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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> Dealing with trolls - it's not rocket science
Post Info TOPIC: Dealing with trolls - it's not rocket science
Miss Information

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Dealing with trolls - it's not rocket science
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The easiest way to handle trolls is to ignore them. I know this is difficult, because trolls post intentionally provocative statements. They want folks to reply & thus waste their time & psychic energy on things that are tangential (or diametrically opposed) to the general spirit of the community.

Trolls fall into several categories, of course & this has been the subject of a lot of discussion among Internet experts over the years. Certainly, some are "sophomoric" (appropriate in this instance) disrupters. Others are maladjusted people who get their kicks seeing others get "all worked up" over something they wrote. And on this board, some appear to be part of a concerted campaign to derail discussions, demoralize their opposition & foment ill will in the community that frequents this virtual place.

On a Usenet newsgroup, the easiest way to handle trolls is to add them to a "killfile." Their posts simply become invisible to the reader. On a listserv, one can set email filters to similar effect. On a moderated, registration-required web-based forum such as EagleTalk, board moderators may simply ban a user based on their log-in credentials or take other measures to discourage people from violating "community standards." (You may note that the poster's IP address appears alongside every message on that board.)

But on an open, anonymous board such as this one, there is no effective way to prevent trolls' postings from appearing. Given AAUP's commitment to free speech, only the most egregious violations of common decency or copyright law are routinely deleted by the moderator. (And this is not a bad thing.)

The only way to make a troll's posts become "invisible" is to refrain from responding. That way, the post will "fall off" the bottom of page 1 faster. (And most folks aren't going to page 2 all that much.)

I'm not suggesting that "free speech" (which is, according to Invictus' idol, a hoax anyway) be abridged. Rather, folks should consider the post to which they are responding carefully & ask the questions like, "Do I want to see this garbage at the top of page 1 for the rest of the day?" or "What is this guy's motive for posting here?" If the troll raises brings up something to which you simply must react, why not start a new topic to focus on the issue & not the troll.

Don't feed the trolls.

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truth4usm/AH

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Figured this needed a kick...we all (including myself!) need to be reminded of this at times like these!

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The Rock

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Given the recent rash of disgruntled student ramblings by our local village idiots Clyde and Albert, I think this thread deserves a big Shelby's ego-sized kick to the top of the board....

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Delovely

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And the trolls don't come out unless something bad is happening on their end. I wish I knew precisely what it was, but something is happening - and it's making the Dome Gnome and his cadre of trolls very upset.


Discussing hearing "the rumors" in his Love Letter on the USM website - unbelievable.



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Monique de Guerre

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Did anyone else read that rumor comment as a veiled threat?? Or is it pathetic beyond words?
I have never been part of any organization larger than, say, ten people, which was not persistently busy with gossip and rumors. It's the human-being thing to do. First graders do it, people in nursing homes do it. In most organizations, the leadership is smart enough to keep its ear to the ground without advertising the fact..
What a bizarre thing to say --- LSM must of been off sick that day.

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Off sick my a$$

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Who do you think keeps him posted on the rumors? I think we ought to have slam books and be sure the ones with Shelby's name get slid under his door.

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M de G

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I just thought she kept better control over what he says than that.

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Mader victim

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Ask someone who has had some interesting email correspondence with her. She can't even control what she says, much less what Shelboo says.

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Bigfoot

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kick

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duh

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no it is not rocket science - it is polymer science

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Invictus

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Hmmm... Casting tolls in plastic & selling them as souvenir paperweights. Now, there's a thought. Economic development at it's finest -- turning garbage into gold!

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Emma

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Invictus, just to let you know that I took your Don McLean/American Pie website reference and sent it out to dozens of friends/colleagues who I thought would enjoy it. I received a really interesting response from a former student who is now an oil and gas landman in Alaska. So, my next post will be his response. Those who are not really interested, please ignore and go to the next post.

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punt

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Punting for all our Eagle Talk friends...

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punt, pass or kick

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moving it up the field

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Harley Kickstarter

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vroom!

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Troll Kicker (Albert, this means YOU!)

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Kicking for Albert.

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Troll Kicker redux

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Kicking for the trolls

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Not a rocket scientist

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Figure it out, folks.

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Troll Troll go away.....

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Ok folks, we know we shouldn't feed the trolls, granted its fun sometimes. But as my dearly departed mamma would say, never get into a battle of wits with an unarmed person.


So, lets take stock shall we?  We know that Albert is a troll, we know that machavelli is a troll, we are pretty sure that WJ Johnson (a, b, and c) are trolls.  And I'm sure there are several others out there who are trolling.


Taken from Trolling 101:  The purpose of a troll is to disrupt the flow of conversation. They offer no supporting evidence to back up their claims (here it is SFT has done wonderful things). They aruge for the sake of arugement. They take us away from the most important thing we are doing so we can pay attention to them.  They try to lead us away from the (God I hate to use this word) 'business' at hand.  Ignore them, they will go away.  They often times turn things around when confronted and attempt to become the victim, (poor poor pitiful me) when in fact they are the ones doing the taunting and usually, but not always, name calling--i.e. whining faculty etc.


Any time we see a post by a troll, we should simply ignore it, don't respond at all. We did give them a nice safe place to post, but they have chosen not to.  Or we can all write this as a response (one will suffice):


Troll Troll go away


Come again some other day



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Hello, Trolls!

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Kicking for the trolls among us....

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LVN

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I've been doing a very good job of ignoring Albert, but USM Sympathizer isn't helping.


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USM Sympathizer

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quote:
Originally posted by: LVN
"I've been doing a very good job of ignoring Albert, but USM Sympathizer isn't helping. "
I actually see some value in engaging the trolls if they want serious engagement.  I also think it's worthwhile to let new visitors to the board realize that we are not at all afraid of Albert's arguments (since he never makes any) and that we are more than willing to debate anyone who wants a serious debate.

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USM Sympathizer

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PS:


By attempting to engage with Albert (rather than simply ignoring him), I think we have helped reveal his as (1) spineless and (2) woefully ignorant, as in his posts about South College as a model for USM.  South College is a "college" in name only.



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USM Sympathizer

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his = him

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Miss Information

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It's so flattering to see my message keep rising to the top like grease on a gravy boat.

Have a happy spring break.

Now, I'm back to tatting those antimacassars.





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LVN

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Oh, of course. I was teasing you.

I'm beginning to think Albert is actually a high school student. A real adult academic would at least make the effort to answer your challenges.

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USM Sympathizer

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quote:
Originally posted by: LVN
"Oh, of course. I was teasing you. I'm beginning to think Albert is actually a high school student. A real adult academic would at least make the effort to answer your challenges."
I agree, LVN.  A real adult OF ANY KIND would answer a direct challenge.  I can't quite understand what Albert is afraid of.  Lisa Mader would write his responses for him if he would just give her a call.  There's a certain sense in which Albert reminds me of that poor fellow who was attacked the other day by the chimp, but I don't want to get too graphic.

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truth4usm/AH

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quote:
Originally posted by: USM Sympathizer
"I agree, LVN.  A real adult OF ANY KIND would answer a direct challenge.  I can't quite understand what Albert is afraid of.  Lisa Mader would write his responses for him if he would just give her a call.  There's a certain sense in which Albert reminds me of that poor fellow who was attacked the other day by the chimp, but I don't want to get too graphic."
Now, don't go inciting any "chimp-on-chimp" violence here, USM Symp! (JUST KIDDING for those newbies among us!).

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4th down, 110 to go

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kick

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truth4usm/AH

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quote:
Originally posted by: 4th down, 110 to go
"kick"

Yep, SSDude is the real thing...a real TROLL!   He's got all the classic features (except that he does not use wanton capitalization...must have missed that lesson in Troll School).  I'm so tired of trolls telling us how we need to conduct ourselves on this board...how rude!  Go start your own board if you don't like it here!


Okay, I feel better now.  And much better that I didn't respond to his post directly (as I did way too much of that last night). 

MUST NOT FEED THE TROLLS!



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