MrWilson 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (2575)

• On the post: AT&T Sues California Regulators For Trying To Make Broadband Affordable

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2026 @ 11:51pm

  ...he says while using an internet connection that benefits from publicly funded research and infrastructure. Do you think you'd get better internet service if the same plan you have now just costed more? Privatized services are about profit, not quality. If they can make more money without improving the service, they will do it. On it's face, it can't be better. But more importantly, Anything paid for by taxes is "socialized." "Hands off my medicare, you commies!" The problem is that conservatives get elected and then break shit to give tax breaks and contracts and sell off services to their wealthy donors and then they point at what they broke and say, "see? I told you the government doesn't work." We pay more for health care with worse results than European countries with national health care systems.

• On the post: CBP Commander Greg Bovino Is Taking Guest Speaker Spots At White Nationalist Conferences

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2026 @ 07:39pm

  I assume these are just anti-migration, and in your deranged mind that makes them “white nationalist”.

  Do you think Melania Knauss should be stripped of her citizenship and deported? What about Elon? No? Just people of color? There's a pattern here about your immigration stance. I can't white put my finger on it...

  Ah, there it is. No, that is not “White Nationalist” you retard.

  Look at their website. That's exactly what they're pushing for. "With remigration, Europe will become more European day by day. Without remigration, it will become less European every day and will eventually cease to exist." They aren't referring to people of color when they say "European."

  You guys LITERALLY touted “Demographics is Destiny” for DECADES. That is the exact same thing, moron.

  The term has been around since the 19th century and it wasn't often said by Democrats until Obama's victory in 2008. And that's a description of why they thought they were winning. Also, demographics doesn't just mean ethnicity or national origin. Age is a demographic. Obama did well with younger voters. It's not the exact same thing, moron. Younger voters replace older voters because that's how time works. Also, not everyone you disagree with said that phrase and not everyone you disagree with is the same or holds the same views, so when you make this kind of useless broad claim, you're just admitting you associate anything that makes you uncomfortable as the same, meaning further that you're least likely to understand the differences between people.

  I zero percent believe that just because you’re claming that, especially because you get anti-migration and racists confused.

  I zero percent believe that you're willing or able to do any research into it to find out. That you pretend you have to rely on someone else's reporting just shows that you're a passive propaganda sponge.

  But I gentle reminder DEMOCRATS RUNNING A LITERAL NAZI IN MAINE. (It’s not just the tattoo, which yes, he knew what it was, the whole time)

  First, just as a reminder, I'm not a Democrat. But even then, I recognize you don't pop out of your bubble except to come here to take a shit in the comments with your last remaining brain cells, but if you looked at social media (Bluesky, e.g.) you'd see that even Democratic voters aren't happy with Platner and are stating that they'll vote for someone else in the primary and only vote for Platner if he wins the primary because he's better than Collins. But you pretend everyone is the same, especially if you disagree with them. Look at the votes for other people in the primary and tell me that "Democrats" (specifically voters) are all aligned in running Platner.

• On the post: CBP Commander Greg Bovino Is Taking Guest Speaker Spots At White Nationalist Conferences

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2026 @ 12:21pm

  They typically couch their response to that in "we conquered fair and square," but then act like their invasion myths about white replacement aren't the other side of the same concept. It descends into a "might is right" mentality where they're justified in using violence to secure their paranoid racist homeland fantasy because they like to imagine that other groups are just as ruthless and violent as they are.

• On the post: CBP Commander Greg Bovino Is Taking Guest Speaker Spots At White Nationalist Conferences

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2026 @ 10:15am

  Oh look, these people are exactly who you thought they were. This is important to remember when the "they've all got to go" xenophobes talk about immigration. Regardless of whether they themselves think they're racists or white supremacists, they are functionally supporting that agenda and they're cheering on people who are pursuing that agenda.

• On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 31 May, 2026 @ 09:53pm

  Yes, that’s why nobody’s made a Wizard of Oz movie since 1939.

  I was about to say, "I wish," but Return to Oz kicks ass.

• On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 31 May, 2026 @ 09:51pm

  If they can’t recover their costs in a decade, that’s on them. Maybe they didn’t market their work right. Maybe their work sucks. Them’s the breaks. But that shouldn’t prevent a work from falling into the public domain

  The problem I can foresee with this is that large publishers will just wait 10 years for good self-published books to hit the public domain and then publish them on their further-reaching platform, owing nothing to the artist. Amazon would love to stop paying royalties to every self-published author that uses KDP. Sure, the local library could compete, but Amazon has the market dominance and infrastructure, so it'll benefit greatly before a full paradigm shift or technological change. If we're going to make copyrights expire faster, we'd need something like universal basic income to support the artists whose works will be more exploitable and less profitable in the long run.

• On the post: 35 Former Federal Judges Call Trump’s Self-Settlement A Fraud On The Court

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 11:21pm

  My blood pressure is high because of genetics, not because of random idiots on the internet. Thanks dad!

  the only thing you’ve achieved is making them post even more

  I don't control him. He chooses to waste his time shouting into the void. I just point out how stupid he is to do so. He makes himself look like an idiot, but if I had the power to influence his actions, why wouldn't I make him look like an idiot even more than he already does? It's a great demonstration of what's wrong with propagandized idiots. Sometimes you can't articulate what you support until you see what you oppose, in a form of process of elimination. It seems like there's a disconnect between different people perceiving the act of trolling as a grave manipulative offense or as I do: a toddler shitting himself during a tantrum. As I said, I find discussing these topics engaging. I'm a writer and refining my craft through exercise is valuable. Dealing with trolls who can't logic their way out of an IV drip bag full of ivermectin and essential oils is a good workout. But alternately, I'd say, tell that to Mike himself: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/05/29/court-temporarily-freezes-trumps-1-776-billion-anti-weaponization-slush-fund-to-figure-out-wtf-is-going-on/#comment-5359952

• On the post: Court Temporarily Freezes Trump’s $1.776 Billion ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Slush Fund To Figure Out WTF Is Going On

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 05:31pm

  Imminently: "Barack Hussein O'Biden kicked all the puppies, so it's fine that Trump is murdering a thousand puppies a day and it's perfectly legal for him to do so even though it was definitely illegal when Biden did it. Also Biden is secretly still controlling the government to make your gas prices high to make Trump look bad because Biden works for Iran and the communists and is the real racist even though all the power of government is in Trump's hands and you just don't want to law enforced, r-slurrrrrrrr!"

• On the post: How AI Can Lead To False Arrests & Wrongful Convictions

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 05:25pm

  It's stupid and evil enough when cops murder someone and say, "I thought he had a gun." It'll be even more stupid and evil when they murder someone and say, "AI thought he had a gun." Side note: Qualified immunity is also stupid and evil.

• On the post: 35 Former Federal Judges Call Trump’s Self-Settlement A Fraud On The Court

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 02:59pm

  People get to choose what they do with their own time and decide what is important to them. I find all forms of sports fandom and viewing to be a giant waste of time. Pointing out why a troll is wrong is a mental exercise that often allows someone to articulate their thoughts on a topic that they might not otherwise have thought about. With this particular troll, I find that he is actually quite bothered. He claps back in a frothing rage and says some of the most ironically hilarious and stupid things. I don't actually think this particular troll is interested in provoking people. He's frustrated that we discuss topics and express perspectives he disagrees with and he can't stand that. Him commenting is him trolling himself. As Mike has pointed out, he seems to love getting torn down here. The behavior isn't what I'm denouncing, it's the perspective. Telling a troll not to troll isn't useful. Shredding their perspective helps reinforce the collective perception that they aren't just assholes, but are stupid and wrong and here's how... I appreciate seeing other people take down the trolls and they often articulate perspectives while doing so that I hadn't thought of, so it's useful for expanding your exposure to different ideas. Stephen and I seem to agree often, but might phrase a response differently. That's useful. A lot of valid and useful things get said that wouldn't be articulated if not for someone responding to a troll.

  Flag, ignore, and move on with your life while they hammer F5 hoping for a response.

  That has never worked as far as I've seen in over 30 years online. And there's always another troll.

• On the post: 35 Former Federal Judges Call Trump’s Self-Settlement A Fraud On The Court

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 02:45pm

  I was asking the particular AC who made the comment. I'm already aware of the perspective that some people think trolls live and die on engagement. I do think that "common wisdom" is demonstrably wrong in many scenarios based on pattern recognition. I used to do comment moderation for a collection of popular websites, so I've seen a lot. Banning works well enough for systems that require logins, even if some people will just create new accounts. Disemvoweling or deleting troll posts can deny that engagement people think trolls rely on, but that often sparks a revenge game where they try to spam or trick the system and then a heavier handed approach to that will negatively affect legitimate users. As Mike has said, content moderation at scale is impossible to do well. The dominant concept at play here is you counter bad speech with more speech.

• On the post: 35 Former Federal Judges Call Trump’s Self-Settlement A Fraud On The Court

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 02:36pm

  That's always a potential when people comment anonymously. Words and phrases and intonation can be lost or confused without enough context clues. It's on ACs to distinguish themselves, not readers to do the sleuthing.

• On the post: 35 Former Federal Judges Call Trump’s Self-Settlement A Fraud On The Court

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 29 May, 2026 @ 10:27am

  1. Troll comments are usually hidden and responses are as well, so you only see what you choose to see. Mike has chosen not to delete troll posts, so aggression will be present regardless. Some aggression, a la the paradox of tolerance, is warranted. Techdirt doesn't post articles about butterflies and flowers. These are contentious topics by nature. And responding to the trolls often bears out observations that wouldn't have otherwise been made. Arguing with trolls isn't for the benefit of the trolls. It is healthy for a community to oppose disingenuousness and call out propaganda and fallacious reasoning.
  2. You just mentioned the topics you'd prefer to talk about, proving that trolls (or anyone) don't set the conversation. You can literally respond with non sequiturs or pivot to a different topic altogether, like the fact that George Lucas should have filmed the sequels immediately after the prequels, well before the actors from the original trilogy got too old and before selling to Disney where hack writers would just try to milk the franchise with half-assed rehashing of themes that didn't honor the original stories or respect their endings. But even then, Disney should have drawn upon the Expanded Universe for source material instead of dumping it and pretending like there wasn't material to draw from, only to then turn around and admit there was when they used Grand Admiral Thrawn from the original Timothy Zahn trilogy.
  3. This is a myth. I've been witnessing arguments online since about 1993. Trolls aren't disincentivized by lack of a response. They only go away when you ban them. And Mike even gets into rounds of responses to the most prolific troll here at Techdirt. Also, some people want to read the responses. Observing troll behavior can help with pattern recognition. I've literally spotted logical fallacies in in-person conversations with disingenuous coworkers because I'd seen the same style of argument online. It can also be a good exercise in checking your own biases to make sure you're not engaging in wishful or magical thinking or ignoring a hole in your own argument out of convenience.

• On the post: Out Of Control RFK Jr. Fires Leaders Of Preventative Services Task Force

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 28 May, 2026 @ 11:43pm

  Go die in the gutter poor person!

  *but only after you work an 18 hour shift in a misery factory for the benefit of your corporate overlords to earn enough to spend it on pointless consumer products so the CEO can buy a fourth yacht...

• On the post: 35 Former Federal Judges Call Trump’s Self-Settlement A Fraud On The Court

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 28 May, 2026 @ 08:26pm

  In lieu of my snarky response, I'm honestly curious here. What is the meta that you think indicates responding to a troll is some kind of a trap that one should not step into? Is this the "just pranking you, bro" kind of myopic perspective that "if you respond, I'm controlling you lol?" Or is it possible the goat-fucking trolls are getting called out because of their disingenuousness and no amount of "just kidding" means they aren't doing the thing they're getting called out for or that the people responding are somehow unaware of its nature? Is it possible people can see what you think is a trap and still be willing to engage for reasons you can't fathom? Are you aware different people have different perspectives, values, experiences, and focuses...? Like I said, I'm honestly curious. Enlighten me.

• On the post: 35 Former Federal Judges Call Trump’s Self-Settlement A Fraud On The Court

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 28 May, 2026 @ 01:54pm

  "Hey, I came into your own space to tell you to get out because I can't stand that you have the right to say things I disagree with even though you have citations and I am a self-destructive volunteer victim of propaganda. Also, I'm proud of being a bigot who uses slurs middle school children stopped using twenty years ago."

• On the post: Out Of Control RFK Jr. Fires Leaders Of Preventative Services Task Force

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 27 May, 2026 @ 09:50pm

  At this point, a brain worm driving an anti-vax nut who snorts cocaine off a toilet seat, swims in sewage, and allegedly contributes to the death of his wife is a perfect metaphor for the entire Trump Administration.

• On the post: Judge Dismisses Charges Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Says Gov’t Engaged In Vindictive Prosecution

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 27 May, 2026 @ 05:59pm

  You want it. You’re just too much of a coward to admit it out loud even though plenty of your fellow MAGA adherents would admit it without thinking twice.

  And, as often happens, it doesn't even matter if he's convinced himself that he isn't racist and doesn't want to see people murdered. Even with the most generous of doubt benefits being showered upon him like golden rain, he's still functionally supporting murder, violence, and systemic racism and xenophobia regardless of whether it's conscious or otherwise. Conservatives like to judge themselves by who they think they are, not by their own actions. It's "I'm a patriot," not "I help my neighbors." And playing the role of the other in his worldview, immigrants catch violence as a result of who they are as far as he's concerned. They're bad guys deserving what they get, even they're innocent ten year old kids walking home from school. He can't empathize because that would be siding with the bad guys and he needs that simplistic black and white perspective so the thinky thoughts aren't too vexing. Politics as sportsball fandom. And he doesn't actually even benefit when "his" team wins. The team owners do. And I'm not saying anything you didn't already know...

• On the post: Judge Dismisses Charges Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Says Gov’t Engaged In Vindictive Prosecution

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 26 May, 2026 @ 10:55pm

  It's not surprising that you forgot about Pretti and Good already. And bullets aren't the only way ICE has murdered people.

• On the post: Can’t Do Anything Right: RFK’s ACIP Charter Changes Yanked For Not Following Procedure

  

  MrWilson ( profile ), 26 May, 2026 @ 10:46pm

  You making shit up is not, in fact, a citation that proves anything.

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