The traditional method of dealing with trolls is to delete their comments and/or posts when they come up against the amazingly flexible "Rules of Misery."
And, generally, it's been proven by a team of scientists in a lab in Oslo, that simply ignoring trolls when they call you a douchebag or whatever often encourages them to find a new home. Of course it's not fun when you're the douchebag! Then you want to strip the skin of the person who's said such a thing, and then it gets worse before it gets better.
Suffice it to say, I'm monitoring it all.
If you have new [corrected] ideas or thoughts, feel free to write. But if you've already sent me a note, be assured that I'm considering it and working the problem.
Thanks,
The RGM
What a douchebag thing to post.
ReplyDeleteWAAAAAAAAAH!!! I've been winged.
DeleteAs always, RGM, thanks for everything you do!
ReplyDeleteThanks, RGM. You need a blog where you complain about a community of bloggers who get all up in arms over trolls. :o)
ReplyDeleteIt already exists. It's called "My Miserable Moderator". I'm over there trolling . . . er, commenting, under the handle "honest_anony_mod(Not Jim)".
DeleteAnd I bet the site is dead and nobody reads it and the sky is falling and why isn't my genius "new voice" getting the recognition it clearly deserves oh that's right it's because you guys are a closed community, and
Deletehttp://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1987/01/13
Great handle, Pat
One of my proudest moments was being called a douchebag on Facebook by a student last semester. Where he also discussed every other class he was failing that semester, as well as the ones he was passing by cheating. We weren't fb friends, mind you...he just had everything publicly visible.
ReplyDeleteWe're a little hampered in this format because there isn't an opportunity to tell people to take their squabbling to PM, or to PM someone who is feeding a troll to suggest he or she not do so. Personally, I don't really mind the few weaksauce trolls we get here, but I understand that we have some more delicate flowers. Keep up the good work, RGM.
ReplyDeleteEven the pathetic twerp trolls we get in these parts lower the tone of the discourse. Which, I admit, is pretty hard to do around here. Still.
DeleteMore of that AN/FSQ-7 action.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.smecc.org/sage_a_n_fsq-7.htm
The new troll is not nearly as offensive as some, but he's not a good colleague. He makes everything about him, he's casually dismissive, misogynistic (of course, aren't they all), and makes me not want to comment in any thread he's polluted.
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly how I feel about it. I have no desire to join in any conversation the new troll has widdled in. The difference in tone between someone new who just hasn't quite figured out the rules of engagement yet, and a troll, is unmistakable, and this is a troll. His intent is destructive. He is not a colleague and does not mean to be a colleague. And like all trolls, as you point out, he makes it all about him and is misogynistic to boot.
DeleteHe diminishes my pleasure in this site.
Add to the fact that most of it's replies are so off topic they make no sense. We're already miserable troll! Stop bothering us!
ReplyDeleteA troll means anyone who's opinion differs with the clubhouse. You should just delete their comments, for censorship is at the heart of academics.
ReplyDeleteAnd you will delete this comment, why? has this comment broken any of the rules? No, you just dislike the opinion.
Wish we could apply these rules to your field of study, academics would be so much more rational and relevant.
Close this site down, you embarrass real academics.
Hi again, honest_prof.
DeleteI delete your comments because you've broken the rules here several times. Besides your endless attempts to marginalize the experiences of people who write for the site, you've logged in under a variety of different names - breaking another rule. Over time you've proven you don't actually want to be a community member.
I've extended to you - at least once - a total pass to get back in the page's good graces. I said, pick a name, stick to it, don't bully others, don't minimize our complaints - "the misery." But you simply want to fuck things up.
I've attempted to offer you ways not to be seen as an asshole to the rest of this community, but you keep finding new ways to assert your true self.
I know you love that word "clubhouse." I've come to like it, too. We are a community of proffies with similar types of views: we abhor the snowflakes; we abhor idiot Dean-ing. But your earlier claims that we all think alike about those things, or that we don't have differing opinions are just plain wrong, and anyone who knows the site knows that.
Oh, I fed the troll. Went against my own good advice. But, truly, if you're a real academic, I am ever so grateful that I am not.
Oh, and Go Ducks.
The RGM
"Who's"? That seems more snowflake than prof.
ReplyDeleteP.S.: In the interest of full disclosure (I don't want to be accused of nefarious use of multiple identities), I have commented on CM using the name "Steve", since that is one of my names. But I suspect I will become a more regular visitor and so I'm now using my common webonym. I was getting jealous of all the neat handles out there.
BPD, noted. Not to worry.
DeleteA mediocre movie will sometimes contain a nugget of wisdom. "Road House" was one.
ReplyDeletePatrick Swayze's character was telling the bouncers the new rules, and told them to not take insults personally. To paraphrase:
Prof: "Being called a douchebag isn't personal?"
Swayze: "No. It's two nouns connected to elicit a prescribed response?"
Prof: "Well, suppose somebody calls my mama a whore?"
Swayze: "Is she?"
Thus it is with trolls. Just because they say it it doesn't mean it's true. Ignore them. They will probably escalate. Ignore them. Without a response they will eventually go away.