Worldcoin gives off really similar vibes. The footer of their website reads:
> Worldcoin tokens are not intended to be available to people or companies who are residents of, or are located, incorporated or have a registered agent in, the United States or other restricted territories.
That doesn't sound very good! And then there's this critical review of Worldcoin's operations in Indonesia https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/06/1048981/worldcoi...
I really don't get good vibes from this whole thing...
But also Emil Cioran: "What makes bad [technologists] worse is that they [are steeped only in tech-centric thought] (just as bad philosophers read only philosophers), whereas they would benefit much more from a book of botany or geology. We are enriched [and gain a sensible sense of ethics] only by frequenting disciplines remote from our own. This is true, of course, only for realms where the ego is rampant."
Magical incantations and bad words are also the easiest things to avoid while still being very aggressive. Adhering to arbitrary pieties in form is actually a nice shield against people who are allergic to substance.
It's not hubris - it's called having a spine.
I hope people do read that, and the context. There's nothing banworthy there, at least from me. Not unless you're a big fan of tptacek running roughshod over people, as you yourself admit he often does.
You also claimed to have "asked me to stop" - which you didn't.
And when I asked you where you said that you didn't reply.
And when I emailed to ask nicely to be unbanned, as you requested, you ignored it.
So... Yeah.
You were breaking the site guidelines repeatedly in that thread.
> And when I asked you where you said that you didn't reply
Sorry — usually I do reply — I must not have seen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34856255. FWIW in retrospect, here are some places where we asked you to stop (I don't remember why I used the word 'just' though, since these are older):
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30293928 (Feb 2022)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28699914 (Sept 2021)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28650525 (Sept 2021)
> when I emailed to ask nicely to be unbanned, as you requested, you ignored it
I can't find any email that references your username. When did you send it?
You said "we just asked you to stop" in reference to a request 12 months previous, yes. There was no other request. I think 3 exceedingly minor incidents over 30 months is pretty bad to ban someone over - and I think it's weird that you'd go so far as to dig that shit up as if it's relevant here, or improves your case.
Sure look, we all make mistakes. Since you apparently though that you'd asked me to stop recently, and in fact you hadn't, feel free to unban me.
I sent the email that day. No worries about not finding it - you're only human. Again, feel free to stop rate limiting my comments, and limiting them to those with showdead on.
I'll continue to have a spine whatever you decide, and I'll call out bullies, politely, with this account or through a VPN - your call.
People often feel like they're saying "true and important things politely" when in fact they're egregiously flaming. Then when we ban them for flaming, they feel like they got banned for saying true and important things. I don't know the way out of that perception; all I can tell you is that you broke the rules badly and that I'm pretty sure the bulk of this community would agree.
I'd be happy to unban you, but I need a reason to believe that you won't do that again.
Btw there's no email in the HN inbox that references your username and while I found one or two emails from that day that reference being banned, I replied to all of them and none were from you. It's possible your email went to spam, though we look through the spam bin pretty carefully and rescue most emails like that.
This is your domain, and your rules go. If you say I was flame warring, then I was flame warring. But I don't think "the majority of this site would agree", and I think it's weird you think that.
If you can point out what exactly was so egregious - something which tptacek didn't do worse in the same thread - I'll endeavour to make sure it never happens again, you have my word.
> Kindly take your gaslighting and passive aggression somewhere else
That's aggressive name-calling and flamebait.
> I'm allowed to "yell" and write how I like. I haven't taken any personal shots at anyone - unlike yourself.
That's flamewar fodder which adds no information.
> Even if shrill is "gendered" (The Google says it "hints" at gendered language, btw), *so fucking what*.
"So fucking what" is gratuitous, aggressive flamebait.
> The implication in GPs comment is that this justifies Newspeak-ification... It doesn't.
That's an on-topic statement! but a shallow one. This part could have been the kernel of a good comment if you had expanded on your argument instead of just saying "It doesn't."
> And neither does referencing less "agreeable" authors, such as Joseph Conrad.
That's fine, but again would have been much better with more information.
> I mean, wow dude. Talk about the worst possible takes.
That's more name-calling and flamebait.
I don't know how to read that comment except as exactly the sort of flamewar that we don't want on HN. And you broke the site guidelines repeatedly in other comments in that same thread:
I re-read tptacek's comments in the same thread and your comments were far, far more aggressive and flamewarrish than his. It's not close. I realize it doesn't feel this way because it always feels like the other person started it and did worse. But this is an illusion we all suffer from when we get into those sorts of conflicts. (The solution is to cultivate the habit of responding less in kind, not more; if one does that enough, it can partially correct for that bias.)
All that said, I could probably have warned you rather than banned you at that point. I don't understand why I wrote "we just asked you to stop" - assuming you weren't using multiple accounts to post, it's possible I simply mistook you for someone else that I had recently scolded, and if so, that could have tipped me in the direction of banning you.
If you want to commit to editing out flamebait and name-calling from your posts and not being aggressive in HN comments in the future, I'd be happy to unban you. Please make sure you're up on the guidelines at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html because those set the parameters of how we interpret these things.
I will commit to avoiding "flamebait" and name-calling in posts, and being, at worst, genially aggressive in HN comments.