106 Comments
User's avatar
Lacey's avatar

My favorite cults are the ones that eagerly kick people out.

Expand full comment
AA Rabbit's avatar

2/96 Banhammered in 15hrs, much better ratio than I was expecting. Either the gammas have gotten wiser to the bait (doubtful), or the subscription only model has yielded an exceptionally tasteful commentatoriat.

Expand full comment
MickDubya's avatar

Is the old alpha game blog still up sonewhere?

Expand full comment
Rigel Kent's avatar

To all those annoying querents, alphas don't need to ask, sigma's wouldn't ask, bravos would ask their alpha and omega's already know. This leaves deltas and gammas. Flip a coin and stop bothering the rest of us with your narcissism.

Expand full comment
Henk's avatar

Nice!

Expand full comment
keruru's avatar

There has been a mass move from the blusky crew to substack now they can see videos and notes. They then think their wit is needed. Everywhere. They do not know that the main reason substack exists is for the essay. I expect eventually most substacks will restrict comments to paid subscribers or ban them: though even members only forums such as SG have had troll infestations.

A good rule. We all should move to one strike bans.

Expand full comment
James Allin's avatar

A warning to new readers to hang out for a while and see how things are before posting, especially now.

Expand full comment
joehannes's avatar

Are you the safety instructor around here?

Expand full comment
CecilRhodes's avatar

The art of heads on a pike is as important to society as etiquette. Good.

Expand full comment
Wolfenheiss's avatar

Gotta make examples out of people sometimes.

Expand full comment
Farloticus's avatar

Those guys could instead have Deepseek read your work and then discuss themselves ad nauseam with the ai and get a correct answer if they’re honest enough

Expand full comment
MerryToyotathon's avatar

Just don't ask Vox dot ai

"Vox dot ai, what is my rank in the SSH?"

"You're banned for life."

Expand full comment
Jeremy Robinson's avatar

SSH has a role to play in self-assessment, just not the role the idiots of the "What am I?" variety want it to play. If you want to use it for self-help, quit worrying about what you are, and instead:

1) Look at the negative behaviors associated with roles and work on learning to avoid them. For instance, many of the poor behaviors of gammas are repeated by men of higher status simply because of laziness or lack of self-discipline.

2) Look at the positive behaviors associated with roles and intentionally work to surround yourself with men that display the very behaviors with which you struggle.

The SSH is effective because men were created to function socially and we have different skillets/roles. Thus we function best when we embrace our roles instead of trying to be everything to everyone. The Alpha functions best when he surround himself with loyal Bravos to execute the details of his ideas. The Bravo functions best when supporting a clear Alpha while also identifying which Deltas being the specialty skillets needed. And God knows, everyone functions best when they keep the Gammas well contained so they cannot do any damage.

Expand full comment
Mark Englishby's avatar

Let’s face it , the SSH’s primary value is to keep Gammas the hell out of an organisation..

Expand full comment
Zach Foster's avatar

And wielding deltas, brother. And wielding deltas...

Expand full comment
Veroel Aquijac's avatar

Yes. Identify the gamma early on and prevent them from entering whenever you can.

Expand full comment
Sledge With An Edge's avatar

What are your thoughts on a cut and paste shoot on sight warning at the end of each post? Too much work? Ruins the anesthetics? Or why should you bother when the results will be roughly the same? You've probably considered it already, I'm only interested in whether you think it is a good, useless, or tedious idea.

My own thinking was that aside from limiting comments to subscribers only, which apparently cannot be done on substack, there is a subset of readers who will initially ask themselves where they stand before settling into real contribution after they understand the SSH better and the commenting culture here. Reminding them each post not to ask that out loud in the comments would allow them to develop a little as long as they heed the warning.

Let me be clear, I don't actually care about the method. I like the comment section, and am in favor of pruning it in order to maintain its higher level.

Expand full comment
SirHamster's avatar

The people for whom that will be helpful will learn best by being banned, or seeing others banned. Banned people can still read, and can always make a new account after learning the lesson.

Those who want to know about ideas will process the blogpost's point, read the comments, and lurk. Those who beeline to "Enough about that boring stuff, what about me" are not going to be the cream of the crop.

Expand full comment
Julie C's avatar

Yep. In my experience, the people who want to jump in and talk about themselves/ hijack the comments only read enough of the post - if any of it - to pretend to be on topic for possibly one sentence before launching into whatever their actual agenda is.

Expand full comment
Vox Day's avatar

Pointless. I'm not worried about the possibility of missing out that subset. And I suspect there are even more people who would see it as an invitation or a challenge.

Expand full comment
Ascanius's avatar

Thank you!

Expand full comment
J Scott's avatar

Good.

Expand full comment
Uncouth Barbarian's avatar

And just like that, the wailing and number of posts will fall like a rock.

Expand full comment
Dave's avatar

I think the influx of value debit posters is a larger substack phenomenon, not this place specifically. It'll have to just be mowing grass, moderation wise, for a while.

Expand full comment
Joe Katzman's avatar

“Value debit posters” is an excellent term.

Expand full comment
Masked Menace's avatar

Oh don't think all will take heed bro, some can't but tempt fate. The ban hammer shall fall mightily today and its ruthless thud may reverberate in our ears for days.

Expand full comment
Uncouth Barbarian's avatar

Oh no, they won't.

But after they don't... silence

Expand full comment
David deBois's avatar

I have observed that the grifters always have two things that they do in common. First, they redefine Gamma and soften its negative aspects (or eliminate those things completely, and second, they are appealing to people who want to be identified as Sigma. This shows that they are catering to Gamma's. It is easier for a Gamma to say that he is a Sigma than an Alpha. Where in the big picture both Alpha and Sigma are top of the food chain, in fact Alpha may actually have more sexual access due to social exposure. But it is always "how to be Sigma".

Expand full comment
BodrevBodrev's avatar

Absolutely. I've also noticed that grifters highly embellish their accomplishments starting way back. I read Neil Strauss, The Game, because people talked about it here. Highly recommend it, as a detailed description of how gammas infiltrated the PUA community. I suspect though that many of the fantastic feats described never took place. Mystery most certainly never did out-alpha an armed Balkan veteran gangster in his own city using magic. Also, clearly marketed toward gammas and omegas.

Expand full comment
DREWIEY's avatar

There's also a lot of emotional pain and projection when you don't cater to their delusions. One commenter in the "Rejection is a sign of Low Status" asked if the article was some form of humiliation ritual the readers here have to go through. What the hell!

Expand full comment
Cedric's avatar

"... asked if the article was some form of humiliation ritual the readers here have to go through."

Humility and humiliation look the same. The question if it's voluntarily chosen. Either you think it's a burden to wash another's feet, to pick up dog-poop, or you think it's right and good and moral to serve. If you're too proud, it's humiliating.

Expand full comment
Luke Philp's avatar

There's a good reason everyone wants to live in a society where everyone picks up their dog's poop.

Those that think it burdensome need only go to a city where noone does it. Particularly on a hot summer's day.

Expand full comment