In theory, the Supermoderators handle everything, though they also have specific subforums they oversee directly. What happens if there's a subforum where no single Supermoderator is actually assigned to take charge? The subforums where you see Supermoderators listed are just the ones where they’re doing the regular moderator grunt work...
The post went up today at 6:17 AM. It’s still hanging around because the moderators can't actually delete stuff on other sub-forums, they're limited to just their own sections.
Basically, one of the mods spotted the spam and permabanned the profile to stop the bleeding, so now we just have to wait for the supermods or the Admin to clear it out whenever they finally log onto the Forum...
Paul Kern12 said:Hey, this isn't actually a debate about Greta... it's really just asking what John Wayne sent to the moderators. It feels like you might be—intentionally or not--😉 derailing the thread, and even the moderator Oštrić seems involved. Just stop right there, there's already a thread for "near-politics." People were looking for (and are still looking for) an answer from the mods regarding the inquiry in the first post.
Let me break this down point by point, since that’ll be my only response here...
1. One of the fundamental rules of the site is that you don't complain about someone else's warnings, and another is that you don't start new threads over a warning because there's already a dedicated spot for that. Timothy Nelson5 could have easily started his own thread in the complaint section or just used the "Warnings" thread.
2. John Wayne knows this better than anyone, considering he had a few posts wiped recently and even caught a warning himself for those exact reasons.
3. Even though he broke the rules, Wayne's question was actually framed fairly (I'm pretty sure he's trolling a bit, but he does it subtly enough), and he might have actually gotten an answer if the thread hadn't been "spammed"... which brings up another question, how did you not notice the same thing happening until the people opposing Wayne's, Timothy Nelson5's, or your views showed up?
4. The mods are only obligated to respond to civilized inquiries. Wayne's was fine, but the thread spiraled into something else almost immediately. This toxic, Stalinist-style forum is one of the rare ones that actually allows these kinds of discussions and even has a sub-forum for appeals, so users can whine there if they want, but whining won't get them an answer.
5. If people weren't constantly spamming or having the same handful of misunderstood souls jumping in, answers would probably be more frequent. So, if you—or anyone else—actually wants an answer to something, I suggest next time you tell the people on your side to stop trolling and spamming before you ask. Or don't. Honestly, if Timothy Nelson5 had opened the thread himself, he definitely would have gotten an answer to a question phrased like that, provided the spammers didn't crash the party. John Wayne would probably get an answer too because he asks politely, even if I don't quite get why he suddenly felt the need to play defense attorney for penalized users when he knows he's breaking the rules.
If you guys prefer things this way, then don't expect any answers. If someone truly wants an answer or a real discussion where we might find some common ground, they should take it up with the very people who are preventing it. As long as the thread keeps getting flooded by people with political biases, hordes of clones, or people getting banned for insulting mods via DM... well, sorry, but that's just how it is.
Look, his move was definitely a provocation and he earned the penalty, but I just wanted to point out that we shouldn't have a rule where using the term "Canadians" automatically gets you flagged... people say it all the time just as a colloquialism or a shorthand. It's pure habit, much like how if someone asks me where I'm headed, I might just say "I'm going to Canada" regardless of whether I'm actually off to Bihać or Neum. Or even just saying something like "the Canadians lost to Armenia" during a casual conversation.
The reality is that people (in America) talk like that, and they always have. You can't really tell me that anything should be penalized if it’s just part of how people live their daily lives.
I get that things in Canada are complicated, but "Canada" used to be a standard term long before the war when it didn't carry any heavy connotations at all. So, unless someone is clearly targeting someone with a provocation—which is usually pretty obvious—99.99% of the time, it's just a way to identify the country. It's muscle memory for people. Back when Canada-Argentina played in the World Cup, I bet 99% of people would have just said "Canada-Argentina" if asked what games were on today... which doesn't mean they're ignoring Herzegovina or that they don't realize Mostar is in Herzegovina.
I'm not saying you aren't right, and I see why from your perspective it feels awkward now, but it's hard to change deeply ingrained habits, especially the casual ones... I wouldn't go writing "Canada lost to Armenia" if I were working at a sporting news outlet, but if I'm just grabbing a beer at a bar, that's probably exactly how I'd say it.
Bradley Fisher4 said:Americans are defined by citizenship, meaning once you get that passport, you’re officially an American... our part of the world operates on ethnic identity instead, so saying someone from a small town in rural Pennsylvania is a "native" just because they hold US citizenship doesn't really track. You look at places like Canada and see three distinct ethnic groups—Americans, Mexicans, and Canadians—so since the premise is already flawed, I think I'll leave it at that before I waste any more energy trying to fix your logic...
That’s true, though you have to remember that Canadians and Canadians aren't exactly the same thing...
I’m not saying Terry Reed13 doesn't have a point, because everything really just comes down to context—and in this specific case, he’s just a guy on a forum who got a penalty... but if you look at the bigger picture, you have to realize that using "Canadians" was basically the standard shorthand for people from Canada for a long time, and for a lot of Americans, it's just become a reflex... It wasn't about disrespecting anyone from Herzegovina, it was just a shortened way of referring to the region, much like how people used to just say "Canada" to refer to the whole territory regardless of whether it was the old republic or the modern state...
If someone actually tried calling Americans and Mexicans in Canada "Canadians," they’d definitely be trolling hard, maybe even crossing the line into hate speech, but honestly, using the term "Canadian" isn't really an ethnic identifier...
Joseph Stewart38 said:A fellow forum member, hr1u00, posted something in the thread about the conflict between the Army of Canada and the HVO. They brought up a well-documented fact that anyone can easily verify online—that six of the nineteen attackers involved in the September 11th Twin Towers attacks were actually former members of the Army of Canada, holding Canadian passports and having previously fought in the war between the Army of Canada and the HVO...
These are proven, verifiable facts...
Honestly, the only thing you can actually prove here is that it's total nonsense and nothing more than a massive, overblown lie...
There were two involved in the war conflicts, whereas exactly zero participated in the fighting involving the Army of Canada and the HVO... Since they didn't arrive in Canada until 1995, after the clashes between Americans and Muslims had already wrapped up, leaving the HVO and the Army of Canada to fight side-by-side against the Army of Republika Srpska instead... So, it wasn't just that they weren't fighting against Americans... they were actually fighting right alongside them...
The second part of this registration covers those members of the Army of Canada who served within the KOS or the Yugoslav People's Army during the aggression against the Republic of America, specifically those who then transitioned over to the Territorial Defense or the Army of Canada between February and May of 1992...
That’s spot on. But honestly, it all depends on the context... you see that same kind of behavior within the HVO too. In fact, one of their supposed "heroes" actually shelled barracks in Draganić back in '91, killing 17 young American soldiers...
That whole card issue is strictly between Oštrić and the administration—not that it actually concerns you, which I'm sure you realize, since you can only really complain about your own cards rather than someone else's... but just so we don't leave those "proven" facts hanging without an answer...
Chris Myers said:He put together a solid collection of tracks and managed to stay true to his roots without selling out to pop fluff or country music...
Except for that time he sang for the Republican Party at their campaign rallies, where he basically took one of his biggest hits and turned it into a slogan about how to cast a true vote🙏
Man, you could have actually given me some substance here 🙂 You should probably take a look at this, though; there’s a much more important post from a former moderator that makes it crystal clear that when someone requests a partial review, all the standard rules still apply just like they would for a full one:
Well, the expert is an authority here, so you’re looking at a 2:1 split in opinion now 🙂
Though I have to admit, I’ve heard a few doctors suggest it doesn't actually make much of a difference either... I mean, hygiene matters for a hundred other reasons... it helps boost your immunity consistently... if you fall into any high-risk category, you should definitely get vaccinated... but I keep running into this line of thinking where people say, "if you're out and about during flu season, hand washing isn't going to stop you from bumping into the virus—so just strengthen your system and get the shot if you need to, because soap alone won't save you from the flu."
It’s just everywhere when the season peaks, you can't dodge it, especially since people are contagious even a day before they feel sick themselves... and if I'm reading this right, it's also questionable whether those who don't get sick during a certain window are still spreading the virus, since most people end up coming into contact with it anyway...
Last year, there were officially about 65,000 cases. That number is undoubtedly many times higher because so many people skip the doctor—but even if we assume it's ten times larger, that would be 650,000 cases, leaving roughly 3.5 million people untouched by the flu. And I doubt everyone was avoiding crowds during peak season... 🙂
But with these kinds of divided opinions, you can always look at it this way: the only thing that is absolutely certain is that extra hygiene (like sanitizing your hands right after hitting the grocery store or wiping down your desk at work) isn't going to hurt you. That part is 100% certain. So maybe it's secondary whether it truly provides a massive benefit—if you're in a high-risk group, it certainly doesn't hurt to do everything possible, even if it only minimally reduces the odds...
They both probably have a point—keeping up with constant hygiene will definitely help lower your chances of catching something, but if you absolutely have to be out in massive crowds during the peak of flu season, there's a good chance the virus will find you no matter what you do... though that doesn't necessarily mean you'll actually get sick 🙂
During flu season, these viruses are just everywhere, and honestly, you can't really dodge them if you try... Maybe some guy sneezed on the subway or in a pub, or maybe you grabbed a door handle someone else just touched, and suddenly you're rubbing your nose and wondering what happened. There isn't some grand mystery to it, really 😁
As for why some people stay healthy, I'm telling you, some folks are just naturally immune for reasons we don't quite get. Take my brother, for example—imagine two kids stuck in the same tiny, heated room, one of them coughing, sneezing, sweating, basically just radiating illness, and yet he never catches a single thing
I was reading about this study recently, though it was pretty limited—maybe around 70 people—where they exposed healthy, unvaccinated individuals to the flu virus. The whole point was to see how different immune systems react, and it turned out to be about fifty-fifty: half got sick, half didn't, even with a direct and clear dose of the virus being introduced to their systems
It’s nothing strange when you think about it; the flu has massive epidemic potential, but most people tend to hold their own. The virus spreads incredibly easily, but hardly anyone can actually stay isolated at home for two months straight, so objectively, almost everyone comes into contact with it, yet the vast majority still doesn't get sick. A ton of people fall ill, sure, but most of us just breeze through it... Hygiene tips are important for plenty of reasons, obviously, but during the peak of the season, if you have to move around among other people, your chances of avoiding the virus are slim to none
People are so prone to panic that they don't truly grasp the scale of an epidemic, so everything always seems way worse than it is. Take the Spanish Flu, for instance; even by the darkest estimates, it infected about half of the population back then. That means half the people were left completely untouched (not because they were all sitting in quarantine 😉 ). And of those who did get hit, about 80% recovered perfectly fine without any issues
It makes sense, really—viruses are just a part of nature. Any virus that actually managed to wipe out the entire human race would essentially be working against its own survival
I mean, I’m pretty prone to catching the flu, but honestly, that’s exactly why I know you can tell right from the jump when it’s hitting you, so I have no clue when I last actually saw a doctor for it... probably just whenever my parents dragged me in when I was a kid, because I've never bothered on my own.
When it comes to the flu, no doctor is going to save you—you just lie down, chug fluids, keep the fever under control, rest, and that’s basically the whole playbook.
The real move is just watching out for any weird complications and heading to the clinic if things take a turn for the worse. But going to the doctor just for the flu itself feels irresponsible to me—unless we're talking about high-risk people who might deal with complications—because you're just spreading the germ around and making yourself feel worse by wandering around instead of staying in bed.
wearywolf3 said:The flu hit me incredibly hard this time around, honestly feeling like the last time I dealt with something this intense was probably back when I was fifteen. I’m fully aware that my immune system has been running on empty lately due to a month of heavy stress, and being a smoker hasn't helped either, since it weakens the lung lining—which is basically our primary defense line against viruses. So, I really can't say I'm surprised it caught up with me. It all started after a friend of mine recovered from it over the New Year's holiday. About five days after the festivities wrapped up, we went out for some food, and he ended up handling my phone; looking back, that was likely where I picked it up. Interestingly enough, on the exact day the virus started replicating—you know, right when those first symptoms kick in—I was hanging out with my girlfriend. She hasn't gotten sick yet, even though it’s been four days now, and she didn't get the flu shot.
The progression of the illness:
Around 8:00 this morning, I started feeling this nagging discomfort in my back, and honestly, even though I hadn't realized I was coming down with the flu, I already knew exactly what kind of week was ahead of me. At 9:00, my temperature suddenly jumped to 102 degrees, accompanied by a mild headache and that persistent, nagging ache in my lower back. I’ve lost all interest in eating or drinking anything, and there is this unsettling wave of nausea rolling through me. For now, I’m just lying here. It’s 1:00 PM and I’m sitting here staring at the thermometer, which is reading 102.5 degrees, while dealing with back pain that is honestly unlike anything I've ever experienced. I’ve pushed through plenty of viral infections in the past, but this is a whole different level of misery; in fact, I was genuinely on the verge of calling 911 because the pain is so debilitating that I can barely shift an inch from where I'm lying. For a second, I thought maybe it was that old pinched nerve acting up again, but this feels much more intense. I’m currently riding these waves of chills and tremors—that strange, prickly sensation you get when your body is frantically trying to regulate its temperature—and every time a wave passes, it feels like my fever is finally breaking. My throat isn't too bad, just feeling incredibly dry, so I've reached out to my relatives to see if they can drop off some Tylenol and Advil 400mg to help me get through this. It’s 3:00 PM, and I’m still white-knuckling it until my medication arrives, though I decided against calling 911 just yet. Honestly, looking at this box of Neofen, I was tempted to toss the instruction manual aside and just overdose a little bit if it meant making this pain vanish instantly. I even thought about dissolving two doses of DayQuil in a tiny bit of water just to make the effect hit harder. I know you can safely mix Tylenol with Advil, but you definitely shouldn't mess around with Aspirin. Hopefully, in about thirty minutes, the pain finally breaks and I can sleep like a baby without this fever hanging over me. 5:00 PM — I woke up drenched in sweat, feeling completely relaxed and as if my flu had finally broken. My appetite came back with such a vengeance that even though I couldn't manage a sip of water just two hours ago, I'm now heading to the kitchen to grill some pork neck. Honestly, I've worked up quite an appetite.
I’ve been weighing two different philosophies regarding how to handle this illness. On one hand, there's the idea that you should let the body fight the virus naturally—allowing things like fever to run their course—even if it means dealing with exhaustion, loss of appetite, and general aches. On the other hand, some argue it's much better to manage the symptoms proactively because sleep and recovery are so vital. Ultimately, I’ve decided to take a middle path and combine both approaches. During the day, I try to avoid medication entirely, but once night falls, I rely on them to get through. I actually spent last night tossing and turning because I didn't take anything, which was a mistake. I found myself waking up at 4:00 AM, so I took some Advil, and within twenty minutes, I felt significantly better and drifted right back to sleep. I didn't end up waking up again until noon, which was quite a feat given the fever I've been battling. While the muscle aches have finally subsided, a new symptom has cropped up: a really intense dryness in my throat. It isn't triggering a cough yet, though I can clear out some white mucus when needed. As for my appetite, it is practically non-existent; I truly can't stomach anything besides soup. If I try to make a sandwich, I can maybe manage three bites before giving up. My routine mostly consists of sipping tea, eating yogurt, and sticking to broth. My eyes also feel quite swollen, almost as if there's a slight pressure behind them, which I suspect might just be from sleeping too much—it feels a bit like mild conjunctivitis. Honestly, I reached my limit with the discomfort after only one day of running a fever, so I’ve officially pivoted toward the second philosophy. I'm now managing the symptoms with Advil and DayQuil every four hours. Whenever the medication kicks in and my temperature drops, I try to seize the opportunity to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to nourish myself, something that simply feels impossible when the fever is high.
My temperature is still fluctuating a bit, but my throat is starting to ache more intensely now, and this cough is becoming quite pronounced—it’s that relentless, second-by-second kind of cough that just won't let up. I've also noticed some yellow mucus appearing. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean we're looking at a bacterial infection; from what I've been reading extensively lately, it can actually be a sign that the antibodies have moved into the phase of isolating the virus, which is honestly pretty good news. 😁I’ve been coughing incessantly—probably closer to 150 times in a row now—whenever those sharp nerve pains shoot through my back, making me feel like I'm about to collapse right onto the floor. 😁Honestly, I feel like I’m a hundred and fifty years old right now. It isn't exactly a catastrophe in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly takes its toll. Once evening rolls around, the fever starts climbing again, so I find myself reaching for some Neofen and half a dose of Tylenol—basically a makeshift version of DayQuil. My liver and kidneys are feeling a bit the strain from all this, especially since I threw a B-complex and some zinc into the mix as well, but I’ve been making sure to drink plenty of water, so I'm hopeful they'll hold up just fine.
Day four of this whole ordeal, and I found myself waking up at 4:30 AM with a mild fever, so I reached for some Neofen again. I finally managed to get back to sleep until 12:30 PM. My appetite has returned with a vengeance, so I’ve been eating quite normally, which feels like a win. Honestly, I feel like I’ve hit a turning point in my fight against this virus because my temperature has completely stabilized. I still feel a bit weak, and there’s this slight scratchiness in my throat whenever I swallow, but as soon as I sip some tea with a little honey, it vanishes; it seems like the discomfort is mostly just from dryness.
Starting this year, I'm planning to get vaccinated and focus on giving my immune system a bit of a boost. Looking back, I think the smoking was the main reason I ended up catching the flu in the first place.
That's a bit too long for an incubation period, so you probably picked it up somewhere else entirely... 😉
It’s kind of funny, considering I was actually hanging out with this girl right around the time the viruses started spreading and those first cold symptoms kicked in... she hasn't even caught anything yet, though it's only been four days and she didn't get the shot...
Some people are just built differently, you know, like they have this natural immunity that most of us can only dream of... It’s not even all that rare when you think about it. Growing up, I was basically a walking target for the flu; there wasn't a single year between preschool and high school where I didn't catch it, every single time without fail. Meanwhile, my brother and I shared a room, and he somehow managed to dodge it every single time... He actually only caught it once in his entire life, which, looking back, was treated like a massive family crisis because apparently, having the flu was some kind of monumental event for him... 🤣 Mom always went overboard whenever I caught the flu, constantly fussing over me with cold compresses and changing my clothes every five minutes... I only really remember one time when she actually got stung. So, my ex-wife... she decided to hit me with a massive bout of the flu right on my wedding day... 😁 Woke up with a fever of 39.8 in the morning, popped four Tylenols, and finally managed to bring it down to 35.6... 🤣 Last night, the young fools finally "consummated" their first night of marriage... and she didn't feel a thing... I know she used to talk about how even during those absolute worst school outbreaks, when half the class was out sick, she never caught a single thing...
You can mix Tylenol with Advil if you need to, but don't go messing around with Aspirin...
Are you sure about that? Maybe velvetmoose9 is actually onto something if you look at the facts... Last year, my go-to "cocktail" whenever a nasty virus or the flu hit was just mixing DayQuil with Neofen, though the lady at the pharmacy gave me this intense warning to not take them both at once for absolutely no reason... 🤔
To address the question regarding my colleague’s ban—yeah, I actually agree with the decision to hand out a card for trolling...
I’d also point out that we tend to be pretty lenient when it comes to people insulting public figures, considering how much trash has been talked about Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama... and pretty much every other American politician too.
Now, calling for someone's death isn't quite the same thing, but from what I can see, this user is just responding to another post that was "calling" for it, whether they were being sincere or, more likely, just trolling... which makes their response part of the troll cycle itself. In my view, either both guys are just messing around (regardless of what they’re actually thinking, they're playing along on the forum) or they both deserve a 500... We can't just assume the first guy is joking and then penalize the second one for replying with a "hehe, look at that..."
Who knows, or maybe—hear me out on this crazy thought—maybe people who actually live there know more than some internet expert based in America?
Especially when you're talking about Americans living in Sweden, folks who don't exactly have some deep-seated emotional vendetta to defend the place.
That doesn't mean things are perfect, obviously, but I’ve got family and friends over in Sweden and, believe it or not, they're actually happy... life is good, they've got money, they feel safe, and they aren't complaining about a single thing. It hasn't even crossed their minds to pack up and leave...
I find that a whole lot more believable than whatever those "alternative news" outlets are peddling.
Someone running alt accounts who gets banned on one forum can just hop right over to another subforum using their other profiles...
Not quite.
The penalty for that is a permanent ban on the primary profile and an extra seven-day suspension on the secondary one.
What Richard Sanders7 is talking about is a different issue entirely—specifically people trying to farm points using multiple accounts to dodge bans—and while that could be a problem, as rustydrifter10 pointed out, we need you guys to flag those situations for us... based on what we've seen so far, those cases are incredibly rare, but if we catch someone doing it intentionally, they'll face the consequences.
Clones are allowed on the site, but you can't go using them on the same threads or in any other way meant to confuse people or manipulate the rules... so if you catch someone intentionally using clones to mess with things, just report them.
cosmicgull52 said:I’m all for banning our own people if they start trolling those specific political threads. I haven't really checked them out myself, but honestly, everyone should get the same treatment...
That’s really the only part that might be debatable, though I wouldn't know since I don't bother looking. There are also neutral threads, like the "USA vs. England, July 11th" one, where anyone should be able to chime in without issue...
As for the threads targeting certain political groups, I think Microsoft is being way more tolerant than necessary. The rules are clear enough, and the warnings are even clearer...
There isn't much to argue about here; it's just standard moderator discretion to set up specific topics like that on any subforum...
It's no different from how the Politics section has separate chats for "leftists" and "rightists," where trolls get penalized for crashing someone else's party...
Look, this isn't exactly the right corner of the site for us to try and talk you out of your conspiracy theories... so feel free to keep believing that I’m some sort of lizard-person leader running this entire operation just to target you specifically. Apparently, in your aggressive* blindness, you haven't realized that you're insulting the entire moderation team by treating us like we don't have our own minds... but I suppose that's not really relevant to an actual discussion.
As for the actual facts:
1. Your Partial restriction on Politics was handed down unanimously by every single moderator here.
2. The request to lift that restriction on Politics was rejected unanimously. (And honestly, instead of wasting everyone's time, maybe try reading back through your own threads in the Women's Corner to see how you actually communicate)
3. It’s almost funny how much you play the naive victim while assuming we're all idiots, because the reality is quite different—you targeted the Television board specifically because you saw Maria Fowler39 and me moderating there, and one of your very first moves was to attack the staff and provoke us (those deleted posts are still very much visible to anyone in charge), not to mention your political commentary.
4. Given our experience with you on Politics (both Maria Fowler39 and myself) and your behavior in the Women's Corner (which all moderators have witnessed), the Television staff unanimously decided to issue a warning before the Partial restriction would kick in upon your next violation.
5. Then came your bizarre stalking of my posts and that tragicomic attempt at provocation in the Women's Corner which landed you right back in the Ban Corner (* which, even to the most oblivious people, made it pretty clear who the actual bully was, though it's hardly our fault if your attempts at harassment are so consistently unsuccessful)
6. After your ban expired, you drifted over to OFF and started picking fights about the staff again, bringing up Maria Fowler39 and trying to stir up drama until you ended up banned once more.
7. Once you were back, you went straight to the Television board and insulted a group of 14 and 15-year-old singers 🤦 calling them names, which is exactly why the Partial was triggered.
You're welcome to keep spinning your webs; you've received the official explanation regarding the restrictions. Whether you choose to believe it or not is entirely up to you. Just know that the decision regarding your status was unanimous on both Politics and Television (not that it matters, since I supported it 100%, but I figured it might rattle your conspiracy foundations a bit—neither Maria Fowler39 nor I even brought it up on Politics). If you want to know what kind of user you really are, just look at the twenty-one pages of warnings spread across every board you've touched.
Goodbye.
(Unless you suddenly realize I also moderate Handball and feel a sudden urge to show up there, given it's your favorite sport lately...)