cjet79
Anarcho Capitalist on moral grounds
Libertarian Minarchist on economic grounds
User ID: 124
cjet79
2d ago
I have kids so that changes my preferences a bunch.
Cheap fun:
Nature walks. Kids make this more fun as they will ask questions or spot weird things, or make it fun for you to spot weird things. Also you have to explain things.
Museums. They always seem underpriced to me. You will definitely learn something new.
Cooking. This isn't always cheap, but you gotta eat and if you just subtract your normal meal costs it's not too expensive. I'd recommend playing around with chili recipes, making custom pizzas, cooking eggs different ways, and finding some less common items that you want to perfect (my dad makes perfect Reuben sandwiches, I judge all Reubens in comparison to his, and none I've had are better.)
Crafts. School has a way of ruining things that can actually be fun. I thought I didn't like crafts, because I was forced to do so many dumb crafts projects in grade school. I should have realized before having kids that it could be fun, I already knew reading and writing are fun outside of school. Pipe cleaners, straws, glue, tape, paper, and foil are enough to build a lot of things. And then since it's not school you can also buy firecrackers, a lighter, and a pellet gun and have fun destroying your crafts in cool ways.
cjet79
3d ago
To clear up some things:
You are not getting any form of special leniency.
What I was trying to say is that there is a law of large numbers effect going on. If user A and user B both have about a 1% rate of a rule breaking post. But user A writes 1000 posts and user B only writes 10 posts then user A is way more likely to get in trouble and get banned. We don't want this outcome, so we will try and get a sense of the rate of violation (that 1% number).
Having upsetting beliefs is allowed, because to do otherwise creates a failure mode for all discussions.
There are often times where someone comes in and makes a post with clearly upsetting beliefs. Sometimes that person is a Nazi, one time that person was someone that believed child molestation should be allowed, most times it's just a belief that your political opponents should suffer (and some of those political opponents are on this discussion board).
What then happens is someone makes it personal or attacks them "you are a Nazi scumbag" or "you should be castrated". They then get banned. It looks like we allowed trolls to bait a response and get someone kicked out.
The simple alternative to this is topic bans of anything that might upset a bunch of users. This is the alternative that most of the leftist web embraced in the mid 2010's. The leftists then weaponized this, and got most topics that they didn't like banned from their spaces.
We don't do topic bans. We've tried to find another approach where we don't ban any topics but we try to find etiquette rules where people don't write the original post in the most inflammatory way possible.
We do not like permabans. They are an option of last resort.
I think we average like one, maybe two permabans a year for power users. They are rare. They are often proceeded by a dozen or more warnings and tempbans and usually a complete lack of quality contributions. The mods usually have multi day long discussions and usually we have full consensus before we carry it out.
A one day ban like this would not sway anything in regards to a permaban decision.
You are not my enemy, and neither are most users. Some users choose to be our enemies.
They mostly are not a good fit for this forum and they want us to do things differently. Usually not enforce rules against them or their allies, or enforce extra rules against their other enemies. Their method to get changes to happen is often to badger us and annoy us anytime we do our standard duties. And undermine anything we do. Their feedback is always "this ban is bad", and thus their feedback is useless as a comparative barometer.
The most mature of users who don't fit do not become our enemies, instead they voluntarily leave. Sometimes they will ask us for a permaban that we will grant to them.
Those that stay and cause trouble like to be rules lawyers and twist everything we say against us. It's exhausting and annoying, which is their exact goal. The more annoying it is for us to conduct moderation the less we will do of it. I have no doubt that I will regret writing some part of this open view into moderation here. Maybe I'll tag you when it happens to show you what I mean.
cjet79
3d ago
There is a form of comparison
AA : AA :: BB : BB
This comparison is not meant to say that AA == BB.
cjet79
3d ago
I read your posts and just hope your children against the odds manage to become well-adjusted adults despite your efforts
Perhaps this is my bias as a parent, but insulting the way people raise their kids is often a step beyond insulting them personally.
"You are an asshole" is less antagonistic than "Your kids are assholes, and it is your fault".
Take a time out. 3 day ban.
cjet79
3d ago
Here it is, an amazing moment for you:
I am not perfect. I have definitely made mistakes in moderation. Based on what the other mods say and what users say I am often too harsh in my moderation. I have in fact been overridden on my moderation decisions and have had them scaled back before. If self_made_human, amadan, and netstack (or just zorba) say I have been too harsh I trust their judgement and I'm willing to say I was wrong. This has happened a few times. There have also been times where any of them have realized they are too close to an issue and have stepped back and asked other mods to step in and make a ruling. This is basically what I consider a normal process of modding here on themotte. If some mod was totally unwilling to admit fault and completely bull headed they would not last long as a mod.
Generally these moments are not highly publicized and catalogued. If that bothers you, then tough shit. Welcome to the world we live in. I'm not gonna ask any user to make a public flogging tour for every minor mistake they make. Consider any politician or public figure that you like and respect. Should they be forced to go on a public apology tour for every mistake they make? Or would you look at such a request through obvious culture war eyes and realize that your enemies are just trying to get one over on you?
You probably don't get dinged much because you don't post much. This is a problem we are aware of. For highly prolific users we are aware that there is a numbers issue, speak up too much and eventually you might run afoul of the rules. But we are also super forgiving of highly prolific users. As long as they don't violate very specific and enumerated requests we will let a lot of shit go. This is the case with steve, we had a very specific request that he not make these shitty "mods suck" type comments, and we tried to be as clear as possible that he needs to stop them, immediately.
He didn't.
So tell me, what the hell are we supposed to do when a user violates a clear, specific, minor, and reasonable request we have for them?
Common suggestions:
- Let it go, because someone else was being bad.
- Let it go, because this user is usually not so bad.
- Ban them forever, because I hate their opinions.
Steve has vocally been in favor of option 3 before.
cjet79
4d ago
Stealth archer was kind of the ultimate build for Skyrim. I played oblivion so long ago, and before the internet was where I went for all gaming info.
Is there an ultimate build for oblivion?
cjet79
4d ago
Zorba has expressed a lack of interest in sacrificing his life and well-being for this place.
Personally, a media shitstorm, police investigation, etc would be enough for me to drop this place like a hot potato.
This place might continue to exist, but it will be different enough that it will be dead for many of the people that call it home.
cjet79
4d ago
We've extended a great deal of charity to Steve. We've asked him to stop making these sorts of comments. He chose not to.
He has also been warned many times for antagonistic behavior, both on this account and the previous account. He was very close to earning a permanent ban with his previous account's behavior. We made a note to ourselves to not completely ignore his previous account's bad behavior, but we mostly did and proceeded to be lenient with him as if he was a newish user.
Other people's bad behavior, even if it is a mod's bad behavior, is not an excuse for bad behavior.
If we specifically ask any user not to do a specific thing. We mean it and we will take note of it. If Netstack had broken every rule we have and gotten de-modded for his comment I still would have banned Steve for his comment. This is a 'fuck around and find out" moment. We literally only have two punishments in our toolbox, the first is asking people to stop doing a thing, and the second is bans.
I clearly said in my comment that no one else has been asked to not provide feedback. Only Steve, and only those types of comments.
I personally think netstack's ban of @WhiningCoil was fine. Its only that he should have been harsher with @Capital_Room. 5 days at least for capital room for clear fedposting. And just one day for whining coil cuz it sorta looked like fedposting.
As far as I am concerned fedposting is one of the few existential threats that this board faces. The other two are zorba kicking the bucket and a democrat party crackdown on free speech on the web.
One day bans are minor and basically nothing. That is us saying "yes really, this is a rule we will enforce, don't do it". For anything resembling fed posting I'm also willing to hand out bans like candy. Don't fucking do it. We can choose to be lenient when it is just the rules we care about enforcing. But this is a rule that the world will enforce upon us if we don't self police. Be annoyingly verbose and add a bunch of disclaimers if you insist on doing it. We still might ban you, because again we aren't really the ones making the rule on this. Sorry it sucks, I don't like it anymore than you do.
cjet79
4d ago
You've been asked to not do this in the most clear way possible.
Not any other critics of modding have been asked to stop. Just you, and just these kinds of dumb comments.
I am tempted to take your advice and give you a permaban:
Letting obvious trolling go on this long is a bad look, but the mods are such easy marks for it.
After all these sorts of comments you make are obvious trolling.
Community sentiment is generally against perma-bans these days. 30-days for you
cjet79
7d ago
What's the best blue collar job for me?
Current/former programmer. Dad is a carpenter.
Things I don't mind:
- Being uncomfortably hot
- Weird hours
- Being careful and slow
Things I do mind:
- Disgusting things, extreme amounts of dirt, any amount of poop, or bugs.
- Travelling far from home
cjet79
12d ago
I don't like trading citations, we both have access to search engines.
The simple problems with calorie counting:
- Effort and thinking. Counting up calories consumed and burned is tedious and annoying. This results in people dropping the diet. Dropping the diet tends to reverse all weight losses.
- Not all calories are equal. 500 calories of soda vs meat vs vegetables all have very different effects on hunger levels, digestion, and nutrients. Other diets have more success in reducing calories consumed through simple rules like "no sugar".
- Metabolic adjustment. Even if someone does everything right, keeps balanced meals, and puts in the effort their body may adjust and render the efforts useless. Caloric expenditure comes in lots of forms, exercise is known, but your brain is an energy hog and so is just being awake vs being asleep. You have strict control of your intake but you absolutely do not have strict control of your expenditures. You can end up just being far less alert, sleeping more, and having less energy overall.
Your body is not a simple calorie machine. It has a complex digestive system that has evolved over the entirety of our evolutionary history. It's designed to work whether or not an animal can count. Fat in the body does not just serve a single purpose, it's not just energy storage. It's a form of protection and heat retention as well. The body works to maintain a certain level of fat, because having having too little in bad weather is just as much of a death sentence as being too hungry.
cjet79
12d ago
I think Steam has a way to indicate that you own a game from another platform or source, and still just use the steam launcher for that program (but not acquire achievements).
cjet79
13d ago
The Chinese and Mongols were in a semi eternal conflict. Every few hundred years the Mongols would ride in and conquer China. They'd then grow fat and content in China and then get conquered by the next set of mongol invaders.
An adviser proposes that the Mongols go back to living in the harsh Mongolian steps after conquering China. That way they will stay a hardy people and not be conquered by the next set of mongol invaders.
Everyone recognizes this is a good idea, but the whole reason the Mongols conquered China was for the loot and the prospect of not living in Mongolia.
The adviser dies in China reading reports of the next Mongolian horde gathering on the border.
cjet79
13d ago
What I said above, and elsewhere:
A thing can be true and also bad advice.
Good advice in my opinion helps you achieve a desirable outcome.
CICO often manifests as calorie counting. It's the most straightforward interpretation of CICO. Calorie counting has historically and scientifically been shown to have just about zero impact on dieting and positive health decisions. It works for a tiny minority of people. I called it the diet for people that love accounting.
I don't dispute the physics, I never did. Just like I wouldn't dispute the physics of motion and free energy with a car mechanic. A car mechanic that started lecturing me about physics and the need for fuel would be an asshole and I'd never go to him again. Telling a fat person about CICO is the equivalent of that mechanic.
cjet79
13d ago
$1 million donation is chump change at those levels. Possibly the donation was to secure the sit down dinner where they talked, not actually a promise for any kind of outcome. That seems way more in line with that amount of money.
cjet79
13d ago
I have this weird belief that advice should be helpful. That if you want outcome X then good advice will improve your chances of achieving outcome X. Bad advice is something that just restates outcome X or has no impact or a negative impact on achieving outcome X. Do you have a different word for helpful advice as I've defined it?
Apparently you believe differently, and think that advice does not have to assist towards achieving a desired outcome. That simply haranguing someone for not doing the thing counts as advice. Thats fine. I'm not gonna convince you otherwise, I'd just ask that if you ever see me asking for advice is a wellness thread, know that I'm asking for helpful advice, and whatever it is you are offering can be better left unsaid.
cjet79
14d ago
No it's not. And if it was I have a series of the best advice for various topics:
On sports: you should win
On war: kill anyone that opposes you
On politics: convince everyone you are correct and wield all the power.
That "advice" is basically saying what the end state is without good help on how to get there.
cjet79
14d ago
CICO is fine as a physics explanation. I disagree with OP that it can be "debunked".
As dieting advice it is crap. The main failure point of diets is compliance. CICO has terrible compliance rates.
cjet79
14d ago
Ya I forgot how much I hated the union rep lady. For a while I just pretended the story ended with me ratting her out to the boss and her being fired.
I've met real people like her and they drive me absolutely insane. A self righteousness mixed with a self centeredness that turns every interaction with them into a lecture where you can't get a single word in.
cjet79
14d ago
A thing can be true and be mostly bad advice. CICO is like that. If you get your gas car towed to a mechanic and the mechanic asks "have you tried filling it up with gas? You know you can't just get free energy from nothing. To change an object from at rest to in motion requires a force acting up on that object." You'd probably get a little annoyed. Cars cannot run without some form of energy this is true from a physics perspective, but as a way of diagnosing all car problems it's dog shit. You don't need the physics lesson, you need the engine checked by an expert.
But sometimes there is actually no gas in the car and that mechanic would be right that one time. Sometimes calorie counting works for some people. It just seems to fail for most people as a dieting measure. I tend to think of it as a diet for people who think accounting is fun.
cjet79
15d ago
My mother has actually been doing a text version of this with her ancestors that lived in the 1800s.
She fed hundreds of pages of translated letters into the prompt, and can have the AI sort of respond to fake written letters with real sounding stuff.
I expect text based AIs are probably already possible for anyone that spends enough time online, and especially if the training data is comprehensive enough.
cjet79
15d ago
I've got something that might fit.
Hardspace: shipbreaker
Mechanically an amazing game and very fun.
Story wise atrocious, and heavily panned in many reviews.
It's a story of workers doing a miserable and dangerous job for shit pay, so they rise up to fight their bosses by destroying a bunch of property as a form of strike. It would probably be a fine story as a movie.
The problem is it creates a total mood disconnect with the player. Not only do I enjoy the main characters' supposedly "miserable" job, I actually payed money to the developers to do this "miserable" job.
I think other games solve this sometimes mood disconnect by just having dishonest characters tell the player that what they are doing is fun and good. Like Glados in portal.
I ended up trying to make as little progress as possible in the Hardspace campaign, until I was done with the game and wanted to see for myself just how bad the story was. It's just cringe. And one of those things that you don't realize is an unwritten rule of video games storytelling: never directly trash your own video game within the video game. If you need to do so for storytelling reasons, get an obviously dishonest character to say nice things.
cjet79
15d ago
There are programming RTSes out there. I found them unfun. Probably because I've been programming for a living for a long time, so it doesn't feel like a game, it feels like work to me. Your mileage may vary, thats just like my opinion man.
Yeah I'm a libertarian Atheist, I don't feel like this place always sides with social conservatism.
It can probably fairly and correctly be called anti-woke and anti-immigration. But those aren't only positions of social conservatives.
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