this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

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Want to wade into the snowy 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.

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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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[–] sansruse@awful.systems 10 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (6 children)

it's not exactly a take, but i want to shout out the dilberito, one of the dumbest products ever created

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Adams#Other

the Dilberito was a vegetarian microwave burrito that came in flavors of Mexican, Indian, Barbecue, and Garlic & Herb. It was sold through some health food stores. Adams's inspiration for the product was that "diet is the number one cause of health-related problems in the world. I figured I could put a dent in that problem and make some money at the same time." He aimed to create a healthy food product that also had mass appeal, a concept he called "the blue jeans of food".

[–] Rackhir@mastodon.pnpde.social 3 points 6 hours ago

@sansruse @V0ldek You left out the best part! 😂

Adams himself noted, "[t]he mineral fortification was hard to disguise, and because of the veggie and legume content, three bites of the Dilberito made you fart so hard your intestines formed a tail."[63] The New York Times noted the burrito "could have been designed only by a food technologist or by someone who eats lunch without much thought to taste".[64]

[–] TheDonsieLass@mas.to 2 points 5 hours ago

@sansruse My jaw genuinely dropped

[–] fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de 2 points 5 hours ago

@sansruse @V0ldek honestly, in the list of dumb products, this is mid-tier. surely at least the juicero is dumber? literally a device that you can replace with your own hands.

i mean, obviously the dilberito is daft. but it's a high bar.

[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 9 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

Not gonna lie, reading through the wiki article and thinking back to some of the Elbonia jokes makes it pretty clear that he always sucked as a person, which is a disappointing realization. I had hoped that he had just gone off the deep end during COVID like so many others, but the bullshit was always there, just less obvious when situated amongst all the bullshit of corporate office life he was mocking.

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 6 points 14 hours ago

I read his comics in middle school, and in hindsight even a lot of his older comics seems crueler and uglier. Like Alice's anger isn't a legitimate response to the bullshit work environment she has but just haha angry woman funny.

Also, the Dilbert Future had some bizarre stuff at the end, like Deepak Chopra manifestation quantum woo, so it makes sense in hindsight he went down the alt-right manosphere pipeline.

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 5 points 17 hours ago

I had hoped that he had just gone off the deep end during COVID like so many others

If COVID made you a bad person -- it didn't, you were always bad and just needed a gentle push.

Like unless something really traumatic happened -- a family member died, you were a frontline worker and broke from stress -- then no, I'm sorry, a financially secure white guy going apeshit from COVID is not a turn, it's just a mask-off moment

[–] istewart@awful.systems 7 points 19 hours ago

It's the exact same syndrome as Yarvin. The guy in the middle- to low-end of the corporate hierarchy -- who, crucially, still believes in a rigid hierarchy! has just failed to advance in this one because reasons! -- but got a lucky enough break to go full-time as an edgy, cynical outsider "truth-teller."

Both of these guys had at some point realized, and to some degree accepted, that they were never going to manage a leadership position in a large organization. And probably also accepted that they were misanthropic enough that they didn't really want that anyway. I've been reading through JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and these types of dude might best be described by the guiding philosophy of the cowboy villain Hol Horse: "Why be #1 when you can be #2?"

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The New York Times noted the burrito "could have been designed only by a food technologist or by someone who eats lunch without much thought to taste".

Jesus christ that's a murder

[–] madengineering@mastodon.cloud 3 points 17 hours ago

@V0ldek @sansruse I've eaten a dilburrito and... that's accurate. Then again, I am the type of weirdo who would seriously try nutripaste.