Inserting unneeded politics into tech articles/discussion

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shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Thats a pretty pithy clip.
I like to think that I'm fairly inclusive and non judgmental. I'm also pretty old and forgetful. If I call people something they don't want to be called its because I either didn't remember them telling me what they wanted to be called or because I can't be arsed to keep up with what the latest acceptable thing is. Hell I only just found out that "Oriental" isn't OK to describe people or things from the Orient. I'm not entirely sure why but if it pisses people off I'll try not to use it. I'm assuming that Asian and European is still OK.
I've found that being wrong about stuff is fine. Being stubborn about stuff isn't. And if someone wants to pick a fight with you about something daft it's just best to walk away.

In general I agree, but at some point things really do affect you and if you are a grown up you have to stand up and fight for your beliefs or way of life, else somebody comes along (like a bully) and try to take things away from you.
Your right to be offended is obviously not important, because that's not actually a right. Your right to say what you want and not have someone or a group censor you is definitely a right worth fighting over. But at this particular time no one in America is actually being censored. There's a fuckload of whiny bitches running around crying about being censored, and they lack any proof. But they love whining because it gets them attention, and really what they want is attention. Fun fact: You also don't have the right to attention. That's not in the constitution or any amendment. Nowhere.
Attention gets you people, people who may agree with you, or fight for you. And that's power. Really what the whiners want is power by getting attention and influence. You ever notice these days there's a fuckload of Americans saying really vile or weird or crazy shit on the internet? They are ultimately looking for power and control, and there's too much competition.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,335
7,987
136
In general I agree, but at some point things really do affect you and if you are a grown up you have to stand up and fight for your beliefs or way of life, else somebody comes along (like a bully) and try to take things away from you.
Your right to be offended is obviously not important, because that's not actually a right. Your right to say what you want and not have someone or a group censor you is definitely a right worth fighting over. But at this particular time no one in America is actually being censored. There's a fuckload of whiny bitches running around crying about being censored, and they lack any proof. But they love whining because it gets them attention, and really what they want is attention. Fun fact: You also don't have the right to attention. That's not in the constitution or any amendment. Nowhere.
Attention gets you people, people who may agree with you, or fight for you. And that's power. Really what the whiners want is power by getting attention and influence. You ever notice these days there's a fuckload of Americans saying really vile or weird or crazy shit on the internet? They are ultimately looking for power and control, and there's too much competition.
I was more talking about people asking to be called what ever pronoun they want, or whatever racial/tribal/national name. Its no skin off my nose to call people whatever they want. It obviously matters to them or they wouldn't express a preference. I see no downside whatso ever to trying to accommodate this.
Like I said I'll probably get it wrong a bunch of times but every time thats happened people have been more than understanding and accepted that its a genuine mistake because it is.

I have no inclination to fight about what someone else would like to be referred as, and I cant see any reason to be an arse about it.

I get that this probably wasn't the issues that you were referring to but it seems an issue that people invest way to much energy into arguing against when its not their life being affected!
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
It's not just PC Gamer... other tech blogs like Engadget has been known to throw a few off the wall Liberal rants in their tech pieces as well. And don't get me started with the bias on content aggregator sites like Slashdot and Reddit... ugh.

I think that we're soon going to get to the point where we'll start getting conservative themed tech news sites to combat this. We're already seeing it with financial news (See CNBC and Bloomberg vs Fox Business).
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,777
126
I was more talking about people asking to be called what ever pronoun they want, or whatever racial/tribal/national name. Its no skin off my nose to call people whatever they want. It obviously matters to them or they wouldn't express a preference. I see no downside whatso ever to trying to accommodate this.
Like I said I'll probably get it wrong a bunch of times but every time thats happened people have been more than understanding and accepted that its a genuine mistake because it is.

I have no inclination to fight about what someone else would like to be referred as, and I cant see any reason to be an arse about it.

I get that this probably wasn't the issues that you were referring to but it seems an issue that people invest way to much energy into arguing against when its not their life being affected!
My only complaint is that most humans have distinct genitalia that classify them as male or female. Most information systems consider sex and gender to be the same thing. When people are whining for change, but really just want attention to feel justified, that shouldn't come at the high price of custom code on deployed systems or building a 3rd bathroom in buildings that aren't plumbed for it.

I respect the individuals, but data definitions and labels and boxes aren't always there for the sake of the individuals. They're often established for order in society and the cost associated with recognizing outliers aren't always going to be an option. Making those changes is costly and takes a lot of thought and care.

I've seen even issues these days where a data system has first name and last name (legal name), but Charles wants to be called Sharon and data systems can't store the extra preferred name accordingly without custom tables. If someone sees that, they may think it was a typo or account error. It's an interesting set of problems that have been stirred up. Having said all that, knowing of the issues, new systems and buildings will definitely be designed to accommodate folks where it's possible.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,202
5,608
136
I think that we're soon going to get to the point where we'll start getting conservative themed tech news sites to combat this. We're already seeing it with financial news (See CNBC and Bloomberg vs Fox Business).

maybe they'll have a tech site run similar to the wall street journal, which has like 3 new conservative opeds rants on the sidebar every day LOL.

they gave it all they had before the election but they have cooled their jets somewhat lately.

the articles themselves tend not to slant either way. they analyze everything from a business/monetary standpoint, and they don't shy away from criticizing both sides.

this makes fanboy commenters from both sides accuse the writers of being biased, leading to some amusing P&N style shenanigans. the feisty ones get banned and they resubscribe in their wife's name and sign their comments like "BEVERLYS HUSBAND" LOL
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,031
5,495
146
My only complaint is that most humans have distinct genitalia that classify them as male or female. Most information systems consider sex and gender to be the same thing. When people are whining for change, but really just want attention to feel justified, that shouldn't come at the high price of custom code on deployed systems or building a 3rd bathroom in buildings that aren't plumbed for it.

I respect the individuals, but data definitions and labels and boxes aren't always there for the sake of the individuals. They're often established for order in society and the cost associated with recognizing outliers aren't always going to be an option. Making those changes is costly and takes a lot of thought and care.

I've seen even issues these days where a data system has first name and last name (legal name), but Charles wants to be called Sharon and data systems can't store the extra preferred name accordingly without custom tables. If someone sees that, they may think it was a typo or account error. It's an interesting set of problems that have been stirred up. Having said all that, knowing of the issues, new systems and buildings will definitely be designed to accommodate folks where it's possible.

Your only complaint but then you make multiple ones? Also, uh, so what the do those systems do with people that have both (or neither) sex organs? You know that's a thing, right? And you know that didn't just magically start in the past 10 years, right? Sounds like information systems are shitty and out of date, so the problem isn't people wanting some extra minor accommodation (for fuck's sake, you're seriously arguing that an extra field in a data set is too hard for modern computer systems to handle...).

Sorry, you clearly don't or else you wouldn't be making such an asinine argument. Plus that's exactly the type of shit that was said with regards to other marginalized communities. "We can't accommodate black people because it'll cost money for us to unfuck our system! So they should just deal with it." (Which of course the argument of "but it costs money or needs extra work" will always fly). Plus, again, you're arguing that an extra data field in a data system is too problematic for modern computing systems.

What your argument actually is, is "our data systems are so broken that adding an extra field essentially causes entire systems to break" which just sounds like the data systems are already broken and shitty beyond belief.

If your data system can't handle an extra field then your data system is shit. If you want to complain about something it should be how much of our IT stuff is just complete shit. Its insecure, old, already broken, run by people who spend plenty of time talking politics and other stuff (while bitching about people doing that...), managed by dicksmacking morons that know jack shit.

Lastly, I cannot stress it enough, your argument is that modern computing systems cannot handle an extra data field. That is your actual fucking argument.
 
Last edited:
Mar 11, 2004
23,031
5,495
146
I was more talking about people asking to be called what ever pronoun they want, or whatever racial/tribal/national name. Its no skin off my nose to call people whatever they want. It obviously matters to them or they wouldn't express a preference. I see no downside whatso ever to trying to accommodate this.
Like I said I'll probably get it wrong a bunch of times but every time thats happened people have been more than understanding and accepted that its a genuine mistake because it is.

I have no inclination to fight about what someone else would like to be referred as, and I cant see any reason to be an arse about it.

I get that this probably wasn't the issues that you were referring to but it seems an issue that people invest way to much energy into arguing against when its not their life being affected!

I know, its not like human society was built on people choosing made up names to call themselves already or anything, so calling someone something they want to be called is just too goddamn difficult. (The snark is more directed at the person you're responding to.)

Honestly with how many pathetic white dudes are having their ass periods over this issue I think we should label "Miss" as gender neutral and stop applying it based on marriage status (hmm, isn't it weird how we went out of our way to accommodate something so fucking asinine as women being married or not, but goddamn its just too much work to accommodate people that don't feel either gender binary or identify as one opposite of their birth genitalia?).

I'm gonna use shorty's argument and just call people dickhead mcslappy balls and if they complain just say that I can't be bothered to accommodate their desire to be called by whatever made up name their parents gave them or that they decided they'd want to be called. What am I expected to learn every fucking name in every language to accommodate every asshole that has ever been called something? Dirk? Dierk? Dylan? Dillon? How the fuck am I supposed to manage shit like that? Its too tough and its not my fault that they have a name that I can't handle calling them!
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,031
5,495
146
maybe they'll have a tech site run similar to the wall street journal, which has like 3 new conservative opeds rants on the sidebar every day LOL.

they gave it all they had before the election but they have cooled their jets somewhat lately.

the articles themselves tend not to slant either way. they analyze everything from a business/monetary standpoint, and they don't shy away from criticizing both sides.

this makes fanboy commenters from both sides accuse the writers of being biased, leading to some amusing P&N style shenanigans. the feisty ones get banned and they resubscribe in their wife's name and sign their comments like "BEVERLYS HUSBAND" LOL

Let them, it'll fail like every other conservative thing they create after being crybaby bitches and getting mad that people stop tolerating their attempts to threaten, harass, and incite violence, ironically after they cry that a liberal called someone a bad name so oh my gawd that proves that the marxists are committing cultural genocide. Because once they snowflake crybabies get their safe space they just turn on each other as its no fun when they're screaming their death/rape/genocide threats at each other and not getting the responses they desperately need to feel tough.

Wait, "Beverly's Husband" is the wife? That's the wokest thing ever!
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,777
126
Your only complaint but then you make multiple ones? Also, uh, so what the do those systems do with people that have both (or neither) sex organs? You know that's a thing, right? And you know that didn't just magically start in the past 10 years, right? Sounds like information systems are shitty and out of date, so the problem isn't people wanting some extra minor accommodation (for fuck's sake, you're seriously arguing that an extra field in a data set is too hard for modern computer systems to handle...).

Sorry, you clearly don't or else you wouldn't be making such an asinine argument. Plus that's exactly the type of shit that was said with regards to other marginalized communities. "We can't accommodate black people because it'll cost money for us to unfuck our system! So they should just deal with it." (Which of course the argument of "but it costs money or needs extra work" will always fly). Plus, again, you're arguing that an extra data field in a data system is too problematic for modern computing systems.

What your argument actually is, is "our data systems are so broken that adding an extra field essentially causes entire systems to break" which just sounds like the data systems are already broken and shitty beyond belief.

If your data system can't handle an extra field then your data system is shit. If you want to complain about something it should be how much of our IT stuff is just complete shit. Its insecure, old, already broken, run by people who spend plenty of time talking politics and other stuff (while bitching about people doing that...), managed by dicksmacking morons that know jack shit.

Lastly, I cannot stress it enough, your argument is that modern computing systems cannot handle an extra data field. That is your actual fucking argument.
I don't care what other people are or do. If someone happens to have a pipe wrench hanging from their loincloth, I'm not going to make a new datafield for them and wreck validation tables that have to conform with all the other systems. I have to do what is recognized by the state and federal government.

Get over yourself.
 
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brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,202
5,608
136
I don't care what other people are or do. If someone happens to have a pipe wrench hanging from their loincloth, I'm not going to make a new datafield for them and wreck validation tables that have to conform with all the other systems. I have to do what is recognized by the state and federal government.

Get over yourself.

exactly, until there's a legal or business requirement then there's no reason to make the change
 

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
9,133
5,072
136
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-built-my-...-old-pc-parts-and-ive-never-felt-so-powerful/

I never go into P&N as I hate discussing/arguing over politics. I generally avoid anything politically focused (news channels, pundits, etc.).

So I see an article on PC Gamer about an author building his own router. It sounded interesting as I like learning about stuff like that, and I began reading it. Then about halfway through the article, and for no logical reason I can think of besides the author wanted to politicize a tech article and insert their views, they decided to say:

View attachment 36372

Once I read to this point of the article, I stopped reading it and closed the tab. It's not like I even disagree with it, it's just some people (on both sides of the fence) try to insert politics into something that shouldn't be political at all (like building a router). As you can imagine, the comment section became a political argument battleground of insults, with users from both sides taking part. PC Gamer is owned by Future, so I'm kind of surprised the editor (or whoever looks at the articles) approved it as they had to know what would happen.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

What if it instead said "I would like to point out that we should all support our local police"?
Would you have still stopped reading and posted here?

If the article before the comment was interesting and informative, I certainly would have continued reading after the comment.
Do I think it is appropriate to sneak that stuff into an unrelated article? No. I think it's unprofessional. Crap like that has been going on for decades and would not expect an outlet like PCGamer to have the editorial staff to be able to tone down some that. A good editor could have caught that and worked with the writer to either accept removal or compromise and word it in way that allows it to be a bit more subtle.

HOWEVER I do understand that in our society, certain political issues push people to take a stand in arenas that people like me think unprofessional.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,380
146
What if it instead said "I would like to point out that we should all support our local police"?
Would you have still stopped reading and posted here?
Yes I would have. It has zero to do with story, and I stay out of political debate (from both sides). I don't go to sites with political anything (luckily it's confined to one sub-forum here), otherwise I wouldn't have stayed here for 20 years. That's how much I dislike people bitching at each other politics, or trying to shove their beliefs down others throats.
 

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
9,133
5,072
136
Yes I would have. It has zero to do with story, and I stay out of political debate (from both sides). I don't go to sites with political anything (luckily it's confined to one sub-forum here), otherwise I wouldn't have stayed here for 20 years. That's how much I dislike people bitching at each other politics, or trying to shove their beliefs down others throats.

I was lucky enough to have been around pre-1990's before political entertainment became such a huge thing and ruined a lot documentaries\outlets\ etc ect
I understand your pain.
 
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UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,380
146
I was lucky enough to have been around pre-1990's before political entertainment became such a huge thing and ruined a lot documentaries\outlets\ etc ect
I understand your pain.
It was so much more light-hearted before so many large corporations fully discovered how influential the internet could be (especially with social media). When Facebook (or MySpace) first started, I really liked connecting with old friends/military buddies/distant family. But it didn't take very long for all the political stuff to practically ruin the fun experience. When I go on there (which is not very often), it's pretty much political memes from most of the people on my friend list.
 
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shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
It was so much more light-hearted before so many large corporations fully discovered how influential the internet could be (especially with social media). When Facebook (or MySpace) first started, I really liked connecting with old friends/military buddies/distant family. But it didn't take very long for all the political stuff to practically ruin the fun experience. When I go on there (which is not very often), it's pretty much political memes from most of the people on my friend list.
I was recently in an office and some lady was spouting off a load of MAGA nonsense she got from Facebook then finished by saying she really needed to get off Facebook because it got too political lately.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,656
687
126
I don't care what other people are or do. If someone happens to have a pipe wrench hanging from their loincloth, I'm not going to make a new datafield for them and wreck validation tables that have to conform with all the other systems. I have to do what is recognized by the state and federal government.

Get over yourself.

Careful, he'll post multiple whiny walls of text telling us how whiny others are.
 
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IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,656
687
126
I was recently in an office and some lady was spouting off a load of MAGA nonsense she got from Facebook then finished by saying she really needed to get off Facebook because it got too political lately.

It sounds like you met my coworker. She said the same thing, almost verbatim, and then ran off to Parler.