Posts by Nicholas King

swiftfalcon43 said:Watch the IP address, kids. Watch the IP address.

It is common knowledge that changing an IP address is harder than changing your fingerprint, gender, and Social Security number all at once. ☕

Personally, I don’t see why anyone would criticize this—there are incredibly sophisticated tools out there that analyze the frequency of certain letters in posts (mostly things like "f's," "t's," and "s's"), the specific force with which a user strikes their keyboard, and even the correlation between posting times and the position of Saturn relative to Pluto's house.

Once that analysis is complete, you just take a coin from $1.75 and flip it on the floor. If it lands on tails, people just shout "Unknown" and issue the ban.

shadowseal41 said:Can someone walk me through this? What’s the deal with search engines constantly serving up everything except what I actually typed in?

The search engine is an absolute joke—and honestly, it hasn't been any better than this for quite some time now.

Jamie Chase6 said:Furthermore, Nicholas King, I seem to recall you frequently questioning whether an author was even real—often stumbling toward a rather questionable nickname in your hesitation while doing so...

For quite some time now—honestly, much too long—I’ve been holding myself back from making these kinds of diagnoses.

But with the number of trolls increasing daily, I suppose it's almost a celebration... 😢

By the way, by making those insinuations about "forum favorites," you're essentially shoving yourself into the same bucket as those usernames you wouldn't even want to share an internet service provider with, let alone anything more intimate. 🙂

Jamie Chase6 said:I’d say she’s basically the textbook definition of a troll.

Look, I’m no expert, but I can certainly take a look at 😁

Lately, there’s been this agreement on the forum that any kind of troll-hunting or forensic analysis gets wiped clean. (And honestly, how does that make me feel? 🙂 🙂 🙂).

I highly doubt the rest of the post would have survived the purge, though.

Usually, when posts get deleted around here, it happens without so much as a word of explanation.

ambermason16 said:Look, I’m not trying to step on Sash's toes here, but my suggestion—and I’ve included the links below—is to just shoot a private message to the moderators managing that PDF. Let them decide if it needs to be scrubbed or if it’s already been quoted five hundred times and we should just settle on a deal with you. 🙂

A little nugget of wisdom for you: watch what you type... because you can't always take it back. It’s not that the Reddit staff doesn't want to help, it’s simply that... they can't. 🙂

It’s a bit of an unusual suggestion, really—especially when you consider our officially declared policy.

Are you actually scrubbing PDFs that you moderate just because the author asks? You know—basically doing their dirty work through some sort of backroom deal? 😁?

Sarah Adams48 said:I’ll probably have a few more technical questions before I finally wrap this project up. 🙈

Here she goes again. Why even bother with all the formalities? 🙂

Honestly, it’s not the people who "still have questions" that worry me—it’s the ones who actually know what they're doing. Most people, generally speaking, are just incredibly clueless when it comes to this stuff.

Sarah Adams48 said:Basically: I've already written my paper in seven chapters, broken down into three sub-levels—so I actually have the work done—but I just don't know how to put together the Table of Contents. That sounds pretty terrible, doesn't it?

No. It would sound truly terrible if you knew how to build a Table of Contents but couldn't actually write the damn paper. 🙂

Relying on automatic heading numbering definitely has its perks, but it can also be quite stubborn—if you will. Word should be your servant, not your master. There really aren't any "right" or "wrong" ways to do this; there are just faster or slower ways, more elegant or more clunky ways, and so on.

Kyle Johnson2 said:Take another look at that tutorial.

And honestly, I just can't wrap my head around why she felt the need to delete all those chapter numbers she’d typed in by hand—even though they were already finished—only to turn around and essentially redo the exact same work using Outline Numbered styles... 🙂

Keith Wells2 said:Sure, but what if I don't actually have any numbered styles applied to my text—meaning I’m just using unnumbered heading styles? When I try to generate a table of contents, obviously nothing gets numbered there. So, how do I go about numbering *only* the table of contents itself? Is that even a thing you can do?

Well, you can either do it manually—which is a headache—or you can set up Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles so they handle the automatic numbering for you.

I always assumed chapter headings were already numbered during the drafting stage, even without specific styles. If they aren't, then you just assign the numbering within the styles themselves and call it a day. It isn't exactly rocket science; I mean, you probably don't have thousands of headings, so you should be able to sort that out in a heartbeat.

Keith Wells2 said:I honestly don't get 🤷

Look, if you’ve gone ahead and numbered your chapters "manually"—and if you’re actually happy with how that looks—then there really isn't any reason to go deleting or messing with them; it won't interfere with generating the table of contents.

All you really need to do is make sure those headings are assigned to the correct styles, and that should be that.

Rebecca Miller9 said:I was at a small gathering recently, mostly people aged 35 to 70.
While catching up with everyone, I mentioned that one woman in her mid-sixties looked incredibly fit for her age.
My reasoning was simple: I tend to notice things that deviate from the norm. For most women in their sixties, there’s a common expectation—or at least a stereotype—of dealing with various health issues, carrying extra weight, or lacking mobility and energy. Basically, you expect to see the physical toll of aging quite clearly.
My partner took offense. She’s 25, looks fantastic, and is honestly stunning, but she didn't just feel insulted; she’s convinced that I find older women sexually attractive.
She accused me of acting strangely, suggesting my comment was driven by some sort of sexual fixation. She essentially implied I have a "dirty mind," which has absolutely nothing to do with my actual thoughts or how I carry myself.
The worst part is that now she genuinely believes I’m attracted to women in their sixties...🤣.
I tried explaining that this is just how my brain works—I notice outliers, especially when someone defies expectations (something she has noticed herself many times to her own advantage). Her counter-argument was that I don't comment on young women, yet I singled out an older lady, which to her means I’m viewing these women through a sexual lens. My point was that beauty, vitality, and symmetry are expected in younger people; noticing them isn't special, it's just the baseline. It doesn't make them stand out any more than anyone else.

To give another example: if you ever watch local high school basketball games or even just see retirees staying active in a public park, you might see older guys who look impressively fit. They aren't overweight or immobile. It always makes me wonder what kind of lifestyle they maintained to avoid the physical decline most people experience. According to her logic, that observation alone makes me gay.

On a separate note, we’ve been together for seven years. At this stage, she should know me inside and out; I’m not the type of person to hide my opinions or keep secrets. Yet, she’s starting to throw broad, sweeping questions about our relationship at me.

To justify her claims about my character, she brought up my past:
1. A relationship I had sixteen years ago where I was 21 and she was 36. That lasted two years; every other relationship I've had has been five years or longer with women younger than me.
2. The way I comment on age gaps. I talk about older women at length, whereas with younger women, I might just say they're cute and leave it at that.
3. The fact that I frequently mention how older women are often very accommodating toward me.

I won't bore you further, but based on all of this, is my behavior actually twisted or pathological? Is there any truth to her accusations given the context I've provided?
Thanks for your input.

Your behavior is twisted.

Spending seven years with a woman who takes a simple, passing remark and turns it into a full-blown psychological autopsy—specifically one designed to label you as deviant—is, quite frankly, twisted.

"I’m actually posting this on behalf of a friend who—since she’s only just registered as a user—wasn't able to start a thread herself. "

Is this some kind of brand-new rule they've implemented 🙂, or is the author just trolling us big time?

The reason I'm asking here (rather than over at the Help Center) is because—if my reading of this is correct—that would be an incredibly, massive, overwhelmingly "brilliant" decision.

hollowtrucker77 said:And we’ll just be sticking to America and the American forum, I suppose. I suppose one could argue that Americans have the upper hand here—though, honestly, I’m not entirely sure if that’s a blessing or a curse. It feels like there's this inherent advantage built into the system, or maybe it's just how things are structured in this country, but it definitely leans in our favor. I guess you could say we're starting from a position of strength, provided we don't completely blow it through sheer incompetence.

It might actually be wise to take another look at—or perhaps more accurately, re-examine—this specific sentence. I’m only suggesting this because I wouldn't want you to inadvertently stumble into a legal minefield regarding Constitutional protections and guaranteed equal rights... or whatever other technicalities might arise from such an oversight. 🙂

Douglas Lewis84 said:I think I need to build a table where the columns actually function as lines.

Any ideas on how to pull that off?

Could someone clarify what he means here? 🙂

Bradley Wood3 said:Look, he’s not necessarily a jerk or some total loser incapable of a real relationship—unless he actually doesn't love her.
Or maybe he just doesn't love her anymore... 🤷
The way I see it? He's definitely not feeling the love. Period.
But he's almost certainly feeling guilty, or like he owes her something...

Honey, sorry if I'm being blunt here—I just don't want you living in a fantasy world.
Focus on yourself.
Get back to your own life.
Put that energy into you.
Throw yourself into your job—even if it's a bit shaky right now—your future, and most importantly, your own emotional independence.
Don't go looking for validation for your fears when you already know the truth deep down.
Just try to make the best out of the reality you're facing.
Don't play the victim; value yourself and do the work.
It's really not the end of the world... 🙂

Not quite.

He’s a jerk, sure, but he’s also a total manipulator because he leans on that whole tired trope about being a "lost soul" who just needs to find himself—or maybe he won't, or maybe he'll stay lost forever, blah, blah, blah...

She, on the other hand, is terrifyingly submissive in these desperate attempts—these pathetic hopes—that she can somehow be the one to "awaken" the man who loves her. And let me tell you, I’d bet anything that this version of him only pops up briefly whenever she gets a sudden, irrational urge to humiliate herself, or when she actually starts seriously considering walking away. I’d wager he knows full well that coming back to her isn't easy or simple, for purely existential reasons—it's got all the hallmarks of a situation where she'll struggle to find a decent job or build a stable life back home—which, frankly, is just a godsend for him to keep manipulating her for a little longer.

It’s such a textbook manipulative setup; honestly, it's almost predictable.

Taylor Gonzalez79 said:Absolutely nothing has been achieved here—all they're doing is ruining the discussions.

How exactly does one "ruin a discussion" by locking a thread after 10,000 posts and just starting a new one with a link back to the old one? 😕

Unless, of course, they aren't just locking the previous thread but actually deleting it entirely—which would be just plain stupid.

I have asked a million times already why we can't just move the archives to a separate, completely locked sub-forum—but, I suppose asking is probably like barking at the moon (and I have a sneaking suspicion the reasons are just some penny-pinching 😁 logic).

Andrew Mendoza10 said:I downloaded The Great Pyramid of Giza today, but whenever I try to play the movie, I just get an error message. I'm using VLC Media Player. Does anyone have a fix?

Don't you dare—not even under extreme duress—provide any specific details about what kind of error it actually is. This way is much more entertaining. 🙄

Douglas Lewis84 said:Any thoughts?

Is it possible for the numbers to be negative?

If no—well, actually, if they *can* be—here is what I’ve put together (assuming the number you want to round is sitting in cell A1):

=IF(INT(A1/(POWER(10;INT(LOG(ABS(A1))))))<3;ROUND(A1;-INT(LOG(A1)-1));ROUND(A1;-INT(LOG(A1))))
😁

velvetmason35 said:P =(S * p) / 100

Division by zero is a physical impossibility!!!

Oh, come on—you’ve got two zeros right there in the 100. 😁

Benjamin Wilson7 said:There are actually a few different ways you could handle this—though I suppose the most straightforward ones would be:

1. just use an IF function, similar to what Jose Miller3 suggested; =IF(E2=0,0,E2*D3)

But then again, if E2 equals 0, then E2*D3 is going to result in 0 regardless... so, honestly, you probably don't even need the IF statement at all.