It’s because you’re probably just a clone of Cybermikan. You signed up right after the ban, you jumped straight into the forum knowing exactly how things work here (and where to vent), you use the same speech patterns and writing style, and you're using the same internet service provider—even if a dynamic IP makes it hard to prove. Plus, you were busy praising Mikan in that last post. Because of that 2% doubt, I haven't flagged you for a ban just yet.
I’m not entirely sure if I should be weighing in on the pricing issue here.😬
In my view, the cost of seeing a psychiatrist isn't actually the core issue. Honestly, they're relatively low. Someone could make more in just a few months running a niche massage business. Training to become a therapist takes a long time and costs a fortune, so it makes sense that their rates stay lower than what you'd see elsewhere—it's not like they're ignoring the cost of living.
The real breakdown is in the healthcare system. For people who can't afford private care but desperately need it, it seems like the system can't offer much more than a quick visit with a GP.
I don't see an easy fix. It's capitalism; everything has a price tag, including our health. Unless we decide to go back to being a communist state,😍
It isn’t some intelligence test; it’s just a way to stack up numbers and, more importantly, a way to push ads. On another international forum I frequent, you can’t access half of the features—including sending PMs—until you hit a specific post count. It’s a built-in filter designed specifically to keep the spammers at bay 🙂
placidranger said:Well, look at the Alternative sub. Tons of people have permanent bans there for pretty stupid reasons. I’m counting myself among them. Is there actually a list of everyone banned from specific subforums? I suppose we could count the temporary suspensions too.
A list like that would make it easy to spot any "purge" if one actually happened over on Alternative. My impression is that most bans there happen because someone is deemed "unsuitable," rather than just because of how they talk. Maybe I've got that wrong.
Ever since we took over moderation, nobody has received a permanent or even a partial ban. As for those classic short-term suspensions, it seems like they hit the skeptics and the Alternative crowd equally.
There are a few old partial bans floating around, but I'm not going to start digging up lists for the sake of it.
What’s the point? We already have a broad social group that covers all of this perfectly fine. Why wouldn't someone just argue for splitting off the natural science branches (physics, sociology, psychology...) instead? Honestly, that might actually be a more logical move 🙂
Where exactly is free speech being restricted? Is it because of actual opinions, or just the way people are talking (insults, trolling, spam)? On this specific thread, the moderator clearly narrowed the scope to strictly focus on alternative medicine advice. They aren't allowing debates that they feel derail the topic, but that’s just how this specific thread is moderated—it doesn't apply to the whole site. We actually have similar threads where criticism and debate are encouraged. This isn't some weird precedent; the forum is full of them. Both the Alternative crowd and the skeptics who disagree with the restrictions are trying to elevate the conversation, which feels like a spiritual approach in itself. It's the idea that my identity is tied to the ideas I defend. So, if I get sanctioned, it feels like something greater than just me is being silenced. There’s no personal accountability there, just the usual victim mentality. 😁
Maybe I picked the wrong words. At the end of the day, even an evidence-based, exact approach can be viewed as its own kind of ideology—one complete with fanatics and religious psychology. People tend to identify so deeply with a group or an idea that they start "missionary work" to convert others. It’s a classic psychological consistency trap where publicly declaring your views just reinforces your own bias. It's basically just high-level brainwashing techniques used to cement a worldview. From there, you get subjective selection and all those other biases people love to accuse others of, while we all stubbornly pretend we're being objective. Any individual becomes an ideological fundamentalist once they decide their position is infallible and start trying to dominate everyone else's ideas—whether it's about Religion or just how to slice a carrot. There's a good anecdote about a famous American skeptic who once admitted at a meeting how awkward it felt because the crowd was starting to look like a cult gathering. You had elderly women with glowing faces standing up to "testify their enlightenment." 🤣 Everything needs balance, though it's probably unrealistic to expect that from a college student. That stage of life is practically defined by idealism. 😍
But that’s just pure exaggeration, which isn't what this forum is for. Besides, steelsurfer42 mentioned in his last post that he didn't actually think anything would change; he just wanted people to rethink the concept of Alternative. In other words, he's confirming that he's trying to turn his personal conflict with everything Alternative into a forum administration issue, essentially wasting the mods' and admins' time on his little power games. 😁
Alternative isn't part of the Natural Science PDF, so I don't really see the point of the first part of your comment. No one is forcing you to stay or leave the PDF. There's just this constant effort from certain individuals within the Natural Science group to dominate the platform and drag their ideological battles into forum management. This specific thread is already becoming an issue because of that. There’s no need to play the victim here. You aren't being treated any differently than anyone else acting the same way. Your specific viewpoint doesn't actually matter, but it's not your job to dictate how everyone else should moderate or manage things. That's just trolling, and trolling gets sanctioned. And yes, the goal is to quiet things down—not to silence skepticism, but to stop the trolling behavior.
Sure, you can call for order, but you can also face bias the moment those undesirable elements start drowning out constructive discourse or pushing a specific perspective. Personally, I think that perspective is good for the PDF and for anyone looking at various Alternatives to the status quo.
As far as closeness to Religion goes, the skeptics themselves display plenty of that mentality.😁
On a side note—how we group these PDFs shouldn't be this much of a headache or a massive waste of anyone's time. steelsurfer42, if you were still a college student 🙂 😬
Sure, some topics overlap and others don't; things could arguably fit in multiple spots. But honestly, the current layout is just the result of users fighting for their own little corners of the site. It’s not random, and it hasn't always been this way. I suspect if we flipped the script, we'd just end up with a different crowd of unhappy people on the other side >>.
So, if the users on those boards aren't actually pushing for a reorganization themselves, then this whole thing feels like a calculated political move 😁
Emily Barrett74 said:You asked for specifics. Here is a prime example of the selective moderation happening over on the "alternative" board.
Direct insults and belittling other users? Absolutely zero consequences.
Repeated provocations? No sanctions applied.
A simple response? Instant sanction.
Insulting fellow users? Nothing happens.
Constant baiting, humiliation, and verbal abuse—yet there are no penalties whatsoever.
Verbal attacks, trolling, and spamming senseless images.
Even in the subsequent threads, there is total inaction from mod oversight.
The notorious trolling from that one infamous troll on the "alternative" section—again, no action taken.
Insults, condescension, and patronizing behavior; zero sanctions.
It is frankly disgraceful and utterly nonsensical. We have pure trolling from an individual who labeled anyone disagreeing with his ideology as "fascists" or "monsters," and even went so far as to characterize the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a humanitarian act—all without receiving a single sanction. Is that clear enough?
This is merely a fraction of the issue, even considering the links you already possess. For now. Thank you.
There aren't any penalties, nor are there any moderators calling him stupid beforehand.
Repeated provocations, and still no sanctions.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they should be sanctioned. Personally, I don't think this is necessary. Besides, the user being quoted has already racked up plenty of warnings and a ban, so he isn't getting any special treatment.
Response, sanction applied.
The response was full of insults, so the sanction stands.
On the flip side, you could have been sanctioned for your response, Aries, but you weren't.
In short, it depends on the topic, the situation, and previous interactions... though sometimes less-than-ideal reasons—like having too few mods (lack of time or just lack of motivation)—play a part, rather than playing favorites.
Whether I decide to delete something or not is my call. It’s impossible to keep everyone happy, and frankly, we're short on moderators to keep up with everything anyway.
I am, and the answer is—no, I wasn't a moderator.
Like I said, they aren't being sanctioned. We can delete posts if we find a good reason, but there's no way we're going to spend months or years digging through old threads for that purpose.
Louis voiced her concerns, but Beg hardly budged since he, along with the rest of the mods and admins, had already reached an agreement before the cleanup began.
We aren't going after posts that were written before the new moderation policy kicked in.
As for everything else, you've already heard my answer.
You didn't get a penalty, just a warning (no points deducted)
I didn't delete any mystery posts myself (not that I can as a moderator—I can only suggest moves or help reorganize things), and nothing was done without prior agreement. It was done for a reason, and I still stand by that decision.
The thread wasn't meant for discussion anyway; it was just an announcement. Since several people asked where to find the PDF, once I felt the goal of informing everyone was met, I tucked it away. Technically, it hasn't been deleted, just hidden from view in case it's needed again later.
Err... so the issue is that I wasn't moderating before I actually became a moderator? 🤔
You're taking the "what is an alt" comment completely out of context.
Fair point. Even if we opened a dedicated forum for atheists, they’d still end up obsessing over religion, because at its core, the whole debate is about one's relationship with God.
Besides, what would an actual discussion on atheism even look like?
a: I don't believe in God. b: Me neither. c: Same here. b: Seriously, I really don't believe in God. a: Believing in God is for fools. everyone: hehehe
@rowdyhawk10: The article implies that the specific strain of Anthrax used was engineered within those labs (basically, developed based on their own research), which is where they're looking for accountability. I don't see any direct claims being made here that the US government was behind the actual attacks themselves.
redharbor9 said:I remember those days back when I was stuck at the office; everyone wondered how I pulled everything off. Most people just went from their desk to their car and still couldn't get anything done, yet I was juggling a massive workload, social life, and errands... and still crushed it.
Personally, I think people like that just waste way too much time overthinking about how they won't get things done...
I heard about some experiments with split sleeping—basically not doing it all in one go—and claims that you can save time that way, but I don't know anything about it and haven't tried it myself. 🤔
Polyphasic sleep... it works great if you can actually pull it off, but with how we live today, it's almost impossible to make it work.
Not much to add here 🤣 though I find it hard to believe people just "can't find the time." Does that mean you're spending fifteen days a month just staring at a fax machine? 🤔
In my experience, long-term, you actually need less sleep if you go to bed earlier. Instead of grinding away—doing whatever, really—until 3 AM only to drag yourself up at 8, it’s better to hit the sack at 10 PM and wake up at 3.
I’ve heard some talk about polyphasic sleep experiments—breaking it up into chunks to save time—but I don't know much about it and haven't tried it myself. 🤔