UnitedCardists.com - The forum for Cardistry, Magic, Custom Decks and All Things Playing Cards.

I think Gandalf just missed putting a remark on an edited comment and it exploded into a fight for the first amendment rights.

Pretty much - and mostly because I was just busy at work and didn’t want to cause a big stink

I have heard from people on Facebook that they don't visit UC often because it has a lot of haters and negativity, so people do pay attention and are pushed away. I'd love to see new faces come in as they tend to bring a lot of excitement like a kid in a candy store. Diversity of opinions is important and there's ways to disagree while still being civil. The forum format is my favorite so it was easy for me to stick around but others need more of an incentive and giving them reasons to not stick around creates a tiny bubble/echo chamber which without moderation can become toxic pretty quickly.

Personally, I haven't had qualms about the censorship and have found it warranted and reasonable, but perhaps that's because I haven't been one that was personally censored. Except once or twice and was provided an explanation after deletion or edit, which has been helpful. My tolerance to bs is likely much higher than others, fortunately.

Moderation is important and I'm not sure how much permissions the admins currently have to incorporate add-ons to the forum like the one that adds an edited note when a post is edited, or the image attachment rotation feature. Things like that.

Our Mods are simply the best.
I don't think their critics even think that they could do better
They are not getting paid and likely have busy lives.
99%+ of the time they get it right (IMO)

On a forum for a different hobby where I have been sole moderator for a decade, I edit posts to
1) Have them meet forum rules such as respect for fellow members and offensive language
2) To protect the poster and the forum from potential litigation.

On the said forum, members are required to supply their real name so litigation is not only possible but has resulted in a large settlement in the past
Without the 'real name' rule, people were continually making libellous statements and creating too much work for moderators

Edited posts (even by the author) always state when and who edited them and there is a bar to explain why - which this moderator always uses. If such a note would potentially cause the writer embarrassment then I will delete the post and pm the writer

Some people just like to buck the system, the 'storm in a teacup' case above involves a word that caused a controversy about a month ago and I find it hard to believe the user this time was not aware of that

Disenchanted_11 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 7:14 pm I think Gandalf just missed putting a remark on an edited comment and it exploded into a fight for the first amendment rights.

UC isn't the government, so the first amendment is entirely irrelevant here. Nobody mentioned it at all until you did.

find it hard to believe the user this time was not aware of that

Honeybee if you mean I should be aware, then I spent like 95% less time on UC these past few months so no I wasn't aware.

I probably overreacted a bit, but I still think it's weird how mods can selectively remove parts of a comment and apparently often do. Either way, this is exactly what lotrek wants! Taking all the focus away from the delays. Sorry for derailing the conversation.

bdawg923 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 7:17 am UC isn't the government, so the first amendment is entirely irrelevant here. Nobody mentioned it at all until you did.

r/woosh

Disenchanted_11 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 8:01 am

bdawg923 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 7:17 am UC isn't the government, so the first amendment is entirely irrelevant here. Nobody mentioned it at all until you did.

r/woosh

That's not how whoosh works. You gotta say something funny first.

If it would make everyone comfortable perhaps we could build in a feature so that when a mod edits a post, or the forum bot smurfs a word, we send the original post to the blockchain first.

I can retroactive this last one - I think the cost on the blockchain should be about $20, plus gas…

There are cheaper alternative chains, but we should probably do it right


Giving it more thought - perhaps a memorial park with a marble wall that we carve each smurfed word into - something that will last beyond the internet and perhaps beyond mankind itself…

GandalfPC wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:28 pm If it would make everyone comfortable perhaps we could build in a feature so that when a mod edits a post, or the forum bot smurfs a word, we send the original post to the blockchain first...

I get that you're joking, but I don't think this post is helping, G-dog.
Maybe move this topic off of Oath's thread?

Sounds like a bargain

Nice signature, bdawg.

And, yes, I'm aware that this isn't really hidden. *wink*

bdawg923 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 7:17 am
Honeybee if you mean I should be aware, then I spent like 95% less time on UC these past few months so no I wasn't aware.

Not referring to you bdawg but rather the user of the word that set this off. To be fair, even though he was also on the thread that first raised whether a different form of 'the word' was acceptable, he may not have seen the debate however the form of 'the word' he used is blatantly offensive

Why is it that you guys have the biggest derails when I'm not even around? Shame on you.

I must confess, I was tempted to edit bdawg's praise of Gandalf and swap Gandalf's name for mine, just to be funny.

...unless that was YOU, Gandalf, inserting that comment about how you're the best moderator here.

rousselle wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:50 am ...unless that was YOU, Gandalf, inserting that comment about how you're the best moderator here.

Isn't that exactly what it was? I don't know, it's gone now anyway...

I do agree that editing other people's posts has the potential to be very problematic, especially when it's not 100% transparent. I enjoy the smurf out of the auto-smurfing though...

Yes - that was exactly what it was

hsbc wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 2:41 pm
But what it comes down to is that UC is and will remain a moderated space -- and in spite of that I have personally had more than a few people tell me they don't like to visit UC because they feel it's hostile or unwelcoming, which honestly sort of hurts. We try to strike a balance. If you want a fully unmoderated space, they're out there, but this isn't it

I believe the reason why people think it's hostile or unwelcoming is that you (the collective you, as mods) have allowed certain people to remain here with not even a slap on the wrist for their abhorrent behaviour. I honestly do not get it. These are toxic people who say hateful things and you replace their toxicity with the word "smurf" and that's supposed to be ok?

I used to love coming here, multiple times a day. Now if I think of it, I might check once a week. I certainly don't contribute any more, because I still see the same unchanged behaviour from those same few accounts.

Strag, if this is hostile or unwelcoming - whatever you do, never ever go on the extremely busy Big Footy forums for Australian football. Each of the teams have their own site (with as many threads as UC) and even though people that support the same team mostly visit their teams site - it makes this place look like kindergarten

I must admit however that I have 3 people blocked on here to improve my enjoyment - I recommend it to you. Even though they are blocked you still have the option to open their posts (eg if you think the topic is safe even for them LOL)

or any reddit...especially reddit if a single word in a post is going to be taken extremely offensively.

GandalfPC wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 5:40 pm Yes - that was exactly what it was

I just died.

Getting back on topic: who here saw the most recent YouTube chat with Lotrek? How did it go? Any juicy tidbits worth sharing?

There was a youtube chat with Lotrek? When was that and where's the link? Would love to hear what he has to say about all the delays and his current printing schedule!

Crap. Did I confuse Lotrek with another prominent producer? I think I may have...

Pretty sure you are thinking of Omar's interview on Friday with Lorenzo/Stockholm17

Lotrek and Lorenzo and Giovanni are great and can be mistaken for each other. (I don't know how they feel about it.)
But I don't know why, but no one mistakes Jackson Robinson.

In what world do people confuse Lotrék, Lorenzo and/or Giovanni?

Harvonsgard wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2024 3:51 pm In what world do people confuse Lotrék, Lorenzo and/or Giovanni?

I was about to make the same comment.

I dunno, Lotrek and Lorenzo have names of about the same length starting with L and their art can be somewhat similar (obviously Lorenzo has a very wide spectrum). TWI decks have a pretty distinct style.

Lorenzo and Giovanni's decks are generally called by their brand names, where as Lotrek is used more than oath to refer to those decks. So its possible a lot of people dont really pay that much attention to their real names.

Heck there was a thread here last week where all 3 artists campaigns were being discussed interchangeably (and confusingly).

Yeah, I think if/when this happens, it's more along the lines of "I saw news about 'great designer,' and this sounds related to said news, so I will repeat said news but misremember which specific 'great designer' I'd read about." It's called source amnesia. I don't recall where I heard that from, but that's what it's called.

Anyway, if nobody ever confuses Jackson with other names in the Great Designer bin (a dubious proposition, but there you are), it's not because he is any more or less distinct from the others than they are from each other, it's more likely because we've gotten used to seeing his videos on a weekly basis so he also resides in another mental bin called something like 'great designer I see videos from all the time.' Or something.

Anyway. Lotrek and Lorenzo are both great, and they both occasionally do interviews, and I missed the most recent one with both/either of them and so here we are.

Lorenzo

Haha, I wanted to write something silly because I felt like I was in a bleak atmosphere.
How could anyone mistake Lotrek for Lorenzo?

Getting back on topic: who here saw the most recent YouTube chat with Lotrek? How did it go? Any juicy tidbits worth sharing?

Would love to see a Lotrek podcast and hear about what his current plans are. Last time he mostly talked about Crypt then Harvest and Crypt v2, I believe the plans are not the same now unless Mystery deck turns out to be Harvest ?