Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#181

Post by EdwardDiego » Tue, Nov 16, 2021, 3:39 AM UTC

enneff wrote: post #128

EdwardDiego wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What concerned me in that post was this bit: > His other ex and I got to tell our children that their father died without saying goodbye to them, or that he loved them Assuming the children aren't 14+, this is where a white lie is in their best interests. Telling them this, true as it may be, will only traumatise them further than they may already be. I know it can be very hard though when you've had a traumatic rela…

I thought the implication was they’d have to tell the kids that he died. That he didn’t say goodbye is something they’ll immediately know themselves.

Yeah, fair, it's ambiguous wording, although the "without saying goodbye" segues into "or that he loved them" You still have the option of fabricating a comforting lie around the latter part.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#182

Post by banannaise » Tue, Nov 16, 2021, 3:02 PM UTC

JohnBooty wrote: post #56

devonkim wrote: post #33

What’s been interesting through the years on the forums that I’ve found to be strange is that as the Internet social media landscape became “free” services that have terrible, low effort, low quality content and users as a rule, SA’s model of having users pay to post is becoming more of a better model to help avoid the poor incentives of most companies to demand more of users’ attention. The posting quality for users…

I’d rather have sites more like SA than more Reddits, Twitter, FB, etc. that is and it’s a bit of a pity the business model never really panned out at scale. It doesn't have to pan out at scale, though. That's the thing that I've always loved about it. By charging directly you can stay smaller. For example, suppose you're charging $5/month. You can achieve $100K revenue with 1.7K paying users. You don't have do it "a…

Remember that SA was a one-time payment of a fairly nominal amount. The primary purpose was not revenue. It was a combination of giving the users a stake in the community, and making it expensive to post maliciously (since you would burn through accounts).

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#183

Post by citizenpaul » Tue, Nov 16, 2021, 9:19 PM UTC

shadowgovt wrote: post #137

citizenpaul wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its interesting that you mention this infinite money problem. Have you ever noticed that the second a fully free speech site opens it is almost instantly crippled with CP? Do you really think that is just happening naaturally? How can something universally loathed also be so prolific that it needs to constanly infect venues to propogate? Its almost like its a tactic to suppress free speech but im just a nut.

> Do you really think that is just happening naaturally? Yes, in the same natural way that water flows down a gravity gradient. As water will be found at the bottom of wells because it can't generally flow uphill, content that is excluded from every other location will only appear where it is not excluded. And the speed at which it appears is the speed of communication on the internet, which is fast. There's no consp…

You didnt address my points at all. I'll be more clear. CP is actively used by state actors to shut down sites that are free speech oriented. It happens too fast and too frequently to be natural. CP has to come from somewhere either through the truly horrific creation at source or by saving a large amount then sharing it and exposing your illegal activity.

There is no reason to post CP on a public rather than a private place when it is so actively policed. Might as well just call the police and say you have CP to share.

CP = Publicly Everywhere and police do nothing.

CP = Is not actually everywhere something else is going on.

Choose one.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#184

Post by newbie789 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:10 AM UTC

citizenpaul wrote: post #183

shadowgovt wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you really think that is just happening naaturally? Yes, in the same natural way that water flows down a gravity gradient. As water will be found at the bottom of wells because it can't generally flow uphill, content that is excluded from every other location will only appear where it is not excluded. And the speed at which it appears is the speed of communication on the internet, which is fast. There's no consp…

You didnt address my points at all. I'll be more clear. CP is actively used by state actors to shut down sites that are free speech oriented. It happens too fast and too frequently to be natural. CP has to come from somewhere either through the truly horrific creation at source or by saving a large amount then sharing it and exposing your illegal activity. There is no reason to post CP on a public rather than a priva…

Hi! Have you ever been the owner of a free hosting service of any kind whatsoever?

A long time ago I was, and I can assure you that horrific child/animal abuse material does literally show up as an emergent phenomenon, necessitating moderation in 100% of platforms. I don’t think that it was the result of some complex conspiracy by the government to undermine my site since the only time I had contact with the police was when I reached out and provided the authorities with logs and whatever other relevant information I had on hand.

The factually correct statement is your first one. CP is publicly everywhere and police do nothing. The issue that you’ve maybe missed or chosen to ignore is that it’s indeed everywhere. It’s everywhere to such a huge extent that the police have to rely on private operators to self-report CSAM to them.

I’d suggest that you try making a website where people can upload images or videos for free, getting the word out, and counting the hours/days until you are contacted by your users about horrifying content that you’re hosting.

That would require actually putting money (and legal liability) into providing a free-speech-themed service though, which for some reason nobody wants to do.

Edit: Pedophiles do not necessarily act rationally, and tend to put a lot of effort into protecting their anonymity. They aren’t like you and I. They are fucking deranged.

Re: Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka, founder of Something Awful, has died

#185

Post by unclebucknasty » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 2:34 PM UTC

mountainb wrote: post #177

unclebucknasty wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These arguments take a form which implies that each right operates in a vacuum. But, of course, if we were to allow any right without exception, then we would soon find that we have no rights. Not only would the limitless interpretation of one right eventually decimate other rights but, apart from that, it would also undermine society's solvency; hence its ability to enforce even the expanded right. Rights, as ideas,…

They don't operate within a vacuum: the historical context matters. Over the last 400-500 years, the Anglo-American elite mostly decided to support the free exchange of ideas relating to politics and religion to support vigorous debate and an open public sphere. That's the primary value that the first amendment is supposed to protect. It's also supposed to act as a sort of political safety valve that prevents civil w…

>The intention was not to enshrine a right to smut in the constitution...That's something that was read into it by judicial activism

The phrase "judicial activism" has a bit of a pejorative tone to it, but I'm not sure that we can identify a single right enshrined in the Constitution that hasn't been so challenged or invoked in ways not initially "intended". There's no practical way to avoid that, and I don't think we'd want to in any case.

But, this was anticipated and we have a system for adjudicating such questions.

So, I don't take exception to the idea that these things can be considered, tested and decided. In fact, I take exception to those who pretend that's not the case or that we have and must blindly enforce 1A and other rights.