You find being mean to people fun? Are we talking about the same thing? I'm beginning to think we aren't. — uncanni

It can be, yeah, so long as you don't go overboard. There's a difference between, say, poking fun at someone and stabbing them in the liver.

A stupid man and a lying man can be a great source of learning; both lucrative and bitter.

No one would ever dare to call me an idiot. — uncanni

I mean, you seem pretty removed from reality so I can't tell if YOU'RE trolling or not. Nobody would ever "DARE" to call you an idiot? You're the kind of guy I was just criticising in this thread, you don't have control over such a thing... Violence and abuse of power would quickly become your only recourse to control people and there's consequences for that. Online you don't even have those options - you've got nothing.

As for whether I think it's okay to be mean to people I don't like. I think being "mean" is vague because there are things which are mean that I'll do and things which are mean that I won't do - because I think that's going too far. Meanness is a part of me, I never decided I should laugh when I see someone making a dumb mistake or saying something stupid, it's just how I am. As for why it's justified, clearly, it can only be because I value my enjoyment over yours. Honestly, all philosophies which act as though you're a gear in a machine, I think they're ridiculous. I am me, not the person I think is an idiot, I don't need to think their perspective is equally valid to mine.

There are people I admire and respect and so too are there people I don't respect. To me, that's better than showing everyone unconditional civility. I am happy for people to not respect me, especially if they've got an argument for it. I would not necessarily be displeased if you started to tell me what a degenerate you thought I was, I'd probably laugh and enjoy it.

A member of a philosophy forum who has a pattern of making wild claims and not supporting such claim should be banned, in my opinion.
— praxis

The moderators have been known to ban someone for repeated frivolous or low-quality threads. To me, that doesn't seem like a solution that should be used very often. — T Clark

As often as needed.

Philosophy is pretty much worthless if you don't value truth, right?

Maybe the troll isn’t so much “poisoning the well” as he is “corrupting the youth” with his lies and heresies. — NOS4A2

You admit to lying?

I've read a lot of your posts and I haven't seen anything heretical. What do you think is heretical?

I'm still here so I can't have disobeyed the rules too badly. The forum is not mine, I cannot say what it is but what it is to me is still intact. It doesn't matter to me whether people want or don't want me to be here. — Judaka

I've been clear I don't think you've done anything that would require any action from the moderators.

Being "mean" to people is honest, if that's what someone is thinking. — Terrapin Station

So does anything go as long as someone's being honest, keepin it real? Verbal abuse and insult is fine as long as the abuser's being sincere? I can accept that we have different takes on this issue: for me, being mean is never justified. Oh oh. I just said "never."

It can be, yeah, so long as you don't go overboard. There's a difference between, say, poking fun at someone and stabbing them in the liver. — S

I conclude that your understanding of "poking fun" includes being mean. Now I tease my friends, but we all know when we're teasing. For me poking fun is never the same as being mean.

I conclude that your understanding of "poking fun" includes being mean. Now I tease my friends, but we all know when we're teasing. For me poking fun is never the same as being mean. — uncanni

Poking fun at someone can be mean. I never suggested that it always is, and I never suggested that it's the same as being mean. It's just one form among many that being mean can take. And it is more of a minor form.

mean, you seem pretty removed from reality so I can't tell if YOU'RE trolling or not. Nobody would ever "DARE" to call you an idiot? You're the kind of guy — Judaka

For one thing, the "no one would dare" comment was meant to be a joke, but I guess people don't know me yet and my keen sense of irony. For another thing, I'm not any kind of guy: I'm some kind of gal. Thirdly, I don't have a clue as to how degenerate you are, so I won't be going there. Do you justify meanness on the basis of refusing to conform to phony social norms of politeness?

It's against my ethics to be mean, which means to me to hurt someone else's feelings frivolously or for the sake of my own amusement. I've been mean and said really nasty things to lots of people in the past, but my ethics have changed.

At least I understand now that you are guided by some kind of "meanness scale": if it's between 1-5, you'll be mean, but not if it's between 6-10.

Meanness is a part of me — Judaka

Is it an instinct? Is it part of everyone? Is there a significant difference between potential for meanness and practice of meanness? Is it in your genetic makeup, or your psyche, or both?

I think that sublimation--not repression--is very healthy for the progress of humankind. I don't think we should let our impulses fly like farts.

It's against my ethics to be mean, which means to me to hurt someone else's feelings frivolously or for the sake of my own amusement. — uncanni

That sounds boring. I think I'd rather you were mean every once in a while. That would then make you human. I prefer humans to empty shells with pristine ethics.

It's against my ethics, but that doesn't mean that I don't snap at people or get impatient with them. I have no halo over my head: I'm very impatient with slowness, I can be bitchy. But I'm getting better, because it matters to me now. When I'm mean to others, I feel the negativity like a hangover afterwards; it's just not good for my psyche or my soul. I'm not prosyletizing. I'm describing parts of myself to you. Take it or leave it, it's cool with me.

I have no problem with it sounding boring to you: I'm not trying to convince you that you need to be like I am because I'm right. It's my ethics, and it's not boring: I get along much better with people. The better I get along with others without losing my patience or being supercilious with them, the better I feel.

Alright so in your last comment "you" is not me, but "one" is that right?

I got no idea what the rules are but some of the worst posters here are mods. The worst I've been called on this site is an "illiterate half-breed" and the person who called me that WAS a mod. In fact, before even knowing who were mods, I had already felt like 50% of the mods were posters I shouldn't respond to or take seriously. So I can't take the idea that poor or rude posters ought to go elsewhere seriously, given how many mods here fit that description.


Sarcasm over the internet can be difficult to detect but I'm glad it was a joke.

Justifying meanness is intricate. There's the who, the what, the why, the where. Yes, there's a meanness scale but it's more complicated than that.

My goal is to find a way that works for me, the progress of mankind... that's not a concern of mine. I have opinions about what's fair, what's reasonable, what's just, what's deserved and I make my choices based off of my interpretations. That's my ethical consideration. From there I take into account how it will be received and whether things will likely play out how I want.

Beyond the ethical consideration, there's what I find funny and enjoy, my expression of displeasure or contempt and so on. It's also unusual that when I'm being mean - it's to someone's face. I've got nothing interesting to say on this topic I think, each situation is different.

Sounds like you have too much of a conscience.

Sounds like you have too much of a conscience. — S

I think it's just right for me.

Sarcasm over the internet can be difficult to detect but I'm glad it was a joke. — Judaka

It wasn't sarcasm: it was irony. I enjoy poking fun at myself, but I try not to be mean to myself.

They're watching, popcorn in hand. — S

I am not a moderator nor can I eat popcorn BUT I was enjoying following this thread without having to log in. It's not like putting it in the lounge isn't far enough off the main page but now putting it in a speak easy?

Alright so in your last comment "you" is not me, but "one" is that right? — Judaka

I've been clear I don't think you've done anything that would require any action from the moderators. — T Clark

This is intended as a straightforward acknowledgement that you have violated no guidelines in the posts that I've read.

It's in Feedback because it includes feedback, such as:

Maybe we here can start small. There are liars and trolls here. I propose that within an informal system of warnings, that recalcitrant offenders be banned. — tim wood

I was enjoying following this thread without having to log in. — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Don't you keep yourself logged in? How dare you log out!

Don't you keep yourself logged in? How dare you log out! — Baden

Some of us have lives. Not me, but some of us.

Don't you keep yourself logged in? How dare you log out! — Baden

Busted! :joke:
Could you please pass the popcorn I can't chew nor is it on my menu of noncarb food. :rofl: it's still fun to throw at @Hanover

:lol:

What are lies but the pleasure of fools and the misery of good men.

Amen. And probably this thread should end with your note as last.