# 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:** 68
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1347 "2020-10-16T10:10:52Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > How is that healthy? I suppose if the SDMB were your only interaction with the world, it could be - oh, man. I just a really upsetting thought. Octopus, my dude, we’re not all you have, are we? Because yes, that would be super unhealthy. 😢 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1348 "2020-10-16T10:23:16Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether someone is being deliberately provocative or just cluelessly obnoxious. But the payoff for figuring it out is worth the effort! psych ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1349 "2020-10-16T10:29:58Z")
As for dumping on Slacker in that ATMB thread _he started_, feh. He came there to defend, and demand the mods reinstate, the bigoted thing he said. The clearest way to disagree with that OP was to discuss the bigotry of the thing he wanted reinstated. The stupid idea that “bigoted” (or “racist”) is an insult, not a descriptor, serves only bigots and racists, by insulating them from the criticism they’re due. I 100% stand by all the criticism I gave him in that thread, and am so glad we have mods now who will take action. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1350 "2020-10-16T14:25:38Z")
Slacker Inc. was a colorful character, and I’ll miss that. Maybe he wasn’t one to let truth get in the way of a good anecdote, but I got a kick out of his more outrageous claims. I’m not sure of the timelines of his alleged numerous online affairs and his marriage(s), but there’s a good screenplay in there somewhere. I understand the rancor, because Trump has divided us and it’s “no more Mr. Nice Guy” for the SDMB. Toleration for the views expressed by these colorful characters, the drunk uncles, has descended into absolute zero. In so doing, there’s little humor left. No more of Scylla’s blimp tales, because he sides on the right. I myself will vote straight Democrat Nov. 3rd, but I like politically incorrect humor, and I dare not utter it here. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1351 "2020-10-16T15:14:31Z")
For a guy roundly disliked by most, he sure made an impact on folks. I think he had a host of issues, many of them linked to some sort of personality disorder; I think he just couldn’t help himself. My read on him was that he was desperate for attention due to deep insecurity and suffered from a deep lack of self-awareness. Being “controversial” is how he sought validation and saw himself as someone who wasn’t afraid to stand out in a crowd. I think he was on the spectrum. For all his many deep flaws, I think he provided color and grit to this community. When shitty posters are banned I sarcastically quip, “I’m gonna miss him/her!”. In this case, I might actually mean it. Which I am sure will give the insufferable jackass no end of satisfaction when he - and he will - reads this. Fuck you, SlackerInc; You insufferable attention whoring jackass. I’m gonna miss him. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1352 "2020-10-16T15:17:52Z")
The only thing about SlackerInc’s banning that I regret is that he’s not posting in his Pit thread anymore. Now THAT was comedy gold! ---
**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:** [October 16, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1353 "2020-10-16T15:26:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I kept trying to get him to see the problem. I kept trying to get him to see that everyone being upset at him all the time wasn’t a fluke. I explained how, even if he was sure he was right, that there was a time to back off. Translation: “I kept feeding him, using argument tactics that NEVER worked.” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1354 "2020-10-16T15:41:52Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > At one point discussions of difficult topics were possible to have here. Now it’s basically turned into a giant orange-man-bad echo chamber. That’s not to say there isn’t still valuable information and points of view that some folks take the effort to create. But it’s becoming more rare. How is that healthy? I’m not buying it. As we speak, there are robust discussions - with wildly differing viewpoints - of Critical Race Theory, trans rights, “woke” culture, and more. Which you damned well know because you’ve spent extensive time shitting in some of those threads. Hell, even in **Slacker’s** pit thread about Ultra-Orthodox Jews, there were more people discussing the religion than taking offense. I regret that there are fewer conservatives here than there used to be, but in case you haven’t noticed (and I don’t think you have), conservatives are losing their everloving minds right now. Vast swaths of them are actively trying to dismantle democracy and prop up an authoritarian. You should be terrified and outraged about that, not obsessed with tone policing the people being oppressed. The more I think about it, and the more I learn from the mods about **Slacker’s** extensive history of being a jerk and his eight(!) warnings, the more I think it was the right call. The only experience I’ve had with him was that ill-fated sexual assault discussion and the recent kerfuffle, so I was completely ignorant of his history. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1355 "2020-10-16T16:15:52Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The only thing about SlackerInc’s banning that I regret is that he’s not posting in his Pit thread anymore. Now THAT was comedy gold! I hope the meme thing doesn’t die with that thread. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1356 "2020-10-16T16:24:41Z")
Gone a few years and now you’re back and mad! I think you seriously misread the regressive and radical left’s violent and oppressively illiberal nature. That’s in the wider culture. Here, we have folks who engage in the weirdest intellectual contortions to justify inconsistency. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1357 "2020-10-16T16:30:01Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > I think you seriously misread the regressive and radical left’s violent and oppressively illiberal nature. Which side was plotting to abduct two Democratic governors, bomb at least one bridge, and toss Molotov cocktails at police? ---
**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:** [October 16, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1358 "2020-10-16T16:34:25Z")
Which side has thrown Molotov cocktails at police, have burned police precincts, and have caused businesses an municipalities 10s of millions of damage from rioting and opportunistic looting? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1359 "2020-10-16T16:40:49Z")
It’s always the same argument. Over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1360 "2020-10-16T16:43:28Z")
Still ignoring the existence of bad actors such as these white women, I see. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XAbTOcVJgM8/maxresdefault.jpg "See these women confront protesters spraypainting an LA Starbucks") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAbTOcVJgM8) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1361 "2020-10-16T16:47:34Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Which side has thrown Molotov cocktails at police, have burned police precincts, and have caused businesses an municipalities 10s of millions of damage from rioting and opportunistic looting? Which side has defended those actions? I’d really like to see a cite for anyone here saying that those actions were justified and should continue as part of an effective or desirable progressive agenda. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1362 "2020-10-16T16:49:37Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I’d really like to see a cite How is he supposed to cite the voices in his head? You know, the same ones from which keep telling him that right-wing violence and vandals among left-wing protests don’t exist. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1363 "2020-10-16T16:53:22Z")
Not at all. But the vast majority of the burn, loot, and mayhem crowd were not right wing plants. They were and are the radical left. C’mon man! It’s interesting that there is a parallel here. The majority of shit stirrers, snarkers, and fight instigators on this forum are left leaning. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1364 "2020-10-16T16:54:03Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > But the vast majority of the burn, loot, and mayhem crowd were not right wing plants. They were and are the radical left. You really should quit listening to those voices. > [@octopus](#): > > The majority of shit stirrers, snarkers, and fight instigators on this forum are left leaning. C’mon, start buzzing. You know you want to. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1365 "2020-10-16T17:06:23Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > I kept trying to get him to see the problem. I kept trying to get him to see that everyone being upset at him all the time wasn’t a fluke. I explained how, even if he was sure he was right, that there was a time to back off. > > Translation: “I kept feeding him, using argument tactics that NEVER worked.” What? No. Feeding a troll is giving them what they want. For the type of troll SlackerInc may have been, it would be letting him make you angry and compelling you to respond in anger. It very much is not occasionally dropping in to try and get them to see reason, making a _different_ argument each time, hoping one might break through. Even if you think I was duped into think he was not a troll, being duped is not the same thing as feeding a troll. (And I’d rather be duped into being too nice than to be too much of an asshole to a legit person.) I’m not going to back down from my newer attempts to stop being such an asshole, and stop getting so fucking angry all the time. And that requires me to have compassion like I did. If you want to consider that feeding a troll, then you’re going to see me feed a lot more trolls. Because I do not in any way, shape, or form agree. **SlackerInc** , even if he was a troll, did not get what he wanted from me. I specifically would go out of my way to not let him piss me off. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349/1366 "2020-10-16T17:08:59Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Not at all. But the vast majority of the burn, loot, and mayhem crowd were not right wing plants. They were and are the radical left. C’mon man! > > It’s interesting that there is a parallel here. The majority of shit stirrers, snarkers, and fight instigators on this forum are left leaning. Nothing you are talking about has anything to do with this thread. It is about trolls and trolling, not about your personal political hangups. The only way this fits the thread is if you admit that you’re just trying to get a rise out of people, which is what I generally think of you. The way you act here is why you can’t get any of those nice discussions you claim to want. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349.md?page=67) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-redux-now-the-argument-clinic/913349.md?page=69)