The Back Alley

A place to sit in a dumpster with your own bottle & moan about the saloon bar

Musha rig um du rum da
Whack fol the daddy o
Whack fol the daddy o
There's whiskey in the jar

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Initiatives Beyond RationalWiki

I am unsure who to find and talk to past RationalWiki for help involving taking action on topics like the fight against pseudoscience and alternative medicine.

I have a few questions involving stuff at the Bar, and all of which involve taking initiative beyond the confines of RationalWiki.

1. As editors here, is there anything that can be done past here to push for projects and initiatives past this site and onto the rest of the real world?
2. If collaboration with fact checking organizations like those at Poynter can be set up to tackle bunk and misinformation out there.
3. Is the Bar a good place to rally up support for further projects?

Thanks for reading. TheEternalOutsider (talk) 04:55, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

@TheEternalOutsider The Bar would be a better place than the Back Alley. Not many people are going to see this. Spud (talk) 05:42, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

Randomized saloon bar logo

It would be nice to have a random saloon bar logo every time someone refreshes the page, and MediaWiki has all of the technical capabilities to do this. Should i give this idea a shot or nah? If yes, would using something like the Jack Daniels logo cause copyright problems?

This user is RWs self-appointed culinary expert

N A Z U N A -H I W A T A S H I-

TESTICULAR TORSION!TheAlePower (talk) 13:16, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

I think it'd be best to find a public domain image or make your own. Also software issues again. Carthage (talk) 13:19, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Software issues?

This user is RWs self-appointed culinary expert

N A Z U N A -H I W A T A S H I-

TESTICULAR TORSION!TheAlePower (talk) 13:22, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

@TheAlePower because of what you did to your fucking signature, you twerp. I've had to undo it. Spud (talk) 13:24, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

And since you can't even get your own signature right, I wouldn't trust you to make any major changes to the look of the Saloon Bar. Spud (talk) 13:26, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Okay, i think i fixed my signature for good. --

This user is RWs self-appointed culinary expert

N A Z U N A -H I W A T A S H I-

TESTICULAR TORSION!TheAlePower (talk) 13:40, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Spoiler warnings

So, I have a new idea for a topic, but it involves posting a spoiler for a video game that was recently published. How do I properly mark spoiler alerts? --Luigifan18 (talk) 05:22, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

I would imagine you could put it in the topic header or beyond that, if you want you could collapse it. Chillpilled (talk) 22:17, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

rationalwiki-tan

I know, I know, I'm bad at drawing. But I drew a little RationalWiki os-tan! :D she's got goat horns, goat eyes, and a sysop pin! i've had this idea in my head for a while but only drew it today. (mainly because i didn't know if there already was a rationalwiki-tan) --Chicken4War (talk) 19:02, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

It looks cute! --Goatspeed. _{Fossil evidence of my evolution}CircularRasoning^{Prototype lab} 19:04, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

She's freaking adorable… are those little goat horns? --Luigifan18 (talk) 00:09, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Neat. Carthage (talk) 00:21, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Not sure, but I mean, fuck you guys

How difficult would it be to live and post like this, as a human? Great, I've seen it and now what? Torrent (talk) 07:17, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

What? Carthage (talk) 07:23, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

what is fine. I went for saloon bar, got locked in back alley, so that's okay. What next. Torrent (talk) 07:29, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

I have a space to defend myself, but you will never if you keep on the attack

I am on your side. Torrent (talk) 07:43, 6 April 2024 (UTC)n

I left a clue for myself, I sincerely apologize. I was blacked out last time I was here, and confused about it. I read my blackout diary, which I'm not really brave enough to read most nights. So again, I'm really actually sorry, I'm fully aware of how to reach this page now. fuck me, is the answer. Torrent (talk) 05:53, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

Knocking on the Nut Trees

As for that OCD of mine that causes intrusive thoughts and FUD, sometimes I end up knocking on wood on a very sensitive topic, usually involving nutpicking or involving a taboo conversation, that causes offense for those that are actually vulnerable. It feels like a lose-lose situation for me where either I end up ruminating on the thought for weeks, or I share a controversial opinion and get rudely hounded by those with differing views on the subject. This is effectively equivalent to choosing between intimidation and self-censorship, something that genuinely damages academic free discourse and democratic governance. What should I do here come time I wish to knock on the nut trees? TheEternalOutsider (talk) 14:03, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

The way I deal with this is that I have a working assumption that no 'sensitive' topic is discussed with anyone unless it is proven to be 'safe' to do so. This is a variant of the old adage 'never discuss money, politics or religion' which I was taught on almost my first day in the workforce waay too long ago now - that as you cannot really choose who you work with, it's best to avoid topics which can put others' backs up. The answer is simple here; don't try to discuss such topics with people you don't know well.

Perhaps the easiest way to deal with this is to utilise such features such as Reddit's 'changemyview' or 'unpopularopinion' subs [perhaps 'AMIA' if it involves you doing something or not], perhaps also involving using a sock/throwaway account. Unless you truly are really unreasonable [think paedophilia apologia, organ harvesting, incest, cannibalism, genocide etc] you should be okay because while such places aren't a 'safe space' they are what I would consider 'friendly places' for these sorts of discussions. KarmaPolice (talk) 13:57, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

A topic that I have some controversial opinions on has to be with certain marginalized communities and their supporters, and specifically the most vocal, irrational, and uncritically thinking members of the bunch. The kinds of folks that attempt cancel culture, concern trolling, and/or sealioning all in the name of social justice. It's nutpicking, or rather as I'll call it, "nutcracking", but my thought process goes "If the nuts aren't cracked, then they'll contaminate the entire batch". I just don't want the nuts to take over a group, culture, or anything. Because I suspect those nuts in question will attempt to pass legislation that will mandate kowtowing to their group, while stripping away the legal rights of people for not kowtowing. Or an "The oppressed have become the oppressor, and nobody did anything to prevent it" kind of nightmare. TheEternalOutsider (talk) 18:54, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

If you are referring to what I think you might be [no names, no packdrill], I usually find it's more 'bad allies' who are the problem than members of the group itself [though they also often have their own nutjobs]. The problem happens with a map/territory issue; yes, you might speak of 'the LGBT community' or of 'neurodiversity' or of BAME but that hides the 'diversity within the diversity', so to speak.

After discounting the possibility that your held opinion is utterly rejected by the whole community [look, check that one out first, perhaps by asking a polite 'AITA?' question on the community's subreddit or hell, perhaps asking someone here], the chances of at least some of said group agreeing with you is somewhat decent - your opinion might be a rather small minority, but it doesn't mean it's wrong. Unless you're in somewhere utterly demented, some small group managing to persuade a larger group of politicos to impose that viewpoint on everyone is pretty low. Now, them taking over informal places like say groups, online forums etc are quite possible [I have been 'exiled' from a few over the years due to various heresies] but y'know, they rarely if ever actually have any much effect on the real world?

Unless you're dealing with nuttery within your own community, the best you can realistially do is to politely point out to people in general that you know 'not all Xs think like that' - one line which has stuck in my head is 'As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents' [George Orwell] and it equally applies if you replace 'Socialism' with any movement you'd care to name. KarmaPolice (talk) 20:35, 22 April 2024 (UTC)