this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
109 points (97.4% liked)
196
2892 readers
1727 users here now
Community Rules
You must post before you leave
Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).
Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.
Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.
Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".
Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.
Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.
Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.
Avoid AI generated content.
Avoid misinformation.
Avoid incomprehensible posts.
No threats or personal attacks.
No spam.
Moderator Guidelines
Moderator Guidelines
- Don’t be mean to users. Be gentle or neutral.
- Most moderator actions which have a modlog message should include your username.
- When in doubt about whether or not a user is problematic, send them a DM.
- Don’t waste time debating/arguing with problematic users.
- Assume the best, but don’t tolerate sealioning/just asking questions/concern trolling.
- Ask another mod to take over cases you struggle with, if you get tired, or when things get personal.
- Ask the other mods for advice when things get complicated.
- Share everything you do in the mod matrix, both so several mods aren't unknowingly handling the same issues, but also so you can receive feedback on what you intend to do.
- Don't rush mod actions. If a case doesn't need to be handled right away, consider taking a short break before getting to it. This is to say, cool down and make room for feedback.
- Don’t perform too much moderation in the comments, except if you want a verdict to be public or to ask people to dial a convo down/stop. Single comment warnings are okay.
- Send users concise DMs about verdicts about them, such as bans etc, except in cases where it is clear we don’t want them at all, such as obvious transphobes. No need to notify someone they haven’t been banned of course.
- Explain to a user why their behavior is problematic and how it is distressing others rather than engage with whatever they are saying. Ask them to avoid this in the future and send them packing if they do not comply.
- First warn users, then temp ban them, then finally perma ban them when they break the rules or act inappropriately. Skip steps if necessary.
- Use neutral statements like “this statement can be considered transphobic” rather than “you are being transphobic”.
- No large decisions or actions without community input (polls or meta posts f.ex.).
- Large internal decisions (such as ousting a mod) might require a vote, needing more than 50% of the votes to pass. Also consider asking the community for feedback.
- Remember you are a voluntary moderator. You don’t get paid. Take a break when you need one. Perhaps ask another moderator to step in if necessary.
founded 2 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
We’re on to AI now, and when you let some secluded online communities of empirically smart but socially dumb people cook on this idea and you get the “rationalists” cult. You let that fester for a bit and you get zizzians and sexual assault/murder.
Weird that this is a valid observation in a lighthearted space. Usually it’s just nonsense
i don't get what you're saying after reading it 2-3 times. can you explain more?
what is the connection between AI and rationalists? i don't see it.
and what does "zizzians" mean, and what does it have with sexual assault?
TLDR: rationalists are basically a cult that worships AI and have some practices that lead to abuse and sometimes suicide. Zizzians are an even more extremist branch of rationalists and their members killed a few people in recent years.
Totally understandable because it’s a weird corner of the internet so the rundown is as follows:
“rationalists” are a subculture which while not really a cult it has a ton of cult-like tendencies. They’re a group that likes to discuss AI (predating the LLM boom of recent years) and the possibility of humans creating a singularity - an all powerful ai that will effectively solve all our problems and run the earth in the most “net positive” and rational way. There is a good amount on the rationalist cult on the internet and it’s a fun but kinda sad rabbit hole to research (it involves a ton of smart people falling for some rather weird logical fallacies as well as a fan-fiction of Harry Potter they effectively treat as a holy text). Anyway…
There are a lot beliefs rationalist discussions tend towards but generally it’s an agreement that the singularity is the most beneficial thing that could happen to humans and anyone trying to help the human race should work towards a singularity level AI with all their resources… this leads to more dark ideas such like pondering if it’s a “net positive” for some people to commit suicide as they do not contribute to society enough to justify the resources they take up. Pretty harmful and has lead to multiple suicides in their circles which they sort of just shrug off.
This sort of environment is conducive to people who take advantage of their status. There have been plenty of allegations around the rationalist community leaders abusing younger women (they have an organization whose name escapes my memory atm).
Now “zizzians” are a more radicalized group of people who broke out of the rationalist movement and started their own cult. They have wild beliefs like “to succeed in saving the planet one has to make themselves into a sociopath to not be burdened by sociatal expectations”. Through a bizarre chain of events zizzian cult members ended up killing multiple people around the end of 2018 including a border patrol agent on the border of Vermont. There is relatively little about zizzians out there as it’s a small group within an already small subculture.
There is a fantastic 4 part episode about the zizzians on the behind the bastards podcast. It’s a wild ride and I highly recommend it.
Is the Harry Potter fanfic that “methods of rationality” one?
Yes, it was weird learning it's connected to a cult while reading it.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I remeber hearing that there's a another HP fanfic that's connected to a cult, anybody know the name? I might be tweaking tho
There definitely is and I can’t remember for the life of me what it is. But that other one wasn’t a rewrite of the first book but like an 1800 page full on fanfic. You’re definitely not trippin on this one