The Old Hack

For what it is worth, I use 'argument' in that sense, too.

That movie was awful. Loki is a jotun. They even ADMITTED he is a jotun. And they still got a human actor to play him.

He has. He just had the worst luck or worst agent ever. I submit to you, in the category of So Bad It's Good, Conan the Destroyer.

I'm an old hack.

Dan does not object to fanfics posted elsewhere. He did object to having them posted here for legal reasons: that any fanfics overlapping with the actual plot would make him vulnerable to lawsuits claiming that he had plagiarised the fanfic in question.

This is something I have learned about moderating: it is, in essence, purely negative. It can restrict and shut down but it cannot on its own contribute or improve. Positive contributions all stem from the posters themselves. For that reason I try to exercise as much restraint as I can. I have more than once been criticised for moderating too aggressively or being too restrictive. I regret that but I must rely on my judgment and experience, imperfect and incomplete as they may be. I do not wish a return to the toxic state these forums once suffered from and if I see anything even resembling a step in that direction I intervene, preferably with a gentle nudge but with direct action if I have to. That being said, I repeat that the current positive state of the forums is to be credited to the posters here and I am glad to see people having such a good time.

Trigger warnings and content notes are there to protect readers and users who may suffer from trauma related to the topic. The fact that certain people mock them or deliberately misuse them in an attempt to discredit them does not change that. I have friends who benefit from and appreciate properly applied content notes and I am convinced that if properly used, they add to the safety and comfort of vulnerable users.

I did and I do. You and all the other posters here who have been devoting your time and energy to make this a positive and welcoming place.

I have a lot more. But right now I don't feel like going into them. Stressed already and feeling no urge to make my mood worse. As to wartime importance, maybe. All I can say that wars have been lost or won by resource allocation. Paying a given resource too little attention may be as bad as too much. In this case it is clear that the approach was bungled.

No? I can call this particular device hoary, overused and lazy, as well as detrimental to any otherwise decent plot it may be applied to. Admittedly Insurrection is so bad that it all but blends in with the rest of all the crap.

Ouch, Prof. Feel better soon!

Ah okay, but I still think the harvest method excuse is idiotic and contrived.

If I can't laugh at myself, I'll miss out on some of the best humour life has to offer.

He used to be active here. Eventually the sheer toxicity made him leave.

Good. Please keep us posted -- I've been worried on your behalf!

I have already elsewhere posted what I thought of the moronic plot device of the harvesting method. This does not serve to improve the movie for me. Is your argument that if you can only save a few thousand lives, then you might as well not bother? I agree with you that if it is possible to share the planet, just let the Ba'Ku stay. My personal dislike of them is irrelevant in that case.

Okay, this is a completely different gripe nothing to do with the locals -- given that we already know this is a unique resource not duplicated anywhere else in the known universe, why in the world use such a moronic kill-the-goose-that-lays-golden-eggs method instead of investing, say, a few years of research into finding a safer procedure that won't ruin the planet? Oh wait, I know why. Because if you did, the contrived and strawmanned 'ooooh we are so mean to the poor innocent locals' plot wouldn't work.

Hm. I can see what you mean, but this situation is more complicated than a simple land grab. For one thing the rejuvenative resource is unique to the (known) universe. This is not like a group of forcibly relocated people settling on a gold mine. Gold exists naturally in many places on the Earth and its principal value is artificial. Imagine instead that this was the only possible source of antibiotics in the known universe and that a bunch of Scientologists discovered it before everybody else and then settled on it while keeping its secret to themselves. And justified it by saying that non-Scientologists did not deserve three times longer lives with perfect health throughout their lives. (I know, antibiotics do not work that way. The stuff on that planet did.) I admit that one reason I despise the Bu'Ka is how profoundly hypocritical and nonsensical their anti-tech religion or whatever is. Admittedly, this goes for their whole culture, which is so fake that it hurts my brain.

And probably normal size, too. If for no other reason than because they need someone normal-sized to operate the rest of their stuff.

Screw the Ba'Ku. With a fusion-powered monofilament chainsaw. Those hypocritical Luddite festering sores on the rectum of the Universe are some of the most repellent creatures I have ever seen in the Star Trek universe. The Prime Directive did not apply to them -- they HAD the technology to travel in space, they just refused to use it on a piecemeal basis that made no sense just so they could be all holier than thou about it. It wasn't even their planet, they just moved there and then refused to accept others moving in, too. Sitting like a bunch of parasitical squatters on a health resource of vital value to the Federation which was in the middle of LOSING A WAR with the Dominion. What makes the least sense to me is why anyone would bother to relocate them at all. Just move in and establish your own outposts and settlements. What would they do about it, look disapprovingly at you while bleating about the evils of technology?

Star Trek Insurrection. SODDING STAR TREK INSURRECTION. I just got reminded of it. It still makes me just as furious as it did when I first saw it. IT SUCKS.

The Moderator: Please take this discussion to the Off Topic forum as it has managed to entirely strangle the discussion of the comic itself. ~tOH.

It is early days to call it a plothole when we do not know what Sirleck's plan involves. For one thing, it may be expensive to implement. If it costs most of his current load to get moving, that cash is lost regardless of other factors.

Great. The US Army gets bombarded with bricks falling from outer space. I guess Michael Bay will be providing the plot.

See, this is why I like swords. They don't run out of ammo.