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Author Topic: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)  (Read 306872 times)

gene_mingo

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2340 on: October 04, 2022, 10:31:07 AM »
Any one here remember Godwin's Law?

Godwin originally developed the idea in 1990 as “a natural law of Usenet," expressed in the following statement: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1." (A probability of 1 is a certainty.) A corollary to Godwin's law states that once Hitler is mentioned, that discussion is ended. The implication is that the level of discourse has devolved to the degree that further communication is pointless. According to Usenet tradition, whoever mentioned Hitler is deemed to have lost the argument.

Ghostmaker

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2341 on: October 04, 2022, 02:59:06 PM »
Any one here remember Godwin's Law?

Godwin originally developed the idea in 1990 as “a natural law of Usenet," expressed in the following statement: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1." (A probability of 1 is a certainty.) A corollary to Godwin's law states that once Hitler is mentioned, that discussion is ended. The implication is that the level of discourse has devolved to the degree that further communication is pointless. According to Usenet tradition, whoever mentioned Hitler is deemed to have lost the argument.
I do, actually. Sadly, like a lot of good Usenet traditions it's been buried under the weight of years. There's a good argument that this was the end result of Eternal September and the opening of the Internet to a larger audience.

Bruwulf

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2342 on: October 04, 2022, 06:46:15 PM »
You don't hear Godwin's Law mentioned any more because the current generation has a particular mindset. Y'know, everyone they don't like is literally Hitler.

Trond

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2343 on: October 05, 2022, 12:19:48 AM »
Any one here remember Godwin's Law?

Godwin originally developed the idea in 1990 as “a natural law of Usenet," expressed in the following statement: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1." (A probability of 1 is a certainty.) A corollary to Godwin's law states that once Hitler is mentioned, that discussion is ended. The implication is that the level of discourse has devolved to the degree that further communication is pointless. According to Usenet tradition, whoever mentioned Hitler is deemed to have lost the argument.

Welcome by the way. And yes I know about that one. Nowadays it goes to Hitler within ten posts max  ;D

Trond

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2344 on: October 08, 2022, 09:00:46 PM »
Latest reason for a ban:
Quote
Lol, just let people play the games they want to.
Bang permabanned

psiconauta_retro

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2345 on: October 14, 2022, 09:11:18 PM »
Latest reason for a ban:
Quote
Lol, just let people play the games they want to.
Bang permabanned

I love it, this never gets old!!!

The only section of TBP that I still visit is Infractions because it is pure gold. Countless hours of joy and entertainment have come from watching how those nuts behave.

I

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2346 on: October 14, 2022, 10:08:28 PM »
Latest reason for a ban:
Quote
Lol, just let people play the games they want to.
Bang permabanned

I love it, this never gets old!!!

The only section of TBP that I still visit is Infractions because it is pure gold. Countless hours of joy and entertainment have come from watching how those nuts behave.

Same here.  It's vastly entertaining, and probably educational in a "mass hysteria and the popular delusions of crowds" kind of way.  I'm currently re-reading an old favorite of mine, Robbins'  The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (not an occult book, but a historical one about witch trials and related subjects) and it's pretty interesting how much the mods at TBP resemble witch trial judges.  It was their ludicrous treatment of Olivier Legrand and his Crusaders game that spurred me to re-read the book.

Skullking

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2347 on: October 15, 2022, 05:44:22 AM »
Latest reason for a ban:
Quote
Lol, just let people play the games they want to.
Bang permabanned

I love it, this never gets old!!!

The only section of TBP that I still visit is Infractions because it is pure gold. Countless hours of joy and entertainment have come from watching how those nuts behave.

Same here.  It's vastly entertaining, and probably educational in a "mass hysteria and the popular delusions of crowds" kind of way.  I'm currently re-reading an old favorite of mine, Robbins'  The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (not an occult book, but a historical one about witch trials and related subjects) and it's pretty interesting how much the mods at TBP resemble witch trial judges.  It was their ludicrous treatment of Olivier Legrand and his Crusaders game that spurred me to re-read the book.

Andrey Doyle touches upon the witch trial similarities in his new book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Puritans-Identity-Politics-Dominant/dp/0349135320
For those that would rather just listen to him being interviewed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMm3vgIWbGk

Xanadu

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2348 on: October 18, 2022, 04:15:20 AM »
From the 30 day ban of Atrox:

Quote
If there's a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis.

I remember when Russell Brand interviewed a white power guy on his TV show, with the intent to hear him out and try and persuade him to change his mind about some topics. His attempt seemed genuine, and I thought he did a good job at it.

According to TBP, Russell Brand is himself a Nazi for talking to the Nazi.

Daryl Davis is living proof that civil discussion with bigots can work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis

 By excluding them you only serve to justify their beliefs and push them towards environments that support their repugnant beliefs creating a positive feedback loop.

wmarshal

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2349 on: October 18, 2022, 08:33:47 AM »
From the 30 day ban of Atrox:

Quote
If there's a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis.

I remember when Russell Brand interviewed a white power guy on his TV show, with the intent to hear him out and try and persuade him to change his mind about some topics. His attempt seemed genuine, and I thought he did a good job at it.

According to TBP, Russell Brand is himself a Nazi for talking to the Nazi.

Daryl Davis is living proof that civil discussion with bigots can work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis

 By excluding them you only serve to justify their beliefs and push them towards environments that support their repugnant beliefs creating a positive feedback loop.
It would not matter if it can be shown that discussion with bigots can dissuade them of their repugnant beliefs. The mods are attempting to enforce a cult mindset, and key to that is isolation from heterodox ideas. Nobody is going to change the mods at TBP by arguing the virtues of a more open forum. The insidious technique of declaring a place as a “safe space” gives them their justification for policing crimethink on TBP to the point that only mod-approved goodthink is even possible.

If anyone believes “crimethink” can’t happen is the States I’d point out laws proposed that would lead to criminal charges, potential jail time or loss of employment if one doesn’t follow Woke dogma. The most recent case is a law proposed in Virginia where the author bragged how just an investigation by Child Protective Services could lead to job loss. TBP has no enforcement capability outside of itself, but it shares that mindset, and I’m sure it’d be happy to cooperate with authorities in cooperating with any such investigation if the opportunity provided itself to TBP.

Because someone will certainly ask for link regarding the above I’ll provide one and a quote from the article, but I hope this doesn’t lead to a tangent where we’re discussing proposed state laws instead of TBP culture. My point is to show how TBP mod culture aligns with the larger picture of how the Woke are literally aspiring to thought control.

From the article itself:
“It’s about educating parents because the law shows you the do’s and don’ts,” Guzman said in an interview with WJLA News. “So this law is telling you not to abuse your children because they are LGBTQ.”

One social worker, Guzman, said that when a child reports that their parents don’t accept their gender identity or sexual orientation, both child protection services and the police are called in.

“Well, we have to complete an investigation first,” Guzman told WJLA News. “It could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor, but we know the CPS fee could hurt your employment, could hurt your education, because a lot of people these days do a CPS database search before offering a job.”

The link: https://localtoday.news/va/virginia-lawmakers-want-criminal-punishment-for-parents-who-fail-to-validate-their-lgbtq-children-36403.html

Xanadu

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2350 on: October 18, 2022, 09:15:54 AM »
From the 30 day ban of Atrox:

Quote
If there's a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis.

I remember when Russell Brand interviewed a white power guy on his TV show, with the intent to hear him out and try and persuade him to change his mind about some topics. His attempt seemed genuine, and I thought he did a good job at it.

According to TBP, Russell Brand is himself a Nazi for talking to the Nazi.

Daryl Davis is living proof that civil discussion with bigots can work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis

 By excluding them you only serve to justify their beliefs and push them towards environments that support their repugnant beliefs creating a positive feedback loop.
It would not matter if it can be shown that discussion with bigots can dissuade them of their repugnant beliefs. The mods are attempting to enforce a cult mindset, and key to that is isolation from heterodox ideas. Nobody is going to change the mods at TBP by arguing the virtues of a more open forum. The insidious technique of declaring a place as a “safe space” gives them their justification for policing crimethink on TBP to the point that only mod-approved goodthink is even possible.

If anyone believes “crimethink” can’t happen is the States I’d point out laws proposed that would lead to criminal charges, potential jail time or loss of employment if one doesn’t follow Woke dogma. The most recent case is a law proposed in Virginia where the author bragged how just an investigation by Child Protective Services could lead to job loss. TBP has no enforcement capability outside of itself, but it shares that mindset, and I’m sure it’d be happy to cooperate with authorities in cooperating with any such investigation if the opportunity provided itself to TBP.

Because someone will certainly ask for link regarding the above I’ll provide one and a quote from the article, but I hope this doesn’t lead to a tangent where we’re discussing proposed state laws instead of TBP culture. My point is to show how TBP mod culture aligns with the larger picture of how the Woke are literally aspiring to thought control.

From the article itself:
“It’s about educating parents because the law shows you the do’s and don’ts,” Guzman said in an interview with WJLA News. “So this law is telling you not to abuse your children because they are LGBTQ.”

One social worker, Guzman, said that when a child reports that their parents don’t accept their gender identity or sexual orientation, both child protection services and the police are called in.

“Well, we have to complete an investigation first,” Guzman told WJLA News. “It could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor, but we know the CPS fee could hurt your employment, could hurt your education, because a lot of people these days do a CPS database search before offering a job.”

The link: https://localtoday.news/va/virginia-lawmakers-want-criminal-punishment-for-parents-who-fail-to-validate-their-lgbtq-children-36403.html

I’m well aware that there’s very little chance of persuading many of them, however it’s still important to fully comprehend and elucidate the flawed axioms underpinning these arguments. Otherwise, you can easily get trapped in well versed cyclical arguments that are unthinkingly recited like scripture.

Unfortunately there seems to be some fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of civil rights. All the rights currently protected in America aren’t granted but stem from intrinsic aspects of human nature. Therefore they aren’t granted and  can only be temporarily conceded or infringed upon.

The extrinsic “rights” these sorts of proposed laws are based on all require the participation of another party or the enforcement of the government making them illogical and unsustainable directly contradicting others and frequently even themselves.

wmarshal

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2351 on: October 19, 2022, 12:11:48 PM »
I’m unable to make heads or tails out of this ban:

https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/timothy-miller-infracted-💀-permanent-ban-rule-0.903360/

I found no mod instruction in the thread to the banned user. It just comes across as a truly random ban.

Additional note: More digging turned up that the mods didn’t like him starting different threads about magic in a system, but they each look like distinct and different questions to me. Didn’t know that a lack of consolidation of questions into a single topic was a permaban level offense.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2022, 12:18:18 PM by wmarshal »

Horace

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2352 on: October 20, 2022, 08:58:22 AM »
Didn’t know that a lack of consolidation of questions into a single topic was a permaban level offense.
It's not, until a mod says it is. The whole point of ill-defined rules is that you can punish anyone for anything.

wmarshal

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2353 on: October 20, 2022, 09:26:21 AM »
Didn’t know that a lack of consolidation of questions into a single topic was a permaban level offense.
It's not, until a mod says it is. The whole point of ill-defined rules is that you can punish anyone for anything.
Still a head scratcher as to why that poster became a target.

Tin Foil Hat Time (?): I’ve noticed that infractions sometimes seem to come in waves. Could it be that after the mods hood one of their struggle sessions some of them are a little desperate to hand out infractions to show that they are good “party members”? I don’t think that’s the case in this specific instance as Funkadelic has been active handing out the bans, but could I could see a mod creating a bogus account just so they could infract it to earn points. Especially posts like the one we’re discussing here. The posts seemed innocent enough, but the mods decided to go after this new guy with a permaban because he had specific questions, and in his mind he wasn’t looking to have a comparatively unfocused thread on magic in Ars Magica as a general subject.

Armchair Gamer

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Re: RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)
« Reply #2354 on: October 20, 2022, 12:15:33 PM »
Didn’t know that a lack of consolidation of questions into a single topic was a permaban level offense.
It's not, until a mod says it is. The whole point of ill-defined rules is that you can punish anyone for anything.
Still a head scratcher as to why that poster became a target.

Tin Foil Hat Time (?): I’ve noticed that infractions sometimes seem to come in waves. Could it be that after the mods hood one of their struggle sessions some of them are a little desperate to hand out infractions to show that they are good “party members”? I don’t think that’s the case in this specific instance as Funkadelic has been active handing out the bans, but could I could see a mod creating a bogus account just so they could infract it to earn points. Especially posts like the one we’re discussing here. The posts seemed innocent enough, but the mods decided to go after this new guy with a permaban because he had specific questions, and in his mind he wasn’t looking to have a comparatively unfocused thread on magic in Ars Magica as a general subject.

  I think the Mods have decided that RPGNet's brand (aside from the commitment to the powers of Hell :) ) is Deep and Substantive Discussion--witness their recent promotion of the Let's Read threads--and are inclined to weed out posters who don't fit with that.