patrick.net

Is a fucking cunt worse than a cucking funt? We need an ad hominem insult hierarchy around here.

Patrick says

anon_aa05b says

given the current nature of the posting, you may as well shutter the site

You're right about that.

I really do not want to continue the current nature of the posting. It's worth less than zero.

I don't really get why some people get so bent out of shape over the insults. Just don't engage with those people.

Patrick - you want to create more forums, correct? How about one where anything goes...no holds barred?

I use a certain user as an effigy to investors that have their hands in everything. If it bothers you, I'll stop. I've never been called out for being uncivil as I'm not trying to be. But still it falls within the guidelines of what you don't like.

WineHorror says

Patrick says

anon_aa05b says

given the current nature of the posting, you may as well shutter the site

You're right about that.

I really do not want to continue the current nature of the posting. It's worth less than zero.

I don't really get why some people get so bent out of shape over the insults. Just don't engage with those people.

Patrick - you want to create more forums, correct? How about one where anything goes...no holds barred?

If it were simply a back n forth of ‘insults’, it would be one thing. That’s not what this is about.

See most people don’t like conflict, and will act to avoid it. That means if they try to post here, and their character is constantly assaulted, they will just leave. Those people may have something interesting to say, and i for one would like the opportunity to hear it.

Then you have people that instigate conflict with everyone they feel is “on the other team”. You can ban them from saying you, and they get even more uncivil with workarounds like typing y-ou. You can ban them, and they get even more uncivil and return under alias. It’s those type of people, along with those that support them (even silent support like not speaking out against them) that are the greatest enemy to Free Speech.

And for some of us Great Americans, Free Speech is of the utmost importance. Everyone deserves a voice. Some people get confused about Free Speech and assume that you must give even the bully who looks to assault and harass others, unfettered access to do so, in the name of Free Speech. That’s just wrong.

Nice to see Poobah Pat trying to clean up the trash around here

Banning users from talking about other users will certainly upset a certain segment of the posting population, but it will please a larger segment who just want to discuss ideas, without risk of being harassed or having their character assaulted. Good

@Patrick

Can't you ban via IP address?

I agree with errc's post. @Patrick, if you want to reboot the site, you could buy PatricksThunderdome.net and move the posting history and usernames to that. Everyone who wants to continue with unfettered insult posting can post over there, and you could let your 'free speech' experiment live or die according to those who participate. If you still want to create a forum that inspires thought, reboot Patrick.net with editorial control and require people to opt-in by creating new user names. In other words, fork the site yourself, and put your effort into creating the one that you are proud of. Something to think about.

WineHorror says

@Patrick

Can't you ban via IP address?

Sure, I do that all the time, mostly for spammers. But there are an essentially infinite number of IP addresses, even if it's a bit of work to move to another one. That's why anonymous comments have to go through moderation.

FNWGMOBDVZXDNW says

PatricksThunderdome.net

Yes, could do that and it sounds like fun actually. I just have to get the mechanics of creating a new site automated. Docker seems unnecessarily complex for this. Anyone have experience automating the spin up of a server at digital ocean and installation of nginx, node, mysql, and postfix?

C'mon Patrick...I just re-watched the movie LINCOLN and TOMMY LEE JONES, who played Thaddeus Stevens was constantly attacking and insulting members of congress and they are supposedly "GENTLEMEN". e.g. Thaddeus Stevens: Slavery is the only insult to the natural law, you fatuous nincompoop.

What happened to all the comments in Comment Jail?

It's empty.

I decided that comment jail is going away. Uncivil will soon send comments to moderation, which is not publicly viewable.

Yes it's a dictatorship, not necessarily transparent. That's how it was when the site was at its peak.

@Patrick may i have back muh uncivil button, please

anon_08dee says

Some people like to argue politics here instead with their friends and family, for obvious reasons.

And I'm not against that at all. Just not my thing anymore. The problem is the whiners who go into those threads, then cry when what they knew was going to happen the moment they stepped into the political arena, happens.

Patrick says

Yes it's a dictatorship

A benevolent dictatorship.

Patrick says

Yes it's a dictatorship, not necessarily transparent. That's how it was when the site was at its peak.

I think that's been the formula for most sites since forever.

Patrick says

I decided that comment jail is going away. Uncivil will soon send comments to moderation, which is not publicly viewable.

Yes it's a dictatorship, not necessarily transparent. That's how it was when the site was at its peak.

Does Patrick.net still advocate for Free Speech?

What about @Patrick himself? Have your personal views on Free Speech changed over the past few months?

errc says

Does Patrick.net still advocate for Free Speech?

What about @Patrick himself? Have your personal views on Free Speech changed over the past few months?

Start errc.net and you can say whatever you want.

errc says

Have your personal views on Free Speech changed over the past few months?

Yes.

Groups of people cannot be trusted to all be reasonable and polite.

errc says

Patrick may i have back muh uncivil button, please

No, because I still think you'll use it as a way to attack other users and not to improve the quality of conversation.

Perfect here may be the enemy of good.

The Fucking Fuckers are So Fucked I can't possibly un-Fuck them with my infinite wisdom and insight! I can only inform them of their blighted ignorance and stupidity on an ongoing basis.

Patrick says

Anyone have experience automating the spin up of a server at digital ocean and installation of nginx, node, mysql, and postfix?

I dont automate server provisioning, but server setup and software install / deployment I do.

I usually just write bash scripts that install stuff via yum, then configure them by appending lines to their config files, or replacing lines via sed.
I usually use ant scripts to deploy the code/scripts to the server - with ant it's easy to tarbal the code, scp it over, untar and do any final steps via automated remote ssh. Works pretty good for basic needs, and is simple.

Also works good for maintenance type stuff, like taking an on-demand db backup and downloading to my local machine, then importing the snap into a db running locally / in a local vm.

gulp might be a more modern choice than ant, but I havent looked into it very closely yet.

I don't care about modern, just easy and reliable.

I'll try doing it all with scp and ssh. At least I know that stuff so there's no learning curve.

Patrick says

I don't care about modern, just easy and reliable.

I'll try doing it all with scp and ssh. At least I know that stuff so there's no learning curve.

Where did the categories go, I don't see them currently.

mell says

Where did the categories go, I don't see them currently.

Moving away from categories.

Instead, will soon have separate sites dedicated to specific topics, like investing.

Patrick says

mell says

Where did the categories go, I don't see them currently.

Moving away from categories.

Instead, will soon have separate sites dedicated to specific topics, like investing.

Does that mean you are the only moderator?

No, there are still other moderators.

Patrick says

No, there are still other moderators.

That is too bad.

anon_961a0 says

Patrick says

No, there are still other moderators.

That is too bad.

Unless, of course, each person to start a thread gets to moderator that thread.

Why wouldn't you pick one of the many CM tools available? saltstack, ansible, chef, .. I used to go the manual route, but am now using salt for spinning up DO instances, installing software, pushing config, maintaining state, etc. Digital Ocean has an API and many of the tools have integrations available. I can now use salt-cloud to perform DO server related tasks.

Thank you! I had not heard of Saltstack. But it is complex and there is a learning curve:



Just looking for a reason not to simply use bash/scp/ssh. I have to write some install scripts either way. Maybe a CM tool can do a lot in parallel, but is that so important?

We're using salt. Meh.

My vote if for the salt. Plenty of slugs have crept in here over the years!

I have been disappointed in low quality conversations from ad hominem attacks to straw-man arguments. Anything that starts out with a rant against libtards or repulsicans is not discussing truth or in an intelligent fashion. It is merely the writers fevered imagination of what people different from the writer are like and believe.Attributing beliefs to someone else is simply a desperate attempt for therapy and intellectual masturbation.

georgeliberte says

I have been disappointed in low quality conversations from ad hominem attacks to straw-man arguments.

I think it's mainly due to the primary content/thread creators here. I think a lot of the topics posted are direct attempts to troll other users from past discussions on certain topics. Those threads then immediately devolve into garbage.

There are two climate change threads right now on the home page. One has 300+ comments of I don't even know what. It makes me want to throw my computer out.

Unfortunately I think politics is topic number 1, 2 & 3 in a lot of peoples minds. I would like a little more diversity in the topics if you ask me. Of course I could contribute to that effort and try when I can. Everything here as become way too political if you ask me. It's like people forget that we're all on the same ship (the good ole USA) and that somehow a fellow citizen is an enemy to you. It's rather strange. Pretty sure 98% of the people here wouldn't behave in public like they do with their patnet personality. I guess for some it's a way, maybe in a therapeutic way, to release their inner demons.

The psychology is interesting on both sides. Anyone who uses "libtard" probably feels resentment and fear of the overwhelming power and intolerance of the PC crowd. I don't use the term, but feel like that myself about, say, the Damore case because I see Damore as someone very much like me who is simply not allowed to speak objective facts. There are real penalties for publicly suggesting that the PC crowd is wrong, like getting fired.

The anti-Trump crowd denies that they already have most of the power, and no doubt also fears that they will soon be penalized in real life for saying that they think, even though everything is currently organized they way they want it and no other way is allowed consideration, even under Trump. And I'm sure they feel Trump is a real threat to the stability of the country.

WookieMan says

I guess for some it's a way, maybe in a therapeutic way, to release their inner demons.

Yes, exactly. Tension builds up because people feel they can't speak freely in real life, so an anonymous forum is where that tension comes out.

People have been using PatNet as a way to vent for years. This isn't anything new. But when Trump got elected, for some reason (you can guess why), it hit a new level of fervor. It's gotten toxic and I've seen reasonable posters from the past just completely lose their shit and get super toxic. Pretty sad.

Tatupu, enough of the personal attacks. You can try again without the dissing.

Goran_K says

People have been using PatNet as a way to vent for years. This isn't anything new. But when Trump got elected, for some reason (you can guess why), it hit a new level of fervor. It's gotten toxic and I've seen reasonable posters from the past just completely lose their shit and get super toxic. Pretty sad.

Doesn't that prove the fact that liberalism is truly a mental disease.

rando says

The anti-Trump crowd denies that they already have most of the power, and no doubt also fears that they will soon be penalized in real life for saying that they think, even though everything is currently organized they way they want it and no other way is allowed consideration, even under Trump. And I'm sure they feel Trump is a real threat to the stability of the country

My counterargument is that right wing has plenty of presence in the media - from Fox News to complete and utter domination of AM radio. For gods sakes, here in Bay Area, the only true leftist station is KPFA and their transmitter so weak that signal don't come across normally anywhere east of castro valley....lol....ironically the only way to get any "leftist" news is in prime time segment on RT America.

In terms of regular life, I know someone who left SFBA for financial reasons and settled in ahem...."biblebelt" where they have easier time making ends meet. Trust me, things are not open minded there at all....you will be treated courteously as long as you toe the line....if you happen to "rebel", you will be relegated to second class citizenship very quickly.

rando says

Damore as someone very much like me who is simply not allowed to speak objective facts.

Here's an interesting video from Stephen Pinker, about how PC helps cause the rise of extremists by not allowing the discussion of various subjects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=kTiRnbNT5uE
Uncomfortable Facts are vehemently denied by Basic Bitches, a portion of those who have stumbled upon them take them to extremes because there is no moderating factors explained in national discourse.