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His post was about "shaming" victims, though, which is a rather nebulous a term and, in my opinion, a terrible basis for policy. It's also not covered by the forum rules as far as I can tell. And regarding whether or not someone should be allowed to speak, my answer is going to depend on what you mean by rape apology (because I suspect we're not on the same page regarding that) and on whether that is an open question or rather one in the context of the forum. If the latter, it's a moot point because the guidelines determine what is and what is not acceptable, and the guidelines can be changed at any time without explanation. That being said, I do believe moderators should be afforded minimal leeway to interpret the rules. @GD did I say moderators cannot have or express personal opinions? I said they shouldn't let their personal opinions color their work as moderators. I was in agreement with TN's post up until the quoted paragraph, which arguably I may have misunderstood. But I certainly do not want this place to become just another subreddit or an extension of the Paradox forum.

I really hope I'm misunderstanding what you meant by this. Because if it means you're going to start letting your political views -and this extends to what you believe one should or should not be allowed to say- affect your work as moderator, beyond what the guidelines provide for, that is going to make the forum... a worse place. Fighting the never-ending tide of bull**** is tiresome, I get it. That does not warrant you using your position to advance an agenda. If you are too tired, ask for a time-out. Doubly so if this is an issue that affects you personally. I hope you understand that after your post, your ability to remain objective can be compromised in the eyes of some. Do not take the easy way out and crack down on those who are in the "wrong", please.

Did you read the link you posted? It's literally the third line: "In many states, presumption of innocence is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial," This means it's an important principle for the court to consider. There is no presumption of innocence outside of a court of law because we're not handing out sentences; yet surprisingly, this is not at odds with the healthy habit of skepticism. Moreover, assuming that the person making the accusation has no credibility because XYZ is actually the opposite of "presumption of innocence", as it implicitly carries an assumption of ulterior motives on the accuser's part, as their accusations are taken to be false by default. Unproven =/= false. But really, this is pretty silly. System.out.println(str.replaceAll("victim", "alleged victim"))

Not shocking in the current political climate, I guess. But is being an idiot about one's political opinions an offense that warrants firing in the FBI Code of Conduct? @ volo: cool story bro. Here's another FACT that is as relevant as the tangent you went off on: rope is good for pulling but not for pushing. FACT.

Semantics. SM made it sound like the accuser/victim has no credibility because they are prostitutes (because it is impossible to sexually assault a sex worker, right?) which is the point Tagaziel was making. You took it an ran with it to rant about Hillary in a bizarre show of irrelevant whataboutism.

The story goes it was a dumpster fire on release, but was somewhat fixed later down the road with multi-GB patches. I say somewhat because they couldn't fix the the fact that the game was simply not very good and couldn't live up to the hype they had generated prior to release. And apparently the AI was still very much broken until some modder found out that a semicolon was missing in the code or something like that, a few months ago. I played it two years ago in coop and had fun with it, but also used rebalancing and graphical mods, and only paid like $5 for the game. Couldn't really recommend it as-is, and I'd be pretty angry at Randy Pitchford if I had paid full price for it. re EF2: gr8 b8 m8

I think he's more ashamed of Stormy's account of his performance than anything. "Textbook generic" and "what you'd expect from someone his age", in her words.

I know you're not going to openly say who these "at least two" you are referring to are, but care to explain at least what you mean by "the average Twitter user"? I mean, one doesn't have to be a genius to be able to tell when you're doing your little passive-aggressive routine, but let none say that I'm unwilling to grant the benefit of doubt. Speaking of Twitter users, Ol' Musky is in hot water with the SEC after tweets send Tesla stock soaring. Poor guy can't catch a break.

Weird, man. Refuse? You are Gromnir and I claim my 5 Durgan Ignots. Btw, you can fill an entire nother internet with things I have not commented on. Yep. Maybe not refuse as that word assumes a conscious effort on your part. But in any case you are focusing on a given sample to draw broad conclusions about "our broken society", while disregarding other(s), without offering any explanation as to why one medium is relevant but others aren't. Maybe it's just that your experience with social networks reflects your interactions with people IRL so you are naturally inclined to believe that's people in general... if so, you have my sympathies. Not sure what this tangent about stuff you haven't commented on has to do with anything, either. You're tilting at windmills.

Are you pulling the "you didn't comment on <some particular subject> so you obviously support it"? I'm pulling... what now? I mean that if you choose to ascribe a high representativity value to a series of selected posts from source A (twitter) but refuse to do the same for unfiltered content from source B (obsidz forum), you are being inconsistent. That's all.

how dare they Ikr? Its our own fault though, they've been raised to think that they are special and unique. And the sound of their own voice thrills them to no end. Ah yes, I too yearn for bygone days when peasants knew their place and were content to let only their betters speak. But seriously. It's kinda funny that you choose to believe that a bunch of cherry-picked twatter posts are "a reflection of our broken society" but, for instance, the majority of opinions presented here, are not.

Hmm. Sounds like a useful sentiment to remember when you're driving against traffic. Seriously though, that's Twitter, and the so-called content there is not always representative of "life". I should know, I've on occasion mistakenly believed that it is...

Finally tried Stellaris, got it over a year ago because I wanted to play a Star Trek mod that I saw but never got around to actually doing it. Is it me or is this game less complex than other Paradox titles? I'm thinking Hearts of Iron 3 which was micromanagement hell and especially Victoria 2. Not that simplicity is a bad thing per se, but previous games seemed to have way more depth than this, and as a consequence, a much steeper learning curve. I'm fairly surprised how easy it is to get into this game. Beautiful music, too. However playing a Paradox game reminded me that I'm still butthurt that they killed East vs West and seemingly have no interest in developing a similar game themselves. Bah.

The program in question wasn't universal either. Only people under a certain earnings threshold were eligible. Which could arguably disincentivize work, and kinda goes against what's at the core of UBI: a departure from labor commodification as *the* driving force of the economy. Ideally we'd do something before machines take over a critical mass of labor and this leads to the collapse of capitalism, and the obsolescence of a majority of humans. That's going to be a tad harder to fix than balancing a budget after "running out of other people's money", especially considering that the value of money is essentially a game of pretend.

Or so said the politician who shut it down, without providing any evidence to support her claims. There is a shocker. Where's your healthy distrust for politicians when they say something you are ideologically inclined to believe, I wonder? "fere libenter homines, id quod volunt credunt"

Fixed that for you. And yeah, there's a pattern. (currently going through BGEE btw. I simply CANNOT describe how much I hate huge empty areas filled with random groups of 1-5 skeletons or gibberlings. Thank Todd Howard we've moved past that)

Comments didn't disappoint.

Yeah, same here. I'm really not a fan of padding, be it "old skool" or new. Repetitive tasks and chores are something I get paid to endure, not the other way around. The one debatable element that gets brought up consistently as an example of decline is quest markers. I mean, I can't deny that constantly beelining for the next step in FNV did detract from the exploration, but... I really don't have the time to look up and down for whatshisface that I need to hand this parcel to. Never played Grimoire. I kinda got the impression it was a meme/in-joke product, especially considering the price tag. Couldn't get into Underrail either. Too hardcore for my taste, maybe.

Shorthand for "practices and decisions that contribute to the decline (in quality) of games in general and RPGs in particular". Functionally it's a noun rather than an adjective, i.e. "maps are the devil". #justcodexthings

Yeah, I saw that on PoliticallyCorrectgamesN yesterday. I wonder what they are going to charge him with, because circumventing DRM isn't illegal in yurop, AFAIK. Distributing (modified) copyrighted code maybe? How do you even get the organized crime division to get involved in a game crack investigation? At least they didn't send in a SWAT team à la KDC. Hopefully he'll get off with a slap on the wrist.

Here is is YOUR responsibility to secure housing for yourself and your family. It is a commodity which means it IS a widget. And the neat thing about it is there is a hell of a lot of it. I own a townhouse that I'm renting to a family for less than the monthly mortgage. Not out of the goodness of my heart. That is the going rate for a 2B 2B townhouse in Bartlett TN. I could raise the rent but then I might never find a tenant. But I imagine my tenants live in Bartlett because the same house in Memphis would cost a lot more. If rent is too expensive where you are looking, look somewhere else. The further you get from the center of a city the more the prices drop. You don't have a RIGHT to an apartment. And you sure as hell don't have a RIGHT to one exactly where you want it for the price you want it. If you like the location pay what it costs. If not, look elsewhere. Nice strawman. We go from high housing prices in general and housing not really being optional to "I don't have to subsidize your downtown apartment". Which I agree with, but is not the point. Looking elsewhere may be a solution short-term for some people but it doesn't address the root cause. People start moving en masse to nowhereville that currently has great rent, and thanks to houses being just another commodity as you so keenly noted, "investors" will simply start gobbling up real estate there and start another bubble. I'm not defending it, but subsidizing rent is one of the few things that the state can do towards ensuring affordable housing, without going full commie and infringing on your muh property rights. Public housing is another, but then that's unfair competition and the state meddling with muh free markets. Do you have a better alternative? And by the way, it appears you are wrong about rent. A cursory search reveals that median rent prices in Bartlett TN are actually higher than in Memphis.

1.- Spain. It's a nice enough place... but Spaniards. 2.- Antarctica isn't technically a country, is it?

I love how basic housing is a "widget", and the solution to the problem of artificially inflated prices of basic necessities is to simply stop buying. Because homelessness is a perfectly valid lifestyle choice, guys. And, no. Simply not buying isn't enough to bring prices down.

Bro. Death? Impending doom? Gimme a break. We're talking ****ing differential equations here. Whole courses of them! Seriously though, as I was writing the post, I thought it was pretty silly, too. Exams aren't the most stressing experience I've had either, so why do I keep dreaming of that stupid ****? Thankfully I've never had "serious" nightmares. Never woken up screaming or drenched in sweat or anything. Generally I sleep like a baby, and don't remember a thing in the morning.

Yeah, I have those too. The school I went to has a final "final" that I often dream of going to completely unprepared. Which always ends up confusing me because those dreams feel shockingly real. Ha, I thought I was the only idiot who had nightmares about past exams. I've on occasion also dreamed that some old professor shows up and is like "hey, remember course X you thought you passed? Well, you actually didn't, so you have to take it again". And this is considering that I dropped out and have been gainfully employed for a while so even if that happened... it wouldn't matter at all.