Randy from Boise wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 5:00 pm
Atsme wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 1:23 pm
Anroth wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 9:19 am
Black Kite wrote: ↑Mon Jan 02, 2023 11:58 pm
Meanwhile, in that same BLP/N thread, Masem is tying himself in knots trying to defend the word "alleged".
I used to think Masem was the voice of reason; I've changed my mind significantly over the last year or two.
There has been a significant shift towards what I like to call "Atsme bullshittery".
Oh, really? And what in your mind is bullshittery?
I was also puzzled by the term.
I continue to see Masem as one of the content Good Guys.
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So for a long time Masem was mostly active in a few non controversial topic areas, places where things like low-profile sources (e.g. niche magazines, single topic web sources etc) are generally permitted, because rarely is the content controversial.
The problems came when he transitioned to working on topics with high controversy, things like US politics, fringe science, right-wing BLPs etc and found that his usual sourcing practices ran smack into editors who apply the sourcing/BLP/reliability policies/guidelines as they are written and meant to be used.
Which is a problem, because like Atsme he often wants to either minimise or whitewash right-wing, far-right and other assorted crank articles. And he has the same problem as Atsme and every other conservative editor in that the party and politics they support (in the US at least) are generally very easy to source criticism for from reliable sources, and difficult to counter, because conservative sources are generally full of bullshit. See fox news, daily mail etc.
So there has been a marked change in his tactics over the past year or so. Essentially he follows the Atsme playbook of trying to attack/distort the policies themselves to convince others they say/mean something other than what they say, or that they don't apply, or that they apply when they don't.
It doesn't work very well, because there is a substantial editor pool willing to say "you are wrong" and for the most part the policies themselves are quite clear. Atsme has been doing it for years though and regularly gets slapped down at RSN/BLPN etc. Masem is quite a bit more intelligent though, so they might give up that route sooner rather than later.
The latest argument of trying to claim that a rape victim, who almost all reliable sourcing describes as being raped, who lives in a state where under the age of consent the offense is rape, can't be described as having been raped because a court hasn't said so does approach Atsme's level of stupidity though.
(Even in death cases, where often the cause of death does have to await a formal coroner/etc declaration, it doesn't stop the news from saying someone has been murdered when they are found face down with 5 knives stuck in their back..)