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> In a Google Doc shared with the thread via social media, our hero explained how posting in SA's community had been an important part of his life, how he had

> In a Google Doc shared with the thread via social media, our hero explained how posting in SA's community had been an important part of his life, how he had done a lot of growing up and a lot of mental healing in the intervening 100,000 hours, and how he now regretted his life as an infamously abrasive poster. It sounds like someone grew out of their 20s and mellowed out in their 30s. A tale as old as time.

jsheard 2y ago
That could sum up SA as a whole. The culture there has shifted a lot over time, but not due to an influx of new users, it's the same people who have been posting for upwards of a decade and have (mostly) grown up. The founder Lowtax refused to grow up but, well, you know the story and now the site is under new management.
- lelandfe 2y ago
  So, I didn’t know the story - turns out Lowtax passed - but in searching I found a bemusing internet history of how Lowtax’s “banning of hentai on SA [was] ‘The Archduke Ferdinand Assassination moment that lead to QAnon’” https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/qro1ir/comment/hk967mm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/qro1ir/comment/...
  - jsheard 2y ago
    The short version of events as I recall is that Lowtax was basically admin in absentia for years, only occasionally showing up to beg for money while the volunteer staff actually ran the show, until he was accused of domestic abuse by his then-partner which followed a pattern of similar accusations by his two previous partners. That led to a revolt by the users and other staff, which pressured Lowtax into selling the site to one of the other long time admins and parting ways. The new owner revealed that the site was in fact financially stable, contrary to Lowtaxes fearmongering, probably because he had been skimming donations for personal expenses. Then Lowtax killed himself a year later.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    reading that wonderful history lesson reminded me 1. Once again why no other site tried the "one time entry" fee to limit spam. Doesn't even have to be 10 bux; I think 1 dollar would go a long way to filter out 90+% of low effort trolls. And if they make sockpuppets: cool. money and easy banning. 2. A tale as old as time, but never let your personal biases interfere with moderation. If you really don't like something, codify it immediately before it offshoots into new competition. 3. damn, even before industry caught up anime-goers were persistent.
    - TiredOfLife 2y ago
      Twitter. Most spam is by paying users
- drpossum 2y ago
  I'd argue it's also due to an outflow of problematic users, such as what birthed 4chan
  - Ntrails 2y ago
    I remain unconvinced that the outflow was limited to problematic posters, but I am not a first hand user
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      It rarely is, but you know what they say about nazis at a bar. Same thing applies here. Even if there's one extra step of ironic nazism -> real nazis finding good company.
wccrawford 2y ago
[flagged]
- madamelic 2y ago
  The article makes out that it was a bit. Rather than continuing the argument in earnest, they picked someone who had nothing to do with the original argument then stopped posting all together. The point of them doing that was to show they had no interest in actually continuing the argument, to borrow a 4Chan term: they did it for the lulz.
  - Brian_K_White 2y ago
    and pointedly, not lulz at anyone elses expense, not destructive lulz
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    honestly, the argument wasn't even that bad. At least, not 10 years ban-worthy. To clarify, it was definitely bad, but it was definitely the most clever version of "kill yourself" I've read in years. Maybe the past 11 years of internet discourse has made me appreciate the more "subtle" days where you didn't just chain random buzzwords together when getting into an argument. There was some class to it.
- entropie 2y ago
  This is just highlevel trolling. Pretty obvious to me. That kind of humor emerged from 4chan and co and are a fundamental part of the internet gossip. I find it somhow very amusing.
  - Shekelphile 2y ago
    > That kind of humor emerged from 4chan and co and are a fundamental part of the internet gossip. That kind of humor emerged from usenet and early SA*. 4chan only exists at all because moot was permabanned from SA.
    - 2y ago

jsheard 2y ago

That could sum up SA as a whole. The culture there has shifted a lot over time, but not due to an influx of new users, it's the same people who have been posting for upwards of a decade and have (mostly) grown up. The founder Lowtax refused to grow up but, well, you know the story and now the site is under new management.

lelandfe 2y ago
So, I didn’t know the story - turns out Lowtax passed - but in searching I found a bemusing internet history of how Lowtax’s “banning of hentai on SA [was] ‘The Archduke Ferdinand Assassination moment that lead to QAnon’” https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/qro1ir/comment/hk967mm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/qro1ir/comment/...
- jsheard 2y ago
  The short version of events as I recall is that Lowtax was basically admin in absentia for years, only occasionally showing up to beg for money while the volunteer staff actually ran the show, until he was accused of domestic abuse by his then-partner which followed a pattern of similar accusations by his two previous partners. That led to a revolt by the users and other staff, which pressured Lowtax into selling the site to one of the other long time admins and parting ways. The new owner revealed that the site was in fact financially stable, contrary to Lowtaxes fearmongering, probably because he had been skimming donations for personal expenses. Then Lowtax killed himself a year later.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  reading that wonderful history lesson reminded me 1. Once again why no other site tried the "one time entry" fee to limit spam. Doesn't even have to be 10 bux; I think 1 dollar would go a long way to filter out 90+% of low effort trolls. And if they make sockpuppets: cool. money and easy banning. 2. A tale as old as time, but never let your personal biases interfere with moderation. If you really don't like something, codify it immediately before it offshoots into new competition. 3. damn, even before industry caught up anime-goers were persistent.
  - TiredOfLife 2y ago
    Twitter. Most spam is by paying users
drpossum 2y ago
I'd argue it's also due to an outflow of problematic users, such as what birthed 4chan
- Ntrails 2y ago
  I remain unconvinced that the outflow was limited to problematic posters, but I am not a first hand user
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    It rarely is, but you know what they say about nazis at a bar. Same thing applies here. Even if there's one extra step of ironic nazism -> real nazis finding good company.

wccrawford 2y ago

[flagged]

madamelic 2y ago
The article makes out that it was a bit. Rather than continuing the argument in earnest, they picked someone who had nothing to do with the original argument then stopped posting all together. The point of them doing that was to show they had no interest in actually continuing the argument, to borrow a 4Chan term: they did it for the lulz.
- Brian_K_White 2y ago
  and pointedly, not lulz at anyone elses expense, not destructive lulz
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  honestly, the argument wasn't even that bad. At least, not 10 years ban-worthy. To clarify, it was definitely bad, but it was definitely the most clever version of "kill yourself" I've read in years. Maybe the past 11 years of internet discourse has made me appreciate the more "subtle" days where you didn't just chain random buzzwords together when getting into an argument. There was some class to it.
entropie 2y ago
This is just highlevel trolling. Pretty obvious to me. That kind of humor emerged from 4chan and co and are a fundamental part of the internet gossip. I find it somhow very amusing.
- Shekelphile 2y ago
  > That kind of humor emerged from 4chan and co and are a fundamental part of the internet gossip. That kind of humor emerged from usenet and early SA*. 4chan only exists at all because moot was permabanned from SA.
  - 2y ago