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Re: 48 Hours

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
> 
> marika amok-crossposted to alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sci.physics.relativity,
> talk.politics.misc:
> > The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> 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.

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Re: 48 Hours The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-04-12 21:04 -0700
  Re: 48 Hours The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-04-12 21:22 -0700

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