Someone explain how my ISP is so terrible. People across the street from me download steadily at 6mbps, and I stagger around at 3 with the same company. Just outside their range less than a block away from another customer? Bull****.
's a complicated issue. Where your internet service comes from (unless it's fiber optic) is usually less related to your geographic location than it is the nearest pole. For example, if I lived anywhere else on my street, my internet connection would be about three times slower, because it would come from the next town over. For some reason, though, the ISP has a pole right outside my yard, and service from the town that I am in. So, my service is fast. Others, not so much.
Ask the company where your pole is, and see if they can switch you to a different one. Might speed things up.
[this site] lost it's identity long ago and with the quality of posts here in the sections actually pertaining to Magic being rather weak...
...The added state of it existing as nothing more than a source for regurgitating news from websites doesn't hold water in terms of value...
...even the compiled spoiler layout is extremely old and quite an eyesore...
...Hannes is MIA and the lack of social media networking can also be seen as partially responsible for being unable to find ways to fund vBulletin and website upgrades in some ways outside of advertising on the main website....
...[the site feels] like it's floating in limbo on a yearly cycle of inevitable staff changes that come in waves with marginal benefits for the community as a whole...
...Some people know that the place could be more exciting, and that there's more potential if it could shake the bonds of apathy and get the rest of the community more involved somehow.
RE: Oldsters -
I was here back in 2007, when rumors were still in full swing. The site doesn't feel appreciably worse now than it did then. Some people have gone (Sen, Furor, T2), new people have shown up (Hi, Misclick!).
At the end of the day, a tremendous amount of what you're saying feels like nostalgia and, "Stuff costs more!"
Agreed.
I didn't want to be the first to say this, because 'apparently noone agrees with me' that this site sorely needs social media integration
Let me check and see if I have some nails lying around here somewhere...
Re: Social Media
Most sites that integrate this have paid staff. This site doesn't. Citing potential income as a way to defray this is ludicrous. If I were Hannes, I wouldn't be adding it.
First, regarding Kijin being demodded:
Since I don't know precisely why it happened, I'll keep most of it to myself. If it was for being snide to users within his bailiwick (which it doesn't seem was the case), then it absolutely was warranted.
If it was for a generally surly attitude, I think that the staff need to make an important decision. To wit: Are Moderators to be seen as Moderators everywhere or merely where they wield power?
If the latter, than a generally surly attitude is meaningless, and someone else could easily explain it. If the former (and also the latter for Globals and Admins), then someone needs to tell them that, and the same standard needs to apply to everyone, ranging from Kijin to rianalnn. I've seen them both be downright nasty. Only one of them was staff in the place where I saw it, and it wasn't Kijin.
In any case, I haven't seen a proper reason for Kijin's dismissal. Since I don't hang out in Extended, I don't really have an opinion on whether he should be a mod or not. Much as I personally dislike him, Kijin could be a great moderator. I simply don't know. But, since what happened seems to have stemmed from things outside Extended, it seems...dubious for him to have been removed.
Second, regarding priorities, et al.
There is damn little that you can do to help someone in real life when you know they're having a crisis. There is less that you can do online. Does that mean do nothing? Obviously not. Does that mean that we need to freak out and handle someone with kid gloves when they're apparently raging and making threats? No. If someone is having this kind of problem, they should be referred to help, and removed from the community. What they do is on them, not us.
What can the staff do about that person's issues? Little or nothing. What can they do about someone using this site to make threats? Or someone violating the rules? Remove them. While it may not be much, let's not forget...this is a site on the Internet, not a support group, a debate society, a dorm room, a living room, or the all-powerful center of all nerddom. You do what you can, and you don't fret what you can't.
Third, regarding the obnoxious use of ad hominem:
An ad hominem is, and is only, a logically fallacious argument that inappropriately attempts to use the source of a piece of information to discredit the accuracy of said information.
It is not an ad hominem to say: "Obviously you don't know about human rights, you're Hitler."
It is an ad hominem to say: "Obviously you don't know about human rights, you're Bernie Madoff."
Insults about someone's character are never ad hominem. They are merely insults. If I call someone a moron, it isn't an ad hominem. It's just a flame. And, by the way, ad hominem arguments don't generally hurt people's feelings.
We need a standardized value for trophies, and the simplest solution is to make them rarer and more prestigious.
Not to play Devil's advocate or anything, but why? Is it the case that people are too inept to actually consider where trophies were earned and why? Or are people inconceivably considering the number of trophies that a person has as an indicator of post quality? Like some naive people do with post counts?
Or can we just let it go? Let people who want lots of little yellow icons get them however they can. The people who care can care, the people who don't can ignore it.
But the idea that it actually matters how many trophies you have, or even more bizarrely, that they should have equal worth, is ludicrous.
There are two ways to look at it.
1) It's an icon. Naturally, they have equal value, since they're exactly the same.
2) It represents something greater, in which case you really can't compare Clan of the Year trophies to CCC trophies or Poetry Contest trophies, and making them "equal" is imaginary to start with.
Amanda Clayton hit it big playing the Michigan Lottery. Like many winners, she used her $1 million prize to buy a new house.
But the Lincoln Park, Michigan, resident is receiving money in another form -- $200 a month in state food assistance, according to CNN Detroit affiliate WDIV.
"I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought, maybe, it was OK because I'm not working," Clayton, 24, told WDIV when it asked whether it was appropriate for her to receive the money.
Now a state lawmaker is trying to stop such assistance, which is not illegal. He says the food assistance should not go to those who have found riches through the lottery.
"DHS relies on clients being forthcoming about their actual financial status. If they are not, and continue to accept benefits, they may face criminal investigation and be required to pay back those benefits," the agency told the affiliate.
"Our Office of Inspector General will continue to vigorously pursue any and all abuse and fraud in the welfare system," the agency added.
In October, Clayton walked away with $1 million in the "Make Me Rich!" lottery game show. She also bought a car, WDIV reported.
After taking a lump sum and paying taxes, the unemployed woman said she ended up with just more than $500,000.
Asked if she had the right to the public assistance money, Clayton answered, "I kind of do. I have no income, and I have bills to pay. I have two houses."
Clayton told WDIV she would continue using the food-assistance card until it is cut off. "It's hard. I am struggling."
It's hard. I have two houses.
Anyone else want to slap someone who is bad at math skills?
A camera is a type of labor-saving tool. While I consider myself quite conservative on privacy matters, I think it's silly if people can't use cameras (and other recording devices) to do the same things they've always been doing with personnel. Basically: if you can hire a guard and post him somewhere, you should be able to put a camera there.
Of course, people usually don't build hidden guard posts.
Clearly, you've not been to the website.
In essence, the complaint is not about anti-shoplifiting technology. It is the fact that people wear mullets and tiny gym shorts and then get their photo snapped. Then they neckbeard rage when they find it on the internetz.
The question is whether this utterly public form of embarrassment should be legitimate. But, if you don't want people seeing you, don't go out in public.
's a complicated issue. Where your internet service comes from (unless it's fiber optic) is usually less related to your geographic location than it is the nearest pole. For example, if I lived anywhere else on my street, my internet connection would be about three times slower, because it would come from the next town over. For some reason, though, the ISP has a pole right outside my yard, and service from the town that I am in. So, my service is fast. Others, not so much.
Ask the company where your pole is, and see if they can switch you to a different one. Might speed things up.
You sure you don't mean Zarathustrian there, scooter?
Harkius
That would be good for discussion, too.
Harkius
RE: Oldsters -
I was here back in 2007, when rumors were still in full swing. The site doesn't feel appreciably worse now than it did then. Some people have gone (Sen, Furor, T2), new people have shown up (Hi, Misclick!).
At the end of the day, a tremendous amount of what you're saying feels like nostalgia and, "Stuff costs more!"
Let me check and see if I have some nails lying around here somewhere...
Re: Social Media
Most sites that integrate this have paid staff. This site doesn't. Citing potential income as a way to defray this is ludicrous. If I were Hannes, I wouldn't be adding it.
Harkius
First, regarding Kijin being demodded:
Since I don't know precisely why it happened, I'll keep most of it to myself. If it was for being snide to users within his bailiwick (which it doesn't seem was the case), then it absolutely was warranted.
If it was for a generally surly attitude, I think that the staff need to make an important decision. To wit: Are Moderators to be seen as Moderators everywhere or merely where they wield power?
If the latter, than a generally surly attitude is meaningless, and someone else could easily explain it. If the former (and also the latter for Globals and Admins), then someone needs to tell them that, and the same standard needs to apply to everyone, ranging from Kijin to rianalnn. I've seen them both be downright nasty. Only one of them was staff in the place where I saw it, and it wasn't Kijin.
In any case, I haven't seen a proper reason for Kijin's dismissal. Since I don't hang out in Extended, I don't really have an opinion on whether he should be a mod or not. Much as I personally dislike him, Kijin could be a great moderator. I simply don't know. But, since what happened seems to have stemmed from things outside Extended, it seems...dubious for him to have been removed.
Second, regarding priorities, et al.
There is damn little that you can do to help someone in real life when you know they're having a crisis. There is less that you can do online. Does that mean do nothing? Obviously not. Does that mean that we need to freak out and handle someone with kid gloves when they're apparently raging and making threats? No. If someone is having this kind of problem, they should be referred to help, and removed from the community. What they do is on them, not us.
What can the staff do about that person's issues? Little or nothing. What can they do about someone using this site to make threats? Or someone violating the rules? Remove them. While it may not be much, let's not forget...this is a site on the Internet, not a support group, a debate society, a dorm room, a living room, or the all-powerful center of all nerddom. You do what you can, and you don't fret what you can't.
Third, regarding the obnoxious use of ad hominem:
An ad hominem is, and is only, a logically fallacious argument that inappropriately attempts to use the source of a piece of information to discredit the accuracy of said information.
It is not an ad hominem to say: "Obviously you don't know about human rights, you're Hitler."
It is an ad hominem to say: "Obviously you don't know about human rights, you're Bernie Madoff."
Insults about someone's character are never ad hominem. They are merely insults. If I call someone a moron, it isn't an ad hominem. It's just a flame. And, by the way, ad hominem arguments don't generally hurt people's feelings.
Harkius
Not to play Devil's advocate or anything, but why? Is it the case that people are too inept to actually consider where trophies were earned and why? Or are people inconceivably considering the number of trophies that a person has as an indicator of post quality? Like some naive people do with post counts?
Or can we just let it go? Let people who want lots of little yellow icons get them however they can. The people who care can care, the people who don't can ignore it.
But the idea that it actually matters how many trophies you have, or even more bizarrely, that they should have equal worth, is ludicrous.
There are two ways to look at it.
1) It's an icon. Naturally, they have equal value, since they're exactly the same.
2) It represents something greater, in which case you really can't compare Clan of the Year trophies to CCC trophies or Poetry Contest trophies, and making them "equal" is imaginary to start with.
Choose.
I think that you missed this part...
Does that help?
She is no longer receiving welfare. There is justice in the system!
It's hard. I have two houses.
Anyone else want to slap someone who is bad at math skills?
Clearly, you've not been to the website.
In essence, the complaint is not about anti-shoplifiting technology. It is the fact that people wear mullets and tiny gym shorts and then get their photo snapped. Then they neckbeard rage when they find it on the internetz.
The question is whether this utterly public form of embarrassment should be legitimate. But, if you don't want people seeing you, don't go out in public.
Harkius
Thanks everyone.
But I can't find these, even though I am a member.
Help, please?