This is ridiculous. If I’m not posting about politics or deep philosophy—you know, those long-winded essays that read like a Dostoevsky novel—my posts just get nuked. I used to have a few hundred credits over there, but most of them were earned on Disney. I don't see any reason why they should be getting deleted. 🤷
So, I haven't been on the forum in a while, and now that I'm finally back, I realized all my posts have vanished. I had about 4,500 of them. 🙄
I already sent an inquiry asking if they could be restored and when I might see them again, and they told me to just hang tight for a few days. Well, it's been two months now, and I've heard absolutely nothing.
I have a couple of questions: 1. Why were my posts even deleted in the first place? Technically, the content still seems to be there, but my profile shows a count of 200 instead of 4,500. 2. Is there any chance they'll actually be restored, and if so, when can I expect that to happen?
1. Who are we and what do we actually do? 2. Who is the occupier, and is it just California being taken over? 3. Is this Initiative just driven by nostalgia for the old ways? 4. What’s the deal with the political parties? 5. Why is direct democracy actually doable today, and how would it work on a larger scale? 6. Why did we start this wall newspaper and website, and what’s our take on the media? 7. Why does workplace democracy matter, and what role should the government play there? 8. What does material equality really mean? 9. How does capitalism get in the way of true democratization? 10. What's the real role of the IMF and the EU? 11. Is there an actual alternative to the systems we have now? 12. Why are civic engagement and direct action so vital? 13. Why aren't markets truly free, and what are the fundamental flaws with markets in general? 14. Why are we standing against privatization? 15. What's next, and how can you get involved?
Brandon Castillo4 said:Because they do. That’s how it was decided. My point is simple: if a chat thread is actually PART of a subforum—meaning it’s where the regulars hang out, where new people join the fold, etc.—then it makes sense to keep it.
Keeping little closed-off cliques doesn't make any sense on the US-themed board.
The Finger was absolutely not some exclusive VIP lounge; anyone who poked their head in was more than welcome, provided they weren't acting like an idiot. Honestly, people keep insulting our intelligence when we've proven time and again that The Finger had direct ties to the USA.
Look, I really shouldn’t be sticking my nose into the whole mess regarding moving the American chats around because the mods and admins have already laid out their reasoning, and honestly, that should pretty much wrap up the debate. But seriously, people acting like this was some sudden, impulsive whim? Give me a break. Back when I was serving as a moderator for the US section—which was about six months ago, if memory serves—and even before then, we were all hyper-aware of how messy the chat situation had become. We were actually trying to design a space that functioned like a genuine community hub for Americans. The whole goal was to create a spot that would finally replace those endless, repetitive threads where everyone just vents about their own personal drama, and instead, actually get people talking to one another and building some real connections.
Look, I thought we were actually going to have a themed discussion here, but clearly, I was getting ahead of myself.
We haven't managed to pull anything off in that timeframe, and honestly, looking around, it’s pretty clear nothing has changed. But then again, how could it? This whole chat topic has just been overrun by people who couldn't write a single constructive post on a major US forum if their lives depended on it. It’s devolved into nothing more than just another generic, mindless chat room where actual substance goes to die.
Look, I know I’m basically just rambling about things that have absolutely nothing to do with my own life, but honestly, I couldn't help myself—I had to jump in here and give Nicholas King a response to this:
The moderator really needs to start citing their sources. I don't even know where to start with this whole mess, honestly. It’s just one thing after another, isn't it? You think you've finally got a handle on things, maybe even a little breathing room, and then—boom—everything just falls apart like a cheap card tower in a windstorm. It's almost funny if you stop to think about how predictable the chaos is. One minute you're cruising along, thinking everything is fine, and the next, you're staring at a complete disaster, wondering how you even got here in the first place. It's like that old saying about how life doesn't give you much of a heads-up before it decides to throw a wrench in your gears. Just constant, relentless movement toward more confusion. Have you seen what’s actually going on in his subforum lately? It’s like watching a slow-motion train wreck—you can see exactly where this is headed, right? The chat threads are absolutely exploding, honestly, we’re talking hundreds of posts rolling in every single day. And then there’s me, stuck playing digital janitor, having to comb through every single one of those endless walls of text just to make sure nobody’s being abusive, dropping sketchy links, or leaking private info. It’s just one thing after another, a constant mountain of nonsense to sift through.
Look, let's be real for a second—a moderator isn't supposed to be some kind of glorified janitor sweeping up trash all day; honestly, they shouldn't even be touching that stuff. That’s just not the job description. A real moderator should be out there actually steering the conversation, keeping the discussions on track, and putting in the actual legwork to make the subforum better—you know, like curating the topic lists, spinning up new threads when things get stale, merging redundant ones, and all that good stuff. They should be architects of the community, not just the cleaning crew.
Honestly, after you’ve slogged through five hundred consecutive messages in the general chat—just people rambling about what they had for lunch, what show they’re binge-watching on Netflix, or how many times they’ve had to take a bathroom break today—you find yourself completely drained. You’ve got zero mental bandwidth left to actually engage with the rest of the subforum the way you ought to. It’s exhausting. And let’s be real, that constant stream of chatter adds absolutely nothing to the actual quality of this community; that's what the constructive, deep-dive threads are for. You end up burning through all your time and energy on someone’s incoherent nonsense that, once it hits ten thousand posts, is just going to end up in the digital trash bin anyway. It’s a total waste of breath, don't you think?
Honestly, I don't see why it would be an issue. We've got moderators who handle the heavy lifting—reading through posts and keeping the chats in check (and let's be real, they’re usually active in them anyway)—and then there are those who prefer to stay behind the scenes, but that’s hardly a crisis because we have dedicated spaces like the Lounge or the Off-Topic boards specifically for the chatterboxes. There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to feel left out or sidelined; we've made sure there's a spot for everyone to hang out. 🙂
And honestly, Fate stepped in perfectly to make that happen—anyone who was actually paying attention saw it coming.
That was supposed to be a themed chat.
We missed the mark back then, and looking at it now, nothing has changed. Honestly, it couldn't have worked because the chat got taken over by users who’ve never written a single useful post on this entire site, turning it into just another generic, mindless chat thread.
Calling it that is an insult to those of us who actually contributed to that chat. It’s just not true.
Once you sift through 500 chat posts where people are just talking about what they ate, what they drank, or what they watched on TV—not to mention all the mindless venting—you don't exactly have any energy left to focus on the rest of the subforum properly. Those chat posts don't add anything to the quality of the community; that's what constructive threads are for. You end up wasting time and mental energy on someone's trivial chatter that'll just end up in the trash after 10,000 posts anyway. Makes no sense, right?
So the entire forum makes "sense" now? At least on the old platform, we maintained our own discipline and didn't have these massive outbursts. And if the moderators were supposedly reading our posts so closely, why didn't they step in when the senseless spamming started? If I remember correctly, the last person to actually intervene was dainty during the very first era. Constructive threads??? "Are you kidding me?", "Did I lose him forever?", "How do I move on..."—seriously? And a chat where people actually meet, bond, and maybe even start a relationship is considered "unconstructive" just because it's more casual?
It shouldn't be an issue. Some moderators are great at managing chats (often because they participate in them), while others just aren't cut out for it, but that isn't really the problem since there are dedicated subforums (like Socializing or Off-topic) specifically for chatters. No one should feel left out; there’s a place for everything. 🙂
You mean for some chatters, while for others there are specialized boards, the IRS, and stuff like that... If every chat thread moved to a specific "chatter" subforum, we wouldn't complain. But this feels like some kind of game. All the other chats stayed exactly where they were, and this line of reasoning is insulting to anyone with half a brain.
There was recently a discussion over on the US boards that directly targeted people trying to run ads on the platform. Instead of actually adding value, the whole thread just focused on mocking the users posting them. How exactly does tearing people down improve the quality of our PDFs? Or how does it help when the chat participants have to constantly police themselves just to keep the conversation from spiraling away from the actual purpose of the US community? Seriously, you've got moderators participating in threads where advertisers are being insulted, openly expressing their contempt and making fun of people.
Also, I’d really appreciate some transparency regarding why Scarlet was banned. Given how tense things are right now, it would be helpful for everyone to understand what we're supposed to gain from a seven-day ban like that.
I want to apologize to everyone. I know this whole thing is about the moderator, but honestly, I was just so caught off guard by how personal the conversation was getting that I let my guard down and made a slip-up.
brightridge59 said:Well, it’s because we happen to be the moderators for this specific sub-forum, isn't it? 😁
I have to wonder if you truly grasp the distinction between the main forum, its various sub-forums, the moderators, and the administrators, because from where I’m sitting, it seems there might be some confusion on your part.
Is this some sort of directive handed down from the top, or just your own personal interpretation of what "quality" should look like? If this really is a mandate from the higher-ups, then I’ll be the first to step up in the US section and start reporting every instance of profanity or misconduct. To be perfectly honest, some of those very same authors have been incredibly disrespectful toward people posting certain advertisements and such. From the perspective of maintaining quality and decent conduct, they were actually the first ones who deserved a ban.
So please, go ahead and report them—who is going to stop you?
Profanity itself isn't strictly forbidden, but anyone can certainly report a post that is unpleasant or rude. Truly, anyone.
Secondly, I’m not about to be naive enough to believe your goal is to improve the overall quality of the Forum. If that were actually the case, I would ask you to perform a full analysis of all the PDFs and their corresponding chats so we could actually evaluate their validity.
Why on earth would anyone do that for us? Is that somehow our job description? We serve as moderators for specific sub-forums. It is fundamentally in the interest of the entire forum to ensure we are elevating the quality within the specific sub-forums that we oversee.
I believe your true goal is to satisfy all the forum members, and you’ll achieve that through transparency, impartiality, and all those qualities that define a democracy rather than a totalitarian regime.
It’s quite funny how you start by being suspicious and searching for motives, only to suddenly turn around and believe everything? Please. 😉
Honestly, with all due respect to your role as an admin, communicating with a regular user like this makes it seem like you've forgotten that your job is to serve the community and us, not the other way around.
mistywolf17 said:Then why don't you all participate so constructively on the subforum otherwise? Why don't you start interesting discussions there? Why do you choose to write all this in a somewhat closed chat meant for a specific group?
Because this chat is the only bright spot in the entire US compared to the endless whining, insults, mockery, and useless advice found elsewhere. Because it’s through this very chat that many lonely hearts have connected and found companionship. Because no newly lonely heart is going to head over to Offtopic to search for other lonely hearts.
That's why. Because for most of you, the US is just one big whining session and you're sick of it. You want a chat where you can talk about everything without anyone complaining or crying. But why would you even read or engage with those kinds of threads? Because those types of topics are what make up the subforum. I suppose most people can't handle reading them because they find it too depressing, so they'd rather just have cheerful chats. But maybe do that on a different subforum. On the US, it just doesn't make sense.
Look, sorry, but all you're doing is proving you weren't actually present as moderators during the chat. There was plenty of whining, crying, and venting. But through the format of the chat, you could actually help those people—and even help me personally. If someone mentioned feeling lonely and others started analyzing expectations, standards, or social anxiety, everyone would have been sanctioned for going off topic. Or do you think psychological support is somehow restricted for certain people? The mess we're dealing with now isn't happening because the chat is pointless or "spamy" instead of being true to the US spirit; it's happening because you didn't do your jobs. Honestly, I think your view of the chat is pretty narrow if you consider it nothing but pure spam. I wonder if other moderators on different forums feel the same way? To be blunt, you allowed the US section—where I used to post way more often—to completely spiral by letting threads about random nonsense, song lyrics, or just whatever people felt like saying slide through. Is there any quality in that? And then, when the numbers started dropping, you looked around and pointed a finger at our activity as the sole reason. The chat saw an insane spike in posts, but that happened precisely because you weren't moderating. Now that things have settled down and become more constructive, less spamy, and concise again, it's entirely thanks to us stepping up and doing your job—yet you want to dump it into Off topic. It would have made much more sense if you had cleaned up the entire US section from all the mindless, low-quality threads first before coming for our activity in those specific discussions. Anyone who actually followed the chat could see there are plenty of people contributing high-quality content to the whole PDF. If you want to know why the US section turned into a disaster, I suggest you start by looking at your own area of responsibility.
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.
My friends actually asked me to cross-post what I wrote over here. So, here goes:
I almost couldn't even find where this chat was tucked away. 🙄
It’s pretty obvious this has been planned for a while. Every time some users tried to step up and bring some order to this place—which was basically just trying to moderate—the people who were actually supposed to be doing it didn't even react. If things spiraled out of control, I personally put that entirely on the moderators for failing to do their jobs. I’d really appreciate it if someone in charge could explain why the US doesn't need this chat. If we have chats for spirituality, psychology, ŽuD, and even LJES, then what's the logic behind this claim? Are you saying US members don't have the right to communicate unless it stays strictly within predefined topics? Isn't that just plain discrimination? The author of this thread herself admitted there was a specific intention behind this chat. So why did you let things get to this point in the first place? You have the authority, yet it was honestly pathetic watching a handful of us essentially doing your job for you. You claim those who were here at the very beginning are gone now. Whose fault is that? Ours, or yours for not moderating? So many people met through this chat—myself included, and I'm not even from a big city like New York. It helped so many of us break through our shyness, insecurity, and all the stuff that brought us to the US in the first place, rather than being part of an Off topic group with a short shelf life, which is definitely not who we are. Personally, I think pulling this move without any prior communication with us is incredibly rude. It’s a complete drop in the quality of communication—something that would be labeled as spamming if anyone else did it, but apparently, you guys have a free pass. Is this about forcing your own will based on personal biases or preferences, or is it just covering up your own blunders for not doing the work you were assigned? I'll leave that for you to decide.
I’m asking the moderators to explain why that chat over on the US site makes absolutely no sense. I live in Oakland (not Chicago), and honestly, I'm just a lonely soul—a bit insecure, deeply into spirituality and philosophy, and people tend to label me as a weirdo who can't even type a coherent sentence. I’ve started countless threads in the chat, and I’ve done my best to help everyone out whenever I could. So, please, give me a reason why I should be flagged for being Off topic (keep it short and sweet)? Have you ever actually participated in our discussions? No, you haven't. In fact, you weren't even there because you only show up when it suits you. And hey, you have every right to do that. But I don't think I should be punished just because you guys weren't doing your jobs as moderators when things started spiraling out of control and turning into pure spam. I’m a very peace-loving person, but I am seriously considering taking this to a wider audience. To me, this looks like yet another case of an abuse of power, where people forget that their roles exist to make the forum a welcoming and civilized place for all of us, not the other way around.
silverraven7 said:Honestly, the political climate here wouldn't be any better than what we’re dealing with back home in the States. It wouldn't take long at all before everyone’s true colors started showing and we saw exactly who was playing games and who was actually running the show.
I think you've got it wrong. We should be rallying around the core idea instead of nitpicking everyone's personality on this forum.
I’m skipping the upper body shot for now XD—that’s where all my extra fluff is hiding, but I’ll tighten that up once I start cutting... I know my forearms look a bit off too (my training technique was definitely lacking), so I'll fix that as well. Once I hit my goal weight, the disproportion between my legs and upper body should even out a bit more.
Standing at about 5'11" and weighing in around 198-200 lbs.
Sandra Parker3 said:Oscar is great, but he misses the mark sometimes, or people just misread him 😁
The move is to ignore your enemies, and once you pull that off, you actually find some peace.
The goal should be finding our own inner peace, not making sure our enemies stay pissed off.
People who go out of their way to insult, hurt, or—God forbid—humiliate those close to them aren't doing it on purpose or with a calculated plan. It's just their pathetic little defense mechanism as they struggle to survive in this brutal, cruel world. They lash out, kick, and strike at anyone within reach. It doesn't bother me. Almost everyone is like that deep down. I'm used to it. Honestly, it doesn't phase me one bit. They can't touch me. I won't let them get to me.
You keep saying it, over and over... but you don't really sound like you believe it.🤷
Well! What can I even say to that...
I think it's pretty obvious now. I am at peace.🙂 I responded to your provocation with silence. Does that make me credible? Or am I just a liar, like you suddenly claimed I was...
You... you're just aimless...
I don't have enemies. But then again, I don't have specific friends either.😁 At least not by name; everyone and everything is a friend to me. So, here I am, just existing on my own in this vast space (surrounded by good vibes).🤣 It's fine. I understand it all. But I'm not going to brag about it.🙂 Take care.👋
"Keep forgiving your enemies relentlessly, because nothing gets under their skin quite like that...!" Or something to that effect. My hero, Oscar Wilde.🙂 Me? I’m just a bit of a pushover who refuses to hold a grudge against anyone. In my book, everything is forgiven right from the get-go. The people out there who go out of their way to insult, hurt, or—God forbid—humiliate those around them aren't usually doing it on purpose. It's not some grand, calculated scheme. It’s just their pathetic little defense mechanism, a way to survive while they struggle against this brutal, unforgiving world. They lash out, they snap, and they strike at whoever happens to be standing nearby. Honestly, it doesn't bother me. Most people are acting out of some version of that. I've grown used to it. It really doesn't phase me. They can't touch me. I won't let them get to me. If anything, I find myself trying to comfort them and calm them down. Kill them with kindness. We all have the potential to be healers. We can all choose to be compassionate. Just lend a hand to your neighbor. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Just one of my million thoughts... but I'm not losing any sleep over it.🙂
I ran into some totally wrong advice earlier 😁 ..first off, why on earth would anyone say you can't wash a new tattoo? You actually *should* be rinsing it with lukewarm water every single time before you apply your Bepanthen ointment.. and the plastic wrap is strictly for when you're heading home right after your session; otherwise, you shouldn't be covering the tattoo with any bandages, gauze, or tape. It's better to just stick to cotton T-shirts... As for the process itself, getting tattooed isn't even that bad (I once got one on my wrist), it just stings a little, nothing crazy, though it does feel a bit itchy later on.