think that people reading that thread don't know the russians try to influence elections in the west? Are my moderation policies going to turn the tide and let them get away with it?

[Captainant 27678]

 

6 minutes ago, blacklab said:

I try my best to moderate fairly. There are days where I have plenty of free time to moderate, and other days like yesterday where I was very busy at work and with family and I didn't have time to clean up the thread. You are free to discuss those things on the CR thread on Ukraine. The problem with those discussions is they end up turning into a mudslinging left/right clusterfuck. Do you really enjoy reading a full page of "your team did this", "but obama",  "but trump"?

Are you arguing that the left and right (generally, domestic or abroad) are in any way united with respect to support for Ukraine? Like, you do know that the former commander in chief attempted to break up NATO, attempted to withhold military aid from Ukraine, removed support for Ukraine from his party's platform, and is still influencing our conservative politics to oppose sending more aid to Ukraine? It's pretty fucking pertinent dude. If russia's fuckery in the UK's domestic politics is causing significant domestic pain and influencing their domestic discussion to send more aid to Ukraine, much as is happening in our country, that's directly important to the conflict. You're actively shaping the discussion under the pretense of """kEePiNg ThE cR iN tHe Cr!!!!""".

If our domestic politics change and we elect a new leader that doesn't support democracy abroad (like all of the current GOP candidates, for example), will we only be allowed to talk about it in the CR and not as a current event? If we turn our backs on Ukraine's struggle for freedom, any commentary on that is CR only? What's the line?

I'm sure it must be uncomfortable to acknowledge and address, but it doesn't take Tom Herman to be aware that things that happen outside of a war or football game can have a huge impact once things change from planning to action.

[Celery Man 20962]

A thing that sucks is that DT discussions become filled with overt but not explicit right wing commentary. It's difficult to address those comments without making them explicit, at which point an easy lie to tell is that the person addressing the previous comment is the one who has turned the thread political. It happens all the goddamn time, and for people who don't pay very close attention and don't want to wade into CR (which is perfectly understandable), it heavily skews the information that they get by reading about news and business on this site.

My assumption is that it is not possible to turn rep or the effects of rep off in a certain forum. There have been instances of people getting neg bombed or ganged up on or whatever, even though most posters aren't in danger of being neg bombed off the site and it doesn't matter at all for people who aren't little bitches. But it's a real enough thing that we have this thread and it's not completely unreasonable to state that it is possible to be attacked (with negs!) in the CR. And you have in this thread dipshits arguing that DT isn't a safe space when that is exactly what they use it as. I wish we could turn off rep in CR or create a right wing disinformation station so that maybe those kinds of threads could actually be kept clean of people who want to express political views without the risk of being challenged. Although, that'll never fucking work so I guess who cares and why am I spending time typing about it.

[blacklab 11939]

2 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Are you arguing that the left and right (generally, domestic or abroad) are in any way united with respect to support for Ukraine?

No, not at all. I'm saying with a topic like Brexit it turns into a left/right discussion. 

 

3 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Like, you do know that the former commander in chief attempted to break up NATO, attempted to withhold military aid from Ukraine, removed support for Ukraine from his party's platform, and is still influencing our conservative politics to oppose sending more aid to Ukraine? It's pretty fucking pertinent dude. If russia's fuckery in the UK's domestic politics is causing significant domestic pain and influencing their domestic discussion to send more aid to Ukraine, much as is happening in our country, that's directly important to the conflict. You're actively shaping the discussion under the pretense of """kEePiNg ThE cR iN tHe Cr!!!!""".

Yes, I'm aware of that and if I feel like reading about those topics I head to the CR and read about them. What i don't understand is how intelligent and sane posters such as yourself have this compelling need to bring politics into any and all discussions. I just can't understand how you feel even though you are completely free to discuss this at length in one part of the site it's the fucking end of the world if you can't discuss it in another part of the site. If you're at a bar with a friend and he mentions he's excited about the upcoming Ukrainian offensive do you immediately respond "yeah but Trump is an asshole and tried to break up Nato"

5 minutes ago, Captainant said:

If our domestic politics change and we elect a new leader that doesn't support democracy abroad (like all of the current GOP candidates, for example), will we only be allowed to talk about it in the CR and not as a current event? If we turn our backs on Ukraine's struggle for freedom, any commentary on that is CR only? What's the line?

This like much of moderating is one of those "I can't define phonography but I know if when I see it" things. When I try to determine if it is or isn't it usually comes down to opinions put in the post. A post such as "Ukrainians would be better off with more abrams tanks but GOP controlled congress has them on hold" would be ok but "fucking gop clowns should all be charged with treason and hung" would not. I generally leave tweets up that report news even if it's political, I tend to remove posts that are people's political opinions on that news. I know it seems like I'm one sided, but it's not an easy job and wherever I make the cut someone is going to be mad.

My goal is to keep that thread as easily readable as possible and about the war as much as possible. Sometimes that means deleting a few posts before it goes completely off the rails.

[blacklab 11939]

11 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

A thing that sucks is that DT discussions become filled with overt but not explicit right wing commentary. It's difficult to address those comments without making them explicit, at which point an easy lie to tell is that the person addressing the previous comment is the one who has turned the thread political. It happens all the goddamn time, and for people who don't pay very close attention and don't want to wade into CR (which is perfectly understandable), it heavily skews the information that they get by reading about news and business on this site.

My assumption is that it is not possible to turn rep or the effects of rep off in a certain forum. There have been instances of people getting neg bombed or ganged up on or whatever, even though most posters aren't in danger of being neg bombed off the site and it doesn't matter at all for people who aren't little bitches. But it's a real enough thing that we have this thread and it's not completely unreasonable to state that it is possible to be attacked (with negs!) in the CR. And you have in this thread dipshits arguing that DT isn't a safe space when that is exactly what they use it as. I wish we could turn off rep in CR or create a right wing disinformation station so that maybe those kinds of threads could actually be kept clean of people who want to express political views without the risk of being challenged. Although, that'll never fucking work so I guess who cares and why am I spending time typing about it.

I agree 100% and wish you and others would report these posts as "right wing trolling" so i can nip them before they start something. I fully admit I may gloss over those posts due to not spending much time in CR and not knowing the current talking points/dog whistles.

I know we've looked into it in the past but don't think without a bunch of customization would be able to do anything.

 

[Rimbo 25941]

On 4/3/2023 at 7:02 AM, atomheartbevo said:

But I will say Nicole, that if you went back through various predecessors of this board, you might be surprised that quite a few of the more liberal or independent posters here used to be quite conservative, even well before Donald Trump.  I don't know if it's an age thing (Which would be odd because usually you become more conservative, or at least many do, but most of use here are college-educated so...?)

Incredibly guilty as charged on all counts.

I'm still what used to be called "conservative" on economics and foreign policy. But it's the Democrats who now carry that standard; the GOP has wholly abandoned any semblance of rational economic or foreign policy on favor of Trump Worship and Culture Wars, almost entirely supported by imaginary evidence.

And there's bits and pieces that might look extremely liberal nowadays, simply because I've kept my mind open; there's no rational capitalist argument in favor of keeping our health care system the way it is now, but there is a strong foreign policy reason to change it.

But yeah. I changed a little bit, but the Republicans changed a LOT.

Realignment isn't just happening in college sports. It is happening now with a major shift in the coalitions behind the two major parties.

And I'd bet real money that one of those parties won't survive the shift at all, and the other will split into two. The GOP is breathing its last breath, while the Democrats are about to split into the Biden center-right wing and the AOC Left.

A huge minority of this country has been on a path to insanity. It started when you required your neighbors to deny known facts in order to accept them. I'm talking very specifically here: It's Evolutionary Theory. And once you can get them to reject one fact, you can use that basis to get them to reject all the evidence in front of them.

It took a long time, but now you basically have a portion of the country whose fervent beliefs of how the world is are as fictional and make-believe as Star Wars or Harry Potter. Because in their eyes, accepting reality requires then to reject what they've always been told God is.

It's not what God is, but everything they've been taught says otherwise.

And that... is very, very hard to change. Especially after decades of pressure and molding by powerful men.

[Celery Man 20962]

15 minutes ago, blacklab said:

I agree 100% and wish you and others would report these posts as "right wing trolling" so i can nip them before they start something. I fully admit I may gloss over those posts due to not spending much time in CR and not knowing the current talking points/dog whistles.

I know we've looked into it in the past but don't think without a bunch of customization would be able to do anything.

 

 

[Rimbo 25941]

23 minutes ago, blacklab said:

This like much of moderating is one of those "I can't define phonography but I know if when I see it" things.

I think if we can use identifiable logical fallacies, we'd be onto something, but so few posts would make it through that filter. There's definitely people I agree with who use fallacies in CR/DT discussions all the time. (The football board will, of course, allow all fallacies to flourish, so it's not like it would destroy the site or anything. 😉)

We could pull up something like Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit and have the reporter just check each item a post violates.

 

[G650 14263]

1 hour ago, Rimbo said:

Incredibly guilty as charged on all counts.

I'm still what used to be called "conservative" on economics and foreign policy. But it's the Democrats who now carry that standard; the GOP has wholly abandoned any semblance of rational economic or foreign policy on favor of Trump Worship and Culture Wars, almost entirely supported by imaginary evidence.

And there's bits and pieces that might look extremely liberal nowadays, simply because I've kept my mind open; there's no rational capitalist argument in favor of keeping our health care system the way it is now, but there is a strong foreign policy reason to change it.

But yeah. I changed a little bit, but the Republicans changed a LOT.

Realignment isn't just happening in college sports. It is happening now with a major shift in the coalitions behind the two major parties.

And I'd bet real money that one of those parties won't survive the shift at all, and the other will split into two. The GOP is breathing its last breath, while the Democrats are about to split into the Biden center-right wing and the AOC Left.

A huge minority of this country has been on a path to insanity. It started when you required your neighbors to deny known facts in order to accept them. I'm talking very specifically here: It's Evolutionary Theory. And once you can get them to reject one fact, you can use that basis to get them to reject all the evidence in front of them.

It took a long time, but now you basically have a portion of the country whose fervent beliefs of how the world is are as fictional and make-believe as Star Wars or Harry Potter. Because in their eyes, accepting reality requires then to reject what they've always been told God is.

It's not what God is, but everything they've been taught says otherwise.

And that... is very, very hard to change. Especially after decades of pressure and molding by powerful men.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

I think all y’all motherfuckers need stop drinking and partake in some devil’s lettuce via whichever delivery method you like.