It is if one of them was eaten in the womb.

There's a super rad Turkish lady piper that travels with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Orchestra that I keep forcing everyone to watch. I'm going to post a video to keep filling space. She dukes it out with the sheng player in some performances and I love how into it they get.

I really hope she keeps playing bagpipes because the world needs tons and tons of awesome pipers, ladies included. I wonder if she chose her new last name based on her Scottish ancestry?

I know that stuff like the algorithm for how comments get pinned at the top and shown in highlights is going to continue to get tweaked as the system gets used and perfected, I suppose I just wish that Slay et al could help out over here, too. It's heartening to see all the "NO, stop being transphobic" responses, but…

Yeah, but it's kept at the top because the user is the "host" of the comments board because until recently, no Jez writer came in to the comments to help skew them to more productive things.

It does make Zap the host, but that troll is still at the top, maybe because they were here first? Thank you, either way!

Since they're the "Host" (first comment) until/unless the author engages, to my understanding they will ALWAYS have the top spot. Unless the author comes in.

Yeah, I work in IT with (mostly male) developers, so I totally agree that it's nice to defy expectations. I even get it with my hobbies (I work with comic book creators on independent publishing projects) and that's even more satisfying, somehow.

I've spent the last three years trying to find ways to turn negatives into positives, and that one feels like a real success, honestly. It keeps my blood pressure down and literally puts my money where my (internet) mouth is.

Denton talked about not knowing why there was so much antagonism between Jez writers and the commentariat (not touching that hornet's nest, personally) but it really does just break down the way that NuKinja is supposed to work. Especially on the serious journalistic topics, which are the ones that need the most…

She reminds me of the Kathy half of the Eric & Kathy morning show in Chicago. Super bombastic, asshole of a dude with his far smarter, witty female "sidekick."

Everything you say though is just feeding the need for attention, negative or positive.

I like the basic idea of his vision, honestly. It makes sense, on paper, if you leave out the worst parts of human nature in general (let alone on the internet). And the "serious" posts are the ones that need the most pruning in the comments.

And what happened to his goal of having his authors help curate the comments more? The whole system is predicated on what comments the authors deem worth looking at, but if they don't come and play....

They're a troll. Or at least a homophobe and transphobic as well, judging by their comments on other posts. Also, reverse racism exists, according to them. You may just want to walk away.

From what I can tell, the first "approvedish" (e.g. not in pending conversations, who would have been in the black on YeOldeKinja) person to comment on a post becomes the "Host" until such time that the author wades in, then they're the host.

I just love that with NuKinja the ONLY comment up in "Highlights" is a troll...who is also the "Host" since the author hasn't engaged (yet?).

What do you mean "women just didn't do a whole lot before 1789"? Borte and Khulan khatun (wives of Temujin/Genghis Khan)? The female Medicis? Queen of Sheba? All of the women who served in the American Revolution posing as men? Boudica? Hatshepsut?

My only answer to Hatshepsut is Borte, honestly. When Temujin died and his sons couldn't get their shit together, she kept it all running. And as much as a lot of the West is heavily influenced by Greco-Roman and Egyptian traditions, the Khanate had a HUGE impact on the Eastern hemisphere and the way that women…

YES! I saw her mentioned in a few other comments and did a little fist pump (which confused my coworkers but they're used to that). So many cultures were comfortably matriarchal or at least more open to female rulers until monotheism and especially modern Christianity came along. It's one of the few places in…