… shit, that’s viable. You could make that fun and funny for real. Kinda like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, but in cardboard. And dice and tokens and string and clay.

This one’s a Family Guy manatee strip.

This doesn’t have a damn thing to do with what’s on TikTok.

Fuck off, bigot.

Welcome to here.

Delaware just hanging out all impudent.

‘I bet you’re making up stuff about me, because I’ve just made up stuff about you!’

I’m talking about moderation in general.

Doesn’t work.

Unsurprisingly, the moderators who basically just Ctrl+F “fuck you” are reliably useless at removing polite abuse. In practice they protect and encourage it. I have been told numerous times, on this site and others, to just use my words and continue arguing with what must surely be a completely reasonable… sneering goblin. Some of those same moderators have chided me for continuing an argument. They don’t know what they want and it’s gonna be your fault. Especially if you say something unforgivable, like: “I’m out.”

Recommendations:

• DKC Tropical Freeze is everything GDQ is about: it looks fast, it’s a little broken, and everyone onstage has a great time.

• Ocarina of Time is a no-logic randomizer, so all the items are shuffled without concern for whether the game is beatable. Sometimes getting to a boss takes three separate glitches, and then hitting them takes five.

• Super Sheffy World is the best of four-ish Kaizo / Mario Maker games this year. Fast-paced and comically difficult. But I’d say Kaizo Mario World 3 was the better run, if only for the final boss.

• Vice City’s hard-mode mod is a delightful trainwreck. The game actively does not want to be in a speedrun.

• Tetris showcases are always fun. This year they did Grandmaster 3 in Shirase and Grandmaster 2 in Death difficulty.

• Elden Ring was a lockout bingo race - two runners trying to check off random goals.

• Super Metroid races are the finale for a reason.

It’s inside an erupting volcano. Be my guest.

Fuck civility. “Be nice or die” is a gift to cautious bastards. It’s a formula for bait.

People need the ability to bluntly call horseshit, when faced with horseshit. Polite phrasing of said horseshit makes it worse. It creates the dynamic of bullying, where an honest response to abuse is treated as justification for that abuse.

Demanding that every response should take ten times more effort, all of which will be ignored, is a rule crafted for trolls. If someone can keep going ‘oh so you mean [not what you said]? wow that’s ridiculous and awful and pushes me further right,’ and any sane reply like ‘shut up, troll’ is what gets banned, then the rules favor and protect fffucking obvious trolling. And yet: that’s what too many moderators choose. Spotting rude language is easier. A forum free of blunt responses feels like you’re helping.

But it’s fundamentally not rewarding honesty, accuracy, or actual constructive conversation. It’s pretending that bad faith doesn’t exist.

Blaming people for tripping on a missing stair is unhelpful, to say the least.

Trouble is, a lot of big communities are there.

The network effect exists because adoption is a feature you can’t design.

Leaving comments visible is better for informing others what kind of comments aren’t allowed. Especially if it’s just bickering.

Short bans are like spritzing a cat in the face. It’s Skinnerian conditioning. It works.

Just make sure the behavior you’re conditioning for is the behavior you want. Trolling doesn’t mean “harsh language.” Trolling is the infuriating nonsense that makes reasonable people reach for harsh language. Sometimes, a rude response is entirely deserved.

At this rate, this community’s gonna be named People.

Fun fact: originally a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro.

If anyone missed it, here was a whole isometric GBA version.