Posts

@Derwol
Well, people asked for a review of everything, and they seem to want us to make everything consistent so no image is on the site if it had been uploaded today with today's rules, so … that means we're looking at stuff that we never looked at before. And it turns out there are a lot of images that none of us have ever seen before. But if there's an image from 9 years ago with the message "Gas the Kikes" then, yeah — that is probably going to be gone.

@Princess Luna
Yeah — very much so. There's also the element of "Woah, now that we're actually using this rule, maybe this needs to be sanded down a little." It's like testing a new crank shaft — you don't just hit the accelerator, you give it a turn, then another, then build it up to speed slowly making sure it runs true and looking for any unexpected problems.

@Derwol
Depends. We did a bulk vote recently where we're still looking through how everyone voted, and we've talked about why some of us said 'yes' for some images and 'no' for others, and most of us are going back through again to make sure that we wanted to vote the way we voted. For myself, when you create an image that's a reference to something or otherwise allegorical, that makes it more art sometimes, and more likely to be something that I think we should hang onto in the 'snapshot'. In other cases, something that for me was fairly seminal to the /b/ vs /co/ fights where I originally was confused why anyone would think it broke any rule, after talking about it I can see how it might be something we shouldn't host.

@Northern

don't say things imprecisely

Maybe.

everyone's understanding of the rules and their implementation needs to be complete

Oh my god we've worked in very different environments. This isn't McDonald's — it's an art gallery. Shit be imprecise and defies simple explanation almost most of the time.

@Background Pony #0CFF
No. This is a my little pony site with a volunteer team. We figure it out as we go.

It's hardly a brand new never-before-tested-outside-the-lab thing as you imply.

In that case, you must understand every nuance of the new rule. So … what's the problem?

This is happening for two reasons

Reason 3: We're all burnt out.
Reason 4: This particular rule is taking more time than any of us have to spend on it.
Reason 5: More critical issues on the site take precedence.
Reason 6: Staff are not as invested in this as you are.
Reason 7: Some of us have a very small budget of 'lets talk about nazis' time.
Reason 8: It's not binary.

Please do

Read the rest of the sentence. What we thought was going to happen is no help when it's in production.

@Derpy Whooves

But, yeah — there's nuances in this new rule change that I don't get yet.

Then you shouldn't be a deciding factor on deletions until then, this goes for everyone else who doesnt understand the nuance.

@Derpy Whooves

But useless if the rule hasn't been used yet.

The problem with you saying this is that you had a thread where users publicly saw how moderators voted on a set of images regarding rule 0 and gave you direct feedback on such decisions.
It's hardly a brand new never-before-tested-outside-the-lab thing as you imply.

This time it's taking longer, mainly because it's taking longer to actually build up a set of examples that didn't get questioned and reversed.

This is happening for two reasons.
Your initial decision methodology is flawed.
Or
You (the site staff) are bending to public pressure on particular images.

I can tell you what we thought when we were developing the new rule

Please do.

@Northern
If we don't agree then we didn't reach consensus. With Rule #5 the image might be deleted if it's on the borderline. With Rule #0 it doesn't get deleted if there is no clear result. That's the process. And we're not training people on how to think — good grief. Have you never worked someplace where there was a new rule and everyone had to work with it to figure out how it worked? It's like you've never had a real job, where people had to work with something to figure out how it worked.

@CHurricane
Sometimes, saying what we mean is how we figure out what we think. And there's a long LONG long way between; "Ok, how does this work in practice" and "I have never seen a plane before".

You(staff) have access to deleted pictures from the past

Not with the new rule. We have to build a jurisprudence from when we can judge future cases. Normally only after a couple days with a new rule we all get it. This time it's taking longer, mainly because it's taking longer to actually build up a set of examples that didn't get questioned and reversed.

take some of them and make a test

That's great once the rule has been in use, and pretty much how we train new site assistants. But useless if the rule hasn't been used yet. And the votes aren't "press the yes or no button". They're "How about this one?" and then a one or two hour discussion ensues. In the end, we all figure out what we feel about images as a team, get a firmer feeling for how we are all interpreting the rule, and it's easier for someone to act knowing how such images generally are handled.

It's like going to a tradeshow with some new product. It's never been sold before, so all we know about it is what we've learned in developing and testing it and what the marketing team says. But once we start using it those stop being "I've heard that" and they become "This is what it does". Day one, everyone is waiting for the admins to say things so we can all hear the message. Usually after an hour of that someone else can step in and give the admin a break. This time it's taking longer to get the message down. I can tell you what we thought when we were developing the new rule, but no rubber survives contact with the road any more than any product survives contact with end users.

@Derpy Whooves
I dont think that voting on actuall deletions is a good way to train people it's like training a pilot by siting him in the plane full of people on his first day and telling him to make a 12 hours long flight across theglobe. You(staff) have access to deleted pictures from the past so why don't you take some of them and make a test that will help you train them in controlled enviroment first to make sure they understand the rules(at least in basic sense) before allowing them to vote on actuall deletions?

@MarauderPilot
Sean: So there was people who resisted. Let's go see this.

* You walk the corner and see about a dozen of the scientists and lab security and surprisingly 4 aliens, 3 Olmeran and a Fyrrian, with them all dead and disarmed close to each others near the end of the test shooting range where there was some cover on which to test the potential of alien weaponry against armored targets. You see no corpses on the other side where the shot probably came from, likely because their opponent recovered the bodies of our their fallen comrades. Apparently it seem that some people here when the crisis broke out felt that overcoming their fears and difference with their aliens captive was better than being assimilated in the traitor faction and ultimately fought side by side with them to their untimely end. *

Sean: An unexpected sight considering this section of the lab purpose.

Olmeran: I cannot help but wonder about what their last thoughts may have been.

OOC: And I had a rather terrible week with not a single decent night of sleep so I'm going to leave early to try to make up for that at least a little despite having doubt about being able to so I'm going to leave on this. But despite the heavy rust from getting back to ideas left so long ago and how I feel right now, I still think this is going rather ok all things considered and I'm glad a line like that was resumed. I hope you are satisfied about it too so far. Night.

@09MurphyM

I find it interesting that Mario Kart has no story to speak of, not even any explanation for why Bowser is allowed to race as well.

Maybe it doesn't need one. In fact, the SMB series in general has always been an example that video games don't have to always have some Oscar-winning stories, or be "movies" in order to be good.

@Background Pony #2847
I heard about that, might be for image/texture testing.

@Dustcan

I mean like legit ones like the covid testing tents.

Where you drive up, poke the machine, and drive away.

@MarauderPilot
Sean: No. We still don't even know much actually. Clearly it started with people here turning on their country with weapons they had here.

* The multiple view mode show sign that further down a battle might have happened around the place where the alien weapons were tested. *

@RhodieNite

I don't trust it, I would not want to be injected with a vaccine that hasn't gone through the full testing process

@Background Pony #39BC
Even if they managed to steal bits and pieces of our tech, they could never develop it that fast without skipping vital test stages. Which they clearly have. Only 70 people were tested and they skipped over every other trial.

@DarkyBoode32
They tested it on 70 people and have been actively trying to hack into USA entities to steal research on American vaccines. It's pretty safe to assume Russia has no vaccine.

To quote Brian Tyler Cohen: "'Welp. It took all of 2 days of having a black nominee for vice president on the Democratic ticket before Trump started testing the waters of birtherism.'

@MarauderPilot
OOC: Yeah, and that was beyond anything anyone else in that story made. Though I must admit I'm still guilty on my side of thinking that rampancy inducing weapon was a good idea.

* The team stare at the row of test tube made with the preservation technology that the Vilnavians had already developed before the first contact, the various aliens floating inside them sometime still alive. Some may even be better off there judging by their wound, on the terminals next to them are some info on their stories. Most have been captured by the side of the planetary war they didn't supported. *

Soldier to Sean: What should we do about this sir. Do we have to protect the secret that our two aliens guests have seen.

Sean: No. I'll take it upon myself. We stay loyal to Silence who helped us.

Soldier: I guess, there's no forerunner in those tube and they are on our side. But the Olmeran?

Olmeran: Even him. He's in this with us now.

Soldier: Ok, I suppose but we'll have to tell commander Ethan.

Sean: Did they even discovered anything here?

Soldier: I've checked a couple of logs, it seem this place main experiment was about finding the source of the alien intelligence, what chemicals could be used against Olmerans, and technological info. They interrogated some too, in hope to find some heavy secret they would have been keeping from us, but it turned out to be pretty pointless and all they said was informations confirmed by the people from us who've been taken to visit the aliens world and came back to tell us about it.

Sean: What technological info did they get?

Soldier: Mostly random pieces because they never caught an engineer, they were hoping to "complete the puzzle" eventually from the various pieces know by regular soldiers…

Olmeran * Arrive in front of a tank and look it up with a face of amazement * : Regular soldiers…

Edit OOC: I have to go. Bye.

@Count Adramélekh Sear
So it was more of a case of… uh, you sort of had it, but sort of not, and you thought maybe you did, but maybe you didn't and…




"But for serious tho" edit: Sounds pretty typical then, in that case. You're never sure unless you're tested

@Mellow Rhythm
I've had it for (possibly) over a month now since there's been a lack of test kits from where I am and the whole duration of having it was overestimated. Like I barely felt anything except the first two days of having it (breathing problems).

@Mellow Rhythm
Pretty big though, because I also just got tested negative along with my little bro and grandma.

@Count Adramélekh Sear
So, they have recovered or are they tested negative?

@MagpulPony

It would actually, either through how far away said craft’s base is _{(i.e. the further away, the more shielding and/or point-defence needed to safely get here to study us)}, the general tech needed just to get here _{(if you can build a craft to get here, the defence mechanisms will be far more sophisticated than we can even imagine)}, or just the general common-sense that would come with the former two that should point out that visiting possibly hostile primitive aliens should mean taking precautions around them. Remember that they aren’t coming unprepared, as the presence of CFCs and methane in our atmosphere, not to mention radioactive particulates from nuclear testing, would give away the tech level of the aliens they’ll be observing, thus don't really have any excuse for being vulnerable to said aliens primitive chemical-driven weapons.

I’m not saying it’s an impossible event for humans to have shot down an alien craft, but that it would be extremely improbable…on top of the extreme improbability of aliens visiting us…on top of the extreme improbability of aliens evolving near us without us noticing…on top of the 49 or so other factors in the Fermi paradox that states that advanced alien civilisations are improbable.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to speculate, and Destroy all Humans! is one of my favourite games involving the subject of alien visitations. I just consider it extremely unlikely given the physical constraints and how young the universe is for such things to happen.

Now China wants all Filipino immigrants going to China to show their negative test results.

Oh spare me the effort of mythbusting. I have better things to do.

@MagpulPony

That’s far more plausible than aliens or time-travellers, since we know that the US government has been working advanced and/or hypersonic aircraft for decades. I’m more willing to accept the implications of one branch of the military accidentally stumbling upon a skunkworks test than the absolutely horrifying implications of our foundational understanding of how the universe works being wrong…and I’m not referring to the idea that the universe is in a false vacuum state either.

Duterte just ditched China's offer over Russia's vaccine. Now China wants all Filipino immigrants going to China to show their negative test results. LMFAO!!!

@MagpulPony

@Flutter_Lover
Because if Trump is an idiot, Biden is that turned up to 11.

There's no "if" involved. Donald Trump is an idiot. Absolutely and unquestionably. In fact I'd go so far as to say that he's pretty much the poster child for the Dunning-Kruger effect, and if the universe were in any way fair, he would be pictured by the entry when you looked it up.

As for the rest, the last time I checked Biden wasn't treating the ability to recognize an elephant like it was an acceptance test for Mensa, so no, he is not by any stretch of the imagination an "up to 11" version of Trump's idiocy.

S9 kinda justified Discord generally not helping in previous seasons. He, in a similar vein to Q, would rather not coddle the ponies, and/or he tests them (so at least it makes sense as to why he didn't do anything in the Movie, if he even knew about the events until after the fact), and when he does feel the need to act, his arrogance has been his downfall on multiple occasions.

It was consistent for his character, for better and/or worse.

Twilight Sparkle: You realize this is information we could have used hours ago?!
Discord: And rob you of a valuable lesson about being princess? What kind of friend do you think I am?

…since like, S4's premiere, that he fancied himself a Trickster Mentor.

I don't think he ever learned a lesson of "hey, please don't manipulate your friends into learning this lesson/don't engineer these events."

He kinda did it in S7's premiere, and it was a thing in Best Gift Ever too. I don't think any takeaway he had from Three's a Crowd would've been anything more than halfhearted, back in S4, regarding when he faked being sick.

Applejack: For all the time you've spent with us, you really haven't picked up too much in the way of friendship lessons, huh?

It's kind of like this: Discord is to heroism what Chrysalis is to villainy, in that his ego can and did cause massive problems for him, and others around him, except he can change more, ultimately, and his failures end in good outcomes for his team, one way or the other.

It says something when Starlight is probably less self-destructive than he is post-reformation.

I just re-submitted my application for the police force. Already passed the aptitude and psyche tests in may but had to withdraw because my fitness wasn't up to scratch.

Well, I'm meeting all the physical standards in my practice tests so I'm confident I'll pass the police physical. After that, only the panel interview stands in my way of achieving my goal.