User talk:Lania Elderfire

Archive

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Archive 1

Seriously... I like how everyone jumps on the bandwagon ripping on scythe. Just let him destroy himself.

Some just don't have anything better to do. And that's sad :P - J.P.Talk 22:15, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

At least half of people "talking" to him are practically trolling, making the "scythe" problem worse. Ya, I guess some people have nothing better to do. lol :P --Lania 21:15, 8 Aug 2010 (UTC)

ahem

• this is trolling* "Since im such a fucking troll why dont u permabann me already? HMM hahahaha /laugh u cant" <- im not like that i encourage you to check my contributions and my talk page, before you label me as "troll"

also, i didnt mean above example, twas simply an example. — Scythe 20:15, 2 Sep 2010 (UTC)

"A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." ups. Karate Jesus 20:17, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

"i encourage you to check my contributions and my talk page, before you label me as "troll"" logs would be especially helpful in this case. — Scythe 20:21, 2 Sep 2010 (UTC)

Honestly, I don't think you think you are trolling. I think you are genuinely trying to correct things that you see as wrong and screwed up with the wiki. Many don't agree with you. Yes the wiki is not perfect and never will be. There will always be conflicts, trolls, drama, and people trying to fix it. One of the best thing you can learn from all this is to learn to walk away and understand that there are many things in life that is more important than simple arguments over nothing, and that there are things in life that cannot be changed no matter how much you try to convince people. Remember that this is a wiki for a online game. Games in general have no real bearing in real life, and a wiki of a game matters much less. --Lania 20:41, 02 September 2010 (UTC)

Ok Lania. So why don't you stop responding and walk away? Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ аІiсә ѕνәи Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ 20:44, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Because I'm having fun watching the drama unfold while studying human internet behavior. You? --Lania 20:50, 02 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm not pretentious enough to pretend to be some kind of internet Socrates. Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ аІiсә ѕνәи Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ 20:51, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

You have a course in that? I wrote a couple of papers concerning the internet behaviors of adolescents, but I never found a course on it. That would be pretty awesome. Karate Jesus 20:52, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Psych/Socio 101 duh ffs. You've never been to a college correct? Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ аІiсә ѕνәи Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ 20:55, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Also good luck convincing the professor that instigating other people into drama is scholarly research material! Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ аІiсә ѕνәи Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ 20:56, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm already done, actually, but it would be interesting. Karate Jesus 20:57, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) @karate, Yeah a course in that would be pretty fascinating, differences in internet human behavior is quite different than that of how people react to situations IRL. But no, I've only taken several general and abnormal psychology courses in my undergraduate years. @Alice, Philosophy has nothing to do with behavioral psychology. Actually it doesn't make me pretentious, it probably makes me more of a average reality TV, drama loving American (survivor sucks though (right now, totally into project runway {Micheal Kors is such a IRL troll})). --Lania 21:04, 02 September 2010 (UTC)

How embarrassing was it to get laughed off campus? Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ аІiсә ѕνәи Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ 21:07, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

What degree did you get? My wife just finished her master's degree in Clinical Psych and is trying to get her LPA right now. It's all pretty interesting, but behavioral issues are about as close as my degree got to psychology. Karate Jesus 21:10, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Biology. Right now I'm working on my Masters in Cancer Biology, which I should be done before November of this year (hopefully *crosses my fingers*). Psychology is like a hobby for me, I just like to read journal articles on it. I also read some legal opinions and public court documents on my free time on anything with antisocial PD's, multiple homicides, psychology of terrorism, and domestic abuse. Congrats to your wife on finishing her masters btw ;) --Lania 21:22, 02 September 2010 (UTC)

If you can afford it, you ought to pick up a DSM-IV (or a DSM-III, if you don't want to pay that much). It's not exactly an engaging book, but it is by far the best reference for psychological disorders and is widely used. What do you plan on doing with your degree? Are you going to get a doctorate or what? Karate Jesus 21:26, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

(Reset indent) I have the mini version of the DSM-IV which isn't that good. For now, I just need to get a job and do something about my dwindling bank account, then I'll think about a doctorate. I'm also pursuing a career with the FBI, which I just got invited to Phase 1 testing. --Lania 21:33, 02 September 2010 (UTC)

Nice. Would you want a lab-like job? Or something in the field? Karate Jesus 21:34, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

I have a friend who's passed Phase 1 testing, but is waiting for Phase 2 b/c moving around a lot is getting to him. --JonTheMon 21:36, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Yeah I heard that even after you pass phase 1 you don't necessarily get called in for phase 2. I'd much rather work in the field, labwork is way way too mudane and boring... . >_< --Lania 21:41, 02 September 2010 (UTC)

I hope you get to do it. That would be a pretty awesome profession. Karate Jesus 21:45, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

I dunno if he could tell us he got it. Might have to kill you for that... --JonTheMon 21:47, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Mental illnesses

Will you stop including those in every single post you make when it comes to trolls? It's getting ridiculous, and frankly, those statements are baseless. You're not a psychologist, and even if you were, this is not the place to post such assumptions as it's bordering PA. You brought up your theories on Ariyen's case, Scythe's case and now Raine's RFA talk page. - Reanimated X 15:50, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

^ elix Omni 15:52, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

You'd be surprised when it comes to trolls. Behavior exhibited by most trolls is shunned by normal society and punished with varying degrees of severity - a la calling the captain of the football team a retard would work on the web, but would get you pounded into dirt in real life. As with everything in psychology (and life), there is a spectrum - but most (if not all) trolls exhibit signs of mental disorders that are relatively easy to diagnose, some more severe than others.

Those users in particular are pretty severe cases. I'm not sure what Ariyen's problem was but it was definitely a problem. Saying mental issues were a factor is definitely not off the mark in cases like that. -Auron 16:26, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Even so, that would be judging the contributor rather than the contributions. elix Omni 16:44, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't say this right off the bat. I usually say it in a very general sense about their behavior and candor when they are very close to getting perma-blocked because at this point, their contributions make no sense and their behavior is so erratic, it doesn't fit the normal bounds of normalcy; even on the internet. I never directly say that their contributions are wrong by saying that they are mentally ill. I always say exactly why their contributions don't make sense from bad grammar, their math being off, or if it breaks policy etc... I never make any attacks on their cognitive health in order to make my point, unless that's the point I'm trying to make (Like with scythe's case, I told him that he has an excessive sense of persecution ("persecution complex") in response to the wiki community, when he tried to make a point that no one understands him, and that he is right in causing drama to overthrow "auron and his cabal"). At the end, you can't argue about their contributions on the sole basis of the integrity of their contributions because to them, their contributions are perfect, nothing is wrong, and all the people who are criticizing the contributions are not only wrong, but also committing a personal attack, and part of a organized plan to kick them out of the wiki. For example if I point out that their math is wrong and show them the work why the math is wrong a normal person would say, oh yeah that math is wrong, or no my math is wrong because of a, b and c. An abnormal person would say that I'm committing a personal attack by questioning their ability to do math. --Lania 17:49, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Nevertheless, please refrain from bringing up your theories in the future. - Reanimated X 18:02, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Alright, I'll refrain, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop describing the behavior when I try to advocate a more lengthy block. I'll stop talking about mental illnesses in a general sense since it does seem to make many people uncomfortable to even see the word "mental", "illness" or "disorder" within a word from each other. --Lania 19:17, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm uncomfortable with amateurs diagnosing strangers based on a few lines of text. elix Omni 19:57, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

I never pretended to diagnose anyone with anything. It was always a guess/opinion based on walls of text spanning several months. Besides it doesn't take a psychologist to make a guess that someone is nuts and needs help. --Lania 21:06, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Recognizing people who suffer from mental illness doesn't require a professional, it requires two eyes and a brain. There is a wide range of shit that can go wrong with the brain and a bunch of shit that can go wrong in someone's environment. Without doing a serious study of the individual to determine exactly what went wrong, you can still tell, simply from their interactions with other people, that something did, in fact, go wrong, and the person is suffering mentally because of it. Diagnosing and treating the illness does, however, require a professional, and thus nobody here has attempted to do so. -Auron 01:01, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

You diagnose people as they appear to you. It is who you are, not who they are. 173.233.72.34 18:23, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Umm... do I know you? --Lania 18:40, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Looks like the ghost of Christmas past to me. elix Omni 18:45, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I am the figment of your imagination. 173.233.72.34 18:47, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

IP address listed in 2 different black lists, open proxy IP, used to disseminate fake norco drug spam... Wow, you're a dirty little IP aren't you? --Lania 18:52, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Nice to search me up. Did you like what you saw? I bet you're a dirty girl as well. You turn me on. 173.233.72.34 18:56, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Ew, no... I'm not interested in junkie IP's riddled with STD's. --Lania 19:05, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Condoms help babe. You won't get std with a condom. 173.233.72.34 19:06, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

You're quiet babe. Do you love me? 173.233.72.34 19:25, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Ugh, no. Go away, I threw up a little bit. --Lania 19:49, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

So sensitive to an Ip that you hardly know. Love me babe, I'll be gentle. 173.233.72.34 20:31, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I think you've been asked to leave, and I can't really see any way that this borderline-harassment (and past-borderline trolling) is constructive to the wiki. I'll chalk this one up to GWW:AGF and assume that you didn't know better until I explained this to you just now.

So do both yourself and me a huge favor and knock it off, yeah? — Raine Valen 21:46, 23 Sep 2010 (UTC)

I'm not trying to harass or attack her. She's sweet in person and she does know me. I am a shy guy. I can't help my secret admiration. 173.233.72.34 22:14, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I do not care whether or not you're trying to; you're doing it, and it needs to stop. I do not care that you say you know her in person; neither she nor I can verify that and, as far I know you, you are no more and no less than the contributions made by 173.233.72.34 on this wiki. I do not care if you are shy; I can only base my actions on the characteristics of contributions, not on those of contributors. The last point, though, is something that is relevant, though: if you can't help it, I can. And will.

I really don't think I can be clearer on the matter, but, if you have any further questions for me, please bring them up on my talk page. Otherwise, I'll consider this issue closed. Happy editing. — Raine Valen 22:27, 23 Sep 2010 (UTC)

I prefer to take it up here. She needs to be more respectful to IPs. You must understand that your message is hostile and I am offended. 173.233.72.34 22:52, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Discussion is here, not your trolling talk page. 173.233.72.34 22:52, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Salmiakki

Tar-flavoured salty liquorish ^____^

Since you were only 1/3rd correct, I have no choice but to give you only 1/3rd of a userbox. It's still a very fine trophy, though! --DANDY ^_^ -- 08:19, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Ooh! thank you very much... why tar-flavored... I'll never understand O_o. I heard it also has a lot of ammonium chloride in it...mmm tasty. --Lania 22:47, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

When your salmaikki isn't Finnish enough, you flavor it with tar. It's actually really, really fucking tasty, but it sounds a little gross that if you eat enough of them in a row you'll either have to do a ton of swallowing, or spit it like you spit the cumulative tar from tobacco. Sounds like wtf, but it works in practice. And still tastes amazing!

And to be entirely correct, that's just 2/3 of it. The last 1/3 is the fruit mix part of it :p

I've just heard of it being spoken of as ammonia, but even butter has some rather toxic shit used in its production. It's safe. --DANDY ^_^ -- 05:49, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Ammonium chloride is the base of salmiak, mixed with liquorish.

The best thing is you can consume it as much as you want with no stomach ache (i can). I could live with this stuff! XD

Maybe the best product i know is Super Salmiakki. It has a hint of eucalyptus oil. No, it doesn't stand out, but still gives the unique and amazing taste. Seven packages in a row has been the most i've eaten in a row. The only problem was my stomach couldn't hold more at once :D

Fazer should have them in bigger packages, don't you think Dandy? - J.P.Talk 23:55, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Hopeless Romantic

While I was advocating for the re-adding of the trivia note, I do think it's a little premature, and might seem like a hostile gesture to Kirbman. --JonTheMon 15:29, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

For some reason I thought the last reply he made was 3 days ago, and he gave up... But it was just a day ago, yeah it might have been a bit premature. --Lania 17:01, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

[1]

Admittedly I'm not thinking entirely straight myself, but I decided to do that anyway.

My bet is you'll look at your post in 12 hours or so and go "man, I really wish I hadn't done that/had said that part differently/etc". If I'm wrong, just repost it... but I find those sorts of things are best sat on anyway.

-- Armond Warblade{{Bacon}} 06:43, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It's not your call, bro. elix Omni 06:53, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

"+section.... again, i'm not sober... so you're welcome to fix, remove, change my comment." — Lania Elderfire at 06:22, September 26, 2010 (UTC). - Reanimated X 07:50, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, whatever the community feels right with, do it. --Lania 15:37, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Just leave the guy

I have tried to flush him down the toilet, but apparently Reanimated does not see the guy is just commenting to cause unrest.

Also, you are wrong and I hate you. I do not inspire to be different for the sake of being different, but to not be generic. Koda Kumi 17:12, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

"I hate you" aww, that sucks :(. Why can't we just get along? Is being non-generic so important to you at the expense of alienate everyone else? I hope you aren't doing that irl... :-/--Lania 17:47, 06 October 2010 (UTC)

War in Kryta

I find the walkthrough misleading for players who don't know that they can skip steps 4 and 5 in order to finish it. After all, all you need is Trial of Zinn and Dialogues 1,2 and 4. But if you all think it's even obvious for new players, okay fine. I don't see where that info is given in the walkthough but okay. Cheers! 84.161.82.141 19:27, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Yeah I think i misread that part, and I thought you were trying to re-add a redundant note, my mistake ^_^. I think the reason it keeps getting removed is because there is a discussion current occurring in the page's talk page about whether that is true or not. My observations seems to suggest that you can skip step 4&5 as well, but we don't know yet if that's because of other unknown conditions were already met or not. I'd encourage you to participate in the discussion and research on that page if you haven't done so already. Thanks for replying back to me :). --Lania 20:28, 06 October 2010 (UTC)

Hey Vindictus

If you're on the West Server, add me! FelixOmni. elix Omni 07:16, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, I'm on the west server. I'll add you whenever I get on, I haven't been on in the last couple of days. --Lania 16:02, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

Anti-virus software

I've been using AVG for a while. I like the fact that it's free, less bloated, and seems to get good reviews from CNet and the like for detection rates (I'm willing to suffer false positives to avoid false negatives). If you have the time, could you compare it to your three favorite programs? I need to update on 3-4 PCs, so this is a good time for me to consider changing brands. Thanks!  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 02:27, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

I like AVG too, and their boot rescue disk is also free, which is really nice to use. Antivirus comparatives [2] put AVG right next to kaspersky. In the end it just comes to personal preference. I've used Avast, Avira, Kaspersky, AVG, Microsoft, Symantec Corporate, McAfee, TrendMicro, Pctools, and ESET's NOD32. Out of them, my favorites were Avast, Kaspersky, AVG, and NOD32. Right now I'm using Avast mainly because it's free compared to Kaspersky and NOD32, and AVG is giving me compatability issues with the set of tools that I'm using... Also Avast ranks fastest out of all the antiviruses out there. But basically, if you are happy with AVG, I'd stick with it.

As for the others, like Microsoft security essentials... it didn't offer me enough customization options for a poweruser like me, and the scan speed was dreadfully slow. Symantec, McAfee, TrendMicro gets pwned by malware too easily, and on top of missing a lot of viruses, they have a large impact on system performance which is like horrible on systems with performance gimped hard drives like laptops. Out of the three McAfee was the worst...endless hard drive thrashing, though I don't know about their latest version. PcTools I found to be mediocre, and I was having some issues with it, but their threatfire program is a bit intriguing imo. --Lania 05:28, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Cool. Thank you for the info. I've tried various ones over the years and almost always end-up with a freeware (even when I have plenty of cash to spend protecting my computer). The corporate ones seem to end up fitting the "where do we want you to go from here mentality that ruined a lot of cool Microsoft tools (after MS acquired them from elsewhere). They often have cool features, but at the expense of power usability or storage/memory/CPU footprint.  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 05:50, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

With all due respect,

can't you make a blogspot account or something? I fail to see the relevance of the state of the economy or the emotional strain on terminally ill patients in the conversation you posted that story in. In fact, I was tempted to remove your post on Auron's talk page because I thought they might disrupt the conversation, but in the end decided not to because at least some part of it could be considered semi-relevant to the issue that was being discussed. Anyway, feel free to write your blog posts, but please do it someplace you do not risk derailing an actual conversation. — Why 03:25, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

Sorry... It was all kinda of a failed attempt to draw the parallel of blind optimism and the expectation that people should have blind optimism vs realistic expectations based on realistic assessment of anything. In this case the comparison of blind optimism that people has/had of the economy and of Arenanet, and the expectation that other people, whether they be realists, cynics, or the terminally ill to have blind optimism... And then on top of that failing to making the point that having blind optimism to anything is not constructive at best, and highly destructive at worst. Yes, I will stop since I seem to suck at making points lately. >_<... --Lania 04:08, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

Fun

I really must be brainwashed by the media, since you pointed that out. So I appologize for that. Its pretty silly of me to think it was not a simple issue. Because, its not like the media tries to make things into grand over simplifications right? They always see things in the subtle complexities. Never black and white slam dunk "this WAS the cause" ways.

• You saw stagnant growth of durable goods way back in 2007 before the crash right? Really?
• You saw declining wages (income) before the crash eh? Really?

I have to admit, its hard for me to know what else you saw so well. I never really followed how how people got loans (i tried once, but the bankers called the cops on me). I don't really believe in loans or debt in general. I've never had a credit card, I save for the things I want, and yes, I am not 12. I just dont believe in living beyond my means (and credit means one IS living beyond their means). So I never knew before everything hit the fan that bankers were basically giving away loans without even thinking about ever getting paid back for it. I've never met a person who knew this was happening either. But i'm sure some people who actually were doing this were aware of this (outside of the loan officers with anterograde amensia). But to pretend this was easy to see by the masses in the country? I still think thats quite a stretch. And i'm not even throwing on the added issues how this even became possible in the first place. We would have to look at Fannie Mae, government mandates for home ownership, cutting of regulations during clinton, corruption of auditor and accounting practices (and accounting can really hide crap if they want to), the relatively new concept of securitization (lovely financal innovation!) of mortgages, and credit rating agencies that didnt actually rate anything... but all of this would just make it too simple, right? Because its not like some of this stuff was so complex and so quick that even half of executives/managers in some of these companies didnt even know they were neck deep in crap by the end. Sure, we could toss some of that into either them just being stupid, lazy or arrogant. But i think you do have to admit, the complexity of all this would also be a big factor too.

I know of one person who saw some of this stuff happening, especially in the derivative markets. Of coruse, she got booed out of the room from all the powers that be. Could some people see some of these parts going wrong? Sure. Could your wonderful friends know certain things looked shadey in some areas? Of course. If I had a job where i was taking crappy sub prime mortgages, securitizing them, getting s&p to rate it AAA, and then selling them off so i dont have to worry about it. I'm "in the know". Tell me, how easy is it for the masses to see all of this? How easy is it for the average person to know people were throwing a bunch of bad loans in with some good ones, and had almost zero ability to find out what was actually in it? How could an average person think all the rating agencies were actually 100% worthless? How easy would this really be for the media, because they are just people too. This is a little more of what my point was about. I'm not saying people couldnt see some warning signs. But I find it laughable that anyone thinks they really saw all this coming. And its really laughable to think anyone had a clear picture of the whole mess, media brainwashing or not! :P

And being a research assistant and all, i have to believe even you know what kind of nonsense pointing out link about the anet/ncsoft financials was. Anet hasnt come out with a new game in, what, 2-3 years now? the original GW is 5 years old. Do you really think it should be selling like hot cakes right now? GW is an old game, and a dying game (little new content does that, obviously, you know this). Most games tend to be forgotten after 3-6 months. Thats why they are working on building gw2. But, lets think about this for a second. They are working on it for years. How could you expect them not to "bleed" money while developing it? You do understand what the concept of development, investment, and research is all about, right? Whoever is paying you to research whatever you research, is bleeding money on that research. Don't worry, i wont tell them. I'll keep your secret. But it must make you giggle during work.

You know when Anet was making the original GW, they didnt even have any income. Seriously. Everything was "bleeding". Man, I sure hope that wasnt a problem for them back then. Oh wait, they still came out with a decent game, and were successful enough to start the process again on a sequel. *shrug* I wonder why I cant just make some negative comment like auron, because Anet should be perfect, just like auron. I must be some mental defective to be unable to see so clearly. I should instead be this little arrogant emotional cancer for a wiki of a game i hate. Because i could be like, doing almost anything else instead and be more worthwhile as a human being (i'm sure auron can rationalize this as in saying he does do plenty else, and he is just a little snarky emotional cancer for maybe an hour or two each day). I still think thats just having really low standards of character (or what you would call "being a realist"). At least you kind of sound rather conflicted with making the point yourself. But you still glossed over the concept that its still nothing abnormal with what anet is doing right now. So why so certain you know whats going on here? They are under pressure? Tell me any developer who isnt under pressure? Every single company, from nintendo to valve could one day fail due to some mistakes/bad luck.

Oh wait, i forgot that Emily is jumping ship to make yet another zombie game. we all know Emily was a huge part of the core GW2 team, she was like the lead.... programmer/designer/producer/director... something, right? Surely this must be a sign of anet going down. Oh, most of the original founders have left anet for greener pastures. What exactly are these people doing now? They have made many successful games since leaving, right? Emily is going to another company that is (uh oh) bleeding money and taking on water developing a game! A game that i believe is from one of the other co-founders. I'm really glad he found a secret to not bleed development money, to attracter her to it! I bet once she gets to her new job, she will promptly leave once she realizes its the unprofessionalism of anet all over again. She will then probably be forced to take a job on some farm for the economic security of the soy bean harvest. Wait a minute, thats not secure either now that i think about it!

So, i know i still have some gaps here and there. There is only so much tl;dr one can type. My bigger point is, you really dont know as much as you think you do, and Auron doesnt either. I dont either, for the matter (i also admit you both probably can't completely be the one-dimensional people i perceive you to be on this wiki). I just think you both could use a little more humility, and a little less certainty in yourselves and the thoughts that dance in your head (especially when you are both acting like little gossip girls). One thing thats important to know about discussion/debates, is that some people are really good at it, and some people are really bad at it. Just because one person appears to win an argument, doesnt mean they were correct in the end. It might simply be that they are the better bully. It might just be that no one was able to call them out on an error due to ignorance, confusion or stupidity. but it is amazing how right people think they are (especially online), simply due to the abscence of evidence against it. And its also interesting to notice that as long as you act certain enough, the sheep tend to just follow along.

In response to the Anet thing, I said "Is Anet's position unique? No, this rather a common occurrence in the development cycle of non subscription type games." As for Emily and Jeff Strain, "Maybe, but if this is any indication, then that is probably not the case but more likely that they are just crazy about zombies" Plus there were more articles in the past that indicated that Jeff Strain, Emily and others at Anet are die hard zombie fans. Yes, whether Anet sinks or floats is up to how GW2 does, but like I said that is not a unique occurance of any kind. Also, I said that Auron is a realist but just because I said that doesn't mean that I agree with his assessment 100%. I don't think Anet is sinking, but the dev team is in a sense trying desperately to bail out the water so they don't sink... just like any other companies in that situation would do. Anet will likely release an great game and they'll be floating pretty for a couple of years after that. Almost all companies start like that... an initial investment/loan, and you get off the ground make a product, market it, and try to turn a profit, and if you don't you try to convince the bank or investors or both to have faith and loan me more money.

As far as the economy goes, I think it was a bit of a stretch to say that it was obvious so that would be my mistake to say that. But historically when you have any bubble, they burst, and globally, there was a huge speculative investment bubble into real-estate. A bubble by it self wouldn't lead to a economic crash. What you also need is a slow down in the economy. Look at the durable goods sales from 2006 to 2007, there was a significant dip in growth... it was still a growth but the amount of growth is much lower. Also other data indicated inflation adjusted wages for the middle class was stagnant in comparison to the rising cost of living. So what you get is the middle class which is the major consumer and driver of the economy, not being able to sustain the debt loads they aquired due to flat or declining purchasing power that had. But at the same time, any time there is a bubble like that, there is usually something unsustainable going on, so generally, it will pop. If you add the fact that there is a lot of income inequality on top of that, it makes the recession all the more worse. You can go back 2000+ years, and you can see the same pattern. Empires collapsing, economies falling apart from the same mistakes that we're still making. Knowing that, you don't need to be a economist to see that there was an intense growth in realestate market and yet that growth is unmatched by anything else that would support that growth. And why do we still make these mistakes? because we, as a species are very good at having unrealistic positive exceptions or too much blind optimism. --Lania 19:03, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. At least some of what you said there i agree with. But there is a big difference from the typical bubble popping and a setup that might actually collapse the entire economy.

And yes, i did read the quotes you made. You were covering your bases somewhat with that, which was at least in some amount to be trying to not be so certain about your opinions. But while noting that, why even bother making the baseless speculation you made about its health at all? I think that was careless of you, and in a way of rude to everyone who is trying to make a decent game for your possible enjoyment.

My main point of contention isn't the economic issue, but with anyone who coddles and tolerates the jerkish nature of Auron and excuses it as being a realist (and you do seem to be one of these people). Too many people who have their heads up their ass say "they tell it like it is", as if that validates what they say. As if saying it enough makes it "real", its like a fox news personality, and some infamous doublespeak. Sticking feathers up your butt doesnt make you a chicken. And Auron is anything but a realist. I'm really starting to think that Auron must have been raped by someone who works for anet, for him to spend so much time over the years on their wiki trying to badmouth what they do. There is no way a stable and emotionally fullfilled person behaves that way. I've hated alot of games, and alot of games wasted my money in a sense. But to hate on the developers for that? Um, no. i just wouldnt be likely to buy a game from them again, thats it. Seems like the "mature" way to be about it, at least to me.

Okay, lets not speculate on what Auron may or may not have experienced. I don't care what your opinions on Auron are. I think he is a realist, but at the same time I disagree with a lot of things with him. People can be a realist and be wrong or perceived to be wrong and just because I think he's a realist doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything he says. Also the difference between the typical bubble and a bubble that can collapse the economy is the size of the bubble. If you thought the realestate bubble was bad here in America, take a look over at china right now... you'll either lol @ it or cry doom and gloom. --Lania 20:37, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

What is this China you speak of? I'm so behind in the knowing of the workings of the world, all the brainwashing you know? I only know what the media feeds the brain. Maybe you could also tell me that gold is also a bubble, since its already gone up in value like 2000% or something (bet your pulse is really on that one too). Maybe we can go back to the tulip crash in the 1600s and pat outselves on the head. Please continue to not care what my opinions are. I dont care if you dont care about my not caring of your not caring of my not caring of your caring. Wow, talking about not caring of someone elses opinions is so.... useful :P you still enable jerks to be jerks, and if it was a stranger acting the same way, you wouldnt like them. At least i hold my friends accountable when they are dicks or full of empty non-productive negativity.

I've met people in real life where his personality was just like Auron's online persona. Yeah, he was a jerk and i didn't like him but we were still able to work together and get work done. You can't change people. The best people can do is work with them to get what's important done. And that gold thing, yeah it's a bubble too, just not as important or have as much impact when it pops as a realestate bubble because currency isn't tied to gold anymore. As for China, a glimpse [3]. --Lania 21:17, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

Gold isnt tied to fundamental currency, you are right in that, but thats completely irrelevant to whether or not it can have any or as much impact. Based on that notion, you would also have to say real estate isnt tied to currency either. But its not that simple is it. Anything of value, by default, is part of the economy, and made of the currency issue. It just happened to be that real estate tends to have more economic money tied into it than gold (because there are just more houses) and as booms happen, people fall in love with myths like "home prices always go up". One of the interesting things about bubbles and markets though, is a whole psychological effect things can have, like a run on a bank. A bank could be perfectly healthy, even better than many other banks, and yet fail, if enough people make a run on it, due to some empty rumor. When gold eventually crashes, while it doesnt have a whole lot of direct impact, it could have a potential huge psychological impact on the sheep (since gold is typically seen as one of the last safe havens), which could in turn trigger the next big wave of crap. Its just a huge complex mess, it was bad enough when nations were mostly isolated, now with everything going global, its even more insanity and confusion.

And its also good that you dont get your information from any brainwashed media like the rest of us.

And because of that, it's impossible to predict with 100% accuracy how bad something is going to be because people, as you say, fall in love with myths and are swayed with baseless rumors. I use google news among other news sources so I DO get my information from the brainwashing media, but I don't take a single source and take it for face value like most people (like watching MSNBC, CNN, FOXNEWS or CNBC and believe in it because liberals, moderates, and conservatives all stretch the truth). For example, if I'm researching a topic I'll read various news sources from heavily liberal leaning, heavily right leaning, moderate, foreign, etc etc. --Lania 21:26, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

You are gone, and also cancer

Hey Lania, haven't seen you around lately. I hope everything's going alright. This week's issue of Time had a large section devoted to various articles on cancer treatment and research, and one in particular ([4]) about useless charities reminded me of you. It's probably worth a read if you haven't seen it yet. elix Omni 13:54, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Yeah things have been kinda crazy lately but I managed to graduate with a masters in biology, and just got my diploma. I like how useless charities reminds you of me. I also barely play Guildwars anymore other than to AFK farm luxon points, and to occasionally play with my SO. Mostly been playing vindictus instead ^_^. But yeah, there are A LOT of useless charities. Even decent ones like the susan g komen foundation, and the american cancer society... a lot of it goes to administrative overhead. Yeah, our lab received about half a million from each charity organization for 2 separate grants, but I wonder how many other labs were turned down that had great research plans but no money was left over for research. But if we had to rely on government funds alone, we would have been shutdown since we only got a whopping $150k from the national institute of health for a 5 year research grant... which is like nothing. I makes me sad to hear about cancer research labs having to shut down due to lack of funding in america as the government cuts funding for research... while china is pouring time, money, manpower, and attention to their biomedical programs... --Lania 16:50, 06 July 2011 (UTC)