Jordan117's recent activity
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Comment on The global fertility crisis is worse than you think in ~society
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Comment on Halo: Campaign Evolved | Cinematic story trailer in ~games
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Comment on What internet discussion sites remain? in ~tech
Jordan117 (edited )Link ParentHard disagree. I used to like Era, but after awhile it became clear that the mods there are pretty awful -- strongly opinionated, arbitrary/inconsistent in their enforcement patterns, reluctant to...Hard disagree. I used to like Era, but after awhile it became clear that the mods there are pretty awful -- strongly opinionated, arbitrary/inconsistent in their enforcement patterns, reluctant to own up to or even engage with fair criticism, and regularly violating their own rules with impunity. It's still active enough that this can slip notice if you're not directly affected (plus they restrict all moderation/policy discussion to a single hidden thread and punish any talk outside of it), but there have been multiple "exoduses" of different groups over the years, and any thread more than a year or two old is littered with banned or self-deleted accounts.
For example, the mod staff is virulently anti-AI, but have permabanned multiple people for pointing out that the site's ownership embraces it for site development. I was permanently banned myself when I called out (in the meta thread!) how the mods had ignored reports and taken no action against multiple threads celebrating violent attacks on tech CEOs and politicians and calling for their deaths, which the site rules clearly state will "always result in a permanent ban." All the users clamoring for arson and murder were given a free pass, though (with some continuing to advocate violence in other threads).
There have been countless other such incidents: an admin regularly making "fuck this company and everyone who uses them" comments that regular users get punished for, mods posting ranty or flamebait threads that explicitly violate site rules, the chief mod publicly making a nasty sexual comment towards a subordinate and then simply deleting it rather than taking responsibility or stepping down. Basically, it's fine to read as a news aggregator, and you'll have an okay time if your opinions totally align with the prejudices and whims of the mods, but if not, it's an exercise in frustration.
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Comment on What do you think about Destiny 2’s imminent death and games as a service? in ~games
Jordan117 LinkI wanted to love Destiny, but the original lost me by the time I got to Venus. Way too many fiddly unexplained gameplay mechanics and dull "lore" that was little more than Generic Proper Nouns....I wanted to love Destiny, but the original lost me by the time I got to Venus. Way too many fiddly unexplained gameplay mechanics and dull "lore" that was little more than Generic Proper Nouns. I've checked in on the series once or twice since then, but the gameplay had shifted into complicated team-based raids and the lore had gotten even more bizarre and inexplicable.
Marathon looked intriguing from a design standpoint, but the gameplay ultimately sounded even more grindy and unforgiving than Destiny was.
If Bungie does go under, I'll of course be sad as a longtime Halo superfan (check the username!). But in a real sense the studio that made those games died a long time ago -- a few of the Grizzled Ancients may be left, but there's been such expansion and turnover since the aughts that the original crew's design vision has become something quite different. (I guess you could say... combat evolved.)
I just hope the new remake from 343 does the original game justice, but I fear they'll make a lot of the same mistakes as the original Anniversary from 2011.
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Comment on Who else is as excited as I am for the Backrooms movie tomorrow? in ~movies
Jordan117 Link ParentIt really is quite good. The larger Backrooms folklore has a lot of creators that lean hard into gimmicky monsters, dozens of unique themed "levels", and a strongly SCP-focused mystery corporation...It really is quite good. The larger Backrooms folklore has a lot of creators that lean hard into gimmicky monsters, dozens of unique themed "levels", and a strongly SCP-focused mystery corporation investigating the place. The KanePixels version has elements of those, but they're much subtler, and a lot more of the tension comes from silent first-person explorations of these increasingly surreal, inexplicable places.
If you want to check it out, the full playlist is here, with the meat of it being the three "Found Footage" videos. There's also a related series in the same broad universe called "The Oldest View" that is pretty damn spooky, plus a tense miniseries set within a fictional 90s computer game called "People Still Live Here" that will really speak to anybody that spent time in those weird liminal environments as a kid.
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Comment on Bricks & Minifigs corporate stole a man's $200,000 Lego collection and told him to get bent in ~hobbies
Jordan117 Link ParentDoesn't seem like it ended well to me. The store was closed to avoid having to pay the judgment (and apparently did). So no reimbursement for the contract violations, the mistreatment, the lies,...Doesn't seem like it ended well to me. The store was closed to avoid having to pay the judgment (and apparently did). So no reimbursement for the contract violations, the mistreatment, the lies, etc. It's not even clear they got their property back.
I reckon the victims tried to DIY serving papers to limit legal expenses (exactly the sort of expense the company threatened to incur for fighting them).
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Comment on "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster (1909) in ~books
Jordan117 LinkIt's remarkable how clearly it predicts things like the internet nearly a century before it became mainstream. And some of the imagery wouldn't be out of place in WALL-E. Another good story in...It's remarkable how clearly it predicts things like the internet nearly a century before it became mainstream. And some of the imagery wouldn't be out of place in WALL-E.
Another good story in this vein is "Pump Six" by Paolo Bacigalupi, from his anthology of the same name. It's more contemporary (2008) and less fantastical, but deals with the same core idea of society descending into hedonism and decadence as it collectively forgets how to maintain the infrastructure that makes it sustainable.
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Comment on Hot or Not: Temperature guessing game in ~creative
Jordan117 Link ParentIt's all relative, sure, but using more familiar units makes it easier to "feel" what the temperature is, if that seems like it would be unusually high or low for that part of the world this time...It's all relative, sure, but using more familiar units makes it easier to "feel" what the temperature is, if that seems like it would be unusually high or low for that part of the world this time of year, see how big the gap is between the two cities, etc. Like I know Baghdad is hot, but if I see it's 68°F there and then I get a city near me that's currently in a summer heat wave, I know there's a good chance it's actually hotter.
You can still do raw up/down comparisons with Celsius, but if a player is not used to thinking in C° then you might as well just skip the temperature data and just directly ask them if the other city is hotter or colder (losing the extra context that comes with a precise number).
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Comment on Signal, NordVPN, Proton to leave Canada over C-22 in ~society
Jordan117 Link ParentEven if you assume the government will never heel-turn and use their newfound spying powers against activists, marginalized groups, political opponents, etc., any technological solution that...Even if you assume the government will never heel-turn and use their newfound spying powers against activists, marginalized groups, political opponents, etc., any technological solution that weakens encryption and privacy protections for legitimate crimefighting reasons necessarily reduces it for all other use cases as well. Hacking tools leak, backdoors get discovered, and now you have a whole new class of trust issues (and crimes) knowing that sensitive data cannot be reliably protected against bad actors. That's not a worthwhile trade.
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Comment on Hot or Not: Temperature guessing game in ~creative
Jordan117 LinkTwo suggestions: Might want to automatically skip cities that are the same temperature, or even add some logic to require a certain minimum gap that shrinks over time to make it tougher. Can you...Two suggestions:
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Might want to automatically skip cities that are the same temperature, or even add some logic to require a certain minimum gap that shrinks over time to make it tougher.
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Can you add a Fahrenheit option?
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Comment on What's your favorite personal gaming memory? in ~games
Jordan117 (edited )LinkStepping out of the crashed evac pod onto Halo for the first time. Something about that vista -- not just the Halo ring arcing into the sky, but the incredibly sparkly and shimmery quality of the...Stepping out of the crashed evac pod onto Halo for the first time. Something about that vista -- not just the Halo ring arcing into the sky, but the incredibly sparkly and shimmery quality of the water -- was so visually striking and unlike any of the older games I had played to that point, even on a mediocre CRT monitor.
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Comment on What's something that you missed out on? in ~talk
Jordan117 Link ParentIf it makes you feel any better, I reckon there's a good chance that you would have spent or sold them long before they hit the stratospheric heights they eventually reached.If it makes you feel any better, I reckon there's a good chance that you would have spent or sold them long before they hit the stratospheric heights they eventually reached.
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Comment on Your favourite karaoke songs? in ~music
Jordan117 LinkThe Strokes - Someday: Love the vibe and sentiment, no long awkward instrumentals, and it's well within vocal range which is a big plus. Jimmy Eat World - The Middle and The Killers - Mr....The Strokes - Someday: Love the vibe and sentiment, no long awkward instrumentals, and it's well within vocal range which is a big plus.
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle and The Killers - Mr. Brightside: Great fun feel-good crowd energy songs most everybody knows the lyrics to.
Last time I went I was surprised to find Bo Burnham's "Welcome to the Internet" on the playlist. I didn't go for it (too long and a downer), but I do wonder if more tracks will make their way to venues given Inside's streaming popularity.
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Comment on Coyote vs. Acme | Official trailer in ~movies
Jordan117 LinkFor context, this movie was ~99% completed in 2023 and had strong reviews from test audiences... until Warner shelved it as a tax write-off, as they had already done for several other...For context, this movie was ~99% completed in 2023 and had strong reviews from test audiences... until Warner shelved it as a tax write-off, as they had already done for several other near-finished projects. The resulting backlash from the crew and supporters led to a protracted process of trying to sell it to a distributor, which is why it eventually landed with Ketchup Entertainment.
If you care about the success of original ideas, practical effects, and opposing Hollywood accounting BS that needlessly kills projects like this for a quick buck, definitely try to see it in theaters.
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Comment on How are we all feeling about piracy these days? in ~movies
Jordan117 Link ParentNope, it's entirely cloud-based. Once you set up the back end, you can generally install the Stremio client on a desktop, tablet, phone, streaming stick, or smart TV, and everything will sync to...Nope, it's entirely cloud-based. Once you set up the back end, you can generally install the Stremio client on a desktop, tablet, phone, streaming stick, or smart TV, and everything will sync to your account. Some platforms/devices make this more difficult than others (you have to jailbreak Amazon Fire TV sticks for ex, which takes about 20 minutes), but apart from totally locked-down vendors like Roku, there's usually a way to install Stremio or another app that can plug into the Real Debrid backend.
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Comment on How are we all feeling about piracy these days? in ~movies
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Comment on AI populism's warning shots in ~society
Jordan117 LinkExperienced this firsthand the other day. ResetEra, a large progressive forum I've been on since it was originally NeoGAF in 2007, has been trending strongly in this populist anti-AI direction --...Experienced this firsthand the other day. ResetEra, a large progressive forum I've been on since it was originally NeoGAF in 2007, has been trending strongly in this populist anti-AI direction -- thanks in part to moderators distorting their policies to shut down more informed or educational discussion while turning a blind eye to ragebait and witchhunts, which drives away experts while emboldening absolutists. It reached a new low the other day when posts on the attacks on Altman and that Indiana politician became filled with comments glorifying the violence, calling for more, and attacking anyone who disagreed. I reported the post the day it went up, but no action was taken for days as the murder-fantasies went on for page after page. When I posted in the site's meta-discussion thread calling out the mods for tolerating violent rhetoric, they permabanned me instead.
It's such a frustrating dynamic, because the core problem with AI is not the technology itself, but capitalism writ large. Generative AI as a technology is both conceptually fascinating and value-neutral. If people had no fear of becoming destitute or perverse incentives drowning out creative works, it would just be another creative tool on par with the synthesizer, allowing people to extend their labor and explore their creativity more freely (that was the vibe in the early days of AI Dungeon and DALL-E 2, before the ChatGPT-driven rush to commercialization). Movements like this at best throw the baby out with the bathwater, and at worst discredit the legitimate grievances with misinformation and inchoate violence, turning control of this technology firmly over to megacorporate techno-fascists. It's why critics should be the most engaged with the space, so they understand what they're criticizing and can better recognize both how to effectively regulate it and how to turn aspects of it to the advantage of regular people (open source being the biggest opportunity here). But instead too many people in left-leaning spaces treat anything less than "fuck this devilry and fuck anyone who uses it" as the equivalent of a Silicon Valley techbro chud. Just one more divisive kneejerk culture war.
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Comment on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home targeted with molotov cocktail in ~tech
Jordan117 (edited )LinkIt's getting rough out there, y'all. There's a big gaming-adjacent forum I used to frequent, ResetEra, which always billed itself as a cut above others in terms of being civil and progressive. It...It's getting rough out there, y'all.
There's a big gaming-adjacent forum I used to frequent, ResetEra, which always billed itself as a cut above others in terms of being civil and progressive. It was actually formed when the mods and most users of the website NeoGAF jumped ship in protest after the controversial owner got #MeToo'd.
They used to handle the AI discourse about as reasonably as Tildes does, but a couple years ago some extremely anti-tech faction of the mod team successfully lobbied for policies purporting to sharply limit AI discussion, which they promptly started abusing to smother informative or newsworthy threads while letting low-effort ragebait on the topic proliferate. As somebody with very mixed feelings on the technology who nevertheless enjoys talking about its evolution and implications, this was a very frustrating development.
Recently there were multiple threads about violence directed at people associated with the industry, including the now-multiple attacks on Altman's home and gunfire shot at the house of an Indiana politician who backed data center construction. Both were filled with comments glorifying the violence and openly hoping for more. Despite being flagrant violations of site rules, the posts stayed open for days and reports about them were ignored. When I finally called out the moderation failure in the site's official meta thread and asked why they were tolerating people advocating murder, they permabanned me instead.
I don't consider it a great loss, since I'd been spending minimal time there lately due to the mods flouting their own rules like that more and more often. Revisiting any thread more than a year or two old invariably shows a graveyard of normal-seeming commenters whose accounts have since been banned (or self-deleted in protest) for crossing the mods one way or another. But it says something that one of the last big progressive forums with a solidly 30+ progressive audience is being infected by this kind of bloodthirsty rhetoric, and that the people in charge are less inclined to punish people braying for murder than they are the people accusing them of tolerating calls for violence. You kind of expect to see that on social media these days, but part of me hoped that older-school places with alleged standards would hold the line better.
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Comment on What might be going on with this indie game "fansite"? in ~games
Jordan117 Link ParentThanks for digging further! I agree the writing smacks of AI in tone and confabulation, despite claiming otherwise. I wonder if the Google tracking code is related to the embedded YouTube videos?Thanks for digging further! I agree the writing smacks of AI in tone and confabulation, despite claiming otherwise.
I wonder if the Google tracking code is related to the embedded YouTube videos?
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Comment on What might be going on with this indie game "fansite"? in ~games
Jordan117 Link ParentI'm 90% sure the writing is AI-generated, or at least heavily AI-assisted. Even setting aside the strangely high amount of effort to exhaustively document a small indie title that's not especially...I'm 90% sure the writing is AI-generated, or at least heavily AI-assisted. Even setting aside the strangely high amount of effort to exhaustively document a small indie title that's not especially complex, it includes a lot of false information that no dedicated fan of the game would write. For example, it misidentifies the name of save points and the appearance of health powerups, invents a scroll-wheel zoom (while missing the more basic sprint key), and hallucinates the behavior of the monster. It also comes up with story dialogue I never saw in the game, and the screenshots don't really correspond to what the captions describe.
Echoing that the movie is incredible, one of the best science-fiction dramas of all time. Twenty years old this year and it not only hasn't aged a day, but has only become even more compelling (and prescient).