# Trolls R Us Resurrections (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 11, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518 "2021-09-11T17:26:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 496
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14441 "2026-05-06T16:44:40Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Serious question - why would anyone use an em-dash for internet writing when the minus key is right there? > > Even if you have memorized the arcane spell to summon them with 4 keystrokes, I write on my phone. Getting an em dash, an en dash, or an underscore means simply pressing the minus “key” for around half a second until a menu pops up. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14442 "2026-05-06T16:50:07Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I guess it is a good thing, but damn, such a weirdly boring hijack of the troll thread. I give up. Unfortunately, while the SDMB may not have invented “lastwordism”, it has been raised to ridiculous perfection here. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14443 "2026-05-06T17:16:33Z")
Has not. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14444 "2026-05-06T17:43:06Z")
Look—{em dash}\\> gotta love the punctuation page on my screen …I’m conversing, I write the way I would speak. Out of my head and typed. Pretty dang sure I don’t need a copy editor. Ain’t nobody paying me to be here…😐 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14445 "2026-05-06T18:11:30Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Has not. You’re right! I can’t add anything further to this. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14446 "2026-05-06T19:23:40Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > I’ve been known to use n-dashes as parenthetical brackets when I felt that actual parentheses interrupted the flow of the sentence too much. Same here (except that I use em dashes). And since anything I write tends to devolve into a slew of parenthetical asides if I don’t watch carefully — ADHD at work — I also alternate them so that one doesn’t overwhelm the other. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14447 "2026-05-06T19:41:53Z")
**Beckdawrek Inc.** It could happen. What kind of branding and style guide would that be? Maybe instead of a unmolested bottle cap, it’d be dented like a bottle opener pried it off? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14448 "2026-05-06T21:04:33Z")
So, how ‘bout them trolls? Really ruining the place, amirite? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14449 "2026-05-06T23:08:35Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > No, it’s all about clarity. There is zero difference in clarity between word-word and word–word. **Zero**. Get over yourself. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14450 "2026-05-06T23:14:26Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > There is zero difference in clarity between word-word and word–word. **Zero**. Get over yourself. Word. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2026, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14451 "2026-05-06T23:25:18Z")
Could all you dash people please fuck off to another thread? ## This one has a purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14452 "2026-05-06T23:26:05Z")
I dunno. Sometimes I get the suspicion they’re outing themselves in the right thread ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14453 "2026-05-07T00:36:01Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Could all you dash people please fuck off to another thread?  Better if they dash off to another thread. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2026, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14454 "2026-05-07T00:47:01Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Better if they dash off to another thread. You win the derailment ---
**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:** [May 7, 2026, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14455 "2026-05-07T03:28:31Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Could all you dash people please fuck off to another thread? > > ## This one has a purpose. It’s the Pit. The one place where that explicitly isn’t a concern. This thread doesn’t have a purpose beyond letting us complain about trolls. Sure, some may find it useful to find trolls and do stuff with them, but that’s not its purpose. I like having one forum at least where we don’t have to worry about that stuff. The idea that this thread shouldn’t have digressions is a very new one. Before even asking for troll posts to be removed was verboten, let alone forcing everyone to stay on topic. I’m open to the idea of that changing, that this thread should be an exception, but I think that’s something to discuss, maybe in ATMB. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2026, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14456 "2026-05-07T03:58:02Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I like having one forum at least where we don’t have to worry about that stuff. The idea that this thread shouldn’t have digressions is a very new one. Before even asking for troll posts to be removed was verboten, let alone forcing everyone to stay on topic. It’s not unusual for a request to get back on topic for purposeful threads when a hijack goes too long. This thread _and_ the “what were you thinking” thread at least. It’s far from the first time this has happened, and doesn’t represent any kind of change. You probably just didn’t see the previous times it happened or forgot. I started this thread in the first place because the previous troll thread got taken over by a hijack, although that was worse; it was two jackasses with a personal feud who couldn’t let it go and made it solely about them. It wasn’t a playful diversion and brief hijack. It also looked like WE? was making a request as a poster, not acting as a moderator, since the request had a normal background and otherwise had no indications that it was any kind of official instruction. So, it doesn’t represent a change in rules for this category; just one person asking folks to please get back to the point of the thread. (I also believe mods use this forum for hints on who to watch, and too much chatter is an annoyance.) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2026, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14457 "2026-05-08T01:58:43Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > OK, I guess I’m using n dashes also, at least some of the time Not that it matters but it’s “en dash”, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2026, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14458 "2026-05-08T03:03:32Z")
Yes. And it’s 2-1/2 clicks of the minus sign. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2026, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14459 "2026-05-08T04:36:52Z")
I thought we stopped with the morse code, already. ••• - - - ••• ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2026, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections-part-1/950518/14460 "2026-05-08T09:32:10Z")
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