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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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My heat pump just got here, and once I've got it installed would anyone be interested in a post on some of the things I learned planning for the build? I did the usual unnecessary turbo-autism level of research, so it'd be nice for people to get some benefit from it before I close all the tabs and forget the whole thing.

There was a lot of discussion on the last heat pump thread, but nobody drew any conclusions. I think I've done enough to make some solid ones.

Related side question: what are people paying for electric rates these days? We've gone from 8 to 11 cents/kWh, which is fucking ridiculous even for the extra costs incurred here. Natgas isn't available here, but in most places the electric/gas price ratio is a huge factor.

Should this be in another thread?

Not once I start getting into energy policy it won't be. Going to have to invent some new euphemisms just to avoid getting banned, let alone make it safe for the fun/questions threads.

Also, the previous heat pump discussion was in the culture war thread iirc, and got pretty political.

Maybe you should explicitly bring up energy policy in your top level submission?

Also, nice cheap dig at the mods. As if they don't do enough for us pro bono.

Minimodding has to be the most annoying thing that can happen in a forum. Stop being a weenie.

What does this mean? Have never heard this term before.

If you're referring to tone/witch policing that's extremely common here and one of the things that makes this forum excellent. We generally self police against low effort baiting.

What does this mean? Have never heard this term before.

You're acting like a hall monitor. You're carrying water for authority despite authority not caring about you. You are licking the boot. You are kissing the ass.

It's all the same thing with different phrasings. He is accusing you of being a groupie and intrinsically low status.

  • -10

You're acting like a hall monitor.

He's acting like a member of a community, who cares about the general atmosphere.

You're carrying water for authority despite authority not caring about you.

...Other than running this place for years, preserving norms despite intense pressure to the contrary, and building an entire new site when the last one was in danger of getting banned, sure. But apart from all that...

I've had some remarkably spirited disagreements with some of the mods here. Despite serious disagreements over values and occasionally facts, they've treated me completely fairly and with a surprising amount of respect. The rules here actually work. The mods are not perfect, but they are some of the best I've had the honor of posting under, and they're a huge part of what I and many others value about this place. I'm going to put forward that if there's a problem, it's a "you" problem, not a "them" problem.

I'm not actually sure if you're new here or if you just switched names; I'm not the best at IDing based on style. If you are new, you should know that that the mods enforce a fairly high standard of decorum. If you can stay above that floor, you can make just about any point you might wish to, and you'll get a fairer hearing and better discussion than you'd get pretty much anywhere else on the internet. But part of what makes it work is the universal demand that to participate here, one keeps the more atavistic elements of one's nature on a short leash. You seem to be able to handle this most of the time, but then sometimes you just lash out over stupid crap. Keep that up, and you'll eat bans, and the rest of us will not complain because you will have earned them.

For people complaining that moderation is too strict, pre 2018 moderation was more strict than now, I can attest. The no 'boo outgroup' rule was closely enforced. 4chan is an example of what minimal moderation looks like. So why doesn't minotaur go there. Maybe because it's just full of annons . Going from annons to a community necessitates some boundaries, hence moderation. I think on net the mods are going a good job.

...Other than running this place for years, preserving norms despite intense pressure to the contrary, and building an entire new site when the last one was in danger of getting banned, sure. But apart from all that...

The norms have seen all the best posters banished, keeping the place running requires no effort (a community is its members, not its leaders), but I will give full credit for paying this site's hosting costs and setting it up. Everyone on the mod team who contributed to that is free to take a bow -- with the understanding that this uniquely useful function they performed had nothing to do with moderation.

Like you, I have had some frustrating disagreements with the mods in the past, but think they deserve respect and appreciation for their efforts here. But they chose to be mods knowing full well what that entails, and knowing the compensation they would receive would be ephemeral at best. And if that was a dig, it was one of the mildest digs at the mods I have ever seen. If it upset them they are fully capable of defending themselves.

In this place taking a mild and ambiguous dig and spinning it as out of line because the mods don't charge us for something no one has ever paid for seems especially odious, because if even something like that is not on, what is? This is a place where witches argue, I'm not saying the mods should tolerate any abuse they receive, but surely they can tolerate whatever abuse was perceived in that dig.

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This depends heavily on whether you think the authority is legitimate. Personally one of the most frustrating things I see leftists do is equate right wing Christians to groupie bootlickers who crave authority because they worship God.

Are you actually anti authoritarian as a philosophy or just towards authorities you find illegitimate?

Edit: to be clear I don't deny carrying water in this instance, because the mods are an authority I respect. I think the status of the behavior depends on your perspective.

I'll also admit that I misunderstood how the rules fundamentally work so this one is on me.