Should I ask that?

[zomborg]

So what topics should never be discussed?
Some may disagree with me on my definition but gbatemp may have began as a Gameboy advance rom /emulator site but slowly over time grew into what we are today. A successful and thriving community with many intelligent members. A forum that is multifaceted and has something to offer you no matter what you may be interested in.
A few of the more significant aspects are open source software and firmware developers and rom, game and console hackers. We have members here from all walks of life. Engineers, developers, technicians, programmers, teachers, students, public service workers, truck drivers, cooks, waitresses and many more.
We have members here from all levels of intelligence from your basic gamer to highly educated near genius gurus and all who fall in between.
No matter your level of knowledge or skill, we have something to offer you. Like playing games? Like computers? Like movies, music, food, politics, animals and on and on? There's a place here for you.
So my question is deceptively simple but at the same time very complex.
In a community that covers almost any interest you may have, what subjects are considered out of bounds or unacceptable to talk about? What hot button questions and topics are better left unsaid? (In your opinion)
I will go first with the huge elephant in the room. It is not acceptable to discuss warez here. Also, even though we have a forum for this, sometimes politics is a sticky subject and can lead to all out meltdowns. And yes I could post a link to forum rules but we all know what those are and some touchy topics fall outside of that.

 

[FAST6191]

"It is not acceptable to discuss warez here"
Is it not? Linking to it, or things like CDs of it (which would probably include repros), is tricky but you would be free to make a thread titled "Spintires_MudRunner_American_Wilds_Update_v4.5_NSW-VENOM" (the latest release I can see at time of writing, assuming the predb I found is up to date which is dubious for a lot of web ones) and discuss its merits. We have thousands of such threads here already, and have been public for many many years now. It was once a staff focus but that slipped by the wayside at one point in favour of other things.
On the flip side we tend not to mirror/link PC cracks even if we have discussions on how to optimise a crack at assembly level for a DS game or something. This is more because they are so hard to keep clear of viruses, nastiness and spiders.
For the sake of advertisers then linking/embedding porn is probably a bad plan, however... https://gbatemp.net/threads/he-came-on-my-f-king-rug.225137/ https://gbatemp.net/threads/hottest-porn-star.85754/

Politics these days tends to be contained to blogs and world news sections, maybe general off topic if it is especially not relevant to news. Sometimes things will be locked to allow people to cool off, or if it is going too far off the rails, but edicts of "never shall we discuss this again" tend not to be uttered. When people are given some time to cool off their returns can be "you don't go in ? any more", sometimes it fails, other times it works.

You are probably not going to get very far ragging on people for things they did not choose (skin colour, sex...) and ultimately hold no relevance though if it does come up then most of the time it is more "So you have some ideas on how the world works, OK explain and defend them" -- I like this as banning tends to send a message that it is forbidden knowledge and they are onto something, explaining why some nonsense is nonsense does far better and maybe helps prevent them from entering an echo chamber. Historically many that have ideas of dubious scientific merit on the how the world works can't structure a post or an argument and thus get them or their post canned for being spam as often as anything else.
I will note that in that little list some people try to include religion. Religion is something you choose to do, give or take what aspects of developmental psychology tell us, and as such is far more open to critique, however at the same time "ew you are Zoroastrian, go away I don't help Zoroastrians" is not going to endear you.
It cuts the other way too -- how any rational person can be anti vaccination I do not know (well, I do know the psychology of it all but even still) and it irritates me no end, even more so as this current crop is seemingly completely clueless (so many seem to want to write it off as unpleasant but ultimately harmless -- it used to be illegal to not tell your local doctor when you or yours had a case for good reason). For as tempting as it can be to sweep them aside I would not condone it being done as a staff action.


Probably best you don't discuss things that get you a free facebag and fast car ride, at least not in a fashion that anybody not already in the know is likely to be able to do something with. For instance I am versed in cryptography, electronics, signals, counter explosive design, chemistry enough to match the previous thing, and where I might fall short in some of those or related fields I can probably do the "duality of knowledge" thing (a directional signal works just as well for sending things to my shed through a bunch of interference as it does through a bunch of jamming attempts) to make up for it... I am not going to be posting a how to guide any time soon but might have a discussion about something more theoretical with someone clearly versed in it and enough deniability to stand up in court is having a discussion.
This would also extend to the less abstract version of your plans to kill a fool. Dealing drugs would be another but we have had many threads discussing their effects.

Directly attacking the site is not going to fly so well. If you happen to spot a flaw then... responsible disclosure is a hard discussion in the security community at large and all sorts of people have all sorts of ideas here. If nothing else then don't shit where you eat.


I have often likened this place to something like a workshop, work site, pub or similar. There will be swearing, banter, things might get a bit lewd, your feelings might get hurt and you might encounter a concept that causes you to think. If you can't handle that then it is very unfortunate but there are plenty of other places on this internet lark. Best if you don't do things that will prevent the site from being able to keep on keeping on, things where lines might be drawn detailed above. I doubt a being with the general approach GBAtemp has to the world would get terribly far in a large number of US universities right now, and pointedly so as a lot of that seems to have no sound reasoning at its core. If workshops, work sites, pubs or similar are not a useful frame of reference (entirely possible) then a sadly even more likely to be forgotten, or never known, thing before too long would be the 90's hacker mindset which would probably be said to be exemplified by the mentor's last words https://joshhighland.com/2007/08/28/mentors-last-words-the-hacker-manifesto/ .

 

[Joom]

Due to morality being subjective, it really depends on what the user deems appropriate.

 

[zomborg]

"It is not acceptable to discuss warez here"
Is it not? Linking to it, or things like CDs of it (which would probably include repros), is tricky but you would be free to make a thread titled "Spintires_MudRunner_American_Wilds_Update_v4.5_NSW-VENOM" (the latest release I can see at time of writing, assuming the predb I found is up to date which is dubious for a lot of web ones) and discuss its merits. We have thousands of such threads here already, and have been public for many many years now. It was once a staff focus but that slipped by the wayside at one point in favour of other things.
On the flip side we tend not to mirror/link PC cracks even if we have discussions on how to optimise a crack at assembly level for a DS game or something. This is more because they are so hard to keep clear of viruses, nastiness and spiders.
For the sake of advertisers then linking/embedding porn is probably a bad plan, however... https://gbatemp.net/threads/he-came-on-my-f-king-rug.225137/ https://gbatemp.net/threads/hottest-porn-star.85754/

Politics these days tends to be contained to blogs and world news sections, maybe general off topic if it is especially not relevant to news. Sometimes things will be locked to allow people to cool off, or if it is going too far off the rails, but edicts of "never shall we discuss this again" tend not to be uttered. When people are given some time to cool off their returns can be "you don't go in ? any more", sometimes it fails, other times it works.

You are probably not going to get very far ragging on people for things they did not choose (skin colour, sex...) and ultimately hold no relevance though if it does come up then most of the time it is more "So you have some ideas on how the world works, OK explain and defend them" -- I like this as banning tends to send a message that it is forbidden knowledge and they are onto something, explaining why some nonsense is nonsense does far better and maybe helps prevent them from entering an echo chamber. Historically many that have ideas of dubious scientific merit on the how the world works can't structure a post or an argument and thus get them or their post canned for being spam as often as anything else.
I will note that in that little list some people try to include religion. Religion is something you choose to do, give or take what aspects of developmental psychology tell us, and as such is far more open to critique, however at the same time "ew you are Zoroastrian, go away I don't help Zoroastrians" is not going to endear you.
It cuts the other way too -- how any rational person can be anti vaccination I do not know (well, I do know the psychology of it all but even still) and it irritates me no end, even more so as this current crop is seemingly completely clueless (so many seem to want to write it off as unpleasant but ultimately harmless -- it used to be illegal to not tell your local doctor when you or yours had a case for good reason). For as tempting as it can be to sweep them aside I would not condone it being done as a staff action.


Probably best you don't discuss things that get you a free facebag and fast car ride, at least not in a fashion that anybody not already in the know is likely to be able to do something with. For instance I am versed in cryptography, electronics, signals, counter explosive design, chemistry enough to match the previous thing, and where I might fall short in some of those or related fields I can probably do the "duality of knowledge" thing (a directional signal works just as well for sending things to my shed through a bunch of interference as it does through a bunch of jamming attempts) to make up for it... I am not going to be posting a how to guide any time soon but might have a discussion about something more theoretical with someone clearly versed in it and enough deniability to stand up in court is having a discussion.
This would also extend to the less abstract version of your plans to kill a fool. Dealing drugs would be another but we have had many threads discussing their effects.

Directly attacking the site is not going to fly so well. If you happen to spot a flaw then... responsible disclosure is a hard discussion in the security community at large and all sorts of people have all sorts of ideas here. If nothing else then don't shit where you eat.


I have often likened this place to something like a workshop, work site, pub or similar. There will be swearing, banter, things might get a bit lewd, your feelings might get hurt and you might encounter a concept that causes you to think. If you can't handle that then it is very unfortunate but there are plenty of other places on this internet lark. Best if you don't do things that will prevent the site from being able to keep on keeping on, things where lines might be drawn detailed above. I doubt a being with the general approach GBAtemp has to the world would get terribly far in a large number of US universities right now, and pointedly so as a lot of that seems to have no sound reasoning at its core. If workshops, work sites, pubs or similar are not a useful frame of reference (entirely possible) then a sadly even more likely to be forgotten, or never known, thing before too long would be the 90's hacker mindset which would probably be said to be exemplified by the mentor's last words https://joshhighland.com/2007/08/28/mentors-last-words-the-hacker-manifesto/ .

Fast6191, thank you for your response. As I spend more time here on the forums I learn more about the members and their points of view. Your response, I'm learning, as usual is very thought provoking. After all, isn't that a large part of what the average member is here for? To be engaged and be presented with things that make us think and in the end to learn something.
Your posts are so deep, so complex, that many times I find myself reading your replies a number of times to be able to make a hopefully intelligent reply and even then I miss points you made or just simply can't grasp them. Lol.
But in summary, I think what I have gleaned from your post (and yes I probably left some out or didn't fully understand a few of them) are these:

Religion, (I know it's discussed some but generally leads to arguments)
skin color and gender,
bashing gbatemp, lol I liked the way you put it (or in another way, don't slap the hand that feeds you),
plan to kill someone,
drug dealing,
porn (there are sites out there for that)
And one I want to add is making public the wrong person's secrets or worse yet site secrets.
Question : When you said don't ask about things that get you a free facebag or fast car ride, would that be, for instance asking where to get free illegal things? For instance in the switch forums the whole xci vs nsp topic.
One more thing, I read that link you posted and I really liked the mentors last words. I've never read that before.

 

[FAST6191]

That was not aiming to be an exhaustive list but a outline of the general thought process involved.

You can bash GBAtemp -- if the site is doing something you don't care for or understand then speak up. You are free to be critical of the site if you want. Most people are usually fairly content to be here so constantly spamming gbatemp is the suxx0rs around the place is not going to do much for you. Or if you prefer is constructive criticism is good stuff so aim for that one. What I was more thinking was posting an easy to use for the skiddies exploit should you find one for the forums is not going to make you welcome though. Find one, allow the staff to fix it (it is not going to be one of those 18 months/24 months affairs that some companies go in for when selling them an exploit for their software) and then you will be fine to hold a seminar on the forum to describe how it worked if you cared. That is what that one was aiming at.

You can discuss religions all you want. If you want to go line by line through their given books then go for it. Don't know how much interest it will gather (though historically it can https://gbatemp.net/threads/do-you-believe-in-god.405333/ ), and someone might at least pretend to be offended but eh.

Discuss things about skin colour and gender if you want. Both are demonstrably real concepts within the world (if GBAtemp has to have a stance then it will go with that -- the gender/race/... is a social construction set... they have not made their case). If you are going to go off on one about how all people with purple eyes, or equivalent, are evil and demonstrably inferior as humans then you will face some backlash. We like games, we also like hacking them and they things they run on and otherwise do it a lot around here. If you can get on with that then you will probably do well here -- your religion, sex, type of genitals you care to fumble (or not), or genitals you have or wish you had, whether you are blind or without hands, place you find yourself living... matters little in all of that and bashing people for those traits will not do much as it does not prevent them from engaging*.

*someone without hands might have a problem here, however I don't see it as functionally all that different to how if you put a football simulating game on the TV that I will be asleep five minutes later and thus can't play one of those.


Facebag and car ride. I don't think Nintendo has that kind of clout anywhere in the world. The explosives example was where I was heading there, and things that would interest similar such people. Plausible deniability is easy to achieve when it comes to intellectual property (it is a backup, I want to play it on a different device, I want it to be accessible -- all tried and tested exemptions there which allow us to play) and by and large if you do the software pirate bit then that is a civil offence. Teaching a would be arsehole that lucigen light fuel if atomised (1-4 to 1-2 atm pressure doing the job) and mixed in mutual proportion with air can make an explosion** is not going to win the site as a whole friends among agencies that most commonly have three letters in their name so probably want to avoid that one.

Discussing your plans for some murdering and drug dealing is a bad plan not only because this is a public forum and the evidence will probably be used against you but because it also likely gets us blacklisted in various ways. The people bruising copyright/IP law is one thing and collectively it was decided that we would take our licks there and minimise things where realistic to do so, and swearing is a useful part of language so that one too. The hardcore criminality thing does nothing for anybody and ultimately costs people so best avoid that one.

**a genuine example from my 1940s manual on fire and explosion investigation. If you can even find such fuel today then you are doing fairly well (if you can make it then you already know more than enough), and basic high school chemistry will teach you about stoichiometric ratios (probably won't mention too hard its use when figuring out explosives but that is because they are bad at teaching and don't know how to get attention of people***).

***the reason I know about explosives design. I had a composites teacher at university and he had that as a speciality (if arseholes are going to put bombs in bins then make a better bin). Composites is some of the driest stuff you can imagine learning about (the exam largely consisted of solving some long form matrix maths... so hard to keep concentrating there) but when he related it back to explosives then everybody was in rapt attention, myself very much included. I learned more on my own time but that was something of a start and means to keep attention/get something in there.

 

[Armadillo]

For me, everything is fair game, except stuff that can get the site shut down/in trouble.

No one forcing people to read the topic, don't like the content, don't read it.

 

[zomborg]

I agree with you that it is not wise to discuss topics that are hardcore illegal.
It is probably one of the fastest ways to get banned and if allowed to continue it would be one of the fastest ways for gbatemp or any site to be shut down.
Yes you are right, we don't want to bring up topics such as how to make explosives. As you said, it would attract the attention of various government agencies. And similarly we wouldn't want to go even further and give a tutorial on how to deploy them.
Also along those lines but more in tune with the nature of gbatemp, (who likes to hack) we would not want to have a discussion on an exploit to gain access to a government mainframe and give advice on how to accomplish such a feat.
I also agree with you that constructive criticism is a good thing. It is helpful and most times has the potential to make us as individuals and our site stronger.
To me the subject of religion and gender, although we are free to raise such topics, in my experience, on average leads to mortal kombat on the web and it mirrors real life where normally there are 2 clear sides that people fall on. Lines are drawn and blood is shed
That was very fascinating the story you shared about what you learned at University from your composites teacher. Probably in today's world they are afraid to impart that knowledge to students.