I've been on these boards for a couple of weeks, and it was almost the end of the first week when I noticed that the place seems to be just infested with trolls, of the juvenile kind that like to just say stupid things about how the USA should be a Christians-only zone, or that gays should just climb back in their closets, or we should nuke Iran before they nuke us, or whatever. I'm not a troll, so I don't really do "troll-talk" all that well. But you get the idea I hope.

To me, the best way to deal with trolls is to just ignore them. Never, ever quote their stuff in any reply to them, never ever tell them they are a jerk, don't do anything. If they start a thread, just let it languish there with just their post. Boycott them, in other words.

So in the interests of a better Fray, feel free to sign on to the boycott. Repeat after me:

I (so and so) do hereby pledge that if I spot a troll, or see a post that looks like trolling, quacks like trolling, and waddles like trolling, that I will just look away, and not reply to that ugly post no matter how hot my blood is running when I read that shameless vitriolic spewing of hatred and gawd-awful mis-use of the English language. I will do nothing, say nothing, to encourage this troll.

signed,

whoever you are.

So reply if you have made the pledge, or else just tell me to crawl back under my bridge and wait for a billy goat. Do whatever. But I'm telling you, if you feed them, they will grow. So starve them out, make their stay here on the Fray most boring and dull, and eventually they will leave and go bother someone else's message boards.

-jay-

Well, I'm probably guilty of feeding one of 'em regularly, but that's largely b'coz I personally consider him FB's pet-troll. Kinda' smelly and hairy maybe, but quaintly entertaining.......

Okay, I'll do my best not to feed any others, but can't promise to stay away from an out-and-out fish-fight, its usually interesting when those break out (albeit a little messy and bloody and random entrails strewn around).

G'night all....

BY, I understand your frustration. But I look at it like this: the Fray is the Ultimate Free Speech Experience. Just like American society, it is full of idiots, or trolls, as you describe them.

There are definitely times when I get weary of spammers. Trolls should do us all a favor and at least avoid taking over the boards with their vapidity. The rules, when applied, usually take care of this problem for a while, though it is always temporary.

I would like to think we can have serious discussions on the Fray, and we often do, but I rather like it just the way it is.

is that most of the time this place is pretty predictable. Everybody's gotten used to Doggy's stupid hyperbolic posts. They don't ruffle many feathers anymore. They bore us.

Every once in a while someone new with a serious personality disorder shows up and we just can't help piling on for a ride. You may not like it but, that's entertainment.

Trolls are:

ISSRT - Internet squishy stress relief toys. Choose to engage or not at will

And while I can certainly agree not to feed a certain histrionic toll who only recently stumbled into our corner of the world, I can't promise that I won't continue to throw a few scraps to our trolls-in-residence. After all, one person's troll is another's rogue philosopher . . . and vice-versa, which probably makes me someone's troll. Perception is what differentiates man from monster, and I'm not inclined to withhold what few kindnesses I have to offer from a brother or sister.

Your advice is well taken, though. One feeds such beasts at one's own peril, n'est-ce pas?

This is a discussion board. If you only want to read content that placates your world view...by all means, only click on the posts either written by yourself, or others who have proven themselves to be in lockstep with your personal ideologies. But I would imagine most here sort of like the back and forth.

Your expectation that everyone should boycott the "trolls" is a bit puerile, in my opinion. Labels are subjective to the one making them. To imagine that others must see things as you do and "repeat after you" is the pinnacle of juvenile vapidity, as far as I'm concerned.

. . . is another's rogue philosopher, and our own disagreements have certainly illustrated that there's a fine, subjectively discerned line twixt license in service of character/satire/entertainment­/alleviation of boredom with petty bourgeois nicety and "churlish bluster."

That said, surely even you can recognize the difference between disagreement--even vehement disagreement, even disagreement accompanied by insults, mockery, and (arguably warranted) condescension--and out and out trolling.

I mean, surely you can see how a certain three-lettered cretin who's dominated all threads from the end of last week through the earlier part of this one is a ghoul of the first order, and that trying to get him broadly ignored, far from being indicative of someone who "only want[s] to read content that placates [his] worldview," may grow from a sincere wish to make this a safe place even for a "churlish" nihilist who practices Nichiren Buddhism and a[n] (arguably equally) "churlish" Christian to argue on a marginally reasonable basis.

I am somewhat conflicted on this. The troll in question does possess a good mind, and there is some benefit from having a qualified "devil's advocate" with whom to debate.

But he's a bit reflexive in his embrace of axioms, and waaaaay too quick to insist that others who don't share those axioms are disqualified from both the discussion and his rather limited politesse. His "mind," therefore, is little more than a collection of quotes and references, lacking any dynamism or capacity for change. At the end of the day, he's deadly dull, and really doesn't bring anything that tsedek, fortunateson, and even B'liever (hell, even Dd on some days) aren't already bringing to the mix.

I keep getting the feeling san is a first year student the way he regurgitates.

...his rather limited politesse

Kindly put. Whatever else he may be, he's first and foremost a jerk and a boor; DD isn't far behind, although he's got enough self-knowledge to make his posts occasionally amusing reading when he's not on a typical rant - but neither of them seems to be really interested in bringing anything to a discussion beyond their own narcissistic fantasies of superiority and their Keys to All Knowledge. They're smug, sneering mockers.

For example, there's an esoteric but interesting (to me) conversation about the new Reform (Jewish) prayer book, which DD popped into to note - totally out of context - that Jewish folks need to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. This is typical troll behavior - planting a predictable post that always says the same thing and brings nothing to the table that hasn't already been sitting there for months, often in hopes of stimulating a response which can then be trashed in turn. That's classical troll behavior, and posts like that are never worth responding to unless you're in the mood for mud wrestling.

Simply put, as a rule, having a discussion - or argument - with a boorish jerk is not my idea of good time. Others may feel differently, for reasons that don't lie within my ken. Hell, others may feel that way about me; it's the Internet, after all, where all prejudices and anger can be freely expressed.

B'liever_Cleaver:

This is a discussion board. If you only want to read content that placates your world view...by all means, only click on the posts either written by yourself, or others who have proven themselves to be in lockstep with your personal ideologies. But I would imagine most here sort of like the back and forth.

I wonder if B_C has read the latest explosion on the tolerance thread. Would you say that my desire to not get death threats is just me wanting 'content that placates my world view'? Or can you come off the straw man for a moment and discuss reality?

B'liever_Cleaver:

This is a discussion board. If you only want to read content that placates your world view...by all means, only click on the posts either written by yourself, or others who have proven themselves to be in lockstep with your personal ideologies. But I would imagine most here sort of like the back and forth.

Well, I'm sure that everyone is here for the "back and forth" or they wouldn't be here in the first place, eh?

B'liever_Cleaver:

Your expectation that everyone should boycott the "trolls" is a bit puerile, in my opinion. Labels are subjective to the one making them. To imagine that others must see things as you do and "repeat after you" is the pinnacle of juvenile vapidity, as far as I'm concerned.

One person's juvenile vapidity might be another person's rogue philosophy, for all we know. As for me, I'm really pretty adept at just skipping over certain posts from certain people, which comes from long practice. Some people simply ring the same bell, over and over, and eventually a person simply learns to tune them out. So "trolls" per se are not the worst ill to befall humanity, but I did notice a tremendous spike in troll threads, several of which seemed to want to do nothing more than say that if you dismiss their trolling, you're a bigot.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I agree with about 90% of what was said here, even when it was arguing against my basic premise. We need a certain amount of grossly offensive content here, if for no other reason than to remind us all of the true nature of the society we live in. There are real people out there who really think the way these trolls talk. Even if they're just parodying to get attention for pointless and puerile jivenile reasons, there is that one simple truth, that there's a fair amount of ugly out there in the minds of humanity. And so it's always wise to at least pay a little attention.

But when the traffic gets too thick, a little policing is in order, imo. Not censorship, mind you, but just a good healthy "boycott", at least until things quiet down a bit.

-jay-

speaking of trolls ...

where did they go? Are they afriad of today?