The Deskthority

[webwit]

"The Deskthority no longer represents an award specifically meant for Deskthority."

It never was limited to that anyway. At one point matt3o lost to a dead guy who was never a dt member.

[ohaimark]

Just changed my vote from one of DT's distinguished members to the Model MF Team
because I would find it absolutely ridiculous if the other guy named in the spoiler would win the DT Award
after having been banned from DT for good reasons,and I hope my new vote will contribute to preventing that.

Well this what you get for your grandiose inter-community award ohaimark!

If the other two communities enjoy it and only some of Deskthority hates it, I still think it's a win for me.

[kbdfr]

I don't object to him getting an award of any kind and do not deny his merits to the keyboard community,
but still find it utterly ridiculous that he might be getting an award called "The Deskthority".

The difference to the Nobel prize is obvious - or was Nepomuk Deskthority the founder of the award?

And I'm not concerned about publicity my posts may be making for him, he sure needs nobody for that

[ohaimark]

There's also "The Oscar." My point is that the name of the award is usually related to the founding organization or individual (sometimes just made up), regardless of what it's being awarded for.

I really don't think a solid case can be made against The Deskthority's name; the Deskthority keyboard forum is giving an award to a community member in recognition of an achievement, just as The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives an academy award.

Edit: By the way, thanks for giving me an excuse to bump/talk in this thread.

[seebart]

This is shaping up to be eerily similar to a recent election in the USA....

Thank god not nearly as bad. But if someone now claimed DTA6 was "rigged" and called webwit a horrible duck we would be on our way towards a "trumpet" level of shittyness...seriously had I known this little shitstorm would errupt I would have refrained.

I have a question: if Ripster wins will he personally post his gratitude?

[ohaimark]

Ripster has handled this whole thing with integrity, as far as I'm concerned. He even said he wouldn't call it rigged if he lost.

[Wodan]

Anything other than a Bob Dylan reaction would be a disapointment...

[scottc]

So everyone should vote for the Model MF team or else we might as well close up shop and give up...

[seebart]

So everyone should vote for the Model MF team or else we might as well close up shop and give up...

Sounds rigged enough to me let's do it. Avoid any horrible ducks at all costs...

[scottc]

It's not rigged, we're just emulating the broken American system. Vote for someone likely to win, not the candidate you want.

[alh84001]

This is shaping up to be eerily similar to a recent election in the USA....

Are there voter elligibility criteria? Like minimal post count or registration date? I suppose that if there is an influx of "immigrants" on DT, these would sway the vote in direction different than in the US election

[ohaimark]

As an American, I can agree that you make a fair point. I will chuckle a bit if ripster wins in spite of your efforts.

We have lots of legal immigrants who swayed the vote. It could still go either way, though.

I'm the one who opened the borders, as it were. If you have a problem with my policy, wait to see its long term effects. I think they'll be more positive than you expect.

[Findecanor]

Anything other than a Bob Dylan reaction would be a disapointment...

Nobel prize winners are required to hold a free, public lecture about the work that awarded them their prize... which will be filmed and put on the web, maybe even streamed live. (I live within walking distance to where some of them are held, and have attended a few in previous years, not sure if I will go on Thursday)
Even if Bob Dylan does not come to Stockholm to accept the prize and hold a lecture here, he is supposed to hold it somewhere else at some time.
The thought of Ripster showing his face and talking in public makes me chuckle...

[Findecanor]

We have lots of legal immigrants who swayed the vote. It could still go either way, though.

I'm the one who opened the borders, as it were. If you have a problem with my policy, wait to see its long term effects. I think they'll be more positive than you expect.

I didn't know this was the "New Republican Thread". My bad ...

[Chyros]

This is why you don't reveal results partway through the election :p . "Strategic voting" really should GTFO.

[webwit]

Yeah we did that before to bump the threads and encourage people to vote, but it was probably a mistake this year.

[alh84001]

I'm the one who opened the borders, as it were. If you have a problem with my policy, wait to see its long term effects. I think they'll be more positive than you expect.

I think you read too much negativity into my comment. It was made more in jest and good faith. Positive effects are already here as this is now the most fun* DTA6 award thread.

*I joined DT rather recently so I don't know the exact extent of the "feud" between the Banned One and DT members, so I can understand if to someone first word to come to mind is not "fun"

[ohaimark]

I... I guess that makes me a dirty damn liberal hippie. Everyone else wants to build a wall, and here I am handing out citizenships like candy.

(Don't get me wrong. I'm having fun with this too.)

My choice to reveal top contenders may have been wrong, but I don't think many people will change their vote. It appears that a vocal minority is pushing that agenda. I wanted to give Deskthority users a chance to unite behind something to an extent. Reddit and GH users have the same opportunity, so I don't think it's unfair.

One member praised my decision and asked for a second update in some of the other categories. Too many great options to decide between, he said.

Edit: I also hoped that DT members would be more forgiving, but that may have been too much to hope for.

[seebart]

I'm the one who opened the borders, as it were. If you have a problem with my policy, wait to see its long term effects. I think they'll be more positive than you expect.

"When G* / red* sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

[Khers]

I for one applaud the openness between the communities; a friendly invitation beats a hostile attitude any day of the week. Having said that, I would consider it very unfortunate if this gesture results in a former DT member who has been banned from DT receives an award that is named after DT.

As the Academy Awards and the Nobel Prize seems to be what we're after here, let's put it in those terms. I have a difficult time seeing someone banned from the AMPAS receiving an Oscar. Likewise, I have a difficult time seeing someone excluded from the academies of science receiving the Nobel Prize. Anyone is free to prove me wrong here, maybe it has happened, what do I know.

Rather than being a prestigious, well regarded award, ripster receiving The Deskthority would, in my book, have far too much of a resemblance with the farce that recently far too often has been associated with the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, you wouldn't happen to have Norwegian ancestors, ohaimark?

[ohaimark]

Well... Dutch and Irish?

The Academy Awards haven't ever perma-banned a film/film production team from winning an Oscar, though they have banned people from attending. Even when banned from attending, however, the banned party is allowed to receive their trophy later if a win occurs. Thus, in that regard, we comply with their practices.

Example: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/m ... oscars-ban

The Nobel hasn't ever had a reason to ban someone, as far as I know. It's also quite unlikely that a demagogue, genocidal dictator, or other person of ill repute would be nominated.

[davkol]

Yet Obama was awarded for… wait for it… not being Bush. And then went on with drone strikes.

Later, nomination of Putin was in the air.

[Kurplop]

Khers, I can surely appreciate your sentiments with regards to awarding someone who has an egregious past but i'm still open to the option of allowing it.
If either restitution, or a more recent history of positive contributions can offset past wrongs, I think there can be great merit in restoring somebody's reputation. It can set an example for others who have made mistakes to hang in there. I don't know either the proof or the extent of malicious conduct by the one on question, and I can also see the danger of allowing people to get away with bad behavior. I just wanted to offer another perspective.

[Ail]

Voting for him, who for good reasons was banned from Deskthority, to get "The Deskthority" award.

It's just ridiculous.

It's also ironic and funny. Both not without their own merits.

It's not like Ripster has not contributed to the mechanical keyboard world at all. As was pointed out earlier, just the fact that he gave birth to and runs the biggest Pok3r circle jerk mechanical keyboard subreddit, is something.

[fohat]

the fact that he gave birth to and runs the biggest Pok3r circle jerk mechanical keyboard subreddit, is something.

A few years ago I worked for a company of a dozen people or so, and we had been a "happy family" for 15 years or so with very little turnover.

The vice president, who had been hired when he was a bankrupt carpenter and eventually placed into a position of near-complete control of the daily operation of the company, abruptly divorced and quickly remarried.

Shortly after that, he quietly began to dismantle the company from within, and, a few months later, suddenly left, taking records, a handful of top people, and his pick of our supplier and consultant relationships. And wiped the computer server and deleted his email accounts.

He had tentatively approached me to come with him, I realized later, after the fact, but I was fiercely loyal to the owner of the company and scoffed at the idea that he would strike out on his own. This was at the beginning of the recession in 2008 and the company never recovered.

His ruthless and callous greed put several of us out of a job, and bankrupted the owner of the company (who had always been extremely generous to him and had treated him like a father/brother). Meanwhile, from the ashes of the company that we had built together, he made a solid success at a smaller scale on his own.

Frankly, I have always felt like this is basically the same thing that Ripster did to the keyboard community half a decade ago, and I think that it is shameful that non-DT members are able to cast ballots for Deskthority awards. If reddit wants to bestow their own awards, they should do it.

[JarateKing]

As someone who got into keyboards through reddit and being invited to these awards is the main push that makes me want to join this community, yikes.

I'm way too new to have seen any ripster drama, and I completely get that many people don't like him and on a few levels it would be weird to see him win. That said I voted for him because his work has had the biggest positive impact on me so far out of the options, which is entirely personal and I realize doesn't extend to 98% of DT. But that's why it's put to a vote.

I just don't get the hostility towards including reddit in general. Though my pov is definitely different, I think ohaimark made the right choice in opening this up to reddit and GH too. I've been in communities that didn't like their reddit alternative before (teamfortress.tv vs r/tf2) for what I feel like is the same reasons as here (reddit being more casual, less focused on a more serious aspect of the hobby, and overall/generally much less knowledgeable and often even incorrect). But an opportunity like this, both for people like me to see the light and for each community to get closer, shouldn't be wasted complaining about it.

[ohaimark]

Thanks, JarateKing.

Fohat:

A) We aren't bankrupt.

B) Ripster didn't take valuable people with him, as far as I know.

C) His success is in an entirely different market segment from us. Pok3rs and shoes don't really compare to a legitimate wiki and forum dedicated to vintage keyboards.

D) /r/MK is actually more successful than us if we're talking total readership, I think. He left and did better in certain ways.

Did he make all the right decisions? Nope. Did something good come out of it? Arguably yes. Should we exclude a lively foreign community simply because you think their admin is an ass sometimes? I think not, and I'll stand by that.

If the /r/MK users didn't like the guy and he was nominated as a joke it would be one thing. He's legitimately an idol to them, though. A patron saint of keyboards and shenanigans. For people who didn't experience his destructive phase, there's a very different perception about ripster.

[bhtooefr]

In this case, the animosity's towards ripster (we're so informal we can't stay on a topic for five posts, being informal is not something that we can knock another community for), and the damage he did to the English language keyboard community when he wasn't banned from literally every place that wasn't Reddit.

So, he contributed a fair amount in the early days, and then... a cult of personality (THE NUMBER ONE KEYBOARD EXPERT IN THE UNIVERSE or something, and he got actual sycophants) formed, and once that happened, all of the air was sucked out of the room. It was all ripster, all the time. He trolled Geekhack day in, day out, and it got so bad that iMav decided to give him his own subforum to crap over, and made him a moderator of that subforum. That didn't help, because now he was a moderator of something... and then, he figured out that iMav gave him the permission to delete users entirely. A couple of database rollbacks later, and more of his trolling, and eventually he actually got banned from Geekhack. (He wasn't involved in the r00tw0rm incident, although this was happening as r00tw0rm was ramping up their attacks, which made Geekhack look even worse - two MORE database rollbacks on top of the rollbacks every few weeks or so due to malware injection...)

And then... he came here, because he got kicked out of that sandbox, and proceeded to pull the same shit. He eventually got banned, and after a couple more bans elsewhere (and many, many sockpuppet accounts, and things getting to the point that even asking about him on Geekhack got you a ban), realized that he could go to Reddit and create his own subreddit with nobody moderating him, to whine about "Geekwhack".

He might've changed with time, but that's the ripster I've dealt with, and I'm sure as fuck not voting for that.

[ohaimark]

And you have every right not to. I'm not advocating that you vote for him, rather that we let redditors do so if they choose due to their different experience.

I'm not pushing for a ban removal or even asking anyone to say they like him. I am pushing to bring a sort of peace to the community. Even if he isn't allowed here, there's no reason why animosity should continue. Even if it does, I'd like to have DT be above it. Clearly that's ambitious and naive, but it's also hopeful and pragmatic.

[bhtooefr]

Yeah, I'm not saying he shouldn't be eligible - if the community (and this has been opened up to the greater community) wants him to get the wingnut, he should get the wingnut.

I'm more explaining why that animosity exists.