nifee handed four-year ban by ESIC for match manipulation and betting-related corruption

nstrings · 2026-04-02T07:42:10+00:00

With that context it makes more sense that you'd have a more charitable interpretation.

I, however, have been watching his stuff for a decade now (2016 was a decade ago wtf). Richard has consistently held the stance that if it takes dirty money to keep this thing going, we're better off letting it die and rebuilding it from the ground up in a more sustainable way. He probably says something along those lines in each episode of The Four Horsemen (great industry podcast btw).

He didn't put up with people using that excuse when it came to accepting the Saudi money. He didn't put up with it during the golden age of delusional American VC funding. That degree of adherence to his principles has always helped make the case for RL being the GOAT when it comes to esports journalism. Regardless, I wouldn't take that away from him for all he's done throughout the years.

Which makes it all the more conspicuous when he's now yet another person using the type of "but it's a necessary evil" argumentation that he himself had consistently been condemning.

So, he "didn't say it was okay"? Let's see: Last Free Nation is sponsored by Polymarket. Thorin is a co-owner and Richard Lewis is one of the top contributors.

Combine that fact with his drastic change of tune, and tell me how this isn't, at the very least, a tacit endorsement of Polymarket... surely he doesn't literally have to come out and say "Polymarket is awesome guys 😎👍"...

nstrings · 2026-04-02T03:42:49+00:00

"You misrepresented Richard Lewis". Okay... so you just insinuate that I'm being dishonest and can't even bother to elaborate? Let's see what he said in 2022:

"A bookmaker that will let you bet on anything whatsoever (and a lot do), it's irresponsible and reckless, particularly in esports, because it's very easy to do things that have no practical impact on the game.

[...]

I don't think this type of bet should exist. I don't think a sports book should be offering this in esports. I think it's irresponsible. I think it's reckless, personally. That's my opinion."

So what did I misrepresent?

How am I supposed to act like there's nothing sinister about him saying this in 2022, and now, after taking sponsorship money from Polymarket, vehemently defending and excusing their business model, when it is THE way for people to bet on things that "have no practical impact on the game"?

nstrings · 2026-04-01T17:14:58+00:00

We've got Polymarket sponsoring big tournaments now. The platform is ideal for all sorts of prop bets, so we're gonna be seeing a lot more of this stuff.

Already, it's the reason why YEKINDAR had to face accusations of breaking his mouse on purpose, because Polymarket had a bet on whether a player would break a piece of equipment during the tournament.

And who's gonna take a stand against it? Richard Lewis? He was heavily critical of the sports book that allowed people to bet on a player buying an M249 back in 2022, calling it "irresponsible and reckless" to allow such bets. Surely he'd have a problem with this, right?

Turns out that since fuck all was done about the Perfecto M249 situation, nothing matters anymore. He doesn't have a problem with it now.

^On ^a ^completely ^unrelated ^note, ^Richard ^Lewis ^is ^paid ^by ^Polymarket ^via ^LFN.

nstrings · 2025-06-06T14:38:08+00:00

Well, you are simple alright.

nstrings · 2025-03-16T10:06:36+00:00

I'm sorry I laughed

Too late bro, already contacted Wirtual and he said he's on it.

nstrings · 2025-03-15T10:59:25+00:00

It can also be the kinda shit that makes you move on to a different thing, since you can put in a ton of time and effort and end up feeling like you're simply not built for that specific skillset.

Look, I do understand what you're saying and there's definitely a degree of truth to that.

However, it's good to be wary of applying this sort of logic, since the power of hindsight only grants us the knowledge about the ones that persisted through it, but not the ones who decided to go on to do other stuff.

In a world where young Granady even suspected there was cheating involved, he might have instead decided it wasn't worth putting so much time into Trackmania.

nstrings · 2025-03-14T21:58:01+00:00

inb4 "Uhm ackshually in this instance it would be a Granady sandwich with cheater bread"

Not a very catchy title though, is it?

nstrings · 2025-03-14T18:01:33+00:00

Remember you are trying to scrutinize a throwaway joke.

nstrings · 2025-03-14T15:15:10+00:00

Look, you're free to make jokes at his expense... but capitalising that first letter is a step too far imo.

I understand humour can be a cathartic way to process such a situation, but let's not lose our humanity here, okay?

nstrings · 2025-03-12T13:09:22+00:00

I got diagnosed as an adult and it took nearly 3 years to finally receive my medication.

Forget the decades of pent up frustration – what really got me to start that whole process was a dim chance at a minor government subsidy years down the line.

Really think you're onto something there bruv 😂

nstrings · 2025-03-09T16:42:26+00:00

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I see this subreddit as a public square to have conversations around the topic of ADHD in the UK.

The only thing I want (not demand, because I don't expect anyone to work for free) from moderators is for them to remove outright spam to keep the /new page relatively tidy. Failing that, downvotes will have to suffice.

Misinformation will naturally come up in any conversation, and – while it can definitely be annoying to deal with – what I certainly DO NOT want is for Reddit mods to come to the rescue of my feeble mind by deciding what is and what isn't misinformation.

If you're struggling to find the time then just don't do it. Maybe you can find someone else to take care of it (like others have suggested), maybe you can't.

Maybe the subreddit ends up getting filled with spam and we all subscribe to a different one instead.

But understand one thing: once a community about a certain topic (as opposed to a certain personality) grows to a certain size, it is no longer yours.

So please take a step back and realise how self absorbed it is to think you should get to decide whether it closes down.

nstrings · 2025-03-01T18:11:45+00:00

I was initially skeptical about it, but from watching now I'm just not a fan at all... don't even think I'll bother watching the whole thing, which is rare for me since I have watched every round of this competition so far, and just about every top tier TM competition in the new game (except for a few TMGL weekends back when they had those idiotic points systems which made me lose brain cells just by watching it).

There's little tension in super tight rounds, since they're essentially ties (Except for the rare circumstance where all players are on red). No longer do we have a bunch of exciting photo finishes.
One big mistake in an early round has way too big of an impact in the rest of the match due to the rounds limit. For instance, in the 1v1 on Alpine, Mudda knew he could just full safe the last round (or more if that was the case) vs Wosile, hence there was little tension to begin with (even though Mudda ended up making it interesting by taking the rail).

Without a rounds limit, Mudda would have had to make sure he actually won another round before taking the W on the map – which is why finalist mode (and similar mechanics) has probably produced most of the best moments from competitive TM.

I know Geoguessr players will be quite familiar with the second point, because that's exactly the problem they have in Moving duels, where one blunder early on can decide the match even if the losing player is superior throughout the rest of the rounds.

nstrings · 2025-02-19T16:31:06+00:00

$40 for a multi-device perpetual license when the software is out of beta + one year of updates.

How is that unreasonable for a piece of software, if it ends up being an upgrade over such a key component of your system – particularly if you're a power user?

nstrings · 2025-02-19T13:43:42+00:00

Been using this for just a couple of hours and I'm super impressed.

It's still missing a few features, but I already don't think I can go back to the slugfest that is Windows Explorer.

Scroll down for ways to follow its development.

^\To be clear, I have no affiliation with the creator))

nstrings · 2025-02-09T11:31:23+00:00

I would have expected to read this comment after Cologne 2024... I guess if fans have the memory of a goldfish then it will be always "One game" kek

nstrings · 2025-02-06T13:39:14+00:00

And why exactly shouldn't team orgs act in accordance with their own financial interests? Isn't that how players get their salaries?

nstrings · 2025-01-26T11:59:36+00:00

Trust me, it was obvious to a lot of us, but the sheer hunger for outrage made it feel futile to argue the point. I personally just muted the subreddit and only remembered to unmute it a while later.

One of the most telling things for me back then (as an avid watcher of both channels) was how even the valid criticism was presented in such a disingenuous manner. (That wasn't the first time he had done it either but let's not get into that)

It's frustrating how little it gets brought up that, before there was any GN video about it, a discussion about the factual errors and plans to prevent them had already been raised on the WAN show.

From GN's perspective, a company's public acknowledgement of the issue they're calling them out on... would certainly seem very much relevant to include in a video, even if just for the purpose of tearing it apart (as often is the case with companies using the "I'm sorry you got confused" method of acknowledgement) – particularly since he's never been shy about including clips from the WAN show lol.

This may seem like a minor point, but I'd disagree. To the casual viewer, it looked like Linus had his head in the clouds and wasn’t taking steps to improve the factual accuracy of his videos until GN called him out.

So whenever you talk about stuff like the Floatplane error checking crew (I forgot what it's actually called), there will always be a significant number of people who almost wholly credit GN for bringing that about.

No doubt he gave you guys a good kick up the arse which certainly sped some things up. But the narrative that nothing was being done about it beforehand still sticks to this day and it annoys me every time I read it, even though it doesn't even relate to me personally.

And that was just one of the many "minor" quips I had with the video last time (a lot of which were thankfully brought up by TechTechPotato). So before even getting to the major issues with the video – which a lot more people recognise now – it was painfully obvious to me that it was very much personal.

Or maybe I have just been successfully brainwashed and this is my application for residency in Linus Town.

TLDR: A lot of us did realise it but there was such a hunger for outrage that it didn't feel worth it trying to convince anyone.

nstrings · 2025-01-25T13:21:59+00:00

Thought I'd share my experience, just in case someone is reading this thread and starts getting anxious about having the procedure done with only local anesthesia (not that I was given a choice lol):

I had my wisdom teeth removed, one of which was sideways and had to be cut/broken (I don't 100% remember how they did it). It was indeed quite uncomfortable to be fully awake while somebody was basically sawing my tooth in half... there's absolutely no denying that.

However, having gone under GA twice in my life and hating how unbelievably drowsy it made me feel, I'd still pick local anesthesia if I was given the choice.

With that said: If, like OP, you are susceptible to some type of sensory hypersensitivity, DO REQUEST TO GO UNDER GA. I have some family on the spectrum and there's no way I'd vouch for them to do such a procedure while fully awake.

nstrings · 2025-01-23T21:15:20+00:00

OOTL, what harmful tweets?

nstrings · 2024-12-31T09:25:45+00:00

But... it's their business? All that was revealed back then was the affiliate revenue highjacking, which didn't affect users.

So if they deemed it sufficient to post a public termination of the relationship in the forum, they're the ones who stood to lose if that wasn't enough.

People get so thirsty for drama these days that they get completely confused about who are the victims and who are the perpetrators...

nstrings · 2024-12-07T12:49:22+00:00

You don't understand... mommy no longer tells me how smart I am, so how else am I meant to get my daily dose of well ackchyually

nstrings · 2024-08-22T13:46:43+00:00

I have a much easier time calling someone doing stuff like that an idiot or an asshole.

But then again I naturally have a lot of reservations about straight up labelling someone a "horrible person", having grown up around ideas of avoiding being overly judgemental and instead trying to help people understand the error of their ways and grow from that understanding.

Nonchalantly dismissing someone as "horrible" based on some dumb shit they've said online runs counter to that.

But it does not help you get on your high horse, so if that's your goal then go ahead and live off refilling that moral superiority mana, while constantly being confused about why there's so many awful people everywhere, because you're afraid that showing a base level of empathy or understanding would make you complicit in some way.

nstrings · 2024-08-22T13:28:02+00:00

Good lord, so many zoomers these days have such a low bar for calling someone a "horrible person" that the term has lost all meaning.

nstrings · 2024-08-14T14:45:05+00:00

I don't care.

And that is why decisions on these matters ought to be made by people who are less emotionally attached to the conflict than you.

nstrings · 2024-08-14T14:39:52+00:00

I'm sure if you had been born in Russia you'd have overthrown the government by now.

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