On Dec 28, 2012, at 1:55 PM, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
These are positions that require integrity and some level of skill,
but mostly the former.
My two cents worth:
The integrity required is the self control to not respond to trolls.
I suggest that the blame for ridiculously long OT troll induced
threads lies not as much with the initiator as with those who respond
to the troll. If there is banning to be done the respondents should
be banned also.
Who is the bigger fool, a troll, or someone who argues with the troll?
It is clearly an option to automatically trash emails from pesky
people, or, if you are afraid you'll miss something to simply read
you want, but - to respond to a troll shows an obvious lack of
integrity, a lack of an appropriate level concern for what you are
doing to other members of the list.
One of the greatest things about this list, and the internet in
general, is the freedom of speech. List moderation should only be
used in extreme circumstances. A little self control by list members
is often enough to discourage trolls. I think Bill Beaty's laissez
faire attitude with regard to moderation is a good and even necessary
approach for this list, which encourages free discussion of science
anomalies.
If a roll tries to bully, control what you post, the best response is
to simply go ahead and post what you want, and ignore any responses
from the troll or bully. If numerous members of the list object, then
that is another matter.
If you feel action is warranted by an ISP, such as Microsoft, Google,
etc. then a few simple googles will show you sites to directly report
abuse to ISPs.
Also, I feel compelled to note the content of vortex has gone down
hill since a bunch of fake email names have showed up. This is a
weak shield for a coward to hide behind, but still it encourages
behavior unbecoming a scientific list. There are many services that
will provide reverse lookup information for email addresses, so it is
ultimately an ineffective ruse. Sometimes merely googleing an email
address will yield the identity. For example, google
([email protected]) quickly yields:
http://www.voiceie.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?
ubb=print_topic;f=1;t=000124
http://tinyurl.com/cre6cfd
which may or may not correctly identify Jojo Jaro as Joseph Hao in
Atlanta.
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"To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.voiceie.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000124
Posted by Joseph Hao (Member # 3289) on June 14, 2004, 02:42 PM:
Any folks out there studying for CCIE Voice Lab in Atlanta?
[snip]
Joseph
CCIE #9273
[email protected]"
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In any case it seems to me the response to a troll should be to not
respond, the response to frauds the opposite, to expose every flaw,
and warn off victims. To bullies the response should be to do what
you want and ignore the bully. The response to truly disruptive and
egregious or unlawful behavior should be to use the tools provided by
ISPs. The response to bad behavior under fake identities is perhaps
to expose the identity - which has worked well here in the past to
eliminate nonsense from a guy from down under if I recall. 8^)
That's my 2 cents worth, from a member of the list for over 15 years.
Resuming lurk mode.
Best Regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
