You know the bit where we don't post funny pictures in the Policy Haus
Isn't that 2003 Barbelith though? Perhaps you've missed my change in attitude whereby I now just post whatever I like for a laugh? It seems to be in keeping with the new barbelith ethos, why don't we just chan it up? As ermintrude and el directo have pointed out in the petition thread, if it's irksome you can always just leave, why pretend the place is what it used to be?
Let's examine your options when faced with offensive trolling;
1. You could move to delete the posts
2. You could put me on ignore, hiding the offensive images.
3. You could start a new board.
4. You could ban me
5. You could attempt to engage with me and persuade me to stop trolling with rational argument
If you can find enough mods to agree 1 or 4 you'd be lucky, 2 tends to disrupt reading pleasure and mashes up threads, 3 is only applicable for particular fora really as the effort involved requires determination and a common cause or interest, a standalone policy board isn't going to attract much traffic. So you're left with 5, attempting to persuade me to post properly with reasonable appeals to my better nature.
That does mean that from my perspective I have all the power here, all I have to do is refuse to change my posting style and you're stuck with the eyebleed. In fact, it's rather like holding court where anyone who doesn't like my posts has to approach me cap in hand and beg for me to stop- aha! Now I see the appeal of trolling, the heady power of forcing people to pay attention to you and ask for things you have the power to give or withhold i.e. putting eyestabbing content on the pages you read.
I'm sure you can see the comparison I'm drawing here with other posters. Of the options available to you when faced with trollish behaviour here in Barbelith 2009, leaving rapidly becomes the most attractive- it's easy to do and instantly rewarding, no more brain pain and no irksome process difficulties.
Now excuse me for teaching you to suck eggs (I'm sure there's an Alex's Grandma joke about trolls to be had there) but this is the slippery slope we've been on for a few years now where the good posters are driven out by the bad. Like the prisoners dilemma where one of the prisoners is a troll, or the tragedy of the commons/car pool lane syndrome, it's an inevitable result that by the aggregate of reasonable individual responses the board ends up expelling the people that make it what it was and retains the people posting rubbish. Individual posters get to the end of their tether and leave, but the infinite supply of trolls just keeps sending reinforcements.
In my humble, most of the posters here are still great, it's only a few troublesome noisemakers that pollute the board- but it only takes one turd in the punchbowl to make it unpalatable if it's impossible to remove.
The Headshop is really the canary in the coal mine for me, it was one of the reasons I joined up but for years now it's just been a diseased appendix (the refrain 'scrub it, boil it, smells like toilet' has stuck with me since you used it) that is not worth posting in. That seems to me to be an indicator of the declining intellectual quality of the discussions to be had, and I am as guilty as anyone of perpetuating the situation- I used to contribute to discussions on the nature of unconscious bias, and the pertinence of epistemology etc. and now I'm posting pics that say 'fuck off', so really I'm an excellent example of the declining standards here. Although I feel I am the same person as five years ago my interaction with the place has certainly changed, and I attribute that to the sea change in the nature of the behaviour of the community rather than my impending mid life crisis.
After a long time attempting to raise the bar and maintain aggressive positivity, I've lost the will to improve or maintain the place like an elastic band that snaps after getting stretched too many times. I still feel a lingering responsibility to the people who still want to use the board so I'm staying on to mod in a sensible manner, but my posting style is no longer that of a concerned and diligent member of a community trying to keep a high standard of debate going, now I'm posting in a convo style as that is more fun.
My decision to post pics here was partly due to my predilection to post pics (I love cat macros) and partly as an escalation response to stallion. I know fighting fire with fire leads to flame wars etc. but after the many, many times I've responded reasonably to trolls (like almost everyone here, attempting to reason with them and raising their game by example etc.) it was just so satisfying to shout textual abuse at one, all the more so because I feel guiltless as it's almost certainly a joke suit so nobody is getting hurt feelings.
Come on Haus, I'm certain that you've shouted swear words at the screen occasionally (maybe right now?) and the urge to flame has gripped you. Can you blame me for succumbing to the sweet taste of responding in kind, replying to shit with shit? Like a social contract- is my responsibility to behave politely to people annulled by their refusal to behave politely to me? Do I have to be nice to people who are nasty?
So to the virtual equivalent, do I have a responsibility to behave appropriately to trolls?
The only reason I can think of is the collateral damage. Since my offence is directed, it's unfair of me to inflict it on innocent bystanders (e.g. you) so maybe I should send some offensive PMs.
Ooh, a thousand words! |
