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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • I can’t help but project an old version of myself on you. I can’t imagine defending 4chan unless I was actively using it a lot… It did used to be basically my only internet community, so I understand being particularly fond of the cesspool.

    However, I don’t actually understand your reactions here. Why are you defending it when it seems like 4chan itself wouldn’t even go this far except maaaybe as a limp wristed attempt at an excuse when something truly horrific happens because of them? I genuinely don’t think I understand

    Like, to currently vilify it is easy, just take a screenshot of pol. I remember looking pre2016 and seeing HYPERPARTISANSHIP all caps everywhere. It’s an anonymous forum with people discussing plans to make life shittier for various groups, essentially at all times… And before pol it was b (my era was back when pol was a boring place, I don’t know the current state of any board, but I know some of the history and what motivates some normies of my niche who fuck with it)

    I just don’t understand the downplaying of it, normal people participate in shit ways on 4chan specifically because of the anonymity. The anonymity is why it’s such a cesspool in the first place. It’s toxic keyboard warrior syndrome to the extreme.


  • This ignores that 4chan is widely known as the cesspool of the internet and attracts those types. It’s like going on Hexbear and being surprised at the communists. People gather where their banners are. Shit attracts shit. This reduction is apt.

    Sure it kind of does some good ish things sometimes, but more often than not, it’s just an internet mob internet mobbing. That’s essentially all it is: chaos waves constantly crashing back in on itself. Any good that comes from it is incidental at best.

    Also, defending 4chan on the wider Internet is a little odd, 4chan itself revels in its shit reputation…



  • Ah yes, me, the demigod who can act up on all my worries. Tell me again my plan to get trump to fuck off the 2024 election?

    Not to be too sarcastic at you, it’s a good sentiment that I do sort of agree with, but it places too much “you can do anything” blame on the observer who literally is already worried. Aka, this runs a major risk of demotivating people straight into doomerism when they’re faced with worries there’s really nothing that they individually can do about.

    Unless I’m wrong and there is some legitimate answer to that sarcastic opening question that I, individually, can do about it, in which case, I’m all ears lol


  • That’s fair. Part of my job is converting non-technical users into technical users by teaching them things like problem solving approaches that are supposed to help them teach themselves how to learn whatever they need to actually do their job. I don’t teach them what to do, I teach them how to learn what to do.

    I agree that you gotta meet people where they’re at, but I try to teach them how to poke around any code repo site, like GitHub or gitlab, so they can use it. Usually I point them to the docs and start by pointing out my favorite parts so that they have somewhere to kind of start by themselves, but it is a skill set that can be practice, or at least I am convinced it is.

    I’m not very good at this part of my job, but also, no one is, so it’s not a bad thing, I just want to do better. I guess I never thought of it from a truly non-technical and not wanting to be technical perspective before. This could be solved by a secondary interface designed specifically for this kind of user. It would not allow code download or interaction, but it would allow for issue logging. I might put this idea in my ever growing project list because it sounds like it would be a useful product…


  • I’m interested in where the limits to expectations lie here. I’m not trying to be a jerk when I say this next part but I do worry I may come off that way but I’m trying to figure out the boundaries of what a “reasonable” expectation is so I can make tasks like this easier for my own team (completely unrelated to this project but it’s essentially the same problem).

    Is it not reasonable to expect people to type into a search engine something like “GitHub help” and then poke around in the links that come up?

    … Well I’ll be damned, I tried my own method before commenting, and the first link that comes up is a red herring, how obnoxious. I was hoping it’d be a link to the docs, not GitHub support. I guess I just answered my own question: no that is not reasonable.

    As a technical user, I am still at a loss for how to help a non-technical user in an algorithmic way that will work for most non-technical users x.x guess I’ll be thinking about this problem some more lol

    (I guess I’m rambling but I’m gonna post this anyways in case anyone wants to chatter about it with me)







  • Yeah, it works really well for me, but I also have taken it since I was young whenever I needed/wanted it, so it might just work well for me. I’d recommend starting with like a 5mg, give it an hour to work, then if you still don’t feel tired, I’d take another one.

    Worst case you’ll still have to deal with the shitty situation with a slight melatonin hangover (I warn you in advance that it can happen, but it usually only happens if you take too much and it can’t metabolize before you wake up. You’re just very sleepy until it’s done)

    Best case, you end up going to bed earlier than normal and you feel fine in the morning.

    Good luck!




  • Oh I see it now, I gave an example of what their writing is leading me to believe about them. Odd that you’re reading that far into it that you’re telling me I doubt them while I’m asking for clarification.

    I don’t know anything about this person, what is there to doubt yet? If anything, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt by asking for clarification rather than joining the dogpile.

    But since you’re here now, what do you think about what they’re saying? Do you understand it enough to make conclusions about their beliefs? Because that’s my problem right now, I don’t think I have enough to do it even though I’m interested in what they’re saying


  • I’m sorry, but your post seems incomplete or I’m reading too far past what you’re actually saying. Are you meaning to say this is what teachers are supposed to be doing (ie, pretending to be jailers instead of educators) or are you saying this needs to change somehow? Something else, maybe?

    Like the way you write makes me think a lot of unflattering things about your stances, and I’m not sure why… like, for example, it seems like you’re saying it’s a good thing child labor protections are being taken away in Republican states… is that actually your position though? Or is that sarcasm that’s not coming through very well?

    Sorry for the million questions but I see this is already getting quite heated, and I’m trying to figure out if the heat is warranted or if it’s a general misunderstanding.


  • I’ve come to the realization that some people really really do enjoy having children and actively want them. I am not one of them. You probably aren’t either or you’d understand it. I don’t understand it either, so I assume it’s for a niche that isn’t me. Or rather, less assume, more have seen. I know these people exist as I’ve seen them, but I do not understand them. But I figure that’s ok.

    Unfortunately, most people don’t take this sort of view and assume everyone is like them, leading to stupid absolutist nonsense that they can’t seem to see past.


  • I don’t think you’re wrong.

    I like to look at this through the cult lens though, (because that’s the process outlined in your 4 bullet points, that’s how you get sucked into a cult.) With that, it’s not a matter of empathizing with the people in the cult so much as I don’t want the cult to exist in the first place to suck people in.

    I think I personally call people stupid as a frustration outlet, usually after surrendering them to their own hopelessly staunch position. I try not to do this to their face though, because for all I know that’ll just make them double down again. Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug, and insults tend to only make it stronger.

    I think the majority of people are at least ignorant, but it’s mostly ignorance of the consequences of whatever action or topic is at hand. Most people don’t know most things, so logically, most people must be ignorant of most things. The trick is realizing that I am also no exception: I also don’t know most things. From that, I can extrapolate how a cult leader or cultish ideology may feed on my paranoias to create cognitive dissonance within me. (One thing I can’t figure out how to mention is that loneliness as well as feeling lost plays a major part in this process)

    I guess the point of my rambling is that while empathy is good as a starting position, I think those under the hypnotization of cognitive dissonance need to be shown the dissonance so that they can snap out of it when they choose to (gently, though, certainly don’t call them stupid). This is overly simplistic and doesn’t cover anything like the issue of leaving false beliefs involving getting rid of entire social circles formed around and maintained by the false beliefs though.

    Tldr; I don’t think you’re wrong, but I think this is only 1 side of the entire issue. I think the entire issue spans cult like recruitment and maintenance tactics, at the very least, if not more that I haven’t covered here.