buybuydandavis comments on [moderator action] Eugine_Nier is now banned for mass downvote harassment - Less Wrong

107 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 03 July 2014 12:04PM

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Comment author: buybuydandavis 07 July 2014 12:26:46AM *  1 point [-]

Personally, I'm glad Eugine is gone, because even without the downvoting he was an asshole.And having anti-feminist or biorealist assholes running around

A fine example of "asshole" = "those who disagree with my values".

Should those who disagree similarly start whooping it up for banning feminists and biodenialists? Or should they just be similarly denigrating them as a matter of course?

More and more, I'm thinking they need to fight back in kind.

It's strange that the supposedly evil, nasty reactionaries are social pacifists who refuse to respond with a little tit for the incessant tat they receive.

Charming to see all the karma upvotes going to a post which denigrated a whole swath of users as "assholes" because of their beliefs. Real "friendly/humanising".

Comment author: MugaSofer 16 July 2014 10:45:21AM *  3 points [-]

No way you could have seen this comment when you wrote this, so here's a heads up - it turns out that's not how it was meant.

The emphasis was intended on "asshole", not "biorealist", if you see what I mean - "biorealist" is the reason it drives off "women and minorities" specifically, not the reason he was an asshole.

I do not think all biorealists or antifeminists are assholes. I thought EUGINE was an asshole. He was also a biorealist. So he was a biorealist asshole. I've already made a comment about that, but people keep saying that I said that anyways. And quoting only me saying "biorealist assholes". I DO think biorealists and anitfeminists have to be especially epistemically polite (and generally polite) if they want to have any chance of people actually engaging with their ideas.

As an example:

Christian asshole: Fred Phelps Christian not-an-asshole: Leah Libresco

Skeptic asshole: Penn Jilette Skeptic not-an-asshole: All the CFAR people

See how I consider "assholeness" as an unrelated trait to whether or not I agree with a viewpoint. If there were prolific skeptic assholes, they would drive off religious users. If there were prolific Christian assholes they would drive of skeptic and LGBTQ users.

Comment author: Lumifer 16 July 2014 02:40:45PM *  3 points [-]

The emphasis was intended on "asshole", not "biorealist"

Yes, but I get the impression that the assholiness threshold/criterion is different for biorealists and antifeminists on the one hand and SJWs on the other.

Comment author: Risto_Saarelma 17 July 2014 05:29:10AM *  1 point [-]

I just realized the non-asshole examples list didn't include an attempt of naming a non-asshole biorealist. Then started wondering how it would go if you tried giving examples of non-asshole biorealists or even assert the possibility of one existing on a SJ-friendly forum.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 16 July 2014 09:51:35PM *  0 points [-]

No way you could have seen this comment when you wrote this,

I did not. I had a lot of direct replies that were taking my attention.

so here's a heads up - it turns out that's not how it was meant.

That's an inference you might make from the available data. Perhaps it is even true.

I think that by the ordinary usage of the English language, my interpretation of the text is more consistent with what was written than the interpretation you quote. If you really want to hear my close textual analysis, I would oblige, but I don't see a lot of mileage in it.

(Penn Jillette an asshole? Really? To me, he seems incredibly gracious to others, often to the point of being overly deferential.)

Comment author: MugaSofer 09 August 2014 05:59:25PM *  1 point [-]

I did not. I had a lot of direct replies that were taking my attention.

Also, it was posted three days after you wrote your comment. I can see how that might present a bit of a challenge.

That's an inference you might make from the available data. Perhaps it is even true.

I think that by the ordinary usage of the English language, my interpretation of the text is more consistent with what was written than the interpretation you quote.

I was genuinely confused to see someone interpreting it another way, if that helps your analysis - the other interpretation hadn't occurred to me.

But yes, I suppose it's definitely possible they simply leaped on a convenient excuse.

Comment author: Nornagest 07 July 2014 12:38:44AM *  3 points [-]

It's strange that the supposedly evil, nasty reactionaries are social pacifists who refuse to respond with a little tit for the incessant tat they receive.

Not that I'm a fan of the asshole == ideological opponent mentality, but we are talking about a guy who spent probably cumulative days of his time downvoting people in a self-confessed effort to drive them away from the forum. That doesn't sound like the behavior of a social pacifist to me. Indeed, it sounds quite a bit like the behavior of an asshole.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 07 July 2014 01:21:44AM 3 points [-]

See the original quote:

because even without the downvoting he was an asshole

We're not talking about downvoting, we're talking about biorealists and antifeminists. They're the assholes.

Comment author: Nornagest 07 July 2014 01:32:04AM *  2 points [-]

How peculiar. I could have sworn I quoted you talking about "evil, nasty reactionaries", as typified in this context by Eugine_Nier.

I'm not trying to endorse Daenerys' apparent opinion re: biorealists and antifeminists, as you may have gleaned from the fact that I directly said I disagree with it. But you're going too far in the other direction. You may, of course, make whatever assertions you please regarding the general behavior of groups he may belong to, but I feel it's somewhat disingenuous to cast any of those groups as entirely innocent of social wrongdoing ("social pacifists") when this entire friggin' thread is about social wrongdoing by a member of those groups. If you're instead going for some kind of No True Scotsman deal, it'd help to say that Eugine's not a true Scotsman.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 07 July 2014 02:09:52AM *  2 points [-]

I could have sworn I quoted you talking about "evil, nasty reactionaries",

The sarcastic, not using my own voice tone didn't come through, even from the context? Did you genuinely think I was earnestly calling reactionaries evil? If not, this seems like a complete red herring.

this entire friggin' thread is about social wrongdoing by a member of those groups.

He's a member of LessWrong too. Is everyone here an asshole?

Two very different cases.

Eugine, at least by his own argument, was voting down people with a low rationality quotient. He has been widely condemned by all, including the evil reactionaries, and was banned.

daenerys called a lot of people on the list assholes based on them having opinions she disagreed with, and suggested they be banned for the same. She was widely upvoted.

cast any of those groups as entirely innocent

Generalizations are about general trends, and not absolute truths admitting of no exceptions.

Which side heaps abuse on the other, and suggests sanctions against the other? Which side defends their own? What's the broad trend?

You keep coming back to Eugine, but neither daenerys nor I were predominantly talking about Eugine.

Go to my previous comment in this thread. Currently, two downvotes for an accurate correction of your misrepresentation of her original statement. Do you want to further debate that point, or will you grant my reading? If so, isn't it odd that a couple of people on the list are downvoting a clearly accurate interpretation of the text that corrects a clearly inaccurate misinterpretation.

Upvotes for calling people assholes and suggesting they be banned for their beliefs, downvotes for accurate analysis. The voting seems to align better with ideology than truth, and is positive for one ideology, and negative for the other. Which is the trend I'm pointing out.

Comment author: MugaSofer 07 July 2014 07:13:36PM *  2 points [-]

daenerys called a lot of people on the list assholes based on them having opinions she disagreed with, and suggested they be banned for the same. She was widely upvoted.

Point of order: can you quote where they said being reactionary should be a banning offence? Because I don't see it.

Comment author: [deleted] 07 July 2014 07:18:01PM 1 point [-]

That's because it's not there.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 07 July 2014 09:14:31PM *  -2 points [-]

Personally, I'm glad Eugine is gone, because even without the downvoting he was an asshole. And having anti-feminist or biorealist assholes running around is a great way to drive off women and minorities.

Anyways, I prefer the walled garden, and the conversational tone, and the positive emotional support that Facebook provides, so I doubt I'll come back to posting here.

She prefers that "anti-feminist or biorealist assholes" aren't here, she prefers "a walled garden". Is that a literal statement of "I want the anti-feminist or biorealist assholes through over the wall and kept out"? No, but it's not too hard to do the math.

"Will no one rid me of these turbulent assholes?" (In case the reference is too obscure, see Saint Thomas of Canterbury for details.)

Comment author: MugaSofer 10 July 2014 07:56:20PM 3 points [-]

I get the reference. Not because I get references, as a rule, but because Blackadder used it :-)

I read that as saying that they were glad he was gone, but that it didn't matter much to them - because they had moved to the self-selected "garden" of one's Facebook feed.

But I suppose I can see how that might be read as an ideal for us to be aspiring to, now that you say it. Which ... is bad, yeah. Hmm.

Comment author: wedrifid 09 July 2014 10:35:16AM 0 points [-]

Should those who disagree similarly start whooping it up for banning feminists and biodenialists? Or should they just be similarly denigrating them as a matter of course?

I'm not sure what 'biodenialists' are exactly but on the basis that the word ends with "ists" it's reasonably unlikely that any particular social-politically active '*ist' will be of net value, given the change such agendas have on thought.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 09 July 2014 06:24:41PM *  1 point [-]

I'm not sure what 'biodenialists' are exactly

Post I was replying to used the term

biorealist assholes