Your site has gone to shit.

[venusinpisces]

the internet is insecure in its totality..

This is a given. However, there is a big difference between feds using the Patriot Act to covertly infiltrate subversive organizations, and the policies of Facebook, which openly uses many of these same technologies for the supposed "enjoyment" of their members. Avoiding FB is not necessarily just a matter of covering your own ass as much as it is sending the company a clear message that government intrusion into our personal lives is simply unacceptable, especially considering that FB is pretty much open about having shared information on their members with a front company for the CIA. Here is a wealth of information tracing Facebook's funding directly back to venture capital firms that functioned as shell companies for the CIA.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12685

Also, from Wired Magazine:

In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It's part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using "open source intelligence" -- information that's publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.​

Here is the source for that quote. http://www.privacydigest.com/tag/company/inqtel
And here is a link to Facebook's own Q-tel page,
https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-Q-Tel/103094343064066
which comes complete with the following description:

In-Q-Tel of Arlington, Virginia, United States is a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in high-tech companies for the sole purpose of keeping the Central Intelligence Agency equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability. Originally named Peleus and known as In-Q-It, In-Q-Tel was launched in 1999 under the direction of Gilman Louie. In-Q-Tel’s mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve United States national security interests. Working from an evolving strategic blueprint defining the Intelligence Community's critical technology needs, In-Q-Tel engages with entrepreneurs, growth companies, researchers, and venture capitalists to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA, DIA, NGA, and the larger Intelligence Community. In-Q-Tel concentrates on three broad commercial technology areas: software, infrastructure and materials sciences.​

Even regular all-American "upstanding citizens" have been dropping the site in droves because of their privacy violations and this is really more a matter of principle than paranoia.

This thread is getting increasingly more ignorant

Call Blackswans post crazy all you want but, unnecessarily rude as it was, the comment is actually based in a lot of truth. Before dismissing these claims, try doing some actual research.

 

[hutchie]

google probably has your picture on google maps "street view" without your permission. better remove this motherfucker from the google index. yeah fb is a stupid shitty tracking software, i get that. so they may track me trying to lay some girl from highschool i forgot about until now, fuck it. if anything use the fucking thing for disinformation. sabatoge the fucking thing...

 

[MrD]

. Before dismissing these claims, try doing some actual research.

simple fact that only unknowing brainwashed fags are using it and think it`s God?

All else was automatically discredited

 

[blackswan]

gentlemen please, your ego`s are clouding your ability to reason logically, you are not understanding the central issue i`m putting down for ya`ll cats, plus right now I am anonymous and so are my posts, even if someone did somehow find my physical location, Good, I would still be anonymous, I have no name no title no job no address no bills, i`m not on no leases, i have no drivers license no banks no foodstamp card no cards for that matter,i am nothing, i`m on someone I don`t knows computer in a house that has traffic like a mofo and i`m on someone down the streets wifi and soon ill be gone with the wind, I`m a speck in a sea of shit my good man. " behold" total anonymity online done with out effort, I walk nameless among the dispossessed, You`d have to finger print or Reta scan my ass and titys, then what? you know my name, so what I don`t care, come at me, I got a little herbs i`ll puff with you. I`m not scared of anything; i`m just a fool that know it.

So what your basically saying here is that it`s ok to use facebook just don't admit to crimes ?

Well what makes you think they`re looking for only criminals ?

They merely want to socially engineer society into some twisted dumb perverted mindless robotic tight pants wearing " hottopic kids " , and ultimately the question remains, ask yourself, are you one of them ? T.V glorifies facebook, they are one in the same puppet master hollywood box of wickedness, I think its funny some of you are butt hurt when in reality you guys arent even like the people i`m talking about.

 

[Matt Derrick]

we're getting waaay off subject here. if you want to discuss anonymity on the net, you should create a new thread for it.

 

[ThatGuy]

let's get this straight... to be a traveler you have to be
a) an anarchist
b) hop trains
c) be antisocial

oh. and
d) a hypocrite.

 

[bryanpaul]

let's get this straight... to be a traveler you have to be
a) an anarchist
b) hop trains
c) be antisocial

oh. and
d) a hypocrite.

e) drink 4 LOKO

 

[Matt Derrick]

e) drink 4 LOKO

Mildly amusing, but hardly relevant to the thread.

 

[bryanpaul]

Mildly amusing, but hardly relevant to the thread.

 

[venusinpisces]

we're getting waaay off subject here. if you want to discuss anonymity on the net, you should create a new thread for it.

The point I was making wasn't about the overall need for anonymity on the net. It was a question about the ethical implications of a self-identified anarchist site doing free advertising for, and modeling themselves off of, an organization that shamelessly shares the private information of its members with the military industrial complex. How is that off topic? It seems more like you just don't particularly like the the topic being discussed.

 

[Matt Derrick]

The point I was making wasn't about the overall need for anonymity on the net. It was a question about the ethical implications of a self-identified anarchist site doing free advertising for, and modeling themselves off of, an organization that shamelessly shares the private information of its members with the military industrial complex. How is that off topic? It seems more like you just don't particularly like the the topic being discussed.

that is your opinion and your opinion alone. most of the responses in this thread disagree with you. also, i think you're really confused, since it's not exactly "free advertising", and we're not "modeling ourselves off of" facebook. you really just have no idea what you're talking about yet refuse to stop talking about it. that's why i don't like you.

 

[blackswan]

an infraction, you mad? I love gay people and all of you..
xoxox

 

[venusinpisces]

an infraction, you mad?

Yeah, people seem to be taking things awfully personal, don't they?

 

[CXR1037]

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

 

[dirtyfacedan]

I think, perhaps, the OP has taken issue with some of the recent "changes" on STP. I also dislike some of the "changes" as well. Doesn't mean i don't like STP, i just miss some of the content, and direction STP used to have. As a result, I post less, and don't come to the site as much. Just the way it rolls. Who's to say what direction the site will take in the future...but for now, i'm stepping back a bit. I agree with some of the points the OP made, about removed content, but that's simply my take..... STP is still a good site, and there are other sites to fill the "gaps" i felt are now here. To me STP has now taken a broader approach, and appeals to a broader community now, not just crusty train riders, nor homebum sidewalk swillers. I have seen STP in various forms for the last 7 years or so, and the changes, have been, well......changes. IF it's not to my liking, i just move on....just like when i travel!

 

[Mouse]

Sorry, but I've been participating on STP since oh geeze... 2005 I think? Damn, I feel old counting the years like that.. but anyways... this site has waxed and waned constantly in all that time. Changes have been made, people have gotten pissed, blah blahblah.. one thing remains - STP is still here and still used regularly and still remains useful.

At first I was taken aback by the twitter and Facebook crap too but then I realized- I don't care. It doesn't really effect me or how I use STP and it hasn't really effected the site that much aside from making it more accessible to people who are ON the road and only have minimal internet access. So, I think it's fine.

the new layout is just that.. a fucking layout/skin/motif whatever you wanna call it. It hasn't changed anything about the site in the least aside from HOW IT LOOKS.

As for the censorship... it's minimal. Very minimal. You should see some of the crap we let slide most days.

 

[venusinpisces]

I think, perhaps, the OP has taken issue with some of the recent "changes" on STP. I also dislike some of the "changes" as well. Doesn't mean i don't like STP, i just miss some of the content, and direction STP used to have. !

This is a better way of phrasing things than what I originally wrote, which was that the site just plain sucks overall. I edited that post to say that the quality of the site has gone way down, which is a lot more accurate.

As for the censorship... it's minimal. Very minimal. You should see some of the crap we let slide most days.

I would agree that STP is pretty much "anything goes" as far as personal attacks and verbal abuse, especially when that abuse is being doled out by moderators. But when respectful criticism of the site is made, or challenges to the particular political beliefs of moderators, it becomes entirely likely that posts will be removed or edited (or given an infraction ).

This is another reason why I question the anarchist values of the site because, by most people's understanding, an anarchist society is one where there is no select group of people who have automatic rights and privileges that the rest of the group is not given access to.

 

[Gudj]

I sort of suspect that when y'all talk about moderators silencng you, you are talking in part about me giving your warnings for saying (most frequently) racist or hetrosexist shit. If that's the case, please make a thread about it and complain about me there. That would make me happy.

 

[venusinpisces]

I sort of suspect that when y'all talk about moderators silencng you, you are talking in part about me giving your warnings for saying (most frequently) racist or hetrosexist shit. If that's the case, please make a thread about it and complain about me there. That would make me happy.

If you're referring to me, I wasn't alluding to you specifically since you have never directly given me a warning and I tend to agree that racism is a good reason for deleting posts. Actually, what triggered my initial distaste with STP policy was reading a story about attempted rape and seeing that the girl who wrote it had a giant "I'm a D-bag" posted under her name. Now, no matter what this girl did, this is the kind of thing that will chase away people who challenge misogyny while encouraging ignorant scumfuck mentality. Is it any wonder that there are numerous threads like this
http://squattheplanet.com/threads/tila-tequila-gets-attacked-by-juggalos.6271/
containing comments like

hahaha ive never been fond of juggalos or Tila, but this made my morning.

"The rocks and bottles flew harder and faster when Tequila bared her breasts," he said.
"She took her top off and they got really violent."

.

with a moderator who thinks this particular comment is funny and cute. So let me get this straight: comments about how great it is to smash women in the head with bottles are fine but my comment above, which was pretty damn reasonable, is getting an infraction? There were about 20 other people who thought this comment was hysterical too which really makes me think the culture of this site is fucked up. Yeah, that's another reason why I am sympathetic to this thread: the hypocrisy of moderators who tolerate stuff like this yet get so oversensitive about the slightest amount of criticism directed at themselves.

 

[Matt Derrick]

You strike me as one of those people that always play the victim and like to point out how crappy people are being to you instead of just ignoring stupid bullshit.

I was not aware of the statement in the first link you provided. I apologize that i cannot be everywhere at once and read every single post of every single thread. I unlike yourself have a life and are actually on the road not just sitting at home bitching about people youve never met and pointing fingers though the internet. oh, come see the oppresion inherent in the (StP) system! help! help! im being oppressed! Get over yourself. We're not douchebags and we're not out to get you. In fact we dont even really give a fuck about you until you break the rules, or post purposefully inflammatory comments.

as for your second link, youre taking that COMPLETELY out of context. That person was not being victimised. They were performing at a concert and the audience turned on them. So like the majority of your opinions, they dont hold much weight.

By the way, its "im a d-bag and got banned" not "im a d-bag". They get the label because they got banned from the site, not because we arbitrialialy gave it to them. So the person youre refering to broke the rules, got banned, and thats the label you get when that happens, so everyone knows that the person fucked up.

I love how you keep stringing together all these "facts" about how the moderators and myself are such terrible people, yet each of your "facts" are largely centered around your lack of understanding of how forum software works, and the internet in general.

I still dont understand why you dont just go away. Its not like youre "fighting the system" here. Wouldnt it be ridiculous if i posted on the internet how much i hate facebook every single day yet ONLY used facebook to post such thoughts? thats exactly what youre doing.

move on, go outside. HAVE A LIFE. dont come back. youll be better off for it! trust us!