[Discussion] What do we do about testing?

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-06-03 08:37pm

It's clearly gone out of control. Warsie's behaviour is the last straw, and it won't stop with just him. Testing is an open invitation for self-proclaimed btards to commit illegal stunts which can get real people trying to live real lives tainted by their pathetic little shit.

It's time for testing policy to be absolutely amended to totally eliminate any threads not in an extremely narrow range of picture commentary, birthdays, and actual requests for help, with automatic punishment (starting with a warning and going up to a permban) for people who ignore these rules. And by automatic, it should not come up before the Senate--an Admin should simply apply the established punishment immediately on being notified by the Testing Mods of a thread posted in violation of the policy.

This assumes, of course, that we just don't simply eliminate testing entirely. Enough is fucking enough.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2008-06-03 08:48pm

Why? Save for the occasional stunt like this (and those are RARE), Testing does nothing that is blatantly wrong or illegal. It does, however, allow users to blow off steam and spam a bit, if they chose to; behaviors they would otherwise carry to the rest of the board. As such, it serves as a useful outlet for undesired behavior, and I see no reason to end its existence. I am sure there are lots of places in real life that you find distasteful, usually the solution is to avoid them entirely, not try to close them down.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-06-03 08:51pm

As noted in the discussion thread re: Warsie, I'm in agreement with fgalkin. Testing rarely is problematic and when a problem does appear we can deal with the issue (as was done for Warsie).

Post by **Coyote** » 2008-06-03 08:59pm

The automatic lock-n-delete time limits are a good guarantee that things won't go too far; also, it was the place to go for spamming when HoS got tightened up. Our collective response in this instance should, I hope, serve as a deterrent to others who may be thinking of posting similar /b/tard spam.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2008-06-03 09:07pm

I generally do not go to testing as I know it is the general bullshit part of the forum. In fact, looking at it now consists of the second time I've done so in the board's history. But beyond this stung I'm not seeing anything beyond spam there, and we clean that out regularly.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2008-06-03 09:47pm

Sorry, Marina... I see no reason to make drastic changes to Testing just because of one prick. We're punishing the guilty, there's no reason to punish the innocent as well.

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2008-06-03 10:11pm

One of Testing's primary roles is to serve as a dumping ground for threads deemed too frivolous for any other part of the board, and I would far prefer to see it maintain that mandate, as the alternative is for those threads to be simply deleted rather than moved. I rarely view testing, but there are occasional items of interest there, and most of the rest is benign nonsense that gets cleared away with due frequency. The recent bit of stupidity reflects a very small minority of the threads that end up there.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2008-06-03 10:56pm

Today's idiocy is the exception, rather than the rule.

Testing should stay as-is.
It bears mention that Testing's status and role have been hashed out, somewhat recently, elsewhere.

And, yes, I threw up into my mouth a little posting a defense of Spam.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2008-06-03 11:32pm

Also it should be noted that even if Testing was off limits, the tard in question would have probably put up the thread anyway, except he would do it in OT, where a lot more people would have seen it and clicked on it.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2008-06-04 12:07am

LadyTevar wrote:Sorry, Marina... I see no reason to make drastic changes to Testing just because of one prick. We're punishing the guilty, there's no reason to punish the innocent as well.

besides some of use enjoy slumming once in a while.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-06-04 12:31am

I have received a PM on the matter from one of my constituents:

I don't think that Warsie's actions can be considered representative of the 'Testing regulars' - this sort of thing has not cropped up before that I can remember, certainly not so severe as this, and we certainly don't encourage such utterly malicious of action amongst each other. I also agree with fgalkin, as I too suspect that had Testing not been available, Warsie would likely still have posted in Off-Topic or AMP.

Testing's just a place to blow off steam and indulge in lowbrow absurdity, and it's been like that for over two years now. There's obviously some value to be had in it, or else people wouldn't enjoy posting in there. I'll readily admit not everyone will find it amusing, but then very little if any humor is universal.

Contrary to any rumors you may have heard, we don't have a secret ray-gun that makes people dumb and we don't run an illicit backalley lobotomy shop. We're not responsible for Warsie and we haven't suddenly gone off the rails.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2008-06-04 06:36am

Testing doesn't need to be changed.

Warsie could have posted that link almost anywhere on this forum, we should consider ourselves fortunate that he put it in Testing. Our current system is dealing with the problem.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-06-04 07:02am

Yeah, I admit I was mostly just really, really scared for Arik--he's one of my better friends here and the thought of him losing his job (as he very well might now) and being unable to land another in this economic situation makes my gut twist horribly. My first instinct is that nothing is an overreaction when done to help one's friends, or avenge them. I'd really love to see Warsie get 3 - 5 years in a federal pen and a permanent sex offender record right about now.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2008-06-04 07:44am

Warsie isn't likely to get that, Marina.

He's pm'd me a few times in recent weeks, and mostly recently over this. I suppose he could be a really good poseur, but it seems to me he is genuinely clueless as to why every gets pissed at him. In which case, he's going to fall into something Very Bad through his own fog of obliviousness. He apparently really does have that poor a grasp on what is and isn't appropriate, and a total lack of social intelligence.

He doesn't get it. He can't comprehend it. To some extent, punishing him like beating a dog because it can't sing operatic arias - pointless, nothing will change. However, this latest stunt puts others at risk. He's like a blind drunk wandering around a hay barn with a flaming torch. For our own safety he must go.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2008-06-04 08:37am

Broomstick wrote:Warsie isn't likely to get that, Marina.

He's pm'd me a few times in recent weeks, and mostly recently over this. I suppose he could be a really good poseur, but it seems to me he is genuinely clueless as to why every gets pissed at him. In which case, he's going to fall into something Very Bad through his own fog of obliviousness. He apparently really does have that poor a grasp on what is and isn't appropriate, and a total lack of social intelligence.

He doesn't get it. He can't comprehend it. To some extent, punishing him like beating a dog because it can't sing operatic arias - pointless, nothing will change. However, this latest stunt puts others at risk. He's like a blind drunk wandering around a hay barn with a flaming torch. For our own safety he must go.

If he's intuitively clueless (perhaps through some social disorder, like Asperger's?), then he needs to exercise his mind and really think through the consequences of his actions. The reaction he's getting for his stunt here should empirically inform him for the future, even if he honestly doesn't understand why we're reacting this way.

Post by **Edi** » 2008-06-04 08:56am

Surlethe wrote:
Broomstick wrote:Warsie isn't likely to get that, Marina.

He's pm'd me a few times in recent weeks, and mostly recently over this. I suppose he could be a really good poseur, but it seems to me he is genuinely clueless as to why every gets pissed at him. In which case, he's going to fall into something Very Bad through his own fog of obliviousness. He apparently really does have that poor a grasp on what is and isn't appropriate, and a total lack of social intelligence.

He doesn't get it. He can't comprehend it. To some extent, punishing him like beating a dog because it can't sing operatic arias - pointless, nothing will change. However, this latest stunt puts others at risk. He's like a blind drunk wandering around a hay barn with a flaming torch. For our own safety he must go.
If he's intuitively clueless (perhaps through some social disorder, like Asperger's?), then he needs to exercise his mind and really think through the consequences of his actions. The reaction he's getting for his stunt here should empirically inform him for the future, even if he honestly doesn't understand why we're reacting this way.

He got into a huge flamewar with Nitram earlier over Asperger's and says he has had it medically diagnosed. Which really isn't an excuse. He has in the past made little or no effort to improve himself even when it has been patiently explained to him why he has gotten wrong and usually it has led to him throwing a bitchy fit and then everybody going "Fuck that" and flaming him to a cinder. In short, he is precisely as clueless and stupid as he appears to be and he isn't even trying. So fuck him and let him get a boot up his ass.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-06-04 11:09am

While I don't think he should be arrested and sent to Federal prison for this stunt, I do wonder if a "come to Jesus" speech by a couple of Feds while he's still young (and the records still sealed) might do him some good in the long run.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2008-06-04 12:45pm

Edi wrote:
Surlethe wrote:
Broomstick wrote:Warsie isn't likely to get that, Marina.

He's pm'd me a few times in recent weeks, and mostly recently over this. I suppose he could be a really good poseur, but it seems to me he is genuinely clueless as to why every gets pissed at him. In which case, he's going to fall into something Very Bad through his own fog of obliviousness. He apparently really does have that poor a grasp on what is and isn't appropriate, and a total lack of social intelligence.

He doesn't get it. He can't comprehend it. To some extent, punishing him like beating a dog because it can't sing operatic arias - pointless, nothing will change. However, this latest stunt puts others at risk. He's like a blind drunk wandering around a hay barn with a flaming torch. For our own safety he must go.
If he's intuitively clueless (perhaps through some social disorder, like Asperger's?), then he needs to exercise his mind and really think through the consequences of his actions. The reaction he's getting for his stunt here should empirically inform him for the future, even if he honestly doesn't understand why we're reacting this way.
He got into a huge flamewar with Nitram earlier over Asperger's and says he has had it medically diagnosed. Which really isn't an excuse. He has in the past made little or no effort to improve himself even when it has been patiently explained to him why he has gotten wrong and usually it has led to him throwing a bitchy fit and then everybody going "Fuck that" and flaming him to a cinder. In short, he is precisely as clueless and stupid as he appears to be and he isn't even trying. So fuck him and let him get a boot up his ass.

The thing that people forget about Asperger's is while the social skills suffer, the INTELLIGENCE is usually boosted. One of the nicknames for an Aspie is "Little Professor".

So, no, I don't believe Warsie's been 'diagnosed', and I don't believe he's in any way Autistic. I think he's just an idjit, and we're much better off now that he's gone.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2008-06-04 04:36pm

LadyTevar wrote:Sorry, Marina... I see no reason to make drastic changes to Testing just because of one prick. We're punishing the guilty, there's no reason to punish the innocent as well.

Or public drunks. The auto flush function serves the purpose of moderation of spam quite well Imo.

Post by **Coyote** » 2008-06-04 04:37pm

Is Asperger's supposed to be some sort of "Get Out Of Jail Free" card or something, elsewhere on the Internet?

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2008-06-04 04:49pm

As I've said it once I'll say it again, the simple cure for testing is decreasing the auto-delete timer from one day to one hour. Problem solved.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2008-06-04 06:14pm

Mr Bean wrote:As I've said it once I'll say it again, the simple cure for testing is decreasing the auto-delete timer from one day to one hour. Problem solved.

If the problem you mean to solve is "There aren't enough spam threads cropping up in OT and the HOS", then yes, that would be an excellent solution.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2008-06-04 06:16pm

RedImperator wrote:
Mr Bean wrote:As I've said it once I'll say it again, the simple cure for testing is decreasing the auto-delete timer from one day to one hour. Problem solved.
If the problem you mean to solve is "There aren't enough spam threads cropping up in OT and the HOS", then yes, that would be an excellent solution.

Spamming in OT and HOS would result in bans, problem solved

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-06-04 06:17pm

Mr Bean wrote:As I've said it once I'll say it again, the simple cure for testing is decreasing the auto-delete timer from one day to one hour. Problem solved.

... which means the board has to constantly sweep for posts in Testing, and means that any "I'm back!" or "Going for a while" posts might be deleted before they're even seen!

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2008-06-04 06:20pm

phongn wrote:
Mr Bean wrote:As I've said it once I'll say it again, the simple cure for testing is decreasing the auto-delete timer from one day to one hour. Problem solved.
... which means the board has to constantly sweep for posts in Testing, and means that any "I'm back!" or "Going for a while" posts might be deleted before they're even seen!

What's wrong with a "vacation thread sticky" in testing then? We the moderators have one and it gets used quite often and to good effect.