Trolls, or trolling behaviour ...how do we deal with these isues as an online community?

@aidan,

aidan wrote:

Quote:
I think that her point is that she is trying to encourage politeness.

Sorry David - but I can't let go by the fact that Farmerman thinks you always remain unflappable and never lose your cool....I LIKE you for goodness sake and even I've been somewhat astounded at the things you've said to certain posters at certain times.
I'm not naming names either - except that I think he should give your spot on the throne of inflappability to Swimpy or Engineer or Firefly...sorry - but I'd have to dethrone you.

Well, I HAVE the ability to be heavy handed.
Counterattack is not alien to my being.
When provoked, I have used it.

David

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Yeah--well-

Quote:
Apart from that, deliberately attempting to undermine any poster's confidence by snide,
sometimes quite vicious personal attacks, is pretty damn offensive & cowardly.

"deliberately attempting to undermine any poster's confidence by snide,
sometimes quite vicious personal attacks" means Dave--not agreeing with Olga.

And that is automatically " pretty damn offensive & cowardly".

As I said--Yeah--well.

Turning attention away from Olga for the moment:
it is a FACT that there r snide, ad hominem off topic posters in this forum.

David

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

Well, I HAVE the ability to be heavy handed.
Counterattack is not alien to my being.
When provoked, I have used it

Yes you have, and understandably so (most of the time) but I think you should forgive JTT for thinking that it's okay to say 'I could care less' instead of or in addition to 'I couldn't care less.

I got to go to the library. Maybe I'll check and see if they have any of those banned books while I'm there. Have an enjoyable afternoon.

2 Replies

@aidan,

aidan wrote:

Quote:
Well, I HAVE the ability to be heavy handed.
Counterattack is not alien to my being.
When provoked, I have used it

Yes you have, and understandably so (most of the time) but I think you should forgive JTT
for thinking that it's okay to say 'I could care less' instead of or in addition to 'I couldn't care less.

In his particular case, it is not a question of forgiveness.
Its a question of whether I will allow him to use my head
for a garbage can for his anti-logical drivel.
He is like a male version of Gracie Allen.
He wages war against sound reasoning; his mental disturbance is obnoxious.
I am not his psychiatrist; I 'm not going to put up with that foolishness.

David

1 Reply

@aidan,

Quote:

Maybe I'll check and see if they have any of those banned books while I'm there.

Well there you are then folks. What could be more "on all topics", on Able to Know, than giving clues out about what Dylan meant when he said "Look out kid, they keep it all hid."

All conversation is on topic. The conversation is the topic. There are no trolls. The idea is as daft and as restrictive as that silly Godwin's Law. Both are an excuse to not think outside the box.

If anybody took any notice of shite like that we would still be swinging through the tree-tops.

0 Replies

@jespah,

jespah wrote:

....As for moderator intervention, that stopped long ago. The site is far too large, the number of non-super-busy moderators is far too small, the pool of potential new moderators is even smaller and, most importantly, it's not the way we want the community to roll.....

A search on the site for "insurance" brings up a thread which vanished from the site an hour ago - is this due to a software glitch or to intervention by someone who just didn't like the topic, and if the latter, how is that consistent with your assurances to Ms Olga earlier on this thread?

Quote:

I am looking for a health insurance policy for my family in ...
Mar 26, 2010 ... Question Tagged: Finance Health Insurance, Replies: 0.
able2know.org/topic/143212-1 - 1 hour ago

For the record, both the original poster and I who posted a link with the reply to his query (on health insurance in Virginia) were perfectly polite. How can you advertise this site as "able to know" when deleting perfectly legitimate queries and the correct answers to them? A third poster appeared to post advertising, but neither the original poster nor I did - if the advertising was the issue, only the third poster's entry should have been deleted.

2 Replies

@High Seas,

P.S. to Jespah: In either case, the moderator intervention - according to you, nonexistent - is unjustifiable, heavy-handed at best, and extremely annoying to both the bona fide poster with the original query as well as to the member who bothered to research and post the correct answer. The definition of "trolls" might be usefully expanded to include the "non-existent" (according to you) moderators deleting threads or posts without explanation.

2 Replies

@High Seas,

I don't think you are qualified to judge what we might find annoying.

or at least you have not shown that ability to this point...

just saying...

1 Reply

@Rockhead,

Rockhead wrote:

I don't think you are qualified to judge what we might find annoying.

or at least you have not shown that ability to this point...

just saying...

What thought is expressed by: "just saying" ?
What does that mean ?

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

wiki...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_origin_of_I_am_not_saying_i%27m_just_saying

1 Reply

@High Seas,

I didn't see the thread but I'll venture to guess that it was deemed to be spam and thus removed. Spam has always been removed when possible. True, the definition of spam can be as fuzzy as the definition of "troll" but if it was there and now it's gone that would be my guess as to why.

2 Replies

@JPB,

I play on doomed threads a lot.

some day Jes is going to send me a warning for playing with the spam.

this is starting to turn into a humor thread i think...

(another weak link in the troll armor)

2 Replies

@Rockhead,

Ray Romano used to say..."Just so you know....

1 Reply

@panzade,

yeah.

Ray was annoying. I liked Robert best...

0 Replies

@Rockhead,

Rockhead wrote:

this is starting to turn into a humor thread i think...

why do you say that?

I think it's one of the better discussions we've had about online communities in quite some time.

2 Replies

@JPB,

cuz I like humor threads better than whinging finger pointing threads, and it's still early today.

mostly that's why. i think...

0 Replies

@Rockhead,

spam song

0 Replies

@JPB,

Quote:

I think it's one of the better discussions we've had about online communities in quite some time.

I agree. And if it leads to a smidgen of tolerance and better behaviour it will have been worthwhile.

1 Reply

@panzade,

Quote:

it leads to a smidgen of tolerance and better behaviour it will have been worthwhile.

I'm thinking I could do some posting here and change all that.

1 Reply

@High Seas,

High Seas wrote:

P.S. to Jespah: In either case, the moderator intervention - according to you, nonexistent - is unjustifiable, heavy-handed at best, and extremely annoying to both the bona fide poster with the original query as well as to the member who bothered to research and post the correct answer.

The moderators have a long-established policy of not discussing their moderation practices in front of the community. But in my experience, you usually get a reasonable answer from them when you submit complaints like this through the help desk. "Reasonable" of course, does not guarantee that you'll like the answer.

1 Reply

Trolls, or trolling behaviour ...how do we deal with these isues as an online community?

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