Forum Advice

[Lindal Kidd]

44 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

Is this one of those topics (and posters) who has a special dispensation to delve into the netherworld topics forbidden to others? Math?

Hey, SL uses software, and therefore, math.

How about that? I'm still on topic!

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

48 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

Is this one of those topics (and posters) who has a special dispensation to delve into the netherworld topics forbidden to others? Math?

Hey, SL uses software, and therefore, math.

I prefer "Maths" because I'm silly, and it's the word those people in Europe use (vs. "Math").

Because LL is bad at "Maths". <= common comment

But mostly because I'm silly and..what's the word? Ornery, I guess.

[Solar Legion]

19 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Yes. This topic - and these topics - are not new at all.

It is mostly the same discussion, like a playlist on shuffle/repeat.

It would be..interesting if the preferred method was to always, always add to some old thread instead of opening new ones. We'd have all that old discussion to draw from.

Oh but we cannot have that whatsoever! Oh no! There must always be a new thread, rehashing the same things over and over and over with very little new added in, don't you know!

Goddess forbid that one of the older threads is dug out and pushed forward with a comment/post that is an actual response to it instead of wasting time and such with a new thread!

[Love Zhaoying]

Just now, Solar Legion said:

Oh but we cannot have that whatsoever! Oh no! There must always be a new thread, rehashing the same things over and over and over with very little new added in, don't you know!

Goddess forbid that one of the older threads is dug out and pushed forward with a comment/post that is an actual response to it instead of wasting time and such with a new thread!

I think, all joking and sarcasm aside, some of the new threads are maybe, possibly, perhaps created not because people are "lazy" or some-such, but because they want to "start a discussion".  You know, an ego thing. <=not judging, last time I checked we all had an ego.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

But if someone says they hate (despise) Neko's, and "Neko's are not Furries", and I'm a Neko, that's not really "hate speech" even though it denies my existence and directs "hate" towards me - in Second Life. Did I get it right?

I apologize for attempting to direct the conversation towards Second Life, as you seemed to be enjoying um..your explanation. (Not a rant!)

What?

No. My comment was explicitly about how to approach RL "hate" or politics, which are against forum guidelines. Applying it to SL categories such as "Neko" makes no sense because 1) they're not "real" (except, at most, as a culturally-specific aesthetic), and 2) discussion of them is therefore not against forum guidelines.

If you want to hate on Nekos, I suspect you can go for it, within the limits prescribed more generally for the forums. Despising kitty ears, tail, and leg warmers is not the same thing as attacking a gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

[Solar Legion]

14 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I think, all joking and sarcasm aside, some of the new threads are maybe, possibly, perhaps created not because people are "lazy" or some-such, but because they want to "start a discussion".  You know, an ego thing. <=not judging, last time I checked we all had an ego.

Some, perhaps. Others ... I've seen people (in the past) admit that they did not search too hard before making a thread (and thus having a duplicate/rehashing). Some seem to miss that there are many forum sections and that a particular thread/topic just might already exist outside of where they decided to put it.

If that latter is pointed out, invariably some excuse is given (common ones being that having it in more than one place increases exposure). While I get that most aren't going to check every category (I know I don't - not all of them are of interest to me on a daily basis) there are still a few that users ought to check before tossing a topic into General (or any of the People categories).

Bit of a contentious closer for this - Mods, feel free to remove this part if need be: Some are just simply too lazy to be bothered doing more than checking General or any of the People sections (wherever they tend to 'hang out' the most) and that is on them. Do more than just give a cursory glance before making a new thread!

Edited August 8, 2022 by Solar Legion
Minor spelling correction

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, Solar Legion said:

Some, perhaps. Others ... I've seen people (in the past) admit that they did not search too hard before making a thread (and thus having a duplicate/rehashing). Some seem to miss that there are many forum sections and that a particular thread/topic just might already exist outside of where they decided to put it.

I that latter is pointed out, invariably some excuse is given (common ones being that having it in more than one place increases exposure). While I get that most aren't going to check every category (I know I don't - not all of them are of interest to me on a daily basis) there are still a few that users ought to check before tossing a topic into General (or any of the People categories).

Bit of a contentious closer for this - Mods, feel free to remove this part if need be: Some are just simply too lazy to be bothered doing more than checking General or any of the People sections (wherever they tend to 'hang out' the most) and that is on them. Do more than just give a cursory glance before making a new thread!

Have you tried using "search" in these forums?

Yeeeeeesh.

[Snugs McMasters]

4 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

last time I checked we all had an ego.

There's no doubt in my mind that Maddy's an id. There is considerable doubt in her mind over whether I'm her ego. She is, at the moment, yelling "f-ing buzzkill superego" at me from downstairs.

Nope, no doubt at all.

[Madelaine McMasters]

13 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

35 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Yes. This topic - and these topics - are not new at all.

It is mostly the same discussion, like a playlist on shuffle/repeat.

It would be..interesting if the preferred method was to always, always add to some old thread instead of opening new ones. We'd have all that old discussion to draw from.

Oh but we cannot have that whatsoever! Oh no! There must always be a new thread, rehashing the same things over and over and over with very little new added in, don't you know!

Goddess forbid that one of the older threads is dug out and pushed forward with a comment/post that is an actual response to it instead of wasting time and such with a new thread!

This is a variation on RTFM, isn't it?

Welcome to human behavior!

[Solar Legion]

Just now, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Have you tried using "search" in these forums?

Yeeeeeesh.

Did it sound like I care how difficult it may be?

Prior to the recent changes, the in house search was not the only method one could have used. Nor does it excuse the duplication of threads where one can see a similar (or exact same) thread in the very first page or so of other categories.

Not able to get a result for the much earlier threads is excusable. "Creating" a thread that has a twin in another section that is barely even a month or so old is not excusable.

[Love Zhaoying]

4 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

Some, perhaps. Others ... I've seen people (in the past) admit that they did not search too hard before making a thread (and thus having a duplicate/rehashing). Some seem to miss that there are many forum sections and that a particular thread/topic just might already exist outside of where they decided to put it.

Ok, guilty!

4 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

I that latter is pointed out, invariably some excuse is given (common ones being that having it in more than one place increases exposure). While I get that most aren't going to check every category (I know I don't - not all of them are of interest to me on a daily basis) there are still a few that users ought to check before tossing a topic into General (or any of the People categories).

I've been meaning to bring this up:  Aren't a lot of these recent..discussions..more appropriate for the "Forum Feedback" section, since we are talking literally about Forum things?  I  think the response will be from most, "But the new rules say we can only be off-topic in General Discussion, and..and..and we are discussing General Discussion! So there!"

[Solar Legion]

Just now, Madelaine McMasters said:

This is a variation on RTFM, isn't it?

After a fashion, yes.

Quote

Welcome to human behavior!

I am well aware of such and it still vexes me.

[Love Zhaoying]

5 minutes ago, Snugs McMasters said:

There's no doubt in my mind that Maddy's an id. There is considerable doubt in her mind over whether I'm her ego. She is, at the moment, yelling "f-ing buzzkill superego" at me from downstairs.

Nope, no doubt at all.

..is she a Wizard (definitely not a Warlock) of Id?

2 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

Did it sound like I care how difficult it may be?

Prior to the recent changes, the in house search was not the only method one could have used. Nor does it excuse the duplication of threads where one can see a similar (or exact same) thread in the very first page or so of other categories.

Not able to get a result for the much earlier threads is excusable. "Creating" a thread that has a twin in another section that is barely even a month or so old is not excusable.

It would be an interesting exercise to ask our Moderators to merge each thread into exist threads, as we go! (Inevitable responses: "Someone moved/closed my thread!")

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

Quote

Welcome to human behavior!

I am well aware of such and it still vexes me.

You vexing vixen! Or vexed.

[Solar Legion]

9 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I've been meaning to bring this up:  Aren't a lot of these recent..discussions..more appropriate for the "Forum Feedback" section, since we are talking literally about Forum things?  I  think the response will be from most, "But the new rules say we can only be off-topic in General Discussion, and..and..and we are discussing General Discussion! So there!"

For some, yes indeed. Making matters worse on that front (and just as vexing for me) is that some see "Forum Feedback" and create a thread within it that has nothing whatsoever to do with Feedback relating to the Forum.

While such threads eventually do get moved to their proper places, it speaks volumes that people would create them there in the first place! The most often seen are threads that belong in General or one of the Tech sections (seeing as those are also often used as Technical Support) or even as an Answers post!

Edited August 8, 2022 by Solar Legion
Minor spelling correction

[Love Zhaoying]

9 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Have you tried using "search" in these forums?

Yeeeeeesh.

I use the "search" to find my favorite threads all the time, and they come right up on the first try, on the first hit! 

It's like the programmers created the search function just to please me.

Maybe it helps that there's only so many threads with "peeve", "listening to", "laugh" in the title.

There ya go! People are just bad at making original and unique thread "topics" (titles).

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

For some, yes indeed. Making matter worse on that front (and just as vexing for me) is that some see "Forum Feedback" and create a thread within it that has nothing whatsoever to do with Feedback relating to the Forum.

While such threads eventually do get moved to their proper places, it speaks volumes that people would create them there in the first place! The most often seen are threads that belong in General or one of the Tech sections (seeing as those are also often used as Technical Support) or even as an Answers post!

There's a thought - since not a lot goes into "Forum Feedback", maybe it would be "easier" to pol..I mean moderate.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Love Zhaoying

[Solar Legion]

3 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

..is she a Wizard (definitely not a Warlock) of Id?

It would be an interesting exercise to ask our Moderators to merge each thread into exist threads, as we go! (Inevitable responses: "Someone moved/closed my thread!")

My personal response to such responses - "It was moved/merged into a section/thread where it actually makes sense to have it/that already existed. Deal with it."

2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

You vexing vixen! Or vexed.

GAH! Make me blush why don't you! I am still unused to people calling me by more Femme terms (despite my preferences being Neutral/Femme/Masc)!

Thank you!

😊

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

8 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

You vexing vixen! Or vexed.

GAH! Make me blush why don't you! I am still unused to people calling me by more Femme terms (despite my preferences being Neutral/Femme/Masc)!

Thank you!

😊

*phew* I took a risk, glad you took it as a compliment!

You're very welcome!

[Solar Legion]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

*phew* I took a risk, glad you took it as a compliment!

You're very welcome!

Oh I am very vexing at times! Often rather vexed too! So yeah, to me it is a compliment and a statement of fact!

[Love Zhaoying]

On 8/6/2022 at 1:05 PM, diamond Marchant said:

To forum participants... please, above all, stick to ideas and have in mind what the thread is about. Try not to make anything personal and try not to take any bait. And if you can, don't go on and on and on.... or repost what you just said. Few want to read a looooooong post and most of us understand something the first time.

I think this is the part of the OP, above, that was directed at "us".

What was the question? Or what do we discuss that is on this topic?

Or, was this to be a "initial post" then ask the moderators to close it? Like an "announcement" post?

Just checking!

 

[Luna Bliss]

16 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

20 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

I was agreeing with your solution at first. "That's debatable" seemed  a non-confrontational comment so as not to run amiss of forum rules yet avoid being complicit in the silence which allows abuse to proliferate.
But then I realized...human rights are not debatable.

I'd agree entirely that human rights are not up for debate.

But that's not quite what one is wanting to respond to here. If someone were to make a statement that directly denied the human rights of a group of people -- e.g., "X group of people are inferior" or "Y isn't even a real category of person" -- I'd have no problem ARing it -- that's just hate speech.

But it's dangerous to jump from more nuanced and complicated statements to the inference that human rights are being denied. The comment, for instance, that "X group of people aren't really oppressed" is not a direct denial of their human rights, even if it has possible implications for how we treat "X group of people." It is a testable, disputable -- "debatable," if you like -- assertion that can be challenged with facts, reasoning, and logic.

We don't get a lot of the "X group of people are inferior" assertion here. We do see views that might reflect an attitude towards the human rights of groups, but that's not a given. And such statements are debatable and need to be flagged as such precisely because their implications are frequently not as clear as a simple racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, etc. statement.

I agree with the responses to the two categories you've proposed (either an AR or a "that's debatable" response, but neither one of them seems to fit yet another category (and there are even shades within this 3rd category), and I'm trying to think of an appropriate response to this 3rd category that conforms to forum rules yet allows an expression, thereby not making us complicit because silence equals implicit agreement.
I've come to the conclusion that there really is no appropriate response we can make to this 3rd category because these posts should actually be deleted.

This 3rd category does not fit into 'hate speech' or into the category of those who are simply unaware human rights have been violated, because they don't typically use hate speech and don't even believe in human rights in the first place.
They don't use hate speech because this is usually not accepted and would illicit instant removal in most cases, yet it is hate nonetheless that motivates them.

This 3rd category I'm trying to define, are people who believe that society should be structured under the "might makes right" rule, that the strongest deserve to compete against all others and rise to the top so as to dominate and control all others.
They know very well that other ethnicities, genders, and different sexual orientations suffer -- they just don't care. Some would say this is just selfishness or lack of empathy, and while these qualities are part of this mindset it is actually hate, pure and simple. The opposite of love is 'indifference'. They are indifferent to the suffering of those they don't deem as worthy, and so not deserving of the respect and societal goods they enjoy.

Posts deemed as 'hate speech' are typically deleted, but posts that exhibit every bit as much hate as technical 'hate speech' are allowed to remain because the hate is more hidden, and those spewing the hate have gotten wise as to how they can post on forums in such a way that is less likely to elicit removal.

Typically they use 'dog whistles' to make their statements, or create false scenarios to trash those they deem as opposing their desire to order society as they see fit.

So, for myself, I will AR such posts because they are hate. To say these posts are simply people who don't understand the suffering those on the lower rungs of society endure and so should only incur a "that's debatable" response would be a lie.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Luna Bliss

[Madelaine McMasters]

6 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

Quote

Welcome to human behavior!

I am well aware of such and it still vexes me.

During my years wandering around Answers, we endured endless re-asking of the same questions. That's a different environment than GD, as most questions were asked by people who'd never visited the forums before. It's faster to jump in and ask a question than to search for similar questions previously answered. Conversely, it was often faster for me to craft an answer directly than to refer the inquirer to other threads. That would require me to search (though I did maintain a folder of bookmarks to common questions). I'm lazy, too.

GD, though a different animal, is still an animal. Love's "ego" argument holds more water here. I can well imagine people starting new threads at least partially for the attention they'll receive as OP. It's also not uncommon for threads to lose focus. Making a new thread on an existing topic reintroduces... the topic.

As High Priestess of the Derail, some blame for loss of focus can be laid at my feet now and then. For that reason, I am slow to vex.

I could imagine you being vexed by my behavior. It doesn't help that I find you adorable when vexed.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

42 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

Did it sound like I care how difficult it may be?

There's something weirdly medieval about this. "If it doesn't hurt, it's really not any good for you. Here's your hair shirt and the whip with which to scourge yourself."

It's also unhelpful, to say the least. Sometimes the advice I hear here reminds me of the Tech Person from Hell.

 

"Hello, can you help me? I can't change my screen resolution."

"Oh, that's easy! I do it all the time. Just go to your "Programs 64x" folder, and find the user application folder. Open the walrustusks.bat using a code editor. Open the command line, and run /[userappfile]/tuskshorten /s. Don't forget the "/s" on the end. Then close the file and reopen it in a compiler: there's a good free one on GitHub called WalrusTamer. Make sure you download version 6.4305403945333.43355, not 6.4305403945333.43354, because that one has a well-known bug that can erase your entire hard drive lol! You may need to go to the version tree to find the right one. After you recompiled walrustusks.bat, you'll need to move it to the walrustusksdisplay folder; you'll need to reset the path from walrustusk.ex. I only use Unix, so I can't tell you how to do that for Apple iOS or Windows, but I'm sure you can find the documentation. Then close the folders, restart your computer, and chant "Walrus Be Neat Walrus Be Mine" over and over again as you spin on your toes. It should work fine."

"I . . . I don't know how to do any of those things. I don't even know what a 'GitHub' is.

"Huh. Really? Maybe you shouldn't be using a computer at all."

Edited August 8, 2022 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Solar Legion]

Just now, Scylla Rhiadra said:

There's something weirdly medieval about this. "If it doesn't hurt, it's really not any good for you. Here's a your hair shirt and the whip with which to scourge yourself."

It's also unhelpful, to say the least. Sometimes the advice I hear here reminds me of the Tech Person from Hell.

 

"Hello, can you help me? I can't change my screen resolution."

"Oh, that's easy! I do it all the time. Just go to your "Programs 64x" folder, and find the user application folder. Open the walrustusks.bat using a code editor. Open the command line, and run /[userappfile]/tuskshorten /s. Don't forget the "/s" on the end. Then close the file and reopen it in a compiler: there's a good free one on GitHub called WalrusTamer. Make sure you download version 6.4305403945333.43355, not 6.4305403945333.43354, because that one has a well-known bug that can erase your entire hard drive lol! You may need to go to the version tree to find the right one. After you recompiled walrustusks.bat, you'll need to move it to the walrustusksdisplay folder; you'll need to reset the path from walrustusk.ex. I only use Unix, so I can't tell you how to do that for Apple iOS or Windows, but I'm sure you can find the documentation. Then close the folders, restart your computer, and chant "Walrus Be Neat Walrus Be Mine" over and over again as you spin on your toes. It should work fine."

"I . . . I don't know how to do any of those things. I don't even know what a 'GitHub' is.

"Huh. Really? Maybe you shouldn't be using a computer at all."

Not the same. At all.

Further, the hyperbole in general in your described scenario is - at best - slightly irritating. Anyone answering a question with a simple enough answer (such as changing screen resolution) is trolling. 

I'll have to leave it there as properly typing out my thoughts on the current crop of fora users in general would certainly net the post (and myself) censure.