Tuesday, July 05, 2011

My Troll Problem....

SpeakingNonsenseNon-Stop
WithUtter Conviction Ville

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Update: Thanks everyone for your messages. I have written an update in response to your comments and queries here.
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For the first time ever I have switched on the "comment moderation" feature of this Spotted Blog.

I apologize, but it had to be done. There is no need to read any further unless you require an explanation.

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Before I explain, I need to post the following sceen shot images to enter them into the non-scrubbable public record, both for posterity and illustrative purposes.....



Now, here goes......

Over 10,000 comments have been posted on this small F-Troop-listed blog (the great majority of which disappeared when HaloScream went bust and I refused to pay the ransom to that most loathsome JS-Kit Syndicate to have them released).

And the great majority of those comments have greatly contributed to reasoned, informative and often interesting discussions that I genuinely enjoy, often more so than writing the posts themselves.

A few other times, like when a flock of Bill O'Reilly's flying monkey's came swooping in for a few days, things did get a little heated.

But up until very recently I have never, ever had to ban anyone, and that even includes a few reasonably prominent Blogging Tories who stopped by repeatedly after I had a good bit of back and forth with Kim Bolan of the Vancouver Sun.

But all that has changed now due to the person who generated the "game" outlined in the screen shots above.

These images were taken from a now moth-balled FraserValley turf-toe site that once wurlitzered a videogame in which the person in question asked ideologically like-minded folks to get together and 'Bomb The Hell Out Of The NDP' and the 'socialist hordes'.

That person recently said that the game was a 'hoot' and only directed at "signs and smears, not people".

Now, in my opinion, based on repeated observations, one of this person's current pursuits, quite often after they initially profess reasonableness and concern, is to clog comment threads with pretzel logic and serial bouts of obfuscation that make no sense whatsoever and only serve to muddy the waters.

He does this early and often on sites in the local Bloggodome where people congregate to actually try and discuss provincial politics seriously.

For the most part I choose to ignore this behaviour because I know from experience that you can never get a Troll, especially one of the 'concern' variety, to see reason by feeding him and/or by pointing out demonstrable falsehoods.

Which is all fine and good, and part of the rough and tumble of the B'Dome.

But when this person goes on those other sites and infers, unprovoked, that it is I, rather than him, who is the spinning propagandist bent on denigrating the 'other' and who wishes only to score points in some game that is going on purely inside his head, I will not let that stand.

I also will not allow him to come here and try to spread the discourse-destroying codswallop on thick because he thinks/believes/pretends that first amendment rights apply both in this country and on this blog.

Because I truly believe in the power of discourse, even if it is heated, backed by facts and honestly-arrived at opinion that, while it may expose hypocrisy and political expediency, does not seek to demonize anyone.

Thanks for putting up with the above - We now return you to our regularly-scheduled blogging....

(with moderation).


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For more context on this, for anyone interested, a thorough Fisking that led to a momentary dropping of the mask by the Troll concerned can be found here.

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5 comments:

Leah said...

Josef is the reason I stopped going to Sean's site well over a year ago...and he's also the reason why my roommate stopped supporting the site as well. People don't have to agree in order to discuss...but they should be honest and respectful with others about why they don't see eye to eye. Not possible with JK.

Anonymous said...

Some time ago I enjoyed reading the same site that "Leah" has mentioned. Not only do I find sites such as yours & Sean's interesting, but I also enjoy reading comments because you really get a feel for what people are thinking. All that stopped a long time ago when (JosefK) began polluting the site with his childish rubbish. I admit that I do check every so often and it's interesting that his comments are next to nothing. If Sean had any balls he would ban this idiot. Let's keep him off your site and let's keep it interesting and not a circus show. Thanks for taking the position you chose.

Guy in Victoria

Anonymous said...

Fascinating post Ross! I followed some (or most of) the links and found it amazing that those Move America Forward stooges could actually claim to be non-partisan and in the next breath start listing their enemies (like self loathing liberals etc.)

I sympathize with your difficulty in deciding to moderate. I'm mixed about that in my mind also. On one hand I wish more idiots showed up at my place, as I think their stupidity shines in its own way and explains their wrong headedness much better than I can. Actually I tend to have more trouble with spam for porn sites or how to unlock iPhones than idjits - but so far Google Blogger spam filtering generally automatically deletes (or sends to a spam folder) those. I am notified about all comments, and only rarely do they classify a real comment as spam, which I can then undo.

RossK said...

Thanks everyone for the comments and the tips, pointers and queries.

Sorry to be so slow - was a cigar tube riding day for me.

I'll have a think and get back to you.

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BC Mary said...

I thought the morning comments by 'THE SPECTRE' belong here ... and he/she has given permission for me to re-post his/her thoughts:

I think Rupert Murdoch was actually running a private right-wing spy agency under the cover of a supposedly legitimate British newspaper.

Now that his "cover" has been blown, Rupert is going to sacrifice his loyal staff at the News of the World to protect his dirty Aussie ass.

It was long appreciated that the Soviet media outlets . . . Pravda, Isvestia & Tass ... were actually front-organs for the KGB & GRU in order to operate agents undercover in the West.

So why not a free-enterprise version run for personal fun & profit by a right-wing corporate despot as opposed to a communist one.

The question has to be asked, are Murdoch's media outlets in North America running the same kind of reactionary private Ops here ?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/07/07/newscorp-hacking.html