straydog said:
Hi Straydog,
I really dont understand why you are seeming to tak so mcuh personal offense at the comments I have made. Please do me a personal favour and read teh following without looking for hidden barbs etc, there are none in there (that I intentionally put there anyway.) I have written in point form becaise it is 2:30am and I am tired... as can be seen in the poor typing... I hve been online here on and off since 9am when I started my real job in the office...
Answering your comments in the rough order tehy were presented:
1) Twsiting people's words to misrepresent them is a classic tactic of a troll, therefore if you are worried about appearing to be one, I was suggesting that you be careful. Thats all.
2. I have no idea what you are talking about about YOUR thread. I was writing in general referring to the forum and the topic of THIS thread which is the reasons for all the trolls (and as I thought I had made clear on 3 ocassions, the reasons the innocent get tagged as trolls). I responded to the topic, not you.
With the exception of your posts here in this thread, I havent intentionally sought out a post of yours to read (that isnt intended to insult, I am just saying that these days I dont have teh time to get to every part of the forum - which is why we are asking for more volunteer moderators). I now know which thread you mean but I still havent read it in relation to this thread. You are arguing with yourself on this point. I have zero problem with your posting style to date.
3. You continue to refer back to my usage of the word 'dumb'. This strikes me as you being rather agressive and trying to score points on me. In light of point 2, fair enough but If I was worried about something that mundane do you think I would be willing to work here s an unpaid moderator? - Dont answer, its fairly obvious. I get hatemail daily from members old and new. Its part of the job description.
4. It has been made very clear to you that there are a massive collectino of overlapping threads representing every faction in the current arguements. Yes, of COURSE there are going to be gaps in this information. However, the point that was made (as opposed to what you responded to) was that if someone really feels they are so special that they need to raise a new thread to publish opinion or information that has already been uttered several times that day, go for it - just dont expect it to stay in place because it will either get merged into a larger existing thread or locked if its balatantly trolling.
5. I have just checked and the thread that I linked to has since been deleted - see point 4. The highlights I was trying to show you were:
* Username - TROLLS
* Topic - A LeMond hate fest (cant remember exact wording but it was blatant)
* Content - several paragraphs of knowingly factually incorrect summaries of events posing as a valid listing of legal facts with the clear purpose of creating a major argument on the forum (which it did - it ran to several pages of troll abuse).
Note that I dont say the purpose was to discuss LeMond in any way at all. How do I know? the user is a single post member who has disappeared within 5mins of posting that thread. they signed up, wrote it, and left in that time.
6. I believe it has been said that freedom of speech is the last refuge of the forum troll (If it hasnt been said, then I officially claim that quote now). When you signed up you will have probably
well lets face it - I know I did - completely ignored several guidelines regarding forum behaviour. One that I think needs to be added to that list is that whilst in some countries freedom of speech is paramount, in others it is less so and either way, you are free to say what you like, it doesn't mean that a forum must be forced to host it. CAse in point is a thread earlier today asking which prison bunk Lance would get and talking about who would be the 'daddy' needless to say this type of discussion completely oversteps decency and so we chose not to host it.
7. I have no idea if you can put moderators on ignore. I would question what motivation someone would have to do so as by definition a moderator needs to be able to make announcements and deal with arguments in public conversations. To ignore a moderator implies you must have a serious grievance with that individual - in which casse I invite you to report it to the moderators (just click the button on the post and everyone will get it) If the grievance is valid I assure you that it will be dealt with. It would not be the first time that a moderator has moderated another moderator - on this or any other forum. We DO discuss each others actions.
8 There were links posted higher up discussing teh definitions of trolling. I dont know whether the CN FAQ is written fully yet so please look there in the interim.
Anyway, All I am trying to say i that you appear to be under siege a bit from some members with opposing viewpoints and it appears to me that you have chosen to belive that I am one of these people. I'm not.
I do have views on some subjects, and have made a minor collection of posts about them (including launching one thread a while back - well before becoming a mod - that I reget as I look back in it and realise I looked like I was trolling). The thing I DON'T do is act on posts by users based upon personal bias. There is only one situation where I act differently, and that is if one specific user posts, I suspend him. This has nothing to do with the beliefs he holds, it is because he has broken forum rules over 100 times in the last year.
I hope you ahve a great time on this site - we have 14,000+ signups and the majority of these are reularly active. Those members have a rainbow of opinions taht do lead to very interesting discussions - in the appropriate threads.
regards,
Martin