As I have said before, I have trolled here in the past. But then after a stern PM warning from a moderator I have really made an effort to be better and stop trolling. I suppose it is entirely my fault that my sincerity is called into question, but I am being truthful here, with great difficulty. You can tell because my former troll topics were hilarious, and my sincere topics are just sad. All my heartfelt pleas for advice are sincere, but the problem is on my end that I do not take advice. I am always just looking for a magical solution to my problems, rather than working hard to solve things. Maybe I just like to complain about things and things aren’t as bad as I imagine, but I want people to pity me. But after the response it has gotten I regret making that new topic a couple days ago.
I don’t think people dislike me because of my appearance. I don’t like me because of my appearance, and I assume that everyone else immediately judges me for it. But also I realize that I make assumptions about what other people think of me that aren’t true. I don’t know if people dislike me in real life, I’m sure some people do. But I don’t act exactly the same way in real life as I do on the internet. I suppose on the internet I feel less anxious about communicating with people, and I feel that I can whine more than I can in real life.
Yeah I agree that I am very self-centered and selfish. That is how I am; what can I do to fix it?
I make topics asking for advice and then do not listen because 1) it is all things I have heard before and 2) it is hard to effect change. And I am too lazy to do things.
I suppose I am content in my day-to-day life in my routine, but I genuinely feel like things will be better in the long run if I make changes to improve my life and get out of this rut. But because I am (for the most part) content in the rut, I do not have the motivation to change. But at other times, I do feel very bad and down on myself, hopelessness for the future, and guilt for being a leech and not having a job. But then I just watch Jurassic Park and cheer myself up without addressing the issue.
I know I too would get annoyed listening to someone else whining on and on while doing nothing to fix the situation, but as I said I only think about things my from point-of-view.
didn’t mean to disrupt everyone’s SDMB experience so much.
Point well-taken, but isn’t that a little melodramatic? If an OP starts off a thread which for all practical purposes plays out as a level-headed, interesting discussion that touches on and sparks off insight regarding the general topic–and then the OP says, “HA HA,” that was just trolling!!!" does it really matter?
Does it really matter even whether this other, newer thread is even a true account of PSXer’s woeful summer vacation? It looks exactly like hundreds of “non-troll” threads. Do you think people give advice to posts like this out of purely unselfish, unself-serving reasons? Advice to an entity which exist solely in our heads for most of us anyway?
You know, it’s easy to go “Oh I do this, I do that”
It doesn’t excuse you for going “Oh, I ask but don’t listen because because because”
It’s still being a dick. Possibly even trolling if you’re asking for opinions just to disregard them.
Dopers will bend over backwards to help someone. BUT there’s no magic solution. So it’s up to YOU to either take the advice and make changes, or stop yanking everyone’s fucking chains.
I don’t intend to be a dick. And I am not asking for answers just to disregard them. It is all good advice, and I am grateful to the people giving me it. I guess I am past the point of getting advice and need to take action and do it. But asking is easier than doing.
Never ask for advice again if your intent is to disregard it because it doesn’t gel with what you want to hear. THAT is what makes you a dick, not the act of asking for advice. If you truly want peoples’ help, then there’s nothing wrong with asking for advice even multiple times.
If you’ve heard it all before, why ask again? How many times do you want to ask, getting the same answer, before it sinks into your fucking skull?
I do want people’s help and to listen to their advice. There is a difference between what I want to do, and what I actually do. I have heard the advice countless times that I need to get a job; I know that. I don’t need to see a topic of that response. I want to get a job. I would feel a lot better having a job rather than lazing around the house all day. But there is some barrier between what I want to do and putting them into action. I want to take everyone’s advice telling me to get out of the house and talk to people and get a job, but people say these things like it is so simple, but for me it seems much harder and is so daunting a task. Maybe no one can tell me how to do it; maybe it is something I just need to do on my own. I don’t make topics intending to disregard all the advice. I don’t intend to be a dick. I am very much afraid of making people not like me or be mad at me, but I seem to have succeeded well in that, and that makes me feel bad.
I think it does matter, given how many threads become train wrecks when people start seemingly endless exchanges with trolls, instead of ignoring them and staying on the subject. And I mean this for threads started as trolling as well as thread started by others but hijacked by trolls and ultimately by the people who can’t resist feeding them.
The worst of it is that the trolls stick around because they get so much feedback and satisfaction.
And maybe this is the wrong forum, even if it seems to be the right thread, to ask the mods what’s going on?
This guy has admitted to multiple cases of starting trolling thread and acting like a dick. So why does he still have posting privileges. I actually value the privilege, and understand it is not a right, so I try to keep my posts within certain bounds.
I am really tempted to start up several threads about how miserable I am, and how miserable and unfair like is, and blah blah blah because, why not?
What’s going on is that he got in trouble for trolling, and HE STOPPED, unlike, say, mookieblalock. They can’t help it that you seemingly have an inability to not click on threads by people you don’t like.
And there is no reason why anyone ever has to take advice they ask for. If you give advice I consider bad, I’m not going to follow it. By asking for advice I do not become your fucking slave. I get more information so that I can make a decision.
And, frankly, if you hate this guy, that says more about you than it does about him. He’s trying to do well. He apologizes when he messes up, and changes his tactics. That’s all a human being can do. If you choose not to even try to forgive him, that’s your prerogative, but blaming him for your choice is stupid. And once you’ve crossed that line, there is no longer any reason to bother trying to not offend you, as you’ve made it clear you are going to be offended by everything he does.
And, yes, there is a dual meaning there, although I think the second meaning doesn’t apply to anyone who has posted in this thread since the revival.
He’s not defending himself, he’s trying to deflect blame. Assuming what he says is true (and I give him the benefit of the doubt) I feel for him, up to the point where he asks for advice that he knows he’s not going to take. At that point I stop caring.
It’s one thing to solicit opinions and advice, consider them all and not take any of them. It’s another entirely to solicit opinions and advice, “knowing” the advice you’re going to receive and with the foreknowledge that you’re not going to take it, because it’s all too hard.
Nobody cares if he takes their advice or not. What most people don’t like is someone asking questions in bad faith - just to sit back and whine about why they can’t do anything. If you already know you’re going to ignore everything everyone says, why bother?
We don’t do enough banning around here. I mean - ok, so he’s just a dipshit who never posts anything interesting. That’s annoying but if he’s a legit dipshit it’s kind of mean to ban for that. But then he admits to trolling. So we have the excuse to rid board of the pointless thread starting, invariably useless dipshit and don’t act on it.
Lowering the average board IQ by a full point and also admitting to trolling should be a reason to get rid of him. Ironically, he’s so fucking bad at everything he does that his trolling was so ineffective that it resulted in pity rather than anger, which is probably why he’s still around. He’s so terrible that we can’t get rid of him.
I don’t ask questions in bad faith. I do want to get advice and use it. I have these great intentions of doing better, but then I find my actions always fall short of my intentions. But I don’t intend to be a dipshit.
He says he’s stopped, but you can’t put that toothpaste back in the tube - once you’ve betrayed people’s trust, you can’t just expect them to trust you again because now you’re being earnest. I don’t think that it’s fair to shake your finger at us because we’re treating him the way he has earned.
yeah I did wrong things in the past, and deserve to have my posts scrutinized, but I can’t be forever judged for past transgressions. Anyway I didn’t realize my earlier threads were so detrimental to your message board experience. I apologize (and already have) for making troll topics, but they were all in good fun and brought more people laughter than annoyance. Didn’t realize everything here is so serious business. But I did already admit to trolling, and stopped a while ago. If I wasn’t banned then, why should I be now after stopping and making an effort to improve? What else can I do? go back in time and not ever have made those topics at all. I suppose I can’t prove to you that all my new topics are sincere, but they are. I have learned not to make anymore whining topics after getting this response. But I suppose I just needed a place to whine and complain and let things out, for I have no one else to talk to. And I certainly have not ignored all the advice I got from people willing to help me out. I did indeed go to counseling on campus, and have applied for a few jobs online. Nor do I listen to every single piece of advice I get. For one thing, I am very scared to go out and do things. People say to me “just go out and talk to people, ask if people know any jobs” but they do not seem to understand that I am scared to talk to people, even though I know that I need to get a job.
He claims that he meant no harm, and has learned his lesson, etc. Maybe he should be labeled (in his username space) as a “Reformed Troll,” and made to serve as a reminder to those that would be tempted.
However, I think there are a lot of vanity polls in IMHO which amount to the same thing, so I wouldn’t be so hard on him.
