Lionel Edriess wrote on Nov 22
nd, 2014 at 6:37pm:
The reason Herb becomes an item of interest to what he labels 'trolls' is possibly because he is a prolific poster and starts a number of threads with a provocative headline, or, frequently responds to other posters with a humour that they either misinterpret or cannot understand. I enjoy the understated humour and the effort taken to compile some of his posts.
The 'sensai' remarks are an example.
As a fiurther example, I have a long term love/hate relationship with Brian Ross that rarely descends into the type of flaming that I have seen Herbert (or others) endure. We have a relationship that is often compromised by my ability/reluctance to engage in in issues where we already know each other's stance and see no point in pushing the issue. We can debate/argue without the spiteful exchanges that I have seen others endure on an almost daily basis. Yet Brian and I can maintain an interesting dialogue without resorting to personal insult.
Datalife is another poster whose posts I enjoy because he often offers a thoughtful opinion on diverse subjects. Yet he often gets flamed for offering a different point of view. Again, one wonders whether the points made are considered, or merely rejected and criticised because they differ from the viewpoint of the flamer.
I tend to ignore 'trolls', simply because the nuances of the English language tend to be lost on them and sarcasm is very hard to convey in the written language.
Well said. The people with original thoughts tend to be targeted. It is the new world of social media where group thinkers rule and individuals are rejected. My pet hate on a forum is the gang mentality. It's no surprise hate-fest scrums on the internet can drive a person to suicide.
Lord Herbert wrote on Nov 22
nd, 2014 at 7:24pm:
Without moderators policing the threads of their own accord, the class-clowns soon end up damn-near hijacking every thread that has the potential to produce some interesting discussion.
The delinquent few in the Peanut Gallery here are given far too much freedom to continue practicing their disruptive games at the cost of threads going cold because of constant off-topic distractions.
An accurate description Herbert. An engaged or astute moderator regularly enforcing the boundaries here isn't always possible.
Perhaps Ozpolitic needs another global moderator?