Posts made by Ganymede

I hereby report that the Itty Bitty Kitty Council requires you to continue to care for the buggers so that we can see more pictures.

@groth said in Ortallus Banned:

There is however a rules of engagement sticky in the hogpit which disallows misogyny and RL threats.

The rule stated by Arkandel is:

"Misogyny, racism sexual harassment, doxxing, real-life threats and the such are not going to be tolerated, and they will result in action against your account."

It was under this rule that action was taken.

I feel like this is landmine modding. There is to my knowledge no list of illegal words anywhere on this forum. There is no way a new poster can know which terms are allowed and which are not.

We expressly refrained from putting such a list up because people can always find ways to skirt around a specific list. As for new posters, my records show that Ortallus' account has been around since early 2018, and this topic has come up numerous times since then. This is not new to them; they are or should be aware of the rules of engagement.

And, no, we're not going to make a list going forward. The Hog Pit is what the Hog Pit is. Those of us who enjoy it -- in the words of Ortallus, we "thrive" on it -- are charged with knowing how to play in it. I have had at least one member ask me to go and change a comment because this one naughty word was in it, and I did so, no questions asked. Why? Because they demonstrated a modicum of self-awareness even if they may not have agreed with the rule barring the word.

If we are at the stage where we -- not me, not Mietze, not Arkandel, but the community -- want to jettison this remnant of what might be considered a shameful past, so be it. Let's talk.

But I think it far more "landmine modding" to ban a person based solely on my (tyrannical) discretion than to have a rule with more specificity than "just because our resident robot thinks what you said may upset others" or "please do not make the robot work."

@tinuviel said in Ortallus Banned:

That says to me that I can go around threatening people, telling them they should be dead, assaulted, abused, etc... and that's all fine, but if I say a mean word, then I'm going to the naughty person room.

I am all for a discussion about this, but would respectfully request it occur elsewhere on the forum.

For an old traditionalist here, this was a difficult ruling to make because there have been far worse things stated in this forum's history.

But, please, can we continue this elsewhere? It is important, but this is not the right venue. I can clarify my ruling here, but policy debates ought to be somewhere else.

Thanks.

I was hoping "never again," but I'm always sorely disappointed.

This begs for an explanation, so here it is.

Ortallus is not being banned for wishing death on another. We all know that the Hog Pit isn't a place for a good time. Wandering into there is wading into a black pit of despair and needless verbal lashings. And while stating one's wish that a person gets skullfucked is an awful image to bear, that's the sort of ugly shit that will be said there. It is, by calculation, a place for ugliness.

I am aware that some people may be genuinely ignorant of other races, genders, sexualities, gender identity, cultures, etc. In acknowledging this ignorance, as well as my own, there are times when a person may say some truly ignorant shit and then double-down on that shit by defending it, but these social constructs will not be broken down in one day by one post. That said, one of the few rules we have everywhere in this forum is for members to refrain from using derogatory slurs which are inherently racist, sexist, or steeped in a long history of discrimination.

In the spirit of the above rule, Ortallus is being banned for using the word "cunt" as a retort to others.

@ortallus said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

@kanye-qwest said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

This day is a gift

Yes, being the ginormous cunt you are, you thrive on this sort of thing, doncha?

@ortallus said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

The rest of you cunts can die in a fire, I really don't care. You love and thrive on the toxicity that is fermented in this cesspit, and most of MUland beyond your doors knows it. When I've asked people recently if they were from MUSoapbox, they responded "Ugh, that shit hole?"

I recognize that other English-speaking nationalities, particularly Australians, do not consider this term as offensive as Americans do. But we have had this discussion in the past at length and to me it seems that allowing members to use this word is far outweighed by the potential insult and harm it may cause others. As far as I'm concerned, this is a gendered slur directed at women or those who identify as such. I might have considered it a slip, but --

@ortallus said in MU* Gripes and Peeves:

You were kind, so this will be the last thing I say to you, and I'm not going to attack you because you don't deserve it, but they do.

They. Do.

-- it seems clear to me that his pattern of conduct wasn't going to change. And I have neither the time nor the inclination to put up with anything but the usual petty bickering.

Watch your mouths, people, and don't fucking threaten to break the prime directive: don't make Ganymede work.

@greenflashlight said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I believe you are within every right to do so.

I would fully support your choice to do so, and would even prepare the eviction documentation, if necessary, au gratis.

@arkandel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I suspect my slippers will pay the price for this eventually.

@ominous said in Potent Potables:

Some of us can only afford a few over $100 whiskeys, and Johnny Walker Blue sadly must be cut from the list.

$250 a bottle, and that was a deal.

I was mostly being facetious.

@too-old-for-this said in Potent Potables:

I will never touch Johnny Walker Black again so long as I live. Or die. Never. NEVER EVER EVER.

See, this is why I drink Johnnie Walker Blue.

@ortallus said in RL Anger:

The problem is they turned it on his music, and not him as a person.

This is true.

@derp said in RL Anger:

They turned their wrath to Marilyn Manson.

Well, one out of eleventy-billion ain't bad.

Some douche on the Facebook: Look, see? My friend's wife is in the hospital from a blood clot she got as a result of the vaccine. Here's some screencaps of my conversation with him. So, it's dangerous, and I'm justified in not taking the vaccine.

Me: Yo, don't share that with me, that's not cool.

Douche: Nah, it's cool, he shared that on his page and everyone can see it.

Me: So? I'm uncomfortable when people divulge health information of others to people they don't know, especially to apparently try to win a discussion that ended, like, two days ago. I'm ending this conversation.

Douche: Relax, don't be so uptight.

Me: unfriends Douche

Douche: Still love ya, though, you just need to relax.

@puppybreath said in RL Anger:

At which point she called me Hitlerish because I would have fired someone because I didn't agree with his 'opinion'.

Remember when religious fundamentalists told kids to burn Nirvana CDs because of their music?

Pepperidge Farms remembers.

@kestrel

@silverfox said in The Work Thread:

I actually agreeded with the way mom handled it via email, though I wish there had been a conversation at home afterward.

Frankly, I would rather have my kid e-mail and text me in the day with these comments than send it out to people. That said, I would put them in their place right quick about insulting other people; it's one thing to say: "I fucking hate this shit" and "so-and-so is a big fat bitch."

@ortallus said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I was once getting kicked by a kid on public transit, and I turned around and said to the kid's mother, "If you don't make them stop, I will."

Daughter: Hey, that kid cut in line.
Partner: She did.
Daughter: Why?
Partner: (loud enough so the other kid's parent could hear) Because some people don't teach their kids what's right or wrong or what will end up with them getting their ass handed to them.

I like them both a lot.

@aria

You just holla bout dem macros.

@insomniac7809

My response to your comments are these videos by a YouTube critic who does an excellent job breaking down all of the themes in the series.

Why Catra is important.

How She Ra Gives Us Hope.

Lessons, shortly:

1. Abuse is a cycle with causes and sources.
2. Abusive cycles can be broken.
3. Abuse is about treating people like things and objects.
4. Villainy is about perceived safety.

The videos are really worth the 45 minutes to watch.

Also learned that, according to Stevenson, Light Hope and Mara shared something more than a working relationship, and the evidence is sitting there in front of us. And this just adds to your point about sentience overcoming functionality.

@ortallus said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

It is a core precept of MODERN, which is to say LATE-STAGE capitalism.

Better?

Not really.

People use "late-stage" as if to suggest that it's going to lead to something different and less abusive. No one I've listened to or read has proposed any inevitable outcome, and people have been predicting the death-knell for capitalism -- from right-wing crackpots to left-wing pundits -- since I was a little kid. And I can't say that this is "modern" capitalism because it is contrary to everything I learned of "modern" theories on capitalism.

No, we live in a time of abusive capitalism, which isn't going to work under actual capitalist precepts. And we can talk until we are blue in the face as to why this is, but it's not going to get us anywhere.

Socialism is a modest improvement to this, but only insofar as the people who do end up controlling the means of production aren't dickbags which, if homeowners' associations are any indication, won't be the case.

@ortallus said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

As Aria pointed out, if employees had the ability to quit when they feel abused, capitalism would fall apart, because abusing employees and not compensating them is a core precept of capitalism.

I see this more often that I care to admit, and each time I do I retract my knee-jerk reaction to counter and argue. Instead, I will just quote the following:

Every system which endeavours, either, by extraordinary encouragements, to draw towards a particular species of industry a greater share of the capital of the society than what would naturally go to it; or, by extraordinary restraints, to force from a particular species of industry some share of the capital which would otherwise be employed in it; is in reality subversive of the great purpose which it means to promote. It retards, instead of accelerating, the progress of the society towards real wealth and greatness; and diminishes, instead of increasing, the real value of the annual produce of its land and labour.

Translation: abuse of the capitalist order destroys capitalism.