I’m stepping on Biden but I am het up enough I don’t care. Reading through the comments this morning, I am sick of some of the bullshit and venom a few of you are spewing. You’re trying your hardest to take a nice place and turn it into a fucking reddit/4chan forum, and I am tired of it. And it’s the same few over and over again. Like you, fucker. That’s right, I am linking your toxic ass on the front page. You need to chill the fuck out.
And what makes matters worse is you posted that crap at 10 am in the morning. How has your life taken such a wrong turn that you are so god damned angry at the world that you pop onto a website to crap all over someone else? Maybe you need to focus on yourself. Maybe look inward before vomiting on the rest of us. Keep your self-loathing where it belongs.
It’s 2021. Everything is fucking awful. I’m halfway through the Cruelty is the Point, and I am not gonna tolerate that shit here. If you can’t play nice I will just yank your damned keys. You can disagree with people all you want, but I am tired of people just being assholes to be assholes. Go buy a pickup truck and roll coal and tailgate someone if you want to be a dick to people you don’t know. But get the fuck out of our comments section with your noxious bullshit.
And Germy and others who have been on the receiving end, I am sorry. You did not deserve to be treated like that and I will do better at policing this crap if I have to.
Baud
I knew I shouldn’t have come back.
ETA: Whew. Not me at the link.
SiubhanDuinne
Thank you, John.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: ??
I’m glad you’re back
Thank you, John.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
We all love ya Baud!
Speaking of, whatever happened to Omnes? He seems to have disappeared. I haven’t been reading the blog as much lately, so I could’ve missed him
Starfish
@Baud: He didn’t link to the Denver Juicers and ask us, “Why can’t you run a meetup without flaking, people?”
debbie
@Baud:
Oh, as if!
WaterGirl
@Baud: This is why I missed you so much!
pluky
Has the offending post been deleted? Nothing at or near the link target seems worthy of such bile.
The Dangerman
We need to have a rating system so we can remind folks don’t forget to hide rate.
Love that video, Adam.
ETA: Oh, thats the pie filter. Never mind. Carry on.
WaterGirl
OT: Biden just started speaking.
WaterGirl
@pluky: John may have intended to link to comment #83.
Starfish
@pluky: Mocking other people’s intellect does not make for good dialogue
@Watergirl: Wow! That was worse.
Shorter: “I shall comment here and tell you that you are all stupid.”
Why bother? Why don’t you find some forum that is worthy of your wisdom?
different-church-lady
I love everybody.
Steeplejack
@pluky:
Because of the goddamn faulty blog buffering/positioning scheme, the link doesn’t initially position you at the right comment, #66. If you refresh the page, I believe it will.
H.E.Wolf
John – Thank you.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Cole’s link explicitly goes to #66. The problem, as usual, is with the blog’s faulty positioning gizmo.
Ruckus
John, I appreciate the post. I’ve been on here a long time and have of course seen many come and go. Not everyone plays nicely with everyone else in the sandbox but as you say, some seem to not play nice more often. We all seem to be adults and there is the very well working pie filter, but it’s nice to hear, and I seem to recall hearing this before, that being a total dick head is not appreciated. I know we are all different in our responses to some things, especially if that some thing is in our wheelhouse, but a reasonable level of discourse is always better than not. This is a public forum, not a private phone call. Hanging up and blocking a number can work well one on one but it just doesn’t get the job done on an open forum.
Pharniel
Yeah. Sadly moderation is a neverending battle.
Best of luck.
OT & on a positive note: Humankind is a decent CIV-like and the BB-63 New Jersey museum youtube channel is a delight.
PJ
@different-church-lady:
Oh, you’ve got brain damage, too? /s
Hildebrand
@Baud: I’ve always envision Baud! as a mix of Hunter Thompson and Doctor Who – flying about through the cosmos and time to snark and tell mostly hidden truths in ways pithy and sometimes obscure.
Sorry, where were we?
UncleEbeneezer
#NotAllUncles
germy
I remember an old episode of “The King Of Queens” (the Kevin James sitcom). His wife is trying to get him to do something at work; I don’t remember what. Maybe collect for a charity. She tells him “You’re popular at work, right?”
His reply:
“I’m liked but I’m not well-liked.”
Starfish
@Ruckus: How do we use the pie filter?
sab
Thank you John. All I saw was a pie fight (long chain of pies) until I peeked, but it’s disheartening know first thing that everyone is fighting.
hilts
Everyone needs to take a deep breath and relax because…
Rachel Maddow Reaches Deal to Stay at MSNBC
h/t https://www.mediaite.com/news/rachel-maddow-reportedly-reaches-deal-to-stay-at-msnbc
As Jesse Pinkman would say “Yeah Bitch”!!
HinTN
@Starfish: Mmmmmmmm, pie works for me. OTOH, I’ve been here for the midnight mud wrestling (to be kind) and always found it interesting that seemingly intelligent people can take things so wrongly.
It’s John’s place and he has the right to set his bouncer’s parameters.
debbie
@Steeplejack:
But read the post WG mentioned.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I am aware of that. I was suggesting that he may have linked to a different comment than he intended.
jk
@sab:
The tree of liberty has to be refreshed from time to time with a good pie fight.
HinTN
@sab: We’re all edgy. McConnell could be back in charge if Dems don’t fight hard in CA. The amount of hope we’re placing in Uncle Joe getting his (OUR) agenda enacted is draining, at best. So it goes…
mali muso
Thank you! That nonsense earlier today really took me aback. Things are awful enough out there without gratuitous meanspirited sniping.
Starfish
@HinTN: Is the filter a plug in? I forgot how to add people to the filter or know who I have filtered.
“You do x to see your list.”
“You do y to add people to your list of pied people” is the type of answer I am looking for.
HinTN
@HinTN: We’ve (metaphorically) all been drunk at least once.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
have some good news:
that brings the three day total near 3M
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
?
Woodrow/asim
I hear you John. WaterGirl rightly tapped me on the virtual shoulder a few days ago for this, and although I was having a truly bad day on many levels she was 100% right.
It’s hard enough out here, we don’t need to make it worse for no good reason, esp. when there are enough people who deserve real ire.
Thanks for the reminder!
Steeplejack
@debbie:
I read the whole thread earlier.
HinTN
@Starfish: Well damn, it’s disappeared on my Android. I’ve only previously pied anyone just to see how it works because I just cannot get that worked up about individual idiocy. So, no good answer.
Percysowner
@Starfish: If you are looking for instructions.
eclare
Very well said, thank you JGC.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Why are you second-guessing him? One comment is as bad as the other.
sab
@Ruckus: Well put.
Starfish
@Percysowner: Thank you. I always saw the delicious pie image and never thought about clicking on it. ?
HinTN
@Percysowner: Bingo! It’s there after all. How complacent am I?
satby
@UncleEbeneezer:
???
@debbie: Steep is correct, the way this joint buffers/refreshes is borked, which borks other things like links to previous comments.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Yeah, I had a quick “oh shit, did I post drunk again?” moment…
satby
@jk: would barely have qualified as a hostile exchange 10 years ago here.
HinTN
@Chief Oshkosh: Thank you for that laugh!
HinTN
@satby: We’re getting old.
ETA: I always thought eemom could bring it better than anyone. Even JGC in his dead red days.
m.j.
@Starfish:
Is it okay to mock my own intellect?
sab
@Steeplejack: He could have toned it down, especially after several folks acknowledged he might be right on the underlying point but that his delivery was needlessly rude. But instead he amped up the rudeness and insulted everyone again.
Baud
@satby:
@HinTN:
Trump made meanness uncool.
FlyingToaster
Thanks, dude.
I’d been offline due to Henri — we’re on the east side of the “stawm”, but we’ve had to deal with some odd things happening because of wind/rain/powersurge. Personally, I’m glad to have missed the pie fight.
All 7 billion of us are having to deal with this 2nd year of shit-sandwich; the very least we can do is attempt not to make things worse for anyone else.
WaterGirl
@Starfish:
Click on the cherry pie that’s just above the circle that displays the # of comments. (see screen capture above.)
You select a name from the list, or you can start typing the nym of the person whose comments you don’t want to see. When you close the box, instead of seeing comments from that WaterGirl person who annoys you, you will see an image of a dessert item.
You can still click a button to read WaterGirl’s comments if you like, but otherwise all you see are the images. You can also click on Settings if you want to see something besides the images.
Gravenstone
@Starfish: There’s a widget that will appear just above the posted comments. Click it and you should see a dropdown of everyone who has posted in that thread. Find the offending name(s) and click on them to “pie” them. There is also a second tab that lets you select how their comments are treated going forward; replaced by pie related comments, replaced by a fun graphic image, or just blanked out (my preference). Doing this usually also applies the filter to anyone replying to the folks in the filter, and those comments can be toggled Off on an individual basis in case you’re curious what their reply was.
HinTN
@Baud: Yes, there’s that. It’s never been cool in my book but TFG really opened my eyes to how much shit we reflexively overlook.
debbie
@satby:
Maybe that’s why some of my comments seem new to me when I return to them! ??♀️
Nutmeg again
Basically mystified that anyone would be an ill tempered jerk to other commenters in this neighborhood. It’s such a congenial place, and there are so many other ones to get your crabby-ass grouchies out.
Geminid
@HinTN: I kind of miss eemom. I have not been here long, and the one time she and I tangled just about doubled my blood pressure. But I kind of miss eemom, and I hope she is doing OK.
satby
@sab: honestly, I was one of those people, and I DGAF if anonymous people on the web are rude to me. I don’t know them, and their opinion isn’t really germane to my life.
The Thin Black Duke
Thank you, John
WaterGirl
@Woodrow/asim: It must have been a tiny love tap because I barely remember that. :-)
germy
satby
@Geminid: she pops in on FB to bitch at John every once in a while.
Steeplejack
@sab:
I’m not debating that. Just wondering why WaterGirl assumed Cole didn’t know how to link to the comment he wanted.
HinTN
@Geminid: Agreed
eddie blake
thank you, blogfather.
WaterGirl
@Gravenstone:
Excellent point to raise, thank you.
HinTN
@satby: LOL, OK then!
Geminid
@satby: Glad to know she’s still kicking.
glc
Missed all that. Normally I’d be catching up now but I did look at #83 as referenced and I don’t really need to know how that happened.
Doesn’t seem representative of the tone lately.
Anyway we seem to be in good hands here.
sab
@Starfish: Go to the picture of a pie at the top of the comments. First tab is unfiltered current commenters. Click on the offending nym. That sends them to the second tab “filtered”. Instead of their comment you will see a picture of a pie or something else.
My filter is mostly full of known trolls, and a couple of regulars who annoy me enough that I pie them to keep myself from an all around embarrassing interaction that might start a fight.
I also pie some jackals I admire at testy times to keep myself from being a jerk. It is easy to click them out of the filter when I have come to my senses.
satby
@Baud: TFG made stupid meanness uncool. Rapier like wit that eviscerates a worthy target is always appreciated, by me at least.
To be fair, that wasn’t the display this morning. I blame getting away from our garden chats with random open threads. People are almost always genteel at garden parties.
Anne Laurie
Thank you, Blogmaster.
(I don’t want to overstep my bounds as a front-pager, but sometimes I *do* think about the banhammer… )
HinTN
@m.j.: I asked in open forum at work once if it was ageism if I self referred as as a geezer. I was in the back row if the auditorium and my boss in the front row turned around and pointedly said, “You are a geezer.” So there’s that. ?
opiejeanne
@satby: Yes, I remember a couple of regulars who were really obnoxious to nearly everyone.
I also remember Omnes and burnsie squabbling with someone else (name escapes me) who isn’t here any more, sometimes hilariously.
This particular person has become tedious in their fixation on that particular jackal.
opiejeanne
@HinTN: I miss eemom.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Geez, Steep, please don’t put words in my mouth. I never said that Cole doesn’t know how to link to a comment. I make plenty of small mistakes when I am feeling het up about something.
S. Cerevisiae
Thank you for keeping this a civilized place John. I think of you now as the sober owner of a friendly little bar and that you can toss any one of us when we get stupid and obnoxious, lord knows I have been there. Thanks again and thanks to all the awesome people here.
satby
pretty sure that was eemom.
eclare
@opiejeanne: I do too.
sab
@satby: Omnes isn’t here much either any more, and he didn’t believe in pieing.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
You said, “John may have intended to link to comment #83.” Why would you assume that when he explicitly linked to an equally obnoxious comment from the same person at #66?
opiejeanne
@satby: Her, yes, but it was another legal eagle, IIRC, and I always thought it was a male.
opiejeanne
@sab: I see him sometimes on another platform. I miss him here, but I think he needed a break.
Ruckus
@Starfish:
ADDED: I see this is not snark and I also see that I was way late answering your question. I’m going to leave my answer up because we all need to move electrons in a thoughtful and useful manner.
There is, in each post, before the first comment a picture of a pie, possibly it is actually a tart. Cherry I believe. If you click on that a chart comes up with all the possible commenters handle. After that it’s pretty self explanatory.
Once you’ve pied someone you will see some sort of desert in place of their actual comment and a box at the bottom right of every pied comment that says toggle. If you click that you get to read the comment. You can toggle it back to the delicious looking desert.
Next, if you desire to remove someone from the pie filter, you click on the pie at the top of the comment box and reading the top line you will see tabs for adding and one for removing the filter.
Nice deserting and comment improvement.
Steeplejack
@sab:
Omnes tends to take a break, IMO, when the hand-wringing and “oh noes”-ing reach high levels, which they have lately.
debbie
@opiejeanne:
Especially her posts about her cats.
Baud
@opiejeanne:
Where?
sab
@satby: But at least the garden chat wasn’t derailed.
Almost Retired
I, for one, welcome anything our Blog Creator can do to maintain civility in the comments section. If I want cheap shots and gratuitous insults, there’s always my in-laws’ family Zooms or the reactions when anyone posts something even vaguely pro-coyote on my Nextdoor feed.
satby
@sab: The blog has been morphing away from what attracted a lot of people (not speaking for Omnes, just generally). I’m here less for that reason too, but I’m not as likely to be an object of fixation like poor Omnes has been, through no fault of his own.
eclare
@opiejeanne: Was it Cornerstone?
Geminid
@Anne Laurie: Well, you’re the one who titled the post, “Wired for Drama!!!”
Baud
@satby:
I am fixated on you.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I think #83 was 10x worse than #66. ?♀️
satby
@sab: it only gets derailed if people fall for the bait.
satby
@Baud: mutual babe
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne: It’s the negativity and “the sky is falling” that seems to distress many people, more than bickering and squabbling. I’m not talking about people needing to be pollyanna or only seeing the upside. But damn, if all you can ever see is the glass 1/8 full, that can get tiresome.
Though what happened this morning was (to me) more than a fuck you, you’re wrong, which I have no problem with.
oldgold
For someone like UC the pie filter is not sufficient.
The harm UC does with his malignant comments is not just to the immediate target of his bile; but, over time, to the entire community that allows this to continue. It has gone on too long. Today’s excremental comments were relatively mild in comparison with other unhinged ad hominem attacks UC has made in the past. It needs to end.
Baud
I miss Valdivia and Dance Around In your Bones. And probably others I’m forgetting.
satby
@eclare: could have been. I really miss Cornerstone.
Edit: Valdivia’s on Twitter. Twitter’s more fun sometimes for those of us who prefer more snap than kumbaya.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Jesus Christ, let it go. Or, you know, tell Cole that he’s blogging wrong.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Happily, it wasn’t me….
lol chikinburd
Confession time: after years of knowing that a “pie filter” was a thing that has existed here, I have seen that pie-looking image with the word “Filter” underneath it for as long as it has been part of this site’s design, and never in all that time has it registered in my brain that that image had function other than as a decorative element. I may not have been alone in having had that reaction. Or I may be; that wouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
gene108
@WaterGirl:
I never noticed the pie before!
I feel unobservent.
concerned citizen
lol, I am a lurker here but my favorite posts are when you’re pissed. FWIW I also like pickup trucks.
gene108
@lol chikinburd:
I never made the connection either. I doubt we’re alone.
germy
@lol chikinburd:
lol chikinburd is my favorite nym here. I have no idea what it means or refers to, but I find it hilarious..
Reminds me of the old James Thurber essay where he describes an aunt who had just purchased a car. She took her first drive during the Christmas season, and thought the stop lights were just expansive and jolly manifestations of the holiday spirit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
@satby:
I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of that. It’s why I wish BJ had threaded comments. Separate conversations could happen at the same time
Ruckus
@satby:
I walked away for a few days not long ago for the same reason, although I do have one or two eating pie pretty much full time.
I think I like the pie filter for the obvious miscreants, for others I will put up once in a while with their crap, after all we all have bad days on occasion.
I can imagine that someone may have pied ME, much as I can’t understand why…….
JanieM
@UncleEbeneezer: best internet comment ever
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I answered the question you had just raised! But yes, please, absolutely let’s drop it.
satby
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: the day is still young ?
mrmoshpotato
@different-church-lady:
I’m sorry, what? YOU NEED TO YELL IT SO WE CAN HEAR! ?
WaterGirl
@lol chikinburd: @gene108:
cherry pie + “Filter” = pie filter. :-)
The developers thought it should say “Pie Filter” but I knew there was no need to explain! Everyone will know what that is. :-)
Ha!
Gin & Tonic
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
They do.
germy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
If balloon-juice ever adopted threaded comments I would leave and never return.
Which might improve this joint.
Starfish
@m.j.: I am the dummy who did not know to click on the picture of the pie.
Starfish
@WaterGirl: BRB. Going to pie myself.
satby
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): no one has trouble following separate conversations. Some people have trouble grasping that one word answers often indicate a lack of interest in engaging in conversation.
Soprano2
That commenter always seems to be loaded for bear and ready to strike. I’m not sure why he’s here if he has so much contempt for us.
Anyone want to help me cancel some of the 50 or so catalogs my mother gets? I’ve been on hold for one of them for over 12 minutes. So far I’ve gotten 26 of them canceled. I’m not going to forward her mail until I get most of the catalogs and political mailings stopped, because the postal carrier here would kill me, plus I doubt her mail plus our mail would fit in my mailbox. I’ll have a neighbor get it once her cats are taken care of.
Ruckus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Threaded comments are the devils work. Posts become cliquish very easily and while it is like having a conversation one on one or a very small group call, it really does not answer the rational for a worldwide blog. We have comments from around the world, often someone far away is even commenting on a different day. We learn things better because we get to see what far more people have to say, and yes we likely wouldn’t have dad calling a family meeting to chide us to act like reasonably behaved children rather than the pissy adults we sometimes act like.
For a blog with the kind of reach and level of commenting we sometimes get, threaded comments are worse than useless.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
I’m definitely guilty of that. It’s a hard habit to break with all of the shit going down in the world today. I really enjoyed those fundraising posts you did for Four Directions and Fair Fight. It was great to give some money to a good cause. I saw that a new donor was going to match another $25,000. Any idea when the new fundraiser will take place?
WhatsMyNym
@Starfish: It’s easy to miss the pie and if you click on Comments at the top it blows right by the pie.
WaterGirl
@germy: I love James Thurber. I don’t recall that one, but that is awesome.
CaseyL
It’s a testament to John, and the other front-pagers, how non-contentious most threads are. Yes, I do remember the days when a few individuals routinely derailed threads by being complete jackasses, and how relieved I was when, one by one, they vanished. (Whether by ban hammer or their own decision, I neither know nor care.)
I don’t mind if our debates get angry. There is quite a lot to be angry about: if one policy, politician, or event doesn’t piss you off enough to come here and yell about it, some other policy, politicians, or event will. And not everyone will agree with all takes; some will very angrily disagree.
And that’s all right. That’s what debate is.
But name-calling and personal attacks are not the stuff of debate or discussion. They’re meant to make people feel small, feel lesser-than. And that is not acceptable for any reason.
WaterGirl
@germy: Not so!
WaterGirl
@Starfish: It can be done. I used to pie myself during pre-testing of the new site.
dmsilev
@Pharniel:
Been thinking about grabbing a copy. Reviews seem a bit mixed; any impressions from initial play-through?
WhatsMyNym
@Soprano2: Can’t you cancel some of the catalogs online using the info on the label?
Starfish
@satby: John being cranky at having to go out into the world while wearing pants was the type of stuff this blog was built on.
Delk
Too bad the post this morning wasn’t about mandates because pie and mandates sounds pretty good to this gay guy.
JanieM
@Soprano2: This site has worked for me to get the direct mail crap to stop. One stop non-shopping.
WaterGirl
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yeah, I will confess that you are the person who most frustrates me with negativity. It seems like you are drawn to the worst possible case, like a moth to a flame.
That doesn’t make me dislike you, but it does make me usually skip your comments.
We had a pretty hard push for the $25k needed for Four Directions, so we’re giving people a bit of a break, But we’ll be back with another group soon enough.
Scout211
@Soprano2:
I’m sorry you are going through this. My sister had to do this for my father a few years ago after he died. It’s not an easy process and just when you think you’ve fixed it, they start up again. Sigh. Good luck.
This is an interesting article from The Spruce:
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-get-off-unwanted-catalog-mailing-lists-1389007
Soprano2
@WhatsMyNym: I don’t know, I haven’t tried that. Most of them aren’t bad like that one, and only take a couple of minutes. Honestly I prefer to talk to a person rather than hunt on a web site, but I should try it. For the ones where she has a customer # that might work.
Spanky
So I can see the net result of this particular Cole post is going to be a mess of commenters accidentally pieing themselves.
Quintessential Balloon Juice.
Starfish
@WaterGirl: This is true. I could vaguely see what was going on in the earlier comment. The later one was so much more blatant.
eclare
@JanieM: Thanks, I have that issue too, three years after my parents passed. I still have their mail forwarded to my house, fingers crossed this works!
Soprano2
@JanieM: I’m going to do that too, someone else here linked me to it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Ruckus:
What you say makes sense
@germy:
You joke, I know. I enjoy the tweets you quote here. They’re always interesting and insightful
germy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I wonder if people here are still having trouble accessing twitter. Some mentioned they were being asked to sign up, which is rarely a good idea.
seaninclt
lol people here are gonna make Cole stroke out… die on the floor and be eaten by his animals because y’all keep feeding the trolls…
Redshift
Thanks for the reminder to re-do my pie filter on my new phone! (Luckily I realized that after my initial reaction of “wait, I know I pied that asshole!”)
The pie filter really is a wonderful thing. It’s surprising more sites/platforms don’t have something like it, considering how well it allows everyone to do moderation instead of putting it all on the site owners.
WaterGirl
@germy: The evil annoying black screen on twitter is now gone for me in Safari.
Platonicspoof
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
One way numerous commenters here make it easier for everyone to follow a particular conversation is to start their reply with a blockquote of at least part of what the other person previously said.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with clicking on the reply “@so-and-so” link if I’ve forgotten it, nor the threaded comments at, e.g., LGM.
rikyrah
@Baud:
???
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
That’s disappointing, but thanks for the honesty. Looking forward to that fundraiser : )
rikyrah
Thank you, Cole?
James E Powell
Not on the subject, but definitely bullshit is that in Ohio
WTF? Ohio Democrats?
Geminid
@germy: Twitter is still jamming me when I try to follow threads. I still can access the tweets of the people I follow, but can no longer see who is responding and check out who these people are, which is interesting information for me.
dmsilev
@Platonicspoof:
(like so…). I usually do the blockquote thing if I’m replying to a comment that’s more than a few up from the end of the thread. Responding to the most recent comment, probably not necessary. Anything ‘older’, I think it’s helpful.
debbie
@Soprano2:
If she gets emails, you can unsubscribe.
Redshift
@gene108:
I think it used to be more obvious in an earlier version of the site – just text that said “pie filter.” The pie graphic is cute, but a bit less discoverable.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
I still am on my phone using Chrome. I’ve tried clearing out the cookies, but still nada. Worked on my laptop using the same browser though
Chacal Charles Caltrop
@Soprano2: I think there are apps for cancelling snail mail subscriptions, such as Paperkarma.
Steeplejack
@germy:
It’s still a problem on certain platforms and browsers. Last night I switched my Android phone from the Samsung browser to Brave and no longer have the problem.
Generally not a problem on desktop (Win10 Firefox for me) if you implement one of the cookie-killer fixes.
Soprano2
Thanks, I submitted my mother’s name to the Direct Marketing Association web site, and it worked. I tried to call that number for Epsilon, but it didn’t work. I’ll try it again tomorrow. I actually think getting the political mail stopped is going to be harder than the catalogs.
Juju
@Hildebrand: if I’m allowed to pick a specific Dr. Who, I’m going to pick David Tennant.
Chris Johnson
@seaninclt: ‘cudlip’!
I ended up making a dedicated Twitter account just to be able to see stuff without having anything else there to ‘engage’ with. You can’t do that on Facebook but you can do it on Twitter, at least so far. It makes no tweets and has no friends and whatever data mining is done to it, just shows what I’ve seen, plus anything I click in ‘trending’ etc.
Not having anybody followed, and hence no timeline, made it uninteresting enough that it’s not a problem for me :)
Ruckus
@germy:
My account was frozen and they want info that I don’t think is reasonable to unfreeze it. I can understand why my account does not now go to actual twitter so that I could read, even if I can’t comment but I understand that some changes they made block anyone not registered to read, just like farcebook does. It seems to either be a mistake or maybe they got tired of people without accounts being able to copy and rebroadcast tweets. Anyway I haven’t decided to go back or just walk away, which is most likely my response.
Suzanne
I miss CornerStone a lot. He was hilarious.
J R in WV
@Starfish:
At the top of a thread of comments, there’s a pastry icon (pie) with the word filter under it. click on that. There’s a list of all the commenters on the thread presented. Find the commenter you want to filter and click on “click to add” which will add that user to your filtered list.
“Settings” allows you to control what happens to filtered commenters.
The “filtered” list shows all the commenters you have added to your pie filter list, and allows you to remove people from your list.
That’s all, folks. I didn’t read all the comments, I bet there’s as good an explanation already. I use the pie filter quite a bit, but I don’t leave everyone in there forever. Trolls go there and stay.
OzarkHillbilly
I’d better start minding my Ps and Qs.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: Have you tried clearing all twitter cookies from your browser when you are not in twitter?
Soprano2
I started doing this because I get tired of having to scroll back fifty comments just to understand what someone’s talking about.
MomSense
@sab:
I saw the comment and that the jackaltariat had Germi’s back so I skipped past it.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Never you! I did think it might be me, though.
MomSense
@Soprano2:
I comment on my wicked smaht phone and unfortunately I can no longer get those functions to work on my phone.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@James E Powell:
I saw that in the Plain Dealer today. Personally, I just think a lot potential candidates aren’t willing to run this cycle because of how nearly every statewide candidate aside from Jennifer Bruner for the the Ohio SC lost in 2020. Several Dem traditional strongholds in the state leg were also lost to Republicans, in 2018 as well.
All of the statewide Dem candidates aside from the Supreme Court one lost in 2018 too
I’d be interested in Kay’s take on this. I hope it changes soon
Soprano2
@debbie: I haven’t even tried to look at her e-mail account yet. A few of the catalogs have also taken her e-mail address to unsubscribe her from their e-mails. I need to do that, but if she’s not logged into it and I can’t find her password I’ll have to call ATT for access, and I’m certainly not looking forward to that.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: I think it’s one of those “last straw” things. It’s not this particular comment but a long, long pattern.
zhena gogolia
@Geminid: I miss eemom too.
zhena gogolia
@HinTN: When I met the new academic IT person she called me a “curmudgeon” within 30 seconds. I was not amused.
zhena gogolia
@sab: I think he’ll probably be back. He got demoralized by the doom-saying.
zhena gogolia
@Almost Retired: “pro-coyote”?
zhena gogolia
@eclare: Cornerstone and eemom could be epic.
Morzer
@Pharniel: I think Humankind might be the kick in the ass Firaxis desperately needed. It’s a really fun, interesting game so far.
I seem to have missed whatever it was that led Cole to unleash his inner Shreklichkeit, but I like the new United Nations of Dracarys peacekeeping approach to the blog.
Steeplejack
@Soprano2:
Sorry if I’m pointing out the obvious, but if you click on the nym of the person being replied to, it will take you up to that comment. And then you can use the Back function to return to the current comment. That part of the page positioning system seems to work okay.
zhena gogolia
@JanieM:
Yeah, really good.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You’re not the worst, by any means. You’re usually just asking questions.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Wow, that is not a very smart IT person.
Another Scott
@Platonicspoof: Quoting in a reply can help the flow, agreed. But I find quoting on a phone a pain in the neck.
YMMV.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mousebumples
Thank you for the pie filter and for being willing to call shit out that you feel crosses a line. I more lurk than comment, so I can usually just back out of a thread if things are getting heated and not engage. Still, knowing there is Someone Watching can be helpful.
zhena gogolia
@Geminid:
I’ve been CTRL-clicking on the datestamp and opening a private/incognito window, as instructed here. It’s a little cumbersome but I’m getting used to it.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Yes, it’s quite clear you’re more of a termagant.
Quiltingfool
I’ve not seen Frankensteinbeck around here lately. I really enjoy his comments, such good writing. Of course, now I know why, he is an author!
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: I was about to say “tell me about it,” but I try to stay away from comments like that on here :)
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ps and Qs are easy to mind… its p and q that gets hard, esp in the old hot-type days when they were both upside down and backwards.
The Thin Black Duke
@OzarkHillbilly: You’ve never been an asshole.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
I’m a “wild virago,” to quote Cole Porter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E2GM5bB3IY
Cermet
I’m rather lost why a pie filter would be needed – if someone is that offensive, I’d think they’d be removed; I have seen some go because they too often pick fights and quickly anger; glad their gone but would never silence them via a filter. But each their own, I guess.
VeniceRiley
Already pied so I missed it, but can see on my phone. Pie is great. Like blocking people on Twitter, makes for a different flavor of juice.
WhatsMyNym
@OzarkHillbilly:
or just increase your monthly donation to the website.
zhena gogolia
Strangely, I just saw a nice comment from the person in question on an earlier thread, directed to me. He can be nice at times. Maybe we can try to bring that side out of him more.
billcinsd
@satby: As long as the person replies to the comment it isn’t too bad, but sometimes commenters fail to hit the reply and there is a weird disambiguated comment that could refer to many previous comments. But also, I far prefer threaded comment sections, although that is not the reason I don’t post here that often except in soccer and a couple of other type of usually non-politics posts
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Ha! I was debating whether to use virago but thought it was a tad harsh.
Another Scott
@Cermet: Pieing is a help for the reader. E.g. it can be a way to resist the temptation to respond to a troll, or even someone that isn’t a troll but just is annoying for whatever reason.
(Almost) Nobody has time to read everything they come across.
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: Not when Alfred Drake sings it. And rhymes it with Chicago.
Ruckus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The world is not in of itself a bright shinny place. Humans have a habit of making it better or a lot worse. And bad shit happens to everyone, just that it’s never an equal opportunity screw job.
So with that you can choose to be a pollyanna or a doom sayer or somewhere in the middle. It’s easy to look for the shit in the world because life is actual work to accomplish. We’ve made it a bit easier because of things like a minimum wage (even as we’ve screwed that up, it’s still better than it was without one), the ACA and just progress in vaccines – many of us here were born before all but one vaccine – smallpox and most of us lived through some pretty nasty diseases, we haven’t drafted anyone in a while, even though we never removed the possibility of doing that. Life isn’t easy and everyone winds up unable to do it any longer, some before they ever eat solid food and some long after they can chew solid food and everyone’s path is different. You run into all kinds of characters, many of whom haven’t figured it out and many who think they can “win” by screwing others. Who you are and how you see the world is up to you. You can see it as everyone is out to get you and you can see that no one is. Both of those get you into trouble because neither is always true, even though sometimes either one can be, you just have to understand the limitations of defining everyone and especially defining everyone as equally one or the other. Next, as you age it’s even easier to become overly cynical, because you’ve been exposed so often or heard so and so and believed it. Or not.
It’s life. It often sucks giant donkey balls and just as often it can be the exact opposite. But a lot of what you see is how you let the experience come over you, how you react to having to live in a world with giant donkey balls for breakfast. Life is how you live it, how you let it attack you or defend yourself. How well you do when the chips are down, or the town is flooding. The story of the guy on his roof in a flood, turned down a boat ride, and a helicopter ride because he was waiting for god to save him. When he drowned and met god he was pissed because god didn’t save him. God asked who the hell do you think sent the boat and the helicopter? Life is open to interpretation, even though it always, always, always ends the same way. You get squirted out of a too small opening, you grow, you learn or not, and at some point all of the trying to make another day stops. You can make things better but that takes group effort. You can make things worse but that can take just you or you can join a group whose entire premise is to make things worse. You are old enough to decide which way you want to go, look around and see the world for what it is, do what you can to make it better. Or not. It’s your life not mine or any of the rest of us. No one needs to be either a pollyanna or a doomsayer even though it is easy as hell to be either.
Be a human, live, enjoy life, even when it’s beating you up bloody, because you only get one, the one you are living. Take it from me, someone who’s been broke, someone who’s had a heart attack, cancer, a possible disease that takes away abilities one by one, someone who’s lived over 7 decades, your life is what you make of it. The world is beautiful, it is scary at times, it may even try to kill you at times. It’s still life, it’s still all there is, and you get to actually live. Be good, be alive, be everything you can because you only get one term, whatever that term is.
Hildebrand
@Juju: I think that works. I don’t think Baud is a Tom Baker type.
Mel
@SiubhanDuinne: I second this. And thank you to everyone here who steps up when it counts, makes this a good place, and disagrees with decency and grace when a genuine difference of opinion takes place.
There are a whole lot of truly remarkable people who make up this community, commenters and lurkers alike. The few assholes should not have the right to drive away anybody who is here to learn from, laugh with, grieve with, fight the good fight with, and find a place to belong within this virtual hometown.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
That’s how you’re supposed to say it!
zhena gogolia
So is Larry Elder imploding?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/20/larry-elder-gop-california-radio-host-book-comments/
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: I know, I just like the rhyme with Chicago.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
I sometimes wonder if that commenter is bipolar, or possibly hung over. He can be “normal,” if crusty, for stretches, and then at times he just goes nuclear.
zhena gogolia
Well said.
Baud
@Hildebrand:
I just saw your original comment. I’m not a Dr. Who watcher, but I’ll assume your comment is a compliment.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
I’m feeling kind of sorry for him right now, TBH.
Frank Wilhoit
@WaterGirl: It’s in My Life and Hard Times, alongside the one about the other elderly relative who thought electricity leaked out of light bulb sockets that didn’t have bulbs in them — and a lot of other, justly famous, top-notch verbal slapstick.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
You’re more of a William Hartnell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hartnell
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
PronunciationManual is a funny channel on YouTube. My favorite. No virago, alas.
Frank Wilhoit
@James E Powell: Ohio Democrats closed up shop in the 1980s.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
Funny!
I was shocked to learn that the Irish name Niall is pronounced NYE-all, not NEE-all. One of the characters in Modern Love had that name.
Yutsano
The Blogfather yelled at us? YAY! It’s been so long.
Gin & Tonic
@Steeplejack: I’ve had a number of normal exchanges, and no flames.
Mel
@CaseyL: This, a thousand times. The daily events of the world beat us down way more enough right now as it is.
stinger
@Soprano2: My mother has been dead for 4 years and I still get the occasional religious/begging snail mail for her. It’s always a shock to see her name on the envelope.
Good luck!
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Same.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: Exactly.
Some people have a strange affect, here and elsewhere, and I wonder about that too.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: @ zhena: Thirded.
Hildebrand
@Baud: A very safe assumption. It’s the snark laden wisdom that prompted the thought.
planetjanet
@Ruckus: What a wonderful message. And one I need to hear as there seem to be a lot of problems to contend with, not of my making. Just trying to be true to myself. Thanks, Ruckus.
planetjanet
@zhena gogolia:
Oh, that is cruel. LOL.
Elizabelle
I wonder if the kindest thing might be to remove this thread, once it’s sure its point has been made. Since it deals with a specific commenter, and not just bad behavior in general …
Steeplejack
@Elizabelle:
No! I am against that kind of bowdlerization.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: OK. That’s a valid point, too.
Scout211
@Steeplejack:
And that is my new word for the day.
Thanks.?
Odie Hugh Manatee
@HinTN:
Geezer, eh? I’m an old fuck, as defined by George Carlin. I guess I could also be called an old fucking geezer, but old fuck is short and to the point.
Steeplejack
@Scout211:
It’s specific and very useful. Better than, say, censorship in this context.
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
He’s very on-brand for a current day Republican. His Republican competitors, some of them, are calling for him to drop out but last I read, he leads in the polls. After we learned he smoked weed and pointed a gun at his fiancee, I’m predicting a bump.
mvr
@stinger:
Mine has been dead for 18 years and I can’t get Unicef to stop sending her mail and I’ve tried several times. So I just used some of the links provided by some helpful soul earlier in this posting to try again.
Jinchi
@zhena gogolia:
In a normal election, maybe.
The problem with this recall election is that Larry Elder’s problems don’t make it more likely that Gavin Newsom will remain Governor. Because we still have 45 other candidates to pick from.
And with 46 candidates listed on the second question, the ‘winner’ could easily become governor with less than 10% of the vote. Since they only need the most votes, not a majority.
As long as Larry Elder is in the news, it’s probably good news for Larry Elder.
Bex
@Soprano2: Try Catalog Choice.com
Morzer
@Elizabelle: Sentence first, verdict afterwards!
Jinchi
This is listed at the FTC government site (How To Stop Junk Mail).
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail
sab
@Elizabelle: Plenty of bad behavior in general. Could have ignored him. We all chose to fight.
Citizen Alan
@zhena gogolia:
I wouldn’t say imploding, as I doubt there’s anyone who would vote for the crazy SOB who would be turned off by any of these comments.
ronno2018
I think John is totally OK to criticize commenters about how negative they are.
Sometimes it is pretty easy to hate on other people but if you talk to them and understand them it is much easier to not be so harsh. Yes, they are confused but why make their lives miserable by pressing in on them about how wrong they are? Just be kind and try your best to not hate.
smedley the uncertain
@Steeplejack: Amen.
sab
@Starfish: Pease don’t. Some of us like you, and I would rather not toggle everyone.
rikyrah
@Hildebrand:
Did you figure out what you are going to do to try and increase the vaccinations in your church?
sab
@The Thin Black Duke: OH was very mean to me once when I was being an utter asshole to another jackal. She still hates me, eleven years later.
sab
@satby: If they have another thread they fall for that bait not the garden bait.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I hate threaded comments. That is just me, but I do feel very very strongly about it. Thread our comments and I will be gone.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
Elder is a Libertarian, not a Republican, and like Trump did with the national GOP, Elder is attempting to hijack the state Republican Party. If elected, he might play nice with them, but he could always ignore them.
The GOP would far prefer one of their own to become governor, and they did not endorse any specific Republican candidate. They don’t care who wins, as long as they can unseat Newsom. They will even put up with Elder, if they have to.
And right now, I am not sure what the mood of the electorate might be. In normal times, Newsom might be able to shrug off a recall, but the bitter and angry fools may be more motivated than normal people.
It is crazy that Elder might actually have a shot at becoming governor.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You are often in my pie filter. Not because of your politics, but because you are so young and following a different generation of popular culture. “He is following that, Pie him!” That is why I peek via the toggle switch.
Eduardo
@Ruckus: Well put, thank you.
sab
@sab: Nothing against Goku. Sometimes I feel “two generations down. I am bored.” Then I peek and I am still bored, or I am interested. 50% each way.
sab
@sab: @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Sometimes I tune out my own beloved step-children. We do disagree sometimes. That is life.
Hildebrand
@rikyrah: We have taken a bit of a two-prong approach.
One of the elders’ sons is a doctor, he is coming in to talk about the vaccine and also encourage the skeptics to come to his practice to get the shot.
The second is that our community development arm will be hosting two clinics this fall – standard physicals will be the official ‘reason’, but vaccines will also be offered.
Betsy
@Ruckus: Damn. If that won’t the truest thing ever written on a blog.
I’ma cut it out and put it on the fridge.
catpal
@Ruckus:
Well said. Thank you for the reminder – and that you took the time to nicely write all of that was really great!
jonas
@Brachiator: The California GOP is all-in for Trump and Elder ditched his libertarian bona-fides long ago to hitch his trailer to Trump, sort of like that wack, bemedalled sheriff dude up in Wisconsin. So they’re peas in a pod. The question is whether the prospect of Governor Elder can scare the shit out of enough Democratic-voting Californians to get them to the polls in an otherwise low-turnout affair. It’s happened before and we ended up with the Governator — of course Schwarzenegger was fucking Albert Schweitzer compared to Elder, so the stakes are way, way higher this time.
opiejeanne
@Baud: email me.
opiejeanne
@eclare: Yes, it was Cornerstone. Thanks.
Steeplejack
“Corner Stone” was the actual nym, in case anyone does a search in the archives.
randy khan
Any time I see a comment saying someone is stupid or really anything else ad hominem, it’s obvious to me that the commenter is being a jerk, and it certainly makes me reassess the validity of the rest of the comment. (And if I do anything like that, please call me out immediately.)
dexwood
@mvr: We bought this place 33 years ago. We still get mail for the former owner who died almost 35 years ago. I blame DeJoy.
evodevo
@Soprano2:
Mail carrier here…it’s hard to get rid of the catalogs if she ordered frequently…when mail is forwarded, only first class and periodicals get the service, but what one would think of as junk mail will be forwarded if they have the designation “forwarding service requested” or “electronic service requested” or “change service requested” printed somewhere on the envelope/mail piece…everything else is tossed. That will get rid of a lot of it, but anything in the above categories with her old address on it will be forwarded automatically to the new address for a year.
Brachiator
@jonas:
Elder is more libertarian than anything else. He recently argued against any minimum wage at all, but then tried to walk it back. He kisses Trump’s behind, but has angered the MAGA dopes by saying that the election was fair.
But all of this is small detail. I agree with you that Elder would be a disaster for California.
SFAW
@The Thin Black Duke:
Absolutely agree. He just likes to pretend that he is, but many of us are onto him. [As in: he’ll say that he is, even though he’s not.]
chopper
i’m just amazed that cole managed to read his own blog.
Leslie
@Ruckus: Thank you for the explanation. I had no idea.
Quinerly
@chopper:
I’m with you on that one. Very late to this thread.
Whatever happened to Cornerstone??
Kidding aside, the blog goes through periods that I find the comments unreadable. I feel like that as of late. Last time was in 2018.
Maybe a cycle?
dww44
@Ruckus:
LOL. While I agree with your take, just the other week there was a whole post over at LGM( around the time that Cheryl Rofer started posting there) and their longtime commenters (some who post here) were complaining about the non threaded comment system at BJ and how they much preferred their commenting system over ours.They also talked about the prevalence of the non-political posts, particularly the pet ones.
While each commenting type has its pluses and its minuses, I do prefer this one because one can just roam around in the comments as one pleases. If a post has aged a bit, I will start from the last comment and kinda work my way backwards. And, I also happen to think that the non-political posts are very much a welcomed respite. One can get overly angry at political blogs. Not good for either the digestion or the heart or one’s stress level.
Nettoyeur
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Nice news but a drop in the bucket. Already probably too late to do much to stop Delta peak. We need a steady rate of 2-3M shots a day for > 6 weeks or we are going to have a big Lambda wave after Delta. Viruses just keep mutating to survive. Too bad 40% of the US pop (far higher than Europe, comparable to Iran) doesn’t accept the reality of evolution.
glc
@WaterGirl: Your suggestion about Twitter cookies (four in my case) seems to be working for me on Chrome/laptop. Not sure how often one is supposed to do that. It’s a low priority for me but if it stays fixed for a while, so much the better.
Ruckus
@dww44:
A problem for me is time.
I miss a lot of commenters because my hours have been weird for many, all my life. The other morning I was up till 5:30 am, right now it’s 1:40 am and I’m on the west coast. Sure there are others up as well but a lot of people are fast asleep. So in a threaded site, those threads of people with more regular hours or earlier time zones are often done when I get to them. Here a thread can carry on for a lot longer. It’s a minor personal issue but it means for me I rarely would have a lot of interaction, which is sort of the whole point, discussing things with a much wider group of people, than the few in my complex, or if I was so inclined, the local senior center, which has been closed for a lot of hours.
karen marie
@Steeplejack: I’m not sure you read Cole’s post.