nm
. . .
Sure, I made a mistake. That happens, still, why did it take 500 posts to call out 40 posters?
And like I said- Now of those 23, what we need is for a Mod to say how many of them were reported. Of course the LT posters had reports, but of the 11, I would like to see if any of them only were pitted and not reported.
So, so far, the Troll thread might have driven off a poster or two, but maybe found some real trolls- that the Mods were not already aware of. But we do not know about that last.
It has not been shown that the troll thread is of value at all.
Yep.
How else would I approach the subject?
Because many of the posts in that thread are jokes about the detected trolls, arguments with posters like Octopus, etc. Are we having some crippling electron shortage that makes posts a vanishing resource?
Because many of the posts are back and forth chatting about previous posts, etc.
Like, why has it taken 184 posts to come to the conclusion that the Pit is fine as is?
Did you consider the percentage of banned posters as a proportion of all Homo Sapiens that have ever lived?
By no means has this come to that conclusion.
About half the members- who participated- think so.
Hardly a ringing consensus.
Seems to me like 40 posters in 500 posts is much more productive than 0 consensus in 188 posts. I say we close ATMB.
I wish YWTF (and her sister monstro) were still around. I’m 99% sure that the pitting and other negative comments directed to her were instrumental in her departure. I don’t think that it’s fair to call her a troll. She had strong opinions about a controversial topic that some people disagreed with. She wasn’t stirring the pot just for fun. Pittings like hers are why I think the Pit is toxic.
I guess the trans posters who left because of the blatant transphobia they were tossing around the place are chopped liver?
DID anyone call her a troll? Or did they call her a transphobe in the Pit, where that’s allowed?
It’s a controversial topic in its infancy. It’s going to take time to change people’s opinions. While I don’t agree with her position, I feel like the discussions were constructive (although heated) and would eventually lead to a better understanding by both sides. But because she wasn’t all “trans is awesome!”, she got hammered on.
That’s a VERY loaded way to describe her stance.
It was more “I believe you don’t deserve the same level of legal rights and basic respect and decency as me”, where the “you” in question involved actual members of this messageboard. Not exactly an academic debate.
Until they were ACTUALLY driven away.
I’m sorry, but if one group is being driven away by people saying horrible things about them as Gyrate eloquently summarized, and another group is being driven away because they don’t like it when the rest of the board calls them out for their treatment of others - I know which group I’m concerned about.
The SDMB’s definition of “troll” has never been limited to “stirring the pot just for fun”. As far as TPTB are concerned, sincerity and trolling are not mutually exclusive.
I still don’t think monstro and YWTF (and no, I definitely did not read that thread in its entirety!) were trolling, even under the more expansive definition. For that, they would have to have been making statements with the primary intention of riling up others. I don’t think that was the case: I think they were arguing their point-of-view on a controversial issue sincerely and with the intent of expressing that point-of-view. If that’s trolling, being on the unpopular side of a controversial issue will always be trolling. And that’s too expansive a defintion.
That said, they were transphobic, deserved to be called out on it, were called out on it, and if they left as a result, c’est la vie.
You’re right in how the word “troll” is commonly used on the SDMB, but it is officially defined as deliberately causing trouble in the Pit rules
I think the common use of “troll” on the SDMB is closer to “someone who I strongly disagree with or dislike” rather than “someone who is deliberately trying to get a rise out of people.” But on a board like the SDMB, there will be many posters who say controversial things because we discuss controversial topics. That alone doesn’t make them a troll, but they often get labeled as a troll. And then it may become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Someone says “XYZ” is a troll in the troll hunting thread, then all the troll hunters start seeing XYZ’s posts through the “is a troll” lens.
I was referring to this:
And only Lynn Bodoni really bothered to enforce the Pit’s “no trolling” rule.
I disagree. As evidenced by the Troll Hunter thread discussion above.
They may be Pitted for being assholes, but usually they only get flagged as trolls if their defenses of their “controversial things” are phrased in belligerent or obnoxious ways. IIRC Whatshisname the pedophile ( I don’t actually care what his name was) managed to hang on for quite a long time by being perfectly reasonable and civil in his arguments in aid of a loathsome viewpoint, whereas the ones who come out swinging with “You’re all sheep!”, even if they might otherwise have a reasonable view, rarely last a month if that.