Selecting a Despot for the Autism Thunderdome

[Lurker]

i propose a rule where 2013 users get to shitpost in the thunderdome without being penalized because we're old and cranky and remember the good ol' days.

 

[Johan Schmidt]

i propose a rule where 2013 users get to shitpost in the thunderdome without being penalized because we're old and cranky and remember the good ol' days.

Plus, with that late stage dementia, it's not fair to hold you to the standards of the non-brain rotted.

 

[Disheveled Human]

I can already tell the direction that will happen in A&H nothing will change mods will be overworked because of gangbang reports on people and it will continue to wind up into a hugbox, You tried the same things over and over and over and it obviously hasn't worked at all and every year a thread gets made about the state of A&H. Lets do the same thing we did last time and try to curate it again.

 

[Lurker]

Plus, with that late stage dementia, it's not fair to hold you to the standards of the non-brain rotted.

yeah, i gotta say that's pretty tru- WAIT A MINUTE

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

I agree, which is why I'd reserve my suggestion of segregation and bullying for only the worst of the worst trolls. Whilst there are plenty of A&N users I disagree with on a regular basis - on both sides of the political spectrum - they need their space to examine the day's news and events through the lens with which they feel comfortable, and the last thing I want to see is for that space to be taken away thanks to the actions of bad actors at the extremities.

The thing that all these good A&N users have in common is that they are usually just pragmatic enough to realise when they're being unreasonable, and will step away from the edge. At least that's my read.

Can't wait for all the rainbows I'm gonna get for this post.

I'd agree, I don't go to A&N for a hugbox and I appreciate disagreement when it's honest disagreement, and I like to think I can back off when that happens. I've done a bit of trolling, sure, and am given to a touch of hyperbole, but I like having a think. But I think there's some that are there disingenuously, just to stir shit up, and maybe make A&N look bad in an attempt to get it shitcanned for reasons, and that's a problem. Some of these people are already viewed as getting more leniency than others and I think that's what drives some of the bait taking and such. Most of the A&N users aren't really problem users, but we all need a touch of tard wrangling from time to time.

On the other hand, @CatParty articles amuse me, so take my opinions with grain of salt.

 

[Humble Crab]

I'm a normie who hasn't really posted much until recently, but I've lurked since 2016 or so because I wanted to know who the heck Brianna Wu was. I really appreciate A&N for the news aggregation and exposing me to information that I would otherwise not see from mainstream news websites. I enjoy the editorializing of articles whether they are posted by someone I agree or disagree with, because I like to learn about people's perspectives and find it fascinating to share a world with people who think so differently than me. I rate nearly every post I read whether it's in A&N or elsewhere because I think it helps identify which posts are useful and contribute to the discussion. I don't want A&N to be shut down and I don't want it to be moderated to death either.

I've never moderated a forum before so I don't know what the moderators deal with in A&N or the rest of the site, but as a frequent browser of that part of the forum, there are really only a few things that stick out to me:

• Lack of stickers means no clarity in whether a user's post is actually bad or if people are just disagreeing with them politically. Informative and maybe Feels are about the only ones that I pay attention to when deciding if a post is worth reading. I say bring them back and give people a single warning if they complain about the stickers before banning them from posting and using stickers in A&N completely. Don't ban their accounts fully (unless they continue to screw up other parts of the site) because some people can't handle the power to post but still like to read articles and the (sometimes pretty good) discussions that they bring.
• Ban users from posting in A&N for tagging people just for bait purposes. It's stupid and annoying.
• Closely related to the above, threadban anyone who spergs out and continues an argument without any real discussion for more than a post or two. It should be up to mod discretion to decide that if someone is threadbanned enough for this they should be banned from posting in A&N completely. Maybe a 3-strikes rule would be better, but I know sometimes people just get heated about stuff and get off track without really meaning to.
• Add a sticker for Off-Topic, similar to the neat Easter Island head on the rest of the site. I love that thing because I can instantly identify posts that are useless to read when I decide to read up on the latest about certain lolcows.

Anyway, I read A&N for a while every day so I'm glad Null is being active about working with the users to make positive change

 

[Local FloRida-man]

I'm not advocating full immunity, of course. But people of a certain standing should be treated differently from others.

I agree with this. But only in that more established/well known users should be held to a HIGHER standard. That's how you get people to respect the rules you set in place. By beating the people you like to death with them. No one gives a shit how many pfpless 2020 accounts get toasted. But strangle 1 APC? THAT causes waves.

In fact, I say every year Null should take his favorite thunderdome mod and, with tears in his eyes, personally feed them to his wife Chantel on MATI. That way we all understand none of us are safe.

 

[mold]

another consensus that seems to be forming is that there are certain issues that are causing the problems, and by certain issues I mean abortion. as multiple posters have pointed out, Ukraine and covid posters have self-segregated and it mostly works.

so I understand why people are like, just ban abortion discussion, or moderate it harder, or redirect tards constantly to containment threads.

unfortunately this isn't going to work because abortion is going to be a major issue in the upcoming election. also, this thread, like the site, is nearly all male. more and more women are going to be coming here because as Null has so eloquently discussed, this is one of the very few places women can openly discuss trans stuff. and women aren't going to not discuss abortion.

 

[X Prime]

In fact, I say every year Null should take his favorite thunderdome mod and, with tears in his eyes, personally feed them to his wife Chantel on MATI. That way we all understand none of us are safe.

Dear God. Why are you trying to kill CatParty?

 

[crows in guns]

Gentlemen I have the final solution the A&H problem and maybe to the site's problem. We ban women, jews and the dreaded negroid

 

[Dog-O-Tron 5000v5.0]

No doubt someone has already pitched this, but one way to deal with the most egregious fedposters and other assorted retards would be to pen each one up in its own designated shitting thread and then let the other autists bully them without restraint until they either leave the Farms or calm the fuck down.

This doesn't work nearly as well as you think it would.

Trust me.

 

[Penis Drager]

the complete lack of a "why this should be" here.

Maybe I'm wrong in saying "should" in a certain sense. But it's a thing that does happen in pretty much every community, both online and IRL.
In a perfect world, everyone following the same rules and them being uniformly enforced makes much more sense than arbitrating based on who the person is. But pretending that's what would ever actually happen in practice is downright hypocritical.
The reason I would afford more leniency to those the community largely hates is essentially the opposite reason I would pass that same leniency onto beloved members.

The beloved members are less likely to face scrutiny because of how well they're liked. The hated members should be afforded a certain level of leniency because they're the ones who always have a target on their back.

more established/well known users should be held to a HIGHER standard

Maybe this could apply to well liked members. If reports come in about those guys, chances are they did something egregious. There may be something to that.

 

[CircuSphere]

Im not going to quote anyone cause I dont want to start shit (and Im lazy) but this obsession with the "you must give a shit about Chris Chan or leave" mentality irks me. I lurk cow threads and they are often hundreds of pages of repetitive comments (especially featured ones)... I feel no need to throw in my 2 cents when there is already $2000 in pennies on the bottom of the fountain. I often prefer to skim them at most as not to ruin my Friday afternoon MATI time.

I find it funny how as a near exclusive A&H poster I don't recognize most of the people here scrambling for power/control.

As far as constructive changes... get rid of mega threads, the journo hacks right or left should be the cows on A&H, there will be 10k articles on Ukrian anyway, each one a new blank canvas for spergery, if you get BTFO there will be a fresh thread in the morning. An A&H thread without an article is like a cow thread without a cow.

Over moderation is what kills forums and creates troon cabals. US law needs to be enforced, spam and CP and duplicates and obvious bait sans article need removal and that's it.

I avoid ad hom because it's like grappling in a fight, it's something you do when you are already on the floor, I prefer to attack the ideas but at the end of the day it's KF, who the fuck cares... just be grateful you arent being trolled by the whole site for finger banging your sister or getting the shit beat out of you in Portugal every other month.

I reiterate, I just want a place to shit on Journos. If I could do it to thier faces I would, A&H is the next best thing.

 

[Mr Cuddles]

Yes. She was literally one of the examples I used as someone who should be given more leniency than most.
And it is arbitrary, as it should be. One should have some self-awareness as to who they are and where they stand in a community before they start pushing buttons. I'm not advocating full immunity, of course. But people of a certain standing should be treated differently from others.

If you are going to have rules you need to enforce those rules evenly. That is why not having too many rules is a good idea. Personally, I regard Muh Vagina, HHH and the likes to be pretty cancerous. There are posters like Dammit Mandrake and El Pollo Nino (good name btw) who although certainly like rocking the boat actually sometimes make really good, but unpopular points. MV and HHH are just shitlib clowns who are just obnoxious.

But hey that's just my opinion, like you appreciating them is yours. So if I were given the power you would be proposing I would offer leniency to some rando before HHH.

So, fuck selective leniency.

 

[Kenya Jones]

If you are going to have rules you need to enforce those rules evenly. That is why not having too many rules is a good idea. Personally, I regard Muh Vagina, HHH and the likes to be pretty cancerous. There are posters like Dammit Mandrake and El Pollo Nino (good name btw) who although certainly like rocking the boat actually sometimes make really good, but unpopular points. MV and HHH are just shitlib clowns who are just obnoxious.

But hey that's just my opinion, like you appreciating them is yours. So if I were given the power you would be proposing I would offer leniency to some rando before HHH.

So, fuck selective leniency.

>Finding HHH cancerous
Your anus is distended my friend, please calm down.

 

[Pee Cola]

It doesn't help that many articles and topics are heated from the get go.

Compare an on-topic thread, whose purpose is gossiping about individuals or groups, a.k.a the purpose is having fun
vs
Articles about how group A or person B wants us to be injected with stuff, our kids indoctrinated and us living in pods

Those very threads don't spark happiness or genuine discussion, the topics themself are taken out of context rage-bait

It also doesn't help when ATers either go out of their way to find the articles designed to push a specific set of buttons (@CatParty and their dollar store equivalent @JambledUpWords notwithstanding)... but at least these posters actually post articles. This faggot didn't even bother; I ended up having to help them out by finding a fucking article for them to attach to their OP (and before you ask... no, they didn't bother copying and pasting said article into their OP; they just copypasted my link and archive link).

One simple rule that might help A&N ever so slightly: OP must contain an article, and only an article. No editorialising by the OP. If the OP wants to give their opinion, they should do so in a separate post. This is the one and only time where doubleposting is acceptable IMHO. It might help take some of the edge off the more spicy articles. Enforce this with zero tolerance. Repeat offenders get carted off to the showers.

 

[Penis Drager]

If you are going to have rules you need to enforce those rules evenly. That is why not having too many rules is a good idea. Personally, I regard Muh Vagina, HHH and the likes to be pretty cancerous. There are posters like Dammit Mandrake and El Pollo Nino (good name btw) who although certainly like rocking the boat actually sometimes make really good, but unpopular points. MV and HHH are just shitlib clowns who are just obnoxious.

But hey that's just my opinion, like you appreciating them is yours. So if I were given the power you would be proposing I would offer leniency to some rando before HHH.

So, fuck selective leniency.

I like @Dammit Mandrake! But I have no idea who the other guy is.
HHH is funny but MV is always mad.
The thing is, my leniency towards the bad take clan is precisely because they have a target on their back. The fact that they're "shitlib clowns" to you and many others means their behavior is under a microscope at all times. They are starting from an unlevel playing field. It should be pretty much policy that, if these people get reported, it should be treated as some spergs getting mad.

 

[Autopsy]

I agree with Null's rationale, I surveyed the actual users of Happenings to see if a similar premise was true before I knew this thread existed, but I'm not even vaguely active enough to volunteer for head of fedposting affairs.

Retard commie Orwell has somehow convinced an illiterate modern public that any requirement to have a façade of decency to normalize normal discourse is "doublespeak." Entirely coincidentally, the normal discourse of websites not engaging in so-called "doublespeak" is absolute fucking lunacy, because lunatics feel at home.
Unfortunately, implementing any one view of what is right or wrong is hazardous on Kiwifarms since the website's intended demographic has a lot of overlap with lunatics long before politics comes into the picture. That means you could accidentally weed out the good lunatics with the bad ones, if you can even decide on a good measure to show which lunatics count as which based on their degree of "sperging" and demeanor. Spoiler: you can't.

There are several things that should be done regardless of who takes over, that do not require any such fine control or cultural awareness to implement:

• The Thunderdome should not be accessible or visible in any way while you are not logged in.

There is a perverse incentive to use Kiwifarms as "/pol/ with names" and a slow-thread dumping grounds for propaganda and disinformation. True Believers™ will continue to do so if it's private, but it will cut back on the holy-war mentality for the average unrepentant shill. There's nothing wrong with allowing insularity if the users contributing to it are at least primarily there to engage in discussion with each-other, not grandstand to an invisible audience.
While articles retained a lot of the reactionary bent that Happenings has, it has substantively better posts in many cases, since there's fewer apes who are posting with the intention of swaying a public that they imagine is reading. The problem isn't that A&H is colonized by politispergs, but that many politispergs have a fundamental lack of understanding of what the sub-forum is for: Kiwifarms users discussing events, not refugees looking for less moderated pastures to shill their world-view.

• Minimum 10 (ten) "positive" rating score total on any number of posts in threads from the "Lolcow Cults" sub-forum to enable access to the Thunderdome.

As lenient as possible. Rating score is easy to accrue even if you are posting off-topic garbage, but that's the point of setting the bar so low. By restricting it to Lolcow Cults (i.e. not Lolcow Farms or off-topic which have /pol/ enclaves) the user has to engage in at least some apolitical discussion on a lolcow without getting himself banned prior to access. It's not a purity test, it's a literacy test, and increases cohesion of the website by subtly reminding spergs the rest of the site exists everytime they make a new sock.
Also serves as a good way to hunt for socks, because 100% of spergs will use their own socks to rate their new socks to try and bypass this requirement, even though it's so easy to achieve normally.

• Restore all standard ratings.

The problem with people sperging to staff over "negrates" and contacting staff isn't that negative responses were used or abused, but that the people complaining were not instantly banned. Reducing the range of options to respond to stupid posts to legitimizing them or replying to them bogs down threads with pointless arguments where a simple puzzle piece would suffice anywhere else on the website. If the person goes on a tirade about getting puzzle pieces, that just proves the reader's assessment was correct. Ratings are pointless, but much like the prior recommendation, they can serve as a forum literacy test.
If a person reacts histrionically and causes a ruckus over getting muh bad internet karma, then you have successfully rooted out the problem. No one complains when insecticide drives the roaches from their walls, even if they have to wipe up a few dead ones.

• lol calm down

Make the reminder float on the screen in a separate element and track with the user if they scroll down so they can't escape. Toss it in a marquee so it can bob gently on the page, reminding the user of its presence. Make it glide across the text-box briefly every 10 minutes if a user is editing a post. Render the reminder in soothing colors like cornflower blue or mauve but using a font that is guaranteed to make people angry like Curlz for optimal effect.
As with restoring negative reactions, the ultimate goal is to allow aspies and madfags to out themselves as such and therefore make them easier to ban without having to worry about the nuances of their opinions, posting style, etc., it's trivial to remove or hide an element on any modern browser so people complaining are an instant red flag for NGMI. Added benefit of giving ADHD-suffering spergs something visually interesting to look at, reducing agitation.
Do a round of merchandise that is a plush of you can squeeze to play recordings of various lolcows voluntarily or involuntarily saying the phrase "lol calm down." As a bonus, there should be a 1/200 chance to instead play a clip of Null confessing that he hates anyone who has ever posted in A&H and awkwardly adding in that despite claims to the contrary, he would not in fact bomb a federal building, even in Minecraft. Voicebox plushes are very cheap and one of the main Chinese factories that makes them (Shenzhen Xinhongsheng Toy Manufacturing) desperately needs work right now. Partner with a non-profit for autistic children to reduce costs.


Entrepreneurial opportunities aside, these four fundamental changes alone (secret club, on-topic green card, thinking emoji, lol calm down) would have more effect on A&H than this year's try at a benevolent dictatorship.

 

[Lurker]

It also doesn't help when ATers either go out of their way to find the articles designed to push a specific set of buttons (@CatParty and their dollar store equivalent @JambledUpWords notwithstanding)... but at least these posters try and and find an article. This faggot didn't even bother; I ended up having to help them out by finding a fucking article for them to attach to their OP.

One simple rule that might help A&N ever so slightly: OP must contain an article, and only an article. No editorialising by the OP. If the OP wants to give their opinion, they should do so in a separate post. This is the one and only time where doubleposting is acceptable IMHO. It might help take some of the edge off the more spicy articles. Enforce this with zero tolerance. Repeat offenders get carted off to the showers.

this is actually a genuinely good idea. i don't give a shit about OP's opinion on the article before i open the fucking thread. it taints the thread because of OP's biases. then again, if the first post in the thread is the OP giving their opinion, it would probably do the same thing as adding your own little editorial shit to the thread title

edit to avoid doublepost

If you are going to have rules you need to enforce those rules evenly. That is why not having too many rules is a good idea. Personally, I regard Muh Vagina, HHH and the likes to be pretty cancerous. There are posters like Dammit Mandrake and El Pollo Nino (good name btw) who although certainly like rocking the boat actually sometimes make really good, but unpopular points. MV and HHH are just shitlib clowns who are just obnoxious.

But hey that's just my opinion, like you appreciating them is yours. So if I were given the power you would be proposing I would offer leniency to some rando before HHH.

So, fuck selective leniency.

why don't you ping the users you're talking shit about, you pussy?

 

[X Prime]

Huh? Who "starts" on an unlevel playing field in regards to posting? That's ridiculous, that happens because of the combination of what they do and the community they are doing it in.

Again, that just smells like an arbitrary exception.