Here at Mods In Heat, we've provided hard-hitting coverage of various internet communities for about a year now. It's time we reflect now, at this our first anniversary of coverage, on how this has gone, and where it is going.
The use of authority in various internet communities is, by and large, mistaken. That is, it fails to accomplish what it intends, and often intends to accomplish what only takes away from other goals or fails to consider those that are truly more beneficial and important.
Intro
You have to ask yourself, "What is the good life?" Like it or not, internet communities represent the real time of real people. In other words, it's not "just the internet" no more than anything else is "just x" for any x. Therefore, it's also not "just entertainment" or "hobby", etc. It all fundamentally is the physical manifestation of real time from real people's lives.
It All Counts
Obviously every action represents an attempt to sate some thirst, to satisfy some need. Time spent in various internet communities is no different. But as you can see, the question of whether the time is spent effectively or whether the interest of some or all is partially or fully thwarted through bad judgments is as important as any dollar amount or human lives amount that you could make equivalent to some amount of any person's life.
For instance, if you had to waste 1 hour a day for the rest of your life, say 50 years, that's 18,250 hours or 760~ days, 2.08~ years.
Put that in perspective man! We are slaving and slaving in labs to add a year to granny's life because she ate too many donuts when she was in her thirties. So actually, the lack of this or that script or policy on this or that web site, does, in fact, add up.
It's only wishful thinking, rationalization--delusion--that allows the authorities in various internet communities to tell themselves that it doesn't matter whether they are slightly lazy. They may delude themselves into thinking that "able" is the same as "ought" when need be. But it remains clear for all that only by making their reason public and accountable, can such authorities hand back over the waste they create, back to their constituents--back to the people.
Every click you've wasted by shrugging off a decent idea, every person you've temp banned or banned unnecessarily long or without giving them a chance to show they can perform as you desire, or giving them a chance to reason with you so that you have a fair chance of finding out if maybe your ideas on desirable performance and undesirable performance and how to achieve those is actually not in line with the true goods the community moves towards. In other words, until you have the balls to risk letting other people show you when you are wrong, you are simply a self-serving, deluded bully pissing all over those starving children in Africa. Q.E.D.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Dear TeamLiquid,
I wonder what it’s like seeing through your eyes.
You offered me to have a try, but I was always late.
The filters that I use give me an an excuse.
They take away what’s real, I feel it and it blows my fuse.
I hang around for another round.
I’m hanging around for another round.
I’m hanging on to the same old song.
I hang around for another round, until something stops me.
I wonder what it’s like walking by your side.
To think before I talk and to move at the same speed as you walk.
I want to have a weight to keep me in your state.
I’m watching from above, I love it but it’s not for me.
I hang around for another round.
I’m hanging around for another round.
I’m hanging on to the same old song.
I hang around for another round, until something stops me.
Love,
mitsy
Hanging Around (The Cardigans)
You offered me to have a try, but I was always late.
The filters that I use give me an an excuse.
They take away what’s real, I feel it and it blows my fuse.
I hang around for another round.
I’m hanging around for another round.
I’m hanging on to the same old song.
I hang around for another round, until something stops me.
I wonder what it’s like walking by your side.
To think before I talk and to move at the same speed as you walk.
I want to have a weight to keep me in your state.
I’m watching from above, I love it but it’s not for me.
I hang around for another round.
I’m hanging around for another round.
I’m hanging on to the same old song.
I hang around for another round, until something stops me.
Love,
mitsy
Hanging Around (The Cardigans)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The crisis for Stimey
"Stimey, Stimey, why are you persecuting me?"
"Who are you, sir?" he asked.
"I am Teamliquid whom you are persecuting," was the reply. "But now stand up and go into the city and there you will be told what you must do."
"Who are you, sir?" he asked.
"I am Teamliquid whom you are persecuting," was the reply. "But now stand up and go into the city and there you will be told what you must do."
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
TeamLiquid Selling Out to Blizzard?
Looking at SC2 so far, the truth is plain for all to see. It's War3 style graphics, a War3 style engine. Is that a Turret or an SCV? Is that Kerrigan, an Infested Terran, a Marine? Who the fuck knows. They couldn't get the mouse to feel right in the War3 engine, with lower framerates, higher resolution, a completely different engine for the mouse, etc. Looks like it will be the same in War4, I mean SC2, right?
But at TeamLiquid they believe differently. You will hear convincing testimony that it "feels just like SC, but it's prettier and shinier", in addition to assurances that "Blizzard is listening to us, just trust them." Well where do these opinions come from?
They come from a certain elite group that has, or pretends to have, direct contact with Blizzard. More knowledge than us. And from the people who suck up to those people.
A suck-up structure on TeamLiquid has been building for over half a decade. Combined with a powerful form of banning and topic-closing, TeamLiquid has all the fuel they need to perpetuate just the opinions Blizzard wants them to about SC2. Just go skim the closed topics about SC2, and look at the majority of bans and temp-bans for SC2 posts. Negativity is not only "uncool" there (thanks to the suck-up structure), but actually being silenced, by and large.
I'm sure that the authorities and top suck-ups by now, actually believe what they are saying about SC2. But that doesn't make it true. Any self-respecting SC:BW player chose SC:BW over War3, and not just because they didn't like creeping or heros. It's because they didn't like the quality of the product. The Blizzard who made SC:BW is a very different one from the one that made War3. People left, and we all know it.
The result was obvious. War3 wasn't up to par. They chose style over substance, to a point where the style was ugly if you tried to play at the same level possible in SC:BW. SC players can't tell what the fuck is going on on a War3 screen, and it is obvious that so far, this applies to SC2. And it would be a miracle, an act of God, if SC2 turns out to be more responsive than War3. It's the same engine. The reasons for the War3 "feel" were the higher resolution and lower framerate, both bound to be still present in SC2. These were the main reasons we stayed away from War3, never warmed up to it.
So why is a self-respecting SC:BW community ignoring the obvious about the sequel to War3? I think they must have been lead to, lead by people who are looking for inside access from Blizzard, looking for their site to be a big, successful SC2 site, looking for beta-keys, exclusive interviews. And looking to suck up to such people. People have ulterior motives to be praising SC2, and these same people have the power to shut down the obvious truth about it. It's Warcraft 4: Orcs in Space, folks! Come on.
It doesn't look pretty, and it won't play pretty for hardcore SC players. At the end of the day the English-speaking SC:BW community should be ashamed of itself for selling out its standards to suck up to the corporation bearing the name and rights to their favorite game. Despite that this corporation has been mis-patching their game, interfering with competitive leagues, making shitty, buggy, beta-quality sequels in 3d engines, etc. For years now! They should feel mislead by their leaders, who are being used by Blizzard, hook, line, and sinker, folks.
Go play War3 a bit. Go look at SC2's screenshots. Go look at their artwork (nice artists drawing recycled or uninteresting things from the recycled or uninteresting design specs from this corporate shell of "Blizzard"). Go look at who started these rumors that SC2 is gonna have it all fixed. The same people silencing all common sense on TeamLiquid.net. Same people who stand to gain so much. Make up your own minds.
This is the Blizzard that constantly destroyed WGTour, gamei, that let PGTour die, that has yet to do a god damn thing for pro-gaming. Whose recent patch doesn't even let us know if people are downloading a god damn map. I feel sorry for War3 players most of all, for having to buy yet another shitty expansion.
But at TeamLiquid they believe differently. You will hear convincing testimony that it "feels just like SC, but it's prettier and shinier", in addition to assurances that "Blizzard is listening to us, just trust them." Well where do these opinions come from?
They come from a certain elite group that has, or pretends to have, direct contact with Blizzard. More knowledge than us. And from the people who suck up to those people.
A suck-up structure on TeamLiquid has been building for over half a decade. Combined with a powerful form of banning and topic-closing, TeamLiquid has all the fuel they need to perpetuate just the opinions Blizzard wants them to about SC2. Just go skim the closed topics about SC2, and look at the majority of bans and temp-bans for SC2 posts. Negativity is not only "uncool" there (thanks to the suck-up structure), but actually being silenced, by and large.
I'm sure that the authorities and top suck-ups by now, actually believe what they are saying about SC2. But that doesn't make it true. Any self-respecting SC:BW player chose SC:BW over War3, and not just because they didn't like creeping or heros. It's because they didn't like the quality of the product. The Blizzard who made SC:BW is a very different one from the one that made War3. People left, and we all know it.
The result was obvious. War3 wasn't up to par. They chose style over substance, to a point where the style was ugly if you tried to play at the same level possible in SC:BW. SC players can't tell what the fuck is going on on a War3 screen, and it is obvious that so far, this applies to SC2. And it would be a miracle, an act of God, if SC2 turns out to be more responsive than War3. It's the same engine. The reasons for the War3 "feel" were the higher resolution and lower framerate, both bound to be still present in SC2. These were the main reasons we stayed away from War3, never warmed up to it.
So why is a self-respecting SC:BW community ignoring the obvious about the sequel to War3? I think they must have been lead to, lead by people who are looking for inside access from Blizzard, looking for their site to be a big, successful SC2 site, looking for beta-keys, exclusive interviews. And looking to suck up to such people. People have ulterior motives to be praising SC2, and these same people have the power to shut down the obvious truth about it. It's Warcraft 4: Orcs in Space, folks! Come on.
It doesn't look pretty, and it won't play pretty for hardcore SC players. At the end of the day the English-speaking SC:BW community should be ashamed of itself for selling out its standards to suck up to the corporation bearing the name and rights to their favorite game. Despite that this corporation has been mis-patching their game, interfering with competitive leagues, making shitty, buggy, beta-quality sequels in 3d engines, etc. For years now! They should feel mislead by their leaders, who are being used by Blizzard, hook, line, and sinker, folks.
Go play War3 a bit. Go look at SC2's screenshots. Go look at their artwork (nice artists drawing recycled or uninteresting things from the recycled or uninteresting design specs from this corporate shell of "Blizzard"). Go look at who started these rumors that SC2 is gonna have it all fixed. The same people silencing all common sense on TeamLiquid.net. Same people who stand to gain so much. Make up your own minds.
This is the Blizzard that constantly destroyed WGTour, gamei, that let PGTour die, that has yet to do a god damn thing for pro-gaming. Whose recent patch doesn't even let us know if people are downloading a god damn map. I feel sorry for War3 players most of all, for having to buy yet another shitty expansion.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
TeamLiquid Hides Stimey's Truth Yet Again
I would show you what I posted today on TeamLiquid except the topics were immediately closed and the account was later nuked, making it impossible for you or I to read them. I can tell you now that what I posted violated no rules but made good points and were completely fair, if not persuasive, given the context. This is probably why they decided to hide them from the public.
That's the function of their closing topics and, even worse, nuking, probably even most of their bans: To hide all potential criticism from view. This is the kind of behavior that makes most of the evil in the world possible, and if they do not object to it by principle, they risk it manifesting in their "real lives." In other words, they are all potential monsters.
I am kept off of the site because they don't want to think about what I have to say. They don't want others to even have the chance. It isn't to make their site better. It is to make their power pretensions easier. They ban people for fun, the close any topic they don't want to read. They respond to questions, however fairly and kindly asked, with harsh, brute force. Let's hope none of them ever find themselves with any real power.
What kind of weaklings need to censor people for asking questions? What kind of weaklings need to close topics so that people don't discuss what they don't like discussed? What kind of weaklings need to erase every post someone wrote so that no one can see for themselves what really happened? The answer is obvious: the kind of weakling that needs to fool themself, and others. The kind who needs to bend and cover obvious arguments so that weaker ones prevail. The kind who needs to hide behind politics of censorship, of slander, and of hate. And if they think this kind of behavior will not bleed over into their real life they are wrong. Dead wrong. This is how all monsters begin. If they do not have the maturity, the attitudes, and the philosophy to treat people as human beings, to value discourse, to not put petty fears and conveniences before the cultivation of multiple voices--they are bound to become, or find themselves in support of, people like Mr. Bush or Mr. Hitler, etc.
I wish I could put my case together for you, but I am afraid that they have already burned the evidence. What more can I do when they are going to flat out erase and hide whatever I do? How can we know anything when they openly abuse the power to do so? We can't. They're making the site worse for its users, and hiding all the evidence. They do it for petty, personal reasons. May the consequences of cultivating such personal flaws rain down on their personal lives, and their future lives, and may they find at the bottom that it was the truth they were fleeing from to the point where its weight bared over them like a mountain. And then we Stimeytans can at least proclaim, "Free at last, free at last, thank Nob almighty we are free at last!"
That's the function of their closing topics and, even worse, nuking, probably even most of their bans: To hide all potential criticism from view. This is the kind of behavior that makes most of the evil in the world possible, and if they do not object to it by principle, they risk it manifesting in their "real lives." In other words, they are all potential monsters.
I am kept off of the site because they don't want to think about what I have to say. They don't want others to even have the chance. It isn't to make their site better. It is to make their power pretensions easier. They ban people for fun, the close any topic they don't want to read. They respond to questions, however fairly and kindly asked, with harsh, brute force. Let's hope none of them ever find themselves with any real power.
What kind of weaklings need to censor people for asking questions? What kind of weaklings need to close topics so that people don't discuss what they don't like discussed? What kind of weaklings need to erase every post someone wrote so that no one can see for themselves what really happened? The answer is obvious: the kind of weakling that needs to fool themself, and others. The kind who needs to bend and cover obvious arguments so that weaker ones prevail. The kind who needs to hide behind politics of censorship, of slander, and of hate. And if they think this kind of behavior will not bleed over into their real life they are wrong. Dead wrong. This is how all monsters begin. If they do not have the maturity, the attitudes, and the philosophy to treat people as human beings, to value discourse, to not put petty fears and conveniences before the cultivation of multiple voices--they are bound to become, or find themselves in support of, people like Mr. Bush or Mr. Hitler, etc.
I wish I could put my case together for you, but I am afraid that they have already burned the evidence. What more can I do when they are going to flat out erase and hide whatever I do? How can we know anything when they openly abuse the power to do so? We can't. They're making the site worse for its users, and hiding all the evidence. They do it for petty, personal reasons. May the consequences of cultivating such personal flaws rain down on their personal lives, and their future lives, and may they find at the bottom that it was the truth they were fleeing from to the point where its weight bared over them like a mountain. And then we Stimeytans can at least proclaim, "Free at last, free at last, thank Nob almighty we are free at last!"
Friday, March 30, 2007
The Utility of Hope
Do you know why the death penalty is not the punishment for everything? The children among you may raise their hand, thinking "fairness" and whatnot.
But seriously, why do we need others? It is for the protection of the police. If everyone, about to be apprehended, had nothing to expect but death--why, they would, in vertigo, fight tooth and nail for their survival. This is why even with those we want to kill, we at least want them to have some hope--to protect TeamLiquid's Finest, TLPD.
Would you blame people who have no hope, for committing further crimes? When you took away their hope, you unleashed the torrent. Then you look at what they did, after you took away their hope, and said, "See? They are bad. We were right to punish them so harshly." Fools.
But seriously, why do we need others? It is for the protection of the police. If everyone, about to be apprehended, had nothing to expect but death--why, they would, in vertigo, fight tooth and nail for their survival. This is why even with those we want to kill, we at least want them to have some hope--to protect TeamLiquid's Finest, TLPD.
Would you blame people who have no hope, for committing further crimes? When you took away their hope, you unleashed the torrent. Then you look at what they did, after you took away their hope, and said, "See? They are bad. We were right to punish them so harshly." Fools.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Chibi's Ban Update
Believe it or not, I wrote the previous post about Chibi's ban right before I saw TL's threads explaining the ban and the ones popularizing my sites (thanks Physician, you sick fuck).
It seems that for maybe another day, I have a portal into a limited amount of TL. Some people will see this post. Great.
After reading that entire thread, it's pretty plain to me, that this thread (Chibi's ban explanation) is a perfect encapsulation of what is being done wrong in TL's General Forums. We pretty much know for a fact that Chibi lived up to all of the terms set for him since his temp-ban. We know that Beyonder acted out of turn, out of line. We know that Beyonder then blackmailed the whole staff, by threatening to leave, to get his way. The staff then cooked up all the reasons they don't like Chibi (most with no correlation to Chibi's actual posts, as read by actual forumers), and voted to keep the ban permanent.
We know all of this. These are plain facts, seen over and over in the thread I'm talking about. They were shouted down by a bunch of idiots saying Chibi is a pedo (off topic, useless shit). If TL was moderated well, all of these idiots would at least have temp-bans right now, and the truth, that was repeated over and over, would be acknowledged.
Instead, we can see several staff members who just aren't seeing the facts. Instead, they voted to uphold the turd layed by Beyonder's bitchy cryfest fit. It's amazing.
You could take that thread and temp-ban 40 people or more. You could take what we know Beyonder did and kick his ass off the site forever, and it would be plus EV.
TL, when you temp-ban someone, that means you are okay with them coming back, but you aren't okay with something they did. You want them to come back, but under certain conditions. You should make more of an effort, then, to spell out the right conditions. If they keep them, then WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU THEN, PERM BAN THEM FOREVER?
Temp-bans aren't a form of leniency. They're a form of asking people, who are quality, to not do certain things. If they can't read your mind, it's not their fault. The fact that Chibi has been temp-banned so many times is only proof that he is WANTED, he is QUALITY. And in the time between his last temp-ban and this current FARCE, he has shown that he can follow any requests to a tee.
If he is still quality, like he was for the seven or so other temp-bans, and you can believe he is able to do whatever you ask (which he has proven), then WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU BANNING HIM YOU IMMATURE PIECES OF SHIT? Get your head out of Beyonder's tight Christian ass, and stop VOTING in these things if you are too lazy to see the facts that Servolisk and Eri are kind enough to teach us.
How many times will your "majority vote" be only explicable if we take lies to be true? How mani times?
It seems that for maybe another day, I have a portal into a limited amount of TL. Some people will see this post. Great.
After reading that entire thread, it's pretty plain to me, that this thread (Chibi's ban explanation) is a perfect encapsulation of what is being done wrong in TL's General Forums. We pretty much know for a fact that Chibi lived up to all of the terms set for him since his temp-ban. We know that Beyonder acted out of turn, out of line. We know that Beyonder then blackmailed the whole staff, by threatening to leave, to get his way. The staff then cooked up all the reasons they don't like Chibi (most with no correlation to Chibi's actual posts, as read by actual forumers), and voted to keep the ban permanent.
We know all of this. These are plain facts, seen over and over in the thread I'm talking about. They were shouted down by a bunch of idiots saying Chibi is a pedo (off topic, useless shit). If TL was moderated well, all of these idiots would at least have temp-bans right now, and the truth, that was repeated over and over, would be acknowledged.
Instead, we can see several staff members who just aren't seeing the facts. Instead, they voted to uphold the turd layed by Beyonder's bitchy cryfest fit. It's amazing.
You could take that thread and temp-ban 40 people or more. You could take what we know Beyonder did and kick his ass off the site forever, and it would be plus EV.
TL, when you temp-ban someone, that means you are okay with them coming back, but you aren't okay with something they did. You want them to come back, but under certain conditions. You should make more of an effort, then, to spell out the right conditions. If they keep them, then WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU THEN, PERM BAN THEM FOREVER?
Temp-bans aren't a form of leniency. They're a form of asking people, who are quality, to not do certain things. If they can't read your mind, it's not their fault. The fact that Chibi has been temp-banned so many times is only proof that he is WANTED, he is QUALITY. And in the time between his last temp-ban and this current FARCE, he has shown that he can follow any requests to a tee.
If he is still quality, like he was for the seven or so other temp-bans, and you can believe he is able to do whatever you ask (which he has proven), then WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU BANNING HIM YOU IMMATURE PIECES OF SHIT? Get your head out of Beyonder's tight Christian ass, and stop VOTING in these things if you are too lazy to see the facts that Servolisk and Eri are kind enough to teach us.
How many times will your "majority vote" be only explicable if we take lies to be true? How mani times?
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