Why can’t we call out trolls for trolling? I know the answer will be “address the post, not the poster” but that is clearly ineffective advice.
In so many threads, posters will troll threads with “hur hur TDS” “hur hur sheople” “hur hur Trump is cool” among other deflections. A many times, those troll deflections (you have TDS, ur a sheople) ADDRESS THE POSTER breaking the rules. These posters aren’t interested in discussing the thread. They come to threads to derail and deflect away from the topic at hand. And very often, their deflections are veiled personal attacks to skirt the rules. And they’re getting away with it.
We’re not allowed to call them out for trolling, but when those posts are flagged, at worst, they’re deleted and the troll continues to get away with trolling.
I’m proposing that “trolling” be treated the same as personal attacks. Silences, sanctions, time outs, ban, etc. It’s impossible to have discussions when there’s a faction of posters whose only interest is deflection and trolling.
If our only recourse is going to be to flag their posts, and not call them out, then there needs to be teeth behind the flags. Simply deleting the posts, with no follow up when the person keeps doing it (and there are posters here who almost entirely spend their time trolling) isn’t sufficient.
An alternate solution is to quit sanctioning people for calling out trolling. We shouldn’t be punished for publicly calling out someone who has no interest in participating in a discussion of the topic of a thread-
Again, the problem is that trolls just keep on trolling, and there are no consequences to that poster beyond the deletion of their post.
Honestly I would simply prefer what we had back on the other forum where fewer posts got moderated, but it was easier to just ignore people who constantly make it clear they have no real interest in discussion and are only around to troll. That clearly doesn’t seem like it is ever going to happen though, so instead we get to deal with the current iteration where many conservative posters are off spewing their “true thoughts” elsewhere, return here only to troll and bait people, and then mass flag threads to get them locked.
I’m not sure what the solution is. What I do know is that is definitely what happened in that Nielsen thread last night that ended up seeing 2/3 of it’s posts deleted. What I also know is that when a forum increasingly seems to be filled with one side acting in completely bad faith it feels sort of pointless to even look at it anymore. And that is unfortunate, because I’ve definitely had some fun and learned a great deal during my years around here.
The Nielson thread had already devolved into a Trump bashing free for all when I showed up. I decided to join in the fun with a single post in response to an obvious Trump bashing post. I derailed nothing remotely related to the OP subject matter.
Following my single post, I was done and ready to move on. But not surprisingly many decided to pile on, resulting in me responding to each individual in kind. The quickest way to deal with my occasional posts about Trump bashing is to simply not respond. If no one responds to me, I will take the hint and that will be the end of it.
Wouldn’t this be the appropriate place for me to defend my position? In any case, I clearly stated that I would respond to anyone who would engage me. If you have no interest in furthering this discussion, wouldn’t it be best to simply not respond to my posts?
Most are. But as I clearly stated earlier, I don’t jump into every thread with my Trump bashing schtick. I only do so occasionally. I also jump into threads to discuss substantive subject matter on a more frequent basis.
I was not there for most of that thread and woke up to it being locked so whether you were involved I cannot say.
What I can say is that you show up in a lot of threads and do nothing more than declare TDS over and over and over and over again rather than just refraining from posting in the thread in the first place since all you’re going to add is TDS TDS. That style of posting is certainly part of the problem I’m talking about right now.
And that style posting is part of a larger problem on the Forum right now. It just clogs up threads and deliberately intends to prevent substantive discussions from from happening.
If you look back at my posting history you will find that I do engage in more substantive discussion, free of the Trump bashing stuff. I only rarely jump into the middle of a Trump bashing free for all. Not surprisingly those are the most memorable because of the resulting pile on.
All it takes is to take one or two of the posts that directly discussed Nielson and simply responded to those posts. Ignore the rest.
There are a lot of threads where posters come in a try to change the discussion. Its easy to ignore them. And if the thread isn’t what you hoped it would be, don’t chime in. Move onto another thread. Or add your two cents to the actual thread and if no one engages you the way you want, ignore and move on.
A lot of posters get it, any knock on the President is TDS.
The best part of this era is that our own president would not be allowed to post on the Sean Hannity message board. All because of his posting style and what he says.
Just posting TDS and please don’t stop adds nothing to the conversation and seems like an action to make the poster feel better about Trump’s actions. Defending him all the time must be hard.
