pajenegod's blog

I don't want this to get normalized
By pajenegod, history, 9 months ago, In English

I don't think blogs like this one should be normal on Codeforces.

I know that sometimes comments can be frustrating. Sometimes it is the commenters fault, and sometimes it is the community's fault for upvoting mean spirited comments. I understand that in some cases, the criticism the commenter receives is fair and well-deserved.

But there is a fine line between criticism, saying that you didn't like the comment, and hanging out a comment on the front page and letting everyone attack it. The former two are acceptable (and sometimes even needed, because commenter have to improve and learn from their mistakes); the latter one, in my opinion, should not be acceptable.

I think that blogs discussing toxicity on codeforces are a good thing, but singling out a comment made by some kid onto the front page of Codeforces is a very inconsiderate and irresponsible thing to do.

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -22 Vote: I do not like it

I think the author of the mentioned blog is so frustrated not only because the author of that comment was rude. As you perhaps know he is one of the authors of EDU contests and these contests were criticized many times because of the quality of problems. So now it looks like he takes everything too personally

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -158 Vote: I do not like it

If you wanted to make a point, then you chose a pretty bad way to do it. Do you think I will even consider your claims if I see that you're trying to mock and ridicule my blog?

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    9 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +117 Vote: I do not like it

    As for a good or bad way to make a point, this is your value judgment. In my opinion, this blog is simply brilliant. Certainly, it doesn't imply you have to immediately start to defend your position or "even consider claims", the post seems to be addressed to the Codeforces community apparently.

    The post is meta-humorous (it's like Pavel Durov asking to choose what's better: removal of the gushing eggplant or the complete cessation of Telegram in Russia); I find it amusing (and probably so does the author) that a simple comment from a disgruntled dude has been blown up into a drama of this magnitude.

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      9 months ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +57 Vote: I do not like it

      One thing such mocking actually achieves is deprecating community feedback to the authors.

      What would an author do, seeing a comment, when it becomes too hard for them to distinguish the levels of various flavors of post- and meta-irony? What's left is to rely on the opinion of people the authors personally know. Which leads to them remaining in the bubble of similar opinions, and the community not getting their actual feedback through.

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      9 months ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +261 Vote: I do not like it

      I'm amused by a simple bitset triggering a drama of this magnitude.

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        9 months ago, # ^ |
        ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +37 Vote: I do not like it

        Personally, a bitset problem was a paradigm shift for me.

        I tried for quite some time to invent $$$n \sqrt{n}$$$ or some such. Because it just can't be, they don't give $$$n^2 / bits$$$ problems on Codeforces, right? :) I mean, at least intentionally.

        However, I'm actually glad they (you) do, once in a while.

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      9 months ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -21 Vote: I do not like it

      orz

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    9 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +28 Vote: I do not like it

    makes blog calling out a single guy and criticizing him

    However, the moderation team can do the job only partially. Deleting insulting blogs and comments is a way to rectify the situation. But in order to make those types of comments appear less frequently, we as a community have to do our part too. If we don't give newcomers a good example about how this community works, what is allowed and what is not, we can't expect them to behave politely.

    someone does the same to him

    If you wanted to make a point, then you chose a pretty bad way to do it. Do you think I will even consider your claims if I see that you're trying to mock and ridicule my blog?

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      9 months ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it

      I am not open to criticism when it's mixed with mockery or insults. I thought the point of criticism is to show someone that they are wrong, or they need to admit their mistakes and improve, not to make them feel anger or ridicule them. These two goals are somewhat exclusive.

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        9 months ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +118 Vote: I do not like it

        The blog is not mocking or insulting, you just chose to interpret it that way. Compare your blog to this one and yours is far more aggressive.

        Now that you understand how the subject of your blog might feel, maybe you can think of why this one was posted.

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        9 months ago, # ^ |
        ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

        I have no idea how you see that blog as a mockery or insult in any way. It's 100% serious. Maybe the fact that the title is exactly the same led you to thinking so, but that's about it and does not take away from the serious text that comes after. I agree with you that rude/offensive comments should not be socially acceptable, but putting a single comment of a particular user on the front page and scolding him there seems pretty inconsiderate (especially since he apologized and adjusted his comment), wouldn't you agree? Try putting yourself in his place and think how you would feel

        EDIT: I've just noted your change to the blog on the front page right after I've posted that comment :)

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          9 months ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it +46 Vote: I do not like it

          I don't see it as insulting, but I still see it as mocking the original blog.

          The sad thing is that this blog actually has a completely fair point, and it had that all along. But with the way it is titled and formatted (yeah, not only the title), I expected it to be just another one of those "hilariously funny jokes" I'm getting regularly. Only in a few hours, when another person told me "he is right, you shouldn't have singled out that one comment", I realized that I was wrong and had to fix my mistake.

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9 months ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -64 Vote: I do not like it

Most likely you didn't read the original version of the comment pointed out by the blog, If you did so then you should be tested

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    9 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +44 Vote: I do not like it

    IMO saying "you should be tested" is kinda equivalent to the original comment. You're just substituting a rude word for a more diplomatic expression, but the substance of the comment is still essentially insinuating that someone has a mental illness.

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      9 months ago, # ^ |
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      So what you mean is I'm not OK telling someone he's not OK for rejecting a blog against a comment that tells the R-word to an author (with 400 upvotes on that comment) just cuz he didn't like a problem ?
      It's chaos now just stop it

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9 months ago, # |
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Down with the system

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9 months ago, # |
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Yes, thank you! I also wanted to leave some comment about how I don't want putting some weird stuff on the front page to get normalized. Back then I decided to keep my opinion unspoken, because 1) I would be complaining about the same thing op was on the front page (someone said something I didn't like), 2) Mike can put whatever he wants on the main page, I can deal with it, 3) I decided to just not visit codeforces until something normal is on the front page instead of some snowflake whining.

In fact, I am only writing this comment because some people here seem to argue that op trying to make his point + Mike putting it on the front page are essentially just public cyberbullying for a comment, which is not very nice.

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9 months ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -15 Vote: I do not like it

Such blogs shouldn't even exist. Why? The moderation team is responsible for that. And they are failing. Criminals are bad and it would be good if they didn't exist, but they always will. Whose job is it to punish them? The police.

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    9 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +17 Vote: I do not like it

    I was not expecting to encounter fascist propaganda when I entered Codeforces today.

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9 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Auto comment: topic has been updated by pajenegod (previous revision, new revision, compare).

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