How the troll problem was solved on a different board

[Guest]

 

[DéjàNu]

wow no more unreg!!!


lol

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I don't see how that could be accurate. What if the guy is posting at a Univeristy. Wouldn't ANYONE else posting from a terminal at that college be listed under the first guys "other posts"?

 

[His_kitty]

I don't see how that could be accurate. What if the guy is posting at a Univeristy. Wouldn't ANYONE else posting from a terminal at that college be listed under the first guys "other posts"?

Good point. Also not everyone has only one isp. I know that I do not. Not to mention those who post from their computer at work and then go home and post from there as well.

But I do think that it would slow down the problems to some degree.

 

[Guest]

 

[DéjàNu]

I don't see how that could be accurate. What if the guy is posting at a Univeristy. Wouldn't ANYONE else posting from a terminal at that college be listed under the first guys "other posts"?

Like everyone who is using phone modem... they change ISP every time they connect. It could be a way to minimize unreg but only for a short period of time. Another way could be to put a cookie but the Troll must not know a lot on computer to always accept them.

Their is not really any solutions for Trolls.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

But, see, the whole reason Laurel allows Unregistered posts is specifically so people can post anonymously, without anyone associating the post with their Registered name, which gives them the freedom to say something unpopular and not be hounded for it.

 

[Guest]

I'll tell ya, it was damned funny

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: How the troll problem was solved on a different board

 

[The Heretic]

Like everyone who is using phone modem... they change ISP every time they connect.

Using NAT, which many ISPs do whether you have broadband or dialup, you could still get a dynamic IP.

But as I stated in another thread, it doesn't matter; generally your IP address does not change once you are logged on, so if you were switching back and forth between different aliases, the IP would remain the same for that session.

Their is not really any solutions for Trolls.

Spelling buddy says "there".

Actually there are a number of partial solutions that used together would cut down on trolling so far as to make it almost a non-problem:

1) Starting with the solution "The Fray" tried and abandoned; you could use an encrypted hash algorithm that gave the same unique ID (number, alpha, or alpha-numeric) for a particular IP addy. This would not expose the IP since it would be an encrypted hash, but would remain the same for any given IP addy. Anyway, I don't think publishing an IP addy is illegal or incurs any liability - the IP addy is exposed to any website you go to, and a lot of websites will tell you your IP addy, but hashing and encrypting it would get around that.

This solution would help cut down on trolls a lot, but it wouldn't stop someone who is determined as there are ways around it - if you are knowledgeable. Fortunately most trolls are pretty pathetic - both in the fact that they are stupid and that they don't have a life.

2) You could disallow unregistered posters. This has nothing to do free speech or fear of recrimination; I have four different aliases here and if I hadn't told people that they were mine then, without implementing something like #1, there would be no way to say they are mine anymore than if I posted unregistered. Sure Laurel or Manu could trace them back to me, but they can trace back an unregistered post too - via its IP. So what it the difference? None really - just a perception that it is anonymous, because it really isn't - not to Laurel & Manu, and a registered alias is just as anonymous (without something like #1, which Lit. doesn't have). If I ran a forum like this and had people abusing the unregistered alias, I would disallow it in a heartbeat.

3) Lit. moderators could enforce the rules against harrassment and posting of personal info. So far I have only seen the personal info removed - I have yet to see anybody banned for harrassment or posting personal info. By harrassment I mean making threats of physical violence.

4) Add a new rule - fuck with the board by making nuisance threads or posts that clearly are intended to fuck with the board, results in banishment. By fucking with the board I mean making multiple threads one after another with the intention of filling up the first page, making thread titles that screw up the alignment of the forum display - stuff like that. You know it when you see it.

5) THis is the hardest one of all, but it would be the most effective; ignoring the trolls. Unfortunately, there are people here who just won't do that. They think it is fun to fuck with trolls, or they think it is their duty to fuck with them or make them see the light. These people don't care or know that they are almost as bad as the trolls themselves. If we would just do some self-policing none of the other more forceful remedies would be necessary, but I guess you just can't change human nature.

 

[Freya]

Re: Re: Re: How the troll problem was solved on a different board

The only deaths were of those who died of embarrassment at being unmasked.

It was a thing of beauty, really.

Lioness

I would so love to see that happen here.

 

[Calamity Jane]

While I totally sympathize with people who are trolled, and speaking as someone who has never actualy been trolled...

why should there be all of this attention/effort applied to getting rid of trolls? Yeah, they're annoying and they say hurtful things. So do we all now and then.

You can't define 'Troll' in a way that's going to satisfy everyone.

This is a public board that values free speech more than anywhere I've been on the net. Banning people for being assholes is not going to perpetuate free speech.

My suggestion, ignore the people who you think should be banned and get over the rest.

 

[Guest]

 

[Freya]

While I totally sympathize with people who are trolled, and speaking as someone who has never actualy been trolled...

why should there be all of this attention/effort applied to getting rid of trolls? Yeah, they're annoying and they say hurtful things. So do we all now and then.

You can't define 'Troll' in a way that's going to satisfy everyone.

This is a public board that values free speech more than anywhere I've been on the net. Banning people for being assholes is not going to perpetuate free speech.

My suggestion, ignore the people who you think should be banned and get over the rest.

It's not a matter of banning anyone. People should never be banned for expressing an opinion - whether positive or negative. It's a matter of hiding behind a mask pretending to be something ro somebody they aren't, meanwhile spewing hurtful or rude things to people behind the safety of Unregistered.

 

[The Heretic]

5) THis is the hardest one of all, but it would be the most effective; ignoring the trolls. Unfortunately, there are people here who just won't do that. They think it is fun to fuck with trolls, or they think it is their duty to fuck with them or make them see the light. These people don't care or know that they are almost as bad as the trolls themselves. If we would just do some self-policing none of the other more forceful remedies would be necessary, but I guess you just can't change human nature.

I forgot to mention an additional solution that would help with #5:

6) Make it possible for people to truly ignore an alias by making it possible to not have their posts and/or threads appear if you chose. I think this along with using a unique ID suggestion (outlined in #1)for each poster would pretty much eliminate the complaint of trolls.

 

[greybeard]

5) THis is the hardest one of all, but it would be the most effective; ignoring the trolls. Unfortunately, there are people here who just won't do that. They think it is fun to fuck with trolls, or they think it is their duty to fuck with them or make them see the light. These people don't care or know that they are almost as bad as the trolls themselves. If we would just do some self-policing none of the other more forceful remedies would be necessary, but I guess you just can't change human nature. [/B]

I think this is all a non issue................post where and when you want, ignore those you feel are inapropriate.............it's that old personal responsibility thing............

greybeard

 

[DarkAngel]

and then?

 

[Guest]

 

[The Heretic]

You can't define 'Troll' in a way that's going to satisfy everyone.

we don't have to.

This is a public board that values free speech more than anywhere I've been on the net. Banning people for being assholes is not going to perpetuate free speech.

Ever hear of newsgroups? You can pretty much say whatever you want there. The difference is that NGs have killfiles so you can totally ignore someone. The other difference is that they have degraded to such a total free-for-all that most people won't participate in them. Lit. is getting to the point where trolls drive people away - just as they have in NGs. NGs have been taken over by trolls, and now their posts vastly outnumber others - do you want that to happen to Lit.?

We've been over this before, but the "free-speech" argument is not valid:

1) It doesn't exist here; we already have rules about what you can and can't say - nobody under 18 can be here, no sex stories depicting anybody under 18, no posting of personal info, etc.

2) Lit. would not infringe on your right to free speech by restriciting content here - you can post that content anywhere else you want.

3) You can say whatever you want, but I shouldn't have to listen to it if I don't want to. There are a number of ways that I already outlined that would make people accountable, yet preserve anonymity, and a number of other ways to cut down on the noise for those of us that tire of it.

It all comes down to how much Laurel & Manu wish to allow to go on here, and what balance they wish to strike between signal and noise. My problem with Lit. is that noise is increasing and people are leaving due to that noise - which I suspect at least one troll actually wants.

 

[Guest]

 

[SexyChele]

I think this is all a non issue................post where and when you want, ignore those you feel are inapropriate.............it's that old personal responsibility thing............

greybeard

Yeah, what he said

 

[The Heretic]

I think this is all a non issue................post where and when you want, ignore those you feel are inapropriate.............it's that old personal responsibility thing............

greybeard

The problem is that trolls are the online equivalent to noise. An analogy would be an office with multiple people each playing their own music through speakers. Everybody can hear what other people are playing. So I complain to my boss and he/she says "just ignore it". Yeah right.

I can get headphones or earplugs - but some of the noise still gets in, and the headphones are a nuisance - especially if I want to talk to someone else over the din.

A much better solution would be to tell everyone they can play music, but they have to all use headphones so others who don't care to hear their music don't have to. Several of my proposed solutions are analogous to that - such that I would have to see the trolls posts or threads at all, or even any post made in reply to them. If I am ignoring someone, why should I have to deal with seeing their threads, posts, or posts in reply to them? It clutters up the board and is the equivalent to noise.

 

[The Heretic]

And Ish intimated that some attempt might be on to really wreak havoc on the board. That's a little beyond trolling, if it's true.

That is another problem with trolls; some people retaliate and innocent bystanders get caught up in the cross fire.