What's with the conflict between geekhack and r/mechanicalkeyboards?

[paicrai]

I'm an original /r/mech user

It's fairly simple really

piR got banned because he was trying to exploit something within an older version of this forum's backend. He spammed a lot of unnecessary posts and started a lot of unnecessary arguments. This spamming and arguing carried over into other forums, getting him banned at places like DT and OCN's keyboard forum.

He started /r/mech after the /r/keyboards moderator wouldn't give him mod permissions saying essentially "I'm the expert here, you're just some kid" (what a mature, well thought out response)

His subreddit took off because piR posted a lot of good content, which got a lot of attention to his sub. In fairness, I learned a lot from him.

Once the sub hit about 10k subscribers he started a lot of the anti-GH lobbying, and since he had a decent reddit following, a lot of it worked. The "geekwhack" phrase was invented at this time.

Lately he only posts anti-GH propaganda, and tries to convert people to his side without giving an explanation why he's a "keyboard thug"

Also, he's the reason I joined GH. He told me "You're smart enough to replace smallfry, go spread the word of keyboard science!" so I made an account here. Look at my account creation date if you don't believe me.

I was nor am not nearly as great as smallfry and never will be. This is why I started the /r/mechanicalkeyboards weekly question thread, which piR stole from me after he realized why I started posting those threads.

And that's when I realized Ripster is a ****.

TL;DR: piR's a ****, that's why he hates us and we hate him. Don't listen to anything he says.

[tp4tissue]

I'm not seeing any propaganda..

I'm also a novice to reddit.. i am not sure how to best navigate it..

can someone point me to the ripster propaganda ??

[Lastpilot]

I'm not seeing any propaganda..

I'm also a novice to reddit.. i am not sure how to best navigate it..

can someone point me to the ripster propaganda ??

http://www.reddit.com/r/Ripster/
http://www.reddit.com/r/Ripster/wiki/index#wiki_what_is_geekwhack.organ.3F
http://imgur.com/a/hiTOz

[tp4tissue]

I'm not seeing any propaganda..

I'm also a novice to reddit.. i am not sure how to best navigate it..

can someone point me to the ripster propaganda ??

http://www.reddit.com/r/Ripster/
http://www.reddit.com/r/Ripster/wiki/index#wiki_what_is_geekwhack.organ.3F
http://imgur.com/a/hiTOz

it doesn't look like his propog-posts are that popular..

is this really a problem?

[Puddsy]

it's subliminal

even if you think "I don't care" you still get it in your mind

so when you think of GH you associate piR's dumb, negative posts.

[Coreda]

Can you elaborate on this?  It's news to me.  Was he trying to roll his post count or something?  I thought he was just spamming for kicks and ego trips.

There was a forum post I saw about it here, detailing the post limit exploit and apparently his attempt to reach it. Also has a (very) brief history of the board about the last two years.

[GSimon]

I'm still new here and I came from /r/mech

I like reddit in addition to geekhack because the comments and threads are structured differently. For one, /r/mech is basically like one big off topic forum since it has no other subforums like here, so you get a lot of good with the bad, but mainly it's all in one place so it's useful for that. It's also ranked/sorted, but yea at this point I'm kind of just describing reddit.

ripster's comments against this site are in bad taste though I try to find the entertainment in it, but I could see others not finding it funny. I remember first seeing the /r/ripster thread and finding it kind of shocking, the dedication of it all. After a while it just seemed like a weird, malicious, hobby and kind of grew on me (I have a weird sense of humor...). Better he spend time on keyboards/reddit than bugging others IRL. Overall as mod of the sub he's pretty good, I think he really just needed a place of his own to manage so that he doesn't feel so 'restricted' by other forums. He does post often, kind of karma **** but you take the good with the bad and try not to get worked up about it.

I do frequently check out here a lot too, recently especially. For now mostly in the marketplace, and I like a lot of the vendor forums and posting pics and stuff there. I post(ed) in 2 other forums before reddit/here so it's hard for me to really get to know members very well given I jump for site to site...and facebook, sometime twitter.

[Smasher816]

Reddit is a nice place for finding new content - mainly lots and lots of keyboard pictures. They are nicely ranked to get stuff people like, and there is always a fresh supply of new content.

Geekhack is nice because it provides a nice place for long term stuff. There is no way you could host a GB or long DIY thread on reddit. It would be buried the next day.

Ignoring the while Ripster thing both sites have there own perks and I can see why people would enjoy either one.

[berserkfan]

I think that Geekhack has a... unique wit.  Not everyone appreciates it the same way. 

This is true, and the same can be said of DT or reddit.
I didn't jump on the reddit bandwagon. There were a lot of unnecessary posts back then.

Geekhack is great for me, as it's chock full of great people who are also geeks who like to hack. It's aptly named!

When Dorkvader says this, I almost read it literally as a reference to me.

While I don't quite hack with an axe, I do cause some damage from time to time. Opened two G80s and wound up replacing 4 switches between them. Opened another keyboard and wound up having a dead LED. Turned Model F upside down and spacebar fell out. Removed and could not put back space bar on two other Model Fs. Pulled out space bar on a cherry MX keyboard and entire stabilizer assembly followed.... 

Don't worry guys, if I do sell a keyboard, it would be something I've never modded.

[jdcarpe]

Don't worry guys, if I do sell a keyboard, it would be something I've never modded.

Post of the day, right there. )

[iri]

Don't worry guys, if I do sell a keyboard, it would be something I've never modded.

"i really love you. i don't just need you for sex. you are important to me as a person"

[SpikeBolt]

I'm an original /r/mech user

It's fairly simple really

piR got banned because he was trying to exploit something within an older version of this forum's backend. He spammed a lot of unnecessary posts and started a lot of unnecessary arguments. This spamming and arguing carried over into other forums, getting him banned at places like DT and OCN's keyboard forum.

He started /r/mech after the /r/keyboards moderator wouldn't give him mod permissions saying essentially "I'm the expert here, you're just some kid" (what a mature, well thought out response)

His subreddit took off because piR posted a lot of good content, which got a lot of attention to his sub. In fairness, I learned a lot from him.

Once the sub hit about 10k subscribers he started a lot of the anti-GH lobbying, and since he had a decent reddit following, a lot of it worked. The "geekwhack" phrase was invented at this time.

Lately he only posts anti-GH propaganda, and tries to convert people to his side without giving an explanation why he's a "keyboard thug"

Also, he's the reason I joined GH. He told me "You're smart enough to replace smallfry, go spread the word of keyboard science!" so I made an account here. Look at my account creation date if you don't believe me.

I was nor am not nearly as great as smallfry and never will be. This is why I started the /r/mechanicalkeyboards weekly question thread, which piR stole from me after he realized why I started posting those threads.

And that's when I realized Ripster is a ****.

TL;DR: piR's a ****, that's why he hates us and we hate him. Don't listen to anything he says.

With all due respect, you sound almost as butthurt as Ripster, tbh.

Ripster "geekwhack" jokes get old really fast but I think the wiki has good content and his keyboard science posts are really really interesting. It's not "omg he's just a hater, don't listen to anything he says, he's a ****", that's just hateful and unreasonable.

Even though you may have been the first to get the "weekly question threads" idea (congrats on that) I feel like the current daily format is much more appropriate for a Reddit based community. So even if you're not the one to post the question thread, you can still go ahead, reply and help people with questions. What is so different about that? You need some credits on the bottom of the post or something? Again, no disrespect, just trying to make a point.

Reddit is a community different from GH, they both serve their purposes I guess. You can't hold GB on reddit, and that's not its purpose. I think reddit may be a more casual community (even though there are lot of really knowledgeable people there) and that's just fine. If you like GH good for you, if you like /r/mechanicalkeyboards good for you as well.  I think the mutual hate is pretty stupid, on both ends. People should just grow up and accept their differences.

[jdcarpe]

I just love how redditors basically see our forum as a marketplace, especially for the purposes of group buys and purchasing artisan caps. Apparently, other than that it has no value.

[RabRhee]

I think the mutual hate is pretty stupid, on both ends. People should just grow up and accept their differences.

I have only been here a year, and never been to reddit except via links, so I missed the explosions, and the only time I have seen hate from this end is when something fairly nasty from that side appears. Sometimes many links from reddit with many insults. Otherwise its usually comments restricted to 'ripster, what knowledge, a great loss when he went postal'. Posts like this generally do the same, they remind people here what venom is spewed frequently there.

Perhaps such posts exist here and I was just lucky enough to miss them, maybe even as many as seem to appear there. Perhaps this truly is a domestic situation and not simply a bad neighbour. Thats how it has seemed this first year though.

[SpikeBolt]

I just love how redditors basically see our forum as a marketplace, especially for the purposes of group buys and purchasing artisan caps. Apparently, other than that it has no value.

I'm not sure if this was commenting on my reply, I was simply answering an argument stating "you can't hold GBs on reddit". If you read my entire reply you'll see how you misunderstood my point, for sure.

I think the mutual hate is pretty stupid, on both ends. People should just grow up and accept their differences.

I have only been here a year, and never been to reddit except via links, so I missed the explosions, and the only time I have seen hate from this end is when something fairly nasty from that side appears. Sometimes many links from reddit with many insults. Otherwise its usually comments restricted to 'ripster, what knowledge, a great loss when he went postal'. Posts like this generally do the same, they remind people here what venom is spewed frequently there.

Perhaps such posts exist here and I was just lucky enough to miss them, maybe even as many as seem to appear there. Perhaps this truly is a domestic situation and not simply a bad neighbour. Thats how it has seemed this first year though.

There's definitely hate on reddit's end (which is dumb) but you don't have to look further than this thread to understand that there's also hate on this end.

[RabRhee]

I just love how redditors basically see our forum as a marketplace, especially for the purposes of group buys and purchasing artisan caps. Apparently, other than that it has no value.

I'm not sure if this was commenting on my reply, I was simply answering an argument stating "you can't hold GBs on reddit". If you read my entire reply you'll see how you misunderstood my point, for sure.

I think the mutual hate is pretty stupid, on both ends. People should just grow up and accept their differences.

I have only been here a year, and never been to reddit except via links, so I missed the explosions, and the only time I have seen hate from this end is when something fairly nasty from that side appears. Sometimes many links from reddit with many insults. Otherwise its usually comments restricted to 'ripster, what knowledge, a great loss when he went postal'. Posts like this generally do the same, they remind people here what venom is spewed frequently there.

Perhaps such posts exist here and I was just lucky enough to miss them, maybe even as many as seem to appear there. Perhaps this truly is a domestic situation and not simply a bad neighbour. Thats how it has seemed this first year though.

There's definitely hate on reddit's end (which is dumb) but you don't have to look further than this thread to understand that there's also hate on this end.

A bad neighbour can try the patience of a saint... Just the one place with 100+ links mostly insulting this place and specific users can encourage a little negativity. Fortunately it mainly seems to show up here when it is on topic, rather than a theme of the site and a spiritual mission of it's creator.

[Lanx]

There's definitely hate on reddit's end (which is dumb) but you don't have to look further than this thread to understand that there's also hate on this end.

lol, no one hates ripster, it's just pro's v. con's with him.

it's a con he left,
he was active on the boards
he contributed a lot
he knew a lot
he really cared about keyboard stuff

it's a pro he left
he was too ego maniacal, no one likes an attention ****, which is worse when that attention **** has an avg postcount of 5 posts an hour.
he was feeling entitled, b/c he was ripster, he basically was to the point that he felt imav should have given gh to ripster b/c only he deserved it.

[tp4tissue]

There's definitely hate on reddit's end (which is dumb) but you don't have to look further than this thread to understand that there's also hate on this end.

lol, no one hates ripster, it's just pro's v. con's with him.

it's a con he left,
he was active on the boards
he contributed a lot
he knew a lot
he really cared about keyboard stuff

it's a pro he left
he was too ego maniacal, no one likes an attention ****, which is worse when that attention **** has an avg postcount of 5 posts an hour.
he was feeling entitled, b/c he was ripster, he basically was to the point that he felt imav should have given gh to ripster b/c only he deserved it.

His Ego is no more or less than anyone else...

His problem was.. he pick fights with the mods...  i mean.... if you're going to insult the mods..

You have to be subtle... and do it indirectly.. such that every one sees it and the displeasure broods in the back of their minds..


Ontop of that.. you have to make the mods look bad in the eyes of the public... and you NEED the public on yourside... so that the MOD can't ban you without drawing further negative criticism..


Ripster's was not adept at fighting the power...   if you want to topple a giant..  you can't fight him head on..

You do things like...  Poison his food supply, put slippery sand in his path.. etc etc...

[vinzlr]

As someone who learned of GH through r/mech, I always thought GH was this horrible place, but then I realized I had no idea why I thought that, and people who had really cool keyboards always seemed to have an account on GH. So I checked it out and it definitely satisfies my crave more than reddit. To put it simply I feel like reddit is the gateway drug to geekhack or at least that is how it is working out with me

[fohat.digs]

His problem was .... he picks fights

This is where I scratch my head and wonder, Why?

[tp4tissue]

His problem was .... he picks fights

This is where I scratch my head and wonder, Why?

I suppose he got-off  on the fact that he had some celebrity status  here at GH,  and that entitles him to tell the Mods what to do..

This was true to some degree,  but the issue was he may have been over-zealous and the indirect-powers of which he wielded was  then overextended..


but that's only with respect to the small political bubble here at GH..   in the grand scheme of things..   

If you look at it...  the MODs should NOT have had him ousted..


The fact that He (by Himself)  was dedicated to and capable of generating network traffic..   Realistically, that's what every successful website needs..     

I realize GH is only casually managed, but  Ripster was a major asset and he worked for free..



How is that not a dumass move to ban such a person..

[jdcarpe]

If I remember correctly, which I may not be, it was iMav's decision, and not the mods', to ban Ripster. I don't think it was a bad decision at all. All he did at the end was troll, troll, troll. How boring.

[Puddsy]

AFAIK that's correct, JD.

[tp4tissue]

If I remember correctly, which I may not be, it was iMav's decision, and not the mods', to ban Ripster. I don't think it was a bad decision at all. All he did at the end was troll, troll, troll. How boring.

iMav is the GH dictator..  but even in dictatorships, there are the advisors, which will weigh heavily in shaping the decisions of the dictator...

The mods are the advisors to the iMav...

[jdcarpe]

If everywhere one goes, one has a reputation for being a jerk, either of two possibilities my be true:

1. In an amazing circumstance of coincidental events, people are out to get one everywhere one goes; or

2. One actually is a jerk.

[Puddsy]

Same principles apply to being a moderator, it would seem.

[tp4tissue]

If everywhere one goes, one has a reputation for being a jerk, either of two possibilities my be true:

1. In an amazing circumstance of coincidental events, people are out to get one everywhere one goes; or

2. One actually is a jerk.

it's irrelevant that he's a jerk...

he's demonstrably capable of generating traffic..  the mods do not.. or could not.. or are too lazy to..


Look at it this way..   

Every keyboard/tech site, has the same information...  red/black/blue/cherry/topre..blah blah

what made us GH stand out..    what was the GH gimmick to sell others on..

WE HAD  #1 Keyboard expert on the planet...  self proclaimed or not...  that was good marketing..


on top of that,  he was a colorful personality...   

[jdcarpe]

it's irrelevant that he's a jerk...

he's demonstrably capable of generating traffic..  the mods do not.. or could not.. or are too lazy to..


Look at it this way..   

Every keyboard/tech site, has the same information...  red/black/blue/cherry/topre..blah blah

what made us GH stand out..    what was the GH gimmick to sell others on..

WE HAD  #1 Keyboard expert on the planet...  self proclaimed or not...  that was good marketing..


on top of that,  he was a colorful personality...   

It's not irrelevant to most. And is the sole measure of an internet forum the quantity of traffic it has on a daily basis? Or maybe it has something to do with the quality of its members over sheer quantity.

And if the color you're thinking of is brown, then you're absolutely right.

[hashbaz]

Increasing traffic has never been an explicit goal of the forum AFAIK.  By the time of his ban, ripster had made the forum an unpleasant place to be.  He posted garbage spam and angry accusations in almost every thread.  Banning him was absolutely the right call, as evidenced by the other forums he was banned from as well.

[Input Nirvana]

Voixdelion- A sitcom.....yea, totally, and I can write that, good idea!

TacticalStache- That's quite the concise synopsis, with some timeline snippets that clarify some of the STUPID drama.

Geekwhack(ers) is absolutely hilarious, that's why it's in my sig. I want to have an exclusive old school "Whacker" club on GH. I may lock up geekwhackers.com if one of you hacks don't beat me to it!

One day I'll go check and see the content on Reddit that Rippy has. I'm sure it's pretty darn good, as it always was before, and I'll always believe it's a shame GH lost the "happy right to host the info", though no fault of GH of course.

Rippy is quick, witty and interesting, and to underestimate him is a mistake. But maybe he's not as sharp as he thinks, and he's certainly not as entitled as he would choose to believe, which perhaps is his Achilles heel. Many of us have a fatal flaw, the key is to be aware of what it is. In retrospect, The Summer of Ping! with the Keyboardlover battles were the first real, clear sign that all was not well and increased turmoil was inevitable. Being part of any club, group, organization requires that you play well with others. I've had people work for me that did good work, but were poor employees, so they had to go. I'm not sure why Rippy went the highly combative direction he did, hyper-focus on any one thing is rarely good, and perhaps that's what happened with him here on GH, as it also did for me...but I had life issues happening and lost my perspective

Yapping about this needlessly serves no purpose, so I'll let it go. Put legitimate blame where it belongs, but also recognize and give credit to the positive, the talent, and the useful contributions. Who knows what the future will bring, your bitter enemy today may be your strongest ally tomorrow.

I'll start working on the-soon-to-be-adapted-book-to-movie "Geekwhacking in the City".

[Puddsy]

Nah he's pretty entitled

he's super duper rich

He founded one of the earliest tech companies, and it blew up, and then he retired at like 40

[Input Nirvana]

Lol. If that's really the case then maybe he gets to be entitled in that arena if someone there lets him but I doubt it.  (PROOF: He's banned on GH eand would choose not to be). I have no beef with the man, and like I said, he's sharp. But that has absolutely zero bearing/justification in combative posting on a keyboard forum and downgrading the informative experience for most of the others. I mean really, creating animosity and other such stuff, and....about keyboards? I don't support that. Being a positive or a negative force is a choice, and you make that choice every day. Would anyone choose to be around a negative force?

[lolkey]

the subreddit is meh. it's just a big imgur album of people showing off their keyboards and others asking for buying advice. then there are the occasional ripster "for science" threads where he tries to do these elaborate studies and people just come into the thread and tell him how he messed it up or the results are useless.

my  favorite one; he did some elaborate 2 year or so test on switch springs by leaving them outside nailed to a piece of wood to see how they would stand up over time and some random user pretty much tells him his results aren't accurate. there was another elaborate  science topic he did that another user pointed out the results were useless, i forget where it is though.

the guy is filled with hate and always running his mouth every chance he gets about other communities. and i think GH isn't the only place he is banned from, i think he's been banned on 4 or 5 different forums. he's also literally the definition of egotistical.

[le_doosh]

I actually came from /r/mech sort of before all of the "geekwhack" stuff started up. I honestly don't think reddit has any grudge or anything towards GH, I really think its just Ripster being forever butthurt. I enjoyed /r/mech a lot when I first got into mechanical keyboards, checking it everyday when I got on reddit.

However, after the constant geekwhack comments, spamming links to his other ****ty subreddits, the keyboard "science" threads over and over again, it got old... really fast. I'm still subbed there, but by no means check it as much as I used to. It's really gone downhill and isn't the same as it was when I first subscribed.

[Harrowed]

I can understand that there will always be haters for everything and some are very passionate in it but but looking how much ripster spends time time lurking GH and cross-posting stuff from here to reddit just to bad mouth it - it just makes you wonder his mental health. Banned member of online community to make his own community is nothing new but usually they move on and focus on they what they have. He is capable guy to get his community to compete in excellence and not in bad mouthing....

[CK Briefs]

I can understand that there will always be haters for everything and some are very passionate in it but but looking how much ripster spends time time lurking GH and cross-posting stuff from here to reddit just to bad mouth it - it just makes you wonder his mental health. Banned member of online community to make his own community is nothing new but usually they move on and focus on they what they have. He is capable guy to get his community to compete in excellence and not in bad mouthing....

He has a bone to pick, and the right to pick it.
His problem lies in dragging people down alongside himself and getting others involved in what is just his petty mind trying to brew up trouble.

[baldgye]

Nah he's pretty entitled

he's super duper rich

He founded one of the earliest tech companies, and it blew up, and then he retired at like 40

TIL