Posts by videogamesm12

  • Windows elitist tries Arch Linux and doesn't hate it

    In the past I've given Linux a lot of flak for a wide variety of reasons. Recently, however, I've decided to challenge the perspective I've had for years by jumping head-first into Arch Linux. I installed it on 2 former Chromebooks and my main computer (to replace my long dormant Ubuntu installation). For reference, I have used Windows for my entire life (starting from Windows XP all the way up to Windows 10).

    Installing the operating system

    The first time I tried to install the operating system was in a VM many months ago, and I wanted to blow my brains out. Why? Because I was using the shitty awful no good wiki guide as reference for how to install the operating system. When doing this, you have to get real intimate with your hardware to figure out what the fuck you're supposed to do and enter into the various prompts. The moment it started asking me about sectors or some shit, I gave up. That left an extremely sour taste in my mouth that lasted until recently.


    The second time I tried to install the operating system (this time on a Chromebook), I learned about a kickass script called archinstall, which basically makes installing the operating system bearable. After managing to install the operating system, I realized that it didn't install any network drivers or anything that could help me run that shit, which prevented me from installing things like a desktop environment. I didn't even get Nano either, which made editing files impossible while booted into the installation. While I could have booted into the installation media and then just chrooted into the installation, when I tried that I ended up getting some shit about it not being able to find the installation's shell. The fuck? Eventually I just gave up because it was like 6 in the morning and I had spend the entire night trying to get it to behave.


    The third time I tried to install the operating system (same Chromebook as before), I made sure to install NetworkManager and Nano (because fuck Vim). This time, however, it actually worked out once I figured out how everything went together. I proceeded to install a desktop environment called XFCE, which I knew was reliable and lightweight. It worked surprisingly better than expected! In terms of performance it stomped even the official ChromeOS operating system.


    Subsequent installations were a breeze now that I knew how to install the damn thing.

    Performance

    Performance under Arch was very impressive, especially in games like Minecraft. With SEUS shaders on Windows, I was getting a rather low 30 FPS on average. Under Arch, I saw my average FPS triple with the same shaders. Due to constraints related to storage, I have yet to test Arch's performance when it comes to games like Doom. Even outside the realm of games, the entire operating system ran blazing fast across all the computers I tried it on, including the two Chromebooks.

    Customizability

    Ever since Windows 8 rolled around, Microsoft has been increasingly making customization of their operating system difficult, and with Windows 11 it's gotten even worse (thank god for StartAllBack). Arch, on the other hand, is extremely customizable. Its do-it-yourself nature makes it extremely easy to customize. I have spent hours customizing things to work the way I want them to, and actually had fun in the process. I have wanted customization capabilities like this for a very long time.


    V2Cm089R4CYid5qo.png

    What I didn't like

    • The middle click button for some reason is set to CTRL+V, which becomes increasingly infuriating when you're trying to close a tab or scroll up. I have yet to figure out a way to change this.
    • Getting a decent-looking dark theme for GTK aside from what comes with XFCE4 is a genuine pain in the ass. I do not like dark themes that are actually tinted a certain color. They just look bad in my opinion. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find a dark theme that was grayscale.
    • systemd fucked with my bootloader settings on my gaming computer, which led to me having to change my boot order again (which often caused my firmware settings menu to freeze instead) to make rEFInd the top boot priority so that I could access my Windows 10 partition again.

    At the end of the day

    Despite some hiccups here and there, Arch turned out to be pretty good. The performance gains and customizable nature of the operating system stuck out to me. I find it increasingly likely that when Windows 10 LTSC inevitably gets discontinued, I will use Arch or something similar instead of moving to Windows 11. I'd still prefer Windows though where possible because Windows has much better polish in my opinion.

  • Manjaro is a garbage Arch-based linux distro now

    Oh man, Manjaro was a fucking treat when I tried it.


    Half the time I booted into it with KDE, the fucking panels I had all set up wouldn't even display properly. I couldn't even install it on some computers because of some nonsensical error that I couldn't figure out at the time.


    zhvQr6YiRumiWftP.png


    If you couldn't figure out what the hell that error message means, you're not the only one. Basically, it couldn't install the bootloader onto the disk. Of course you wouldn't be able to figure this out until you somehow manage to grasp what the fuck a Grub is or what the hell that huge block of text means.


    At some point KDE itself just gave up and stopped working altogether even when I actually got it installed correctly, which was extremely annoying and resulted in me just reinstalling Windows 7 onto the computer I had it on.


    Just go with Arch instead of going with a derivation of it. Sure, the installer sucks a donkey's dick but at least it boots quickly, is decently lightweight on hardware that was never meant to run it, and lets you pick which desktop environment you want to use (though you have to install that separately...).

  • The August 2019 Senior Vote Rigging

    In August 2019, Executives and other elite staff members under the Seth administration conspired to rig the results of the Senior Admin voting stage in order to prevent Luke (a promising candidate who they disliked) from reaching Senior Admin status. They did this by deleting a number of votes favorable to him. StevenNL2000, who had noticed this, privately raised concerns about the integrity of the results to Zaid (the Executive Admin Officer at the time), who ignored his concerns because Zaid was in on it, unbeknownst to Steven at the time.


    In April 2020, Zaid (who had long since been excommunicated from TF as a whole after the group changed the narrative to make him appear as a racist) became a whistleblower, creating a public thread that detailed the massive amount of corruption in the Seth administration (which mentioned the conspiracy) and apologized to those he felt he wronged. The thread sent shockwaves throughout the community, sparked a chain reaction in which Luke and I (both operators at the time) publicly exposed additional instances of corruption jointly over the next few weeks, and started the beginning of the end of the so-called Smartn't era.


    Robin and Ivan immediately stepped down. In the end, nearly every staff member in that group either went inactive, resigned, got suspended, or got permanently banned from the server. The revelations sparked an urgent need for accountability within the staff team, which led to the formation of Internal Affairs. While all of this happened years ago, the impact it had on the community lingers on to this very day.

    Evidence of the conspiracy

    Here is a series of entries from the ProBoards audit log, showing that Robin secretly deleted votes favoring Luke:

    Xz4F9BwImqjJBrJW.png


    Here are some messages from the group chat right after Robin nuked the votes:

    JbdPCgBkuQUUIFOD.png


    Here's the PM Steven sent to Zaid after he noticed the discrepancy:

    cW9yQRxyUMNoMgMN.png


    Here are some messages from the group chat, which shows the group's reaction to Steven's PM:

  • Gray_Seal's Forced Disappearance

    In late June 2019, the Seth administration decided to make a Telnet Admin they didn't like disappear from the server. The Telnet Admin's name was Gray_Seal, an egotistical staff member who had been exposed just months earlier for having some quite questionable viewpoints on politics, the LGBTQ+ community, and religious people. Seal was absolutely far from perfect, but it's important to stress that he definitely didn't deserve the full force of what ended up happening to him. Shortly after complaining about mistreatment by fellow staff members (including his superiors, who dismissed everything as a joke), Robin silently indefinitely banned him from both the server and forums on June 19, 2019 without any warning or any given notice. A month later, he was silently removed from his rank on the forum by Zaid, likely for "inactivity". Seal continues to be banned from the server to this very day.


    This case along with the LightUk Report Cover-up and the August 2019 Senior Vote Rigging are the reason I believe 2019 to early 2020 was one of TotalFreedom's worst eras of all time (contrary to what some believe), because it had corruption that poisoned the executive system and threatened the credibility of the entire staff team.

    Evidence of Forced Disappearance

    Here is an entry from the Audit Log from the ProBoards forum, showing that Robin secretly added Seal's main account to the "Banned" group on June 19, which prevented him from being able to access the forums under his main account:

    2WOByuJIUm6Bqxdc.png
    Here is an entry from the Audit Log from the ProBoards forum, showing that Robin banned an alternative account created by Seal on June 20, 2019 after being unable to access the forum under his main account:

    FlL85gZKnicQgvOf.png

    Here is his entry in a copy of the Super Admin list from June 22, 2019:

    6XfdOYwygWpwfSL3.png

    Here is his entry in a copy of the indefinite ban list from the same date:

    p62tgdda3GKp78VU.png

    Here is an entry from the Audit Log from the ProBoards forum, showing that Zaid removed Seal from his rank on the forums on July 23, 2019:

    FJcjsKRVYnnvFmXa.png

  • Maintain a public list of indefinitely banned players and ongoing requests

    I've created this thread to express concerns about the transparency issues regarding indefinite bans and offer a solution to re-establish transparency in this area. I believe there is a genuine issue of transparency in how indefinite bans are done, which has only been further highlighted in recent bans of high-profile members of the community.


    However, I agree that the issues of IP addresses and the need to keep a record are important, which is why I would like to propose an alternative solution: create a publicly available spreadsheet which documents all indefinite ban requests (both ongoing and closed, with details like outcome, when it was filed, and reason for filing the request) and includes an up-to-date list of indefinitely banned players (with details such as reason, a link to the request, and evidence where applicable). This solution would allow for players to know important information such as why a request has been filed and who has been indefinitely banned without publicizing sensitive details like IP addresses.


    Give feedback below.

  • Allow non-seniors to see the senior vote, but not vote in it.

    Quote from characterslimits
    Quote from videogamesm12

    My main concern with this is that it may actually negatively influence votes. The fact its isolated from the public's eye makes it significantly more difficult for someone to influence people's votes through pressure politics.


    I will not vote on this, as I would like to know what other Seniors and even Executives think first.

    Back then, before Ryan Wild was owner, when an executive position became vacant, admins can apply to be nominated for that position. There would be a poll that allows you to vote which nomiee should receive the position in question. However, the thing is: this poll was public, everyone can see and vote on it. Meaning, this whole "pressure politics" is not new to TotalFreedom.

    Correct, but the fact it's not new doesn't mean we shouldn't work to avoid it. It's exactly why the Senior Admin votes are, well, Seniors-only. This closed-off nature protects the Senior Admin voting process from such issues and gives Seniors an opportunity to speak out without getting hounded by a mob of admins/operators who happen to be friends with the applicant.

  • PayPal attempts to hinder free speech with update to its Acceptable Use Policy, backpedals almost immediately

    They really put the L in PayPal this time.


    A PDF of an update to PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy was leaked online, and the press almost immediately pointed out a new section added in the update which caused many to raise some eyebrows.


    Here's the section in full, as noted in "Prohibited Uses":

    Quote

    You may not use the PayPal service for activities that ... involve the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable, (b) depict or appear to depict nudity, sexual or other intimate activities, (c) depict or promote illegal drug use, (d) depict or promote violence, criminal activity, cruelty, or self-harm (e) depict, promote, or incite hatred or discrimination of protected groups or of individuals or groups based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation,

    etc.) (f) present a risk to user safety or wellbeing, (g) are fraudulent, promote misinformation, or are unlawful, (h) infringe the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of any party, or (i) are otherwise unfit for publication.

    The idea of "promoting misinformation" is incredibly vague, and is very likely going to be used by authoritarian governments to discourage wrongthink. Following the publication of this and the subsequent "Delete PayPal" trend on social media, PayPal almost immediately backpedaled and claimed it was "sent out in error". Not like it would make any difference, given they fully intended to hinder free speech with this with their moral policing.


    The original link to the PDF stopped working (it now returns a blank page) seemingly around the time they backpedaled, but thanks to the Internet Archive you can and should access an archive of the PDF here - http://web.archive.org/web/202…ptableuse-full-110322.pdf

  • Regression: //brush is blocked again

    Yes, we blocked it because initially we blocked a problematic portion of it using some regex magic but then some fucking dickhead over at EngineHub thought it was a good idea to accept quotation marks in the fucking arguments and someone abused this fact to untracably grief. Fucking garbage plugin.