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naraburns  nihil supernum  7mo ago (text post)   6881 thread views

Quality Contributions Report for April 2025

This is the Quality Contributions Roundup. It showcases interesting and well-written comments and posts from the period covered. If you want to get an idea of what this community is about or how we want you to participate, look no further (except the rules maybe--those might be important too).

As a reminder, you can nominate Quality Contributions by hitting the report button and selecting the "Actually A Quality Contribution!" option. Additionally, links to all of the roundups can be found in the wiki of /r/theThread which can be found here. For a list of other great community content, see here.

These are mostly chronologically ordered, but I have in some cases tried to cluster comments by topic so if there is something you are looking for (or trying to avoid), this might be helpful.

Quality Contributions to the Main Motte

@Throwaway05:

@ArjinFerman:

@Closedshop:

Contributions for the week of March 31, 2025

@Dean:

@CrispyFriedBarnacles:

@cjet79:

@coffee_enjoyer:

@ThenElection:

Contributions for the week of April 7, 2025

@100ProofTollBooth:

@LacklustreFriend:

@Dean:

@FiveHourMarathon:

@TitaniumButterfly:

@CrispyFriedBarnacles:

@Gooofuckyourself:

@MadMonzer:

Contributions for the week of April 14, 2025

@FtttG:

@phosphorus2:

@RandomRanger:

@Dean:

@urquan:

Contributions for the week of April 21, 2025

@hydroacetylene:

@OracleOutlook:

@Rov_Scam:

@Dean:

@BreakerofHorsesandMen:

@naraburns:

Contributions for the week of April 28, 2025

@OracleOutlook:

@aiislove:

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There's always an unsavory character using it at the same time as me, but absolutely nothing has ever happened.

And then there are some of us who have been violently assaulted in front of our own homes by precisely these same unsavory characters.

Not that I'm saying that having or not having experienced this or that personal anecdote gives one special epistemic privilege when it comes to policymaking. I'm just saying that violent crime is in fact a real thing that people can have legitimate concerns about.

I get that cars are convenient and make people feel powerful and in control, but they impose such a big negative externality on the rest of us non-car users (pollution, taxes, use of public space, not to mention the very large amount of deaths caused by accidents, far higher than that caused by urban villainy on public transit)

Perhaps you need to learn to be a bit more inconvenienced and uncomfortable?

I bike to and from work and the gym on busy streets. It's uncomfortable but I still do it because it's my best option. I have incidents with drivers cutting me off/parking in the bike lane almost every day. It is inconvenient and feels unsafe. Even if every driver was perfect and traffic was reduced 10x it would still be inconvenient and uncomfortable because I have to bike uphill at least in one direction. If the bike/public transit infrastructure was better there would be less cars on the road and the quality of life for everyone, including drivers, would improve.

I agree violent crime is real and a serious problem. Classmates have been mugged multiple times, and one was pistol-whipped outside her house. There are multiple homicides every week in the city. Yet most if not all of this independent of public transportation. Homicides aren't committed on buses or on the one light rail line in the city, they're local or in hit and runs in cars or motorized dirt bikes. Sure, some of these people MAY use public transit to get around and commit their crimes, but the majority of the unsavory people that repel people from public transit aren't actually dangerous.

I like reading car arguments, so I appreciate your input.

I live in a rural area and don't really have any public transport options. Cars are a must in rural areas. I've gotten in arguments with former college peers who were arguing that cars could be eliminated even in the countryside, which was a really bad take to me. However, I have to wonder. When I go grocery shopping, I typically have multiple pretty heavy bags. How do you handle grocery shopping on bikes, public transport, or on foot? Do you just take a ton of trips? What about if you were transporting something else heavy? I wanted to take a portable grill up to someone else's house to grill this weekend, but that kind of thing is only "portable" if you have a car, really.

Not directly the same, but I live with only a motorcycle for transportation and US public are generally surprised how much I can pack on. I shop at Costco and bring home about $300 worth of groceries. I've moved lumber for fencing. Hills would be killer on a pedal bike but the capacity I wouldn't imagine to be a problem.

I walk to the grocery store and go about once a week. It's about 0.5 miles each way, so it's a bit of a workout on the way back.

If I really need to transport something heavy I'll Zipcar or mooch off of a friend. This kind of stuff is made much more practical by a car. I'm not a car abolitionist, they have their place and their uses and are obviously essential in rural areas. What I'm frustrated by is the desire for many to make the car into the one size fits all transportation model. The actual costs of car use should be internalized by the user: things like congestion pricing seem like a great way to do that. Congestion pricing is not going to affect the ease of me bringing my grill to a friends house, but it might make me change my commuting behavior.

I think the issue is rather that the people usually targeted by armed and/or violent criminals are the ones using public transport who get attacked after getting off the vehicle and walking, because they make convenient targets.

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