The NASA vs KSP Kerfuffle On Steam
So...
In another thread (also here) we had discussed about how to react to Users taking decisions that we know are bad for them, even if looking promising on the short run. Some fellow Kerbonauts had a hard time to understand some of my points at the time (understandingly, because they are fortunate enough to do not had faced such situations before).
In parallel, I got involved on a situation on Steam Forums that by some reason ended up in a way that I realized I could use to exemplify exactly why trying to approach the problem directly is not exactly productive on the long run. So I decided to approach the problem directly there, where no damage could be possible to the bigger picture, so I could demonstrate to you guys what to expect about the current problem at hands if it escalates.
On Steam Forum, someone started a joke about the Space Agencies running around KSP. It was a joke, clearly a joke, but it happened that we had word in the past that KSP was used, even that informally, on some roles on Mission Planning on some Space Agency (assuming of course, that the sources listed there were correct, right?).
And then someone took offence with the idea and gone abrasive with people that were discussing this new development - but I will not lie, I could had been a bit more polite myself. Me and that dude have a history, and now I see that I should had remembered that before opening my big wide mouth there. Oh well... The objective here is to demonstrate what not to do when discussing such sensitive subjects, so... My mistake will be useful anyway. 🤪
From this point, you will see some pretty harsh abrasive statements, some of them directed to the authors of a paper I found, one of these authors nowadays a researcher on a fellow Space Agency than not NASA. And the rest is history: you will find a very intelligent and educated dude (I grant them that) going abrasive and bullish not only on me (what they usually does when we interact, we have a history), but also towards any source I had linked on the thread. Problem? Apparently he works or deals to some organization directly or indirectly associated to NASA, that have a really harsh and strict Code of Conduct to everybody that deals, directly or indirectly, with them - some years ago I saw on Twitter an intern losing the internship because she twitted she got the internship on NASA using some very coloured terms, got called up by someone that didn't identified himself, she doubled down on the coloured way of demonstrating how happy she was, and the dude revealed himself being from the NASA's OIG or something like that (the dudes that deal with collaborator's misbehaviours outside NASA's premises). And she lost the internship due that.
So I pinpointed this to him, and I didn't minced my words. From this point you will see Flying Monkeys rushing to sugarcoating the situation, as well some random innocent bystanders getting annoyed by the kerfuffle, and looking at me as responsible for the situation, as I would be the one causing it (I recognize I'm accountable for it, but responsible? I didn't started that fire).
TL;DR: no matter how good are your intentions, the discussion will degenerate into the Least Common Denominator being the limit how low the interlocutor is willing to go - mine, on that discussion, were willing to go pretty low until he realized the mistake of dragging professionals from some other Space Agency to the mud I allowed him to drag me in, you will notice he got way more palatable after I mentioned the OIG - or at very least, it's my perception of that discussion.
Make no mistake, things will happen exactly that way if you guys would go the route I think you were going to go. And I want to quote me from that discussion:
wasting my time dealing with people like ~you~ (him!) probably won't make me look too much better.
As a final note: I have absolute no reason to think that the Vibe Coding dude (or the other one ColdJ found) were willing to go dirty, I think these ones are really willing to help. The trick is how to tell them that this way is not the way, without them deciding that the problem is you.
But you will find others that will choose to go really deep under the line.
Lisias
2026-0412