[Vision2020] do you kiss your mother w/that mouth?

[Ron Force]

"Trolling" or invading newsgrooups and mailing lists with insulting and
aggressive posts has been around about as long as the Internet.  One of the
most famous ones was staring a discussion on how to torture and skin kittens
on the "Catfancy" newsgroup. An analysis of trolls was posted at
http://www.advicemeant.com/troll :

What Is A Troll?

The term derives from "trolling", a style of fishing which involves trailing
bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The troll posts a message,
often in response to an honest question, that is intended to upset, disrupt
or simply insult the group.

Usually, it will fail, as the troll rarely bothers to match the tone or
style of the group, and usually its ignorance shows.
Why do trolls do it?

I believe that most trolls are sad people, living their lonely lives
vicariously through those they see as strong and successful.

Disrupting a stable newsgroup gives the illusion of power, just as for a
few, stalking a strong person allows them to think they are strong, too.

For trolls, any response is 'recognition'; they are unable to distinguish
between irritation and admiration; their ego grows directly in proportion to
the response, regardless of the form or content of that response.

Trolls, rather surprisingly, dispute this, claiming that it's a game or
joke; this merely confirms the diagnosis; how sad do you have to be to find
such mind-numbingly trivial timewasting to be funny?

Remember that trolls are cowards; they'll usually post just enough to get an
argument going, then sit back and count the responses (Yes, that's what they
do!).

How can troll posts be recognised?

    * No Imagination - Most are frighteningly obvious; sexist comments on
nurses' groups, blasphemy on religious groups .. I kid you not.
    * Pedantic in the Extreme - Many trolls' preparation is so thorough,
that while they waste time, they appear so ludicrous from the start that
they elicit sympathetic mail - the danger is that once the group takes
sides, the damage is done.
    * False Identity - Because they are cowards, trolls virtually never
write over their own name, and often reveal their trolliness (and lack of
imagination) in the chosen ID. As so many folk these days use false ID, this
is not a strong indicator on its own!
    * Crossposting - Any post that is crossposted to several groups should
be viewed as suspicious, particularly if unrelated or of opposing
perspective. Why would someone do that?
    * Off-topic posting - Often genuine errors, but, if from an 'outsider'
they deserve matter-of-fact response; if genuine, a brief apposite response
is simply netiquette; if it's a troll post, you have denied it its reward.
    * Repetition of a question or statement is either a troll - or a pedant;
either way, treatment as a troll is effective.
    * Missing The Point - Trolls rarely answer a direct question - they
cannot, if asked to justify their twaddle - so they develop a fine line in
missing the point.
    * Thick or Sad - Trolls are usually sad, lonely folk, with few social
skills; they rarely make what most people would consider intelligent
conversation. However, they frequently have an obsession with their IQ and
feel the need to tell everyone. This is so frequent, that it is diagnostic!
Somewhere on the web there must be an Intelligence Test for Trolls - rigged
to always say "above 150"...

**********************************************
Ron Force          Moscow ID USA
rforce at moscow.com
**********************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of Deborah Gray
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 11:23 PM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] do you kiss your mother w/that mouth?


Could people just settle down and quit with the juvenile name calling? The
genitalia? The veiled threats?  The US vs THEM mentality?

WHAT does this have to do with our "vision" of Moscow? It certainly isn't my
vision, it's more like a hideous destructive mantra being played over and
over again! I wouldn't tolerate this behavior from my 6 year old!

And it really makes me wonder how this town can come together and accomplish
anything for the common good without a cyber fistfight breaking out. This
isn't a dialogue, or even a debate. It's like putting Bill O'Reilly and The
Reverend Al Sharpton in a room with 34 pots of espresso and letting them
monologue each other to death.

Have we nothing better to talk about? Something constructive? Oh no, those
topics are mainly ignored in the rush to out-clever the latest nasty post.

Come on people, imagine if you were all in a large meeting room. Would this
garbage be flying out of your mouth?

And I pity the poor fool who lectures me about using the delete key...

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Debbie Gray              dgray at uidaho.edu
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