Posts by Brandon Castillo4

fadedheron892 said:Arthur Thomas, I have no clue why they were even tripping over the chat when they weren't moderating it anyway and clearly had nothing better to do.

It’s got absolutely nothing to do with the Apple forum.

fadedheron892 said:Brandon Castillo4, you and mistywolf17 clearly don't get that the Finger of Fate is way more than just some random chat.
Do you seriously think your little "Are you guys screwing me over better than this chat?" thread actually matters?
If you had actually dropped that nonsense about gold diggers and why people stay in toxic relationships right there in the main chat, believe me, you would have been flooded with actual quality, constructive feedback—and you probably would've even met someone in the process. So tell me, how much weight do you honestly give to an opinion from a total stranger on one of your own threads?

Why don't we want to be Off topic?

Because this chat is the one damn bright spot in all of America amidst a massive pile of whining, insults, mockery, and useless advice.
Because it's through this specific chat that so many lonely hearts have found each other and started hanging out.
Because no new lonely heart is ever going to wander into the Off topic section looking for other lonely hearts to connect with.

If threads are the only thing worth anything on the US, then why are you all so desperately trying to crawl into that mud pit?

Second off, I agree with you—there are way too many "I am a lonely bottom of the barrel" type threads. I remember a few weeks back there was this guy, David or whatever his name was; the guy spent a month of Jesus's time moping about how he'd never get over his ex, turning into nothing but song lyrics and posts ending in sad emojis.

In practice, it looked like this:

"Ivanna, come back. I can't do this without you. Life is just too hard, oh my angel.

😢 😢 😢 😢 😢"

And he did that roughly 8,921,891 times. 😁

Look, people tried to write back, try to discuss things, try to help the guy. And so did I. But he doesn't read; he just stays "😢".

So, we tried starting maybe 6 or 7 different threads to break that cycle, to breathe some life into the sub-forum with actual discussions. I've received about 40 PMoves total over the last month from people who are thrilled with the changes. Besides, they are actually contributing to the threads and having real discussions. Yeah, sure, we clashed a bit or didn't click right away, but the discussions have generally been top-tier.

We allowed for a little banter and some heavier debating; it wasn't just sterile mocking, and I think people actually enjoyed it. A lot of people. And that is the whole POINT of the US.

Your "point" is hanging out with 15 or 20 people. And again, I'm telling you, that's great, but you can still hang out—nobody closed or deleted that topic, the topic still EXISTS on the forum.

The fact that I personally prefer those kinds of topics to be over on DiK is a separate issue. I can't make that happen because the crew over at DiK, as mistywolf17 puts it, doesn't allow outside topics to bleed in.

Anonymous said:First of all, I have no idea why you guys decided to start cleaning up the US section first.
Is this some directive coming from the top brass, or just your own personal take on what "quality" means?
If this actually came from above, then I’m going to step up in the US section and start reporting every single instance of profanity and everything else. Those same authors were incredibly disrespectful to people posting certain ads and stuff. So, when it comes down to actual quality and basic decency, they were the first ones who deserved to be banned.
Secondly, since I'm naive enough to believe your goal is actually to improve the quality of the forum, I’d ask you to run an analysis on all the PDFs and their associated chats so we can actually see if they even hold any value.
I truly believe your goal should be satisfying everyone on the forum, and you'll only achieve that through transparency, impartiality, and all those qualities that define a democracy rather than a totalitarian regime.

Because we moderate the US. We can't exactly clean up cars or software if we're busy managing the US. You get what I'm saying?

I’ve had a few people sliding into my PMs asking why the song threads are locked.
The whole songs thing is just bizarrely stupid. Seriously, it's brainless.

Like, if I went in right now and posted Tool, what would actually happen?

If someone finds one single line that hits home, they start posting nonsense anyway. They just drop a lyric that matches their current headspace or whatever mood they're in at the moment. If you don't get it, just look at the last post in the songs thread. Some woman posted ten different Bon Jovi tracks. Is that even the point?

I could go in there right now and post ten Rage Against the Machine songs. So what? It makes zero sense. The mindless scrolling already exists elsewhere.

Jessica Watson4 said:Alright, let me put you on the spot here—hopefully, you can give me a response that actually holds water.
What is the actual logic behind not having a chat on a subforum specifically titled "Lonely Hearts"?
I mean, I could wrap my head around them not having a chat in some random PDF section, but we're talking about a subforum where lonely people gather, likely with the intention of meeting someone—even just virtually through conversation—rather than just posting on threads or leaving classified ads.
It just doesn't click for me, especially given the explanation from mistywolf17. Honestly, I'm surprised she even tried to frame that as logical; to me, it feels like nothing more than a whim, which isn't how she usually comes across on this forum.
If the concern was the chat drifting in an unwanted direction, then the solution should have been to moderate it.

The thing is, we were all discussing various topics, everyone had their own ideas, but the final call was to set things up this way.

The issue with the US subforum was that it had too many chat threads. Over time, it turned into this weird mix of the closed-off USPSD crew and those pathetic "woe is me, I'm at rock bottom and lonely" threads.

We decided to break those patterns. As for the threads, right now the US doesn't have a dedicated chat thread; it has a flamethrower thread that isn't meant for discussion, and the music threads are going to be closed because they are hands-down the most idiotic threads ever—people just dumping songs they listen to. There's an NP thread over in Music for that.

Second thing. Listen, guys, I don't have anything against you, but let's be real: I don't know most of you. Some I know, some are great friends, but you aren't really part of the US crowd. You get what I mean? You don't actually post on the US subforum; you just hang out inside your own little chat threads and couldn't care less about anything else. And hey, that's fine—nobody should do something they don't want to do—but why fight so hard to keep everything exactly where it is? Just so it stays at the top of the forum index? I don't see the point. If you aren't even posting there anyway.

Most of the other subforums have chat threads for people who ACTUALLY participate in discussions. In my opinion, maybe 3% of the people in those threads actually engage in the main discussions; the rest are just there for the chat.

And that's perfectly fine, I'm all for you guys messing around, but why does it HAVE to be under the US section when the US section clearly doesn't matter to you?

mistywolf17 said:I guess you should just read through my previous posts. If it still doesn't make sense after that, then I'm sorry, but I can't help you.

The thing is, they don't allow chats on DiK because basically every thread there turns into a chat anyway.

Well, you might as well have sent it. Maybe send it to another one too, just to be safe. I doubt they would have even noticed this thread without you.

So they won't let you move threads over to DiK? What a joke of a decision. 😁 Personally, I think putting them on DiK makes the most sense.

Keith Cox6 said:You're totally undermining your friend who's a mod here... wasn't it a perfectly logical, collective decision made by the US moderators to move us to Off topic? You can't just change your mind now like... "oops, we already agreed on this."👍

Look, you really need to take a breath, grab a heavy drink, and then maybe come back when you're ready to actually talk. Seriously.

Look, I’m all for moving these threads around, but let’s not dump them into Offtopic. People here are actually building connections, they aren't just posting random nonsense. In my book, they belong over in DiK. That's my call.

Looks like nobody has a clue. 😁 Such a shame.

Maybe you’re actually right there. Look, I don't want to be stubborn about this. 😁

Even though

for years, I was dead certain he was going to prison. Honestly, it's because at no point did he ever back up his father's words or even show interest in the idea. Instead, he just lay there beaten on the glass while his old man gave him that "glimpse of what could have been." To me, that line that hits you so hard still feels like part of a fantasy before they all just pile back into the car... whereas the reality, just like he said, is that he's headed to jail. Now, I haven't sat down to watch the movie in quite a while, so I can't say for sure if my memory is spot on, but I think the father had already asked if running away was an option, and Monty explained why it wasn't. It was either the dad or someone else, but I'm pretty sure Monty laid it out during the film—he elaborated on why he's going. I'll have to rewatch it.

This movie is, just like I said back in 2008, 😁 absolutely incredible. Personally, it’s one of my all-time favorites. 😁

Spoiler alert:

But I’m actually debating this with Drita right now—is it two different endings, or did Monty actually end up in jail?

For those of you who haven't watched it in a while:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8elKC-DLS8

After that "fantasy" sequence where his father walks him through "what could have been," the fantasy ends with the line: "and then you gather your whole family up and tell them 'you all came so close to never happening'." Then we cut back to the car, Monty is totally out of it, slumped against the glass, and if you ask me: they're heading to jail, not making a getaway.

Now, I saw some guy on YouTube claiming that Spike Lee basically confirms this through his commentary on the film. IMDb says this:

And as the "almost didn't happen" is said in the voiceover, we cut back to the car and see that they're still driving up the turnpike towards the jail, as Monty doses in a stupor.

It’s the same story everywhere.

But there's still room for doubt. What do you guys think? Did he go to jail or not?


Honestly, this is just me nitpicking for the sake of it. Whether it's true or not, for me personally, this is a masterpiece. The atmosphere is killer, and that soundtrack—that main theme has been stuck in my head for years. I literally dream about it. 😁

Everything about it is top-tier.

Fixed it. Turns out I just needed to run those Windows updates and everything started working perfectly again. Thanks to everyone for stepping up and helping me out. 🙂 Love you guys. 😘

I need some help here. I’ve been using Google Chrome for years without a single complaint, but today everything just hit a wall. It won't load anything at all. After about 45 seconds of staring at a blank screen, it gives me the choice to "wait" or "kill page," and honestly? Neither works.

I already tried the obvious—uninstalled the whole thing, downloaded it again, and ran a clean install—but the exact same thing keeps happening. 😢

Anyone ever run into this kind of nonsense before?

I'm not looking for suggestions to switch; Mozilla and Internet Explorer are way too sluggish for my workflow. 😁

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/254...hromeerror.png

Look, this has absolutely nothing to do with the mods. It’s just a rule about locking threads once they hit the 10k post mark.

Basketball drills and apple-on-the-head target practice 👍 .

restlesssurfer97 said:That ad was actually pretty sick, honestly I feel like I've already played just about every single game out there.

🙂

restlesssurfer97 said:They’re honestly such a vibe

Everything you could ever want is right there

but if I had to pick my top three favorites, it’d definitely be a hot boss, the block demolition craze, and card towers

I'm totally on board with that too 🙂.

Works for me, honestly

goldengull3 said:I am simply restoring order to the chaos.

🤣🤣🤣

Six posts wiped. Don't mess around with me. Troll, you keep this up and you’re looking at a permanent ban. ☕