Looking for some feedback on this modding project

I’ve spent the better part of two days filing reports regarding violations of our political discourse guidelines by driftingtinker.
This particular user has been obsessively distorting the names of the Russian politician Alexei Navalny and his family members within the Russia discussion thread.
Thanks in advance for looking into this.

I’m pretty much on board with what the veteran user said, and honestly, I’m ready to take whatever heat comes my way for acting out like that.

😢I guess I just got sucked into this lazy atmosphere where everyone's basically competing to see who can insult the Russian president the most crudely. Some people even go as far as calling the Pfizer vaccine "Putin-juice" or something equally ridiculous.

It won't happen again. This kind of trash talk definitely doesn't belong on a forum like this.

That's all sorted. Hopefully, this settles things so there won't be any need for moderator intervention.

Thanks. This can be locked now.

I’ll jump in here:

The Colleague who filed the complaint is doubling down on this, maintaining that same condescending tone:

Andrew, from what I gather, you left America when you were just a kid.
You don't live here, so you have no clue what's actually happening on the ground.
You spend too much time theorizing, making assumptions, and feeding on garbage from RT.
Maybe you fly back to the States once in a while to visit your great-grandmother for some home cooking, but that doesn't make you a modern American (no offense)
It’s better if you just act like a decent American and stop trying to comment on things in America as if you're one of us—because you AREN'T.
I respect your input as an American of foreign descent, but please for heaven's sake stop...

If you dig through the old complaints, you'll easily find plenty of instances where this user labeled anyone with a different opinion a Mexican. Here, he’s just slightly tweaked the bold rhetoric, but the point remains identical.

steelfox98 said:I’ll jump in here:

The Colleague who filed the complaint is doubling down on this, maintaining that same condescending tone:

Andrew, from what I gather, you left America when you were just a kid.
You don't live here, so you have no clue what's actually happening on the ground.
You spend too much time theorizing, making assumptions, and feeding on garbage from RT.
Maybe you fly back to the States once in a while to visit your great-grandmother for some home cooking, but that doesn't make you a modern American (no offense)
It’s better if you just act like a decent American and stop trying to comment on things in America as if you're one of us—because you AREN'T.
I respect your input as an American of foreign descent, but please for heaven's sake stop...

If you dig through the old complaints, you'll easily find plenty of instances where this user labeled anyone with a different opinion a Mexican. Here, he’s just slightly tweaked the bold rhetoric, but the point remains identical.

I went ahead and reported this one as well, so there it is—nothing happens for now, I suppose.

"Andrusha" is just an affectionate nickname for Andrew in Russian—there’s zero disrespect intended there. In fact, most people in the US or Ukraine would just call Andrew by a similar pet name if they were close to him.



To be honest, I’ve been following the Russia situation for ages, and the first guy to start handing out nicknames to everyone here was driftingtinker. From internet troll to actual political commentator. Once he started getting some traction, the reports started flying in and he quieted down.

People used to call Ivan the Terrible a "lowlife"—it was practically the standard label for any pro-Russia supporter for a while, and I’ll admit, I fell for it too. driftingtinker invented that whole culture and started the trend. Not to mention all the nonsense about Perigaci and everything else.

But here we are now, dealing with "Andrusha" as the new problem.

Also, this "analysis" of driftingtinker’s life and the attempt by Jessica Peterson2 to label him with a different ethnicity goes against the forum rules.

Man, it actually stung a bit more than I expected when I made that caricature of Alexei Navalny. I guess some haters would probably call me a hypocrite for even doing it.

driftingtinker said:Man, it actually stung a bit more than I expected when I made that caricature of Alexei Navalny. I guess some haters would probably call me a hypocrite for even doing it.

Honestly, reading your posts sometimes feels like you need a specialized dictionary just to keep up; I mean, how is a newcomer supposed to immediately grasp who Bob is, or what "The Exceptional One" refers to, or the whole business regarding local folk ensembles and those tin bands—though I suppose even a novice could follow the "democrats" bit...

As for me, personally, it doesn't bother me one bit; in fact, I find it rather amusing at times.

But if you're going to take that stance, don't go throwing around accusations of hypocrisy, now, shall we?

driftingtinker said:I’m pretty much on board with what the veteran user said, and honestly, I’m ready to take whatever heat comes my way for acting out like that.

😢I guess I just got sucked into this lazy atmosphere where everyone's basically competing to see who can insult the Russian president the most crudely. Some people even go as far as calling the Pfizer vaccine "Putin-juice" or something equally ridiculous.

It won't happen again. This kind of trash talk definitely doesn't belong on a forum like this.

So, I took the feedback to heart. Decided it wasn't really my style, so I'm planning on moving on from that whole thing. If I ever decide to go back to clicking that little triangle icon again... well, I won't be stopping anyone.

Basically, just trying to make these discussions actually worth something, so I cleared out my ignore list—kept maybe two people on there, I guess—and I'm looking forward to some actual constructive back-and-forth for once.

driftingtinker said:So, I took the feedback to heart. Decided it wasn't really my style, so I'm planning on moving on from that whole thing. If I ever decide to go back to clicking that little triangle icon again... well, I won't be stopping anyone.

Basically, just trying to make these discussions actually worth something, so I cleared out my ignore list—kept maybe two people on there, I guess—and I'm looking forward to some actual constructive back-and-forth for once.

What is wrong with you?

You're acting way too reasonable for this sub. ☕

I mean, let’s be real, only idiots and single-celled organisms bother trying to evolve.

Honestly, I can't stand social media. It's just noise. A forum is the only thing that actually works for me, so I figured I should probably try not to ruin the vibe here.

Emily Fox2 said:Also, this "analysis" of driftingtinker’s life and the attempt by Jessica Peterson2 to label him with a different ethnicity goes against the forum rules.

It isn't an "analysis," because this user actually wrote about this himself several years ago.

I simply referred to him as an American of Russian descent. Is that really labeling?

If the moderator decides that it is, and that I’m forbidden from repeating something a user previously wrote about themselves, then I suppose I'm ready to take the red card.

P.S. It doesn't bother me when someone calls me Russian or Taylor (since that's what I am), nor does it bother me when they address me as "Vince," as I don't see anything wrong with it.
And I suspect even Joe wouldn't mind being called "Zoki." 🤣

Jessica Peterson2 said:It isn't an "analysis," because this user actually wrote about this himself several years ago.

I simply referred to him as an American of Russian descent. Is that really labeling?

If the moderator decides that it is, and that I’m forbidden from repeating something a user previously wrote about themselves, then I suppose I'm ready to take the red card.

P.S. It doesn't bother me when someone calls me Russian or Taylor (since that's what I am), nor does it bother me when they address me as "Vince," as I don't see anything wrong with it.
And I suspect even Joe wouldn't mind being called "Zoki." 🤣

I think you missed my point. Discussing specific users isn't the topic here, and it's against the rules.
To make it simple: stick to the subject matter instead of talking about other members.

There’s just one tiny little issue here—you haven't gotten a single thing right. Not one. You're just spreading lies and total fabrications about me, and somehow you even dragged my late grandmother into this mess.
Just like how you occasionally twist my handle into "Alex" whenever it suits you.

I mean, how would you feel if someone wrote that you were just some girl from Miami pretending to be Russ? And let me skip the obvious part right now—I had absolutely nothing to do with any of that.

First off, I don't see the point in using stuff like that as an actual argument in a discussion. It’s like when that one colleague keeps bringing up other users, which the thread moderator already flagged as a bad move a few months back when we were all just messing around.

It’d probably be best to just end this pointless tug-of-war. I’ll be the first to walk away.

Emily Fox2 said:I think you missed my point. Discussing specific users isn't the topic here, and it's against the rules.
To make it simple: stick to the subject matter instead of talking about other members.

Oh! Since when did you become such a saint? I don't recall you having any issues when your little group was calling me "Siptark from Miami" or fabricating my entire life story in that city—not to mention how you twisted the usernames of anyone whose political views didn't align with yours.

driftingtinker said:There’s just one tiny little issue here—you haven't gotten a single thing right. Not one. You're just spreading lies and total fabrications about me, and somehow you even dragged my late grandmother into this mess.
Just like how you occasionally twist my handle into "Alex" whenever it suits you.

I mean, how would you feel if someone wrote that you were just some girl from Miami pretending to be Russ? And let me skip the obvious part right now—I had absolutely nothing to do with any of that.

First off, I don't see the point in using stuff like that as an actual argument in a discussion. It’s like when that one colleague keeps bringing up other users, which the thread moderator already flagged as a bad move a few months back when we were all just messing around.

It’d probably be best to just end this pointless tug-of-war. I’ll be the first to walk away.

To "Ace," since in certain parts of the country (like down in Montpelier), that name is used as a nickname for Andrew.

It would be polite to end this pointless tug-of-war. I'll be the first to walk away.

I agree.