Patnet and censorship: Performance Art?

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Patnet and censorship: Performance Art?

invite response
2017 Nov 14, 11:22am 37,221 views 160 comments

I wonder if @Patrick has just staged a piece of censorship Performance Art by instituting omnipotent censorship, under the guise of "moderation", and crowd-sourced mass-silencing (encouraging the use of the "uncivil" button) on patrick.net. The aforementioned scheme of blog control is so far removed from Patrick's former free-speech self that I am starting to wonder. Perhaps this is just an exercise in showing what happens when you give absolute power over some domain of life to ONE semi-random person, even one that otherwise professes to love liberty and freedom?

It is more than a little ironic (but should not be surprising to any serious student of human nature) that right-wingers appear to be every bit as eager to censor their opponents as they have recently been accusing the left-wingers of being. And by that I mean the last several years of talk about liberals and their desire for "safe spaces" on and off university campuses, calling them "special snowflakes", and so on.

Well, the right-wing has in recent days been out in force on Patnet, trying to enforce a "safe space" , free of "uncivility" and "NSFW" material, and acting like special snowflakes themselves. And boy, are these right-wing special snowflakes melting down Patnet in a volcanic eruption of censorship actions.

The famous 1960s psychological experiment known as the Stanford Prisoner Project comes to mind as an analogy of sorts. That experiment showed what happens when you give authority for random people to control other random people. What soon happened was not pretty. Read up on it if you want.

Finally, I will revisit and highlight a suggestion I have made several times this year:

What I would like to see is to have free speech, and at the same time avoid massive storms of low-quality comments. For a blog, I think that means to make threads and comments a limited commodity for all posters. Specifically, to limit the number of threads that a user can post on any given day to 1 or 2, and to limit how many comments every user can post on every thread to 10, or 10% of the total number of comments on the thread, whichever is larger.

The purpose of moderation should not be to censor certain forms of expression, but rather to make everyone's time (or space) on the proverbial soapbox a valuable commodity. That way, users are more likely to spend their posting currency wisely. Users who wastes their currency by posting low-quality drivel will lose esteem, or at the very least not be able to dominate the discussion based on volume posted only.

Think of it as rules of order, a very lightweight and blog-adapted version of Robert's rules of order. (By the way, a quite well-known now former pat-netter just mentioned Robert's rules just days ago, and is hereby recognized.)

PS: I very well understand the meta-question as to whether the impact of a blog, as measured by commercial value or informative value, or even political/propaganda value(!), is reduced when the number of threads or comments are somewhat limited. I think many people may think so, perhaps even Patrick himself. Personally, I will take quality over quantity any day.

#misc

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74 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 3:28pm

errc, I can't post links but you can. Google: "coastal flooding" patrick.net then click the little arrow that pulls up the cached image. It proves both onvacation and Goran lied about this.

75 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 3:53pm

So who is putting the civil comments in jail today?

76 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 4:07pm

anon_30423 says

So who is putting the civil comments in jail today?

Good question, I just looked, it seems that someone formerly known as Ironman is #triggered bigly. Seems someone hit a nerve

77 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 4:12pm

errc says

anon_30423 says
So who is putting the civil comments in jail today?

Good question, I just looked, it seems that someone formerly known as Ironman is #triggered bigly. Seems someone hit a nerve

must be the wife comments, those were the first to go.

78 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 4:17pm

errc says

#triggered bigly.

Looks like he jailed one of his own comments to throw us off the trail.

79 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 4:21pm

anon_30423 says

errc says
anon_30423 says
So who is putting the civil comments in jail today?

Good question, I just looked, it seems that someone formerly known as Ironman is #triggered bigly. Seems someone hit a nerve
must be the wife comments, those were the first to go.

Ever since Patrick came in and told Goron that he never censored Ironman/Sniper comment where he called Obama a nigger boy, they’ve been on a meltdown. Rather than just be true to his word and admitting he was wrong, and apologizing for falsely accusing someone for lying. It’s typical behavior of right wingers

Y 2017 Nov 18, 4:25pm

Why does there have to be a 'trail'?
Why not random patio squares?
anon_30423 says

Looks like he jailed one of his own comments to throw us off the trail.

81 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 9:45pm

Fucking White Male says

He loudly proclaimed his departure, but comes back and posts anon.

Yeah but somehow he's been cloned in 8 or more simultaneous users. It's pretty amazing to see especially when goran starts trolling all of them.

82 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 10:17pm

Or are you not-Gary I think I see some sort of conspiracy here. Is this just all being staged by Patrick?

83 anonymous 2017 Nov 18, 10:18pm

Don't tell me you're not-Patrick.

84 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 7:24am

Goran_K says

Claimed he would leave rather than post under moderation and rules. Returned under anon. Fairly easy to spot.

So which is it?

85 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 9:01am

Have we figured out who I am?

86 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 9:06am

Sorry I thought I was posting in guess the anonymous hope I wasn't off topic

87 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 9:31am

To be or not to be that is the question?

Acting!

88 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 3:11pm

Goron is never wrong.

Patrick 2017 Nov 19, 3:46pm

mell says

Time for Patrick to disable anons ;)

I did for a while, but brought it back, because it does seem to bring in a few new users.

Soon will have anon comments going through approval by moderators first. I took some time to make most of the site's functions pure, which should help me move faster in the future.

90 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 3:58pm

You will get your pure site soon enough. There is so much bad will here now that I think serious debate is gone for good.

91 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 4:40pm

anon_25c83 says

You will get your pure site soon enough. There is so much bad will here now that I think serious debate is gone for good.

Yes it is soon to be swallowed by the darkness. To bad so sad. We begged you @patrick to listen but you choose not to.

I get it, that's your choice.

Didn't expect you to take it in this direction.

Don't kid yourself, there is nobody new here, personally I'm probably 20 or 30 of those anons. Soon nobody from the left will be left and the right will have that echo chamber that they were accusing the left of try to have. Funny how that works.

MisdemeanorRebel 2017 Nov 19, 5:01pm

anon_a0898 says

Don't kid yourself, there is nobody new here, personally I'm probably 20 or 30 of those anons. Soon nobody from the left will be left and the right will have that echo chamber that they were accusing the left of try to have. Funny how that works.

Trump winning caused the Left to go full bore nuts, especially re: the Russian Conspiracy Theory, which states the Russians hacked the Election by revealing email evidence that proved the DNC rigged the Primaries for Hillary.

People who bitch about all the ad homing have been ad homing at me since the Election, they didn't do so before.

93 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 5:15pm

TwoScoopsMcGee says

People who bitch about all the ad homing have been ad homing at me since the Election, they didn't do so before

I've never been uncivil towards you.

FortWayne 2017 Nov 19, 5:41pm

World Isn't left or right. I don't consider myself right, although get called that on these forums.

It's the only forum where free speech lives.

anon_a0898 says

anon_25c83 says
You will get your pure site soon enough. There is so much bad will here now that I think serious debate is gone for good.

Yes it is soon to be swallowed by the darkness. To bad so sad. We begged you @patrick to listen but you choose not to.

I get it, that's your choice.

Didn't expect you to take it in this direction.

Don't kid yourself, there is nobody new here, personally I'm probably 20 or 30 of those anons. Soon nobody from the left will be left and the right will have that echo chamber that they were accusing the left of try to have. Funny how that works.

95 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 5:52pm

FortWayne says

It's the only forum where free speech lives.

Icing on the cake this comment. Fuck this place. It's where free speech goes to die.

96 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 5:56pm

I truthfully never thought it possible that Patrick would be this deaf to concerns and this unwilling to even talk about the forum policy. The only possible explanation can be he wants it to be a forced alt-right shit show. Well he has succeeded.

97 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:05pm

TwoScoopsMcGee says

anon_a0898 says

Don't kid yourself, there is nobody new here, personally I'm probably 20 or 30 of those anons. Soon nobody from the left will be left and the right will have that echo chamber that they were accusing the left of try to have. Funny how that works.

Trump winning caused the Left to go full bore nuts, especially re: the Russian Conspiracy Theory, which states the Russians hacked the Election by revealing email evidence that proved the DNC rigged the Primaries for Hillary.

People who bitch about all the ad homing have been ad homing at me since the Election, they didn't do so before.

Probably because the content of your posts has gone down in quality and reasoning since Trump got elected. There’s far too much unreasoned MAGA on here and very little cold analysis of what he has(n’t) actually done. That’s a reason right there why the tone and the membership of this site has gone down - far too much shouty idiocy.

FortWayne 2017 Nov 19, 6:08pm

On other forums they'd ban you for simple comments like that, here it's all good. You just don't appreciate the freedoms here.

anon_25c83 says

FortWayne says
It's the only forum where free speech lives.

Icing on the cake this comment. Fuck this place. It's where free speech goes to die.

99 mell 2017 Nov 19, 6:16pm

TwoScoopsMcGee says

anon_a0898 says

Don't kid yourself, there is nobody new here, personally I'm probably 20 or 30 of those anons. Soon nobody from the left will be left and the right will have that echo chamber that they were accusing the left of try to have. Funny how that works.

Trump winning caused the Left to go full bore nuts, especially re: the Russian Conspiracy Theory, which states the Russians hacked the Election by revealing email evidence that proved the DNC rigged the Primaries for Hillary.

People who bitch about all the ad homing have been ad homing at me since the Election, they didn't do so before.

Have to agree. And this is only one manifestation. You have been seeing similar things outside of the web. People on the left going full on bonkers and devoting their lives to destroying the Trump presidency and its followers, fanned by the lamestream media clinging to their declining viewership. Hopefully Generation Z will put an end to this leftoid madhouse, cull the SJWs and globalist America haters and restore the left to the viable options it once was, focused on the blue collar working class with regained patriotism. Tat being said, there are enough people on the left still on this site that can discuss in a civil and rational manner, such as Rew, YesYNot, TimAurora, Bob and many more and without resorting to the anon underground. So I doubt it will become a right-wing echo-chamber.

100

MrMagic 2017 Nov 19, 6:23pm

Patrick says

mell says
Time for Patrick to disable anons ;)

I did for a while, but brought it back, because it does seem to bring in a few new users.

I just checked, and went back 10 pages (400 new users). Out of those 400, only like 4 were actual screen names, all the others were anons.

/users?ob=user_registered&d=desc

So, having 396 new anons (who attack other users continually or clog the site with diarrhea) versus 4 new users (who really didn't contribute much) is beneficial to the site?

Is that the new plan?

101 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:28pm

mell says

TwoScoopsMcGee says
anon_a0898 says

Don't kid yourself, there is nobody new here, personally I'm probably 20 or 30 of those anons. Soon nobody from the left will be left and the right will have that echo chamber that they were accusing the left of try to have. Funny how that works.

Trump winning caused the Left to go full bore nuts, especially re: the Russian Conspiracy Theory, which states the Russians hacked the Election by revealing email evidence that proved the DNC rigged the Primaries for Hillary.

People who bitch about all the ad homing have been ad homing at me since the Election, they didn't do so before.

Have to agree. And this is only one manifestation. You have been seeing similar things outside of the web. People on the left going full on bonkers and devoting thei...

Being to the left of you doesn’t mean that they are ‘the left.’ A lot of posters on here seem to conflate the two.

102 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:35pm

They aren’t 400 new users. They are the same old posters being assigned new anon names with each new visit. It must be driving you nuts not knowing who it is you’re supposed to be attacking.

Jailed because fuck free speech. Am aye right?

103 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:37pm

Want to point out why you marked my post as uncivil Sniper? I presume that’ll go down as misuse and you’ll lose the ability to use it for a while.

104 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:38pm

What a sad ending. Patrick, please block all anons so I can find better things to do.

105 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:42pm

anon_25c83 says

What a sad ending. Patrick, please block all anons so I can find better things to do.

Well, everyone is anon. It just seems that some on here are annoyed at not having the ability to attack the messenger.

106 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:49pm

anon_6fcd7 says

Well, everyone is anon. It just seems that some on here are annoyed at not having the ability to attack the messenger.

That was always the plan. Horrible quality people from the right kept on being challenged to prove their points, to stop lying, to basically believe in something other than nonsense. So they created a cult of us vs. them. Anons killed that cult so now Patrick is being driven to let anons in, but let king goron decide who gets in and who doesn't. Total vomit.

107

MrMagic 2017 Nov 19, 6:51pm

I posted this:

Sniper says

So, having 396 new anons (who attack other users continually or clog the site with diarrhea)

That was at 6:23 PM, then we had this at 6:31PM:

anon_25c83 says

this comment has been jailed for incivility

and this at 6:32 PM:

anon_6fcd7 says

this comment has been jailed for incivility

It took all of 8 minutes to be proven right?

So sad.

anon_25c83 says

Patrick, please block all anons

What for, things are going perfect, just as planned!!

108 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 6:52pm

anon_25c83 says

anon_6fcd7 says
Well, everyone is anon. It just seems that some on here are annoyed at not having the ability to attack the messenger.

That was always the plan. Horrible quality people from the right kept on being challenged to prove their points, to stop lying, to basically believe in something other than nonsense. So they created a cult of us vs. them. Anons killed that cult so now Patrick is being driven to let anons in, but let king goron decide who gets in and who doesn't. Total vomit.

Don’t disagree, but the tone was most definitely set by letting CiC back in. A lot of the decline in discussion here can be traced back to the flame wars that he enjoyed/enjoys instigating. Of all the mistakes Patrick has made, letting him pollute the well for so many years has been one of the biggest.

109 mell 2017 Nov 19, 7:04pm

anon_12c93 says

Piggy dominates the website now. That's the post-mortem. Literally nothing else needs to be said.

Because the anons keep talking about it. Otherwise not.

anon_6fcd7 says

Don’t disagree, but the tone was most definitely set by letting CiC back in. A lot of the decline in discussion here can be traced back to the flame wars that he enjoyed/enjoys instigating. Of all the mistakes Patrick has made, letting him pollute the well for so many years has been one of the biggest.

Why not discuss with the people one wants to answer to? Otherwise don't respond, problem solved.

110 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 7:10pm

mell says

Because the anons keep talking about it. Otherwise not.

That’s simply because his past targets are gone or only occasionally posting under anon. If they were here, he’d be doing what he has always done. As soon as he finds someone new to direct his attentions at, he’ll be up to his old tricks. Introducing civility doesn’t change what he’s about otherwise he would have been civil before. He clearly doesn’t come on here to be civil. He comes on here to wind others up.

111 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 7:12pm

mell says

Why not discuss with the people one wants to answer to? Otherwise don't respond, problem solved.

Fine, except we all know that isn’t what actually happens.

112 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 8:37pm

What I'd like to know is who keeps putting the posts about Ironman in jail. The guy isn't even here. Is this not a free speech forum?

113 anonymous 2017 Nov 19, 9:42pm

anon_3b28c says

Is this not a free speech forum?

Where does it say that it is a free speech forum?

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