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Notes -
If you are saying that the reason ResetEra or RPGNet became totally insane is that evaporative cooling drove away everyone not-insane, I agree.
But I do not think you are saying that. I think you are saying "right-wing people really really want to say nigger and then when people get banned for saying that the whole left-wing march starts."
Any place useful, regardless of polarity, needs to keep out
fed posters
glowies
fucking idiots who are genuinely "on our side"
and barrels of ink will be spilled saying, in way more words, "our side has no bad people, they are all plants from the other side, and, man, speaking of the other side, let me tell you about them, did you see their claim that the only people posting hate on their forums are outside wreckers?"
Anyway. All that ink is irrelevant because as far as the place is concerned all three of those groups are identical and the antibodies to keep out one keeps out the others.
What’s a “glowie”?
An FBI plant.
They may or may not exist, but getting rid of people who might-just-as-well-be-glowies is an important skill for any group.
So as far as I can tell, fedposters are plants who plant incriminating "evidence" in fora, while glowies are plants that try to coax the same from the real posters? Is there a strict distinction between the two?
no, they're two different modes of the same basic behavior.
Federal agents have a long history of finding disaffected and dim but otherwise-peaceable people and encouraging them to participate, even minimally, in highly illegal activities of the agents' conception and design, with disastrous results for the individuals and often the rest of their community. Disaffected groups also tend to have a small number of not-terribly-bright people who try to do something, with disastrous results for their community. Whether the person suggesting poorly-concieved, pointless, doomed "direct action" is actually a fed or just fatally stupid is unknowable and largely irrelevant. Either way, treat them like they're radioactive.
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https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/glowie-glowposting
My favourite
I do like that Mokou glowposting reaction picture.
On a completely unrelated note I wonder if anyone feels the same way I do about the Chinese net in that it‘s very heavy on the sarcasm and quite aggressive in tone; it is quite a bit different from older Chinese. (Though I suppose it is the same for any language that makes its way to the internet…)
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So I don’t know if those two forums were hit by evaporative cooling or by hostile admin takeover. Couldn’t say. I’ve been thinking about smaller, hobbyist servers. The sort that start out with a “no politics” rule.
There is some subset of users which wants to use slurs. Maybe they’re edgy teenagers, maybe principled free-speech crusaders. They are more likely to lean right.
As long as banning members of that subset disproportionately hits the right, the window gets to slide left, even if the subset is really small. No ideology needed—though it certainly shortcuts the process.
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