Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…
Back when I first started lurking, and eventually signed up to this board, there were some very… interesting … posters. Well, to be honest, there were a fair amount of loons. Posters like Phadreus, Bjorn, FORMERAGENT, ARG220, and Wildest Bill. Each of these posters now reside in the Pantheon of Idiocy of the SDMB. These posters, and many like them, set a high standard for sheer stupidity, and troll-like behavior. They had verve. They had elan. They had a certain Je ne sais quoi. Do not misunderstand me, I do not miss them. This board is much better off without them, despite the hilarity at their expense. But they definitely made their mark. Loudly and in your face.
Now, with my 5 year anniversary of my registration approaching, I look out at the board and I still find a number of stupid, trollish posters. But these modern ones are of a new breed. They go about their business much more quietly. They revel in their ignorance, for certain, but they have learned to hide their motives and move in the nooks and crannies of the board. They will post in more than one forum, on more than one topic, to avoid being an obvious one trick pony. They invent outrageous, unverifiable stories about their lives, and go on to play the part. They attempt to hide their vile hatred by claiming simple misunderstanding. They create elaborate scenarios to avoid condemnation. They do not come right out and speak their mind, but hide their hatred or trolling in subtle ways.
These kinds of posters do not have grand, bizarre meltdowns that can be read for the sheer entertainment value. They do not make their trolling obvious for all to see. They do not draw huge amounts of attention to themselves. They just go about each day, posting more and more idiotic things, annoying the hell out of myself and other posters, and slowly sucking the life out of this place.
The effect these modern posters have is much more insidious and painful. Rather than providing some level of bizarre, car-wreck type entertainment, they simply make the board a less interesting, less fun place to be. Much as the partisan shriekers on both sides make it nigh but impossible to enjoy intellectual debate, these posters invade and infect, slowly rotting away at the beauty and fun of this uniquely enjoyable board.
I feel for the moderators who have to deal with these idiots, because it is much more difficult to ban someone who attempts to hide their true motives and their animosity. Theirs is not an easy job.
So I call out to all you modern small timers. Step up to the plate! Make yourself known! For isn’t it much better to flame out than fade away? And ask yourselves, What Would FORMERAGENT do?