Patch, Your Pal

The NBA season ended on Sunday and believe it or not, that marks two entire seasons in which I've been running the Shams account. I have put a goofy amount of effort into that account for the sake of trying to make NBA Bluesky a thing - and I take the fact that the NBA now posts on Bluesky as a source of pride because I like to think I played a tiny role in that. I'm saying this because I want you to believe me when I say that I want Bluesky to succeed a lot and only criticize it out of love. I think Twitter is broken and I believe a better community can form here, and you know what, the NBA community here actually IS really good. But here's the thing: Bluesky must must MUST address the scale to which horrible Resistance accounts have been allowed to invade every waking corner of this app, because it's choking the life out of it and will eradicate whatever chance this place has of truly taking off if it's not fixed SOON.

I am very discouraged by how poorly Bluesky has dealt with this situation, because the aforementioned Resistance accounts (I'm using "Resistance" as a catch-all) have been draining the vibes on here for months and little seems to have been done about them. These accounts are rude, they're obnoxious, they're homophobic, they spam people like crazy, they drown the app in slop, and they react confrontationally to everything they see that isn't just about Trump - including sports. It's turned Bluesky into the only app I've ever been on where random users will actually come at you if you post about sports sometimes. It's hard to stress how bad that is for this place's sports prospects. Sports Twitter is never, ever, ever gonna meaningfully migrate over here if this place develops a reputation as Killjoy Land where angry Facebook refugees and scolds will legitimately confront you if you post about sports.

I believe the people running this app have consistently taken the easy way out when it comes to managing its user base - choosing to sit back and do little to nothing time and again as rude users who are poisonous for the community feel empowered to dictate the terms of engagement on it. Add that with the fact that the Discover feed is totally broken (search "Discover feed" on here and you will exclusively see people complaining about it) and is allowing this app's population of insufferable dweebs to find posts about sports/games/music/etc. that they consistently react to with hostility and you have an environment that is not just murky for sports but diametrically opposed to it. This place should be welcoming for sports ppl, but it can't really be that if the devs here never take a meaningful stand against the users who are manipulating the platform in a way that's ruining everyone else's time.

If there's one thing I could say to the people running Bluesky, it would be this: you can either be an app with a fun, chill, healthy environment in which thriving sub communities for things like sports can take hold, or you can be an app that 70-year-old grampas log into to scream at random people in between following grifter accounts that are pretending to be an underground cabal of park rangers, but you can't be both. Taking the path of least resistance will only result in malcontents strengthening their grip on this place. Just because most of the thinkpieces about Bluesky are bullshit doesn't mean the user experience hasn't also plummeted for a lot of people over the last year and will continue to plummet unless you find the initiative to wrestle control of this place away from ppl who are toxic. I still believe the sports community can become huge, but only if this app gives it a chance to be and right now it's unfortunately not.

Since the NBA season ended last night, here's my self indulgent take on where Sports Bluesky is atm. The TLDR is that crappy Resistance accounts are working like antibodies to flush casual sports ppl off this platform and the devs should address this if they actually want sports to take off here.

You will own something, and you will finally be happy. *video is literally just buying DVDs at an independent game store*

I say this as someone who has shaved their arms for the last 4 months and nobody cared then either.

The average conservative is so conditioned to fight against their own interests that they wouldn't know what to do if they experienced true freedom.

You stick them in a place where the grocery store is in walking distance and not a twenty minute drive away and they'll die of stress like a rabbit.

We used to be a proper country. *shows PS2 Eurojank*

I’m embarrassed of my country. Universal healthcare and housing are completely out of the question, but we always have enough money to bomb innocents and fight wars that aren’t our own.

The world looks down on us and we deserve it.

We need help. Real help. Not some bullshit platitudes, or walking on eggshells worried you’ll say the wrong thing. Actual support and community.

You have to extend grace and good faith to the richest human being in world history but everyone protesting Gaza is clearly doing it because they love Hamas

lynch also gave us one of the greatest "transphobes fuck off" quotes ever

Today in "would be hilarious if it weren't so damn terrifying." These are the same guys who would throw around that damn Futurama quote anytime someone would bring up the WNBA. Just go back to losing NFL parlays on Fanduel. We'd all be better off.

I find it very... idk, weird when someone sees a person say that it's problematic to make orcs the bad guys in D&D or that the word vagina offends transwomen, and thus decides to become a raging reactionary rather than just saying that yeah, sometimes the good guys have dumb and annoying people.

I have no idea if this is true or not, but I choose to believe it because it is funny.

And there's evidence to the contrary! Trump did surprisingly well with young men but he did not win those who said things like "I worry I can't afford a house or kids" -- he won those who said things like "trans men aren't really men"

youngmenresearchinitiative.substack.com/p/new-survey...

one of my pet takes is that americans only know how to talk about *anything* through the lens of "the economy." this is as true on the right as on the left. so much of our politics is driven by *status* and status anxiety that people only know how to express through "economic" language

I recall a lot of hoopla from certain people about a crisis among American men and those same people are looking at what happened in New Orleans & Vegas and blaming... immigration? Wokeness? Schools? Liberals? Literally everything except widespread untreated mental health issues among American men.

How Did This Beloved Thing Get So Bad?

a guy wanted to get richer

What Happened To All Thos— let me stop you there. a guy wanted to get richer

Why Is Th— a guy wanted to get richer

Have You Noticed Th— a guy wanted to get richer

Where Did— a guy wanted to get richer

The cowardice of game remakes is that they always chose celebrated titles to remake and use the most modern standard systems to adapt while they should tackle those flawed games that have troubled developments of budget cuts that never reached their full potential, those need remakes.

Protesters urging Congress to ‘flush bathroom bigotry’ arrested after sit-in - Roll Call More than a dozen people were arrested Thursday for protesting Republicans’ push to ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms in the House.

All of that tough talk by Mace and the police, and the protesters just got a ticket for obstructing public property like any other protest.

They are paper tigers and their threats are empty. Stand to to them. Courage is contagious.

rollcall.com/2024/12/05/p...

I don't think the Broncos cutting Russell Wilson was this big of an L. The Broncos gave up a few draft picks and role players (though Shelby Harris will be deeply missed), the best of whom turned into Kenneth Walker. The Giants gave up Saquon, who might be a genuine GOAT candidate.

Shoutout to Sean Seanson. Top tier content.

From the show Breaking Bad: Walter White looking at Jesse Pinkman and saying "Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?"

Yesterday, I posted about an Arkansas horse stable that is accepting voucher money to pay for horse riding lessons for homeschoolers. They ended up getting so much pushback that they deleted the entire post.

This is what we mean when we say do not obey in advance. Push back.

I haven’t seen the Abrams movies but my wife did make me watch Rogue One. I too really liked TLJ because it reminded me of the old Expanded Universe novels.

Manifesting an Eddie Kingston return at Full Gear.

Manifesting an Eddie Kingston return at Full Gear.

Manifesting an Eddie Kingston return at Full Gear.

Manifesting an Eddie Kingston return at Full Gear.

Manifesting an Eddie Kingston return at Full Gear.

Vv curious how India slots in the KC infield. Idk how to read advanced defensive stats but India’s fWAR was way higher this past season than Massey’s while their bWAR was similar. Could replace Massey at 2B I guess, or Garcia at 3B. Wiemer I really like as an Isbel replacement.

At this point I’m not comfortable making fun. This is Rick Ankiel levels of yips.

The "bluesky is an echo chamber" think pieces that keep popping up really tickle me because they show how certain people genuinely believe social media should be for debating and arguing and not talking about the things that make you happy and sharing art with the world.

And this is why, while I don't actively avoid "no politics" rules, the admin etc had better be pre-vetted by me or someone I trust as decent humans.

Every day, the more and more I want journalism as a field to die. Yes, I know there are wonderful local journalists exposing corruption and keeping leaders accountable, but goddamn these people as a field are so in the tank for the fash we just need to start over. I say that as an ex-journo.