How will the trolls be handled?

CLT Heel

CLT Heel

Exceptional Member
ZZL Supporter
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143
First of all, thank you Rock Chalk for creating this board!!

I’ve started the transition over here from zzlp, and it will only be sped along now that they have basically thrown the board to the wolves and refuse to do any moderation at all now, it seems.

I anticipate that some of the “bad actors” will attempt to make their way over here to try to operate in bad faith like they are doing over on the original board. How will they be handled here? Will there be moderators? Will they get warnings? Do we have the ability to report people? Maybe I missed a thread that outlines some of this info, and if so, I apologize. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having people with opposing viewpoints, as long as they are operating in good faith and dont try to troll the threads.
 
Clt Heel said:
First of all, thank you Rock Chalk for creating this board!!

I’ve started the transition over here from zzlp, and it will only be sped along now that they have basically thrown the board to the wolves and refuse to do any moderation at all now, it seems.

I anticipate that some of the “bad actors” will attempt to make their way over here to try to operate in bad faith like they are doing over on the original board. How will they be handled here? Will there be moderators? Will they get warnings? Do we have the ability to report people? Maybe I missed a thread that outlines some of this info, and if so, I apologize. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having people with opposing viewpoints, as long as they are operating in good faith and dont try to troll the threads.
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Violators will have their houses crushed by Oatmeal
 
Warning then three day ban for the troll as well as warning and 1 day warning for person that responds like a horse's keister to the troll.
Warning and one day ban for the people that constantly complain about trolls when really they just don't agree with a poster.
 
The Ignore feature here is MUCH better than the previous board. I applied a personal banhammer to calla and haven't seen any more of his contrarian troll posts, even when he's quoted. It's glorious. It's like he has nothing to say. Before, he figuratively had nothing to say. Now, it's literally.

Use Ignore. It lowers the blood pressure and keeps the conversation focused and on track.
 
Clt Heel said:
First of all, thank you Rock Chalk for creating this board!!

I’ve started the transition over here from zzlp, and it will only be sped along now that they have basically thrown the board to the wolves and refuse to do any moderation at all now, it seems.

I anticipate that some of the “bad actors” will attempt to make their way over here to try to operate in bad faith like they are doing over on the original board. How will they be handled here? Will there be moderators? Will they get warnings? Do we have the ability to report people? Maybe I missed a thread that outlines some of this info, and if so, I apologize. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having people with opposing viewpoints, as long as they are operating in good faith and dont try to troll the threads.
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Great question! I did plan on addressing this today in a reworked Welcome thread with a guide to explain how a few things work around here and talk about that.

First, anyone who is blatantly attacking the forum and its users will be swiftly banned. It's even automatic in the event I or future moderators are not around. This kind of trolling is posting repeated obscene messages/slurs/profanity or images or the like. Basically, anyone walking by and glancing at the screen would know this person is a bad egg.

Here is where the community discussion part comes in. I have been posting on Internet forums for 25+ years now, I think I have a pretty good handle on things. My definition of a troll is someone who deliberately agitates the user base with how they post. Whether they believe what they are saying or they are disingenuous or they know they are lying or whatever, it is readily apparent they are upsetting the herd. With politics and conservative versus liberal it adds some nuance.

If the majority of this forum falls into one camp or another and someone of the opposite persuasion comes along and pisses everyone off, are they a troll?

Well, an enormous tool that we have in our arsenal that was not available on 247 is this boards actual functioning ignore feature. If you feel someone is trolling or they are annoying you, click on their name and ignore them. Poof. They are gone. You will never see or hear from them again. You won't see them in quoted text, you won't see threads started by them, you will never, ever see their name or content on the forum. It is as though they never existed.

So, with this level of ignore, trolls are often self moderated because they simply don't get the reaction they crave because everyone has ignored them and then they just leave.

That said, trolls still need to be addressed aside from just ignoring and you guys definitely have more of a pulse on what the ZZL/IC community prefers so please let me know.
 
I would like to second the suggestion advanced elsewhere (and one that I independently posted on the other board) that the standard should be "don't be a dick" (my version was Be Considerate).

Trolling is one type of being a dick.
 
Do you want this to become a vibrant and interesting site, reminiscent of the old zzl? Or do you want it to morph into a protected domain of a handful of like-minded poasters, similar to the last few years of the zzlp? Honest questions.

I prefer the former. Less moderation fosters a greater expression of ideas and, to me, a much more enjoyable and entertaining site experience. I recognize the need for some level of moderation (no porn, no death threats, no illegal activity) but censoring others’ political viewpoints or ideas will eventually and inevitably lead to the latter option above. Plus, for those that don’t really “LOVE LOVE LOVE” to hear opposing viewpoints (looking at you CLT), the ignore button should be a sufficient defense against reading someone else’s hurtful ideas:)

Honest to God, it’s hard for me to understand these calls and absolute longing for more moderation by some folks. Very hard to understand.
 
Croatoan said:
Do you want this to become a vibrant and interesting site, reminiscent of the old zzl? Or do you want it to morph into a protected domain of a handful of like-minded poasters, similar to the last few years of the zzlp? Honest questions.

I prefer the former. Less moderation fosters a greater expression of ideas and, to me, a much more enjoyable and entertaining site experience. I recognize the need for some level of moderation (no porn, no death threats, no illegal activity) but censoring others’ political viewpoints or ideas will eventually and inevitably lead to the latter option above. Plus, for those that don’t really “LOVE LOVE LOVE” to hear opposing viewpoints (looking at you CLT), the ignore button should be a sufficient defense against reading someone else’s hurtful ideas:)

Honest to God, it’s hard for me to understand these calls and absolute longing for more moderation by some folks. Very hard to understand.
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Good points
Buy you have to admit the ol site just got infested by Dicks that wanted to troll and fight
 
Croatoan said:
Do you want this to become a vibrant and interesting site, reminiscent of the old zzl? Or do you want it to morph into a protected domain of a handful of like-minded poasters, similar to the last few years of the zzlp? Honest questions.

I prefer the former. Less moderation fosters a greater expression of ideas and, to me, a much more enjoyable and entertaining site experience. I recognize the need for some level of moderation (no porn, no death threats, no illegal activity) but censoring others’ political viewpoints or ideas will eventually and inevitably lead to the latter option above. Plus, for those that don’t really “LOVE LOVE LOVE” to hear opposing viewpoints (looking at you CLT), the ignore button should be a sufficient defense against reading someone else’s hurtful ideas:)

Honest to God, it’s hard for me to understand these calls and absolute longing for more moderation by some folks. Very hard to understand.
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I tend to agree with most of what you said here. I tend to think that less moderation is better than more moderation, with the obvious notable exception of- as you astutely pointed out- porn, threats of violence, etc.

I will just add, though, that I think that for the health of the community, the kind of trolling, flame-throwing, baiting, etc. that is currently going on over at the old ZZLP as we speak is a precise example of what we *should* heavily moderate here. And that's not to say that it's all right-wingers or Trumpers doing the flame-throwing. There's a left-wing poster over there right now, GatorSedatorMD, who has been every bit as bad and "in the wrong" as the folks doing the same from the right-wing. But that type of devolution of conversation destroys threads and ultimately destroys the board, and I think that we should be heavy-handed when it comes to people who are baiting and trolling for the sole sake of being disruptive. And I think it's like when Justice Potter Stewart said "I know it when I see it."
 
mpaer said:
Good points
Buy you have to admit the ol site just got infested by Dicks that wanted to troll and fight
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Admitted, but unbothered by it. I reckon it’s a free political message board populated by poasters that represent all the stuff that makes people so fascinating; you’re going to get that kind of thing. I’d simply prefer to act as my own filter for what I consume and from whom I consume it as opposed to someone else filtering it for me.
 
If you remember Troll's Bar in Chapel Hill and its bouncers, this site has the even more formidable AI Terminator bouncers.
 
sunnyheel said:
The dilemma is whether to allow hate speech and the challenge is how that is defined. 🍿
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I like super's definition for all posters-left or right . Some people are dicks-consistently . Ban them . All of us have a bad day or two
Recent post from Riverheel
Media is more evil than democrats.....the country is so screwed....
Who wants to discuss with this guy??
 
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I looked at the Duke board's rules and they looked pretty good.

But it really comes down to moderation. You can have rules like no trolling or hate speech but if its enforced unevenly, you're just going to get some uninteresting group think.
 
Clt Heel said:
First of all, thank you Rock Chalk for creating this board!!

I’ve started the transition over here from zzlp, and it will only be sped along now that they have basically thrown the board to the wolves and refuse to do any moderation at all now, it seems.

I anticipate that some of the “bad actors” will attempt to make their way over here to try to operate in bad faith like they are doing over on the original board. How will they be handled here? Will there be moderators? Will they get warnings? Do we have the ability to report people? Maybe I missed a thread that outlines some of this info, and if so, I apologize. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having people with opposing viewpoints, as long as they are operating in good faith and dont try to troll the threads.
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Part of the problem is that I've seen a lot of people use the word "troll" to describe people who simply have different views than their own, and are willing to stand up and argue for them.

I got pretty sick of hearing people call any conservative a "troll" on the other board.

I'm basically with Croatoan...apart from egregious circumstances, just use the "ignore" button. I've never used one before on any board, but I hear the one on this one is pretty good.
 
Clt Heel said:
First of all, thank you Rock Chalk for creating this board!!

I’ve started the transition over here from zzlp, and it will only be sped along now that they have basically thrown the board to the wolves and refuse to do any moderation at all now, it seems.

I anticipate that some of the “bad actors” will attempt to make their way over here to try to operate in bad faith like they are doing over on the original board. How will they be handled here? Will there be moderators? Will they get warnings? Do we have the ability to report people? Maybe I missed a thread that outlines some of this info, and if so, I apologize. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having people with opposing viewpoints, as long as they are operating in good faith and dont try to troll the threads.
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Let's immediately put them on ignore and never communicate with them.
Wait, that might not work, it would make them feel at home.
 
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