Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 14th June 2026 (awful.systems)

submitted 1 week ago by BlueMonday1984@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems

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Want to wade into the rainbow-ridden surf of the abyss? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid.

Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned so many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)

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[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Everybody remember Frontiers, the publisher that brought us the rat dck pck? Well guess what...

I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇

When Frontiers started automating the editorial process, I stayed. I reasoned that as long as the automation could be turned off, human editors can still ensure rigorous, high-quality peer review. This now became impossible - the system has been entirely hijacked by algorithms. ‪

Over the last month I saw that human editors are now stripped of control. I could no longer stop the system from auto-inviting "reviewers" with zero relevant expertise. Even worse - the AI began actively revoking the invitations I manually sent out to actual, qualified experts. ‪

I emailed and met with the editorial office to ask for the AI assistant to be turned off. I was told this is not possible. Instead, I was treated to some vague promises of potential future improvements and a dose of gaslighting. ‪

If human editors can’t control who reviews science, it’s no longer peer review — it’s a rubber-stamp machine designed for volume and profit, not quality. I have no intention of attaching my name to it. So I’m out.

https://bsky.app/profile/michael-okun.bsky.social/post/3mnxkxte55s25

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 6 points 5 days ago

Sigh.

ACM will no longer require disclosure of the use of #generativeAI in writing papers.... an absolutely terrible change by the @ACM Publications Board to the Policy on Authorship. Yes, this will give ACM more papers. No, the ideology of "number go up" productivism is not the path to responsible, ecological or ethical computing, but to irrelevance.

https://hci.social/@cbecker/116728336094142084

[-] froztbyte@awful.systems 5 points 5 days ago

I signed up for ACM last year, just hit my expiry (like, today), and truly don’t know if I want to renew

it’s been an extreme avenue of generative hype, constantly pushing talks, books, etc. I have no idea how they square it with the ethical pledge

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 4 points 5 days ago

By not thinking about it, one presumes.

[-] nfultz@awful.systems 2 points 5 days ago

I was flipping through this month's magazine on the bus, don't worry, they have a solution for reviewers...

https://cacm.acm.org/research/from-volunteerism-to-duty-reforming-peer-review-with-tokens/

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 8 points 5 days ago

To prevent fraud and rule exchanges, tokens can be implemented as a digital entity, representing a fungible unit of value. Tokens can be transferred through cryptographic protocols and governed by rules running in the TMS.

They're gonna do it. Peer review is going ON THE BLOCKCHAIN

[-] o7___o7@awful.systems 4 points 5 days ago

Anything to avoid paying people for their time.

[-] TinyTimmyTokyo@awful.systems 7 points 6 days ago

A predatory slop publisher has turned to algorithmic moderation by clankers? A shocking turn of events, to be sure. They're probably just trying to wring the last few pennies out of their operation before they meet their inevitable oblivion.

[-] o7___o7@awful.systems 6 points 6 days ago

I wanted to give you a high five for telling APS where to go. That was rad as hell.

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 5 points 5 days ago

Link for that development, in case anyone missed it:

https://awful.systems/post/8263538/11477939

I did, indeed, turn them down, and I told the journal why.

this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026

22 points (95.8% liked)

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