The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #144241   Message #3337085
Posted By: GUEST
12-Apr-12 - 04:02 AM
Thread Name: BS: Why closed threads?
Subject: RE: BS: Why closed threads?
OK, Hookey Wole , all I can do is tell you that "she" is another iteration of "you know who," a troll who has been plaguing this site for years. No onecan do anything about her. If they delete her messages, it goads her to post more. If they delete her membership, she'll post under another membership. No matter what they do, she can come up with a counter-move. The only thing that can frustrate her, is if we do not respond to her at all...and so I ask you to respond to her with silence instead of giving her the attention she craves. And no matter how distasteful she is, she does serve to express a hateful point of view that is present and increasingly popular in Europe - and in the United States.

I'm disgusted with all of you who get so bent out of shape about putative failure to control trolls here. Moderators really try hard to keep trolls under control, and I think they do a better job than a lot of commercial Websites - U.S. newspaper Websites, for example. We do find it's best to do it slowly and quietly and subtly - and with the cooperation of our regular posters. You people dumped all over Joe last year because you couldn't ignore a two-line troll message in the thread - and I'm sick of it. Hell, people threaten to take legal action because of failure to do thus-and-such. [I wonder how far you'd get in a lawsuit against a volunteer moderator.] I just can't understand why you people can't accept the fact that troll messages are part of being on the Internet. This is an imperfect world, and you can't expect every person in it to post according to your specifications. If she posts (under whatever name), leave her posts right where they are. If Mudcatters can't resist responding, then simply close the thread.

Now, if that's not good enough, contact Max directly and ask him to develop systems to keep "her" under control. I've contacted Max many times and suggested members-only posting in the non-music section, MAC tracking in addition to IP tracking, and verification of membership by issuing passwords by e-mail. However, that no amount of control is going to work perfectly; and every added control will limit the freedom we've all enjoyed here. But if you don't have what it takes to ignore our trolls, then contact Max and get after him to set up controls.

But before this lady, it was Martin Gibson who ran rampant here and feasted on the deliciously self-righteous indignation of Mudcatters. And before him, it was that woman from Minnesota. And no matter what controls Max institutes, there will be other trolls. Therefore, the best solution is to accept it that trolls are a fact of life on the Internet, and learn to ignore them.