Articles & Happening Meta Discussion

Articles & Happenings is the third attempt at a news board on the Kiwi Farms. It is a cursed place. Every moderator who has been assigned here has resigned within a year. During 2016, the political crossfire was so bad it spread to different boards and culminated in me banning American news discussion entirely for several months. It has been deleted in its entirety twice. There is no actual discussion here, it's people posting garbage. It leans much further right than the rest of the site and doesn't particularly conduct discussion because dissenting opinions are dogpiled by a thousand memelords posting shit they read on /pol/ without any critical analysis.

The only rules that can be enforced are empirical ones with boolean violation answers. New threads must cite a real source directly and must use the headline of the article as a thread title without any editorializing. Articles must be archived in some way and must link to the original article. Replies that are one word or a reaction images are automatic one-month bans from the board.

I'm creating this now because it seems like this place is here to stay and is one of the largest areas of the entire site. I might as well throw in bare minimum effort to improve it. I don't even try to find mods for here because they will quit, without exception. I've added new prefixes ("Business" and "Crime") just now.

Discuss.


New threads should be made like this.

 

[Bunny Tracks]

I keep seeing this being said, but there appear to be a lack of examples. Please give one.

This thread regarding Trump wanting to declare Anifa a terrorist organization.

 

[X Prime]

This thread regarding Trump wanting to declare Anifa a terrorist organization.

https://kiwifarms.st/threads/trump-...e-been-more-violent.59003/page-4#post-5080661

A couple people disagreeing with you about Antifa being disorganized or not does not a dogpile make, nor does it make things "black or white."

Come now.

 

[Nobunaga]

You could say the same about all the libs bad/dems bad/muslims bad/jews bad/orange man good posts that make up most of A&H's threads.

Look, the way I see it, the biggest problem with A&H is that there seems to little to no middle ground when it comes to discussions. There can be no compromise, you're either with them or completely against them, everything is has to be black, and white. There's no nuance, and it makes have any sort of discussion that goes against popular opinion incredibly frustrating.

Dont get me wrong, i agree but heres the catch
You dont see those posters calling all the libs bad/dems bad/muslims bad/jews bad/orange man good bitching about the lefty side of kiwi farms, trying to shut it down, being a bunch of passive aggresive cunts, crying to mods and the ones that do?
Well they get mocked and deserve to get mocked

 

[X Prime]

Dont get me wrong, i agree but heres the catch
You dont see those posters calling all the libs bad/dems bad/muslims bad/jews bad/orange man good bitching about the lefty side of kiwi farms, trying to shut it down, being a bunch of passive aggresive cunts, crying to mods and the ones that do?
Well they get mocked and deserve to get mocked

A significant portion of the complaining is disingenuous or has an ulterior motive.

I mean, it took less than a minute to figure out why the example linked on this page was given.

 

[Smarty Pants]

When people do try to defend their position they get drowned out and dog piled by you inbreds and who the hell wants to deal with that? Nobody even bothers anymore.

You don't have to respond to everyone, y'know? You're just dismissing people right now for no good reason.

 

[Bunny Tracks]

https://kiwifarms.st/threads/trump-...e-been-more-violent.59003/page-4#post-5080661

A couple people disagreeing with you about Antifa being disorganized or not does not a dogpile make, nor does it make things "black or white."

Come now.

You're missing the point. What I'm getting at is that there definitely is a tendency for users to start dogpiling other users when they give an opinion that doesn't match up with their overall political or personal beliefs. It's been happening in this very thread with @Scratch This Nut.

Users in general just seem to get too worked up over stuff in this board.

Dont get me wrong, i agree but heres the catch
You dont see those posters calling all the libs bad/dems bad/muslims bad/jews bad/orange man good bitching about the lefty side of kiwi farms, trying to shut it down, being a bunch of passive aggresive cunts, crying to mods and the ones that do?
Well they get mocked and deserve to get mocked

This is true. I just think it's a little hypocritical to call of the left side of kiwi farms, but not the right side. I'm not saying A&H needs to be shut down, it definitely doesn't. That would be a ridiculous overreaction. I just think it needs better moderation. I'm not sure how to really fix anything. I just agree that something needs to be done.

 

[Sm0kINHaZefEEliNBlaZEd]

Was it the fifth or sixth Greta Thurnburg thread that got you mad null? I found it a little absurd too but c'mon. If you really want to dampen the echo in this chamber then, idk, disable the ratings and pray for more lefty users to come. The latter won't happen, but that's more of a function of the current state of the internet than anything else.

 

[X Prime]

You're missing the point. What I'm getting at is that there definitely is a tendency for users to start dogpiling other users when they give an opinion that doesn't match up with their overall political or personal beliefs. It's been happening in this very thread with @Scratch This Nut.

No it doesn't. You had only a few people who disagreed with you, and who gave reasons for their disagreement. That is not a dogpile, that is a discussion. Please don't insult readers' intelligence by trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

As for the user you mentioned? Did you miss how they tried to pull a "I was just parroting" post?

 

[Scratch This Nut]

You don't have to respond to everyone, y'know? You're just dismissing people right now for no good reason.

I know I’ll never be popular here and I don’t really care how the regs here see me. But if someone here wants to discuss something with me and I might get something of substance out of it, why not reply, right?

But if jokingly calling them inbreds was enough to get them going...

 

[The Pink Panther]

You're missing the point. What I'm getting at is that there definitely is a tendency for users to start dogpiling other users when they give an opinion that doesn't match up with their overall political or personal beliefs. It's been happening in this very thread with @Scratch This Nut

Since when is trying to question one's point on a message board considered "dogpiling"?

Why can't someone question an opposing belief? Does it bother you that one would want to clarify what one means with their opinions?

 

[Bunny Tracks]

No it doesn't. You had only a few people who disagreed with you, and who gave reasons for their disagreement. That is not a dogpile, that is a discussion. Please don't insult readers' intelligence by trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

As for the user you mentioned? Did you miss how they tried to pull a "I was just parroting" post?

Dogpile is the wrong word for it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it should be possible to have a discussion without it turning into a passive aggressive snarkfest.

 

[Unog]

You're missing the point. What I'm getting at is that there definitely is a tendency for users to start dogpiling other users when they give an opinion that doesn't match up with their overall political or personal beliefs. It's been happening in this very thread with @Scratch This Nut.

I don't think he was missing the point at all. "Dogpiling" gives the connotation that the person being dogpiled is being attacked. What you linked, with exception to Corbin Dallas Multipass, was a bunch of people politely disagreeing with you. If you can't handle that I don't really know what to tell you.

Also I just knew someone was going to call people responding to @Scratch This Nut dogpiling. Like, what, if you see that someone made a post and you want to respond to it you're expected to just not post if they have a certain number of replies already?

Users in general just seem to get too worked up over stuff in this board.

Nah, mate, I think the users who get too worked up over stuff in this board are the people who want it shut down/neutered.

This is true. I just think it's a little hypocritical to call of the left side of kiwi farms, but not the right side. I'm not saying A&H needs to be shut down, it definitely doesn't. That would be a ridiculous overreaction. I just think it needs better moderation. I'm not sure how to really fix anything. I just agree that something needs to be done.

Give an example of what you would consider appropriate action taken against the example you linked. I'm curious as to what "better moderation" looks like, coming from the guy who linked polite disagreement and called it dogpiling.

 

[ConfederateIrishman]

Was it the fifth or sixth Greta Thurnburg thread that got you mad null? I found it a little absurd too but c'mon. If you really want to dampen the echo in this chamber then, idk, disable the ratings and pray for more lefty users to come. The latter won't happen, but that's more of a function of the current state of the internet than anything else.

To be fair, watching everyone take the low hanging fruit there is absolutely a good reason for getting pissed at A&H

 

[X Prime]

Dogpile is the wrong word for it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it should be possible to have a discussion without it turning into a passive aggressive snarkfest.

Please point out a post you consider to fit that description in the thread. It really looks like you are moving the goalposts, but I am willing to be convinced otherwise.

 

[D'edge]

To my understanding, Kiwi Farms started out as a place to catalog and mock weirdos, not as a free speech platform. A small, niche place where, by its own design, having thick skin (and therefore being able to turn the other cheek to disagreement, or even fire back in good fun, lest one be mocked themselves for overreacting) was necessary. It's only sort of become the latter because the former is such a faux pas (especially when who is being mocked means butting heads with popular/influential camps) that it has come to foster discussion that anywhere else would make you unpopular at best, and get you banned at worst. The same goes for the fact that cataloging weirdos means archiving content that the relevant individuals and camps would rather see deleted.

And, as the userbase have grown and its interests have broadened, it's not only become host to more of such discussion outside of mocking weirdos, but may have reached a crossroads on that very matter. Handle it poorly, and this site risks walking the same path as sites like Something Awful and Neogaf, whose mission statements have shifted gears into ones more conducive to a downward spiral, rooted in the ballooning of their userbases, and culminating in their slow descents into obscurity. If it's the health of the site we're talking about, then look to our wise prophet Terry's warnings of the "bloat and die" paradigm of content saturation.

TL;DR I hate to say it - and I'm not saying it - but maybe Kiwi Farms isn't the place for this kind of discussion.

 

[Unog]

To my understanding, Kiwi Farms started out as a place to catalog and mock weirdos, not as a free speech platform. A small, niche place where, by its own design, having thick skin (and therefore being able to turn the other cheek to disagreement, lest one be mocked themselves for overreacting) was necessary. It's only sort of become the latter because the former is such a faux pas (especially when who is being mocked means butting heads with popular/influential camps) that it has come to foster discussion that anywhere else would make you unpopular at best, and get you banned at worst. The same goes for the fact that cataloging weirdos means archiving content that the relevant individuals and camps would rather see deleted.

And, as the userbase have grown and its interests have broadened, it's not only become host to more of such discussion outside of mocking weirdos, but may have reached a crossroads on that very matter. Handle it poorly, and this site risks walking the same path as sites like Something Awful and Neogaf, whose mission statements have shifted gears into ones more conducive to a downward spiral, rooted in the ballooning of their userbases, and culminating in their slow descents into obscurity. If it's the health of the site we're talking about, then look to our wise prophet Terry's warnings of the "bloat and die" paradigm of content saturation.

TL;DR I hate to say it - and I'm not saying it - but maybe Kiwi Farms isn't the place for this kind of discussion.

Nobody is forcing anybody to scroll down, highlight, and click "Articles and Happenings" on the front page. This is a problem that already solves itself, if people could simply live and let live.

 

[CWCissey]

You know what? I'm going to provide a good example for you lot on dogpiling because I'm a good person and I love you all.

Mr Tickles' posts in the Hong Kong Megathread. Sure he's probably trolling, but people took the bait and now the whole thread is a cluster fuck of people shrieking about ChiCom shills.

If anything, I wouldn't say the problem with this board is dogpiling, it's people taking themselves and their opinions so seriously. You're on fucking Kiwi Farms. You're here to laugh at the stupid, why not extend that to yourself and current affairs?

Lord knows we're in frigging Clown Land here!

 

[Scratch This Nut]

Nobody is forcing anybody to scroll down, highlight, and click "Articles and Happenings" on the front page. This is a problem that already solves itself, if people could simply live and let live.

It’s a public forum. Anyone has the right to post in it.

 

[X Prime]

I would think a better example would be people taking, say, Ron /pol's, bait, which seems to have actually decreased in frequency.

 

[The Pink Panther]

You're on fucking Kiwi Farms. You're here to laugh at the stupid, why not extend that to yourself and current affairs?

Lord knows we're in frigging Clown Land here!

That's a good point, actually.

Perhaps, we do take discussions too seriously around here. I mean we archive and present info as sort of an internet archive of craziness, why do we have serious discussions about the craziness rather than laughing at the aspect of craziness itself? We're supposed to the Statler and Waldorf of the internet, not the opinionated reactionaries. If anything serious discussion should mostly relegated to Deep Thoughts and any thread in Deep Thoughts is likely to get downvoted because the topic of discussion shows the OP's bias and how stupidity the topic is in general.