# Trolls R Us redux \[Now the argument clinic\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 27, 2020, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349 "2020-06-27T06:30:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 200
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3991 "2021-07-08T23:43:03Z")
Has Dark Sponge been mentioned? Profile hidden and they popped up defending a banned troll in ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3992 "2021-07-08T23:45:57Z")
Yeah, I 'm not quite sure I see the point of that and the policy of not public identifying socks seems counter productive. If everyone could know who’s sock it was there just might be less of this ‘Y’all are so unfair to the noobs’ shit. I really am curious how good the track record of this thread is when it comes to identifying trolls/socks . . . but there’s no way I’m gonna put in the effort to find out. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3993 "2021-07-08T23:46:40Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Has Dark Sponge been mentioned? Profile hidden and they popped up defending a banned troll in ATMB. **Dark\_Sponge** is currently pitted for a beyond the pale statement about Jewish handling of the Torah. Rightly so. > [@Dark Sponge Knows The Secrets Of Judaism](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-sponge-knows-the-secrets-of-judaism/945943): > > Obviously, as a Jew I disagree with some major points of Christianity. Among other things, I don’t believe that any part of the Old Testament is a prophecy referring to Jesus Christ. Dark Sponge went still further, posting that Jews are forbidden from studying certain parts of the Torah specifcally because they refer to Jesus. Yes, all those times I was told that any Jew who could read Hebrew should read the entire Torah were false memories. All those times I thought the whole of the Torah was r… ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3994 "2021-07-08T23:46:51Z")
{Wrong poster, nevermind} fixed by {WE?} ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3995 "2021-07-08T23:50:05Z")
^ Totally fucked that up, I await a kind mod to unfuck it. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3996 "2021-07-08T23:56:51Z")
^ You still have some minutes to change or delete that post yourself. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3997 "2021-07-09T00:00:57Z")
Nah, it says I have to wait 21 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3998 "2021-07-09T00:04:02Z")
OR until the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/3999 "2021-07-09T00:27:46Z")
Clearly, the NJ Parkway/Turnpike comes before the heat death of the Universe . . . which is very convenient for me since I live in NJ. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4000 "2021-07-09T00:50:11Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > People are _shocked_ that mods find this thread of any use. Eh. My biggest complaint about it is the cornfielded threads. I wanted to see those. Oh, boy! That could be a money maker: $.50 per cornfielded post to be viewed! Maybe not OPs since that would not be value wise but individual posts from non-spammers. Maybe an Omnibus Controversial SDMB deleted posts. Flat rate= 10 a year or .50 for a post (does paypal do under a dollar?) (pre-post is showing a year or as one word and I couldn’t add the following smiley) 😜 ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4001 "2021-07-09T01:56:22Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > I really am curious how good the track record of this thread is when it comes to identifying trolls/socks . . . but there’s no way I’m gonna put in the effort to find out. There’s no objective way of determining if the posters really were trolls/socks. A poster getting banned for trolling only means that there were a number of people complaining about that poster, and the mods agree. Because, as you say, some of the mods monitor this thread, they might tend to agree with people here. That doesn’t make them objectively right. I think it’s a combination of low-hanging fruit and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Some of the socks are obvious. But also because there’s a group of people who are watching them and potentially posting in their threads, their threads tend to go off the rails more readily. That, and the reports gets the mods’ attention. So they tend to mod them more. It doesn’t mean that the posters really are poorly intentioned. And on the other side, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t a lot of socks going unreported or unmodded because they’re only hassling one or a few people. I’m reminded of this guy, [DavidChou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidchou/activity), who came into an Andrew Yang thread early in the political cycle. A few posters got on his case. The mods joined in. At the time, I knew he was just parroting Yang’s policies, but Yang’s policies weren’t popular at the time. I PMed him to try to get him to stay, but he essentially replied that if the mods were going to mod like that, he was out. I’d see him on twitter, a valuable part of the Yang gang. On the other side, I’ve seen several posters I think are socks. I don’t think my reporting them gets much traction because I’m not part of a group. Unless it’s slam dunk obvious, and sometimes not even then, I don’t feel my reporting will make much of a difference. At least in one case, it didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4002 "2021-07-09T03:25:18Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > some of the mods monitor this thread I was told in no uncertain terms, when I posted this in passing, that only one mod has ever admitted to monitoring this thread. I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t believe it now. The rest of your thread illustrates some difficult points about this thread and this board. I suppose every gathering of humanity that ever was always has had a cool kids table. I think it’s a shame for a lot of reasons, including the fact that I have never sat at one. People here, like anywhere, can gang up on someone new, or someone they think is strange. There’s a certain bully mentality, along with group-think, that happens sometimes here and probably everywhere. I guess it’s a built-in human trait. It would be a good thing if folks recognized it and worked against it instead of joining in. So would unicorns dumping cotton candy and micturating Skittles, and just as likely. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4003 "2021-07-09T03:26:43Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > I’ve read that you people… well us, are ruining this board for the new people . . . that your track record identifying actual socks is so high is apparently irrelevant. > [@QuickSilver](#): > > I’ve always said that we are incapable of making new friends. We can barely tolerate the old ones. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Heck, I’ve got friends I haven’t even _used_ yet. > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > I don’t know half of you half as well as I shouldn’t like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve! [Well, I May Not Have Had Enough Of Me But I’ve Had Enough of You!!!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDqggIqOmrE) > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Nah, it says I have to wait 21 hours. Actually I still miss the 876,000-hr. designation. ☹ Yes, **Sponge** has a Jewy thing going. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4004 "2021-07-09T11:31:50Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > The rest of your thread illustrates some difficult points about this thread and this board. I suppose every gathering of humanity that ever was always has had a cool kids table. I think it’s a shame for a lot of reasons, including the fact that I have never sat at one. People here, like anywhere, can gang up on someone new, or someone they think is strange. There’s a certain bully mentality, along with group-think, that happens sometimes here and probably everywhere. I guess it’s a built-in human trait. It would be a good thing if folks recognized it and worked against it instead of joining in. So would unicorns dumping cotton candy and micturating Skittles, and just as likely. Of course that sort of thing exists. I don’t like it, either. But it also has nothing to do with this thread. This thread exists to call out and confirm trolls. It’s not a place to attack people who aren’t the cool kids. If it were, then there’d be a lot more people mentioned, including me. I would argue that this is a necessary thing to do online. Trolls are more prevalent online due to the ease of access and anonymity that prevents any negative consequences. A basic skill for online communication thus is to be able to identify trolls. However, it’s always possible that someone you think is trolling just pissed you off, Thus it’s good to be able to run it by others. We can’t discuss trolling in the threads where it happens. But we can discuss that in the threads, so it gets discussed here. This has, it seems to me, cut down a lot on pointless Pit threads. Before, a troll would get their own thread once they’d made one person mad enough, and that energy would lead to a long thread. Now, people mention them here, and it gets dealt with sooner and with less aggravation. I’d actually argue that, since the debut of this thread, the trolling situation on this board has gotten much better. Once it becomes obvious someone is a troll, they tend to be removed more quickly. The idea that this thread is some “cool kids table” is rather silly. I’m definitely not a “cool kid” here. Fortunately, my desire to be “cool” has diminished greatly as I get older. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4005 "2021-07-09T11:42:53Z")
Yeah, not precisely what I said, and omitting any mention of bullying and group-think, but it’s a lovely thought. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4006 "2021-07-09T12:36:04Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > There’s no objective way of determining if the posters really were trolls/socks. A poster getting banned for trolling only means that there were a number of people complaining about that poster, and the mods agree. Because, as you say, some of the mods monitor this thread, they might tend to agree with people here. That doesn’t make them objectively right. For the record, this is not true. The mods often have ways to know. Some new posters are very suspicious right from the start and we keep a closer eye on them. Two very recent bans had nothing to do with the correct guesses in this thread, we were already on it. _I’m not the one that picked up on it, so I’m not patting myself on the back._ There are other times though where the posts in this thread really have helped. So like most things in life, it varies. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4007 "2021-07-09T14:58:24Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > For the record, this is not true. The mods often have ways to know. Some new posters are very suspicious right from the start and we keep a closer eye on them. I’ll say on Wikipedia I did my share of sock investigation and enforcement. You have to be a bit cagey about your reasons for determining a person is a sock, because if you reveal too much then you tip them off to their own tells and they’ll adjust their behavior. It might look like a person is getting banned arbitrarily but that’s because it’s counterproductive to reveal all the evidence. Unlike here, I had to identify who a person was a sock of, and I had to give at least _some_ evidence, such as similarities in posting style and/or interests, or timestamps of contributions (such as one account becoming active the moment another one stops, or the accounts only being active at the same time on the same days, and so on). I always tried to hold _something_ back. I am glad you folks don’t have to give public explanations, because you are far less likely to “train” a person how to hide themselves, and by not announcing who is a sock of whom you don’t give them the satisfaction of having “trophies” and the attention that comes with that. Keep doing what you’re doing, you have it right. 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4008 "2021-07-09T20:29:43Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Yeah, not precisely what I said, and omitting any mention of bullying and group-think, but it’s a lovely thought. Yeah, the way you and Octoputz whine along exactly the same lines is a disturbing example of group think. Are you guys a hive mind? ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4009 "2021-07-09T20:46:09Z")
The existence of an official mean girl’s club complete with sycophants is evidence of a hive mind. Independent observations of a hive mind is not a hive mind. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/4010 "2021-07-09T20:46:47Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > The existence of an official mean girl’s club complete with sycophants is evidence of a hive mind. “Existence” anywhere outside your mind, you mean? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349.md?page=199) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349.md?page=201)