That’s not the definition of threadshitting we use on this board.
I would like to make the point, which I have made before, that it is not our role as moderators to vet the accuracy of any information posted. We generally leave it up to posters to refute or debunk ignorant or stupid assertions that are made.
Posters can decide for themselves when a point has been addressed sufficiently. My personal strategy, when confronted by someone who is continuing to dispute points that have been sufficiently refuted, to just say that these points have already been addressed, and that I am not engaging further. You don’t need to post the last word to win an argument.
This said, I will moderate or evict from a thread a poster who becomes sufficiently disruptive in GQ.
This type of dismissive post helps no one. No one ever sees “calm down” or “chill out” and actually feels better, because it means you are ignoring what they are saying. You are invalidating their concerns.
You are accusing him of being a bad person. If he reports people who merely disagree with him as trolls, that means he is lying and being deceitful. But he is not doing that. He is reporting people he suspects of being trolls, and then wondering why no action is taken.
Maybe he’s wrong. But then you need to spell out why they are not trolls so he can learn what counts as trolling and report better. Rather than assume he’s doing something wrong, assume you are equals with different opinions on what counts as trolling.
I also note that BPC is not remotely alone in thinking this board is too lax on trolls. Just because we don’t report them doesn’t mean we don’t think they are. We just know that you guys won’t do anything.
I also note that it was BPC who reported Starving Artist. He didn’t fit the definition of trolling here, but, thanks to BPC, a toxic, rape-defending troll got banned. So BPC has every reason to try and figure out where the new trolling boundary is.
I actually didn’t report Starving Artist because I didn’t think you’d get rid of him. I’m glad BPC had the guts to do so.
He’s clearly an asset on the trolling detection. He got rid of one of our worst recurring trolls. Why not treat him as an asset?
Also, what is with this trend of people thinking telling people to calm down or chill isn’t horribly dismissive and insulting–let alone something that would make the situation better? I’ve been seeing it a lot lately. I even found myself wanting to do it once, and had to remind myself how shitty it feels when someone does that when you are legitimately upset.
Growing up, everyone understood those were fighting words. Every situation where someone tells people to “calm down” results in a bigger fight.
Yeah, it’s probably a subject for another thread. But seeing a mod use it suggests that people really think it helps.
The guy clearly does need to chill out, even if Jonathan Chance didn’t use the properly coded language you demand. Every two days he’s reporting a post for trolling.
No. This practice you engage in of saying, ‘when you say X, you are saying Y’ doesn’t work. The reason it doesn’t work is because your interpretation is whack. Saying calm down is not equivalent to ignoring what someone is saying. Saying calm down doesn’t invalidate anything. There is no accusation of someone being a bad person. There is no implication that anyone is lying or being deceitful. All of these are conclusions you have drawn, that saying X means saying Y - they are completely unsupported and make no sense.
Regarding the actual thread topic - there are lots of people that I simply don’t respond to anymore. It’s easy. I have faith that the reader can determine when an argument has merit or it doesn’t. And if we were to ban everyone who as some point I thought could be trolling - well I have a long list.
I think you do an excellent job at heading off the dolts and trolls before threads do hurtling down the gurgler. Unfortunately, the prevailing official attitude with posters who repeatedly and persistently stink up the joint seems to be "Well, he didn’t say “fuck you’ so our hands are tied”. Personally I’d like to see a lot more active modding of posters whose presence actually detracts from discussion. The “don’t be a jerk” rule would be an excellent one if it were ever actually applied, with an added corollary that “and it’s our call on what constitutes being a jerk”.
You’re getting overwrought–you should just calm down and chill out. Perhaps you could take a pill. A pill to help you relax and just let go of your stomach-churning fury.
Fenris, this is pretty blatant trolling as well as a personal attack. You have a habit of coming into threads in ATMB just to attack posters you don’t like. This is not what ATMB is for. I’m instructing you to desist from this in the future. This is an official warning.
Fair cop. I have been fairly aggressive in calling out trolls, because they piss me off and it’s frustrating to slog through them, and because I’m sick of the kind of dishonesty and insanity that seems par for the course these days in political discussions. I’ve been quick to report posts that look like trolling, because it helps to build up a pattern of behavior.
Also, coincidentally, we recently lost Starving Artist and Clothahump, two notorious long-standing trolls. I don’t think anyone misses them.
Colibri, I think your sarcasm detector is broken. That was **Fenris **doing *exactly *what **JC **did to **BPC **earlier. Obviously, Fenris isn’t a mod, but come on, where was the personal attack? If it *is *a personal attack from Fenris to BigT, why was JC’s post to **BPC ***not *one?
No, it wasn’t “exactly the same.” Jonathan Chance’s post was intended as constructive criticism. Fenris’s post was deliberately exaggerated in a way to bring ridicule on BigT (“stomach-churning fury”?). And I think that the remark about “taking a pill” was a deliberate jab implying that BigT requires medication. That post was suitable for the Pit, and no other forum on this board. Even if it was intended as sarcasm, it was way out of line.
I think the issue is less about your reporting them (although it does seem excessive) but that you expect the mods to agree with you about who is a troll. You may be trying to expose a pattern of behavior that’s crystal clear to you, but less so to the mods. So increasingly strident reports and ATMB threads saying we are bad at our troll detection skills makes clear that if we don’t respond the way you expect, it’s because we’re wrong.
…refusing to answer a question is not trolling: its a concession. You’ve won the debate. Move on. I’ve had a few exchanges with the poster in question over the years, never once considered they were intentionally trying to rile me up.
