The Random Thread

[Mr. Fox]

On 1/22/2023 at 9:38 AM, ryan said:

yeah we dont need two threads talking about the same thing. It would be interesting if we posted chat gpt convos and emerson convos and see what we can come up with. with the old HAL AI I asked it if it was the CIA it responded yes this is the cia ect. sometimes you get funny answers sometimes scary like killing humans in 10 years. I am in the process of trying chat gpt open ais chat bot but it keeps saying servers are busy.

Yup... truly GIGO. That's what makes is scary and Orwellian. AI will never be an acceptable substitute for a sentient human being with a heart, soul and conscience. AI will always be flawed and process information in the context of the personal bias and views of its programmer(s). Nothing made by human beings will ever be perfect. It will always have varying degrees of flaws and defects.

[Reciever]

 

In other news, I get a good lol from these satire posts 

[ryan]

On 1/27/2023 at 9:56 AM, Mr. Fox said:

Yup... truly GIGO. That's what makes is scary and Orwellian. AI will never be an acceptable substitute for a sentient human being with a heart, soul and conscience. AI will always be flawed and process information in the context of the personal bias and views of its programmer(s). Nothing made by human beings will ever be perfect. It will always have varying degrees of flaws and defects.

 

AMEN.

 

Thats very true. a imperfect water drop into water creates an imperfect ripple no matter how perfect it appears

[Mr. Fox]

It's nice to see examples of bad people paying for their bad choices and I love seeing justice work itself out. I hope their stock value keeps free-falling and AT&T/DirectTV end up going bankrupt due to insufficient funds and inadequate subscribership. It would serve them right for being stupid and evil.

 

The issue is they want to refuse to pay Newsmax for their programming with a massive viewer base, even though they pay fees to their woke cronies for programming that appeals to a comparatively very tiny (and shrinking) audience. I can't participate in the boycott because I do not use AT&T or DirectTV services, but I almost wish I did so I could participate in it, LOL.

 

https://www.newsmax.com/us/directv-at-t-stock/2023/02/11/id/1108254/

 

I did jump on the Disney boycott and canceled my Disney+ subscription a couple of days ago. The disgusting filth and utterly diabolical propaganda they attempt to brainwash our children with is beyond evil. 

[ryan]

Wait I'm subbed to Disney.. what did they do?

[Mr. Fox]

  

On 2/11/2023 at 4:55 PM, Mr. Fox said:

I did jump on the Disney boycott and canceled my Disney+ subscription a couple of days ago. The disgusting filth and utterly diabolical propaganda they attempt to brainwash our children with is beyond evil. 

On 2/11/2023 at 5:24 PM, ryan said:

Wait I'm subbed to Disney.. what did they do?

 

Injecting ludicrous nonsense like critical race theory, wokism, rainbow nazism and leftist world views into programming for young children. 

 

We live in a very sick, sick world and it is reaching a point of utterly diabolical absurdity... normalization of extreme stupidity and portraying corruption as being socially acceptable.

 

 

[KING19]

[Mr. Fox]

3 hours ago, KING19 said:

Good and bad are determined based on what supports or calls attention to the stupidity of their agenda, not what is actually good or bad. Common sense and an elemental, animalistic level of decency gets in the way of their agenda.

[KING19]

19 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

Good and bad are determined based on what supports or calls attention to the stupidity of their agenda, not what is actually good or bad. Common sense and an elemental, animalistic level of decency gets in the way of their agenda.

 

Yeah we're living the real life version of The Onion starring our government. 😁

 

Remember to trust the science 😎

 

 

[kojack]

On 2/14/2023 at 7:52 AM, Mr. Fox said:

  

 

Injecting ludicrous nonsense like critical race theory, wokism, rainbow nazism and leftist world views into programming for young children. 

 

We live in a very sick, sick world and it is reaching a point of utterly diabolical absurdity... normalization of extreme stupidity and portraying corruption as being socially acceptable.

 

 

Could be worse,  they could be forcing the righty wing nutbar homophobic, racist, lunatic propaganda on children...I will take Disney anyday of the week instead of the insanity of the religious reich wing nutjobs. 

 

Anyone using the term "WOKE" is all I need to know about a person...and we will leave it at that.  Sam Smith is wearing the red hat...he can't be WOKE....

[Hertzian56]

oof and they tell us mindless stereotypes are only on one side, apparently not.

[Mr. Fox]

On 2/26/2023 at 4:23 PM, Hertzian56 said:

oof and they tell us mindless stereotypes are only on one side, apparently not.

Right? Personality, political correctness and optics over constitution, freedom, sound policy, national security and prosperity. It's scary how the wacky nutjobs have come out of the woodwork in the past two years. What an absolute mess. Not my circus, not my monkey. If they get away with election fraud during the next election cycle for a third time, it is going to be very bad. If they don't get away with it, it's still going to be very bad. They'll be equally crazy and intolerant no matter who gets elected if it is not another totalitarian lefty.

 

 

[kojack]

8 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

Right? Personality, political correctness and optics over constitution, freedom, sound policy, national security and prosperity. It's scary how the wacky nutjobs have come out of the woodwork in the past two years. What an absolute mess. Not my circus, not my monkey. If they get away with election fraud during the next election cycle for a third time, it is going to be very bad. If they don't get away with it, it's still going to be very bad. They'll be equally crazy and intolerant no matter who gets elected if it is not another totalitarian lefty.

 

 

Ahh the typical righty election fraud battle cry....Just like everything religious/righty...every accusation is a confession.  

[Etern4l]

Guys, remember - be nice and build bridges, we don't want this to become Twitter 2.0 lol. Much more of a challenge than bunkering up in the comfort zone and firing at will, actual friend or foe. Right or left (and certainly centre), I'm sure we would all be fighting on the same side if it came to that. 

[kojack]

Leave politics out of the site would be best! However, until that is a law, I will politely respond to said nuttery with actual facts etc. 

[Etern4l]

A rigid ban on politics was one of the weaknesses of NBR. Here I would hope we can maintain the flexibility to touch upon more sensitive topics. 

The trick in my view is to keep the comments more on the nuanced side, self-moderate them if you will. The key test would be: am I offending people, rather than making interesting points that might even get someone on the other side of the fence thinking. 

[ryan]

I have to agree. I think NBR had many weaknesses. Look at LTT forums and others. they swear and are allowed to talk about anything and they flourish. Free speech for the win. NBR had a fascist like mentality when it came to politics

[Hertzian56]

Idk I just can't see the whole red/blue BS and their narratives on both sides, they all part of the same Misch mafia just working the script from different angles imo. I'm NOT sorry but perversion is perversion and I'm not going to call it "good" w regards to other stuff, how the hell do you think we got to this dung pile of a world? It was go along to get along and the insanity and demonic manipulation of things like "love is love", that's abuse and using language as a weapon. I think Bolsheviks are much more accurate than some flash in the pan movement who ALSO had the word "Socialist" in their name. Who do you think are the real zombies?

[ryan]

its not sillier than a gang war with the bloods versus crips...no way this is all real and factual....just absurdly dumb..emphasis on dumb

 

1

a

: lacking intelligence aslo known as five eyes and the people involved in Red Vs Blue: STUPID

pretended to be dumb

 

b

: showing a lack of intelligence

asking dumb questions

 

a dumb look on his face

 

c

: requiring no intelligence

dumb luck

[Reciever]

I have seen the numerous posts and have been spending some cycles on it. Will opine tonight. 

[KING19]

On 2/26/2023 at 2:31 PM, kojack said:

Could be worse,  they could be forcing the righty wing nutbar homophobic, racist, lunatic propaganda on children...I will take Disney anyday of the week instead of the insanity of the religious reich wing nutjobs. 

 

Anyone using the term "WOKE" is all I need to know about a person...and we will leave it at that.  Sam Smith is wearing the red hat...he can't be WOKE....

 

The woke called themselves woke because its the name of their cult, stop thinking everyone who uses the term is right wing... Anyways they're authoritarians and nutty as folks in the far right, scratch that they're worse since they've been in power especially in the last 2 years and a half years. Common sense no longer exists in their woke world, 2+2=5 instead of 4, Men can be women and women can be men and other crazy sh*t. I'll leave it at that.

 

10 hours ago, Etern4l said:

A rigid ban on politics was one of the weaknesses of NBR. Here I would hope we can maintain the flexibility to touch upon more sensitive topics. 

The trick in my view is to keep the comments more on the nuanced side, self-moderate them if you will. The key test would be: am I offending people, rather than making interesting points that might even get someone on the other side of the fence thinking. 

 

6 hours ago, ryan said:

I have to agree. I think NBR had many weaknesses. Look at LTT forums and others. they swear and are allowed to talk about anything and they flourish. Free speech for the win. NBR had a fascist like mentality when it came to politics

 

I think we can control ourselves with the insults and not to get too personal with our politics and its fun to have a laugh about it at times like now. At the same time we dont want this place turn into another twitter nor reddit forum with back and forth arguing and toxicity so i understand why NBR had a ban on politics before because each of those threads never ended well. A decent balance between the two would be fair and if a topic gets out of control mods can take action as they see fit.

[ryan]

1 hour ago, KING19 said:

I think we can control ourselves with the insults and not to get too personal with our politics and its fun to have a laugh about it at times like now. At the same time we dont want this place turn into another twitter nor reddit forum with back and forth arguing and toxicity so i understand why NBR had a ban on politics before because each of those threads never ended well. A decent balance between the two would be fair and if a topic gets out of control mods can take action as they see fit.

i know. we are all mature adults im sure we can work out our political differences. maybe we can create a thread with thread rules versus forum rules just for politics....but surely decency and common sense will play a role

[Reciever]

12 minutes ago, ryan said:

i know. we are all mature adults im sure we can work out our political differences. maybe we can create a thread with thread rules versus forum rules just for politics....but surely decency and common sense will play a role

No. 

[Reciever]

16 hours ago, Etern4l said:

A rigid ban on politics was one of the weaknesses of NBR. Here I would hope we can maintain the flexibility to touch upon more sensitive topics. 

The trick in my view is to keep the comments more on the nuanced side, self-moderate them if you will. The key test would be: am I offending people, rather than making interesting points that might even get someone on the other side of the fence thinking. 

Im not fond of the idea of a rigid ban on that subject, the issue stems that if its not a rigid ban, then its the opening of the flood gates. This isnt to mean you in particular, but the community as a whole. Which would cause myself and the other moderators (all of which volunteer their spare time) exponentially more work. The mods from NBR have had a mixed reaction as any group would (for how long that forum was running) and I do not wish for moderators to be viewed as adversarial to the members. Why? Moderators at heart, are members too who enjoy spending some time here as a member while also taking care of reports. I would prefer for moderators to be viewed as members who also help in capacities that a normal member doesnt. There were quite a few times where it seemed moderators on NBR were deliberately leading me into infractions as well as subtle to remind me their status. I disapprove of this scenario repeating, explicitly.

While I dont always agree, I do enjoy your perspective and as a result believe that I can engage in conversation on topics that we may not see eye to eye on, but the journey there wouldnt leave us with scarred and tending to our wounds. I can also do that with members like @Mr. Foxas I have found he is the type to at the very least engage in conversation as long as his principles are respected. There has been a time or two where I had asked for some topics to be dropped and while he was not happy about it, he did respect my request. There were also times where we simply and vehemently disagreed. Not all conversations will reach a happy ending but none the less perspectives were exchanged.

 

16 hours ago, kojack said:

Leave politics out of the site would be best! However, until that is a law, I will politely respond to said nuttery with actual facts etc. 

 

This is a problem.

 

I've been spending some time on how to address this. please do not mistake this as solely a you problem, but a problem with how the subject is engaged in general. For example, I could easily counter this with the fact that Hillary Clinton has claimed that the election was stolen from her for at this point 6 years now. If there were dissenting voices they have long been drowned out in the noise, save for a few who were also accused of being traitors to the US by essentially only on her account. I have yet to see anyone pour the same admonishment her direction as I do for Trump. This isnt about What about-ism, as that argument style annoys me to the high heavens and down into the 9 circles of hell.

 

Now if you identify yourself as a Democrat or a progressive you feel the need to defend yourself and often that means dig your heels in and die on the hill. (Not saying you are, but just by way of thought experiment)

 

This is not productive, it doesnt serve to move the conversation forward and it certainly serves to make sure you identify me as not a member of your group, i.e. ally. To which only continues make you seem irrational, which serves to make me think that of you, and irrational actors rarely make for constructive conversation, and thus the divide increases, perspectives narrow.

 

That, is what I work to fight against on this forum and in my personal, professional life. I work to bring out the best I can from those whom I associate with. I take pain staking measures to navigate the spaces between because I do wish for exposure to as many perspectives as I can, and in turn I share my genuine opinions as well as trade craft.

 

I personally believe that both sides of the isle need each other to truly be a benefit to the citizenry. The right traditionally reminds everyone what works and where the line is while the left generally pointed out the exceptions that the current paradigm suits ill. its up to both leanings to come together to work out how to make changes in the mechanisms that form our government to suit everyone that it can. These days I dont really see much of that on either side of the isle.

 

12 hours ago, ryan said:

I have to agree. I think NBR had many weaknesses. Look at LTT forums and others. they swear and are allowed to talk about anything and they flourish. Free speech for the win. NBR had a fascist like mentality when it came to politics

I do not care in the slightest what LTT does with their forums. Swearing is lazy, just as I have opined previously, spend the time to articulate your message and the community will engage. I want this forum to flourish for all ages, if a child were to come to me asking for advise I would do so in a manner to which the success of said childs' goal is increased.

 

Imagine a young fellow making a thread in the WLSIB sub-forum, following all the rules of the forum in the process only to have half the membership respond with expletives. Now have that child show his or her parents the supporting arguments for and against a select list of options presented, exactly how much merit do you think is lost in the choice of language alone regardless of content therein? Perhaps now instead of getting the best possible performance for the dollar said child has to settle for what ever was at the WalMart local store?

I am a heavy proponent of the Professionalism Initiative that OCN once enforced (no idea if its still present), while its not something that I explicitly force our membership to adhere to, it is, generally speaking my starting point. It is the reason why I hedge nearly all statements I make, as I am confident in many things there is a vast chasm for which I am wholesomely in totality, ignorant.

 

I can say this much, Freedom of Speech is far from free.

 

3 hours ago, ryan said:

i know. we are all mature adults im sure we can work out our political differences. maybe we can create a thread with thread rules versus forum rules just for politics....but surely decency and common sense will play a role

 

Unfortunately, you do not follow the rules that are on the books, adding a second set of rules for another topic or portion of the forum is not something I can see as viable at this point and time. Your critics of rules have been far from decent, often directed at anyone but myself where on most forums merely discussing ToS is against ToS.


The bottom line is this, and I do mean this in explicit terms, this forum will not serve as means for tribal arguments to take place. This is a place for people of various backgrounds to coalesce, share experiences, and enhance the communities ability to make the best of their purchases. Whether that means the highest benchmarks, checks the most boxes, a gateway drug for the uninitiated or simply those reaching out for help sourcing a part, a means for troubleshooting or just looking for a community that may suit them.

 

Thats all I got for now.

[Etern4l]

Good post, thanks for sharing @Reciever. Just to add another .02: the problem with politics is that on the one hand it is extremely divisive, so a lazy but safe policy is to just ban anything to do with it. The issue with that that policy is that politics is also (sometimes deeply) embedded in a wide range of topics, including technical ones; therefore an outright ban is seriously constraining the debate. I think the answer is something we have been practicing here already: the right culture of conversation. Let people make their points, hopefully in a manner that's not too outrageous, then counter politely if it feels like there is a locally novel relevant contribution to be made. That's it - there is no point going back and forth. Most people are not easily amenable to a change of political views; if it does happen, it tends to be a slow process that is not helped by fighting and arguing the toss at every opportunity.  A degree of respect for cultural differences is helpful as well, and this includes some tolerance for the language people use due to their background etc., although I would agree on the profanity point. Yes, it has some light and humorous uses, but that can be very background-dependent and can easily be used offensively or perceived as such.