B Traven said:

Well, here's my take on things:

1. This place really IS a free-for-all. Anyone can register for an account and start posting. Spambots, puppets, and extreme harassment are about the only things that'll get you banned. I catch random side conversations in mush cult and other subforums that are all over the map. The politics forum and the pub are both filled with people I'd never even smoke a joint with, much less trip.

2. One component of that free-for-all is people scanning the boards trying to correct misinformation and give out good advice. But those people can still be random, wrong, or just generally dicks about their point-of-view. You, know, since they're...people.

3. There are also people who have worked to write teks, compile guides, set up stickies, etc. Still, though, they're ultimately part of the free-for-all. We all are.

4. My biggest concern from the standpoint of "gate-keeping" information is preventing the viral spread of shitty information and techniques. I don't actually give a shit what anyone does in the privacy of their own home, or how skilled/knowledgeable they are when they start climbing this particular learning curve. They gotta figure shit out for themselves anyhow, just like any other farmer.

5. There is naturally a time period in any new pursuit where we get insecure and try to find authoritative voices and instructions to cling to. If we stick with said pursuit, we eventually see a lot more nuance based on our own experiences, and our "authorities" either lose their luster, become peers, or both.

As a music analogy, it's OK to me if someone's like "hey, you ever heard of that band Pink Floyd? They have this album Dark Side of the Moon that syncs up perfectly with Wizard of Oz." I'm not gonna ask them for proof, or ask them to name three songs off "Atom Heart Mother." But if they come out and say "You know that guy from Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett? He left the band because he ended up in the loonie bin after eating too much acid and thinking he'd turn into an orange," then I'm gonna say "No, that's bullshit," and then probably talk their ear off about the early history of the band lol

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KauaiOrca said:

Just got an email about some new strain apparently cultivated by this spore company... Called "SNOWBALL"... looks pretty wild.

Any thoughts? Just marketing BS?

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Mwj12977 said:

Search function is whack! Makes me feel stupid every time I try to use it.

Beef you are definitely more patient than a year ago. I remember seeing the classic “spoon fed” beratments you would hand down on people.

Then I noticed a following of noobs like me doing the same thing verbatim! Except we didn’t actually know anything. Just emulating!

Much more chill around here now. I don’t think you realize how impactful your presence here is.

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KauaiOrca said:

Just got an email about some new cube strain apparently cultivated by this spore company... Called "SNOWBALL"... looks pretty wild.

Any thoughts? Just marketing BS?




https://inoculatetheworld.com/product/snowball-isolated-spore-syringe/

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QuantumZ00 said:

What the heck is wok tek lol

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Mackload said:

I arrived a lot more recently, but have found it all pretty retard-positive, big help for someone like myself If that's a change in the culture, I got lucky with the timing

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Stipe-n Cap said:

We shouldn't stiffle creativity, but there's certain fundamentals that can not be changed. Like sterile technique, and autoclave function. There are just some things which are irreducible.

There's core concepts and mechanisms which govern the chemisty, pysics, and biology, all else can be experimented with and ultimately changed. The reason why people like myself are so curmudgeonly is because the tide of bioscience is strong.

We hold the line against drippy corn, UB, and wok tek.

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QuantumZ00 said:

I think what I always think about major change. Most of the time it's positive, but careful you don't go too much in the other direction and become what you hate. I am fully on board with any endeavor that makes newbies feel more comfortable, free to make hard choices, and confident in their own abilities.

But if this place were to turn into reddit or Facebook and we couldn't even adequately turn to TCs for some basic universally agreed about concepts, and anybody can post any thing without even verifying if it really works or not or even attempting to look at any of the accumulated evidence that it may not work... Then that'll just create a separate new problem.

I know the search function ain't perfect, but there has been little that the combination of limiting my search window to the last four years, and only referencing TC or OG posts or threads for possible frontier work won't answer. It is pretty easy though all said. Is there no value to people having to work for things even a little? Isn't that part of what helps us all get better, the pursuit?

I don't think what anybody is saying is objectionable here in their desire for a less prickly place. Just hope we don't abandon reason in that pursuit to go too much in the other direction. But ultimately this is just a forum and its impact on my life will be minimal either way, these are not serious life or death topics to me anyhow :p

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Stipe-n Cap said:

Confession:

My face when folks claim they never deal with contamination...

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