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pingbear

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hubskier for: 4475 days

recent comments, posts, and shares:
pingbear  ·  3257 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The 1000 day club -Are you in it?

    member for: 1218 days

I'm in it but I still have no idea how this place works. But I like the quality of the articles. Don't really read the comments usually, and I tend to avoid the askhubski posts.

pingbear  ·  3451 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: If this is the beginning of the end for Reddit, then Reddit deserves to die

There were 150,000 users on /r/fatpeoplehate. Of course there will be a large enough group to sustain a lot of anger while the rest filter off.

pingbear  ·  3451 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: If this is the beginning of the end for Reddit, then Reddit deserves to die

I disagree. In this instance the ones who are angry enough to leave aren't those disaffected by the hivemind. This is happening as a result of banning and shadowbanning a lot of users. There's a lot of wack-a-mole. They've tried going hydra on subreddit creation and been shut down as soon as their posts appear on /r/al/new, they've tried invading other sites, they'll soon - in my view - turn on the circlejerk/SRD crowd having a good laugh at their expense. But ultimately they'll leave.

This isn't a case of reasonable heads drifting away because of shitty behaviour, this is people leaving as a result of being banned for shitty behaviour.

Normally people leave in search of better content. In this instance people are leaving looking for a platform. The difference is obvious.

pingbear  ·  3451 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: If this is the beginning of the end for Reddit, then Reddit deserves to die

Bit of a dumb article, no?

First, the people leaving reddit are shitlords who want to harass people. Trolls, basically. Reddit is banning trolls, not everyone. So to say that reddit is going to collapse because they're clearing out the dross is a bit silly.

Second, Reddit's troll base is made up of individuals. Where do you think those individuals will go if they choose to leave Reddit? From one perspective, 'Reddit' isn't going to die because 'Reddit' is middle-class 15-25 white male America. From another, we now have a swarm of angry trolls looking for somewhere to fight for the First Amendment rights. They'll just set up shop somewhere else and start their self-validating circlejerks there. Voat won't do it because - if the admins have any sense - they'll make it untenable for Reddit to set up there by not upgrading their server requirements to cope. The Reddit exodus will then move on. Hubski has better infrastructure to cope so is at greater risk.

I don't think many of you will disagree with the use of the word 'risk' there.

pingbear  ·  3451 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Welcome to Hubski

It may not settle down. The whack-a-mole is quite strong on reddit at the moment. A lot of people are going to leave permanently in search of a new online DIY soapbox for free speech.

pingbear  ·  3451 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Welcome to Hubski

It may not settle down. The whack-a-mole is quite strong on reddit at the moment. A lot of people are going to leave permanently in search of a new online DIY soapbox for free speech.

pingbear  ·  3451 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Welcome to Hubski

It may not settle down. The whack-a-mole is quite strong on reddit at the moment. A lot of people are going to leave permanently in search of a new online DIY soapbox for free speech.

pingbear  ·  3857 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How did you hear about or find Hubski?

    I prefer the level of discourse here, and the fact they even when people disagree, they are usually still able to have civil discourse ( there are, of course, shit disturbers everywhere)

Really? The one time I made a joke about hubski turning into an echo chamber of atheistic superiority I got lynched by a guy who thought I was religious.

pingbear  ·  3857 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How did you hear about or find Hubski?

/r/circlebroke, way back when.

pingbear  ·  4005 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why it's time to lay the selfish gene to rest

    But the new gene didn’t create the new trait. It just made it easier to keep a trait that a change in the environment made valuable. The gene didn’t drive the train; it merely hopped aboard. Had the gene showed up earlier (either through mutation or mating with an outsider), back when you lived in the forest and speed didn’t mean anything, it would have given no advantage. Instead of being selected for and spreading, the gene would have disappeared or remained in just a few animals. But because the gene was now of value, the population took it in, accommodated it, and spread it wide.

I don't see how this is incompatible with the Selfish Gene. I thought selfish gene theory described why organisms seek to reproduce, and why altruism and selfishness both act together to further the organism and it's genes along. It described why life does what it does, and that genetics was the driving influence of all that, not individual genes.

pingbear  ·  4088 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Commemorating September 11 through crass commercialism

i'm playing devil's advocate here but for how long is America going to commemorate 9/11? Other countries have been victim to terrorism in the past too but there is no big date made out of it and there is no systematic regurgitatution of phone messages and victims' photos like with 9/11. Why does America feel the need to do that to itself?

pingbear  ·  4109 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I'm Not An Atheist

My original comment was a joke. Even if it were taken literally, I don't think hubski is an echo chamber, but how long do you think it will take when religion is referred to as archaic dogma and good for nothing? And how is this thread supposed to be open to all forms of spirituality and searches for it when religion is walked all over like that?

Surely if hubski doesn't allow 'downvoting' then it should avoid being negative as well.

pingbear  ·  4109 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I'm Not An Atheist

Here we go. An Internet conversation about religion goes meta and the adhomenems present themselves. The first stone cast is by...?

I also enjoyed the immediate assumption that because I dislike anti-theism that must make me religious.

In one comment you have demonstrated that you aren't an atheist; you are an anti-theist. You just can't help yourself when it looks like religion can be taken down a peg.

pingbear  ·  4109 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I'm Not An Atheist

    the archaic dogmatism of institutional religions. Hardly an echo chamber of irreligious supremacism.

lolok

pingbear  ·  4109 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I'm Not An Atheist

Please, God, don't let hubski become an echo chamber for irreligious supremacism.

pingbear  ·  4124 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: JakobVirgil is MIA. Tin-Can is with him.

    he did joke about how he had underestimated it

I imagine if that conversation had been had in person it would have been accompanied with nervous laughter.

I agree with minimum_wage. Sounds like he bit off more than he can chew and now he's nervous about the money side of things. There's skin in the game now and he probably feels morally obligated to deliver. If it's just a kick-around project then there's no real concern about it tailing off and scrapping it, but the money is a game changer.

Hopefully he reaches out and discusses concerns.

pingbear  ·  4131 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why Does the World Exist?

Honestly I find multiverse theory somewhat stupid. There is zero proof of it at all. It's a thought experiment. It makes as much sense to me as believing in God. It's humans attempting to answer the same questions our ancestors asked which led them to invent religion. It adds little value except to make us sleep better at night.

In fact, no. Scratch that. Believing in God makes more sense to me than believing in a multiverse because at least a belief in God actually has impacts on one's life. The multiverse is vain imaginings. And it still doesn't answer the question of why there is something forking its way through whatever it's in in the first place. It doesn't answer the question of why the world exists. It just says there are lots of them.

pingbear  ·  4134 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Should Reddit Be Blamed for the Spreading of a Smear?

As much as I want to see reddit torn apart by every feminist with access to a mainstream media column for /r/beatingwomen over the course of a few weeks, I will tentatively come to their defence in some form by saying that's it's not just reddit.

Reddit's structure and system might make it an echo chamber, but it's an echo chamber for a certain type of internaut which exists already. During the Boston bombing aftermath I tuned into @youranonnews to get the updates. I think the mentality is egocentric (even though I fed off it for up-to-the-second information), and it may well be attracted to reddit's warm strokes and upvote-for-mutual-validation practices, but it's limited to the reddit.com domain in the slightest. Anon had a police scanner (an online version I think) and were posting everything they heard on the scanner like every second via twitter. Equally, they didn't get stuck into photo detective work in earnest until someone posted 'convincing evidence' assembled by some kid on 4chan. So it's not just reddit.

Eventually the snowflakes and general losers of the internet will make their way to the reddit honeytrap, so maybe it will ultimately become the largest congregation and clearest example of this perspective, but it's not reddit.com per se.

pingbear  ·  4160 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Final Statements of Death Row Inmates In Texas

>On 07/21/97, McCarthy entered the residence of a 70-year old white female in Lancaster with the intent to rob the victim. A struggle took place and victim was stabbed numerous times resulting in her death. McCarthy then used the victim's credit cards and used the victim's vehicle for transportation.

>Last Statement:

>"I just wanted to say thanks to all who have supported me over the years: Reverend Campbell, for my spiritual guidance; Aaron, the father of Darrian, my son; and Maurie, my attorney. Thank you everybody. This is not a loss, this is a win. You know where I am going. I am going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love ya'll. Thank you, Chaplain."

Think you need to read a bit more of the Bible, love. Even if Jesus is real I doubt he wants to kick it with you.

pingbear  ·  4161 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: [48 hours] Edward Snowden's Half-Baked Revolution

I feel he makes a very salient point about Stalinist self-censoring, and "thought-heresy". Really salient. I don't know if I impose 'thought-heresy' on myself, because I can be quite conservative on certain issues and have no problem sounding off at the television during political panel shows, but there are plenty of things I'd never say about Snowden in open circles. That's quite disconcerting.

On a lighter note:

"...[I]f I’m going to keep my mouth shut or pretend, it better be over something really important, not hero-worshipping some confused, half-baked libertarian whistleblower who can’t get his own story straight, just because his handler tells us we have to or else we’re Obamabots or fascists."

Ouch.