Articles & Happening Meta Discussion

Articles & Happenings is the third attempt at a news board on the Kiwi Farms. It is a cursed place. Every moderator who has been assigned here has resigned within a year. During 2016, the political crossfire was so bad it spread to different boards and culminated in me banning American news discussion entirely for several months. It has been deleted in its entirety twice. There is no actual discussion here, it's people posting garbage. It leans much further right than the rest of the site and doesn't particularly conduct discussion because dissenting opinions are dogpiled by a thousand memelords posting shit they read on /pol/ without any critical analysis.

The only rules that can be enforced are empirical ones with boolean violation answers. New threads must cite a real source directly and must use the headline of the article as a thread title without any editorializing. Articles must be archived in some way and must link to the original article. Replies that are one word or a reaction images are automatic one-month bans from the board.

I'm creating this now because it seems like this place is here to stay and is one of the largest areas of the entire site. I might as well throw in bare minimum effort to improve it. I don't even try to find mods for here because they will quit, without exception. I've added new prefixes ("Business" and "Crime") just now.

Discuss.


New threads should be made like this.

 

[Null]

We're getting multiple articles cited on the MATI podcast twice a week, stay winning A&N chads, this is officially a "Good Board" again

all the gross cl**rnet n*rmies are gone so the board is less sshit

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

/threads/worlds-top-climate-scientists-deliver-warning-for-kiwi-farmers.40840/
Every post and reaction predates Christchurch... until now.

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

What's up with all the shit that should be in clickbait or other forums (lord knows I've seen at least 3-4 threads of late that belong in games not here) clogging up shit here lately?

 

[Null]

What's up with all the shit that should be in clickbait or other forums (lord knows I've seen at least 3-4 threads of late that belong in games not here) clogging up shit here lately?

people like stickers

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

people like stickers

My point is shit used to be kept in check and now it's not.

 

[Null]

i'll get right on it

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I don't mind the goofy shit having individual threads, but at least keeping to a single thread for a subject, so, like, one about coverage of Bear Fucker II Turbo or whatever the game is.

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

I don't mind the goofy shit having individual threads, but at least keeping to a single thread for a subject, so, like, one about coverage of Bear Fucker II Turbo or whatever the game is.

Yeah two threads about sex in BG3 seems a bit much but I was told "well it's different articles and they aren't exactly the same thing"

.... Yes, but it's two threads about sex in BG3

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Yeah two threads about sex in BG3 seems a bit much but I was told "well it's different articles and they aren't exactly the same thing"

.... Yes, but it's two threads about sex in BG3

You could just ask me to reconsider, you know, instead of being all passive aggressive. The difference is that one is an article about how the scene was made, while the other is an article about it’s reception. They are sufficiently different, in my opinion, to keep them apart.

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

You could just ask me to reconsider, you know, instead of being all passive aggressive. The difference is that one is an article about how the scene was made, while the other is an article about it’s reception. They are sufficiently different, in my opinion, to keep them apart.

Lol you're snarky as hell in all your responses, why should I care when your default response is "no I'm not going to do it" to like everything.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Lol you're snarky as hell in all your responses, why should I care when your default response is "no I'm not going to do it" to like everything.

Very well, I’ll answer this as politely as I can. You see a problem you want solved. I can solve that problem and all I asked you to do was try to convince me I was wrong. Instead you chose (now) to do nothing and complain.

If you don’t like me, there’s always the other A&N mods. I’d personally recommend @Haramburger . If you really think this is a problem, do something about it instead of passive-agreessively complaining.

 

[Haramburger]

Yeah two threads about sex in BG3 seems a bit much but I was told "well it's different articles and they aren't exactly the same thing"

.... Yes, but it's two threads about sex in BG3

Regarding your valid complaint about the final landing place of A&N submissions, my initial reaction is that what's submitted has been different with a smaller amount of different contributors/OPs when compared to 6/12/18 months ago. We can always course-correct with more directed moderation if you have pointed examples to establish where the problem is overall. I wasn't aware of two different Baldur's Gate 3 articles in A&N personally(lol computer RPGs about sex with bears), providing this example is good, but I'd personally like 5 to 10 examples to line up and compare/contrast the overall tone of the A&N front page. I often miss what other mods take action on if there's nothing in the queue for me to actively do and may not have the same perspective on how many problems we're looking at, just based on times of the day I look at the site. I probably wouldn't have seen this recent posting in the meta thread unless I was tagged into it, so thanks for that.

One personal example that I have recently was last week seeing a thread about "we got hostile survey results about LGBT stuff" and a second thread of the same thing a day later. This wasn't a report, just browsing and saw it myself. I considered merging the threads but didn't, because the first thread was an article, and the second thread's OP was the actual study & table of offending replies to the survey. Nobody was complaining via reports, and the discussions in each thread were similar but different & healthy, so I just left it alone.

Personally, I don't think @Useful_Mistake has an offending tone on this topic or in general, but I could see how it could be interpreted that way if you're already approaching the discussion with dissatisfaction on moderation. I don't think he's out to get you or push your buttons. Keep in mind that we're all a little bit autistic and probably going to misinterpret emotions or say things in an unintentionally blunt way now and then.

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

One personal example that I have recently was last week seeing a thread about "we got hostile survey results about LGBT stuff" and a second thread of the same thing a day later. This wasn't a report, just browsing and saw it myself. I considered merging the threads but didn't, because the first thread was an article, and the second thread's OP was the actual study & table of offending replies to the survey. Nobody was complaining via reports, and the discussions in each thread were similar but different & healthy, so I just left it alone.

Yep, I kind of remember that but the other article did show up in the first's thread like 3-4 posts in from what I recall.

Another recent is the African warlord thing, ones the BBC Pidgin (which does always make me giggle) then there seemed to be another thread started like a few days before it about the same event, but you know in regular english of some type.

There are other things too, Barbie threads for example that are just everywhere the last few weeks.

I kinda wish there was a better way to tag and sort articles. (and that people actually tried to use it!) Just a thought I had that might make it easier for people to ignore threads they don't care about and keep what they want. It would probably be easier to moderate than having sub forums I'd figure, especially if there was a way for people to show if they thought said tag was accurate just by voting on it or something stupid. I know all that is a ridiculous ask as well but just trying to spitball cause it seems like we got a few archetypes of threads and they all seem to draw different sorts of users into em. Could possibly help with repeating articles as well, just cause hopefully it'd make it easier for people to notice a thread was already there since they seem to ignore the automatic one.

Probably seems spergy and stuff, but yeah, I just didn't need two threads about the "dynamics of making a scene where somebody fucks a druid while he's a bear" in my life.

I mean... I'd rather we not even have one, but this timeline and all.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Personally, I don't think @Useful_Mistake has an offending tone

No, @Ebonic Tutor is right. I do have a habit of making snarky responses.

I don't think he's out to get you or push your buttons

I have nothing personal against him, though I am sorta annoyed at his lack of attempt of solving problems he sees with the site. There’s plenty of A&N moderators to choose from, all with different personalities, that he could have chosen to contact and explain his point of view. Instead his solution was to make passive-agressive comments here, and actively refuse my attempts to help him. He didn’t reach out to you, either, you had to reach out to him.

That said, I don’t think I can recall him being much of a troublemaker in general, nor having any abuse in reporting from him, so in my book he’s pretty good. And I am happy that he had chosen to elaborate now on the issues.

ones the BBC Pidgin (which does always make me giggle) then there seemed to be another thread started like a few days before it about the same event, but you know in regular english of some type.

Oh, yeah, report that sorta stuff. That sorta of stuff should be merged. As an aside, I think we’ll have to come up on a policy on Pidgin. Posts made like that always seem more like an a callout post at the ridiculous “language” and the discussion does center on that too. @Haramburger @Francis York Morgan @Absolutego ,thoughts? Maybe A&N OP’s shouldn’t be allowed in Pidgin?

Probably seems spergy and stuff, but yeah, I just didn't need two threads about the "dynamics of making a scene where somebody fucks a druid while he's a bear" in my life.

Maybe a thread where the users can make submissions (kinda like “Request staff review of PG threads” thread) about what kinds of articles are becoming too common and deserve their own megathread. I’m just unsure if it wouldn’t make entire A&N front page Megathreads only. Regardless, that seems like something worth considering.

Edit: Maybe consider as well the number of interactions each suggestion has, idk. Suggestions welcome.

 

[Francis York Morgan]

Oh, yeah, report that sorta stuff. That sorta of stuff should be merged. As an aside, I think we’ll have to come up on a policy on Pidgin. Posts made like that always seem more like an a callout post at the ridiculous “language” and the discussion does center on that too. @Haramburger @Francis York Morgan @Absolutego ,thoughts? Maybe A&N OP’s shouldn’t be allowed in Pidgin?

I hate the Pidgin articles. Like you said, nothing about the actual article gets discussed; it's all "lol niggers".

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Like you said, nothing about the actual article gets discussed; it's all "lol niggers".

So, no Pidgin OP’s but users can chose to post a Pidgin version in the comments for comparison if they want to, or should it go away entirely? I’m leaning on the former, personally

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

So, no Pidgin OP’s but users can chose to post a Pidgin version in the comments for comparison if they want to, or should it go away entirely? I’m leaning on the former, personally

I hate the Pidgin articles. Like you said, nothing about the actual article gets discussed; it's all "lol niggers".

I'm generally fine with it being the article, just a translated or other version being with it would be pretty fine in that case. Cause the language is funny, and some people don't know it exists as a real site and end up becoming amused when they discover BBC has wacky nigger-speak as a language option. I have less of a problem with them existing personally it's just seeing the same story as two different threads that irks me.

I have nothing personal against him, though I am sorta annoyed at his lack of attempt of solving problems he sees with the site.

I'm probably one of the people that suggest the most stuff in this thread (in between me grumbling and wearing a tinfoil hat, of course) and I do wonder if you might take my reports a bit too personal? Cause I know I leave some pretty cantankerous messages about stuff, and those aren't directed at you guys. It's more just like "lol this person is a fuckin' idiot, do you think ya should do something?" Just wanted you to know that wasn't directed at you.

Mentioning it here wasn't meant to be an attack on you it was more I wanted to see if anybody else was annoyed about it / similar stuff. So my apologizes for the way I worded things and bitched about it.

 

[Haramburger]

So my apologizes for the way I worded things and bitched about it

Don't apologize, he just admitted he hates you and is out to get you

I'll protect you, my qween

 

[Useful_Mistake]

I'm generally fine with it being the article, just a translated or other version being with it would be pretty fine in that case

So, if Pidgin is to be included in the OP, you’d prefer a translation alongside it in the OP? I feel like that might be too much work for most A&N users. I prefer the policy I use when I make A&N posts with german article as an source; just publish the translated version instead of both. Too much copying, and nobody wants to scroll that much besides.

I do wonder if you might take my reports a bit too personal? Cause I know I leave some pretty cantankerous messages about stuff, and those aren't directed at you guys. It's more just like "lol this person is a fuckin' idiot, do you think ya should do something?" Just wanted you to know that wasn't directed at you.

I don’t recall your reports being an issue. If I ever feel a report is poorly made (such as when the report consist of a single word “nigger”), I tend to let the reporter know that they should be a lot more verbose in their reporting.

Mentioning it here wasn't meant to be an attack on you it was more I wanted to see if anybody else was annoyed about it / similar stuff. So my apologizes for the way I worded things and bitched about it.

Likewise if you found my response unhelpful, that wasn’t my intention.

he just admitted he hates you and is out to get you

I’ll send my personal Kiwi Assassins right away

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

So, if Pidgin is to be included in the OP, you’d prefer a translation alongside it in the OP? I feel like that might be too much work for most A&N users. I prefer the policy I use when I make A&N posts with german article as an source; just publish the translated version instead of both. Too much copying, and nobody wants to scroll that much besides.

Thought about this a second now, I mean we already have people posting foreign articles translated once in a bit. Maybe just a rule of "if it's not English (yes this means pidgin too) provide a translation "?