Nuxx:C08a306c-ebe2-4674-ae7d-09eff223da23@t11g2000vbc.googlegroups.com

Path: num2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!num1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!number.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!postnews.google.com!t11g2000vbc.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Message-ID:  From: Nuxx Bar  Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: Ignoring the "Trolls" Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:01:59 -0700 (PDT) Lines: 36 Organization: http://groups.google.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.156.150.242 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1245351719 9123 127.0.0.1 (18 Jun 2009 19:01:59 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:01:59 +0000 (UTC) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: t11g2000vbc.googlegroups.com; posting-host=81.156.150.242; posting-account=7_6kYAkAAABD6HrjM0VxehwvZOKMxm4g User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.11) Gecko/2009060215 Firefox/3.0.11 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729),gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Bytes: 3253 Xref: perfectly-safe.chapmancentral.co.uk uk.rec.cycling:710583

Over the years I have been a regular on many different forums which have suffered from trolling. IME it has always been very easy to get people to ignore the trolls, and usually that does the trick and the trolls stop posting.

Yet some of the regulars here have reported repeatedly trying, and failing, to get people to ignore the likes of Judith and me, who are referred to by some as "trolls". So why has it proven so difficult to get people to ignore us? Could it be, just maybe, because we're not actually trolls? Could it be that while it's relatively easy to ignore what a troll says, because it's provocative, vacuous crap which adds nothing to the discussion and just wastes everyone's time, it's harder to ignore what Judith and I say, because it *does* actually add to the discussion and we repeatedly make very good and interesting points which are more than worthy of replies and debate?

This group has a real problem with people who wish to believe that just because someone disagrees with them on certain subjects, their opinions and posts must be worthless and they must be a "troll". That simply isn't the case. Just because you don't like someone, and wish to kid yourself and others that they're a "troll" in order to make yourself feel better, it doesn't mean that they *are* a "troll", and it doesn't mean that you can make people ignore them in the same way that you can a real troll.

I suggest that these people accept that some people disagree with them, and some of those people will post on URC. Wishing that they were "trolls" and trying to treat them as such won't really help things. Surely it's better to engage with them properly and show them why they're so wrong (if you *really* believe they're wrong, and you don't have some hidden anti-car agenda, in which case you can hardly blame anyone but yourself if you feel that that agenda is in danger of being exposed). You can't just act as if something's the case simply because you'd like it to be. That's what people with mental problems do, and other than Spindrift, I don't think anyone here is *that* far gone.