Surly Sysop/Michael B has been moved off the island

He doesn't fit in. His last post was an unqualified insult to the board. And he was too much of a douche to explain the details.

He looks down on us.

He has clever snark but 0 wisdom.

Fuck that guy, just like all liberals and progressives.

It didn't even sound like MB. All this bloke's posts, I mean.

When on Iritu MB was making or defending his steelmanning or "contrarian" or "devil's advocate" positions, he sounded fairly rational. Not that I agreed with him all the time or even often but that at least a reasonable person could reasonably say those things. But this particular poster's contributions I did not recognise as MB.

He probably sounded different than his past persona because the audience is different, smaller and cloaked.

It was indeed the same person. His email jibed.

I was never on Iritu and only know about MB from whatever you and others have said about him. He comes off as a pompous ass that came here to mock you and others. He's a typical liberal snob. They always think they're better than you.

I don't think he came here to fit in. I'm glad he's off the island.

Was Michael B the one who doxxed the person operating crazyontap and forced it to shut down?

^ Yeah. "Wayne" was the owner of CoT. MB reported CoT as a hate board to his web host and they replied to Wayne that it was unacceptable use. This lead to Wayne allowing CoT to rot and be removed. (he let the domain lapse.)

Idiot/etc went nuclear on MB due to that. I chimed in too.

I made a degree of peace with MB but that tolerance was misplaced. Lefties like MB have no character and always do the shit thing. Always.

MB might have done the same thing re this board if he stuck around. Sounds like a good move to ban him.

Several months ago after a few individuals I knew from other places stopped visiting this board, I just had the thought that I would extend explanation to MB and let him know that most of the rancor was due to being egged on by Idiot, mainly. (Idiot == HistorianPDQ, etc)

I just wanted more people to talk to.

We chatted in a few emails. The guy is clever and has some insights. Also some witty snark.

I thought "f*** it, he may have some entertaining ideas, I'll give him a nick here." Which I did. He posted some months ago, and then just recently came back and posted the last stuff you see.

Sometimes someone who is quite smart can have absolutely no wisdom or anything specific to add.

I can't stand the old adage "you can always learn something from everyone you encounter." Some people have little to nothing to add. There are people that offer nothing to learn from.

It's pointless to argue with idiots. You just wind up dragging yourself down to their level.

On a neutral forum, sometimes I'll respond to an idiot, not because I hope to convince the idiot, but because I hope someone else reading will be convinced. Usually, idiots have nothing constructive to contribute and don't convince me.

My reply -

Yeah. I moved you off the island. Dropping the comment "some of you sound unhinged" and then not answering replies was completely uncool.

What exactly is unhinged, in light of Trump's assassination attempt the same day you posted that?

Anyway, our paths don't need to cross.

LOL

So much for nostalgia

Too bad Pig Pen wasn't able to join the forum. He would have fit in well here.

I've come to these conclusions:

Most people believe really stupid shit.

Most people are ineducable.

Most people almost 100% of the time have absolutely nothing to inform or educate you. Listening to most people makes me dumber, not smarter, and distracts me from what I want.

Just because you see someone around all the time on an online forum does not make them realer or more important than anyone else.

Someone who can master really complex abstract topics and argue well may still not be able to put really basic things together.

Michael B is an absolute nobody. Sounds intelligent on the surface, has done extremely well in tech, but wouldn't be anyone I would want for a friend or even an acquaintance who knows my business. W/o CoT and Iritu I'd have no clue about him.

I can't think of one position he staked that makes him memorable or interesting.

I feel this way basically about almost all the characters who populated my life. Including former friends and confidantes, bosses and co-workers, forumers, etc.

I had a confidence issue as a kid which continued into adulthood. In any group situation I was in, I was quiet and let others dominate the conversation. In other words, I assumed that most others were smarter than me.

I've dealt with plenty of Michael B's and some of them were bosses. I was fooled into thinking that an egotistical person with a big mouth who has a high opinion of him/herself really was a smart person. I let them take charge in group activities, work teams, etc, and would go with the flow. I'm still like that to an extent, especially in the workplace as truth telling is frowned on so just go along with it to collect the paycheck.

Anyway, you're right. So many just regurgitate the same talking points they see on TV, on the internet, etc. There is a lack of critical thinking skills. Some people just really think they're so important and have a highly inflated self esteem and are not open at all to changing their opinion.

I feel this way basically about almost all the characters who populated my life. Including former friends and confidantes, bosses and co-workers, forumers, etc.

Do you think that you could have ended up being around better quality people if you would have moved around more? I recall your story about moving back to your hometown for family reasons.
Sometimes I think I would have made better friends if I would have went away to school, for example, or moved out of the area I grew up in.

Do you think that you could have ended up being around better quality people if you would have moved around more? I recall your story about moving back to your hometown for family reasons.

Definitely but let me be specific:

Grew up in Ohio, got EE degree commuting from home.
First job in Silicon Valley, August 1980.

Homesick a lot.

Next job in PA, drivable distance to home, started Jan. 1982
Fucked up, basically. Long story. My fault.

Next job in NJ, started Aug. 1983, I had specialized tech skills (IC design, CAD system coding) which limited going back to OH which I didn't want to do.
Did OK work, hated the job, hated my boss, the local area (South Jersey) was basically like suburban Ohio. People were mostly OK and more intelligent than here.

Next job, Fort Wayne, started Sept. 1984.
DoD work. More like board design level work, coding assembler and C for military stuff.
Liked the work, didn't mesh too well with locals but there were a few decent people.
Also my mother was talking suicidal and I think since this had been going on for several years it became a brainworm to move back here for me.

Next job, a contracting place based in Cincinnati, Started Jan. 1988. They placed me at IBM in Boca Raton "temporarily" with the "promise" that there was a position back here when 18 months or so were up.

Contract ended March 1989.
Job ended May 1989.

I was able to somewhat mitigate my mom's depression but she passed of lung cancer in 1995.

Here's the thing. I've lived in a lot of places around the country. This area has the dumbest, shallowest residents who are basically antisocial. When I was a teen I never really had anyone to talk to who wasn't stupid (even college track honor students.)

This is the same region that JD Vance came from. In fact I live 8 miles away from where his first rally was yesterday.

I know you skim the surface of a lot of shit and lack some specifics, but dig into JD's background if you want to know what this region is like. (edit, I saw that you did pay attention to trailers for his movie and that gives the basic idea).

Ignore the hate and and ignore comments that Vance is a fraud. His life experience is a bit like mine.

Vance is like 40 now. I was 37 when my mom passed. Just circling around in jobs had exhausted me, and the local scene was downright hostile to my skill stack and personality. I should have left IT and gotten a new degree in something like law back in the 90s but I had a lot of drain of energy from my family.

Same as Vance did but he overcame it. I know of many similar stories to mine where someone just winds up in menial jobs because family fucks with them so badly that they never get momentum.

We have two seniors who don't have that much time left and I'm going to lobby my wife that we move to another area when they are both gone. But I'll be so fucking old by then that a move may not make sense.

Interesting parallels with Vance. What did you think of the guy before he was chosen? Did you like him as a Senator?

I know what you mean about parents keeping you from moving for opportunity. My parents have had their ways to keep me under their thumb. Different topic for a different thread tho but I kinda now what you mean about staying in the same area because of family. I went to a commuter campus as well and wasn't really encouraged to move away for college or job opportunities. It's no doubt had a negative effect on my career. I was the first college grad on my mom's side of the family and second college grad on my dad's side.

I wasn't paying much attention to him until I read about his memoir book and I bought a (unread) copy. When he became senator he was staking positions that gained him a lot of visibility and I just thought "good guy finally, not another senile do nothing RINO."

Interesting. I must admit I have only seen him speak a couple times. He did do a rally last night and I will have to check it out along with the documentary.

But I'll be so fucking old by then that a move may not make sense.

Maybe so. But the other thing to consider is, five years after the decision not to go, will you regret that decision. Might be better to go and possibly not fully succeed, at least you'll have given it a red hot go and have no regrets. And with that in mind, you can plan your move such that you can extricate yourself if necessary while minimising the cost of it.

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P.A.G.A.N. - People Against Goodness And Normalcy

Surly Sysop/Michael B has been moved off the island (Public Board)