this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
12 points (92.9% liked)

TechTakes

2589 readers
50 users here now

Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.

For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Want to wade into the rainbow-ridden surf of the abyss? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid.

Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned so many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] gerikson@awful.systems 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I haven't experienced the situation you're describing myself, but it feels very plausible.

Similarly, all developed societies depend on a number of people selflessly working in positions of elected or non-elected authority (local councils, HOAs, school boards) and treating them like people who cannot afford to make any mistakes is not a recipe for increased democratic engagement.

Anyway, so far no-one has commented, negatively or otherwise, and I think most LWers are treating it as harmless fun.

It's not making me any more interested in coming more than 200 feet from any of these people, and neither is this https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/GtZKzWgAqWrE2tXrQ/contra-dance-at-lessonline, but maybe that's just me being mean.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 1 points 5 hours ago

that’s just me being mean.

It prob is, stuff like this seems to be quite common at various nerdy events. Just harmless fun(*). So a bitch eating crackers moment perhaps. I know I have those myself.

*: initially made a typo there and wrote 'hatless fun'.

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Isn't that the hat from the picture that Yudkowsky showed off to prove he wasn't a cult leader? Are they trying to beat the cult allegations by ha ha jokingly wearing the same silly clothes as their founder?

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 1 points 2 hours ago

You would expect the leader of the 'make sure the prompt doesnt turn us into paperclips' movement to better right.