No, it would not be prudent. In fact, "permanently cutting off" an individual from "the west" just because they support something you don't agree with sets a very dangerous precedent and is many times worse than any war. It's screwed up that you're even suggesting this.
Is it really so bad to call out a throwaway account created for the sole purpose of violating HN rules? Calling someone a coward for throwing insults at me from a throwaway account is hardly inappropriate.
The fact that you had to ban his account pretty much proves my point.
You've clearly been breaking the rules repeatedly—this is not a borderline call. For example, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30577434 was certainly an attack by the standard we apply here. If it doesn't fit your own definition of the word, that's fine; but it's the kind of thing we ban accounts for, so we need you to stop posting like that if you want to keep commenting on HN.
The rules apply regardless of how badly others are behaving. It always feels like the other person started it and did worse—this perception is hard-wired in all of us, so to use it as a justification guarantees a downward spiral.
Under duress you'd be surprised what you'd publicly support.
It's not as if every Russian has the luxury to say what they want and not fear extreme retaliation.
Instead of "Russians", think instead "diverse group of humans living under a violent, jealous, unpredictable regime."
Just like victims of domestic abuse struggle to escape their abuser, it's not as easy to say "fuck off" or actually leave as keyboard pundits would have us believe.
If you want some history about making lists, check out the McCarthy Trials.
Or, they actually support the invasion, which is valid as well. I may not agree, but I think everyone can express support for any position. The only position that is invalid is censorship/suppression/thought control, because it cuts off communication.
We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. This was bad enough, but https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30541975 is completely not ok. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with.
I used to think that. Then I realized that during the last 5-10 years, international developments have impacted my life far more than what's happening in my neighborhood/municipality. Remote working, covid restrictions, crypto, etc. What happens in the world ends up knocking on your door sooner or later.
> I’d actually see early crypto news as a local interest but local meaning a technical niche instead of geographical.
Interesting point, I had not considered that. Locality not just in the geographical sense.
> I still think 99% of major daily headlines won’t affect your daily life.
I agree for the majority of people in other countries. In my case, I live in a developing country with >50% annual inflation. Sometimes headlines here really affect your life, like the govt suddenly prohibiting importing US dollars (e.g., if you work remotely), or requiring 1/3 women to form a LLC so I can't open a business with a male friend when I could yesterday. And this is clearly just following trends from USA/Europe. There are countless other examples.
I'd agree, though, not that these are not strictly "international" news but not local either.
It's the exact same for me. It's like at eight hours exactly something "clicks" and you're fresh, but anything before that is a weird uncompleted process where I feel like garbage all day yet I can't go back to sleep. I can even feel the weight of my eye bags. Then, I take a short (20 min) nap at some point in the day and I'm completely recovered.
It's frustrating because just 15 more minutes would have prevented all that suffering.
It’s more about identity than about ego, I’d say. If Russia isn’t Russia anymore, if a large part (or, worse, all) of it gets westernized, if the Russian culture seemingly erodes, Putin’s life will turn out to have been meaningless. His self-worth is irreversibly tied to it. That’s why authoritarian leaders are generally unable to say “oh, I guess I was wrong after all”.
> If Russia isn’t Russia anymore, if a large part (or, worse, all) of it gets westernized, if the Russian culture seemingly erodes
What do you mean? You should have seen the surge of the Ukrainian culture in Ukraine after it westernized. After all, it's not the west that suppresses cultures in the region. If anything, it is the Russian regime.
From his article https://web.archive.org/web/20220227090945/http://en.kremlin...:
“The localization policy undoubtedly played a major role in the development and consolidation of the Ukrainian culture, language and identity. At the same time, under the guise of combating the so-called Russian great-power chauvinism, Ukrainization was often imposed on those who did not see themselves as Ukrainians. This Soviet national policy secured at the state level the provision on three separate Slavic peoples: Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian, instead of the large Russian nation, a triune people comprising Velikorussians, Malorussians and Belorussians.”
So he doesn’t like the alleged “Ukrainization”, and certainly not an additional westernization (you know, with gay people and such).
Of course! But my point is that Putin seems to truly believe in that portrayal. If you take what he writes in those essays and says in his speeches at face value, then you can see why he takes the actions he does.
Everyone’s actions can be understood by realizing what they feel and believe. That doesn’t justify the actions, but it explains them. Trying to understand what Putin is about is important to making predictions about how he will react to possible courses of action from the rest of the world.
Hey, it was just a funny take on the parent "from Putin's point of view". I think the guidelines about snark and sarcasm are about what you write in relation to other posters here, not Putin.
Oh I know, but I wasn't talking about the guidelines, just pointing out that a funny take doesn't make something less true, and undermines an important point. Also, I think snark and sarcasm should be allowed even towards other posters. It's healthier.
I don't care about this war, and all I get from this is that this domain registrar could block me with no notice for an abitrary reason. They (Namecheap) can do whatever they want, but I'll be actively working to deter people from using it.
You're the second person who I've seen admit "I don't care about this war" in these comments. Anticipating a whataboutism, yeah I might not pay attention as much to ones that aren't on the news as much but it literally doesn't take a minute to have a little empathy and if you can't muster that up having any tact at all no one should say that they don't care, just seems pathetic. Good call on using throwaway though
Not Russian (I'm from Argentina), but I'll move all of my domains right away. This is absolutely nuts. I do not care about this war at all, but more importantly, I won't be keeping my domains in a registrar that arbitrarily cuts down on customers from being from a particular country.
How anyone would support this is beyond me. New world order virtue signalling at it fullest.
This war has a non-zero chance of becoming a nuclear war that ends all human life on Earth. If you don't care about it, you must not care about anything at all, including your own life.
There aren't that many people who would boycott a business that decides to stop offering services in Russia and there are even fewer who can watch Ukrainian bodies pile up without emotion, so I'm pretty sure Namecheap doesn't mind losing customers like you.
I'm not sure what you're seeing since everything I've seen everywhere (even in my fucking domain registrar!) is a pro-Ukraine/anti-Russia narrative pushed everywhere. Everywhere. So if there's disinformation, it follows that it's from Western media.
