Interesting stuff

I've little sympathy for idiots doing stupid shit and suffering the consequences, but what happens when the anti-vax nutters convince enough people to compromise the effectiveness of it for those of us with functioning brains?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Samoa_measles_outbreak

Don't kid yourself that this tsunami of nonsense doesn't put all of us at risk.

As I'm sure you are aware, while this content might be removed from the big sites, it's still easily found if you so desire. If you're willing to wade into all the other conspiracy stuff too I spose.

I think by leaving items on the internet they'll be ignored (you know the stuff that stinks more than week old prawns, there's plenty of it around):
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/watergate-crew-the-regatta-of-mates-behin...
and
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/icc-rejects-m...
Just let apathy play its apart.

Found this to be interesting reading and especially now with the extensive high tech surveillance equipment being installed around the country.

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2020/may/5g-iot-courses

http://federal.governmentcareer.com.au/archived-news/locals-linked-to-ch...

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post-mobile.php?story=20191015153459397

Agreed JQ, spot on. And of course, posts on all topics get pulled from Youtube, Facebook etc. every day, probably hundreds, if not thousands of posts, per day worldwide. If it violates the terms of the platform, then they're going to remove it, really simple stuff...

@abmay "I think by leaving items on the internet they'll be ignored (you know the stuff that stinks more than week old prawns"

Yeah agree and disagree with that, under normal circumstances and depending on the content maybe the dirty prawns can stay up, but in a situation such as now where a lot of people are scared, anxious, angry, looking everywhere to place blame, desperate for solutions fanning those flames with rotten prawns might not be the way to go, not everyone can discern rotten from fresh. Thoughts?

"Censorship is a slippery slope", hey Blowie?

No Lifty. No Pupkin. Disappeared!

Yet you're still here. Doubling down. Tripling down.

"Whatever you reckon", indeed!

@DC, I'm guessing lifty got the flick (if that's what happened) for his conduct, rather than his content...

Yeah and yet where is/ was the transparency on this ? Adelaide the guinea pig city to trial this tech . Smart city my arse more like dumb city . slippery slope .

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business...

@Facto

So what are you implying that Swellnet have stopped you from using your Pupkin profile?

Hence why you have switched to Dale -Cooper one of your other many profiles.

Why on earth would Swellnet do that?...why wouldn't they just delete all your other profiles then?

Ask the boss, Einstein.

Conduct unbecoming, hey Terminal?

You're not scared of a Google, Indo.

Pupkin!

Great flick. One of the best.

I copped a couple of sprays but wasn't phased by it, I actually agreed with some of his opinions. Just the delivery could be a little abrasive, apparently there's at least one poster that has kids frequenting this site...

Any truth in this Stunet???

Im assuming and hoping that Swellnet team have got sick of your deception of using so many different profile names and restricted you to the most recent one you have been using. (Dale-Cooper)

That would make sense, should have been done long ago.

We deleted the 'Pupkin' account a week or so ago when the ad hominen attacks once again became unbearable.

In the past we've notified the user explaining why we've deleted his account, but we're beyond caring too much about that now. He's had four or five of those courteous explanations, not gonna waste our time writing more of the same, and anyway, it's funny watching Facto play the victim.

Terminal, that 'abrasiveness' can't wash, surely.

Swellnet's favourite son gets away with all manner of vile filth.

Mysterious, no?

Geez, what the hell did pupkin do?
Some people say I can be a little abrasive too but I've never even had a warning. (Thanks Swellnet, did you get the bottle of fine Victorian Shiraz?)
I've seen posts on this site that are very similar to crap on stormfront and I've seen one regular poster threaten to come down and bash someone. WTF did pupkin do? Did some snowflake have a cry or was the ban justifiable?

I'm not gonna get into how the moderators run the show, DC. It's their site, not yours or mine. Be grateful it exists dude. Surely you would have to agree, though, that there is a big difference between the posting of commentary that you may strongly disagree with and just outright abuse directed at a commentator?

Indo, you upstanding citizen you, don't worry, be happy.

This is the password I could remember.

This ain't an episode of Midsomer Murders, gramps.

ACA, maybe, at times...

Sky After Dark, NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Carry on and keep be-googling...Rita and Jacinta still love ya*

*is this ad hominem?

@VL,

Pupkin has a long history that we take into account. In the past we've sent email explanations either saying why we will or why we have terminated his account. The replies appeared to show contrition - but then the cycle would continue.

Every other outspoken commenter has copped written warnings over the years.

You're a recent contributer, we've had a few written complaints to our info email, but haven't yet seen the need to formally warn you.

The comparisons to far right websites is, admittedly, slightly unsettling but on further thought also encouraging. The greatest complaint across the 'net today is the silos of thought, or echo chambers, whatever you want to call them. You know, where like-minded cohorts with like-minded values share like-minded ideas involving like-minded outcomes - and then those like-minded people claim surprise upon the rise of Trump and Brexit etc. 

I've quoted Montaigne before and I'll quote him again: "The most boring conversation is the one where everyone agrees" 

Adversarial argument may not be what you or Facto want, and it can admittedly be tense at times, but it's a damn sight better than pocket-pissing that gets nowhere while overlooking the movements currently shaping our world.

Honestly, if you or Facto or whoever want to leave the site, put your views on Facebook or Instagram to collect likes from people you know will agree with you, then go for it.

Me, I'd rather read what other people are thinking see contests where they matter.

"Talking points worthy of further discussion without devolving into insult."
Just a reminder.

Nice explanation stunet.
I don't mind arguments at all. My big bugbear is racist commentary based on made up facts. That shit has consequences and needs to be countered all the time. Nobody wants excessive censorship but I'm tipping you blokes don't want Swellnet to be a platform for people to spread hate speech. It's a fine line, you blokes need to tread.
If people want to post that shit and then get all embarrassed and snowflakey when their lies get exposed, that's their problem.
Keep up the good work.

yeah I agree censorship is not a good thing.

I really liked how these forums used to be really respectful and by that I mean- letting people have their differences of opinion without slander, snide remarks and insinuating insults. It seems very childish behaviour and actually saddens me when I read some of the responses. On multiple levels.
I think what was good about this site was that there were all sorts of DISCUSSIONS ( which is different from slinging shit at one another) that were broad- yes surfing stuff but also politics, the environment, culture-music art literature , all of which makes up life and there was a freedom in this space in being able to discuss topics respectfully with like minded individuals and feel supported. And surfers and surfing community as far as what I grew up with were people who were openminded and also rebels- they never just took tv and mainstream shit as gospel and they questioned stuff, and thought about the bigger picture of life and how we treat the planet. Critical thinking was ( and still is) a good trait to have. Something that I feel has been somewhat eroded over time maybe due to the digital and social media age of focusing on "self" and "self- promotion" to the exclusion of other things. Narcissism seems to have been the by product and a dumbed down society. Now look where we are.

I also feel that, especially now while the world is so fragile and so many people are struggling emotionally, mentally with what is going on right now I would say that kindness and caring with how we speak to one another and treat other people should be utmost priority.

Agree with Saltyone.
The corona virus has resulted in a lot of people being more stressed plus having too much time in the keyboard. Probably no surprise seeing some of that stress then vented on the forums recently but there doesn’t have to be so much abuse thrown around.

"Pupkin has a long history that we take into account. In the past we've sent email explanations either saying why we will or why we have terminated his account."

Erm, how can I put this...

NO.

No emails. AT ALL.

Facebook Messenger chat? Yes.

Chat. Discussion. Contrition. A laugh.

I'm looking at it all now.

Talk of banning?

NO.

And now I'm the biggest recalcitrant on the block??

Well, I'm not a subscriber. Though I was at one time.

(Hahaha...and my bloody nephew is on the payroll!)

False equivalence is a bugger.

"The most boring conversation is the one where everyone agrees."

Never heard the old joke about "want an argument? Just put a bunch of 'leftists' in a room together"?

Quality argument though. Complex at least.

You want boring?

Howzabout the old 'wilful ignoramus*' bouncing a dead cat on the threads and then let the do-si-do crank up for the next 3 pages...until the next dead cat gets bounced by the WI and we do it all over again the next day...and the next day...and the next day...

Happened yesterday and it's boring as bat shit. And a colossal waste of time and energy.

Because it's not about political engagement and interest...it's about interest in engagement. Period. 24/7. And baldly and badly and blandly stated! Check the first bloody page of this thread.

"Talking points worthy of further discussion without devolving into insult."

Started by Blowie?! The BIGGEST dead cat bouncer and neanderthal insult merchant on here. The main culprit, when all is said and done, who got the entirety of the Politico threads banished to the netherworld.

Right..................

Speaking of quotes, and concurring with Vic Local, "the standard you walk past is the standard you accept."

Up to you guys.

*apparently the worst 'insult' and 'ad hominem' you can muster on here.

And to finish this merry-go-round, here's a quote from 2017!

"Indo Dreaming, speaking of Agung.

Some of your Indo knowledge has been insightful. And given in the best spirit of info and knowledge sharing.

Which is cool. It's a given. Well, to me.

Maybe you could even include Blowie with some of his fish knowledge (blowfish?) for those that are inclined and interested.

Myself, I'm ignorant of the lesser known parts of say, mainland Sumatra. And the fishing, period, on the East Coast of Oz. Hell, fishing most anywhere. It's not really my bag. Though I've caught a few.

Add to that a lot of things. Tax accounting. Physical conditioning and training. Surfboard bottoms and how they really work. Wave pool mechanics.

We're all ignorant of a lot of stuff.

What irks me is how people deal with their ignorance.

Wilful ignorance I find hard to abide.

Revelling in one's own ignorance and wearing it like a badge of honour is an abomination!

It seems especially prevalent in the wider Australian political/cultural life for the last 20 years or so.

& it ain't healthy in my opinion.

I thought Swellnet could be a place to question and interrogate the 'orthodoxies' that are thrown up daily in the corporate media. Question the official narrative as it were.

Or regurgitate.

Whatever.

Really.

Surf's up. Time to grasp the brass ring!

Fnar, fnar!

Hang on, someone's just Facebook messaged me. Again.

GF tickets come through?!"

Regarding the FB message, no, it wasn't GF tickets, and yes, I wish I didn't go!

Nah, it was an experience.

As Voltaire said, "Once a philopher, twice a pervert"!!!!

2017 Grand Final? Best one in years. Got it on DVD if you want to relive it.

Voltaire also said I disapprove of what you say but i'll defend to the death your right to say it.

Just sayin'

I've never heard that one, Zen.

Amasing.

hee hee

A Voltaire for the times:

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

Blackers, thanks but no thanks.

King Street afterwards was 'interesting stuff'!

More information about how Australian universities have dropped the ball on what should be their primary focus i.e. Australian students

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/liberal-senator-hits-out-at-u...

This issue has also been the subject of two 4 Corners programs

"Imagine being Bill Gates right now."

"You spend 30 years of your life and $50 billion of your own dollars supporting humanitarian causes. You directly save hundreds of thousands of lives in South East Asia by providing anti malaria netting to half of a continent, you drop infant mortality rates throughout the entire developing world by funding vaccine programs including vaccinating 40,000,000 children for polio, and, amongst a plethora of philanthropic endeavors, you fund free educational platforms like Khan Academy so people can have free access to high quality education."

"Then after donating half of your wealth to charity and pledging 90% of the remainder to charity in your will."

"Arguably doing more to better life on earth for humanity than any other human being to ever live."

"You then hop on the internet only to find a million scientifically illiterate fucking imbeciles that are using the very computers you pretty much invented in the first place to call you a child murdering arch villian antichrist because they watched a YouTube video made by some other yokel with the comprehension of a fucking potato."

I don’t care what everyone else thinks about you Blumpkin. I reckon you’re alright.

OK Thank you now i get it.

The reason we don't see facto's old profiles names like Talking turkey Shanter Bason etc pop up is most likely because they have been deactivated by Swellnet because of negative behaviour.

Then he went missing for a while most likely after a warning or deactivation.

Then one day he came back as Factom, but most likely burnt his bridges with that name assume it got deactivated.

So then he came back again under his Pupkin name, which i should note he was extremely well behaved at first so the reason why is most likely because of the warnings, he even had me fooled that it was a new guy, although credit to Blowin and Sypkan who said it was in pretty early.

Then he turned back to his old ways and that profile name got deactivated.

So he dug up one of this old ones that was still active, one i actually thought was some other guy from NZ for some reason, although last year i did think it was weird someone was defending Herc.

Which brings us to now.

I guess the future is not written, but I'm putting my money on this one being deactivated too.

So i guess after that, it's a wait and see to what new name and pic he uses?

'dropped the ball'

you're way too kind guysmiley, the whole shebang has been corrupted, beyond belief. from application to graduation, to 'collaboration', to permanent residency, to ...

...it's a huge scam...

every single step, corrupted to facilitate god knows whatever it is they were/are thinking..

those four corners stories are nothing short of alarming, yet some people will still argue there isn't a problem, i think they're slowly finding otherwise...

from saltydog's link

"...An expert at the University of Adelaide has worked with high-tech Chinese start-up Megvii on technology to track vehicles in videos.

Megvii is a leader in facial recognition technology is on the US trade blacklist after being implicated in human rights abuses, but company officials have told reporters that it tries “to ensure that our technology is not used for damaging purposes”.

The university says one of its professors was involved in the Megvii project, but it was not a formal collaboration.

Scientists at the University of Sydney have collaborated with Chinese video surveillance giant SenseTime to help it track moving objects across multiple cameras. SenseTime has also been blacklisted by the US Government over human rights concerns.

The university says it is reviewing the SenseTime partnership."

http://federal.governmentcareer.com.au/archived-news/locals-linked-to-ch......

these little tidbits are gonna start popping up everywhere, so much dodgyness to be exposed...

I reckon it's worthy of nothing less than a royal commision, ...and i hate calls for royal commisions...

adelaide uni rats already scurrying from the ship of plague?

not a good look

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/shock-departure-adelaides-lead...

Stu - sad, isn't it.

@Stunet

Where did that come from?...got a link?

I honestly think it sucks so bad how Bill gates name is getting turned to mud, maybe im naive but that's exactly how i saw things.

Imagine if ever person with the money he has did the things he does the world would be a much better place.

And ironically one of the very rare decent rich people is getting crucified on social media, people blindly hating him, just because they read some fake meme.

royal commissions have been pretty good recently. gillards child abuse one and the banks both excellent value. dont think any politicians in the mood to provoke the chinese government any further at the moment tho

Yeh you've gotta feel for bill

never overly liked the nerd, but he ain't the bad apple he's currently being painted as

It’s terrible, regarding Bill Gates.
Hopefully he’s got his Teflon coat on. The right attitude and none of that shit hurts, hopefully he’s having a laugh at the 1%

That's a cracker Stu.

Print it on a t-shirt.

@ID, from FB.

@Pops, Yep, demoralising.

And more personally, there's been talk on these forums about the place for contentious debate involving social mores such as nationalism, racism etc...but give me that any day over the brain dead tripe being served up by the Bill Gates/5G/Epstein/Plandemic mob.

Yup. Though we veered a little down that path a few days ago... At least there's enough sane commenters on here to balance things out.

yep, now's not the time lounginglizard, nows the time to quietly gather as much info as possible before it disappears, much like the larger 'china problem'.

don't overly poke the bear until we sort shit out, much to sort out...

...then poke pooh bear right up the clacker...

just hoping someone significant is already onto it

"OK Thank you now i get it."

Hahahahaha. Indo, you NEVER get it, you poor sweet fool you.

Regarding your 'news', and to quote Elaine Benes, it's hilariously "fake...fake...fake...fake."

I'll see if I can source a password. I think one was 'rednex'?!

Did I say REDNEX?!