MetaFilter

At least I think that's what you mean.

Yes, it was. We're on the same page on both points.

It's practically a fundamental principle of rhetoric: more patience is required of anyone trying to persuade an unfriendly audience than a friendly one.

No, you're talking about something different. I'm not talking about what works to persuade a hostile audience. I am talking... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by cribcage at 1:04 PM on June 15, 2014

I think there's a fair point to be made about signals some of us read in the piece regarding conflicts between 'academician vs. shopkeeper/tradesperson.' It might even have an inverse relationship to income - the scholar or artist toiling away for intangible reward vs. the corporate cog selling out for the sake of bourgeois comforts. I went to art school and my dad sold auto parts, so skipping back and forth over those lines has been an exploration in interesting territory for me, and perhaps... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Lou Stuells at 3:05 PM on June 14, 2014

But Bunny Ultramod, you do this all the time. Make assumptions about other Mefites, I mean. In the Trader Joe's thread, for example, you assume that people who questioned the lazy journalism or the author's choice to print the retail manager's full name are misogynistic.

Can you see why those actions might make others feel unwelcome?

You also accused anyone who didn't agree with you about that of derailing the thread. But... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by misha at 6:17 PM on June 14, 2014

Bunny Ultramod, you were addressing spitbull's comment expressing appreciation for CtrlAltD's contribution. Your comment seems to demonstrate that you find more value in making a dismissive potshot than in any of the substance of the conversation they're having, or in any of the points that CtrlAltD bothered to address.

And for that matter.. 'the guy was a manager so your facts are wrong' is a proclamation that presupposes a hell of a lot: that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Lou Stuells at 8:40 PM on June 14, 2014

53 comments in any single thread is a lot, particularly a contentious one.
posted to MetaTalk by stp123 at 8:01 AM on June 15, 2014

> I'm not the subject of this thread.

After 53 comments by you (so far) it might as well be. Not to mention another 57 in the thread that spawned this meta. You have totally won both of 'em and can afford to rest on your laurels.
posted to MetaTalk by jfuller at 6:58 AM on June 15, 2014

And thus ended the Bunny Ultramod Show for another thread.
posted to MetaTalk by gman at 6:09 AM on June 15, 2014

That's like saying Bill Gates doesn't have a lot of dough when you consider the total sum of all the other money in circulation.
posted to MetaTalk by gman at 7:43 AM on June 15, 2014

Just to remind everyone, the phrase "Corporations are people, my friend" came from Mitt Romney before the election. It is true that the statement was taken out of context, but still, the deeper thinking behind the statement shows a problematic attitude that corporations are an unquestioned good.

Not that Obama, realistically, is particularly good either. Man went and appointed a cable industry lobbyist to head the damn FCC.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 10:48 AM on June 15, 2014

I'll tell you true recently I got an LLC and it definitely feels like I became a first class citizen.
posted to MetaFilter by save alive nothing that breatheth at 10:36 AM on June 15, 2014

Talez: The thing about contracts is that you don't have to sign the SFOA for any service. Take a copy of the agreement, alter it and send it back. Alter the DOM of the online click through with Javascript or, in the case of an EULA, debugger and then accept it under your terms. Make sure to print a copy to PDF so you can send the company your version of the terms.

If companies are stupid enough to let us click through an agreement without reading it first (as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dr_dank at 9:36 AM on June 15, 2014

The French aristocracy can solve this problem perfectly! If having enough to eat is so revolutionary, then surely all the aristocracy has to do is get their footmen to distribute limited quantities of cake and small portions of liberty at the palace gates on specially denoted holidays! Sounds like a good opportunity for some of France's leading families to step up and differentiate themselves!
posted to MetaFilter by Sonny Jim at 9:07 AM on June 15, 2014

Nothing you can say to us is going to make us go, oh, you're totally right, now we see it your way, we really should have been looking at this through the lens of a cis man and like this transphobia can be a real knee-slapper.

Once you get to the point in the thread where you're writing someone with your biology/identity will never convince someone with my biology/identity that you are right, the only thing to do is for you to listen to me... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by crayz at 1:26 PM on June 14, 2014

I'm still holding out for the U.S.S. Cygnus--ominous abandoned Victorian greenhouse on a Brunel scale--but as technology goes, we're as likely to get a ship that looks like an upended Italian restaurant as we are to get these supposedly plausible things any time soon.

Now be a dear and toy with that breadstick, because we're running late.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sonascope at 5:10 AM on June 14, 2014

It's amazing to watch these problems being addressed and solved one by one---and to see Metafilter go from near-complete mockery to dismissal to employment as a donation mechanism.

yea but have you considered that its nerd money for buying heroin
posted to MetaFilter by p3on at 12:43 PM on June 14, 2014

It's amazing to watch these problems being addressed and solved one by one

In the way that earthquakes address the problems of earthquake-resistant architecture.
posted to MetaFilter by holgate at 12:22 PM on June 14, 2014

I am saying closed-mindedness and things like that need to be brought up much more directly. That is - directly to the person who is being closed-minded (or whatever your objection is), in response to the comment in which they are doing the thing you object to.


This doesn't really work in response to a pile on though, does it? Where you write something that generates a whole pile of animosity, you start to look nuts, or like an obsessive... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by PeterMcDermott at 5:06 AM on June 14, 2014

we are descending into self-parody here
posted to MetaTalk by Hoopo at 4:41 PM on June 13, 2014

I believe it amounts to letting the stealth bigots be outright bigots.

No I believe it amounts to thinking that comments like this are complete bullshit and that the attitude that leads to you thinking that this reductive bullshit is actually adding to the discourse is part of the problem.
posted to MetaTalk by aspo at 7:23 PM on June 13, 2014

In other Snowden news: Did US Send CIA Rendition Jet To Europe In The Hope Of Grabbing Snowden?
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 2:10 PM on June 13, 2014

As far as I can tell, nearly every single comment you post on this website at least obliquely refers to how terrible it is

That's not true at all.
posted to MetaTalk by Hoopo at 3:14 PM on June 13, 2014

This'll be great for building space highways for space truckers.

When I was small being a space trucker was what I wanted to be when I grew up.



Well --
We had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
Meeting all the groovy people
We've rocked the Milky Way so far
We got music in our solar system
Space truckin' 'round... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Herodios at 1:37 PM on June 13, 2014

Any of these problems could be fixed by reversing the polarity of the dilithium matrix.

You people must have failed quantum mechanics at the academy.
posted to MetaFilter by dr_dank at 1:24 PM on June 13, 2014

IF you have material with negative energy density, violating the positive energy conditions (T_{\mu\nu}k^\mu k^\nu < 0).

And you had enough of it.

And you could manipulate it to position it as you like.

Then you could realize a particular known solution to Einstein's equations, where a segment of spacetime is disconnected from the flat background. This region of spacetime would have large curvature at the boundaries... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by physicsmatt at 1:00 PM on June 13, 2014

Looks like a luxury RV from the year 2525. I love it!

Close.

I thought for sure that link was going to go to this.
posted to MetaFilter by Greg_Ace at 12:44 PM on June 13, 2014

I'm trying to figure out why I give a shit. Where did this all start? Generally speaking, when hanging out with friends (and ideally on MetaFilter we're all friends, right?) we avoid discussing topics like religion and politics.

And I think I know why I am grinding my axe. I invest a good deal of time on the site by creating what I think are good posts (for the past 7 years it's been my way of sending traffic to the ads, right?) but over the last little while I've... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by KokuRyu at 11:03 AM on June 13, 2014

When will "bingo card" be on the bingo card?

That's the free box in the middle. We use Metabingo cards here.
posted to MetaTalk by tyllwin at 11:32 AM on June 13, 2014

<headdesk>
posted to MetaFilter by physicsmatt at 11:51 AM on June 13, 2014

if you're cruising along with Alcubierre drive, what would you see out the window?

Something longer than you think, Dad! Longer than you think!
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:58 AM on June 13, 2014

I would like a view of the whole ship instead of all these closeups of the fenders and headlights. Particularly the drive ring which is supposed to be the unique part of the ship.
posted to MetaFilter by cardboard at 11:56 AM on June 13, 2014

It's also important to realize that FTL travel, even if feasible, is not worth pursuing until I can fix the dimmer switch in my hallway.
posted to MetaFilter by aramaic at 11:55 AM on June 13, 2014

Looks like a luxury RV from the year 2525. I love it!

Close.
posted to MetaFilter by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:51 AM on June 13, 2014

I was talking to an older woman the other day who wanted to hear my suggestions for a good place to sell her collection of Beanie Babies and "recover the investment".
posted to MetaFilter by Benjy at 5:01 AM on June 13, 2014

but its so clever though
posted to MetaTalk by Hoopo at 10:24 AM on June 13, 2014

Where do I turn in my bingo card?

Anyone can write bingo cards of phrases frequently used by people who disagree with them. We can write the "PC bingo" card pretty easily.

"more people need to go back to the * 101 thread"

"like playing the game on its easiest setting"

"invisible knapsack"

etc

Neither bingo card says anything meaningful about the merits of the underlying arguments.
posted to MetaTalk by tyllwin at 10:23 AM on June 13, 2014

get off your hind legs

*eyeroll* Why should I have to hear about a Pudhoho comparing men to dogs while I’m reading metafilter?
posted to MetaTalk by 0 at 4:28 AM on June 13, 2014

Pages would load a lot faster if we just removed all vowels.
posted to MetaTalk by shakespeherian at 8:34 AM on June 13, 2014

Well, that's interesting, and as good as indication as any that Bitcoins are assets and not currency.

Because when the U.S government seizes cash from alleged drug dealers, the public never sees or hears of it ever again.
posted to MetaFilter by drjimmy11 at 11:04 PM on June 12, 2014

And in response the price of Bitcoins has just dropped 10% in a matter of hours.

Or that could just be because it's Thursday.
posted to MetaFilter by chelant at 10:59 PM on June 12, 2014

Double
posted to MetaFilter by vorpal bunny at 9:48 AM on June 12, 2014

Another possibility: Suppose a bunch of Tesla's competitors decide to adopt Tesla's patented technologies but then violate the antitrust laws by colluding in order to shut Tesla out of the market made possible by that very technology. Tesla could say that is not a good faith use of the technology.
posted to MetaFilter by jedicus at 8:55 PM on June 12, 2014

What does using their technology not in "good faith" look like?

This is pure speculation, but: Suppose someone tried to sell aftermarket equipment for Tesla cars and insinuated they had a relationship with Tesla when none existed (e.g. using Tesla's logo or suggesting the products were approved by Tesla). If that equipment was covered by a patent owned by Tesla, then Tesla might add patent infringement claims to its lawsuit, arguing that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jedicus at 8:49 PM on June 12, 2014

I would think a trans person making a judgment about a person who uses trans slurs has plenty of credibility to make that judgment. Is there a reason you don't think that's the case?

Yes. If your friend is saying Dan Savage are equally as bad as Rush Limbaugh, your friend has no sense of proportion and is categorically wrong. Just like people who say there is zero difference between Obama and Bush 2 are wrong. (Or who said there would be zero... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aspo at 6:59 PM on June 12, 2014

Palomar, who's demanding links?

I'm not even talking to you. I made a general, good faith request that someone enlighten me as to why they (or others) were saying he was a misogynist. I'm not demanding links. Is Metafilter a conversation? Or a set of lifted Kottke.org links and a demand to google my own answers to a question asked in conversation. I merely asked someone to enlighten me.

Doesn't seem to me like you get the spirit of this place.
posted to MetaFilter by C.A.S. at 11:27 AM on June 12, 2014

To some trans people, he's basically Anne Coulter-level poison. A trans person I know said he's basically "Rush Limbaugh, but less open to fisting"

Well, they are welcome to think anything they want, but I don't think I feel bad about not giving your friend much credibility here.
posted to MetaFilter by aspo at 1:39 PM on June 12, 2014

Some of the loudest members seem to have a brand that they need to reinforce. Rather than try to respect or understand a different viewpoint, they have a need to become the definitive voice on their pet topics and it just becomes tiresome.

That idea sort of runs counter to the 'assume good faith' notion that seems (to me, at least) to be pretty important to conversation. If you think someone's participation is partially due to some internal... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by shakespeherian at 11:38 AM on June 12, 2014

Trans people are murdered just for existing, thrown in the wrong prisons when they fight back, and a sizable portion of the gay community thinks this behavior is A-OK.

What? Can you find a single quote where a gay person thinks it's A-OK to straight up murder a trans person?
posted to MetaFilter by desjardins at 11:14 AM on June 12, 2014

If you read this:

"I curated a five-night speakers series at the Pen World Voices Festival in New York City that featured a trans woman. (All the speakers were women except me—misandry!) I was one of four executive producers of an online video series profiling seven prominent LGBT Americans—including a trans woman. (Laverne Cox's video isn't up yet. But please go check out the amazing videos featuring Jason Collins, Jayne Lynch, and Tegan and Sara.) I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kbanas at 9:41 AM on June 12, 2014

Andrew Sullivan, as ever, dumber than a shit ton of bricks. Way to miss the point.
posted to MetaFilter by MisantropicPainforest at 9:23 AM on June 12, 2014

Disclaimer: cisgendered, straight, white, male, boomer, Savage fan. Feel free to ignore, attack, whatever.

That said... what on earth does the fact that Savage can be a snarky jerk have to do with the substance of the debate? To keep harping on what an asshole he is is the worst sort of ad hominem. This is the University of Chicago we're talking about. How one engages in conflict over ideas is crucial. This wasn't some... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mondo dentro at 9:23 AM on June 12, 2014