Social WAR ROOM 2023 AWARDS.

[Fake Doctor]

@Fake Doctor easily one of the best, more articulate posters here. fair on both sides

Hey, thanks. Glad people are enjoying my posting. As I told Aerius, I wouldn't put myself in the running. It's been a busy, busy year on both the personal and professional fronts and I've been posting tired, stressed, and sometimes with a wee bit too much brandy in me at times, and I think it shows. But, still enjoy posting here, and glad others are enjoying it.

Though, let's be honest - you're just giving me a nod because I keep making Unforgiven references in The Mayberry.

As for the speculation about my politics, still pretty close to a mealy mouthed centrist. In this forum I've defended the right of university profs to promote the idea of MAPs (minor attracted persons), given an extensive case about why I think Meatball Ron isn't someone I want to see in power, and just yesterday explained why I want to see Israel slowly defunded until they're on their own. Weirdly, what had me squarely Liberal (as in, the Canadian party) between 10 to 30 years ago probably puts me 60/40 in favour of the Right at this forum, has me despising Justin Trudeau, and my disdain for the illiberalism on university campuses and in the contemporary left has me criticizing them more than the right. Strange times.

 

[Mr Holmes]

Hey, thanks. Glad people are enjoying my posting. As I told Aerius, I wouldn't put myself in the running. It's been a busy, busy year on both the personal and professional fronts and I've been posting tired, stressed, and sometimes with a wee bit too much brandy in me at times, and I think it shows. But, still enjoy posting here, and glad others are enjoying it.

Though, let's be honest - you're just giving me a nod because I keep making Unforgiven references in The Mayberry.

To be fair, its a top 5 western.

 

[Fake Doctor]

To be fair, its a top 5 western.

I'd give it top 3 Still get chills when he takes that first sip of whiskey.

 

[Poon Goon]

Obviously not top 5, but I watched Bone Tomahawk for the first time yesterday. Kurt Russell as a sheriff in a western is a can't miss proposition.

 

[Mr Holmes]

Obviously not top 5, but I watched Bone Tomahawk for the first time yesterday. Kurt Russell as a sheriff in a western is a can't miss proposition.

I put that on when I had a lady over knowing nothing about it. She asked me why we had to watch it. I replied "Kurt Russell".

 

[panem-et-circenses]

I've defended the right of university profs to promote the idea of MAPs (minor attracted persons)

LOL, wtf. I must’ve missed that. We haven’t been allowed to make a MAPS thread in a long time though.

 

[Fake Doctor]

LOL, wtf. I must’ve missed that. We haven’t been allowed to make a MAPS thread in a long time though.

(post in question below - was from 2022)

Just to be clear, I am 100% against normalizing minor attracted people as a sexual orientation in society, but one of the functions of the university is to create a space where people can look at some really weird shit in a serious way. Too much of history is the story of important ideas being suppressed because they were weird and dangerous, and the university is supposed to be the place for dangerous ideas. I'd defend studying genetics (in this case, race) having a tie to IQ being studied at a university in the same way. Honestly, I consider it a failure of the university not that they allow for this pro-kiddy diddler type stuff to be explored, but that they don't allow the other. That's the politics of the university interfering with its mission.

This is going to be an unpopular take, and I feel kind of slimy making it, but I don't entirely agree with that person being fired - at least, not just for things like that one video or trying to normalize even a scuzzy term like that. Maybe there is more but based on that I don't think they should be axed. Stuff like that shouldn't be anywhere near a grade school, but one of the cornerstones of university is academic freedom, even with extremely unpopular and questionable views. If we kick that principle to the curb in our virtue, we'll quickly find it becomes a crippling vice when virtue suffocates freedom to explore the taboo - because sometimes taboo stuff is important, and we don't know it until it is explored. I find this person's view abhorrent, but universities are supposed to be the marketplaces of ideas where things like this get explored - and then accepted or rejected. I expect a university to allow the views of nutzoid gender theorists to be aired - along with people far more extreme on that front than Jordan Peterson. I expect highly religious figures to argue for the existence of God in a rigorous academic manner - as atheists do their thing just down the hall. I want to hear the views of nationalists and globalists, people who only teach women and people who only teach male authors, whatever. I want guys like @Deorum to make careers out of studying the intersection of old Nordic religions, ultranationalism, and sexuality. Let these people do their thing - let their ideas come out - and we judge them as a society. That's the point of a university - to let this shit have its case made, and then we decide what to do with it. Every day I go in and give a wave hello to some purple haired landwhale waddling through the halls, I remind myself that it is important that they be there - because if the university becomes a site of moral puritanism then it isn't serving its function. Frankly, universities should include people that you and I find scuzzy. There are limits, but trying to normalize a term through some shitty book isn't it.

Where the real problem arises is when universities hire ideologically - and they do. I've sat at department meetings where a senior professor in a department looks around and says "This table is still too white and male" and didn't get any pushback. I've been in graduate classes where the professor openly says "Conservatives are smart enough to not take my classes - they know they're not wanted here." The problem isn't even that things like this are said - it's that people who openly speak out against these types of things are the ones who will either be under fire, or just never let into universities. Then the people who say them hire based on in-group preferences without batting an eye - and then those people they hire will do the same. Pretty soon people who think outside of a certain narrow range of acceptable views have to actively hide their views - and that's a worst case scenario for a university. Unfortunately, that's the reality in countless departments in the West today.

The hiring practices in universities absolutely do select with a favour on race, sex, and certain orientations, and certain general perspectives are held in disdain by staffs at large. As much as I say that we shouldn't be picking and choosing (as outsiders) when professors like this get fired or not, it is utterly dysfunctional when universities are choosing professors like Joe Biden chooses Supreme Court Justices. This is a major malfunction in the university system and as long as it persists the universities will not be serving the function they are built to. Universities are sick, and getting sicker... But I don't like firing someone for views I find morally repugnant, because the point of such institutions is to explore even the shitty views, up to a certain point.

 

[panem-et-circenses]

Poster of the year: @BFoe

As mentioned, “poster of the year” is always a tough category to pin down, especially after a year has passed. Some posters were stronger at the start of the year, some better in the middle, and some came around near the end of the year. The latter often gets the vote, really. For me it was BFoe

I thought that he went out of his way to debate different posters, even writing out full page responses to SNES. Definitely a standout this year.

Honorable mentions to follow.

@Mr Holmes very classy guy. Sherdog should have entrusted the upgrade rollout to him. Moreover, he faced off against both right-wingers and left-wingers. The only true Sherdog centrists.

@helltoupee had some interesting posts.

@Siver! was entertaining/had good posts. @Jack V Savage took a lot of unwarranted attacks, when, in reality, he put forward some thoughtful stuff. @Rational Poster was a good poster this year. @SakurabasEar was top notch. @curryjunkie, @Rob Battisti, @Poon Goon, @sickc0d3r should get votes. @KnightTemplar, @LMP, too.

@nhbbear should get some votes for putting a lot of work into his threads. @HereticBD, too. @EL CORINTHIAN for his battle with Jack, but also in general.

Best mod: @HockeyBjj

He never gets in the way, and amiable in general, the guy was a great addition to the staff, at least as far as I can tell.


Best newcomer: Sinister

He isn’t a ‘newcomer’ at all, but I don’t remember him posting in the WR all that much before this year.

He electrified the WR. Still not sure about what people were saying (Queen b stuff).

Best TS: @LeonardoBjj

He was the WR’s @MMALOPEZ. A lot of threads over the year, and at a time we really needed it. I tried to up my thread making, only I probably made more threads last year, focusing on more opinion based stuff. Respect to our Brazilian brotha. See you on the beach.

Best thread: police shooting thread, whatever it’s called.

Look, probably better threads, but of late, I have to give the award to @nhbbear. The thread was both serious and comical, featuring some sort of backstory we weren’t privy to — a mods promise that it wouldn’t be dumped or merged.

Worst thread: Israel vs Hamas, whichever iteration of the thread.

Like any war thread, there is a point at which things become off-the-rails bad. The religious aspect, or adherence to leftest dogma/American indoctrination, made that thread even worse than, say, Russia-Ukraine. It was crap from the start. Sure, some funny stuff in terms of battling between posters (bring back mb103, the Danish guy), but a lot of hard to read stuff shortly after the first days, leading to a bunch of rehashed arguments going on over the months that followed the horrific terrorist attack. Not to mention the amount of bans — first thread is full of them.

Worst ban: *dun dun duuun sound byte @Brakis

Listen, I don’t necessarily agree with his use of certain words, or the way he would address people in general, but I think that he gave as good as he got. In other words, it wasn’t a one way street. He would battle people who were willing, really, and get tagged in random threads. I think whatever money-making operation he was involved with would take him away for stints, and then he would return like it was a tour of duty. Moreover, he posted outside of the WR, in the UFC forum, which made him an all-around contributor, not that we care about white-trash cage fighting.

Most likely to get banned: @skold

I don’t want it to happen, either. But on double-yellows, probably has a million reports and more to come.

Starman award:

I guess Rob, although I missed a bunch of it. Getting banned in the video game forum is like serving in WW2, only to die after the war by trying to stick up a lemonade stand. Like, you go out in the WR. Maybe he did, idk, a mod can correct me, because I saw the screenshots of Micks post and I don’t ever visit the other forum, but that’s how I remember it.

Best feud (not included on the ballot this year, just throwing it out there): @Mack Yancy vs @KnightTemplar; although @Jack V Savage took a lot of heat from people.

I will format correctly in a bit.

My final ballot:

Best Poster: BFoe

Best TS: LeonardoBJJ

Best Mod: LMP

Worst Ban: Skold

Most Likely to Get Banned: originally picked Skold

Best Thread: NHB’s police shooting thread

Worst Thread: Hamas terrorist attack/Israel retaliation

Starman: Rob
@LMP

Final shoutout to @LangfordBarrow and @Crawler89

 

[Fake Doctor]

adding @HereticBD as another nominee for best poster on this forum.


adding a new category, most unjustified hated poster, @nhbbear

Best mod: @irish_thug

Heretic has the virtue of having one of the most concise, biting wits of anyone in this forum. It's a rare talent to be able to embarrass people in here the way he does, and I see him do it quite often. He says some quite interesting stuff when he wades in too, and doesn't just decide to make someone look like a complete dipshit with a few snarky lines.

 

[Sara]

Hey, thanks. Glad people are enjoying my posting. As I told Aerius, I wouldn't put myself in the running. It's been a busy, busy year on both the personal and professional fronts and I've been posting tired, stressed, and sometimes with a wee bit too much brandy in me at times, and I think it shows. But, still enjoy posting here, and glad others are enjoying it.

Though, let's be honest - you're just giving me a nod because I keep making Unforgiven references in The Mayberry.

As for the speculation about my politics, still pretty close to a mealy mouthed centrist. In this forum I've defended the right of university profs to promote the idea of MAPs (minor attracted persons), given an extensive case about why I think Meatball Ron isn't someone I want to see in power, and just yesterday explained why I want to see Israel slowly defunded until they're on their own. Weirdly, what had me squarely Liberal (as in, the Canadian party) between 10 to 30 years ago probably puts me 60/40 in favour of the Right at this forum, has me despising Justin Trudeau, and my disdain for the illiberalism on university campuses and in the contemporary left has me criticizing them more than the right. Strange times.

I forgiven the song it movie?

 

[William Munny]

get your votes in people!

you're not the boss of me.

 

[idrankyourbeer]

you're not the boss of me.

cory, trevor, votes. let's go!

 

[My Spot]

you're not the boss of me.

And he's not so big?

 

[Sara]

And he's not so big?

Life is unfair

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

Whoa, dude.

What happened to your AV? Lose a bet?

 

[nhbbear]

So he’s irrationally mad you told him he had a poor take on a case

Nah, he won’t even discuss the cases. He’s probably a previously banned poster that I had beef with because he keeps bringing shit up from years ago before his join date.

 

[nhbbear]

Wow. Offshoots are still word filtered. Crazy.

Yeah, not sure what that one’s about. That site didn’t last long. Just a few of us from the OT that year trying to keep our little community together

 

[Via Heeto]

Best offshoot site was otrefugees. at least for a few years until somehow Ender got elevated to God status and was treated with kid gloves. Goatrider was a dick. but it was a fun couple years

 

[Super_Nintendo]

@LMP

 

[AbominableJoman]

Best Poster: Ripskater

Worst Poster: skold/queen b

Best TS: Ripskater

Worst TS:

Best Mod: lol

Worst Mod: sinister

Best Ban: queen b/sinister

Worst Ban: Gene

Most Likely to Get Banned: Canadians

Best Thread:

Worst Thread:

The Starman Memorial Award: Bill Cosby rapist av guy