home

Too Many Trolls

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Fri Apr 01, 2005 at 07:51:52 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

During the three days I was gone, the trolls and chatterers have taken advantage. Since I want to return to posting and not have to spend time monitoring comments, I'm liberally using the delete key and banning offending IP addresses. For those who are limited to four comments a day, please know I will be strictly enforcing the limit and deleting excess comments.

Update: Additional description of troll comments appear on Daily Kos today:

"Trolling" refers to the act of intentionally making incendiary or offensive comments, in hopes of provoking an indignant response. The term is also applied to outright attacks on a community that attempt to make it unusable.

< Where are the Rest of the Abu Ghraib Photos? | Ill. Passes Rule Requiring Phamacists to Fill Contraceptive Scripts >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Too Many Trolls | 22 comments (22 topical)
    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 01, 2005 at 08:38:40 PM EST
    Not familiar with blogspeak - what exactly is a troll; and what does this mean

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 01, 2005 at 08:43:33 PM EST
    A troll is "computer geek speak" for somebody who is just trying to start an argument, and not interested in serious discussion.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 01, 2005 at 08:58:31 PM EST
    Thank you. I am tired of the trolls.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#4)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 03:46:12 AM EST
    A troll is someone who pops in, loudly voices disagreement with pretty much everything said in every post (look for sentences beginning with "Lefties:" or "et al:") and disappears. A chatterer starts the same way but isn't kind enough to go away; they insult everyone until the thread becomes a discussion of how stupid the chatterer is. Evidently they feel that this represents a triumph for the Republican party.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 11:18:39 AM EST
    Definition: To trail (a baited line) in fishing. Analogously: Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 12:10:27 PM EST
    four comments a day? i'm lucky if my blog gets four commenters in a day!

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 01:31:15 PM EST
    Skippy, some of the chatterers post 20 comments a day. Then I have to go find them and delete them and rebuild each entry they commented on. It's a giant pain, be thankful you don't have this problem.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 02:08:42 PM EST
    Hmmmm, seems to me that Kos (aka "screw them") would know very well what a troll is......

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#10)
    by jondee on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 04:03:06 PM EST
    Ace - "Irrefutable" - it is to laugh. Youre a legend in your own mind.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 04:19:41 PM EST
    Stop piling on the good Dr. Last time I checked, Soccerdad's lovely outburst was still on. He gets a pass, because is likeminded. But perish the thought of a cotrarian to behave the same. Sorry for us to be the lonely voices of logic, voices that bring a bit of prudenct thought in this otherwise insane Blog.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#12)
    by Kitt on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 05:56:49 PM EST
    Sure....irony. Happy? I see that you offer absolutely nothing of value here. You think you're clever and do your best to demonstrate that. I - just don't think it's true.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#13)
    by BigTex on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 05:58:27 PM EST
    TL - do you have a policy regarding people who generally offer good points, but troll on a particular topic or two? I'm referrin' t' comments like Posted by: XXXX on December 7, 2004 03:14 PM Were the volunteers catholic priests? and other similar comments by th' same poster. No doubt this poster contributes t' the discussion on other topics, but when it seems t' come t' Catholics th' poster has a history o' makin' gratuitous swipes.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#14)
    by jimcee on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 06:12:58 PM EST
    I'm sure I'm considered a troll by many on this website but to be honest I find it a pleasure to have my "orthodoxies" tweeked by other posters, it makes me consider my views and that's OK by me. Sometimes/most times I disagree somewhat to one post or another and wish to express it. TalkLeft is kind enough to allow everyone the privilege of comment and I thank TL for that. Overall, Snarky is OK, nasty ad hominem is kind of cheap.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#15)
    by Jlvngstn on Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 08:58:41 PM EST
    Hey Tex, I am a big boy, you can call me out by name. I made the comment, and you are right it was out of line. I apologize and will refrain from empty jabs in the future.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#16)
    by Jlvngstn on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 05:34:38 AM EST
    In case you missed it Big Tex: Big Tex said: Who's in denial? I say, you. The Vatican instructed Catholic bishops around the world to cover up cases of sexual abuse or risk being thrown out of the Church. The Observer has obtained a 40-year-old confidential document from the secret Vatican archive which lawyers are calling a 'blueprint for deception and concealment'. One British lawyer acting for Church child abuse victims has described it as 'explosive'. The 69-page Latin document bearing the seal of Pope John XXIII was sent to every bishop in the world. The instructions outline a policy of 'strictest' secrecy in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse and threatens those who speak out with excommunication. They also call for the victim to take an oath of secrecy at the time of making a complaint to Church officials. It states that the instructions are to 'be diligently stored in the secret archives of the Curia [Vatican] as strictly confidential. Nor is it to be published nor added to with any commentaries.' It focuses on sexual abuse initiated as part of the confessional relationship between a priest and a member of his congregation. But the instructions also cover what it calls the 'worst crime', described as an obscene act perpetrated by a cleric with 'youths of either sex or with brute animals (bestiality)'. Bishops are instructed to pursue these cases 'in the most secretive way... restrained by a perpetual silence... and everyone... is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office... under the penalty of excommunication'. Lawyers point to a letter the Vatican sent to bishops in May 2001 clearly stating the 1962 instruction was in force until then. The letter is signed by Cardinal Ratzinger, the most powerful man in Rome beside the Pope and who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - the office which ran the Inquisition in the Middle Ages.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 07:30:07 AM EST
    Stop piling on the good Dr. Last time I checked, Soccerdad's lovely outburst was still on. He gets a pass, because is likeminded. But perish the thought of a cotrarian to behave the same. Hey, Bosco, the site is called talkleft. Is there some part of that you missed? If you want to be baiting progressives, you may get banned from the site or limited to 4 posts. Some of us old time leftists get on a rant on occasion. The rest of the progressive community generally listens politely or not, but the rant is on the progressive end of the political spectrum which fits on a site called Talkleft. If you want to be treated "fairly", get yourself detained at Gitmo, knucklehead.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 07:37:58 AM EST
    Irony, Kitt, because you behave like the "trolls" you profess to hate. CA, you might want to take a good look at who's progressive now. Old leftists appear more interested in preserving the crumbling edifice of 30s and 60s socialism than getting on with embracing the new ideas of the 21st century. Ironocally (that word again), today the liberals, conservatives and progressives are the same group and the left is arrrayed against them (us).

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 08:29:16 AM EST
    Conscious Angel, You are right, this is called TalkLeft. I know that some would prefer for us to quietly fade away. But think about it for a moment, for us to do so, would leave you in a vapid and empty Echo Chamber. You could always go to DailyKos and do that. Or you could have an inteligent exchange of ideas where Left Talk is counterwheighted by voices like ours. At your service, CA.

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#20)
    by Kitt on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 09:30:33 AM EST
    Ace: I don't go to sites that I disagree with politically and especially theologically and purposely make comments that are contrary to the flow of conversation to incite. It's a blood pressure thing. I know the definition of irony; why - I even knew what 'qed' meant when you used it (from taking higher mathematics), I just didn't concur.
    Disclaimer: Besides I never said I wasn't human without contradiction.
    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 10:49:20 AM EST
    JL - Very interesting. Do you have any links? Thanks

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#22)
    by Jlvngstn on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 01:34:31 PM EST
    link

    Re: Too Many Trolls (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 02:19:07 PM EST
    Will this include the in-house trolls as well?

    Too Many Trolls | 22 comments (22 topical)