CheckEmoji Community · the emoji forum
🏠 Home 🆕 What's new ❓ Unanswered 🔥 Popular 📡 RSS Members 👥 0 online
log in · register
Home › Bradley White73 › Posts

Posts by Bradley White73

332 posts shown.

Why was the Syria thread closed? in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Gary Perez7 said:that kind of propaganda deserves a red card, and honestly, none of us on this forum should even bother wasting our breath trying to debunk it.
period.

We’re probably going to see a lot of new faces popping up on this thread over the next few days, so I guess it might be wise if everyone stayed a bit more level-headed. That goes for the longtime members here too—maybe some newcomers will drop in repeating things they read elsewhere that we consider propaganda, and I really wonder how that would play out if we started handing out bans immediately, since people often don't even realize they've said something controversial 🤣—and it definitely applies to the moderators. Maybe just take a breather? This thread has been locked for hours now just because someone isn't in the mood to deal with it.
→ go to post
Why was the Syria thread closed? in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Gary Perez7 said:I feel like this thread went a little overboard a while ago, but since Aleppo has become such a central focus now, it’s actually pretty important

The US, where this site is based, is a member of both NATO and the EU, which means we're constantly being targeted by intense propaganda and just plain baseless lies every single day.
For instance, you see Russian propaganda—like when Lavrov tries to blame the USA for losing control of Palmyra to ISIS, even though the Russian military and air force were supposedly defending it.
They basically try to mask their own incompetence with these kinds of falsehoods.

It feels like these types of lies and conspiracy theories have been sliding through this thread without any pushback for way too long.

In my opinion, when someone posts something on here, the right move is to just say, "Hey, that isn't true," or "That person is lying," and then provide a link or a reliable source. I guess fighting propaganda should be about using the truth and having a solid discussion with real arguments, rather than just sanctioning users or shutting down threads entirely.
→ go to post
Why was the Syria thread closed? in Feedback & Suggestions ·
He got all worked up and just couldn't handle a real discussion, so he threatened us with harsh sanctions and shut the whole thread down. I guess you can just go find Churchill on the topic of the day over on ABC if you want an explanation. (I only caught the first few sentences, but apparently Aleppo fell back to the regime forces and won't be multicultural anymore). Just go watch the topic of the day and stop complaining here. ☕
→ go to post
Deleting posts in Feedback & Suggestions ·
John Scott63 said:...

I’ve actually made it a bit of a habit lately—while this particular group is running things here—to "save" the decent posts by archiving them in a file. I suppose they'd probably try to ban me for doing that, but luckily, there are limits, and I guess God has a plan for keeping things fair.
...

I feel the same way, though honestly, it’s getting so hard to predict what’s going to get wiped out next that I don't even know what's worth "saving" anymore. Just on this specific thread, one of those longer posts from user luca toni just vanished into thin air right before I could even get back from my ban to reply—it was probably the most normal, on-topic post you could ask for, complete with a link to an article from the Los Angeles Times. I assume the admins can see this, so, well, here we are. And Pringles, you really don't need to tell me that other people's deleted posts aren't my business; that's just your opinion, and given how things are going, I have to say I disagree. They are basically destroying the Politics PDF, and it feels like some people are deleting posts just to hit some sort of quota. 🤷
→ go to post
Feedback/Complaint in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Of course so. You’re standing on the biggest American forum out there, issuing a manifesto in bold red letters where you basically label perfectly legitimate viewpoints—like closing our borders!—as racism, and then announcing that such talk won't be tolerated anymore. I mean, who do you actually think you are, deciding what people can or can't say and branding them racists just because they disagree? It feels pretty pathetic. This is what this forum has really come to. 🙄
→ go to post
Feedback/Complaint in Feedback & Suggestions ·
A, you're just dodging responsibility here. You signed off on that crazy manifesto yourself, so I figured you might actually want to stand by it. From what I can tell, DJTCro handled this exact same topic with total professionalism.
→ go to post
Feedback/Complaint in Feedback & Suggestions ·
I have a feeling that bolded text isn't going to fly here. I mean, if there’s even a shred of common sense left on this forum, you can't just wrap your specific ideology in the guise of "discussion rules." So, if I'm reading you correctly, suggesting we should close borders is just "light" hate speech in your eyes? 🤣
→ go to post
Feedback/Complaint in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Well, I see he’s released a manifesto, basically laying out a set of rules for what we can and can't say moving forward. As if we weren't already aware.

And he went ahead and threw this specific part in there, highlighted for emphasis:

"2. Any future spreading of racist or xenophobic theories, such as 'White Europe,' 'Christian Europe,' 'Close the borders,' or 'Ban entry,' along with trolling about how 'multiculturalism is great' —which essentially all boil down to the same thing will be treated as hate speech. Maybe not a 500-point penalty, depending on the context, but certainly a 100. If someone can't grasp that terrorist attacks and crimes are committed by a tiny minority of Muslims, well, they can deal with that personally, but not here on this forum. Fighting Islamic terrorism by hating, despising, or pushing out all Muslims isn't welcome on this site, and won't be."

So, apparently, saying "Close the borders" or "Ban entry" will be flagged as hate speech, lumped in with things like "White Europe" or "Christian Europe," because in lonebadger6's view, they all mean the exact same thing.
As for that third category... I wonder, will we even be allowed to quote Merkel when she said the multiculturalism concept was dead?
→ go to post
Feedback/Complaint in Feedback & Suggestions ·
BBC drama said:Check out this post
I just can't wrap my head around the idea of fear becoming a permanent fixture of life in Europe. If some people on this forum think that's acceptable, well, I don't, and I
I truly believe nothing matters more than the safety of people living in Europe.

Honestly, I don't care if we're talking about Islamic terrorism or any other kind; these recent events in Germany are an attack on its citizens, period. No one can talk me out of that.

The whole thing feels like a farce. They supposedly blocked a Syrian man from a festival because he didn't have a ticket, yet somehow two million people have slipped into Europe without even showing a passport or ID.

And then there's that "lover"—he wasn't "just" a terrorist who killed a pregnant woman before moving on to unidentified targets... if someone hadn't stopped him, imagine how many more victims there would have been. How could anyone possibly characterize that differently?

The same goes for that depressed guy in Munich; he was just a sick individual who spent a year planning a massacre. Depression isn't aggression, and there's absolutely no excuse for what he did.

Then you have this latest incident, where the initial reports were claiming it was just a gas leak.

It’s all just lies and manipulation. Refusing to call these events by their real names is just avoiding reality, and I guess it's a way to provoke a reaction from the other side.
I'm not sure who benefits from this, but if the politicians in the EU don't show some actual will to resolve this crisis, I suspect the people might start taking matters into their own hands... aren't the elections in Germany in 2017?

I just saw this a few minutes ago—a post flagged with 35 points for trolling and then immediately deleted. Moderator lonebadger6. Topic: Germany, EU PDF.
I see, so not much has changed. Just a small observation based on the title, I'm not really complaining or anything.
→ go to post
Politics thread closed in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Nicholas Nguyen said:...
I won't even get started on how he’s threatening to flag anyone who suggests we should close the border(!) or criticizes what looks like a failed multiculturalism project as hate speech(!!!).

Well, those are the new rules, I guess! The guy is basically a fanatic ideologue. Luckily, he’s just a moderator here on this forum. But honestly, I don't see myself leaving this site anytime soon, and there's no way I'm staying quiet about my views—even if they happen to be perfectly summarized and then labeled as "forbidden speech." No chance. I'm not leaving this place without my diploma.
→ go to post
Politics thread closed in Feedback & Suggestions ·
wanderingbadger77 said:The vibe here is usually pretty chill—culturally driven, no fighting, just good energy. But then some moderator drops a post that doesn't sit right with everyone, and suddenly everything falls apart with trolling and hate speech accusations.
It feels like we’re being sidelined, though I’m honestly not sure why. There wasn't even any real tension in the thread, except maybe because the mod felt a bit stung when his posts didn't get an immediate round of applause.
It seems like we’ve reached this point where, once again, any comment that doesn't align with the mod's specific political, global, or intellectual views gets labeled as trolling or hate speech.

So, I’ll say it clearly: I feel pretty insulted. Being labeled a racist or a purveyor of hate when that isn't the case at all... it just feels wrong.

When will moderators actually face consequences for throwing around insults like that so easily?

And that post of yours that got flagged and then deleted... 🤣

Here it is:

wanderingbadger77 said:Look at this post
I just can't accept fear becoming a normalized part of life in America. If some people on this forum think that's okay, well, it isn't for me, and
nothing matters more than the safety of people across the US.

I don't care if we're talking about Islamic terrorism or anything else; those recent events in Germany were acts of terror against its citizens, and no one can convince me otherwise.

The whole thing feels like a farce. They claim they wouldn't let a Syrian man into a festival because he supposedly didn't have a ticket, yet millions have entered the US without any documentation at all.

That "lover" wasn't "just" a terrorist who killed a pregnant woman before moving on to unknown targets... if he hadn't been stopped and there weren't more victims, how would we even describe him?

The same goes for that depressed guy in Munich—a sick individual who spent a year planning a massacre. Depression isn't aggression, and there's simply no excuse for it.

Then there's this latest incident, where the initial reports claimed it was just a gas leak.

Lies and deception... refusing to call an event by its real name is just running away from reality and provoking a reaction from the other side.
I don't know who benefits from that, but if American politicians don't show some real will to solve this crisis, the people might just take matters into their own hands... I guess that's what happens leading up to elections in Germany in 2017.

🙏
→ go to post
Politics thread closed in Feedback & Suggestions ·
I'm just copying this over from my own thread:

Linda King Asks:
Well, I just saw that he released a manifesto, basically acting like a set of guidelines on what we’re allowed to say from now on. It’s almost funny—as if we hadn't already figured all that out ourselves.

Well, I guess he just went ahead and planted that right there, and even made sure to bold it too:
Quote:
I honestly think we need to be careful about how we handle this moving forward. I guess any future attempts to push those kinds of racial or xenophobic theories—you know, the ones centered around ideas like "White Europeans" or "European Christians"—should probably be addressed directly. It feels like we should stay mindful of that kind of rhetoric as we continue these discussions. "Close the borders," "ban entry," and all that nonsense about how "multi-culturalism is the way to go"—it’s just more of the same. I mean, at the end of the day, they basically boil down to the exact same thing, don't they? I guess you could say they're essentially identical. I suppose there's a chance this might be flagged as hate speech.Maybe it’s not quite $500, depending on how you look at it, but I’d say it’s definitely worth $100. Honestly, if someone can't grasp the fact that terrorist attacks and crimes are committed by a tiny minority within the Muslim community, then they really need to figure that out on their own time—because it isn't going to be discussed here. Trying to fight Islamic terrorism by spreading hatred or contempt toward all Muslims is just not welcome on this forum, and it won't be tolerated.
It seems like saying "close the borders" or "ban entry" will be flagged as hate speech. Apparently, they’re going to lump those phrases right in with terms like "White European" or "European Christian," because, I guess, to lonebadger6, they all basically mean the exact same thing.
Regarding this third point, I wonder if we'll be allowed to quote Angela Merkel, where she mentioned that the whole multiculturalism concept is essentially dead?
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Charles Fox10 said:I’m always serious when it comes to the PŽK.

Well, you clearly shared some incorrect info and then just dipped without coming back to fix it, so I guess I had to make some assumptions.
Susan Price30 said:I’m sorry, but that part in bold is honestly a bit ridiculous; it's highly unlikely to be true. 😁

If you were writing this on a political blog under your actual name—or just posting generally on a blog or Facebook—your work would fall under the federal copyright law. But when it comes to anonymous posting on a forum? Well, that's a completely different story.

Once you hit "post" and it goes live on the forum, it effectively stops being yours. At that point, claiming or even maintaining any sort of copyright becomes a real uphill battle.

On the other hand, anything written on a blog or Facebook would constitute a new original work, even if someone occasionally incorporates snippets of others' copyrighted material like images or text. There is quite a bit of misunderstanding regarding this issue within the blogging community, mostly because bloggers and Facebook users haven't actually read the copyright law.

Regarding posts from various locations on the forum—the community will likely react preemptively if anything gets posted. Is there anything more exhausting than a flood of endless messages?So, essentially, if an aggrieved party wants to sue a poster, they can, provided that Forum.hr complies—but only upon receiving a valid court order or a police warrant. At that point, the site is obligated to hand over the data necessary to identify the author. That’s pretty much the extent of it. It's where your rights begin and end.

By the way, that last part follows the forum rules.

Especially when there are dishonest intentions to eliminate either the topic or the author from the forum.

Oh really? How can you claim that? Every single time you write one of those "farewell letters" on KZB, you cite the exact same excuses—things like being persecuted by moderators, censorship, or being silenced. But you’ve been around since 2002. Doesn't that suggest the reality isn't actually what you're claiming it is? 😉

Maybe you haven't noticed the censorship or the silencing because, by sheer coincidence, you've mostly stayed within the approved narrative here. But naturally, it won't always be that way. Once you eventually drift away from the "correct" opinion—like some users do when discussing immigration topics—you'll start to see where the boundaries are. I suppose I wouldn't have believed how cramped this space actually is until I felt it myself.
rustywalker42 said:That's just not true. Everyone knows who's behind a pseudonym, and it's easy enough to prove it if you have to. So, everything you just said? Doesn't hold water.

The terms you agree to upon registration don't actually mention anything about waiving copyrights for user-generated content, so I guess the site is lagging behind there. On Facebook or more modern forums, that's explicitly stated—take point 4 on Cracked as an example. I'm not sure if there's some implied consent built into the law, 🤷but anyway, rapidnomad512 wasn't even bringing up copyright law; they were pointing to the Forum.hr rules regarding moderators editing posts, so I don't think we need to waste time debating the legal side of it.
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Susan Price30 said:Sam Green73 is known for being a strict moderator, and I guess that's just how it goes... whether something is directly relevant to the discussion or not probably depends on the context or the actual goal of the interview, right?

(Besides, I don't think users or thread authors get to pick who moderates what... or do they?)

I sort of see him more as someone who might run around with a pair of scissors. Even the admins have a similar vibe, wanting to change the actual structure of the thread itself. It isn't really about some massive drama over a couple of posts. Anyway, I won't dwell on it anymore, I'm actually heading out now.
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Morgan Ruiz3 said:I don’t quite get it—if a three-digit number of posts were actually deleted, what exactly was being scrubbed? These are posts from months ago; why bother now?

Attempting to have a serious discussion about political options here is absurd; it’s like claiming you can breathe without any oxygen. If a politician makes a positive or negative comment regarding the Visegrad Group, we aren't allowed to comment on the "America and Visegrad Group" thread? That is some truly fascinating logic right there.
The relationship between domestic politics and the Visegrad Group has become a daily headline in the news, yet here, censorship starts to kick in. You claim this has turned into a right-wing chatroom and tell us to move elsewhere, but what if someone from the left or someone just looking for a neutral perspective wants to discuss America's potential involvement with the Visegrad Group or our government's official stance? They are shut down immediately.

You have entire threads under politics where people drone on about shoes, dresses, someone's kids, or psychiatric sessions, and you find all of that perfectly acceptable and unmoderated. But the moment anyone discusses the American political stance toward the Visegrad Group on the "America and Visegrad Group" topic, suddenly it's an issue. Bravo.🤦

I suspect Charles Fox10 was just being sarcastic here. 😁
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
Susan Price30 said:Wait, did Charles Fox10, the veteran moderator of the Politics section, actually look into this supposed "masking" and "fantasy" thread? He’s claiming three posts were deleted in just ten days.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a matter of being banned or suspended, does it? Deleted.And here we have someone talking about "censorship," "ideological bias" in this or that, "massacres," and so on.

The actual content being removed matters too, not just the raw number of posts. Here is what Sam Green73 deleted:

rapidnomad512 said:That was a fantastic interview with Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. It’s been a while since I’ve read someone write like that. It felt so measured, yet at the same time, she had such a firm stance with a clear vision and distinct goals.
If the Republican Party can project this kind of energy during the second half of the campaign, winning the elections shouldn't be an issue.

He’s saying he doesn't see how this relates to the topic. And honestly, what else am I supposed to say to that? 🤷 If you look back to the beginning, you can't even count how many comments like these—analyzing daily politics—show up in the thread. That is largely WHAT the topic is. And after a few actions like these, even just three, self-censorship starts to set in. The veteran moderators of Politics (and later Charles Fox) should probably know that better than anyone.
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
It seems like everything actually boilsotted down to the moment Sam Green73 spotted the potential for this topic and decided to dig back eighteen months just to finally get the conversation properly off the ground. 🐔
@Dorian, just one quick thought before I head out: please, just leave the election commentary alone over there. People are watching it; they might not be posting much, but they’re definitely keeping an eye on things because of it. My advice? Don't touch anything or try to fix problems that aren't even real. At best, you just end up looking like you don't know what you're doing, and at worst, it starts looking like soft censorship.
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
slybison8 said:I just wanted to clarify that nobody has stopped me from moderating this thread or any others. So, I suppose there isn't really a need for all this extra drama. I've been incredibly busy in my day-to-day life lately, so I haven't had much time to check Forum.hr, and that's really all there is to it.

I'm not entirely sure what kind of chaos is unfolding there right now, but I hope to be back in a day or two, and then I'll see if there's anything I can do to help calm things down. 🙂

As of right now, I truly don't have the time or the energy to get deeply involved in these ongoing disputes.

Best to everyone.

It’s nothing major—they’re just editing the opening posts and suggesting we split the thread into daily politics and literary prose sections, stuff like that. But hey, I suppose it’s good to stay in the loop so you don't end up totally out of touch. 🍿
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
She left Politics because of the immigration debate, then she came back just for the elections, as if I should head over to the Visegrad section just to find and encounter this total shitstorm. Don't single that out. I guess the elections are kind of the climax of this whole topic, which was never meant to be some polite debate club; it had a specific purpose. Maybe we could just leave things as they were and let slybison8 handle the moderation like usual. I don't mean to say you have bad intentions or anything, but I think you're making a mistake—even the smallest interventions seem to trigger massive pushback. There’s a real sense of freedom there; people were coming in to talk about the migrant crisis, they even touched on the regional Big Brother, and everything stayed on topic without ever spiraling into the PŽK. It was never an issue. Please, jump in, share your thoughts, disagree if you must, but maybe just let slybison8 moderate on his own. Or honestly, better yet, just moderate yourselves. This is such a great discussion; it doesn't need saving. I guess I wonder, why are you doing this?
→ go to post
The Visegrad Group thread massacre has begun... in Feedback & Suggestions ·
@Sam Green73, by claiming you love reading this topic so much, I guess you're just digging yourself into a deeper hole. You yesterday edited the opening post without the author's permission. This thread is a year and a half old now. Honestly, who knows what else is being deleted or will be wiped away in the coming days? And that alternative suggestion—allowing comments on the election but archiving the thread later—well, that feels like nothing more than a veiled threat to me. You don't really have any legitimacy here; you haven't built it through contributing, you've just lurked, reported, and deleted things whenever you felt the need to "protect" the thread from its own creators right before an election. To be honest, your moderator warning (and I mean this generally, regarding any imposed moderator figure) wouldn't mean a thing to me on the Visegrad Group thread. If I ever feel the need to go there and write something, I'll moderate myself and handle whatever consequences come my way.
@Ryan Vaughn7
That little provocation about forum.karamarko.republicanparty is honestly quite pathetic. I suspect you didn't even open the thread, to be fair. Just so you know, people put their hopes in the Democratic Party too, and they were tearing into the Republican Party like they were some German player. People were arguing, feathers were flying. The thread isn't ideologically biased (except maybe for Edward Ortiz77, who was the only one who never went after Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović 🙂 and turned out to be right!).
The Democratic Party lost, so they basically made their policy crystal clear (focusing on the Western North America rather than the Visegrad Group), so I suppose there isn't much left for us to discuss here. We knew this even before the migrant crisis and before these recent reports about the rejected invitation. I might suggest you actually open the thread and start reading. It seems to me that many of you here act as if you're coming from simpler times 🤣 where everything is just red or black. You might be surprised at how complex and nuanced political thought can actually be.

Edit:
William Bennett53, I'm only just getting to your post now, so please excuse me if I've responded to something you already addressed.
→ go to post