About 'fighting' on message boards & trolls ...

[Smiles]

For once I totally agree with splitting and moving topics. Good job Moderators.

There does come a point where obsessive back-and-forths get so far out of hand they cast a grey pall over the Board in general. In this particular case it's this Gone Fishing / John / Botting / And all 'Others' battle which has lowered itself into a sewer of it's own making, for little apparent reason or enlightenment, except perhaps ego and pointmanship ( http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/fo ... 15230.html ) .

The pall is added to ~ in other threads and topics ~ by the appearance of obvious trolls. They pop up out of nowhere, often in groups (coincidence? I doubt it), and spray shit bombs in every direction ... never adding to the Board's general interest or general intelligence, never adding decent topics of their own, always (without exception) concentrating on denigrating, insulting, winding up, and generally using posts to create annoyance, hatred, and unease on the Board.

I was for many years of the opinion that trolls are inevitable on message boards and that often they add touches of humour, and ~ specifically here ~ add to the general tinge of edginess which has come to characterize and make Sawatdee stand out a bit from the rest of the Boards: Ting Tong is so happy/happy and One-Big-Family at times it makes me cringe (and I do like the Board). It stands for trolls not at all, and bans them immediately. GayThailand is 300% over moderated and postings dominated by 4 or 5 folks. Trolls banned immediately. Baht-Stop is a Hedda vanity experiment, weighed down heavily by pseudo intellectuality, and frankly, an uneasy "things-I-hate-about-Thailand" superiority complex ... trolls are unknown there as there is not even a pinch of humour there.

So Sawatdee attracts trolls because of it's very nature: i.e. open all the time, to all, post what you want, and employs the weird, eccentric, the over-sensitive, the thin-skinned. Although some folks have in their mind that a member who posts a point of view opposite to their own thoughts ~ and pushes that opposition sometimes to extreme ~ are trolls . . . that is not the case.
Trollism has nothing whatsoever to do with members getting into arguments, or displaying bad tempers. Trollism is specifically about registering on a message board ~ any message board ~ with the intention of winding up it's members by posting replies which they know are bound to attract re-replies of horror and angst among a certain number of other members who are fully open to being manipulated in that way. Trolls smell this type of member intuitively. They read the Board for awhile seeking out this type of member. Then, soon, they zone in that type and troll their messages every which way. They create bad feelings among other members ... they watch their trollings line people up on opposing sides ... they disease the Board with rancour. And they do it all on purpose.

Anyway, I've come around to the feeling that it might well be time to ban trolls outright, right off the bat. I didn't necessarily believe it before (baring some very obvious trolls who had destruction in mind), but I think now that in general it's better for the Board as a whole.

I enjoy a Board where folks speak their minds about gay Thailand (and other issues in other Forums) with no holds barred. I wouldn't wish that 'philosophy' to change.
But trolls don't care about Thailand (ever see a troll start his own thread on some topic of general interest about his experiences in Thailand?) They don't care about 'issues'. And they don't care about fellow members of any Board. So it's no skin off any of our asses to fire their asses outta here . . . every time they fart.


Cheers ...

Similar Threads:

• Thailand Message Boards on the decline
• Ban the Trolls
• The Wealth of Message Boards ...
• Trolls
• Fighting Back

[dave_tf-old]

I don't mean to get all Bill Clinton on you, but there are trolls, and there is trollism--but can't there also be valid posts by assumed trolls as well as trollish posts by otherwise valid posters? I could name two individuals right now that fit these descriptions (in my opinion).

To me, the act of moderation on a message board has to do with content, not personalities. The internet Gods gave moderators the ability to edit, delete, and move posts. While they also gave them the ability to banish posters, they did not give them a way to keep them from coming back into the Garden time after time after time.

We apparently have several members adept at spotting trolls, but do we have any with the wisdom to deal with trollishness?

Just asking.

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

" trolls, and trollism"..I think they add to the board in a manner as they tend to get shot down pretty quickly ( the real trolls that is) and can add to the amusement.

I mean it's not a Catholic gels boarding school here is it ?

however agree with your definition of the matter..but look at poor Hedda's board. He attacks anyone with an opinion which doesn't sgree with his or indeed..any new member ! You have to be a bit careful not to frighten off new members..otherwise all you end up with is a completely boring board like Fart Stop with Hedda's preaching and the witless Uncle Sam saying he he he all the time !

ps : all news is gossip and all gossip is news..bar or otherwise !!

[Bob]

I could name two individuals right now that fit these descriptions (in my opinion).

Ah, come on, name them! :cheers: And I'm surprised, Khun Dawit, you could only name two....hehe..

We apparently have several members adept at spotting trolls, but do we have any with the wisdom to deal with trollishness?

Geez, if wisdom is a requirement here, somebody might toss my backside outta here.


I don't approach this whole topic with anything other than a simple, practical, approach based on the notion that the person that owns the site makes the rules. The owner isn't required to make rules consistent with any civil liberties or any rules that a majority or any individual likes. Of course, we also retain the right to make judgments about owners who allow idiots to continually dine at their tables.

The very few trolls that are allowed to stink up this place (oh yes, you know who you are and so do the majority of posters) should just celebrate that I don't own or moderate the board as your dead asses would be out of here in a nano second.

For once I totally agree with splitting and moving topics. Good job Moderators.

As do I - although I would have been happier to see both parts moved here!

Smiles,

yesterday I repeated that there "is no longer any "battle" - "petulant", "little" or "raging" and asked you "What part of "it ends here" are you and JB unable to understand or accept?"

The answer appears to be all of it, as Mind The Gap opened his first post after his brief absence with a quick dig at me and you still seem to enjoy taking the opportunity to stir the pot while giving the impression of being detached and aloof.

The one post that stands out above all others, on this post and any connected to it, is that by Dave tf:

"To me, the act of moderation on a message board has to do with content, not personalities."

If only that were true .....

[Smiles]

Gone-F, I too agree with Dave-tf and Lunch and yourself on many levels . . . and I certainly have in the past. I don't like over-moderation of message boards as a general principle.

It's just on one particular issue (the regular infestation of trolls .. i.e. my own personal definition of them, as above) which has made me start thinking about a better way to deal with behavior which at it's heart has Board destruction in mind. I raised this topic to get other folks' thoughts on it ... and it looks like there are some. Good.

Cheers ...

I too agree with Dave-tf and Lunch and yourself on many levels . . . and I certainly have in the past. I don't like over-moderation of message boards as a general principle.

Smiles, ditto (to all!)

It's just on one particular issue (the regular infestation of trolls .. i.e. my own personal definition of them, as above) which has made me start thinking about a better way to deal with behavior which at it's heart has Board destruction in mind.

Ditto again, in principle - the problem is that, at least as far as I know, no-one anywhere has yet been able to positively identify them "outright, right off the bat". If you can find a way then patent it - it could be quite a money spinner!

[francois]

Sometimes trolls can be amusing and most can spot them as their postings are absurde. Although a certain gay gentleman takes the bait every time. Recent trolls seem to be knowledgeable of events in Thailand and of members of the forums. As if they are Jekyll and Hydes. Legitimate under one name and trolling under another. Once bitten by a troll one can sense their pres├йnce. Un sixi├иme sens!

[jinks]

Un sixi├иme sens!

Bob and I have a 7th 8th and 9th.

In my experience the word "troll" is generally used to denote someone whose opinion the writer does not like. I don't approve of banning anyone. If you don't like what's being written, put the writer on {Ignore}