Deimos's recent activity
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Comment on Political discussion here seems to be really bad. Is it even possible for it to be good? in ~tildes
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Comment on Political discussion here seems to be really bad. Is it even possible for it to be good? in ~tildes
Deimos (edited )LinkIt's just not really possible to be good. This segment of Charles' Rules of Argument covers it well: It's not exclusive to politics, but that's definitely one of the places where it's most common...It's just not really possible to be good. This segment of Charles' Rules of Argument covers it well:
Rule one is scarily simple. You will never change anyone's mind on a matter of opinion. Someone going into an argument believing one thing, and coming out the other side not believing it is a freak occurrence ranking somewhere alongside virgin birth and victorious English sporting teams. People change their minds gradually, and if anything a prolonged argument only serves to back someone into a corner, huddling closer to the security blanket of what they believe.
It's not exclusive to politics, but that's definitely one of the places where it's most common to see it. You'll also never convince someone that enjoys programming in PHP that they actually hate it, someone that enjoys League of Legends that it's inferior to Dota 2, someone that hates rap music that it's actually good, or any number of other arguments that have been getting repeated perpetually for years.
So when arguments like that happen and it's obvious someone's opinion isn't budging (because of course it won't), people start resorting to personal attacks or being condescending. They feel like they can't reason with the person, so they try to make them feel (or at least look) inferior for their opinion instead. Even if it still doesn't do anything (and it won't), it lets them feel like they're scoring points against the other side. It ends up not being so much a "discussion" any more, and more just people performing for the audience on the same side as them.
Honestly, I think a lot about doing one of two things:
- Banning "overt politics" entirely (or at least the ability to comment on it). It's not really feasible to "ban politics" because it's an aspect of so many things, but there's a lot of stuff that's just politics (horse-race poll results, "Republicans do bad thing", etc.) that has practically zero chance of generating a reasonable discussion. It's either everyone on the same side basically circlejerking, or people on opposite sides going for each other's throats. There's very little in between.
- Banning the < 10 users that seem completely unable to resist getting into the exact same tedious arguments every time a topic comes up that's even tangentially related.
I doubt I'll ever actually do anything that drastic, but the arguments are incredibly tiresome overall and I think about it often. It doesn't seem like there are many other options that aren't so heavy-handed. Things like shoving politics into a sub-group that isn't shown by default or rate-limiting how often users are allowed to post in political threads probably won't actually solve anything, just hide or slow it down a little.
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Comment on Bernie Sanders drops out of American presidential race in ~news
Deimos LinkAlright, this thread's past the point of any usefulness. It's just devolved into the same handful of users bickering over the exact same things as always, with nobody having the slightest...Alright, this thread's past the point of any usefulness. It's just devolved into the same handful of users bickering over the exact same things as always, with nobody having the slightest intention of budging their opinion.
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Twitter removes privacy option, and shows why we need strong privacy laws
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A breakdown and comparison of the animation in the original opening cutscene of Final Fantasy VII and the new version in the Remake
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The weirdly enduring appeal of Weird Al Yankovic
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Comment on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to intensive care in ~news
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Comment on The coronavirus has changed the way Americans use the internet in ~tech
Deimos Link ParentThis article's maybe similar to what you mean? The Coronavirus Crisis Is Showing Us How to Live Online I like the general premise of it anyway, that people are using the internet more for...This article's maybe similar to what you mean? The Coronavirus Crisis Is Showing Us How to Live Online
I like the general premise of it anyway, that people are using the internet more for "connection" right now than a lot of the more divisive purposes that were rampant before (but that's definitely still there, and I'm sure it'll shift back more).
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Comment on After 9/11, Americans gave up privacy for security. Will we make the same trade-off after COVID-19? in ~tech
Deimos Link ParentOf course, companies get run into the ground all the time. Investors can sue in cases like securities fraud where the company is hiding information about how poorly they're doing, but it's not...Of course, companies get run into the ground all the time. Investors can sue in cases like securities fraud where the company is hiding information about how poorly they're doing, but it's not illegal to just run a company badly (and definitely not to run it well but not "optimally").
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Comment on After 9/11, Americans gave up privacy for security. Will we make the same trade-off after COVID-19? in ~tech
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Probable Roman shipwrecks unearthed at a Serbian coal mine
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Comment on Daily coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - April 8 in ~health.coronavirus
Deimos LinkThe New York Times says that their data is showing that Chicago's Cook County Jail is now the single largest-known source of infections in the US.The New York Times says that their data is showing that Chicago's Cook County Jail is now the single largest-known source of infections in the US.
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Comment on Firefox 75 released: Ambitions for April in ~tech
Deimos Link ParentI haven't read through all of this, but it looks like this was discussed in the spec pull request: https://github.com/whatwg/html/pull/3752#issuecomment-462632789 Right now it seems to only apply...I haven't read through all of this, but it looks like this was discussed in the spec pull request: https://github.com/whatwg/html/pull/3752#issuecomment-462632789
Right now it seems to only apply to
<img>and<iframe>as far as I can tell though. -
Comment on Recommendations for Android messaging app, please in ~tech
Deimos Link ParentOh, interesting, I didn't know that. That's great to know, thanks. I don't see it mentioned on the main sections of their site, but there's more info on their support site here:...Oh, interesting, I didn't know that. That's great to know, thanks. I don't see it mentioned on the main sections of their site, but there's more info on their support site here: https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007321171-Can-I-send-SMS-MMS-with-Signal-
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Comment on Bernie Sanders drops out of American presidential race in ~news
Deimos (edited )Link ParentPretty disappointed to see something like this as the top comment on this thread, both that you posted it and that so many people voted on it instead of labeling it Noise or even Malice like it...Pretty disappointed to see something like this as the top comment on this thread, both that you posted it and that so many people voted on it instead of labeling it Noise or even Malice like it deserved.
I wasn't available this morning, but probably would have removed it if I had been here earlier. Now over half the discussion on this thread is underneath this comment so it's probably not worth it at this point.
I know a lot of you are unhappy about this result and venting, but let's still try to do better than this, please.
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Comment on Recommendations for Android messaging app, please in ~tech
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The coronavirus has changed the way Americans use the internet
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Comment on Daily coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - April 7 in ~health.coronavirus
Deimos Link ParentThis was an interesting article I posted the other day about how difficult it seems to be to make remdesivir: https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/03/26/problem-remdesivir-making-it-14665This was an interesting article I posted the other day about how difficult it seems to be to make remdesivir: https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/03/26/problem-remdesivir-making-it-14665
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Comment on China ends Wuhan lockdown after more than 10 weeks, but normal life is still a distant dream in ~health.coronavirus
Deimos Link ParentI don't think there will be much full-on agoraphobia overall (but probably some), but I think there will absolutely be a general feeling of distrust and nervousness towards other people that will...I don't think there will be much full-on agoraphobia overall (but probably some), but I think there will absolutely be a general feeling of distrust and nervousness towards other people that will linger for a long time. Every other person we interact with is a potential danger right now, and it's going to be hard to get past that.
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Comment on Inside Xbox - April 7, 2020 in ~games
Deimos LinkThis is a link to the whole show, which was live-streamed an hour ago. They're also uploading individual trailers/videos, which are all available on this playlist ("Grounded Story Trailer" is the...This is a link to the whole show, which was live-streamed an hour ago. They're also uploading individual trailers/videos, which are all available on this playlist ("Grounded Story Trailer" is the first one from today): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0il2l-B_WwZGnhZvmWkOcpoWYINFJ9mJ
A lot of this is because replies go into each person's inbox/notifications area, and they just reply from there, without even going back to the thread. That's a big factor in why back-and-forth arguments between two people go on forever too, they just keep replying to the comments in their inbox, even if the rest of the thread has been dead for days.