trolls

The BBQ Pit
1

Ok, I know I’m fairly new here so maybe some of you won’t think I have the right to complain about this…but I will anyway.

This whole “troll” label really bugs me. I understand that some posts are stupid and meaningless and seem to be intended only to piss people off/get attention. But to label a person a troll and then taunt him/her in every post he/she makes is downright rude, imo.

For example, Thorsomethin’ - he posted something a couple of weeks (or longer) ago that seemed rude and inflammatory to many. Now almost every time he posts someone has to pop in with the “troll” remark (subtly or not so subtly).

The same goes for contestant #3. Though I do admit some of his recent posts have been out rude/mean, people have been responding after most of his posts for quite a while, making sure to remind him that they don’t like him and think he is a troll (checks the sentence for grammar aww, screw it - I’m tired). For instance, the 1st UFO thread - not long into the debate #3 was accused of trolling. Why, because he believes in things you don’t?

Anyway, I personally feel that constantly calling someone a troll is rude. If you truly hate someone, why not just ignore him or her? Why can’t we have intelligent debates/disagreements and act like adults? (yes, I know that some people can be downright nasty, but how does being nasty in return help matters?)
k, I’m done - feel free to flame me and label me an ignorant troll
shrugs

2

troll…snicker :D, couldn’t help it.

3

There are some trolls here that can come sit under my bridge any day!

4

‘Troll’ isn’t an insult, like ‘nerd’. No one’s a troll unless they try really hard to be one.

A troll is someone whose whole purpose on a thread is to anger people and stir up trouble. One incidiary post doesn’t make someone a troll. Heck, Papabear’s Iceland thread existed mainly to incite. But he’s not a troll.

But if my whole reason for coming to the SDMB was to cause trouble, I’m a troll. I don’t know that Thorlefur is a troll. I know that he posted some posts that seemed to serve no purpose but to anger people, and that he lacks the command of English to clarify his true intent. People want him to go away, and they call him a troll.

Contestant #3 has begun about a half dozen threads lately, and none of them have been on the level. He doesn’t care about a Jewish conspiracy, government efficiency, or posts of a sexual nature. He’s just been trolling. Consistently. I don’t have a problem calling him a troll. Just because he starts into a thread seeming on-the-level, experience indicates it won’t take long before he’s at it again.

If he starts posting real posts that serve any pupose at all other than to cause trouble, I’ll rescind and call him a part-time troll.

Your Quadell

5

Just a humorous observation -

Why do you keep insisting you are my quadell?

6

quadell - in a way I understand what you’re saying, and I appreciate the input. I just have two comments…

I would think that we could give people who are living in a country in which English is not the primary lanugage a little leeway (sp?).

As for contestant #3, I have seen him post some very valid posts. In fact, since I’ve been here most of the things I have read from him have been valid (though often disagreeing with others). True, his behavior over the past few days has been childish, but so has that of many other people. Even when he tries to post valid topics and responses people are right behind him calling him a troll, if for no other reason than they don’t like him and he disagrees with them(at least that is how it appears to me).
I know that nothing I say will change anyone’s mind. Once people think they are right there is little anyone else can do to convince them otherwise. I only wanted to voice my opinion - I think that the practice of calling people names and hounding them is rude and uncalled for. It brings down the whole board, often making it an unpleasant place to visit. If someone truly is a “troll” how does sinking down to their level make things better?

7

But as you know, Yepitsme, The pen IS mightier than the sword.
(Even though it did not work for Arthur)

Have a nice day!

PS: For you people who don’t understand my name it means Thor- as in the god and Leifur- as in the many that found your continent.

Thor

8

Yepitsme, this is the BBQ Pit, a forum in which it is acceptable to use such a term. Using the term troll might not be appropriate in GQ, Great Debates, etc., but it should certainly have a place in a forum in which people are angry.
Plus, troll is a much less offensive words than some others that have found their way into the English language.

“[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so
further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and
hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22

9

krish - the word troll has popped up all over the place in GQ, MPISMS, Great Debates, etc. If it were only in the pit it probably would not bother me so much (though I still don’t agree with the name calling, I suppose you have to expect it in here).

Yes, there are many more offensive words. It’s not the words that matter so much as the sentiment behind them.

10

though I still don’t agree with the name calling, I suppose you have to expect it in here.>>yep

When we set up this MB, we wanted to learn from the AOL experience. We had otherwise-interesting threads deteriorate on the AOL MB, and we wanted to give people a forum to express themselves about other people. Some people hate reading vicious exchanges. Some people loved reading and participating in them. So by setting aside a specific forum FOR these exchanges, we hoped to make both sorts of people happy.

However, even here, there are limits.

SDStaffLynn

11

Contestant #3
Member posted 07-03-99 09:38 PM in another thread (now closed) in this forum:

& in this thread:

C3: in the closed thread, you proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are an anti-semite and now with the 1st remark I quoted above of yours, you’ve shown you know not what reality is. The 2nd remark serves to reinforce that.

Your first comment was an incredibly stupid and irrelevant response to my stating I wish you’d do some research before you post. My comment was directed at you because you posted a falsehood about Judaism; a falsehood easily disproven. The issue of my thinking or not thinking has nothing to do with the veracity, or lack thereof, of your trolling.

The last comment of yours above is also a lie. Nobody begs for trolling. As a matter of fact, many people on this board have suggested you cease and desist from that juvenile and ill-mannered activity.

12

Thank you ever so much for the example of trolling, Connie. “I know you are but what am I?” is certainly the method of argument prefered by the great debaters over the centuries.
Douglass-“This man would destroy the rights of land owners!”
Lincoln-“I know you are but what am I?”

13

Slyte; thank you.

14

A parable: Once upon a time, there was a young man. He was neither a good young man nor a wicked young man, but like all young men, he did some good and he did some mischief. The latter mostly when drinking with his frat buddies, but that’s beside the point. This young man had a car; because it was his third car, he had the number 3 painted on its side.

One day, this young man was stopped by a policeman for failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign.

The man was furious at having received a ticket. He callled out, and a small crowd gathered around.

He first argued that he HAD stopped at the stop sign, that the policeman was misinterpreting the law. The policeman patiently explained the rules of the road. The crowd was less than enthusiastic.

Then he said loudly that no damage was done, he didn’t hit anyone and no one hit him, so the ticket should be annulled. The policeman smiled thinly.

Then he said, even louder, that others had slid through stop signs without getting a ticket. A few in the crowd nodded, but most shrugged their shoulders, as did the policeman.

Then he yelled that the policeman beat him mercilessly and called him names. The policeman looked puzzled, and a few more in the crowd nodded, until someone asked if they could see the bruises, so the young man switched tactics and screamed that the policeman was Italian and therefore a member of the mafia and a drug-dealing… And he noticed that some of the people in the crowd stopped nodding, and many people frowned.

Then he screeched, at the top of his lungs, that the speeding laws were notoriously poorly enforced, and so were the sex laws by the way, and were probably unconstitutional anyhow. And a few people in the crowd laughed. And a few shook their heads and said to themselves, “Grow up, kid.”

Now… that’s where we are at the moment, as far as I can tell. The rest of the story is yet to be unwound. Will the kid act mature, cope, swallow his anger, pay the silly $10 ticket, and get on with his life? Or will the kid embrace the Dark Side, start to stand on street corners screaming profanity and racism and anti-police sentiments? Or will the policeman give the kid further tickets for disturbing the peace, making a public nuisance, leading to resisting arrest and incarceration?

Stay tuned to these Message Boards for the exciting conclusion!

… and, of course, any resemblence between any characters in this story, and any persons posting on the message boards, is purely coincidental. Anyone attempting to find or elucidate such resemblance will be prosecuted, to the fullest extent of the law.

15

Now that’s funny, CK.

“[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so
further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and
hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22

16

“Trolls”, or whatever designation you prefer to give them, are hungry for attention and thrive on controversy. It seems only logical that, if you want to rid yourself of them, simply ignore them and they will “shrivel up and die” :)!

I’ve found at other sites that this method works almost without exception.

17

The “pay 'em no attention and they’ll shrivel up and go away” attitude is a common one, and an attractive one – doing nothing is always an attractive option, as far as I’m concerned. However, they tend to have much more patience than rational human beans do. I’m thinking, a very small, localized, thermonuclear device in a letter bomb.

18

Oh … I was kind of hoping that guy’d been banned by now.

19

thank you ever so much for coming to a thread meant to complain about rudeness and being…rude (for lack of a better word)
All I know is in the past four or five months the tone of this board has changed quite a bit. Maybe I’m just imagining things - maybe I’m the only one who feels this way. If so, it’s my problem. Even if not, looks like it’s still my problem since the people who are supposed to be smart and mature often seem to be the ones enjoying/partaking in the fights the most.
RTA, here’s a hint - if you want someone to go away ignore them

is it really that hard to ignore someone, especially when you don’t even know the person and they in no way, shape, or form influence your life? (not directed at you RTA…more of a general statement)

I guess I’m just fed up. After working with troubled teens all weekend and seeing how rude and mean and cruel and petty they can be it’s pretty disheartening to come to a board that is supposed to be full of intelligent adults and see them acting the same way.
end rant
sorry - I’ll stop now - don’t mean to be a bitch - just tired =)

20

Yepistime said:

…so you know how we feel about certain trolls.

And C#3:

Does that mean that if most of us beg to get rid of you, you’d comply?

:wink: