# A little story for our times. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 12, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646 "2002-07-12T15:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/21 "2002-07-12T18:40:10Z")
It seems that among the good citizens of Cecilville there is always a few who will take pity on the poor wretches and feed them, this gives the trolls gain the energy to continue their often annoying and occasionally destructive activities. So if we’re going to have someone feed them the rest of us should make sure that we dispel any untruths they spread and help our brethren remain cool and calm while others will mock them into obscurity. You just have to remain cool. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/22 "2002-07-12T18:43:34Z")
No Drastic. The banning thing is something Esprix said in the first OP I linked. He said that several posters were so upset by one troll that they were on the verge of bannable behavior, so he gave them that thread as an outlet. But then I seem to remember either Tubadiva or Lynn saying something about deliberate hijacks a while back, as in the cat food comment or sports remarks. I forget what it was exactly, but I seem to remember it not being favorable. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/23 "2002-07-12T18:47:05Z")
Um, I meant the second link in my op, not the first. The first op was just an idiot. Great, now I am doing it. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/24 "2002-07-12T18:50:35Z")
> [@](#): > > You just have to remain cool. Boy, boy, crazy boy Turn off the juice, boy! Go, man, go But not like a yoyo, schoolboy Just stay cool, boy, real cool. Amongst our weaponry are such diverse items as Ralph Wiggum, Stephen Sondheim, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope! You can’t take trolls seriously because that’s how they get their power. Ignoring them never works, as **Fenris** said, becuase you cannot get Dopers to act in concert. Just laugh at them, and they’ll go away, as in the original Star Trek episode, “Day of the Dove.” ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/25 "2002-07-12T19:44:01Z")
Or, as Neil Sedaka told us on a Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” episode - “Just don’t look!” Esprix ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/26 "2002-07-12T19:59:32Z")
That was Paul Anka. He sang “She’s Having My Baby”–something that Neil Sedaka would never do (although I’ll bet he knows the words to “YMCA.”) ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/27 "2002-07-12T21:14:55Z")
Well, I know that if all my posts were met with zero response, because they were trollish or just plain boring, I would eventually go away. A zero-response post feels lonely. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/28 "2002-07-12T21:53:02Z")
Hmmm, I am not so sure about that. To my way of thinking, the view count is often overlooked. To be sure, if I start a thread and get a lot of responses, it feels pretty good. People are reacting to what I have to say. That said, I also am warmed (albeit to a lesser extent) simply by writing something that a lot of people open and (presumably) read. It isn’t as much of a kick as people reacting to something by posting, but does still push something in to being. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/29 "2002-07-12T23:10:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\ ***Will** : > > I expressed these sentiments when whatshisname? Willie? was trolling. He was an anti-semite and that’s one of my hot-button issues. Rather than get upset and feed him or (equally bad) let his anti-semitic lies just sit there (not that it was likely that they would in this crowd of rugged individualists 😉 ), he was mocked repeatedly. I felt better and his posts got wilder and wilder as he tried to get someone to get outraged (I think his last one was that he was, in fact, a Jew :rolleyes: ). Mocking worked where (IMO) nothing else would have. > > Fenris \*\* That would be SweetWilly. He was my Special Friend. Sadly, my mockery of him didn’t work out so well. I remain proud that my Son Of Ether Weird Science post in one of Hiryuu’s Phi Theory threads led him to ask “What the hell are you talking about?” Scientific facts and logic failed to stop Hiryuu. The mockery of myself and others worked. ---
**Author:** ![JonScribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646/30 "2002-07-13T04:04:36Z")
Aw, let the trolls troll. Let those who wish to mock them, do so. Let those who wish to ignore them, do so. Frankly, I’ve always thought that it was a good idea to keep people with dangerous, stupid, bigoted and otherwise unfortunate thoughts in plain sight where we can keep an eye on them. Isn’t that the theory behind registering sex offenders? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-story-for-our-times/118646.md?page=1)