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

@MontereyJack,

MontereyJack wrote:

I do like the present system of ALL kinds of topics showing up in the New Topics and New Posts,
whether I'm interested in them or not, bcause at least
that way I can choose to interact or not.

I agree with that.

David

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I see this is top of the most popular so I stopped in for a read. I normally dont contribute if it is about politics unless it is too ask what is going on.

What is going on ?

Most of our existence we have been very social and still are in most of the world's villages and towns. Entertainment in the home, aided by temp control, have created little boxes in which we all sit having discarded even the nuclear family down to a man/woman and kids. A lack of ability to deal with each other and a lack of need to, has crippled even that nucleus with divorce.

Now even the internet is to be censored, not only by big brother who was always watching but now by "social groups" and banning from threads, whatever that turns out to be. Here's the problem. Such power is prone to misuse even when central but scattered it will be a disaster.

In my own circumstances, I have been insulted by people who have decalred themselves experts to the point where they are a sole source. They have been here a while and have their friends. If they get insulted back, rent-a-crowd appears and defends the poor helpless expert. He only wanted worship and to sneer, he didnt want to get insulted in return.

There is no such thing as an expert who can not tolerate a different outlook, a different bank of knowledge approaching an issue, without sneering and demanding to be worshipped. These are dickheads not experts and I dont care if you have even had sex with them all, they are being far braver than they would if they were in the same room or even the same village.

The solutions being considered to ostracise people are no more than winding back the interent so we are back in our boxes seeing and hearing only what we want to....what a brave new world you are proposing. Dont be surprised if I am the first to vote with my feet. You ( famerman and setanta) may cheer now.

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@Ionus,

Ionus wrote:

I see this is top of the most popular so I stopped in for a read. I normally dont contribute if it is about politics unless it is too ask what is going on.

What is going on ?

Most of our existence we have been very social and still are in most of the world's villages and towns. Entertainment in the home, aided by temp control, have created little boxes in which we all sit having discarded even the nuclear family down to a man/woman and kids. A lack of ability to deal with each other and a lack of need to, has crippled even that nucleus with divorce.

Now even the internet is to be censored, not only by big brother who was always watching but now by "social groups" and banning from threads, whatever that turns out to be. Here's the problem. Such power is prone to misuse even when central but scattered it will be a disaster.

In my own circumstances, I have been insulted by people who have decalred themselves experts to the point where they are a sole source. They have been here a while and have their friends. If they get insulted back, rent-a-crowd appears and defends the poor helpless expert.

He only wanted worship and to sneer, he didnt want to get insulted in return.

I believe that there is only ONE member who corresponds to that description.

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@Robert Gentel,

Quote:

We are considering putting more control of threads in the author's hands (such as the ability to block users from participating) and essentially make them moderators of their own topics.This is fraught with downsides, however, as there will obviously be some kinds of abuse of the authority and the specifics of implementation can make or break this (e.g. maybe they shouldn't be able to block the user but just collapse the posts while others can still open them if they choose).

You've done wonders with the code so far, so I'd guess the bolded part wouldn't take long to implement: instead of introducing it for the forum as a whole, why not try it on a single "test thread"? Ms Olga's whaling thread (last couple of pages) is a case in point, having attracted posters with nothing to contribute to the thread topic (some also with nothing to contribute to any topic, but that's a different problem altogether). If she could simply collapse visitors' posts at her discretion it would solve the problem of loss of continuity for all readers not interested in "opening up" the collapsed posts.

Of course if too much programming work is involved in testing code in real time on a live thread none of the above applies.

1 Reply

@High Seas,

I would happily serve as a volunteer for a thread .

1 Reply

@Ionus,

Ionus wrote:

.....The solutions being considered to ostracise people are no more than winding back the interent so we are back in our boxes seeing and hearing only what we want to...

That's true of all filtering: personally I like to read titles to threads even if I know nothing of the subject - in fact especially then, as I might learn something - even though I'm obviously not going to post on them. But would you object to having the thread author "collapse" posts of persons not addressing the topic? Anyone wanting to read them could still "open" them up; I'm not sure if they would show up in full under the "following" heading.

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@High Seas,

That is HIS prerogative, not yours.

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@High Seas,

High Seas wrote:

That's true of all filtering: personally I like to read titles to threads even if I know nothing of the subject - in fact especially then, as I might learn something - even though I'm obviously not going to post on them.

interesting

how do you read the thread titles of those you have on ignore (you don't cheat and view them do you, cause that would make the use of ignore a little hypocritical)

too bad you won't be able to answer since i'm on ignore

1 Reply

@MontereyJack,

M0stly irrelevant, Mont. You can't see me or otherwise assess the situation when i post as you would be able to do if we were all in a room together. So you have no way of knowing whether or not "steam" were coming out of my ears, or whether she were "pushing my buttons" or not, as you allege. You allege she was unflappable--then you must not have seen her reaction when i told her i would contact the artist whose work she was using for her avatar picture. You must have missed her reaction in her "support our boys in Iraq" threads when i would post Clemens' The War Prayer. You must have missed my thread "Render unto Caesar" which sucked her in in a predictable heartbeat.

As i said, you have a very selective memory. To that we can add a vivid imagination of what my reactions were (or even now are)--particularly because you can't see me when i react, so you can't possibly know. I see ignorance doesn't deter you, though. You have that in common with youf Miss Sweetness and Light.

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@dyslexia,

Bingo . . . probably her previous atrocious behavior explains why she opened an account with a different screen name.

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@MontereyJack,

MontereyJack wrote:

Probably if we all go back and thumbs-down HighSeas' post with RamaFuchs' address in it, it'll drop below viewing threshhold, which in a kind of ad hoc way would get rid of HS's lapse in judgment. (tho wouldn't let him off the hook)

Posts only disappear for you if:

1. You thumb them down

2. The community thumbs them down AND your personal settings here allow the community's thumbings to influence what you see.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

I'm sure you would find many volunteer posters as well, assuming Gentel doesn't mind writing code for a test thread - not sure even if you can test live code in real time, but since all posters would know it's a test thread presumably they wouldn't mind if their posts got zapped, collapsed, or downgraded. I've never started a thread on A2K, but you can count me in as a poster on yours.

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I have never understood the need for "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." I see the "thumbs up" feature as only reactive to the "thumbs down" option. I see the thumbs down function as essentially an internet equivalent of putting one's fingers in one's ears and saying "la-la-la-la, i can't hear you."

It just all seems silly to me. But then, there are a lot of features which are meaningless to me that others may appreciate.

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@Setanta,

yup

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@Setanta,

Well done Setanta, that is a noble attitude. Pity about the fool who follows me around thumbing down every post I make. The same thing can be achieved by only allowing thumbs up. Who cares if someone doesnt like a post, it still has the minimum right to be there. With only thumbs up, the best are viewable, the worst are equal.

1 Reply

i find this interesting

High Seas wrote:

It's not as bad as all that, Ms Olga - here's what the latest page on your whale thread looks like to me - starting with your own last post there:

Quote:
......................
<shrugs>
Signature Everybody knows that the boat is leaking .. Everybody knows that the captain lied ... (Leonard Cohen)
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User ignored (view).
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User ignored (view)
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User ignored (view)
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Post: # 3,940,349
View ProfileSetanta
1
ReplyQuotereport Sun 21 Mar, 2010 02:13 pm
Hehehehehehehehehe . . .
Signature Smells like money to me ! ! ! -- Marguerite
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User ignored (view)
1 Reply
User ignored (view)
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User ignored (view)
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User ignored (view)
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User ignored (view)
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User ignored (view)
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User ignored (view)

You see the ignorees (or possibly a single ignoree in this case) take hardly any space on the page - no loss of continuity for the really interesting threads.

High Seas wrote:

Ms Olga's whaling thread (last couple of pages) is a case in point, having attracted posters with nothing to contribute to the thread topic (some also with nothing to contribute to any topic, but that's a different problem altogether).

how do you know they have nothing to contribute, you have them on ignore

i suspect a wee bit of scab picking going on

or stopping to look at the car crash

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@High Seas,

I dont see it working if some people cant control them selves now enough to be polite how are they going to go as moderators ? Bearing in mind, anyone can join, start a thread and remove anyone who disagrees. This could turn out to be a paedaphile or Neo-Nazi site with a little window dressing by the originator of the thread.

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@Ionus,

Ionus wrote:

.. Pity about the fool who follows me around thumbing down every post I make. ..

Well whoever that is it can't be Setanta - he's no stalker - but why do you care if your posts are downgraded? I read your posts and never noticed it.

1 Reply

@Ionus,

Ionus wrote:

This could turn out to be a paedaphile or Neo-Nazi site

i think that pro catholic sites already exist

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@Ionus,

I think we've had threads on both pedophilia and neo-Nazism around here - I never actually read them, but obviously these topics interested some posters, as some of them seemed to get lots of replies. I thought you supported freedom of expression on the internet?

2 Replies

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

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