On shaders
Jesus Murphy Christ. I did more experimenting using shaders in my library and really I had no idea how easy it was to implement these things. Even to do the post processing stuff is simple, hell I even made a sine-wave scroller thing in a short amount of time and I suck. I have to wonder though, how many people have cards that have VS/PS support? And what's the most common version? 1.1? 1.4? 2.0? 3.0? Not that it really matters, the library uses HLSL so the versioning isn't really an issue.

On input
It's SOOO boring to write this shit. That's all I have to say about that.

On the recent lounge shit
Normally I wouldn't write anything here on a personal level unless I felt there's a good reason to do so. I prefer to just stick with programming stuff because that's why I'm here. However, I've been reading about this issue lately regarding the lounge.

I like the lounge, I find a lot of topics there amusing, some infuriating, but interesting. I do agree with the point that it's getting to be a bit much with the countless "bible thumper" and "war is evil" and "my government is a corrupt pile of festering tools" threads. Do we need these threads deleted or shut down? For the time being, probably. The only problem with that is that it sets a horrible precedent.

Certain individuals (I won't name names) are reacting like children, or worse a conservative (in my opinion, another word for facist, but liberal is another word for dirty lazy hippy, so don't cry). "Titles of threads turn people away", oh fuck you. If it does, who cares? Do we need overly sensitive people like that? No. If you don't want to read a thread about why George Bush is evil, or why liberals will be the end of us all, then don't fucking read it. It's really simple. In my opinion, the only threads that should really be shut down are ones that have titles that don't pertain to the content of the message. And if you're like me, and you know that you are, and can't resist watching a car wreck, fine, read it. The problem is, everyone has an opinion, and of course they think that by sharing their opinion, however poorly constructed, that they will present an argument that you couldn't have possibly heard of or conceived of before. Wrong. The reality of the situation is such that we've probably heard the arguments and the counter arguments time and time again (especially by the 10th page). So before you post a reply to that thread, think to yourself: "By posting this, am I really posting something no one has heard before? Do I really have anything relevant to add to this conversation?" Most likely, you don't.

To those who blame Oluseyi, or feel he's a horrible monster for proposing the changes I say this: Grow up. He's staff, if he wants to restrict the lounge to only 1 post per day by any given user, that's his (and the other staff members) right. I don't always agree with the man, but 90% of the time I do. Simply because he thinks more clearly about what he has to say than just about anyone I've ever read or heard (present company included, I'm just fucking crazy). He's clearly frustrated by a rash of juvenille and dead-horse topics in the area he's responsible for.

And that brings to me to another area of topics that annoy the shit out of me far more than political/bible topics:

Personal problems regarding:
1. Your sexuality.
2. Your current status with the same or opposite sex and coping with said issue.
3. Your health.

I don't care, and a lot of other people don't care either. For those that do, great, you're a better human being than I am. That's what your parents, friends and/or psycho-therapist are for. And they can usually dole out better advice than 99% of the people here. Can't get that girl you've been stalking? Too fucking bad, neither can anyone else except the guy she's interested in, who, probably is interested in one of his teammates on the football/baseball/hockey team but is too ashamed to come out of the closet. Deal with it, we all went through it, and many of us, even in our 30's still do. There's a certain level of immaturity that I find that comes from those topics. Boo hoo. Welcome to real life.

But, as much as these topics and people annoy me, do I think they should be censored/banned? Fuck no. I just won't read the thread. It annoys me, why would I read it? For example, jamming a screwdriver in your ear is annoying, and not to mention painful (no, I haven't done this, merely conjecture, you're free to prove me wrong). So, when you see a screwdriver, do you instinctively jam it in your ear? No, of course not. And if you did, I'd like to see you in a automotive/hardware store.

I agree there's a lack of originality, but that's just due to two factors:
1. Dumbasses. We all know who they are.
2. An overall lack of creativity by society as a whole (yes, that's deep).

I think people should tone it down and stop responding to political threads as much, and devote a little time to posting things that are attention worthy (no, hitler eating a watermelon is really not any better). So when you hit 'reply' or 'quote', think about what I said before and try to write something else.

A little self control is far better than having someone else control you.

So that's the complaints, where's the solution?

There is none. That's the trouble with freedom of speech, any damn idiot can write anything he/she wants. But this site is not a democracy. In the end, there's nothing we can do if the staff decides to remove the threads/lounge.

However. Here's an idea that won't solve the problem. But will likely help:
Only allow people with GDNet+ membership access to the lounge. Make it read-only for those that are just fly-by nighters. Sure, people will whine, but a lot more will whine a lot louder when threads start being shut down. I'd wager, and I can really only speak from my point of view, that if you have to pay for the privilege of saying anything you like, then you're going to think a lot harder about what you have to say. And if not, your family tree needs pruning.

Please don't comment about how I'm wrong. I don't give a shit, you won't change my mind and in fact, bitching me out will only re-enforce my opinion.

In fact, don't comment at all (I won't listen to you), excepting perhaps the idea of the GDNet+ lounge.