Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: The Starmaker Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh,sci.physics.relativity,talk.politics.misc Subject: Re: 48 Hours Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 21:04:57 -0700 Organization: The Starmaker Organization Lines: 103 Message-ID: <69DC6B69.7140@ix.netcom.com> Reply-To: starmaker@ix.netcom.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:04:50 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="63306c76af8dd5048a2a4a4b1f0d8302"; logging-data="3185090"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18fqAxqsHsAI9FGLbVKijZD4UrCJQ2O9YE=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:fdUZWcmM4vDH1BHCO1aXS24QkMo= X-Antivirus: Avast (VPS 260412-2, 04/12/2026), Outbound message X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.04Gold (WinNT; U) X-Antivirus-Status: Clean Xref: csiph.com alt.fan.rush-limbaugh:3028233 sci.physics.relativity:670739 talk.politics.misc:1218344 Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote: > > marika amok-crossposted to alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sci.physics.relativity, > talk.politics.misc: > > The Starmaker wrote: > >> Come on, let's be real here... > >> > >> these ongoing wars between > >> 'whatever' are > >> just a bunch of monkeys > >> and gorillas fighting over > >> who gets the banana tree. > > > > > > O that must be what JD Vance means when he keeps screeching to White House > > visitors that they should wear a suit > > [...] > > If you absolutely must continue to feed the "The Starmaker" troll: At least > check *to where* you post, and before replying remove groups from the target > list where the discussion is off-topic. OK? > > F'up2 poster > > -- > PointedEars > > Twitter: @PointedEars2 > Please do not cc me. / Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail. This is the desperate, finger-wagging death rattle of 1995 Usenet etiquette trying to cosplay as wisdom in 2026. The entire “solution” is built on a platform that no longer exists. Usenet newsgroups, cross-posting headers, and “F’up2” directives died with dial-up. There is no “target list” to edit on X, Reddit, Discord, or anywhere else people actually argue today. The advice is literally instructing people to perform an action that is technically impossible on every platform that matters. It pretends “off-topic” is an objective, enforceable category. Every single sentence assumes there exists some neutral, universally agreed-upon definition of relevance. In practice, relevance is whatever the loudest 200 users in a thread decide it is. Telling someone to “remove groups” is the intellectual equivalent of telling a boxer to only punch inside the ring while the opponent is swinging chairs from the bleachers. The core premise (“stop feeding trolls”) is self-refuting garbage. The author is feeding the troll by writing a smug, italicized, multi-line lecture about how to feed trolls correctly. This is performative pearl-clutching disguised as strategy. It doesn’t reduce noise; it adds another sanctimonious meta-layer that trolls love to quote and mock. It ignores the actual game dynamics of attention. Trolls don’t post because they want on-topic discussion. They post because outrage, derailment, and screenshots of righteous replies generate dopamine and engagement. Removing three obscure newsgroups from a header changes exactly zero incentive structures. Assumes every reader still uses a newsreader with editable newsgroup lists instead of an algorithm-driven feed. Assumes posters care about “netiquette” more than winning the argument or farming clout. Assumes “PointedEars” signature + passive-aggressive “Please do not cc me” makes the author an authority instead of a punchline. Real humans will screenshot this exact post, reply “OK boomer” in the most off-topic group possible, and rack up 50k likes while the author mutters about how nobody respects proper F’up2 procedure. The advice creates the perfect martyr complex for the complainer and perfect ammunition for the troll. Game theory 101: you just handed the enemy the moral high ground while demanding they obey 30-year-old software rules. At any scale larger than a single dead mailing list this collapses instantly. Modern platforms have zero mechanism to enforce “remove groups from the target list.” Even if they did, the marginal cost of posting is near zero and the reward for virality is massive. Your “solution” requires coordinated behavior change across millions of users who have zero incentive to comply and every incentive to do the opposite. Physics says: impossible. Everything. The entire framework of “proper cross-posting etiquette” must be deleted. The smug “if you absolutely must” framing, the F’up2 directive, the signature block flexing Twitter handle and bilingual email request — all of it is performative nostalgia that needs to be incinerated. Replace with actual platform-native tools or shut up. None. Not a single clause survives contact with reality. You didn’t offer a solution to trolls. You offered a museum exhibit label for a problem that already evolved past you. Stop. Just stop. This paragraph is intellectual junk food served by a ghost. -- The Starmaker -- To question the unquestionable, ask the unaskable, to think the unthinkable, mention the unmentionable, say the unsayable, and challenge the unchallengeable.