So, you are basically saying that because human beings are irredeemable pieces of shit, we just need to accept that and close communication.

its not just “do better guys.” its never been that. its been things like, dont email death threats to devs because they said something you dont like, or dont dox them, or just because you disagree with something the devs arent lazy or incompitent or just trying to steal more of your money.

we can only change how our own subculture behaves.

Agreed. I don’t think that the “service” component (where the complainer feels entitled because they paid $60 for a game, or whatever) explains the phenomenon of online toxicity completely, but I think it’s definitely a component in the extremeness of the toxicity.

I don’t think anyone is making a point that gamers are worse than communities discussing other internet topics...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/6e09v1/how_to_report_harassing_messages/

I think gamer culture is one of the main producers of online culture, though. I don’t have anything to back it up, it just seems that way.

I think it’s a bit more complicated than that, at the end of the day, but still more sensible than the “uniquely toxic gamer culture” myth.

I don’t get why this gets attributed to gamer culture instead of online culture more broadly. The subset of gamers who get rabid in online comments (or even care to comment online in the first place) is almost certainly insignificant in relation to the whole. Moreover, the same types of behavior can be seen across…

Dragging their feet on netting extension is 100% about avoiding the appearance of admitting fault for what happened.

I find that Scotland’s grievances, in the context of their position in the UK (i.e. not the economic or cultural power center), are far more convincing than those of Catalonia. What I fear is that, in a period of economic hardship, they are simply trying to seal themselves off economically from Spain, and are using…

This 90% figure for independence seems highly suspect, given that prior polling demonstrated razor-thin margins between yes and no, with a maximum of 50% for independence.

If people are “determined” to do stupid shit, yeah, I have a problem with that. I’d say the same thing if Texas or California or New York tried to mount serious independence campaigns (even though I imagine Texas would be doing it for conservative reasons, while California/New York would cite progressive ones).

I assume that when Quebec holds votes on independence, they are doing so within a legally valid framework. If they weren’t, I guess I wouldn’t be too surprised if the Canadian government cracked down on it.

I didn’t ever say there was.

That’s because you’re purposely ignoring the cultural, language and societal traditions that Madrid tried to eradicate since they took over in 1714.

If you’re trying to get me to agree that the reason for secession never matters, you might as well give up now. Literally anything a nation-sized group of people might want to do could theoretically be justified as a matter of self-determination or sovereignty. I don’t agree when Texans imagine they should be allowed…

Here is the thing. It doesn’t matter what their motives are. You either support the principle of self-determinism or you don’t. The right to self-determination doesn’t come with qualifiers on it.

Yeah, obviously self-determination is a reason that demands an analysis of what the people involved hope to do with it. That’s why I’m skeptical of what’s happening in Catalonia, because it seems like the nationalist case is about a wealthy region escaping its responsibility to aid poorer regions.

Yeah, I’m more interested in the major motivations, though. I find it hard to believe that this is more about cultural differences and historical grievances than it is about a region not wanting to give more than it takes in a period of financial hardship for the country. With Scotland, that isn’t really on the table,…