this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

it beyter not get burned down again

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

At least that is the PR.

It all goes out of the window as soon as politcal events are concerned, then it is just western naratives all over. With things as sources, good sources, multiple viewpoints all forgotten. What the west says is treated as gospel. While paid editors up to and including state actors rule the site. The system of nerds correcting each other is then used to prevent corrections.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

"The best way to get a correct answer online is not to post a question. It is to post the wrong answer."

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

Ackchyually it's Wikipedia.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I've done it at times. It works!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

The other day I used the term weaponized a*t*sm in a positive way, and I got site banned for a day for ableism.

I'm on the spectrum. I'm also the one that ended up going into weaponizrd detail in that thread.

Semi-related, only because if you used the title you actually wanted to, you probably would have been banned too.

Mods are weaponized.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I get that you're trying to use it in a positive way, but in my country that first word you used is a slur that has not even attempted to be reclaimed, so it instantly makes me start reading your comment with an ableist tone.

Now that I know you're trying to frame it in a positive way, I can force myself to read your comment in a positive tone. But it's difficult because the language chosen still makes me read it like you're annoyed that autistic people will miss the sarcasm and take it too seriously.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I realize autistic people often have trouble with tone and having people interpret things the way they meant it to come across -- lord knows it took me took long enough to develop that skill -- but good grief. I'm on the spectrum, and if I were a mod who had just read the comment in your screenshot, I'd've banned you too.

Now that you've explained you meant it in a positive way, I completely understand what you meant, but nothing in the comment you wrote makes it clear that you think of autism in a positive way or, in fact, as anything besides "lol nerd emoji". The fact that you had just finished going on a seven paragraph infodump (I'm guessing) unfortunately does nothing to prove otherwise: an unfortunate number of undiagnosed autistic people spend their days getting into online fights, writing said seven paragraph comments, and calling anyone who disagrees with them autistic because they want to feel superior and "autistic" is a handy epithet. I don't think anyone would argue these people should be welcome in our communities just because of autism they themselves don't know about.

To be clear, I'm not saying that last statement applies to you. I'm saying if I didn't know anything about you except that you had written the comment in that screenshot, I would have assumed it did and not given it a second thought. I can almost guarantee that's what that mod did.

While that term is slowly but surely being reclaimed, and I'm glad that it is, at present, it still holds the status of "insult unless explicitly stated otherwise." Now that you've told me what you meant, I can see where you were coming from, but as that comment was written, "spread some weaponized autism" implies you're prepared to call anyone who disagrees with you a slur. Your comment seems to be saying "only an idiot autistic person would miss the sarcasm in this comment and bother to respond." It's not what you meant, but it's how I (and no doubt plenty of other people) probably read it.

Please learn to use qualifiers and/or tone indicators, for the sake of your own reputation. If you'd said "Can't wait for all my autistic friends to chime in with a seven paragraph sales pitch for their niche chat platform of choice" or even just replaced "weaponized autism" with "weaponized autism (affectionate)" and left the rest of the comment as is, I guarantee you'd have been fine.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

You didn't use it in a "positive way" at all.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes, I do, every time there's seventeen exceptions on a statement that used to be simple. 'This was their last album with this drummer, until he came back, except for this other time, before he left again.' Just rewrite the damn sentence.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

You do it. Isn't that the point?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Wikipedia is not a library neither is it a reliable source of accurate information.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

It's as accurate as any university textbook and way more accurate than any school textbook.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's definitely not 100% foolproof to misinformation, but I've always found wikipedia to be reliable. Why do you feel it isnt?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wikipedia's reliability in it's own words - check out the holocaust misinformation from last year!

US congressional staff editing controversies as documented by and presented in wikipedia

A ten year long hoax running until two years ago

Wikipedia's own list of its controversies - pay special attention here to the 2023 exposure of an administrator pretending to be a spanish folk singer as a sockpuppet of another administrator who was banned in 2015 for making "promotional edits".

I want to be clear: i do not feel that wikipedia isn't reliable. I can clearly observe that wikipedia is unreliable.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (10 children)

Info on Wikipedia shouldn't be taken at face value, check the sources given! A lot of the examples you gave likely didn't have any citation. The blame for misinformation partly lies with the people accepting information with no sources given. Also, any example of known misinformation just means that it has been caught and corrected. Everyone should know wikipedia is not right 100% of the time but it is always getting better. There millions of articles and I don't think the examples you listed should lead anyone to believe it is overall unreliable. It is good however to not blindly put your trust in whatever you read from it, and if you do come across something that isn't correct, you have the opportunity to fix it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They used Wikipedia to prove that Wikipedia is untrustworthy

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The first paragraph of the first link they posted says that wikipedia's reliability has been generally praised over the last 10 years.

Edit: unless you're saying that wikipedia is so untrustworthy that it is misinformed about being untrustworthy lol

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

And still, even with a do-over, somehow failed to call it "M'akshually". 🤷🏼‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Just ignore the 150M a year they spend managing finances, contributors, tech, moderation, etc. Takes a lot to maintain an accurate library.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

150m a year doesn't seem that much, honestly. I know people think "oh, it's just a website" but it takes a lot of work and money in salaries and infrastructure hosting to keep a web application as popular as Wikipedia up and running.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

150m a year for one of the most trafficked websites on the internet is a bargin

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I used to work for them. It was weird and wonderful and I miss it and I don't. Lots of mission driven folks working hard to keep things going getting very little respect. But a lot of respect. But sometimes none.

Iirc a lot of their budget is spent doing charity stuff. Encouraging contributions for tiny languages. Trying not to cave to Russia or the US or France. Trying to make it less of a boys club. Trying to get local organizations going.

I remember once they sent an email that said "if the French government asks you to delete this page please just delete it. It's not worth going to jail. Someone outside of France will revert the delete."

I wasn't qualified for the work. No one was. But it was honest work.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for your work, though!

Very curious about the page French govt wanted deleted.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Genocides in the colonies.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Curious to read more about that but I can't seem to find a source for it. Do you have one?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Certainly, here are some notable instances involving French colonial forces:

  1. Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962): This was a significant and violent decolonization conflict where Algerian nationalists sought independence from French colonial rule. The French military's efforts to suppress the independence movement resulted in large numbers of casualties, including civilians. Tactics such as the use of torture, mass executions, and the creation of internment camps were reported. The exact number of Algerian casualties is disputed, but estimates suggest that the death toll could be in the range of hundreds of thousands.

  2. The Madagascar Uprising (1947): In Madagascar, a nationalist uprising against French colonial rule was met with severe repression. French forces were accused of committing numerous atrocities in their effort to suppress the rebellion, including summary executions, village burnings, and torture. Estimates of the Malagasy deaths vary widely, with some suggesting that the number could be as high as 100,000.

  3. Indochina War (1946–1954): This conflict in French Indochina, which includes modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, was fought between French colonial forces and the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, who sought independence. The war was marked by guerrilla warfare and significant civilian casualties, with both sides accused of atrocities. The use of forced labor, internment camps, and the bombing of civilian areas contributed to a high death toll.

These examples reflect the complex and often brutal nature of colonial rule and the struggle for independence. They involve a wide range of actions and policies implemented by French military and colonial authorities, which led to significant loss of life and suffering among the colonized populations.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The world should know that the french were monsters a while back. I hope they are not asking for censorship anymore

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I guarantee that the LePen crowd is still trying to whitewash their pasts as they push their nationalistic bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What's this 'the Pen' written in meme language?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

i dont think anyone is ignoring that. the meme is talking about how it was built, not hot it's currently maintained. it definitely didn't start off spending that much. all that spending is a consequence of it's popularity, not the reason for it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Some would say that most of the spending is based on greed. Individual salaries doubled to tripled in the last decade, with their head earning three quarters of a million now.

It was a tenth 15 years ago.

They started out right, like they all do. Then personal money catches up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I wanted to fact check you on this, and you speak true.

https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salaries

Makes me question my willingness to donate money to them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I think you should consider the opportunity cost of what they would be making elsewhere. Salaries need to be competitive, otherwise you are at the mercy of those who are willing to work for less and hope that the reason is benevolent.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

that's the spirit

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