Me too.Originally Posted by TimWalker
I think it'd be cool to just have a "lounge" type forum where we can relax and talk about our lives more. Right now it just seems to be limited to the "What's Going On With You?" thread. As you said, T4T by its very nature deals with some heavy topics, so it would be nice to have a realm where we can escape from that if we want.
Thank you!!!
I want people to know that peace is possible even in this stupid day and age. Prem Rawat, June 8, 2008
Ditto!
I've seen threads in which moderators describe the work they must do to keep a forum viable. No easy task. And done by volunteers.
Late to the party, but I wanted add my thanks. I'm typically the one lobbying for less moderation, but this intervention was most welcome. I'll also throw in my vote for enabling a few volunteer moderators. We have several long-time posters who are excellent choices.
Again ... thanks for riding to the rescue.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
I agree that it sounded kinda cool. But it seemed more appropriate to a online 3rd person shooter like Call of Duty roster than a social-history discussion group.
Actually it wasn't meant to be my permanent handle. Back on the "Paleo-4T forum", where we could change names at will, it was only to symbolize that I was going to be away for a while. By the time I got back, the forum had moved and I was stuck with it for the next 5 or 6 years. I tried to justify it with the idea that most of my posts (I've actually made thousands) only exist in segments as quotes- echos of a post no longer in existance. But later Chas accused me of "post necromancy", and provided a really cool Disney still from the movie "Fantasia". So I claimed that as an explanation too.
But Time Mage is a handle the I've wanted for sometime now. It seems more appropriate to the discussions at hand. The X makes it a bit cooler too, although hard to masquerade as a Milli.
Here comes the sun~Unfinished
i got the suspicion that the recent potty mouth troll was a kid.
But you're not a Millie, so it's all good.I agree that it sounded kinda cool. But it seemed more appropriate to a online 3rd person shooter like Call of Duty roster than a social-history discussion group.
Actually it wasn't meant to be my permanent handle. Back on the "Paleo-4T forum", where we could change names at will, it was only to symbolize that I was going to be away for a while. By the time I got back, the forum had moved and I was stuck with it for the next 5 or 6 years. I tried to justify it with the idea that most of my posts (I've actually made thousands) only exist in segments as quotes- echos of a post no longer in existance. But later Chas accused me of "post necromancy", and provided a really cool Disney still from the movie "Fantasia". So I claimed that as an explanation too.
But Time Mage is a handle the I've wanted for sometime now. It seems more appropriate to the discussions at hand. The X makes it a bit cooler too, although hard to masquerade as a Milli.
I want people to know that peace is possible even in this stupid day and age. Prem Rawat, June 8, 2008
Actually I think its the opposite. The misspellings seemed to be intentional (stressed), and for effect. We've had genuine radicals in here before. However, I'm under the belief that it was an internal psy-op by another member. My original Time Mage profile was such an op, dealing with as to how others perceive our words based on generational identifiers (or in my case lack there of). I think Ap-------- was a similar experiment. However it seems that this person was purposely using Godwin's Law as it variable. What the expected results were expected and what was actually gained is beyond my knowing unless said results were published.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
Either that or the person is a genuine troll and I've been wayyy over thinking this.
Shhh...don't tell anyone that, especially any Xrs who think I am. Its more fun to razz them that way.But you're not a Millie, so it's all good.
Actually with me still being stranded at home, helicopter parents, pursuance of an education without a specific job at the end (although I have real world experience an involvement in both fields being studied), and more acceptance and open rapport with the younger population*, sometimes I feel like I'm "livin' the dream".
*Interacting with other late wave Xrs my age often seems more like a guarded, highly ritualistic and symbolic dance and ceremony. Come, let us revisit a dance of my people!
Here comes the sun~Unfinished
There's a famous case on Reddit where a user named BipolarBear0 created a puppet account to post a bunch of racist, anti-semetic crap in the /r/conspiracy forum. He's actually a rather hawkish, Zionist NeoCon who generally favors the corporate-security-state status quo. He also has moderator positions on quite a few of the largest boards.
When some of his racist puppet posts started getting more upvotes than downvotes, he revealed the ruse, and it sort of cemented the meme "/r/conspiracy is racist." That sets up a permanent straw-man argument that "debunks" anything that gets posted to or gains traction in /r/conspiracy. Even if the same article is posted to multiple boards, he can say, "Oh boy, /politics/ is eating up that /conspiracy/ garbage again." It's a pretty popular online guilt-by-association tactic, and I've seen it in use by extremists of all types.
So it can be used as a sort of litmus test to gauge the reaction of a community and their theories. Is generational theory/the community racist? Antisemitic? A threat or friend to white nationalists? I don't think our recent guest was getting the responses he hoped for.
It also tests the groups' herd tendency. Can the group be manipulated? Are they going to follow and echo the person who comes in with confidence and answers? Not this group of stubborn fuckers.
Buuuuuuuut I think he actually believes his shit. When I ran the author of his favorite blog against his forum handle, I got a LOT of genealogy hits.
Those words, "temperate and moderate", are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
'82 - Once & always independent
Right, Mc82. If this troll had lurked awhile, he might have noticed that T4T members keep arguing about politics. How often do members change the political views of other members? Not much of a herd mentality here. But the troll did manage to unite us against him.
Even that probably credits too much higher thinking. I really think he's just a random guy on a mission of hate. He spent a pretty obsessive amount of time posting and bumping old threads, and that would provide quite a bit of insight in to the interpersonal dynamics here.Maybe we are over thinking this and he just had a bet with one of his buddies about who could get booted from an online forum first..
Now, there have been one or two characters that sound a bit... "written" as a bad stereotype, but they rarely get much of a response before they fade away.
Mostly though, the internet encourages interaction without inhibition, so all the worst crazy comes right out on a pretty regular basis.
Those words, "temperate and moderate", are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
'82 - Once & always independent
It wasn't my intention to deceive anyone, I just didn't stereotype myself.
I don't know who or what the intentions of our latest "friend" were. Maybe he\she was just a bored individual getting their kicks riling us up. Or, it could be someone with a little bit of skill and agenda. John (Mc82) did a great job offering a few examples of what such an agenda might be. I hadn't even thought of those. All I know is that his\her messages seemed a bit over stressed and constructed, especially when it came to the misspellings. But that's just my opinion.
As concerning the ugly specter of classic Antisemitism, it unfortunately makes its presence known in some of the more shadowy halls of conspiracy theory. It becomes a navigational hazard for those of us with an investigative spirit, curious about the mysterious, suspicious, mystical, and wondrous world of ours.
As concerning the forum, I'm not sure the storm has passed just yet. Unless and until certain changes are made we are still vulnerable. Mr. A was not the problem, merely a symptom of it. The main problem at this point still hangs over us. It wouldn't hurt to occasionally work to build our storm cellars (or arks if need be).
This is fascinating. I know so little about the internet world.
So if it was an experiment, he/she is monitoring our reactions to those posts and ... doing what with that info exactly?
And what makes someone like that different from a "troll?" Isn't a troll posting B.S. intentionally for the same reason, to stir shit up?
Serious questions here, not asking rhetorically.
P.S. You sneaky bastard, experimenting on people like that! It's always the quiet ones you have to worry about.Prince
PS: Looks pretty cool.
(really cool, actually!)
Prince like-y!
It's the X isn't it? It cost Xtra, but I thought it added something...uhmm..."x-cellent" to the title?
Here comes the sun~Unfinished
-Or maybe he got exactly the reaction he hoped for, if it was Agit'-Prop'.
-Maybe it's an alter ego...
I don't think he's from the USA. If you go back and look at his surviving posts, he seems to have an issue with definite and indefinite articles, like a Russian. I think his real interest is the Ukrainian situation, and the other stuff was either window dressing (which hwe may or may not have actually believed to some extent) or a subtle support for Putinism (thus his support for rebels of all sorts).
-Oh, PBR... I must have missed that one.
This is music to my ears! I'm so glad someone is keeping an eye on things and will work to prevent further abuse of this forum and its posters.
...when the definition [of "young and trendy"] is changed to something else, say "Homie", then "Millennial" ... becomes something to describe middle aged old farts who are too fat to fit into their hipster skinny jeans ... and refuse to wear anything that isn't argyle. The same thing happened to the Glorious Generation fops, by the 1720s they were no longer seen as "young, witty, and with it" but as aging witless father figures. -- Chas88
No sweat. I'm just happy for you that you've
finally got the name that you want.
Prince
PS:
It's the X isn't it? ...
<chuckle!
I Am A Child of God/Nature/The Universe
I Think Globally and Act Individually(and possibly, voluntarily join-together with Others)
I Pray for World Peace & I Choose Less-Just Say: "NO!, Thank You."
That wouldn't surprise me. A few years ago we had a couple of spamsters post pages of a Slavic language gibberish (according to Justin from what I remember).
Here comes the sun~Unfinished
Yah. Spamsters love themselves some gibberish. If I recall correctly, though, the ones back then looked like they were selling something (?)
Oh, and Chinese (to pick a random example) also doesn't use articles. Nor does Japanese. I'm sure there are others, too. I didn't see from this particular spamster any of the signs clearly indicating Russian/Ukrainian. Their main tell isn't in articles, but in a very bad approach to verb tenses, in particular mixing up the perfect and imperfect. English has so very many verb tenses, and Russian (of which Ukrainian is arguably a mid-distant dialect) has only two.
"Qu'est-ce que c'est que cela, la loi ? On peut donc ętre dehors. Je ne comprends pas. Quant ŕ moi, suis-je dans la loi ? suis-je hors la loi ? Je n'en sais rien. Mourir de faim, est-ce ętre dans la loi ?" -- Tellmarch
"Человек не может снять с себя ответственности за свои поступки." - L. Tolstoy
"[it] is no doubt obvious, the cult of the experts is both self-serving, for those who propound it, and fraudulent." - Noam Chomsky
-I wondered why someone would pick a handle like "Nihilist Moron." The I figured out who it was. Let me guess. Playdude called someone that?
Our recently registered alina: alina569 is advertising an escort service. That seems a bit outside the purview of the forum, though it's a step up from the sex toys and the like previously registered alinas are promoting.
Last edited by Marx & Lennon; 03-20-2015 at 12:05 PM.
Marx: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Lennon: You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
Well it's about time. Woo-hoo!
Maybe just 'a bit'.
Prince
PS:
M&L, I really don't think you're an idiot, or anything, but if you seriously don't realize that
injecting 'politics' into 'non-political conversations' has pretty much completely destroyed
this website(as opposed to a single link to some supposed escort-service), you're ... well,
... let's just say, I don't think you're an idiot, and leave it at that.
Just sayin'.
I Am A Child of God/Nature/The Universe
I Think Globally and Act Individually(and possibly, voluntarily join-together with Others)
I Pray for World Peace & I Choose Less-Just Say: "NO!, Thank You."
Uh, spam of any sort is the spawn of Satan dude.Well it's about time. Woo-hoo!
Ya know, I get so many cell phone spam call's , it makes me want to reach out and punch somebodies.Maybe just 'a bit'.
Spam of any sort is a public health hazard. Spams are a known cause of high blood pressure.M&L, I really don't think you're an idiot, or anything, but if you seriously don't realize that
injecting 'politics' into 'non-political conversations' has pretty much completely destroyed
this website(as opposed to a single link to some supposed escort-service), you're ... well,
... let's just say, I don't think you're an idiot, and leave it at that.
Just sayin'.
MBTI step II type : Expressive INTP
There's an annual contest at Bond University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
The winning student wrote:
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."
...apparently, the Russian government has people who do this full-time:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/ma...ency.html?_r=0
...I was already investigating a shadowy organization in St. Petersburg, Russia, that spreads false information on the Internet. It has gone by a few names, but I will refer to it by its best known: the Internet Research Agency. The agency had become known for employing hundreds of Russians to post pro-Kremlin propaganda online under fake identities, including on Twitter, in order to create the illusion of a massive army of supporters...
Last summer, a group called Anonymous International — believed to be unaffiliated with the well-known hacktivist group Anonymous — published a cache of hundreds of emails said to have been stolen from employees at the agency...
The emails indicated that the Internet Research Agency had begun to troll in English...
...but as Justin pointed out, maybe Chinese? Other? Anyway, we might see other examples.
