Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Opaque authority and why it is a cancer to any community

I write this article because I want to make clear an issue I have a burning contempt for, and I believe I do so with good reason.

Any community that tries to be as opaque about how authority is exercised, meted out, and put into practice. I believe accountability for one's actions is a fundamental good for everyone, and it ensure the parties who are supposed to enforce the rules are not above them, nor can they use the rules as an excuse to vent their own personal beliefs, hatreds, and grudges under the guise of doing their jobs.

That is not to say I believe there are not times when such opaque activity is bad. In the case of legal matters, private information, or other matters requiring sensitivity and discretion, then there is a reasonable, ethical basis for not being flagrantly transparent, such does more harm than good.

My primary basis for this contempt stems from many web communities I have either been members of or have administrated myself, but I believe, the above exceptions noted, any attempt to make murky the actions of those who enforce policy in any endeavor with rules and regulations is naught but a springboard for corruption on the part of the rule enforcer, and their personal animus, bias, or hatreds have a greater chance of being allowed to taint their supposedly neutral task of enforcing rules and order, to the detriment of the communities they administrate.

I have been a member of some communities that are maddeningly obtuse, and despite my personal contempt of the murkiness of authority being restricted from ultimate accountability, I am willing to accept the price of being a member of these communities is accepting things I personally despise, but as for myself, on any community where I have power, I want my actions to be subject to public scrutiny because I personally live in mortal fear of becoming corrupted and arrogant with power, and I would rather die than become what I fear most: becoming a power mad tyrant.

I have been personally abused by communities that were subject to whims of such people, and I even founded my own fork of a website because such evil was so beyond the pale for me I refused to meekly submit to same nor subject others to it.

In conclusion, my main argument is that public transparency insofar as it does not do more harm to keeping order than such is supposed to prevent is one of the best shields against corruption and vice in the hands of those in power, and I would urge all communities to adopt these beliefs as their own.

Saturday, September 8, 2018

The Hypocritical Troll Who Got The Crappy Games Wiki closed on Wikia

I recently found out Wikia shuttered the Crappy Games Wiki, apparently due to this guy.

By their own account, they did so because they were fighting sexism and fighting libel and defamation. (archive)

The truth is far from this supposed moral high horse they want to ride.

In fact, the real reason they did this was revenge for being blocked. (archive)

Proof they are the same person on Wikia and RationalWiki. (archive)


This all said, I just want to say I'm not going to get into whether GamerGate or any allegations made by anyone on anyone are valid in detail save to say I was an adamant supporter. I fought that battle long ago, consider the matter over, will let the facts speak for themselves, and I'm leaving it at that.

However, what I am going to say is that this PKMNLivesNew/ UglyRat disgusts me because despite their supposed claims to fighting sexism and violations of Wikia policy, they were trying, as the above links demonstrate, to recruit a personal army to vandalize and troll a wiki they hated, were told no by RationalWiki in what I must commend them for good sense as recognizing as utter stupidity, and they advised this party work through proper channels (reporting the matter to Wikia Staff) to get them to take down inappropriate content.

From where I'm sitting, despite my admitted pro-GamerGate biases, if Wikia found legitimate reasons according to their policies to remove the wiki, then so be it, I will be the first to respect that, it's their service, they have every right to remove content at their discretion in accordance with their policies.

However, I do want to say the party who admitted they reported the content in question to be closed down, despite their claims of higher motives and cowering behind Wikia policy, their motives were not noble in this effort, they clearly wanted revenge and suborned Wikia to be their tool in getting it, and frankly, it disgusts me.

For the record, they also got a few things wrong.

1. Defamation and libel are not matters another party can fight on behalf of the parties allegedly being defamed and libeled, only direct intervention by those parties legally can effect proper challenges to such activity under American law.

2. I looked over their Wikia history, they seem to have a history of being inflammatory and cruel and trying to cower behind the excuse their enemies are sexist and harassers while basically being a nasty piece of work themselves. In short, their morals are a sham, they are in truth a hypocrite who uses those excuses I mentioned to appear morally superior while plotting petty revenge against other people and they apparently love to incite people to anger.

3. I admit I have a bias against RationalWiki, as I used to be a member until I was cast out for not falling in lock step with their anti-GamerGate stance and my account there was sabotaged so I could not log back in or recover my password. Which is fine by me, as I have no intention of returning, and I will respect they don't want me back because they drew a line in the sand on what they want to hear, and I'd rather walk away then try to cross it.

That said, I still must give them due credit in telling this vengeful concern troll NO on being a personal army and that they would be best served either going through proper channels or letting the the facts for the anti-GamerGate case speak for themselves. In that respect, they have my praise, that was the most rational advice they could give.

4. I am of the personal opinion this particular party acted in bad faith and even if Wikia found legitimate reasons to shut down certain content, this party still duped Wikia in helping them enact personal revenge and thus abused the trust and authority of their staff for their own ambitions.


In conclusion, I just want to say that the wiki this party got closed on Wikia has relocated to the Miraheze wiki farm, which I hope it prospers on.



Monday, August 6, 2018

SuperTuxKart, a good open source alternative to Mario Kart

SuperTuxKart is a free and open source attempt at making a Mario Kart clone, and to be honest, it's pretty decent.

In fact, I recommend it for those who love FOSS games for the following reasons:

1. For starters, it's quite well put together. It's very stable, quite fleshed out, and has a lot of content out the gate.

2. It tries to do it's own thing instead of straight up ripping off Mario Kart. The physics engine has several differences with Mario Kart while still having similar gameplay, the characters are based off the logos of other FOSS software (like Wilbur, the logo animal of the GIMP program) and each has their own unique playstyle.

3. It's multiplatform, so Windows, Mac,and Linux users can all enjoy it.

About the only downsides is that it is pretty huge (500 MB for the Windows version) compared to Mario Kart (the Mario Kart 64 rom is around 8MB), but in this day and age that's pocket change in terms of space, and if you want a Mario Kart style fix for free, you could do a lot worse.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

My adventure trying out Civilization clone FreeCiv

Because I love FOSS (free and open source software) and love the Civilization games (not all that keen on Civ 6 though), I decide to try the FOSS FreeCiv out to see if it's a decent replacement for the commerical product.

Note: Based on version 2.6.0 for everything below.


It comes in three versions using a different engine client for the user interface, though the underlying gameplay, heavily inspired by Civilization II, remains the same.

First, an overview of the pros and cons of each client:


GTK: The most stable one, and the one closest to the look and feel of Civilization II. The interface definitely is familiar to Civ II veterans, but mouse control is wonky, some UI elements scale poorly, but it otherwise feels like Civ II and players of that will adapt fairly easily.


QT: Less stable than the GTK version, but has a more updated, Civ III feel. I found mouse control better and the UI was more helpful in presenting useful information, but it has stability issues over periods of extended play.


SDL: The least stable of the three clients, it features a Civilization V style UI, and while it looks the nicest of the three, it's got the worst configuration for game setup (the other two mentioned prior are far better) and the UI could use a lot of work to be more useful presenting usable information, and the lack of a menu bar at the top drove me crazy.



That aside, you can get a pretty familiar Civilization II style game going with all clients, and I won't deny some elements are well done.

However, some flaws annoy me:

1. The diplomacy feature feels pretty halfassed. The original Civilization was much better than this.

2. The UI delivers message updates fairly poorly in all versions.

3. Their is no automated setup for tech tree advances, and the AI is pretty dumb when it comes to automating city governors. Hell, even treaty notices are easy to miss and even ignore.

4. Tooltips are pretty crappy on all versions.

5. Workers are not available at the start like in Civ II most of the time, and this can make city development painful unless you unlock them using specific tech tree advances.

6. Wonder development feels too easy to do.

These glaring problems aside, I'd call this a worthy effort to replicate the Civ II experience, and if you are not the type to want to spend money, it's a decent if flawed FOSS replacement.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

It seems stupid people don't give up

Some imbecile pissed at the Kiwi Farms awhile back (you know who you are) established a libelous forum filled with whatever dox (personal information) they could scrape via a Google search with a hefty dose of unprovable bullshit and recruited the biggest group of deviants, criminals, lunatics, and other dregs of humanity to join the shitshow, until they made the mistake of going after a lawyer who was willing to burn them at the stake legally until they sold the original founder out to save themselves and burned the original forum.

Given how they have yet to start shit anytime soon and given how what is being regurgitated on a recent successor (named like before as another member of Joshua "Null" Moon's relatives), I have every reason to believe the new one is being set up by an even dumber person who simply copied the first one and has recruited an even more pathetic group of insane jackasses into what the Kiwi Farms loves to call "Autistic Legion of Doom".

For my part, not even worried in the least about these morons. They claim to have my dox, but they have instead libeled a perfectly innocent man based on evidence so shoddy it's pathetic (copy pasted from the first time they did this dumb shit), and everything else they have is just stupid copy pastes of old crap done awhile back,and if what I know of their recent recruits is any indication, I expect this sequel to the last bit of stupid is going to be even more incompetent.

That said, just writing this to say this is the only official thing I'm gonna say about this crap, past that, I'm pretty sure these embarrassments to God himself are going to come to as shabby an end as the original creators of this deluded nonsense, and if they expect me to be worried, I've got better things to do with my life.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Want to make the world aware of the crimes of some utter sociopaths

Recently, Joshua "Null" Moon of the Kiwi Farms, has released information about some utterly morally bereft scum who decided to psychologically torture and blackmail a mentally ill man for their own greed and sick amusement.

I will not belabor anything he has already stated with more clarity than myself, but I urge anyone with conscience to spread the word about the crimes Joshua Moon has uncovered and the criminals responsible as far and wide as humanly possible.

The party these crimes were aimed at harming is legally known as Christine (nee Christian) Weston Chandler, and the sociopaths who decided to extort thousands of dollars out of him as well as force him to commit degrading acts under threats to his reputation and legal safety are utterly beyond the pale.

While CWC has been the target of various trolling schemes for years, the actions done that Joshua Moon has revealed to the world are in no way funny or morally, legally, or ethically justifiable, and I urge anyone with further information that may be of legal help to the victim of these crimes or those who are acting as his legal advocates to contact Joshua Moon and provide him and any relevant law enforcement whatever information you have leading to arrest and convictions of anyone responsible for such acts of utter evil.

For my part, I can do little but help spread the word in my own small way, but I urge the re-sharing of the information Joshua Moon has uncovered for the sake of the public interest so that these utter scum can not continue their acts of crime nor harm another innocent person.

As for myself, I can only hope the justice of both Man and God intervenes as harshly as can be allowed and puts an end to the evils that have been committed, and that I pray for the success of Joshua Moon and others advocating in defense of Chandler in putting a stop to these monsters.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

How to deal with unreasonable superiors

I write this as a reflection how I've learned to deal with people above me in various who are unreasonable.

This can range from an unreasonable boss or employer to some asshole mod on a website, but the advice applies equally to all unreasonable superiors wherever you go, and I hope this advice helps you deal with them.


For starters, NEVER respond in kind: It is a basic impulse that when someone is a prick, you lash out in kind yourself, as no one like to be insulted, browbeaten, or treated like shit, especially if they are in a position of authority and are clearly using that as a justification for shitting on you.

But never respond in kind for the following reasons.


1. Never give them the high ground: People who do this want you to give them justification for their asshole behavoir, especially superiors, bosses, or some other figure in a position of authority looking for an excuse to justify punishing you for whatever reason, justified or not, even if they do or don't have reason to be legitimately displeased.

The point is that they don't have to be unduly cruel, spiteful, or vicious in their reprimands, but they often can be, and honestly, it's a just fragile way to assert power that reveals them as weak people.

The reason you refuse to give them any justification for being an asshole is that you don't want to be seen as the bastard. Not only because you wish to deny the boss in question any right to say their asshat behavior was justified by your responses, you want to be able to say you showed respect throughout and they chose to be the asshole of their own free will anyway.

It also backfires on them later if their asshat ways come back to bite them, not many will defend someone who acted like they were above showing respect while demanding it of others when they no longer have power, so bite your tongue and let their spiteful antics be currency that will be their undoing later.


2. Rob them of any ability to get people to agree with them: Even if they do have legitimate points in their displeasure, if they are being assholes about it, don't let them make people sympathize with them despite their undue spite. Show basic decency to all involved so none defend them on moral grounds even if they try to cower behind the very rules they try to enforce as an excuse, and the only people left who will still defend them will also be those of ill moral repute at best.

And most importantly, at least you can look in the mirror and say you never gave them cause others would concur justified their cruelty.


3. Make them the villain, no matter what: And you do this not by lashing out, or worse, calling out their hypocrisy, even if it's richly earned or they are the vilest of hypocrites, these people are in a position to screw you over, and even if you are in a position to shit all over them and not be punished for it despite their outranking you, you still lose, because it will be said later you were no better than them even when pressured.


4. Don't throw away a chance to justifiably strike back better more effectively.: If you are verbally abused by a superior at a job and it eventually culminates in them dreaming up a dumb reason to shitcan you, if you have a spotless record of not returning the favor, you deny them the ability to taint any wrongful termination suit you may launch later.

If on something like a webforum when you are expelled because of the capricious whims of someone in power, it still pays to never return their hatred in kind. Once free of them, you are free to spread your story of their dickhead ways of course, but even then restrain your urge to blast bile everywhere, it prevents them from retroactively justifying their ways later, and if the old administration falls and a new one allows an appeal of your termination, your previous decency will mitigate in your favor.


5. If you must show dissent regardless, bend every effort to be as polite as possible: If someone does something wrong in their position of authority or what you perceive as wrong, either way, show any dissent as polite and respectfully as possible while still acknowledging the ultimate authority they hold.

By the same token, if they make accusations loaded with bullshit, politely admit you disagree with their assumptions of your actions and character, but leave it at that if you must defend yourself, and if they do have a legitimate case against you for misconduct, still acknowledge their ultimate authority to mete out a reprimand, even if you are disgusted with the venal and petty means they delivered it you.


6. Show proper gratitude to authority figures who do show you legitimate courtesy: In a dispute with multiple authority figures involved, make a point of practicing the above while showing the utmost respect to the authority figures who don't act like human sewage. Not only does their grace and humanity deserve acknowledgement, you make clear the ones who couldn't be civil are regarded with contempt without being petty about it, while you make a good impression on those who chose to be the better people while still doing their jobs.

It pays off in your favor in future cases because even if the dickhead(s) tries to screw you over later, they look worse in the eyes of their peers, especially if they did so out of petty spite despite never giving them justification to rationalize their contempt.

Musings on how to be a good website leader

Recently, I have been been musing what makes a good website leader, especially if you have to enforce order on said website, and based on my own experience and that of others whose moderation I've witnessed, I've come to a few conclusions.


1. Civil behavior is a two-way street: As a site moderator, you are obligated to enforce civility, especially if you want it returned. If you can't yet have rules to be civil, you are making it impossible to be taken seriously.


1a: While enforcing the rules, be civil: Even if a troublemaker is annoying you, keep your temper in check. Even if you are otherwise reasonable, you make it clear that you cannot deliver effective discipline without acting childish, which future troublemakers can exploit to make you angry. You should always present a wall of dispassionate calm in any official capacity.

This also applies to reading out the riot act or whatever other rules to those who have doubts or questions. Just because you don;t like having to repeat yourself or clarify why certain policies were passed or enacted, it is your job to explain these things, and if you have to be an arrogant douchebag while doing so, you are showing you are exempting yourself from your own rules on civility, thus setting a bad example.



2. If you request feedback, it should be responded to appropriately but reasonably: For example:

A. You get an obvious insult like "Kill yourself". Just delete it/disregard it and punish whoever couldn't give proper feedback without getting emotional over it.

B. You get a disagreement about the enforcement of a rule or policy (uncivil): See A.

C. You get a disagreement about the enforcement of a rule or policy (civil): Calmly and dispassionately explain the logic behind it and remain civil so long as the feedback is civil. Make it clear the policy will stick if you are unwilling to change it, but don't be uncivil while explaining, you degrade the ability of the people you are dictating this to to respond in kind and prove you cannot abide by your own rules on showing proper courtesy.



3. Mocking others for civil disagreement or dissent is counterproductive.

CAVEAT: If your website has a culture of irreverence and generally allowing this sort of thing, you may need to modify the below for your needs.

While this mostly goes without saying, if you ask for commentary on how you do things then insult the people who give it, why should they bother if all they'll get is disrespect for it?

If they are being unreasonable and uncivil in the process, then don't respond, just File 13 it and move on, resist the urge to make a public pillory, it just tells the world you allow being a jackass despite your own rules saying people shouldn't, it sends mixed messages.

Another reason is that even if you DO allow some degree of discourtesy as part of your site culture, you need to establish some form of limit on how far you take this, lest all respect for your authority goes out the window and the site members and staff cannibalize each other in a frenzy of insults and disregard of any rules.


4. If you are given a request from a user to be given a clear directive on a site policy, grant it insofar as it's possible to do so.


As everyone who has ever enforced rules is aware, while they are considered rigid and obvious on their face, taking this too far is asinine.

For instance: "Thou shalt not kill".

This Biblical law makes little sense unless you consider the added context it was given. It's a prohibition against wrongful death, as in, murder.

Otherwise, this means self defense or killing a creature for food would be verboten.


Likewise, if you have a site policy that is vague in some ways or has multiple interpretations for certain situations, and you are asked to provide a "what should I do in X case?", you have no good reason not to establish clarity. Otherwise, you will just have people walking on eggshells, wondering what is kosher and what isn't, and that makes enforcing rules harder on you because uneven application of your own rules means people will either be too scared to contribute or they'll disregard your authority because you refuse to set clear boundaries.

Basically, refusing to do this just makes your job harder for no good reason.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Skyrim Modding and how to reduce load order nicely on Skyrim SE

It's been awhile since I wrote a post here, so I'd like to cover a few tricks for reducing one's load order on Skyrim Special Edition.

There is a program written for merging plugins I used to use, but I have since discontinued use, it tends to bug out quite a bit despite Skyrim SE native support.

Instead, I recommend the following:

1. Turn small mods in ESL files in the Creation Kit: The ESL limit is far higher than the ESP limit, and if the mod is under 4000 lines of content, this should work quite nicely.

2. Merge Plugins xEdit Script; While written for Oldrim, it works fine for Skyrim SE, but I have some caveats I must mention.

A. Refrain from use on mods with BSA archives: The BSA structure is bit different on SE, and while merging many non BSA mods into one mod that uses a BSA and replacing the name of the merge mod with the name of the mod needing the BSA should generally work, the other way round tends to cause a lot of issues.

B. Save the original mods in case things break: This goes without explanation.

C. Make sure the mods don't have too many overlapping conflicts: While inevitable for leveled list mods and the like and thus generally benign save any edits that wind up the loser of the conflicts, this can cause issues if things like facegen data clashes, resulting in black faces and and other anomalies

D. Patches are generally safe to merge: So long as they have small changes and the above stricture on overlapping conflicts is kept to a minimum, mods with a ton of patches like Legacy of the Dragonborn can have their patches shrunk down to one file.

E. DON'T merge ESMs or master mods: Just don't if they have subordinate mods that require them. If this is not the case, you can still do this, but mind the above caveats.

F. ESLs don't merge: You will crash xEDIT.

G: Use LOOT to reorder mod order after you are done, Wrye Bash is also useful for making sure mod order is proper.

Gamergate 2 is on, and I want no part of it

 This will not be a long post, but I just want to make clear, as someone who was involved in the first go-round of Gamergate, I want no part...