Selecting a Despot for the Autism Thunderdome

lol no
the ukraine news thread is full of vatniks baiting resident posters into angry flame wars, while the ukraine happenings thread is filled to the brim with people endlessly slapfighting along the lines of
>america is great homosexual satan
>russia is horde of asiatic subhumans
>you are nato agent
>you are kremlin shill
>you are butthurt polack
>you are vodka monkey
but why is that a bad things
 
Half this thread is people trying to pretend they're offering a serious suggestion but are in fact just trying to legitimize the kind of madposting they like while banning the kind they don't.

40% of this thread are people offering half-baked suggestions.

5% of the thread are people offering serious, well-thought out suggestions.

5% of the thread, the best part, is the shitposting.
 
I think it's perfectly fair that well-known and established members of a community are offered greater leniency than those that nobody really knows or cares about.
No, it isn't fair, but it might be what is necessary.

That being said, I'm starting to change my stance on it just based on the types of people who are now pushing for it. If A&N is just going to be the place where the protected shit stirrers are just going to stir shit, might as well nuke it because it will just lead to more bitching since everyone has made it very clear they can't just ignore problem starters.
 
things you like are okay and things you don't are not.
It's not the "what" but the "who."
I certainly wouldn't consider myself "established" enough to be afforded any level of leniency. What I'm saying is that there are people who's posts should be treated differently on the grounds that they are them. @Muh Vagina is probably a better example as she'll drop by, say her piece knowing it will stir the pot, and it brings all of the retards out of the woodwork.
The ones that bring up legitimate points of contention are doing nothing wrong. But the ones that shit themselves and sling insults are just begging for a time out. Meanwhile, @Muh Vagina is just being @Muh Vagina.
 
Half this thread is people trying to pretend they're offering a serious suggestion but are in fact just trying to legitimize the kind of madposting they like while banning the kind they don't.

40% of this thread are people offering half-baked suggestions.

5% of the thread are people offering serious, well-thought out suggestions.

5% of the thread, the best part, is the shitposting.

Human nature.
We are all apes.

Some apes like to scream and throw poo at other apes.

Some apes like to pretend to not be apes. Some like to think they are unbiased, or too grounded in reality, or too smart.

But every single person, be they NASA engineer or Reddit mod, has a line in the sand with their name on it. Once that line is crossed they'll be screaming and flinging poo with the rest of us apes.
 
First things first, A&N and DT have pages of threads that should be nuked. Why A&N has 708 pages and counting is beyond me, and why both of those sub-forums contain threads that date back to 2013 is even further. This is an archival site, yes, but like news and thoughts, they pass within days, hours.

Obliterate everything that wasn't created in 2022, save for relevant megathreads. Then, we can work on knocking off threads on a bi-weekly basis, all for relevancy's sake.

Get rid of Happenings too, or turn it into megathread central, and clean out A&N every 2 weeks.

Other than the noticeable gripe:
- No spam (typical)
- Time-outs for slapfights exceeding a page. Thread bans for double offenders.
- Sticker spergers get smoked.
- Three long post per page. Love @Drain Todger, but accessibility and ease are imperative. That, and there plenty of word processors available; at least upload your manifestos.
 
It's not the "what" but the "who."
I certainly wouldn't consider myself "established" enough to be afforded any level of leniency. What I'm saying is that there are people who's posts should be treated differently on the grounds that they are them. @Muh Vagina is probably a better example as she'll drop by, say her piece knowing it will stir the pot, and it brings all of the retards out of the woodwork.
The ones that bring up legitimate points of contention are doing nothing wrong. But the ones that shit themselves and sling insults are just begging for a time out. Meanwhile, @Muh Vagina is just being @Muh Vagina.
Uh huh. And who gets to decide what's a legitimate point of contention and not a pot stir?

By your metrics, what's stopping posts whining about users being /pol/ or whatever from counting? Whether you like the person saying it or not? How long they've been there is just a variation on regdate sperging.
 
Half this thread is people trying to pretend they're offering a serious suggestion but are in fact just trying to legitimize the kind of madposting they like while banning the kind they don't.

40% of this thread are people offering half-baked suggestions.

5% of the thread are people offering serious, well-thought out suggestions.

5% of the thread, the best part, is the shitposting.
I was actually being serious with my suggestions about punishments like vtuber exposure and the moon. All banning does is teach people to make sock accounts. You want the offender to suffer, else they learn nothing good.

Hell, if anything, getting banned from A&H would probably be a net positive for most people's mental health.
 
EDIT:
Bannable offences:
1, fedposting
2, tiresome sperging about the jews or the new world order
3, obvious schizo shit
4, baiting other users or hostility aggainst other users
5, retarded conspiracy theory shit about covid/vaccines/5g/bill-gates
6, shitting up a thread with one-line nonsense off-topic shit

First offence: 1 month ban from the site
Second offence: permanent ban.

These are pretty reasonable guidelines for what I would find annoying. But the consequence of banning is disproportionate and inconsistent.

1. Fed posting - no nonsense. There are legal tests in the United States for threats, harassment, and a bunch of shit on domestic terrorism and fomenting violence. It's a ban with direct reference to a post. Ideally an IP ban. It's also a public humiliation opportunity. "This user was banned for this post. This is fedposting. Don't do it." Wall of shame pinned thread. The pinned thread should remain open for about a week. This is something that happened more often in the past. Secret bans and no explanation drives people to splinters. Having a chance to argue and express feelings about bans is important, and one of the reasons this forum has persisted while others have failed.

2. Tiresome sperging - containment thread. This is what happens with similar tiresome sperging on the rest of the site. Socking, ban evasion and whining? Welcome to your Halal thread. You just became a cow.

3. Obvious schizo shit - timeout and restricted return to limited threads. Next offense is a containment thread. Mercy ban follows. Announcement that user has been banned. No commentary necessary. A mercy ban is self-explanatory.

4. Baiting and hostility - timeout. Yeah, they probably go to reddit, 4Chan, discord or wherever. Nothing can be done about that. Restricted return. Progressive discipline ending with a ban. If this is a scattershot type of baiting, then no one else needs to get involved. If it's between two, three or four mutual antagonists, the aggressors get warned, but so do the posters who can't stop taking the bait. People who can't stop taking the bait contribute to the hostility equally. They go too.

5. Conspiracy theories? I love these. Let them run. If you feel the need to come in and add NOTHING to the topic, then you can get rekt. Post deletion and a warning. Then you can get banned if you can't control yourself. Exercise some discipline, FFS. I don't go into threads about games that I hate to tell people they are stupid for liking them. Conspiracy theories are fun for a lot of people.

6. @Pineapple Fox and @Trombonista are the models here. I think. Whoever else does the Yaniv forum. There is no quarter given in the Yaniv subforum for double posts, pointless posts and shitting up threads. I like a little more shitposting, myself, but the culture of the Yaniv forum is pretty easy to grasp. And it remains a useful resource.

---

There is no easy answer for how to contain the A&H area, it will be a continuous slog, with very few satisfying dramatic moments. If you can find people who are happy to observe the area like anthropologists and work together to be consistent but somewhat uninvolved, you might be happy with the results. If you want to onboard a team, then the focus should be on available hours and willingness to observe and implement the strategy on a regular, predictable frequency.

It's an interesting area of the site. I'm not involved in it as a poster most of the time. But I do use it as a news aggregator. Do with that what you will, despite the tendency to get derailed, the commentary here is often very interesting and unlike what you can find anywhere else.
 
First things first, A&N and DT have pages of threads that should be nuked. Why A&N has 708 pages and counting is beyond me, and why both of those sub-forums contain threads that date back to 2013 is even further. This is an archival site, yes, but like news and thoughts, they pass within days, hours.
Merging threads that are discussing the same thing but link to different articles would cut down on a lot of that. If you find a new link then post it in the previous thread and maybe generate more discussion instead of a new thread that simply generates the same boring takes that were already made in the first one.

By which I mean how many separate threads about the UK feeding schoolchildren bugs do we need?
 
who gets to decide what's a legitimate point of contention and not a pot stir?
This autistic counsel of course.
More seriously: the metric should be based on the level of support you bring to your viewpoint. Just calling someone a retard and not elaborating is useless.

It's okay to be a retard: many people are just born that way. It's on you to have the patience to politely inform them they are retarded and explain the right way of thinking without being an insufferable asshole about it.
 
Now kindly point out how the user you cited as someone who would skate when you made this nonsense suggestion would avoid the ban based on your own reasoning.
 
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Fedposting, baiting other users or just autistic shitting up a thread => 1 month ban for first time offense.
Do it again and it is permanent.

Unless your registration data is post 2020. Then every infraction is automatic permaban.

You have to wield an iron fist and crack some eggs. Then the rest will fall in line.

EDIT:
Bannable offences:
1, fedposting
2, tiresome sperging about the jews or the new world order
3, obvious schizo shit
4, baiting other users or hostility aggainst other users
5, retarded conspiracy theory shit about covid/vaccines/5g/bill-gates
6, shitting up a thread with one-line nonsense off-topic shit

First offence: 1 month ban from the site
Second offence: permanent ban.

@Null I am ready and willing to swing the banhammer to protect the innocence of the site and cleanse it of the filth.
I promise to ban everyone I disagree with and use the powers for my own personal gain.
There is absolutely a zero tolerance policy on fed posting or encouraging it. It attracts the federal government and the alphabet agencies. They don't give a shit if you post about tranny hating, but the instant you do that they pose a danger to the forum and community as a whole.

If you are unsure what constitutes fed posting:

The two legal prongs that constitute incitement of imminent lawless action are as follows:

Advocacy of force or criminal activity does not receive First Amendment protections if (1) the advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action, and (2) is likely to incite or produce such action.[3]

No tolerance at all. And if that's a problem for people they can absolutely fuck off to other shitholes on the internet.
 
Now kindly point out how the user you cited as someone who would skate when you made this nonsense suggestion would avoid the ban based on your own reasoning.
Because any amount of lurking would tell you who these people are and at that point it says a lot more about you when you're seething at the posts they make.
 
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Reactions: Dork Of Ages
There is absolutely a zero tolerance policy on fed posting or encouraging it. It attracts the federal government and the alphabet agencies. They don't give a shit if you post about tranny hating, but the instant you do that they pose a danger to the forum and community as a whole.

If you are unsure what constitutes fed posting:



No tolerance at all. And if that's a problem for people they can absolutely fuck off to other shitholes on the internet.
I agree, that one was easy.

That's why I don't think the other offenses are in the same category.
 
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Reactions: Dork Of Ages
I'm an active poster inside the Thunderdome and out. I think the only time I really have been much of a shitter was closing the Biden Megathread debacle, namely cause I felt that it was a mistake for the board. I appreciate A&H for what it is, I believe it is a relief valve for the site. In the past I have described the Biden Megathread as a Containment thread that most of the posters are happy to be contained in.

So, coming from the opinion that I don't think Thunderdome needs much changing, some thing I feel like could help the threads:

1) Give us back the stickers, with a caveat. I generally think stickers are a good idea for the forum, as a lot of times I'd like to reply to a post, but it doesn't need to be a post. I appreciate Stickers as sort of a "mini-reply" I don't think all the stickers need to come back, but there are a lot of useful ones like Informative(Edit: Am exceptional, forgot that one remained), Thunkful, Optimistic. Antagonistic ones like Dumb definitely need to stay away. I also actually really appreciate the "Disagree but I still love you" sticker. I know it's suppose to be insulting to negraters, but I know as someone who(hopefully) isn't considered a threadshitter, that there are people I truely disagree with but appreciate their view point that I use it for. Stickers are seen as a system of Reddit Upvotes, when I think they should be a way of reducing posts.
-a) As a sub point to that, expand the "One word reply post" ban to include "Could of been said with a sticker."

2) Antagonisitic @ posting needs to be punished. I ignore HHH cause I don't think he argues in good faith, but I also loathe those that take his bait. I know autistic shit flinging will sometimes get spun off into a separate thread, is there a way it can be split off into a DM? I think shitters are less likely to post bait if it just results in them and those that take it being able to see it.

3) There is a lot of talk of rather quick and permanent banning from A&H. I think that's a bad idea, as is going to cause shit to spill out of Containment. I'm not entirely sure what I would support as an alternative.
 
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