begin oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> __/ [ Mark Kent ] on Monday 05 June 2006 08:36 \__
>
>> begin oe_protect.scr
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> __/ [ GreyCloud ] on Monday 05 June 2006 06:33 \__
>>>
>>>> Chirag Shukla wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> 5. Ewik 'the Weasel' Funkenbusch [4] 79 111170
>>>>>> 51%
>>>>>>
>>>>>> <snip />
>>>
>>> If you look at a recent subsample of threads, you will see that the
>>> most-replied to [News] items involve Microsoft in one way of another. I
>>> can think of an explanation, but it's not something that will change.
>>>
>>> I often think about posting pure Linux material, but I don't think it will
>>> have any takers. For that reason, I just blog about it. There, for
>>> example, is something I posted half an hour ago:
>>>
>>> http://schestowitz.com/Weblog/archives/2006/06/05/i-love-kde/
>>>
>>> I don't know about COLA readers, but active COLA posters are unlikely to
>>> show much interest in such item. I would love to be proven
>>> wrong/otherwise.
>>>
>>
>> We have a lot of pure linux advocacy threads, but we also have a
>> tremendous number of trolls who just, well, troll. flatty, billwg,
>> ErikF, Tim Smith and many many others (including nyms, especially
>> flatty's) come up on a regular basis with posts which typically attempt
>> to attribute windows problems to linux, or directly attack linux
>> (wrongly, in general), or just promote MS.
>>
>> Personally I continue to advocate the view that troll-feeding is a bad
>> idea, and Roy C's stats do highlight those who do it, as well as
>> highlighting the trolls. In the same way that your newspostings cause
>> our trolls to complain, so do Roy's stats. The fact that both are
>> complaining suggests to me that you're both doing the right thing.
>>
>> Grey's p*ssed off because Roy called him on deliberate misquoting, which
>> by accepted netiquette rules, really isn't on.
>
> ...Point taken and to a great extent agreed upon. I have defended Roy C in
> this context several times in the past and I also know Grey's motive for
> opposing Culley (yes, I was there when/where it happened). That said, I am
> not too sure that echoing the names of trolls truly helps. They are not
> ashamed of it. They almost take pride in the fact that they truly disrupt
> the discussions in this group and justify unflattering labels. That's just
> their motive.
I fully agree that it won't change the behaviour of the trolls, however,
very importantly, it does highlight to any drive-by denizen who to take
seriously and who not, so by that metric, it's effective.
>
> I am not sure that it's all that effective. You see, I had arguments with
> houghi in the SuSE newsgroup because I generate stats for that newsgroup.
> He rightly had me convinced to manually drop (as in erase) trolls,
> crossposters, and even posters who wish to remain anonymous (this included
> houghi).
Well, if they're your stats, then in the end, it's your call as to what
you do there. If you wish to accommodate such requests, then you can,
of course.
> I am beginning to wonder if the best way to treat the trolls is
> to treat them as invisible, i.e. never to reply to them; never to list
> them in the stats; even killfile them. They are redundant because of their
> perversive nature. When I began ignoring trolls, this place became much
> more welcoming.
I have a lot of sympathy for that view, and I do use the power of slrn's
scoring method quite heavily to filter up/down different people and
sometimes different threads. Some people, like k-man are filtered by
leafnode, so don't even hit my spool, of course.
That said, I think Roy's stats go a little further, in that they do
encourage a certain positive style, and tend to discourage troll-feeding,
but there have been and probably always will be troll-feeders, I suggest
that they probably play for the other team... why else give trolls a
platform? Hey, I came 2nd in the 'quality posting' list this week, so
it must be good :-))
Of course, this is usenet, and if people don't like Roy's stats, then
they don't have to read them, either.
We're getting some new characters in at the moment, but at least one of
them seems to be one of the 'bullsh1tter' types. I've met many of them
over the years, they're arrogant enough to think that I don't recall
what they said yesterday, or last week, so they can just deny things,
Erik F style. Unfortunately, not only do I remember, but I can easily
search back and find them, too. A few years ago, I would've gone back
and found the relevant bits, now I just kfile.
>
> Dr. Strangelove slant: "How I learned to stop replying to trolls and love
> Linux".
>
Hehe...
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
Isn't it strange that the same people that laugh at gypsy fortune
tellers take economists seriously?
|
|
