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An Antidote To Corporate Media


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2015 Feb 9, 7:43am   715,493 views  602 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (60)   💰tip   ignore  




Patrick.net is an online forum, a bit like Twitter or Reddit, but with much more freedom of speech than either of those. Almost anything goes, but a few things don't, such as deliberately personally insulting another user, or deliberately misrepresenting what another user said.

I got the patrick.net domain name back in 1995 when I was one day too late for patrick.com. Missing the .com name turned out to be fine. I prefer the .net name now because life is all about human networks. This site was just my personal blog from 1995 to 2004.

In 2004 I started writing about the housing bubble, which catapulted the site to national fame for a while. I was interviewed on NPR, on Nightline on TV, and in other corporate media that I have since learned to recognize as poison. Here are my original the articles about the housing bubble (the dates on them are much later because I updated them):

https://patrick.net/post/1282720/2015-07-11-ten-reasons-it-s-a-terrible-time-to
https://patrick.net/post/1282721/2015-07-11-eight-groups-who-lie-about-the-housing
https://patrick.net/post/1282722/2015-07-11-37-bogus-arguments-about-housing

The big housing bubble popped in 2008, and traffic fell, since it was no longer controversial to assert that we really had had a housing bubble.

About then, I decided to just let the public discuss other topics with each other and wrote my own forum software. I'm a programmer, so that was fun. At first I was kind of disturbed at the number of conservatives on the site, but as I discussed things with them and saw San Francisco literally turn to shit under far-left Democrat extremists, I changed my thinking.

And yet I didn't change my thinking all that much, because once again, I'm opposing corruption of government by the oligarchy. Before, my enemy was the NAR (National Association of Realtors) and I still think the NAR is nothing but institutionalized crime, but there are bigger fish to fry now, especially since the worldwide campaign to inject every human with a dangerous and ineffective genetic experiment, which was never approved by the FDA. (They approved "Comirnaty", which is not available, to deceive the public.)

https://tobyrogers.substack.com/p/thinking-points-september-21-2022


It’s like Pharma just backed a truck up to the Progressive Values Factory; stole everything; modified core values in order to maim people, make money, and implement global totalitarianism; and the left is just out there smoking a cigarette on the loading dock saying, “Sounds good to me.” What!? What the heck happened to the left? Is there no one remaining in that tribe who is capable of logic and reason!? Quite literally the worst industry in the world stole the left’s most cherished values and no one on the left is the slightest bit offended by this (even though they are offended by everything else)!? We live in the bizarro upside down world.




I could go on, but you'll get the idea by reading the site.



I have a platform of ideas for improving America: https://patrick.net/post/1303173/2017-02-19-patrick-s-platform

And an explanation for how we got to this point.

Site Rules

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2. Do not deliberately insult the site. It's free to use and does not even have ads.
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If you're wondering why your comment was flagged, please click the "edit" link on it. It should be pretty obvious when you read your own words again. If you think there was a mistake about the content being flagged, please write p@patrick.net When you edit and save your own flagged comment, it will go back into moderation where it will get reviewed by a moderator again.

If you're suspicious that comments are flagged for political reasons, note that you can actually see any flagged comment in the html source of that page. Use "View Source" in your browser. Yes, it's inconvenient, but that's deliberate, to keep those comments out of the conversation stream.

Please use this effective debate technique:
1. State your opponent's position so that he agrees with it 100%. This is so that you argue against what your opponent is really saying.
2. State points of agreement, and anything you learned from your opponent.
3. Give your reasoning for why your opponent is mistaken.
4. Make it clear that you are attacking only the point and not the person.

Site Functionality

If you ignore another user, you will not see that user's threads or comments. To see whom you're ignoring and to unignore, look on your edit profile page.

To get another user's attention, mention that user in a comment with an @ character prepended to his username ( for example @Patrick ) and then he will get an email of that comment, unless he has emails turned off.

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You may not post large sections of copyrighted material unless you have explicit permission from the copyright owner. But excerpts for discussion are fine, and in fact protected by law.

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These basic html tags all work in threads and comments: a audio b blockquote br code del font hr i iframe img li ol p strike sub sup u ul video vsmall

You can surround a word or phrase with the * character to make it bold, or the _ character to make it italic, or surround a word with - to strike it, or you can just use the b or the i or the strike html tag.

Searching

Prepend + to require a word or - to exclude it: +Tunnel -Sky
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Shortcuts

^t will jump to the text input box at the bottom of a thread
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If you click "pin" at the top of a thread, it will get saved to your pinned list. For example, here is patrick's pinned list

There is a thread for each zip code in the US. You can have local discussions there about anything, or you can post things for sale, etc. To find the thread for a zip code, just do a search for the town name or zip code.

I also have a list of all US Congressmen as separate threads, where you are encouraged to comment on how good of a job you think they're doing:

https://patrick.net/post/1377838/2022-11-29-us-congressmen-lists


« First        Comments 359 - 398 of 602       Last »     Search these comments

359   MisdemeanorRebel   2018 Oct 28, 1:56pm  

Patrick says
Or what about letting users tip other users, so good writers can get paid a bit? (With a modest 10% commission on that tip going to the site.) I could keep score on the site, and pay out when a balance gets above $20 or so. Would I have to issue a 1099 MISC then?


I wonder if we could make some post/area as a resource for various issues.

I've got several ideas for an Index of things, like tracking domestic terror attacks by cause or such like.

Then slap some ads on it or allow a tip jar, and you should make a big commission for hosting, 20%.
360   Patrick   2018 Oct 28, 4:37pm  

Tell me more about what you were thinking.

Several times I have linked a certain class of post to a sub-database. Once for housing, once for a list of all SF tech companies, and I think a few others.

So you're saying that the sub-database would be maintained by one user, and updates would all be posted to a specific thread, right?
361   MisdemeanorRebel   2018 Oct 28, 4:42pm  

Patrick says
Tell me more about what you were thinking.

Several times I have linked a certain class of post to a sub-database. Once for housing, once for a list of all SF tech companies, and I think a few others.

So you're saying that the sub-database would be maintained by one user, and updates would all be posted to a specific thread, right?


Something like that.

Because Curious2 is good at listing Islamic attacks in the "Islam" thread, there was one (Goran? TPB? You?) on Leftwing attacks, and I had a Hillary thread (and others) that correlate all the stories/incidences about a certain topic. Fake Hate Crimes, that kind of thing.

I remember documenting Terror Attacks by Cause also, but I can no longer find the thread.

Think of this as something like an "Anti-Snopes", but it could also contain Reasons why Buying is a Bad Idea and other list/indexes of events/ideas.

Only the author(s) could comment in the main thread but tips or gripes could be kept in other posts underneath the main thread.

This way the original post could be updated with new information as it comes in. Then we could share with The_Donald, Twitter, and other places to drive traffic.
362   Patrick   2018 Oct 28, 4:46pm  

TwoScoopsOfSpaceForce says
Only the author(s) could comment in the main thread but tips or gripes could be kept in other posts underneath the main thread.


So maybe the original post (which is what I think you mean by main thread) could itself have a little database that only the thread author could insert into, but everyone could search and read.

And tips or gripes would be comments as usual, below the original post.

Sound about right?
363   MisdemeanorRebel   2018 Oct 28, 5:54pm  

That's exactly right.

Without having endless stickies at the top of the forum which suck, kind of a "Reference Thread" with a link at the top on the right side of Active/Comments/New/etc.

And you should monetize it, both because I'd pay for a few threads, and then you can charge for ads or ask for donations also..
364   Patrick   2018 Oct 28, 6:13pm  

OK, it's plan.
365   Patrick   2018 Oct 30, 8:03pm  

@TwoScoopsOfSpaceForce I need to pin down exactly how this new feature would look and work.

Are you thinking of essentially an embedded spreadsheet in a post?
366   MisdemeanorRebel   2018 Oct 30, 8:51pm  

It could be. I was originally thinking more of a plain regular post

BUT

An embedded spreadsheet would be easier to keep updated and users could sort it by Place, Cause/Motive, etc. rather than just Date.
367   HappyGilmore   2018 Nov 1, 5:13pm  

personal
368   Goran_K   2018 Nov 1, 5:19pm  

You’re always welcome back. Calling someone a troll is going to always result in a flag though. Now or later.
369   MrMagic   2018 Nov 1, 7:13pm  

antiforum
370   MisdemeanorRebel   2018 Nov 1, 7:35pm  

Now that I see Mr. Magic's post was made her where it belongs, I think it should be approved, actually.

HappyGilmore, I don't know why you're @ing me. I only get the odd posts at odd hours. If it isn't blatantly insulting, I usually let it pass and only insist that posts complaining about pat.net get made here.

The fact is when Trump won many posters became toilet mouths full of invective. It used to be pretty much confined between Captain Shuddup and Dan and Iwog, but then it spread all over. That's why the change had to be made.
371   FuckTheMainstreamMedia   2018 Nov 1, 7:51pm  

HappyGilmore says
@Patrick @twoscoopsofspaceforce

OK. Goran has become a large enough troll that it's no longer fun to come here. So I guess he wins.

If this is what you want the site to be, have at it.

Take a look at the blue wave thread and tell me I'm wrong. Iwog was right all along that having him as a moderator will kill the site. I stayed much longer than I should have...


Which of your accounts will be leaving the site?
372   Goran_K   2018 Nov 1, 7:57pm  

CovfefeButDeadly says
HappyGilmore says
@Patrick @twoscoopsofspaceforce

OK. Goran has become a large enough troll that it's no longer fun to come here. So I guess he wins.

If this is what you want the site to be, have at it.

Take a look at the blue wave thread and tell me I'm wrong. Iwog was right all along that having him as a moderator will kill the site. I stayed much longer than I should have...


Which of your accounts will be leaving the site?


I’m glad someone said it. HappyGilmore is 99% someone’s sock account. I would bet $1,000 cash on it.
373   MrMagic   2018 Nov 1, 8:27pm  

TwoScoopsOfSpaceForce says
Now that I see Mr. Magic's post was made her where it belongs, I think it should be approved, actually.


I'd like to know why it wasn't approved too, it was posted under "Discuss Anything" since...

Patrick says
Patrick.net is an uncensored anonymous forum.


I posted a 100% true comment, if they aren't allowed to stay, what's left to discuss?
375   www365   2018 Nov 26, 2:44pm  

is a housing crash coming?
don't understand why people still buy houses at such insane price.
376   Patrick   2018 Nov 26, 6:04pm  

@www365 My own opinion is that Bay Area prices will decline for the next few years at least, but slowly.

One factor is that the new tax law limits the deductibility of interest for the rich. Also, I expect interest rates to rise.
377   Patrick   2019 Mar 3, 12:54pm  

There are still moderators, and you can still ignore anyone you want, even me.

You can actually discuss everything. You just can't shit on other users or the site itself.

I changed the site tagline and the title of this post to "Freedom to Offend".
378   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 3, 3:09pm  

Tarantula says
I'm genuinely curious. I used to read this site back then and it would be interesting to hear how it morphed from housing and economics into encouraging offensive language.



Trump got elected, against the absolute assurance of several popular prog/lib posters, and most of them got super beyond Butthurt to the max and couldn't make a post without personal insults.

Then they thought their freedom was taken away and flounced after Patrick tried to control insults after months of nasty behavior.

My favorite was a certain poster who agreed Trump-Russia was BS right up until the election results. Then not a week later was Mr. Trump-Russia-Collusion
379   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 3, 3:14pm  

I'm all for the melting pot.

I don't like the salad bowl because there's no way to get rid of the Islamist Croutons.
380   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 3, 3:23pm  

Tarantula says
None of that makes any much sense, but it sounds like you had an argument with someone once here. That's personal to YOU, but my question was really about why this site was refocused to protecting the "freedom to offend" over so many other potential choices. I'm genuinely curious.



I was probably one of the least involved in the Great Prog Butthurt.

Ironically, the same people who wanted to ban Capt Shuddup for years based on his behavior, were the ones demanding that banning personal insults was "Anti Free Speech".
381   Patrick   2019 Mar 3, 5:50pm  

Tarantula says
I'm not clear what this content on housing has to do with the freedom to be offensive? If the economics of housing is what put the site on the map, how did it evolve to a site focused on the freedom to be offensive?


I honestly believe that the rapidly growing suppression of free speech is a far greater problem than the cost of housing. The housing problem will solve itself eventually. The lack of free speech can lock us all into tyranny forever.
382   Patrick   2019 Mar 3, 6:02pm  

MisterLearnToCode says
Islamist Croutons


Lol, exactly. Everything else is pretty easy to eat, but those croutons really don't belong in the salad at all. Kinda like putting bits of wood or rocks in your salad.
383   HeadSet   2019 Mar 3, 7:22pm  

but those croutons really don't belong in the salad at all. Kinda like putting bits of wood or rocks in your salad.

Yep, and those who do eat the croutons annoy every one else when their loud chewing sounds like a rock crusher.
384   Bd6r   2019 Mar 3, 7:23pm  

HeadSet says
loud chewing sounds like a rock crusher.

one could even say that their teeth explode
385   ForcedTQ   2019 Mar 3, 9:08pm  

Tarantula says
Patrick says
the rapidly growing suppression of free speech


I couldn't disagree more strongly. Free speech is more proliferate at this moment than ever before in the history of mankind.

I think perhaps you are confusing free speech with lack of consequences. People can, and should be, held accountable for the consequences of their words.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that free speech without consequence is tyranny.


So you would believe that someone should be able to say something, and if someone else doesn't like it/agree with it/know it to be fact/etc. there should be consequences for the person that said it? Is not that Tyranny?
386   Patrick   2019 Mar 3, 9:16pm  

Tarantula says
I couldn't disagree more strongly. Free speech is more proliferate at this moment than ever before in the history of mankind.

I think perhaps you are confusing free speech with lack of consequences. People can, and should be, held accountable for the consequences of their words.


I'm talking about cases like James Damore at Google, who got fired for perfectly reasonable comments about why there are more male than female engineers.

Hint: it's not sexism.

Or how Larry Summers got fired from Harvard.
387   Bd6r   2019 Mar 4, 5:18am  

https://spectator.us/free-speech-threat/

Calm down! Your freedom of speech is not under threat
Anyone who has almost every aspect of their online life taken away from them is not ‘silenced’
Godfrey Elfwick

As usual, the tinfoil hat-wearing alt-right Nazis are crying out that free speech is under threat. This ridiculous overreaction always makes me laugh. These people have no idea what free speech is. They assume that freedom of speech means you are free to say whatever you want without severe consequences! Imagine that?! What kind of fascistic society would allow unfettered, non-regulated speech?

The companies listed above are all private companies. They are entitled to ban whomever they wish if they feel that their views or behavior are unpleasant. In fact, I would like to see this approach taken a step further. I cannot wait for the day utility companies start banning people from having access to vital services such as electricity, gas and running water. Nextra, Enel and Duke Energy are all perfectly within their rights to deny power to the homes of people whose views they deem problematic.

When it comes to the latest social media bans, I’ve seen cries of ‘Urr, they are trying to silence us!’ What utter rot! Anyone who has almost every aspect of their online life taken away from them is not ‘silenced’. They are still perfectly free to send letters and postcards to people (for now). There is absolutely nothing stopping them from using CB radio, or sending a telegraph. Nothing prevents them from tapping out messages in Morse code to their followers on an intricate system of underground pipes they could easily have built if they obtain the appropriate planning permission. With a little creativity, Alex Jones could communicate his vile thoughts via the medium of interpretive dance on any street corner he chooses. Tommy Robinson could scribble his racist views on scraps of paper, fold them up, insert them into bottles (not plastic) and hurl them into the sea for his fellow Islamophobes to discover while walking their pitbull terriers on the beach.
388   FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut   2019 Mar 4, 6:53am  

Then go there and do left wing activist there. You’ll get banned in 5 seconds...

You don’t appreciate the fact that you are still posting here. Ungreatful and so entitled.

Tarantula says
In fact, there seems to be no shortage of websites that proffer the most unpalatable "politically incorrect" content imaginable:

White aryan resistance: https://www.resist.com/
Jew Watch: http://www.jewwatch.com/
Holocaust Deniers: https://codoh.com/

There is an infinitude of "offensive" material on the Internet, without even considering all the wierd porn. I don't really see how it needs protecting
389   FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut   2019 Mar 4, 6:57am  

In CA most things said on this forum will get you fired for life. CA doesn’t support freedom of speech. But it supports freedom of speech that left wants... such as gender selection, having gays refer to you as cis gendered, etc...

CA liberals live on one way street pushing society into tyranny.
390   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 13, 10:46am  

We gotta lot of old sockpuppet accounts resurfacing today.
391   Shaman   2019 Mar 13, 10:52am  

Tarantula says
There is an infinitude of "offensive" material on the Internet, without even considering all the wierd porn. I don't really see how it needs protecting


Let’s start by banning anyone who talks like a Leftist. See how it works? Thought not. For a dude who is supposed to be educated, you aren’t displaying any wisdom.
392   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 13, 11:07am  

Elgatouno says
police your own this is why a one sided moderation policy is fucking stupid


Point me to another current user bringing up a sockpuppet in the recent past that you're complaining about, thanks.
393   CaltRightCrazy   2019 Mar 13, 11:19pm  

antiforum
395   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 15, 11:25pm  

MAGA_BOMBER says
offending is no great accomplishment, Offensive speech isolates people and undermines relationships permanently because all relationships are based on respect.


Respect is to be earned, not given away.

We can't ban offensive speech because then we'd be at the mercy of the most easily offended; the lowest common denominator, and wouldn't be able to discuss jack shit.

Some people are triggered by somebody saying "The Earth is a fucking oblate spheroid, not fucking flat."
396   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 15, 11:35pm  

MAGA_BOMBER says
Try talking that way to someone related to your employment.

BOOM

You have no worry about that particular problem?

BOOM



So what are you saying, in a democracy everybody should only talk like their boss is around?

Is that the ACLU's new stance on Free Speech: you can only talk as if you're at work on the boss' time and dime?

Sounds scary.
397   Patrick   2019 Mar 15, 11:50pm  

MisterLearnToCode says
We can't ban offensive speech because then we'd be at the mercy of the most easily offended; the lowest common denominator, and wouldn't be able to discuss jack shit.


Yes, exactly!
398   FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut   2019 Mar 16, 8:20am  

MAGA_BOMBER says
offending is no great accomplishment, Offensive speech isolates people and undermines relationships permanently because all relationships are based on respect.


No one expects everything we say to be an accomplishment. Anything and everything is offensive, restricting speech based on how it offends someone is tyranny.

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