Cutter wrote on Jul 21, 2017, 18:06:

The Half Elf wrote on Jul 21, 2017, 17:35:

Cutter wrote on Jul 21, 2017, 12:37:
Fuck Amazon! What a shitty company.

Amazon is giving me a VR headset for free, so SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE!

No. They're a shady company, man. I bought some shoes off what I thought was Amazon and it turns out it was some 3rd party reseller marketplace bullshit from China. Doesn't state it anywhere, or shipping times, or refund policy or that it's not actually from Aamazon. So they didn't fit, went to return them and much to my surprise they tell me they're not responsible for any of this - when in fact they are. So they're telling me I have to ship the fucking shoes back to China, insured no less in order to get a refund.

What the fuck? That'd cost 3 time what the fucking shoes cost to begin with. As I explained this. Had they made it clear - as is their responsibility - I never would have bought the fucking things to begin with. So front line CS at Amazon is useless as I expected so I told them to escalate it to management, and if they don't fix the problem I'll b e disputing the charge with VISA and reporting them to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, etc.

All this drama because Amazon doesn't make it clear that these are sellers aren't affiliated with them because they know people won't buy from them otherwise and they won't get their cut. So yeah, fuck Amazon.

Cutter wrote on Jun 27, 2017, 17:48:

jdreyer wrote on Jun 27, 2017, 16:40:
The problem isn't that we hate all cops and love criminals. The problem is that police culture itself goes to any and all lengths to protect those bad apples from reprocussions. Also police acadamies spend 10 hours on deescalation techniques but 90 hours on firearm training. And so we end up with hundreds of innocent lives lost.

The UK and Japan average about one suspect killed by police per year. We average 1000 in the US. That's a primary cause of the ill will cast at police despite the majority being good people trying to do a hard job.

That's pretty much it. People in general are either pro-authority (conservatives) or anti-authority (liberals). And while some people are pretty rabid in their extreme views whether it be pro or con I'd agree most people agree that some degree of law enforcement is at least necessary.

As you said, the major problem is when the thin blue line closes ranks to protect the psychopaths that shouldn't be cops to begin with. They really need to be going the other way and drumming them out of the force ASAP because it doesn't just give that department a bad name it makes cops EVERYWHERE look bad.

I've certainly had my share of run-ins with both. Some have been really good guys and some have just been complete sociopaths. One of the other major problems is that there's absolutely zero real oversight or punishment for cops who do wrong. When I had a run in with one several years ago I filed a complaint with the police watchdog and nothing came of it. So I checked their stats and it turns out that they dismiss 97.3% of all complaints. That's outrageous! If someone is taking the time to fill out an official complaint than odds are they have a legitimate beef.

Even in the cases where a cop is found guilty - and that's usually only if it's caught on camera AND involves multiple witnesses - the threshold is ridiculously high - nothing happens to them. Cases of assault - most common - and other things and at most they get docked a few days pay. They won't even apologize. Are you fucking kidding me? Any civilian in most of these cases would be losing his job no questions asked and likely looking at jail time. Nor will the departments - here at least - hand over any information on a cop, if there were prior disciplinary problems, etc. nor does the civilian services board take that into account either. It's a fucking joke and a waste of several million tax dollars to boot for a feel good, do-nothing discipline board. I'm sure the story is the same most everywhere else.

Not to mention, here cops are the number one major drain on resources and we get the least in return for them. The crime clearance rate in the GTA is 33% and they cost the taxpayers over a billion dollars a year which is 3X more expensive than the next major expense which is the budget for city infrastructure. Try to cut that budget and they go full out trying to paint you as some criminal, terrorist loving, pedophile. The money would be better spent so many other places which would reduce the need for police in the first place. Authoritarian based systems are always and only a downward spiral for all concerned except those in power at the top.

El Pit wrote on Jun 7, 2017, 11:42:

VaranDragon wrote on Jun 7, 2017, 09:26:
Thats probably it. Not much a writer can write about when there is nothing in development. Probably got tired of composing another Steam newsletter, or Steam Store promotion....

Who is going to write the backstories to all the HATS now? Oh my god oh my god oh my god...

I think the number of desks rolled to the HATS group was so big that he felt a bit cramped and just had to move on.

Or *gasp* did Gabe approach him to actually write the backstory to a GAME? No, just kidding. We all know Valve is no longer working on games.

Prez wrote on Jun 6, 2017, 21:38:

RedEye9 wrote on Jun 6, 2017, 20:21:
Greenlight by any other name...

I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think the same thing. Greenlight was $100 submission fee and zero curation. Direct has 100$ submission fee and Valve has essentially admitted there will be no curation by them.