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by vorhemus 1463 days ago
In previous times you really had to make an effort to insult someone - engraving this probably took some time.
3 comments

tbh, if you want your insult to be likely to survive for nearly 2000 years, it takes a bit of dedication even now.

probably Secundinus had insulted him by shouting at him, making a hand gesture or spilling his beer. But whilst such low effort insults can drive people crazy, they're unlikely to achieve results quite as impressive as worldwide media coverage in future millennia, or historians musing on why Secundinus was considered to be a shitter as they figure out a caption for the centrepiece for a new museum.

> whilst such low effort insults can drive people crazy, they're unlikely to achieve results quite as impressive as worldwide media coverage in future millennia

That result might impress you, but I think everyone involved would have considered the insult a bigger success if, say, Secundinus' engagement fell through and no one in the future ever heard about the dispute.

The internet would be a better place if posting something would take serious effort.

Perhaps this would be a nice starting point for a new version of Twitter or any forum.

I don't think you'll get effort. But you might get quality by limiting the posting rate. Something like 1/day. That's not enough, so you also need to encourage the community to highly regard quality posts, rather than just evocative ones. Imagine Twitter where only moderating, calming tweets are liked. It would be a different place!
It would be a brave, new world. :)
It just means that we would have Dickcarving-as-a-Service by tomorrow afternoon.
Yes, the internet would be a better place if posting spam costs money.
you were not distracting yourself in HN.