Mailvox: up your game, people
JF writes about the declining quality of the comments here:
Now we've got everything from Disney shills to commenters who see a nefarious Jewish hand at work in the fact that they ran out of skim milk this morning. I don't follow every discussion in the comments myself.
Now, this doesn't really matter all that much because the blog does not exist for the sake of the comments. The comments are mostly there as a requested courtesy for the readers and the posts of most interest to me seldom receive anywhere near the most comments. That's fine, because things are what they are, not what we might wish them to be. But if you're a commenter, perhaps it might matter to you that people notice the fact that you don't have much to say and you say the same thing over and over again.
(Which, of course, you could say is true of some of my posts on certain subjects, but then, history keeps happening and you can't say I don't manage to throw the occasional curveball on even the oldest chestnuts.)
The moderators do a pretty good job of blocking the trolls and neutralizing the shills, but they can't make people smarter, give them a broader perspective, or make them better-read or more interesting. That's something every commenter will have to do for himself. So, perhaps you might want to think about this and put a little more thought into your next comment. Or perhaps you'll just blurt out the same damn thing you've already posted here to no noticeable effect on 27 previous occasions.
It's up to you. Just don't think the readers don't notice... and remember that there are more than a thousand of them for every one of you. Also, drop the posturing. If you feel the need to strike poses and posture, just get your own blog. Or a mirror. If you find that you're about to make your third heated comment in another tedious pose-off with another commenter that everyone else is ignoring, just walk away from the keyboard. Believe me, no one - NO ONE AT ALL - is interested in those ridiculous arguments that never resolve anything.
We could, of course, turn on the feature that limits comments to members of the blog, which would permit the moderates and me to eliminate the shills, the trolls, and the tedious. In the past, I've resisted doing so in the interest of maximizing the range of the discourse, but if we've now reached the point of the tragedy of the commons, perhaps it is time to consider doing so. Then again, informing Google whose comments I permit here might be unwise, in light of recent revelations about the converged tech giant. Feel free to share your opinion.
Over the years that I have been reading your blog, I haven't always agreed with everything you say, but I always find that it challenges my thinking about the world. I traditionally have enjoyed the comment section, also. However; over the last year, after reading the post I find myself doing a quick skim through the comments to see who is actually posting to see if it is worth following the discussion.He's not out of line, he's absolutely right. Now, it's important to keep in mind that this is a natural consequence of the blog readership having grown from 3,000 pageviews a day to 105,582 pageviews a day. The early readers tended to be highly intelligent outliers, almost all of whom were WorldNetDaily readers and familiar with a wide range of political subjects and authors. They were not monomaniacs and they had the ability to intelligently discuss a wide range of subjects as well as an interest in doing so.
A number of the commenters who brought thoughtful, funny, and intelligent views seem to have moved on or only comment sporadically now. This has left the comments section to become filled with more midwit posturing and monomania that derails conversation (such as "muh purity"). I don't know what the solution is, or if it even needs one.
If I am out of line, just let me know. Either way, I'll continue to read.
Now we've got everything from Disney shills to commenters who see a nefarious Jewish hand at work in the fact that they ran out of skim milk this morning. I don't follow every discussion in the comments myself.
Now, this doesn't really matter all that much because the blog does not exist for the sake of the comments. The comments are mostly there as a requested courtesy for the readers and the posts of most interest to me seldom receive anywhere near the most comments. That's fine, because things are what they are, not what we might wish them to be. But if you're a commenter, perhaps it might matter to you that people notice the fact that you don't have much to say and you say the same thing over and over again.
(Which, of course, you could say is true of some of my posts on certain subjects, but then, history keeps happening and you can't say I don't manage to throw the occasional curveball on even the oldest chestnuts.)
The moderators do a pretty good job of blocking the trolls and neutralizing the shills, but they can't make people smarter, give them a broader perspective, or make them better-read or more interesting. That's something every commenter will have to do for himself. So, perhaps you might want to think about this and put a little more thought into your next comment. Or perhaps you'll just blurt out the same damn thing you've already posted here to no noticeable effect on 27 previous occasions.
It's up to you. Just don't think the readers don't notice... and remember that there are more than a thousand of them for every one of you. Also, drop the posturing. If you feel the need to strike poses and posture, just get your own blog. Or a mirror. If you find that you're about to make your third heated comment in another tedious pose-off with another commenter that everyone else is ignoring, just walk away from the keyboard. Believe me, no one - NO ONE AT ALL - is interested in those ridiculous arguments that never resolve anything.
We could, of course, turn on the feature that limits comments to members of the blog, which would permit the moderates and me to eliminate the shills, the trolls, and the tedious. In the past, I've resisted doing so in the interest of maximizing the range of the discourse, but if we've now reached the point of the tragedy of the commons, perhaps it is time to consider doing so. Then again, informing Google whose comments I permit here might be unwise, in light of recent revelations about the converged tech giant. Feel free to share your opinion.
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((( bob kek mando ))) - ( the Original Militant Apathist )
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1 – 200 of 258 Newer› Newest»Speak to us of Disney shills.
He's not the only one. If it is a topic I'm interested in I will usually skim the comments to see if you have responded to someone. I don't care what most everyone in the comments say on practically all of the blogs I read. On every popular blog the comment section is a wasteland of idiocy.
Not trying to blow smoke or anything but I read this blog because I'm interested in your opinions and your approach to debating other people. Now that I think about it I typically only read comments if the primary author of the blog interacts with other posters because that is the person I'm there to read.
*waits for the inevitable onslaught of “humorous” comments*
+1
That's an interesting perspective. From commenting on other blogs, I've learned that the more care has been taken to showing a point, the better received it tends to be.
This seems to be a common trend across reactionary blogs. I've seen the same complaint made on Nick Land's blog recently.
I should only post in haiku from now on against inept opponents.
Wonderful blog, but,
Comments are hepatitis.
Very erudite.
This duel of haiku,
Will measured syllables end?
Icicle fails not.
As I infamously blabbed a while back, most of the discussion with the long-time readers has moved elsewhere. It's not clear whether the decline in comments was precipitated by that departure or the other way around.
I still pop into the comments on about half the posts, and scan to see what Vox and a select few others are saying. Most of the friends I've turned on to VP over the years say the same.
I quite miss the old days. But, as a reader who previously devoted a lot of time to commenting here, I've come to terms with the reality that it'll probably never be like that again. And that's okay.
This blog has evolved to serve a new and grander purpose. Who would've guessed that we would see the day when Vox-vernacular permeated popular discourse? Or that we would see the rise of a new publishing house that's shaking up the literary world? Or that we would see the day when Vox would be deemed an existential threat at Google?
It's a weird world. I'm just glad I was part of things before it all took off.
I've only been reading here a couple of years but I can second the observation. I saw the same thing on Moldbug's blog. lesserwrong are experimenting with an interesting karma model.
Meanwhile, this post is the most Vox Day thing I've read. Made me laugh out loud.
On a positive note, this blog's content is reaching new people like myself.
Stan Lee grasps Hooters.
Restaurant jiggles along.
Drinks the peasant's beer.
It's almost a full-time job to keep up with all the blogs. I read and listen to many of the smart people from Vox Day to Jordan Peterson to those not as intellectual, such as Jesse Lee Peterson, etc. I just discovered JF (Jean-Francois Gariépy) after over 2 years of scanning YouTube for Alt-Right news and commentary. I just listened to a 4-hour debate titled, "Epic Veganism Debate With a Literal Soy Boy", which I found interesting. Yes, I listened to the whole damn thing over 2 days! Both guys are highly intelligent. Though I didn't agree with either of them, I found it interesting nonetheless. Whether I agree or not, I acknowledge that those who put themselves out there are above average. It is easy to troll and snipe in the comment sections, because it is oh so tempting!
I often read the comments on Steve Sailer's blog - and in the past have commented there prolifically - because the comments are moderated, so you don't get a lot of Neo-Nazi or SJW garbage trolling, and no flame wars. So I'd recommend the same here.
I'd say Opsec concerns are really pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Those who are toonfragile can opt out of registering and those who are not or are willing to undergo trial by fire should in any case become more willing and able to face the armies of the undead head on.
To a great extent the avoiding of mass bloodshed down the line depends also on men being far more willing than they have to outright reject all kinds of SJW nonsense as well as midwit stupidity directly and promptly without apology.
I for one am in favour of registering to comment.
Although, if it were technically possible, simultaneous patrician/plebeian comment systems (both visible but separate) would probably boost the readership as well as the quality of the patrician commenters.
Well, I've enjoyed several discussions I've had here; having an open comments section lets me kinda poke ideas and see what noises they make, which I appreciate, since Vox is sometimes opaque to me.
I can understand how it's sad to lose a smaller, high-intensity clubhouse, but I am also glad I've had the opportunity to interact with Vox, with the comments section, and with the ideas here.
I think I first read this blog around 2007 or so. I have read it on an off over the years -- as well as the comments section.
I think that the comments section of today reflects the fact that much discussed here is about SJWs, Alt-Right, and the battle to save Western Civilization. These topics have brought in a lot of new voices. Some very good, most not as good, and a few horrible.
All in all though, I like the "jewels" I find in most threads. The really good back-and-forth discussions don't happen as much anymore, but the really good comments are still there in places.
We get people writing some dumb stuff and others correcting them --- and people learn from the exchange. This is good for the right-wing. We need more allies, even if they are not all "the sharpest knife in the drawer".
The comments section can be an educational experience if one skims over the trash comments.
As a sum whut noo but regyuler commanter hear at Voxs' Blog i Resent that impliedication that I am nott as smert as the uther people what used to commant here.
I like to think that I've had some interesting things to say, but I've said them. I like to think that I've affected others as much as I've been affected, but that process is basically done, and I write to have an effect so never mind. If there is a VP consensus suppressing commenting, it is the result of a salutary process.
I have only been reading the blog for a few years, starting around the time of gamergate. I was not around for the days of the small, tight-knit super intelligent WND crowd, but I have noticed a general downward trend in comment quality even since 2014-2015.
I kind of assumed it was the same phenomenon that always happens with people publicly known for their intellect, where an increasing number of idiots latches onto them as their profile increases, because they think that giving needless backpats and repeating the things that the intelligent person says enough times will magically make them intelligent as well. But another commenter pointed out that it seems to be happening across a lot of reactionary spaces, and now that I think about it, that does seem to be true. I suppose being a simple side effect of the 'movement' growing could explain it just as well.
Vox, I discovered VP in 2015, which makes me a relative latecomer.
Ratfucking the hapless Hugos is one thing, but you are starting to hit with serious effect at a higher level of the cultural game. This is drawing higher level attention and all that goes along with it, both good and bad.
FWIW: If you do decide to limit comments to blog members, I would continue reading, but would cease commenting. Because Google.
Although, if it were technically possible, simultaneous patrician/plebeian comment systems (both visible but separate) would probably boost the readership as well as the quality of the patrician commenters.
Wow, what an idea! Must have some unintended concequences (so does anything you might try) but this sounds like a great idea. Although Vox would have to move the blog from blogspot so not the thing he could do right now but down the line...
I don't post much because I've got nothing worth adding. Many times I've typed out a comment only to realise I'd be wasting everyone's time. This is probably one of those times.
FWIW I've noted a drop in quality in the comments. Especially if there's over 100 replies. I still read them though, because even the drop in quality they're heads and shoulders over other sites.
Sorry - but I have to add. STOP feeding the trolls.
Actually, limiting it to members is not possible without moving the blog, as Blogger only supports 100 members.
But we could require registration, although that isn't going to necessarily help with anything but the trolls.
Comments on blog threads are not like books in that few go back and read them after a day or two. The same might be said of the blog itself.
That being the case, repetition is not necessarily a bad thing; what is old to the blog owner and his early readers can be fresh and radical and exhilarating to new readers.
Not everyone, readers or writers, have the same level of persistence, stamina, or interest.
Or, as noted, integrity.
On a personal level I have no interest in reading a unidirectional sermon delivery blog, i.e. one where the writer has no interest in the thoughts and responses of their readers, but that’s just me. I’m fully aware not everyone is like me, nor would I want them to be.
"STOP feeding the trolls."
Probably one of the more pertinent points. The struggle is nigh eternal.
If in doubt, lay in wait.
As for constraining to blog members only, I'd probably disappear for several reasons, some of which already happen a lot.
I am blog reader #2 (VD would be #1) ... I was here way before this blogspot version of this blog, back to the start of the WND and his first column. In the early days the people here were I think intellectually greater but also the blog was run very differently. Back then you made an argument, you provided proof and if you were right, even VD would agree. He would not allow rhetoric, he was a devote of dialectic thought and logic.. Even the trolls - like TAD, were far superior to what there is now. Now this place has become a shrill "shit hole". If I want intellectual discourse there are many other sites I can go.. which I have done. Occasional I look back here to see if VD is still alive but past that there is really no reason to.
VD ... with all honesty ..If you miss the old days of intelligent discourse, where you would throw out an idea and you would get graduate level responses that helped form your opinions and views you need to start a new blog, and enforce the old rules, abandon the rhetoric, and embrace honest intellectual thought.
It is because this is an echo chamber, you declared that anyone who debates you a midwit, a moderate coward, or a secret leftist and or king. Sometimes it is true, but not always and you drove away a lot of the commenters who aren't trolls or yes men.
You got what you encouraged and wanted. I still look at the website, but not as engaged to it.
The most marked decline came with the advent of the Illinois Nazis. Even with many of them gone, a lot of their flotsam and jetsam remains. Along with the "Muh purity" crap that JF wrote about in the OP. The discussion of ideas and different viewpoints is difficult when dimwits keep interjecting their emotive masturbations into the comments. As tempting as it is to embarrass such commenters, the better solution is to simply ignore them as what they are after is validation of their feelz through attention.
VD ... with all honesty ..If you miss the old days of intelligent discourse, where you would throw out an idea and you would get graduate level responses that helped form your opinions and views you need to start a new blog, and enforce the old rules, abandon the rhetoric, and embrace honest intellectual thought.
No thanks. I don't care about the comments, and if you were here at the start, then you know very well that I never have.
And those responses never helped "form my opinions and views". Don't flatter yourself.
As a daily reader since 2005 I'm seeing all that you describe about the comment quality too, but you've got a long way to go to reach Zerohedge levels of comment entropy.
I came for the articles and stayed for the comments. I guess some of the old timers have moved to the hidden treehouse that Stickwick accidentally mentioned, but there have been some notable new ones to take their place. What I like most about those commentators is that they are not all echo chamber types which has always been a nice feature here for learning.
HH, you can make a material improvement on this "shithole" blog by leaving.
I'm not too concerned about the SJWs at Google discovering my "Secret Identity" for two reasons, one I'm not that fragile and two Google already has enough info to track me down. But I can't speak for everybody here.
My own suggestion is paid membership with varied tiers and accruing benefits. No idea if that is technically possible with blogger.
While that would keep out the causal trolls and shills it would also limit new blood.
I started by commenting over at AlphaGame and only gradually started posting here. Then I was posting a lot and then too much.
Finally I decided I should start my own blog rather than trying to write novels in another blog's comments section.
But I don't think I would have ever posted here at all if I had had to pay for it. Yeah there is a shitload of dumb comments but I've also learned and grown from some others.
That said, times change. Vox Popoli while not the "Flight Magazine of Air Force One," is clearly being read by some important people these days. Stricter comment controls maybe needed.
Jeff aka Orville wrote:HH, you can make a material improvement on this "shithole" blog by leaving.
Maybe he just really, really want to be in the SDL's newest bog. I am sure the VFM can accommodate him.
I am a long time reader and a more recent and sporadic poster. Perhaps the decrease in quality is what encouraged me to start responding openly... Not in order to increase over all quality mind you, but because I felt I was freer to do so. Being a man within the mid-wit range myself, the bar did seem to lower over the course of the last couple of years which no doubt encouraged me to open my mid-wit trap.
Still, I do not faithfully read the comments. I will often scan through to see if Vox has posted there. There was one very heartfelt comment I posted a while back and I received some very helpful advice in reply from Vox and a couple of the others more intelligent readers. Vox's suggestions I took to heart and have started to implement in my own life. The change in my situation has been helpful to me and my family.
In short, I find reading the blog increases my knowledge and critical thinking, while reading and posting comments is a minor hobby and generally unimportant.
The best way to raise the average comment level is to ask the better commenters curate a set of best practices and then enforce them with shaming. Like the rules of the blog, except more extensive.
E.g. "Stop sperging. Here's a link describing what sperging is with examples of what it looks like, an explanation of how it makes you look bad, and tips for writing great one-liners instead."
I have been reading this blog more than a decade now. I enjoyed the comment section as well from the time it was still using HaloScan to the madness of Cocoment to whatever comment service VD experimented with.I still keep some that I thought really intriguing discussions filed. I used to go through 300+ comments and loved all the quirky, crazy, but familiar commenters. Everyone of them seem to have their own characters that they, sort of, invited me to get to know them through time. Some of the enjoyment seems came from all the sparring, pull no punches discussions where people were adults and not whiners. Some of those people now are banned. Those banned commenters with their own way created dramas and spiced up the blog. Of course it came with some price of maintenance. SpaceBunny had to do the dirty work cleaning the comment section quite often.
Now, I have no solution. I rarely comment myself. I still read comments occasionally. I find myself scanning the names and searching familiar commenters. Something familiar is what glue people, something new is good to keep things interesting. So many new people may make it hard to recognize the comment place as the club it used to be. Spending time to know them one by one seems out of the question. I reckon, like me, many of the commenters through the years also grow along as adult with larger responsibility which limit their commenting time.
E.g. "Stop sperging. Here's a link describing what sperging is with examples of what it looks like, an explanation of how it makes you look bad, and tips for writing great one-liners instead."
Stop sperging
I was here way before this blogspot version of this blog, back to the start of the WND and his first column. In the early days the people here were I think intellectually greater but also the blog was run very differently. Back then you made an argument, you provided proof and if you were right, even VD would agree. He would not allow rhetoric, he was a devote of dialectic thought and logic.. Even the trolls - like TAD, were far superior to what there is now.
I've known of this blog for a very long time, back when I was but an enfant terrible yet realized Vox's stuff at WND was nearly the only non-derivative thought there and followed the trail over here.
While there have been seasons where I've wandered away or mostly lost interest when certain particular topics came to the fore (Scalzi, for example), the real change seems to not have been due to any outside intervention, but when things changed from a collective intellectual adventure into a quest to actually accomplish some things. The ivory tower was great fun, but coming down to see if the ideas work is another. Sometimes that's mixing it up with worthy debate opponents, and sometimes it's lousy memes. The trial and error of making stuff happen is never as satisfying to some of us as high level conversational chess, but c'est la vie.
Yes, years ago there was a high table spread out here for the intellectually voracious, but why should anyone expect an unending feast at the expense of someone with a real and busy life who is also trying to simultaneously accomplish a rather large number of important things in the real world?
The same is true for some of us too; the "rare auld times" of stimulating pub debates have led to hard work changing the world for those that come after. It doesn't mean the former never happen, but some people have to go outside and fight certain battles so that future pubs can be built and the debates can continue.
Hey vox, while on the subject of comments, why are some commenters names black and others a lighter color on the phone?
Hey vox, while on the subject of comments, why are some commenters names black and others a lighter color on the phone?
Racism.
Goddurn nativemuricans and their racizzm.
Hey vox, while on the subject of comments, why are some commenters names black and others a lighter color on the phone?
The lighter ones are also hyperlinks, usually to profiles for whatever commenting platform the person is using (Blogger, WordPress, Disqus...).
Also the black ones are genetically inferior :D
Ah thank you.
@36 Sensei that is a excellent point. A lot of people are comfortable being armchair quarterbacks, but VD has consistently upped his game from the theoretical to the practical. VD moves in circles of Doers like Ivan and Cernovich and all the unknown VFM working behind the scenes.
All this has motivated me to branch out and take action too. Men build things, they don't just sit and ponder.
I am a working scientist, a racist and increasingly anti-semitic. Some of the most fun i have had is commenting on specialized biomedical niche blogs. For example, Biomedical science guys clutching pearls regarding a NIH report that showed that blacks are not receiving grants in the same proportions as white researchers. The answer: systemic bias.
http://drugmonkey.scientopia.org/2015/11/23/scenes/
Please note, the conversation really heats up with the comment "FFS -did someone just invoke a talent disparity"
Damn right he did!
Vox on the other hand, clued me into what had happened to scifi. When young, I was avid consumer of scifi. Mostly from my fathers library, so it was the 50-60s stuff. I kept it up, but increasing found the hugo anthologies boring and vaguely depressing. found self going to used book stores to get the old stuff. Now, because i've read Vox; i know that i didn't leave scifi- it left me. Comic books ditto.
I watch with great interest the interloper VDs foray into comic book. Truly I hope that he can cram it straight up Marvels ass!
Everyone knows the comments have declined since the death of haloscan
The Dread Ilk are hunkered down posting kitten pictures on the MommyWeb, arming for the apocalypse, still arguing 9mm vs 45 and 308 vs 223, and picking out essential oils.
The comments are still worth scanning. There are gems out there to turn up, and the rest of the internet is devoid of them.
Very few arrive here looking to honestly have their ideas challenged, or to have them savagely attacked to see if they are valid. Even fewer would actually enjoy it.
The mods are doing a good job - I can't imagine the volume of troll trash rolling through here.
I have a strong preference for blogs that allow for reader input. It converts the blog from a monolog to a conversation. It is also the equivalent of the cheers and boos that can be heard at a football game. Audience participation.
One very compact way of getting to that is to have the thumbs up, thumbs down feature on the comments. Perhaps then time could be saved by selectively giving more attention posts that get a lot of approval or disapproval.
As a practical matter I am both pleased and surprised that you give the comments section as much attention as you do.
"to commenters who see a nefarious Jewish hand at work in the fact that they ran out of skim milk this morning."
Is that true? Really?
The reason people move on varies, but certainly one of the reasons is when they are talked down to, mocked or ridiculed for doing exactly what you profess that they should do and that is to think for themselves, use reason and logic, make connections between people and events and come up with plausible explanations.
The JQ exists for a reason and it has nothing to do with skim milk. While you don't ignore it, you give it an awful wide berth for it's size and influence in Western Culture- but I get it, too much and you're finished so you act all Jared Taylor-y to appear above the fray. Not very alpha, but certainly understandable considering the power they wield.
So there's that.
Or maybe a simple test?
Is Cataline a man or a woman?
Get it wrong and you are too stupid to have an opinion worth listening to.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Objective Observer wrote:"to commenters who see a nefarious Jewish hand at work in the fact that they ran out of skim milk this morning."
Is that true? Really?
The reason people move on varies, but certainly one of the reasons is when they are talked down to, mocked or ridiculed for doing exactly what you profess that they should do and that is to think for themselves, use reason and logic, make connections between people and events and come up with plausible explanations.
I'm out of bread, too! And it's snowing! F****ng Jews! Every damn time.
I predict this blog will become much more popular because of Alt Hero. In that case, the problem will get even worse.
I don't read all the comments. Too many.
"Or maybe a simple test?
Is Cataline a man or a woman?
Get it wrong and you are too stupid to have an opinion worth listening to."
Isn't Cataline the gal who likes glocks and well-done steaks?
Beware when you comment on mid-wittery, for the mid-wittery also comments here. Given many of the posts are currently on the comics "industry", the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" franchises and whatever the POTUS last tweeted/trolled, and there are 100,000 pageviews, there is no way you can maintain only high level discourse. For that you need a much sparser posting schedule and enough high-level analysis that only the hardcore stay for the light relief.
This is a problem shared by first 4Chan then InfinityChan, what discourse doesn't get shilled gets a worse S/N as more people, who demand less intense intellectual debate, join in. The solution is to monetise the need for rarified air by creating a closed discussion group that trails some of its content here to maintain a beacon for fresh enquiry. The Oil Drum (God I miss it) managed by having a General comment thread and technical topic submissions where OT comments were banned or slammed. I only suggest that because both trackables and upvoting end up bringing ego even further to the fore.
commenters who see a nefarious Jewish hand at work in the fact that they ran out of skim milk this morning
I don't blame the jews when someone ate all my cashews, but when a $12 bee sting kit from the 90s costs over $700 with the same $2 worth of meds
@7
Are you serious?
"Comments are hepatitis"?
You fail metaphor.
@8
Existential threat?
Crimethink quarantine more like.
Fits MO better.
S1AL wrote:"Or maybe a simple test?
Is Cataline a man or a woman?
Get it wrong and you are too stupid to have an opinion worth listening to."
Isn't Cataline the gal who likes glocks and well-done steaks?
No, Cataline is ladyboy. Jay will be along any minute to chat him up.
Tragedy of the Commons vs. Echo Chamber.
It has come to my attention that one can be banished from the nattering class pits at (ie)Raw Story, Buzz Feed, and Crooks and Liars, with prejudice, without "cause",in one fell swoop.
I don't do Facebook, Twitter, XXX list, for a multitude of reasons, well before "Latest Discovery Proves....", so....
CaptDMO
I apologize that I have not commented more; I feel the pain of the letter writer, who is really asking, "Where are those faceless minions of the SDL with their scintillating comments?"
In the Age of Trump, it sometimes pays to wait a little to watch things unfold - e.g., we went from "Gang of Six" amnesty deal done to a clear-eyed assessment of many failed states and a rejection of that deal in under five hours.
Over the years that I have been reading your blog, I haven't always agreed with everything you say
The Mailvox's first sentence includes one of my pet peeves; do they really think Vox of all people isn't aware that all are not in full agreement with him? Do they believe the rest of us are in 100% agreement with Vox? Have there ever been two people that agreed on everything?
Ctrl-F is what I use, + VD, Stickwick, Stilicho, Rabbi, Nate and Cataline.
As to the comments declining, didn’t that start when Bane left?
My test is working already.
A characteristic of popularity is regression to the mean. Why is this even a topic?
You could have predicted this as a correlation of pageviews alone.
No, Cataline is ladyboy.
But is he pre-op or post?
Am I wrong to point out the fact that not everyone here is an English native speaker, and that to articulate great comments certain skills are required and that not everyone has them?
I disagree that the level of the comments here is bad, quite the contrary.
There is more noise, as pointed to VD, it comes with the numbers.
My 2 dumb cents.
Al From Bay Shore wrote:On a positive note, this blog's content is reaching new people like myself.
Sillon seconds this, and it is humbled to be here.
Actually, I like reading the comments. If an argument developed, it seems that it could be contained within a collapsed reply thread. At least, this how I read the comment section of blogger. Thus, I rarely open such a debate unless I'm interested in the topic. Also, I find enough of the comments here are of high equality that is it worth reading through them. Coming across the quote from The Odes of Horace in the comments section led me to make a note.
A blog is not the same as a forum. But that is a strength. The conversation is carried forward by Vox Day. Sort of like a bakery, the bread is baked fresh daily.
I guess some of the old timers have moved to the hidden treehouse that Stickwick accidentally mentioned, but there have been some notable new ones to take their place.
Where would that treehouse be? CT?
God bless
WISH I'd SAID....
Vox Popli? Nobody goes THERE, it's too crowded!
Oh, yeah....I don't do (above)... You Tube either.
Not a casual virtue signal in passing, more of a flare gun/twister klaxon.
CaptDMO
BBGKB wrote:commenters who see a nefarious Jewish hand at work in the fact that they ran out of skim milk this morning
I don't blame the jews when someone ate all my cashews, but when a $12 bee sting kit from the 90s costs over $700 with the same $2 worth of meds
Yes, but you also have to look into specific officials who are almost paid for by the Pharmaceuticals, such as DICK Durban from Illinois.
The pharm companies are large finical branch of the Globalists. Do you have specific proof that Jews are behind those raising prices, then show how, or connect those dots. BTW, I do believe you're correct, but connect A..B...C.....D.....E, to show how, as otherwise, you just be a hater of the non-Jew, Jews.
You are right, but don't know how to prove it.
69.
financial branch
I'm quite sure that I make the "too short for this ride" list according to the true intellectuals that reside here.
But out of all the intellectuals on the Right, Vox is about the only one who actually has challenged the taboos of the day effectively.
Right wing intellectualism has for the most part been about retreating back to the safe space for a reading of the essays.
"My test is working already."
Her Majesty is NOT amused.
Coming across the quote from The Odes of Horace in the comments section led me to make a note.
That was excellent.
To add to Sillon's point; one of the features of VP's commenters is the international flavor. It would be a shame to see that possibly diminished.
You could have predicted this as a correlation of pageviews alone.
I did.
this is fun though.
No, it's not. Stop talking about the same fucking thing every single fucking time. Now I'm just spamming both the anti-semites and the philo-semites whenever they pop up with their tedious routines.
The only bigly intellectual debates I remember were about Calvinism (boring) and inflation (obtuse).
The rise of smart phones is surely a factor. I just tried 5 times to post a response, and usually when that happens I give up. Aside from bloggers terrible mobile unfriendliness, it's a lot harder to write an intelligent comment on a 5 inch screen, typing with your thumbs, knowing that if you flip pages to fact check something you are liable to lose whatever you painstakingly pecked out.
Also, I will NEVER stop sperging.
It's an interesting phenomena at all the cool sites. ZeroHedge from 2008-2011 or so had the best comments in history of the intertubes.
Dave wrote:No, Cataline is ladyboy.
But is he pre-op or post?
Ladyboy predates preop post op. It's from before doctors would mutilate their patients to exploit their sexual confusion.
Marines cherish them.
Then again, informing Google whose comments I permit here might be unwise, in light of recent revelations about the converged tech giant. Feel free to share your opinion.
I agree with this caution.
I look to this site as 'intelligence gathering/processing' but with an open policy which requires scrutiny and discernment.
The fact there are morons isn't a big concern. Part of having such a policy. Keeps one's tools sharp, so to speak.
It is also important to recognize that there will be newcomers, recent red-pillers and haven't the experience or intelligence that the old salts have. No reason to condemn.
As for the shills, they are little people, ones you kick aside like pebbles in your path.
Questions:
A) Do we post here out of narcissism, or just here to hear our own voice?
B) If we do have integrity and want to add to discussion, how do we go about it? Research? Work? Do we have the work ethics, intelligence, or background (well read, etc) to do quality connecting of dots to truth.
C) If there is work or research behind our comments, do we rate the quality? Just a hypothesis, then how strong? If material comes from solid sources, then is it time to mention them? Also, how to deal with good to great circumstantial evidence that comes from multiple sources all pointing to a likely, but not yet proven truth?
D) What agendas do the posters have, separate from full Truth? If the agenda is disinfo in favor of Pro-West attitude, then this usually comes from withholding truths that some are not ready for now, or even testing other commentators?
I rather like lurking here.
As an irregular commenter over at Instapundit, and a lurker in the other blogs I frequent, I rather find that I would only respond rather than post unique posts of my own. The real world tends to butt into my internet browsing, and as somebody else pointed out above, smartphone usage is likely a contributing cause of commenters dying out. I know it's next to impossible to post a comment here from my smartphone, which I normally use to view this place.
maniacprovost wrote:Also, I will NEVER stop sperging.
It was just an example of how to set the tone. Sperging is like gossip: an often useless hobby but occasionally the most useful tool for a job.
I've been reading the blog for years, so many that I can't remember when I started. I've rarely commented because that's not how I roll. I would like to pass on though, that this is one of the three websites I look in on regularly (i.e. every time I open a browser) in hopes of another post. Comments or no, please keep up the good work.
maniacprovost wrote:if you flip pages to fact check something you are liable to lose whatever you painstakingly pecked out.
Similar to saving a file to retain changes, you should copy the text to the clipboard often so it's available to paste if Blogger is acting up or you lose the page, etc. Of course if you copy something else you'll lose your text so do it often.
@ tubermanYes, but you also have to look into specific officials who are almost paid for by the Pharmaceuticals, such as DICK Durban from Illinois.
Durbin is the guy that lied about Trump's terminology. A real weasel.
Also, I will NEVER stop sperging.
So brave, thanks for this
My vague sense is that I usually comment in reply to another comment, especially if I think it's a stupid one. If comments here at VP get turned off, I will still read the posts, but I will no longer read the comments because it's frustrating to read them when you can't reply. I cannot comment over at ZeroHedge, they never accepted me as an approved commenter. I still read the articles, but I generally don't bother with the comments, even though a lot of them are interesting or at least amusing. I really like Boris fellow who writes in faux Russian accent.
Oops, I got mixed up about turning off comments and not being allowed to comment, so my comment doesn't make sense. I guess this proves the anti-commenters point, doesn't it. Dammit.
Let me make this clear. If you mention Jews in any way, shape, or form, be it positive or negative, true or false, on any post that is not specifically marked Zion, the comment will be spammed.
If you philosemites and antisemites want to continue your eternal struggle elsewhere, that is fine. But I am officially bored with it and bored with you.
"If you philosemites and antisemites want to continue your eternal struggle elsewhere, that is fine. But I am officially bored with it and bored with you."
Shalom, MF!!
A few recommendations from a lurker to commenters. If your comment begins with "I", go back and rethink what you're about to write. Nobody needs your perspective and it adds nothing. If you're about to post some poetry or some clever snark, just stop yourself. If it starts with "Off topic, but", just kys.
At this point, Vox lacks a few good foils. Equus, Bane, and a few others from the old days really gave him hell and Vox was able to hone his shiv accordingly. Now, nearly every blog post is phrased so tightly that there isn't much room for debate. And what was once verboten is nearing common knowledge among the normies.
I miss Bane & the Nate vs Bane debates were epic. Castalia should publish them.
@VD: Personally I would be fine with the spamming of any comments not pertinent to a topic.
Sorry, VD, I got rid of that reply, and the new rule does not bother me at all.
The reason the comment section here has degraded is simple: The vast majority of commenters have contracted Race Derangement Syndrome whereby their irrational obsession with race and genetics is untethered from reality. The result is simple, uninteresting rhetoric. It's constant.
When Instapundit changed to Disqus I was not happy, but,in time, I found that it made it easier to have coherent conversations when there could be direct replies and timely notification. I rarely read the comments here since I'd have to read through the entire list of comments to follow a reply.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Every site/business goes through this. You can't get bigger without widening your appeal. The average IQ is 100. It's also partially why organizations eventually turn leftist.
For better comments, add a meaty post on literature, theology, economics or history. Voxiversity was great for cleaning out the comments. Reading and discussing Thucydides or Rothbard flushes out quite a lot of morons and lazy commenters.
@16 "We get people writing some dumb stuff and others correcting them --- and people learn from the exchange."
Yes! When I ran my dating, mating, marrying advice list, I would often spend some hours 'arguing' with a true idiot... NOT because I thought I would get anywhere at all with the idiot -- but because of the watchers, the listeners, the lurkers... Having to explain (yes, quite often repetitively) what something means, or what its ramifications would be or how it leads the wrong direction, could be mildly frustrating. (I mostly enjoyed it -- finding different ways to teach something to someone new -- and to the someones old.)
When I taught tai chi , I was often teased for saying over and over and over: "shoulders down." I would answer that they could not HEAR that direction until the 21st time I said it to them; when they would cry out in wonder: "WHY did you never TELL me this?!" But if I did not repeat it the first 20 times (that they could not hear) -- if I did not "have the same discussion" multiple times -- then the information never crossed the gap into their understanding.
Frustrating to you long-timers more deeply steeped in this knowledge. I'd suggest *vital* to us newer folks -- I am (unhappily) coming to the realization that it doesn't matter my IQ, I'm pretty much a midwit (mostly, I pray so far, by ignorance, not stupidity). I realized (unhappily) that "women ruin everything." (Yeah, including me.)
I believe that learning is a spiral path -- you THINK you're going over ground you've already been over, already know quite well; but quite often you're over the same ground at a HIGHER level!
As long as we don't touch the poop, having a discussion you've seen before serves the Alt Right; and the Alt-everybody-else trying to come over. Just as Voxiversity may tell you things you already know, you may not be the prime audience!
The old timers don't post as much... but we're still around. To be honest the place kind of feels like Nashville. If you were there in the 90s it was an awesome small city that functioned like a small town community. it was the best of both.
Now?
Now its Atlanta North. Go back now and its full of freak lesbians with blue underarm hair.
To my knowledge there are no Californian lesbo's with dyed underarm hair here at the blog. But there is Laguna Beach Fogey... and that's pretty much the same thing.
The Dread Ilk are hunkered down posting kitten pictures on the MommyWeb, arming for the apocalypse, still arguing 9mm vs 45 and 308 vs 223, and picking out essential oils.
We miss you JACIII. I'll post a kitten pic in your honor.
Vox, please Make Commenting Great Again!
We could, of course, turn on the feature that limits comments to members of the blog, which would permit the moderates and me to eliminate the shills, the trolls, and the tedious.
Moderators
While it's true that the increase in readers has contributed to the decline in comment quality, the shift in focus on the blog has as well, namely from dialectic to rhetoric. Just because Vox can effectively use rhetoric doesn't mean that most people can, and whereas before one was generally expected to backup one's argument with something substantive, now the average commenter feels totally comfortable with just blurting out "Gamma! Cuck! DERP!" and calling it a day.
But the comments have never been the draw here (as evidenced by some of the truly painful commenting systems we've been forced to use over the years). The topics aren't as varied as they used to be, but there's still enough interesting content to keep people coming back.
WATYF
The weird ass trolls are interesting sometimes to see what the official paid shill is being paid for at the moment. But when ten of them show up with the worst math in the world to prove star wars, the democratic presidential field or post toastums are doing great it can get maddening. I'll register if I have to but I hate registering.
Now its Atlanta North. Go back now and its full of freak lesbians with blue underarm hair.
Fake news
John The River wrote:When Instapundit changed to Disqus I was not happy, but,in time, I found that it made it easier to have coherent conversations when there could be direct replies and timely notification. I rarely read the comments here since I'd have to read through the entire list of comments to follow a reply.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Problem. Disqus dropped Returnofkings for ThoughtCrime. No reason to think that Vox Popoli would fair any better.
@48 The Dread Ilk are hunkered down posting kitten pictures
This is vitally important, because the kittens MUST BE PROTECTED when the war(s) start!! Think of what they're doing as practice drills before the battle!
The comments are still worth scanning. There are gems out there to turn up, and the rest of the internet is devoid of them.
This is SO true! I copy some commenters (and many of Vox's comments) from many blog entries and stash them in a text document... Long long ago, someone and I agreed that a "little red book of Vox Day wisdom" would be a great thing! (Doubt my collection is the start of that -- but it's MY treasure trove!
I also pull bits-and-pieces and send them around to my awakened and awakening friends and acquaintances... Lets them read a culled version; helps them along the path.
"Fake news"
Josh you're a walking testimony to the validity of the Boiling Frog analogy. Californians have invaded and turned your beloved franklin to a total shithole but you can't see it.
No commenting system would allow the full range we see here. Thought crime here everyday.
"I miss Bane & the Nate vs Bane debates were epic."
don't for get JQP.
Didn't Laguna beach fogey get banned for some monomania?
"If you philosemites and antisemites want to continue your eternal struggle elsewhere, that is fine. But I am officially bored with it and bored with you."
Roll Tide.
Boris Badenov is up there with Steve Sailer and Jim Goad as the best part of reading Takimag. Always erudite and good natured but never spineless. If that fellow maintained a blog it would absolutely be part of my regular reading. The jewelbox was indeed cool but sporadic enough that I stopped revisiting regularly. Anyone else have this experience?
Actually, the Cataline as a chick thing had one major benefit.
It took Vox almost nothing to convince me to change my pen name to C.S. Maxwell.
I don't want to think about what my sales would have been like if I had published Dark Winter: The Great Divide Game under Cataline Sergius.
I get the loss of the old, rarefied air of yore with the comments. It's not just the page views though. I've seen a decline of quality in pretty much every online endeavor I've even vaguely been aware of, including those in increasingly niche spaces where the self-selection is high.
So it's probably a generational thing too. Reading isn't the be-all it use to be, and that matters for more than just a matter of ignorance. The newer generations don't think or write like the older ones, nevermind lacking a similar knowledge and idea base for common reference points.
That said, the other commenters are correct that this blog has changed to push a culture war. If you want to track that out as a matter of development - the early years were your foundational stage where a closer knit, higher quality group was the ideal and now you're looking at rubbing shoulders with the commons in order to shape the commons. The point is no longer to challenge ideas and figure out exactly where you stand. The point is to help the masses figure out where they stand. The higher influx of lower quality people who need to be told the same things over and over again (because churning through random Millennial A is the same as churning through random Millennial MXXXVIII) is now something like the ideal.
Wishing for the old days is like wishing for when you weren't ready for prime time, were younger, less refined, still working to become something (more) useful.
I'd say keep handling the comment section as you've been because that's what you want for what you're trying to do.
And yes, making convenient shadowban/reeducation camp lists for your enemies probably is unwise at this point.
I'm a relatively new reader so I don't know what it was like before. I like the free wheeling discussion, especially when there are alt-righters on youtube that shadow ban/spam dissenting views in the chats, delete comments, etc. Of course that's part of the problem with moderation - once someone is banned, they're banned, so you don't necessarily know what they were banned for. So the best way to figure out if a platform is worth your time is to actually go into it and see if you get banned or not.
In all seriousness, Cataline, I think you're just getting a splash assumption from "My Darling Clementine", because it's fairly obvious that it's a guy's name if you have any knowledge of European history. That's what makes it funny for me.
But there is Laguna Beach Fogey... and that's pretty much the same thing.
Not anymore....
I agree with the post. I've been reading VD since he posted his first article at WND and the comments have deteriorated over time. There are probably 6-7 people who comment that I'll look for, but everyone else I pretty much skip over.
As a reader here for almost 10 years, I would have to agree that the comments have declined a little bit in the last few years. The biggest reason is probably the astronomical rise in viewership... a flood of new commentators will invariably lead to some "dilution" of the old guard. But honestly, it doesn't seem to have had too much of a negative effect, overall. These kinds of growing pains are probably natural, but I think you and the moderators have done a superb job.
As a reader here for almost 10 years, I would have to agree that the comments have declined a little bit in the last few years. The biggest reason is probably the astronomical rise in viewership... a flood of new commentators will invariably lead to some "dilution" of the old guard. But honestly, it doesn't seem to have had too much of a negative effect, overall. These kinds of growing pains are probably natural, but I think you and the moderators have done a superb job.
There are many good commenters still here, but there are also just as many who are inane, repetitive, ineducable, and solipsistic.
I'm am waiting eagerly for the day when Vox turns me and the other moderators loose on anyone who happens to annoy us.
Ditto
I don't remember the year, but I've been reading, lurking, and occasionally commenting since the WND column days.
Most of the time when I feel inspired to shower the comments with my little snowflakes I discover someone else has already taken my intent and presented it much better than I could.
Or, they have expressed exactly what I felt compelled to write, and was appropriately mocked, eviscerated, and exposed as ignorant or irrelevant tripe saving me from that wonderful experience. I have learned some valuable lessons from those folks. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
I still read this blog for daily spin on current news and events or entertainment I probably wouldn't find elsewhere myself. Sometimes I drop an occasional attempt at profound wit and humor mostly to amuse myself. Of course the gun/nfl/booze banter also keeps me coming back.
The comments are tolerable and definitely won't keep me away.
Oh, and last but not least, this blog has been a big part in my inspiration to live a better life in the real world with people I actually know and care about. Thank you.
@116 Cataline, why didn't you mention you wrote something? If you did even on your blog I never noticed. You need to promote yourself more at least on your own blog.
Let me make this clear. If you mention Jews in any way, shape, or form, be it positive or negative, true or false, on any post that is not specifically marked Zion, the comment will be spammed.
If you philosemites and antisemites want to continue your eternal struggle elsewhere, that is fine. But I am officially bored with it and bored with you.
Finally. Praise God.
Before 2009, I was still working in government, so I was unable to comment under my own name. In those days, I used the name Memphomaniac...a term I coined while living in Memphis. I was surprised to see someone else using the same name here, once I stopped using it. There may have been times when I used the name Lion_of_York, as I am better known.
To me, the comments have changed here over the years. They have become shorter. We seldom see the long-winded thesis anymore. I try to read all the comments, but the alternative agendas do get tiresome at times.
VD; OT, but since Avalanche mentioned it in #100 and reminded me, any news on the new Voxiversity? The only updates I've gotten for a while are the monthly ones from FreeStartr.
"I miss Bane & the Nate vs Bane debates were epic."
don't for get JQP.
Since we are bringing up those we've lost, I miss Outlaw X.
Many others have hit on it already but with popularity has come reversion to the mean. The conversation has dropped about 20 IQ points at least, maybe more from the early days. It is a price to pay for affecting change in the world.
@103 cheddarman
Vox, please Make Commenting Great Again!
Hey Cheesehead, glad this brought you out of the woodwork for a drive by posting. Glad to know you are still kicking around out there.
I better not post my suspicion that Josh (the sexiest thing here) is a crypto-jew, working to bring about the jew-world order.
thanks allyn71!
"Not anymore...."
When Walter Payton scored a TD... he would touch the ball to the endzone. It was a TD. he would just touch the ball down and go on back to work.
Vox is different. He spikes it.
Been lurking since 2004 and fearfully commented once due to the overwhelming intellectual firepower.
The fact that I feel safe to post proves the OP.
Also... we do not debate .223 vs .308. .223s are fine for shooting chinamen I suppose but for human targets you need a larger bore.
"The fact that I feel safe to post proves the OP."
give it hell scrOOs
Smartphones have also caused a decline in depth of knowledge; we browse the salad bar of trivia the interwebs have become. Depth of reading is thus declining, I think.
Compounding this,is the miseducation of our youth with malice aforethought by the vile left. So many actively misunderstand what they think they know.
Add facebook solipsism, and season with victim-of-your-own-success popularity.
Perhaps instead of "I'm not a robot", you should have an "I'm not a midwit" feature where one may not comment unless they are at least at Mensa level.
A Wonderlic in a few questions, if you will. Once verified, the test could be thereafter waived for that commenter.
But then, your comments section might end up like a Mensa meeting....!
The women-ruin-everything- mommy blog- style humblebrag.
"I'm pretty much a midwit (mostly, I pray so far, by ignorance, not stupidity). I realized (unhappily) that "women ruin everything." (Yeah, including me.)"
You at least got THAT right...
Oh Archie!
I have little to say on most current topics.
I do scan thru for what the old timers have to say, and a few of the new folks, and the Easter post would keep me coming back if nothing else did.
We used to have Pretty Lady, now we have a bunch of interchangible monomaniacs.
Nate, I know you've got my email. If there's a spot with the old style discussion going on and you've got room for another, let me know, please?
"Nate, I know you've got my email. If there's a spot with the old style discussion going on and you've got room for another, let me know, please?"
we're working on it. We're holding off on adding people right now because we're working on building an entirely independent platform. That could happen pretty soon. Regardless I'll talk to the guys about getting ya added.
Sigh.
Just like high school- the cool kids with the secret parties..
now we have a bunch of interchangible monomaniacs.
At least I’m honest about it!
@48
"STOP feeding the trolls."
Send them to the local dragons or taniwha. I am informed they fry up nice and crunchy, and Watties Tomato Sauce makes them go down nicely.
@77, @127
Now I'm just spamming both the anti-semites and the philo-semites whenever they pop up with their tedious routines.
Thank you, Dread Lord. It hath cut the noise down somewhat.
Nate, I know you've got my email. If there's a spot with the old style discussion going on and you've got room for another, let me know, please?
ARE YOU A FED?
Nate wrote:Also... we do not debate .223 vs .308. .223s are fine for shooting chinamen I suppose but for human targets you need a larger bore.
Why not both? Never hurts to have more guns and ammo. My pet peeve gun wise these days is open carry vs concealed carry. A far more important debate than caliber wars yet many blindly follow the current permit system and demonize open carry in all situations.
Re the OP, yes quality has gone down. No, don't give der googles lists of people.
If BoysMom is a fed, she's been working for them for a long time. Haven't seen that tag line in years and years.
HH, if I recall correctly, you are Bane's wife or a close female relative. You also have an undeniable ticket to our private treehouse if you so choose.
Everybody who's anybody, from HaloScan era, is there. (Though LL left on her own). It's is a VERY exclusive place.
To everybody else: If you have to ask, the answer is about 99.99% guaranteed to be "no".
I, who walked these blogs
when Mordor was but wisp
I, I knew Him then.
We gamboled, we frolicked- my witticisms and bon mots
He did imbibe
We were Few then- Myself, and the Several- A Band of Brothers, you might say.
He Waxed under our munificent Tutelage.
Of late, though- the very Fruits of our Long Plowed fields
Are Trammeled
By Footfall common and Coarse
Strange accents ring through Elesia
And We Happy Few are scattered
We Knew Him When.
If BoysMom is a fed, she's been working for them for a long time. Haven't seen that tag line in years and years.
Could just be a FED using that handle today.
Where does one generally find pigs, BoysMom?
To everybody else: If you have to ask, the answer is about 99.99% guaranteed to be "no".
You might say we have a big beautiful wall
Where does one generally find pigs, BoysMom?
+1
VD
"which would permit the moderates and me to eliminate the shills"
i never thought i'd see the day when Vox Popoli was converged. but here we are.
tsk tsk
Yes, as a moderator who is not a moderate, I am saddened to hear of these changes.
BOB K MANDO, your comment got auto-spammed again and I'm starting to suspect it's the parentheses. I would recommend removing them.
Don't give out the answer, other Dread Ilk, or I have to delete your post like I did just now.
Hey BoysMom, long time no talk! I remember lots of good discussions here and at BloggerBlaster.
Isn't there a dread ilk test from a while back?
Alternatively, if you are a gay mustachio, who do you absolutely love chatting with?
Apologies Markku.
I second the sentiment made above. Of old, the SDL gazed from his tower upon the land and mused upon the problems of the world. The change in discourse came about when he decided to descend from his throne and start collecting SJW skulls in earnest. In my mind, the creation of Castalia House, Infogalactic, and Alt Hero are worth the added hassle of a lower average blog IQ.
Are you serious?
"Comments are hepatitis"?
You fail metaphor.
Try literalism.
Note William Blake used slant rhyme.
Haiku wins again.
https://infogalactic.com/info/William_McGonagall
https://infogalactic.com/info/The_Tay_Bridge_Disaster
Sigh.
Just like high school- the cool kids with the secret parties..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRrl2vDgJGk
Yesssss.
moderates and me
Yes, hoping he's not signalling it is the beginning of the end here at VP
Alternatively, if you are a gay mustachio, who do you absolutely love chatting with?
Beep click click whirrrr beep whirrrr click...
Way back when, when comments were really comments, we used to post through three feet of snow, and it was uphill both ways, and we didn't have none of those fancy boot-things, and we LIKED it!!
Please don't moderate the comments. You need to let people fly their freak flag. Let people make up their own mind.
“Please don't moderate the comments. You need to let people fly their freak flag. Let people make up their own mind”
Like Gab.
Yeah, we did the "no moderation" a few months ago. That was a train wreck.
I've been here from the start. There's plenty of evidence VD's ideas have been shaped by the comments. A narcissistic internet superego is never born, he is validated. Posturing and preening are akin to a daily bolster that says "yes, today I am relevant". Comments are the bloggers daily hit, any who say they don't care are full of shit. Some days the trip is good, some days it's bad.
VD has simply found his market. There's no need to engage at a higher level than this. His writing was never deep but his positioning and posturing once persuaded the higher thinkers his wriiting was full of wider intellectual promise. Over time it has become limited to its natural audience, the sub-intellectual Amerikaner, his minions who are happy to pay for the right to an avatar. All he needs to do is harness their lowers, make them feel smarter than they are for taking his lead then give them something to believe in. He is gaming the political environment for his own egonomic advantage.
VD had a chance to change course a couple years back and never took it. It lost him the intellectual discourse he craves. This path was never going to be other than degenerative. Thankfully, it's never too late to change.
Clint wrote:Yeah, we did the "no moderation" a few months ago. That was a train wreck.
1000+ comments and 10 pages in 4 hours. It certainly was as beautiful to watch and as difficult to clean up as a train wreck. I gained a new healthy respect for the mods after that post.
Next time just type out "I'm a bitter gamma" a hundred times.
It'd save everyone time.
I miss the old days. I did not comment a lot, but I know many old timers did. I remember I got my friend to start commenting as "RINO" to troll some of you for fun -- it was good times.
I learned a lot, but now I read VOx on my phone and I do not have time to comment. Plus as someone above said, Vox has changed from just thinking to being a man who "Does". It is time to DO.
Vox, stay with us forever, and may you continue to realize we all appreciate you more than you know. I have changed so much over the past ten years of reading your blog it is almost absurd.
As opposed to you, no doubt- the supra-intellectual AngloMurican, gazing distainfully down his patrician nose at these unlettered rabble. .
Cataline Sergius wrote:Actually, the Cataline as a chick thing had one major benefit.
It took Vox almost nothing to convince me to change my pen name to C.S. Maxwell.
I don't want to think about what my sales would have been like if I had published Dark Winter: The Great Divide Game under Cataline Sergius.
You need to advertise more. First I have heard of it.
Probably double your reviews.
Icicle wrote:I should only post in haiku from now on against inept opponents.
Wonderful blog, but,
Comments are hepatitis.
Very erudite.
This duel of haiku,
Will measured syllables end?
Icicle fails not.
That's more Senryū than Haiku
That said, the larger the blog the dumber the comments is almost a law of nature and a such even those of us who try to post intelligent comments are going to add the stream of honkers from time to time.
I'm not sure anything can or should be done about this although sending in some nightsoil collectors to be rid of the poo would impove things
Trooper York wrote:Please don't moderate the comments. You need to let people fly their freak flag. Let people make up their own mind.
People never 'make up their own mind'. They simply make up their own truth.
people who 'let their freak flag fly' are simply screaming for attention.
So give it to them. With the hammer.
The beatings will continue until moral improves.
I would gladly give up my ability to comment if that took out all the other midwits with me.
Most of us, including Vox, have been on a political odyssey for the last ten or twenty years, looking for a home after realizing libertarianism or conservatism or the GOPe, free trade, etc. etc. didn't work. I miss the comments that were about exploring where the hell it was we might find that. I think we found it now, so there's less novelty.
.223? That's find for putting holes in paper targets, I guess, but FFS at least start the discussion with 5.56.
Well, one could announce that comments are going bye-bye in a month, letting all the trolls/shills and mid-/dimwits have a final free-for-all till the end. Turn off comments til say Apr. 1 then turn them back on without notice. Just a thought.
I don't think he's right. I don't often read the comments, but I read everyone about the Q postings and I found them exceptional.
I agree with at least one commenter that the comments to most blogs are meaningless, Scott Adams' blog for instance, but a lot of the people commenting here are bright and interesting. Certainly on the Q posts which i followed avidly. I loved the Q posts & comments.
Certainly. I read his blog often and had no clue until he just mentioned it. I will have to check that out.
"... This has left the comments section to become filled with more midwit posturing and monomania that derails conversation"
Congratulations, that's what happens when you reach a wider audience. Now the game is.... "Do I retain control or surf the wave?"
The host, moderators, Rules Must Apply in accordance to policy.
My father, the captain says hello.
bobby wrote:and it was uphill both ways, and we didn't have none of those fancy boot-things, and we LIKED it!!
...and thanked t' mill owner for killing us!
@56 When the principals have run out of inspiration, and the cost of hosting an active site threatens to force a shutdown, there's not much you can do. I miss TOD too.
Jerome wrote:what was once verboten is nearing common knowledge among the normies.
Truth. I'm able to sneak Steve Sailer memes into libtard territory now. One of my goals is to put little bits of red pill into everybody's mashed potatoes and help move the Overton window.
@99 <deleted, see @109>
@101 There's a lot of value in putting more-obscure information and arguments out there. Even if it's only taken seriously by lurkers and trolls, the information and arguments get added to THEIR intellectual armories too. When you're trying to demolish the mountain of lies which is the CultMarx narrative, every hammer helps.
@111 There's a dindu blog I read where they call the HeyJackass shooting stats "fake news" every time they're posted (usually daily). Troll? Serious denialist? Poe's law applies.
Gordian Knot wrote:So many actively misunderstand what they think they know.
That is hardly limited to youth or those educated by the left. CultMarx is just one of many dogmas which inculcate active misunderstanding. A good many victims of other ones post here.
If the consensus is that snark has to go, then snark has to go. A definitive word from the moderators would be appreciated.
Currently me and Matthew don't moderate for that kind of judgment calls at all. We merely enforce Vox's decisions. Including completely unambiguous rules, like "remove all Catholic-Protestant fighting in threads that aren't specifically about that".
Only Vox moderates for judgment-call issues currently.
The question is, should we ALSO become judge, jury and executioner. That is entirely up to Vox. It's his blog. We can play it either way.
In my case it was getting on the social media, first GamerGate, then the Hugos, etc.
Took time from VP. While there is a lot of noise here now, noise also serves a function in information processing. And it was voices I would never had heard otherwise that kept me here after finding the blog.
Now, of those who have been here for <5years, how many have read the RULES OF THE BLOG?
@192: That's what I thought. About 25 percent of the comments on this thread, including mine, meet Jerome's metrics (see 94). Wouldn't surprise me if that holds true across other posts.
FWIW: Should the rules change to exclude snark, I would be okay with that.
Are you saying that only a Catholic would believe that TWHF was Lewis' best work, unless jews had corrupted an otherwise biblically-correct Israel supporter into supporting the outdated concept of supply and demand?
And I won't have sex with your mother even if his name is Catherine.
"should we ALSO become judge, jury and executioner" Al Sharpton wants to know, who made YOU Judge Judy & Executioner?
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