Posts by Eric Collins5

Steven Clark2 said:Ahm, yeah, you've certainly picked the wrong person to try and butter up. LOL

The response is provided below. Please read it carefully. 🙂

It isn't enough to simply write a lot of intelligent content; you actually have to *be* intelligent. This goes beyond just individual brilliance—it’s about how one conducts themselves in response to the community. You need to remain calm, refusing to be easily provoked, and show genuine respect for others' perspectives, even when you find yourself fundamentally disagreeing with them. When you feel the urge to ban someone because their views clash with yours, you should take a moment to count to ten first. Your goal should be to elevate the atmosphere rather than deepening the divide. A moderator needs to carry themselves with authority, avoiding being a pushover that anyone can manipulate at will. You also need a sense of humor and a genuine appreciation for the sometimes tedious task of reading through the complex outbursts of various personalities. It requires dedicating actual time to cleaning up unnecessary posts, reorganizing threads, and addressing inquiries in the complaints section or via private messages. You must endure minor provocations and insults with grace. Self-control is paramount, especially when you know you are right; after all, it isn't the moderator's job to dictate "the truth." Furthermore, you must stay open to discussion with the reasonable members of the community. For those who aren't quite as balanced, you often need to spend even more time explaining that things aren't always as they seem. You have to be prepared to accept criticism regarding your work—even when critics go overboard—without taking it personally and retreating into a basement of self-defense from which no one can coax you out. A moderator's true character is revealed by how they handle critique; any effective leader must be able to receive it. It is vital to understand and master the specific areas you moderate, and you shouldn't feel slighted when a user proves to be more knowledgeable than you are. You aren't appointed to a moderator position simply because you are the smartest person on the forum—truthfully, the smartest people rarely have the time for this kind of work. You must ensure you never use your position to settle scores with users who hold different ideologies, regardless of what those beliefs may be. Ultimately, you should strive to be a well-rounded individual, staying informed about social trends and current events. Having a solid educational foundation is helpful (though I’ll admit, having more than the basics is certainly an advantage). You need to clearly distinguish between trolling, spam, off-topic remarks, insults, and on-topic discussions—the fundamental nuances of digital communication. And finally, you must know exactly when to slam your hand on the table and say: "Enough!"Enough! " ☕ I refuse to be one of those pushovers who lacks the courage to say "enough." You know, there is a certain danger in constantly playing by everyone else's rules; you lose your own sense of self and your unique identity. You become someone easily swayed, lacking any real substance, and eventually, that lack of character will be your undoing. Why? Because if your moderation style depends entirely on external influences rather than your own principles, it proves you aren't actually in control. Instead of managing the situation, the situation ends up managing you.

If you act like that kind of moderator, you won't earn genuine respect. You certainly won't win over the closeted narcissists—those people who act superior while hiding their true motives behind passive-aggressive comments (since you won't issue warnings or delete posts because, as I've mentioned, you feel you have to tolerate them up to a point, excluding outright insults). Nor will you please the constant trolls and clones who spend their lives hiding behind pseudonyms just to insult others or mock even you. The world is full of fools, and the internet is the perfect playground for them to realize their potential. 😁

Now, if you possess those traits, there are two more things you absolutely need. 😁 First—you must never stop improving. You cannot simply stagnate where you are. The world is constantly evolving through new achievements and ideas; why should you be any different? 🙂

The second, equally vital thing is this: once you step into a moderator role, do not let it go to your head. Don't start acting like some big shot upon whom the entire world depends. Being appointed as a moderator doesn't make you superior to the other users on Reddit (😁); it simply means you appeared at a historical moment when someone with your skills was needed. 😍

P.S. I strongly advise against trying to suck up to the moderators or administrators, because sooner or later, your ulterior motives will come to light. Just be fair, open, and sincere—you have nothing to lose. People will value your opinion much more if you are authentic, rather than being the type of person who pretends to be okay when you truly aren't. An honest and honorable man feels no need to manipulate or flatter anyone. If you believe you are someone capable of bringing positive change to this community and making it better, then you should prove it through your actions. Otherwise, you’ll just look like someone who talks a big game but folds the moment things get difficult. 😍

Well, I just said exactly what was on my mind. Plain and simple. Then hollowtrucker77 started coming at me all hard about it.

😳

😂

Your tactics are all wrong, man. You have to be subtle. Devious. You act like a perfect gentleman on Reddit, but behind the screen? You’re just a wicked, twisted grin waiting to happen.

😍

But honestly, being a moderator really just means you have to stay neutral. You can't take sides.

Honestly, I think most people would actually lose their minds if they weren't allowed to just troll and act like total jerks online. If we were all forced to be reasonable, polite, and genuinely cultured? It would be pure misery. Most folks would probably just snap.

It’s true. You can perversely decide to ban someone just because they disagree with you and make up some arbitrary penalty on the spot, but that isn't the same thing as sucking up to the mods and actually earning your stripes through merit. 🤷

This is usually how the girls start things off.

😁

cosmicskipper39 said:Just go buy a whiteboard or something because there aren't any reward points here 😉

BTW just look at posts from someone like Emericzy who isn't even a moderator on this forum yet.

😠😠😠

Wait, are you actually his clone just trying to hype him up?

Or maybe you're his wife, or girlfriend, or one of those secret superfans?

😠😠😠

Pppppffftttt... his writing is so dry. I can't even bring myself to read it. It feels way too "normal"...

☕

I actually find myself agreeing with JoW regarding your recent posts too. 😍
You’re clearly just trying to write enough brilliant stuff to impress the absolute elite of this forum. 😉

*scribbling furiously in my little notebook*

I’ll make sure cosmicskipper39 gets a 1,000 point reward once I finally become an administrator.

☕

briskbison41 said:Ehh now... why don't you just switch over to the deli salami? 😁
They’re smoother, easier to swallow, much better quality.🤣

I haven't even stepped foot in a Walmart... not since last year.🤣

You haven't even posted enough to claim you're an "exemplary" member.😳
🤣

Quality over quantity, always... 😳

Besides that, why are you even chiming in?!?!

😠 😠 😠

Look at this—someone with an avatar featuring a guy suffering from a massive headache is trying to lecture me!

Once I finally make it to Administrator, you’re going to be the first one paying up!!!

😠 😠 😠

I honestly can't believe we're still dancing around this topic. It feels like we’ve been circling the drain on this debate for weeks now! I was sitting in my office earlier—just staring at a stack of paperwork that refuses to organize itself, mind you—and it hit me how much we're missing the forest for the trees. We get so caught up in the minutiae that we forget the core issue. It’s about principle. It’s about the fundamental way things should work in a society as massive as ours. My grandfather used to say that if you don't get the foundation right, the whole house is going to lean, and frankly, I think he was onto something here. We need to stop overcomplicating the simple truths. Let's just be honest with ourselves for once. kaže:
Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to actually sit down and define what we mean by an "exemplary forum member." It feels like we just float around using the term without any real substance behind it. 😳

Take a quick look through my old posts. If you do, you’ll get a pretty clear picture of what it actually means to be a model forum member. 😳

Richard Perez3 said:The admins are gonna have to weigh in on that one.

But honestly, I think you're just hijacking someone else's thread here. 🙂

😢

I'm done...

Actually, never mind. I guess I'll just start sucking up to ZgSash. 😳

Alright, so what’s the play here? What do I actually need to do to climb the ladder, grab an admin role, and finally show these power-tripping moderators who's really in charge?

😳

Richard Wilson4 said:Man, I’d love to track down a 6-hour cut of Dune...

That is honestly the most common urban legend I've ever heard.

Supposedly, there’s a working cut out there that runs over four hours, but as you already know, those versions just end up being filled with scenes that don't actually fit the final narrative.

Contrary to popular rumors, no 6-hours long director's cut, ever existed. The only "director's cut" of the film was the one shown theatrically; Lynch never had a hand in any other version of Dune. Lynch's original intention was for Dune to have been about 3+ hours long. To that end, about 5 hours was shot. This is also confirmed by author Frank Herbert wrote in the introduction to the book "Eyes". It would be impossible for a 6-hour version to exist and even a 5-hour Dune would mean the inclusion of many scenes never intended for the final version (for reasons of redundancy, etc.). It is only necessary to read any of the final scripts for the film to realize that there was never any intention of making Dune more than 4 hours in length at the very most: the script for anything more just was never there.

Whatever you read somewhere, a six-hour version does not exist and it never did.

You have a PM.

Greetings, over & out.

I’m stepping away for now because we have veered way too far off-topic.

If I feel the urge to debate again, I’ll just head over to the religion section and post there.

Once again, I want to say thanks that my posts so far haven't been flagged (or perhaps they just haven't been spotted by the moderation and admin team 😁) and that they were recognized as my own personal views and freedom of speech.

I honestly thought I was going to burn out like a cheap sprinkler, but here I am, still standing.

Best regards.

I’ve laid out my own definition of Islam, exactly as I see it.
Is this person a follower of the Quran and its teachings?
He is Muslim.
I have absolutely nothing left to say to him. Period.
It’s my opinion, and it's my right to dislike someone. Period.

I apologize if I seem fixated on Germany. It’s just that over on the German forums, we have these absolutely incredible discussions without any of the constant trolling. And honestly? Even I manage to stay on my best behavior there. 😳So, I’m going to drop a link to two news articles here—they're a bit dated, mind you—along with my own explanation of what went down.
I'm only going to translate the core essence of these two texts. They're way too long, honestly. If anyone actually knows German, they should probably just go ahead and read them themselves.
So, what we're looking at here is an initiative to have Muslim clergy trained using taxpayer dollars.

The "International Community of Non-Religious People and Atheists" stands firm: We are officially protesting the training of Imams at universities in Germany.

Generally speaking, we stand firmly against using taxpayer money to fund religious officials.
Studying religion is absolutely vital. Of course, we shouldn't overlook non-Christian faiths like Islam either. But let’s be clear about what we are doing here. I am not talking about the secular, objective science of religious studies. No, that's different. What we are discussing here is theology—pure theology intertwined with actual faith.

Theology, according to the international community of non-religious and atheists, isn't actually a science. It’s just not. The reason is simple: it's tied too tightly to rigid religious beliefs. And honestly, that creates a massive conflict with the fundamental right to freedom of inquiry and learning. You can't truly investigate something when you've already decided what the answer has to be.
That’s exactly why theology has absolutely no business being taught at state universities. It just doesn't belong there.

The atheists and non-believers—let’s just call them the extreme secularists—are actually showing some unexpected deference to Islam in this particular instance.

Muslims respond:

Ali Kizilkay, the spokesperson for the Muslim council, says:

We simply cannot call a prophet into question.
We simply cannot accept your critical historical approach.
From our perspective, the Quran is absolutely perfect.
We truly believe that this is the word of God.

Enough is enough for anyone with a brain.

They aren't just refusing to confirm what those people up top are claiming—they’re actually flaunting it. It's practically a badge of honor for them at this point.

No Nick, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by being a Muslim.

In my view, if someone believes in what Islam teaches and follows its tenets, then they belong in that category. It's as simple as that.

Whether their name is Agner, Ahmed, or Anthony—or whether they have blue or purple skin for all I care—doesn't change a thing to me.

So, following that logic you’re pushing—where if someone walks into your house and puts muddy shoes right on your dining table, you're expected to just serve them coffee and cookies?

No way. That doesn't fly with me. And yet, that is exactly the kind of high-minded ethical and moral standard (if I may call them weaknesses, even if you don't see them that way) that Islam specifically targets.

I actually received a PM today containing a link to a fantastic post. Honestly, one of the best things I've read regarding Islam.

Unfortunately, I can't remember where it was because my inbox is constantly being emptied.

It was from a forum member who commented on Islam and backed up his whole point with a link to this incredibly bizarre article titled "Sparschwein" (there goes Germany again), where Muslims reportedly felt offended because, back in the day, kids in schools were given piggy banks—you know, those little "Sparschwein" things.
Believe it or not, they got their way, and now instead of a "Sparschwein," they hand out "Spardose" (savings boxes).

And perhaps it's happening precisely because Germans are always acting so superior, so moral and ethical, thinking they've outgrown such trivialities.

What's next? Are we going to start mass-ripping electrical outlets out of the walls because they look too much like pig snouts?

Look, listen to me. You’re probably right about those—maybe even radical?—Islamic forums.

In one instance, we were talking about a more radical corner of the web, but in the other, it was the largest forum in Canada.

So you aren't allowed to express an opinion? That doesn't give me any reason to act similarly toward, in this case, the Islamic world, on those forums where there is supposedly more "freedom of speech."

That is the exact problem. In the case of Islam, that freedom of speech is hijacked to defend a brand of fascism so pure it would make the world's most brutal dictators blush.

Islam, by its very nature, views you, me, or any other non-Muslim as inherently inferior. I am not making this up. This is what Islam promotes; in fact, they boast about it.

Let me go slightly off-topic just to clarify my point:

On another foreign forum dedicated to reconstructing ancient European ethnic religions—specifically the Old Norse religion, Asatr—we have this term, "Nazikeule" (meaning "Nazi thug").

What is actually happening there?
It happens that the Asatr religion is constantly being linked to Nazism, which in almost every single case is absolute nonsense.
The very same people work so hard to convince everyone around them that they aren't Nazis that they end up turning a blind eye to the most disgusting Islamic fascism. Yet, if someone from "their own side" points out the blatant arrogance and insolence found in Islam, they are immediately slapped with the "Nazi thug" label.
Of course, when you run out of actual arguments, you can always use a carrot—or rather, a stick—to shut down your opponent that way.
This doesn't just apply to the specific people I'm mentioning; it extends to a massive segment of German society.

As you might have guessed, Islam recognizes this and exploits it arrogantly.

And so, the "antifascists" become the defenders of turbo-fascism... the irony is truly staggering.

If you can't see it, I honestly don't know if there's anything I can do for you. I just hope everyone else paying attention can easily spot the double standards, at least in the case I just laid out.

What do you mean by double standards?
Take that one guy from our forum, for instance. He mentioned how he posted his thoughts on Islam on some Canadian forum without throwing any personal insults at anyone.
Go ahead, take a guess at what happened to him next.
As far as I know, Canada is still a secular country.
I really wonder how things would play out if he had actually said something controversial publicly in a country that carries the word "Islamic" right there in its official title alongside "Republic."

Would those same rules apply in a place like that to someone who simply praised—mind you, just praised—Christianity or some other non-Islamic religion?

The second thing is that certain people just take their own rudeness and arrogance for granted, yet they make such a massive scene about being "victims" or "threatened" the moment they aren't treated with total reverence.

Nicholas King said:Are you seriously suggesting this is a "Catholic forum"? 😕

Look, this is supposed to be an open discussion board—at least, it ought to be. And no, I’m not a Christian. I'm an agnostic. I've personally ruled out the possibility of an omnipotent being existing.

B.t.w., I haven't even been baptized.

Besides, your post feels incredibly stripped of its context. It almost feels like you went out of your way to make it look that way.

boldgardener93 said:☕

It doesn't get any clearer than this. Just classic hate speech and double standards, claiming this thread actually matters instead of being just plain 🙂

What double standards?

Unlike some people here, I’ve been as honest as possible, and frankly, I’m just waiting for my reward.

Go ahead, keep trying to drag me down. Once I get my "bonus," you can try to demand even stricter rules, but I am standing my ground.

I know I'll be getting my bouquet of flowers in the morning, so I might as well enjoy a little rest over the weekend.

If some people can't see the forest for the trees, well, that's on them.

I don't like your religion. I find it backward and primitive, just like everything else that crawled out of that Abrahamic corner of the world.
I actually enjoy seeing Islamists get a reality check once in a while.
That is called freedom of speech, and it should be perfectly legitimate.
So, what's the issue?

Just ask some of the other users how they fared on Islamic forums after they voiced their actual opinions.
Personally, I’ve never stepped foot in one, nor would I ever go.

And if someone wants to come after me for my views, and if I don't need them because of it, then I certainly don't need them.

We live in different worlds—just accept it.

And where, exactly, do you see hate speech here?

There is a massive difference between hating something and simply not liking it.

Your religion hates by default. I don't need any non-Islamic propaganda to prove that; your own handbook says it right there. In fact, it practically brags about it.

If I were running the show as a moderator, I’d personally scrub every single Islamophobic post from the board. However, I wouldn’t bother reporting them or issuing sanctions. I'd just leave them there so those users could never be flagged or penalized.

On the flip side, any post supporting Islam would get hit with the maximum amount of points immediately. Every now and then, I might even try to stretch the rules a bit just to squeeze out a few extra points.

Some people simply don't get it, and frankly, they never will.

In other words, go ahead and head over to the Islamic forum and try to express an opinion if it happens to clash with Islam.
I am genuinely curious to see how long you'll last before you burn out like a cheap lighter.

A few points for honesty and sharing my thoughts, please...

And honestly, who actually gives a damn about the edge of Politics (or political maneuvering in general)?

Personally, I only hang out there for the trolling and the chaos.
On the edge of Politics—or even right in the thick of it—you can't expect any actual serious debate, nor would I ever want to be stuck in one.

Over in the off-topic section, they "promised" us this sort of quasi-anarchy. The threads might actually have room to breathe if the mods don't start nuking posts like they did earlier today, despite saying they wouldn't.

All in all, seeing the sour faces of my esteemed fellow forum members just fills me with a certain kind of energy. 😍

I mean, it’s lovely watching you all squirm over a thread being moved, but it’s even better watching you lose your minds sending those little love letters over on NYC-DC-Philly.😳😁

Honestly, if this movie had come out of Canada instead, would people have torn it apart this quickly?

Yes.