Forum Hot Takes

[Sol]

Your place to put hot takes about the forum's culture, history, etc.

I'll start: I think olawakandi is a lot more sensible than people give him credit for. His reputation for weird posting is mostly the side effect of his many typos, which iirc he's said is partly because he posts on his phone. A lot of his posts are referencing his own in-jokes or difficult personal circumstances. He posts a lot about the death of his mother and his grief over that for example; it's hard not to read his posts about the inevitability of death in light of that. (olawakandi, I'm happy to delete this thread if that's too personal).

If he wrote in the typical style of most posters, he wouldn't come off in the same way-- just as an odd guy with hotep beliefs and a stubborn tendency to ignore context. Aside from the hotep stuff, that could describe a lot of people on the forum who don't get the same kind of attention. Since realizing this, I've become a lot less comfortable with how posters treat him as an eccentric character -- it feels a bit mean.

[Pro-Israel, anti-Bibi]

The age minimum should be 18, not 13.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

Your place to put hot takes about the forum's culture, history, etc.

I'll start: I think olawakandi is a lot more sensible than people give him credit for. His reputation for weird posting is mostly the side effect of his many typos, which iirc he's said is partly because he posts on his phone. A lot of his posts are referencing his own in-jokes or difficult personal circumstances. He posts a lot about the death of his mother and his grief over that for example; it's hard not to read his posts about the inevitability of death in light of that. (olawakandi, I'm happy to delete this thread if that's too personal).

If he wrote in the typical style of most posters, he wouldn't come off in the same way-- just as an odd guy with hotep beliefs and a stubborn tendency to ignore context. Aside from the hotep stuff, that could describe a lot of people on the forum who don't get the same kind of attention. Since realizing this, I've become a lot less comfortable with how posters treat him as an eccentric character -- it feels a bit mean.

The hotepism is pretty non-sensical though. Like, there's no reason that this should be treated as merely the product of typing from a phone, or as an in-joke.

Caucasians are definitely Hebrew and Celtic descendants but Hebrew women mated with Blk Pharaohs some came out dark and som Arab and some white, that's why you have diversity in the Pharaoh in Africa, that's why on 10 Commandments he looked white the Pharaoh

But if you look at Pharaoh features there weren't white mostly they were blk

But as I said before the Noah's Ark was in the middle East not in Africa and Hebrews were the original cave men, we were all cave people but the Flintstones were Hebrews, that's why you have Flintstones sounding Jewish names Wellstone was a tribe of Israel from Paul Wellstone


My white friend in Grammar school was mixed and he had Sandy blond hair, blue eyes and he looked white

Jesus, Moses and Joshua were definitely white and they were descendants of Noah according to History not the Gospel Jesus Son of Joseph has an Ossuary Box and nails were thru ankles not feet and Christ died like Moses and Joshua but Christianiry is all we know and prayer is better than nothing

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

The age minimum should be 18, not 13.

As someone who joined when I was 16, I agree.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

The age minimum should be 18, not 13.

As someone who joined when I was 16, I agree.

I joined when I was 14; I also agree.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

All we get is repeated threads about blue wall states in 2024 board

[Upper Canada Tory]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around since 2003, and some members have been here since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

[Pro-Israel, anti-Bibi]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around 2003, and some members here have been since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today's standards, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

I mean, many of those users left because of moderating. They were doing things like encouraging some poor loser to overshare all the details of his life to mock him. I'd say we're better off without that.

[Upper Canada Tory]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around 2003, and some members here have been since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today's standards, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

I mean, many of those users left because of moderating. They were doing things like encouraging some poor loser to overshare all the details of his life to mock him. I'd say we're better off without that.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Atlas being more strictly moderated a bad thing - I only joined this forum about a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like before that, let alone many years ago, so I am withholding judgement. I have no issues with the rules being enforced and the moderators doing their job if it is necessary, I'm just saying that when you go back and look at old posts, it's a bit shocking because of the difference in the level of political correctness. Just an observation, not a judgement.

[Pro-Israel, anti-Bibi]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around 2003, and some members here have been since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today's standards, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

I mean, many of those users left because of moderating. They were doing things like encouraging some poor loser to overshare all the details of his life to mock him. I'd say we're better off without that.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Atlas being more strictly moderated a bad thing - I only joined this forum about a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like before that, let alone many years ago, so I am withholding judgement. I have no issues with the rules being enforced and the moderators doing their job if it is necessary, I'm just saying that when you go back and look at old posts, it's a bit shocking because of the difference in the level of political correctness. Just an observation, not a judgement.

Fair enough. Yeah I think in general things have changed a lot. In the late 90s, early 2000s there was a particular type of tech savvy elections dork that made up the primary demographic of this site. They weren't caring a lot about their own language.

[Upper Canada Tory]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around 2003, and some members here have been since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today's standards, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

I mean, many of those users left because of moderating. They were doing things like encouraging some poor loser to overshare all the details of his life to mock him. I'd say we're better off without that.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Atlas being more strictly moderated a bad thing - I only joined this forum about a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like before that, let alone many years ago, so I am withholding judgement. I have no issues with the rules being enforced and the moderators doing their job if it is necessary, I'm just saying that when you go back and look at old posts, it's a bit shocking because of the difference in the level of political correctness. Just an observation, not a judgement.

Fair enough. Yeah I think in general things have changed a lot. In the late 90s, early 2000s there was a particular type of tech savvy elections dork that made up the primary demographic of this site. They weren't caring a lot about their own language.

How long has Atlas been around? The oldest posts here seem to be from 2003, but you reference the late 90s. Was there a precursor site to Atlas or something?

[Pro-Israel, anti-Bibi]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around 2003, and some members here have been since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today's standards, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

I mean, many of those users left because of moderating. They were doing things like encouraging some poor loser to overshare all the details of his life to mock him. I'd say we're better off without that.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Atlas being more strictly moderated a bad thing - I only joined this forum about a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like before that, let alone many years ago, so I am withholding judgement. I have no issues with the rules being enforced and the moderators doing their job if it is necessary, I'm just saying that when you go back and look at old posts, it's a bit shocking because of the difference in the level of political correctness. Just an observation, not a judgement.

Fair enough. Yeah I think in general things have changed a lot. In the late 90s, early 2000s there was a particular type of tech savvy elections dork that made up the primary demographic of this site. They weren't caring a lot about their own language.

How long has Atlas been around? The oldest posts here seem to be from 2003, but you reference the late 90s. Was there a precursor site to Atlas or something?

I'm not sure honestly. I thought it was older than that.

[Rand]

Virginia and Olawakandi are the same person.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Virginia and Olawakandi are the same person.

In fact, there are only 23 distinct users on this site.  The rest are socks.

[GeorgiaModerate]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around 2003, and some members here have been since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today's standards, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

I mean, many of those users left because of moderating. They were doing things like encouraging some poor loser to overshare all the details of his life to mock him. I'd say we're better off without that.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Atlas being more strictly moderated a bad thing - I only joined this forum about a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like before that, let alone many years ago, so I am withholding judgement. I have no issues with the rules being enforced and the moderators doing their job if it is necessary, I'm just saying that when you go back and look at old posts, it's a bit shocking because of the difference in the level of political correctness. Just an observation, not a judgement.

Fair enough. Yeah I think in general things have changed a lot. In the late 90s, early 2000s there was a particular type of tech savvy elections dork that made up the primary demographic of this site. They weren't caring a lot about their own language.

How long has Atlas been around? The oldest posts here seem to be from 2003, but you reference the late 90s. Was there a precursor site to Atlas or something?

I'm not sure honestly. I thought it was older than that.

The first user registration (unsurprisingly, ElectionAtlas, i.e. Dave Leip) took place on October 28, 2003.

[Zinneke]

I know this is controversial but I feel like the International boards could somehow be merged with big mega threads for each country and then parallel threads that are restricted to only posting maps. I think the fact that the UK for example will essentially have 4 threads spread over 2 boards makes things hard to follow, at least for a simpleton like me.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

Since my initial hot take was apparently deemed innappropriate (and not even worth a moderation note), I'll post one I'm guilty of instead: the sheer focus on the "forum community" here. I get we're an eccentric bunch with some particularly standout characters, but my experience here would be a lot better if I focused purely on the political discussion and didn't wade into this particular board, or even pay attention to who makes a given comment. Frankly my use of this site often feels like an addiction - it frustrates me more than I enjoy it, and honestly I can think of many other ways I'd rather use my time but which I can't bring myself to do for some reason.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

I ❤️ the moderators and think they nearly always make the right decision.

[Upper Canada Tory]

I ❤️ the moderators and think they nearly always make the right decision.

Based take! I strongly agree

[gerritcole]

i wonder how the forum will die? all that begins must end. perhaps atlas slowly fails to pickup new users and the active users dwindle over the decades, or maybe we all find a different neurotic obsession to enjoy, or maybe dave leip pulls the plug on the whole thing

[Kamala's side hoe]

A quick qualification: there are probably more [cis] women here than we think, but for obvious reasons, women on the internet have learned that advertising their gender is a very effective way to get a bunch of creepy messages.

i wonder how the forum will die? all that begins must end. perhaps atlas slowly fails to pickup new users and the active users dwindle over the decades, or maybe we all find a different neurotic obsession to enjoy, or maybe dave leip pulls the plug on the whole thing

This did kind of happen to AAD, but to my understanding it was always a spinoff of the US Elections Atlas forum. AAD itself was kind of a symptom of this forum's decline transformation as Internet forum culture and the state of electoral politics evolved during the 2010s.

[quesaisje]

1. The decline of professional political journalism is getting severe enough that we have fewer real stories to talk about. It's become much harder to understand what's going on at the state and local levels.
2. A lot of people here don't seem to follow politics outside of social media, and this is one of the site's biggest problems, especially for posters who are young enough that this is all they know.
3. The spread of propaganda enabled by modern social platforms is so severe that this site doesn't have much of a future unless it develops a better "immune system." (This is not just about moderation.)

The X/Twitter embed function is the worst feature enhancement ever to happen to this place. Getting rid of it would be an ideal first step.

It would be even better if everyone just got so bored with that type of content that we just stopped reacting to it. And that's where we need to get. This stuff is dull and tells us virtually nothing about elections.

[Progressive Pessimist]

John Mulaney is the worst thing to happen to comedy since Carlos Mencia.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

One thing that shocks me, and maybe I should post some examples of this, is how the standard of political correctness has changed on the forum over time.

Atlas has been around 2003, and some members here have been since around that time. I like to go back and read a lot of old posts on the forum from 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago and to be honest, I'm floored at how politically incorrect and offensive (by today's standards) people on Atlas used to be compared to today's standards, even by some users who are still around today.

I wonder, if I found a post from circa 2012 by a user who is still here today, and the post is offensive by today's moderation standards, would the user get modded? It's interesting to think about.  

I mean, many of those users left because of moderating. They were doing things like encouraging some poor loser to overshare all the details of his life to mock him. I'd say we're better off without that.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Atlas being more strictly moderated a bad thing - I only joined this forum about a year ago, so I have no idea what it was like before that, let alone many years ago, so I am withholding judgement. I have no issues with the rules being enforced and the moderators doing their job if it is necessary, I'm just saying that when you go back and look at old posts, it's a bit shocking because of the difference in the level of political correctness. Just an observation, not a judgement.

Fair enough. Yeah I think in general things have changed a lot. In the late 90s, early 2000s there was a particular type of tech savvy elections dork that made up the primary demographic of this site. They weren't caring a lot about their own language.

How long has Atlas been around? The oldest posts here seem to be from 2003, but you reference the late 90s. Was there a precursor site to Atlas or something?

The atlas (leip's website) started in the early 90s while Leip was an MIT student. He formed the domain uselectionatlas.org in 1997 iirc and the old precursor forum (which may be archived, I'm not sure) was created in 2001, i think.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The R take on passing aid to Ukraine, is funny, they wantta cut off Ukraine aid and let Russia take Ukraine