I shall write 100 times: I will not feed the trolls

The BBQ Pit
1

Sticking this in the Pit, because I couldn’t think of a better place. And yes, I know only losers do self-pittings. I’ll pit myself again for the self-pitting later. Then things will get really meta.

Recently, I participated quite actively in a thread that ended up closed, with the OP banned, and I did so in the full knowledge that that said OP was possibly a troll. The OP was crucified, and I got away without even a warning. In fact, I picked up a mod note for suggesting that the OP was trolling. Which didn’t stop me from continuing to post.

And now I feel like a bit of a dick.

I’m not a great person. I often don’t play well with the other children. I tend to be disruptive in group contexts. I’ll push boundaries, stretch rules, basically behave like a toddler for, I dunno, shits and giggles. Or, rather, because I can’t help myself, or because that’s how I am without really meaning to. When I first joined this board, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t last. I would pick up warnings, possibly get banned. Not for dicking around on purpose, mind, but because that’s how things often turn out, me being me.

A decade down the line, I don’t even have a warning. This has lulled me into complacency. I guess that at some point, I started thinking that I was doing things right.

Now, I’m wondering if I haven’t simply inadvertently stumbled on a loophole. Instead of trolling (and I would like to make it clear that I don’t troll, have never trolled, here or elsewhere, and don’t want to troll), I’ll jump into an ongoing train wreck started by a possible troll. Then I’ll get my kicks there, mess around, side with the OP or against the OP, make dick jokes, basically roll around in the mud. And when the thread is closed, I’ll still come out smelling like roses.

I’m not saying that this is my MO on a daily basis. I’m mostly here for random chit-chat, sequential thread combos, yakking endlessly about Breaking Bad when I get a chance, and the occasional foray into GQ. But it has happened more than once. And now I’m beginning to feel like I’m getting away with something I shouldn’t. Because, fuck it, didn’t that recent thread end up being my thread as much as that OP’s thread? When I have the second highest post count in a thread after the OP, shouldn’t I take some responsibility for it? And when the OP gets smacked, why should I get away scot free? Is that fair?

So, from now on, I shall try to be a better poster. When I see a train wreck in progress, I’ll stay the heck out of it. I’m putting this in writing here to increase the odds that I’ll stick to it.

That’s all. Thank you.

If anyone else wants to auto-flagellate, feel free. If not, I put some cookies out for anyone who wants any.

2

If the trolls come to eat your cookies, you’ve already failed.

3

I’m actually proud of how well we’re doing at ignoring construct. I’d say over half his posts, no matter how calculated to spark a response, go unanswered these days.

4

:smack:

Didn’t think of that.

puts “non-trolls only” sign by the cookie tray

5

I got into a pointless “Yes you are!” “No I’m not!” whirligig with a particularly odious chappie here, and the result was no surprise. Wrestle with a pig, and you begin to resemble the pig. (Muddy, stinky, less than wholly articulate, and lipstick is no improvement for either of us.)

I ended up apologizing to everyone else in the thread for the waste of bandwidth

These lessons (or lesions) are hard to learn. It is not our innate instinctive wisdom to let the shitheel have the last word, and to let him unleash his lies without any rebuttal. To our primate brains it feels like losing. It takes a higher, zen-like wisdom to see that responding to his is losing, and ignoring him is – not winning, but something higher: the enlightenment of nirvana.

All action turns the wheel. Trolls exist to turn the wheel. The damned wheel was built without brakes. Ergo…

Om Mane Padme Hum… Or Beer and Fritos. Something like that.

6

BTW, I shall also try to be less of a jerk, in general. Recently, I’ve been posting something, then having to come back two posts later and apologize, because I realized that I was being a jerk.

And that’s just the jerkiness I’ve been catching.

Yes. These are indeed times of staring introspectively out over the ocean for me. Um, if that even makes any sense. Probably much overdue, too.

7

Don’t be too hard on yourself, Bigfoot (THERE’S something you don’t hear every day)! At the end of the day, if this community doesn’t produce a significant number of column inches, Ed Z has to go get a real job and we have to find another quality message board to sully. That’s no fun.

8

There were at least 2 members showering that cretin with virtual food stamps, Martian, you weren’t one.

9

Well, thanks. But, actually, I was. I was certainly keeping the page views and reply count up. And having a grand old time in the process.

10

Having a good old time and buying into the story are two different things. Everyone loves a trainwreck, in fact, 3/4 of the people in that thread were loosening the railroad ties ahead of the train for shits and giggles.

11

I’m always half-tempted to just follow him around and quote all his posts with just the response “lol”, because there’s such a thing as too obvious.

12

I just made that mistake, so I guess I should start writing. Mea culpa.

13

Link to the thread in question would help.

14

People who feed Internet trolls are worse than Hitler. We should repeal the First Amendment just to get rid of people who feed Internet trolls.

Sorry. I’ll let myself out.

15

Red alert: feeding of troll reported at Ahmed and the clock thread. All vehicles approach with caution.

16

You know nothing, John Mace.

I’m pretty sure it was the jogger anal cobalt thread.

17

But not all train wrecks are tied directly to trolls. I have certainly been guilty of “messing with the tracks” ( love that line, so stealing it) in a train wreck tread even when the OP was not a real troll. Recent specific example the April R thread about her on again off again cheating/ not heating. I knew it was a train wreck, but I kept nudging the train along for amusement purposes. So, yeah, I suck too. Sorry.

18

M. Bigfoot, I enjoyed your posts in that thread. Very entertaining.

Thanks for dropping in!

19

Makes perfect sense, and I’ll join you for the view.

A wise man – well, okay, an SDMB member – said he posts for fun. For entertainment. Even when he rants in the Pit, he does it for fun.

A worthy perspective to keep in mind, for us all.

20

That was one of the threads that made me question whether I post here to make other forums more interesting, or vice versa. :smiley: :frowning: :stuck_out_tongue: