patrick.net

Patrick says

Complaints about moderation policies will swiftly be deleted.

Good call.
It's too easy to get caught up in the back and forth once someone says, "you".
Argue ideas not personalities. It shows you have lost the argument when you attack the person for their ideas.
Some people need to be ignored.

errc says

Is it intentional or merely coincidence that all the moderators are hard core Republicans that regularly lash out against Liberals?

It’s easy to see why some have trouble digesting this extreme shift in direction, especially with the stealth manner in which it was implemented

This is false, out of the moderation crew, maybe ONE is a hardcore Republican. Everyone else is various shades of left/right. I'd say WookieMan is more left leaning, I'm right down the middle, and so is mell.

errc says

Mell is a mod now too? LOL

By “right down the middle”, you mean they are the same people that constantly attack Liberals and Leftists and Democrats, and say things like “Leftism, never even once” and “Liberals ruined everything “.

Too funny

You said "hard core Republicans". How can someone be a hardcore Republican if they haven't ever voted GOP? Does disliking leftist now equal being a "hardcore republican"? You should be more precise is all I'm saying because blanket generalizations could be part of the problem here.

I think people who have a problem with the moderation are inventing problems to be honest, problems they can solve themselves by simply knocking it off with the trolling, following the rules, and realizing that this isn't that serious.

errc says

I enjoy your forum, and support you. I’m just still having trouble understanding what changed, and your unwillingness to discuss it, or even allow it to be discussed. I’m still stuck in “Free Speech” mode, and i missed the official announcement where you killed off Free Speech and Replaced it with whatever youd call this.

Open communication was healthy, and the lack of it has obviously caused issues.

Thanks @errc I really appreciate your attempt to understand. This is better than most people. I think there is a general human tendency to conflate points with the people making them. Once someone seems to be an "enemy", then everything they say is essentially ignored and actual conversation has ended. All that is left is personal insults and rationalizations for personal insults, with hardening of emnity on both sides. Best to simply cut that off by deleting it.

I heard a great quote once about how the "gentle skeptic" has much more power than the enraged attacker in changing men's minds. Can't remember the exact words, but the point is that people have an almost reflexive defense mechanism which cannot be defeated through anger. It can be defeated by showing good will and making one's point in a mild way. Like you did in your comment. I appreciate that.

Onvacation says

It's too easy to get caught up in the back and forth once someone says, "you".
Argue ideas not personalities. It shows you have lost the argument when you attack the person for their ideas.
Some people need to be ignored.

Yes, the personal back and forth is the just swords clashing, and not actual conversation that can stop the fighting.

Sadly, some people do need to be ignored, for the moment. There is hope for everyone though.

Another analogy: it's like getting really mad that the door won't open and pushing harder and harder, only to eventually realize that the door is marked PULL. Then it's easy.

Who is moderating what nowadays? How do we find out? What happened to the hashtags and moderators being assigned to specific topics?

Patrick says

start your own forum for you

I am taking you up on this in the summer.

mysql> select user_name from users where user_level=3;
+-------------------+
| user_name |
+-------------------+
| TwoScoopsPlissken |
| zzyzzx |
| Goran_K |
| WookieMan |
| mell |
+-------------------+

I gave up hashtags for the idea that there should be completely different forums for specific topics. Unfortunately, no one took me up on the idea of having their own forum. I guess I didn't sell it very well.

Liberal Nationalist Modernist Populist is my position.

I'm opposed to the Democratic party for it's Globalist rather than Nationalist Orientation, it's Radical Left positions on Social Issues, it's Illiberal Attitude on Speech and Firearms, and it's interventionist attitude and increasingly bourgeois professional anti-working class orientation.

I'm opposed to the GOPe Establishment wing for it's Globalist rather than Nationalist Orientation, it's Anti-American Trade Policies that trade away US jobs for Capital's access to markets rather than mutual access to markets (ie Real Free Trade), it's Illiberal Attitude towards Legal and Illegal Drugs, and it's interventionist attitude. And it's strain of America Last crony capitalism that favors commerce over industry.

I support Donald James Trump because he's really a 1950s-1980s Typical Traditional Centrist Democrat whose opinions would be have been standard throughout that time and still are non-controversial common sense to 80% of the US Population

For so many years, the Democratic party in the US fell for the right-wing propaganda that one most be "polite" and "reasonable" and "bi-partisan", and not "strident" or "shrill" or "partisan", when explaining to the people exactly how crazy bad/wrong/immoral many Republican policies are. Result: The Republicans did NOT become kinder, gentler, more agreeable, more reasonable, nor did they change their mind about anything. And the Democrats kept losing. Of course, that was always the Republican plan.

justme says

The Republicans did NOT become kinder, gentler, more agreeable, more reasonable, nor did they change their mind about anything

And the Democrats did? Doesn't sound much like it from this.

P N Dr Lo R says

And the Democrats did? Doesn't sound much like it from this.

Very selective quoting there. Readers are advised to read the full paragraph to avoid Strawmen.

HEYYOU says

I would like to moderate Reason,Logic & Facts.

That would be suicidal!

Patrick definitely had something unique, on par with 4chan in the days of no censor. But it was also highly geared towards flame wars, which is the reason why moderation exists on pretty much every discussion board on the internet. Patrick got tired of flame wars, and went status quo. Kudos to him for at least trying to allow a completely free speech forum.

Thank you. I did try to let anyone say anything, but found it unworkable. I see now that some moderation is necessary or the discussion devolves into 24/7 personal attacks, started by just a few bad apples. So that's why there are no popular forums which have no moderation. Moderation is actually a requirement for quality. (Interesting lesson I learned: women are canaries in the coal mine. They generally do not tolerate personal attacks nearly as well as men, and I think this is because of innate biological differences in how men and women think and feel. Men expect overt conflict. Women off their rivals in more subtle ways.)

Anyone can still present any point of view that they sincerely hold. Except the point of view that "user N is a piece of shit" or "this site is a piece of shit".

Note that not a single comment expressed with good will has ever been deleted. I hope.

Is there a list of moderators? All I know Goran is one, he’s good.

jazz_music says

Most people don't care enough to learn how to actually debate or even rationally argue a point and so winning trumps any thought process that might otherwise be possible.

In other words hahaha, me and my friends stick a booger on your back so you lose, here, eat this cartoon frog and cry. hahaha win win win

So the no personal attacks is a good thing, yes?

I don't moderate much (in fact I offered to transfer my investing forum mods rights back then) but would like to point out that I am your typical right-winger that wants to legalize all drugs and prostitution. I think scoops hit the nail on the head when stating that Trump is everything but a Republican, but more of an old-school common-sense center democrat akin to JFK. His politics have been very different from the mainstream Republican politics we have been used to.

errc says

I’ve been visiting Patrick.net for 13+ years, since it was bifurcated on two forums, wordpress and not sure what the other was called.

I enjoy your forum, and support you. I’m just still having trouble understanding what changed, and your unwillingness to discuss it, or even allow it to be discussed. I’m still stuck in “Free Speech” mode, and i missed the official announcement where you killed off Free Speech and Replaced it with whatever youd call this.

Open communication was healthy, and the lack of it has obviously caused issues.

Name one idea (other than a personal attack or an attack on this site) that users are not 100% free to express here. Name one.

If I had an extra 30 hours a day, I'd offer to moderate every thread. Since I'm busy with stuff like work, cooking, helping the kids with their homework and other similar distractions, just can't do it. Instead, I'll suggest that D and R oriented posters consider that both of their tribes are corrupted by monied interests and that repeating party sponsored talking points isn't solving anything. Cheers.

jazz_music says

And it was funny as hell when TurtleDove was alive and here, these same assholes became COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PEOPLE LOL.

All protective of her too, that was so weird to a point.

Well that’s quirky cause I’m pretty sure I am MUCH more passive and polite nowdays. But hey, let’s not let facts get in the way of a good run of fake news.

jazz_music says

I find I can't seem to put enough people on ignore, you already know what they are going to say, nothing changes, and I'm sorry I ever stopped using ignore in the first place, but that wasn't completely my choice either.

Explain please.

jazz_music says

I find I can't seem to put enough people on ignore, you already know what they are going to say, nothing changes

Totally agree. There are a couple of guys here who constantly bash law enforcement, capitalism, and call for a revolution.
They are so predictable with what they say.

Patrick, can you please ban drunk posting?

errc says

Moderation is what it is: heavily biased favortism towards right wingers and not friendly to everyone else . Fair and Balanced

Moderation here is simply "no personal attacks". I had my posts removed when I said some personal stuff too. Moderators aren't out to get you errc, it's the Democratic party who constantly taxes you... those are the people out to get you and your money.

Goran_K says

This is false, out of the moderation crew, maybe ONE is a hardcore Republican. Everyone else is various shades of left/right. I'd say WookieMan is more left leaning, I'm right down the middle, and so is mell.

WRONG! Anyone to the right of Pol Pot is clearly a RADICAL CONSERVATIVE!

CovfefeButDeadly says

Patrick, can you please ban drunk posting?

Exactly what I was thinking.

There's definitely a pattern at night that's been established!

Patrick says

mysql> select user_name from users where user_level=3;
+-------------------+
| user_name |
+-------------------+
| TwoScoopsPlissken |
| zzyzzx |
| Goran_K |
| WookieMan |
| mell |
+-------------------+

Pat, that's raw sql output. I never took you for a command line type.

Sniper says

CovfefeButDeadly says

Patrick, can you please ban drunk posting?

Exactly what I was thinking.

There's definitely a pattern at night that's been established!

Come on, it's fun to drunk post! I do it at least 10% of the time.

It would be interesting if someone created a forum and USB breathalyzer that had to be blown into to make a comment on a topic. Wonder how much comment traffic would fall off on many sites?

WookieMan says

Sniper says

CovfefeButDeadly says

Patrick, can you please ban drunk posting?

Exactly what I was thinking.

There's definitely a pattern at night that's been established!

Come on, it's fun to drunk post! I do it at least 10% of the time.

It would be interesting if someone created a forum and USB breathalyzer that had to be blown into to make a comment on a topic. Wonder how much comment traffic would fall off on many sites?

Actually that could be awesome...I’d somehow each post you made displayed your BAC....lol @ someone’s increasing as the time went on...

PeopleUnited says

Name one idea (other than a personal attack or an attack on this site) that users are not 100% free to express here. Name one.

Thank you @PeopleUnited !

OMFG, there will no doubt be a takedown notice from Quaker Oats' legal team coming soon to Vimeo!

I'd very much welcome a point about something other than the other users.

I really do not want to see any comments about any other user. It just begs for flame wars.

I still don't understand how this is controversial. Why is it that certain people (usually very left leaning) can't disagree with something without a personal insult? It astounds me that they really feel like their rights are being taken away. It's actually funny to read all of this need for clarification. Were they just not raised properly?

I didn't see a post on it, but I think U is banned now?

You son of a bitch!

You bitch!

Capital Y seems to be a problem with the U filter. Just a guess.

Yup, Cap Y is a problem You ass wipe! ;)