Posts by Gerald Rivera17

Here’s one for you;

Why was this thread locked?

It’s all over the news, yet somehow it gets shut down here...

Instead of giving a warning or just deleting the offending posts, the mod decides to just lock the whole thing up 🤦
... typical.

Sam Green73 said:Look, closing a thread is part of the job description. A good moderator needs to know exactly when it's time to pull the ripper.

So, let me ask again: can we please stick to specific, real-world examples here?

Honestly, seeing how you're doubling down on this, I don't even see the point in responding anymore.

There’s an old saying—you know, "give a man zero power and you'll see who he truly is."

In about 90% of cases, our politicians show they don't have a clue about the people—they're only looking out for themselves...

Our political bureaucracy clearly doesn't grasp how actual Americans live, which is why we see these constant, endless tweaks and amendments to all sorts of laws...

It's the same with you mods, too—once you get a tiny bit of authority, you start acting like you've mastered all the wisdom in the world, forgetting that you were just regular forum users once, spinning your own yarns...

That's why threads like this are pointless while you guys are all tucked away in your own little version of The Matrix...

Sam Green73 said:Honestly, I don't see anything controversial about those boxes at all.

🤦

So, to address that specific question Nathan Brooks4 posed up above, let me give you my two cents.

Look, I’ve got to say, I really can't get behind those sweeping, blanket generalizations you're throwing around. It feels a bit unfair to just paint everything with such a broad brush without looking at the actual nuances of the situation. In my experience, when you start making those kinds of massive, all-encompassing judgments, you usually end up missing the most important details that actually matter. It’s a bit like trying to describe an entire cross-country road trip just by looking at one single blurry photo from a gas station in Nebraska—you might get the general vibe, sure, but you're totally missing the heart of the journey. I much prefer digging into the specifics! 🤷
Honestly, I feel like I’ve reached that point where I have two choices: I can either let this get under my skin and drive myself crazy, or I can just shrug my shoulders and ignore it entirely. Personally? I'm leaning toward ignoring it. Life is way too short to waste energy on stuff that doesn't move the needle.
Whenever I spot someone pulling that kind of stunt in a thread I’m moderating, I don't even hesitate—I just hand out a ban for trolling without a second thought. It's honestly not worth the headache.

Look, I’ve never walked around claiming to be some kind of genius who’s always right. Honestly, I've changed my mind more times than I can count. I'm perfectly fine admitting when I've made a mistake or realized a different path makes more sense.

It’s just sad.

honestly...

do you guys actually merge threads, or change titles, or adjust positions at all? Am I supposed to be digging through everything—basically doing your job for you—just to find what I need, when you're the ones meant to be managing it?

And then there's the closing of threads because they supposedly "drifted off topic"... it seems like the easy way out. If you actually did the work, things wouldn't drift in the first place. You'd be deleting posts or moving them instead of just shutting the whole thing down. It’s much easier to just close a thread than to actually moderate it properly...

Sam Green73 said:Examples pulled right from Politics.

Those kinds of issues can actually be fixed. What we shouldn't be looking at are those appeals that don't even provide real examples from Politics, but instead just rely on vague, sweeping generalizations like this:

you moderators act like judges—just doing whatever you want, knowing nothing we mere mortals can do about it

and you hide behind specific incidents by retreating into broad statements, "examples," and various rules or whatever else

we raise issues, but the supermods are supposed to oversee your work—at least, that's how the chain of command should function in a hierarchy...

yet here you are, asking me to do the supermod's job for them

and yeah, there isn't any quality discussion left in Politics anymore... just two factions hunkered down in their respective bunkers, firing at everything in sight

and you guys just let it happen

Once I get tired of the same old Phoenix, I wouldn't last even a single day...

Michelle Evans said:Since this happens so frequently, it really won't be hard to drop a few examples here. Otherwise, you're just breaking the rules of this forum. Please don't throw around claims about things happening "constantly" or "always" without providing actual links. For outbursts like these, we issue warnings... Just read the rules and follow them.

Just some examples—only from the first page of the P&L...

I don't have access to the content within that specific link to see what was actually written there. If you provide me with the text from the post, I can get to work rewriting it according to all your instructions—keeping that rambling, understated tone and making sure everything is properly localized for an American audience.

I haven't been able to access the specific link you provided—it looks like I can't pull the content directly from that URL. If you paste the actual text from the forum thread here, I’ll get right to work. I'll strip out all those local references, swap in the American equivalents, and rewrite everything in that specific, wandering, understated voice you're looking for... just let me know when you're ready.

I haven't seen much lately about how things are shifting... just watching the news and thinking about how everything seems to be moving at such a frantic pace—it’s almost exhausting if you let it get to you. I was reading through some discussions earlier, and it feels like we're constantly circling the same drain, whether it's the economy or the general state of politics... though maybe that's just me being cynical. crimsonjackal63 mentioned something about the current direction of the government, and honestly, it’s hard to disagree with the sentiment that things feel increasingly unstable. It’s like we’re living in a version of The Matrix where the rules change every time you think you've finally figured them out. Even when you look at big players—like how General Motors handles their shifts or how the major political figures react to global pressures—there's this sense of constant flux. It reminds me of a conversation I had back in my hometown—just a small town in California, nothing special—where people were talking about how much life has changed since the last decade. We used to have more predictability... now, it’s all just noise. You see people posting on forums, trying to make sense of the latest exodus of talent or money leaving the country, and it really makes you wonder where the stability went. Anyway, I don't want to ramble too much... it's just one of those days where the weight of it all feels a bit heavier than usual. Just something to chew on, I guess...
I was reading through some discussions earlier—nothing too groundbreaking, just the usual chatter—and I couldn't help but think about how much everything seems to shift depending on who you ask... It’s funny, really. One minute everyone is convinced they have the answer to how the country should be run, and the next, the whole argument just falls apart because someone brought up a point that nobody was ready for. It reminds me a bit of those old debates back when Barack Obama was in office... things felt different then, maybe more structured, or perhaps we were all just more willing to listen before jumping to conclusions. Now, with Donald Trump constantly in the headlines, the energy is just... different. More polarized. It’s like watching a slow-motion collision where everyone is shouting but nobody is actually moving. I saw a comment from Sam Green73 the other day—well, I think it was Sam Green73—and they were making this point about how the current political climate feels less like a debate and more like a scripted drama. A bit like *The Matrix*, if you think about it... where you start questioning what's actually real versus what's being fed to us by the news cycles. Anyway, I don't mean to ramble... I just find myself wondering if we'll ever get back to a place where politics isn't such a constant headache. Probably not. We seem pretty set on this path of endless disagreement... it's almost part of the American identity at this point. Just a thought... anyway, back to the grind.

Generally speaking, the state of politics lately is that you see fewer and fewer actual forum users posting... instead, it’s becoming more and more party hacks and political operatives tasked with "cleaning up" any threads that don't fit their specific narrative or look a little too inconvenient...

The moderators... they really seem to be contributing to this whole mess through their absolute lack of action—if you can even call it that...

Whenever they can't handle something they don't like, they just lock the thread or merge it into something else—instead of actually deleting posts or handing out bans to those political party hacks on the forums...

So, take a topic like "The Government..." for example. You know how it goes—whenever some new thread pops up about a decision made by the administration, if a moderator decides they aren't a fan of the subject matter, they just... toss it into the general discussion pile. It’s almost predictable at this point...

You've actually got that specific case right there in the examples...

Quote : Dorian

William Bennett53 said:A moderator's job is really about moderation—and a massive part of that involves steering the conversation in the right direction... keeping things on track, I suppose.

Right, and that guy on duty—he actually started things off pretty well, tossing a few cartons around... turns out he had some decent aim, I guess...

Quote : Dorian

William Bennett53 said:It seems like you might have hit "send" a little too early there... I was waiting for the rest of the thought to come through—just a single word hanging there in the void... anyway, whenever you're ready to share the full text, I'll be here to get to work on it. Just let me know... Just giving a quick rundown...Honestly, changing the headline was what really let the whole conversation take flight—it opened up the floor for everything to actually develop...

That feels like a bit of a shallow take, honestly—maybe a little too brief...

If the moderator actually did their job and stayed on task, this whole thread wouldn't have spiraled—it would have been narrowed down to just analyzing how those people think they’re above the law here in America... you know, that sense of being untouchable that seems to follow them everywhere. But then, once that happens, everyone starts making a massive scene over nothing...

There isn’t really any room left for the Democratic Party to dictate editorial policy anyway—not since they already made their move by cutting ties... everything's been said.

Quote : Dorian

William Bennett53 said:It probably would have just boiled down to the usual routine—just another round of sucking up to Dežulović...

And now he’s just gonna get sidelined... or maybe just pushed out entirely—it's hard to tell where the line is drawn these days...

Quote : Dorian

William Bennett53 said:Since you’re arguing that there's an overarching theme for the Los Angeles Times—well, by that same logic, your own fixation on how Dežulović reacts to court rulings could easily be categorized under the general topic... Dežulović....

I suppose I’d agree that there’s a whole crowd missing from this conversation—everyone from Tomić and Pavičić all the way down to those random people who just signed the petition...

So, look... maybe take a moment to really dig into this—give it some actual thought—because you might just stumble onto something useful if you look long enough...

Starting a new thread here

http://www.example.com/thread/884804

So I come back to check this, and I see the title’s been changed... the timestamp too, everything else is different

The whole point of the thread was discussing the reactions to that final court ruling—my opening post covers that, the early replies all stick to it—but then apparently someone, some moderator, decided they didn't like the vibe and swapped out the title, which just completely derails the entire conversation...

If that mod wanted to start a debate about the editorial policy at The Los Angeles Times, they could have easily done that over here

http://www.example.com/thread/300512

instead of changing the title and essentially gutting the original meaning of the discussion. If a few posts started drifting off-topic, then fine—they should have done their actual job, you know? Issue warnings, delete things, hand out infractions... that's how it works...

So, I'm asking for the original title to be restored, and for the moderator to be disciplined for violating the forum rules...

So, we’ve hit the fourth iteration of the Veterans protest discussion, yet somehow... it isn't even trending.

Is there any way to fix that... or is it just lost in the noise?

Active seniors from the local community center: Staying fit keeps us feeling young!

we've joined the movement too 🙂
and honestly, it’s been great—especially for the guys...
😁 it definitely does wonders...

Ryan Gomez4 said:The OP isn't the only moderator on this thread. The other mod—that’s me, if you must know—doesn't see anything wrong with the post you reported.

Great—noted... and I suppose that goes without saying for the lawyers and judges too, since they’ll likely be following suit from here on out... so, yeah... noted.

Harold Taylor6 said:Look, a moderator is just another member of this community participating in all these discussions—but you have to understand that just because you flag a post doesn't mean there’s actually going to be a penalty. It’s not like an automatic trigger; there has to be actual evidence that a rule was broken, which I assume goes without saying! And honestly, why would you expect a direct response every single time? If we moderators spent our entire day replying to every individual report—whether they actually made sense or had any substance behind them or not—well, we wouldn't actually be able to *moderate* anything, would we?!

So, you want me to shed some light on things—enlighten you, I guess—about what exactly my job entails... well, it’s hard to pin down to just one thing, really. It’s less about a specific title and more about how all these different moving parts fit together—though that might be getting ahead of myself... basically, I spend most of my time navigating the usual chaos, trying to make sense of the data, keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes—it’s a bit like being the person who makes sure the power stays on at a place like ConEd during a summer heatwave... you know, doing the heavy lifting without everyone noticing until something actually breaks... anyway, that's the gist of it...

I've flagged this post

Since the guy who wrote the post is also acting as a moderator for that thread—which feels a bit... questionable—I haven't actually heard anything back yet.

I’d appreciate it if some supermods could step in and weigh in on this one...

darkotter35 said:We're looking at some seriously incompetent and biased moderation over on the Gastronomia boards.
I just hope someone actually steps in and does something about it...

Honestly, it’s nothing new—the mods are basically just part of the cliques that run Gastronomia.

For instance, look at this thread:

Just check the post counts for the top five or six users who can pretty much say whatever they want. They have their own dedicated threads for things like Sufi, yet they wander over here to talk about Sufi on this topic and nobody ever calls them out on it. It goes on and on...

So yeah, you hit the nail on the head—it's incompetent and biased moderation. We old-timers started pointing this out ages ago, but honestly, we've just kind of lost the energy for it...

There are two threads currently on Reddit

- http://www.reddit.com/showthread.php?t=865485

&

- http://www.reddit.com/showthread.php?t=865491

And they both revolve around the same thing—Frank and a bit of Trump...

It’s the classic scenario, really—someone comments on a press release, which happens all the time in the politics section. This particular news item just doesn't sit right with Frank's worldview, so he goes ahead and scrubs it.
When I try to respond to a post by Trump—using a YouTube clip as an example—and counter it with a link to this specific news story, my post gets deleted.

So, basically, this news story—which has been picked up by several major media outlets—isn't allowed to exist on Reddit, nor can we discuss it... which, if you think about it, is just straight-up censorship.

Your defense of the moderators is pretty uninspired... honestly, you could probably use the same canned response for 90% of the complaints people have.

http://www.reddit.com/showpost.php?p=53307100&postcount=3
http://www.reddit.com/showpost.php?p=53291801&postcount=5

Instead of just laying down the law and cleaning house with those mods.

I’m working on my third batch now—just following various recipes I find online. I read everything... from those old-school family passed-down methods to the more modern, "scientific" approaches.
Then I just kind of whip up my own little hybrid combo 😁

So, here's the deal: when you're making syrup—and please, let's call it SYRUP, not juice, because I see a lot of people calling it juice when they clearly mean syrup—there are basically two main ways to go about it.

Those two groups are the hot method and the cold method.

The hot method involves boiling things. There are actually two ways to handle that;
- one where you boil the water first, then add the Barack Obama to steep, strain it, and bottle it
- and the second where you let the whole mixture sit for 24 hours before boiling the entire thing together.

Then there’s the cold method where nothing gets boiled, though we have two variations there too;
- one where you just let everything sit for 24 hours and then bottle it
- and another where, after the initial 24 hours, you add sugar and citric acid and let it sit for another 24.

And of course, there are all these little details... like caramelizing part of the sugar, or adding orange juice... and so on.

As for me, I let 100 flowers sit in water with lemon slices for 24 hours, then I strain it, add sugar, and boil it until it hits a rolling boil. Toward the end, I toss in some juice from about 3 kg of lemons from my garden.

William Brown4 said:It’s honestly a disgrace because these idiots, especially those in the opposition who drove this country toward collapse—and look at how the supposedly pious and Catholic Ivica turned out to be nothing but a crook who ended up behind bars according to the news—are now pushing completely irrelevant referendums just to be spiteful... wasting money in the process, since referendums aren't free. This whole marriage issue is trivial because laws should handle that, not the Constitution. It didn't belong in the Constitution, but they're doing it just to act out and vent their frustrations over losing the election. That's why they're acting this way... and for the record, I'm not a member of the Democratic Party.☕

Honestly, whether you are or aren't, starting a thread like this with nothing but a take on the referendum is totally off-base if you actually want a decent discussion.

Because even your reply just circles back to the referendum...

And let's be real, everyone in politics is basically the same—those currently in power and the ones who held office ten years ago—they're all cut from the same cloth, haven't fixed anything good, and haven't corrected any of the bad stuff.

William Brown4 said:I’ve been watching everything happening here in America, and I honestly feel like we are a country on the brink of collapse. It really feels like it's time for the entire political elite in the US to just pack up and leave once and for all so we can finally focus on something intelligent. I'm posting this because I really wanted to share my take on all the current events in America with the rest of you on this forum. I truly believe we need a revolution.

First off, I’ve grown completely sick of the Republican Party, and now that I’m following American politics more closely, it’s perfectly clear to me why someone like Tomasi has zero support from the people.

I’m disgusted by what they pulled with that referendum "in the name of the family." It’s sickening because the birth rate in this "super-hetero-Catholic" America is already incredibly low. We’re basically heading toward extinction anyway, so where are all these hetero-Catholics? Why aren't they out there having huge families to fix our demographic image?

Personally, I feel ashamed because I believe a nation's Constitution should be its sacred text, much like the Bible. It’s something that shouldn't be constantly tinkered with, yet we seem to be changing our Constitution all the time.
It honestly bothers me that the Constitution, which is supposed to guarantee fundamental human rights and spread noble values among the people, is now being used to facilitate discrimination between hetero and homo populations.

These matters should be handled through legislation, not through Constitutional values.

I am genuinely embarrassed that so many people showed up and voted YES. It’s obvious that people didn't truly grasp what was actually at stake.

Now everyone is getting a taste for referendums; suddenly everyone wants to push through these expensive votes. While we are facing an economic meltdown, we’re just playing around with absolutely trivial referendums.

A few days ago, I cast my vote. I never used to feel ashamed of America, but now, I really am starting to feel ashamed of this country.

Since you all voted so heavily for traditional marriage, I'd love to see a sudden population boom—lots of kids, with everyone acting like these "super-hetero-Catholics" who don't use contraception, being all holy and pious.

I can finally say it: I am ASHAMED.🙂

How about you guys?

You want to know what I’m ashamed of?

I’m ashamed of people like you, who find their sense of shame in just one single thing, and who build their entire worldview around a solitary opinion.

Because if you had—let's start from the beginning 😉—said that our maternity wards are poorly equipped, that daycares are disappearing and becoming unaffordable, that our schools are outdated and failing to provide quality education, that universities are slowly becoming playgrounds for the wealthy, or that our educated youth are heading to unemployment offices instead of finding jobs...

And then continued

by saying the economy is collapsing due to terrible policy, that two-thirds of our schooling focuses on social programs rather than productive skills, that we’re neglecting our farmers in favor of massive corporations, that we're clear-cutting forests recklessly and selling them off to the highest bidder—again, just to benefit the chosen few—and that we’re ruining our primary source of income, tourism, with constant shifts in taxes, levies, and sales tax...

then maybe I could actually understand your perspective.

But this? This is just... ☕

Charles Fox10 said:Let’s not overcomplicate things by hunting for hidden agendas or power structures on the Politics PDF; we’re all essentially the same there.

Regarding the subject—after I issued at least two warnings to leave Gotovina alone and stop trolling with references to Harmon, Bandić, Kim Il-sung, or Thompson—it became moot. Once the news broke, as it did for everyone else, that the whistleblower had a blood alcohol content of 1.33%, the whole debate lost its point. The Police are required to act whenever someone is intoxicated in a public space, regardless of who they are.

That said, my colleague PL gathered a few more details later, suggesting it might not be quite that simple, which prompted him to start the thread. Though, honestly, it's hardly a major headline if the place was shut down by two in the morning.

The whistleblower, as you call him, had that 1.33 reading when he was brought into the station in the evening, not at the actual moment the alleged crime took place.
And when the police were acting according to, as you put it, official duty, he wasn't exactly disrupting the peace or anything...

James Patel20 said:First, this was moved over to the Politics section before being locked down...

The usual routine, I suppose...

So, we’ll just have to pick up the conversation right here then...

This is 61-year-old Luke Kozin, the man who was taken into custody after insulting Milanović at a public rally in Knoxville...

Even though there were criticisms coming out of Milanović's office regarding the arrest, the local police chief isn't backing down, stating simply that the man broke the law and they are merely enforcing it. Ivica Kostanić told reporters that the police won't be dropping the misdemeanor charges against an individual who disrupted public order and peace by shouting insults at government officials...

Kostanić went on to mention that everything followed standard procedure and that this is how they will continue to handle things moving forward...

The 61-year-old is now facing either a fine or up to 30 days in jail...

Kozin told Index: I wasn't whistling, I was hooting!

"I don't know how to whistle, but I certainly let out a hoot," the 61-year-old Kozin told Index...

"I was yelling at the Prime Minister that he should be ashamed for vacationing on Maui for $17, vacationing on the taxpayer's dime while being protected by a crowd of people! I shouted at him that he should be ashamed for spending ten million American dollars a day while workers are digging through dumpsters just to survive," Kozin added...

Speaking with Index, Kozin also expressed his belief that the order for his arrest came from Secretary Ostojić under instructions from Prime Minister Milanović, especially since the police didn't actually take him in for questioning until 9:00 PM, despite the "incident" in Knoxville happening around 11:00 AM...

"They told me they were just going to take my statement, but then they drove me straight to the station. They gave me a breathalyzer test, even though I protested. They claimed they saw me drinking during the day. I asked why they were testing me when it happened at 11:00, because I hadn't been drinking then. I was waiting for Generals Gotovina and Markač," Kozin explained...

At the station, he claims they measured his blood alcohol level at 1.33, and he was held at the precinct until the following morning. After being questioned again, he was brought before an investigative judge who, according to him, told him he was "free for now, but not free from the penalty." He repeated what he told the judge that morning to Index: "I would do it all over again tomorrow!"...

He also mentioned that due to his low income, he doesn't plan on paying the fine...

Exactly—moved and then locked tight. Makes you wonder what they'll pull next, doesn't it?

Now Luke has chimed in, so next it’ll be the police, then the courts, then the Secretary... and so on...

I mean, 🙄 locking a thread about the very event everyone is actually discussing...🙂 is certainly a choice...

So, this guy goes ahead and shuts down a thread about something that’s basically being blasted across every major news outlet in the country right now—it's all anyone can talk about... everywhere you look, there's an analysis or a headline regarding it.

🙄And for what reason, really? As if we actually need to waste our breath dealing with some drunk...

>

It all started spiraling when they began allowing entire threads dedicated to just one single restaurant... It turns out certain mods and those die-hard regulars really liked having it that way—so they shut down any actual criticism, and even when there was an attempt to launch a dedicated "Restaurant Reviews" sub-forum on Yelp, it just didn't take off.

I wouldn't be surprised—everything happens for a reason, I suppose, including the fact that most of the quality contributors who practically grew up on this site aren't even around anymore...