Some people have wayyyy too much time on their hands.
It sounds like there needs to be some anti-sockpuppet code put into Discourse to allow moderators the ability to see them.
3 Likes
Can’t moderators see IP addresses as is? I guess that doesn’t help for puppet masters who know how to use VPN, but the ones who need to get banned don’t seem that on top of things.
2 Likes
Yes. Moderators also get notified by the system when multiple logins are detectedd from a single IP. Guessing the sockpuppet guy was using a browser with a built-in ban evading “VPN”.
9 Likes
All the energy, all the hours, spent for what? They could have written a novel.
14 Likes
Great, just what the world needs, yet more Alt Reich fan fiction…
14 Likes
At least it would be concentrated in one place where no one would have to read it.
Still, it’s sad.
10 Likes
Indeed, an epic waste of time and effort.
10 Likes
In the end he’s just another arsehole taking advantage of the moderator’s goodwill and desire to have a lively discussion. Code can only do so much to identify obsessive sock puppets and ban evaders.
12 Likes
This is true… but I’d say that on average, the community has an excellent track record of sniffing them out… which is a terrific benefit of the community moderation system we have here.
14 Likes
And this dude isn’t exactly a genius from what I’ve seen. Anyhow, moving on…
8 Likes
It’s beyond sad; it’s pathetic and obsessive.
12 Likes
10 Likes
7 Likes
How… Timely. Rolling blackouts here in Texas because of a little snowstorm. In Vermont, I’d just throw another log on the fire. Here, everything needs electricity, so we shiver our butts off in the cold and wait for the pipes to burst. … And waste time on the internet…
6 Likes
we’re about an hour southish from dallas and haven’t lost power yet. we’ve got a good fireplace as well as a generator we can break out to keep our cpap units going along with our fridge. my mom is about 2 hours south of dallas and they’ve lost power 5 times over the past 3 days. she is not as well prepared as we are.
the weather here is worse than anything i went through in the two years i lived in estes park, mainly because the much higher humidity makes the cold and wind so much worse.
take care of yourself and stay as warm as you can. drip those faucets if you don’t have heat, especially anything on an exterior-facing wall.
11 Likes
This may very well need to turn into a climate change thread. When the polar vortex worked properly, it wouldn’t reach as far south. Now that the earth is warming, the vortex split into two, causing it to become chaotic and more extreme weather events like this one are happening with annual regularity.
I’ve got everything handled here. We have a gas “fireplace” lit, some coffee, daylight and plenty of water. All the pipes and stuff are covered outside and we have books and plenty to do inside.
Glad you are prepared. You have always sounded like a planner. Ant and grasshopper, eh? Hope you can get to mom if you need to.
9 Likes
I remember our school bus almost tipping over as we were going to school in a blizzard in Maine, because of course school was still on.
When I moved to DC and they shut down the red line metro due to (I’m serious) “wet leaves on the tracks,” well…
Climate change is really highlighting regional differences in what we’ve dealt with previously, and so built and accommodated for. The southeast has it tough, too. What we would consider a gentle cold snap up north can be really hard on them because a lot of the older homes have no insulation. The heaters just can’t keep up with it.
10 Likes
It’s almost inevitable we’ll see an uptick in fires caused by space heaters and in carbon monoxide poisoning caused by people using gas stoves as makeshift heating units. The public warnings reminding people of the dangers here usually only come after a terrible tragedy.
9 Likes
i’ve noticed the difference between texas, my birthplace and home, and estes park where i lived for a couple of years. what makes it hard for texas is that weather like we’re currently having is so rare that to have the infrastructure in place to deal with it as routine is ridiculous. the last two winters in a row before this one, my area had maybe a total of 20 hours of temperatures below 32 degrees and no freezing precipitation. from a budgetary standpoint it makes no sense to be prepared to deal with this kind of weather so it’s going to be a disaster when it happens.
12 Likes
