I just can't take the internet forums seriously. It'd be like watching GI Joe for my opinions on the Military, or Global Politics. Or My Little Pony for Horse Care advice.

Quote from: Serious PaulI just can't take the internet forums seriously. It'd be like watching GI Joe for my opinions on the Military, or Global Politics. Or My Little Pony for Horse Care advice.

Or Gay Porn for sexual techniques....

If you think pr0n is anything like real life sex, then you haven't been laid. Or your sex life is way way way better than anyone here could imagine.

John, why are you spreading this shit?

Quote from: KoltarWhat can you do?

Come here and complain, apparently, to a bunch of people who never saw the original thread and can't do anything about it. But yes, its apparently gone wayyyy over the top. That said, despite all the bashing of SA, you will admit the thread is long gone from there. They did have the decency to pull it, it seems. The people carrying the torch now have all been BANNED from SA, and have their own little forum to stir up shit.

Just sayin'.

The site is called "Something Awful". What do you expect?

It's home to fuckwits living in their parents' basements.

There are some websites it's just better never to go to. stormfront.org, Something Awful, and so on. You go once, see that they're fucked-up, then never go again. Easy.

I'm sorry they mocked you, your friend, and most importantly your boy. But honestly, what can you do? Not much. I suppose you could pop in there and comment, but - shit, I don't know you, John Kim, but you seem to deserve better than to even be in the same thread as cocksmocks like that.

Quote from: droogJohn, why are you spreading this shit?

Hey does this milk smell bad to you? Here taste some! No seriously it's horrible, try it!

Quote from: WerekoalaCome here and complain, apparently, to a bunch of people who never saw the original thread and can't do anything about it. But yes, its apparently gone wayyyy over the top. That said, despite all the bashing of SA, you will admit the thread is long gone from there. They did have the decency to pull it, it seems. The people carrying the torch now have all been BANNED from SA, and have their own little forum to stir up shit.

Just sayin'.

Have they been banned?  Oh, good.  I hadn't followed that.  

As for what to do -- well, I gave Tempest's suggestion a shot.  As for why I posted here, it was something that's been on my mind for the past two days, and I thought I'd share it.  That's normal for Off-Topic, isn't it?

It's normal to talk about whatever you want, sure. But if it was my wife and kid, I wouldn't be talking about it here or anywhere else. But go ahead if that's what you want.

Quote from: jhkimHave they been banned?  Oh, good.  I hadn't followed that.  

As for what to do -- well, I gave Tempest's suggestion a shot.  As for why I posted here, it was something that's been on my mind for the past two days, and I thought I'd share it.  That's normal for Off-Topic, isn't it?

Well, let me rephrase - the site that is currently running with this particular torch is made up of banned users - not saying they all got banned for this particular topic, however.

And yeah, blow off some steam here - doing so there will just stir them up more. For now, as long as you and the fam enjoyed the con... that's all that matters, really.

Quote from: WerekoalaWell, let me rephrase - the site that is currently running with this particular torch is made up of banned users - not saying they all got banned for this particular topic, however.

And yeah, blow off some steam here - doing so there will just stir them up more. For now, as long as you and the fam enjoyed the con... that's all that matters, really.

Actually, I have stirred them up according to KTempest's suggestion.  If they hadn't already targeted me and others, then I wouldn't be poking in there.  But after they had several pages of this stuff posting about friends and family, I didn't feel like just pretending it wasn't there.  

The motivation is similar to how I will sometimes post back to the Pundit here, but boy -- going there really made me feel positively rosy about the sweetness of people here.  To people like Pundit and John Morrow here -- I know we disagree on lots of things, but I appreciate you guys and your willingness to discuss.  (Incidentally, the SASS moderators have taken to deleting and editing my posts now.)

Quote from: jhkimgoing there really made me feel positively rosy about the sweetness of people here.

Give 4chan a try sometime, if you want to really ramp that up.

Wait, on second thought, don't do that.

Oh, going back to an earlier point.  In case this wasn't clear...

Quote from: WerekoalaI read the thread as part of their Monday Roundup, and to be honest, although it was billed as a "sci fi" convention it sounded like (and was presented as) a bunch of fat liberal feminists whining about the fact that their inner earth-mother was still being oppressed (with an appearance by a friendly male-female-no-op transgender whatchamacallit it thrown in for fun). I didn't see one panel that was attended by the author that had flip-all to do with "sci-fi" in the entire article.

In case you had any illusions that the SA posters are an accurate source of information about WisCon -- well, no, they're not.  

Yes, there are lots of liberals, many lesbians, and even a few transgender people there.  There's also many overweight and/or dorky looking people there -- no moreso than any other SF or gaming convention in my experience, but perhaps notable because more of them are women.  (I'd guess it's around 2/3 women.)  

It is also the most critical and thoughtful convention I know of -- though to be fair, I haven't been to many and this is the only one I go to regularly.  There are lots of panels on science fiction topics, readings from recently-released books, a few academic papers presented, and so forth.  It has a primary focus on books -- but there is still a sizeable minority of TV, film, comic, and game discussion.  It has 1000 attendees (registration is capped at that because that's the venue's limit), and there are typically 8-12 panels in each slot.  With that many slots, there are a few purely meta or off-topic panels, but they're pretty exceptional.

Quote from: J ArcaneSA is basically an utter cesspit, always has been.  Juvenile, pathetic nonsense that seems to mistake screeching "fag" for rational conversation.  

It's a blight on the interwebs, and I tend to loathe it's denizens appearance anywhere else on the web, because of what expectations that leaves for their future behavior.

And right here in this post, you are using a classic SA meme ("interwebs"). :deflated: They are pretty pervasive ("all your base", "teh funny", etc. etc., and I think maybe even the cats fad - definitely the custom of using the Impact font for captioning!).

Think of SA as an in-joke that was taken to its limits and collapsed under its own weight. It started out as a site for mocking internet stupidity, but very rapidly started generating its own; abusing weird and unhealthy subcultures and developing its own - which, in the end, is not any less inbred than their targets. But the site is also a good source of absurdist humour and off the wall creativity (my favourites are the various "MSPAINT" threads where users post images entirely rendered in MS Paint), and genuinely good discussions about almost anything. Just keep in mind that it is huge, much larger than RPGNet, and parts of it are entirely unmoderated. It also attracts a specific brand of Internet retard, who have assembled into a really nasty and stupid little subculture which values abusive mocking for its own sake, even when unwarranted. Take the most extreme Tangencites, take away moderation and give them a hefty dose of encouragement / one-upmanship, and you have the shitheads who lurk in SA's darker recesses.

Basically, jhkim, my advice is that you should not react to them because they do enjoy wrestling in shit a lot, and have the sophistication/personality of high school bullies. They are also harmless to anything but your self esteem.

You have a nice looking family!

I can understand your anger.  It's frustrating because people who do stuff like that are generally physically and mentally weak.  If you ever had the opportunity to confront them in person, they would probably apologize immediately and seem incredibly pathetic.  It's difficult to see people like that given even the teeniest amplification of their voices by the internet.

But I think it's best that you move on.  They are more equipped to fight an internet war.  

Still, maybe at least save as much info on the one who said he'd like to punch your son on the off-chance that you may one day encounter his avatar again elsewhere and get a clue to his meatspace identity.  By this time, your son will be a hulking teenager, full of hormonal confusion and rage.  You guys can drive to his house and remind him of his post of so long ago.  "Here's my son mr. keyboard courage, would you like to punch him in the face now?"