I know you struggle, but do you actively have to feed the raptors?
I’m not a victim-blamer, but…
That’s a good thing.
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There are two worlds:
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The contentious topics. Any topic that focuses on gender, politics, race, or a “bicycles vs. cars” type of evergreen disagreement that’ll still be going on after we’re all dead.
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Literally everything else.
These two sorts of discussions have radically different presentations and failure modes, so much so that they arguably need different software systems in place to deal with them.
The Toxoplasma Of Rage | Slate Star Codex
Compare this to the three most viewed category of post. Politics is self-explanatory. Race and gender are a type of politics even more controversial and outrage-inducing than regular politics. And that “regret” all the way on the right is my “things i will regret writing” tag, for posts that I know are going to start huge fights and probably get me in lots of trouble. They’re usually race and gender as well, but digging deep into the really really controversial race and gender related issues.
I kind of get the feeling BB has tracked ever deeper into these areas as time goes on, but that’s not a knock on BB. Everyone goes where the traffic is, right? I think from 2012 on as powerful smartphones became cheap and truly ubiquitous (parallel with the rise of “everyone’s on Facebook”) it brought “everyone else” into our clubhouse of computer and internet addicted folks. It’s a relatively recent phenomenon. Who is a happy mutant when everyone is a happy mutant?
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I find this extremely moving. Thank you for sharing it.
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I love this place.
You have a mix of wonderful people from varied backgrounds, experiences, and expertise (your typical geeks and nerds, economists, Hollywood types, professors, stay at home mothers, and so on). We all come together to have educated and informed discussions on interesting and sometimes very contentious topics without worry of being doxxed or harassed. It’s a small but tight knit community here. I’ve learned a lot from you all.
The signal to noise ratio here (save for a few specific threads) is usually pretty good and while threads can and do frequently get derailed, it’s mostly harmless. It’s also nice that I don’t have to worry about taking a wrong turn and ending up in a sea of Trump memes or earnest *ism.
I like to think of this place as a safe respite from the many minefields of the Internet.
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God damnit. I’m outta here. 
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I like being in a community that takes me seriously without necessarily taking everything I say seriously. There seems to be a high tolerance for giving people space to examine their own opinion and change it if necessary, rather than crucifying them for being wrong.
This is related to the reason why I first joined almost 10 years ago – my brother advised me to come here after I became an atheist and was trying to create a coherent personal system of ethics without becoming the kind of atheist I’d seen too many of already. He described the community as diverse, open minded and articulate, which was a pretty good description.
On the other hand, I ignore most contentious topics now – while awareness of injustice or deep-seated disagreements is important, I don’t find it very productive in my case and don’t miss a lot of those threads. I’ll probably lie low for a lot of the next few months, and stick to trying to convince pro-life Republicans elsewhere to vote for Clinton (or at least not Trump) as my only engagement in the election.
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I’ve been banned from BoingBoing comments before. It’s not that special.
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My relationship with BoingBoing goes back to the print version and now the BBS is my front page to the website. It’s a way to pick and choose which of Cory’s screeds might or might not be funny enough to read or what other high weirdness the other editors have found.
Those who are familiar with me here know I don’t fit in with the general echo chamber but that’s ok with me. I still enjoy many of y’all and come back to see what you have to say.
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I know I more often disagree than agree with you. But yes, above I agree with. Please keep coming back, because an echo chamber can be comforting but also very dull in time.
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Hey, I’ve said it in the past, I’ll say it again, while we often don’t get along, I’m glad your here. You help to make me less of a lazy thinker. I hope you can take that as a compliment, because I do respect you.
And really, come to think of it we agree on far more than we disagree on. So I might as well shut up about that point.
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Pink Floyd and their anti-semitic stance can kiss my yiddishe tuchus twice.
OTOH music taste is subjective, those are not my kind of echos, but these are.
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I am myself here
In ways I am not elsewhere
My thanks, y’all, always
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Done.
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One word: friends.
Saying what this place really means to me could mean a mile-long rambling essay, but really there are just a lot of people here who touch me with the depth and breadth of their knowledge and willingness to share. And once in a while when I can contribute people listen and take an interest in what I think and how I feel.
There are no words for how much that means.
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Agreed.
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